Dark Flash

Where's Barry?

It was around 9:00 o'clock, and Iris came inside to hang out with the rest of her friends and family.

She quickly glanced at her phone, reading a text.

New Text Message from: Barry Allen 

~Hey Iris, I'm going to be out all night. Call me if you need anything.

"Huh," she thought to herself. "That's weird, he never does anything like that."

"What's up?" Joe asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.

"Well, Barry just texted saying he was going to be out all night."

"Honey, he probably just needs to clear his head. Just give him some time I mean, he's been through a lot," Joe said, trying to reassure Iris. She gave a quick smile, but could tell something was off. "I mean dad look at this, he didn't even say I love you."

Joe stared at the screen for a moment. "I don't know baby. You'll have to ask him tomorrow."

"You know," Cisco started, "I can't believe after everything we've been through, we've survived this long."

"Hey now!" Wally said, "Don't jinx it!"

"Oh damn, your right!" Cisco said. "Don't you like, knock on wood or something?" Before anyone could answer, he was already knocking on the coffee table, the floor, the mantle, anything that was made of wood. 

The conversation carried on like this, discussing who their least favorite villains were, and imagining what the world would throw at them next. That is at least, everyone but Caitlin. For some reason, she didn't seem all that social. She would chime in every now and then, but she seemed distracted. She stared out the window onto the dimly lit street. 

"So," Cisco said. "I think our next 'big bad' will be something unusual. Something we will not expect, but will also expect at the same time." He had a small sense of confusion, but also a sense of sureness.

"Since when can you predict the future?" Iris asked, laughing at the thought of how ridiculous this sounded.

"Well Mrs. West-Allen, you got any better ideas?" He asked. 

Even though he was kidding, a small part of Iris couldn't help but think, what if that is true? Maybe that's why Barry was being weird earlier on the phone?

Little did they know, that was exactly what was about to happen. Deep down, everyone knew what was about to come was possible, but nobody was prepared. Not in the slightest.  

Cisco was about to make another movie reference or something when he zoned out. And everyone knows what that means, Cisco is having another vibe.

{Inside the Vibe} It looked a basement of some sorts. It was empty, except for a table with restraints, and another one with a computer and lots of drawers. 

"Holy hell, where am I?" Cisco said, turning in circles. He kept looking around when out of the corner of his eye he saw out of the corner of his eye a bag hanging on a pipe from the ceiling. When he walked over and opened it, he saw Barry's suit.

"What the-" he began to ask himself when he heard someone coming. When he turned around, he saw a girl. She was of average height and looked a little dressed up. She had brown eyes and brown hair which was pulled back in a neat braid. 

She walked up to the table with the computer and pulled a tool out of the top drawer. It was a syringe. 

"What are you gonna do with that?" he said to himself.

Then, out of nowhere, she turned to him. "You shouldn't be here Vibe." After she said that, she walked up to him and placed her hand on his forehead.

Back in reality, Cisco was standing there, and then his nose began to bleed. He looked like he had a seizure, but he was standing.

"Cisco!" Iris screamed. "Caitlin, what's happening?"

"I- I don't know!" she said, snapping back to reality. She walked up to him and took his head in her hands. 

"Cisco! Cisco can you hear me? You need to snap out of it!" 

Then, it just stopped. He dropped to his knees and tried to catch his breath. Caitlin and Iris both took a step back. 

"Barry." He said. "It's Barry. Something's gonna happen."

"What?" Iris said. "What did you see?"

"It was dark, like a basement. It looked like an operating lab. His suit was hanging from the ceiling on a hanger. It was creepy." He said. He didn't want to say anything else, because he knew that they were gonna have to fight another 'big bad'. 

"But that doesn't explain what just happened to you. What else did you see?" Caitlin said.

"There was a woman. She seemed normal, but she could see me and communicate with me. She said I didn't belong there, and then she pushed me away and now I'm back here." Cisco said, rubbing his forehead.

"What does this mean?" Joe asked.

"Well whatever it is, Caitlin said, "It can't be good." 

Iris then walked a few steps, thinking about what just occured. "Guys, we need to find Barry and figure out what's going on."