Chapter 3: Going Rogue, Operation "Thallen"

Answers to readers' reviews:

karatekidremix: Thank you. :)

A.N.: One person in the show will show up in this chapter. And I may have hinted some characters from another TV shows. Can you guess the answer?

Warning: Some violence will be involved. Like my other stories, Dalton Academy Warblers will be the protagonists (As they're my favourite.) while there will be a little of bit New Directions bashing in it. And, this story is NOT for Finn-lovers, Blaine-lovers and Mercedes-lovers, Klaine-lovers should avoid this too. Kurt-lovers… you should probably not read this either.

Slash, though nothing graphical. Don't like, don't read. Flames are strictly prohibited.

Disclaimer: Everything is AU, some characters might be OOC. English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I own nothing other than the OCs like Anders, Jeremy and some amendments on the plot. The rest of the characters belong to their respective owner. Chris and most of the Warblers belong to Eraman, Tory and Kynan belong to Love of Gleek.

"Glad to see you, Barry." The woman smirked and Barry let out a breath.

"Gosh, don't scare me like that, Felicity."

"Alright, alright." Felicity Smoak laughed before turning to Hunter and Anders. She froze when she saw Hunter.

"Co… Cooper?"

"What? Who?" Hunter looked at her in confusion.

"Felicity, you have met him?" Barry asked, looking a bit concern.

"Why would you be here? I thought you… you're in jail…" Felicity said and everyone in the room dropped their mouth, Hunter, on the other hand, looked like something dawned on him.

"Oh no." Hunter raised his hands in defence. "I haven't done anything illegal. You have mistaken me with another person."

He stroked his chin, looking deep in thought.

"But I think I know who you are referring to." He whispered, looking at Felicity straight in the eyes.

"Cooper Seldon, that's who you think I am, right?" He asked, though it was more like a statement instead of a question. Felicity looked at him with widened eyes.

"How… How…"

"That's ok, a lot of people mix us up with each other. Consider we look exactly the same." He continued.

"Who… Who are you? And what is your relationship with him?"

"I am Hunter Clarington, but my patronymic surname is Seldon. So yeah, Cooper is my twin brother. He was born 10 minutes earlier than me." Hunter said and it clarified everything.

"I see. But Cooper had never told me that he has a brother." Felicity said.

"We didn't have a very good relationship, just like our parents." Hunter said with a wry smile. "And after they divorced, we got separated because my father won Cooper's custody while mother won mine. I changed my surname to Clarington, the matronymic surname. After learning that he was arrested, I went visit him, telling that mother would not mind taking him in as father had made it clear that he would disown him, that bastard. But he refused to listen, I was very hot-headed back then and we got into a fight."

"A few days after, I heard he hanged himself…" Hunter whispered. "And it's all my fault…"

"He's alive." Felicity said sadly. "He orchestrated a large-scale cyber-attack which nearly brought Starling City on its knees. I had met him… he is now the leader of a cyberterrorist group called Brother Eye."

"Oh…" Hunter stared down, looking sad for what had happened.

"But I have a question, if you're his twin, why would you study in the high school?" Felicity asked, remembering what Barry told her about the two brothers he met in Dalton.

"I didn't finish my high school, my mother's asthma attack got more frequent after she divorced and couldn't work too hard. So in order to lessen her burden, I dropped out of school and started working." Hunter explained.

"I'm sorry." Felicity whispered.

"It's ok. At least she is in a better place now." Hunter said and everyone looked at him. "Knowing what happened to Cooper just worsened her situation and she passed a few weeks before I got the ring."

"The ring?" Felicity asked.

"The power ring." Hunter explained. "I was visiting one of my friends, Kyle Rayner, saved a family form being robbed when we were both being chosen by the rings. We were then teleported to Oa and were under training. We battled different enemies, met the Guardians of the Universe and the other three Green Lanterns from Earth."

"That must be good." Felicity said.

"Not really… especially when literally all the Green Lantern Corps were always comparing you to Hal Jordan, the first and greatest Green Lantern. So anyway, when I finished training, they sent me back and specifically told Hal to look after his two baby brothers…" Hunter deadpanned and everyone chuckled.

"I see. So they are your new bros?" She asked.

"Yeah, guys. This is Felicity Smoak," Barry introduced. "Felicity, this is Anders Fung, the metahuman I have been talking about. And you have just known Hunter Clarington, the latest Green Lantern."

"It's nice to meet you, too. Miss S-"

"Oh no." Felicity cut Anders off. "Call me Felicity, no need for the formalities."

"Felicity, it's nice to meet you." Anders greeted her warmly. "How do know Barry?"

"Well, Anders. If I tell you she will probably become Felicity Queen in the future, will you get the answer?" Barry teased and Anders stared at him while Felicity glared at him.

"Honey, you wouldn't want to know what my sisters and I have in stores. So I kindly remind you to watch your mouth." She said with a wide smile which caused sweat to appear on Barry's forehead.

"Let… Let's just start, shall we?" Barry gulped and said. Hunter and Anders looked at each other and smirked, it looked like they had smelt something for blackmail. Felicity shook her head and started to work.

"So you are the desperate one that dragged Barry to save the poisoned Arrow and indirectly helped initiate a wonderful friendship that is so envious to people like us?" Hunter asked after a while and Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, it was the only way to save him. And once Oliver decided that Barry could be trusted, their bromance just 'bomb'." Felicity mimicked the situation with her hand. "Now, Oliver has got a baby brother."

"Hey!" Barry said while blushing. Hunter and Anders laughed, they were never gonna let Barry live that down.

"Now… Why don't you just tell me how they are doing?" Barry tried to change the subject and Hunter and Anders made a mental note that they would ask more information from Felicity later.

"I've been curious about this, Felicity. When did you learn about Barry's powers?" Anders asked as he sat down on a chair.

"Oh, it was after he woke up from his coma." Felicity said as she recalled. "I visited him when he was in a coma and I asked what happened to him when Caitlin and Cisco came to visit us, but the two tell me nothing, saying it's not their secret to share. I accept and respect their decision. That's why I came to visit him."

"And he had the time?" Anders asked sceptically. "He told us how busy his job is and reminded us not to be a forensic scientist when we graduated."

"You still have your day off, otherwise it is exploitation." The blonde explained. "And as for what does the fastest man alive did on his day off… it will be better for you to ask him."

The group turned to look at Barry.

"Before the lightning bolt, if I wasn't still at the crime lab, I'd be at home chilling, but now, my days off are different. Now they aren't so lonely, I had this special routine to kill time. The lightning didn't just give me speed, as you guys all know, it also gave me friends. And on that day, I was in S.T.A.R. Labs, playing with my friends, testing my speed at the same time."

The clock was on and the game began. It was Barry's day off and he was spending his time in S.T.A.R. Labs, playing with his friends while testing his speed, killing two birds with one stone.

"This isn't even remotely anatomically correct." Caitlin pointed out as she looked at the board.

"That's not the point, Dr. Snow." Barry laughed as he zoomed in on her before flashing away back to play Ping-Pong ball with Cisco.

"Then what is the point?" Caitlin called with a smile on her face.

"To have fun." Barry shouted back.

"And to continue your ongoing training by testing the speed of your mind, by pushing your ability to multitask." Dr. Wells called from the room. Barry zoomed in, move a chess piece before leaving again.

"I'm waiting on you, Dr. Wells." Barry teased and Wells just smirked.

"Checkmate." He quietly declared and Barry flashed in again, looking shocked.

"Wait, checkmate?!"

"Checkmate." Wells smirked again. "I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Mr. Allen?"

Just then, the alarm started ringing and everyone turned to look at the screen.

"Armed robbery at 4th and Collins." Cisco called and Barry shook his head.

"For the record, I crushed it in operation and ping pong." He told the group and left in his suit, racing to the crime scene.

"It's not as easy as it looks." Caitlin shook her head as the game board buzzer, signalling an error.

Meanwhile, Barry finally got to the scene and took down the robbers, but the driver of the armoured car was shot. Kneeling in front of the fallen man, Barry called his team.

"Where's the nearest hospital?"

"St. Andrews. Seven blocks north, two east."

"Call the ER, tell them they have an incoming GSW." Barry called as he watched the robbers got away. Shaking his head, he took the injured driver to the hospital in a flash. Later in the day, the scene was teemed with police forces.

"Let's go. I want this locked up all the way to the end of the block." Captain Singh barked.

"Tow truck was stolen." Eddie said as he talked to his partner Joe. "Driver of the armoured car is in a stable condition at St. Andrews, and no one's exactly sure how he got there."

"Did you check the security cameras?" Joe said in a forced calm.

"Camera's storage drive was stolen. Guys are pros." Eddie replied.

"Everything's still here, including what I think they were after: the Kahndaq dynasty diamond. It was on its way to Central City Museum for exhibition." Joe said.

"Right, Iris is trying to talk me into going." Eddie said and Joe stopped dead. "I'm not much of a museum guy, but when she really wants to do something…"

Eddie realised what he had just said and started sweating. You see, after Joe was released from the hospital, both Eddie and Iris had been trying their best to tell the older detective that they were not dating. Hard luck for them, Joe refused to talk to Eddie unless it was work-related and some formal greetings. At home, he would lock himself inside his room and when Iris caught the chance to talk with him, as soon as she started mentioning the word "Eddie", Joe would change the subject and excused himself to his room. So you imagined how frustrated both Iris and Eddie were.

"I'm just going to walk away now." He humbly muttered something as Barry rushed in.

"Sorry, captain. I was at the hospital, visiting a friend."

"There's nothing missing." Joe said before Singh could start scolding Barry again. "It looks like someone interrupted a robbery. Guard says there was three of them."

"Actually, there was four." Barry said.

"I mean, that's how many I would bring if I were doing a robbery of this nature." He quickly added and started his investigation.

"That's definitely a four guy truck." He pointed at the tow truck. "A driver, two more to cover the guards, and somebody used liquid nitrogen to crack open this door, so four bad guys."

"Thank you, Mr. Allen, for your brilliant insight." Singh mocked before leaving Joe and Barry alone.

"For somebody so fast, you're a little slow on the improvising." Joe teased. "Did you see anything that could help us catch these guys?"

"Yeah, one of them lost his mask. I saw his face." Barry said and Joe knew what he needed to do.

"So look through these mug shots of Central City's most wanted, and see if you can find our guy." Joe said as he showed Barry a file filled with wanted criminals' face shots. It didn't take Barry long to find out the one he needed.

"That's him." He pointed at him, the one with a particularly fierce look.

"Damn. Leonard Snart." Joe said as he looked at the name.

"Leonard? That's almost as bad as Bartholomew." Barry joked.

"Snart ain't sexy, either." Joe joked back.

"Snart's father was a cop, a bad cop. Took his anger out on his kids until he went to prison." Joe told what he knew about this Leonard Snart.

"Snart's dad's in prison too? We should start a club." Barry whispered.

"He shows up, like, every six months." Joe explained how Leonard worked his crimes. "He cases a job for weeks before he makes his move. Then, he does the job, gets away."

"That's before The Streak was around." Barry said and Joe eyed him.

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?"

"I referred to The Streak, which I'm pretty sure I can top." Barry said. "I've been thinking of a new name. What do you think about The Fla-"

"Coffee break." Iris said in a playful tone with two cups of coffee in her hand.

"Thought I would bring Central City's finest java over to Central City's finest." She said but Joe seemed to be a bit indifferent.

"Thanks. I'm off caffeine." Joe patted on Barry's shoulder before taking his leave.

"My dad's been mad at me."

"No, you mean he's mad at you because you didn't tell him that you and Eddie are dating." Barry said with a slightly sour tone, which made Iris more determined to clarify one of her last doubts before implying her secret-project.

"Uh, first, that sounds like you know what's really going on, and second, do you know how he does this whole 'I'm not talking to you, but I have a whole bag "full of judgmental looks" I'm gonna try out on you later' and when I tried to talk to him, he refused to listen?

"Yeah, I've been on the receiving end of those a few times." Barry sighed.

"Speaking of communications, or lack thereof, after all of these journalism classes… I got an idea." Iris said as they walked Barry's lab.

"I started a blog." She said and Barry raised his eyebrow.

"Alright, what's it about? Your brownie obsession? 'Cause, you know, you probably shouldn't broadcast that." Barry joked.

"No, something important." Iris looked really excited about her work. "Something that Central City needs to know about: The Streak."

That wiped out the smile on Barry's face.

"He's out there, Barry." Iris added with the look Barry gave her. "Rumour has it, he stopped an armed car robbery earlier. I was hoping that I could take a look at the file, and-"

"What? I'm not at liberty to discuss an ongoing police investigation with you." Barry cut her off.

"Since when, Mr. Blabbermouth?" Iris asked with a little frustration.

"Take it from someone who's been investigating the impossible since they were 11. Blogging about this is only gonna bring the crazies to your front door." Barry tried to talk Iris out but obviously, he failed.

"My blog is anonymous." Iris defended with confidence.

"Alright, well, anonymous or not, it's not safe. You never know what kind of weirdoes are out there trolling on the internet." Barry tried again but before either one could say anything, a chuckle rang. The two turned and saw a blonde standing in Barry's lab.

"I can vouch for that. The internet is full of weirdoes and nerd rage, Lots and lots of nerd rage." She said with a smile on her face. Barry looked both surprised and embarrassed while Iris raised her eyebrow.

"Hi." The blonde greeted Iris.

"Felicity Smoak." She introduced herself.

"Iris West." Iris greeted with a warm smile.

"Barry Allen." Barry added awkwardly and Felicity looked at him, trying not to laugh.

"But you both already knew that. Felicity is-"

"The girl that you met in Starling City, the computerer, right? You two worked on one of Barry's unexplainable cases." Iris recalled.

"Which, long story short was definitely explainable." Felicity finished before trying to change the subject. "So the lightning came through here?"

"Now that's awkward." Anders said.

"Well, that was what on my mind for long and I just blurted it out." Felicity said.

"I understand. That's the beauty of-"

"One more thing about human minds, Anders, I'm going to punch you." Hunter threatened.

"Jerk." Anders snapped playfully.

"But that's what I called a dramatic appear." Hunter said. "You rock, m'lady."

The group laughed and Felicity continued her story.

"Iris seems very nice, and really pretty." Felicity said as she and Barry were catching up with each other in a coffee shop. "Like, super pretty. Congratulations."

"Well, Iris isn't my girlfriend." Barry clarified. He fell silent for a while before adding, "She's just a friend who actually has a boyfriend."

"A really hot one…" He whispered, thinking no one could hear him. Unknown to him, Felicity had heard what he said. She also noticed the longing expression Barry had on his face.

"Oh… That's interesting, I guess." She said, her mind started running just as she noticed a very hot blonde man came in the shop.

"May I have a Grande Mocha with extra cream please?" He ordered in this deep mature voice.

"He's hot as usual." She heard Barry whispered and turned to look at him, raising her eyebrow.

"Uh… I mean the drink!" Barry mumbled and Felicity rolled her eyes. She and Barry were having Frappé, which is always served when cold.

"So he's the one you looked so dreamingly about? Iris's boyfriend?" Felicity asked. She smirked when Barry started blushing.

"What?!" He squeaked. "I didn't dream about him!"

He said a bit too loudly because the customers next table and nearby waitresses looked at him oddly, which only caused him to blush even harder. Biting her cheeks, Felicity tried her best not to burst out laughing.

"But yes, he's Iris's boyfriend." Barry whispered.

"A very hot one, I guess." Felicity teased and Barry had to resist the urge to bang his head against the table.

"What are you really doing here? I mean, it's good to see you, but do you and Oliver need something, or-" Barry began but was cut off by the blonde.

"No, no, I came because I wanted to see you." She explained. "I heard you were out of the coma. Didn't call, didn't write, didn't race over…"

She was hinting something and it didn't take Barry very long to figure out what she was saying.

"Oliver told you?" Barry asked.

"Honestly, I heard you two talking on that rooftop in Starling City that night." Felicity explained.

"I want to see it. And by it, I mean your speed, in case you thought I was talking about something else, which I… which I was not." She added, looking a bit longing.

"Okay. If you really want to see it, we need to change our location." Barry said, smirking as they moved to a nearby park.

"Okay, you see that building?" Barry pointed at a tall building nearby. "Keep your eyes on it."

Felicity did what she was told and then, she only felt a gust of wind rushed by, then a reddish orange streak moved at the top of the said building. The next second, another gust of wind and Barry was at her side, handing her his phone with a photo of her staring from the ground.

"You took a picture of me? From the top of that building?" Felicity gasped.

"Yeah, but don't Instagram that."

"Unbelievable…" She whispered before noticing something was rising from Barry's shoes.

"Your shoes are smoking…" She pointed out and Barry stomped his feet, extinguished the flames.

"That… that's fine. It's… it happens sometimes." He said and by the sceptical look from Felicity, he added, "It's why I have a friction-proof suit."

"Where did you get that?" She asked curiously.

"I'll show you." Barry smirked and soon Felicity found herself inside S.T.A.R. Labs.

"And this is where my team monitors the police bands for criminal activity." Barry showed her around. "We can track anything that's happening in the city. Check this out. We've got our own satellite."

"I know. I've hacked into it from time to time." Felicity said as she looked around.

"Rude." Cisco added as he and Caitlin walked towards them.

"It is, of course, so wonderful to see you again, Felicity." Caitlin said with concern and. "I'm just wondering how much of our operation she needs to know about."

"I'm really good at keeping secrets." The blonde assured.

"Yeah, Felicity works with The Arrow." Barry pointed out and Felicity turned to look at him, really to scold him.

"Sweet." Cisco said in a fanboy tone.

"And you apparently are not." Felicity said flatly.

"Now it's all making sense. You know who The Arrow is… Wait, do you know who The Arrow is?" Cisco asked and Barry and Felicity looked at each other.

"Well, let's just say that my team has a similar set up, but with… More pointy objects."

"Welcome, Ms. Smoak." A new voice rang and Felicity saw Dr. Wells.

"Dr. Wells? The Dr. Wells?" She said in surprise.

"Please, call me Harrison, Felicity."

"Oh, you know who I am?" The blonde asked, looking curious and alarmed.

"Ranked second in the national informative technology competition at age 19, graduated M.I.T., with Master Degree in cyber security and computer sciences." Wells said. "I know who you are. I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields."

"It's what brought me Cisco, Caitlin, and I foresaw great things from you." He finished and Felicity nodded.

"Speaking of great things, want to see something cool?" Barry said with a cheeky smile as he got into the lab.

"Show off." Felicity said as Barry got onto the treadmill.

"How fast can he run?" Barry heard Felicity asked from the control room.

"He hasn't reached his top speed yet, theoretically speaking." Wells replied.

"So is he really okay?"

"His heart rate is within normal range, for him." Caitlin replied.

"No, I mean, the lightning bolt changed him. Do any of you really know how much?"

"We know a fair amount."

"If everything about him is sped up, is he going to age faster? What would happen if he ran too fast? I mean, would he just be running, and then, poof, he's dust in a red costume?"

"Everything we do here at S.T.A.R. Labs is to protect Barry Allen. Trust us, Felicity, he is in very good hands here."

"Want to see how fast I can run backwards?" Barry called and then, he crashed. Felicity shuddered at the force he slammed into the cushions.

"Don't worry. He heals quickly too." Caitlin said flatly and rolled her eyes, obviously it was not the first time Barry did something like that.

"Show off!" Hunter and Anders teased.

"Hey, she wants to know what I can do and I just show her!" Barry said while blushing.

"So you're blaming on Felicity now? That's low." Hunter shook his head.

"Jerk." Barry hissed, burying his face in his hands. Felicity, Hunter and Anders just laughed.

"Eh, I don't get it." Eddie said as he and Joe waited patiently outside the Central City Museum. "Why would Snart come here?"

"Snart's been deterred before, but once he goes after something, he doesn't stop until he gets it, ever." Joe explained and there was something Eddie was very desperate to tell his partner.

"Joe, I want you to know that Iris is an amazing woman, but you need to know, Iris and I are-"

"I ever tell you about that wild night I had my last day of college?" Joe cut him off with a fake smile.

"Uh…I don't think so. No?" Eddie asked in confusion.

"Not even after we kicked back a few beers after work?"

"We've never done that…"

"Oh, right. That's the things I do with my friends, and since we've never done those things, we ain't friends, so there's actually no reason I need to know about your dating life." Joe said.

"But-" Eddie tried but was cut off by Joe again.

"It ain't about you, Eddie, it's about her." Joe said seriously. "So as long as we don't talk about you and her, we will be cool."

Joe finished with a glare and Eddie knew the discussion was ended. Sighing in frustration, he changed the subject.

"Maybe we should just listen to the radio." He said awkwardly as he turned the device on.

"Stay with me, I can make, Make you glad you came."

Joe spun his head and glared at his partner. Quickly, Eddie changed the channel, only to have another sensual music ringing in the air instead. This one was worse, consider what the lyrics were trying to imply.

"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

The glare from Joe was so hard if looks could kill, Eddie would have been dead by now. Blushing hard, he turned it off.

"Quiet is good." Eddie gulped with sweats on his forehead.

"Hey, you two." Iris greeted Barry and Felicity as they came into Jitters.

"Hey." Felicity smiled back.

"We're not a two." Barry clarified.

"Oh, no. We are a one and one." Felicity added.

"Has Barry been showing you some of the sights in Central City?"

"Yes, I have seen some pretty amazing things."

"Really? Well, if you've got some time, maybe we can show you some of Central City's night life." Iris said and Felicity widened her eyes.

"Oh, no, no. I get plenty of night life in Starling City." Felicity silently prayed Iris was not implying clubbing again.

"Oh, this is something that I don't think that you're gonna want to miss." Iris said as she showed them a pamphlet.

"Trivia night at Jitters." Iris introduced. "Eddie's not really excited about it, I admit."

Felicity eyed Barry who shifted a bit uncomfortably. His reaction didn't go unnoticed by Iris, but she continued anyway.

"But it could be our night, guys." She showed them the pamphlets.

"Our night to win $75 worth of cappuccinos." Barry said flatly, Felicity, on the other hand, looked interested.

"Uh, yum." Felicity said before checking her watch. "You know what, I'm gonna go call work, check in, make sure everything's okay. I'll be back in a second."

"Why are you doing this?" Barry hissed to Iris once Felicity was out of hearing range.

"Doing what?" Iris asked, today, she was going to clear her doubts in her brother's sexuality.

"The trivia night with you and Eddie, forcing this whole double date thing." Barry said as he followed her.

"Because that girl is great, and she happens to come from your very rare species of adorable nerds." Iris reasoned, for once, not trying to tell Barry that she and Eddie were not dating. "Why didn't you tell me more about her?"

"There's nothing to tell. She's just a friend." Barry insisted.

"Barry, girls don't just hop on trains and travel hundreds of miles to see someone that they don't like." Iris said as she put down the plate she had.

"See, this is why you need my help." Iris winked at him when Barry didn't say anything. "Bring her tonight."

Sighing, Barry thought it was time for him to come out to Iris.

"Actually, Iris." Barry said. "I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

"I… I… I will probably never bring a woman for a date." He started sweating as Iris looked at him with calculating eyes.

"Why?" She finally asked.

"What?" That caught Barry off guard.

Iris dragged Barry to a quiet corner so no one could hear them talking.

"There must be a reason why you haven't got a date yet. But because of what? You haven't found the right one yet? They didn't appreciate your nerdiness? Calling you a freak because you believed in something impossible? If that's the case, I'm going to kick their asses for hurting my baby brother." Iris said as she crossed her arms.

"No! It's… It's… It's because I'm not attracted to women at all!" Barry blurted and Iris's eyes widened dramatically.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I… I am gay, Iris. I didn't like women." Barry whispered.

"Please say something…" He said when he didn't get a response from Iris.

"When did you know that?" Iris asked quietly.

"From… From high school…" Barry said as he saw Iris's narrowed her eyes, that act was equal to a ticking time bomb of Iris's wrath. "I know! I didn't tell you, and I have never come out. Not because of fearing that you and Joe would shut me out, but because of what happened back then."

Barry took a deep breath.

"Too many things were bothering him. The bullies in the campus, my mother's murder… I… I just don't think I would have the time for anything romantic."

Barry looked at his sister who had not said a thing since he came out. Then, Iris's face melted into a big smile as she pulled him into a hug.

"Oh, Barry… I'm so proud of you." Her voice was muffled against his neck.

"You… You're not mad?" Barry asked in nervousness and hope.

"Oh, I'm mad." Iris said, still burying her face in Barry's neck. "But that's because you hid this important thing from me. That's all."

Barry felt his eyes started to water, and finally after all those years, a large rock was finally removed from his heart and he never felt so good, so full of freedom, like he had just learnt how to breathe.

"So, are there any hotties that caught your mind?" Iris asked and chuckled as Barry started to flush.

"Uh…"

"Alright, don't worry, you're still bringing her tonight, as I have said, we'll have fun." Iris said and Barry frowned.

"Yeah, fun." He didn't reject her offer though.

Later that night, Iris dragged a reluctant Eddie and Barry into the coffee shop just as the owner of Jitters declared the beginning of the Trivia Night. They sat down on the table with the name "E = mc Hammer"

"Party! People, who's ready to get their trivia on?" The owner declared and everyone in the shop applauded and cheered. "Okay, everybody, welcome. We've got some new challengers. Please, welcome "E=mc Hammer".

The group cheered again as Barry started talking to Iris and Eddie.

"No, you see, I did it because E=mc2 is Einstein's formula for kinetic energy, right? And, you know, can't touch this." Barry said in a cheery voice.

"That's great, Barry." Eddie complimented sincerely, causing Barry to blush. And Iris had to use every ounce of her willpower to keep herself a straight face or she would just start giggling and squealing straight away, that would be very embarrassing.

"So where is Felicity?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I told her it started at…" Barry said but turned away when he noticed both Eddie and Iris were looking at the door. And there she was, wearing a black fashionable skirt. Instead of dressing like attending a causal trivia night, it was like she was going to a ball. Apparently, she also realised that when she came in. Looking a bit embarrassed, Felicity walked towards them, laughing lightly all the way.

"I totally overdressed for trivia night." She laughed as she sat down.

"No, you look amazing." Iris said, wondering if the blonde was trying to hint something to Barry.

"Yeah, you do." Barry said, looking a bit awkward.

"E=mc hammer…" Felicity looked the name of their table and started laughing. "That's funny."

The rest of the group chuckled as the challenge started. Barry and Felicity began their nerdy talk, like the names of some really famous mathematicians.

"Three is Pasteur." Barry said but Felicity shook her head.

"No, no, three is Erdel, and four is Pasteur." She corrected.

"Five?"

"That's obvious, it's-"

"Descartes." The two said.

"Are they even speaking English?" Eddie asked Iris who just shook her head, that's what made Barry special and she loved it with all her heart, even she couldn't understand what they were talking.

"And the points go to 'E=mc Hammer'." The owner said and the people in the coffee shop cheered.

"I knew you two would make a good team." Iris smiled.

"So, Felicity, what do you do?" Eddie asked.

"I work in computer sciences at Queen Consolidated."

"Really?"

"Do you have a boyfriend in Starling City?" Iris asked and Felicity looked a bit awkward.

"No…" Felicity hesitantly replied, she was not sure how Oliver felt about her. The billionaire had been equivocal as ever.

"I need to use the washroom." Eddie said as he stood up.

"Me too. I had too many of those drinks…" Barry said and Iris couldn't help herself, a small squeal escaped her mouth. The two men didn't hear that but Felicity noticed it.

When the two women were alone, they stared at each other, having their own inner dilemma.

"So… About you and Eddie… Are you two dating?" Felicity asked and Iris sighed.

"No, did Barry tell you that?" Iris said as she placed her head on her hand.

"Yeah."

"Actually, everyone was mistaken, even my dad. We're not dating. While I don't really know why Barry would think that, I knew my dad thought we were dating because he found the photo that Eddie and I kissed during the 'Spin-The-Bottle' game on one of my friend's parties." Iris explained.

"Oh dear…"

"Indeed, what makes it worse is my dad didn't want to listen to us at all. Whenever we started the conversation that involved this 'relationship', he would change the subject or end the talk immediately."

"That's… frustrating."

"You have no idea…" Iris said and the two girls shook their head.

"Speaking of which, how do you feel about Barry?" Iris asked.

"Oh, he's kind and cute, a little bit nerdy, but still an adorable cutie. But don't worry, I don't have romantic feelings to him." Felicity assured her. "Besides, I believed he had someone in his mind."

"Really? Who?" Iris asked as she tried to constraint her excitement.

"Has he ever told you-"

"His sexuality?" Iris cut her off. "Of course, he told me this afternoon. And I have learnt that both Eddie and Barry are gay."

"That's sweet. Because…" Felicity said before lowering her voice and signalled Iris to lean forward. "I believed Barry has feelings to Eddie. I saw his expression when he talked about him. It's a longing and loving expression."

"Cool!" Iris whispered. "That just made my plan a lot more easier…"

"Plan?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I think Eddie has feelings to Barry too." Iris said with a smile and Felicity's eyes started shinning.

"So I believe what we need to do now is to make sure if the two are really attracted to each other, if they do-" Felicity said.

"Then we will get them together." Iris finished.

"Just by imagining it…" Felicity licked her lips.

"Exactly." Iris said and the two ladies smirked.

Meanwhile, Barry was washing his hands while Eddie dried his with some paper towels. Barry looked into the mirror just as Eddie turned and the two stared at each other at the mirror. The air temperature suddenly started to go up as Barry felt his heart started beating even faster and blood started to accumulate in his cheeks. He was excused himself and headed for the door, he was just going to open it when the door opened itself to revealed a very obese man.

"Watch it!" The obese man tried to warn but it was too late. Barry had already bumped into him. He then tripped over himself and fell backward. Surprisingly, he landed on something soft and… warm… and a pair of warm arms circled his waist firmly and tightly… Wait, he didn't…

Barry looked up and saw Eddie, with his back pressed against the wall, Barry's face lay on his chest and his arms were on Barry's waist firmly, holding him on instinct, he guessed. And they were so close to each other, so close that Barry could clearly see the eyelashes of the other man, and Barry noticed that these fine hairs were golden yellow too. Barry's eyes moved downward and looked straight into Eddie's eyes… again… When having a closer look, the brilliant texture of the blonde's eyes was shown in front of him. The two sea blue orbs were bright, reflecting the lights like the sunlight reflecting on a shallow pond, but it's also deep like he was gazing into the deep ocean, full of mysteries. Every time Eddie breathed, Barry could feel the chest his face was lying on rose and fell steadily, and the strong beating of this young heart deep within, offering warmth and a strong sense of safety to him. It's like the rest of the world had disappeared and only Eddie and him remained. The warm breath hit Barry's nose, it smelt mint and chocolate…

"I'm sorry. You guys okay?" The voice of the obese man rang and it snapped Barry out of his little fantasy world. Noticing how vague they now looked, he quickly detaching himself from Eddie, he quickly excused himself and left the washroom, blushing furiously. What he didn't know is what the other man had been feeling.

Eddie felt he was in a dream. Barry Allen, the man that had appeared in his mind whenever he slept, was in his arms, his face lying on his chest. His body heat came rushing in and he could feel the silky soft hair of Barry touched his chin. Breathing in and Eddie could smell Barry's hair. And Hail Mary, the smell was so divine. Originally, he would think Barry smelt like the laboratory and full of chemicals, but no, it was a mixture of lavender, vanilla and jasmine. Eddie felt his heart started to pick up speed as his rational side was slowly giving in to the desire lurking beneath. Barry looking up at him was not helping at all, it only allow Eddie to gaze into those shining lush green irises, His pink lips slightly parted like a poor puppy lost in the forest. This scene, together with that light sweet smell was so intoxicating and alluring Eddie wanted to devour the lips with his teeth and tongue until it was swollen and red like a ripe cheery. Too bad the obese man had to snap them out of his fantasy and Barry detached himself from him. All of a sudden, Eddie felt cold and he missed the body heat from the other man already.

"I… I'm terribly sorry… I… I…" Barry stuttered but not a complete sentence could form, still blushing heavily, which reminded Eddie full blossom roses, he opened the door and left. Eddie, acting on instinct, wanted to catch him but he only stood there frozen.

"Uhm… You're not going after your boyfriend?" The obese man asked in confusion.

"What? No… He's not my boyfriend…" Eddie said and splashed some cold water on his face, trying to calm his thundering heart down but he also felt it swell when he said the word "boyfriend". Could Barry, one day, be his boyfriend or something more?

When he finally got out of the toilet, both Barry and Felicity were gone and Iris looked very unhappy.

"Alright, now spill." She said, crossing her arms as Eddie sat down again.

"What?"

"What have you done or said to Barry?" Iris demanded. "He was blushing furiously and looked like he was going to cry when he came back. We asked him what happened but he wouldn't tell us. He just left in a hurry, saying he needs some fresh air and now Felicity is chasing after him. Now, I want the truth. What. Did. You. Do?!"

"I…" Eddie said, shuddering under the glare from Iris. He had to tell her though because what happened just now was troubling him too. "Barry bumped into another man and tripped over himself. I caught him and we landed against the wall in this ambiguous pose."

Iris's eyes lit up when she heard the adjective.

"Ambiguous? Can you describe it?"

"Barry… Barry had his face on my chest, my arms around his waist. His hair brushed through my chin and we looked at each other before we untangled ourselves." Eddie said, his voice getting smaller as Iris widened her eyes.

"OH MY GOD! YES! YES! HELL YES!" Iris's inner fangirl started squealing.

"Wow…" She managed to say. "So do you feel something? Like he knocks on your heart?"

"What? No! I-" Eddie denied, his cheeks started to warm up.

"He's totally crushing on Barry! HELL YES! SQUEE!" The inner fangirl Iris squealed. She was going to press on him but Eddie's phone buzzed. He took it out and frowned at the message.

"CCPD needs me now." Eddie said and Iris put her hands on her hips.

"We're so not done talking about this." She said as Eddie took his coat and left. Soon after he left, Felicity came back in, with a straight face but glittering eyes.

"Well… What did he tell you?" Felicity asked as she sat down.

"How about you go first? Barry told you anything?" Iris asked.

"Well, he told me he bumped into an obese man which caused him to trip and fell into Eddie who wrapped his arms around him. I asked if he felt something, he denied it. But I'm 100% sure that he loved what just happened with Eddie and wanted more." Felicity said with barely constrained excitement. Iris started shaking in excitement too, a big smile hanging on her pretty face.

"So that explains why Barry had this cute red face when he got out." Iris deduced.

"And it was crystal clear that-" Felicity began.

"Barry and Eddie-" Iris piped up.

"They Are-"

"Indeed-"

"With no doubt-"

"Attracted to each other, even when they tried to deny it." The two ladies finished each other before bursting into fits of giggles.

"So… I guess you're going to implement your plan of getting them together, right?" Felicity whispered.

"Absolutely." Iris whispered back. "Operation 'Thallen' is on its way!"

"Operation Thallen?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah. By combining their surnames, Thawne and Allen together, we get Thallen." Iris whispered, looking satisfied with her invention. "This operation aimed to bring the two idiots who are hopelessly in love with each other together."

Felicity's smile grew and a giggle escaped her mouth.

"Count me in." She whispered and Iris smirked.

"Welcome aboard the ship, it's ready to sail on itself." Iris declared.

"Yeah. We should start a club when we get more people to ship this pairs. Why don't we named it 'The BT Fan-Club'? BT stands for the combination of their names: Barry Allen plus Eddie Thawne equals to Beddie Thallen." Felicity suggested.

"That's an excellent idea!" Iris said. She extended her hand and Felicity shook it firmly before the two reduced into two giggling messes again.

"You understand what they're talking about?" The customers nearby asked each other.

"Well, and the points go to 'E=mc Hammer' again! Congratulations!" The owner of the shop declared and they won the Trivia Night.

"IT'S YOU!" Barry shrieked as he pointed a finger at Felicity who simply winked at him. Hunter and Anders, were lying on the floor, one hand clutching their stomachs, the other hand banging hard on the floor as they laughed hysterically.

"This. Is. Pure. Gold!" Hunter gasped during the breaks between laughs. "Why didn't I meet you sooner?"

"Hunter and I want to join the club too. You got places for us?"

"There are plenty." Felicity smirked.

"Cool." Anders giggled and Barry hid his face in his palms just as his phone buzzed.

"Tonight is awesome! We should hang out more in Scandals, maybe we can do something funnier, something more interesting. ;)

XXX

Your True Love,

Blaine"

Rolling his eyes, Barry sighed in slight disgust and pressed the "Delete" button, but before he could press "OK", his phone got snatched away by Anders who noticed his slight mood change.

"Did this leech ever learn English?! Which part of the sentence "No, I'm taken"did he not understand?" Anders snapped.

"What did he do this time?" Hunter said, taking Barry's phone, his eyes started to burn a cold fury as he read.

"I'm going to punch him in the face so hard the next time I saw him!"

"What happened?" Felicity asked, looking concerned.

"Well, you know that we all joined The Warblers, which is the glee club of our school, right?" Anders asked and Felicity nodded, remembering what Barry had told her.

"Before we joined, and I'm talking about last year, they had this lead vocal called Blaine Anderson and literally everyone in the club thought he was the best, which was partly true." Anders explained. "The fact is this year, he has transferred to one of our competitors, New Directions in McKinley High because that is where his boyfriend Kurt originally comes from and he decides to transfer to McKinley so he can be with him. He kept contact with some of our club mates and visited us occasionally. So far, so normal, but two months ago, Barry invited him, well actually he dragged him in, to dance with us when we sang; such practice was very common because we love to have interactions with the audiences when we sang. But for some reason, that Anderson guy thought Barry was hinting something more."

"What?!" Felicity gasped before narrowing her eyes.

"Don't blame Barry. He didn't know it would turn out like this either." Hunter defended.

"And he had been hitting on Barry ever since. Barry has rejected him, told him no and he was taken but that leech just won't quit. What's worse, he made the rest of the Warblers and the entire New Directions thought Barry was trying to steal him away. They also refused to listen to Barry and they are not going to believe him anyway. Earlier this day, he ran into Barry when Hunter and I were using the bathroom. Then we met again together with both the NDs and Warblers and followed us to Scandals." Anders hissed in disgust. "That's why I called him a leech. Oh, and he is a lying, cheating little shit too. When we confronted him when alone, he lied that he and Kurt had split when he was actually not."

"My god…" Felicity started swearing in a low voice. "That bitch's such a whore!"

"Wait, why would he know your number?" Hunter asked. "The last time I check, he gave you a paper with his number but you threw it when he turned away."

"I know, but he still has some contacts with the rest of the Warblers, remember? He must have got it from someone else. My first group of suspects are Nick, Jeff, Wes, David and Thad." Barry reasoned.

"Now that's creepy." Anders said. "Who knows if he's secretly stalking you?"

"Ugh, no, please. That's extremely disturbing!" Hunter shook his head, looking sick.

"Can we… just talk about something else? I'm going to snap if that leech gets into my head one more time in this night." Anders sighed. "What happened next during your confrontation with Snart?"

"Someone spotted Snart." Barry said as he looked at his phone. He and Felicity were in a deserted alley and Felicity had just forced him to spill out what happened with Eddie back then. "I gotta go."

"I'll cover for you." Felicity said.

"Alright, what are you gonna say?"

"I usually tell people Oliver's at a night club with a girl or nursing a hangover."

"None of which will work for me."

"Bad stomach-ache, really bad diarrhoea." Felicity found an excuse.

"Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that excuse." Barry frowned and Felicity shook her head in disbelief.

"Just go!" She snapped and Barry took off.

When Barry got to the where Snart was spotted, the place was already in chaos. The crowds were screaming and running for cover, looking around for the criminal, Barry raced in the building until he finally spot who he needed to find… And his heart stopped, because Leonard Snart was pointing a strange looking gun at Joe, his fingers slowly pressing on the trigger. Acting on instinct, he jumped and pushed the older man away. The gun set off but instead of a bullet, a strange white column exploded, when it hit him, however, the pain was worse than anything he had felt ever since he started his superhero career, and the pain still lingered which was strange and not a good sign because normally his pain and wounds would start healing within seconds.

"You okay?"

"It… It burns." Barry panted.

"Time for a test run." He heard Snart declared. "Let's see how fast you are."

Just then, he started aiming at the fleeing people and Barry just couldn't let him kill anyone. He ran around, taking people away from Leonard's strange gun. As he did, he noticed that his speed was not as high as he used to be. And just like what Joe had told him previously, he failed to save a security guard and he could only watch in despair as the body was frozen solid. He knelt down, Joe's words rang in his ears.

"Putting on that suit does not make everybody safe. For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't."

"For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't."

"Can't save."

"Can't save."

"Can't save."

"No!" Barry yelled. "No…"

"Barry!" Joe said as he got to his side, he also noticed that the wounds of the metahuman were not healing. "I think you need to go to S.T.A.R. Labs, your super-healing is not working."

Grieved and disappointed to himself, Barry reached S.T.A.R. Labs, only to hear Dr. Wells speaking in this cold furious voice.

"How long has it been missing?"

"I don't know. Came Cisco's nervous and horrified voice.

"I'm gonna ask you again, Cisco. But when I do, I expect a more specific answer than 'I don't know.' Now, how long has this weapon been gone?" Wells said like he was going to explode.

"A day, maybe two. One of the janitors didn't show up for work this morning. He was probably the one who took it. I didn't think that-"

"You didn't think, because if you had, you would have discussed with me first. Your desire to build something that could, in theory, hurt anyone, and in particular, Barry Allen!"

"Wait. What are they talking? Why am I in the equation?" Barry thought to himself.

I'm sorry. If you just let me explain-

"You know how I feel about weapons, Cisco. They do not belong in S.T.A.R. Labs. Now, you are gonna figure out a way to locate this gun, and you are gonna do it, right now."

"This thing you built, what can it do?" Barry heard Caitlin asked in a worry and slightly scared tone.

"Bad stuff."

Shaking his head, Barry came into the room.

"Ugh, guys. Some help please?" Barry gasped as his movement moved his wounds. Immediately, Caitlin and Cisco sprang into action.

"How do you feel?" Caitlin asked after the treatment.

"It's still numb." Barry hissed as he touched his wound.

"It's presenting itself like third degree frostbite."

"I thought he had hyper healing." Felicity, who had just got to the lab, piped up.

"It's been slowed." Caitlin pointed out. "If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate they are, your blood vessels would have frozen solid and the nerve damage would have been permanent."

"You're lucky to be alive." She concluded. "Snart wasn't another meta-human. He has some kind of gun. It froze things, slowed me down…"

Barry gulped before he continued.

"Enough that I wasn't in time to save someone."

"According to his record, Snart didn't even bother to finish high school, so how did he build a handheld high tech snow machine?" Felicity said as she looked into Snart's record.

"S.T.A.R. Labs built the cold gun."

"And I guess it has something to do with the gun that Cisco built, right?" Barry said and everyone looked at him. "You built that machine. Why?"

"Because speed and cold are opposites." Cisco explained, looking guilty. "Temperature is measured by how quickly the atoms of something are oscillating. The faster they are, the hotter it is, and when then are cold, they're slower on the atomic level. When there's no movement at all, it's called…"

"Absolute zero." Barry whispered.

"I designed a compact cryo-engine to achieve absolute zero." Cisco gulped, he hated to do this to his friend. "I built it to stop you. I didn't know who you were then, Barry. I mean, what if you turned out to be some psycho, like Mardon or Nimbus?"

"But I didn't, did I?" Barry snapped.

"We built the entire structure you're standing in to do good, and it blew up." Caitlin said. "In the wake of that, you can understand why Cisco would want to be prepared for the worst."

"I can understand that, but what I can't understand is why you didn't tell me what you did." Barry replied, but his calm quickly ran out. "I mean, after all we've been through, I thought you trusted me. I thought we were friends!"

"We are, Barry."

"I mean, if you would have just told me, I could have been prepared. But instead, someone died tonight."

"And I have to live with that." Cisco whispered.

"No, Cisco." Barry shook his head in disappointment. "We all do."

Barry turned and left, Felicity looked at the group.

"I'll go after him." She whispered and left.

"Theatregoers remain shaken after surviving tonight's brutal and bizarre attack in a downtown theatre"

"Are you okay?" Iris turned off the TV when Joe came back.

"I'm fine." Joe said in an indifferent tone.

"How long is this gonna go on? Seems like the cold treatment is going around." Iris asked.

"Not now, Iris, please."

"Yes, now." Iris crossed her arms. "You did the same thing when I tried to sign up for the police academy without telling you. You didn't speak to me for weeks, not until I withdrew my application. But I am not withdrawing this time, dad. Eddie-"

"Eddie's my partner.

"I know."

"But you don't." Joe countered tiredly. "You're not a cop. You don't know what having a partner means. Wherever I go, he goes. And where I go isn't always safe, Iris."

"I need to be 100% focused." Joe sighed. "Now, there's a part of me that isn't focused, that doesn't see Eddie as my partner, but as your boyfriend."

"Eddie is-"

"So if he gets hurt or worse, and I'm there, how am I gonna look at you? How you gonna look at me? Now, I'm not mad at you, but that's why this is so hard for me.

Do you understand?" Joe voiced out his concern.

"Well, I think you will break Barry's heart if that happened." Iris thought.

"Dad, I-"

"Not now, Iris. I have a lunatic I need to catch. Just give me some time, please?" Joe said as he went back to his room. Iris just slumped down on the sofa. she wanted to throw something to let out her frustration.

"Barry? Barry." Felicity called as she went into the treadmill room.

"What? What are you doing? You should go back to your hotel." Barry panted as he stopped his run. "Get some sleep."

"You should too. Not go back to my hotel. I meant get some sleep."

"I can't." The metahuman whispered. "Every time I close my eyes, I see that man's face. I watched him die… I have to go faster…"

"Barry, it's not your fault. And it's not Cisco's, either." Felicity said and Barry turned to look at her. "I know you're upset, but you have to look at this from his point of view."

"No, I get it." Barry said bitterly. "He didn't trust me."

"Barry, when you met us, me, Oliver, and Dig, we were this well-oiled archery machine. But it didn't start out that way." Felicity reasoned with patience. "And unlike you guys, we weren't tossed together overnight. We came together one at a time. And believe me, it took much more than watching Oliver does the salmon ladder to make me trust him."

"I've seen first-hand what this life can do to people." Felicity said as she turned. "It's a lonely path. Don't make it any lonelier than it has to be."

She looked at him one more time before leaving the room.

"I figured out a way to track Captain Cold." Cisco said as he got into the room later.

"You gotta stop naming these guys."

"Barry, listen to him." Wells said as he took a sip of his drink.

"How?" He asked.

"The cold gun is powered by an engine control unit, a microcomputer that regulates air-to-fuel ratios so the sub-cooled fluid in the chambers doesn't overflow and-"

"Explode."

"Right! This E.C.U. was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet." Cisco explained. "If I boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back, and then-"

"We can locate Snart." Barry said. "How long will it take?"

"First I have to hack into the City's network, so I don't know, 30 minutes, maybe?" Cisco said and Felicity shook her head.

"I can do it in less than one." Felicity smirked as she sat down in front of her computer. "When it comes to hacking, I'm the fastest woman alive."

"Ha! That was not as badass as I pictured." She whispered with a smile and soon, she completed her mission. "Alright, I'm in."

"Are you kidding?" Caitlin was in awe.

"Alright, I'm sending the updates." Cisco looked shocked. "We're connected."

"Network is triangulating the location." Felicity said.

"And we got him." Caitlin reported. "He's heading west on Nelson toward the train station."

"If he's leaving, it appears Mr. Snart may have gotten what he came for." Wells said.

"When we put our minds to it, dude, nothing can stop us." Cisco tried to joke but Barry turned off the earpiece.

"Oh, you turned your ear piece off. How are we gonna talk to each other?" Cisco asked.

"I don't feel like talking right now." Barry said as he left.

"Bad idea." Anders and Hunter pointed out.

"That's my thought at that time too, but you know," Felicity shrugged. "He is very stubborn, so he didn't listen."

"You should have listened to the women in your life, Barry. They always have cool tips and advices." Hunter said.

"Never underestimate the power of women." Anders said.

"Yeah, so don't mess with us, particularly those who can turn into a fangirl." Felicity smirked and everyone in the room except Barry burst out laughing.

"Well, you do have to understand how I felt back then." Barry said quietly.

"Yeah, I know. But that's where you need improvement. Felicity just told you: don't make your path lonelier. But you just have to do that." Anders shook his head.

At the train station, Eddie and Joe got out from their vehicle.

"We got Snart." Eddie said but Joe stopped him.

"Wait here for back up." He said and Eddie dropped his mouth.

"Wait for back up? No way!" He protested.

"That's an order."

Meanwhile, back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Felicity and the team were sitting in silence.

"You should go after Barry." Felicity began.

"You heard him, Felicity."

"He wants to do this alone."

"Of course he said that. He's hurt." Felicity stood up. "You're his team and his friends."

"And if I had a nickel for every time The Arrow told me to back off, I would be as rich as Oliver Queen, who I mention because he's the richest person I know, or used to be. The point is you have your partner's back no matter what."

"I have something that might help." Cisco smiled.

In the meantime, Barry had got onto the train where Snart had got onto. The two enemies faced each other.

"There's nowhere to run." He declared

"I didn't see you before. Your mom knows you're out past your bedtime?" Snart mocked.

"If you wanted to get away you should've taken something faster than a train." Barry retorted. Snart smiled, in a sinister and calculating way.

"That's if I wanted to get away. I've seen your weakness at the armoured car, then at the theatre. See, while you're busy saving everybody, I'll be saving myself."

He fired at the ground. The cold penetrated and froze the wheels solid. Now they are not being able to move, the train cart started to shake violently and began to derail. People screamed and Snart jumped off the train, yelling "Good luck with that." as he leaped.

Springing into action, Barry moved all the frightened passengers out of the train as it derailed, caught fire and twisted into a bunch of scrap metal. What he didn't prevent this time was to get shot by Snart's gun again, pinning him down on the ground.

"Pretty fast, kid, but not fast enough." Snart sneered as he pointed his gun at him. "Before I forget, thank you."

"For what?" Barry snapped.

"You forced me to up my game, not only with this gun, but with how I think about the job. It's been educational." Snart snarled as a new voice rang.

"Drop it." The two turned and saw Cisco, Caitlin and Felicity with a huge machine on their hands.

"This is a prototype cold gun, four times the size, four times the power." Cisco warned.

"I was wondering who you were talking to." Snart snarled.

"Unless you want a taste of your own medicine, I'd back the hell up." Cisco warned.

"Your hands are shaking. You've never killed anyone." Snart pointed out.

"There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold." Cisco mocked.

"I will shoot you." He warned. A tense moment hanged among the group before Snart decided that the risk was not worth taking.

"You win, kid. I'll see you around." He turned and left.

"Hey, leave the diamond." Cisco shouted.

"Don't push your luck." Snart called back and the group turned their attention back to Barry who was still trapped in ice.

"Couldn't shoot him if I wanted to, this is actually the S.T.A.R. Labs vacuum cleaner with a lot of LEDs." Cisco smirked, looking a bit shocked that Snart believed him.

"Let's get you warm." Felicity and Caitlin knelt down next to him, helping him get to his feet.

"Thank you." Barry muttered, shaking a firm hand with Cisco.

"Seriously?! He believed you?!" Hunter shook his head.

"Yeah, we didn't even sure if that machine we were holding looked threatening and persuasive enough to trick him, but it just happened." Felicity shrugged.

"Actually, I think that's something Captain Cold would do." Anders said and everyone turned to look at him.

"Anders Fung…" The fifth Green Lantern on Earth warned. "I swear if you start talking about human mind again, I'll-"

"If he kept on pestering, it would do him no good. He's a cautious and very calculating man. You can see that from how he made his moves. He knows when to what is suitable. A successful person knows when to stop, to quit while they are ahead. It applies to everyone, even criminals, as much as I hate to say. It's just some simple psychology."

"So I guess someone is even worse than Captain Cold." Hunter said flatly. "Because he just doesn't know when to quit."

The rest of the group groaned.

"You just have to mention that leech…" Anders face-palmed. "But I agree on what you mean."

"We've been trying to track Snart, but he must have disconnected the signal somehow." Cisco looked disappointed.

"We'll find him, Cisco, together." Barry assured him.

"You have a great team here, Barry." Felicity praised. "Speaking of teams, I should probably get back to mine."

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Smoak. Please extend a hello to The Arrow for us." Wells called across the room.

"I will." She smiled

"Goodbye, Felicity." Barry said.

"Bye, Barry."

Felicity left and everyone looked at Barry.

"Remarkable young woman. She's special." Wells praised.

"Yeah, she is." Barry whispered before he left too.

"Cisco, don't you ever do anything like that again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Cisco started to shift uncomfortably.

On a train with the destination to Starling City, Felicity was sitting alone in a cart, reading the blogs of "The Streak Live" that Iris had told her about when a whoosh of wind blew past and then, Barry was sitting in front of her.

"YELP!" She shrieked as Barry laughed.

"Did I just yelp?" She whispered.

"Yeah." Barry said as he laughed.

"I yelped…" Felicity whispered. Her eyes narrowed before slapping hard on Barry's leg.

"Ouch! I'm sorry." Barry rubbed the place she hit him. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't tell me you're here to save me." Felicity teased. "Taking the train is still one of the safest ways to travel."

"I thought that was airplanes." Barry said.

"It's not. Besides, taking airplanes will take me more time." Felicity pointed out. "So, what are you doing here? Need some dating advice or how you should do to woo your destined Eddie Thawne?"

She giggled as Barry started to blush.

"I started to regret telling you my feelings to him… No, wait. You force me to spill it out. So I blame you." Barry said, hiding his face in his hands.

"Aww… Come on. Someday in the future when you rest your head on his bare chest with his arms circling firmly around your waist, you're going to thank me." Felicity teased and a giggle escaped again.

"I can't… He's probably laughing at my stupidity back then or either looking me in disgust… Besides, he already has someone in mind and it's not me."

"That's the part you're wrong, Barry. That person in Eddie's heart is you." Felicity rolled her eyes.

"We're sitting here, pining for people we can't have, like you and Oliver." Barry whispered.

"Hey, who said it's always like that? Maybe he feels the same to you." Felicity encouraged.

"I don't think that's possible…" Barry whispered bitterly. "I don't want to hurt anyone, not to mention the two persons that I treasured most after my parents. But anyway, thanks for accepting my sexuality. It felt so good to know someone will accept me for who I am. If you ever need anything, I will race over in a heartbeat. Bye, Felicity."

Felicity wanted to say something more like telling Barry that Eddie and Iris were not dating but Barry had left already. Shaking her head, she just wondered when this confusing relationship would straighten itself.

"Well, as fast I can run, which might take me a while, but I will still come. But for now, bye, Barry."

Meanwhile, in an unnamed motel in Keystone City, Leonard Snart was talking to one of his goons, which in turn, would become another tricky enemies of Barry: Mick Rory.

"I know it's been a while since we pulled that job. I know it didn't go so well for you, and I know I said we were finished, but things have changed." Snart spoke. "If I want to keep working in Central City, I'm gonna need a new kind of crew. I'm gonna need someone like you. You're tolerant of extremes. You have certain skills. You just need some direction, and I can give that to you."

"You still like playing with fire? You're gonna love this." Snart presented another gun he stole from S.T.A.R. Labs to Mick who took it and glided his fingers

"So… Are you in Mick? Or are you out?"

"Yeah buddy, I'm in." Mick whispered, a malice smile hanging on his face.

"Buddy, you should listen to her advice! If you had done so, S.S. Thallen would have sailed a long time ago." Anders said as they turned off the lights of their secret base. "I have told you that you need to listen more to the women in your life."

"Yeah, I know that." Barry said as they walked up the stairs to the corridor.

"But you have to do that, man. Otherwise it's useless." Hunter piped up.

"But it's pretty good to hear so much information from you, Felicity. I can see there'll be some serious teasing and blackmailing in the future." Anders said and Hunter chuckled.

"You're welcome. And I have more in stores, feel free to ask me." Felicity smirked. The three people then laughed, Barry just sighed.

"Uh… No will do." Barry said as the group stepped out the portrait and closed the secret entrance. Looking at the clock, it was the small hours already. Thank god it was Sunday.

"Well… I guess we call it a day." Barry said.

"I know where is the guest room. See you tomorrow?" Felicity said.

"Ok. See you tomorrow. We'll have breakfast at Aegean Breeze." Barry said.

"Sweet. Good night, you guys." Felicity said as she walked down the stairs to her guest room.

"Goodnight, Felicity." Hunter said.

"Sleep well." Anders said and the three superheroes went to their respective rooms.

TBC…

A.N.: Ok, first thing first, Poor Eddie… And how do you guys feel about that little moment between Thallen? And Felicity! OK, to be honest, I ship both Oliver/Laurel and Oliver/Felicity, but since Tommy is alive in this AU, `cause I like him, Olicity will happen while Tommy will be with Laurel, these two are just too cute. And now Felicity has joined Iris's fan club! It's just getting more and more hilarious! XD

* Some notes about the four creatures I mentioned in the painting: These four creatures are the sacred beasts in Taoism, China's own religion. The dragon in green represents Azure Dragon (青龍), the bird in red is Vermillion Bird (朱雀), the tiger and tortoise are obviously White Tiger (白虎) and black tortoise (玄武) respectively, why does the black tortoise have fangs? Well, to begin with, the black tortoise is actually made up of two animals: A tortoise and a snake, so calling it "black tortoise" is only half-correct. Either way, I just combined the two and give the tortoise the snake's fangs. The sequence that Barry pressed to unlock the secret door is according to seasons. Azure Dragon represents Spring, Vermillion Bird is Summer, White Tiger is Autumn and finally, Genbu is Winter. Easy? ;) I'm not sure if Oliver Queen knew what it means, but I just amplified the fact that he knew Chinese, so he also knew some Chinese cultural things. -_-|||

Background Music used:

"Glad You Came" – Grant Gustin's version of course! It's a must!

"Love Game" – Lady Gaga

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