"Do you have the itemized quote?" he asked without looking up from the mounting pile of paperwork. Kara leaned over and flicked three pages up, revealing the itemized bill as the fourth in the pile. "Ah, thank you." He placed it on top, skimming it quickly.
They were tucked away in his office, as had become routine in the early morning hours. He always planned to rebuild the particle accelerator after it had been destroyed; after all, it was his ticket home, but he never planned on rebuilding the rest of the facility. Until he and Kara began talking over morning coffee before Cisco and Caitlin arrived. Now, he saw the advantages having a purpose-built facility could hold for him in the future. In the short term, it would provide more advantages for Team Flash than for himself. But in the long term… Well, secret rooms and rigged explosives would make forcing out his flash so much easier.
"The contractors for the administrative wing are standard." Kara pointed to the company listed beside that portion. "I did switch to a different contractor for the chemistry and fabricator rooms, respectively. The ones you used previously were, um," she adjusted her glasses, "I found better ones."
He raised an eyebrow. "They did serviceable work last time. I had no issues."
"Last time was fifteen years ago," she pointed out. "I did my usual background check on the companies and found multiple labor violations."
"I fail to see how that is worth the increased cost of the companies you provided. S.T.A.R. Labs does not have the funding it used to."
Respectfully, sir, part of my job before was to keep my boss out of scandals. If you go with your old contractors and someone posts their violations publicly, all the goodwill you have tried to build to restore your name will be lost."
He regarded her. She shifted nervously, but stood tall, her chin up. Oh, he knew her justification was just an excuse now. She was too firm, too invested in not using those contractors for this to be anything but personal. Her morals were behind this.
"Request a bid from the previous contractors."
"But, Dr. Wells-"
He held up a hand. She quieted. "If their bid is cheaper, we will contract with them. Is that clear, Ms. Danvers?"
The muscles in her jaw worked angrily. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, grinding her teeth behind thin lips. He waited for her to go against him, waited for that spark of fire in her to rear its head and demand he listen to her.
She said nothing.
"Is that all, Ms. Danvers?" he pushed.
She nodded stiffly. Without another word, she left.
Once again, Thawne was left wondering what exactly pulled her back from the edge. Ms. Danvers knew what she wanted, and she knew how to get it. A powerful combination. If only he could unlock the barrier preventing her from greatness.
"Fascinating," Thawne murmured as he read Barry's forensic analysis of the crime scene, "a meta-human that can manipulate poison gas."
"Is it just poisonous gas, or can he control all aerated substances?" Cisco asked as he joined Wells by the screen.
Caitlin followed. "And how is he able to formulate the connection? Is it physiological or psychological?"
Barry and Joe shared a wide-eyed stare, watching the team dive into this new problem. The team… other than Kara. Thawne hadn't pegged her as someone to hold grudges, but the air between them had remained frosty since the argument this morning. She stood quietly to the side, though far enough back to see the screen the team was looking at if she wanted to.
It was a risk to let her stay during this discussion, but call him curious. The suit display in the center front of the Cortex was closed, hiding the most obvious secret from view. That, he didn't want revealed just yet, not until something truly tested Kara and forced her to reveal exactly who she was. He might need to manufacture that soon… But he could see the use in having Kara somewhat in the loop. She was a remarkable coordinator and, from the looks of it, a decent scientist, despite her illegible notes making it hard to confirm. Her insights on cases could prove useful if carefully controlled.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "A mental nexus using gaseous substances."
"You mean connect with the gases on a molecular level?" Cisco beamed once Thawne gave a sharp yes to confirm. "That is ridiculously cool."
"They get really excited about this stuff," Barry said to Joe.
Joe just rolled his eyes. "The only thing that I'm excited about is putting a criminal behind bars. But Iron Heights isn't exactly equipped to handle metahumans."
"Then I guess it's fortunate the ones we've encountered so far are no longer with us," he said. He saw Kara bristle from the corner of his eye. Waited for her to say something, to counter, to fight back, even to ask the obvious question. Are they working with The Flash?
Nothing.
Joe gave her a weird look. "Well." He focused back on Thawne. "Unless we're planning on executing every super criminal we stop, you geniuses are gonna have to come up with someplace else to hold them."
Thawne thought of several curses. None of which he released, of course. All that he let show was a grimace, one matched by Barry. That was the closest they'd gotten to Kara knowing anything about The Flash side of things.
"A meta-human prison." Cisco grinned. "Sweet."
Again, Kara bristled, her fists clenching at her sides.
He pushed just a bit more. "Until we figure out a way to remove their powers."
"No," Kara snapped, catching everyone's attention. Thawne smirked to himself. There was the fire. "You can't just rip their powers away like that!"
"Why not?" Thawne asked. He steepled his fingers, turning to face her. "They received their powers because of a mistake on our end. We're trying to atone for what we did. Taking their powers away will give them their lives back. I think that's the greatest atonement we can achieve, don't you?"
"I don't!" Kara stepped forward. "These people… they've lived with these powers for months. Nearly a year! It's become a part of them. Nevermind those who have been so altered by the matter released in the explosion that taking away their powers would mean death. How you would even cure them. Do you cure them all, regardless of if it kills them too? Do you only cure criminals? Or do you make a registry and track meta-humans down like dogs?"
"And what do you think we should do instead?" Joe asked. "The police can't handle meta-humans, you all have proved that. If we can't take their powers away, how can the court system, in good conscience, give them anything other than life in prison?"
"You treat them like people, for one!" Kara flung her arms out wide. "They're just people, Detective West."
"Dangerous people."
"So is someone with a gun you didn't think they had," she snapped back. "And don't even get me started on the prison." She spun to point an accusing finger at Thawne. "Would you run it? Great, no judicial oversight, and who knows how many human rights violations!" She laughed with a smile. It did nothing to dull the haunted reflection of Alura in her eyes. "Or should it be the government? I don't think I need to tell you how giving the government access to a prison full of meta-humans could turn out bad."
Caitlin winced. So did Barry. Cisco only looked mildly chastised.
"Kara," Barry said, stepping forward with his hands raised. "I understand where you're coming from, okay?" His voice was low and laden with burden. It hadn't been there just moments before. "I do." She said nothing. He took another step closer. "But I don't have any other ideas. None of us do. But in the mean time, we need to do something with them to keep everyone safe."
"The particle accelerator could be converted to house them…" Cisco offered.
Barry nodded along. "Right. We'll hold them here while Dr. Wells talks with the mayor and figures out what we should do long-term. Does that sound fair?"
She stared at him, quiet. Then, she reached out and pulled him into a crushing hug. His surprise showed, but it melted into soft affection after she whispered something in his ear. When she stepped away, however, Thawne could still see the anger burning in her eyes. Barry may have gotten her to think rationally, but her heart still screamed at the injustice. He wondered what exactly she said to him and what could've transcended that anger to make Barry soften like that.
"It's decided, then," Thawne clapped to get everyone's attention, "let's go take a look and see where to put these containment cells."
They all nodded their assent. All except Kara and Caitlin.
"Caitlin?"
No response.
"Dr. Snow. Did you hear what I said?"
Her eyes didn't shift from their thousand yard stare.
Kara crossed to her side. After a moment's examination, she placed a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. The woman jumped, eyes wide, as she looked up at Kara.
"Dr. Wells is heading down to the particle accelerator," she said.
Caitlin froze like a deer in headlights. Her eyes darted to Barry for help. Ah, yes. He often forgot about Caitlin's… particular trauma stemming from the explosion.
Kara must've spotted the interaction too. When Barry opened his mouth to speak, she shook her head and took over for him. "Why don't we take a look at those poison samples Barry sent?" She offered a hand. Caitlin took it gratefully. Her voice turned cold as she addressed Thawne. "If that is alright with you, sir."
Thawne faced his share of hatred over the years. Ice and brimstone both rolled off his back without fail. But he had grown to enjoy Kara's unfailing warmth in the short time she'd been in his employ. He truly hoped their relationship would return to normal once the issue had time to settle. After all, he would do it all again to learn what he had.
"Yes."
She nodded. With Caitlin by her side, she left.
Kara Danvers had a heart that cried for justice, but for whatever reason, when it came to her own action, she never followed through. He would call it performative if he hadn't seen the way she physically held herself back. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't interfere when his plan came to its inevitable end. Maybe he could take her back with him.
"Thanks," Caitlin said once they finally made it to Kara's personal lab. She took in the area with interest. Kara puffed when she nodded approvingly, pride stamping out some of the anger that still smoldered. "Is this the old physics lab?"
"Yup. Not the best place for chemical analysis, but-"
"Better than staying there."
"Exactly."
A beat. Then, "So… you're a scientist then?"
Kara flushed, her fingers rubbing the skin at the nape of her neck. "I uh- yeah. Sort of…" Because how could she explain that she wasn't just a scientist? She was the youngest to ever achieve admission into the Science Guild. By Earth's standards, she would be the best they had. Well, the best they had when it came to broadly universal concepts like physics, astronomy, time, math, and linguistics. Biology and chemistry were trickier for her because of how different the disciplines were per planet and even within that, per region.
"What are you doing as an admin assistant?" Caitlin asked curiously. When Kara paused, she quickly added on, "If you're a scientist, I just thought you would've been hired to… you know… be a scientist."
Kara kept herself busy cleaning up her notes from last night's research on the wave of matter released by the particle accelerator explosion. She didn't look at Caitlin. "I don't know… Science has always been my sister's thing. We didn't have the best relationship growing up, and I came out of nowhere and was better at what she wanted to do." She slid her notes back into a manila folder and stored them in a secure filing cabinet, locking it afterward. "So I let her have it."
She could see Caitlin staring from the corner of her eye, her mouth open in some strange mixture of shock and horror. A question slipped out that Caitlin didn't exactly seem like she meant to actually ask.
"Came out of nowhere…?"
"Adopted."
Kara turned her head away to avoid having to see her reaction. Caitlin's heart sped up, and Kara heard her lips part and close several times. Finally, she made up her mind and walked over, placing a light hand on Kara's shoulder.
"What's your favorite part about what you do now?"
That, Kara could answer. Her lips twisted into a little smile. "I like helping people. And a lot of times, the best way to help people is to help the person in power be good. Remind them exactly who's counting on them to do what's right. They normally listen to people close to them."
A sharp breath filled the lungs of the woman behind her. "Kara… You could have been the one actually making the change instead of two steps behind it… Your sister-"
"Poison," Kara said, cutting Caitlin off. "We should get to work in case the meta-human shows up again." She led her over to the main computer in the room and quickly pulled up the basic analysis from CCPD. "Here we go."
Caitlin stood close beside her to get a good look at the small screen. Her gaze flicked to Kara, then back to the data. Finally, she leaned forward with furrowed brows, in full scientist mode. "Huh."
"Hm?"
"Looks like there was no poison found in the victim's tissues." She frowned. "It hasn't been that long since it was called in. Some toxins exit the system that fast, but-"
"They can't exit naturally when the tissue is dead," Kara said.
"Right. And it can't have evaporated within the tissue. Some trace should be left! If we had a tissue sample, we might be able to trace the damage it caused on a cellular level. I don't understand why they didn't already do that…"
Kara smiled even as her heart ached. Images of helping Alex study case profiles for class melded with Caitlin's excited analysis.
"Wait, look at this." She pointed to the screen. Kara jolted herself out of her reverie.
She quickly realized what caught Caitlin's eye. "Two strands of DNA?"
"Found inside the victim's lung tissue. How would someone else's DNA get there unless it was part of the poison?"
"Maybe," Kara hummed, "the meta-human doesn't just manipulate poison but actually generates it somehow." She scanned the lines of information on the screen, searching for the amount of DNA noted, and, dang it. "Not enough DNA to run analysis on. We'd need more tissue. A bigger sample size."
Caitlin brightened, then bit her lip like she was actively holding in her brilliant idea.
"What?" Kara asked.
"Nothing!"
"It's definitely not nothing!"
Caitlin only shrugged, her lips still sealed. Kara threw her hands up with a groan. She was preparing to needle her further, but a buzz from Caitlin's pocket made her pause. The woman answered the call, her confusion morphing into concern in an instant.
She ended the call in a hurry. "I am so sorry, Kara; I have to go." She started for the door. Over her shoulder, she called, "Thank you for the help! Let me know if you find anything else!" And then she was gone.
Kara deflated in her absence. Upstairs, she could hear a quick argument and then the telltale woosh of Barry speeding away. She was alone. Again. She would normally bury herself in work to avoid the creeping emptiness, but what was there to do? Sit down and toil away for Dr. Wells just to inadvertently help him build a prison outside of the court system? To play judge, jury, and execution as her mom had? No. That'd only piss her off more.
She needed something to punch.
But first, she did the one thing she could that wouldn't accidentally be used for harm. She began to synthesize an antidote. After all, the gas wasn't all that dissimilar to Cron's species, or Manga Khan, both well studied on Krypton for the possible application of sentient gas to deal with pests in Kryptonian fields. What she was sorely missing, however, was an actual sample of the poison.
Another woosh. Commotion upstairs. She almost tuned it out until she caught "he brought us a sample" coming from Wells. She had just finished a theoretical antidote for gaseous form, to break down any of the gas that might be left as residue in the cells of the victims. Now, all she had to do was send it off for someone else to take the credit. As always. Just a step in the shadows, never calling too much attention. Alex would be proud. Kara only felt sinking resignation.
She forwarded the analysis to Caitlin. The woman was smart by Earth's standards. She could figure out the rest on her own. And she did, just thirty minutes after receiving Kara's work. So Kara left.
Deep in the desert, Kara let herself loose for the first time since moving to Central City. For the first time since she was a kid, actually. She stepped out of her car and ran. Ran until her muscles could finally stretch to their fullest, reveling in the good ache it brought to use what she never let herself touch. A sand dune rose in front of her. With a smile, she pushed further, picking up speed. And jumped. She caught more airtime than your average human, but she didn't fly upward, instead pushing off and jumping straight into the dune with one fist outstretched, like an arrow from a bowstring.
Bright beating sun disappeared in an instant as cool sand pressed around her, and then it was gone as she shot out the other side. The landing, she didn't stick, falling face-first into the sand. But when she rolled over, she laughed.