It had been the middle of the night when Kai had gotten a frantic call from Barry about a lab being busted and there being some kind of animal scurrying around in the dark. She had gotten up and ready, saying that she would be their soon. Insisting that Guy stayed home so that he could try to get a bit more sleep and that if anything came up, she would call him right away.
A couple of hours passed when his phone rang, Kai's voice coming through that line, irritated and exhausted. There was what sounded like a fussing child in the background who the hero was trying to shush with gently before starting to explain what had happened. "Can you come over here? Turns out it wasn't some 'mutant lab monster'..." You could hear the sharp look she was giving the speedster over the phone when she paused before starting to speak again. "It was a couple of lovely little babies. Yes, that's you, sweet pea." The alien cooed softly to the one in her arms. "I just need help rounding up the others because they all ran and hid when skippy here thought it was a good idea to scream cause one touched him which sent them all running, and I only managed to snag one cause they ran right into me." She spoke, clearly giving the male with her a hard time.
The woman let out a sigh. "I have no idea how many we are dealing with, so if you could bring my van over to that abandoned lab right outside of Central City. It should have everything we need in it besides carseats, but we can deal with that once we get them all rounded up."
The child suddenly let out a loud sob on the other end, followed by a snarl and snapping of teeth from Kai. "Back off, you absolute dag!" She barked, australian accent thick with fury at the other hero before going back to comforting the small child. "Oh honey...shhh shhh. So yeah, if you could come as quickly as you can, preferably before I rip Barry's head off, I would really appreciate it." The ravenette growled into the phone though it wasn't aimed at the lantern.
@piranha-boy
The sound of his ringtone, a simple tune he hasn’t changed since he first bought the phone, jarred him out of his sleep. He groaned, eyes closed as he blindly patted around the dresser for the device. He snatched the thing off the dresser with a growl, eyes heavy and laden with sleep he glanced at the screen — Kai. That got him up — right up — blankets tangling around his legs as he twisted to an upright position.
Phone pressed to his ear, the Lantern began a groggy, “Y’llow“, but was abruptly cut off. Kai’s voice came through, utterly exhausted as she instructed him to come over with a van. The words weren’t quite registering, he was still half-awake despite him sitting up, propped against the headboard. Still, Guy grunted out an affirmation, dragging a hand down his face. “Yeah, yeah, hang tight. I’m on it. Faster than that fucker can blink.”
That fucker, of course, being Barry Allen.
The fact that babies — innocent, terrified kids — were involved snapped him right into gear. In minutes, his uniform materialized, wrapping tight around his frame in all the right places. Any other day, he’d take a second to admire himself in the mirror, maybe flex those hard-earned muscles just because he could. But not today. Not now. For once, Guy actually jumped into action the second he was told. A rare sight, considering how much he hated being ordered around.
Twenty minutes later, Guy pulled up with the van. The van say side ways, and half on the Lab’s front lawn. Tire tracks already chewing through the grass. It wasn’t even fully in park before Guy was out, slamming the door shut behind him. Then he was airborne, a streak of green cutting through the sky, light flaring wildly in his wake as he zeroed in on Kai.
“Where at?” He snapped, instantly alert. His gaze flicked to Barry for a second, lingering, sharp, trying to size up what Kai was furious about. Then it dropped to the kid in her arms.
“Was this …?” he muttered, tone easing. “Hey, buddy. What’s your name? Brave little fucker, ain’t ya?” The last part slipped out softer, almost like a coo.
He didn’t dare touch the kid, but his hand hovered, wanting to. Guy knew he has been through enough. The last thing he needed was some clumsy, foreign attempt at comfort. Or so Guy figured.
Instead he offered him a gloved finger and addressed Kai. “What exactly happened? You said there was more of ‘em?” His tone hardened in anger, not at her, but at the situation.
Barry stood away from the two of them, looking like a kid who had just gotten in trouble for playing ball in the house and breaking his mother's vase. "Hey, Guy." He greeted sheepishly.
Kai was still giving him a sharp look as the green latern arrived before she turned her full attention to the red head as he asked her a question. "I saw about two other ones take off, besides him, but there could be others locked away somewhere." She explained carefully as she continued to bounce the small primate in her arms.
Kai nudged the taller man lightly. "Guy language. Small ears present." She scolded lightly. The infant lemur was nervous, ears wiggling anxiously as the male spoke to him and tucked himself closer to Kai, hiding his face in her neck but peeking at him with big yellow eyes. The alien giggled softly and leaned down to coo to him softly. "It's okay. You don't have to be scared of him, sweet pea. He's very nice, I promise." She reassured the baby as she rubbed his back gently. He couldn't have been more than two feet tall and looked quite skinny.
The hybrid leaned forward tentatively to sniff his finger when before carefully reaching for it with a tiny hand, holding it softly as his fear turned into hesitant curiosity. He seemed more distracted by the shiny green ring around Guy's other finger, carefully reaching out to touch it with his other hand. The woman sighed in relief as he seemed to settle, happy that he at least wasn't crying anymore. "I don't think he can talk yet, unfortunately, but hopefully, they have files somewhere so we can get more information on him and his friends."
She rubbed her face with he free hand for a second, balancing him so he could fiddle with Guy's fingers while they spoke. "The others took off down that hall over there when Barry started chasing them to try to catch them once he realized they were just babies and not some viscious thing that was gonna attack him by brushing against his friggin' leg." The woman gave the speedster a sharp look again, clearly quoting what he had said as she pointed in the direction of the pitch black hall that led to who knows where.
Barry looked like a kicked dog at the shapeshifters comment. "Come on, Kai, I didn't know. I just say big yellow eyes, and something touched me. I had a completely normal reaction to that!" He insisted only to nearly jump out of his skin when there was a sudden scurrying in the darkness. Kai immediately perked, reaching to take her headlamp off her tool belt to put it on before moving in the direction of the noise after she had turned it on. Barry followed close behind but seemed hesitant like he was scared something would jump out and attack them all at any second and shrieking like a banshee when something scurried in front of them just out of reach of the light, grunting when Kai elbowed him in the side hissing at him to be quiet and stop being a scaredy cat.
A little head poked out of one of the rooms close by, floppy ears pinned back anxiously as they peeked at them before ducking back into the room to hide this one seemed older but not by much and wasn't much bigger either. She hummed in thought of how to lure them out before motioning Guy closer so she could pass him the little one in her arms to him. The baby clung to him and did his best to wrap his arms around the thick neck while his tail wrapped around Guy's wrist.
Kai kneeled down slowly on the ground and held out her hand. "Come on over, sweetie. We won't hurt you. It's okay, you're not trouble. We're here to help." She reassured with a soft smile. The other kid inched out slowly, ready to run at any sudden movements as she sniffed at Kai's fingers, grabbing her hand gently. It was a bit more obvious how malnourished she was due to how short her fur was. "Can you talk, darling?"
The little one nodded nervously. "Y-Yes ma'am..." The hero let out a breath of relief before smiling again. "You don't have to call me ma'am Honey. You can just call me Kai." She cooed as she held her hand softly and took the small child's other hand as well. "Do you know how many of you there are? Do you have a name?" The three year old played with one of the ravenette's rings a bit as she thought. "My name's Peanut butter, and there's eight of us and then four more...I'm sorry, I don't know how many that is." She whimpered, tears bubbling up in her eyes, her age becoming since she struggled with addition.
The Aono frowned and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay shhh shhh, don't be sorry. You did a very good job, Peanut butter." She reassured as she carefully picked her up and stood straight. "Let's go find the rest of your friends."
The pitbull was inconsolable as she was picked up, clinging to her. "The mean people locked my big brother behind a big door, and I couldn't get him out!" She wailed. "I went through the wall to try to get him medicine 'cause he's sick, but I couldn't find any!" The ravenette shushed her softly and instinctively kissed her head to try to provide comfort. "It's okay. It's okay. I'll help you and your brother. Can you show Auntie where?" The puppy nodded carefully, wiping her eyes as she hiccuped and sniffled before she pointed further down the hall. "Only the three of us were able to get out 'cause the other babies can't walk yet and my big brother and his friends were too big for the wall tube..." She whined softly. Kai rubbed her back. "That's okay. You did great getting out and taking who you could with you. Now let us big people help the rest. Don't worry your little head about it, my pretty." The alien reassured again as they started walking.