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saiilorstars · 4 years ago

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Sweet Ambitions

Ch.4: Worlds Apart (Pt.1)

Story Masterlist // Anais’ Masterlist // Masterlist of other OCs

Fandom: Supergirl // Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC

Summary: Anais meets a strange man who claims to be from another universe. Barry Allen also turns out to be a speedster which is luckily quite needed when Livewire and newcomer Silver Banshee decide to terrorize the city.

A/N: This chapter (and the next) is a crossover with my Flash fic Rise Up

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

Anais sat against her bedhead scrolling back and forth between the pictures she had of that strange man following her earlier in the week. It'd been two days since she'd snapped the pictures and since then Anais couldn't shake the feeling of being followed no matter where she went. It was difficult to start a new life with a stalker but it wasn't going to stop her anytime soon.

The cellphone in her hand went off, flashing the ID of her mother. "Hi, Mom," she greeted in a way that would throw off her mother from any suspicions of a problem.

"Hi sweetheart!" her mother was cheery by default. "I didn't know if it was too early to call but—"

"No, I'm due at work in about thirty minutes," Anais reminded.

"Yes! At your brand new job!" Her mother laughed in excitement despite the news being kind of old now.

Anais still smiled though. Her parents were incredibly proud of her that she'd managed to snag a job at one of the most important media places. "Yes, Mom, I know. Please don't do that when you come by."

Her mother laughed. "I will try my hardest but you know your father. He's even happier than I am!"

"Was there something you needed, Mom? Not to be rude or anything but...I have to get to work in a bit, remember?"

"No, uh, no...well…" her mother took a suspicious pause, "...you do remember that your father and I will be stopping by the day after tomorrow?"

"Believe me I have not forgotten," Anais promised her. Her eyes roamed her pretty desolate bedroom she'd yet to furnish.

"We just want to check up on you, sweetheart," her mother said, knowing well where her daughter's thoughts were. "We just want to make sure you're stable and that you're not over-exerting yourself at the DEO."

"Trust me mother, I'm not," Anais hated to repeat herself but if it was what her parents needed so that they wouldn't be around all the time, so be it.

"Well, take care of yourself, then," her mother said. "And just to let you know, your godparents are already in the city so you be sure to give them a call to get together."

Anais tilted her head back and brought a hand up to her forehead. My God I love you, Mom, but why? She should be used to her parents' over protectiveness, really. "Yes, Mom, I will."

With that, she ended the call.

She got out of bed and set her hands on her hips. "Oh Mom." She quickly sped around the room to make her bed - which was comprised of some of Kara's old sheets and covers - and went into the shower. In less than two minutes she was showered, dressed and hair-dryed. Her breakfast came in the form cereal, a banana, cookies and possibly the entire box of donuts Kara recently bought yesterday.

"You're going to buy more donuts on your way back from work," Kara warned when the two walked out the CatCo. elevator together. "You know I like eating the sprinkle donuts after work."

"Only took me a week but yeah, I learned," Anais chuckled. "Just take a quick cupcake out of that—" she nodded to the white box Kara held in her hands, "—and hold on until tonight."

Kara's snort was rather loud, making her the object of attention in the room. "I may be bulletproof but Cat Grant scares me sometimes."

It was Anais' turn to laugh. While only working for Cat two days, she learned that the woman did have quite an attitude that wasn't good for the faint hearted. Still, it made the working experience all the more interesting.

"Better get these to her right now," Kara went around Anais and headed into Cat's office.

Anais stopped by Winn's desk before going to her own which was closer to James' office. "Hey, what did the DEO say about...you know…?"

Winn put down a pen he'd been mindlessly twirling between his fingers. His face expression was enough to deduce things weren't alright. The DEO had played host to his girlfriend Siobhan Smythe who'd suddenly garnered the ability to scream loud enough to save herself from dying after accidentally falling over a rooftop.

"They said she wasn't alien," Winn started off with, his voice hushed so no one but them would hear. "Her DNA came back 100% human."

"So then how the hell did she get this ability to scream so powerfully?"

"The doctors didn't know," Winn rested his cheek against his hand. "I'm so confused about what's happening."

"I'd be too if my girlfriend suddenly turned into a banshee."

Winn blinked at her. "A what?"

Anais shrugged the term off. "A banshee. C'mon, you've never heard the stories? The Irish mythology says that a banshee is like a spirit with this killer shriek. Sorry Winn," her smirk wasn't really apologetic, Winn noted, "But your girlfriend is a banshee."

"You don't look so apologetic," his frown was a source of amusement for her.

She gave him a mock salute and headed for James' office. She was due for a new assignment and was itching to find out what it was. "Morning," she made a show of knocking as she opened the door.

"Morning," James greeted her with a kind smile. It was charming, which allowed Anais to see what Kara saw in him. Because yeah, after a week, it was also fairly easy to see Kara was in love with him. It was also easy to see James felt the same.

"So, you have an assignment for me?"

"Well, apart from the whole Golden Girl picture—"

"Not Golden Girl," Anais made a wave of her hand. "I'm so not Golden Girl."

James chuckled. "I know, but...Cat is grilling me for a picture. But, since I know that's not going to happen for a while, I thought you would like to snap pictures of a crime scene that led to the admittance of patients into the hospital due to an interesting condition."

"How do you mean interesting?" Anais crossed her arms.

"Well, the story goes these patients were admitted with electrical imbalances in the brain. It was out in the public and the scene is still scratched off as a crime scene, so…"

"Perfect opportunity to snap some pictures," Anais understood the mission, though she was still curious of the reason for the patients' condition. "Is there any leads for the case?"

James gave a shrug of his shoulders. "NCPD hasn't released anything yet. Sure we'll get something as the day goes by."

"Okay," Anais started out the office when James called her again.

"Cameras should be in, by the way."

"Ah, you know I wanted to use the one my parents bought me," Anais smiled at his intentions but there was no way she would ever leave her first camera.

"Just saying in case you wanted to be the same as the other employees…"

"Well, you and I both know that I'm nowhere near the same as the other employees," she winked at him and headed out.

Before she could reach her desk, however, she felt that same tickle in her mind again. She frowned and looked out the window. The stranger hadn't shown up again since the first time, but of course he would return. It was what Anais intended on when she gave Cat the pictures of him.

"Where are you going?" Both Kara and Winn called to her after seeing her rush to the elevator.

"Just need something outside! Be back in a bit!" she flashed them a smile just as the elevator doors slid shut. She was going straight for the rooftop, unfortunately missing the new visitor CatCo. had after the elevator opened up again in the office. She intended on finding the stranger up in the sky somewhere.

She made a quick stride across the rooftop and looked below to find no one. "I know you're out here! Don't make me search for you like I have all the time in the world!" Her calls were in vain, for no one came.

She closed her eyes and allowed a glowing orange energy mask the her face. If she was going to fly then she needed to be covered up in case any civilian caught her. With that, she rose into the air and scanned the other rooftops, as well as the streets below. Suddenly, there was a terrible wail from below - within the building - that made Anais cover her ears. She strained to keep herself in the air but when she heard glass shatter she knew someone would need her help.

Unfortunately, she knew the person who'd crashed through CatCo's wall.

"KARA!" she screamed and moved to catch her. Just as she was about to move down, something orange zipped across the street and up the building. It snatched Kara in her fall and left with her.

Anais remained in the air, now more confused than ever. "What?" she scratched the side of her head. Without hesitating, she pulled out her phone and snapped the best pictures she could of that lightning. She and Winn would definitely be going over them.

~ 0 ~

Kara didn't know what happened. One moment, Siobhan had come raging into the office and screaming that sent Kara out the glass window...and now she was suddenly in the outskirts of the city thanks to an orange blob.

Said orange blob turned out to be red, and in a suit. It was a man in a red suit who stopped her from falling yet had somehow made her catch on fire. Once she was on her feet she did her best to gather herself together. Now that Siobhan had acted out, she would need to be taken in...though by who? The police were no longer equipped to bring her into custody with those powers. It would become a DEO problem no doubt.

"You don't seem that bothered by the fact that you're on fire," the man's voice pulled her back to the present.

She looked down at herself and saw her shirt was still billowing flames. She gave it a careless pat and turned to him, rather confused with his presence. "I didn't need you to save me."

The man chuckled at her words. "You just fell from a skyscraper. So if I hadn't been there, you would have gone splat."

Kara's mind was back at CatCo. where she was sure the others were probably going out of their minds trying to find her body. At the very least, Siobhan was making an escape and it could be very difficult. "I have to get back to the city." She jumped into the air, leaving behind her clothes to become Supergirl. However, she noticed the same orange-gold flicker rushing below on ground, almost to her pace. She came to a stop and started to lower herself down, meeting the man yet again.

"How did you do that?" the man asked after catching up to her. "You're a meta too?"

Kara was completely lost. Was he seriously asking her who she was? She didn't expect to be worldwide recognized but at the very least she would've been mentioned. "I'm Supergirl," she said in a manner that seemed like it should be enough explanation. And it really should be.

It would have been if the man belonged to her world.

"You're who now?" he looked the woman over, still unsure of how she had changed from day clothes to a...costume?

"How did you save me?" Supergirl inquired, suddenly realizing he'd managed to grab her off a building like it was nothing.

"Well I... Y... You fell out a window and I... I caught you and... ran you... all the way out here-" he realized they were practically in the middle of nowhere, "-which I did NOT not mean to do but I've been working on my speed and...guess I'm faster than I thought."

"Clearly," Supergirl admitted. "But who are you?" She'd never seen that suit anywhere and she figured she'd remember it. It was all red except for the white emblem on the chest with s lightning bolt. "Wait a second, are you the one who's been stalking Anais?" her eyes narrowed on at him.

Red alert. This time it was the man's turn to say his name and think it was enough explanation. "I'm The Flash."

Supergirl did not blink. "The who now?"

"Wait, do you not know who I am?"

"Should I?"

"What about the Azalea?"

Supergirl questioned it with a look and shrugged. Wasn't that a flower?

"Green Arrow?"

No winner.

"Black Canary? Black Orchid? The Tempest?" Barry was getting more and more distraught seeing none of those names were familiar. "Firestorm? Atom? Datura? Zoom?"

"Sorry," Supergirl sheepishly smiled.

The man made the conclusion that he was not in the right place. One moment he was telling his friends he would be running even more and now suddenly he was somewhere far, far away. "Oh, boy. Not as sorry as I am." He removed his mask and released a big, weary sigh.

Kara took a moment to study him and see if maybe she knew him from somewhere (without the suit) and perhaps not recognize him too soon. Though his dark brown hair was a bit out of place from his cowl, and his green eyes were looking to the side in thought, Kara was sure she'd never seen him in her life. The red suit was just out of the question as well.

"Hey, I'm Barry Allen. I'm the fastest man alive. Also I think I am on the wrong Earth...and I'm gonna need your help."

~0~

Barry Allen had traveled to another world before, on purpose. It also included a sure way to return home. This time however, he had no idea where he was, nor how he would be returning to his own world. Luckily for Barry, Kara and her friends - who Barry had yet to meet - had a secret, small base in an abandoned office inside the building where Supergirl, known as Kara to the civilians, worked. Barry was quick to start searching for any familiar names he knew from his world who could help get him back home. He didn't even want to think what his friends would be thinking at the moment. Had he been gone for a couple minutes? Days? Years? Barry shook those thoughts out of his head.

He was sure his girlfriend would kill him if he was gone for years.

Kara, on the other hand, was oblivious to those thoughts. She had just learned there were other earths and that Barry was from another Earth. It all sounded too impossible. She paced behind Barry's chair, asking zillions of questions. "So what do you mean, you're from another Earth? What, how many other Earths are there other than this one?" Barry tried to answer her but she kept firing more questions. "You know, we're Earth."

The door of the room burst opened and in came a woman with long, straight blonde hair and clear blue eyes. She could have passed as Kara's sister had it not been for her more yellow hair and paler skin. She stopped her skipping when she saw Barry at the computers.

"Anais!" Kara turned on her alien friend.

Anais's eyes were wide in a comically way. "Kara…?"

Barry turned his chair around to meet the woman's gaze but found he was being scrutinized from head to toe. "Uuh...hi?" Her eyes seemed like they were permanently stuck being that wide. It was actually very concerning.

"Uh, Anais, let me explain," Kara cut in before things went further. She wasn't sure what Anais was thinking other than there was a strange man in their base. "Barry's the one who 'saved'—" she put quotation marks in the air, causing both women to momentarily laugh, "—me after Siobhan."

"I did," Barry made a face, but was not acknowledged.

"Also, he's from another world!"

"Universe," Barry corrected.

"Wait, wait," Anais pointed at him. "You're...you're from another universe? Like...like that multiverse theory thing Winn talked about the other day?" Winn had a lot of things to say and some of those things were not as interesting as he thought.

"Yes!" Kara exclaimed.

Anais took a moment to process this. She'd seen the lightning streak coming back into the city, and since Supergirl followed out of her own accord, Anais figured there was no danger. It allowed her to come back to the offices much more calm and headed up to their base where she presumed Kara would be. She was not expecting that man, nor the news that other worlds existed.

Wait, a second...did he just say he was…?

"And so, from this other world you're...fast?"

"Oh!" Kara made the connection. "He's just like you!"

Anais had doubt on her face. She placed a hand on her hip and looked Barry up and down. "I'm probably faster."

Barry didn't take this so well. "Hey! I don't know who you are but—"

"Thank God you don't," Anais said, just a tad wide-eyed. Oh my God she had to be dreaming but... this was too crazy even for her.

"Obviously," Barry mimicked her for a moment and elicited a small smile from her. "I'm from another universe. Literally. And I'm trying to find my friends from this world…" he trailed off and plopped down in front of the computers again to continue his search.

Anais cleared her throat, getting serious. So, this wasn't a dream. This was happening. "And let me guess? Not going so well?"

"Nope! You guys have Central City but you don't have S.T.A.R. Labs. No Cisco Ramon, no Harrison Wells, no Caitlin Snow. Nobody who's gonna be able to help me get back home," Barry leaned away from the computer, dejectedly. "I don't even see a Belén Palayta anywhere on this thing. That's the real downer here." Having his girlfriend around would make things ten times better...even if she wouldn't know him because this was, after all, a different universe. He was already dealing with angry doppelgangers.

He missed Anais' small smile.

"Hey!" Winn burst into the room along with James. "Kara, are you alright?" they knew she had to have been with her powers but the fact Supergirl hadn't made an appearance right away was what made them worry perhaps not everything was okay.

Kara nodded reassuringly at them. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. What happened to Siobhan?"

"Oh, well, after she went all Mariah Carey on you, she just split," Winn made a nod to the side.

"Told you she was a banshee," Anais flashed a smirk his way which didn't help him at all. Winn pointed at her, hoping she wouldn't say more.

"Oh, so we both have Mariah Carey. That's something," they heard Barry say.

James threw him a suspicious look. "Who are you?"

"Hey, sorry, I'm Barry Allen," Barry got up from his chair and went to shake hands with him.

"James Olsen. And this is Winn."

"I'm Anais!" the second blonde introduced herself with a strange excitement in her voice. "I just realized I didn't introduce myself to you. Anais A...Anais Mjorkland," she extended her hand to Barry. Barry shook her hand and missed Anais' friends exchanging mutual confused expressions behind them.

"Uh, you guys…" Kara laughed at the impossible thing she was about to repeat. "I'm not quite sure how to tell you this—well, I do know how to tell you, I just—"

James cleared his throat, hoping to get her to move on. "Kara?" Barry grinned because Kara sounded like she usually talked, or rambled, more than necessary. It reminded him of his girlfriend.

"Yeah, right, sorry," Kara shook herself to get back on track. "Uh, Barry... ...is from another universe."

Winn appeared like he had just heard it was Christmas already. "Cool! So the, the theory of the multiverse, that's true?" Barry gave the confirming nod and flinched when Winn gave a loud "AHA!" at the others. "See!? I told you! Didn't I tell you?"

Anais rolled her eyes at him. "To be fair, half the science things you say sound kind of warped to me."

Winn didn't seem very amused by her comment, much less when James and Kara nodded in agreement. "You guys are bad friends."

Barry couldn't help but think of Cisco right at that moment. "It's true."

"That seems a bit tetchy," Anais crossed her arms but then shot Winn a squinted-eyed glance. "And I just refuse to believe that he gets everything right." Winn returned the favor with his own narrowed-eyed look, though a few seconds later he was smiling smugly.

"I still can't believe it. And I'm from another planet," Kara laughed.

Barry's head whipped in her direction almost instantly. "What?"

"Oh, yeah. She's an alien," Winn pointed at Kara like Barry already was unable to see her. "And so is Anais."

"Thank you for that disclosure, Winn," Anais pursed her lips together and was subjected to a crazed look from Barry too.

"So, do you have, like, other aliens on this Earth?" Barry knew that would be tricky to wrap his head around. Metahumans, easy. But aliens? That was something else...considering both Kara and Anais looked completely human.

"What do you mean by 'this Earth'?" James asked.

"Uh... Ah, hold on," Barry looked around and found a white board with one marker below. He uncapped said marker and began to draw normal circles on the board. "All right, so, imagine there are multiple versions of Earth. Um, one where the Nazis won World War II. One where Kennedy was never assassinated…" he gestured to each circle meant to represent each different scenario.

"Ooo!" Winn once more pointed excitedly. "Oh, yeah. One where all of us are evil!"

Barry turned back, completely scowling. "Been there. Girlfriend was evil, best friends were evil so...it sucks."

"That cannot be fun," Winn scrunched his face.

"You have a girlfriend?" Anais asked with eyebrows raised together like she was suspicious.

Barry wasn't sure what her problem was but he wasn't going to spend time dwelling on it. He continued on with his explanation. "So all of these Earths occupy the same place in space, but they vibrate at a different frequency so they can't see one another.

"So, theoretically speaking, or not so in your case," Anais gestured to him, "If someone were to go...impossibly fast...it's possible to open, like, a breach, and then travel between worlds?"

"Yes."

"Interesting…" Anais pondered on the concept on her own. She'd have to try that in her training sessions. Though she was sure if she traveled through worlds without permission, her parents would kill her. "I'm a speedster too but none of my people - as far as I know since I didn't grow up on my home planet - have ever done that."

"There's alien speedsters too...cool," Barry felt like his head would be spinning soon if they kept dropping more alien facts about themselves.

"What about you, though? You're human," Anais leaned forwards with curiosity, "How did you get your powers? You weren't born with them, right?"

"Um, so, I was struck by lightning the same night a particle accelerator exploded. And I became a superhero," Barry explained and suddenly Anais laughed. Had he said something funny?

She stopped laughing when she noticed his serious face. "Oh, you were serious?"

"Kind of, yeah..."

"Sorry, aren't humans supposed to die if they get struck by lightning?" Anais looked to the others for some help.

"Livewire didn't do that," Winn reminded but Anais had no idea who that was.

"Yeah, but that was different," Kara acted as an intermediate for that," James' explanation didn't help her either.

"Let's just call it a miracle," Barry said before they entered some sort of argument.

"Still weird…" Anais tilted her head at him. "And so, you can just...pop back and forth between universes?"

"Uh, no actually. This happened by accident," Barry released a breath, still confused on how the hell he managed to do that. "I have traveled through time before by accident. I've never jumped parallel dimensions without meaning to. So until I can figure this out, I'm stuck here."

"Well, don't worry. Don't worry at all because we're gonna help you," Kara backtracked to her friends, everyone onboard save a weary James.

"First things first, food. I have to consume about 10,000 calories a day…" Barry began but Anais finished for him.

"Because you burn through your calories incredibly fast, right?"

"Yes…"

"Mhm," Anais smiled her first genuine smile. Now like that, she seemed like a friendly person. "Believe me, Kara and I know places. Well, I know them because Kara knows them. I just moved here."

Kara hummed as ideas started invading her mind. "Mr. Sherbets?"

Anais quickly agreed. "Mr. Sherbets."

Barry looked between them, frankly their 'idea faces' scared him a bit. "What's a Mr—"

"Do you like donuts?" Kara asked.

"Who doesn't like donuts?"

"That settles it!" Anais beamed. "James, I'm taking a personal day!"

"Wait, what—" James didn't get to finish because the woman had already led Barry and Kara out.

~0~

Kara was heading for her desk to pick up her purse when Cat noticed her from her office.

"Ker-rah, you're alive," Cat called from her desk, merely raising her stark blue eyes from her laptop.

Kara had forgotten that everyone in the office had seen her crash through glass because of Siobhan. She hurried into Cat's office to explain. "Ms. Grant, don't worry, I was rescued…"

Anais, Barry, Winn and James followed Kara in just to back her up in case Cat asked too many questions.

"Stop stating the obvious. You're in the middle of breaking news and I want you to act like it," Cat spoke with a sharpness usual to her. "And yes, yes, another one of my ex-employees went all revengey. But... there's a new superhero in National City." She turned over her laptop to reveal a perfectly clear picture of a red blur going down a street. "Miss Allen, you are proving to be quite gifted." Cat was truly dazzled with the work Anais had given her so far.

Kara shot Anais a look but Anais innocently smiled back. There was no way in hell she was going to be fired anytime soon with these pictures.

Barry was staring at Anais in confusion. "Wait, your name…"

"This is huge!" Cat went on with her story. "I thought it would be Golden Girl but the color scheme is off. So it has to be direct competition for Golden Girl and Supergirl" she waved a hand in the air, practically seeing the headlines now.

Though no picture of Golden Girl was present, the city deduced she was a speedster of some sort. And by the city, it was really Cat who was giving out all the answers.

"He doesn't have to be because he's probably not," Anais chimed in. "He's not as fast...trust me."

"Um," Barry tilted his head in her way, offended. "I would think he is."

Anais remained with that innocent, yet tighter, smile. "I would think he's not. But I'm sure they're open to having a sidekick?"

Kara kept looking between the two since she was in the middle of them. Her mouth opened several times to make an interjection and hopefully stop them from actually arguing, however Barry reached his limit before she could so.

"Why a sidekick!?" Barry erupted into a streak of alternatives so that they could both come out looking good in the eyes of this city. Why not an ally? Even a new partner, maybe!?" Cat loudly cleared her throat, making him stop. Her gaze was far too intense for him. "Speaking was the wrong choice, I see that now…"

Cat's eyebrow raised but it was still hard for him to decide what she was. Angry? Upset?

"All five of you standing there doing nothing, you look like the attractive yet non-threatening, racially diverse cast of a CW show," Cat then directed her gaze specifically on Barry. "Who are you?"

"Uh, he's my cousin," Anais quickly supplied and had the support of her friends. "Barry Allen. He's just visiting…"

"Mm," Cat gave the matter no importance. She snapped her fingers specifically at Anais and James. "I'm going to need a better image for this speedster. Preferably one that shows the face. Or is that also un-doable?" her eyes landed on Anais and James since she was still waiting for that picture of her Golden Girl.

"Consider it done," Anais said without a second doubt. James shook his head.

"Couple that with an exclusive on Golden Girl."

Anais faltered. "Consider...almost...done…"

"And Ker-rah, there are a lot of people who wanna know what happened. Speak to no one. You're mine. I will let you know when you should reveal this exclusive information," Cat turned her laptop to continue working. "Now, I have to name this hero. I was thinking about 'The Whoosh' or 'The Red Streak' or 'The Blur.'"

How Barry missed his friend Cisco at the moment. Cat didn't possess his ability to give good names. "What about The Flash?" he decided to help her. "I'm just saying, I think that's a pretty cool superhero name. Right?"

Cat looked to the side and tested the name out. "The Flash? Sounds like someone whose only superpower is jumping out of an alley in a trench coat." Anais and Kara covered their mouths to hide their laughs while Barry resisted the urge to snap back. "No, I want mystery, I want intrigue, I want the Blur. Boys, be gone. Girl-" she pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Kara, "-stay."

"I'm getting donuts for tonight," Anais warned Kara as they left her in the office. "And cookies, and brownies - oh, and cupcakes!"

"Anais, what about that picture Cat wants?" James stopped her on her way to her desk just outside his office. "And you still have that crime scene I told you to check out."

"Um, well," Anais turned around fast that Barry bumped into her, "if Barry's willing then I can snap that easy-peasy no problem."

"Ah, I, uh...I guess?" Barry couldn't find a problem with that. He hoped to be out of the city (and the world) before people actually got to recognizing him.

"There we go!" Anais clapped and glanced at James again. "I should get the hospital thing done in five minutes tops too."

"You just started working here, you can't take personal time," Winn had to point out but then he got to thinking himself and entered a state of doubt. "...can we?"

"Not unless you want Cat to go after you," James' warning was enough to make Winn backtrack for his desk. "Anais," his more stern look made the blonde in question shift. There was something else she wasn't telling him, but he doubted she would spill in the middle of the office.

"Please James, can I just go already?" she asked quieter. "I'll get the pictures, trust me."

In the end, James gave a small nod. He warned her to be careful, and that made Barry wonder if he should take offence or not. As if he could hurt a super-strong alien, or anyone else for that matter.

~0~

Anais kept her word to take Barry to 'Mr. Sherbet's' that afternoon. As soon as she snapped the pictures James wanted from the crime scene, she led Barry into the cafe shop. Though she was still new to the city, the cafe shop had become her daily stop for snacks. The employees were already getting to know her.

She just got an unforeseen call on the way that she couldn't let pass. "Yeah, Mom, no it wasn't me. You read right. But I'll tell you more about it later. Talk to you later," Anais sheepishly hung up and put her phone away. "Sorry, my parents saw the picture Cat already published and they thought it was me."

"She already got that posted?" Barry got to wondering who was the real speedster, them or Cat Grant.

"Oh yeah," Anais took a seat at the counter and waved a hand to get the attention of an employee. "She's fast like that when it comes to superhero claimage."

"So she's done it to you, then?"

"Eh…" Anais swayed her head, "I haven't really let her. It's not quite up to me yet to reveal myself to the city. It's up to the government and I guess my parents…"

"O-okay," Barry wasn't sure how to respond to that, even if he did understand exactly what it meant. He chalked it off as alien related, which then prompted him to ask, "So, wait, when you said your parents, you meant…"

Anais caught on to what he meant and chuckled. "Adoptive parents. They adopted me when I was really young."

Unknowingly, she got Barry to sympathize with her in that one second. "What happened?" he found himself asking before he could think it through. He regretted it when she answered.

"She, um, was murdered...by some humans…"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

Anais' warm smile only made him feel somewhat less guilty. He knew exactly what it felt like when people asked him what happened to his parents and now here he was doing the same to this girl.

"It's fine, Barry, really," she promised him. Since no employees had come by despite her initial gesture, she called to one of the men instead. "Miles? Can I get a dozen cupcakes? I honestly don't care what flavor they are. Oh, and donuts. Kara's basically gonna kill me if I don't come back with new donuts."

"You ate them already?" Miles blinked. "But she bought those last night. Between you and Kara you'll run us out of our stock!"

"Can you just...?" Anais felt her face warm up with embarrassment. The fact he had said that not so quietly made it worse for her. It didn't help when Miles said something more.

"I gotta give you bravery points for being so open about your big appetite on a date," his glance at Barry sent the two speedsters into stammering states.

"We are not on a date!" Anais practically shouted. "No thank you!"

"Yeah, I have a girlfriend!" Barry added on, loud and clear.

"Honestly, Miles, I'm calling the manager!"

Miles laughed but did ultimately apologize for his assumption and promised them some sweet cinnamon rolls on the house.

Anais shook her head. "Sorry about that," she said after Miles left. "Does your world also have the, uh, 'women and men can't be just friends' thing too?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Barry nodded. "Hey, about your name...you're not like related to me, right? Not a secret wife or anything? No offence, I mean, you're pretty and, yeah, but, I-I just…" he was stuttering and rambling now. "I have a girlfriend."

"I'm not," Anais reassured. "Total coincidence. And yeah, I get that you have a girlfriend. By now I'm sure the entire shop knows that."

"Sorry," Barry flushed and cleared his throat. "I just...wanted to make that clear...for everyone."

"Mission accomplished," Anais rested her elbows on the counter then put her chin over her palms. "It's not easy being in a world different to your own, huh?"

Barry knew where she was coming from and sheepishly nodded his head. "Yeah. I-I still don't understand how it happened. I mean, I was just running and then-then…" he stopped talking when he noticed Anais' sudden movement out of her chair. Her head snapped to the entrance doors. "Are you alright?"

"He's doing it again," she whispered.

"Doing…" Barry checked the entrance but there was nothing significant about then. "Who's doing—"

Anais ran off, leaving him to call and chase after her (much like Winn had two days ago). She had stopped at the end of the street, but her eyes were scanning the streets, ears keenly tuned in to anything suspicious.

"What's going on?" Barry caught up with her and wondered if there was some sort of attack he wasn't seeing at the moment.

"I-I'm sorry, you should go back into the cafe shop," she said distractedly, taking a step forwards.

"Why? What's happening?"

Anais spotted the same figure running away from her, only this time the man started running. Before she took a step forwards, the man sped past her and Barry, causing a familiar force of wind to push them back. Barry barely had time to process there was another speedster with them when Anais took after this new speedster with her own speed.

"Maybe I haven't left Central City," Barry rubbed the back of his neck as he stared after the two speedsters. With nothing much but to help Anais in whatever he could, he raced after them.

Anais was in tuned to catching this man who, for some reason, thought she was his personal plaything. She could feel his presence in her mind in that form of a tickle. The whispers were faint despite her close to him. She was just behind him and yet nothing about his back seemed special. He was just another civilian by appearance.

The man went up a building, and despite Anais never truly learning how to do that in her time of training, she didn't hesitate to follow. Midway, however, she felt her balance going off. Before she knew it, she lost her way and plummeted down. Thankfully Barry had been right behind her and was able to catch her and continue with the way up to the rooftop.

"Are you alright?" he set her down on her feet but despite their impromptu chase, her gaze was still searching for that mysterious man.

"Yeah, I'm—OW!" she felt an immense pain jab at her head. She fell to her knees, hands clutching her head with her eyes shut.

Barry wasn't sure what was going on but he assumed it was that man making her feel that pain. He looked up and saw the man in the air, but the sun's rays were shadowing the man's appearance.

"He's in-in m-my head!" Anais cried, shaking her head as if it would shake off the pain.

Barry glared at the man and decided to use his own Earth 1 tricks. He raced in a circle, charging up until he could produce enough electricity for lightning. Anais' eyes widened as Barry kept going in circles. The pain in her head had gradually subsided but she knew it was just because the man up in the air was probably coming up with something worse to hit her with.

Barry finally stopped when he had enough power and threw a lightning bolt at the man. He was mighty satisfied when it knocked the man backwards, electrifying him while he spun in the air.

"Oh my God..." Anais' voice made him turn around to see her slowly standing up. Her blonde hair was all over her face but she'd perfectly seen what he'd done. "How...how did you do that!?"

"Uuh..." Barry flushed at her awed face. "I...somebody taught me. Has no one taught you that?"

Anais shook her head fast. "No! I've only just started actually training! But nobody..." A laugh momentarily took her over as she hurried up to him with her gaze in the sky where the man used to be, "Nobody's taught me how to do that!"

"Well, if you'd like," Barry started, intending on offering himself as a brief teacher when suddenly she shot into the air. "Aaaand she can fly...cool..." She's an alien, flying is probably part of the package deal or something, he thought to himself.

Anais didn't waste a second and delivered a second attack at the man. Golden energy swirled around her hands and put together created a mass streak of energy that shot forwards. The man was hit again but when Anais fired heat vision from her eyes, the man did the same.

It was a struggle since it seemed like the two were matched in the heat vision department. Suddenly, the man ducked down, leaving Anais to fall forwards in the air. In that second-span, the man fired a jet of orange energy that threw Anais down to the rooftop. Even if Barry wanted to catch her, the fall had been too fast to process. Anais fell with a harsh thud. The ground cracked with her force.

The man watched her for a second from the air then flew away.

"Anais!" Barry quickly went to Anais' side and hoped she came with a fast healing ability too because that kind of fall would require immense medical attention. Anais landed on her side and despite the bits of cement stuck on her clothes and face, she seemed fine, if not a little groggy.

"I really hate that guy," she swallowed hard then made a face as she tasted cement on her tongue.

"Who was he?" Barry helped her stand up.

"...I have no frikin idea," she glared at the sky, the man no longer being in sight.

~ 0 ~

When Kara called Anais to notify her presence, as well as Barry's, were needed at the DEO, Anais knew there was something new that was wrong in the city. It didn't take much to convince Barry to help them - it was apparently one of his jobs anyways.

The D.E.O. turned out to be even better than STAR Labs. The moment Barry got there he sped all around the rooms he could just to check them out then finally stopped in the main control room to bask in it. "Yo, this place is amazing, all right?" he laughed, still too excited to calm down. Anais, Kara (as Supergirl) and Winn laughed at him.

"Wow, so...you're a dork too," Anais concluded with a shake of her head.

Barry stopped laughing momentarily to point and say, "You know, I get the feeling you and my girlfriend Belén would get along really well."

Anais smirked.

"Okay," Kara raised her hands to get their attention. "So here's the situation. There's a villain I foguht a while ago named Livewire. She escaped from our custody with the help of Siobhan—"

"The banshee that threw Kara out of CatCo.," Anais said for Barry's benefit. She then shot Winn an apologetic glance. He was taking Siobhan's new evil route a little hard.

"Yes," Kara continued on, "And now they're probably both about to have a vendetta against me and Cat. We're going to need a lot of help."

"Which is why I brought Barry over of course," Anais shrugged.

"And, actually, you said this place could help get me home," Barry pointed out and received a big, innocent smile in return.

"Yes, and while we put these two crazies back I can have my godparents look into it, yeah? They're scientists and they really know their stuff about molecular force and all that crap involving speed."

"Supergirl?" a petite, dark-haired woman in black, emerged from the side and was flanked by several employees. Lucy Lane looked far different when she was in DEO uniform. "Anais? Who is this masked man? Alien?"

"Metahuman," Barry waved a hand, a bit nervous of all the 'guards' probably just waiting orders to take aim on him.

"Well, we have protocol for visitors at the DEO, Supergirl," Lucy said, still waiting for an explanation.

"Lucy, it's fine," Kara turned around, making a gesture for the guards to leave them. "He's here to help us find that Livewire woman."

Lucy turned her gaze into an even more authoritative one. "You were supposed to be in two hours ago for your training."

Anais opened her mouth as if to give a proper explanation for her tardiness, but at the end she closed it and smiled. "I was busy."

"I'll remember that next time you press to go out there," Lucy retorted with the same smile. She then looked over her to Barry. "I'm allowing it because we do need all the help we can get. So what do I call you? Speedy?"

Barry pulled his hood off and waved once more. "Barry Allen."

"Lucy Lane. I hope you're bringing more to the table than just quick reflexes."

"As it just so happens, catching criminals is both my night and day job," Barry smiled to himself but quickly added, for reference, "I'm a CSI," for everyone's benefit. "By the way, do you guys have a crime lab here?"

"Yeah. My sister's lab's right over there," Kara nodded and started leading the way.

"Wait, you have a sister?" Barry's voice did a high pitch much like a child would. "Where is she at?"

"I wish I knew," Kara admitted with a small sigh.

~ 0 ~

After getting introduced to the D.E.O's system, Barry got to work on helping Kara find her missing enemy. It turned out Winn was definitely Barry's friend, Cisco Ramon's, counterpart in this new world. God help him if the two men ever met each other.

"Guys," Anais' voice drew Barry, Kara and Winn in. She had just walked in with Lucy and James, the former looking very expectant.

Barry knew that look all too well and decided to present what they had so far. "So I wrote an algorithm to monitor variations in meter usage around the city, and it all leads to that warehouse," he pointed to the blinking dot on the screen behind him. "I see bad guys love their abandoned warehouses on your Earth, too, huh?"

"Isn't that kind of like, universal, for villains?" asked Anais with a faint trace of amusement. Barry nodded, smiling to himself.

"I'll authorize a drop team," Lucy turned to leave but Kara stopped her.

"No. No, no! She's too dangerous!" she stopped and motioned to Barry. "Let's go."

"What? Just like that?" frowned Anais. "You're not meant—"

"Barry!" Kara's voice went over Anais and anyone else who would speak up.

The speedster quickly got up from his chair and got ready to listen. "So, what's the plan?"

Kara had a plan alright. "Catch the bad girl, bring her back here so she can't hurt anyone. 85% chance of punching."

"Okay, that I get," Barry nodded. "But like, what's the plan? Maybe we can overload her somehow."

"Yeah," Winn remembered the last time they fought Livewire, "What about the Industrial Capacitor you were gonna trap her in last time?"

Kara quickly shot the idea down. "No, no. It went busto."

"Well, Dynamic Duo will build you a new one," Anais shrugged and clapped Winn on the shoulder, the man agreeing fairly fast.

Kara still disagreed. "No. If we wait, we lose her. If we lose her, God knows what kind of damage she could do, or who she could hurt! I defeated her once before. I can do it again. With your help…" she turned to Barry with hopeful looks.

"Kara…" Anais stepped forwards but the blonde Kryptonian suddenly pointed a warning finger at her to stay put.

"You're staying here!"

"But—"

"Barry, let's go!" Kara marched right out, leaving Anais with the words in her mouth. Barry awkwardly, and confusedly, followed after Kara.

"Lucy…" Anais turned to the woman in question pleadingly. "I can—"

But Lucy stopped her with a hand in front of Anais's face. "No, you're still in training." And with that, Lucy left her.

From the main control room, they monitored Kara's location and, therefore, Barry's. As it turned out, Livewire had chosen an old warehouse just across the city. And because it was abandoned, there were no security cameras to hack into to better monitor.

"What about the streets?" Anais planted herself on the chair next to Winn. "Can we see better from the streets?"

"Um…" Winn began to try and hack into the nearby camera streets but by that time, Livewire had already introduced her newest partner: Silver Banshee.

"Winn!" Anais went like it was his fault. "That's your psycho girlfriend!"

"It's not like I told her to become...weird...like that…" Winn couldn't even acknowledge the fact his girlfriend, or rather ex-girlfriend now, Siobhan, had turned evil.

"Banshees are evil in mythology," Anais reminded.

"Whatever she is, she needs to be taken in," Lucy's voice drew the two back to business.

It took about one second for the fight to actually begin, and unfortunately it was not going good for their side. Because Kara was unprepared, there was no strategy to use and Barry was out of his element. He had yet to meet a meta with a killer cry and simply didn't know this 'Livewire' could recharge herself with his powers like a battery. He could really use his own team right about now…

"They're getting creamed out there," Winn mumbled and looked to the side only to find Anais staring with wide eyes. Her face was panicked, unusually so, and so suddenly she was gone. "What? Where—"

Lucy had felt the small whip of wind and immediately knew what happened. "Anais!"

Out in the abandoned warehouse, Barry had just been thrown over a wooden box that crumbled with him. That one hurt. Silver Banshee's scream smacked Supergirl against the opposite wall. As the two were getting back, hopefully, on their feet, Livewire began a crazed hum between her lips. Lightning crackled around her hands as she made a round in the middle.

"Which one should I get first…?" she pretended to think about even though she was already turning in Supergirl's direction. But above came a crash and suddenly Livewire was slammed straight first against the ground.

Siobhan, who now went by Silver Banshee, went to use her sonic scream but Anais drew an arm and released a bright blast of golden beam directly at her. Supergirl had finally gotten back on her feet and was awed yet worried for her friend who seemed a bit...out of it. Anais had an odd determination on her face that seemed to want to protect. Funny, she had only worked with Anais for a short while now and had never seen that face.

Livewire rolled on her back and attacked by surprise with a thunder blow that threw Anais away. There was a loud crash as the blonde hit the wall and fell over an already crumbling shelf.

"No!" Supergirl flew over to make sure Anais was fine and gave the perfect escape for Livewire and Silver Banshee.

~ 0 ~

Barry never knew he would meet someone who could outmatch his adoptive father in the 'parenty scolding lecture' thing until he saw Lucy Lane going at it with Anais. After returning to the D.E.O with Anais, the blonde woman was taken to the medbay and subjected to various tests and observations. It reminded Barry of his early days at STAR Labs where basically everything he did was recorded and observed.

"Hey," Kara met with Barry just outside the medbay. "How are you doing?"

"Well, aside from my eardrums ringing like church bells, I'm okay," Barry gave a light shrug of his shoulders. The injuries he'd gotten from hitting the walls and the furniture vanished by the time they returned.

Kara apologetically smiled at him. "I'm sorry I made you rush in on Livewire without a plan. I didn't know she was gonna have a cohort."

"That's the thing about being a superhero. You have to somehow be prepared for the unexpected," Barry said, and couldn't count the many times he had definitely not been prepared for something out in the field.

"Something happened to me a few weeks ago. I was exposed to this substance that made me crazy. I did a lot of horrible things. And when I was helping people as Supergirl, I was... I was so happy. And now that the people don't want me to help them, I feel lost. And I'm in such a hurry to prove myself again, I'm making stupid mistakes. Like today."

"This is gonna sound ironic coming from me but, um, you need to slow down. Just keep doing your good work," Barry advised with a true heart honesty." Don't worry about the rest. The public will forgive you, I promise."

"How can you be so sure?"

"'Cause the same thing happened to me."

Kara blinked. "Really? So what finally fixed things?"

"Time. When you're used to fixing things with brute strength, or in my case, amazing speed, it's hard to accept that there are things out of our control."

Kara took a breath and nodded, hoping the words would stick by her for the next time she felt bad. With the silence between her and Barry, the increasing voices from the medbay started to carry over.

"We must inform them, Miss Lane," one of the examiners was saying while Anais, seemingly more panicked than ever, shouted 'no!'.

Lucy nodded her head, calm despite the mood over them. "Yes, I understand."

"No!" Anais jumped off the bed when the examiners began to leave with Lucy. "You can't do that!"

"I'm sorry Anais, it's out of my hands—" Lucy stumbled back when Anais sped around the room to snatch every clipboard holding her information. "Anais."

"You can't tell them," Anais insisted. "Th-they won't let me work with Supergirl if they know I went out before—"

"You were ready?" Lucy finished for her. "Well, you should have thought of that before you went out. I'm sorry." She gave the nod for the examiners to take back the clipboards and finally leave.

Anais rubbed her face when her arms became empty and stomped back to the bed.

"Anais, what's wrong?" Kara walked in with Barry behind her. "The yelling…?"

"She clearly got told she shouldn't have gone out," Barry said. "I know that. Went through it...still do…"

Anais gave him a small, sideways smile. "Yeah...you would…" Barry, in return, gave a questioning look at the way she had said...like she knew him.

Kara, on the other hand, didn't notice. All she knew was that her friend was in distress. "Anais, you shouldn't have gone out like that…"

"I know!" Anais threw her arms in the air. "And now that I have, my parents are going to be informed about it and...knowing my Dad, he's going to overreact and bring me back home."

"What's the problem if you went out?" asked Barry.

"I'm not technically supposed to go out until I finish training," Anais explained. "It's part of my contract with this place...with the government…"

"Why'd you go then if you knew you could get into this big of a trouble?"

"Because you were in trouble," Anais said, shrugging her shoulders. "You...guys...were hurt, and I had to help."

"This is my fault," Kara sighed and shook her head.

"It's not, I made the decision," Anais promised her and glanced at Barry. "And if I had to do it again I would. No doubt."

"You're such a good friend," Kara reached out and hugged her.

"Yeah I am," Anais smiled in agreement. She smiled specifically at Barry for a second before Winn came in.

"Are you alright?" he'd been barred from talking to her due to the fact she was rushed directly into the medbay. "I looked away for like a second and—"

"I'm sorry," Anais plopped down on the side of the medbed. "I just can't get anything right today."

Both Kara and Winn exchanged confused glances. Of course they still didn't know what Anais went through earlier. Barry cleared his throat behind them, gaining their attention, though he was looking straight at Anais. "You should just tell them." He understood what she was trying to do - keep secrets about the dangerous things that'd happened to her - and he told her before that he'd done the same and it blew up in his face. It was funny, actually, how much Anais reminded Barry of himself when he first started out as the Flash. He felt kind of odd being the teacher now. He definitely felt older.

"Tell us what?" chorused Kara and Winn.

Anais felt her eyes tear up now that she was thinking about both failed attempts to be a hero. "He came back, Kara." Her voice had gone shaky, but it wasn't clear if it was out of fear or weariness. "He made me chase him around the city and then-then he hit me with his powers, and I-I was weak!"

Kara looked back at Barry for some confirmation. Barry gave a silent nod. She hurried to Anais side and set her hands on the woman's shoulders. "Anais, why didn't you say something?"

"I'm confused," Winn raised his index finger in the air. "Say something about what? Who did you chase?"

Anais rubbed some loose tears from her face and sniffed. "Remember that guy I ran after the other day?" he nodded. "He came back today. He's a speedster too and he can fly, he's telepathic, and he his this sort of power like mine…"

"And you went after him on your own!?" Winn exclaimed.

"I wasn't alone," Anais smiled a teary-eyed smile at Barry.

"And you don't have to be alone ever again," Kara reminded her. "Just because you moved here to be independent doesn't mean you have to take things up on your own."

"It's just difficult processing," Anais sniffed again, hoping to calm herself down. "I haven't even exposed myself to the city and I already have an enemy? That's got to be a record."

"Well, you know what, we'll double up on our training," Kara decided then. "If this guy wants to fight then he'll get a fight."

"Yeah, and you know what?" Winn came to Anais' other side on the bed. "Your suit's done," he whispered and proceeded to smile widely. "In case you wanted to take it out for a spin, or…"

Anais laughed as did Kara.

In that moment, watching the trio of friends converse over their course of plan, Barry really missed Belén and their friends. Being a world apart literally hurt his insides. I wonder what Belén is doing right now, he wondered. She'd been waiting to congratulate him at the end of his race and he'd strung himself into another world. His heart ached for his Bells.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #supergirl #the flash #fd: supergirl #supergirl fics #supergirl imagines #winn schott fics #winn schott imagines #oc: Anais Mjorkland #fic: sweet ambitions

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