Who:Cisco and Jemma What:Cisco discovers he's a meta When:Today Where:The Agency Warnings:none Statuscomplete |log
Cisco wasn’t quite feeling like himself, not as bubbly or cheerful as he usually was when he showed up after the conversation with Jemma for blood testing. He still was polite enough, gave a few nods to people on the way in, but he didn’t stop to chat as long this time around. He still tried to put on a front when he was upset, just to make sure people would accept him-but he didn’t have the energy to carry that on for too long.
Team superhero started out being awesome, just a group of friends wanting to make their city a better place. Wanting to bring hope to a place that had none, and now it was like Cisco was finding out exactly how it felt all over again to be hopeless. Before Barry came along they had felt incomplete, and he was feeling that all over again. He was prepared for physical pain, but not so much on the emotional scale. It was hard to process, tiring really.
He laid back on that bed provided and let his eyes close tiredly while he waited. He wore a shirt that said ENTROPY HAPPENS and didn’t realize the irony of his shirt in comparison to his inner confliction. --- Jemma was… well, she had been distracting herself all week and thankfully there was plenty for her to do. That said, Cisco’s post had brought up a lot of her Ward related issues. The bastard may finally be dead in the Dreams but she was all too familiar with what it was like to trust someone, see them as part of your team and family only to find out that they’d been playing you the entire time. That they were actively working against you. That they had killed and were the type of people you were supposed to stop.
But what had caught Jemma’s attention was the fact that Cisco felt a part of him knew the truth about what had happened even with the turning back of time in the Dreams. Especially given the similarities between Inhumans and Metahumans. Luckily she had some of Cisco’s blood from before, perfectly human so she’d be able to see if there were any changes. She also had pulled up some of her research from the Dreams to illustrate the change within the DNA from terrigenesis.
So once Cisco was there and all the pleasantries gone through, Jemma pulled out what she needed and pulled some blood and then went to her computer to run the tests. And just as she thought, there were changes. Nothing in terms of degeneration or something to be concerned about. But just...different. Similar to the changes she saw in Inhumans, though obviously with a different trigger.
“I thought that would be the case…”
The comment was said more to herself than anything, but with Cisco there, he’d be able to know she had found something. --- Her running tests had given him a chance to rest quietly and attempt to reset, He wasn’t afraid of needles, there wasn’t any issue pulling blood from the engineer. He just rested while she did so. Not directly waiting for the results, but not really wanting to go home and wait either. That recent dream they’d spoken on had caused a spiral of anxiety that was physically exhausting to keep up with, so for a while they just existed in each other's presence quietly.
Until she spoke, his eyes opened and he leaned up on an elbow to look over at her.
“What is it?” --- Easy silence was always a good thing when working. Besides, if it was helping Cisco rest then who was she to complain? Still, once she had seen what she had? She knew that she would need to figure some things out. Or Cisco could speak up which..okay, made sense given the fact he was still there and she had spoken out loud.
Still, how to break the news….
“Have I ever told you about the Inhumans in my Dreams and the process of terrigenesis?”
That was probably a good way to broach the subject. In theory. Jemma sometimes got too caught up in the science and Fitz wasn’t exactly there to pull her back from that, nor was Cosima. Oh well. --- He was comfortable enough to actually sleep some, but it hadn’t been a deep one obviously since he was woken by her words. Still, it was something. It had been comforting to know that someone was there, that if something happened he wouldn’t end up alone.
“Inhumans?” Cisco raised an eyebrow as he sat up a little further, looking at her in confusion. What would a word like inhumans and him have in common? He didn’t have super powers, his friend did.”I think you said the word once but I don’t know what that process is..” He responded hesitantly as he got up fully and brushed some wild dark hair away from his face. Concern clearly written in the contortion of his face, he wasn’t sure what to expect. --- It was a specialty of Jemma’s apparently. Despite her ability to compartmentalize and her reliance on logic, she often ended up being seen as a voice of hope or in this case, comfort because of the fact Cisco wasn’t alone. Which Jemma was more than fine by. She did what she could for those she considered friends and her own. Cisco had ended up on that list.
She nodded some. That made sense. She probably had mentioned Inhumans in relation to Metahumans as for why she was familiar with the concept of someone being exposed to something and developing abilities.
“So, basically the history of Inhumans is that many centuries ago, probably longer really, anyway, an alien race known as the Kree came to Earth and did experiments to create a soldier. They’d done so on other planets with failure. Well, they managed to succeed on Earth and thus...Inhumans. However, it was seen as dangerous for them and so they shut down the program and so through generations, people were born with the altered genome but the genome remained hidden and DNA sequences remained as we know them to be in humans. However, there is a process known as Terrigenesis, through touch of an oblisk or terrigen crystals, etcetera. So, similar to the exposure of dark matter to humans in your dreams.”
Walking over to Cisco with her iPad, she pulled up a comparison of blood samples from her Dreams in relation to Inhumans.
“This is a side by side comparison of a pre-Terrigenesis DNA sequence and the same person’s DNA sequence following exposure to Terrigenesis.”
Letting Cisco take in the alterations and differences, she swipped to the left and pulled up his own samples.
“Now here’s a side by side comparison of your DNA sequence from before and then from the sample I just took.”
The comparison was similar in that there were clear changes, but also would have the markers of dark matter within Cisco’s DNA. --- While Jemma explained Inhumans and the process of becoming an inhuman, Cisco practically could feel something sinking in the pit of his stomach. A weird feeling she was telling him all this for a reason. And then? His worst fears were realized, she was approaching with the ipad and his DNA readings on it. His eyes scanned for his information to make sure she wasn’t messing with him-though he severely doubted she would be the type to, and then he focused again on what she was pointing out after a brief out of body experience.
“They’re completely different.” He looked up at her, his brows furrowing a bit in confusion. “But I’m not…I can’t…?” He didn’t have powers. He searched her face for some kind of reassurance that this was all a joke but he found none. There was no sign of humor in her eyes, no mischievous looks, nothing to suggest she would even try to joke about something like this.
“That’s the same dark matter we have been finding in the DNA strands of the metahumans we’ve captured.” Cisco said in one breath, not realizing he’d forgotten temporarily to breathe. “But I’m just human.” He ran slow for a normal person. He didn’t have super speed, none of that. Deep down he still hoped she was secretly holding back a punchline on him. --- While Jemma could play pranks and the like, this wasn’t exactly the time for it. No. Right now, it was telling Cisco that it appeared he was a Metahuman like his friend from the Dreams. But it was indeed why she was going more in depth about Inhumans. The change of DNA was important, the fact that one could appear completely normal and then the event and… even if he knew it from his Dreams, it was still necessary.
So for now she just let the news sink in as Cisco saw the results and came to terms with what they meant.
“Your DNA sequence says differently. Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s simply part of who you are. Not all powers are active. Some can be passive and whatever happened, whatever changes occurred, could be why you’re able to remember something that should have been erased in the Dreams.”
Of course how those powers manifested here was something else entirely. Some people seemed to wake up suddenly with all their power, others it was a slower process. There was developing and learning them. --- Oh good, as if his life wasn’t confusing enough now he could add in another unknown element. He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as he put the connections together in his mind that was spiraling out in confusion. “I think I need to sit back down now. Sitting is good.” He reached behind him to make sure the bed was still nearby, it was a bit further away but there was a stool. He awkwardly took that and looked back up at the DNA files on the ipad.
The wheels in his head were turning. “How is that good?” It just meant he was even more strange and awkward in his eyes and now he could remember bad things nobody else could. He ran a hand on his face. “Every other meta we’ve met has turned bad.” He looked up at her again worriedly. The last thing he wanted was for some switch to activate and to snap just like the rest. --- As Cisco got his bearings together and found somewhere to sit, Jemma remained quiet and just let him wrap his mind around all of it. Because it was a lot to take in. It was the way of this place though. Always throwing curve balls.
The question was interesting given her actual comment was that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was hard to know how it would go. A lot of that depended on Cisco himself. She could help if she knew what she was dealing with - she had plenty of experience in the Dreams now in helping Inhumans adjust to their abilities. That didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be difficult.
“Well statistically speaking, if you’re looking to stop those who are causing harm, that makes sense that you would really only seem to interact with Metas who do bad things. But powers don’t make someone good or evil,” even the issue of Lash, while complicated, hadn’t made Andrew evil but that really wasn’t the situation here, “It’s the way someone chooses to use their powers. You’re a good person, you see the best in people. Having abilities, whatever they turn out to be, doesn’t change that.”
--- Cisco couldn’t help but to smile a bit at that comment. “I mean I try. Everyone deserves a chance.” Generally speaking, though if Wells showed up, chances were Cisco would have a hard time going along with that statement-but time would tell. They’d cross that bridge when it happened. If it happened.
“Do you mind if we keep this between us?” He wasn’t quite ready to share his new abilities with the world just yet. He wasn’t even sure really how to digest the news fully. Adding in other people would complicate matters. ---
“It’s a good quality to have.” Jemma certainly tried to see the best in people, and generally was able to. But she certainly understood how difficult it would be if certain people showed up. Her basic plan for if Ward ever showed up was to take him out before he became a threat.
The request though? That was a bit more complicated. Because scientists shared things, it was one of the reasons she had been so upset at Fitz for lying to her about Daisy. And the fact that they didn’t know what his powers were, which meant he could hurt himself. But he also did deserve to be able to come to terms with it. Plus she did know which meant that if something happened, she wouldn’t be caught off guard.
“Of course, so long as it doesn’t hurt you or anything. We can keep it between us until you’re ready, but know you’re not alone. You’re certainly not the first person here to wake up with abilities. But let me know if anything happens, or if you get an idea on what your powers might be.” It would be important for them to keep on top of that. --- His new abilities-whatever they were, meant change. Cisco wasn’t quite sure what kind of change either. Getting powers wasn’t something that just came quietly though, he knew that much by watching Barry. His role in all of it was meant to be the friendly sidekick, the one who could fade into the background if necessary but here? Here he had no idea.
“At least let me figure out what it means.” He offered in lieu of necessarily hiding it all from the other scientists in the agency long term. Anakin had space magic, but he was apparently okay with that-Cisco wasn’t sure he was okay with this. Not that apparently he had much choice if his DNA itself was warping.
He stood to give her a hug for that comment, that he wasn’t alone. Everything else in his life thus far he’d had to deal with that way, so to actually hear it from someone else literally meant the world to him.
--- Change was scary, Jemma definitely understood that. And she was used to dealing with Fitz’s dislike of change so in some ways, it was all familiar territory for her. But she was also a scientist and she had seen what keeping this sort of thing secret could do long term. It was why she worried,
“That’s more than fair, so of course. My main concern is your wellbeing. And while I don’t have experience with Metas, I do have experience helping Inhumans in my dreams, so it’s not like you’ll have to figure it out alone, either.” Because while she had said that there were others there who had gone through transformations because of the Dreams, she at least did have experience in helping Inhumans learn their abilities as well.
The hug was unexpected, but Jemma returned it. She knew what it was like to go through all of this seemingly alone. Because even while there were those who dreamt of similar things to her, Jemma was the only one who dreamt her specific Dreams. Skye was there now but she hadn’t started dreaming and Jemma still hoped she wouldn’t but that was just a fool’s hope.
“We’ll get through it, okay?” --- Honestly Cisco hadn’t been expecting to hug her, but he just went with what he felt. In that moment he felt grateful, He had good friends now, he didn’t have to rely on a family who would likely just isolate him and ignore the problem-or try to wish it away with their beliefs, he had an actual scientist who could provide answers and wanted to.
He gave her a sheepish sort of smile as it broke and tucked some dark hair behind his ear. “Sorry, if that was weird or completely inappropriate..i don’t..” He trailed off awkwardly with a bit of a laugh. “I know, I trust you.” And he did. For the first time in a long while he trusted someone fully. --- As Cisco started to apologize, Jemma just shook her head with a small smile.
“No need to apologize, it’s more than fine.”
And it was. While it had been unexpected, Jemma was more than okay with hugging people. Hell, she had hugged May in the Dreams and that was May. So random hugs? Especially in high emotion situations? That was fine.