Not A Hero - Cisco Ramon ✔

0. How it all began

-- A few months ago --

"Are you really sure about this, Kat?" Oliver Queen asks me when he puts down the last box in my new living room. "I am, Oliver. I loved working with you, but it's time to concentrate on my job. I am going to miss being Foxy, so maybe sometimes I'll visit you guys." I tell him and smile when I see my sister walk in. "I'm going to miss you, sis." I say and hug her. She laughs and hugs me back. "Good luck with unpacking. I wish we could stay, but you know, duty calls." She smiles at me. "I understand, I'll talk to you soon, and keep me updated!" I hug Oliver too, and watch them walk out. I look around the empty room. I bought a small house in Central City, it's not big, but I like it.

I start unpacking a few boxes, the furniture was already there. I was just looking at a few photographs when the doorbell rang. I close the photo album and stand up. When I open the door, I see a woman in around my age. "Hi! I'm Melanie Reed, I'm your new neighbour. I saw you moving in and though, why not introduce myself." She smiles at me. "I'm Katherine Smoak, nice to meet you." I shake her hand and open the door for her. She walks in and looks around. "Nice place, if you need help, my brother could help you with painting." She says to me. "That would be great, I'm not really good at that." I smile at her and close the door.

-- Now --

"Yes, Felicity, I'll text you later." I say to my sister on my phone. "Good, I have to go, bye!" "Bye." I hang up and lock my door. "Hey, Kat. Are you going to watch the Particle Accelerator, too?" Melanie, my neighbour, asks me. "Yeah, I mean, my sister's got the brains, but I still find it interesting to watch." she laughs. "Yeah, I heard there were a lot of protests so I'm there to keep an eye on everyone." She tells me, showing me her CCPD badge. "You never stop working, do you?" I ask her laughing, she just smiles at me. "I'm glad S.T.A.R labs is just around the corner, I don't like walking." I tell her when we arrive at S.TA.R labs. "You're so lazy, all you do is sit in your small office and write." She says laughing. "I do not! I go to Jitters every morning." I say, but what she says is actually true. Since I stopped working with the Arrow, I've been out of shape and kinda lazy.

Everyone starts to clap and Harrison Wells walks on stage. "Thank you, my name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics. We'll bring about advancements in power, advancements in medicine, and trust me, that future will be here faster than you think." Everyone applauds. I hear someone yelling and see a boy running away. Melanie runs away too, me right behind her. We run another way and she holds up her gun. "Freeze! Police! Or do you want to find out the hard way you're not faster than a bullet?" Melanie says and the boy with the bag freezes. Another boy and girl walk towards us, it's the girl whose bag was stolen. I give the bag back to her. "Thank you." She smiles at me, I just nod at her and smile back.

--

Suddenly the weather is starting to get bad when I walk home. There's thunder and lightning. I decided to go home and watch it on the news. I hear a big explosion, was that the Particle Accelerator. Something blows me on the ground and everything goes black.

"Kat! Kat, wake up!" I open my eyes and see Melanie staring at me. "Thank god, are you alright?" She asks me. I sit up and notice that I'm on the ground. "What happened?" I ask her. 'she looks terrible.' I hear her voice, but her mouth isn't moving. "You don't look good either." I mumble back. "I said that out loud?" She asks me. "I guess." Suddenly I hear a lot of voices.

'Where's Dave?' 'It exploded?' 'Shit, is she alright?' 'Yes, mom. I'm okay, now.' 'I knew it.' 'Wells is going to pay for this.'

"Do you hear that?" I ask her. She looks at me confused. "Hear what?" "Those voices." I stand up, I have a few scratches on my arm, but besides that I'm unharmed. "I don't... are you sure you're alright?" 'I think she's getting crazy because she's always writing.' "I'm not crazy!" I tell her. "You... I didn't say that out loud. How did you hear that... wait... what number am I thinking about?" '5628' "5628" I tell her, still confused. "Maybe I am going crazy." I say and close my eyes; my head starts to hurt. "Or I'm able to read minds."