The Battle for Gateway City
Barry was typing away using his super speed. "They really need to make these tougher," he grumped at his keyboard as the 'A' key went flying off and clattering on the floor. "This is the third this week." They had the tough interviews with Ray and Caitlin coming up in the next few days and Barry was doing his best to accept the issue. He spent quite a bit of time in meditation, remembering his friends and loved ones. Grieving them and wishing them well in their next adventure in the afterlife. He had just finished typing up the section of S.T.A.R. Labs' business plan regarding the eventual dispersal of location and areas of concentration when his cell phone rang.
"Barry, here," he replied without looking at the caller ID.
"Barry, it's Diana. I need your help."
He stood immediately. "Where?"
"Gateway City. There's a cyborg called Metallo on a rampage along with Solomon Grundy. I can handle one, but not both."
Vibrating through the wall to Kara's office, he waved at her mouthing, "Diana," while pointing to his phone. Kara supersped to close the door and was in her uniform before he said, "We're on the way. We'll be there shortly. Follow the sirens?"
Grimly, Diana replied, "Yes. I do not know who else is with these two. They are scum and villains who only fight in packs. Be advised that Cassie is also here."
"Got it, we're on the way." He hit the end button on the phone. As he quick changed into his uniform, he asked, "Did you hear all that?"
"Cyborg and a zombie. Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman on site already," she replied. "Our life is weird."
"True that. I'll follow your lead because I've not been to Gateway City; I just know that it's north of here. I want to try something though. Fly just over my head. I think I'll be able to bring you into the Speed Force with me. Kind of sling shot each other by boosting me with your speed while I boost your speed."
"Let's go, lover."
.oOo.
Barry was running flat out. In moments like this, he was wistful of all the times he had Cisco nerding in his ear about how fast he was going. He wasn't sure, but it sure felt as if he was going faster than he'd ever gone before. Kara was keeping pace with him, and it felt as if she was pushing him as much as he was pulling her. If Barry lifted his hand, he'd touch Kara's thigh, which he thought helped their sympathetic speed increase.
Lately, something had been happening in that his perception of time was increasing or decreasing based on the moment. At times, he was seeing everything as if it was not moving at all, but in reality, he was moving at nearly the speed of light. Einstein had postulated in his Special Relativity discussion that time stopped the closer one reached to the speed of light. If Professor Einstein had still been alive, Barry could have offered his concurrence to that hypothesis.
Gateway City was over one thousand miles away. Pulling Kara with him, he could see the Speed Force envelop them both and catapult them through space.
They arrived at Gateway City less than two seconds after leaving National City.
And Diana was right. The sirens told them where to go.
She was also right in that there were more villains than just Solomon Grundy and Metallo.
"That is one big woman," Kara muttered.
"Yeah," Barry breathed. Tapping his in-ear communicator that all of the Fort Rozz Heroes had kept, he called, "Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, this is Flash. Supergirl and I are near downtown and the…really big woman who is smashing cars and buildings."
"Understood. Supergirl, I need you to deal with Giganta."
"Understood," Kara replied. With a last loving look to Barry she told him, "Be careful." A moment later she was gone.
"Flash a mile to your west is Metallo. I need you to deal with him. Wonder Girl and I have our hands full with Solomon Grundy."
"On my way."
Reaching deep into the Speed Force, Barry Moved.
.oOo.
Pushing herself as fast and hard as she could, Kara flew right at the giant woman's jaw. She knew from discussions with Cassie and Diana, that Giganta was nearly invulnerable when enlarged. That worked to Kara's advantage as she reached relativistic speed and beyond, she clenched her fists, bracing for impact.
When it did come, she launched the two-hundred-foot-tall woman into the air. Learning from the Battle of Fort Rozz, Kara immediately dove onto the falling woman. There's no such thing as fair in a fight like this. She launched titanic hits into the giantess that would have felled buildings. Five times she pummeled the woman before she crashed into the ground. Normally this beating would have left her opponent insensible.
Not this time, though.
Giganta rose from the ground in a swift, smooth movement. Kara flew to the side to get a better angle of attack just in time to be backhanded by the huge woman. Flung backward, she crashed through two buildings. Rolling across the town square, Kara wiped the dirt from her chin. "So that's how it is then. Bitch."
Another supersonic sprint brought Supergirl right in close to Giganta. Without hesitating, this time she collided with the giantess right in the temple instead of her jaw. Again, the giantess fell.
As the giantess fell this time, Supergirl lashed out with her heat vision at the falling woman's eyes. Screaming in agony, Giganta fell to the earth holding her face. Supergirl went for the knockout punch one last time. A supersonic sprint right to the woman's temple was successful this time.
As the giantess fell limp, she began to shrink. By the time that Supergirl caught her breath, Giganta had shrunk to a somewhat normal size of six and a half feet or so.
Waving to the police who were standing off, she called, "She's out. Where's the next fight?"
.oOo.
Barry was not in a mood to fuck around. His beloved was fighting a ginormous woman behind him and then they had to fight a zombie that was quite possibly the strongest being on the planet. Burrowing into the Speed Force he barreled toward the cyborg, Metallo.
He turned the corner, and saw a flash of highly polished steel. Deciding that fair was where you sold pigs, he launched his first Supersonic Punch of the day without announcing his presence. The collision seemed to happen in slow motion to Barry, but the impact force was tremendous. He was moving faster than any meteor that had ever struck the planet as he collided with Metallo.
The cyborg had been destroying the exterior sculptures outside the Gateway City Art Museum. When the Flash collided with him, all the glass in the museum, the surrounding buildings and for a block away all shattered.
The Flash went skidding past the cyborg; it wasn't easy to stop when going that fast. Turning, he expected to see nothing but a pile of junk. Well, there was a pile of junk, but worse than that was the huge lump of glowing green rock settled in the sparking component parts that had once been Metallo.
"Supergirl, this is Flash, you have to stay away from the Art district. There is a large quantity of Kryptonite here."
"Understood."
"I'm going to run it out of here. I'll be back as soon as it's safe."
This time, Wonder Woman replied, "Hurry, Flash."
"That's what I do," he muttered as he picked up the rock. Digging through the parts to make sure he had all the Kryptonite, he grabbed every circuit board he saw, angrily vibrating it to sand. "Bastard," he whispered. The only reason Metallo was here was to counter the Super Cousins. Since he was engaged to the female member of the family, Barry didn't take too kindly to Metallo's existence nor his goals.
Grabbing another, smaller, chunk of the glowing green rock, he ran. Fear spurred him on as he raced west. The closest place that he knew exactly the location for what he needed was in Hawaii. So, he ran. It was twenty-three hundred miles each way. Over water. Run Barry, Run.
.oOo.
Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday,
Christened on a stark and stormy Tuesday,
Married on a grey and grisly Wednesday,
Took ill on a mild and mellow Thursday,
Grew worse on a bright and breezy Friday,
Died on a grey and glorious Saturday,
Buried on a baking, blistering Sunday.
That was the end of Solomon Grundy.
But not really.
No one knows the origins of Solomon Grundy, not even Grundy himself. Some say that he is a murder victim resurrected by accident having had his corpse thrown into a swamp teeming with magic. Others say that he is a murderer himself who sacrificed his soul for a second chance and is used by that evil power to wreak havoc and destruction on the world.
What is known is that he is a mindless monster of evil, driven by powers no one understands, not even the great magicians of the world. To destroy and kill are Grundy's only purpose in life. For reasons no one can reckon, he hates the strongest heroes with a passion unbridled. Superman and Wonder Woman are favorite targets of his.
And this day in Gateway City, he met Supergirl.
And Grundy came to hate her more than the rest.
.oOo.
BOOOOOM!
Kara flew around the corner only to be knocked back by the force of the collision between Wonder Woman and the immortal Zombie called Solomon Grundy.
Diana had just flown at the Zombie full tilt before executing a double overhand strike to the monster's neck. The grey-faced monster staggered under a blow that would have killed lesser beings. Before Kara could join the fight, she saw the immediate danger. Wonder Girl was unconscious on the ground directly behind Wonder Woman. Gritting her teeth, Supergirl spat, "Dammit," before she zipped in to grab the teenage heroine. A second later, she gently sat the blonde on the pavement five blocks away. Trying a repeat of her move on Giganta, Supergirl leapt into the air while passing through hypersonic speeds into relativistic. While not as fast as her scarlet clad lover, she was very fast indeed. The buildings blurred by as she flew back to the fight.
Right into Grundy's fist.
BOOOOOOOM!
"…BORN ON A MONDAY!" the beast roared as he punched Supergirl through a building. Or three.
Regaining her senses, Kara shook her head to clear the ringing in her ear. "That really hurt," she muttered. The thunderous sounds of Grundy and Wonder Woman pummeling each other resumed. Snarling, she took to the air again. Instead of coming in horizontally, Kara went straight up. When she reached fifty thousand feet, she quickly reversed her course, accelerating the entire way. Like the dive bombers of antiquity, she lined up her sight on her target. This time, Grundy didn't seem to see her coming. At ten thousand feet, Supergirl lashed out with her heat vision, causing the monster to recoil in pain as his back and shoulders were set aflame. Continuing her assault, she accelerated her dive.
Wonder Woman, staggered under her injuries having been battling the zombie for what seemed like hours, quickly gathered her strength, to strike out. This time, she went for the monster's knee with her right foot.
CRACK went the joint as undead tissue was rent.
Again, the monster roared even as the magic that stitched him together began to heal the injury. "MARRIED ON WEDNESDAY!" That was when Supergirl arrived.
The collision hurt Supergirl not nearly as much as Solomon Grundy, but it did hurt her. Grundy was down and moaning, while Supergirl staggered out of the crater caused by her dive-bombing attack. "Diana," she called.
"I'm here Supergirl," the Amazonian princess replied in a hitched voice. Holding her side, the brunette offered her free hand to pull the Kryptonian out of the crater bowl just as the Zombie began to growl once again.
"I'm back," both heroines looked up to see Wonder Girl hovering over them. The bloody trail that ran down the side of her face was worrisome, but the look on her face reassured Supergirl that Wonder Girl was back in battery.
"So, how do we do this?" Supergirl asked. "I just hit him with the equivalent of four nuclear bombs and he's beginning to rouse.
Wonder Woman smiled grimly. "Have you forgotten already, Supergirl? We do this together." Supergirl's answering smile didn't bode well for the zombie.
With synchronous war cries, all three women launched themselves into the attack on the zombie.
.oOo.
Running across the Pacific slowed Flash from his land borne speed. At first, he nearly foundered until he found the rhythm in running across the waves and swells of the ocean. Once the rhythm was found, though, he opened up the throttle again. Leaning forward, he ran as if his life depended on it. It didn't, but Kara's did and he held her life more important than his own. Rocketing across the water, he hoped that Hawaii was in the same place on this earth as it was on his. When the nub of an island appeared slightly to the left of his course, he nodded in relief as he adjusted course for the big island of Hawaii. Within a moment, he was sprinting up the side of Mauna Loa to the mouth of the sacred mountain.
At the vent, the heat was nearly unbearable, but he bore it. He knew that if he threw the two chunks of Kryptonite into the lake of lava they wouldn't melt of their own accord; the lava had cooled too much at this point in the eruption process. To overcome that, he took a chunk of kryptonite in each hand and began to vibrate his hands as fast as he could. Once he felt the poisonous substance begin to dissolve, he took off across the lava, leaving the kryptonite dust behind him in a trail to be lost forever in the lava flow of the longest erupting volcano of modern times. In short order, it was all gone and mixed into the lava.
Now, he needed to get back to the fight. He was too far away for the communicators to work, so he had to trust that Kara, Diana, and Cassie were at least holding their own, if not victorious. Hoping against hope, he heard the voice in his head as he headed east by northeast across the waves. "Run Barry, run."
.oOo.
To the brave – or foolish - souls who were watching the battle of titans in the center of Gateway City, it was nearly impossible to make out who was where. There were blurs of red and blue launching into the air before ramming into the screaming zombie with thunderous collisions. "WORSE ON FRIDAY!" Jackhammer punches that should have destroyed the being, were shrugged off. Occasionally, a grey-white fist the size of an engine block would connect cleanly shooting the struck heroine from the battle royale only to have their spot taken by one of her sisters.
"Flash inbound," they heard in their earpieces.
"Flash," Supergirl called while burning the zombie's face with heat vision, "We need you to do a Non on Grundy."
"Understood," he replied
"But I need you to go twice as fast."
"Understood, stand clear." The Flash's eyes widened at Supergirl's request. For Kara, though, he'd run across time and space so he doubled down and sped up. Half closing his eyes, he reached for the Speed Force. Calling, pulling and immersing himself in the power, he passed through relativistic speed and was approaching C – the speed of light. As the world slowed down around him, he focused his will on projecting all of his momentum, all of his force into his fist. To his eyes, he moved in slow motion through Gateway city. To the city's inhabitants, he never appeared. He was gone before their neurons could even fire the signal that there was something there.
Reaching the long boulevard that fed the fight zone, he immediately saw the scrum. As if on cue, all three superheroines flew straight up, clearing the battlefield for him. Aiming for the center of mass of the zombie, Barry Moved.
.oOo.
"UP!" cried Supergirl.
All three shot into the air as fast as they could. Below them, the detonation was monstrously colossal and magnificent at the same time.
Prepared this time for the shockwave, Kara watched and saw the impact of her beloved on the undead monster. And she cheered.
.oOo.
The Flash's fist struck the sternum of Solomon Grundy at 1.1 C.
That was the end of Solomon Grundy.
.oOo.
Then her heart stopped.
"BARRY!" She shot down to the ground. Barry was laid out flat next to the carcass of Solomon Grundy. Ignoring the immobile zombie, she flew to her love. As her ears stopped ringing from the Light Speed Punch, she listened for her favorite sound in the world. After an agonizingly long moment, she heard it. Thub-thub-thub… but it was weak and erratic. And he wasn't breathing.
Weeping, she cradled him in her arms with a gentleness she'd not displayed in a while. "Wake up, love," she whispered. "You have to wake up to heal yourself. You said forever."
Around her, Diana and Cassie landed. The Amazons were solemnly quiet. Cassie took both Kara and Barry in her arms while Diana bowed her head in prayer to her goddess for healing of this hero.
After another eternal moment, Kara began to beg. "C'mon, babe. Just wake up so you can shake like the dog next door…." The tears were tracking down Kara's face, as Barry still hadn't breathed. "Please," she sobbed.
Diana leaned forward, placing her hand on Kara' shoulder for silent strength and support. Cassie held them both as she began to cry. "C'mon Barry," she whispered.
The deep, rattling breath took them all by surprise.
Now the tears were of relief from all three heroines.
"Ow."
.oOo.
The foursome stood soberly regarding the carcass of Solomon Grundy while emergency services of Gateway City rushed about to extinguish fires and escort the injured to area hospitals.
"He'll heal," Cassie remarked off hand while eyeing the zombie with distaste.
"Can he be confined at all?" Kara asked. She was standing a little closer than normal to Barry, but none could fault her. Not even three minutes before they thought they might lose him.
Diana shook her head definitely. Grundy would always come back.
Barry looked into the sky thoughtfully. "What if we threw him into space in the direction of the sun? That would do him in, right?"
The other three blinked. "I would think so," Diana remarked thoughtfully.
Kara looked at Barry with narrowed eyes. "What's this 'we' Flash?"
Barry chuckled tenderly. He was healed, but he'd done a number on himself. "Well, really all you people that fly. And all. Go chuck him into space. I'll be down here being the idea guy."
Cassie smiled. "Typical man. Thinks up something really hard and leaves it to the women to do."
Barry rolled his eyes, "Three words Wonder Girl: Light Speed Punch."
"Yeah, yeah," she kidded back.
"I can't fly that high in the atmosphere to get him to achieve escape velocity. I have to breathe, babe," Kara mused distractedly.
Barry smiled at the unconscious use of her pet name for him. "You don't have to do it alone. There are two very strong women right here who can fly with you and all three of you can give stinky here the heave-ho."
"He does smell, doesn't he," Cassie remarked.
"Rao. I thought it was just me who smelled it, but yes."
"Putrid. Let's get this over with," Diana remarked.
"I'll go deal with the police while you do the hard work," Barry grinned. He couldn't help himself, though. Leaning over, he kissed Kara quickly, "Love you," he whispered.
Her eyes sparkled, "Love you, too."
"Hey, Lovergirl. Let's go. We need to take out the trash," Cassie teased.
Turning away from him with a last fond look, she called out. "Kiddo, you're just jealous that I got the hot speedster."
"Hey, are you wearing this ring you told us about? I gotta see it."
"Are you kidding? And get zombie yuck on it? No way. It's in this little pocket on my boot."
"Well, when we get back, you have to show me."
Barry smiled as the three heroines took off, the zombie held between them.
Heading over to the police barricade, Barry saw the TV cameras and the reporters. Lots and lots of rabid reporters. Half waving to the police Captain, he greeted, "Afternoon Captain. Long day, huh?"
"You're not kidding, Flash. Any idea what was happening here?"
Barry frowned as he considered the question. "You mean why those three attacked here?"
The Captain nodded.
"I really don't know. I was honestly too worried about taking them down. Did they destroy or attack anything in particular?"
The Captain shrugged, "The robot was tearing up the art museum there, but that was just random destruction. The big lady was just walking down the street and bashing buildings. This guy here," he gestured up in the sky at the quickly receding dot that was the trio of heroines and their undead burden, "He and Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl were mixing it up from the beginning. But he didn't go after anything."
Puzzled, Barry looked around the square behind him. The Captain was right. All the damage was due to impact or blasts from impacts. Solomon Grundy hadn't attacked or damaged any buildings.
"What's here?" Flash asked.
"This is the shopping district."
"That makes no sense," Flash muttered.
"No, it doesn't."
Barry thought for a long moment until a thought occurred. "Did you clear the downtown area once they showed up?"
The Captain held his hands up, "This whole thing from start to finish was maybe forty minutes. We didn't have time to clear the area. By the time we knew what was going on, it wasn't safe to be on the streets so the mayor got on the radio telling everyone to act like this was an earthquake and shelter in place." He looked at the Flash's concerned face. "What are you thinking?"
Barry looked up at all the skyscrapers surrounding them. "I think that someone was watching us."
.oOo.
They lay in their bed that night, their passion spent. Kara was draped across Barry when she began to silently cry. Tightening her grip on him, she whispered through her tears, "You almost left me."
There was nothing that he could say to comfort her. Taking her in his arms, he held her as she wept.
"You said forever. All of you, forever."
He held her as she shook and cried. Finally, her fear passed and she calmed. Laying across his chest, she quieted. With a sniffle, she whispered, "Sorry about that."
He pulled her up so that they were face to face. His heart broke a little when he saw her red-eyed tear-stained face. Gently caressing her cheek, he told her in a low tone, "I understand. I completely understand." She nodded at his meaning. "We do dangerous things to help people. No matter how much I want to lose myself with you at my side in S.T.A.R. Labs, we both have the ability to help others. If we hadn't gone to Gateway City, imagine how we would've felt had Cassie died. Or Diana? Grundy and the others were incredible foes. They needed us."
"I know," she groaned. "Just…," she trailed off as their eyes met.
"I know," he agreed. "You're everything for me, too."
She nestled back into his arms. "Let's get married," she told him.
He smiled in the semi-dark. "I thought that was what the ring and the dinner was all about."
"I mean soon."
"Don't you want the big to-do?"
She shrugged, "I've really only got Eliza, Alex, and Kal-El."
Barry doubted that, but understood her meaning. "Alright. First, though, I'd like to have a little dinner party for our friends."
He felt her smile against his chest. "The 'spandex squad friends?"
"Yeah, them."
She hummed into his chest. "I may have an idea about that."
.oOo.
Barry and Kara were back to normal the next day and headed to the office. "Want some coffee?" he asked as she brushed her hair.
"Rao, yes." Her hair was not cooperating today and it was getting on her last nerve.
Barry was whistling as he headed into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee for them to share. Usually in the morning, the just shared a cup between them as he shaved and she got ready. This morning, she intended to hog the whole thing.
As he put the cup on the sink next to her, he froze in place. Frowning, she asked, "You alright, babe?" but turning to look at him, she immediately knew what was wrong.
He was pale and had tears standing out in his eyes. He'd just remembered that today they were interviewing Caitlin Snow and Ray Palmer. Setting her brush down, she gently ran her fingers through his hair. When his eyes finally met hers, she reminded him, "It's just like with Cisco. They aren't your oldest and best friends. Give them a chance to be who they are meant to be in this universe."
He nodded, regaining his composure. After a moment, he gave her a quick kiss, "Thanks, sweetheart."
"Anytime. Besides, you get me coffee," she teased as she took a big slurp from the mug.
"Hey! Share that!"
.oOo.
"Good morning, Ms. Graves," Barry began on their day of seemingly endless interviews. They were beginning to build a solid technical foundation of personnel and today just might finish up the big surge in hires. Barry and Kara had aligned S.T.A.R. Labs with Merck and Wayne Industries to mass produce the nanite based cancer cure. The lawyers had haggled the price resulting in S.T.A.R. Labs walking away with three hundred and seventy-five million dollars in cash and equities along with fifteen percent of net profits. Barry and Kara were now multi-millionaires. Even with investing the vast majority back into S.T.A.R. Labs, they would never have money worries.
"Good morning, Mr. Allen," the interviewee replied in a…sultry tone.
A bit baffled at what just happened, Barry turned to his left to see a steaming Kara. "This is the Deputy Technical Director of S.T.A.R. Labs and the head of the Theoretical Physics department, Kara Danvers."
"Hello, Ms. Graves," a stone-faced Kara replied. She didn't offer to shake hands.
"And this is Abigail Taylor, our head of HR."
The interview progressed…oddly for Barry. One time, the interviewee winked at him between questions. He thought he heard Kara actually growl after that one. At that point, he was just in a hurry to get the interview over with and get this woman out of the building before Kara incinerated her.
"Thank you for your time, Ms. Graves. Someone will be in contact with you in the next week or so about the position."
"No, I'd like to thank you Mr. Allen. I am looking forward to working under you."
Inwardly, Barry sighed. Kara is going to be so pissed. Even I picked up that one.
As the door clicked shut, he braced himself. It didn't take long.
"That slut! No. No way. No never. No no no. She will never work here!"
Abigail knew that Kara and Barry were engaged, but was still a little wide-eyed at Kara's response.
"Kara, I agree, she was rather inappropriate in the interview…," the HR lead began.
"Inappropriate? She nearly offered to give him a lap dance!"
Barry choked on his water as he took a sip.
"Find that funny, Bartholomew?" Kara fumed.
Crap. Full name. "Wrong pipe," he meekly replied while patting his chest. Note to self: Kryptonian tempers are not to be trifled with.
Deciding retreat was the best course of action, Abigail stood, "I'll be back shortly. I've some paperwork I want to get done before the next interview."
Barry scowled at the retreating HR rep for leaving him alone with his pissed off fiancée. Trying to calm her, he asked, "Sweetheart, are you hungry? I can go get us a snack. I'd like a sandwich."
Ignoring his attempts at diversion, she scowled in her turn, "Don't you 'sweetheart' me Barry Allen. That skank was hitting on you like a hammer to a nail. Only I get to nail you." She glanced at her watch, "Damn. Not enough time." She leaned toward him, furiously beautiful, "You're mine Barry Allen."
He smiled at her goofily. She was so hot when she got possessive. "And I don't want it any other way."
"Good," she smiled while sitting back in her chair, forcibly calming herself down.
Shaking his head at the whole situation, he grabbed his pile of paper. Taking a long, steadying breath, he said more to himself than to her, "Dr. Caitlin Snow is next."
.oOo.
"Good morning, Dr. Snow," Barry began. Kara's face was set in a placid smile, but inside, she was very worried about Barry. Now that she'd calmed down from what that…person had been doing to her man, she was focused on Barry and these next two interviews. He'd loved Caitlin like a sister and her death had been a hammer blow on his heart. Now, her doppelganger sat across from them wearing a business suit.
"Good morning, Mr. Allen, Ms. Danvers. I appreciate you inviting me in for the interview. I must admit, I'm very excited about this opportunity."
"Really," Kara observed. "Why?"
Caitlin's smooth façade faded as she gushed, "I've always dreamed about helping people. Dr. Salk was always a hero of mine and well, your nanite based cancer cure." She blushed, "I'm a big fan of what you've done."
Barry smiled half-heartedly. "I'm curious about your work and your goals, Dr. Snow. How do you define success in your research?"
She exhaled, "That's tough. The textbook answer is to further the body of knowledge in the community, but I've always thought that to be a cop out." She shrugged, "I'm just being honest."
"I appreciate your honesty," Kara replied. "Please, continue."
"Well, if we're past the early technology levels for the research, moving past basic into applied, then the obvious goal is to realize a product or procedure that will improve humanity in some way. In my arena, that could be anything from eliminating a disease through vaccine to improving quality of life through prosthetics."
"And your personal goal?" Barry asked with a leading tone and half a smile.
"I'm very interested in developing real time wearable equipment that would allow a person's health to be monitored in case of injury, disease or other traumatic event."
"Dr. Snow, I'd be very grateful if you would join our biochemistry division. We have some ideas on the board that you might be interested in looking at for taking further in your field."
Kara smiled as Caitlin's expression blossomed. "Oh, Mr. Allen, I accept your offer. I would be proud to join the S.T.A.R. Labs team."
.oOo.
"Ray was the far easier interview," Barry mumbled as Kara rubbed his back. He was lying flat on his stomach as fiancée gave him a wonderfully firm back rub. "And Caitlin was a slam dunk."
"He was like a big puppy. I wanted to scratch his ears," Kara chuckled while working a big knot in his shoulder.
"I thought we covered that in the Graves interview. No scratching anything of anyone else," he teased, all the while knowing his was pulling the tail of the tiger.
"She was a tramp looking to sleep her way into a position. Ray Palmer is just an enthusiastic genius." He couldn't see it, but he was sure she was scowling mightily.
"I think we've got what we need to build the Lab into what we want," he mumbled again.
She smiled. Leaning forward she kissed his shoulder. Hesitantly, she asked, "Barry, what is your long-term vision for the Lab? In time, I mean."
He sighed into her touch. They'd talked around this topic for months. Shortly after he arrived, they began this discussion, but never really finished it. "I am looking out hundreds of years. That's the scope of my vision to begin with."
Her ministrations stopped before she gently, but firmly, rolled him over to face her. Propping himself on his elbows, he raised his eyebrows in mute question.
"I'm asking this because I have to, not because I don't trust you."
"That's a little ominous, sweetheart."
Her expression remained serious. "We're both functionally immortal. Barring serious injury, we'll live for a very very long time."
He nodded, his expression placid and unchanging.
"I want you. I love you. I'm ready…"
"Kara," he interrupted her. "I told you that I wanted to be with you for eternity, don't you remember?"
She thought back to his proposal. Smiling softly, she recalled that was exactly what he said.
"I meant it. I've thought about this. I expect us to still be kickin' boots in the thirty first century."
"Barry, sometimes you can be so romantic. This isn't one of those times."
He smiled as he dove on her, bearing her down on the bed. Despite her invulnerability, she was very ticklish.
.oOo.
A/N
1. I own nothing.