Earth 2, Central City.
Datura was a well known thief and murderer on Earth 2. Her city of preference? Central City. And she wasn't just any random metahuman: she was one of the lucky metahumans chosen by Zoom to be part of his crew. Not only that, she was his preferred choice of weapon. Whenever there was a metahuman who needed to be reminded of their place, Datura was called upon. Her siphoning powers were a threat to anyone looking for trouble.
So, for Datura to start making fewer and fewer appearances in the city was noteworthy by other metahumans and even the humans.
"Where is she? Is she coming to get us? Is she hiding?" a woman's mocking voice filled the space of a greenhouse. She waved one gloved finger side to side that manipulated a brilliant red flower on a plot. The flower bloomed and closed then grew and shrunk. "These metas are delusional if they think I won't come for them if they screw up."
Poison Ivy walked into the greenhouse and heard her partner's self talk. She smirked. "Oh, you wouldn't be missing them, would you? Who of all? Killer Frost, maybe? No, wait, Reverb?"
Datura straightened on her feet and turned to face her partner. "That icy bitch is only looking to take my place at the top of the food chain. Reverb is eating out of my palms even more now."
Poison Ivy set her hands on her hips. "Don't worry about them, worry about yourself. the plan worked. Wells is with the team right now on Earth 1, and I'm sure he's going to do everything he can to get their trust." A mild laugh slipped through her lips. "Not like he had much of a choice."
Datura brought her hand to the red flower pinned on her hair. It was a datura and it was probably the most lively, brilliant flower in that greenhouse. Its dark scarlet shade contrasted with her dark brunette hair, which was primp and hanging in loose curls over her chest. Her chocolate brown eyes darted to the side while she thought about Harrison Wells. "Having your daughter kidnapped is quite the motivation. My only thing is that I am impatient."
Poison Ivy knew that well. She walked towards Datura, only leaving a small space between them while she shot Datura a warning look. "But you will control that, right?"
"Sure," Datura pushed past Poison Ivy and made a leave to anywhere but there.
~ 0 ~
Caitlin and Cisco were battling the urge not to attempt to throw Earth 2's version of Harrison Wells into their pipeline. The man, brought in by Barry after their run-in the previous night, was skimming a couple pages of the autobiography of his E-1's doppleganger in such a casual manner.
"Very strange to be holding your autobiography, especially when you didn't write it and it's not about you," he remarked after a moment, his blue eyes raising to see the two staring scientists.
"It's not possible," Caitlin continue to say as if it would make the man pop out of existence.
"I thought Barry explained already?" Wells snapped shut the book in his hands and meant to place it on a nearby table but instead saw that both Caitlin and Cisco retracted one large step away from him. "I already told you that-"
"No, let me get this straight," Cisco waved a hand for him to stop. "You're the doppelganger of the man who murdered Barry's mom and Belén's father and is responsible for both Ronnie and Eddie's deaths?"
Caitlin tilted her head as she considered how true this was. "Yeah, but he's not even the doppelganger of the Dr. Wells that we knew because that Dr. Wells' body had been taken over by the Reverse Flash, who was really Eobard Thawne and Eddie's distant relative from the future."
Wells didn't even try to keep up with any of that. "Yeah, I didn't follow any of that. I'm my own man. I had nothing to do with the murder of your friend's mother or your friend Ricky."
"His name was Ronnie," Caitlin frowned.
"Him either."
"Belén, calm down-" they began to hear Barry's voice along with Belén's voice carrying in from the entrance.
"No! I have to see if it's the truth!" the other metahuman was shouting back.
"But you have to rest-"
"If I hear one more person saying that-" Belén strode into the room with purpose until she saw Wells standing there.
Barry walked in after her, anxiously looking from her to Wells. After last night, she had been cared for by her mother and had only recently learned that there was another version of Wells - who apparently was good - lurking on the same world.
"It's...you…" she said quietly.
"Yes," Wells grew tired of confirming.
"You murdered my Dad," the words tumbled out of Belén's mouth on instinct.
"No, I didn't," Wells rolled his eyes. He was getting sick of being accused of crimes he hadn't committed.
Belén had lost her initial hatred and was once again reminded of her losses. "You should...not be here…"
Barry slipped an arm around her when he saw her getting more upset. He knew this would happen and was part of the reason he advised her to just stay away from STAR Labs until she was well rested.
"You told me you have proof of your identity?" he asked of Wells, hoping to change subjects at least for a moment.
Wells reached into the black sling backpack and pulled out Professor Stein's old monitor device he had thrown into the breech a couple days ago. "This almost hit me when I went through the portal. Your stabilized breach downstairs connects directly to the S.T.A.R. Labs on my Earth."
Caitlin saw her device and moved over to take it from him. "Technically, this could be mine, but I want to run some tests on you."
"I'll be genetically indistinguishable from my Earth-1 counterpart. Your tests will reveal nothing."
"Great! Still gonna run 'em."
"Why are we even listening to him?" Cisco asked out loud, not caring if Wells heard. "How do we know he's not evil like the other guy?"
"He took down that metahuman last night that nearly killed Belén," Barry explained. "Question is why."
"For Datura," Belén explained quietly. "That woman was Poison Ivy. Jay talked about her, remember? She and Datura are thick as thieves and if Datura sent Poison Ivy after me-"
"-you're next," Harry bluntly finished for her and missed the heavy glares of disapproval of the others.
Belén did her best to make it seem like his words hadn't affected her, but that was a lost battle before it even got started. She did a quick glance around the room to see the reactions of the others, and when she saw sympathy - which she mistook for pity - she made a quick excuse that she was going to train instead.
Wells knew exactly what his words caused and he had to stick by them. He would do anything if it meant keeping his daughter safe. If it meant he would be on Earth 1 under the guise as a helper to the team then so be it.
~0~
A heavy vine struck a life size cutout of Shawna Baez and cut it in half. There was no rest between that cutout and the next because Belén had twisted her body to throw a second, probably heavier, vine striking the second cutout through the chest. She yanked her vine back and broke the cutout with the second blow.
"Belén?" Barry nearly yelped a second later when Belén turned with a threatening vine directed his way. He may or may not have ducked halfway too.
Seeing him pulled Belén out of her training mode. The emerald green scales on her skin faded within seconds until she was herself again. "Sorry," she released a tired breath.
"I'm good. And by the looks of those cutouts so are you," Barry took a good look around and saw that most of the cutouts meant for target practice were in pieces. "Cisco's not going to be so happy, though."
A small smile came to Belén when she thought of Cisco's reaction seeing all his cutouts destroyed. "He can update. Maybe add in Datura and Poison Ivy for me. I think that's the only way I'll see them down."
"Don't say that," Barry's warning was answered with a scoff.
"They got me in one go, Barry. That's just embarrassing," she walked towards the table set for their equipment and picked up a water bottle. "I haven't been out in a while, I've lost my game. And now Poison Ivy knows that, which means Datura will too."
"I think you're putting too much thought in this," Barry sighed seeing her so worked up and even more stressed. Granted he felt the same towards Zoom but he did feel some comfort knowing that there was Jay to help him out training wise. After all, Jay had already fought Zoom which meant he would have a good idea of Zoom's tactics.
Belén took a big drink out of her water bottle then responded, "Am I? Because I think I'm giving it a pretty decent amount of thought. Poison Ivy kicked my ass in two seconds-flat. That can't happen again. And it won't," she moved around him and headed back for the training area.
"Belén, Bel - c'mon," Barry turned after her. "It's not a good idea to train when you have all this on your mind. Datura, Poison Ivy, Wells-"
Belén pointed a warning finger at him to stop right there. "I'm not having that discussion about Wells. That man-"
"Is not the Dr. Wells we know," Barry tried to explain as best as possible.
"How do we know that!? I mean, the Dr. Wells from this world waited 15 years to show his real face," Belén argued logically. "Imagine what this one will do?"
"I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and-"
"How!?" Belén exclaimed. "How can you even look at him?"
Without thinking, Barry raised his voice and answered back in a half-shout. "You think this is easy for me? The guy looks, moves, sounds exactly like the guy that drove a knife through my mother's heart. I have to resist the urge to kill him. I'm trying my best to get past that, okay?"
Belén's anger faltered almost instantly. She had been too caught up in her feelings to remember what Barry was probably going through as well. "I'm sorry," she said after a moment, eyes lowering.
Barry sighed, feeling guilty he'd gone off on her like that. "No, I'm sorry. I just...maybe, he's like Jay, you know? Maybe he really is here to help and right now I will take what I can get. He says he wants to help us. He's responsible for metahumans on Earth 2."
"Great, so he created Zoom and Datura. Yeah, he should be helping then," Belén shook her head.
"So he probably knows them better than Jay. We can use that to our advantage and save ourselves."
Belén considered that a deep advantage she sure wouldn't want to lose. "Fine. He gets one chance-" she raised an index finger, "-but if he ruins it I'll show him who's really the top Poison plant metahuman."
Barry laughed while she continued to spew out more threats. "Alright then, point made."
Belén was about to go back to training when she heard her phone buzzing on the table. She came back to check on it and saw it was a text from her mother. "That's my Mom. She's confirming if we're still having dinner with her tomorrow."
"Absolutely," Barry smiled widely even though on the inside he was feeling more scared than when he faced metahumans.
As Belén texted back the confirmation, she received another text but from Cisco. He'd gotten another vision that showed another breacher at the city's bank. Without much detail, she alerted Barry by using a little white lie of a reason how she knew this from Cisco. She also convinced him to go on with out her because...
"I want my comeback to be big, and I want it to be facing Poison Ivy or Datura."
"Be careful what you wish for," Barry warned, dropping a kiss on her lips before speeding off.
"Yeah," Belén drew in a breath with worry. Her mind kept replaying that horrible scene of Poison Ivy knocking her out. I have to be better, she repeated to herself.
~0~
"You just shouldn't keep them a secret," Belén said first and foremost after catching Cisco coming into the building. "I know what I'm telling you."
They were now walking for the cortex after getting word from Barry he was back and without the breacher.
"I'm working on it, Bells," Cisco meant to promise but Belén knew better than to believe it.
"So I look that big of an idiot?" she scoffed. "You're scared, you don't like powers so you're just gonna keep them hidden. Sounds familiar, honestly."
"I'm not like you!" Cisco blurted and immediately regretted it. "I-I did not mean it like that-"
"It's fine, Cisco," Belén assured. "Maybe I over made my point. I just...I want you to understand that keeping your powers a secret, trying to push them away, isn't good."
Cisco acknowledged her good intentions with a nod of his head. The two entered the cortex where Barry was already explaining to Wells - or Harry, as Cisco had dubbed him - about the metahuman he'd met earlier.
"So who's this metahuman that outsmarted you?" Belén teased, earning herself a mock-glare from Barry in return.
"Her name is Doctor Light," Harry responded after taking a bite of his fries. "Small-time thief on my Earth until exposure to the dark matter from the Particle Accelerator and became a meta-human with the ability to derive power from starlight."
"Oh, very cool," Cisco said with eyebrows raised.
"Stars having a temperature of 5,300 degree kelvin and a blinding luminosity, I would say, 'Not very cool at all.'"
Cisco frowned at him. "You know, our Dr. Wells may have been evil, but you're just a dick."
"Okay, so obviously, Zoom brought her here from your Earth like the others," Barry said before the two got into an actual argument.
"Mm-hmm. Now that we know that, we can use that to gain advantage," Harry turned for the desk to retrieve his soda drink.
"How do you mean?" Belén asked, crossing her arms.
"We capture Doctor Light and use her to lure Zoom here."
At the same time, Jay came in - or stormed into - the cortex looking pretty angry. "You are insane!" he started shouting, apparently for Wells. "Okay, we are not luring Zoom anywhere!"
Caitlin scurried in after Jay, making way for her friends. "Apparently, they know each other, and Jay is not a fan."
"Think we got the message," Belén's eyes flickered from Harry and Jay anxiously.
Harry was truly surprised by Jay's presence. Neither Datura - or Poison Ivy - for that matter, had told him this was where their version of the Flash had gone off to. "Well, well, well. Like everyone else, I assumed Earth-2 Flash was dead. Why am I not surprised to find Jay Garrick here, still alive and in hiding a full universe away from Zoom?"
"I'm not in hiding," Jay scowled. "Zoom nearly killed me and had Datura siphon my speed before the Singularity pulled me here!"
Harry raised an eyebrow, apparently amused by the story. "Is that right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Well, whatever the case, in your absence, Zoom has only gotten more powerful, faster. Barry, you have to defeat Zoom now while you still can."
Barry barely opened his mouth when Jay spoke again. "No, this isn't the time to be reckless. We don't even know why Zoom sent Doctor Light here. She's a thief, not a killer."
"Zoom can make people do things out of character!" Harry nearly shouted. He felt that really drove things home for himself considering the true reason he was there. He glanced at Barry. "Thief or not, she'll kill you."
"All right, look, hey, we can decide what to do with Light later," Barry spoke over the two. "First, we have to find her, okay?"
Harry made an almost triumphant smile as he grabbed his soda off the desk and purposely - probably - took loud slurps.
"Cisco, did you get any information off her?" Barry asked, startling Cisco. "You were here earlier, did you get anything from the security feed?"
"No, he wasn't," Harry said before Cisco could.
"Shut up, yes he was," Belén said rather fast, earning herself three different looks from them. "Cisco, you were here when Dr. Light attacked, remember?"
Cisco quickly understood it was the excuse she had used to get Barry to go after Dr. Light and hurried to make it work. "Oh, right! Um, I didn't get anything-" he looked at the confused Barry, "-but I think I can get the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to scan for any irregular solar radiation emissions to find Doctor Light's light."
That seemed to pacify Barry's confusion, but not Harry's suspicions.
"Okay, I'm gonna also call Joe, see if CCPD has any leads. Why don't we keep them apart until I get back?" Barry gestured to the two E-2 men behind them.
"I am sure that won't be a problem," Caitlin mumbled.
"I gotta go finish packing," Belén sighed, thinking it was best to finally get that out of the way. It didn't look like she would be of much help anyways. "Think you can handle those two?" she asked Caitlin.
"Oh, I think I can," the brunette nodded with much certainty.
"Think you can give me a lift, then?" Belén looked to Barry with a sheepish smile.
"C'mon," he reached for her hand to lead her out. She giggled as he waved goodbye to the others.
"Are you helping me today?" she asked once he had brought her back to her place.
"Not right now, I have to finish some work," he regretted to say. He would much rather spend some time with her - which hadn't been as easy to do lately - than go to work. "But I promise you I will make some time to help you."
"Good," Belén wagged a finger at him. "Because I'm having furniture being moved to my apartment and I could really use an opinion of where it should go."
"Oh, so you don't want me to move it?"
"Mm...don't take offence, but...I don't think you could handle it."
"Oh," Barry made a face. "Well then…"
"That sounded mean," Belén closed her eyes.
"No, no...I mean, first of all you say that I can't be 'dangerous-"
"Are we really going to do that again?"
"I'm just repeating what you're saying-"
"Barry, c'mon!"
"No, no," Barry moved around her, feigning utter offence. "I guess I'll just go to my job...be a nerd, whatever…"
Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "Are we really-"
"It's fine," Barry repeated with a dramatic sigh afterwards.
"Barry? Can we not-"
"I'll see you later, Bells," he waved goodbye and sped off.
Belén couldn't help but laugh. "What a dork," she said to herself and turned to go into the house behind.
~ 0 ~
The next day, Dr. Light made a promptly appearance in the city again. This time, she was hitting the richer parts of a bank: a prime vault. Barry was alerted and hurried to catch her. Dr. Light was not surprised to find the Flash there again.
"I know Zoom sent you here to kill me," Barry stepped towards her but eyed her glowing hands. "Good news, you don't have to do that."
Dr. Light gave a tight smile. "Not if I can get out of town with the cash."
"And then what? Zoom's not gonna like that you ditched him, right? My friends and I can help you."
"Nobody can protect me from Zoom!" Dr. Light's voice suddenly shook. "He gets what he wants, and what he wants is you dead."
"I've heard," Barry nodded.
"And if I don't kill you, he'll kill me or have my powers siphoned. I'm not looking for either to happen." Dr. Light's hands glowed even more powerfully, forcing Barry to close his eyes for a moment.
"All right, why don't we take it down a lumen, have a normal conversation, all right? We're aware of the problems...but we can help. Please?"
Light sighed, but taking a chance she did as told. She made her helmet's visor rise to reveal her true identity…
"Linda? Linda Park?" Barry said without realizing.
Earth 2's version of Linda seemed even more scared than before. "How do you know my name?"
"I don't understand…"
"This was a mistake." Linda lowered her visor and used her powers, a blinding light that brought Barry to his knees, to make her escape.
"Barry, what's happening?" Cisco's voice rang through Barry's earpod after a deadly silence.
Barry opened his eyes to see nothing but blurriness. "I can't see. Guys, I can't see!"
~ 0 ~
Caitlin flashed a red light across Barry's eyes to give him a final conclusion of his sight.
"I still can't see," Barry impatiently waited for his quick healing powers to kick in. All he saw was fuzziness. "How long is this gonna last?"
Caitlin retracted the light and sighed. "You're suffering from solar retinopathy. Your retinas are severely damaged. You're lucky you're not permanently blind."
"But with your rapid regeneration abilities, your sight should return soon," Jay threw in to keep the metahuman calm.
"6.25 hours by my estimation," Harry clarified. Jay glared but this time said nothing. "All this could have been avoided if you just stopped Light instead of chitchatting with her."
"She caught Barry off guard," Jay argued but it wasn't enough.
"Always an excuse with you, right? He's the fastest man alive. How could she possibly do that?"
"Because Light looks exactly like my friend, Linda Park," Barry revealed, freezing both Caitlin and Cisco with the news.
"That's why Zoom sent her... because he knew you'd hesitate," Harry was quick to point out.
"That means Zoom had to have known somehow that Linda was your friend," Cisco got to thinking. It meant Zoom knew a lot more about them than they thought.
"Which is why Barry has to act now, before Zoom sends another double from Barry's life," Harry added. He wondered how easy it would be for either Zoom or Datura to defeat their doppelgangers is this was how they reacted to meeting someone they knew.
"All right, right now, I'm more worried about Linda," Barry said before anyone else could add something more. "When I saw who was under the mask, I said her name. What if Light didn't even realize that she had a doppelganger here until I accidentally told her?"
"The first thing that Atom Smasher did when he crossed the breach was to kill his doppelganger," Cisco remembered.
"Yeah, but Light's not like Atom Smasher," Jay insisted.
"We should keep an eye on your Linda," Harry advised.
"All right, I'll go," Barry got up fast and bumped into Caitlin who was returning.
"Oh!" the brunette woman stumbled back.
"Sorry," Barry apologized and somehow turned to leave the side room. In his attempt, he crashed into the threshold.
"Barry!" Jay hurried to help him out before he truly hurt himself again. "Okay, okay. You can't do anything until your sight returns." He brought Barry towards the desk. "C'mon, here's the little rail here." Barry was unhappy as his hands were forced to hold the rail of the desk. "I'll do it."
"I'll go with you!" Caitlin volunteered and followed after him.
At the same time, Iris rushed in. "Hey, Barry! I came as soon as I heard…" she made it only two steps in when she saw Harry. "You look just like him!"
Harry had become accustomed to these sorts of greetings and merely asked from Cisco beside, "I'm guessing my counterpart did something to offend her as well?"
"Her fiancé died because of him."
"Oh," Harry made a face but clearly was not at all interested in hearing more. He walked away without another word.
"Iris, I know it's weird seeing him…" Barry began to speak, hoping to talk her out of any concerns she was having.
"Yeah, it's just a lot to process lately. Wells, my mother..."
"How are you doing with that, by the way?"
"I mean, now that she's gone, okay," Iris answered honestly. She was thankful that Belén had urged her to research on her mother because of she hadn't then Iris would've never figured out what Francine was hiding.
"Yeah, Iris, um, look. You know you can talk to me about it-"
"Yeah, I know, but really, I'm fine, okay? I should be asking how you're doing."
"I'm gonna get out there now," Belén walked in seeming mighty upset.
"Uh oh, that's her mad voice," Iris chuckled.
"I don't know who this breacher thinks she is-"
"Linda Park, actually," Barry answered for her, cutting her off.
"What?" she blinked. She walked over to him and Iris, settling a hand on his arm to let him know where she was.
"Dr. Light turned out to be Linda's doppleganger. It's why she caught me off guard."
"It's gonna make it a lot more difficult to punch her…" Belén murmured.
"Bells, I'm fine, just...a little in the dark-"
"That's not funny," went both Belén and Iris.
Belén heard her phone ring once and dug inside her purse to see who it was. "Oh," she said once she opened the text from her mother.
"What's wrong?" Barry asked, detecting her suddenly change demeanor.
"It's just…" Belén felt bad reminding him, "...we were supposed to have dinner with my Mom today, remember?"
"Oh my God," Barry closed his eyes. Of course he remembered now. This really would happen today of all days.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna tell her it's not happening today-"
Barry re-opened his eyes and wildly gestured her not to. "Don't!"
"Barry, you can't see!"
"Hey, your Mom is big on first impressions and I already ruined mine six months ago. I'm not doing it again."
"You can't see, it's gonna be difficult for you and-"
"-I'll make it work," Barry insisted. "I have to."
"Why put yourself through that?" Belén made a face of confusion.
"Because I lo-" Barry had abruptly stopped when he realized what he was going to say, and how it had nearly been an instinct to say it. When did that happen? Barry wasn't sure how to answer that.
Behind him, Iris held her laugh so well she was proud of herself. She was an inch away from teasing him because she knew exactly what he'd nearly said.
"Barry? You what?" Belén still waited to finish his sentence. She, on the other hand, had too much to think about to even suspect what just happened. All she was thinking about now was the fact Barry would have to suck it up for her mother's sake, or she would have the pleasure of telling her mother they wouldn't be able to make it to dinner. Either way was a lose for her.
Barry knew that this precise moment was not the one he wanted to say what he almost did. It needed to be better. He searched for Belén, and when she saw she reached to give him her hands. "We can make it work, I'll just need your help."
"What can I do?" Belén asked, ready to help if he truly wanted to go through with it. A part of her made her feel special that he was going to go through the trouble just for her.
~0~
Veronica Green was already waiting for her daughter and Barry when the two metahumans walked into the restaurant. Belén spotted her mother the moment the two entered the place and described to Barry how the place was set up. She was walking him with linked arms so he wouldn't fall or bump into anyone. Just to hide his eyes, he wore a pair of sunglasses he hoped would come out as casual.
"Okay, the table's set beside a glass window. It's sunset, and my Mom is sitting across," Belén explained with as much detail as she could. "She could be mad but that's just her face in general." Barry chuckled. "I'm serious."
"Relax," Barry rubbed his hand over hers. "I'm not messing it up, I promise."
"I'm actually not that worried over you," Belén admitted as she saw her mother already eyeing the menu with a bit of distaste. "My Mom's difficult, and...and she makes things difficult."
"I think you're more nervous than I am, Bells," Barry said, not needing to see to know that one. Belén's laughter carried with them until they reached their table.
"You're late," was the first thing Veronica said to them both.
"There was traffic," Belén excused themselves. "Are you going to get mad about that?" In the meanwhile, she discreetly moved Barry's hand for him to feel the chair that was meant to be his. With any luck, he wouldn't fall while sitting down.
Veronica knew that was a test to see how truly committed she was to making this dinner work. Before she said something badly, she pushed herself to change the direction. "Well, I do like the choice of restaurant," she mused as she looked around the quiet, calm place.
"Barry actually chose it," Belén gave him a little nudge.
"Yeah, no, um, Joe took Iris and us here for our graduations," he began to explain, really hoping he was looking in the right direction. Seeing as Belén hadn't yet moved him he thought he was doing good so far. "I thought it would be a good choice seeing as how you don't like loud areas."
Veronica's face was an indescribable one. Belén thought there was a twitch of gratitude or...offence? She couldn't understand why it would be the latter considering it was one of the things her mother always argued with them when they were younger - it was always too loud.
"Very right," Veronica finally said something. "It's one of my pet peeves. The only place I can ever get used to it is at work."
"Definitely," Belén said without thinking. Barry smiled but Veronica gave her a scolding look. "What?" Belén asked when she noticed her mother's look. "Is that not true? You just said it was."
"Bells," Barry hoped to find her hand on the table. Belén moved her hand and latched onto it like her life depended on it.
Veronica eyed the movement in silence.
"Ms. Greene, I heard you're officially transferring this Monday?" Barry asked afterwards, hoping to steer any negative attention from Belén at least for a moment. "Have you had a partner assigned?"
"Not yet," Veronica shook her head. "See, there's no one in need of one but Miss Spivot did mention she was only here temporarily so, with time, I will probably become Detective West's partner."
"Patty's only here for a while?" Belén repeated, both she and Barry taking the news with surprise.
"She didn't say anything to me," Barry shrugged. "Course I haven't exactly seen her lately, so..."
"I would imagine with your unexpected leaves and tardiness that could happen," Veronica surprised them even more with that remark.
It certainly took Barry a few seconds to process. "What?"
Veronica sighed, but Belén swore her mother didn't look sorry about anything. "I've only been at the station for 3 days and I already know who's really there for work."
"Mom," Belén frowned at that.
"I am there for work," Barry calmly clarified. "I love my work, actually. I wouldn't be there if I didn't."
"Then why do so many people comment on these unexpected departures?" Veronica challenged. "Tardiness? Someone who cared about their job would be there on time."
Barry knew this was one of the things where he could argue the hell out of it and only get Veronica to hate him even more. He had to correct her, but he couldn't do it in a rude manner. And that bugged him. "Ms. Green, I have worked all my life to be where I am now. Believe me when i say that there is nobody more passionate about their job than me."
"Is that so-"
"Yes. I do it for my mother, for my father. So that their story does not happen to someone else."
Veronica blinked, taken aback by Barry's sudden attitude change. Belén nervously looked from one another, her hand still in Barry's was giving another tight grip.
With a sigh, Barry started again but with that calmness he told himself he needed from the beginning. "I don't know if you know my story-"
"Oh," Veronica cut him off with a sharp look, and one that Belén was thankful Barry couldn't see, "I know."
"Then you know that I was practically left an orphan. I knew the truth and no one believed me because there was no evidence that I could show. So I decided that when I grew up I was going to be that person that couldgive that evidence for other people. For my case, for another person's case." Barry now knew there was no way in hell he could ever be calm about this. It was something he felt for, and he would not let anyone belittle it.
Veronica seemed to accept this response but wasn't very happy about it either as she brought up her own story. "Same way my daughter was locked up, then?"
Belén shook her head. She could not believe her mother was bringing that up. "Mom-"
"Maritza was guilty and she accepted it," Barry ended up saying first. "There was evidence against her and she knew it. She turned herself in, Ms. Green. I did my job and I'm sorry for how she ended up but at least she came back to the good side. And you know what? Last time I heard, you don't even visit your daughter in jail. On what grounds do you have to be upset about her sentencing when you didn't even show up to her sentencing hearing?"
Too far, Barry. He regretted the words he said but at the same time he felt like he had a point. Veronica never went to Maritza's sentencing hearing and yet now she was claiming to be upset over the situation? That was just plain fake.
"How dare you talk to me like that?" Veronica deeply scowled, looking indignant she was being spoken to as if she were a child.
"Mom!" Belén exclaimed. This was not going well and she dreaded how it would end.
"I knew this was a mistake," Veronica shook her head, bitterly laughing.
"I'm sorry," Barry apologized. He didn't have to see to know how upset they were making Belén. "I just don't understand what your problems with me are."
"You broke up with my daughter in such an awful way and you ask me that?"
"I will regret that forever, alright?" Barry practically swore. "I made the mistake and I paid for it, believe me."
"And I forgave you," Belén said to him, putting her other hand over their clasped ones. "That's done."
"But I shouldn't have done it," he insisted. "In that, Ms. Green, you are completely right to hate me. I hate me for that. But I think we both know there's something else you don't like about me. We're trained enough to see clues."
Veronica pursed her lips together, deciding if they were really going to go out there then she should just admit it all. Besides, how much angrier could Belén get? "Fine, there is. It's you," she pointed at Barry, not that he saw it. "And your family. Do you know why I knew you before I even met you? Your family's story is known by every cop in this city. Every precinct knows it - anyone with internet knows it. Your father was accused of murdering your mother-"
"That wasn't true!" It was Belén who had snapped this time, and loudly too.
"It doesn't matter," Veronica said louder, eyes on Barry who would never know. "Your branded. For the rest of your life everyone will know, and if they don't then they eventually will. That is not what I want for my daughter."
Belén was staring at her mother incredulously. She had lost it - Belén was sure of that. "That is completely unfair."
"You're right, it is," Veronica acknowledged. "But it's the truth. Neither can understand what it's like until you have kids of your own. You want the absolute best for them."
"That's a lot of talk for someone who missed a good part of my life," snapped Belén.
"I know that, Belén," Veronica still agreed calmly. "I'm not the best mother and even now I know that your anger is just me breaking your heart again. But believe me when I say that when you become a mother, you're going to understand my desire to make sure you'll be okay in the future. You'll want them to be with someone who is good for them."
Barry had to swallow down another round of snaps in order to get his point across. "I...can understand that," he said slowly. It definitely made Veronica pause for a minute because she was expecting him to snap like Belén.
"No, you don't have to," Belén told him and glared at her mother. "She's being unreasonable and plain crazy. This dinner was just a mistake."
"No, I get it Bells. I do," Barry sighed. "When I moved in with Joe and Iris, Iris started to get teased because she was the friend to the kid whose dad murdered his mom. It's true. That part of me will always follow me."
"Then you see my dilemma with you," Veronica could admit it was surprising that he was agreeing with her.
"I can," Barry nodded, "But I can't accept that. I won't." He straightened up in his chair and leaned forwards. "Because the fact is, I intend to be with your daughter for a very long time, until she tells me we're done. And if I'm lucky, that won't ever happen. I'm hoping it never happens because I love your daughter-"
"-what?" Belén's voice had turned frail while her heart nearly stopped.
Inwardly, Barry wanted to smack himself. This was also not the moment he would've liked to say that but it happened and now he had to move forwards. His hand found Belén's again and he hoped to God he was shifting the right way to at least seem like he was looking at her. "I love you, I do. And I'm so sorry it came out like this, at this moment, but it's out there and I want you to know that I really mean it."
Belén was beginning to smile so widely it was threatening to crack her face. "Don't be sorry. I feel the same way."
"Which is why Ms. Green-" Barry redirected his words to the absolutely stunned Veronica, "-we have to make it work too. I'm not planning on leaving and I really hope that you aren't either because Belén deserves to have her mother around. Question is, do you want to?"
Veronica's familiar eyes flickered from him to Belén. She shook her head and planted her hands on the table to get up. "I think I need to go."
Being completely honest, her answer shocked Barry. He was assuming she would give in for the sake of Belén but apparently...Veronica wasn't the woman he thought she was.
Belén, on her part, was stunned but after a few seconds she came to accept that this was her mother. "Of course," she bit her lip to prevent a bitter laugh from coming through. "Because why would you accept the man that makes your daughter happy, right?" So the bitterness didn't come through but the sourness was all there.
"Belén," Veronica sighed. "If you were on my side of the situation, you'd see what I'm talking about-"
"-I don't think you can say that," Belén shook her head. "Because if it was my daughter, I'd like to do anything to make sure she's happy. Guess when I do become a mother, I won't get my skills from you."
Veronica gave a downhearted stare at her daughter. "I'm sorry, Belén."
"Mhm, sure," Belén said dismissively, her gaze lowering to the table. She was grateful Barry couldn't see right now because it meant her shiny tears would be a secret. "Just leave like you always do."
Veronica sighed again but went on her way. I did it again.
Barry didn't have to see to know how Belén was doing. "Bells," he shifted on his chair and tried to find her hand. He didn't have to do much searching because she latched onto his hand and cried quietly.
~ 0 ~
Nina Clarke walked down the street of CC Picture News with purpose. She hadn't gotten a call from STAR Labs for her assistance in a long, long time so she concluded this must have been important. As she made the turn, she spotted the STAR Labs van parked on the street across from CC Pictures.
"Caitlin? What am I doing here?" she stopped by the driver's seat to find the brunette woman along with Jay - someone she hadn't yet met - sitting inside.
Caitlin sheepishly smiled. "We need a favor."
"Mhm," Nina's eyes squinted a bit. "Last time one of you asked me for a favor I ended up babysitting the entire city just so that Belén and Barry could go on their first date. Please tell me I'm not playing babysitter to the city again?"
"I promise that's not the case this time," Caitlin offered a good smile, but then Jay chimed in.
"They're having dinner with Belén's mother."
"Caitlin!" Nina exclaimed.
"I'm sorry!" Caitlin sighed and looked between Nina and Jay, realizing they hadn't yet met each other. "Jay, this is our friend, Nina, and she's a metahuman."
"Hey," Nina reached an arm over the window to hit Caitlin on the arm. "I thought the first thing about being a metahuman is that we don't tell strangers that."
"He's not a stranger," Caitlin promised. "He's the Flash from another world. And he's helping us stop Zoom."
"'Trying' being the operative word," Jay finally made an input. He leaned forwards to shake hands with the woman.
Nina shook his hand and examined him. "You're actually another speedster?"
"Was, but...still technically, yeah…"
"That made no sense," Nina said, retracting her hand over the window. Her eyes flickered over to Caitlin. "What exactly do you want me for?"
"We're having problems with breachers-"
"Back up there, I'm a Doctor not a scientist. What's a breacher?"
"It's what we're calling people that cross over from my world to yours," Jay explained. "Zoom is sending them here to try and kill Barry."
"Okay," Nina nodded her head to indicate she was understanding.
"One of the breachers turns out to be Linda's doppleganger and we're afraid that because this doppleganger knows there's a possibility that our Linda exists...she may come here for Linda," Caitlin apologized soon after for making that sound a lot more confusing than how it actually was.
"K, I got the jist of the problem. The Tempest will be on standby," Nina gave a mock salute then moved on.
~ 0 ~
"Two more steps, I'll try not to let you trip," Belén teasingly warned Barry as they walked down the remainder of the stairs outside the restaurant.
"Because that's what I want to hear when I can't see," Barry said pretty straight forwards. They walked in silence for a few minutes to - Barry assumed - was Belén's car parked on the street. "Bells..."
"It's okay, Barry," she sighed. "You don't have to say anything. I'm just sorry you wasted your time and that I put you up to this. I know that my mother said some awful things to you and I am SO so sorry for that."
"That's not your fault," Barry placed a hand on her arm, forcing her to stop walking.
"I want you to know, to understand, that nothing of what she said is true for me. I don't...I would never think any of that."
"I know you don't," a small laugh slipped through Barry's lips. He was amused that she had to clarify this for him. He moved his hand up to her shoulder and trailed his fingers till he felt her face. Now knowing more or less where she was, he rested his other hand on her face as well. "But I do understand where she's coming from. I've seen firsthand what it does to people around me."
"But that was when you were children. That's what kids do - they pick on each other. But now, as adults, no one would ever think that"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"I don't...I don't want to talk about it," Belén briefly looked to the side, willing herself to keep it together. "My mom made her choice and I have to accept that. I made my choice as well and that's you, completely you."
It was really involuntary when Barry smiled. It just came to him, along with the feelings inside him. "You sure that's what you want, though? Despite everything, Veronica's your mother."
"Yeah, but that didn't matter to her so why should it matter to me?" shrugged Belén. She leaned into his hands cradling her face, relishing in his touch. "Plus, how could I leave you when you said all those pretty words to me back at the restaurant?"
Barry smiled sheepishly and felt his face warm up. He cleared his throat. "You're not upset it came out in the wrong moment?"
"Wrong moment?" Belén repeated incredulously. "I think it came out when I most needed it."
Barry let her words sink in before blurting, "I love you, Belén."
Belén's smile widened at the words - at the feeling he put into his words. "Say it again," she said suddenly. "Just...just say it again, please."
Barry wasn't one to displease her, and with a small laugh, he repeated his words. "I love you."
Belén hummed with her eyes closed. "It's like music to my ears."
"Well, you know, you haven't exactly said it back and I'm trying to be that guy that's okay with it, buuuut…"
Belén laughed and decided to get sly with him. "Mm, I think I'll just hang onto those words for now."
The quick fear in Barry's face was one that Belén just had to laugh at again. "You can't do that!" he frowned. "It's...against the rules!"
"What rules?" asked Belén in the middle of her laugh.
"The unofficial rules!"
Belén just laughed again. Using his hands on her face, Barry coordinated himself and kissed her. Albeit a little crooked, Belén readjusted themselves and kissed back. She knew it was his "persuasion" method and who was she to stop him? She would just let him kiss her, for no other reason of course, until he got tired.
"Very good points," she said breathlessly afterwards, her hands gripping his shoulders. "But I'm gonna need a bit more to decide."
"Oh," Barry would never get used to her directiveness sometimes. He blinked faster when the blurriness started to clear. The more he blinked the more of his surroundings he could see.
"Barry?" Belén had been watching in a mixture of amusement and concern.
But Barry could see her perfectly now and he was taking in her appearance like he should have done before. "Bells, you look amazing," he finally said after a good two minutes of staring.
Blushing, Belén laughed and looked down at her burgundy dress. "Thank you. Burgundy is my favorite color. And people always do say this is my color.
"Mm, I think that color should thank you for wearing it," Barry found himself saying before he could think fully. Apparently, it was alright as Belén ended up laughing even more.
"Oh my, so apart from my singing-scientist, you also turned out to be very smooth," she playfully hit him on the chest.
"Yeah, not my best," he admitted after rethinking what he had said.
With a small giggle, Belén draped her arms over his shoulders. "It's okay. You're smooth...but not that smooth to get the words out of me."
"Oh really?"
Belén giggled and kissed him again. Barry lowered his arms to her waist and pulled her closer. Now that he was able to see her he felt another rush of...love? Was that it? He had no idea honestly but he did know that he wanted to kiss her for as long as he could.
Towards the end, as they slowed it down, Belén finished it with a series of small kisses that left her dazed as well. "I love you, Barry," the words tumbled out of her mouth in a soft tone.
There was inexplicable feeling that Barry had but he knew it was something beyond happiness. "It is music to my ears," he remembered Belén's words and shared a small laugh with her.
~ 0 ~
Nina had been standing guard over the rooftop of a building parallel to CCPN and had watched Dr. Light tip over the STAR Labs van with Caitlin and Jay. After checking to see if the two were okay, she put on the cream-colored mask Caitlin had given her and flew into the building.
Dr. Light had gotten everyone out of the building except Iris, Linda and the editor Larkin. "I need to become you, Linda," the doppleganger held her hands on either side of her, glowing with waiting power.
"Not on my watch!" Nina flew in and blasted Dr. Light over to one of the glass offices, shattering the glass wall. "Out! Get out!" she then ordered to the other humans.
Iris didn't think twice and pulled Linda and Larkin towards the doors.
As Dr. Light was getting up from her major blow, Nina flew into the office and grabbed the woman by the coat's collars. "You've been causing problems, I hear."
"None of your concern!" Dr. Light pushed Nina away with some of her light.
Nina shut her eyes to shield them from the bright light but it didn't stop her from attacking back. She thrust a hand forwards and kept Dr. Light against a threshold. "You attack my friends, so that makes it my business!"
And to show she meant business truly, she thrust a hand to the side and pulled the helmet right off her. For a moment Nina was amazed how exactly E-2 Linda looked like their known Linda. But that didn't stop her from delivering the final blow that knocked Dr. Light out...like a light.
~0~
After being informed of what happened during their absence, Belén and Barry rushed back to STAR Labs. It was much easier now that Barry wasn't blind. Caitlin was in the middle of putting stitches on Jay's forehead in the cortex while the rest watched.
"Caitlin, are you guys okay?" Barry asked as soon as they made it in.
"Yeah," Caitlin smiled and briefly gestured to her okay appearance then got back to finishing the stitches.
"Barry, I'm sorry. Doctor Light's never attempted to kill before," Jay apologized profusely.
Nina stood with arms crossed and a put out face. "Yeah, there was no reasoning with a psychopath. I've got the bruises to prove it."
"Nina," Belén moved over to her. "Thank you for helping us. We know you're not exactly on board with the whole…"
Nina smiled and waved it off. "Dr. Light is safe in the pipeline. Whenever you need backup, you know I'll be there."
"With Zoom around we may have to take you up on that," Barry warned, but the woman simply nodded to reaffirm her words.
"I don't get it though," she spoke up again, "Why was this Earth 2 Linda trying to kill our Earth's Linda? Aren't dopplegangers meant to like each other or something?"
"Have you ever watched a movie?" Cisco raised an honest eyebrow at her. Nina just sarcastically rolled her eyes.
"She probably thought she could take our Linda's place here," Caitlin theorized, "And escape from Zoom."
"He's that bad?" Nina asked.
"Yes," answered every last one of them in the room.
"Then why did you think letting this woman, who was clearly so terrified of this 'Zoom' roam around was such a good idea?"
"Finally someone with the right brains," Harry made a gesture towards Nina. "It wasn't. It was stupid, and you know what else was stupid?" he turned to face Jay. "Thinking we could reason with her. She was under Zoom's influence and no doubt under the threat of being siphoned."
"He's got you there," Nina mumbled and promptly received a jab on the side from Belén. Well, she still thought the same.
"This whole thing is because of you," Harry continued, apparently more fueled up than earlier. "He-" he pointed at Barry who blinked at being put on the spot like that, "-doubts himself because of you, but believe me, Barry can do what you could not. Barry can stop Zoom."
Jay stood up from his seat to argue back. "I spent two years hunting Zoom-"
"WRONG!" Harry practically shouted. "Zoom hunted you! You spent the last two years of your life running, running, running from Zoom."
"Zoom would have killed me just like he will kill Barry if you lead him down this path!"
"No, because he is not like you," Harry stepped towards him. "Barry runs towards danger, not from it, because Barry's not a coward."
Jay couldn't hold himself back anymore and threw a hard punch at Harry. The latter fell over the back of the desk but didn't take a moment to check himself when he delivered a punch himself. They started to go back and forth without anyone's intervention. Belén looked at the others in concern but no one dared to do anything. In fact, she could even swear Barry had just given her a "let it be" look. As if it was best to get it out of the system already.
She politely, but very, disagreed.
"Stop it!" she shouted and made a gesture - or so she had intended to - at them only to throw bands of green that latched onto the men's hands, forcing them to stop. With wide eyes , she looked at her hand. "Sorry..."
"Seriously?" Harry peeled off the material forcing his hands together but it wasn't until Belén commanded it that he got free. He had yet to see her showcase any powers since he arrived so this was genuinely startling.
"You two-" she pointed at Harry and Jay, "-need to get it together. You are not five year olds. Hell, my nephew doesn't pull this sort of stuff."
"This is a bit more complicated than a four year old, Belén," Jay said.
"Okay," Barry cut in before they got into argument as well. "Dr. Light is in the pipeline and she didn't hurt anyone. The question now is what do we do?"
"We do what Dr. Wells said," Jay surprised them. "We use her to lure Zoom here, end this once and for all."
"You can't be serious," Cisco made a face at the awful plan. Even Nina was getting upset that her trouble of putting Light in the pipeline was about to be undone.
"More breachers are gonna come. Innocent people may die," Jay continued. "We got lucky once. I doubt it'll happen again. Zoom is a nightmare you can't wake up from."
"I've already had my worst nightmare," Barry said quietly. "His name was Reverse Flash, and I spent a long time being afraid of him. I'm not gonna be afraid anymore."
Jay nodded. "Okay, Barry. You may be faster than me, but you're not ready to fight Zoom by yourself."
"That's just it, Jay. I'm not gonna fight him by myself. I've got all of you to help me. I've got Dr. Wells-"
"No, I can't in good conscience help you when I know it'll only lead to you losing your speed, or even worse, your death," Jay shook his head.
"Is optimism an Earth-1 thing?" Belén whispered to the others behind.
"And you all need to ask yourself why Dr. Wells, for years, wouldn't admit that he was responsible for the Particle Accelerator exploding underground," Jay was on a rampage of words and there was no stopping him. "He may not be Harrison Wells from your Earth, but he has just as many secrets as the one you knew."
Caitlin was appalled to see he was actually leaving. "Jay, please don't go."
"I'm so sorry, Caitlin," Jay apologized and then left them.
"I am not here for all this drama," Nina declared with raised hands as she, too, walked out.
Everyone else sighed as they contemplated how they would get Jay to come back.
~0~
The next day, Cisco had gotten to work on a new way to get all the breeches closed in the city once and for all. It was rather quiet in STAR Labs since Jay hadn't appeared and Harry barely made a noise wherever he was.
"Cisco?" Belén poked her head inside the man's workroom.
"Bells, hey," Cisco looked up from his computer to see the woman coming in.
"Are you working already?" Belén walked up to his seat and looked at the computer filled with numerous charts and whatnot. "It's only ten in the morning."
"Yeah, well, someone's got to close those breeches," Cisco gave a shrug. "So did you come here to ask about breeches, or…?"
"You got me," Belén raised her hands and offered an apologetic smile. "With all this stuff about powers and fighting, I was just wondering what you were thinking of doing with yours?" Cisco got serious and turned to his computer to 'work' again. Belén looked down at him, expecting him to at least comment but he never said anything. "Cisco, I really don't mean to push but I think we should talk about this. You need to express these powers-"
"I would really rather not, actually," Cisco glanced up at her.
"Cisco, think about it," Belén began to pace back and forth, "You have these cool powers that let you see visions! I would kill for some powers like that."
"You want them? Have them."
Belén stopped to look at him sarcastically. "Very funny. You can do so many things with these powers and you're choosing to ignore them. We both know that can't last forever."
"Not forever persay, but...for a while...yeah," Cisco nodded his head.
"You have powers, and I really believe you should at least tap into them to see what you can do."
"You have powers?" they both heard Barry's voice from behind.
"Crap," flew out from Belén's mouth. She apologetically smiled at Cisco who was now mockingly glaring at her.
Barry was in shock as he reviewed Belén's words he'd overheard. "Cisco?" he stepped further inside.
"Bells, next time, we're going to not talk about secrets in the place where our friends are," Cisco pointed at her as he got up from his chair. "I mean, on a technical scale, I do have powers, but…" he trailed off and Barry just stood there and waited for him to give an explanation.
Belén's eyes flickered from the two friends nervously. "Um, maybe I should explain…?"
Barry looked at her with a bit of a frown. "You knew about this?"
"Mhm," she nodded. "I mean, you can't be mad, remember? It wasn't my story to tell?" she knew those words rang a bell in his head.
"Fair enough," Barry sighed. "Cisco...what's going on? Why didn't you tell us?"
"Yeah, I was gonna tell you, I swear I was, but I didn't. I was just... I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"Dr. Wells said the dark matter gave me this, this gift. He said that one day I'd thank him for it. What if I become like him?"
"Cisco," Belén turned to him, speaking softly as she had never heard that reasoning for his lack of usage of powers. "You can never become like Dr. Wells. It's his mistake, actually. Because you could never use those powers for evil."
"Yeah...maybe you're right," Cisco acknowledged with a nod of his head. He then looked at Barry who was agreeing, so far, with Belén. "And dude, don't be mad at her. I asked her not to say."
"I get that," Barry recalled his own requests of who to keep his powers a secret from. "So…how do your abilities work…?" he asked curiously.
"They're actually really cool," Belén giddly said as she moved to him. "Tell him, Cisco."
Cisco playfully rolled his eyes. "Uh, I get these feelings sometimes, these vibes, visions of the breachers when they come to this Earth. I just... I'm not sure what triggers it. Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes it's when I'm touching something of theirs."
"Told you," Belén chuckled. "He gets visions!"
"Interesting," Barry truly remarked. "That can come in handy, actually. But you know we'll have to tell Caitlin and the others if you want to help."
"Yeah," Cisco nodded. "Oh boy, that should be fun."
"You can think about a way while we get breakfast," Barry motioned they would be leaving. "Cait's waiting."
Although Caitlin wasn't in the best of moods, she accompanied her friends for a good meal. Belén had stayed with her again at her apartment knowing Caitlin would need some support if they truly couldn't get Jay to come back.
"You never know-" Belén tried being optimistic for her, "-Jay could be back. He just needs to cool down."
"Yeah, I just... I was getting used to Jay being part of the team...and now he's...gone?" Caitlin knew it sounded ridiculous she was this upset over a man she just met. She was glad that her friends weren't poking fun at her.
"Well, look, Jay is a hero. They always seem to show up just when you need 'em," Barry tried his hand at comfort as well.
But before Caitlin could do anything, Cisco arrived and slammed a piece of paper down on the table. "Yo, peep that."
"What?" Caitlin made a face while Barry raised the paper to reveal a phone number.
"You got her number?" he mused.
"That's how it's done, young Padawan," Cisco musingly retorted.
"I'm sorry, were you trying to get lessons to ask some girls out?" Belén sarcastically then asked from Barry.
"Uh…" Barry didn't know how to respond but his hand instinctively put down the paper with the number.
"Because, I can go if you'd like to have more lessons with Cisco."
"I-I was trying to cheer him up…" Barry was barely coming up with his explanation but Belén was having too much fun to give up then.
"Hm, and your idea was to ask for phone numbers?" she arched an eyebrow. "Did you get someone else's, then?"
"You're not being funny again-"
Belén burst into a laugh. "I'm sorry, it's just hilarious seeing you get all nervous and flustered. It'll never get old."
Barry's face was flat with unamusement, but it didn't matter for Belén. "Oh, well, as long I entertain you…"
"Oh, you know I love you," Belén said, still giggling. As she leaned in to kiss him, they missed the looks of their friends.
"Hold up-" Cisco barely got to say when Belén took interest in the owner of the phone number.
"So who's this lady, Cisco? I have to approve first."
"Oh, oh, you have to approve now?" Cisco made a face. "When did we settle on that?"
"Well, I can't have you kissing another Lisa Snart. C'mon, tell us who she is," Belén made a gesture with her hand. With a roll of his eyes, Cisco indicated it was the young barista behind the counter.
"Hm," went both Caitlin and Belén after seeing the woman themselves.
"Definitely not evil," Belén nodded her head. "I can't wait to meet her, Cisco."
"You're gonna embarrass me, aren't you?" Cisco asked in plain horror.
"You owe us," it was Barry who responded which elicited a betrayed look from Cisco. Barry just smirked and wondered how, oh how, he could help Belén embarrass their friend when it came time to meet the girl.
~ 0 ~
Earth 2, Central City.
A corpse of a woman with white hair pitch black eyes fell to the ground. A dark, scarlet red, heeled boot stepped over the corpse's stomach just to make sure the corpse was actually...a corpse. The sound of electricity crackled in the air from two different bodies: the corpse...and the new owner of said powers.
"Seriously?" Poison Ivy's irritated voice cut Datura's smile short.
The brunette metahuman turned sideways, allowing her primp curls to cascade over her side. "What? I needed to let the city's metahumans know I'm still here." She raised both her hands that now enjoyed the sparkle of electricity. "And Livewire was one of those metahumans who thought I was gone. Couldn't have that."
Poison Ivy spared Livewire's corpse a brief glance. The police would have a fun one with that when they discovered the corpse in the alley. "You're going to get caught by the police. You're not exactly sane all the time, remember?"
Just as she said that, Datura's eyes flashed with the same blackness of Livewire's eyes. "Makes me more interesting, doesn't it?" her voice overlapped with Livewire's, as if the latter was actually there and not dead.
Poison Ivy, however, did not seemed startled in the least. She seemed to be thinking of something else, it appeared, and her conclusion came fast. "You want to be caught by the cops, don't you?"
The blackness in Datura's eyes disappeared, leaving the metahuman blinking fast for a few seconds. "The hell are you talking about?" she asked in a harsh manner and moved to leave, but Poison Ivy grabbed her by the arm.
"You want to be caught by the cops," Poison Ivy repeated her accusation. "Or you at least want to be in danger of getting caught. You trying to see someone there?"
Datura only briefly smirked. "Oh give it a rest, Ivy. I'm just doing what I do best: siphoning. Is it my fault the cops are actually getting a clue in what they're doing? Just means the game is gonna get more interesting now. And speaking of 'game', I'm up for a visit to our neighboring world," she nodded to the side as if Earth 1 was really right next to them.
"You can't," Poison Ivy warned. "You don't know anything about her yet-"
"-doesn't mean I can't kick her ass, though."
"True, but it doesn't mean we have to be careless."
"I'm not being careless," Datura raised her gloved hands in defence. "If anything, I want to see what she can do. I want to see her fighting style. In conclusion, I want to see what the Azalea can do. It's the only way I'll know if she...works for my plan."
On that, Poison Ivy could not disagree. "It would be nice to know what we're dealing with. And, it could be smart to learn more about her firsthand."
Datura's red lips stretched into a smirk. "I knew you'd see it my way, Ivy. Whaddya say we head on over to Earth 1 for a visit? I bet Wells misses us too."
Poison Ivy laughed shortly. "You're so cynical. I love it."
"You did teach me," Datura patted her partner's arm before taking the lead out of the alley.
Author's Note:
Aaah, I love this so much you have no idea! I think this story (season 2) is probably my favorite Bells/Barry story so far. I've written 3 full ones and I'm currently writing season 4 so we'll see if that changes anytime soon xD
Reviews:
LadyRedStar: I've never really seen other DC characters in action besides the ones on the CW, but Poison Ivy has always been one character that I've really loved. That being said, I think for now she's the only one you'll be seeing - unless I figure out a way to write in Harley Quinn in some future - in these stories. If anything, you'll probably see references/doppelgangers from other CW shows (like I just did above with Supergirl's Livewire!).
Yamile Soto: Thanks! Hope this chapter was good too! :)