Chapter 7: Birth of a Legend

The doorbell rang.

Laurel turned the knob.

Oliver lifted a bag. "Mint chocolate chip?"

Laurel smiled. "I'll go get the bowls."

"So, Kara seems nice."

"Laurel, Kara and I met when she was twelve and I was sixteen. On an island in the middle of the sea. With a baby in her arms. Never."

The attorney gave a teasing grin. "Never, huh?"

"The thought of ever doing…that with Kara makes me want to gag." Oliver admitted, causing his friend to start snickering.

After her chuckles subsided, Laurel carried on with the conversation. "So, I take it that this 'Barry' that was with you on the island is a no go too? For either of you?"

Oliver's mouth pressed into a thin line, the slightest bit of melancholy in his expression. "Barry's heart has only ever belonged to one person, and even after ten long years, that didn't change. So, no – it's a no go for all of us."

Laurel's own face softened. "I didn't know."

Her friend shook his head. "I wouldn't have expected you to. Barry gave up on her a long time ago. Now all he wants is for her to be happy." Silence descended on them for a moment at that somber thought.

"So, what are you doing here?" Laurel asked once the moment passed.

Oliver grimaced. "Carter Bowen."

"Ah." That would make sense. Laurel could sympathize.

"He started rambling about how there's a bidding war over my life's story, and then went on about something having to do with protein synthesis and a wizard called 'Dr. Oz'," Laurel started snickering again, "I swear, if I had to listen to another word out of his mouth, I'd probably stab myself with a rusty knife." The Queen lamented.

The eldest Lance sister laughed once more. "How did you escape, then? I imagine Moira wouldn't be too happy with you ditching." she teased.

"He started hitting on Kara. Mom tried to set them up on a date, and while she was distracted with that I made up some BS excuse and snuck out the backdoor. Raisa handed me my favorite on the way out, and I knew if I went to Tommy's Uncle Malcolm would probably rat me out."

Laurel grinned. "Just like old times, then?"

"Just like old times." Oliver confirmed cheekily.

"Though I imagine Kara won't be too happy with you when you get home."

Oliver shrugged. "She managed to escape not long after I did – I saw her leave the mansion from the car window. No, if anyone is going to be mad at us, it's Thea for abandoning her to Mom and the Bowens."

"Despicable you, leaving your baby sister behind like that."

"She'll get over it." Oliver dismissed flippantly. "So, what's with the police car outside?"

Laurel sighed. "You saw that?"

"Yup. Who are you going after to make your dad all overprotective?"

"Martin Somers. Alleged connections to the Triad." Laurel revealed. "He had the father of my client killed."

Oliver nodded. "Another heavy-hitter." he noted.

Laurel opened her mouth to speak once again, only to stop when Oliver's expression changed into something more serious. He held up his hand, and listened closely.

Thump!

"Did you hear that?" He got up, taking Laurel by hand to make her stand.

She looked at him quizzically. "Hear what?"

"There's someone in your fire escape –"

The front door broke in two with a large SMASH! A large man, clearly of Asian descent, broke through the remaining wood, carrying a large gun. Oliver and Laurel fled the living room immediately once they caught sight of him, ducking to avoid the spray of bullets. They tried for the bedroom, only for the window to shatter open, the glass flying all over the divan as another man, bearing an Uzi, landed on top of the mattress. The duo turned back, only to find themselves surrounded.

At the head of the trio was a beautiful Asian woman, wearing a black leather suit. Her striking white hair fell down her back and shoulders like a white curtain. In her hands were two knives, able and ready.

Oliver pushed Laurel behind him immediately, towards the mountain of candles that decorated the apartment's wall as a makeshift fire place.

"Who are you?" he growled. He could feel Laurel shaking.

The woman smirked. "A friend."

The men took aim. Laurel closed her eyes. Oliver clasped her hand, just a bit tighter.

WHOOSH!

But the pain never came. A blast of wind flared over her face, her hair flying with the breeze. Laurel's eyes snapped open, and everyone froze.

The Girl in Blue. In her living room.

A second later, both men were sent flying, crashing into opposite walls of the apartment, destroying what little intact furniture Laurel had left. Their guns were in the hands of the mysterious figure, who proceeded to bend them in half, before tossing them away.

The woman with white hair, knowing she was outgunned, ran.

Chien na Wei cursed as she escaped the vicinity of Laurel Lance's apartment. What was supposed to be a quick and easy hit had become a nightmare once the Girl in Blue appeared. Now she had two underlings that needed to be removed from the board before they squealed to the police.

She wouldn't have been surprised if it had been the Hood that showed up – this sort of thing was right up his alley. But the Girl in Blue? Who could fly and walk through flames with nary a mark? Why would she feel the need to protect some attorney? Didn't she have another burning building or maybe a crashing plane to save?

The Triad assassin was ripped out of her thoughts when an unexpected force hit the back of her head. She immediately blacked out.

"Laurel!" Quentin yelled as he ran through the crime scene that was once his eldest child's apartment.

"Daddy!" Laurel exclaimed tearfully as she left Oliver's embrace, running into her father's arms. Quentin held her tight, running his hand through her voluminous, brunette hair, reminding himself that she was alive, that she was here.

After making sure his daughter was alright, Quentin looked up and spotted Oliver. He let go of his daughter, and made his way to the man, who, along with Tommy, he considered the closest he had to a son, and clasped a comforting hand onto his shoulder. "Oliver. You okay?"

Oliver nodded. "I'm fine, Detective Lance." Then, his expression shifted. "Those two guys in the squad car…" Laurel's own eyes widened, having suddenly remembered her guards.

The detective only shook his head. Both Oliver and Laurel's faces briefly fell, and the latter went back to Oliver's side, grasping his arm and burying her head into his shoulder. Quentin looked at both them.

"How'd you manage to take these two out?" he asked, pointing to the two Triad members that were currently being expected by the EMTs and restrained by the surrounding officers.

"We didn't. It was the Girl in Blue." Oliver answered, Laurel still too upset to speak.

Quentin's brow furrowed. "The Girl in Blue?" he questioned incredulously.

Oliver nodded. "Laurel and I were having a conversation while eating some ice cream when I heard one of them in the fire escape. I tried to get us out through the front door, but they broke it down. The bedroom window was also a no go. They managed to corner us…and then she appeared. She knocked two of our attackers back, through opposite walls, then grabbed their guns, and…well…" Oliver gestured to one of the aforementioned firearms, which was lying on the floor, bent in half.

Quentin gaped. "She did that!?" he pointed at the malformed piece of metal. Oliver nodded. Laurel unburied her face and nodded as well.

The cop opened his mouth to ask another question, only to be interrupted by another Whoosh! Everyone froze once more at the sight of the Girl in Blue in the middle of the room.

The urban legend dumped a body onto the floor. Quentin immediately recognized it as the unconscious form of the Triad's top assassin, Chien na Wei, whose hands and feet were bound by thick rope. The Girl in Blue looked at him and nodded, before disappearing in a sapphire blur.

Barry burped. Loudly.

"Finally." Joe sighed in a relief. On the table was a miniature mountain of pizza boxes.

Barry shrugged sheepishly. "I really missed the taste of pizza?"

CCPD's most senior detective chuckled. "I imagine so. Though, I figured after the island, you wouldn't have much of an appetite."

Barry shrugged once more. "Food is food, and I missed food." Plus, Nanda Parbat didn't really have rich food. Barry's own diet after the brief coma was comprised of calorie bars of his own design. Now, he could diversify a bit.

Joe nodded absentmindedly. "So, anything interesting happen lately in your studious misadventures?" He referring to the fact that Barry had chosen to study in various areas around the city, such as the park, restaurants, small confectionary shops (mainly ice cream) and memorably, a roller skating rink.

"Harrison Wells offered me a job." The genius replied conversationally, pouring himself another drink.

When Joe refused to answer, Barry looked up. His foster father was staring at him intently, frowning.

"I hope you didn't accept."

"Only on a trial basis for now."

Joe looked ready to blow. Barry stopped him. "It's my life, Joe. My choices, my mistakes. I'm an adult now. I can take it." he stated calmly.

The detective sighed. "I don't like him, Bar."

"Because of the Particle Accelerator?"

"No. Though I'll admit that didn't help." Joe narrowed his eyes. "I had the honor of meeting Dr. Wells at a police function a couple of years ago. He was polite. Cordial. But there was something about him that just sent all my senses on red alert. My instincts were telling me not to trust him, and my instincts are usually never wrong."

Barry listened thoughtfully. "I'll take that under consideration. And besides, the job is most likely short-term – after I pass my GED, I'll have nothing to do for the upcoming months. College admission deadlines have already passed for next semester." he pointed out.

Joe exhaled. "Just be careful, Barry. The last thing I want…" is to lose you again, went unsaid.

His foster son's eyes lidded. "I don't blame you, you know."

Joe blinked. "…What?"

Barry shook his head. "For the island. I never once blamed you, Joe. It was my choice to go to China."

"Because of what I said!" Joe interjected, angrily – not at Barry, but at himself.

"It wasn't just because of you, Joe." Barry confessed, stalling his anger and leaving the older man befuddled. "Though, I won't lie, what you said didn't help, even though I knew you didn't mean it. It was everything."

"This city was where my mother was murdered, where everyone knew me as the son of the victim and her alleged killer. Where everyone but you and Iris and Dad scorned me for believing otherwise. Though you didn't agree with what I believed, you cared for me – you loved me. I didn't want to leave you or Iris or Dad behind, but…it was all just too much. What you said just told me what I already knew: I needed to go."

"Still…"

"Joe." Joe's eyes snapped up, meeting Barry's sympathetic gaze. "Stop. You didn't put a gun to my head and told me to fly to China. You didn't initiate that storm. What happened to me was Not. Your. Fault." The former castaway enunciated.

Joe felt tears well up in his eyes, and he dropped his head into his hands. Barry got up from his seat at the table, and embraced him.

Judge Theresa Howard cowered as Kyle Nimbus stalked her into the elevator. She had just been at the mall, picking up her daughter's prom dress, when a man she thought dead appeared in front of her as green mist.

Kyle Nimbus smiled, ready to sublimate once more, only to stop when he felt a small breeze behind his back. Theresa was broken out of her own terrified stupor when she saw who it was. There had been rumors, but this was confirmation.

The Streak.

Nimbus turned, and got a vibrating hand through his chest.

"SCPD! Put your hands up!" Detective McKenna Hall shouted as she and the rest of her task force barged into the abandoned water treatment center, the alleged hideout of the sole seller of the street drug Vertigo – The Count. They had gotten an anonymous tip about the location of the Count a day ago and had immediately prepped a team to capture him.

That, however, would be unnecessary.

McKenna lowered her gun at the sight that greeted her. She could her team do the same from behind her.

Bodies were strewn everywhere. Only the slightest breaths and the occasional groan indicated that these people were still alive. And in each person, on some part of their body, was an arrow.

The Hood.

A yell was heard, and immediately the task force went back into formation. McKenna raised her gun once again, and moved forward. They moved past the carnage, and found the source of the loud noise.

The Count was on his knees, holding his hands up in deference to the arrow being pointed at his face. The Hood stood in front of him, weapon ready, and they could tell that whatever the Count was jawing, it would not save his life.

"STOP!" McKenna screamed, interrupting the confrontation. Both the Hood and the Count looked at her and the bevy of armed officers behind her. "Put the weapon down, and put your hands up!"

The Hood stared at her for a long moment. Then, he unexpectedly aimed upwards, and fired. The building's alarm system, left unused and abandoned and still working, fired up, letting out a piercing and screeching sound as the arrow broke through the glass and penetrated the activator. Everyone but the Hood winced at the sound, and with the officers thoroughly distracted, the vigilante took his chance.

When McKenna Hall turned back, the Hood was gone, and the Count dead, an arrow through the heart.

"…another sighting of the Girl in Blue. CNRI attorney Laurel Lance's home was attacked last night…"

"…he just appeared out of nowhere. I swore I was going to die in that elevator and then…"

"…an alarm was triggered at Starling's abandoned water treatment facility. SCPD refused to comment…"

"Ma'am."

"Has she woken up?"

"About to. She's already been restrained and prepped for questioning."

"Good."

Chien na Wei awoke, groggy and bleary-eyed. Only to freeze as her vision gained clarity.

"Hello again." Amanda Waller smiled, shark teeth and all.

Yes. The Bitch is here, and she'll be around for a while, unfortunately. As for Martin Somers, well, he's screwed. They were able to get information out of the thugs and Somers confessed to everything.

Nimbus is dead. Caught off guard before he could go all misty. Speedsters are broken, people. This is a Barry that was trained by the League and has no issues with killing and taking whatever advantage he can get in a fight. That's partially why most of the metahuman confrontations are going to go his way in the first go.

I took out the Count because no one in this story is going to have a drug problem. Thea lost her brother at a much younger age, and it was only him – not mention Oliver "died" before his partying lifestyle got really bad. She's far more adjusted at this age, if a little sheltered due to her parents' overprotectiveness. Tommy's been clean for years, and Laurel isn't going to be drowning in grief anytime soon.