Barry woke up with dull pain in his head. He didn't open his eyes, trying to will the dizziness away first. For a few seconds he didn't even move. His head was killing him. He was lying on something hard and cold. Was he on a cement floor? He tried to move his arms, but something stopped him. He tried again and still he couldn't. With every move he felt something thin tightened round his wrists. His arms were tied behind his back. His eyes flew open. He moved his head and world started slipping. It wasn't that bad though because the room was dark anyway. He rolled his body and groaned. His muscles protested, and what's worse, his arms were chained to the ground, giving him little room for movements. Where was he? Barry was trying to remember what happen.
Earlier
Captain Sight entered Barry's lab looking very uncomfortable.
"What's wrong, captain?"
"Well, I have orders to send you to Gotham City."
Barry froze for a moment and smile broke on his face. "For real?"
"Yes. There is a really ugly case of serial murderer or something and Commissar Gordon ask for the best and fresh blood, because he is fed up with it. They asked me for good forensic scientist and I have only you. You will work with some kid from Blüdhaven. He's a cop."
"Awesome! I'm going to Batman's city!" Barry almost was jumping in excitement.
"Go pack, kid. I am going fill in West and let him skin me alive," Capitan groaned.
"That's not fair! Can't I go with you?!" Cisco practically wailed when he learned the news.
"It's my work, Cisco. Not a vacation."
"And? I won't interrupt your work, I might even help! You could use an engineer!"
"I know, you probably right, but I only got one ticket and will have to share a flat with this guy from Blüdhaven. He used to live in Gotham."
"Not fair," Cisco repeated skulking. Then he smirked at his best friend "Oliver will be jealous" he practically purred, making Barry blush.
Catlin hugged Barry, "be careful. That city isn't nice. It's even worse than Starling."
"I will. What about you? And the Flash?"
"It's just a few days, Allen. We will survive," Harrison Wells from Earth-2 said. "Zoom is trapped on my Earth for now, so the biggest danger is away for a while."
Barry nodded, said goodbye and left, taking the Flash's suit with him, just in the case.
"Gotham City?!" Felicity cried on the other end of the phone disbelievingly.
"Yup."
"And you're going there alone?" This time it was Oliver, and he clearly wasn't happy about this.
"Well, yes. I have a train in half an hour. I am already at the station. See? I can be on time."
"You're going to Gotham City... Cool." Felicity said and apparently Oliver gave her a glare because she quickly added, "I mean, you have to be careful. There are a lot of bad guys."
"I will, don't worry. I just called to give you a heads up that I won't be available for a while."
"Yes, Oliver will be very unpleasant"
"Dig… Dude…
"I gotta go. Take care, guys. Bye."
"You too!"
Iris was sitting next to Barry on the bench, keeping her hand on his forearm and patting him softly. Joe was pacing.
"No. No, that place is hell."
"Joe..."
It took until the train arrived to convince Joe to let Barry go and not to kill Singh. He hugged his son hard.
"Easy, Joe. I'm not going to war."
"I'm not so sure."
"Come on, Dad. He's tough. He'll be fine. Right?"
"Yes. Bye."
When Barry boarded the train. Joe was left standing with Iris on the platform. Iris looked at his father's face full with worry. "Oh, dad. You took this worse than Henry. He's the Flash, you know? You have to get used this- he's not our little Bear anymore."
"I won't," he said with pout, making her chuckle.
Now
Barry looked around again. Slowly his head was getting better. He was in a very dark room. It wasn't big, but it was cold. Very cold and wet. He was lying in a puddle of water. Blood? A shiver ran along his spine. Time to get out of this. He stared vibrating his arms, but the ropes didn't let him go. What? What kind of cord it is? The door busted been opened and masked man with hammer in hand came. "Wakey, wakey, boy! It's time for fun! Well, for me at least." He laughed and that laugh made Barry tremble. He came closer and Barry tried to move away from him. Then something sparked and Barry felt pain through all his body making him toss. Barry didn't have a time to react when he felt incredible pain in his leg. And then in the other. He screamed. That psycho just broke his legs!
"I can't let you run away. Not yet."
Earlier
"I need all reports on my desk from yesterday! And anyone sees something must say something to the police!"
"Sir-"
"What?! Oh, who are you?"
"I'm Barry Allen. Central City Police Department. I am a forensic scientist."
"… How old are you, son?"
"Em, I twenty-six, sir."
The young black-hair man came to them. "Commissioner."
"Grayson, great. Both of you. My office, now."
They were in the room before they introduced themselves to each other.
"Alright, kids. I need you two. We are hunting Scarecrow. It's clear it's him. We almost had him a few times, but even when we have Batman working with us, that psycho managed to away. And that's means one thing."
"A bug." Grayson- Dick- said.
"Yes, Scarecrow has somebody here."
"I will gladly help, but how much better will I be than Batman? He is a great detective, and I heard he does forensics himself." Barry said.
"There are a lot of things happening here, son."
"I saw the north of the city. It's look like Penguin and Two-Face teamed up." Dick said.
"Yes. When they work together, it is easier to get them, but they are still dangerous. Batman is dealing with them right now."
Some police officer knocked on the door, "Sir, a new body."
"Kids, we have work to do. And remember, you report to no one but me."
"Yes, sir."
Dick and Barry worked together pretty well. Barry, being one of the best CSIs out there, didn't have any trouble determining what had happened to these people whose bodies the police found. Dick, who know this city like the back of his hand was good cop too, and he helped a lot. Breaks between work found both men spending time together or on their phones. In Barry's case he had Oliver on line, occasionally Iris or Joe. Oliver was regularly checking if Barry was alright. Some people would say he was overprotective and possessive, but Barry thought Oliver was just being sweet. And those people didn't understand their line of work. Barry understood. He had these feelings toward Oliver as well, his friends and family too. Dick seems to have similar calls. Well, he was a police officer too. That is a dangerous job. Especially here in Gotham.
They shared a flat for the time they spent not working. They spent a week in the city and became good friends. The last day was Barry's favourite. He met Batman. BATMAN. He talked with him, heck, he worked with him!
They found the Scarecrow 's location and Barry was right. Although at the beginning they didn't want to believe him. For the commissioner it didn't make sense, for Batman it didn't fit into the pattern. So even the Vigilante didn't take him seriously, but Dick supported him. Barry was surprised how he convinced Batman to follow Barry's directions. Dick just claimed he had worked with the masked man a few times and know how talk to him. Barry didn't push because he was sure no one could convince Batman to do anything, but they caught the bad guy and that was the most important thing.
"Scarecrow is in Arkham Asylum," Batman said
"That's good. I see my work here is done," Barry smiled.
"The Joker is in Starling City," the masked man added. Barry's eyes winded "What?"
"I don't know why he is there, but I need to go and take care of it." Batman shook his hand, "thank you for your help, Barry"
"Me too, it was an honour for me. I must go. Commissioner?"
"Yes, son. Let's go. Grayson?"
"I'm good."
"Goodbye."
When the commissioner and Barry left, Dick turned to the Dark Knight. "I'm going with you, Bruce."
"Negative."
"I'm not asking for permission. Barry's fiancé lives there, I know him enough to know he will go there. The Joker is something he has never dealt before. I want to make sure that bastard will is caught before Barry does something reckless."
Now
"What do you want?" Barry managed to ask between grunts of pain. The guy took off the mask and oh my God. That is a Joker! Joker looked at him and if it is possible his crazy smile grew larger and he answered just "Fun. Now smile for the camera!"
Earlier
In next day Barry was at the foundry with the Arrow team. Oliver was less than happy to have his fiancé here to deal with one of the most dangerous psychopathic criminals of all time.
"I would prefer if you stayed in Central City."
"Don't be a hypocrite, Ollie. If he were in Central City and I ask you to leave would you?"
"No, but I still prefer it."
Barry smiled and put his arms around Oliver's waist, hugging older man. He kissed his jaw. Oliver gave a small smile and put his arm around Barry's shoulder, bringing him closer. He looked up at Felicity. She had her head propped on her hand with dreamy face.
"Felicity, this is me noticing you staring," Oliver smirked.
"What can I do? You two are beyond adorable." A bip sound made her look down at the phone.
"Catlin and Cisco are on the train."
"Alright. What've we got?" Dig asked and sat down next to her.
"Well, Dick said this guy's craziness is on extremely new level. But the worst thing, he is smart. Like extremely smart. I don't know how he makes so many people follow him, but he does." Barry said still clutched to Oliver's side.
"The police found six bodies. They had all been poisoned. I checked- it's his gas. It's makes people hysterically laugh, and after a few minutes, it depends on the dose, they die," Felicity said.
"Batman will be here soon, we should talk with him."
"Yeah, where were the bodies were found? Does it make a pattern?" Oliver asked.
Felicity showed the map, "it's looking pretty random for me."
"I don't know what to do," Oliver murmured. "For now we need to be alert for any signs."
Later that night when the heroes were out Felicity announced on communicator, "Boys, we have guests. Go to south. On the roof of the Arun company's building."
"Got it."
On the roof were Batman and Nightwing.
"Evening gentlemen," Nightwing smirked.
"I want this psycho out of my city, so I need as much information as you can give me," Green Arrow said.
"He means we would appreciate help. I think cooperation would be nice too. You know the Joker, we know the city," Flash added.
"Joker has always acted with a goal. Nothing in his plan is random. I don't know what he's planning yet though," Batman explained.
"And what is his goal focused on most of the time?" Spartan asked.
"His sick definition of fun. Sometimes he wants to blow up half of a city, other times he makes specific people suffer," Nightwing said. Barry had the feeling he knew that voice.
"For now I propose we spilt up. Maybe we will able to locate him or his people," Batman said.
"We have to stay in touch," Arrow gave them communicators.
"West half is clear" Barry heard Nightwing's voice over the com.
"I think it's cl- wait," Barry said when he saw new doors in the warehouse he was in.
"Flash?" Oliver asked.
"Somebody was here not a long ago- oh my God!"
"What do you see?" Batman asked.
"Bodies, a lot of bodies," then he was shoot with some kind injection. "Ouch! Shit!" Barry got to run but in a second he felt numb and fell. He groaned. He heard Oliver's voice on com asking him what happen and saw in blurry white face with a big red month.
Now
Oh, now Barry knew how he got here. He was immobile with a psychopath in the same room. But it will be fine, Oliver was looking for him for sure. He has Nightwing and Batman to help. Barry didn't know how long Joker was torturing him. Hits from the baseball bat weren't the worst, although between bruises it left broken bones. The electroshocks were definitely worse. The pain immediately covered his whole body, making him scream. Additionally, Joker's sick laugh was there the entire time. He didn't ask for anything. He didn't say anything. He was just laughing. When another round of electroshock was done, Joker stabbed him in the leg. He kept that up, over and over again. A few hits, electricity and knife. His body healed between hits and it was the only thing keeping him alive. He was trying to pay attention to what Joker was doing when he wasn't hurting him, but the pain was unbearable. Barry wasn't sure, but guessed that the guy was recording him the whole time. The only pauses Barry had were when he passed out.
Joker took a break and Barry was conscious. Unbelievable. Barry was trying to catch his breath. He wanted to move, but the pain stopped him. Then Nightwing fell next to him with ties hands and Joker hit his back with the bat making the man stop breathing for a moment.
"Ach, that brings back memories no?! I feel like it was yesterday. But wait, I need a crowbar. I will back in a minute," when the clown left Nightwing turned to Flash and whispered. "Hey, Barry. How are you holding on?"
"I'll surv've, but how do 'u 'nw m' name?" His voice was barely audible and hoarse.
"When Joker got you, Green Arrow shouted your name and it clicked for me."
"…Dick?… That mak' sense…"
"The one and only. They will be here soon. Don't worry. We're getting you out of this I need just- shit! Really? He made a bomb?" Nightwing said, looking at the clock showing 3 minutes. The Joker came back with a bucket of water and turned on the bomb.
"I have a little bird, that means Batsy will be here soon, so let's make this more interesting." He said and he gagged both men, stopping them from talking. 2:21. Then he poured water on them. 1:41. He picked up a small object form corner. 1:20. He put it in a puddle and turned the device on, electroshocking both young men, laughing hysterically. 1:02.
Batman broke through the window straight into Joker making him fall.
"Good you are here. I was about to inform you- there is about to be a death in bat family!" The clown laughed. The masked man quickly knocked him out and hurried to the young heroes. 0:39. He took off Dick's gag and the boy shouted "A bomb!". 0:32. They helped Barry get up and untied him. 0:21. Barry asked "Arrow?"
"He is next door as back up. We must-" 0.14. Batman didn't finish his sentence, because after a moment of blurriness he was already outside with an unconscious Joker and Dick, who almost fell over from dizziness of not for Batman's fast reflexes.
Every step felt like his legs were breaking again. They hadn't healed properly. But he couldn't stop. He had to take Batman and Nightwing to a safe distance. He had to come back and take an Ollie too. He got to his fiancé and grabbed him. In seconds they were outside and the building blew. Both men fell on the ground and Barry's body protested.
"It's alright, Bear. I gotcha. You're safe." Oliver hugged him and kissed him.
"…Ollie…"
"I'm here."
Barry finally let go and passed out. Oliver picked him up making sure not to move his legs too much and saw how Batman was checking Nightwing for injuries.
"I fine, stop worrying."
"Your back?"
"Yeah, I will have some nice bruises, but nothing more. I feel numb for now anyway."
"We heading back?" Arrow asked.
"Yes. Can you walk?" Batman asked Nightwing.
"Yes," the youngest hero said and released his guardian's arm. He made one step and swayed a little. Batman's hand immediately grabbed his shoulder. Oliver came by and offered his shoulder as support till Dig will show up with the car.
"I'll take the Joker to the Police Department and make sure they secure his transport well enough. See you at the foundry."
At the Arrow Cave the mood wasn't happy, although they defeated the Joker. Caitlin had to rebreak Barry's legs. They healed completely wrong. Dig, Cisco, and Oliver had to hold down a tossing Barry. It took them almost half an hour. Dick was very weak, he needed rest too, but he didn't let go till he was sure Barry was okay. Felicity was checking him for any further wounds when Batman came back. He waited until Caitlin finished and said, "Joker is on his way to Gotham and Arkham Asylum."
"Good. You all need rest. When Barry's legs have heal, which will take five or six hours, we will take him to Oliver's flat. Till then, we won't touch him," Caitlin said, patting sleeping man's forehead. She took a wet cloth and wiped his sweat. "You need to rest too, Dick," she said, looking at the younger man.
"I have gust room in my flat, you can use it," Felicity said to him and turned to Batman. "You as well, Mr Wayne."
"Thank you, Miss Smoak. It's very kind of you." He nodded at her. Felicity smiled and quickly collected her things in her bag. She kissed Barry's head for goodbye and hugged Oliver. "He's tough."
"I'll drive you." Dig said and the four left.
"I just called Iris to tell her Barry is safe and sound and that he is resting. Detective West won't shoot us anymore," Cisco said with a smile.
When Barry woke up, he was in Oliver's apartment. Oliver was lying next to him. His arm was supporting his head and the other was at Barry's waist. Barry raised his hand and caressed Oliver's cheek with the back of his hand. The older man frowned and opened his eyes.
"Hey, Ollie," Barry whispered.
"Hey yourself," Oliver smiled and kissed his temple. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore… I can feel every my muscle, but it's fine. I guess we're taking a vacation."
"You? Yes, you definitely need a vacation. Maybe even permanently. I think Joe would agree with me."
Barry giggled and turned his body with effort to face Oliver. He hid his face in the older man's chest.
"Just few day is enough. And with cuddle even less."
Barry couldn't walk yet and Bruce and Dick were sitting on the sofa in Oliver's living room. They were in their costumes with no masks.
"I'm glad you are alright, Barry."
"Thank you, Mr Wayne."
Bruce nodded and went to talk to Oliver. Barry looked at Dick with a smile and asked, "and you? How are you feeling?"
"Me? You took all the Joker's craziness and you're asking me?"
"I heal fast."
"I don't think that's the point, but I'm fine. Thank you. I'll just feel my back for a while."
"I guess Alfred won't be pleased with it."
"Ech, Alfe, Jason, hell Bruce will give me lectures during our trip back. Especially since I pulled a string they will have every right to be angry."
"What string?"
"I may have played bait for the Joker, even when Bruce said no…"
"What? You are nuts!" Barry laughed.
"Hey! It worked!"
"Whatever," they laughed for a little more before Barry got serious again.
"Thank you, Dick. For everything- for saving me."
"You are very welcome."
"Why did he take me?"
"We aren't sure. With him you can never be sure. But Bruce thinks he was just interested in you. You are different than any other Vigilante. You're fast. He likes challenges."
"But he came here to Star City, not to me."
"The Flash and Green Arrow team up often. He knew you would be here. Anyway, it's just a theory. He was expecting Batman to show up from very beginning too. He was sending us videos, but Felicity couldn't locate you. Each one was from a different location."
"I see. Wait! What videos?"
"Em, he was recording what he was doing to you."
"Oh, and everyone saw it?" Dick nodded. "Ollie too?"
"Yeah, he was a wreck," Dick winced. Barry groaned hiding his face in hands.
"Dick, we should get going," Bruce said.
Dick got up and hugged Barry.
"We should team up again in some time," Barry smiled.
"Definitely. But under different circumstances," Dick smirked and went to shake Oliver's hand, patting the older man's shoulder.
Barry had a long phone conversation with Iris and Joe. He knew how much he had scared them, so he apologized. The Wests were angry over apologies they didn't want to hear. because it wasn't Barry's fault. When Barry had made full recovery Joe promised a special dinner with them, Barry, and Oliver. Main course: Spaghetti ala Joe. Iris promised a movie night for all at West's. Cisco and Felicity couldn't be happier when they got invitation texts form Iris. Family movie marathons were their favorites.
When Oliver and Barry were finally alone, they sat down on the couch and turned the TV on for background noise. Barry was sitting in Oliver's lap. He put his arms around older man's neck for a make-out session- their way of relaxing.
"Dick said you saw the videos," Barry said softly. Oliver's hand clenched on Barry's hip.
"Talk to me, Ollie. I know it's going to destroy you if you stifle it."
"I just…" Oliver pressed his head to his fiancé's shoulder. "I will kill him when I see him again. Every hit, stab and- and electr- and your shouts- your voice-… You were hurting so much- Barry I thought I going to lose you. We couldn't find you and he kept sending videos. He laughed so much and- God, Bear. I love you. I love you so much. I can't lose you. This made me see- we shouldn't wait anymore. I don't want a life without you… Bear, let's get married."
"I already said yes for your proposal," Barry said with a big smile.
"I know, I'm talking about the wedding. Let's get married next week."
Barry laughed aloud. He kissed his silly fiancé, "are you sure?"
"Yes, I am."
"Okay, Ollie. Let's get married next week," they kissed again.
Thank you so much viviegirl05 (she is on AO3). You are big help!