23
Strength in Numbers
Caitlin brushed her hair back from her face as she stood in the elevator, getting used to that feeling of being risen to the Cortex. She's taken that same elevator ride many times before but couldn't shake the nerves that came. She shook out her hands—pausing briefly when she saw the light blue sheen that came to her nails, almost icy, then folded her arms.
It was like the first day of school more, she'd been back to the Cortex enough times since being officially being brought back to Team Flash. And even then, that was the worst part of school, if she were honest. The first day, the not knowing what to expect. Had anyone told her that she'd still feel that way in her twenties, she would've laughed. STAR Labs was supposed to be her home and had been her home for as long as she could remember, but now…
Too much time had passed.
Not too much, Caitlin reminded herself. They allowed you back into STAR Labs, onto Team Flash, no matter what happened. They've gotten over the Killer Frost stuff, now you need to, too. With that, she rolled back her shoulders and strolled confidently out of the elevator whose doors finally opened, letting her free.
She walked toward the Cortex, her smile widening as the seconds passed. Felt her worries melt away. Knew that they'd be able to start a 'new normal' for the team and what was going to happen in the future…save for the metahuman hit list that apparently was going around. But that wasn't anything they couldn't figure out together. They were a team and—
"Oh!"
The noise of surprise escaped her lips before she could stop it. Before she could do what her brain wanted her to do, to turn on her heel and leave the Cortex for her office in long, quick strides. Instead, her feet were frozen—she wondered if she'd tapped into her own powers or if it was just wishful thinking. But it was always hard to work her way out of awkward situations.
And nothing was more awkward than seeing Cisco sitting atop of the desk in the Cortex blissfully unaware of anyone who could've walked in on him kissing Gypsy. The sound of her cry broke them apart, making Gypsy looked at Caitlin with a mildly embarrassed smile, wiping off her lips with the back of her hand, while Cisco continued to smile dreamily.
"I'm just…going to leave you alone," Caitlin said quickly, backing away from the Cortex, pointing over her shoulder. "I have some stuff I need to do in my office, anyway. Go ahead, go…back to what you were doing."
"No, need, I'm leaving anyway," Gypsy said. She reached out her right hand, punching toward the side, where a breach immediately opened. "Say 'hi' to the others for me, okay?" She leapt through the breach, the swirling vortex closing behind her as she did so.
Caitlin turned back to Cisco, opened her mouth, closed it, then folded her arms. She cleared her throat, allowing Cisco to try—and try was the keyword there—to make himself look presentable. He brought his hair over his shoulders, rapidly finger combing it as he did so. Caitlin turned her gaze to the floor, practically screaming at herself to move her feet, to get out of there. To go do something, anything else than realize how awkward she felt.
Weirdly awkward.
"So, you and Gypsy, huh?" Caitlin kept her eyes down, but the corners of her lips turned up as she finally found her voice. "Can't say I didn't see that coming. You were really into her before." Cisco gave her a funny look, finally snapping out of his dreamlike state. He opened his mouth then closed it again, quickly looking away from her. She saw the look in his eye, the hesitant one. Knew what he wanted to ask without saying it out loud. "I saw the way you were with Gypsy before I went full Killer Frost on you guys, you know."
"I know."
"Okay."
"So…?"
"So?"
Cisco tilted his head back and let out a long sigh toward the ceiling. "I hate this," he said. Caitlin shrugged, dropping down into her desk chair. She turned to her computer and typed in her password before bringing up the desktop of every STAR Labs computer, the logo that pun quietly across the screen. A light sigh escaped her lips; she remembered how things used to be, when she first started up at STAR Labs. When things were fresh and new, when the sky was the limit for STAR Labs.
And now…everyone she knew and loved had a bounty over their heads.
Cisco continued speaking, as if Caitlin had asked for him to continue. "I hate that we can never catch a break, you know. One minute we're fling high like Superman and the next thing we know; we're hit by the biggest wad of Kryptonite anyone's ever seen."
"So is the Kryptonite Gypsy or…?" She smiled, seeing the flush that came to Cisco's cheeks. Glad that the conversation topic was able to changed as easily as she thought it would be. A lot of time away from Cisco and she could still read him like a book. It was refreshing, really. Safer. Made her feel like it was one of the few things that didn't have to have changed while she was out of the way, trying to find herself.
Find yourself? Caitlin snorted quietly. More like, trying to find ways to keep your true self out. She ran a hand through her hair, waiting for Cisco's response. It came a little late, betraying his insecurities that he, otherwise, tried to hide. How many times had she sat back and listened as Cisco went on and on about what he was doing with Kendra and whether things were moving in a positive direction?
Nevertheless, she waited for his response, was surprised to find him lower his gaze from hers.
"Yeah, uh, I don't really know how that happened," Cisco said, sounding a bit confused as he spoke. He ran a hand through his hair, scratching the back oh his head. "I mean, who would've thought someone I liked would've actually liked me back, huh?" He dropped his hands to his lap, shrugged. "Even an interdimensional breacher?"
Caitlin lifted her gaze and smiled teasingly at him. "I thought you were connected?" Her words dripped with sugary sweetness that nearly made her teeth rot. "That because you're a breacher, you're able to tell things about each other."
Cisco bobbed his head back and forth. "But there's a difference between that connection and what you and I have." He placed his hand on his chest. "What we have is eternal and nothing's going to come between that." He shared her smile before it faded. "You know, so long as this metahuman hit list doesn't take us down one by one."
With a shake of her head, Caitlin asked, "Are you sure that you're not just mad that you're only going for seven million dollars?" She tapped her pen to her lips. "That's still a lot. If Bruce Wayne hadn't given us that grant for research, I would've thought of taking you out myself."
"That's tough talk for the ten mill, Miss. Killer Frost," Cisco shot back. Caitlin's smile quickly faded and she lowered her head back over her notebook. She cleared her throat and looked to the side, eyebrows twitching. The room went cold, thought Caitlin wasn't sure if it was just because of the tension between them or if it were because of her powers. She dropped her hands to her lap, looking at them to be sure it wasn't the latter. Focused on anything else. "Has that been a problem? Since you've been back, I mean."
"No."
"Because, if you're going to be part of the team again, I'd like to know whether or not I still have my personal snow cone machine at my disposal."
"I said its not a problem!" Caitlin snapped, lifting her head to glare at him. He brought his hands up, palms out, blinking rapidly. He made a show of taking a step back. Immediately, Caitlin bit her lower lip. "I'm—I'm sorry, Cisco. It's just…being back here…it's so normal. But I keep expecting everything to fall apart, you know? Like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. And that's not to say how long Barry was gone and the new team dynamics and…" She waved her hand. "Now this hit list and this enemy that we don't know about."
"See what I mean?" He gently jostled her arm. "Kryptonite. Next thing we know, we're going to hit the ground twitching."
"And to think, I thought things would be weird when I came back," Caitlin mused. "Different."
"What do you mean?"
Finally, Caitlin turned and looked him in the eye, crossing her legs at the knee. "I mean, coming back and having you guys welcome me," she said. "You don't know if things are going to change, if I'm going to go all Frost on you guys and take you down one by one? How do you know I didn't come up with the list and I'm just waiting for you to lower your guards and give me the opportunity to take you all down?"
"You're not going to do that, Cait."
"I tried to kill you all before."
"Yeah, but that was when you…"
Caitlin leaped onto his unfinished sentence. "When I what?" She demanded, eyes flashing. "When I couldn't control my powers? When I was blindly following Savitar because he made sense to me? When I—"
'—When you were Killer Frost, you weren't you," Cisco interrupted. "You weren't Caitlin, you were Killer Frost. You were fighting back for control of yourself." Caitlin pressed her lips together. "I saw it, Cait. I vibed you, I saw it in your head. You, in your subconscious, were fighting back against Killer Frost and you were winning. That's how you came back."
No, I came back because I was injected in the neck with a cure that I didn't get the chance to say whether I wanted it, Caitlin wanted to say. But didn't. Didn't want to open that can of worms once more. Especially knowing that it'd changed when the Hit List came to their subconscious.
"Well, that's exactly why we're going to figure out who's behind the Hit List." Caitlin and Cisco turned to see Harry leaning against the doorframe of the Cortex, rubbing the lenses of his glasses against the bottom of his shirt.
Cisco rolled his eyes. "If we knew that, I don't think we'd just be sitting here." Harry mimicked his words in a high-pitched voice, coming closer to the pair of friends. "I don't sound like that!" Cisco defended himself, only for it to fall on death ears.
"I don't mean find out who has made the Hit List, that could be anyone with all the money in the world," Harry pointed out. "Politicians. Royalty. Bored housewives with their husband's fortune at their fingertips, it's not just those that are evil that find entertainment in the more sinister ideals of the world." He lowered his chin. "Take that Luthor fellow for example."
"You really think a desperate housewife is throwing her money to end the lives of metahumans?"
"It's not so strange of an idea."
"How do you figure?"
"Wasn't Cadence doing the same thing when she was part of the Assassination Bureau?"
Silence stretched through the Cortex.
That was different.
Wasn't it?
Caitlin didn't know for sure, after all, she was the one who practically contracted her former best friend into killing her if Killer Frost managed to make her way out again.
"Master Bruce has been expecting you," Alfred Pennyworth said as he closed the door behind Barry and Cadence. He reached out his hands for their coats. "He and the rest of his guests are in the parlor."
"Oh, no worries, man," Barry said with a grin. He turned his grin to Cadence, who rolled her eyes, then turned back to Alfred. "Watch this!" Cadence turned her gaze to her empty wrist, as if looking at a watch. Alfred lifting an eyebrow. In a flash of lightning, Barry whizzed himself and Cadence in a circle, taking off their jackets and zoomed them into a nearby closet before screeching to a halt back to where he stood before. He spread his arms, waiting for Alfred's amazed reaction.
Instead, Alfred's face remained frozen, his eyebrow still raised. "And I thought Batman was the show off," he drawled, making Cadence bring her hand up to cover her mouth, trying and failing to cover her laughter.
Barry's arms slumped to his sides. He gently kicked at the ground, then looked to fiancée. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw her laughter and he gave her his puppy dog look. "Really?" He asked.
"I'm sorry," Cadence said, still laughing. "But you were asking for it."
"This way, please." Alfred turned on his heel and led the two away from the spacious front hall toward the parlor room. Their footsteps echoed along the corridor as they went, bouncing off the walls and coming back to them in seconds. Finally, after Barry thought the hallway would never end, they arrived at the parlor. Alfred pushed the doors open and stepped aside, holding out his arm. "Master Bruce, the final of your guests have arrived."
"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce replied, turning from the window that overlooked the courtyard. He walked to meet him at the door. "That will be all for now."
"Oh really?" Alfred's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I guess I hadn't noticed that everyone you'd sent away for had arrived." He left the parlor with a call over his shoulder, "Just let me know if you need me. But please only let it be if you really need me."
Bruce picked up two glasses of champagne that sat on the nearby table and walked it to Barry and Cadence. Barry took it from Bruce with a grateful smile, taking a sip. "Thanks," he said to Bruce. "It's good I can't get drunk off this, at least I can enjoy it," he said.
"If you like it, I can make it your wedding gift to you," Bruce remarked with a light smile. "Best year you can get and there's plenty to go around."
"You're a billionaire and your wedding gift is going to be champagne?" Cadence asked, her eyebrows coming together.
"No, I'm paying for the catering at reception," Bruce said calmly. "I just wanted to be sure what sort of champagne you wanted served at the open bar." He gestured with his arm and the three crossed the room. "You know, for someone who runs so fast, I'd thought you would've been here quicker."
"Oh." Barry waved a hand, glancing at the titles of some books as they passed the bookshelf. "I stopped to put some violent criminals in jail." He looked back at Bruce, lifting an eyebrow. "The cells are a lot fuller than I thought they'd be."
"Well, contrary to popular opinion, the Bat Cave doesn't have its own prison. Or else I'm sure the population of criminals would react a bit differently." Bruce cleared his throat. "You actually stopped to put people away?"
Cadence shrugged modestly. "What can we say? We see a crime committed and we can't help ourselves."
"Well, maybe it'll put Batman in a better light."
"I don't think that's possible." Clark turned away from the woman he was speaking to and the two crossed the room to join the circle. "Commissioner Gordon has had it out for him since he first showed up in Gotham and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon." He nodded to Barry and Cadence. "I'm glad to see you two made it in one piece. I heard things haven't been going well in Central City right now."
"You'd win that bet," Barry said with a low sigh. "Ever since Lex Luthor showed up, things have been slowly been getting worse."
"If there's anyone who knows about Lex and his strange plans, you came to the right place," Clark said with a patient sigh. He gestured toward the woman beside him who watched the exchange with a friendly curiosity. A tall woman. An Amazonian woman if Barry were being honest. She dressed very simply, a blue long-sleeved blouse with ankle length blue skinny jeans and black high heeled shoes, her dark hair down and framing her face. But Barry could tell simply from looking at her that there was something different about her. Not quite human. Or even more human than others. "This is Diana Prince. Diana, this is Barry Allen and his fiancée Cadence Nash."
"Nice to meet you," Barry said, reaching out to shake her hand. Diana grasped it firmly, firm enough that Barry's eyes nearly popped out his head at the strength that came with her grasp. He hid it well, only bringing his hand, discreetly, back to his side to make a low whimpering sound when she turned her attention to Cadence.
"Nice to meet you," Diana agreed. Then she turned to Cadence and cupped both of her hands in her own. "You, too, sister," she added, practically gushing.
Cadence smiled in response then exchanged a look with Barry, who was too busy trying to stretch out his hand to notice. When the pain subsided, he focused in on the next thing that Clark said as her introduction. "Also known as Wonder Woman."
At that, Barry turned toward her, his eyes growing wide. "Wonder Woman?" He repeated. "As in the Wonder Woman?"
Clark snorted quietly. "Does he always add a 'the' in front of our names?" He asked Cadence.
"Only when he's in awe," Cadence replied. Then she grinned. "So, yes, he always adds a 'the' in front of it." She gestured toward Bruce. "You should've heard him when he first realized Bruce was Batman."
"That's because Oliver insisted that he didn't exist," Barry defended himself.
"Well, that's a conversation we're going to save for another day," Bruce interrupted. He looked each of his companions in the eye. "As we all know, there have been an increase in the response to those with fantastical powers over the year," he said. He took in a deep breath through his nose. "At first, it was something we thought was centered in Smallville with the meteor showers. The "meteor freaks" dominated the air waves with every strange case that came up with it."
"And the longer the cases came up, the more it drew people to them that wanted to figure out what made the meteor freaks," Clark agreed. "Hence Lex Luthor trying to figure out everything about me," he said. "And once Lex got that idea in his head, he became obsessed with finding out my secret and what it meant for those that were super powered in the world." He turned to Diana. "Through that time, it's where I met Diana. She now works at the DEO in Washington, D.C."
"The DEO?" Cadence's eyebrows rose.
She exchanged a glance with Barry, who reacted in surprise as well. They'd heard of the DEO, but Kara's and Debby's DEO on Earth-38, where Alex Danvers worked. The Kara Danvers on their Earth had disappeared years ago and hadn't been seen since. Thusly, it was possible there was no Alex Danvers on their Earth, meaning the DEO that Diana was a part of, was a different sort of DEO.
"Yes, I've come to find it a very fulfilling place, sister," Diana replied. "We worked hard to make sure that people like myself and Kal-El are able to live amongst the humans naturally. We monitor those with extranormal superpowers and prevent threats to the general public."
Barry frowned. The DEO worked out of Washington, D.C. and worked to make sure that metas and others with superpowers were to keep from being a general threat to the public…the same sort of garbage that Lex Luthor had said that he'd do with his political platform. Trying to make all of the metahumans give up their identities and rights. And…as far as he knew…give up their identities so others could make money off their lives.
Bruce noticed Barry's frown. "I can assure you that Diana is of the people that truly doesn't want anything to happen to those with abilities like yours." He paused briefly. "She's an Amazonian."
"I can see that," Barry replied, eyeing her stature.
Diana smiled kindly. "He means, Barry, that my name is Diana of Themyscira and I'm the Amazon Princess of Paradise Island."
"She's got as many powers as you, Clark, and Cadence have," Bruce explained. He took a long sip of champagne then swirled it around in his glass, watching the bubbles rise to the surface. "Which means she's just as susceptible to the danger that the rest of you guys are in. Which brings me to why I've asked you all here today."
"You heard about the metahuman hit list," Cadence realized. She folded her arms, letting out a low humming sound. Her eyebrows knitted together. "But your names weren't on the list. The only ones we saw were of ours, our friends…"
"That list was specific for Central City," Bruce said patiently. "Once we caught wind of it, I contacted Clark and Diana to see if there was anything that they could scrounge up on their ends as well. And we've found that there has been a similar list created in Metropolis as well as D.C."
Barry looked to Cadence, who's frown deepened even further, hearing that her hometown was having the same issue. He was sure she was thinking of her mother at that point, and quite possibly, her idea of moving to Central City. It wasn't that long ago, when they were looking into the case of the man smeared across the ceiling and walls of a broken down elevator, that she'd mentioned she had been looking around. And if they needed toe keep everyone safe, it was probably better to keep them all in one city to watch them.
"So, what does that mean?" Barry asked. "That it's the same group who are making these hit lists?" He thought for a second. "That Lex is behind them?"
"I wish it were that simple," Clark said. He stared so hard into his glass of champagne that Barry was sure it would've burst into flames from a shot of his heat vision. "But while we were able to uncover the hit lists, we weren't sure what it came from specifically."
"Not even the DEO has had means to figure it out," Diana agreed. She still had a pleasant smile on her face, but her eyes lowered to her feet, disappointment coating her tone. "We have the best means of technology, the best agents at our disposal and we haven't been able to determine the source of origin." She nodded to Clark. "Senator Kent has been working hard to combat anything that Lex has been projecting during his campaigns, but it only seems to serve fanning the flames of the fear those without powers feel."
"Which is why he's decided to use Central City as his base of operations," Bruce agreed.
"Because with the Singularity, the Reverse-Flash, Vandal Savage, Zoom, Savitar, the Breathtaker, the Assassination Bureau," Barry listed off, counting on his fingers.
"Wow, a lot has happened within the last few years," Cadence remarked with a grimace.
"It's no wonder that Lex would set his sights on Central City then," Barry said with a sigh. "First the Samuroids, then the bus metas—"
"—Bus metas?" Clark repeated.
And so, Barry explained everything that'd happened when he went into the Speed Force, when he came out, and what had happened since then. Taking special care to note that there was a good chance that there would be more metas who may or may not end up receiving powers because of the flood of dark matter that had poured out of the breach that he'd come from. "That Hit List could be getting bigger as the days pass."
"It still doesn't explain who's been trying to take us down," Cadence pointed out. "And as far as this has gone. As far as we know, it's just one person who's down on their luck, trying to make as much money as possible."
"There's one thing you're forgetting," Bruce pointed out. "That, whomever has targeted you, knows your identities. Which means it's not too hard to say they probably know ours as well." He thought for a moment. "And, could quite possibly be the same person who sent that…you called it a Samuroid?"
"So, we're back to where we started," Barry said, feeling his stomach sink in disappointment. It seemed that every time they figured something out, that they took a step forward, they were always knocked two steps back. "Trying to figure out who is sending out the Samuroids to face me and why."
"It's just you?" Clark asked.
"Just me. Cade's managed to defeat one so far, and Brady has as well. But every time they say they're after The Flash and will wait until I show up."
Clark smirked. "Who did you manage to tick off this time?"
"Lex Luthor, apparently," Cadence remarked. She looked Clark in the eye. "You said there's been a hit list for Metropolis? Has anyone from the Watchtower been…?" She trailed off, her voice turning quiet.
"Everyone at the Watchtower is fine," Clark said. "Lois has been keeping her ears to the ground since we caught wind of what was going on and decided to meet up so we could ensure we were on the same page on how to handle things." He shrugged. "There's strength in numbers, we've all worked together before, and there may come a time where we need to work together again."
"You've been going after Joker and Lex for a long time. And you still work to go after them when they become a danger to your cities again. How do you keep going?"
Barry wasn't sure what he'd do if he had to face the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne, again, but continuously looked over his shoulder, just in case. Thawne was from the future, had managed to come from many different points in time to wreak havoc on Barry in ways he'd never expected.
It didn't take much for him to think that Thawne was behind the Hit List, hiding behind others who were desperate enough to eradicate metas that it'd take Barry down as well.
For a moment, Bruce and Clark simply looked at each other, as if unsure of how to answer. Then, Bruce said, "Because, if we stop, then we've left down those that don't deserve to have their lives uprooted with the pain that we've felt."
Barry nodded.
It hurt like hell and more when his other was murdered. Hurt even more when his father was murdered. And yet, he continued to protect the city, not just because he had the means to, but because he had the strength of the citizen of Central City behind him, had the strength of his team behind him, his family, the people he loved.
It was like Clark said, there was strength in numbers.
"Finally," DeVoe said, turning to face Marlize with a smirk. "They've made contact with the others."
"Yes," Marlize agreed. She reached around her husband and changed the image projected on screen from that of Wayne Manor to a group of twelve people—prisoners—locked away somewhere. "We can move onto the next phase now."
A/N: Working from home can be annoying sometimes, especially when it's something that can easily be done through an email. *Rolls eyes*. Either way, it took me some time getting around that and figuring out how I can write at the same time.
Also, I'm changing a bit with DeVoe and the bus metas (surprise, surprise. That'd be my trademark at this point, I think). But I think it'd give a better plot point for him and how things will eventually end up.
Hope you enjoyed!
Cheers,
-Riles
Review Replies
Ethan: Yep, whomever is after them knows their identities. Cade does have a gun on her, given to her with her position with the CCPD, but she hadn't thought to use it while fighting. She also has specific guns as Flare. The prices will change along with certain pints of the story, you have to pay attention to them and what's happened within the story to figure out why.
DarkHelm145: There's a lot that can happen with it, that makes me excited for you all to see my ideas and pay offs as well. Like, I'm excited with every story and plot I write within the Flash and the Flame series, and for this story, this is one of the main ones I love.
Natalie Jarrett: Oh yes, it was my inspiration for the metahuman hit list, along with the dc comic character Tommy Monaghan, that inspired me for this plot. And it's a pretty big one now. You'll see some things come from it.
