"You don't have a black eye? That's a good thing, Mel." Barry's voice echoed through Melanie's phone as she paced back and forth in her apartment.

"No, Barry! It's not a good thing! I think something might be wrong with me." Melanie twirled her blonde hair between her fingers, staring at the split ends for a moment before her eyes widened. "Something is definitely wrong. Why the hell did I go back to blonde?!"

"What?" Barry's confused and tired voice rang in her ears as Melanie ran a hand through her hair. "What if—"

"What if my meta powers are growing? I mean, I basically have the sight of an eagle and the snout of a hound dog. Recently, I think I discovered I can see past injuries on people if I focus hard enough."

"That's not a thing, Melanie."

"Well you know what, Barry? Neither is running the mile in 3 seconds!" She gritted through her teeth, putting the speaker close to her mouth.

"I can do it in 2." Melanie could sense the smirk in Barry's voice and she sighed heavily, annoyed with his snarky remark. "Sorry. Look, when are you supposed to be going undercover?"

"In two days. Captain Gordon still needs to create a fake profile for me. And I still need a fake name." Melanie dropped herself to the couch, rubbing her eyes.

"Okay. I'll come by tomorrow morning and then take you to STAR Labs. Cisco can run some tests and maybe we can find out if your powers are getting stronger." Melanie grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly, thinking. After a while of silence, Barry cleared his throat. "Mel?"

"I don't understand. It's been over a year since the particle accelerator exploded. Why am I getting all these new powers?" Barry yawned into the phone and Melanie sighed. "Sorry I woke you
up. I'm just freaking out, you know?"

"You admitting to me that you're freaking out is worrying. I'm going to sleep before you start rambling about radiation. Goodnight, Mel."

"But Barry—"

"Goodnight, Melanie." Melanie looked at her phone as Barry hung up, dropping her arm and let it dangle over the couch. She stared up at the ceiling, a focused frown on her face.

She felt as if she was getting off the phone with her best friend after hours of talking about a high school crush. Except the best friend was just her ex coworker that happened to be a superhero. And the high school crush was her terrifying new ability to not feel pain.

Melanie was suddenly reminded of the injury she first got when moving and sat up straight. She turned to her kitchen, staring at the knife block for a long time.

Maybe the air pollution in Gotham was making Melanie a fucking idiot.

She stood up and quickly walked over to the block of knives, taking out the smallest, yet still the sharpest one she had. She stared at the silver blade for a moment before outstretching her hand.

She hesitated as the cold blade touched her arm, pulling away. "Jesus Christ I've lost my mind." She whispered to herself, pressing the blade against her skin again. "For science purposes."

Melanie swept the blade across her skin in one swift motion, flinching as she could feel her flesh rip open, but she didn't feel any pain. As soon as the smallest hint of blood started to pour out of the slit, her wound closed up.

Melanie dropped the knife in utter shock, freezing when she felt it go straight through her foot.

And she may not have felt a terribly sharp pain, but the sight was terrifying enough to have her let out a scream. And then Sterling was bursting through her door.

He held up his gun, spinning around in a robe as he tried to find an intruder. Melanie yelled again at Sterling, sucking down and yanked the knife out of her foot before he could see.

"What the hekk are you screaming for at TWO AM?!" Sterling shouted, clicking the safety on his gun again.

"I— I dropped my knife. It was very close to my foot." Sterling looked to the knife in Melanie's hand, then back to her. He shook his head in disbelief, walking out.

"Un-fucking-believable." He mumbled before shutting the door. Melanie stared in shock, unsure as to how Sterling was up out of his bed and in her apartment in less than thirty seconds, with a gun.

His door is still broken, isn't it? Is he stalking me? Melanie frowned as she cleaned her knife before putting it back. She stared down at her foot. There wasn't even a drop of blood. She looked at her arm, which was just as clean.

"I'm in so much trouble."

•••

Melanie stood in front of her mirror, scissors in hand, fingers trembling. She stared at her new hair, shaggy and poorly chopped. If she didn't look crazy before, she definitely looked crazy now.

"I need to make an appointment." She mumbled, lowering the scissors. There was a sudden woods behind her and Melanie screamed, throwing her hands up to protect her head, spinning around. Barry stood in her hallway, raising his brows at her appearance."

"You're blonde." He stated the obvious and Melanie pressed her lips together, huffing. "You uh... Look good?"

"I'm not trying to look good, Barry. I'm trying to look crazy." Melanie turned back to the mirror, fixing her hair as Barry nodded.

"Yeah you look like that, too. Cisco's waiting, he said he doesn't want to wait if he gets to test out your speed-healing." Melanie paused, very slowly turning to Barry.

"My what?"

"You heal almost instantly right? Speed healing power. I have it, too." Barry grinned, holding out his hand. Melanie glanced down to it, then back up to him. "Let's go."

"I don't know how I feel about—" Melanie let out a shriek as Barry grabbed her hand at lightning speed. The force of wind silenced Melanie as her hair whipped around her face. Barry's hand was holding her head for support.

After what Melanie counted as 16 seconds, she was suddenly standing still, holding her stomach.

"Oh God that was awful." Melanie wobbled, feeling a firm set of hands grip her shoulders. She looked up, eyes meeting a fairly tall, short haired brunette man. Melanie looked him up and down with wide eyes.

"Are you Jay?" She asked, standing up straight. He nodded, outstretching a hand.

"Jay Garrick. I heard you used to work for Barry?"

"With." She corrected harshly, not shaking his hand. She kept staring at him for the longest time, an uncertain feeling settling in her stomach. Melanie looked to Barry, who raised his brows. "Where's Cisco?"

"Right. C'mon." Barry gestured for Melanie to start walking and she gave Jay one last look. He raised a brow at her before following her and Barry to the Cortex.

"Melanie! You- Oh my God you're blonde." Cisco's mouth dropped at Melanie's appearance, nodding. "I dig it. Follow me, I want a run a full body scan of you before we get started."

"What for?" Melanie frowned, walking into the MedLab.

"It's to check your dark matter levels.. To see how powerful they are." Melanie have Cisco an unsure look as she slowly sat down on the gurney, and Cisco pulled out a strange, long device. He ran it from Melanie's head to her feet, waiting for it to beep. "Holy shit."

"What? Is something wrong?" Melanie looked to the screen in Cisco's hand quickly and he shook his head.

"No. Actually, everything is fine. Your vitals are damn near perfect, Mel. I mean, healthier than Barry's." Barry crossed his arms and frowned at Cisco, who smiled apologetically.

"Better than Barry's? I don't even eat healthy. I've had takeout the last three nights." Cisco shrugged.

"It might be because of your powers. What are you aware of that you have? Barry here hasn't told me much." Cisco glared at Barry, who raised his hands in defense.

"Melanie was very clear about who gets to know everything." Melanie rolled her eyes, shrugging.

"Well, up until I moved to Gotham, I didn't have instant healing. I mean, my first day in my new apartment I sliced my arm open, and it healed in a few minutes. But last night, I dropped a knife through my foot and it was closed the second the knife was out." Melanie explained and Cisco's brows raised.

"Well, your powers are definitely growing. What about pain levels?"

"I can't feel pain anymore." Melanie said with a straight face and Cisco's eyes lit up with excitement, while Barry frowned in confusion. "I had my neighbor punch me in the eye last night, and I felt it for maybe a second. But when that knife went through my foot, I felt it go through, but it was like my nerves couldn't get the pain to my head."

"You're saying your powers have grown in the last 16 hours?" Jay said from the Cortex. Melanie looked to him, a little unhappy that he was listening into the conversation, but nodded.

"I think I can also see past injuries. And i have stronger senses." Cisco waved a finger as he thought, nodding slowly.

"We should test your agility." Melanie gave Cisco an odd look and he rolled his eyes. "Look, if you have enhanced senses, your physicality might be enhanced, too. Checking your vitality might... oh my god."

"What?" Barry asked Cisco, who looked between the two, still excited.

"Vitality. You're so using that if you become a superhero." Melanie's eyes widened as she raised her hands up.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Cisco. I'm already a detective, I don't need to be a vigilante, too." Cisco pouted at Melanie, who stood up. "I have no idea how this 'super power' testing works, but we need to get over with it so I can get ready for Arkham."

"Arkham? Like... Arkham Asylum?" The three turned to Jay, who gave Melanie a concerned look, clearly. it caught up with her case.

"Unrelated to any of this. Let's go." Melanie started walking out of the MedLab and Cortex, returning a few seconds later. "I have no idea where I'm going."

•••

Melanie stared at Barry in his Flash suit, clenching her jaw nervously. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"We're just testing." Barry reassured and Melanie looked to Cisco for more reassurance. He gave her a quick thumbs up. "So far, we've discovered you can heal quickly, and apparently see past injuries. Now see if you can inflict pain without actually touching me."

"But what if I can? I don't want to hurt you." Barry shook his head, smiling warmly.

"I'll be fine. I heal fast, too, Mel." Melanie nodded slowly, scrunching her face as she imagined Barry with a bad headache. He stood there, unwavering. Melanie let out a heavy breath, dropping the look.

"Okay. Pain infliction is off the list." Cisco walked up to Melanie and rolled up his sleeve, revealing a small scratch on his arm. "See if you can heal this."

"Seriously?" Melanie raised a brow to Cisco and he nodded. Melanie shrugged and sighed, taking Cisco's arm and held her hand over his scratch. She focused for a moment, shutting her eyes as she imagined Cisco's wound healing.

Melanie opened her eyes after a moment when she felt Cisco's twitch, her hands radiating a soft, golden light against Cisco's skin. She removed her hand after a moment, eyes widening when Cisco's injury was no longer there.

"Holy frak." Cisco mumbled and turned to Barry, revealing his arm. "She healed me!" 

Melanie was still staring in shock, slowly raising her hands to stare at them. She started running away, alerting Barry and Cisco as they watched her sprint out of the room. "Melanie!"

Melanie ran into Cisco's lab, scrambling to find anything she could use against someone. Barry rushed in, skidding to a halt as Melanie whipped around, holding up a metal rod. "Woah, Melanie..."

"Don't come near me, Barry!" She shouted, Cisco yelping as he ran in. "I can't have these powers! I don't want these powers!"

"What?" Cisco frowned, his arms dropping.

"They keep growing, Cisco! Who knows maybe I'll be injury-proof the next time I slam my shoulder into a wall! I can't have visible powers!" Melanie flailed the rod around, heart pounding in her chest as Barry and Cisco looked to one another. "You don't understand... If someone else finds out about these powers—"

"Which they won't, Melanie. I promise." Barry took a slow step forward as Melanie shook her head.

"You don't know that, Barry. I get hurt a lot. I'm a detective, I'm in danger a lot. I could get hurt on the field and then people will ask questions—" Melanie stopped and shook her head, turning to Cisco. "Make something."

"What?"

"Make me a cure. Take my powers away." Barry quickly turned to Cisco, who strained out a nervous noise.

"Melanie... That could take me years. I don't have the technology in here to create a meta human cure." Melanie dropped her arms, covering her face as she held back terrified sobs.

The thought of her abilities being out in the world was the most terrifying thought to her. That she would be all over the news, maybe. She knew it was unlikely, but if there was even the sliver of a chance that her face would appear on a TV screen?

Melanie couldn't risk it.

Barry took another step forward and slowly took the rib from Melanie, who stepped away after he did. "I need to go back to Gotham. I have to get ready."

"But we aren't sure about your abilities yet, Melanie." Barry argued and she looked up at him quickly.

"I'll figure it out in my own. Just take me home."

•••

Melanie stood in front of the window in her living room, biting her nails as she thought.

"I just need to be careful. Get injured in places people can't see. That's easy." She rambled, scratching her forehead. "Just avoid the face."

Melanie thought for a moment about how fast her powers were growing. Today was surely one way to find out she could heal people.

"Of course it had to be healing powers." Melanie said with a quiet scoff, an amused smile crossing her face. She started to laugh at the irony, looking down at her arm, scarred with tiny little dots from years of needle injections.

Memories washed back over at all the times that ability could have been put to good use. How, if she eventually did end up invulnerable to injury, she could have used it to escape much earlier.

Too bad it took a murder for her to do it.