A/N: Right! So Hostage Situation is over, but the drama has just begun. So begins The Oncoming Storm!

-BG

Barry Allen entered the precinct a few minutes after eight, his satchel over his shoulder and a steaming hot cup of coffee in his hand. He glanced around the foyer, taking in a deep breath. Nothing had changed, thank God. It still smelled like stale coffee, paper and an excessive amount of cologne, a scent which wafted over from one of the detective's desks. It smelled like home to him.

Barry let out a heavy sigh, taking the scene in with a grain of salt. God, he'd missed this.

"Barry!" Barry looked to see Eddie making his way across the foyer to him, looking all too happy to see him. The detective had on his signature grin and Barry couldn't help but smile back as Eddie gave him a quick hug. "Good to see you're back."

"It's good to be back." The two weeks that the Captain had made Barry take off had done him well. He'd had plenty of time to recover and take a good deep breath from all the insanity that had happened. Eddie had come back only a few days earlier than Barry, having finally managed to pass his mandatory psychological evaluation thanks to Iris' support. Barry had only taken his psych eval the other day and had just barely squeaked by, something which he very much doubted would have happened if it weren't for Joe and him talking things out over the past two weeks.

"Mr. Allen. Detective Thawne." Barry turned with Eddie at the sound of Captain Singh's voice. Their boss motioned for them to come closer and they obliged, sharing a look of uncertainty. "In my office please. You both have some paperwork to fill out."

"Ok." Barry shrugged and followed Eddie into the office slowly, the Captain shutting the door behind them once the three of them were inside. "What do you need us to fill out, sir?"

"That was just for the benefit of the other officers, Mr. Allen. Please. Take a seat. You too, Thawne."

Barry sat down slowly, Eddie taking up the seat next to him. The Captain settled behind the desk. Barry saw the look in his boss' eye and he suddenly knew. He knew exactly where this was all headed. "This is about my extracurricular activities, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is." The Captain sighed. "As you know, Mr. Allen, we can't condone vigilantism. However…" Singh sighed. "Since I'm one of the few people who are aware of your activities, I've made a decision. A decision which I have been contemplating since the incident with the…Rogues and the Reverse Flash." Captain Singh grabbed two sheets of paper, handing one to Barry and the other to Eddie.

Barry took the paper, his hand shaking. He was almost afraid to look at it, terrified to see an arrest warrant. Instead, he found himself looking at a copy of an order for the creation of a special division. "The Division of Metahuman Criminal Affairs?"

"After your incident and the others that STAR Labs has informed us of since, I talked to the police superintendent, the DA and the mayor. We mapped out funding to create a division that specializes in dealing with metahuman related crimes. It will take a month or so to set up, but we want the two of you as well as Joe to be part of this. I already brought it up to Joe. He's waiting for your decisions before giving me his."

"And…my activities?" said Barry hesitantly.

The Captain smiled. "The mayor has decided that, because of how…instrumental the Flash has been in helping the police to track down and detain metahuman threats, the Flash is to be deputized by the police superintendent and the DA. He'll be a legal officer of the law. He'll also be made a liaison between the police and STAR Labs who will be helping the division on the technical end. You, Mr. Allen, get to work the science and evidence and deal with your…other job at the same time. By doing this, no one ever has to know about your identity as the Flash."

Barry blinked. "I can't believe it..."

Captain Singh smiled. "Neither could I. It seems the recommendation by many officers along with the citizens of Central City for you to be commended for your actions to protect the city, has helped to sway the opinion of a lot of people in the government and law enforcement."

Barry blinked in shock. "I…I don't… Wow…" He stared at the paper, trying to process all of this. This was… This was incredible…

Eddie chuckled. "Captain, I think you made him speechless."

"It's better than him stumbling over his words," said the Captain, clearly amused especially as Barry felt his cheeks flush, "Well, Mr. Allen? Are you in?"

Barry exhaled slowly. "Can I talk about it with Joe and Eddie in private first?"

Singh nodded. "Take your time, but not too much time. Ok?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'll get back to you as soon as we talk-" Barry glanced at the door, seeing a commotion in the bullpen. The Captain and Eddie followed his gaze and the three rose, exiting the office.

Joe was the first to approach them. "We've just had a report of an attack at the morgue. The coroner was found dead just a few minutes ago."

Joe, Eddie and Barry turned to the Captain who nodded for them to proceed with their jobs. "We'll talk more later when you've all had a chance to discuss this. Now go investigate."

"Thank you, Captain. We'll get right to it." Joe motioned with his head for Barry to go grab his kit and Barry turned to leg it up the stairs. The world was back to normal after all. At least, for the time being.

Walking into the CCPD coroner's office hadn't exactly been Mark Mardon's greatest plan, but it had been effective. He now had the name of the cop who had killed his brother. Detective Joe West. He remembered the copper well. Joe West and his then partner Fred Chyre (who he was pleased to hear his brother had managed to kill during their disastrous aerial getaway) had been chasing them for as long as he remembered. West had never forgotten or forgiven them apparently and when Clyde had returned to Central City, West had shot and killed Clyde. Whether it was in cold blood or in a fair fight, Mark really didn't care. He just knew that Joe West was going to pay for killing his brother.
Mark found himself at the local library and slipped behind a computer, quickly doing a search through the Internet and local newspaper databases for information on Joe West. Most articles he found were of brief comments by the detective to the media during some of his investigations. The most recent article he found, however, was by far the most informative about the detective.
"'Two CCPD Employees and STAR Labs Employee Safe After Hostage Situation." Mark read through the news article carefully. Apparently the two CCPD employees were people who were very close to Joe West. The CSI, Barry Allen, was the detective's foster son and the cop who was kidnapped, Eddie Thawne, was Detective West's partner on the force, not to mention the boyfriend of Detective West's daughter, Iris West, who worked at Central City Picture News. He had three clear targets now to used against Detective West.

Detective Thawne would be a hard target, both being an officer himself and being closely watched. The moment Detective West heard of Mardon being back, he'd undoubtedly have a heavy guard placed on his daughter. The same could probably be said for his foster son who would also have the protection of working at the police station. There was no doubt that the police would also arrange protection for Detective West himself. This would be a difficult task even with his new found abilities.

Mardon leaned back in his chair, thinking the article over. The article said that Leonard Snart, his sister and his partner-in-crime, Mick Rory, had been responsible for the kidnapping of Detective Thawne, Mr. Allen and this other man, Cisco Ramon. Perhaps it would be prudent to seek his aid regarding this matter. Perhaps he could use a partner, or rather a team to deal with this matter, particularly if word of this Flash character were true.

Mardon smiled. Time to engineer a prison break.