Zero hour

Got you

One quick push of the lowest button of the controller, the one Polly had been holding since she escorted her newly acquired speedster to his old friends for their execution, was the signal Barry had been waiting for. Yellow lightning and sparkles flashed all around his body for half a second before he took off and disappeared alongside the unmoving form of the person who used to be his best friend. Doing so, he left Caitlin on her own in the testing room and on her knees. No matter how bad things got, especially in the last couple of years, she always found comfort knowing she had her friends by her side, but now? She might not be physically alone since her captors were still in the room with her, but she never felt so lonely in her entire life.

Burying her head in her hands, the doctor let herself break down and cry, wishing she was dead too.

"Take her to the research lab," Polly coldly ordered.

That cold-hearted woman wasn't going to allow a single minute of this twenty-four hours deadline to be spent crying and grieving.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

"Good job, Ralph," greeted Joe as the stretchy hero walked back into the lab after a job well done.

"Meh, it was just a bunch of common bank robbers. It wasn't a problem to deal with them," dismissed Ralph Dibny while walking to the closest chair he could find, behind the computers, sitting on it and placing his feet on the table with his usual calm demeanour.

"Them, plus the ones from this morning and the runaway car yesterday," Iris reminded him, "you're keeping busy."

"Didn't realize you were keeping score," proudly said Ralph, literally pumping his chest. "You should probably go get your old job back at the newspapers now to ensure I have the front-page tomorrow morning."

Putting back his feet on the ground, Ralph turned his chair slightly on itself to get a better view at Joe, frowning, "shouldn't you be back home with Cecile and your daughter? It's getting late."

"Criminals seem to slowly realize the Flash hasn't been showing up in the last couple of days," Joe opted to say while scrubbing his bear, instead of answering the question, "it's been a while since they left."

"We haven't heard anything, yet," confirmed Iris to answer her dad's silent question of her dad. The detective's worry was, no doubt, the real reason why he came by the lab before going home and nobody could blame him for that.

No matter how confident they all were in the team's ability to overcome dangerous situations, it would be a lie to say the prolonged absence wasn't concerning.

"It shouldn't be taking this long... We should've heard something by now," said Joe, stating the obvious and causing his daughter to get closer and take her father in a robust and warm hug.

"They're strong, they'll be back," she told him even if she barely believed it herself. When Barry's life was a stake, it was difficult to stay calm and rational, but they had to be.

"If they're not back by tomorrow, I'll get there myself and bring them back," said Ralph, dead seriously with his features becoming tense and determined.

You know the time for games was over when even Ralph Dibny would stop messing around and start to mean business.

"And how exactly are you planning to go on Earth 3 without breaching powers or super speed?" Inquired Iris, "and once there, how do you expect to find them?"

Going blind in this mess could easily be one of the reasons why the team had somehow found themselves stuck.

Half insulted, the P.I. tightly crossed his arms on his chest and moved his nose, "there's no mystery this Ralphy boy can't solve."