Karry Universe
Disclaimer: Nothing owned by me, as usual.
Power Within
Caitlin sighed as she looked down at her computer. It had taken a little while and some shifting about of the yearly budget, but Kara and Barry had come through with funding for her meta human research and now Caitlin was wondering where to start.
She could go over meta humans she knew, or even the ones in jail, but she wanted to see ones born with meta abilities – and not Alura and Nora, since their Kryptonian DNA could mess up the research. She had looked over Prime's research but that hadn't helped overall, although there was mention of a baby born green in their files, and that matched something Caitlin herself had read a few months ago. It was with this lead she started, and it had been surprisingly easy to discover that the child had been put in the foster system. Both of his parents had been normal humans, with no powers, and both had agreed to put the child up for adoption, not wanting a meta human baby. She had to find this child.
"Cisco, Jesse," Caitlin called, as she turned to Nora and Alura in their playpen with Krypto and Hex. Cisco had made a special playpen for here too, so the girls could not escape even with their powers. The kids were taking a nap on Krypto, the dog laying still so to be a good bed, while Hex was curled up next to Nora. It was so cute that Caitlin had already taken a picture. "I'm going to go out for a more comprehensive research strategy, think you can watch the kid until Kara and Barry are out of their meeting?"
"Sure," Cisco muttered, not looking up from his station – this didn't comfort Caitlin.
"We got it," Jesse said, a little more reassuringly, turning to look at Caitlin, her attention comforting for Caitlin.
Caitlin bent down and gave Krypto a pat on the head. Krypto gave her a look, not moving. "Keep an eye on them," Caitlin muttered to the dog, who gave a nod as she turned to leave.
It was about a half hour later however, when the two girls woke and started to cry. Jesse went to pick Alura up, awkwardly rocking her. "You know, there's a reason why I am not a kid-person," Jesse muttered to Cisco as the baby continued to cry. "And Jax actually started on me about that. I mean come on!" On the opposite side of Jax's defensive attitudes, Wally had been on her getting her gifts. He had been sweet, trying to win Jesse over and it was really starting to tempt Jesse. With her and Jax fighting all the time, Wally seemed like a nice relief, although Jax was insanely jealous about Wally, adding to the stress.
"You don't think it would be different with your own kids?" Cisco asked, taking Nora and trying to stop her crying as Krypto jumped up and Hex seemed to give a look before curling back into a ball to go to sleep.
"Do you?" Jesse countered.
"Oh, me and Lisa have a no-children agreement," Cisco said. "She doesn't want to be a mom and I can't really see myself as a father any… Okay, I see your point."
"Where's Caitlin?" Kara and Barry came into the room, looking stressed but each silently took a baby from the two. The parents were easily able to calm their girls down.
"She went out for her meta human research and we agreed to look after the kids. In our defense, we thought you'd be out any minute and they would still be sleeping," Jesse shrugged.
"The meeting ran over," Barry stated, pausing as a wind whipped up and they all turned to see a blue portal opening in the lab. "Is Prime or Mutant stopping by?" Barry now added, glancing to Cisco.
"Not that I know of," Cisco said as a young woman, instantly mischievous-looking with shoulder-length wavy brown hair stepped out of the portal. None in the lab recognized her.
"Hey!" the girl said. "Why do you all operate out of this lab?" She sighed as she looked around. "No Caitlin? Shame. Would love to see the full extent of her power catalog."
"Power cata-whatsit?" Cisco asked, but the girl ignored him and turned to a dumbfounded Barry.
"Ah, Super-speed again…" the girl muttered after a second's observation, "you know Barry, that is getting boring. Well apart from my Barry, but still…" Barry raised an eyebrow as the girl turned to Kara.
"Should have known you'd be here. Kayla or Kara though? I've seen both – oh babies!" Kara blinked in shock and confusion at this as the girl bent down to get closer to the children, but Krypto got between her and starting growling. The growling woke Hex up, and she joined Krypto with a hiss. "Calm down Superpets! No need to go nuts." Krypto cocked his head at this as the girl sighed and stood up, looking back to Kara. "Sorry, I just like babies. But your DNA is too weird to manipulate. Cute kids though."
With that, the girl turned to Jesse. "Urgh, more super-speed… Seriously this power is way too common in the multiverse, it's getting annoying… ah, there we go."
She had turned to Cisco as she said this, clapping her hands together and rubbing them with glee. "Completely blank slate – no power on you," she said with a smile.
"I'm sorry, but who are you and what are you doing here?" Kara asked, quickly jumping between the girl and Cisco; everyone but the girl completely confused.
"I am Accord," she said with a smirk. "And I'm here to help this world's heroes."
-Superflash-
Caitlin smiled as she got off the phone.
She had connected to literally every adoption agency and hospital in the city trying to figure out where the little green baby was currently. He was only about four months older than Alura and Nora, and it seemed he had ended up in every foster home in the city already. Finding a lead though, Caitlin had finally called Alex and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Alex had quickly managed to locate the current location of who she claimed was called 'Beast Boy' among the DEO – and it seemed the DEO did have tags on some of the meta human babies, so Caitlin kept this information for the future.
Then the question arose as to why the unusual nickname. It seemed though that the kid could transform into any animal. Beast Boy was the name assigned to the child to keep his real identity secret from the public, and Caitlin kind of like that.
She smiled when Alex gave her the current address of the boy, and she got back into her car again and programed the address into the GPS. It was time to find Beast Boy.
-Superflash-
"What do you mean you're here to help us?" Barry asked, moving next to Kara, both still holding their children, though.
"Oh, not you," Accord dismissed now, making Barry blink. "Like I said, there's nothing I can do for you – you already have a power and it's stabilized." Barry glanced to Kara who shrugged, Barry feeling her own confusion at this. "Wait. You guys don't have a me here, do you?" Accord looked directly at Barry for this and sighed. "Ouch. Okay, so let me explain. I'm from what you guys would probably call Earth-18. We have a no-world-hopping rule thanks to… well, that's unimportant, but I managed to find a way around that and have been exploring the multiverse since. I just came from what you guys call Earth Prime, although I prefer Earth 1… Anyway, I can do what you call vibing. Sort of. I can jump worlds, obviously, but my main specialty is gene manipulation."
"Um… what?" Jesse asked, confused.
"Oh gees, you guys really don't… okay, it's the ability to manipulate and mutate a human's genome to give them meta human abilities. I can't do anything for you two, since you already have powers or the weird DNA…"
"Alien," Kara corrected, not liking being called weird.
"But you," Accord pointed through Barry and Kara at Cisco. "You I can give powers to."
"I do not want to be Vibe," Cisco said right away. Accord smirked at this as she stepped back into a sudden portal and appeared behind Cisco, who turned quickly to face her. It seemed she'd gotten around Barry and Kara easily.
"Who says you should be vibe?" Accord teased now as Cisco raised his hands in annoyance.
"Every other Cisco is," he pointed out, but Accord just chuckled.
"Okay, listen here people." Accord addressed the room from Cisco side. "So, every human usually has five different ways their genes can mutate. That's five different possible powers. Some have less, very few have more. There are some people with none, but let's not talk about them. Now, you see there are common ways to powers, let's says the most likely way is the genes mutating to a specific coding naturally, like for you, Cisco, it's vibing, and Barry seems to be the speed, but you have other powers and I can give you, Cisco, one of those. Sometimes two at once, but that's hard." Accord gave Cisco a smile. "And you have so much potential. Six powers, including vibing, but you said you don't want that. Let's see what other powers can you have…. Oh, Invisibility?"
"And deny the world this," Cisco smirked, pointing at himself, deciding not to take the girl too seriously now.
"Teleportation?" Accord tried.
"I'm good with a car, plus the League… well," Cisco added, about to mention the Zap Tunnels but deciding against it. The others just watched quietly now though – this Accord didn't seem to be hurting anyone.
"Oh okay. Now this one is cool. Throwing lightning bolts!" Accord laughed at this one.
"And become like Livewire or Blackout? No way, thanks," Cisco stated, a look on his face as he shook his head.
"Empathy, then?" Accord said. "Whereby you can feel another's emotions. Maybe even manipulating them with enough practice."
"I have a wife. Anyway, I don't need to be like these two, always in each other's heads," Cisco said, pointing at Barry and Kara.
"Aww, they have the Bond? Sweet!" Accord pouted nonetheless now. "Okay then. One more… the ability to move through solid mass."
"What? Seriously?" Cisco said, blinking. "That's a thing?"
"Very much so," Accord smirked now.
"Interesting…" Cisco now mused.
"Well then…." Accord put a hand on Cisco's head, it surprisingly cold. Cisco suddenly felt an odd sensation trickling down his spine, and after a moment Accord removed her hand. "It's yours. You're welcome." She nodded to a surprised Kara and Barry and stepped backward again – a blue portal opening and Accord moving through it. It disappeared, leaving the group staring in shock at where she had been.
"She didn't…?" Cisco broke the silence, pointing at where Accord had just been.
"I think she did," Kara said. Cisco took a step back and moved to sit on the nearest chair, but instead he fell right through it and even through the floor. Alura and Nora laughed at their uncle's disappearing act as the group looked at each other and then at the floor. Even Krypto and Hex look at the floor in confusion.
"Odd question but it needs asking," Jesse said quickly, still looking at the floor. "Does this building have a basement?"
Barry and Kara gave each other looks as Kara took off her glasses and x-rayed the floor. "Hm. He's down there. I think he hit his head," Kara put Nora in the playpen, having been holding her all this while. "I'll just go… get him. Krypto, come." Kara went towards the door and Krypto followed as Hex went to curl up to sleep again.
"I think I'm going to call Caitlin. We may need her," Barry responded, putting Alura with her sister, the kids grabbing some toys that were in the playpen as Barry took out his cellphone.
"I'll get the medical area ready," Jesse nodded – she had some ability in medicine but she wasn't as good as Caitlin.
-Superflash-
"What do you mean Cisco fell through the floor?" Caitlin asked as she parked her car outside the house where she knew the little green child was.
"It was an accident," Barry said.
"How do you accidentally fall through the floor?" Caitlin asked, getting out of the car and heading toward the house.
"When you get a meta human ability to walk through solid objects and don't know how to control it," Barry couldn't help but chuckle.
"Wait… Cisco got what?" Caitlin paused halfway up the driveway. "How did he get an ability?"
"Accord," Barry said.
"Accord? That sounds familiar… Okay, I need more explanation," Caitlin sighed, not annoyed at her boss's interruption but her friend's weird answers.
"This girl who called herself Accord showed up from another world. She said her specialty was gene manipulation." Barry explained on the phone.
"Gene manipulation…? You mean she can mutate genes. A meta human who can make meta humans?" Caitlin groaned as she looked around to make sure no one was overhearing her. "But all the other Ciscos are Vibe."
"She said every human has multiple ways in which their genes can mutate. Well, most humans. Cisco had six different variations – she ran through them, some were very impressive. He wasn't interested in any but the minute he showed some interest in that one she gave it to him."
"Why do I feel this Accord is destroying all my research before I even start it?" Caitlin muttered in annoyance. She hadn't even given thought that people had the potential for more than one ability, or there were metas out there who could give ordinary people their powers. "Okay, right, so I'll…" She had been walking up to the house at this point, but had instantly become distracted when she heard some shouting from the backyard. "What was that?"
"What was what? …Caitlin?" Barry asked, but Caitlin didn't respond.
Caitlin headed to the gated entrance to the back yard. It wasn't a large gate, so she was able to see into the back and what she saw made her instantly angry. Dropping her phone, forgetting Barry and Cisco, she leapt over the gate and ran into the back yard.
"Hey!" Caitlin yelled at the man who was leering over the tiny green form of a boy, barely older than Alura or Nora, who himself was leashed to the backwall like an animal. Even with the green skin, Caitlin could instantly see bruises and cuts upon the boy. She had not even been thinking but now she stood between the boy and the bully of a man, who didn't even pause in his abuse of the child as he aimed a punch at Caitlin instead. It didn't bother her as the pain crossed her face, she was just glad she could spare the boy more hurt. "Get away from him!" Caitlin now growled.
"Get out of my yard!" the man countered.
"I will not let you hurt him," Caitlin shouted, but the man just laughed.
"Look around! No one cares about him," the man said. "I've had the Beast for a week and not one complaint. Now move." Caitlin didn't leave the boy's side though. "Fine…"
Caitlin closed her eyes, waiting for the next punch to come but it never did. She opened her eyes quickly, more to make sure the child was okay, only to find the man on the floor with a thick vine around his leg. "What the…?" the man started, as he nevertheless snapped the vine. "You're a…?" He jumped up, ready hit again but never got there as there was a flash and between the man and Caitlin appeared Barry – in full-on Flash outfit. The man eyes widen at the appearance.
Caitlin smirked, glad for The Flash's arrival and turned around to the boy, who was looking up at her with wide watery eyes. Along with his green skin, he had even darker green hair, and Caitlin couldn't help but think he was adorable. She bent down and he flinched, but Caitlin didn't stop as she took off the leash and picked him up, bringing him close to her. "No one will hurt you again." She muttered now as Barry quickly took care of the abusive foster father.
"Not ever," Caitlin heard the familiar voice and turned to see Barry looking at them, a small smile on his face.
"Why do you care about a stupid meta human?" the man asked, now on the floor and not moving.
"I'm a meta human," Barry said simply, making the man think. "Want to try to hit me again? Besides, I called some friends…" Caitlin had been so distracted by keeping the boy safe, she hadn't seen the arrival of the police, led by Joe and Eddie as they came into the backyard. "He was abusing this boy." Barry told Joe, who could instantly tell the abuse on the boy's skin, wasting no time in taking the man and handcuffing him.
"He needs medical attention. A hospital," Caitlin said to Barry, looking over the boy in her arms. She wanted to take him back to STAR to treat him herself, but she knew this was more complicated. This was a minor who was in the foster system. "Take me with him to Saint Joseph's, please."
Barry nodded, handed Caitlin her phone back, before picking up her and Beast Boy, and running towards the hospital.
-Superflash-
It was a few hours later that Caitlin was sitting by a hospital crib that had the boy in. His social worker was outside the door, making phone calls, but every time Caitlin got out of sight the boy started to cry. "I hear you're being held hostage," Caitlin heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Kara enter the room with the twins in a stroller. "Figured I would stop by on my way home. Oh wow… That is green." Kara was smiling though as she looked down at Beast Boy. "How is he?"
"The man beat him so badly he needed minor surgery," Caitlin said, anger and sorrow in her voice.
"I see you didn't get away scratch-free," Kara said pointing at Caitlin face where the punch she got was now black and blue. "Got yourself a good one. Looks like it hurt."
"Yeah," Caitlin said with a shrug as she heard a cry from the stroller and then Alura held out her hands to Caitlin.
"I think she wants her Aunty Caity," Kara said and Caitlin smiled, picking up the girl and kissing her on top of the head.
"Look at them," Caitlin said. "Garfield is twice their age and look how little he is compared to them." Caitlin was looking down at Beast Boy as she held Alura. "They're far ahead of him, too. Walking and learning."
"His name is Garfield?" Kara asked, intrigued.
"The social worker said so," Caitlin nodded. "It suits him."
Kara nodded her understanding, smiling at the familiar look on Caitlin's face, knowing it well from herself and Barry. "He's so small…" Caitlin stated again, looking at the boy in the crib.
"Hey, you can't compare him to Nora and Alura; they are a little more advance then they should be thanks to my genes," Kara said kindly and with a smirk, Caitlin knowing what she meant – Kryptonians matured faster than humans, and with Barry being a speedster it seemed they were a little ahead of where they should have been.
"He's been mistreated his whole life by everyone because he's different." Caitlin went back to Garfield, not commenting on the girl's growth.
"Well don't worry about it," Kara said. "We've been talking to Alex. It seems she and J'onn are going to try to get something together for meta human kids in the system. It seems something we never considered and Garfield can't be the only one… A sort of meta human children's home. Barry and I will help where we can with money and other things…. we're going to make sure they are all safe. Any of these kids could be the next superhero or the next supervillain, depending on how they grow up. We don't want their fate decided for them."
"But this home…. While it sounds great, won't be set up in time for when Gar gets out of the hospital. He'll be placed into another foster home. His social worker is already having trouble finding someplace – his previous foster families are being questioned… but he could be abused again. I don't want that to happen. I don't want him to leave."
"Leave what? The hospital?" Kara asked, confused and then noticed the way Caitlin was looking at him. It was the same way she looked at her daughters. "Ah yeah. Leave you. You want him. You want to adopt him, don't you?"
Caitlin looked back at Kara. "I don't know. Since I saw him I've felt a connection and I have known for a while I want to be a mom. I just… I want Gar to be my son."
Kara was silent a moment before looking at Caitlin. "Okay," Kara said nodding. "Who does your billionaire best friend need to bribe to make this happen?"
"Ronnie," Caitlin joked. "I got to run this passed him first."
"He agreed to adoption a while back," Kara reasoned.
"We haven't really talked about it since," Caitlin looked down. "We haven't gotten any of the paperwork going. Adoption isn't easy."
"Well, I'll get the best lawyer for you. Once I figure out who that is," Kara said.
"Danny Shore," a voice said and both women looked around, not having realized Garfield's social worker had been listening to them. "He's the best. And if you're serious about this, and your husband agrees, I can speed up this adoption." Caitlin blinked, confused. "I have been having so much problem with him. No one wants a green kid who turns into random animals in their homes. His own parents, who wanted children, did not want him. How do parents even have a meta human when they are not meta humans?" She was rambling a bit.
"Everyone in the city was affected by the accelerator explosion. Not everyone gained powers, but my working theory is the effect of the explosion can pass onto the children, even without the parents themselves having powers," Caitlin said.
"That means I'll get more of these?" the social worker asked, concerned but sighed. "If you're serious, I'd love to get him into a loving home. A lot of my co-workers would agree."
"I've got to talk to Ronnie anyway. I'll tell him to stop by," Kara said with a smirk, taking Alura from Caitlin and putting her back in the stroller. "Say bye-bye to Auntie Caity."
"Kara," Caitlin said, remembering the vine around the man's ankle, still wondering if she'd caused it. Kara waited, raising her eyebrows. Caitlin was about to say it, but stopped. "You know what, never mind."
Kara smiled at her friend as she left.
-Superflash-
It was maybe an hour later when Ronnie came in. His eyes found Caitlin before they found the snoozing Garfield and he cocked his head in concern. "Kara told me to come here," Ronnie spoke, and Caitlin smiled. "What's going on? She mentioned something about an abused boy… I assume this is him?"
"Look at him," Caitlin said, Ronnie pausing to look down at the sleeping Garfield.
"The meta human kid you found being abused?" Ronnie said and Caitlin nodded. "So?"
"I want us to adopt him," Caitlin said, not beating around the bush, and making Ronnie stare at her. "We said we would talk about adoption and… I'm ready to be a mom, and I want to be his mom."
"What… um… well… Huh?" Ronnie tried, clearly dumbfounded.
"Look at him," Caitlin said again, urgently, and as Ronnie looked down, Garfield opened his eyes and looked right up at him. He seemed scared for a moment, another male possibly come to beat him, but Caitlin came into vision next to Ronnie and Garfield smiled at her. "He's perfect." Caitlin muttered.
Ronnie looked at Caitlin, and then back at Garfield. "Well, he seems to love you," Ronnie said. "You two have bonded and he is kind of cute… in a weird way."
"Is that a yes?" Caitlin said quickly, giving Ronnie a wide-eyed look.
Ronnie looked at Caitlin, sighed, and hugged her. "Okay," he said. "I agreed to adoption and I know you're ready. If you want him, we'll figure it out." Ronnie smiled at Caitlin and then looked back at Garfield. "Looks like we'll be your parents, kid." Ronnie said to the boy and then smiled reassuringly.
"Good," Garfield's social worker had returned. "I got the paperwork faxed to the hospital for you to start filling out and no one back at the agency can believe I found people willing to adopt Garfield." Ronnie and Caitlin smiled at her for this comment.
"I think I better get to STAR and see if Cisco is okay," Caitlin said the minute the social worker walked out of sight, but Garfield started crying. Caitlin paused, wanting to stay there.
"Go. I will see if I can get him to like me," Ronnie said, knowing he had to do this for his wife. Caitlin seemed unsure, but smiled as Ronnie looked down at the little green baby and tried to calm him. No matter what he said before, he would be a good father.
-Superflash-
Caitlin walked into STAR labs. Cisco was sitting on one of the beds and was looking at some device he had put on his wrists. "Power blockers?' Caitlin asked, recognizing the devices Cisco had recently made for use against meta humans. To dampen their powers.
"They're so I don't fall through the floor again," Cisco muttered angrily, not looking up. "All I said was interesting. In what world does that mean yes?"
"Apparently to Accord… so her world," Caitlin said, going to check over Cisco.
"Wow that's a nasty bruise you have there!" Cisco suddenly stated, looking at Caitlin full on now. "Where did you go?"
Caitlin smiled to herself, but ignored the question as she went to check over her friend. "Well, you got a nasty bump but no broken bones – it looks like Jesse was able to handle this. I should train her in further medical care. It could come in handy now that I am going to be a mom."
"Wait… are you…?" Cisco asked, jumping from the bed.
"No," Caitlin said, turning to him. "Me and Ronnie are adopting. A baby boy. The meta human I was going to see when I left. He's almost a year old."
Cisco nodded, smirking regardless. "Well, good for you. At least one of us got some good news today," Cisco said. "Stupid power. I never wanted powers. I was happy as plain old Cisco."
"Gideon might want to add Cisco to our meta human database," Caitlin joked.
"I am doing so now," Gideon spoke in the room, and Caitlin paused for a moment and then laughed.
"Remind me not to joke with a computer," Caitlin stated, turning around and grabbing a water bottle to water her plants.
"Well, barely a joke." Cisco still seemed to be in a mood. He didn't like having powers, it seemed. "You're the only plain old human here now. No meta human abilities," Cisco sighed as Caitlin left the room, this comment hitting her as she thought of that vine.
Caitlin sighed as she went to water the nearest potted plant. It started growing before her eyes, and then an extra flower bloomed from it. Caitlin took a step back, shocked at the accelerated growth, but the plant stop. She turned around to see if Cisco had notice, but he was distracted again with the power dampeners. They were alone in the Cortex now too.
"Yeah, plain old Caitlin Snow." Caitlin sighed. "No powers here," she turned around to the plant, holding out her hand to it. The plant grew some more and, when she put down the hand, the plant stopped growing. "Plain old Caitlin Snow." Caitlin mumbled to herself, doubting that now.
Post Chapter Note: Quite a game-changing chapter this! So, I hope you guys aren't too disappointed Cisco got a power that is not vibing, it's more a joke power but part of the Millma Verse's power databases. Besides Accord from Paranormal Earth, and people having potential for more than one power it's important for the future of, not just this story, but the entire Millma Verse. I hope you guys liked Garfield / Beast Boy too! Caitlin was always going to adopt him.
Anyway, please REVIEW.
Next Time on Karry Universe
Little Siblings: In Starling when Paula gets shocking news all of Team Canary is in for a change. Meanwhile in Central Barry is sure someone is coming into their penthouse at night and is determined to discover who,
Karry Master OUT!