Chapter 90: Loose Ends

"It's him," Amanda announced as she entered the meeting room. There were indecipherable sighs all around. While they were glad things with Merlyn were finally over, none of them were exactly happy it had ended like this.

"Do you already have a cover story in place?" Oliver asked, ever the pragmatist.

"He got on the wrong side of a band of bandits in one of the remote parts of the mountain who decided to get even with him, not knowing who he was," Amanda answered instantly. "Starling won't be happy, but they'll move on eventually."

"And as for us?"

Amanda's smile bared its ever present shark teeth. "Consider yourselves dismissed."

And that's when everyone finally had breaths of relief. It had been a long couple of days, and all of them were eager to get a move on with their regular lives — or as regular as a life of a superhero could ever be. Everyone got up from their seats and exited the room, not wanting to stay in Amanda's oppressive presence any longer, and made their goodbyes outside.

Mari and Jefferson were the first to go, sharing a flight together as Jefferson had a stopover at Detroit before he flew over to Metropolis and drove back to Freeland. J'onn and Kara were also flying home, but in their superhero identities. Oliver and Laurel had opted to take the train, as they usually did when traveling between Starling and Central.

Barry, of course, was the only one staying in the city. After saying farewell to his friends and siblings, reminding everyone to keep touch, he headed over to S.T.A.R. Labs to see how everyone had handled his absence.

"You didn't blow up the city while I was gone, did you?" was the first thing to come out of his mouth the moment he stepped foot into the Cortex.

Caitlin, Ronnie, and Professor Stein, standing at the computers, turned around and gave him dry looks. "No, we did not, considering you're currently standing in the city right now," Ronnie answered for all of them.

Barry shrugged, smirking. "Just checking."

"Barry?"

The speedster blinked when he saw Iris exit the med bay. "Iris? What are you doing here?"

"My hand," Iris said, lifting her still-bandaged hand for good measure. "Caitlin offered to check on it for me for infection and help me re-bandage it periodically. Thankfully, it's almost healed."

"Good. In that case, I have wonderful news — Merlyn is dead and we managed to fight off Talia and deal a major blow to the Shadows. We've determined it'll be a long time before she can even think of retaliating, so we're taking everyone off A.R.G.U.S. detail for the time being."

Iris slumped her shoulders in relief. "Thank God. Not that they were obvious or anything like that, but it was a little stifling to know they were there somewhere, watching me, and I didn't know who they were."

"Well, you don't have to worry about them any longer." Barry turned his attentions to Ronnie and Stein. "Thank you for protecting the city for me."

"Think nothing of it, Barry," Ronnie told him, "but we want you to know that we aren't going to be available for anymore favors like this for the foreseeable future."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "The Raymond-Snow wedding?" Ronnie and Caitlin, after all, were still engaged, even if they had been distracted lately with all the chaos of the Justice League's debut and then the Dominators. Honestly, it was probably because they were practically married already; this was just their way of making things official.

"Yup. Calls to make, invitations to send, venues to book — and we still need to decide on a honeymoon location," Caitlin shot her fiance a look. "We're debating between Italy, Japan, and Morocco."

"Well, in that case, you discuss it on the way home. I am officially declaring the rest of the day off while we wait for Cisco to come back to Detroit. Central City can last one more day without the Flash."

Cheers met his proclamation.

"Why did we add Japan to the list again?" Ronnie couldn't help but ask as he leisurely drove his car down the road towards the home where Caitlin and him shared with the Steins.

"Culture," Caitlin said dryly. "Plus, Japan is a beautiful country. Don't you want to see the cherry blossoms?"

"So we're having a spring wedding, then? I thought we were planning having it in the fall."

"True," Caitlin bit her lip lightly. "Okay, so maybe not Japan. But will Italy be warm enough?"

"It's close enough to the equator."

"That is not an accurate measure of weather, Ronald," Stein interjected. "Why don't you two do some actual research first before deciding? Maybe you'll find other options besides those two. Or you could just go to Morocco."

"Are you coming with us?" Ronnie turned around and asked, with just the politest amount of spite.

"Actually, considering that you two can't be apart for too long—"

"Really, Caitlin?"

"Ronnie, this is a health thing. Besides, we can just go our own ways and meet up every couple of days so you two can merge for a bit. We'll just have to be a little more thorough with our planning. Maybe Barry can help us — he'll make us an itinerary to accommodate all our wants and needs if only to prove that he can do it. All we need to do is give him a location."

Stein hummed. "If this is what we're planning to do, might I suggest I bring along Clarissa? Lily, of course, is too busy with her own schooling, but my wife and I could use a vacation."

"Wait a minute, don't you have classes to teach?"

"That is true. Maybe I can—" Stein paused. "Is it me or is the car getting colder?"

Caitlin and Ronnie exchanged looks, realizing that he was right. On a hunch, Caitlin let out a puff, nearly blanching when she saw her breath become a visible cloud. Ronnie stared when he saw frost building up on the windows. "What the hell?" he asked, more than a little freaked out.

Stein gulped. "We need to get out of here."

Realizing he was right, the couple reached for their respective doors, only to flinch back when the handles proved to be too cold to the touch. As the car continued to freeze, Caitlin looked at the two men desperately. "You too need to merge!"

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine! If you don't merge now we might freeze to death!"

Reluctantly, Ronnie and Stein reached for each other, but before they could make contact, something rocked the car violently, sending it spinning. Everyone held on to something, trying to stabilize themselves, and eventually the car came to a stop. However, the damage was done, and one by one they all began to fall into unconsciousness.

The last thing Caitlin saw before everything went black was a pair of blurry, blue heels.

Central City, despite being one of the science capitals of the world, did not have a particularly large airport. It wasn't as small as a local one, but it certainly wasn't the sprawling facilities that characterized the likes of LAX and the JFK airport in New York City. Nor did it bus in many international flights, limiting itself to those traveling between the parts of the North American continent.

It still, however, was an airport, and thus heavy in crowds with a constant stream of traffic. Barry waited patiently at the front of the bottom floor of the terminal, where the arrivals claimed their baggage, holding up a sign with Cisco's name on it. Even though the baggage claim wasn't too crowded, it still felt prudent to have a sign up regardless. It would make it easier for them to leave when the time came.

"Barry?"

"Caitlin! Ronnie!" Barry turned his head and exclaimed, only to frown when he saw they were missing one of their number. "Where's Stein?"

"He and Clarissa had a family emergency that came up last minute," Ronnie explained.

"Huh," Barry said, surprised, "That's too bad. I'm sure Cisco would've been happy to see him."

"Indeed I would have!" Cisco's familiar, jovial voice broke through the conversation, casting everyone's attention towards him.

"Hey, Cisco! How was Detroit? You didn't leave any fires for Mari to put out, did you?"

Cisco sniffed, slightly offended at the lack of faith but not entirely surprised. "If you must know, I did perfectly fine. So fine, in fact, that I think you should consider making me your new partner."

Barry laughed. "No."

"But—"

"No, Cisco. You still need training." Detroit, after all, didn't have as nearly as many metahuman criminals as Central City.

Cisco pouted. "Fine. Let's get out of here," he said sulkily.

Barry looked back at Caitlin and Ronnie. "Come on. I know a good place where we can grab a bite to eat."

Barry's chosen venue, as it turned out, would be a new Indian restaurant that had opened in the better part of town. As per usual he was the one who payed, more than a little satisfied that his inheritance from Eobard was going towards his stomach.

The conversation was light, with Barry and Cisco dominating most of it. Of course, they couldn't discuss anything sensitive in public, but Barry was skilled in the art of double talk and his patented look was at the ready to cut Cisco off when it seemed he was going to say too much. Caitlin and Ronnie were simply content to eat, which Barry thought strange; one would figure they would like to discuss their upcoming nuptials, especially now that one of the obvious choices for groomsmen, if not best man was present.

Eventually, they finished the meal and Barry offered to drive Cisco to his apartment. His friend agreed, and they made to leave, bidding their farewells to Caitlin and Ronnie as they drove away.

The moment they were gone and out of sight, the smiles on Caitlin and Ronnie's faces instantly faded away, replaced with devious looks and arrogant sneering. The couple ducked into an alleyway, careful to make sure nobody nearby was listening, before Caitlin took out her phone and dialed a number. The phone rang twice before the call was picked up, and Caitlin put it on speaker so Ronnie and her could both talk.

"Did they buy it?" A raspy voice asked.

Caitlin smirked. "Oh, they bought it alright. Ate up every word."

"Good. You know what to do."

And with that final word, the call ended.

As the couple exchanged smug looks, the world shuddered.

And now we begin Act III: Doppelganger. I think you all might have an idea how this will go, but I'm going to let it play out before enlightening you on some of the finer details.

There will be a short break while I work on One Day at a Time, and then I will come back to this story to finish up Arc IV. After that, there will be a much longer break while I plan out Arc V while also finishing the first half of One Day at a Time. Provided everything goes to plan, of course.

Please comment or review, flames will be ignored, constructive criticism welcome, and don't forget to update the TV Tropes page!