Second Chances

By: Riley

Summary – Extension of a scene in Chapter 36 of Flash Fire. Roy/OC with hints of Barry/OC. Roy and Cadence find that they have more in common than they originally thought.

A/N: While this does focus on Roy as well, it's submitted to the Flash section because it's set during my story Flash Fire which is a Flash-verse story.

"Well, Mr. Harper, it looks like your vitals are okay," Cadence said as she shined into Roy's eyes with a flashlight. Quickly pulling the light away, she watched his pupil adjust to bring in the light of the examining room within STAR Labs. She then moved the light to his other eye and did the same. "And it doesn't appear that your wounds have become infected in any way, so I think you'll make a nice recovery."

Roy chuckled lightly as he lay still on the cold examining table, staring at the ceiling of STAR Labs. The battle between the Suicide Squad and Assassination Bureau had taken a lot more out of him than he thought. And to think he, Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity had only shown up in Star Labs to figure out who was the one that created the explosive boomerangs flying around Starling City. If it hadn't been for Roy Bivolo creating havoc at the same time, they would've been gone as soon as Cisco and Caitlin figured things out.

And he thought trying to stop Slade was difficult. Metahumans were a completely different story, especially those working with the Suicide Squad. Roy grimaced as he crossed his arms over his bare chest, holding onto the opposite elbow with each of his hands. "That's good to hear…but Mr. Harper was my father," he corrected her. He slowly sat up, wincing all the way. He may have been healed, but he would feel the discomfort in his bones for a while.

The fire metahuman glanced at him, clicking off the flashlight with her thumb. "Was?" Cadence crossed her arms, eyebrows rising.

The red arrow swallowed hard, trying to push away the angry lump in his throat that seemed to pop up every time he mentioned his mother or father. But…having seen them after getting whammied by Incognito, who had disguised himself as Bivolo had brought all of the memories that he had of them, good and bad.

"My Dad died when I was really little…an accident of some sort. I don't know for sure. My Mom wanted to protect me from it. And…it basically shattered her life." He turned his head and looked directly at Cadence, shifting his eyes for a moment before looking back at her again. "So it was just the two of us and she worked hard to make sure I had everything I needed. But the stress ended up getting to her; she got into drugs." Cadence nodded. "They were tame at first, a joint here or there, and then she fell into harder stuff. Soon I barely saw her when she wasn't strung out or high out of her mind before ultimately getting into Vertigo and…she left. I haven't seen her since."

"Oh." Cadence slowly nodded before reaching up and scratching the back of her head. "Geez, we all got some parental problems don't we?" A light laugh escaped her lips. "I don't have a great relationship with my Mom or Dad either. They're not part of my life anymore and I'd rather leave it that way. But I at least had the choice in the matter. It couldn't have been easy to know you didn't have a choice in what happened with them." She thought for a moment. "So you haven't wanted to try and figure out what happened?"

"Not really." Roy scratched his forehead. "I tried to push it out of my head. But it's hard when you're on your own. One minute I was helping Mom sober up enough so that she could get to bed, next thing I know she's gone and we lost our house."

"So how did you pay for everything?" Cadence asked. "I mean, I know you live in the Glades but I don't think you're homeless." Roy gave her a meaningful look and she suddenly got it. "Oh. You stole. Yeah, I think I can understand that. At least you had a choice in that matter." A bitter sigh escaped her lips. "Mindboggler really did a number on my own control. Though to be honest I had thought about it every now and then, when I was younger. I moved here to Central City when I was really young so I didn't have a lot of money to my name."

"What was it like? Being controlled like that?"

Cadence tilted her head as she thought about it. She never paid too much attention to it but recognized when it was starting. It felt like she was drunk and didn't have control over her own body anymore. But when she was drunk she stumbled around and laughed at things that weren't so funny until she passed out. Being controlled was different in the aspect that she could hear a little voice whispering to her, telling her what to do next. Breathtaker's voice and Mindboggler's would swirl through her head, harsh whispers as dry as brittle bones would continue to tell her what to do next. And she watched herself do all of those things, only having a respite when she performed them. When breaking into people's homes, stealing things, killing others that stood in their way while they tried to get to Barry and Dr. Wells, she looked through her own horror filled eyes to do so.

"I had no control over my own body," She admitted. "At all. The only thing I could do was listen to the voice in my head that told me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. It wouldn't leave me alone until I finished then I'd get paid. If I knew they had been using me for so long…" She shook her head, clenching her hands into fists. "I have nightmares sometimes, of all of the things I've done."

"That's what happened when I was on Mirakuru," Roy blurted out. "It was this super soldier enhancement that went around Starling City last year from the Church of Blood. It gave enhanced strength and seed and accelerated healing and stuff." He cleared his throat. "The downside is that it also causes lack of control and enhanced aggression and hallucinations and insanity and…" his voice cracked and he ran a hand through his hair. He lifted his eyes and looked into her eyes. "And when I was under the influence of it…I killed someone. A police officer. I know who he is, I know his family, I go visit them all the time. But…I know it's not going to help them. It's not going to help me. I have constant nightmares about it. If I ever did that to any of my friends…I could've done it to my friends…"

Cadence took a deep breath. "The same thing happened with me and Barry. I was given control back when they revealed to him that I had been helping them all along. Seeing the look on his face…" she briefly closed her eyes, emotion taking her over. "Seeing the look on his face when he figured out that I betrayed him hurt more than anything. He's had so much happen to him in his life and I was just another thing that betrayed him. What's worse is that I don't think he can trust me again." She ran a hand through her hair. "He's one of the first metahumans I've met that was real and understood what it was like to be a metahuman and I did that to him…"

She chewed her lower lip and turned away from Roy, twisting her fingers together. She was the first to speak again, looking at him sympathetically. "But if it helps…I'm sorry about what happened to your Mom and Dad."

"It's okay, I'm over it," Roy said dismissively.

"Yeah, you sound like you've really moved on."

But who was she to judge? There were still a lot of things that she hadn't even admitted to herself let alone to other people. She couldn't even admit for a while that the Assassination Bureau were using her she was so desperate for money, wanting to provide a good life for Brady as long as she could. And for a long time she couldn't even come to terms with admitting he was her son. How was that for living in denial? Enough so that nearly everyone in Central City were killed because of her actions and not being able to speak up. But at least there was someone she could talk to that would understand.

Barry couldn't. He had gone through so much trauma since he was so young..and the way he looked at her now…she didn't know the way someone could look at someone else could hurt so much.

Cadence turned her attention to the wound on Roy's arm and looked over it for a moment before glancing at his stomach. (Okay, so she gave herself some time to check him out, she couldn't help it). She gently moved her finger along the end of the wound and smirked when Roy sucked in a quick breath, his stomach contracting. "Should've warned you it was going to hurt."

"It hurt worse going in than going out," Roy replied. He uncrossed his arms and rested them on the side of the table then smiled at her. "You know, it usually takes a lot more work before I take my shirt off for anyone."

"Yeah, usually you have to be Thea Queen." Cadence pressed her palm against his stomach and he felt warmth on his skin before she started to heal him. At his noticeable silence, the fire metahuman looked over at him and she received a wide-eyed, almost anxious look from him.

"You know about Thea?"

"Which pat of, I've known Oliver and Thea for a while did you not understand? I mean, sure, Oliver and I aren't exactly close friends or anything, but it's kind of hard to ignore a little girl that followed her brother around and didn't' seem to have a lot of friends her own age. Besides, it's hard not to notice that Thea's…lifestyle managed to become fodder for a lot of tabloid and gossip columns. Such as when she gets a new boyfriend who some don't think is right for her…."

Roy pursed his lips but didn't reply.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "So how is she?"

"We broke up if that's what you're asking."

That wasn't what she was asking but it was still nice to know. "Nice try, Little Red, but that's not what I'm asking. Seriously…how is she?"

Now the red arrow nod lightly. "She's mad," he admitted. "About a lot of things. About her Dad…her Mom…She knows who I am…what I do…and she was mad that I was continuing to be a vigilante with Oliver, after she asked me to stop." At Cadence's stricken glance he held up a hand. "She doesn't know Oliver's identity and we plan to keep it that way. She left Starling City to go to Corto Maltese with Malcolm Merlyn, which is another long story; because she wanted to get some training…she's doing better now, thankfully."

"That's good to hear." Cadence blew her hair out of her face. "I should give her a call the next time I'm in Starling."

A playful smile tugged at Roy's lips. "And when's that going to be?"

Cadence smiled back. "The next time I'm there, Little Red, you'll be the first to know."

The End

A/N: So I know some people are fans of Roy/Cade and while I'm going to be writing an Arrow story for that, here's a piece of it.

Cheers,

-Riles