~Author's Note~
I'm such a sucker for dark things, so seeing the "Zoom is Coming" promo gave me a bunch of stories waiting to be written. This is a little idea that came to me for the part in the promo when Barry's in one of the containment cells at the Lab; and I'm thinking a scenario where either a meta gets in and locks him in there or he's put in there by the Flash Team themselves for this own safety.
For the sake of this story, we're going with the latter. The ending of this turned out darker than I intended it to but oh well; I hope you all enjoy and please leave a review with your thoughts! :)
Rated Teen for language and dark themes.
Notes: Takes place after 2x14 and 2x15; towards the end of the season.
Rogue
"Hey!"
His voice booms throughout the room, bouncing off the walls and echoing through the other containment cells around him. His fists smack into the glass with a harsh thump, causing the three people in front of him to flinch and take a step backwards. "What are you doing?" Barry shouts hoarsely, slamming his gloved fists against the glass again.
Cisco's standing over by the computer, fingers trembling slightly as they hover over the space bar, eyes darting unsurely between the blocky red font on screen that reads 'CELL LOCKED' and Barry, decked out full in his Flash suit, struggling to get out of the cell.
Caitlin has her arms crossed, and is biting her lip as she sways on her feet next to Cisco, and there's even a glassy hue to her eyes that neither man notices.
The final person looking down at Barry is Joe, and his lips are tight in a solid frown as he stares at his surrogate son with face bland of any serious emotion—a skill he had learned to be useful over the years.
"Let me out of here!"
Joe watches Barry a moment more before taking a hesitant step forward, raising a hand to point an accusing finger at the speedster. "You aren't yourself, son," he calls out carefully, trying his damnedest not to allow his voice to shake, "and you are a danger to the city and to us because of it."
A low growl tears from Barry's throat as he lets out a rugged scream before slamming his body against the glass, fighting to escape the thing holding him so still. The speed force is nothing but a low hum underneath his skin, a dull throbbing emitting from his veins.
"You don't understand!" He roars, drawing out his last word angrily. "You need to let me out of here!"
A soft gasp slips out of Caitlin in-between Barry's bursts of unexplainable wrath, and she doesn't know what's happening to her friend, what's happening to them and she just wishes there was a better way to deal with this instead of locking the Flash in a containment cell.
Cisco's mind is sluggish with the matter at hand, because he doesn't want to understand what's happening to his friend and he doesn't know how Barry could do such a thing; how he could be so much of a different person other than the kindhearted superhero they've all come to know.
The only thing Joe can wonder idly is the fact that he's grateful that Henry isn't here, that Iris isn't here—that neither had to witness their Barry in such a rage, in such a way that isn't him.
"He's coming! I can't—I-I-I—"
He lets out another shout of protest, taking a break from ramming his body-weight against the glass to pull back his cowl and run his hands through his disheveled hair. He turns away from them, staring intently at the back of cell because the only thing he can see is Zoom's smirk, his cackle—the only thing he can feel is the pain—and the blue; dammit the spurts of blue lightning that had caused it.
Barry turns back to the trio with a look of pain splattered across his features, mouth twisted downwards. "I can't protect you if I'm locked in here!" Joe ignores the tug on his heartstrings that Barry is causing, because he knows that it's just a front even with how real or serious it sounds, knows it's not him.
It's faked.
His Barry was left back on Earth-2, left alone to rot back with Zoom.
Something happened, something had changed. This wasn't Barry Allen anymore.
"I'm sorry son," Joe rasps, and his voice is hallow and drained because he's tired and he wants to fix Barry but doesn't know how; "but you're staying in there until I'm sure you aren't a threat to anyone." Joe looks over to Cisco, sending him a short nod before turning and starting to walk out of the pipeline. Caitlin and Cisco share a look, before sending a nervous glance Barry's way.
The speedster is leaning forward on the glass with his arms crossed, forehead pressing against the harsh surface and chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Guys," he croaks lowly, shaking his head, "please."
A lump forms in Cisco's throat as Caitlin rests a hand on his shoulder before following Joe out into the hallway, leaving the engineer alone. "Cisco," Barry mumbles, squeezing his eyes shut tightly—because he's exhausted now and just deflated—before hitting his right hand against the glass once more, "lemme out, Cisco. Just let me go home."
Cisco lets out a heavy exhale, and there's a churning feeling in his gut, before selecting a few options on the computer and hovering a finger over the enter button.
He glances up at Barry through shielded eyes, and the man is muttering the word 'please' over and over in his half-aware state, before allowing his finger to gently press against the keyboard.
Green font appears on screen next to a temperature reader, and peace lasts for three more seconds before a loud hissing sound discharges from Barry's cell and cold air is pumped inside in truckloads. Cisco can't bear to look his friend's way, because he knows he won't be able to stand the betrayed look sure to be there, so he hits one more button before turning away and exiting the room; the metal doors closing Barry's cell in the pipeline ringing behind him.
Joe and Caitlin are waiting for Cisco in the hallway, and the discreet murmur of their conversation ceases once he walks up to them.
"He's locked in. I, um," he clears his throat, "I uh . . . turned down the temperature of the cell to thirty-two degrees, which is the normal temperature for freezing for a human but it'll be just enough to kill his powers . . . just to make sure he can't escape."
Caitlin nods her head in agreement, "He'll be okay. I can monitor his vitals from the computers."
Joe exhales softly, and he doesn't have a voice to talk just yet so all he does is tug the two younger adults into a hug—a hug they all needed for a long while. "We will get our Barry back," he mutters, pulling the two kids closer to him as their arms snake around him for comfort, "if it's the last damn thing we do."
Their argument is nothing more but a petty try at trying to forget about the fact that their Barry has turned into the equivalent of a monster.
Someone they don't know.
They scream at each other until their voices run rough, and it's the worst fight they've had in years, until they have nothing left to say. Then they collapse in each other's arms, yearning for the hug they both so desperately need. The two hug each other until Iris' tears dry out on her cheeks, until Joe's hands aren't shaking anymore and then they fall on the couch in a heap of limbs.
Joe holds his daughter with one arm slung around her shoulders and she's resting her head on his chest, and she ignores the yank at her heart when her mind connects their position to similar ones Barry and her used to always end up in.
One holding onto the other.
Joe is staring at the black television with a blank look, mind twirling and fumbling with questions that have no answers. Iris can't stand the sound of silence so heavy around them. "I have to talk to him, Dad." She mutters, voice barely above a whisper.
Her father shakes his head, pulling her closer to him.
"Baby," he lets out a quiet sigh, "you can't. That man isn't Barry." Iris doesn't take that as an answer as she tugs herself out from her father's hold, causing Joe to look over at her.
"Our Barry is in there somewhere. Locking him up in a cage isn't going to do anything—"
"It's going to keep you safe!" Joe's sudden shout catches Iris off guard as she jumps at his words, the former shaking his head and reaching forward to cup her cheek. "I'm sorry, baby. But Barry is in there for his own safety. For the safety of the city. He's lost with no way home Iris. We can't risk allowing him out and about."
Iris' eyes are watery as they lock with her father's but then she's standing up and grabbing her purse off the coffee table. "That's because he has no one to guide him home. I'm going to go over to S.T.A.R Labs and talk to him. I'm going to bring Bear home, Dad. Losing hope in him isn't going to help. It's going to—"
Joe stands up and takes Iris by the shoulders to stop her sentence and his lips are in a firm line and a part of Iris thinks he's going to handcuff her to the couch so that she can't leave. But instead he pulls her into a bone-breaking hug that warms her insides and calms her racing heart. One of his hands rubs up and down her back, while the other runs through her hair.
"You be careful Iris."
She smiles into his shoulder at the protective edge to his voice, "I will." Joe pulls back, sending her a serious look.
"If anyone is able to bring Barry back home, it's you."
Cisco and Caitlin aren't at the Lab when Iris arrives forty minutes later, and the moon is already observing from the nighttime sky as she enters the abandoned workplace. Everything inside S.T.A.R is dark, but different machines are humming from different rooms, lights are flickering towards the entrance and the hallway is as eerie as ever as Iris makes her way to the main room.
All of the computers are shut down except for the one in the middle of the row, and Iris is drawn to it out of curiosity. It's signed in under Caitlin, and the neon time of ten at night mocks her from the lower corner of the screen, but the thing that causes her breath to clog in her throat is what's left open on screen.
It's live footage from the containment cell Barry is being held in, and a full in-depth list of his current vitals next to it. Barry's seated in the far left corner of the cell, knees brought up to his chin as small quakes wreck his body, breath falling out in white bursts in front of him. His vitals are steady, and the only thing keeping him from freezing to death is the same thing that's destroying him.
The speed force.
The best thing that's ever happened to him. The worst thing that's ever happened to him.
It hurts to see her Barry this way—caged and trapped. Alone.
She sends a final glace at the computer before heading back down the hallway towards the pipeline, fear surging through her bones but adrenaline keeping her upright. She makes it to the pipeline with her heart about ready to hammer out of her chest, slowly making her way over to the computer and pressing the space bar with a hesitant finger.
The screen flickers to life, hissing and groaning as the same red font from earlier appears on-screen; Iris feeling her heart contract. After taking a deep breath to calm herself, and two harsh clicks later, the doors in front of her are creaking and switching and before Iris can run the other direction and give up on this stupid plan of hers—she's face to face with her best friend's cell.
She knows he's awake by the stable rise and fall of his chest, by the way his eyes glimpse over to where she's standing drowsily. Iris takes an uncertain step forward, trying to elicit some type of reaction from Barry but the small movement goes ignored.
"Barry?"
He doesn't say anything for what seems like the longest time, until he readjusts his position so that his head is now leaning against the back wall and the sounds of his leather suit squeaking against the frigid floor repeat in a booming volume throughout the pipeline.
"Barry who?" He responds coldly, and it's like a direct blow to the gut for Iris.
She inspects his calculated face, sees how emotionless it is. Bitter, like the freezing temperatures holding him captive. "Barry Allen," she attempts to reply with the same nonchalant attitude he has but her voice wavers half-way through anyway, "my best friend. The man who keeps me going. The guy who protects Central City."
A scoff escapes from the speedster in front of her, and black lightning flashes between his eyes as a smirk weaves it's way across his lips. It unnerves her, hits her like a slap to the face, and she has to take a step back to regain her footing. She knows the man in front of her, through hell and back, so why does it feel like a stranger is instead sitting before her?
"The man who saved Central City, right?" He counters slowly, shaking his head. "He's not here."
"Like hell he isn't." The words slip out of Iris' mouth before she can grasp them, and it causes Barry to let out a weak chuckle. Iris swears his eyes even blink away some unshed tears as he allows his head to bob up and down in a short nod.
"He probably is in hell."
Iris has to push through, push through the stabbing pain in her heart—the pain spiking throughout her body. She has to get Barry back. Her eyes lock with his through the frosted glass, hate and love clashing together.
Where are you, Barry? Are you in there?
The two emotions quickly smother the other out, like fire and water becoming nothing but heckling steam. "What happened to you?" She calls out, brushing off the angel on one shoulder that's telling her not to push.
Don't push Iris, he'll close up more. You'll lose him more. But she snubs it, because the red devil on her other shoulder is telling her to do things that aren't at all pleasant for a tedious situation like this one. Choke the truth out of him Iris, shake your Barry out of him. Bring him back.
"I became the Flash," he teases in a whisper, feeling the speed force bang and wail from inside him, "Earth-2," and he laughs—a loud, chilling laugh that sends a shiver down Iris' spine—"Zoom taught me to be free."
It's thundering through her head still, what her father had said about how Barry had acted earlier. Desperate to protect, to save. Back to himself. But now he was in that callous place again, that place that turned him into something different. The place that had gotten him put in this cell in the first place.
It was like his mind was spilt in two—one side still very much her Barry and the other a Barry that had gotten his kindness stripped from him, heart torn out of it's place.
"The only thing Zoom gave you," Iris shouts in a voice that's as strong as steel (though that's definitely not how she feels on the inside); "is PTSD, anxiety and paranoia." His dark eyes snap over to her when she mentions the things haunting him, and he stands up so fast that for a second Iris thinks he's about to phase through the cell; though his speed is currently numb.
A hand slaps against the glass, freckles of ice sprouting around his fingertips as he stares at her hollowly.
"Zoom gave me strength," he snarls, slamming his palm against the glass before turning away. Iris crosses her arms because now her rational side has disappeared and has been replaced by her forever stubborn side.
"Snap out of this, Barry!" She yells angrily, and her nails are pressing hard enough into the skin of her arms to draw lines of blood, "snap out of this and come back to me! What did you say to me before you left? You said you would come back, you promised you would come back and then after that," she scoffs as Barry turns around to face her, "after that you screwed with some more, remember?"
Barry's eyes darken even more as the memory shoots to the forefront of his brain, throbbing in recollection. "As you headed towards the damn door you said you had forgotten something and then the next thing I had known you had sped us to the beach. The beach of all damn places. And I asked why you had brought me there but you had just thrown an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to you and said—"
"—it was my favorite place in the world."
The memory of the kiss, the kiss that was erased from the timeline but he remembers so damn well, hits him so hard and so suddenly that he staggers backwards a little, Iris watching him carefully. She takes a step towards the cell, wiping quickly at her eyes to remove the tears slipping down her cheeks.
"Now here you are," she mutters, "not you anymore."
She's close enough to him that he can see every inch of her, and his eyes get caught on the thin trails of blood leaking down her arms. Barry takes a step forward and rests his forehead on the glass, reaching a hand up to touch the glass gently.
"You're bleeding, Iris."
It's the first time he's said her name in front of her in four days and the relief it brings her is shocking. She shakes her head, ignoring him, because why should he care if he isn't him?
Iris takes a few steps forward, so that she can be as close to the glass as she can get, before looking back up at him. She raises a hand to the glass, nails clicking against the cell with a resounding clack. "Come back to me Bear," she whispers in a plea, because even she doesn't know what had happened to her best friend, but she just wants him back; "come back home."
Barry can barely meet her eyes when he lifts his head and the suit feels tight around his throat. "I'm sorry Iris," he murmurs in reply, so softly that she nearly misses it and it's the nicest he's been to her the entire night so it causes her heart to beat wild, "but your Barry is gone." Iris has to snuff the sob that tries to sneak out of her as she takes one last look at this man in front of her.
This monster.
And it hurts her so much because it looks like Barry but it's not, it's not, it's not.
It's a monster, Iris, it's a demon coming to kill you quick and easy and you need to shoot first. It's not Barry Allen. It's not the Flash. It's not hers. It's not anyone's. It's a puppet in this fucked up game of life and death that Zoom is bestowing on the planet—a game that her best friend got sucked into and destroyed in. It's a game he's never going to get to leave.
She swears she sees a ripple of blue electric dance between his eyes as she turns away.