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carelessgraces · 3 years

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GENERAL STATISTICS

FULL NAME Astoria Ileana Grim. NICKNAMES Stori. ALIASES Elena Hawke, Elizabeth Vane.

DATE OF BIRTH 22 August 1993. PLACE OF BIRTH Venice, Italy. ASTROLOGICAL SIGNS Leo sun, Libra moon, Leo rising. GENDER Cisgender woman. PRONOUNS She/her/hers. SEXUALITY Bisexual. HEIGHT 5'3". HAIR COLOR Red. EYE COLOR Brown. TATTOOS Several (found here). SCARS Several (found here).

ETHNICITY Italian, Swedish, Irish. RELIGION Stregoneria / stregheria. (notes here)

POSITIVE TRAITS Adaptable, ambitious, clever, perceptive. NEGATIVE TRAITS Capricious, hedonistic, manipulative, selfish.

PHOBIAS None. MENTAL HEALTH Healthy (situational, trauma-related symptoms).

SKILLS & ABILITIES

EDUCATION Hargrove Academy (1997-2008), St. Colman Catholic Academy (2008-2011), Harvard University (2011-2015), University of California at Berkeley (2015-2016). CAREER Collector, co-owner of Belladonna Apothecary. SPOKEN LANGUAGES Fluent in Italian, Veneto, and English, reading fluency in Latin and Irish, conversational skill in Irish, Spanish, Swedish.

MAGICAL SKILL Thaumaturgy, elemental magic ( esp. water ), household magic, divination. PHYSICAL SKILL Self-defense ( krav maga ). Lock-picking, pick-pocketing.

TIMELINE

22 AUGUST 1993 Astoria is born in Venice, Italy, to Seraphina Greengrass and Kasper Grim.

30 JUNE 2008 Astoria is formally removed from Hargrove Academy and moves in with Evander and Elyssa Vetri, who begin to teach her death magic, specifically expression.

1 MAY 2009 Evander and Elyssa bring Astoria with them to Paris, where they attempt to steal a heavily guarded grimoire. In the process, both Evander and Elyssa are killed, and Astoria is found, frightened and injured but otherwise safe, two days later.

1 SEPTEMBER 2009 Astoria moves in with her mother’s sister in Boston, MA, where she enrolls in St. Colman’s Catholic Academy to complete her education.

17 JUNE 2011 Graduation from St. Colman’s. She is valedictorian, cheer captain, and a member of the school’s girl’s soccer team. She is, also, a very active member of a community of local witches who meet in Salem.

6 SEPTEMBER 2011 The start of Astoria’s education at Harvard University, where she completes a double major in history ( focused in early modern Europe ) and folklore and mythology ( focused in witchcraft, magic, and demonology ).

20 MAY 2015 Graduation from Harvard University.

19 AUGUST 2015 Astoria begins an intensive course of study at Berkley for a master’s degree in folklore.

18 DECEMBER 2016 Graduation from University of California, Berkeley.

22 DECEMBER 2016 Astoria relocates to Dublin, Ireland, where she buys a building and opens a shop, Belladonna Apothecary, with her brother Damon. She splits her time moving forward between Dublin and Boston, when she isn’t traveling for work.

HISTORY (tw: abuse, torture, death, murder via poison, suicide attempt)

** Please note – this history is developed through extensive plotting with potterstillstinks, who writes Seraphina, Daphne, and Damon Greengrass.

This verse will be adapted as necessary to fit various other timelines and fandoms. You can see a breakdown of how I approach magic here. This is how I’ll write Astoria’s magic in this verse; any different approaches to be magic will be for verses based in specific fandoms.

The Greengrasses became titans: a family line of barons, the title bought in the sixteenth century and often more expense than it was worth, struck gold in the early days of Victoria’s reign. Generations of work as merchants and a bone-deep ambition left them well suited to fulfill the growing spiritualist interest in seances, divination, and summonings. They sold books written by folklorists and anthropoligists alongside tarot decks, candles alongside herbs, bezoars and adder stones alongside broomsticks and wands. For the more discerning clientele, they sold hands of glory, notes and diaries belonging to court sorcerers and alchemists, grimoires from medieval witches, cloaks and caps of invisibility.

It didn’t matter much whether or not the Greengrasses believed; elevated from a barony to a dukedom, they cared more for the development of their earthly power than anything of other worlds. Their wealth and influence grew, and while the majority of the Greengrasses were skeptics, some were more open to the evidence presented to them. Among them was Seraphina Greengrass, heir to the Greengrass fortune, and when she went looking for a highly-desired grimoire she found witches, real witches, practicing their craft in Venice. With them she found Kasper Grim.

When she suggested marriage he said yes; when she asked him to take her name he said yes; he adored her ambition and her power and wanted nothing more than to support her in it. Together they had four children: Camilla, five years after their marriage; Daphne and Damon, twins, three years later; and finally, two years after the twins, Astoria. All four of the children inherited Kasper’s gift and Seraphina’s drive. The family split their time between Venice, visiting Kasper’s parents, and Dublin, where they lived normal lives, cut off from their magic except in theory.

As Astoria grew, she began to recognize apparently ever-increasing depths of power. She had an instinct for creating spells, often producing magic far beyond her years, and a particular knack for manipulating water. Kasper’s cousins, the Vetri siblings — also Astoria’s godparents — offered to help teach her better control, so as to keep her from causing unnecessary damage, and, trusting their family to look after their youngest, Kasper and Seraphina agreed to allow Evander and Elyssa to educate her.

At first, it was everything Astoria had dreamed — at fourteen she left the mundane academy in Dublin to travel and study throughout Europe instead, crawling through ruins, poring over old books, copying out spells and practicing creating her own. The farther she got into her education, the stranger things became: her guardians were vehemently opposed to allowing her to study anything besides what they found useful, and often emphasized the kinds of magic that made her skin crawl. It wasn’t enough to manipulate water; they taught her instead to locate water in the body to heal, to harm. It wasn’t enough to invent spells; they taught her to push her boundaries, to create spells that had no business existing.

The magic made her more powerful, but more volatile as well, producing frequent and excruciating headaches, often uncontrollable shaking, dehydration, and nosebleeds. As her physical health deteriorated, her attention to detail grew sharper: she realized that Evander and Elyssa would push her far beyond her limits so that they could direct her magic without her interference when she was in pain, and that without her, they were significantly less powerful than she’d imagined. They needed her, but she wasn’t sure why; when she began to ask questions, or refused to follow their orders, they began to punish her, often violently.

Knowing that she couldn’t destroy them using only magic, she turned to logic, using Evander’s wrath and Elyssa’s pride against them. The weaker-willed they imagined her, the more they let their guard down. She first realized that they intended to use her as a human shield when she was fifteen: the Vetris brought her with them to hunt down a grimoire said to possess the means of prolonging human life, with far greater success than anything else they had encountered. The book was heavily guarded, and Astoria took the worst of the protective spells’ effects; she woke days later with no memory of the venture’s end, and only her godparents’ word that it had been a success. It became clear then that if Astoria was going to survive, her godparents could not.

She picked a fight, knowing how it would end. The following night, her injuries treated only enough to keep her from something worse, she begged forgiveness, and she watched in silence as her tormentors choked on their own bile, the cups of coffee she’d brought them as a peace offering crashing to the floor. It had been easy enough. Just a little bit of poison. Something mundane, something they never saw coming. She used her magic to dispose of the bodies, to speed up the decomposition until they were nothing but dust. And she waited alone in that house for days until she called the police, sobbing, saying that she didn’t know where her godparents were, begging for help.

The police who contacted her parents that night explained that the Vetris were missing. Their daughter was in shock. The x-rays taken at the local hospital showed several healed fractures indicative of abuse. What she needed most was to go home.

Astoria wouldn’t speak until they were back in Dublin; her first day back she tried, and failed, to kill herself, and the day after she called her aunt overseas and told her that she couldn’t, wouldn’t stay in Europe. It took some convincing before her parents agreed that she would move to Boston, where she lived with her aunt as she completed her secondary education. She pursued a bachelor’s degree in history and folklore, spending her graduate education focused on history — specifically, the Italian Renaissance. After completing a doctoral degree, she and her siblings gathered together to take up the family business. Astoria, Camilla, and Damon came together, opening small occult shops in various cities; expanding, they said in magazine interviews and on the shop’s website, building off the foundation of our aunt’s store in Boston.

They served upscale clientele, providing them with high quality magical goods and everything from spells to exorcisms to potions, and while Camilla and Damon took on major roles in sales, Astoria followed in her mother’s footsteps, and began to collect ( sometimes illegally ) artifacts for more discerning collectors. ( Occasionally, she was asked to take more than just a few artifacts — and, more and more, Astoria found herself in the business of selling secrets. )

IN A WORLD WITHOUT MAGIC

NAME Grim, Astoria Ileana ( born Greengrass ). DATE OF BIRTH 22 August 1993. CURRENT LOCATION Boston, MA. OCCUPATION Sale and authentication of antiques ( 10th - 16th century ).

CHILDHOOD Born 22 AUG 1993 to Kasper Grim and Seraphina Greengrass in Venice, Italy. Educated in Dublin, Ireland until 2007. Withdrawn from Hargrove Academy before beginning of Fall 2008 semester. Missing, unreported, from 30 JUNE 2008 until 11 MAY 2009; presumed living with godparents, Elyssa and Evander Vetri, in London, UK. Filed missing persons report, stating that ten days prior, her godparents left her home to run errands and did not return. Medical examination showed evidence of several healed fractures ( ribs, clavicle, nose ) and active injuries ( fracture in left wrist, poorly treated compound fracture in arm recent dislocation of left shoulder ), as well as severe trauma likely due to abuse and neglect. After several interviews, and only with parents and paternal grandfather ( Aleksi Grim, also acting as her legal representation ) present, admitted that she had been abused during the eleven months she was missing. No bodies were discovered, and no evidence of foul play was found. Relocated to Boston, MA to live with maternal aunt ( Astoria M. Townsend ); changed name to Grim to avoid confusion with her aunt.

EDUCATION Completed high school education at St. Coleman’s Catholic Academy, graduated with honors ( Spring 2011 ). Attended Harvard University to double major in history and folklore & mythology ( Fall 2011 - Spring 2015 ), before attending University of California at Berkley for an intensive master’s degree in folklore ( Fall 2015 - Summer 2016 ) and Columbia University to earn a PhD in history with a focus in the Italian Renaissance ( Fall 2016 - Spring 2021 ).

CRIMINAL HISTORY Any criminal activity is suspected, not confirmed. While Grim’s godparents were heavily involved with several criminal syndicates across Europe, Grim herself seems to have escaped relative unscathed, and without much attachment in Europe. In the United States, however, Grim is linked primarily to corporate and political espionage of questionable legality, usually in the employ of Senator Adam Vega ( D-NY ). Suspected in the theft and illegal sale of several medieval artifacts, but could not be definitively tied to any.

KNOWN ALIASES None. KNOWN ASSOCIATES Elyssa Vetri ( paternal first cousin once removed, godmother. Deceased. ); Evander Vetri ( paternal first cousin once removed, godfather. Deceased. ); Senator Adam Vega, D-NY ( business associate ).

SUSPECTED ALIASES Elena Hawke, Elizabeth Vane. SUSPECTED ASSOCIATES Raymond Reddington, unconfirmed.

NOTES Criminal record consists solely of two parking tickets and two speeding tickets. Despite her godparents’ connections, Grim does not appear to pose any physical threat. Noted as charming and persuasive, but believed to be acting within the bounds of legality.

Several deaths, seemingly unconnected, all without any evidence of foul play. All victims seen with a woman, blonde hair, late twenties to early thirties, in the 48 hours prior to their deaths. No evidence found that this is the same woman.

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS Involved with Iain Blackwood from Spring 2010 - Fall 2016; engaged from Fall 2014 - Fall 2016. A handful of alleged romantic connections, none of which have been publicly acknowledged, though she was linked to Vega from Summer 2017 to Winter 2018. Have remained close friends since apparent breakup. Tends to frequent theaters; especially fond of opera, little interest in most art. Not taken particularly seriously outside of her work due to reports of a hedonistic lifestyle, though this does work to her advantage when it comes to making new social connections.

PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS Travels often for work. Works closely with several universities, despite preferring to sell to individual collectors ( themselves often academics associated with these universities ). Well known for her skill in negotiations and her patience, as well as her willingness to lose customers if she finds them personally unpleasant.

Her staff is varied but she travels regularly with a handful of personal guards, led by Lorenzo Vescovi, also considered a close friend. Has been trained in self-defense, but prefers not to engage physically. Some have joked that even if she did need to get violent with anyone, it’s unlikely she’d ever have to do it herself. Will only pick up a gun herself if she feels the need to make a point.

Loyal to her allies, though she has yet to be linked to any criminal activity, even when those allies are arrested. Could suggest a willingness to step back and extricate herself from any danger? If she has done so, she’s done it effectively. No one seems to have a grudge against her.

Relationship with Vega seeming to cool, though there have been no indications of a falling-out.

#( mobile info )#tw: death #tw: poisoning #tw: abuse #tw: suicide #tw: murder

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fablesrose · 4 years

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Of Kings and Shadows XX

Description: Y/n, a girl who seems to have found her calling. Being a SHIELD agent is like a dream come true. With a friendship starting to form with the Avengers, she’s the Queen of the world! What could go wrong?

Pairings: Avengers x reader, Loki x reader (eventually)

Notes: On Wattpad –> Here

Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nick, what are we doing here?" Tony was leaning back in his chair of the conference room, not looking amused. "Couldn't you have just stuck it in a file?"

Nick Fury stood at the head of the table, looking at every one of the thirteen people in the room individually. "We've come upon some new information about a new branch of Hydra and its top weapon."

Pietro spun in his chair with a groan, "I thought we had gotten rid of them."

"Well, kinda like a Hydra, if you cut off one head, two more grow back in its place." Fury answered him in a patient tone that everyone knew wasn't going to stay for very long if he kept being interrupted.

"Bold words about an organization with an octopus as its logo," Loki didn't even look up from his book that he didn't walk into the room with.

Clint swiveled to look at him in the corner of the room, "Loki, you gotta let it go."

"I will not!"

Fury began to talk loudly over them to regain their attention, "The organization changed its name to fit it's leader's dress up game, it now goes by The Kingdom, but as far as we are concerned, it is still Hydra."

"You mentioned a weapon?" Vision sat invested in the meeting, unlike most of the others.

"That's what they are calling her, yes."

"How long has she been active?" Bucky spoke quietly, but firmly from his seat.

Nick paused a moment, watching Bucky before he answered, "As far as we can tell at least three years."

"And you're just telling us now?!" Steve straightened in his seat, not happy with the lack of transparency.

"Cool it, Rogers, they didn't have any information other than that she existed." Nat looked up from cleaning her nails.

Steve raised his eyebrows at her, "Oh, and they told you?"

"No."

Pietro started to roll his chair around the room, "Why is this meeting so long?" He dragged out the last word as he rolled around the table.

Loki used his foot to stop him when he approached, "If you don't stop whining I'm gonna make sure repayment is unnecessary."

"I owe you nothing!"

"I'm pretty sure saving your life is the definition of you owing me something."

"Blah!"

"Alright!" Sam yelled, throwing his hands in the air, sick of the bickering. "What kinda powers this chick got?"

Tony held a few fingers to his forehead, "Do I need to call anyone? The spider-kid, King Panther? Ant-dude? The wizards?"

Nick took back control, "Not for now, Tony. We don't know where she is or where she is going to strike next. We know she is enhanced, but no one can figure out exactly if she has powers, and if she does, what they are. For now, we just need you to be aware. She is extremely skilled in infiltration and we have no idea what she looks like, just that she was able to take an extremely valuable target on their behalf at a high profile event we had under surveillance and walk out unnoticed, and unidentified."

"So what you're saying," Rhodes spoke up for the first time, "is that we don't know what she looks like, don't know what she can do, but she's out there. So lookout."

Fury sighed, "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"So," Bruce looked at Fury, puzzled, "what do you want us to do?"

He shook his head, "I don't know."

There were a few beats of silence, no one knowing what to do.

Thor was leaning against the wall, listening quietly, believe it or not, "And her name?"

Throughout the meeting, Fury had been standing, but at this question, he sat down to answer it, "They're calling her The Queen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another rich diplomat. Another party. And of course what's a party anymore without either a murder or a kidnapping? The real question is: why not both?

That's how it's been lately. The missions Noxy goes on are usually parties, balls, banquets. She goes in, gets the target alone with baffling ease, and either extracts the information herself right then and there, or delivers him to fellow agents and wipes her hands clean.

I've grown used to what she's doing. No matter how long or hard I tried to break free from the cage I was trapped in, nothing changed. Not even a blink.

So I stopped trying. I watched. I watched as she murdered. I watched as she tortured. I watched as she developed the unimaginable powers that were given. I watched as she became everything I wanted to be. I watched as she became everything I didn't.

I learned how to block out a lot of things that she did. It was manageable to block out one sense, usually sight. It got hard when I had to block two, and it became impossible if it grew to three. Touch was the hardest to stop. It was especially frustrating when that was all I wanted to block out.

The target was some rich dude with high standing in some organization that had some information that Henry needed. The briefings were the one time I was consistently not paying any attention. Once again her sights were placed upon a well dressed, old, white, balding man. The white dress that clung to my figure must have made my body irresistible to well dressed, old, white, balding men because while Noxy skirted just outside his circle, his eyes followed.

Just like all the others, he was caught hook, line, and sinker.

It was simple really, it was almost like there was a formula. Champagne glass half full held delicately by the fingertips. A casual lean against the bar, the leg with the slit slightly out-turned to show an inch or two of more skin.

They all think they're playboys. Just once I can't wait for Noxy to have to think of something different when having to get a well-respected scientist who loves his wife away from the crowd.

With a sultry stare and flirty introductions, a witty remark and the swing of the hips and they're gone from the crowd. His hand was planted at the small of her back, but the farther we strayed from the crowd the farther his hand strayed.

The mansion the banquet thingy was being hosted at was nice. It was nice as all of the other mansions were. He guided Noxy down a long hallway, farther and farther from all the people who could protect him. He eventually came to a large bedroom and opened the door, allowing Noxy to go in first.

I knew what was about to happen, so I started the theme song that I had come up for her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CduA0TULnow

I think I did it again I made you believe we're more than just friends Oh baby It might seem like a crush But it doesn't mean that I'm serious 'Cause to lose all my senses That is just so typically me Oh baby, baby

He closed the door with a barely noticeable click and began to approach Noxy. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't in the mood.

Oops, I did it again I played with your heart, got lost in the game Oh baby, baby

She picked at her nails for a moment before his eyes grew wide looking at her hands. The reason for his stare was the black pigment that spread from her fingertips up her arms.

Oops, you think I'm in love That I'm sent from above

He started to turn around, but Noxy was too fast for him. The darkness was too fast for him.

I'm not that innocent

A cloud, a shadow, that's what was emitted from her hands that engulfed the target's head and face. It was there for a moment, then it was gone just as quickly. His body collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

You see my problem is this I'm dreaming away Wishing that heroes, they truly exist I cry, watching the days Can't you see I'm a fool in so many ways But to lose all my senses That is just so typically me Oh baby, oh

With the target on her shoulder, she walked away from the bedroom window towards the extraction point, with heels on still, mind you.

Oops, I did it again I played with your heart, got lost in the game Oh baby, baby Oops, you think I'm in love That I'm sent from above I'm not that innocent

The mansion was built in a remote part of the world, surrounded by a forest with at least a hundred miles of privacy. Noxy scaled the uneven terrain easily enough, though she did occasionally hike up her skirt and push off of the trees to give her momentum.

Oops, I did it again to your heart Got lost in this game, oh baby Oops, you think that I'm sent from above I'm not that innocent

I'm not sure how long I've watched her go on these missions. I'm not sure when the last time was when I blinked of my own free will. It feels like a lifetime, but it also feels so close, like only yesterday I could brush my fingers through my hair and if I just pushed a little harder, I could do it again. I've been in here for months, I know, but if those months added up to a year or more, I had no idea.

Oops, I did it again I played with your heart, got lost in the game Oh baby, baby

Somehow, out of all the hundreds of miles of trees and darkness, Noxy came upon a pair of men. They looked to be surveiling. I had no idea who they worked for, but I could tell they were professionals. They saw Noxy too late, which is hilarious since she's wearing a stark white dress and heels with a man on her shoulder. Though she was naturally quiet, there's only so much you can do to muffle that sound. Noxy didn't even have to shift the target from her shoulder when she fired up her shadow hands, but she was not so merciful to these agents. From her fingers flew a beam of darkness. Technically I could barely see it from the combination of speed and the lack of light. The trees above carefully shielded the ground from the shine of the moon and her sister stars.

Oops, you think I'm in love That I'm sent from above

I've seen maybe thousands of beams just like it though. It mimicked the shape of an icicle, though made of shadows or some sort of unidentifiable pitch-black material. The first man fell to the ground with a gaping hole at the base of his throat. The second attempted to draw a weapon but was struggling to get the gun out of its straps. Noxy took the time to walk closer to him until they were no farther than a few feet away. I could see the fear in his eyes, and I'm sure he could see the indifference or maybe even pleasure in hers. She sent a spear of shadow into his stomach. She wanted him to die slowly. Or at least with how much blood was coming from the wound, slower.

He fell to the ground and tried to crawl away backward all the while trying to keep the blood inside his body.

Noxy didn't care anymore for him and left him to suffer in the dirt. She continued on in her mission.

I'm not that innocent

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Avengers were gathered in the common room for some downtime when F.R.I.D.A.Y caught everyone's attention.

"Director Nick Fury is calling."

"Put 'im on," Tony waved his hand as he sat down on the couch.

Fury was projected onto the screen in the common room and he was relieved to see that everyone was already there.

"What's up?"

Fury took a breath as if to prepare himself for what he was about to say, "We have a singular feature to identify The Queen with."

Everyone suddenly became quite serious and sat up in their seats. The more anxious ones scooted closer and were barely on the cushions waiting for him to elaborate.

Pietro was curious, but not too worried, "Only one?"

"Our informant died before we could get any more of a description."

Pietro swallowed but didn't speak again.

Fury had a grave look on his face as he revealed what they had to look for,

"She has black eyes."

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years

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Time travel rescue pt.3; 11th Doctor x teen reader ft. Queen

*Author’s note*

Alrighty now the next part will be the last one for awhile till I get around and finish writing pt.5 so you all will have to be on hiatus for a bit till then. But I’m happy to see people taking notice of this new mini-series crossover. Trust me this was really fun to write, but we get into a serious note. So here are the warnings for this specific chapter.

Warnings: Parent abandonment, gang activity, drugs, violence, knives, attempted murder, but I SWEAR NO ONE DIES IN THIS PART I PROMISE!!! So if any of these things make you uncomfortable, just skip this part, you won’t be missing much, (plus all this stuff get at around the middle of the fic and the end so you can read the beginning and then skip the middle, trust me you’ll know when one of the warnings begins)

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@plethora-of-things

@ixchel-9275

@waddles03

@platawnic

@bensrhapsody

@queendeakyy

@kairosfreddie

@geek-and-proud

_________________________________________________________

I arrived at the Hammersmith Odeon and snuck past security using my own psychic paper that the Doctor had given me (in fact this is the first time it’s worked with just me alone so I was praying that it did. Thank god it did). I told him that I was a new volunteer to Roger’s assistant called in to help check in and make sure his drums were in tiptop shape.

Thankfully security at the time of the 1970’s just let anyone come in and out, not as fully overprotective as they are nowadays. I walked through the doors and soon came onto the stage and I just took it all in. I myself had never been to the Odeon theater, but I knew every square inch from the concert footages Queen did every time they performed here, and I couldn’t believe my luck that I was actually here, here.

As I walked closer to the stage, I was in awe to see Roger’s drum kit all set up and ready for rehearsal. I couldn’t help myself as I walked right up onto the stage and stood right before his drumkit, my eyes immediately catching the Queen logo on it designed by Freddie Mercury himself.

“Hello gorgeous.” I whispered as I very slightly stroked one of the crash cymbals. I walked around the back and couldn’t help myself but sit down and I stroked along the floor toms where Roger was most known for pouring his beer on at the time to make it go really high once he hit it to make it theatrical and rock-n-roll.

I then noticed his drumsticks sitting on top of the one of the two middle toms and I couldn’t help but grab them. Just touching them felt like I was touching something created only by the gods of drums themselves. I twirled one of the stick very skillfully in my hand, much like how Roger does and I thought about what to play.

I knew I couldn’t risk playing any of their future work (which is a shame cause not to brag I could play a mean Hammer to fall) but there were still plenty of choices to play that involved the guys’ early works.

So I decided to try my hand at playing the solo I knew he would play at the live performance Christmas eve, because besides the solo at Montreal 1981, the drum solo he did here for the Christmas eve performance at the Hammersmith was one of my favorite drum solos for Keep yourself alive.

I heard the tune in my head and did my best to replicate each of his movements that I saw him do time and time again every time I would watch that concert. I hit the bass drum when needed, the middle toms and the cymbals were the ones that got struck the most, I played the cowbell when it called for it, and I rhythmically beat down on the floor toms when needed.

I’ll admit there was a slipup here and there (cause hey I hadn’t even reached my five year marker from self-drum lessons). When I knew the drum solo ended I struck the cymbals one last time before grabbing them so that the echo wouldn’t last long.

Already I felt winded cause it’s been awhile since I drummed with my own kit since I was so busy with the Doctor. But I was shocked when I heard four separate applauses. I turned around and there stood Freddie, Deacy, Roger and Brian all with impressed smiles spread across their faces.

I smiled nervously and set Roger’s drumsticks back to where I found them and stood up and lightly curtsied before them.

“Well that’s it Rog we’ve found your replacement.” Joked Fred.

“I wouldn’t go saying that. I’m mediocre at best compared to Roger Taylor.” I said.

“Oh don’t be so modest darling, if you were any more modest you’d be Brian.” Brian looked at him before turning to me and he asked.

“So how long have you taken an interest in drums?”

“Only a couple years now. I was like—14 maybe 13 I can’t remember. My nana actually bought me my first drum kit.”

“Did you take lessons?” asked Deacy.

“Oh no we couldn’t afford drum lessons. I’m—kinda self-taught. I taught myself to play the drums by listening to different records. I know it sounds weird and a bit risky but—nana always told me that I had a keen ear for music, especially the harmony section. She caught me banging on the table with two pens and she’d name the song I was playing.”

“With skills like that I would’ve thought you’d been playing for at least 7 years.” Roger spoke up as he handed me a cup of water. I thanked him and took a sip, “And yeah there were some mishaps that I heard but maybe I could teach you how to properly strike the drumsticks in order to get the perfect sound.”

Oh my god. Did I just get offered a tutoring session with my hero? Roger Taylor was willing to give me a drum lesson? Holy shit nobody pinch me because I better not be dreaming.

“You’d—you’d really do that?” I asked.

“Absolutely. Hardly do I ever see a female drummer and you definitely got the skills love. In fact I’d be honored to teach a worthy student such as yourself.” I blushed at his praise.

“So (y/n) what other songs can you play?” asked Brian.

“Well mostly your stuff is what I first learned to play but I can play some other songs.” I stated.

“Do you know the opening to our song Liar?”

“Do I? That’s like my favorite live performance song you guys do. Well next to Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“Well let’s hear it lovie.” Roger told me as he held his drumsticks out for me to take. I took them in my hand and twirled the sticks again before playing the opening note with the cowbell. I heard the opening in my head and then immediately switched to the high and middle toms before going down to the floor toms and alternating both floor and middle toms.

But what I was shocked to hear next were the joining sounds of Brian’s Red Special as well as Deacy’s bass, even Fred got involved with the tambourine. Roger stood behind me to observe and he would occasionally point out where to go next or whisper a brief tip on how to strike either the cymbals or the floor toms.

Once the intro was done, I exhaled and wiped the sweat already coming down my face and rubbed my hands.

“Well I guess it’s my horror to say that you’ll put me out of the job love.” Roger teased with a grin.

“No, no, no Rog. Like I said I maybe good but I’m nowhere near your speed.”

“But you are getting close. Looks like I better watch my back.” He said as both his hands came on top of my shoulders and he massaged my shoulders which made me rock back and forth.

“And once she surpasses you we can replace you. Maybe she’ll have some sense and not lock herself up in a cupboard like a child over a song.” Said Deacy. Whoa wait a second that actually happened?! I thought that was just a rumor.

“At least my song is worth more than yours was. ‘I’m happy at home’? What the hell kind of rock and roll lyric is that!?!”

“Children please. It’s already set and stone and Deacy’s song is a hit single in America.” Freddie said trying to tone down the heat before the flame got worse.

“Whatever Fred.”

“Alright well we’ve only got an hour for lunch, what do we say we head out and get us something before Reid or in worse case Paul comes in and tries to make us rehearse before we even have the chance to eat. I had to skip breakfast this morning.” Brian said.

“Well then you shouldn’t have slept so late Brian.” Deacy said.

“I hate mornings Deacy, not my fault.” As the boys went ahead it was just Roger and I as we got on our coats.

“So how did the search go? Did you find him?” he asked me.

“No.” I said solemnly.

“Do you have a number that you can call him on?” I mean I did but it was in my cellphone and I’d really rather not show it to Roger because wireless phones weren’t even invented yet, not till like 30 years from now. And even if I could try the Tardis number from memory, there’s just too many numbers for me to keep track of all of them.

“His line’s been down lately. Bugger always has it off the hook for whatever reason. Roger I’m really worried about him. He can be—a bit eccentric and—jumpy after something like this.”

“Hey, it’ll be okay. For now let’s get some food in that belly of yours then after rehearsal I’ll help you find him okay?”

“Or—maybe I should stop trying.”

“Don’t say that love, okay? I promise we’re going to find your friend okay?” I looked into those deep blue eyes of his and I just felt this warmth, that everything Roger had said was true. I nodded and that’s when he leaned his forehead against mine.

Our noses softly touching each other’s and we just stood there with our eyes shut, drawing in each other’s strength.

We got lunch at a nearby pizza joint and I was told tons of stories about the guys. Things that not even the fans of the future on tumblr even knew about (but to respect their privacy, I will not disclose any of that).

Freddie told me about how he and Mary first met each other and how he and her have a flat together. He also told me about his precious furbabies and even showed me a photo of them that he kept in his wallet. I awed at the pictures and he pointed out each cat in the photo; Tiffany, Oscar, Tom, Jerry, Lilly, Miko, and Romeo.

Deacy shared a little bit about his marriage with Veronica and the birth of their first born son Robert. Aww so Robert was born around this time. He even allowed me to see a picture of them, it was a recent picture taken around 2 months ago and he shared that his boy was now 5 months old.

He said he was a handful but Veronica and him loved him to pieces. And I know for a fact he did, I mean I’m talking to the one Queen member who ended up having 6 kids all with the same woman.

“Is that why you dedicated your song to her?” I asked.

“Well it’s only partially true.” I looked at him confused.

“See while I did dedicate it to Veronica, I also kept thinking about my son while I was writing the song. I just imagined playing catch with him in the front yard, teaching him to ride a bike, just—being there for him. So it was both for her and my son that my song is dedicated to.” Aww why couldn’t my damn alcoholic/drug addict of a father be like Deacy?

And the same was said for both Brian and Roger. I got to learn so much about these guys that it felt like I was somehow becoming a part of their little group, their family. Which was a feeling that was quite alien to me (no pun intended since I am technically friends with a timelord) but I liked it.

After lunch, I got to watch the boys rehearse some more till it was nightfall and currently Roger was giving me that drum lesson that he promised. Ohhh I can’t believe I get to say that I got to have a drum lesson with the Roger Taylor of Queen.

“Okay so when it comes to playing Keep yourself alive, you always must keep hitting the bass drum in order to keep the tempo. The drum is like the heartbeat of the band. If it’s all out of sync, then we just sound like rubbish.”

“Okay so when it comes to the first opening note, I can go either cowbell tempo or the high toms?”

“Yes I mostly prefer to use the high toms as the main intro but once you commit to one thing, you gotta follow through with it.” I nodded.

“Now when it comes to playing Now I’m here, do you just find yourself going crazy cause I’ve tried to play it and all I end up doing is act like I’m having a seizure.”

“Yeah it can get easy to just let it all go, and sometimes I find myself doing that for the intro. But the way I remember is just go from high to low on the drum kit. The cymbals, to the high and middle toms down to the low toms. But mainly keep the rock out on the middle and high toms.”

“Okay.”

“Okay let’s see what you got. Start with the double cymbal. I’ll lead you in.” I nodded and twirled his drumstick around. He then began singing Freddie’s part and I nodded to the tempo of the song as I could hear it in me head. When he got midway through the intro at the “Now I’m here/there.” I slammed the cymbal twice before catching it so that the sound would go silent.

Then when Roger sang the “I’m just a” line right before the rock out came on, I did as he said. I went from high to low on the drum kit as Roger kept singing. Once that was done, I caught the cymbals so that they ceased their ringing and Roger clapped.

“Phenomenal lovie, you are truly the best drummer I’ve seen.”

“Thanks Rog. I couldn’t have done it without all your teachings.”

“Well with the speed you’re going you won’t need my teachings for very long.”

“Oh my word. Never did I think I’d live to see the day when Roger admits that someone is better than him at the drums.” We looked up and Deacy soon came in but it wasn’t him that spoke out, it was the woman next to him.

She had long, dark brown hair and a beautiful face even without makeup on. In her arms she held a tiny baby boy and judging by the way Deacy had his arm around her, this had to be Veronica.

“Ronnie, so good to see you. Still seeing your husband’s painted me to be a dick.”

“Hey now no swearing in front of the baby Roger.” She warned him.

“Right, right sorry Robert bubbies.” Roger cooed down towards Robert and he lightly began tickling his tummy which made him coo and laugh. I couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight and that’s when Veronica turned towards me and asked.

“And who’s this talented young lady?”

“Veronica love, this is (y/n). (Y/n) this is my wife Veronica.” John introduced us as he went ahead and took Robert off her hands for a bit. Veronica held out her hand and I shook it.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” We both greeted each other with a soft smile. God she was beautiful, just like the pictures I’ve seen of her. Sure she was older in the pics because like her husband, she preferred to stay out of the limelight but she still supported her husband through and through. Which is why in the real world, they are my OTP.

“So how did you meet my husband and his friends?” she asked me.

“Well I first ran into Roger the other night.” I explained.

“(Y/n) here got jumped by some arseholes.” Said Roger taking his break from playing with Robert.

“Oh no you poor thing, you okay?”

“Yeah I am. Thanks to Rog and his friends.” I said as Roger came up to me and he playfully gave me a noogie.

“So where are you staying?” she asked me.

“She’s staying with me for now. She had a friend with her that night and we haven’t found him yet. I’m hoping to help her tomorrow since we don’t have as long of a rehearsal tomorrow.”

“Well you know (y/n) if you’d like to take a break from these guys, you’re more than welcome to stay with me at the hotel I’m staying at.”

“How far is it?” I asked.

“Oh it’s just a mile from their hotel.”

“No Veronica how dare you try to take my roommate from me!” Roger exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around me tightly almost to the point of smothering me.

“Rog don’t smother the poor girl.” Said Deacy. Roger released me from his strong embrace allowing me to breathe.

“Besides I know what hanging around you guys for too long does. At least let her hang around someone whose sane and won’t start an argument every five minutes.” Veronica said. Deacy looked at her accusingly and she said, “John you know I love you but let’s be honest, you can be a bit bitchy.” Roger softly laughed before looking down at me.

“Well (y/n), do—you want to go with Veronica for the night?”

“I—well I don’t want to impose. Especially since you have your son.”

“I wouldn’t mind, in fact I could use the extra hand since my love is pretty much busy for the next few days.”

“I promise I’ll try to be over by tonight though.”

“I know you will.” She said as Deacy cupped the side of her face as Veronica nuzzled against her husband’s palm. Gahh I can’t take seeing them together it’s just—so kawaii!

“Well—if you don’t mind. Then I could spend a couple of nights over at your hotel.” I said. She smiled and said.

“Now worries (y/n), we can leave after we all get some dinner.” And that’s what happened.

Soon Veronica and I arrived back at her hotel room. She insisted on helping with my bags but I told her that she needed to take care of Robert and that I could handle everything myself.

Once I got unpacked and changed into my pajamas, Veronica was putting baby Robert to bed. As I watched her look down at her son with loving eyes, I couldn’t help but just feel envious of Robert. They were the perfect parents to Robert who gave him nothing but love and attention and he wasn’t even a year old yet.

She was reading to her son a lovely bedtime story while sitting in the rocking chair. Baby Robert cooing as he leaned against her chest trying to fight off sleep, but the sound of Veronicas soothing, motherly voice as she read to him made him fall asleep.

I couldn’t help but turn away and try to hold in my tears. I buried my face into my hands and bit my lip to hold in any sobs that tried to come out. Damnit what I wouldn’t give to have parents like Deacy and Veronica, instead my parents cared more about their next fix rather than their daughter.

I was a means to an end to them, when they really did notice me it was before they could sell me for drug money. I could’ve been sold off, molested by drug abusers, hooked on drugs and probably died by 5 years old from malnourishment. Why didn’t they love me?

“(Y/n)?” I looked up to see Veronica standing over me looking at me concerned. “Are you okay sweetie?” I sniffled and wiped my tears.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine….I’m fine.” I choked out as I turned away from her still wiping my tears.

“You don’t have to lie to me.”

“How can you tell?”

“You and John do a similar thing. You refuse to make eye contact with me whenever you lie. So come on out with it. What’s going on in that mind of yours? Is it your friend?”

“No, no. I—god you’re gonna think I’m a horrible person when I say this.”

“Try me.” Wow she’s such a sweetheart. As she rubbed my back comfortingly and handed me a box of tissues, I dabbed my eyes of the tears and I said.

“I—envy your son.” She looked at me confused and that’s when I continued, “I—I haven’t even told Roger the entire truth but uhh—my parents were…..drug addicts. Hell my mum never even knew she was pregnant till she gave birth to me behind a dumpster. I was—merely a coat to them. They only noticed me when they wanted to. Then when I was 3 they—” I trailed off and shook my head.

“You don’t have to explain anymore (y/n). God I—I cannot even begin to think what you went through. You poor thing.” She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and I said.

“I always believed that—all parents were like that. That’s why I also denied authority in my younger years. But then seeing you and Deacy speak and treat Robert like that it—” more tears spilled from my eyes and that’s when Veronica took me in her arms and proceeded to rub my back comfortingly.

“Ohh (y/n) I am so sorry you had to go through something like that. But think of it this way, even with a sad and troubled upbringing, you’re still this beautiful, talented, charismatic young woman. Who I believe one day is going to change the world.”

Wow—I mean I read on biography information that she was sweet and down to earth but this—it was just completely mind boggling. I mean I’m barely an acquaintance of her husband and she’s already treating me like I’ve known the boys for years.

“Thank you Veronica.”

“You’re most welcome love, do you feel any better?”

“Yeah I….I’ve never really had the chance to cry about my past….at all really.”

“Well I’m always here to offer a shoulder to cry on, or if you want to get away from the boys.” We both chuckled and that’s when she got up and actually made me some hot chocolate as a comfort drink. As I sat there for a while, I saw Veronica going through Robert’s baby bag when she said.

“Oh darn it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought I packed enough diapers for Robert but I guess I used the last of it just before his bedtime. And I can’t ask John to run the errand for me because his hotel’s 20 blocks from here.”

“You can go get the diapers, I’ll watch Robert.” She looked at me wearily.

“Are you sure? And I don’t mean this in a crude way but do you know how to take care of a baby?”

“I’ve dabbled here and there with some neighbors around my nana’s place.”

“Are you sure you can handle it?” she asked worriedly.

“Hey Veronica, trust me I’ve got this. Besides it’d be better than driving with a baby boy with a wet diaper to the nearest store, get the diapers, come back here, change him and put him back to bed.”

“You’re right okay well if you insist. His bottles are already made and in the fridge. Just warm it up for about 30 seconds in after putting the water in for the same amount of time. Uhh if he drops his sea turtle in the night just put it back in his crib. I should be back in a few minutes so you won’t deal with him long okay?”

“We’ll be okay Veronica now go. Go get those diapers before a store closes for the night. Especially with the holidays getting closer.”

“Yeah you’re right. I’ll be back in about 10 minutes if not 5, think you can be in charge for that long?”

“No worries you can trust me Veronica, now go.” She nodded then grabbed her coat, purse and keys and headed out the door. I went to take a quick peek over at baby Robert to see that he was still asleep which put me at ease so I went back into the main room without a second thought.

I managed to find a random fashion magazine probably given by the hotel management and just browsed through it. Now I’ll admit some of this stuff that came out during the 70’s I’ll admit were super stylish and I kinda wish we kept them around. And yeah call me an old soul but hell I’ve been everywhere far, wide and in between.

But as the minutes ticked by, I kept getting this itch that something wasn’t right. It reminded me of being back in the gang when a standoff would happen and next thing we would know, BANG! BANG someone got shot in the head or heart.

So I went back to check on Robert to see that he was still fast asleep in the pitch black room, but there—there was just the feeling in the air that someone else was here in the room. I thought I heard the chair rock but I was nowhere near it, I carefully and slowly reached into my back pocket my 6 inch tiger claw knife.

I actually caught sight of these when helping out with a weapons trade when I was around 12. I saw this knife along with the tiger-like claws along the handle and I thought ‘damn this is a badass weapon’. So I swiped it and no one suspected a thing. I readied it on my right hand and decided that anything I would see move, I would attack.

Because I’ll be damned if anyone attacks Robert.

It was then I saw a shadow quickly go past the door and I sprung out and immediately attacked the person. I stabbed them repeatedly and all I got in response was an animal-like hiss, a very familiar animal like hiss. The thing and I rolled on top of each other before I kicked them out towards the living room and there I saw it.

It was the fish-humanoid creature that had somehow gotten on the TARDIS, however it wasn’t the exact same one that pushed me out. This one was more strongly built and had a more greenish tone than the previous one. But those eyes, webbed hands, claws and teeth were still the same.

I stood guard over the door holding and skillfully spinning my tiger-claw knife that I wasn’t gonna let this beast get by me without a fight. It snarled as it stared at me pacing back and forth but I kept my eyes and would adjust my stance following it’s every move so that it wouldn’t sneak by me.

But then I saw it smirk at me before it suddenly morph it’s shape into a more human form. The claws shrunk to fingernails, the skin became slightly more tan and long blonde hair began to grow out of its head. Soon standing before me was none other than Roger.

Oh shit. What if—what if this thing was some kind of a siren? I mean it would make sense, fish-like creature, able to turn into a handsome person whether male or female. But there’s one thing this siren didn’t really include, I may love Roger but not in the way it thinks I do.

So I literally had no problem with lunging right at it and pinned it against the wall. I got a knee right where the sun didn’t shine before getting a few good jabs in.

“Nice try, but our love is different you bitch.” The siren eyes shifted from Roger’s famed blues back to its pitch black as it’s teeth and claws came back out and it lunged for me again. It tackled me against the counter and proceeded to try and take a bite out of me but I held it back with as much strength as I could before finally taking a stab at it through its shoulder.

It hissed in pain before taking my wrist and twisting it to the point where I heard the bone break. I let out an agonizing scream as it then grabbed me and threw me towards the table which broke the glass top and I lay there groaning in agony. It’s eyes glared at pure hatred towards me before it turned its attention back towards the bedroom.

It suddenly turned to water and it drained right towards the bedroom. Oh fucking hell you don’t! I tried as best I could to get up and crawl towards the bedroom. I saw it’s shadow standing over Robert’s crib and it took my knife out of it shoulder before admiring it and turning down towards Robert.

No, no, no, no, no, no! That bastard was gonna point the blame on me for killing John and Veronica’s first born! It grinned maliciously at me before pointing the blade right down to Robert.

Suddenly a high pitched sound came out of nowhere and the siren dropped my knife to the floor. It held it’s ears in agony and hissed an echoey type shriek as it’s form kept reverting between it’s true form and Roger’s.

I took this as my moment to take my knife back and tackle the damn bastard down to the ground, but in that process, we had actually knocked the crib over and the next thing that echoed through the room was Robert’s crying.

I trailed behind the siren until I managed to corner it behind the rocking chair and the drapes. I pinned it down with both my legs and stabbed it repeatedly in the back roaring and crying out before finally slicing it’s neck which stained the corner of the room with it’s blood.

Robert’s crying softened as I came out from the corner of the room and collapsed exhaustedly to the floor covered in the siren’s blood.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was about you missy?” I could hear Robert’s cooing and I heard the voice say again, “Yes, yes she did save your life. And she was very brave at that too.” I turned around and smiled and chuckled softly.

“Doctor.”

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.28: Rogue Ending // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Belén and Barry enlist Snart to help them transport metahumans out of the city all while they continue to figure out how to move on from the fact Belén almost dated Cisco.

"In precisely two days the Particle Accelerator is set to get back online," Wells stood before Rayan and Angie "And knowing the Flash he will want to protect those inside the pipeline so he'll move them. That's when we strike."

"But I get Azul out?" Angie made sure to know before she was to do anything he asked. "He shouldn't die with the rest of the rodents you caught."

"You can do whatever you want with those metahumans - I could care less. I need to get back into the Accelerator and in the meanwhile you're going to keep good old STAR Labs busy. And do you hear me?" Thawne specifically looked at Rayan for that one. "Only keep them busy. You don't kill-"

"-your precious Flash, yes I understand," Rayan said plainly, though it seemed like he wasn't paying much attention. His eyes were locked on a water pipe above them that was dripping water. Every now and then some water drops were stopped midway and forced back into the pipe. "But my sister's free game and I so want to see her again."

Thawne watched him for a minute as the metahuman repeatedly shoved water back into the pipe. Though his health was deteriorating, Rayan was becoming much more skilled with his powers. His telekinesis was developing finely to the point of almost being able to control a human's actions. If he wanted to, Rayan could put up an interesting fight.

"Is your silent stare supposed to mean something?" Rayan asked without looking away from the pipe.

"I'm just wondering..." Thawne purposely trailed off.

Rayan's gaze shifted down to the man. "Wondering what?"

"If you could actually kill your own sister - your twin."

Thawne's smirk only irritated Rayan. "I'm sorry, your condescending-murdering self is asking me if I am capable of killing someone? Seriously?"

"You're talking about killing your own blood, Rayan. It's pretty cold. Can you look Belén in the eyes and kill her?"

"Spare me the talk," Rayan turned his back on the speedster. "I don't have siblings anymore, so...what happens will happen."

And he truly meant that.

~ 0 ~

The group except for Iris stood in the cortex listening to Cisco and his apparent discovery of Wells' old wheelchair. "I kept asking myself, why would Wells pretend to need a wheelchair?" Cisco made a round on the wheelchair, taking occasional sips of his soda.

"Sympathy, I suppose," Caitlin shrugged, everyone else agreeing with her with nods.

Cisco smirked. "That's what I thought at first, but he's the man in yellow. He's the Reverse-Flash. He's much smarter than that. Sympathy can't be the only reason."

"Yeah, it was a misdirect. Just like everything else Wells has done," Joe agreed, although they still didn't understand Cisco's point. "I mean, the last person we'd suspect to be the man in yellow is someone who lost the use of their legs."

"That's exactly right, Joe. Which is why I started messing around with the wheelchair," Cisco put down his soda on the floor and then turned over the wheelchair. He pulled a compartment lid out and revealed some sort of device stuck inside. "And that's when I found this."

"Daaaamn. You can't get that at Radio Shack," Joe's eyes widened.

"Looks like the tech inside Gideon…" Barry remarked as he looked at the device and only the device. Cisco didn't push him further.

"I measured the output, and this thing is kicking off serious juice. I mean, we're talking enough to power all of Central City."

"Why would Dr. Wells want something like that?" Belén quietly asked.

"I think this thing is some kind of battery…"

"Battery?"

"As in, Wells was using it to power himself. To gain more speed," Cisco gave a brief glance to Barry. "And that's why he's so much faster than you."

Barry, in return, gave a small nod of acknowledgement but nothing more. Cisco still didn't push.

One of the computers from the main desk began to beep with an alarm. Cisco rushed over with his soda back in hand and looked at the screen. "The accelerator, it's been reactivated!"

Caitlin hurried over to see for herself. "It can't be!"

"How is that possible? It blew up," Joe said what the remainder had been thinking of.

"It had to have been rebuilt," Caitlin theorized after checking more of the accelerator's state.

"That could...only be done by Wells, no?" Belén blinked, her stomach churning.

Caitlin agreed with Belén but was still having trouble seeing its logic. "Even if he did rebuild it, how did Dr. Wells turn the Particle Accelerator on?"

And then it clicked in Barry's mind. "He's here. That's why we couldn't find him. He's been inside S.T.A.R. Labs the whole time."

He and Joe hurried for the hallways. Cisco made to leave but warned Caitlin and Belén to stay behind. He rushed out but returned in a second for his soda, ignoring the odd looks from the two women.

Joe led the way into pipeline with a gun aimed ahead in case anything popped up. "Cisco, what did you bring in that orange soda for?"

"Whenever something happens with the Reverse-Flash, liquid floats in the air. You know, Barry's fish tank, Wells's champagne, remember that? If this does the same thing, we'll know that Wells is in there."

They stopped in front of the pipeline. Barry glanced at Cisco, for the first time, and nodded. "Do it."

Cisco placed a hand on the computer beside the pipeline to open it up. As the door lifted, the three stepped into the actual accelerator.

"Man... this... is... big," Joe couldn't help being astounded at the sight of the incredibly large particle accelerator.

Cisco froze when his soda began to rise in midair. "Oh, God. Guys…"

Wells sped right past them and of course Barry sped after him.

"Barry!" Joe turned after the two speedster that were already far gone.

'Prisoner release. Protocol initiated.'

Cisco saw one of the prison pods begin to love forwards. "Oh, no, no, no, no!"

It turned out to be Shawna's prison pod - aka Peek-a-boo - and soon as the pod lost its power, she disappeared. She reappeared behind Joe and headbutted him with his own gun before disappearing again. She reappeared on the other side of the pipeline and shot a machinery part that forced the door to close, leaving Cisco and Joe on the other side.

Caitlin and Belén had run down after the release protocol had been activated.

"Peek-a-boo," Shawna smirked at them.

Belén grabbed Caitlin's arm and yanked her down the hallway. But, Shawna appeared before them at the entrance of the building and kicked Belén back before hitting Caitlin over the head.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be stuck in that box?" Shawna kicked Caitlin on the stomach and watched as the brunette rolled on the floor.

"She didn't lock you up! I did!" Belén rushed forwards and tried punching Shawna old style. Shawna was well prepared for a basic fight and grabbed Belén by the hair, smacking the metahuman against the wall.

Belén hissed as she slid down the wall. Shawna grasped her by the neck and pinned her on the wall while aiming the gun at her. "Now you're the one who's gonna go into a box. In the ground!"

Belén could actually feel her skin prickling as it turned green. As of late, there were many things she was angry about and Shawna poked at the last bit of patience Belén had. Shawna flinched when Belén's hand grasped her arm.

"It's either the pod or the coffin for you," Belén warned before her vines drifted from her fingers to Shawna's wrist.

"Ew! What is that!?" Shawna freaked when the vines embedded on her skin. "Get it off me!" she cried while the vines crawled up her arm.

Belén smirked without even moving an inch. She was clearly enjoying her powers at work and was somewhat disappointed when Shawna was whacked on the head with a large, metal wrench courtesy of Iris.

"Those are some wicked powers you have," Iris admitted after a second. She could see the vines on Shawna's skin slowly disappearing now that they had no contact with Belén.

"New side and all," Belén reminded with a light shrug. She moved to help Caitlin from the floor when she groaned. "My head hurts."

"You may have a concussion," Caitlin predicted while she got up with Iris' help.

"Of course I do."

~0~

While Caitlin checked herself and Belén in the cortex, the rest went to return Shawna to her prison pod. Caitlin pulled the flashlight from Belén's eyes and set it over the metal table.

"I was right, you do have a concussion so…"

"Staying awake, got it," Belén nodded. She sighed after a moment and looked up at Caitlin. "Sorry I didn't get Shawna before she kicked you. I think I panicked in the beginning..."

"It's okay, it happens to all of us sometimes," Caitlin returned, looking very honest but Belén still blamed herself for letting things get that far.

"I've been off my game lately," Belén said even though she thought it was pretty obvious to everyone.

Caitlin smiled sadly, knowing how difficult things were for her friends at the moment. Despite the three having some unofficial agreement to continue working to capture Wells, Belén, Barry and Cisco didn't interact how they used to. It was all short, brief sentences when it came to speaking with Barry. Even between Belén and Cisco their conversations were short and brief because they didn't want to give Barry another reason to be upset.

"He'll come around," Caitlin put a comforting hand on Belén's arm.

"I don't know about that..." Belén mumbled.

"I hope," Belén said honestly. It'd been days, after all, since their fallout.

Their conversation was cut short when Joe and Iris brought in none other than Eddie from the pipeline. Cisco hurried in behind them and explained where they found the weakened detective. Caitlin immediately ran some exams on him in case Wells had done anything. After a thorough checkover, Caitlin concluded he was only a bit dehydrated and other than that he'd be fine. Barry returned after a long chase after Wells without success. Despite his tiredness, he was incredibly relieved to find Eddie had been found.

"Eddie, why did he take you?" Joe asked Eddie after everything had been settled.

"I don't know. He said that we're... family. Said his real name was Eobard Thawne," Eddie shook his head, still trying to come to terms with the idea of him and Wells being related.

"Eobard Thawne?" Cisco dreaded the familiarity of that name. "Just like in my dream."

"Did he say anything else?" Joe further asked. "I mean, anything that could help us figure out what he's really after?"

"I... he didn't say much," Eddie felt bad he couldn't be much help. "He just kept working on some tube."

"A tube? What did it look like?"

"Metallic, futuristic. He said it was the key to him getting back everything that was taken from him."

"The key?" Barry felt even more lost. "I don't understand."

"Wha... Yeah, I don't know. Look, I just want to go home. Is that okay?"

Caitlin gently removed the tape holding the IV needle on Eddie's hand. "Yes, of course."

Iris helped Eddie stand. "I'll make sure he gets some rest."

Barry waited until Iris and Eddie were gone to continue speaking. "What do you think Wells was talking about?"

But then the computer went off again and Cisco, once more, went to check on it. "Oh, no, no, no!" he said with widened eyes and ran out the room without so much of a hint of the problem.

"Did anyone else get free again?" Belén sighed as she came to the desk herself.

"What?" Barry said without thinking. Belén raised her head at him, surprised that had actually been directed at her.

Caitlin sensed the new awkwardness and made to cut it. "Wells initiated the release of a metahuman which turned out to be Shawna's. Belén and Iris got her though."

Barry's eyes widened as he now stared at Belén. There was a pang in her heart as she recognized the glint of worry in his eyes.

Cisco's voice cut through the silence that fell over in the room. Belén was startled to find the computer in front of her now serving as a video chat with Cisco. The man stood in front of a rock wall with a metal tube glowing blue sitting behind.

"Cisco?" Joe and the others moved to the desk to see as well.

"Um, are you seeing this? That's the tube Eddie was talking about," Cisco nodded to the device. "It's some sort of future power source. That's what's charging up the accelerator."

"Can you shut it down?" Barry inquired.

"Do you see a power button anywhere on this thing?" Cisco's sarcasm dripped in his words. "Dude, this thing is from the future. It's beyond me. I press, or touch, or cut the wrong thing, I could bring the whole building down."

"Okay," Barry saw his error and accepted it. "How long until it's fully functional?"

"Best I can tell, 36 hours."

Barry nodded. "That's when Wells will be back."

"Why would Dr. Wells want the Particle Accelerator to work again?" Belén asked, looking at the others for some answers. "I thought the whole point was to make it not work?"

No one could answer her question.

"And what about the metahumans still in their containment cells?" Joe asked and made the others think for a bit.

Cisco shivered as he got the idea. "They're toast."

"We put them down there and now their lives are in danger because of us," Caitlin sighed as she got to thinking of the true danger those people were in.

"Look, I think you all know I've never been a fan of this arrangement here. I thought the whole plan was to rehabilitate them and set them free," Joe sternly told the group.

"It was," Caitlin argued but under the man's look she added weakly, "We've been a little busy."

"Well, if they stay in there, the die," Belén stated and sighed, "And if we let them go, they destroy the city. So...what do we do about them?"

Barry had been thinking about for a couple minutes now and concluded his idea was the only one they had left. "We're gonna have to move them."

Joe gave him a look. "Move them where? Iron Heights can't handle meta-humans."

"You're right, but Lian Yu can."

"What the hell's a "Lian Yu?"

Before Barry could explain, Belén did. "Lian Yu is the island where Oliver was stranded for five years. I heard A.R.G.U.S built some sort of covert military prison on it." She met eyes with a surprised Barry and added for his benefit, "He told me a while ago."

Barry tore his eyes from her, not quite ready to have a conversation with her...much to her disappointment. "It's where we sent Captain Boomerang. Oliver keeps his worst criminals there. They won't be able to escape, and more importantly, they won't be able to hurt anybody."

"Great. So we ship them from one illegal black site to another?" Joe was still not convinced with this idea, but he suspected it wouldn't matter. "And how do we move them to Oliver's own private Alcatraz?"

"I'll call him," Barry said, standing from his chair. "Maybe he can help with transport. And Cisco... if we do this, nobody can get loose."

Cisco nodded. "I might have a way of getting them out of here safely."

"Alright, get on it," Barry instructed and Cisco agreed, getting a head start out of the room.

"Barr, this is insane," Joe shook his head.

"Joe, we have to do this."

"You don't think that if we start bussing super-villains through downtown, nobody's gonna notice?"

"Oh, they'll notice. That's where you'll come in," Barry couldn't help smile as he began to tell his next part of the plan.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Belén was sitting silently at her desk, meant to be writing an article for the week yet her screen barely contained a measly paragraph. She had mind clouded with all sorts of thoughts ranging from the Particle Accelerator to her missing sister to...Barry. She mindlessly tapped her pen on the edge of her desk as she wondered what kind of solutions she could offer in case their primary one would fail.

Hearing her cellphone ringing, Belén forced herself to pay attention. She looked at the caller and saw it was Cisco.

"H-hello?"

"Bells, listen, we need you to come in," Cisco began, and sounding disappointed Belén deduced their plan hadn't worked.

"We need another idea, don't we?"

"Yeah...Joe couldn't get the CCPD to work with them," Cisco sighed. "Barry's coming over to think again, but...it would be good if you came too."

"Yeah, yeah...okay, I'm coming," Belén hung up and put her phone down on the desk. She rubbed her face and faced her screen again.

"Hey," Iris stopped by her desk with some papers in her hands. "Look what just got dumped on my desk?" she waved her papers in the air, leaving Belén to guess.

"A new assignment?"

"Not my assignment," Iris rolled her eyes. "Spencer Young just got fired so I got her topic."

"She got fired?" Belén looked to the empty desk that once belonged to their co-worker. "Since when?"

"Since yesterday - where have you been?" Iris knew it was a dumb question to ask since Belén hadn't exactly been paying attention to her surroundings for days. "Larkin finally caught up with her lying words and fired her, soooo I now get her unfinished work."

"Well, serves her right for not being an honest journalist," Belén said with a careless shrug afterwards. She hardly passed words with the ex-employee and it was for a good reason: she was mean. "So what's the topic about?"

"A spree of robberies done with - and I quote-" Iris made a quotation mark in the air with one hand while the other held the paper to read from, "-a freeze ray gun, a firey gun, and a golden gun. Sound familiar?"

A big scowl came to Belén's face. "Seriously, the last thing we need is for the Rogues to be back."

"Mhm, I'll do some digging on them but I don't think they'll be doing any more crimes since their thing is to do a series of robberies then disappear," Iris put her papers back together.

"I'll pass on the message to the others just in case," Belén said once Iris got leaving. She returned to her computer with the intention of continuing on her assignment - this time for real - when an idea popped into her head. Oh, you're crazy.

She snagged her phone back from the desk and dialed for a different number.

~ 0 ~

Barry was shifting on the park bench he was sitting on. The mere place brought back memories that reminded Barry of what he didn't have at the moment. He wondered if this was a trick being played on him, just to toy with his mind. Well, he didn't have more time to think on it when he saw Belén walking up to him.

"You came," Belén said with a sigh of relief. She was worried that Barry wouldn't show up at the last moment because of their disagreements. While they hadn't exactly argued, it was still pretty clear they were not in the best places. Belén didn't want to push Barry into talking when he had shown no interest in doing the same.

"I said I would," Barry reminded and got up. "Though I don't think I can care for this precise stop," his eyes flickered to the nearby fountain.

"Sorry, I just...needed to talk in a place where no one would bother us," Belén said, biting her lip, "I think I have an idea on how to get the metahumans out of the city."

"You do?" Barry's eyebrows rose with curiosity.

"But I don't think you'll like it…"

"Let me hear it."

"Iris just told me the Rogues are back in the city," Belén knew it was a big thing to say so she started to ramble on her evidence, "There were recent crime scenes that left a specific evidence trail to them. The police are very sure that Captain Cold is back in the city and doing his usual spree of crimes - I mean there's been frozen part of buildings that only a cold gun can do along with the occasional golden trails which really means that his sister is with him this time-"

"Belén, breathe!" Barry had put his hands on her arms to stop her from her rapid rambling. Belén blinked and blushed as she saw him so up close. Barry had realized what he'd done and instantly let her go, taking even a step backwards to get his head clear. "Just...just take a pause and breathe," he repeated nervously.

Glumly, Belén continued on with her original plan. "I was thinking we could find Snart and ask for his help."

"What!?"

"Snart is the only one crazy and tough enough to help us with all these metas! And since Oliver's not answering I think this is our only option."

Barry stayed quiet as he thought about it. He had tried getting in contact with Stein and Ronnie too but couldn't get through. Without the CCPD's help either, they really didn't have much options left. "Okay," he gave in. "I'll find Snart and talk to him-"

"Nu-uh," Belén cut him off with a frown. "We will and before you open that mouth to tell me 'no', I'm reminding you that this was my idea."

"You are not going," Barry gave her a sharp look but Belén wasn't stepping down.

In fact, just to prove herself, she stepped closer to him again, looking up at him defiantly. "Who says?"

"Belén…" Barry forced himself to look down at her without backing down as well. But in reality, he was beginning to fall under her charmful gaze and scent. God, I miss her, was all that ran through his mind.

Belén's eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips, and continued to make her case. "It's my idea and I'm not letting you take it just like that. So either you take me with you, or you get to discover how mad a poisonous Azalea can get."

"Is that a threat?" Barry raised an eyebrow, feeling a tingle down his back as her lips stretched into a smirk.

"Take it however you'd like." Belén was pretty sure she was causing an effect on him judging by the fascinated look in Barry's eyes...and it made her feel pretty damn special knowing she was still the only one that could make him feel like that. "So, what's it going to be?"

Barry swallowed hard. "Well...lead the way, Miss Azalea."

~ 0 ~

It wasn't difficult to find out where Snart tended to spend some time after looking at some of the evidence left behind with the CCPD. Barry let Belén walk first into a solitary, pretty slum-looking bar where Leonard Snart was at. Barry didn't like the idea of having to bring Belén along but apparently he was out-charmed here.

Snart was able to sense their presence and turned from the counter with an unexpected smile. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the scarlet speedster." His eyes then flickered to the brunette woman and his smile turned to a smirk. "And shooter-girl."

"For real? I have a name," Belén frowned.

Barry didn't care for the interest Snart had in Belén and spoke over them to get things moving. "We need to talk."

With raised eyebrows, Snart moved over to them and took a casual seat on the edge of the pool table near them. "Oh? And you went looking for little ole me?"

"Shut up," Belén spoke over again. "We need your help with a problem."

"Mm, that's not the first time someone of yours asks for my help," Snart tilted his head her way with a knowing smile. Belén, startled, looked up at Barry out of reflex. Before Barry could snap at him, Snart went on. "Must be pretty desperate to come asking for my assistance, but I'll bite. What do you need?"

"Help transporting some people out of the city," Barry was able to say without showcasing his irritation with him.

"How many?"

"Six. Six very bad, very angry people who have powers."

"Powers, hmm? So you want me to what? Freeze the problem?" Snart looked at both who nodded their heads. "Protect you from them if anything goes wrong? First rule of business: always protect yourself. I'm not gonna help usher your enemies out of town."

"Oh, but you consorted with others to get what you want," Belén snapped. "Listen you're gonna do it because you need to do it."

"Oh, and why is that?" Snart feigned incredible interest in what she had to say, irritating both metahumans even more.

"These people are your enemies as well-"

"I doubt it-"

"They will destroy Central City which is your city as well," Belén paused, hoping he'd get the point but apparently not as he responded with a very easy 'not my problem'. "Imagine a city you can't rob because there's no more people to rob because they're all dead?"

Snart looked to the side, pausing to think. "It's a compelling argument. But if I'm gonna help you out. I'll need something in return."

"Yeah, we imagined," Barry rolled his eyes.

Snart pulled a pen from his jacket and moved to the nearest table. He got a menu and wrote down something which he then slid to Barry. "This."

Barry took one look and saw an outrageous amount of money. He laughed and looked at Snart. "No. this is impossible. We can't do that."

"Then I can't help you," Snart turned to leave when Belén angrily reached for his arm, and because she was angry her hand holding his arm turned green and scaly. Before Snart could realize, Barry lunged in a snap and yanked her hand from Snart's arm and kept it tightly shielded under his hand. They could not let her identity slip as well.

"There has to... Snart, there has to be something you want that we can get," Barry tried to reason with the man who keenly watching the two.

"Let me think about it," Snart only mildly relented. Perhaps there was something else, he just had to consider it more closely. With a wide smile, he turned to leave.

Almost as quick, Barry took Belén away as well. He stopped them in another part of the neighborhood to check her. She was breathing fast as he released her hand to reveal it was still its pretty bright green color.

"Barry, I-I-I didn't...I didn't mean to…" she tried to explain but Barry shook his head at her.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he tried to soothe her, knowing that only calming her down would make her hand return to normal. "Just breathe, okay? Do that, c'mon," he mimicked the breathing pattern they had worked on long ago for these sorts of situations.

Belén quickly tried doing that but she kept remembering her slip that nearly cost her identity secret. "I-I'm s-s-sorry, I could have...I could have jeopardize it a-all I'm so sorry-"

Barry pulled her into a tight hug, a bit shaken himself from her reaction. He'd forgotten, honestly, that she was still trying to get a better control of her new side. He also remembered he had promised to help her get control no matter what. "It's going to be okay," he whispered, rubbing a hand over Belén's back.

~ 0 ~

After getting back to STAR Labs, Caitlin took Belén into one of the side rooms to give her another checkover to see if she'd been negatively affected by her sudden outburst of powers. Meanwhile, Cisco and Barry remained in the main cortex where the former had taken apart Wells' wheelchair along with its futuristic device in hopes of putting something together for their metahuman transfer. As Cisco worked, he kept glancing over at Barry who was keenly staring at the side room Belén and Caitlin were in. He hadn't muttered a word to Cisco.

Here goes nothing. Cisco took in a deep breath and spoke up to the metahuman while trying to pull something apart. "She really likes you, dude, make no doubt about that." Barry said nothing except briefly glancing back at him before returning his eyes to the side room. "Barry, c'mon, are you really going to let things end because I asked her out before you?"

"Cisco, I'm not doing this now," Barry crossed his arms and turned a bit to the side.

"Well tough because I don't know when to quit," Cisco put down the device he was working on and sighed again, this time speaking much more seriously. "I asked her out like four months after your coma, okay? She wasn't sure at first but she said yes and I took her to dinner at-"

Barry shook his head and turned to Cisco, making a face that just showcased his disapproval of this. "Cisco, I don't want to hear about this...date thing." That was the problem: his mind would only show him possible bits of Belén and Cisco dating. It was what made it difficult for him to talk to either of them. It's what made it hard to move on from it.

"You have to," Cisco adamantly replied. "You have to know what happened in order to finally move on."

Barry looked to the side without another word considering what Cisco believed was pretty correct. He was dying to know what exactly - and he meant exactly - what happened during that apparent date. Maybe it would help his mind in some way...

"We went to the movies, saw a funny movie and then we took a walk," Cisco continued. "It was fun, I'm not going to lie, because Bells is just so much fun to be around. She was cute-" Barry looked back at him with a warning expression but Cisco shrugged in response. "Hey, I'm not lying here. Your girlfriend's hot, okay? That's why I asked her out. But in the end, when we tried to kiss...we couldn't." And it did make Barry a little less concerned when he saw for himself how Cisco honestly seemed okay with it. "Bells and I realized we were friends, like best friends, and we liked that. Yeah, she's hot, as is Caitlin, as is Iris, - she's my attractive best friend who happened to end up going out with my other best friend. And I'm so happy for you two. Honest."

Barry sighed, shaking his head. "Cisco, I...it's just...it would've been better to hear from you first…"

"I know, and that's my bad, I accept it," Cisco raised a gloved hand. "I should've been a good friend and told you about this when you asked Caitlin and I to help you ask Bells out."

Barry stared at him and slowly began to smile. "But you were. Belén said she asked you not to say anything...and you didn't. You promised her and you kept it."

"Look, dude, I have never tried anything with her since our date," Cisco meant to clarify once and for all. "She's Bells, my best friend, and only my friend."

Barry nodded to show he acknowledged Cisco's words, but he didn't feel like he was quite there to be okay. "Thank you."

"Of course," Cisco hoped his words would allow Barry to talk with Belén now.

A couple minutes later, Caitlin brought out a much more calm Belén into the room. Barry turned back expectantly. "She's fine," Caitlin began, placing a hand on Belén's shoulder, "It's actually very interesting how some points of that other side can affect Belén and others don't."

"Yeah, trust me, it's not that interesting from my perspective," Belén admitted.

At that moment, Joe walked into the room, a hasty entrance, with narrowed eyes on the two metahumans. "What the hell were you two thinking calling Leonard Snart for help!?"

Barry winced and slowly turned around. He'd called Joe to explain their idea and needless to say the man was not happy.

Joe came right up to them. "Do we not remember who Snart is!?" Caitlin and Cisco slowly inched away from them back to the table Cisco was working with the device on.

"Joe, it was my idea," Belén stepped forwards. "Barry just went along with it."

"Which puts both of you at fault," Joe sternly responded. "Why would you do something so stupid?"

"Because, Joe, we have already tried everyone else. Look, you tried the CCPD. I tried Oliver. I even tried Ronnie and Dr. Stein," Barry, frustrated explained their lack of options. "And the Particle Accelerator goes online in…"

"16 hours," Cisco called.

"16 hours, Joe. I'm not willing to let the metas die, and we can't let them escape, either. So, like it or not, Snart, with his cold gun, is the only one that can stop them if Cisco's transportation does not hold."

"Then lucky for you I figured out what it is you can get me," Snart surprised them with his presence. Despite Joe initially pulling out a gun on him, Snart took a nice calm strode through the room, taking an observation. "Hello, Detective. Nice to see you again. Caitlin, Cisco." He came up to Barry and Belén with a smirk. "I thought about your proposal. You want my help, this is what I want. My fingerprints, dental records, DNA, criminal records, family tree, everything there is in this world concerning Leonard Snart. I want it destroyed. All of it. At CCPD, online, everywhere."

Belén stood there dumbfounded at such an outrageous price.

"The brass on this dude," Joe muttered. "You really think we'd do that for you?"

"Absolutely not-" Belén was midway turning him down when Barry cut her off with his own decision.

'I'll do it. If it's the only way, fine."

Belén whipped her head at him with widened eyes. Joe was in the same predicament and immediately ordered Barry to talk with him in the training room.

"I can't believe you're asking for that much," Belén snapped at Snart after being left alone. Caitlin and Cisco still remained there, half pretending to work and half ready to attack.

Snart smirked her way. "Then you're not as bright as you're made out to be."

"You don't know anything about me," Belén stepped forwards.

"I know about your family."

"Lies."

"Really? I know about your wayward brother," Snart loved the stunned reactions he got from everyone in the room. "I mean, I know my sister isn't exactly innocent but at least I know where she is. Can't say the same for you and your sister, though."

"Listen to me," Belén got in Snart's face, leaving Caitlin and Cisco in a little panic state because of how Snart might react, "I know damn well what my sister does behind my back - and I know that she worked with you - so you can put away your mighty attitude with me. I know that my family's rotten."

Snart raised an eyebrow at her, somewhat impressed. "Quite the burden you must carry, then...being the only good one left. Maybe you should think about switching, huh?"

"I would never," Belén stepped back. "It's more fun putting criminals like you away."

"Well, if this is it, you can tell your boyfriend I'll be waiting by the Algiers tonight for all my files. This criminal's not going anywhere!" he turned around and headed out of the room.

Belén's eyes flickered to Caitlin and Cisco. "It's going to be my fault if that guy ever rules the city."

"Maybe you should talk to Barry about it," Caitlin suggested but Belén scoffed.

"Please, he won't talk to me unless it's business and this would just be me telling him not to do something."

"Okay, how do you intend for this cold shoulder argument to end if neither of you get over it and talk?" Cisco moved for the desk where he left some of his licorice.

"Because he doesn't want to talk, Cisco! It's been days and...nothing."

"Well I just talked to him and he seemed ready...ish..."

Belén deadpanned him for a moment. "It's not funny, Cisco. And you know what? Maybe it's...it's just not going to get better."

"Belén..." Caitlin mildly gaped at her friend. "You don't actually...mean that, do you?"

"I don't know," Belén admitted. She brought her hands to her hair and sucked in a breath. "I've got family problems like there's no tomorrow and-and maybe it'd be easier to deal with things if I didn't drag Barry with me."

"Okay, you know that's not true," Caitlin looked over to Cisco for some help. The man seemed to be thinking about something and that clearly involved not talking for the moment. "Belén, I think you're just tired-"

"-it's a possibility," Belén let her hands fall to her sides. "But I mean...what if I talk to him and he can't get over the date? What if - what if he doesn't want to be with me anymore? Things could be over."

"Nope!" Cisco's sudden pop startled the two women. "Absolutely not, I will not have crazy talk in this room."

"Cisco, what-" Belén was cut off by Cisco coming over and grabbing her arm. "Where are we going!?" she asked when he started leading her out of the cortex, even looking back at Caitlin for some help.

"Cisco, what are you doing?" Caitlin rushed after them. "Cisco!"

"I'm knocking some sense into her!"

"With what!?" Belén exclaimed with actual fear in her tone.

"The future!"

Caitlin's eyes widened when she realized where Cisco was heading for. He brought them to Thawne's secret vault, and despite Caitlin's warning for him to think about it, Cisco opened the vault and yanked Belén in.

"This is Wells' creepy lair - why am I here?" Belén pretended to shiver.

"This is why," Cisco walked up to the small podium. "Glad I figured out how to bring it up," he mumbled as he passed his hand over the podium, bringing up the futuristic article to life.

"Woah..." Belén blinked. She crinkled her nose, however, when she read the title of the article and saw the subject of it. "No, hold on...what is this?"

"It's what we found a while ago," Cisco looked at Caitlin, "We don't really know what it means but...I think you'll see something pretty interesting."

"Apart from the fact this thing says Barry will go missing...not exactly sure what else is supposed to be 'interesting'," Belén walked up to the article to read, or at least try to skim since the words were pretty small. "This is from 2024..."

"It's the future, as of now," Caitlin came to stand beside her.

"Get out," Belén blinked with awe. "But...but he goes missing?" her hand came to rest over her heart as the fear started creeping over her. "Barry goes missing in the future?"

"Check out who wrote the article," Cisco nodded her to look underneath the byline.

It only took her a couple seconds to see her own name written there - well, her new name. "Oh...oh my...that's me," she pointed at it as if the other two hadn't already seen it. "Like...like..."

A big, teasing smile spread across Cisco's face. "As in your future married name?"

"Shut up," Belén said automatically, though the visible red on her face made it hard for Cisco not to keep smiling. Even Caitlin was having trouble keeping her smile hidden. "Francisco Ramon you better shut up."

"Belén, I get that you're scared to talk to Barry but this-" Cisco gestured at the article, "-proves that everything works out for you two. It means your destiny is to marry him."

Belén's eyes gazed over her name again. Annah-Belén Allen. Her heart may have skipped a beat or two. "It's not destiny," she said quietly, her eyes flickering between Caitlin and Cisco. "Destiny isn't what makes that happen," she pointed at her name. "It's my decision - it's our decision - to get married. But that could change at any time. What matters is what I want right now and what I really want is to go get my boyfriend back."

She smiled at her two friends and turned on her heels. She had somewhere to go.

~0~

Barry didn't know if he was purposely lingering in his lab to wait out the employees in the precinct and get the files for Snart...or if he was doing it to avoid being shouted at by Joe again. It wasn't like he wanted to steal but it was the only option they had left if they wanted help to transfer the metahumans. It was literally their only option left.

"Barry!" he flinched after hearing Belén's sharp call. She came striding into the lab with an air of confidence. "Barry Allen we are going to talk and we are going to talk now!"

"Um...okay..." Barry rubbed the side of his neck, somewhat afraid of her right now. "Uh-"

"-yes, I went on a date with Cisco, and yes it did involve hand holding and shared popcorn and a nice romantic dinner but it involved no kissing and the most important thing is that it didn't continue," Belén was aware she was rambling but if he was a speedster then he would be able to keep up with her. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it before but I thought it would just freak you out - which it did-" she gestured at their current situation, "-and I honestly thought it was irrelevant. Cisco is one of my best friends but you are the one I want to be with."

Barry considered speeding and make time stop just to think about everything she'd said. He stared at her silence, thinking about her words and...her. She seemed so determined and perhaps it was a misplaced determination because...

"I'm a jerk," he sighed.

Belén blinked. "What?" she'd been expecting a little more than just that.

"I'm a big jerk, and an idiot, and a lot of other things but I'll leave it at that," Barry sighed again. "In Iris' words: I am a drama queen. I overreacted about this whole...dating thing between you and Cisco. In my defense, it was kind of sprung out of nowhere and it-it is a very hard picture to get out of my head."

"Well see, I don't want you to just ignore it or bottle it in. I get that it's a weird thing - I'd probably be a little on the fence if you happened to date Caitlin before me. It's natural, but I don't want it to be the cause of our break up," Belén crossed her arms, that confidence of hers dwindling the more she thought about the potential outcomes of this talk. "I don't want us to break up, Barry. If you need time, I get that, but...I don't want it to be a permanent time."

"I don't need time," Barry said, easing some of her concerns. "I just need you right now." He felt a ping in his heart seeing her light up so quickly. "I'm sorry."

Belén's smile was so wide it could have cracked her face. She rushed up to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her senseless. He missed her a lot.

A couple minutes passed before they pulled apart.

"I'm not letting you go for another couple minutes," Belén warned about her arms still clinging to Barry's neck. "In case you get any other ideas for arguments."

"I won't," Barry playfully rolled his eyes. "I know I was an idiot."

"A little," Belén lightly shrugged. "But it was a valid emotion to feel."

"It just...got me thinking, you know? What if it things had worked out with you and Cisco? Then I would've come back from my coma to a world where Bells...wasn't my Bells."

Belén's face warmed up. "You didn't even like me back then, Barry. We were just friends."

Barry rested his forehead against hers. "I believe that I would have fallen for you no matter what. Then what would I have done?"

"Best not to think like that," Belén chuckled. "Because it didn't happen and it's not happening. Besides, according to a certain article you neglected to tell me about, we sort of end up married and all that jazz..."

Barry almost choked on his saliva. "Wh-what?" he met Belén's straight face. "Y-you know about that?"

"Cisco showed it to me earlier. You must have given me one hell of a proposal if I ended up not hyphenating."

"U-uum..." Barry swallowed hard, knowing well his face was warming up now. "I didn't tell you because I thought it would freak you out. Most people don't like their future planned out like that."

"Yeah, but, I see that article as something that can happen if we-" she pointed between them, "-want it to happen, not if it wants it. And I may not be in the marrying stage but it is something I'd consider in the future."

"Really?" Barry was honestly surprised she was taking it so easily.

"You wouldn't?"

"Y-yeah I would," he said quickly, stammering it that Belén laughed. "It's not - it's not funny."

"Kind of is," Belén pulled him closer to where her lips brushed over hers when she spoke. "It's okay. I'd marry a funny dork if it was you."

"What? That's just rude-"

Belén chuckled and kissed him again.

~ 0 ~

The following day, once everything had been settled, Lisa and Leonard Snart met the rest of the group at STAR Labs who had also been infomred of their arrangement.

"Please tell me this is a joke," Caitlin couldn't stop gaping as she had the two Snart siblings in front of her and Cisco.

"Oh," Lisa pretended to pout, "you were right, Lenny. She is very uptight."

Caitlin's eyes widened. "I am not uptight!" she glanced at the others expecting to be backed up. Cisco and Belén looked away while Barry apologetically smiled her way. With a heavy irritation, Catilin looked back at the smirking Lisa. "You can't call me uptight!"

"Okay, there's no need to argue," Belén stepped in before poor Caitlin lost it. "We don't like each other - that much we can all accept - we just need to get through this one day."

Caitlin sighed and looked over to Barry, frowning. "Why are you two wearing your masks?" she gestured to the two metahumans who wore their respective suits. "Snart already knows who you are."

"And I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," Snart glanced at Lisa. "That includes my sister."

"Jerk," Lisa sarcastically spat.

"Trainwreck," responded Snart. He met eyes with Joe who'd remained silent throughout the entire morning. Joe just didn't agree with any of this and still thought neither Snart should be there. "Don't look so surprised, Detective. I am a man of my word."

"Yeah, you better be. Or I'm gonna make sure you're on that damn plane, too," Joe warned and turned to leave. There was much to do before they left with the metahumans.

"Hey, Cisco…" Lisa went after Cisco.

Cisco turned around with narrowed eyes. "Oh, hey, Captain Cold's evil sister."

"Aww. You're not still mad at me, are you?" Lisa feigned an apologetic pout as she got closer to him. "I really did enjoy kissing you."

"Hold the phone - you kissed her!?" it was Belén who caught the conversation and shot Cisco a look from across the room.

"Under duress-" Cisco motioned her to calm down.

"'Duress' my a-"

"Bells if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous…" Barry sauntered up to her, distracting her from the continuing conversation between Cisco and Lisa. Still, Cisco led Lisa out of the cortex for safety reasons.

"Oh no, are we going to argue again?" Caitlin genuinely asked with concern.

"Don't worry, we made up," Belén said cheerfully. "I won't date any of his friends unless he makes new hot friends."

"I didn't say that!" Barry turned on her with a deep frown on his face.

"Shh!"

Caitlin smiled at the two. It was nice having them back to their regular selves; certainly more amusing.

~0~

When night settled over the city, everyone was set to go. Cisco had procured a moving truck that belonged to one of his uncles. He rigged its back to situate their six metahumans in the back who wouldn't have their powers for the duration of their trip. Getting to the warehouse was no problem as Barry made a clear pathway for them through the streets. It was the waiting part that would soon bring them trouble.

"Ferris Air? I thought this place got shut down," Snart remarked as he climbed off his motorcycle once they entered the solitary place where the ARGUS airplane was meant to be at any moment.

"It did. One of their test pilots disappeared," Barry distractedly responded as he stared out into the dark sky looking for the airplane.

Joe, Caitlin and Belén got out of their car and walked over to the two. "So what's the plan? I want to get this over with," Joe said.

"It should be here any minute," Barry promised. "Look, Joe, I know you don't agree with this…"

Joe shook his head. "Save it, Barr. I just want to get it done." He walked away.

As Caitlin followed in suit, Belén was left staring at Snart...who soon caught on and smirked.

"Something on your mind sweetheart?" he asked. Barry quickly looked at the two, confused.

Belén remained with a straight face. "Do you know where my sister is right now?"

"No I do not."

"And why would I believe you?"

"Because I don't particularly like your sister and would very much like to see you get your hands on her."

"I would never hurt my sister, Snart," Belén shook her head, but Snart just smirked.

"When your family goes rogue, you don't have much choices. Besides, she was willing to hurt you and your friends, why not pay her with the same coin?"

Belén stared at Snart without much words in mind. Snart knew he had won and turned for Barry. "Your A.R.G.U.S. friends aren't very prompt. Maybe that's why they've never been able to catch me."

Caitlin came to them once she caught sight of the airplane. "Look, there it is."

"Guys, guys!" Cisco ran out from the truck. "We have a problem. The damper's fluctuating. The rig's losing power. I don't know why."

Barry turned to him, panicking. "Wait, can you do something?"

"I'm trying!" Cisco frantically worked with his tablet.

An odd lightning crackled from the sky, but they knew better than that.

"Oh, God. Mardon," Joe recalled the terrible metahuman.

The airplane was struck by the lightning and crashed landed way across them. At the same time, the truck's backdoor flung open and the metahumans piled out ready for action.

"Trip's canceled!" Mardon cackled. "Take your last breath!"

Simmons shot red lasers towards the group, causing them to quickly disband towards hiding places. In the middle of her running, Belén crashed into Azul.

Gasping, Belén tried running in a different direction.

"Where are you going, Bells?" Azul shot a blast of ice towards her. Although it didn't directly hit her, the terror of the attack knocked her down. "We have a pending score to settle."

"Azalea!" Cisco shouted and made a move to go help her but he, Caitlin and Joe, were forced behind a car as they dealt with Mardon, Bivolo and Simmons.

"N-Noah!" Belén pushed the man off and tried punching him. Azul grasped her wrist and used it to twist her down to her back. Belén hissed with eyes screwed shut.

"I bet Rayan is gonna be real happy to see your ass dead," Azul smirked. "Too bad it'll be too easy."

Belén allowed her anger to take over again and with it her new side. Her skin became that emerald green, even her eyes seemed to shift towards a magenta color for a moment. "Or how about I bring you to him instead?" she surprised him with. Her nails gripped his wrist and pushed through his skin.

Her vines crept onto him, but unlike with Shawna, they grabbed him whole and threw him to the side.

"Let's settle the score, Azul. Once and for all!" she called and went after him.

Meanwhile, Barry was dealing with Nimbus who was trying to poison him with his noxious gas. He could see his friends and Belén needed help but everytime he tried getting back into the warehouse Nimbus threatened to kill him. He had to deal with Nimbus first, no options left.

Belén's started flinging pieces of vines as if they were shards, but Azul broke them with his icicles. He put his hands together and fired with an icy smoke that chilled the surroundings. Through the fog, Belén could see Simmons firing lasers at Barry who was attempting to get back in. She was also able to see Mardon strike him down with a rackling thunder.

"Boyfriend's going bye-bye," Azul laughed. "Just like you will."

Snart's words came back to Belén's mind. If they were so willing to hurt her, then what was stopping her from doing the same?

Belén charged forwards, clearing the chill with her own poison. She swung an angry fist at Azul, surprising him and knocking him down. Her vines crawled over her hands, forming sharp ends like daggers. She raised them up but before she brought them down, a streak of gold hit Azul and killed him.

Belén dropped her hands and whipped around to see Lisa holding her golden gun. In that moment, Belén realized what she'd been about to do and stepped away from the corpse. All the green faded from her skin, the magenta in her eyes disappearing too. Oh my God!

Snart himself shot Simmons with his cold gun, killing him instantly. "How about we call tonight a tie?" Snart addressed the remaining metahumans Mardon and Bivolo with his cold gun still aimed at them.

Bivolo aimed to whammy Snart when he felt a cold metal on the side of his head. Lisa had anticipated it and was threatening to cover him with gold just as Azul.

"I'd power down if you don't want me to melt your face."

"Let's all go our separate ways," Snart insisted and lowered his gun. "My name is Leonard Snart-"

"I know who you are," Mardon cut him off. Who didn't know if the famous Snart?

"Always pleased to meet a fan. Just remember who it was made sure you didn't get thrown on that plane bound for nowhere." Snart pointed out to the disastrous place and started in another direction.

"You're just letting us go?" Mardon couldn't buy it as he looked to the now-dead Simmons on the floor. "Why'd you shoot that guy?"

Snart shrugged."He owed me money."

Mardon frowned as Snart gave off an expectant look. "Mmm. What? You want a "thank you?"

"Who doesn't like a "thank you?""

"Thank you…?" Bivolo said slowly, still under the threat of Lisa's gun.

"You are so very welcome," Snart made it to where Barry had been left on the ground.

"You sabotaged the truck, didn't you?" Barry asked through a strained voice. He shifted on the ground, trying and failing to get up. "Why did you let them escape?"

"Because now they all owe me. And something tells me they'll be a lot more use to me as part of my rogues than rotting away in the North China sea."

"You gave us your word…"

Snart laughed and bent down beside him. "It's true, I did. But here's the thing. I'm a criminal and a liar, and I hurt people, and I rob them. What did you expect me to do? Not be what I am? I saw an opportunity to turn things to my advantage, and I did. Who you're really mad at is yourself. This is on you, Barry. Even your little girlfriend backed off at the last moment because she knew this could happen."

"Then why don't you just kill me?"

"Well, I guess you owe me one now, too. Good luck with... all of this." Snart straightened up and walked back towards his motorcycle. Before he did, he spotted Belén. He walked for her instead and met her glaring eyes. "Well, so much for not hurting people, huh?"

Belén frowned and made to go for him but at the last moment forced herself to stay still. These powers, with all its glory, were still uncontrollable at times. She needed to get a better handle on it.

~0~

After all had been done and, well, cleaned up, the group dejectedly returned to STAR Labs. Caitlin settled immediately into her medical expertise as she checked herself to make sure she was no longer under the effects of Bivolo's powers, then moved on to Belén and Barry. With Barry's quick healing powers, he was back in physical aptitude faster than she could finish the check up. Belén had less injuries but it would still take a while for her to get better again. So, despite being told to 'take it easy', when Caitlin finished with her, Belén got right up and went in search of her boyfriend who'd mysteriously gone missing after hearing they were all fine.

The Particle Accelerator was set to go off in just a couple of minutes so Belén knew Barry must be taking it far harder than anyone else right now.

"Hey," she playfully knocked on the side of the pipeline's threshold once she found him sitting down on the slightly raised floor.

"Bells, you're supposed to be resting," Barry got up to help her walk in. Despite not bearing severe injuries, she was still walking a bit slower.

"Barry, I'm fine - well, I'm going to be fine, you know," Belén said but let him lead her to where he'd been sitting at. "Caitlin says I just have some nasty bruises…"

"Painful ones," Barry noticed her wince when she put a hand over her back.

"It's fine," Belén insisted and turned her head at him. "I tried to kill someone so believe me, my physical injuries are the least of my worries."

Barry glanced at her, knowing this was probably going to haunt her for a while. "The powers took you over, it wasn't you out there."

"Except it was," Belén sighed. "I've been angry for a while. I'm angry that my brother has been spying on me, has been hurting me. I'm angry with Maritza about lying to me and hurting me too. I'm angry that my Dad got killed. I'm just angry, Barry, and I'm releasing it in ways that I didn't think I ever could. If Lisa hadn't shot Azul...I probably would have stabbed him."

Barry put his arm around her shoulders and brought her to his side. "We've been through a lot."

"Yeah..."

"Tonight was my fault, though. I've seen the way that Oliver does things, and he's not afraid to just do whatever it takes to get what he needs, and I thought that I could do that too. I thought I could just use Snart, but instead he used me."

"Well, to be fair, the whole idea was my idea…" Belén rubbed her arm.

"Yeah, but, Bells," Barry shifted to face her, "you didn't agree - you didn't want to agree to Snart's deal. You knew something like this could've happened because you...you were smart, you didn't fall for it. I did."

"I was being a scary-cat and you were being calculating," Belén offered an alternative way to see things. "I mean, yeah, okay, maybe you were trying to be a little too much like Oliver...which-" she leaned closer to him with a soft smile gracing her lips, "-I wouldn't like to see, honestly. The Arrow is the Arrow, and that's not the kind of hero I know you are. I'd rather you dealt with things the Flash way."

"Yeah, and how's that?" Barry tilted his head, a bit curious to know what she thought.

"Mm," Belén looked to the side as she came up with her answer. "You actually cared about whether or not those criminals lived or died. Oliver probably would've seen them as collateral damage. You don't do walks in the dark side, you shouldn't."

"Tell you what," Barry began a new proposal, "Next time I get a crazy idea to agree to a criminal's word...you snap me out of it by all means."

"Can I smack you?"

"Yes...if necessary."

"Okay, deal!"

Barry stared at the excited ombre-blonde a bit worried. "You, uh...you agreed a bit fast on that one…"

Belén chuckled. "Well, who doesn't jump on the opportunity to smack some sense into their boyfriend?" Barry wasn't exactly sure that was a good thing. Belén surprised him with a small kiss on the lips. "But if you don't do more dark-side experimenting, you can get one of these."

"That sounds absolutely fair," Barry instantly nodded his head. "And I promise you that we're going to continue that training."

"Okay," Belén nodded.

Suddenly, an alarm blared from the ceiling and soon they heard Cisco's voice calling them from the speakerphone.

"Guys... The Particle Accelerator is fully charged and online. Whatever Wells needs it for, it's ready."

Barry took Belén's hand and helped her up to her feet. "C'mon," he helped her walk out the room towards the cortex.

All the computers were raging with alarms as the Particle Accelerator prepared to activate yet again. No one knew what was meant to happen, but they knew one thing for sure was that Wells was returning. Taking precautions, Barry once again changed into his suit and stood ready by the computers.

"He wants you to go out there," Belén sighed once she caught sight of Wells walking in through the front gate like nothing.

"And I will," Barry said, not denying he needed this battle.

This was the part where Belén hated not being a speedster, because it meant she wouldn't be able to help him. "I don't want you to go out there alone," Belén knew she was speaking for everyone, especially Joe.

"I need to go. If I don't, he'll come in," Barry looked at the others and hoped they would see it the way he was. It was precaution, after all. He sped out of the room to go meet Wells.

"Hey, Wells isn't alone," Cisco said after noticing another figure in the screen.

"What?" Belén practically shoved Cisco to the side in order to look at the computers. He let it go on account of the situation (but her hand was actually pretty strong). "Oh absolutely not." The venom in her tone was uncharacteristic of her, even her stride for her own suit, but the moment the computer was available again, and Caitlin, Cisco and Joe saw who else was out there...they understood.

"Belén, hold on," Cisco came around the desk as fast as he could to stop her from leaving. "You can't go out there-"

"-pretty sure I just told Barry that and he had to go. Now it's my turn. Pixel is out there and I'll be damned if she lays a finger on Barry. Plus, she and I have another score to settle too."

"But Barry's not alone anymore," Caitlin pointed out. "Firestorm and the Arrow just showed up. Belén, it's okay to stay in here now."

Belén thought about it logically but despite knowing the numbers were in their favor, she couldn't just sit there and watch Pixel have her own fun against them. "Wells - or Thawne - brought her in because of me. He has no use for her except to taunt me."

"Then don't let him," Cisco put his hands on her shoulders.

Green crept across Belén's face and down her arms. "I can't, Cisco."

Her vines grabbed her suit from behind and together they disappeared. Cisco whirled around to Joe and Caitlin. "What do we do now!?"

"Hope neither of them gets killed," Joe despised that answer, and yet there was seriously nothing else they could do but that.

~ 0 ~

Pixel cackled while she actively dodged Oliver's arrows. "Bet you can't catch me!" her sing-song attitude irritated the hell out of the man. It appeared more like she was playing a game with them, and that's exactly what she was doing.

Well, the game was about to shift opponents.

Pixel was ducking as another arrow threatened to get her, and since her gaze was on Oliver she didn't notice the vines coming for her back. She yelped when the tendril squeezed her arms to her sides.

"I got her," Belén told Oliver and nodded for him to go help Barry. It seemed like Wells had thrown Firestorm quite far without his fire to protect him.

Pixel laughed, her shoulders shaking with her. "You got me? As if." She whipped her entire body around and pulled Belén with the vine. Her energy cut through the vines and gave her an opportunity to strike first.

Belén felt the connection of Pixel's hand with her chin and vowed the woman would get it now. She was done being Pixel's and Rayan's punching bag, their innocent doll. No more.

Belén retaliated with her poisonous smoke and while Pixel fought to keep her lungs clean, the ombre-blonde delivered a roundhouse kick that may or may not have earned her a cheer inside STAR Labs. "That felt good," she admitted to herself. She flinched, however, when she heard a loud clang and turned to see Wells' body landing against the fence, courtesy of Barry.

"That's the spirit! You can't stop me, Flash. And you never will," Wells smirked impossibly wide as he detached himself from the fence. Perhaps it was a game to him too.

Barry glared at him but said nothing in return. Instead, he took off for the side of building and got Wells to chase after him.

Pixel jumped to her feet and grabbed Belén in a choke-hold. "First, I'll kill you, and then I'll get Azul out and together we'll kill everyone in that building." She nodded at the building where the two speedster's lightning trails illuminated their eyes.

"Azul is dead!" Belén managed to say in-between gasps for air.

It was enough to cause distraction. "What!?" Pixel blinked.

Belén shoved her elbow into the woman's stomach, forcing Pixel to keel over in pain. Belén whirled around and didn't hesitate to throw another kick, this time getting Pixel right on the chin. "An eye for an eye!" she spat and thrust her vines forwards to tie the woman up.

Pixel growled and shrieked as vine after vine wrapped over her body. Belén worked fast to keep Pixel's powers from penetrating her vines, but her eyes were also flickering up to the building where the rest of the men were fighting. She flinched when Wells came crashing down onto a car but was relieved to see Oliver coming through with one specific arrow. A tranquilizer specifically made for a speedster.

Barry, Firestorm and Oliver soon gathered over the unconscious speedster, all wearing pretty proud smiles.

"Thanks, fellas," Barry said truthfully.

"No problem," Oliver nodded at him.

"Nice haircut. And I see we've abandoned our traditional green..." Barry mused now that he noticed Oliver's darker green suit.

"Green is such a good color though, isn't it?" Belén gestured to herself. "Any shade works."

Oliver smiled for a moment. He then looked over to Barry, back in his Oliver-seriousness way. "Look... I might need a favor from you."

"Wherever, whenever," Barry assured him. Oliver nodded once more then shot an arrow ahead to take him home.

"I'm guessing dear old Firestorm wants to see a Dr. Caitlin Snow?" Belén smirked at the fiery metahuman. "And one Clarissa?" her smirk, however, suddenly vanished as she started to convulse on the spot.

"Belén!?" Barry panicked and went for her only to feel a force pinning his feet to the ground.

Belén found it hard to breathe despite knowing there was nothing wrong with her. Her legs buckled and soon had her drop to her knees. "I-I can't - I can't move! I can't - ah!" her left shoulder lurched forwards.

Firestorm looked around and only spotted Pixel untangling herself from Belén's vines. Her entire body disappeared and re-formed across from them where a second figure was approaching. The entry gate was flung to the side without every being touched.

"It's over, Belén," Rayan came to a stop beside Pixel. "It's finally over for you."

Belén could hear her brother's voice but as much as she tried to get, take control of her body, she just couldn't. "Wh-wat's happening? Barry!?"

"Don't bother," Rayan balled his fists so that Belén, Barry and even Firestorm felt the true weight of his new ability. The metas shared screams of pain as they felt the insides of their bodies twisting.

Inside STAR Labs, there was a heavy panic of death.

"What is he doing!?" Joe turned to the two scientists in a hurry.

"I think...I think he's controlling their bodies," Caitlin did the best she could through a screen. She focused on Rayan's position and movements. "His telekinetic powers, in theory, can grant him the ability to control anything...including a human body."

"We gotta stop that before he kills them," Joe turned to go, his hand nearing the gun he carried.

"Pixel is going for Wells," Cisco's eyes widened. "Is it too late to call Oliver back? Maybe Nina?"

"I am going out there!" Joe took off and, panicked and afraid, Caitlin and Cisco ran after him.

"So sad," Pixel carelessly stepped around the three metas on the ground. "Azul may be dead but at least you'll be too." Her eyes twinkled at the sight of blood coming out from Belén's nose. "Maybe you can be first, Belén."

"Get the speedster and go," Rayan nodded towards Wells' unconscious body. There was a clear strain on his face from keeping three whole bodies down at the same time.

Pixel disappeared and reappeared by Thawne's side, and just as she was about to reach for his arm she heard the building's door open up. She looked over and smirked at the sight of the three non-metas. "Well, it's either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid of you to come out and play."

"Get the hell away from them," Joe held his gun directly at her, but seeing Rayan maintaining control over the others made it difficult to pick one.

Pixel saw it and smirked again. "Who would you shoot, Detective? Can you shoot one of us?"

"To save my kid, the hell I will," Joe cocked his gun at her since she was beginning to come for them now. "Back the hell up."

"Or what?" she demanded. She waved a hand and shot some of her electrical energy, making Joe drop the gun to the side. "Oh, no more weapons. What happens now, Detective?"

"Pixel! Get Thawne!" Rayan yelled in frustration. Blood was forming under his nose too and, if Caitlin was seeing right, at the corner of his eyes too.

"No, I want them dead too!" Pixel prepared to fire at the trio but her body was suddenly tackled down from a figure who dropped from the air. The two rolled over until it was Maritza who hovered over.

"You?" Pixel blinked in surprise. "Where the hell have you been!?"

Maritza punched the woman across the face. "That's for hurting my sister!" she then struck again. "And that's for trying to hurt the others!"

Pixel was groggy but her anger got her to focus fast. Her electrical energy connected with Plasticine's chest, throwing the woman to the side. "I knew you were a traitor," Pixel got up and wiped some of the blood from her busted lip. "Just like little sister over there."

"Maritza, what the hell are you doing?" Rayan managed to ask despite his ongoing struggle.

"Rayan, you have to stop!" Plasticine looked up from the ground. "We got it wrong - we got it so wrong! Wells was the enemy, not the Flash. You need to stop this!"

"You're betraying me too," Rayan nodded. "Then you can die too."

Maritza's eyes widened, knowing what was coming for her, so she built a wall with her purple mass to cover herself from whatever Rayan was going to throw at her. It was sturdy enough to deflect part of the wired fence, but not enough to protect her from the chunk of the car Thawne had fallen over. Maritza crashed on her back, her head taking a mighty blow. She groaned and brought a hand to her forehead, turning her head just a bit. When she opened her eyes she saw Joe's gun lying next to her.

She could hear the collective cries from her sister and the other two metas. "We need to stop!" Maritza snatched the gun and aimed it at Rayan then Pixel. She moved it between them, much like Joe had earlier.

"Please, you're going to shoot your own brother?" Rayan scoffed.

Maritza's eyes flickered to the smirking Pixel who was preparing to fire again. "Nope," she suddenly changed targets and shot Pixel. The platinum blonde clearly hadn't been expecting it - much less that Maritza had actually done it - as the bullet plunged right through her chest.

"Oh my God!" Caitlin exclaimed as Pixel's body collapsed on the ground. Joe and Cisco kept her back, though, since the match wasn't quite over.

Maritza seemed unfazed, but angry as hell, as she moved the gun back on Rayan. "Next one goes through your foot, Rayan. Let them go now."

Rayan looked at Maritza for a full minute, and since the pressure was taking a toll he needed to let them go. He raised his hands to show the telekinetic force was lifted. Maritza looked down at the three metas and was relieved to see Belén sucking in a deep breath.

"Like I said, this isn't over!" Rayan's snap brought her back. "You and Belén betrayed me. You'll pay with your lives, Maritza. That'll be on you."

Maritza watched Rayan turn to leave. Her younger brother was tired, easily seen, but to escape he was quick. Telekinesis wielded pipes against them to keep them busy and allow him the clear escape he wanted.

"Are you okay?" Barry helped Belén up to her feet, both having the same blood over their lips and chins.

"No..." Belén wiped the blood from her face and looked over to Maritza with uncertainty. Would Maritza fight them too and get away?

Maritza watched them all gather against her, and since she still held Joe's gun she knew what they were thinking. Slowly, she lowered the gun to the ground and straightened up with her hands in the air. The rest of the group exchanged glances amongst them, but it was Barry who sped and cuffed Maritza with meta-dampeners.

Still, Belén walked - wobbled since she was still getting control again - over. Barry watched her with concern - this could not be easy at all. Belén stopped just behind Maritza, her gaze looking straight ahead and not at her sister. She just couldn't right now.

"You're under arrest, Maritza Palayta," Belén swallowed hard and turned away from her sister.

#arrowverseocs #ocappreciation #the flash #barry allen #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #the flash fics #barry allen fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

Text

Genesis OCs

In the middle decades of the 21st century, explosive events occur that gives some of the world’s population superpowers. One such person is David Paine, who was rendered homeless by the event and due to his power being a Wolverine-esque healing factor, he found himself unable to die before finally finding shelter in a brothel/safehouse for empowered young women. Years after finding this new home, he soon has to protect it when someone from his past shows up in his life and a superpowered supremacist begins to make moves against the city and its people.

Finally got at least SOME stuff about these OCs written down. Kinda weird when I think about this story, it’s almost a dark contrast to Six Shots.

HEROES

David Paine

Once your average teenager, David’s life was turned upside down when his home and family were seemingly destroyed during the Genesis Event. Surviving due to the event giving him a healing factor, David was rendered depressed, homeless, and suicidal; he would often wake up in the morgue, especially during winter. This all changed when he pulled himself together and began protecting people on the street, which led to him saving one of the sex workers who lived in Mac’s safe house. Mac soon gave David a home, and he has lived there ever since, protecting the girl’s living there from harm as well as finding love in the form of Alice.

6’, dark brown hair, blue-grey eyes, white, heterosexual.

Unlike many healing factors in fiction, his works even if his head is separated from the body. In such an event, his body will move on its own in an attempt to get the head back. During this period, his headless body has increased strength and speed, though it will only continue moving for an hour before collapsing, at which point the head needs to be brought over to the neck by an outside source to heal.

He almost always looks exhausted.

He’s a very calm guy, and it takes a lot to make him angry.

He is 27 years old.

Ashley Walker

David’s ex-girlfriend from high school, Ashley fell in with the wrong crowd, leading for David to part ways with her. Caught up in the Genesis Event, she gained fire powers, though this came with s ome unexpected side effects. She mainly used her powers to commit petty crimes, and hung out with unsavory folks, though part of her desperately wishes her life could get better.

5’6”, black hair, green eyes, white.

Her powers act much like any other pyrokineetic character in fiction, but if she exerts herself too much in too short of a time, she “burns out” and transforms into a 7’ tall charred skeletal monster known as “Ashwalker.”

She has a bit of a temper.

She’s kind of stubborn.

She regrets a lot of her criminal actions over the past ten years. However, she’d never say it willingly.

She has always been in to goth and punk subcultures.

She is 27 years old.

Alice Doe

A mysterious young woman. One night, she appeared bleeding on Mac’s doorstep; he took her in and he and the girl’s helped nurse her back to help. She doesn’t remember anything about her past, or how she became injured, and she seems to be nothing but an average young woman, albeit a bit pale and sickly.

5’8”, long black hair, very pale, dark blue eyes.

She has frequent dizzy spells.

She’s very sweet, perceptive, and patient.

She is 25 years old.

Mac Palmer

Once part of an average family, Mac’s life was turned upside down after the Genesis Event, which led to his brother being killed by a pimp in the ensuing gang activity that erupted during the chaos. Mac, unaware of his new powers, accidentally killed the pimp. He soon discovered said pimp had been gathering up girls with powers in the weeks after the Event, planning on using them to please himself and clients. Deciding to offer them help, he converted the pimp’s hideout into a safe house for at-risk young women with superpowers, though he allowed anyone who wanted to continue doing sex work to do so. He keeps up a front of being a hardcore pimp to keep away those who would do the girls harm, and he has David help keep them safe when he’s not busy protecting the rest of the streets.

He is 5’9”, black, black hair, brown eyes.

He is bisexual.

His power allows him to focus incredible strength and force, but only through his right arm. While normally a weakness, he works out to ensure his other arm is at least of peak normal human strength just in case.

He really enjoys watching old Nickelodeon cartoons.

He wanted to be a veterinarian, but he put this on hold to keep the girls safe.

He was frequently an Honor Roll student in school.

He is 30 years old.

CRIMINALS: THE UNDERWORLD

Piper the Rat King

One of Ashley’s old friends, and a renowned empowered individual in the underworld.

Piper has the ability to control rodents, though he is most fond of rats. With his psychic link he can command them to perform actions they normally would not on their own, as well as boost their power.

He is gay.

He is mute.

He is a huge fan of the band Ghost.

He wears a green hooded cape to keep his identity hidden.

He is 5’7”, black hair, and yellow eyes.

Sebastian Darke

Piper’s bodyguard and his lover.

He is 6’6” and very thin.

He is albino.

He has the power to move through and hide in shadows.

He’s very stoic.

He almost always wears sunglasses.

CRIMINALS: THE FULL DECK GANG

Based at least partially on the Royal Flush gang.

Suicide King

A superpowered criminal and leader of the Full Deck gang. His real name is Rex Hart.

Suicide King has the power to instantly reappear somewhere nearby after dying, leaving behind his corpse. Said corpse turns into a bomb and will explode shortly after he reappears. He is entirely immune to his own explosions.

He wears an outfit that can only be described as a red-and-black straightjacket (obviously the arms are not tied)

Before getting his powers, he suffered from suicidal depression. Getting his powers and finding out he actually couldn’t die now drove him crazy.

In reality, the above is just a cover story used to garner sympathy and get his gang viewed as counter-culture anti-heroes; in actuality, Suicide King is a sick, sadistic monster who revels in the murder and mayhem he causes.

Dancing Queen

A member of the Full Deck gang.

She is an expert dancer in nearly all styles.

She has the ability to perform powerful attacks via her dancing.

She needs to consume a ridiculous amount of calories a day, as each and every attack consumes a large chunk of calories and can leave her weak if she isn’t careful.

Her real name is Anna Beatrix Belinda Armandi.

Jack the Ripper

A member of the Full Deck gang.

His real name is Jack Tripper.

His power has given him razor-sharp knives for fingers. They appear to be made of some sort of metal and are hard to break; if they do, he can regrow them.

He was a violent misanthrope even before he got his powers, being involved in numerous debacles when he was still in school.

Joker’s Wild

A member of the Full Deck gang.

His power is the ability to alter the perception of anyone around them, causing them to see his movements as erratic and nonsensical; in other words, he extremely disorients his victims without them realizing it.

He is incredibly flexibile.

His real name is Joseph Carwylde.

Ace in the Hole

A member of the Full Deck gang.

He wears a mask that makes his face seem to be entirely blank. He also always wears gloves, and is rumored to have burned his fingerprints away.

He has the power to generate portals that allow him and allies to pass through solid objects.

His real name is Dodger Holyfield.

CRIMINALS: GANGS - OTHER

Nora Hawking

A tough girl who was forced to grow up on the streets after her parents vanished and she had nowhere else to go. Despite this and her dangerous powers, she tries to stay as upbeat as possible. She leads a street gang known as the Deathhawks.

Her power is to drain out the lifeforce of anyone she touches with her bare hands, similar to Rogue. She has very little control over this ability.

She’s mixed race, half black, half Latina.

She tris to stay upbeat and positive, but she’s still very much hurting.

She started a street gang so that she could always be surounded by people even if she can never touch them.

She’s 5′8″ with black hair and green eyes.

She is 19 years old.

Scout Sawner

A former Boy Scout, he formed a radical Neo Nazi street gang shortly before the Genesis Event. His gang, known as the Pure Scouts, frequently clashes with the Deathawks.

He has X-Ray vision as well as enhanced sight, able to focus his vision to see far away people and objects. However, he needs to stand still to use any of these powers.

He is bisexual, but he frequently tries to suppress his urges. This has led to him raping and murdering many of his gang’s targets.

He is skilled at using hatchets and axes.

He is 5′8″, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Lady Raptor

A British woman and one of the most renowned gang leaders in the worldwide criminal underworld. Essentially the Godfather of gangs, being under her protection is what any gang should want. Her gang is known as the Illuminati, and they have agents all over the world.

She has the power to shapeshift into a giant, vicious reptilian monster that stands at 8′7″, has razor-sharp teeth and claws, and enhanced regenerative abilities. She has increased strength and durability even when not in her lizard form.

Her real name is Lyn Icke; she inherited the gang from her mother, and was raised since birth to take it over. She reverted to her mother’s name - McDowell - after her mother died, but occasionally uses hr father’s last name for undercover work.

She rarely wears shoes, as they would only be destroyed when she transforms. She tends to wear tanktops or very stretchy clothes so that she is not naked when she transforms back. She tends to wear a black trenchcoat over everything.

She is 5′7″, red hir, and green eyes.

She is in actuality a “neccesary evil,” a terrifying force to keep even worse criminals from rising to power, and works together with world governments.

Her powers are based on the Hulk and Lizard.

CRIMINALS: SERIAL KILLERS AND MURDERERS

Skinwolf

One of the first superpowered criminals David fought after finding his new home.

His power is to be able to slit people’s skin, take it off, and wear it as his own.

His real name is Skinner Lobos.

He is a sadistic serial killer, though sometimes he gets lost in his victim’s lives for days at a time.

He is partially based on the Batman villain Jane Doe.

CHILDREN OF THE GENESIS

Lucius Bright

The son of a preacher, Lucius Bright grew up with a strong belief in God, and set out to do great things in the world. However, hardships struck; his father was killed in a hate crime, and he began to feel lost without him. Wanting to do something good in the world, he adopted several troubled children who had nowhere else to go. All of these children were caught up in the Genesis event.

Bright saw this as a sign from God. Recalling the cruelty that ended his father’s life, Bright seeks to create a world where those with great power such as himself keep the world safe and protected. For ten years he and his remaining orphans trained so that they could bring about his vision: a world where people can understand their powers and live in harmony with those without powers. However, his peace and love style of teaching may not work with everyone.

He is 66 years old.

He is 6’2”, black, and has hazel eyes.

He is fluent in many languages, particularly French.

He is incredibly intelligent.

He has a strong appreciation for ancient cultures and their mythology.

He is heavily based on Samuel L. Jackson characters such as Elijah Price, Valentine, etc.

He has the power to manipulate light, meaning he can fire lasers, create illumination, and so on. However, to maximize the effectiveness of his power he needs to absorb light beforehand.

Kitty Olsen

One of the children from the Genesis Event.

She has the power of movement synchronization. If she is able to make consistent, direct eye contact with someone for five seconds, their movements become synched and Kitty mirrors everything they do for up to an hour. As long as she is synched with someone, any sort of damage that Kitty would take from the person she is synched with appears on that person instead. However, once she is synchronized she is incapable of de-synching until enough time passes.

She is 5’6”, brunette, blue-gray eyes.

She is a bit snarky, snide, and condescending.

She is 25 years old.

Babette Bonheur

One of the children. She was adopted when her parents died shortly after immigrating to America.

She is 5’5”, red hair, blue eyes, white.

She is French. She still has an accent despite not having lived there since she was little.

Babette is a very skilled artist, and can draw very well with just about anything.

Babette has the power to bring her drawings to life. Anything she draws she can make ‘real,’ in a manner of speaking; the living drawings only live for an hour at a time, and can be destroyed by water rather easily.

She is 16 years old. She was adopted shortly before the Genesis Event, about four months prior to it.

Bright is closest to her; he learned French specifically so he could help Babette keep that part of her heritage alive.

She spends a lot of time with Allen.

She is gay, though she doesn’t realize it.

Allen Lecarde

One of the children; he was impaled by several glass shards, but his inherent power coupled with energy from the blood dripping from a dying friend healed him.

He is 6’, with long black hair, red eyes, and very pale skin.

His power is similar to that of a traditional vampire; he has enhanced strength, speed, and regenerative abilities but he must feed on human blood to power himself. Interestingly, if he drinks the blood of someone with powers, he gains their power in a weakened form. His friend who died, for instance, had psychic powers, and getting his blood gave him the ability to speak into others minds as well as read thoughts. He still needs to eat and drink as a normal human, but he becomes extremely weak if he does not drink blood; currently, he is rather thin and a bit sickly as he has actively fought against his urges.

He is very close with Babette.

He is often quiet and brooding.

He is extremely persuasive.

He is 20 years old.

Bright has not allowed him to purposefully feed in a long time, insisting that Allen try and suppress his dangerous urges. This has made Allen rather bitter towards his adoptive father.

Jazz

One of Bright’s children.

Jazz has shapeshifting as their power.

Jazz is genderfluid and goes alternately by Jasper or Jasmine depending on what gender body they currently are shifted into. Most of their friends just call them Jazz, a s it is a gender-neutral nickname.

Jazz has shapeshifted so much since getting their power that they have started to forget what they were originally and have started suffering from identity crisis and depressive episodes.

Jazz is very melancholy.

They are 21 years old.

OTHER CHARACTERS

Davy Jones

Considered to be little more than an urban legend, Davy Jones is in fact real. During the Genesis Event, a man named Dave Bowie was caught in the blast and launched into the bay, where he drowned. His body fell into a seaweed bed, which somehow absorbed the power he would have been granted and took over his body. The seaweed, now in control of the corpse, became a strange guardian of the old lighthouse.

Its power seems to involve controlling the body it is within, making it incredibly strong and able to regenerate as well as utilize seaweed offensively.

It is unkown if it can talk.

Hardly anyone believes it is real.

It is based on the Pokemon Dhelmise.

His former name is a reference to how David Bowie had to change his name from “David Jones” when pursuing his musical career due to Davy Jones of The Monkees fame.

Corpus Christie

A mysterious woman.

Her power is telekinetic energy, which she can also focus into corpses to make them turn into zombies for a brief time.

Her skin is grey; apparently she had a near-death experience at one point.

She has no idea who she was prior to getting her powers. Only that her name was “Christine.”

Skyhigh

Sonny Skye was an average young man gifted extraordinary power by the Genesis Event. With it, he rose to fame in the Midwest and South of America by performing noble deeds, though it did draw him some ire from more conservative sources. At this time it is assumed he is a heroic figure.

He has quite a lot of powers: he has flight, the ability to communicate with and control any creature that is able to fly, he has limited ability to control the weather, and he has increased durability and cold resistance.

His name is a reference to the song “Sky High” by Jigsaw.

His powers are a combination of Storm, Superman, and Aquaman.

Tetsuo Madden

The son of the president of the United States. He is secretly the katana-wielding vigilante known as Black Shadow.

He hunts down and kills superpowered criminals due to his girlfriend being killed by one during a home invasion.

However, he still by day champions the rights of these people, just like his mother and father.

He has no powers of his own, but he is very smart, atheletic, and skilled with the blade.

He is 30 years old.

#My OCs #my writing

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