'Time for You to Stand Up'

It took Felicity two days to discover the identity of the self-proclaimed 'Firefist'.

A dangerous man he may be, the damage he'd already done devastating, but he was just another lunatic with a weapon. He wasn't a ghost or a god, and that meant he had to have come from somewhere – he must have a life, or at least a trace of one, somewhere out there. And Felicity was very good at finding people.

The first day, she spent her lunch going to the site of the fire with a stolen CSI uniform and a sense of recklessness she hadn't felt in weeks. Putting on the suit just around the corner, the scratchy white material rubbing against her skin uncomfortably, she pulled the mask she'd also lifted from the Lab at work over her mouth. Tucking her hair into the hood and sliding her glasses in her bag to make herself less recognisable, Felicity tried to walk confidently towards the scene.

"Hi, officers," she greeted, hoping to sound casual as she reached the police cordon line. There were still quite a few people around even a day after the fire, journalists and just normal people hoping to catch a glimpse of the Blue Beetle. Because of the attention, she knew she needed a disguise to get in, hence her geeky get-up. "I was sent from forensics to take some secondary samples from the scene."

"Can I see some identification, miss?"

"Of course," Felicity tried not to panic as she handed over her forged documents, in the plain black holder she'd bought on the way there. It bore a fake name, claiming she was part of the CCPD Forensics Department. It was also very, very illegal, but Felicity figured that since she was only lying to help people, it didn't really count. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Miss Borzedec," said the officer who'd inspected her 'identification', using her fake name. He nodded, handing it back to her. "You understand, we have to be careful. All sorts of psychos around these days."

"Tell me about it. Have a good day, officers."

As she was allowed past the yellow tape, Felicity forced herself to walk normally and not skip with pride at her deception until she was in the hallowed bones of the building, out of sight. Once she was, she did a little jump and bit back a cry, almost going to talk through her comm before she realized she didn't have one anymore. She was alone. No Oliver or Diggle to bail her out this time, just herself and what she needed to do.

For the smallest of moments, the cheer in her face died. Felicity remembered she was standing alone in a burnt-out building, trying to catch a super-criminal and help a different vigilante she knew next to nothing about. It was insane.

But it was also the right thing to do.

"Okay, Borzedec," she said aloud to herself, putting her hands on her hips. "If you were a real CSI, where would you start?"

Quickly, Felicity started sifting through the rubble underfoot for something to trace back to the arsonist, pulling out charred metal fragments and broken glass. There were lots of things there that could be useful if she actually knew what she was looking for – blood would be best, something she could extract DNA from. Or a weapon with a serial number, although she doubted any criminal was dumb enough to leave something that important behind.

After nearly half an hour, she was getting desperate. So far, everything was too burned to tell apart and disintegrated beneath her fingers when she tried to lift it, leaving her with nothing but heaps of ash and disappointment. If it wasn't for the suit, Felicity would have pulled her hands through her hair a dozen times in frustration by now, but both the gloves and the hood made that hard. She needed a new plan of attack.

Sighing, Felicity stood straight, surveying the entire building from a particularly high pile of rubble. "C'mon . . . what would Barry do?"

How her friend did this as a job - all of the time - Felicity had no clue, but after that afternoon, her respect for Barry Allen had doubled. This was hard. She meant that both physically and emotionally; she was fed up of dead ends and searching, body aching from the effort of the unsteady walking and combing through the burnt wreck. Barry must be some kind of saint to do this every day.

She might not have known him for very long, but she felt she knew him well in that time. Barry was . . . dedicated. good. Simple.

Simple . . . that was it! She'd spent so much time trying to sort through the rubble, the mess that it was, instead of looking at the parts of the building which still stood first.

"Why do I over-complicate everything?!" She questioned herself out loud as she scrambled towards the north-east corner of the building, which had only been partially destroyed by the fire. By the time she arrived, Felicity was almost laughing.

So sure she would find something now, Felicity threw herself into the work for twenty minutes before she found something – on a metal doorframe, there was a thick, black scorch mark that was different from the others. The way it was angled and the shadow of an arm around it told her that this was made by Firefist himself – maybe the Beetle had knocked him into the wall during their fight?

Either way, Felicity saw what she was looking for a moment later. Skin. Burnt onto the metal.

Perfect.

All she had to do once she'd extracted the DNA was match it to someone.

The data mining programme she'd written years ago for the Foundry did most of the work for her. All Felicity had to do was point it in the right direction: she checked the criminal databases first and came up with nothing, then ARGUS, then Black Gate Prison.

It wasn't until she checked the city's fire department records that Felicity found her match: a dead man.

Frowning, she clicked the record the computer had flagged, an almost perfect match to a lab worker who had died in an accident months before. When she read more, however, it started to make perfect sense – the man had died in a fire, and his body had never been recovered.

Lyle Byrnes. He was their incendiary man, then.

"Now all that's left to find is this so called Blue Beetle . . ."

In his flying machine that he used to watch over the city, affectionately named 'The Bug' by him and anyone in on his secret, the Blue Beetle was having a stressful day until he received an email on The Bug's server. He had wanted his re-appearance to be a success so badly, but so far all he'd done was let the bad guy get away and almost die in a fire. Way to go.

Tiredly, he removed the goggles of his helmet to drag a hand across his tired eyes, leaning back in his seat with a sigh. It had been one hell of a day.

At the sudden beeping, he jumped so badly he fell out of his seat; Blue Beetle jumped to his feet sharpish and looked around to check no one had seen him, which was completely irrational as he was flying above the city in a cloaked plane. Still, he felt like an ass, so was abashed as he clicked on the message that had come through, his confusion turning to worry as he read:

Dear Mr. Beetle,

Don't worry; I don't know who you are. I have some experience with secret identities and I know how important they are. But I found the signal from your ship so I could send you this message.

The man you're looking for – 'Firefist' – is Lyle Byrnes.

I found his skin at the scene, and have attached the report filed on him as a missing person. What you do with this information is up to you. But for what it's worth, trying to help and failing is better than not trying at all. I'd know.

Good Luck.

A Friend.

"What. The. Hell." Blue Beetle said, jaw slack. This was impossible. Nobody could access The Bug's security and send a message that easily – he'd encrypted it twelve ways to Sunday, and he was a genius. No one could have done this. No one.

Well, except . . .

"No," he said aloud, cutting off his thoughts. "No way. It's not her. But I do have to find whoever this is . . . and who Lyle Byrnes is."

Reluctantly, he opened the file and began investigating the tip, mind still trying to figure out how someone managed to get a message to The Bug. A hundred possibilities buzzed around his mind, taking away from his concentration and making it all a lot harder. To stop the inevitable headache, he took some painkillers and set to work searching across the city for Lyle Byrnes.

A day later, Felicity woke up to a news broadcast. It was late, nearly midnight, and she had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Ted to come home. He had said he was going to be back late, working on some new obsession project in his office and unavailable every time she had tried to speak to him that day. A little worried, she had decided to stay up and wait for him to come home.

Blinking blearily, her attention was drawn to the TV in front of her as she sat up slowly, turning it up when she saw the headline.

'Blue Beetle captures Firefist.'

"Good for him," Felicity smiled genuinely as she watched the footage playing on screen, a blurry phone-filmed video of two figures fighting in a building as it was set on fire. After a few minutes it switched to the exterior of the building now, currently being put out by a firecrew. The same blonde reporter stepped into the frame a second later.

"Chicago's favourite hero has made another appearance tonight, this time confronting the criminal calling himself Firefist here at the opening of the Chicago Museum of Firefighting. Although the building has sustained some damage, no lives were lost in the incident, and 'Firefist' A.K.A Lyle Byrnes, assumed dead scientist, was arrested on the scene. I have sources telling me he will be receiving medical treatment for scar tissue before being moved for psychiatric evaluation."

Felicity's smiled widened at that, having been troubled by the report she had read. Mr. Byrnes needed help, not prison, and she was glad to hear he would be treated properly. Tucking her knees up to her chest, she tried to watch the rest of the report.

When the Blue Beetle himself literally dropped into the frame, releasing some sort of ladder with his left hand as he dropped down next to the reporter to great noise, he held up a hand for silence. Shocked, Felicity took her first real look at him, trying not to giggle at his costume. It was a completely unthreatening look, yellow goggles over a blue skin-tight suit. But maybe that was what his city needed – a hero it could recognise, one it could hold out hope for, not a shadow to instil fear. Still, it was a little funny.

If Oliver was Robin Hood, this guy was Barney the Dinosaur.

When it was quiet, and now with a dozen microphones under his nose, the Beetle spoke and Felicity held her breath. Talking to the public, gaining their trust – this guy was all aboard the hero-train. She wanted to know what he had to say, too. To see if she could get a measure of him; actions might make the man, but words showed where they stood.

"Hi," he said, looking awkward as he gave a little wave towards the camera. "Fortunately, Firefist was detained without any casualties today. It's a good result all around; I hope Mr. Byrne can get the help he needs now."

"Are you back for good?" the blonde reported demanded, "What will you do now?"

"Right now, I'm looking forward to getting some sleep – I'm going to ache in the morning," Blue Beetle laughed, met by the titters of the journalists surrounding him. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I couldn't have done it alone, though. I'm lucky to have such good friends."

He looked straight into the camera as he spoke then, and Felicity knew that message was for her.

Rocking back on her heels, she let out a small laugh as she got up to turn the TV off, practically skipping to the window. On the floor-to-ceiling skyline, she could see a pillar of smoke from the fire. Absurd as it was, that ashen haze gave her hope. She could do this: help when she can, maybe save lives, no attachment. The simple way.

When the door opened behind her ten minutes later, still standing mesmerised at the city lights and dying embers, Felicity squeaked and skidded a few metres on her socks trying to turn around. The room was dark aside from the overspill light from outside, but a familiar curly haired silhouette stood in the doorway. Ted flicked on the switch a second later.

"Felicity?" he frowned, dropping a sports bag just inside the door and walking towards her. "What are you still doing up? I thought you came home hours ago."

"Home," she replied, still grinning like an idiot. Usually, she might be embarrassed of the baby blue vest and bottoms she wore as pyjamas, but as it was, she was warm and happy. "I think it is, finally."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm really, really fine," Felicity answered, walking over to him. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around his middle and hugged him, elation making her feel high and floaty. "Thank you, Ted. I haven't said it enough, but thank you for this."

". . . it's fine, really." He let out a laugh of his own, letting his arm fall lazily on her back for a moment before she let him go. "What's got you in such a good mood, anyhow? Not that I'm complaining, it's just nice to see you so happy."

"Just something I saw on the news."

"Oh?"

"That Blue Beetle guy beat the fire guy," Felicity replied casually, trying not to sound like she knew the facts of the case clearly. She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, "it's just a good story. Good guy beats bad guy, the city is saved and the people of Chicago can once again rest easy." She chirped happily, putting on a voice for the final part before shrugging. "After Starling, it's nice to hear some good news for a change. Instead of Earthquake machines and maniacs, the city is actually safe."

Ted shook his head at her fondly, "Don't you think all this vigilante stuff is . . . I don't know – stupid? Dangerous?"

As he went into the kitchen, she followed him, thinking before she spoke. "No, I don't. Dangerous, sure okay, I'll give you that – but it's not stupid. It's brave."

"That's a fine line to walk."

"But someone has to," Felicity replied, brow creasing. She jumped onto the counter as he began to pull things out of the fridge, swinging her legs over the side. "I think that the world isn't the way it used to be, there are more dangerous people in it, and they're not going away. The police and the law isn't enough anymore. But the thing is . . . people will fight for themselves, cities will save themselves – but they need something or someone to kickstart it."

Ted snickered, "With a cape and goggles?"

"If that's what it takes. Hope is a powerful thing, Teddy. Give people something to believe in, and they'll wave that banner and stand by it until the end."

"Cute," he said. Putting a collection of microwavable foods by her side on the countertop, he sent her a grin. "Nuke these for me, and we'll have a midnight picnic on the roof. I need a break – but I need a shower more. I'll be five minutes."

Rolling her eyes as he ran off, Felicity jumped down and began putting things in the microwave, half paying attention as they cooked. Noticing Ted's bag was still on the floor, she walked over and grabbed it, intending to drop it on his bed, but paused when she noticed a stain on the floor where it had lain.

Crouching, Felicity touched the grey stain. Her fingers came away to a powdery substance, which she rolled between them before sniffing – ash. Ted had been to the scene of the fire! Snorting, Felicity got to her feet and dragged the heavy duffel to Ted's room, turning to leave just as he walked back in with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Jeez, Felicity! Give a guy a warning, would ya?"

She flicked her hair, hiding a smirk, "Just bringing in your bag, liar."

"Liar?" he blinked confusedly. "What did I do?"

"There was ash on your bag when I moved it; I know you went to the scene of the fire," Felicity accused, taking another step closer with a finger pointed in his direction. For a moment, Ted looked unreasonably panicked before she laughed, "Admit it – you like the Beetle!"

". . . I never said I didn't," Ted claimed after a second, but turned away quickly to grab some clothes from his dresser so his face was hidden. "I just wondered why you seemed to like the guy so much. Now, let me get dressed and go grab some champagne flutes. I'll meet you on the roof."

The roof of Ted's building was really, really nice, Felicity decided as she waited for him. The roof itself was concrete and completely ordinary - but the view was amazing. They could see Kord Industries on the shore of Lake Michigan, the rest of the city glowing around them in a billion lights, the purple hue of the sky still holding a single like of smoke, drifting slowly across the city towards the lake.

It was cool out, but after the warm city days, it was a welcome relief. Ditching her shoes, Felicity sat on top of a heating duct on top of the roof, not on the ledge or likely to fall, but high enough to see over the wall around the edge of the building, letting her bare feet touch the breeze. Plus, there was more than enough room up there for Ted and all his food.

"Hey," she greeted when he walked out onto the roof below her. "Up here."

Handing her up the basket, Ted jumped gracefully onto the top of the duct, ever the former athlete; he too had opted for pyjamas: grey shirt and blue trousers hanging off his frame. They looked quite the pair, sitting on the roof with a picnic basket between them and the two full champagne flutes, one of which he passed to Felicity.

"I, er, I don't really feel like drinking tonight," she admitted.

"Me neither," he grinned. "it's just apple juice."

"Oh," Felicity took the glass, raising it towards him. "To home."

His smile was brighter than all of the city, matched only by her own. "To home."

A/N: see, I updated! weekly updates stand a chance now. Since I'm guessing most people reading this are Arrow fans and not Blue Beetle fans, I should probably say that this is based around the first issue of Blue Beetle from '86 - 'Firefist' is a real DC Villain. Although in canon, he is actually killed, but I never liked that ending so he lives in my version. Ted's costume also makes me laugh a lot, and oh yes, 'The Bug' is a thing. Therefore, full disclaimer: I don't own any Blue Beetle characters in this story. Or Arrow ones, for that matter. Back to Starling for a bit next chapter, review with any characters from back home you'd particularly like to see Ted or Felicity interacting with!