Chapter 48: Lenny and Mick

'About to engage target. Do not contact for the next 24 hours.'

Barry looked over the message, satisfied with its brevity, and clicked send. Then, he turned off the phone and hid it within the hollow space beneath the floorboards.

For the last few weeks, he had been living in a new apartment in one of the less… agreeable parts of town, with his hair dyed blonde and his eyes covered with blue contacts. His hair had even been cut crew-style. It was to further support his cover while he tried to get an in with Snart, along with making him familiar and inconspicuous with the locals. The Wests, Eddie, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, and Professor Stein had all been made aware of his assignment, and knew to avoid that neighborhood and anywhere else Snart, and by extension, him, would be frequenting for the next couple of weeks.

He had also informed Oliver and Kara as well. While he had found a nearby place to act as a temporary base for Flash work, with his current assignment, there was an understanding that he wouldn't be around as often. Kara had agreed to appear in Central more often to keep the metas at bay and to fill in for emergencies. If push came to shove, Ronnie and Stein had also offered to play hero as well, as Cisco was still in the middle of training with his own powers.

Since his free time could no longer be occupied with training and doing new experiments with the rest of the S.T.A.R. Labs crew, he had found a new hobby: establishing his hacker identity. His in with Snart was technology, and that meant he needed street cred. Ralph and Iris had overlooked the list of inactive hackers and, with his input, had determined one he could impersonate: Bolt. Bolt had been one of the best hackers in the world, easily one of the top ten, but had gone off the grid over two years ago after an underground 'hacktivist' organization called Helix had tried to recruit him - forcibly. Helix instead had been hacked in return and subsequently apprehended by the federal authorities after the death of their leader, Cayden James. Even with his enemies locked up, however, Bolt had yet to go back online, and it was believed that the scare with Helix had convinced him to hang it up for good.

Unbeknownst to everyone but the League of Assassins (and A.R.G.U.S., much to his resigned disbelief), however, is that Bolt actually was Barry. It had been a useful handle for him to investigate targets for the League and pick up other nifty pieces of information. After the mess with Helix, however, he had been forced to abandon it (much to everyone's irritation), but not before attaining quite the bevy of information on the other organization. While most of the members had been determined to be no real threats and could be easily handled by the regular authorities, Cayden James, their founder and head, was deemed too dangerous, with Barry himself personally handling his assassination. He had derived some guilty pleasure in informing the man why exactly he was dying before slitting his throat.

To keep Ralph and Iris off his back, Barry had Cisco make up some cockamamie story about technology that could mimic Bolt online, filled with so much technological jargon that they had simply told him to just get on with it. Thus, Barry was allowed to reactivate his old handles and accounts undetected and unaware to all but those in the know. Since his incarceration under this new identity, he had been making waves on the darkweb, specifically centering his searches of information around Central City, so that way he knew his possible competition for his soon-to-be role as Snart's new techie. Once that was out of the way, he had made some arrangements, making sure that they had happened on a specific day.

That day was today, and Barry was about to enter the lion's den.

Hopefully, this wouldn't have to end with him having to kill somebody. He rather liked not having to hide bodies anymore.

Saints and Sinners was the center of Central City's underground. The place where all its rogues went, either to get their kicks off or to do business - or even both. It functioned as an informal base of operations for Central's most prominent criminals, many of whom were also the establishment's best customers and frequent donors to the owner's little slush fund.

Among these customers was Leonard Snart. A favorite of the boss, he entered with little fanfare, giving a small smirk to the bartender and tipping him when the man passed over his usual drink. Leonard took a long sip, leaning against the edge of the bar top, until he spotted who he was looking for.

A bald, heavy-set man wearing a long, beige trench coat was nursing his own drink in a corner booth. Upon seeing him, Leonard set his glass down, leaving a bit of money for payment, and sauntered towards his quarry, that smirk still on his face, slight and light. He was here on a mission, and he wasn't leaving until he completed his objective.

Leonard slid into the seat opposite the man, and turned up the charm. "Mick."

"Beat it." Mick Rory replied back without so much as a twitch, watching as the alcohol swirled inside his glass.

"Come on now, Mick, is that anyway to treat an old friend?"

"Some 'friend'." Mick scoffed. "Last time we hooked up, you ditched me to the cops."

"Can you blame me? You went wild last time we went out together. Completely out of control. Set yourself on fire and screwed up the entire gig."

"Che." The arsonist took a long swig of his glass. "What do you want, Snart?"

Leonard smiled. "Got a new job lined up. Real penny to make."

"Oh? And why don't you pick up some other suckers to take the fall while you run off with the goods?"

"'Cause this ain't your ordinary job, Rory. We're hitting a place that's really on the high-end, and I need the best if this is going to go anywhere."

Mick snorted, attracting some attention from the other patrons present. "And ya sure ya want a loose cannon like me on the team then?"

"There's a reason I kept going back to you, Mick. You provide a balance to me. When things inevitably go off the rails, you're the one that keeps the cops on their toes. You're spontaneous - the blunt hammer to my scalpel, and sometimes, a hammer is all you really need to get the job done. Not to mention I need someone I trust on the team, and other than Lisa, you're the only one that really fits the bill."

"High praise from Central's self-proclaimed best thief." Mick sighed. "Who else?"

Leonard smiled. Got 'im. "Lisa, of course. Amunet's getting a cut, so she's got some men lined up for us too."

"Amunet?" His companion raised an eyebrow. "You're making a deal with her?"

"She did me a favor and I'm repaying her. We've got history together, you know, and she's really moved up the ladder in the last two years. And this deal she's got lined up - it's going to make everyone a lot of money, no matter how small the cut."

"Okay, fine. So you got Lisa for transport, me for muscle, and Amunet's lackeys for extra hands. But you're missing something." Mick took another swig of his drink. "A geek."

Leonard drummed his fingers against the table. Mick wasn't wrong, of course. Despite, or more likely, because of, Central being one of the science capitals of the world, a good tech was hard to find underground. Every decent egghead in the city was employed by any one of the scientific and/or industrial giants that made their home here. Even the downfall of S.T.A.R. Labs had done nothing to change that - many of the people employed there had found work elsewhere soon enough, as the Particle Accelerator had been mainly been riding on the reputation of S.T.A.R. Labs in its entirety, which itself was tied mainly to Harrison Wells as far as individuals went. And even then, the failure of the Particle Accelerator had only ravaged those reputations so badly was because of the damage it had done to the city and its inhabitants - otherwise, it would've been written off as another scientific failure (albeit, a colossal one that cost millions in money) and life would've continued on for all those involved.

The only way anyone with a masters or above degree could fail to get a semi-decent job in this city is if they were blackballed or they actively tried not to find one. The latter was more likely than the former - more than a fair few corporate scumbags were willing to hire less-than-ethical nerds as long as they got results. Hartley Rathaway, who was his go-to techie until the Particle Accelerator exploded, was one such nerd. He could've easily gotten a job at Mercury Labs after Harrison Wells dropped him like a potato, or really any lab in the world, but he was too intent on revenge after the incident screwed with his hearing, and got busted by the Flash for his troubles.

"I'm looking into someone right now, actually." Leonard eventually admitted. "Brie Larvan."

"Where'd she get dropped from?"

"Mercury. Got sacked from Tina McGee herself. Unfortunately, she isn't what you'd call professional."

"And I am?"

He had to give Mick that one. "True. But something tells me she's a different brand of crazy from you. You? You're just reckless and hotheaded. With her, she's got a real chip on her shoulder, and I don't trust her not to screw us over eventually when this is over. So, I was thinking of importing someone in instead."

Mick clicked his teeth. "From where? Not a lot of crooks are willing to make the jump to the Flash's city, if you get what I mean."

"Not unless they're desperate." Leonard smirked. "I was thinking either Starling or Gotham. Gotham's getting gentrified and stuff, and with its new, apparent unbribable police force, it won't be long until the rats flee the sinking ship. And with Starling, I'd think anyone with a bent leaning would like to avoid an arrow to the throat. I've already started sniffing a few out, seeing which one would work best with us."

"Green Arrow shows up here too, though. Granted, it's always with the Flash against whatever meta is causing trouble for the week, but if they're planning to get away from him, Central City is hardly the place to go."

Leonard opened his mouth to counter-argue, but a call interrupted him. Holding out a finger to Mick, he took out his burner phone and accepted the call. Lisa was the only one who had the number to this phone, and she knew not to call unless there was an emergency, so there must be something going on with her.

"Yeah, Lis?"

"Hello, Mr. Snart."

Leonard froze at the unfamiliar voice. And then, the anger came. "Who is this? Where's Lisa!"

"Don't worry. Your sister is perfectly fine. If you don't believe me, call her right now."

Narrowing his eyes, Leonard covered the phone and whispered to Mick to call Lisa, knowing that while his partner had been on the outs, they hadn't been. Confused but understanding, Mick complied, and when Lisa's familiar voice could be heard from his companion's phone, Leonard internally let out a breath of relief before once again returning to the call.

"Satisfied?"

"Who are you?"

"Well, if you're that curious… look at the TV."

Frowning, Leonard turned to the television that was mounted above the bar, and stilled. There, in a breaking news alert, Brie Larvan was currently being arrested by the police. The anchorwoman reporting her arrest, Linda Park, listed the charges against the other woman, and Leonard knew that Brie was on a one-way-trip to Iron Heights if even one of those were true. Following that report, another one followed, revealing that a number of other hackers from all around the country had found themselves charged and facing jail time.

The most jarring thing is that they were all someone Leonard had sniffed out for his upcoming job.

Both unnerved and impressed, he spoke once more. "You've got my attention. I take it you want the job I'm offering?"

"You guess correctly, Mr. Snart."

"Well, as impressive as that was, I'd like to meet you in person first before we make this a sure thing."

"I figured. If you'd look over Mr. Rory's shoulder?"

Startled, Leonard did just that. Over in the corner, leaning against the old pinball machine, a slim man wearing black jeans, black gloves, and a black jacket with his hood on, held up his hand and wiggled his fingers at him. Leonard smiled.

About ten minutes later, behind the building, Leonard met his new hacker with Mick by his side. Across from him, Hoodie stood, hands in his pockets.

"Got a name?"

Leonard could almost feel the smirk on Hoodie's face. Then, in a smooth motion, the man let his hood down and revealed his face. Young-looking, thin, with blond hair and blue eyes. But there was something to him, a glint in his expression, that made Leonard both drawn and wary. Whoever this young man was, he was clearly not someone not to be trifled with.

"Call me Bolt." The newly christened hacker said, grinning. "And as a show of good faith, I've gotten you a gift." He zipped down his jacket and reached in for a hidden pocket, taking out a sheaf of papers and handing them over to Leonard.

Leonard quirked his eyebrow, before looking them over, and smiled widely.

Bolt had just given him the blueprints to A.R.G.U.S.'s Central City base.

He held out his hand, and Bolt took it firmly.

"Kid, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

'I'm in.'

Iris let out a sigh of relief. "Phase I is complete. He's in Snart's crew."

"Good. Now he just needs to wait for Snart to touch base with Amunet." Ralph said, smiling giddily, before he noticed the pensive look on Iris' face. "What's wrong, Iris?"

"I'm just wondering how Barry managed to get in Snart's crew. It can't have been easy."

Ralph shrugged. "Barry's a smart guy. He probably figured out the way Snart thinks and acted accordingly."

Iris sighed once more. "That's what's worrying me."

In a warehouse on the outskirts of Central City, there stood two men. One of the men bore an uncanny, near-identical likeness to Cisco Ramon - if one disregarded his questionable hairstyle. The other was clad in an all-black suit, not dissimilar to the material of the Flash's own suit. On his chest was an insignia of a single lightning bolt - a mirror image of the one on the Flash's suit. His face and hair was covered with a mask, bearing only his unholy obsidian orbs and a jagged line of stitches where his mouth would be located, and his hands were in clawed gloves.

The Cisco-lookalike held out his arm, his hand in a fist, and watched impassively as a beam of blue energy flowed out from him, eventually creating something resembling a portal. There, The Flash could be seen, running around Central City with a determined look in his eye.

The other figure in the room ran his claw down the image, intrigued.

"Interesting…"

Congratulations, Barry, you've got two supervillains into you!

Woo, I'm back! I'm finally feeling inspired again now that the new seasons are about to start. Don't worry, if you're a fan of my KND fic as well, that will not be abandoned - I've already started writing the next chapter, but that will take a while.

As for this fic, I'm still planning out Arc III - time has been limited lately, the perils of real life and all. Plus, with a beta now, who has their own life as well, updates are going to be sparser than usual. As a result of my beta's schedule, I've decided to shift the update schedule from Wednesday to weekends - better for everyone.

Now, as for pairings, I've written a bit of rant about that on this fic's tumblr. It's up to you if you want to read it, but I will reiterate the gist of it here - I am not changing this fic's pairings for you, or anyone else, just because you don't like Iris or Laurel or think Oliver/Kara better or whatever. Anything along those lines. Those pairings were decided right at the beginning and were interwoven into the plot, to the point that changing them would drastically change the flow of the story, probably even break it. I will not compromise that for anybody.

In other news, I am thinking of planning a contest for fan art. It's in the tentative stages right now, but it will happen eventually. I plan on talking it over with my beta, Kara Smoak, for ideas for prizes before it happens. So, if you're a fan of this story and have a bit of an artistic flair to you, keep an eye out.

Don't forget to check the blog! And update the TV Tropes Page!