ColdFlash- Soulmates

Chapter 7: Unwanted Reunion

  Barry was the Steak. Barry Allen, forensic scientist, meta human and mystery hero of Central City...

  He had woken up from a nine month coma with abs and incredible speed. At first he had purely been freaked- come on, super speed! After a while though, well it wasn't actually that long, he started to see the benefits- which were more than just being able to save people. He still managed to be late for work, dinners with the Wests... and well everything. Although to his credit the time that people had to wait for him was less, and he wasn't late all of the time.

  Things were just crazy with it all. He was a metahuman who ran around the city in a red mask and suit and he was friends with Oliver Queen who just happened to be the Arrow, a rich, dickish yet very hot guy who was the vigilante of Star city. Yes he was still excited- very excited about that- even if he had neglected to mention it to Iris because Oliver was the Arrow after all... so he refrained, which killed him. All in all things were great, everyone had been really pleased to have him back, Iris was dating Joe's partner and he was so pleased for her because he seemed like a really good guy. He was settling into this new... lifestyle? Whatever it could be called. Although there had been the initial questions about his scar...

  The blemish was thick and pale, stretching from just beneath his heart and curving round his body to his right hip. It was around two years old, made by a knife and it had been stitched shut by someone who had not been a professional. That was what Joe, Iris and the S.TA.R. labs team knew, of course that had raised questions. They all wanted to know the day after Barry woke, when they thought that he had had some time to recover. They hadn't seen it after he had gotten it, he had never told them about the warehouse, never told them about his relationship with a criminal that had lasted just over a year, and looking down the scar did look like something really bad had happened. Which in a way it had. Because of all that he hadn't known how to answer, he hadn't been able to give a plausible reason that wouldn't eventually lead to the truth, so he hadn't said anything. In the end they'd just given up pressing him...

  Given up after months and many disputes.

  But other than that life was great, impossible and crazy but great.

  Well everything was great until one completely normal un-normal day when the past decided to throw something back into the present with full force.

***

  There was a robbery in progress. A Blackhawk Squad Protection Group truck. Barry raced in just in time to stop anything from being taken, being the Streak just as he had been for the past few weeks. Some easy in and out, chuck a few guys out of the way job- no metas involved.

  The truck was half in the air, held up by the hook of a tow truck, when he arrived. As he flashed through the scene Barry caught sight of four men, four men who had overpowered the driver and guard, all of whom seemed to be standing still with the speed at which he was moving- something he was still getting used to. He searched around quickly before pulling a man out of the back of the B.S.P.G. truck, momentum sending them tumbling over the tarmac. He was wearing something akin to a wet suit which had a canister of something that must have been nitrogen on his back judging by the condition of the truck door.

  As they came to a stop the man ripped off his mask and a glance back had Barry stop in his tracks. The guy with the nitrogen was non other than Leonard Snart.

  His pause was brief however because at that moment a gunshot rang out and Barry sped over to the already dead guard in a haze of emotion. Blood was pooling around the guard's  head by the time Barry reached him as sightless eyes stared up, it left Barry totally overwhelmed by the simultaneous events and so he just stood, glued to the spot as the potential robbers left in somewhat of a hurry. The robbers and his ex, he watched them go, too numb to move before he to sped off.

***

  Barry ran up to the two CCPD workers at normal speed, ducking under the police tape to where Joe and Captain David Singh knelt, "Sorry Captain, I was at the hospital visiting a friend" he lied, the two men didn't seem too bothered though. They were rather used to his tardiness and Joe knew full well where he had been anyway.

"There's nothing missing, it looks like someone interrupted the robbery," Singh stated without commenting on Barry's late arrival- like he said, they were used to it.

"The guard said there was three men," Joe told his boss.

"Actually there was four," Barry said before realising what he had said and hastily added," I mean, that's how many I would bring for a robbery of this nature. This was defiantly a four guy truck. A driver, two more to cover the guards, and somebody used liquid nitrogen to crack open this door... so four bad guys."

  He hopped onto the truck then and was glancing at the way the door had been frozen, at the jagged edges that were still almost painfully cold to touch. It was such a Leonard Snart thing to do, something that showed his affiliation with the cold in a very obvious way. Barry huffed, half so incredibly angry, half completely exasperated and at a loss. Leonard had done this. He was back to being a fully fledged criminal, probably had been for a while. Barry looked down, he had at least hoped the older would make good of his life after the break up. He had seemed so guilt ridden in the moment,  and deep, deep down Barry had had enough faith in the guy to thing he would change, so that he didn't have that guilt anymore. He had been wrong about his ex... again.

***

  Barry showed Joe Snart's picture later after Joe asked for any info on the attempted robbery. He talked about Leonard like he didn't know him, of course Joe didn't know otherwise, and it both hurt him to do so and at the same time gave him a savage sense of pleasure. Barry had long ago convinced himself of what Leonard Snart was, that he was a criminal when they had met and that apparently would never change. Today had only confirmed it for him proving to be a bitter-sweet victory.

  There was the Snart thing and on top of that, Joe was giving Iris the cold shoulder, which Barry witnessed first hand when they were back at the C.C.P.D. building and he saw the hurt on both their faces as they crossed paths, Iris with coffee in hand. Barry couldn't blame Joe though. Iris had been dating his partner and kept it from him, although he long since figured it out. At the same time, Barry couldn't help but feel guilty as he had known but he hadn't told Joe. Much as he was keeping secrets from Iris. But he was even worse, Eddie and Iris had been dating for just over six months, Barry had kept, was keeping, secret a relationship that had lasted double that time.

  He tried to keep his thoughts in check as he and Iris joined up and walked back towards his lab. It was then she said something about starting a blog on the Streak causing him to skip a beat. That didn't bode well. Really didn't bode well, it could only attract trouble form his potential enemies...

  Just when he thought the day couldn't get any more chaotic they entered the lab to find Felicity Smoak standing there. He was so pleased to see her, they had really struck a bond back in Star and he missed her more than he realised before seeing her in that moment. After a warm hug, and an acknowledgment that the computer geek and barista knew each other, Felicity was there agreeing with Barry about the nutters on the web. She was her usual bubbly self, very interested in the lightning, which was a sore topic in front of Iris, but Barry was too pleased to see her to really complain.

***

  Barry brought Felicity to S.T.A.R. labs and had given away the fact that she worked with the Arrow without thinking. Smooth. Barry thought that she'd forgive him making up for it as he showed her his speed earlier, running to the top of building as they walked through the park and taking a picture of her on his phone. Which was just awesome to see the look on her face.

  Later they had a great time later on at a trivia evening at Jitters, they smashed the competition, it was a really good way to just wind down. Iris, however, seemed to be determined to get them together, hinting and openly asking questions which gave the whole thing a more than a little awkwardness. Barry told his best friend that he in fact only liked Felicity as a friend and he was half convinced Oliver would kill him if he touched her anyway- although he didn't mention it. The evening just proved to be a great distraction from Len.