Chapter 126: That Guy from Keystone
It's a heady Saturday night and Julia Freeman, on the top of the world after her most recent A+ on her biology exam, was getting her rocks off with her best friend Vanita Ripson. Biology had been kicking her ass all semester, and eventually it reached a point where she had been forced to buckle down and really study the material in order to pass. Vanita, the amazing best friend she was, had buckled down with her and roped in some biochemistry major into tutoring them. The A+ was the fruit of their labor, and Julia and Vanita immediately agreed to celebrate the accomplishment by hitting up Hub City's newest club.
The city had been greatly revitalized by the residency of Martian Manhunter. Within a few months, he had completely rooted out all the major crime and corruption in the city, leaving Hub City to finally become prosperous again. Located at a major port on the West Coast, business had flocked to Hub to take advantage of the newly proffered resources and the protection of one of Earth's most powerful superheroes. Within a couple of years, Hub City had been named one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
It was one of the reasons why Julia's parents had allowed her to follow Vanita to Hub City University to pursue her studies in music. While Hub was still sorely lacking in other areas, its programs in the performing arts were top notch, some of the best in the nation. For years Julia had been wanting to go there, but her parents were reluctant due to the area's notoriously high crime-rate. That hadn't stopped her — or Vanita for that matter — from applying during their Senior year, but both had resigned themselves from their parents refusing to let them go even if they were accepted.
The Martian Manhunter had changed that. And so now here Julia was, getting drunk off her ass and dancing the night away at the hottest club in town with her best gal pal. Life really had worked out for the best.
At around one a.m., Julia and Vanita stumbled out of the club with the biggest shit-eating grins many had ever seen. They'd hate themselves in the morning for tonight, but right now they weren't regretting a damn thing. They hung off each other as they walked down towards the curb, trying to signal for a taxi, giggling like a pair of idiots. Julia took out her phone to take a drunken selfie for posterity, but with her impaired hand-eye coordination, dropped it onto the ground instead. With a groan, she bent down to pick it up, but accidentally kicked it further into the road instead. She went to pick it up.
She didn't even see the car before it hit.
One Week Later…
Eddie was relieved to notice that, unlike everything else, the precinct had changed very little. There was brand new paneling and furniture, and some new faces (and, to his sorrow, a lot of missing ones, many of whom were memorialized on a nearby wall), but for the most part things had remained the same. Zoom had hit the CCPD's First Precinct hard during his now-infamous invasion, but they had bounced back admirably.
This was the first time he had been to the precinct since he had gone into a coma. Captain Singh had called him over to discuss his future with the force. While he was assured he had a place if he wished to return, Singh also recognized that suffering brain trauma (even if it had miraculously healed, something that still stumped Eddie's doctors during his periodic checkups at the hospital) and waking up to see the world irrevocably changed could be distressing to anyone, let alone a cop. Eddie already knew he wished to return to the force, but it would take some time before he was declared fit for duty. The meeting was mainly to determine a viable time table for his return.
The moment he arrived, he had been swamped by fellow officers, congratulating him for finally waking up and showing him some of the new additions to the pen. Of course, the one they deliberately avoided was the one Eddie wanted to meet the most: Joe's new partner, Patty Spivot. Eventually, he managed to slip away from the crowd and spot her, having heard a somewhat vague description from Joe and recognizing her as the one new person that hadn't been introduced to him yet.
He neared her desk and waited expectantly for her to notice him. She glanced up at him for a moment before returning to her work, before freezing and dropping her pen onto her desk. She stared up at Eddie for a moment before smiling wildly and awkwardly, shooting up from her chair and holding her hand out. "Detective Thawne! It's nice to meet you again, Joe told me so much about you, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you immediately—"
"Spivot, it's alright," Eddie cut her off calmly, before taking her hand and giving it a short shake. He remembered her now — she had been his partner on a case involving a serial killer that broke the necks of his victims. They had managed to wrap up the case quick, so they barely had any time to get to know each other before Spivot had been assigned to another detective to learn more skills from them. "It's been a while. It's understandable you didn't recognize me immediately. And it's not 'Detective' right now — I still haven't been cleared for duty."
"But you will be, won't you?" Patty asked hesitantly, rubbing her arm nervously.
"Not for a little while, but yes. Singh wants me to take some more time off, settle any of my affairs that had been left hanging after my coma, catch up with current events — that sort of thing. Now, I don't know how this partner situation is going to work out," Eddie added, quickly cottoning on to what was making Patty so nervous, "But don't think you're getting demoted. More likely Singh is going to have you alternating between partening with Joe and parterning with me."
Patty nodded firmly. "Right. That sounds sensible. Like a threesome."
Eddie raised an amused eyebrow as Patty flushed red. "I mean, a triad, or a three-way partnership—no, a team! Not like, you know…" she trailed off, blushing.
"I know, Spivot, I know."
"Patty, Eddie!"
Both blondes glanced toward the direction where the voice had come from and saw a smiling Barry waving at them with one hand, a bag of Big Belly Burger in the other. Patty's face lit up, while Eddie had a small smile of his own. "Glad to see you two getting along," Barry commented as he made it to them.
"There isn't reason to be mad," Eddie replied, shrugging. "I'm just glad Joe had someone watching his back while I was out."
"True that," Barry nodded in agreement. He lifted the bag of food. "I'll talk to you guys later. Got to get this to Iris and Joe. Later."
"Later, Barry," Eddie called back as the other man departed for the other side of the bullpen, where Iris was sitting at her desk, looking over some papers. As his gaze casted over her, Eddie's expression softened, and he felt a pang of heavy pain of his heart. Though it had been months for her since their breakup, it had only been a few weeks for him — nowhere near enough time to dull the ache. They needed to talk, just them, but Eddie hadn't been able to find an opening to make it happen. Iris, perhaps understandably, had been avoiding being alone with him ever since he woke up.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Patty staring in the direction of Iris with a fond look on her face, and frowned in confusion. He followed her line of sight and… oh.
"Why haven't you made a move?"
Patty sighed, glancing forlornly away from a laughing Barry to stare at Eddie knowingly. "It isn't it obvious?" She nodded towards a giggling Iris, who was saying something to Barry as her hands tore into the bag of food with well-practiced hands.
Eddie couldn't help but sigh himself when he saw the scene. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"It's ridiculous," Patty claimed, only a touch of resentment and longing. "The way they smile at each other… it's so obvious, and yet the only people who can't seem to see it is them."
"I know how you feel," Eddie concurred. Even before Barry returned to Central City, when Iris and him had been head over heels in love, the other man had always had a place in Iris' heart that Eddie couldn't even touch. Barry would always mean something to her, something that was more than whatever they had. Eddie had resented it, then tried to ignore it as Iris declared her love for him.
But now, Iris and him were over. And seeing Barry and her together, Eddie had a feeling that they had never been meant to last. Maybe Iris had realized that too.
It's only after lunch that Eddie manages to corner Iris. She's just finished dropping off some evidence for Julian to analyze for a case and is leaving the lab when he sees her. They lock eyes for a long moment, before Iris gestured to one of the out the way rooms down the hall. The same one that Ralph and her had used for the Amunet investigation.
The moment the door closed behind them, Eddie turned around and stared at her once again. A tension settled into the room, an awkward one that neither of them knew what to make of. "Eddie…" Iris started.
"It's over," Eddie cut her off, speaking knowingly. "Isn't it?"
Iris nodded, looking glum. "I'm sorry, Eddie. I love you — a part of me will always love you," she confessed, "But we weren't working as a couple. And these past several months, I've been thinking it all over, and it's clear now that we weren't going to make it, no matter how much we wanted to."
Eddie exhaled. "I haven't had as long as you to think it over," he admitted, "but I've had long enough to recognize that you're right. It was over, over long before either of us were willing to acknowledge. And I'm sorry that it took so long for us to accept that. But Iris… before you were my girlfriend, you were my friend. And I haven't had a lot of real friends before. Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean I don't want you in my life."
"Same here," Iris said, smiling lightly. Then, for a split second she hesitated, before pulling him into a hug. Eddie froze, before he adopted a smile himself and returned the embrace.
BANG! "YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"
Both police officers started at the noise, breaking their hug. On almost instant agreement, they quickly turned to the door and opened the door, peeping out to see what the cause of all the commotion was. They spotted a furious, red-faced Ralph exiting Julian's lab swearing up a storm. He was stomping into the elevator before either of them could call out to him, ask him what was wrong. After he disappeared behind the closing doors, they turned back towards the lab, where an exasperated Julian was leaning against the doorframe. He was rubbing one of the temples on his head, as if he was having a migraine.
"West, Thawne," Julian acknowledged them both. "Welcome back, Thawne, by the way."
"Thanks, Julian," Eddie cautiously replied. "Any idea what's up with Dibny?"
"Unfortunately, yes," groused the forensic scientist. "The Judy Gimlin case is being reviewed."
The detectives blinked. "The Gimlin case. Isn't that the one that put Ralph on the map as a detective?" Iris noted.
"Yes," Julian confirmed. "Reagan Gimlin, the perpetrator, is applying for parole."
"Then why is he mad? Reviewing the case for a parole hearing is standard practice, and the guy was guilty. There's no chance he's getting out."
Julian shrugged.
The former lovers exchanged a surprised and suspicious look.
"So you're looking to implement an internship program at the mall for students in the Glades?" Tommy asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah," Oliver said with a half-shrug, as Laurel picked up another slice of pizza from the tray. They were eating at a pizza place downtown, celebrating the end of the work week. "It seemed like the next logical step in the process. Student internships at least help pad out a resume and help them get work experience."
"Can't disagree with that," Tommy snorted.
"So, Tommy," Laurel started with a bright tone, "how was your first week at work?"
Tommy smiled.
The conversation continued like that for a while, just three friends catching up on their week together. It almost felt like old times, before everything between the three of them had fallen apart. Tommy wasn't going to lie — he had missed this. He had missed this a lot.
After the pizza had all been gobbled up, they exited the pizza parlor with a great amount of laughter. There was slight buzzing sound, and both Oliver and Laurel took out their phones at the same time (odd), frowning when they read the texts that had been made. "Something wrong?"
Oliver glanced up at him and smiled. "Nothing. Just an update from Kara about something at the mall."
"Same," Laurel added, "But with Joanna and CNRI for me."
"Ah," Tommy nodded. "Well, I'll see you guys later?"
"Of course, Tommy," the lawyer replied smoothly, while Oliver nodded back. "Sunday dinner down at the Queen Mansion good enough for you?"
"Sounds perfect."
"What's going on, J'onn?" Oliver asked as he rolled off his jacket and threw onto one of the chairs in the foundry. Behind him, Laurel was taking off her heels and chucking them into the shoe cubby they kept in the Foundry now. Considering the increasing amount of formal occasions they were being forced to attend, Kara had it found it a prudent installment for them, and both vigilantes had found themselves agreeing with the decision. "You said it was important."
J'onn J'onzz looked grim. "Indeed, it is. For the past week, there have been a number of murders in Hub City, the worst seen in the city since I first became its protector."
"A serial killer?" Oliver asked, only for Laurel to shake her head.
"Spree killer. Serial killers are methodical — they plan their kills, space them out," she explained. "Whoever this has been killing several people in an extremely short amount of time. They're more spontaneous than anything else."
"Huh," the assassin blinked, before glancing back at the screen. "Why have you caught them yet?"
"They're slippery. And… there's something else."
"What else?"
"All of the victims had their ears blown out, and the causes of death point to some sort of sonic weapon being the cause."
"A sonic weapon?"
The Martian grimaced. "Or a sonic cry."
Oliver immediately turned his head to Laurel, both pairs of eyes wide. "But—"
"They know it's not you Laurel," her teammate was quick reassure her. "Black Canary was visibly seen in Star City foiling crime during several of the ETDs. They were afraid it might have been Black Siren, but…"
"…Harry would've told us if she'd escaped containment on Earth-2," Laurel finished for him. "So either someone managed to create a weapon that can mimic the effects of my Canary Cry, or someone else managed to activate their metagene and it expressed itself into a sonic scream like mine."
"Yes. The detective in charge of the case concluded the same thing," J'onn confirmed. "Considering the public perception involved, they contacted me and requested that you, at least, be involved in this case as well. Your cry should be a counter for theirs at the very least, which will make subduing them easier for all of us."
Laurel nodded. "I'll be happy to help, J'onn."
"And so will I," Oliver added. "QC's been thinking of opening a facility in Hub City. I can use that as an excuse to visit too, claim it as an unofficial business trip. If people really are dying as often as you say they are, then it shouldn't take too long to find the killer now that we know the cause of death for all the victims."
"Very well. Thank you for your help. I'll see you both tomorrow?"
"Yes. Later, J'onn."
"Bye, J'onn."
The hero of Hub City gave them another nod, and the feed shorted out. The moment it did, Laurel let out a loud groan and collapsed into another empty chair. "Why does everyone with my powers turn out to be evil except for me?" She lamented.
Her boyfriend shrugged. "Bad luck? Coincidence?"
"Maybe," Laurel conceded. "But I don't know, Ollie. Something about this doesn't feel right."
Oliver frowned. "Is it your gut telling you that?"
The lawyer nodded.
"Then we better watch out," Oliver concluded. "Your dad's gut is never wrong, and you inherited it. And truth be told, something about this feels off to me too. We'll have to press J'onn for more details when we get to Hub."
"Yeah. I just hope we don't miss Sunday dinner. It'll be the first one with Tommy in years."
"Yeah." Oliver paused. "How likely is it that Thea is going to slap him when she sees him?"
Laurel snorted. "That's a fool's bet, Ollie."
Well, here's the first chapter in a while. Sorry for the long wait, but I have real life stuff I was dealing with and I still really can't focus on this story right now. I'm just uploading this chapter to show that I'm not dead and I will get back to this story one day.
Honestly, I only uploaded this chapter now because one entitled commenter on AUG Legend (which is a story I beta on AO3 for ArlyssTolero) accused me of being a liar when I was saying that I was intending to work on those stories again one day but was too busy with real life at the moment. So you can thank him or her for this chapter, and for the next one I'm going to post tomorrow - but also know you can also thank him or her for the fact that I'm not uploading any new chapters for a while, because guess what? They're not done, and I want to make sure I have full focus on this story when I do. So you can also thank him or her for spoiling and giving you false hope that this story is back. It's not - not yet, and not for a while.
I'm also considering uploading a chapter for TSG, but I currently have more chapters written for that one, and those chapters also need to be edited a lot. There's some bits about it I don't like that I want overhaul a bit.
But until then, here's the newest chapter - for the record, I do plan on doing the Worldkillers and Reign differently, which is why things are going the way they are. You'll just have to wait and see to find out what that's about.