x
Bette's body convulsed aggressively inside the testing chamber as the temporary shock waves passed through her body making it jump wildly.
Dr. Wells and Caitlin felt it was best to try this method as a means to shock drain the particle cells from her body; but from the looks of it, Bette was taking all of the shots the voltage power can shock. Something was not quite reading right according to her cellular structure. They didn't extract at all. Harrison Wells stood his ground and kept at it, much to the dismay of Barry and Cisco, even Caitlin who was running on anxious.
Barry stood firmly with eyes glued to the monitor and shifting on Bette. Something about this whole thing was unsettling. It looked like her entire body was being struck by a surging power that she was forced to fight through and the antibodies inside her system weren't reacting properly. Barry worried about this girl.
And truthfully, he didn't know why it went beyond saving her life. She was just like him, a meta-human. Incapable of realizing who they are and what their limits can draw out. Barry was using his abilities, more of harnessing them as a means to defend people. Bette's situation was not in the slightest bit the same. She had no choice, she had to do this. If it was Barry with the explosive touch, he'd want to do the same quickly before he hurt anyone else.
Barry bit his lip and narrowed his eyes while Caitlin and Dr. Wells tried another level of shocks. The heavy sigh from everyone proved Barry's suspicions might be correct.
Was any of this really helping her? Barry winced as Dr. Wells raised the power on the level crank, thrusting more volts forward. Bette's body shot up, even harder this time and Barry knew he had to say something.
"Wait!" Barry shouted and Wells stopped increasing the volts.
"Barry, this can't be interrupted. You know the experiment needs to complete or else-" Barry cut Wells off.
"Or what? She's dead? Dr. Wells, this treatment, I don't think it's doing its job to help her at all. I think there needs to be another way."
Wells leaned down in an almost alarmingly menacing way, "Barry, you brought her back and put her into our hands. You need to stay out of the way where you aren't concerned. She will not die from this treatment. I'm afraid there is no other way to reverse her alteration. Stand aside."
Barry moved over to where Cisco was sitting with the main controls. Barry stood near him with determined but worried eyes. The trepidation he felt was powerful. Cisco almost relented but spoke when he received a look from Dr. Wells.
"Sorry, I...you know I want to stop but Dr. Wells said to finish the process. What if it does work?" Cisco said, semi hopeful.
Barry wasn't buying it. Cisco was just taking orders.
"Cisco, does it look like it's working? Come on!" Barry exclaimed, turning to Caitlin for support but she was just as on the fence.
"Barry, you need to-" Dr. Wells spoke over Caitlin who bit her tongue.
"Enough discussion; Cisco, check the status, make sure to check if her heart is still beating at a healthy pace. Then we will try again, this time to finish the process without interruptions."
Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Bette's body was not capable of sustaining composure for another round of shocks and the power alone was beyond anything a human can handle. Even for a meta-human standards. Barry knew pain when he saw it.
"You need to stop this treatment, stop it now. Bette's heart should not need to be checked each time this is being done. What kind of advanced experiment is this that you have to check her vitals for a healthy status?"
"I didn't say there weren't going to be risks. Now, you don't have to watch. Like I said, step aside."
Barry vehemently shook his head. "No, this is wrong. She isn't responding to anything you're doing. You need to find another way. It looks like torture because it is. This is not right."
Caitlin looked at Barry and instantly felt remorse. She made eye contact with Cisco who also looked into the direction she was.
Suddenly, the machine stopped functioning. But it wasn't just the machine. The Lab's power was completely off, leaving a blackout to cover the room. Nobody could see a thing. All that could be heard was Bette's inaudible yelping from the testing slab in front.
Barry used this as his opportunity to speed into the room wearing gloves, he couldn't see so he felt for Bette's body, he found it within seconds.
"Are you alright? Bette?" Barry asked, raising his voice. "Bette? Come on, please." His gloved fingers touched her face.
The crew behind the glass were scrambling to turn on the power while Barry tried to think of a way to stop this when they do turn the lights back on. Wells' face looked hard and mad, he didn't look like someone who could be reasoned with during an experiment.
"Barry..." He heard near him as Bette groaned slowly opening her eyes to darkness.
"What's going on?" She said, moaning most of the words out.
She felt the back of her head, a shooting pain was evident along her back trailing upward along spinal cord. "My head-hmm, hurts."
"I know, we need to stop this, Dr. Wells was testing to see if your cells reacted, but it didn't and your heart was beating dangerously low."
Bette felt in the air for something, felt like a face, her hands were gloved and she was grateful. Two fresh tears slid down the sides of her cheeks, her throat was getting dry. Whatever they were doing to her, she seemed to be growing nauseated from it.
"Can you make it stop?" Bette begged, weakly touching Barry's high cheekbones. "I don't know if I take this much longer."
As a soldier Bette was meant to withstand large amounts of endurance testing for her threshold of pain, this was taking it to an extreme level. She wasn't used to this type of damage on her body and she was worried the doctor wasn't going to stop, perhaps she believed it was the opposite.
The power turned back on and the team hurriedly moved back to the stations. Dr. Wells gave Barry another hard glare and gestured for him to walk out of the chamber.
"No, Dr. Wells, she isn't responding to this. Can't you see? Look..." Barry said, trailing off, trying to think of anything to convince him to stop.
Cisco cleared his throat, breaking the tension. "Sorry guys, interrupting because I'm getting a strange reading from her status." They all looked at him confused.
Caitlin continued, "Bette's status he means. It's inconclusive. Her heart rate kept decreasing making it difficult for oxygen to pump throughout her body almost to suffocation. Her body isn't strong enough for this process. Barry's right, there should be another less painful way of handling this."
Caitlin shared information with Cisco and Dr. Wells looked between them, then over to Barry who held an exasperated expression. Dr. Wells rolled his wheel chair to oversee the information Cisco and Caitlin were reviewing.
After a few, long several moments Dr. Wells cleared his throat.
"Hold her in overnight." Dr. Wells began, "Let's sleep on this and continue to pursue a more functional method tomorrow. Barry, you can go home."
Barry breathed a sigh of relief as the team went on packing up to leave. Dr. Wells kept eying Barry before he left the room. Barry found this behavior unnecessarily odd. He didn't think, again, that Dr. Wells would believe him enough to stop something so important, but he was glad there was some proof to support it. I owe Cisco later.
Who knows how much pain Bette was feeling? From the looks of her face and nearly frail body he didn't want to know. He just wanted her out of there.
He helped Bette remove all the suction measures from her face and stand up since she couldn't do it on her own. She looked at him still a little dazed but was slowly regaining back her senses. She checked to make sure her hands were covered in gloves, letting her paranoia drop when they were.
Barry carried her to the back room that held a long, but thin bedroom cot against the wall. The room was freezing and it looked like there weren't enough blankets. He only saw a burlap cover that was something that might have been used for other means. He felt a chill and watched Bette's face as she mirrored his emotion.
Barry had to speak up.
"I don't think you should stay here. I know Dr. Wells said to keep you in but I think you're gonna freeze in this room."
Bette realized the awkward silence and filled it instantly. "It's OK, I'll be OK. I've slept in worse situations."
Barry didn't want to accept that answer and he also had no intention of defying Dr. Wells. He still couldn't help but care.
"Are you sure?"
There was a knock behind them and they turned around to see Caitlin dressed in her trench coat, ready to leave.
"Sorry, um, Dr. Wells wanted me to tell you Barry that Bette can't leave the Lab. It's too risky with Eiling still alive and Dr. Wells couldn't gamble on Bette going back home." Caitlin said somberly.
It's fine, I don't have a home anyway. Bette almost grimaced but replied with, "I understand."
Caitlin nodded and turned the other way but not before sharing a look with Barry, passing him a small smile to which he returned.
As soon as Barry thought they were alone he felt helpless again. "Look, if there is anything I can do, please let me know right now because I definitely don't want you to feel like you have to suffer anymore. You know you don't deserve that."
Bette moved away from him. Uncertain of how to respond to his open generosity. She was wearing gloves but she almost took them off because she suddenly didn't want him to leave her alone. She couldn't make him stay.
Chin up soldier. She told herself. Don't complicate things anymore than they are.
"I'll be fine. I won't destroy anything or hurt anyone if I am here. Your team is right." Bette said almost above a whisper.
Barry kept waiting until she would say more. When she didn't, he nervously felt behind his neck and began putting some distance between them.
He didn't want to. He didn't know what it was but he wanted to stay. At least until she...
"What if I stay here until you fall asleep? That way you can have some peace tonight." Barry said softly.
"I haven't had a peaceful sleep since before I left for the war." She mumbled but winced as soon as she said it.
He heard it, she's given away her vulnerability.
Barry had heard enough, "Hey, it's OK, like I said, it's alright if you don't want to be alone. I'm here to help you."
Bette looked up and into Barry's gentle green eyes, almost unaware there were still people out there like him. The things she saw many months ago made her think the world was just a harsh, cruel environment and she had to defend it by any means. She never thought of someone ever wanting to protect her from it. Explains why this seemed almost fantastical. She wasn't sure if this was an alternative world or if this was her reality. Before she could breakdown and confess everything she'd been keeping in for the last ten months, she bit her lip before hanging her head down, almost in inarguable defeat. She didn't want to admit to it with words but Barry answered by walking closer and taking hold of her hand.539Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMiRFVF0IN
Bette slowly moved to the cot as Barry covered her body carefully but looked at her like he wanted to say something.
All he could say in that moment was...
"I'm glad I wasn't too late to save you. Goodnight Bette."539Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVy9WBBlk4
