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robininthelabyrinth · 5 years

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Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 21 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

"Again, Lenny?" old Mad Magpie cackles when Len limps up to her at her usual post near the CCPD. Most members of the cardboard brigade wouldn't care to be so close to so many cops, or wouldn't dare, but Magpie is an old homeless veteran who lived in Gotham before coming to haunt the streets of Central, and she doesn't fear much of anything. Len's been sending Danvers over with hot chocolate on a regular basis, though, so Magpie's usually willing to talk to him. "Don't you have any self-preservation?"

"Don't mention it," Len says. "Really. Don't."

"You can fool that secretary of yours -"

"Admin assistant," Len interjects.

"- and you can fool that new boytoy of yours, but you can't fool old Magpie," she says. "You've ripped those stitches again."

"Like I said," Len says, suppressing the wince of pain at the mere mention. He's pretty sure he's bleeding - getting thrown around by a murderous speedster was definitely not on his physical therapist's list of approved activities - but he's wearing enough layers and stayed in lurching forward movement enough that no one has had a chance to notice it yet. "Don't mention it."

She laughs. "I knew it," she says. "Can't fool an old bird of prey like me! I don't tell people things till they ask. But if anyone asks, I ain't promising nothing. Now, I see you're back to your wicked old ways, hanging around with that Allen boy - back together now, are we?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, good on you. He's cute. And I bet he goes pretty fast, if you know what I mean."

Len arches his eyebrows. He knows exactly what she means, and she's not advising him on how long it'll take to get Barry into bed. "You selling that info?"

"Hell no," Magpie cackles. "Like I said - he's cute!"

"Good. Lemme know if anyone does start selling that, will you?"

"You'll get first word, Lenny. You've been a good enough customer to us all these years, paying more than your fair share and never turning us in for vagrancy; we can do you that much."

"Much obliged," Len says. "Hey, if I manage to surprise even you, do I get a bonus going forward?"

She arches her eyebrows at him. "I'm listening," she allows.

"Mick's better."

"I already heard that he's awake," she sniffs.

"Not awake. Better. See?"

She squints around him in the direction he's gesturing at. Len can see the exact moment she spots Mick standing there, looking healthy as a horse (well, with some nasty burn scars, but those look years old already) and arguing cheerfully with Iris and Danvers about something or another.

"Well, I'll be," she marvels. "Yeah, Lenny, you get a bonus for that - assuming that being healthy means he's gonna be cooking up his usual free-for-all July 4th bash this year. News of that getting uncanceled'll buy quite a lot."

"It's definitely on," he assures her. "Assuming we haven't all been murdered by the Families, of course."

"True that," she sniggers. "Now, what're you going to do to stop them?"

"As much as I can," Len says honestly. "But for that I need help - you remember when I was looking for intel on speedster stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to find a speedster. The bad one, in yellow; he was at STAR Labs, but we don't know where he is now -" Danvers checked STAR Labs and reported no success. "- and we need to put him down if we're gonna put any of this down."

"He's the one doing the disappearances?"

"He's the one doing the hits," Len agrees, since technically Barry caused some of the disappearances. Though he supposes that if you think about it a certain way, Wells was behind those, too, in an indirect sort of way... "Can you yank your chain and get me an answer?"

"Don't need to ring up the community, Lenny," she says, grinning. "You know they used to call me the Oracle, back in Gotham? Always knew what was going on, I did, and it's the same now: I already know where he is."

"And I'm guessing I won't like the answer?"

"Come now, you robbed him of his revenge or whatever; where else is he gonna go other than Central’s home away from home for the criminally inclined?" she asks, amused. "The place where everyone knows your name - and record."

Len experiences a distinct sinking feeling in his stomach. "Ah," he says. "Iron Heights."

Central City's one and only maximum security prison.

Len's been in a few times, to ensure his cover was appropriately legit. He doesn't remember it very fondly.

"He's getting jealous, he is," Magpie says complacently. "You've got an army, the Families've got an army, who doesn't got an army? He doesn't. But he can fix that."

No kidding.

Especially since - and Len is remembering this with a wince - the metas from Barry's secret prison have just been transferred there pending trial, along with the specifications of the Accelerator needed to maintain the anti-meta-powers effect of their cells.

They'd even recruited Ramon to advise on the process of transferring the tech, with the recommendation that his cooperation in converting one of the wings (now dubbed the Metahuman Wing) would go some significant distance to reducing his eventual sentence.

Len hadn't been involved with that personally, being busy with Mick's recovery at the time, but he'd set one of the DAs he'd always liked - an ardent prisoners' rights advocate in her previous life - on the task of making sure Ramon gave adequate thought to how what they already had in place in STAR Labs could be expanded such that the metas could enjoy their constitutional rights, however limited.

Len’s not entirely clear on the details, but whatever it was, it was only a temporary solution. Ramon is reportedly working furiously on developing some sort of meta-dampening cuffs that seem significantly more humane.

All well and good in theory, yes, but it's now occurring to Len that what he saw as a grotesque human rights' violation, and the so-called Team Flash saw as a temporary convenience, Wells saw as more of -

Well, as a useful storage container.

As in, where you store things for later use.

(The image of tiny metahumans being placed into a pantry and pulled out at need by a giant Wells is deeply disturbing. Len sure is glad that no one's invented some sort of shrink ray...)

"Thanks, Magpie," Len says, shaking his head to help him get rid of the unwanted mental images. "Appreciated as always."

"I'll let my people in Iron Heights know to expect you," Magpie offers. "There's always a few old cardboards in there for some reason or another. If you need something pulled, you just ask. You've got that bonus to spend now."

"Hopefully not necessary," Len assures her. "But thanks."

The resources of Len's task force, as they stand, are quite few in number, but fairly decent nonetheless: Len himself (mostly useful for tactics given the current state of his body), Mick (and his heat gun), Barry (and his powers), Danvers (and her powers), Detective Thawne (who Wells won’t kill), Iris, Snow and Ramon.

Of the latter four, Thawne and Iris are trained in conventional weapons, and Ramon has invented some sort of vibration-based gun he claims can stun people in a humane matter (he emphasized that three times over - whatever that DA told him has clearly stuck). Snow doesn't have any offensive capabilities, but she's a doctor with some emergency care training, and Len's not about to turn that down.

Especially given the fact that if his side doesn't stop bleeding soon, he's going to need some of that training to be employed on him.

"You good?" Barry asks when Len rejoins them.

"Peachy," Len tells him, and ignores the way Mick suddenly focuses in on him. Stupid tell, using a word he only uses when things are not, in fact, good; he should've remembered not to use it around Mick. "We have a location for Wells: he was last seen in the vicinity of Iron Heights."

"Wait," Ramon says. "Where we just put all our metas?"

"He was keeping them on purpose," Snow exclaims, realizing. She's not slow, that one; just a bit naïve. "They were always going to be Plan B - except now they're in Iron Heights, not STAR Labs, so he needs to go get them."

"And the rest of Iron Heights if he can," Len confirms, shifting a little bit to a more comfortable position on his crutches. "Barry, Danvers - can you take us all to the little hill right outside the Heights? One-by-one should be fine."

"Boss and I go first," Mick suddenly says. "Then the rest. Let's go."

Before Len can say anything, they're in sudden transit.

It takes about twenty seconds to reach their destination, which Len suspects is a polite attempt to go nice and slow by the speedsters but which only makes his side and leg throb.

Then he and Mick are alone, standing in the overarching shadow cast by the hulking hexagonal pit of despair that is Iron Heights.

Everything seems quiet from here, but that could be an illusion.

"Mick -" Len starts.

"You're injured but don't want to sit out the fight," Mick says. "I know."

Mick always does. Best partner ever.

"S'not why I wanted to talk to you, since I know I won't be able to change your stubborn-ass mind on it," Mick continues. "I wanted to check in on what I said earlier."

"What part?"

"About us still being partners. I mean, now that you're a cop and all that."

"Mick, as long as you still want to be partners, we're partners," Len says firmly. "I wasn't kidding about not picking the job over you again. If you don't wanna be partners with a pig, I get it. It's fine. I'll just quit my job."

Mick snorts. "Twenty years undercover and you'll just quit? Now?"

"Hey, it means I've got a decent resume, don't it?"

"Ex-thief, ex-cop, please hire me -"

"I'm sure that set of skills appeals to someone -"

Mick's laughing.

Len likes it when Mick laughs. He's missed it.

"Nah," Mick says. "Don't quit, not unless you want to. Hunting down bad cops is perfect for you. And I'll figure out some way that I can still be your partner."

Len grins at him. "Sounds like a plan, partner."

"Just do me a favor and don't die, boss."

"Says the guy who just woke up from a coma?"

"Hey, I got magic-future-tech-healed by the bad guy, I'm fine. You, on the other hand, are doing your healing the good old fashioned way, except you keep tearing your stitches."

"Shut up before anyone else gets here and hears you."

"I heard him," Danvers says, floating a few inches above them and still holding a dangling Ramon in one hand. "And I'm very disappointed in you."

"Crap," Len says. "Listen, Snow can give me a patch job, but there's no way I'm letting you guys go into Iron Heights without me, got it?"

Snow gets dropped off next. By Barry. Without another word.

"You're in trouble now," Mick crows. "Skirt's got moxie."

"Traitor," Len says, but it turns out Snow can in fact patch him up pretty quickly - a staple gun, some bandages, and a dermaplastic seal, plus instructions to keep from twisting too much if possible so that his back brace can try to keep his spine from popping out of place or something - so it turns out all right in the end.

While they're doing that, though, the rest of the team stares at Iron Heights.

"God, I hate this place," Mick says.

"It's - quieter than I thought it'd be," Danvers says.

"Have you never been?" Barry asks. "I - well, you know, with my dad - I've been plenty of times."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're the odd one there, Barry," Ramon says. "I'd never been here before I came to help install the meta dampening tech."

"Really? You invented…?"

"No, no," Ramon says, looking embarrassed. "I haven’t had time to come up with something new. What we did was basically just port over a mini-Accelerator, looping around the walls of the place – luckily the hexagonal hallways around the outside that the guards use for patrols is close enough to being round to work. It works on the same set of principles as the Particle Accelerator in STAR Labs does."

"Any chance that it'll block Wells' powers, too?" Iris asks.

"No, not unless he goes into one of the cells and closes the door. The entire system's not even noticeable until everyone's locked away - not enough energy. We're just running electrical energy through it, not accelerated particles, so it doesn't quite have the same effect."

"Probably for the best," Thawne says. "One Particle Accelerator explosion is more than enough."

"Yeah, that's true..."

“Does Wells know about what you’ve done?” Danvers asks curiously. “With the mini-Accelerator, I mean?”

Ramon frowns, considering it. “No, I don’t think so,” he says slowly. “This was after the whole chest-in-hand – er, that is, hand-in-chest –”

“Her eyes are up here, buddy,” Iris jokes.

Ramon flushes. “It was just a slip of the tongue!”

“I bet you want to slip someone some tongue –”

“Iris, leave him alone,” Barry says, hiding a smile. “Be nice. You’re making poor Kara blush.”

“He’s not my type,” Danvers says primly. “Sorry, Cisco.”

“I’m not actually interested,” he says crossly. “I like my women a bit more – dangerous.”

“You know Kara can lift cars, right? And fly? And probably crush your head like a nut? How is she not dangerous?”

“An aura of danger, you know what I mean…wait, how’d we get on this subject?”

“I don’t know, but I want off,” Thawne says dryly. “You were saying about whether Wells knows about the mini-Accelerator?”

“Yeah, right. No, I don’t think so. When the police showed up to STAR Labs, he wasn’t there, and they had me shut off the surveillance system before we started moving tech around. I certainly didn’t tell him, and I don’t think Caitlin did –”

“Wasn’t even aware of it,” Snow says, still focusing on Len.

“Right. So, yeah, no. I don’t think so."

"Okay, you're as good as I can get you," Snow tells Len. "Now up you go; we need you to tell us what the plan is."

"There is no 'plan'," Len says, getting back up. The painkillers Snow had brought with her are amazing. "We've gone well into the stage of the plan where everything goes off the rails."

"Len," Barry says, mildly censorious.

"What?" Len asks. "It's true. You want a plan? Okay. Plan is: we go inside, find Wells, subdue Wells. If necessary, fight other people in the process."

"I think I was happier without knowing that that was the plan," Ramon mutters.

"Second door forward?" Mick asks, focusing on practicalities. "That's the least guarded - though I gotta admit I never thought I'd be using that to break in."

"Yeah," Len says wryly. "We live in interesting times."

Getting into Iron Height isn't hard - they know where the door is, they know how it's opened, and Len can pop it in under thirty seconds (how's that for "out of practice", Danvers?) - but the lack of any security on the inside is a very bad sign.

"Dead?" Thawne asks, his face set. He's taking this ancestor stuff very seriously.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ramon says. "He's got superspeed and this is a prison, right? He might've just put the guards in the cells."

"Probably the only way they're going to survive a massive prison riot," Mick says. "Speaking of, I hear noise - main hall's this way."

"Is that the riot?" Iris asks. "Not to borrow Kara's words from earlier, but that's a lot quieter than I expected."

"It is," Len says, equally puzzled. "Let's go find out why."

Sure enough, the main hall was full to bursting with prisoners - far more than get let out in any one shift - but they're not really rioting. More like milling around confusedly.

Len and Mick share a perturbed look.

Still, there's only one way to find out what's up, so Len hobbles over to the first prisoner he even vaguely recognizes and smacks him on the leg with his crutch to get his attention. "What's going on?" he demands.

"Snart?" the guy - a con called Joey Monteleone, but mostly nicknamed Tarpit for reasons Len has never wanted to learn - asks, blinking at him. "Ain't you a cop now?"

"One with no sense of self-preservation," Mick growls. He might be right; Len'd totally forgotten that he can't just ask people (well, criminals) things anymore. "That a problem?"

Tarpit considers for a second. "It true you got a job fucking up corrupt cops for a living? Instead of snagging cons?"

"Yeah, it's true," Len says cautiously. That doesn't sound like the prelude to a call for lynching. "Not really interested in a job snagging cons, not unless they're doing something real bad where I can see 'em. Same rules as before, really."

"Cool," Tarpit says, then suddenly turns around and shouts, "Hey, everyone! Snart's here! He'll know what's up!"

And suddenly everyone is turning to look at him, the room breaking out into whispers.

Len sees Barry and Danvers both tense up, ready to run him away, but he waves at them to hold off. No one seems violent - yet.

In fact, most of the whispers that Len can hear don't concern the fact that he is (and was) a cop; they're more focused on his career as a very good freelance thief.

A very good thief that was pretty well known for not being affiliated with the Families.

"Listen, Snart, it true what they're saying about the Families taking over?" one of the cons asks.

"I mean," Len says, nearly falling over with surprise when Tarpit pushes him up onto one of the tables so as to better see and be seen, "I don't plan on letting 'em, but they’re certainly trying their best."

"And there's riots in the streets?" another one asks. "Anti-Family riots?"

"Well, yeah -"

"And they're calling in their cards? All of 'em?"

"Whatever they can, sure. But there's an amnesty -"

"An amnesty?"

"Only for anyone manipulated by the Families in the lead-up to this," Len warns. "Or, I guess, involved in the riots afterwards."

He's a little bewildered by the fact that everyone keeps looking to him for answers in this impromptu little Q+A.

Luckily, in his time of need, Mick is there for him.

"Hey, assholes!" he bellows. "You know what that means? That means no extra sentences for anyone fighting against the Families, and the Families too busy to call in any cards they have on you. So tell me - who wants to go fuck up some Families?"

The roar of enthusiasm is very near enough to flatten Len backwards.

Ah, Central City.

Where even the criminal underworld hates organized crime.

Len's never felt more at home.

It helps that the whispers (not really whispers, now) are about Len's recognized skill at prison escapes that don't end badly.

There are also, here and there, some comments about not wanting to work for that, quote, "yellow Family fucker".

Right.

"Can someone point me to where the asshole in yellow is?" Len calls. "And in the meantime, let's get you guys outta here - we've popped one door, but let's try to avoid a riot - nice and orderly exit, that's the trick of it - and while we're at it, does anyone know where the guards have gone..?"

The guards, it turns out, are in fact locked into the same cells the prisoners have been liberated from, in what Len assumes was meant as a cruel bit of irony but which probably ensured that they weren't murdered by vengeful criminals.

The rest of the exodus is pretty swiftly organized - Len makes them pair up in the buddy system, using their cellies as buddies, in order to make it a bit less chaotic, and it works like a charm - and before anyone really understands what's happening, he's being helped off the table and whisked off back to his task force to focus on their Wells problem as the criminals file out of the prison.

"We've been discussing the issue," Iris tells Len when he rejoins them. "The prisoners don't know where Wells is, but we're pretty sure we do."

"Oh? Where? The meta wing?"

"No," Ramon says. "We figure he won't want to risk being stuck in any of those cells, just in case; he probably got the metas out of there and took them with him."

"Took them with him - where?"

"Wing C," Barry says, voice unusually grim. "The low-security wing."

Len frowns.

"That's where Barry's dad is," Iris says, equally grim.

Ah.

Old Doc Allen. The good man, who was framed and sentenced to prison for a crime he did not commit - by Wells.

Who is obsessed with Barry.

Not good.

"Right," Len says. "So this is probably a trap, but we're going to have no choice but to spring it. All agreed?"

"With any luck, Wells won't be expecting all of us, and not this fast," Thawne says. "He's a planner, but we've thrown his plans off the rails; he's playing it all by ear now."

"Just means he's desperate," Mick says. "Desperate men are dangerous."

"Still, I don't see that we have a choice," Len says. "Let's go - er, in the interests of speed, Danvers, could you..?"

He ends up getting a piggyback ride from her while Mick carries his crutches.

It's humiliating.

"I could probably carry you bridal style," Barry offers oh-so-innocently. "If you wanted."

"Just because Mick has my weapons -"

"Crutches aren't weapons," Ramon objects.

"You'd be surprised," Danvers and Iris chorus.

"- doesn't mean I'm taking any lip from you," Len finishes, ignoring them. "So shut it."

Barry proceeds to mime zipping his mouth shut, though that doesn't get rid of the grin.

Getting close to their destination does that.

"His cell is this way," Barry says, looking down a deserted corridor. "Supposedly. But -"

"He's definitely not there," Danvers says. "Sorry, Barry. The only people here are in the main hall."

"How do you know that?" Ramon asks.

"Uh," Danvers says. "Would you believe me if I said X-ray vision?"

"What," Len, who knows what Danvers sounds like when she's being evasive, says. "Really?"

"As it happens..."

"We talking medical level x-rays," Mick asks interestedly, "or can you peep under peoples' clothing -?"

"No!"

"Quick denial," Mick says wisely. "You know what that means, right, boss?"

"Boss! Make him stop!"

"It means 'leave off teasing until we’re not in the middle of a firefight', Mick," Len says mildly. "We're checking the main hall next. Everyone got weapons out?"

"Except you," Snow says. "You're not fighting - no, not even on the crutches!"

"I'll keep that in mind in the event I have a choice," Len says dryly, getting off of Danvers' back and leaning back on his crutches. "But I'll try to stick to the back. We ready?"

"Ready," they chorus.

And then they walk into a trap.

Wells is lounging on an impromptu throne constructed shoddily out of prison tables, smirking at them, and all around him are the metas Len vaguely recognizes as being part of Barry's kidnapping.

They probably all bear a grudge.

A very reasonable grudge, but perhaps a less-than-timely one.

All but one of the current inhabitants of the main hall are metas. Only one exception: a cage, constructed out of twisted cell bars, placed immediately to Wells' left, and in that cage sits a terrified but defiant-looking Doc Allen.

Definitely a trap.

"Welcome, my friends, to my little hell on earth," Wells says. His smirk fades. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

The metas charge forward.

As the guy bringing up the rear, Len can see the battlefield unfolding almost immediately.

Barry disappears, replaced by a streak of yellow lightning, and a second later Wells, too, disappears, and the yellow and red lightning bolts zip around the room in perfect tandem.

Mardon - Len recognizes him - summons balls of ice into his hands, grinning meanly and throwing them at Thawne. Not a surprise, really; Thawne's Joe West's partner, and Mardon would know that. Unlike Iris, Thawne's a policeman; Mardon would consider him fair game. Thawne ducks away, shouting something about them not meaning any harm and coming in peace, but Len doesn't lay high odds on that approach actually working.

One of the metas turns into poison gas - Len remembers hearing about him - and flows forward, gaseous tentacles reaching out to strangle them all, but Danvers takes a deep breath and literally blows him back away from the others, flying forward to confront him one-on-one. It's still a little discordant, seeing his secretary (admin assistant) floating a few inches off the ground, still wearing her red skirt and mesh leggings and that ridiculous puppy-getting-ice-cream sweater she likes so much, her hands balled into fists and a fierce expression on her face, but Len can't help but grin in pride.

A second later, Mick steps up to join her, shouting, "I got this guy, go help the others!" and aiming a burst of his heat gun at Nimbus.

"But -"

"My gun only kills, Skirt, and the boss wouldn't want me to murder prisoners. But this guy's got a death sentence, so he's fair game for me."

Danvers nods her understanding and backs off, turning back to the fight just in time to snag Ramon out of the way of the guy shooting lasers out of his eyes.

Len wonders what name Ramon gave him.

"Deathbolt coming in hot!" Ramon shouts, solving that mystery. "Caitlin, watch out -!"

Snow, who was 'Deathbolt's next target, disappears.

Literally disappears - Baez, the only female-presenting meta (Len hadn't noticed the gender disparity before, he wonders why that is), appears next to Snow in a burst of smoke, grabs her around the waist, and they both disappear and reappear elsewhere, out of the line of fire.

"You saved me!" Snow exclaims.

"You gave me all your old medical textbooks and talked to me while I was stuck in the Accelerator," Baez says. "I'm still pissed at you, but you don't deserve to be - wait, Deathbolt? Why does he get 'Deathbolt' and I get 'Peek-a-Boo'?! What the hell, Ramon?!"

"He has laser eyes!" Ramon shouts back from where Danvers has dropped him off and where he's aiming his vibration gun at Deathbolt. He shoots off a burst, which Deathbolt ducks. "What was I supposed to call him?!"

"I don't care what you call him," Baez says indignantly. "I care what you call me! Peek-a-boo is a kid's game! Or a stripper name! I want a badass name!"

"Is now really the time -" Snow starts.

They seem to have Baez well in hand, and Ramon is now exchanging vibration blasts with Mr. Laser Bolts in a game of stalemate.

Iris -

Iris is fine. She has her hands on her hips and she's scolding a guy three heads taller than her, with steel skin, and much to Len's surprise it's working surprisingly well.

It helps that she clearly tasered him first - he still looks groggy.

Danvers, meanwhile, has flown over to confront the last meta, a relatively non-descript man in black with sunglasses; Len's not sure what his powers are, but he has no doubt Danvers can handle him.

That's all the metas handled.

Barry -

Barry's still not winning. He's keeping pace, barely, and he's keeping Wells' attention on him, but that's it.

Wells is still faster. Wells is still stronger.

Wells is still going to win, and then he's going to murder everyone else in the room at a speed that ensures no one but Barry and maybe Danvers even knows it's happening.

They won't be able to stop him.

This isn't a television show, where Barry could use the power of romantic love (Len), familial love (Iris, Doc Allen), or even platonic love (everyone else) to inspire him to greater speeds to squeak out a win.

Even Danvers' help can only do so much - she's admitted that she's out of practice, and now that Wells is anticipating her, he'll have thought of something.

They have to find another way to stop him.

They need something creative.

They need something out of the box.

They need -

What the hell is Charlie doing here?

He's peeking in through the door, barely visible, but to someone who knows him as well as Len does, he’s unmistakable.

Len hobbles himself over as quick as possible. "What the fuck, Charlie?" he hisses. "Get outta here! Get - why are you even in here?"

"Attempted assault," Charlie says, unperturbed. "Someone I invited home overreacted."

"You tried to eat them, didn't you."

"They didn't say no until we got there," Charlie replies, as if that makes any sense at all. "Anyway, I've got a message for you, from the cardboard brigade. Magpie said it's your bonus."

Len's eyebrows go up. "I'm listening."

"Magpie says to tell you that while most of what the Accelerator did was give people powers, but that there's a few people - joined the brigade recently - that seem to react badly. Like something's been taken away."

"Well, yeah," Len says. "That makes sense, I guess; you win some, you lose some -"

"She also said to tell you that Hartley Rathaway did or reviewed almost all of the construction on STAR Labs' version," Charlie continues. "Along with Francisco Ramon. All the hardware and tech, they knew it all in and out, just the two of them."

Len's about to ask why he cares when it suddenly hits him.

You win some, you lose some.

There's a mini-Accelerator built into Iron Heights. They already know that it dampens meta powers. If they get both Rathaway and Ramon on it, could they jury-rig it to try to undo the grant of powers it gave before?

Len has no idea if that's even remotely possible, but what the hell, it's worth a shot.

"Thanks, Charlie," he says. "Now go away, get somewhere safe."

Charlie disappears down the hallway.

Len turns back, but before he can do or say anything, a giant dining table comes crashing into the wall only a few feet away from him.

Danvers is standing there, her eyes bright red, her expression furious and deadly and aimed at -

Well, mostly aimed at the guy currently cowering at Len's feet.

Non-descript meta man of the unknown powers, now no longer wearing sunglasses indoors like an idiot.

"What did you do?" Len asks the guy.

"My powers," the guy squeaks. "I cause people to become enraged, which distracts them."

"You...you realize there's nothing else here for her to get distracted by, right? And that the major target of her rage would be you?"

"I realize that now!"

"Well, stop it! I need her for something."

"I can't stop it! She'll kill me!"

"At this rate, she's gonna kill you anyway," Len says dryly. "Here, listen, how about this: you undo it and I'll arrest you. Nice, safe police custody pending trial -"

"Deal! Deal!" the guy yelps as Danvers tears another table - longer than she is tall - off the ground, where it had previously been screwed down hard enough to resist the strongest felons' joint attempts to lift it up.

A few seconds later, Danvers is bright red with embarrassment, but not with metahuman-inspired rage. An improvement.

"Can you take him and that Deathbolt guy back to STAR Labs for the time being?" Len asks her. "And then bring me Hartley Rathaway. The cardboard brigade will know where he is."

"Sure," Danvers says, then flies up behind Deathbolt to pop him one on the head - rough, but effective - and disappears a second later.

"I had him on the ropes," Ramon, who most definitely did not, protests.

"Whatever," Len says, gesturing for him to come closer. "Listen, question: can we use the Accelerator here to create another dark matter pulse? Preferably reversed or something, to try to drain people's powers?"

"It doesn't work that way," Ramon objects. "This isn't Back to the Future, you can't just reverse the polarities and -"

He pauses.

"What?" Len asks.

"I mean, you can't do that," Ramon says slowly. "But you can cause another pulse, if you had enough energy. As much as I hate admitting it, Wells built the original Accelerator with the intention of it blowing up with dark matter the second it had enough power, and we didn't have any choice but to use that same design here."

"Wouldn't that just give them more powers?"

"It might," Ramon says. "But the original explosion put Barry into a coma for months, remember? That dark matter's a real shock to the system. Even if it would be giving him more powers rather than cancelling them out - which it might, who knows, dark matter's weird - it still might disable Wells for the time being. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"It is, yeah."

"Good idea, in theory, but two problems. A, I don't know everything about the system -"

"Danvers is going to get Hartley Rathaway," Len tells him, and has the amused pleasure of seeing Ramon pull a face.

"Yeah, that'll work," Ramon says through gritted teeth. "That guy was a total jerk, but he did know his stuff. Stupid, pretentious -"

"You can sue someone for torture and kidnapping, you know."

"- extremely intelligent person whom I'm going to be very nice to and work well with?" Ramon tries.

"That's better," Len says, suppressing a laugh. Now's not the time. "You said two problems - what's the second one?"

"We don't have enough energy to cause a pulse," Ramon says. "It's like I said earlier, we're only running electricity through the system, not -"

"Extremely fast-moving particles?" Len asks archly. "Like, say, those?"

He jabs a finger at the streaks of lightning still bouncing around the room.

One of which is his boyfriend.

"Oh," Ramon says. "Uh, yeah. That'd work. I - wait, wasn't that Wells' plan all along, though? For Barry to run through the Accelerator and power it for him to time travel with?"

"I have no idea," Len says, because the technical aspects of Wells' time travel plan mystify him. "But even if so, he was planning on STAR Labs, not the mini version you installed at Iron Heights - which, according to you, he doesn't even know about."

"Okay, that makes sense," Ramon says. "But - if they're both running through the system to power it, then there won't be any way to stop both of them from getting hit by whatever new pulse we create. Whatever happens to Wells will happen to Barry: they might both lose their powers, or get hurt."

"Yeah," Len says, all humor fading. "I know."

He swallows.

He doesn't want to say it, but he knows it's true.

"That's a risk Barry's just going to have to take," he says. "You know he'd agree, if we asked him. If it meant saving the city -"

"And stopping Wells," Ramon says. "Yeah. You're right."

He squares his shoulders.

"I'll do it."

#coldflash #barry allen #leonard snart #kara danvers #iris west #mick rory #cisco ramon #Caitlin snow #eobard thawne #eddie thawne #Shawna baez #mark mardon #roy bivolo #tony woodward #henry allen #Hartley rathaway #kyle nimbus #my fic #an internal affair

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menatiera · 6 years

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My 2017

My fics masterlist:

According to my Ao3 statistics, I’ve written slightly more than 100K in this year! :)

Still alive - Winteriron Big Bang story - 62K The Winter Soldier escaped from Hydra, and on the run, It needs a Mechanic to maintain the very efficient weapon attached to its body. It decides the best person for the work is the world's best weapon expert: Tony Stark. Abducting him goes unexpectedly well. Then, complications come. with awesome art by araydre and neutralchaos, check them out!

Command me to be well - Stucky Scary Bang story - 17K Prompt: "Necromancer Steve is going to anger management because every time he gets pissed off dead people start crawling out of the ground." That's it, that's the story. A creepy tale involving zombies, therapy, and - yes, you guessed it right - love. Beware of treating death as a joke. (But hey, for a necromancer...) Artwork is by Brooklyn_bisexual.

My roommate is a monster... really?! - Stucky Scary Bang story - 8.7K "Steve makes sure his breaths are deep and even as he listens to Bucky's footsteps. He's barely made it to their dorm room when Bucky's screams started. He almost made the huge mistake of waking him up, but he stopped himself the moment he touched Bucky. He was pretty sure Bucky wouldn't appreciate teethmarks on his forehead." Sharing a room with your childhood best friend in college is great. Even if one of you is a war vet with only one arm, and the other isn't exactly run off the mill either. This should be a funny piece. Written for the Stucky Scary Bang. The wonderful Arania made a beautiful piece of art to accompany this fic.

Inktober ficlets - starkspangledwinterhawk drabbles Day 12: Instrument (Ao3 / tumblr) - 1K Day 7: Confusion (Ao3 / tumblr) - 1K Day 6: Water (Ao3 / tumblr) - 1.3K Day 5: Fallen (Ao3 / tumblr) - 0.5K Day 4: Compliment (Ao3 / tumblr) - 0.8K Day 3: Warmth (Ao3 / tumblr) - 0.8K Day 2: Barefoot (Ao3 / tumblr) - 1.3K Day 1: Searching (Ao3 / tumblr) - 0.7K

Avenging the galaxy - Pod_together ficlet - 2.7K „All right, everyone! Assemble!” Cap called them with a shit-eating grin. „Time to continue playing!” The Avengers already had a succesful table-top RPG campaign where they saved the world as the Guardians of the Galaxy. The second game seems to be as much fun as the first. The amazing podfic is by Opalsong, who jumped into place in the last minute and made magic!

Little ficlets and drabbles: Calidoscope - gen - 1K The first Avenger and his best girl (also superhero) - Steggy shorts - 3.8K In the end we'll find our happiness (or fight for it) - Stony shorts - 1.7K

And here comes my summary of the year :) Fandom things in the beginning, personal stuff (under the cut) in the end.

I fell this hard into the Marvel fandom in the summer of 2016. I've always been a fangirl, but with other stuff earlier. I can't remember the exact thing that hooked me - I have some recollection about a Bucky CW meta, but not sure -, but one it catched my attention, there wasn't a thing in the world able to stop me. I started in hungarian, but the base is almost nonexistent, so... I've started to read english fanfics that fall. It was hard because I haven't practiced my english knowledge since high school, and I've never been particularly good in it anyway. But I've read A LOT, and I got better...

Fast forward: in the beginning of 2017, I made this tumblr blog (thanks for my helpers @saturnabouttomakelove and @cabeswaterfoxes), and in February I wrote my first english drabble. It was garbage, of course, and nothing original, and I struggled with the language so much... but from time to time I tried to write a drabble or one-shot, because I needed to be a 'maker' to feel myself part of the fandom.

I think I had a great development by now, and I hope to have it as well in the future. There are many people who helped me a lot through hard times or with problems I had, and I appreciate all of them and all of their work! I won't try to name everyone because it would be longer than this whole post, but I hope you all know who you are - thank you!!! If we talked even just a few words during this year, then my heartfelt thank you is yours as well, my introvert heart beats for you in gratitude.

The remaining stuff is the personal part, so it's under the cut for the ones interested, but skippable for everyone else.

I can't resist the opportunity to summarize my last year either, so here we go! I had a good run in mostly every sense of the word. Okay, I had my ups and downs and rough areas, sore spots and stuff, but in overall, I think I did good.

I spent 9 out of 12 months with therapy (and only not more because my therapist changed jobs so she had to quit, sadly), and I learned and achieved a lot.

I am still happy with my bf. He's my complete opposite, but he supports me all the way, happy for my successes, encouraging even in things he can't and won't understand or like. I love him dearly.

I moved out from my parents and in together with my sis, which is not ideal, but way better than staying there in a place that I felt toxic. (And made me ride public transportation 3-4 hours each day. Now I have to ride only around 2-2,5 hours. Improvement.) She got two cats, which means I have them as well, and they make me so, so happy. They might not sit in people's laps or love anyone unconditionally, but they have unique and beautiful personalities and they care with us. They try to cheer me up when I'm upset (and they're in the mood for it, of course), they demand attention, they play, they... oh, and they're also beautiful :)

I met wonderful people. I joined a Marvel club, which is awesome. I still feel out of my element most of the time with them, I still don't have that 'I belong here' thing. At some parts it's rational since I don't do cosplay like the rest of them, or since they know each other longer than I. But on the other hand, it's fully irrational and I have to work harder to not only realize they accept me, but also feel myself accepted, and to not let my insecurities ruin this social thingy for me.

I participated in GISHWHES, and had a mostly fun time with it. (Again: my insecurities can fuck themselves because they try really hard to ruin things for me, but I'm battling them actively.)

I met with wonderful hungarian fangirls and -boys in an awesome fandom camp, which meant 4 days of games and fun to me. (Kudos and acknowledgement to the hard-working organizers!) It was the best 4 days of my summer.

I did Nanowrimo as an ML which means I had the opportunity to met all my wonderful wrimos either personally or online, get the honour to help them out, to organize events for them, and in return I became part of the best community I've ever seen, people who understand each other deeply and support each other even more - including me. I'm the luckiest for being part of that. (And also, I’ve written 50K in a month. Yaaay!)

But above all, first and foremost, I'm grateful for meeting my soulmate. @cpt-winniethepooh, you are a truly amazing, awesome person, sunshine in my life. I can't even say how much your friendship means to me. And also, you became my beta, my muse, my best fandom friend as well, and the fics I've written this year mostly happened because of you. I'd be so lost without you. You make me a better person and a better writer as well, you help and encourage me in every way and form, and I want you to be part of my life until we're old and grey. (So, you'll have to meet my bf, and you might as well mean this as a threat. :D) What could I say? Thank you feels not enough, but that's the most I can offer. Thank you for being amazing, for deciding you want to be amazing next to me, and for letting me see the moments when you don't feel amazing at all. (Don't worry - you still are, even during those times.) Thank you, my beloved darling.

And you, dear readers and mutuals and friends, thank you for bearing with me, for following my tumblr and reading my fics, for being awesome and enthusiastic and kind and all.

Keep going in 2018! :)

#marvel #fandom #my writing #my fanfiction #my fanfiction masterlist #masterlist #fic rec #ficrec #summary #my year #2017 #2018 #my fandom experience #personal #mena writes

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dirthavarens · 7 years

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something i can turn to;;ignoct

The trailer for Episode Ignis had me feeling some kind of way and I really needed to write some wholesome Ignoct, so here we are. Also, I haven’t written anything for my lovely girlfriend (aka @caaelum) in quite some time.

Fandom: FFXV Pairing: Ignis Scientia/Noctis Lucis Caelum Word Count: 1708 Rating: T Content Warnings: None AO3: [here]

He always wished to tell Ignis everything, and Ignis always wished to listen; no matter the topic, Noct confided in Ignis as though he were a diary. And Ignis guarded every esoteric secret with his very life. Every nightmare, every fear, every fanciful imagining, and every desire, Ignis knew with the slightest of recollection. He remembered everything Noct would ever tell him, as was the duty of Chamberlain.

Moreover, Ignis simply enjoyed listening to Noct speak, his voice, even when it was changing, was what he imagined home sounding like. When his voice was lined with gaiety and pleasantness, Ignis would feel warmth nestle within him and lift his spirits. When Noct carried resistance in his tone, Ignis felt rigged and on-guard; when he was despondent, Ignis felt himself fall as well. He was tightly wrapped around Noct; just as Noct was around him. Together, they went through life, Ignis only two years his senior, and neither could picture a life that did not involve the other directly at his side.

With the promise of marriage shortly around the corner, Ignis felt the nervousness brimming within Noct; it radiated outward from him and Ignis often wondered how no one else could feel such tangible anxiety. Perhaps it was the bond the two men shared, or rather it was just from how well Ignis knew Noct. In earnest, Noct’s anxious heart did not stem from the wedding itself, but the reluctance he felt towards it. In front of his father’s company, he played the part; put on the carefully choreographed dance over and over for the last month.

But it was no more than that: a facade.

“Don’t make me go, Ignis. I…” Noct’s words slipped away with the sunlight, dusk taking over the Insomnian sky. Ignis’s intrigue was tugged at and with his interest piqued, he turned to face the other. The hesitancy of rebuffed desires was scrawled over Noct’s features to the point of pity. Ignis shifted in his direction and adjusted his glasses, the glare from the setting sun proving an issue whilst trying to look upon Noct.

“If you wish to stay, you needn’t say more,” he conceded with a sigh when Noct could not find his footing, so to speak. “You can remain for as long as you require my companionship.”

Noct breathed a sigh of both embarrassment and relief and a sheepish grin slipped onto his face. Ignis felt a reflective one appear on his own mouth and braved a step toward Noct, then another and so on until he stood squarely in front of him. Before Ignis could act, Noct wrapped his arms around him and nestled his head into the crook of Ignis’s neck, ebony hair tickling pallid flesh.

“I always want you around,” Noct hummed as he pressed his face against Ignis and breathed in the scent of him. Ignis lifted his arms then and wrapped Noct in a secure embrace. The two held to one another, as entwined as their lives, as words left unspoken crossed through the silence. Ignis found himself dragging Noct down towards the floor, no longer wanting to stand, but definitely not wanting to let go of Noct.

He followed easily to the ground and Ignis gave a warm sigh when Noct’s head landed on his chest, his hand splayed over his heart. Admittedly, Ignis knew he was being overly dramatic, that the floor was no place for a prince and his chamberlain, but at the same time, he did not want to risk moving too far or rushing time onward. If he could, if only for a moment, he wanted to freeze time, to give Noct a second to experience a normal life. He wanted him to experience something he felt only he could provide him, or wanted to believe only he could provide him.

The sun fell behind another building then slipped away, plunging the world into darkness. Street lights flickered on but Ignis gave no mind to the progression of time. Instead, he focused on the way Noct’s hair tickled the skin of his throat and the way his fingertips felt as they gently flexed on the fabric of his shirt in perfect time with the beat of his heart. He wrapped his arm tighter around Noct as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

The other froze, his hand no longer moved upon his chest, and lifted his head from Ignis’s chest, eyes wide with confusion and alarm. Somewhere buried in cobalt eyes was what Ignis had been searching for, something he wanted confirmation of, but he wouldn’t press any further than he already had. Making a move on the Prince of Insomnia a week before the signing of the treaty that would ensure his marriage was...less than ideal.

Ignis tensed in return, wondering if he had been too bold, took too many liberties in too short of a time. Noct bent down and hovered a few inches above Ignis’s face, beautiful trepidation locked in his eyes. No mistake had been made and Ignis closed the gap between their lips. He pushed himself onto his elbows and Noct leaned back onto his knees to compromise as they kissed.

As much as he wanted to watch Noct kiss him, Ignis did not keep his eyes open long; the way Noct’s mouth moved with painful slowness against his own made them slip close. A hum sounded in his throat as the two fumbled to find a rhythm, Noct unsure of how to pace himself, or kiss in general, but he learned quickly with Ignis as his coach.

“Gently,” Ignis murmured against Noct’s lips when he felt the pain of a bite on his bottom lip. It was not hard enough to draw blood, but too hard for the gentility of their pace. Noct slowly swept his tongue over Ignis’s bottom lip before returning to rhythm they formed. A hum of approval sounded in Ignis’s throat before he took the liberty of deepening the kiss. Noct gave a surprised sound before sighing at the sensation of Ignis’s tongue entering his mouth, sampling him. Then, much to his own surprise, Noct returned the gesture, and the two found a new rhythm, Noct kneeling and Ignis sitting upright, hands tangling into hair and resting wherever purchase could be made.

His head was spinning at the the taste of Noct, the earthy electricity that plunged him into the deepest depths of the ocean and carried him into the highest places of the heavens. Admittedly, Ignis could taste the snack they had together on the way back to his apartment, but it was masked, entirely overtaken by whatever it was that Noct was comprised of. Perhaps it was his own desires manifesting into reality that gave Noct’s kiss such ethereal quality, or perhaps he was more enamored than he had cared to admit to himself over the years.

Regardless of what it was, Ignis wanted more, a dangerous amount of more that he knew it to be too soon to have. He broke the kiss and slowly opened his eyes. Noct’s cheeks were flushed and his mouth was still chasing after Ignis. Even if he wanted to concede and surrender to another kiss, Ignis would not do as such on the floor and not when he could barely feel his lips. He gave a small grin when Noct gave a huff of disapproval and rocked back onto his bottom.

Ignis was the first to stand, taking a chance in breaking his fantasy as he held out a hand for Noct to take. When his hand was filled with Noct’s, he led them to the couch and the two fell to the cushions, their bodies entangled as Ignis turned the television on. Within the week, Noct would never experience this exact situation again; he’d never get to lay beside someone he cared for so deeply, be embraced by someone who loved him so entirely. The thought put a sour taste in Ignis’s mouth as he gathered Noct closer, bringing his back closer against his chest.

The man in his arms deserved more love than even he could offer and yet Fate would allow no such outcome. He wanted to say the Lady Lunafreya could love Noct more than he could, but he knew that to be false. The bond between Oracle and Lucian king was supposed to be one of no contest, but the way Noct rejected his destiny served as testament against such claims. Ignis could imagine no other place for Noct than where he was at present. To think he waited as long as he had before giving in to something he knew to be truth for too long baffled him to near embarrassment. If he could have him for but a week, he would, and he would give him a lifetime’s worth of memories and love in those short few days.

“Being married is going to blow,” Noct muttered with an empty chuckle, as if reflecting Ignis’s thoughts. He nodded and hummed his agreement, knowing that he did nothing to make matters easier. If anything, Ignis only complicated Noct’s situation by throwing his own emotions into the mix. “But I can’t necessarily say, ‘Oh, hey, Dad, I’m ditching the wedding to run away with Ignis,’ now can I?”

“You want to run away?” Ignis’s amusement seeped into his words as Noct turned his head to make eye contact with him.

“I don’t want to be trapped in a shitty marriage with someone I’m not in love with. Besides, it’s not like I can survive without you, right? Even when I do marry Luna, you’ll still be right by my side. Might as well cut out the third wheel.”

“Fair point,” Ignis mused as Noct filled the empty spaces between his fingers with his own. “Not to be the voice of pragmatism, but there’s no need to worry about this until the end of the week. If you would like, we could simply spend your remaining time as a free man as we are now.”

A moment of silence ticked by before Noct gave his response. He pushed himself against Ignis and squeezed his hand. “I would like that.”

#my writing #ignoct #otp: always #ignis scientia #noctis lucis caelum #ffxv #fic

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