Leonard woke with a start. He's no stranger to nightmares but the one he just had was different, instead of Phil dying in the ambush, it was Jemma. The VXs left him and she shielded his body with hers, protecting him from the blast as much as she could. When the smoke cleared, she was gone. The only evidence of her was the purple blood on his hands.
He wasn't sure what the meant. Was he worried that something would happen to her? Yes. Did the change in his nightmare mean that something was coming? He wasn't sure. There's no way he was asking Doctors Adams or Dehner. He might have to run it by Chris if he couldn't figure out. Or talk to Jemma. She'd tease him about it but she wouldn't hold it against him.
"Alright, listen up," Stiles told everyone. "Last night's solar flare knocked out power approximately six hours ago. In accordance with the rolling blackouts, we're going to start using auxiliary power in about two minutes."
"What genius put you in charge?" Leonard asked the question on the tip of everybody's tongue.
"Captain Pike did," the other detective did. "And as our energy marshal, I must inform you that our charge ration protocol is in effect. All androids are being charged at a priority basis. That means not all of your androids are gonna be fully charged. As long as your androids are in the green level on the energy, then they're cleared for duty. And I don't want to hear any complaining that your synthetics are running too slow. That includes you, McCoy. And your leg."
"Hey, pal, I've had it up to here with you," Leonard retorted, holding his hand up to his chest. Short jokes never get old.
"Why don't you slip into something more comfortable," Stiles said, "like a coma?" Leonard didn't get the chance to do anything about that stupid comment since his partner came out of nowhere and punched Stiles right in the face. "What the hell was that for?"
"You insulted my partner, you gave the VXs charge priority and you're an asshole. Pick one," Jemma told him. Most of the cops in the room snickered. Leonard actually inhaled his coffee. Jemma looked more like him in this moment than he did. "I barely got half a charge and it messes with my systems." She hasn't been able to charge in a few days thanks to the case they'd been working, now it was biting them in the ass.
"It's policy," Stiles told her. "Maybe you should sit this shift out."
"Hey, I'd take a partially charged JTK over a fully charged VX any day," Leonard said as he pulled his jacket on and put a hand on his partner's back. "Come on, Jem."
"This charging thing's unacceptable, Bones," she grumbled as he practically pushed her out of the precinct. Not that he could actually move her unless she let him, Jemma was the stronger half of the pair. "It's not fair."
"You, uh, you get a little cranky when you don't get enough sleep, huh?" he asked when they got into the car.
"My personality interface is the first thing that suffers when I start to lose power. Then all my other systems gradually shutdown in an effort to save energy. It's infuriating! VXs always take priority. It's like they're sitting in first class and I… I'm sitting in coach with a kid kicking my seat."
"Yeah, I tell you, that coach is the pits. All those people and you got to share the same tiny bathroom."
"Really, that's what you wanna talk about? The tiny bathroom?" she glared at him. It was a pretty impressive glare too. "I do more work than those… things and they get priority. What else do I have to do before people see me as me?" She took an unnecessary breath. "I need my own space."
"Working on it," Leonard said.
"What? Really?"
"Yes, really," he chuckled. "I know I don't act like it, but I do listen when you talk. I didn't say anything because I'm still waiting for the final word."
"You're not as grumpy as you let everybody think you are. Thank you."
"Keep that to yourself. And don't thank me until we get you out of the land of the Ken dolls."
"We have eyes on a vehicle matching the description of the bank robber's car," Jemma alerted dispatch before she activated the external comm on the cruiser. "Police! Pull over." The car kept going. "Police! Pull over!"
"We're gonna have to shut him down," he told her. Jem lowered her window, aimed the localized EMP that's stored in the cruiser's glove-box at the other car and took the shot just as Leonard spun them in front of it, shutting it's engine off.
The man in the car got out and tried to run but Jemma grabbed him before he could get far. "Bones, there's something around his neck."
"What is it?" Leonard asked.
"They said it was a bomb," the man, Ramon according to his car's registration, told them.
"Bones, back up," she said as she looked the device over.
"Somebody put this on me," Ramon said. "I need to follow instructions. I need the code to shut it off."
"It is a bomb," Jemma whispered.
"Who did this to you?" Leonard asked. If they can't stop this thing, there wasn't gonna be another chance to ask questions.
"Uh, a window washer. He had some kind of chemical," the man said. "Get it off me!"
"Jem, can you disarm it?"
"It would take me at least five minutes to find the lead wire," she told him. The timer has less than a minute. "There's not enough time. Put up the shield."
"Please," Ramon begged.
"Bones. Put up the shield," Jemma repeated. The Shield is this small handheld device that most officers had in their cars. Once activated, the shield puts up a forcefield that, among other things, can contain a bomb blast inside the field or protect someone from a blast outside it.
"I'm sorry," Leonard said as he activated the small device. "We will find who did this to you. I promise, we will find them." The detective glanced at his partner, hoping that she could pull off a miracle.
"There's nothing I can do," she said softly. Leonard put the shield on the ground next to Ramon and his partner pulled him back to take cover by the car. The forcefield formed a dome over Ramon and a few seconds later the bomb went off. Jemma watched as the carnage inside the shield dissipated, her emotions open to him like they've never been. She was devastated. "There just wasn't enough time."
"He said something about a window washer and a chemical," Leonard said as they walked back to the car. The bomb squad gave them the all clear. "Can you detect anything?"
"Traces of fetanyl oxide. A toxin that causes temporary blackouts," Jemma told him.
"That stuff's no joke," he sighed as he went through Ramon's car. "Found the data recorder. Looks like the EMP blast fried the circuits. It'll have to be reconstructed. Let's get that to Scotty ASAP and see where the car has been." Leonard handed his partner the small plastic and metal card. "Got a credit chip. Any money on it?"
"Four hundred and twenty-seven thousand credits," Jemma said, the lights under her skin shining blue, green and yellow.
"You okay, your disco face is bunch of different colors?"
"Visual indicator of my lack of power. My eyes'll do it too once I get under twenty percent. What's that on the dash?"
"A camera. They're all over the car," he said as he peeled the tiny disk off the dashboard and looked around.
"Someone was watching this… or filming it. That's sick," she said, the disgust in her voice was clear as day. "Who does that?"
"I don't know," he sighed as he phone rang. "McCoy."
"What are we dealing with, a victim or a criminal?" Pike asked over comm.
"Victim, but he definitely robbed the bank, we found the credits. He claimed that someone attached the bomb to him. We found traces of fetanyl oxide, and the whole car is covered in cameras," Leonard told his CO.
"You mean someone was watching this?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, or filming it. He said he needed a code to disarm the bomb, which he was gonna get if he followed instructions," Leonard sighed.
"Instructions? From the bomber?"
"I'm guessing. We also found the data recorder for the car. We're getting it to Scotty."
"Alright, McCoy. Keep me posted," Pike told him.
"Can do."
Apparently, the cameras they found were there because someone posted the whole thing with Ramon Medina on the dark net for entertainment. Uhura sent them the footage but Leonard couldn't watch it. Between the blast that put him into a coma and witnessing this one firsthand, it hit a little too close to home. He was surprised that he didn't flashback.
"What kind of bomb was it?" Leonard asked Scotty.
"Propylene oxide. The filler is typical, but the wiring is very sophisticated. Multiple decoys. I'm still trying to reconstruct it," the engineer told him as he hooked something onto Jemma's neck. Leonard gave them a look. "Charger. It's not gonna give her as much power as the dock does but it should keep her going until the end of shift. It's a jolt of energy, like a shot of espresso."
"Right," the detective sighed. "What's your take on all this?"
"She should've never been moved into housing with the VXs to begin with. Because she's the older model, they'll always get front-of-line privileges. Which is bloody ridiculous, since she's the only one with feelings."
"I meant the case, Scotty, but your insight is enlightening," Leonard chuckled.
"Hey, Humans, off! Trying to charge over here," Jemma said. He was trying not to laugh, but she was funny when she was short on power.
"Sorry, lass. Anyway, I ran a recovery program on the data recorder you found in the car. I was able to reconstruct the communications," Scotty told him and hit a command on his computer.
"Follow my instructions if you want to live," an electronic voice said. There were directions to rob the bank, to drive places, to run from the police.
"And these messages were transmitted to Mister Medina, I believe, by the bomber, when he took over the vehicle's comm system. Whoever did this has state of the art security software," Scotty said.
"Wait a minute, there's an address," Leonard said. "'Ninety-one hundred Altman Drive.' This must be where he was headed."
"And one last instruction," Scotty said, reading the screen. "'Select B-forty-seven for the code.'"
"We should check it out," Jemma said as she walked over to them looking better than she did when they got there.
"Hey, who's a happy toaster?" Leonard asked with a smile. Jemma flipped him off. "Don't be like that, Jem. This is funny, I'm usually the one with emotional problems."
"I learn from the best," she quipped.
He put his hands over his heart, "Ouch, darlin', that hurts."
"And here I thought you had thicker skin," Jemma smiled. "When we stopped Ramon, that timer was under a minute. That address is ten miles away. He would've never made it even if we hadn't pulled him over."
"So, let's go," Leonard said.
"Thanks for the juice, Scotty," she said to their friend.
"Anytime, lass."
"Place is clear. This jukebox is the only thing on," his partner said as they cleared the empty bar.
"Any explosives?" he asked.
"None, it's all clear," she told him. "The message said to enter B-forty-seven."
Leonard pressed the two buttons and the screen on the machine came on. 'Too bad about Ramon. He didn't make it. But you did. Welcome to the show.'
"He's watching us," Leonard said. "He knew we'd see the instructions. Knew we'd come here." A picture of a woman come on the screen.
"Her name is Jeannie Hartman. She's the next victim," Jemma said. The screen changed again. 'If you're going to save her… It has to be you, and only you. Go.'
The pair rushed to the car, Jemma trying to get a location on Jeannie. According to Pike, Jeannie worked at a flower shop with her father, so that's who Jemma called.
"Mister Hartman, we believe your daughter may be in danger. How long ago did Jeannie leave the shop?" his partner asked.
"It fifteen minutes or so. I tried calling but she's not answering," the man said over the car's speakers.
"Do you have a location on the van?" Leonard asked.
"GPS says it stopped on Fuller Road, uh, at Morris Park," Mister Hartman told them.
"We know where that is," Leonard said. "We're close."
"What do you remember about the caller?" Jemma asked.
"I could barely hear him, there was some kind of static. My daughter, is she all right?" the man asked them.
"We're gonna make sure she is," Jemma said before closing the call. Perfect timing too, Pike was calling them.
"Guys, we found the live broadcast. She's online right now," their CO said.
"We're almost there," he told Chris, just another block. Leonard pulled their car into one of the parking spots for emergency vehicles and hopped out.
"She's in the gazebo," Pike told them. Jemma took off half a second before he did. Even though she wasn't fully powered, she was still faster than him.
"Jeannie? I'm Detective Leonard McCoy. This is my partner, Jemma. We're here to help, okay?" he told the woman who was holding red-orange roses while she danced in a small circle with the bomb around her neck.
"Scotty, we got another victim wired with explosives," Jemma said. "I'm gonna need your help so I can preserve processing power. I'll patch you in." The collar beeped. His partner looked at Jeannie. "Just be as still as you can."
"I don't know if you should be doing this," Leonard said. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jemma, at this point, she was near the top of the short list under his mother and Pike, but she was off today.
"He… he said to follow instructions," Jeannie told them.
"It's gonna be okay," he tried to reassure her as Jemma examined the bomb. "I promise. I know you're scared. Try and stay calm."
"We're gonna get this thing off of you. If I say anything inappropriate, please forgive me, it's one of those days," his partner chuckled and it actually relieved some of the tension.
"This requires a very specific series of sequential maneuvers, which I will talk you through," Scotty said over the comms.
"Mind if I see that?" Leonard asked Jeannie, who handed him the phone in her hand. 'Better hurry, Detective McCoy. Everyone is watching.'
"Please don't let me die," Jeannie pleaded.
"You're doing really great," he told her. "Just relax, okay? We're gonna have you out of here in a minute." There was another beep and Leonard looked at Jem. She glanced up at him but didn't say anything.
"I know who did this," Jeannie told them. "His name is Simon. I, um I met him online. He wanted me to meet him at this park."
"Do you have a last name?" Leonard asked.
"No, I don't know any of that," Jeannie said. "I just know his online dating profile."
"I can use a laser to slice through the locking mechanism," Jemma said.
"Don't. It'll disrupt the circuit and set off the detonator. Can you see a silver panel closest to the timer?" Scotty asked.
"Yes, I see it," his partner said.
"You need to get to the wires underneath without cutting any of them," the engineer told her.
"Okay. I need you to be very still, Jeannie," Jemma said.
"You're doing good," Leonard said. "So tell me, this guy, what does he look like?"
Jeannie glanced up at him, "Um, he was tall, um, six feet, maybe, with dark hair."
"How long ago did you meet him?"
"A couple months. He brought me a bouquet of red-orange roses. But he was so creepy, you know? I just got this bad feeling, so when he went to the car to get the picnic basket, I, um, I took off," Jeannie told him. "I left the roses on the bench. And that's why he's making me hold them, you know. It's like he's forcing me to go on this date with him. I just wanted to meet somebody. I mean, I deliver flowers to people that are in love every single day… and then I go home by myself."
"Listen to me. I promise you, tomorrow you're gonna have a great story to tell," he told her.
"I've removed the casing. There's a red wire that's running into the timer," Jemma told Scotty.
"Uh, probably a decoy. Look for the initiator," the engineer told her.
"Bones, put up the shield," Jemma said. "Put it up and step back."
He looked at his partner before making the dumbest decision ever. "Four hands are better than two. Come on. Tell me what to do."
"You sure?" she asked. He gave her a nod. "You see these red and yellow wires?"
"Yes," Leonard said. There were a bunch of wires but he saw the ones she was talking about.
"Pull them apart without touching the green wire," she instructed. "I need you to hold them open so I can clip the battery in between. Just keep still, Jeannie." Leonard held the two wires back but he couldn't tell what was going on past that. He looked at his partner, she looked at him. "Here goes." Jemma clipped the lead wire. There was some whirring and a beep, the timer stopped. "Bomb's disarmed. We're clear."
"We're good?" he asked.
"We're good," Jemma hugged him. Actually wrapped arms around him in a hug. It was a nice hug too. "Let's get this thing off of her."
Leonard nodded mutely. The feeling of Jem in his arms was something he had no words for. He was so screwed.