Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but the stuff I create... blah, blah, blah... okay, we good?
A/N: This is the second part of Chapter 15 and goes over the episode Three Ghosts (Arrow Season 2, Episode 9). Like the previous part, I decided to just watch the episode, so the youtube videos I found might not completely line up. Sorry this is so late! Enjoy the chapter!
***
Previously:
"That's how you found out?" Cisco asked.
"How else did you think I found out Oliver was the Arrow?" Barry countered.
"I thought it would be something cool, like he approached you and revealed who he was or something," Cisco complained and Barry rolled his eyes.
"Hey, with me he just brought me to the 'flooded basement' or whatever and showed me all that," Thea said.
"Better than Barry's," Iris admitted.
"Oh yeah... that was bad," Barry scratched the back of his next.
***
The scene continues where Oliver is coding, Diggle and Felicity run up to his side, right before Barry shouts, "hold him!"
"He's not gonna make it," Diggle says, holding down Oliver's right shoulder and taking a pulse with his other hand.
"I've survived worse," Oliver said, turning to Diggle, "but thanks for the faith."
"You're welcome," Diggle said sarcastically.
"I think we all have survived worse Ollie," Sara commented.
"True," Oliver agreed and the other heroes nodded in agreement.
"He will," Felicity insists, holding Oliver's legs. Barry looks stressed as he tries to figure out what is going on with Oliver, as Felicity continues to speak, "we just have to find out what is in his system."
"I-I-I usually only work on dead people," Barry spits out nervously.
"That's... reassuring," Thea said sarcastically.
"I was stressed and it was true!" Barry defended.
"You're working on my brother, who was coding!" Thea countered.
"Barry!" Felicity shouts, regaining Barry's attention.
"Alright. I can think of four possible diagnoses for what's causing his body to react this way," Barry says, walking over to the same side of Oliver Diggle's on, checking his pupils, "make that three possible diagnoses." Barry looks at Oliver's chest, "two." He looks at the heart monitor and tells Diggle, "start chest compressions." Barry grabs a syringe from a tray, "I need to get to his arm." Looking at the blood he pulled, Barry makes a diagnosis, "got it. He's suffering from intravenous coagulation."
"Are you sure you're not like a doctor or something?" Trent asked.
"Nope, but I helped Hayden study while he was in college, so I remembered a few things from then. And then I also took a bunch of science classes, remember?" Barry answered.
"Do you have photographic memory?" Caitlin asked.
"Nope, just a good one," Barry replied.
"You sure about that... Bart?" Cisco asked, smirking slightly to himself while Wally, Joe, and Iris tried to keep themselves from laughing.
"Wait, what? I'm Barry, not Bart," Barry said confused. Wally, Cisco, Joe, and Iris all burst out laughing at Barry's confusion.
"Later, with Savitar," Cisco explained.
"Did you try to stop me from making memories, but then didn't account for the increased speed of my neurons firing, so then I lost all my memories?" Barry asked.
"Um... yeah," Cisco answered, "that was actually a pretty good explanation."
"You did what?" Caitlin yelled.
"Well, I'm sorry, you were kind of indisposed of at the moment, being Killer Frost and all," Cisco shrugged. "And Barry wasn't there to pull you out of it like he did last time, which might I say, was a very dumb move."
"I did what I thought was right and I didn't see you stopping me," Barry defended.
"Well, I was mad, but-" Cisco started
"Okay, let's just move on, it seems like we'll see this later," Oliver interrupted.
"What?" Felicity asks.
"His blood is unnaturally clotting. It's like maple syrup," Barry explains.
"Great analogy, Barry," Oliver said sarcastically.
"You're welcome!" Barry smiled brightly back at his friend.
"You can save him right?" Felicity asks.
Barry looks up as the beeping continues and says, "alright." He walks to one part of the foundry with a bunch of chemicals and grabs the rat poison. He tells Diggle and Felicity, "lucky you guys have a rat problem."
"Rat poison? You gave my brother rat poison?!" Thea yelled.
"It was to save him, he would've died if I didn't give it to him," Barry explained, "and the only side effects would've been excessive sweating and hallucinations."
"Those were not fun," Oliver said.
"Hey, if I remember correctly, the hallucinations were all you because the rat poison had gotten all out of your system," Barry defended.
"Yeah, man," Diggle agreed, "you needed to find the message that they were telling you."
Oliver rolled his eyes as the two laughed, along with Felicity.
As Barry pours the rat poison into a beaker to mix, while Diggle shouts, "You're kidding? That'll kill him!"
"That's what I was thinking!" Thea mumbled.
"He dies if I don't," Barry counters.
"Felicity..." Diggle asks.
"Do it!" Felicity orders.
Holding up a filled syringe, Barry walks over and says, "just the right amount of this stuff will thin his blood enough to get it circulating again." Barry injects the golden/bronze colored liquid into Oliver's arm.
"He's crashing," Diggle says.
"Oliver, stay with me!" Felicity cries.
"Oh my God!" Thea gasped.
"Hey, I'm still here. I'm not dead," Oliver told her.
"Yet," Felicity added and Oliver lightly glared at her.
The scene transitions to Barry slowly pulling a piece of paper off Oliver's neck, when suddenly Oliver wakes up and puts his right hand around Barry's neck, who gasps in surprise. Diggle tries to pull Oliver off Barry.
Joe started to stand up angrily while Barry and Captain Singh struggled to hold him back.
"Okay, Joe, just calm down," Barry said.
"You didn't say that that happened!" Joe yelled.
"Calm down!" Barry repeated. "I'm fine."
"That's not fine, that's attempted murder. He tried to kill you!" Joe countered, but sat down, still glaring at Oliver.
"No, he didn't!" Barry yelled, but Joe gave him a look, "okay, he did. But I'm still here. I'm fine. I'm not dead. And we're friends now. He's not a bad person, yes he's killed, he's made mistakes, but so has everyone else here! He's human, just like me and you. Well, technically I'm a metahuman, but whatever. What matters is, he's had my back and I'll have his whenever he needs it."
Joe sighed, "I know, but you're my kid. I'm supposed to protect you. But I couldn't do that when you were adopted by your uncle and aunt. I couldn't do that when you were in college. I certainly can't do that now that you're the Flash because you just constantly run into danger. So the one time I might actually have the chance to do my job as your father, you don't tell me, and I can't do anything about it!"
Barry was speechless and went over to hug Joe, "I-I-I didn't realize you felt that way, but the thing is... you do protect me. You've always protected me, by letting me be myself, by letting me be adopted by Pa and Ma, by letting me travel and go downl my own path, by protecting the people I love, my family, my friends. You have protected me and you still do."
"Oliver, let him go," Diggle tells him.
"Oliver!" Felicity cries.
Oliver releases Barry, slumping back down to the table as Barry falls backwards, leaning over another table, gasping for air.
"What the hell is going on?" Oliver asks in frustration.
"You were injected with a strong-acting blood coagulant," Felicity explains, grabbing onto Oliver's arm.
Barry coughs and slowly gets up, "you would have stroked out, ahem, but fortunately you had a very effective blood thinner handy. Warfarin. Better known as rat poison."
"The kid saved your life, Oliver," Diggle tells the man, who looks confused and angry at the same time.
"This is the point in a life-saving emergency where you thank the person that did the life-saving," Felicity tells Oliver.
"Thank you," Oliver told Barry sincerely.
"Anytime, you'd do the same for me and you have. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you more though," Barry responded, feeling a bit guilty about not being there for Oliver's trial.
"Hey, it's fine. We'll get through it. We always do," Oliver reassured.
"Since when is Oliver Queen giving mini hope speeches?" Alex asked teasingly.
"Ever since I was mayor and things started going sideways," Oliver answered truthfully.
"You told him who I am," Oliver accuses Felicity.
"Yeah, I did," Felicity says.
"That's not your secret to tell, Felicity," Oliver says angrily, "I decide who finds out my identity."
"Well, we didn't have time to get your vote, what with you unconscious and dying," Felicity shouts, moving next to Oliver.
"She has a point," Roy pointed out.
"Well, I wasn't really thinking straight," Oliver growled, glaring at Roy.
"What happens if he leaves here and goes right to the police?" Oliver counters.
"Technically speaking I would because I have a job there, but I wouldn't have told them you were the vigilante," Barry pointed out.
"True," Felicity agreed.
"He wouldn't do that," Felicity answers.
"I wouldn't do that," Barry reassures at the same time.
"I trust him," Felicity says.
"I don't!" Oliver exclaims.
"What are you gonna do? Put an arrow in him?" Felicity asks.
"Nope, he's gonna put two," Barry answered.
Oliver glared at Barry in response.
"I am considering it," Oliver admits angrily, turning to Barry.
"Don't worry, he's kidding!" Felicity yells to Barry. "How's this any different from when your mother shot you and you came to me for help?"
"Your mother shot you?" Emma asked, causing Barry, Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle to laugh, while everyone looked at them confusedly.
"Your mother shot you?" Barry asks, causing Oliver to point a finger at him.
This caused everyone to laugh, understanding why the other four laughed before.
"Or when you brought Dig down here when he was poisoned with curare," Felicity continues.
"You were poisoned?" Sugar asked.
"A Deadshot speciality," Diggle spat out.
"Deadshot?" Coach Beiste asked.
"An assassin who would lace his bullets with curare. Killed my brother, who was actually alive, but then I killed him," Diggle answered shortly.
"You killed your brother?" Puck choked out, looking at his own brother.
"Yeah, he was a traitor and evil and threatened my wife and child, what would have you done?" Diggle asked rhetorically and Puck looked down, nodding his head in understanding before kissing the top of Quinn's head.
"Well, the difference is that I did my homework on both of you!" Oliver yells at Felicity's face, before calming down a bit. "I don't just tell people easily."
"No you don't," Cisco agreed before backing down when Oliver glared at him.
"Uh, I-I'm not going to tell anyone," Barry says, stepping in as Olvier and Felicity glare at each other. "And you don't have to thank me, but you should thank her instead of being kind of a jerk." Oliver takes a step towards Barry, glaring at him. Barry leans back a bit before finishing, spitting out "Mr. Queen."
Oliver's phone chimes with a text message from his mother: "Can You Please Come Home." Oliver sighs and turns to his team, "I have to go home. That man that I fought in the bunker, he has what he needs to mass produce the serum from the island. And we have to stop him."
"Serum?" Trent asked.
"A serum that gave people more strength, better reflexes, and a slight health factor. It could save lives, but in the hands of the wrong people, it could destroy them," Oliver answered.
"So... steroids, basically," Trent summarized.
"That's one way to put it," Thea shrugged.
Oliver brushes past Barry, who picks up the paper he had put on Oliver's neck. "He touched your skin when he grabbed your neck. I was able to absorb the residual oils from his skin which, when added to a gel-based polymer might be able to recreate his fingerprint."
"Nerd Barry moment number, what is it now?" Iris turned to Thea.
"Like four or five, there's too many!" Thea exclaimed, laughing along with Iris.
Oliver nods, before climbing back up the stairs.
"Never meet your heroes, right?" Felicity says, approaching Barry from behind, who sighs in response.
The scene changes to Barry looking at the Arrow suit in the glass display case. He turns to Diggle and Felicity, "I knew the vigilante had partners."
"Oh my gosh," Barry sighed, putting his head in his hands.
"What's going on?" Kara asked curiously.
"Oh you know, just me nerding out about Oliver and not science for once," Barry mumbled under his breath.
"Aahhh, makes sense," Kara said, nodding, trying to keep a grin off her face. She continued when Barry looked at her confused, "super hearing, remember?"
"Right, forgot about that for a moment. You know above your flight, your x-ray vision, your super strength, your invulnerability..." Barry trailed off.
"Actually not that invulnerable. Kryptonite, only thing that can hurt me, but unfortunately there's many types," Kara said, "and it might not have been the best idea to announce that to the greater population."
"Girl, we already know you guys are all heroes and that you're an alien, your secret safe with us," Unique reassured with a bit of sass and Kara smiled sadly back at her.
"And you won't be getting anywhere near that stuff, not if I can help it," Alex reassured as well, putting her hand on her sister's arm.
"And all the kryptonite has been destroyed on my end, including the recipe for it," Lena added.
"You had kryptonite?" Barry asked accusingly.
"Well, my brother did. But yes, I did have it," Lena answered, putting her head up, meeting Barry's eyes with a glare of her own.
"It was used for good," Kara reassured Barry, "as long as General Lane or Lillian don't get their hands on it again, we're all good, human wise at least."
"Who are they?" Cisco asked.
"General Lane is my cousin's girlfriend's and James' ex-girlfriend's father. Lillian Luthor is..." Kara answered.
"My mother," Lena finished, "my brother, Lex tried to kill Clark multiple times and my mother is the leader of Project Cadmus, an anti-alien group."
"Still wondering what kryptonite is..." Kitty singsonged.
"Right, it's a radioactive mineral from my home planet, Krypton that can hurt me, but it can be created as Lex Luthor has proven. So there are multiple types: Green, which can hurt and possibly kill me, Red brings out every bad thought, like my worst self, but it doesn't hurt me or block my powers, Silver makes me hallucinate the people I love as my worst enemies, again it doesn't hurt me or block my powers either. Blue, which was able to defeat Bizarro. And finally, Black or the Harun-el, which we used to defeat Reign, but before that it was used to power the protective dome of Argo City, what is left of Krypton and where my mom lives," Kara explained, before turning to her sister, "I got that all right, right?"
"I think that's it," Alex nodded.
"Wow, that's a lot. I can't really imagine you having a weakness," Diggle admitted.
"On this Earth, maybe, but on mine... full of aliens, it's not a surprise," Kara shrugged.
"He likes to be called the Arrow now," Diggle says, as Barry continues to look at the equipment on display.
"You three have messed with some really nasty people," Barry continues, ignoring Diggle's comment, "I mean, the Dollmaker, Count Vertigo, Dodger, the Huntress."
"We weren't keeping score," Diggle says, facing Barry.
Turning to face Diggle, before turning back to the display case full of arrows, Barry states, "I was."
"You were really into this stuff, weren't you?" Blaine asked Barry.
"He's almost as bad as you," Kurt commented.
"Hey!" Blaine exclaimed.
"Kurt's right, your obsession with superheroes..." Sam trailed off.
"Okay, I'm not obsessed with them," Blaine defended.
"Yes you are," all of the Warblers said in unison.
"You guys as well!" Blaine threw his hands up.
"To answer Blaine's question, I was really into it. Like I said before, maybe he could've stopped my mom from being murdered. Maybe I could make sense of this case we were working on, bringing me one step closer to finding who actually killed her and free my dad," Barry answered.
"But keeping track of the people he defeated?" Blane asked.
"Well, they were interesting 'villains' and it showed his ability to defeat them, so yeah. Dollmaker, a serial killer that dressed his victims up as dolls. Count Vertigo, sold his own type of vertigo on the streets, but it was stronger. Dodger, forced people to steal stuff for him by putting a bomb collar around their necks. Huntress, a former protege of the vigilante's who wanted justice for her dead fiance in the form of killing her father and everyone he worked with," Barry explained.
"How did you catch these guys because it doesn't sound that easy?" Blaine asked curiously.
"Well we got Dollmaker based on his victims, who all wore the same face cream. Count Vertigo based off the flu shot van or something that travelled through the Glades. Dodger, that wasn't very fun. Huntress, we just tracked her down by finding out where her father was," Felicity answered.
"Cool," Blaine whispered in awe.
"Not when your life's on the line," Felicity answered and Blaine looked confused for a moment, "I offered to use myself as bait for the Dollmaker by buying that face cream. I investigated one of the trucks and got kidnapped by Count Vertigo. And with the Dodger he put one of his collars on me until Dig was able to get it off and Oliver defeated him."
"I thought you were only tech help?" Quinn said.
"You're never only tech help," all the techies (Felicity, Winn, and Cisco) said together.
Oliver then calls for Barry, walking into the foundry. "The rat poison that you gave me, are there any side effects?"
"Uh, um, y-yeah, I think... hallucinations, maybe? And excessive sweating," Barry answers. "Are you sweating excessively?"
"That's seriously the first thing you asked?" Thea laughed at Barry who turned red. "Wouldn't the logical answer be hallucinations if he doesn't look sweaty?"
"True, but I can't say I was thinking very logically at this point," Barry admitted, "like I said... it was a weird week."
"You're hallucinating? What are you seeing?" Felicity asks, when Oliver doesn't answer.
"A girl named Shado that was with me on the island," Oliver answers.
Felicity takes her hand off Oliver's arm and says jealously, "Shado. Sara. How many women were you marooned with? You sure this wasn't fantasy island?"
"Sorry, I just realized how bad that sounded," Felicity apologized.
"It's fine, you didn't know," Oliver muttered.
"It's still inexcusable. I know the island was hell for you, but I don't know, I guess I was just jealous," Felicity admitted.
Oliver kissed the top of Felicity's head and giving her a small smile, "you're good."
Felicity moves backwards to where she was before, only for Barry to step in, in front of Oliver, stating, "you did train in a jungle or forest environment, hence the green." Oliver looks unimpressed, continuing to glare at Barry, who then decided to back off, "hey, let me draw some blood, see what's up." Barry walks over to a table, across from the suit, pulling out some materials to draw some of Oliver's blood, "hey, can I ask you something? Why no mask? Not to tell you how to do your vigilante-ing, but the grease paint thing... i-it's a poor identity concealer."
"You got guts Barry," Sara said, "facing Oliver and telling him something like that."
"Worth it, I got him that sick mask," Barry shrugged.
"How'd you get it done so fast?" Felicity asked.
"I know people," Barry answered, shrugging again.
"So, find me a mask that conforms perfectly to my face and doesn't affect my ability to aim while I'm on the run." Oliver challenges, pulling his arm away when Barry's done.
"You should look into a compressible micro fabric," Barry suggests, "it could be great."
"Hm... why didn't I think of that?" Winn asked himself.
"I like my suit Winn, it's perfect," Kara smiled at her friend, "although that first one was questionable to say the least.."
"I found Cyrus Gold," Felicity says from her place by the computers.
"Who's Cyrus Gold?" Oliver asks, walking over to Felicity.
"Human weapon that left you nearly dead the other night," Diggle answers, walking over to the other side of Felicity, "the kid did manage to pull his print off your neck."
"I've had facial recognition software scanning closed circuit cameras all over town. He's at the corner of Delgado and 25th right now, but we're just about to lose him," Felicity says, pulling up some camera footage.
"What else is at that intersection?" Oliver asks.
"A parking lot, a market, a motel," Felicity points out from a map.
"Could be where he's holed up," Diggle adds.
"I got this," Oliver says determinedly, walking over to his suit.
"Dude, you were having hallucinations," Roy mentioned.
"And you were chasing leads down after I shot you in the leg and told you not to," Oliver growled.
"Wait you shot him too?" Barry asked.
"Yep, but it healed quickly because I was injected with the mirakuru serum not long after," Roy explained.
"Oliver," Diggle says, walking up to Oliver, "why don't you let me handle this one? It's just recon."
"Yes, listen to Diggle," Thea begged.
"Fine," Oliver sighs. "But I'm going as your backup."
"See, I did," Oliver shot back at Thea.
"You're going as backup, it's just recon, Dig could handle it on his own," Thea said.
"Actually, it was better that Oliver was there," Felicity mentioned.
"Of course it was," Thea sighed.
The two walk up the stairs and Barry turns in his chair, facing Felicity and reassures her, "don't worry. I'll figure out what is wrong with Oliver."
"You'd be the first," Felicity tells him and Barry only smiles in response, turning back to his work.
Oliver glared at his wife playfully, who just matched his glare with her own, "hey it's true. No one could really figure you out."
The scene changes to Barry in the foundry, with some safety glasses, mixing some chemicals when Felicity comes up from behind him asking what he is doing.
"Uh, just messing around with something," Barry answers, putting a beaker over a flame and taking off the safety glasses.
"Shouldn't you be trying to figure out what's causing Oliver's hallucinations?" Felicity asks, sitting down on her chair.
"The sample's still being scanned," Barry says, pointing to a machine, "shouldn't be too much longer."
"Good."
"You're really worried about him, huh?" Barry asks.
"He takes crazy chances. Even when he's not hallucinating about beautiful island girls."
"Hmm," Barry sighs, covering his mouth with his hand. "The other night, I asked you if you liked Oliver."
"I told you. I don't."
"I remember. But if you did... I could see why," Barry chuckles awkwardly, "I mean, Oliver Queen. He is a billionaire by day and saves the city by night."
Felicity laughs, "it sounds like you wanna date him."
Oliver raised an eyebrow at Barry, who shrugged in response, "I mean billionaire by day, saves the city by night. Is pretty hot, a known playboy/badboy, what's not to like?"
"Still sounds like you want to date him," Felicity pointed out.
"Hey, I'm a married man now. But at the same time, both Iris and I can now gush about how hot Oliver Queen is," Barry grinned teasingly, causing Iris to laugh from next to Thea.
"And Oliver and I will not be doing the same about the pair of you," Felicity gave them a pointed look, while both Barry and Iris looked offended in a playful way.
"I just have a little experience with liking someone who doesn't see you the same way."
Barry then turns on a computer, showing a news report in Central City about the protests on the Particle Accelerator, interrupting the awkward silence that had suddenly enveloped the room.
"Still wondering how I managed to get the girl," Barry faced Iris, who was still sitting next to Thea. Iris blew a kiss to him in response. "Even after someone told me that the hero never gets them," Barry said, turning to Oliver now.
"I was wrong," Oliver muttered under his breath, barely heard and Barry laughed.
"I guess I won't be back in time to see them turn it on," Barry says.
*Time Jump*
"So, any plans for Christmas?" Barry asks, assuming Felicity celebrates the holiday.
Felicity quickly corrects him, "lighting my menorah."
"Oof," Niff said at the same time.
"Yeah, not my best moment," Barry scratched the back of his neck.
"Hey," Oliver greets, walking into the foundry.
"Hi. How are you feeling?" Felicity asks, spinning around to meet Oliver's eye.
"Fine. I just... it's a little bit crowded at my house. And I... wanted to come down here to get a little privacy," Oliver answers.
"Yeah," Felicity stands up and starts to leave, "come on barry, we can watch the countdown at Big Belly Burger."
(A/N: Okay, so there was some time continuity issues between this episode and the pilot, so this is kind of my version of what could've happened since it's nighttime in this scene, but Barry somehow manages to finish eating dinner and "watch the countdown" in SC and get struck in the same night, while also doing a case in Central City earlier in the day)
"Wait, I thought you didn't get struck until the night after?" Thea asked.
Barry turned to Caitlin and Cisco for an explanation. "Dr. Wells said that a few more kinks needed to be sorted out, so we postponed the launch until the next day," Cisco explained.
"But now thinking about it, I think he was just waiting for Barry to get back to Central City so that he could be struck by the lightning caused by the Particle Accelerator so that he'd become the Flash," Caitlin added.
"That makes sense. I mean considering he was planning all this out for him to go back to the future, which isn't at all like the movie unfortunately," Barry agreed.
"Um, what are you talking about?" Wes asked.
"Yo-" Barry started.
"Right, I'll see... don't know what else I was expecting," Wes sighed.
"Your blood analysis is almost done," Barry tells Oliver as he gets up and follows Felicity out of the foundry. Oliver thanks him before throwing his jacket down, bouncing a tennis ball in between his hands.
*Time Jump*
Barry and Felicity walk back into the foundry, Big Belly Burger bag in hand, to find Oliver sweeping up glass.
"What happened in here? Did someone break in?" Felicity asks frantically.
"No," Oliver responds calmly.
"You know, just your usual fight against a hallucination," Felicity shrugged.
"How'd you find out?" Oliver asked, surprised she got it in one try.
"Still have that tone of surprise..." Felicity sighed and shook her head in pretend disappointment, "kidding, there are cameras in the foundry you know that right? Still a wonder how any of us were found out early then we did. Anyways, you kept crashing into things and kicking and punching at the air. I put two and two together and yeah... you didn't even wipe the footage."
The blood analysis machine beeps, signifying that it's done and Barry tells Oliver this. Looking at the screen, Barry tells Oliver his results, "good news."
"So you know what's in my system?" Oliver asks.
"Uh, but th-that's the thing yo-your blood's clean," Barry tells him. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"There is plenty wrong with me," Oliver disagreed.
"No there isn't," Barry, Thea, Felicity, and even Kara said together.
"Yes, you have your flaws and make mistakes, but you're still a good person," Barry continued.
"Then why am I hallucinating?" Oliver asks angrily.
"I don't know," Barry answers. "I mean, whatever your problem is, it's not pharmacological. It's psychological."
"It's in my head," Oliver concludes.
"It's in your head," Barry finishes at the same time.
"It's in your head," Alex concluded at the same time as two on the screen, causing her to blush slightly. Everyone looked at her weirdly, "what? I went to Med School and it's kind of obvious, don't you think?"
The computer beeps and Felicity is looking at it with worry, "oh, my God. Oliver."
Oliver walks out of the room after seeing what Felicity had just seen.
"Felicity, what is it?" Diggle asks.
"It's Det-Officer Lance, he's in the ICU," Felicity says.
"What happened?" Kurt gasped.
"He went after Cyrus Gold," Felicity answered after a moment.
"He's okay though, right?" Blaine asked.
"He was after this, but um... he's gone now," Sara answered.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I-" Blaine stuttered.
"No, no, no, it's um... it's fine," Sara sighed, leaning into Ava. "You didn't know."
"Is he okay?" Barry asks.
"Yeah, but his partner, Hilton, he's dead," Felicity responds, tears feeling her eyes as Barry pulls her into a hug.
All the people in the police department as well as the members of Original Team Arrow, looked down in guilt and in sadness, knowing what it was like working in the police department and knowing that they were one of the reasons that Hilton had died.
*Time Jump*
Barry and Felicity are sitting together, looking over the key Oliver got from Lance as Diggle and Oliver talk in the background.
"Guys, we got something here," Felicity says, interrupting their conversation, "I scanned the key Lance gave you and traced its serial code back to the manufacturer."
As Oliver and Diggle walk up to the pair, Barry continues, "this particular key fits a locked gate somewhere on Crescent Circle in the Glades."
Oliver grabs his bow from the rack as Felicity stands up worriedly, "where are you going? You can't go out there in your condition."
Oliver sighs and looks down at Felicity, "I have to stop this."
"Oliver, Gold left you half-dead which is 50% better than how he left Detective Hilton," Felicity tells him.
"Preach," Thea exclaimed, "what? I want my brother to stay alive."
"I think we all do," Roy whispered.
"No duh," Thea hissed back.
"Felicity, I don't have a choice," Oliver counters. "I'll come back."
"Promise me," she whispers.
"Always," Oliver whispered to his wife, who smiled up at him and kissed him lightly on the lips.
*Time Jump*
Oliver walks down the stairs of the foundry to Felicity's open arms after his fight with Cyrus Gold.
"Wait, what happened?" Winn asked.
"Oliver fought Cyrus and the head brother or whatever. Roy got injected with the mirakuru, then saved his life, then he left after hallucinating something - you were having a one sided conversation that didn't make any sense so..." Felicity explained.
"Right," Oliver nodded.
"And this is normal for all of you?" Jake asked.
"Yep, well I have to deal with aliens rather than serum powered humans," Kara answered.
"Time travel, time demons, magic and other aberrations," Sara answered for her team.
"Metas," Barry added.
"Alrighty then..." Jake trailed off.
Puck leaned over to his brother, whispering, "just go with it. I think we've all learned that this is the new normal for, well... everyone."
"Still have a ghost problem?" Diggle asks from the side.
"No, I got the message," Oliver says, stepping away from Felicity's hug, "but we... we have other problems."
"Wouldn't be us if we didn't," Diggle says,
"Roy was injected with the serum," Oliver announces, putting his bow aside.
"Oh my God. Is he okay?" Felicity asks.
"He's alive," Oliver states blatantly. "But we are gonna have to keep an eye on him."
"And Cyrus Gold?" Diggle asks.
"Died on Saturday, buried on Sunday," Oliver states, "but he was working with someone. I saw him, he wore a mask with the image of a... of a skull. He's trying to mass produce the serum to build an army."
"For what?" Diggle asks.
"You're a soldier," Oliver tells Diggle, "what's the primary purpose of an army?
"War," Diggle sighs.
"Who would want to start a war?" Artie asked.
"A whole lot of people, especially back then in the Glades," Oliver answered.
"But, why?" Artie pushed.
"The Glades isn't really the best part of town... to say the least. The year before this, it got leveled and they were all angry," Felicity answered.
"So they were just angry, why not make it better... rebuild it?" Blaine suggested.
"Not a lot of the rich people in Starling wanted to. The entire reason the Glades got levelled in the first point was because some of the people there had killed Merlyn's wife, Rebecca," Oliver said. "It was a plan created by Merlyn yes, but a bunch of the other upper class people were also in on it."
"What about the guilt or anything like that?" Kurt asked.
"My mom warned the Glades about it and she was nearly found guilty of the murder of 503 people and nearly died because of it. With that and the vigilante going after the people on the list, I don't think they were really encouraged to admit what they did," Thea explained.
"How do you know about the list?" Oliver asked.
"Looked through the stuff in the bunker once, found the book, found the list. Most of the people on the list were killed by the vigilante, so I put two and two together," Thea responded.
"Right... I remember how much you liked to look through my stuff," Oliver nodded his head.
Thea shrugged, "call it habit... I did it a bunch when you were on the island, to remember you by something. Or to just make it seem like you were still there, even when you weren't."
Oliver then looks around the foundry for Barry and Felicity tells him he went back to Central City. "Wanted to get home in time to see them turn on the particle accelerator," Felicity's phone rings, "I should take this. Hi."
"Hey," Barry says from the other side.
(A/N: I'm kind of going to skip the entire thing just because as I said before it doesn't line up with the Flash pilot, which I'm going to go off of, so... here's a lovely time jump to the end of the phone call!)
"I left something for Oliver," Barry finishes. "I hope he likes it."
"Love it," Oliver commented, "it's helped a lot. And you were right it's a better identity concealer."
"Ha ha! Thanks!" Barry raised his hand to give Oliver a high five, who shook his head and refused to finish the other half, but Barry just sped over, raised Oliver's hand and high fived it before returning to his own seat, flashing him a grin and Oliver shook his head, "I did tell you that I'm fast enough to hug you without you realizing, the same goes for high fives."
"Bye, Barry," Felicity says.
"Bye, Felicity," Barry says before Felicity ends the call and sees the box Barry left behind.
Barry puts down his phone and hangs up a clipping of the news article about the case in Starling City on a board of other articles and images, all tied to his mother's murder. The thunder outside increases and a bright tower of light shoots up from STAR Labs. Barry grabs the chains, pulling on them to close the skylight, when the liquids in the beakers on the shelf beside him start to defy gravity, like they did the night of his mother's murder.
"Wait, is this when you were struck?" Blaine asked, turning to Barry worriedly. Barry nodded numbly, Iris walking back to sit next to her husband, who rubbed his neck.
"We won't be seeing that just yet, this is just a sneak peak if you will," The Ceiling Voice spoke up sweetly, interrupting the somber silence that had enveloped the room.
The scene transitions to Oliver taking out a mask from the box.
"Even the Arrow deserves a Christmas present," Diggle says, taking the box from Oliver as Felicity moves forward to slip the mask over Oliver's head.
"Yes he does," Felicity agreed, smiling at her husband warmly.
"Hey, this was the Christmas after Oliver came back that we decided to not throw a party, right? And then after that..." Thea asked, turning to Oliver.
"Yeah, mom didn't want to have one after the turn out for the gala before and then everything flew out the window and we never had one again," Oliver responded.
"Okay, announcement: after your little Warbler reunion or whatever, Christmas Party at the Queen loft, 'kay?" Thea declared, "and Ollie, you're going down this year!"
"I'll still beat you. No cheating though Speedy," Oliver said, matching Thea's challenging glare.
"Okay, what are you talking about?" Roy asked.
"Queen Christmas Tradition: Who could eat the most candy canes," Thea answered with a smile, "and I kind of want to see a Barry versus Kara faceoff."
Barry and Kara faced each other competitively and said in unison, "you're on."
Coach Beiste kindly redirected the conversation, "how about we finish these clips and do this later."
"Here," Felicity adjusts the mask.
"How do I look?" Oliver asks, pulling up his hood.
"Like a hero," Felicity answers.
"Wow... so, um... kinda scared to find out what happens next," Sam admitted.
"Don't be, it's just a particle accelerator explosion, a lightning strike, a nine month coma, superpowers, a tornado, an evil speedster, a telepathic gorilla, time travel, death, multiple earths, more death... the usual," Barry shrugged.
"Great," Sam sighed.
"It'll be fine, just remember it's in the past so technically you can't change it... well you shouldn't anyways," Barry reassured. "Learned my mistake from the last time."
"We do it all the time though," Ray pointed out with a smile, "travelling through time making sure no people in history mess it up."
"Although, we screw things up for the better sometimes," Nate said, high fiving Ray.
"Is that like your slogan or something now?" Cisco asked, "because that's actually kinda good. I approve."
"Yes, and we weren't asking for it," Nate and Ray said in unison.
Cisco rolled his eyes, "no respect... honestly! Hey, why don't we have a slogan?"
"We don't need one," Barry shrugged.
"We totally do!" Cisco exclaimed.
"Fine, make something up and maybe..." Barry sighed and trailed off.
"What about you guys?" Cisco asked Teams Arrow and Supergirl.
"We're good," Oliver growled.
"Sure!" Kara piped up.
"Hey! I could totally make a slogan for us if you wanted!" Winn exclaimed "we're Super Friends for goodness sake!"
"No, Kara and I are Super Friends!" Barry exclaimed.
"Sorry, Winn... but this one goes to Barry," Kara told her friend.
"I'm your superfriend, your superfriend," Barry sang, while Winn rolled his eyes, still slightly annoyed, but couldn't keep a smile off his face at his two friends.
"Okay... Before the two of you start to spoil anything else, let's move on!" The Ceiling Voice cheered. "On to the next clip!"
***
A/N: I also want your guys' opinion on the length of chapters: is it too long? Or are they just right? Anyways... thanks for reading, thanks for all the comments and votes. Stay safe and healthy.