Late Night In A Forensics Lab

December 17, 2014:

Paul and Sara go find Barry in his lair.

An NYPD forensics lab.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Some conversations can be a little awkward to have with coworkers. The fish in the microwave. Refilling the coffee. Which kind of superheroing you do on your day off. So it's not entirely unusual that it would take some time for Sara and Paul to get around to having a conversation with Barry about what happened in the bar. Eventually, there's a case that Barry has the results for, and all of them are working late enough that it's not too strange for Sara and Paul to show up at the lab.

Sara knocks lightly on the door frame when they arrive, peering in. "You in there, Allen?" she asks.

From inside the lab there's music playing; it sounds as though it could be Nelly Furtado's singsong hit, "I'm like a Bird" popular in the 1990s.

At the knock upon the door, Barry sits up from his desk and microscope. Sara has interrupted him from some really interesting blood work.

"Hey Pezzini," his fresh voice calls out to her. "I'm back here. What's up?"

"Work, what else?" Paul answers heading into the lab once Barry's presence is confirmed. Not that there was much doubt given the music but it could have been another tech. "We need to know what you found on the Nelson case." Like, were those really fish scales? How the hell did a fish get so big? And what was it doing in an east side penthouse with the walls covered in blood?

"And also, other work." Sara heads over toward the microscope and Barry, crossing her arms loosely over her chest. "In the interest of none of us doing anything stupid and giving anything…odd away without realizing it." The jewel in her bracelet glimmers deep red, a quiet reminder of just what it can do.

Barry raises his eyebrows at the bracelet and gives Sara a little grin. "Nelson case, right…I'm thinking mutant, dude." He leans back in his chair and reaches for a file, sliding it over to Manning. "It's all in there." Then, back to Sara, "I think you're threatening me." To Manning, "Is she threatening me?" He chuckles a bit, "I could probably outrun you."

He shrugs his shoulders, "Even if I wanted to do or say something stupid, that would only get me exposed. Looks like we have blackmail over each other, right Pez?"

Once Sara's come into the lab, Paul closes the door then goes over to the radio to turn it up a bit more in case anyone wanders by. If they weren't in a police station, it would be the opening prelude to a beat down. "No, she's not threatening you. She's naturally undiplomatic."

"Oppositional, the shrinks like to say," Sara agrees with Paul's characterization, leaning against the edge of a desk. "I'm not threatening anyone. I've got enough fights on my hands without going out looking for more, is more my point, yeah? More…do us all a favor and keep it under the radar, because if they catch one person, they're going to go digging at all the rest of us." In truth, she does seem generally awkward about the whole thing. Talking about fighting crime sans badge isn't really her thing.

"I thought me telling you guys would put you at ease. That's why I did it. If you remember, I didn't have to tell you guys. I chose to. I figured it would make you realize I was one of the guys. Or gals," Barry's eyes flicker to Sara. "Or whatever."

"Yes, and it did do that." Paul agrees. "It was a surprise to find out you were the Flash but it did ease our worry that you'd run to the Captain about us. It's not something we broadcast. I'm not sure if they'd fire us but it would definitely make things complicated. We can live without more complications."

"Sorry. I'm not-" Sara rubs a hand at her brow, grimacing. "So, the story of my life is, I get into these things with other people who do other weird things, and suddenly there are serious boundary issues. Or murder issues. Or…things get complicated. So I'm just trying to avoid things getting complicated. And you don't seem complicated. I just-" She looks at Paul, gesturing toward Barry. "You get what I'm saying, right?"

Barry shakes his head, "No, I don't. If this is your guys way on asking me for a three way date, I don't think I'm your type." He almost giggles at himself. "Because that's kind of how it sounds. Guys. R-E-L-A-X. We're on the same side here."

Paul just looks at Sara for a moment then shakes his head. "Not a clue. You're being even more confusing than usual. Unless you're trying to warn him off?" To Barry, he explains "The shit she deals with, that we deal with now, is not fun. It's black, demonic, eternal damnation kind of thing that keeps you up at night when you watch it on the late movie at one in the morning because you couldn't sleep and probably stars Vincent Price."

Sara scrubs a hand over her face. "Right. Close enough," she says to Paul's words. "Ugly things. Dark things. That thing in the bar was the kiddy pool, is what I'm saying. Just…be careful. And also, if you could try to keep the extra weird out of the reports, that would be helpful."

"Guys," Barry says, looking serious for a moment. "Look, I appreciate your well wishes, but I've been doing this gig for about five years now. I can take care of myself. And trust me," he shakes his head and looks away from them comically. "I'm not going to be digging into your demonic problems unless you need a hand."

"There's a pretty big difference between this kind of thing and your average bank robbers or even super villain." Paul points out. "Stuff that doesn't respond at all to normal measures. That's not trying to warn you off, just filling you in should you run into it. I still don't know a fraction off it. She's been at this a lot longer than I have."

"A good six years or so of the weirdness," Sara chimes in regarding how long she's been at this. "And it's wearing thin. Which is most of why I'm saying anything. It seems like keeping things quiet is…getting harder." She unfolds her arms, letting out a breath. "So. Thanks for the help in the bar. And if you come across the dark stuff, you know who to call. And if you say Ghostbusters, I will punch you right now."

Both hands stick up towards Sara, "Nah, I'm good, thanks. I'll call you guys and not Ghostbusters. And if you guys want you can totally call me too." Barry shrugs, "It's up to you."

"We've got you on speed dial." Paul assures Barry. At least he does. He's a lot quicker to suggest bringing in backup. "It wouldn't hurt if you read up on basic demonology so you know what to expect if you do run into it. It seems to be more active here than wherever it was you were before."

"Seriously? Speed dial?" Sara smirks at Paul, shaking her head. "We know where to find you." It's not that she means to sound threatening. She doesn't! It's just that she makes poor choices about her words.

"I," Barry starts awkwardly, "I think he means in his contact list." He nods to Sara, "Glad we got this all out in the open then, guys."

"That too." Paul agrees, not quite grinning. He chose his words deliberately. "Call us if you need to. Or if you run into anything overly weird. And if you do when you're on the job, try to mundane it up. Suggesting those scales belong to a mutant is a good idea. People, even the Captain, don't really want to know there are demons running around."

"No," Sara chuckles, shaking her head. "Contact list is not what he means." Partners. The longer they work together, the more they put up with. "I don't really want demons running around, either. I just somehow got elected sheriff. Or something," she says ruefully.

Barry chuckles, "Congratulations, Pezzini. Sounds like a pantload of fun." He looks back towards Paul, "Haven't seen anything in the past few weeks, but I'll keep on the look out. I'm good at that. And don't worry, I'll be careful. It's my sidekick, I have to worry about."

"So bitch to your bad boyfriend." Paul tells Sara. "But it beat going to Hell." Barry gets a nod. "I hear you. It's always the sidekick you need to worry about." Though he doesn't look at Sara, he does take a step away to be out of hitting range.

"Yeah, my last one died and went to hell," Sara drawls at Paul's comment about sidekicks. "It's cool, though. He leveled up and came back."

Barry's eyes go back and forth between Paul and Sara. "She's kidding, right?"

Paul is about to answer and then hesitates as he needs to actually think about that for a moment. "Well, no. When you get right down to it, that's pretty much technically right though using video game terms isn't the best way to put it."

"We told you it was ugly," Sara shrugs, looking back to Barry. "We had a run-in with a prince of hell and a literal descendant of Christ, Allen. We didn't really come out on top of that one. I'm pretty sure I'm still not coming out on top of that one."

"I have my doubts. Considering Christ didn't have any descendants, or so I'm told. But it sounds terrifying nevertheless," Barry raises an eyebrow at Paul. "I deal with my own set of scary things guys. I think your new nickname is going to be the Topper Twins."

"No one's playing misery poker, Allen." Paul says with a small shrug. "Just giving you a head's up on what's out there. Most people don't believe in this kind of thing even if they can accept mutants and aliens without even blinking. I was one of them." And he still hasn't worked out a proper cosmology that he can accept yet.

"Oooookay," Sara sighs, pushing off of the table. "Well, there we go, we played happy nice hero time, so now we can get back to work, yeah? Good working with you, Allen. Let me know when you've got the final report on the Nelson stuff."

Barry chuckles, nods, and gives a wave, "Sounds good guys. And for the record, it was nice working with you. Both in here, and both out there."

"Talk to you later, Allen." Paul gives Barry a nod then heads for the door with Sara. "It never picked an ambassador did it?" he asks his partner. "A statesman? A really good hostess?"

"Oh, go to hell, work on a map," Sara snorts at Paul's comment as she heads for the door, raising a hand to wave to Barry on her way out.

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