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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: Reminder that this chapter is from a third person omniscient point of view. I do have a google document here, which has the approximate ages, powers, some basic background, and pictures of the OCs. In case you're left wondering who someone is. ^^; (I'd've posted it earlier, but I didn't wanna spoil anyone. Also, I had to finish putting it all together, sorry.)
This chapter covers events in season 2's first episode, The Man Who Saved Central City. It includes OCs in a mob spouting meta-racism and moving to commit violence against a child. However, I promise none of the kids are hit.
Chapter's way early today both because I happen to be awake, and because I love you all. Thanks for all of your awesome comments!
I make no promises about when the next part of this series will be out, because I got distracted by watching CSI for some ideas, and then by working on some stuff for FlashWave Week. Whoops?
You can also read this at Archive of Our Own or LiveJournal.
It's a little strange, how someone can be both a hero and a villain.
It's a concept that the denizens of the part of town they simply call 'the neighborhood' – but which the rest of the city usually calls the slums or 'Cold's territory' – have become quite familiar with, as Captain Cold and Heatwave have turned their dirty little slice of Central City into a safe space for those with nowhere else to go. Those among them who are criminals, or who received abilities or were physically changed the night the S.T.A.R. Labs accelerator exploded – those called 'metahumans', a label which is slowly catching on – also find themselves painting the Flash with the same uncertain brush.
For the criminals, the 'why' is fairly obvious, but for those metahumans, it's more because he may keep their city safe, but he spends so much time fighting metahumans, too much of the public has started to see the division as some variation on 'normal humans and the Flash against metahumans'. Which, in fairness to the Flash, isn't his fault. But he also hasn't gone out of his way to help any of the other metahumans of the city, not like Captain Cold has. Not like Barry Allen, a scrawny man with a wide smile who spends his days hidden away in a lab at the CCPD and his nights arguing about movie choices with the group of metahumans living in the building he built for them.
So it is, perhaps, no surprise that the announcement of Flash Day is met with complicated emotions in the neighborhood.
"Are you going to Flash Day?" Jackie Jones asks over one of the rare lunches that Barry attends.
Barry would have become the center of attention, if Mick Rory, better known as Heatwave, hadn't broken out into loud laughter.
"I have to work," Barry says after throwing Mick a glare. "Unfortunately, lab work can't wait for the Flash."
"If only he could run your samples for you," Lisa Snart, who manages the metahuman center for Barry, says with a sharp little smile.
A number of the metahumans in the room start to think they might be missing something.
"Some tests," Barry says in a flat tone, "can't be sped up by any means, let alone the Flash's speed." Then he looks down the length of the table, which had got more and more crowded as more people started to believe there really was a safe place they could go if they needed it. That there are people in Central City who will accept them, no matter how they look or what they can do. And that, if they're willing to play lab rat a little bit, there are a few scientists who honestly want to help them learn how to use and control their abilities.
"Who here actually wants to go to the Flash Day event?" Barry asks.
There's a moment of silence, which Mick breaks by raising his hand and saying, "Puttin' in a vote fer Snart. Cold," he adds, as if they aren't all aware that he's talking about Lisa's elder brother, Len, better known as Captain Cold. (Who has a bad habit of sneaking in some back door no one else can seem to find at odd hours, and vanishing just as sneakily. He never stays for meals, and only comes for movies when Barry drags him, but they all know he'll be there in a heartbeat if they need him, and it's his law that keeps them safe when they walk through the neighborhood.)
Barry sighs and shakes his head. "Remind me to 'misplace' his gun the night before."
They all laugh at that, because they're all betting Len only wants to go to cause a scene.
"Think he jest wants a snow cone," Mick says in that even, unassuming tone that tends to leave people wondering if he's pulling your leg or not.
Barry rolls his eyes and asks the rest of them, "Who's getting dragged to the celebrations by someone else?"
Jackie and her twin sister, Jessie, both raise their hands, because both of their dads are determined to go, even if they won't go near each other. The Baker cousins – Emma, Gav, Will, and Mason – also raise their hands, because their moms/aunts had somehow wrangled time off just so the whole family could go. Damini Sah, after a moment, sort of half-way raises her hand, explaining, "Ankur really wants to go, but Baba and Kumar both have to work, and Mama keeps putting him off, so I'll probably end up taking him."
Barry nods. "Well, I'm sure it will surprise no one that Iris will be going."
They all laugh at that, because Iris West, Barry's best friend and foster sister, has made no secret of the fact that she adores the Flash. To the point that some of the more adolescent-minded among them will make kissy noises when she starts talking about him (which she usually responds to by throwing pillows or popcorn), or joke to her boyfriend, Eddie Thawne, that he has competition. (Strangely, every time someone does so, he starts laughing and refuses to explain why.)
"And Eddie will be there as part of the police." A couple of them make faces, but Barry shakes his head and says, "No, come on. That's good for you. If any of you run into trouble, try to find him, or name-drop him to another cop and they'll get him. Or you can ask for Joe West, who I know none of you have really met, but he knows about you and he'll have your side."
"Are the Steins going?" Son Burns asks; he was one of the first metahumans Barry dragged to the center, as he'd been living in the neighborhood after escaping a bad situation in foster care, and while he had no interest in finding a new family, he'd connected with Dr Martin Stein over a love of physics and the two could spend hours debating science terms that went over the heads of most everyone else in the building.
"Pretty sure, yeah. Assuming Kerry can handle the crowds."
"Sparky's goin'?" Mick asks, straightening and zeroing in on Barry, because he adores the Steins' adopted son, Kerry.
Barry points a firm finger at him. "No. You are on 'keep Len away from the celebration' duty."
Mick makes a show of considering that. "They bringin' Sparky by after?"
"They are now," Jessie says and most everyone snickers.
Barry rolls his eyes. "I'll talk to Clarissa."
"Is Dr Snow going?" Izzy Vang asks; coming to the center and meeting Caitlin Snow, their unofficial doctor, had resulted in her finally getting the drug regimen she needed to manage her leprosy without depending on her healing ability to fix whatever damage she did to herself without realizing.
"Or Cisco?" Liu Fang – who had been struggling with keeping her body in a solid state, rather than the mist state the explosion had given her, until Cisco designed a bracelet to stabilize her – adds.
Barry laughs. "Let's just assume everyone but me's going," he suggests.
"Well, you, me, and certain criminals," Lisa points out.
Barry makes a 'yes, that' motion towards her, and the smile she turns on him looks a little violent. He just flashes her a cheerful smile in return, because – as he has proven on many, many occasions – he's not afraid of either of the Snarts. (Which is still impressive to those in the center, even though they all know he's dating Len. Because, honestly? When they want to be, the Snart siblings are terrifying. Especially Len when he's gone all Captain Cold. It's really no wonder the Families don't want to start a territory war with him.)
The topic somehow morphs into a list of all the places 'certain criminals' should not be allowed unsupervised, which gets them through the rest of lunch without any further mention of the Flash Day celebration.
On the actual day of the event, Izzy is the one who talks Lisa into driving her, Son, and Angel to the park where it's being held, promising they'll catch a ride back to the center with Iris or the Steins when it's over. They end up meeting Iris, Caitlin, and Ronnie not far from where Lisa dropped them, because she'd clearly rang them in advance. Ronnie leads Son away with a laugh to find Dr Stein, when he asks, while Izzy and Angel stick with Caitlin and Iris, who kindly buy them sweets when they come across a stand selling them.
Jackie and Jessie end up joining them quickly enough, Jessie muttering about their dads being idiots, while Jackie just looks tired and accepts a hug from Iris without a word.
They meet up with Clarissa, Martin, and Kerry Stein, Ronnie, Son, and the four Baker kids in front of the stage, and Damini joins them just as the mayor is walking towards the podium, her little brother, Ankur, trailing her with a scowl, because the last place he wants to be is with his sister and her weird friends.
When the Flash arrives in a blur of red, trailing yellow lightning, the crowd cheers around them. Of their group, Iris is the only one who adds to the noise, but the other adults are all smiling up at the Flash like he means something.
(Well, in many ways, he does. Those ways just aren't always good, especially when you're a metahuman.)
Flash accepts the key to the city and tries to bow out of saying a few words, but then Iris calls, "Come on, Flash!" like a challenge.
His face is blurred, but the way he turns in her direction and just stares for a long moment makes it pretty clear how he feels about being called out. Still, he does step up to the microphone. "Hello, Central City," he says, and the way his vibrating voice transmits through the speakers is...not particularly great. Which he clearly knows, because he's silent for a moment – probably staring at Iris again, though it's hard to tell for certain – but he doesn't stop vibrating his his voice when he continues, "Thank you for your support this past year. I hope we can continue to make our city a better place together for a long time to come."
Before he can step back, someone near the back of the crowd yells, "Fat chance!" right before there comes the sound of a gun being fired.
If the crowd hadn't panicked, things probably would have turned out just fine, because the Flash is already moving before the first shot – he'd clearly seen the gun from the podium. But the crowd does panic and start shoving at each other, trying to get away from the gunman.
In the chaos, the group of metahumans and their adult minders get separated, pulled in five different directions. Which they would have managed just fine, except Kerry gets spooked by all of the noise, and little flames appear in his hands, while Angel has to pick between his jacket and grabbing Emma's arm before he gets completely separated, and ends up losing both.
"Metahuman!" someone near Angel shouts, while someone near Kerry – who Clarissa quickly hands over to Izzy, as she'll heal from any unintentional burns quickly enough that Kerry won't see the proof of his loss of control and really freak out – shouts, "It's going to burn us all!"
"He's just scared!" Clarissa tries to explain, while Izzy twists, shielding Kerry as best she can with her own body, and Jackie, who had been clinging to Izzy's jacket to keep from getting separated, looks around for something within range of her telekinesis, in case they need a weapon.
Angel ends up huddling alone in the center of a circle of angry faces, while Emma and Jessie, who are the closest to him, try to shove their ways back to his side, calling for everyone to leave him alone.
"Stop!" the Flash shouts. "They're just kids!"
Angel squeezes his eyes shut and braces himself for the blows he knows are coming.
Except, the blows never come. Instead, arms wrap tight around him in a way that's familiar, and someone else takes the punches aimed at him.
"Barry," Angel breathes in recognition as the Flash twists to glare at the men who are already stumbling back after their hits connected with the superhero.
On the other side of the crowd, Eddie Thawne and Joe West have reached the three women and Kerry, and they're using their authority as members of the CCPD to get the hostile members of the crowd to back off.
"Shame on you," the Flash says to the crowd around him and Angel, still vibrating his voice. And the crowd has gone quiet and still enough that his voice carries without him needing to use the microphone. "You're all so blinded by your hatred of those of us who were changed by the particle accelerator, you'd attack a couple of children."
"But they–" someone in the crowd starts, evidentially boldened by being out of the Flash's direct line of sight.
"They what?" the Flash snarls, blurred face turning in the direction of the speaker. He doesn't move from where he's holding Angel against his side, like he thinks he's the only thing keeping Angel safe.
(He probably is.)
"They wanted to have some cotton candy? Maybe play a couple of carnival games? Or, god forbid, maybe they just wanted to come out and cheer on the only person like them this city doesn't hate?" the Flash demands. And he is every inch the man who stood up to a cop for Angel, stepped between Damini and a gun, and threw bits of brick at members of the mob for Jackie.
There's a rush of fire above Barry and Angel, and the crowd stumbles back as Firestorm settles lightly to the ground next to them. "Want to go for a ride, Angel?" he asks with Ronnie's familiar crooked smile, just barely visible through the flames dancing around his head.
The Flash gives him a gentle push forwards, and it's only because he trusts both Barry and Ronnie that Angel climbs onto Firestorm's back when he turns it towards him, the intention clear. The fire around Firestorm's head doesn't burn him, and Angel can't quite hold back a delighted yell when they fly off to safety, because he may have wings, but he knows they'll never support him in flight.
They trickle into the center in threes and fours, Angel and Firestorm first. (Which, holy wow, it isn't just Ronnie, it's Dr Stein, too.) Clarissa, Jackie, Kerry, and Izzy had been escorted out of the park by the two cops, both of whom had remained behind to make sure the others made it out safely and the four of them come in together. Gav, Will, and Mason all come in with Iris. And when Emma – who rode with Caitlin and Jessie – makes a beeline for her cousins and brother to check all of them over, they bitch at her in that familiar, safe way that families who've made it through a trial safely often do.
Somehow, there's plenty of time for the whole story to get told, despite interruptions and attempts to talk over each other, before Barry finally gets in with Eddie and Cisco. Barry's hunched over slightly and won't meet anyone's eyes, instead making a beeline for where Len and Mick have been standing against the wall for the whole messy story, their faces blank masks that give away none of their thoughts.
Just before Barry reaches Len, Jackie realizes, "The Flash is sleeping with Captain Cold?!"
"Oh my god, Jack," Jessie complains, hiding her face in her hands. (As if she doesn't regularly do things that embarrass her twin.)
"Technically–" Iris starts.
Barry's across the room, both hands covering her mouth, before she can get another syllable out. Which, well, it's the first time any of the metahumans – save Dr Stein and Ronnie – have seen him move so fast, and they all just sort of stare for a long, silent minute as they process it. And then:
"So cool!"
"Why didn't you just tell us?"
"I can't believe I know the Flash!"
"Do it again!"
Barry's laughter sounds startled, and the look on his face, when he looks around at them all, tells them clearer than words that he's been afraid of their reactions. Because the Flash has never been their hero. He's just been that guy who runs around and punches thieves in back alleys, or trades bad puns with Captain Cold while dodging blasts from the cold and heat guns. He's been the metahuman who everyone accepts, but who never lifts a finger to help other metahumans.
Little did any of them know, the Flash has been helping them the whole time.
Iris waits until Barry is trapped on the bottom of a cuddle pile-on before she announces, "The Flash is sleeping with Captain Cold and Heatwave."
"Iris!" Barry howls, while Lisa starts cackling from where she's stepped over to link arms with Iris.
Barry, incidentally, doesn't get free of the cuddle pile until long after he's stopped making threatening motions towards Iris and Lisa. Because every one of the metahumans he's helped know him well enough to catch the tremor in his voice and know he needs the hug. And, after everything he's done for them, who are they to deny him something so simple?
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 || 2/Damini's Shock || 3/Mini Mia || 4/Kerry's Flame || 5/Jackie's Force
Part Six: The Trials of the Hero's Beleaguered Captain
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