Disclaimer: I wasn't sure, so I had to double check, but yeah. I still don't own anything that anyone recognizes.

IMPORTANT READ ME!: The time line needs to be taken with a grain of salt and a bit of flexibility. Just roll with anything that isn't exactly cannon and feel free to ask if you have any questions. I will try to clear them up.

Chapter 2

Barry knew that Oliver was being ridiculous.

Ok. To be fair, Barry didn't know if Oliver had a frivolous bone in his body after his time on the island, so maybe 'ridiculous' wasn't the right word. He was, however, prone to overreacting when it came to safety/protection.

After his confrontation with Tony, he called Oliver to catch up and for some advice. Even on his best day, Barry was a scientist first and foremost not a fighter. However, lately 'science' didn't really seem to apply to him unless it was followed by the word 'fiction'. If science still applied to him, his muscles would have been torn away from his bones once he ran 25mph eons ago.

He was getting into more and more fights as more meta-humans came out of the woodwork. Just using speed to barrel into and grab enemies won't work forever as was proven by Woodward. Barry thought it would be a good idea to get a few pointers on how to fight without hurting himself more than him opponent. Barry still wasn't sure if he broke his hand because he was punching a steel jaw or because he sucked at hitting things in general.

Barry also wasn't sure how a call for tips turned into secretly running over to Starling twice a week for Oliver to teach him how to fight. He know he kinda asked for it and was thankful for the help, but he also kinda hated Oliver's guts at the end of each session.

If it were just Oliver and Dig explaining things and/or correcting his form when hitting a punching bag training would be ok. Hell, he would still be ok if it were only sparring with Dig. Barry understood that there were some things that you can only learn through experiencing and Dig would be able to provide that without being too unreasonable.

No, 'training' had become synonymous with 'have Oliver beat the tar out of him'. Oliver did have him punch the dummy and show him some moves, but Oliver wasn't big on words on the best days. Therefore, the largest portion of his teaching sessions were learning through experience.

Barry winced as he got up to deliver a report to Captain Singh. He would probably be able to make it out of each spar a bit better if Oliver held back at all. (Oliver told Barry he was, but Barry had scoffed at him last night. Oliver just shrugged and said, "You're still alive aren't you?" and really there was nothing Barry could really say to that. )

The spar would also be a bit more even if Oliver allowed him to use a speed higher than a quick normal human. Oliver had listed several reasons why he had stipulated that for their spars. The reasons were good too. Barry never knew if there would be another situation where he couldn't use his powers like with Blackout, Oliver couldn't correct form that he couldn't see, and so on. However, when he was leaving Starling injured enough that he was still feeling lingering aches the day after even with his healing factor, those reasons didn't feel nearly good enough. On top of that he didn't feel like he was getting any better. Dig and Oliver continued to wipe the floor with him easily.

At least his week was almost over. It was Friday at 3. He would do a quick patrol after work then turn off his alarm and tell Star labs to bug off and go to sleep until he naturally woke up. The way he felt right now, he might slip into another coma.

Luckily, the captain was right by the entrance speaking with Joe and Eddie. He would be able to hand off his ballistics report then rush back up to his lab (relatively speaking of course) and start the fingerprint analysis software and centrifuge. Maybe they would be complete by the time he came back to the station on Monday morning.

"Captain!"

"... and we are waiting on ballistics. Then we have the Jefferson case going to trial in the next week." Eddie said.

Singh nodded. "Good. You each have a day or two next week to testify. Keep aware of your surroundings. His brother isn't very stable and may try to retaliate. You two are the face of this investigation, so watch each other's six."

"Captain!" Singh spun as he heard Allen call out to him. Allen was striding over to him with papers in his hand. Then it almost seemed to happen in slow motion. A man in a beat up jacket and baseball cap walked into the precinct and up behind Allen. He wrapped an arm around Allen's neck and pulled out a gun.

Within seconds at least 10 guns were trained on them, but no one could get a clean shot with Barry being used as a shield with a gun to his head and the perp's back against the wall. Singh thought that whoever he was probably got really lucky with his timing. It wasn't like Allen could defend himself. He had no training. He was just their CSI.

"I have demands!" Whoever he was said.

Singh put his gun away and raised his hands in a placating manner. "Sir, my name is David Singh and I am the captain of this precinct. Can I know your name?"

"You already know my name! It's Dan Jefferson!"

"Alright Dan. You said you had demands. None of them are going to get fulfilled if you hurt the young man in your grasp. I know you are trying to protect your family. The man you have is named Barry Allen and he has a family too."

In that second Singh realized he made a mistake. Dan just seemed to get more angry and erratic. He yelled, "I know what you are trying to do! Don't psychoanalyze me! I want all the evidence for my brother's case brought here in the hour."

Surprisingly, Allen didn't look scared or nervous. For as often as Allen wore his heart on his sleeve, Singh couldn't get a good read on him in this situation. If anything the look on Allen's face seemed to be a cross of focused determination and exasperation, but that couldn't be right. He shouldn't have the mental fortitude for these things. Hell, he had officers that broke under the pressure of being a hostage, but Allen was composed... or going into shock. The blank look could be shock.

"Ok Dan," Singh said gently, "we want to help you. Our evidence is stored in various places around the city and rush hour is about to start. We are going to need more time."

"YOU DON'T GET MORE TIME!"

When asked later about it, none of the people in the station could really believe what happened next. Jefferson waved his gun arm around the room threateningly and then Allen broke into action.

He stepped further into the man's grip and threw an elbow into Dan's gut. Allen was now out of Dan's grasp facing him a pace away but still in the line of fire with a gun pointed at his head. Then Allen was moving again. Both of his arms snapped out in front of him knocking the gun loose and breaking Dan's trigger finger in the same motion.

Enraged Dan tried to punch and kick Allen only to have each attempt deflected away by the kid. The more his punches were dodged or pushed away from their targets, the angrier Dan got. Allen wasn't able to prevent all the hits from landing, but the punches he took weren't to critical areas.

Finally, Dan threw a sloppy haymaker and it seemed to be what Allen was waiting for. He stepped inside Dan's punching range, planted his feet while grabbing the Dan's punching arm, and used Dan's momentum to flip him over his back. Dan's breath rushed out of him as his back hit the ground and Allen was quick to pin him.

Allen looked up and shouted, "Can I get someone's cuffs?" All of the detectives and officers paused a moment in shock. Detective West seemed to snap out of it first. He walked up to Allen and said something under his breath as he handed Allen his cuffs.

If Singh was reading his lips correctly he said something like "You're going to explain this later right" but he could be wrong. He wasn't sure he was trusting anything his eyes saw at the moment. Barry Allen just fought someone. Vaguely Singh heard one of the officers behind him ask his neighbor to confirm that Dan Jefferson was a karate instructor.

Barry Allen took down a trained armed assailant without help. Huh.

Allen brushed himself off and collected the papers that had scattered on the ground around him. He walked up to Singh and said, "Here's the ballistics report you wanted from the Farrell case. Do you need my statement on this incident?"

Singh took the papers from Allen and waited for... something. He looked over Allen thoughtfully. Allen didn't look any different than he normally looked. For all intensive purposes the kid just went through a trauma. He should be nervous or jittery, but he just stood there like this was a normal day.

Mentally, Singh shook himself out of his thoughts and nodded to Barry in thanks for the report. "Good. Have Detective Thawne take your statement then you are free to go for the rest of the day."

"Thanks Captain." Allen said. As he turned away Singh heard Allen mutter to himself, "Oliver is never going to let me live this down. He is going to be so stupidly smug." Singh idly wondered who Oliver was.

None of the officers or the detectives ever really talked about this incident again after it happened. Every once in a while though Singh noticed that his officers would react to Allen a bit differently. They were more careful about trying to not disturb crime scenes. When Allen spoke his words held more weight now and they were more forgiving of his quirks (science babble and lateness). No longer was he just the smart brat that worked upstairs. He could handle himself in tough situations and that earned him the thoughtful glances and the respect that he didn't previously have, even if he himself didn't know it yet.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I won't try to force anyone to review, but if you do thank you so much. Reviews are better than gold most days!