Disclaimer: Do not own Flash or Supergirl.
~ The Outskirts of National City
Barry had just been ejected from the Speed-Force prison like a video cassette from an old VHS tape player. The sudden stop made him collapse, hard, on the jet-black concrete road of one of National City's fanciest suburban neighborhoods. Imagine when Kyle Reese collapsed on the ground in the 1984 'Terminator' motion picture, if you need a visual representation of what it looked like. Except it wasn't some grungy-looking back-alley in the middle of downtown LA. In fact, it was a very nice looking borough of National City's upper middle class. It was a friendly community where most people knew each other, so the sight of a man magically appearing out of thin air was enough to draw plenty of attention from the locals.
Allen hit the tarmac so fast that he lost consciousness almost immediately, and the force of the impact was enough to send him skidding a few feet, scraping his skin raw. He landed splayed on the ground, covered in dirt from the rough entrance. A small crowd began to gather around the unconscious man almost instantaneously, concerned and wary. They stared down at his prone form, most everyone immediately noting he was wearing nothing but a pair of worn out pants, no shirt or shoes.
Two men ran forward to more thoroughly examine the newcomer, tentatively checking his head and ribs for injuries, while the rest of the group debated amongst themselves. They didn't know whether or not they should call the police or an ambulance; they knew next to nothing about this strange man. He could be an alien for all they knew. A few people- admittedly the weirdo outcasts of the neighborhood- insisted he would unleash an ancient curse if they touched him, even though it was a little late for that.
In the end, they decided to call both 911 and Catco World Wide Media, and give them the story of what happened. Because it was quite a story. They couldn't have made this stuff up if they tried! It was all very... surreal. Like something out of a dream.
~ National City - Kara Danvers' apartment
Kara Danvers was exhausted after dealing with the fire on the west side of her city. As much as she didn't want to sleep (she was afraid she would dream of Mon-El), she was beyond tired. Her body needed rest.
She decided to spend the night in front of the TV, watching the local news, as sensational as the press had become these days. For some reason hearing the local weather man or woman drone on about the local forecast had always made her sleepy, and her couch was moderately comfortable. But just as she was dozing off, two different developments occurred. First, the Catco News Station just reported a sighting of a strange gentleman appearing out of thin air in the middle of a tight-knit suburban community. The next thing Kara knew, she was staring at an image of Barry Allen's bruised, unconscious face, plastered all over the air of National City's most predominant News Station. She shot up and grabbed the remote, eyes wide as she slammed the volume button in disbelief, even though she could already hear it perfectly well. It couldn't hurt to make sure. Only seconds later, she received an urgent call from the DEO asking Kara to deal with this matter first-hand as Supergirl.
Her lips pressed together in a mixture of worry and annoyance. Couldn't she ever get a break? But knowing how important this was, she was out the door less than a minute after the call ended, hair brushed and uniform on. Ready to help both her city and her friend. She flew straight to where Barry was being held. National City General Hospital. Mr. Allen was deemed a security risk, so the local police, FBI, CIA and even DEO agents were there. Kara had never seen so many men and women in uniform, stationed at a hospital before. Barry Allen's sudden and spontaneous arrival had stirred up quite a spectacle in her city. These law-enforcement officials had kept the media out of Barry's hospital room.
And guards were stationed inside and outside of the hospital room as well. This was all a bit much. But Kara supposed, it was human nature, for all of them to react this way. She remembered that she'd had a hard time believing Barry's explanation of a multiverse when she first saw him in National City. But she suspected that everybody now had proof of the multiverse's existence, because how else would anyone explain Allen's abrupt entrance in Earth-38?
Curiously, was the fact that his cuts, scrapes and bruises had already began to heal, almost immediately. Kara knew that Barry Allen was exposed. Both literally and figuratively. If only he'd shown up in a less populated area, then maybe they could've kept this more hush-hush. But then, she figured maybe he had no control over what happened. She would have to ask him, when he woke up. For now, she had to find a way to deal with the media, who'd just caught sight of her, and was beginning to pepper her with questions.
Questions like, did she know this man? Who was he? Where did he come from? Things like that. Kara had questions of her own, as well. But she knew that she couldn't make any statements to the press at this moment in time. So she had to ignore their probing inquiries for the time being. She walked away from the reporters and hospital security told them to stay back. Then, she stood outside of Barry Allen's hospital room, staring at one of the guards. The two guards eyed her warily.
"Do you have business here, ma'am?" One of them asked.
"Yes, I do." Worry and impatience laced her voice as she craned her neck slightly to look behind the guard, trying to catch a glimpse of her friend through the door.
~ STAR Laboratories - Earth-1
Cisco was sitting all alone in STAR Labs, moping over the loss of his friend. Strangely, before Ramon got his ass head out of his ass, about Barry accidentially creating a timeline where his brother Dante died, he probably wouldn't have cared that much. But since they'd made-up and became best friends again, it hurt him to lose Barry, especially right after the speedster's brush with death against Savitar. He felt like he was being crushed under the terror and guilt of slowly losing everyone he cared about. Normally, in high stress situations, Caitlin would be there with him, comforting him with short sentences in a way only she could.
But Caitlin was gone too, another victim of Flashpoint. Cisco's perfect world was crumbling to dust around him, and all he could do was watch.
Or could he?
Cisco's fingers abruptly stopped tapping against his thigh. He has powers too! He can fix this!
The man spun twice in his chair before standing up, taking a moment to decide his next move. He needed to find Barry, so he needed something that belonged to Barry. The obvious choice would be the Flash suit, but Cisco hesitated the closer he got to it. Barry was a hero. He knew what he was doing and Cisco... didn't. It felt wrong to even touch the suit that meant so much to this city when he'd just sat there and watched The Flash, the one who was supposed to be wearing it, sacrifice himself.
And who said Barry even needed to be found anyway? He'd looked so sure of himself...
No. Cisco grabbed his goggles off the table and secured them over his face before pressing his hand flat against the lightning bolt.
He immediately felt the familiar sensation of entering a vibe, like being immersed into cold water. His ears popped and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he was facing a vision of Kara Danvers, as Supergirl, standing outside of a hospital room, staring at one of two guards. In fact, it was the one on the right. The tall, slim guard, who seemed to be the spokesman. The one on the left was quite a bit shorter, with reddish brown hair and small eyes.
"Do you have business here, ma'am?" the tall guy asked her.
"Yes, I do." said Supergirl, with worry, and impatience laced in her voice as she craned her neck slightly to look behind the guard, trying to catch a glimpse of her friend through the door.
Cisco could see the two guards eye each other with uncertainty for a moment. Then the short guard turned back to look at Supergirl.
"We were ordered to keep this man detained until the brass from Washington gets here."
"I understand that, but may I see him, please?" Supergirl's voice was calm, but Cisco could tell that she was growing increasingly more impatient, by the fact that her fists were clenching and unclenching around the fabric of her skirt.
"If we let you in there," The tall, slim guard began, "He's your responsibility."
"Yes, and if he escapes," The shorter guard had chimed in, "Then you'll have to answer to The President, herself."
"I understand." replied Supergirl, "Now, please. Step aside."
The two guards short and tall, motioned for the other two average height guards inside Barry Allen's hospital room to follow them. The four guards then walked down the hallway towards the hospital cafeteria to get something to eat, leaving Kara alone with The Scarlett Speedster... She tentatively walked toward Barry's hospital bed, appearing both a little nervous, and delighted, to see her friend again. Cisco couldn't fathom why she might be nervous. But the delighted part was easy to comprehend.
"Barry?" she murmured.
"Kara?" he replied softly, blinking tiredly.
"What happened?" she asked quietly, "What made you decide to come back to National City?"
The image flickered a bit.
"Kara, it's a long story." Barry had replied in a low voice. "But to sum it all up I was 'coerced' to come here. You see... Central City was being attacked by the Speed-Force, itself."
"What?" she interrupted incredulously, "How -?"
"After Iris murdered Savitar to save me, the Speed-Force prison needed an occupant."
"So, you sacrificed yourself to save Central City and the Speed-Force brought you here?" she asked quizzically. It was very hard to believe. Why would the Speed-Force do such a thing?
"I know it sounds crazy." he murmured, "And judging by the look on your face, you don't believe me do you?"
"It's just a lot to take in." she said, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole 'multiverse' thing, Barry."
"I honestly don't know why the Speed-Force felt compelled to bring me here..." Barry trailed off, "But I'm glad it did."
"Why is that?" she asked, curiously.
"Because, I've done all I can for Central City, and honestly, I thought I was gonna be stuck in that Speed-Force prison forever." he replied, "Also, I'm just glad to see a friendly face."
"Yeah...about that." said Supergirl, "You never explained to me what exactly a Speed-Force prison is, or what the Speed-Force is, for that matter."
"Yeah, I'll explain later, okay?" he told her, "By the way, you never told me why I'm sitting in a hospital room."
And with that, Cisco's vision of Barry and Kara fades to black and his consciousness is back in STAR Laboratories, again. He was excited to learn that his friend was still alive! But Barry was on Earth-38... Why would the Speed-Force bring him there and leave him on that planet? What was so special about Earth-38, anyway? Ramon wondered to himself.
Biting the inside of his cheek, the man ran his fingers through his hair. At least he knew the speedster was alive. But he still had to find a way to fix this and bring back his best friend. He mindlessly grabbed a marker and turned to the glass panel, ideas already running through his head. Stabilize the Speed-Force prison and bring Barry back to Earth-1 in one piece. Easy peasy.
Cisco took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This could take awhile.
~ Hospital Room - National City
"Yeah...uh, Barry. You appeared out of nowhere in a National City suburb..."
"I did?" He asked astonished, "Tell me, exactly what happened."
"The news reports said that there were dozens of eye-witnesses, who saw you appear from thin air and skid across the tarmac."
