Flashpoint: Heroes

"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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Somehow she'd managed to tune the sound out, but once Harry deactivated the Meta detector, she did notice a sense of relief when it quieted. "Could be, I did hit that van pretty hard. I think my main concern would be that it still works to call for help."

She offered her wrist again. "You could take a look and make sure if you want. And... thanks, guys. I'm not the best patient, but I'll hopefully get used to this. Last time I was in any a hospital bed, it was bad." There was a thoughtful pause, then she finally smiled. "Sorry you're on house arrest, Harry. What's your coffee order? Next time it's my turn."

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"I thought putting myself between you and our shadow would protect you. I think it made it worse for you in the long run." That was a sort of apology from him. Though, unbeknownst to him, it had saved him a lethal blow. "Have Ramon test the panic button." He offered.

Caitlin laughed lightly when she said she wasn't the best patient. "Oh please. The worst patient by far is Harry. I have to watch him like a hawk or he sneaks off to his lab. And Cisco here won't snitch on him."

"Hey! You don't have to share a lab with him! I don't wanna be shot!" Cisco chimed in dramatically.

"Just plain coffee with a splash of creamer." Harry answered, ignoring Cisco's antics. He was being pushed back down onto the bed by Caitlin again, because she knew if he was allowed to sit up for too long, he'd try to get up.

Cisco held a hand out to Claire. "Let's go take a look at the watch in the Cortex and see if that panic button is working."

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She was going to make a note of everyone's coffee orders, sooner or later. And their favorite foods. Barry wouldn't be the only one to get to enjoy her cooking.

"I dunno, you might have to strap me down," Claire joked, moving to accept Cisco's offer to head to the Cortex. Her balanced seemed to be fine, no trouble getting out of bed, which was a good sign, as far as she was concerned. She was still a little dusty from the fight, but other than that, she was fine.

Taking the watch off, she offered it to Cisco and let him lead the way. "So, what is this Cortex thing, anyway?"

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Careful Claire, or Cisco will fall in love too if you feed him.

"I try to make it a habit not to strap down my patients." Caitlin teased. She then filled a syringe and loaded some medication into Harry's IV line. He settled himself back and tried to relax.

Cisco took it as they walked. The Cortex was the large, round room just outside the med lab. Monitors, consoles, and computers in a semi circle, on the other, a mannequin with the Flash suit stood proudly on display. Cisco walked to the main group of computers.

"The Cortex is sort of our command hub. Dr. Wells named it since this is the brain of the whole lab. ...or, well, I guess Eobard Thawne named it. We do all of out operating with the Flash from here." He gestured to the large hanging screen in the centre of the room, they keyed something on the touch screen console in front of him. He hit the panic button on the watch and an alert went off in the Cortex. That screen jumped to life with a map of Central City. It zoomed in on STAR Labs with a red pulsing target icon with Claire's name over it.

"Looks like the panic button is working just fine." He said and cleared the alert. Cisco opened the Meta app and made a soft "Huh." sound. "Weird."

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Try as she might to pay attention, her gaze was drawn to the Flash suit. This was pretty much the first time she was seeing it. She was still listening, but it was hard to look anywhere else. Though the alert when Cisco pressed the panic button did pull her back to looking at the screen with the map, noting her little icon there.

That was reassuring, Claire had to admit. She liked having that lifeline, just in case. Damn, she really was staring to be more careful. That felt weird.

Speaking of weird, it was a bit unsettling to hear Cisco declare the issue with her watch as such. Her eyes narrowed, hands on her hips. "That doesn't sound good. What is it?"

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"It's just..." Cisco's gaze travelled to the med lab. The room itself was all glass walls on the Cortex side, allowing them to see right in to Harry and Cait. Immediately, Cisco seemed on edge. "The Meta-human Alert App is working just fine. Harry programmed it to ignore me and Barry. I just reactivated it to see what was going on and it's silent out here." He was talking quietly so his voice wouldn't carry to the med lab.

He pulled up the footage from the attack and reviewed it on one of the screens. Claire would be able to see Hartley hit her with the green sonic attack and she went down. The angle barely showed Harry drag himself up the side of the van, get the pulse rifle and fire on Hartley. The gauntlet fell. When its safety measure went off and it shrieked, Harry went down, holding his head followed soon after by the camera going black.

"Claire, I need your help. That might not be Harry."

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The change in Cisco's tone and mannerisms was contagious. She felt herself growing more tense immediately, and when he said that Harry might not be Harry, her blood ran cold. There was one extremely obvious answer, but she quickly ran down other possibilities.

Sylar could shapeshift, he'd done it to become Nathan. He wouldn't ping as a Meta, though. At least, Claire was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to alter his DNA to that extent. Besides, she also felt confident that even if he showed up in Central City, he wouldn't resort to shady tactics like this. No, he'd show up and be the same old nuisance he always was.

Perhaps some other Meta who could shapeshift, that was a possibility. Still, if she was going to Occam's Razor this, her instincts pointed toward one man.

"Is it who we think it is?" Claire's voice was lowered as well, her gaze drifting toward the glass walls of the med lab. "What do we do?" She saw one immediate priority. "We gotta get Caitlin out of there."

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Do you know how hard it has been to keep all of this from you? Especially from you.

"I can't think of anyone else it could be." Cisco had gone pretty pale. Because, the truth is, I've grown quite fond of you. Images of that vibrating hand passing through his chest and stopping his heart flashed through his mind and left him with lead in his gut. And in many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son. Cisco jerked himself out of the memory and walked slowly towards Claire.

"We have tranq darts designed to knock out speedsters for six hours. If we can get to them, we might be able to alert Caitlin. He seems to be letting her give him meds, probably because he knows they'll burn right out of his system. If we clue her in, she can inject him with the sedative and we can lock his ass in the Pipeline. The cells down there negate Meta powers."

Forgive me, but to me you've been dead for centuries.

Cisco walked past her stiffly and to a locked cabinet. He pulled out a silver dart, holding it out to her. "Go in. Tell her you're still having trouble breathing or something and slip that to Caitlin. She'll know what to do with it. I'll call Barry." Cisco's voice was a bit shaken.

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She shivered, thinking back on all that she'd heard about Eobard Thawne, from Barry and Harry, and from the man himself. It was possible Thawne could be making a move of his own accord and just happened to find her here, but she would have expected more of a confrontation at the discovery.

Nodding, she took the dart from Cisco, palming it. "Sit tight, I got this," Claire assured him, gently patting his arm with her free hand.

Then she turned, allowing herself one deep breath to calm her suddenly rising nerves, and headed back to the med lab. Just before entering, she put on the heavy breathing and panting like she'd been experiencing before. The hand with the dart in it was balled up to her chest, her eyes wide as she made a beeline for Caitlin.

"Hey," she almost wheezed, "I don't think I'm quite a hundred percent yet. Just getting super winded from that short little walk." Her speech was slower and more deliberate, like she was truly trying to catch her breath with each word. "Cisco thought I should have you take another look."

Her free hand grabbed Cait's, and it was easy enough to feign a look of fear (partly because she was a little scared) and make like she was grabbing Caitlin's hand with both of hers as she slipped the dart against the other woman's palm. "He said you'd know what to do," Claire added softly, ramping up the fear.

She did have a penchant for the dramatic, especially where these unknowns about her ability were concerned.

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At first Caitlin looked worried and started trying to calm her down, but as soon as she felt the dart, her eyes went wide. "Are you sure?" She asked carefully as she took the dart. Then she looked over her shoulder at Harry, who was now watching with alarm. His gaze was fixed on Claire. He was looking at her like he did Jesse when she was in trouble. A worried father.

"Breathe slowly for me. Deep and slow." She instructer then steered Claire to the doorway so she could grab her stethoscope off the wall. It put some distance between then and Harry. She whispered, "If you two are wrong," she put the stethoscope on and mimed listening to Claire's chest "this will stop Harry's heart. Are you sure?"

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All of a sudden, she wasn't sure. But like Cisco, she couldn't think of a more likely possibility. Claire too had caught a glimpse of Harry as Cait led her back toward the doorway. That concern had looked genuine.

But then Thawne had seemed genuine with her, too. He was good at playing the part, that was how he'd won her over in the first place. Not that Cait or Cisco knew about any of that.

If they were wrong, maybe her blood could save Harry. She wasn't sure if him being from Earth-2 made his blood any different, but--

That was it. That was how she could be sure. If Harry wasn't Harry, the iPhone in her pocket wouldn't be getting a signal. Unless it had been damaged in the fight with Hartley. There was only one way to find out.

Feigning a dizzy spell, she laid on a little more panic as her hand clumsily reached into her back pocket. If Harry was, in fact, Harry, that would have to mean Caitlin was a Meta. Cisco had specifically said the Meta app only blocked the signal from himself and Barry.

Unless it was pinging because of the Meta toxin in her own system? But it couldn't be that, or else the device would have alerted as soon as Harry had given it to her.

No. If it wasn't Harry, it had to be Caitlin. She was used to pretending to be drunk when she cheated at drinking contests, so putting on an affectation of being dazed and confused wasn't too much of a stretch. She made like she was going to unlock her phone and make a call, seemingly forgetting about Harry's cellular dead zone.

"Hang on, I'm freaking out, my dad will be able to help calm me down--" Claire looked anxious, checking to see if the 5G symbol would pop up in the top corner of her screen...

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