☇Present Time☇

"Cisco, is there anything else to take care of here before I head over to Starling City?" Barry spoke through the comms as he came to a stop in CC's main park.

Cisco's voice crackles over the comms not even moments later, his voice light with smugness and pride. "Nope! Everything is clear for the night."

"Alright, thanks." Barry told him and sped back to S.T.A.R Labs, replacing the suit on the mannequin and dressing in his casual clothes in seconds. He sent a quick wave to everyone in the lab before speeding all the way to Starling City and into the Arrow Cave, headquarters of a close friend.

Felicity was there sitting in the chair that was behind her desk, leaning forward. She had seemed to be studying something closely on the computers in front of her and had jumped, startled by Barry's breezy arrival that sent papers flying around the room.

"Barry!" She exclaimed out of surprise, swiveling around in the chair to face him. "You scared the hell out of me!"

Barry smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry Felicity. Where's Oliver?"

Felicity glanced back at the computers she had been so focused on just moments ago and turned back to Barry, who just raised his eyebrows curiously. After having a sixty second stareoff, Felicity finally relented and told him.

"He didn't want me to tell you if you got here before he returned." Felicity said and Barry knew she was trying to stall. "He didn't want you to know."

Barry frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. "Know what?" He said suspiciously.

Felicity sighed in defeat. "Oliver went after the Dark Archer to confront him, alone."

Barry remembered Oliver telling him about the Dark Archer and about how his best friend Tommy Merlyn was killed trying to save Laurel Lance and how his death had motivated him to become the hero he could be. Oliver had also told him how he had become steadily suspicious of Malcolm Merlyn and how he must have had something to do with Tommy's death. And he also told him that he suspected Malcolm was the Dark Archer.

But that was a year ago.

Barry had warned him not to go and try to call him out on it without as much help as he could get and Oliver had agreed not to.

Barry shook his head, confused. "Why would he go alone? He has Diggle and even Roy now. What happened to Sarah?"

Felicity shook her head, her blond ponytail swaying as she did. "Diggle and Oliver had a big fight and haven't spoken in months. Roy hasn't been around since his falling out with Thea a few weeks ago. And Sarah. . .just disappeared. She left."

It was a lot to take in. Barry admitted that it had been a while since he had last seen or even been in Starling City. He had been so distracted with everything going on in Central--dealing with the number of rising metas, defeating Zoom after he had murdered his father, creating flashpoint, some guy named Alchemy giving people back their powers who had them in Flashpoint, finding out he had a csi partner, Julian Albert, and now Savitar (who Barry was constantly worried would strike at any moment)--he had completely and utterly abandoned his friend.

Barry had no idea about any of this until now. Only earlier today did he get a message from Oliver that said that he wanted to meet and have a night out. He felt bad that he didn't even try to reach out to see how things were going.

As if reading his mind, Felicity looked at Barry with soft, gentle eyes. "You couldn't have known Barry. You had your own problems to worry about and work through."

"But I didn't even call or anything." Barry told her, his hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"No one is upset that you didn't call and no one was expecting you to after all that you went through. You had to watch--" The computer monitors began to go off, cutting Felicity off and she whirled around immediately hitting the keys on the keyboard. It was Oliver's sensors in his suit that were going off.

"What is it?" Barry asked, moving forward to get a closer look.

"Oliver's in trouble." Felicity said simply.

"Where is he, Felicity?"

Felicity answered with concern laced in her voice. "Avalon Park, but Barry you don't have your--"

Barry didn't catch the rest of what she said as he sped out of the Arrow Cave but he suspected she was going to mention something about his suit. Whatever it was, it didn't matter. Oliver was in trouble and he didn't have time to run back to Central City for his suit. Even though if he was to be honest, he wasn't thinking straight.

Barry reached Avalon Park in no time at all and litreally flashed in front of Oliver, who was lying on the ground, slamming his shoulder as hard as he could manage into the Dark Archer's chest, sending him flying backwards. With the other man incapacitated, Barry knelt by Oliver's side.

"Hey, Ollie are you okay?" Barry asked, worry written all over his face.

Oliver looked up at him from behind his mask and his eyes widened. "Barry what-what are you doing here? Are you crazy? If he finds out your identity too--"

"Oh I already have." The Dark Archer said, climbing to his feet. Barry immediately went on guard and straightened up while Oliver pushed himself to his feet, his bow in hand, an arrow already notched and aimed at the other man's chest.

"Is he. . ." Barry trailed off, knowing Oliver had an idea of what he was asking.

"Yes." Was the only answer that left his lips.

The Dark Archer, or Malcolm Merlyn removed his mask and tossed it to the side, revealing the face both Barry and Oliver already knew to be under it. In that instant, all Barry could feel was anger. He was angry that this man had been the reason Oliver's best friend and his own son died in that building that day. He was angry that he would even think about trying to be in Thea's life after everything he had done and that he was standing here, all smug and prideful, as if it was all a game he won.

This wasn't any of his business but Barry wanted to help so he said, "How do you want to do this?"

Oliver turned his head, a look in his eyes already saying 'no'. "I am not going to put--"

"If you finish that sentence I'm going to deck you." Barry interrupted shooting a stern glare at him. "How do you want to do this because either way, we're doing this together."

Oliver shook his head, what could be defined as a smile crossing his features even as he muttered, 'goddamn stubborn kid' under his breath.

Barry smirked and gave him a knowing smile. "You go left, I go right?" He suggested.

Before Oliver could decide, an arrow whistles past Barry's head disrupting the air by his ear. Obviously Merlyn is done stalling and Barry explodes into action by superspeeding forward, barely catching him by surprise. However, the Dark Archer managed to shoot an arrow toward him and he weaves out of the way.

Oliver releases the arrow he had drawn back on his bow and it flies straight and true until one of Merlyn's arrows knocks it from the air before it could hit its mark.

Barry speeds up behind the man and tries to get the drop on him but Merlyn spins around, wielding a G10 Tactical Combat knife. Barry has seen one of these before and knows the extent of damage it can do. He jumps back in time and dodged to the side as Merlyn swung the knice at his side. He jabs at him twice and Barry is forced to move back two steps.

Merlyn swings the knife level with his neck and with his speed, Barry is able to grab the man's wrist and kick him in the shin. Merlyn grunts but doesn't go down and punches Barry in the nose with his free hand before aiming two more punches at his ribcage.

Barry doesn't let the pain slow him down as he continues to dodge, duck, and weave in and out of his attacks while Oliver tries to find an opening. Barry, at some point slips up as Merlyn lunges at him with a different blade, that was at least seven inches long and cuts through his shirt and sinks into the skin underneath.

Barry whimpers at the pain and uses his superspeed to shove Merlyn away from him and sped over to Oliver, who had fired the arrow at the same moment Barry shoved Merlyn away, the bolt entering his chest where his heart was.

Barry didn't comprehend that Oliver had just killed someone again and is instead focused on the seven inch knife sticking out of his side. Barry grasped the handle, ignoring the way his hand was trembling and pulled it out. He winces at the wet sound it makes when it slips out and he drops it in the grass.

Oliver rushed over to him as everything begins to disappear into darkness. Barry sags against him when he reaches his side and looks into his eyes.

"Damnit. You're bleeding." Oliver said.

"It'll heal." Barry reassured him. "And then it'll be as good as new." Barry frowned down at his bloodstained shirt and sighed. "Can't say the same about the shirt though."

Barry tried to stand on his own but he only managed to sway and almost fell. Oliver steadied him. "Barry, are you sure that you're okay?"

Barry smiled at Oliver. "Yeah. I'm just tired from the fight. Anyways, we have a night out to get to remember?"

A/N: I feel like this chapter was shit😣