''What do we do?'' Panicked Iris, pressing both hands on Barry to try and keep him down, screaming over the shrill noise of the monitor.
''I...I…don't…I…'' Started Cisco, frozen in place with shaking hands, unsure what to do.
Before he could do or say anything more, they got interrupted by Caitlin's voice, booming as she entered the room running, no doubt having heard the alarm in the hallway, Captain Singh and Joe following closely.
''What's happening?'' She asked in full doctor mode as she rushed to her patient's bedside, her eyes going straight his vitals' reading on the monitors and Barry's frenetic breaths.
''Oh no, Barr.'' Brokenly whispered Joe, closing on his violently shaking son's bedside, fighting his emotions to keep his distance and let the doctor work her magic.
''We don't know!'' Said Cisco. ''He finally registered where he was and that we were there and he asked… He just started seizing.''
No matter how short his hesitation was before deciding against telling the team what Barry told them, it wasn't lost on Iris who gave him a quick meaningful look.
''Dammit.'' Swore Caitlin under her breath as she witnessed her friend's heart rate increase exponentially right in front of her eyes.
She hastily made her way to the medicine cabinet, pausing before swiftly opening it and grabbing an already filled syringe before turning around to give more instructions: ''Hold him. Turn him on his side.''
''I thought you said you couldn't give him anything.'' Said Iris as she stepped behind to let the three men take over to immobilize and turn over the speedster as Caitlin approached.
''I was afraid it would react badly with the poison, but we'll have to risk it, I don't think his heart will be able to handle this much stress for much longer. He's under way too much pain right now.''
As she was talking, she injected the content of the syringe into the boy's thigh who kept on convulsing for many more anxious seconds, under the concerned eyes of everyone in the room. Even Singh passed his hand in his now messed up hairs.
''Come on, Allen.''
As if he was waiting for the cue, Barry's body finally decided to cooperate, finally relaxing. In the following moments, the alarm slowly died as Barry's vitals went down, not exactly back to normal, but out of the danger zone for now. At this instant, the only sounds in the room were the collective breath of relief and Barry's heavy, uneven, breathing. Closing back on the young man's face, Caitlin forced open his eyes, shining a light in them while the rest of the group stepped away.
''Barry? Can you hear me?''
Getting no answer, Caitlin sighed and put back her instrument before proceeding to check the monitor's readings; while it wasn't anywhere near what she would like to see, it was a bit better. Once her examination was finalized, she turned her attention back to the rest of the group anxiously waiting behind her.
''He's out, but he's still under a lot of pain and his vitals are pretty lows. But, at least, he's stable for now.''
Nodding, Joe moved back next to the doctor, putting a comforting hand on Barry's shoulder, feeling the shivering of pain under his palm.
''What now? What's the plan?'' He asked, looking around at all of them. ''There IS a plan, right?'' He nervously added, feeling his heart hammering in his chest at everyone's silence.
''We brought back every information Barry had on the poison from his lab. I'll start by checking it out and run some test on Barry's blood. We'll figure it out.'' Answered Caitlin, staying strong. No matter how dire the situation they always seem to find themselves into, they always managed to find a way out of it. This time was no different.
''I can't lose him. I can't.'' Answered Joe, tears forming in his eyes, wishing there was any way for him to just carry some of Barry's pain right now.
''We won't.'' Promised Cisco, there was no way the horrible words he said to Barry during that whole Killer Frost fiasco would be the last thing he said to him. Flash wasn't going to die thinking his best friend hated him.
'You're gonna be ok so I can be mad at you later.' Mentally told Cisco to his unconscious friend, resisting the urge to smile at that thought.
''I'll figure it out.'' Repeated Caitlin before going back to work without saying more, completely focused and glad for the small fact that Barry was unconscious which was probably a good thing considering how much suffering he was under. Hopefully, he will remain that way for a while.
Cisco and the Captain decided to walk out of the room, leaving some space for Iris and Joe to silently sit next to the bed while Caitlin was drawing blood from her patient. The only noises in the room were the beeping monitor and Barry's occasional groans and whimpers of pain, definitely contrasting with the constant screaming and the alarm going on moments ago. The almost complete silence was surprisingly unnerving; they all ended up looking up again and again at the vitals' reading just to make sure Barry was still with them.
Everything started barely over one and a half hour ago. Considering Barry got attacked right before the bank's closing time and all the victims died within 10 hours, they still had until dawn to find a cure. It was going to be a long, long night.
***FLASHFLASHFLASH***
Their break was cut short as, barely an hour later, Barry woke up again, screaming and gasping in agony. Both Iris and Joe immediately got up from their chair and positioned themselves in the speedster's field of vision.
''Barry, try to relax.'' Instinctively said Iris, even if she knew it wasn't that easy.
''Make it…s…to..'' He pleaded with an already hoarse voice from all the screams, his eyes and voice full of tears, breaking the hearts of everyone around.
''Barr, it's ok, you need to hang in there.'' Said Joe, comforting hands on the man's arm, fighting his owns tears, desperately needing to grant his son's wish and make the pain go away. He couldn't even start to imagine how it must have been like to suffer this much agony for over two and a half hour now. ''You're gonna be ok, you're gonna be ok.'' He repeated, just as much to convince his own mind than to convince Barry.
It was with pleading eyes that he looked up at Caitlin, who still working as hard as she possibly could at the other side of the room; 'Help him, please.'
The red, watery eyes that stared back at him weren't the ones he wanted to see. Unable to keep it together any longer, Caitlin abruptly got up from her chair and walked out of the room, forcing both Wests to get up and follow, exchanging worried looks.
''Caitlin? What's wrong?'' Asked Cisco, closing on her position.
''I can't do it, I can't help him….I can't… '' She started sobbing, her voice barely keeping it together.
''Cait, you've been at it for an hour, there's still time.'' Tried to reassure her friend, putting his arm on her shoulders, forcing the doctor to look him right in the eyes.
''I can't figure it out before the end of the night, I'm sorry, I've never seen anything like this... Maybe if I had more time.'' Shaking her head, the doctor closed her eyes for a second, taking a sharp and shaky breath, searching for the best explanation and for the strength to stay strong before continuing: ''If the Meta's metabolism is creating the poison, I don't think I can really come with an antidote without him. We'll need to catch him and get his blood…and Barry isn't in any shape to help us do this.''
''Maybe we could call O…the Green Arrow to help us?'' Proposed Cisco, hanging on to hope and quickly correcting himself before selling the vigilante's identity to the CCPD Captain.
''The Green Arrow'' repeated Singh, incredulous, joining in the conversion. ''You know Star City's vigilante? You know who he is?''
''Well…you can say that.'' Shrugged Joe, deciding against lying to his boss, might as well have every card on the table now, even if he feared for his job for a second.
Thankfully, Singh only shook his head in disbelief. ''I always suspected you had a connection to the Flash because of your daughter, but never expected you to be this deep in this world of heroes and vigilantes. And I also guess that you can't tell me who the Arrow is.''
Joe hesitated before answering. ''Yeah, sorry captain, it's not my secret to tell.''
Singh sighed, but nodded, understanding. It really was a whole new world.
''Cisco. '' Carefully started Caitlin, coming back right into the discussion. ''By the time it would take for Team Arrow to get here, chances are it will be too late already for Barry…not to mention the time to apprehend the suspect.''
''We should probably call them anyway, if you think they're going to help.'' Said Singh, surprisingly in favor of cooperating with another vigilante. ''If we can't-'' He bit his lips, looking for a second at his employee, trying hard not to think about the worse. ''Whatever happen, we need to take this guy down before he hurt more people, we need as much help as we can.''
''Thank you, sir, for understanding.''
That was great and all, but it wasn't going to help with their more urgent and more concerned subject.
''Caitlin. '' Interrupted Iris. ''Don't you think that with Barry's rapid healing abilities, he will be able to fight it off on his own? Beat this?''
As tempting as it was, Caitlin couldn't give false hope to the team, they needed facts if they wanted to take the right decision. Shaking her head, she slowly answered:
''His body is reacting the same way than the other victims. So far there's no reason to believe he'll survive on his own until morning.''
Iris' hand went to her mouth, eyes falling to the ground in grief while her father stepped in:
''I refuse to believe there's nothing we can do. We can't just stand there and wait! We can't let him suffer like that, we need to make his pain stop.''
Barry was in pure agony, had been for too long already, they couldn't let him endure all of this for the whole night without doing a thing except wait for him to die.
Caitlin uncomfortably shifted her weight from one leg to another: ''There might be a way…to stop his suffering now…but…''
The doctor stopped, biting her lips, her eyes refusing to meet anyone else's glance.
''Anything!'' Instantly answered Joe, without missing a beat.
''We could…stop his heart.''
Let's get this debate started; should they put Barry out of his misery?