Ok, I'm here. How do I get in?
Use the front door. My code is 341961.
Which one is the front? From where I'm standing I can see 5 doors, or what appear to be doors....
Are you in the parking lot?
Yes.
The front one?
I assume?
Head towards the main sign.
There are 2 signs....
Just use the visor. Something came up. Make sure they get that package.
Leah threw her head back and let out a loud groan. Great. Now how was she going to get into the building? She'd already hopped the fence to get into the complex, and now she was going to have to find her way around this maze? Just great. She tucked the box under her arm and rubbed her hands together. Why was Central City so freaking cold all the time? Man, today sucked.
She gently tapped the small device on her ear, and a holographic display slowly flickered on in front of her eyes. In many ways, the visor reminded her of some sort of Scouter hybrid thing; a mix of Tron and Dragonball, with maybe a bit of Star Trek thrown in for fun. It was nice; very sleek with a killer UI. And because Ray had designed this particular prototype model to look like a Bluetooth headset, she could get away with wearing it pretty much whenever. Which was very useful, considering that she was supposed to be replicating this stupid interface. She still didn't understand why he needed it reworked though. This UI was so much better than anything she could come up with, ever.
A cold breeze blew through the empty parking lot, snatching her away from her thoughts. Inside, she had to get inside. She hugged her coat tighter and headed for the building.
It had taken her a good 20 minutes to find a door that actually had a keypad, but she finally got into S.T.A.R. Labs. Leah didn't know much about the research facility. She'd heard about the Particle Accelerator, and she'd seen the black hole last May, but that's where her knowledge stopped. She really should have known more though, considering how much time she spent around Cisco. He almost seemed to live in the huge building, but he never really brought up what he did. Cisco was actually really good at keeping his mouth shut when it came to his work, which was actually pretty surprising, considering how he never seemed to shut up about anything else. But in the past few days, she hadn't heard from him much at all. Which was the whole reason why she was breaking and entering into S.T.A.R. Labs in the first place. For 3 days, the package from Ray had been on her desk, and no one had been by to get it. No word from Cisco at all. So here she was, standing in a pitch black, creepy shell of a research center, trying to navigate through the maze of halls and stairs. Who knew one building could have so many sets of stairs. The halls never seemed to end either.
The light from the visor burned brightly into her eyes. If anyone had approached her, she probably would have looked exactly like someone straight out of a sci-fi movie, which was both awesome and weird at the same time. At least the map function was working inside the building. Follow this hall, then turn here, then there. She still had no clue where she was going, but there was a big room near the back of the complex that seemed to be a kind of hub, so that's where she was headed.
After a while, she finally made it to the big room and quickly shut off the visor as she entered in case anyone was around. No need for her to get caught with super-advanced A.T.O.M. Tech stuff that would only prove that she secretly worked with a superhero. God, what even was her life anymore? It was like she lived in some sort of crazy TV show or something. Things in her life just kept getting weirder and weirder. A rat suddenly scurried across her foot, and she nearly screamed. Rats...great.
Although the lights were on, it appeared that no one was in the giant hub room. In a way, it kinda reminded her of the Arrow Cave, but nicer. A lot nicer. And warm. God, the Arrow Cave was so cold. But that's what happened when you hide your super secret vigilante base in an old warehouse. It got cold. She had been spending a lot of nights in the Arrow Cave lately, and it was honestly getting annoying. But, the sooner she got the program done, the sooner she could not go back to the stupid, cold warehouse.
The Lab's hub room was clean, almost sterile looking. Didn't Cisco mention that his workspace was dirty? Everything here was white and pristine. Except for the red suit in the corner, holy crap the Flash's suit. What was it doing here? Leah walked over to examine the suit. It was surprisingly clean as well, though it did smell slightly of smoke. Maybe it was just a prototype or something? Did superheroes outsource their costume making to companies like S.T.A.R. Labs? Wait, did Cisco know the Flash?
There was a small clattering noise off down a dark hallway, so she decided to follow that. The mystery of the Flash suit could be dealt with later, or never. Never would probably be better... Her life was insane enough as it was. She followed the hall until she reached what appeared to be a single room with a light on. Leah quietly peeked her head around the open door and found Cisco lying his head down on a cluttered workbench. Oh... it was dirty. There were crumbled papers everywhere, and a large bin that was overflowing with shattered glass. She softly knocked on the doorframe.
"Cisco?"
"Sorry Cait, I still can't...I can't get it..."Even though his voice was muffled, Leah could still hear the sad tone that he spoke with. He sounded exhausted. "I'm so sorry."
Leah didn't want to startle him, but at the same time, she didn't want him thinking that she was this Cait person, whoever that was. He sounded so pathetic. She moved slowly and put the box down on a semi clean area of the workbench. Cisco didn't move an inch. She sighed and decided to try again. "Cisco...?"
Cisco slowly raised his head to look at her. He was wearing glasses, something she'd never seen him do before, and it was obvious that he hadn't shaved in a few days. This... was a surprisingly good look for him. Not the pathetic part, God no. It made her feel terrible to see him look so down. Something about the stubble and glasses though...
"Lee...?" he barely managed to croak out.
"Hey. Nice place you got here..." She glanced around the room and crossed her arms over her chest. "A lot bigger than my office, but I think I beat you when it comes to cleanliness..." She smiled at him softly.
"How did you...." he seemed to come to his senses, his eyes widening slightly, "how did you get in? What are you doing here? How....?" He ran his fingers back through his hair nervously, like he was going into sudden panic mode or something.
"Chill... it's ok," she reassured him, "I hopped the fence and broke in using Ray's code. He told me to bring you this." She nudged the box forward slightly. "Apparently, it's important?"
"Yea..." Cisco eyed the box.
"It better be. That was a really tall fence... and everything in this building is super dark, and hard to navigate. How do you even get around?"
"You could have called...."
"I did. Numerous times...."
Cisco reached for his phone. "Oh. Sorry. Guess I was asleep." He threw his arms up and stretched.
"What are you working on anyways?"
"What? This?" Cisco looked down at... whatever it was exactly that was on the table.
"Yea, that. What is it?"
"A...umm... type of heater thing. I don't really even know myself. Just doing a friend a favor."
Leah moved a bit closer, trying to examine the thing. "Well, that's interesting."
Cisco looked at her with face of... she didn't know what. Unamused. He looked unamused.
"What?"
"You don't have to do that, you know."
"Do what?" She blinked a few times, thrown off by sudden statement.
"Pretend to be interested in what I do."
"Who said I was pretending?"
"Lee, come on. It's a heater."
"And? You forget, I work with technology all day. Technology. Interests. Me. You should know that by now." She gave him a faint smile.
"Sorry." Cisco sighed and laid his head back on the table. "I've been pretty bummed lately."
"I can tell." She pulled up a stool and sat down next to him.
"I just...I just can't get this stupid thing to work."
"Have you tried turning it off and back on again. That usually works. But if not, try checking all your connections and making sure they're plugged in all the way." Leah smiled slyly at Cisco.
"Lee...." Cisco practically growled at her.
"Ok, ok, sorry."
"I just don't know what to do with this." He sat back up and stared at the heater... suit. It kinda looked a suit. "No matter what I do, it just won't....work. God, I'm stupid. I can't even get this right."
Leah bit at her lip. She honestly hated it when people called themselves stupid when they reached a resting point in a project. There was only so much a person could do before they just had to stop working for a bit. And judging by Cisco's position right now, he was clearly at a resting point. She glanced around the room, looking for anything that she could use to try and... cheer him up? Would that be the right term? She spotted something on a shelf that would work just fine...
"Cisco, what is that?" She pointed in the direction of the small...well, large drone.
He looked up and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, even I know you're not that clueless."
"But did you build it?"
"Well, yea."
"From scratch?"
"Yes." He eyed her, obviously getting tired of this little game. "What's your point?"
"There is only one other person I know that could do that sort of stuff, and well..." she pressed her lips together and took a deep breath, trying to fight the tears before they came, "he, uhhh, ....he's not around anymore. But Cisco, you're not stupid. Don't say stuff like that. What can it do? Besides fly."
Cisco blinked. "It has... lasers?"
"And...?"
"Missiles."
"Top speed?"
"300, easy."
"Miles... per hour?" Leah was taken aback. If that was true, then that little drone had more kick than she originally thought.
"Oh yea." Cisco crossed his arms and leaned back slightly. "Still working to get it up to 400. Not there yet, but I'm close." He smiled and relaxed a little.
God, just how smart was Cisco? Building a drone that could reach 400 mph, not even Ray-oppa could do that. Leah had a feeling that Cisco and Ray would have gotten along just fine though. She laughed quietly to herself.
"What are you laughing at?" Cisco was staring at her, looking a bit confused.
"Oh, sorry. Nothing." She smiled. "I was just thinking."
"About?" Cisco spun his stool so that he was facing her.
"You and Oppa would have gotten along really well."
"...Oppa?" He raised his eyebrows, questioning her.
"Oh, right. Oppa essentially means older brother in Korean."
"You have an older brother?" Cisco defiantly looked confused now.
"No, no, no!" She waved her hands. "That's just what I call him. His name is Ray. He's Jamie's older brother. But he was always around, so I just called him Oppa. It's a thing, trust me." Leah played with a strand of her hair as she thought of Ray.
"So he's like your older brother."
"Right. He was."
"And we would have gotten along...?"
"Ohhh yea." She smiled. "He was smart, like you. Like," she gestured at the room, "this kind of smart, building stuff. He would always build things for us to play with, like little robots and such. He's the reason I like most of the stuff I do."
"Is he the reason you like the lesser of the two franchises dealing with space...?" Cisco smirked at her. Well, he seemed to be in a lighter mood now, so maybe her hastily formed plan had worked. Good.
Leah sighed loudly, but smiled. "Yes."
"I don't know then...." Cisco crossed his arms, swiveled his stool, and kicked his feet up on the worktable. Leah rolled her eyes. Now he was the one playing games with her, begging her to take the next move. She smiled.
"He liked Star Wars too... he's the one who originally made me watch it."
"And you still don't like it?"
"Are you ever going to leave me alone about that?" Leah huffed.
"Never." Cisco smiled at her. But the way he smiled... there was more to it than she could understand. There was a lot of something hidden behind that smile. It was almost suffocating.
Suddenly, Leah's phone buzzed and she whipped it out. A system notification had pushed through, alerting her of an issue with the server. She groaned. Great.
"What is it?"
"I was updating one of the servers, but it looks like the connection timed out, so now I have to go fix that..."
"Oh."
"Yep." She stretched as she got up. "You..." she pointed to the worktable, "should really clean that up. It's a mess." She smirked at Cisco.
"I'm fully aware." Cisco looked to the table and frowned.
"Take a break from the heater whatever. Go clear your mind. It helps."
Cisco stood up and smiled at her. "Thanks..."
"Mhmm." She spun to face the doors, but something caught her before she could start walking. Cisco's arms wound tightly around her waist, and he rested his head on her shoulder. His stubble grazed the base of her neck, sending a chill throughout her entire body. She froze.
"I'm serious. Thank you."
"Ye-yea. No problem...." Cisco slowly let her go, and she spun to face him. He looked a bit more lively now, so that was good.
"You can get out? Or do I need to walk you to the door?"
"No. I'll be fine. You should really think about strip lights or something though. It's really dark..."
"Still working on that..." Cisco scratched at the back of his head.
Leah smiled and playfully mumbled, "work harder..."
Cisco rolled his eyes.
"Next time I'm here, you'll have to give me a proper tour. Not in the dark."
"Deal." Cisco beamed at her.
She smiled, and then turned to leave. "Bye Cisco."
"Bye..."
As she walked out the door, she pulled out her phone and sent a message to Ray.
Package delivered.
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