driftfleet | ( 001 ) video & text

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( 001 ) video & text

Who: Caitlin Snow + YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Hospitality Deck
When: Now!

VIDEO

[ The video starts suddenly, with Caitlin sitting straight up, eyes open and wide with fear.

More than what's warranted with waking up in a strange place.

Her head bows, her eyes going directly to her wrists. It seems she's checking both of them, rubbing absently at them, as if she expected to find something. (Shackles or handcuffs, that's what she's looking for.) If she's reassured there's nothing there, she certainly doesn't look it. When she looks back up, her gaze sweeping around the room, she's trying to place where she is, what's happened. This isn't Barry's lab at CCPD, it isn't STAR Labs, and it definitely isn't Zoom's lair.

It's a few minutes before she looks right into the camera, her head tilting with curiosity. ] Hello?

[ Then the feed cuts out. ]

TEXT

[ The text follows about ten minutes later. ]

This is going to sound odd, but: whoever or whatever brought me here, thank you. I need to get back to Central City, though.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ At the mention of Cisco talking about her, there's something of a smile. ]

Different points in the timeline. [ It's the first thing she's said that has any focus behind it. Something familiar for her to hold on to. ] I still don't understand how you met Barry. We closed all the breaches, and those only led to Earth-2, so —

[ Lightbulb moment. ] The tachyon enhancer. I knew I saw a blip in his readings, but I thought maybe it was just that he was moving faster than he ever has. Like when he was first struck by lightning and the hospital's EKG could only register him as a flatline.

[ She pauses for a breath. ] I-I think I should talk to Cisco first before I talk about Central City. There's ... things that would best come from me.

Switching this over to private, just in case you don't want all this Barry talk all over the network.

But if that was the metal contraption thingy on his chest? Yeah. He got marooned in National City on a different Earth—my Earth—and we managed to get him back. Complete fluke.

And I respect talking to Cisco first 100%. Maybe even 1000%. But as soon as you get assigned to a ship, we have to meet in person. The boys are great, but I need another girl who understands the Lifestyle.

[ She gives a quick nod, both as confirmation that she'd rather not have it (and her nearly crying) over the network and as a thanks. ]

Not too many people you can talk to in National City? Or, female people, that is. I know what that feels like. For about a year, I was the only woman who knew Barry's secret. Well, Felicity knew, but she's halfway across the country which doesn't make it easy to commiserate. And she has her hands full with the Green Arrow. Anyway, I have Iris now, who is Barry's best friend from when they were kids.

[ She pauses, taking a moment to consider what Kara's said about Barry moving between worlds. ] That makes so much sense, why he asked how long he'd been gone. He didn't mean how long it took him from Keystone, he meant —

[ She blinks a few times. ] Sorry. How long was he in National City with you?

Less than a full day; more like a few hours.

And at home I have my sister, Alex, who's a bio-engineer. Which I hear is something you are, too! And Lucy's in on things, too. But it's more like here... not everyone here is from a superhero team so it can be hard to explain things.

I'm an alien, by the way.

An alien. [ She laughs softly. ] I'm sure Cisco has already asked all the major questions.

And that does make it difficult, which is odd, considering I would have been part of that subset just a few years back. The only hero, and I would have used that term loosely back then, was the Arrow.

Your sister is also an alien?

Quite a few of them.

My sister is all human, as far as I know. I came to Earth when I was 13, and her family adopted me. It's a long story, believe me.

I actually haven't heard that much about the Arrow.

... is it too late to apologize for him? [ Because she's his best friend and sometimes that translates into "keeper." ]

One I wouldn't mind hearing sometime. If you're up for telling it.

He's the Green Arrow now. Oliver Queen, former rich playboy who was marooned on an island in the South China Sea for five years.

Oh, don't worry about Cisco. Like I said, Winn is basically his brother-from-another-universe and also my best friend. I'm very familiar with his whole thing.

And definitely. I just don't want to overwhelm you right now. But when we get together you'll get the whole story, promise.

Does Green Arrow have powers? Did he get them from the island?

He probably likes Winn a whole lot more than he likes his actual brother.

We will swap stories then. [ She starts to say she'll share some about Barry, too, and then she remembers. And it hurts. ]

No, no powers. He's just ... very muscular and good with a bow and arrow.

...Unsurprisingly, I haven't heard that he has a brother. So I'm going to say that's a strong possibility.

And bow and arrow is good enough to be a hero in Star City? Wow.

He and Dante, I — [ Caitlin sighs and shakes her head. ] I guess I can't say I really understand it. I don't have any siblings.

He is an amazing shot. There's also the fact that he's a superb fighter. And they don't really have metahumans there.

Families are always complicated, blood or not.

And I still think that's kind of a weak premise, but what do I know.

Oh! Maybe you can shed light on something for me, though.

[ she switches gears. Caitlin looked so bothered on her first video, and she's made some comments... anyway, Kara figures other people will fill her in. She just wants Caitlin to feel welcomed ]

I know complicated. Blood and not. [ Her mother, for one. And she would have considered Dr. Wells family, too. ]

It might be, but he keeps Star City safe.

[ When Kara asks her to shed light on something, she tips her head to one side, curious. ]

Sure. How can I help?

[ she settles in, ticking off her fingers ]

Okay, so Cisco and Winn are basically twins. You and Alex are both like seriously genius bio-engineers. Naturally, Barry and I fill the same role as the "where would we be without an amazing support team" heroes.

But we kind of can't figure out some other parallel roles. Maybe there aren't any? But my friend James—Winn doesn't describe him well because they're kind of competitive—He's a news photographer and art director who also happens to be a member of my team. It's hard to explain his role? But his investigative instincts have gotten us a break more than once.

Also. I kind of really like him, but he just broke up with his longterm girlfriend and I do not want to be a rebound.

Maybe that's too specific. It's just a fun game, anyway, the "match up the Earth folks" game.

[ Well, this is definitely a good way to distract her from the Barry stuff and the Zoom stuff. She purses her lips in thought. It doesn't take too much thinking, given certain elements of the description. ]

Sounds like he'd match up with Iris? She's a journalist, a part of Team Flash, too. She lost her fiance about a year ago, but she's trying to move on with Barry. Or I think she is. She wants to, anyway. And Barry, he's been in love with her for a long time.

Huh. Okay, that really weirdly matches up.

Really? That's so cool! Maybe there's more to this than I thought. Or maybe there's just an organic "formula" for "best teams ever".

There could be. Of course, that means you'd have an analogue on your side for Joe. [ And hopefully, not any for "Dr. Wells" or Jay. Barry was the first visitor from another Earth she met, so Caitlin will just assume there's no Harry in her world. ] That's Barry's adoptive father. A very dedicated police detective. The first person outside of Cisco and me to find out about Barry's powers.

Hank, maybe? He's Alex's boss at the DEO—thats the government agency that deals with alien stuff—so he's a special ops guy? He's not Alex's or my dad, but he did promise her dad that he'd look after us. He and Alex are actually kind of on the run the last I remember...

That's ... pretty close, actually. Joe took Barry in after his mom died and his dad went to prison for it. Not that Dr. Allen actually did it, but the world wasn't ready to hear the truth or understand it. Probably still isn't.

Why are your sister and Hank on the run?

Hank's also an alien. A Martian, actually? From Mars? Yeah. Weird, I know, and that's coming from a Kryptonian.

Anyway. He had kind of... assumed... an identity—he can shapeshift—and the government doesn't actually respond well to literal identity theft, no matter how much of a dick the last guy was.

Well, when we think of "alien life" in our time, we typically envision it outside our solar system, not... you know. Next door. Not with what we know about Mars.

He's a shapeshifter? We had a metahuman that could do that. Though the meta himself was a jerk, not so much the people he impersonated. [ She's not going to mention that said meta took on Barry's appearance and kissed her. ] How did the government find out?

It was my fault. He revealed himself…

Well, it was just an all around bad day.

Edited 2016-06-02 22:14 (UTC)

Kara, if he's anything at all like Joe, then I doubt he blames you. More importantly, he wouldn't want you blaming you.

We all have bad days.

It would be nice if knowing that made it real, wouldn't it?

Anyway.

Any guesses about my powers?

I understand.

[ She blames herself for Ronnie's death, even though she knows he wouldn't want her to. ]

Hmm. Not shapeshifting, otherwise you might have not mentioned it if you wanted me to guess. And powers, plural, so you have more than one. Superspeed, maybe?

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