Hey guys! I know that it's probably the worst thing for me to be posting a story while I have another one in the works and while I'm just getting into the college vibe, but this idea has been with me for a while now, so I hope you enjoy. Also, I don't own any of these characters or else I would be a pretty rich person right now.

Reviews are loved!

Central City, 2013

This was it. Her final chance.

One more round of experimenting, and then her funding would either be continued or cut off.

Without any funding, she would be just another intern, handing her boss coffee every morning and screening his calls. She would be nobody once again.

Carefully, she slid the giant plastic wrapped slab of ice that had been sitting in the freezer for weeks on to her table. As she reached for the tools on her trolley, her phone pinged, and she answered it with resignation.

Hey! Finally turning on the accelerator! U coming? :)

Right. Tonight was the big opening event of S.T.A.R. Labs' biggest project in years: the particle accelerator. Or, as everyone who had continuously worked on it for the past two years called it, the Pipeline.

The Pipeline was going to put the S.T.A.R. on the maps, according to Dr. Wells. She knew that she should be down there with her colleagues, watching as the beauty of physics that was the Pipeline was activated in front of hundreds of people, but she never really had been a big fan of parties. Or a fan of crowds either, now that she thought about it, all alone in her small, private lab, with the blinds pulled shut and the lights dimmed.

Sorry, Cis. IQ doesn't do well with parties. She texted back, desperately hoping that he wouldn't respond and just let her be. No such luck.

Come on. There's chocolate! :)

Cisco.

Fine. :(

She waited a few seconds, just in case he decided to bribe her with chocolate - one of her few weaknesses - but nothing came after that. It was a bit disappointing that he hadn't tried harder, and she silenced her phone with a small sigh, pocketing it once again. Honestly, it would have been nice if he'd persisted, but her put downs usually scared people off the first time, so he'd probably thought it was better to leave her alone. The nickname Ice Queen didn't come from her happy mood and chipper personality, after all.

Truth be told, Cisco was one of the few people she liked having around.

A bit more somber now, she reached up and slid the plastic wrap off of the ice, relishing in the cold mist that had greeted her every week for two years now. If she didn't do something productive or amazing tonight, then she would have to give up the joy of having a private lab all to herself, so she set about cutting the ice open immediately with one of the power saws Dr. Wells had allowed her to bring in.

"Alright, fellas, let's see what we have tonight." She muttered to herself as she sliced off a large chunk of the ice and slid it on to the trolley. Her arms ached as she pushed it towards the computer, where she positioned the cart underneath the high definition camera hooked up to the ceiling and took her place at the screens. The timing for this had to be perfect, absolutely perfect, or else everything would be for naught. God, had she just used the word 'naught'? She was turning into her brother.

Her fingers worked deftly with practiced ease as she turned on the lights and the camera, setting the magnification to its highest point. As it adjusted, she turned off the room lights and shut off her phone, just in case one of her colleagues decided she was spending too much time by herself. She did like having them around, despite what everyone else said about her, but sometimes, it was good to be alone.

Laura stepped back a bit, her blue eyes focusing on the screens above her. At first, all she could see was snow white, and for a moment, her heart faltered. This couldn't be the end.

Then, something moved. Her heart faltered for a second before she realized that panic wasn't an option. She reached blindly for the controls, until whatever had moved before did it again. And again.

"Holy shit."

Laura watched as the tiny organism on her screen moved around, and she grinned so wide, it would have made Cisco's head spin. A tiny laugh bubbled up in her throat, and Laura felt extremely grateful of the fact that no one was there to see it.

She couldn't believe she'd done it. Her entire project had been based off of the idea that ice could contain a new kind of organism, one able to survive the coldest temperatures known to man. Nobody had believed her at first - the field of ice was fairly new and highly underappreciated - but the little thing on the screen would prove everyone wrong. Another laugh escaped her, but it was cut off suddenly by the blaring of an alarm. The lights suddenly dimmed, and the red emergency lights switched on seconds later.

"What the hell?" She muttered, wrenching her eyes away from the screen. Her phone buzzed a second later, the screen lit up with a call.

"What?"

"Laura! Thank God! Listen, there's something wrong with the accelerator. You need to get out!"

"Cisco, what-" Laura yelled into the phone, her mind racing from the truckload of information she'd just received. Nothing should have gone wrong tonight. The Pipeline was supposed to be flawless. Suddenly, a wave of immense heat passed over her and the phone fell from her hand as her body crumpled to the ground, as heavy as lead and completely numb. Her mind was filled with panic as a screeching noise filled her lab, and Laura closed her eyes, willing for it to just stop.

"Laura, get out now!" She heard Cisco shout. She could just begin to see flames licking at the door.

Nice knowing you.

That was the last thing she heard before a wave of cold enveloped her, and the world went white.