— 𝒮 —

"𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐗𝐈𝐍," announced Caitlin as she came out of the Med Lab, a tablet in hand.

Barry had just brought a body from a recent crime scene, and, though he seemed nervous about being around Dr. Wells now that he and Sophia had this newfound information, he allowed the group to examine it.

"Honeybee venom," Sophia murmured with furrowed eyebrows.

"Bees," Cisco muttered nervously, shifting uneasily as he stared at the video of a bee crawling on someone's hand that was displayed on the TV screen in front of them. "Why did it have to be bees? Y'all, I don't do bees. Ain't nobody got time for bees."

"When a honeybee stings," Dr. Wells mused, his hands pressed together, "the stingers are torn from their abdomen and they die."

"But there were no stingers in the body and no dead bees in the car," Barry replied as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"A honeybee can only deposit zero-point-one milligrams of apitoxin when it releases its stinger," Sophia pointed out.

"And yet Ms. Kang was found with enough venom in her system to kill a herd of elephants," Dr. Wells pondered as Lindsay Kang's, the victim, blood analysis showed up on the screen. "It appears not only is a meta-human controlling those bees . . . but also increasing their toxicity."

"Bees communicate by releasing pheromones. Maybe this meta is controlling them through secretion?" Barry suggested as he folded his arms.

"Anyone wanna join me in getting a beekeeper suit?" Cisco asked nervously.

"I'm pretty sure I can outrun a bee," Barry answered amusedly.

"Just don't run into a lake."

Everyone turned at the sound of a new voice to see Felicity, who was standing at the entrance with her hands tucked into her jacket pockets.

"The bees will wait for you to come up for air, and then they'll sting you," she continued as they walked towards her. And to answer their questioning looks, she shrugged and said, "Discovery Channel. Turns out there's a lot to discover."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed as he placed his hands on the back of the main desk. "Felicity, what are you doing here?"

She gave them a small smile as she pointed back at the hallway and pleaded, "Can you guys come outside for a sec?"

The five of them grabbed their jackets and followed her outside of the building.

"Just, um" —Felicity glanced up at the sky— "wait for a moment."

Sophia folded her arms, shivering slightly from the chill in the air. She glanced up to follow Felicity's gaze but frowned when she saw nothing but grey clouds.

She suddenly felt an arm wrap around her, and she turned her head to see Barry giving her a small smile, his grip on her waist tightening.

Sophia returned the smile and shifted closer to him.

"What exactly are we waiting for, Ms. Smoak?" Dr. Wells questioned after a few moments of nothing.

A grin appeared on Felicity's face as she pointed upwards. "Up there."

They followed her finger to see something flying towards them.

"Is that a bird?" Caitlin questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

Cisco stepped towards her, his eyes glued on the figure as he muttered, "It's a plane."

Upon the figure approaching, they then realized that it was neither of those things; it was a person, dressed in a red, metallic suit.

The person crashed onto the ground and the pavement cracked upon contact.

As they all jerked in surprise, Felicity gave a small grin. "It's my boyfriend."

The man straightened up, and they heard small metallic whirs as he took his helmet off. The man was quite handsome, with his gelled, dark hair and a wide grin that showed off his pearly teeth.

"Hi," he greeted with a wave. "I'm Ray."

Cisco only gave a long "Uh . . ." in response.

The group quickly brought Ray inside, and as Caitlin tested the man inside the Med Lab, Cisco took the suit and placed it on a holder.

Sophia stood next to Barry and Felicity, next to the Med Lab, peering at Ray through the glass wall.

"So," Barry said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "he seems a little tall for you."

"Barry Allen," Felicity breathed out with a small grin, "are you jealous?"

Sophia turned to him, her eyebrows furrowed. "You better not be."

"Oh, are you two—" Felicity's eyes widened as she pointed between the two, and Sophia let out a small chuckle as she nodded. An awkward look came over Felicity's face as her eyes widened, and she breathed out, "Oh, Sophia, sorry, I didn't—"

"Don't worry about it," laughed Sophia with a dismissive wave.

Barry sighed as he looked back at Felicity. "I just—I really wish you would have called before flying in."

"Oh, no, he flew," she assured them. "I drove."

"I'm serious," Barry insisted. "All right? Now is not the best time."

"Why?" Felicity chuckled, though her face became more serious as she noticed the grim look on Barry's face. "Wait, what's going on?"

Before they could answer, however, Caitlin and Ray stepped out and walked towards the middle of the Cortex.

"Ah," Ray sighed. "Well, my ears popped, so that's something."

"You're lucky you didn't break your neck," Caitlin chided as she walked over to the side desk. She scrunched her face as she passed him. "What is it with billionaires being superheroes?"

Cisco tapped his fingers against the suit before looking down at his tablet. He stepped towards Ray as he tentatively asked, "So, have you, uh, picked a name yet?"

"Uh . . ." Ray shrugged. "I'm kind of partial to the Atom." He blew air through his mouth as he closed his fist.

Cisco scrunched his face. "You married to that, or . . . ?"

"Your ATOM suit . . ." Dr. Wells, who had been analyzing a 3-D model of the suit on a screen, turned towards him. "Quite the technological achievement, Mr. Palmer. I'm impressed."

"And he is never impressed," Caitlin added on with a smile.

"Well, thank you." Ray nodded. "But I can't quite seem to keep it up."

"He means the suit," Felicity said loudly as they all wrinkled their noses. She quickly walked up to his side and linked their arms together.

"Yeah, I mean the suit," Ray agreed.

Barry rubbed his forehead, exchanging a look of distress with Sophia as she let out a small groan.

"I can attest that everything else works fine," Felicity reassured them with an awkward grin. "There's nothing we need to fix in" —she clicked her tongue and pointed downwards— "that area."

"She's making it worse," Sophia muttered, causing Barry to nod in agreement.

"No, no, the sex is great!" Ray grinned.

"God," Caitlin whispered, "there's two of them."

"I know from Felicity that you have been very helpful with Barry and the Flash suit. And I was hoping to get another set of eyes on my . . ." Ray trailed off as he looked down at Felicity for help.

"Problem."

"Problem," he finished.

Dr. Wells nodded, chuckling slightly as he agreed, "Any friend of the Arrow's is the friend of—"

"Hell. Yes," Cisco cut in with a big nod.

"Uh, guys, we kind of have a lot going on already," Barry interrupted, causing everyone to look at him with furrowed eyebrows. To answer their looks of confusion, he continued, "There's a meta-human killer that can control a whole swarm of bees."

"Cool." Ray grinned. He looked down towards Felicity, who glared at him, and quickly corrected himself, "I mean awful."

"I'm sure Sophia and I will provide ample support, Barry," Dr. Wells reassured him.

"And I will be happy to sit this one out," Cisco chimed in with a grin.

"You—" Barry stopped himself, his eyebrows furrowed and his face filled with utter confusion.

Noticing the look and Sophia's reassuring patting, Felicity slowly said, "Ray, why don't you stay here and work on your suit while Barry, Sophia, and I run to Jitters for some java?"

Ray shrugged. "Sounds like a plan."

Felicity turned to the two of them, giving them a tight-lipped smile as she offered, "Coffee?"

Barry rubbed the back of his head, glancing down at Sophia who gave him a small nod. "Sure."

As the two of them followed Felicity out of the building, Sophia placed a hand on Barry's arm and asked, "You okay?"

Barry looked down at her, pursing his lips for a moment before shrugging.

The three of them made their way over to their most beloved coffee shop and ordered their usuals.

As they grabbed their mugs of coffee from the counter, Felicity sighed, "You know, I left Starling City to get away from the mood and brood. But it looks like it followed me here."

"I know, I'm sorry," Barry replied glumly as the three of them headed towards one of the tables. "It's like I said before: now is not the best time."

"Barry," Felicity chided as she set her mug down on the table and sat down, "I have been through enough with you to know when you're holding something back." Her face scrunched slightly as she lowered her voice, "Is this because I told Ray your secret? Because he is trustworthy, Barry. He wants to help people, just like you."

"Yeah, I know. That's not what I'm worried about," Barry reassured her, his eyebrows knitting together tightly. "It's just . . . I really don't wanna put anyone else in danger."

Felicity's forehead creased. "In danger of what?"

Barry's lips parted to answer, but he was cut off as Eddie approached.

"Barry, Soph, hey," Eddie greeted the two of them.

"Eddie, hey," Barry said suddenly, plastering a small smile on his face. He gestured towards Felicity as he reminded, "Uh, you remember Felicity."

Eddie glanced over to Felicity, squinting for a split second before nodding. "Of course."

"Hi!" Felicity smiled.

"Great to see you," Eddie greeted. His face suddenly became grave as he set his hands on the corners of the table.

"What is wrong with you?" Felicity's eyebrows furrowed as she looked around the coffee shop. "Is everyone in Central City in a bad mood?" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned toward them, "I thought Central City was supposed to be the fun one."

Eddie gave her a small grin. "It's just, um . . ." He glanced nervously towards Barry, nodding his head slightly.

"Felicity knows," Sophia reassured him.

An incredulous look came over Eddie's face as he looked towards Barry and uttered, "Wow."

"Yeah," Barry sighed as his gaze lowered to the table.

"So everyone but Iris," Eddie scoffed.

Barry gave a humourless chuckle as he raised his mug to his lips and muttered, "Feels that way."

Eddie's face was just as incredulous as before as he questioned, "How do you lie to everyone you care about?"

"For starters," Felicity chimed in with a shameless shrug, "I don't think of it as lying. Think of it as protecting her from getting hurt. With a fib," she added on tentatively.

"But Iris can tell I'm hiding something," countered Eddie with a pained expression. "And it's putting this distance between us."

"I have an idea," Felicity suddenly said, drawing their attention back to her. "Why don't we all go to dinner tonight? A little wine and dine is sure to bridge the gap. Come on," she pleaded to Eddie as a smile grew onto her face, "we all had fun last time."

"Sure," Eddie agreed with a grin. "Why not?"

Barry looked towards Sophia, who shrugged.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, and his eyebrows furrowed as he read the text. "Another bee attack. Folston Tech."

Eddie nodded as he grabbed his phone from inside his jacket. "I'll see where Joe is."

"'Bee' careful," quipped Felicity as Eddie rushed towards the door.

Barry raised his eyebrows as he slipped off the chair. "For real?"

"Bad pun, sorry," Felicity muttered under her breath with a small nod.

"Don't die!" called Sophia as Barry followed Eddie out, and he sent her a quick smile. She then turned to Felicity as she slipped off her chair and sighed, "Come on, we better get back."

The two women then rushed out of the store, and Sophia barely paid attention to the speed limit as she drove back to STAR Labs.

The two of them heard Dr. Wells' voice as they approached the Cortex, "He's going into cardiac arrest."

The two of them exchanged widened eyes and quickened their pace, and once they reached the Cortex, their horrified gaze met the screen that showed Barry's vitals swiftly lessening.

Sophia's phone suddenly rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see that it was Joe. She answered it and put it on speaker.

"Soph," Joe shouted through the phone, "Barry doesn't have a pulse."

She put aside the immediate shock and fear that had bloomed in her chest. She needed to think straight.

An idea suddenly sparked in her mind. "Step away from him."

"What? Why?"

She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she rushed over to the computer on the very left of the main desk and began to type. "We need to jump-start his heart. There's a defibrillator in the suit." She gave a nod to Dr. Wells, who was sitting in the middle of the desk. "Charge it to three hundred and sixty joules."

"Charging in three, two, one." Dr. Wells pressed the button, but nothing changed.

"Hit him again," Caitin insisted, her eyes widened, "four hundred joules."

"Charging in three, two, one."

A sigh of relief escaped all of their lips as Barry's vitals shot up, and they heard the sound of him wheezing through the comms.

Sophia rubbed her eyes, leaning her forehead onto Cisco's shoulder as he patted her back.

Barry and Joe arrived not even a minute later, and Sophia's nose crinkled; his face was covered in bee stings, though they were quickly shrinking in size and paling in colour.

Caitlin pulled up the hospital bed and brought it to the middle of the Cortex, which Barry, after changing out of his suit, sat down upon.

Sophia folded her arms, standing across from Ray as she watched Caitlin gently examine his face.

Cisco brushed past her, muttering something about checking the defibrillator, to which she nodded.

"Okay," Caitlin sighed as she straightened up. "You should be good. Your self-healing is doing its work. I just need to take a sample to make sure."

Once Caitlin had taken her sample and gone into the Med Lab, Sophia placed her index finger under Barry's chin and tilted his head up. His eyes met hers as she inspected his healed skin with a frown. He placed a hand on her hip and grazed it with his thumb to reassure her, which it did not.

"That is it for the defibrillator," Cisco announced as he walked back towards the main desk. "It is completely fried.

"You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Allen," chuckled Dr. Wells.

"I was very specific that you not die," Sophia muttered to him with a glare, earning a sigh.

"Cisco," Barry began as he looked towards the man, who was leaning back against the desk, "what happened out there? I followed your directions exactly."

"I'm sorry. I led you the wrong way. The schematics that we had, they," Cisco glanced over to Dr. Wells before continuing, "um, weren't up to date."

"They weren't up to date?" Barry repeated in confusion. "What do you mean? That's never happened before."

"And what? You think Cisco was trying to get you killed?" quipped Felicity with a small chuckle.

"No," Barry immediately responded, shaking his head profusely. "Why would he do that? That doesn't make any sense."

"I know," Felicity reassured him with a weird stare. "That's why I was joking."

"Barry," Dr. Wells called, turning their attention to him as he folded his arms, "it's our job to protect you, and today we failed. But that will just serve as a warning for all of us to be more vigilant in the future."

"Good news," declared Caitlin as she came out of the Med Lab and walked towards them. "The apitoxin is out of your body. The levels are back to normal."

"Terrific," murmured Barry as he stood up. He suddenly sped out and returned at the entrance a second later, dressed in a suit. "Soph, Ray, Felicity, we're gonna be late for dinner."

"Are you sure that's wise, Barry?" questioned Dr. Wells with raised eyebrows.

"You just died," Caitlin pointed out incredulously as she leaned forward against the main desk.

"Maybe you should order in tonight," Cisco advised with squinted eyes.

"Yeah. We could totally cancel," Ray agreed with a nod.

"I'm fine," insisted Barry with a smile that Sophia didn't believe. "Alive. Hungry. All right? Let's go."

Sophia exchanged a worried look with Felicity but followed Barry out nonetheless.

"Hey," she called as she caught up to him. "You okay?"

"I'm good," he reassured her quickly. "Let's go."

"Hold your horses, man," she chuckled, though she still felt a little uneasy. "I need to go change."

A few seconds and a nauseous feeling in her stomach later, she was in her apartment.

"Wha—" She turned to Barry, clutching her stomach with one hand as she weakly said, "I told you to warn me when you do that."

"No time," he murmured as he shook his head. "Go change."

She gazed at him for a moment before letting out a sigh and nodding. She headed into her room, her eyes quickly roaming over the dresses she had in her closet. She had worn a few of them during past dates with Barry, so she decided to go with a different one.

She picked out a light pink dress that had a deep V-neckline and a cascading ruffle slit. It ended just above her knees and hugged her figure perfectly.

She slipped it on but groaned as she realized that she wasn't able to zip it up the entire way.

"Barry?" she called.

He popped up at the doorway, and his eyes widened as they found her.

"Whoa," he breathed out, his gaze trailing down her body. "You look good."

"Thanks," she murmured as he came up to her and kissed her gently. She turned around and gestured to the half-zipped back. "You mind?"

Barry gave a small hum before heeding her request, and she slightly shivered as she felt his warm fingers brush against her back.

She turned back around and gave him a smile. "Thanks."

He raised his eyebrows. "Ready to go?"

She gave him pleading eyes and clasped her hands together as she asked, "Am I allowed one extra minute to fix my hair?"

"One minute only," he agreed with a small grin. "I'm counting."

Sophia rolled her eyes in amusement as she headed to her bathroom, and grabbed her hairbrush before quickly stroking it through her hair.

Barry appeared at the entrance of her bathroom, tucking one hand into his blazer pocket as he leaned against the doorframe and watched.

She turned to him once she was done, and raised a finger before he could wrap his arms around her and speed off.

His eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

She folded her arms. "Before we go, you better tell me what's wrong."

"What?" Barry shook his head, plastering a smile on his face. "Nothing's wrong, sweetheart."

Sophia placed a hand on his arm, and her voice softened as she murmured, "I don't need to be a genius to see that something's wrong."

"I swear, Soph," he reassured her with a shake of the head, though his eyes glanced rather guiltily towards her hand. "I'm okay."

She gazed at him for a moment and didn't believe his pleading eyes for a second. "If you don't tell me, I'm not going."

Barry shut his eyes. "Oh, come on."

"I'm serious," she insisted as she folded her arms once more. "Just tell me."

Barry bit his lower lip as he gazed at her, and she could see him slowly easing into defeat. He swallowed before sighing and tentatively asking, "Do you think Cisco and Caitlin are working with Dr. Wells? Like, him as the Reverse-Flash?"

Sophia's eyebrows furrowed, and her expression turned into one of disbelief. "Is that a serious question?"

"Yes."

"No, Barry." She shook her head, her eyebrows scrunching together even further. "Of course they're not."

He gave her a pained expression. "How do you know?"

"How do I know?" she repeated in disbelief, and a humourless chuckle left her lips. "I've been working with them—I've been best friends with them for the past two years. I know them better than anyone else. And I know they're not working with him."

Barry gave her a small shrug as he tried to reason. "You can never be sure."

Sophia took a step back from him, and she had an incredulous look upon her face as she breathily questioned, "Do you think I work with him?"

He immediately shook his head as he reached out toward her. "No, of course not. "

She glanced at the hand that he placed on her shoulder. "Why?"

His eyebrows knit together tightly as he softly said, "'Cause I know you, Snowpea."

She shrugged. "And I know them."

Barry sighed as he let his hand fall to his side, and rubbed the lower half of his face. "Cisco almost got me killed today!"

"It was an honest mistake," she said earnestly.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know Cisco," Sophia answered with a scoff. "He can barely kill a fly; he's too scared of them. I know he and Caitlin would never do that."

Barry raised his eyebrows. "And I thought Dr. Wells wouldn't kill my mom, but here we are."

A loud groan escaped Sophia's lips. "Are you serious?"

Barry sighed, and he lowered his voice as he requested, "Let's talk about this later, okay? We should go."

"No, Barry," she scoffed. "You not trusting them means you don't trust me."

His eyebrows furrowed as he shook his head. "Of course I trust you."

"Then why don't you believe me?"

"I want to. I really do," he answered pleadingly. "But I feel like there are only a couple of people I can really trust right now."

She raised her eyebrows. "Including me?"

"Including you," he confirmed with a nod.

"But not including the two people who've dedicated their lives to helping you?"

"Just like Dr. Wells?"

Sophia groaned once more as she rested her forehead on his chest. "Barry . . ."

"Let's go to dinner," he said gently before kissing the top of her head. "We'll talk about it after."

"Fine," she muttered, and, instantly knowing what he was about to do, she held her hair so that all her hard work wouldn't be undone.

A gust of wind and a nauseous sensation later, they arrived in front of the restaurant.

It was already dark outside, though the street lamps and the glowing sign of the restaurant helped in guiding their way towards the entrance.

Felicity and Ray quickly joined them before they could get to the door, and Sophia was swift to compliment Felicity on her formal attire. Felicity was wearing a tight-fitting red dress, though most of the design was covered by the beige coat she had on.

Both Barry and Ray took a door and held it open for them, and the two women murmured their thanks as they passed into the restaurant.

Iris and Eddie were sitting at the bar just in front of them, and their drinks in front of them were empty.

Sophia exchanged an awkward look with Felicity; it seemed as though they had just interrupted an argument, judging by the stiff silence and disgruntled looks coming from the couple.

Iris was quick to hide that with a grin, however, as she slipped off her chair.

"Wow, Iris, check you out!" Sophia smiled, eyeing the tight white dress and gold necklace that the woman was wearing.

Iris grinned before enveloping her in a tight hug. "Hey, Sophia."

After Iris had given Felicity a hug as well, Felicity quickly introduced, "Guys, this is Ray Palmer."

"Hi, nice to meet you," greeted Ray as he shook Eddie's hand.

"Lovely to meet you," Eddie returned with a smile.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Ray said once more to Iris as he shook her hand.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Welcome to my restaurant," greeted the maître d'hotel in French, drawing their attention to them. He then spoke in English, with a thick French accent, "Mr. Palmer, your table is ready."

"Great." Ray smiled before offering an arm to Felicity. "Shall we?"

Felicity took his arm with a grin. "Yes."

"Hey," Iris whispered to Sophia and Barry as the group followed the maître d'hotel to the table. "How did he get a reservation here? We've been trying for months."

Barry shrugged. "I don't know."

The maître d'hotel led them into the dining area, and, surprisingly, it was completely empty of people, save for the five waiters that were standing next to what Sophia assumed was their table.

The room was quite nice; the walls were painted a deep red, and black curtains draped down over every window. The tables were round and had white tablecloth lay over them, while there were chairs that matched the walls pushed in.

The maître d'hotel gestured to the table. "Here's your table, sir."

The group stood in place, their mouths agape as they stared at the room.

Ray was grinning, however. "I thought it'd be nice if it was quiet, so I bought out the entire restaurant." He looked around at their looks of shock and looked down at Felicity. "Too much?"

Felicity gave him an awkward smile. "Just a tad, sweetie."

The six of them got seated, and after the waiters poured them their wine and left, Eddie smiled and leaned forward toward Felicity and Ray. "So, how did you two meet?"

Felicity placed a hand on the table to draw Ray's attention as she raised her eyebrows and nonchalantly smiled. "Work!"

"Uh, well, actually," Ray corrected, "I bought the company where Felicity was employed, and, uh, so she was forced to join me at Palmer Tech."

"It's not as creepy as it sounds," interjected Felicity with a raised finger.

"So you two work closely together," Iris pointed out. She glanced over at Eddie for a moment before returning her gaze to the pair and continuing with a forced smile, "Interesting. I guess you guys share all your thoughts and—and feelings and . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," confirmed Ray, who had clearly not picked up on the awkward tension that was beginning to thicken, "I share everything with Felicity."

"That's nice that you guys have that level of communication," Iris replied, her eyes then turning to Eddie, who was giving her a discouraging smile.

Felicity then picked up on it. "Oh, well, no, not every, everything. I mean, sometimes it's good to just shut up, heh."

Sophia glanced at Barry, who was rubbing his temples, and she sighed.

"I get that." Eddie nodded. "Some things are better left unspoken."

"Really?" questioned Iris with raised eyebrows. "I—I don't find that to be true."

Barry looked over towards the entrance and sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. It's the food. Food's here."

The group silenced as the waiters surrounded the tables and placed their plates down in front of them.

"Our first course on the tasting menu is a quail-egg frittata," declared the maître d'hotel. "Bon appétit."

"Barry, Sophia," began Ray as the waiters dispersed, "I gotta admit, I envy you guys spending so much time at STAR Labs. Harrison Wells is like a personal hero of mine."

Sophia shut her eyes. Perfect.

She noticed Barry's downward gaze, and she quickly interlaced her fingers with his underneath the table and gave his hand a squeeze.

"It's amazing just actually being in the same room with him," Ray continued with a grin.

Barry plastered a smile on his face as he nodded. "Yeah."

Sophia watched nervously as he shifted slightly in his chair and let go of her hand.

"I-I'll be right back," he told the group as he stood up. "Just excuse me."

"Okay." Ray nodded.

Barry glanced at Sophia for a moment before turning around and heading out the door.

Felicity looked over to Sophia, who only shrugged with a sigh, and she awkwardly got up. "Well, I . . . um . . . have to pee."

Sophia watched as she gave them an uncomfortable smile and followed Barry.

"Is, uh . . ." Eddie swallowed as he glanced at Iris before continuing, "Is he okay?"

Sophia nodded. "He's just . . . Work is a little tough, right now."

"You two share a lot with each other, right?" Iris asked, her smile slowly fading. "I mean, you two have been dating for only, what, a month? I mean, you two are so close."

"Iris," Eddie said gently, though she ignored him.

"Well, um," Sophia answered with squinted eyes, "I mean, we were pretty good friends for, like, a year, so . . ."

"It's really nice that you have that open line of communication." Iris turned her gaze to Eddie, who gulped. "Isn't it . . . honey?"

Eddie nervously nodded. "Y-Yeah, it is."

"It's so funny," Iris said softly. "We used to be like that."

Sophia exchanged an awkward look with Ray, and she quietly got up and headed over to the door. She opened it to see that Barry, who was quite distressed, was talking to Felicity, and she gave them a tight smile as they looked at her.

Sophia gave them a pleading look as she gestured back to the room. "Hi, uh, things are getting a little intense in here."

The two of them nodded. Sophia passed by Felicity to reach Barry, who gave her a small smile. She gently kissed him before murmuring, "You okay?"

Barry sighed. "Better than ever."

He wrapped an arm around her waist before the two of them followed Felicity back into the dining room, though they soon paused as they saw that Eddie and Iris were standing.

"You know what," Iris scoffed, "when you are ready to act like we are two people who love each other, call me. I'll be at my dad's."

They watched with widened eyes as Iris left, and their attention soon turned to Eddie.

"Thank you for dinner," he murmured with a forced smile. "I gotta go."

Barry grabbed his phone as it started buzzing, and he looked up at them. "Uh, emergency at STAR Labs."

Felicity nodded. "Go."

Barry turned towards Sophia. "Soph—"

She held her hair. "Ready."

Wind blew against her as he sped them there, and once she had recovered from horrible nausea, she looked up to see that Barry was twisting the cap onto a small vial, which held, what seemed to be, one of the bees inside.

"Let's see what makes this bee so poisonous," Cisco murmured as he took the vial from him. Upon seeing the bee inside, he scrunched his face and let out a small squeal as he rushed to the Med Lab, Caitlin quickly following.

Sophia glanced at the burning hole in the middle of the desk (she assumed this was an attempt to murder the bee) before heading into the Med Lab, where Cisco had put the vial under a microscope.

Caitlin's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the small insect. "That is one odd-looking bee."

"That's 'cause it isn't a bee at all," Cisco murmured, causing the two women to exchange a look of confusion. "It's a robot."

— 𝒮 —

The group, along with Felicity and Ray, who had shown up, were surrounding the main desk, watching the footage of the robot bee that was still sitting in its vial under the microscope.

"Unbelievable," Cisco murmured with a grin. "This bot's got a three hundred and sixty-degree vision system. I mean, we're talking multiple micro-cameras, all coming from various angles at the same time. Which means—"

"It can see all around the room at once," finished Ray. "That is—"

"Amazing," breathed out both Ray and Cisco at the same time.

"Disturbing," corrected Caitlin with scrunched eyebrows.

"It's also next-gen hardware that's nowhere near the market," Dr. Wells sighed.

"So we're not dealing with a meta-human," Sophia said.

"It's just a mad scientist," agreed Barry.

"Cisco, you said the second victim, Bill Carlisle, was a robotics engineer," Dr. Wells said as he began typing into the side computer. "Let's cross-reference his previous employers with Kang's."

"Allow me," interjected Felicity as she jumped onto the free chair. "Mama's been away from the keyboard for far too long."

Cisco raised his eyebrows as Felicity began typing. "Okay."

They watched Felicity's computer screen as the photos of the two victims popped up, and their eyebrows furrowed as a similarity appeared.

"They both worked at Mercury Labs," Sophia realized.

Dr. Wells gave them an amused smile. "Let's call Joe. I think it's time we paid a visit to an old friend."

— 𝒮 —

Tina McGee, though she revealed the mad scientist to be Brie Larvan, refused their request to protect her. Although, that was understandable; they had lost her tachyon prototype after all.

Barry had gone back home, but Sophia had returned to STAR Labs with Dr. Wells. As he worked at the main desk, Sophia was giggling with Felicity and Caitlin in the Med Lab as they watched Cisco and Ray tinker with his suit through the security camera.

"It's so fun to watch grown men play with their toys," chuckled Felicity.

"You're so lucky," Caitlin sighed as they began to walk to the Cortex. "Ray is so nice and smart and hot."

"Yeah, it's kind of like I'm dating Barry but in Oliver's body," Felicity agreed before whipping around to face them with widened eyes. "A sentence neither of you will repeat to anyone."

Sophia exchanged an amused look with Caitlin before reassuring the other woman, "Your secret's safe with us."

Their attention then turned to the monitor that was displaying the bee, which was now scuttling around in its vial.

"It must have reactivated," said Dr. Wells. "And if it's controlled wirelessly—"

"I can trace its signal and figure out where it's trying to go," Felicity quickly said as she slid onto one of the chairs and began typing. After a few moments, she paused, and her eyes widened. "Oh, no."

Dr. Wells peered over at her screen. "Oh, boy."

"What?" asked Caitlin frantically.

"The swarm is headed for Mercury Labs," Dr. Wells sighed. "Brie Larvan's going after Tina."

"I'll call Barry," Sophia muttered as she fished her phone out of her pocket.

The phone rang only once before he picked up. "Hey, Soph, what's up?"

"Larvan's going to Mercury Labs," she told him. "For Dr. McGee."

"I'm coming."

Barry arrived less than a moment later. "How do we stop them?"

"She's gotta be remotely piloting those bees from somewhere," reasoned Dr. Wells as he tapped on the screen that was connected to his wheelchair.

"We need to stop this bug-eyed glasses woman," announced Cisco as he and Ray came in.

"And her mini bandits," added Ray.

The two of them then looked at each other with wide eyes, and, in unison, they breathed out, "Bug-Eyed Bandit."

"Got her; she's in an abandoned greenhouse," declared Felicity, whose focus was solely on the computer screen in front of her.

"Barry, take out Brie," Dr. Wells instructed. "It's the only way to stop these."

"What about Dr. McGee?" questioned Barry incredulously.

"The defibrillator in your suit is broken," Sophia pointed out with a shake of the head. "You cannot risk going near Mercury Labs."

It was silent for a moment before Ray spoke up, "The bees can't penetrate my suit. I'll go."

"Whoa," interrupted Cisco as he raised a cautious hand. "We haven't tested out the new power system yet."

Ray gave a small shrug. "We'll do it now."

As he began to head out the Cortex, Cisco nodded. "I'm following you."

Caitlin sighed. "I'm driving."

"And I'm kissing you," Felicity murmured before planting a kiss on Ray's lips.

As the three of them rushed out, Sophia took Caitlin's chair and looked up to see that Barry was still standing in the same spot as before.

"Dr. Wells—"

"Mr. Palmer will protect Tina," Dr. Wells reassured him. "Go."

Barry glanced at Sophia, who gave him a small smile, and nodded. He then sped out, only a blur of red following.

Sophia watched nervously as Felicity typed furiously into the computer, and her attention was drawn to the comms as Cisco's voice came through.

"Felicity, can you jam their frequency?"

"I already tried," Felicity answered, "but I might be able to redirect them onto a new target. Ray, get ready for incoming."

"We have the technology," Ray reassured them.

Dr. Wells managed to pull up the security footage of the warehouse Brie was in, and they watched as she spoke to Barry.

After a few minutes, her bees rose up, and Sophia's heart rate spiked as they began to chase Barry.

"Barry!" Dr. Wells exclaimed into the microphone, though they got no response as he continued to run.

Sophia watched with apprehension as Felicity's typing became faster, and after a moment, she spoke into the microphone, "Barry, I hacked into the bees' frequency. I'm controlling them."

Code began to write itself onto Felicity's screen; Brie was fighting back.

"Oh, she's good," Felicity breathed out as she watched the code. "She's like my nemesis. I've never had a nemesis before. I kind of like it."

Felicity quickly countered the code, and a minute later, the computer sparked, causing Felicity to scream and jumped back.

"Rude!"

"Felicity!" came Barry's voice through the comms. "Right now would be a good time to do something."

A look of determination came upon her face. "Stay away from Barry Allen," she said through grit teeth as she began typing.

"Felicity!"

"Got it."

She stood up, pushing her chair back. "Boom. Drop the mic." She paused for a moment before murmuring, "It's metaphorical, of course, because I don't have a real mic."

"Brie's restrained. Call CCPD."

"Nice job, Felicity." Sophia grinned, offering a high-five, which the other woman quickly satisfied.

Suddenly, Ray's voice came over the comms. "Cisco's been stung. He's going into shock."

Sophia's heart dropped as her eyes widened in horror.

Barry was quick to answer, "I'm on my way!"

The three of them waited with bated breath for the next few minutes, but all let out a sigh of relief as they heard a loud inhale of breath.

"Either my fear of bees is over, or it just got a lot worse."

— 𝒮 —

Later that evening, Sophia was, for once, in her own apartment, watching one of the movies that was on the list that Cisco had given her.

But, of course, life couldn't allow her to spend more than an hour without disturbance, and her phone rang.

She picked it up to see it was Barry, and she raised her eyebrows as she brought the phone to her ear. "Hey. What's up?"

"Mind coming to my lab? I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, I'll be there in—"

A gust of wind, and she was in his lab at CCPD.

"—fifteen minutes. Dammit, Barry!"

He grinned. "Sorry."

She slapped his arm, though that only broadened his grin, and she looked to the side to see that Joe was there, watching with an amused smile.

"Oh." She gave a nod of greeting. "Hi, Joe."

"Hey, Soph," Joe greeted.

"So," she began as she put her hands in the pockets of her jeans, "what's up?"

Barry sighed, exchanging a look with Joe before looking back at Sophia and admitting, "I've decided that we should tell Cisco and Caitlin about . . . everything."

"Really?" she questioned eagerly. "So you . . . You trust them?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I do."

"That's great." She smiled, relief flooding through her; she would no longer have to keep this a secret from her two best friends. "Why the sudden change of mind, though?"

"I talked to Felicity . . . and after what Cisco did for Ray . . ." Barry sighed, and he gave her a shrug. "I know I can trust them."

"Glad you've finally come to your senses," she murmured as she got on her tip-toes and kissed him lightly. "So, what, they comin' now?"

"I've already called them over." He grinned. "I told them we were going for karaoke."

"Aw, you're gonna break poor Cisco's heart," Sophia laughed.

Just on time, the sound of footsteps caused the three of them to turn towards the entrance.

"All right, all right," began Cisco as he and Caitlin came into the room. "Who's ready for some" —he placed a hand on his ear as he sang— "karaoke?"

The pair's grins faded as they noticed the serious looks on the others' faces.

Realization dawned upon Caitlin's face. "We are not going to karaoke, are we?"

Barry shook his head. "No. Um . . ." He pointed towards the board of his mother's murder case that was in front of him as he began, "This is everything we know about my mother's murder and the Reverse-Flash. I've been gathering information on him for a long time. And . . . this is everything we know about Dr. Wells."

He pulled down a new screen that had newspaper clippings and pictures of Dr. Wells.

Caitlin looked back at Barry as Cisco walked towards the board. "I don't understand. What do Dr. Wells and the Reverse-Flash have to do with each other?"

"Um . . ." Barry folded his arms and glanced at Sophia. "They're the same person."

"That's impossible," Caitlin scoffed.

"Look, Caitlin, it took me a long time to believe it, too," Barry said as he took a few steps towards them, "but it's him."

"Dr. Wells is a speedster?" Caitlin questioned dubiously. "He's paralyzed."

"Is he, though?" Joe interjected with raised eyebrows.

"And why would he kill Barry's mother?" Caitlin quickly countered. "It doesn't make any sense." She was quiet for a few moments, glancing between the others. "Cisco? Say something."

Cisco, who was staring at the photos, slowly turned his head towards her as he breathed out, "I've been having these dreams. Mostly at night but sometimes during the day. But they don't really feel like dreams. They—they feel real."

Sophia's eyebrows furrowed. "What happens in the dream?"

Cisco's gaze moved to the board. "Dr. Wells is the Reverse-Flash . . . and he kills me."