Vera Pyra (The Flash) (Book One)

Chapter 15__Fallout

The explosion ended. 

Everything ended.

The fire, everything.

All there was left was smoke so thick that I couldn't see anything around me.

"Vera?" Wells asked. "Barry, what happened out there?"

"Are you guys okay?" Cisco asked.

From this distance, I couldn't hear Barry and Caitlin, but I could hear them through the suit.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked.

"I think so," Caitlin answered.

"Vera?" Barry asked worriedly. "Vera!"

"I'm good," I told them.

"What about Ronnie and Professor Stein?" Caitlin asked.

"I don't know," I told them, looking around through the smoke. "I can't see anything. The smoke's too thick."

"Oh, God," Caitlin told us. "There's no telling how much radiation we were exposed to."

"Wait, wait," Cisco told us. "This can't be. The Geiger counters in the suits, they're reading less than one millirad."

"But that's normal," Barry told us.

"There's no radiation," Wells told us. 

"Let's go," Barry told us.

I looked around. "Wait. The smoke's starting to clear out."

"Did it work?" Cisco asked. "Did you separate them?" 

I walked through the smoke, finding Ronnie laying on the ground in tattered clothing. "Ronnie?" I looked around, seeing Stein laying on the ground. "And Stein. It worked. They're separated." Ronnie and Stein started to move. "And alive."

Cisco whooped in relief.

Barry and Caitlin walked through the smoke toward us. 

Caitlin knelt next to Ronnie. 

Ronnie smiled. "Cait." Ronnie and Caitlin kissed in relief. "It's me."

I smiled, helping Stein stand.

"Uh, pardon me," Stein told us. "Obviously, I need a change of clothes."

"Nice to see you in the flesh again, Professor Stein," Barry told him.

Caitlin helped Ronnie stand.

I smiled. "We're coming home. All of us."

~

We walked into STAR Labs, into the corridor outside of the elevator.

Cisco walked closer, smiling. "Ronnie Raymond."

Ronnie smiled. "Cisco."

Ronnie and Cisco hugged.

Cisco chuckled in relief. "I missed you so much, man." They pulled away. "I shouldn't have locked you in there."

"Hey, don't," Ronnie told him. 

Wells rolled closer. "Welcome back, Mr. Raymond."

"Dr. Wells," Ronnie told him. "Caitlin told me what happened to you." He shook Wells' hand. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm responsible for putting myself in this chair," Wells told him. "You are responsible for my still being alive. Thank you."

"You said you'd bring him back and you did," Caitlin told him. "Thank you."