Disclaimer: These characters and the show unfortunately do not belong to me. I'm just playing around with them.
An alarm going off brought Barry back to the land of the conscious. He opened his eyes blearily and examined his surroundings.
Where am I? The pounding in his head did nothing to dispel his sudden aching body, and the events of the previous day came rushing back to him. Captain Cold and his sister had come back to town and were wreaking their usual havoc when Barry intervened.
Ow. The fight left him rather exhausted, but the constant ringing of his alarm clock further roused him to consciousness.
Crap! Barry shot out of bed and grabbed his clock desperately. 30 minutes! He was 30 minutes late for work. Oh, Joe is gonna kick my butt! There's no way Singh will let me keep my job! Barry dressed in a flash (pun intended) and raced to the station. He slid to a halt in front of the building, ignoring the smoldering of his shoes, and dashed inside, hoping to sneak into his lab before someone noticed he was late. No such luck.
"Allen! My office, now!" Singh stopped Barry on the fourth step, jerking an angry finger over his shoulder, pointing to his office. He stomped away and left Barry on the stairs, with half of the police force watching him. Several uniforms just shook their heads, while others looked on in pity. Eddie approached him with an apprehensive look on his face.
"I'm sure it'll be okay." He said. Eddie gave Barry another look of pity before turning back to his desk, leaving Barry with an expression of, well, disbelief.
"Well, I guess this is it. Five years of working on the force, and it's over." Barry thought miserably as he reluctantly trudged towards the Captain's office. "So much for my sparkling career as a forensic scientist."
Singh actually just gave him a stern warning about being late and then he handed him a folder.
"New info on the Hapstill's case." He said when Barry gave him a confused look. Oh. Barry left the Captain's office and went to his lab, where he went over the case folder.
knock knock.
Barry looked up to see Joe running in, an alarmed look on his face.
"Hey," Barry said, "What's going on?"
"Barry, there's a shooting downtown." Barry immediately stood up and dashed out the door, leaving Joe chasing after him. He ran to Star Labs, put on his suit, and met Joe at the location he got from Cisco. There were police cars scattered around a bank, some flaming and wrecked. Civilians were running around screaming, and he could clearly see two silhouettes in the banks entrance. Two figures emerged, a man and a woman, carrying large black duffel bags and handguns.
"Open fire!" A cop shouted, taking cover behind the only unscathed car. Bullets began flying towards the pair at the bank, and they jumped into action. A large ball of red flame erupted from the woman's hands, and she shot it out towards the police officers. Barry sprinted around the bullets while Joe ducked behind a parked car as the flame hit an already destroyed police cruiser.
Great, more meta-humans. Barry thought as he dashed from cover to grab the man, who was currently sending large icicles through car doors. The man was knocked aside and Barry turned to get the woman, but he hesitated when he saw four bullets heading straight for her. Barry ran, as Joe yelled for a cease fire, to catch the bullets before they killed the young woman.
One. He caught it in his hand, and tossed it to the side. Three more were ahead of him as he raced forward.
Two. He plucked it from thin air and threw it to the ground.
Three. He gripped the warm metal and dropped it on the street.
Four. His fingers reached forward to enclose the bullet in his palm.
He slipped.
The bullet shot past his gloved fingers as he came to a stop, and unable to tear his eyes away, Barry watched as the bullet ripped through the woman's chest. A large red burst of blood erupted from the woman's chest, and she collapsed.
"No!" Barry shouted in unison with the man, who got up and ran towards the woman. He grabbed her in his arms and held her close, while the street was silent. The officers were recovering, and Joe went around to check on the civilians, while a small group of officers slowly approached the bank front.
"Lily!" The man sobbed and shook, as the woman closed her eyes. Barry fell to his knees.
I wasn't fast enough. Memories of Leonard Snart at the museum and the man that Barry failed to save flooded through his mind. The meta-human suddenly stood, after gently laying the woman's body down, and threw a large wave of ice towards the police force. Barry shot forward and ran to save all the cops, including Joe, from the large sheet of ice. The man ran, and disappeared while Barry raced around the ice and moved civilians and officers out of the way. Barry faltered when he felt a large piece of ice stab through his back. He collapsed, and twisted to reach the icy blade, sharply pulling it out. Barry screamed and fell further to the ground, unconsciousness threatening to overwhelm him. Barry saw Joe yell something at him, and he had just enough strength to dash all the way to STAR Labs before he collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor of the cortex. The last thing Barry knew was Cisco shouting his name and both he and Caitlin rushing towards him, before darkness enveloped him and his world fell away to coldness.
"...e's waking up..."
"...re you sure...?"
"...arry? Barry?" He could hear voices around him, felt a hand on his arm. What?
"Barry?" Caitlin. That's Caitlin. What's going on?
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his right side, which then turned into an unbearable fire burning across his torso. A loud beeping echoed in his ears as he struggled to stay somewhat conscious. Barry felt a prick in his arm, and the pain in his body left as quickly as it had come.
"...ry? Bar..." Cisco?
"Barry." Dr. Wells! He would know what's going on. Barry struggled to move, to do something. His body just wouldn't listen to him. Unconsciousness pulled him back down again. The next time he woke, it wasn't as softly.
Barry jolted forward awake, breathing heavily, all his previous pain and injuries fully healed. Cisco appeared in his line of sight, then Caitlin and Dr. Wells joined him.
"Whoa, dude." Cisco said. "Take it easy." Barry was panting, his eyes blinking rapidly, still trying desperately to focus against the sudden blinding light.
"Ho-how long was I out?" Barry asked, looking around. Dr. Wells answered.
"About ten hours." Barry's eyed widened at that, and he immediately ripped the IV out of his arm and jumped off the bed.
"10 hours! How was I out that long?" Everyone was trying to get Barry to lie back down, but he just ignored them as he threw on a STAR Labs sweatshirt. He felt fine.
"The damage to your back was pretty severe," Caitlin said, pointing to some X-rays on the wall. "The icicle pierced your lower abdomen, and just barely missed your kidney. If you didn't have regenerative healing, you could've died." Caitlin actually looked worried. Her frown disappeared and she said brightly, "Not that I doubt my miraculous physician abilities."
Everyone smiled and the tension in the room dissipated, until Cisco brought up the meta-human.
"I think we'll call him, The Icy Wonder." Cisco said dramatically. "I mean Captain Cold was taken, so..." Caitlin smiled, but Barry's thoughts were back to the showdown with that meta-human and the woman. The others noticed the change in Barry's demeanor, and a tense silence filled the room.
"Barry," Caitlin spoke. "It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah man, you tried. Nobody blames you."
I bet that man does.
"What was her name?" Barry asked quietly, forcing his eyes to the ground in an effort to stop the tears about to spill. They, inevitably, fell down his face, and he had to look the other way, so Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells wouldn't see him crying.
"Her name was Lily Adams." Dr. Wells wheeled around to the computer screens and pulled up a biography of the woman. Her face flashed in front of Barry and more tears dripped, unyielding, down his cheeks. "The other meta-human was Michael Adams, her brother." A similar photo pulled up of the man. They looked extraordinarily similar. As if reading Barry's mind, Dr. Wells said, "They were twins." Intaking a shuddering breath, Barry started to leave.
"I need to find him." Barry said, but was stopped by Cisco.
"Dude, you know we don't hold you responsible for Lily's death, but he might."
I wasn't fast enough.
"I think its best if you hang out here for a bit." Caitlin and Wells nodded, but Barry wasn't convinced.
"I can't, I have work to do." He glanced at his watch; it was 9:30. He had half an hour to get to work. Barry tried to walk around Cisco, but he was again stopped by Cisco putting a hand against his chest.
"Dude, did you not hear me? That guy could be after you- he probably is!" Barry's jaw clenched, and anger flooded through his veins. He needed to leave before he did something he'd regret.
"Get out of my way " Barry grit out, forcing himself to look coldly at Cisco. Caitlin and Cisco were taken aback by Barry's blunt and forceful tone, but Cisco did nothing to comply with Barry's demand. Wells looked on, an unreadable expression on his face. Barry steeled his features, and before anyone could do anything, he zoomed out of the room, already miles away in seconds.
"What was that about?" Caitlin asked.
"He's upset." Wells spoke up, wheeling around the computer desk to face Cisco and Caitlin. "He blames himself. Give him time."
Barry skid to a halt far away from STAR Labs, surrounded by a bunch of warehouses. He looked around, then bent over and leaned on his knees, gasping for breath. The guilt was eating him alive, and Barry could feel a warmth traveling up his throat as his lunch threatened to resurface. He coughed up some of the bile in his throat and spit it to the side. Still hunched over leaning on his knees, Barry fought the shiver traveling down his spine, and he angrily swiped away the tears flowing down his face.
snap
A twig, a tree branch, a rock, something cracked around the quarry, and for the first time, Barry examined his surroundings. Four warehouses stood to the left of him, in front of a large mine shaft that traveled way down, nearly miles deep. A figure emerged from the third warehouse, the one closest to Barry. As he got closer, Barry prepared himself to battle, but the fight left him as soon as he got a clear look at the man's face.
"Michael Adams." Barry's voice cracked with guilt as the man approached. He wore an angry expression, and behind him trailed a long sheet of ice. "I-I'm so sorry about your sister." Michael scoffed, but continued walking. He finally spoke up.
"My sister is dead, because you couldn't save her." Barry gasped as more guilt flooded through his veins, and Michael finally stood face to face with Barry. "And now, you're going to pay." Barry felt a sharp prick in his arm, and looked down to see a small syringe sticking out. Knowing that whatever he had injected Barry with wouldn't work, Michael used his new-found ability to create a large rock of ice, and with it, he smashed Barry over the head. Barry collapsed on the ground of the empty lot, and the last thing he remembered was regretting not listening to Oliver during those lessons he gave Barry about 'observing your surroundings before flashing into an unsafe scene.'