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“Barry’s going to kill me.”
Iris smiled, or at least she tried to through the pain. “He knows you tried.”
Cisco ignored her. “Barry's going to kill me, then,” he said dramatically, “he's going to run back in time and give Joe a turn, then he's going to give Wally a turn. I’m going to be dead three times over.”
He was joking but she could tell there was some genuine worry underneath it all. “Hey,” she said. “It's not your fault. You tried to get me to leave with the others. I’m the one who insisted on helping you evacuate.” There had been a bomb threat at an apartment building, which turned out to be much more than idle. They had managed to get all of the civilians out before it came down, though they hadn't been so lucky themselves. Cisco managed to grab Iris and let out a shockwave that stopped most of the debris from hitting them lethally, but it hadn't be complete. Iris’ leg had been pinned underneath some rubble at the edge of the small sanctuary he managed to create.
“Iris.” She could hear the roll of his eyes, even if she couldn’t see them behind his goggles. “You're hurt and you're trying to comfort me?”
She laughed, though it was watery. “Sorry. I can't help it.”
They sat there for a while in silence, her laying down, his jacket part of his suit pillowed underneath her head, him crouching next to her. “How’s your leg?” he asked.
“Been better,” she said. Sweat beaded her brow.
In the dim light from his goggles, she saw him nod. “Okay. I’m going to try something. Don't move.” She watched as he crouch walked toward the lower half of her body. With quiet determination, he placed both hands on the hunk of cement that held her leg in place.
It wasn't that large, but it was much more than Cisco could move on his own, in the limited amount of space, especially note without causing her more injury, but as he sat there, oddly still, it became more and more apparent that that wasn't the plan anyway.
He breathed deeply through his nose, in and out, and Iris felt anxiety thrum through her veins. The waiting was making her nervous.
Just when she thought she might snap with tension, Vibe’s hands glowed bright blue, the same blue that she saw in the breaches between Earths. She felt minute vibrations, not enough to cause serious pain, but enough to make her hiss. She saw him frown in the light from his hands, but he didn't stop.
It was over quickly. One second, his hands were touching the chunk of ceiling or wall or whatever, the next it was nothing more than fine powder covering everything and clogging the air.
“Cover your mouth and nose,” Cisco instructed. She threw an arm over her face, nose and mouth tucked into her elbow. Cisco followed suit, but at the same time, he threw himself over her body.
The sudden loss of rubble pinning her leg had caused their little cavern to destabilize, and he silently cursed himself for not thinking of that before hand, nor of the dust storm he created from disintegrating the chunk of concrete. He’d get them both killed trying to make her more comfortable while the waited for rescue.
When it was apparent that the walls weren't going to collapse around them, he rolled off her. They lay like that for a while, breathing deeply into the crooks of their elbow, eyes readjusting to the darkness.
Iris spoke up first. “I guess that answers my question about blasting our way out of here.”
“I shouldn't have done that much. It's a miracle I didn't kill us both.”
Iris hummed next to him. “I appreciate it anyway. You were just-” her breath caught as she adjusted her injured leg. “You were just trying to help.”
He slapped his forehead. “Right! I have one more thing- I totally forgot!” He sat up, as much as he could anyway. “It's the reason I bothered to destroy that crap anyway.”
She sat up with him, brow furrowing with effort and confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He cracked his knuckles dramatically. “Cats.”
“…Cats.”
“Yes,” he answered simply. “Cats. My cat. I found him in the street a few weeks ago. He had been hit by a car. It was bad. I didn't think he was gonna make it. So I took him home and I fed him tuna because I didn't want his last few hours to be horrible.”
“Oh, Cisco.”
“Also, I kind of… vibrated my hands at the frequency of a cats purr because I wanted… IwantedhimtoknowIlovedhimintermsheunderstood.”
Iris was silently for a moment, trying to decipher the last part of his sentence, then, “Oh my God, that's cutest thing I've ever heard.”
Cisco felt himself blush. “Yeah, yeah… anyway, after I purr-petted him, Gazorpazorpfield made a miraclous recovery. It was like he wasn't on the brink of death that afternoon.”
“Gazorp…” she shook her head. “Wait, never mind. How? Was he not as bad as you thought? Can cats fake injuries now?”
“No. Well, probably,” he amended, “but that wasn't it this time. It was my ‘purrs.’”
“What, the power of love saved Gazor… your cat?”
“No. The actual purrs. The frequency.” When Iris didn't respond, he elaborated. “Cats purr at 25 hertz, which was proven to promote healing and bone density. My powers must have given it, I don't know, a super boost.”
“Cisco, that's incredible,” she said genuinely. “So you can just, bam, vibrate my leg and it's healed?”
“Theoretically. I've only ever done it once. Accidentally. On a cat.” He shrugged, glancing down at her leg. He couldn't see much in the light from his goggles; all he could make out was a lot of blood and the fact that it didn’t seem to be twisted at any odd angles. “I wouldn't say it's quite ready for human trials, but it's your leg so I thought I’d let you know your options.”
She didn't say anything for a few long moments and Cisco thought she was about to politely decline, but to his surprise, she nodded. Enthusiastically, even. “Okay, let's do it.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “I'm sure. What's the worst that could happen.”
“Well, I could to your bones what I did to that piece of rubble, but that's unlikely, because your bones don't vibrate at 25 hertz.”
“Cisco…” She rested a hand on his arm. “Vibe, I trust you.” She lay back down, closing her eyes as she braced herself.
Cisco would never understand the trust his friends put in him. He understood with his tech, but with his powers… his grasp over them was tenuous at best, and even if he was skilled… they came from the man that killed her fiancé, and his best friend's husband and his other best friend's mother.
He wouldn't let it his doubt freeze him though. Iris was counting on him, trusting him, and he wouldn't let it be misplaced.
He closed his eyes and found the frequency easily. The first time on a new frequency was always hardest, but once he found it going back to it was like muscle memory.
He felt the blue energy coat his hands, felt his digits vibrate minutely within it. Gently, he laid his hands on her wound.
He ignored the sticky feel of blood, but paid close attention to her whimpers. He didn't stop, but made sure he would if she sounded to pained.
It wasn't long before her cries softened into silence. He blinked twice, and, with a sharp intake of breath, let the frequency dissipate. “How's it feel now?”
She sat up and rubbed her once injured limb, not bothering to hide her slight wince. “Like a week-old bruise.” She hugged him. “You did it! I’m not even bleeding anymore.”
“Oh my God, I'm so glad I didn't shatter your bones or your nervous system or whatever.” He sounded like he'd been running a marathon and not trapped for the last hour with her.
“Same,” she said, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. “So what's the plan now, Vibe?”
“The plan now?” he said, voice pitched high. “The plan now is we wait to be rescued and then I drink enough tequila to make a speedster dizzy.”
“I like that plan.”