Flashpoint: Heroes

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.

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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."

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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.

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"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.

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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."

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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)

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"I'll have to introduce you to my kitchen. It's family tradition to host holidays at my house. Barr and I usually cook, but I ain't gonna say no to an extra pair of hands in the kitchen. 'Specially if they're not Iris'." Joe chuckled. "And as long as we know it's safe for them, your family's welcome to join in on the West family traditions. Cisco, Cait, and even the Wellses join in." Joe looked off into the distance for a second. "I'm gonna need a bigger table."

"Especially if you're gonna invite D.A. Cecile Horton." Barry added with a rueful grin and Joe flustered.

"Why would I do that? There's nothing there, Barr. She's just... she's there. And I'm here." He argued.

"Oh, c'mon. There would be something there if you'd stop chickening out. She's asked you out like three times in the last two weeks and you had movie night with you kids, had to clean out the attic, or had a doctor's appointment. Wally, Iris, and all can all see you like her." Joe glared at Barry.

"We all deserve to be happy. That includes divorced dads, too. Right?" Barry looked to Claire. They had their divorced foster dads to look out for.

"We should also probably get new blood samples to Caitlin and Jesse now that they have Thawne's research to work with." Barry added.

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The prospect of a big family celebration for holidays almost had Claire misty-eyed. She hadn't really tried since that one extremely awkward Thanksgiving. Now her holidays were split between family members or friends, and were much smaller affairs. The magic of it had faded somewhat, but now it didn't have to be that way.

Noah shared a look with his daughter, the mutual understanding that it would be better this time around. Then she grinned at Barry's gentle, encouraging teasing of Joe.

"All of our dads deserve to be happy, yes. I'm... also extremely under the influence of some rose-colored glasses right now, something about being in love has me wanting to play matchmaker or something," she said with a laugh. When she saw her dad's look of confused concern, she quickly added, "I know your situation is... your situation. I just think it'd be neat if everyone got to be as happy as I am, 'cause y'all deserve it."

That seemed to satisfy Noah for the time being. "It's complicated," was all he had to offer. Then there was a little smile of his own, one of those Knowing Dad Smiles. "But even I'd make a move after someone I liked asked me out three times."

"Yeah. Cleaning out the attic? That one's a stretch, Joe. That's like when I used to tell guys I couldn't go out because I was washing my hair." Thank goodness those days were over. Claire had been the one to ask Barry out first, and if he had asked, she never would've used a line like that. She smiled up at him. "That's a good idea, hon. I'm kinda surprised they haven't asked yet, but maybe they're still reading through it all."

Sure, Jesse could speed-read, but Caitlin would need a little more time. The two women were brilliant, though. Claire had no doubt they'd science the heck out of everything. Despite it all, however, there was still the tiniest pang of regret that she wouldn't get to discuss it all with Eobard. Now, she told herself, it would be to get his insight strategically. Regardless, she quickly banished that thought, burying it deep. He was the master manipulator, and he could be ingratiating on a level beyond most people, everyone had said so. It wasn't her fault.

"It's a good thing in this case that my blood regenerates so fast, I've been handing over a lot of it," she said, then her smile turned cheeky. "There aren't any vampire Metas, are there? I'd hate to run into one of those."

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"Fine!" Joe threw up his hands in surrender. "If she asks again, no more excuses." He sounded so put out by that. Like a teenager agreeing to clean his room and it made Barry laugh.

"Or you could take the initiative." He suggested. "We don't have any leads on Alchemy and I love you, Joe, but Thawne is out of your skillset." Yes, he was benching his foster father. "I'd feel better if you weren't anywhere near him."

"I'm a liability now?" Joe understood, though. When it came to speedsters, he was standing still. Barry and Thawne could have an entire conversation before he even knew there was danger. "I meant what I said. I want both of you to stay safe." He said before smiling to Noah. "Good to see you again, Noah." He clapped Barry on the shoulder and headed out.

"Last I checked, no vampires. At least none that," Barry put on a cheesy stereotypical Transylvanian accent. "vant to suck your blood~" He nuzzled into her neck playfully and kissed the skin there softly. "I met an energy vampire though. That sucked, no pun intended. He drained the Speed Force from my body and I was so scared and also hadn't fully accepted my powers yet, that it just didn't come back. It took Dr. Wells-- Thawne to remind me that I was a hero and it was because of my desire to help people that I could overcome anything. He nearly died for us because I was afraid." Look, Claire, Thawne is such a complicated subject and Barry hates him with every fibre of his being, but... remembering him as Wells... he still admires and cares for the man who Thawne pretended to be. It was so hard for him to merge the two.

Caitlin leaned out of the med lab and knocked on the door frame to get their attention. "You two should see this..."

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Claire suddenly had a sinking feeling that she might have to have a similar talk with her dad. She wasn't sure how that'd go. He had plenty of his own matters to attend to, with all the work to be done starting up a new Company.

The thought had already been on Noah's mind, how out of his element he was when dealing with a man like Eobard Thawne. Evo speedsters were a challenge, but Metas were on another level. Not to mention how easily the man had slipped past Noah's defenses. He understood easily how Thawne has been able to manipulate Claire, and that alone made it hard to stand by, not to mention all that Barry had gone through.

But he knew he'd have to be careful about how he offered his assistance, and be ready to step aside if needed. He might check in on Sandra himself, too.

Barry's vampire antics had Claire giggling, but she quickly sobered up as he talked about the energy vampires. She understood completely how difficult it was to sort out feelings about that man, and she only had a blip of history with him by comparison. It was a mercy, she thought, that she'd found a different path before she ended up in too deep.

"For all the wrong he does, Thawne sure is right sometimes," she said. "He's right about that." And he was right about her not selling herself short. Before she could say more, Caitlin was quietly interrupting. She glanced up at Barry before pulling away from him to step over.

Noah stood by curiously, keeping distance out of respect but still very interested in what Cait would have to say. If it was to do with the lab results, it might be information to share with Suresh.

"Is everything okay?" Claire asked, trying not to look worried.

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Barry would agree with her and support her decision to keep Noah out of danger if she needed a second voice of reason to help convince him. He was sure even Joe would help, despite being benched himself.

The speedster nodded, looking a bit lost in thought at that. It was still so hard. He'd spent a year working with Dr. Wells as his friend and longer than that admiring the man for his innovation and gifts to the scientific community that it was a very complicated web Thawne had woven. Dr. Wells had been his idol. His hero. "Thanks." Barry said softly with a gentle smile.

When Cait beckoned them, he headed to the med lab with Claire. Caitlin paused and looked to Noah. "Oh! I mean, you're welcome in too! Your knowledge on Evolved Humans will also benefit from this." She added with a sweet smile.

Once everyone was inside, Jesse pulled up a few images on the laptop. "It looks like some of the markers present in evo DNA and Meta DNA are similar but not in the same sequences. Metas have the addition of Dark Matter merged with their DNA but it doesn't seem detrimental to Evolved Humans at all. In fact, according to his research, hybrids could be made between Evolved Humans and Meta-humans. The DNA sequences are stable." Jesse said as she pointed between strands of Claire's DNA and unnamed Meta DNA that had the merged globs of Dark Matter integrated into it.

"It doesn't look like Evolved Humans can inherently be affected by Dark Matter right out." Caitlin added. "So, it wouldn't be 'contagious' without being exposed to a particle accelerator explosion but it could be inherited if one parent was an Evolved Human and the other was a Meta. But the odds are just as likely that the child could be just a Meta or just an Evolved Human. Just like a child between a regular human and a Meta could turn out to be just human or a Meta."

Jesse looked up from the computer to Claire. "There's also an encrypted file here that's password locked. The hint reads: what I gave you after I drew your blood."

Caitlin put a hand on Claire's shoulder. "We can leave if you want to open it in peace." As Snow got close, Harry's watch started to ping on Claire's wrist.

Edited (Forgot to add a thing) Date: 2025-10-13 12:51 pm (UTC)

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Noah slipped in behind Claire and Barry. She immediately brought her wrist up when the watch started to ping, quickly dismissing the alert. Good thing she was quick on her feet. "Weird! It's doing the same thing my watch was before Cisco fixed it. Must be the same glitch, I'll bring it to them later."

That would hopefully be enough to hold off any suspicion, because she didn't want to blow Caitlin's cover, and she also wanted to focus on the discussion at hand. Her first thought about the news was a simple one. "It'll be safe for Peter! His dream and Cisco's Vibe were right."

It took a moment for the implications of the rest to catch up with her, and she blushed. Why would Thawne have been researching that? Maybe to assure her it was safe, so she didn't have to worry about it, but the idea was awfully thoughtful for a man who was manipulating her. Or had he been genuine, after all?

She then recalled her conversation with Harry, and how he thought she was already looking into having kids with Barry. That only made her blush more, but fortunately she could shift her focus to the encrypted file.

"I have no secrets," Claire said. "I'd just end up telling y'all anyway, so you might as well stay." She moved in front of the computer and read the password hint. The reminder almost made her want to smile, but she refused to let him have the satisfaction, even if he couldn't see it. He couldn't have given her a more obvious hint, so she typed it in: milkshake.

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Barry was also cherry red at the implications. He hadn't been privy to that conversation with Harry. The watch had alarmed him, but when the alarms didn't go off, he had relaxed all in the same millisecond. It wasn't Thawne.

Cait pulled back slowly so as to not draw attention to herself. "It should be safe for him, yes." She agreed with a smile.

Claire typed in the password and the file opened, showing a newspaper article dated for just under a year in the future with the headline, FLASH MISSING AFTER TRAGIC DEATH OF CLAIRE BENNET The article went on to suspect there was a romantic attraction between the Flash and the woman who fell on the battlefield, leaving the city with a broken hero. Crime plagued the city now that the Flash was nowhere to be seen and a man calling himself the God of Speed and his accomplice, Killer Frost had destroyed STAR Labs, killing everyone who fought back.

A note in the margin had been added by Thawne that said, This is your future if you stay with him.

Barry and Caitlin backed away from the screen almost at the same time. But Barry spoke first. "This is fake. It has to be. Killer Frost doesn't exist on this Earth. It's one of Thawne's tricks! This is from another Earth or... something."

Caitlin was trembling, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, but she didn't say anything. Fear was evident in her eyes which didn't help her keep the ice under control. Flecks of blue, like shards of ice, fractured through her brown irises. She turned and ran.

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Noah had half a mind to comment on those implications, but the two kids were embarrassed enough, and then the focus shifted to the encrypted file. Claire's first instinct was to agree with Barry. This had to be fake. More of Thawne's games to get into her head.

His motive was even more obvious now, to get her away from Barry. It was there in the voice memo, and it was here now. What did he expect, for her leave Barry and go running back to be friends with him again? That seemed... ridiculous.

The mention of Killer Frost gave her pause, though. How would he have known about that? Who the hell was the God of Speed? Was Eobard trying to ascend or something?

She looked up just in time to see Caitlin hurry out of the room. "I got this," Claire said quickly, then she took off in pursuit. She knew Barry didn't want to let her out of his sight, but she had to hope he'd trust her to be okay. Harry's watch would ping, and the alarms in the lab would alert them to any danger.

"Caitlin, wait! Please!" Her voice sounded high and desperate in her ears, full of worry.

Damn it, she should have figured there'd be some kind of personal message, just like the drive. They'd been so focused on the research that she had simply figured it was more of that. The password should have been her first clue that he was screwing with her.

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Barry believed in Claire and he trusted Harry's tech. So if she wanted him to stay back, he would. Both speedsters were itching to follow though.

Cait ran down the ramps and hallways to the Pipeline. A place Claire hadn't been, but had seen in the video Barry showed her of Thawne in the cell. Cait threw herself into one of the cells and curled into herself in a corner, crying. White streaks faded through her brown hair and her eyes were ice blue.

"I can't become that monster!" She sobbed. Frost started to form on the ground and wall she was leaning against.

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 12:42 am (UTC)

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Claire had no idea where she was at first, only focused on following Caitlin. As she entered the Pipeline and approached the cell Caitlin had thrown herself into, though, she slowly started to recognize the room from the video Barry had shown her earlier. Realizing he'd been here, it made her shiver almost as much as the chill radiating from her friend.

Following into the cell, she mentally kicked herself for not asking someone to get ahold of Cisco before she ran off in pursuit. She'd have to handle this on her own for now.

"Hey," she started, getting down to kneel beside her, ignoring how the chill in the floor cut right through her jeans. "I don't care what some stupid newspaper article says. I'm not dying in a year, and you're not turning into Killer Frost."

She reached for one of Caitlin's hands, closing both of hers around it. Some warmth against the cold. "Maybe it's Thawne messing with us, or... fine, maybe it's from the future. But from where I'm sitting, the future hasn't happened yet, and that future isn't happening so long as I can still do something about it. Not just me - we wouldn't turn our backs on you. You're our family."

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 12:59 am (UTC)

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"You don't understand, I can feel her! Killer Frost isn't just a pseudonym, she's a person! A personality! And she fights me! She's hateful and angry and likes to hurt people! I met her on Earth-2 when Zoom kidnapped me. She killed her Caitlin. And these Meta suppression cuffs aren't helping! She's too strong!" The tears flowing down Caitlin's face were freezing against her cheeks. Her skin was probably almost painful to touch between Claire's hands, as cold as it was. Like holding onto ice.

By now her hair was all white and her lips were dark blue. She looked up with icy blue eyes that flashed with a frosty glow. "Don't worry, Barry will find a way to save you. He will alter timelines to make sure he gets his happy ending, the rest of us be damned." There was an odd warped sound to her voice, like an undertone of hissing. Then the glow faded and Cait's eyes widened in shock. She covered her mouth with her free hand and withdrew even more. The tears started up again.

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This was one of those times it was fortunate to not feel pain, though Caitlin was still uncomfortably cold to the touch. Claire didn't pull away. Not even when those icy blue eyes seemed to glow and that bitterness seeped into her voice. It truly did seem like a whole separate personality was emerging, and she almost didn't know what to do.

She stopped trying to think and instead acted on instinct, leaning in and throwing her arms around Caitlin in a tight hug. "You don't have to stop her all by yourself," Claire said softly. "It'll feel that way, 'cause she's in your head, but you're not alone in this. Cisco and I have been keeping your secret because you asked us to, and we care about you. I might have accidentally blown it up opening that file in front of everyone - but Barry thinks it's a trick by Thawne. We can still play it off that way, if you're not ready for them to know the truth."

Now she pulled back to look Caitlin in the eyes, though she kept her hands on her friend's arms, still ignoring the cold. "If I can toss in my two cents? The more people know the truth, the more of us you have in your corner to fight her. We have all that research from Thawne, maybe there's info to help make stronger cuffs. I know Harry would work on it if we asked."

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 01:31 am (UTC)

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The hug completely surprised her. It even shocked a small squeak out of her and she tentatively raised her arms up to return it. As she did, the cold seem to slowly leave her body and the white bled from her hair, leaving it brown again. Her eyes were the last to fade, locked with Claire's when she pulled back. Frosty blue, full of tears, and dimly glowing before fading back to brown and Cait lost her composure entirely, sobbing into Claire's shoulder.

"I don't blame you for that, Claire." She said softly into Claire's shirt. "Eobard is still ruining out lives." But she took the suggestion into consideration. Telling the others... that would be hard. It would admit that this was something she had to face, but then again, they'd just crossed that bridge, hadn't they? "I guess I have to tell them. They need to know. Especially if I'm going to betray everyone for this God of Speed if she takes over." Cait took a few steadying breaths and lifted her head from Claire's shoulder. All signs of Killer Frost were gone.

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Claire held on as Caitlin cried, relieved to see her appearance go back to normal. It was entirely likely that Barry and Jesse had already seen part of the transformation, given their speed, so it was a relief when Cait seemed to agree about letting the truth come out. She didn't really know how to try and play it off beyond insisting that the mention of Killer Frost in the article was more of Thawne tricking them.

"We're not going to let that happen," she assured Caitlin, pulling back and offering a small smile. "Whatever you need, we're here." There was a pause as she considered how best to say this next part. "Cisco was really worried, you know. After you confided in us, because you were so afraid of becoming her. We were trying to think up ways to help you." There. That should hopefully be a way to explain it without giving away Cisco's Vibe and thus setting Caitlin off all over again.

"I know what it's like to be afraid you'll betray the people you care about. I've made some stupid mistakes, and I constantly worry I'll go back to those old, dumb habits. Maybe we can learn to rely on the people around us to help with that, together."

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The speedsters, though itching to follow had stayed true and let Claire handle it. Even if Barry was going nuts waiting.

"Cisco met Earth-2 Killer Frost too, so he knows what I'll become. His doppelgänger, Reverb worked alongside her with Zoom. You know, it's funny," But the laugh she let out was anything but humorous. "when Cisco was afraid his powers would make him evil because they were given to him by Thawne, I promised him that I didn't think any of us would turn evil if we suddenly had powers. And here I am. With evil powers." The laugh was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Cait pulled back just enough to wipe her eyes on her sweater sleeve.

"Thank you. I mean it. You don't want to know where my mind was headed." She'd been close to looking up Mick Rory and seeing if he'd put her down because she didn't know anyone else heartless enough to do so without regrets besides Snart's old partner.

"Why would you betray people you care about?" She asked curiously, not missing that statement.

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"The way you keep fighting Killer Frost makes it abundantly clear to me that she's not the real you. I don't think it's the powers trying to make you evil, but that other personality. Your powers aren't evil, and neither are Cisco's." She gave Caitlin's arm a squeeze as she pulled back a little more.

The question, maybe she should have expected it, but she also sort of forgot that Caitlin wasn't there in the Time Vault when she'd had her breakdown earlier. Claire took a breath to collect herself. "I have a long line of friends I left behind and abandoned, a couple who were more than friends, and a couple more whose lives I may have ruined a little bit. I hurt a lot of people because I was scared and selfish. Eobard reminded me in the voice message he left for me, even though he wouldn't have known about any of them. He also talked about changing the timeline, a future where... someone else is with Barry. I have to fight it when Thawne gets in my head like that, or else I might just run away like I have so many times before."

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"Killer Frost is my power though. I don't have the ice without her and when I reach for it, I can feel her fight me. Like she knows it's her power that I'm using and I have no right to use it." She looked down at her hands, turned them over then balled the into fists. "But I do need something stronger to hold her back." She rolled up her sleeve to show one of the power cuffs with a dim, barely there blue light.

"It's because you're not charging them, man." Cisco said as he stepped out of the dark hall and towards the cell door. He held up a data pad, waggling it back and forth in the air to indicate it. "Neither of you turned off the motion sensors. Made it look like one of the Metas broke out of the Pipeline." He walked up to Claire and dropped down beside her, criss cross on the floor with his head tipped down, black hair draped around his face. "You're not allowed to run away from us." He nudged Claire with an elbow. "If you think Barry's puppy eyes are bad, you haven't seen mine." He teased.

"Barry... had feelings for Iris. He always has." Caitlin said slowly, hazarding a guess. "But he's been slowly getting over that since she rejected him. She's in love with Eddie and you mended his heart. He's so in love with you, Claire. So whatever that future was, it's not meant to be. If it even existed in the first place. He wants to be with you." She reached out and gave Claire's arm a gentle squeeze.

"Thawne gets in all our heads." Cisco was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Claire. "It took me half a year not to freeze up every time Harry entered a room just because Thawne stole his face."

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Cisco's voice out of seemingly nowhere made Claire jump a little, but she was then immediately relieved and happy to see him. It made perfect sense that a room like this would have motion sensors. Neither of them were in a state to really think about it in the moment.

"Not you, too. Barry's are bad enough," she said with an almost strained laugh, nudging her shoulder against his. Just the thought of that kicked puppy look on Barry's face was enough to tug at her heartstrings. "You'd double-team me and I'd be done for."

She was still wrapping her head around a lot of the science about Metas (and hell, Evos too), but charging electronics was definitely something she understood. "Couldn't we get you a spare pair now? That way you don't have to just rely on the one. At least until we come up with some other way to help you. There have been Evos with an alter ego like that, could be it works similarly. I'll look in my dad's Company files."

The mention of Iris, and Barry having feelings for her, made Claire tense up. Damn, Caitlin cut right to the heart of it. It was hard not to worry, but she also knew Cait was right. Barry loved her. The proof was right there in how he acted with her, how he treated her. She could almost picture him now, pacing around the Med Lab or maybe even the Cortex, resisting the urge to run down here and make sure she was safe.

Meant to be wasn't really Claire's style. She chose Barry. To hell with all this timeline meddling, she made her own future.

"Thawne is trying to get me to leave Barry," she said finally. "What he said about the timeline, and then his message with the stupid newspaper. Something about that being my future if I stay with Barry. It's obvious, what he's doing. He either just wants to hurt us, or... maybe he wants me on his side. But it's not happening. I'm not leaving Barry, I'm not leaving any of you. I'm not dying in a year." At least not permanently.

She gave Caitlin's arm a squeeze in return. "And we're not letting Killer Frost take you over. With the truth out, we can all help you."

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