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“This isn’t up for debate” Oliver felt his heart drop at Barry’s words. The idiot was really considering sacrificing himself to the Dominators? The archer’s eyes became intense, the other members of the team’s voices blending together as they all tried to come up with excuses or anything to talk Barry out of what he was planning on doing.
‘It’s pointless’ Oliver thought to himself, knowing that if he wasn’t able to talk Barry out of it with Kara’s help, the crowd of people who hated him only a few days earlier wouldn’t have much of an effect. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Barry turn around, and begin moving toward the exit, at a sluggish, human pace.
“Barry, I’m not letting you leave”
“No offence, Oliver, but you and what army?” Barry’s words sent a small chill down Oliver’s spine before he was greeted by a gust of wind and the sight of lightning leaving the room, everyone’s voices blurred again, all screaming Barry’s name in some way, shape or form. Turning around, Oliver slammed his hand against one of the tables, causing everyone to jump.
“We are not letting them get off Earth if they have Barry.” The blonde spoke, not separating his vision from the spot on the table in which his fist made an indent in. The other heroes exchanged looks of confirmation, before it was Kara of all people who decided to speak.
“I’ll go see if I can track him down, maybe I can cut him off,” her voice was soft before another gust of wind greeted the group, confirmation that the Kryptonian was gone. The Legends went into a small group on their own, saying something about ‘prepping the Waverider for space travel’, leaving Oliver alone with Team Flash and Team Arrow.
“We’ll get your boyfriend back, Oliver” Caitlin said softly, only warmth and sympathy in her eyes. Oliver didn’t move his gaze from the spot on the table, but a hand moving as a reflex to grab the ring he had sitting in the pocket. Their teams and family were the only ones who knew of their relationship, let alone Oliver’s plans to propose. Exhaling slowly, Oliver lifted his gaze to the group of friends, most turning to work on the complex computer setup they had made.
‘Dammit Barry, you can’t honestly be following through with this?’ His thoughts supplied, filling him with worry and anger. Grabbing his bow he moved to the targets they had set up, all he could do is wait until one of the teams came back with recon on Barry’s location. ‘Was this how you felt when I was taken?’
///
“Ollie” Barry’s voice called through the group of heroes welcoming him back to Earth before he was greeted with an arm full of speedster. Almost instinctively, Oliver wrapped both arms tightly around his lover’s waist, holding him a bit tighter than he should have. The dream world was exactly that, a dream. His parents were alive, Thea was happy, he wasn’t the Green Arrow, and he was about to get married.
‘To Laurel’ His mind supplied, making Oliver have a weak smile on his lips. The dream world was perfect, but one of the most important people in his life was missing, the person he was holding so tightly in his arms right now. The two stood for a few moments, hugging before releasing, Barry having an awkward blush on his cheeks, remembering the Legends were present and weren’t exactly up to date on their relationship status.
“Glad to see you back” Barry supplied in a mostly calm manner, which caused Oliver to chuckle. Grabbing Barry’s hand he began to pull him away.
“I’ll fill you in on everything in private” Oliver stated as an excuse to allow the two some privacy, getting an eye roll from Thea and Diggle, who were fully aware of what the couple was actually going to do. The speedster and the archer made their way to one of the rooms in the Waverider, Oliver initiating the kiss between them, one which Barry happily reciprocated.
“You had me worried Ollie. I thought I lost you…” Barry said softly breaking the kiss for a moment, allowing himself to absorb his boyfriend's presence, resting their foreheads together. Oliver chuckled softly, running his fingers through the soft mess of Barry’s hair.
“You’ll never lose me Bear. I’ll always come back to you, I promise. And you know I keep my promises” Barry chuckled at Oliver’s comment removing one of the hands from his hair and intertwining their fingers.
“I’m glad. Now we should probably rejoin with the rest of the team, they might be wondering where we ran off too”
“I’m sure the legends figured out we were dating, we can have a few more moments” Oliver smirked before reconnecting their lips into a kiss, one which Barry was chuckling into.
///
“We found Barry” The blonde was yanked out of his thoughts at those words, spinning away from the targets to face Kara, who was panting, hands on her knees. Moving as quickly as his legs could carry him, Oliver raced forward toward the alien, the Legends following closely behind him. They all waited with baited breath for Kara’s report on what had happened.
“I couldn’t catch him, but I did manage to find the ship they are keeping him on and I managed to get close enough to throw on a tracking device” Kara said between pants, not realizing how much faster Barry was. Oliver felt his chest swell with the slightest bit of hope, spinning his attention toward Felicity, who was already furiously tapping on one of the keyboards, her eyes trained on the map. The room was still as the heroes waited for the screen to confirm Kara’s claim. When a small red light began to blink on the map, the group collectively exhaled, hope beginning to fill Oliver even more. ‘We can save him, we can save him!’
“We got the ship he’s on. They haven’t let the planet’s orbit yet, which means we should be able to get to him if we hurry.”
“Oliver, what’s the plan?” Sara asks the new leader, with a raised eyebrow. Oliver stared at the map silently, formulating exactly what they needed to do so they could save his love. He has to assume the Dominators had put him in one of those pods that they had put him in, which means he was somewhere deep in the ship. They had to get a team onto the ship, hopefully one of the previous captors.
“Felicity, Caitlin, Stein, Nate, and Diggle you stay on Earth as tech support and mission control, and Call Curtis, we may need him as well. Myself, Sara, Cisco, Kara , Ray and the rest of the legends will go on the Waverider and determine what we’ll be doing once we get on the ship. The clock is ticking and we don’t know what they could be doing to Barry in there. So we have to move. NOW”
///
It took about two days for the team to officially formulate a plan and get in a close enough range of the ship that was holding Barry for them to even consider doing their rescue mission, and with every day that passed, Oliver became more and more panicked about Barry's state, only praying that he was still alive and not in too much pain.
Oliver was staring out the front window of the Wave rider watching as they slowly began to approach the Dominator mother ship in front of them. He felt his breath catch in his throat, the thought of what his boyfriend could be going through in there was terrorizing him.
“It’s weird seeing you like this, Ollie.” Oliver turned his head to the sound of Sara beside him, he gave her a slightly confused look “Nervous, I mean. Scared for someone else’s life. Haven’t seen you like this since Laurel was in trouble” Sara clarifies, getting a small ‘huh’ from Oliver, who returned his gaze toward the mother ship. Sara stared at Oliver softly before following his gaze outside. “We’ll get him back Oliver. You just have to have a little hope that he’s okay in there. Barry’s a tough guy, and has been through a lot, he is a lot stronger mentally than us, that’s for sure, I’m sure he can survive the Dominator’s mind games.”
Oliver exhales slowly. “I hope you’re right.” The door to the main room slid open, causing the two leaders to turn their head toward Cisco, who was now dressed in his full Vibe suit, and holding the piece of Dominator tech.
“Jax said the jump ship is ready when we are. Just give the signal” Vibe said with a still mellow tone before making his exit the way he came. The team leader sighs before giving one last glance toward the mother ship.
“Hang on Bear. I’m coming for you”
///
“One more time, Cisco, Sara, Kara and Myself will make our way over to the Dominator ship using the jump ship, while Ray, Jax and the other Legends stay on the ship, distracting the Dominators long enough for us to actually get on the ship. Once on the ship, Cisco should be able to vibe us Barry’s location, and using the tech Stein made, we should be able to make the Dominators immobile long enough for us to find, grab and get Barry off the ship before all hell breaks off. Am I clear?” Everyone nodded at Oliver’s mission order once again. The four heroes make their way into the jump ship, Sara finding herself in the pilot position. Oliver readjusted his bow as the smaller ship separated from the Waverider, slowly making its way toward the ship.
“We’re in position, whenever you guys are ready”
“Alright, beginning distraction measures… now” Ray’s voice was calm before a loud boom came from outside the jump ship, the Waverider firing toward the main Dominator ship. A large swarm of smaller ships began to escape from the mother ship, moving to swarm the Waverider, which was still firing on all forces against the mother ship and now small Dominator ships. His eyes scanned the opening slots before locating one that hadn’t had a ship exit it in awhile.
“There, Sara! Let’s go” The assassin nods before piloting the ship forward at a racing pace, making Oliver lose his footing and fall into the jump ship’s ground. Sara opened her mouth to apologize before the he lifted his hand telling her no reason to. They managed to navigate into the port without any trouble and landed the jump ship within the docking chamber. Dominators began to scramble toward the ship, as all the heroes grabbed their gear and moved toward the door, waiting to open it and enter battle.
“We can’t stall from here on out. They know what we’re doing and for all we know they could be trying to relocate Barry or speed up the process of whatever they are doing. Our priority is Barry. Cisco, get us a location” Cisco nodded at Oliver’s order, moving the pull out the flash insignia they discovered Barry had left before leaving for the Dominator ships. With a sharp inhale, Cisco’s vision flashes to blue as he is greeted with the sight of Barry, no longer in his flash costume but instead some weird scrubs, laying with his eyes closed in a chamber similar to the one Oliver and company was in, however he was surrounded by Dominators and they all were holding strange weapons and blades. He looked like a mess, and didn't look like he was even alive, which scared the meta half to death. Taking a step backwards, Cisco's eyes shifted between the group slightly panicked.
“I got him, but it doesn’t look like they will be patient.”
“Now or never. Let’s go!” Oliver screamed as the door slid open, Kara moving forward first, knocking Dominators out of the way of the exit and taking to the air, using her heat vision to clear a path while Sara moved to do the same on the ground. As the path was cleared, Cisco and Oliver raced through the openings the girls were making and rushing down the hallways toward Barry’s location, Oliver occasionally turning backwards to fire the device onto Dominators, or Cisco stopping to blast the Dominators in front of them out of their way. Kara and Sara caught up quickly, Kara moving ahead slightly to clear the path. Cisco skid on the ground before making a sharp turn down one hallway, the other heroes following closely behind. They were approaching a pair of doors which had two hallways going in opposite directions. The door slid open and a large group of Dominators stepped out. They all pointed their weapons toward the heroes, but one in particular caught Oliver’s attention at the sight of a familiar shape and messy brown hair slung over the Dominators shoulder, entirely still. The Dominator spoke in its unknown language quickly before adjusting the still Barry over its shoulder and beginning to move down one of the hallways.
“Where the hell is it going?” Oliver snapped, firing his bow toward the charging Dominators, some of which now had firearms of their own and was blasting the group of heroes.
“Wherever it’s going, it won’t be going far. Oliver, Kara!” Cisco swished his hand and a bright blue breach opened beside him. He nodded his head toward it, letting to the two heroes jump into it before closing it. He turned toward Sara, who only gave a nod before the two continued to fight off the Dominators storm. Kara and Oliver skid across the ground on the other side of the portal, eyes looking up to see the Dominator carrying Barry step into a chamber which door’s were beginning to close.
“Its getting away!”
“No it isn’t” Kara growled before racing toward at inhuman speed and slamming her hands between the closing door, prying it open. The Dominator coward backwards as Kara held the door open, allowing Oliver to close the distance and begin firing arrows at the Dominator. One pierced its leg, causing the Dominator to let out a blood curdling scream, dropping the limp figure of Barry onto the ground with a thud. Oliver’s vision flashed red at the sight of his love being treated as a rag doll. Kara swooped in and quickly collected Barry in her arms, already having damaged the doors to stay open, while Oliver slid past her, slamming his bow into the Dominators head. All he saw was red with every swing on the alien, his hatred and anger from having the light of his life being taken by these creature coming in full force against the already injured create.
“-iver… OLIVER!” Kara’s voice snapped him out of his rage, causing Oliver to lift and swerve his heard toward Kara, who was cradling his boyfriend tightly against her chest. Abandoning the Dominator, Oliver raced over to Barry as quickly as he could, brushing the brunet’s hair out of his face, he moved his hand toward Barry’s neck. There were visible holes in the clothing he was wearing, accompanied by blood stains, some blood even on Barry's face as his head hung lazily against Kara's chest. “His heart’s beating Oliver, I can hear it. But it isn’t the normal speed, and it seems to be going slower, we have to get him back to the ship.” Kara’s words brought Oliver’s mind into overdrive. Grabbing his bow into his hands again he quickly began moving down the hallway toward the noise of Cisco and Sara fighting off Dominators.
“CISCO! WE GOT HIM!” The metahuman swung his head toward Oliver’s voice before nodding and throwing his hand forward again, creating another portal. He waiting for the other three heroes to go through before jumping in, reappearing only a short distance away from where they were in the middle of Dominator combat. “We have to move.” Oliver barked, getting nods from the others before all racing down the hallways. Oliver fired another shot of trackers into the Dominator crowd, knowing he hit at least five.
“Ray, get ready to open fire again, we got Barry and are making it back to the jump ship” Sara spoke into the com, knocking the aliens out of her way as Kara continued to fly,holding Barry close to her chest, eyes concentrated only on his heart beat. Landing in front of the jump ship, Kara handed the speedster over to Oliver’s arms, before turning around and heat visioning the aliens trying to stop the others from getting in. Once all four awake heroes were on board, Sara took controls and began to pilot the ship out the way they came.
“Felicity, NOW!” Oliver screamed into the com that lead to Earth, before the sound of screams of Dominators rang out from where they were coming from, the device Stein designed being activated and attacking every single Dominator in the ship. The heroes sat in silence as Sara piloted the smaller time craft toward the Waverider, which was still fending off smaller Dominator ships. Oliver remained in his seat, absolutely silent, eyes trained on the prone figure cradled in his lap and arms. In the regular light of the jump ship, Oliver could see how pale Barry was, how his hair had become matted and tattered, as the bits of dry blood on his neck and face. Just the sight made Oliver want to go back onto that ship and make every single Dominator on it to suffer all hell. Placing his ungloved hand in the crease of Barry’s neck, he could feel the weak pulse of his lover beat against it, giving the smallest confirmation of life in the speedster. “Please hang on Barry, we’re almost home free”
///
The heroes climbed out of the jump ship, Oliver refusing to let go of his boyfriends as the went to greet the other heroes who were all standing with bated breaths. They all stared at Oliver before their eyes shifted down to the speedster, all having the same horrified expressions on their faces.
“Let’s get Barry to the med bay, Oliver.” Ray signals the archer to follow, leading him down one of the hallways of the Waverider to a room which holds a large medial chair in it, as well as a screen that displays blank information. Cautiously, the blonde lays Barry into the chair, and watched as Ray clips something to his wrist. The two take a step back when a light appears from the ceiling and scans over Barry.
“Mr. Allen seems to have been injected with some unknown element which is keeping him in a coma-like state. His accelerated healing force has also seemed to be stunted by it. I can wash the element out of his system, but it may take a couple hours to a few days for Mr. Allen to be resorted to his normal condition”
“Do it.” Oliver says without hesitation, feeling his heart jump ever so slightly at the sound of the word ‘coma’. Memories of Barry’s first coma coming forward. He couldn’t wait nine months like the first time this happened. Ray stayed silent, giving a small confirming nod before the cuff around Barry’s wrist seemed to tighten, a strange purple liquid coming from the cuff toward the wall.
“Feel free to stay as long as you want Oliver. I’m going to regroup with the other’s and get us back to Earth.” Ray places a hand on the older male’s shoulder before making his exist. Oliver didn’t bother looking at Ray, listening to the footsteps become distance. Taking Barry’s uncuffed hand he lifted it to his lips and gently pressed a kiss into it.
“God Barry, you can’t do this to me. I can’t imagine losing you, let alone losing you to aliens. You promised me you weren’t going to leave me, and you better damn well keep that promise Barry.” Oliver spoke quietly, finding the smallest comfort in the low heat emanating from his partner’s hand. All he could do is watch the steady rise and fall of Barry’s chest before exhaustion had hit him. Oliver hadn’t gotten any decent sleep since the invasion started, and even less rest once Barry was taken captive by the Dominators. Lowering his head onto the armrest of the chair, Oliver allowed his eyes to slip closed, still holding Barry’s hand tightly in his own as he drifted off into a light sleep.
///
“-llie?”
Oliver’s eyes has snapped open at the sound of that familiar voice and nickname. It’s been 3 days since the Dominators had taken Barry as their prisoner and the teams great effort to get Barry back. Ever since Oliver was not far from the med bay within the wave rider, sleeping there and thankfully, being brought food from Sara, Ray or occasionally Mick. He refused to leave Barry’s side while he was in his comatose state. Even when all the strange fluid was cleaned out of his system, which team Flash plus Stein was trying to identify, Barry still wasn’t healing at his accelerated rate or showing any signs of improvement until a couple hours ago. Oliver had decided to take a small nap, still not sleeping properly with Barry being in the medbay. Oliver moved to a standing position, his eyes being greeted by the drowsy and foggy green ones looking through slightly parted lids. Oliver felt joy swell into his chest as tears of relief slide down his cheek.
“Ollie?” Barry’s weak voice called again and Oliver was on his knees next to Barry’s head, holding the speedster’s hand tightly.
“I’m here Bear… I’m right here. Hi…”
“What happened? Is everyone okay?” ‘Dammit Barry, worry about yourself for once’
“Yes, everyone’s fine. We got you back from the Dominators and they retreated. Everything is okay.”
“How long was I out?”
“Three days. God Barry, you can’t scare me like that. I can’t lose you. I can’t imagine not having you in my life, or by my side. God…” Oliver went silent, squeezing Barry’s hand tighter, tears threatening his eyes. He felt himself begin to choke up, just imagining life without Barry. Lifting his head to look at his boyfriend, he finds a weak smile on his lips. “Marry me.” Oliver blurts suddenly, watching Barry’s face to morph of one of confusion.
“What?” Barry asks weakly, trying to search for something in Oliver’s eyes.
“Marry me, Barry. I was going to propose to you earlier, but I kept chickening out. Then you giving yourself up to the Dominators only confirmed that I can’t do this, any of this without you by my side. You are the most important thing in my life and I can’t even begin to imagine my life without you in it, and I want you in it forever.” Oliver let his heart spill out, not sure where the words were coming from, but he didn’t want the words to stop at all, he just wanted to keep telling Barry how much he loved him, how much he needed him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the ring that was beginning to burn a hole in his leg, lifting it up so Barry could see the silver band with a lightning bolt and arrow engraved onto it. “Barry, I love you with all my heart, so please, marry me?”
Barry stared silently at Oliver, the archer suddenly feeling regret and embarrassment flood every inch of his body. It was when the shocked stare morphed into a large smile, tears beginning to well in those bright green eyes that Oliver loved so much, that he felt his heart began to lift.
“Yes” Barry responded softly.
“Yes?”
“Yes Ollie. One million times yes.” Barry says louder this time, a tired but happy laugh coming from the speedster as Oliver moved up to his feet to get better leverage, kissing his fiance (god fiance ) for the first time in almost a week.
///
Oliver never thought he was going to be thankful for an alien invasion, but the day him and Barry said their I do’s in front of their closest friends and family, he couldn’t be more happy for the Dominators deciding to drop by.