"Does he ever shut up?" Marco muttered grimly. He was currently walking ahead of the Arrow and a slightly energetic Flash. Following the directions being given to him some five paces back, he wasn't keen to make a quick escape with a bow still being aimed at his thigh.
"Nope." Answered Oliver.
Barry was now skipping backwards, talking about a new suit him and Cisco were currently working on. Something about a white symbol, a brighter red ... To tell the truth, Oliver wasn't really listening.
"I think he's missed being a nerd." Oliver said sincerely.
"I heard that." Barry ran to his side, making the vigilante jump. Covering it up with a pointed glare in the speedsters direction, he shook his head and looked back to the Meta in front of them.
"Oh come on!" Barry pleaded, sounding like a five year old tugging at a siblings sleeve. "We've just got our memories back, can we joke a little bit please?"
"Yeah, have a laugh!" Marco shouted back nervously.
"You," Oliver thrust his bow in the Meta's direction, "Shut your mouth. And you," He turned to face Barry, "Need to remember we are still on a mission."
Barry sighed, defeated. "You know, you were more fun without your memories. At least you found some things funny."
"I do find things funny!"
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Like your face when you're being told off by Caitlin or Felicity."
Barry's mouth hung open. "Well look at you, Mr Sassy over there! I've taught you well, young padawan."
"Such a nerd."
They rounded the street corner and came face to face with the familiar S.T.A.R Labs van.
The side door slid open and Felicity Smoak ran out, arms flailing in the air, straight towards a grinning Oliver.
She flung herself into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and planting her lips ferociously on his.
Barry chuckled and waved his hand at Marco to head for the van and a smug-looking Cisco waiting for them.
"These," Cisco waved a pair of gloves in the Meta's face. "Are yours."
He chucked the gloves in Marco's direction and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to put them on.
Once Marco complied, he was bustled into the back of the van and handcuffed by Joe.
As soon as the thief was apprehended, Caitlin and Cisco both turned on unison and hugged Barry warmly.
"Hi guys." Said Barry, closing his eyes and falling into their embraces.
"Don't ever do that again!" Caitlin scolded lightly. Cisco rolled his eyes and patted Barry on the shoulder.
"It's good to have ya back buddy."
The speedster gave him a short nod before locking eyes with his foster father at the back of the van.
"Hey." He said, uncertainly.
"Hey." Joe murmured.
Neither moved for a couple more seconds. Finally, Joe walked forwards and hopped out of the back of the van to face Barry.
"Listen, Bar-"
The speedster didn't give him a chance to finish. With a flash of light, he was flinging himself into Joe's chest, squeezing him tight.
Stunned by the abrupt embrace, Joe went rigid, his eyes wide. Barry only hugged him tighter. Relaxing a little, the detective buried his head into his son's neck and returned the warm gesture.
"Don't scare me like that ever again, Bar'." Joe's words were muffled by Barry's suit.
Pulling back, the speedster chuckled. "You sound like Caitlin!"
Joe faked a shiver. "Yeah, well, she scares me so I'm sticking to her good side."
The men laughed, looked towards the van where Caitlin was standing bewildered, and laughed harder.
XXXX
Diggle watched as Felicity ran into his best friends arms. He smiled as they kissed passionately whilst Joe and Barry were reunited.
Turning back to the scientists left with him inside the van, he decided to ask the question that was on his mind.
"How'd you do it?"
Cisco and Caitlin's heads snapped up from where they had been untangling a bunch of wires.
"Do what?" Caitlin questioned.
"How'd you get them to remember?"
Understanding dawned on their faces.
Caitlin began to explain. "Me and Cisco were discussing a theory back at the lab-"
"A theory?" Diggle's eyes bulged.
"Well, more of a kind of hypothesis. We were, like, 80% sure it was gonna work if that makes you feel ... any ... better ..."
Cisco trailed off by the look on Diggle's face. It didn't make him feel better ...
"Diggle, we were pretty certain it would work. And it was the only plan we had got."
As much as he hated to agree, Diggle nodded and allowed them to continue.
Caitlin took his silence as her cue. "We'd seen before that their minds reacted instinctively when forced into a situation where they were trying to remember. Like before, when Oliver and Barry fought, they both seemed to remember little things, feelings if you'd like, because their mind was fighting against the wall blocking their memories, telling them what to do and what they shouldn't.
"However, as we saw, the wall was still pretty strong. We couldn't rely on life-threatening situations to sort this out."
"Only we did." Cisco added.
Diggle was totally and utterly lost. "What?" He said dumbly.
Caitlin took a deep breath. "It was clear that life-threatening situations had their mind reacting the most. So we needed to put them in one. We sent them to the bank to deal with Marco. We weren't counting on Ronnie and Martin to leave so soon, but things worked out in the end.
"Basically, we knew that without proper memories of their training, we weren't expecting them to win. But in their defense, they held out longer than we expected." Cisco nodded by her side. "As things progressed, Marco revealed his 'array' of weapons-"
"You knew he had them?" Diggle snapped, a little harsher than he should of done. But Cisco cast it aside.
"Yeah, keep up!"
"Anyway," Caitlin continued, "When Barry was at the end of the gun, they were both starting to, without realising, remember. Their brain activity was off the charts. Both of them were subconsciously screaming for one another. That's when mine and Cisco's idea came in." She looked over at Cisco, allowing him to take over.
"You know electroshock therapy?"
Diggle's eyes widened even more. Cisco didn't think he'd seen him blink in the last minute.
"Well, it can be used to help access parts of the brain which trigger memories." Cisco paused, rubbing his hands anxiously. "Me and Caitlin wired a piece of tech into their ear-pieces, ready for when it was needed. When Barry was at gunpoint and their brain activity was high enough to suggest they were near-enough to remembering, we gave them a carefully calculated wave of electricity. It was all that was needed to break down the wall. Once their brain activity was dying down, we knew they had remembered as much as they could, and we stopped the pulse. And ta-da, here we are now, one big happy family again."
The fury in Diggle's now blood-shot eyes, could've made a man run for miles.
{A/N}
One chapter left. Enjoy it!