Prompt from Silver Nightmare. Flash and Arrow team up to fight a metahuman named Shadow Phinoex who can control fire, shadows, and see people's worst fears. Shadow Phinoex attacks Iris to get Barry's attention and get the Flash to herself.
"Hey what are you doing here?" Barry asked as Oliver and Felicity walked through the door of Jitters.
Oliver answered with a low voice. "There's a mysterious killer on the loose, and we tracked her here."
"Does this mean we're teaming up again?" He asked excitedly.
"Yes." Felicity said pleasantly as Oliver tried not to roll his eyes at the younger man's eagerness.
"Should we get some coffee then head over to STAR Labs and you can fill us in?" Barry suggested.
"Yeah, sounds good." Felicity answered pleasantly. "So, I heard Iris got a reporting job. How's she liking it?"
"Well, she really likes journalism, but they're trying to get her to do stories on the Flash, but after Bivolo . . ." Barry trailed off.
His friends nodded their understanding. After they got their coffee, they headed to STAR Labs according to plan.
"This woman has killed three Starling City police officers each were left with a SWAK mark on their cheek, and has tried to find the foundry-"
"Arrow Cave." Barry corrected earning a glare from Oliver.
"She's a pyromaniac, only attacks at night, and has only been seen when she wants to be seen. We don't knew what she's been igniting things with. Her name is Alicia Hanson." Oliver finished.
"Sounds like a metahuman. It shouldn't be too surprising for them to be in Starling." Caitlyn added when she received a weird look from Cisco.
"Fire and darkness." Cisco appeared to be thinking hard. "Shadow Phinoex." He nodded enthusiastically.
"I'm getting a report of an attack on a police officer on 32nd Street." Felicity called to the vigilantes. She preferred her system in the foundry, but she was working on updating the STAR Labs system. Barry ran to the scene and Oliver hopped onto his motorcycle and rode there as fast as he could.
When the Arrow arrived, the Flash was already fighting the metahuman. She was fading in and out of sight, and Oliver had not seen her do that before. Hanson's hands lit on fire and Barry released his hold on her crying out in pain. Arrow ran into the fight.
"About time." Barry teased still cradling his burnt arm. He had fallen to the ground due to extensive burns on his legs. He knew that it would heal within a few hours, but that didn't lessen the pain of the moment.
Arrow scoffed at him as he began to fight the metahuman. He was getting burnt as well, but he had been in dangerous situations longer than Barry and had built a better pain tolerance than the young speedster, but still he did not last long against the fire and the shadows she shrouded herself in.
She started to walk away but then turned back to the Flash.
"It's too bad you're taken, for now." She flirted in her sick little way and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Then she walked away with only a parting glance back at the defeated heroes as she rounded the corner out of sight.
Oliver walked over to Barry painfully. "Let's get you to the lab." He lifted Barry to his feet, and they hobbled over to Arrow's motorcycle.
"What do you think she meant by 'too bad I'm taken, for now?'"
"I think it means we need to find Iris." Oliver growled his voice still disguised by his voice modifier. "But first we need to get you to the lab, so Caitlyn can take care of you."
"Not if Iris is in danger. We need to get her first." Barry tightened his grip on Oliver's shoulder.
"I'll call Dig. You call Joe. She should be home by now right."
"She lives with Eddie, but yeah, she should be there by now." Barry pulled out the untraceable phone that Felicity had given him on her last visit. He vibrated his voice as Eddie picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Eddie greeted.
"Hello, Detective. Is Iris home yet?"
"Flash. No. Why?" Eddie began to sound suspicious. Iris obviously hadn't talked to the Flash in a while, she was coming over to collect some more of her things tonight, and then she would be gone.
"I have reason to believe a violent metahuman is after her. Find her. Bring your gun. This metahuman can control shadows making herself nearly invisible and control fire making her extremely dangerous." Barry hung up the phone, and Eddie ran into the hall dialing Iris's number. He turned the corner to the elevator just in time to see Iris and another woman disappear into thin air.
He called the Flash back.
"Thawne." Barry greeted. "Do you have her with you?"
"No, your metahuman took her. She's gone. They, they faded into shadow like you said. Find her." Eddie growled the last sentence, they may have broken up, but he was not going to let her be hurt.
"We need to go now. Hanson has her." Eddie heard the Flash say authoritatively.
"Can you run yet?" Came an unfamiliar voice.
"I'm fine. Saving Iris is the priority, Arrow." Barry hung up again, and Eddie stood in the hallway of his building unsure of what to do.
Arrow and the Flash arrived at Jitters. Felicity had tracked here them using the updated facial recognition software. Flash dashed inside closely followed by the Arrow.
"Oh, come to rescue the damsel in distress, Flash? How disappointing." Shadow Phinoex said. "I was looking forward to a fast kill and a happy life together."
"Get away from her." Barry sneered. He watched Arrow walk around behind her as she was focused on taunting Barry.
"You know, there's one power of mine that you don't know about." She smiled.
"Yeah, what's that?" Barry said trying to keep her attention.
"I can see people's worst fears. Their deepest darkest nightmares." There was a sickly evil glint in her eyes as she tilted her head. She pulled Iris close to her and lit her finger. "Yours and your green friend's fears are quite similar. You can't let the women you love get hurt."
The Arrow finally got close enough to her to start fighting, and the Flash ran towards the other meta and grabbed Iris. He set her down in a corner of the coffee shop then rejoined the fight.
"Gah!" Barry yelled as Shadow Phinoex burnt his face. He didn't even notice that she had removed his mask in the process.
They fought for only about two more minutes before Shadow Phinoex collapsed from exhaustion. Barry and Oliver were both exhausted and injured, but Barry still ran to Iris as soon as he could.
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm fine. You should be worried about yourself, Bear." Iris's hand hovered over the burns on his face.
"Are you willing to go let Caitlyn patch you up now, Barry?" Oliver said tossing the discarded Flash mask at Barry's feet.
Iris stood, pulling Barry up with her. "You need a hospital."
"No, a hospital won't be able to take care of me. I heal quickly, they would just try to study me or something. I need to get to the lab. I'll be fine in just a few hours."
"Don't scare me like this, Bear." Iris wrapped her arms around him. "I love you too, you know." Iris stood on her tip toes and kissed his lips gently avoiding his burns.
"I love you too."