Flashpoint: Heroes

"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."

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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.

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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."

Edited (i realized i contradicted myself from earlier lol oops) Date: 2025-08-31 03:06 am (UTC)

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"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!

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"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.

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"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!"

Edited Date: 2025-08-31 04:18 am (UTC)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!"

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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.

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"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.

Edited (Typos. Good god. I should proofread better before I send. ) Date: 2025-08-31 06:00 pm (UTC)

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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."

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"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.

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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?"

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"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.

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She remembered how in order to be sedated by the government, they had to keep a constant supply of the drug to her system. And even then, she still managed to regain consciousness. From what Barry told her, that would be even less effective on him. So the explanation tracked given what she understood about her own ability.

Her dad had warned her more than once that there could be substances strong enough to have this kind of effect. Naturally, Claire hadn't listened. She was going to get one hell of an 'I told you so' from Noah when he got to town and she caught him up to speed.

"D'you think the dark matter could be why the toxin can affect me? I've been immune to everything else so far."

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"That could very well be. I'd have to run a few tests and compare them to Harry's notes first to give you a solid answer. From what I read of the little he's learned so far, your evolution and the mutation of Metas are very different. Dark matter bonds to DNA and alters it on a molecular level. You register closer to human than Barry or Cisco does. Even with the unique markers you present." She brought a tablet over showing a strand of Barry's altered DNA beside a strand of Claire's. She isolated a specific gene in Claire's. "This right here is the gene that shows me you're Evolved. It's something I can only find if I run a blood test." She brought Barry's back into focus and pointed out various genes that were a different colour on the screen. "These are the Meta genes they quite literally emit dark matter like an aura. It's how we can track Metas using a dark matter scanner. Harry found--"

"--I found a way to drain dark matter from Meta DNA and render them human again." Came Harry's voice, low and gruff from the other bed, making Cisco jump and shriek in surprise.

"Dammit man! Don't do that! My heart can't take it!" Cisco yelped and gently swatted Harry's shoulder.

Harry smirked, and started pulling the heart monitor leads off only for Cait to rush over and stop him. "Don't make me sedate you again!" She insisted. He glared but stopped and looked over at Claire with relief in his blue eyes.

"Don't you ever do that again, Bennet." Harry scolded.

Edited Date: 2025-08-31 09:05 pm (UTC)

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"I knew about the gene," she admitted, though she was still interested to see it all mapped out the way Caitlin was showing her. "Another geneticist, Dr. Chandra Suresh found it - he found us. There's a book he wrote about evolved humans. But he passed away years ago, unfortunately. Mohinder Suresh is his son, carrying on his work. He's the one who found the link between our abilities and adrenaline."

Claire jumped too, but only because Cisco had. She frowned at the admonishment. "You're welcome." Her voice was quiet. She couldn't say she wouldn't do it again. The choice was one she'd make every time. "He pissed me off; we would've gotten the same result even if you weren't there."

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"Don't mind Harry." Caitlin said sweetly. "That's just how he shows he cares." She finished reattaching the heart monitor leads to his chest and urged him to lie back down. He did, but he huffily pushed her hands away.

"If I wasn't there, he wouldn't have attacked." Harry pointed out plainly. "That was Hartley Rathaway." He explained. "And you shouldn't have charged him. It was reckless."

Cisco sat up straighter in his chair and clapped his hands together. "Okay, Mr. Grumpy Pants. Let's leave the lectures for later, when everyone is feeling better. She just died and you look like shit." That earned Cisco a glare instead, directing all of Harry's grump at him now. Which had been precisely the plan.

Harry then covered his face with his hand and sighed heavily. "Any lingering effects, Bennet?" Yes, that was concern in his voice.

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"It gave you time to... do whatever it is you did while I was out. It gave Cisco time to get there and bring us all back here. I'm not just going to take it lying down when someone attacks me." No, Claire wasn't going to learn from this experience, because she's sure she made the right call. If that blast had hit Harry instead of her... she didn't want to think about that.

She did calm some, though she was still nearly as grumpy as Harry was. She was just less aggressive. "No. I think I'm alright." Nothing felt off, her breathing had returned to normal, as had her voice, and she wasn't coughing anymore. "How will I know when that venom is gone? After I had the antidote I felt the same as I always do."

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If he had hit Harry, he'd be dead. Hartley had been operating under the assumption that Harry was the Reverse-Flash, so he had no real intention of holding back. The first attack had been a warning shot, because Claire had been in the way and he didn't want to kill a civilian if he didn't have to. The second blast had been dialled up for Wells, but she attacked him and he reacted out of panic.

"...you also saved my life." Harry admitted begrudgingly. "I disarmed him, which gave Ramon time to get to us." He added.

Caitlin was smiling at them both. It always warmed her heart when Harry gave in and let the walls down. At the question, she pipped up, "We'll keep testing your blood. The effects of the venom should be pretty minimal, but I'll keep an eye on it and let you know when you have a clean bill of health."

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There it was. She wouldn't rub it in, it was enough just to hear. More of her temper and tension were subsiding, though she suspected she'd be on edge until her blood tests started coming back with the all clear. It bothered her, deeply, to be experiencing long-term effects like this. That it had affected her at all was troubling enough, but to know that even an antidote couldn't fix her right away? She had never experienced anything like it before.

"Like I said, I haven't noticed anything since that night. I felt fine, and I hadn't healed from anything to notice a difference." Days without even a minor injury, yes... it was possible. "I can keep coming back for tests, that's not a problem."

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"To be completely honest, the lingering venom in your system is so low, you might not have even noticed at all with out such a massive injury." Cait explained.

Harry sat up before Caitlin or Cisco could stop him and reached for Claire's wrist. He gave the watch a confused onceover. It was still going off. "I wonder if it got damaged in the fight." He said absently. With a couple keystrokes, he deactivated the Meta app so it wouldn't drive Claire nuts. "I'll fix it when Snow lets me out of this damn bed." He promised.

Caitlin seemed to falter a bit but recovered pretty quickly. "I think any small injuries will heal without noticable difference for you, Claire."

"And Harry won't be allowed to leave STAR Labs for the foreseeable future, so there should be fewer arbitrary attacks to worry about." Cisco added at Harry's expense.

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