Nothing But Each Other
PenPatronus
Chapter 5
Never Give UP

Dr. Elizabeth Sheets picked up the electron microscope and threw it across the room to the opposite wall. Young Liz, also clothed in a white doctor's coat and sporting pale blonde hair, approached her elder twin and asked what was wrong. "We can't clone The Flash," Elizabeth yelled, tossing her hands up into the air. "His cells… I can't understand them, let alone replicate them! They're…"

"Supernatural." Young Liz cocked her head to the side. "We knew this was likely."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You know me… I get my hopes up."

Young Liz disappeared for a minute, then reappeared with another microscope. After adding blood to a slide and placing it under the scope, she examined it, then stepped aside, inviting Elizabeth to look. Dr. Sheets' joints creaked when she leaned over. Her blonde hair was gray in some places, and the laugh lines on her cheeks were starting to transform into wrinkles. Young Liz was half her age, and just as brilliant. She was the one success in a succession of failures, and Dr. Sheets had only recently figured out why. Now she just needed to prove to The Benefactor that she could clone anyone, without incident. She'd hoped to clone a Meta-human, but the next best thing was a man with the strength, stamina, and skill of Oliver Queen. Her benefactor would love a whole army of Green Arrows.

"Queen's cells. They look promising," Young Liz reported. "They're sticking to the stem cell micro-adhesives."

Dr. Sheets looked through the microscope to confirm. "The stem cells should accept them… If the growth cells do the same, we'll have a fully grown clone by the end of the year." Dr. Sheets stood up tall and grinned.

Young Liz raised her eyebrows. "And what about the prisoners?"

Dr. Sheets snorted. "We officially don't need them anymore, do we?" She turned to the six guards standing watch on the outskirts of the laboratory. "Kill them."

Young, the eldest of the guards, motioned for two of his five comrades to join him. They followed him out of the lab and down the hall. The two prisoners lay on their backs in the cell, both unconscious if not dead. Young gestured for the others to stay behind, unlocked the cell door, and drew his firearm. "Kinda wish you were awake for this," he told Allen and Queen. "That would make it more fun." Young aimed his weapon at Barry's head. "Nowhere to run now…"

Oliver Queen sprung up from the floor. In less than three seconds he broke Young's neck, grabbed his gun, and shot bullets through the other two guards' heads. Three seconds after that the gun fell out of a limp hand, and Oliver, who was breathing heavily, collapsed onto his knees. "No, get up," he whispered to himself. "Come on, Queen, get up." He looked down at Barry, sleeping so innocently, heart still beating, but face so pale. "Get up!" Oliver growled at himself. He picked up the gun, and took the weapons off the other dead guards. He left one gun at Barry's side and pocketed the other one. Before Oliver left the cell, he looked down at the cuffs around Barry's ankles. He had ten minutes.

Oliver booked it down the hallway. He stopped outside the door to the lab, took a moment to catch his breath, then called, "Hey! We need some help out here!"

That lured the first guard out. Oliver put two bullets in him, then slid on his knees into the room, masterfully gliding under the bullets immediately shot by the remaining two guards. Guard number 2 endured a punch in the stomach. Guard number 3 aimed his gun, but Oliver twisted behind number 2 and used him as a shield. The body dropped. Oliver rolled out from under it, dodging two more shots as he went. He stuck his leg out and tripped the guard up. The two rolled, wrestling, both losing their guns in the tussle. Oliver took a punch to the mouth, then one to the eye, then a third one to the nose. He got his own kicks in, but the guard got the upper hand. He put his hands around Oliver's windpipe.

"You son of a bitch!" the guard spat down at him. He squeezed. Oliver, who didn't get a big breath in before the guard started to choke him, was out of oxygen fast. The corners of his eyesight went blurry, then dark.

A gunshot. The guard's eyes widened, then rolled back into his head. He collapsed on top of Oliver, who kicked him aside. Oliver looked to his right to see that Barry had woken and crawled, dragging his broken ankles, all the way down the hall. The gun trembled in his hand. Sweat dripped down his pale white face and he was breathing so heavily that Oliver half-expected him to pass out right then and there. Oliver took the guard's gun and pointed it at the two shocked blonde woman beside a lab table twenty feet in front of him.

"Don't move!" Oliver bellowed. He sat up, and held the gun with both hands to keep it from shaking and missing its mark. Without taking his eyes off the scientists he said, "Barry, come here." Barry sighed. Oliver risked a glance. His friend was lying limp on the ground, staring back with puppy-dog eyes. "Barry, crawl over here, now."

"Oliver, I…" Barry swallowed and sniffed. "Ollie, I think that's all I've got in me…"

A fatigue unlike any Oliver had ever known blossomed in his bones. He was breathing again, but the corners of his vision were still dark. It took everything he had to keep pointing the gun. "Barry," he growled, "I need you to come here. Now." Returning his attention to the scientists, he said, "How do I get those cuffs off him?"

Dr. Sheets was red-faced. "I'm going to put one around your neck," she said.

Young Liz cowered a little bit behind her elder. She opened a drawer and took out what looked like a melon-baller. "Don't hurt us," she begged. And she rolled the device over to Oliver.

"Traitor," Sheets growled at her twin. "Coward."

"It's over," Young Liz snarled back.

"Barry," Oliver called. "Barry."

Barry Allen took three deep breaths, then folded his elbows beneath his chest. Gradually, gracelessly, grunting with every movement and barely containing tears of pain, he managed to crawl to Oliver's side. Oliver held the melon-baller against the cuffs. Both heard a click as the magnets released, and the devices dropped to the floor. Barry put his face against the inside of his elbow and sighed with relief.

Tension released in Oliver's chest, just for a few precious moments. "Now," he said, glaring at the two women, "You're going to show us how to get out of here."

To Be Continued