Iris West yawned at the front door of her house, yawned so hard that she had to let it run its course before she fit the key into the lock and let herself in. It had been a long day of keeping up with Barry and she didn't have the Speed Force to make it any easier. What's worse, Killer Frost was on the team now, despite the name.
Usually, there'd be strength in numbers, but in this case, having Frost around meant that Iris had to watch her 'friends' as well as her enemies. Barry and the others seemed to believe Frost had changed, that she wanted to be like Caitlin, but Iris knew the truth. They were polar opposites. Everyone was two halves, the shadow and the lightâCaitlin couldn't very well be two lights. Her other half would prove to be the shadow... Iris had to be on guard for when that happened.
With the front door unlocked, Iris stepped inside, only for the lights to snap on. She paused, wondering if Barry had installed some kind of smart-home device to welcome herâit was the kind of maddening, thoughtful thing he would doâbut then she saw Killer Frost was sitting by the light switch, obviously waiting for Iris.
Iris's hand flew to her watch, the secret button on it that would instantly summon Barry, but Frost spoke first. "Don't get your panties all in a bunch. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk."
Iris was so used to Frost speaking in a sultry, dangerous purrâlike she was toying with whoever she conversed with merely by deigning to do anything besides kill themâthat hearing her speak relatively plaintively brought her up short. She froze, her finger on the button, and stared at Frost to see if the pale woman would take any aggressive action. Frost only sat there, her hand outstretched beseechingly, seeming to will Iris to listen to her.
Iris kept her hand on her watch, ready to summon Barry at a moment's notice. She didn't know why she hadn't signaled for him already. Anything Frost could say to her, she could certainly say to Barry. She could only blame her residual trust in Caitlinâanyone who looked so much like her received the same benefit of the doubt that Caitlin had actually earned.
"What do you want to talk about?" Iris demanded, trying only very slightly to hold back her rancor. "How you broke into my home? Waited to get me alone for God knows what?"
"So we could speak privately," Frost said, rising so slowly it had to be nonthreatening. "Are you going to come in and listen to what I have to say?"
"If you tell me why you couldn't say it to me at STAR Labs."
Frost looked chagrinned. Iris was used to that expression on Caitlin's face, but it looked wrong when coupled with Frost's pale skin and white hair, the eyes that were used to only expressing coy superiority. "It's sensitive. And it has to do with Caity. She only wants you to know about it."
Iris scowled. Frost had to know that would get to her.
Damn her. And damn Barry for making me give her a chance. Sometimes it really sucks being a good guy.
She stepped through the door, closing it behind herâfinally taking her hand off the signal watch to do so. "You get one chance from me, Frost. This had better be good."
"It is," Frost assured her, sitting back down. She gestured to the television. From her perch on the couch, it was right across from her. "Sit. I've already cued up the show."
Iris walked to the couch, but didn't seat herself. "You broke into my house to show me home movies?"
Killer Frost answered a question with a question. "Haven't you ever wondered why Caity changed her mind about me? She used to think I was some kind of demon; now we're gal pals. It's enough to make you jealous, isn't it?"
I am not jealous.
Iris was suspicious. She was a journalist; that was her
job.
Caitlin had gone from fearing Killer Frost to being her best friend seemingly overnight. More than just enthusiastically pushing for Frost to be part of Team Flash, she seemed... preoccupied with Frost. Filled with a restless energy that wouldn't let her sit down unless she was totally exhausted. In idle moments, she stared at Frost with almost a fawning vanityâsince it was, after all, her own body she was staring at... after a fashion. It was almost like she'd been brain-washed, but even absent Frost, Caitlin seemed looser, more open, more relaxed. Like there was a weight off her shoulders. Iris found it so easy being happy for her friend's contentment that she couldn't pick too hard at how Caitlin apparently owed it to Killer Frost in some way.
"Play it," Iris said simply. "Then you're leaving."
Frost made things even simpler. With a smug smirkâas though Iris had played right into her handsâshe raised the remote, turned the TV on, and started it playing.
The screen showed the view of a camera, moving through the hallways of an apartment Iris eventually recognized as Caitlin's. It went into the bedroom. Caitlin sat at the vanity, wearing black panties and a black braâthe kind of plain, unadorned underwear that did nothing more than show off Caitlin's body, and that was all it had to do. Caitlin had creamy white skin, a hint of a tan like a marshmallow browning over a campfire: Iris dragged her to salons, but her work never left her much time to tend to her body. It worked for her, though. She had an unvarnished beauty, simple, plainspoken, like the woman herself.
When she saw the camera pointed at her, her face twitched expressively. Her eyes flicked downward, reminding her of how unclothed she wasâand showing gratification at being seen that way. "Frost. Hey."
"'Hey'," Frost repeated from behind the camera, her lilting purr gently mocking. "As if you didn't know I'd catch you like this." Frost's white hand reached out, sweeping one of Caitlin's shoulder straps down her arm. "Does my little Caity dress this way for everyone?"
"Do you like it?" Caitlin retorted, eyes sparkling.
"Of course not," Frost said. Caitlin's face fell and Iris felt a surge of anger on her behalf.