(no subject)

[captaincaveman]

Early in the morning, Barry was already at work at CCPD, Claire would be greeted with a knock at her door. Wells, in his classic black attire and black baseball cap to hide his face was standing at her door. He wasn't wearing his glasses and had the collar of his jacket popped to help conceal his face. In one hand he was holding a Jitters carton with two to-go cups of coffee.

Assuming she opened the door, the very first thing he did was raise his free hand in a show of surrender and say, "It's me, Harrison--or Harry, not... you know..."

Comments

[captaincaveman]

That look just got worse at the mention of poisons. "I'm going to be silently grateful you don't have my chemistry degree." Because it would have been easier for her to make something poisonous from household cleaners than to buy anything. Hell, mustard gas was made in sinks all the time by accident just washing dishes. "But I am glad to hear you can't be roofied. That's one thing I don't have to worry about with you or my daughter." Hey, did he mention Jesse was a Meta?

"Uh, no. That's not how this works." His reply was quick and firm. "I'll not have any of you taking blows meant for me, regardless of whether they're actually meant for Thawne. I created the Metas on my Earth, so I'm just as responsible as he is." Sure sounded like someone thought he deserved the beatings he took. "You are all good kids. You don't deserve this burden."

[infinite1ups]

"I could've tried harder, but I didn't want to just try any random poisonous substance. I was trying to think of things I might actually be attacked with," she explained, shrugging. "The illicit stuff, well. That was more just to see what would happen. I wanted to feel something."

She wasn't completely without a sense of touch, but her general state of being was pretty much the same all the time. Even a moment of intoxication would've been interesting.

"No can do. Absorbing damage is the one thing I'm actually good at." Which was, of course, not at all the truth, but it was how Claire saw herself most of the time. "There's no point in me having this if I don't use it to protect people, especially people I care about it."

[captaincaveman]

"If you're still looking to feel something, there are safer ways to go about it." Harry scrubbed a hand through his hair in mild frustration. How did he get caught up in these situations where he cared about reckless kids?

"I swear if I hear that excuse from one more of you kids, I'm gonna--!" He hit the table with an exasperated sigh. This was the point where, if they were in his lab, he'd have thrown something across the room. But they weren't. And he wasn't going to throw his coffee. "You, Allen, and my daughter are too eager to throw yourselves into danger just because you have powers." He growled. "Besides, how can you care about me? You don't know me." Pot, kettle, Wells.

[infinite1ups]

No matter how well Claire healed physically, the scars under the surface went deep, So her startle response was stronger than she would have preferred. She jumped a little when Harry hit the table, and now it was her turn for a disapproving frown.

"I can't run fast or use lightning, can't move things with my mind. But I can take a hit. I can take a lot of hits." She could hold her own in a brawl, as she proved with Leonard Snart, and she was a decent shot, but with the people she'd been up against, the people they were going to be up against, that wouldn't be enough. "There are people who should be here, but they're not, because they died to protect me. I owe it to them."

Claire sat up straighter in her chair, more focused and less relaxed. "If I can fall in love with Barry in practically no time flat, I can care about you just as fast."

[captaincaveman]

When she jumped, he actually looked guilty, averting his gaze. He pulled off his glasses to clean them so he could busy himself with something other than feeling like an asshole for making her jump.

"Look." He began, softer. "I don't want you taking hits for me. I'm not worth it. If you somehow get hurt because of me, how is that a fair trade? Those people wouldn't want you to throw your life away for someone like me."

Harry sighed and put his glasses back on. "Allen isn't a similar case. When I first arrived here, I had planned to do whatever it took to get my daughter back, and that included betray Allen. And yet as much as I love my daughter, as far as I was willing to go to save her, Allen has this way about him. He makes you care. I couldn't go through with it knowing I'd be trading Allen's life for Jesse's."

[infinite1ups]

"You really are so much like my dad." It was all she could say after hearing that. The list of people Noah Bennet would've thrown into the fire to keep Claire safe was longer than even she knew.

"If I'm gonna be around you guys, it's gonna happen one way or another. whether I take it on purpose or not. I know the danger I'm in, being with Barry. I know it's not just Thawne. I'm choosing to stay and protect the life I want, not throwing it away, no matter what happens."

[captaincaveman]

"I can't tell if that's a compliment to me or an insult to your father." Harry both thought very highly of himself but also thought of himself as a horrible person. It only got worse when his daughter found out what he'd done to save her and she'd called him a monster, no better than Zoom.

He finished his coffee, lamenting its loss already. "I'm not telling you to run from this life you want to build. Just be wary. Please." He didn't want the survivor's guilt.

[infinite1ups]

"It's a compliment." Harry seemed... more angry than her father, at least outwardly. She was sure Noah held onto a lot of emotions that he wasn't as open to sharing with her, including anger. He always tried to spare her from feeling any guilt about the consequences for any decisions he made for her protection. That was his to bear, he'd told her time and again.

"This is me being more careful. Take Thawne, for example. In the past I would've wanted to take the fight to him, and I would've tried to. I learned my lesson; I know I'm better on defense." But that didn't mean she wasn't wiling to fight and sacrifice. After the chameleon, she understood the stakes were even higher. Maybe she couldn't be killed, but she could be weakened.

She finished her own coffee and then got up to take care of both of the cups.

[captaincaveman]

Harry had some anger issues to work out, for sure. But he was a lot of bark and less bite in most cases. Even when he threw things across the room. He had tried to shield Jesse from the actions he'd taken to save her, but she'd found his audio logs that he'd recorded in the event of his death.

At that, he looked alarmed, even though she said she wouldn't. "Do not go after that man. He's too dangerous, Bennet. I've seen what he can do, first hand and he'll get in your head."

Thawne was a can of worms they were going to have to deal with eventually, but not yet. For now, he stood up when she did and straightened out his jacket. "To STAR Labs, then? Introduce you to Ramon and Snow."

[infinite1ups]

"I know. I'm not going to." Mostly because she'd promised Barry. Otherwise she might have wanted to try... something. Anything. She hated feeling helpless, waiting around for her enemies to make the next move.

Not that Thawne knew he was her enemy yet. Though he'd know something was up sooner rather than later, when he realized she wasn't returning his calls or texts.

Claire nodded, grabbing her hoodie from where it was hanging by the door and shrugging it on. She had everything she needed already. "Let's go. I take it I'm riding with you? I'm assuming you drove here."

[captaincaveman]

Even if they wanted to, Thawne wasn't someone who could just be hunted down. He didn't stay in one place long or one time period. Unless he was locked down like he had been after killing Nora Allen. He'd lost his speed and had been stuck in place. And even though Thawne could feel other Speed Force users when they used their speed, Barry couldn't feel Thawne. Something about the Negative Speed Force shielded him.

Harry popped his collar up again and slipped his glasses back into his pocket. "Well, I didn't come via Speedster Express." He quipped. "But if you'd feel safer driving yourself after how we first met, I take no offence." It was said with a wry smirk.

[infinite1ups]

She huffed a laugh as she led them out, making sure the door was locked after them and that she had her key to get back in. Her bus was safely parked in the garage owned by the apartment's landlord. It was a low-rise kind of building, but more on the high end of things, that had seemingly - almost mysteriously - come under new management just before Claire moved in.

"Nah, forecast said it might rain. Think I'll keep Penny dry today." And, she was quick to add, "That accident wasn't your fault."

XD No worries!

[captaincaveman]

"Penny?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as they walked. He fished his keys out of his pocket. "Maybe not, but that's the second STAR Labs van I've totalled. Both thanks to Meta attacks."

He hit the unlock on the keyfob and the lights flashed on the van as they approached. But as they did, Harry seemed to get a bit antsy beside Claire. He put a hand on her lower back and steered her in front of him. He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Black hoodie behind us." But just as he got the words out, a high pitched warbling whine hit him in the back. A sonic attack. It sent him colliding with Claire and both hit the STAR Labs van. Hard.

"I thought that was you, Harrison. I guess you're not as dead as they say." The hooded figure stepped up, holding out a gauntleted hand. "Blondie, I'd move if you don't want your organs to liquify." Credit where credit was due, Hartley did wait a moment to give Claire time to accept his offer to move.

Harry groaned and held his head. He'd taken the majority of the sonic blast to the back, so Claire had only been hit with his body and the van, but it still left his ears ringing. He was never leaving the damn lab again!

[infinite1ups]

"Penny, my bus--" But then Harry was moving behind her, and she heard the whisper just before some sort of force sent him crashing into her, and she went face first into the STAR Labs van. It knocked her woozy, leaving a cut on her cheek that was closing up fast as she got to her feet to face their attacker.

Claire didn't know who this guy was, but she already didn't like him. He touched on one of the biggest triggers for her temper. "Blondie? God, you goons can never come up with anything original, can you? How about you go fuck yourself."

She was pretty sure her organs could put themselves back together. Okay, she wasn't sure at all, but she didn't have time to wonder about it. Just like she'd told Harry - she'd let herself take the hits every time. Not without trying to get in a few hits of her own, though. A quick once-over of the guy told her he wasn't that much taller than she was, and despite her petite stature, she was athletic and solidly built.

There was no time to think about it. She rushed him, hurtling herself forward, keeping her head and shoulders low in the style of a football tackle. If she could at least stumble him, knock the wind out of him, it might buy Harry enough time to get to safety, or get into position to fight back, himself.

[captaincaveman]

"Damn!" Hartley swore and threw his hands up to hit her with a sonic pulse so he could stop he from hitting him. Anything over 200 decibels could kill a human, but she wasn't exactly easy to kill. And fortunately for Harry, he was far enough away that any stray pulse lost enough wavelength by the time it hit him that it wasn't deadly anymore.

The van windows did shatter, though and he dragged himself up onto the door, ignoring the cuts the glass left behind. Harry reached across the driver's seat to grab the pulse rifle. He had blood running down his ears and his equilibrium was out of whack.

When Claire collided with Hartley, he tried to wrestle her away. "Fine! Buffy, whatever! I'm not here for you! just Harrison Wells! I'm not the bad guy for once, it's him!"

oh my poor google search history looking up the ways Claire can die XD

[infinite1ups]

The trouble with things that could kill humans was that they could also kill Claire. She wasn't immune to the damage 200 decibels could cause, so that sonic pulse was enough to drop her on the spot. There wasn't time to shout a warning to Harry before she lost consciousness, crumpling to the ground, quite literally dead weight.

There was blood coming from her ears as well, both eardrums ruptured with the wave of sound. Other parts were faring much worse, though, their regeneration unseen as the injuries were all internal. It wouldn't be easy to tell from a glance whether or not she was still breathing.

In fact, she wasn't, due to the damage her lungs had taken from the blast. Harry would only have a brief opening before Hartley got himself disentangled from Claire's lifeless body and went on the attack.

I thin all RPers are on a watch list. XD Also, this is not how this was supposed to go. Poor Claire!

[captaincaveman]

Harry got himself turned back to Hartley in time to see Claire drop and ice ran through his veins. She wasn't moving. He shot off one of Hartley's gauntlets. After a few moments it started emitting a shrill sound that made Harry double over.

In the commotion, player four entered. A breach opened and Cisco jumped out, holding his hands over his ears. "Hartley, stop!" He yelled over the sound of the gauntlet and ran to Claire. "He's not Dr. Wells! Shut your gauntlet up and help me get them to Caitlin!" Cisco opened another breach when Hartley grabbed and deactivated his shrieking gauntlet. Cisco scooped up Claire then ran through the breach with Hartley helping Harry not far behind him.

They emerged right into the Cortex of STAR Labs and from there Cisco ran Claire immediately into Caitlin's lab, lying her down on the medical bed. Hartley helped Harry to a seat in the med lab but he wouldn't even let Caitlin look at him until Claire was stable.

This is true, any writer ends up googling weird things. She'll shake it off! XD

[infinite1ups]

With external injuries, it would have been much easier for onlookers to note the progress of her regeneration as they watched the damage repair itself. With this, it was practically impossible unless they hooked her up to monitors to check her vitals.

Her heart came back first, and then a handful of seconds later she came to with a choking gasp. Those first few breaths were difficult; some of the damage to her lungs was still healing. She went into a coughing fit, trying to pull herself upright at the same time. It was obvious they were indoors now, but she couldn't say where. The lab, presumably. Harry wouldn't brought her to a hospital. Jeez, how long had she been out?

Claire winced as she tasted blood, saw flecks of red on her arm with each hacking cough as she was covering her mouth. But after another moment the fit passed and her breathing started returning to normal. "What happened?" she asked finally, her voice raspy, though when she spoke again she sounded more like herself, looking around wildly and practically ready to jump off the medical bed and get back in the fight. "Harry-- and where's that fuckin' guy? This isn't over--"

Nope, not quite fully healed, and getting so worked up didn't help matters. She cut off with another fit of coughs.

[captaincaveman]

She was indeed hooked up to monitors. And the moment they started beeping Caitlin was at her side. Cold, delicate hands gently pressed her back to the bed trying to keep her from getting up.

"Relax, you're in STAR Labs. I'm Dr. Caitlin Snow. You need to take it easy, your body is still regenerating. Slow, even breaths." Cait very gently took an alcohol wipe and wiped away the flecks of blood, then handed Claire a tissue.

"You were hit with a sonic attack of over 200 decibels. It caused damage to your lungs and oxygen embolisms in your heart, essentially killing you briefly." Cait explained clinically. "Harry's--" she gestured to the bed beside Claire. He was prone, unconscious, also hooked up to monitors and an IV. He had various small cuts that were sutured as well as a few bruises from the collision with the van. "I had to sedate him. He has a multitude of minor lacerations, a few contusions, a ruptured eardrum, and some minor internal bleeding. But, he'll be okay." She assure, gently.

"As for your attacker, it's over. Hartley thought he was..." She didn't know how to explain that, really.

Cisco stepped up. He'd been just in the Cortex and heard Caitlin talking. "Hartley thought Harry was Thawne. He didn't know about Earth-2 or any of the other Earths, so he thought that jackass was back to hurt Barry. And Hartley doesn't follow our no-kill policy." He explained, then held out a hand. "Cisco Ramon. Thanks for saving our genius idiot. Man, I'm putting him on house arrest or something. It's every dang time!"

[infinite1ups]

It was probably obvious by the way that Claire tensed up that she was not used to receiving medical attention like this. Nothing about being hooked up to machines with monitors and/or tubes was a good memory for her, and she was giving a little bit of a deer in headlights vibe when it all sunk in.

"Makes sense," she said finally, quiet as though she was trying to conserve her voice. "Last thing I remember before I went out was all the noise, then no sound at all. Just for a second. Thanks for, uh, getting me out of there. How long was I out?"

She guessed it had to be a while if they were at the lab now. Much longer than she might have expected, and that unsettled her. Was her healing slowing down? The second new face broke her out of her thoughts, and she glanced up. So this was the team she'd heard so much about. Barry's friends.

Her hands, fortunately, weren't bloody, so she reached out for a handshake as Cisco did. Yeah, she might be immune to all diseases she knew about, but she wasn't gonna be gross. "I've heard so much about both of you, almost feels like I know you already. From what Barry's said, you could probably say the same about me." It made sense, given that neither of them had been able to shut up about the other, and Barry liked bragging about his friends as much as he seemed to enjoy talking about Claire.

"We're gonna wrap him in bubble wrap," she joked, shaking her head. "I'm glad he'll be okay. I think I'm right as rain now, doesn't feel weird to breathe anymore." And, in her uneducated opinion, the beeping on the monitors sounded pretty normal to her, compared to when she'd first woken up.

[namesthevillains]

"You've been out a little over an hour. We told Barry. He wanted to be here, but I assured him I had it all under control." Caitlin said softly. "You can bet he'll be here the second the clock hits lunch time for him, though."

Cisco leaned in with a goofy smile. "You bet! Hey, I'm sorry you got caught up in Hartley's bullshit. When you two hit the Van, the Crash Assist went off and I hacked the security cams. I saw you go down and breached in." Look, she knew about Barry being the Flash, might as well spill the beans about his own alter ego. "I'm Vibe."

Cisco laughed easily and nodded. "Yeah, Barry won't shut up about you. It's kinda cute. Haven't seen him this into someone in a long time." Caitlin smacked him in the arm. "Ow! Hey! It's true!"

"You have no decorum, Cisco." Cait huffed. She went about unhooking Claire from the heart and pulseox monitors as well as the blood pressure cuff.

Even as the monitors calmed down, Claire might notice a different beep that was more insistent. The watch on he wrist that Harry had given her. It kept chiming quietly, alerting of a Meta.

[infinite1ups]

An hour? It shouldn't have taken that long. A few minutes, five minutes at most. She'd put herself back together after Ted Sprague practically melted her, and an autopsy in less time.

"What did you do to me?" Her hackles were raised again - it was hard not to, with all the strange things that had been going on with her ability. There's no way it could have taken an hour, there had to be a mistake.

Claire shrunk back a little once all the equipment was off her. She knew it was all with the best of intentions, but it always made her feel uncomfortable. The anxiety was a bit of a distraction, to the point where she couldn't focus on much that was going on around her. She caught Cisco introducing himself again as Vibe, and was wondering what the hell that meant. Did everyone have code names?

The beeping clued her in, as she dimly remembered what Harry had told her about the device he put on her wrist. He must be a Meta. Unless both he and Caitlin were. She had more pressing issues - Meta or not, they were Barry's friends, and that's all that mattered to her.

"Sorry--" It was probably an abrupt shift, from quietly friendly to closed off, and she wasn't trying to be rude. "There's been a lot of weird stuff happening with my ability ever since I moved to Central City, and it's freaking me out. It shouldn't have taken me an hour to heal from that. I've recovered quicker from way worse."

[namesthevillains]

"Hey, chill! We're the good guys, remember." Cisco defended, holding up both hands and stepping back.

Caitlin stepped back up again, completely unshaken. "Harry said he noticed some lingering toxin in your bloodstream. It's being broken down, but it might be slowing your recovery times. I'll have to check Barry for the same effects when he gets back. Harry and I both agree, once the chameleon's venom is completely out of your system, your healing will return to normal." Cait informed clinically. She glanced over at Harry's unconscious form. "It was hard to get him to leave your side. That's why I had to sedate him." She looked fond for a moment.

Cisco sat down on the chair beside Harry's bed. "There's no limit of weird in Central City." He confirmed. "You're the... third? Yeah, third person I've seen come back to life. And only one of them was a zombie." He shuddered. Thawne didn't count. He didn't come back to life as much as he did just keep reappearing like he'd never died. Which was bullshit in his opinion.

[infinite1ups]

It kind of made sense, she supposed. She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary after being given the antidote on the Waverider with Leonard Snart. Gideon had assured her it would clear her system of the venom, and she'd taken the AI at its word. But then, she'd meant it when she said she was being careful - she hadn't noticed any difference in her healing because she hadn't really had anything to heal from.

Everything else had been normal, except that she'd been sleeping a little more. Thank Barry for that.

"Sorry," Claire apologized again, softer now. The mention of Harry sobered her, and she followed Cait's gaze to where he was unconscious. "And thank you. I never would've guessed that toxin was still in me. I was given an antidote and I felt fine. Wish I could say it won't happen again, but knowing me... it probably will. I told Barry that trouble tends to find me." She looked back to Cisco. "I feel pretty certain I won't come back as a zombie, though. Is that really a thing?"

Don't mind me as I bullshit medical science.

[namesthevillains]

"The antidote is doing its job. But it's fighting both your own regenerative abilities and the bio-toxin. If it's anything like the antidote Harry and I created, it's designed to keep replicating itself in your body, using the bio-toxin's own genetic markers, so as long as the toxin is still in your system, the antidote will keep doing its thing until the toxin is completely gone. But like any drug in a regenerative body like yours and Barry's, it will fight the medication trying to help it too, slowing down the antidote." Cait explained as best she could.

Cisco rested a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I mean, it happened once, but it probably won't happen again. We got rid of Evil Wells' morgue under the breach room. He kept dead Metas there to study and when Harry recreated the dark matter wave to give Barry his powers back, Girder got hit with a new wave and came back as a zombie. It was..." He trailed off when he saw Caitlin making a sharp cut-off motion with her hand telling him to stop. "It won't happen again." He assured.