Love Worth a Legacy

Chapter 7

Joe sat in the Cortex with Caitlin, Cisco, Harry, Julian, and Singh. Barry and Y/N were both sedated and in the med bay, healing, something they both needed to do desperately.

Y/N had taken a severe beating from Zoom, and though she had defeated him, the fight took its toll on her. Barry was still in rough shape from his last encounter with Zoom at the prison on Earth-Two.

Both speedsters needed time to recover, though recovering from seven months of torture would take a lot more than time.

Joe sighed, he had the whole team surrounding him as they all watched the two speedsters in the med bay from inside the Cortex. "What the hell happened to them?" he asked, his voice small.

Everyone was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say, truth be told, even they didn't know the full extent of what had happened to their heroes when they were kept prisoner by Zoom.

They could only imagine what horrible kinds of trauma they had been put through, maybe it would be best if they never knew, maybe they wouldn't be able to handle the true extent of the time Barry and Y/N spent with Zoom.

"They've been through hell," Julian spoke up. "As far as Caitlin and I can tell they have both been seriously deprived of their connection to the speed force," he explained.

"What does that mean?" Joe asked.

"It means that they aren't moving fastly," Caitlin explained.

Joe nodded, understanding what he was being told. "And how do we plan to help them?" he asked.

"They just need time in the med bay with the speed-enhancers we've given them to let their connection strengthen back to what it was before."

"Speed-enhancers?" Joe asked.

Caitlin nodded, "It's something Julian and I put into their IV drips, both Y/N and Barry were severely dehydrated and sleep-deprived, so we thought it best to sedate them and give them fluids to balance out their glucose levels as well since they haven't been eating well. That's when Julian came up with the idea to put positive tachyons into the mix, it's helping them reconnect with the speed force as we speak," she explained.

"How long will that take?" Cisco wondered.

"We aren't sure," Caitlin answered. "It could be hours, it could be days, or maybe even weeks," she added. "It's a matter of time..."

"Are they still healing fast?" Joe asked.

Julian shook his head, "Technically, yes, but they are barely healing faster than any non-metahuman at this point."

Singh stepped forward, "You guys keep talking about their physical injuries, have you ever thought about the emotional ones?" he questioned.

The team was silent, the truth was, they hadn't. They were more concerned with just bringing Barry and Y/N home, they had overlooked all of the possible ways that Zoom could have hurt them.

Singh sighed softly, "I've had guys on the force who have been captured for hours, days, weeks at a time. Just a couple hours cut off from the world nearly destroyed them. I'd hate to see what seven months would do to a person," he explained. "Not to mention seven months with such a personal enemy."

"We will deal with those problems if or when they occur," Harry chimed in. "Let's just handle what we know right now."

"Which isn't much," Cisco added. "Being able to talk to them to get some answers would be nice."

Julian shook his head, "Those two need their rest, they can answer our questions later."

"Someone needs to tell the press," Singh mentioned.

Joe turned to Singh, "Why?" he asked, his brows furrowed.

"The two speedsters that have been missing for seven months just came home," He told Joe. "The people of Central City have missed their heroes, they deserve answers."

Joe nodded, "And they'll get answers when both Barry and Y/N are feeling better, those two will tell Central City that they're back in their own way when they are good and ready. We can't push them to do anything they don't want to do."

Harry agreed with Joe, "As far as Central City is concerned, both of the Flashes are still missing. It's best that way, any attention drawn to them could also attract some of Zoom's more loyal followers."

Cisco nodded, "Well, Zoom is gone, that's that. I vote we choose to put all of our focus on Barry and Y/N, make them our number one priority."

"Maybe we shouldn't leave them alone," Caitlin suggested.

Julian nodded, "We have shifts scheduled to monitor their health-"

"No," Caitlin interrupted. "I mean once they're healed and want to go home, I don't think they should be all alone again so soon. They need to know that the whole team is here for them."

"I think they already know that," Harry cut in. "It might not be the worst thing if they spent a few days with you when they leave, Joe."

Joe nodded, "I'd be happy to have them stay at the house for a while," he offered. "Especially if it's to make sure that they're okay."

"We're here for them..."