Len doubted he could explain Barry's appearance with the poetry it deserved.

He was bright golden energy in the shape of a man, framed by licks of lightning the same way the sun's rays whipped from its surface. Remarkably, just as Len had made lightning bolt accents by the ears of Barry's mask, the energy there looked like lightning bolts too, like he was the suit itself made of pure electricity. It even felt warmer in his presence, like a star come to life, bearing an expression that was all Barry.

He was breathtaking, ethereal, otherworldly.

And then Len realized—if Barry caused Vertigo, then there was no solar flare. Barry was the solar flare. He'd fallen to earth that day like a meteor.

"You aren't human," Len said in wonder, moving closer with a tentative hand outstretched.

"No," Barry said, his voice reverberating like in an echo chamber.

"Are you solid?"

"Wanna find out?" he asked with his unmistakable grin shining through the light.

Len's hand came to rest on Barry's cheek. He was warm, but not burning. Touching him filled Len with a slight shock, like he could feel the electric current of Barry's powers, so much closer to the surface when he was literally made of what was usually only errant sparks when he ran.

"Fascinating…" he said.

Barry's hand came up to rest over his, and Len felt all the warmer. "You're not afraid?"

"Afraid?" Len repeated like that was a ridiculous question.

"Or angry?"

Right. Because of Vertigo…

Len's instinct was to pull away, because there were so many unanswered questions, but he didn't want Barry to think this was enough to make him recoil.

Then he suddenly wondered if Barry was naked like this and froze. There weren't any seams for clothing, but Len couldn't bring himself to look down now that he'd thought that.

Barry's eyes were gold and glowing, but Len could still read his expression well enough that when he cringed, Len knew immediately that something was wrong.

"Barry?"

The light flickered, and Barry fell forward against him, human looking and fully clothed again. The road rash was further healed, but Barry was out of breath like he could barely stay conscious.

"Barry?"

"I'm okay," he gasped. "I can't…stay like that for long…especially when I'm healing." His eyes—green once more—blinked sluggishly as he held onto Len for support. "When I'm on a new planet, my natural defenses create a body that can withstand the atmosphere. I still get a few bonuses though."

"Your speed?"

"And my dashing good looks." He waggled an eyebrow.

Len snorted, though it was strange how Barry still looked the same somehow in either form, even though he was fundamentally different.

Carefully, he led Barry to the desk, but this time sat him in the chair.

"How did it happen?" Len asked, leaning against the desk the way Barry normally would. "How did you come to be here?"

The smile remained like a small, unspoken thank you that Len hadn't asked what are you? "There aren't many of my kind left," Barry said, already seeming livelier the longer he looked human.

"Wiped out?"

"Ascended. Most became one with the Speed Force."

Len stared at him dumbly.

"It's the energy we came from, what gives me my powers."

"Like…another plain of existence?"

"And connects all things. Time. Space."

That explained so much about how Barry's speed worked. He wasn't fast; he tapped into cosmic power from an unfathomable source.

"But you chose not to…ascend? You and your family?"

There was something wistful and longing in Barry's eyes then. "We liked life. People. We didn't want to leave for something different. We preferred to explore the galaxy, meet other species, find exciting things to steal and adventures to be had."

"Your whole family were thieves?"

"We never hurt anyone." Barry shrugged like it was hardly a fault to be criminals. "It was just fun. Sometimes, we'd have others with us, a whole crew. My parents always hoped I'd find someone to share the galaxy with, like them, but I was content for a long time to, uh…stick to just fun."

"I'll bet." Len glanced away.

"Then we found someone else from an almost extinct race." Barry's tone turned haunted, drawing Len's eyes up again. "Kryptonian. They have a way of adapting to planets too. Depending on the type of sun nearby, she could be completely invincible. We thought she was like us, morally grey but not…dark."

"She betrayed you?"

"She was a mercenary. She'd been tracking us a long time and planned to turn us over to one of the governments looking for us—dead or alive. We were just trying to get away. She should have let us get away." Barry's eyes flashed gold in his anger before they faded back to green. "We were just thieves, not killers."

"But she still tried to kill you. She…" Len remembered Barry's first confession, about his family being murdered. "Oh, Barry, your parents…"

He nodded solemnly. "They protected me, told me to run as fast and as far as I could, so she'd never find me. But I was so exhausted by the time I reached Earth, I couldn't slow my descent. I couldn't control the way my energy interacted with your atmosphere. Vertigo happened, affecting the whole planet, and I landed in Central City."

"Where Reverb found you?"

Barry smiled at Len's adept guess. "He and Hartley were already together. Cisco… That's his real name. He acted like a friend. He knew I was the reason they had powers. I thought he just wanted to help me, to understand what was happening to him and to so many people. He gave me access to everything I needed to learn your languages and culture. For me, it's easy to learn all that in a blink. I could tell this was a planet I could call home, set up roots, try to move on from what happened…

"But it didn't take long to realize Cisco didn't care about how he could help me, only how to use me, how to gain more power for himself. He started gathering Supers, and all of them were just like him. Hartley was the only one who was different.

"I tried to tell him to stay away from Cisco, but he was in too deep. So, I left, found people who thought more like me and my family. The Wests, Frost, a few others. They don't know the truth about me, but they're all good people. I thought at first, I'll stay here, enjoy the adventure, but after casualties from Supers kept getting worse, I wondered if I should leave. I kept telling myself to leave."

"You were stalling," Len said. "Hiding away all the things you stole for a rainy day you weren't sure you wanted to come."

"Then I met you," he looked at Len slyly, "and it seemed I had a chance to do some good without losing the thrill I love. In fact, some things are more thrilling with you around." He reached out a hand, and Len was prompted to take it. Barry still felt so warm.

There were many other questions, but the first that slipped Len's tongue was, "How old are you really?"

"Older than I look."

That was almost a comfort if Len didn't wonder if beings of energy ever aged. "Where's your ship?"

"I don't have a ship."

"You arrived as just you? Your body can withstand the vacuum of space? That's incredible! How did—"

"Aren't you pissed at me?" Barry broke in. "Even a little? I caused all this. It's my fault."

Len studied the rare breach of guilt on Barry's face. "Is that the real reason you agreed to help me?"

"And your love for your family. I meant that when I told your mother. The pretty face helped too." He smirked, and Len was comforted that revelations aside, Barry was still Barry.

"Tell me, did you cause this intentionally?"

"Of course not."

"Then it's not your fault, even if you were the cause. Everyone with powers has a choice." Everyone always had a choice. Barry just gave them the chance to act as their true selves, and he hadn't done it on purpose, he simply fell like a shooting star and the sparks scattered where they would.

Soothing silence stretched between them, and Len realized their hands were still entwined.

Barry thumbed the inside of his palm. "What now?"

"Now, we…break into Mercury Labs somehow. I'm sure you'll enjoy that."

Barry chuckled. "We can check in with the Wests. They might have some ideas. But I meant tonight. Now. Us. You still owe me a drink."

"Now?" Len sputtered.

"Mmm…" Barry touched the visible red on his neck and face with his free hand. "Maybe fifteen more minutes? So I don't look like a pizza face. Whatever will we do with the time?" Too swiftly for Len to counter, he grabbed him by the hips and spread his legs to tug Len closer. "You can climb on if you want."

"B-Barry…"

"Come on. Please…?" He squeezed Len's hips, not roughly, just present and with longing again and something timid in his eyes that he didn't usually show. Just as he'd admitted several times now, he feared Len would pull away.

Len couldn't let him think that, so he moved cautiously forward, thankful the chair was sturdy enough to hold them both as he slid his legs beneath the armrests and settled in Barry's lap.

The boyish smile in response told Len he'd surprised Barry for once. Another gentle squeeze at his hips, then a tender stroke up his back, and all the tension and furious butterflies eased away.

"Just tell me one thing," Len said.

"Anything."

"Am I more…just fun for you? Something to conquest?" Len couldn't handle being used and cast aside, it was part of what had kept him from partners in the past.

He thought maybe Barry understood that, teasing as he was, because his smile dropped, and he looked at Len with powerful depth. "No. I've never chased anyone before, even if I am quick on my feet. Never wanted to put in the effort. You are worth the effort. And if I'm going to put so much time into anything, you can bet I don't want it to be over quickly. I can be pretty possessive when I steal something I really like."

"You think you've stolen me?" Len tried to sound offended, even as his cheeks flushed.

"Haven't I?" Barry said, letting his hands drop lower on Len's thighs.

Feeling his remaining walls crumble, Len gave a shuddery sigh and fell forward to press his brow to Barry's. "Yes. I think you have."

He could feel Barry's breath on his lips, but Barry didn't try to steal a kiss along with the rest of him. "Is it really okay?" he asked instead.

"That you're an alien? Barry, I am a scientist. You just became ten times more attractive."

Barry laughed, and Len joined in, two ridiculous men in the middle of a war, giggling in their lair.

Barry wasn't human. Barry was the source of Vertigo. But for the first time, Len felt like he knew him, and all he wanted now was to taste him.

Resting his hands on Barry's chest, Len caressed his way up to Barry's shoulders and around his neck, making it very clear what he intended to do next.

"Got a fetish for—"

"Shush," Len said firmly. "Shut up for once."

The grin never left Barry as Len bent to capture it in a kiss.

Touching Barry's cheek in his true form had felt like trying to hold a lightning bolt and succeeding. The same electric sensation filled Len at the touch of their lips. He didn't think it was something Barry normally allowed, only for him, because with Len, he didn't have to hide.

Len's fingers pushed into Barry's hair, holding him in place to get the angle just right as he parted his lips and—oh. His heart skipped, it really did, maybe from the lightning, but he didn't care. It felt so good to be held and to connect like this.

Another shuddery sigh left him when he tried to pull away, but Barry leaned in for another kiss, firmer, taking over where Len had begun. The hands clutching around his waist sought out the hem of his shirt and stroked up his back again, this time along bare skin. The raw touch made Len buck forward, feeling overheated and far too excited, but then, Barry was excited too.

His tongue guided Len's, patient but eager with how deeply he delved as Len's fingers twisted harder into his hair. Len hadn't made out with anyone like this since—ever. It made him ravenous for more like someone starved their whole life, until Barry gripped his ass and started to rock up into him.

"D-drink?" Len gasped, because this was far more than kissing now, shit.

"Or we could stay like this," Barry husked.

Oh, Len wanted to, but he couldn't give in after a first kiss—even if there had been several. "I-i-it can be dinner," he amended. "I didn't get to eat anything with Hartley."

Despite the heat and shared breath between them, Barry stilled and looked at Len in amusement. "A proper date? Gideon might never forgive you."

"She'll get over it," Len said, but when he tried to climb off, Barry held him snugly in place. A frown was all it took to get Barry to relent, still, Len thought he owed him—and himself—one last kiss.

Moving his hands to hold Barry's face, he pressed a hard but chaste kiss to his lips, only allowing the faintest sliver of tongue before he stood on shaky legs to move away.

"Now…I definitely need a minute," Barry said with a shudder of his own, his reddened skin looking better still, though now his lips were kiss-bitten.

"Agreed," Len said, thankful for loose slacks instead of jeans.

XXXXX

They really did only have dinner and then Barry brought Len home.

"Not gonna invite me in?"

Len was tempted, but too much had happened tonight; he didn't think he could handle that too, not with the needed conversation before they could move into the bedroom. "Next time?"

"For real?" Barry said with a sparkle in his eyes. "Coz that is a cruel promise if you don't mean it."

"I mean it," Len said, taking the initiative one more time to kiss Barry goodnight.

Gideon sat in the middle of the living room when he entered, twitching her tail in irritation at his late arrival like a disapproving parent.

"He's an alien, dear," Len said. "He's allowed to smell different than he looks. Now come on, let's get you fed."

Len knew he'd have trouble sleeping, so he stayed up later than he should have reading more about Sofia.

Her racy dream hadn't led to any group activity in real life, but it had rekindled some of her passion for her ex. She'd agreed to have lunch with Karl, if only to see if any of the old sparks were there, and if they were, to consider whether she wanted to give into them again.

Len frowned at every interaction. Not that people didn't deserve second chances—Karl wasn't abusive or a cheater or anything like that, they'd simply grown apart, which was always such a sad story in Len's mind. It was easier to accept that Sofia had never loved Karl than to imagine people falling out of love. Len liked happy endings and thoughts of forever. He'd never seen it in real life, didn't know anyone who'd found it, but he still dreamed that one day it was possible for him.

When Sofia and Karl reminisced for hours over lunch, and she invited him back to her place for coffee, Len was about ready to pick up the nearest paperback and chuck it—since he was reading on his computer and couldn't throw that.

Then, when Karl backed Sofia against the kitchen counter and kissed her, Len almost texted Barry for spoilers. But he kept on, confident it couldn't end like this, because Karl represented the past, and while there was nothing inherently wrong with that, the story was about Sofia making a new future for herself on her terms, compromising by keeping things from her old life but also taking on new adventures.

That was Ryder. A new beginning. A gamble. But a worthwhile one.

"I can't do this," Sofia said as thoughts of Ryder swirled in her mind, because the counter he'd first made love to her on was right there, and having Karl kissing her so close to that spot, in this new home for her new life, felt nauseating until she had to push him away. "I'm sorry."

I'm not, Len thought, filled with that thrill he loved about reading a good book just as the chapter ended on Sofia telling Karl to let himself out as she raced next door to find Ryder.

Len sighed happily as he went to bed. New beginnings didn't have to be terrifying, though he supposed much of his was a bad example given the death threats from a supervillain, but still, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next day, he knew he had to get more guns to Mick. Hartley had left him an email detailing some of his notes from the symposium since they hadn't gotten to talk about it. He tentatively asked if Len wanted to go over any of it at lunch. Len wondered if there was meant to be a hidden message there, a peace offering of sorts to say he'd done as asked with Reverb.

Either way, Len agreed, though nothing from the Kord notes stood out to him as worth delaying production of the guns. He implemented the few changes he'd already been working on for his gun and started the printer, so he could get some shipped off to Mick that day.

Later, Barry messaged him that the Wests would see them that evening. They had intel on Mercury Labs as hoped that should make it possible to hit the place in a matter of days. That was good, because according to Lisa, it was going to be announced very soon that an emergency vote on registration was planned for the following week.

Already? Len texted back.

All those Super attacks have been too much.

This is Enhanced registration.

It doesn't matter, Lenny. You better have a good plan in place.

Technically, they had part one of a plan. The rest would depend on what, if anything, they found on Tina McGee.

Lunchtime came around quickly, so Len pat Gideon's head and left his floor to find Hartley in the breakroom. It was like a Pavlovian response that despite his advancements lately, simply being on that floor made him feel smaller and nervous of having to interact. Then, like so many times before, as he neared the breakroom, he could hear the usual suspects talking about him.

With Leslie.

"You think Leonard is responsible?" she was saying.

"How else did Cold get one of those guns?" Nora replied.

"Lifted it off an officer perhaps," said Leslie. "It's not unheard of. And why should it matter when Cold is doing good for this city? It's hardly bad press for us."

"It could be," Rosa jumped in, "if they ever catch him and arrest him for vigilantism with The Flash. You need to get ahead of this."

"Scapegoating Leonard is hardly how to accomplish that, and I resent that you'd suggest such a thing. What are the three principle values this company was founded on?"

"Caring, Quality, and Integrity," Hartley answered with firm resolve, lifting some of the oppressive weight that had started to push down on Len's shoulders. "Three things Leonard Snart never has trouble with, yet you all could stand to revisit them."

"Excuse me?" Nora shot back, but Leslie rose above the rising din.

"I believe Hartley is quite right. It would serve you all better to remember how this company conducts itself. We do not throw valued employees under the bus."

A swell of pride reminded Len of just how much good he'd done as Cold—and as himself—spurring him to take those next few bold steps into the room.

"If I may add something," Len said so everyone knew he'd been listening, "if there ever was an issue because of Cold using one of our guns and STAR Labs needed someone to take the heat, I would not hesitate to step forward. After all, what I have always loved about this company, Leslie, is that helping people always comes first, and no one person or their selfish goals should get in the way of that."

Nora and Rosa visibly bristled at the implication, but there was nothing either could say.

Still, Nora tried. "I merely expressed concerns given the merger with Mercury Labs and Kord. We'll have to watch our backs with that sort of competition."

"I don't know about that," Len said, smiling cryptically and watching in his periphery as Hartley mimicked the expression, "I'm confident we can stay ahead."

"Working on something new for me already, are you?" Leslie asked.

Len's first thought was of his idea to create a safe haven for Enhanced people and Supers. "I have a few things in the works. For now, my focus, as Doctor Darhk so succinctly pointed out, should be the guns and assisting the CCPD. Hartley, shall we go out for lunch today?" He turned away from his bitterly gawking peers. "I think I could use some air."

Leslie made no effort to hide her grin, and neither did Hartley as he moved to join Len at the door.

XXXXX

"I'm sorry we didn't get to have our meal last night," Hartley said as they grabbed a booth at the back of Big Belly Burger.

"I'm sorry one of my favorite eateries is now in shambles," Len said, not that he minded getting fast food; he'd been the one to suggest it, "but I hear they have impressive insurance."

Hartley chuckled.

"Your notes on the Kord symposium were very thorough, thank you. There may be some useful things of note, but that's not what I wanted to talk about today."

"You're going after Mercury Labs?" Hartley asked.

"Soon. We're working out the details tonight. But I don't want to discuss that either."

Hartley's eyes fell to his burger after a small bite. "You want to know about Cisco."

"Please, I only want to understand how such a kind man could be with someone like him. You believe in him, I get that, I just don't understand why."

A melancholy smile touched Hartley's face as he sat back in the booth. "His family owned a restaurant with a singing lounge, good for laundering money, though they were never big players, not like the Thawnes. Several years ago, his parents were killed in a turf war and he and his brother were muscled out."

"He has a brother?"

"Cisco swears he would have been a Super too, but there's no way to know. He died in a car crash before Vertigo."

"I see." Trauma did tend to mark bad people, but that was no excuse. Len's entire family was proof of that, and so was Barry.

"Cisco worked odd jobs after that. We met at a club one night while he was tending bar. He'd always wanted to show the Thawnes a thing or two, show this whole city that he was more than the lot he'd been given. I loved that drive, the ambition, and maybe some of the danger too.

"We were together when Vertigo happened, the day that changed everything. Barry… Did he…?"

"He told me, yes," Len said, and Hartley nodded.

"We were there when Barry fell. We saw him land. No one else was around. It was already disoriented since we were both triggered as Supers, but we knew immediately that the falling star had to have been the caused and rushed to find out what it was.

"It was remarkable seeing him for the first time, a brilliant light that eventually became a man, who couldn't speak English and was already healing from a fall out of the sky. We had no idea what he was, but we helped him get away from the impact site anyway as quickly as we could. Not that anyone would have known what crashed there. There was no crater, just a hole in an old warehouse, hardly anything suspicious.

"Barry learned quickly, you hardly knew he wasn't a native within days. But you see, I had my day job to attend to, while Cisco devoted everything to Barry and his new powers. Other Supers were already acting out and causing mayhem. Before I realized how things were starting to change, Cisco wanted to recruit them all, build an army, use his abilities to finally show everyone what true power looked like. He was thrilled when he found out that none of the Thawnes were Enhanced or Supers."

"But there's been no attacks on the Thawnes."

"It surprised me too, but Cisco quickly started thinking bigger. No need to waste time on ants, he said."

Len had trouble finding an appetite but forced down a few bites anyway. "May I ask, despite it all, what makes you still believe in him?"

"Because I love him," Hartley said simply.

"Yes, but why?"

"Because…he saw in me things I never saw in myself, and I see in him the best he can be, even if that's not how he chooses to act. Maybe I'm wrong and he'll disappoint me, but if our roles were reversed, I'd want him to believe in me." Finally, Hartley picked up his burger again. "So I'm going to keep believing in him."

Len smiled, not pitying but in strange solidarity. "That…I can understand."

XXXXX

"You want my blood?"

"Only a little."

"Lenny," Barry chuckled, patting Len's shoulder as Wally continued to stare wide-eyed.

"Apologies, I mean a sample," Len explained, "a tiny pinprick's worth. I have the most marvelous idea for a sanctuary for powered people, and your abilities could be the cornerstone of creating it."

Wally looked skeptical, but before he could offer a reply, Joe came back with his newest file folder of information—everything they'd need to safely get into Mercury Labs without calling negative attention onto The Flash.

"Ain't you lucky McGee recently had her security redone, and I got all the specs." Joe waved the folder in the air before handing it to Barry, who flashed through reading it and handed it back just like last time.

"This is perfect, Joe. I'll have the run of the place without leaving a shred of evidence."

"Don't you mean 'we'," Len countered.

Iris snickered as she sat on the edge of a junker, looking as gorgeous as when Len first met her.

"Hey, when we're facing Supers, I wouldn't ask for any better backup," Barry said, "but this is a smash and grab. You'll slow me down. You can be the voice in my ear."

"An onsite voice," Len said, "so I can be sure you don't leave the building with bags of loot over your shoulder instead of only intel."

Barry dramatically clutched at his heart. "As if I would."

This time, Wally snickered with Iris.

"Barry…" Len warned.

"I thought we agreed McGee's a crook, even without working for the big bads."

"That does not give you leave to steal from her. You promised."

"Aww, Barr," Iris said, "are you going straight for your sugar daddy? That's adorable."

"We are partners!" Len flushed at being called Barry's sugar daddy.

"Officially?" Iris let her heeled feet dangle playfully from where she sat.

Len understood why she and Barry got along so well, even if he didn't like it or her insinuations.

Even if they were true.

"We're getting there," Barry said and leaned over to plant a quick kiss to Len's cheek.

It was hard to deny anything after that, and he felt the eyes of all three Wests bore into him, making his face grow hotter. This was more like meeting the family than the first time, just like Barry had met his—including the presence of a sour parental figure.

"I'd worry you were a cradle robber or opportunist if I thought you were the type," Joe said, looming closer. "Best not to prove otherwise, ya got me?"

Len had never received a shovel talk before, but he recognized Joe's words as exactly that. "Um…"

"Be nice, Dad," Iris saved him. "You two just keeping playing hero together. Between Dad and Eddie, I have some very important people in my life who are Powerless, so you better not let Reverb win."

Len nodded quickly—to her and to Joe—while Barry offered the usual smirk.

"Just make sure my wedding invite includes a plus one."

As if Len would attend a mob wedding.

"Are you serious about this powered people sanctuary thing?" Wally asked before they could take their leave. "Coz if all you need is a little blood, I could be okay with that. But I wanna hear more about it."

"Of course," Len said excitedly. "When all this is over, we'll setup a time for you to come to my floor at the Labs. How's that?"

"Just so long as you don't turn my son into a science experiment," Joe grumbled.

"Well, technically—"

"Not helping," Barry murmured, though all Len had meant to say was that it would be a science experiment by definition, but on the blood, not on Wally directly.

Although, maybe that wouldn't have come out right.

"Thanks, guys." Barry started to drag him away. "We'll keep you posted."

XXXXX

They spent most of Thursday going over the plan so that Barry could hit Mercury Labs Friday night. Len told Hartley about it, who seemed relieved, maybe even optimistic.

Reverb had been more attentive lately, he said, patient and open-minded, maybe because he thought he was winning, but it gave Hartley hope regardless that if part of his plan was thwarted by proving McGee was involved, maybe he could be talked out of it.

Len wasn't as sure. Barry was sure of the opposite. But Len hoped for Hartley's sake that he could be right.

Rather than set up at STAR Labs, Len borrowed one of the company vans to be across the street while Barry did the B&E. Barry was around back for now, waiting for Len's signal once security changed over to weekend mode.

There were only five minutes to go when Mick called.

"Mick, I'm sorry, but now isn't the best time—"

"Yeah, coz you're out playing vigilante again, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"We've been over this…"

"I trust Flash, okay? Enough," Mick conceded. "I just don't like this cloak and dagger shit."

"Once we have what we need from Mercury Labs, we'll turn it all over to you as an anonymous tip. The rest will be in CCPD hands, just the way you prefer."

"Then it all depends on how Reverb reacts."

True. Len didn't like that part either, but for now, it was the best plan they had.

"Just answer me one thing, Lenny. You thinking with your head, your heart, or your dick?"

"Excuse me?" Len exclaimed, thankful his comm mic was muted.

"Just as I figured—all three. He know you're a virgin yet?"

"I-I-I…" Len's stomach lurched.

"Didn't think so. Be careful, huh? Be smart like you always are. I don't wanna see your heart get broken, is all, especially when I know you're already lost on the guy."

Oh, Mick was a good big brother. He really was. "I appreciate that, but if this ends badly, it won't be on Barry alone. I trust him because he trusts me with a lot more than you think."

"Hey, Lenny, is it time yet?" Barry asked in Len's other ear.

"I have to go, Mick. Everything will be fine. I promise." He clicked end on the call as soon as Mick acknowledged him and flipped his mic off mute. "Almost, Barry. Another minute and—" Len's phone started ringing again, but his annoyance that it might be Mick calling back—or worse, Lisa or his mother—turned to panic when he saw that it was Hartley. "Hang on." He flipped his mic to mute once more. "Hartley—"

"Abort the mission!"

"What?" Len's heartrate skyrocketed at the urgency. "Why?"

"Because it's a trap! Well, not a trap, but a diversion for sure."

Len glanced from where he was setup in the back to peer out the front window of the van, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, not that he was sure what he expected. "What are you talking about? You said—"

"He knows, Len. I am so sorry, I swear I didn't betray you."

Reverb. "How did he find out?"

"He had me bugged," Hartley said wretchedly. "I just discovered it. He knows you're going to hit Mercury Labs."

"He's going to intercept us?"

"No, he wants you there, distracted. He's going to break everyone out of Iron Heights."

TBC...