A/N: Sorry for the long break! Here's a nice long chapter to make up for it, in which I accidentally ship two metas, one person is generally very obnoxious (that'll be funny later), and Donald Trump is offhandedly insulted.
"Okay, everyone, welcome to the…" Barry, suited and masked, glanced at Leonard. "Are we really calling it the Rogues? I liked Superhero Squad."
"We're calling it the Rogues," Leonard confirmed.
"All right, welcome to the Rogues," Barry said, turning back to the others in the room. Aside from Barry and Leonard, there were nine people gathered in the old precinct—technically, ten, as Ronnie and Hartley were still two people even in their combined state. Or maybe one and a half?
Three of the nine-point-five were not metahumans—Eddie, present as the liaison to CCPD; Iris, in the role of a reporter; and Caitlin, in case a doctor proved to be necessary.
That left six metahumans (or six and a half), wearing a variety of masks, helmets, and glasses to disguise their identities. Even Barry wasn't sure he knew everyone there.
"Maybe we should do introductions," he suggested. "Just your ability and meta name, unless you want to share your real name too."
"It'll be off the record," Iris assured everyone.
"I'm the Flash, the fastest man alive." Barry looked at Leonard.
"Citizen Cold, if you hadn't guessed." Leonard lifted his gun. "I freeze things."
"Vibe," Cisco offered next. He'd recreated the Vibe goggles from the other timeline. "I can manipulate and weaponize the vibrations of the multiverse, along with seeing into alternate Earths and glimpsing the future." He shrugged. "Yeah, I'm pretty awesome."
"Firestorm." Ronnie and Hartley hadn't bothered to conceal their identity past the whole glowing-eyes thing. "There are actually two of us, linked via the Firestorm matrix. We can light on fire, fly, throw fireballs."
The next person in the small circle wore a very familiar-looking helmet. "I'm Doctor Light," she said. "I can channel starlight and blast it from my hands."
Barry couldn't deny that the next person's presence made him a little anxious—he was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, but the rainbow outfit was a giveaway, even before his introduction: "Rainbow Raider. I can influence emotions by making eye contact."
Barry reminded himself that this was a different timeline, and thus Roy G. Bivolo, aka Rainbow Raider, aka the guy who made him fight Oliver, was most likely genuine in his support for their side.
"I'm Bette Sans Souci. I don't have a meta name that I've come up with, but I can turn anything into a bomb just by touching it." She raised her hands. "Thus, the gloves." Bette didn't have anything concealing her face, the only meta in the room to do so.
"Plastique," Cisco offered. "As a name."
Bette shrugged neutrally. "If you think so. I haven't put a lot of thought into it. I'm not a big fan of my powers, but I'd rather use them to help the city than just have them removed." She looked to her left and waited expectantly for the man there to introduce himself.
"Doctor Alchemy." The man wore a green cloak, hood pulled low enough to shadow his face. "I can transmute materials into other ones, so long as I know the precise chemical formula for both the original and what I want to change it into."
That was a new one for Barry. He exchanged a glance with Cisco, who looked just as intrigued by the meta neither of them had ever met before. Whoever this Doctor Alchemy was, he was particular to this timeline.
Introductions complete, Leonard said, "Let's go over the rules. Detective Thawne over there can attest to the fact that these all come directly from Captain Singh."
Eddie nodded, his arms crossed. "Rule one—"
He, Leonard, and Barry all spoke in unison. "No killing."
"That can actually be extended to no felonies," Eddie added. "This whole agreement will inevitably end in the breaking of laws, but the CCPD draws the line at committing felonies."
"We'll avoid those," Barry assured him. "Rule two is try to keep collateral damage to a minimum. We're all going to have to practice using our powers so that we don't inadvertently destroy the city."
"Sounds like a good plan," Bette said, tensely rubbing her gloved hands together.
"Rule three," Leonard said. "Don't disclose any identities of other Rogues to outside parties. If we're going to be a team, we ought to trust each other."
"So are you going to tell us who you are?" Doctor Light asked.
Leonard stared at her. "With a cop and a reporter in the room? Thanks, Light, but I'll pass."
"All that about trust and you won't tell us your identity?" she asked doubtfully.
Rainbow Raider nodded in agreement.
Leonard opened his mouth to respond, probably with something biting and dismissive, but he was cut off by a loud ding from the nearest computer. Every head turned in that direction, and Barry blurred over to check it out.
"Metahuman alert at Central City National Bank," he read. "Someone reported fog—indoors."
Cisco's face lit up, his excitement only slightly masked by the goggles. "It sounds like we're dealing with a—"
"Don't say it," Barry muttered into Cisco's inevitable pause for effect.
"Weather Wizard!" Cisco finished dramatically.
Barry only just managed to refrain from rolling his eyes while everyone else looked at least marginally impressed by the name. "Sure, Vibe. Weather Wizard. The bank is only a couple blocks away. Let's go, now, before the robber gets away."
The Rogues exchanged nods and glances, conveying various combinations of nervousness and excitement, before heading out.
Barry kept pace with the rest of his team as they ran toward the bank. He wondered if CCPD would be willing to fund a van or something. Sure, he could run, Firestorm could fly, and Cisco could probably open a portal or something, but the rest of them had no faster form of transport than running.
Regardless, the robbery was still in progress when they arrived at the bank, judging by the caustic mix of fog, sleet, and wind swirling around the building.
"Do we have a plan?" Leonard asked Barry.
Barry glanced pointedly around at the other Rogues. Firestorm set their head and hands ablaze, Bette tugged off her gloves, and Rainbow Raider tucked his sunglasses into a pocket. All of them wore determined expressions.
"We've got a squad of superheroes," Barry said. "We don't need a plan."
"We'll see," Leonard muttered. Barry barely heard him, too busy dashing into the bank in a flash of gold lightning.
He skidded to a stop inside, staring around in indecision. He'd intended to get an idea of the status of the robbery-in-progress, as well as identify which of the Mardon brothers they were dealing with, but that looked to be a difficult task now. A thick fog filled the room to bursting, dense enough that Barry couldn't see more than an inch in front of his face. He blinked a couple of times and heard the others come in behind him.
Doctor Light released a blast of starlight that mostly reflected off the fog rather than casting any beneficial illumination, but it was enough to snap Barry out of his momentary confusion. He whirled his arms in wide circles, causing enough wind to clear the fog from the lobby of the bank.
The Weather Wizard, whichever one it was, stood near the counter, lightning crackling around him. He turned to face the doorway, fog already gathering again around his hands.
Leonard was the first to react, shooting a blast of ice at the Weather Wizard. Mardon matched the shot with an identical stream of ice. Firestorm launched into the air and shot a clumsy fireball at him. Mardon simply shifted one of his hands upward and cut off the flames with a second stream of ice.
Both of Mardon's hands occupied, Barry decided it was a good time to get the civilians to safety. He transported the three tellers and two customers out of the bank and returned just in time to see Bette throw the nearest object to her, a pen, at the Weather Wizard. It glowed purple and Mardon, baffled at the strange attack, didn't even bother to knock it away.
The now-explosive pen detonated against his chest, blasting him backwards and into the counter. The explosion had been small, but it did its job. Cisco cheered. Leonard lowered his gun and Firestorm landed on the floor with a slight stumble.
Then a familiar face stepped out from the vault area of the bank, drawn by the loud crash.
That… was Mark Mardon. So then…
Barry looked closer at the man they'd just taken down. Without the lightning or ice shrouding his features, he was undeniably recognizable as Clyde Mardon.
Both Weather Wizards. And Clyde was already getting to his feet.
This was shaping up to be either a very fun day or a very painful one, depending on how well their newly formed team could work together.
The Mardon brothers gave the Rogues nearly identical glares and raised their hands.
Clyde immediately began to move his arms in a circle, and wind rushed around him, forming a vortex. Barry tried his proven method of running around the forming tornado in the opposite direction, but a huge hailstone from Mark threw him to the floor before he could get enough speed to stop it.
Firestorm swooped into the swirling vortex, but Doctor Alchemy also tried to intercede at the same time. The air in the cyclone transformed into some sort of metal. It did manage to stop Clyde's tornado, but the collapsing spiral of metal knocked Firestorm to the ground, pinning them beneath a long segment of iron.
On the other side of the lobby, Cisco sent a Vibe blast just as Bette tossed a set-to-explode chair at Mark. The vibe hit the chair rather than the Weather Wizard, sending it spinning away across the bank. Rainbow Raider's attempt to induce fear in whichever Mardon he could make eye contact with first ended with him meeting Doctor Light's gaze instead. It sent her into a blind panic where she shot blinding rays of light at the nearest person. The nearest person being the Flash, who stumbled, temporarily blinded, into a wall, at superspeed.
Leonard observed the mess that was being made of their attempted heroics from a position near the door and sighed. Deeply.
When the older Weather Wizard turned toward him, lighting gathering in his palms, Leonard shook his head and gestured just go at the door. Clearly, his Rogues were in no state to stop them, and Leonard knew he couldn't take on two weather-controlling metas on his own. Better to let them go now before someone died.
The two robbers, both looking amused by the situation, took Leonard's invitation and left. Before gathering his team to do the same, Leonard blasted all the cameras in the room with enough ice to ensure the footage would be unrecoverable. Screw 'no collateral damage'—he was going to make sure there were no records of the first official Rogue mission.
It took nearly ten minutes, but eventually all the Rogues stumbled back into the old precinct. Caitlin, Iris, and Eddie looked shocked at their various states of injury.
"What happened?" Caitlin asked sharply, immediately going to Barry, who was the most injured. She opened up her medical bag and shone a flashlight into his eyes, testing his response.
"Well, good news, I know who the robbers are," Barry said. "Bad news, there were two of them, and our team was… less than prepared?"
"We sucked," Doctor Light moaned.
Firestorm split into their two halves, and Ronnie and Hartley glared at each other.
"If you'd just listened to me, we could have stopped them!" Hartley spat.
"Sorry that I don't happen to like the plan that ends with me getting struck by lightning!" Ronnie retorted.
"Okay, calm down," Barry told both halves of Firestorm.
"Whatever happened to 'we don't need a plan?'" Leonard asked him.
The tumult of people talking over each other continued for a few more seconds before Caitlin interceded by shouting, "Stop!"
Everyone slowly quieted and looked at her.
Caitlin put her medical bag down on a table. "Everyone who was injured in some way, stop arguing and come over here so I can treat you."
They all shuffled over, Ronnie dragging Hartley in that direction until he got the point. Barry, with the most severe injuries, was pushed to the front of the line. He told Caitlin about his blindness.
"It'll heal pretty quickly, though," he assured her. "It's not as bad as the last time it happened."
"The last time?" Caitlin glanced at Doctor Light with a frown.
"It wasn't me the last time," she swore.
"It wasn't her," Barry confirmed. He muttered something that sounded a lot like 'technically'.
Caitlin resumed treating Barry. In the meantime, Eddie asked, "So now that you're all done arguing about it, what actually happened at the bank? From the looks of it, I'm guessing you didn't catch the bad guys."
The Rogues let out a collective groan.
"We didn't," Leonard said. "Not because the robbers were especially powerful. We just managed to be so incompetent that we took each other out rather than them."
"Seriously?" Iris asked.
"We had no coordination, we got in each other's way, and none of us knew how to use our powers effectively," Doctor Alchemy recited.
"Who were the robbers?" Eddie asked. "Did you get a look at their faces?"
Barry hesitated before responding, recalling the news article he'd looked up back at the very beginning of this timeline. One that described the death of Detective Joe West, who'd been shot by Clyde Mardon.
He spoke softly, looking in Iris's general direction. "The Mardon brothers."
He still couldn't see her outside of a slight blur of color, but he could imagine the expression on her face. First it would be shock, and then a stunned grief. She would go to Eddie's side without conscious thought, and he would hug her protectively.
"The Mardon brothers are back?" Eddie's voice was hard, upset.
"Who are the Mardon brothers?" Bette asked carefully.
"They're bank robbers," Leonard said.
"One of them killed my father," Iris added, her voice coming from right next to Eddie.
"And now they're bank robbers and murderers, who can also control the weather," Rainbow Raider said with a sigh.
Caitlin finished checking Hartley for injuries, the last of her patients. "How are we going to find them?"
Doctor Light looked at her phone. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a day job that I need to get to. I don't think being a top-secret special forces cop will be a good excuse."
"Most of us probably have jobs to get to," Barry agreed. His sight was returning enough that he could probably fake his way through a day at the precinct. "The Mardon brothers won't show their faces for a while, I'm sure. For now, let's not get fired."
The Rogues muttered in general agreement and headed out.
"Are you going to be all right going to work today?" Eddie asked Iris.
She nodded slowly. "I'll be fine," she told him. "See you later, babe." She kissed him quickly and left.
Eddie turned to Barry, who'd waited for him. "We're headed in the same direction. Think you could give me a lift?"
Barry smirked. "Sure, but only if you give me directions."
At the precinct, Eddie and Barry paused just inside the entrance.
"Are you seeing this?" Eddie asked in a low voice.
Barry nodded, not taking his eyes off the scene within.
There were nearly double the usual number of people in the new precinct. The added number were all wearing military-grade camo. And right at the center of it all was a man in a general's uniform having a very aggressive discussion with Captain Singh.
Eddie, though he knew he probably wasn't meant to join the conversation, nevertheless approached, trying to hear the argument.
"…can't storm in here with your men and demand access to them!" Singh said.
"David, I am a general with the Unites States military. I have the right to participate in any cases that are of interest to the safety of this country."
"This isn't a case at all. This is a task force that specializes in a certain type of cases. If there were anything posing a threat to the security of our nation, I assure you that I would call you. But as there is no such threat, get out of my precinct!"
The general turned toward the door, which unfortunately put Eddie directly in his field of vision. To Eddie's surprise, instead of looking irritated at his obvious eavesdropping, the general glanced at his name badge and broke into a wide grin.
"Detective Thawne, is it?"
Eddie, unsure how to respond, was relieved when Singh spoke before he had to say anything. "I told you to get out of my precinct, unless you produce some sort of documentation of permission to be here from someone with about the same security clearance as the President."
"I'd just like to speak with—it's Eddie, isn't it?" The general smirked. "I'm General Wade Eiling of the US Army. I have a very vested interest in the new metahuman task force that's been created as a branch of the CCPD. I hear you're the one in charge of it."
Eddie gathered himself, standing up a little taller. It was clear to him that this General Eiling was nothing more than a power-hungry man who wanted to somehow control or use the metas.
"I'm not in charge of it," he said coolly. "That would be Citizen Cold and the Flash."
"But you are the liaison."
"Yes. Do you have a point, General?"
"You realize that all of these metahumans have the power to control the city if they wanted to? That they could easily kill all of you? I'd like to protect the good people of Central City from that fate."
Eddie shrugged. "It seems to me like the only one interested in endangering the people of Central City is you. You do realize that metahumans are also citizens of the city, right?"
"I'm more interested in those who have no method of defense against these overpowered criminals."
"They're not criminals, General." Eddie put as much sarcasm as he could muster into the title. "Powers don't turn people into criminals, just as military service doesn't turn people into bigoted assholes. Not necessarily, anyway—I can think of a few examples."
All pretenses of a smile were gone from Eiling's face. "With the way you're defending them, I'm inclined to think you're one of these metas, Detective Thawne."
Eddie shrugged. "And what if I am?"
"I'd just like to know where this metahuman task force meets. In case superpowered lunatics start attacking innocent civilians, it would be nice to know where exactly they report back to."
"I don't think that's something I'm likely to tell you," Eddie said.
"Then when metahumans inevitably start destroying the city, I'll be forced to assume you're one of them," Eiling spat. He spun to face the rest of the precinct. "The same goes for anyone who gets in my way."
Eddie put on his best expression of sarcastic terror and exchanged a look with Singh, who resisted a grin.
"Well, you offer a very tempting bargain," Eddie said, looking back at Eiling. "Unfortunately, I think I'm going to pass on that one. Now, I believe Captain Singh asked you to leave the precinct…"
Eiling glared. "I'll be back with written permission from an authority too high for you to blow off," he said. "You've made a very powerful enemy today, Eddie Thawne."
He stormed out of the precinct, his soldiers following after him.
Eddie sighed in relief and caught Barry's gaze across the room. They shared as expression of genuine fear, and then went to their actual work.
The flow of visitors had been rather steady at S.T.A.R. Labs. Most of those who came by simply wanted their powers removed, but a few were eager to learn how to use them without causing disastrous accidents.
Their current visitor, for example, was explaining how she kept getting stuck places.
"I can't control it sometimes—if I'm looking at a place I'll just end up there, whether I want to or not," she explained. "And then sometimes I can't make it work when I actually want it to, so I've gotten stuck in trees like a stupid cat. I almost broke my leg getting down."
Just as she finished the sentence, Shawna disappeared with nothing more than a slight 'poof' sound.
"Like that," she said, frustrated, from the other side of the Cortex.
"All right, let us run some tests on your cells and see if we can't figure out how your powers work," Caitlin said, leading her into the med bay.
Cisco followed after, excitedly asking, "Have you thought about a name? Because I think Peek-a-Boo sounds…"
Another person entered, a young man who made all the lights flicker as he walked by them. Judging by the way he flinched at each momentary spurt of darkness, he didn't want his powers.
"Can I please get these abilities removed?" he asked, sparks darting around his fingers.
"Of course," Harrison said. He glanced in Ronnie's direction, as he was nearest to the table holding the device, and Ronnie tossed it to him.
The dark matter remover, or the Neutralizer, as Cisco was fond of calling it, was about the size of a cell phone, but a lot thicker and with wires curling around it on all sides. It wasn't the most beautiful piece of technology S.T.A.R. Labs had ever developed, but it did look very 'sciencey', as one of the now ex-metas had called it.
Harrison gestured to the young man, and he approached.
"What do I have to do?" he asked. With a glance at the Neutralizer, he added, "If I touch that thing, I'll probably drain the battery."
"You won't," Harrison promised. He reached toward the meta with his free hand. "Give me your hand."
The man hesitated, but put his hand, still generating sparks, in Harrison's.
Harrison didn't flinch at the electricity. He placed the end of the Neutralizer against the inside of the meta's wrist. "Are you sure? This can't be undone."
The meta nodded.
Harrison pushed the button on the Neutralizer. The sparks stopped.
The young man sighed in obvious relief. "Thank you."
Harrison offered the closest thing to a smile he ever got nowadays. "My pleasure."
Cisco poked his head out of the med bay. "Um, Dr. Wells, we have a problem."
"What is it?" Harrison asked.
Ronnie also looked up, nudging Hartley, who was studying a book of sign language.
"General Eiling is coming. And he's not a big fan of metas."
"Eiling?" Harrison grimaced. "I haven't heard that name in… twelve years, I'd estimate. Has our teleporting friend made any progress?" He tilted his head at the young man beside him.
Cisco took his meaning. "She's able to at least do it when she wants to now, though she still can't stop it. The nearest window—"
"Down the back hall and to the left. If she won't mind escorting this young man."
Cisco ducked back into the other room for a second, asking Shawna if she'd agree to help the other meta escape before Eiling came in. There was a response, and Cisco looked back out. "She says sure."
He fully exited the med bay, quickly followed by Caitlin and Shawna.
"What's going on?" the man next to Harrison asked.
"Hi, I'm Shawna. I think we're running for our lives." She smiled at him.
He looked stunned—not only by the news but also by Shawna herself. "Farooq—and I'm willing to run for my life so long as I'm running next to you."
Shawna glanced away, smiling to herself.
"Flirt later, escape now," Cisco advised. He pointed at the back exit of the Cortex. "The first lab on the left down that way has a window. Shawna…"
"Great." She only sounded a little bit sarcastic. "Let's do this."
"Do what—are we jumping?" Farooq asked, suddenly worried. "Running is one thing, heights are another."
"Don't worry." Shawna grabbed his hand, and instantly the two of them were in the hallway. "I'll be back if I need more help," she said. Farooq just looked startled, and then they were gone.
Just in time, too. Hardly two seconds passed before General Eiling and a whole troop of his men barged into the Cortex.
"Have you come to get your powers removed?" Harrison asked innocently.
"Dr. Wells. It's a pleasure to see you again."
"I wish I could say the same."
Eiling glanced around, observing Cisco and Caitlin, both of them with their arms crossed, staring at him expectantly, and Ronnie, murmuring translations to a glaring Hartley. "Last time I was here, you had a few more employees."
"Last time you were here, you asked me to begin immoral experiments on animals and people. We don't exactly have the staff to do that now even if I wanted to, so why are you here, Eiling?"
"I hear you have some method of removing a metahuman's powers."
"I'll ask you again—are you here to get metahuman abilities removed? Because if not, I see no reason that anything we're doing here should be of your concern."
"I'm curious—does this device of yours have the ability to restore dark matter as well as remove it?"
"No. Nothing can restore or synthesize the dark matter's effects once it's been removed from a human host. And, if there were some way to do so, I can think of no worse person to grant that sort of potential to than you."
"I understand that you're not particularly fond of me, and I return your lack of regard, Doctor. But you have to understand that these abilities could give the United States army the edge we need to better defend our liberties. That has always been my main concern."
"And you don't believe giving soldiers these powers, even if it were possible, would result in them misusing them?"
"I think these abilities would be better used by the army than by civilians who could easily destroy the city, were they so inclined."
"You would do better approaching the CCPD about these fears," Harrison said dismissively.
"I already have. Captain Singh is in full agreement with me."
"That's not true," Cisco blurted. "He refused all of your proposals and kicked you out of the precinct."
Eiling turned to face him, a savage curiosity on his face. "How might you know that, Mr. Ramon? Do you have a direct line to CCPD? Or did you learn that through some sort of metahuman ability?"
Cisco looked off guard. "Um, I have friends at CCPD?" It came out sounding like a question.
Eiling spun again, now casting an accusing glare at Hartley and Ronnie. "And I find it interesting that you, Mr. Raymond, find it necessary to repeat everyone's words to Mr. Rathaway," he gestured at the abandoned sign language book, "who by all appearances seems to be deaf. Another metahuman ability? You know, Harrison, I find it highly coincidental that your unconditional support of metahumans conveniently protects your favorite employees."
Harrison spoke with a 'don't try to outsmart me' edge to his voice. "We received a call just a few minutes ago from Captain Singh, informing us of the outcome of your visit to them. Had Cisco not pointed out your obvious lie, I would have. As for Ronnie and Hartley, we were in the middle of testing a new form of hearing aid. It hadn't worked with normal speech, so Ronnie hypothesized that its design may be better suited to amplifying lower-decibel sounds. He was repeating our conversation in order to continue testing despite your interruption."
As Ronnie got to Harrison's last few lines, Hartley leaned back from him and pulled the tinnitus-blocking earpiece they'd designed out of his ear in order to show it to Eiling as proof. The only indication of his pain at the ringing now audible in his ears was an almost-unnoticeable tightening of his jaw. He replaced it his ear the moment Harrison continued speaking and Eiling's attention was off him.
"Whether my employees are metahumans or not would change nothing about their positions at S.T.A.R. Labs, and it would change nothing about my stance on metahumans. Now, why are you here, Eiling?"
"I'm going to show Central City that metas are dangerous," Eiling promised, glaring at Harrison.
"Ah, so you're here to make vague threats. Make up your mind, General," he said acerbically. "Do you want them gone, or do you want to use them?" He held up a hand before Eiling could respond. "No, I understand. You want the military to be the only location of metahuman power in the country. You can't stand the idea that someone else might be able to use their powers and do more good than the army could ever achieve."
"Are you speaking from experience, Dr. Wells?"
"Yes," he said firmly, ignoring the obvious 'you're a meta' insinuation. "I have seen the Flash save this city. I have yet to see you do the same, even with a whole army on your side."
"Some of us prefer to stay out of the spotlight for the good we do."
"You're right, for perhaps the first time in this conversation. Unfortunately, you are not one of those people. You, General Eiling, have always taken credit for everything you can, including many things that are not at all your doing. Now, if you would, General, get out of my lab."
"I can get authorization to be present while you do whatever it is you do with metahumans who come by," Eiling threatened.
"No matter the authorization you get, the most time you'll be legally allowed in S.T.A.R. Labs is six hours a day," Ronnie pointed out. "I've done my research on the military. You're not allowed to access civilian space without their consent for any longer than that."
"And I can assure you that for those six hours, there will be no metahuman visitors," Harrison added. "It won't be difficult to set up some online notification system to advise them of when to come by."
"You don't want to make an enemy of me, Dr. Wells," Eiling growled.
"I really do. Now, until you get that authorization, you're legally not allowed to be here at all without my consent. And I do not consent. Would you like me to call the police, or do you just want to walk out?"
Eiling, for the second time that day, stormed out of the building. A couple of the soldiers threw vaguely apologetic glances at the S.T.A.R. Labs team before following him.
Harrison sighed. "Did he leave any cameras behind? I wouldn't put it past him."
He addressed the question as though to the room, but Cisco knew it was directed at him. He closed his eyes to vibe it. "No."
"Good." Harrison shook his head. "I get the feeling that this is certainly not the last we're going to see of General Eiling."
"We'll find a way to keep him from harming any metas," Hartley said, glaring at the exit as though Eiling could feel the weight of his stare even from outside the building. "Are you sure we can't just blast him with a fireball? It would put an end to this whole mess."
"I think the Rogues would probably have to stop you," Caitlin said regretfully.
"CCPD would feel very bad about locking you up, though," Cisco added.
"Honestly, it might be worth it," Ronnie said.
"Let's leave the attacks for another day," Harrison advised. "We're scientists. We can fight him with facts rather than fire."
"Hopefully," Hartley muttered after Ronnie repeated Harrison's words.
Later, the Rogues met up again. This time it was just the Rogues and Caitlin; Eddie and Iris weren't present. Leonard had been waiting for a couple of hours, while Rainbow Raider had just arrived.
"We need some kind of a signal," Leonard muttered. "Or at least a group text."
"We have a bigger problem than meeting up at the same time," Barry said.
"Can there be a bigger problem than that?" Leonard, still annoyed, asked.
"I'm serious," Barry said. "His name is General Eiling."
Everyone but Doctor Light, Rainbow Raider, and Doctor Alchemy winced.
"He is a problem," Ronnie agreed. "Eiling visited S.T.A.R. Labs today, trying to get Dr. Wells to help him create metas for the army."
"He also visited CCPD." Barry realized saying that would easily give his identity away to any of them who cared to look up employees of CCPD, then decided that he would trust his teammates and continued. "There, he was insistent about metas being a danger to the city. He tried to get Eddie to tell him where Rogue headquarters are."
"Eiling's bad news," Bette said. "I used to serve under him in the army. He's very willing to do whatever it takes to get his way."
"He's definitely capable of blackmail, kidnapping, and murder. I don't know what he'll do to try to find us," Barry said.
There was a heavy silence for a moment, broken by Leonard clearing his throat and announcing, "Well, right now we have a more urgent problem to deal with. Two of them, actually."
"The Weather Wizards," Cisco agreed.
"Yup. And we're not going to be able to take them down unless we do some serious training," Leonard said. "I'm used to working alone, so I didn't expect how catastrophically bad it would be if we didn't coordinate our attacks."
"So what are we going to do?" Doctor Alchemy asked. "It's not like we can just battle each other to practice."
"Good question, Alchemy." Leonard stood up from his position on top of one of the desks. "In order to get better at working together…" He smirked. "We're going to battle each other to practice."
"This sounds highly dangerous," Barry said.
"That's what makes it fun, Flash. Come on. We're going on a little field trip."
Leonard had somehow acquired a van. "I'm driving," he said. "And yes, Flash, before you ask, you do have to ride with the rest of us. Team building."
Barry, who had been about to ask, got in the car and sulked. Caitlin came along too, claiming shotgun and holding an even larger medical bag than the one she'd had that morning.
Leonard was, shockingly, a good driver. He actually obeyed the speed limits, which shouldn't have surprised Barry but did anyway.
"I think," Cisco announced after a couple minutes, "this van needs a name. And some decoration." He paused, considering. "We could call it the Roguemobile! And we can paint the name on the side!"
"We're not calling it the Roguemobile," Leonard said from the front. He wasn't the only one to protest the name—Rainbow, Light, and Ronnie all contributed the same opinion.
"Fine." Cisco settled back into his seat, crossing his arms.
Light felt bad, so she whispered to Alchemy next to her and offered her helmet as the object necessary. Alchemy changed it into some material that was very glittery, and he reached up to transform a little bit of the van's ceiling into glue. Light stuck the no-longer-a-helmet to the ceiling and blasted it with a very low-level light beam.
The van now had a low-budget, meta-powered disco ball.
Cisco cheered considerably and pulled out his phone to start blasting music. The van soon became an impromptu, mobile disco party.
Leonard focused on driving and looked very annoyed. Caitlin, next to him, laughed.
Finally, they arrived at the intended destination—the Badlands. It was a huge, empty wilderness thirty miles outside of Central City, a perfect place for inexperienced metas to practice their abilities without destroying anything. Leonard yanked open the door to the back of the van and confiscated Cisco's phone. He wasn't smiling. Definitely not. Not even a little. He switched off the music and continued not to smile.
The others tumbled out of the van, a lot happier than they'd been after there rousing defeat that morning. Even Bette, who'd been the most sullen about her place among the Rogues, was laughing.
"On the way back we should do dubstep," Cisco suggested cheerily.
"Glad you're all having fun," Leonard said. "Now seriously, we need to practice. Preferably without killing each other, but…" He shrugged. "We could probably spare one or two."
"You can admit it, Cold. You'd be so bored without us." Barry smirked.
"Vibe, Light, as the two instigators of this whole disco crusade, you two can be team captains."
"What are we doing?" Cisco asked.
"It's like dodgeball, but with superpowers." Leonard grinned, in a good mood despite himself. "Like I said, let's try to keep the casualties to a minimum."
"Aw, man, I hated dodgeball in school," Light complained. "Though it will probably be more fun with powers."
"Dodgeball was the worst," Cisco agreed.
Firestorm, who'd joined up at some point during the ride, nodded. "I was always picked last. My other half, though, he was actually good at dodgeball." He glared upwards jokingly.
"Light, you pick first," Leonard said.
She frowned, thinking about it. "I'm gonna have to go with my fellow doctor. Alchemy, you're on my team."
Cisco didn't even wait for Leonard to turn to him before he said, "My lovely friend Bette, of course."
"Firestorm," Light said.
"Flash."
Light made a 'yes' fist-pump. "Rainbow!"
"Really?" Leonard, the only one left, asked, moving toward Vibe's team.
Light shrugged. "I doubt you ever had to deal with getting picked last, Cold. Deal with it."
"All right, I know who my first target is." Leonard shot her a glare, which didn't have much effect with his goggles and hood still in place. As Light's helmet was still busy being a disco ball in the van, he could see her roll her eyes and stick out her tongue in return.
"Yo, Cold, stop staring at the enemy," Cisco ordered. "Come on, Team Vibe, let's make a plan." He grinned to himself. "I've always wanted a Team Vibe."
Both teams whispered to each other for a minute before Leonard pulled away and announced the rest of the rules.
"There are no boundaries. If you get knocked down, you're out. Caitlin is the referee and also the medical support. Best two out of three, and then we'll switch teams and go again. Caitlin, if you wouldn't mind counting us down…"
The two teams moved away from each other, shifting into fighting stances. Leonard made sure his gun was on a non-lethal setting.
Caitlin, who'd perched herself on top of the van, looked very excited. She shouted down, "Three! Two! One! Go!"
The battle began.
Leonard, as promised, aimed directly at Light. She rolled out of the way of his first shot and countered the next one with a blazing blast of light. They slowly circled each other, their beams cancelling each other out.
Then someone hit Leonard from behind, just hard enough to make him stumble sideways a few feet. Still shooting at Light, he turned to try some sort of defense against whoever it was, only to see a huge fireball hit the place he'd been standing moments earlier.
Cisco grinned at him before running off to pull Bette out of the way of Firestorm's next blast.
That was right. The kid could see the future. Lucky. Leonard ducked behind a rock to end his impasse with Light and aimed for Firestorm instead.
On the other side of the field, Doctor Alchemy battled with the Flash, transforming the air around him into a variety of uncomfortable elements. When Flash sprinted away to get a running start, Alchemy encased himself in a 360-degree wall of solid steel. There was a very satisfying thunk from outside of it, and Caitlin yelled, "Flash! You're out!"
Firestorm, hovering above it all, was more threatened by internal arguments rather than external attacks. Neither of them had full control of the body, so when Hartley tried to go left and Ronnie right, they nearly fell out of the air.
If you'd just listen to me—
We would have gotten hit by the ice!
We could have melted it, except you don't know how to throw fireballs! So how exactly do you expect to win?
In their turmoil, they landed on the ground and nearly burst into their separate halves, which probably would have counted as 'knocked down' and led to disqualification. But Rainbow seized them by the shoulders before they could separate and looked them in the eye.
Rainbow's eyes glowed blue for a moment, and Firestorm's shifted from the usual white to flash blue as well for a moment. Their internal discord ceased.
Behind you.
Firestorm spun and blasted Bette's explosive rock away. They launched back into the air and sent a fireball calculated to be just large enough that it knocked Bette down before burning itself out. "Bette!" Caitlin called.
Then the air beneath them seemed to change, and the fire wasn't enough to keep them up.
Across the field, Cisco whooped and punched the air, watching Ronnie and Hartley fall to the ground. Different frequency air equaled different buoyancy equaled Caitlin yelling, "Firestorm!"
In Cisco's celebration, he wasn't prepared when Light let out an intense beam in all directions, and the overwhelming glare brought him down, even with his goggles.
"Vibe!" Caitlin announced.
Leonard, who'd seen Light gearing up for the blast, had pulled his hood down enough to shield his eyes. He shot Light before she could try again, smirking at his success, then turned to bombard Alchemy with ice. Alchemy turned it to air for as long as he could before running out of energy and collapsing.
Leonard was about to celebrate victory when he recalled he was forgetting someone—just as a hard kick to the back of his knee sent him tumbling to the ground.
He glanced up to see Rainbow Raider grinning at him. "Who needs superpowers?" he asked.
"Citizen Cold, you're out!" Caitlin really was having far too much fun with her role as referee. "Team Light wins!"
Leonard sighed and accepted the hand Rainbow offered to get to his feet. "All right, I accept defeat. Let's take some time to reset before Round Two."
About twenty minutes later, Caitlin declared them all cleared to go again. That was also about the time that Doctor Light stopped gloating to Leonard about her triumphant victory.
"Let's not forget that I personally got you out," Leonard said. "That counts as a victory to me."
"Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, Cold."
They headed to their opposite sides of the field.
"Three, two, one, go!" Caitlin shouted, and Round Two began.
This time, Leonard was pleased to see, the two teams worked closer together. On his side, Cisco stayed busy telling him, Bette, and Barry where the other team was about to be, so they could aim more effectively. On the other side, Rainbow kept the two halves of Firestorm in agreement, while Light and Alchemy worked together to create blindingly reflective surfaces, disorienting the other team.
"Firestorm, right above you, ten seconds," Cisco advised him. Leonard nodded and pretended not to notice Firestorm swooping closer from the corner of his eye.
He counted to nine and then shot upwards. Firestorm shuddered in place, seeming unsure whether to go left or right, and finally decided on left just as they released a ball of flames.
The fireball went wide, a fact which wouldn't have been so bad in and of itself, were it not for the direction it spun off in.
Because it was headed straight for the van—no, the angle was a little higher than that: it was headed straight for Caitlin.
The Flash was busy navigating the shiny maze Light and Alchemy had set up and didn't see the fireball. Leonard didn't even have time to lift his gun, let alone shoot.
Caitlin held up her hands to block her face and braced herself as the fireball slammed into her, knocking her backwards off the van.
The battle stopped within seconds. Firestorm actually fell out of the air and into their separate bodies.
"That was your fault!" Ronnie screamed at Hartley, dragging himself to his feet. "If you hadn't—"
"If you had just gone along with me—!" Hartley yelled back. Both of them were breathless, both panicking about equally with their shared emotions, both sprinting toward the van as fast as possible. They rushed around the front of it and both stopped dead, staring.
Caitlin was sitting, staring at her hands, at the base of a long curl of ice. Hartley thought back to the trajectory at which she'd fallen, and his eyes tracked a potential path down the smooth slope of ice. It would be the perfect shape to catch her, absorb her momentum, and deposit her gently in her current position. She wasn't even burned.
"How—" Ronnie was the first to say it; he was already kneeling at her side, taking her hands. On instinct, he flinched back from her touch and Hartley could feel it too, and he knew even before Caitlin held up her hands to show them both—her fingertips were covered in frost.
"You're a meta," Hartley said, just as everyone else came rushing around the side of the van, terrified, marveling. They all began talking at once, but Ronnie said nothing, so Hartley heard nothing.
After a long moment, of frantic chatter, of nothing being said, Ronnie helped Caitlin to her feet and enclosed her in a hug—and that, at least, Hartley could feel, because Caitlin was freezing.
"I love you," Ronnie whispered to her, the only sound cutting through the cold silence of Hartley's head.
Hartley cleared his throat, and that was an odd sensation, feeling his skin grinding against itself but not hearing the sound. "This is really going to screw up our teams, you know."
They did not play any more dodgeball that day. Instead, the Rogues returned to the old precinct and started searching for the Mardon brothers. Caitlin's near brush with death had reminded them all of the dark side of metahuman powers. So now it was back to work.
With the sheer number of scientists in the Rogues, it wasn't too hard to come up with a way to search for barometric pressure fluctuations. The data brought them right to a barn on the outskirts of Central City.
"I should have known," Flash said, then refused to elaborate when they all looked at him for clarification. Vibe threw him a sympathetic glance, however.
The doors were padlocked, but Bette simply smirked and touched the lock. Everyone ducked for cover as it exploded, taking half the door with it.
As they entered, the air started to shift around them. It took only moments for it to rise to gusts of wind so forceful it nearly shoved them all out the door. The Flash started to spin his arms, matching the wind with some of his own.
"Have I ever mentioned that doing this is seriously not fun?" he asked conversationally.
"Shut up, Flash," the Rogues as a whole muttered.
Caitlin, tense, dripped little balls of ice from her fingertips. They tinkled against the floor as the Rogues proceeded forward a few steps.
"It is way too dark in here," Doctor Light decided. She sent a ray of light upwards, where it tore through the roof. She maintained the light, casting illumination across the barn and revealing Mark Mardon standing in the center.
"Couldn't stay away, could you?" he asked, crossing his arms. Fog swirled around him, starting at his feet and climbing upwards. "Even after we beat you the first time."
He raised his arms, and lightning jolted across the barn toward them.
Caitlin and Leonard simultaneously shot ice at the lightning. The ice absorbed the voltage, shattering into a million tiny shards.
"I can do that too," a voice said from behind them—Clyde. The Rogues turned in time to see a huge ball of ice, at least ten feet in diameter, barreling toward them.
Firestorm leapt to the front of the group, going up in flames intense enough that those closest had to back away. The ice melted into water as it approached.
Vibe turned to Light suddenly. "There's two of them."
She was too focused on maintaining the light to understand what he meant. "What?"
"We'll take Mark," Vibe said. He shot her a smile. "I bet my team defeats him first."
Light caught on. "Ha. You can even take Caitlin."
"Yo, Team Vibe!" he said. "Let's go!"
The barn was filled with fog by the time he finished talking, but he could still see his teammates nod in understanding.
Light turned off the beam, leaving the barn in darkness except for what little leaked through the hole in the roof and, as Firestorm lit up, the illumination their flame gave.
Team Vibe moved further into the barn, toward Mark. Flash continued to spin his arms, clearing the fog from the area.
Leonard and Caitlin again shot streams of ice toward Mark, preempting any lightning he could send. Mark narrowed his eyes, and then the air near him became swelteringly hot, melting the ice before it could reach him.
"Nice try," he said. The effect was a little ruined by the fact that he was sweating from the heat.
Flash darted toward him, and Mark defended himself with a bolt of lightning, knocking the Flash away and into the wall.
"He's about to try acid rain," Cisco hissed to Leonard and Caitlin. "I never thought I'd say this, but we need to build a wall."
Caitlin worked faster—just as Leonard started to shoot, a wall of ice sprung fully-formed from her palms. A moment later, water pelted against the front of their shield.
"Give me some ice," Bette said, holding out her hand. Caitlin dropped a baseball-sized globe of ice into her hand. The ball glowed purple, and Bette lobbed it over the top of the wall. The wall ruptured with the force of the explosion, revealing Mark lying unconscious against the far wall. Flash scrambled to his feet, sporting only mild burns from the acid rain, and slapped a pair of anti-meta cuffs (courtesy of S.T.A.R. Labs) on Mark. Team Vibe exchanged high fives.
On the other half of the barn, Clyde had abandoned the ice attacks in favor of blasting Team Light with intense winds. Alchemy threw up his hands and transformed the approaching air into water, which swirled around their feet before evaporating from Firestorm's heat.
After a couple of minutes of this standoff, Light shot out a bright ray, purposefully aimed to force Clyde to look away—directly at Rainbow Raider, whose eyes glowed with the dull gray of apathy. Clyde, losing all will to fight, didn't resist when Firestorm powered down to approach and cuff him.
Team Light exchanged their own round of high fives, at just about the same time as Team Vibe.
"How about we call this one a tie?" Light offered when she turned and saw the other half of the Rogues' success.
"You're just saying that because we won." Vibe grinned at her.
"Let's just get the Mardons down to CCPD," Flash suggested. He paused, then added, "But we totally won."
"Winning team gets to pick the music!" Vibe called as they returned to the van.
Cold sighed. "Driver gets to pick the music."