Author's Note: Hey guys! So I wanted this chapter up sooner, but ironically I've been sick. Go figure. But I'm finally feeling better, so I finally got this done! It feels a little chaotic to me, and was a little hard to write considering the large amount of characters all interacting in this one, but I think it came out okay? Let me know what you think! Also, just a heads up, this story is probably close to wrapping up? Probably within the next few chapters? I have a loose plan for how this is going to finish up, and it shouldn't take many more chapters to accomplish but I guess we'll see how it goes! Also, I promise the next chapter will be longer. I feel like I've been a little lacking in the length department. Anyways, enjoy guys!
For a few seconds, the warehouse was quieter than it had been since the rogues had taken up residence in it. Then there was the sound of Mardon's frozen body hitting the floor, a dull thud echoing through the spacious area. The man hadn't even gotten a chance to scream. For a moment, everyone stared at the corpse of the man who just seconds ago had been a threatening ball of rage. Then Snart slowly looked up, his eyes scanning over the other men of the group, his cold gun still held at the ready. In all honesty, he hadn't come here with the intent of killing anyone. In fact, he had made a pact with Barry a long time ago that he wouldn't kill anyone else. But he somehow doubted the man would object after this.
"Anyone else?" the villain asked cooly, index finger twitching on the trigger of the gun. Bivolo and Bliss shared one look and decided to take the smart route, bolting, which earned a smirk from Snart. Tell and Clay, however, were not so easily threatened, despite the lifeless, frozen body of their partner lying on the floor.
Tell almost immediately began drawing cards from his body, throwing them with precision, and Snart snarled as he didn't move quick enough, one managing to lodge itself in his shoulder. He pulled the trigger on the cold gun, sending a blast towards the meta, but he was prepared and rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding suffering the same fate as Mardon had. Clay came up behind Snart as he was focused on Jeremy and, having now powers of his own, settled on jumping on his back, trying to knock him off his balance. Snart stumbled, Clay nearly succeeding, but Shawna seemed to snap out of her stupor at that moment, tearing her eyes away from Mardon's corpse, her gaze now locking on the fight that was happening in front of her. And she sprung, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and pulling him off of Snart with a force she didn't even know she had. Snart gave her a quick nod of approval, pulling the card from his shoulder before turning his attention back to Tell, who had gotten back up and was ready to start throwing them again.
He turned on him and, before the man could get very far in his action, fired again in his direction. Tell went to dodge again, but this time was a hare too slow; the cold blast hit his right arm, and the man screamed out in agony, falling to his knees with gritted teeth. Snart moved in to take another shot, to finish it, but a voice stopped him.
"Snart! Don't," Shawna said, stepping forward and gripping his arm. "Don't," she repeated upon seeing his raised eyebrow. He watched her as she walked towards the injured meta and, with one swift kick, knocked him out. His eyes then travelled the rest of the vicinity, searching for Clay, and settled on the man on the floor behind him, also out cold. Seeing that the threats seemed to be taken care of, the thief finally hurried over to Barry's side. The speedster was unconscious now, and Snart nearly winced as he got a good look at the younger man. He definitely wasn't in good shape. He was almost ghostly pale, dark bags standing out under his eyes. Despite the blast he had given the hero from his cold gun, he could practically feel the fever heat emanating from the skin not covered by his suit. He cursed and put a hand to his earpiece.
"Empty warehouse in the 4th district, off of North Street. Someone get their ass here fast." And then he promptly turned the device off and took it out of his ear, not wanting to focus on the slew of worried voices that began to come through all at once. He knelt beside Barry, using his cold gun to freeze the chains around his wrists attached to the wall; he was easily able to snap them after that, and the speedster slumped to the floor. Snart turned him onto his back carefully.
"Barry," he said, placing a hand on the shoulder that didn't have the knife lodged on it; he wasn't going to touch that. Leave it to someone who knew what they were doing, he figured. He shook him gently, not wanting to make him any worse off than he already was. "Come on, kid, wake up." The speedster didn't stir, however, and Snart cursed.
"Barry," Shawna echoed, her voice quiet but startling Snart all the same as she came to kneel beside him suddenly. He had momentarily forgotten that she was there. "That's...that's his name?"
"Not the focus right now," Snart replied snappishly, eyes still on Barry. He moved his hand from the speedster's shoulder and, without much hesitation, began patting his cheek harshly, still trying to rouse the man. "Barry," he repeated; a small groan escaped Barry's lips, but his eyes remained firmly closed. Snart let out a sigh, finally withdrawing his hand. His efforts clearly weren't doing any good. Thankfully, he didn't have to shoulder the responsibility of the sick and injured man for much longer. Only about a minute later, there was the sound of a door slamming open, of multiple pairs of footsteps echoing quickly in their direction. And then Iris, Joe, and Oliver materialized, making their way over quickly. As Snart watched, all three of them dropped to their knees as he had, taking in the sorry sight of their friend.
"Barry," Iris choked out, tears pricking at her eyes. She had been rather strong throughout the entire ideal, but Snart supposed seeing her friend like this was a bit much for her. He stood up and stepped back, not wanting to get in their way. Shawna seemed to take the hint as well and did the same. Unfortunately for her, it only drew attention to herself. Oliver's eyes flicked towards her, and they hardened with anger.
"You," he said, his voice deep as he disguised it. "You did this." Faster than anyone could blink, he had an arrow drawn and strung on his bow, ready to release it. Shawna, despite the fact that she could have teleported out of the path of the projectile, seemed frozen with fear as her eyes locked on it and the intense man wielding the weapon. With a sigh of almost annoyance, Snart forced himself to step in front of the girl, successfully blocking her from Oliver's intended rage.
"Your friend there," he spoke, motioning to Barry, "Is still alive because she helped in taking out her cohorts," he said, extending his hand gestures to three bodies scattered on the ground, the one dead and two out cold. The anger in Oliver's eyes seemed to waiver, but not fade.
"She started the entire thing," he continued. "Move out of the way, Snart."
"Can't do that," Snart replied cooly.
"Both of you cut it out," Joe snapped, eyeing Shawna with anger and wariness as well but not acting on it, as Oliver seemed intent on doing. "Leave her alone for now. Barry is the focus." Obviously, something had to be done about the girl, but now was not the time - and they didn't have the means. Cisco had the power-dampening cuffs, and he, Felicity and Caitlin hadn't arrived yet. Which wasn't good in respect to that or the fact that Barry needed a doctor, and none of the five conscious people in the room met those requirements.
"Barry," Iris's voice rang out again. "Bar, wake up." She had moved him gently at this point, careful not to aggravate any of his visible injuries. She had his head resting in her lap, and was shaking him carefully as Snart had only minutes ago; she was having the same rotten luck as he had been however, not succeeding in making him stir. She turned her worried gaze to her father, about to open her mouth to say something when the sound of a door banging open once again echoed throughout the warehouse, and in seconds Cisco, Felicity and Caitlin came rushing over, the doctor of the group prepared with a small medical bag in hand.
Snart noticed that Caitlin's face seemed to pale as she got closer and saw the condition that Barry was in, but she didn't let the sight deter her; she was the only one who could work on him, after all. She knelt down next to where he was lying half-on Iris and immediately started assessing him.
"Shit," came Cisco's voice as he stood off to the side with Felicity, concern etched clearly on his face as he got a good look at his friend; he seemed nearly as pale as Caitlin was. Felicity hit him offhandedly at the exclamation, but she didn't look very positive either as she watched Caitlin work. As she began to pull the knife from his shoulder, the blonde turned away, not wanting to watch as the blood started pouring out of the wound.
"Cisco." Joe looked up from his son momentarily, tired eyes locking on the engineer, and his head nodded towards Shawna. Under different circumstances, Snart might have been amused as he watched the man jump at the sight of her. He quickly fumbled for the cuffs and tossed them to Joe, who stood now and clamped them quickly onto the girl's wrists; she didn't give the detective any trouble, allowing the man to put them on easily and hanging back from the others, keeping put.
After a few minutes of Caitlin doing her best to stabilize him, she looked up, face still slightly pale but expression stern, serious; she had gone into full-on doctor mode, and even Snart, who barely knew her, could tell.
"I've done all I can do here," she said. "We need to get him back to STAR Labs, now. Cisco, Joe - I need you two to carry him out to the van. Very carefully," she stressed, and the engineer looked at the detective nervously but nodded just the same.
"When you get him there, set him down gently in the back - don't jar him. Iris, I'm gonna need you to drive so I can stay back there and with them and keep an eye on him on the way back. Okay?" Iris nodded immediately as well, though she did not seem overly keen to have to take her eyes off of the superhero even for a second. But this was all for him - to keep him safe. To keep him alive.
"Snart, Felicity, Ol - Arrow," the doctor caught herself almost saying Oliver's name, but stopped the slip, eyeing Shawna. "You guys go back in Joe's car - take her with you," she said, nodding her head at the teleporting meta. "She - she's going back in the pipeline, until we figure out what to do with her. Shawna hung her head down, looking at the floor, but for once didn't argue.
"What about them?" Felicity spoke up after a moment, biting her lip as she gestured to the the two still-unconscious accomplices and the frozen corpse of Mardon on the floor.
Caitlin hesitated, sucking in a breath. "I - I don't - there's not enough room in the cars for them," she said.
"I'll handle it," Oliver spoke up gruffly after a moment. "Go without me, I've got it." A few members of the group looked like they wanted to protest, but they did not have time to waste, and they all knew it.
"Okay," Felicity acknowledged his choice, giving him a quick hug. "Stay safe." Oliver gave her a nod, and then everyone jumped into action. Cisco and Joe, under Caitlin's watchful eye, began lifting the limp speedster, both wrapping one of his arms around their shoulder to support his weight. They began walking carefully back the way they had all come in, Caitlin following immediately behind them. It was Iris and Felicity next, keeping a close eye on Shawna as they guided her out, and finally Snart bringing up the rear. It took a few minutes to carefully load Barry into the back of the van, but they managed, and soon everyone was set.
With Iris in one driver's seat and Felicity in the other, the group took off for STAR Labs.
Author's Note: That's it for now! On a side note however, who's excited for the crossover!? I was a little disappointed last night when Barry and Cisco only showed up in like the last minute of Supergirl, but I'm super excited for the rest! Also, *spoiler*, like holy shit Cisco. Couldn't believe when he basically said Barry wasn't his friend. The sass was real. And Barry's face. Like just, damn. But anyways, until next time guys! Peace out.