Collateral Damage (snowbarry)

Epilogue: Recovery

"Barry!"

"What!" Barry snaps, turning to look at who called his name. His eyes go wide when he sees it was Captain Singh. "Sorry sir. What can I do for you?"

"Mind if I have a word?" Singh asks, looking at Barry skeptically after his outburst.

Barry follows Captain Singh into his office and sits down.

"I told Joe about this, but I wanted to talk to you about possibly expanding your responsibilities. Which would, of course, come with a raise." Singh says, sitting down on the front of his desk. "I've been very impressed with your focus and commitment this last month."

"I'm very flattered you think I deserve it, sir, but I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable accepting more responsibilities. My extra time and focus has been because of some personal matters, not a sudden change in work ethic. As much as I'd like to say otherwise."

"I appreciate the honesty, Barry." Singh says, smiling at him. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"No." Barry says quickly. "Just a lot of changes recently and I'm finding it hard to adjust. Trying to distract myself with work, I guess."

"Understood." Singh's phone starts beeping and he picks it up to see a schedule alert. "Well, I hate to cut this short, but I have a meeting with the mayor to discuss a way to get the town running again. A lot of people are still struggling with the damage from the black hole." He stands to leave, turning back to Barry before he walks out the door. "Maybe find a project to distract yourself with. Something big or small. Just something to devote your time and energy into. Might help you adjust."

"Thank you, Captain." Barry says, offering him a small smile and a nod. He stands and follows him out into the main lobby of the station.

"Hey, Bar." Joe says, walking up to him. "Did you just now go talk to Singh? Didn't I tell you to do that the other night?" Joe lightly scolds .

"I forgot, but yeah. We talked." Barry says, turning to go to his lab.

"And?" Joe calls after him.

"And nothing. I have to get back to work."

"He sounds cheerful." Cisco says, walking up behind Joe.

"When did you get here?" Joe asks, jumping at Cisco's sudden appearance.

"Ten minutes ago. When we agreed we'd be here." Cisco says, raising his eyebrows at Joe.

Joe and Cisco go sit at his desk, Cisco taking over Eddie's desk for now. They get to work on the idea they're proposing to Captain Singh tomorrow: The Anti-Meta-Human Task Force. It would ideally consist of at least ten officers who were specially trained in dealing with metas and were kept in the loop as much as possible. Cisco has also insisted on being the tech consultant and scientific advisor for the task force. The proposal though takes a lot more than a few good ideas. They had to present funding options, potential contenders for the task force, justification for forming the task force, and much more. They had been working on the proposal for over a week now. Cisco was finalizing some specs for new anti-meta human defensive tech to help the proposal. Joe was finalizing a cumulative report of all meta attacks from the last year to show the need for the task force. They tried to get Barry to help and give ideas for some meta-specific CSI equipment, but he said that's what S.T.A.R. Labs was for and walked off.

"Will I get an official badge?" Cisco asks from across the desks.

"No." Joe says without hesitation.

"Why not? I'll be officially part of a police force." Cisco argues.

"No official training. No gun. No badge." Joe says, looking up at Cisco with his eyebrows raised.