A/N: Un-betaed. Probably never gonna be edited because my real life is growing hectic. Read at your own risk.
"Barry, you're adorably insane."
Barry grinned. It was not the kind of good-natured grin he often displayed around Team Frost, but the kind of impish grin that made his companion instantly prayed that Hanukkah was not cancelled. Really. That grin was the premonition of ruined festivities.
She then half-heartedly tossed a sugar packet in his direction as a silent berating.
Barry laughed.
"I'm serious, dum-dum," she flicked another sugar packet at him. "You actually have friends this time around. Can you please bring an actual plus-one?"
"Hey, Charlotte is a perfect dame," he giggled, slipping easily to the light-hearted tone of comfortable familiarity. "Do not insult my lady, Felicity."
"You do realise that you're going straight down the path of bestiality, right?" Felicity huffed, albeit a bit half-heartedly as an exasperated smile appeared on her face right the next second.
"What's new?" Barry smiled, all innocent and sunshiny.
He received a powerful slap to his left arm for that.
"Charlotte is a dog, Barry," Felicity pouted, seemingly like she was trying to stab her coffee with the spoon. "You're going to bring a formerly abused pitbull as your plus-one to my boyfriend's gala. What the hell, Barry?"
"I've been doing that for years," Barry shrugged, wrapping his fingers around the mug to warm himself. "And she's doing better with people."
"If she bites anyone—"
"She won't," Barry interrupted before she could even finish talking. "Plus, some of the girls in the shelter would enjoy a night-out. What kind of a man I would be if I didn't take them out for a fancy date?"
"Ugggghhhh," she groaned, tilting her chair back till it was balanced on two flimsy legs, hands thrown up in the air. "Get yourself a new girlfriend, Barry."
Barry grimaced, his hand itched to destroy the little bug in the folds of his collar.
Felicity Smoak was not a tactful person.
"Ow, Felicity," Barry sighed mournfully instead, twisting his facial expression to that of an exaggerated wounded look, using his good hand to clutch on the crisp fabric of his shirt right above his heart. "You want me to replace my departed love so quickly?"
Credits to her, she hid her laugh in an acceptable guilty squeak. Her hand was stretched across the little table, grasping lightly on the wrist of his good hand. It looked like a comforting gesture, especially if you were watching from a far and all that you could see was this woman gently grasping the wrist of the friend that just received the brunt of her tactless words.
Her guilty facial expression sold the act too.
It was fairly difficult to make out the little taps of her index finger along his wrist if you weren't close enough.
"I'm sorry, Barry. That was tactless of me," she said, solemn and regretful, yet her fingers mischievously tapped;
Ears nearby?
Barry quirked a gentle smile and laced her fingers with his, keeping them against his chest. He traced his finger along her palm, tapping his reply with a barely restrained eyeroll. Ears everywhere.
Then, he faked a cough, his left hand let go of hers to support the "broken" one from his sudden movement, but he took the chance to tip his head towards the diner across the street. Felicity's gaze darted briefly to the wide glass window of the opposite diner, eyes skimming past the patrons and lingered just long enough on the only person who didn't seem like he belonged in the homey diner.
Barry shot her a warning glare when it was obvious that she was about to break into uncontrollable giggle right there and then.
Felicity Smoak tried to use the adorable puppy eyes at him.
It didn't work. Of course, it didn't. Barry was the patron saint of puppy eyes. She couldn't beat him at his own game.
She then rolled her eyes at him but seemed to comply to his silent warning. Squeezing his left shoulder once, she retreated to comfortably lean against her chair, busying her hands around the warmth of the porcelain mug instead.
"Must be nice to be followed around by so many dogs," she hummed, only the edge of her smirk was visible from behind the porcelain mug.
Barry's chuckle was low and genuinely entertained. "Yeah, it is," he grinned, smiling softly. "Felt like I had my very own loyal guard dogs. Although I don't own them."
The glint in Felicity's eyes were mischievously teasing.
"Barry, oh, Barry," she started forlornly. "My sweet innocent Barry boo…"
Barry has forgotten how much he hated that nickname until she used it again.
"Don't get dramatic with me, Felicity," he warned, voice stern and borderline crossing the line of threatening. "No."
As per usual, she ignored him.
"You're so likeable among animals but, you still can't bring a human as a plus-one to the gala…," she sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Barry?"
"Geez, what's with you and my plus-one?" Barry grimaced, honestly not liking the tiny twitch of her lips.
She was about to say something embarrassing that would probably made his security detail across the street to blush. He just knew it.
"I kinda feel sad because you don't have a date," she pouted, her gaze darted expectantly at the hunched man across the street in a way that made Barry instantly braced himself for her incoming blow. "Like, you're a really nice guy. Old-fashioned romantic on the outside, kinky freak between the sheets inside."
Barry's eyes widened.
Across the street, one of the patron has spilled his coffee all over his lap while a perfectly good grilled cheese ended up flat on the floor. Also, one fork was permanently embedded in the poor, poor, polished wooden table.
But, oh…Felicity was not done.
"Felicity, NO," Barry mouthed at her, shaking his head.
Felicity beamed at him—red-painted lips stretched wide to reveal her teeth.
"I mean, remember back in MIT? Wow, if only you were actually a student there….," she started to ramble, tapping meticulously on her phone that Barry had this distinct hunch that if the diner across the street had a security camera, the feed was already compromised. "Like, one would never know that you're such a devil unless they spent a hella lot of time attached to the hips with you."
The guy across the street has suspiciously frozen in place.
"Felicity."
"I'm so delighted that I was assigned as your buddy back then," Felicity giggled, pointedly ignoring him, relishing the mortified horror on Barry's face and the stunned shock of the guy across the street with a delightful grin of her own. "Got more than I sign up for," she beamed despite his wide-eyed glare. "I thought I was assigned to this cute guy from Central, and boom, it was the prodigal genius who also was delightfully kinky dude."
"Felicity Smoak."
"Oh, Barry," Felicity sighed. "I particularly enjoyed our time together, boo. You showed me the very different perspectives of the most mundane of things~"
Barry grimaced, honestly grateful that they chose a secluded corner in the coffee shop. God, if this conversation was heard by the press, he would be neck deep in scandals.
Felicity enjoyed embarrassing him.
She leant closer, her smirk was wolfish and taunting.
Barry backed away till his back was pressed flush against the wood of his chair, his lips pulled back in an uncomfortable grimace. Nuh-uh. He ain't gonna bite her bait. Felicity rolled her eyes and pouted when he didn't react like she wanted him to.
That didn't stop her from continuing the embarrassment, though.
"And that pleasurable lesson! Remember when you crashed in my dorm for the whole weekend and no one noticed?" she grinned, eyebrows wriggled playfully. "The highlight of my university years, really. The long, painstaking hours on the creaky dormitory bed, getting you to get it right….."
Oh, how delightful of her to imply that painstakingly long weekends of hacking lesson as something remotely pleasurable.
Barry grimaced, shaking his head. That memory alone hurt his brain. Hacking was hard even if you have acceptable IT skills to survive in the world.
She pouted at him in return, winking back uncomfortably flirtatious.
"I'm extremely satisfied in the end, so it was worth it," she said.
"Oh my god."
"You're a fast learner, I give you that," she stated, like it was a perfectly normal thing to describe something that could be inferred as sexual in public places like this. "But do you have any idea how hot you were when you're angry and sputtering out swear words like it was your first language?"
Barry winced.
Fucking hell, Felicity. Have some mercy to my bodyguard, will you? Poor guy already turning into weird mix of pink and green.
"So fucking hot," she purred, and Barry almost pitied the guy who was listening in through the bug on his collar. "That long hours of lecture I had to endure for my bed that you break was so worth it."
Felicity, don't make my frustration-induced vandalism sounds like hardcore sex. What the hell woman.
"Does Queen know how much of a pervert you are?" Barry cut her off, attempting poorly to stop her from continue traumatising his poor security detail. "Because I think he needed to know that you're harassing one of his most important clients."
"Meh, go and complain to him Barry," Felicity shrugged, barely fazed. "I'm just gonna tell him that you used to fuck me through the dormitory mattress, then I might have to ask him if he would be interested in exploring his silent appreciation of your ass and if the three of us could have a wonderful threesome."
Barry winced.
Nope. Nope, nope, nope, He rather took the Flash and Savitar both, despite how crazy and violently kinky those two were.
"What the hell, woman," he gaped, shaking his head at the image. "Queen is my business partner."
Felicity clicked her tongue, waving her index finger in front of his face in a patronizing manner. "One, drunk Oliver couldn't stop rambling about the sexy ass of that one famous brunette doctor from Central with mesmerizing green eyes," she grinned, and Barry suddenly had the needs to lean as far away as possible from her. "And two, think of the discount you can get for your next purchase if you joined our bed."
"Felicity."
"Plus, your tailor did a fine job for your suit. Such a perfect view."
"What," Barry blinked in disbelief.
"Wanna see some of the pretty snapshots of your rear?"
"Felicity, what the fuck?"
One wary glance across the street showed Barry that his bodyguard was no longer visible from the diner's window.
Felicity's smile was positively devious when she offered her phone. Barry almost instantly cringed, half-expecting to see obscene paparazzi quality of his anatomy, only to be pleasantly surprised at the data displayed on her screen.
He has forgotten that she was the best hacker in the world and was very much capable to run a quick facial recognition and background check on his bodyguard right in the middle of their coffee date.
"Felicity," he sighed, lips forming a gentle exasperated smile.
"What?" she grinned. "You think I'd have pictures of your ass?"
"Well…"
"I still have the ones from back then."
"What—?!"
"I kinda like your nude better when you were much younger."
Barry took a few seconds to recover from that unwanted information.
"I was nineteen," he hissed, jaw barely slacked in mortified horror.
"You're already legal," she shrugged and sighed dreamily. "So cute and innocent and delightfully corrupt-able."
"Felicity."
"What happened to that innocent puppy?" she mourned, sniffling to her knuckles. "Barry, my boo, you grew up wrong."
Barry gaped, seeking for words of retort, only to let out choked incoherent noises instead. Why oh why his first was a shamelessly perverted dangerous woman?
"And wow, some of your loyal dogs have really interesting background."
That sudden shift made him close his gaping mouth to stare blankly at her, lips twitched to smile. That was the quickest transition from mindless perverted topic to topics that actually mattered he had ever seen her did.
"Can't expect all of them to live with rainbows and sunshine," he shrugged, the relief was evident in his breath.
Felicity was completely right, though. What an interesting background Agent Barnes had.
Huh, time to brush up his super rusty Russian. Not something that Barry was looking forward to, considering the number of beatings he used to receive while learning the language, but he had his fingers crossed that he could still dig out the old knowledge of the language from the depth of his subconscious.
If he could say one of the agent's passcodes, he would have one distraction in his arsenal. Lovely.
"By the way," Felicity said, lowering her voice to a mere whisper. "What about Frost? You're close to her. Why not her as a plus-one?"
Barry frowned, a bit taken aback at the sudden shift of the conversation. He instantly observed the foam of his coffee, making an exaggerated effort of admiring the colour as the cogs of his brain spun to come up with a reason he didn't ask Frost out. It would have been an easy choice, considering that they were professionals of the same field, and their connections could easily be explained without exposing her night job.
The answer was easy—the last time he agreed to date the woman who wanted to put him behind bars, it didn't end up well.
But, that wasn't a good answer, especially when he has a highly-trained secret agent listening in just across the street.
"I don't think she wants to be my arm candy for the whole night while I walked around pretending that I'm capable to socialize like a normal human," Barry eventually deadpanned, settling with the most honourable answer. "At least people wouldn't expect normalcy from the eccentric guy who brought a dog as his date."
Felicity crinkled her nose. "Hopeless."
"I'm a busy man," he shrugged. "It's hard to pick up a proper date when you're spending your time with terminally sick people, lab equipment and shelter animals."
He received a creamer packet to his chest for that.
"I still don't know how you manage your time," Felicity smiled, resting her elbows on the table so that she could lean her face against her palm. "In between your multiple jobs, your volunteerisms and your hobby—man, how do you even have a life?"
"That's the secret, Felicity," Barry grinned, being mindful of his cast as he leant over the table. "I don't have a life."
Felicity tossed another creamer packet at him. "Why are you like this…," she grumbled. "It has been months, Barry. Move on. Spare my heart from the pain of never being able to marry you off, will you?"
"Maybe I'll wait a couple more years," he grinned, half-teasing.
Okay, not really. He was kinda serious about that.
While it seemed like he has found a loophole to not be so down about Iris—which, as Savitar so helpfully pointed out that he wouldn't feel anything if he didn't consciously remember the good memories with her—he would need a hell lot longer time to fix his trust issue.
Not to mention that his biggest problem right now was that he might have grew fondness on Frost—who happened to be the number one person who wanted to put him behind bars at the moment.
Barry trembled as a heavy sigh escaped his lips.
He really has a kink on falling for his own nemesis, huh?
"You and your luck with women," Felicity hummed, and although her tone was casual, there was an underlying hint that she too was on the same line of thought of him. "You'd always ended coveting women who are a tricky match for you."
"Must be why we didn't work out," he retorted, scowling. "You're so easy of a match."
"Oooh, ouch, dude."
" You agree with everything that I'm interested in."
"Your mind is a fascinating nutcase, bruh," Felicity snorted, hardly fazed.
Barry cocked an eyebrow, lips twisted to a scowl—the unspoken 'oh, really?' translated to his facial expression.
Felicity's responding grin was devilish.
"Don't get me wrong, the sex was great," she purred, eyes closed obscenely. "And you knew how to treat your woman despite being completely and adorably innocent," she opened her eyes, brows wriggled playfully as Barry cringed away. "But, Barry honey-boo-boo, our chemistry is so good that I ended up seeing you as a little brother instead."
Barry stared blankly at her, torn in between gaping in disbelief or scowling at the offensive nickname.
"Little brother," he repeated.
"Yep."
"Yeah, Felicity. That'd make our youthful rendezvous less awkward."
"I regret nothing," she smirked behind her coffee mug. "If I'm still single or my boyfriend isn't a possessive guy with fetish of pointy sharp objects, I wouldn't mind a pleasurable encore trip down that memory lane."
Barry groaned and tossed a fistful of sugar packets towards her.
Being the only powerless man with nothing "useful" to bring to the table apart from his medical expertise should have made Barry felt insufficient standing in the same warehouse with the teams of heroes. Heck, considering that he was still faking a broken arm, even his medical expertise was useless. Barry was officially the most useless one out here in this Starlabs' warehouse-slash-hangar that they used as the rendezvous point for the anti-aliens meet up.
Logically, Barry should feel insecurely useless among these people.
Surprisingly, all that Barry could think of was to not laugh out loud.
Agent Barnes refused to meet his gaze.
The huge menacing man was so focused on counting the scratches on the plane next to him to even bother paying attention towards everyone else, even when Felicity halted long enough to stare at him as she made the headcount.
Barnes apparently didn't notice Felicity's pout when she didn't get his attention.
Must have been a blow of ego to her.
"Team SHIELDS is here," Felicity eventually announced, walking straight up towards the front where Barry was sitting, her skirts twirled as she spun about to locate the scattered wary teams of heroes. "Team Legends is here," she gestured towards Sara and her crew, "Team Arrow is also here," she nodded at the frowny Oliver, "…and finally, Team Frost," she giggled, voice a pitch higher as she squeezed hands with Caitlin and Lisa like they were a reunited high school BFFs.
Barry resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
You think that Barry was the two-faced enemy within the team? Felicity was even worst. She was the multiple-faced demon within two different teams of heroes.
"That's everyone, right?" she asked, looking at both Dr. Wells and Caitlin for confirmation.
"I presumed so," Dr. Wells smiled, relaying the question to Steve and Sara with a quick glance to their direction.
"All dispatched personnel are present and accounted for," Steve confirmed with a smile.
Barry noticed that Oliver flinched slightly in discomfort.
That reaction made sense. Both Team Frost and Team Arrow have a not-so-pleasant scramble with military in the past. And three out of the four present members of Team SHIELDS practically screamed military and danger through their demeanour. Their spartan discipline was prominent even with the easy smile on Steve's face, the unsure hunch of Agent Barnes's massive frame and the bored-out smirk on the redhead woman. Steve and Barnes themselves were intimidating even when they were standing harmlessly there, and the redhead petite woman made Barry flinched in discomfort even when she just stood there looking visually unarmed.
Barry has no idea why the twitchy greying man he vaguely recognized as Dr. Banner was dispatched with the deadly-looking team though.
"Nate and Amaya are back at the Waverider," Sara explained, a little bit more at ease and casual as compared to Steve. "They're newbies."
"And Cisco and Len are off—"
Before Felicity could finish talking, there was the ever-familiar burst of blue vortex, as Cisco and Len stumbled out with yet another familiar face that Barry regret to recognize.
It was weird seeing the alive version of the corpse he spent the last few months experimenting on.
Regardless, Barry admitted that Kara Danvers was still a beauty even when her heart was not in a decorative jar and her skin was a healthy glow instead of deathly pale of the corpse Flash has graciously gifted to him as a housewarming gift.
(Yes, Barry was awfully aware that Flash's intention was nowhere close as gracious and generous.)
(No, he was trying to gauge Barry's reaction and Barry has sure damn well passed that test.)
Such contrasting difference, yet the beauty still remains—a proof that beauty transcended through age and death. If she wasn't one of the people that would put him behind bars, Barry would've personally thanked her. The study he conducted on her doppelganger's corpse has helped immensely with his research and cure development.
Such a shame. To not know that the death of her doppelganger has contributed in the progress of saving so many lives on this Earth.
"Kara!" Caitlin and Lisa cheered, engulfing the alien in a tight group hug.
"So glad to see you two again," Kara giggled too, returning the hug, albeit with a more restrained force. Though, her smile faded right the next second, her voice was soft and heavy with guilt when she added; "I'm sorry about, y'know…," she struggled, tipping her head meekly.
"It's okay, Kara," Caitlin smiled, squeezing Kara's shoulder once and went for another hug. "Iris would understand. You need to save your own sister after all."
"I still feel bad," Kara whimpered. "Is she really, um, back…?"
Caitlin and Lisa nodded.
Barry, on the other hand, resisted the urge to snort. How the hell everyone seemed to eat up the drama Flash orchestrated without any doubts was beyond his thinking capacity. Nobody doubted those acts at all, despite the impromptu planning the whole charade was orchestrated.
Sometimes Barry wondered if there was any functional brain in the heroes' collective heads or if there were only a pile of lovey-dovey-friendship mush in there.
Queen cleared his throat from somewhere behind them. "Cait, I thought you said that you're bringing in an alien?"
"Oh, she is," Caitlin grinned, nudging Kara in the ribs. "This is my friend from National City—"
"Supergirl," Thea breathed out. "Ollie, you idiot. How could you not know about Supergirl!" she hissed, slapping on her brother's arm strong enough to make the man flinched.
"What?"
"Supergirl," Thea hissed viciously. "She is all over the net. A superhero like you and Caitlin."
"I don't spend my time googling other vigilantes on Earth," Oliver retorted, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "Star City and Central are already too much on our plate."
Same here, Queen. Barry internally agreed. He too, hasn't been aware of the existence of a Supergirl on his own Earth.
"Oh, that's okay," Kara assured, waving her hand dismissively. "Like, National City is at the opposite end of the nation and you have lots of dangerous guys on your own city. I totally understand that you have no time to look up about me," she beamed, making a good impersonation of sunshine. "Anyway, I'm Kara Danvers, or also known in my city as Supergirl…," she trailed, hunching her shoulders as light flush spread up her cheeks at the intense stares she was receiving.
Silence. It was like everyone was stuck in a brain freeze, as maybe none of them could register the adorable meekness she displayed despite her powerful nightjob alias.
"That is a cool way to travel, Cisco," Kara randomly added when the silence grew awkward, nodding at Cisco.
Cisco grinned, beaming with so much pride at the compliment.
"We figured that if you fly here, it will attract too much unwanted attention," Len smirked, standing inches beside Heatwave—apparently, they have had their own reunion while everyone else was awed by the Supergirl. "And god knows what kind of hectic would it be if Ripper decided to bring in his friends to pick up a fight with us out of pure whim."
Barry's lips twitched to a smile.
"The cocky speedster would've done it without Ripper's interference," Lisa groaned, shuddering a bit.
Barry internally agreed. With his current stress level, Savitar would be all too happy to pick up a fight with Supergirl just out of random spite. He could blow off some steam in that attempted suicide, all the while annoying Barry and causing grief to the Flash in the same time. Win-win situation for Savitar.
Bless the aliens on the other side of universe for distracting that speedster.
"You know, Snow…," Digg muttered, exhaling a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "My life was somewhat normal before I know you."
Caitlin grimaced while few people burst out to loud laughter.
"Honest to god, kid," Digg continued, the exasperation grew along with his heavy sigh. "I used to fight normal criminals. Now we have metahumans, insane necrophiliac serial killer and aliens. What next? Brainwashed super soldier?"
Barnes visibly flinched while the rest of his team stiffened.
Huh. Interesting.
Felicity glanced in Barry's direction, smiling cockily.
Barry decided to not react so that her ego did not grow any larger.
He didn't react to the disappointed gaze and sulky pout that were directed in his direction either.
Barry was mid-assessing the way Barnes seemed to retreat from the laughing crowd to hide behind Steve when he felt a light buzzing against his right thigh—the subtle vibration of his untapped phone, the multiverse communicator. He grimaced at the timing. Being prominently sit out of any activities of the team, Barry was getting real bored at their small talks and self-introduction.
As all attention being diverted to the little circle Caitlin was doing to introduce Kara to the rest of the meet-ups, he checked the device. His brows shot up to his hairline upon reading the simple text from his doppelganger.
We do not take betrayal lightly. Remember that.
Barry was torn in between snorting a laugh or being concerned on what the heck had happened at the other side of universe that Savitar felt the need to warn him like this.
Savitar, wtf?
He texted back, looking up as the girls were finishing up their rounds of introduction. Kara was currently striding around the scattered teams, spinning in a giddy excitement, her cape fluttered behind her, all the while she was beaming like a bright sunshine.
"So…let's see if I get this right," the super alien started, sounding too nervous unlike the woman who could very much smashed them all flat with one attack. "Captain Rogers," she said, pointing to the enormous man.
"Steve would be fine, ma'am."
"Alright!" Kara cheered, moving on to Agent Barnes whom seemed like he wanted to bolt out of there. "Sergeant Barnes…?"
"Agent Barnes," he corrected, tensing like a coiled viper ready to spring for an attack.
Huh, jumpy guy. They put this guy as his security detail? Whose brilliant idea was that?
"Um, okay…," Kara wisely retreated, giving the man space and smiled at Steve's thankful nod. "Dr. Banner and Natasha?"
"That's me," the twitchy grey-haired guy waved while Natasha smirked. "Black Widow," the red-head announced, eyes leering playfully past Kara's shoulders towards Sara.
Oh, great. Good luck, aliens.
When the communicator buzzed and distracted him again, Barry was expecting another one of Savitar's uselessly cryptic quip. To his surprise, this one was from the other, more lethal and unstable doppelganger of his. Barry frowned. How the hell was he supposed to decrypt this series of numbers without attracting anyone's attention? Was it a coordinate? Did the Flash wanted a meet-up? What was going on that even the uselessly dramatic Flash went on the full-blown secrecy mode?
Barry hadn't had time to decide his next course of action when a loud giddy yell had him to almost drop the device.
"Hey!"
Barry promptly switched off the device and hid it when Kara twirled her way towards him. "Hello," he greeted, his smile was wary and a bit tensed.
He didn't know if Kara has mind-reading ability, because if she did, he was superbly fucked.
"You're Dr. Allen, right?" the alien's excited bounce instantly wiped that worry from his mind, making Barry to almost exhale a relieved breath.
That was, until he saw the way Kara's grip was crushing the edge of the table in front of him. Nope. Back to the panicked mode again.
"Yes?" Barry leant away, feeling slightly threatened at the display of her strength. "That's me?"
God, was she going to punch him?
"Oh my god, this is so cool!" Kara bounced, almost looking like she was about to clap and cheer, but she toned it down instantly upon noticing the stares she was receiving. "Look," she said in an almost hushed tone. "I worked for fashion magazine as a journalist and I have this side blog that I'm working on with my baby cousin."
"Um, okay…?"
"I mean, like he is your big fan. Really big fan of yours. He read all of your published works and studied hard so that he could work with you when he grows up," Kara started rambling, arms flapping nervously. "So, if you're okay with it, can like, we have a small interview with you? For our blog? I swear I have enough experience to not make the interview juvenile. We will not embarrass you, I promise. Please? Please?"
Barry's breath came out in a breathless laugh. "Sure," he nodded, still amused above all. "We can try to arrange something around our schedules."
"Great!" she cheered and leant close to kiss his cheek, something that he wasn't expecting at all. "I'll send you a formal e-mail later."
She could have just asked for his number and make it easier.
Barry told her this and she immediately spluttered, arms flapping in excitement as she bounced on her feet. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're so cool!"
Oliver groaned out loud.
"Can we get to the aliens, please?"
This place was not safe.
Someone within this team-up was not what they seemed. They have an enemy within their allies, he was sure about it. He didn't know who. Too many strangers here. The time-travellers, the arrow team, the ice team and Supergirl—he knew nothing about them beside whatever that he has read from their files. They weren't a threat—at least according to the files—but he couldn't be at ease.
He was being watched. He knew it. Someone was observing him.
The hidden knives in his vest seemed to burn for his attention.
There was a brief gentle squeeze on both his wrist and the back of his neck. A quick glance to his sides reveal both of his comrades, both grounding and comforting him. Barnes exhaled a deep breath, quirking a shaky smile to the forever-patient Steve, earning him yet another grounding squeeze on his wrist. Bratty Natty brushed the hair away from his neck, the texture of her gloves distracted him from the needs for his knives, grounding him in place as she stood on tip-toes to tie his hair back. She took far too long time on the task, her hands kept him in the present—another rare kindness of her part. He almost whimpered when those hands left him and retreated to her side.
She stepped closer to him though.
"At ease, Barnes," she murmured. "We're not in danger."
He trusted her judgement that there was no danger, so he forced himself to relax.
Frost and Arrow were leading the briefing, explaining about the aliens and the current plan of action. Barnes didn't bother to listen. There was nothing that Arrow was saying that he hasn't already known. Stark and Banner have briefed them about these Dominators long before they been dispatched here. The alien fleet was like a ticking bomb. They have been circling around Earth for the past few years that it wasn't surprising at all when they decided to attack right now.
Barnes risked a glance at the Target.
The Target was his primary mission, and although his range of 'protect' has widened to the whole world upon the current crisis, his top priority was still Dr. Allen. He kept his watchful gaze on the Target, seeing the shadows of alternate future for Steve in the man, if only the accursed accident never happened.
The thought of that accident had his brain screeching at him, pulling out memories after memories of Steve's assuring words that it wasn't Barnes' fault he ended up serving the people in completely different path than his childhood dream. He tried to shush his agitated brain, because regardless of what Steve said, it was still his fault. Barnes vaguely remember the excited chatters of his old friend as they browsed through the list of the medic courses Steve wanted to enrol in once they graduated high school.
Too bad he had to be infected by Barnes' fucked up blood.
Barnes' face made a weird expression he didn't know how to describe, eyes narrowed towards the Target.
If Target has blond hair and blue eyes, it was so easy to imagine him as Steve.
That annoying little punk Steve who remained in normal-not-enormous-size and was way out of trouble that could kill him. Right. The one who knew he couldn't win a fight and didn't have the strength to punch his way out of all troubles he got himself in. The nerd one who multiple times dragged Barnes into trouble by spending the whole night in the library, browsing and reading through all those complicated books about medics and diseases. That version of his Steve and not this one who only have fights and brawls in his stupid reckless head.
Perhaps because of the intensity of his stare, Target lifted his gaze up from the surface of the table to look at Barnes straight in the eyes. Barnes struggled to remain stoic, not wanting to look any more like a creep, but the Target smiled and waved at him—looking very much like Steve back then when he was still that annoying punk who got into troubles too big for him—and Barnes felt himself tentatively smiling back.
The Target impersonated a sunshine and beamed at him, making Barnes' brain to went haywire and screaming a chant of 'PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT' throughout the whole briefing.
He missed the orders and arrangements of the training, causing both Steve and Natty to frown at him as they nudged him to get into position.
Right. Practice. Aliens. Fight Supergirl. Focus.
Can he do cavity search on Smoak, though? Her words at the coffee shop earlier had Barnes really worried.
Distracted with his own thoughts, Barnes was considerably confused when he found himself stuck between Natty's legs and Canary's breasts as both of them had him pinned to the ground, with a long scorch mark just millimetres from his side.
"Focus, Agent Barnes," Canary huffed, rolling him around to hide behind one of the planes. "Supergirl is not going soft on us."
"Neither will the Dominators," Natty hummed, and Barnes couldn't help but wince at the sight of her awful little shockers thingies. "On the count of three, Canary?"
Canary grinned. "Please," she purred.
Barnes frowned.
Wait. When did they even have the time to form an alliance.
"Cover us, Barnes," Natty smiled at him, patting the rifle in his grip. Her smile turned to sultry smirk as she stalked from behind their hiding spot and growled to Canary. "Three."
Why did she growl. Why did Canary smile like that? What is happening. Steve, the women are being weird. Steve, help. We're in trouble.
Barnes didn't have the chance to yell for help because the pair acted right the next second, and he slipped into his obedient mode, knowing that he has a task to complete. Natty has given him the task to cover them, therefore, he kept his panic to himself, switching his mind to a blank slate. The rifle was a familiar presence in his hands that he didn't even need to think to use it. His body moved on its own, his shots were set to non-lethal parameters—even with the knowledge that his current bullets would do nothing to Supergirl—and focused on diverting the attention of the alien.
The steady flow of bullets and arrows from opposite ends of the hangar seemed to be enough to distract the alien—and even though the heat vision might have his nerves jumpy in panic when they grazed millimetres from his arm, it was very satisfying to see Supergirl halted under the shocks of multiple of Natty's little tasers. That satisfaction changed to surprise and horror when there was blasts of ice and gold out of nowhere, successfully knocking Supergirl's off her levitating balance. The assault continued as a red arrow exploded right at the alien's shoulder and stopped Supergirl from regaining her balance, allowing the Canary-Widow duo took the floor with impressive acrobatic lethal moves that brought Supergirl down with a crash.
Everyone froze.
Supergirl was a giggling mess underneath both women.
"That is so cool!" she wheezed, impersonating an excited puppy now when the pair rolled off her body.
"Astonishing," Firestorm breathed out, landing the closest to the pile of females as they split back into two.
Barnes related so much with the younger Firestorm because he too, displayed the appropriate amount of worry and fear at Supergirl's lost. The woman has heat vision, super strength and could fly. Why no one else seemed to worry or display acceptable amount of fear to Natty and Canary especially after they brought Supergirl down?
"That," Spartan gaped, pointing to the dent on the floor where Supergirl was lying. "Did that—"
Steve was grinning, obviously still out of breath after being buried underneath a pile of blasted crates but it didn't dull the brightness of his stupid teeth. "Yep. That just happened."
If Steve was grinning, that'd mean the new alliance was not a trouble, so Barnes immediately lowered his rifle.
That was, until he saw the way Frost stalked towards Supergirl with her blue-painted lips stretched to a wide dangerous grin, white glowing mist swirled around her hands. Glider was strutting inches behind Frost, gold gun strapped to her swaying hip while Speedy took Frost's other flank, bow tucked to her side—they too, had the same grin.
Barnes shivered, his brain seemed to want him to retreat to the safest corner because it appeared that he was the only who has the mental capacity of realising the mistake they had done by allowing these women to team up.
Which was a huge thing, considering how much of his annoying brain actually resembled scrambled eggs at the moment.
He shot a desperate gaze towards his old friend, only to whimper in disbelief at the expression on Steve's face. Little punk looked like he just saw the love of his life and has fallen so helplessly in love.
Steve, why are you so happy.
"We have been outdone, gentlemen," Cold drawled, leaning against Heatwave in what that seemed like the aftermath of a breathless laugh attack.
Cold, why are you laughing. This is not funny. It's scary.
Barnes wondered if normal human were naturally weird or, it was just Barnes' fucked head that made this situation so terrifying to him.
Heatwave had the same lovestruck expression as Steve too. Atom was wheezing and gasping in what that Barnes could identify as lack of oxygen that could possibly cause pain, but his eyes were shining brightly in awe. Even Wells, Vibe and Banner have shifted their attention from the blueprint they were studying, eyes equally wide as they gaped in disbelief though the gape shifted to smiles and grins right the next five seconds.
Barnes was considerably worried of the well-being of Banner's mind. Banner used to be the sanest out of his new comrades. Why was he not scared. Why was he grinning like that.
Thankfully, Arrow's expression was unreadable and Barnes deemed that expression as acceptable.
The women eventually were infected by Supergirl's giggling, and they were all smiles and giggles as they helped Supergirl up to her feet once again. Smoak called for a break, heels clicking as she rushed to join the group of females.
Barnes let his shoulders relaxed, retreating to the hidden crook between the airplane and the stacked wooden crates, needing the time to recover from the spike of adrenaline he was experiencing. He felt the concerned gaze of his comrades and opened his eyes to meet Steve's and Natty's gazes, nodding once to tell them that he was okay, and that he only needed a moment to gather himself. They nodded back, keeping a brief gaze on him before they were pulled again into the excited crowd while he retreated to curl behind the crates.
Barnes was wondering if it would be okay to curl up into a ball underneath the shadows of his corner while his nerves calmed down when his brain reminded him that he still has a mission.
The speed he peeked around the crates to look for Target would have been enough to impress Zoom.
The way his blood ran cold upon seeing the very obvious lack of Dr. Allen in the area would have impressed Frost.
But the panic, oh the panic at the lack of Target when he had this premonition that someone within the group was untrustworthy had him feeling a little ill in the gut. No one seemed to notice, or even bother that the weakest among them had went missing. The important man whose life was being threatened by more than one criminal was missing as they were all busy devising a new training course.
It freaked him out, his senses were on full alert, worried at the possibility of their team being compromised. The air suddenly felt thinner, rippling with heat and statics while the hair on his flesh arm stood at the oppressive atmosphere. It must have been that panic attack thing Flying Sam tried to coach him through, because he really did have difficulty to breathe right now. He tried to inhale deep breaths and count to five, only to have yet another spike of panic upon hearing the soft rustle of fabric moving towards his hiding place.
He turned around, knives ready to strike, only to freeze when he saw his target stood fearlessly before him, holding out a bottle of cool water.
Barnes gaped, robotically accepting the water. He kept a wary gaze on his target, wondering if this kindness was genuine, but Target simply smiled, nodding encouragingly until he has taken a sip, and beamed so brightly as if seeing Barnes taking care of himself has made Target very happy. Barnes eventually found himself mimicking his target's smile after he downed the whole bottle in one go, finally realising how parched the training had made him.
"May I sit?" Target requested, gesturing to the dusty cement next to Barnes.
Barnes frowned.
Why would he sit on the floor. Those expensive pants would get dirty.
But, he nodded anyway, unable to resist the charms of those green eyes. The Target reminded him of his old Steve—the normal and NOT infected one, a comforting presence that made his brain screeching with the needs to protect. The air felt even weirder, so oppressive and suffocating, to the point that there was faint buzzing in his supposedly enhanced hearing.
The Target squeezed his flesh shoulder, smile all sunshiny and pleasant as he ran his fingers through Barnes' hair. He was so pleasant to be around that the string of words he whispered to Barnes' ear sounded like the most beautiful music Barnes has ever heard.
Barnes felt his mind shut down as he stared into the deep green eyes, a dopey smile grew on his face.
Passcode recognized. Mission override.
The first mission was utter chaos and failure.
At least if you're one of the heroes.
As for Barry, he suddenly had the deep understanding of his doppelganger's behaviour. He was so tempted to take a page out of Flash's book and brought a literal bowl of popcorn when the urgent message from the president caused them to break apart, before eventually ended up turning the heroes against one another.
Such as shame to see the Widow-Canary perfect duo being broken apart because of him.
It really warmed the cockles of Barry's heart when the alliance divided once the president revealed the aliens' demand for Earth to surrender Dr. Bartholomew Henry Allen to them. Team Frost and Team SHIELDS were adamant in denying the request, while Queen and Canary insisted on handing Barry over for the sake of the world. The argument grew heated in mere seconds—with surprising head-to-head packs' Alpha yelling match between Frost and Queen (and also intense death-glare match between Steve and Sara)—that ended up with the alliance breaking up.
By the time Felicity called out that the Dominators have the president hostage and demanded yet again for Barry to be exchanged for the president, Frost and Queen were glaring at each other like sworn enemies.
It ended up with Supergirl being the mediator between the two sides, resulting in the alliance to separate into rescue team and attack team.
That ended up with the rescue team being mind-controlled by the aliens.
So much drama in that fight. Frost, Glider and Kara—close friends forced to fight each other; Frost and Queen—poor Frost having to fight the man she considered as her mentor; Widow and Canary—their equal prowess in assassination was used against each other instead of complimenting each other; Len and Heatwave—long-distanced lovers going against one another…
So. Much. Drama.
The president was dead by the way. Not that Barry care of that, considering that he always thought a change of political power was necessary in the times like this. Plus, Barry finally understood Flash's cravings for popcorns every time humans' emotions being the main proponent in real life drama. This was very interesting to watch.
By the love of god, he was indeed Flash's doppelganger was he?
In the end, upon Barry's suggestion, Frost tag-teamed with Widow and Steve to manipulate Supergirl in destroying the aliens' mind-control device and had Team Arrow-Legends back to their right mind. The mind-controlled heroes reluctantly thanked Barry once they have the control to their right mind again, considering that he was the one suggesting the plan to save them. Though, it didn't reset the dynamics of the alliance to its wonderful comradeship during the first training. Frost was still seething and cold to everyone, especially to Queen; while Queen skulked around in the shadows, brooding alone. It was uneasy tensed environment, as they needed to learn to trust each other while simultaneously devising plans to face the incoming alien fleet.
Such a shame that Barry was enjoying their drama so much.
Queen probably thought getting on Barry's good side would help him rekindle with Frost because the man has strategically tried to isolate Barry from the rest of the alliance. Amused, Barry let Queen cornered him, wondering if he could kill two birds with one stone and had Queen distracted once they were through with this conversation.
"Thank you," Queen murmured once he had cornered Barry away from the exhausted crowd. The muscles of his neck were tensed, his jaw set to a grim line, eyes looking everywhere but Barry. "And sorry, for suggesting to sacrifice you."
"You're just making a logical choice," Barry hummed, resting his back against the wall, his left hand automatically came up to cradle the one in the sling and kept it still and immobile as it was supposed to be. "One person versus the rest of the world? It wasn't even a question."
Queen predictably tensed, blue eyes stealing glances towards Barry.
It was so helpful that Barry himself was dishevelled—clothes in disarray and hair messy—having his own share of exhaustion after helping the genius team to construct the anti-alien device. After seeing its effect on the Supergirl, the mad scientists team consisting of Wells, Banner and Cisco seemed to have taken Widow's shock device as the basis and were trying to ramp it up and mass-produce it to kill the Dominators. Not that Barry was helping much to be honest—since it was so out of his field—but they allowed him to suggest input whenever he had helpful insights, all the while pretending that they weren't keeping him in the workshop as a safety measure because his bodyguard was busy with the rest of the fighters.
"I—," Queen choked on his words, his palm turned white around the glass he was holding. "Your works saved a lot of lives," he winced, neck muscles flexed in discomfort.
"It was a collaborative work," Barry interjected, smiling humbly. "I have lots of people working with me."
Queen was silent for a moment, as if he was trying to find his words without sounding too guilty. Not even six hours ago he was so adamant in sacrificing Barry, a mere civilian (as far as everyone was concerned), to the aliens. Yet, here Barry was, being extremely nice and understanding towards the guy who was so adamant in sacrificing him to the aliens. The guilt was eating Queen up, Barry could see it.
You think that superheroes didn't have big egos? Well, good luck with that.
Queen eventually settled with a soft;
"Rogers and Frost have a point. Who knows what they were going to do with your knowledge."
"You think they would hire me to cure alien disease?" Barry snorted, shoving his free hand into his pocket. "My specialty is humans' biology, not aliens'."
Oh, it was so much fun watching Queen struggled to not yell at him. No sane mind would think that the aliens would graciously hire him. They all assumed that Barry was going to be tortured if they surrendered him to the aliens.
And to think that half of the alliance wanted to sacrifice him…
Barry's amused giggles dissolved into a convincing breathless cough.
It must have been convincing enough, considering the sudden weight draped over his shoulders, and the scent of musky cologne that clung to the leather fabric has completely enveloped him. Queen kept his stoic gaze forward, looking like nothing had happened despite the evident lack of jacket on his massive frame.
Barry cracked a smile, murmuring a soft 'thank you' as he pulled the collar of the jacket tighter around his much smaller frame until his nose was buried into the fabric.
A light hue of pink crept up from Queen's neck to his cheeks.
Ah, wouldn't it be wonderful to tease the tough guy?
Thus, Barry curled in the jacket, pawing on the fabric until it was evident that his own cologne has left a prominent scent on the jacket. He glanced to his side, lips curled to a sleepy smile upon seeing the wide-eyed stare Queen was staring at him—there was something dark brewing in those blue eyes, so Barry shuddered and sighed loudly, nuzzling his nose to the fabric like a cat in heat.
He returned the jacket to the stunned archer with a gentle, perfectly innocent smile and another firm 'thank you'.
Queen nodded numbly, eyes fixed on the jacket as he seemed too lost in the depths of his own mind, completely not noticing Barry's departure.
Barry can now cross that one out of his need-to-distract-list.
Barry glanced at his watch, knowing that he has enough time to walk leisurely to his rendezvous point now that all of his potential hindrances were distracted. Queen was conveniently distracted with his own lust, the genius mad scientists were back in Cisco's workshop, the girls were in the hangar for extra training while Len and Heatwave have dragged the rest of the men for a drinking party. And even though Barry felt bad upon hearing the news, Steve was out of the picture too because there was no way in hell he was going to leave Barnes while he was writhing in the worst case of headache ever.
Satisfied with the solitude, Barry made his way out of their base and slipped into the darkness of the night, crossing the borders of the forest easily without anyone noticing. He ditched the cast once he was deep enough in the woods, using the mobility of having both of his arms to navigate through the thick shrubs and trees, leaving a prominent track behind him so that the team could follow him once they realised that he has went missing.
He knew that he has reached his destination when the darkness of the night was illuminated with a faint blue glow.
Of course, they were aware of his presence.
Massive yet light footsteps crushed the rug of leaves beneath their feet, and Barry promptly held his hands up to his chest, showing them that he was unarmed. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, calm and collected even when he felt the presence of five looming figures—easily doubled his size—surrounding him.
"You came," the one in-charge hissed in a shriek-raspy voice.
Barry opened his eyes and smiled gently at the alien. "You promise to leave Earth alone if I surrender."
The curl of the lipless mouth might have been a jeering grimace. It was apparent that they did not trust him at all.
Wise of them.
"If you try anything….," the one who spoke earlier hissed, voice tensed—and dare Barry said it, scared even.
Barry snorted. "What can I do, o Dominator, sir?"
Shrieking. So many shrieking as the aliens communicated with one another using that foreign language, attracting the rest of the aliens towards them as they escorted Barry up the ship. He could feel the air pressure changing once they have taken off but have no time to revel in the change as he was led towards a large empty space. It was probably a gathering room, considering that aliens started to trickle into the room one by one, until the whole area was crowded with shrieking aliens.
Only the first five dared to stand in ten-metre radius around Barry, though. The rest kept their distance, their curiosity was prominent in the way they stretched their long necks to gawk at him, but the wariness was evident from the way they hissed and backed away whenever Barry so much as leaning towards their direction.
Barry flashed his teeth in a wide grin. "You have me now. Leave Earth alone."
"No," the first alien grimaced, sounding very much like he was trying to channel a semblance of intimidation. "Not until you agree."
Which, wasn't working so well on Barry considering that he has survived befriending Flash and Savitar and was one of the few people who could smack the speedsters across the head with a rolled-up newspaper and got away with it unscathed. Honestly, Barry's standard of intimidation was impossibly high after all of that.
"Agree to what exactly?" He hummed, keeping his postures relaxed and open, the easy smile never left his lips.
"We want you to kill the Flash."
Barry quirked a smirk, holding back a laugh, the device in his right pocket felt heavy and hot all of sudden.
After all, he just decrypted Flash's message—which despite the long series of numbers, was decrypted to a simple question made of only 5 words from his doppelganger;
I can trust you, right?
Barry shoved his hands into his pocket, his right hand curled around the communication device tightly, his shoulders were straight yet relaxed as he smiled to the wary aliens. He tipped his head slightly to the side, lips curled to a bright smile that made some of the lesser aliens backed away as he spoke with a creepy child-like curious voice;
"Now, now…what has he done to deserve that?"
A/N: The alternate title for this chapter was "Sexual History and Orientation of Barry Allen."
Lol. JK.
On a more serious note though, this chapter is the set-up for the next trouble for Barry and also the stage for Rod and Emmy. Really, the aliens wanted him over the president of one of the biggest country in the world. And the last thing Barnes remember before he was manipulated was seeing Barry. You think no one is gonna be suspicious at that?
And another reason I altered the plot to include Avengers because I need White Canary-Black Widow team up. I low key ship them together as one of my shameful crackship. They sit right next to Deadpool-Barry, Gideon-Jarvis and Felicity-Bucky in my list of shameful crackship. I could never be happier of substituting my generic OCs with a crossover characters, because Canary-Widow duo is so cool to imagine. Your disagreement is invalid.
Also, heads-up. I'm heading to the crazy weeks called as Finals Week, so update may or may not be extremely slow. Just wanna let you know.
P/s: Felicity was definitely Barry's first and still relishing the memories. Oliver was definitely lusting even more of that ass. And they both ain't gonna get what they lusted for. And yes, if you accidentally squinted hard in Barnes' POV and noticed anything about relationship dynamic between Steve-Bucky-Nat, it is probably true.
