31


"And while you're in Gotham, where am I going to be?"

Cadence gave Brady a funny look. "Here. In Central City. With your dad."

"But I want to see Gotham!" Brady practically whined, leaning over the side of the couch. Conner sat behind him, eyes shifting between mother and son, periodically looking toward Leah, who only smiled in amusement, watching them all. "I want to see if Batman and the Joker figured things out. Remember when we fought them?"

With an upward tick of her eyebrows, Cadence said, "Remember when you almost died when you fought them?" She turned back to the bag she was packing and unpacking. Unsure of what to bring to a bachelorette party that she could easily teleport to and from. She brought her hand up to her wrist, watching the bracelet that held her suit swing back and forth as she spun it around.

There weren't many times that she thought about leaving her suit behind, but what was there to happen when in Gotham? They were going for a bachelorette party, not to run off and fight vigilantes and criminals. Then again, you're the kind of person who's targeted the second you walk out the door.

"Mom, no one's going to be looking for you in Gotham," Brady said, as if he could read her mind.

As far as Cadence was sure, they didn't have that meta ability. But there had to be something with the way his powers manifested from her own. If there even was a link there. She hadn't looked that far into it. Besides, there were laws against subjecting your kids to scientific experiments, weren't there?

"And I didn't almost die. You almost got me killed. That's different!" Brady rolled off the couch and moved to follow her across the penthouse. "There's more than enough stuff going on in Gotham, no one is going to care about you and your party. They've got Batman and Joker and the Penguin—"

"—Mr. Freeze," Leah broke in, counting off her fingers. "Harley Quin. Poison Ivy. Catwoman. Two Face."

Conner's face screwed up. "What kind of a place is that?"

Leah smiled.

Cadence chuckled. "About as bad as things are getting here, Con. Just give it a few more years." She reached out her hands for a hug, which Brady obliged after rolling his eyes. "You're going to have a good time here, bud."

"No, I'm not." Brady's voice was muffled, his face squished against the side of his mother's head. (Another reminder he was getting taller by the day. Something Cadence was fine not knowing). "Dad gets to go to Barry's bachelor party, Barry's going to run him back. You all get to go to the bachelorette party. How come I can't do anything? I'm getting married, too."

"Barry and I are getting married, bud."

"I'm part of the family, too, I'm getting a step-dad! I'm going through big life changes, too!"

"Yeah, like I'm going to allow my twelve-year-old son to go to a party filled with strippers."

Face screwing up, Brady pulled his head back from his mom as he detangled their hug. "You're going to have a bunch of penises everywhere, like that makes much of a difference."

"You're really not helping your case, Brady." Connor laughed.

"He's really not," Cadence agreed, deadpan. She shook her head, chuckling at the last, pleading expression Brady tried to send her way, but she reached out, placed her hand on his face, and pushed him back onto the couch. "You're staying here, and that's that. Who else is going to protect the city if something goes on?"

"Uh, Barry and Wally?" Brady folded his arms, sinking back into the couch cushions. His sullen expression barely moved as he spoke. "They're not going to any strippers at their party, mom, you know that. Barry would be too awkward about it."

Leah giggled. "He'd probably just bore them to death with all his science stuff."

Conner laughed as well. "I don't know, maybe some of them would sit down and listen." He dissolved into immature laughter along with Brady and Leah while Cadence rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay. I'm going to take you over to Ryder's place now, alright?" The three pre-teens got up and shuffled to her side, ready to be teleported. Cadence clamped her hand onto Brady's shoulder and pressed her forehead against his, looking him straight in the eye. "Try not to drive him too crazy while I'm gone."

Brady merely smiled in response.

"Miss. Cadence, if you have the time, do you think you could go see a friend of mine?" Leah asked. She messed with a paper in her hand. Slowly handing it over to the fire metahuman. "She used to babysit me all the time and I didn't get to say goodbye before we moved."

"Sure," Cadence said. She took the sheet, quickly making note of the address scribbled upon it. "What's her name?"

"Barbara Gordon."


Barry turned from the counter with a bowl of chips in hand, only to have his shoulders slump in annoyance and frustration when Ralph's hand stretched across the room to pluck it from Barry's grasp. Sighing quietly, Barry lifted his chin to look Ralph in the eye and asked, "For real?" as deadpan as he possibly could. "What was that for?"

"Oh, I owe you, rookie," Ralph replied. He brought the chips to his chest and started to chow down on it, making a show of opening his jaw wide with each bite. Barry rolled his eyes. "And, you owe me a lot. So, I try to make sure that there's more that you owe me than I owe you. And, you know…" he waved his hand. "There's that whole fact that you ruined my life."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Could you please stop calling me 'Rookie?'"

"Sorry." Ralph waved a hand, looking very much not sorry. He continued to noisily and obnoxiously tear through the bowl of chips. "Old habit from when I was your Superior Officer. You know, before you got me fired, ruined my career, destroyed my life. Crushed my spirit, left me alone without a friend in the world."

"Wait a minute!" Diggle held up a hand, turning the attention, and tension in the room to where he and Oliver sat on the sprawling couch that stretched across the expansive living room. He pointed toward Ralph, then to Barry, then back to Ralph. "You got him fired from the CCPD?"

"And ruined his career?" Oliver added.

"Don't forget how you turned him into an amorphous, stretchy blob," Cisco added. Barry rolled his eyes, not liking, in the slightest, how everyone seemed to be turning against him. He looked toward Wally, who shrugged and looked away, clearly not a beacon of light in the darkness surrounding him. It was supposed to be a party, not gang up on Barry night.

"Actually, that's the one good thing you've done for me!" Ralph remarked, raising his hand in the air, as if he were in class. He shot Barry the finger guns then finished off the rest of the bowl of food, burping loudly.

Oliver glanced at him, eyebrows coming together. Barry could see the questioning in Oliver's eyes. Not just the usual questioning, wondering what Barry was going to do as a leader for his team and for his city. To see how Barry would grow into being a true hero for his city. This time, however, Barry could see the questioning look was because of the sheer craziness that was happening within Central City, but also due to the startling news.

Even Barry could hardly believe it when he was in the situation, he had made it so that someone else lost their job? That their career was derailed? Baby Face? One of the youngest members of the police force? Even when it was something that Barry couldn't keep his mouth shut about, he worried what would happen after the fact? The risk of Ralph being fired was huge. And he couldn't stand the fact that someone who hadn't killed his wife was going to have his life taken away from him.

In retrospect, maybe, he shouldn't have been allowed to work on the case. Maybe they could've figured out a case of 'Conflict of Interest' was it was close to what happened with his own family. But it was something he felt he had to do.

If other people couldn't understand that….at least the people who mattered did.

"Right," Barry muttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair. Because everything with that had to do with Dibny was his fault. Every decision he'd ever made with other people in mind were his fault. Flashpoint was always held over his head, deciding to keep their villains alive was his fault, having to make the tough decisions was his fault. So what was it about Oliver that made people take Oliver so seriously with he was the one who had people question his actions left and right.

Even more than when he questioned his own. He ignored Savitar's voice declaring it to be true and turned his attention back to Ralph when he continued with, "Of course, you didn't do that on purpose, so you don't get the credit."

Barry made a face.

Ralph clapped his hands together, emitting a loud sound that made Barry jump. "So! When are we doing this bachelor thing?"

"Right now!" Wally declared, punching the air with his fist.

At once, Cisco leapt to his feet "Okay, I'll get the lights and Wally will—" His eyes slammed shut, hair blowing off his face when there was a sudden, strong gust of wind that practically propelled him backwards. Even Barry had to focus on holding his ground as the speedster whooshed through the spacious apartment, the gust of wind being somewhat of a vacuum as it bounced off the walls. Finally, Wally came to a stop, dropping back to the couch with a grin as glasses of Brandy appeared in everyone's hands. "Will get the brandy. Thank you, Wally."

"No problem," Wally replied, his grin growing bigger.

"Okay, well, I also need the projector set up and—" Cisco waited once more while the speedster set up everything Cisco was asking for. "Honestly, I don't know why we don't just make our own business of speedsters. They just want the chance to show off anyway," he mumbled under his breath before turning to Barry with a grin. Barry raised his eyebrows in response. "Barry Allen," Cisco said in an announcer's voice, suddenly taking on a British accent. "Are you ready to have your mind blown?"

Turning to the projector screen, Cisco picked up a remote and pointed it toward the project where the image of a wiggly, chubby infant appeared on screen. All at once, Barry felt the color drain from his face, an awkward smile settling on his lips when he saw the image of himself on screen.

"Meet Barry Allen, before he became an interdimensional time travel speedster. He was an adorable baby boy with Ewok chub."

Mostly due to not knowing how Cisco had managed to get that stuff—though he was sure Joe, Iris, and Wally were ready and willing to give it—but also from feeling a little bit of embarrassment of what his Bachelor party was. When they were talking about it in Central City, it was going to be a regular night at home with the guys; drinking alcohol, gambling over card games, laughing at memories. But once it became something that moved to Star City, then involving Oliver and Diggle (and Ralph who had invited himself), he felt a bit of trepidation to it.

A worry that he hadn't recognized until he glanced over at Oliver, who held a polite smile on his face but Barry could tell, from the way his jaw clenched and his arms folded across his chest, that Oliver had been to better parties and was probably hoping they were doing something different. With another glance toward the projector screen, Barry winced once more. This time, for an entirely different reason, seeing the video image of him and Iris dressed in what was supposed to be a veil and top hat, reminiscent of cake toppers.

"Where did you get these?" Barry asked, eyes widening.

Wally folded his arms, still grinning at Barry. "It wasn't hard to get this from dad," he practically bragged. "He always tries to find an excuse to show off your guys' embarrassing home movies." Diggle chuckled, watching as Barry got knocked out, on screen, by Iris, who was wearing bright red boxing gloves over her fist.

"Embarrassing is right," Ralph declared. He groaned loudly, before getting to his feet. "I mean, what kidn of a party is this?"

Barry ran a hand over his face. "It's my bachelor party, Ralph."

At that, Ralph let out a loud snort. Then he started to laugh to himself. Laughed over and over again. Didn't stop laughing until he noticed all eyes turn his way, with Oliver glaring at him the hardest. Ralph glanced at him, his head jerked back slightly, then he turned to Barry with wide eyes that slowly turned to a look of resignation. "Oh God, you're serious." He rolled his eyes, gestured vaguely with his hands. "This wienerfest is your bachelor party? This whole thing? Oh, and let me guess, you're about to pay for some $50 steak dinner?"

"Actually, we can get it for free," Oliver remarked, the side of his face turning up. He let out a long breath, as if already pained by Ralph's mere presence—Barry knew exactly how he felt—complements of a favor I was owed. "And a wide variety of drinks that even the likes of you haven't seen before."

"Whatever," Ralph said, in a tone that tried to boast of his fearlessness of Oliver. And yet, he found himself taking another step further from the vigilante to keep himself a safe distance away. "I know a place where you can get an all-you-can-eat steak and chicken for $4.99 and they throw in napkins. Where the drinks flow freely and the views are spectacular!"

Diggle blinked rapidly. "And what sort of fantastical place are you talking about?" He turned to Oliver when he groaned, tilting his head back to rest on the back of the couch. "What?"

"You can't be serious?" Oliver asked, steadying his gaze on Ralph. The smile of mirth that was on his face moments before had dropped to an incredulous expression. "The Golden Booty?" Ralph snapped his fingers and shot him a finger gun. "There are a hundred better strip clubs than the Golden Booty."

"Strip club?" Barry repeated.

Diggle grinned and elbowed Oliver in the side. "And I'm sure you have a whole list of strip clubs that you think are better?" Silence stretched across the room. Even Wally leaned forward, eager for Oliver's response. Barry couldn't do anything more than watch the whole thing unfold before him.

Oliver paused, his eyes shifting as he tried to figure out how to respond. "I…well…that's not really the point that I'm trying to make." He stood, wiping his palms on the legs of his jeans and folded his arms. "I'm just saying, it's Barry's bachelor party and he can decide to do what he wants…" he ran a hand over his head. "No matter how…lame it is." Barry gave him a 'for real' look. Oliver held up his hands defensively then pinched the bridge of his nose. "I mean, Barry, I get you're a lowkey kind of guy, and that's always been one of your best qualities—"

"—Yeah, yeah, best qualities." Ralph waved a hand. He clapped his hands together. "Let's go! Oliver here seems to have the knowhow of this place, I'm sure he knows some cool places to get us into that's not so…depressing. So, night on the town, boys! Let's go!"

No one moved, but that didn't stop Ralph, who stretched out his arm, wrapped it around the group of men and dragged them toward the door. Barry groaned, feeling himself pressed against Cisco and Wally on one side, with Oliver and Diggle on the other. Diggle, seeing the elasticity of Ralph's arm for the second time that night, dry-heaved, his cheeks bulging.

"You'd think I'd get used to this stuff by now," he remarked.


Cadence leaned out of the way as the waiter brought the champagne bottle back up, twisting as he went to ensure there wouldn't be any spills on the tablecloth before disappearing back behind the bar. She looked around the nice restaurant, studying the people inside, before looking at the champagne that sat in front of her once more.

It was stark contrast, the restaurant to the rest of Gotham. While the restaurant was something that even Bruce Wayne would visit, filled with sparkling lounge music, and the most expensive décor that the grandest of celebrities would enjoy, the streets of Gotham were still very much like the Gotham she knew and was warned about. Everything seemed dark, there were police cruisers on nearly every corner, graffiti on the side of every building. The city that held a booming growth in industrialism was cut in two by the soaring crime rates and urban decay.

So much so that when they teleported to the middle of Gotham and Cadence headed toward the restaurant, Iris and Felicity consistently questioned whether they were in the right place or were close to where they needed to be. Caitlin appeared to be off in her own world, barely looking to see where she or the group were going, while Jesse looked around in what appeared to be wide-eyed wonder.

Nevertheless, they had arrived in the correct place and had been seated quickly after Cadence explained what they were there for and what name the reservation was under. She couldn't help a small smirk at how quickly things were brought together for them, but at the same time felt a twinge of sadness. It was a part of her life that she worked to keep from falling back into, but there was something about it that gave her a sense of comfort as well.

Pushing the thoughts of her head, Cadence lifted her glass of champagne and pressed it beneath her nose to take a quick sniff. She swished it around once then sniffed it again, the side of her mouth turning down slightly. She wasn't the one who had made the plans for the night and she would never want any of them to break the bank, but there were some of her skills she couldn't hide. And being able to determine what was considered a good glass of champagne and wasn't, was something she couldn't hide.

"A toast to the future Mrs. Allen," Felicity said, lifting her glass once everyone had been served

Iris held up a finger and turned a questioning glance to Cadence. "Or is it Nash-Allen? You haven't said."

"That's because I haven't decided yet," Cadence replied, twisting her champagne flute between her fingers. "And it isn't for me, that's the issue, it's Brady. He's had the last name Nash, I thought of giving him the last name Moseley, now he's going to potentially change it to Nash-Allen. It might be confusing for him." She smiled to herself. "And I don't think I want to have to go through all those papers to change my last name!"

Even Caitlin cracked a smile and a little laugh along with the rest of the girls around the table. Jesse took on the toast, reaching across the table to place her hand on her other Earth sister's arm. "Although your life with Barry may be fast-paced, I hope you take the time to enjoy the special moments."

Cadence beamed back at her. "Thanks." She lifted her flute in a 'cheers' clinking her glass along with the others then took a quick sip, made a face—she knew it would be some of the lesser expensive bottles despite the décor of the restaurant—and placed it back on the table while Iris and Felicity drank theirs. Caitlin, on the other hand, tipped her head back and swallowed hers down. "Anyone can have mine." Cadence barely got the words out of her mouth before Caitlin reached across the table to grab it.

"You don't want it?" Iris's eyes bounced from the alcoholic drink to Cadence's face and back again.

"Or can't have it?" Jesse asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows and shoulders.

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Please." She held up her hand, waiting for Iris and Jesse to stop laughing. "That's not going to be a problem for a long time. Or never, whichever comes first. This champagne is just a little too…cheap for me." She grimaced at the word.

Iris laughed. "I never noticed before, Cade, but you're so spoiled!"

Almost instantly, Cadence felt her cheeks flush. "I'm not spoiled, I just know expensive champagne. That one's just tastes…ecch?" She shrugged, then watched with wide eyes as Caitlin downed Cadence's drink in one gulp. Then she reached for Jesse's.

Jesse shielded it with her hands. "What are you doing?" She pulled it further away from her, watching Caitlin closely. Not that she couldn't superspeed her drink down if she really wanted to. "I'm old enough to drink!" She stuck her tongue out at Cadence when she said, "Barely."

"And it's not like you're old enough to know what's good and what's not," Cadence added.

"Well, we can't all live off of our moms and dads letting us do whatever we want."

Felicity smiled a little, her eyes shifting back and forth between the girls who were on the same team. Who had the same experiences with each other. They were a tight knit team and it was clear that she was on the outside looking in. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat and asked, "Harry's still on your back?" She thought for a moment. "Or was it Harrison? HR? It's hard to keep them all in order"

"My dad is never not on my back." Jesse rolled her eyes. Then she shrugged, her gaze lowering toward the menu that sat in front of her. "He's always there. Always trying to push me and my team forward, to be ready for whatever huge villain comes through our Earth. But to be honest, our Earth has been pretty quiet since Zoom. Dad just…" She shook her head, sighed. "Has too much time on his hands."

"He just cares about you, Jesse," Iris reminded her.

"Yeah, a little too much."

"Better too much than too little," Cade mumbled, then winced once more, feeling the wave of sadness overcome her when she thought of her father…and how he wasn't going to be in the wedding. Or anywhere around the wedding. It was the only thing she ever wanted in life, even when being a stubborn teen mom in Central City, she wanted her father there at her wedding to walk her down the aisle. Don't think about it, Cade. Tonight is supposed to be a fun night. Her gaze shifted toward Caitlin, who'd suddenly stiffened in her seat, eyes growing wide. "Cait, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Liar. Cadence immediately felt Caitlin's body temperature rise at her lie. She continued to watch Caitlin closely while Iris turned a question to Felicity, wanting to keep her in the loop. Studied her closely, watching the miniscule changes in the muscles in her face.

"So, Felicity, Do I hear wedding bells in your future?" Iris asked.

"Oh no!" Felicity said quickly. She waved her hands. "The last time that came anywhere near me and Oliver, he got shot so…" She tilted her head, gaze shifting to the same direction that Caitlin was looking. "Did you order a stripper?" Her gaze then shifted to Iris and Jesse. "You should've told me? I would've brought my singles!"

"Please," Cadence snorted. "If there was going to be a stripper anywhere near my wedding, I'd be the stripper." She bobbed her head. "I'm sure Barry would appreciate that." Then she looked over her shoulder and froze, seeing Norvock standing beside her. Oh God.

Caitlin had to have felt the same when Norvock said to her, "Amunet wants you."

"Uh, Caitlin?" Iris's eyes shifted back and forth. "Do you know him?"

Norvock ignored her. "You need to come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Caitlin practically whispered.

She jumped backwards when Norvock leaned over Cadence's shoulder and popped his eye out into Felicity's glass. Jesse cried out in horror, backing away from the table, holding her hand over her mouth. All before a snake-like tentacle came twisting and turning out of the empty space in his head.

At the same time, Caitlin and Cadence leapt up, knocking the table over, to offer them a little protection. Felicity grabbed a chair and smacked Norvock across the back of the head, while Iris smacked him with a menu before the two were knocked to the ground in a heap. Norvock turned their way, to attack them again, but Jesse superspeeded them out of the way.

"Please don't do this," Caitlin whimpered. Cadence clenched her hands into fists, feeling heat warm from the tips of her toes up to her fingertips.

Norvak shrugged. "It didn't have to be this way," he growled.

There was a sudden shot of ice-cold air that wafted over Cadence that made the fire metahuman gasp loudly and take a step back, bringing a hand up to her chest while she waited for it to subside. While she waited for her body to heat up from the sudden frozen shock she received. And, took the moment to work through the intense anger she felt as soon as she spotted Killer Frost standing where Caitlin had just been.

"I was hoping to see you again," Norvock hissed, the side of his mouth turned up.

"Really?" Killer Frost tilted her head to the side. "So I could give you another scar?" She held up her hands, an icy sheen starting to cover her palms. Norvock hissed at her, the tentacle coming from his eyes stretching even further and started to twist around.

Simultaneously, Cadence and Caitlin threw out their hands, sending a blast of fire and ice into Norvock's chest that knocked him through the window.

As the glass rained down around Norvock, the two enemies turned toward each other, silently daring each other to be the one to strike first.


A/N: Yes! I'm so excited for this and it took forever for me to get there because I was working on the Earth-X stuff so much, trying to re-write and re-edit some things I've had ready for over a year! There's more than enough coming from Gotham and Star City with these guys!

Cheers,

-Riles

Review Replies

Ethan: Yyep, in some way, it's similar to the Speed Force with how it holds onto speedsters, but Cadence was supposed to die when she was sick in the hospital, and, in a way, she had died. It's why Young Cadence-aka Cadence's eight year old self- is in the Fire Fall.

DarkHelm145: Oh yeah, ATLA was a inspiration for some things that I've come up with for Cade's firestarter/fire meta background but others I hadn't realized could have been inspired by other things! Lol. I guess it shows that the things we watch and experience really do shape us!