Sherlock meets The Flash and Arrow

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

Cisco

I nudge Greg. He groans, then stands up again.

I say, "Look, you don't have to do this if you can't. An arrow wound is nothing to just walk off."

He grits his teeth and grabs his shoulder. "No, I can do this." He stumbles, then manages to make it to the edge of the room. We both look at my breach.

"Interdimensional space is nothing to play around with," I say. "You might need to be able to react quickly or you'll get sucked into another universe."

"I'll be fine. You've already set up the path to this 'Arrow cave' or whatever, right? So I shouldn't be in any danger."

"No promises," I mutter. Louder, I say, "Well, it's your decision."

"I'm going," he replies. "Sherlock will probably stay another day or so. We should all be in the same place. Minimize our effect on this universe or something like that."

I know he's just feeling left out. That's a valid reason, but if he doesn't want to say it, well, fine by me.

"Okay. Follow me."

We float a little, then start walking. It's a very short trip. I would normally leave the other end of the breach in some secluded place, but this time, for Greg's sake, I've put it just outside the door of the Mayoral building, hidden from the street by a few bushes.

We step out of the breach, and I immediately close it behind us. Then we walk to the doors and pull them open. I lead Greg down to Oliver's place, then stop, surprised.

Felicity and Oliver are both up. Oliver's doing some sort of complex routine in the training area, while Felicity is coding. They're not the surprising things.

John, looking like he hasn't slept at all, is curled around Sherlock, sharing his bed. Sherlock's cheeks are stained with tears.

John glances up as he hears us arrive. His eyes dart to Greg, who is holding his phone, looking like he's about to take a photo. John says, almost panicked, "You wouldn't."

Greg smiles. "Why not? Scared what Mary will say?"

John's brow furrows. "Not for my sake, for his." He gestures at Sherlock, who is still, miraculously, asleep. "You know what Sally will do to him! You know what she'll say." John adapts a scornful, high-pitched tone and smirks. "'Oh, look. The freak can cry after all,' or 'Finally found someone to run to when you're sad, freak?'"

Sherlock rolls over sleepily and blinks at John. Then, realizing that he's looking at John, his eyes snap open. "Wha...?"

John shrugs slightly. "You were having a nightmare. Screaming, crying, everything. So, um...I thought I could maybe help? And then you went quiet, so..."

Sherlock finishes, "You stayed."

John shrugs again, looking embarrassed. "Before you say anything more, you might want to turn around?" It's a statement, but John makes it sound like a question.

Sherlock immediately whirls around. I shift my feet from side to side, not appreciating the scrutiny. Greg just laughs.

Sherlock sits up and glances at Greg. He has an air of undeniable dignity about him, even having just been startled awake by to find his best friend sitting in his bed, with the two of them surrounded by people, and tears still left on his cheeks. How does he do that? I don't think I have that much dignity on my good days.

Greg pockets his phone just as Oliver walks in. He glances between Greg, me, Sherlock, and John. "What is going on?"

Greg beams. "They were sleeping together!" he says, obviously teasing Sherlock. Sherlock groans and rolls over, burying his face in the pillow. Greg continues, "Now I have something to do on rainy days."

Sherlock turns around and pouts. "Torture me with this? Oh, come on. The London police force may be idiotic, but even you could pick up my obvious signs of surprise. What you're implying is clearly impossible with one of us asleep."

Greg smiles. "Are you an 'us' now?"

Sherlock throws the pillow at him. He's got a pretty good aim, even half-asleep, but Greg catches it.

John sighs, then rubs at his eyes. To Greg, he says, "I thought you were supposed to be resting that shoulder."

Greg shoots Oliver a look. "Yeah. Thanks for that."

Oliver glances at his shoulder at the same time I do. John's bandages have held up, and it looks like it'll heal pretty well, albeit with a scar. Oliver smiles. "Cisco wanted to know about the device..."

That reminds me. I walk over to Sherlock, who glances at me. I get the distinct impression that he can read my intentions from...something. He pulls his legs out of his bed and runs his hand through his hair. It's a surprisingly human gesture. Then he walks over to the computer bank that Felicity's working at and starts up one of the computers. I follow him. He types something into the computer. I glance over his shoulder in time to see him sketch an odd device on-screen. It looks...like a blue ring. In a way, it looks like one of my breaches forced into ring form.

Sherlock gestures at it. "It was this, but with stabilizing poly-jointed mechanical... What did you call them, Lestrade? Legs?"

Greg throws Sherlock's pillow at him. Sherlock deftly snatches it out of the air and throws it back into its spot on his bed. John jumps as it lands next to him.

I lean closer to the screen. It's really odd how much it resembles my breaches. "Guys? Come look at this."

Felicity rolls over and Oliver walks up behind me. "What?" Oliver asks.

"Reverb is definitely dead, right? Because that means I should be the only person alive who can make these..."

Felicity rolls back to her computer and types something into it. Then she spins the monitor towards us. It's got a picture of the device that Sherlock sketched. Felicity says, "It's for sale. If this exists in multiple universes and resembles a breach..."

I finish her sentence. "Then there's someone out there with very similar abilities to mine."