Tiger Stripes and Lightening Strikes

31: The Final Chimera

- Bar thinks maybe smythe had reason after Seb chi

Despite the relative silence of the cortex, Barry could feel a warm buzz coursing through his veins. The lights were dimmed, as they always were at night. He was seated around the main desk with Henry. Caitlin was bustling away in her lab, the occasional clinking of glass accompanying the low hum of machinery. Harry was with her, the low rumble of their voices carrying out of the lab. Joe was absentmindedly flicking through a case file. Henry's glasses reflected the glare of the computer screen as he scrolled through the news feed from the last year. "So," Barry swivelled the chair to face his father, who peered back at him from over the rim of his glasses. "You've successfully managed to avoid Sebastian all night."

Henry gave a tiny shrug. "I think it would be quite a shock to discover a dead man walking."

"You know what I think," Barry smiled and Henry lifted a wiry brow. "You should take your own advice. You'll have to face him sometime."

Henry nodded slowly, sitting back into the seat. "To tell you the truth Bar, I think he already knows." Barry peered at man like he'd grown a third head. "I visited him at work a week ago. I didn't say who I was, but I saw it in his eyes. He knew who I was."

"I suppose that will make telling him the truth significantly easier," Barry snorted.

Barry was smiled gently, his eyes flicking to a nearby door. A door behind which he'd left his brother to wait for results. Of all the things they had happened that night, finding out the identity of the chimeras, learning they were being used like puppets and even discovering that Sebastian knew his identity, having his brother putting trust in him was the thing that had startled him the most. Not even in his wildest dreams had he ever thought that they'd have a genial conversation again after the way Sebastian had chewed him out. Yet, here he was in S.T.A.R. Labs, cooperating with the team. Sure, their conversation had soured towards the end, but now Barry knew for sure; Sebastian was lying when he claimed he didn't want anything to do with his brother.

"If you smile any wider Bar, you'll split your face," Joe remarked from the opposite side of the desk.

"My conversation with Sebastian went a lot better than I thought," Barry admitted with a shrug.

Henry lifted warm eyes to stare at his eldest son. "You did well, slugger," he praised him. Further warmth blossomed in Barry's chest.

"Although, I think we also uncovered a new issue entirely," Joe mumbled. Both Allen's turned to peer up at him quizzically. "Sebastian is trying to justify what his father did." Just like that, Barry's joy was pulled out from under him, a bitter rage stuffing itself down his throat. His hands curled into fists. "I mean, it's irrefutable what Smythe did, you've both seen the video evidence." There was a darkness in Henry's expression that Barry had never seen before. The kind of fury that could make a person black out.

"It'll be slow progress, getting him to see our side of the argument," Henry sucked in a deep breath through his nose. "Especially if it was not an isolated event, which the erased medical history seems to imply."

The conversation was interrupted by the clicking of Caitlin's heels in the laminate flooring, accompanied by the equally sour faced Harry. Barry slapped on a smile for her, one that was instantly dropped the moment he caught sight of the grave look on her face. "Bad news?" Barry arched a brow, and she nodded glumly.

"I found three sets of DNA in your brother," she began explaining. "His, MRR -metahuman restorative and remodelling DNA -, and that of a Siberian tiger." She flashed them a sympathetic smile. "He's a chimera."

Barry stilled, his jaw slackening. Sebastian was Stripes? "But... he said he doesn't heal like the others do?" Barry argued.

"Yes and no," Caitlin leaned her hip on the desk, passing him a paper file of her findings. "The concentration of MMR cells, the ones which reconstruct the chimeras into the chimera forms, are significantly lower than the likes of Henry, but the wound on his shoulder is showing signs of rapid healing. It'll be gone in another day or two."