We're kicking into high gear, people! Hahahaha! I hope I can keep the chapters coming at this rate! To the people who review, fave and follow this fic, thanks! This work continues because of you. Oh, and to the Guests, please reconsider signing up. I can't interact with you as much when you leave reviews and can't give you a thank-you surprise unless I can PM you. Anyhoo, without further ado: Chapter 13! Tada! XOXO

Chapter 13

Despite the confusion his ramblings had inspired, Caitlin decided to play along with Barry. In her mind, the first order of business was to calm him down. He had just extubated himself and his vitals were going wild – those two together, in his present condition, don't bode well for his continued recovery.

"Yes, Barry. I'm here. We're both here. We're safe," she soothed as she slowly put some distance between them. When she had finally been able to move enough to steady him and force him to again meet her eyes, she coaxed, "We'll sort things out, I promise but for now I need you to breathe with me. Can you do that?"

He didn't really respond but she found that he had begun to take steadier breaths. "You're doing great, Barry. Just like that. Slow and steady," she said as she herself took deep, calming breaths.

"Okay. You're going to have to help me get you back to bed," she said once he had established a regular rhythm of inhales and exhales. It was still faster than she'd hoped but at least it wasn't erratic – and he was still shaking.

He nodded this time and allowed her to guide him back to sit on his bed. But when it looked to him like she was going to leave, he immediately grabbed her and hugged her tightly again.

Okay, if it were any other situation, she would be utterly flattered, Caitlin thought. But this was getting ridiculous, especially when she knew from the sound of the collective sighs of relief she heard, that they now had a bigger audience.

"No! Stay!" Barry almost whined – and that was when she knew that he was trembling, not just from adrenaline but from actual, real, heart-pounding terror.

At the realization, she immediately went back to placating him. "I'm not going anywhere, Barry," she said as she run comforting fingers through his hair, "The Detective is here. Even Oliver and Digg. We're safe."

That got Barry to loosen his hold on her – only slightly – but it was enough for her to check the readout on the pulse oximeter she had managed to slip on his finger while she coaxed him to sit. It didn't look pretty so she motioned for Digg to prepare an oxygen mask. "I need to put an oxygen mask on you, Barry, so that you don't pass out. Are you okay with that?"

She felt him nod, so she quickly retrieved the oxygen mask that Digg had hooked up and put it around Barry's face. Once she'd finally got that done and Barry was distracted enough with the novel sensation of having the mask on, she and Digg laid him back on the bed. "I'm not leaving. I promise. I just need you to rest some more," she said as she began to do a quick physical assessment. His pupils were dilated but responsive to light. He was cold and clammy, and his pulse was still a bit jumpy. She held his hand to reassure him that she would not be leaving anytime soon but she motioned for Joe to come in and help.

"Hey, Bär," Joe said as Digg had finally cleared some space for another person to approach the bed. Everything had been in disarray – monitors were beeping frantically, lines were tangled up and a lot of equipment was scattered on the floor.

Barry swung his head towards him. "It's Joe. I know this is all confusing. But you're in S.T.A.R. Labs right now with everybody. See," he said as he motioned at Digg, Oliver, Felicity and Cisco. "You have a lot of questions, we know. We'll figure this out soon enough. But to do that, we're all going to need to settle down, okay? We don't want you to pass out, so take deep breaths and allow Caitlin to work."

Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, 10:45 pm

Oliver and Felicity had been just seconds behind Joe and Caitlin when they reached the Treatment Room after the alarms went off on Barry's monitors. But Digg had asked them to wait outside because they were going to try and remove Barry's peritoneal catheter. Now, with Cisco, they anxiously awaited word from Joe, Caitlin or Digg about Barry's abrupt emergence from what should have been a medically induced coma. Standing prostrately aside was not any of their stronger suits but they weren't able to do anything about it. Joe had Barry and Caitlin and Digg were doing the best they could to head off whatever nasty consequences awaited their patient as a result of this most recent development.

Joe came out of the room first. "He has finally calmed down," he said. "John and Caitlin are just finishing the removal of the catheter thing."

The three released what would be their nth sigh of relief that day.

"But he's really freaked out about something," he continued. "And it has to do with Caitlin."

"Do you think it's just a nightmare or is Caitlin really in danger?" Cisco asked. Coma patients have been known to be unpredictable when waking up.

"We won't know for sure until we can really talk to him," Joe answered.

"Caitlin was there, too, when Barry was talking about the case," Felicity said. "So were you, Cisco."

"Which makes all three of us possible targets," Cisco breathed out. "So we're expecting the worst but hoping for the best?"

He was answered with an eerily affirmative silence.

"Now, I wish I went ahead and made my own exosuit," Cisco muttered. After all, he already had the schematics. All he needed was an excuse to spend a million bucks… well, and of course, the million bucks. But at least now, he had an excuse – a very, very good one. After all, he was the only other guy in the trio that a misandric serial murderer was supposedly hunting.

"Stop freaking yourself out, Cisco," Oliver said as he noted the increasing panic in Cisco's face.

"Easy for you to say, Muscles!" Cisco snarkily replied.

"Guys!" Felicity said as she played umpire. "We can expect the worst productively. Oliver, you and Cisco can finish suiting up. Detective, I need you to help me with Barry and Caitlin."

He nodded his agreement.

They were just about to enter the Treatment Room when Digg emerged. "He's stable. He's breathing on his own without difficulty and we got the tube out already. You can talk to him now," he said to them. What he didn't say, though, was that Barry's panicked outburst had displaced the catheter and compromised the drain. As a result, they weren't able to flush out all of the dialysate – and hence, the remaining toxin out. Hopefully, it was in a low enough load so as not to matter. Caitlin seemed to think so, so he was going with that.

"Why don't you finish suiting up with Cisco and Oliver," Felicity suggested. "That way, you guys can be ready to go at a moment's notice."

Digg nodded and went on to follow his two other friends.

The ringing of Joe's phone interrupted their trek to the Treatment Room once more.

"Go on ahead," Joe said to Felicity after taking a quick glance at his caller ID. It was Eddie. "I have to take this first."

S.T.A.R. Labs, Treatment Room, 10:48 pm

Felicity came into the room just as Caitlin finished hooking Barry back up to his IV and the remaining monitors. "Hello, there, Sleeping Beauty," she greeted Barry as she came into view. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Barry answered through his oxygen mask.

"You gave us quite a scare there, Barry," Caitlin sighed. She was just really relieved that he was awake and that his vitals were holding.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever run that fast since forever – and you had me running multiple times," Felicity said. "I'd thank you for the exercise, you know, but I don't think my pride ever will."

They all shared a nice little chuckle at that. They all knew Felicity was the kind who tripped on air. Once their hilarity subsided, though, Felicity was back to business, "So, you remember anything from your very eventful day?"

He was iffy on the details. There was a fog in his brain. He tried to take stock of what he could remember. He drew a blank. "Not much," he answered and tried not to panic at that.

Caitlin squeezed his shoulder at that. Give it time, she seemed to say.

"But you remember coming to your lab?" Felicity prompted.

"Uh-huh," Barry noted after a beat. "Had to do paper work today so I came early. Caitlin was supposed to meet me. I wanted to show her something I found" – he paused as an abrupt torrent of memories began to pour in – "Oh, God. I found something on the Crimson Kiss case. The M.E. just confirmed my suspicions this morning. There are nine other cases that could be connected… Oh God!" He sat up as the ominous sense of doom that had woken him earlier washed through him once more. "There was a phone call… from your number…" he said to Caitlin as his stomach plummeted and his heart beat trebled. He felt like choking - his vision dimming.

"Barry! Barry!" Caitlin called as she saw the light begin to leave his eyes. His heart rate was through the roof. Any other human heart at this rate ran the risk of rupturing. She needed to act fast. She needed to knock him out, or they'll lose him. "Felicity, that syringe, now!" she commanded as she pointed at the syringe that lay on top of the crash cart that was beside the blonde. It was the sedative she had asked Digg to prepare before he left in case this happened again. And it was happening again!

Felicity quickly handed her the syringe, whose contents she had promptly emptied into Barry's IV line. "Breathe, Barry," she said as pushed him back to the bed. "I got you, Barry. I've got you," Caitlin said as his vitals began to respond to the medication.

It was another tense few seconds before he stabilized again.

"How can he be so freaked out by a phone call from you?" Felicity asked after a minute, still thoroughly perplexed.

"That's just it, Felicity! I didn't call him this morning."

Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, 10:53 pm

Joe was just about to scramble back into the Treatment Room at the shrill beeping he heard when he saw Felicity rushing out toward the computers.

"What's happening?" he said as he remained split on whether to enter the Treatment Room or stay in place.

Oliver and Digg, now suited up, came into the cortex at a run but they slowed down when they saw the girls and Joe by the main console instead of at Barry's bedside. Cisco brought up the rear.

"Barry got worked up over what he remembered so I needed to give him a sedative. He's just sleeping it off, Joe," Caitlin explained. "It'll take his metabolism 10 minutes tops to work the drug off."

"What did he remember?" the detective asked.

"He got a call from Caitlin's number but Caitlin's 100% sure she didn't make the call," Felicity supplied. "I think her phone's been cloned. And with the way he freaked, I think, whoever called Barry threatened Caitlin," she said as she ran the automated exploit she had been working on to find Barry's phone. This time, she needed to hijack the carriers for a bit to find the clone of Caitlin's phone using the towers.

Upon hearing that, all the men threw questions at Caitlin at virtually the same time. Oliver's "Are you sure, no one had access to your phone?"; Joe's "No one bumped into you this morning?"; Cisco's "Had your phone repaired lately?" ; and Digg's "Have you left it unattended?" had come within microseconds of each other.

"No… To all… Well, not that I know of," she answered. "Felicity, do you need it?"

"Where is it, exactly?" Felicity asked as she rang the phone. She needed to register a call for the trace to happen.

"In my bag, inside my locker in my lab," Caitlin answered.

"Keep it there," Felicity said, as she heard the ringer. "I don't want to risk a hot mic," she added as she clicked the call off. "We'll know soon enough if it's cloned or not." And it was going to be easier than finding Barry's dead phone.

"You okay?" Cisco asked Caitlin.

"I'm fine. I just want this over with," she answered. She had been shaken by the realization but being scared was not productive right now so she squelched the feeling.

"So, what do we have on the docks so far?" Oliver asked, immediately pivoting to the mission at hand.

Felicity called up a map of the Freeport zone to the display.

Joe took over. "There are two parts – the smaller and older southern side where the old docks are, and the bigger, newer piers near the wharf. The southernmost pier is closed to the public. It's too run down so it was sectioned off. It's mostly used as a container bay now. My bet is if something's going to go down, it's going to be there. It's secluded and poorly secured and neutral ground."

"Do we have eyes?" Oliver asked Felicity.

"There are almost no operational cameras there. No good angles. No satellite. Too overcast. We're flying Cisco's drone instead," she answered.

"On-site operation?" Digg asked.

"Yup. From up to a mile and three quarters," Cisco said.

"Digg, I need you to stay," Oliver said. "We need to secure this place."

"No," Felicity challenged as she handed him, Digg and Cisco their earpieces. "You are not going out there alone. No offense, Cisco."

"None taken," the engineer quipped.

"Felicity's right. You're too exposed out there without John. I'll stay," Joe said. "Captain Singh assigned an on-call team for this task force. I can call it in. And I have cars patrolling the area every fifteen minutes."

"Okay," Oliver exhaled. He wasn't stoked but it was the next best thing.

"We'll be fine," she assured him… or tried to. She knew he didn't like it. Tough.

He wasn't in the least bit sold by that but he nodded anyway before he laid a quick kiss on her lips.

"Careful," she whispered before she turned on her comms and proceeded with their customary radio check. "Overwatch on comms. Radio check," she said into the comms.

"Roger!" came all three replies.

"Before I forget," Joe warned, "the Feds are going to be here first thing tomorrow. So, we better wrap-up what we can tonight."

The men nodded their acknowledgement. Satisfied that the comms were working and that there gear was ready, Cisco, Digg and Oliver turned to leave. But Caitlin called out, "Wait!"

She held a spray can in her hands. "This is a spray-on protective gel resin. Make sure you cover all exposed areas of your skin. And this," she said as she held out 3 small medical jet injector guns, "is what's left of Ray's nannites. If you've been exposed, just hold the barrel against the affected area of the skin then fire. Just make sure you surround the area, so repeat when necessary. Each gun is only good for three shots, so make them count. It's not a cure, but it'll buy you time to get back here."

The guys thanked her and took their leave.

"Protective gel resin?" Felicity whispered conspiratorially as she recognized the can her friend had given the men. It was a spray-on beauty facial mask.

"Well, it does coat your face with a thin yet protective polymer coat," Caitlin smiled unapologetically. Every bit of protection helps.

Starling City, Arrow Cave, 11:00 pm

They were buried in paper. Oliver's workbench now looked like a veritable crafts table. Despite Felicity's penchant for going paperless, Tommy Merlyn liked his data on good old white pulp. So, after a cursory search for similarities in some or all records, he printed out the files returned by the query. It was probably a fifth of the size of the trove Felicity had sent over but it still produced two hefty sheaves. Armed with highlighters and a couple of scissors, Tommy and Laurel had color-coded the accounts, cut them out and pinned them on a map.

So far, they found six accounts that had the routing information of the same bank in Panama, four in Corto Maltese and another two in Hasaragua – and that all these accounts belong to one shell company or other. Boy, these guys love their money and South America, Tommy thought as he parsed yet another page of data.

"Tommy!" Laurel said as she jumped up from her pile.

"What?" he asked as he looked up from his own sheaf. He knew her well enough to know that she's got something.

"They all reroute their money from bank to bank after every few days," she said as she showed him several papers from her stack. She had been tracking movement while he was the one digging into the shell companies.

"But all the accounts seem to end up wiring a portion to four bank accounts regularly – all in Gotham, specifically the Gotham National Bank."

Tommy whistled, "Can somebody yell 'conspiracy' now?" They all knew what Gotham National Bank was. It was laundry central for the shadiest of the shady.

"It's still a theory," Laurel cautioned. "We need more proof."

Don't shoot me, please. I promise, Barry's sleeping beauty shtick serves an ultimate purpose. Hint: Fluff!

Anyway, don't hesitate to point out gaping plot holes and other things I could address in the run up to the wrap-up. Let me know what you think below! Reviews feed the muse! Kisses!

P.S. I'm taking suggestions for sinister-but-benign-sounding law firm names - kinda like the Buffyverse's Wolfram & Hart but with a DC spin. Let me know ASAP, if you are so inclined. ;)