Belén made way down the street to CC Pictures to start the workday. Halfway down, she heard her phone buzz from her bag and pulled it out, thinking it to be perhaps a metahuman call. It was a text message from an unknown number.

Would you like to see your brother again? Answer 'yes' to continue.

Belén's first instinct was to look around as if the mysterious texter would just be standing there watching her. Don't be stupid, Belén, she thought to herself.

Her fingers typed 'yes' as instructed and she pressed the send button. It was stupid thinking this was actually real, but after several weeks of being stumped on her brother's case she had to take everything she could to progress. A couple (but very long) seconds passed before her phone vibrated again.

There's a way to see him, Belén, and it's so simple. He wants to see you too, but you have to cooperate.

"What?" Belén furrowed her brow in confusion, her fingers quickly typing back to response.

This is no joke. Rayan Palayta, age 25, middle child of David Palayta and Veronica Green. Eldest twin by two minutes. Not enough proof? Well, he has a birthmark on his right arm in the shape of what you called as a cloud.

Belén let her bag drop to the ground, gulping involuntarily. Another message was received.

If you want to find out more meet me tomorrow night. I can reunite you with him, but you have to know things and understand them...and make a decision. Do you accept this forewarning?

Belén scowled, but the fear and anxiety that was desperately clinging to her face sold her out. 'This is a joke', she typed back, along with 'I'm calling the cops.'

Do it at your own expense. Your brother is no idiot. He wants to see you but he can only do it if you are willing to accept him as he is now.

Belén was too confused at the moment to "accept" whatever it was she was being offered. She needed to talk to someone but, as if reading her mind, she received another message.

If you decide to tell anyone about this, Plasticine will come after them...with some new friends. Do it at your own expense. But, c'mon, all this senseless searching can stop if you just follow my instructions. Think about it.

Belén shuddered a breath and clutched her phone, her mind spinning yet she was frozen to her spot on the sidewalk like a statue. She couldn't decide, she couldn't think. Was there a way to think about this? Well, she certainly didn't know where to even begin that was for sure. She certainly wasn't expecting a gust of wind hitting her face at that second. Her right hand suddenly held a bright sunflower that she was sure she hadn't picked up on her own.

"Hey Bells!" Barry had stopped right beside her, unknowingly causing her a moment of panic.

"H-hi Barry," she stuffed her phone in her pocket and plastered a nice smile across her face. "Don't you have work?"

"Slow morning," Barry gave a light shrug. "Which is...kinda good in a way…"

Belén agreed with a nod then looked down at her new sunflower. "Where did you get the flower from?"

A wide smile broke across Barry's face. "I've been out...doing things…"

"Ah, so it wasn't quite a slow morning then," Belén said.

"For the Flash. But you? Aren't you gonna be late for work?"

"Work?" Belén repeated in momentary confusion then blinked. "Work, right! Right, I'm gonna be late!"

She had started speed walking when Barry gave her a shout and she glanced back to see him holding her forgotten bag from the ground.

"Why did you drop it?" Barry chuckled as he handed it back to her.

"You scared me," was her great excuse. She turned and continued towards CC Pictures.

"My bad," Barry went after her, noticing something strange with her. "Are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah, yeah. Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" she started talking in that quick rambling. "It's a great morning, ready for an eventful day at work where hopefully my partner finished our new article and we can have a free afternoon. So, of course I'm fine!"

Somehow, Barry didn't quite believe her.

He opened one of the glass doors for her and went in afterwards. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything else?"

"Um…" Belén seriously considered telling him about the text for a moment. After all, he'd already faced Plasticine before so he wouldn't be at a greater risk than anyone else. But then again, the Flash had faced him, not Barry. If they were watching her they would go in after Barry and not his alter ego. She didn't want that under any circumstances.

"Bells, good news!" Noah had spotted her from his desk and walked over.

Belén once again snapped out of her thoughts and turned to her partner. "M-morning…"

"I handed the article already and they loved it. We'll have an easy day today!"

"S-see? Good morning, easy day," Belén said to Barry, not quite yet acting herself.

Now Barry was sure she was hiding something.

"You must be Barry," Noah pointed at him then to the sunflower in Belén's hand, "...boyfriend, right?"

Both Belén and Barry deeply sighed, Barry putting a hand to his forehead while Belén shook her head.

"Has my friend Iris been around here by any chance?" Belén asked.

"Yeah, she came in earlier. Talked a lot about you guys," Noah chuckled.

"I thought you were gonna take care of that," Belén said to Barry, mildly annoyed nothing had changed.

"I thought I did!" he exclaimed.

"Well, you didn't!"

"It's not my fault, you know how Iris is…"

"Yeah…"

Of course they knew how their mutual friend Iris was. Ever since the Blackout incidence she had somehow gotten the idea that Belén and Barry were dating. When Belén explained to Barry the origin of Iris' beliefs - the fact Belén wore a STAR Labs that was similar to Barry's in size - Barry had more or less reacted the same way as Belén with matching expressions and redness. As much as they tried to convince Iris it wasn't true, she wouldn't budge from her idea.

"I know what I saw," she would say right before taking a triumphant exit stride from either or both at the same time.

Now, wherever they happened to go together about 70% of the people there would comment on how nice of a couple they made.

"I think I'm gonna go," Barry said, or more like volunteered to get out before more comments were made. Luckily enough, (in his case anyways), his phone went off and picking it up he got a metahuman alert.

Belén had gotten a bare glimpse of the ID and sprang after him. "Wait! Let me come with you-"

"You really want to give these people more reasons to buy Iris' story?" Barry asked quietly, his eyes flickering from one co-worker to another.

"No…" Belén said quietly, glumly glancing back. While Noah had returned to his desk she knew he was still glancing at them when they weren't looking.

"Besides, I can handle it. If I truly need help, you'll get the ping, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Gotta go then," Barry waved and hurried out the door.

With a quiet sigh, Belén turned back and walked towards her desk. She had barely two minutes to herself when Noah returned.

"The next topic!" he began but Belén dramatically groaned.

"Noah, it's not that I don't like writing with you - because I really do - but we just sent in our last one!"

Noah chuckled. "But we're journalists and this is our job - day to day coverage. And boy is there a good story out there."

"Yeah? Like what?" Belén propped her elbows on her desk, resting her cheeks on her hands. "Is it another metahuman story? I really loved the one Iris posted on her blog, remember?" Of course after seeing Nina in action for the first time (though Iris didn't know it had been Nina), Iris had created a whole post on Nina thanking her and introducing her to the city, though without a proper name. Nina had been so shocked she nearly fainted. Everyone else thought it was wonderful that Nina was being thanked.

"No," Noah said pointedly. "Well, yeah, but...not in the way your friend's been writing them." At this, Belén tilted her head curiously. "These three sudden 'heros' trying to meddle with our city!"

"Meddle-"

"They're acting like they're these Gods when all they're going to do in the end is hurt people! Plus, all the chaos they've caused so far fighting those other people with powers?

"B-but...why?" Belén's voice cracked from her shock as she straightened up on her chair. "I think the Flash, the Azalea and this third hero have done a good job so far."

Noah scoffed, or snorted - either way it didn't to please Belén. "Oh please, the Flash is just a glorified freak that occasionally saves the day. I bet when we're not looking he does all sorts of bad things. And the Azalea? She poisons. How do we know she hasn't done that to some poor citizen out there?" Belén couldn't decide what hurt more in all those sentences. "Belén, these people are only hurting our city, and it's time we exposed them for who they really are."

"No," she said firmly, meeting his gaze, "I'm not doing that topic."

"What?" Noah studied her briefly. "Why not?"

"Because I can't write in what I don't believe in. And I certainly don't believe that the Flash and the Azalea are bad people."

"Belén, c'mon, I get that you have some bias because Iris writes a blog dedicated to these people but even you have to see that a 'burning man'" - he raised air quotation marks - "can't lead to anything good in our city."

"I'm going to remind you that it's because of the Flash that I'm still breathing. And thanks to the Azalea and our other woman, my friend and her Dad got out alive from a hostage situation."

"Oh but what do you think they do when they're not in the eye of the public?"

"Maybe just living their lives?" Yes, now Belén felt anger. She couldn't believe she was even having this discussion. "Just because you're a little different doesn't make you a bad person, Noah. I thought you of all people would get that."

"People with these extraordinary powers won't just sit there and play hero for all eternity," Noah said earnestly, "Don't you think it's strange that out of every single person with powers the public has come to know only three have so far declared theirselves 'good'? I think that in the end, those three, will either get themselves killed or...join the other side."

"I don't think that," Belén said quietly.

Noah shrugged. "I think it's true. Who knows, maybe one day we'll see the Flash stealing...or the Azalea poisoning?"

"Never!" Belén said, accidentally a little louder than she intended. She earned herself pretty odd looks from their co-workers and gave Noah a stern stare in the end. "They would never do that."

"Maybe for special reasons they would," Noah said, acting triumphant as he walked off.

~ 0 ~

When lunch time came, Belén left CC Pictures and got into her car. She really didn't have a destination because all she could think about was that mysterious texter. She pulled out her phone and stared at the texts she received in the morning. She knew she could send them to Felicity and get a track on it, but she remembered the warning. What if by doing that she ruined any chance of seeing her brother again? Foolishly, she decided to call the number.

The line ran...and rang...and rang...until…

"Hello?" A clearly modified male voice had answered the call. Belén's eyes widened, but her mouth turned dry with no words in mind. "Belén Palayta?" the modified man asked, or assumed. "You're calling, hm...will you be accepting to meet with me?"

Belén opened her mouth and forced at least some words to come out. "Y-you're...you're real…" Okay, maybe that wasn't the right words to say at the moment.

The man lightly chortled. "Of course I am, as you are...as your brother is."

"Rayan...Rayan, where's Rayan!?" she exclaimed. "Where is my brother!?"

"He's quite fine," the man assured, "And he really wants to see you again too. He's been watching you, actually."

"Watching…" Belén mumbled and looked around, expecting to see someone staring at her. Stop doing that! she berated herself and focused on the call instead.

"Yes, he's always watching you, Belén. Because he loves you. He loves you and he wants to reunite with you."

"Me!" Belén blinked rapidly. "I-I want to see him! T-take m-me to him, please! Take me!" With rapid blinking she was able to push away some of the tears.

"You're going to have to cooperate with me here," the man said calmly.

"N-no! I have to see him now! Please," she sniffed as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Let me see him...I...I'll do whatever you ask...please…"

"If you want to see your brother, you'll have to see me first," the man declared, and already had Belén nodding.

"Ok-kay, okay fine," Belén nodded, "I'll meet with you. Where? When?"

"Tomorrow night. Seven p.m. by the park fountain - I believe it holds a special meaning to you?"

For a split second Belén thought back to her secret meetings with Barry as 'the Flash' by that very fountain...but then she realized he probably meant the altar she'd placed for Rayan. Priorities, Belén thought and scolded herself...and maybe blushed too.

"Okay," she agreed again.

"And one more thing, tell no one or the deal is off. You go to any of your police friends and you won't live to tell the story."

Belén swallowed hard, nodding like she were being watched. The line died afterwards. Taking a deep breath, Belén wiped her face of any tears and traces that she was crying. When her phone buzzed again, she was a little reluctant to answer but seeing Barry's name she relaxed and took the call. She was to meet him at the precinct where they would head to STAR Labs together. The moment she stepped out of her car, she did her best to clear her entire appearance of anything that would giveaway of her troubles. But as luck would have it, she came at the front door just when Iris did.

"Hey!" Iris greeted cheerfully. "Going up too?"

"Yeah," Belén said quietly, opening the glass doors for her.

"Going up to see Barry, huh?" As Iris walked behind her, Belén missed her wide smirk across her lips.

"Can we not do it, please?" Belén sighed when they entered the elevator together. "I'm just...I'm really not in the mood right now."

It was then that Iris realized the dejected demeanor her usually cheery friend had on her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Co-worker problems," Belén left it at that, figuring it really was the truth. "He...he had some ideas I just didn't agree with."

"Like what?"

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out.

"He, um, has this crazy idea that the Flash, the Azalea and all the other people with powers are a complete terror to the city, basically."

"What?" Iris' eyes widened in full horror.

"My thoughts exactly," Belén shrugged and headed for the main room where she could already see Barry standing.

"N-n-n-n-no! You have to talk him out of that!" Iris scurried behind her.

"Right now, I don't even want to look at him," Belén clarified and came to a stop beside Barry, following his gaze towards Singh's office. "What's going on there?"

"I think Eddie's trying to convince the Captain that the Flash is a public menace," Barry replied back, his voice grim even though he was trying to be as unattached as possible.

"Oh, c'mon!" Belén shook her head. "What is it with people today?"

At that moment, Eddie walked out of the office with Joe a couple feet behind. Iris didn't give him a chance to separate from the group.

"So after weeks of my trying to convince you that the Flash and the Azalea are real, now that you finally do believe me, you're trying to have one of them arrested? What the hell?"

Eddie would have said that he actually wanted both arrested but decided to keep that for another conversation. "Thanks, Barry," he shot the other man a look.

"Sorry," Barry backed away into a chair.

"What is with people and not understanding about these extraordinary heroes out there?" Belén scowled. "You know, I just finished having a similar conversation with my co-worker Noah about this. You both want innocent people arrested."

Eddie sighed. "No worries, Belén, the captain shot me down. Look," he glanced to Iris, "I'm not feeling like lunch. See you later."

"We're not done," Iris scowled and went after him.

Belén took a breath, crossing her arms. Behind her, Barry called from his chair. "What was that about Noah?"

"Hmm?" Belén glanced over her shoulder, an index finger nail going between her teeth.

"Bells?" Barry raised an eyebrow.

Belén sighed and turned to him. "I'm sorry, but Noah has this crazy idea that you and I...that every metahuman is a criminal. That is a topic he wanted to do for our next article. I couldn't do it, we argued and I got mad."

"I would think as a journalist we would be like a hit for them to talk over and over about," Barry made a face, not as worried as he would've been if Eddie had succeeded with his task-force idea. What could a journalist do to him? He winced - Belén was nearing kicking his behind anytime now during their practices.

"I couldn't change his mind," Belén said sadly, briefly, then frowned again. "So I got mad and ignored him - still am actually."

A cheeky smile broke across Barry's face then. "Thank you for defending me - well, us."

"Barry?" Joe came by, "Don't you need to get to STAR Labs? The both of you?" he looked between the two.

"What? Why?" Belén tilted her head, confused.

"I'll explain as we go," Barry got up from his chair and gestured her to walk out first.

"I'm still getting something for lunch," she warned as they headed for the elevator. "Because remember you said I was getting food first."

"Wouldn't dream of depriving you of food," Barry playfully rolled his eyes, walking her into the elevator.

~ 0 ~

After a quick lunch - in which Barry sped by Big Belly Burger and nabbed some food for himself and Belén - they made it to S.T.A.R. Labs. Fully explaining the newest metahuman he'd encountered earlier in the day, Barry let them make their own deductions.

"Anger, hate, aggression…" Dr. Wells began his assessment when Cisco interjected in a 'Yoda tone'.

"A Jedi craves not these things," he took in all the looks and frowned. "No one is feeling that quote?"

"Only you," Belén gave him a light pat on the shoulder.

"Everyone in the bank went total savage for, like, five minutes," Barry said, still alarmed from such a sight. "And then they were fine again."

"Anger can be a powerful emotion. If this meta-human can engender irrational feelings of anger in his victims, he can do a lot of damage," Wells pointed out the key problem that had Barry so alarmed.

"Detective West helped get a copy of the cat scans the hospital did on everyone at the bank," Caitlin came in with a small USB in hand and plugged it into a desk computer. She had the scans visible on the computers of the walls as well. "Take a look. The emotion centers of the brains are still showing signs of being overwhelmed. Particularly the area that controls executive function. That's the part of the brain that stops people from doing whatever random and potentially destructive thing that pops into their head."

"So exactly how does this metahuman control that?" Belén tilted her head as she stared at the results. She couldn't quite comprehend exactly what she was looking at but she got the jist.

"That's the 1/2 million dollar question," Caitlin sighed.

"I'm a journalist, I ask those everyday," Belén lightly smiled to herself. "Speaking of, I gotta get back to work."

"You sure you want to do that?" Barry glanced at her, noticing she was still lacking the usual excitement she had for her work.

"No, but I have to stop Noah from his stupid idea," Belén went for her bag she left on the desk.

"What idea?" Cisco curiously asked.

"Noah has the particular idea that metahumans need to be stopped, specifically the Flash and the Azalea," Belén shook her head. "He wants to write that in our next article. I refuse to write that with him so I'm aiming to make him stop altogether."

"That...won't be good publicity," Caitlin's eyes half-widened.

"Belén, I think it goes without saying that's a bad idea and it can't make it to the public," Wells said, giving her a stern look.

Belén nodded. "Of course, I will do everything I can to make sure he never even gets to type a sentence for that article." She grabbed her bag and bid goodbyes to them before taking off. She was midway down the corridor when Barry came after her, and sped up till he was blocking her way.

"I don't want you to feel like this is an obligation you have to do," he said earnestly. "Don't lose your job, alright?"

Belén smiled. "I'm not gonna lose my job over this. My boss doesn't even believe you exist, so I'm sure when Noah goes to him with the idea he'll be shot down. I'll just try my best so that Noah doesn't even get to that stage."

"Just...just don't...do anything that can get you fired. I rather take the bad review than have you lose the job."

"It won't come to that," Belén lightly chuckled and began to walk around when she heard Barry's phone go off behind. "Barry," she stopped suddenly, half-turning, "...you're not...still seeing Iris, right?" Barry was in the middle of checking his phone, and when he looked up his guilty face told her the answer. "I thought we agreed neither of us would see her again," Belén sighed, fully turning in his direction.

"It's...hard…" Barry began, the two words not able to fully describe his situation. Thankfully, Belén understood it completely.

"I get it, she's like your sister and you tell each other everything. These small meetings is as close as you'll get to telling her you're the Flash-"

"You got all that from 'it's hard'?" Barry blinked at her, mildly impressed.

Belén shrugged. "I think I've learned enough about you to assume. But look, it's not safe for Iris to keep contacting you, or any metahuman. She keeps posting it on her blog and one of these days someone is going to pick up on it."

"I don't want to disappoint her…"

"I would rather disappoint her than lament her getting hurt."

"I know you're right," Barry nodded his head, but this still didn't seem to ease Belén's thoughts.

"Saying I'm right isn't the same as saying you'll stop," she crossed her arms. "But please, do think about it." She left him carefully considering her warning, and she sincerely hoped he would listen to her.

~ 0 ~

Getting back to CC Pictures was, for once, something Belén wasn't excited for. The first thing she met with was Linda, who was curiously wondering about the unusual silence there was between Belén and Noah.

"It's just not your typical workday," Linda was following Belén around, this time appearing as the intern. "What's wrong?"

"Creative differences," Belén answered in the same manner she'd done with Iris.

"Well, you can't actually be fighting over different opinions," Linda made a face behind her. "That's actually, like, really unprofessional, Belén."

Belén stopped by the water cooler and poured herself a small foam cup. "Think I don't know that, Linda? It's just a topic that hits close to home and I don't like how Noah's dealing with it."

'Well, what's it about?" Linda crossed her arms.

Belén didn't answer, however, as she drank from her cup. Before she was finished, the man in question showed up behind the two.

"I dislike the famous 'red blur' of the city," he had his hands behind his back, a neutral expression across his face. He certainly didn't seem upset, and this only made Belén feel worse.

"So?" Linda arched an eyebrow, waiting for the big problem to be explained.

"I want to run an article on him and the reasons why people should be distrusting towards him and all the other people like him that are running amock in the city."

"But that's just it," Belén lowered her cup, "The Flash isn't doing anything wrong - he's saved countless people. And, when it wasn't him, it was the Azalea helping."

"Oh, and don't forget the flying girl who saved the hostages from the precinct during the blackout," Linda pointed at her, apparently seeming to side with Belén.

"Thank you," Belén made a gesture towards her then looked back at Noah. "See? How are you going to badmouth these people that have only been doing good?"

"By using all the people who've done wrong," Noah said calmly. "We can't ignore that while only three of those people have turned out to be 'okay' the rest have been nothing but right terrors. Plus, when the Flash and the Azalea have fought, they've left destruction for us to clean up."

"I can't believe you're still going forth with this," Belén was in utter disappointment with her co-worker.

"Belén, I just think that the people need to know about the dangers," Noah sighed. "There are others who would agree with me if I happened to speak up."

"I would say there wasn't," Belén said matter-of-factly.

"How about a deal then?" Noah proposed suddenly, grabbing both womens' attention.

"Oh yeah, what is it?" Belén stepped forwards.

"If I can get someone to back me up on my ideals I get to run the article."

"Like who? Who qualifies?"

"Let's leave that to our wonderful superior here," Noah gestured over to Linda. "Who would qualify as good references?"

"Um...well," Linda nervously looked between the two, "I would say someone of a credible status - a psychologist? Perhaps a Doctor - if anyone would have good insights of victims it'd be them. Um, maybe cops too. You know, cos they're out in the field. Firefighters? There was a case of a burning man somewhere earlier last week they had to deal with..."

"Okay, I can do that," Noah confidently assured her, and specifically Belén.

"Okay fine," Belén nodded herself. "And when you can't find anyone you drop this topic for completely, got it?"

"Got it," Noah widely smiled and extended his hand to her. "Deal, Miss Palayta?"

"Deal Mr. Gilan," Belén playfully rolled her eyes and shook his hand. "I look forwards to seeing you lose." Noah gave a lighthearted laugh but nonetheless continued shaking hands with her.

~ 0 ~

Once her shift was over, Belén returned to S.T.A.R Labs to inform her friends of the bet she'd taken on.

"Are you sure that was a good idea to accept?" Caitlin asked, her worried tone making no effect on the other two.

"He's not going to find anyone," Belén discarded with a waving hand. "I mean, first, he'd have to find someone that isn't a fan of these superheroes. That alone will stump him."

"Good going, Bells!" Cisco laughed and high-fived with her.

"Don't count victory already," Caitlin issued her warning. "It's a big city…"

"Don't be so jumpy, Cait," Belén smiled. "Treat it more like a TV show. You know, a funny one. Least that's how I'll be viewing it! Where's the protagonist anyways? I need to tell him."

"He's actually out right now, with some old friends," Caitlin said, exchanging a look with Cisco.

"Really? Who?"

"Well, um, the Arrow…"

Belén blinked rapidly in silence for a minute or so, then shook her head. "No, sorry, come again?"

"He appeared!" Cisco excitedly exclaimed. "Now Barry's out meeting with him!"

Belén did not share his excitement. Instead, she wondered, "Why would the Arrow be here?"

"That's what Barry went to find out," Caitlin shrugged. "But, between you and me, Dr. Wells isn't happy about it."

"He's not?"

"No, in fact, he's over there-" Caitlin jerked a thumb towards another room, "-right now, talking with Joe, about this."

"That's not good…" Belén made a face.

"No, it is not," Cisco popped in a lollipop into his mouth.

"I know they want to speak with you and Barry," Caitlin apologetically smiled at Belén as if it were her fault.

"Definitely not good," Belén pouted and turned away.

Not a couple minutes later did they hear the familiar rush of wind from the cortex room. They heard the distinctable voice of Barry, then Felicity Smoak's shriek.

When the three came out they saw poor Felicity ripping off her blouse that was smoking

"I'm glad I decided not to go bra-less," she breathed in outright terror once Barry finished stomping on the blouse till the smoke was gone. Both jumped at the sight of the other three across them. Felicity clutched her purse in front of her chest.

"You guys remember Felicity?" Barry cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I'll always remember this," Cisco said back in a near trance till Belén elbowed him on the side.

Caitlin snatched a blue S.T.A.R. Labs sweater off a chair and ran forwards. "Hi, Felicity, it's so good to see you. What brings you back to Central City? Not Barry?"

"No, not Barry," Felicity quickly discarded the idea as she pulled the sweater over her head. "This?" she gestured between herself and Barry. "Not happening. We looked down that road and we said 'no, thank you'."

"You guys...dated?" Belén blinked, looking between the two with a strange feeling making her stomach churn.

"Well, no…" began Felicity at the same time Barry did.

"I-it was nothing-"

"-didn't you hear me? I said not-"

"-almost like a blur really-"

"Hm," Belén crossed her arms, awkwardly. Wait, she thought, why did she feel awkward?

Also feeling that awkward tension, Felicity moved the subject onto business. "Actually, guys," she shuffled in her purse, "I'm here... because of this."

Cisco gaped at the sight of platinum boomerang Felicity had taken out from a plastic evidence bag. In no less than a second he was holding it. "Awesome! What are the wings made of?"

"Not sure... I'm thinking some sort of composite or high-density plastic…"

"Reinforced with carbon fiber. Oh, that's weird. It almost feels like it's...

As they conversed over the properties and whatnot, Cisco and Felicity walked away, too engulfed to even say goodbye.

"Vibrating…."

"...Yeah…"

"...Yeah…"

"Oh, I wanna run some tests, and I wanna run 'em right now!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Belén shook her head and walked for the desk where she'd left her things. "I understood no frikin part of that. Honestly, you guys make me feel stupid sometimes."

Caitlin smiled and walked after her. "To be fair, none of us here speak the language Cisco does," they exchanged looks of amusements.

"Hey, you guys come up with anything new on our meta?" Barry asked, also coming towards them.

Caitlin nodded and proceeded to bring up several tabs on one of the computers for him to see.

"The officer who was affected tonight says he saw a flash of red before he lost control. I suspect the meta is inducing rage via the ocular nerve."

"So how do we stop a guy like that?" Belén curiously inquired, her eyes drifting in thought.

"That's what we we're going to look into tonight," Caitlin pointed at her.

"You do that then, because I have to get home now. Knowing Noah's going to lose I'm going to be kind and look up some other topics for him."

"Oh, Dr. Wells wants to see you, remember?" Caitlin stopped her midway out the room.

"No," Belén glanced back, "He wants to see Barry."

"Me?" Barry was all too quick in frowning.

"And you," Caitlin reminded Belén, softly smiling when she saw the ombre-blonde fidgeting nervously. "You're not in trouble...ish…" To be frank, she wasn't sure what the topic of the conversation would be but she was just hoping for the best.

Belén reluctantly came back, left her things at the desk and walked with Barry to meet with Dr. Wells and Joe.

"I feel like a student being sent to the principal's office," Belén awkwardly coughed then added, "Though I wasn't actually sent ever…"

Both Joe and Dr. Wells remained totally serious in whatever manner they were going to be speaking about with the two.

"Starling City vigilante?" Joe looked at Barry inquisitively, his statement sounding more like a question.

Though not quite following, Barry pointed out, "He calls himself 'The Arrow' now."

"Oh, does he... "Flash"?" Wells arched an eyebrow, slowly looking to Belén. "Azalea?"

"I'm not...following," Belén said slowly, "...is there a problem?"

"We don't trust him," Wells declared, Joe nodding his agreement.

Barry made a face. "You guys don't even know him."

"I know that he was wanted for murder in at least 12 different cases dating back three years," Joe reminded matter-of-factly.

"I know there's been at least two major terrorist attacks in Starling since he became active," Wells made sure to add in.

"But you weren't there - it's not like he asked for it," Belén scowled. "And even then, I can vouch for him when I say he does not kill people anymore. I was there."

"And what about all the criminals that he put arrows through? Those, what, don't count?"

"He's a hero, Joe," Barry began scowling in the same manner as Belén did. "He helped Belén in a way S.T.A.R. Labs wasn't able to - and wihtout knowing her!"

"Yes, and while helping, he did also alter her," Wells replied quite calmly much to Belén's confusion.

"E-excuse me?" she was shaking her head.

"After only two months you come back as a woman who knows how to fight and isn't afraid to," Wells further explained. "I would hate to imagine what he can do around both of you if you were to 'teamup'. He's not the kind either of you should be looking up to."

Silently, Belén and Barry exchanged looks. Yes, they could understand where the adults were coming from but it didn't mean they were right.

~ 0 ~

Belén returned home to find her father setting up the dining table with an elderly woman, both chuckling over something.

"Hi Dad," Belén greeted just as her father put down an empty glass on the table.

The elderly woman, who had short blonde hair and dark brown eyes, turned to Belén with a cheery smile. "Oh, hello Belén-" she greeted with a thick English accent, "-I hope you don't mind me dropping in for dinner. Your father invited me."

Belén smiled as she walked further in, dropping her things on the couch. "No, of course not, Mrs. Andrews. You know you're part of the family." Mrs. Andrews was probably the only neighbor Belén spoke to in their street. It helped that she'd known Mrs. Andrews since she was a child.

"Oh, I also brought over some gifts from my trip," Mrs. Andrews gestured to the coffee table in the living room where several gifts were sitting at. "Two of them is for Maritza and Axel. And of course your mother's I already sent to her with a friend."

"I told her she didn't need to do that," Belén's father said, shaking his head as he went to the kitchen.

"Well, my grandson in particular insisted that I bring back something for you," Mrs. Andrews said quietly so that only Belén would hear, even winking. Belén flushed and followed Mrs. Andrews' gaze at the blue-wrapped present on the coffee table. "Julian sends his regards, dear."

"Tell him I say 'hello' too," Belén honestly said of her childhood friend. "And that I miss him," she added before going to her seat at the table.

Dinner was a nice casserole that her father had managed to make through his busy schedule. For a while, Belén forgot of her problems at work and even of the newest metahuman lurking in the city. Mrs. Andrews was all for talking about her trip to Britain and, once more, urging Belén and her father to visit the city. It was the same story every time Mrs. Andrews went away, and every time Belén and her father would merely remark that they of course would go one day.

Later that night, Belén spent time looking over the topics she was planning on sharing with Noah once he lost his bet. Her father was sitting across her, his spot covered in multiple scientific papers and whatnot. But, as time went on, Belén found she was incapable of focusing on her topics. She was thinking about what Joe and Wells had said to her and Barry earlier. It was quite a horrific view of Oliver Queen they had, but even she had to admit she was pretty afraid the first time she met with him. His way of doing things were definitely darker than what STAR Labs usually did, one she certainly couldn't imagine Barry going through with, and much less herself.

"Belén?" her father's voice rang through the room, immediately making her look up from her laptop screen. He was staring at her suspiciously, though a tad worried. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, Dad, just fine," she cleared her throat and acted as if she were focused on whatever her screen provided her with. "I've got a ton of work…" But her eyes drifted back to the paperwork around him, "...although I don't think I beat you." Her father smiled and pulled some papers together. "Dad, what is all that stuff anyways?"

"Nothing," this time it was he assuring her.

"Oh, so now it's top secret that even I can't know about?" Belén lightly laughed. "I won't go putting it in the news if that's what you're worried about. Or...STAR Labs," she added in a dramatic whisper.

David rolled his eyes at his daughter. "It's just an important piece Mercury Labs has been working on now. It's nothing you'd be interested in-"

"Or understanding," Belén, suddenly glumly, added. David raised an eyebrow at her. "It's nothing…"

"Oh no, you made me tell now it's your turn!"

Belén smiled. "Dad, you wouldn't want to, honestly. It's like...friend stuff…"

"You know I have friends, right?" her father deadpanned.

"It's a little weird, okay?"

"Try me, sweetheart. C'mon!"

Giving up, Belén resorted to talking. "You know that my friends - Caitlin, Cisco, Barry - are like...super smart. They're basic scientists, and I love that about them but sometimes I feel like I don't fit in well with them."

"But they don't do this on purpose…" her father meant to ask and she quickly shot down the idea.

"Oh no! They're all basic sweethearts! They would never intentionally make me feel inferior." Belén exhaled deeply, feeling like such a child for saying this out loud. "But...we have these friends who just came in, and...one of them is a freaking genius - like, Mercury Labs material genius."

"And you feel threatened?"

"Yes, well...yes," Belén looked down shamefully. "She's so sweet and she's never made one rude remark but I can't help feel like this. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No, honey, that just makes you a person," her father softly smiled. "You're just pout of your element there. You are about writing, social work, people to people. Science is a little more reserved, quiet. You, Annah-Belén Palayta, are not a quiet person." Belén flushed in embarrassment, not even going to argue in her defense. "This girl you're talking about, she does what for a living?"

"She works at Queen Consolidated."

"And that's great for her. But she will always be her, and you will always be your beautiful, fervent self. The world needs a woman like you, Belén-"

"Dad…" Belén laughed once again in embarrassment, berating herself for not having predicted this mushy talk.

"...and I know that one day someone special will see this too. Just you wait."

Belén playfully rolled her eyes, jumping out of her chair to go hug her father. She showered him with kisses and laughed.

~ 0 ~

The next day about midnoon, Belén received a curious text - from a person she most definitely knew about. Seeing as Noah was still nowhere to be seen - since he was still working hard to do his bet - she took some time off to go meet with the texter.

The place was just outside the city, in some abandoned metal-looking shack. She stepped out of her car and looked around, mildly interested in the sight, as she shut the car door. "Not quite the usual place to meet up," she called out.

"To be fair, this isn't my city to roam," Oliver Queen remained on the front porch of the shack, ever-so-calm with his hands behind his back. "I wouldn't want someone making a connection to the newly arrived Starling City trio and the newly-sighted vigilante."

"I thought that was handled a long time ago," Belén chuckled and walked up the small, sidesteps to the porch.

"Can't be too careful with a new environment. Because, remember our three rules?"

Belén beamed at the knowledge she so perfectly knew. "Assess your environment-" she began listing with her fingers, "-assess your opponent, and never, ever solely rely on your powers to help you win."

"Excellent," Oliver praised her. "Haven't forgotten that, right?"

"Nope, I remember all that you've taught me, Oliver." She chuckled and threw her arms around him for a hug, already used to his stiffness and therefore the lack of a proper hug back. "It's so good to see you again."

"The circumstances are not as great as I'd want to them to be," Oliver responded and pulled away.

"So I hear," Belen crossed her arms and stepped back. "So, why am I here?" she looked around the desolate area.

"Because…" Oliver began when they both heard a nearing noise. Barry had zipped up to the side of the porch, giving (what Belén recognized as) an apologetic wave. "You're late," Oliver declared, not too pleased. "Barry, how can you have super-speed and still not be on time?"

"You kinda get used to that, honestly," Belén walked to stand beside Oliver, but apparently her statement didn't make things better.

"You and I are here on time and we still have to use cars!"

"I guess the super-tardiness kinda neutralizes the speed…" Barry fumbled around with a plausible excuse. "So, I guess you told Bells we're working together?"

Belén's eyes half-widened at the news she most certainly hadn't heard yet. "No," the sharp edginess in her tone made both men wince, "I have not heard. When did this happen?"

Oliver cleared his throat while Barry slowly answered, "This morning. I, uh...meant to inform you…"

"So what happened?"

"Distracted…"

"Ah," Belén made a popping with her lips, "One can only imagine, having new friends in town, with what. Well, why the hell am I here, then?"

"So," Barry desperately needed a subject to introduce, "how do we catch Bivolo here?"

Second mistake.

"Who's Bivolo?" Belén looked between them, her rapid blinking indicating she was lost again.

"Metahuman responsible for the bank's near slaughter," Barry explained quietly.

"Thanks for informing me!" she leaned forwards to smack his arm. "Anything else!?"

"No?"

"Alright," Oliver cut in through the growing tension, "The reason you-" he pointed at Barry, "-are here is to train. And you-" he then pointed to Belén, "-are here to help."

"I'm not sure I want to anymore," Belén huffed, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Belén," Oliver said again, his tone sounding like a father's tone. She exhaled and dropped her arms to her sides, motioning him to go on. "So, I read your friend Iris' blog post on the Flash and the Azalea, and I visited all the crime scenes you fought at-"

"Don't you sleep?" Barry had to ask, mildly surprised of the efficiency Oliver portrayed.

Oliver ignored the question and simply went on. "Belén told me you took on a man named Leonard Snart-"

"We call him Captain Cold," Barry interrupted with a wide smile.

"We can talk about you giving your enemies silly code names later."

"You mean like over coffee with Deathstroke and the Huntress?"

Belén stifled her laugh as best as possible, but she still earned a sharp look from Oliver. She quickly cleared it off and forced herself to stay serious. She had learned rather quickly that Oliver was more serious than anyone over at STAR Labs - perhaps even more than Dr. Wells. It was a difficult matter for her in the beginning due to her inability to stop her running (motor) mouth sometimes.

"The point is that you engaged Snart on a commuter train, which he derailed," Oliver had gone off to say, but once again Barry missed the important point.

"Okay, there may have been some damage, but I got the job done, I was the hero."

Oliver tilted his head, not too surprised of the response. "There are three rules you always need to remember. Belén, tell Barry the rules."

"You assess your environment," she began with a light smile, despite Barry already growing annoyed seeing where the conversation was heading to, "And, I mean, it's something you can do so much better than all of us with your speed. You definitely have the time," she laughed.

"Belén," Oliver calmly put her back on track by just calling her name. He too had grown accustomed of this manner. He would often instruct her and she, being too excited, would start rambling until someone - usually him - would remind her of her goal.

"Second, you assess your opponent," Belén sheepishly continued, being careful not to keep rambling. "And three, you never rely on your powers to win."

Barry's eyes flickered to Oliver, displaying much more irritation than with Belén. "When I came to you thinking about going out and helping people, you said I could be an inspiration."

Oliver acknowledged his words as he walked past him to where his motorcycle was parked. He plucked his bow and arrow from the back. "Living this life...well, it takes more than a mask. It takes discipline. And since you are probably as stubborn as I am…"

Barry looked at the bow and arrow with curiosity, missing Belén's alarmed face. She knew exactly where this was headed.

"What is that for?" Barry pointed, walking down the side steps.

Oliver stayed completely calm as he explained, "You're going to run over there, you're going to come back at me, and you're going to get hit with an arrow."

Barry laughed at the absurdity of the idea. "No, I'm not."

Oliver mocked Barry's laugh with his own. "Yes, you are."

Belén purposely cleared her throat loud enough to be heard. "Well, I'll just be over here..." she lowered herself down to sit on the edge of the porch, letting her shoes touch some of the dirt of the ground.

Barry couldn't believe this was actually going to happen, and much less that Belén wasn't even going to tell Oliver anything. "Okay, fine," he raised his hands, "I will humor you," he said to Oliver and walked by Belén, "And give Bells a show."

"Don't be so distracted, Barry," Belén did earnestly warn him, seeing him so carelessly taking up this challenge.

Barry ignored her warning and sped over to the small hill Oliver had indicated to. "Ready?" he shouted.

Oliver raised his bow and arrow, aiming it in Barry's direction. "Ready…"

Belén intently watched the process, and wasn't very surprised when Barry caught the shot arrow midway.

"Nice try," he smugly said to Oliver, holding the arrow mere inches from his face.

Belén was not remotely surprised when two more hidden sets of bows dispatched arrows. Barry cried out in pain when the two arrows embedded themselves on his back.

Sighing, Belén got up from her spot and walked towards them. "Assess your environment, Barry," she reminded.

"Wha- you shot me!?" he was staring at Oliver in utter shock, not that it made much of a difference to Oliver.

"Assess your opponent," was all Oliver said back.

"Did you really have to shoot him though?" Belén tried getting Barry to stand still while Oliver came around. "Couldn't they have been like toy arrows?"

"I don't think Barry would have gotten the jist of the consequences…"

"Yeah, but…"

"Besides, I heard he heals fast."

Barry was more than irritated to see how blatantly ignored he was despite him standing between them. It was even more upsetting that Belén wasn't mad or anything - who just sits there and let's their friend be shot with arrows!?

His thoughts were interrupted by the rash pulling of the arrows from his back. He jerked forwards and nearly knocked Belén down.

"Round 2!" Oliver shouted and went to do just that.

"I'm sorry, Barry," Belén tried to help him but he shook her off, apparently more upset than she guessed. It wasn't like she had planned this. But, exchanging places with him, she probably would be a little irritated too.

~ 0 ~

Deciding to leave the "training session" earlier, Belén arrived to STAR Labs finding Caitlin, Cisco and Felicity in the cortex.

"It's so good to see you again, Belén," Felicity gave the ombre-blonde a tight hug. "Truth be told, I thought maybe you'd given up on your brother's case seeing as you haven't really given me a call or anything…"

Remembering the call from yesterday, and the fact she was supposed to be meeting them tonight, Belén forced a casual smile across her lips. "There's just been...a lot of things happening lately."

"I can imagine," Felicity gestured to the room. "The Azalea?" she nudged Belén till they both laughed. "Nice name."

"It wasn't my idea," Belén said, flushed.

"Still, you're out there kicking ass!"

"I'm nothing like the Canary though," Belén shook her head.

"Course not, you're 'the Azalea'," Felicity dramatically waved her hands in front of her. "So, what about Nina? Is she…"

"She still keeps up the whole 'I'm not using my powers-facade' but between you and me, I think she's beginning to use them more," Belén revealed. "Since the blackout incident in the city, she's been using more of them to get around and do some things."

"Good for her," Felicity nodded, crossing her arms in thought. "Maybe next time I'll be seeing a news report about the trio of vigilantes in Central City."

Belén wished the same, and by chance she saw Cisco coming out of a side room with the boomerang in hand. He walked over and placed it down on a holder, mumbling "stay" as it beeped and beeped.

"Felicity," Caitlin stood up from the desk with a tablet in hand, Belén being able to catch a glimpse of very long paragraphs from her spot. The blonde in question turned to Caitlin. "I was researching manners in which our metahuman might be hosing to perform his powers and I came across an interesting idea. Have you heard of color psychology?"

Felicity nodded her head. "The theory that changes in the color spectrum can affect emotion."

"I was thinking that if Bivolo uses color to induce the temporary psychosis, maybe we can use light and color to reverse it."

"Ooh, that isn't bad at all!"

Caitlin looked strangely relieved. "It is so nice to have another woman to talk to."

Belén released a highly offended noise. "Thanks Caitlin!"

Caitlin gasped. "I'm sorry! I just meant...you know, cos Felicity...you know...knows this...you know…"

The apology didn't make Belén feel any less offended. "No, I don't know, and I think even if you were to finish that apology it wouldn't make things better." She knew Caitlin hadn't meant to offend her but it still stung to have it thrown in her face she wasn't like them. She thought about it everyday - how she would never be as smart nor scientific as them - and it was so hard repressing sometimes.

Thankfully, Dr. Wells had appeared asking for Felicity's company. As she left, things grew gradually (and very awkwardly) silent in the cortex. Caitlin gave up trying to give an adequate apology and Belén took a computer to continue her search for new topics. She heard her phone's ringtone from her bag, and ignoring the curious looks of Caitlin and Cisco (who had yet to say a word to her still) she dragged her bag from the corner of the desk and pulled out the phone.

Belén made a mistake assuming it was a simple social text after getting a glimpse of Iris' name on the screen. She skimmed the couple lined text but visibly froze at the last couple of words. Going back to the first word, she reread the entire text to fully grasp the situation.

"Anything wrong?" Caitlin had come by after seeing Belén's eyes practically glued to the phone screen.

"Um…" Belén looked up, clearly caught off guard by her lack of words. Thankfully, they both heard voices nearing and seconds later Felicity and Barry walked into the room.

"He actually did the thing with the arrows?" Felicity was gaping, while Barry still held that contemptuous look from earlier in training.

"Aha, and Belén was there, and did nothing," Barry made sure to say loudly as he walked past the desk.

Belén put her phone screen-down on the desk before responding to his accusation. "There wasn't much I could do except pull the arrows out."

"I can't believe he did that," Felicity mumbled but not as quietly as she had meant it to be.

"You knew he was going to shoot me!?" Barry exclaimed, mildly horrified.

"Whoa, it is practically impossible to tell when a joke is being made when it comes to him!"

Barry rolled his eyes and looked away. Belén shook her head and rose from her chair. "If I had known he was gonna do that I would have said something."

She was actually a little more annoyed that while Felicity clearly knew more of what would be happening in the training session, Barry hadn't said much about it. She, who had no idea what Oliver was going to do, got dirty looks and false accusations. Where was the logic!?

"I said I didn't know if it was going to be a joke or not," Felicity said, seeming offended.

"I still would have said something," Belén scowled. "You know the Arrow better than anyone so a little warning wouldn't have been bad."

"Belén, are you-"

Cisco's clearing of throat cut into the disagreement and made everyone look his way at the desk. "Hey, we just got a ping from the facial recognition software on Bivolo, aka, Prism."

Belén continued to scowl, but for a different reason. "Wait, since when do you have facial recognition software?"

"Happy Hanukkah," Felicity quietly said, waving lightly.

"I don't do Hanukkah," Belén muttered.

"Where can I find him?" Barry walked up to the desk.

"Traffic cameras just caught him entering a residence at 168 Jarvis."

"What about Oliver and I?" Belén had turned around, assuming Barry's plans but wanting to believe she was wrong.

"I don't need 'the Arrow'," Barry made way for his suit on display across the room. "And to be quite honest, I'd rather go without you this time."

"Are you kidding me!?" Belén's scowl was wiped off her face as a look of pain drew across her eyes.

"It's just a break, Belén," Barry said as a last statement before using his speed to grab off the suit and zip off.

"He wasn't kidding," Belén gasped, looking between the empty mannequin and the others.

"Bells," Cisco cleared his throat again, partially hoping to be a distraction from what had just happened, "Your phone is ringing."

"Huh?" Belén realized he was right and returned to the desk, forgetting about Barry when he saw Iris' name again on her screen. She made the motion to the others she'd be coming back shortly then walked away to take the call.

She had a very interesting call with Iris which involved a lot of listening and listening to Iris' frantic explanations. She barely got in two words before Iris made it very clear they needed to see each other.

"But Iris it can't be that-"

"HURRY UP!" Iris practically yelled and hung up.

"Is it just 'be mean to Belén' day or what?" Belén muttered to herself and returned to the cortex room. Honestly, it was turning out to be such a bad day.

Things got no better when she paid attention to what was happening on Barry's side. He had come across Bivolo and apparently been "whammied" as he'd put it the day before. However on this occasion, he didn't seem to be showing the instant effects the other people had.

Caitlin had him sitting down for an optometry test. Rather boredly, Barry allowed her to conduct the exam while listening to the scolds of the others, specifically the still-hurt Belén.

"If you had just allowed me to come with you, maybe you wouldn't be in this situation now!" Belén angrily drummed her fingers on the corner of the desk.

"I told you that I'm fine," Barry wearily rolled his eyes.

"You said Bivolo whammied you," Caitlin reminded, able to understand Belén's irritation with him. Why risk yourself when you had people willingly trying to help you?

"No desire to go MMA on any of us?" Felicity cautiously asked him then.

"No," Barry was beginning to have trouble witholding his snaps, "Yeah, I mean, something weird happened with his eyes for a sec."

"Weird thing?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, everything went red."

Felicity glanced over to Caitlin, looking rather proud. "You were right."

Barry got up from his chair. "Okay, next thing you know, Bivolo was gone. Look, obviously his powers didn't work on me, so…"

"It was just incredibly stupid!" Belén exclaimed. "You were out there alone! What's the point of me training and and being here if I'm not out there helping you?"

Barry balled his fists on either side of him. "Because I didn't want you there, didn't you get it?"

"Because I let Oliver shoot you with arrows when I didn't even know about them!? This is ridiculous! I feel so out of place with you sometimes, honestly, like I've got no role except being a bother!"

"It's not my fault you can't find your place!" Barry finally snapped, and though he didn't shout as loud as she had it was enough to freeze her. "You left for two months, what did you expect?"

"Well," she backtracked to the desk, hastily grabbing her bag, "I guess I'll just go back to CC Pictures...you know," with her eyes glued on Barry, one hand ransacked the desk for her possessions and dumped them into her bag, "where I'm sure my place is."

Violently she draped her bag's strap over her shoulder and stormed out of the place. Caitlin half-expected Barry to go after her, but when he didn't, she went after Belén herself

Felicity was making wide-eyed looks towards Barry, her arms crossed with a hand resting on her cheek. "Are you sure you're feeling fine?"

"Yes," Barry muttered, clearly wanting to push away any further talks of what just happened.

A couple minutes later, Caitlin returned looking put out. She hadn't caught up with Belén and much less spoken to her. "I'll just have to call her," she concluded to Felicity and went to grab her phone off the desk when she made another face. "Dammit, Barry, see what you cause? She was so mad she took my phone instead of hers!"

"I think I need to go too," Barry concluded as well and started out when Caitlin gasped and called him right back in a panicky tone.

"Caitlin, looking through people's phones isn't a good thing," Felicity lightly scolded her but Caitlin waved her off.

"Something's wrong," Caitlin's eyes were moving left to right as she read off the screen. "Barry?" she hissed for the return of the metahuman that had frozen by the threshold.

Barry rolled his eyes but slowly returned. "What?"

"I think you should really consider being nicer to Bells or else she might just not help you later," Caitlin handed Belén's phone over to Barry for him to see. "Iris sent her that text. You realize that her co-worker, Noah, working with Eddie for an anti-Flash article will really affect you? I'm talking anti-metahuman forces now."

Barry's anger was increasing and unfortunately, he didn't release it. He instead pocketed the phone and stalked off much in the same manner Belén had minutes earlier.

~ 0 ~

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Belén followed Noah all around the news office. She was getting looks from their other co-workers because of it but she refused to acknowledge it. Her patience was already far too thinned for her to care.

"This was part of the bet, Belén, I don't understand your anger," Noah stopped by his desk where he began preparing a pile of papers to put into a folder. "Is it because you're a sore loser?"

Belén was already angry (and admittedly quite hurt) from her going at Barry, so Noah's actions were the tip of the iceberg for her now. "This has nothing to do with winning or losing you idiot!" her voice rose in volume, attracting the eyes of Linda Park across the place. "This is you purposely trying to dirty someone's name because you don't understand!"

"I understand perfectly, and the Flash is something that's gotta go," Noah remained quite calm despite the look of fury in Belén's eyes. "Fortunately, I found someone who shares my views. Detective Eddie Thawne was more than willing to help me with this article."

"But you can't!" Belén nearly shrieked when he made way for the doors.

"Belén!" Linda had come by after no longer being able to just watch as a bystander. "What the hell are you doing?"

Noah took the distraction and scurried out of the building. Meanwhile, Belén exasperatedly turned to Linda to explain. "It's Noah! He's using my friend's boyfriend as a reference for our stupid bet."

"So?"

"Linda, I didn't think he would find someone! He can't do this!"

"Calm down, it's not like it's the end of the world. So, Noah's found someone, for all we know this might actually change our minds-"

"No," Belén gritted her teeth. Yes, she was still overly upset with Barry but it didn't cloud her judgement of his goodness. She couldn't let Noah tarnish his name, and much worse let Eddie use this as another (and powerful) reason to create the anti-meta task.

"Look, if he's found someone...we can't do much about it," Linda admitted with a quiet sigh.

"Belén?" Iris' voice made both women look over to the doors where Iris was coming in. She looked just as, or possibly more, exasperated as Belén. "Where have you been? I've been texting you nonstop! Eddie told me he's meeting with Noah tonight and we have to stop them."

"I got your text that's why I'm here," Belén gestured. "But Noah's gone and I couldn't stop him."

"I know, they're on their way to meet that's why I kept calling. Didn't you hear it?"

Belén walked over to her desk where her bag was and reached a hand inside for her phone. She spent a minute fumbling through her things before she pulled out Caitlin's cellphone.

"That's not your phone," Iris made a face.

"It's Cait's," Belén groaned, running a hand through her loose hair. "I must have grabbed it by accident."

"So why didn't she pick up then!? This was urgent! I left voicemails!"

"It's a bit...busy right now," Belén wished at that moment so much she could tell Iris everything and have some words of comfort. No one knew Barry better than her, and Belén could really use some words to make things better.

Iris groaned of frustration, and with an urgent hand motioned for Belén to follow her out. With an apologetic smile for Linda, Belén scurried after Iris.

"What did you leave on the phone?" Belén hoped to dear God Iris hadn't mentioned any of this on it. But she aimed too high, and she knew it.

"Just what's going on," Iris led Belén towards her car.

"I drove here," Belén stopped on the sidewalk and pointed back to her own car not too far from them.

"Get in," Iris ordered sharply, and Belén winced at the tone and quickly went over to the passenger side.

As they drove down the city, though Belén was yet to hear where exactly they were heading to, Iris explained - using a tad of colorful words - in full detail how her boyfriend was working with Noah to capture the best of this anti-Flash idea they apparently shared. Belén admitted silently she was a little afraid each time Iris growled and slammed her hands on the wheel.

"Iris, if you could just keep your hands on the wheel...it would be nice…" Belén said quietly, hoping her friend would listen and calm down even just a little.

"I don't think I've ever been this mad at him!" Iris seemed to ignore Belén's request but her hands no longer raised off the wheel. "I ask him to believe in the Flash and this is what he does instead?"

"Eddie just...thinks he's doing the best thing," Belén sighed, not as angry with the detective as she was with Noah. Noah was treating this as a bet, part of something he wanted to win. On some level, she could see Eddie thinking like a policeman would: the unknown was dangerous. Belén dared to believe that if Eddie knew who the Flash really was he would leave this ridiculous idea behind of wanting to lock him away.

"What about Noah?" Iris' sharp voice brought Belén back to the present. "What does he want exactly?"

"Same as Eddie, more or less. He thinks the Flash is a danger, along with the rest of the others with powers. He wants to run an article about this but I wouldn't agree. So we made a bet. If he could find someone credible as a reference then the article goes."

"And so he found Eddie," Iris rolled her eyes, her fingers gripping tightly the wheel. "Well, this can't go on."

"No, it can't," agreed Belén. She pulled out Caitlin's phone. "I need to get my phone back."

"Forget it," Iris smirked suddenly, briefly sparing Belén a glance when she said, "Just have Barry bring it over later."

"Don't start again, not right now," Belén pleaded and, because she really just wanted to avoid any teasing, she dumped the cellphone into her bag. "We've gotta find Noah and Eddie and put a stop to this. Where are they anyways?"

"If you had your phone you would've met me there," Iris made a little 'tsk' sound. "They're going to meet at some bar later but we're gonna get there and crash it."

~ 0 ~

"You have to do something, Belén! He's your co-worker! Look" - Iris sighed - "He's your partner and my boyfriend is in it so it's up to us to stop them. I heard Eddie say he's gonna meet Noah at the Cyrus bar tonight at seven. So we gotta get there quick. Call me back!"

Barry clicked the 'end' button to Iris' voice mail and without further thought about it, threw the phone across the room. It broke but Barry wasn't there to witness it anymore. He had sped out of his lab after snatching his red suit from the locker inside.

If people were so eager to see him, then he would go to them himself.

~ 0 ~

Felicity paced back and forth with her cellphone pressed to her ear as she listened to Oliver's description of his second training session with Barry. "Okay, I'll call you back later," Felicity hung up and turned to the others in the room. "That was the Arrow. He says Barry is acting strangely."

"I think he passed that," Cisco mumbled under his breath, having heard what happened earlier between Barry and Belén. He wasn't remotely happy. Dr. Wells, who was still in the dark, briefly looked at Cisco before asking Felicity for a further explanation.

However, it was not Felicity to answer as Joe came in. "He's been whammied," he declared. "He was acting angry back at the precinct. It was scary. And his eyes...they glowed."

"It's possible that his body is fighting off the effect," Caitlin theorized then. "So, it's hitting him slower."

Dr. Wells considered this idea and voiced a concern. "When it comes to rage, that is not a good thing. The longer you can suppress your emotions...the bigger the explosion."

"Considering what he can do, how do even stop him?" Joe asked.

"A cold gun would come in real handy right now," Cisco muttered and earned a look from Joe. "Hey, I'm only saying."

"None of us can stop Barry," Wells said the obvious and glanced at Felicity. "Fortunately, Felicity knows someone who can. I think you better call back Oliver Queen. We're gonna need the Arrow's help."

Felicity gaped with a mouth half opened while Wells simply smiled, apparently no explanation was needed as to how he figured out who the Arrow was.

"Maybe call Belén too," Caitlin added quietly to Cisco who nodded in agreement. "...and Nina just in case."

~ 0 ~

"So I'm assuming we have a better plan besides just shouting at them?" Belén asked Iris as they got out of Iris' car. They had parked a short distance from the bar to get Eddie and Noah.

"Dunno, but I'm sure it'll come up in the moment," Iris absently replied as she slammed the door, her eyes examining the entrance of the bar.

Belén closed the door on her side but almost immediately saw Caitlin's phone lighting up as a call entered.

"There they are!" Iris gasped and started speed walking towards the bar.

"No, Iris, come back!" Belén shouted for her and only stopped Iris from walking towards the bar. "My cellphone's ringing!"

"It's not your phone!"

"But it's Cisco - I can see his name! It's probably important!"

"Bells," Iris whined her name like a child, "They're coming!"

"Just give me the car keys, Iris!"

Iris stuck a hand inside her pocket and tossed over the keys. She then ran to catch Eddie and Noah before they entered the bar. Belén opened up the car and answered the phone that hadn't stopped ringing.

"Cisco? Hey! Listen, I'm gonna need my phone-"

Cisco stopped her without paying attention to any of her words. He explained the situation with Barry and told her to get over fast in order to help Oliver.

"I can't, Cisco, I'm with Iris and I can't just leave out of the blue - not right now at least," Belén sighed and glanced ahead to see Iris having a heated discussion with Eddie and Noah just outside the bar. "Wait," - she froze - "who has my phone right now?"

"That's not important," Cisco groaned in exasperation.

"No, I think it might just be," Belén shut the car door and locked it again. "Quick, Cisco, where is my phone!?"

Cisco groaned again but thankfully asked Caitlin in the background. Belén anxiously waited for the answer she was already beginning to assume.

"Cait says Barry kept it earlier," Cisco finally came back on the line.

"Oh no," Belén closed her eyes momentarily. "Iris left a ton of messages and voicemails about Eddie and Noah working together for an anti-Flash thing. If he's heard them…"

There was a loud screech up ahead followed by Iris' scream. Belén almost didn't want to open her eyes again then. When she finally forced herself to, she wasn't so shocked to find Eddie and Noah sprawled on the roadside while a furious Barry - as the Flash - stood over them.

"I think I found him," Belén said to Cisco. "Hurry up! We're at the Cyrus bar!" She put the phone away and hurried towards the scene.

Eddie had tried shooting but the bullets either missed or were dodged. Even Noah had attempted a couple punches but Barry was far too quick for both of them put together. He easily knocked them down again.

"HEY!" Belén called, momentarily staying near Iris. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Everything's just fine…" Barry said, and though he kept his back to her Belén knew he was gritting teeth like he was about to fight.

"You are nowhere near fine," this time it was Iris who spoke up, and apparently it served no better.

"How would you know?" Barry scoffed. "Because you write about me? You don't know me! You don't know who I am. You never did."

"H-HEY!" Belén, abruptly, ran towards him the moment she saw him going towards Eddie and Noah again. Both of them were sporting cuts and what she was sure would later become bruises from being thrown from a good distance. "HEY!" she had gotten in front of Barry and pushed him back only slightly.

"Move!" he angrily ordered her, once again coming forwards in a sort of menacing way. "Or-"

"What are you gonna do? Hurt me too?" she challenged, and for a split moment she contemplated how smart it was to taunt him in a state like this.

"Belén!" even Iris had gotten scared from such a different Flash she was meeting.

"C'mon then, I'm waiting," Belén gulped but didn't budge from her spot. She had a stare down with Barry and it was genuinely fear-worthy as she looked into his unusual dark eyes.

Suddenly, an arrow was shot from the side with a piece of rope attached to it. Barry found himself tied up for a minute.

"Run!" Oliver, as the Arrow, ordered the other four in the scene.

Neither Eddie nor Noah wasted time and got up to run with Iris. Noah tried getting Belén on the way but she resisted.

"What the hell Belén?" Noah let her go and gave her an incredulous look.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Belén turned around in Oliver's and Barry's direction, intending on helping when Eddie returned and, along with Noah, forced her to come with them. "Let go of me! Let go! STOP IT!"

In the end, Noah put an arm around her neck and performed a neck-hold that forced her unconscious. Now with the limp body of hers, he carried her towards Iris' car that had been closest.

Oliver waited until the others were truly gone before speaking to Barry. However, Barry had chosen to drag Oliver behind as retaliation. He stopped at an alley and Oliver landed roughly on the ground, forced to let go of the rope that'd been around Barry.

He shot another arrow and Barry swiftly dodged it. "You missed it," Barry smirked, but Oliver remained untroubled.

"No!" Oliver set lose another arrow that struck Barry from behind. "2000 milligrams of horse tranquilizer should be hitting you any time now."

Barry yanked the arrow from him and growled, wearing unbearable anger within. He vibrated entirely, forcing the effects of the tranquilizer to wear off within seconds.

Seeing this, Oliver shot an arrow towards one of the nearby buildings and zoomed up.

Barry watched him go and called up. "Where you going? We're not done!" He sped upside the building until he reached the rooftop where Oliver's hook had placed itself. He toll hold of it just as Oliver reached him. "Is that all you got?"

Seeing his options, Oliver chose to let go of the hook before Barry could detach it himself. Barry watched him fall but halfway down something white zoomed down and snatched Oliver by the arms. In a wobbling flight, Nina managed to keep a hold on Oliver till they reached the ground.

Barry sped down the building and came to a stop across them. Nina made sure Oliver was fine before facing Barry.

"I had to come out of hiding because of you," she said, meaning to sound annoyed.

"Quit acting like you don't like being out here!" Barry snapped, curling his hands into fists. "We all know it's just an act anyways!"

Nina raised her eyebrows, while a little surprised it didn't anger her. She understood perfectly the situation and was prepared to listen to Barry's insults and remarks. "You need to calm down!" she blasted him with a sphere of powerful wind.

As soon as he got up from the blow, Oliver struck him with an arrow. Barry swiveled and grasped the arrow mere inches from his shoulder.

"Fool me once," he smirked at them both.

"Not quite," Nina revealed a hidden arrow and used her wind to give it a powerful blow.

Barry screamed when the arrow dug into his thigh. "Ah... ah... ah" With a trembling hand of pain, he pulled it out.

Meanwhile, Oliver had grabbed him from the side and with a good neck-hold held him back. "I still believe in you, Barry."

"Get off it!" Barry struggled against him but the last arrow that struck him made it difficult to move on both feet.

"They're coming!" Nina shouted at Oliver in warning then shot up into the air.

Joe and Wells had brought out the STAR Labs van to the scene to finish things off. Joe swiveled the car till it was facing to the left. Wells used a remote to automatically open up the side door and revealed a large, black machine inside. With another press of a button, the machine busted into a rainbow color fest. Oliver forced Barry to look into the lights as they flickered colors. It overwhelmed Barry for a moment and so Oliver let go, but was still cautious about the reaction. The colors were supposed to reverse the effect of the metahuman's but one could never be too sure.

Nina hovered a couple feet from the ground, also prepared to continue fighting. Barry shook his head frantically, like trying to throw out something.

"Barry, you okay?" Oliver took one step closer.

Barry gave a light groan and turned to him. "Oh, this is going to be a special kind of hangover," he shakily laughed, but it was the laugh that everyone knew belonged only to the real, normal Barry.

~ 0 ~

Teaming up and working together, except for Belén, the team captured Bivolo and put him in the pipeline along with the other metahumans.

As Cisco shut the pipeline doors, Bivolo warned them if what they would be dying of as soon as he got out. "Blah, blah, blah, 'no prison can hold me'. I heard it all before, pal. Adios, Prism." Cisco rolled his eyes and walked off with Nina and Caitlin.

"I liked "Rainbow Raider," Caitlin shared excitedly.

"Okay, you don't get to pick the names," Cisco shut her down but silently agreed it was a good name. "So, Nina, you think a proper suit is in order now?"

Nina laughed wholeheartedly. "This was a once in a lifetime thing…"

"That's what you said last time…" Cisco followed after her, his pleads for the new suit echoing as Oliver and Barry walked in seconds after.

"I have a prison like this," Oliver was remarking quietly, "Mine's on a nearly inhospitable island in the north China Sea, but this works too."

~ 0 ~

Much later in the next day, Belén and Noah worked quietly over a Jitters' table covered with papers and a laptop on Noah's side. As Noah - who was now sporting a couple bruises on his cheeks and arms - pointed to several circled sentences over a paper, Belén's eyes failed to pay attention. It wasn't until Iris walked over with a mug of coffee for Belén that she finally said something.

"Thanks, Iris," Belén helped her friend settle her mug onto the table.

At that moment, Eddie walked in - also in a similar state as Noah only he had actually needed stitches near his hairline. He came up to their table and slightly breathlessly announced. "Captain Singh approved the task force." Belén's bit her lip anxiously while the others looked more or less relieved. Eddie glanced over to Iris. "You wanted me to believe The Flash was real. Now I do. I believe he's dangerous, and I am going to take him in. How do you feel about that?"

Iris was visibly conflicted for a moment but in the end she gave an agreeing nod and led him towards the counter to have a more private word with him.

"You don't look so look relieved," Noah remarked almost instantly.

Belén ignored the rather aggressive tone in his voice because she understood how things must feel from his perspective. "Look, everyone's got their opinion-" she began, but unlike her Noah was not so willing to understand her.

"Opinions? Belén, that man attacked us! Look what he did to me!" he gestured to his battered face. "How are you going to sit there and defend him after last night?"

Belén sighed and seized her mug from the table to drink and force herself not to snap back at him. Her eyes drifted away from him, flat out ignoring Noah's rant. She almost choked on her coffee when she saw Barry coming in.

"Belén! Are you even listening!?" Noah was staring at her in contempt.

Belén snapped her eyes back on her co-worker. "Don't yell at me, Noah," she said, surprisingly calm. "You have your opinions and I have mine. Respect them."

Noah gave her a look as if she was betraying him or something. He only seemed to calm (and only slightly) when Barry approached them.

"Bells, can we, uh...talk?" Barry nervously asked of Belén, but if you asked her he seemed actually more afraid.

Unconsciously gripping the handle of her coffee mug, Belén gave a nod. She looked over to Noah to excuse herself but Noah was far too focused on their disagreement to care.

"I need an espresso," he muttered and got out of his seat.

Barry watched after him a minute. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, in what fits," Belén put her mug down while Barry took Noah's seat across her. Barry looked at the papers on the table and raised his eyebrows at the outstanding, circled sentences. "I'm sorry," Belén said guiltily, sighing as Barry picked up one of the papers. "After last night, well...they're running the article against you."

Barry couldn't say he was surprised, nor act like it. He lowered the paper to the table and spared a glance at the opened laptop beside him. When Belén saw that she nearly lunged over the table and slammed it shut, wincing herself by the force she used.

"It's going against my wishes," she added, afraid. "I have to help out, unfortunately."

"Like I said before, I'd take the bad review instead of you losing your job. Though, in this case, I think I have it well deserved."

"No!" Belén exclaimed. "You don't, and don't you dare disagree with me. What happened last night...that...that wasn't you…"

"But see, that's the thing, part of me was there," Barry sighed, while Belén raised an eyebrow. "I was already upset over Eddie trying to build this task force against me, and that Noah was trying to run a bad article on me. I was mad at them. What Bivolo did was just push me to act."

"No, Barry, that's not-"

"And by doing that, I nearly harmed you," And then Barry did something Belén wasn't expecting, he had taken her hands from across the table. "In my sane mind I would never hurt you."

A light smile spread across Belén's lips, and as she flushed a bright red she tilted her head. "You act like I wouldn't believe you. Rest assure, Barry Allen, I believe you 100%."

The small chuckle that escaped her lips relaxed Barry so much more than he expected. He observed her for a minute, which then turned more into a long stare. It was weird, he thought, there was something different about her suddenly. Her long, wavy blonde hair tips were falling to her side with her tilted head and her smile seemed everlasting. Her hands, soft and warm, made it difficult to want to pull his own away.

"Did you do something different today?" Barry asked quietly, his eyes flickering from one feature of hers to another.

Belén's smile widened of amusement, and with her red face she replied back, "No, I don't think so. It's just me. Why?"

"No...reason…" Barry absently said, feeling rather strange then. There was something different, he knew it. She just...looked different, a good different. Without a proper answer of his own, he smiled at her; their hands were still in each other's.

From across the place, by the counter, Iris had given Noah his espresso and scoffed at the sight of her two friends. "Can you believe them? And they actually have the nerve to deny to me they're together."

"Don't you start," Eddie rubbed his temple, agitated of the same story over and over. He thanked his luck when he saw Felicity and Oliver walking in. Although he didn't know them personally, he heard all about them from Iris.

"Oliver, Felicity," Belén had seen them after Eddie and abruptly pulled her hands from Barry's as the two walked over. "Are you guys heading home already?"

"Yeah," Felicity said while both nodded.

"I'm not happy you didn't let me help," Belén looked at Oliver mildly crossed about last night.

"If you did help you would have exposed yourself to your friends," Oliver reminded and nodded over to Iris who was coming over.

"Hey!" Iris greeted cheerfully.

"Hey," Felicity greeted back, "We were hoping you could hook us up for some Javas? We're on our way home."

"Definitely," Iris motioned to be followed.

"Iris, hold on," Belén got up as well, taking her mug with her. "You think you can reheat this for me? It got cold…"

"I wonder why," Iris sent her and Barry a wink.

"Iris do it without a word or I'm not leaving you a tip!" Belén exclaimed but only made Iris laugh.

"What's she going on about?" Felicity asked her as they followed Iris.

"Nothing," mumbled Belén sourly.

Oliver took over Belén's seat and immediately was given yet another apology from Barry. With a friendly smile, he assured Barry everything was just fine. "You can always talk to me."

"Yeah. Thank you," Barry said, gratefully, "And you were right, I still have... A lot to learn. I'm sure Bells can give me a rundown on those three important rules," he chuckled, but Oliver did not.

"About that," he began in a much more quiet and grim tone, "There's one more thing...and you're not going to like it."

Barry detected this wouldn't end well but he still tried humoring. "Does it involve you shooting me in the back?"

"No. No - the heart," Oliver cleared his throat and shifted in his chair so that he could discreetly motion to Belén at the counter who was having a chat with Felicity while waiting for her coffee. "That's not going to work out for you. Don't even try, for both of your sakes. Guys like us don't get the girl."

For a minute, Barry looked stunned at the insinuation. But then, he furrowed his brow as if annoyed. "That's a double standard."

"Yes," Oliver agreed, giving a slight nod. "It is. A woman like her can handle being two people - Azalea, and Belén - but when the time comes she'll probably find someone who's...normal, and because she'll love him she'll give up the Azalea. You can't."

"I don't...I don't even…" Barry sputtered, almost indignant of the accusation. "...there's nothing…"

"I'm not a scientist like you are, but I've got eyes...and I saw you just before coming in here."

At that, Barry awkwardly coughed and looked to the side. Thankfully, before Oliver could continue, Felicity returned with two drinks in hand.

"You ready?" she cheerfully asked Oliver, handing him his cup.

"Mhm," Oliver got up from the chair.

"Barry, I forgot to ask," Belén was striding over with her new mug in hand, "Do you still have my phone?"

Barry's eyebrows rose up and flushed, seeming embarrassed. "Actually…" he reached inside his jacket's pocket and pulled out a cellphone.

Belén took it and turned it over, frowning. "This isn't my phone…"

"No, it's not," he agreed. "I, um, may...have, um...thrown it to a wall…"

"You threw my phone?" she asked softly.

"I was under the effect," he reminded her, "And, I got angry...and I threw it...and then it broke…"

"You broke my phone…"

"I got you a new one, and I also managed to retrieve your pictures and your numbers - it's all there, I promise!"

Belén inspected her new cellphone for a minute in silence before beaming. "Sweet! I get a new phone!"

"There was one thing I wanted to discuss about that, though," Barry exchanged a look with Felicity and Oliver, apparently all three in the know.

"Like?" Belén put her mug down on the table and started going through the new phone and its features.

"Who were you planning on meeting last night on your own?"

The question made her freeze.

"And don't say it was a friend because we retrieved the texts of this location and it's not a friendly one," Felicity added.

"Belén," Oliver went with his stern voice, making her wince. "What were my rules about strange calls from people?"

"Always share with the others?"

"Well?"

"The guy had something to do with my brother alright?" Belén sighed, now putting down her phone. "I'm desparate because we've got nothing."

"How could you decide to go meet with this guy without telling us?" Barry frowned. "He could've been setting a trap for you."

"And so what? I can defend myself, Barry. He doesn't know that I have powers, that I can easily poison him to death."

"It doesn't matter," Barry kept calm for her sake. "You have to realize this was incredibly dangerous. How about we work on figuring out who that guy was together? Hmm? We can come up with a better, safer plan together."

"Yeah, and anything you need, you know I'm just a call away," Felicity gave her a side hug.

Belén didn't want to argue over something she knew she was wrong with. When it was settled, Felicity and Oliver finally made their departure as they planned on.

As she watched them leave, Belén felt her heart ping with guilt. Her face must have expressed the clear emotion because in a second Barry was asking her what was wrong.

"I just…" Belén glanced back a thte counter to see where Noah was. She didn't want anyone hearing because she already felt bad enough. "...please, please don't laugh…"

"I wouldn't," Barry said, looking at her earnestly.

"Do you know how we argued yesterday?" she remained standing, nervously tapping her fingers over the edge of the table. "Well, part of my anger...was sort of out of jealousy…"

"J-jealousy?" Suddenly, all of Oliver's words were racing through Barry's mind.

"Yeah," Belén nodded, her fingers now fiercely drumming. "See, cos…" she sighed and reverted back to her face-paced rambling, "...I really, really admire Felicity Smoak because she's helped me in so many ways but when she came over the first time - before I knew her - I was jealous because she knew your secret and she got along with Cait and Cisco. And now that she came back today all of those feelings kinda came back and reminded me that no matter how much I try I won't ever understand a word that comes out of Caitlin or Cisco or Dr. Wells, and especially you," she gestured with a weak hand at Barry. "I'm not smart, I'm just a journalist. You were right, I can't find my place and I don't think I ever will and it makes me feel awful because I know Felicity doesn't actually do anything - she's a total sweetheart and I love her to bits, but…" Belén hadn't realized she was beginning to sniff with tears in her eyes, "...I won't ever be like her."

There was a long silence between the two. Then, Barry got up and placed a hand over one of hers. "Good," he surprised her with that, but before she said a word he added, "Felicity is great, amazing even, but you shouldn't try to be like her. The world doesn't need another Felicity. You are not a scientist, you are a wonderful writer that absolutely no one can measure up to. And, maybe you don't understand everything we talk about at STAR Labs, but that's because it wasn't your passion. You talk to me about journalism and I guarantee you I will not understand half of it. But it doesn't matter because there's you that does. The world needs someone like you, Bells," he leaned over to her ear and whispered, "Azalea."

He pulled away with a smirk across his lips, and while that was partially the reason Belén was blushing again there was something else about his words that hit home.

The world needs a woman like you, Belén and I know that one day someone special will see this too."

Belén wished her father hadn't told her this, because now it was all that ran through her mind as she looked at Barry.


Author's Note:

Yeah this was one of my favorite chapters to write! And also...yeah...I may have planted a seed for season 3 in this chapter ;). Since I couldn't write Belén in for that fight with Arrow & Flash I decided to bring in Nina who definitely needs to keep using her powers!

For the Review:

Thanks so much! Aww, lol then they could be friends? That would be so cool xD. Well I hope you liked this chapter then! Let me know what you thought!


As always, thanks for reading and hope you guys leave a comment or a thought! Until next time! :)