Barry's Warehouse | Wednesday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie had texted ahead to Barry to let him know she was coming by, and her text had included the perhaps-ominous question of whether he had anything lying around that might feature a blade sharp enough to cut a diamond.

She needed to get that tracker out. Today. Before they even thought about leaving Fandom.

She'd been texting Hughie from the burner phone he'd given her as well, being as vague as she could.

coming to see you soon.

bringing a friend.

staying off the grid.

Hopefully he knew what to do with these cryptic little bites of information -- he was the one who had made Annie paranoid, after all, so she was hoping he had the sense not to reply with something stupid like, Who is your friend? Here is my address.

"You're sure you're up for this?" she asked Diego in an undertone as they approached Barry's warehouse. "It's probably gonna be pretty gross."

Not like, needle-gross. Probably.

Diego	"I'll be fine." So long as needles aren't involved. "Are you up for this?" He wasn't the one about to be poked at, after all.
Annie	"I have to be," Annie pointed out, shrugging a shoulder a little nervously, though she was trying to push those nerves down. "I mean, it's take this thing out or let Vought just know where I am all the time, and I'd...rather deal with this than figure out what bad shit Stormfront's got planned for me." And Annie didn't think she was planning, like, manicures or a brunch date.
Barry	As the couple approached the warehouse the doors slowly crawled open to reveal Barry waiting for them, his arms crossed. "Ah-ha! Citizen Starlight! We meet again!" he called out dramatically. "Welcome to my evil scientific lair! And your doom!" There was a maniacal laugh which he immediately cut short. "Sorry. Felt the need to trope out there for a fucking second," he said breaking character. "What am I cutting open?"
Diego	Diego blinked at the dramatics for a moment before shaking his head. "Not me." And god help everybody here if a needle made an appearance.
Annie	Annie at least snorted out a little laugh, because, like, Barry. That was, like, a perfect mad scientist laugh. And, you know, Annie was a little nervous, so there might have been some nervous-giggle factors going on here, too. "Me," she supplied. "My shoulder, anyway, if you're up for a little minor surgery. Vought's got me implanted with a tracking device and I really need it taken out." So...like, the doom thing wasn't totally, totally off-base, here?
Barry	Barry's faced immediately lost any amusement and he scowled. "Jesus fucking Christ, those assholes," he grumbled and signaled the couple to follow him in. "Yeah, I got shit that will work on your skin but I need to do a scan first to get the right location first." Sure other people would just wing it and bring out a dremel or whatever but this was Barry and if he was going to do it he was going to do it fucking right.
Diego	Diego looked at Annie and gave her a shrug. "That makes sense."
Annie	"It does," Annie agreed slowly, trailing in and tugging off her hoodie to hold awkwardly. "I mean, that's way more foresight than Vought showed when they put it in me in the first place. I'm pretty sure, for what it's worth, that it's, like, here." She felt around on her shoulder through her shirt for a moment, frowning before she found the weird little cylindrical hard spot. "Either that or there's something really wrong with me."
Barry	"Something's fucking wrong with them," Barry corrected, still scowling. "Fucking manipulating genetics at fucking birth. Fucking bullshit is what that is." He grabbed a scanner from a table that most definitely was not a "medical tricorder" that looked like something from Galaxy Quest. No. Not at all. He flipped back and forth from what appeared to be x-rays, mri scan and then some subdermal imaging. "Yeah, that's what it is. Pretty traditional GPS subdermal tech. I put at least six of these in my friend when I was eleven before... well I was just a fucking asshole when I was eleven." He pulled then walked over into a corner and pulled out something akin to dentist's chair and slapped on it. "Hop on. I'll give you a local anesthetic to numb the area. Was this the only shit they put in you or was it just this one thing?"
Diego	"Anesthetic?" Diego repeated, already looking a little pale.
Annie	"Maybe don't look?" Annie suggested, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze before she went to sit in that pretty intense-looking chair. She already knew Diego didn't like needles, yes, but she figured it was mostly a Needles versus Diego thing, and that like, since she was the one getting the shot, he'd probably be fine? "This was the only thing they stuck in me," she added to Barry as she took her seat. "Like, far as I know." Also, gross. Phrasing, Annie.
Barry	"I'll do a full scan after extraction," Barry replied. "Normally I'd do a dermal patch or applied pressure points to relieve the pain. However due to your skin density-" It's at this point Barry pulled out a syringe with a long needle with a thick gauge. "-I'll need to use this syringe with a titanium alloy I created. He pulled a small vial and began to fill the syringe.
Diego	Diego could do this, he could totally do this. It's not like the needle was going in him, after all. The unnaturally large needle. He was just going to ignore the tunnel vision he was getting. He was fine. Totally going to be a supportive boyfriend who could stand there and watch this.
Annie	"It's okay, I can take it," Annie assured Barry, going ahead and pulling her shirt off her shoulder and making sure her hair was out of the way. She glanced over at Diego, frowning. "Hey, Diego -- are you okay? You don't have to watch." Like, it was just a shot, it didn't need witnesses. Especially if it was going to make him throw up or something, which was what she was starting to anticipate. (Because really, she was still underestimating this.)
Barry	Barry of course was totally absorbed in getting the shot ready and not noticing any of Diego's discomfort. After filling the syringe he pushed a bit of air out of the syringe sending a pop of fluid into the air. "This will pinch a bit," he said taking the needle and pushing it against Annie's skin. Given that Annie's skin was a lot denser than most materials the needle began to bend a bit before it finally found a point and ever so slowly slid under the skin. Pushing the plunger down he injected the anesthetic into Annie. "There we go. We'll give it a few moments to take effect," Barry said putting the syringe away and picking up what looked like a modified bone saw.
Diego	Nope, he was done. Diego's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was hitting the ground even before he noticed the bone saw. He really didn't like needles.
Annie	"Diego --" Annie had been torn between holding still for Barry and worrying about how woozy Diego looked, and...well, now that was decided for her. Damn it. "I knew he didn't like needles," she told Barry with a worried little sigh, "but I didn't think it was that bad. Let's get this thing out of me and...I'll carry him out if he doesn't come to." She could see from here that he was breathing, at least. Hopefully this would be easy enough on her that she could take care of Diego a little before they took off for Brooklyn.
Barry	Barry winced a bit as he heard the thud and turned to see Diego on the floor. "Look at that. He fell right over," he said with a wince. "Sorry, I would have been a little more sensitive if I had known." He then put on a pair of rubber gloves and a face shield before giving the bone saw a quick squeeze to test the rotation. "You shouldn't feel anything but try and keep your shoulder relaxed." And with that he started the saw and began to work on making an excision.
Annie	Annie was going to offer that there was probably nothing either of them could have done to mitigate Diego fainting -- and really, she felt kind of bad, because she had known -- but then the saw was whirring and she was trying to brace herself and simultaneously relax her shoulder. It didn't take long at all before there was a sort of gentle pop once the saw was able to breach Annie's skin, and holy shit, that was the weirdest feeling.
Barry	Good thing he had that face shield because there was small spurt of blood that hit it. Barry didn't seem grossed out about it at all and immediately patted it down with little gauze before reaching for a pair of forceps. "Got to give Diego credit. For someone who doesn't like needles he at least was here to try to support you, unconscious or not." A moment later a tiny tube holding electronics was pulled out of Annie's shoulder. "There we go," he said dropping it in a small dish. "Any thoughts on what you want to do with it? I can always give you a programmable drone to make it look like you are somewhere else."
Annie	"Oh, man, that's kind of genius," Annie said (which, like, duh, it was Barry talking, here.) "They can't see me on the island as it is, so I was just going to chuck it into the ocean, but throwing it on a drone might keep them off my back for a good long time." She squirmed a little to look at her shoulder, wincing. "Man, it doesn't even hurt, but I'm so not used to seeing my own blood." And she would be a lot more fascinated by this if she weren't also eyeing her unconscious boyfriend on the floor. Because yeah, that had been very sweet, and very supportive, and...like, okay, noted for the future: that was what 'I really, really don't like needles,' looked like in action.
Barry	Barry chuckled and handed Annie some fresh gauze. "Put some direct pressure on it. It should clot without any stitches," he said as he cleaned off the tracking chip. He then pulled down a case, opening it up to reveal a small drone. "This sucker has an AI and takes vocal commands. Connect it to your phone via bluetooth and you can direct it to any GPS location." Opening up a small port, Barry connected Annie's tracking chip to a small port. "There. That should keep those assholes at Vought off your tail. And if you ever need any support from me you can use the drone as a relay." He turned and gave Annie a somber look. "Seriously. If there's anything I can do? Just say the word. I can definitely find ways to fuck their shit up."
Annie	Annie smiled a little sadly, shaking her head as she held the gauze to her shoulder. "I think we've got it for now, but I'll definitely keep you in mind. I think I've got a lead to fuck their shit up a bit as it is, and I know the guys in my universe who have the best shot at it." She lifted the gauze to peek at her shoulder, glad to see the bleeding was already stopping. "And thanks to you, they're not going to be able to find me for awhile. Thanks, Barry. I owe you one."
Barry	"You don't owe me anything," Barry said shaking his head. "I'm just happy to help. If you want to do something, find a way to fuck up Vought. The whole compound V bullshit is fucked up beyond belief. I'm just happy that someone like you is doing something about it."
Annie	"If I have my way, they're gonna have to answer for it all," Annie assured him, patting the gauze a couple times to make sure the bleeding had stopped before getting up from the super-intense chair and going over to squat down by Diego. She glanced over at Barry, and added, "For the sake of Diego's pride, maybe keep this part on the down-low?" And with that, she gently got one arm under Diego's knees, and another around his shoulders, and carefully stood up to carry him out. Honestly, it was too bad he was conked out for it, because Annie felt like freaking Prince Charming over here. Romance.
Barry	Barry gave Diego a sympathetic look. "His secret is safe with me. At least until I try to overthrow the island and use all your weaknesses against you." He's joking. Really.
Annie	"Maybe give it a month or two before you do that," Annie called over her shoulder as she carefully carried Diego out. "One disaster at a time." Maybe she could track down a second sample of V for Barry. She had a feeling he might appreciate it even more than a thoughtful thank you note or a gift basket. Call it a hunch.

[preplayed with the ever-wonderful knife_bender and the fabulous badassprodigy, who graciously allowed me to mod his warehouse! Warning for a lil' gore and oh my god TOTALLY FOR BROADCAST but not for interaction. OOC welcome!]