"Okay, so why is Barry on the bed again?"

 

At Nathan's question, Cisco bit on his protein bar and said, "'Cause he wanted to run backwards, but it didn't go well."

 

Nathan nodded. He would've wanted to voice his opinion regarding Felicity's being there in the lab, but the fact she already knew Barry's identity as The Flash made the point moot. Still...

 

"I can't believe she actually works for the Arrow; do you think Barry actually knows about the Arrow as well?" Nathan looked at the screen, skimming through the database of log entries.

 

"Well." Cisco shrugged. "I mean, what are the odds that she knows Arrow and our local superhero?"

 

Nathan responded with a nod. He was about to open his mouth when he saw something. He started digging deeper, looking through the logs, and found an entry missing. "Alright, that's weird."

 

Cisco seemed to hear him and came over. "What happened?"

 

"One of the items is missing, and the janitor didn't show up."

 

Cisco took over and looked through the data. Nathan saw nervous tension flicker across the man's face, and he realized that something wasn't right. "What's wrong?" He asked.

 

"This is bad." Cisco muttered and leaned back. He seemed lost in a daze for a moment, then turned to leave. "We need to inform Dr. Wells."

 

Nathan had no idea what was happening, so he followed the man. Needless to say, the man was pissed. If anything, he was about as angry as Nathan had ever seen him, and that had been when he had hidden what his powers could do.

 

"I will ask you again: how long has the weapon been gone?" Sure enough, that was not the tone he normally used to talk with. Guilt flashed across Cisco's face, and he started to spill everything.

 

Nathan sat on the sidelines, listening. When Dr. Wells left, he walked over, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked, "What's this about?"

 

...

 

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, but it was another glaring point toward his already growing paranoia. Although he considered them to be his friends, he didn't know exactly what they would do when they got to know him for real. Would they hate him? Call him a criminal. Put him behind bars. Nathan had no idea.

 

He was sitting on his chair with a hand on his chin.

 

"Barry." Nathan sat straight as he saw him walk in. "I thought you were at Jitters with Felicity; what happened?"

 

"It's Snart; he's back." It was all he said as he disappeared in a blur. Nathan sat still for a moment before he focused on the feed coming through the satellite. There was activity near the Central City Museum, and the CCPD was pilling in.

 

Nathan was still focused on the data when another person came through the door. "Felicity."

 

"Hey, did Barry come back yet?" Felicity smiled and asked. Nathan shook his head and asked about how their night went. Not bad, she said.

 

It was only a few minutes after that Barry came tumbling in; his face was covered in sweat, and Nathan saw him holding his abdomen in pain. He could see cold vapors rising from the bluish part of the suit.

 

"What happened?"

 

"Snart," Barry said. Nathan moved over to help as Caitlin prepared to inspect the injury. "He has some kind of gun. It slowed me down."

 

Nathan raised a brow at that. Gears started turning in his head, and he looked back at their smart engineer, only to see that the realization had dawned on him as well.

 

Needless to say, it didn't end well. Nathan didn't know how he would've reacted, but fortunately, not as badly as Barry had. That was mostly thanks to the fact that, while he did trust them, he didn't trust them enough to bet his life.

 

"A man died today."

 

"I know." Cisco nodded with grim resignation. "And I have to live with that."

 

"No, we all do." And then he left.

 

Nathan rubbed his temple, feeling a headache coming in. He decided to not think too much and instead focus on his own needs. The S.T.A.R. Labs satellite was a huge help in his creating the algorithm for detecting meta-humans. Without it, he would still not be able to do anything.

 

He started looking over the various reports too; any incident was worth noting. Like the fact that a big metal guy was seen somewhere near this particular neighborhood, or even suspicious traces of bomb testing. Nothing concrete, though, as no traces of any explosive or oxidizing agent were left behind.

 

Nathan spent going through these reports for the better part of the day, or the night in this case, as it was already getting too late.

 

Dr. Wells had left a while ago and hadn't come back. Barry was venting by using the super-enhanced treadmill, and he saw Felicity go after him. Cisco seemed to be trying to make up for his mistakes, and as much as Nathan would've liked it, there wasn't much he could say.

 

Shortly after, Felicity came back and took a seat beside him. Nathan lifted his head from the computer and turned toward her. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" He asked.

 

"Go ahead." Felicity promoted.

 

"How's it like dealing with the Arrow? I mean, the things you do at Starling City?"

 

Felicity seemed to think for a moment and then smiled. "It's a lot like here. The only difference is that we have been together for quite some time and have already adjusted." She fell silent once more. "The truth is, work like this never goes without a hitch. There's always something coming up, something you fall short of, and at times like these, you have to rely on those willing to help. Your teammates."

 

Nathan nodded his head but kept silent.

 

"Barry is, in a way, a simple guy. But he trusts you, and that means a lot." Felicity finished up there when the computer started beeping. As if by some instinct, she took over the keyboard, and in a few seconds Nathan found he was looking at a distress signal from the Central City Museum.

 

"Snart." Felicity and he shared a grave look.

 

In a few seconds, everyone was in the lab. Cisco had a tablet in his hand as he started explaining the 'Cold Gun' to the people present.

 

"The Cold Gun is powered by an engine control unit." Cisco started explaining, and Barry nodded his head. "This E.C.U. was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet. If I boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we will get a ping back and"

 

"We can locate Snart." Dr. Wells finished.

 

"Exactly."

 

"How long will it take?"

 

"I would've to hack into the Center City's network first, so I don't know, 30 minutes maybe?" Cisco shrugged.

 

"Ten minutes." Nathan spoke, but soon another voice overlapped his own, and he stared back in astonishment.

 

"I can do it in less than one." Felicity was already grabbing the laptop as she said this. Nathan raced through the room to appear behind her.

 

"Whoo~ didn't know you could do that." She stared back at him for a second before her fingers started working magic. And magic it literally was.

 

Nathan wasn't arrogant, but he did pride himself on his technical skills. When he said 'ten minutes' he was confident in his skills, sure, but mostly he could do so because he had super speed. Otherwise, he was only a tad better than Cisco at it. But what Felicity was doing; it simply seemed to ignore all the logic.

 

He couldn't understand most of the loops she exploited or how she even went through the protocols like nothing. It was amazing and horrifying, almost like she was a tech genius meta-human.

 

"Are you sure you were in Starling City ten months ago?" Nathan looked at her incredulously. Cisco smiled as he did his part of the work, and they soon found the signal on a moving train.

 

Barry picked the location and ran without any warning.

 

"He turned off his ear piece." Cisco said, his mouth gaping open.

 

Nathan sat back at his place and watched the signal from Barry's suit. He was still racing toward the train, and his vitals were good.

 

"You should go after him." Felicity said it suddenly. The trio stared at her, and Nathan shook his head.

 

"It's how Barry does things. Besides, they would only get in the way."

 

Felicity sighed. "Barry is hurt and angry, and angry people don't make the best decisions." She looked at him and then at others. "I know because I have seen this situation play many times before, so when I am telling you that Barry needs you, help him."

 

Nathan frowned. He did understand that Barry wasn't quite in the right state of mind. But he wasn't an idiot either; he definitely wouldn't make any mistakes. But this was Snart we were talking about—a criminal mastermind–who knew what was going on in his mind. And the fact that he chose a public train to depart from this city seemed awfully foolish, or maybe he had something in his mind.

 

He could help, Nathan realized. But he might expose his other secrets. Barry was a friend, but was he worth endangering his life for? Maybe, just this once, he could lend a hand.

 

"I will go." Caitlin stared at him when he said that.

 

Cisco seemed surprised and shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous. If you are going, we are also coming."

 

Nathan shook his head. "Trust me, I am faster."

 

"But you don't have a suit yet." Cisco voiced the problem.

 

"Remember the shoes you showed me yesterday; I will take those, and a mask is easy to get hands on." Nathan started walking towards the opposite end of the lab. "Besides, I am not as fast as Barry; it is hard to have your clothes catch fire."

 

Cisco shared a look with Caitlin and nodded. He removed the shoes from the locker and handed them to Nathan. "We will be there after you."

 

Nathan took the shoes from him and nodded.

 

Even if he didn't show his other abilities, with just his speed and Barry's help, they would surely beat the guy. As Nathan ran, he began to feel that the choice he made might not be wrong at all.

 

Or maybe it was.

 

It was a blur. Even with his dynamic vision giving him the perception to strech a moment into eternity, that was all he was able to see. A red blur.

 

It raced so fast that even though he was running full throttle, Nathan was only able to watch it move beside him helplessly. He realized that something wasn't right.

 

Nathan took a desolate road and upped his speed to full. At 630 miles per hour, he was close to breaking the sound barrier, yet the blur easily kept his pace. 'Shit,' Nathan cursed. He simply didn't understand what exactly was going on.

 

Then the blur moved, and Nathan was forced to change direction. And again. And again. And again.

 

'It's guiding me.' He realised. Soon they were drawing near the stadium, and Nathan was feeling anxiety creeping upon him.

 

Finally, he stopped. The blur moved a bit further, and then he stopped. The first thing he noticed was that the blur was actually a man, which was not that surprising as he had already guessed it somewhat. His face seemed to be constantly vibrating to hide his features, and he wore a yellow suit that looked much like Barry's. Too much like Barry's; Nathan didn't like that one bit.

 

Something was going on, and he had no idea what. And then he spoke.

 

"Hello Nathan." His voice was deep and gruff. Those red orbs shone ominously at him, and Nathan stared back.

 

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" The man knew him. Probably knew more than just his name. Did he also know his past?

 

"You want to know; first you have to catch me." The man in yellow spoke in a deep voice.

 

Nathan frowned but didn't rush in. He took a look around himself, and seeing that no one was anywhere near to spy on them, he looked back at the man. "You are like the Flash, but not him. Let me guess: you are the one who killed Nora Allen. But that was 14 years ago; how could a meta-human even exist 14 years ago?"

 

"Like I said, you have to catch me first."The man spoke again.

 

"I am not playing your mind games." Nathan said. "You want to get me riled up? Make me an angry target, an easy target. Too bad, you don't get that."

 

"At least I asked." That was all he said as he ran. Nathan had no time to dodge as the man slammed into him, sending him tumbling back. He rolled on his side and stood up, only to face a blow on his chin. This was just the start.

 

Even with his perception slowed down, the man was fast. In a matter of a few seconds, he rolled Nathan in the mud. And all that the blonde-haired young man could do was try to adapt, all to no avail.

 

"You are exceptionally resilient for a Speedster." The man circled around him, just like a vulture circles his prey.

 

"What do you want?" Nathan breathed hard, feeling his chin ache in throbbing pain.

 

"Answers, Nathan. Answers." The man ran fast and slammed his knee into his temple. For a brief moment, Nathan lost consciousness, and when he came back, it was to the stars in the distance shining down on him.

 

"Fuck, how long was I unconscious?"