Flashpoint: Heroes

Barry melted into her hold. Her words helped to soothe him. He would never, ever blame her for feeling the way she did about Thawne. He would always blame Thawne. He was a little biased against the man and would never be able to admit there might be some part of Thawne that couldn't care.

The answer made Harry purse his lips. "So, more of a Wolverine healing factor than a Deadpool one." The nerdy reference would have probably landed better with Cisco in the room. "Regardless, we're not testing it. If it comes down to that with Sylar to keep you safe, I know what side I'm on." He saw her reaction to what her father said and he didn't like it. He didn't know the context entirely, but he could guess some of it.

When Claire looked to the med lab, she'd see Cisco looking back at them. He waved with a big goofy smile back at her.

From:

She grinned and waved back at Cisco, relief to see that he was clearly his usual self again. That, and feeling Barry relax against her was an immediate boost to her mood.

"Ugh, I wish I was like Wolverine," Claire whined playfully. "Those claws would've come in handy more than a few times. But I guess my healing is pretty similar to his." Surprise, Harry. Undercover nerd here. "I worked at a comic shop for a while. Didn't have a lot of time to read that much, but the customers were more than happy to talk my ear off about anything I wanted to hear about."

It had been her first 'real' job, when previously she'd mostly done babysitting for neighbors to earn a little spending cash.

"I'm with Harry," Noah agreed, which didn't surprise his daughter a bit. "However, I'll refrain from telling Sylar about any of these plans. No need to provoke him when he's been in compliance with our agreement. He'll be staying away from you, unless you explicitly say otherwise. It's your call, Clairebear."

Wasn't it just like a dad to drop the childhood nickname in front of all her friends? "Peter first," she insisted, blushing. "If it's safe for him to be around Meta-powers, then it probably will be for Sylar, too. We can't go dangling that kind of power in front of him until we know he can't access it."

Once again she held on a little tighter to Barry. Yes, she knew Sylar was no match for The Flash, but the thought of him trying was enough to scare her.

From:

Harry smirked at her, snorting a laugh through his nose. "Bone or adamantium?" He asked her curiously. The mood had been so heavy and he knew a lot of it was his fault, so he was trying to remedy that.

"It's probably best not to let him in on our contingency plan." Harry added and Jesse smiled sweetly when she heard the nickname from Noah. It was a lot more adorable than her dad's for her. He called her Jesse Quick on account of her quick intellect. In honour of him, it became her superhero name.

"Getting right on the powers thing, heard." Jesse said with a smile and dashed into the med lab, setting up the laptop with Caitlin so they could go through Thawne's notes.

Barry held her back just as tightly. "He'd have to catch me." Barry said softly to just her because he had a feeling he knew why she was worried.

From:

"Adamantium, probably? But the whole process of getting there sounds like it sucks, even without pain. Would be cool to never break a bone again, though." She very much appreciated the levity from Harry. Her expertise was not nearly as wide as Cisco's, but she could still join in on the nerdy chatter.

Claire had heard Harry refer to her as Jesse Quick a couple times now, and she thought it was cute. It was just one more of those little similarities between them.

Barry's reassurance went a long way. It was kind of incredible how in tune he was with her already. She bonked her head against his shoulder, not unlike a particularly affectionate cat. "I know," she murmured. That trauma was still hard to shake, the fear that she couldn't have anything nice because of people like Sylar. Finally she had something he couldn't take away or otherwise ruin.

From:

It helped that he just had to hear or see something once and it was locked into his memory. A blessing and a curse. And Cisco found out he was something of a media buff, so the kid didn't shut up. Cisco wanted to know every difference between their Earths media and rambled on and on and Harry humoured him as they worked, but it was getting to the point he couldn't split the info from this Earth and his own any more. "You still have tactile sensation? It's just pain you can't feel?" Harry asked curiously. There must be some threshold gait preventing her nerves from sending signals beyond a certain intensity if that was the case.

Cisco seemed to be slowly moving from one bed, down the length of it, then to a chair by the door, as if he was trying to escape while Caitlin and Jesse were busy.

Barry kissed the side of her head when she bonked him with a bright smile. "You're the best."

From:

"I still feel everything else, yeah, even things that should technically be a pain response. Just no actual pain." She shrugged. "We've never been sure of the cause, but it started right after Sylar poked around in my brain."

It was tempting to blame it on him, but to her knowledge, it wasn't something he'd actively done to her. He still felt pain, after all. So did Peter.

She noticed Cisco's change in position with amusement, then beamed a grin at Barry. "No, you are." Classic Uno Reverse.

From:

Harry grimaced and wanted to shoot a glare in Noah's direction for the earlier topic of keeping that man around after what he'd done to Claire but refrained. "It's possible. The brain is complex. Even with your healing, who knows what could have gone wrong."

Cisco made a mad dash into the Cortex once he was close enough to the door but was abruptly stopped with a comical yelp as Harry caught the back of his shirt. "Hey! Easy on the threads, dude!" Cisco objected in a quiet hiss.

"If I recall, it was you who ratted me out to Snow when I slipped down to the lab before she discharged me." Harry said sternly. Why yes, he was this petty.

"Yeah, but I didn't almost die!" Cisco whined.

Barry leaned in and stole a quick kiss from Claire then laughed at the antics between Wells and Cisco. This morning had started out wonderful, then tanked immediately into Hell, and was slowly climbing back out of the pit. He held onto her for reassurance that things would be okay.

From:

"If..." Claire hesitated, because she was ready for judgment. But in truth, she didn't expect anyone to understand. "If it's something that can be reversed, I'd actually really like that."

Cisco had a point, but she wasn't getting in the middle of it. Instead she was quietly happy to see them both doing okay. Harry in particular had been in rough shape after those two accidents.

The day had certainly been a roller coaster, but it was improving by the moment. It'd be ending nicely, if she had anything to do about it - there were still those promised cuddles to look forward to at home. Their home. That thought was never gonna get old: it made her giddy every time. And so she was all too happy to give Barry a extra snuggly hug, smiling up at him. "You alright, darlin'?"

From:

She'd get no judgement from Harry. "Pain is the body's first line of defence against injury. I can look into it with Snow if you want. I make no promises." Nevermind that his answer came while he had Cisco in a headlock and the young genius was flailing around like a limp noodle. Cisco was one of the few people aside from Jesse that Harry actually got physical with unless there were goodbyes involved. Then he'd give out hugs, otherwise, he was very reserved with touching.

Following that there was a round of Harry saying, "I guess you seem fine." And Cisco shooting back, "I told you! Try that again and I'll Vibe Blast you into next week!" "Try it and see where it gets you." Harry retorted, then the wrestling stopped so the two went back to acting like adults again.

Barry smiled down at her and booped her nose with his. "Yeah. You?"

From:

"Thank you," she replied with a nod. There wasn't much more she could ask for than that. Not feeling pain made her feel less human. But there were practical reasons, like what Harry seemed to be thinking of, she supposed. Maybe she would've known sooner that the Chameleon toxin was still affecting her if she had felt something.

Harry and Cisco's shenanigans were truly heartwarming. Just an underpinning of how much they were all like family. Even if Harry was stingy with hugs.

"I'm okay," she told Barry, giggling quietly at the boop. A hand ran lightly up his back, then back down again. "Better than okay, actually. I'm really happy."

From:

Harry offered her a nod and ignored Joe snickering at him and Cisco.

"They're like siblings." Joe chuckled. "You'd never believe those two couldn't stand each other when they first met." He said to Claire. "Then again, I couldn't stand 'im either." He heard Harry huff but ignored it.

Barry arched into the touch. "I'm glad. You make me happy, so I want you to be just as happy."

From:

"I liked Harry immediately," she admitted. Well, after the initial mistaken identity, but she didn't have to mention that part. "It was a unique circumstance, 'cause I was giving him first aid in my kitchen, but he was a better patient for me than he was for Caitlin after Hartley attacked us." Why yes, there was a hint of a lecturing attitude in her tone. Your turn, Harry.

Claire leaned her head on Barry's chest, sighing. "You make me the happiest. No doubt about that."

From:

"I'm a different man now than I was then." Harry admitted to Claire. "I was driven by a desire to save Jess. Everyone else be damned. Then I met these annoyingly kind kids." His tone turned to aggressively fond. "And try as I might, I couldn't trade their lives in for my daughter's. The rest of their entire Earth, sure. But this group here had gotten under my skin in a way I never imagined." Now he sounded pained.

Cisco inclined his chin with pride, smiling. "Yeah, and then Mr. Super Genius here decided he was gonna go fight Zoom himself one-on-one and die trying to save Jesse and close all the breaches behind him to lock Zoom on his Earth to protect us. Like we'd let that happen."

"Don't sound so high and mighty." Joe said. "After what he did to Barr, we were all ready to throw him through the breach and forget he existed. Even Caitlin. But not Barr. Barr was the one who reminded us that when it comes to family, we'd each do whatever it takes to save our loved ones." As Joe spoke, Harry looked incredibly humbled. He obviously hadn't heard this side of things, he just knew they decided to help him after everything he'd done. "He convinced us to give Harry another chance, and look at him now." Joe sounded proud.

"Y-you--" Was Harry choked up? "Thank you." He didn't know how to handle that much emotion in front of others.

Cisco immediately caught on and threw an arm around Harry. "I'm glad we kept his grumpy ass. Who else is gonna throw my stuff around my lab like a skinny Hulk and make nerdy references with me?" Harry didn't even fight away from the half hug. He just laughed, genuinely.

Barry was grinning at both his found family and Claire. He cupped the back of her head with one hand and just cuddled her happily. "Welcome to our weird little family, Claire."

From:

"That's why I liked you immediately. And that's why when I say you're like my dad, it's a compliment." Her gaze shifted fondly between Harry and Noah. Joe, too, though as far as Claire could tell, he seemed a great deal more measured than the other two men - which she chalked up to him being a cop.

"Hey, I can join in on the merry references too," she added, giggling. "When Harry compares me to Wolverine and Deadpool, I get it. Actually, forget claws, what if I had swords?"

"Claire, no." Noah's voice was more amused than actually scolding or lecturing, and she laughed even more.

"A girl can try!" She grinned up at Barry. "I wouldn't have this family any other way." But she was also excited for it to grow. Peter would probably get along with everyone, or at least she hoped he would. Hopefully her mom would be able to visit eventually too, once things quieted down.

From:

Joe liked to think he was pretty well adjusted for a single dad with a druggie ex-wife who raised two kids and now suddenly had a third he didn't even know about until last year.

Harry offered Claire a rare warm smile and dipped his head. These warm fuzzy emotions were gonna be the death of him right now. He was just glad Jesse was in the other room busy with the laptop or he'd never hear the end of it from her. Every time this team made him smile, she went on and on about how happy they made him and about how he should move here and start a new life here because she hadn't seen him anywhere near this happy since Tess died. And all she wanted for him was to see him smiling again. Which wasn't fair, because he should be taking care of her, not the other way around! And that added to his guilt complex.

"Hey, cool it Ladypool! We don't bring up the unholy X-Men Origins film! They butchered ma boy!" Cisco made a show of blessing the father, son, and holy spirit across his body. "Even if they gave him badass katanas in his arms, they made a mockery of the rest of him!"

Harry rolled his eyes at Cisco's theatrics then gently swatted him upside the head. "I think what Ramon means to say is, you're welcome in the lab and time, Ms. Bennet. Sans swords."

Barry was also excited to meet the reat of Claire's family. Not Sylar. But the rest. Even if her grandmother sounded a little insane after that last chat.

From:

Claire was beaming back at Harry, considering it quite the accomplishment to get a real smile from him. Not just one, but two bonus dads. Noah was extremely pleased to know she had such a strong unit around her, because he wouldn't be able to be in Central City full time. He'd be splitting his time there, plus in New York and DC.

"I'd be like, ten times cooler with a sword. Maybe less a katana and more like a knight," she said playfully. "But I also don't know how to use one, so... maybe that's a problem." It was entirely likely she'd hurt herself before she managed to stop any bad guys.

Angela had softened some in the years since Nathan's death, finally coming to terms with her grief, and had warmed to Claire quite a lot. Okay, so she wasn't the nurturing grandma who made Sunday dinners, but she had other ways to take care of her family. Sometimes that included making sure her only granddaughter had everything she needed, other times it was covering up crimes or offering bail money.

Claire had never been arrested, for the record. The offer was made just in case.

"I'm not going anywhere," came her confident assurance. "You'll be seeing a lot of me around here." Central City was home now. Nothing was changing that. She couldn't leave the rest of their family any more than she could leave Barry. Part of her was fully prepared for Sylar to show up; she almost wanted him to see how happy he was, to show him what he'd never have.

Was it petty and spiteful? Yes. Was it better than wanting to kill him? Probably.

From:

"Yeah, until you lose an arm!" Cisco shot back, crossing his arms and fixing her with a stubborn stare. "Swords are a 'No'. But how do you feel about a flamethrower?" Yes, because that sounded totally hinged and safer, Cisco. "I've been working on things."

"Ramon!" Harry chided.

"What? They've been down so I had down time too!" Cisco defended. "I'll fill you in on the deets later. Right now, I've gotta get Scrooge McDuck back to his mountain of computer code before he has a meltdown." He said as he tugged on Harry's sleeve.

"And which of my grandnephews does that make you?" Harry asked with a raised brow as he let Cisco pull on his sleeve without budging.

"Oh-hoho. I could never be related to you! I'm too handsome! Jesse must've gotten her mother's beauty." Cisco quipped right back. But when Harry didn't keep up the banter he looked confused. He expected to be chased down the hall by an angry genius threatening him or something, but no. Harry's expression hardly changed, though there was an odd silence that ended their teasing.

"We'll be down in the lab Thawne-proofing the facility if you need us. Bennets, Allen, West. Stay safe." Harry's tone was a bit off but not unkind. Then he gave in to Cisco's tugging and they were off down the curved hall.

Once they were gone Joe raised his eyebrows and drew in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. "Sometimes that kid is as socially clueless as Harrison and that's saying something." He rubbed the back of his head. "I did some digging. It's hard to get info on a guy from another Earth, but Jesse told me her mom died when she was young. Like our Harrison Wells on this Earth, he was married to Tess Morgan. Unlike ours, Thawne didn't kill her. But when she died, Jesse said Harry broke. That man used to be happy all the time. Playful. Full of energy. When Thawne brought up Tess, if any of the pain he pretended to feel was based on how the real Harrison Wells would have felt either because he stalked the man before he took over his body or somehow got his memories, Tess is a nuclear subject with Harry."

Barry could sort of understand. If anything happened to Claire, he'd lose his mind. "I think Cisco is taking this Phoenix thing seriously." Barry decided to focus on instead.

Edited (Forgot the subject line ) Date: 2025-10-09 10:03 am (UTC)

From:

Seeing the change in Harry was a little jarring, but it wasn't hard to guess it had something to do with Cisco bringing up Jesse's mother, even before Joe had confirmed it. And Claire understood completely. It'd break her too if something happened to Barry.

There were shades of that playfulness sometimes in Harry's antics with Cisco, but the way that Wells kept himself from getting too close was still obvious. No wonder Jesse was so protective of her dad's happiness. Noah's happiness was just important to Claire, and he'd only been divorced - through his own fault - not widowed.

She couldn't help but give Barry another extra squeeze of a hug. Losing loved ones was always a fear she'd had to contend with, especially after her regen manifested. The fear of losing him was on another level, and the realization hit her like a truck. But she played it off, not letting it show outwardly too much.

"What Phoenix thing?" her dad asked curiously, breaking up those thoughts. His voice had that mildly curious tone, which made her laugh nervously.

"Uh... Just some projects Cisco's working on. Any excuse to do science, you know?" It was clearly answered in a way to imply she didn't really know what he was doing - which wasn't completely a lie. Sure, she knew he was making a suit, but the flamethrower talk was new. She genuinely had no idea what he was planning, there.

"A project to give you a flamethrower? Claire, we've talked about this. You said you wanted to keep a low profile." Noah got a little more stern, and Claire shrunk.

"I have no idea what the flamethrower thing is. But... we did talk about me having better methods to defend myself. The Chameleon attack had me shaken up, now all this Thawne stuff. I can't just sit around and be a victim, Dad. And sometimes guns aren't enough." Because she knew he'd remind her of his training.

It was kind of a losing battle, and Noah knew it. With this part of it, anyway. He'd have better arguments against the costume, once he found out about that. So he was conceding this round, but he looked to Barry.

"I know I can trust you to keep an eye on her, at least. Heaven knows she can't be stopped once she's set her mind on something."

From:

Barry stuttered and blew air through his lips as he tried to find words. Sometimes he was a terrible liar, but he was trying to follow Claire's lead and pretend he knew even less about it than she did, which was a lie. Cisco had been filling him in.

"Cisco likes to name all his s-- weapons. And things. Phoenix sounds like a great project name for a flamethrower. But knowing Cisco it's probably not just a run-of-the-mill flamethrower. He just wants to keep Claire safe." Barry said carefully. "And you have my word, I do too."

"Hey. I want you both safe." Joe cut in sternly. Because he knew Barry. He raised the kid at least half his life and watched him put himself in danger for people he loved all the time even before he got his powers. Now it seemed like it was a daily occurrence. "Just 'coz you two can heal, don't make you invincible. Don't forget, us dads, our hearts don't heal if we lose our kids." He said pointing a finger between Claire and Barry.

From:

Noah's brow furrowed slightly, and it was fairly obvious that he was trying to decipher what Barry's near slip up could mean. Cisco seemed like the type to name anything he worked on, honestly. He couldn't deny that he liked the idea of Claire being able to defend herself when his training wasn't enough. He didn't know how much more effective fire would be, but it was certain that bullets would be useless against Thawne.

"Just be careful," he urged. Beyond a doubt, he knew Barry could be trusted to keep Claire's safety a priority.

"I got lucky that Leonard was there when the Chameleon attacked," Claire pointed out softly. That of course wasn't really anyone's fault, least of all Barry's. She wouldn't ever hold that against him, especially now that she knew how dire things had been. "There won't always be someone around to save me. My luck could run out and I need to be prepared."

She knew her dad well enough to know he couldn't argue with that. It was something he himself had warned her about, before she moved to Central City. Peter could be there instantly, but she'd still have to call or text him first. Those seconds were precious in an emergency situation, particularly where Thawne was involved.

"But you're right, Joe. If there's anything I've learned since moving here... it's that I'm not as invincible as I thought." As much as she hated to admit it. "Not only that, I have so much more to lose now. I'll be as careful as I can."

From:

Noah seemed like he needed a bit more convincing when he furrowed his brows and Barry stumbled onward. "Fire deters most people, metas included. But speedsters like me and Thawne, ice slows us down. Cisco's weapon uses distilled liquid oxygen as a fuel for the fire bursts. Which, in a situation with Thawne, could be released without a spark to freeze." Barry explained. "Cisco built the Cold Gun Snart used to take down The Chameleon to... well, he built it to stop me originally because he didn't know if he could trust me. Totally fair, I guess. But if Cisco is building a weapon to stop speedsters, it'll work. It always does." Yep, that Cold Gun works pretty well against him. He didn't need to say that part out loud, right? It came pretty well implied. "And if that Thawne alarm goes off, I don't care where I am, I'll be at Claire's side." Julian could shove his bitchy attitude where the sun didn't shine if Thawne was near Claire.

Barry gave her a tighter squeeze for a moment. He also had even more to lose. He loved her too much.

"She's got a lot of great people in her corner." Joe said to Noah. "Some have powers and some are just geniuses who are stubborn as the devil. And some are just an old cop, but I'll treat her like she's one of my own." Because she pretty much was. Every lost soul Barry brought into the fold was. More so her, because Barry was clearly in love with her.

From:

"The Cold Gun was what gave me the idea to use Cryo," Claire reminded them. Sure, Caitlin had been inspiration too, but no one needed to know that. She had a feeling Barry knew from experience that the gun worked, and she did not like the idea of it being used on him. Once again she felt that protective streak kicking in. Joe's further assurance meant more to her than she could say. She might have given anything for a chance to meet Barry's parents, but she was still so glad he had Joe.

"I seem to keep accumulating dads." She grinned, laughing quietly. "Barry's family is my family, too. I've... never really had that with anyone before."

Noah might have pointed out that it was because she never let herself. She didn't need that, he knew. For all her faults, his daughter was at least self-aware. It was something that had ended up protecting her, in the long run. Not getting too close, not until she had gotten some more life experience under her belt and found herself in a place where she was ready for it. He was proud of her.

"You've picked up strays over these last years, you just didn't get taken in yourself," he said instead, gently teasing. She'd accumulated a fair few friends around the country in her travels, most of which had been folks Noah also knew, but he was mostly referring to her newer friends.

Claire couldn't really dispute that. "Needed to find the right place to settle in. I didn't think I'd ever find somewhere to belong again. A home and something worth fighting for." Which was all of this, but it was mostly Barry. She leaned her head against his chest with a sigh.

From:

Hey, it was her BFF Snart who used it on him every time. Only the first couple times were with the intention to kill. Every time after those were just to hinder Barry. He tortured Barry's identity out of Cisco and Barry retaliated. Snart saw the darkness in Barry and Barry saw the light in Snart. They made their pact and that was when things changed; when Snart stopped trying to kill him. Then Barry and his team saved his baby sister's life and that was when Leonard decided Barry could do no wrong. It left a mark so deep that it changed Leonard for the better. Barry was just sorry they lost him.

Barry smiled at her sadly. "My dad would've loved you. So that's another dad you would've collected." His eyes were glassy for a moment with unshed tears. "My mom, too."

Joe wrapped the cuddling pair in a big bear hug. "Henry would've adored you." He let them go after a moment, rubbing their backs. "And Iris is looking forward to meeting you. She should be back in town later today." He glanced at Barry. "You know how she gets. She's gonna wanna make you guys dinner." He said in a more lighthearted warning tone.

"Oh God." Barry responded. "We'll just have to cook first." He looked at Claire. "Iris can't cook. She tries. But she's the only person I know who can screw up pancakes from mix."

From:

She knew there was some troubled history to say the least between Barry and Leonard, but was glad they seemed to work it out. Snart had saved her, and had pushed her toward telling Barry the truth about herself. It was hard to think badly of him after that.

Claire returned a one-armed hug when Joe came over, her other still firmly wrapped around Barry. The mention of Iris yet again brought up thoughts about the voice message from Thawne, but now she was a little better at hiding how awkward it made her feel. She had no reason to doubt her relationship - she didn't see it as 'meant to be' so much as a conscious choice, something that she was going to work for, but it was still the real deal. Barry was the love of her life.

And yet... Thawne's voice continued to haunt her with that almost casual mention of another timeline. A rewritten timeline. It left a nagging feeling that she was intruding, a feeling that was extremely hard to shake.

"I'm sure I would've loved them," she told Barry, pushing her conflicted feelings aside for now. "My mom's gonna love you. I know Meredith and Nathan would have too."

Both of her biological parents would appreciate that she found someone who was going to keep her safe. And most importantly, who loved her the way she deserved. Her time with both parents had been precious, not nearly enough. Both had imparted as much wisdom as they could. Meredith had been the inspiration for her nomadic lifestyle. Nathan's influence reminded her of her responsibility to her people. Just like her adoptive parents, she felt she was taking the best parts of each.

"We can cook first," Claire went on to promise. "I am itching to cook a big ol' family dinner. Maybe once we know it'll be safe for Peter. But for now I'd love to meet Iris."

Maybe meeting her would finally banish those insecurities once and for all.

Edited Date: 2025-10-10 04:53 pm (UTC)

From: