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Chapter 6
Observational notes, Barry Allen:
Nor's fur doesn't burst into fire when I carry him in the suit that Cisco made, which is good because it's awesome to go faster, and his howl's of delight are an added bonus. It does kind of sound like he's trying to be a police siren sometimes, but he says he's not.
It's never occurred to us before if concentrated elements would effect a familiar, like when my clothing kept bursting into flame when I ran at the start, so we decided that we hadn't tested anything with familiar mechanics in a while.
We only used a cheap lighter at first, no sense in potentially actually burning him, but he put the tip of his paw over the flame, and then more of it and then all of it and the flame just went around it but didn't catch on him. Nor said it felt warm, like sitting in the sunlight, but nothing more. We looked at each other as I let the lighter click off and we knew we needed a bigger flame.
The Bunsen burner in my lab at CCPD also had no effect on Nor. So fire, safe for at least my familiar. Nor wanted to try cold next, which was going to be a bit of a problem because it wasn't cold outside and we didn't have a walk in freezer with easy access. And it's not like the cold ever bothered him anyway.
Nor huffed and said that we would figure something out.
---
Joe had been furious with Barry for endangering Iris' life and his own, and wouldn't listen when Barry tried to tell him that he'd seen Clyde Mardon. They'd had a fight right there in the middle of the street and both had left unhappy.
"He never listens to me!" Barry said bitterly as he and Nor were walking back their apartment.
"It's because he doesn't like what he can't see. He's someone that is very 'seeing is believing'," Nor huffed, and pressed against Barry's leg as they moved closer to home.
Barry sunk his fingers into Nor's fur and sighed out his frustration. Why did it always have to be this way? Why couldn't he and Joe ever have a discussion about strange things were Joe didn't end up giving him his Disappointed Face?
By the time they got back to their place Barry was less frustrated and more curious, how was Clyde Mardon still alive? Joe had told him both Mardon brother's had been in a small plain that had crashed after having been struck by lightning.
"IT was the same night that you were struck too," Nor said as he hopped up onto his chair in the kitchen. "And he clearly has abilities now that he didn't have before. He must have been the one to create that fog."
"But how does a human create fog!" Barry exclaimed as he opened his fridge to look for something to eat. He'd been feeling hungrier lately even though he'd been eating the way he had before. He'd have to remember to bring it up with the team at S.T.A.R. Labs sometime soon. "If we were both struck by lightning then why can he make fog and I can't? It makes no sense."
"What is it you can do then if you can't control the weather?" A new voice said causing Barry to slam his head in the fridge before he could pull it out all of the way and turn around and Nor started to growl.
Standing in their living room was Clyde Mardon himself. Looking around the space itself and not at Barry, like he wasn't worried that he'd just broken into an occupied apartment...if he could control the weather he probably wasn't.
"I can't do anything," Barry said as Clyde bent over to pick something up. Barry moved out of the kitchen to see what it was and saw that Clyde had his work bag in his hands and was pulling his laminate out. A slow smile spreading across his face.
"So this is why you seemed all chummy with that detective, you're one of their lab rats," Clyde said and finally turned to look at Barry. "And try again, Barry, because I know you can do something. You got into my car and then got us both out of it when you jerked the wheel to flip it. Can you teleport?"
Clyde's face seemed to light up at the prospect of someone being able to actually teleport, and Barry had this sinking feeling in his stomach.
"I can't teleport."
Nor was standing in front of him and had his ears back and was snarling now, Barry glanced down at him and then up at Clyde, watching him carefully. It wasn't until Nor barked that Clyde finally shivered and then he frowned.
"What are you doing, Allen? What are you doing that is upsetting my familiar so much!" Clyde moved forward and got in Barry's face, catching a hold of his shirt and Nor barked again, which caused Clyde to shudder. "Stop it!"
"I can't because I'm not doing it. You're upsetting my familiar. His bad mood is what's upsetting your familiar," Barry said, and for a moment he was sure that he was going to get hit.
Clyde leaned farther into Barry's space and said, "no ones familiar can do that."
"Mine's been doing it for years," Barry said nervously, Nor at his side so he could burry his fingers in his fur.
Clyde caught the motion from the corner of his eye and looked down, "that's how big he is, your familiar?"
Clyde sounded like he was judging Nor, and while Barry could let himself be pushed around, he wasn't going to let someone speak badly about his brother. He brought his arms up at super speed and pushed Clyde back with the momentum from it. "If you have a problem with my familiar then you have a problem with me."
Clyde looked at him from where he'd ended up toppled over a chair and smiled, "there's that fire from the car!" He pulled himself up and it looked like he was getting ready to fight.
"What do you want, Mardon," Barry practically growls, he could tell Nor was pleased by this from where he was still standing next to him.
"I want you."
Barry blinked at him, that was not what he'd been expecting.
"What ever it is that you can do, I'm sure it can help me rob banks. The way you got in and out of that car, the. way you just pushed me off of you," and then he waved Barry's laminate at him, still clutched in his one hand, "and you'd know how to do it all with out leaving evidence behind. We could own this town! And then when Mark gets back the three of us could be a force of nature the likes of which the world has never known!"
"He's lost whatever sanity he had left," Nor says dryly next to him.
"I won't help you, I work for the CCPD. I won't be one of those kinds of cops that goes bad. I got this job so that I could prove my father was innocent," Barry says vehemently.
Clyde makes a face, Barry's not quite sure what emotion he's trying to convey with it, but he watches as his laminate falls from the bank robbers hand all the same once he's apparently made up his mind.
"Fine then, but if you won't be on my side, then you're still going to play the game with me. If there's anything in this world that I've learned its that there are two kinds of people. Cops and robbers. I'm already the robber, so that means you have to be the cop. Whatever it is that you can do, you better figure out a way to use it to play with me. Otherwise everyone will know you're just like me." Clyde looked so smug as he held his hands out at his sides, so self satisfied, that Barry just wanted to punch him.
"He'll never see me coming," Nor said, and Barry glanced back to his familiar and saw that the wolf had moved so that he was in front of Clyde, easily able to bite one of his hands. If only Barry would touch him...
Clyde made a rage filled exit with a bloody hand and calling obscenities over his shoulder as he dashed out the window and into the late afternoon. Barry was beyond shocked no one reported him to the police...or the buildings super for a noise complaint.
He used his speed to clear up the blood that Clyde had left behind and then went after Nor to clean his mouth and muzzle.
"I'm fine! I've licked most of it away already," Nor huffed. The horrified look on Barry's face let him know that that was the wrong thing to say. "Familiars can't get blood born pathogens, we've been over this, pup. And over it and over it and over it. Stop looking at me like I'm going to contract ebola."
Barry still managed to guilt Nor into the bathroom to properly wash his mouth out, the wolf couldn't handle Barry's kicked puppy look. He should have never allowed Barry to learn that look when they were younger. He'd taken a master class in it at some point and Nor was not immune to it at all. He pitied Snart for when this game of theirs was over, the stupid human stood no chance.
Once everything and everyone was dry, Nor had made sure Barry had gotten just as wet as he did, the pair ended up just going to bed. They'd deal with everything else in the morning.
---
"What do you mean Clyde Mardon knows you have abilities?!"
Somehow, that was not the reaction he'd been expecting from Dr. Wells at all. Not by a long shot. Nor was growling lowly at his side and Cisco and Caitlyn were on the other side of the room trying to make themselves invisible. They were doing a surprisingly good job at it.
"He followed me back to my apartment yesterday after I tried to stop him from getting away," Barry tried to defend himself.
"Tried to stop him...without any kind of a mask to protect your identity. What if he goes looking for your loved ones to use against you, Mr. Allen?" Dr. Wells said, the flash of anger gone, now quietly simmering back to his normal tone, but still angry non-the-less.
Barry's face paled and Nor shifted to press into his leg, Barry's hand sinking into his fur. He hadn't even considered that Clyde might go after them, and there he'd been, arguing with the man in his own living room just he day before.
"What am I supposed to do? He said that if I wasn't going to join his side that I'd need to be the cop to his robber. That I needed to figure out a way to play his game. I can't do that without everyone finding out who I am."
Wells gave him a less than impressed look and sighed, "don't think that I am unaware of the plans that you and Mr. Ramon are making for his prototype fireman's suit, Mr. Allen."
Off to the side Cisco made a noise close to a dying animal and Barry's face wasn't sure if it wanted to go red in embarrassment or bloodless with worry at having been caught by his idol. It was an odd sensation to say the least. Caitlyn gave an exasperate sigh for her part.
They spent the rest of the afternoon testing Barry's speed, again, but this time in Cisco's suit to see how it would hold up against Barry's speed. It did a remarkable job.
They had just made it back tot he cortex when the call came in over the police scanner, that Cisco had been monitoring, of a bank robbery in progress with some very strange atmospheric shenanigans going on.
Barry looked at the three humans and his familiar and said, "now or never," and dashed out of S.T.A.R. Labs, en route to the bank to see just what he could do against Clyde Mardon.
------
Len had the table in the warehouse covered with plans, time tables, city maps, calculations and a photograph of a diamond. The date of when it would be arriving in Central was getting closer and he needed to be ready. He'd gotten a crew together that didn't involve Lisa or Mick as that had been his original plan.
The boys were watching an old tv behind him while he and Chain were looking at the schematics for the armored car. The copy he'd gotten ahold of had a strange note on it that listed tolerances to how hot or cold the metal could get. A strange addition to be sure, but something he could work with. He made a note for some liquid nitrogen and then turned back to the schematic.
He wasn't paying attention to anything else when Chain nearly pushed him over and then he heard one of the men from the new crew calling him over. He sighed but went to see what they thought was so exciting.
He clenched his jaw to stop it from dropping open. The news was looping a short clip of a bank robbery getaway where a man, clearly controlling the weather, was fighting something else that looked like a streak of lightning.
"That guy looks like Mardon," Len heard one of his men say.
"Which Mardon?" Another asked.
"The younger one," the first one replied back.
"I thought they both died the night of the Accelerator. They're both listed as dead," the third man said.
Everyone turned to look at him and he shrugged, "I had family I couldn't find so I read the whole list." Everyone left it at that.
"That's him you know," Chain said, boosting up behind Len to rest his paws on Len's shoulders. "And it looks like he's trying to stop Clyde."
Len turned and left the others to watch the news and went off into a different room, he needed to be able to talk to Chain about this possible turn of their soulmate.
Once he'd found a room off tot he side that had a door he could close, he slammed it shut and turned to look at his familiar, eye brows drawn together and anger building. He couldn't even get words out. If the lightning streak was /his/ soulmate then why was he running around and playing with Clyde Mardon and not Len himself! If he wanted to run around and play hero Len could have helped him do that!
"You're seething."
"I am not seething!" Len shouted...and then blinked, he realized how tight his muscles had gotten and he shook himself out.
"I don't like stealing you know," Chain said as he came up next to Len, pressed against him and started to purr.
"But that doesn't mean he doesn't like it. We've seen him do it at least once and know of one other time that we can trace back to him confidently. Why is he play hero now? And don't tell me that maybe it was a one time thing, it's never a one time thing. He was good at it, too good at it. And with his speed now he could be great at it," Len frowned and threaded his fingers into Chain's fur. "We need to figure out who he is, end this game that the mongrel wants to play already."
"You do realize that by calling Nor a mongrel that you're effectively calling yourself the same thing, right?"
Len tugged Chain's ear to the side for his sass but otherwise made no comment on it. When he and Nor stopped this ridiculous game of keep away he'd consider being nicer to the wolf...maybe.
"What are we going to do about Mardon playing cops and robbers with our soulmate?"
Chain huffed in exasperation, shifted from under Len's hand and ran his sandpaper tongue over part of if. Len's reaction was immediate, if not a little comical to Chain, when he jerked it back looking betrayed.
"Stop digging a hole in your head, all we have to do is find the people on your short list and go and pay them a visit. Easy, easy," Chain chirped at him.
Len was still rubbing his hand as he considered this. It hadn't been a very long list after all.
"We can see what ever became of Doc Allen's kid first. He's either still in a coma, dead or back among the land of the living. In which case it'll be easy enough to find him," Len smiled down at Chain and swept his hand over the big cat's head as he moved back out of the small room. For now he had to work of a diamond heist some more.
---
As it turned out Allen the Younger had, in fact, survived his coma and was in the waking world again. Len was not able to find an exact date though for when he had woken up, nor was he able to find out where he had finished his treatment. If he took into account that his soulmate had become one of these powered people, then it would make sense that it would be kept quite if Barry had ended up with some kind of ability. He smirked to himself as he wondered what it was.
Chain bumped into him to bring his attention back to the real world and he looked up, they were at the address for Barry's apartment building. Len reached for the door, already knowing that it was not the kind were he needed to be buzzed in and quickly went inside. The elevator was easy enough to find, but the "out of order" sign was disappointing.
"Looks like you're getting leg day today after all," Chain chirped as they headed for the stairs, an extra bounce in his steps at Len's soon-to-be struggle up six flights of stairs.
Len paused in the stairwell before opening the door onto the sixth floor and took a deep breath and then pushed it open. He looked down the hall to the very last door and then looked down at Chain, the big cat nodded back to him and they moved on down the hallway until the came to the end where Len knocked twice.
He heard a surprised noise from inside and then, “they’re early!”
“This should be good,” Len said softly to Chain, a smirk tugging at his face. He wondered who the younger Allen was expecting.
From the other side of the door he heard, “don’t give me that look, it’s a possibility that they’re early. What did I do with my wallet, need to make sure I tip them this time if it is them.”
“Delivery of some kind,” Chain said as he sat down next to Len to watch the show when the kid opened the door and realized they didn’t have food.
Closer this time they heard, “Come on, of course it’s the delivery…” and here the door swung open to reveal a very awake an animated Barry Allen to Len, quite the difference from the last time he saw him all of those months ago when he was laying in that hospital bed, “…guy.”
Barry blinked at Len and tipped his head to the right but his left eyebrow went up at the same time. “You’re either new or not the pizza guy,” Barry said, sounding like he already knew which one the answer was.
Len’s smirk started to grow wider when he felt a vibration run through Chain and he looked down. Chain was staring, wide eyed, at Barry but otherwise not doing anything. He was sitting stock still, which was something he hadn’t done since before the accelerator. It was Len’s turn to blink and then look back up at Barry, who was still looking right at him. Len didn’t think he’d looked down at where Chain was, some people considered it rude even if they couldn’t see the familiar.
“No, i’m not here to deliver anything,” Len started to say.
“Oh, then you probably want the apartment two doors down on the right, you passed it coming to my door. That’s where the parties are most nights. Nothing happens here in my corner apartment,” Barry smiled, cutting Len off. Len huffed a bit.
“I’m not here for any party either.”
“…You don’t look like the description of Mrs. Obrazik’s grandson, though to be fair I haven’t been to visit with her in a while so I could use a refresher on what he looks like,” the smiled politely again at Len, and now he was starting to wonder if it was a distraction technique.
“I’m not related to anyone in this building,” he said and quickly held his hand up, stoping Barry from saying anything again. Barry snapped his mouth shut, almost audibly, and raised both of his eyebrows as he looked on at Len. “I came here to see you specifically, Barry.”
The kids eyes went a bit wide and it didn’t look like he was going to do anything for a moment but then he snorted, “this is a prank, right? Someone paid you to do this? I’m sorry you had o come all this way. Tell me what they were going to give you and I’ll see if I can match it so that you can just call it an early night, ok?”
Barry turned to go back into his apartment, maybe to get more money, maybe to get an actual check book, Len didn’t know and neither did Chain because he finally moved at that moment and Len moved with him. His hand snapped out and snagged Barry’s wrist and both men froze, both now inside Barry’s apartment.
Len felt like lightning was running up his arm, like when he would sometimes be running his hands through Chain’s fur since he had woken up after the accelerator, but the palm of his hand and his fingers felt cold from where they were wrapped around Barry’s wrist.
Both men looked at the point of contact and then up at each other again. Len watched as Barry swallowed thickly and in that moment he knew he had won Nor’s game.
“Nor, you can come out now,” Len called, his smirk back in full force on his face, the words coming out in a lazy drawl as he reached behind him and closed the door.
The wolf literally walked out from inside the sofa and was scowling daggers at Len as he came up next to Barry, and Barry for his part just seemed to sigh like he was defeated. Which, no, that is not what you’re supposed to do when you finally find your soulmate, and it’s certainly not how he was acting when they met at the toy…
“You work for CC…”
“Yes, I work for CCPD and yes, you and first met at that gods damned toy store in Keystone,” Barry said as he moved to sit down on the sofa, head in his hands.
So, not how Len thought this was going to go, but he was still going to find out why /his/ soulmate was playing games with Clyde Mardon. He just needed to find out some other things now too.
—
The pizza need up being twenty minutes late, Legrand answered the door and didn’t give delivery guy a tip because he complained about carrying the special order of ten pizzas, again. Barry wished the sofa had the ability to swallow him whole.
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