Cisco

November 25th, 2018

The day after the pink fiasco, Cisco woke up to a frantic call from Iris. She was almost incoherent as she relayed information to him. At best he got "Spellcaster nonsense" and a lot of swearing. Apparently, she couldn't get a hold of Caitlin so she wanted him to. In the background he heard Ralph yelling with Barry over a lot of….was that squeaking?

"What the fuck are these things?" he heard Ralph call.

"Cisco, gotta go," Iris said. "Get Caitlin. Fast." Then the line went dead and Cisco just stared at the phone for a moment. He tried to dial Caitlin's number but it kept on going directly to voicemail. He thought she's fixed that. In frustration he opened a breach and stepped into her apartment.

"Caitlin!" he called. No answer. He made his way through the apartment, calling her name again. He heard a thump in her bedroom. "I'm coming in!" he called and then opened the door. Caitlin had been sitting in the corner but the moment he had opened the door she popped up, wand ready. "Whoa! Don't shoot!" he called, jumping to the side and holding his hand up.

"Cisco, you startled me," she said.

"Why aren't you answering your phone?" he asked. "We've got a major magical situation...I think."

"You think?" she asked.

"Iris wasn't exactly clear on the details and it was very loud on their end," he said. Is there a magical creature that squeaks? A lot?" She thought for a moment.

"Gerblies," she said.

"I don't remember learning about those, what are they?" he asked.

"Basically little gerbil rats with cheeks like Pikachu minus the electricity," she said. "They also multiply every time you hit them with anything. You'd need to majorly lower the temperature to slow their movements. The original has to stretch it's resources to maintain so many bodies and it takes a lot of energy to do that. Cold lowers the amount of energy and make is to they can't maintain multiples for long. It weaken their bond."

"Perfect," he said. "Let's go." She looked hesitant. "What?" he asked.

"I mean, gerblies are pretty harmless," she said. "You don't really need me. Just use the thermostat and don't left them sit on your face."

"You're not going to help?" he asked. She shook her head. He opened his mouth to respond but she stopped him.

"I'm not coming Cisco," she said. "Don't waste time on me. Go help the team." After a moment he relented and opened another breach, casting her a last glance as he stepped through. Then the calm of the apartment melted into utter chaos.

"What the hell?" he said upon entering the cortex. Caitlin was spot on with the description. The gerblies were running everywhere, they were bouncing like fleas and multiplying just as fast. He could barely take a step.

"Cisco! Where's Caitlin?" Iris called.

"Not coming!" he replied. "But don't worry, I know what to do."

"What?" Ralph asked.

"We need to make it really cold in here, we have to get to the thermostat," he said.

"Can't we access the temp from the computers?" Iris asked. Barry was already looking for the controls.

"Yeah," he said. "Barry's got it," he yelled, looking over his friend's shoulder.

"How cold do we have to make it?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, and can we survive it?" Ralph asked.

"Caitlin didn't say, she just said really cold," he told them.

"Okay then," Barry said, blasting the AC. "I hope this works."

"Why didn't she come?" Iris asked as soon as it was turned on.

"I don't know and I didn't have time to ask," he said. "I'll figure it out later."

"Guys, I don't think it's working," Ralph said.

"We just turned down the temp," Barry said. "GIve it a second."

"Is it just me or are there more of these things around or feet?" Ralph asked.

"Not just you," Iris said.

"They must be trying to hold onto our body heat," Cisco said.

"Uh, guys," Barry said. Three heads turned back to their friend at the monitor in time to see gerblies climbing up his legs.

"Body heat that Barry give off a lot of," Cisco added.

"Are these things dangerous?" Iris asked.

"I don't think so, Caitlin just said not to let them sit on your face," he told them.

"Probably because they can cause suffocation!" Barry said as they climbed higher. He was craning his neck away from them.

"Cisco, get her here now!" Iris ordered, shaking gerblies off her feet. One flew off and hit the ground. Splitting into two. He nodded and breach back to her apartment. Luckily, no gerblies followed him.

"Caitlin!" he called, pounding on her bedroom door. "The gerblies are revolting! They are going to suffocate Barry and then the rest of us!" The door flew open.

"What?" she asked. "The cold should have worked!"

"They went after our body heat!" she exclaimed.

"The temp must not have been enough to weaken the bond," she said.

"It's on full blast," he told her. "We either need a cold gun or a spell and we don't have a cold gun anymore." Caitlin looked pained. "Seriously! What's wrong with you?"
"I'm not any good at this Cisco!" she exclaimed. "Yesterday my spell ricocheted and another didn't even work on Iris! I was worried that I was coming down with a cold but that's not the case I checked. I can't blame my magical flaws on mortal means. It's just me."

"Caitlin, it was one off day of one spell," he said. "You were fine every other time you used a spell, when it counted you were amazing."

"Yeah but if I can't even make a simple color spell work properly, what could happen if I used a more dangerous spell?" she asked. "If I mess up the cold spell I could end up freezing someone solid! I'm not exactly Killer Frost right now, I don't know what I'm doing."

"Look, Caitlin, this whole thing is my fault," he said. "I opened the stupid breach to the Spellcaster Realm and forced you to reveal yourself and that's not fair to you but it is the way it is. I feel awful for putting all of this pressure on you and being a screw up yet again but goddammit Caitlin Snow I believe in you. I don't care that you're only a level three or that you've been living in the mortal world for twenty years. I trust you with my life. So, please, save our friends. Only you can."

"Cisco, this isn't your fault. You were just trying to help the team. You didn't know that you would open a breach to the Spellcaster Realm. Plus, this could have happened anyway. IT may have even happened somewhere where there wasn't a spellcaster an people to take care of it," she told him. "But you're right. This is my world. They both are. I can't start doubting myself now."

"So you ready?" he asked. Caitlin nodded and grabbed her wand off the bed.

"Let's do this," she told him as they jumped back into the chaos at STAR Labs. Iris was standing on a chair, Ralph was beating the gerblies back with a bat (even though that was actually making things worse) while Barry kept on trying to pull as many off of himself as he could.

"Caitlin! Do something!" Iris called.

"Eezref!" she called, thrusting her wand forwards. The temperature in the room instantly dropped. Cisco started shivering, he saw Iris do the same. The gerblies began to slow their movements and eventually began to fall from the people they clung to. Then, one by one, the gerblies disappeared until there was only one left. It tried to run away but Caitlin caught it, tossed it up in the air, aimed her wand and yelled "runert!" The gerblie disappeared mid air.

"What was that spell?" Iris asked.

"I sent it back home," Caitlin responded. "I'm sorry I was late."

"It's okay, you're here now," Iris told her.

"Yeah, see, you didn't need absolute power to get rid of them, you know what you're

doing," Cisco told her.

"Thanks Cisco," she told him and they shared a side hug.

"Did we miss something?" Ralph asked.

"I was a little unsure of myself after my screw ups yesterday but I Cisco helped set me

straight," she said.

"Caitlin, yesterday wasn't a big deal," Barry said. "No one is perfect and you really came through for us today."

"As long as my spells keep working," she said. She acted like she was joking but Cisco wasn't so sure that she was entirely. Clearly Iris wasn't either.

"Cait, it was one spell," she said. "Everyone here had missteps as they learned to control their powers, they still do. Just because one spell doesn't work one time doesn't mean that it's going to be a pattern. Today you were great, all you had to do was believe on yourself. The only thing stopping you is you."

"Actually, I think the thing stopping her is me," a voice said. Five heads whipped around.

"Who are you?" Caitlin asked, wand raised.

"Cassandra Belda," she said. "I understand you've been harassing my gerblie."

"You're gerblie tried to kill us," Iris said.

"Mason wouldn't have multiplied if he hadn't been hit first," she said. "That's the problem with you mortals, always acting without thinking."

"Like you're so perfect," Barry said glowering.

"Why are you here?" Caitlin asked. "Are you the one who has been sending all of those creatures to attack me?" Cassandra laughed.

"I am one of the people responsible for the creatures, yes, but they were not meant for you," she said. "Granted, you were an unexpected kink in the chain but I'm here to take care of that." She raised her wand.

"Dilesh!" Caitlin called right as Cassandra shouted "Rinda!"

Cassandra's spell collided with a flat, circular shape of light extending from Caitlin's wand.

"Get back!" Caitlin called through gritted teeth. "She's a higher level than me." She looked like she was barely holding on. Just as it looked like Caitlin was about to give out, Barry, apparently recovered from shock, sped forwards and tackled the enemy spellcaster to the ground.

"Run," he said to the team as Cassandra started to get up. Barry moved to run the others to safety but Cassandra kicked his feet out from under his and he went down.

"Ite!" Caitlin called, aimind for Cassandra.

"Lkcob!" the other caster responded, Caitlin's spell fizzled out half way. Cassandra then followed up with "Falkyb!" When the spell collided with Caitlin she flew back and hit the wall. When she fell she was in too much pain to stand. At this point, Barry tried to get up but she casted another spell and he fell down again. Every time he tried to stand the same thing happened, like she zapped away his coordination. Cisco tried to blast her but she simply blocked the attack, it wasn't completely ineffective but she effectively braced herself against it and Cisco didn't have the energy to keep it up.

"I'll take care of the little level three in a minute," Cassandra said. "But I think the over enthusiastic mortal deserves some attention first. Bye bye." She pointed her wand at Barry who was still falling over repeatedly. He tried to scramble away by moving along the floor while Caitlin tried to reach her wand which had flown from her hand.

"Pohroan!" she called. Cisco gasped, recognizing the spell from Caitlin's lessons. This would not end well. Clearly Iris recognized it too because she was already moving.

"No!" she shouted and threw herself in front of her husband. The spell collided with her moments before Barry would have been hit. The silence was deafening.