Flashpoint: Heroes

"I'm glad you were too. If I wasn't hugging him right now, I'd give you a hug." Claire could be sure Jesse would hug her before the day was over. She just needed to reassure herself that her dad was going to be okay.

"I've done nothing but cause you trouble." Harry objected crossly. Jesse would swat him, but wasn't sure where was safe to do so just yet, so she didn't.

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If there was anyone who'd understand that, it was Claire. She'd be glad for a hug just as soon as Jesse was ready.

"Please, you know trouble would find me without you," she gently chided. "And now you have me promising to do crazy things like being careful and taking it easy. My own dad could barely get me to do that." Noah and Claire had butted heads over it for years.

She gestured with one of her fries like it was her turn to lecture. "If I can do it, so can you."

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"True, but you don't need my trouble added to your laundry list of problems hunting you down, too." Harry argued.

"Dad, I think she can handle it." Jesse insisted. "You've got that same spark about you like Barry does. You want to help people. You're earnest. And when dad talked about you last time, he smiled. Just like when he talks about Barry. So I know you're a good person." Jesse wanted her dad to be happy. She wanted him to move on past her mother's death and start living for himself. And that starts by making friends who he enjoys being around.

While all of this was going on, Caitlin took it upon herself to go get a blood sample from Barry and leave the three alone. This didn't feel like her business. But she could also see how badly Mr. Affectionate wanted to be in here with Claire, so she'd kill to birds with one stone and get blood for Labs while telling him to chill for a bit because Jesse and Claire were setting Harry straight.

Cait put a butterfly bandaid over Barry's head wound to keep it closed while it healed.

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Harry, sir, your daughter has never done anything wrong a day in her life and Claire is going to protect her just as fiercely as she does you.

She really couldn't help the big, dopey smile that was threatening to take up her whole face as Jesse compared her to Barry, and also hearing that Harry smiled when he talked about her. "Thanks," she replied, a little shy. "Nice to know Mr. Grumpy does smile." Her teasing was from the same place of love as Cisco's, she was just gentler about it because that was her way.

As Caitlin got up to tend to Barry, Claire's glance followed to briefly watch through the glass. The adoration in her eyes was obvious when she looked at Barry, but there was also a clear sense of peace about her. It was really sinking in that she had finally found somewhere to belong.

She turned back to Jesse and Harry curiously, "I never did ask - what's the process of traveling between Earths like? The whole parallel worlds thing is still kinda blowing my mind."

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~~Insert Arlo Meme.~~

Harry made a little grunt sound in the back of his throat, wanting to object, but not having the words for it. Jesse just beamed and held onto her father tighter. He seemed sufficiently cowed now and she'd call that a win.

"My little Jesse Quick." Harry said affectionately. "Always so passionate." He was so happy right now, he didn't even put on a farce at being called Mr. Grumpy. Look at him, Claire, he truly was smiling.

Jesse nodded at Claire's gratitude and giggled a bit at her dad's nickname. The question mad the two look between each other, as if asking who wanted to answer. Jesse, like Harry, was a genius. He gestured for her to take that one.

"So, a while back, a singularity opened up on this Earth, producing massive amounts of energy. This was a world-ending event," Thank you Thawne. "When it was closed, the energy tore holes--breaches through space and time to our Earth all over this city. This event poked holes in the Multiverse that shouldn't be there, putting this Earth at the centre, making it the access point. Those tiny wormholes were incredibly unstable, but we were able to stabilise them with tech, but they're impossible to cross without a Speedster or a device we dubbed the Speed Canon. Think of these breaches like doors. Between these doors there's a constantly twisting and turning hallway. If you're not fast enough, you'll fall out of another doorway before you reach the one you're headed for." Jesse got up in a zip of speed and suddenly there was a glass white board on wheels in the med lab. She had a white marker in hand. She drew one small dot labelled Earth-1 and another on the other side of the board Earth-2 then drew a snuggly line between them to connect them she drew an offshoot line part of the way from one of the squiggle humps to a new circle labelled Earth-3. "There are limitless Earths in the Multiverse. So if you aren't careful you could end up anywhere." She drew multiple offshoot lines with multiple circles. "A Speedster can outrun the twisting turbulence of the corridor and get you to your destination." She drew a straight line through the squiggle from E-1 to E-2. "Images and time bleed through the energy, so as you're passing through you'll see glimpses of the other Earth timelines. It's trippy. You have to ignore them or you'll lose the path." She capped the marker and set it on the tray.

Harry decided to add a bit more context, "Ramon's breaches from one Earth to another are far less unstable. As long as he holds them open, they take you exactly where you want to go. We closed all the breaches opened by the singularity to stop Zoom from getting here before Allen defeated him, but I built a device that can open a breach from our side when we need to come over, like Ramon's power." Harry explained. "It can be programmed to go to any Earth, so long as I get the calculations right."

Jesse sat down beside her dad again, but this time was less of a clingy mass and just went about finishing his fries. "If you ever want to visit, I could always take you to our Earth. It's a trip travelling between Earths!" She offered.

Edited Date: 2025-09-05 03:26 pm (UTC)

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~~That's literally Claire with all her new friends right now.~~

It was downright heartwarming to see Harry smiling like that. Things had been pretty stressful since she'd shown up in Central City - though she was more noticing the coincidence in timing, rather than blaming herself. A visit from Jesse seemed to be just what he needed.

She found it interesting that so many Meta-humans had speedster abilities. Then again, she knew of at least two evolved humans with super-speed, albeit theirs seemed slower than the Meta abilities she'd seen so far, Jesse's included. Maybe it was just how the distribution of powers worked from an evolutionary standpoint. After all, she knew of other duplicate powers. Super-strength, invisibility, and pyrokinesis, in particular. She had seen the Company file about Meredith's brother Flint, the uncle she had never met. They could both control flame, though Flint's had been blue while her mother's appeared normal.

There had even been another evolved human like her. Noah had told her in no uncertain terms that he was not a man she would have wanted to meet. Which, naturally, had only made her more curious, until he let her read the file on Adam Monroe, and she kind of understood. The man had been a menace. A villain on the level of Sylar, and perhaps even Eobard Thawne. There were certainly parallels to be found in Monroe's obsession with Hiro Nakamura, and his rage at the Company Founders.

Some abilities just seemed to be more common than others. Claire wondered if there was any kind of pattern that could be detected, both in evolved and Meta-humans. She did have a theory, but it was something she'd need to do more research about. Those thoughts were filed away for later.

It also occurred to her then, listening to this explanation that bordered on a class lecture, that the apple hadn't fallen very far from the tree at all. The drawing helped, though, so Claire was grateful that Jesse had gone to the extra effort.

From what Peter had described, having temporarily borrowed super-speed from Edgar, and from what she'd seen, it wouldn't be enough to traverse these breaches. Maybe with Ando's super-charged lightning, but definitely not alone. A race between Barry and Peter might be close for a little while, she thought. Clear of the chameleon's venom and once he got going? The Flash would leave her uncle in the dust. Seeing Barry show off in the Speed Lab had her convinced of that.

"Cisco mentioned being able to breach to other Earths when he was showing me his power," Claire remembered excitedly. "He told me a little bit about Earth-2." Because of the Vibe that she wasn't supposed to mention. "I must have asked him a million questions about everything, but I think he liked it," she added with a giggle. "But, y'know, probably better to ask the folks who are actually from there. It makes a whole lot more sense to me now, so thanks, guys. Might be cool to see Earth-2 one of these days, hopefully things calm down soon. It's been a little crazy since I moved here."

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Thawne turns himself into a Meta by recreating Barry's accident on himself and used the Block to build his own Negative Speed Force. Zoom was being given electro-shock "therapy" when he was hit with the dark matter, giving an insane serial killer super-speed. Jay Garrick was from Earth-3, and got it the same way Barry did. For the most part, there was just one Speedster per Earth, naturally. Jesse being an exception. Jesse was in a coma after she and Wally got hit with a dark matter wave when Harry got Barry his speed back. She was completely unresponsive until Barry came out of the Speed Force and touched her. There were other Speedsters, like Trajectory, who only had speed due to Velocity 9, and without it, weren't even Metas. But like Zoom, the drug was killing them. They just didn't have the healing factor to help keep them alive. But it turned out that Earth-2 never had a Flash so Jesse was just balancing things out once Zoom was dead. The Speed Force tried to keep a balance when it could. At least when it came to natural Speed Force users.

"Our Earth is similar in many way, and very different in others." Harry explained fondly. "We don't have nearly as much crime and we're technologically more advanced, but our style is different. I think Cisco compared the cars to retro '40s in looks. But they're environmentally cleaner than the vehicles here. Our sun has a far more yellow cast to it than the sun here, too. Or, rather, to my eyes, your sun has a far more cyan cast to it than ours. That took some getting used to when I first arrived here. But I spend so much time here, when I go home, my eyes have to adjust to the yellow cast again." Harry offered her another warm smile. "We're scientists, Bennet. Ramon included. We live to 'geek out' about our fields." He said.

"Oh, trust me, sometimes dad won't shut up." Jesse confirmed. "If you get him and Cisco going, you'll want headphones. They can argue science like an old married couple."

"We do not." Harry sounded so offended. But Jesse just looked amused. At least they always made up.

"Things will calm down, Claire." Jesse promised. "And when they do, just have Dad or Cisco give me a call and we can have a little fun party on the town on my Earth."

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She remembered Cisco describing the buildings as more futuristic, but she couldn't really explain that without getting into the Vibe and that would risk revealing Caitlin's secret. The added description still helped her get more of a mental image going, what to expect when she finally did get to visit. It was a little hard to imagine a more yellow sun when she thought the sun she was used to already seemed pretty yellow, though.

Hearing Harry utter the phrase 'geek out' was going to live rent free in her mind for a while. Claire smiled even wider at that, and at the prospect of things calming down enough to have not just a vacation, but a trip to a whole different Earth.

"I guess the geeking out goes both ways when I get going about evolved human stuff," she said thoughtfully. "My dad and Dr. Suresh know even more about it than I do. Wait 'til you meet them and get them going." Everything she'd learned had more or less come from them, or Mohinder's father and the book he'd written. But unfortunately she'd never gotten the chance to meet the elder Dr. Suresh before he passed. Yet another one of Sylar's victims, not for a power, but for the list of evolved humans that Chandra Suresh had developed using the Human Genome Project.

"Hopefully, the next couple of days aren't anything crazy while Barry and I get the rest of this chameleon venom out of our systems. I know we'll get sorted out, but having something affect my regeneration is always gonna make me nervous." She was nervous for Barry too, though she was much calmer than she had been before. It wasn't clear whether or not Harry really believed in her intention to make them both take the time off, but she meant every word.

"And you better be taking it easy too, Harry. I can help Caitlin in the lab while you heal up. Pretty sure I can just do whatever she tells me."

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"I look forward to meeting them both." Harry said. "Assuming Snow will let me out of this bed at some point." The second part was grumbled with petulance.

"Bio-chem was one of my five majors in college. I'm pretty sure I can help, too. I took over for Caitie when Zoom kidnapped her." Jesse said helpfully.

"And if Allen is still suffering from its effects, they're going to need a Flash on this Earth until he can run again." Harry suggested. This was in no way a ploy to keep his daughter around. Nope.

"I'm on Earth-1 Team Flash for a few. Got it. I should've brought an overnight bag." Jesse said and Harry seemed to melt into the bed a bit.

At the accusatory tone in Claire's voice, Harry bristled again. His rebellious nature wanting to argue. "I'm--!" Jesse shot him a stern look. "taking it easy." He finally settled on, deflating a bit. Being ganged up on by two daughters was infuriating! "Eat your damn pickles and stop harassing me." He said pointedly to Claire, but there was no real bite to his tone. There was even a very subtle upturn to his lips.

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"The more you rest, the quicker you'll be up and about," Claire pointed out gently, almost in a sing-song tone. Even when she was accusatory, it was softer. She was pleased to see Harry in higher spirits, that much was certain. "I'm thoroughly enjoying my pickles, thank you very much. We're lucky to have you around to step in, Jesse."

It sure as hell eased her mind, giving Barry the opportunity to heal up fully before going back to doing Flash things, as well as his CCPD duties. Her head turned almost on instinct to once again watch Barry through the glass, and as she did she was hit with a realization.

No one, not even Barry himself, knew he was still being affected by the venom while he was saving that train before their date... shit, talk about luck. It was a miracle that things hadn't gone horribly wrong.

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"I could power through if Snow would let me. I can deal with the pain and balance issues this damn thing is causing." Harry gestured to the ear Cait had packed with cotton. But that wasn't his only issue. It was just, in his opinion, the most annoying, because it threw off his balance.

"No problem!" Jesse smiled. She got up again and this time moved to Caitlin's computer. Speed typing until she came up with the specs for the chameleon's venom and the related antidote. "The venom replicates itself in the body rapidly by converting proteins in the blood into the venom's proteins to overwhelm the host. You and Caitie programmed an antidote to do the same thing, using the broken down components of the venom as fuel for the anti-venom?" She said as she speed-read the file. "Repeated anti-venom doses run the risk of developing an anaphylactic reaction, but I assume your healing factor will take care of that. And I know Barry's will. Claire, can I draw some blood?" She looked up from the PC to ask.

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Admittedly, Claire had only caught the last half of that, lost in her thoughts as she had been. But it was probably the most important part, about anaphylaxis. "I think the regen healthcare plan covers that," she said with some levity. "I've never been allergic to anything before."

It had seemed to her, going by what Caitlin said before, that there wasn't much of the venom left in their systems - just enough to disrupt their powers without causing any other symptoms. Both she and Barry had reported feeling fine.

"Of course," she said, moving to one of the exam beds. Her food was pretty much finished, anyway. She'd clean up after the blood draw. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but she had a feeling that one more dose of the antidote would do the trick. "Sorry, I kinda zoned out there. Trust me to get distracted by worst case scenarios when literally nothing is happening."

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"Good to hear!" Jesse said chipperly. And found one of Cait's phlebotomy kits. She rolled a chair up and put on sterile gloves, put on a tourniquet, stabbed the site, and drew a couple tubes of blood. Her expression lit up when she saw how immediate the puncture healed. "Wow! I heard you hear fast, but that's insane!" Even slowed by the venom, it was impressive to her. "Barry and I still take a few minutes for something like that to disappear."

"Don't worry about being distracted." Harry spoke up. "Let me worry about the doom and gloom, okay?"

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There was almost no reaction to the needle, as Claire quite literally didn't feel it at all. She only looked down as Jesse wowed at how fast the puncture wound had closed up. A couple small drops of blood lingered.

"Oh, yeah. Usually it wouldn't even bleed this much." There was barely a drop when Thawne had taken her blood. She suddenly wondered what he was doing with it, what kind of texts he might be running... but she knew she couldn't ask.

Maybe he was trying to find a way to use it to make himself stronger. What an idiot she'd been.

"You know I can't do that, Harry," Claire trailed off for a second, then decided to go the cheeky route. "It's my doom and gloom, and I don't wanna share."

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((Idk where my message went, but I thought I typed "half of that was BS anyway" I must've accidentally cut it or something.))

"Why are we talking about doom and gloom?" Caitlin asked as she brought back a vial of Barry's blood to put in the centrifuge. Jesse was quick to label Claire's and slot it in as well before Cait turned the machine on. It was quiet as it went about its cycle.

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"I caught myself being a Debbie Downer" Claire admitted sheepishly, moving to start cleaning up after their lunch. "It'll pass, it usually does." Until the next horrifying thought occurred to her, anyway. It was why she rarely slept.

"How long should that take?" she asked, nodding toward the centrifuge after disposing of their trash. Today had been one thing after another, it felt like; she was hoping for a little break.

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"Jesse and I can have the results to you both in about 45 minutes. It needs to spin for fifteen, then we'll test both samples and see what we find." Caitlin gave Clair's arm a gentle squeeze. "I know you're worried about Barry, but he'll be okay. We'll work on sythesising the antidote in the meantime. That process will take much longer without a live sample of the venom to work with."

"My notes." Harry reminded and Caitlin nodded. She hadn't forgotten that Harry had done a full spectrum analysis of the venom, in case they had to recreate it for this reason. That was the annoyance of anti-venom. It required the source venom to build from.

"I'll keep an eye on dad." Jesse said. "You can go to Barry if you want."

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"It's not only Barry I'm gonna be worried about, it's all of you. My circle's more than doubled in very a short span. It's been a long time since I've had so much to lose." It truly made her realize just how much she'd isolated herself on the road. She had gotten better over the last few years, but in the beginning, she'd go months without visiting even her parents.

"Strange how it's both more motivation to be careful, but also more to fight for." There was an apologetic look toward Harry, because damn it, Claire did want to try to be careful for him. And she made sure to collect that hug from Jesse. The way she said she'd 'keep an eye on dad' almost sounded like they were sharing.

She excused herself to head into the Cortex, shooting Cisco a smile before kissing Barry's cheek. "What'd I miss out here?"

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Jesse gave her a tight squeeze and Harry looked fondly at both of them. Even Caitlin had this proud mother look in her eyes. She loved her found family, and it just kept growing. And as fas as Jesse was concerned, they were sharing Harry as a dad.

Barry seemed to nearly glow when she kissed his cheek. He'd finished all five of his burgers and was just nursing a soda. But with Claire back in the room, he looked more complete.

"We were just talking about how Cisco is able to eat two triple triples almost as fast as Barr is able to wolf down five burgers and only one of them is a speedster." Joe said with a laugh. Cisco threw a gummy worm at him.

"Hey! I was starving!" Cisco defended then held out the bowl of gummy worms to Claire. "Worm? They taste great and make perfect projectiles!"

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Claire felt more settled back at Barry's side, and it showed. She stuck close, giggling at Cisco and Joe's antics, plucking one of the gummy worms from the bowl to nibble on.

"I probably would've devoured mine a lot faster if I hadn't been yapping," she laughed. "That place isn't messing around with extra pickles, I think I had nearly half my body weight in them."

Glancing back to the med lab at Jesse and Harry now, from a distance they reminded her even more of herself and Noah. "Y'know, I'd always wanted a sister. My brother and I have never been close. I hope he's found people like I found you guys."

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"Girl, you got a pickle problem." Cisco said with a laugh and popped another worm in his mouth. "You shoulda seen the guy at the counter's face when I asked for all those pickles. He thought it was a prank."

Barry pulled a chair right up next to his and gestured for her to sit with him.

"Jesse's a good kid. She's got a lot going on, just like the rest of these kids." Joe followed Claire's gaze. "Wells fell into our group, an angry, desperate father to save his daughter and the moment we brought her back, she was part of our surrogate family. It doesnt take long, Claire. It's probably because, fifteen years ago, Barr was thrust into my household without warning, so taking in family has just become second nature to all of us."

Cisco held up a gummy worm like he was toasting a cup. "Here, here!" He popped it in his mouth. "You're one of us now, Phoenix Down. Yo! We can call you Phoenix!" Cisco, stop naming people.

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"I am a pickle problem," she returned cheekily, settling into the chair next to Barry. Her arm leaned against his as she took his hand to hold.

"I was adopted, so I know family isn't all about blood. My brother and I both were adopted, actually, but... he has his reasons." Mostly that Claire's regeneration and the ensuing chaos had upended his entire life, and while it wasn't her fault, he still harbored a lot of resentment about it. She didn't blame him.

The rest of her group was spread out, and with varying degrees of closeness. Allies she'd picked up in the old days when her ability had first manifested, as well as new ones she'd made in her travels. She was even on better terms with her paternal grandmother, though she'd yet to meet her half-brothers, Simon and Monty. Neither of them had expressed interest, even after all these years, and she wasn't going to push things. She didn't mind respecting their wishes even if she was curious to get to know them. Then again, it was also possible they still didn't know they had a half-sister, she couldn't say for sure. Either way, she didn't see it as her place to impose herself on them.

"Phoenix," Claire repeated, thoughtful. It was a bittersweet train of thought, but fortunately it was more sweet than bitter, bringing out a smile. Sorry, Cisco, she doesn't get the Phoenix Down reference. "Considering my bio-mom and dad had the powers of fire and flight, respectively... kind of funny how well it fits. I like it. Just don't ask me to dress up like a bird."

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Barry snorted a laugh and held her hand tightly. He brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles affectionately. "You're the best pickle problem." He said softly against he skin.

"Barr was put in my custody when Henry was wrongly arrested for the murder of Nora Allen. It was rough, but Henry wanted me to take him in. It's impossible to say no to that face." Joe gestured at Barry. He casually didn't admit that he was the one who arrested Henry for the murder of Nora and didn't believe Barry or Henry that he didn't do it. It took fifteen years and the appearance of the Flash before Joe even considered that maybe something was fishy about that murder. But it was Joe who put together that somehow, Dr. Wells was the Man in Yellow before everyone else. Then it was his turn to be on the side that no one believed. Because how could a paralysed philanthropist be a murderous speedster?

"Well, when he comes to his senses, he'll see how amazing his sister is." Joe said matter of factly.

"That settles it," Ciaco jumped out of his chair with so much force it spun and rolled until it collided with a wall. "I'm making you a suit!"

"Cisc--!" Barry tried but Cisco was already running down the curved hall to his lab. "...o." he sighed. "I guess you're getting a suit."

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Barry's laugh was very quickly becoming one of her favorite sounds. She briefly let her head rest on his shoulder, a little bit of comfort for both of them. Yeah, she already knew all about not being able to say no to that face. He just had that way about him.

Claire's smile turned slightly bashful, and she waved her free hand almost dismissively. "Lyle's not an evolved human. He went through a lot because I am: missing school, missing sports, almost ruining his chances at college, our parents divorcing. He might never forgive me, and that's okay. I don't think it makes him a bad person, just someone who wants to move on with his life and be left out of all the craziness." Never mind that for most of it, she'd been a victim, too. Never mind that their parents had both worked at convincing them the divorce had nothing to do with either of their children.

"But thank you. I'm just extra glad to have all of you, now."

Cisco was up and going so suddenly that it took Claire a few seconds to realize what he'd said. "That's really not necessary!" she called after him, whether or not he could hear it.

She might even have gotten up to follow, but she was quickly distracted by a series of vibrations from the phone in her pocket. It was going off so much that it almost startled her - she'd nearly forgotten about the thing. Quickly, she pulled it out and frowned as she unlocked it.

"Aw, crap. I'd been texting my dad this morning before Harry came by. Then, y'know, everything happened. I got distracted. For all he knows I've dropped off the planet, and now he's freaking out," she explained as she scrolled through notifications for text messages, missed calls, and voicemails. "My uncle too, and my mom, and my grandmother?" Her eyes went wide, and she looked up at Barry and Joe.

"Uh... my dad's here. In Central City."

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