In A Blink ➳ Barry Allen/The Flash

41.

chapter forty-one ; tipping of the scales

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As soon as Natalie had begun to stir in bed earlier that morning, Barry went straight to work on getting her ready for the day. He had intended for her to go faster than her normal routine which in the end, after all of his pushing, was still slow. Despite her questions, the relatively newly minted superhero picked up his girlfriend and ran her to a part of town she's never been to, dropping her off in front of a rundown bar.

"Barry, it's too early for drinks," Natalie whined, shoving off her blue coat, leaving her in a black-and-white grid crop tank and black high-waist pants, the clothes Barry had picked out for her earlier so that she didn't take up time deciding. She called him out on his good taste earlier when she walked into their room with her towel. He had responded with the simple answer of he thought she would look hot in them, much to her amusement. "Plus this place looks really sketchy."

Barry waved her comments off and grabbed her hand, his face stoning over with determination, "We're not here for drinks, Natalie. Just stay near and behind me." He didn't move until he saw Natalie agree. Barry pushed open the door to the bar tentatively, taking in the detail of everything inside and making sure the door didn't make any noise to draw attention to them. He led her inside, closing the door behind them softly and leading her around the dark and musty bar. There was nobody there except for the bar tender and a man ordering, his back towards the approaching couple. The man tilted his head before he turned around, chuckling lightly to himself when he saw Barry standing there. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Scarlet Speedster."

The brunette girl's eyes widen in realization and her grip tightened on Barry's hand when she recognized the face as Leonard Snart, better known to her, thanks to Cisco, as Captain Cold. Her line of sight whipped up to Barry when he spoke, "We need to talk."

"What the hell are you doing, Barry?" Natalie hissed as she glared at Snart, remembering what he had done to Cisco and his brother.

Her confusion seemed to amuse Snart as he laughed a little to himself. "You two want anything? Beer, food? The pickled eggs here are fantastic," Snart offered as he led the couple from the bar to the pool table. Natalie, a bit mad at the fact Barry didn't tell her he was meeting with a supervillian, followed behind Barry, watching Snart carefully. "No thanks, we're good. Apparently we're here for something else," Natalie snapped as she glared slightly up at Barry.

Barry gave her an apologetic look before he turned his attention back to Snart, "I need your help with a problem."

"Must be pretty desperate if you're here asking for my assistance," Snart commented as he took a seat on the pool table. Ironically, the song Cold As Ice by Foreigner started to play on the juke box.

"I was just thinking the same thing. That and one of us is pretty damn stupid," Natalie muttered.

Snart cracked a smile at her before looking at Barry, "What do you need?"

"Help transporting some people out of the city. Five very mad and angry people..who have powers," Barry answered as he rapped his knuckle against the pool table and frowned when he saw the angry expression on Natalie's face.

"So you want me to what, freeze the problem?"

Natalie rolled her eyes and slipped out of Barry's grasp, opting to run her hands along the wooden chairs as she walked a bit away from the two men. "Why do I feel like I've just met our version of a real-life Elsa and Hans combined?" she muttered to herself. She turned around to face the two, raising her voice as her frustrations began to boil to the surface, "Why are we even here, Barry? We can't trust him, he's a criminal."