The next morning Barry and Caitlin woke up and went straight to STAR. It was a Saturday so they wouldn't have any problems leaving considering they knew Oliver will call eventually. They just hoped there wouldn't be any surprise metahuman attack during the day or days that they were supposed to be gone. This sadly was not the case.
For some reason Grodd, the gorilla that had escaped from STAR Labs was wreaking havoc in the city via a mind controlled General Eiling. He even tried to take over Barry's mind with psionic attacks, but he failed. There were two minds in Barry's head and he was not strong enough to control both. They managed to make quick work of him rescuing Joe who was captured, but in the commotion, Grodd escaped. Barry thought he had help from Wells, but he couldn't be sure. They returned to STAR to wait for the call.
Caitlin hoped that this meetup would not last longer than this weekend. They still had a city to protect even if they had to do it with the help of an evil speedster. Everyone was in the lab at the time. Cisco was fiddling with some of his tech and Bette was monitoring the early warning system for attacks. Much like any other day where nothing would have happened. Wells was in the Cortex too, reading something that Barry didn't really care about. The gang was all there. Then his cell rang. It was the call he was waiting for.
"Hey Barry. I know this is kind of sudden, but I need your help" Oliver's voice sounded from the other side of the line
"I'm putting you on speaker, Oliver. What happened?" Barry responded putting the phone on the main console in the cortex so that everyone could hear. Including Wells.
"You know that small problem I had with Digger Harkness?"
"Yeah, Captain Boomerang. What's with him I thought ARGUS managed to capture him in the end after we disabled him" Caitlin spoke
"They did, but last night he escaped with the help of a metahuman. Someone who I thought you had locked up in your pipeline" Oliver explained. "Remember Roy Bivalo?"
"That's impossible, he's still here" Barry motioned toward Cisco who opened a vid link to Bivalo's cell. He was still in there.
"Then this guy must be his twin or something. He can do what Bivalo could do and his metahuman powers made Harkness even more powerful. I need your help. Maybe bring Cisco along and Bette for backup. But at least you two. I can handle Harkness on his own, but with whoever that is helping him, it's hard to try to hit something when keeping your eyes closed" you could hear distress in his voice. It was like the crisis was actually true.
"We'll be there as soon as we can" Barry answered and everyone including Wells nodded.
"You know where to find me" Oliver told them and closed the line
"All right. This seemed urgent, we'd rather not take the car, it would be way too slow. Barry, you take Bette, I'll take Cisco. Remember you two, don't open your eyes unless you want motion sickness" Caitlin flashed into her suit disabling her earrings, the two in question nodded and Barry flashed into his suit as well.
"Felicity should have more tech there. I can create some type of filtering contact lenses that will remove red light if he tries to attack you" Cisco told them
"Good luck" Wells responded "Send the Arrow my regards" and then the four people were gone speeding toward Starling City and into the Arrow Cave.
"You've been putting on weight" Caitlin chuckled at Cisco who gave her a frown "Hello, Oliver, Dig. Felicity" she greeted. Then she saw two familiar men on the other side of the space. She flashed and gave her brother a hug and shook hands with Professor Stein.
"Hello everyone" Barry put Bette down and went to shake hands with Oliver and Dig, hugging Felicity
"So what's going on with Captain Boomerang" Cisco asked as Bette was getting her bearings looking around the large space that she was now in.
"Nothing is going on with him. He's still in the ARGUS prison" Oliver stated "Barry? Did you not fill everyone in?"
"Didn't have time, since I thought we were being watched it was better that only Caitlin and I knew about this. Cisco, Bette, there is no emergency. I just wanted to have a reason to get away from Central. As you know Wells might have bugged our homes so this is the only place we could gather and talk" Barry explained to his teammates
"That makes sense. If your enemy knows what you`re doing then he will always be one step ahead" Bette mouthed remembering the importance of accurate intelligence in the military.
"Hello Barry, Cisco, nice to see you" Ronnie approached the center giving the speedster a strong handshake and Cisco a large hug.
"So, mind telling us why we're all gathered here? Unless you want to invite us to a wedding or something" Oliver smirked looking knowingly at Barry and Caitlin
"For real?" Barry looked at Oliver "We need to catch the Reverse Flash and make him confess to my mother's murder. So … seeing that we can talk freely without the fear that someone actually might be listening in, maybe we can come up with a plan to capture him"
"You still haven't told us much about him" Felicity entered the conversation "Like what we should expect, what are his weaknesses, if he has any, how fast is he actually, what else can he do if anything. You know, that sort of thing"
"What you should expect is someone from the future that got stuck here and now he is trying to get Barry to get faster so that he can go home" Caitlin bluntly stated
"I suspect he has the same weaknesses as any other speedster, the way he controls the speed force is the same way I do. He will probably be susceptible to cold based attacks, which is where Caitlin comes in. He is faster than me, however I don't know by how much. The last time we had a race I did manage to keep up with him, but barely" Barry continued.
"As for what can he do, phasing, more than likely and vibrating his hands to kill people" Caitlin ended.
"Yeah, don't ever want to go through that. Even though with the dreams I had, I actually did" Cisco commented.
"A speedster's powers are based on electricity. While you can't short them out with water, maybe there is a way to make them ... disappear for a while. I was thinking something to drain the power from him and leave him slower so we could handle him" Caitlin interjected.
"Yeah. One of our metahumans, Black Out, he syphoned both our powers because he needed electricity, so maybe we can do something with that" Barry added.
"I'll hack into STAR labs and keep an eye on him. I always leave myself an undetectable back door in software that I install for just such an occasion" Felicity smiled
"Just be careful we went into his Time Vault and he had an AI there. It introduced itself as Gideon. I don't know if you can keep up with it if it's still tied into the main system" Bette added a warning so that Felicity would be careful
"Got it. Thanks" Felicity turned to her console and started typing.
"Felicity, you said last time when you met something about Ray developing some sort of nanobots. Do you know if he has some blueprints anywhere or maybe an experimental batch of those bad boys?" Cisco asked.
"He should. What are you thinking Cisco?" Felicity stopped for a minute.
"I was thinking that maybe I can modify them on a cycle. Syphon energy from his cells, then when they are charged, release a variable pulse or vibration that will literally render his cells Inert. At least some of them"
"Oh, I see where you`re going with that. If he has less energy, or hopefully none, he might slow down or not even be able to run as fast as us. At least for a couple of minutes" Barry realized.
"Precisely. All we have to do is slip them in his drink, and when he tries to go all monster on us, we just activate the bots" The engineer smiled.
"What happened if he starts to vibrate them out?" Caitlin asked remembering how she got rid of the horse tranquilizer out of her system
"Then you try to keep him still for a couple of seconds while I put an arrow in his with more nanobots" Oliver smirked
"We can help with that. He might be fast but I doubt he can phase through highly superheated plasma jets thrown at him" Ronnie spoke
"Potentially he could, but since the entropy is different on plasma than it is on solid matter, he might get severely burnt or even mix up his own cells with it. I don't think he is stupid enough to do that, he did impersonate Harrison Wells for who knows how long" Stein added.
"Ok, so one part we have covered, if he tries to run however what's the game plan" Oliver commented.
"I can direct him with ice walls. He can pass through them but I can always put others up if he tries. I control the density of the ice so, him vibrating at air level to get through them won't work fully. If he tries that he will be slowed for a few good seconds. There is something else that we would like to try. Stand back everyone" Caitlin went down the pedestal and created a cloud of blue mist.
"Ok, ready" Barry added prompting surprised looks from everyone "We discussed last night the only way we could without Wells finding out. Caitlin can produce a wall of paralytic fog. Remember the rage incident Oliver?" the archer nodded "Back then when my foot entered the fog I could not move. I want to try to pass through it and see if it stops me, slows me down or I am not affected. Cisco, can you tie in the electronics in my suit to one of the consoles here?" he asked.
"Already done when you entered. The electronics were paired with our systems the last time you came here. All I have to pull all the readouts" Felicity put them on one of the monitors. Barry started to run and went straight through, but at severe strain to his system. His speed slowed to a quarter of what he went in with.
"So potentially if we get him to be slower, trying to pass through the fog might stop him completely in his tracks. I do advise that you stay clear of it though. I don't know what it can do to you" Barry added.
"How about we find out so we know that risks are involved, in case we need to" Oliver chimed in. He got up from the chair and putting his hand in the cloud. "Nope. I can't feel it. It's like it's not even there. T settles that. People like me with no powers will completely get paralyzed if they step anywhere in the fog"
"Ronald, we should try as well" Stein said and stood up. They merged and Firestorm went and put his hand in the blue fog as well. Immediately his hand stopped flaming "Seems to be the same for me. I don't feel anything. We should stay merged in case we need to run more tests"
"Ok. So the only one that doesn't lose speed and is immune is Cait. Good to know" Barry added.
"I can probably bounce arrows and fireballs off me if needed, in case you guys don't have a direct shot" She said nonchalantly prompting Felicity's jaw to fall.
"How can you do that? It's not like you`re arrow proof" The blonde woman asked.
"Actually, she is" Oliver pointed out "She did that when she was enraged. My arrows could not penetrate her skin and I suspect bullets can't either, if she tries to make her armor as dense as possible. Anything hitting her would have its kinetic momentum absorbed or redirected"
"That is SO COOL" Felicity started to fanboy over Frost's powers.
"My fire blasts might be a bit more than you can handle, Caitlin. Their temperature is quite high" Firestorm replied.
"Then we have to try that as well. Oliver, do you have a firing range that we can use without the fear of damaging the Arrow Cave?" she asked.
"Follow me" he motioned to a door on the far side.
"Before you do that, Barry can you run to Palmer Tech and bring us the batches of experimental nanobots so we can start working on them?" Cisco asked.
"Sure. Where are they?"
"In the Palmer Tech building, level 37, large office at the end of the hall, straight ahead as you exit the elevators. The passcode for the safe in the office is 4311872" Felicity finished and Barry was back in 15 seconds with 4 canisters of clear liquid in his arms "Thank you"
Firestorm, Arrow, Frost, Flash and Plastique went into the training area. I was obvious it was more than a shooting range for bows. The walls had been reinforced and there were fire extinguishers and safety features all over. Barry knew this area well, it was where the flash and the archer had their first face to face. A little friendly duel, which up to this day nobody knew how it ended.
"Ok, Cait. You stand in the middle try to redirect the blasts that are coming toward you to someone else, except the fireballs, those I can't stop. Oliver, Firestorm, Bette throw stuff at her. I'll standby to catch any rogue arrows that might hit anyone, so don't worry about those, but if you see any rogue fireballs coming at you … duck" He spoke and gave the others a grin
"Barry, I don't know if it's a good idea to throw explosives at her" Bette spoke taking off the power suppression cuffs.
"Not large ones, no. that is why when I went to Palmer Tech I bought you this bag of beads. Even with the force you put into them, the explosions shouldn't be dangerous. When it's for real though, only throw them her way if absolutely necessary. I don't want her head blown off" Barry pulled one of his smiles "Everyone ready?" Caitlin iced up, Oliver drew his bow, Firestorm lit up "Then let the fun begin. Remember, don't worry. I'll protect you from any stray arrows"
A storm of arrows, fireballs and exploding beads started to fly across the room. The Arrow had aimed well, but the ice that covered Frost was indeed impenetrable, however he noticed that now she was using her speed to move out of the way of the arrows instead of taking them head on, gently changing their trajectory to the other two combatants, not making them lose momentum and fall to the floor like she did in the other scenario.
Firestorm was going all out. He let out a series of fireballs. Two of them hit her but disappeared when hit the ice skin, the other three she managed to deflect with her hands which were covered by ice toward the walls between them so the others would not be hurt. The flames were hot, but barely managed to melt the upper layer of her frost gloves.
Plastique's beads did indeed hit her and a few exploded right near her leg. The ice didn't seem to be phased by those small explosions, as she redirected some of the beads away from the other people. Flash was zipping around catching arrows, which Frost expertly aimed at everyone using her speed to redirect them in whichever way possible.
Arrow was seeing the way the two speedsters worked with each other. Whichever way Frost managed to redirect his arrows, they weren't even half the way to their target before Barry managed to catch them. It was like they knew where she was pointing them and the Flash's eyes were always on her movements, almost like predicting where the arrows would go. The amount of coordination that would take wasn't lost on him. The Flash had to know his partner's way of moving down to the letter.
They continued this mock sparring for another hour or so practicing combo shots to hit moving targets and stationary ones, before Oliver ran out of arrows to shoot, so they stopped and came back to the center area with all the tech. The archer had noted that for something that merely took an hour, Caitlin had become very proficient in redirection with the least amount of momentum loss, sometimes even using slingshot maneuvers to increase the punching power of his arrows. Suffice it to say that for Oliver that saw quite a lot, this actually managed to impress him.
"That was quite a show" Felicity whistled at them "I had no idea you two work so well together".
"I noticed that too. The way Barry caught the arrows before they were even halfway to their targets was pretty damn cool. Almost like you were reading her mind" Oliver stated with a really impressed tone
"He was. I was telling him to who I was redirecting the arrows to" Caitlin smiled "I didn't want anyone getting hurt but I did want to get the hang of it" Bette and Cisco were visibly smirking.
"Barry? Care to ... share with the class?" Oliver asked.
"After the lightning struck, we found that there were … side effects. For one, we could enter a dream scape as long as we were near each other and touching while we slept" Barry retorted having Oliver and Diggle look at him like he was joking.
"So I'm guessing you also had to test that" Felicity snickered.
"Yeah. While she was in a coma and I was watching over her. Not the way you think, Felicity" Barry answered.
"Also, another interesting effect is that we can talk. I can hear his thoughts he can hear mine. Which is how I was telling him where I would redirect the arrows" Caitlin told them, prompting another wave of fallen jaws from Team Arrow.
"That is … seriously cool" Diggle managed to mutter after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah" Cisco laughed "It's like they are stuck in a permanent Vulcan mind meld"
"It certainly explains a few things. The way you two moved it was as if Barry was predicting your moves. It was way too fluid unless you told him exactly where they were going" Arrow commented.
"Actually, I don't really need her to tell me. I can tell by the way she moved where the arrows might have gone. Since we're speedsters the world around slows down considerably when we use our powers. With the fact that our minds can cope with that immense speed, making a few simple trajectory calculations based on her body and the trajectory of the arrows after they leave her hands is not something difficult to do. Sure I wouldn't be so fast in catching them halfway, but I know her movements and I am quite good at math" Barry smiled to which Felicity smirked.
"You`re used to watching her move huh?" the two started to blush but Cisco saved them from the embarrassment.
"Ok, I managed to reprogram Ray's nanobots. At least one batch. They will start to drain energy from the cells around them and start to vibrate. The vibrations should be enough to stop the surrounding cells to power up again. The effect should last about 1 minute per charge. If Wells can phase them out of his system. If he can't one dose should be enough, because the moment the bots stop and the cells start to power up again, they will restart the drain cycle" the engineer told them.
"Did you take into account the case that the cells produce too much energy?" Barry asked, prompting Cisco to smile.
"Yes, when they reach 100 percent charge they will start to vibrate and drain at the same time. The cells will power the bots until they are drained after which they will go on internal power which lasts that 1 minute" Cisco answered.
"Well, we have the way to slow him down now. Frost can paralyze him, Firestorm can slow him down and corral him and Bette can deny him large avenues of escape or approach using her explosives. What's the endgame?" Oliver answered.
"The endgame is capture. I want to lock him up in a cell, permanently dosed on those nanobots, until he confesses to my mother's murder" Barry answered, getting a glare from Oliver. The archer knew that there could always be a different outcome, but said nothing. Barry however caught his glare and responded "Don't look at me like I'm naive, Oliver, because I am not, which leads to the other thing I want to make clear. If he threatens to kill anyone who participates or is seconds away from doing so. Ollie, put arrows through his heart or head, I don't care. You kill him on the spot. As much as I want a confession for my mother's murder and to get my dad out of prison, that is not worth either of your lives. Ok?" Barry said with a stern conviction in his eyes, Oliver nodded. Caitlin looked surprised at him, she had never seen him with that sort of cold, dark glare before.
"Are you sure you want Oliver to kill him?" she asked waiting for an answer
"Yes. A confession isn't worth any of the lives of the people that are here. These are our friends. I'm not Wells. I don't use people for my own devices. They help and they deserve to know everything. Missing information can lead to them being dead, which is something I do not want" he answered
"But …" she tried to backtrack
"Cait, no buts. I know Oliver will kill if necessary. However, if he had you and he was about to kill you, I would split his skull open without thinking about it. Understand?" Barry's eyes were telling the truth.
"I understand. I did not know you had that resolve in you" she commented with a light bit of admiration in her eyes.
"I don't. Not now anyway and probably will never permanently have it. I am not a killer and I do not enjoy it. Nevertheless, when it comes to people I love, I will do anything necessary to protect them and I do mean anything, even shove a vibrating hand through his face. Just to make myself understood, at the moment, you are on the top of that list, Cait" he replied bluntly making her blush
"Do they do that a lot?" Felicity asked Cisco
"What? You mean like ... not say anything for a few minutes then realize there are other people in the room and they weren't talking aloud? Yep. It's becoming a habit. I see it as quite rude as well, but nothing we can do about it" Cisco laughed and his laugh attracted their attention.
"Yeah, sorry about that. The discussion was not related to the plan we were making" Barry explained as Oliver scoffed.
"You said he might vibrate to get his nanobots out of his system. Is there any way to keep him from doing that?" Bette asked bringing up a good point
"The only way we could do that is if we have some sort of sonic device that can produce a high enough pitch to disrupt his own vibrations. Getting the right amplitude would be really beneficial for us because if he tries to vibrate and he gets hit with that, it will hurt him. Badly" Caitlin said and at that moment the elevator door opens and a familiar face entered the Arrow Cave.
"Wow, what's with the superhero meetup guys. Did I miss anything?" Laurel Lance smiled at the group while Cisco had a grin on his face.
"I think we just have our vibration disruptor"
"Say what now?" Laurel looked weird at the people assembled
"You continue what you were doing. I'll put Canary here up to speed" Oliver spoke as he took her aside and began telling her about what happened and their plans.
"Do we even know what sort of frequency he needs to vibrate at so he gets the bots out of his body?" Felicity asked.
"Well, no … but we can shoot Barry with a tranquilizer arrow and let him get it out of his system and we can measure that" Caitlin smirked
"Hey! Why me. You did it the first time. They should shoot you" He joked
"You really want Oliver to shoot me with an arrow?" the woman made a pouty face at her boyfriend
"No" he looked down defeated "Fine, I'll do it "
"So. Who do I get to shoot with an arrow?" Oliver came back with Laurel by his side. Barry pointed at himself.
"I'm the guinea pig. Fire away. Cisco you ready with the sensors and the measurements?"
"Everything's ready" the engineer asked. To Barry's surprise Oliver didn't cock an arrow to shoot him. He got one out of his quiver and simply stabbed him in the leg with it
"Ow" Barry winced as he felt the tranquilizer entering his body. Oliver stepped back while he began to vibrate, a green mist going out of his silhouette before he became a clear figure again "That was, interesting" he quipped
"Got it. Assuming his rhythm is the same I can adjust Canary's sonic collar to interfere with his frequency. That was if he tries to vibrate to get the bots out, when she hits him with a blast wave from the Canary Cry he will more than likely be dazed. Depending if the frequency is good to be at resonance he might even get damaged, quite seriously. However, if you are anywhere in the area of fire and you do that, you will be damaged too. So be mindful of that. Both of you" Cisco explained and warned the two speedsters
"So, you need me to be there?" Laurel spoke herself "Also, you can speak in your heads? What is this? The Twilight Zone?"
"Yeah we do. And Seriously? You`re sitting in a room with a guy that can run at supersonic speeds, a woman that can literally freeze anything she touches and another woman that can turn a kid's toy into a WMD. I think we are way beyond Twilight Zone here" Barry smirked and she nodded smiling.
"And yes. We can talk in our heads" Caitlin nodded.
"Check this recording of them fighting just a little while back and tell me what you see" Oliver Pointed toward the footage on the screen and Laurel began watching it. She noticed the way the two speedsters worked just like Oliver had before. Her mind didn't work the same as the archer's when it came to strategy, but she saw the speed of the reaction time. It was something she had not seen before, of course they were speedsters, which mean their velocity was their greatest asset. However, the fact that they could communicate through their thoughts was nothing to be left out. If anything that ability gave them the fluidity of movement and the minimal response times that she was seeing.
"So, how do we do this? We do have to all be there for this to work" Diggle commented.
"It wouldn't be odd at all if Harkness escaped and skipped town … right?" Bette asked.
"It wouldn't be impossible, but with all the people here, it would indeed be strange if the two criminals actually managed to escape" Caitlin asked with a raised eyebrow
"Wells, or whoever he is, is still a pretty smart guy. In the end even if he figures out something is wrong, it's not like it matters. We do have to not give up our hand immediately thought" Barry continued
"Why? Do you have something in mind?" Oliver looked at the speedster.
"Since he might have surveillance on us, he might know by now that we figured out he isn't who he says he is. But I don't think he'd refuse a cup of coffee" Barry smiled
"You want to dose his coffee with nanites?" Cisco looked surprised at this
"Sure, why not. If he doesn't drink it, then we keep to the original plan, but if he does, it could give us an edge" Barry responded
"Look at you. Thinking like a strategist. Didn't think that was possible" Oliver grinned at him. "I was about to suggest the same thing"
"Quite surprising indeed" Caitlin smirked "Coming from a man that used to run head first into a burning building" Barry frowned then said with a grin
"I'm never going to hear the end of that, will I?" the speedster pouted at her.
"No, you won't" she smiled.
"Well I'm in, but you have to remember, the Canary Cry doesn't have extreme range, so someone will have to either get me in pretty close or I will have to be there with you" Laurel managed to add to the discussion
"It will be situational. You will be standing by to help or even to stop him from moving your way. But if he starts to vibrate, then Barry or Caitlin will come get you" Oliver explained the way that she should use her scream.
"Yeah, beside Ollie, who's already a glutton for punishment, most of you don't stand a chance against the evil speedster and like I have said before, I want us to walk away with our lives from this one" Barry spoke with a hard voice, making sure he made his point across. He called on his friends to help and he didn't want any of them hurt.
"I already have experience against … evil, ice throwing, icicle wielding, raged out speedsters, so I should be fine… I think" Oliver smirked looking at Caitlin.
"There is something else I might be able to do. I'm pretty sure the icicle attack and the freezing rain are too slow to catch him, unless I make that over a wide area" Caitlin replied
"By making that over a large area you run the risk of hurting our own people. I can dodge them, but most of the people here can't" Barry cut in
"They will probably melt when they get anywhere near me" Firestorm added.
"I was thinking … how about I just freeze the ground. I'm assuming he can't really maneuver over ice" Frost pointed "That is if his costume is about the same as ours. While the shoes are anti-skid, last time I tried to run over ice it took increased control and energy to keep myself from actually slipping or skidding. The continual drain could be something that might help us get rid of his powers faster"
"I guess we'll find out. Testing that on your suits would be pointless. He might have some future tech that prevents him from having those kinds of issues" Bette commented.
"Well, is there anything else to add? Because if not, we should totally go out and have some food" Felicity added looking at her stomach who was grumbling.
"Want to go out somewhere? Or we can just stay here and eat and talk. We can go and get food for everyone" Caitlin told Felicity
"What do you guys think?" Barry asked
"I'm fine with whatever" that was Cisco with his head in the consoles
"Going out would be nice, kind of like the calm before the storm" Bette chimed in
"Not really in the mood" Oliver grumbled
"We're fine sitting here and eating" Firestorm commented they separated into the two component parts. Professor Stein was pretty eager to get his hands on food for some reason, also he was fascinated by the way the two could communicate without speaking. Their brainwaves were in sync as well but they could never do that.
"I have to go home actually. Need to talk to Lyla about covering for us while we're gone" Diggle responded headed toward the door. "I'll see you guys in the morning"
"I have some depositions to go through until tomorrow. An ADA's work is never done" Laurel turned to leave herself "I'll be here in the morning though, so we can go take care of your … problem"
"Don't really want to go out myself to be perfectly honest, just thought to include that in the options in case someone else would. When you eat like a pig to keep your energy up, people start to look at you with strange and awkward smiles when you`re at your third extra-large pizza" Caitlin muttered
"I second what Cait said. We usually go out somewhere where at least we have a bit of privacy when we chug down 5 pizza each" Barry admitted.
"So you two finally got around to dating, huh?" Oliver suddenly said prompting a smile from Cisco and Bette. "What? You think you`re actually fooling anyone?" a sly smile appeared on his face.
"Felicity…" Barry rolled his eyes at his blonde friend
"What are you looking at me like that for? I didn't tell him anything. You know how perceptive he is" She waved her hands in her defense.
"No, because you keep it so well hidden I would have to be a master detective to notice" Oliver scoffed. "You literally are two of the worst people at hiding how much you like each other. Witness to that is the fact that I asked you the first time I saw you together "Do you like her ", did I not, Barry?"
"Yeah, you did" the Flash nodded.
"The same thing Felicity asked me the first time she came back to STAR and we were both awake" Caitlin smirked "Was it that obvious?"
"Yeah, I was. You two were so oblivious to each other. Don't think I didn't see you breaking your leg when I kissed Barry on the cheek either. Losing focus my ass, you were keeping an eye on us all that time and when that happened, well you know. Glad to see that's not the case anymore" Felicity smiled as Barry took Caitlin's hand missing her touch as the hours passed.
"I think Congratulations are in order then" Professor Stein smiled "Round of beers all around on me "
"So, food?" Caitlin and Barry were gone and back in less than a minute with pizzas and a beers.
"20 Pizzas? Isn't that a bit … excessive?" Oliver came back changed in his normal clothes.
"4 for you and 16 for us" Caitlin explained "The run around we did earlier left us hungry. 500 miles is not a short trip especially with passengers" Oliver cringed. He had never seen how much food the speedsters needed, but 8 extra-large pizzas seemed a bit much. His opinion however soon changed seeing the food literally disappearing from in front of him while the other ate as well.
"I didn't know how much this would take so I booked rooms for you at the hotel in town. I didn't know what your preference was so … besides Caitlin and Barry, for which I booked one room, for obvious reasons, I booked singles all around" Felicity gave the couple a smirk.
"I kind of expected that from you, Felicity" Barry said rolling his eyes. However, she saw he was grateful for thinking ahead. Everyone finished eating and grabbed a beer "Well, let's hope this plan works"
"It has no reason to fail. Even if it does, you know well figure something out" Bette commented.
"Yeah. We're all here, so we will manage to think of something" Stein said with half his beer already gone.
"Too bad it took a speedster supervillain to bring us together like this to cooperate" Caitlin muttered "Maybe we should do this more often"
"Well, you know Oliver isn't good at working with other people" Felicity smiled and the archer gave her an icy glare "What? It's true"
"Well, I would like to thank you for the help in advance anyway and you ever need us, you know where to find us" Barry downed half his beer in one swig.
"To friends" Cisco raised his beer and they all raised their respective beers as well
"To friends" a combined chorus of voices could be heard coming from the depths of the Arrow Cave.
Barry and Caitlin left for the hotel and since they didn't really bring any civilian clothes they had to get at least some stuff to sleep in which they did rather fast. After that they flashed to the room and they changed into their sleeping attire going out to the balcony each with a glass of wine, looking over the city as they discussed in their head.
"I really hope this works out as we planned it" Barry looked at her with a hopeful look but she sensed from afar that he was worried.
"If it doesn't, then we adapt and we make it work. That is the beauty with us working together, I think we can manage to take on one crazy speedster. I know you`re worried, Barry. So am I, but you could say that everyone is the same. We will manage to make this work. You'll see" She smiled taking his hand in hers and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, Cait. I needed that. I want us to catch him so I can free my father, but I have a feeling that won't be the case. Even if that isn't what will happen, I will at least have a little bit of peace when I see him dead on the ground. The man that destroyed my life and the life of my father, while you know I don't condone killing, I would rather see him dead then escape again. I hope that makes sense" Barry replied holding her tightly to him as they watched the city at night.
"I do. Now let's get some sleep. We will need to have our energy in the morning" She smiled and dragged him to bed. He didn't protest and they fell asleep in each other's arms quite soon after. The run and the training took a lot out of them and they were tired.