A few weeks later, Alicia found herself training harder than she ever did. She was flying and pushing herself to fly faster, sparring with Dick, and going back and forth to Starling to spar with Roy and Massie. She wanted to be ready in case that man in yellow came back again. She didn't want to feel like she was letting Barry down like that again.
That was why one afternoon when she, Barry, Dick, Dr. Wells, Caitlin and Cisco were at Ferris Air, Alicia found herself in the RV trailer, lifting the special weights Cisco had created for her to bulk up her super strength, eating a highly healthy lunch of a roasted mushroom and tofu wrap with black beans and spinach. However, she was interrupted from her training when Barry knocked on the door to the RV, dressed in his Flash suit.
"Alicia, Cisco's getting ready to start with me care to watch?" Barry asked.
"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute or so," Alicia said. She took a seat in the RV as Barry rubbed her neck.
"Are you all right?" Barry asked her.
"I just-I know I can get faster and stronger for the next time this man in yellow shows up," Alicia said
"Yeah, believe me, Alicia I know. I feel the same way," Barry said. He felt at home at Ferris Air.
"You seem familiar with this place," Alicia said.
"In high school my friends Hal and Carol had family that worked for this company. Carol's dad was the CEO and Hal's late father was a test pilot. When we were fifteen, Hal and Carol told Iris and me about how much they loved vintage planes; we would come here on the weekends to watch the planes pass by. It was a distraction for the four of us; it was sort of our place," Barry said. "This branch of Ferris Air shut down after Hal, who's now a test pilot for the company, went missing a year ago. I have yet to Facebook message Carol and see how she's doing with that."
Alicia nodded thoughtfully. She'd heard of the Ferris family owning a branch of Ferris Air in Central City. "Yeah, I heard of a test pilot having gone missing," she said. "I didn't know he was your friend."
"Yeah," Barry said with a nod. "Let's just do this so I can get on that track."
Alicia nodded in agreement with Barry. She knew that the sooner Barry started training the sooner he would be able to focus and find his center. Alicia knew that Barry needed to get faster in order to defeat the man in the yellow suit. It was not long until Barry was on the track running after telling Cisco to make it challenging. Alicia and Dick watched as Barry dodged a drone that Cisco had brought with him.
"Okay, that was too close," Dick said.
"He told me to make it hard," Cisco said.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he didn't want you to make him dead," said Alicia. "Hard, not homicidal."
"This is just a training exercise to improve Barry's speed," said Dr. Wells.
"Well tell your boyfriend that you do not want him being reckless," Cisco said with a shrug.
"Yeah, you're telling me to tell him not to be reckless and he is not my boyfriend!" Alicia said. Cisco gave her a look. "Okay, he is my boyfriend."
"You two have been going out two nights a week to dinner and kissing for the past few weeks since Christmas," said Cisco, rolling his eyes.
"That doesn't mean anything yet. He didn't even ask me to be official," Alicia said.
"Licia, I know you, and I do know this: you like Barry a lot and you always have," said Dick. "Besides, you seem weighed down by something."
"Yeah, well I heard from Massie on Christmas Eve that Oliver went to Nanda Parbat to go on a suicide mission, and nobody from Team Arrow has heard from him since," Alicia said. "They don't know if he's dead or alive, yet. I have faith that they can hold their own and they can keep Starling purring like a content litter of kittens, but, still I worry about them. Especially my sister."
"I've heard of Nanda Parbat," said Dick, feeling unsettled by that. He'd heard stories about it from his past mentor and his adoptive father, Bruce.
"How did you hear of it?" asked Alicia.
"My old mentor may or may not have a history with them," Dick admitted.
"Batman?" asked Alicia.
"Yeah; he has fought Ras Al Ghul quite often. Tgat place trains people into become stone cold killers," Dick said. "If Oliver went to challenge Ras then it's gotta be bad why'd he do it?"
"They told me the gist of it. Malcolm Merlyn manipulated and drugged Thea, Oliver's sister, to make her more compliant to suggestion. She-She was the one who killed my friend Sara, but it wasn't her. Malcolm used her like a loaded gun because he knew that it would be the perfect way to cover up his ass," Alicia spat out bitterly. "All I know is that Oliver is missing, but I just know that he isn't dead."
"How do you know?" Dick asked.
"I just know. I can feel it in my bones and I do not need to know. I have faith in God; that keeps me from being less afraid," Alicia stated. "Roy and Massie are going to keep me posted. Massie can hold her own; she's tough. I believe in her."
"Hey Cisco!" Barry called out through the comms. "Are you gonna bring it or what?!"
Wells turned to Cisco and just said in a calm voice, "Bring it."
Alicia watched on nervously as Cisco sent more drones Barry's way. Alicia felt nervousness for Barry. She knew that Barry was fast, but was he that fast? Dick reached over and rested a hand against Alicia's shoulder. However, she felt her worries increase when she saw Barry running towards the drone.
"Wait, why isn't he running away from it?" asked Caitlin as she watched.
Caitlin and Cisco were too busy watching Barry to notice what Dr. Wells was doing next. Alicia and Dick observed as Dr. Wells gripped the arm of his wheelchair and rose from the chair slightly. His foot moved. Alicia and Dick shared a look with one another. Dick nodded; he agreed with Alicia that he was getting more and more suspicious of Dr. Wells. Caitlin's worried voice brought them back, however.
"Barry, run away!" Caitlin said.
However, what they all saw next surprised all of them. Barry had an expression of determination on his face as he grabbed hold of the second missile that came his way; he grabbed it by the front and threw it at the drone. The drone exploded. Alicia felt nothing but amazement.
A good twenty-five minutes later, Barry found himself surrounded by dozens of boxes and bags of Big Belly Burger, scarfing down five stacks, fries and soda. Alicia let out a sigh and sat beside him in a nearby chair. Barry was officially exhausted after training. He was so happy that today was his day off. Alicia patted him on the back rewardingly, smiling as she pressed a kiss against his lips.
"Very impressive, Mr. Allen," Dr. Wells said. "Your reaction and stimulant at super speed is improving."
"I can still get faster I know I can. I'll be ready," Barry said.
"We'll both be ready," said Alicia in an assuring tone.
"You will be the next time this man in yellow shows up," Dr. Wells said.
"I think you mean the Reverse Flash," Cisco with enthusiasm.
"Meh," Caitlin said, not believing it to be Cisco's best.
"Actually, I like it," Dr. Wells said.
Later on that evening, Alicia found herself at a crime scene with Dick, Joe, Eddie and Barry. She was at a parking garage that was filled with lavish sports cars. It was broken into, but nothing was taken from the place. Alicia knelt down by the front door, noticing how the door looked shattered. She was knelt down next to Barry while Dick was making his rounds, scouring the outside of the building.
"Barry, Alicia, do you two have anything?" Joe asked them.
"Yeah," Alicia said as Dick walked over to them. "We've got something. The breakage indicates that the door somehow had zero viscoelasticity when it hit the ground."
"You're doing that thing, which both you and Barry do, when you're not speaking English," Dick said, amused more than anything.
"The steel shattered like glass," Barry translated. He picked up a piece of the steel. "Only absolute zero can do this," he added.
"Snart's back," Alicia whispered.
"Wait, Leonard Snart, I thought he was a world class thief. All these expensive cars and he didn't take any of them?" Eddie asked.
"Eddie can you do a follow-up and see if there were any other witnesses around?" asked Joe. "And put an APB on Snart?"
Eddie nodded and left the group to discuss what the matter was.
"Well if Snart's back and he didn't take anything from here, then he's looking for Dick, Barry and me. Us," Alicia said.
"And not 'us' us, we're talking about," Dick started to say as they started to walk out of the garage.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Joe hastily.
"Captain Cold is back?" Cisco asked as he, Caitlin, Dr. Wells, Dick, Alicia and Barry walked into the main cortex.
"Well for a non-metahuman, Leonard Snart is proving to be quite the nemesis," Dr. Wells said.
"Yeah, he actually reminds me of this one guy I faced while I was Robin in Gotham City," said Dick. "He called himself Mr. Freeze and he, like Snart, had a cold gun. Batman and I took him and we don't even have super powers."
"Well, Dick, this is different Snart has a vendetta against you, me and Barry," Alicia said. "But at the same time I do not think that I want to sacrifice my training as the Angel. Barry and I both need to train in order to stop the Reverse Flash."
"I agree with Alicia, Mr. Allen, you two have to get faster and better so that we have a better chance at catching the man in yellow," said Dr. Wells.
"Well the CCPD doesn't exactly have the technology or protection against Snart's cold gun," Dick said.
"Dick I can build something to withstand absolute zero," Cisco said.
"If you can do that, then get cracking on it," Barry said to the engineer. Cisco walked off to his workshop to start building the equipment necessary. "Now, I firmly believe that we all need our rest tonight," he added. "Alicia, Dick and I have a big day at CCPD tomorrow to try and figure out what Snart is going to steal next."
"I think I already got that covered for you, Bar," Dick said. "The Rathaway Family is considered one of the richest and most prestigious families here in Central City. They bought a painting in Paris known as Fire and Ice. They're flying home with it today, and it is worth a ton of money. I bet you that that is where Snart is planning on being, plus, knowing the Rathaways, they'll need all the protection and security that they can get."
"Okay, Dick, we'll tell Joe about that tomorrow. I'm heading home," Barry said. "Alicia, are you coming with me?" he asked.
"No not yet," Alicia said. "I think Dick and I are just gonna hang back for a bit."
"All right, I'll see you tomorrow," Barry said. He pressed a kiss against Alicia's lips before departing. Caitlin and Cisco and Dr. Wells went off on their own separate ways as well. When they were sure everyone had left, Alicia and Dick shared a look with each other and walked down a hallway out of the cortex.
"You wanna go into that secret room and see what that was all about?" asked Dick softly.
"Yes, I do," Alicia said. "This cop feels there's something fishy."
"I hope you're right about this, kid," Dick whispered as they walked down the hallway to where Alicia remembered Wells' secret room to be. She could only guess that it opened to finger prints. Alicia touched the walls until she found the way to open the door, and the doors opened to her and Dick. She and her partner walked into that room; Alicia guessed it to be some sort of time vault. She looked around the small room and saw it to look like pixels; like a computer. She pressed her hand against something and saw a newspaper article, the same one.
"Flash and Angel Missing: Vanish in Crisis," Dick whispered. He saw the date reading 2024. "What? Licia, is this thing really from the future?"
"I don't know, Dick," Alicia whispered. "Wait, JLA and Titans? What's that?"
"Good evening, Alicia Galloway," a voice said. "Richard Grayson."
"What was that?" Dick asked as they saw a computer image of a feminine face appearing.
"Wait, hi, who are you?" Alicia said.
"I'm Gideon, an artificial interactive consciousness," the computer replied.
"An AI," whispered Dick.
"Wait, you know who we are?" Alicia asked.
"Of course; Alicia Paloma Galloway, lieutenant of the Central City Police, metahuman task force," Gideon replied.
"I become lieutenant?" Alicia whispered.
"Guess you got a promotion," Dick said.
"Also known as the Angel," said Gideon.
"Wait, what's this JLA?" Alicia asked.
"The Justice League of America: a group of heroes and heroines intending on protecting every city in the United States, founded by the Green Arrow, the Black Canary, the Flash, the Angel, the Green Lantern, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Vibe, Mr. Terrific, Firestorm, the White Canary, Star Sapphire, the Atom, Vixen, and Wild Dog. Others include Batman, Ragman, Superman, Hawkgirl, Gypsy, Blue Beetle, Citizen Steel, Spartan, Wildcat, Shazam, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning, Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Red Tornado, and the Ray," Gideon explained.
"What about these Titans?" Dick asked when he noticed the title in the article.
"The Titans: a group of young, superhero side-kicks and vigilantes who intend on protecting everyone all over America, founded by Nightwing, Raven, Starfire, Oracle, and Beast Boy, other members including the Peacock, Arsenal, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Hawk, Dove, Jesse Quick, Kid Flash, Elasti-Woman and Robin," Gideon explained.
"Wait, Alicia, look at the by-line," Dick whispered.
"Iris West-Thawne?" Alicia whispered.
"Alicia, I-I don't think we should be in here too long," said Dick.
"Okay, okay, wait, Gideon, if Dr. Wells comes in here, can you not tell him that we were here?" Alicia asked.
"Of course; I will accept any command given to me by you," said Gideon.
"Why would you accept my commands?" Alicia asked.
"Because, your husband created me," Gideon replied smoothly.
Alicia felt the pit in her stomach drop as she noticed something else in the article, reading it aloud, "Alicia Paloma Allen was attacked and stabbed in the abdomen by the Reverse Flash in her home, and had a severe blood clot. She was taken to S.T.A.R Labs by Superman, where she was fortunately saved by an emergency surgery performed by Dr. Caitlin Snow. In the process, she had lost her baby boy whom she was four and a half months pregnant with, her third child as an addition to the couple's twins, with possibility of never being able to get pregnant again. Star City Mayor, Oliver Queen, a godfather of Mr. and Mrs. Allen's son, along with their mutually close family friend, Ferris Aircraft CEO, Harold Jordan, a godfather of their daughter , have come to visit Mrs. Allen and give her their condolences, who revealed to Mr. Jordan and Mr. Queen that she is the Angel. According to Mrs. Allen, when the Reverse Flash had stabbed her, it was infused with a power dampener to dull her healing factor and strength, and it had hit her uterus. She additionally says that in the process, Reverse Flash tried killing her son and daughter. Fortunately, the twins were rescued by Speedy and Arsenal, two members of the Titans, who got them to safety in the Hall of Justice. After the loss of her and her husband's son, Mrs. Allen, the Angel, and the Flash, went off to battle the Reverse Flash with the assistance of the Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Arsenal, Nightwing, Hawkgirl and the Atom atop two high speed oil trucks. After the epic street battle with the Reverse Flash, Central City's Scarlet Speedster and Guardian Angel vanish in an explosion of light. Where they are now during this Crisis, we do not know." Alicia paused, feeling her eyes stinging with tears. "Oh God!" she choked as she started to feel physically sick. She ran out into the hallway and proceeded to vomit.
Dick felt sick to the pit of his stomach upon hearing that from Alicia. The idea that Alicia was supposedly going to lose her son in a future, Barry's baby, Dick couldn't wrap his head around the idea. Who could be so heartless as to do something like that? And the idea that this Reverse Flash was going to attempt endangering two young children, Barry and Alicia's son and daughter, their family, was revolting. He felt the bile rising in his throat, but he swallowed it back down as he walked out into the hallway to find Alicia heaving, knees weak.
"Alicia, come on, let's go," Dick whispered, resting a hand on Alicia's shoulder after she finished throwing up. He got Alicia up and onto her feet and guided her down the hallway further. He asked her, "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," Alicia whispered. "I-I think I'm gonna go back to my place and spend some time with Barry, clear my head."
Dick nodded, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry, Licia," he whispered. "Just, try not to worry."
"Dick, you cannot think that that article is from the future," Alicia whispered.
"Alicia, nobody can know the future one hundred percent," said Dick gently. "Only God knows what is happening. Don't you always say that God has plans for us that are bigger than what we can even imagine?"
"I just-I know that, Dick. Even though I do not read the Bible all the time, I do have faith in a higher power and I know that there is someone looking over us," Alicia whispered. "I'm going home."
Dick nodded and bid Alicia goodbye. Alicia broke into a run and flew towards her and Barry's apartment complex. She changed herself into some comfy sweats and a sweatshirt, as well as some slippers. She went to Barry's door and knocked. Barry opened the door, dressed in boxers and a t-shirt.
"Hi, Alicia," Barry said. He must have noticed the look in Alicia's eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
Alicia let out a sigh and allowed Barry to enfold her in a hug, holding the back of her head and cradling it. Barry pressed a soft kiss against Alicia's hair, rubbing her back.
"What's wrong?" Barry asked.
Alicia felt as though she couldn't say it. If she said it, if she told Barry her suspicions of Dr. Wells being the Reverse Flash, if she told Barry that in a potential future that they would lose a baby boy, it would only break his heart. She couldn't do that to him.
"Barry, you-you know I am worried about how the Arrow team is doing," Alicia decided to say. That was part of it.
"Hey, Alicia, don't worry about Oliver; he's tough. I'm pretty sure Massie, Roy, Felicity and Dig can handle whatever is going on in Starling," Barry whispered, kissing her head again.
"I'm just worried about Massie; if she runs into a problem she cannot get herself out of," Alicia whispered shakily.
Barry rubbed her back. "Everything's gonna be okay," he whispered, and Alicia believed what he said. Barry took her face into his hands and kissed her deeply. Even though they've only been dating a few weeks, Barry and Alicia found themselves falling deeply and quickly into each other.
"Barry, much like with Dick, I cannot do this without you," Alicia whispered.
"You never have to do this without me," Barry whispered. "Okay? Do you want to stay?"
Alicia nodded and walked over to Barry's couch. They both sat there, curled up against one another in each other's laps. Barry pressed his lips against her temple and rubbed her shoulder. Alicia leaned her head against Barry's chest as she wrung her fingers in Barry's hand.
"Alicia, I can sense that something deeper is bothering you," Barry whispered. "Let me take some of this weight off of you."
"No, Barry, I'm okay," Alicia whispered.
"Just know I've got you, baby," Barry whispered.
"I know, Bar," Alicia said quietly, closing her eyes, the feeling of being in Barry's arms making her feel safe and protected. She allowed her eyes to flutter as Barry threw a blanket over the both of them.
The next morning, Barry and Alicia awoke together on the couch, curled up in that comfortable position that they were in the night before. Alicia awoke feeling a lot better. After reading that article last night in that time vault, Alicia had felt shaken, but being in Barry's arms on his couch made her feel a thousand times better. They both got ready for their day at work, knowing that they needed to talk to Joe about them putting all their time and effort into training. Alicia, especially, felt as though she needed to train, mostly because after reading that article, she felt angry, sad and a lot of disgust. But, she also felt motivated to get better, stronger and faster in flight. Alicia went into her apartment and got dressed for work, and headed to the precinct. She and Barry got there at the same time and headed towards Eddie and Iris, who were in each other's arms and sharing a moment. For the first time in a while, Barry no longer felt jealousy when seeing Eddie and Iris together, as he was now starting a relationship with Alicia, whom he really liked a lot. They've only been dating four weeks, and both Barry and Alicia could feel themselves falling for each other very deeply and very quickly.
"Hey, Eddie, have you seen Joe? We need to talk to him," said Barry.
"He's up in your lab," said Iris around a smile. She felt happy to see Alicia and Barry like this, together. The two seemed happy with each other; Iris could see the way Barry looked at Alicia like she was a diamond, with all the love in the world. She could tell Barry had been waiting for the right girl to come along, and he found that in Alicia. Barry however noticed a newspaper article on Eddie's desk that Iris must have brought with her. He saw a man in some sort of green uniform flying with some sort of ring, seeming to have rescued Carol Ferris from a giant neon Ferris Aircraft sign about to collapse.
"Iris, can I see that?" Barry asked.
"Let me guess; that article that got written about the impossible in Coast City?" Iris asked.
"Yes; you know that if that has something to do with Carol I am gonna be concerned," Barry said.
"Yeah I know that," Iris told him. "I haven't talked to Carol in I can't remember how long."
"You haven't talked to her since two months ago," Barry said. "Besides you know how she's been ever since Hal had gone missing. And she was convinced that all throughout high school she didn't have a crush on him. She secretly drooled over him."
Iris chuckled. She remembered the days she would have sleepovers with Carol, and Carol would talk about how buff Hal was and how confident he was. "Yeah I know that," she said.
"Oh please, you secretly drooled all over him too. Didn't you try dating him at one point?" Barry asked before walking away.
"Last time I checked Hal won over every girl in school!" Iris called out as she watched Barry and Alicia head towards the crime lab.
Alicia and Barry both nodded their thanks, and went up to Barry's crime lab to find Joe there.
"Joe, hey," Alicia said.
"Hey, glad the two of you are here," Joe said, handing Barry a coffee. "We've been going over Snart's file."
"Actually, Joe," Barry said. "Alicia and I both need to talk to you about that. As CSI and detective, our work on this case is done, and as the Flash and the Angel, we do not think that we can focus on Snart right now."
"You two mind telling me what brought about this change of heart?" asked Joe.
"This man in yellow, the man that killed my mom, he's still out there," Barry said.
"We have to be ready to face him, which means we need to put all of our energy into training," said Alicia, thinking back to the future news article that she and Dick had read the other day. The idea that somebody would potentially end up stabbing her and killing her baby was disturbing to her. Although she felt comforted that it was years away and not something that should worry her right now, it still did. However, she knew that she could sleep at night knowing that that was only a possible future. "It's a question of priorities," she added.
"Well Barry, Alicia, your parents' killers are not the only reasons why you've been doing this. You two told me that if you can save someone from a burning building you will," said Joe, standing up from Barry's desk.
"Look," Barry said. "Dr. Wells and S.T.A.R Labs are going to work with you; Cisco thinks he's found a way to protect the police against Snart's cold gun."
"Bar, Alicia, I can understand if you both are scared; we've talked about this," Joe said.
"Of course we're scared," Alicia said. "This guy can run into the precinct and kill everyone in here in seconds! He threatened Iris!"
"We won't let him hurt the most important people in our lives again! And if that means devoting every second we've got outside this place to getting faster and stronger and stopping him then that's what we're going to do!" Barry added in for Alicia.
Joe nodded and left them to the peace of the lab. Barry sat down at his desk and wrapped his arm around Alicia's waist.
"Alicia, I can still tell something is upsetting you," Barry whispered.
"Nothing, it's just stupid," said Alicia.
"Alicia, we're dating you're my best friend; you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Barry said.
"Yeah, I know," Alicia whispered.
"Look, Alicia, you do not need to worry. I know that you feel at times that it's you against the world, but don't worry, I will always be there for you," Barry whispered.
"My hero," Alicia whispered around a relaxed smile. She allowed herself to relax against Barry and leaned in, kissing him gently.
Alicia and Barry walked into the S.T.A.R Labs that afternoon, needing to talk to Cisco about the protection for the CCPD officers against Snart. When they walked into the cortex, they saw Caitlin sitting at the desk, sipping a mug of tea and reading something on the computer.
"Hey, Caitlin," Barry said.
"What are you reading? What's F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M?" Alicia asked as she took a seat at the desk.
"It's the last thing that Ronnie said to me before he flew away. My dead fiancé can fly. I haven't broken that to my parents yet," said Caitlin. "I've been trying to research it but nothing came up."
"Well, maybe you're looking for the wrong thing," Barry said. "What if F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M isn't a word, but an acromion?" He typed F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M into the computer quickly and saw something come up.
"Fusion Ignition Research Experiment and Science of Transmutation Originating RNA and Molecular Structure," Alicia said out loud. "Wait, I've heard of this. It's a study that focuses on transmutation which is altering the structure of an element by unzipping the atoms and creating an entirely new element. It was created by Professor Martin Stein; he's a college professor from Ivy Town but he's been missing. But, it was co-written by Jason Rusche, he's a grad student here at Hudson University. Bet you he can help you with any information that you need."
"How did you hear of this, Alicia?" asked Caitlin.
"Science was one of my best subjects in college, in fact, after two years in community college after I graduated early from high school, I transferred to Hudson University to finish my degree and Professor Stein was one of my teachers. After graduating from Hudson University early, I joined the police academy. Yeah, I guess you could say that in a way, in college I was a young, high-intellect badass in the making. I could have gone on to becoming a chemist or a doctor, but I chose the police force," Alicia said. "I found that it was more so my passion to fight for truth and justice by joining the justice system. If I were you, I'd track down Jason and ask him some questions about this."
Later on that evening, Barry and Alicia walked into Joe's house. Even though they had their own apartments, Alicia and Barry found themselves spending more time there than their own apartments. In fact, Alicia had actually lived in Joe's house for a brief time period before she was able to get a place of her own in Central City. She had moved into Joe's home because she cliqued so well with Barry and Iris. Living with Joe, Iris and Barry, Alicia found herself finding a father figure in Joe. In a way, she was happy that Massie was part of Oliver's team, because she had multiple father figures: Roy, Dig, Captain Lance, and Oliver. When Alicia and Barry walked into the house they found Iris hugging Joe goodbye, boxes upon boxes in the living room. They were just there because Iris said that she had a couple of things for the two of them.
"Hey, are you two here to help unpack?" Joe asked them.
"No, Iris said that she had some stuff for us," Barry said.
"I do," Iris said. She reached into a box and pulled out something of Alicia's; it was one of Roy's red hoodies that he had given her when they'd been dating.
"I couldn't find this anywhere!" Alicia said. "Have to see if Roy's old jacket still fits the way that it should." She pulled the zip-up sweater on, grinning. Roy always did love her in red back when they had dated.
"And Barry this is for you," said Iris, pulling out a red backpack of Barry's.
"What? I haven't seen this in years!" Barry said in surprise as he pulled several things out. That backpack had always been his favorite. He pulled out a vintage Superman comic.
"I saw that the nerd-survival pack was still intact," said Iris. "I figured you could get good use out of it and that those comics would be worth something."
"Thank you," Barry said sincerely. He hugged Iris firmly.
"We're gonna miss you so much," Alicia said as she joined in on the hug.
"Oh come on you two, I'm only ten minutes away," Iris said. "Well I am actually almost late for my shift at work. So I will clean this up when I get back." She grabbed her jacket and purse and headed out the door.
"Well I know for a fact that she isn't going to be cleaning any of this up," Joe said, shaking his head.
Barry smiled and proceeded to clean up the living room at super speed before sitting down, pulling Alicia's legs over into his lap, kissing her gently. Alicia leaned into his chest, snuggling deeply as she closed her eyes. She knew that she needed to relax before she started training again tonight.
Later that evening, Alicia and Barry found on their way to the CCPD, however, they walked in to find dozens of officers, some injured. They managed to find Dick and Joe amongst them.
"Hey, hey, are you two okay?" asked Alicia in concern.
"Yeah, yeah, we're all right," Dick said. "It's just. . . Snart's new partner, he's got a gun similar to Snart's, except this one acted like a flame thrower. Almost everybody was treated on the scene but we've got two in the burn unit."
"Dick, Joe, we're sorry; we should have listened to you," Barry whispered.
"It's all good," Joe said. "But the next time Snart and his peril pal show up, you make them sorry that they've ever messed with you; that includes you Dick."
"I agree," said Dick. "Barry, Licia, you have it under my authority to light them up."
Alicia nodded in agreement. She was not going to allow Snart and his partner hurt any more of her colleagues.
"We live in a world of assassins, metahumans and Mirakuru, Bar. I guess after all that anything is possible," said Alicia as she shook her head.
When Barry, Alicia and Dick entered the cortex of S.T.A.R Labs the next morning, they saw Cisco and Dr. Wells at the desks.
"Guys, you need to come and look at this," said Cisco.
"What is it?" Alicia asked as they gathered around the computers. They saw a 3D molecular structure of the gun that Snart's partner had used.
"When the heat gun was fired, it increased the surrounding temperature of the air dramatically, sort of like an extreme heat wave. Wait. Heat Waave!" Cisco said, happy he came up with another cool name for their villain of the week.
"Stop," Wells said sternly.
"Okay, I measured the temperature output of the cold and heat guns, right? And while the cold gun achieves absolute zero, the heat gun reaches absolute hot which is the hottest temperature an object can reach," Cisco continued to say.
"Planck temperature," Barry said with a nod.
"So potentially, these two guns cold cancel each other out," Dr. Wells said.
"Yeah, but to do that you'd have to make them cross streams," Cisco said.
"You mean like Ghostbusters?" Alicia asked.
"That movie was surprisingly scientifically accurate," said Cisco.
"And really quite funny," Wells added in as Barry picked up his cell phone.
"Hey Joe, what's up?" Barry asked. "Wait, what?"
"Barry what is it?" asked Dick.
"Snart has Caitlin," Barry said. "We've gotta go."
Alicia nodded, thankful that she was in her work uniform. She ran out of the room with Dick and flew to the Jitters parking lot. Barry beat her there and was already checking Caitlin's car over, which was iced over.
"Oh my God," whispered Dick as they got to the Jitters lot.
"No sign of Caitlin," said Joe.
"We're getting her back we have to find Snart," Alicia said.
"Damn right we do," Joe said.
"Can you give us a lift?" Alicia asked Joe. "Dick's cruiser is still at the precinct and his motorcycle is at S.T.A.R Labs."
Joe nodded, and Dick and Alicia got into Joe's cruiser. They got to the precinct in a matter of time, Barry, Dick and Alicia all pacing, worried for Caitlin. When they entered the precinct, Eddie came running up to them.
"Joe, Dick, Alicia, we got a hit off the finger prints. They belong to a Mick Rory," Eddie said.
"Who?" asked Alicia.
"Big time arsonist," said Dick. "Last year he and Snart were working a job that went terribly wrong. Mick's known for not having the best tempter. Those two are hot and cold, which is ironic because they have two guns that do the opposite thing, and they took the Fire and Ice painting."
"Wow, there's a shock," Alicia said as she walked over to her desk.
"Yeah and half of Rory's body was burned in a fire that got out of control," added Eddie. "Well why would they want to take someone like Caitlin?"
"Beats me," Alicia said nervously. "All I care about it finding her." She leaned over her desk and looked the notes over for Mick Rory, staring at the photo of his mug shot. However, they were suddenly interrupted by a live video feed. It was of Snart and Rory; Caitlin tied down to a chair behind them with Mick holding Caitlin's head back.
"Greetings citizens of Central City," Snart was saying on the video. "I'm Leonard Snart, but you can call me Cold."
"That son of a bitch," Alicia whispered darkly, her blue eyes narrowing. However, her eyes widened when she noticed someone else tied up behind Snart; it was Massie. "OH HELL NO!" Alicia screamed, ballistic. Captain Singh must have heard her, because he walked over to her in concern. "THAT'S MY BABY SISTER YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
"He took Massie too?" Dick asked. Eddie looked shocked that that was Alicia's sister.
"You see it right there, Dick!" Alicia yelled. Her temper was rising. "Question is how they found out she's in Starling?!"
"I'm gonna make this very simple for everyone," Snart continued to say. "That red streak and flying woman you've been hearing about, the ones mysteriously saving people these past few months? Well surprise, they're real. They call themselves the Flash and the Angel. Porter and Main, tonight at sundown, come out come out wherever you are. Show the whole world you're real, or these two young ladies die!"
"No!" Massie screamed, struggling against her bondages. "Don't come! Don't come!"
"Leave us it's not safe it's a trap!" Caitlin screamed before the screens went black.
"Okay, THAT'S IT!" Alicia yelled. She instantly unbuttoned her blazer and took it off, revealing her white tank top that she was wearing underneath. She tied her hair into a low ponytail. "Joe, try and get a location on Massie and Caitlin." She turned to Dick. "Dick, come on let's go. I need to train; I need to hit something that will actually hit back!"
"Okay, okay, come on," Dick said. He guided Alicia to where the gym equipment was upstairs.
"Nobody puts their hands on my sister and gets away with it!" grumbled Alicia.
Barry turned to Joe and Eddie. "Get a location, now, because I don't think I've ever seen her that angry," Barry said. "It's actually kind of terrifying."
Joe nodded and went to his desk to see if they could get cops to track Caitlin and Massie's location. Barry just stood there, feeling horrible for Alicia knowing that her sister was in the hands of two very dangerous people. Barry knew that Massie was tough and could take care of herself, but the question Barry was asking himself in that moment was how Snart and Rory had gotten hold of Massie so easily. Massie had been trained by a former member of the League of Assassins and sparred with Oliver and Roy regularly. There was no reason why she couldn't take Snart and Rory down herself.
Massie didn't know how this happened; all she knew was that she had been in town to visit Alicia; to tell her sister that Ollie was still missing and that she, Roy and Diggle needed some backup. What she was not expecting was to be grabbed off guard and drugged, waking in a warehouse beside Caitlin Snow, being tied up beside her. When Massie was being tied up, she watched Snart and Rory's every move. Luckily, they hadn't been through her backpack, which contained her Peacock suit and necklace, as well as some clean clothes. Massie knew that if she tracked Rory's every move as he tied her up; she would be able to free herself. However, she wanted to make it very clear on Snart's live video that Alicia should not come for her. Massie knew that if she could get out of her bindings, she would be able to change into her suit and help her sister and Barry take down Snart and Rory. She focused on her breathing, in and out like Ollie had taught her how to if she were injured with bruised or cracked ribs. While she was keeping herself considerably calm, she felt frustrated that despite all the training she'd received from Malcolm, Ollie and Roy, Rory and Snart had taken her down easily. It made her feel like a fraud. She kept a close eye on her peacock-printed backpack, making sure Snart or Rory didn't lay a finger on it.
"Caitlin, are you okay?" Massie had asked the bio-engineer.
"I'm all right, how about you?" Caitlin had asked shakily as Mick tied her up.
"I'm okay, just woozy," Massie had replied calmly. She glared at Rory, cold.
"You're friends of theirs, aren't you?" Mick asked the two young women, snapping Massie out of her thoughts of what had happened.
"You could say that," spat Massie.
"He's fast, and she can fly faster than a speeding bullet and heal at an accelerated pace," Mick whispered, crazed. He whipped out a lighter and turned it on, mesmerized by the flame it produced. "Fire. . . it's undefinable. Heat, light, energy."
Caitlin watched as Mick put his finger to the flame. "It's an evolution when it burns," he whispered.
"You're sick," Caitlin whispered.
"Well maybe you're the sick ones, ever think about that?" Mick asked.
"Yeah, pretty sure I did," Massie said calmly.
"You've got third degree burns," said Caitlin. "Why didn't you get skin grafts?"
"The fire revealed my true self and showed me who I really am," Mick whispered.
"You're insane," whispered Massie.
"I wonder what your Flash and Angel will reveal," whispered Mick. "When I burn the suits off of their skin, I wonder what they will reveal."
"Look, do whatever you want to me - kill me even, but please, leave them alone," Caitlin said, voice shaking.
"You must really care about this Flash and Angel if you are willing to die for them. But what about that Nightwing character too, huh?" Mick whispered. "Well why don't I show you who you really are?"
"Bring it on," Massie dared. When she felt Rory's flame pressed into her skin, she took a deep breath through it, staying calm and remembering Malcolm's training.
"Breathe through it, Altaawus," Malcolm would whisper. "This allows you to take your mind off of the pain and focus on something else. It will help you channel your feelings of pain in a positive way."
Massie would have to thank that son of a bitch, even if he did manipulate her best friend into killing her sister's best friend. Rory seemed impressed with Massie's pain tolerance. Caitlin looked shocked at how calm Massie was having a flame pressed against her skin.
"Quite impressive, young lady," Mick whispered to Massie.
"Well, who needs congratulations when you've got a hot-headed psycho's seal of approval?" Massie asked calmly.
"Mick, enough," Snart suddenly said. "Come on, we're going." He grabbed his cold gun and headed out as Mick flipped switches on both Massie and Caitlin's chairs.
"You better pray the next people that come through that door are us," Mick whispered, shoving cloths into both girls' mouths before grabbing his own gun and leaving the room.
Once Massie was one hundred percent sure that Mick and Snart were out of the room, Massie looked around, before rubbing her wrists against the chair that she was tied up in, tapping her foot against the floor as if she were getting ready to dance or cheer in school. Massie spit the cloth out of her mouth and moved her wrists, taking a deep breath as she remembered the time Malcolm had taught her how to break free from bondages. Instantly, she jerked her wrists up, hard, breathing deeply through it, and she was free. She lowered Caitlin's gag and untied her.
Caitlin began to ask, "How did you –?"
"I was trained by a former member of the League of Assassins," Massie stated. "He taught me this, all of this in two months. He makes Snart and Rory's techniques look like something out of a pre-school class." She untied Caitlin's wrists and went over to her backpack, grabbing her suit. She went into a corner and changed into her suit, putting on her necklace and domino mask, braiding her hair. "Okay, Caitlin we're outta here," she said. "Take my backpack." The two women proceeded to walk out of the warehouse, running into Cisco, Dick and Joe.
"Are you two okay?" Joe asked anxiously.
"We're fine," Massie said behind her mask. She noticed Dick was in his Nightwing suit. "So, my sister's partner is Nightwing?"
"Yeah," Dick said.
"Which I need to mention, one of my mentors might kinda be friends with your mentor," said Massie.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Dick said.
"You wanna go and kick some ass and assist the Flash and the Angel?"
"Is that a serious question?" asked Dick. "Come on," he told her. He led Massie over to where his motorcycle was. "We'll take the rooftops."
"Agreed," Massie said as Dick drove them to the location Barry and Alicia were. The two jumped up onto the rooftops. They arrived just in time to hear Snart saying, "You ready to die, Flash and Angel?"
"But first, a few words from the brave and the bold," Massie called out in her Peacock voice. She jumped down from the top of the building, landing gracefully as she allowed her sonic scream to blast out.
"Well what do they call you, pretty bird?" asked Snart.
"Over in Starling, they call me the Peacock," Massie said as Dick came gliding in next to her. She turned to him. "That was graceful, Nightwing." She allowed another sonic scream to escape her lips, piercing through the night sky. "So, you two boys wanna go a few rounds with me?" she offered audaciously. She noticed Joe West's partner, Eddie watching her.
"Yeah we do." Snart raised his cold gun and aimed at Massie, but Massie ran out of the way gracefully, dodging it by doing a backhand spring that she learned in gymnastics. She looked to Barry and Alicia, who were up and onto their feet.
"Four of us, two of you; sounds like a pretty uneven fight," Alicia said, relieved that her sister was there. "So therefor, hit us with your best shot!" That was the moment Snart and Rory aimed to shoot at Alicia, but Alicia ran in and started to fly towards Snart, lifting him with one hand and throwing him down towards the pavement below. Alicia watched on as Barry ran circles around Rory before shoving him down to the ground. She landed down gracefully as Dick proceeded to go in with his metal rods, stunning Rory. Rory then got up and engaged with Dick in hand-to-hand, to which Dick grabbed something that resembled a boomerang, and threw one at Snart before stunning Rory again with his metal poles. That was where years of training with Bruce paid off; from the time he was a kid all the way into his early twenties when he decided to become a cop out in Bludhaven. Massie however was the icing on the cake when she used her sonic scream, almost blasting off Rory's eardrums in the process.
"You didn't see that one coming?" asked Dick.
"I didn't see that coming," Snart groaned as cops came forward to collect both him and Rory. Dick, Alicia, Barry and Massie disappeared to around an alleyway, where Alicia hugged her sister tightly.
"I knew you wouldn't be there long," Alicia said, smiling.
Massie grinned, laughing. "You can thank Malcolm Merlyn for that. He may be a snake, but, he was one hell of a teacher."
"Well, let's get back to the lab and celebrate our arrest," Barry said.
"I am down with that," said Alicia. The four heroes went back towards S.T.A.R Labs, feeling good about what they had done.
At the lab, Massie was unzipping her leather jacket and pulling off her domino mask.
"Massie, that was sick," Dick said to her, impressed.
"Well as fun as it was," Massie said as she proceeded to pull out her spare clothes "Alicia, I actually came here to tell you Oliver is still missing. And if that's not enough, we've got a problem in Starling; it's a crime lord name Danny Brickwell. He's planning something big, but what, when, where, we don't know. So the Arrow team and I might need a favor from you."
"Wherever, whenever sis," Alicia assured her, hugging her sister before allowing her to get dressed.
"Okay, well I have a red eye train to catch back to Starling. I'll keep you updated," Massie said, after getting dressed.
"Bye, sis, be careful," Alicia said.
"I will," Massie said with a smile. "Besides, if I hadn't shown up what would you and Barry do?"
"Massie Lian Galloway," Alicia said with a shake of her head, "always trying to save the world."
"That's what Roy always tells me," Massie said as she accepted Barry's embrace goodbye.
"Well you are essentially an eighteen-year-old badass in the making," said Cisco.
"Thanks, man. Hopefully I'll see you all soon to deliver some better news," Massie said before walking out of the lab.
The next morning, Barry and Alicia found themselves helping Eddie and Iris move boxes out of the house.
"Okay, that's the last one," Eddie said.
"Finally," Alicia said as she rolled up the sleeves of her plaid shirt after helping Iris get another box out to the car.
"Well, come around whenever you want," Eddie said nervously. "But just give us a heads up."
"Don't worry about it, Eddie. I think that I need to visit Iris daily that's number one on the best friend job description," Alicia said with a smile, hugging Iris goodbye. "Besides, congratulations on the arrest last night."
"No, that wasn't my doing. That was the Flash, the Angel, Nightwing and that Peacock all the way from Starling," Eddie said, smiling before walking out of the house.
"Okay, I think that this calls for a group hug," Barry said to Alicia and Iris. He enfolded both women into a tight embrace, Alicia smiling against his chest as he kissed her hair.
"I'm really going to miss you guys," Iris said.
"We'll miss you too," Barry told her. However, a photo caught Iris' eye before she headed out the door.
"Dad, may I –?" she began to ask.
Joe nodded. Iris picked the framed photo up. It was a photo of the trio after Alicia had first transferred from Starling City to be part of the CCPD, after Alicia became friends with Barry and Iris and moved in with Joe for a brief time period. Barry was in the middle, his arms wrapped around Alicia and Iris' shoulders, Alicia's legs up on the sofa and Iris' head on his shoulder. The three wore bright smiles; that day had been the happiest for all three of them. Barry reached over and hugged Iris from behind around her waist, smiling at the memory as Alicia leaned her head against his shoulder.
Joe and Iris reached over and hugged one last time.
"Bye baby girl," Joe said.
"Bye Dad," Iris said with a smile, before grabbing her suitcase and walking out of the house. "Bye guys," she added to Barry and Alicia.
"You two going to be okay?" Joe asked Alicia and Barry.
"Yeah, yeah I think so," said Alicia. "You?"
"It was bound to happen at some point right?" Joe asked. "Well, the two of you wanna order pizza and watch the game."
"Make that pizzas and you're on," said Barry.
"And make it a Heroes and Supernatural marathon, I'm in too," Alicia said.
"Okay you two," Joe said. He watched as the couple sat themselves down on the sofa, grins on their faces.
"Well you know, if you ever need someone to come and eat your food, Alicia and I are here," Barry said. "Besides, the washing machines in our building have been broken for like a month, so. . ."
"I don't know why the two of you moved into that death trap when you still both got a perfectly good home here," Joe said.
"You told me you were turning my bedroom into a gym," Barry said.
"And you told me that you were turning my room into a man cave," Alicia said with a chuckle.
"We both know I am not turning those rooms into a gym or a man cave," Joe said with a chuckle. "Besides you two got me running around enough as it is."
Alicia and Barry both laughed.
"You know it's getting hard us hiding what we do from our neighbors," Alicia said. "People are seeing a flying woman and a speedster blasting out of their apartments and it makes it quite obvious that the Flash and Angel live in that building."
"We are millennial it is what we do," Barry said with a shrug.
"Okay, you two crazy kids just go get your stuff," Joe said, smiling. In an instant, Barry and Alicia were back with their bags of clothing and other necessities.
"Okay, Joe, order up the pizzas and I'll start the Netflix," said Alicia.
"Yes," Barry said in agreement.
Joe nodded and handed Alicia some whiskey and Barry a bottle of beer.
"You know that this does nothing to me, right?" Barry asked Joe.
"Just drink it," Alicia said with a smile, taking a sip of the cinnamon whiskey. For the first time after reading that mysterious newspaper article from the future, Alicia felt a sense of happiness, genuine happiness as she sat with Barry on Joe's couch. Alicia leaned her head against Barry's shoulder, feeling as though the future couldn't touch her.
A/N:
Yes, I decided to update twice today, since I am in a pretty good mood today. Next chapter, Alicia is going to Starling City. But let me tell you, that future 2024 news article. . . even when I wrote it, it left me shook.
Yes, in this chapter I referenced the Green Lantern movie with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the scene where Hal saved Carol as the Green Lantern. Like I said in a previous A/N, while I didn't necessarily hate the Green Lantern movie, it's not my favorite. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't that great either. I liked Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, but, I feel with a better script and a better director, the movie would have been a stand out. But I do have to say, when I do have Green Lantern in this fanfic, towards the ending, Carol will know at that point that Hal is the Green Lantern, since she finds out about it in the movie. However, I do not know if I would make Carol the Star Sapphire, since I am not so sure how her powers work; all I know is that Carol becomes dissociative when under the influence of her Star Sapphire gem. However, I also know she becomes a superhero eventually, so I think if I write her as Star Sapphire, I will write her as a hero and a member of the Star Sapphire Corps, I feel it would be easier that way so that I don't need to go through the pain of altering her personality entirely when writing for her. Most likely, I will have her be Star Sapphire and be included in the fight against the Reverse Flash side by side with Hal, Barry, Oliver, Firestorm, Dick and Alicia.
Flashraven: I am glad to see that you are looking forward to seeing Hal Jordan in this story. I'm personally happy about this because I have not seen one Green Lantern appearance in Flash fanfiction. Additionally, I am happy that Prometheus is coming in the Earth-X crossover event, but, I do NOT want it to be in the form of Roy Harper. I feel that having Roy be Prometheus of Earth-X is too obvious, plus they already featured him stealing from tech companies in season 4 of Arrow, so I doubt they are bringing him back as a villain. I also do not want to see Roy come back as Vigilante either, because, if you ask me, the idea of that is just stupid, because A. where did Roy learn to use firearms that well? And B. why would he attack members of his former team? It just doesn't make sense to me to have Roy come back to the show as Vigilante.