So...here we have the final part of this story arc.
I know I'm the worst keeping up with schedules.
Kara was feeling bad for leaving Oliver behind, that was far too rude even for her, but soon she reassured herself that he would be okay in the main hall as he surely would find some of his posh friends and enjoy his time with them.
Or would start flirting with some girl that crossed his path or caught his eye for more than a few seconds.
(Being friends with Hal was rubbing on him)
Richard turned to her while they were climbing up the stairs to the first floor while saying "So...how was your day?"
She took her time before responding as she was afraid that he would fall down and break his neck, and because she was powerless at the moment she wouldn-t be able to save him.
"It was good...I think, a little bit...rushed? I don't know, I'm not used to wear dresses so I had to find a suit that could be used in this kind of parties and Ollie..." Kara started to ramble but then she coughed and asked trying to sound relaxed "How was yours?"
"A little bit rushed, my parents wanted me to organize the music and other stuff" He said shrugging trying to sound relaxed"That's going to be my life...someday" He made a pause while bitting his lip" My father wants me to be an event planner like mother" He made another pause and sighed "I want to be a teacher, though"
The kryptonian just nodded as she didn't know what to say, spending the next forty or so years teaching a bunch of brats wasn't something she had thought about. After she realized that she should say something she just asked"Why a teacher?"
The redhead bit his lip before saying "I think it would be an interesting...career"
The blonde just nodded again and changed the topic "So...which band is playing tonight?"
He seemed to lit up with that question and responded with great excitement "It's a new band, I met them a year ago when I..."He then stopped and smiled awkwardly "You'll see"
When they reached the top of the stairs Richard motioned her to follow him to the second door to the left and before opening he said "These guys are amazing, they are going to be a great band in a few years"
When they stepped into the room she saw three girls and a boy that couldn't be much older than her, she was almost sure that one of them went to Metropolis High with her.
(Well, she was actuallythirthy years older, give or take, than any of them but who cares?)
They all looked at them as if they were intruding into their rehearsal but one of them smiled and stepped forward while saying "It's time for us to play?"
Kara then realized that they were one of the bands that used to play in the Lazarus Pit: The Birds Of Prey.
She almost kicked herself for being too slow.
For a second she considered fangirling for them she had really loved their songs, but then she decided to appear cool and so she said trying to sound relaxed "Hey! I watched you play in the Lazarus Pit a few months ago, you are really good"
"Thank you" One of the black haired ones*,said while extending her hand to Kara"My name is Dinah Lance, these are my friends Helena, Dawn and Hank"
Kara looked at the other girls while she shook Dinah's hand, Dawn was the one in Metropolis High, she was a senior. She wasn't sure about Hank, he was a little bit intimidating.
"Well..." Dinah started to say while smirking "While I like to meet new people, I think you should go downstairs" She turned to Kara and winked "You have the look of a rockstar "
The blonde was surprised to hear that and her face showed it so Dinah chuckled, then Helena said "You just have that vibe, do you play any instrument?"
"Yeah, I play the guitar... and I sing too" She said though she was surprised at the sound of her voice, she sounded shy.
Well, it wasn't every day one met an almost famous band.
Anyway Dawn said "Since we have this guy as our friend, maybe we could practice together sometime"
"When we stop by Metropolis, that's it" Hank muttered.
Kara just nodded, that had been...interesting.
When they left the room, Richard started to rub his neck and said in a quiet voice "I want you to met someone..."
She just raised and eyebrow, then said "Sure"
Then they went back to the main hall and Richard craned his neck to see if he found that person but he couldn't so he grabbed her hand and dragged her along as he searched for them.
Then it seemed that he had finally found the person and clasped his hands together, while sandwiching hers, and then said "I'm sure you two will be friends, I want you to my..."
The kryptonian was about to say something when she saw a beam and she did what she would always do as Supergirl.
Act without thinking about it first.
And this time someone had followed her example.
Great.
Daphne had always been fond of Barry.
Ever since they were children he had always been there to protect her, from her own impulses mostly, and she had protected him in turn, mostly from a boy named Lance Basillia.*
That seemed a long time ago even though only two years had passed since they had moved from Fallville.
She sighed and looked closely at Barry, she was almost sure that it would seem that she was looking at him with longing but she was only analyzing how much her had changed over two years.
(Surely the paparazzi and the tabloids would enjoy that shot if someone took a photo of the moment)
He had become very attractive though he was still a little bit awkward and he couldn't really notice the attention he caught from girls (and boys).
(Also he could get easily distracted, how he had become a superhero was a question that she couldn't answer and he wouldn't tell)
He was far too dense to realize that he didn't need to pine for a girl that clearly wasn't sure about her she wouldn't say anything about that as she didn't want to hurt Barry's feelings or make him think that she was trying to make him fall in love with her (again).
"Daph" She heard him saying with a mildly worried tone.
He, of course,noticed her staring at nothing for a few seconds, the redhead just shook her head and said "Barry, would you mind to grab a drink for me?"
Barry looked suspiciously at her for a second before responding almost in a whisper "Of course"
"You are the best" She said with a charming smile and he returned the smile, anyone would have thought that they were in love.
(Another shot that everyone would love)
Unbeknown to both of them they were being watched by someone in the crowd of people around them.
The redhead just went to a table and sat down while looking around to see if there was someone she knew (and liked). Her castmates were with their own guests and/or their boyfriends and girlfriends, maybe she should have told Barry to bring some of his friends?, that would have been interesting.
She craned her neck when she saw a mat of red hair in the crowd, she squinted her eyes and noticed that it was Richard and then she noticed a blonde girl with him. Daphne smirked while she put a hand on her chin, that afternoon he had mentioned that he had invited some girl that went to Metropolis High with him.
And said girl was friends with Barry, or so he had mentioned while they were shopping clothes for this party.
(Barry wasn't good at keeping secrets and stuff but he was good at recalling information so he was good at gossiping which made him a perfect best friend for her)
For a moment she wondered that if he was the Flash and that girl...Zee(?) was Zatanna, maybe that other girl was also a superhero? How many of Barry's friends were superheroes? Was that a requirement to be friends with him?
She looked a little bit like that superheroine...Power Girl?, she didn't keep up with superheroes and their names but she was almost sure that there was a short haired superheroine that looked like that girl.
Then someone bumped into her spilling a drink over her dress, she was about to scream when the other person said "I'm so sorry, it wasn't my intention to ruin your...beautiful dress"
Daphne wanted to slap her, that dress was loaned to her, now she would have to pay for it and her manager would likely make a fuss about it. Then she recognized to the person, it was famous ice-skater Lisa Star.
She didn't like that girl for some reason even though they had only met twice before.
Also she had heard that she had been dating a criminal of sorts, her own coach's son. That had been a really extended rumour a year ago or so, one of her friends did ice skating too, and it had slowly died down when said boyfriend ended up in juvie.
"Oh, hi Lisa" She said trying to disguise her distaste, apart from the rumours Lisa Star was quite infamous for her...techniques and overall personality.
"Daphne,long time no see" The other girl responded.
The redhead was thinking about a way to end the conversation, that hadn't really started but still, when the blonde girl grabbed her by the arm and said "Yesterday the mall was quite a fuss"
"Yeah, it was especially..." Daphne squinted her eyes, she would have noticed if Lisa had been there, hey that girl may not be an actress or a singer but she was famous and at least someone would have recognized her.
"You..." She started to say when Lisa just smirked.
Barry had just grabbed a pineapple ginger sparkle (was that even a thing?) for Daphne and a Vanilla Soder Cola* for himself when caos broke in.
Someone had set in floating, glowing tops surrounding Daphne, Richard and Kara.
Why couldn't he have a quiet night for once?
He put both glasses on some girl's hands, who didn't seem to mind, and then he ran to the bathroom, at normal speed of course, before changing his tuxedo to his suit.
Then he went outside and well he decided to have look around to search for Oliver but he couldn't find him.
Then he realized that he had fought those tops during that first years as a superhero in Central City, he opened his eyes in surprise and muttered "The Top"
But he had put him on juvie after their last fight just the day before he moved to Metropolis... well they had published the veredict on Picture News a few days after he moved away
He then saw a blonde haired girl in an orange ice-skating dress and using razor-sharp skaters that used aerial ice?, that was so cool! Maybe he should ask her about it?.
Barry slapped himself mentally and thought "Focus, don't get sidetracked"
He was almost sure he had seen her before but he couldn't quite place the memory so he decided to do the first thing that came to his mind.
And so he ran into the the circle that was formed by the top's energy and pushed the three of them out quickly, when he got Kara out she gave him a look that said "Don't mess up" and then he realized that the tops were lining for another attack.
The scarlet speedster wished that he could have had some help at the moment so he decided to counteract their energy with his speed but suddenly he realized that he was trapped and started to run in circles desesperately as he tried to break free.
He should have stayed home that night.
Oliver had been having a quiet chat in the gardens with a girl named Moonday* (what kind of name was that?) when he saw some people running away from the main hall and decided to get back inside and see what was happening
He rolled his eyes when he saw Barry, well The Flash, locked up by a bunch of glowing tops.
The emerald archer resisted the urge to face palm, what had Flash done this time?
The blonde boy turned around to see if Kara was near and he saw his friend with her crush and Barry's girlfriend-not-girlfriend, he suddenly realized that both of his super friends liked redheads.
Interesting.
Kara just gave him an (almost) apologetic look, there wasn't much she could do without her powers and at the moment she was tending to Richard's injured hand, apparently he had fell over some broken glasses and the other girl, Daphne, was talking/yelling on the phone with someone.
He put his hand on a fist as if he was holding his bow and realized that there wasn't many things that he could do without his equipment. He looked around to see who was causing all this havoc and it was someone who looked a bit like the girl he had talked half an hour ago.
Were those golden ice-skates?
Oh, the inanity.
Then he realized that she was holding a weapon...and pointing towards where Kara was!
The girl laughed a bit and said in a very scornful voice "It's no use Flash!" She made a face and then smirked "You can't stop the justice of the Golden Glider!"
Oliver almost scoffed, what kind of name was that?, but he refrained from saying so since he didn't want to redirect her attetntion before he had an idea of how to help Flash.
"An eye for an eye..." She spat.
The archer couldn't hear well what Barry said from where he was so he focused on the Golden Glider.
He resisted to scoff.
" To even the score I shall take someone you care for from you!"
The archer knew that he would regret to do this but he didn't see another option, he tackled the villain as she shot at someone.
Flash couldn't remember having seen the Golden Glider before but since she had the tops from well...The Top and he was almost sure that he had seen that gun before when he was fighting Captain Cold.
He was trying to break free from the energy the tops projected when he decided to change his strategy, he realized that he had to swil his atoms at the same vibratory rate long enough to pass through the energy beam but he only had one-hundred of a second and if he failed he would die.
Also, he had to find time to save Kara, Daphne and Richard from the beam that the Golden Glider had shot towards them.
But then Oliver, yeah just Oliver because he hadn't taken his gear and equipment to thr party, had tackled the villain and thr beam had been redirected.
And it hit him just when he was in front of Daphne andd he couldn't hear what she was saying.
Sometimes one-hundred of a second was too long of a time.
He could feel as the beam started to freeze him.
"I wasn't fast enough" He thought.
"I knew it! I knew you would save us!" The redhaired girl said happily before realizing that Ba...The Flash had been frozen.
Richard gasped and put his uninjured hand on her shoulder while saying "I didn't known you were friends with The Flash"
Daphne almost slapped him but she was starting to tear up, she hid her head on the other redhead's chest and mumbled "He..."
The rest of the guest either ran away or stayed at a reasonable distance, though some of them were taking photos of the moment and Oliver wanted to punch all of them.
(Also he realized that someone must have taken a photo of him tackling the Golden Glider, if his mother saw it suurely she would throw a fit, he would deal with that later)
Kara resisted the tears and then she kneeled by Flash's side trying not to touch him, she didn't want to break...what was left of him. She felt Oliver standing by her side, she waited a few second before standing up and she asked grabbing her friend's arm "Where's the Golden Glider?"
"She..." Oliver started to respond as he turned his head to see where he had left her, she was nowhere near and he finished his sentece "...Ran away"
The blonde girl slapped him and started to shake him, for a kryptonian who was still regaining her powers she was still strong, while she yelled "B...The Flash is dead and you let her escape?!"
Then they heard a deafening scream that almost made their ears bleed, if Kara had to classify it as something she would said that it almost sounded like a bird, well if birds could make so loud of a sound.
The kryptonian's ears started to tune the sounds outside, Kara would have been happier if they had not been fighting sounds, but she tugged Oliver's arm and said in a whisper "We have to go outisde"
"We...don't have our you-know-what" He said as they walked outside.
"At least we have to see what is happening" She responded.
In the gardens there was a fight between the Golden Glider and another blonde girl, if Kara was not wrong she was Seattle's vigilante: Black Canary.
"Who?" Oliver asked while frowning, apparently she had been thinking out loud.
"Babs keeps up with other superheroes apart from Batman" Kara shrugged "She likes Black Canary..." And then she realized that Oliver was getting starry-eyed while watching the other two girls fight, she huffed "Focus, Ollie"
"She is good" He mumbled in amazement.
Kara just rolled her eyes and said "She is...for a human"
Suddenly they saw an scarlet blur and...it was Flash!
"What the..." The kryptonian started to say.
"I just...restructured my atoms" The Flash waved it off "It happened to me before when I was in Central City"
Oliver almost fainted and Kara had to catch him, she started to get pissed and thought "This is no time for dramatics"
"Are you going to help me, Scarlet boy?" Black Canary asked.
"Who...?" He frowned and then said "Of course"
During the fight The Golden Glider chuckled and said "Wow, the heroes need two of them to fight me...I'm flattered" She then smirked "You didn't need a sidekick to fight Captain Cold" And the her eyes shone with fury "Just like you didn't need a sidekick to take away my belovedTop!"
"I'm not his sidekick" Black Canary almost yelled.
"The Top?" Flash asked confused and frowned as he ran towards her and grabbed her by the arms and said "I think you should spend a few months in juvie..."
He ran in a blur to take her to the police station and returned in a minute, much longer than he usually took after defeating a villain, he seemed a little bit shaken and turned to Black Canary "Thank you for the help..." He took out his hand to the new hero in town and said "I just recognized you...I...admire your work in Seattle"
She took his hand and said "You are welcome, try not to get frozen again"
"Of course" Flash said and smiled.
Oliver coughed, having regained his composture, and shoving Kara to the side and he asked to Barry "I don't want to interrupt but... "He made a pause and put his hand on The Flash's shoulders "How are you alive?!" He pointed at himself then at Kara, who looked a bit uncomfortable "We cried for you!"
"I just restructured my atoms to counteract the freezing beam" Flash explained "I usually don't take that long"
"Some friends you have" The blonde heroine muttered.
"Tell me about that"
"The tabloids will surely love the news about Oliver Queen tackling Golden Glider and yelling at The Flash" Black Canary smirked and added "And stealing Richard Wilson-Malverne's girlfriend"
"What?!" Oliver yelled.
"Well, I'm taking my leave" She started to say while she turned around when they saw Superman hovering over them with a stern face, Kara almost laughed but she realized that he was really serious and said "Hi...Superman, what are you doing here?"
"I'm not here for you" He said almost rolling his eyes "I'm here for Flash...and Black Canary"
"Me?" The Flash asked in awe "Cool"
By the look on Superman's face he didn't think it was so cool but anyway he extended his hand towards Black Canary.
The blonde took it while looking at Oliver and Kara "We...may see each other again"
Then both blondes returned inside and saw Daphne taking long sips of her pineapple ginger-sparkle and Richard talking with the police.
Kara sat down by the redheaded girl's side and started to rubb her arm for comfort, then Richard finished his talk with the police and asked while walking towards them "Where's Barry? I haven't seen him in a while?"
"His parents came to pick him up" Oliver said "They arrived just before the Golden Glider attacked"
"Is he okay?" Daphne asked tilting her head.
"He is" Kara reassured the other girl, she couldn't explain much without raising suspicions about their superhero identities "He just had to leave early, he said so when he arrived, didn't he?"
"Oh, yeah, of course, I must have forgotten" The redhead said while frowning then she reagained her composture and smiled "By the way, I'm Daphne"
"I'm Kara"
"I told you would get along well" Richard said smiling "Shame that Barry had to leave so early"
"Yeah, he does that sometimes" Oliver said in a scoff "Though this time he had to leave because he was a little bit constipated"
Kara gave him an annoyed look but Daphne seemed amused.
"Oh, I hope he gets better" The redhaired boy put his hands on his pockets "I wanted to get to know him better"
"I'm sure we all will have time to get each other better...with you hanging around Kara"
"Ollie!"
***The next day***
Zee was almost offended by the fact that neither Kara or Barry invited her to a gala, she could understand that Barry had gone with his girlfriend but Kara took Oliver-freaking-Queen instead of one of her best friends.
She was almost sure that she was the kryptonian's best friend.
When the speedster texted her that morning she wanted to tell them that they were no longer friends but instead she decided not to respond the text.
But then Kara called, something that she never did unless it was really important.
And so she was now having a picnic with Barry, Kara,Richard and Barry's girlfriend. Kara mentioned something about Oliver having been invited but being grounded by for "endangering his life" or something like that.
Zee couldn't fathom her father grounding her for saving someone's life, even as a civilian.
And she couldn't understand why Barry was so keen on having Daphne's memory erased, the girl seemed to be good at keeping secrets and Richard didn't seem to realize that Barry was The Flash.
He seemed to be...just glad to be alive and had mentioned something about liking Metropolis better than Los Angeles since there were oh so many superheroes around.
She was washing the dished by hand as a way to stay away from the group as she was feeling as if she was third-wheeling, or five-wheeling in this case, and so she decided to go inside.
"Hi, Zee" Barry said when he entered the kitchen, he leaned on the kitchen counter while putting his hands on his pockects and asked "What's up?"
The purple haired girl resisted the urge to scoff and instead asked "Are you sure you want to erase her memory about the..." She noticed that Richard entered the kitchen and waved awkwardly at them before going into the hall, she waited a few second before she heard the bathroom's door closing and she finished " Flash stuff"
The blonde boy shrugged and said "I think it would be easier that way, you heard about the stuff that happened last night"
The magician grimaced, her maid had left the newspapers on the table that morning and most of them had titles like : "Staright Girl attacked by a supervillain" (apparently they were calling Daphne by that moniker for a while and now they had found the opportunity to do so in a newspaper", "Disaster in Malverne Manor", "Golden Glider to take revenge on The Flash", "Queen Industries's heir got into a fight with a super villain!" (she laughed a lot to that one), "Heroes in Metropolis: Do they cause more trouble than good" (that one made her grimace)" and finally in those gossip columns: "Daphne Dean: Two Sweethearts?".
"That could have gone worse" She simply said when she noticed that Barry wanted an answer.
"She almost died last night"
"Y...Flash took the hit"
"What if he was even more late?" He said hanging his head low "What if it hit Richard?, What if it hit Kara?, we know she is h...normal-like but, how much normal is she now?"
"You are thinking too much about that" Zee said while drying her hands and then she put her right hand on his shoulder and her left hand on his cheek "Come on, you are Barry Allen you can't overthink this"
He smiled a little and hugged her while saying "You are the best,Zee"
"I know, but now ..."She was starting so say something about erading Daphne's memory when she heard the bathroom's door open and she instead said "We have to make more sandwiches"
Richard just passed by the kitchen again and decided to help them make more sandwiches while Kara and Daphne were grilling some sausages.
Zee knew that Kara would have liked to have her heat vision back to do it quicker.
********************************
So...here's the end of this arc.
I hope you all like it, thank you for your support and I'd like to read yout thoughts and suggestions.
I know I suck at writting fighting scenes but hey I try.
I'll be updating in two weeks or so, hopefully,but I'll be taking a break from the #Sweet,Friendships&Boys continuity since it needs "worldbuilding" and I have to check the continuity.
Also I'm in my third year of college and taking fourth year classes so I'm a little short of time since the academic year is ending and I haven't finished my thesis draft, so please be patient sometimes life gets in the way of my fanfiction writing.
If you want you can check my other fic "Blossom & Spider" on Wattpad, I promise it's good but it's not as long as this ones...yet. I can't post it here since we are not allowed to post AC (you know what I mean) fanfiction here even though they allow Riverdale ones.
I'm sorry if some of the characters seem OCC, still the Birds of Prey band was more of a cameo than anything, I used just Black Canary just...beacuse I wanted to use her, you can especulate iff the others are superheroes at the moment or if they are not...and they may come back *wink wink*
So...what do you think?, do you think that Zee has disuaded Barry about erasing Daphne's memory? does Richard suspect something?.
And let's hope I can keep up with schedules XD.
*And Dinah is black haired in the comics, she used a blonde wig as a way of hiding her identity and after a time she decided to dye her hair.
**Sandra Moonday Hawke is Oliver's son, Connor, mother in the comics
**Lance Basillia was Barry's childhood bully and Daphne's stalker in the comics.
***Yeah, I took it from DC Universe Online.