Only Because I Need You Too

Chapter 24: Summation

Caitlin sat back into her seat at the cortex. Having deemed that small isolated computer her favourite, she had not yet attended a Team Flash meeting without sitting there. The cortex didn't feel right is she didn't have her tiny little computer desk. Bones's flies were ordered into a neat pile in front of her. The teams' blank eyes stared at her expectantly. Blowing out a hot huff of air, she admitted, "there is nothing I can do to keep Charles alive unless I were to do surgery at speeds quicker than four seconds. Even if I could do that, because there is a chance I could, Bones had his heart destroyed. His brain is severely damaged and there would be nothing much I could do to keep him alive after that." The room around her was deadly silent. Meeting Ethan's mismatched eyes, he sent her a gentle nod.

"What can we do for him?" Barry asked. His voice was small and fragile, it barely filled the room.

"We can call his family and have them by his side when we put Medusa in meta dampening cuffs, because only then will he be broken out of that stone prison." Caitlin informed them. Her own voice felt weak, the heat of her breath tickled the back of her throat. Barry's gaze fell gently to the floor. Swallowing hard, Caitlin pinched the bridge of her nose. It wasn't pleasant, but it was the best she could do. Cursing herself internally, she felt like an idiot. Of course she could perform the transplant at speed with the help of Dawn, but she had no experience in the speedforce. Either she messed up or couldn't maintain her stamina during the procedure and Bones would be dead in seconds without even being able to see his family. Not to mention that Caitlin hadn't seen or done a transplant like that in a few years. Never mind how difficult it would be to remove a heart as damaged at Bones's. Taking all of that into consideration, along side the massive amount of damage the stone spike left in his other organs and abdomen as well as the brain damage, Caitlin knew there was no possible way that Bones would survive.

An alarm shrieked suddenly, jolting Caitlin back into her body. Cisco furrowed his brows and rolled on his chair over to the main desk. After a few short seconds he announced, "whoah, Okay, I am getting a massive heat signature on the outskirts of town in the old gasoline factory." He told them.

"How big?" Barry questioned him.

Caitlin flicked onto the heat scan of the city, her heart leapt into her mouth. The map showed the heat signature from above, the white hot centre being the factory, but the heat was visible for miles round. "The kind of big that means we need to get involved." Caitlin frowned down at the image. Ethan peered over her shoulder, his wide eyes met hers. "And soon." She added.

*

Ethan ran a hand down the back of his black cowl. The Flash and Excess were also by his side, both of them glanced around the empty, cold space around them. The old gasoline warehouse was completely empty and free from flames. The dim lighting made it almost difficult to see the flimsy catwalk above them. Puddles of water rested evenly on the cracked concrete and every move the speedsters made echoed around the cavernous room. "Cisco, there is nothing here." Barry pressed his fingers to his earpiece, his red suit glinted in the light. Excess ran a hand through her hair and caught the eyes of the Shadow Speedster. With a shrug from him, she stared at her father in wait.

"What do you mean nothing?" Cisco's voice crackled unevenly down the line.

"There is no fire. No warmth. No heat. If anything it's very cold." Barry told him. The speedster rocked back and forth on his feet. Ethan fought against the urge to do the same. The fire displayed on the infrared map of Central City had seemed so large that Cisco had deemed it to be worthy of the efforts of all three speedsters. Running a hand down his face, he glanced at his surroundings. Nora's lips were pursed, her hands placed firmly on her hips. If the heat sensors had been detecting heat, then what was it they were sensing?

"I don't understand, the sensors are still telling me there is a fire in that area." Cisco reassured his friend with a firm voice.

"I think we've been lured here on purpose." Ethan pressed his hands to his ear piece and spoke steadily into the mic. It made sense. Under what circumstances would the sensors just so happen to be so wrong to lead them to a place that was isolated, close to the woods and far from S.T.A.R. labs?

"We should go back." Nora added, crossing her arms over her chest. "For all we know the lab could be the real target." With a nod the three speedsters moved simultaneously to enter the speedforce. All of them froze. Nora stared down at her hands. "What the..."

Ethan swallowed hard. A sinking feeling submerged his gut. This feeling. An emptiness gripped him. He'd felt this feeling before. The sheer lack of energy. Images of being locked in a dark cavern with only rocks and Caitlin to entertain him flashed through his mind. They were trapped. "Something wrong?" A cold, cutting voice descended upon them from the catwalk. Ethan craned his neck upwards and narrowed his eyes. Every muscle in his body seized up. There were hundreds of rocky spikes looming high up in the rafters, just out of view in the darkness. "Feeling a little slow?" Her voice had a cheery ring.

"What's going on?" Caitlin's soft voice tickled in his ears.

"A power dampening field." Ethan hissed from behind clenched teeth. Medusa leaned over the edge of the catwalk, flashing them a smug grin. Pickle was by her side. His rocky daggers were aimed and ready to fire. "Eyes." Barry whispered under his breath. With that, Ethan snapped his eyes shut. Medusa and Pickle must have been out of range of the field high up there. The speedsters were nothing more than sitting ducks.

"Dad, what do we do?" Nora asked under her shaky breath.

"I... I don't know." Barry's voice was equally as weak. Ethan swallowed hard. He could feel his own heart pounding in his ears, his lungs pressing against his ribs.

"Say goodbye Flash. Tate will be free." Medusa snarled viciously from above.

The air ripped. Ethan's breath caught in his throat. There was a loud crackling. Smash. The temperature dropped. Fragments of something cold and wet flew past his face. Barry and Nora murmured something to each other gently. Peeling one eye open, he glanced timidly forwards. Blue and white grasped his attention. Snapping eyes fully open, his breath caught in his throat. In front of him was a large, shiny wall that twinkled under the light and let out a steady trail of steam. Nora and Barry also braved opening their eyes. Tiny peaks of the stone spears poked through the cracking crystalline wall. Nora's eyes were wide and watery as she muttered under her breath, "ice."