Alliance {The Flash/Arrow}

Twenty

Barry

"I got it!" Cisco proclaimed, taking my attention away from the tile on the ceiling. I looked at him curiously as he smiled down at his tablet. "I finally figured out the frequency difference."

"Were you able to locate Ashton?" Oliver asked.

Cisco nodded, tapping a few things before his face lit up. "She's somewhere in the woodlands, something that looks like a cave." He looked up at Harry. "Do you know where that is?"

He nodded, grabbing the large gun that he had lying on his desk. "I do. Let's go."

"Wait a second." Oliver said. "Shouldn't we work out a plan before we run head-first into Zoom's lair?"

I nodded in agreement. "We need to make sure that we have a way out in case things don't go the way we want them to."

"We can plan on the way." Harry insisted, obviously eager to make sure that he brings his daughter home safely.

He exited the room, and I exchanged a rather worried glance with Oliver and Cisco before we all followed behind him. We weaved our way throughout the entire building until we ended up in the garage. It looked like the one back home, and Harry took his pick of the white vans that were lined up and down the spacious room. Oliver and I climbed into the back before he pulled out into the city. We both changed into our suits because we didn't know what we were going to encounter once we got in Zoom's lair, and both of us wanted to be prepared for anything. He didn't look as nervous as he probably needed to, but I knew that it was because he hadn't ever faced Zoom before. He didn't know the extent of his ruthlessness, and he hadn't seen the things that he was willing to do in order to get what he wanted. Oliver had no idea what we were about to go up against, but it was better for him to keep his hope and determination up in order to get Ashton than to be shot down by reality.

After a twenty-minute drive, we reached the woodlands on the outskirts of town. When I stepped out of the van, I took a deep breath to calm the nerves building in my stomach. Cisco immediately began trekking through the forest, following the directions that were on his tablet. Oliver and I followed behind Harry and Cisco, none of us carrying a conversation due to how tense the air was. The forest was dimly lit due to the storm clouds overhead, and it just added to the atmosphere that was nearly suffocating. There were no sounds in the vast forest other than the sounds of our shoes stepping on dried leaves or wet moss. It was eery in every sense of the word, and I could feel my back tensing more and more the further into the forest we got. I found myself clenching my teeth in order to calm myself down somewhat. It was something that I didn't do very often, and it only showed just how upset and anxious I was over our current situation.

We spent a good fifteen minutes wandering around the forest until we came across a tall rock structure that looked like a cliff. I could see the outline of a cave near the top of the cliff, and there was a metal support structure in front of it that looked more like a jumping off point than anything else. "Let me guess." Oliver spoke first. "That's where Zoom's lair is."

"Can we please stop calling it his lair?" Harry pleaded. "It makes him sound like some comic book character."

"He's a supervillain." Cisco defended. "We're calling it a lair."

"It makes sense that he would be hiding out somewhere like this." I stated. "It's a place that only a speedster would be able to get to."

"Then it's a good thing we have a speedster." Cisco beamed, making my chuckle lightly.

One by one, I took each of them to the mouth of the cave. It wasn't the easiest task in the world, but I'd managed to do it within seconds. Once we were all in the same place, we quickly followed Cisco through the cave as he followed the directions on his tablet. It only took us a few turns and corners until we were standing in what felt like the heart of Zoom's lair. There was technological equipment on the left side of the room and three cells on the other side. There was a man in an iron mask that wasn't moving, so I wasn't entirely sure if he was alive or not. In the middle cage was the girl that I assumed was Jesse. Harry put his gun down and ran over to her cage, saying her name with more emotion than I had heard him use before.