A/N: Welcome everyone in my new story. Still working on early chapters, but I figured I could still give you a quick sneak peek inside it. Hope you'll enjoy it. Don't be shy to let me know your thoughts after.
The occasional walls' creaking and the shifting of two sleeping forms on the bed were the only sounds being heard in the silent West-Allen loft unless you were to count the wind whistling through the partly opened bedroom's window. Everything was back to normal, finally; and the husband and wife duo had sure earned a well-deserved rest after defeating Devoe. It was over; Devoe was gone, Ralph was back and Joe had brought Cecile and the baby to the hospital for a complete check-up. For the first time in, well, forever since Barry got hit by lightning, the team was free of all threat looming over their heads. The whole situation seemed too good to be true, especially considering how everything had almost instantly fallen apart right after defeating Reverse Flash, Zoom or Savitar. Now, nothing. Nobody died or was forced to sacrifice themselves and the sky wasn't opening up and falling down on them.
"Barry?" Whispered Iris' voice to her husband who, still half-asleep, groaned and turned over on his right side, efficiently turning his back on her. He earned that sleep and wasn't going to let anyone steal it from him.
"Barry?" Repeated the woman, insistently, while strong shaking the hero's shoulder, "I think I heard something downstairs."
Still strongly draw by the sweet temptation of going back to his well-earned rest, Barry mumbled something incomprehensible 'til a loud thump from downstairs, like something pretty heavy fell on the floor, came to his ears and jostled him awake. Quickly prompting himself into a seated position, Barry's eyes darted around with all of his sense on high alert. Yeah, someone, or something, was definitely in their home. Pushing the sheet off his loose blue pyjama pants and shirtless chest, he jumped on the floor, "stay here," he requested to his wife before heading toward the door.
As he made his way out of the room and walked toward the stairs, he heard steps closely following him. Of course, Iris wasn't going to listen... but at least it sounded like she was keeping a safe distance and willing to let the hero do his job. Midway in the staircase, Barry stopped as his eyes finally spotted the intruder; a small looking man heavily leaning against the table as he was obviously struggling to stay on his feet. The trespasser was wearing a sleeveless hoodie with the top half of it, and the hood, being a striking yellow while the bottom part was red while the two sections were separated by a black line. Over it, the man was wearing a black sleeveless jacket with a red outline and with square relief on it, kind of what Cisco's jacket had. It was completed with black leather pants with a red line going down on both legs. Despite never having seen that outfit before, the design of it was fairly familiar, just like the small silhouette of the man with black, medium long and curly hair. That or the black and red mid-fingers gauntlets. As soon as the intruder started straightening himself up and rose his head, allowing his audience to see his red goggles with broken yellow lenses and his features underneath it, Barry gasped loudly.
"Cisco!" He exclaimed, getting to his friend's side so fast and with so much anguish he wasn't even sure if he used his superspeed or not, "what's wrong, man?"
If Cisco's struggles to stay on his feet wasn't a clear enough indication that something was terribly wrong; his bruised face, displaced and bleeding nose, and badly swollen left eye were there to confirm it.
Putting his friend's right arm around his own shoulders, Barry helped the man get back some sense of balance. Except, the instant he jostled his friend the slightest, Cisco's cried out in pain and his left arm let go of his grab on the table to go press hard against his side. Cisco's movement shifted the black jacket just enough for Barry to see the blood stain underneath it and he gasped a second time, louder than the first if that was even possible.
"Hang on, man, we'll get you help," urgently said the speedster.
"Jay… help," the breacher mouthed difficulty as he suppressed another yell of pain, making Barry frown in confusion. Jay? As in, Jay Garrick? What the hell happened since he last saw Cisco, just a few hours ago?
"Meet us at S.T.A.R. lab," Barry told his wife before taking off with the metahuman and arriving at their destination mere seconds later.
Barely taking the time to come to a stop to lay the badly wounded man down on the empty gurney in the medical bay, he took off again before returning seconds later with a second person that he let go of in the same room.
"What th-" Caitlin exclaimed who suddenly found herself standing in her pale grey pyjama pants and tight royal blue camisole at the entrance of the medical bay. What was the emergency? What was so urgent that the speedster just had to take her away from her bed in the middle of the night? Confused and half-awake, she barely got time to blink a second time as lightning moved to the medical bed, then away and closer again. The motion had her attention turning toward the bed where the speedster had stopped again, right next to it, "Barry, w…"
The sentence died on her lips as she spotted the form lying on the bed. With panic rising through the roof as she rushed right next to the bed and to the speedster, she shouted, "Cisco! What happened?"
"I don't... I don't know," Barry rambled while pressing against his struggling friend's shoulders to keep him laying as still as possible. The speedster had already taken off the odd-looking vibe glasses and the jacket, leaving Cisco only in his yellow, black and red hoodie.
"He just popped at my apartment in that state," quickly answered Barry, eyes wide open in sheer panic as, now that the jacket had been taken off, the ever-growing red puddle was the only apparent element in the room.
"Cut his clothes open," ordered the doctor as she quickly handed over the trauma shears she grabbed from the table to the hero who cut the strange clothing in a hurry as Caitlin was grabbing her medical coat off the hook near the entrance.
Barry gulped down to suppress his rising nauseous at the sight. So much blood. Too much blood. His hands were shaking as he spread the tissue apart and exposed the wound. Whipping as much blood as possible with the first thing that fell under his hands, a white S.T.A.R. towel, he managed to clean the skin enough to get a quick glimpse at the wound. The content of his stomach threatened to get out again and his hands shook harder as he finally found the source of the injury, "I think it's a bullet wound," he commented numbly.
Even if the doctor had her back turned on him, hurriedly gathering everything she needed, Barry still saw her freezing on the spot at the last sentence.
"I'll be needing your help, are you up for this?" she said, biting her lips and turning around as she starting putting her medical gloves over her hands.
"Barry!" She exclaimed, barely a couple of seconds later as she saw how the hero was frozen and quickly slipping into shock.
Jostled, Barry quickly straightened himself up and unconsciously grabbed the side of the bed with an iron grip, enough to turn his knuckles white, as he took a hold on himself, ''yeah, I am,'' he finally answered, swallowing his saliva.
Time to get to work.
The frantic activity coming from the medical room could be distinctly heard as Iris walked into the cortex wearing her brown blouse and her black pencil skirt put in a hurry, obviously, as the open section made to reveal her long leg was in her back instead of the front where it should be. Her worried increased as her glance fell on the blood on the floor, in the middle of the room. It wasn't a whole lot, but it made her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she saw how the red liquid left a trail leading all the way to the back of the room where was the mannequin. Her curiosity peaked, she approached the Flash suit, carefully avoiding to step on the red liquid with her high heels. The difference of colour tone wasn't much, but it was enough for her to distinguish the bloody fingerprints staining the superhero suit right above the yellow and white emblem.
So, had Cisco been here before coming to their apartment? Why? Why touched the suit? Something wasn't adding up. Rising her phone to her eye level once more, she pressed her speed dial and anxiously listened to the none-ending ringing.
"Please pick up, please pick up," she repeated over and over in her head 'til the ringing stopped and the answering machine took over. Sighing, Iris closed her phone. Maybe, she was wrong about this.
Moving back to the computers, she sat back on the chair and did the only thing she could; wait and think about what happened. It wasn't making any sense at all. Who attacked Cisco? What happened to him to get this wounded in only a few hours? Why was he wearing this new suit? Why come here first while knowing his best friend was resting at home? So many questions desperately needing answers.
When Barry came out of the room, at least a good hour later, he didn't look too good with his head hanging low and his hand passing in his messed-up hair. When he took the lab coat off his shirtless body, Iris winced as she saw the blood staining his muscles and his blue sleeping pants.
"Is he…" she started to ask, getting up and playing with her tangled fingers.
"He's fighting. Caitlin's with him, but she's really worried," said Barry without much energy in his voice as he moved behind the computers to sit down.
Iris turned around, to face her husband again, with her shaking lips; ''Are we sure it's our Cisco?''
Barry looked up and frowned, "what do y-" before his slow working brain suddenly connected, "you mean from another Earth?"
Iris nodded slowly and moistened her lips, "I don't want to sound insensitive to whoever is inside our medbay right now if it isn't our Cisco, but I'm just saying. I've never seen that suit before, or even these goggles, have you?"
Barry shook his head negatively, "no, I haven't. Did you try-"
Iris sighed heavily, seeing the sparkles of hope rising in the speedster's eyes at the thought that his best friend might not be badly wounded, possibly dying, "I've tried. Many times. But there's no answer."
Falling back into despair, Barry let his body slumped against his chair. Iris was right about that. While the wounded man's features were exactly like the ones of his best friend, there was nothing familiar about...everything else. Something, lots of something actually, weren't adding up. No matter how urgent the situation was and even if the superhero wasn't always showing his working projects with the team, Cisco wouldn't leave on his own on the field without telling anyone. Plus, there was the part about all the ecchymosis on his chest and how thinner he was. Yeah, sure, Cisco was shaken off by Ralph's seeming death, but other than that, he seemed okay in the last couple of weeks and, now, Ralph was back. Something was clearly not right.
But, even if Iris was right, his heart was still clenching in worries. What if it was another Cisco from another Earth? Did he have a family? Friend? Was he a different Barry's best friend? Or, what if he wasn't from another Earth?
"Please be okay," he whispered, looking up in the direction of the medical room.
A/N: What do guys think? Is it our, Earth 1, Cisco? Are you interested to join this adventure and read more? Let me know in the comments
Since it was just a quick sneak peek, I'll probably post the new chapter in about two weeks, two in a half. But, after that, gonna try to do as many weekly updates as possible. That's if you are interested in more chapters.