“I told you! I’m not going to run off looking for him and just leave Iris unprotected! Maria can go right, she can deal with him!” Barry said angrily, pacing around STAR labs. He was speaking to Wells, who sat there looking infuriatingly calm. Caitlin was hiding from the situation by swiping her fingers across one of her tablets. Cisco was sitting with his legs propped up, glancing between Barry and Harrison pursing his lips somewhat.
“Barry, you’ve dealt with this guy before, you scared him into hiding for two months –it shouldn’t take long. And we both know Maria’s gifts aren’t always… consistent, yet.” Wells chose his words carefully as he steepled his hands together. It was true, they tried to get Maria to lift up a car the other day, and she had managed –but only after she had gotten pissed and all surrounding light bulbs exploded.
“But what about Iris?” Barry insisted, running a hand through his hair. Cisco gave a little cough as he played with the pen in his hand. Casually he put the pen down and leaned back in his chair and in a light tone said,
“Yeah, too bad we don’t have an extra badass who essentially functions as another metahuman with untapped potential that Iris knows and that we can trust…” He trailed off, eyes and head moving dramatically towards the direction of the door Maria had just exited through a few minutes before the argument started. Caitlin rolled her eyes slightly at his antics but Wells gave a little smile.
“Didn’t you just say she wasn’t consistent?” Barry pointed out to Wells, even though he had that sinking feeling that told him he wasn’t going to win the argument. The smile on Harrison’s face widened as he tilted his head up to look Barry in the eye.
“Experimentation shows that Maria’s abilities are solidified by emotional drive. La Diabla will fight to the end of time, if there’s something worth fighting for.” The eloquence that the leading STAR scientist spoke with seemed to put an end to discussion. Barry was the first to turn his gaze away then, not about to argue. At the time none of them knew how prophetic Harrison’s words were.
“And here comes Iris’s new body guard now!” Cisco said in a mock-anouncers voice, holding out his arms as Maria re-entered the room, still in the middle of hanging up her phone call. She stared first at Cisco and then at Barry and Wells, before turning to Caitlin for clarification. The other woman just gave a small nod and smile, which Maria didn’t exactly find reassuring.
Her eyes traveled back to Barry’s face and she could see the dent between his eyebrows, the slight tick in his jaw that only happened when he was truly upset. Immediately the need to make her friend feel better rose up in the Latina as she managed to smile,
“I’ll take her out for coffee and shoe-shopping –or to the gym, whatever she likes. She’ll have fun, and be safe.” Maria spoke quickly walking towards Barry to force him to meet her gaze. Once she had it, she spoke again,
“I won’t let anything happen to her, I promise.” Her tone was serious, and the concern in her eyes was genuine. After holding her gaze for a moment, Barry nodded. He zipped away into his costume, before reappearing in front of the three of them.
“I’ll drop you off at her place.” Barry said through his mask, barely giving Maria a chance to put her phone into her pocket before grabbing her by the waist and zipping to Iris’s home. He stopped outside the front door of Iris’ home, letting go of Maria to instead put his hand on her shoulder.
