Things took a sharp turn for the worse after Barry left.
The S.T.A.R. Labs control room was on full red alert that night. Dr. Wells, Cisco and Caitlin had been monitoring the police scanners for any mention of the Flash since he'd taken off, while Felicity paced back and forth with her phone glued to her ear, most likely talking with Oliver. They hadn't heard a word from Barry since his sudden departure, and most of them had worked themselves up into a frenzy trying to make some sort of contact with him. Laura sat beside Cisco at the consoles, completely at a loss for what to do. She distracted herself temporarily by listening to what the others were saying, but she was still worried about Barry. Finally, Felicity, looking even more strung out than before, if that was possible, ended her call and made her way back to the others.
"That was the Arrow. He says Barry was acting strangely earlier when they met up."
"Strangely, how?"
"He's been whammied." Everyone looked up as Joe entered, looking unbearably tired and as if he'd just seen a ghost. "Just blew up in our faces at the precinct when we asked about the Bivolo case. I've never seen him that angry before. And his eyes – they glowed red." Everyone shared a worried glance as Joe spoke; it was clear that they were all thinking the same thing. Barry was now under the effects of Bivolo's metahuman powers, and it only seemed to be getting worse.
"It's possible that his system has been fighting off the effects since his encounter with Bivolo. That may be why we haven't noticed it until now, and why the effects are escalating."
"How are we going to stop him? That much rage, and his powers? Someone's going to get hurt."
"Seems like a good time for a cold gun, wouldn't you say?" As soon as Cisco said it, he was almost immediately shut down by everyone in the room. Laura had heard nothing nice about that gun, which was currently in the possession of one Leonard - Leonard Snart. Judging by what she'd been told about their last encounter, any type of weapon that could potentially cripple Barry was to be used only as a last resort. Besides, even if they did have the time to assemble a cold gun, Barry was probably angry enough to destroy them all before they could even fire the first shot. But as Laura pondered their options, the answer came to her like a bolt of lightning.
There was only one person in the entire city who could take down Barry and make sure he didn't hurt anyone, someone more qualified than any of them for the job. And it seemed that Dr. Wells was thinking the exact same thing, as his gaze swept across the room to land on Felicity, who suddenly seemed very uncomfortable to be standing in the spotlight.
"None of us can stop Barry. Fortunately, Ms. Smoak knows someone who can. I think you'd better call back Oliver Queen – we're going to need the Arrow."
"God, I knew it! I knew Oliver Queen was the Arrow. I mean, I had a list of about…150 people, but he was definitely on there."
John sent Cisco a glare that was half anger, half 'are you kidding me', but he hardly noticed. After Dr. Wells had gone ahead and revealed Oliver's secret identity to the entire room – oh, she was not looking forward to that conversation – Felicity had called John, and he'd arrived shortly after only to become the subject of Cisco's magnificent coping skills, rambling and pacing. The man didn't look that fazed by the current situation, but Laura could tell that he was worried; the only thing she couldn't tell was whether it was for Barry or for Oliver.
"Is there any way to stop Barry's rampage?"
"I have a theory about how we might be able to do that, but I'm going to need some help. Joe, are you up for it?"
"Absolutely, but the first thing we need to do is find Barry before he hurts somebody."
"I've got him!"
Laura was by Felicity's side in a matter of seconds, the blonde having secured herself a computer in the far corner of the room. She immediately picked out Barry on the traffic video Felicity pulled up. It appeared Barry had found an outlet for his anger, and it just happened to be on a crowded street in the middle of the city, full of innocent civilians who were about to bear the brunt of his anger.
"Oliver's on his way."
"Good. Tell him I'll be waiting."
"Laura, wait!"
"That's my partner out there." Laura's voice was firm as she turned to face the others; she had to look away quickly, to avoid changing her mind. "I'm not going to be able to live with myself if someone gets hurt and all I did was watch through a screen. I have to be there."
"Barry's not himself, Laura - he's not going to hesitate to hurt you, or Oliver."
"...that's a risk I'm willing to take. Now, if there are no further objections, I think it's time we all got ready."
"You need to calm down."
As she had requested, Oliver was waiting for her outside of S.T.A.R. Labs when she finally emerged from the building. They'd barely said a word to each other, and Laura could only speak for herself when she said that the entire ride was tense and terrifying. Now, with Caitlin, Cisco and everybody else waiting with bated breath on the other side of her earpiece, Laura was standing just across the street from Barry and Oliver, the latter who had a cable wrapped around Barry. Her stomach churned violently when she saw that Barry had managed to locate Eddie and Iris in the pandemonium, and she could only be thankful that they had arrived in time for the couple to escape unharmed. However, there was a more pressing issue at hand – Barry.
"And you need to hold on!" Laura blinked, and Oliver was gone in a flash of lightning, snapping forward on the cable when Barry finally ground to a halt in a nearby alley. When Oliver finally slowed to a stop, Laura did a very stupid thing, and stepped forward.
"Barry - Barry, please don't do this."
"I don't have to listen to you!" He still hadn't turned to face her, so she would need to deflect as much of his rage as possible towards her to give Oliver a chance to recover. With a quick, silent apology, Laura stomped her foot on the ground; she could feel the cold flowing from her core to her feet, spreading out and forming a thin sheet of ice that sent Barry sprawling when he tried to move. She heard him cry out in rage as he fell, the sound almost non-human, and Laura hastily stepped back when she saw him climbing to his feet. In the span of a second, Laura was pressed up against a nearby wall, Barry's hand locked tightly around her neck, closing off her airway. The impact knocked the breath out of her lungs, and Laura gasped for air as her vision started to darken, a pair of red eyes staring at her through the darkness.
"Laura!"
She vaguely registered a burst of heat nearby, followed by an explosion and a roar of mingled rage and pain, before the grip on her throat lifted. Laura fell to her knees in a coughing fit, her eyes watering and the sights and sounds of the world blurring around her. When she finally managed to get to her feet, a dizzy spell trying and failing to knock her back down, Barry was on his knees in front of Oliver, almost hyperventilating in anger as he grasped at an arrow deeply embedded in his shoulder.
"That's 2000 mg of horse tranquilizer entering your system. It should be hitting you anytime now."
Oliver was proven wrong, unfortunately, when Barry wrenched the tranquilizer arrow from his shoulder with a shout of defiant rage, and as he stood, began to vibrate. Laura recognized too late that he was forcing himself to sweat off the sedative as a light green mist drifted away from him. A second later, Barry had Oliver surrounded in a tight cyclone of red and yellow, the force of which nearly blew Laura off of her feet. She would have used her cold to slow Barry down, but he was moving just too fast for her to get a clear shot and there was no way to be certain she wouldn't hit Oliver.
Suddenly, an arrow shot up out of the twister, and Laura watched as Oliver shot upwards towards the roof of the building where the arrow had lodged itself. Barry, now almost entirely lost in his rage, ran after Oliver with a roar, and Laura shot a blast of cold his way, which he just barely avoided. She suppressed a gasp of horror as he ripped the arrow out of the concrete, sending Oliver plummeting back towards the ground. Luckily, he managed to notch and secure another arrow before he hit the ground, dropping to the concrete with a hard thud, Barry following seconds later.
Now, Barry was between them, entirely focused on Oliver, and as he rushed towards him again, it struck Laura that there was only one way she could help in this fight. The blur that became Barry was almost impossible to track, but the moment Laura saw Oliver stop him with a sudden backhand blow to the side of his head, she jumped. Her hands found the bare skin of his face instantly, and Laura forced every bit of cold she had available into him, latching on to his back. The resulting scream that left him was almost too painful for her to bear, but Laura kept her grip on him as tight as she could.
However, the anger Barry felt was just too strong, and Laura went flying as he threw her off with a roar, hitting the asphalt as he vibrated to warm himself up once again. She swore she heard something crack as she collided with the ground, but through the blinding pain, she watched Barry attack Oliver faster and harder than before, finally knocking him to the ground with a punch to the jaw. He was just too fast, too angry for them to handle. But they couldn't give up.
Barry needed them to keep going.
She was mildly surprised when Oliver managed to get an arrow through Barry's leg, and kept her distance as Oliver approached Barry, slowly climbing to her feet when their eyes met around him. She gave a quick nod, and planted her feet as she summoned as much cold she could manage, the energy almost rocketing from her hands as Oliver notched an arrow. Barry, consumed by his rage, barely noticed her, and despite his injuries, Oliver still managed to speak.
"I still believe in you, Barry."
"Go. To. Hell."
Laura heard the screeching of tires behind her in the distance and dashed forward, as Oliver grabbed the last of Barry's punches and spun him around, locking him in a choke hold. When Barry began to vibrate to free himself, Laura ran up to him, forcing every ounce of cold she'd gathered into his body as her hands latched on to his face, even as Joe swerved the van to a stop. The side door flung open to reveal the device Dr. Wells had rigged up in the back, and the coloured lights began to flash brilliantly. As every single cell in Barry's body began to slow down, Laura could tell it was becoming painful for him, but she could also see the red in his eyes fading away slowly, and tightened her grip. Finally, after an eternity, Barry's face went slack and he let out a soft groan of pain, rubbing at his eyes when they finally released him.
"Barry? You okay?" Oliver, despite how tired he looked, sounded concerned, and Laura would have asked him the same had she any breath left in her lungs. And if her ribs didn't constrict painfully when she tried to speak.
"…this…this is going to be a special kind of hangover."
"Oh...oh, thank God." Laura managed, and stepped forward to wrap Barry up in a hug that made them both groan in pain. When she finally pulled away, practically dizzy with giddiness and relief, even Oliver was grinning.
It was certainly a sight to behold.
"It's good to have you back, Flash."
"Stop moving."
"Caitlin, it stings."
"Good."
Laura suppressed a sigh as Caitlin dabbed antiseptic on a large abrasion on her arm, and hissed in pain as she fought to urge to punch something, if only it would distract her from the stinging. Caitlin just muttered something under her breath about 'big goddamn heroes', and continued the laborious process of cleaning Laura up. S.T.A.R. Labs felt a bit more crowded than usual, most likely due to an extra three people joining them for the day. The rest of the team were giving their goodbyes to Oliver and the others, but Laura was forced to deal with Caitlin's wonderful bedside manner because of the many injuries she'd sustained during the fight, including a fractured rib. Barry's speed had healed him within a few hours of their encounter, and she gritted her teeth together as Caitlin swabbed a particularly bad scrape.
"Just don't do anything to make these things worse, okay? I am not available for house calls."
"Yes, Dr. Snow."
Caitlin shot Laura a glare that had little anger behind it as she left the room, and Laura just getting ready to stand up when Barry and Oliver entered the room. "Hey, you guys heading out soon?"
"In a few hours – Barry, could Laura and I have some privacy?"
Confusion hit both of them like a truck, but Barry obliged the request with a questioning glance and as he joined the others in the main area of the lab, Oliver sat down on the stool across from her. It reminded her a bit of their little trip to Jitters the other day, but there was something in Oliver's eyes that told her he hadn't sent Barry away just to make small talk. Something was troubling him, and it had to do with her.
"Oliver?"
"Listen, Laura, Barry trusts you. And from what I've seen so far, I can trust you as well. But...but there is some information that makes me worry that I might be putting too much faith in you."
Oh. Oh.
Well, she couldn't say she hadn't seen that coming, after everything she had witnessed.
"How long have you known?"
"I did some digging the night we met. I had to make sure that I knew who I was working with. That I could trust you."
"Are you going to tell my team?"
"No, that's your choice. They trust you, Laura. I don't think either of us want to see what's would happen if you betray that trust."
"I wouldn't do that to them. Ever."
"I know. Nevertheless, it's been good working with you."
Laura nodded and shook Oliver's hand brusquely, and watched as he left the room with the numbing realization that her secret was now known by one of the world's deadliest people. She had to hand it to Oliver, he knew how to keep his allies in check, although she couldn't be sure that's what he'd been aiming for. Still, it was relieving, somehow, to have someone else know and not react as she'd expected, even if it did endanger everything she'd worked so hard to create for herself. Feeling far more weary than before, Laura climbed down from the stool, and looked up just as Barry entered the room. He looked a bit concerned; she briefly feared that he might have overheard her conversation with Oliver, but those fears were quickly assuaged as he strode up to her.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing, really. Just congratulating me on a job well done. I think."
"Is that good?"
"I guess so. How are you doing?"
"I'm alright…I'm just glad you guys stopped me when you did. Even if you did get hurt."
"Well, I'm glad we got there in time to stop you from hurting Eddie. Or Iris." She wondered just how well the couple was managing in the aftermath of the attack. Word around the precinct was that Eddie was already not the Flash's biggest fan, but Iris…she didn't even know where to begin with that. It looked like Barry was thinking the same thing, his face clouding over as she spoke.
"Yeah; listen, Laura, I'm – I'm really sorry. About everything. I didn't listen to you guys and I almost got you killed. Oliver was right. I definitely still have a lot to learn." Laura frowned as he trailed off, his face falling further, and Barry just barely had the time to look up before she was standing in front of him. her hands clasping his shoulders tightly
"I want you to pay attention, Barry. We've both made mistakes, and we're going to make a hell of a lot more. People might think we're superheroes or whatever, but we're not invincible, and we're not any different from anybody else. We'll survive, we'll learn, and we'll move on. Because that is what people do. Got it?" She was pleased to see the solemn expression on his face change to one of amusement as she slipped on her jacket. "Now, come on. You owe me a drink."
"For what?"
"For leaving me alone with the Arrow several times in the past few days and making me fear for my life. Obviously."
"…I guess I deserve that."
"Oh, and you're buying for Caitlin and Cisco too."
"Really?"
"Learn from your mistakes, Barry."
And so ends the Flarrow crossover! Don't worry, I'll be posting more chapters soon!
