Zero hour

Warning

The occasional walls' creaking and the shifting of two sleeping forms on the bed were the only sounds being heard in the silent West-Allen loft unless you were to count the wind whistling through the partly opened bedroom's window. Everything was back to normal, finally; and the husband and wife duo had sure earned a well-deserved rest after defeating Devoe. It was over; Devoe was gone, Ralph was back and Joe had brought Cecile and the baby to the hospital for a complete check-up. For the first time in, well, forever since Barry got hit by lightning, the team was free of all threat looming over their heads. The whole situation seemed too good to be true, especially considering how everything had almost instantly fallen apart right after defeating Reverse Flash, Zoom or Savitar. Now, nothing. Nobody died or was forced to sacrifice themselves and the sky wasn't opening up and falling down on them.

"Barry?" Whispered Iris' voice to her husband who, still half-asleep, groaned and turned over on his right side, efficiently turning his back on her. He earned that sleep and wasn't going to let anyone steal it from him.

"Barry?" Repeated the woman, insistently, while strong shaking the hero's shoulder, "I think I heard something downstairs."

Still strongly draw by the sweet temptation of going back to his well-earned rest, Barry mumbled something incomprehensible 'til a loud thump from downstairs, like something pretty heavy fell on the floor, came to his ears and jostled him awake. Quickly prompting himself into a seated position, Barry's eyes darted around with all of his sense on high alert. Yeah, someone, or something, was definitely in their home. Pushing the sheet off his loose blue pyjama pants and shirtless chest, he jumped on the floor, "stay here," he requested to his wife before heading toward the door.

As he made his way out of the room and walked toward the stairs, he heard steps closely following him. Of course, Iris wasn't going to listen... but at least it sounded like she was keeping a safe distance and willing to let the hero do his job. Midway in the staircase, Barry stopped as his eyes finally spotted the intruder; a small looking man heavily leaning against the table as he was obviously struggling to stay on his feet. The trespasser was wearing a sleeveless hoodie with the top half of it, and the hood, being a striking yellow while the bottom part was red while the two sections were separated by a black line. Over it, the man was wearing a black sleeveless jacket with a red outline and with square relief on it, kind of what Cisco's jacket had. It was completed with black leather pants with a red line going down on both legs. Despite never having seen that outfit before, the design of it was fairly familiar, just like the small silhouette of the man with black, medium long and curly hair. That or the black and red mid-fingers gauntlets. As soon as the intruder started straightening himself up and rose his head, allowing his audience to see his red goggles with broken yellow lenses and his features underneath it, Barry gasped loudly.

"Cisco!" He exclaimed, getting to his friend's side so fast and with so much anguish he wasn't even sure if he used his superspeed or not, "what's wrong, man?"

If Cisco's struggles to stay on his feet wasn't a clear enough indication that something was terribly wrong; his bruised face, displaced and bleeding nose, and badly swollen left eye were there to confirm it.

Putting his friend's right arm around his own shoulders, Barry helped the man get back some sense of balance. Except, the instant he jostled his friend the slightest, Cisco's cried out in pain and his left arm let go of his grab on the table to go press hard against his side. Cisco's movement shifted the black jacket just enough for Barry to see the blood stain underneath it and he gasped a second time, louder than the first if that was even possible.

"Hang on, man, we'll get you help," urgently said the speedster.

"Jay... help," the breacher mouthed difficulty as he suppressed another yell of pain, making Barry frown in confusion. Jay? As in, Jay Garrick? What the hell happened since he last saw Cisco, just a few hours ago?