Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Cooperation

I breathed slowly, opening up my mind to the Speed Force. My attention was temporarily snatched, my eye peeking open to find the satalite phone ringing. "Not now, kid," I sighed, bringing the temple and Talia's lavender hair into mind. I didn't want her here, I didn't need her seeing the phone. The stone walls took up the space around me, my mistress was sitting at her vanity, eyes instantly landing on me. "Lovely to see you, Al Kahin," she greeted, something about her telling me this would be anything but.

"Always a pleasure, mistress," I agreed, bowing my head to her. When I lifted it again, I caught sight of Bane relaxing on the bed, my eyes hardly diverting from Talia afterwards.

"Tell me about your 'hiccup.'" I scanned her face and took a deep breath.

"Central City has it's own vigilante, he hasn't caused any disruptions to my missions," I informed.

"I thought he interfered?" she asked quizically. My eyes drifted back to Bane for a moment and noticed how his eyes remained on Talia.

"Only after I'd completed my mission," I nodded, turning my focus back to her.

"Good, ensure it doesn't happen again." She turned away from me as my throat clenched up, having to force words out of it.

"Pardon, mistress?" With a raised brow, Talia turned just enough to gain sight of me, interested in my question.

"Eliminate your challenger, Al Kahin." She broke the image then, my breathing stuttering once I'd realized I was alone again. I didn't think twice as I reached for the phone, listening to Barry's voicemail with shallow breath.

It didn't help me much, though, because he tensly breathed for a short moment before muttering, "Address," and hanging up. I deleted the message and flung the phone, not caring where it landed.

⚡Meanwhile⚡

"Do you think she noticed?" Bane hummed, watching as Talia came to sit on her bed beside him.

"I haven't told her about jumping through layers," Talia shrugged. "She can't have known you couldn't see her." The image around them faded, the jet used to deploy Al Kahin in Central City was now taking Talia and a few of the guild there, too. "I'll see you soon, beloved." Bane bore a small smile as he took her hand and kissed her palm, his eyes scanning the way her lips pulled up in a small smile as well.

"Sooner than I hope, little one." The image of the jet and Talia faded, leaving Bane to rest in preperation for his own training for Rā's.

⚡

I held one to my mouth and turned a lighter over in my hand against the park bench. I don't know why I had one, I hadn't smoked anything in years. Habit, I suppose. I rolled the plastic between my fingers as I waited, it was fair, though, after all the waiting he did for me. The lighter only fell still maybe twenty minutes later when I heard static, taking a deep breath as I kept my eyes on the table. I blinked when his hand came over my right shoulder, looking up to Barry's sympathetic expression with subtle fear. "You okay, Dromi?" he asked, running his hand over my cheek to push back some hair from my face.

I grabbed his hand and nodded to the table, loving the familiar sensation of his fingers sliding through mine as he sat beside me. "When I was training for the League, they made me do some unspeakable things," I slowly started, unable to look at him as I recalled the first cliff instance. "Without knowing what they were putting me against but my own mind, they had me kill you. A man was sentenced to die, they drugged me, and I thought that the man was you. I was put in the most impossible situation and I chose my life over yours. You need to know that."

Barry tightened his hand around mine and used the other to turn my knees toward him, hoping to catch my eyes. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked quietly, thoroughly confused.

"Because when I stabbed you, it was just you and me, there was a way for us both to get out alive." I paused and brought my other hand around the back of his, smoothing my fingers over his skin. "I've been given orders to kill the Flash, and I'm going to fight it as much as I can, but I need you to cooperate, so we have a chance." Barry's other hand came up to my face and brought my eyes up to his.

"The best chance we have is working together. The better we do that, the better we can handle the situation. We work best from home," he pointed out, still trying to drag me to his safe space.

"The best chance we have is the Flash laying low for a few days, so I have plausible deniablity when I have to report."

"And how long does that last, Andy?" he tried. "I've tried doing nothing, honestly, but too much happens in this city for the Flash to take a vacation, especially with assassins hiding around." I took a breath and removed my face from his hold, unable to look at the hope within his stare. Hope for what, I didn't know, but it was there. "Come home with me and we'll figure something out. You can leave any time you want."

I took a deep breath, turning back to him. "What if I wanted to leave now?" I tried, a small smile to my lips so he knew I was joking.

"Nope, you have to hear me out before you get the option," he shook his head, a smidge of humor to his voice. He held my chin between his finger and thumb before kissing me, his soft lips fighting away any agrument I may have had about the contact. I missed him too much to deny either of us this, knowing his pain was debatably worse. I knew I'd lost my own battle when I released his hand to wrap my arms around his neck, nodding with a deep breath as I pulled myself back.

"Let's talk at home," I decided, tightening my grip around his shoulders when Barry nodded too.