The man checked around the corner as though nervous before continuing up the stairs. Lucy smiled as she waited near the top of the outside staircase. The cameras had revealed that he liked to go up to the roof at night. He was going to get quite a surprise tonight. Oliver had agreed to wait at the top of a nearby building, and when Lucy gave the signal, he would fire an arrow near but not into the unfortunate man.

"Going somewhere?" Lucy asked and watched the man freeze at the top of the staircase.

The man stopped and stared at Lucy with alarm in his eyes. He started to flee, but Lucy raised her arm. An arrow flew right in front of the man, causing him to stop in terror.

"That's my friend. He won't shoot as long as you don't try to run," Lucy lied confidently. The truth was that Oliver only promised to shoot the man if he attempted to attack Lucy, but he didn't need to know. Details, Lucy thought to herself and emerged from the shadows. "Why have you been following me? Did someone promise you something? He's a liar… just so you know."

The mystery man's terror turned to confusion then indignation, and he retorted, "Me follow you? Please! You've been following me! You want my research, don't you?"

Lucy just stared at him in confusion and asked, "What?"

"You work for Mercury Labs, right? And I saw you go into STAR Labs. Just who do you really work for?" the man asked haughtily. "Dr. McGee or Dr. Wells?"

Lucy noticed a mocking tone when he'd said Dr. Wells' name and said calmly, "I work for myself… and occasionally Dr. McGee. She's a kind lady… if a bit… controlling."

The man scoffed at that but seemed to relax. Lucy took that as a sign to keep going.

"What don't you like about Dr. Wells?"

The man immediately stiffened and glared at her. He eyed her suspiciously as though suspecting a trap, but Lucy just looked back more confused than ever.

"Look… Dr. Wells is looking after one of my friends. I need to know if he's… less than trustworthy."

"No, no," he muttered to himself. "You're… He sent you. To make sure that I wouldn't talk. I won't be fooled."

Lucy bolted in front of him and blocked him from running away. She asked angrily, "What did he do?! Why are you so scared? I don't even know who the hell you are. Please! Just tell me. My friend is depending on him."

The man scowled at her and watched her before he answered, "And what would you do if I told you that he was a terrible person? Tell the police? He'd ruin me! Or maybe he sent you to trick me. To see if I'd talk."

"Well… I threatened to beat him with his own wheelchair… so I'm hardly his best friend."

"Really?" the man asked with a horrified look at Lucy, who just shrugged.

"Yeah, I wasn't in the best of places at the time… but I need to know if he's trustworthy. He's supposed to be taking care of my friend. Please, just tell me what you know. I won't tell him," Lucy pleaded and caught the man off-guard.

"I… I can't tell you much," the man admitted guardedly. "He'd figure out that I was the one to tell you if you slipped, and I don't trust you not to slip. He's much smarter than you are… He's selfish, and he pretends to be caring. But I've seen another side to him. Don't let him fool you. That's all I can say." The man looked somewhat apologetic and asked hesitantly, "Your friend… was your friend injured in the particle accelerator malfunction?"

"Yes," Lucy answered and narrowed her eyes.

"Just be careful," he said, and Lucy allowed him to walk away.

Something in his tone made her second guess the particle accelerator explosion. Had it really been an accident? Did that guy know something about what had happened? Lucy had assumed that it had been an accident caused by the weather and Dr. Well's hubris, but had there been something more to it? Rage flowed through Lucy as she struggled to keep it buried. She had blamed Dr. Wells from the beginning, but she had assumed that he was doing his best to make up for his lack of foresight. Now she wondered if he was trying to atone for the explosion itself.

"You okay?" Oliver asked, and Lucy took a deep breath. "What did he say? Was he your guy?"

As much as Lucy didn't like to admit that she'd been wrong, she knew it was the right thing to do and explained, "No, he was just some guy. Suspicious but not one of his minions."

"What did he say?" Oliver asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing much. But Dr. Wells… before I leave, he's going to answer some questions."

"Do I need to be worried?"

"Not if he answers them correctly," Lucy assured him.

"What does correctly mean?"

"It means that he didn't cause the explosion, purposefully or not."

"Well, he… kind of did," Oliver admitted, getting Lucy's full attention. "It was a part of his facility. It probably wouldn't have been created if not for his work."

"Not in that way," Lucy snapped and headed back inside with Oliver following behind her.

"So what if he did? What will you do?" Oliver asked as Lucy opened the door to her room.

Lucy let out a cold, hard laugh and whispered harshly, "You have no right to judge me. I've read about what you've done. You've never been afraid to use lethal force before, and this seems highly hypocritical." Lucy turned her back on him and walked into the room, noting the delay in the door closing. He had followed her inside.

"I've made mistakes. I'm trying to be better. And I know you are too. You didn't want to kill those people before, and you regret doing it now. Do you really want to hurt this doctor? Barry wouldn't want you to do that over him."

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT BARRY WANTS?! You only use it when it's convenient! You didn't GIVE A DAMN when I came to you… looking for help… asking for answers. You didn't believe Henry Allen… and you probably still don't. Thank you for your help so far, Mr. Queen, but we're done here." Lucy held her head in her hands and tried to regain her composure. There was an odd ringing in her head, but for once it wasn't causing her pain.

"Lucy," Oliver started and took a step forward. "I want to help Barry too. If Dr. Wells is responsible… then we'll decide then. But… is this all to repay Barry? Or even a version of him. How do you know that it was this Barry that saved you and not a different one?"

"I don't!" Lucy said angrily as tears leaked out. "But… I've watched him die before. I can't… I won't let that happen again. I watched him in a hospital, but he wasn't this lucky… They didn't save him. That's why… if that man had anything to do with this… I'll— I'll deal with him."

Strong arms held her in a hug, and slowly her edginess faded as she relaxed into Oliver's arms. The hug seemed awkward for him as well. As though he hadn't hugged someone in a long time, but his voice was calm and soothing as it chased the ringing out of Lucy's head.

"I'm sorry," he said and held her as she cried in his arms. "Barry's going to be alright. We can help you. I have a good team. You don't need to do this alone… Barry isn't just someone you've met before, is he?"

Lucy pulled herself together and pushed Oliver away before answering, "He was… my brother. In my world. There was an accident, and he died. Every time he crashed… I—I thought it was over, only for the doctors to bring him back. To crash again. They couldn't save him." Lucy's voice sounded hollow, even to her. As though all the pain had slowly faded to resentment and bitterness.

"I'm… I'm so sorry, but he'll be okay. Felicity said that he was improving."

"I know… I visit. Not often as it's kinda weird between Dr. Wells and me… I may have threatened him if anything were to happen to Barry because of his negligence. I was just… so mad. I was so close… when it happened. If I'd been a few minutes earlier…"

"You can't think in 'what ifs.' That's a dangerous train of thought, and it doesn't do anything. Nothing will change except how much guilt you feel. Stay here for now. There's nothing you can do for Barry at the moment but wait. We'll figure out this Dr. Wells business together. And Felicity… well, I think she'll forgive you for the computers."

"You think?"

"Well, they are like her children," Oliver joked stiffly. "You'll just have to work extra hard. And your friend can't mess up our systems. Do you promise?"

Oliver turned to Anti, whom was staring at the both of them with a guarded look.

"I promise to wreck your shit if you try to mess with me," Anti said then continued when his eyes met Lucy's, "But otherwise you're fine. I'm good. We're good."

Lucy noticed that Anti gave her a worried glance. Oliver gave Lucy his number and promised to give him a call after she'd thought about what he had said. After she closed the door behind him, she heard Anti mutter, "We need to talk."