"It still feels numb," Barry hissed as Caitlin as she checked over his frozen flesh. Barry had just gotten back from a fight with Leonard Snart, also known as Captain Cold.
"It's presenting itself like third-degree frostbite," Caitlin informed.
"I thought he had hyper healing." Felicity
"It's been slowed. If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate that they are, your blood vessels would have frozen solid and the nerve damage would have been permanent. You're lucky to be alive."
"Wait a minute," Zander spoke up. "You're that Streak guy?" He pointed at Barry.
"Um, yeah." Barry nodded, not liking that his secret identity was now revealed to more people.
"Streak guy?" Michael questioned, his eyebrows furrowed.
"You know, the super-fast blur-slash-streak that's been running around the city, saving people?" Dani asked her father.
"Never heard of him." Micheal shrugged. "So, you're a meta like Dani?" He turned to Barry.
"I am," Barry confirmed. "Speaking of which, Snart wasn't another meta-human. He has some kind of gun. It froze things, slowed me down... enough that I wasn't in time to save someone."
Dani shot Barry a sympathetic look while Zander and Michael sent her questioning ones. "He fights evil metas." She whispered to them. Both men nodded in understanding.
"According to his records, Snart didn't even finish high school, so how did he build a high tech snow machine?" Felicity asked after reading up on Leonard Snart's history.
"S.T.A.R. Labs built the cold gun." Dr. Wells spoke up.
"Dr. Wells and Caitlin had nothing to do with this." Cisco stepped forward, ready to admit his mistake. "I built the gun."
Barry stared at Cisco with anger, surprise, and confusion. "You did? Why?"
"Because speed and cold are opposites. Temperature is measured by how quickly the atoms are oscillating. The faster they are, the hotter it is, and when things are cold, they're slower on the atomic level. When there's no movement at all, it's called--"
"Absolute zero." Barry finished for Cisco.
"Yeah." Cisco nodded. "I designed a compact cryo engine to achieve absolute zero. I built it to stop you."
Dani's eyes widened at Cisco's confession. He had seemed so nice so... harmless when she had first met him. Yet here he was, telling everybody about a weapon that he built that could kill Barry Allen.
"I-I didn't know who you were then, Barry. I mean, what if you turned out to be some psycho, like Mardon or Nimbus?" Cisco went on.
"But I didn't. Did I?" Barry shouted.
Caitlin stepped forward. "We built the entire structure you're standing in to do good, and it blew up. In the wake of that, you can understand why Cisco would want to be prepared for the worst."
"I can understand that, but what I can't understand is why you didn't tell me what you did. I mean, after all we've been through, I thought you trusted me. I thought we were friends." Barry argued.
"We are, Barry." Cisco insisted.
"I mean, if you would have just told me, I could have been prepared. But instead, someone died tonight."
"And I have to live with that."
"No, Cisco. We all do." Barry left the cortex, needing a chance to cool off.
"Come on." Michael tried to usher his kids out the same exit.
"What, why?" Dani furrowed her eyebrows.
"I don't trust these people," Michael whispered. "We need to leave."
"Dad, Caitlin still needs to run tests on Dani." Zander protested.
"She can have it done somewhere else," Michael stated.
Dani took a step back. "No. Dad, I trust these people and yeah Cisco made a mistake but that's just part of being human. He didn't have evil intentions and he feels guilty."
"I'm not letting you risk your life over this." Michael's voice slowly rose.
"I don't have a life, Dad!" Dani shouted. "I'm already dead. Nothing else can happen to me."
Michael gave his daughter a sad look, giving in to her kicked puppy expression. "Fine." He turned to Zander. "Keep an eye on her."
"Always." Zander nodded, turning to Caitlin once his father left. "So... you had tests to run?"
* * *
An hour later, Caitlin stood in front of the Rhodes siblings, giving them her theory on what happened to Dani.
"Based on what you told me and what the test results say, I think that you just started using your powers too soon," Caitlin said simply.
Dani gave her a skeptical look. "Are you sure? I mean, what does that even mean?"
"As I mentioned to you earlier, the vast majority of the energy in your system was concentrated around your stab wound. Now, we know for sure that it was healing it. So, when you first woke up after you died, the energy was kick-starting your system and you using your powers when the energy you needed was being used to heal your wound, the energy levels fluxed, causing you to start to die again and cause you unbearable pain." Caitlin explained.
Dani just slowly nodded, trying to understand the information as best she could along with her brother.
"That's..."
"Fascinating." Dr. Wells finished for Zander. The Rhodes siblings turned to him with confused looks.
"Your powers are quite extraordinary, Miss Rhodes." Dr. Wells added after seeing the expression on Dani and Zander's faces. "I would love to run a few tests of my own."
Dani glanced at her brother before quickly shaking her head. "Sorry, but I'm not really up for more tests."
"Well, it doesn't have to be right now. But maybe someday soon." Wells persisted.
"Uh, sure, maybe." Dani faked a smile.
Just then, Felicity reentered the cortex. "I just finished talking to Barry. It might take some time but I think he'll come around."
"Thank you, Felicity." Caitlin smiled.
Dani stood up, walking towards the blonde. "Hey, Felicity, can talk to you for a second?"
Felicity gave her an unreadable look. "Sure." She replied with an edge in her voice.
Dani led the way into the hallway, going far enough so that her conversation with Felicity would be private.
"So, I talked to Cheyanne after you left the hospital." She turned to face Felicity once she stopped.
"Really? You get my sister hurt and you're still buddies?" Felicity tilted her head to the side.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dani scoffed.
"Cheyanne got shot because you played hero." Felicity accused. "I know first hand what dangers come with being friends with a hero and I don't want my sister apart of that."
"Oh, so now you care about her well being." Dani crossed her arms, glaring at the blonde in front of her.
"I've always cared about her safety and well being." Felicity spat.
"Oh really? If that you true then you would have been there for her when she got blackmailed into dropping out of class." Dani snapped.
Felicity's cold stare softened. "What?"
"Of course you don't know." Dani rolled her eyes. "In college, Cheyanne was trying to get a double major. Computer sciences and mechanical engineering. But she butted heads with someone in one of her classes and they decided to force her out of their life. They created this scandal about her and refused to make it disappear unless Chey dropped her classes. I was out of the country for my study abroad program and the only other person she thought she could look to for comfort didn't even acknowledge her." Dani started to walk away when she thought of one last thing to add. "By the way, I told Cheyanne to stay in my office. She's the one that played hero by jumping in front of the bullet. Not me."
When Dani walked back into the cortex, Cisco was telling Barry his idea on how to find Captain Cold.
"... If I boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back, and then--"
"We can locate Snart." Dr. Wells finished for him.
Barry sighed. "How long will it take?"
"First I have to hack into the city's network, so I don't know, thirty minutes, maybe?"
"I can do it in less than one." Felicity's voice piped up from the cortex entryway. She quickly sat down in front of a computer. "When it comes to hacking, I'm the fastest woman alive." She tried cracking her knuckles for dramatic effect. "Ow! That was not as badass as I pictured." She muttered to herself. "All right. I'm in." She then stated after almost a minute of typing.
"Are you kidding?" Caitlin gawked.
"All right, I'm sending the updates. We're connected." Cisco said.
"Network is triangulating the location," Felicity informed.
"We got him. He's heading west on Nelson toward the train station." Caitlin added.
"If he's leaving, it appears Mr. Snart may have gotten what he came for." Dr. Wells assumed.
Barry sped into his suit. As Cisco spoke, "When we put our minds to it, dude, nothing can stop us."
Barry reached up to his ear, turning his comms off.
"Oh, you turned your earpiece off. How are we gonna talk to each other?" Cisco questioned and Dani furrowed her eyebrows as the scene.
"I don't feel like talking right now," Barry stated before running off.
"That was stupid," Dani muttered under her breath.
Everyone in the cortex watched the monitors nervously as Barry got closer to Snart.
"You should go after Barry," Felicity spoke up after a few minutes.
"You heard him, Felicity." Cisco almost groaned.
"He wants to do this alone," Caitlin added.
"Of course, he said that. He's hurt. You're his team and his friends. If I had a nickel for every time the Arrow told me to back off, I would be as rich as Oliver Queen, who I mention because he's the richest person I know or used to be. The point is, you have your partner's back no matter what because then it might cause a rift that could never be mended." Felicity ranted. She glanced at Dani at the end, silently letting her know that she understood her mistake.
"I have an idea," Zander spoke up. "And it involves using another meta." He focused his eyes on Dani.
All eyes snapped to Dani at Zander's suggestion, everyone understanding what he meant.
"What?" Dani gave her brother a look.
"Oh come on. You know you want to." Zander smiled at his little sister.
"No, I don't. What is with everybody thinking I'm some hero. I'm not. And I never will be, so just drop it." Dani stormed out of the room.
"Is someone gonna go talk to her or..." Cisco trailed off.
"I got it." Zander sighed. "I'm the one that pissed her off in the first place." He left the cortex, following Dani's path until he saw her waiting for the elevator.
"Go away," Dani told her brother.
"Why don't you want to go out there?" Zander questioned.
Dani sighed. "It's scary out there. I mean, earlier today I tried to stop a mugging and I died."
"Not permanently."
"It still hurt like hell when I woke up. I'm just not meant to be a hero."
Zander slowly nodded. "Did anyone ever tell you about how Mom was convinced to let you learn to fight?"
Dani furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought she was okay with it."
"Not at first she wasn't." Zander chuckled at the memory. "She used to think that us learning how to fight would turn us both into violent people. Mom and Dad used to argue back and forth about it until one day something changed her mind. That something was you."
"How?"
"You were in first grade and when Mom and Dad picked us up from school, you had this angry look on your face. You stomped over to the car with your arms crossed and a pout. When they asked what was wrong, you went into a very long, angry rant about how you saw someone get bullied. So Mom had a long conversation with you about how you should address the situation and help everyone talk it out. But, when we were picked up the next day, you had a black eye. You told Mom and Dad that you tried talking but the bully shoved you, so you shoved back, then he punched you. For the next week, all anyone heard from you was a lecture on why everyone should learn self-defense and Mom finally gave in."
Dani fiddled with her fingers as she stared down at her feet. "I don't remember that."
"Well, you were six." Zander chuckled. "But that little girl who wanted to protect people is still in there," he poked at his sister. "And I hope she makes a reappearance soon," Zander finished, leaving his Dani alone to think about his speech.
"How'd it go?" Caitlin asked the second Zander stepped into the cortex.
"We'll see." He shrugged, sitting down beside Dr. Wells.
"Okay, well, if the Dani plan doesn't work out, I have a backup," Cisco announced.
"Get started on it," Zander ordered. "Dani isn't too quick to change her mind."
"I am this time," Dani spoke from the doorway. All eyes landed on her, making her feel more nervous. "But I can't exactly go fight a bad guy like this." She gestured to her outfit while eyeing Cisco.
"Oh, yes!" He pumped his fist. "One sec." Cisco ran out of the room, coming back a couple of minutes later with a covered mannequin. He quickly ripped the tarp off. "Voila!" He shouted.
Dani's jaw dropped at the sight of her suit. "You're kidding." She smiled at Cisco.
"Get changed. You have a bad guy to fight." Cisco beamed at the giddy brunette.
A/N: So much happened. Everyone knows Dani's secret (and Barry's for that matter), the reason behind the tension between Cheyanne and Felicity was revealed, and Dani is finally becoming a hero!!!
Next chapter I'm going to add a picture of what her suit looks like instead of a gif. I'm so excited!
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