You Bring Out The Worst In Me~

[nevergetshome]

It had been some time ago that Thawne had gotten the results of Claire's blood. He messaged her and to his surprise the text kicked back. A phone call told him the number had been disconnected. It only took a little bit of research with Gideon to get her address from this time period only to find out she'd moved. Recently. And where had she moved to? Of all places in the world but Central City. The hometown of his foe. A place he spent fifteen years of his life. It was time to visit his old rival.

Silent observation was key. He kept his distance, but immediately, he felt something interesting. Barry Allen was having trouble handling the Speed Force. The fumbles were small, but enough that he could feel them when Barry faltered. Ahh, so this was around his encounter with the Chameleon. That made sense. What drove a dagger into his heart though was to see Barry Allen and Claire Bennet together. After he'd shared everything with her. Told her how Barry ruined his life. Even if he never said Allen's name, he called him the Flash, and she clearly knew who he was. How could she betray him?!

Just one more reason to hate Barry. One more thing Barry stole from him. One more reason to destroy The Flash. He'd have to teach them both a lesson.

There was a knock at Noah's hotel door. Harrison was standing politely on the other side, waiting for Noah to answer.

Comments

[infinite1ups]

As much as Claire struggled with herself and her regeneration, she didn't envy anyone who had a precognitive ability. It had its uses and advantages, sure, but most of the precogs she knew or heard of almost always saw horrific things happening in the future.

At least the vision that gave Cisco and Peter that weird feedback had seemed innocuous enough, but even that wasn't without an awful side effect for Cisco. Peter didn't seem to have any issues, not yet anyway. They'd have to see when her uncle visited if close proximity caused any more issues.

She was suddenly extra glad she'd gotten a few days of domestic bliss with Barry, because she didn't know how much time they'd have for that going forward. They'd need to carve out their moments.

Claire happily returned the group hug, stealing a moment with her friends just as eagerly as she would with her boyfriend. "It's a little funny how Thawne's attempts to get me to leave Barry are backfiring. He's given us a chance to prepare and fight back. I'm not going anywhere." She was so lucky to have this new family, and on top of that, it almost felt like her old family had a stronger bond than ever. It'd be foolish to walk away because there was danger. The risk was always there; she'd told Eobard as much, sharing those stories of her past.

She gave her friends one last little hug before pulling back with a sheepish grin. "I... have no idea which way I ran to get down here. I just followed Caitlin. Shall we get back?"

[iamnotuptight]

Cisco could admit, though it hurt like Hell, that vision hadn't been so bad on a lasting standpoint. No nightmares would come from that one at least.

"It's... strange. I think I was the only one who believed Dr. Wells... I mean, Eobard, cared about us on some level." Caitlin began. "But you might be proof that I was right. He's capable of caring in his own way." She heard Cisco scoff.

"Yeah, say that again after you've felt his hand crush your heart." Cisco said bitterly. Caitlin reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"This way." Cait started leading the way back to the Cortex with the other two in tow.

[infinite1ups]

"I think you're right, for what it's worth," Claire said before she could stop herself, following along to the Cortex with her hands in her pockets. She decided not to elaborate for Cisco's sake in particular. There was no way he'd like hearing about how Thawne spoke so highly of them, and seemed to miss them. "Just... thinking back to my conversation with him."

At least Thawne was correct in his assumption that the three of them would get along. She adored Caitlin and Cisco, and was immensely grateful that she'd been accepted so completely into this little family.

Once they got back to the Cortex, Claire made a beeline for Barry. With the memory of him so devastated still rolling around in her mind, she desperately needed to hug him. She heard her dad saying her name with obvious concern in his voice, and she took a deep breath to speak. "The paper. It's horrible..." That was all she could get out at first, voice muffled with her face buried against Barry's chest. "We have to stop it."

[iamnotuptight]

Claire had so easily worked into the fold. The fact that Harry of all people had been the first to get attached was enough of a gold star for them.

Caitlin offered a smile, but grew more and more nervous the closer they got to the Cortex. She started biting her lip and wringing her hands. She'd run out at the mention of Killer Frost and Barry wasn't stupid. He'd put two and two together. But bless Cisco. As soon as Claire was tucked against Barry and Jesse was looking curiously between everyone, he spoke up after Claire said her peace.

"I had a Vibe. Anyone who wants to see it is heading to the Breach Room because I'm not reliving it a third time. It's... intense." He said, glancing at Barry and Claire.

"So... it's true?" Barry asked, holding Claire even tighter. Cisco nodded.

"Noah, if... I'll show you if you wanna see it, but it's A vision of Claire's death." He saw Barry move and held up a hand. "Yeah, yeah. I already know you're gonna wanna see it so you can stop it." But his tone was tight.

[infinite1ups]

Claire figured mentioning the paper first would buy Caitlin a little more time, just in case she needed it. But mostly, selfish as it was, she needed that hug. She felt a little more composed after a moment, and pulled back with a shaky breath.

"I... don't think I need to see that," Noah said quietly. If they were dealing with something called the God of Speed, he wouldn't be of much use. It was strange and unnerving to feel so out of his depth. "Sorry, honey."

She shook her head. "No, Dad. It's okay. I'd rather not have anyone else see it, but can't deny that Barry's insight would be helpful. And I'm pretty sure I couldn't convince you not to, anyway. Just... babe." Her hand slipped in with Barry's, giving a squeeze. "It's hard to watch. I'm going, though. If Cisco has to see it twice, then so will I."

[namesthevillains]

Cisco really hated his powers. Jesse offered him a reassuring nod and he gave Cait a pat on the back.

"I don't blame you. I just didn't wanna deny you if you felt you needed to see it." Cisco said.

Barry shook his head. "I have to see it. I can stop it if I know what to look for. You're not dying. I'll stop it. I swear." He promised.

"We'll be right back." Cisco said and opened a breach right into the Breach Room. He stepped through the watery-looking portal and held it open until Barry and Claire were through with him. "Dude, this is gonna suck!" He said as he fetched two of the neural sets, handing one to Barry and one to Claire.

More mobile mishaps!

[infinite1ups]

She stepped through the breach and grabbed the neural set Cisco handed over. It was just like when he showed her before, so she knew what to do. This time she was even more nervous, though.

"I know if we have any hope of stopping this, we need all the help we can get. It's definitely gonna suck, though." Maybe if she looked away and tried focusing on the details of their surroundings, that would help, but that wouldn't save her from hearing Barry scream again. She kept a hold of Barry's hand, and waited for Cisco.

XD It happens.

[namesthevillains]

Cisco picked up the third headset and put it on. He took a deep breath and approached the console. "I don't wanna see this again." He muttered but closed his eyes and hit the button anyway.

They stuttered into his Vibe of the future. Like Claire, he was looking around, not interested in watching Barry break down again. He was looking for other clues. A news paper in a paper machine read CITY STILL RECOVERING FROM GORILLA ATTACK with an image of down town wrecked and a blurry photo of a familiar Meta Gorilla. "Grodd." Cisco muttered.

As Claire would look around, she'd see, tucked against a tree, a third Barry. Not the one that came with them in the Vibe, not the one in the scene who was now running in slow motion towards her falling body, but a third. He looked torn. Like he wanted to run forward, but he was hiding behind the tree so as not to be seen. A wormhole opened behind him and an arm clad in red without gloves grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back through the wormhole. The hand that had pulled the third Barry back had been older by a large margin. It was something they hadn't noticed before because it had been behind them in the Vibe.

"Did you see that?" Cisco asked Claire. "That was a temporal breach and that gold stitching down the sleeve, I know that suit. Jay Garrick, Earth-3's Flash."

Barry had come into this prepared, but nothing could prepare him to see a blade pierce through the back of her skull and out the front, then watch Claire go limp as she collapsed. The anguish in his future self's voice reflected in the tightness of his throat as he stopped himself from running forward with his future self to catch Claire. He couldn't interact with anything in a Vibe anyway. Barry choked back a sob and dropped to his knees. When they were pulled out of the Vibe, Barry stayed on his knees, looking at the spot where Claire had been in the vision.

Cisco slowly walked up to him and took the neural headset off his head, not wanting to startle him with sudden movements. "We'll get him." Cisco said softly. Cisco looked at Claire helplessly.

[infinite1ups]

Claire really didn't to see it either, but she didn't want Cisco to be the only one to have to endure it twice. Trying to focus on the other details did help, somewhat. Seeing a third Barry was a trip, and she almost called out to him before she remembered she couldn't interact, only witness. Then he was gone, anyway, pulled back through that breach.

She noticed the other newspaper too, and also that they were in a part of the city that was actually familiar to her. Though her focus was quickly drawn away from it when she realized they were getting to the hard part. Instead of watching the horrific scene play out again, she watched Barry. The present day one. Seeing his reaction wasn't any easier, but it was still better than watching herself die again. Barry went to his knees, and she lurched forward, reaching for him, just as they were pulled out of the Vibe.

Trembling hands lifted the headset off and set it aside, and she only paused to share that helpless look with Cisco. Then Claire dropped to kneel beside Barry and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She rubbed his back and kissed his temple, then just held on tight, her head resting against his. "It's not gonna happen. We're gonna stop it," she quietly assured him. It felt like some miracle that she wasn't crying, herself. Her voice was still shaky with emotion, but she didn't break. He needed her strong right now. "You're not losing me, babe."

[namesthevillains]

Cisco let them have their moment as he set the headsets aside.

Barry turned and wrapped his arms around Claire, burying his face in her neck. "I should be reassuring you." He said softly in a half sob. "You're my everything. I won't let this happen. I thought maybe that was Thawne. But I know Thawne. And that isn't him. But Thawne will know who this is and how I stop him in the future. Because I will stop him. I just want to do it before he hurts you."

"Woah, you are not suggesting we invite Mr. Vibrating Hand over for coffee to talk about our angry Decepticon." Cisco sounded... scared.

[infinite1ups]

"We can assure each other, and get through this together," Claire returned. "I love you." Barry had been nothing but reassuring and comforting since they met, so she was keen to take any opportunity to return the favor. She pulled back just enough to kiss his forehead.

"I didn't think it was Thawne, either. That paper was a warning. Doesn't make sense if he's warning us against himself." She quickly cast a worried glance in Cisco's direction. "Hell if I know how I'll do it, Cisco, but I'll keep him away from you myself."

As much as she still wanted to talk to Thawne about everything else, she didn't really know if he'd offer her any more information about the impending attack, or the one who was carrying it out. Especially since she was still with Barry, and had no intention of breaking up their relationship. "I don't know if he'd help us, beyond what he's already done - and arguably he's doing it more to make me leave Barry than to actually help. It's the second message from Thawne with the theme of putting a wedge between us. I... could try to appeal to whatever part of him may have cared for me, but I don't know how well that'd work. If nothing else, the conversation might create an opportunity for us to get him locked up."

[namesthevillains]

Barry cupped her cheek. "I love you too."

"This is insanity!" Cisco only just barely got the words out. "Thawne is dangerous, Claire! If he knows you can die for good, he knows how and he will use it! He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Please don't do this! We'll find another way!" Sure, in the face of danger, Cisco could put on a brave face, but behind the scenes, he'd let himself fall apart around his friends. He didn't want to lose Claire to Thawne. He was terrified of the man! He'd been almost unable to look at Harry when they first met because it kicked him into fight or flight! That was part of how Harry had easily discovered the trigger for his Vibes; Fear.

[infinite1ups]

"Nothing is being decided right this minute, it's just ideas," she said, managing to keep her cool even as Cisco's fear had her unnerved. But Barry would feel her get tense.

"Not sure why he'd warn me if he truly wanted me dead, though. He could just sit back and wait for this weird ass metal guy to off me, or find a way to do it himself. I don't think that's what he wants." She knew it had to be difficult to hear her talking about Thawne not wanting to hurt her after he'd literally killed Cisco. Part of her thought there was some regret in Thawne's voice when he talked about the STAR Labs team, but she didn't think it'd help to mention it.

The pain in his voice in that recording haunted her again. "If we don't have much else in the way of options, it's something to keep in the back pocket." Her attention went back to Barry, gentle hands smoothing the collar of his shirt just to touch him. "Do you have any idea what the white lightning could mean? What could cause it?"

[namesthevillains]

"I don't. But he's fast. Faster than me. Than Zoom and Thawne. I haven't seen anyone move that fast before and I can break through the space-time barrier." God of Speed seemed apt and he hated to admit that. "We determined that blue lightning comes from moving at a speed faster than natural Speed Force allows. Boosted by the artificial speed drug called Velocity. Zoom was taking it, which is what turned his lightning blue. Eliza wasn't a speedster, but when she took Velocity 9, it gave her yellow lightning until she hit speeds faster than mine and it turned blue just before she died. So... white lightning might be even faster. But moving at that kind of speed..."

Cisco raked his hands through his hair and held his head. "Okay... so if you're gonna talk to Thawne, you need to be careful. I want to augment the watch first. So we can get to you if you need us. Which means involving Harry."

[infinite1ups]

None of what Barry said sounded good. And if he didn't know what the white lightning could mean, she wasn't sure if anyone else would have answers. Except... well, Thawne. Maybe.

"Harry's not going to like any of this," Claire grumbled, then briefly glanced at her wrist. "I'm wearing Harry's watch now. He gave mine to my dad until Dad's is ready, then we're all swapping back again."

She almost had her mind set on talking to Thawne, but she was almost afraid to say so out loud. There was a growing, lingering thought in the back of her mind that no matter what she did, it would be the wrong choice. It was a stupid feeling, one that annoyed her. They were just getting started, now was definitely not the time to be giving in to despair. Like so many other times in a crisis, she wasn't alone, and for once, it was easy to remember that.

"What do you think?" It wasn't quite a helpless look she gave Barry now, but it was pretty damn close. "As much as it sucks, talking to Thawne could be our best chance to learn something more to help us." Claire paused, frowning deeply. "I don't want to leave you."

Including dying, she was just trying not to mention that part. All the years of taking her ability to escape death for granted were sinking in with this new, permanent threat. She was trying not to seem as rattled as she felt, but Barry was already incredibly good at reading her. It was probably the superspeed; he could pick up even the subtlest changes that others might miss.

"I can't believe I'm this scared of some stupid ass monster looking like a Power Rangers villain," she huffed, rolling her eyes.

[namesthevillains]

Cisco's gaze darted to the watch for a moment. "Harry's is unique. He got himself in trouble with Jesse when he put it on her to keep her safe once. She accidentally got into audio logs meant for her if Harry died saving her. They uh... they told her everything. And she hated him for it. So she ran away. This was after the rest of us already knew, but she felt like the blood was on her hands because he'd done it for her. It was a huge mess." Cisco almost wanted to reach for the watch and see if the audio recordings were still there, but he kept his curiosity to himself. "That does mean, though, that you can record your conversation with Thawne if you do this. I still want it on record that I'm against this."

Barry looked up at her and held her face between both hands, gently kissing her. He could see the flicker of unease. "I hate him. I hate him so much. But I hate the idea of losing you more. So if you think you can get information out of him... I trust you. But I want to have Caitlin run a test first. I want to see if your regeneration can negate the effects of V-9."

"...dude." Cisco's brown eyes lit up with wonder.

"It would give you enough speed to get away from him if something went wrong in a pinch before it burned out of your system." Barry said carefully. "And if your regeneration can counter the lethal effects of the drug, it would be safe for you to use without lasting damage."

[infinite1ups]

No one in the world was as good at easing her worries and making her feel safe as Barry. Others helped to be sure, but there was a very clear winner in this contest. She let out a small, cleansing breath.

Then the rest of what Barry said fully caught up with her, and she froze a little. "Wait. I could be super speedy?" Her eyes lit up just as Cisco's did. "That'd be so cool. I don't think he'd hurt me, but there's always the outside chance, so I'll be as cautious as I can."

Harry might hate that they're planning this at all, but at least she was finally showing some sense of self-preservation. Her dad would hate it too. At least Noah knew not to try and stop her when she had her mind set on something.

[namesthevillains]

Barry gently stroked his thumbs along the skin under her eyes. Just holding her like this was enough to remind him that she was still alive. So it wasn't just calming her. It was calming for both of them.

"You could. Potentially." Barry said with a smile. "But even speedster healing isn't enough to counter the deadly effects of V-9. So this is a long shot. And it only lasted in Zoom's system for about ten minutes before his metabolism burned it up. So it would be temporary." But it would be long enough for her to outrun Thawne and get a message to Barry for backup.

[infinite1ups]

Claire didn't make a move to pull away, only leaned in a bit to boop her nose against Barry's. It was good to see him smiling again.

"We know my healing is faster than yours, and... I'm pretty sure the antidote had more of an effect on me. That seems promising, but we should definitely test it first." Her trust was fully behind her friends. If they said it was safe, she'd believe them. If not, well. They'd figure something out. Peter or Sylar might be able to teleport in just fast enough to create a distraction and give her an out, but she'd hate to have them potentially make that kind of sacrifice.

Even Sylar, which was weird to think. Kindness and second chances, Eobard had said, comparing her to Barry. Maybe Thawne was right. But if Sylar ever went back to his old ways, she'd be the first in line to take him out.

The prospect of having any kind of real power - she still didn't see her regeneration as power - was thrilling. She reveled in the idea of actually being able to do something. For now, though, she kept those thoughts to herself. Being excited was understandable, but she didn't want to take that too far and make people worry that she might be even more reckless than usual. Her impulsive nature on top of superspeed was going to be a volatile combination.

[feelthelightning]

The boop made his smile brighten. He couldn't get over how happy she made him feel. He was pretty sure he never wanted to, either.

"It is, but I'm not risking it without testing first. V-9 was killing Hunter, which is why he wanted my speed. He thought it would cure him of the cellular degeneration. And it did kill Eliza. I watched her burn herself up. One dose isn't enough to kill, because Jesse survived when Eliza used her to make sure Harry didn't drug the V-9 with a sedative, but she overdosed and Caitlin had to flush the drug out of her system with a blood transfusion from Harry." He wouldn't say it, but Harry would have issues with this part of the plan too.

Barry was all for having teleporters rushing to Claire's rescue. His biggest concern was the fact that Thawne could cause far too much harm before she even knew he was about to do it. If she went into things with the same reflexes, she stood a chance to see him acting in time to actually get an alert out. But he was still confused by the warning. if Thawne wanted her dead, he wouldn't have warned her.

[infinite1ups]

She was already bracing herself for the onslaught of lecturing she'd hear from both Harry and her dad when they heard about this plan. Barry's belief in her was something to hold onto, something to keep her afloat. She kissed Barry's forehead, even more grateful for him than ever.

But Thawne had believed in her nearly as much, and she let him down. Wasn't it just a matter of time before she failed everyone else? She knew she wasn't being fair to herself, though. There was simply no way she would've expected to meet and fall in love with Barry so quickly and so easily. Not even Thawne could have predicted that with all his timeline manipulation, he'd been just as blindsided as Claire.

"So, what? We see what it does to my blood?" That seemed the least invasive and risky way to test. But she didn't quite feel confident. "If it's safe, I might have to try it out before I see Thawne. Get used to it, y'know? So I'm not fumbling and tripping over myself at breakneck speed. Then he'd just catch me."

He didn't seem to want to hurt her now, but there was no telling if he'd change his mind, especially if she suddenly got back in context with him again. That might just push him over the edge. She felt chilled at the thought.

[feelthelightning]

Barry nodded. "Testing your blood with the serum seems like the safest bet, but I'll have to ask Cait what she thinks. I'm not the doctor. And if it's safe, yeah. You and me will test it in the Speed Lab. We'll start you slow. Maybe on the speedster treadmill until you get the hang of speeding up and slowing down--when I first started running at super speed, stopping was something I had to get used to. Jesse can probably agree. You get going and you don't know how to slow down. Once you get the hang of that, we can work on agility training." Don't mind Barry looking super excited by the idea of training Claire to run with him. For some reason the thought of them running together without sharing his speed felt like a dream. Even if it would be temporary. Don't get him wrong, Jesse was an excellent Flash on Earth-2, and they worked seamlessly together, but this was his girlfriend. There was an emotional component to it. So he was hoping and praying that the V-9 played nice with her.

[infinite1ups]

Claire was every bit as excited about the idea of them training together. Despite the heaviness of the threat around them, and how nervous she was about seeing Thawne again, she was also downright giddy. Not just about having power, even temporarily, but that it's something she'd share with Barry. She was grinning in spite of herself.

"Well... I can handle a crash, at least," she teased. "I'm not worried about that part. And I've always been a pretty good runner." Sprinting, especially, but even before the regen she had decent stamina for long distance. "I'm... probably way too excited about this, to be honest. If it's something we can use when we really need it? Every little bit helps, and I don't know..." She sighed. "It'd be nice feeling like I can do something more than take damage."

[feelthelightning]

"Oh, I can too! My first crash was how we discovered my healing factor. I broke my wrist when I lost focus while running."

"You sound way too happy about that, dude." Cisco said with a soft huff of a laugh. He was starting to calm down. "I remember that spill. You were on the abandoned airfield with me, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells. That prototype suit I whipped up was hideous!"

"It was!" Barry laughed.

"I... miss those days. When we were an innocent team and Wells wasn't evil and the worst you had to worry about was tripping over your own feet." Cisco looked a bit dazed.

"I saw the yellow lightning around myself as I ran and it reminded me of the night my mother was murdered. I saw yellow and red lightning in the house in a ball around her. I lost focus and if you stumble at 400 miles per hour, you can't recover your footing. You're gonna meet the pavement." He explained. "But you don't need speed or regen." Barry brushed her hair out of her face. "You're perfect."

[infinite1ups]

As Cisco and Barry talked about those early days, she beamed, trying to imagine it. "Aww," I kinda wish I could've been around to see that," she said with a grin.

Claire understood why it'd be important to keep her focus while moving that fast, even with her regen. Her smile dimmed a little as Barry explained, but it was quickly back in full force when he brushed her hair back. That had her blushing faintly, she could feel the warmth on her cheeks.

"I dunno about perfect," she returned sheepishly. In truth, Claire wasn't sure who she'd be without her regen. Actually... she'd just be dead. Dead at sixteen. A victim, with or without her regen. Not good enough. But now she didn't have to be. Now she could fight back. "If that monster thing is coming for me, I need every advantage I can get. I know I can't do it all alone, but I don't like everyone fighting my battles for me. I should be able to defend myself."

So many others had risked themselves for her. It was why she was so adamant about taking whatever hits she could take. She would never feel like she'd repaid that debt.

"Between maybe being able to have speed for a bit and Cisco's Phoenix project, I finally feel like I have that chance. I'm really grateful for both of you."