Particle Accelerator

Christmas time came around, and Cisco's excitement became contagious to Alina. She waited with him, counting every hour. The day before, he asked Alina to help set it up, "We sorta need some muscle for this."

She obliged. It was nothing really. She just had to lift a few things, hold this to make sure it didn't fall over, etc. She even learned a few things as Cisco went on and on about how S.T.A.R. Labs built it. She met Harrison Wells, quite a strange man to her. She rather enjoyed the work, however. It gave her something to do, as she wasn't allowed use her bow and arrow in public. How could they not want to shoot arrows? I find it rather enjoyable.

The day of the activation, Alina and Cisco were there to see it. It turned on, and Alina was fascinated. She had never had such a close encounter with technology of this kind. However, her fascination was short lived: something went wrong. Next thing they knew, there was a flash of light. Alina jumped into Cisco, blocking him from whatever was coming.

According to Cisco, Alina woke up hours later, in the hospital. She felt... different. Why wasn't she on edge? She usually got a bit reckless when she didn't know what was going on. Why am I calm?

"Why would you throw yourself in front of me? You would risk your own life for me?" Cisco put a hand on her shoulder, a look of concerned gratitude on his face.

"Instinct."

She went back with Cisco. She just remembered that she hadn't done Tai Chi that morning and recalled what she had done to an innocent tree back on Lian Yu. The poor uprooted tree.

She looked at Cisco with a serious face, "I want you to make me angry."

Cisco looked even more concerned than he had, "Why?"

"Just trust me. Something isn't right."

He started saying things that he wouldn't usually tell her. He went really touchy-feely with these particular sentences. Alina felt angry and upset, and she started crying, but she didn't lash out. Instead, Cisco stopped talking all together... because he couldn't - she had sealed his mouth shut. When she realized what she had done, she relaxed. He exclaimed, "Your eyes were glowing!"

Alina looked confused - his mouth wasn't moving. She said, "Say that again?"

Now he was confused, "I didn't say anything."

"You said that my eyes were glowing."

"No, I... I thought it."

"I read your thoughts?"

"Well, yeah, that's what it sounds like! You also shut my mouth! How do you explain that?!"

"Well, I couldn't do that before!"

Cisco thought a while, then said, "Could it have been the particle accelerator?"

"I don't know! You built it!"

"I helped build it! Whatever it is, you can read my mind now... and... make me do things."

"I am empathetic, but that has its limits. What if that explosion enhanced it somehow?"

"We need to ask Dr. Wells. He'll know something."

They went back to S.T.A.R. Labs and asked Dr. Wells what could have caused Alina's new abilities. He said something about the particles in her brain that caused her empathy were strengthened somehow, and that she was using more percentage of her brain than average humans do. Finally, before they left, he suggested to Cisco, "We should keep an eye out for any more cases like this. Something tells me she wasn't the only one affected."

Before Alina got on the plane to Hong Kong, Cisco assured her, "We'll try to contact you if something comes up. Whatever happened, your Mirakuru aggression seems to have disappeared."

"I can still lift a bus though, probably."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I lifted a bus this morning."

"There wasn't anyone in it, was there?"

She laughed, "No... no. Don't be silly."

"See you around, island girl."

"Goodbye, Cisco."

~

I hope you guys enjoyed that! The main plot will begin next chapter. These were just backgrounds so you know where the heck this thing goes on. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up! XOXO

. MKE .