Short on Time

Chapter 45

"Hi babe," Barry said as he met me at the elevator.

"How did it go?" I asked.

Barry shrugged, "we usually take these guys down one at a time, not one-hundred at a time."

"And yet, you don't seem overwhelmed," I said.

"I know we can do it," Barry said.

"Guys. You have to come see this," Cisco said leading us to the Cortex.

"Cisco, what are you," Barry asked.

"Caitlin?" I asked as I ran to her and hugged her tightly. 

"She's in shock. A little dehydrated and malnourished, but I think she'll be fine," Henry told us.

"I'm okay," Caitlin said.

"What happened? How did you getaway?" Barry asked.

"He let me go. I didn't think he would; I thought it was a trap. But he told me you were dead," Caitlin said looking at Barry.

"I'm not. I'm right here. We're all here, together," Barry said as he gave her a hug.

"Snow," Harry said. "Jay's not here. You're safe."

"He's gonna overrun the city. You can't stop him," Caitlin said.

"Yes, we can," I told her gently.

"Listen to me, he's not going to succeed. We've got this. This is our Earth," Barry said when Caitlin didn't look convinced.

"You don't know that. You don't know what he is capable of," Caitlin said.

"I know from being in the Speed Force that the universe is with us, not Zoom. And if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose?" Barry said looking at us. "Right, guys?"

"Yeah, yeah, right," Cisco said.

"You've been through a lot. You should get some rest, come on," Barry said as we helped Caitlin stand up.

"You were in the Speed Force?" Caitlin asked.

"I was when you were gone. It's hard to explain, but we tried to get my powers back and when the dark matter lightning," Barry said as he helped Caitlin out.

"Okay, I'm gonna say it. Um, we don't think he's being just a little too," Cisco said.

"Overconfident," I sighed.

"Yeah, maybe it was his time in the Speed Force. I mean, he's acting like he's invincible now or something," Joe said.

"Yeah, like nothing fazes him anymore, which isn't," Iris said.

"Realistic, no. Somebody needs to talk to him before letting his guard down gets him hurt or worse," Harry said.

"He did bring me out of my coma. That's bound to make someone a little overly chipper," Jesse said.

"Well, like I said, somebody needs to talk to him," Harry said looking at me.

I gave him a look and then the computer went off, I ran to it and saw the news, "Mercury Labs. It's under attack."

I lifted the mic and made sure Barry would hear, "Barry! Tina at Mercury labs needs help!" 

"Going," Barry said as he ran in and then was gone. It was only a few minutes later when Barry returned with Tina in tow.

"Thank you, Mr. Allen," Barry looked at her shocked. "I'm not stupid."

"Boom," Cisco said.

"So how did you know?" Barry said.