Felicity sat in the Arrowcave, staring at her phone. She knew that Oliver probably, no, definitely wouldn't appreciate this, but as she'd told him before, forensics wasn't her forte. At least she was keeping it in house. Mostly.

She picked up the phone and clicked Hayley's name, number four on speed dial. It rang twice before Hayley picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Hayley," Felicity said. "Listen, I need a favor."

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Hayley walked along the alley behind Verdant, her breath puffing in clouds before her. It was mid-December and cold, and if there was anything Hayley hated, it was the cold. She reached the door and quickly slipped inside, slamming the door behind her. She took a moment to take her coat and gloves off before turning around. Oliver stood in front of the Team Arrow, staring at her in shock.

"Hayley," he said. "What are you doing here?"

She glanced around him to look at Felicity. "Um, Felicity called me?" She looked back at Oliver. "I assumed you knew, she called me about Sara's death."

Oliver turned to glare at Felicity. "I thought we agreed not to call her," he whispered lowly. Hayley pretended not to hear the ensuing argument and turned to Diggle.

"How's baby Sara?" she asked, grinning at him. She liked babies. Babies were nice. They didn't try to kill you.

"She's great," Diggle answered. Roy joined their group.

"Sorry, but who are you?" he asked. Hayley smiled and held out a hand.

"I'm Hayley Parker, the Silver Archer," she introduced. Roy took her hand hesitantly and shook it. "You're Roy, right?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Roy Harper, Arsenal. Sorry, I have to get back to work." He turned and headed back up to the club.

"Nice to meet you," Hayley called after him, then turned back to Diggle. "John, you know I want to see baby Sara before I leave."

"Sure, Hayley," Diggle answered easily. "Lyla might even allow you to watch her for a day."

Oliver interrupted the two of them. "Hayley, did Singh clear you to be here?"

"Would it help if I said yes?" Oliver gave her a look. "I asked, he said no, I came anyway." Hayley shrugged. "Felicity said you guys needed forensic help, and, well, I'm forensics."

"We don't need help," Oliver insisted. "We're handling it."

"You find the killer yet?"

Oliver shook his head. "No. But we have other things to worry about."

Hayley came over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "So let me help you."

"Oliver," Felicity added. "We need her."

Oliver's face fell into a scowl. "Fine."

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Back in Central, Barry ran through the city, watching the world fly by him. Hayley had left for Starling about six days ago. Singh was pissed and Barry was left to pick up slack. Between actually working and doing his Flash stuff, he hadn't had a chance to just run all week. He'd forgotten how much paperwork he had to do when he worked alone.

"Barry," Cisco called over the comms. "Bank robbery in progress at Cunningham and Sampere."

He sighed. "I got it."

In STAR Labs, Cisco watched the little red dot that was Barry move quickly across the map. Caitlin Snow stood behind him.

"Wait, that's where I bank," she remarked. Cisco shook his head.

"Once super thieves showed up, I went mattress," he said. Caitlin shook her head at him fondly.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Barry ran into the bank right as a gun went off. He sped the target out of the way before disarming the woman shooting. The gun clattered to the floor as Barry looked around the bank. Everyone in it seemed to be coming out of some sort of stupor. Barry sped off, thoroughly confused.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Eddie groaned when his alarm went off. Iris leaned over and kissed him. He kissed her back for moment before breaking away.

"I've already missed the gym," he said quietly. Iris groaned.

"Ugh, no. Five more minutes," she said before kissing him again. he broke away again.

"I know," he agreed. "But your dad hates tardiness." Iris froze above him and he cringed. "Buzzkill."

"The buzziest," she agreed, moving back to her side of the bed. He got up and started to dress. "Another picture of The Flash came in." She showed him the tablet.

"That red blur?" he asked, squinting at it. "How do you know that wasn't photoshopped?"

"It wasn't," Iris said, completely certain. "It's not a hoax or a mass hallucination." She turned around to look at him. "You know, every day, someone new accepts the impossible and believes in him. Why can't you?"

Eddie grinned at her. "I believe in what I can see." He walked over and lifted her chin. "What I can touch... what I can feel." He kissed her. "Which means I believe in you."

Iris smiled.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Barry walked up to the bank and gestured to the police tape. "Do you mind?" he asked the guard officer, who lifted it for him. "Thanks, man."

"Hey," Joe greeted as he walked up. "Busy morning." Barry nodded. "Witnesses reported seeing a red streak?"

"Joe, you should have seen it," Barry said quietly. "It was like everybody in here was trying to kill each other. I got here just in time."

"Well, it must have been a diversion, because there's half a million bucks missing from the vault," Joe informed him. "There's a tracer in the cash stacks. We're trying to find the signal. Meantime, any idea what could've caused such mass... This?" Joe gestured to the room at large.

Barry shrugged. "A neurotoxin, maybe. I'm going to swab some surfaces, see what I can find, but I think maybe they got whammied."

Joe gave him a Look. "Did you just say whammied?"

Barry shrugged. Eddie walked by, interviewing a woman.

"I got so angry," the woman was saying tearfully. Barry recognized her as the shooter he'd saved the man from. "I can't believe I did that. I would never hurt anybody. You have to believe me."

Eddie smiled gently at her. "I do."

Barry walked off, thoughtful.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Singh sat at his desk, preparing his lunch and halfheartedly listening to Detective Thawne. Joe sat on a chair, also not really listening to his partner.

"Something is happening in this city," Eddie insisted, "and everyone wants to pretend like it isn't, but it is, and I think we should do something about it."

Singh finished fixing his burger. "My boyfriend," he informed both detectives, "has decided we need to eat healthy at home, so work is now the only place I can eat what I like." He finally looked up at Eddie. "Oh, I'm sorry were you saying something, Detective?"

Eddie looked annoyed. "The Blur, The Flash, the man in the red suit..." he trailed off at Singh's unimpressed look. "Whatever he's called, he was spotted at the bank this morning."

Singh stared at him. "You mean the bank that was robbed of half a million dollars, where a dozen people tried to murder each other, and" - his tone turned sarcastic - "you think our attention should be focused on catching Santa Claus."

"I can't explain how he gets to and from crime scenes so fast," Eddie continued, a bit flustered. "We need to figure out who this guy is and what he wants."

"You should ask your girlfriend," Singh snarked. "She writes fanfiction about him."

Eddie turned to Joe. "Joe, help me out here."

Joe looked at him. "Sorry, partner. I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was eight."

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Outside Singh's office, Barry stood listening to Eddie argue his point. Iris walked up and stood next to him.

"Hey," she greeted. "What's going on in there?"

Barry grimaced. "I think Eddie's trying to convince the Captain that the Flash is a public menace."

"Excuse me?" Iris said angrily. Right then, the door opened and Eddie walked out. She stormed up to him. "So after weeks of my trying to convince you that the Flash is real, now that you finally believe me, you're trying to have him arrested? What the hell?"

Eddie gave Barry a glare without any real heat. "Thanks, Barry."

"Sorry."

Eddie turned back to Iris. "Look, I'm not feeling like lunch. See you later." He kissed her and walked off.

Iris turned to Barry. "He's just jealous."

"Of the Flash?" Barry asked, feeling a bit strange. "Should he be?"

Iris barely hesitated. "No. I'll see you later."

Barry waved as she left.

"Barry." He turned to face Joe. "You need to get to STAR Labs."

"Yeah I will," Barry agreed. "After I eat." He glanced at Singh's office and grinned.

Singh turned around and groaned when he noticed that his burger was gone.

"Damn it."

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

"Anger, hate, aggression," Wells listed, rolling into the Cortex.

"A Jedi craves not these things." Cisco quipped. No one laughed. "No one is feeling that quote?" When no one responded, he turned back to his computer. "Hayley would have laughed," he muttered.

"Everyone in the bank went total savage for, like, five minutes," Barry told Team Flash. "And then they were fine again."

"Anger can be a powerful emotion," Wells mused. "If this metahuman can engender irrational feelings of anger in his victims, he can do a lot of damage."

"Detective West helped get a copy of the CAT scans the hospitals did on everyone at the bank." Caitlin plugged in her USB. "Take a look."

They all studied the screen.

"Well, look at this," Wells said, pointing at the lit up sections. "The emotion centers of the brains are still showing signs of being overwhelmed."

"Particularly the area that controls executive function. That's the part of the brain that stops people from doing whatever random and potentially destructive thing that pops into their head," Caitlin explained to Barry and Cisco.

"How do you think the meta does it to them?" Barry asked her. She shrugged.

"That's the half a million dollar question," she quipped.

Feeling a vibration, Barry pulled his phone out and looked down at it. "Hey, if you guys figure it out, just give me a call, okay?"

"Is the Flash off to another rooftop rendezvous with Iris?" Caitlin asked him as he started to walk towards the suit.

"No," Barry answered. Caitlin just looked at him. "Yeah, but she probably just wants to ask me... I mean, you know, him... about meta-human stuff for her blog."

"Do you want some advice?" Caitlin asked him.

Barry smiled wryly. "No matter what I say, I'm getting the advice, right?"

Caitlin ignored him. "Don't get involved," she told him. "As the Flash or yourself. You don't want to be to blame for their breakup."

Barry nodded. "Okay," he said. "I hear you."

He sped by in the suit, scattering papers. Team Flash watched him run out, Caitlin shaking her head.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Iris was closing up Jitters when the Flash ran in. She looked up at the balcony, where he stood covered in the shadows.

"Iris," he said. She felt a shiver of excitement run up her spine, the way she always did when he came.

"Flash," she replied. "Be great to call you by your real name."

He was silent for a moment. "You mean like Ralph?"

"Is your name Ralph?" she asked. The Flash didn't answer, instead running under the stairs.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Iris reoriented. "My boyfriend, he's-" The Flash cut her off.

"Did you guys break up?" he asked. Iris shook her head, confused.

"No."

"Oh." Iris could swear he sounded disappointed.

"He's a cop," she explained, "and he thinks that you're dangerous, and he's trying to convince his boss that you're a menace that needs to be stopped. I thought I should warn you." There was silence. "Anyways, you should probably go... You're not going."

Barry was trying to decide how to answer Iris when Cisco came over his comm. "Barry, are you there?"

He raised a hand to his ear. "What?"

"The police got a ping from the tracer hidden in the stolen cash," Cisco informed him. "SWAT team's closing in on the 1600 block of Pass."

"Now stop ruining Iris' love life and go," Caitlin cut in.

Barry looked back at Iris. "I've gotta run."

She smirked. "I bet you say that to all the girls."

Barry smiled softly. "What other girls?"

He ran off, leaving Iris alone in the shop, smiling to herself.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

"He always paid in cash," the shop owner said to Joe. "Never seemed like trouble."

Joe glanced inside the storage unit, then turned to the SWAT team. "He's on the move."

They searched the premises and came across the meta as he was trying run.

"Freeze!" a SWAT guy yelled. "Hold it right there."

"Hands up," Joe ordered.

The meta raised his hands slowly. "Is there a problem, gentlemen?" he drawled.

"Certo," Joe gestured towards the meta and Certo walked forward to cuff him. "Turn around."

The meta turned to face Certo, who stopped.

"Certo, what are you waiting for?" Joe asked. "Cuff him."

Certo turned and aimed his gun at Joe. "You don't tell me what to do," he growled, cocking the gun.

Joe yelled, "Get down!" just as Certo fired. Barry ran in right then and moved all of the officers out of the way, then pulled Joe down. Certo raised the gun again.

The sound of arrows being loosed rang out and Certo fell back, a green and a silver arrow on either side of his chest. Barry and Joe turned around and faced the Arrow and the Silver Archer.

"Nice mask," the Arrow called before both vigilantes leaped up through the skylight and disappeared. Barry grinned widely.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

"It's kind of comforting to know that no matter what city you go to, Big Belly Burger is always going to taste like Big Belly Burger," Felicity remarked to Diggle.

"You mean full of grease and salt?" Diggle replied. Felicity whipped around to face him.

"I thought those were the secret ingredients," she said, faking seriousness. An engine revving brought her attention back to the road. "Oliver and Hayley are back."

A blur of lightning rushed past the two motorcycles and up to the porch.

"By the way," Barry said, taking off his cowl, "I gave them, like, a half hour head start." He grinned at Felicity.

"Hi, Barry," she said.

"Hey, Felicity," Barry turned to Diggle. "How you doing, Dig?"

Diggle stared at Barry in shock. "You're fast."

Barry looked at Felicity, vaguely hurt. "Did you guys not tell him about me?"

She looked at Dig. "Seeing is believing, or..." she trailed off, watching Dig. "Drooling." She and Barry laughed.

Oliver and Hayley pulled up and started walking towards the others. Barry went over to them, hugged Hayley, and turned to Oliver.

"Hey, thanks for showing up back there, but I had that." Hayley snorted.

"Uh-huh," Oliver deadpanned.

"Sure you did, Sonic," Hayley teased. Barry smiled.

"What, I was getting ready to make my move," he told the two archers.

"What move?" Oliver asked. "The one to the morgue?"

Barry decided to not answer that. "Wait, so what're you guys doing in Central City?"

"Working a case," Felicity answered. "Suspicious homicide where the murder weapon is a boomerang." She handed the boomerang to Barry.

"Cool," he gasped, then caught Oliver's look. "I mean, awful."

"Smooth," Hayley teased. "I found traces of iron oxide on it. It's a long shot, but Central has the highest concentration of iron oxide in the country, always has." Barry nodded along to her words.

"Did you know Australian Aboriginals use boomerangs to hunt?" Barry informed the group. "Mainly on kangaroo, which is a surprisingly low-fat source of prot..."

Oliver cleared his throat, halting Barry's ramble. "We were following up a lead when we heard the SWAT raid over the radio, I thought I would come by." He grinned. "Watch you make your move."

"I'm here to come back to Central," Hayley put in. "Singh is not happy." Barry winced. He knew what that was like.

"I had a cousin who got hit by lightning once," Diggle said randomly. "He just developed a stutter."

"Huh." Barry nodded slowly. "Well, my team and I are after a nasty meta-human who makes people angry."

"Cool," Felicity laughed, then glanced at Oliver. "I mean, awful."

Barry smiled. "Uh, well, since you guys are here, why don't we team up?" he suggested. "I'll help you find you boomerang man, you can help me find my super rage-a-holic."

"That's not a word, Barry," Hayley pointed out. She was ignored.

"We'd love to," Felicity started to answer. Oliver shook his head.

"No, we'll handle our business and head home," he said. Felicity turned to him.

"The fastest way to find out everything we need to know about the boomerang is to sic STAR Labs on it," she argued.

"Enough people know my secret identity," Oliver countered, an air of finality coloring his tone. Felicity shrugged, unconcerned.

"Fine," she said. "I'll go. They already know who I am." She gathered her bag and started walking towards the car. "You can drop me off and I will meet up with you later."

Barry sped in front of her. "How 'bout I give you a lift?" he asked, then picked her up and they were gone.

Diggle looked at the two archers in front of him. "Man, that's not freaking you out?" he asked. Hayley looked back at him.

"Should it?" She shook her head fondly at Diggle and went over to her bike. "I'm heading over to STAR Labs. See you later."

Oliver watched her drive off.

"Let's go," he said quietly, cutting off any questions from Diggle.