Scare in Starling City

It's been a couple months or so since the particle accelerator blew and since then, Barry has been moved to the S.T.A.R Labs building for closer monitoring. Iris and Claire visit him practically every day. Elizabeth spends her time at S.T.A.R. Labs while I was at work with Joe and Eddie, and let me tell ya, we got called on some pretty weird cases. It seems like ever since the accelerator explosion, a lot of weird stuff was happening in Central City. Claire had even started filing the medical reports of said weird cases under 'unexplained' and the stack kept growing with every case.

Now, taking a break from the excitement in Central City, I was asked by Dr. Wells to go along with Caitlin and Cisco to Starling City while they were packing up a warehouse owned by S.T.A.R Labs filled with various projects. I cleared it with Captain Singh and was off-duty as of seven this morning.

"So how long did you exactly take off?" Elizabeth asked me, standing in my living room wearing brown cargo pants and a Crash Bandicoot tank top. her dark purple suitcase by the door.

"A week." I answered, sliding on my dark blue leather jacket. I also wore dark jeans and a white lace shirt with an arctic tiger face in the center. "I was thinking we could spend a few extra days in Starling City, maybe check out that club in the Glades. Verdant."

"I'm sure Cisco would enjoy that. Caitlin, not so much." Elizabeth shrugged.

I pulled my teal colored suitcase behind me, joining my friend in my living room. "Fine by me, or it could just be the two of us. A best-friend girls' night." I giggled. "Come on, let's go pick up Cisco and Caitlin and head out." I grabbed my back-up piece and badge, just in case. I locked up my apartment and walked with Elizabeth to the parking garage, loading up our suitcases into the trunk.

Everything was business as usual at S.T.A.R Labs. Caitlin and Dr. Wells were checking on Barry, while Cisco was working on something else to try and help S.T.A.R Labs gain back favor with the city and Theo was going over documents sent in from practically everyone in Central City, whether it be general hate mail or lawsuits.

"Any changes doc?" Elizabeth asked as we entered the Cortex.

Dr. Wells just rubbed his chin, "His vitals seem to be stable for the time being, which is really all we can hope for at this point." he answered, wheeling his way towards us. "I'll be closely monitoring him while you four are in Starling City."

"We won't be gone long, Dr. Wells." Caitlin promised, grabbing her bags from her office.

Cisco nodded, grabbing a navy blue duffle bag and slinging it over his shoulder, "A couple days, tops."

"Well then you guys can take the train home." I chuckled. "I took a week off. Bethy and I were planning on staying a bit longer."

"Well, whatever your plans, just be safe." Dr. Wells advised. "Starling City isn't as friendly as Central."

"Don't have to tell us twice." Caitlin agreed.

I twirled my car keys around my finger, "Alright. We'd better get going." I voted.

"Are you going to be okay while we're gone, Dr. Wells?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'll be fine, Elizabeth." Harrison replied with a smile. "Theo will be here if I need anything."

"For sure." Theo agreed, standing behind Dr. Wells. "Don't worry, he's in good hands."

We took Theo at his word and him and Dr. Wells escorted us out of the Cortex. The elevator doors opened and Iris and Claire stepped out, each holding a cup of coffee from CC Jitters. "Oh, hey guys." Iris greeted, "Where're you going?"

"We have some business to take care of in Starling City." Cisco answered, standing between me and Elizabeth. "Lorelai and Ellie are our bodyguards." I slapped my gun holster to back up the statement.

"Well, we don't want to keep you." Claire said, her and Iris stepping aside. "I'll miss ya Lo."

"I'll be back before ya know it." I gave the blonde medical examiner a wink, being the last one to step into the elevator.

Ten hours later and we made it to the hotel, catching a quick dinner before heading to the two rooms; Caitlin and I sharing one while Cisco and Bethy another.

The next morning, I was getting ready while Caitlin was watching the news. "Hey Lorelai, listen to this." she called, turning up the volume.

I stepped out of the bathroom, biting down on my toothbrush as I saw a press conference being held, something about a terrorist attack at the Queen Consolidated Applied Sciences building. My jaw fell slack and I caught my toothbrush before it hit the ground, "Damn, that's something." I noticed that some other woman was giving the press conference and they were referring to her as the CEO of Queen Consolidated, "I thought Oliver Queen was the CEO?"

Caitlin shrugged, "Apparently, he signed the company over to that Isabel Rochev girl." she informed.

I went back into the bathroom and spit the toothpaste into the sink, rinsing my mouth out with water and let out an exhale. My breath was visible in the air and when it hit the mirror, a small frost appeared in place. A second later, it vanished. I smoothed out my off-shoulder sweater and grabbed my purse, strapping on my gun holster. Caitlin and I met Cisco and Elizabeth downstairs in the hotel diner for breakfast.

"You guys see the news about the Queen Consolidated building?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, scary right?" I sat down next to her, looking over the menu.

"Hope they don't plan on striking the S.T.A.R Labs warehouse." Cisco brought up.

"Not funny." Caitlin scolded.

After breakfast we headed to the S.T.A.R Labs warehouse and Elizabeth and I helped out where we could, whether it was helping keep track of inventory or stepping out for some Big Belly Burger.

I strolled down one of the larger isles, looking at the boxes, letting out a whistle of surprise. "How much stuff is even stored here?" I asked, turning to Cisco, who was checking numbers on his tablet.

"The combined inventory of every scientist who ever worked at S.T.A.R. Labs." he answered. "I hereby christen this building 'da bomb'." he let out a chuckle that brought a smile to my face.

"Nobody says that anymore Cisco." Elizabeth corrected, leaning against a metal table.

"I say it." Cisco corrected. "I define my own cool."

Elizabeth tilted her head up, looking around, "I still can't believe Dr. Wells is shutting this place down." she sighed, crossing her legs.

"S.T.A.R. Labs blew a hole in Central City when we turned the particle accelerator on." Caitlin reminded. "It's not surprising that Starling City cancelled the lease on this facility." she got up from the desk to check another set of serial numbers. "We're not exactly the poster children for 'let us store our unregulated prototypes in your neighborhood'."

"It was an accident, Caitlin." I tried to sympathize, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, well, try telling that to the families of the people who died." Caitlin shrugged me off, going back to her work.

I bit my lip and walked around her, my hands in my back pockets. Cisco and Caitlin went back to their work, while Bethy and I just walked around. The sound of a creaking door caught our attention and we froze.

"I thought we were the only ones here?" I whispered to Elizabeth.

She shrugged, "Maybe it's one of the security guards?" her voice slightly squeaked, which only happens when she gets scared.

"Uh-huh." I whipped out my gun and held it up as I inched closer to where the sound came from. When I turned the corner, I saw a lone security guard standing there. "Oh, hey there." I lowered my weapon.

The security guard then coughed and blood ran down his chin, before his body crumpled to the floor. "Holy shit!" Elizabeth jumped back.

Standing right behind the guard was someone clad in armor and a black and orange mask. "CCPD, hands where I can see them!" I yelled, holding my gun out, clicking the safety off.

"Lorrey, we're in Starling City." Bethy whispered. "You have no jurisdiction here."

"It's a reflex." I replied harshly.

The armor clad killer pulled a gun from the holster on his belt. My cop instincts kicked in and I squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet. It bounced right off the chest plate. "Umm, maybe we should, I don't know, run from the psycho in armor?" Elizabeth suggested.

We exchanged a look and both nodded, taking off away from the killer chasing us. "Caitlin! Cisco! Run!" I yelled, spinning on my heels and firing off more bullets, which sparked off the body armor and hit various other targets, including a few sprinklers which were then set off.

Water rained down, making small puddles all over the floor. I fired off the rest of my rounds, setting off more sprinklers, which I had hoped would slow that psycho down a little bit, didn't happen. Elizabeth and I stopped a few feet from a restricted area of the warehouse, standing between the killer and Cisco and Caitlin. "I'll make this quick." the killer said in a low voice which sounded obviously male. He pulled a sword from the sheath on his back, and at the same time, Elizabeth and I held our hands up in defense. The psycho grunted and was pushed back a good five feet or so.

"What the hell?" Elizabeth gasped, when she saw a mixture of ice and fire between us and where the sword-wielding psycho landed. I glanced in her direction and saw her hands were steaming. Her eyes met mine and they widened.

I looked at my gun, and I felt my jaw flop open. It was nearly covered in ice crystals. My eyes moved down and I saw I was standing on a full sheet of ice, the toes of my boots covered in what appeared to be snow.

"Should we tell Cisco and Caitlin about this?" Elizabeth asked.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "No." I answered, holstering my weapon. "I think this is something we need to talk to Dr. Wells about when we get back to Central City."

She nodded, "Yeah, agreed."

When I caught the guy moving, Bethy and I ran before he noticed us. We caught up with Caitlin and Cisco at he front desk, catching our breath. "Are you two alright?" the doctor asked, her hand touching my jacket sleeve.

"Not sure yet." Elizabeth answered, taking a seat next to Cisco on the lobby couch.

"SCPD should be here shortly." the front desk clerk told us.

I nodded, "Okay, and uh, sorry about the sprinklers going off." I apologized, sitting in one of the chairs. "The psycho back there was wearing some kind of body armor and my bullets bounced off."

"Tell it to the police, ma'am." the clerk replied.

Minutes later, the parking lot was filled with cop cars and the police were searching the warehouse. I gave a statement to one officer about firing my weapon and told him how I was doing Dr. Wells a favor by escorting his employees to Starling.

"Felicity!" Caitlin called, making me turn my attention towards the entrance. Sure enough, a blonde girl in glasses walked in with a taller, dark skinned male, and two teenage girls; one was dark skinned with long, dark hair and the other was fair skinned with nearly platinum blonde hair.

"Are you guys ok?" Felicity asked, worriedly. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"You said 'he' twice." Caitlin noted. "Do you know who attacked us?"

"That lunatic with the mask and the sword?" Elizabeth added. "It was a he, by the way."

"We heard him say something while he was chasing after us." I elaborated, turning to Felicity and her companions. "Hi, I'm Lorelai Snart." I extended my hand, which was now sporting black gloves. "CCPD. I'm here providing a sort-of protection detail for Dr. Snow and Mr. Ramon."

The dark skinned male shook my hand firmly. "I'm John Diggle." he introduced. "I work security for Queen Consolidated."

"Nice to meet you." I slid my hands into my jean pockets, turning my attention to the two teenagers.

"Oh, we're just friends of the Queens." the dark haired girl clarified. "I'm Selena Merlyn. This is Rachel Rayne." the blonde teenager waved.

"Do you have any idea what the masked man may have taken?" Rachel asked. "An industrial centrifuge, by any chance?" The teenager named Selena elbowed her in the side, making her let out a slight 'ow' in a low voice.

"No." Caitlin answered, rather quickly. "It's a secret."

"What kind of secret?" Felicity prided.

"The kind I have to keep." Caitlin replied.

"Well, does Cisco have to keep it, too?" the glasses wearing girl glanced at Cisco, who shrunk back and stood beside Elizabeth.

"Yes. He does." Caitlin cut in.

"Okay." Elizabeth muttered, twisting her hair around her finger.

"We're just so happy that you guys are okay." Rachel smiled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"How's Barry doing?" Felicity asked.

"He's the same." Elizabeth answered. "He's stable though, which Dr. Wells says is good."

"Oh, that CSI tech from Central City." Selena nodded her head. "He's cool. Glad he's okay."

"Barry's condition deteriorated, so they moved him to S.T.A.R. Labs." I informed. "We're taking very good care of him."

"Well, I'll come visit again, as soon as I can." Felicity promised.

"Don't worry about it, Barry get's lots of visitors." Cisco informed. "Between Detective West, Iris, Claire."

"Iris?" Felicity questioned, a twinge of jealousy in her voice.

"Oh, she's Detective West's daughter." Elizabeth clarified. "Iris, Claire, and Barry are best friends."

"We'll keep you updated." I cut in, trying to ease the awkwardness that filled the air.

"Take care." John waved as he and the three girls left.

Elizabeth sighed, "Well that got awkward."

"No joke." I agreed, turning to Caitlin, "So what did that psycho take anyway?"

"Something we were working on to help the hospitals with blood transfusions." she answered. "A bio-transfuser, which can deliver blood from one single patient into multiple patients."

"Why would some sword-wielding lunatic want something like that?" Elizabeth questioned.

I shrugged my shoulders, "And I thought Central City had the weird cases lately." I scratched the back of my head. "Come on guys, lets give the police their space. If they need us, they'll call. Let's just get back to the hotel."

"Can we grab some Big Belly Burger on the way?" Elizabeth questioned.

"I can eat." Cisco seconded.

"Sure, why not." Caitlin agreed.

"Motion carried, let's go eat." we all cracked a laugh as we left the warehouse, heading to one of the best burger joints to ever become a chain.

The next day, Cisco and Caitlin were transferring files from one of the S.T.A.R. Labs research facilities in Starling to the mainframe in Central City. "So after this is all finished, we can head back home." Caitlin stated.

"Sounds like a plan." Cisco agreed.

Elizabeth and I sat outside the lab, reading various magazines. "Excuse me, Detective Snart." the security guard cleared his throat, approaching me. "There are two women here, claiming they're friends. Elena Queen and Andrea Rayne."

"Uh, yeah, send them in." I authorized. I remember Claire said something about meeting those two back when her and Barry traveled here months ago. The security guard opened the door and in walked a teenage girl with dirty blonde hair with frosted highlights and an older woman in her twenties with olive skin and brown hair.

"You're Lorelai right?" the teenager asked, to which I nodded. "I'm Elena Queen, and this is Andrea." she motioned to the woman beside her. "We need to ask S.T.A.R. Labs a favor."

"Of course, come on." I led her into the lab area where Cisco and Caitlin were.

Elena held up a tube full of a green liquid, "We need you to make a cure for this, it's important and time sensitive." she handed Caitlin the tube. "It's a matter of life and death."

"It'll be our little secret." Andrea added.

Elena stepped out of the lab while Andrea talked with Caitlin and Cisco, and Elizabeth listened in, I walked up to her and saw she was looking at an image on her phone. "He's cute." I commented, referring to the boy in the picture with her.

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Elena clicked her phone off, shoving it in the pocket of the slightly large red hoodie she was wearing. "So, you're friends with Barry Allen right? And Dr. Daniels?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Claire's our M.E., and Barry and I work together at CCPD. His foster dad is my partner. My mentor." I tucked some hair behind my ear. "So, who's that guy in the picture? Your boyfriend?"

"Yeah." Elena smiled, "His name's Roy. He's the best." her eyes drifted all over the hallway, not making direct contact, which my cop training told me she was hiding something.

"Come on El, let's get going." Andrea called, thanking Caitlin and Cisco. "Call Felicity once it's finished."

"Right, thanks again you guys." Elena gave us a smile, before following Andrea out the door.

"So, what's all that about anyway?" I asked Elizabeth.

"Apparently, Felicity somehow got that delivered from the Arrow, and he needs the cure ASAP." she answered. "She apprently works with him, sometimes."

"Interesting." I shrugged my shoulders, "How long will it take them to make that cure?"

"I honestly have no idea." Bethy sighed.

It was estimated that it would take a week for them to make multiple viles of the cure the Arrow needed, so Caitlin and Cisco stayed in Starling City while Elizabeth and I headed home.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elizabeth whispered. Her and I were standing just outside of the work station Dr. Wells was at, seriously debating about whether or not to tell him about what happened to us in Starling City when the masked lunatic attacked us.

"If anyone can explain what's going on with us, it's him." I reminded. "Think about it. All the weird things that have happened since the particle accelerator blew, maybe it's all connected."

Elizabeth sighed, "I guess you have a point there." she nodded her head. "Okay, let's tell him." She knocked on the door, getting Wells' attention. "Dr. Wells, Lorelai and I have something we want to talk to you about."