Barry Allen

"FORGET THE RELATIONSHIP. MAKE IT A PARTNERSHIP. AND BUILD AN EMPIRE"

There's just something elaborately freeing about being able to watch the world in slow motion. To run through the streets, and cities, and take a moment to glimpse the people around you, their faces, their stances, their emotions. The things they try to hide within three seconds that I can grasp in one.

Today, the couple waiting in the limo catches my eye; Roberta and Jacob Stewart. Purposely slowing down my run a few notches, I take the seconds given to me to observe Central City's so-called celebrity couple through the window of their luxurious, shiny limousine.

Roberta owned her own fashion line (Iris constantly raves about it) which was initially given to her by her husband, Jacob, who owns a series of bars throughout America and Asia, the power couple were most definitely striking in all sense to the outer eye, but are apparently having all sorts of trouble from what I'm witnessing at the moment.

The inside of the limo is a mess. Not in the literal sense; the limo is polished clean and not one fluke is out of place. The two occupants, however, contrast greatly to their environment. Mr and don't work very well together; they keep hissing at each other, pushing body parts for space, losing files, train of thoughts, talking too loud, thinking too loud. I suppose it's the reason why the two opted to participate as silent partners in the others' business; they do not work well at all, they're terrible partners. No, they are a terrible team. A terrible couple in general, based on the extremely dirty looks being traded in the vehicle with absolutely no love or affection in them.

"Earth to Barry Allen!"

I come screeching to a halt, to the surprise of the city bystanders having lunch at the local park, trying to get Cisco's voice to stop ringing through my ears.

"Not cool Cisco."

I wince when he speaks again, paying no mind to my ringing ear by using his same tone, "Metahuman alert. The museum. He's been wreaking havoc for the past minute, all of which I wasted calling your name while you were twirling around Central City."

"I wasn't—"

"Bare, finish up with this metahuman and then we can talk about your habit of spying," Joe's attempt to stop an argument before it even starts,works, and I'm in front of the Museum in seconds.

"Are you sure this is a meta, Cisco?" I ask my partner confusedly when I see the man in the middle of the parking lot, firing guns at everyone and everything.

"He got hit by the particle accelerator. Criminal activity tripled since then and success rate also went up. And by that, I mean he was successful every single time. So, yes, Barry, this is probably a meta." Cisco's voice hasn't gotten any less quiet or sarcastic in the last ten seconds.

It's why I'm grateful when Caitlin decides to take over, "Metahuman or not, can we just bring the guy in?"

I have no response to that, but to speed in front of the man himself, a tall, well-built man. His face is covered by an elaborate mask, placed carefully so that he isn't identifiable, but so that I can see his clear expressions without any trouble.

My easygoing smile is immediately wiped off, when I see the man's face break into a wide grin when he sees me. He's nowhere near surprised and warning bells instantly go off in my head because this guy didn't attack a museum to get money; he did it to get me.

"You're late." He seethes, grin still in place, still unnerving me.

"Good thing I'm fast," and I run towards him, handcuffs out, watching with curious amusement that morphs into horror as he throws his weapon away and punches me, in the stomach, sending me flying.

As I struggle to take a breath, I wince and curse at the loud screaming and callings in my ear and get up despite my protesting muscles, "Cisco, what did you say his powers were?"

His answer is immediate, for once, "I didn't. I don't know."

I look at the gleeful man in front of me, and groan out loud.

This is not going to end well for me.

"Nothing." Caitlin asks for the fourth time in bewilderment.

I shake my head for the fourth time, "Nothing."

I flinch in pain when Cisco, body slams into me; his hipbone coming sharply into contact with my bruised one. He winces, but shrugs unapologetically,

"Sorry bud. I need to try to pull up as much info as I can on this is guy since there is absolutely nothing on him and you're in my way."

I roll my eyes, "How about an excuse me?"

"You know what Barry—" Cisco is cut off by Joe, his hand still midair in the classic Cisco-sass-moment pose.

"Alright you two." Joe grumbles.

"So, what do we know about this meta so far?" He questions, asking all of us, but looking at Caitlin, who always has this sort of information stored in her head.

"He's somehow immune to the dark matter that was released during the explosion. Meaning that whenever Barry uses speed to achieve something, it doesn't affect him. So Barry can throw a punch, or try to cuff him, but as long as Barry uses his speed to achieve those things, it won't work. It's almost as if he's a ghost to meta humans."

"Right," Joe adds, "And let's not forget the amount of training this guy has. He's like some sort of soldier ninja. I've never seen anyone fight like that before."

I haven't either. Never have I ever faced someone who fights like a super assassin that's been trained all his life. No one but...

It's as if Cisco reads my thoughts because with a smile that looks excessively gleeful for the situation we're in, he excitedly asks, "Does this mean we have to call the Arrow?"

I nod along, hoping that my face doesn't betray the excitement makes me want to jump up and down like a kid on Christmas Day.

I'm teaming up with the Arrow!

He walks into the lab like a predator; Hood up, mask in place, bow gripped tightly, quiver filled to the brim. His companion the absolute opposite; flowy bright pink dress, bright smile, tablet swinging lazily, and a skip to every step.

Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak cannot be more different.

But I'm too drained to try to think about their complex relationship right now. Joe was right; this team is a mess. We've tried spending the last few hours brainstorming ideas to figure out who our mystery man may be and how to find him, but each of us had suggested a different method to figure it out, arguing over the best one. We then tried each of our methods, running a citywide scan for men with the features that slightly resembled our mystery man; Cisco and I ended up in an almost fist fight over the controller, and Caitlin kept messing up our instructions, pulling up the wrong pieces of information. My idea was to run around the city and for Cisco to play it in slow motion; he kept changing his mind from left to right and he would call out a direction too late. Caitlin groaned in frustration before shutting herself into her lab and doing God knows what as we waited for Starling City's heroes to make an appearance.

The ginger doctor only appears when they do, taking the time to explain the issue and everything we have learned so far, to them, knowing that Cisco and I will stumble over ourselves trying to form full sentences in front of a broody, scary looking Oliver Queen fully decked out in his Arrow gear.

He nods slowly and I can see the wheels in Oliver and Felicity's brain turning, storing the information in, the latter plugging something into her tablet, her brightly painted nails making a contrast to the screen.

Her gaze is then immediately directed to the series of high tech computers placed neatly on the table, and she gives me a pleading look, and I know Felicity well enough to understand what has got her so agitated.

"Go ahead you two. We're going to take a long break because we're out of ideas and brain power." I say, resuming my seat at the comfortable cushion I stole from Joe.

Felicity gives me a dopey grin before she wiggles her fingers in front of her... Partner, friend, boss?

"Playtime." She grins before a blush coats her cheek and she rushes to continue, "In a completely platonic way."

For the first time since he got here, Oliver's face breaks into a small grin before they both walk in front of the computer screen, Felicity takes a seat and Oliver positions himself behind her.

"So we have no facial recognition or name." She speaks mostly to herself, breaking everything down into smaller bits.

"We've worked with less." Oliver murmurs, his eyes never leaving the screen.

Cisco discreetly presses a few buttons on the large screen in front of us so that we can see the movements made by Felicity on the monitors.

Oliver makes a move, and I watch in amused fascination when Felicity slides her chair to the right, accommodating him before he even reaches his destination.

Not blinking an eye at the smooth transition, Oliver points to the screen that is playing the version of the attack that was recorded from my suit.

"If we can obtain another perspective, like the—"

"Traffic cameras at the back."She finishes his sentence.

"Been there. Done that." Joe says, walking in, sending a thorough unimpressed look at Oliver that has him stiffening.

His shoulders only return to their previously relaxed position when Felicity's hand gently covers his, and even from the distance I can see the reassuring squeeze and the smile that the vigilante gains.

They're stuck in their own little bubble; Felicity smiles silent words of comfort to the man staring down affectionately at her when he perks up, an idea formed and in place.

He speaks only to the blonde expert beside him, "Traffic Cameras."

Felicity gives Oliver a questioning glance, and I silence Joe, who is about to speak; I haven't known them for long, but I have been a witness to the major outbreaks team Arrow has had, and their ability to find simple, efficient solutions in the matter of seconds.

Oliver walks over to the empty counter and proceeds to remove his quiver after placing the bow on the surface all the while explaining, "We don't have to look at the cameras near the Museum, because whoever this is, he must have—"

He doesn't get far into the explanation because Felicity cuts him off short, finishing his thought in that creepy way of theirs.

"—gotten to the museum either on bus or car. But we're going to assume car—"

"—because he was carrying a large gun that would have surely attracted unwanted attention and our villain doesn't like surprises so—"

"He wasn't willing to take on the Flash anywhere else but the designated area that he wanted. I'm pulling up the cameras from the intersections around the museum. Guys," she focuses on us for the first time, "look at each of the cameras on the screen and see if one of them is your mystery man."

Unable to saying anything else, we follow her instructions without an argument or questions, our eyes scanning the screen in front of us while our (mine, but from the way Cisco and Joe's face's are reacting, they're doing it too) ears are paying close attention to the conversation behind us.

"Very smooth Mr. Queen. You're handling this better than I expected. No bumps or potholes in the way"

"What exactly are we talking about Ms Smoak?"

"Your initial disagreement to come here to fight some metahuman. You're doing amazing actually."

"Really? I could have sworn that you were talking about the bike ride we had. Speaking of, you did very well too Ms Smoak, no screaming or panicking, and although I might have a bruised abdomen tomorrow morning, I'm glad you didn't squeeze me to death."

Feeling as if I'm interrupting a very private... Intimate moment, I turn around swiftly, just in time to see the wink that Oliver gives to Felicity that sends her blushing a shade that could match my suit. At my cleared throat, his charming smirk is replaced by murder and battle.

I'm about to tell him that we can't find our guy (and to please stop having eye sex in front of children) when Caitlin's voice stops us all in our tracks,

"That's him."

The next few minutes are a swarm of frenzy. I'm suited up and ready and Felicity walks across her room with her tablet, running a second set of searches with a different program that she created.

The rest of us can only watch in morbid fascination as Oliver and Felicity walk around the small space of the lab that they occupy without any accidents.

She ducks out of the way when he swings his quiver behind his back, and shuffles to the side when he flings his bow once, all the while keeping her gazed fixed on his tablet. He moves to the side when she needs to type something in and manages to zip up his jacket while she puts on his mask without their hands turning into a pile of messy limbs.

And then Joe, Oliver and I walk out the front door to where we know Adam Rivera spends almost all his time, according to his dark green jeep; a secluded campsite off the outskirts of town, perfect for a nice battle that doesn't involve any civilians.

Making sure that not even a trace of the speedforce is outwardly present, I hitch a ride with Joe because neither Oliver or I want for me to get on behind him on that tiny motorcycle that needs two people to be absolutely flushed together (and now my over imaginative brain has images of Oliver and Felicity on this bike.)

"How about Davens?" Oliver's voice comes over the Comms, and I feel my brows scrunch in confusion over his question.

"No way! He doesn't give two cents about anybody but himself. Not even his company." Felicity retorts back vehemently, understanding dawning upon me that this is one of those sacred Oliver and Felicity moments and people are expected to listen and not interrupt.

"Which is why the merge should be easy." Oliver says as a matter- of- fact.

Felicity scoffs over her comms and I can almost picture her eye roll, "it's also why his company is in shambles and on the verge of being bankrupt."

"Did you—"

"Hack into the Bryce Daven's company? Yeah. I needed a valid reason other than the fact that he's a creep and I don't like him to convince you to not take the offer to work with him because I know that you were considering it."

Oliver's responding sigh sounds partially amused and knowing, "And you know that because you looked at my internet history and I searched the company up."

Felicity's defence is quick and loud, "Hey, I was just making sure you didn't do any more ridiculous online shopping. And by that, I mean purchasing ridiculously expensive shoes for one blonde IT expert as an apology for hiring her as an EA knowing that she'll never refuse the shoes and let those poor babies go to someone else. You don't play fair Queen."

"I never said I would." He huffs out a breathy chuckle and I choose to ignore the flirty undercurrent in his tone.

"And besides, you should know better than to believe Google. It's absolute zero integrity. You'll be better off with me. "

The car comes to a stop near the park and we get out, spotting Oliver casually leaning against his Ducati, talking to...whatever Felicity is to him, I don't even know anymore.

He spots us and gives us a nod as we silently trek through the forest, making our way to the edge of the campsite, where we know our culprit is resting.

"Should I turn off the comms?" Oliver quietly whispers into the darkness, even though we're quite a distance away from our desired area. Oliver can probably run there, but he probably doesn't want to leave Joe and I behind, or he most likely wants to continue talking to Felicity.

Speaking of, she responds to his question, "Nah, we both saw that guy fight on the video. You'll be able to beat him in seconds. Those thugs you fought a couple of weeks ago were better than this guy."

This time, I get to see the huff of laughter on his face and I'm once again reminded of all the reasons I was insecure when Iris ogled at Oliver Queen.

"No, they weren't."

Felicity also huffs, but in exasperation instead, "Okay, but you can still beat him in seconds. We still need to talk about all the reasons why you shouldn't do this merger."

We come to a stop when we spot the relatively large tent, placed right along the edge of the lake. Oliver throws the Hood over his head, obstructing us all from his face, but I can easily picture the look on his face when he says,

"Felicity, you don't like him. There is no way I'm doing this merge."

It's probably the same look I get on my face when Iris fails to understand the extent of my feelings for her, just his look is probably less moody and bitter since the women he loves knows every single nook and cranny of him.

The last thing I hear is Joe and Cisco groaning loudly in my ear, the former whispering conversationally to the rest of us poor spectators,

"I can't handle any more of this."

I only smile before running off to fight alongside Oliver, who clearly doesn't need any help, from the way he's pinned Rivera down on the ground.

Oliver and Felicity take their leave an hour after a successful meta hunt, chicken pot pie, and a major business deal (made during dinner).

They both leave on the subway, after Felicity refused to get on Oliver's bike once more, and Oliver, being the lovesick little puppy he is, followed his partner (finally found a suitable term to define them), asking me to flash the Ducati to Starling.

And since I have all the time in the world, I play my little game as I speed through the streets of Central City, armed with an expensive bike that would cost me a fortune.

And once again, I pass and slow down when I spot the Stewarts, doing their 'daily scroll through the neighbourhood' more for the paparazzi than themselves. Their hands are linked together, but they walk with a reasonable distance between them, awkwardly shifting so that they can compensate each other.

They should really think about getting a divorce. Their marriage is making no one more miserable than their own selves. They can't sit in a spacious limo together without causing a mess, they can't actively participate and get involved in the other's business affairs despite owning half of it, they can't casually walk down the streets tied to the hip because they're going to get themselves hurt.

They don't work well together, they're not a good team, they're not even a team. Not like Oliver and Felicity.

Jacob Stewart doesn't look at his wife the way Oliver looks at Felicity. Roberta Stewart doesn't trust her husband like Felicity trusts Oliver. I don't think anyone has the electrifying connection that Oliver and Felicity has; the ability to sense the other from a mile away, their bodies so attuned to each other's movements. I've never witnessed any two people able to keep on the same line of thought so accurately that they're finishing each other's sentences. Jacob would never consult with Roberta over anything related to his business and Roberta wouldn't do it either; even if she did, there is no way I see her actually taking her husband's opinion and suggestions into consideration. And above all, while Jacob and Roberta may be 'happily' married for quite some years now, they lack the one thing that Oliver and Felicity have, the one aspect all relationships should have.

Partnership.

"Guys like us don't get the girl"

For the first time in my entire life, I am positively sure that Oliver Queen is wrong.

"WE ARE NOT A TEAM BECAUSE WE WORK TOGETHER. WE ARE A TEAM BECAUSE WE RESPECT, TRUST, AND CARE FOR EACH OTHER."

Barry Allen knows that Oliver Queen and Felicity will be successful in both vigilantism and whatever unknown thing they have going on between them because they are a team; partners.