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batsutousaiTitle: Nobly Save or Meanly Lose
Series: Overprotective Criminals 'Verse
Fandom: CW's The Flash
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, canon ships
Warnings: Established relationship, polyamory, canon-typical violence, pile 'o OCs, bigotry & hate-language, identity reveal, Barry wants to save everyone
Summary: Five times Barry Allen helps out other metahumans while out of costume, and one time he helps them as the Flash.
A/N: This chapter follows shortly after episode 14 Fallout.
Warning for an OC spouting racism of both the anti-meta and Islamophobic kinds, while brandishing a weapon. Said OC is made to fuck off, because ain't no one okay with that bullshit around here.
You can also read this at Archive of Our Own or LiveJournal.
After Firestorm leaves for Pennsylvania, Caitlin starts acting a little coldly distant again, like she had when Barry had first woken from the coma. Barry turns to Iris for ideas about how to cheer her back up, and Iris insists that a shopping trip is in order. Which Caitlin doesn't sound too enthused about, and Cisco absolutely refuses to be involved in, but Barry's been dragged on enough 'shopping therapy' trips, between Lisa and Iris, that he joins them with only a little eye rolling, agreeing to carry all the bags.
(At least Iris doesn't spend half the trip leaning over to whisper how she'd go about stealing something.)
They're just getting ready to leave the second or third shop – Barry had decided early on not to really keep track, if only for the sake of his own sanity – when someone lets out a pained yell.
Barry's not the only one who turns to look, because he's out with a reporter and a doctor – biological engineer, whatever, stop getting technical, Caitlin – but he is the only one who almost immediately drops the bags he's holding and hurries forward at a normal speed – this would be so much easier if Iris hadn't come – to get between the angry security guard and the young woman wearing a hijab, who is covered in a sparking web of electricity. "Hey, whoa!" he shouts, holding out a hand at the guard, who has his gun half out of its holster.
"Get out of the way, sir," the guard snarls, finishing pulling his gun out.
"Barry!" Iris shouts, even as she and Caitlin run over.
Barry stands his ground, though, because he knows he can catch any bullets that come his way, and he'd rather expose his power to Iris than stand back as someone gets shot. "Can't we handle this peacefully?" he asks, letting his voice drop to the hopefully-soothing register he usually used as the Flash.
"Look at her! A Muslim and a freak. She's probably planning to blow up the whole mall!"
"Bullshit," Barry returns, unimpressed. He's met more criminal metahumans than non-criminals, but he knows they exist, even calls a few his friends. And he's going to give this woman the benefit of the doubt, because she doesn't look like a criminal, to him. (And he knows criminals; spends his nights sleeping with a couple.)
And then Iris is stepping between him and the guard with a sharp-edged smile, saying, "I'm with Central City Picture News, and I'd love to do an article on the bigotry of white men in positions of authority. Could I get your name so I can quote you?"
The guard stumbles back, free hand snapping up to cover the name badge on his shirt, because Iris isn't physically intimidating, but she grew up with a cop and knows how to make herself dangerous. "Just get that freak out of the mall," he orders as he shoves his gun away as he turns and makes his escape.
"Joe is going to kill you," Barry tells her, even as he turns towards the woman he'd protected, who had stopped sparking at some point. "Hey, you okay? He didn't do anything to you?"
Wide brown eyes look between him, Caitlin, and Iris, as though she hadn't expected their support.
(Central City is relatively liberal, but they do live in a red state, and it shows a little too often, in Barry's opinion.)
The woman licks her lips, then nods. "I– Yes. I mean, I'm okay. He didn't–" She pulls her left arm in close, hugging it. "He couldn't touch me," she adds, sounding ashamed.
"Good," Barry says, because he's seen enough cops manhandling people who didn't deserve the rough treatment, to appreciate having a power that could keep people from grabbing you.
"Are you here with someone?" Caitlin asks while the woman is staring at Barry like she can't quite believe he's real. "I don't want to leave you alone, in case he comes back."
"Or someone else thinks to try," Iris adds with a world of venom in her voice.
Barry glances up, realizing they've gathered a small crowd of onlookers. Some of them are throwing hostile looks towards the woman, like they think that guard had the right of it. "I'll get our bags," he says, and puts on his best impression of Len's cold stare as he goes to collect their things, turning it on the gawkers as he goes.
When he gets back, most of the crowd has dispersed, and Caitlin and Iris have closed ranks around the woman, who still looks a little like she can't believe they're there.
"This is Barry, my foster brother," Iris offers as Barry joins his two friends. "He's our pack mule for the day."
"I'm going to dump you in the fountain," Barry tells her, while Caitlin coughs a little too obviously into her hand.
"I'm Damini," the new woman offers, inclining her head. "Thank you. For earlier."
"Of course," Barry replies with his best non-threatening smile. "No way we could stand back and let him threaten you."
Iris lets out a strained huff. "I can't believe they passed that legislation letting security guards carry live guns," she says, and Barry has to resist rolling his eyes, because he's heard the rant a few times already.
"They're worried about metahumans," Caitlin points out quietly, but she's frowning.
"Why not just wait for the Flash?!" Iris complains a little too loudly.
"Iris!" Barry hisses, because he's fairly certain they've caused enough of a disruption today.
"He's only one man," Caitlin reminds her, and Iris huffs, but doesn't continue the familiar rant.
"Metahumans?" Damini asks quietly into the following silence.
"Oh. I–" Caitlin throws Barry a wide-eyed look, because she probably hasn't discussed this topic with anyone outside of their team and Iris.
Barry clears his throat. "It's a term we use for people who developed abilities after the S.T.A.R. Labs accelerator exploded," he offers. "It's... Well, 'human', obviously, is all of us. And then the 'meta', meaning sort of 'more than', I guess?" He glances at Caitlin.
She shrugs. "Essentially. It's not a bad thing," she adds, looking at Damini. "I mean, it's not meant as a derogatory term. But, also, it's okay to be a metahuman."
"Yeah. The Flash is," Iris adds with a bright smile, because once she forgave him for what he did under Bivolo's influence, she was very much back in his court again, and Barry is getting used to seeing her snooping around during or after incidents involving the Flash, looking for whatever material for a new story she can get.
"That's true," Damini admits. "But, he is a hero. I'm just–" She stops, casting an uncertain look around them. No one seems to be paying them any attention at the moment, but Barry knows how quickly that can change.
"Maybe a break for lunch?" he suggests. "Damini, you're welcome to come with us."
"Oh, yes please!" Iris is quick to agree, her whole face lighting up. "You've got to tell me where you got your shoes! They look so practical."
"They're very comfortable," Damini agrees with a faint smile, and lets Iris turn her to start walking as she explains where she'd got them.
"I've got so used to fighting metahumans," Caitlin says quietly to Barry, "I almost forgot that not all of them want to cause trouble."
Barry nods tiredly. "Yeah. There's a couple in my neighborhood who are just trying to get by. Not everyone got the sort of powers that can bring down a building."
"I'm pretty sure that was at least half tech," Caitlin replies drily, her mind clearly going to Hartley Rathaway, who has been missing since he escaped Cisco. (Barry has a vague suspicion that his boyfriends might have helped the scientist go to ground, which he hadn't actually considered being a possibility until after they were able to make Shawna Baez vanish with only about half an hour's warning.) "But I do know what you mean. I'm sure a number of them are just trying to keep on with their lives."
"And stay out of the Flash and the CCPD's grip," Barry adds with a grimace, because as soon as they had the tech to allow Iron Heights to hold metahumans, it got around in a real hurry that the Flash was imprisoning metahumans. Len and Mick, he knows, are being clear that it's criminals he's taking in, not metahumans, but that's really only enough to calm the people in their neighborhood.
Caitlin winces. "Well," she offers, motioning towards where Damini and Iris are debating food court options ahead of them, "at least you can make some friends as Barry Allen."
Barry offers her a lopsided smile. "There is that," he agrees, though his being a member of the CCPD sometimes gets in the way of that the same way his being the Flash would.
They end up spending the next three hours with Damini, because she'd come to the mall with her younger brother, Ankur, and his friends, all of whom had vanished into the nearly defunct arcade almost as soon as they made it into the building, and she can't leave until they were ready to do so, because she's their ride home. Iris is delighted to have her along – if only because she's more fashion-inclined than either Caitlin or Barry – and both Barry and Caitlin agree that they would rather she stay with them, than leave her to wander the mall alone. Just in case.
When her brother finally rings her, Damini promises to meet him at the entrance to the parking garage, then turns and smiles at them. "Thank you, for both your help and your companionship. I had a lot of fun."
"Oh!" Iris says, and starts poking through her purse.
Barry rolls his eyes at her, then offers a smile to Damini. "Of course. I'm pretty sure we all had fun, too."
"I did," Caitlin agrees.
"Absolutely!" Iris exclaims, even as she brandishes a business card at Damini. "My mobile number's on there. If you need a friend to hang out with you again, or you just want to vent, whatever. Keep in touch."
Damini blinks a couple of times as she takes the card, her eyes shining wetly. "Thank you, Iris."
"Can I hug you?" Iris asks in response.
Damini ends up hugging both Iris and Caitlin, but apologetically explains, "I'm sorry, Barry. It's not that I don't want to, because you have been very nice, it's just not really permissible. In my religion."
"It's okay," Barry promises, holding up his handfuls of bags as an additional excuse. "Take care of yourself."
"I will. Thank you," Damini tells them all, then hurries off towards the three teenage boys who are waiting impatiently by the door.
"I hope she calls," Iris says as they watch the group leave the mall.
"I'm sure she will," Caitlin offers.
(She does, and Barry knows of at least three lunches that Iris takes suspiciously close to Damini's high school, like she's maybe sneaking her new friend off campus to eat out.)
Part One: Criminal Partners
Part Two: A Distraction of Ice and Fire
Part Three: Relationship Status
1/Cisco Ramon || 2/David Singh || 3/Felicity Smoak || 4/Eddie Thawne || 5/Henry Allen
Part Four: Whatever Happens Here, We Remain
One ||| Two ||| Three
Part Five: Nobly Save or Meanly Lose
1/Angel's Wings ||
+1/Flash Day
Part Six: The Trials of the Hero's Beleaguered Captain
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