Thanks!
Chapter Four:
Reid thought he had slept for a half hour at some point. All he wanted to do was help Barbara.
Clearly, she had configured access to certain rooms, as he was able to get in the kitchen at six a.m. He found a dry erase marker on the fridge where notes were kept, on what not to touch. He pulled out a roll of paper towels and began to work.
Ten minutes later, a woman with dark hair in purple sporty pajamas appeared. Reid recognized her as Huntress AKA Helena Bertinelli.
"Quantum theory," she said. "That's a good starting point."
"Dinah told you about us?" he said as continued to work.
"None of us are angry at you guys, for the record. Babs uses Z for a number of special ops. It could have been anything."
"Maybe if we're able to go back in time, we can fix this. What if Barbara never tells Garcia anything? Then nothing is damaged."
"I've been around for a number of reality-altering events. Some things can't be unwritten."
Reid looked at Helena.
"What makes you think this is one of them?"
"If Garcia and Babs have been in clandestine communication for over a decade, the messages sent have withstood the test of time, and reality. There may be no easy fix for this situation."
"Your look hasn't changed that much since the most recent reboot. What hasn't changed here?"
She laughed. "That is an absurd question."
"Okay, were you ever batgirl?"
"Yes, for a brief unfortunate time."
"Did Barbara ever live in Burnside?"
"It's a chic area, but setting up a base of operations wouldn't make sense there."
"The New Fifty-Two events haven't happened here, yet," he said more to himself than her.
"How do you keep track of comics, in addition to the scientific journals, newspapers, and books you read?"
"Comics are an escape for me. I like the idea of the bad guy being caught at the end of every story arc."
"Funny, that's what I like about your show," she said. "At the end of almost every episode, the bad guy is caught and the team flies' home."
"How much of my life have you seen?" he asked, with a little hesitation.
"Physically, or figuratively?"
"Both?" he said.
"Oddly not a lot, physically. They cut away from when you had to strip for the anthrax decontamination. They don't show much of you changing during the prison episodes. It's kind of fascinating."
"Figuratively?"
"We don't see you going through withdrawal. We don't see all the torture Hankel did to you. We don't see how you process Maeve's death, just thrown books. We've seen a lot, but there is still enough left to the imagination, for better for worse."
"What about the rest of the team?"
"Before Morgan was Morgan, he was a soap star on the same network. There have been several shirtless scenes of him. Not a lot of skin among the women."
"The actors," Reid said suddenly. "Who are the actors who play us?"
"The people who play you are B-list TV stars. They don't trend a Twitter a lot. I really don't know much about the actors, as they tend to stay in Hollywood and mind their business if they don't want to be kidnapped by a super-villain."
"Interesting," Reid said.
"Look," Helena said. "You didn't ask to be put in this situation. No one is angry at you."
"What about Garcia?"
"Eh, if roles had been reversed, maybe I would have sought a way to find out a secret, multiverse be damned. I get it."
A message appeared on the TV. It was a room number.
"That's the secondary murder board room," Helena said.
"Is Barbara watching us?" he said.
"You can't blame her," she said. "You are all walking reality conundrums."
"I wish she was sleeping though."
"Barbara master micro-napping years ago."
Helena walked to the entrance.
"Come on, I'll show you the room where we work B-missions, no offense," she added.
"None taken."
It was surreal walking through the halls. Seeing Starfire, with her flaming hair and orange skin, walking next to Raven in her hooded outfit, and Beast Boy with his green skin. Selina, aka Cat Woman, dress in an expensive suit walked by. Everyone made eye contact. Some looked angry, some surprised, but most were sad. They had other things on their minds. Reid's presence might have been a bigger deal if Barbara Gordon's father was alive.
The door opened automatically for him. It was a massive white space, with comfortable-looking computer chairs, markers, and a set of laptop computers. The team's names were already logged in.
"I'd love to watch you work," Helena said. "But the city is descending into chaos, the cops are out for blood, and someone has to make sure Barbara eats."
"I understand," he said.
He got to work.
…
An hour later, Reid had covered every surface with manic writing. It didn't feel like enough.
The door clicked open. It was Garcia.
"Hi Boy Wonder," she said.
"I'm not in the mood for pet names," he said and added another variable to a proof.
"I'm sorry!"
"Garcia, as Barbara said, now is not the time to be angry. You couldn't have known this would happen, but doesn't stop me from being frustrated. You knew the risks."
"I just, I had to know."
Reid shot her a look. "No, you didn't! What happened between J.J., the unsub, and I was our business! It wasn't your place to reach across the multiverse to get answers."
"I thought if I knew I could help you act less tense around each other," she said.
"We would have figured it out. It wasn't an issue that required your involvement."
"What can I do to fix this?"
"Help me research the origins of the speed force used by the flash," he said. "You're the only one who knows comics as well as I do."
The wall shifted and shrank, creating more space to write.
"Okay," she said.
"I understand you did what you did was based on impulse," he said. "I know how tempting it must have been. I can see it from your point of view. I also know, in the end you just wanted to help."
"Thank you," she said quietly.
As if mutually agreed upon, they worked together and didn't discuss the tension of the confession.
…
Prentiss reviewed their findings. They had been at it for six hours, with a lunch break.
"So, the Flash can alter reality by manipulating the 'speed force.' Zatanna can pause time, but not reverse it. Spectre maintains balance in the universe. Kyle Rayner uses the white lantern. Dr. Fate gets his power from the Lords of Order."
"Can't Superman spin the earth backwards?" Simmons asked.
"I haven't seen that done in the comics in years," Reid said.
Reid and Garcia had filled every space in the room with notes.
"I feel like my head is about to explode," Rossi said.
"I don't know which, if any of these would work," Alvez said.
"We didn't waste our time though," J.J. said. "I feel like I just took a crash course in superheroes."
"Let's call it day," Prentiss said. "We'll regroup and work on it again tomorrow."
As they left the room, they ran into Dick Grayson dressed in blue and black armored spandex as Nightwing.
"Hey guys," he said. "I see you've been studying."
"We don't know what to do," Reid said. "We just want to stay out of your way while you do heroic stuff."
"I've convinced Babs there is a better use for you. We're going to turn you into superheroes!"