History Fanfic / ToHellAndBackArrowverse

* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler:Eobard apparently didn't consider what would happen if he took Eddie, a newly awakened meta-human with fire powers he can't control, trick him into becoming a serial killer, then reveal that all of it was just so he could get the identity of the Flash (the man Eddie hates more than anything) ''right in front of him''. The result is that his powers get ''so'' out of control that he overpowers his meta-dampeners and knocks both Barry and Eobard unconscious briefly]].

* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler:Ralph reveals in a letter sent after his death that he knew Barry was the Flash]].

* WildCard: After being the victim of one too many lies, [[spoiler:Tommy decides to start striking on his own against both Oliver and his father, beginning by freeing Joe Wilson to kill Amanda Waller and steal the Alpha-Omega virus for himself]].

* EntertaininglyWrong: The League of Assassins is aware that Malcolm has a bastard child who bears the Queen name and decides to kidnap them as a potential hostage as their usual methods in revenge would alienate Oliver. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, what they don't realize is that the Queen they kidnapped, Thea, is not Malcolm's bastard child in this continuity. It's Oliver]].

* EvilIsPetty: Zoom reveals that [[spoiler:he's intending to torment Barry just because it took so long to find out the Flash's secret identity that he wasn't able to use Barry's speed to restore his own]].

* ForgotToGagHim: Talia apparently forgot that on top of his League training Malcolm Merlyn is a master manipulator. [[spoiler:Therefore, she leaves him relatively unguarded where Tommy stumbles on him, allowing him to convert his son to his side and planting the seeds of Talia’s own death]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Eddie's therapist assures him that disagreeing with a friend who was trying to force their viewpoint on him is completely okay and that it makes the other person a bad friend. [[spoiler:What he doesn't realize is that Eddie ''murdered'' said friend because he wanted Eddie to turn himself in for a double homicide, and Eddie takes his therapist's words as validation that he didn't do anything wrong]]. However, [[spoiler:it's later revealed that the therapist didn't have good intentions in the first place as the "therapist" reveals himself to be a different version of Eobard]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Eddie's therapist assures him that disagreeing with a friend who was trying to force their viewpoint on him is completely okay and that it makes the other person a bad friend. [[spoiler:What he doesn't realize is that Eddie ''murdered'' said friend because he wanted Eddie to turn himself in for a double homicide, and Eddie takes his therapist's words as validation that he didn't do anything wrong]]. However, [[spoiler:it's later revealed that the therapist didn't have good intentions in the first place]].

** Barry was also much closer to Eddie in canon, being good friends and Eddie even becoming a temporary member of Team Flash before his death. Here the two can barely stand each other and only do so for Iris' sake. Eddie's animosity with the Flash also never dies down, and he only stops hunting him when his superiors force him to. [[spoiler:After his coma and his relationship with Iris collapses, the two men actually start striking up something of a friendship, coming closer to their canon relationship]].

** Canon Leonard Snart was one of Barry's greatest enemies and rivals before eventually becoming an ally. This Leonard Snart is absolutely ''terrified'' of the Flash due to the latter being a much darker and more competent vigilante. The only reason he commissioned the cold gun was as an insurance policy -- otherwise, he'd much rather avoid the Flash altogether.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Zoom manages to be even ''worse'' than he was in canon; while canon Zoom at least appeared to have a dedication to his word and honored most of the deals he made, this Zoom [[spoiler:murdered Jesse in front of Harry just to spite him after he'd done everything that Zoom asked for]]. [[spoiler:He also murdered his own Earth-1 counterpart and took over his life before revealing his alter ego to the world, something that his canon self never did]].

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ralph tries to [[spoiler:convince Eddie to get ahead of his parents' murders by turning himself in, trying to show him that taking responsibility for it (since it genuinely was an accident) will help him get a lighter punishment. Eddie's response is to murder him (albeit accidentally), mutilate his corpse, kill a mugger and frame him for it, and then blow up a police department's evidence locker while people are in the building to cover it all up]].

* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: Killing [[spoiler:Hugo and Charlene Thawne]] is one thing; the victims were such horrible people that no one takes it very personally, and the audience definitely sympathizes with [[spoiler:Eddie]] over it. [[spoiler:Killing Ralph, killing and framing a mugger, and then blowing up an evidence locker, however, makes it clear that Eddie is losing it and needs to be stopped as soon as possible]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Eddie's therapist assures him that disagreeing with a friend who was trying to force their viewpoint on him is completely okay and that it makes the other person a bad friend. [[spoiler:What he doesn't realize is that Eddie ''murdered'' said friend because he wanted Eddie to turn himself in for a double homicide, and Eddie takes his therapist's words as validation that he didn't do anything wrong]].

** For all that Robert's affair with Isabel was gross due to their age difference and he's nowhere near proud of it, he's offended when [[spoiler:Tommy]] asks her if she was legal yet.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: During the hostage exchange between the Flash and [[spoiler:Reverb]], Barry is inches away from getting everyone away from the situation unharmed when Eddie arrives, shoots him with a speed dampening dart, and moves to arrest him. [[spoiler:In the chaos that follows, Reverb manages to get away with both Rupture and Barry, while Iris is almost killed in the crossfire]].

* ProperlyParanoid: Following [[spoiler:Zoom's attack]], the government mass produces Cisco's [[spoiler:doppelsensor]] and dispenses one to every family across the country. [[spoiler:Quentin ends up using one on Laurel and Oliver when they return home from Central City, still completely unaware that they had in fact already met Black Siren for a few hours]].

** {{Big Eater}}s Barry, Kara and Kal gorging down on food while a disgusted Oliver watches in resignation.

** The author preemptively sunk all Kara ships, all Tommy ships, Oliver/Felicity, Oliver/Sara and any ships that put Oliver, Barry, and Kara together in any capacity.

* UnwittingMuggleFriend: Unlike in canon, Oliver, Barry, and Kara deliberately try to keep their vigilante personas separated from their civilian personas as much as possible. That means absolutely ''none'' of their loved ones know about their secret identities. As of this writing, [[spoiler:only Iris and Laurel know, and for different reasons. Iris managed to connect the dots after Barry slipped too many times around her, while Laurel ended up becoming a vigilante herself, and learned their identities as part of her initiation into the Justice League]].

** After this incident, Ra's al Ghul himself not only honored his request to leave and released Malcolm from his duty, but he also disowned Talia and removed her from the League's line of succession, refusing to tolerate even a single innocent death, much less fifty.

** [[spoiler:Adrian Chase]] doesn't survive their first encounter with Oliver. Unlike most examples, this one was completely willing and was done via cyanide pill.

* ImplausibleDeniability: Patricia tries to justify the fact that she doesn't know her own granddaughter's name because Sam never talks to her any more. Kara angrily points out that Sam is a famous up-and-coming CEO with several social media profiles and her own Wikipedia page, so there's no excuse for her to not know Ruby's name.

** Chapter 124 has Tommy learn [[spoiler:that Oliver is his half-brother on his father's side]].

* MoralEventHorizon: InUniverse, it's made very clear that sinking the ''Queen's Gambit'' was one as everyone learning the true circumstances behind the shipwreck is horrified and disgusted by Merlyn, even Malcolm himself.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Thanks to Rupture and Killer Frost not killing Caitlin and Dante as soon as they arrived in S.T.A.R. labs in favor of torturing them, Harry manages to finish building the wave emitter while they're distracted and singlehandedly defeats all the Earth-2 metas at once]].

* FiveManBand:
** The Lian Yu Survivors
*** TheLeader[=/=]TeamDad: Slade, as the oldest and most skilled.
*** TheLancer: Oliver, who is the most devoted to keeping their makeshift family together and protected.
*** TheSmartGuy: Barry, as a genius in scientific subjects.
*** TheBigGuy: Kara, whose superpowers began to develop on the island.
*** TheChick[=/=]TeamMom: Shado, as the maternal figure and TheMedic.
*** TagalongKid: Baby Kal-El, the apple of everyone's eye and the number one priority.
** Post-Lian Yu
*** TheLeader: Oliver.
*** TheLancer: Slade. When he's not present, Barry takes over.
*** TheSmartGuy: Barry.
*** TheBigGuy[=/=]TheChick: Kara, having taken over Shado's role as the resident maternal figure.
*** TagalongKid: Kal-El.
*** SixthRanger: Nyssa, at first. [[spoiler:Then Laurel, after she becomes a vigilante and joins the Justice League]].

* WeaponOfChoice: The three main leads are familiar with using several different weapons, though they still have their preferences.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Slade and Shado's romantic relationship is a result of this, according to Oliver. The two of them were the only two adults on a death trap of an island, trying to protect, raise, and train three traumatized kids and a baby on their own, and only able to rely on each other for comfort and help. Considering the amount of stress they were both under, it would've been more surprising if they ''hadn't'' gotten attached to one another. It's because of this that Oliver refuses to take inspiration from them for his own love life; while he recognizes his adoptive parents genuinely loved each other, the circumstances that led to it aren't something he should replicate.
** Oliver is absolutely hopeless at love. Prior to Lian Yu, the only experience he had was a one-month fling with [=McKenna=] Hall, his parents' still patchy marriage, and rom-coms. ''After'' Lian Yu, on top of all the trauma, the closest example he had to a healthy relationship was the aforementioned Slade and Shado. His siblings were no help either, as Barry was still confused and hung-up on his feelings for Iris (who is literally the only person he's ever been interested in), while Kara was too obsessed with raising Kal-El to care about any romance. Finally, his only prospective love interest during that time was Nyssa al Ghul, who is emotionally repressed and even more inexperienced than he is due to being raised by the League. Compounding all that together, it's no wonder he's TwiceShy with Laurel.
** The Justice League is constantly strained with their duties because they have only four people on the team -- hardly ideal for protecting the world. Even then, they can't add members nilly-willy, and even when they do, they stop at seven because adding any more will screw up the team dynamics.
** Having a public base is just giving your enemies a place to target, which is why Oliver ''hates'' the Hall of Justice.
** Just because someone has had a crush on you for years does not mean you are in any way obligated to return their affections, as Laurel shows Tommy. Likewise, flaunting your mutual attraction with someone else in front of them will just alienate that person from you. [[spoiler:Oliver and Laurel do exactly that to Tommy several times (albeit, unintentionally), and it costs them his friendship]].
** [[spoiler:Talia is an incredibly arrogant BadBoss, meaning that not only do her followers turn against her, but she is killed by the absolute last person she expected because he managed to get the drop on her]].
** Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie, Stein, and Hartley all consolidated their research at STAR Labs in order to collaborate on everything together after Thawne was defeated. This has the unfortunate side effect of meaning that everything they ever did was all in one place when [[spoiler:Zoom's team]] invaded. Furthermore, because Barry is so independent, they have a great amount of free time and a ''carte blanche'' to research whatever they want. That means the amount of inventions and information at S.T.A.R. Labs is exponentially higher; it takes a great amount of time to figure out what they took -- or even that they took anything at all.
** Task Force X is a team of {{Badass Normal}}s and superpowered people that manage to successfully infiltrate [[spoiler:Zoom's prison]] and reach their target without much issue. [[spoiler:That means exactly nothing once Zoom himself shows up, as he proceeds to kill Everyman and China White before anyone can even react. It's only thanks to Plastique managing to graze his suit and force him to run that the rest of the team manage to escape alive]].

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: In chapter 136, [[spoiler:Eddie accidentally kills kills his parents in a moment of anger [[RageBreakingPoint after having enough of their abusive behavior]]. After realizing what he has done, he decides to stage a house fire to cover up his tracks]].

** Despite Eobard's fears to the contrary and to his eventual relief, Barry still gets his SuperSpeed despite not being in Central when the Particle Accelerator is activated.

** Malcolm refuses to tell Tommy his suspicions that [[spoiler:Isabel was working with Talia only to be betrayed]] because it would break his heart regardless of if he believes him.

* BadassBystander: Due to the severity of the situation when [[spoiler:Zoom’s army]] attacks, [[spoiler:Wells, Caitlin, and Dante are forced to go into the field to build the machine that will take down all of the Earth-2 metas. While Wells and Caitlin at least have the required science knowledge, Dante has literally no skills that can help except for the fact that he has hands and is willing to help]].

*** After this incident, Ra's al Ghul himself not only honored his request to leave and released Malcolm from his duty, but he also disowned Talia and removed her from the League's line of succession, refusing to tolerate even a single innocent death, much less fifty.

* RantInducingSlight: [[spoiler:Despite grinning and bearing Oliver and Laurel's new relationship, Tommy finally loses his composure and rants at the two of them when, after ignoring him and Isabel for an entire meal to flirt with each other, they tell him they had a great time and they should all do it again. They obviously meant no insult, but for Tommy it was the final straw in a long series of straws that ends his friendship with both of them for good.]]

** Barry is a KnifeNut, thanks to their versatility and how easy they are to draw on quick notice. He's particularly fond of throwing them, with contributed to his alias of 'the Lightning' even ''before'' he gained his powers.

** Played straight with Slade. He's the one who took canon Oliver's place in Hong Kong, Shadowspire, and Russia, before reuniting with his son Joe...only to be forced to leave him again to protect him from Amanda Waller. All while assuming that his four adoptive kids were dead for years, after making a promise to the woman he loved, ''on her deathbed'', that he would get them off the island and get them home. And then when he finally does reunite with them, he finds out [[AdultFear they joined the League of Assassins]].

* AdultFear:
** When Slade reunites with his adoptive children, he asks them where they went and why it took them so long to resurface. They reveal that they joined the League of Assassins. To say Slade is unhappy to hear that would be a ''severe'' understatement.
** After Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking is exposed, Sam is horrified because it means she invited a terrorist to her daughter's birthday party.
** J'onn is horrified to discover that the species that invaded his homeworld, [[spoiler: the Dominators,]] and destroyed his species is about to attack his new home.
** [[spoiler:After Brick takes Balliol Prep hostage, Robert, Moira, Sam, and many other parents are driven into frenzy, desperately trying to gather money to pay off the ransom]].
** Once [[spoiler:Zoom's]] plan begins, all of the heroes are left with the knowledge that, at absolutely any moment, [[spoiler:someone they care about could be replaced with an imposter that wishes them harm and they'd have no way of knowing]].
** After an unknown amount of time as a prisoner, [[spoiler:Dante learns that, because Zoom and Rupture covered their tracks so well, he's been imprisoned for at least a few weeks and ''no one noticed'']].

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Talia al Ghul. While it's not a good sign that Malcolm controls her forces and it's sad that [[NiceGuy Tommy]] was the one to do it, no one will ever be anything but happy that the murderous and petty psychopath is gone]].

* KilledOffscreen: Chapter 112 has [[spoiler:Zoom]] reveal that he had [[spoiler:Dr. Light]] murdered offscreen for being a traitor to the cause.