Barry took Trunks to the top floor of the lab area where three other forensic scientists were busy collecting data and running tests in a lab Trunks found to be mediocre at best. "People are dying and this is state of the art?" the Saiyan asked.
"That must be the new intern," a short, light-skinned woman with a blonde bob said, carrying a test tube rack filled with blood samples to be tested for DNA density. "I'm Patty Spivot. You must be Takahara, unless the nametag is wrong."
"Well, I mean-" Barry cut himself off.
Trunks' eyes tried to follow the busy bee Patty made herself among the sitting lab tables. "The only thing wrong about the tag is that I blinked when I took the photo."
"Another thing wrong about your tag is that it's not on a lab coat getting to work," a tall Indian man with medium-length black hair said, staring into a microscope.
"Hey, David," Barry said, pulling Trunks to the coat closet and handing him a small white lab coat. "Sorry if it's too little, it was all we had-"
"Stop talking," David said loudly.
"Love you too, bud," Barry said.
"Take it easy on them, David," a short African American man with curly gray hair and glasses said. He sat next to a spinning centrifuge. "This is probably the boy's first time being inside the police station. James Forrest, by the way."
Trunks grinned and walked up to the older scientist. "Well, this is my first time on this side of it."
The three forensic scientists shot glares at the Saiyan.
Trunks put up his hands. "I was wrongly accused when I was eight and got sent to juvie, please don't get mad."
"Just get to work, find some samples, analyze the fingerprint data so we can find a match, do something," David said sternly, "I won't have another product of Barry's standing-"
"Alright, alright, keep them on, Overlord Singh," Barry said, putting on his lab coat and setting his bag down in the coat closet next to Trunks'. The Saiyan followed Barry to a corner of the room with several microscopes, centrifuges, and test tubes filled with blood along with several bags of evidence. "Just look at what you'd like until my 'lunch break,'" Barry whispered. "Then we go investigate the scene ourselves and take them down."
"Got it," Trunks said, pulling up a stool and turning on the microscope. Barry sat right next to him in a spinning lab chair..
"Now see, you'll want to measure the aperture diagram to fully calibrate the field of view," Barry said, leaning into the Saiyan. "I'm assuming you know how to do this, so just ignore what David the Dick has to say, alright?"
"I was planning on it," Trunks said. Barry slapped the Saiyan on the back.
"Smart kid," Barry said, spinning around. "I'll be at my station if you have any questions."
"Thank you so much, Mister Allen," the Saiyan said, purposely cracking his voice. "I am so very ultra super stoked to be doing this, mister sir."
David glared at the Saiyan. "Did he even teach you how to use a microscope? God, Barry, move over."
Barry winked at Trunks with a grin before moving over to his station. Trunks "followed" David's lead, recording as much data as he could for the department. Five hours passed with what Trunks found to be a boring job for high school chemistry students, let alone licensed scientists, all the while wanting to turn around and slap David. Trunks finished scanning the last set of fingerprint data at a terminal in the center of the room with David breathing down his neck. "I found a match," Trunks said, watching a list of names appear on the screen. "Does Malcolm Thawne sound familiar to anyone?"
"Aw shit!" James exclaimed.
"Tell the chief right away," David said sharply, turning to the Flash. "Get your intern and get out of here. This investigation might be a bit too much for him."
"Alright, Takahara, time to go home," Barry said, standing up and taking off his lab coat. Trunks set down the test tube rack he was carrying into David's hands.
"Thanks for all your help," Trunks said dryly, following Barry out of the police station with their outfit bags.
Barry glanced back, making sure he was far from anyone outside the station to hear. "Now I'm going to show you the importance of unsupervised public bathrooms," Barry said with a devious smirk. "It's a superhero's best friend, in more ways than one. Ever have to pee on the job? Throw a distraction, leave, relieve, come back."
"I do hope it's nothing like your expression suggests," Trunks said.
"I'm just fooling around, you know," Barry said, gesturing up the block. "Follow me."
The duo vanished, reappearing in a stinky, messy public bathroom seconds later. "The only thing I can compare this stench to is the Pits of Carrakan," the Saiyan said.
"The Pits of what?" Barry said, entering a stall to change into the Flash.
"The whole planet of Carrakan, about 3.7 lightyears away from here, well, in my universe at least," Trunks said, entering another stall and changing into his costume as well. "At the axes there are humongous pits with concentrations of sulfur hydrides and methane infected hydrogen gases," Trunks said, "if I wasn't wearing my spacesuit, I would have died instantly. In fact, I'm surprised I'm not dead now, because whatever demon left its spawn in here still lingers."
"Were you on a horrible smelling planet tour?" Flash said, stepping out with the Saiyan. "And did you buff your armor?"
Trunks did. "Maybe I like the baddies to see their own faces before my boot kisses them."
"Your shininess shall defeat our foes!" the Flash said in an uber-heroic voice, posing several times. "Are you sure that armor won't slow you down?"
Trunks gripped the hilts of his blades. "I won't be running from anything. Will you?"
Flash let out a straight-faced laugh. "Very funny. Say that when you have a speedometer bomb strapped to your wrist or an angry Wonder Woman and I guarantee it you'll be booking. Let's go." Trunks followed Flash through the city that now stood still as they ran, racing from the heart of the city to an empty grisly scene outside a state senator's office building. They stepped over the police tape and saw the three chalk outlines, one of them of a child. "Take a look around; I've already spotted three metahumans."
"Melting ice, scorch marks on the outer wall of the building, lightning patterns everywhere," Trunks said, noticing that in the head of the child's outline there was a concentrated blue ring in the center. "They weren't here because they felt like tipping the vote, but what legislation would prompt the murder of this woman's kid?"
"Metahuman crime has skyrocketed here in the past three years," Flash said, rubbing some of the ash on the concrete building between his fingers. "Ever since the Justice League formed, I haven't been in the state to protect it as often. The state legislatures are considering measures to ramp up on metahuman suppression in hopes to curb the crime wave, so this was a warning to the state congress to vote against any metahuman related bills during the next session. It sucks that I can't be here, but when there's 19 of us and an entire universe out there trying to rub you out, you won't have time to save the little guy all the time, no matter how fast you are."
Trunks knew exactly how Barry felt, except he had to do it by himself. "And you can't ever blame yourself for it," he said, "because if you don't hold the universe on your shoulders, it'll crush everyone else."
"Also, no one wants to move to Ohio," Flash said dryly. "According to the sheriff, one of the underlings working with the Rouges- my best pals, sorry about that- was caught and is awaiting bail. His name is Roger Simmons, and we're going to pay him a visit, and with some harsh coercing, hopefully he'll tell us where they're hiding."
"Harsh coercing," Trunks said with a smirk. "I like it."
"I'll do the talking, alright? Unlike Bats, my guys get intimidated, so unless you're with him or the double 'W,' no flashy flashy boom boom," Flash said.
"I'll only obliterate him a little, a flesh wound, tops," Trunks said. His Scouter beeped and three yellow circles appeared on the glass.
"Three power levels of five approaching, sir," the Scouter said. "I do suggest leaving the area immediately."
Flash looked down the street, watching three cop cars approach rapidly. "Well, let's not keep Roger waiting."
Trunks barely kept up with his partner as they zoomed back to the police station. They walked inside and were immediately greeted by several officers. "Flash and Scion," one officer said sternly.
"Saiyan," Trunks corrected. "Hey! You recognized me-"
"State your business or prepare to be arrested," the officer said.
"Cut it, O'Malley," Frye said, walking out from the back rooms in front of a stairwell leading down. "What do you want, Flash?"
"Roger Simmons," Flash said. "We have a couple questions for him."
Frye nodded with an aggravated expression. "You have ten minutes."
"Thanks," Flash said. "Saiyan, come on."
The Saiyan nodded and they vanished. Trunks followed Flash down a set of stairs and down a gray concrete hallway into a wide jail cell with six men sitting on the benches lining the inner wall.
"Hi," the Flash said, grabbing the bars and their attention. "No, this is not a dream, it's the Flash and the Saiyan together to talk to one of you."
"Fuck you," one criminal with a bigger build said, coming to the bars. "You don't scare me."
"He should," Trunks said, "he can deliver over eighty percent of thoracic fractures to you before you can even blink."
"Purple haired gay ass chink bitch isn't gonna tell me shit," the criminal said.
Trunks let out a loud laugh as he punched the man in the chest, hearing cracks ripple across the ribcage. "Haha, right."
"Unless you're Roger Simmons," Flash said, his usually playful tone becoming serious like at the crime scene. "Then we have one question to ask you."
No one came forward.
"If you don't volunteer, then I'll let the Saiyan get in there and force you to step up," Flash said. He gestured to the Saiyan and to the bars. "Raise the stakes," he said, pushing off the bars and leaning against the wall.
Trunks stuck his hand between the bars and a ball of yellow energy started growing, becoming bigger than its user in a matter of seconds. The room became very, very hot and the men behind the bars pushed themselves into the walls as much as they could. It wasn't long until someone croaked.
"Alright, alright," a short, squirrely man with spiky hair and tattoos said, slowly inching toward the bars. He stuck his arm through the bars with a tattoo of "Roger Simmons" on it. "It's me, okay? Damn it, you don't have to fuck us up."
"I don't have to," Trunks said, dissipating the energy ball, "but I will, okay?"
"Just tell us where the Rogues are, and we'll leave," Flash said, walking up to the bars once again. "I won't ask more than one time."
"They're headed to the Gary Radner's office next," Roger said. "I'd hurry, unless you want a sudden dual re-election."
"We have to hurry," Flash said.
"Time for a little warm up?" Trunks asked, fazing out and appearing outside the police station. "Scouter, locate Gary Radner's office."
"3460 Parker Street," the Scouter spat out.
"Hey, I have the location right-"
Flash had disappeared.
"Great," Trunks said dryly, bursting into the Super Saiyan form to keep up with Flash's dust. Thirty seconds later and they had traveled the city's diameter, making it to the tall, metallic office buildings. Police cars had already gathered outside and the screams from the inside could be heard.
The Scouter beeped again. "Eight above average power levels 20 meters north and upwards."
"Does that mean there's a problem?" Flash asked, following the Saiyan inside the door to the narrow stairwell dividing the top and bottom offices.
"280, 3600, 1255, 87, 200; no, not really," Trunks said, "we're in the multimillions, you being higher than me. I just hope in this universe, it counts for something."
"What do you mean?" Flash said, darting up the stairs and through the unhinged, blasted wooden door.
"Everyone could hide or amplify their power levels where I'm from," Trunks said, "to be honest, once you get past 9000, power levels are bullshit."
"Why do you read it, then?" Flash asked, racing through the trashed and burning floor to the next flight.
"Until you guys start bursting with auras, it's a good indicator of how hard I'll need to hit you," Trunks said, spiking his chi.
"But these guys are murderers," Flash said, "so hit them as hard as you can."
"They killed a child; rest assured they'll remember my fist if they wake up," Trunks said, bursting onto the second floor with Flash. Eight men stood around the office room, throwing desks and chairs, burning technical documents, and shouting for the senator behind the steel door toward the back of the room to come out.
"I'm pretty sure if he wanted to come out, he would come out by now," Flash said with his voice raised, silencing the room, "but considering how you killed the last ones, I wouldn't want to come out either."
"Shit," a man in a green cloak said, holding a lasso. "It's the Flash and that guy who helped Superman deck Black Adam!"
"Pied Piper, kinkily whips at things," Flash said, pointing at the man with the lasso as the rest of the villains turned to face him. He pointed to a dark skinned man with two small whirlwinds around his hands. "Turbine, heavily blows at things passionately." He moved to the man on fire. "Heat Wave, makes things warmer." The next guy was a short and scrawny blond man in an orange jester's outfit. "Trickster, doesn't realize tricks are for kids." Next to him was a muscular man in a black suit with a yellow lightning bolt down the middle and a man in an orange jumpsuit with chrome helmeting. Captain Cold and a short, stocky man in blue chest armor with a green jewel in the chestpiece were standing in front of them. "Weather Wizard, shocks things, Mirror Master, reflects things. Captain Cold, freezes things, Cobalt Blue, takes my powers and sometimes uses them against me, when he uses the jewel, don't get in the way."
"Waste his ass, boys," Captain Cold ordered, "we don't have time for either of them."
The octet charged and they immediately regretted it. Trunks drew the four elementals toward one half of the room while Flash took the rest. Trunks threw a punch into Heat Wave's face, dousing the fire with pain so intense the fire died. He kicked back, stopping Turbine's tornadoes cold and drew Weather Wizard toward him with a telekinetic technique to dislocate his arms with a series of precise kicks. He turned toward Captain Cold, fazing in and out of his spot to dodge the beams of ice. "I hope you enjoy taking pain as much as you enjoy dealing it," Trunks said, lunging forward and dropping the villain's arms with an elbow strike to the temple. The Saiyan slammed him into the wall and opened his palm into a ki blast that made the captain screech in pain before blacking out. Trunks let the man drop and turned toward Flash, who was calmly leaning up against the wall with his group tied up by Pied Piper's lasso.
"It's about time," Flash said dryly. "Senator, you can come out now." The two speedsters opened the doors to a private office where a tiny, roly-poly man in a suit and tie his behind the desk. "Buddy?"
"No, I'm fine," the senator said, "I'm still a bit shaken by all of this. I called the police, but they never get here as fast as you. Thanks again, Flash."
"Don't forget to thank the Saiyan," Flash said, glancing back at the Saiyan behind him. "He was just as heroic through all of this."
"The Saiyan?" the senator said. "What a strange name. Thank you; next time the metahuman measures come up, I'll be damned sure to bring up your name, after the Flash, of course."
"See?" Flash said, clapping Trunks on the arm. "You're getting somewhere. Get back to the Watchtower and tell a certain politician not to go into work today. I don't have any 'good noodle' stars for today, so just take a thumb up and a hearty victor's laugh."
Trunks couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes! Like that!" Flash exclaimed. "I'll continue digging around the politics circle here for awhile; hopefully I'll be able to jail more dregs."
"I'll leave you to it, then," Trunks said, pressing the blue button on the side of his Scouter. "Anybody there?" He blinked and he stood in the quiet surveillance room, seeing a sullen Aquaman at the desk. "Hey, Aquaman."
"Greetings, friend," he sighed. "Why must the poker card gods curse me with surveillance duties once more?"
"Just fight through it, don't let it get you down," Trunks said. "I'm sure some of the newer members will take over the role very soon."
"Oh, I do hope so," Aquaman said impatiently. "Oliver wanted to speak to you and it sounded urgent. Go to him, boy."
"Yes sir," Trunks said, heading to the residential halls. He knocked on Oliver's door. "Open up. I have to warn you about-"
"Not going into work today?" Oliver said from inside the room. "Yeah, I heard on the news this morning about what happened in Central. I didn't know her very well, but we were usually on the same side of the things that matter. Door's open."
Trunks walked in and Oliver was still in his work outfit. He wore a blue button down shirt with khaki slacks, brown leather shoes, and a red tie with a golden wristwatch. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks," Oliver said, going to his desk and pulling out a notepad. "She and I didn't talk unless it was on the senate floor, but she had a strong will."
"For what it's worth, Flash and I found the guys who did it and we put them down," Trunks said. "Jail time won't fix broken bones."
"For that and showing me how to do the Kamehameha-albeit mine wasn't very big and didn't do very well-"
"Is that what Dinah says? Or are you two not there yet?" Trunks said, silencing Oliver. Green Arrow glared at the Saiyan.
"Get the fuck out."
"Kidding, just kidding," Trunks said, seeing Oliver chuckle a little.
"Well, I mean," Oliver said. "At least I would know what to do with a girl. I'm playing baseball, you're over there playing soccer."
Trunks' face went blank. "I have no idea what you mean by that."
"Sit down, friend," Oliver said. "What's your prior experience?"
"Acting like people trying to hit on my mom to be a believable wayward bachelor to defeat Encantadora and find that bomb that can destroy everything-"
"Nothing, great," Oliver said dryly, writing it down. He stood up and closed the door. He let out a deep breath. "How did the lady you're seeing tonight approach you?"
"She said she wanted to 'get to know me more' and then telepathically sent me pin up shots of herself," Trunks said, blushing. "I have no idea what to do with that; I don't dislike it but I don't believe sending suggestive pictures would necessarily sway the opinion of one deciding whether he should or should not let her know him- and this goes for anyone of any gender, mind you, so if I was Zatanna I bet she would feel caught off guard and ill prepared for-"
Oliver placed his finger over Trunks' lips. "Rule number one: shut up. Let her talk and be a good listener, then when she asks you a question, answer it carefully. If you're rude, no second date. Got it?"
Trunks nodded. "Yes, absolutely, but also I had this crush in middle school on this girl and I talked a lot and then I froze so what do I do when that happens-""
"Rule one!" Oliver exclaimed, silencing the nervous Saiyan. "Rule two: she decides where to go and what to do," Oliver said, "you don't suggest anything unless it's an emergency."
Trunks nodded. "Hai, Sensei."
"Rule three: be on time, not early, not late, be exactly on time. I hate rule three, but sometimes I get there on time."
"Is there a range of being on time?" Trunks asked. "What are the boundaries of error?"
Oliver wiped his face with one hand. "This guy," he grumbled, taking a deep breath. "Rule four! Don't stay too long! Leave when you sense she's getting tired; overwhelming her is always bad." Oliver put his hand on Trunks' shoulder. "Rule five, you ready?"
Trunks nodded with a pleading expression.
"Be yourself," Oliver said slowly. "They can tell when you're putting on an act. In here, we wear costumes. Out there, we are bare no matter what we wear. It's obvious she likes you, and maybe you'll like her back. I wouldn't see why you wouldn't, she's Zatanna, but considering how eight of the sexiest women in the world are on this- nevermind. That's it. Go get 'em; I'll be on my cell, or Scouter, you'll be on your Scouter, I guess, and text me from time to time how it's going. Never text during the activity, though."
Trunks grinned and stood up, heading to the door. "Thank you so much."
"No problem," Oliver said. "You'll do fine."
Trunks gave his friend a thumb up before leaving the room.
"Hey, uh, could you close the door?" Oliver called. "Trunks? Anybody?"
Kara walked past in her hero outfit, looking absolutely ragged.
"Kara, Kara wait-" Oliver was too late. She had already moved on. "Look at me I'm Supergirl and I have super selective hearing nya nya nya nya nya," he said, standing from his desk to close the door.