Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

The Magician

I had a nasty habit of figuring out people's secrets. It often came in handy, other times they were more trouble than they were worth. Figuring out where Malcolm Merlyn of Merlyn Global Group spent a two-year vacation from his grieving son was one I hoped to put to good use. And when a random nobody pops up with information on the most private portion of your life, you'd be pretty idiotic to ignore it. It was difficult convincing him to come all the way from Starling City in Washington, but once I mentioned what I had once believed to be a myth, he was sold on coming to Ohio.

In the criminal underworld, you heard lots of names, most of which are overexaggerated, but Rā's Ah Ghul was not a name to toy lightly with. Merlyn invited me to the hotel he was staying at but didn't allow me further than the bar in the hotel's lobby. I don't know how he knew it was me, we'd never even been on the same coast of America until now, but his eyes locked on mine and never left. I had my hands stuffed into my pockets, so when he stood and held out his hand to me, I nodded and sat across from him. "Good evening, Miss...?"

"Andy," I finished with a light smile. "Nice to meet ya, Mr. Merlyn." His eyes narrowed a fraction as he sat again, adjusting the lapel of his blazer as he watched me analytically. God, I loved getting that look from people: the utter bewilderment of how I could possibly know what I know. That's just the benefit of having as many friends as I do, in any and all reaches of the world. This would be another extending branch.

"Before we get started, can I get you a drink?" he offered. It was polite, but you never accept wine from an assassin.

"Took care of that when I came in," I chuckled, turning my head when the bartender came over. I accepted the glass of White Zinfandel, making sure to give him the promised tip for bringing it to me. "Picky drinker." I took a deep breath of the alcohol before taking a drink, my nose trained to the smell of poison in light liqour. Had to be, these days; you never know just who you're dealing with.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, tilting his glass to me in a silent cheers.

"Location, requirements, anything I need to know to survive the Leauge." I laid it out honestly, straight to the point. With a tense breath, Merlyn rested his arm on the arm rest and looked me over for a long moment.

"This is no place to talk about the League." He paused and his eyes shifted. "And this one?" Merlyn questioned, looking over my head. I didn't have to turn to know that Barry had followed me yet again, but I looked anyway, grinning at the hard but stoic expression he wore.

"This is my muscle," I softly laughed, holding Barry's eye as he came closer. "He doesn't like it when I get too far without him." I took a long drink and held out my hand. "Good of you to join us, Bare." There was a twitch in his cheek at the use of a new nickname but he ignored my hand as I ran my fingers up his wrist and turned back to the CEO. "I agree with you, Mr. Merlyn, this is no place. You have my information, I expect I'll be hearing from you soon."

"I expect you will," he sighed as I finished my drink, standing before he finished his. I set my glass on the square coffee table bewteen us and held my hand out to him, a little curl to my lips only growing when he took it.

"Thanks for your time," I hummed, wrapping my arm around Barry's as I led him outside.

"What was all that about?" he hissed once we were out of earshot.

"Following leads," I giggled. "I'm done being angry, mátia mou. You should, too."

"You only had the one drink?" he questioned skeptically. I scoffed and nodded.

"Had to drink it pretty damn fast. Not everyone's metabolisms are as raging as yours." I sighed when we hit the cold air, curling further into Barry. He must've ran his way over, he had the certain warmth to him. "Be honest, what do you want for your birthday?" He took a deep breath and turned a corner, making sure the street was empty before picking me up and running us home. By the time the blue light dwindled from my sight we were laid on his bed, our room was colder than outside had been and I couldn't help but curl further into Barry.

"Just you," he decided, wrapping his arms tight around me. "I don't care what we do or presents or stuff like that." I chuckled and softly kissed him, me was definately something I could do. I pulled back and watched him with a small smile, pushing his hair out of his face. "What lead you to Malcom Merlyn?" he asked curiously, opening his eyes when my hand stuttered a bit.

"Nothing for Frankie. I'm just building new bridges, making new friends. Why did you follow me?" I countered with a raised brow. Barry took a deep breath and ran his hands up my sides before closing his eyes again, an almost guilty look taking over his face. It wasn't just guilt, either, but I couldn't place it.

"Something in my gut told me to go," he eventually supplied. With a slight frown, I ran the tips of my fingers over his temple.

"Was it your gut or a dream?" I asked in a quiet voice. These past couple of weeks his dreams were starting to worry me. The fact that they affected him during the day in such simple times as this was troubling. Barry didn't need to do any worrying on my part, especially if we weren't doing anything Flash related.

Reaching out to Merlyn was a last resort, my branch on the sheer side of a cliff, but I wasn't ready to jump. I wasn't ready to leave Barry, I was just setting up my best option. When Barry didn't answer, I brought my lips back to his, knowing for sure I had his attention before pressing our foreheads together. "You don't need to worry, mátia mou, I'm all yours." I laid myself beside him and rested my head in the dip of his shoulder, resting my hand over his heart. For now, at least...