AN: Iris is visiting Wally, thus out of town for this. Can't seem to fix what ever the hell formatting this this website is doing. :/
The rush of air always accompanied Barry when he entered Star Labs, but that didn't mean Cisco was any more used to it now than when the speedster first began making that kind of entrance. He swallowed down the initial jolt as usual to focus in.
"Okay. So no meta activity. No breaches. No video footage anywhere, right?"
"Cisco, we just went over-"
"Wrong!"
"Wrong? You found something?"
"Oh, you could say that. You could say I found...the mothership."
"...Cisco, what does that mean?"
"Hey guys, we-"
"Perfect timing Caitlin!"
"Uh, you seem to be in a better mood?" Cisco gave a deep laugh that made Caitlin and Barry exchange a look of concern.
"Pull up a chair, I'm about to blow. Your. Mind."
"Cisco, can we just-"
"Up-bupbupbup, ssssh. Just, breath it in. This is the moment humanity has been waiting for. You see, all of these individuals have disappeared without a trace. How, we've been asking? And with no signatures left behind that we could find, no matter how I examine the satellite scans from the last known locations. But, what about scanning for other anomalies? Bam!" A map of the city pulled up on the screen, then minimized to show several more beside it. Each had various colored heat signatures displayed across the cities.
"What do you see?" Caitlin spotted it first,
"That white area...it's around each of the missing persons locations."
"And around the times. What does white mean? It's an absence of heat signature. For an average of two minutes in each of these spots, at each of these times, there was a small pocket of no heat at all. As if the area just...stopped existing."
"Okay, well that tells us-"
"I'm not done yet, Wells!" And he was getting more excited by the second,
"I thought to myself, this is just what we know of. So I ran a scan for more of these anomalies." With a tap of a few keys the maps on the screen multiplied.
"Jesus. How long has this been going on?"
"It's increased in frequency in the last month. Before that they were pretty scattered blips, spanning out since our first encounters with the multi-verse. Some even just outside of the city. I ran these times and locations to possible video footage, and just when it looked like nothing, found one hit."
Instead of explaining, a flurry of typing fingers put the video on screen. A cell-phone footage of a party just outside of the city, flashing lights and blaring beats, the candy-wearing and brightly painted youth jumping and dancing to the music.
"Woah, what was that?" The camera jumped up to show the tail end of a streaking bright light, following it to a landing in the nearby trees. The camera move to follow the glow, away from the crowd, a few people following.
"What was that?"
"A pretty cool effect." They moved closer, a brilliant white light shining through the trees. Within the light was movement, an impossibly tall humanoid figure, that seemed to look at them.
"Shit it's Slenderman!" The girl beside the camera holder screamed, and the figure and light both blinked out of existence.
Cisco let it sink in with a grin.
"This is the exact location and time of one of those indicators. Why are people disappearing without a trace? Beam me up Scottie!" They weren't sure what to say about that.
"So...you think it's aliens?" Wells wasn't convinced.
"Dude, you saw it yourself!"
"I mean...we deal with crazier stuff all the time. Why not Aliens?"
"Thank you, Caitlin."
"Let's assume it is, what are we going to do about these Alien abductions?"
"Oh. Right." That knocked the wind out of Cisco's sails. Back down to reality. Still a lot of missing people. Back to his maps.
"I mean, not all of these coincide with a disappearance. But I can set it up to alert us of the next one. They're usually here around two minutes. More than enough time for the Flash to get there."
Barry was about to respond when his phone rang, Joe flashing on the screen.
"Hold that thought. What's up Joe?" The three behind him kept discussing what this meant, what it didn't mean, what they could or should do.
"Hey Barry, do you know about a rambling old homeless guy that made a scene outside the precinct?"
"I may have dropped him off..."
"I thought so. You'd better get down here."
"What's up?"
"This is something you'll want to see for yourself." Joe hung up, leaving Barry to frown at the phone.
"Hey guys, I gotta go downtown. Somethings up with Joe. Great work, we'll figure this out."
"Yeah, of course-" the woosh cut Caitlin off.
"Hey Barry, Joe is waiting for you in his office."
"Thanks!" He went straight there, opening the door to find Joe sitting with the man from the park, who was shivering even though he was wrapped in a blanket. He looked up and jumped when he saw Barry.
"It's okay, it's okay. He's not going to take you anywhere." Joe soothed, Barry put up his hands to show he was unarmed and stayed by the door. No sudden movements.
"May I show him? " Joe motioned to the man's arm and got a defeated resignation. He gently moved the blanket, and the coat aside, to show the man's arm. A faded image of a Phoenix was stained on the wrinkled skin. Barry's heart sank.
"You're-" his mouth ran dry, he had to take a moment, "are you...Brandon?" Recognition flickered in those sunken eyes, of only for a second.
"They're thieves. Don't trust..." he felt the wind knock out of him, Joe's sympathetic gaze understanding why. Brandon's fiancé. His youth. His health. His life. His mind. His future. It had all been stolen away from him. What were they going to tell Susan? Who was waiting for them to bring home the man she loved? His legs felt week, Barry finding the free chair across from the desk slow enough not to startle.
"Brandon...who did this to you?" Brandon only whimpered, began to cry and rock back and forth. Joe resumed the conversation.
"It's okay, you're safe now. Please, if you can answer a few questions? I know it's difficult. You can just nod or shake your head. Where you were, were there others?" Brandon's brow furrowed, the rocking motion intensified. After a moment, he nodded.
"Okay. That's good. Very good. Did you get away?" Another, firmer nod. Barry spoke next,
"Could you help us find the others?" Brandon glanced up at Barry.
"Please, we want to save them too. We want to bring them home." Brandon stared Barry down, dull blue eyes brightening. He stopped rocking. He spoke in a forced voice, muddled by a painful rasp,
"They are home." The room felt chill, and then the light left his eyes. He began rocking again. Barry and Joe exchanged a glance.
"Okay Brandon. Thank you for answering our questions." Brandon continued to sob.
"Let's talk outside."
"Y-Yeah Joe. Of course."
Brandon quickly latched to Joes arm,
"No. Don't. It hurts."
"It's going to be okay. We'll be right outside that door." Joe gently regained his arm, and the two stepped outside.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Cisco thinks it's Aliens."
"Aliens?" Joes brows raised and forhead wrinkled, but he learned a while ago to shake his head and let the unusual sink in.
"You remember when we just had to worry about an average criminal?"
"Simpler times, Joe." Ages ago. Too long.
"Okay, so.. Aliens. Any plans? You think folksat Star Labs might be able to find some way to reverse this?"
"I mean, we can try. We've accomplished a lot-" a scream interupted their hushed exchange, and then a crash just as Joe reached the door handle. By the time they stumbled into the office, the window was already shattered and seat empty. They rushed to the broken glass, Barry hissing as the shards dug into his skin, but he was too late. Brandon lay on the pavement below.
"No..." It was a whisper, he didn't notice the sting of glass cutting into his skin anymore. It would heal. Into the Speedforce, he had enough time to notice an out of place detail before he ran down.
"Ice?" A tiny section of frost crystals had formed around the windows edges, quickly melting. He speed down to Brandon, checking for a pulse. The fall wasn't impossible, but no luck. No pulse.
"What happened to you?" He had to swallow the failure. Close the terrified eyes. Take a moment to breath.
"I promise you, I will find out. And make sure no one else ends up this way."
AN: i tend to keep chapters fairly short for quicker turn around time. :)