Dropping In

[swoopyhair]

Once he'd gotten word from Noah that it would be safe, Peter was eager to visit Central City and see Claire. It was nice to hear she'd finally settled down, and something he expected to happen sooner or later. What he didn't expect, however, was to hear she'd gotten herself into a relationship. At least not so soon after moving in.

But he understood all too well what it was like to fall in love with someone at first sight. He was glad that it seemed to be going much better for his niece than it had for him.

There was also some lingering curiosity about the dream he'd had. The one where he was in that weird room with Claire and a bunch of people he didn't know - her friends, he would later learn after talking with Noah. He assumed he'd meet them eventually, though maybe not today. It would make sense if she wanted to introduce him slowly and let them build up trust in him. She'd never been so open with her relationships that he could remember - the last one he knew anything about had been with Gretchen and even then he barely had met the woman. Peter didn't want to push too hard and end up distancing himself from Claire all over again. He was all too aware that his involvement with Sylar had put a strain on them, and he wanted to use this time to try and set things right.

Claire had texted her address just after moving in, so he knew right where to go. But rather than teleport directly into the apartment, Peter popped into the hallway. He was planning to surprise her, and now that he was there, he hoped she was home so he didn't have to text her and ruin the surprise.

He knocked twice, then waited for her to answer.

Comments

[feelthelightning]

"You did." He gave her hand a squeeze. "It looks great! Can't say I'm sad about the gloves right at this moment," he admitted and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it gently. "But if I know Cisco, those gloves will be ready in no time." Especially after they had a panic test run of the suit itself.

He startled when Joe barrelled past them even though he knew to expect it. He sighed and held her closer.

Caitlin was eternally grateful for Peter's support. Even for Harry's fielding of Joe's ire.

"I never shoulda let him do this! I knew it was a bad idea! That boy's been jealous of Jesse's speed the moment she showed up here with it. Bar told me he was a speedster in that other timeline and I knew better than--"

"West! Please, just..." Harry didn't really have a suggestion. He just wanted Joe to calm down.

Caitlin shifted slightly and stood up. "I'm... gonna check on Barry." She nodded towards the door, hoping the fact that she hadn't brushed him away would let Peter know he was welcome to follow her. As a matter of fact, she wanted him to. She just needed away from Joe's emotional energy right now and she wasn't even an empath.

[swoopyhair]

Claire was all too happy to get a little extra cuddle in. She kissed Barry's cheek, flushing at the compliment even though she'd been fishing for it.

She felt bad that there was basically nothing they could do except wait. She'd never been particularly good at that.

Peter took the cue from Caitlin and followed her out to the Cortex, gently closing his hand around hers. He should probably check on Claire, now that her speed had worn off. But she seemed to be fine, thankfully. Though he didn't have to ask - or read her mind - to know she'd be disappointed to be back at regular speed.

"You guys alright?" Claire asked as they joined Barry and her.

Peter nodded and lingered close to Caitlin. "Yeah, think it was just getting tense in there. Understandably so."

I'm pretty sure Peter is becoming Cait's emotional support person

[feelthelightning]

"You make a beautiful Phoenix." Barry admired her.

Barry wasn't any better at waiting. He hated it even more once he got his speed. It drove him nuts! So he could sympathise.

Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief and held his hand. "Thank you." She whispered to him softly once they were out of the lab. She approached Claire and Barry, smiling warmly at them. "Joe was being a bit much, but I get it. What about you two? You feeling okay, Claire?"

Peter's absolutely fine with that. <3

[swoopyhair]

Well, that just made Claire blush more. "And we make a good team," she said heart-eyes on full display. "The Flash and Phoenix."

"Anytime," Peter murmured, quickly dropping a kiss to the side of Caitlin's head. It was incredible, how much she was already trusting and relying on him for comfort. He hadn't expected it at all when he first popped into Central City, but he couldn't be more pleased it was happening.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Claire replied with a nod. "Was starting to feel the crash, Cisco's energy bar thing sorted me out. But... I might see if he'll let me workshop the recipe with him. I'm a baker, after all."

She looked to the Med Bay. "Is Harry okay?"

Re: Peter's absolutely fine with that. <3

[feelthelightning]

"That has a pretty nice ring to it." Barry admitted happily.

Caitlin blushed and tried to quell the flutters it caused. She was a nervous ball of energy that was now also a flustered ball of energy. She hadn't forgotten the quick little kiss to her forehead before he'd teleported away, either. She opened her mouth to speak, but only croaked ineffectually, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "I-I'll leave that between you and Cisco." Please ignore her blush, Claire. It's not really there! God, please ignore it! She isn't completely enamoured with your uncle! Nope! "Can I um... take your pulse? To make sure things are normal?" She held out a hand hoping Claire would offer up one of her wrists. At the question, she glanced back at Harry. "He will be. When Jesse wakes up. Jesse spent some time in a coma before she manifested her powers. It left him understandably scarred."

[swoopyhair]

Most of the time, everyone ignored how flustered Barry got her, so Claire would of course return the favor for Caitlin. She offered up her free hand, her pulse indeed back to normal. The V-9 was out of her system, and Barry's presence was calming, as always.

"I didn't feel any negative effects while I was running, either," she went on to say, knowing that would also be important to share. "Once I got used to it, I was fine. I was as fast as Barry!" She was going to be riding this high for days, at least. Nothing had ever felt so invigorating, or so rewarding. It'd only feel more rewarding once she was absolutely certain that Jesse and Wally would be okay.

But knowing she'd saved Barry... that was a sense of joy and relief beyond measure.

"So we got Alchemy, but surely this Savitar is gonna come back, right?" Peter asked, finding himself curious now that he'd stopped to reflect on the afternoon's events. "We might need a bigger cold blast, or something to combo it with, next time."

[feelthelightning]

Cait was grateful not to be called out. She was flustered up a storm. It took her a little longer than it should have to take Claire's pulse, just because she couldn't focus. But once she did, and got a decent resting heart rate from her Cait offered Claire a tight smile. "That's good to hear. I wish we'd been able to run the first test with you hooked up to monitors, but... oh!" She darted over to the cluster of consoles in the Cortex and skimmed one of the screens for a moment. "Cisco said that suit is finished, right? Then we do have biometric data on you the whole run! Just like with Barry." She'd look it over a bit later. Right now, she was directing it to download to her lab so they didn't lose the data.

"You were just as fast! And with training, you can go faster. That's why Zoom was faster than I was. You'll nerd that burst of surprise speed if something goes wrong with Thawne. But I just wanna enjoy running beside you before we focus on that." Barry admitted with a smile. "We did catch Alchemy. He's in the Pipeline. I'll... be eager to talk to him when he wakes up." Barry's expression darkened. "I know him. I'm curious to hear his excuse. But even with Alchemy locked down, I don't think Savitar is gone for good."

"We still have Snart's Cold Gun. ...and me." Caitlin suggested. "And whatever info Thawne has on this Savitar guy should be useful, right?"

"Maybe Harry's speedster shield will even work against him." Barry suggested.

[swoopyhair]

"Oh, yeah. Cisco said the gloves aren't ready, but everything else is good to go. Mask worked fine with the comms and all." Claire did her best not to draw any attention to what was obviously going down between Caitlin and Peter. They were just too cute, though! She couldn't help grinning. Obviously it was her uncle's business, whoever he decided to get involved with, and neither of them had ever really interfered in each other's lives to that extent. If they were all happy, not much else mattered. Peter was more of a friend than an uncle, even if he did get protective of her. Claire didn't think the two of them dating would change her relationship with either. Except to feel even more like family.

Faster than Barry. That was still wild to think, and something she wasn't prepared to believe until she actually saw it. "We are definitely running as soon as possible," she said softly, not even trying to hide how giddy she was at the idea. What he said next was surprising enough to dim her smile, however. "You know Alchemy? Is that why you looked so... upset when you came up here from the Pipeline?" That look of frustration hadn't escaped her notice even when she was close to crashing out after the V-9 wore off.

"I know two other cryo users," Peter offered. "I don't know if my strength would be enough to hold Savitar alone, but maybe myself and Mohinder together. And, as much as no one wants to hear it, Sylar may have a few tools at his disposal that can help us. Do you think there's anything special about that armor Savitar wears? 'Cause that could be a vulnerability we can exploit."

[feelthelightning]

"Cisco designes the suits to read biometric data so we can keep track of your heart rate and BP from the Cortex while you're out in the field. He designs all the suits like that as a precaution so we know immediately if something starts going wrong. Just in cast you get incapacitated and can't call for help, we know to Breach to you and pull you out." Caitlin explained.

Barry nodded and looked grim as he answered, "It's Julian." He almost growled. "I can't believe he worships Savitar and is going around creating Metas. Especially after his whole speech about how they're the problem with Central City." But he took a calming breath and focused on Peter's concerns.

"Sylar would ultimately be up to Claire." Except, he know if he got desperate enough to save her and they were running out of time, he'd go to Sylar anyway for help saving her. "The armour protects him from the insane speed he has and from his own static build up. Running that fast, while he was dragging me, I could feel it. My suit barely protected me. I could feel it heating up and the static was overwhelming. The only reason he kept stopping briefly all over the city with me was so it didn't kill me. He seemed to know just how long to run before it would start causing damage. There are two blades that retract out of the wrists, and Joe's bullets just bounced off the armour without leaving a dent. He even used a Mercury Labs Pulse Rifle like Harry's and the suit just absorbed the energy. And it either gives him strength or he's just that strong, but he lifted me like I weighed nothing. That's all I could really tell about it, unfortunately."

[swoopyhair]

Claire was tempted to say it wasn't likely she'd be incapacitated, but... she knew better. And besides, she was far too shocked by Barry's answer to her question.

"What? Julian. The asshole you work with?" She shifted in her seat, and nearly got up before she stopped herself. There were other things to discuss, clearly, and unfortunately she couldn't go down to the Pipeline and kick Julian's ass. She wanted to kick Savitar's ass even more for hurting Barry, and it showed in the way she leaned closer to him as though that would protect him now.

Peter tilted his head thoughtfully, mulling over the explanation of Savitar's armor. He was also curious about this Julian guy, if he was someone who could upset both Claire and Barry that much. Not that it took much to piss off his niece. He'd ask about that later. "What if we turned the metal into something else? Something a little more fragile." He looked to Claire. "But it would require Sylar."

She sighed. It was always going to come down to this, wasn't it? "Fine," she huffed. "He owes me. It's the least he can do after traumatizing me for years." Just a tiny reminder of those memories made her shiver.

"You know, it's kinda funny for someone to use the name Alchemy when Sylar can turn literally things into gold." Peter shrugged. It was partly how the New Company was being bankrolled, in addition to his late father's wealth. "It's an idea, at least. Depending on how thick that armor is, Savitar might not be so well protected from weapons like Harry's rifle, or from the heat and static when he runs, if it were made of gold."

It was a fine idea, but Claire's focus had gone back to being angry about Julian in an effort to distract herself from dark memories. "That's just it! That son of a bitch." She lightly smacked the arm of her chair. "Alchemy was turning people into Metas, and the Metas ended up being killers, right? Julian hates Metas and said they're the problem. Kinda convenient to have a list of problematic Metas to point the finger at, isn't it?" There wasn't any clue as to how Savitar fit in with it all, but that part seemed pretty cut and dry to her.

[feelthelightning]

"Yeah, that asshole." Barry agreed. He looped an arm around her shoulders both for support and because he could tell she wanted to give Julian a piece of her mind. He did too, but not right now.

"That could work. I hope he doesn't have to know what kind of material it's made of to transmute it. Firestorm could do something similar but he had to be in contact with it and he had to know what it was to transmute it." The idea was promising, though. If Savitar's suit couldn't withstand the friction and heat... "I firmly believe there is just a person in that armour. Not some God. So if his armour can't protect him from the speed, he'll have to slow down. And that means he can be caught."

Barry shifted uncomfortably. "It's not that simple. These Metas were all Metas that existed in the timeline I created when I went back in time and saved my mother from Thawne. They're just normal people in this timeline. But in that one, Wally was Kid Flash, because I wasn't The Flash. So it's not like he's picking people at random. They're all lives I messed with by accident." The shame and regret was so heavy in his voice. Peter might sense the slightest bit of bitterness from Caitlin that she felt guilty even feeling towards Barry. There was contention over this timeline.

[swoopyhair]

"He just has to get close enough to touch," Peter said. "Which is a challenge in itself, but I'm inclined to agree with you. Savitar is just a guy in armor, whoever he is. Otherwise, I don't think a little blast of cold wouldn't have chased him off like it did."

Claire train of thought wasn't so easily steered off this track. "But that's part of it. He obviously has it out for you, and you said he hates The Flash, right? With Savitar being so fast, he'd obviously know about time travel and different timelines. Savitar could have been telling Julian who to target to make you look bad." She really felt like she was on to something, here. "Are there more people Alchemy hadn't gotten to before we caught him, and is there anyone Julian could have a personal connection to? He could have agreed to work with Savitar as some kind of revenge against The Flash."

[feelthelightning]

"If we slow him with ice and I speed Sylar in, maybe we could do it. But the ice didn't hold him long, so I'm thinking his armour is not just heat resistant but cold resistant. That ice would've stopped me for a good few minutes, even if I started vibrating immediately." This was starting to sound like the beginnings of a plan to Barry. Once out of the suit, maybe the ice would hit harder and Harry could dart him.

"I... don't know. Julian wasn't here before I changed the timeline. When I reset it, he was one of the changes that appeared. That's what happens when you mess with time. You can't put it back exactly as it was. And I messed with a fixed point, so things were going wrong. I just wanted to know what it was like to live with my parents for a while..."

That broke Caitlin's heart. As angry as she'd been to find out that Barry had turned her into Killer Frost, she felt bad for him. "From my memory, Julian's been here for almost a year. But to Barry, he's known him for a month."

[swoopyhair]

"Sylar can teleport the same way I can, if that helps." It was just enough of a plan to give Peter back a little of his optimism. He was proud of Claire trying to work on the angle with this Julian guy, too. It was hard to shake her once she got an idea in her mind.

Claire gave Barry an extra snuggly hug, then kissed his temple. "We'll have to talk to him," she said, determined. "Or... you and Joe, anyway. But it's not police brutality if I hit him, just saying."

"Claire." Peter had to try not to laugh, though. Her anger was kind of cute, in a way, even if he knew better than to underestimate her. "I get how messy time travel can be. That's why I don't do it, anymore. Stopping time, sure, but that won't be of any use to us now. I tested it with Jesse just before the SOS came in for you."

A testament to how crazy things had gotten, that both of them had forgotten to tell Barry about it until just now. Peter continued, "She ran around the track in the Speed Lab, but the friction of running through stopped time built up too much static electricity and caused an EMP."

"Yeah you know me," Claire murmured, giggling. Like the song. "Sorry, I've had that pop in my head every time someone said EMP. We wondered about it being something to use against either Savitar or Thawne, though. It knocked all of us on our asses and cut the power in the whole building."

[feelthelightning]

"It'll take some coordination, but that probably works better." Barry agreed.

He leaned into Claire's snuggles and laughed at her comment. "I'll talk to him when he wakes up. As The Flash. Find out what he knows."

Barry looked surprised. "Was anyone hurt?" Always his first concern. But Claire's giggle and song lyric made him smile. "It sounds similar to how we throw lightning. So it could be used as an area of effect attack. It's something I'm gonna teach Claire later. We run in a circle at high speeds and build up a charge until it feels like it's about to blow then give it an outlet and direction. Jay taught me how to do it... before we knew he was Zoom." Why was everything he knew learned from evil speedsters?

[swoopyhair]

"Harry and Cisco had some minor cuts on broken coffee mugs, but they're fine," Peter replied. "Caitlin and I patched them up." He gave Cait's hand a squeeze and smiled softly.

Making Barry laugh was always the ultimate accomplishment, in Claire's eyes, so she was clearly pleased. She was even happier about learning more speedster tricks later. Maybe she was swooning a little.

"It was pretty forceful," she recalled. "All of us got knocked down, including Jesse. I'm not sure if it's something that could be channeled in a specific direction like throwing lightning. Still a good thing to have in our bag of tricks." Bonus, it wouldn't be from an evil speedster.

Peter nodded in agreement. "And I'll talk to Sylar, see if there's anything else he's got that might be helpful. And I'll warn him that if he doesn't behave, I won't stop any consequences coming his way." That included ass kickings, being shot at, and getting dropped off in Antarctica.

[feelthelightning]

Cait smiled. Peter's hand was like a lifeline. "It's nice having help in the Med Lab." She said with a blush. "Cisco is less dramatic with Peter."

"It would be. I'll talk to Jesse about it when she wakes up." They had several angles to investigate in the mean time. But the mention of Sylar and consequences made Barry lament that he couldn't get to space without the Waverider. He could eject the man to the moon or something if he upset Claire.

Harry stepped out into the Cortex, looking exhausted. "Jesse's awake. She's okay." He informed and took off his glasses to rub his face.

"Go get some sleep." Caitlin said gently. The man hadn't slept yet and he was due to crash soon.

Harry looked defiant for a moment just for the sake of being defiant before he weighed his options and relented. He walked past Cait and Peter, stopping just next to the young man and touching his shoulder. Harry was used to telepaths and he was used to fighting off the privacy of his own thoughts with chaotic thought patterns, but he also knew if he focused on a thought strongly enough, it was likely to be picked up. The touch was a deliberate cue, because Harry didn't touch much. She hasn't slept either. Hopefully, if he got the message across, someone could convince Caitlin to go get some rest, too.

[swoopyhair]

"He only huffed at me a little." Peter chuckled. "But Claire was also distracting him, which helped."

Honestly, Claire would be as excited to see her pal Leonard Snart again as she would be to see Sylar dropped off in space. The bond forged in a bar fight was strong, okay?

She and Peter were both relieved when Harry came out and reported that Jesse was awake. Even in less than a day, it was quite obvious how guarded Harry was, so the contact was surprising to Peter. At first he thought Harry was going to say thanks for bringing Jesse back, but that had been Claire and Barry. He'd 'ported with Wally in that strange cocoon. But then a thought echoed in his head, Harry's voice loud and clear.

Will do. And he made sure there was no further mental contact than that. Everyone was entitled to their privacy, especially when it came to their thoughts. He'd find the right moment to bring it up with Caitlin, because he didn't want to call her out with everyone hanging around and embarrass her.

"I'm gonna go see Jesse, she might like a friendly face now," Claire said, kissing Barry before slipping out of his embrace to go to the Med Bay. She also wanted to check on Joe and Wally. "Hey guys," she greeted them as she entered, offering a smile. Her gaze was drawn to the chrysalis with Wally inside, and she truly didn't know what to make of it. "How're you both holding up?"

[feelthelightning]

Barry will hate if he's the one who has to break the news to Claire about Snart. It had hit him hard enough when Ray told him, despite being proud of the man Snart had become. Ray had handed over the Cold Gun after he'd told Barry.

Harry was probably the most guarded of the entire team. Even Caitlin was leagues more open in comparison, so it wasn't surprising that Peter had picked that up about him in such a short time. The confirmation was met with a light squeeze of Peter's shoulder before he let go then kept walking towards the elevator. That was why he hadn't wanted to say it out loud. He didn't want to embarrass Caitlin or make her feel like she should persist.

Barry followed Claire like a lost puppy, not wanting to lose contact with her just yet.

Jesse was sitting on the cot and smiled when Claire came in. "Hey! I'm fine. Dad already fussed over me, but I'm good. Really. Did we stop the bad guy?"

Joe just waved at Claire, not offering much of an answer as he sat beside Wally's chrysalis.

[swoopyhair]

Barry... will more than likely have to tell her. Eventually.

With Harry headed to the elevator, and Barry following Claire - which Peter wouldn't judge, because he would have followed Caitlin exactly the same way even if she hadn't asked him to join her - that gave ample opportunity to broach the subject. He brought her hand up to kiss the back of it, humming thoughtfully.

"Seems like it's been a hectic day around here," Peter mused. "How about you rest for a while, too?" He wouldn't push the idea of sleep, but a gentle suggestion to rest couldn't do too much harm, he hoped.

"Well..." Claire hesitated. Her arm slipped around Barry's waist. He was quite the adorable puppy following her around, she couldn't resist. "We got Alchemy, he's in custody. But the God of Speed-- Savitar, he's still out there. Peter hit him with a cold blast and it froze him for a few seconds, then he ran off. We've been brainstorming better ways to stop him, and trying to figure out how the heck this is all connected."

She sighed, looking over to the cocoon. "Now I guess it's just a waiting game. Do we know how long this process takes, from the other victims?"

[feelthelightning]

That will be bad news for another day.

Cait blushed and fidgited, tucking her hair behind her ear. She wasn't uncomfortable by any means, just shy with all the affectionate kisses. "Oh, I can't. What if something goes wrong with Wally? I was up all night running tests with V-9 and working with Harry on my power dampener, if I slow down at all, I might fall asleep. And if there's an emergency while I'm asleep, I'd never forgive myself..." She was spiraling.

Jesse pouted. "Sorry I wasn't any help at all. I saw him going to stab Barry and panicked. But I'm glad you guys got Alchemy."

Barry was happy to be snuggled against Claire again. But at the question, he frowned. "No. We haven't actually seen the process. Only found the husks."

[swoopyhair]

"I'm a paramedic," Peter gently reminded her. "Handling emergencies is part of my job description. Plus the rest of us here, we're all pretty good at handling catastrophes. It's okay if you catch a few Z's. Better than working yourself to exhaustion at a critical moment, right?"

He trusted Caitlin completely, but exhaustion could lead to mistakes even with the most capable of individuals.

"I'm glad we were able to save you," Claire said, smiling at Jesse. "I... panicked too, to be honest. It all happened so fast that I can almost hardly believe it's real. But, not bad for my first time suiting up. I just hope Wally will be okay."

[feelthelightning]

She trusted Peter to make the right call if an emergency cropped up, but it still felt like she was abandoning her post. Caitlin struggled with her own work ethic for a moment until his logic won over. "Fine." If any one else had been in the room that knew her, they'd be able to tell him how much of a miracle this was.

"But if anything happens, call me and I'll rush back here." She leaned up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "I wanted to give you my number anyway." She had to let go of his hand so she could fetch a sticky note from Cisco's computer and jotted down her phone number. "Oh! Did anyone tell you, Harry and Jesse are cellular deadzones? Since they're from Earth-2, they vibrate at a different frequency and it messes with cell signals. So you won't have reception near either of them."

Jesse smiled back. "Thank you for getting me back here! Dad said you used V-9! How'd you like running? Also, looks like the suit fits! Wish I could've been awake for all your epic heroness!" She looked over to the cocoon, smile falling. "Me too."

[swoopyhair]

"If anything pops up and we need you, I will." He couldn't promise for certain, but his medical knowledge was strong enough that he felt confident he could handle anything that came up. Then again, he didn't really know what to expect when Wally finally came out of that cocoon. It seemed as much a Meta-human emergency as it did a medical one.

Peter took the sticky note and pocketed it, then tilted his head at the new information. "I remember learning about the frequency thing. Barry and Claire explained the whole multiple Earths thing to me. I'll keep that in mind if I have to call you. And if you need anything, I'll probably be here. Or... I mean, I can teleport, I can be anywhere in a second." Was he blushing? Maybe a little. It was his turn to be flustered when she kissed him. "Sweet dreams."

"I did," Claire admitted sheepishly. "Oh, I loved running. It would've been a lot more fun if, you know, it wasn't a crisis. But running with Barry was just the best, I can't wait to do that again." She smiled up at Barry, then looked down at herself. "Yeah, Cisco did such an amazing job, I gotta tell him! I really felt like Phoenix out there."

[feelthelightning]

Now they were both blushing. "If you need to teleport in for any reason, I sleep decent. So you have my permission to bypass the front door." In an emergency, she could be 'ported back to STAR in her pyjamas without much embarrassment. At least Barry had seen her in her sleepwear before. If they needed her, Cisco would give Peter her address. She smiled warmly and reluctantly pulled away from him to go gather her purse and keys to head home.

Jesse looked excited. "It's such a rush, isn't it! I'm sure we'll have you on the track in no time! Crisis-es aside, of course. I guess that makes you officially part of Team Flash, now. There's always a crisis initiation." She joked. "Dad's was Zoom, mine was Magenta, yours is Savitar."

"Magenta was one of the Metas Alchemy made. She's just a kid with an abusive dad and a split personality like Killer Frost. The personality, Magenta was going to use her powers to destroy an entire hospital to kill her foster father. Jesse saved the day while I talked Frankie back into control of herself." Barry explained, resting his head against Claire's shoulder. "She has ferrokinesis."

"Magneto." Jesse supplied.