Spidey & Speedy - Central City Rush

Chapter 3 - They Flutter Behind You, Your Possible Pasts

***BARRY***

If ever you consider jumping up the ruins of a former skyscraper and running headlong into a black hole, I strongly suggest you get your head examined ASAP. It's very, very, VERY much not recommended. Even if you are a superhero. Even if you can actually run and jump like that, like you're some kind of video game character. Even if you can heal super-hella-fast.

The next thing I remember after that collision, I'm waking up in the same place where my nine-month post-particle-accelerator-accident coma came to an end. I blink rapidly a couple of times, then look up and see Joe, Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin peering down at me.

"Did I grow a third eye or something?" I ask, my voice a little more hazy than I would like.

"He's back! Whoo!" Cisco cries, leaning back so he can safely do a fist-pump without hitting me in the face.

"Or a third nostril? A second mouth?" I grin dopily at everyone. "Come on, guys, what are you looking at me like that for?"

"What, we can't all be concerned for you and your well-being?" Joe asks. He holds out his hand and helps me sit up.

I don't know how long I've been out, but clearly, it's been a while. I'm stripped down to my underwear, hooked up to an IV drip in one arm, and those round EKG contacts are arranged in a row over my chest. I look down and see that, unfortunately, my latest insane encounter with STAR Labs' latest experiment gone awry has not given me more abs to work with. Not that I needed any more, but it would be so cool to add to my less-than-a-year-old six-pack, though.

"Okay," I say, peeling the unwanted sticky stuff off my chest. "Give it to me straight - how long was I out?"

"Two thousand years, and we're all clones of the people you knew and loved in your time," Cisco deadpans.

"More like two thousand seconds," says Caitlin as she smacks Cisco in the shoulder. She pauses to run through the calculation in her head. "Yeah, it's been about half an hour, actually."

"No more nine-month comas for me, then," I laugh as Caitlin undoes the IV in my arm.

"Next time you pull one of those on us," Joe says with a grin, "we might just pull the plug."

I laugh along with him, but the good humor gets sucked out of the room when we both look over at Iris. She's sitting in the corner, hugging her knees. Talking about death...yeah, it's too soon for her to deal with that now. I can talk about it all I want in my own internal monologue - specifically, about how there was really no need for Eddie to have shot himself dead like that, because it was too easy a way to stop Wells-slash-Eobard-Thawne and there had to be a catch to it all.

I could do that - but I could also offer Iris some much-needed comfort. Finding one of the many STAR Labs T-shirts that seem to be laying around this place (it must be from an extra shipment intended for the athletic department or something), I put it on, along with matching sweatpants, and walk over to her just as she's about to get up and possibly walk away.

I don't tell her how sorry I am. She doesn't need to hear it, not when I say it in the hug I give her. I think I hear her whisper, "Thanks, Barry," before she finally disentangles herself from my arms, gets up, and leaves the room for good.

Joe and I both set out to follow her, but he tells me to stay back. "I'll handle this," he says. "You should rest easy a little longer. You just saved the world, after all. You deserve it."

I'm about to object, but there's really no arguing with that paternal tone of voice. So I obediently take a seat on the table where I woke up. I don't strap myself back into the medical machinery, though. I think we all know there's no need for that right now.