Author's note: This story is a weird amalgamation of things. It started when I saw a book titled "The Supervillain and Me" (by Danielle Banas-check it out!) on the YA shelves at Barnes & Noble. That, of course, gave me CaptainCanary vibes. After I bought and read it, they were even stronger. I posted about that on Tumblr, and people encouraged me to write the CC high school AU I was considering.

So I did! It takes the skeleton of the book (which is very much its own thing-again, read it!)-at least at first-adds some (very adapted) Arrowverse characters and plots, and stirs it up with my own weird imagination. I own nothing of this but my own words, and I make no money off it.

This will be six chapters (all but one already complete), posted one a day until Tuesday. Many thanks to LarielRomeniel for the beta, and to SylvanHeather for her thoughts! And happy birthday to Dragonydreams!

"Sara! Sara, did you hear?"

Sara Lance closed her eyes in resignation as she heard the footsteps of Felicity Smoak, her best friend, hurrying up behind her in the halls of Star City's Kanigher-Broome High School. She loved Felicity, she really did, but she knew what was coming here, or suspected at any rate, and she really didn't want to talk about it.

Felicity, however, was going to tell her anyway.

"Principal Hunter got a special guest for the assembly today," she said breathlessly, adjusting the strap of her backpack where it was slung over her shoulder, swiping her dark hair with its blond roots out of her face. "Do you know who it is?"

Sara could guess.

"Nope," she said, however, continuing to stroll toward physics class. "No idea. Fliss, did you finish your lab report yet? I want to ask Dr. Stein…"

"Sa-ra!" Felicity actually stomped her foot. "This is important! Don't you think it's probably a super? Should I go fix my hair? Redo my makeup before the assembly? We need to get there early so we can get a seat!"

Felicity had a real thing for supers—and the top team in Star City right now was the Black Canary and the Green Arrow. Sara's friend had a massive crush on the Arrow (maybe on the Canary too), but she didn't know what Sara did: That the Black Canary was Sara's annoying big sister, Laurel, and the Arrow was Laurel's rich-boy boyfriend, Oliver Queen.

Sara had known Laurel and all her quirks since birth, and she'd known Ollie for nearly as long as she could remember. It was tough to be awe-inspired by the girl who continually left sopping-wet towels on the bathroom floor or the boy who'd once been so helpless without servants that he'd kept buying new underwear rather than admit he didn't know how to use the washing machine.

They'd both acquired their powers (for Laurel, a sonic scream, flight and a degree of invulnerability, and for Ollie, perfect aim, a literal inability to miss his mark, in addition to greater strength and agility) at about the same time, a handful of years ago, around their 16th birthdays, just like most supers. While Sara's parents had made sure Laurel had a chance to learn and become accustomed to her powers, they'd balked at letting her take on the role of a public superhero despite her wishes.

Oliver hadn't even entertained the notion, as far as Sara knew. He'd happily used his aim to win drinks in darts tournaments at Star City's (not so) finest bars, and his strength to impress girls who weren't Laurel.

Until the day everything changed.

It'd been an assassination attempt, everyone said, one that targeted both Commissioner Quentin Lance and Ollie's mother, Moira Queen, who'd been mayor at the time. A massive earthquake centered on the old City Hall, undeniably unnatural, as it hadn't affected anything outside a relatively small radius. At first, everyone had suspected a super gone rogue, before investigation had revealed the device detonated by a disgruntled former police officer.

Quentin and Moira had survived. Dinah, Sara and Laurel's mother, who'd been on her way into the building to meet her husband for lunch, had not. Neither had Tommy Merlyn, Ollie's best and oldest friend and the son of Moira's deputy mayor. He'd been sitting on the front steps, waiting for his perpetually late friend to show up.

They didn't have costumes or names yet, and they wouldn't go patrolling for a few months. But in many ways, that was the day the Black Canary and the Green Arrow were born.

And then there was Sara, just a few years younger. Sara didn't have powers. She had a second-degree black belt—about to test for third-but no powers.

It wasn't good enough. It would never be good enough. Sara sighed. Felicity, unaware of her thoughts, elbowed her.

"Come on!" she said. "Earth to Sara Lance! What do you think?"

"I think I want to skip it," Sara muttered, shifting her own backpack.

"Skip English class?" Felicity blinked at her. "That's not like you."

Apparently, Sara had completely missed the thread of this conversation. She sighed again. "No. Never mind." She gave her friend a onceover. "You look fine. And we get there early if you want. Just don't expect me to squeal and wave and go all fangirl with you."

Felicity grinned and gave her a one-armed hug. "Sara, I just don't get you at times, but you're the best."

"You know it."

Felicity (and Sara) had guessed right. The Green Arrow in his hood and green leather and Black Canary in her black leather and domino mask had strolled out onto the stage at the assembly, exhorting the students not to bully each other and to stay in school, etc., etc. Sara had rolled her eyes so hard they hurt, while Felicity did indeed squeal and wave and go all fangirl. She was still gushing when the assembly let out, and they headed for what Principal Hunter called the senior Creators Club—and Sara privately called Kanigher-Broome's catchall hangout for Star City's young, social and slightly geeky.

Sara's father didn't really like her being home on her own any more, not since…since her mother died. He was still concerned that the would-be killer (who had died in prison last year) hadn't acted alone, and that the whole family could be a target. Quentin not only went armed as part of his commissioner duties, he often had an entourage with him at all times—and Laurel was the Black Canary. Sara was…just Sara. So, to keep her dad happy, she stayed at school a little longer, working on whatever homework or projects came her way, chatting with Felicity and other classmates, pretending things were…normal.

"Did you see? The Green Arrow winked at me, Sara!" Felicity did a little dance step in the corridor on their way toward the senior lounge, dodging students headed in the other direction. "He did! I swear it. Right at me."

Ollie had probably been winking at Sara. He knew perfectly well that she hated when he and Laurel made appearances at her school. "Mmhmm," she agreed absently. "That Green Arrow. Quite the flirt." Ollie was a flirt, or he had been. The Green Arrow was anything but.

"Do you think I should go blond again?" Felicity stopped, facing Sara, wrapping her fingers around a tendril of her hair and holding it out to inspect it critically. "I like the goth-y look," she commented, starting to turn to head toward the lounge again, "but…oof!"

She collided right with a tall, thin boy, knocking his bag out of his hands and knocking her own glasses off her face. Grasping desperately for them, she grabbed the edges of his worn black jacket instead, the glasses clattering to the floor. The boy reacted with a startled noise and stepped back, tripping over his own bag, making a faint sound of pain as he did so.

Sara stepped forward in concern, reaching out to steady him, even as Felicity stooped and felt around for her glasses. But he caught himself without incident, shaking his head, and Sara stopped wondering if she'd imagined that pained gasp.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

The boy, who had dark, very short hair with what might even be a few glints of premature silver in it, was still looking aside, stooping to reclaim his bag.

"I'm all right," he said in a low tone as he straightened. "Really. Thanks."

Felicity gave a cry of victory and stuffed her glasses back on to her face, standing again. "Sorry!" she told the boy cheerfully, then frowned. "Wait. Do I know you?"

He gave an almost curt shake of his head, looking at Felicity, then finally glancing at Sara. His eyes—an icy blue that was so striking that Sara sucked in a breath-widened, and he turned away abruptly. Sara blinked, watching him duck into the senior lounge. He'd been quite good-lucking, really, she thought. Those cheekbones and eyelashes were totally unfair in addition to those eyes.

"Sara! Sara!"

Felicity would keep Sara-ing her until she responded. With a sigh, she looked at her friend, who was still gaping at the door to the lounge. "What?"

The other girl looked upset, for some reason. "Don't you know who that was?"

"…no?" The boy had looked vaguely familiar, though everything about him—his hunched shoulders, his downcast eyes—screamed that he didn't want to be noticed.

"That was Leonard Snart. Snart, Sara!"

The world stopped. "Oh."

Snart. The son of Lewis Snart, the crooked officer who'd tried to arrange for her dad's assassination, who'd rocked Star City with the explosion that had killed her mother and so many others. For a moment, Sara couldn't breathe. The memories were still so strong…the search for survivors, the hunt for suspects, the news that'd trickled out about motives and targets. The trial, which had, mercifully, been extremely brief.

"How do you know?" she asked numbly, stepping to the side to let other seniors by. "I mean. I know he had two kids, a son and daughter. But neither of them went here…before…"

Felicity sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her gaze was sympathetic and troubled.

"Remember that hackerspace thing I was involved with a few years back?" she asked. "Over in the East Side? I ran into him there once or twice. Never talked, barely knew his name. He's a quiet kid. It took me a minute to recognize him here. He shaved off his curls." She glanced away. "It's not like I was going to bring it up after. But…Snart. Sort of a memorable name."

"Yeah." Sara stood, frozen, another moment, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's not like he had anything to do with it. I just…I thought both of them went into foster care in Central. I remember reading…"

She'd once read the articles about the case obsessively, determined to figure out if anything could have saved her mom, could prevent something like that from ever happening again. She'd always wondered if Laurel or Ollie could have, if they'd been using their powers for hero-ing back then. But it was the kind of thing she'd never had the heart to ask.

"I know." Felicity's voice was low. She sighed again. "I can't figure out why he'd even want to come back here."

"Um. I might know something about that…"

Both of them turned at the sheepish voice behind them. Barry Allen, shuffling his feet, gave them an uncertain grin. Felicity squeaked and put her hands on her hips. She'd dated Barry briefly, but while it hadn't lasted, they were still friends. And as Sara well knew, withholding information was majorly against the Felicity's-friend code.

"Spill, Allen," she said, fiercely enough that Barry paled a little.

"Well, not really the reasons," he clarified, switching his gaze to Sara, his cheeks a little pink. She smiled despite herself. Barry was such a lovable dork. "But some of the story behind it."

Felicity folded her arms and fixed him with a glare that was probably supposed to be intimidating, then gave him a regal nod, as if to tell him to carry on with it.

"My dad met him, Snart—uh, Len—in Central City, when he was there doing some, ah, charity work." Barry continued. Sara remembered that his dad was a doctor, and that his family was originally from Central. "His little sister, she's happy there, in school, with a good family, but Len wanted to come back here to at least finish school." He bit his lip. "Dad helped him with the emancipation paperwork. I don't know where he's living, but he's come by our house for dinner once or twice, at my parents' insistence. Doesn't talk much." He sighed. "Be nice to him, OK? He's had a rough road, but he's an OK guy. There's good in him."

His pleading gaze was on Sara, who really had no intention of holding Leonard Snart responsible for his father's misdeeds. She nodded, then smirked, deciding to try to lighten the mood a little.

"Aww," she teased. "Gotta crush on him, Barry? He is really cute."

Barry blinked, then turned pinker. "What? No! Uh. Not that I have a problem with that."

Barry and his current girlfriend, Iris West, were currently the leading contenders for most likely to get married right after graduation. It was just a lot of fun to tease him about it.

Felicity got a particularly evil look on her face, but Sara, still smirking, cut back in.

"Of course I'll be nice to him," she said, then sobered. "Having a horrible parent doesn't make him a bad person." She nibbled her lip a little, thinking. "He's kinda one of his dad's victims too, in a way, isn't he?"

Barry nodded, growing serious himself. "Yeah. I mean…he hated the guy. Hated. It's not like he's talked about it, really, but…"

"Join the crowd," Sara murmured, as Felicity nodded next to her. "No worries, Bar. In fact…"

She shouldered her backpack, took a deep breath, and headed for the lounge. "In fact, I think there's something I need to do."

She could hear Barry and Felicity following her, but she ignored them, stopping in the entrance and scanning the room. There. The dark-haired boy was sitting by himself at a table in the far corner, pulling a laptop out of his much-abused bag and opening it on the table. He glanced up as she approached, a flash of something darting over his face, and Sara felt a pang of empathy.

"Hey," she said as he met her eyes, his own gaze opaque. "I just wanted to say, sorry about my friend. She's a klutz." She took a deep breath (ignoring Felicity's protests behind her), then held out her hand. "I'm Sara Lance."

The boy—Leonard—held her gaze for a long moment, then stood. He was tall, Sara thought, eying him. And…yeah. Cute. Hot, really. Mm. He didn't look like a senior in high school. College student, at least.

"Hey," he said in return, so quietly that she could barely hear him. "It's OK." He shrugged. "It was an accident."

"Your laptop's all right?" Sara darted a look down at it. It was an old machine, she thought. But that didn't mean it didn't mean a lot to him.

"It's fine." The corner of his mouth tugged up a little, a tiny little smile, but a smile nonetheless. Sara felt like she'd won a victory. Then he reached out and took her proffered hand.

A firm, calloused grip, one that didn't back down because she was a girl. Sara liked that. And he didn't seem to find her gesture overly formal because they were only in high school. His handshake was steady, and so were his eyes, and damn…

"Leonard Snart," he said so quietly that she could barely hear him.

"Pleased to meet you, Leonard," she said quietly in return. "Glad you're OK."

She'd been pulled away from Leonard nearly immediately, and that was OK too. Felicity had wanted to talk about the physics lab she'd been uninterested in earlier, and then to gush about the Green Arrow and the Black Canary some more. Then Barry and Iris had come over, asking about the upcoming talent show, and she'd gotten distracted again.

When the club hours had ended and they'd all been told to go home, Sara glanced around, but Leonard Snart was already gone. She shook her head, then bade other friends farewell and walked with Felicity toward the parking lot, where the other girl turned to her.

"Do you need a ride home?" Felicity asked, a touch distractedly. "It's no problem. I can drop you off on the way."

Felicity drove like a bat out of hell. Sara loved her friend, but she was actually glad to have an excuse not to trust her life to the Fliss-mobile today.

"Nah. My dad is actually home tonight. He wants us all to have dinner together, for once," she demurred. "Should be here soon."

Felicity gave her a cheerful wave, then headed toward her old Cobalt, peeling out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires. Sara shook her head, then checked her phone.

Nothing. But after only a few moments, it chimed. Sara, watching the other seniors trickle out one by one, checked it again.

"Sorry, honey," her dad texted. "Stuck here late. Can Felicity give you a ride?"

Sara bit her lip. Why hadn't he sent that a few moments ago? But she'd thought that this dinner thing might actually happen. She could text Laurel, but her sister and Ollie almost certainly had something more important going on. Hero-ing and whatnot.

"Sure," she texted back after a moment. "See you later."

Then she started for home.

It wasn't a long walk, really. But with the level of violence in Star City these days, neither her dad nor her sister usually liked her walking home alone, especially not later in the day. Whatever. Sara had a black belt. She could take care of herself. Her grip tightened on her backpack. Right? She'd be fine.

Sara was crossing the railroad tracks just outside the edge of the Glades when she heard the footsteps. Two people, at a guess. Well. People went for walks here too. Probably. She listened, heart beating just a little faster, then scanned the street ahead of her. Stores and other businesses closed down early here these days. Nothing seemed to be open, and traffic was nonexistent.

She picked up the pace, just a little. The footsteps picked up too. And then they were three sets. Four?

Sara abandoned her pretense and ran. There had to be someplace she could duck into, she thought, her own heartbeat echoing in her ears. There had to be!

A male voice behind her called out something in a snarl. Sara didn't look back, pelting down the uneven sidewalk, scanning the quiet street, wondering if she should yell or...

Someone grabbed her backpack, jerking her to a stop, and Sara kept enough presence of mind to turn fighting. She lashed out at the man with a hand, fingers stiff, jabbing toward his eyes and connecting. He yelped, putting his hands to his face, and she pulled away, turning to run ahead.

But there were two more men there, young and scruffy, thin and looking a bit strung out. Sara didn't hesitate. She struck out at one's face, then kicked hard at his kneecap, sending him tumbling to the ground, then rounded on the other, who gaped at her a moment, apparently stunned by her reaction.

Sara drove her foot into his groin without a flicker of sympathy, stepping past him as he folded, drawing a breath to run again. She'd done it, she'd defended herself, she could...

The first man, however, hadn't been as down for the count as she'd hoped. An arm looped around her neck even as she took a step, pulling her back again, and...damn. Something cold and metal pressed against the skin just under her right ear, something sharp.

"Money!" her captor hissed in her ear, arm tightening. Sara could hear the groans from the other two, interspersed with cursing. She tried to take a deep breath, thinking about what she had in her bag.

"I don't have any," she said after a moment. "I don't! Really. Look!"

"Yeah, right!" The knife pricked harder...but then the man did move it, reaching down toward her bag, and his other arm loosened just a little.

Sara took advantage of it. She stomped on the instep of his foot, hard, then threw an elbow right into his solar plexus when his grip loosened. He crumbled and she turned to run again, taking a step, then two...

"OK, pretty girl, freeze!"

There had been a fourth man. And he had a gun. Which was now pointed right at her head.

Sara froze.

The man was to her right, but she could see him, and the gun, out of the corner of her eye. He held it steady and seemed far more calm and competent than the other men. Which made him far scarier.

For a long moment, he studied her, then let out a snort of laughter. Sara wanted to bristle at the derision...but she didn't dare move a muscle. Supers were said to have a sixth sense about people in trouble, and while Laurel and Oliver said it was nebulous and impossible to measure, there was a measure of truth to it. Surely one of them would come to her rescue? It would be mortifying...but at this point...

"Someone will pay ransom for you," the other man said, finally. "Girl like you in a place like this? Someone's gotta be looking for you." He chuckled again. It was not a nice chuckle. "Maybe we'll even give you back. Maybe not."

Sara took a slow breath. She couldn't let this man just kidnap her. And she had to move before the other men regrouped. They were all getting to their feet, muttering to each other.

Then there was a noise to her left, a thud as if of someone landing on the ground. A sense of chill. Sara nearly looked, hoping for Laurel or Oliver, but the gun was still pointed at her and...

"Duck—and close your eyes!"

This isn't the time to look a gift hero in the mouth. Err, something like that. Sara did as she was told, dropping to a knee and squeezing her eyes shut.

The blast of cold came from the left, so close to Sara's face that she could feel the frost forming on her eyelashes. Somewhere, a corner of her brain registered that was new, that there wasn't a super with ice powers in Star City, or none that she knew of. (Or that Felicity knew of, which was even more conclusive.) She heard yelps from the men and the crackle of what seemed to be ice, and braced for the crack of a gunshot...but none came. Just more thuds, as if of bodies falling to the ground.

"OK. You can look."

Sara opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the four men, all stretched out on the ground, all covered by a sheen of frost. A sigh of relief escaped her lips even as she flinched, wondering.

"Are they..."

"They're just out...cold. You all right?"

Sara looked up.

The figure in front of her, extending a hand to help her up, was no one she'd ever seen before. Black pants, black boots…and then a blue parka over the top, fur-fringed hood pulled up over his head. His face was obscured by a pair of goggles, but a smile tugged at his mouth as he looked at her.

"It's OK," he said, keeping the hand extended. "I don't bite. Unless it's frostbite. Heh. Maybe that's a potential name."

Bad puns. Why did supers love them so much? Sara stared at him long enough that the smile fled, but he kept the hand held out to her.

Male, from the voice. And about her age, also from the voice. Sara frowned, trying to place it, but then took the offered hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Um," she said. "Thanks. Really. I thought I had that, but...the gun..."

"I saw. You were badass. I just figured I should help out." The tone was admiring. And he still had her hand. Sara looked down at it, noting that he also wore black gloves, but the super let go then, taking a step back courteously.

"You're new," she said, still a little shell-shocked. "Ice powers. That's...new."

"Yeah. Sort of." The boy...man?...walked over to the four men and studied them. "I'll alert the cops that they're here. They'll thaw out soon enough. We should get going...hey, wait!"

Sara had already turned away and started walking as fast as she could, not quite running. The super caught up to her easily, though, jogging along next to her, glancing her way.

"That was really impressive," he said. "What...what's your name?"

This guy, hero or not, was starting to annoy her. Sara frowned at him, although she kept walking.

"I said thank you," she gritted out. "What do you want?"

"Just making conversation." He almost sounded hurt. "Hey, like you said, I'm new. Thought maybe..."

"You thought wrong." Sara took a breath and stopped. "Look. Iceman, or whatever your name is..."

"I think that one's taken." The drawl was amused. He smirked at her, an infectious expression, and she almost smirked back. But...she already knew far too much about two of the city's main supers. She didn't need, or want, to know any more.

"Thank you," she said again, trying to project sincerity. "Truly. Now, I have to get home."

He nodded, but didn't move, the smirk fading into something more...wistful? Somehow it touched a chord, and Sara studied him a moment longer, intrigued despite herself. Then, cursing her curiosity, she turned and headed down the street.

And that jerk kept following her.

"I could see you home," he said.

"I'll be fine."

"You are fine," he retorted. "But I can still make sure you get there..."

"Goodbye, Iceman."

A sigh. Then: "Goodbye, Sara."

She whipped around, but he was gone already, apparently faded into the trees at the side of the street in one of those near-patented super moves.

Ass. Sara studied the trees, curiosity surging again, then turned and headed home as fast as she could, feeling the irritating sense of someone watching her the entire way. She made it in the door, slamming and locking it behind her, then dropped her backpack on the floor and closed her eyes.

She'd been rescued by the world's most infuriating superhero.

Par for the course.