Author's Note: So, I felt the need to address something quickly that you guys may or may not have thought about while reading this: Cisco's powers. During the time period this story is taking place in, Cisco does in fact have his Vibe powers. However, the use of them in this story would make things too easy. Like, they would have immediately known where Barry was when he was kidnapped, probably been able to locate the mysterious meta somehow, and would also be able to find Oliver, Iris and Snart. Obviously, for this story to progress like it has, that can't happen. So I am not including his powers; for all intents and purposes, he does currently have them, but I'm going to say it was during the point in time where he didn't really know how to control them, and therefore they are not very useful to the team right now. In case anyone was wondering. Anyways, on with the story! Hope to see some reviews :) And I hope you enjoy Singh's perspective ;)
For Captain David Singh, the past few days had been some of the strangest and most stressful out of his time working at the CCPD. This being the case, the last thing he wanted to see was a large crowd blocking his path to STAR Labs as he pulled up to the facility and jumped out of his police cruiser. And as if the universe was personally out to attack him, of course the crowd surged on him as soon as they saw him approaching.
"Captain! What is your opinion on what has been going on the past few days?"
"Captain! How does it feel to know that the Flash was working in the CCPD all this time without your knowledge?"
"Captain, can we get a quote?"
Singh suddenly found multiple news station workers bombarding him with questions, ones that he was certainly in no mood to answer.
"Alright, alright, clear a path or I'll be forced to arrest someone, damn it," the Captain said loudly, and immediately most of the people backed off with mumbled disappointments. A few civilians snapped pictures of him as he stepped up to the doors, pulling on them. Only to find them locked tight, of course. He had been prepared for that. With a sigh, the tired man pulled a lockpick from his pocket; it took him only a few seconds to get the doors open and to stride inside, locking them back up tight.
It also took only seconds for an alarm to start ringing throughout the building, red lights suddenly flashing. Singh jumped in his surprise, looking around. Damn it, had he triggered that? His heart racing from the surprise, he started for the first set of stairs he found - only to find someone already on their way down them, and a gun suddenly in his face. Nervously looking up, David found himself looking into the determined face of Joe West, who seemed to recognize his boss at the same time, eyes slightly wide.
"Captain," Joe greeted awkwardly, putting his weapon back on safety and shoving it back into its holster. "What - how in the holy hell did you get in here?"
Singh held up the lockpick in response, and Joe let out a humorless chuckle.
"Figures," the man replied, and looked at him quizzically. "But what are you doing here?"
"I came to see Barry," Singh replied, with a dredged up smile that looked more like a grimace. "I heard that he was...back," he added. "How's he doing?"
At the question, Joe's face hardened. "He's, ah - stable. He's stable," the detective replied. "But there's still some - well, complications. How'd you know we were here?"
"News travels fast. Not to mention the swarm out there," the Captain said, vaguely gesturing towards the doors through which he had come. Joe's eyebrows furrowed, and he frowned.
"Swarm?" he questioned. "There's people out there?" Singh nodded, this time actually grimacing.
"...yeah," he admitted. "And a hell of a lot of them. I wouldn't open that door anytime soon."
Joe sighed, looking more frazzled than David had ever seen him before, and ran a hand tiredly over his face.
"We have other ways of getting out," he said, waving a hand as if dismissing the issue. He supposed the detective did have bigger things to worry about at the moment. Barry's identity being exposed was something that could be worried about after the man had healed.
"Can I see Barry?" Singh asked, his voice almost uncharacteristically gentle.
Joe seemed slightly hesitant, understandably so, but eventually nodded.
"Yeah," he said simply. "But I have to warn you, he doesn't look great," the man said seriously before turning around and heading back up the stairs. Singh sucked in a breath and followed behind him, paying attention to everything they passed. He had never actually been inside the place before.
Finally, Joe lead him into what looked like a more central room, filled with computer monitors and other expensive-looking equipment. Off to one side, there was a large, empty display case. All things considered, David figured it must have usually housed Barry's suit. It wasn't there now, however, and it was almost a sad sight. He could hear talking now as well, drifting from down the hallway, and he found the source of it as he followed Joe into a smaller room. A med bay, he realized, spotting the medical equipment and such scattered around. And, of course, the still form of Barry Allen lying in a bed not ten feet from him, looking decidedly terrible. Singh winced, louder than he intended, and suddenly he had multiple sets of eyes boring into him as quite literally everyone in the room turned to look at him.
"It's alright," Joe was quick to say. "False alarm, it was just Singh. I let him in." All the faces seemed to simultaneously shift to relieved as they realized that there was no threat. And, as Singh looked at them, he realized that he recognized at least two of the three. Among them was Cisco Ramon, a friend of Allen's who frequently helped the CCPD out with specialized weapons, and Caitlin Snow, whom Singh knew was also a good friend of the young CSI. The second girl, however, was unfamiliar but looked just as concerned as the others.
Singh made his way over to his young employee's bedside, frowning down at his pale form.
"Damn it, Allen," he muttered. "You always manage to get yourself into the worst trouble." He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He looked up then, locking eyes with Caitlin; he knew she was a doctor of some sort, and had to be the one overseeing his care. "How long until he's up?"
The doctor frowned, biting at her lip. "I'm not sure," she admitted sullenly, awkwardly. She wasn't used to discussing such things with someone outside of their little team. "His injuries are one thing, with his healing on the fritz, but the illness has worsened exponentially."
Singh frowned again at the words. So he was sick. And it was preventing him from getting better. Only Barry could manage to get himself into such a pickle. He opened his mouth to ask more, but Joe's voice cut off anything he would have said,
"Wait, Iris hasn't come back yet?" he asked, his voice suddenly sounding much more worried as he realized that his daughter still wasn't in the room. He had thought she would have calmed down somewhat by now. "Did anyone see where she went?"
"I think she headed out to the Cortex," Caitlin answered distractedly, checking over something with Barry. Cisco was frowning now too, however.
"Wait, where's Snart for that matter?"
Singh's eyebrows shot up. "Snart was here?" he asked incredulously. The events from earlier came flooding back to him. Snart going off with the villains who had taken Barry in the first place. Joe pleading with him to let him go, to trust him.
"He helped get Barry back. Long story," Cisco answered, waving the Captain off. He understood, however. Now wasn't exactly the best time to get him up to speed. Joe suddenly looked sick to his stomach, and Singh watched as he shared a look with the other three occupants of the room.
"You don't think…" The blonde, unfamiliar one questioned. Cisco suddenly grabbed her by the arm.
"Felicity, help me look at the surveillance videos," he commanded, pulling her out of the room. Joe cast a quick look at Barry, torn between staying with him and going with the other two it appeared.
"Joe, go," Caitlin said. "I've got him." Joe nodded then and hurried from the room. Singh, slightly worried at the sudden change in focus and not quite wanting to be alone with Barry and the doctor, fled after them. Cisco and the girl, Felicity apparently, were already seated at the monitors, Joe standing behind them. Singh came up next to the detective.
"What is going on?" he asked, but he got no answer as the three of them poured over the footage until they seemed to find what they were looking for. On the screen appeared a video of Iris and Snart, and their conversation became clear as the mic was turned on. Singh watched as Joe's face paled, and Singh could see why he was worried. Cisco looked ready to turn the monitor off when suddenly a third figure appeared. His back was to the camera, his face not visible, but Singh could immediately tell who it was from the gear. The Green Arrow. And no one else seemed surprised to see him appear, only more worried as the conversation escalated. No one spoke until all three of the figures on the camera left the room, out of sight of the camera, though not before the Green Arrow grabbed a bag and what looked like a mask from the very desk they were sitting at. Singh dared to speak again.
"What is going on?" he repeated with emphasis. "Since when was the Green Arrow involved in all of this?"
"He's always been," Joe answered darkly. "And he's gone and taken my daughter on a death mission. Felicity, can you track him? Please tell me you can track him."
"Normally, yes, but the son of a bitch stole my laptop," she answered frustratedly, gesturing wildly at the screen. "I am going to kill him."
"You and me both," Joe muttered, looking rather ashen.
"Joe, she's with Ol - Arrow. He'll keep her safe," Cisco said, barely keeping himself from saying Oliver's name in front of Singh; the half-slip didn't go unnoticed by him however, and he filed the information away. They knew who Star City's vigilante was. What else did they know?
"He better damn well," Joe growled.
"Wait - a metahuman caused Barry's illness?" Singh questioned, raising an eyebrow. Joe didn't answer, but Cisco nodded, his expression serious.
"Yeah. And if we get a sample of her blood, Cait can make an antidote. But we don't know who she is or where she is…which is what they went to go find out, apparently." Felicity suddenly looked almost offended.
"Are you serious?" she asked, looking over at Cisco. "Why didn't you tell me about this when we got here? Hello, facial recognition software?"
"That wasn't exactly our top priority when Barry was kidnapped, Felicity," Cisco said pointedly. "And besides, the cameras never got a good look at her face. Otherwise we wouldn't be in this damn mess, and Iris wouldn't have gone off with Snart and Arrow."
"Well, show me anyways," the blonde said fiercely. "I refuse to be useless just because I don't have my laptop."
"Let me help too,' Singh piped up. Felicity, Joe and Cisco all swiveled their heads to look at him, and Singh sighed, making eye contact with Joe. "We'll get your daughter back, West," he added. "And fix Barry. I'm not going to be useless in this damn thing anymore, either."
David watched as the three exchanged looks before nodding.
"Alright, Captain," Cisco said, looking determined. "Let's get to work."
"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
Leonard Snart's voice was accusatory with a hint of amusement, as it seemed to be quite often. There was no amusement in Oliver's reply, only anger.
"I'm not Felicity. That doesn't mean I'm completely clueless as to how technology works," the vigilante snapped. Snart, Oliver and Iris were huddled around the laptop set on the table in front of them, Oliver's fingers tapping away at the keyboard. They had taken their operation away from STAR Labs so as not to be caught, and were currently holed up in the corner of a dive bar a few miles away. It wasn't the ideal place to set up, but it worked for now. Besides, a bar was the last place the others would try looking for them. Not to mention, it was easy to blend in the crowd. And with the majority of said crowd fairly drunk, they were hardpressed to recognize Snart for the villain he was, or Iris for being affiliated with the newly outed Barry Allen/The Flash. The only sounds for the next few seconds was the tapping of the keys, but as a video suddenly popped up on the screen, Oliver spoke again.
"There," he said triumphantly. "That's the video, right?" he asked, the question directed at Iris, who nodded.
"That's it," she confirmed, frowning a bit as she watched the events unfolding. It showed the fight from just a few days ago between Barry and the mystery meta, who had conveniently managed to hide her face very well from the camera. Her powers were rather impressive, though rather destructive, Iris noted as she watched Barry get assaulted by chunks of earth and rock, trying to dodge and take her down at the same time.
"Just because her face isn't clear doesn't mean we can't identify her," Oliver said, not peeling his eyes from the footage. He had learned some things about identification from Felicity over the years. "Just from this, we have her hair color, build, and approximate height, weight and age. Is there a way we can cross check that description with of people affected by the Particle Accelerator explosion?"
"There isn't exactly a convenient list of those affected," Iris said with a sigh.
"What about cross checking the description with hospital records?" Snart chimed in. "Weren't a lot of those affected hospitalized?"
Iris's face lit up a bit at that. "That's actually not a bad idea," she said. "Oliver, how good are your hacking abilities?"
"Not great," the vigilante admitted. "That's Felicity's strong suit. But I could try."
Snart rolled his eyes at that. "Give me," he said, reaching for the laptop and tugging it away from Oliver, who looked ready to protest. "I've done my fair share of hacking," he added before the other man could get a word out. "And worked with my fair share of good hackers before. Villain, remember?"
Oliver scowled a bit but didn't protest as Snart set to work, his fingers tapping away furiously. He didn't get the job done nearly as fast as Felicity would have, but within a few minutes, he smiled and turned the computer around.
"Two close matches from hospital records during the time of the explosion," he said. "Allison Smith and Kasey Stone."
Iris pulled the laptop closer to her, eyes narrowed as she looked at the two separate records. A small smile tugged at her lips after a few seconds.
"This one," she said, pointing to the first file. "Kasey Stone. That's got to be her. Medical Report says she was rock-climbing that night and got caught in a small avalanche caused by the explosion. It would make perfect sense, considering her powers."
Oliver nodded in agreement. "That sounds like our girl," he said. "Now we just have to figure out where she is."
"Well, can't we use Felicity's facial recognition software?" Iris asked. "Now that we know who she is."
Oliver nodded at that. "We should be able to, if any cameras have picked her up." The vigilante pulled the computer back over to him, opening the program and quickly starting up the program. Much to their surprise, there was a match within a minute.
"Security camera outside of a market on Oak Street caught her twenty minutes ago," Oliver said. "That's on the outskirts of the city. We can be there in a half hour tops."
Iris, for what felt like the first time in forever, grinned widely.
"Let's go catch us a meta."
Author's Note: So headcanon I guess that Snart actually has some hacking skills? I thought that would be pretty cool. Anyways, that's all for now. You'll get to see some action next chapter, and some more on Barry, since he wasn't talked about too much in this chapter. Until next time, guys!