"We tried to save him." Barry sighs, turning off the news that reported on the death of Danton Black.

"Doesn't sound like he wanted to be saved," Dr. Wells says.

"I know the feeling," I mumble quietly. Barry's gaze snaps to mine and I avoid his glance, playing with the edges of my gloves.

"Some people, when they break...they can't be put together again."

"Some people heal even stronger." 

I hope so. 

"Well, at least Multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else," Cisco adds, with a little smile. "Told you I'd come up with a cool name." 

"Yeah, I may be the one in the suit doing all the running..." Barry says. "But when I'm out there helping people, making a difference...you're all out there with me in your own way. Finally realized something, we were all struck by that lightning."

"I'm glad you feel that way, Barry," Dr. Wells says, before looking over at me. "But right now, I want to know about your intentions Ms. Raymond."

"My what?" I say, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

He narrows his eyes. "You've proven that there's more to you then your cousin told us; more to what we've all seen on the surface. So if you want to continue to come to STAR Labs then let me ask who are you? Really?"

I sigh, pulling my hair out of its ponytail and playing with the band. "Originally, I was just an  IT girl working at Queen Consolidated along with my best friend from college. It was simple, good pay and we were both content with life. Then one day, the Arrow showed up the backseat of our car and I guess life never was quite the same," I smile, reminiscing in the memory.

________________________________________________

"I am telling you, Rani, when the new version comes out, I am totally gonna convince our boss to put company money into upgrading the Queen Consolidated server system," Felicity says as we walk out to her blue mini-cooper. "It would make life so much easier for the two of us."

"Yeah, that's what you said when version 5.4 came out and you spent that entire time looking into that thing for Walter." I tease.

"Ha, nice try, I'm still not telling you about that." She laughs. "My lips are sealed."

"Uh huh, Felicity Smoak keeping her mouth shut? The day that happens is the day I'll  get superpowers," I joke, opening the passenger seat door and sliding into her car and it's all laughter until Felicity notices a figure in the backseat. "Oh my god!"

I flinch and spin around, only to spot the Arrow lying in the back of our car.

"Rani, Felicity I'm not going to hurt you."

"How do you know our names?" She asks.

The Arrow flips down his hood and my jaw drops. "Because you two know mine."

"Wow, everything became so unbelievably clear," Felicity says and I just stare back in shock.

"What? No snarky comment Raymond?" Oliver asks, groaning at what looks like a gunshot wound in his side.

I raise an eyebrow. "How did you even manage to fit back there?"

________________________________________________

"I'm not going to use any of their names because they made me promise not to," I add. "But we started working with him, doing the same that all of you do from here for Barry. Around the second year of doing all of this, I realized that I was just sitting there, not really contributing to anything. I felt like an outcast for the hundredth time in my life so I took my anger out on one of the punching bags we had. The Black Canary saw promise in me, and although the Arrow refused, she trained me. Once I was deemed ready, I took up the name Karma and followed them into the streets."

"That's an awesome name by the way," Cisco adds. "Did you come up with that?"

I give him a little smile. "I did. Life was great for a little while. We would go out, kick ass and then turn in the criminals to the police and repeat. For once in my life, I felt like I was doing what I was meant to. But as you all know, things don't stay perfect forever.

There was an incident a little while after I became Karma. The three of us were on our daily patrol when we got the call that there was a disturbance with the Russian Mob down by the docks. When we got down there, we found out it was a lot more than a disturbance and that we had walked right into a trap and I was put in a situation that to date still haunts me. We were surrounded...." I trail off, tears starting to form and my hand starting to shake at the memory.

"You had to kill." Dr. Wells realizes and I nod.

"I had to kill," I say, taking a deep breath and trying to recount the horrid day.

________________________________________________

I bite my lip as hard as I can to force myself not to scream at the sight of my friends getting beat up. It's taking all of my willpower not to jump off of this rafter but Sara and Oliver told me to observe and stay out of sight.

"Rani! You still there?" Felicity asks nervously.

"I'm here," I murmur.

"You have to do something," She begs. "Please."

I take a large breath in before exhaling and jumping down into the fight, my grappling hook the only thing saving me from a fatal fall.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?" Oliver yells at me, punching some guy in the back of the head.

"That was when you guys were winning." I snark back before drop kicking some guy in the chest. Slowly, but surely, the tide of the fight turns in our favor. I pull out one last arrow and shoot a guy in the leg and the last of the assailants fall unconscious.

"We had it handled." Oliver snarks.

"You call that handled?" Sara asks and I laugh.

That's when four gunshots ring out. Sara and Oliver fall to the ground in pain and I stagger as one of the bullets enter my leg, but I remain standing and pull out the pistol I keep on my side for emergencies like this.

"These two," A man with a thick Russian accent says. "I seen them before in this city. But you dorogaya, are new in these parts no?"

"Karma isn't anything new," I spit. "Now let us go before you get what you deserve."

He laughs this horrible laugh before looking at his army of men behind them, "Get them."

Everything afterward is a blur of punches, pain, and noise. All I remember is holding a smoking gun as Oliver pulls Sara up looking at me with a face of both surprise and sympathy.

I look around at the bodies around me and I realize......I killed them.

That's when the tears start. And to be honest? I don't think they ever stopped.

________________________________________________

I hold my head in my hands as the tears fall down my face. I can barely even process it when two arms wrap themselves around me, enveloping me in a feeling of warmth and safety.

"Hey, it's okay," Barry says pulling away and wiping tears from my eyes.

"I-I get it if you don't want me here," I say. "I don't deserve to be."

"Don't say that," Barry says, more sternly than I thought he could be. "You're not leaving and we're not kicking you out," He orders, looking at the others for any sign of disagreement. Cisco and Caitlin nod and smile in agreement while Dr. Wells looks apprehensive until he realizes that he's outnumbered.

"You may stay Ms. Raymond. But that doesn't mean I trust you." He says, before wheeling out of the Cortex.

"Don't let him bring out down Rani," Cisco says giving me a hug. "What you've been through is tough, but I trust you."

"Thank you, Cisco. Means a lot." I say before looking over at Caitlin. 

"Did Ronnie know?" She asks.

I smile. "He did. Almost killed me when he found out," I say, letting out an airy laugh.

She nods before pulling me into a hug . "I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone."

"It's alright, I guess what matters is that I'm not alone now," I say. "Thank you, all of you for sticking up for me. I know how much Wells means to all of you."

"It's what we're here for," Barry says, ruffling my hair. I glare at him while Cisco and Caitlin laugh and my expression.

We bicker and mess around for a little while and I realize something. All my life I've been looking for a family, and I think I've found the perfect one.

We're a little disorganized and chaotic, that I'll definitely say. We're all a bunch of misfits but we don't care. We're home. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters.