scarletstreak | Open RP Post

[He knew it was a bad idea to keep his suspicions to himself. It had always been a bad idea in the past not to share everything with the rest of the team at STAR Labs, they were the best minds in the city, but this was...this was different.

See, he knows Iris. He knows Iris better than anyone, that's just a fact, it's never mattered how he felt about her, he still knows her. He knows her smile, and her walk, and he knows that when she was a little girl, she could spend hours looking at the stars, and he knows how disappointed she'd been when they learned in school that stars weren't just holes in the sky with something really bright behind them.

So he'd sat there while everyone dictated advice to him about how to take down this meta, this impossible hole in the world with the night sky, with galaxies inside her who flared a light from the beginning of the universe, and then he'd turned his comm off and walked—not run, walked—out to meet her.]

Iris. I know it's you. C'mon, I know you, I'd know you anywhere.

[He can't do this. Not as the Flash facing down an enemy. He reaches up and pushes the cowl off.]

...why didn't you tell me?

[The first time it happened, the first time burst from her like a shield it was because some creep was giving her a hard time, wanted her number and wouldn't take no for an answer and when she turned to leave and he moved to grab her arm and stop her-- he burned. She burned with him her light and he was probably lucky to leave with some scars and some messed up vision for a few days because the next time she did it?

Someone died. A man died because he had a gun and he was robbing a bank teller and Iris was in the wrong place at the wrong time (becoming the story of her life) and when he swung the gun towards her, he didn't last long enough to even aim it. There wasn't even anything left of him for the police to deal with besides a pile of dust, scorch marks and several eye witnesses where the only thing they witnessed was a bright light like a star exploding right before there.

She'd puked in the alley after. She killed someone for the first time ever and yes, he was a bad man and he was going to hurt people but that didn't explain why it felt so good to let the light flare off her fingers. Why she didn't feel special, she felt invincible when she opened her fist and the stars lay in her palm.

Barry does it. Barry uses his speed to save people. She uses her light to punish the ones who live in the darkness.]

I seem to remember asking you that same question.

[Her fists are tight at her side, ready to let the light flare if he comes any closer. But he didn't come speeding towards her, and he's taken off the mask. It's Barry, not the Flash in front of her. But she doesn't feel like Iris anymore. She doesn't know who or what she is right now.]

To protect you.

[And there it is. Because she had asked him, and his answer had been the same: to protect you. Now he does know what it's like to be on the other end of that, and turns out it sucks, a lot. Iris has been in danger, she's been in trouble and she'd wanted to protect him, so she hadn't told him.

He can tell how close she is to lashing out at him, it's his job to keep her from doing that, or if he can't do that, to, well. To take her down. But it's Iris, and things never go according to plan when it comes to Iris.

He takes the chance, and walks a little closer, not looking at the fists at her sides, looking at her face, her eyes. They're filled with stars now, nothing like the way she used to look, but it's still her, she's still in there somewhere.]

People are scared, Iris. They're scared of what you've been doing. Iris, I want to help you, please, tell me how to help you.

[That's the punchline because she's scared too. What if she lets the stars take over completely and there's no Iris West left at all. What if Iris West is already gone and this is all she is. Someone people are scared of. Someone who kills. Someone who likes it.]

You can't.

[Iris tenses when he steps closer but she keeps a tight grip on her light. For now.]

You should go. Before I hurt you too.

You won't.

[Barry keeps his distance, but spreads his arms, open, defenseless.]

You won't hurt me, Iris. I know you. I don't— [He laughs, shaking his head slowly, looks up at her again, and now there's a smile, a wonder in his face that wasn't there before. He's always loved Iris, but now? She's incredible. Can they help her? Maybe. STAR Labs has helped other metahumans find ways to rein in their powers. It's possible they could do the same for Iris.

But right now, he's not thinking about that. He's thinking about her.]

You're amazing.

[Iris is laughing because she's pretty sure if she doesn't, she'll cry. What's happening to her, it is amazing. Amazing and terrible and terrifying and wonderful and empowering and lonely. It's not like Barry's speed. The worst he could do by accident is knock someone over. She's killed people.

She might kill her family. Her friends. Her best friend.]

I can't always control it. And when I can-- You get a rush from saving people right? I get the same rush from punishing the ones that get away. You can't help with that.

[What she's saying is scarier than what she can do, what he's seen her do in the distance, arriving too late to stop her. Her light is so bright, they just...stop existing. Cisco had estimated her average temperature, but what difference did the numbers make? What she could do was impossible, or had been, just like what he could do, and now he wants her to embrace it, learn it, train like he does, help people.

But...she can't like it. Not really. Right?]

Iris, you can't mean that, it's just, it's helping people, and sometimes...yeah, sometimes catching the ones that get away is really satisfying, and sometimes when they're really awful you wish... [You wish you could just step in and remove them from the world.] ...but you can't. Keep doing that. We can help you, Iris, I can help you, just, you have to let me.

[He's getting closer. Slowly. Small step by small step, hands still held out at his sides, unarmed, truce, he's getting closer.]

[She knows it's scary. It terrifies her. She shouldn't like but she does. And how is she supposed to help people with starlight? It's not like she can zip around the city like some people and pull cats from trees and stop muggers with what she does. Those trees burn and the muggers disappear when she shows up.]

Stop, Barry--! [Iris doesn't have full control of her powers yet. It's tied to her emotions and she's angry and scared of hurting him so when he gets too close, her fist flexes at her side and there's a flash of blinding light. He's fast, he can dodge it if he tries.]

[He can dodge. He'd half expected it, although he'd hoped it wouldn't happen, but it does and he evades the blast in a streak of crackling lightning, ending up behind her, blinking spots of afterimage from his eyes. And as soon as the light dissipates, he's back in front of her again, exactly as close as he'd been before.]

I'm still fine, Iris. I don't think you'll hurt me. I trust you not to hurt me.

[Is it unfair of him to say that? Probably. But she needs to learn how to control her powers, and this is the only way he knows how to help her before someone else gets hurt, or worse.

He doesn't come closer again, but he keeps talking, slow and quiet, with a sad half-smile.]

Remember that really bad thunderstorm when we were kids? The blanket fort? You didn't want to be scared then, but you were, and so was I, and we both pretended we weren't. I'm scared now, Iris, and I know you are too. But I don't want to be scared of you. I'm not. Don't be scared of yourself.

Open RP Post

IRIS IS A VILLAIN WHAT

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