Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Call Me Kara

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 17:

Kara sat at her desk, trying to decide the nicest way to inform the PR team to scrap everything they had because it was utter crap and try again. Unfortunately she was failing. It was late, darkness had already fallen but this was nothing new to the blonde. She had often stayed late into the night with Cat, but unless there was someone who needed saving she really had nothing better to do. Unless it was game night, which towards the end of her time there had stopped being fun, it was either watch TV with Alex or go to the DEO and hang out, waiting for something to happen.

Now she did have better things to do. Alex had really loosened up since she had arrived here. She acted as if she was much lighter, and even smiled more. The last two days since Nyssa had been back, she was particularly happy, probably because she was training. Despite the lightness in her step, Alex loved to fight. Even Barry was beginning to enjoy it now that he had stopped breaking his knuckles every time he hit something. Nyssa worked with Kara in the afternoon. Despite not figuring out a way to infuse her body with enough red solar energy through a small bracelet to counter the yellow sunlight yet, Cisco and Dr. Stein had converted one of the unused rooms at the lab into a red sun room. The red of the room was weird at first but she felt completely human every single time Nyssa hit her. She felt human a lot. Her chin felt human when Nyssa’s fist hit it, her stomach felt human when Nyssa’s knee made contact and her butt felt human every time she landed on it.

Nyssa was turning into a surprise. She was actually really funny and helpful, surprisingly patient and not nearly as rough as she could be. The two would begin working with some type of sticks tomorrow. That would probably be bad for Kara and she mentally prepared herself for quite a few blows to the head with sticks instead of Nyssa’s foot but that was alright. She knew this was good for her, she needed these skills. What Alex had taught her was a great help but even Alex admitted Nyssa was another level of badass.

Barry and her had suffered no ill repercussions of her momentary lapse of judgement and basic petulant fit she had thrown. He acted as if it had never happened, only to remind her every now and then that he was there if she ever needed to talk or just be by herself with someone near.

She really wanted to see him now, but she also felt an obligation to do the job she was being paid for. Although she had managed the construction crews, lawyers, insurance executives and concerned board members, Kara had ignored the PR department, other than briefings on how the attack was being perceived by the public. Now that she had a chance to look at the proposed marketing plans for the spinal chip there was concern. Instead of focusing on the miracle of treating many types of spinal injuries, the PR team wanted to focus on the technical aspects. To read the proposed press releases, one would think Palmer Tech were turning injured people into cyborgs. The FDA and medical boards would be suspicious from the start. In Kara’s mind using these chips to walk was no different than using a pacemaker to live. The nanites were a bit of an issue and the concerns of what would happen if thousands of tiny microbots got into the blood stream and organs were a legitimate concern that the medical and technical experts would have to explain to the governing bodies of medicine but that was not her job. Her job was to showcase the work Felicity, Curtis and Ray had done in a positive light so they weren’t fighting an uphill battle before the war had even begun.

Kara was pretty certain she had taken this job to manage a calendar and fetch coffee because Felicity felt sorry for her. Apparently the woman was actually putting a lot of faith in her and Kara would not let her down.

Speaking of the powerful CEO who was an IT nerd at heart, here she was, emerging from the makeshift R&D lab in their temporary offices.

“Hey Kara, how’s it going?”

“According to the PR team you are a cyborg.”

“I could have told them that long ago. Listen I really need a favor.”

Kara looked up and noticed that Felicity had sort of a manic look in her eye.

“You are my boss. It;s technically not a favor. Whatever you need let me know.”

“I need you to fly, quickly.”

“Okay…”

“Oliver, Dig and Thea were chasing some gun smugglers in Star City to the airport. They reached the plane and like an idiot Oliver jumped on board, so like loyal idiots, Thea and John jumped in as well. There was a fight of course and the plane sustained some major damage and they are probably going to crash and die.”

Kara was in her suit in less than five seconds.

“Which direction and how far away?”

“Wow… that was…” Felicity shook her head. ” About 200 miles North, coming this way. Cisco will patch you in to Curtis.”

Kara took off heading north and was fifty miles away when she heard the unfamiliar voice of her future boss whenever Felicity decided to stop avoiding her feelings.

“Uh, hello?”

“Hi.”

“Is this Kara… uh I mean Super…”

“Kara is fine. Is this Curtis?”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe I am talking to you. I am a huge fan. I bought your new action figure today, the one with the cape which is totally awesome by the way. I understand we are going to be working together at some point. It is going to be so amazing. I know the Cisco guy isn’t big on letting anyone touch you and the Flash’s suits but I have so many ideas girl… I mean woman. I know you don’t like to be called girl, it was just a figure of speech…”

“Uh, its nice to meet you and all but don’t I have a plane to catch? Like literally catch?”

“Oh right. I have you on radar, turn left… no your other left. Sorry my left, your right…”

While Kara took direction from the world’s worst air traffic controller, Oliver Queen was having a bad night. After jumping on board during take off after telling Thea and Diggle to stay back, he landed in a cargo hold with six gun toting men. Dispatching them was easy enough, until he was momentarily distracted by his sister taking one out and Dig shooting another in the shoulder, causing the man’s automatic rifle to go wild. Oliver jumped on Thea, saving her from a spray of bullets that unfortunately went through the hull and into engine number 1. Another brave soul tried to stand, forcing Oliver to fire a knock out bolt, and that man’s automatic rifle fired through the hull on the other side, striking engine number 2. Down half the engines, the plane was also having difficulty keeping level. At some point one engine exploded and damaged the stabilizers on the aircraft. Thea and Oliver ran to the cockpit only to discover the pilot had been shot by a stray bullet. After Dig had secured the smugglers in the cargo hold he walked into the cockpit to find a very worried Oliver Queen.

“Uh, Oliver, whats going on?”

“Whats going on is while I asked my little sister to stay on the runway with you, the two of you hopped onto a plane that is severely damaged and probably going to crash.”

“Have you told Curtis? My com fell out back on the ground.” Dig told him.

“No, Curtis is the polar opposite of cool under pressure and unless he can hack into a thirty year old plane and repair a couple engines and a stabilizer plus probably a rear flap, he isn’t going to be much help. Look for parachutes for you and Thea. I’m going to try and crash land.”

“Crash you mean… whoa.” Thea yelled as the plane tipped.

“Relax. I have been in worse situations in the air before. This isn’t that big of a deal.” Oliver lied.

“Then why do you want me and Dig to find parachutes?”

“Because there is a good chance this plane will be a burning pile of scrap metal in the next five minutes. Now move!”

“Don’t tell me what to do! Maybe you are forgetting who pays our bills? If you are staying I’m staying.”

“Speedy, damn it! Can’t you… Dig, could you please?”

“Please what? Try to force your samurai sister into a parachute and throw her out a plane? Yeah we are staying so land this thing in one piece.”

Oliver gritted his teeth.

“I can’t. I’m doing the best I can to maintain altitude but we are falling and there is a small mountain range ahead. I think. The radar is ancient and I can’t see worth a damn but…”

“Thats a mountain ahead.” Thea pointed out. “Maybe you can’t see but I can. It’s a damn mountain. Pull the plane up Ollie, Pul it up now.”

“Thea what do you want me to do? Get out and push it up? Find a parachute!”

“We don’t have time for that. Drop it Oliver. Maybe we can survive a rough landing on the ground.” Dig suggested. “We definitely aren’t surviving flying into the side of a mountain.”

Oliver saw the wisdom in his words and while it was a long shot it was also the only shot they had. He tried to slow the speed and descend only to find he had lost all controls.

“This isn’t good.”

“No kidding Ollie! Plane down, plane up, plane anywhere but the side of that mountain!” Thea ordered.

The mountain came into view and Oliver pulled his sister tight. They were seconds away from slamming into the rock when the plane rose dramatically in the air. Dig opened his eyes, followed by Oliver and Thea.

“Ollie? Did you do that?” she asked.

“Nope.” All three looked out the window but saw nothing. Clear of the mountain, the plane began a slow descent reaching bottom and touching nearly down then dropping the final six feet as Kara stepped from under the plane. Considering what could have happened, the woman felt they could survive a six foot drop, so she didn’t have to roll out from under the plane.

Oliver, Thea and Dig opened up the cargo hold and walked out, to see a caped woman hovering in the air above them.

“Oliver Queen, you have failed this plane!”

Dig snickered, followed by Thea’s laughing. Oliver was not.

Kara landed in front of the trio and hugged Thea who launched herself into the blonde’s arms.

“Thank you so much. How did you know?”

“Curtis called Felicity and I was in the office. Curtis gave me directions. Sort of. How are you doing Oliver?”

“Fine Kara. Thank you for the assist.”

“Assist? Like I assisted you into not crashing into the mountain? I think you mean to say thank you Kara for saving me.” Superwoman pointed out. Oliver let out a breath and pulled up his mask, giving the bubbly blonde a smile.

“Thank you Kara for saving us.”

“Now was that so hard?” Kara opened her arms for a hug but Oliver stepped back.

“I’m not much of a hugger.”

“You hug everybody. I could make you. I could point out that you are eighty miles from Central City and unless you just want Thea and your friend to have a ride home on that pile of metal while you are left behind you will hug me. Now.”

Oliver, not feeling like walking eighty miles to Central City and having to spend the night, or day or tomorrow night by the time he actually arrived, on Barry’s couch, walked up and hugged the blonde.

“So the cape is new. It’s a good look for you.” he commented.

“It was my cousin’s baby blanket. Really good for protecting people from explosions.”

Diggle approached her and offered his hand.

“I’ve seen you before but we have never been properly introduced. I was there when Wilson and Savage attacked Felicity and you turned Savage into a satellite. John Diggle. My friends call me Dig. I hope you will too.”

Kara recognized the name instantly and had heard much about the man, all of it good. Felicity raved about how great of a guy he was and like a big brother to her. Still she was leery. She shook his hand and mumbled a nice to meet you then turned back to Thea. Before she could say a word, Dig had his hand on her shoulder.

“Could you do me a favor? I would really like to talk to you, alone? Just for a minute.”

Before Kara could say no, Oliver and Thea had moved back into the plane, to secure the prisoners and see who was injured and how many were shot by their own comrades.

“Wow, look at that. All alone. I suppose I will have to thank Thea… for giving us time alone.”

“Sorry, but I just wanted a moment of your time. Oliver and Thea, Felicity, even Sara filled me in on what happened back over… where you came from. I understand you know who my wife is and what she does for a living.”

“Yeah, I may have heard something.” Kara said, trying to sound casual and probably failing miserably.

“You saved our lives tonight. I get to see my daughter again because you saved us. I realize when something like what happened to you occurs it can give you trust issues. The three of us have been lied to and betrayed by others, even by each other so many times we have had to work through a lot of trust issues. The thing that holds us together is we are family. Oliver and I have had our rough patches but he is more of a brother to me than my actual brother was. I won’t try to make you believe me, I couldn’t, but I hope Lyla and I can prove to you one day that A.R.G.U.S. isn’t like the DEO. Before she took over, I would have told you they were corrupt as hell and to stay far away from them. But that was because of the woman at the top. She is dead now. Lyla has never gone after nor will ever go after someone like Barry who is doing so much good in the world and that includes you too. I’m not a part of her organization but Oliver and I help out occasionally when asked. Oliver has many reasons not to trust A.R.G.U.S. but he put those to rest with Amanda Waller. I just want you to know you are safe. Nobody is going to come after you. You have all of us in their way if anyone tries. I hope you can come to consider me a friend. I realize trust takes time to build but I hope you are willing to try.”

Kara recognized the sincerity in his voice. She had never actually spoken to the man but every one who had talked about what a great guy he was. She didn’t think he would lie. Oliver wouldn’t trust him if he was that kind of person.

“I would like us to be friends Dig.” Kara told him, taking his hand.

“Good.” He told her with a big, warm smile you wouldn’t expect to see in such an intimidating man, “Next time you come to Star you can babysit Sara.”

“Huh? Why would Sara need…”

“My daughter Sara.”

“You want me to babysit your daughter?” She asked, wondering why.

“I can’t imagine who she would be safer with than Superwoman. If letting you hang with my only baby girl for a night doesn’t show you how much trust we have in you I don’t know what will.” John pulled the surprised heroine for a hug and walked to the back of the plane as Oliver was walking out.

“So how are things in Central City?” he asked.

“Felicity is doing fine.” Kara answered, cutting to the chase. Oliver dropped his head at being so obvious.

“How are you and Barry doing? I heard you had a rough day a couple days ago.”

Oliver couldn’t see the blush on Kara’s cheeks in the darkness and she was grateful for that.

“Who told you?”

“I have my sources.”

Kara stared at him for a moment.

“Felicity was worried. She cares about you a lot. We all do. I’m not much of a talker but if you ever need to vent, I’m here. Barry, Ray, Sara, Thea, they can tell you I’m a good listener, just not so good at advice. I can’t imagine losing what you have lost on such a grand scale so young and even later but I do know something about loss. I don’t handle it well and maybe I can tell you my mistakes sometime.”

“Thanks Oliver.”

“How is your sister doing?”

“Good. She is going to stay. I think training with Nyssa is really helping her adjust, giving her something to do until she decides what she wants to do in the world. Nyssa is helping me and Barry out as well. Alex is thinking of talking to Joe but doesn’t want to make any decisions until we come back. She talked me into going back to say bye to everyone from my old Earth and giving her mother, my foster Mom I guess you could say, the opportunity to come with us. That was what the whole inter dimensional breach thing they were working on was about. Eliza wanted to get her and Alex to where I was and stay if I wanted to stay. Its a little overwhelming. I didn’t think…”

“You have a lot more people who love you than you know Kara. When are you taking this day trip?”

“A couple of days actually. We plan to have Cisco try and open the breach again in two days and will take some time while I stay out of sight, for Alex to pick up our belongings, give Eliza some time to think about what she wants to do and then we are on our way back, provided everything works out the way we hope.”

“Cisco and Caitlin are going too?”

Kara nodded.

“Thea and I have talked about this and we want to come with you.”

Kara opened her mouth to argue but Oliver stopped her. “Just hear me out. I’ve been there. I have no doubt that the Martian and your cousin have the best intentions. Your adopted mother as well. But this Max Lord? I don’t trust him and I know you don’t either. There are a whole lot of armed guards and this is the one Earth that can and almost has killed you. It’s going to be an emotional reunion and your guard is going to be down. I have no doubt you and Barry can protect yourselves and Alex can take care of herself and any dangers as well but you are all heroes, none of you are killers.”

“You aren’t either Oliver.”

“Yes I am. Before I met Felicity killing was as easy as breathing for me. Thea has quite a bit of blood on her hands as well. I am not proud of that and have done my best to change but sometimes killing is necessary. I had to kill an enemy not long before you arrived on this Earth and my only regret is I was only able to kill him once. If someone tries to hurt you or Barry, either Thea or I can put an arrow through their eye faster than either of you can react. Let us come with you Kara.”

“Oliver, after your last adventure some people may not be happy to see you.”

Oliver shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “I’ve seen your cousin in action and your martian surrogate father. I’ll take Superwoman on my side every time.”

“You aren’t going to take no for an answer are you?”

“I tend not to. Stubbornness is part of my charm.”

“Its not that charming. You realize if something goes wrong, this is a big risk. Felicity…”

“Has her own life to lead and I have mine. Thea has hers. I’m pretty certain Alex only really hates Sara. So two days, what time do we leave?”

“8 AM.”

Oliver nodded. “We will be there. Now you really think you can lift this plane and fly us all the way back to Star City? I wouldn’t want Dr. Snow angry at me for overtaxing you.”

Kara rolled her eyes until the com broke in. Caitlin’s voice.

“Kara we need you. Barry is hurt, bad. Hurry.”

“It’s Barry.” Kara told the Arrow. Before he could say go the wind nearly blew him back as she lifted off into the sky. A sonic boom seconds later told the three she was gone.

“What happened?” Thea asked running out of the plane.

“Barry. I guess he has been hurt, judging by the look on her face. Call Lyla and ask her for a couple helicopters. We need one for the prisoners and one to get us to Central City, as soon as we can.”

While Kara was keeping Team Arrow from becoming window dressing on the side of a mountain, Barry had been working late at the station, waiting for Kara’s text that she was leaving the office. The fight the two had two days ago had shaken him. While he realized that the two would fight, especially if she was a permanent fixture in his life, he wasn’t secure enough to know if it had caused a rift between them. Kara was convinced she was in the wrong and a part of him agreed but he wondered about how she would react to what he said. He never should have called her immature or a girl. She had risked her life countless times, nearly dying trying to save people and making a difference in the world, even nearly sacrificing her life to stop the extinction of the human race. He should have asked about important dates. He knew her birthday but not the most tragic day of her life. She knew the date of his mother’s murder.

Barry received a text message on his it out he saw it was Joe asking him to call immediately. Barry hit the call button on contacts and he picked up immediately.

“Got a problem. A gentleman who is unidentified at this time is in a restaurant right now. He sat down and the waiter informed him a bomb was under the chair and the second he stood it was going off. He has been sitting on this thing for an hour. Looks like the same set up as Patty’s when she was taken but this is no concussion bomb Barry. Large blast radius and serious set up. The bomb squad has been looking at it for a while but can’t figure out how to stop it. I called Kara but Felicity said she is doing her a favor, out of town.”

“Why did you call Kara first?” Barry asked, trying not to sound offended.

“Because she is bomb proof and you aren’t, maybe? Just an idea.”

“I’m on my way, where are you?”

“Martin’s Steakhouse.”

Thirty seconds later Barry had arrived in full Flash regalia. Joe pulled him to the side, even as other cops breathed a sigh of relief. Quite a few male officers were disappointed that Superwoman hadn’t shown up. She was popular at the station. Partly because of her good deeds and partly because she was hot.

“Barry the guy isn’t a lightweight. He can sit for a while longer. Why don’t we wait for Kara?” Joe whispered.

“I can pull him out of the chair and get out before the bomb has a chance to detonate.” Barry argued, getting annoyed at Joe’s lack of faith in him and the fact that while Kara was bomb proof they could still hurt her and she shouldn’t be put at risk anymore than was necessary.

“Barry…”

“Joe we are not going to use Kara every time something like this happens. She is not untouchable. We have no idea what effect a bomb going off in her face would have on her and I am not risking finding out. She isn’t all powerful no matter what people think. She can be hurt and has been hurt. I got this. I’ve outrun an explosion before.”

“Okay, I trust you. We have removed everyone from the area. The bomb squad says it is packing quite a punch and this one has thermal triggers. Any extreme temperature changes and it blows.”

“It’s the same guy from the apartment building. He must have seen Kara freeze it or the bomb come out as an ice cube and made modifications.”

“Most likely. The Feds are going to have some explaining to do. I’ll get some guys to knock out the window in the front. You are going to have to grab him, jump back out the window and run at least a block. He weighs at least three hundred pounds. You sure about this?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” If this guy made concessions for Kara interfering who knew what other tricks he had for her.

Joe patted Barry on the back and the police force backed off, moving two blocks away. All civilians had been evacuated.

Barry took a deep breath and thought of the best exit strategy. He could back up, three blocks away, phase through the wall, grab the man, and jump out of the window, then run. He had the tachyon device, now miniaturized thanks to Dr. Stein and Cisco and knew he could move faster than Zoom had. Out running an explosion shouldn’t be a problem.

Barry ran back past the police who recognized what he was doing and cleared a path. Lightning flashed across his eyes and he moved, vibrating, streaking, prepared to phase through the wall grab the man and jump then run. His momentum should give him all the strength he needed to carry the potential victim out of harm’s way. While running towards the restaurant everything seemed in slow motion. He saw the fear in the man’s eyes, his hands on the seat of his chair as if pushing himself down on it. Flash closed within 20 feet when his world exploded. The bomb had gone off early.

Detonator was Barry’s last thought before he blacked out. The blast disintegrated the man in the chair instantly and threw the Flash back across the street into a car, pushing the door in with his body. His vertebrae cracked, his head hit the back of the car and shrapnel that had been planted in the bomb was stuck in his body, large six inch pieces of very shape metal blades, one dangerously near his heart. The suit had saved his body from burns but did no good against the deadly objects. Not only was his chest struck but also both legs and his abdomen, causing internal bleeding.

Back at S.T.A.R. Caitlin panicked. Barry’s chest camera and vital monitoring were completely destroyed as was the com in his ear. Having no way to know what had happened, only that the bomb had gone off before Barry reached the restaurant. Ray Palmer who had been watching, jumped into his suit, grabbed a frantic Cait who had grabbed her medical bag, and flew.

“Patch me through to Kara.” Cait told Ray as the two moved over buildings to the scene. The flames were incredibly hot, the entire block seemed on fire but that did not stop the two. Police, and especially a frantic Joe who had not seen Barry emerge as expected moved forward until the burning cars on the street that had been blown into the street leading to the block stopped them.

While Barry lay slumped against the car, and Kara flew faster than she ever had in her life. Caitlin and Ray landed. The heat was causing her skin to redden but it did not matter.

She and Ray rushed to Barry, oblivious to the man in the turnout suit who was walking through the flames and debris towards them.

Ray felt a shot in his back, protected by his suit but the force throwing him in front of Caitlin. He grabbed her and moved her to the hot asphalt immediately, covering her body with his while she fought him to get to Barry. Once she was low, Ray turned around and found a steel pipe hitting his face under the mask, the only weak spot on his suit. The blow dazed him for a moment, while Caitlin lay trapped under him once again.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” she asked the man who she could now see was wearing a black leather hood over his fire proof suit and had a gun in his hand.

“Just someone who owes some people justice. Freddy Sloan should consider himself lucky my friend didn’t find him first. I can’t have these heroes getting in my way. Too bad the girl didn’t show up as well.”

Cait noticed the man had a gun for the first time, the gunshot she heard must be what caused Ray to fall on her a second raised it towards Barry. Cait screamed.

She heard the gunshot, fearing the worst until the man fell to the ground. Another shot and his head exploded.

Alex Danvers was behind him, smoking gun in hand, face covered in soot and covered in sweat from the heat.

“Ray, can you stand?” Alex yelled.

Ray shook his head to clear the fuzziness and slowly stood.

“Get Barry out of here to S.T.A.R. We are right behind you.”

Ray nodded his head and gently picked Barry up, knowing however he moved the man, he would do more damage but not having a choice. A.T.O.M shot into the air, Barry in his arms, while Alex pulled Cait up to her feet.

“Follow me!” Alex ordered. Cait had gone twenty feet, the pavement so hot it had begun to stick to her shoes, when Alex turned to the right. She was leading them through cars until Caitlin nearly gave out. Wrapping her arm around the woman’s shoulder, Alex half guided and half dragged Cait though the danger zone, never losing her strength, moving like a woman possessed. The two reached a motorcycle two blocks away. Fire engines were moving in but Alex did not bother to stop. She sat on a black Ducati and helped Caitlin up, wrapping the woman’s arms around her waist.

“Do not let go Cait!”

“Where did you get a motorcycle?” Caitlin asked, half dazed.

“I stole it. Hang on, Barry needs you. Don’t pass out on me now.”

Alex took off, driving at speeds that would get her arrested if any cop could catch her, taking tight turns, making Caitlin want to puke. Within minutes they were at the lab. Alex helped Caitlin inside where they both found Barry, his suit half torn off, Cisco working with a knife to cut around the shrapnel.

“I think he broke his back again Caitlin!” Cisco told her, trying to stay calm under pressure. Felicity ran in, phone in her hand, talking to someone. Cait did her best to stand against the table.

“Get Cait water! Ray! Get her water! Cisco we need fluids, a lot of fluids. IV bags, saline, you must have some here right?” Alex asked.

“Ye… yeah.”

“Then go!” Alex leaned next to Caitlin. “You okay? Can you do this? I can pack around the shrapnel. What do we need to do first?” she asked calmly. This was not the first time Alex Danvers had been in a situation like this. It was only the second time she had killed someone and felt no regret at all. Whoever that was deserved to die. He was about to take the most important person in her sister’s life and she could not allow that. Once Barry’s camera went off line and Ray took off with Caitlin, Alex ran, finding a Ducati thankfully next to a law firm not far away and hot wired it. Once she arrived she could barely make out Ray but saw the man with the gun. Alex still had her gun she had jumped through the breach with and fired with no hesitation. Now looking at Barry, Alex wondered if the man had actually succeeded in killing him.

“Fluids, I need an IV set up. No Two IVs. He is, he is burnt. I need this suit off. The whole thing. Can you cut it off Alex?” Caitlin asked, coming out of her heat induced stupor.

“I can.” Nyssa told the group, walking out with a very sharp knife. Within seconds Barry was down to his boxers and everyone gasped at the bruising on his body.

Caitlin managed one IV while Alex placed the other, one in each arm. Cisco returned with the saline bags.

“We need to remove the shrapnel but I have to determine if any arteries were knocked or cut. He could bleed out if I remove one that is lodged and preventing him from bleeding out. I need an X Ray machine. Cisco, get the X Ray machine!”

Cisco ran until he was nearly knocked over by a flying blue streak in the hall. Kara arrived and slid to a stop next to Barry.

Kara screamed in anger and horror. Barry looked dead and was barely breathing. Alex grabbed her by her shoulders and tried to shake her sister’s incredibly strong frame.

“Kara focus! I need you to look at the shrapnel with your X Ray vision and see if any arteries were cut. Can you do that for me?”

Kara continued to stare at Barry, tears gathering in her eyes.

“Kara! Snap out of it! Barry needs you. Use your X ray vision!” Alex yelled, trying to focus her little sister who did not do well when those close to her were injured.

Kara nodded her head and looked. The shrapnel in his chest came dangerously close to his heart, but missed by an inch. The shrapnel in his abdomen pierced his stomach and another knicked his kidney. The ones in his legs were lodged into muscle. Kara relayed the information to Caitlin who nodded, chugged half a bottle of water, poured the other half over her head and told everyone to give her room.

“Alex stay. You have experience with trauma?”

“A little. I’ve bandaged and field treated other agents when things got rough.”

“Stay here. I need an assistant.” Caitlin looked at Kara who met her eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere.” the blonde told her best friend.

While Cait opened Barry up, first his chest to remove the dangerous shrapnel next to his heart, Kara continued her X ray of Barry’s body. His skull was cracked in the back and four vertebra were smashed.

“He’s been hurt worse and healed Kara. He will be okay, I swear to you. His cells are already repairing the damage around his heart. I need to remove the shrapnel in his stomach now. Alex can you remove the shrapnel from his legs? I am going to have to spend a lot of time here. There are smaller pieces inside him. Kara, keep X raying his body.” Caitlin ordered.

Three hours later, Barry’s stomach and chest had begun to heal. Joe had arrived frantic of course but was held back by Ray, who explained that Caitlin was working and needed space. Iris arrived and wrapped herself in her father’s arms as they arched from a window outside the room.

Kara was happy to see the crack in Barry’s skull had closed but his vertebrae were not aligning correctly. Kara told Caitlin about this.

“I’ll have to deal with that when the bleeding is completely stopped. That happened last time he broke his back. I know how to align it. He will be sore for a few days and then be as good as new so just relax, Kara.”

Everyone but the three women surrounding Barry heard a helicopter land outside, and within minutes, Oliver, Thea, Diggle and Lyla who had picked the three up were inside. Diggle ran to the table while Oliver grabbed Felicity who wrapped herself around him and began the situation was in hand, Dig walked outside the room and noted Ray Palmer was sitting down, watching intently with an ice pack on his jaw. He must have taken one where the plexiglass mask ended, right on the chin. Dig and Oliver got a report from Ray as to what happened. Oliver agreed with Joe’s guess that the bomb went off early in an attempt to lure Barry or Kara, likely both, into a trap. Oliver was grimly satisfied to find out the bomber was killed by an unknown good samaritan who happened to be walking through the blast zone with a gun. Ray told them all in no uncertain terms, Barry Allen and most likely Caitlin and himself would be dead if not for Alex. Nyssa stood silently in a corner watching, worried about Barry, hurting to see Kara in this state but also pleased with Alex’s actions. As she suspected the woman was a warrior, who was prepared to do what was necessary to protect her loved ones.

After four hours Cait had Barry in traction, directing Kara on how to pop his vertebrae back into alignment. Even though she was sure he would wake up in pain, with each movement of her fingers on his back, Barry never did.

“Why isn’t he waking up?” she asked.

“I have been giving him sedatives continuously through his IV to keep him asleep. He needs to rest and doesn’t need to be awake for this. Since I don’t have anesthesia this is the best I can do. He burns through it so quickly I am worried we will run out.” Caitlin explained.

During this time, Felicity had not left Oliver’s arms, thoughts of how close Oliver had come to death many times including tonight, thoughts of Laurel telling everyone she was okay, only to die moments later, memories of Sara’s body in the lair, arrows still in her while Laurel cried over her sister’s body. Thea stood next to Nyssa while Diggle and Lyla held onto each other. Ray was pacing until Dr. Stein and his wife, followed by Jax arrived and he explained what was going on.

Oliver watched Kara with great sadness knowing what she must be going through. Joe and Iris continued to hold onto each other. Cisco stood alone, face pressed against the glass, wishing he could do something, trying to think of ways to prevent this from happening again, to take his mind of his friend who still hadn’t woken. Cait was holding bandages over his cuts, knowing when he healed the cuts would close up too quickly for her to remove the stitches. She had barely removed Kara’s in time.

Finally Alex walked away from the table, Caitlin whispered something into Kara’s ear and she nodded, then Caitlin was walking away. She gave a weak thumbs up but there was no smile. She had done all she could and knew it was enough. Barry would take it from here. His incisions had already healed, Kara could see no more shrapnel in his body nor any misalignment of his spine. She continued to stand by him. Alex washed her face then went back to the table to wrap her arm around Kara who was holding onto Barry’s hand. Caitlin, cleaned up and drinking a bottle of water, returned with a bottle for Alex. After a final check, the two left Kara alone but not before the blonde thanked both of them, Caitlin for saving him and Alex for killing the bastard who did this and saving them all.

Kara took her cape off and lay it over Barry, tucking it under his chin.

No one slept that night, not one left the lab. Around 4 AM, Iris hesitantly walked into the room where Kara had not moved, standing like a protective sentinel over the Flash, read to kill anyone she did not recognize.

She heard Iris walk up but didn’t look at her.

“Would you like a chair?” Iris asked her. Kara nodded her head. When Iris turned Kara spoke.

“Bring two. You are his best friend. You deserve to be here next to him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. He is going to want to see both of us when he wakes up. I really don’t mind. It’s probably time we put all this past us and focus on what is important, don’t you think?”

Iris nodded, relieved and hurried to grab two chairs. Despite his worry and exhaustion, Joe smiled seeing his daughter and the woman he had no doubt would be his daughter in law one day, sitting next to Barry, covered in a blanket from another planet.

At 7 AM, Barry opened his eyes to see Kara and Iris sitting next to whatever this was he was laying on. Memories of the night before began flooding his mind, the hit he took, the bomber must have been watching him. He never had a chance to get to the man in the chair.

“I’m alive. Cool.” he mumbled.

Kara chuckled a bit but Barry could see how red her eyes were. How long had she been crying? Iris gave him a huge smile.

“Good to see you up slacker. I’ll give you two some time.” Iris stood up, patted Kara’s back and walked off.

“You must have thought I was dying, if you two are getting along.” he laughed and tried to sit up before the pain in his back stopped him. Wincing he laid back down and noted he had Kara’s cape laid over him.

“I thought you were going to die. You can’t do that Barry. You can’t leave me. You can’t leave all of us.”

“I’m sorry Kara, but you know this is what we do.”

“We do not run into traps! I’m the one who can’t be hurt by things like bombs and shrapnel. I’m the one who should be doing those things, not you!”

“Hey, I didn’t have a choice.” Barry argued.

“Really? You couldn’t have waited fifteen minutes? I understand the man wasn’t going anywhere.”

“Maybe I don’t want to take a chance of you having a bomb blow up in your face. Have you thought that I need you as much as you need me? This is what we do and I made a mistake. I should have thought there could be a detonator. But the bomb squad didn’t see it and if I had gone to look myself whoever it was that did this would have blown the bomb anyway.”

“You should have waited. You can’t bring me back to life to leave me alone.” Kara began crying once more, and Barry did sit up despite the pain to touch her cheek.

“I’m sorry. Next time I wait, okay? But…”

‘No buts. Just wait, please? I could have flown around and seen if anyone was around, I could have kept my hand on the pressure sensor, if there hadn’t been a detonator… I could have done a lot of things or maybe nothing but I am made to take blasts, to handle the heavy stuff.”

“Stop it. You aren’t made to be anything but you. Stop talking about yourself as an asset. I didn’t want to see you running towards a bomb, whether you could have survived or not. There was no way to know if a blast that big would have wiped out your cells and the fire could have burned you. I’m not going to apologize for loving you and wanting to protect you.”

“This is the life I chose Barry.”

“The life we chose. I am going to take as many risks as you. I’m sorry, I should have waited, Joe wanted me to wait but if not for that detonator I could have outrun the blast and you know it. I screwed up.”

“Just don’t leave me. Please, you have to be more careful.”

“I will. My back really hurts. And my head. And my chest and… everything happened to me?”

“What didn’t happen to you? You broke your back again.”

“Do we have any idea who did this?”

“Joe said the police are working on an ID. Cait and Ray were the first to get to you. He shot Ray in his suit but then hit him in the face with a steel bar. I suppose he did his homework on the ATOM too. He told Cait that he couldn’t have heroes getting in the way of his revenge. He was about to shoot you.”

“What happened? Is Cait okay? Ray? Did you show up?”

“He’s dead. Alex killed him, shot him before he could shoot you then Ray brought you here while Alex got Cait out of the blast area. Everyone is here. Most of them are crashed out in the lab somewhere. They all fell asleep about an hour ago, except for Iris and me.”

“Alex came to the blast area? Didn’t she know how dangerous that was?”

“Yeah she did. I’m not the only badass in my family. Caitlin is pretty awesome too, swooping in to save you and if Ray could have carried two, Cisco would have been there. Ray took a steel bar to the face for you. By the way, Alex stole a motorcycle and shot a guy in the back and head then left the scene so if you could make any evidence collected disappear we would both appreciate it.”

Barry laughed quietly. “Lucky for her I know people. I think between me and Joe we can keep her covered.”

Kara leaned over and kissed the man, resting her head on his and crying again. Barry wrapped his arms around her and held her close, hating to know how much he had scared her but not knowing what other option he could have had. She understood too, he knew she did. She knew he had to do it, even if it killed him. But feeling her warm tears on his face made him rethink his whole approach.

Kara picked up her head and wiped her eyes. “Someone wants to see you. I’ll give you a moment. I won’t be far. Just say my name and I will hear you no matter where I am.”

Kara walked away leaving Barry ton wonder who was still up. Deciding it must be Iris, he groaned when Oliver Queen walked into the room.

“Good morning Barry. How are you feeling?”

“Like hell.”

“Cool… I mean awful. So you aren’t up for a run yet?”

Oliver was smiling. This couldn’t be good.

“No, not feeling much like running Oliver.”

“Good. Then you can lay there under your girlfriend’s cape and we can have another talk about casing areas, doing your homework, expecting the unexpected. Maybe you will listen this time so you don’t have to see Kara look like I saw her look last night. Neither of us wants that, do we Barry?”

“No… you aren’t going to shoot me with arrows again, are you?”

Oliver patted Barry on the shoulder causing him to grimace.

“It is a definite possibility.”