The Line Between Living and Dying

Lunch And Realizations

After news of Mardon's attack on Joe reached the precinct, worry and panic spread amongst the officers.

Zander and Captain Singh both waited at the elevator for Joe and Barry to come up. The second the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, Singh started giving out orders.

"You're confined to the precinct until Mardon's caught," He told Joe, walking toward his office.

"David, you said it yourself. That son of a bitch killed my partner." Joe argued.

"And I'm not gonna lose you the way I lost Fred Chyre." Singh retorted. "Look, I can't stop you from being pissed, Joe, but I can keep you safe." He stopped, turning toward Joe. "Maybe your daughter can contact the Flash and Vortex."

"I'm not getting her involved in this," Joe said like it was the most ridiculous suggestion in the world.

Singh glanced between Joe and Barry and Zander. "Allen, Rhodes, make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He ordered before going into his office.

"I need to be out there," Joe spoke angrily.

"Joe, you're always the first one to tell me when I'm not thinking clearly." Barry tried to reason with his adoptive father.

"I took down Clyde. I can take down his dirtbag brother too." Joe insisted.

"Uh, last time I checked, you didn't do that alone." Zander reminded Joe.

Joe sighed, sitting down in his desk chair. "You're right." He gestured around the bullpen. "How are any of these guys going to protect me? They don't know. They don't know what Mardon's capable of."

"All right, well, lucky for you, your friends at S.T.A.R. Labs do," Barry said. He shared a look with Zander, the two men having a silent conversation ending with synchronous nods to show understanding. Barry would go to S.T.A.R. Labs and Zander would stay to keep an eye on Joe.

* * *

Dani walked up the street to Central City Picture News. She'd nearly forgotten about her lunch date with Iris and had to teleport into an alley close by to get to CCPN in time.

When Dani entered the building, she was underwhelmed by how slow and empty everything seemed to be. She would've imagined the place to be overflowing with journalists and reporters hurrying to finish their jobs for the paper's publication.

But Dani pushed all those thoughts aside when her eyes landed on her friend.

"Hey, Iris." Dani walked up to her desk where she sat typing furiously at her computer. "You ready?"

"Ready for what?" Iris turned away from her computer just as realization dawned on her. "Crap. Lunch."

"Did you forget?" Dani furrowed her eyebrows. "After you reminded me last night?"

"I did." Iris's face fell. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Dani laughed lightly at her friend. "I can take a rain check."

"No. No, I just need to finish this article then I'll be free for lunch." Iris said.

"Are you sure? I don't mind rescheduling."

"Dani, it took us a month to plan this." Iris deadpanned. "We're going to lunch today. It'll just be a bit later than we planned."

"All right, whatever you want." Dani shrugged.

While Iris went back to typing her article, Dani had nothing else to do other than look around. Her eyes landed on a table with a coffee machine and baked goods.