270. Chapter 270

The first time they meet – because Cisco has opened a vortex in Kara’s living room, again – she pins him up against the back of the couch, holding him up by only the collar of his shirt so he’s constantly in danger of toppling backwards as she lights into him, all how could you even think of bringing her to another universe without backup, and don’t tell me you gave her backup when the entire reason you brought her over was because you and your supersquad was so out of their league, whereas her family is literally trained to fight off alien invasions, and I don’t care how fast you are, Barry Allen, if you so much as consider taking her anywhere without me to back her up again I will chase you down, and I will catch you, and I will –

She stops only because Kara takes one arm and Maggie the other, gently, cautiously, Kara all okay Alex, I think he gets the point and Maggie all whoa whoa whoa, babe, come on, it’s okay, Kara’s safe, it’s okay and Cisco’s all well damn I think we know who the Sith in the family is, and I kinda like it and Barry’s all I see now that thinking Kara was the most powerful one in the family was the wrong thing.

But when she lets him go, a small victorious smirk on her face at the wide-eyed fear in his, she actually lets herself listen to what he has to say – once he’s straightened up and dusted off and taken a deep breath and apologized, at least four times, for his error in judgment and it’ll never happen again.

“And actually Alex, um… Kara tells me that you and your girlfriend – it’s Maggie, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Barry Allen, and this is Cisco Ramon – are the science geniuses and forensics nerds in the family, so I’m actually here for your help.”

Alex would be irritated by the obvious flattery, but his eyes tell her that Barry’s sincere – that he doesn’t have an insincere bone in his body, and god, he so naturally called Maggie family – so she lets her stance soften as she watches Maggie and Cisco immediately develop the most complex, nerdiest nice-to-meet-you handshake she’s ever seen, and she can’t help but share Barry’s bemused smile.

“You’re a CSI, right? And you work at Star Labs? What could you need from me?”

Barry’s eyes sparkle, and Kara beams in the background. “Glad you asked.”

He digs in his back pocket for what looks like a small marble to Kara, but Alex gasps and leans forward and touches her fingertips to Barry’s to get closer to the metallic marble, tilting her head in a way she’s picked up from Maggie as her eyes flit between the marble and Barry’s excited eyes.

“That’s not a – ”

“Bioelectric dampener with the capacity to shut down the neural circuitry in cyborgs? It is.”

“But you don’t have a charging module – ”

“Exactly. That’s why I thought we could use your help. Disabling circuitry without killing the part of a cyborg that’s still human? Caitlin’s been working on it, but without the right – ”

“Capacitor, right, you’d need to – ”

“Stabilize the energy flow – ” Maggie’s leaning forward now, too, and Cisco and Kara glance at each other above the three of their heads.

“Pizza and potstickers and Star Wars?” Cisco suggests. “We still have to look for any differences between our earth’s original trilogy, and it looks like they’re gonna be a while.”

“Yeah, exactly! If you ever get tired of that red suit, you should come work for the DEO – ” Alex is practically squealing.

“Oh my god, I loved it in there, I mean Star Labs is amazing but you guys have space ships – ”

“You know I flew Kara’s pod into space last year – ”

“No way – ”

Kara grins.

“A while might be an understatement. You get the movie ready – I’ll order the food.”

“Donuts too!” Barry, Alex, and Maggie all call in unison, and Cisco and Kara laugh.

A while’s an understatement indeed.