EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME ONE
━━ ❛ 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 ❜

chapter no. 023!

     IT WAS QUIET IN THE CORTEX AS CAITLIN LOOKED OVER THE MRI SCANS, HER EYES NARROWING AS SHE JOTTED DOWN HER CONCLUSIVE OBSERVATIONS. It was early in the morning as the redheaded speedster slept soundlessly in the room over. Glancing at the clock, Caitlin sighed and continued scribbling down her findings. Sets of footsteps traveled from down the hall and into the room, both Cisco and Barry walking in.

     "Do you ever go home?" Cisco retorted, placing a bag and coffee from Jitters in front of the brunette.

     Caitlin shrugged. "I do, but Piper's current state of being is more important than sleep."

     Barry glanced at the side room before looking back at Caitlin. "What did the MRI and test results conclude?" he asked, taking a gulp of coffee.

     Pulling out a crisp manila folder from underneath a stack of papers and x-rays, the brunette opened it up and handed it to him. "There was no DNA trace on her body from the man in yellow. Not even a fiber from his suit." Caitlin spoke, nodding to the results Barry and Cisco were reading.

     "How is that possible? Harry said their blood was on the rag." Cisco mentioned, glancing up briefly.

     "Harry assumed. With how much blood she lost due to her injuries, it would be reasonable to say that some of the blood wasn't hers." Caitlin responded, clasping her hands together. "When it comes to the MRI scans, it shows a fracture running from the T1-T5 interspace where the thoracic nerves are." The two watched as she pointed to the x-ray of Piper's spine on the table. "The proximal phalanges in her right index, middle, and ring finger were slightly dislocated, but with her healing capabilities, they should be completely healed up within the next hour. Now, as you can see here, she has three fractured ribs. Combined with her spinal injuries, this will make it harder for her to breathe. Adding to that, there is a complete dislocation of the temporomandibular joint. Once she wakes up, I'll have to pop her jaw back into place for it to heal fully."

     Sighing, Barry ran his hand through his hair. "What about her bruises? How bad are they? I know she had to change out of her suit when you took the scans and showed you."

     She glanced up with heavy eyes, laying down the x-rays. "They're pretty bad," she whispered.

     Cisco glanced away, biting down on his lip as he stared into the side room where the purple speedster lay soundlessly. "After Zoom attacked her, she shut down and shut us out. Now that her parent's killer has a way here, will she shut us out again? I don't think I can take not seeing her every day," he muttered, and the doctor frowned, looking down at her hands.

     "She won't. She needs us right now, and we need her. Besides, I'm not letting her go anywhere." Barry replied, his eyes resting on her as well.

     The room faded into a foggy silence while a storm of demons swirled around in the mind of the sleeping beauty. A small, scarcely visible frown waved over the redhead's face as her fingers twitched in her sleep.

     Turning around apprehensively, her eyes caught the movement of a dark shadowy figure ducking behind a box. Pushing away the rising anxiety that pulsed through her veins, she turned back around, continuing to make her way down the dark corridor. A dark, wooden door at the end creaked open, and she stopped midway, the floorboards hissing as the speedster made his grand appearance, a smirk dancing upon his lips as he aimed a jaded dagger towards her.

     "I did everything you told me to do. Athena's in jail."

     The glowing yellow figure tilted his head, taking a step forward.

     "Where's Ginger?"

     "You're about to find out."

     A fraction of a second. That was all it took for the redhead to be thrown backward and shielded from the strike of the dagger that he'd thrown. A gasp escaped the lips of the shadowy figure as their backside collapsed against her body.

     Piper's shirt was stained red, and she looked down at the person, letting out a blood-curdling scream once she recognized the strawberry-red hair. Falling to her knees, she cradled the woman's body to her chest as her tears mixed with the blood. "S-Shh, it's okay, you're okay, everything's going to be okay." The feeble whispers were barely audible as her lips trembled.

     "I-I'm sorry."

     Shaking her head, the redhead gazed down at her sister, tears streaming down her ivory cheeks. "Please don't leave me." The sound of desperation in her voice was evident, and the latter could hear it. Her tear-filled chocolate-brown eyes watched as her sister squeezed her green ones shut tightly, coughing harshly into her chest, blood dribbling down her chin.

     "I love you, P," Ginger whispered weakly, giving the younger Lita a forced smile that only brought on more tears.

     "Please."

     Please. That was the last word she ever heard Piper whisper before she left her alone in that corridor. It was the last word she could ever say to her. That was her last request.

     "Oops." Her head shot up at the voice that was laced with amused satisfaction.

     "You..." Piper growled, her blood-covered hands shaking. "I will kill you for this."

     A jolt of electricity flowed between her veins, and she sat up abruptly. Her chest was rising up and down in a rapid fashion, her breath coming out in raspy wheezes as she blinked away the burning tears. Placing her hand over her heart, Piper gasped for air.

     The sound of the heart-monitor racing expeditiously caused the three to hastily made their way into the room. Coming to the redhead's side, Barry noticed the blur of tears reflecting in her eyes as she was hyperventilating. "P, it's me. I'm right here. Breathe," Barry spoke softly. The sound of his voice caused her to turn to him and wrap her arms around his torso, sobbing into his chest.

     Ignoring the burning pain that shadowed her body, Piper held tightly onto the brown-haired man.

     Lowering himself onto the hospital bed, Barry wrapped his arms around her loosely, trying not to inflict any pain as she cried into his chest. He delicately pressed a kiss to the top of her head and ran his hands through her hair. "It's okay, it's okay," he whispered.

     Caitlin watched with sorrowful eyes and looked at Cisco, whose eyes were glassy. Whatever it was that had woken the redhead up, it wasn't good because they had seen her cry on rare occasions.

     Knowing that one of his best friends was hurting hurt him. Cisco wanted to fix whatever it was that was haunting her, but he knew he couldn't. None of them could. Piper had lost more people than one could count on two hands. That kind of grief wasn't fixable.

     "Don't leave," Piper whispered weakly.

     There was a soft tug at his heartstrings at her words, and he felt a heat rise to his cheeks. He pressed another kiss to the top of her head. "Never."

     It took a few minutes, but her breathing had returned to normal. That was mainly due to Barry holding her endearingly and rubbing her back, pressing kisses to the top of her head.

     Pulling out of his arms reluctantly, Piper felt both Cisco and Caitlin sit down on the bed too. "Talk to us, please," the long-haired boy whispered, reaching forward and taking her hand in his. She glanced up with watery eyes and let out a shaky breath.

     "Before you say anything, I need to give you some pain medication and will need to pop your jaw back into place. Talking while your jaw is dislocated can lead to intensified swelling." Caitlin stated.

     Averting her eyes to the doctor, Piper nodded.

     Getting back up, Caitlin went to grab the medication. Piper kept her eyes on her lap, blinking back tears as she could faintly still hear her sister's voice in her ears.

     Making her way back to the bed, Caitlin held out a cup of pills, and the redhead looked up. She took them and the glass of water, downing them. Piper felt hands run over her cheek and jawline after handing the glass and cup back to her. Wincing, she closed her eyes and let her pop it back into place. Clenching down on her teeth, Piper held back cries of pain that flooded her face.

     "I'm sorry," Caitlin cringed. "The medication should kick in soon."

     "It's fine. Thank you." Piper cleared her throat, rubbing her jaw.

     Feeling Cisco squeeze her hand, she glanced back at him. He had glassy eyes and a small, forced smile. "I don't want you to shut me out again or any of us, okay? I want you to be able to talk to us."

     Her eyes flickered between the three faces of the people who meant more to her than she could even comprehend. Piper wanted to talk about how angry she was that the man in yellow was back; how terrified she was of losing them or anyone else she cared about. She wanted to talk about all of it and everything else that was running rapidly in her mind, but she didn't know how. The words and explanations were there, but they felt out of reach.

     Lingering her stare on Cisco, she could clearly see the desperation in his eyes, how he wanted more than anything for her to talk to them— confide in them.

     All right, Piper, you can do this. Just talk. You've talked to them thousands of times; this time shouldn't be any different. Talk.

     Licking her lips, she let out another shaky breath, her heart rate on the monitor speeding up. "Burgundy. That's the color of every door in my neighborhood growing up. It wasn't like a dusty, grey-tinted burgundy. It was almost the color of dark red wine, smooth and matte. When I was thirteen, I walked home from my best friend Athena's house one night. My curfew was at eight, and I was an hour late. She lived a block over, so I didn't feel the need to run home.

     "I had just pulled out the key for my front door when I noticed that it was already unlocked and cracked open. I can still remember to this day how hauntingly quiet it was when I walked inside and the darkness that covered everything. A pool of blood soaked through my shoes and trailed from the front door to the living room and to the dining room. I had barely walked two steps inside when I heard footsteps. They were so quiet that I thought I was imagining things for a second.

     "I followed the trail and found dozens of family photos shattered and stained with more blood. The living room was in shambles. The TV was broken, and books and pillows were everywhere. Once I finished making my way through there, I turned to face the dining room. We had a family table in the middle of the room that was broken in half. My mom was lying on top of it. Her shirt was soaked in blood. I remember looking at the record player in the corner of the room, spinning a vinyl around soundlessly, and that was when I saw this blur.

     "At the time, I didn't know who or what it was. I just remember seeing streaks of red lightning outlining the figure of a person, and where their eyes would be rested two glowing-red orbs. The blur and I just kind of stared at one another for a split second before it took the leg of a broken chair and," Piper took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Stabbed my dad through the chest. He was already dead. Everything from there kind of became a blur. I remember screaming, and the blur vanished. My neighbors heard me and called the police. My older sister Ginger took me in, and I lived with her until I went off to college. Years later, after the explosion and I had been in a coma for six months, I became Expedite. A year into the whole superhero thing, the blur— man in yellow— returned.

     "He took my sister one night and told me that if I wanted her to come home alive, I had to turn my best friend, Athena, into the police. A month before this, she drove home drunk one night and got into a car crash. She didn't stop at a stoplight and hit a car that was crossing into the intersection. She killed the boy in the car and fled the scene. Nobody knew it was her that crashed into him, but I did, and the man in yellow used it against me.

     "After already losing my parents and going through the hell that came with it, I didn't want to lose the only other real family I had left, so I turned her in. Athena was arrested, and I went to an abandoned building to meet with the man in yellow. I told him it was his turn to fulfill his end of the deal, but he had other plans. He was about to kill me when my sister escaped from her room and pushed me out of the way. She ended up being the one stabbed, and like my parents, I held her body, completely and utterly useless. Right after that, he went to the jail Athena was being held and killed her also. I uh, when I woke up a few minutes ago, it was because I was having a nightmare about that night."

     Looking away from their faces and pulling her hand out of Cisco's, Piper wiped away her tears.

     Nobody spoke for a few minutes before Caitlin broke the silence. "I love you," she stated firmly, and the redhead looked up. "What you told us does nothing but make me love you more, and I'm sure that applies to these two also. You did what any human would do in your position, which doesn't make you a bad person. I can see the gears turning in your head, and that's why I'm saying this because you need to know that you are a good person with a good heart." A sob hitched in Piper's throat as she stared at Caitlin with blurry eyes.

     Rubbing away the tears that fell down, she felt both Cisco and Barry lay a hand on her leg.

     "We love you," Cisco said.

     Moving her eyes to Barry, Piper watched him lean forward and press a kiss to her forehead. A blush rose to her cheeks, and she unconsciously reached for his hand. "We're always here for you. I'm always here for you, okay? None of us are going anywhere." Barry reassured her, giving a small smile. She nodded, returning the gesture.

     Cisco opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Harry, breathing heavily, who ran into the room. "Lita, you said Jay's real name was Hunter Zoloman, right?" he panted, Jesse appearing behind him.

     Furrowing her brows, Piper nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's his doppelgänger's name on this Earth. Why?"

     "Because we think we might've found a way to bring Zoom back here and stop him for good," Jesse announced, glancing at her father, who nodded in agreement.