Hello again! Sorry for the slight lateness of the update-we're here now, though, and with 150% more Cisco!
Enjoy!
"Cisco?" Iris said. While the man in front of her was struggling to right himself, she couldn't bring herself to move forward and help him. She was rooted to the spot, gaping.
He looked up, and yes, it was undoubtedly Cisco, with that long black hair and the t-shirt reading "Keep Calm and Log Out." He swayed on the spot, unfocused eyes meeting hers. "Iris? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me, it's…oh, God." Her mind was spinning out of control, her hand now sweaty on Caitlin's phone. Cisco wobbled again, and this time she rushed forward to catch him.
"Just a little woozy," he mumbled. "Just need a second to sit…time jumps…nasty."
"How are you alive?" Iris blurted out as they both sat heavily on a large piece of driftwood. Then she shook her head, trying to clear it. "Wait, did you say time jump?"
"Did you just ask me how I'm alive?" Cisco's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, that can't be good."
"You died," Iris said breathlessly. "Caitlin said you were dead."
Cisco blinked, then groaned and put his face in his hands. "Of all the alternate timelines to end up in, of course we end up in the one I've been dreaming about."
"Alright," Iris said, "you're going to have to start explaining. And quickly. Please."
"Barry's time jump," Cisco said, then he jerked his head up. "Wait. You don't know about...about Barry? Yet?"
"If I didn't, you're doing a lousy job of covering it up," Iris said. "But yes. Barry told me. Right before he..." She swallowed.
"Oh," Cisco said. "Oh! You think he died! Man, is this trippy. A whole alternate universe, a whole world Barry created..." And, finally, he caught sight of the ruined buildings, the decimated beach. "Also not great."
"Cisco."
"Right. Well, Barry didn't die that day on the beach. He ran so fast he actually went back in time, disappeared right from this timeline into a new one." He snapped his fingers. "In doing so he opened up just a slight tear in reality, like this..." He motioned at the shimmering patch he had fallen from.
The whole thing seemed wildly impossible to her, but she nodded. "Okay, so he ended up in your timeline," Iris said. "Why are you in this one now?"
"See, there we were, weeks later, minding our own business in STAR, and suddenly this big tear opens behind Barry and he disappears. Caitlin and I ran some tests on the area, and with Professor Stein's help we managed to isolate the source of the energy." By now, his hands were waving wildly, excitedly. "We deduced that something, or someone, managed to isolate Barry's energy signature created when he crossed timelines and sucked him back into the one he'd come from."
"Wells," Iris said quietly. "Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash. He's been missing since the tidal wave."
"Yeah, we'd just managed to capture Dr. Wells ourselves," Cisco said grimly. "Which is why this was such unfortunate timing."
"And you?" Iris said. "You found a way to come through as well?"
"I'm kind of a genius," Cisco said, tapping the side of his head. He paused. "Also, Dr. Wells might have given us some hints as to how to get through." He looked down at the large round imprint in the sound. "He suggested I build a stabilizing device, which it looks like the Wells here also had. Wells in our timeline kept rambling on about the risks of time sickness, which is a terrible name if you ask me."
"What about Caitlin? Professor Stein?" Iris asked, her heart sinking. Not that she doubted Cisco's usefulness, but if he was the only one to cross through the breach, they were going to be hard-pressed to stop Wells.
"They had to stay behind to monitor the breach and keep an eye on Wells," Cisco explained. "Besides," he added in a low voice. "I had my suspicions about this timeline, and my...unfortunately dramatic demise, so I figured it would be easier for me. Time would get much weirder with two Caitlins running around at the same moment."
"I'm not sure that would be a problem," Iris said, presenting Caitlin's phone. "I just found this. I think she's been taken by Wells. Maybe at the same time he captured Barry."
"Crap." In Iris' opinion, the word seemed wildly insufficient for the situation. "How long ago?"
"I have no idea," Iris said. "I've been trying to call her, but I found this right before you arrived."
"If Wells wants Barry for the same reason as back home, they'll be at STAR," Cisco said. "Listen, I'm sure Caitlin's fine for now. But we need to get there. Fast. I'll explain on the way."
Caitlin leaned her forehead against the cool glass as another shiver passed through her. The cooling system had not relented, and her breath steamed out with each exhale. She'd stuffed her hands inside of her coat pockets, but even then she could feel them growing numb.
Down the pipeline, she watched Barry throw himself again and again against the walls of his cell. She was right about containment: it wasn't good for him. Ever since Wells had explained about the alternate timelines, about his plan, Barry had been relentless in his attempts to escape. But it was no good. She knew it as well as she did.
She wished he would stop.
"Barry!" she shouted. "Barry, calm down!"
It was near impossible for him to hear her across the chasm, but something made him pause. He leaned against the glass, panting, and angled his head to look at her. From her spot on the floor of her cell, she attempted a smile, but she knew he couldn't see it. Not from this distance.
She saw his mouth moving, yelling something to her, but that, too, was drowned out by the hum of the pipeline and the hiss of cold air in her cell. She shivered violently and watched him yell, watched him make desperate promises into thin air.
Frost was beginning to build around the edges of the glass.
"Okay, this is weird," Cisco said. "This is really, really weird."
They stepped into his apartment. Iris moved straight for the computer, while Cisco lingered in the doorway, holding up his hands like he was worried the place might collapse around them at any instant.
"I mean, it's trippy, right? This is my apartment, but from alternate timeline me...but my key still works in the door. It's the same exact apartment, but...this isn't at all freaking you out?"
"You said you needed to stop for your computer," Iris said. "So let's get it and get out of here."
"Right," Cisco said. "That laptop there. We'll need it."
Iris shoved the laptop into a bag as Cisco sat down at one of his desktop computers and booted it up.
"I'm going to try and hack into STAR," he said. "Try and get a lay of the land. Get an idea of what Wells is up to."
"Won't he be able to tell if you're hacking?"
"Not if I'm as good as I've been led to believe I am," Cisco said with a wink.
On the screen he typed in some complicated code, way beyond anything Iris had learned in her high school computer science classes, and within seconds he'd pulled up a series of video feeds from within STAR labs. They were grainy and dark—as Iris remembered, Caitlin had kept most of the lights off when she'd been there alone. She leaned over Cisco's shoulder and searched each box, looking for some kind of life.
"Wells," Cisco said instantly, pointing to one of the cameras that displayed the med bay of STAR. Wells was there, fiddling with something too small to see. He held it up to the light, and Iris squinted. "What is that?"
Cisco shrugged, but pointed to another screen. "Look."
Iris looked to where he was pointing, and her heart dropped. It was one of the video feeds from what looked like a padded cell, a cramped space no more than a few feet wide in each direction. Inside, unmistakably, was Barry.
"What is this?" she asked. "Where is he?"
"Metahuman prisons," Cisco explained, fingers flying across the keyboard. "We developed them from the power cells in the pipeline. Rigged them out so they would dampen meta powers. Or, at least, not allow them to use their powers for escape."
"In other words, the perfect place to keep Barry captive," Iris said, chewing on a fingernail. "We can get him out, though, right? Can't you do something from here?"
"Wells has reconfigured the locking mechanism," Cisco said. "I can't access it. I'd have to go in manually and mess with the circuitry. I'm not sure exactly what he's done with it, but I suspect that only he is able to open it right now."
"Okay, so we create a diversion," Iris said. "We go in, distract Wells, and you get Barry free."
"You make it sound so easy," Cisco teased. "Like we're not going to be distracting a psychopathic killer from the future. With super speed."
"No," Iris said, the idea dawning on her. "It won't be easy, but we do have an advantage. In this world, Wells killed you. He has no idea you're here...he has no idea that you would be sneaking into STAR. A complete element of surprise."
"Hm." Cisco tapped at the keyboard idly, considering this. "You're right. But that would put you in Wells' line of fire. I don't think any of us want to take that risk."
"What about me?" Iris said. "What if I want to take that risk?"
"I..."
But he was silenced by Iris' hand on his shoulder. Another video feed, a few slots down from the one showing Barry, had caught her attention, and she dug her nails into Cisco's shoulder.
"Caitlin," she breathed.
It took Cisco only another second to see what she was seeing. "Crap," he said, and, again, understatement.
Caitlin sat in her own containment cell, curled up with her knees to her chest, head pressed up against the glass separating her from the outside world. Even through the grainy video feed, Iris could see that Caitlin's breath was puffing out in visible bursts.
"Wells trapped her, too," Iris said. "Am I wrong in thinking that she's freezing?"
"He may be using her as bait for Barry," Cisco said. "You know, in order to make sure Barry does what he wants. That's why he hasn't killed her yet."
"Yet," Iris said, her eyes drilling into the video feed. "Cisco, we need to go. Now."
"I'm totally with you," Cisco said. "And I think I have a plan. You have my laptop?"
Thanks for reading! As always, please leave a comment on your way out. I love reading all of your theories and speculations and whatnot (even if I'm terrible at replying to them!).
Till next time,
Penn