Astrid sat in a bar, in a small town that she wasn't all that familiar with. She scanned the drunken patrons. None of whom were a threat to the lone forty-year old woman who could break their arms if they tried anything.

She was far away from home not that it would feel much like home if she were there. The crumbling of STAR Labs had been a sign that leaving Central City was long overdue. It had been five years since she had left, but seeing the scarlet speedster in the paper almost brought a tear to her eye. She was happy that he was enjoying the limelight. Good for him.

He and Iris surely deserved their happiness, but after everything… she would not return. She still felt resentment that he had kept her in the dark about her true identity, for a very long time. And although she could understand why, it still hurt. They had been a family, but after everything went to hell, that had been broken. Cisco was dead, Barry was a father and even Caitlin had gone her own way.

But then she saw the man that she was waiting for, enter the door. He looked as if he hadn't shaven in months, probably because she knew that he hadn't. He nodded at her from the door and walked towards her, taking his seat in the booth across from her.

"It's been a while, Ollie." She said, finishing her scotch.
"It has." He said, glancing at the newspaper before her, "Things certainly have changed."
"Yeah, they have… so cut the crap! You've been searching for me for over a year. What do you want?"

"What? No hug?" he asked, with a smile. She stared at him, tempted to make his brain explode on the spot, so he sighed and ordered them both a drink.

"Something big is coming. We need your help." Oliver said.

Astrid shook her head. "No, I'm out. I've been out of the business for a long time, Oliver. Besides you have your league and your little… minions… and if the news serves me right, you're all doing just fine without me."

"Star…"

"…Don't call me Star!"

"Ok, Astrid… But, we need you. It involves your father." Their drinks arrived, and Oliver swallowed back a mouthful.

"Oliver… My father died fifteen years ago."

"No, I don't mean Robert Sutherland… I mean your actual father. You know…"

"If you even mention that name to me, I promise that you will not be leaving this bar with your marbles in place… That man is nothing to me, but the man who gave me up for adoption." She said as she drank her fresh scotch.

"So, what? You won't help? You're the only one who can change things. It's not like you to leave when people need you…" Oliver said, as she got to her feet.

She finished her scotch and left him the empty glass. "Well, a lot can happen after five years… You should know better than anyone…"

She went to leave. Oliver stood up and grabbed her hand to stop her, but as he did, she twisted his arm and held it behind him, and caused him a crippling headache where he stood. At any moment, she could cause his head to explode. She whispered into his ear "Now, don't' follow me again, Oliver!"

She threw him to the floor, making some of the patrons stare at him as if he had tried to make a move on her.

As she left through the door, she called back to him. "Next time… try Barry!"

Oliver clambered to his feet, and shook his head.

One week later, she sat in her armchair of her current apartment, in the middle of a crime-ridden city. From outside her door she heard the shouting of a man and the screaming of a woman. The man was clearly abusing his wife again. Astrid had heard enough of it. She glanced over at her closed door, and within moments heard him scream. The man had experienced a sudden brain aneurism. She knew that the paramedics would arrive soon.

She took a sip of her scotch and barely blinked, as a gust of wind blew some papers off her coffee table. She shook her head at the scarlet speedster that was standing in her apartment, and stared at her glass.

"I bought you some Big Belly Burger!" Barry said as he handed her the bag, "remember? That was always our go-to food?" She didn't take the bag and continued to ignore him.

"Astrid, it's been five years... you can't still be mad at me."

"Barry, why are you even here? Go home. Go back to your wife and your children. I wish all of you would just do me a favor and leave me alone!"

"All of us? Who else has come looking for you?"

She stared at him, "Oliver Queen found me in a remote bar last week. He said he had news about DR Fate."

"You mean your…" Barry began, but he didn't say the word when he noticed the expression on her face, "…That's beside the point. Oliver has also gone off the radar… it's not like him… not anymore, anyway."

"Once again, Barry… I don't care. Now… run along!" she said as she looked towards the door where they heard the paramedics in the hallway declaring that the man down the hall had died from a brain aneurism.

"You didn't? You killed the man, didn't you?" he asked angrily.

"He deserved it! now, Leave, Barry!"

Barry was about to leave her for good, when he noticed a faced-down picture frame on the shelf by the doorway. He picked it up and smiled. It was a photo of he, Astrid, Caitlin and Cisco… back when they were all happy. Barry could remember the exact moment that they had taken the photo. It haunted him, just as he knew it did her.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" he asked, as he walked towards her with the picture in his hand.

"Every damn day… Why the hell are you still here?" she snapped, though she didn't move from her seat, she kept her eyes on the window.

"Despite all the downfalls we've had in our life… We've certainly had a lot of good times…"
Astrid stood up. "Barry, you're procrastinating, when you should be leaving."

"…and you're clearly listening, otherwise you would have done your mind scream, by now… I know that you miss him, and STAR Labs might be no more… but, do you really think that this is what he'd want you to be doing with your life? You're always welcome back home."

"It doesn't matter what he would want… He's been dead for five years! And if I wanted to come back, I'd be back! The point is… I don't want to be back… but let's face it! You need me, whether it's to feed your heroic ego or save your ass yet again… Or are you and Iris having marriage problems and you need a couple's counsellor?" she mocked at him.

She had gotten to her feet, and was pouring another glass of scotch. As she did so she read his mind, knowing full well that he wasn't giving her permission to. As she took the images without his consent, her expression changed. "That's it, isn't it?" she asked him softly. "Oliver wasn't lying, was he?"

Barry shook his head, "…No, Oliver wasn't lying. Things are getting pretty dicey. We need your help, Astrid. We need the help of Mind Marvel!"

"It seems that I have no choice in the matter… you guys are just going to keep on coming after me… so fine… Let's go… you can still run can't you?"

Barry smiled at her and nodded his head. "Yeah, I can still run…"