Caitlin awoke with a start, the memories of the last night fading back into view of her mind. Barry! She screamed on the inside, she looked about, she was back on her side of the room, tucked nicely into the bed. She peered across the room, around the compilement of medical instruments to an empty bed, its covers strewn about it and the floor. She stood slowly, she still wore the same pajamas, she was still in the same room.
"Good Morning." Barry's voice interrupted Caitlin's groggy thoughts, she turned to the open doorway of the room and saw a daytime clothed Barry, mug in hand. He was leaning against the edge of the door way, mug filled hand extended toward her. "Coffee?"
"Hmm... Yes." She took it gratefully, sipping the warm liquid. "Thank you."
"Are you alright?" Barry stepped into the room.
"Yes, I'm alright. The real thing is are you alright?" Caitlin turned again toward him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Last night was... weird." He made a strange face, not knowing quiet how to word the event which had transpired.
"Weird? You died last night and all you have to say is weird?" Caitlin peered at him incredulously.
"Oh come on, I'm fine now."
"Barry. You died. There's no way around that, You died!" Caitlin exclaimed, she couldn't believe how Barry was so cool about this.
"Cait, I'm fine." Barry grasped her biceps, guiding her back to the bed behind her. "Really, I'm alright. There's no residual issue."
"And you're a Doctor." Caitlin stated sarcastically.
"Cait, It's over. I'm fine now."
Caitlin sighed, biting her lower lip, "I'm sorry Barry, but... last night was... different than any of the other times you almost died... or... did die." She looked up at him, "When you're out in the field, we have science and information from the problems you encounter that we can use to counter the issue. But in the speed lab... last night, I couldn't find out what's wrong. And it's... it's... it's scary, not knowing why you died."
Barry could feel the pain and worry in her voice as she said the words, he slid down beside her, holding her hand in between the two, "Caitlin, it'll be alright. We'll figure out what's going on."
"Hey! Guys, come down to the cortex." Cisco's voice rang out through the intercoms of the building.
"Alright, let's go." Barry helped Caitlin up and they left the little room.
"What is it, Cisco?" Caitlin asked as she and Barry entered the Cortex. Cisco stood over the main controls of the brain of the Laboratory building.
"Guys, I think I've figured out what happened to Barry during the speed lab exercise." He spoke earnestly, an almost childish smile across his face.
Barry looked at him expectantly, "Ok, what?"
"Back when we first found out Dr. Wells... the first Dr. Wells... was Thawne and a speedster and from the future... I installed special sensors all around and through the building for extra-normal frequencies and vibrations. That way we could catch a speedster trying to attack Star Labs before they got inside, we could sense another Black Siren before she blew the building up with a sonic scream!"
"Yeah? Aaand?"
"The moment Barry's speed just..."
"Died?" Caitlin suggested.
"Died... the sensors caught a frequency vibrating through the building, it was using the frequency of Tachyons." Cisco waved his hands about, pretending to makes the shapes of vibrations in the air.
"How is that even possible, what emits the frequency of something else like that?" Barry wondered aloud.
"I don't know." Cisco turned back to the computer monitors, "The reason it would be so hard is that Tachyons are specific particles able of moving and traveling faster than light. While a vibration doesn't need light, the fact that something was able to vibrate through the building, attacking the tachyons in your system by interrupting their constant state of flow... well, that's bad new bazinga." Cisco was now serious, "It could literally be anything or nothing."
"but, if the sensors caught the frequency, why didn't it just prevent the vibration from entering?" Caitlin asked suspiciously.
"If I programmed them to do that, every time Barry ran into Star Labs, he'd be killed instantly."
"Then how does the system protect from other speedsters?"
"The sensor program doesn't go off of extra-normal frequencies but personal frequencies, so... if Zoom were to try to run into Star Labs right now, he'd be repelled with the power of over a thousand Newtons of raw force." Cisco bent over the table again, clicking at the various keyboards. Barry slumped down in a chair nearby.
"So, it could literally happen at any moment, and right now, we have no way of protecting from another attack." He said what everyone seemed to be thinking.
"Maybe, maybe not. If I can customize the signal monitor-"
"Oh, I don't think so, Mr. Ramon!" A voice cut in through the speakers in the room.
"What?" Barry mouthed, jumping up from his chair.
"What the hell?" Cisco wondered aloud, staring in awe as the computer screens began glitching with strange assortments of color and shapes.
"You won't be customizing anything, for the New Vibe forbids!" The voice shouted into the coms.
Cisco looked up to Barry and Caitlin, "He's here."