Summary: Barry Allen arrives in Starling City intending to get his foot in the door on a particularly unusual and interesting case. Maybe find out a little more about the Starling City Vigilante if the topic happened to come up.
He did not expect to be saving that Vigilante's life, but the world is a weird place. Barry's known that much for a very long time, after all.
Notes: My last entry for Barry Allen Week - Free Day
Also for my ongoing Olivarry Bingo works - G2: Plus One
This started off as Barry being Oliver's plus one to the party instead of Felicity's. Tommy popped up in the background, waved for my attention, and said 'what if we fixed season 2 and added plot? wouldn't that be cool?' And I listened...
Anyway, if Oliver seems out of character it's because having Tommy around and not lying to him twenty-four-seven makes Ollie less stressed. Their friendship is very important to each other and fun to play with here. :D
Scientific Method
Chapter 1
Barry's day starts something like this. He gets up early and calls a cab for the train station, gets into an argument with the driver over the most efficient route, and winds up late for the first train instead of ten minutes early like he should have been because the cab driver ignored him.
Should've taken the bus, Barry had lamented, sitting in the train station waiting area for the next train to Starling to start boarding.
Once at Starling, Barry's bad luck continues. The first taxi he tries for drives off empty - seriously, what the hell? It's pouring rain and Barry forgot to even check Starling's weather so he doesn't haven an umbrella on him. He's absolutely soaked by the time he manages to flag down another taxi. It's clearly an illegal taxi, but Barry happily takes it anyway and at least this driver is glad for Barry's advice, which lets Barry make up enough time to arrive at the crime scene while the representatives from Queen Consolidated are still on site.
If he can get their permission to investigate the break in, then he hopefully won't have to lie too much about why he's there and people will be less likely to check up on his story. The last thing he needs is Captain Singh bitching him out at work over his off hour hobbies again.
Of course, it works against Barry's favor that he's a shitty liar, but being out of breath and rambling? He hoping that'll cover up any tells he might accidentally give away.
The detective's tone is a familiar combination of amused and annoyed as he asked, "who the hell are you?"
Meanwhile one of the three non-detectives in suits - well there are four non-detectives, but the lady is in a dress, so... - demands incredulously, "and do your parents know that you're here?" He looks like the pictures Barry's seen of Oliver Queen and Barry has to sternly remind himself that he doesn't have time to ogle how nicely the suit fits him.
Actually, the other two men look amazing too, as does the woman with them though. Why are there so many attractive people around to make him even more flustered? This really isn't fair.
Still, Barry's learned a few lessons about successfully barging into the investigations of bizarre events. Namely, fake it 'till you make it. Pretend to belong so no one has a chance to realize you don't. "I'm Barry Allen..." just enough of a pause and then a frown before pulling out his credentials and adding, "from the Central City police department." Just enough confusion in his tone to make it sound like he expected them to be expecting him. "I'm with the crime scene investigation unit. We had a case recently with some similar unexplained elements, so when the report of your robbery came over the wire, my captain told me to check out if they're related."
Barry tucked away his work credentials, hoping desperately that they were buying this. And that they wouldn't want details on the related case.
"And you think, what, one guy ripped through this door like it was tin foil?" the detective rolled his eyes.
"One very strong guy, yeah." Barry turned on his tablet's screen to the image of the autopsy report - that he really shouldn't have, but wouldn't get into too much trouble for accessing if found out - and held it out for his audience to look at as he explained, "it, uh, it takes about one-thousand two-hundred and fifty foot pounds of torque to break someone's neck. But the bruising pattern on the guard's neck suggests the killer only used one hand. I'm guessing you don't know how hard it is to break someone's neck?"
"Hmm?" Queen mumbled, looking up from the tablet's photograph.
"Nope. Not a clue. True crime shows make it look like a six-year-old could do it, honestly," said a dark haired man... Tommy Merlyn, probably. Oliver Queen was currently CEO of Queen Consolidated, but he'd pulled the Merlyn heir into the business with him as his COO. That still left the handsome black guy and the lovely blonde woman unidentified, but Barry was fairly certain about at least those two.
"Ugh, don't even get me started on CSI. Half the stuff they do on that show is just made up," Barry griped, earning a grin from Merlyn but an eye-roll from Queen.
The CSI who actually belonged on site spoke up at that moment, requesting a list of the warehouse's inventory to find out what was missing. Could he really not tell, though? It was kind of obvious...
"Actually, I think I know what was stolen. Or at least, the most obvious thing that was stolen," Barry piped up again, leading the others over to the glaringly obvious place for a missing item he'd seen when walking into the warehouse. "A centrifuge. An industrial centrifuge. Probably a Kord Enterprises 2BX 900... or maybe one of the six series. Both have a three column base and you can see here that there are three sets of broken bolts where the thief just... ripped it out of the ground."
"And what, exactly, is a centrifuge?" the detective asked, though he wasn't dismissing Barry anymore which was a step in the right direction.
"It separates liquids," said the blonde woman before Barry could and he smiled in relief that at least one person knew what he was talking about. "The centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out - lighter objects move to the top." She smiled at Barry and held out a hand. "What did you say your name was again?"
"Barry Allen," he replied, accepting the handshake.
"Felicity Smoak," she offered.
"Um... anyway, the removal of the centrifuge was done with enough force to not only break the bolts, but crack the base and the floor. Alongside the cracks running towards the door, there's a set of footprints. Only one set. So only one guy. I mean... it's only a theory, but one backed by a lot of evidence."
"There has to be another explanation," the detective grumbled, pulling Smoak away with him for a private conversation... a little weird with Queen and Merlyn right there, but whatever.
Barry'd never expected to get the detective's cooperation anyway.
At least Queen looked convinced and Merlyn and the other guy were intrigued. In fact...
Merlyn clapped the arm of the guy Barry still hadn't learned the name of and then met Barry's eyes for a moment before jerking his head to the side. Barry took that as his obvious cue to follow him away from where Queen was still eying the evidence Barry'd pointed out.
"So, we're looking to keep the investigation in house," Merlyn said quietly, once they were out of earshot of the other police officers milling about. "Queen Consolidated has been the target of a lot of industrial espionage since Moira stepped down just before being arrested for her part in the Undertaking. Oliver picking me as his COO hasn't helped things, at all. That being said, Dig doesn't exactly have a forensics expert on his security team." Merlyn gave Dig - that had to be short for something - a speculative look.
"Yeah, we could use the help, if you'd be willing to consult with us," Dig offered.
Barry grinned brightly. "Yes, that would be great." He shoots, he scores!
"You," Dig gave Merlyn a significant look, "get to explain this to Oliver."
"Yeah, yeah, I know how to handle Ollie," Merlyn grumbled. "Come on kid, you can ride back to the main office with me."
Oliver really shouldn't be CEO of Queen Consolidated.
It's not the first time Tommy's thought this. It won't be the last, of that he's absolutely certain. Tommy'd rather not be COO and primed to take over as CEO as soon as the press from that move won't tank the company, but there's no one Oliver or Thea trust to run the company more - except Walter, who won't do it - and it is something that Tommy is proving to be fairly good at. Seeing as how he's basically running the company already.
So far, Tommy's instincts haven't lead him astray. When they'd managed to edge Isabel Rochev out of a hostile takeover of Queen Consolidated by one percent of stock, Tommy hadn't thought they'd seen the last of her. Stellmoor International's forty-nine percent stock ownership still gave her, as their Vice President of Acquisitions, an impressive amount of say in their board meetings. Felicity's background check on the woman had given Tommy a starting point for a PI to dig further, given that Rochev had, under a very different last name, previously worked at Queen Consolidated as one of Robert's many secretaries.
Where, exactly, Dibny dug up pictures of Rachel and Robert in the middle of having sexual escapades, well... Tommy never wanted to know. Just seeing those photos once made him want to gouge his eyes out and Ollie and Thea were definitely never allowed to see them. Those horrifying pictures - and their negatives - however came in handy in making Rochev back off. After all, the CEO of Stellmoor wouldn't be thrilled to find out that his VP of Acquisitions was using his company to fund her personal revenge over being slighted by the dead Robert Queen. Last he'd heard, Rochev had resigned from Stellmoor, so she was probably still a potential problem and gunning for Tommy personally now, but... Stellmoor had sold off most of their Queen Consolidated stocks to various third parties. So her initial threat to the Queen family - and now Tommy - was currently negated
Tommy'd also stopped Ollie from sabotaging himself where Felicity and Dig were concerned. Assistant and driver... god, what a waste of talent that would have been. Tommy inserted Dig as their new head of security - with Dig's permission - and moved Felicity up the chain in the science division. She was currently learning the skills necessary to run the department so that once Tommy made CEO he could realistically make her the head of R&D. He wasn't sure Felicity knew that's what he was angling for, but he did know she was enjoying the challenges of her current position a lot more than she would have enjoyed being an administrative assistant. Better still, she was proving to have a talent for team leadership and picking up the other management skills she needed readily enough.
Currently, however, Tommy's instincts were telling him that Barry Allen was an asset. A terrible liar, but asset all the same.
"Hi, Captain Singh?" Still, Tommy was learning to live by the moto 'trust but verify', "this is Tommy Merlyn, COO of Queen Consolidated over in Starling City. We recently had a rather weird break in and one your CSI's happened to be in the area had some interesting insight into the case. I was hoping to get your blessing on asking him to do a consult for us... but also to confirm his identity."
"We do have a Barry Allen on staff as one our Assistant CSIs," Singh confirmed. "He's one of our best, but still relatively new to the job. He's got the next few days off, so assuming that's really Barry then there's no reason for me to object to him helping solve a crime over in Starling." The Captain had a sort of air of amusement and resignation in his voice that made Tommy wonder how often Allen ran off to look into weird cases for himself. "Describe the guy you've got and I can tell you if that's Barry or not."
"About six-foot, brown hair, blue eyes, and the personality of an overgrown puppy," Tommy listed off, grinning when the last bit got him a startled laugh.
"Yeah, that's our CSI. Please remind him we expect him back by Tuesday, regardless of how your case goes, Mr. Merlyn."
Tommy nodded and laughed a little himself. "Will do. Thank you for your help, Captain."
After hanging up the phone, Tommy headed over to where Dig was theoretically breaking the news to Oliver that Tommy'd invited their new CSI friend over to play with them. Odds were Dig had not done so because Dig was both vindictive enough and knew Oliver well enough to keep the subject away from anything potentially Barry Allen related long enough for Tommy to show up. He had told Tommy that he wasn't going to be the one who got thrown under the bus for this decision, even if he did support it.
(Mostly Tommy had come to like and appreciate John Diggle. Even if part of him did still resent having to share 'Oliver's best friend' status with someone else.)
In fact, as Tommy walks into Oliver's office, Dig was saying, "that CSI from Central City was right. The only thing missing was the centrifuge. And Felicity found this on the traffic cameras across from Applied Sciences about three minutes after the alarm went off."
Tommy crossed the room to get a look at it with Oliver. "One guy pulling off a heist that should take a hell of a lot more," Tommy said. "Good thing I asked that CSI to stick around."
"You did what?!" Oliver demanded.
Right on time, Barry Allen poked his head in the room. "Um... where should I set up my equipment?"
"Come on, I'll show you while Mr. Merlyn and Mr. Queen discuss business," Dig said, hurrying off so as not to get caught in yet another argument between the two of them.
"Allen," Tommy called, shit eating grin on his face because, unlike Dig, he was looking forward to the argument. "Your Captain asked me to remind you that you need to be back by Tuesday, no matter how interesting this case proves to be."
"Uh... right. Thanks." Barry Allen went a ridiculous shade of pale as he followed Dig out the door. He probably thought he was so screwed once he got back to Central...
"Tommy," Oliver growled.
"Oh, stow it. You wanted me to run Queen Consolidated for you, Ollie. That means you're going to have to step back and let me make calls like this sometimes. Besides, forensic science isn't exactly Felicity's forte. Computer forensics, she's your girl. But crime scene analysis? You're not bad that, Ollie, but how much did he pick up on taking a one-minute stroll through the warehouse that you missed?"
"Everything but the footprints," Oliver admitted wryly.
"QC doesn't need yet another unsolved break in for our PR right now and you need a forensics expert to help identify who did the breaking and entering for your extracurricular activities." Tommy crossed his arms, expression serious. "Trust me to take care of this end of things, okay?"
"Alright, alright," Oliver sighed. "I just don't like trusting some guy who popped out of nowhere."
"Which is why I confirmed his identity and spoke to his boss," Tommy replied. "Captain Singh over in Central City got quite the kick out of me describing Allen as an overgrown puppy."
It also seemed to amuse Oliver.
"Keep him out of trouble, Tommy," Oliver relented.
Tommy saluted. "Aye, aye. Go shoot things with arrows. It'll make you feel better. And maybe afterwards you can tell me what it is you're so worried our new CSI friend is going to find."
Oliver hesitated. After Tommy had found out about Oliver being the Hood - now rebranded as the Arrow - they'd fallen out with each other hard. And then Tommy found out his father was a supervillain and they'd worked together to stop him. They'd prevented one of the bombs from going off, but the other... they hadn't made it in time. Tommy had nearly been killed getting Laurel out of her office in the glades. And afterwards, Tommy and Oliver finally had it out.
Well, after Tommy got out of the hospital and was safely convalescing at the Queen family residence, anyway.
Still, it was a big argument over the course of several days and, eventually, Oliver promised not to lie to Tommy about important things anymore. He could refuse to answer because he wasn't comfortable talking about something or because it wasn't his story to tell, but... Oliver wasn't allowed to lie to Tommy or their friendship would find new lows to hit. Tommy wasn't sure he'd ever be able to stop being Ollie's friend for good, but... they'd hit rocky enough ground over the many lies covering up the vigilantism. Neither ever wanted things that bad between them again.
(Tommy was working on getting Ollie to come clean to Thea, but at least he'd seen the wisdom of telling Thea she was Tommy's half sister. Much as Tommy hadn't wanted to dump the burden of being Malcolm Merlyn's child on anyone, he was grateful to have Thea be his sister... and know it too. The first time she'd called him her big brother afterwards... big feelings there, to be sure.)
"There've been... I don't..." Oliver dragged a hand over his face. "There were others on the island," he finally said, which Tommy actually already knew. "One of them he was a friend and he died and it was my fault. He wasn't himself at the end and... some of what we've been running into lately keeps making me think of what happened to him."
"And you're sure he's dead?" Tommy hated to ask, but...
"I'm pretty sure I killed him," Oliver admitted softly, unable to look Tommy in the eyes.
Oh Ollie... there were times when Tommy wished he could strangle Robert for letting Oliver and Sara come along on what he had to have known was a potentially dangerous cruise. Times he wanted to strangle his own dead father for being the one who put the bomb on the boat.
Oliver Queen never should have known what it was like to kill a friend.
Tommy sighed and then hugged Oliver.
"What the hell?"
"Just accept it, Ollie. We're eschewing toxic masculinity and hugging like real menfolk should." Tommy laughed and pulled away, ruffling Oliver hair. "The look on your face..."
"You're an ass," Oliver pouted, walking towards the door. "I'm gonna go shoot stuff with arrows now."
"So, um, is Dig short for something or..." the CSI asked.
"My name is John Diggle, so most people call me Dig," John replied with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. The kid was pretty clearly twisted into knots, especially after Tommy's parting comment. "You can feel free to do the same."
"Thanks. And, um, please call me Barry."
"Alright, so where do you want to get started analyzing the scene?" Dig asked, "and how much do you need in lab space?"
"Well, assuming the scene has been released for us to work on? I'd like to analyze the shoe prints. There's way more evidence left behind by shoes than people realize - you can tell everywhere a person has been in those shoes based on the particulates left behind. I mean, like, it's not going to narrow down to an exact place and time, but..." Barry sighed, "I brought my evidence collection kit and some basic equipment, but everything else I'm kind of hoping you guys already have otherwise it'll need to be sent to the Starling crime lab."
"What sort of equipment are we talking about here? Mass spectrometer?" Dig grinned, "because we've got one of those. Pretty sure I saw a chromatograph on the list of applied science tech too."
Barry perked up. "Oh, that's perfect. So if the equipment is all kept in the same place, then I won't even have to go anywhere to analyze the evidence. I can do it all in the same room. That'll be a first."
"We should probably grab Felicity, that way someone authorized to use the equipment is with you during the investigation," Dig mused, pulling out his phone and texting Felicity to have her meet him there.
"So does Queen Consolidated usually investigate break ins internally or is this just a... unique circumstance?" Barry asked as they got into the elevator and Dig pressed the button for the ground floor.
"Fairly unique. We had some... difficulties earlier this year with a former acquaintance of Robert Queen's trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover of the company. There's also been a higher rate of crimes committed against Queen Consolidated since the undertaking. Understandable, given Moira Queen's involvement, but... some of which are starting to stand out as more than just angry backlash over Malcolm Merlyn's attack on the glades."
"So there's a pattern emerging and you're all concerned this crime in particular fits the pattern?" Barry hummed thoughtfully. "Could I maybe see the reports on those crimes? Maybe I can help determine if this new one is linked or not?"
"I'll run it by Tommy, but it's not a bad idea." Dig paused a beat, then asked, "so how long have you been a CSI, anyway?"
"Almost a year. I'm up for a promotion from assistant CSI to CSI level one. All hires straight out of college start at assistant level, though I've actually got my own lab now. Well, because the CSI level three I was assigned to recently quit, but... that probably doesn't exactly inspire confidence in my skills," Barry blushed and ducked his head, running a hand along the back of his neck in a clear nervous habit.
"Being relatively new to the job doesn't reflect poorly on your ability to do it," Dig countered. "So I've been considering that QC's security personnel could do with some training on how to deal with discovering a crime scene. This situation in particular has shown some flaws in the training - while no one disturbed the scene of the theft, they did disturb the murder scene outside."
"Yeah, I heard they moved the body and closed his eyes. Which might not seem like a big deal to most people, but..."
"Now all the evidence of the real murderer has been potentially contaminated," Dig filled in. "Yeah, Detective Lance was pretty pissed off about it. I don't suppose you have any recommendations for training I could use?" Because he was, actually, quite serious about this.
"Well, if there are any forensic programs nearby, then you could have a professor come in and give a seminar - or multiple seminars - on crime scene etiquette. If not, then the SCPD's crime lab could probably help put something together. Like a crime scene 101 course. Um... that would actually be kind of fun to put together, actually. If you wanted, I could email you some suggestions later?" There was a speculative gleam in his eyes as he started listing out a few basic starting points.
Barry was a little thrown by Merlyn's comment about Captain Singh earlier - there was definitely an ongoing spiral in the back of his head that Barry was trying to ignore that was absolutely certain he was going to be in so much trouble when he got back to Central - but he'd mostly gotten it out of his head by the time he'd gotten back to the applied science warehouse and started setting up his black lights all around the pedestal base the centrifuge had been previously attached to. He was in his element now, looking for and analyzing clues and it was hard for him to feel anxious while doing the one job that made him feel competent and confident.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Felicity asked as Barry finished setting up the last of the lights.
"Your thief's shoes left some pretty distinct footprints, which means he tracked in dozens of clues telling us where he's been the last few days," Barry said, echoing what he'd told Dig earlier. "The lights make it easier to see the prints and will also cause the more unique clues to fluoresce."
"Got ya," Felicity said, watching while he collected a sample that went straight into the spectrometer next to her. Dig had been called out a few minutes ago to deal with something or other, which left it just the two of them.
Would it be weird if he asked her about the vigilante? Or would it be more weird if he didn't?
Closing the spectrometer and starting the analysis cycle, Barry said absently, "shouldn't take long." This model was way faster and more efficient than the one he had access to at work. But if he was going to get a newer, better model of anything at work it really needed to be a centrifuge (oh the irony) before the one he had finally crapped out for good.
His brain back and forthed over the question of the vigilante a few more times before Barry finally just had to ask, whether it was weird or not, "I've, uh, I've actually heard about you before. You were saved by the vigilante, weren't you?"
"Uh, yeah. That's right. Me and over half the city," Felicity responded dryly.
"What was he like?" Barry leaned in, hoping for any new little detail she might be willing to impart.
"Green."
"Green," Barry echoed. "That's interesting, right? I mean... why green? Black is much better for stealth and urban camouflage. Or dark grays. Personally, I think he trained in some sort of... like... forest or jungle environment and the green is a nod to that."
She shrugged and looked away. "I don't really give the vigilante much thought."
Barry winced. He'd pushed too far apparently. Come off as a weirdo again. "Sorry, that was..." Barry sighed. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Sometimes it felt like the only person he could talk to about any of this was Nate and they communicated on Barry's blog more often than in person. Joe hated vigilantes with the burning passion of a thousand suns, like any other self-respecting cop, so the Starling City vigilante was definitely a taboo subject with him. And Iris was more interested in romanticizing the idea of the vigilante than discussing things like motivations and costume choices and the reasons for choosing carbon arrows over aluminum carbon composites.
"It's fine. You're not the first person to ask me about him," she admitted. "It's just... I'd really rather just put the whole thing behind me, you know?"
"Yeah. Sorry," he repeated. The computer, thankfully, chose that moment to beep, indicating it had completed the analysis. "Huh," Barry said, looking at the read out. "The soil has a crystalline structure imbedded in it."
"What is it?"
"Sugar." Barry frowned. "And it's not like he just stepped in spilled sugar or anything like that either." That'd lead to much higher concentration of sugar and less dirt. Sugar was actually pretty useful for removing odors, stains, and grease, so the higher the concentration of sugar and the more likely it was that the sugar would help clean away other substances.
"Trace amounts of sugar..." Felicity echoed. "I think I know where we're looking for." She grinned and nudged Barry over, taking over the computer and letting her fingers race over the keyboard.
Barry let her at it, wandering off to case the scene a few more times for anything useful he might've missed before dropping into the spare chair and letting his mind wander. He should probably find out when the last train of the night was. Head back home. As curious as he was to know who did the break in, his hotel had lost his reservation. Tomorrow was Sunday and he had Monday off. Maybe he should just... try to enjoy his days off for a change instead of chasing the impossible.
It's what Joe wanted of him. It's what Iris wanted of him. Slow down and relax and stop chasing after fantasies.
But what Barry saw the night his mother died wasn't a fantasy. It was real and he'd never be able to prove it if he gave up like they wanted him to do.
Pulling out his phone, Barry started googling motels in the area instead of the train schedule. Should be a few near the train station he could check into for the night, right?
He thinks he's picked a winner by the time Dig and Queen show up.
"You found something?" Queen asked as he walked in, striding with purpose and Barry just...
Oliver Queen shouldn't be that hot just walking into a room. It's really not fair. So distracting.
Felicity's on the ball, however, and she confirms, "we found something. There were trace amounts of sucrose in the dirt the killer's boots left behind, which got me thinking. There's a sugar refinery two miles from here and the land around it is suffused in waste sugar. Did a check and found they had a delivery truck stolen a few days ago. A truck that just happens to match to the make and model of truck our thief used to steal the centrifuge."
"Can you track the vehicle?" Dig asked.
"We've been..." Felicity grinned as something on the screen caught her attention. "Would you look at that. The truck... it was just used to rob a blood bank."
"Are you sure?" Barry asked at the same time as Queen. "It's just..." Barry blushed as the others all turned to look at him. "The most commonly known use for a centrifuge is separating out different blood particulates. It's used for separating out plasma, isolating viruses or any drugs in a person's blood stream, checking for antibodies or... someone with that much blood and a centrifuge isn't going to be just a thief - they're going to be using it for some kind of unsanctioned medical experimentation. We need to let the SCPD know what we've found."
"I'll... take care of that," Queen paused a beat. "Didn't you mention a similar case in Central City?"
"Ah..." Barry could practically hear the alarm bells ringing in his head as that lie came back to bite him on the ass. Did he fess up? Did he double down? Oh god, and now his mouth was opening without permission, "looks like they were just superficially similar after all." And now Queen was giving him a suspicious look and Barry's thoughts were definitely heading down the ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION panic line.
"Right," Queen rolled his eyes and turned to Dig, talking in quiet undertones with the man.
Barry sighed. "I guess I should pack up and head to the train station." Definitely time to get out of Starling. He could just... watch the news to find out how this one turned out. Assuming it made the news. At least Dig seemed like a promising contact, even if in a purely professional sense and not a 'gossiping about the vigilante' sense. And he'd helped out with furthering the case.
"You're leaving already?" Felicity asked, sounding surprised and - maybe - a little sad.
Barry shrugged, feeling uncomfortable as the other two men turned to look at him again. "The hotel lost my reservation and since it doesn't really seem like there's anything else I can do for this case, I might as well just head back. Let my Captain know it wasn't related after all." More like panic for two days until he was back at work, thus completely undermining the purpose of taking 'vacation' days, but... whatever.
"You might be able to help out with whatever we... the police find on the truck," Felicity insisted.
"I doubt the detective assigned to the case is all that interested in my help. Pretty sure he thinks my theory of a single thief here has convinced him I'm crazy." Barry got enough of that at home from Joe and Chyre. He didn't need it here too.
Felicity got into some kind of glaring contest with Queen, which was kind of fascinating to watch. They were definitely more than colleagues with that kind of non-verbal communication going on - even if all Barry could really identify was a blatant 'what? Really?' reaction from Oliver Queen. If not dating then they were definitely close friends.
"Right, well... it was nice meeting all of you," Barry said, standing up and heading over to start packing up his kit. "And I'm glad I could help out."
"If you're interested in sticking around until tomorrow," Queen said in a voice that absolutely did not sound at all forced, "my family home has a guest room you could use." He was glaring at Felicity with a 'hope your happy' sort of stare.
Dig looked like wanted popcorn for this show.
"It'd mean you'd have to brave meeting my mother and sister, so I can understand if you'd rather go back to Central," Queen continued.
Moira Queen, who'd been complicit in the Undertaking even if her decision to come forward before hand did end up saving a lot of lives. From what Barry could tell about the outcome from her trial, it was less being found not guilty and more a stunning example of jury nullification; her lawyer's arguments that Mrs. Queen had been a co-conspirator under duress only had apparently been a very compelling one.
And Thea Queen was likely just as much a force of nature as the rest of her family.
But the allure of not sleeping on the train and getting to maybe learn a little more about the case was just compelling enough. Barry was going to risk it. "If you're sure I wouldn't be imposing, then I'd love to. I just... I am really fascinated with this case. I'd love to know how a single person could be strong enough to do all this," he waved at the cracked pedestal and broken bolts.
Queen and Felicity had another unspoken showdown.
"How about I contact Detective Lance and walk him through everything with Dig while you two go get settled at Queen manor," Felicity said.
"Works for me," Dig added, a poorly hidden smirk on his face.
Barry smiled at Oliver Queen, but his expression in return had become rather inscrutable. It gave Barry something of a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. But he fixed the smile on his face anyway - not like that wasn't the one thing he could successfully fake for a reason - and finished packing up his things.
The only reason Oliver is letting Barry stick around is because Felicity clearly thinks he might still be useful and not at all because he looked like a kicked puppy.
(Okay, so the fact that Barry was attractive might've been the first thing Oliver registered about him. The second being that Barry was very observant and intelligent and probably Trouble of the kind definitely deserving of that capital T.)
Once in the car, Barry immediately said, "it's fine if you were just offering to make Felicity happy. You don't have to put me up for the night. I can find some place else to stay; there are some motels by the train station that I'm sure are fairly nice."
"I wouldn't have offered if it weren't okay, Allen," Oliver told him. "Otherwise I'd have offered to pay for a hotel room for you. And the motels by the train station are kind sketchy, so you're better off staying away from those." Pulling out of the parking lot, he added, "besides, maybe you can do me a favor and reassure my mother not everyone hates her?"
"If her friends are treating her like a social pariah, I'm really not sure how much a stranger will help. Though I don't hate her, so there's that." Barry shrugged when Oliver glanced at him.
"So what really brought you to Starling?" Oliver finally asked. "Tommy didn't tell your boss you lied about him sending you here, if that's what you're worried about."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied. Well, I mean, I wouldn't have gotten any of you to listen to me if I hadn't, so..." Barry groaned and buried his face in his hands. Oliver could make out the muffled sound of 'I'm an idiot' which made him smile in amusement. "The case was reported last night while I was still on duty. It sounded interesting and I keep an eye out for seemingly impossible crimes like this. Or they don't even have to be crimes. I guess I just keep hoping that I can prove the impossible is possible."
That much sounded honest and considering how terrible a liar Barry was - the way his voice went up in pitch with every lie was hilarious but a dead give away - that probably meant this was the truth. He was here for the case and not the Vigilante. Oliver. Thinking of himself in the third person was weird.
Anyway. "So you weren't hoping to investigate Starling City's vigilante?"
"Well, I mean, I can't say I wasn't hoping to learn more about the guy," Barry grinned, relaxing even as Oliver tensed back up. "I've got so many theories about him and it'd be awesome to confirm even just one. But... that was more of a 'would make a cool bonus' than anything else."
"What kind of theories?" Oliver asked and was surprised when Barry grimaced.
"I don't want to bore you. I mean... I start talking about Starling's Vigilante and most people tell me to shut up." He looked out the window listlessly. "Which is only slightly less irritating than being told I've 'done that thing where I stopped speaking English'," he muttered.
"Your bilingual? Multi-lingual?" Oliver guessed.
Barry blushed. "Oh, no. I took Spanish in High School and can't remember most of it. Which I really should try to relearn it. Um. My foster sister will say that when I start talking about science. Usually it just means she's not following and needs me to rephrase things."
That still kind of sounded like a rude thing to say, but it's not like Oliver really knew anything about their relationship. "Well, I'm actually pretty interested in the Vigilante myself," Oliver said, steering the conversation back on track. "So you're not going to bore me with your theories. I've actually encountered the Vigilante too. Tommy and I were two of first people he's confirmed to have saved."
"That's right. There are a few other potential sightings that predate the attack on the two of you, but I'm, like, ninety percent certain that you two were first people to actually be rescued by him," Barry's tone perked up. "He's known for wearing green and my personal theory on that is he trained in a forest or jungle. Since blacks or grays would let him blend in better in the city at night, the green has to be a nod to something so it makes sense it would be the place he learned his skills."
"Because he's clearly not trying to blend in. He had to stand out last year, make a name for himself going after the conspirators of the Undertaking," Oliver filled in. It was safe enough speculation for him to repeat. "I have pretty much the same theory, though I thought maybe the color he chose was to honor the person who taught him instead of the place where he learned. I've got to admit, the forest/jungle angle makes a little more sense than honoring his personal Mr. Miyagi."
"Oh, I love that movie," Barry chirped, catching the reference like Oliver had hoped. "He doesn't police his arrows either, which lends itself to the whole trying to stand out and make a name for himself aspect."
"Police his arrows," Oliver echoed, letting himself sound a little confused.
"Oh. I'm not sure that's the right term, but when someone shoots a gun and then collects all the casings to hide the evidence that they were there and where they were shooting from, it's referred to as policing their brass. So in the same vein, retrieving all arrows fired would be policing his arrows," Barry explained smiling when Oliver said the words 'policing his arrows' at the same time he did.
"I'd heard the policing their brass phrase on cop shows, but I don't think I ever really knew what it meant," Oliver said, which was a blatant lie but not one Barry Allen was likely to catch.
"Please, please tell me you don't watch CSI," Barry begged, prompting Oliver to laugh.
"Too many seasons, too many spin offs," Oliver said, being both reassuring and dismissive all at once. "I wouldn't know where to start. All I really know about the show is their theme song is The Who's Who Are You and that lead guy was really into bugs."
"That show ruined the song for me," Barry grumbled, leaning back in his seat. "Seriously, they have the CSIs doing the detectives jobs for them. Its ridiculous. Most places CSIs don't even get issued a gun. Our badges are laminate."
"What about the show Bones? Because I've been meaning to watch that one and..." he trailed off as Barry held up his hand and made a so-so gesture.
"Depends on the writers and the season. The later the season, the worse the show is though. And I never forgave them for what they did to Zack Addy at the end of season three. That was just bad writing." Barry huffed.
"So you don't recommend the show?"
"Sorry. Bit of a tangent there, I guess. I probably just shouldn't watch cop related shows, but there are so many of them, sometimes it feels like the only kind of show on tv." Barry hummed thoughtfully. "So what kind of theories do you have on the vigilante?"
Well shit. Oliver probably should have considered Barry would want him to contribute theories too, not just agree with or have variations on Barry's theories. He really needed to pay better attention to those reddit forums... "He was working alone initially, but not anymore. He's got at least one person working with him."
"I think so too, probably someone good with computers. Though he seems to be pretty good with technology himself. I loved reading about the arrow with an audio recorder embedded in it. That was just a brilliant idea. It's probably silly, but I want him to be a Hawkeye fan so badly..." Barry blushed when Oliver glanced at him. "He's an archer in Marvel Comics. Deaf archer with a penchant for sarcasm, going head to head with the Russian mafia, and adopting stray dogs."
"Well, I can't speak for the Vigilante, but I'm certainly interested. Maybe I'll have to check out a few issues," Oliver teased, hoping to see Barry blush some more.
Which he did. Barry looked pleased, though, despite how red his face had gone.
Okay, so maybe Oliver had extended the invitation more because the guy was cute than because Felicity was asking (demanding) he do so. He was finally over Laurel and the joking flirtation between himself and Felicity was never actually going to go anywhere (which was a mutual decision) so... why not flirt with a cute guy? It had been way too long since he'd let himself flirt with a cute guy. Since he'd felt comfortable enough in his own skin to flirt with anyone without an ulterior motive. Which... his curiosity about Barry's vigilante theories barely counted.
Besides, it was just flirting, right? It didn't have to mean anything, so there was no pressure there which was nice.
Notes: There's a lot of playing with the timeline and re-arranging events going on here. The important parts of The Scientist and Three Ghosts (the two episodes I'm using as the basis for this re-write) will still be there, though I'm leaving out the subplot where Roy gets shot by Oliver and then later is injected with mirakuru. I'm also condensing things so that Barry doesn't go over his allotted vacation time so that, unlike in the show, he's not rushing back to Central one minute and then sticking around for another two days the next. And, of course, the party is getting moved around so that it's in Three Ghosts territory now.