Disclaimer: 21 Jump Street rip off—Flash version

The Request

Captain Singh sat patiently behind his desk, waiting for Joe to control his laughter. Joe wiped a tear from his eye and sighed in amusement as he tried to get a hold of himself.

"You know he's never going to go for this, right?" Joe said, once he was able to speak.

The captain rubbed his eyes with his palms.

"If he doesn't, then I don't know what we're going to do," he said seriously, causing Joe to sober up, "This new batch of vertigo has already spread here from Starling. We can't afford for it to spread even more."

Joe nodded seriously. Their conversation was interrupted then by a quiet knock on the door.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Barry asked, timidly poking his head through the door.

"Come in and close the door, Allen," the captain instructed.

Barry did as he was told and moved to sit down next to Joe in front of Singh's desk, glancing curiously back and forth between the two of them. He knew instantly that something was up just from the looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" Barry asked curiously.

"You remember that kid from last week?" Captain Singh asked him, "The high schooler?"

Barry visibly shuddered.

"The drug overdose," he replied quietly, "Yes, I remember. I passed all the information onto the medical examiner. He was going to run the tox screen."

"He did," Singh said with a nod, "And the kid tested positive for vertigo."

Barry's eyes widened.

"I thought that was just in Starling," he said, "I thought it was controlled now."

"Well, it appears that a new batch was developed here in Central," Singh informed him, "It's not the Count this time. Someone else is cooking it somewhere, and they're distributing it to young kids here in the city. It's been mostly in high schools lately."

"I can start trying to track them down right away, sir," Barry said seriously, "Do you have any leads for me to work off of?"

"We have nothing," the captain told him bitterly.

A sigh escaped Joe's lips.

"We've been interrogating different users and known dealers out on the street," Joe told him, "But we've got nothing. All we know about it is that it seems to be infiltrating primarily high schools lately. Someone's targeting the young demographic. They seem to be keeping it only within that age group for now—not that there have been any older users, but it's mostly high school kids who are taking it."

"So what do you need from me?" Barry asked, trying to figure out where he fit into this equation.

The captain would have only called him in here if he had wanted something from him.

"If you don't have any leads for me to track down," Barry said slowly, "Or any evidence for me to process, what do you need me for?"

Joe and Singh both glanced at each other before answering.

"Allen," Singh said, "I know you're not a cop and that you're a forensic scientist, but I really need you to do something outside your scope of duties."

Barry nodded slowly, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"This would be completely voluntary," the captain clarified, "I'm not going to make you do this if you don't want to. It's not an order; it's only a request."

"What do you want me to do, Captain?" Barry asked, anxious now to hear what Singh wanted from him.

Joe and the captain were both acting so serious, which was why Barry was surprised when a small laugh escaped Joe's lips.

"He wants you to go back to high school," Joe choked, laughing again.

Barry's brows furrowed in confusion. He looked back at the captain.

"You want me to do what now?" he asked.

"We need someone to go undercover," Singh explained, "Someone to pose as a high school student, to get more information about the supplier."

Barry snorted.

"Very funny, sir," he said, "You had me going for a second there."

"This is no joke, Mr. Allen," the captain said seriously, "You're the only one in our department who can do this. Our youngest detective is Detective Thawne, and he doesn't look nearly young enough to pass for a high schooler. I doubt he could even pass for a college student, let alone a high school kid. You look a bit too old, too, to be honest, but you're the only one who looks young enough to maybe pull it off."

"You've got to be kidding me," Barry said, no longer laughing, "High school?"

"Like I said, Allen," Singh continued, "It would be completely voluntary. I know you just got out of a coma and are still adjusting after returning from your medical leave. I would understand if you don't want to take this on right now. I know this isn't within your scope of duties, so it would be completely within your right to decline the assignment if you're not willing to do it."

"We really need this, Bar," Joe said softly, laughter gone, "We keep hitting dead ends. Kids are dying."

Barry sighed and shot a brief glare at Joe. Of course, he would try to guilt him into this. He had to go and pull the "dying kids" card.

"How long would I have to do it for?" he asked quietly, reeling at the idea of going back to high school.

He was a grown ass man, and now he was being asked to pretend to be some teenager.

"That's up to you," Singh said simply, "It depends on how long it takes you to find the distributor. You can always drop out at any time, though. You wouldn't be committed."

Barry sighed and buried his face his hands. He could feel Joe and Singh's eyes on him, waiting for his answer. The pressure from their eyes alone took away any illusion of a choice in the matter. Even if it was in his right to decline the assignment, Barry couldn't do that. He couldn't just let them down like that. He could let kids continue to overdose on this stuff.

"Fine," he said reluctantly, "I'll do it."

The captain let out a sigh of relief.

"How am I going to stay caught up in the lab, though?" Barry asked quickly then, "If I'm going to be in high school every day, how am I going to get all my other cases done? You're still going to need a CSI on staff to handle other incoming cases."

"Don't worry about that," the captain dismissed easily, smiling now that Barry had agreed, "Southworth will take over your lab for you again, like he did when you were on medical leave. I don't want you being distracted by other cases. I just want you to focus on this one mission."

Barry sighed. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. He was really going to go undercover for Singh, something he probably would have found really cool, had it not been for the fact that he was going undercover as a high schooler. As they were standing up to leave the office, Barry was still in shock by what he had just agreed to.

"You really put me on the spot in there," he accused, after Joe had closed the door to Singh's office behind them.

Joe smiled apologetically.

"We both know you would have said yes either way," he pointed out, "You've never been good at telling the captain no."

Barry sighed. He couldn't help but agree with Joe. He had never been able to refuse his boss anything. He was just too easygoing that way. Barry had never turned down an assignment. Really, he had never been given the option to.

Singh wanted them to keep this mission a secret. The less people who knew about it, the less likely Barry's cover would be blown. For now, the only people who knew about it were Singh, Joe and Barry. Even Eddie, Joe's own partner, was in the dark about it. They had only a week to prepare before East Central High's winter break ended and the second school semester started. Singh took care of everything, getting Barry "transferred" to East Central High and enrolling him in all his classes.

"Here's your identity," Singh said, sliding a file across his desk towards Barry.

Barry picked it up and opened it curiously.

"Your name is Grant West," Singh told him, "You're a senior and you're transferring from Starling High."

"West?" Barry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Joe didn't tell you?" Singh asked, "You're going to be moving back in with him for the duration of your assignment."

When Barry looked puzzled, Singh continued.

"High school students don't have their own apartments," he said simply.

"Right," Barry said, looking through the rest of his file.

He paused when he turned the page.

"Glee club?" he asked, looking at the list of extracurriculars.

"We want you to be enrolled in as many groups and clubs as you can," Singh explained, "The more people you meet, the more likely we're going to figure out which kids can lead you to the supplier. That means spending time with a variety of different groups."

"I don't sing," Barry said flatly, "Or dance."

"I didn't say you had to be good at any of it," Singh said gruffly, "Just get to know all the people in your assigned groups. There's chemistry club listed somewhere on that list. I'm sure that one's more your speed."

Barry continued to look at the list.

"Track team?"

"Joe told me to put that one in there," he said, shrugging, "Thought you'd get a kick out of it for some reason. He said you used to be on the team back in high school."

Barry smiled.

"Yeah," he said, "Yeah, I was."

After going through some of the finer details with Singh, Barry was ready to go. He was nervous as hell. He had only just agreed to this a few days ago. He felt like he didn't have nearly enough time to mentally prepare, and now, bright and early on Monday morning, he would be going back to high school.