Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Call Me Kara

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 26:

“Good morning.”

At 6 AM, Barry hadn’t expected anyone to be at the lab. He had planned on meeting Harry here before work but when he tried to wake the man, Wells brushed him off and told him they would talk when the sun came up. So rather than watch TV, Barry went into Wells’ work area and continued the equations the two had started the night before while Kara and Alex had been getting drunk apparently, judging by the strange texts he received all night.

So to hear Jeremiah’s greeting, a man who Joe had told him, had not left the house or his wife’s side, to be here this early, surprised him greatly, leaving him momentarily speechless.

“Dr. Danvers. Good morning.” Barry greeted in return when he found his voice. He briefly wondered if he should cover the board he and Harry had been working on but remembered Jeremiah’s specialty was not advanced physics and left it alone.

“Danvers is gone I’m afraid. I suppose Zorel will take some getting used to. Now I know how Kara felt. I suppose we should stick with Jeremiah if that is alright with you?”

“Yeah… okay. So Jeremiah… what are you doing here, especially so early?”

“I had a talk with Ray Palmer last night. He talked to me and my wife. To be honest I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be in a lab again, but I know Eliza even after all these years and it is going to be too good of an opportunity to pass up. Honestly it’s too good an opportunity for me to pass up. I’ve been afraid to leave her side or go outside since I was freed. It’s irrational… I know intellectually I’m safe, my family is safe, but I just haven’t been able to face the world, I suppose you could say. I haven’t seen traffic in twelve years. But I can’t hide forever. I thought maybe hanging out here today might help me acclimate. Eliza is around, wandering the halls. Ray said he slept here? And this Dr. Wells?”

Barry laughed, admitting silently that this place resembled a hotel more than a highly advanced lab at times.

“Yeah, Ray has been playing dead for the past couple years and everyone thinks our Dr. Wells is dead. They don’t get out much. Speaking of Ray, did you see the press conference?”

“I saw my little Kara on TV looking confident, beautiful, and in control. I always knew she had it in her.”

“How did you get here?” Barry asked.

“Joe let us borrow his car, said he would get a ride into work. He’s a nice guy. A great guy.” Jeremiah told the speedster.

“Yeah, believe me I know. I would have had a very different life if not for him.” Barry admitted.

“Barry can we talk? Really talk?”

Barry managed not to roll his eyes, thinking this would be the dad threatening the boyfriend speech. Still he would take it. He took a lot worse in his life and honestly if it made Kara’s adoptive dad feel better it would be worth it.

“Of course. I’m an open book.” Barry lied. To Kara, Cait, Cisco and Joe he was an open book. He surprised himself when he realized he didn’t include Iris in that but honestly while the two had a much better relationship now that her and Kara had apparently made peace, he still found himself drawing away, not sure why. He also trusted Wally West, most likely due to the young man releasing Barry to race Zoom and having confidence in him when no one else did at the time.

“I need to… I feel the need to apologize to you. Maybe not you, maybe I just feel the need to explain myself. To tell you why I did what I did for the people that kept me.”

“You did what you had to do to keep your daughters safe. I don’t think I will ever have kids unless Kara and I maybe adopt one day and I am fine with that. But I would like to think that if I had, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect them.”

“You destroyed Doomsday.” Jeremiah said, Barry not sure if he was asking or stating a fact.

“Yeah.”

“A part of you has to be wondering about why I created a monster that could kill Kara.” the man said bluntly, catching Barry by surprise. He opened his mouth to disagree but Jeremiah stopped him.

“Don’t deny it. You love Kara, and I know, considering what you did, you would kill for her and die for her. I also know that if you are as fast as you must be to phase through solid matter and living tissue then the world must seem very slow to you at times, when you reach that velocity. I’m sure a bright guy like you recognized what that monster was.”

“A Kryptonian killing machine.” Barry managed to answer, keeping the bitterness out of his voice hopefully, not fooling Jeremiah at all. Instead the scientist nodded.

“I was trying to kill Superman.”

Barry had nothing to say to that. He just stared at the man, wondering what the hell he was thinking, admitting that to him.

“I was shown pictures of my girls growing up. I was told Alex was working in a lab and Kara was working as an assistant to a CEO of a global media company. I was shown pictures of Kara walking down the sidewalk, coffee in hand, a phone to her ear, looking harried. I saw Alex coming and going in her apartment, all the time in regular clothes, nothing to tip me off to what she was doing, what either of them were doing. All these photos had one thing in common. They were taken through a rifle scope.”

“Okay. I can understand that. But what does… I mean…”

“Yesterday evening, Alex and Kara began filling me in on their… activities, the past year. I still don’t know all the story. I had to stop when I heard about Alex and that sword and mind control… I still want to know the rest, I need to know the rest. I know besides meeting you, nothing good happened for Kara and Alex has probably been through hell being separated for as long as they had been. Eliza had. But I have to know.”

“And you want me to tell you?” Barry asked, wondering if this was his place.

“No. I wan’t you to understand, I want to explain myself…”

“You owe me nothing.”

“You saved Kara’s life. I would disagree. I owe you an explanation because if there is one thing I have seen is you two are going to stay together and I want us… to get along. I don’t want you to resent me.”

“I don’t resent you.” Barry told him immediately.

“I do. While I was working for the DEO and then Cadmus, I spoke often to a man I suppose you could call a handler. He constantly showed me photos and talked about how Kara wasn’t a threat because she stayed out of the hero business. They had no need to hurt her. Alex was no threat and there was no reason for them to go after anyone. He was lying to me of course but I had no way or no other option except to hope he was telling the truth. It was simple. If I wanted my girls to continue living the normal lives they had, I had to create something that Superman could not stop. Something that he had no chance, that no one could stop. If it was ever suspected that I was stalling, he would bring Kara and Alex’s heads to me on a platter and he meant that literally. The bastard even showed me the Kryptonite sword he planned to use on Kara. Then he would do the same to Eliza before releasing me to live, alone, knowing I caused the deaths of my family.”

“Thats horrible.” Barry admitted, not being able to imagine what he would do in that situation. No, he knew. He would do anything. He could see a blonde haired girl for some reason, a little toddler that belonged to him, even though he knew it was impossible and like Kara he would do anything to protect them both.

“So I did what I did because I had no other option. I put my heart into it Barry. I prayed that Kara would stay out of it, stay hidden. I used everything I knew about Clark to build a living machine that would rip him apart because when it came down to him or Kara there was no choice. When you rescued me I was designing a neural implant to try to maintain some control, something to shorten it’s life span, so that once the job was complete, it would die, not being able to go after any humans or Kara. I designed it to the best of my ability to make it impossible to stop short of that. And yet you did it. Those bastards never imagined someone like you coming along.” Jeremiah chuckled, wishing he could have seen Barry kill that abomination.

“I didn’t believe that they would spare Kara, but I had no other choice. If nothing else, I thought Alex could talk her down, maybe seeing Superman die would be enough to scare her away, or to allow Alex to talk her out of fighting a monster who obviously could outmatch her. I hoped the neural trigger would work, it nothing else a pack of C 4 next to its brain if they would let me. I was told that wasn’t good enough. So I began working on regeneration. I hadn’t gotten there but if I had, not even you shredding its organs would have worked.”

Barry shivered at the thought.

“I pray that whoever they have following me doesn’t succeed.”

“I doubt anyone can follow your work. Alex tells me you are pretty brilliant.” Barry lied. Not that he doubted Jeremiah was brilliant, just that he hadn’t talked to Alex about it. He didn’t want to because though he would never admit it, a large part of his subconscious did wonder why Danvers did what he did. But listening to the desperation and guilt in the man’s voice tore at Barry. He knew guilt well and recognized it easily.

“How did you keep it in a cell?” he asked Jeremiah.

“I kept it hypnotized in a way if you can believe that. Its brain was simple and easily able to be tricked to a lull, to feel lethargic. It had to eat so we kept it fed, when it came out, large portions of raw meat would be used to direct it. We basically trained it like a killer whale, knowing like a killer whale, it could go crazy and kill us all. If I had made it smart…”

“It would have been a thousand times worse.” Barry finished. Danvers nodded.

“I know Kara can protect herself to an extent as can Alex. I know enough now to know Kara went through some horrendous things and survived and Alex was by her side, doing what she always does, looking out for her sister. Because I know that, I know that if I am ever put into that position again, I will kill myself before I engineer anything that could harm Kara. I can go in peace, knowing that you, you are going to take her and run. You are good at running. Joe told me most people he knows run from trouble and you run towards it. But before you do, I am begging, take my daughters and run before you run back towards trouble.”

“Kara may not run towards trouble, but she flies there pretty fast. That might not be easy. I can promise you I will die before I let anything happen to her.”

Jeremiah nodded his head expecting as much. If he had learned one thing yesterday from the stories he heard, neither Kara or Alex could avoid trouble nor would they.

“I’m glad to hear that because whether you know it or not, you are more powerful than Kara.”

Barry laughed genuinely but stopped when he noticed Jeremiah wasn’t.

“I think if you had seen some of the beatings I have taken and saw the chart Caitlin shoves in my face every time I do something stupid, detailing the broken bones I have shattered, you would disagree.” Barry pointed out.

“Kara is more powerful than Clark. She doesn’t know it, or maybe she does, but she is. He grew into his powers gradually and while he may not have been saving the world he began using them as he got older. His cells grew powerful over time and once he began, he used a lot of power. Kara was bombarded at once. Her cells began absorbing large amounts of yellow sun radiation the moment she entered this galaxy. They stretched in essence, I suppose you could say. They expanded, able to hold more energy than Clark’s because they had to. Then she spent years not using her powers at all from what Eliza has told me. Her cells are powerhouses, probably why she gets knocked out and burns out at times. Clark’s cells take a hit and recover quicker because he isn’t using as much of his power at once. I’m not sure he can, but Kara? When she goes, she goes. For her to vaporize that android Eliza told me about, do you know the power it takes to vaporize something? Clark could have defeated it, melted it, tore it apart but to turn it to nothing? When she hits, she hits hard and with everything. She takes longer to recover because her cells can store more energy. But you Barry Allen, you are the most powerful man in the universe. Clark wouldn’t stand a chance against you. Have you given any thought to what all you can do?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.”

“Since Doomsday right?”

“Yeah.”

“Barry, you can bend physics. You can make the impossible happen, literally, by changing reality. You could think at an unprecedented rate, a million thoughts at once and able to control them all. It isn’t that suit that keeps you from burning up, something else is, something science hasn’t discovered yet. I am betting you are constantly trying to get faster because you think your speed is the key to everything but its not. Its your vibrations. You can heal faster, you can walk through walls if you wanted instead of running. The force you can generate if you hit a certain speed even standing still can’t be touched and I am guessing whatever it is that keeps you from burning up can keep you safe from destroying your body when you are ready. Am I right or off base?”

Barry shrugged his shoulders, a little unnerved by how closely the man could guess his intentions and the existence of the speed force.

“So you aren’t here at six in the morning because you are trying to unlock the equation for infinite mass? I may be a bio engineer but I do know a bit about physics, enough to know what those equations are in relations to. You realize to do this you will have to reach almost the equivalent of the speed of light, not only in speed but vibrations? If you are off, if you hit the speed of light you may hit complete mass, if you hit the wrong vibrations you could be spending the rest of your life hopping infinite universes. Still, when you master your talents I believe that if you ever come up against any creature like Doomsday you can destroy him with one shot.”

“Given this a lot of thought?” Barry asked carefully.

“You love my daughter. I thought all night about the ways you can protect her, both of them. So yeah, I’ve thought about it some to keep my mind off what else I am going to hear about Kara and Alex’s recent actions. Everyone in Cadmus had a pretty severe headache about six months ago. Something tells me Kara and Alex may have had something to do with it going away.”

“Your daughters literally saved every single person on Earth.” Barry told him. Jeremiah just nodded, torn between fear and pride.

“I’m glad she has you Barry and I hope, you can understand a little about why I did what I did.”

Barry took a deep breath and reached out his hand which Jeremiah took gratefully.

“It did freak me out. You are right and I appreciate you explaining this to me, even though you didn’t have to. I would have done the same.” the Flash told the man, honestly. He may be able to handle a million thoughts a second one day but his brain could not come up with any other option the man had.

“Good. Thank you. I really want us to be… you are important to Kara and that makes you important to me.”

“Likewise.”

“One more thing before I find Eliza. Again, If you manage this, if you are able to hit infinite mass, do not go completely to light speed, because it isn’t worth it. Kara would die inside without you. And when you use it, make sure no one is around except the enemy. Its going to be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off.”

“You are not kidding, but we aren’t there yet.” Dr. Wells said walking in, a cup of coffee in his hand and an unusual smile on his face. “But don’t worry Dr. Zorel. Barry means a lot to me as well and I will keep him safe. He is motivated and I am good at what I do.”

“I have no doubt you are Dr. Wells.” Jeremiah told him with a smile. “Have a good day you two.”

“So that was interesting.” Harry mumbled after Jeremiah had left.

“Which part?”

“All of it. He seems to have more than a passing grasp on advanced physics. Keep an eye on him Barry.”

Barry was not surprised. “So you don’t trust him?”

“I have absolute, unconditional trust in you, Kara and Caitlin. Thats it.”

“Cisco?”

“Cisco is a dick.” Harry deadpanned then grinned a bit. “Alright, I guess he is okay. The question is, do you trust Jeremiah Danvers?”

Barry didn’t take long to answer. “Yeah, I do. I trust that he would do anything to protect his daughters and that is enough for me. He kind of reminds me of a guy that once stole my speed for his daughter’s freedom.”

Harry chuckled. “Now that sounds like a good father. One that a good man gave a second chance to. Okay, lets get started. We need to work on controlling these vibrations. Forget running for now. Lets see what you got.”

At 7 AM, Kara woke, on the couch with Alex laid across her, and feeling very, very bad. Her head hurt, her eyes hurt, her ears hurt and she wanted to vomit.

“So this is what a hangover feels like.” she mumbled and pushed the off button on her bracelet. She had fallen asleep before she had a chance last night. Instantly she felt better and smiled.

“That is so unfair that you can turn off a hangover.” Cait groaned, walking out of her bedroom, looking worse for wear. “I drank so much last night. I hope Alex feels as horrible as I do. Judging by the empty bottles and ice cream cartoons, you two got wasted. Have a good night?”

“Yeah we did. Unfortunately I have to wake her. She is meeting Joe at the station and is going to feel like hell. Alex! Alex get up!” Kara said a bit to loudly, causing Caitlin to wince and Alex to sit up immediately, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there.

“What? Whats wrong… oh my God my head!” she squealed in agony. “I thought Myriad wasn’t in this universe.”

“Take some of those human painkillers and you will be fine. I think. Isn’t that how its supposed to work?” Kara teased, knowing it wasn’t that easy. “Aren’t you supposed to meet Joe at the station?’

“Oh crap! I gotta get home and change…”

Both Caitlin and Kara raised eyebrows at that.

“Home huh?” Kara asked.

“Yeah, I guess it is. Maybe Nyssa will have some sort of mystical League of assassinators tea or hangover cure. I mean the Order was around for a couple thousand years or something. They must have had hangovers. Okay, I have to move. Later guys.”

Alex hopped up and ran outside, getting into Nyssa’s Mercedes she had borrowed and headed to what she guessed was her home now, in an attempt to not look hungover before she arrived at what she hoped was her work place.

Kara took in Caitlin who didn’t look much better than Alex had.

“Have fun last night?” she asked her friend.

“I think. Not positive. I seem to remember an argument between Cisco and Winn about Star Trek versus Star Wars but other than that, yeah I am pretty sure I had fun. I remember doing an impression of Killer Frost and throwing ice cubes at this guy. Cisco and Winn dragged me away and I mean that literally. Oh well, I’m sure the rest will come to me unfortunately.”

“Rao, I would have loved to see that. Okay, give me three minutes in the bathroom and I will be gone. Work, work, work.”

“I hate you sometimes. Hey Kara?”

“Yeah?”

“Take the bracelet off and give it to me. I will lock it away in the pipeline.” Cait told her reaching out her hand.

“Why? I can swing by on the way to… Caitlin?” Kara stopped, noting the upset look on her best friend’s face that had nothing to do with the hangover. Her hand remained reaching out.

“Kara, please? For my own peace of mind, don’t carry that thing around like a set of car keys or a hair brush. Use it all you want but when you are done, put it away, somewhere no one can get to it.”

“Caitlin…”

“I was the one who saw, who worked on you… Kara, there is only one thing that can weaken you in this entire universe and I don’t want it just floating around. Please give it to me and I will lock it away until you have time to take it to your room at the lab.”

Kara silently agreed and slipped it off, handing it over, while hugging her concerned friend. Five minutes later she left, leaving a very hungover Dr. Snow. She made it to her office in record time, mentally prepared to handle all the calls she would get for interview requests as would the Star City office. Ray had been back to the land of the living for 24 hours and the world had taken notice. Not only did Palmer Tech stock jump 30 points after the announcement he was still alive and coming back to the company, but he was also a celebrity. Everyone wanted a piece of him and for some reason, although Palmer Tech had a large PR team in Star City, since he was staying in Central City it was her problem. After arriving and seeing 82 voicemails and 316 emails, Kara decided that she needed to fly to really clear her head. It was 8:30 AM so she dressed out in her office, grabbed ten dollars from her purse and took off, deciding to give the the office building still under reconstruction a once over and head to her favorite donut shop. Ten minutes later she landed next to her friend, a dozen chocolate filled donuts in her hand.

“Supes! Whats up with the hottest superhero in the universe?” Officer Glenn Saunders asked, getting out of his patrol car and leaning on the hood. He normally watched the school zones in the AM for the weekday mornings, keeping an eye out for reckless drivers or anything else shady near the elementary school. She had stopped by a few times before work to watch the children and became acquainted with him. They often had donuts in the morning on days Kara could get away.

“Officer sexual harassment law suit waiting to happen, I brought chocolate filled.” The masked woman told him, tossing him the box then leaning on the hood next to him.

“Whats with the new mask? Covers your cheeks now too? You are really getting into this secret identity thing. I’ll figure it out one day.”

“Yeah right. My old mask got destroyed this weekend when I tunneled underground into a monster convention.”

“Wow. I just sat around and watched hockey this weekend. You have the most interesting life. I guess this monster convention wasn’t around Central City since I didn’t see any red streaks of lightning or blue streaks flying across the sky.” Glenn mentioned casually.

“Is that your way of saying you missed me?”

“Supes, if you wasn’t with the Flash and I was twenty… thirty years younger and in better shape, you would be missing me. Nah, its good for you and the red guy to get out of town. I’ll admit Robot man and Fire guy still kind of freak me out, but them flying around the city keeps the bad guys and the really bad guys from getting any ideas in their minds. Crime has never been this low in Central City. It started dropping with the Flash but between him and Mrs. Flash…”

“Hey! Have you ever considered he might be Mr. Superwoman?”

“Good point. Hey me and the guys at the station got a pool going. We figure since you ain’t got no straps on the mask, someday someone is going to recognize you when it falls off. We are takin bets on what you do for a living to pay the bills. I said model with a body like yours and that hair. Am I close?”

“Never modeled a day in my life.” Kara told the wannabe gambler.

“Yeah? You had to be on TV before though. Besides the superhero flying around stuff, right? You just seem to have that personality. By the way, how the hell do you keep that figure seeing as how you just downed ten out of a dozen donuts before I finished my first?”

“I work out. A lot.”

“Yeah I used to do that too. Makes me tired just thinking about it. So these monsters, I guess you beat them up?”

“You could say that. Actually the Flash took care of most of them. I was just along for the ride.”

“Sure you were. Glad you are doin good. What do you think of that tool Palmer coming back to life? I think he’s been free this whole time, slacking on his responsibilities. You can’t trust Star City people, you know? I mean we got heroes here, even the robot guy and fire guy are pretty cool but Palmer? What a freaking showboat.. He’s here because he wants our heroes to protect him. And Star City? Yeah he needs to go back and let Robin Hood keep him out of trouble.”

“Wow Glenn, kind of bitter aren’t you? Thats not a nice thing to say about someone.” Although with Ray at least shirking his responsibility is true, not that she would say that since her new boss may be listening.

“Yeah I guess. You think he is an okay guy?”

“I don’t know him of course but I am betting he’s an okay guy. I prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt unless they are mindless monsters intent on killing me.” Kara told the man.

“You and me both kid. Hey if he’s good with you, he’s good with me. By the way did you see that blonde running the press conference? Talk about a looker.”

“Glenn you really shouldn’t be judging women by their looks. It’s demeaning.” Kara told him sternly, although she admitted internally she loved that dress.

Glenn at least looked a bit ashamed.

“You’re right, my bad. I got to get to the station before you take the last donut. Supposedly some former FBI agent is starting today. Going straight to the metahuman caseload with Joe West. Not that I mind. I love patrol. Really, I’m not bitter.”

“You are very good at your job, Glenn.” Kara assured the man genuinely.

“Besides its hard to resent her. All the guys have been texting about what a looker she is…”

“Glenn!”

“Sorry, sorry. Last time I swear. Catch ya later doll.”

“Glenn…”

“I mean Supes. If you gave me a name it would be easier to do away with the nicknames, ya know?”

“The whole point of a secret identity is for it to remain a secret.” Superwoman reminded him.

“Good point. Later, Superwoman.”

Glenn got back into his patrol car and drove off, leaving Kara with a smile. Despite his rough demeanor or maybe because of it, he was one of the many officers she knew by name and greeted on the streets when she saw them. Kara had made it a point to learn as many officers names as she could, to build trust.

“Hey Superwoman. This is the tool and your new boss. Think you could drop by the Lab?” Ray asked through the com.

“Uh, I do need to go back to the office and do the job you pay me for.”

“Yeah, I think this is more important. It’s your Mom… and your Dad? Yeah they are freaking out. Cisco was bragging and showed them the security system. He had forgot to erase the video of the last couple months and when he went to get coffee, want to guess what day your Mom went to watch?”

Kara stomach turned. “Please don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, your Dad looks all red and angry and is also crying in between yelling and your Mom won’t stop crying and both are playing it over and over again. Should I call Alex too?”

“No! Its her first day at her new job. I’ll handle it. Be there in thirty seconds. Tell Cisco to hide if he knows what is good for him.”

“He’s already hiding. Please come before your Dad starts throwing things. I mean I am going to be the owner of this stuff Monday and I would kind of like my stuff in one piece. He is surprisingly strong for a man who hasn’t worked out in twelve years.”

Kara arrived as promised thirty seconds later, taking off her mask and walking slowly towards the sound of crying. Seeing her Mom and recently returned Dad, holding each other, eyes on the screen, broke her heart. She used her superior vision to look through them and at the screen before they noticed she had arrived.

Kara never thought about what she looked like when she arrived and after Caitlin telling her it was a moment she never wanted to relive, the woman stopped pushing. Now however, she had an unfettered look at her arrival in this universe and what she saw shocked her to the point she couldn’t move.

The woman on the table looked dead. She had seen dead bodies before and Kara didn’t even recognize herself. She watched the last time she had worn her first costume, being cut from her. She watched Caitlin with amazing dexterity cutting her chest open. Kara saw Barry pass out from blood loss, Cisco providing blood and then Barry once again. She saw Caitlin place a defibrillator on the sides of her body, an electrical arc dancing across and through her heart which was visible. She saw Dr. Wells running from the suite with what she guessed was a Kryptonite bullet in a pan. Cait opened her up to her navel. She saw her lung being opened by a very sharp scalpel and a glowing green bullet being taken out and once again Harry ran out of the room with a pan.

Kare gasped, watching Caitlin closing her chest with what looked to be staples, sewing her lung shut and then her abdomen, setting up solar lamps and then a curtain, while Cisco dragged a weakened Barry Allen away. She took a sharp breath as the curtains covered her from the camera.

Eliza and Jeremiah heard her of course and finally turned their eyes from the screen and took her in. Kara composed herself immediately.

“I’m still here. I’m alive.” she told them.

Eliza ran into her, wrapping her arms around her alien daughter and apologizing for failing her, over and over again. Jeremiah had more of an angry countenance but not towards his daughter, following his wife and wrapping them both in a hug. Kara stood still, trying to hold both of them and remain strong. She wouldn’t break down. If she did, they would be even worse.

“I’m still alive. I survived. I am right here.” the blonde told them once again, calming Eliza down a bit.

“Kara, take off that suit.” Jeremiah begged.

“I kinda left my clothes in the office. I have to sneak in so I will probably stop at the apartment, I go through the window and change but…”

“No, take off that suit for good. You have a good thing going here, a good family, a good job and a good man. Don’t risk losing it all. Take off that suit.” Jeremiah begged.

“I can’t. I can’t anymore than I can take my soul out of my body. This is who I am. A large part of me anyway. I can help too many people, to just give up. When I first arrived, when I woke up, from that, I thought I would never use my powers again. I wanted to hide, forget who I was, everything that led me to that. But while Barry never tried to convince me otherwise, he did help me remember who I was. Things like that happen. It’s no different than what the police officers and fire fighters do everyday in this city.”

“I failed you.” Eliza mumbled.

“No you didn’t! You and Alex would be dead and your support and your memory Dad, pushed me forward. Alex pushed me forward and though I regret how things ended there I wouldn’t trade any of it. Even that,” Kara pointed to the screen, “brought me the friends and family I have now. It brought the man I love back into my life. Oliver likes to talk about crucibles and I guess it has rubbed off on Barry. Every time you go through something like a crucible, a fire, that could consume you, a darkness that could take over, you come out the other side, maybe not the same but definitely stronger unless you allow it to break you. Thats what we have all gone through and because of it we are here, stronger together, able to make a difference in this world now.”

“You could die.” Jeremiah weakly argued.

“We will all die one day and that is a part of life. But while I am here, I’m going to extend as many lives as possible and if it costs me mine one day I am at peace with that. You didn’t sacrifice your life so I could be an assistant to a CEO, managing schedules and fetching coffee. Because of your sacrifice, the entire world survived. Over three billion souls. Do you know that Barry saved infinite universes from being destroyed by Zoom even though he could have died, he expected to die?”

“What the hell is a Zoom? Do I even want to know?” Eliza asked.

“No you don’t. Why don’t the two of you go back to Joe’s? Relax the rest of the week, try to erase this memory from your heads and enjoy being with each other. Barry and I will be there after work. We can talk more then, okay?”

Both silently agreed and reluctantly pulled away, then perked up when a still very hangover, Caitlin Snow, wearing dark sunglasses and looking like general hell walked in. Eliza rushed her, barely managing not to knock her down. Caitlin was surprised, until her covered eyes spotted the video monitor behind Kara.

She would kill Cisco, unless Kara got to him first.

While Eliza and Jeremiah held onto their newest hero, Alex was being shown around the station by Joe, ending up in Barry’s lab on the top floor, quite a bit smaller than S.T.A.R. but much more homier in a downtown loft sort of way. She looked to the skylight that the lightning had traveled through to change Barry Allen’s life forever, wondering whose idea it was to put a skylight over a forensic lab. Barry was hunched over a microscope but looked up when the door opened.

“Detective, Detective.” he greeted Joe and Alex.

“Hey Bar. Just showing Alex around her new workplace.”

“I still haven’t seen the armory.” Alex griped. “But not bad at all.”

“I’m glad you both are here. That screamer who had a heart attack? Homicide. I have the results of the autopsy and there were strange particles of an unknown type in his lungs. If we hadn’t been looking for them we never would have noticed. Alex, take a look at this.”

Barry stepped away from the microscope and Alex peered in.

“It’s a neuro stimulator. Have you seen the state of the brain tissues?” Alex asked.

“Yep, it causes high levels of Norepinephrine to combine with epinephrine which can cause hallucinations, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate, most likely to a greater degree than the bilateral amygdala can handle. Its basically…”

“LSD on steroids.” Alex finished.

“Finally someone around here who understands what I am talking about. Joe just wants to find out who has it and where they are at so he can shoot and arrest them, sometimes in that order.” Barry told her with a grin.

“So is there an antitoxin we could develop without giving the victim a lobotomy? I can start working on one, now. Do you have…”

“Caitlin is already on it. At least I hope she is. She figured out the cure to Mirakuru, so this should be a walk in the park for her.”

“Oh.” Alex said, trying to hide the sadness from her voice and failing.

“But, you can go to the lab after work and help her. Two sets of eyes right?”

Alex recognized that he was placating her but appreciated the effort. At the DEO she had been both an agent and a scientist. Here she was surrounded by brilliant scientists, even Barry wasn’t half bad to discover this and could focus more on being a cop. Still she would miss the mixture of both. I suppose I could help. Caitlin wouldn’t mind if I stopped by after work, Alex thought. She knew no matter what her brain would not allow her to shut out that part of her life whether she was needed or not.

“So this isn’t a metahuman?” Joe asked, not exactly understanding most of what the two were talking about but definitely understanding LSD on steroids. What about that different version of Vertigo that keeps popping up in Star City every couple of years?”

“Different formula and while that made someone see their fears, this actually can override the brains natural responses to fear and attack on a physical level. This isn’t a recreational drug designed to hook people or for sell. This is a custom made weapon. Once exposed a person has minutes to live while not only facing their worst fears but anything and everything around them.”

“So be on the lookout for a potential serial killer using gas to scare people literally to death and… may have a connection to a bomber if your theory is correct?” Joe asked, not quite buying it himself.

“I think that two separate killers using two very different methods of death, showed up in Central City at nearly the same time, keeping us busy and the bomber trying to take us out. The bomber used untraceable bombs with no obvious motivation other than wanting revenge and dramatics considering he told the man at the Steak House that he was sitting on a bomb, and this gas is quite a bit more difficult than killing someone with say a gun. He either wants to catch our attention or thought that we wouldn’t find out. Either way it doesn’t sit right with me that both criminals showed up at the same time, one using bombs to try and take us out, me included and one using a gas that could potentially weaken us.”

“But couldn’t you just do that blurry thing you do and get rid of the gas?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, I could. Firestorm, Ray, Kara? I’m not sure what effect the gas would have on Kara and don’t want to find out. But Firestorm and Ray could definitely be taken out by it.”

“Okay,as soon as Caitlin breaks down the chemical components text me and we can start tracing possible suppliers.”

“See you later Barry.” Alex told him with a pat on the back. Before the two could get to the door, Station alarms were ringing. Both Joe and Alex pulled their weapons until the intercom spoke.

“All officers report to the downtown area for crowd control, and rescue operations. The city is under attack from the air. Several explosions,sounds like missiles. Move people!” Captain Singh’s voice rang out.

“You wanted to see the armory? Now is as good a tie as any Alex. Barry…” Joe started.

Barry was gone.

In S.T.A.R. labs, Kara was having a pointed discussion with an apologetic Cisco about erasing video that could traumatize her adoptive parents even more, including Barry nearly being killed and especially all the different angles stolen from street cams involving the fight with Savage, when an explosion 18 blocks away caught Kara’s ears.

“Explosion.” she told Cisco.

“Yeah, even I heard that.”

Instead of waiting for the man, Kara picked him up, deposited him on his chair before the eyes of a very surprised Jeremiah and Eliza, before flying out the roof in one of the damaged sections. Scanning the area, what she saw chilled her to the bone.

Five large drones, not the type Max Lord had her followed with once but fully weaponized, military grade, large drones were circling the downtown area. Another missile was fired by one of the drones and Kara moved, knowing she could not stop that one but would be able to destroy them before they hurt anyone else. To her relief she saw the missile did no damage to the city below, confusing her until she saw the missile returned, striking the drone and blowing it to pieces.

On the street Barry had raced around one crater in the ground, ignoring the bodies of the dead and focusing on the living. He looked up in time to see a missile fired from an incoming drone, towards the crowd running for their lives. Charging the explosive device, he jumped, grabbing the missile with his hands and tossing it back into the air and striking the drone, just as he had done to Cisco’s drone when he first started. The other four drones were still armed though, circling like vultures and he wasn’t sure why they were not firing.

“Cisco?”

“On it Barry. I am trying to hack into their on board command panels and cease firing. They are being controlled by some sort of high powered remote. Winn is working on triangulating the user. To have this many, he would have to be close.”

The crowd had stopped at the exploding drone, noticing the Flash standing alone in the middle, eyes on the four remaining targets.

“Superwoman,when you use heat vision, do not go all out. Your Dad thinks if you hold back, you won’t lose so much energy if you are struck.” Caitlin informed her, the biometric readings of Kara and Barry’s cells pulled up alongside a recently added power and damage report of Ray’s suit.

“Copy. Flash, you okay?” Kara asked.

“Perfect. I have to get this crowd free before the next…”

Before Barry could get the words out another missiles was launched, not at a building but at the scrambling crowd. He moved, getting as many as far away as possible. Before the missile hit the street the immediate blast area was clear of people. Stopping to shield himself before the explosion, he heard another missile fire from above, heading for the opposite side of the street. Of course there was a little girl who had fallen. Why couldn’t it have been Snart?

Before he attempted to run around the blast, while dodging debris, a streak of blue landed. Kara threw her cape up, shielding the child from the explosion, refusing to let the blast knock her down. As soon as the initial blast and fire died, she took the screaming child and ran down the street to a police car that had shown up. She saw Alex and Joe pull in behind the patrol car.

“Take her and get to cover! Joe, your officers are too close.”

Joe’s eyes widened, looking above Kara. She turned and saw a black drone swooping like an eagle from the sky, towards her and the quickly arriving police. Despite the chaos, Kara remained calm and remembered Caitlin’s instructions. She used just enough power to break the drone apart with her heat vision and used her freeze breath to cool the flaming metal and keep it from landing on the cars and officers.

“Superwoman, I’m going to clear the area, three are remaining. You got this?” Barry asked

“She won’t have to alone.” Firestorm cut in, swooping in and grabbing one of the drones. Before Kara could tell him not to, as well as Dr. Stein in his head, Jax fired a bolt of concentrated heat, nearly melting the drone on contact but not before igniting the remaining seven missiles. blowing him back to the ground. Kara caught him before he crashed, deposited him on the sidewalk and blasted back into the air. Within seconds the area was cleared by Barry, except for police and superheroes. The two remaining drones were incredibly acrobatic and while not as fast as Kara in the air, were much more slippery. One swept low, aiming apparently for the police brigade, where Alex, Joe and the rest stood with guns ready, hoping to take the missile out with a lucky bullet to the nose cone. Instead, Barry ran to the front of the line and created a vortex, slowing the drone down, to nearly a stop in midair where Kara grabbed it, flying it towards the harbor. Once over water she punched through the top of the drone and crashed it into the salt water, in the event that missiles did detonate, they would do so underwater. It wouldn’t be the first time Kara had inadvertently killed the fishies.

“I got it! I am blocking the signal for the last drone to fire. I can hit self destruct now if the area is cleared.” Cisco told the group.

“No! I need it in one piece.” Barry told his friend.

“Hey uh… this is… me?” Winn started. “I have the source of the remote. Its three blocks away on a rooftop, four story building, a closed… uh distribution facility.” he finished unsure, never really talking to a group of superheroes at once while a city was under attack.

“On it.” Barry told his crew and raced to the building in seconds.

Kara came back to find the drone circling harmlessly now.

“Cisco don’t blow it.” she repeated Barry’s instructions. “We need it in one piece if we are going to learn anything” . Alex who had placed her com in her ear discreetly was impressed her sister thought of this. Kara sounded more confident than Alex had ever heard her. She was strategic and not jumping into things without thinking. The combination of heat vision to destroy the drone and her breath to keep the pieces tom harming the officers had been genius.

“Ray, can you… fly it?” Kara asked the man who kept his eye on the circling metallic hawk.

“You want me to shrink, enter a drone, take over it’s guidance system, override any self destruct measures and fly the thing to S.T.A.R.” he asked doubtfully.

“Uh, yes? Actually could you take it to the bomb disposal range the police use? I don’t want anyone thinking the thing was launched from S.T.A.R.”

“Sure no problem.” Ray answered cheerfully, shrinking in seconds and latching on to the drone as it passed. Using a concentrated laser he cut a small opening and entered the craft, finding its flight computer quickly. Within a minute it was in manual control and Cisco lost contact. The drone flew leisurely to the field and landed, Ray killing the power source and flying out, regaining his full size.

Barry had reached the site of the building Winn had directed him too but stopped outside. It was too easy to find, not that he doubted Winn’s abilities but after the drones started dropping the man or woman in charge should have ran. Barry had been constantly circling the building and found no one trying to escape, yet the signal kept originating from the roof. No drones were present so the signal instead drifted off into deep space. Whoever did this should have ran.

“Kara? Is Jax okay?”

“I’m fine.” Jax grumped, standing up and listening to a lecture from Dr. Stein in his head about using not heat to melt an entire drone, missiles and all, as opposed to Kara being more accurate and simply disabling and then breaking up the drone.

“Ray, is the final drone secure?” Barry asked.

“Yes and could you please call me Atom when we are out doing superheroey stuff? You guys get called by your cool names.”

“Sorry Atom. Kara what is the situation on the ground?”

“Skies look clear. I signaled Alex to let the police in, Joe is leading them in now, with the Fire Department following. EMS is checking surrounding area for the crowd that rushed away, treating injuries. I count twenty bodies on the street Flash.” she told him sadly. “Please tell me you got whoever did this?”

“The remote is still transmitting from the roof of the building.” Winn spoke with a bit more confidence this time.

“Whoever it was is long gone. Probably left the drones on some sort of autopilot. There is no way this guy or girl would leave a crucial piece of evidence on top of a roof. Its a trap. I am betting the building is rigged to blow the second anyone gets close to that thing.” Barry told the group. Not that the drones had been easy but finding this place with a remote still on top was bait. He knew it. Oliver’s void was practically screaming in his head.

“Superwoman, stay high and look inside for any type of unusual boxes or wiring, maybe laser trips.”

“On it.” Kara flew over the building, seeing the remote lying on top of the roof. Looking just under it, she saw a pressure plate attached to a wire leading through the roof into the floor below.

“If we remove the remote a wire will pop up leading to a detonation on the floor below. Enough of what I think might be C 4 to blow the entire block up, maybe more.” she informed the team.

While Kara hovered and Barry stayed on the ground, thinking about what to do, Ray and Jax appeared. Listening in, Alex told Joe what she had learned and he informed the Captain who dispatched the bomb squad. On arrival, Kara, Barry and Jax stood outside the room filled with explosives. Jax suggested he form a forcefield around the room and set off the explosion absorbing the energy of the blast into himself. Kara and Barry both looked at him as if were an idiot while Dr. Stein screamed at his young partner in his head. Jax was still young and had forgotten that force is not the only element of an explosion, shrapnel being the other.

Ray suggested he step onto the pressure plate while the remote was removed but this was quickly shot down by Barry as being needlessly reckless. Instead it was decided that Kara would dress in a bomb suit along with one member of the bomb squad and the rest would clear.

To the bomb tech’s great relief the bomb was only trigger by a tension coil and simply holding the wire after clipping it, would give them the time needed to move the remote. Kara clipped the line with her fingernail while holding the wire with her other hand. The bomb tech, Warren, Kara remembered, opened the timer and within a minute had it diffused. Both let out a breath neither realized they were holding. Checking the other floors, Kara nor Ray, scanning from the outside could find anymore explosives.

In the crowd outside, cordoned off from the blast zone a crowd of concerned citizens watched the police and Superwoman attempt to diffuse a bomb. All smiled and cheered when they walked out, bomb suit helmets off, fist bumping Ray who had just landed, and hugging Barry. Despite the devastation it could have been much worse if Central City did not have its heroes looking out for it.

One man was not happy. A middle aged man of indeterminate age, youthful but with a head of completely white hair, had made a long trip to find out what he could about these heroes. He had bought drones from the black market ran by former military brass turned arms dealers, not expecting all of his toys to be destroyed, much less one surviving intact, and his bait for the Flash to be caught onto so easily. The man was supposed to rush in, not thinking first. He should have been caught in an explosion that would destroy him in a split second. He was evolving and this was a problem. If he didn’t take out the Flash before he realized what he was truly capable of, he would be difficult to defeat.

Superwoman was a concern as well. She had shielded a girl from a blast not twenty feet away then took off at unreal speeds, also using her laser vision and powerful breath to stop one drone. The Flash showcased an ability to create a powerful vortex. Firestorm was young but possessed great power, enough to survive several missiles and the drone they were attached too, exploding at close range. And then the so called Atom, Ray Palmer was indeed the genius others claimed him to be, not only figuring out a way to shrink his robotic suit but also able to enter a drone and completely highjack the machine, flying it like his own personal aircraft.

The Flash had gotten smarter, he still had not found a weakness for Superwoman who was also smart dropping his drone in the ocean instead of one the street and his plan had caused nothing but a small body count. Ray Palmer relied on technology and could be dealt with. Firestorm was foolhardy but very resilient. Coupled with Oliver Queen and his insipid sister and friend the group could be quite formidable.

Prometheus had no doubt he would win eventually. It was not enough to defeat Oliver Queen and hang his body outside of City Hall. He would defeat them all. Everyone had a weakness, even a smarter Flash and a seemingly indestructible Superwoman. It would just take longer to find it. In the mean time the Flash, or Barry Allen judging by the man’s proximity to enter and leave S.T.A.R labs at anytime of night, also the home of Ray Palmer, and the entrances and exits of the Flash, made his identity easy to discern. He had a girlfriend who worked for Palmer, a long haired blonde, Kara Zorel, also the exact dimensions of Superwoman. Firestorm was a bit more difficult and more research would have to be conducted.

It was time to instruct Dr. Crane to make his move. He had no confidence the man could kill even one of these heroes but he hoped the poor foster child who had been abused and abandoned by many different homes and now mad psychiatrist could at least take out one of the cops out. So long as Quentin Lance was dealt with and he could observe Oliver Queen in action, the chance would be worth it.

Everyone, even Superheroes had a weakness and the answer to all theirs was in S.T.A.R labs. Not wanting to be too obvious and raiding the place with such strong individuals, he would continue his experiments before breaking into the lab as a last resort.

Caitlin decided to stay late at the lab with Ray and Eliza, so of course Jeremiah stayed as well. The missiles removed, Ray and Cisco began dissecting the drone the police had graciously allowed the Atom to survey with a promise it would be back in police custody by tomorrow. Since Cisco Ramone was a consultant to the police the chain of custody of evidence would technically remain intact. Cisco’s normally excitable demeanor was not present, instead looking for clues to the man who caused reckless destruction and took innocent lives. While they did this, the two new bio engineers along with a brilliant Alex Zorel worked with Caitlin on the chemical break down of the gas Barry had discovered in the victims lungs, Jeremiah and Eliza doing their best too have anything to take their minds off the video, Eliza wished she had never looked for, and was very thankful Alex had never seen nor would ever see.

Alex left eventually,walking into her apartment where a waiting Nyssa hugged her as soon as she was in the door, having gone downtown herself to keep an eye on her beloved and seeing the burnt and torn bodies of the victims. She knew Alex would be down and would do whatever it took to make her feel better.

At Caitlin and Kara’s apartment, Kara stepped out of the shower, wearing only a towel to find Barry in her room.

“Hello. I though I was coming over for dinner at Joe’s?”

“He is still at the station where I should be, but I just didn’t have it in me. I needed you.” he told her.

“Let me run to S.T.A.R. and retrieve my bracelet… and you… can have me.” she told him. After the events of today, she needed him as well. Barry motioned towards her nightstand where her bracelet sat.

“Figured we would use it tonight?” she asked, eyebrows raised and feeling very nervous. Barry shrugged his shoulders.

“I was hoping, I’m always hoping but honestly I will take whatever you feel like giving me. I just need to be near you tonight, to hold you as tight as I can and for you to hold me as tightly as you can.”

Kara took a deep breath and admitted she needed to be with him as well. Normally after a day like this she would want to be alone but now she just wanted them to be alone together. Gathering up her courage she let her towel drop to the floor, pleased with the reaction she got from him.

“I feel like giving you everything. Just be… slow?”

“Anything you want.” he told her, pulling off his shirt and bringing her closer.

“I love you. You know I’m really not supposed to do this until… but I guess it doesn’t matter. Different planet different cultures and so forth.”

“I love you and we don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’ll marry you. I can wait. We can run to Vegas right now or have a big ceremony. I don’t care.”

“Please don’t ask me to get married while I am naked.” she asked.

“No problem. Just so you understand my intentions. Do you want to wait?”

“I’m tired of waiting Barry. Its probably time to speed things up, but just so I don’t feel awkward do you think you could get undressed as well?”

Within half a second Barry was as requested. Kara’s eyes widened.

“This is going to hurt worse than a stubbed toe won’t it?”

Barry kissed her and the two moved towards the bed. Whatever pain she may feel would be worth it, just to be with him.