Clock King's liar was dimly lit, the synchronized ticking of several clocks filling the otherwise silent room. The light clicking of his keyboard also covered the irritating lack of noise. He looked down at his now beeping watch. He turned to the entrance to find his hooded colleague to be walking up to it.

  "Good to see you've found a way to be more punctual," he commented.

  "Good to see you're still lacking compassion," he pulled down on his hood. The light from the computer screen illuminated his face, to reveal none other than Blaine Anderson.

  "The friend you called," Talkman sneered, "I need you to call him again."

  "He said he didn't want to work with you," Blaine crossed his arms. "He did his part and now all he wants is whatever it was you were going to give him."

  "He didn't finish. His job was to kill The Flash, and yet I can still see him in all traffic cameras. He was late. I do not take well with those of whom I work with who do not listen. He can think of it as a blessing for me to give him a second chance."

  "Yeah, well I doubt he is the first person who tried killing him. Why do you want him dead so badly anyway?"

  "I don't. I want The Arrow dead, The Flash is just a companion who will protect him no matter where he is. As long as we kill Mr. Allen, nobody will be able to come to that vigilante's rescue."

  Blaine shook his head. "Fine, I'll call him. But you need to keep your promise."

  "Don't worry," an evil smile covered the man's face. "Your spouse will remain unharmed."

-

  Barry sat alone in Jitters. Hopefully no one recognized him. In his mind he didn't have a very memorable face, but it had been all over the news for the past forty-eight hours. He was going to be able to go back to work today, which was something he was thoroughly lookin forward to. To his surprise, nobody had gone up to him. It wasn't too big a deal for a madman with a sword to come in and attack. With all of the meta-humans running about, it was kind of nice to see someone physically harm without powers.

  He took a sip of the Flash he had ordered. Perhaps he would finally have a normal day for once. You know, 'the calm after the storm'. Is that the phrase? Either way, that is what he was thinking.

  He turned his head to the television hanging high on the ceiling. "...it seems National City's hero is back," the announcer concluded. It was cut to a commercial break and Barry smiled to himself. He had a girlfriend who was back in her city, stopping crime just like they do. Just hearing that word in his head seemed unreal. Was he really with someone? She had left not long after Blaine and Kurt did that morning. All he had to worry about now was Clock King, wherever he was.

  After Oliver went home, they decided it would be best to keep control of their own cities. If either of the two teams had evidence of Clock King's whereabouts, they would contact one another.

  Somehow doing her job for once, iris was stopped by a Latina. The woman smiled brightly at iris, and showed her a map. "Hi, I could really use some help getting directions," the Latina seemed frustrated.

  "Sure," iris nodded her head with understanding. This was something that happened to her at least once a week. "Where are you trying to get?"

  "The police department," she answered hesitantly. "I- I just got my purse taken from me outside and I should probably report it."

  "Oh, are you okay?"

  "Yeah, I came from Ohio. I'm much tougher than this gorgeous body lets on."

  "Well, I actually have a brother who works there. I believe he was on his way out anytime soon now." iris turned and walked over to Barry. She allowed the Latina to follow her as she made her way in front of him, the other woman behind him. "Hey Barry," she said causing him to look up. "I have someone you can go with to the precinct."

  Barry raised an eyebrow. He turned his head to the woman standing behind him. Together the Latina and his own eyes nearly popped out of their skulls.

  "San- Santana," Barry said in shock. It had come to his realization then, that the appropriate phrasing was 'the calm before the storm'. Of all the people to come, why did it have to be her? And why did it have to be right after Kara left?

  "Oh," iris said, not knowing what she had just done. "I didn't know you two knew each other. I guess I will just leave you alone."

  "No," Barry whispered after her. "iris. Wait." But he was two slow. iris was long gone, doing whatever it was she wanted to do. Barry gave her a death glare to the back and turned to Santana.

  "You've got some explaining to do, before I go all Lima Heights on your-"

  "Watch it," he warned. "There are children present. Now we can go to CCPD, or you can forget you ever saw me here and go ask someone else to escort you, Satan."

  "Forget anybody else, I am going with you, Meerkat."

  'Out of all the people in the city why her,' Barry thought to himself.  The two had left Jitters and were now walking on the sidewalk. He would have much rather run instead of becoming more late than usual. His hopes were shattered by the woman who walked next to him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her giving him glances of hate and curiosity. They both decided it would be best if the mile long trip was silent.

  When they arrived at their destination, Barry told her to talk with the front desk and made a beeline for his lab. She watched him closely, making sure of which door he had slipped through, so that she would know where to go to follow him.

  She talked to the front desk and received a handful of papers. This was too much trouble to go through for a purse with forty dollars in it. This would take her half an hour at the least, to fill out. She still needed answers. Sebastian was upstairs doing something and she wanted to know what.

  She glanced around her and ditched the papers. She popped the collar of her coat up so that she would go less noticed as she climbed the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a room entitled:

  Barry Allen
Forensics Lab

  'Barry,' she repeated over in her head, 'where have I heard that name before? That wouldn't be my Berry, because her name is spelled with an 'e'. Wait... isn't that what that lady was calling Sebastian?' She decided to take a peak into the room, to see if Sebastian was in there. She had seen him go up the stairs but was uncertain over which room he had entered.

  She was shocked to see what Sebastian was doing. He was hunched over a pile of paperwork, an unreadable look on his face. Actually, the closer she got, the more it looked like he was... enjoying it? Sebastian was probably the worst person she had met, so why would he be doing some other guy's work? Perhaps it was a guilty pleasure he used to earn extra cash. Maybe it was all a ploy used to lure her in so that he could publicly embarrass her.

  Santana looked around the room, making note of everything she saw, to make sure there was nothing he could use against her. There was a chain hanging from the ceiling, presumably for opening and closing the skylight. Multiple different chemicals were sitting on separate shelves; most of them still in their liquid state. Scattered throughout the room were various pieces of trash from food: wrappers, pizza and doughnut boxes, all seemed to be only a day old.

  Once nothing in the lab seemed suspicious, she cleared her throat. He did nothing but sit there, muttering incoherent things under his breath. She was about to speak up, or more accurately shout at him, when another man came up behind her. Upon hearing the footsteps, she instinctively whipped her head the meet the face of her attacker.

  The man had a beard, not full, yet not stubble either. He was not quite as tall as Sebastian but was still taller than herself. He looked at her with surprise. She glanced at the pocket on his blazer, which he was pulling over his arms as he entered. Hanging out of it was his captain's badge. She took a few steps to her right, to clear his path.

  "Allen," the man called. Sebastian looked up from his work. His eyes darted back and forth between the man and the woman. He opened his mouth but was interrupted by the captain. "Let's move. I need you at a crime scene, another murder. Joe is out so you can ride with me."

  "Yes sir," he popped up from his chair and grabbed his jacket. As he passed by the woman, he clumsily fell. Tripping over his feet and with his jacket on inside out, he turned to Santana saying, "I- I'll explain later."

-

  James walked into the Catco building. As usual, he was early. He swung by Noonan's and to his surprise, didn't run into Kara while he was there. He was halfway expecting to hear she'd be taking the day off. Supergirl was very busy at Central City, and he noticed on the news that morning that she was back. A couple of lowlife guys were robbing a bank and she rendered the getaway car useless, with help from her heat vision. It isn't very easy to drive off with flat tires.

  As he made it to his floor, he picked up one of the newspapers. Glancing down at the headline, he froze. He blinked a few times and reread it. 'Supergirl and Flash: Just Colleagues or More Than Friends?'

  He read each and every word, making sure he was getting it right. Kara was dating The Flash? He swore to himself that the next time he saw Kara, he would make her prove this wrong. And wouldn't you know, he did not have to wait long.

  Kara was typing away on her computer placed in front of her. He observed her for a minute, watching as she would type for a few seconds then stop for a few seconds, smiling. Then she would repeat. The cycle continued for minutes until it clicked for James. She was having a conversation.

  He decided to peer over her shoulder. Alertness wasn't her friend. He was able to sneak up behind her and read what she was typing.

  'I'm sorry,' she wrote in an almost speedily fast pace.

  'Yeah you should be. Now I'm all alone,' the other person sent. They too carried on the conversation at the quickness that seemed to be established prior to the arrival of James.

  'You do realize, I am by myself too'

  'But I am far more important than you. ;)'

  A smiley face with a wink? That could mean only one of two people: Winn or Alex. He looked up at the sender's ID at the top of the screen. 'Barry,' it read. He searched his brain for a Barry. Was that the guy who just started in the food column downstairs? No, that was Gary. Barry! The guy who visited them not to long ago!

  Barry, The Flash.