Chapter 7: Cold Meetings

"What are you doing here?" Cisco voice was hard, tinged with an edge of annoyance as we stepped back into the cortex, his eyes on the lady in the middle of the room. The team kept their distance as her eyes scanned each and every one of us. Her long, wavy hair moved with her as she eyed us, and I attempted to stand a bit taller when her eyes landed on me.

"Aw, Cisco, you know you don't mean that," she cooed before her eyes even left mine. When they did, her eyes swept him from head to toe and I crossed my arms over my chest to hide the fact that I was clenching my fist. "You're excited to see me."

"Who is this?" I asked, speaking up when I realized I couldn't stand hearing her sultry voice loom over him anymore.

She tilted her head as if pretending to be some sweet puppy; but puppies don't have devious intentions like she seems to have. I clenched my jaw to keep from squirming as she stepped forward, also looking me up and down. "This must be Leah."

"Leave her alone, Lisa." Cisco's voice remained cold. "Just tell us why you're here."

She exaggerated a sigh before turning back to him, yet still standing to close for comforting. I took a step to the side as she replied, "I need your help. And preferably your friend, The Flash, too."

I tried making eye contact with Cisco to see if he'd explain what was going on, but his narrowed, suspicious eyes stayed on her. "What do you of all people need the Flash for?"

Her flirty demeanor faltered as a frown formed on her face. "It's Leonard…"

"So, let me get this straight; she's the younger sister of Captain Cold, one of Barry's arch enemies, and you want to help her?" I asked, starring at both of the flushed, somewhat embarrassed Barry and Cisco.

Barry shrugged, "It's what we do."

I rolled my eyes and turned to Cisco, "And let me guess, you're doing it because you guys had some sort of thing in the past or something?"

"We didn't have a thing," he held his hand out to correct me. "She flirted with me and used me once, that's all."

"So you don't like her?" I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest once more and shifting my weight to my other leg as my right one fell asleep.

"No," he sighed. "Besides, I have a date with someone else tomorrow, anyways."

Even Barry turned to face him this time, seemingly distracted. "You do? With who?"

"That barista Barry and I met at Jitters last week…" Cisco mumbled, cautiously glancing my way.

I quickly looked away, taking a deep breath and pushing away that oh-so-familiar feeling that I knew all too well. "Oh. Okay." He opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly interrupted, wanting anything but to have this conversation at the moment. "So, we're helping Lisa? Alright. What do we do?"

Barry looked confused but also relieved that the awkward conversation was dissipating, "Probably make sure she isn't lying first. This could be some sort of trap or something." Then he nodded his head as if making a mental decision and added, "I'll go check up on him, where's his location?"

Cisco glanced down at his computer before giving him an address. Barry sped off at the speed of light then, leaving Cisco and I to stand there. Still avoiding eye contact with him, I turned to walk out of the room when his voice stopped me.

"Hey?"

I turned around, "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

I glanced over at the figure standing at the corner of the room. He's usually always there to stare me down when I'm about to lie, as if he's disappointed in me. And sometimes I wanna yell "YOU'RE NOT EVEN HERE? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" But I know it won't make him go away. So, I focus my attention on the little white lie I have prepared for Cisco instead.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

*Several Hours Later*

"I'm still not sure how you convinced me to come with you." I admitted to Barry as we stepped inside the old, abandoned warehouse as casually as we could.

"Easy; you're a good person and I might need your skills to help out with this mission."

"I don't use those skills anymore."

The corners of his mouth drooped slightly before saying, "Well, let's hope you're not too rusty, then…"

Barry had found Captain Cold earlier that morning, under the thumb of his dear old asshole of a father. And Barry was convinced that the only way to help out Leonard was to go undercover as one of the bad guys. So, here we were, searching to help out Leonard Snart and his father on their next diabolical plan. Why was I here? Because they need someone who can hack into a bank to steal millions of dollars-worth of diamonds. Who better to do that than the one person who can shut down the whole security system in one touch.

However, Leonard Snart didn't seem too pleased to see us.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed as Barry strolled in with almost no caution while I continuously glanced over my shoulder.

Barry shrugged his shoulder, "You need help."

"I didn't ask for it."

"Doesn't mean you don't need it."

I watched them stare each other down for several seconds and I kept my eyes on the gun in Leonard's hands. While I was gone to train with Oliver, apparently, Leonard and his sister stole the Cold Gun- a gun Cisco and I built while Barry was in a coma, for just-in-case situations. I hadn't even thought about what might happen if it fell in the wrong hands, so I shared most of the guilt Cisco felt when Leonard and Lisa used it against them.

I held my ground when he turned to me, his eyes sliding from my feet up to my head. "And you brought your girlfriend to help?" His smirk was hard not to see.

"Just a friend," I assured him with a firm voice, although I was sure my hands, hidden in my pockets, were shaking and burning with the lack of electricity running in the room; almost as if I was craving it.

"Uh-huh." He shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever. Doesn't matter to me. You two shouldn't even be here."

I rolled my eyes, "Think of it this way; we're not here for you, we're here for your sister. She asked us for help and now here we are."

I could've sworn I saw a small smile on his lips as he turned away from us. "If you really want to get involved with this, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"We're trying to remove a bomb from Lisa's neck…" I heard Cisco explain over the com. "Keep them both preoccupied until then.

"His father is a dick." I whispered very lowly to Barry as we turned to the keypad. "Explains why Leonard is working with him, though. Work with him or his sister goes BOOM."

Barry nodded quickly, glancing over at Leonard and his father as they stand guard, making sure they didn't see me do my trick. "Just be quick."

"Don't rush me."

I reached out and placed my hands on the keypad, the only thing separating us from the vault of diamonds. Barry bounced his foot up and down repeatedly as I closed my eyes. Part of me wanted to shock Barry still right there to quiet his tapping, but instead, I focused on the technology. So many codes and wiring were trying to keep me blocked, but it was easy to fry all of them and I smiled when I heard the keypad beep, giving me access to reach through the wires and use them to open the door.

Leonard's father looked at the door, somewhat impressed. "Well. Seems like you're not useless after all." He gave me a chilling smile that sent the unfriendly chill down my spine and I had to force myself not to jump away from it. "We should keep her."

"We should?" Leonard asked, giving his father a bewildered look that matched what I was feeling inside.

His father nodded his bald head before adding, "Yeah, but not him."

It happened so quickly: he brought his gun up and aimed it forward. The shot rang through the hallway and the gasp that came out of me turned into a scream as Barry flinched and then fell flat on his stomach.

"You didn't have to do that." Leonard growled but his father shrugged it off before heading into the vault.

"Barry…" I whispered, feeling my throat close in shock.

"Sorry, Barry." Leonard frowned before looking up at me. "Onward. He'll be suspicious if we don't follow."

I wanted to yell. My friend has just been shot, he could be dying or already dead, and he wants me to move on like nothing happened.

Don't forget your mission. Wait… I almost flinched at the unexpected voice. I had almost forgotten the time I spent with Oliver and all the hard training he put me through. But he also gave me great advice. Finish your mission first, don't get distracted. It could make things worse.

I mentally nodded to myself. I could get him help afterwards, I just need to keep going. So, with a bitterness in my mouth, I followed Snart into the vault.

"Now, son," we faced a room full of lasers with nowhere else to go but through them. "Show me what you can do."

Leonard rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me what to do." But he still stepped forward, following orders and freezing the lasers with his cold gun. The breath I sucked in was shaky. I had never seen the cold gun be used until now, although it was partially my creation.

"Well? Now what?" Mr. Snart asked, a bit of annoyance in his voice.

Leonard didn't answer, instead, he walked through the frozen lasers and each one of them broke under his touch like fragile butterfly wings until he reached the vault and he turned to face us. The rest was sort of a blur. As much as Oliver warned me not to get distracted, I kept thinking about Barry's body lying on the ground, cold and lifeless. What kind of friend—person does it make me if I leave him there to help them fish out a diamond?

Cisco… Please, hurry with that bomb… I practically cried in my head.

I watched Mr. Snart pull the small fingernail-sized diamonds from the vault and place them in a teeny velvet bag as he grumbled, "Good thing you have that cold gun; otherwise, you'd be as useless as usual." I could see Leonard stiffen up beside me as we both remained silent. "Just like your sister."

He flinched and I didn't hesitate to grab his wrist and keep him from pointing his cold gun at his father.

"LEAH?" I jumped and covered my ear as Cisco screamed into the mic. "We got the bomb out!"

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and Barry was standing before us in his red suit.

Mr. Snart gave another awful, wicked grin, "The Flash." I managed to hold in the swell of relief that flowed through me at the sight of him NOT on the ground.

"Did you hear that?" Barry asked me, ignoring the old man.

I nodded before turning to face Leonard, "The bomb is out. Lisa is safe."

The old man's eyes went wide and it felt like slow motion as Leonard turned to him. This time I didn't realize he was lifting his gun until he sent an icicle through his father's chest.

"Lisa is safe, why did you do that?" Barry asked, although he didn't seem all that surprised like me.

"She'd never be safe while he is alive." He simply replied.