Author's Note: Hey guys, here's chapter 10! This story is moving right along, and I hope everyone is liking where it's going! Enjoy! Please review if you can!
"This sounds like a rather risky operation. You realize that while they do owe me, they will be hardpressed to accept me at this point? Especially with that fool Mardon there. I already turned down his offer to hunt the Flash last Christmas."
Team Flash, along with Snart, were back in the familiar Cortex at STAR Labs. After Snart had agreed to help them, they had figured that STAR was the best place to go over their gameplan. They would have less of a chance of interruption, and they could monitor Barry's vitals, which were still rather concerningly low. Though it had been somewhat of a hassle to get back, what with having to sneak in the criminal and making sure no one they knew, specifically from the police force, caught sight of them. They didn't have time to deal with the questions they were sure to have now that Barry's secret identity was out in the open.
"We know," Iris was the first one to say in response to Snart. She had somewhat recovered from the events of earlier, at least enough to not stumble over her words. She presented herself strongly, as if her world wasn't crumbling, and doing so more and more the longer that Barry was left in the hands of those awful metas. "But this is our best option right now. If you can infiltrate their group, there's bound to be some way you can get him out of there. And of course we'd be right there waiting."
"And how exactly do you want me to find their little lair?" Snart continued. "They didn't exactly advertise that bit of information.
"The way we see it, they've already...done their worst to Barry. For now, at least. They wouldn't have broadcast bragging about it otherwise. We think they have something else planned, that this morning was just a distraction. And when they show up...that's when you'd make your move," Caitlin explained.
It was a big what-if, and they all knew it, but it did make sense. For once, they were all waiting hopefully for the crime alert to go off, hoping it would signal the move of the rogues. Then they could make their move.
Snart raised an eyebrow. "That's your big plan? To wait here until they all make a big scene? Didn't take much time to think about this, did you?"
"And I suppose you have something better, then?" Iris snapped at the man, glaring. "We already spent over an hour trying to locate him and ended up with nothing. This is our best shot right now."
Snart put his hands up in mock defense, the corners of his mouth upturning in that annoying way of his; a smug kind of amusement. Iris hated it.
"Alright, alright," he said. "We'll wait. But this better not take all day."
"It won't," Iris said firmly, but she honestly didn't feel quite as confident as she sounded, and she knew that her father and friends had the same anxiety over the situation. They truly had no way of knowing when the rogues would make their move. They could assume, but there was no way of knowing for sure. Iris closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She felt her father place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently in a comforting gesture, and some of the tension left her body, though not much.
Snart rolled his eyes as he looked around at the four people before him. "Chill," the thief said, amusing himself slightly at the pun. "Barry will be fine." With that, he got up, heading for the doorway, much to the dismay of Team Flash.
"Where are you going?" Joe demanded, everyone else tensing; Snart rolled his eyes again.
"The bathroom," he deadpanned. "Natural bodily functions still apply even when the Flash isn't here." And then he walked out of the Cortex, leaving them by themselves in a bit of a stunned silence.
"He better come back," Cisco grumbled irritably, something he never thought he would say. Caitlin nervously wrung her hands together.
"He won't go back on his word," Iris said, voice still firm. Despite her dislike of the man, this at least she was sure of. He had said he would help, and she did believe him. But waiting for their time to strike would be hard. Every passing second meant more time Barry spent trapped with those monsters without the help that he needed, and was probably desperately waiting for from them.
The room seemed almost too silent after that, the four people still left in it lost in their own thoughts and concerns, worrying that talking about it would only make the situation seem worse. They all kept glancing at Barry's vitals, as well as the monitor that would alert them to any crime, but it stayed as still and silent as them.
Iris was finally considering breaking the uncomfortable silence when something else happened to do it for them. A loud banging sound came from downstairs, one of the floors below them, and suddenly everybody was on their feet, eyes wide and hearts thumping. Joe immediately drew his gun.
"Someone's in the building," Cisco said, stating the obvious.
"It might just be Snart," Caitlin said, though her voice sounded unsure, and she quickly moved to take a look at the security cameras, only to see that each and every one of them displayed only static. Okay, so probably not Snart. Not good.
Joe inched slowly towards the door of the Cortex that lead out to the other areas of the building, his gun pointed steadily forward. Cisco, Caitlin and Iris crept behind him with bated breath, listening for anything else that would signify where the intruder was. For a few agonizing moments, there was nothing. But then there was the sound of heavy footfalls on the stairs, and the four of them tensed, waiting to see who would come up.
And then suddenly there was a figure emerging, momentarily hidden in the shadows of the dark hall, and Joe had his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot. The figure seemed to realize the threat at the same time, and pulled a weapon of his own: a familiar bow, reaching behind him to grab an arrow from the quiver on his back, his masked face finally coming into view.
"Oliver?" Cisco asked, his voice tinged with surprise.
The Green Arrow wasn't easily startled, but his expression quickly morphed to such at the use of his name before recognizing the people he had thought were potential threats standing before him.
He let out an oddly relieved sounding curse before lowering his bow as, at the same time, Joe slowly lowered his gun, seeing that it was Barry's vigilante mentor standing there.
Oliver put a hand to his ear briefly where, just like Barry when he was in costume, had a com secured. "Felicity, we're all good. They're in here. You can put the cameras back online and come on up."
A very muffled "roger that" could be heard in response before Oliver pulled his hood down and peeled the mask off of his face.
"What the hell?" were the first words out of his mouth the the stunned members of Team Flash; a lot had happened in the past 48 hours, but Oliver and apparently Felicity showing up was the icing on the cake. "Why haven't you been answering your phones?"
"We're kind of a little busy dealing with something -" Iris began, but Oliver cut her off.
"Yes, I know, Barry was kidnapped," he said bluntly. "And Felicity and I thought that something had happened to you all too," he added, his expression sour. While Oliver wasn't very good with expressing emotions, it seemed clear to Team Flash that he had been worried over them.
"Sorry man," Cisco offered with a shrug. "But uh, you should probably know -"
Cisco didn't get to finish his sentence.
"This facility is huge," came the voice of Snart as he entered the Cortex again. "You really should have everything more clearly labeled." The man paused as he saw that someone new had joined their midst, and Oliver whirled around at the voice, a scowl on his face as he realized that it was too late to put his mask and hood back on to conceal his identity. Snart seemed genuinely, uncharacteristically surprised for a moment before regaining his composure, his usual calm and cool expression, almost as if he were bored.
"So Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow. Did not see that coming. Interesting."
Oliver's mouth twitched, his fists clenching at his sides as he whirled back around to face Team Flash. "What the hell is he doing here!?" he demanded angrily. It might not have been the best time to be mad, to lose focus, but this was certainly a bump in the road. Leonard Snart figuring out his identity had not been part of the day's plan.
"Oliver, he's here to help us," Caitlin was quick to jump in, seeing that things could easily escalate if Oliver wasn't calmed down. "He's agreed to help get Barry back."
"You asked a criminal for help?" Oliver asked, still clearly floored. "Why didn't you just call us first!?"
"You have your own city and own issues to deal with," Iris began. "We didn't think -"
"Bullshit," Oliver interrupted. "I would never leave Barry to die. You should have called me."
Team Flash visibly flinched at the word 'die.' Oliver, meanwhile, turned back to face Snart, walking up to him with purpose and grabbing the front of his parka menacingly. "If you ever tell another living soul about my identity, I swear -"
"Whoa." Felicity chose that moment to come into the room, her face surprised as she took in the scene before her. "Oliver, put that man down," she said, noting that her boyfriend was actually beginning to lift Snart up off of the ground in his anger. Oliver hesitated only a moment before letting go of the villain, shoving him backwards none-too-lightly with a sneer. Snart smoothed down the fabric of the parka, looking mildly amused.
"My my, what a temper," he said. Oliver looked about ready to go at him again, but Felicity shot him a warning look.
"Your services are no longer needed," the vigilante said hostilely. "I'm here now."
Team Flash shot each other uneasy looks.
"Listen, Oliver -" Cisco started, but was stopped from saying more when a noise sounded throughout the room, and all heads turned in its direction.
The crime alert was going off.
As Barry started to once again come to, he was mildly confused. He was aware of a presence in the room with him, but there was no chatter, no arguing. No nothing. It was eerily quiet, and he liked it decidedly less. What was happening? With more effort than really should have been required for such a simple action, he managed to peel his heavy eyelids open, blinking hard to try and clear his vision and focus on what was around him. He was still in the same spot he had been before he passed out, chained to the wall of the warehouse. His suit felt unnaturally stuck to his skin, whether from blood or from sweat or both, however, he wasn't sure. He still felt overheated, his body aching all over, and he realized belatedly as he shifted that Clay's knife was still stuck in his shoulder, eliciting a wince from the speedster. Upon making noise, he felt a pair of eyes suddenly settling on him, almost making him shiver. Barry's eyes moved slowly until they fell upon the figure of Nathan Bliss, meeting the other metahuman's gaze.
"Oh, you are still alive," came his voice, mildly amused. "Good."
Barry raised an eyebrow. So they didn't want him dead? He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. It probably just meant more pain in his future. For now, however, he seemed relatively safe. Bliss, it seemed, was the only one in the building with him. The fact also made him uneasy, however. Where had the others gone? The evil meta seemed to recognize his captive's confusion and chuckled at him.
"They've gone out to have some fun with this Godforsaken city," he said, and Barry tensed at the words, only able to imagine what their meaning of 'fun' could possibly be. He wasn't there to stop them and, even if he was miraculously freed, he doubted it would make a difference anyways. He was in no shape to take them on, as he had already found out. Not that he wouldn't still try, but that was besides the point.
"I got stuck on babysitting duty," Bliss continued, clearly not happy.
"You could go after them," Barry finally spoke up, his voice rasping and uncomfortable; Bliss only chuckled again.
"Nice try, Flash," he said simply. "I'm not stupid."
Barry sighed; he had doubted that would work, but out of all of the metas, Bliss did seem the most moldable. Apparently not as much as he had hoped. The meta stood from where he had previously been sitting on a crate, adjusting his tacky top hat as he approached the hero. Barry pressed himself flat against the wall, as far away from the man as he could, but he just came closer, crouching down to inspect him. He noticed the blade still stuck in Barry's shoulder, and a look of mock sympathy crossed over his face.
"That looks like it hurts," he noted, and reached for it. For a moment, he thought he was going to pull it out and braced himself, but the villain only gave it a good shove, as if seeing if he could wedge it in even farther. Barry hissed in pain, his vision going foggy once again, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself not to give in to it, to stay conscious.
"Whoops. Sorry," Bliss said with a malicious grin. "Would you like some other pain to focus on? It might help you forget about that," he added, flicking the hilt. Barry, his teeth still grit together, didn't grace him with a response.
"Maybe I could even film it," he said, casting a glance at the video camera to his right, still resting on a crate. "Mardon might find it fun to broadcast later."
The speedster's eyebrows knit together as he followed Bliss's gaze, spotting the camera for himself. When had that gotten there? Bliss grinned once again at the red-clad man's confusion.
"Oh, that's right," he said. "You were unconscious for our first broadcast, weren't you?"
Barry felt his heartbeat pick up drastically. First broadcast? What the hell did that mean? Bliss seemed all too willing to explain.
"We might not know the name that goes with that pretty face of yours," he said, patting one of Barry's cheeks as if making a point. "But someone out there does. I wonder how many of them already knew you were the Flash," he continued, "And how many of them were surprised to find out. How many other criminals out there would love to take a crack at you, now that they know what you look like."
Barry's eyes felt like they would pop out of his head as he realized what the man in front of was insinuating.
"That's right, Flash. Your secret isn't so secret anymore." He grinned wider, full-out laughing now as Barry sat there in horror. "How does that feel, Flash?"
But Barry was barely listening anymore. Everyone knew. Everyone knew his secret.
And all he could do was sit there and feel utterly hopeless.
Author's Note: Hey, would you look at that, this chapter was actually longer than usual. I enjoyed writing this one. I am evil :) Until next time, guys! Hope you enjoyed!