Chapter 39: Fallout...!
Chapter 32 - Fallout...!
The smell of eggs frying on the frying pan filled the entire loft that Seth had recently bought after the newest Fury member came into his life. He looked around his home and saw his entire home be illuminated by the morning sunlight.
The newly bought loft was built like a warehouse loft divided into two floors. The ground floor was with a kitchen underneath the stairs and a dinner table near the area for cooking food. A nice little table with recliner chairs and couches near the staircase. There's also a small hallway which shows the way to the toilet and a room on the side which leads to a large bedroom which could be very well described as a master bedroom with a double bed and cabinets beside it as well as a wardrobe, which he didn't much need to be honest. The second floor was Frankie's floor, with two doors. A door leading into her own bathroom and a door leading into her own bedroom, which she had full control over, decorating most of it herself. Furthermore, there were additional two bedrooms which were currently used as both layer and rooms for Olivia and Matt if they needed it, of course.
He smiled in happiness as he enjoyed the memories of him and his partner adopting their new daughters. They had been parts of the missing pieces of their lives. Giving them constant smiles at each and every smile or giggle they emitted from their mouths. He also enjoyed the times the two of them spent on training with Frankie's magnetic kinetic powers, even repurposing a father-daughter time between the four of them and throwing two balls between each other. One ball grabbed and thrown back with a tendril and the other thrown back and forth with magnetic powers and elemental powers. It was quite a sight, that they had to hide from prying eyes.
His smile widened more with familial love when he thought back to the time when he was willing to share most of his money with his sister and Matt so that they'd be able to buy their own apartment. But instead, they gave half of it back again to him and kept the other half and chose to stay in his former loft above his workplace. Seth had been granted permission to do that when Stan and JC saw their bar improved and better and attracting more attention than ever.
"Life's looking good for us, wouldn't you agree partner?" Venom inquired of his host and already knew of the answer.
"Incredibly good… no great even." Seth thought back his reply, lacing his answer with the thoughts of Caitlin and him getting back on track slowly. But things are turning out well between them. And they loved it.
"You love Caitlin." The symbiote said knowingly, purring the woman's name and the host blushed while stirring the eggs around. Feeling his blush, Venom began laughing ominously in response. "Our oblivious host, you are too predictable."
"Like you aren't happy about it?" he said back. "And we both love our new daughters." He added afterwards.
"Dad!"
At the sound of the announcing exclaim, Seth stepped back and used his tendrils to keep stirring the eggs in the pan. Peering up to the upper level he saw Frankie looking down at her father from the railing. "Good morning Dad."
"Morning, honey. Perfect timing, breakfast's ready." He told his daughter, who decided to show off her new skills and jumped over the railing and down to the ground. Making eye contact with her, he told Frankie who took a seat by the table. "Sweetie, remember not to jump onto the walls or ceiling with dirty shoes, okay? It's a bit dirty." He placed a plate with scrambled eggs in front of her.
"Thanks Dad. And I will do, I promise." Frankie told her father obediently and giggled when Seth pressed a kiss on top of her head. The mutant prepared a plate for himself and took a seat by his child and ate alongside her.
"Aren't you going to ask him, Frankie?" Magenta wondered of her host.
"I will, I will." She said back to her partner and then looked to her father again. Not knowing how to bring up the subject or she could bring it up, she asked slowly. "Is everything okay, Dad? I mean… with Caitlin…"
Registering the hesitation in her voice, he told her immediately. "You don't have to worry about that, Frankie. And she's not Voldemort, you don't have to be scared of saying her name. And things with Caitlin… they are better than before. And we're slowly getting back on tracks. Things are great now. Speaking of great, I got you something." He got up again and went to the drawer and pulled out two gift-wrapped presents.
Placing the two in front of her, he said. "Here you go. Open them."
"What are they?" Frankie asked in surprise, her eyes drifting from the gifts to the elemental.
"A surprise for my baby girl. Two in fact." He answered cryptically.
Frankie took the bait and opened them both with superhuman speed. When she opened up both packs, she was immediately in awe as she saw them. One of them, a phone that was very popular among her age group, one that would have her friends screaming in envy when they'd see it. The other one is another phone too, but it was unlike any of the ones she had ever seen before. It was transparent and with black casing around it, it looked like a piece of decorated glass. However, she knew that they were both phones and looked up to her father's gentle eyes directed at her.
"Dad, are these…" she trailed off in surprise.
Seth pointed a finger above the newer phone model. "This is for when you go to school and out with friends, or whatever you want to. It already got our numbers installed and on speed-dial, along with most of the S.T.A.R. Labs geeks." Pointing a finger over the transparent phone. "This is for when you're at home and if you want some help with homework, then you can contact either me or your aunt or uncle for help. Your uncle Matt made this, so any help you need, ask him. You can also talk to Jarvis when you need to."
"I love them, Dad. Thanks!" she went over to him and hugged him.
"Glad to hear, honey." Seth said back as his arms hugged her. His partner told him of the time on the watch on the wall and told her, "Frankie, you gotta go soon, school's starting soon. Finish up." He pointed a finger at her breakfast.
"Okay Dad." She continued eating her scrambled eggs. Before putting more eggs on her fork, she directed at her father. "Hey Dad, why do Magenta keep referring you and Caitlin as… "mates"."
"They think of us in an…animal-like sense. Two people together are…mates for them." Seth explained unsurely.
"Did you call me and my daughter ANIMALS?! Freaking FILTH!" Venom shouted in his mind protectively. Seth didn't raise to the bait and briefly apologized to him with his thoughts.
"So…they're animals?" Frankie further inquired.
"HEY?!" Magenta shouted unhappy in a childish manner to be referred by both her host and her father's host.
"She shouted as well?" Frankie nodded. "Like father, like daughter." Once again, Frankie nodded in agreement. Seth was about to remind her of the time, but then his phone chimed. Taking hold of it he brought it up and saw a message from Matt.
"Meeting at S.T.A.R. Labs. Brains wants us there."
Typing back his reply of joining them, Seth turned to his daughter who was readying her backpack for school. "You gonna swing all the way? Or take the bus?"
However, Frankie took a page out of her father's book and opened a window and placed a foot outside of it. "Swing. It's more fun that way." Her clothes turned pink before shifting into her suit. Usually, she'd have her mouth opened up to reveal a face identical to Venom's, but this time she didn't. "See you Dad!" Shooting out a tendril, she jumped out and began swinging the direction of her school.
"That's our girl." Seth couldn't help but say out loud in pride, happy and prideful to see her act more and more like him. Now, he just hoped that she wouldn't get his bad attributes…whatever they might be.
X
(S.T.A.R. Labs)
Along with Olivia and Matt, they and Seth met up with the others in the facility. Apparently, they learned to their surprise, that Barry had somehow been there, the night of his mother's murder…as an adult. The elemental felt hurt that Joe had chosen to exclude him from the reopened investigation of Nora Allen. But considering he was the one who took in his son when he had no one to turn to after the night of her murder, it was understandable.
But then the real reason behind the mutants' need for participation came up…time travel.
"Time travel." Harrison Wells breathed out at the prospect of travelling throughout time itself as he looked to the group of five men and magenta-haired woman.
The speedster then stated, "If the last five months have proven anything, it's that anything can exist, but to actually travel through time?" his eyes went to the three mutants were dropped into their universe.
The founder then stated, "Well, the greatest minds in human history put their collective genius towards solving that puzzle." Like the metahuman, his eyes pointed at the three mutants. "As was the prospect of trans-dimensional travel between various universes, but it looks like it's still a mystery in our universe unlike others."
"So. Is it possible?" Joe asked the group of big brained individuals while wanting some answers.
"With all the events of this last year, metahumans and mutants from another universe, then…Yes, it's possible." Harrison stated his unsurely answer to the detective's surprise. "But problematic. Assuming you could create the conditions necessary to take that journey…well, that journey would then befraught with potential pitfalls. The Novikov principle of self-consistency, for example."
Joe had to stop the paralyzed scientist there with his words of confusion. "Wait, the what, now?"
Barry then said. "If you travel back in time to change something, then you end up being the casual factor of that event." The detective still looked unsure if he understood it.
Then Matt chose to chime in and explain. "The butterfly effect; you step on a butterfly in the past, it might end up being the cause of millions of innocent people to die in the future." The detective still held unsure.
Seth then chose to add his explanation. "You change the past too much… it might end up having the wrong kinds of results in the either the future or the present, if not both." Joe's blank look kept being blanker.
Cisco smiled and stated, "Like Terminator." His one-word answer made the detective realize and understand the various explanations quickly.
Wells added again, "Or is time plastic? Is it mutable whereby ang changes to the continuum could create an alternate timeline?"
Olivia looked briefly in her thoughts and came with her own answer. "Back To The Future." She was somewhat following the line of conversation, though she'd rather speak about problems with the human and mutant mind. She'd make all the men in the room look like a bunch of clueless babies.
Joe heard it and became thankful for that. "Oh…saw that one too."
"Doc Brown. Tremendous picture." Harrison Wells stated much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Seth didn't expect him to like films of that level. He would have expected him to watch documentaries of either animals or planets. Or old-time movies in black and white.
"What the…Brains actually has a life?! Who would have thought that?" Seth stated bluntly. The founder shooting him a dry look. When the mutant received the look, he said defensively. "Don't take it the wrong way, Dr. Wells. I just always imagined you'd be like the type of person who listens to opera music while drinking all by his lonesome. Well, except for your wheelchair, your one and only life companion."
Harrison narrowed his eyes curiously while he countered smirking. "Thanks for that not-so accurate painting of my life, Mr. Rogers. You are, as always, a breath of dirty and contaminated air, which explains the constant smell of dirt in the room. Please remind you daughter to air out your home whenever you leave." The two other mutants laughed in surprise as they heard the counter from the paralyzed scientist's mouth. The other natives from this universe wondered how these four could speak so brutally humorously.
The detective then followed up with another question, after the laughter had died down. "Right. So what's the answer?"
Straightening his expressions seriously, Wells said, "I might be a clever guy, Joe, but if you're asking me to give you a working theory on how to travel through time, I'm afraid I just can't do that." His eyes returned to the three mutants. "In regards to that, I was hoping if our three favorite mutants could shed some light upon the matter."
They chuckled I response to his compliment. Seth stepped forward and answered. "Well to be honest, we haven't seen anything like time travel before. We have seen interdimensional travel. But that's about the closest."
"He's right. Time travel is not exactly a subject that's brought up nor is it even thought to be real in our world." Matt further added.
"And we've seen any powers that's like that. Hopefully, that's the one power that is never to come true." Olivia added after her boyfriend. Honestly hoping that the powers of manipulating with time were nothing more than a bad thought. Any regular powers could have disastrous consequences, if used right. But the power of temporal control in the palm of one's hand, that would be a nightmare.
Cisco smirked as he was reminded of someone very intelligent, who might be able to shed some light on the matter. "There is someone else you can talk to about this."
Seeing the speedster drawing a blank expression, Liv chose to answer, in her own way. "He's talking about Raymond's boyfriend. That fucking Stein." The venom that Martin's name drowned in was surprising in every sense of the word. She hasn't forgiven either parts of the previously conjoined metahuman for what they did to her while incapable to move, even though Ronnie was going through something now.
"Okay, I'll go and talk to Professor Stein." Barry said before he sped out of the facility and go and speak with the elder man. Olivia took off as well, following her boyfriend and Cisco.
Joe stepped closer to the elemental and wrapped an arm around his head and yanked him closer, getting a short laugh out of him. "So how are things going with your daughter?"
"Amazing." He stated his answer with a wide smile. "She's sweetheart. Amazing, smart, funny, generous, and above all such a sweet and kind soul. And we might not have been father and daughter in a long time, but she's absolutely my baby girl without a single doubt."
"Spoken like a true father." The detective said. "How about a drink to celebrate it later?" he received a nod of acceptance. He then wondered about a difficult subject for him. "And…you and Caitlin? How are things there?"
Seth's cheeks turned slightly pink when he recalled the night of them sharing an extravagant dessert. "We're… slowly getting back on track again. And I told her." Joe got a knowing smile on his face, forcing the elemental say the words. "I told her… I love her. And she loves me."
Laughing briefly, the detective stated. "Congrats Seth. We're gonna have to celebrate with more than one drinks, don't we?" Seth nodded immediately in agreement.
Looking to his watch, Seth saw that it was near time for him to pick up Frankie. She told him earlier that her school day would end sooner than expected. But as he excused himself from his friend, he couldn't help but wonder if he was going to ask Caitlin something very important… one that she would hopefully say yes to.
X
(CC Jitters)
Nighttime came quickly and cloaked the city with its nightly darkness and light. The darkened skies could be seen from within the popular coffee shop within Central City, CC Jitters.
Sitting on a table within the coffee shop were Caitlin and Ronnie. With everything that's happened in the last few days, they thought it was time to talk in private and catch up again, the woman telling the man various stories of what have happened.
But as she continued telling the tales of her adventures after the Particle Accelerator explosion, in the back of her mind, she held her true thoughts back. How she would confess the truth of her heart and how to break it to Ronnie.
She couldn't help but feel her happiness spreading in her body as she thought about the very night the two confessed to each other. But she had to do it again, this time to the man she loved before. And she had to think of the right way to tell it.
She wasn't the one whose mind kept drifting off to other significant subjects.
While he listened to her tales, Ronnie's mind couldn't help but return to the video footage of her and Seth kissing each other in a passionate fiery embrace. His mind kept repeating it every time he'd look at her, hear her words, when he'd close his eyes and think of either of them. But he didn't feel any malice towards any of them. The truth was clear.
Caitlin loves Seth now, he knew it. And Seth loves Caitlin.
Those were the only thoughts that coursed through their minds as Caitlin told her tale. "…And the boomerang goes flying through the Cortex, before it's about to hit me, Seth jumps in front of it and grabs it with his bare hand. And then he acts like a school teacher and scolds Cisco like he had been naughty, he was all." She imitated Cisco's words and motions of his arms from that day. ""My bad. This one's on me.""
As he listened to the tale of that time, was quite painful for Ronnie as he hadn't been there to experience it alongside them. Especially, as most of them involved Seth, he had to force a chuckle. "Sounds like you had some crazy times. And Seth… is in every one of them?"
"Yeah, we have… and most of them yeah." Caitlin said with a happy smile from times. "We've been fighting for months now, and when Barry woke up, Seth came shortly afterwards. And it's been nothing but great."
"Definitely crazy times." Ronnie repeated his words with a weak smile.
Caitlin nodded, "Things have without a doubt turned crazy. But ever since Barry became The Flash and Seth revealed himself to be Venom and we've been working to keep this city safe… I found a new to help people. And something much better than that." As she said that, she inhaled deeply, ready to speak. "Ronnie, I have to tell you something. It's gonna be hard. But the truth is-"
"You love and kissed Seth the other night." Ronnie said to Caitlin's surprise.
Still wide-eyed from shock and surprise, she said, "You know?" she was sure that Seth wasn't exactly on friendly terms with him, so it couldn't be him.
"Your drone with the camera, the one you used to "keep an eye" on Seth…" Ronnie used air quotes. "…I saw it before… the entire thing."
Once again, the female doctor inhaled and went to explain. "Ronnie, you see…"
Before she could continue, a waiter came over to their table and asked them, "Do you guys need anything else? We're about to close up." He told them.
Shifting his eyes back to the woman in front of him, Ronnie said. "I'm good. Cait?"
Caitlin was about to answer…but then her eyes narrowed inspecting as she saw red dot… one on Ronnie's shoulders. Finding the glowing red light familiar, she snapped her eyes back to the front door of the coffee shop.
Her fears were confirmed when she could make out various sources of red lights coming from within the line of trees.
When her mind registered them, her fear intensified and she turned to Ronnie again and shouted urgently. "Ronnie, get down!" Her shout was heard by him but not by the waiter who stood by their table to await their answer. Instead he was shot but a tranquilizer bullet, knocking him down after injecting its contents into his system.
Caitlin hid under the table while she neared Ronnie, her hand went into her pocket while above them more and more bullets came flying through the air and into Jitters, shattering the glass, piercing their ways into tables and chairs alike, and knocking out waiters and costumers without hesitation or mercy. When she saw the growing number of unconscious people, she sent a S.O.S. message to a certain elemental with the location of Jitters.
Ronnie took notice both of her message and the knocked-out people and instructed her. "Get out of here."
However, she was unsure if that would be smart. "No, not without you. Seth's coming soon."
"I'm right behind you. GO!" He pushed her ahead before getting back to a crouch and felt fear spreading in his body.
SHATTER
The sound of glass shattering diverted his attention downwards and he saw a small gas canister with teargas sipping out of it. Using the collar of his jacket, he covered his mouth and nose to prevent inhaling the gas and took the canister and threw it away to create a distraction.
Using that distraction to his advantage and ran out the back entrance and into the alleyway.
But the moment he did, he was suddenly ordered…
"Hands in the air!"
His progress was stopped when four soldiers with their guns trained on him came out from the sides and stopped him while flashing light in his face. Knowing full well that he didn't stand a chance against any of them, especially with their numbers and their weapons. He turned around, slowly and saw that three soldiers neared him slowly.
From behind the line of soldiers, a man of higher ranking stepped closer and out from behind his soldiers and revealed his face to the structural engineer. "Ronald Raymond." General Wade Eiling stated as he stepped closer to him. "Burning Man himself. Half of him, anyway." He spoke in an inhumane voice without any emotions.
"Who are you?" Ronnie wondered, as he had never seen this man before.
"General Wade Eiling, United States Army." The general introduced.
"What do you want?" Ronnie asked the general.
"Firestorm." Eiling said his answer.
SCREAM
The screams of his soldiers snapped his attention to the back and around the structural engineer's body, trying to the find his soldiers. But none of them were at their latest positions. Turning his head up, he found them again, this time in not so great conditions.
All of his soldiers were hanging upside-down from black tendrils that were wrapped around their feet by the large anti-hero Venom. Their guns melting off to pieces when flames began coating his fists and destroying them. Venom looked down at the general and showed a dangerous smile. "Hello General." His tendrils pulled back into the air before slamming all soldiers into the walls around them, knocking them out and sending out a wave of ice and frozen them to the walls.
"You." Eiling said as he rubbed his torso, still feeling the sting of Bette Sans Souci using the symbiote to slam him into the ground with a powerful strike.
Venom jumped down from the wall and stood between Ronnie and the general who experimented on their friend. "Feeling sore after last time? Stand back now, or you'll repeat the same mistake as before, and anger us." His maw opening up and breathing out smoke of the fire he gathered inside of it.
Eiling reached into his back, pulling out a square container and was about to press a button on it. But stopped when he saw a flash of yellow lightning from the other end of the alleyway.
WHOOSH
Halting his powers, The Flash appeared and stood beside the elemental and glared at the general. "Sorry, traffic jam."
"Of course, you did." Venom quipped back with a joke, getting a brief laugh out of the speedster.
Eiling then used his other hand and pulled out another box with the same appearance as the one in his other hand. Pressing the button on the one in his left hand, the general threw the box into the air. It began emitting a whirring sound before the box flashed out a bright light, and in it's place, a hailstorm of needles came flying down. And their pointed ends twirled around before aiming for the speedster and shooting down to him.
Barry was brought down to the ground as he felt the sharp needles pierce through his suit and into his skin, forcing him to let out a loud scream of pain.
And before Venom could act out his move, Eiling threw the secondary box into the air as well. And like the previous one, it too emitted a whirring sound before flashing a white light, and thousands of sharp and large needles shot for the larger hero. Connecting to his skin like a hailstorm of speeding bullets, their pointed ends latched onto his symbiotic skin.
"Stings, don't they?" Eiling said with a smirk as he saw the two heroes pierced like pin cushions. "Had these two developed especially for you two. For you, Flash; Micro fragments attracted to kinetic energy." He told the grunting speedster before looking to the elemental who still remained standing but kept his demonic eyes on him, while his muscles began flexing like earthquakes. "And for you, big buy: Micro fragments, twice the size and number as his," he pointed to the red speedster before continuing. "attracted to thermal energy from a fire and lightning source and cold signatures. Your thing, isn't it?"
The general's eyes looked between the three before him while stating happily. "Firestorm was tonight's main objective, but getting you two… that's just gravy."
"Think…again."
At the sound of the demonic voice, Eiling looked back to the elemental who straightened his body. And looked down at the general with menacing eyes before flexing his muscles again, turning his entire body into adamantium and vibrated the earth element in him. And like shooting bullets when they connected to his body, he shot them out of his body, the fragments piercing into the walls around and going flying in every direction.
Eiling and Ronnie were forced to duck down to dodge the incoming needle fragments.
The sound of a vehicle coming from behind them, made them see a can coming from that end. Seth used his partner's help to find Caitlin behind the wheel. With The Flash down for the count and Ronnie being powerless, Venom gathered wind in his right palm and thrusted it forward, blast Eiling away with blast of wind and away.
The moment the general sent flying, Caitlin pulled up with her van and opened up the side door. "Get in!" she ordered them. Venom wrapped a tendril around Ronnie's body and used another tendril to slowly and gently wrap around the speedster's body. With a quick jump, he literally threw them both into the van, not thinking of Barry's punctured state.
The vehicle drove away in a second and Venom jumped onto a wall before lashing out a tendril to begin swinging away from them.
Eiling and his soldiers had gotten back on their feet and their general stated honestly.
"Gentlemen, we are at war."
X
(S.T.A.R. Labs)
Once the van reached the facility, Seth had already jumped into the Cortex and helped Barry and place him on an operation table, his body still punctured like a pin cushion. Caitlin put on her lab coat and began taking out the needles slowly, but the number of them were very large, even when the mutant doctor joined in. the two doctors stood on either side of him.
Olivia had brought Frankie and Bette to the facility and told them of the same situation.
Harrison the two doctors working as slow and fast as they can, and advised them, "You need to hurry, Barry's wounds are starting to heal with the fragments still under his skin."
They were too busy removing the needles slowly to nod their acceptances. And while they were doing that, Matt and Olivia stood near Frankie who winced when she heard the speedster grunt in pain. Bette winced as well while Cisco stood beside her with a tray. "This is just like that time I stepped on a sea urchin." Barry looked to with a dry look. "Only much worse."
Seth pulled out a micro fragment out of his neck and examined it with his eyes. "Gotta admit, Eiling's improving himself." He said out loud as he recalled how this was used to defeat and stop the Flash.
"Just don't pee on me." Barry begged them.
"Uh, you know that's a myth, right?" Cisco stated his answer to the speedster's assurance.
"Thank God it is." Seth breathed out, while the natives gave him confused looks. "I think we established that our…"homes" are very different, haven't we people? So yeah, I had to be sure. Sue me!"
"Seth…" He looked to his little sister, who stepped closer and held a sheepish smile. "… You might wanna…you know. Do it quickly."
The elemental widened his eyes as realized what his sister meant. "Might be the only way, yeah." He breathed out in agreement before looking to Barry. "Barry, me and Liv are gonna remove the needles. And I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be very painful and very fast. So…brace yourself."
With hesitant nod, the speedster braced himself. Seth formed a large ice spike that placed in Barry's mouth so he could bite into it. After accepting it, Seth sent out tendrils from his body and split them off into dozens more of smaller black tendrils, while Olivia stepped closer herself used her telekinesis and grabbed the needles the same time her brother's tendrils grabbed their own.
The others around the gurney stepped back in fear and Matt, feeling protective over his young niece, covered her eyes and used his nanites to cover her ears.
The two siblings shared a quick glance before nodding to each other in readiness. With that nod from both..
YANK
SCREAM
… Using the powers of both the Klyntar and telekinesis, the brother and sister yanked out the all the needles in a second…but everyone were forced to hear the deafening muffled scream blasting out of the agonizing speedster's mouth. Grimacing lightly from the sudden and eruptive scream, the siblings placed the micro fragments and put them into the metallic trays that Cisco was holding in his hands.
After they were placed in the tray, Barry slumped back into the gurney. And Seth patted his shoulder and said, "Good boy, Barry. We'll get you a lollipop after this dilemma. Promise." The speedster gave him a dry look, making the elemental raise his hands up in the air defensively.
"It's polite to actually say THANK YOU to a doctor who saved him." Venom remarked in his host's mind.
Caitlin clenched her teeth as she realized her mistake, Seth saw the same and narrowed his eyes on her form while she spoke. "I'm so stupid. Jason Rush, the grad student who was helping Professor Stein with his F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. research, he said that the army took all of Professor Stein's material when he disappeared. I should have known it was General Eiling."
Leaning over to her, Seth squeezed her hand, getting her attention. "Not your fault, Caitlin. None of us would have thought that Eiling would go this far. And now he attacks public places. No one here blames you. So stop blaming yourself. We got into a situation; we'll deal. Like we always do."
"Thanks." Caitlin said as she flipped her hand around and grabbed his hand and squeezed it lovingly.
Slowly looking between Caitlin and Seth, the paralyzed scientist agreed, "Mr. Rogers' right, Caitlin. Eiling still thinks you hold the keys to the ultimate human weapon…both of you."
Barry, still grunting and in pain, perked his head up ad looked between them and spoke. "Okay, let's just finish this. I gotta get to Stein's house. Eiling's gonna be after him too."
"Stein's fine." Ronnie said after turning to the entrance to the room.
Cisco wondered, "How do you know?"
Olivia pointed her thumb backwards and stated bluntly before the structural engineer could speak. "Fucker's right there." Everyone turned their eyes to the entrance and did indeed find Martin Stein looking right back at them.
Once again, he shivered in fear when he saw the three mutants look at him with hatred. Still not willing to forgive him any time soon for almost trying to barbeque through her Stasis-shields. Coughing in his hand, the professor said, "I don't think Mr. Raymond and I are as distinctive as we had hoped."
"We can try putting one of you six feet under and see if that changes things." Olivia added her own cruel ideas.
Caitlin stepped forward and pointed to another laboratory. "Come this way, Professor Stein. We'll check on you and figure out what's going on." The professor nodded and followed the female doctor as did the others. Placing both parts of Firestorm in adjacent seats, and placing head gears over their heads to scan their brains. Seth helped her of course, and the female doctor was happy to admit that it was a delight to see him help her like this.
Frankie could see that Caitlin was smiling whenever she'd look over to her father, which made her smile. But she would still find it weird whenever her "other" would refer to the two as mates.
Once the tests had been confirmed, Ronnie and Stein both looked to the monitors showing their brainwaves.
Stein looked to the monitor and remarked in surprise. "I'm still inside Ronald."
"All the way to the hilt…" Olivia thought naughtily to her brother and boyfriend, both of whom released chortles. The natives saw that the three mutants were having laughing fits.
Thinking up another saying, Seth thought, "Completely up to the balls…" Olivia had to her cover her mouth from bursting into laughter and Matt held his stomach with one hand and biting onto his other hand to keep his laughter within. Now the natives narrowed their eyes in confusion and curiosity.
Matt then added, "…Balls deep…" Liv had to mimicked the nanite mutant's tactics and bit into her hand and Seth turned his head away from them as he erupted into laughter along with his fellow mutants. Caitlin and Frankie realized what the mutants were thinking of and smirked mischievously as well.
Shaking off her giggling expressions and slight laughter, Caitlin composed herself and returned to the matter at hand. "Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta…all your brain waves are perfectly in sync. The chances of that happening are next to impossible."
"Impossible's just another Tuesday for us, remember Cait?" Seth stated with a smirk that got a smile to grow on Caitlin's face.
Cisco then said, "Yeah, but this is like some Twilight Zone level stuff, and I say that knowing full well that we have a guy locked up in our basement who can turn himself into poison gas."
Ronnie shot him a look. "Wait, really?"
"Dude, that was, like, week three for Barry and week two for Seth." Cisco gestured to the two heroes.
Turning his head to his little sister, the elemental wondered. "You knew they were connected somehow, didn't you?"
"Sort of." Olivia said before continuing. "For some reason I could feel like…Raymond's thoughts were…I don't know, "linked" to another set of identical brainwaves. It was like I could hear or feel what the other would feel by tapping into one of their minds."
"if you knew it, then why didn't you say anything, Ms. Rogers?" Martin asked the psychic woman slowly and hesitantly.
"First off, that would imply helping you, which makes me want to vomit." Olivia stated stoically to the professor's surprise. "Second, it's a bit hard resonating with two brains with two perfectly synced brainwaves. And it's a bit hard with Barry nearby."
"What do you mean?" The speedster asked the psychic mutant.
"You're a speedster, Barry. It's nothing personal, of course. But it's like your thoughts are on fast-forward, running a hundred of miles. And because of my telepathic powers, I can hear them and sometimes they hurt a bit. To even hear them clearly, I have to shut out all other sounds and hone in on your mind." Olivia explained her powers.
Martin was not listening to what the magenta-haired woman because his mind was filled with worrying thoughts that orbited around his wife, Clarissa and he shot up from the chair and took off the head gear. "Look, if this Eiling is as dangerous as you say, then I need to warn Clarissa."
The speedster stepped closer and assured the professor. "I promise, I can get Clarissa out of the city in time, but we need you to stay here. Professor, I need you to trust us."
Seth saw that the nuclear physicist was having doubts and chimed. "Stein, your wife's gonna be safe. There's four powered individuals here who are able to get out her of danger if it were to close in on her. Two of which can fly, one can run and I can jump sky high. Your wife's gonna be safe."
"I thought you didn't care about my well-being?" The elder man inquired.
"I don't." Seth answered, "But your wife's innocent and doesn't deserve to be hurt, especially by the very same people who swore to protect this country."
Martin nodded his acceptance. "Very well." he moved away to be by himself.
"Aunt Liv can fly?" Frankie asked her father; she had already seen the nanite mutant take flight before but not her aunt.
"With her powers, yeah. She can levitate herself from the ground and high up to the sky with her telekinesis. She's quite powerful actually." Seth said proudly of the fact of his sister's powers and how she can use them in the field.
"He's right, sweetie." Olivia said as she wrapped her arms around his young niece from behind. "Trust me, I can give your dear young Dad a run for his money if we were to spare."
"You used to fight?" the young metahuman asked them.
"That's how we used to bond back in the day." Seth told his daughter as they moved into the Cortex together. "Your Aunt is considered one of the strongest female agents in SHIELD actually. And yeah, we used to fight a lot, our little bonding sessions, if you will."
Frankie tilted her head in confusion, "So I'm gonna have to fight you Dad, if I want to get closer to you?"
"We can beat them! Daddy and his host are nothing against us!" Magenta said with childish exclaims of enthusiasm.
Chuckling, Seth kissed the top of her head, Caitlin and Ronnie saw his fatherly action from the other lab and Caitlin smiled at the sight, "When you're older, honey and after many, many, many conversations. Until then, you just remain my sweet little baby girl, alright?" he placed another kiss on her head.
"Dad!" she said embarrassed by her father giving her so many kisses in public, but she could feel his love. It's only been a short time they've been a family, but the feeling of someone loving her, caring for her made her feel like the luckiest girl alive. Especially since it was someone who's not only never had a parent when he was growing up until he was sixteen, but also someone's who is not even from this universe.
Frankie Fury found happiness with Seth and his sister and best friend, and she didn't wanna trade that for anything in the world, even for the world itself.
"You're embarrassing me." Frankie said to her father still embarrassed.
"That's part of the deal when you have a parent, sweetie. Read the fine-print." He told her quippingly and kissed the top of her head again. "You're not getting away from kisses from your dad anytime soon." Olivia and Matt laughed while Frankie chose to jump out of her father's embrace and latched onto the ceiling like a spider, or in her case, like her father.
Caitlin smiled again at Seth's fatherly side shining forth, which made a smile broaden over her lips. Her eyes turned to Ronnie again, his expression not looking like he would normally be. She wondered if it had anything to do with what they were talking before at Jitters when they were suddenly and abruptly interrupted by hailstorms of bullets.
Out of concern, she stepped closer to him and asked, "Hey. Are you okay?" Barry and Cisco and Bette along with the founder moved away to give them some privacy.
"Yeah." He took off the headgear and said. "Yeah, it's just not the S.T.A.R. Labs I knew."
Barry had heard what the two of them were talking about and chose to add his own thoughts. "Ronnie," the two turned to the metahuman. "this isn't the world that you knew."
Ronnie's eyes looked behind the speedster, pointing them upwards and placed his eyes at the elemental who was talking to his adoptive daughter while sitting on the ceiling upside-down. And as he looked at him, he took Barry at his words, itching them in his heart and knew that he was right. This wasn't the same world that he was living in a year ago. This was a whole different world, a whole different S.T.A.R. Labs, a whole different home… and even more different people he called family.
"Tell me about it." The structural engineer stated while shifting his eyes between Caitlin and the upside-down Seth on the ceiling.
Harrison directed the three of them to come into the middle of the Cortex and told Ronnie. "Mr. Raymond, in case your former residence has been comprised, it would be safer if you and Dr. Snow were to stay with someone else for the night. In your current state, you nor Professor Stein are able to defend yourselves against Eiling and his army. Martin can remain here with us in the facility."
"Who should we stay with?" Ronnie inquired without a single thought as to who he and Caitlin should stay with.
"Seth." Caitlin said immediately because of various reasons. Ronnie was shivering at the thought of staying at the elemental's residence. "Seth can protect us. We're gonna be safe with him, and he also has Matt and Olivia there. We'll be safe."
Making eye contact with Olivia, Seth thought to her, "Liv, you're gonna keep an eye on that guy while he's in the same place as Frankie. I do not trust him enough near her."
"I get to whip him?" he nodded subtly. "Deal."
X
Opening up the door to his new loft, Seth led his fellow mutants and Caitlin and Ronnie into his home. Frankie followed behind them slowly and awkwardly, she didn't know what to think of the additional people, meaning Ronnie. But she chose to ignore that and went to her room, showing off her skills by jumping directly onto the railing in front of her bedroom door and to her room.
With a gesture to his loft, Seth said, "Welcome to my home. Don't break anything, don't jump scare my daughter she might end up swiping a sword in your face, trust me I know it. Otherwise make yourselves at home, I ordered a couple of large pizzas."
"Thanks." Ronnie said, while he could feel Olivia's eyes burning holes in his back, which made him shiver in fear of what the psychic was thinking of doing to him if he stepped out of line.
"Thank you, Seth." Caitlin said with a loving smile on her face, one that made him smile himself.
KNOCK KNOCK
When Seth heard knocking on the other side of his door, he walked over to it and opened it. "Surprise!" said Iris West when the door opened up and she stood there with two grocery bags in her hands.
"Iris? Hey. What are you doing here?" Seth wondered in surprise at his friend's daughter's surprise visit. "It's Tuesday, aren't you supposed to cook for your old man."
"I am, but then I heard the news." Iris formed a wide smile. "You found your little sister again and you adopted a daughter too. And I thought it's deserved a present." She handed one of the bags to him. "So congrats. As well as the new loft."
With a smile on his face he began opening the bag while stepping aside to let Iris in. "Iris!" he let out in a loud whisper of surprise when he saw an expensive bottle of whiskey along with chocolate and gift cards to some clothing stores. "You shouldn't have done this."
"It's a pretty big thing, Seth. My dad told me you and him like whiskey, so the bottle's for you. Chocolate for your daughter, who I would love to meet and the gift cards' for your sister, in case she's any need of any new clothes." Iris explained with a smile.
"Iris thank you so much. This means a lot" He said before hugging his friend's daughter. "Frankie! Liv! Come out, someone would love to meet you two." Seth called out to them.
Frankie didn't think it would be smart to show off her powers of superhuman speed if the guest is a human, so she walked down the stairs. Getting on the ground floor of her new home, the young metahuman saw a young woman speaking with her father. "Hey Dad. Who's this?" she asked politely.
"Sweetheart, this is Joe West's daughter, Iris West, a friend of mine. Iris, this is my daughter, Frankie." Seth introduced the two of each other.
"Hey." Frankie held out her hand to her.
Iris smiled again and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you Frankie." The young journalist found the young girl polite. She then jokingly said, "You know, she's too cute to be your kid, actually Seth."
"Geez thanks, Iris." Seth countered in mock.
"Who's calling the prettiest psychologist?!" the three at the door looked to the middle of the living room and saw Olivia standing there with her arms out to the sides. Seeing the blogger with the wide mouth, she stepped closer to her, "Who's this? Another friend of yours, Bro?"
"Yeah, this is Iris West. Joe's daughter. And she brought the three of us some gifts."
"You did?" Liv turned Iris who were still widemouthed at the sight of the other woman's hair. "Aww, thank you, Iris. You're so sweet." The psychic paused when she saw the blogger's open mouth. "Something wrong, Iris?"
"No…I'm sorry for staring. You're just not what I expected, is all. Sorry if that's rude." Iris apologized. "But it's good to finally meet you. There's some gift cards to some stores if you're in need of some new clothes."
"Aww thanks. Means a lot. And trust me, I need some clothes after all this time." Olivia thanked the blogger. "Hey, if you're free any time soon, wanna grab a drink sometime? This one keeps telling me to get some more girlfriends." She pointed a finger at her big brother who poked his tongue out of his mouth.
Iris smiled, "I'd like that, yeah." Her eyes then went to living room again, and saw Caitlin and…a familiar face beside her. "Caitlin, what brings you by? I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she directed at the elemental. While her mind were working overtime to figure out the identity of the other man.
"No, no, you're not interrupting anything Iris. Don't worry." Seth assured her.
Caitlin stepping, after a moment of thinking up an excuse, explained, "There's a gas leak in my apartment, and Seth said that we could stay here for the while."
Iris seemed to be doubting that as she knew that she and Seth was in a relationship, unless something has happened between them. But she genuinely didn't want that for them, knowing of some of their personal pasts. "Oh, that's sweet of him…I think. And, uh, who's this?" she pointed her eyes at Ronnie.
Caitlin saw her eyes on Ronnie, and lied, unconvincingly, "This is, uh…" she paused not knowing what to say. The three mutants shared a conversation of the two.
Frankie saw her struggle and added, "Her cousin."
"Sam." Caitlin said with an unconvincing expression, which was undeniably cute in Seth's eyes.
"Visiting from Coast City." Frankie further added.
"You're gonna blow it." Magenta chastised her host. Frankie sent a mental pout of disagreement.
Iris looked to Ronnie, or "Sam" again, and remarked. "You look really familiar, Sam."
"Yeah, I…I have… one of those faces." He replied with a few pauses in his words.
"Now we know Frankie is never gonna be able lie in the future as well Caitlin."
"When you're right, you're right." Seth mentally agreed with his partner.
Iris nodded her head in response before turning to the elemental again. "Hey, could you and I talk in private, maybe?" her mind was filled with a subject that she and her editor had been talking about. An investigation he sees value in, but she's thinking otherwise.
Seth nodded and followed her and till they stood outside of his loft door. "What is it? Something wrong, Iris? If it's about that guy, Mason, being a jackass again, then I can make him pay."
"No, no, he's fine. For now." Iris told him. "But it's kind of related to him." Seth gave her the go-ahead to continue. "You don't have to answer me, but what do you think about…Harrison Wells?"
Seth did not expect that question to emerge and asked back honestly, while keeping some topics off the table. "I think he's a…man with a lot than meets the eye."
"What do you mean?" Iris asked worriedly while thinking that Mason might be onto something.
"Well I just learned today… that he likes to watch movies like Back To The Future, surprisingly enough." He told her jokingly. Iris laughed while scratching the back of her head in mild defeat, which were seen on her face by the elemental. "What's wrong? And what's with the question?"
"Just…my editor Mason…he thinks there's more to S.T.A.R. Labs than what the public led to believe, I guess." Iris revealed.
"Seriously? That's weird. Maybe he's just searching and looking for a story's that' not even there." Seth added his thoughts. "Maybe that's how he got that Pulitzer. Making up fake stories."
"I don't think he's like that." Iris said.
"But don't worry about it. it's probably nothing. But, why did you ask me about Harrison Wells? Wouldn't Barry have been a better choice to ask?" Seth asked of her.
"I don't know, I guess. Barry's life was saved by Dr. Wells and S.T.A.R. Labs, so I don't what he might tell me." She started, "And you're still…new in town."
"Ahh, an outside perspective who can remain objective." Seth deduced, she nodded slowly in agreement to his deduction. "Well, not much I can say now though, other than what I have said, of course. But don't worry and thanks for asking me about this."
"Thanks for helping me." Iris said. "Means a lot."
"What else are friends for?" Seth rhetorically asked which got a giggle out of Iris. She was glad that Seth saw her as a friend, it meant much to her. Knowing that her father's best friend looked at her in same light. Especially now that his life have now become better with Frankie and Caitlin in his life now.
"Pizzas for Mr. Rogers." A voice called out from behind them, turning their heads to see a delivery boy standing there with two large pizza boxes in his hands.
X
Later on, after every one of them had eaten their share of pizza, they went around to do their own stuff. Frankie went back to her room after dinner with Matt who showed her how to use the transparent phone. Olivia went to the guestroom to check out how much storage she had in her wardrobes while checking the gift cards and the locations of the shops. Seth spend his time in his bedroom, alone.
Ronnie was in the living room, sitting on the couch while listening and contemplating his thoughts. Caitlin saw him in there, standing at near the opened fridge. As she stood there her hand clenched around a certain ring, she knew that she had to say something, what really mattered. She had to. She needed to let go of the past and move on with Seth. And that meant she had to be honest with her old fiancée.
And he already knew that the two of them had shared a passionate kiss in a heated embrace with various elements of Seth's. So confessing everything would make it easier, but that's just what her brain was trying to convince her with.
But her heart knew that no truth was easy to confess without consequences. The consequences for this action, would be hurting Ronnie. But she had to stay true to herself, she couldn't live a lie, nor could she lie to him. Neither of them deserved to be lied to.
Caitlin Snow loves Seth Fury, and she had to tell the same to Ronnie and move on. Closing the door to the fridge, she walked over to him. "Ronnie?" she got his attention. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, except for being on the army's wanted list, of course." Turning his eyes to her, he smiled weakly, knowing what her thoughts were. "It's okay, Cait."
Caitlin knew what he meant and took a seat on the couch herself. "Ronnie…I don't want to hurt you, I never would. But after you're the night of the explosion… after your death… I was lost, frozen, I didn't see any point in living anymore." Ronnie didn't like that. "But then Seth came. And he… showed me a life full of wonders that were unlike anything of what the Particle Accelerator did. He showed the wonders of this life. That's the world we live in now…and Seth was the one who kept me alive this entire time while I thought you were dead… he was the one who showed that there worth in continuing to live again. If things might have been different, the it could have been…what we had. But I moved on…" she held out her clenched hand and opened it for Ronnie to see its contents.
He saw the very same engagement ring he gave to her the time he proposed to her. "I'm really sorry, Ronnie. I didn't want this to happen to you, not anyone." She took his hand and opened it up, placing the ring back in it and using her own hand to close it slowly. "But…I can't live in the past, nor can I live a lie anymore."
She expected some tongue-lashing from him, but he only smiled, and something told her that that he smiled for her. "Are you happy? With him, I mean?"
A single thought of the elemental caused her head to lift up and she nodded her head happily with an even wider smile of happiness. "I am, more than anything. I love him, Ronnie. And he loves me. I'm sorr-"
"You don't have anything to be sorry for." Ronnie interrupted her. "I thought something was different back then, back at the Badlands, I mean. We have just changed from what we were back then. I'm not just the accelerator's structural engineer anymore, I'm the former half of a metahuman. And now you're the doctor to a bunch of superheroes, and Seth's not a bad guy, I can't hate him. He just saved me after all, and thanks to him, you didn't get hurt back in the parking lot…I owe him for that. A lot." Smiling another honest smile, he said. "Cait?"
"Yeah?" she nodded.
"Thanks for being honest with me. And thank Seth for taking care of you for me, would you?" He asked of her.
With a happy smile on her face, she placed a hand over his own, she said, "I will Ronnie, and of course, I'd be honest with you. Thanks for everything, Ronnie. Means a lot, you made me feel loved. And I can't thank you enough for that."
The structural engineer leaned forward and hugged her, which she returned. When they pulled away out of it, they shared a smile. A meaningful conversation has been shared, one that let them both be honest with one another. And because of that, they were able to come to an understanding, one that meant everything to them both.
They were able to move on now. And both needed it.
X
.
Seth pulled the curtains over his window together. After checking in Frankie and Matt who were still in the process of learning the gimmicks of the transparent phone. Leaving the uncle and niece to it, he went back to his room and checked over the room. After closing the window curtains, he looked at some of the pictures he had been able to frame after moving into his new home.
One of them were a group picture of the younger versions of him, Olivia and his father, Nick Fury. The picture was of them smiling widely because it was the same day the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. adopted them and called them his own. Beside it was a picture of him, Olivia and Matt, all of them smiling happily. It was the day that they graduated from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy to become field agents and they got their degrees as well, if their different types of diplomas were any indications.
The one beside it was the picture of him, Bucky and Stefanie when they had their trip to Hawaii. That one always made him smile, as it was the picture that he always held onto him. Beside it was a newly framed photo of him and his newly adopted daughter, Frankie. The two of them smiled happily while hugging each other tightly as both of them had received a new family member.
"Things are really great, don't you think Venom?"
"Better than great. We finally got out lives back again, Olivia's back with us again, and more importantly, we just got our children." Venom let out excitedly.
Wondering back to the origins of Carnage and his father, Venom, and their relationship, the host asked his partner, "How come you're different than the other Venom and Carnage? They hated each other from first glance. But you and Magenta are not like that, you're better than that. You actually love each other."
"That's because of you, partner." Venom said with a smile. Seth cocked his head back, "Unlike Eddie Brock and Cletus Kasady, you are a father, Seth. A natural protector of anyone innocent. You never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. That is who we imprinted on, the protector of innocent people… that is why unlike other Klyntars, we love our daughter, till the very end and beyond. So thank for that, Seth Fury."
"Someone's getting soft in his old age?" Seth teased with a joke.
"Keep talking, and you'll miss one…really, really good and juicy liver." Venom threatened with his mouth salivating and overflowing with drool.
"Keep that up, and you'll go a month without chocolate." He received a growl in response to his threat.
Seth looked back to his pictures and his eyes narrowed down on a picture that was placed down. He doesn't recall which picture that was and walked over to it. Taking the picture, he held it up to his face and smiled at the reminder of the memory.
It was the picture of him and Caitlin both of them wearing wide smiles on their faces. He remembered the day like it was yesterday. The two of them walking over to a park after a delicious early dinner in his old home. The picture was of them sharing a hearty and passionate kiss while their fingers are intertwined. He liked that memory because it was one of the best times that he and Caitlin shared together.
"I like this." He returned the picture to its stand, making sure it was placed on its stand and visible, and walked back to his bed.
KNOCK KNOCK
He heard a knock on his door, stopping himself from continuing and he walked over to it and opened it up. "Your mate has come back."
A gentle smile came over his face as he locked eyes with Caitlin. The woman stepped forward and hugged onto his form. Her head nuzzling against the croak of his neck before looking up and into his eyes, "I told him."
"How did he handle the news? He's okay with it?" Seth wondered after turning his head downwards, pointing his eyes down to hers.
She smiled, "He took it very well actually. We were honest with one another. We knew that we had moved on. We still love each other, but…we feel for others now. I do anyway. And we're just different now, we lead different lives, nothing like those we had before. And… we moved on."
"Are you okay? And don't say you are, we both know better than that." Seth told her.
Placing her head on his chest this time, she said warmly and also worriedly, "Do you…hate me?" Seth widened his eyes in surprise at the question. "After everything that happened, I just want to make sure…I know I have a lot to make up for so please tel-"
Once again, Seth felt the need to place a hand over her mouth and reacted in accordance to the need, and placed a hand over her mouth. "I could never hate you, Caitlin. I care too much about you to even think of saying that to you. And you're never gonna feel hate from me, you beautiful dummy. You mean too much to me. So don't even think of that, okay?" she nodded. "Good…I'd hate to suddenly spank you." He winked at her, and his joke got her to blush immediately.
Smiling and chuckling at her blushing and flustered face, Seth gestured to his bed. "You need a place to sleep? I got room for one more in there."
"You sure?" she wondered, hoping that she wasn't going to intrude or force them to return to them back on track again. She relished in the idea of sharing a bed with him again, but she didn't know if that would be right for them right now.
Seeing the struggle on her face, Seth stepped closer to Caitlin and assured her lovingly. "I don't know about you, but I want to sleep in my bed…with the woman I love."
"And I want to be with the man I love." Caitlin agreed and the two stepped forward and pressed their lips together, holding them in that position for what felt like forever and wanted to never end.
X
(S.T.A.R. Labs)
CLANG
An ice cube was dropped into one of the two tumbler glasses with an audible clang before Harrison Wells poured cognac into both of them, starting with the one with ice. Taking the one with the ice in his hand, he gave it to Professor Martin Stein.
After returning from a informative and insightful visit with General Wade Eiling, where he much to his surprise learned that the good and honest general had learnt the true identity behind the Flash's mask, Harrison spent some time to think over what he were told back in the army compound before turning to share a drink with the creator of the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. matrix.
With those thoughts finished and the thoughts of what do next accomplished, he returned to his time with Martin.
"Cheers." Martin started while bending down to the paralyzed scientist.
They clicked their glass in a toast before Wells repeated the other man's words. "Cheers."
Unlike Harrison, Stein took a sip from his cold drink, glad to feel the familiar, bubbly and delicious taste of the alcoholic beverage touch his tongue again. The founder kept his eyes on the alcohol going into the professor's mouth and turned away when he said. "Delicious." Wells chuckled while the other man took in the facility around him. "This is quite an impressive facility."
While Martin walked around in the Cortex, Harrison looked around at his life's work and said, "Well, it was… now it's just a shell, I'm afraid."
Hearing the saddening and dropping voice he used, Martin said while empathizing with him. "Must have been devasting, seeing your life's work fall to pieces before your eyes."
Nodding his head lightly, the founder turned his chair to him. "It was and yet, it was the exact same moment your life's work came to fruition."
Martin couldn't help but chuckle humorlessly as he heard those words. "My life's work? If living the last 14 months as a conjoined metahuman and receiving a beatdown, both physical and verbal, from the most terrifying siblings I have ever seen and met, has taught me anything, it's that my life's work should have been being the best husband I could to my wife, and not take irrational actions that could potentially endanger the life of a young woman without more knowledge." He finished off sadly, not liking the past or his actions that could have hurt the young mutant with psychic powers.
His body then began feeling weak and he suddenly began staggering lightly. He had to place a hand on the railing of the main console to steady himself again. "Are you alright, Martin?" the founder asked him without any emotions in his voice, nor any concern.
The professor steadied himself again and looked to the founder. "I apologize, it's just… I feel a little light-headed."
SHATTER
The sound of glass shattering followed the sound of thudding when Professor Martin Stein's body gave out and he fell down to the ground.
Wheeling forward to the unconscious man. His eyes peering down at the fallen scientist while his head remained high and emotionless, devoid of any negative feelings or emotions to came over as he was the one who caused this incident.
He didn't even move a single muscle when the sound of marching footsteps came from the entrance of the Cortex. Without even turning his head to address General Eiling who stepped out from his group of soldiers, "You want the secret to Firestorm." Wells turned around to meet his eyes, "He has it."
The general with emotionless smirk said, "See, Harrison? We do work well together." Neither of the former associates replied while Eiling's men marched over to the unconscious scientist and dragged him out by his arms.
Harrison watched them do so, but he didn't do anything other than cross his arms over his chest while smirking, feeling like he has the general, right where he wanted him. Running around his palm.
X
After the events that he orchestrated with Eiling's help, the founder called the others to the facility. Everyone had gathered. Seth, Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, Olivia, Matt, Frankie and Bette. The explosive metahuman came with them as this involved the army that she served alongside with.
"He didn't hurt you?" Barry asked the founder urgently and worriedly.
Wells shook his head, "Barry, I told you…only my pride is hurt. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to take on armed soldiers."
Hearing that, Seth shot his eyes to the nanite mutant and ordered him up thrusted arms, "That's it! Matt tomorrow you're gonna weaponize this entire facility! And I'm not gonna be happy with just rocket launchers, you are gonna place laser cannons at each entrance and exit."
"I was thinking of putting an Iron Legionnaire in each wall panel, but if you want to keep it simple, then you're gonna get simple." Matt said back, feeling like his intelligence was mocked right now.
Frankie turned to her uncle and asked him. "That's simple for you, Uncle?"
"He's got a weird sense of what's simple and what's overkill." Olivia told her niece. "And when I saw overkill, it usually involves bombs that releases more and smaller bombs that are very explosive, in small and closed areas."
Matt looked down as he heard his girlfriend say that, and she saw it and squeezed his hand comfortingly.
Caitlin, worried for the professor, asked out loud, "Where do you think Eiling took Professor Stein?"
"I imagine some off-the-books military research facility." Harrison stated.
Seth, seeing similarities with his and Olivia's and Matt's past, said, "That sounds about right. In cases of these, the most likely and best place to hold a powered individual like him is somewhere the public eye doesn't know about."
"Yeah, they won't take kindly to hear that a respected general of the army is hurting and experimenting on innocent American citizens." Matt said while clenching his hands in anger.
"I wouldn't exactly call Stein for an innocent, babe." Olivia told him, he nodded in agreement.
When she heard Matt's words, Bette tightened her clenched hands tightly. She could feel the memories come back, her time with the army, the very same one that after her coma began cutting her open and cutting into her. Just treating her like she wasn't even a human, and dissecting her like a frog without any mercy like she just up for a sick treatment.
Cisco saw her struggle on her face and walked over to her, and placed a hand on her back and rubbed it. "Hey, are you okay?"
Olivia, Matt and Seth heard the two talking and began listening in out of worry for the metahuman.
Bette didn't respond for a few moments, but when she did, she said. "I don't know. I just don't like it."
"You don't have to like it, not after everything Eiling put you through back then. And don't worry, you're never going to get hurt again, especially by him. Everyone here is gonna make sure that does not happen, me included." Cisco continued with a determined face that surprised Bette greatly.
When the three mutants heard the mechanical engineer speak so confidently and assuring to the red-haired woman, they couldn't help but smile at their closeness.
Seth stepped forward to them and added his own thoughts, assuring them both. "Bette, you don't have to worry. Once we find out where the place it, we'll go over there with Barry, you don't have to put yourself in danger like that."
"But I do." She said adamant to them both. "Like you, Olivia and Matt did with yours, I need to face my demons and fight them. I can't keep running from them. It's time for me to face them and show them that there's consequences to every action." She continued.
Seth shared a look with Matt and a nod came from the nanite mutant before he walked over to Caitlin's private lab.
Barry didn't like the situation now, feeling that this was his fault and told the group in determination. "We have to get him back."
Harrison was however not sure about that decision, "Easy…Eiling has already demonstrated he has the weaponry disable The Flash and The Venom, or worse. Granted, Mr. Rogers were able to shake off the weapon used on him thanks to his experience and his powers. So yes, it might be better and strategic to involve more warriors." He shifted his gaze between the other powered beings aside from Barry.
"Well, we can't let him turn Stein into a weapon." Caitlin said.
"Wonder what an old man like could be used to?" Frankie asked out loud. The others in the room giving the young metahuman worried looks, and they knew that this was the elemental's influence without a doubt. And now they wondered if she'd turn out to be a miniature version of Seth with time.
Ronnie chose to get them back on track. "How do we find him?" they looked to the structural engineer. The mutant siblings sharing a meaningful conversation of what had to be done. Even though Olivia did not like the idea in the slightest as it involved helping Ronnie. "What?" the man in question asked nervously, as the looks on him intensified.
Lashing a hand out to the other lab and pointing a finger in the direction, Seth instructed, "Get in there." After a short gulp of fear, Ronnie walked into the room and once he had been told of what they had in mind. The others followed them and Caitlin moved in with the elemental and began hooking patches onto his head while putting on the headgear.
The computer screen beside them showed the results of his brain activity and the status of his vitals as well. Caitlin remarked, "No abnormal Brain activity. All vitals steady."
"You really think Ronnie can somehow feel where they're keeping Stein?" The speedster wondered.
Cisco then explained, "Ronnie got dizzy when the soldiers grabbed Stein, and Stein developed Ronnie's obsession with pizza."
"I don't feel anything right now." Ronnie told them all.
"Just keep trying." Caitlin tried soothing him with encouraging words.
However, Ronnie didn't take heed of them, "Whatever this is, it doesn't have an on and off switch."
Harrison then brought up, "It's possible it's just some kind of residual connection. A temporary link to your time together."
"Wrong." Olivia said as she stepped closer to the partial metahuman, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "It's not temporary. It's something else. Something stronger. I can feel it…" She trailed off when she saw Ronnie's body beginning to act up and he looked around as though he was feeling something else on his body and looked for the source. "You feel something, don't you?"
"I do." His voice began shivering as did the rest of his body. "I'm…I'm cold."
"Thought so." Olivia said again with her eyes narrowed. "You feel anything else? Like something is… keeping you restraint? Something foreign touching against your skin? A cold surface maybe? Like metal? Touching against your wrists? And you're looking around for the source but getting nowhere? Am I right?"
Ronnie nodded again, this time terrified as he heard her voice, calm but terrifying with a spine-chilling calmness. "Yeah…"
Seth directed at his sister. "Liv? Do you think you can tap into their psychic connection somehow? Your powers allow you to do that, right?"
"They do, yeah." Liv started. "But the problem is that neither of them are humans or mutants, the kind that I have experience with. Him and Stein, they're metahumans. Their bodies are filled with dark-matter and whatever the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. matrix was filled with. It's gonna be hard, but…I think the most I can do is…maybe project some thoughts to Stein."
"How can Aunt Liv do that?" Frankie asked her father curiously.
Seth looked and explained, the others listening in as well. "Liv has advanced telepathic powers, her powers are focused on the mind instead. And if she focuses enough and limits her movement, she can project thoughts from a distance to someone else."
"But what if Stein's far away? Then it's gonna be harder, right?"
"Not exactly, sweetie." Olivia spoke this time. "If there's a psychic connection, then they're like very thin lines of telepathic energy lines, kind of like a one person can call another person via their phones. And if I focus enough, I can see those lines and I can tap into them. Normally, I'd be able to do a lot more, like take control of their minds and their bodies, but since they're metahumans I can only send them thoughts."
Smiling happily, Frankie stated excitedly, "So… my family is full of bad-asses?"
"Yup." Seth said before kissing the top of her head again. "Liv. If you think you can do it, then we won't stop you. I know you don't like Stein, but still."
"In S.H.I.E.L.D., the three of us saved a lot of people. Some of them thought to be nothing but trouble." Olivia began. "But we saved them still, because they had information that could help innocents. We do whatever it takes to save innocents." Looking to her brother, blue eyes met blue eyes both of them with determination. "Stein's an innocent, even though he also tried to burn through my shield and barbeque me. He's an innocent. And he's not going through what we went through, Bro. We're gonna make sure of that. Metahuman, mutant, even human, young and old, no one deserves that kind of torture. That's why we joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to make sure that no one else goes through that hell."
Matt then continued, "And use what they wanted as weapons of destruction, our powers that they enhanced through nothing but inhuman experiments, to use to protect innocents. And overcome ourselves, surpass our limits and counter weaknesses."
Seth then concluded, "To be the shield." They nodded, the natives were surprised to hear the agents to talk so determinedly, these words were the very wills of all three mutants who had been through hell and came out the other side, scarred for life. Until they took up the mantles of heroes and fought for the innocents. There was never one protector in their group… they were all three protectors.
Making eye contact with his little sister again, he nodded again "Do it."
Nodding her head as a response, Olivia stepped over to the structural engineer and raised a hand up.
Ronnie flinched away out of fear but his body was placed back in the middle of the gurney again with her pink energy keeping him from moving. "What are y-you doing?"
"Metahumans are still an unknown territory for me, so I'm gonna do everything right to be safe, by the book. And that means touching you, it's strengthens the connection and gives me a grounding unit to go back to if things go sideways. And in case of something happening to either of you, the other one won't feel while I'm grounded to you." She placed her hand on top of his head. "Don't do anything. And don't squirm around, okay? It's hard enough since you're a metahuman, worse if you start moving around like a brat throwing a tantrum."
Ronnie nodded and let the psychic continue.
The entire room was able to hear her breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply while she concentrated. Her eyes closed…but that was only for a moment… and they shot open again… this time flooding with her unique pink psychic energy.
Her psychic following the line of their psychic connection between Stein and Ronnie.
X
SCREAM
Professor Martin Stein's scream filled the entire underground bunker as he felt the cattle prod placed on his chest, unleashing violent amounts of electricity coursing his body. After his capture by the army, he was brought into an underground bunker and chained up to a chair. And after a speech from the good general, his screams echoed the room as the next moment a cattle prod began shocking his body.
All the while General Wade Eiling was watching him with eyes devoid of any emotions. Using a gesture of his hand, he told his men to stop shocking the professor. When the jolt ended, Stein's body was left in a mess and began panting and shivering because of pain.
Leaning down slightly, he looked at professor and stepped closer to him. "My, my, my, my, my, my. You show remarkable grit for a teacher." The nuclear scientist didn't respond. "I am impressed. Why don't we let you catch your breath? Think about how much more of this you want to endure. Hmm?"
Without waiting for a response, the general walked away and ordered his men to follow.
When he was left alone, Martin was able to collect his thoughts.
"…Stein…"
He heard the sound of a blurry voice, one that sounded familiar. He looked around for the voice. Making sure that he was alone, he asked out in a whisper, "Who are you?"
"…Good, you can hear me…" he heard the thoughts enter his mind again. "…It's me, Olivia…Seth's sister…the one you tried to burn…"
"Once again, I apologize for that." He said quickly and worriedly.
"…Save that for later, jackass…Right, it's about time getting you out of there…Right now, I can only send out thoughts to you, because you're a metahuman…now is there anything that you can tell me… anything you can see that can help us find you…anything at all…I can only hear you and project thoughts to your mind, for communication…so you're gonna have to do some work yourself…"
Peering his head around, he looked around for anything that's could be relayed to the female mutant. But neither the sights on his front and his were with anything that could help her. Turning his head to the right he found a plate which had the words spelled out, "…Military Research Facility #27…"
"Military Research Facility #27." Martin relayed back to her.
"…Okay, thanks….I'm gonna disconnect now…hang tight, Stein…we're coming…"
What Stein didn't know was that Olivia was only able to hear the number of the sentence and nothing more...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone