Cisco wished he could say that he moved right away, rushed bravely towards the sound of the scream to save the day. But, well, it wouldn't be true.

The second that the sound reached his ears, the engineer froze, his whole body tensing. After what he had just gone through, he figured it was only right to be a little skeptical, to question whether what he had heard was really who he thought it was or something else playing a trick on him – especially when it was accompanied by the sound of a harsh banging. But when he heard the scream echoing down the hallway for the second time, he felt a pang of guilt course through him for ignoring it the first time.

It was Caitlin.

That time, no one could stop him from taking off like a bat out of hell and running in the direction he thought it had come from, injured foot and aching side be damned.

"Caitlin!?" he called out, panic seeping into his voice, and for the first time regretted turning the lights off; it was quite difficult to keep track of where he was going off of the night vision camera alone. "Cait, where are you!?" By that point in time, the screaming had tapered off, and there a worrisome moment where he thought that something terrible had happened. But after what seemed like an eternity, he heard her shaky voice calling back to him.

"Cisco!" she screeched. He immediately turned down the corridor to his right – where he quite literally ran into her, their bodies colliding painfully and both falling to the floor. The doctor let out a startled "oof!" while Cisco groaned.

"Cisco!" he heard her repeat after a moment, and if he expected her to sound apologetic, or happy to see him, he was wrong. Her voice sounded terrified, and she jumped up quickly, hauling him to his feet seconds later. "Run!" she instructed, and didn't give him much time to follow orders before he was dazedly being dragged along with her.

"Why – what –?" he started to asked in a pant as they turned back down the hallway he had just come from, but she simply shook her head in a gesture of I'll explain later. He shut his mouth and continued to jog painfully after her. He couldn't say how long it was before Caitlin finally allowed them to come to a stop, both breathing heavily. The moment she let go of his arm, he slumped against the wall, using its support to take some weight off of his bad side.

It was another minute before he felt he could speak. "What happened?" he wheezed, and he was just able to make out her face in the darkness as her head whipped up, her eyes meeting his. She was still breathing rather heavily.

"I – there was – and they were pounding on the door and –"

"Whoa, whoa," Cisco interrupted. "Full sentences, Cait," he instructed gently. She nodded slightly, allowing herself to simply breathe for several seconds before continuing, thankfully making more sense the second time around.

"I – I picked up two figures on the thermal camera," she told him, her voice wobbly. "But Cisco, I – I couldn't see them, not with my own eyes, and they were so cold…" She trailed off and took a deep breath. "And then they came at me, and I locked myself in a room, but they just kept pounding on the door and – I didn't know what to do. But I found another door in the back that lead out to the hallway I found you in," she continued. "I just – panicked."

Cisco put a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright," he said, though clearly it was not. His stomach churned thinking about the experience he had had, but pushed his own fear aside for the time being. There were more pressing things to deal with. "Something happened to me too," he admitted to her. The doctor's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but Cisco cut her off before she could. "We can compare notes later. But right now, we need to find Barry and make sure he's alright. Do you know where he is?"

Caitlin shook her head. "We left the Cortex at the same time," she said, clearly working to get herself under control now. "I turned right, and he turned left. I think he might have been heading to the some of the lower floors, but I'm not sure. Can't we just call him?

Cisco let out a puff of air and shook his head. "No, the service is down. We're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way. I guess we just start heading down and see if we can figure out where he went." Caitlin nodded, and though he couldn't make out her features all that well, he could tell she was terrified, and he didn't blame her. But neither of them were going to abandon Barry, either. Cisco was the first to move, still using his camera to help navigate, heading towards where he believed the nearest flight of stairs was. Caitlin scurried after him, and after a few seconds of silence spoke up, her voice stronger than before.

"Are you limping?" she asked with concern, and Cisco sighed.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I kind of had to kick a door down. But I'll be fine," he was quick to say. The engineer could practically picture her unconvinced face before she even responded.

"I'm looking at that after we find Barry and get the hell out of here," she said, and he simply nodded, in no mood to argue with her. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"I think my side's bruised," he admitted. "I, ah, got hit with a table." Caitlin didn't push that issue, clearly sensing that it had something to do with whatever had happened to him while he was alone, but he was sure that he'd be getting a thorough exam later. One less thing to look forward to. The pair fell back into an uneasy silence, and thankfully soon reached the flight of stairs Cisco had been leading them towards. The two descended quickly but quietly, an unspoken agreement between them to try and draw as little attention as they could to the dark presences occupying the building. Cisco paused once he reached the bottom, and Caitlin nearly walked into him.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"Listening," he answered, his voice just as soft. He had been able to find Caitlin only by the copious amount of noise she had been making with her screams, but he didn't hear anything that signalled that Barry was nearby. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing, but it was a little disheartening. Without any audible cues to the speedster's whereabouts, it would definitely be harder to locate him. Especially since they didn't know for sure if he was even still on the lower levels.

"Let's just keep moving," Caitlin advised after several long, silent seconds, clearly uncomfortable with staying in one place for too long. She was not about to be a sitting duck. Cisco sighed and nodded; he couldn't blame her.

"I just wish we knew exactly what floor to look on," he muttered as they continued on their way, eyes once again focused on the night vision camera.

"I know," Caitlin replied, still keeping her voice quiet, as if not wanting to be overheard. "I'm really starting to regret splitting up. He doesn't even know where he's going," she added guiltily, and Cisco cringed. He hadn't really thought about that before suggesting this whole thing, but he probably should have.

"Damn it, you're right," he said regretfully. "But – I mean, he can handle himself, right? With his super speed and agility and all that."

"I don't know how well powers work against what we're dealing with, Cisco," she said, biting at her lip and purposefully avoiding flat-out speaking of what exactly it was they were dealing with.

"Well, I'm sure –" Cisco began after a moment, but cut himself off when him and Caitlin were hit by a strong gust of air, and a bright flash of light suddenly rushed through a hall perpendicularly connected to the one they were in. They both yelped, and for or a moment, Cisco was sure it was another angry spirit, but the details of what had just happened quickly connected in his brain once the initial shock faded. Caitlin seemed to realize at the exact same time as they shared a brief look.

"That was Barry!" the doctor got out, and it was all the motivation they needed to take off jogging the way he had gone. Cisco finally made out his figure through the night vision camera several minutes later, panting, badly shaking, and leaning against a wall for support.

"Barry!" Caitlin called, having picked up his presence through her own camera, which she dropped in favor of rushing towards him. All qualms about being too loud were pushed aside as she saw the state he was in. The speedster's head snapped up, and through the green-colored image on the camera screen, Cisco could see clear terror in his wide eyes. In the short time he had known the Barry, Cisco had watched the man fight multiple horrifying metahumans and come back just fine. Never had he looked as shaken as he did right now. He made no attempt to move as Cisco and Caitlin closed in on him, keeping his body pressed up against the wall.

"Dude, are you okay?" Cisco asked as they approached, and was quickly aware that it was probably the most stupid question in the history of stupid questions. Clearly, he was not.

Barry swallowed nervously, eyes shifting back and forth between his two friends as if not quite sure who to focus on. "I – Uhm, I…" he stuttered, but wasn't able to get much more out than that. Caitlin, her own fear shoved aside for the moment, was suddenly in full-on doctor mode.

"Hey, it's alright, Barry," she said in a clear attempt to comfort him, and Cisco wasn't sure how she had managed to make her voice sound so soothing. "Just take some deep breaths, okay? You're gonna be just fine. We're gonna get you out of here." She turned to Cisco then, getting close to his ear before whispering, "He's experiencing mild shock. We need to get out of here. Now."

Cisco didn't need to be told twice; he was fairly impressed that he was keeping himself as calm as he was. Whatever Barry had seen must have been ten times worse than him and Cait. The engineer nodded vigorously as Caitlin focused her attention back on Barry, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Come on," she said softly, looping her arm around his and starting to guide him away from the wall, back towards the flight of stairs they had come from not long ago; they could use them to get to the first floor and out the main entrance. Cisco followed quickly behind them, stopping only briefly to pick the thermal camera up from the floor before walking ahead to lead the way with his camera. He let out the biggest breath of relief when they made it down without further incident and out of the building, blinking against the light of the street lamps. The cool night air washing over his skin suddenly felt like the best thing in the world as opposed to the oppressing environment inside of STAR Labs. Barry apparently felt the same way. Cisco saw him take a deep breath as Caitlin rubbed gentle circles on his back, sticking close to his side. Some of the tension left his body, and his shaking was visibly calming down.

"Good, Barry, you're alright," Caitlin said encouragingly, though he could detect a bit of shakiness behind the comforting tone. She was still rattled herself; they all were.

Cisco watched with a bit of awkwardness, another standard are you alright? on the tip of his tongue. He bit the question back, knowing that the answer was still no – and that it probably would be for a while, for all of them. He cleared his throat after a minute or two, and both Caitlin and Barry turned slowly to look at them, weariness etched clearly into their faces. He was sure he looked the same.

"We should get out of here," he said. Being out of the building was great, but standing within several feet of it was even starting to feel uncomfortable. "I, uh, don't know about you guys, but I could go for hella caffeine at the moment. Jitters?" he asked, offering a weak smile. He figured coffee in a bright, semi-populated place would at the very least make them all feel a little more safe – and a little more normal. For several seconds, both of his friends were quiet, and he almost rescinded his offer.

"Yeah," Barry croaked finally, his voice rough, the first thing he had said since getting out of the complex. Caitlin offered a weak, tight smile of her own in response to Cisco's.

"Okay," she said quietly, nodding as well.

"Great," Cisco said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, which at the moment wasn't very much. "Jitters it is."