WARNING: Rape/Non-con (non-graphic)
This chapter was a huge reason why I was so stumped on this story. I didn't know if I wanted to go through with this part or not, but I think over time, I've gotten a bit bolder with my writing, so I decided to stay true to the story and write it. I hope no one is triggered or offended by this chapter. It's non-graphic and the conversation in which non-con is referred to is brief. Really, everything that was done to Barry in that lab was non-consensual though.
Ashland
Joe looked like he was going to be sick. They all did. Of all the things the scientists had done to his son, he had never thought they could have done anything like this.
"You didn't tell me about that," Caitlin said to Holland in a dangerously quiet voice, "I thought you told me everything that you had done to Barry."
"I said I would tell you everything that you needed to know," Dr. Holland corrected quietly, "And I did. I told you about all of the major procedures. I told you what was important."
"It all is important," Iris spat, glaring at the woman, "Everything you did to Barry, it all matters, every last thing."
"I didn't think you would want to know about it," the doctor said quietly, "Or that Barry would want to know. Obviously he knows we took all the…necessary reproductive samples from him, but he's unaware of what we did with them."
"Well, he's aware now!" Cisco said angrily, "I'm sure he knows now that those unborn babies were his!"
"Oh my God," Iris choked, covering her mouth with her hand, "Barry. He must be so devastated."
"Are there any still alive?" Caitlin asked Dr. Holland angrily, "Is there a surrogate mother out there currently still carrying Barry's child?"
Dr. Holland shook her head.
"No," she said, "We had all of the fetuses aborted within a month so we could study their development up to that point and see if Barry's abilities were genetic, which they were. We weren't planning to do a full gestation for at least another six months or so."
They all glared at the doctor.
"You're evil," Cisco said angrily to her, "You're completely evil, and you deserve whatever Barry's got coming for you. Don't expect us to protect you when Barry comes back for you. Whatever he's planning, you deserve every bit of it and then some."
"Cisco," Caitlin said, trying to calm him.
"No, Caitlin," he snapped, "I've had it with this monster! Why are we even still keeping her around? I don't give a fuck how sorry she is. It doesn't undo what she did."
"I know, Cisco," Caitlin said gently, "But we need her if we're going to take on Eiling."
"They raped him," Iris said quietly, "They raped his mind, spirit, and body. Everything they did to Barry was…unspeakable. I'm sorry, but I agree with Cisco. I can't have this woman around anymore."
They all turned to Joe for his opinion.
"Get rid of her," was all he could say.
He wasn't able to look at Dr. Holland. He never was. Just the sight of the woman made his stomach clench.
Dr. Holland didn't say a word. She knew this was coming, knew they would reach a point where they would have to come up with a decision. She couldn't stay prisoner at STAR Labs forever. The only question now was what they were going to do with her.
"So, we're just going to let her go?" Caitlin asked the other three, her voice cracking, "She gets to just walk away?"
"I say we leave her to whatever Barry wants to do to her," Iris said stiffly.
"What about Barry?" Caitlin asked desperately, "This vendetta of his isn't healthy. We're just going to support that by allowing him to exact his vengeance on another person? Shouldn't we be trying to stop him?"
"I agree with you that this isn't healthy, Caitlin," Joe said painfully, "But at the same time, I think Barry really needs this. I think he needs to be the one to take them all down. I think it might bring him some closure."
"No, it's going to further damage him," Caitlin insisted, "Right now, all Barry is doing is exposing all of them, but for all we know, there could be more to it than that. We can't support his…his vendetta by allowing him to do the same to Dr. Holland, as much as she may deserve it. And like I said, we need her for the trial. We can't just let her leave and hope that Barry takes care of her. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. Once she's gone, who's to say she won't go straight to Eiling? We can't let her leave."
The others all looked angrily at Dr. Holland. They knew that Caitlin was right, that they couldn't just let her leave, but having her around, seeing her face every day, knowing what she did to Barry, was sickening for them. Having her here, working with them, while Barry was gone, killed them. Every minute they spent with the doctor was painful and unbearable.
"I would never go to Eiling," Dr. Holland said quietly, "I would never help hurt Barry again. I…I want to help. I want to make up for the things I did."
Iris stepped forward so that she was standing in front of the doctor, her face inches from Holland.
"Nothing can ever make up for what you did to Barry," she whispered, her eyes filled with loathing for the doctor, "Nothing."
…..
Barry painfully scrubbed a few of the tears from his face. His heart felt like it had been shredded into a million tiny pieces. He had to move on. He had to move onto the next scientist. He couldn't stop thinking about Dr. Rosier though. He had known the doctor was running his own experiments in his own private lab in Maine, but he had had no idea what those experiments had been.
Until now.
The doctor was exposed. Barry had done what he needed to do for now, and it was time to move onto his next target, but he couldn't, not after what he had seen in that lab.
A sob escaped Barry's lips as he thought about it. This wasn't just about him now. This wasn't about getting revenge. It was about getting vengeance for all of them. For him and his…his children.
Barry felt like he was going to be sick again. He already had been sick. Several times.
It had taken all that Barry had not to hunt the doctor down right then and there. He wanted to kill the man. He wanted to kill him more than he had ever wanted to do anything in his life. Barry had stopped himself though. It was too soon. Barry couldn't hurt them yet. He had to make sure the world knew what they had done first. He had to make sure they all were seen for the scum they were.
…..
"Alright, everyone," Cisco said, beckoning them over to the computer he was sitting at, "I just finished inputting our latest data. Time to finally see if Gideon can really help us find him."
Everyone crowded around the computer screen, anxious to see if this was going to work.
Cisco looked at them all nervously before hitting a button on the keyboard. A loading emblem appeared on the screen.
"It's processing the data," he told them quietly, "I inputted all of the locations that we know Barry has been in for last two months and the locations of the few remaining scientists that he hasn't gotten to yet. Gideon should be able to anticipate which scientist Barry will mostly go after next."
They all stared at the screen, waiting anxiously for it to come up with a result. Finally, it did.
Phillip Nash
Cisco grinned when the name appeared on the screen.
"How do we know that that's for sure who Barry's going after next?" Joe asked skeptically.
"We don't," Cisco said, "But looking over the data here, it looks like Gideon took into account the fact that Barry went north last week. She saw a pattern that we haven't seen."
"What do you mean?" Henry asked, furrowing his eyebrows, "What pattern?"
"Barry's been traveling in a way that he thinks is random," Cisco explained, "But looking at the pattern of locations he's been to so far, it looks like Barry tends to go north after every time he hits someone in Central City. He also seems to come back to this area every week or so, sometimes for what seems like no reason."
"No reason?" Iris asked.
Cisco nodded.
"Just last week, Barry stayed in a motel that was just a mile from Central City, but after that he ended up traveling to Quebec, Canada. He keeps coming back to this area though, and a lot of the time it's not for a scientist. There doesn't seem to be any reason for it."
"Maybe it's because he's homesick," Joe whispered.
Cisco sighed.
"Yeah," he said quietly, "That's what I'm thinking too."
"I wish he would just come home," Iris said brokenly, "I wish he would at least call, give us a chance to talk to him, to work things out."
"I think it's safe to say now that Barry isn't planning on coming home any time soon," Joe said sadly, "He needs to finish this first. All we can hope for is that once he's done with all of this, he'll come back."
"He will," Iris said firmly, "He will come home, when he's ready."
Joe released a shaky sigh.
"I hope you're right," he muttered, "For now, all we can do is try to track him and figure out where he's going. If Gideon is right. If Barry is going to go after this 'Phillip Nash' next, maybe we can try to intercept him. Maybe we can talk to him."
Henry sighed.
"It's as good a plan as any."
…..
Phillip Nash.
After looking the scientist up, they all recognized his picture right away. He had been the dermatology expert in the lab where they had kept Barry. He was the one they had watched perform multiple skin grafts on Barry, some of the most sickening experiments Barry had endured.
He was one of the few scientists who hadn't tried to hide after the entire operation had fallen apart. He had gone back to his hometown in Ashland, Ohio, where it appeared he had his own dermatology center through which he practiced medicine and dermatology research.
They didn't know what Barry was planning to expose him for; all they knew what that Nash was probably his next target. Ashland was just a few miles from Central City, so they wouldn't have to go far to try to intercept Barry. They knew Barry was most likely going to be in that city next. The hardest part was going to be figuring out where in the city Barry was going to be. It wasn't a terribly big city—it's population being only 20,000 people—but it was still going to be hard to pinpoint Barry's exact location.
It was also going to be difficult to convince Barry to come home. Or to get him to even listen to them without flashing away first, for that matter. They figured the easiest way would be to ambush Barry at whatever hotel he was staying at this time. They figured that would go over better than trying to reach Barry while he was actively trying to take down Nash.
Ashland, Ohio had a lot of hotels, though. And Barry always used a different fake name at every place he stayed. Thankfully, Gideon helped them find the most likely hotel. A room had been booked at a small hotel on the south side of the city that very morning, and the name that the person had used was Edmond Dantes. After searching the name, they discovered that it was actually the name of a fictional character. The protagonist to the Count of Monte Cristo. It was no coincidence.
It was Barry.
"What are we going to say to him once we get inside?" Iris asked nervously.
They were all huddled in the STAR Labs van, which was parked outside of the small hotel that Barry was staying at. It was hard for them to believe that after two months of Barry being gone, they were now this close to him.
"Maybe we shouldn't all go in at once," Joe said, "He's probably more likely to bolt if we all ambush him at once. I think just a few of us should go in."
"You and Iris should go," Caitlin said to Joe, "He spent most of his time with you two while he was recovering. He'll probably respond to you best. He might hear you out before he runs."
"What if…?" Cisco said, swallowing painfully, "What if we…tranquilized him?"
The others all stared at him.
"What?" Henry asked angrily.
"Hey, I don't want to do it," Cisco said quickly, "But let's face it, Barry's probably going to run no matter what we say to him. I know tranquilizing him will be awful for him, but maybe it's the best option. At least then we could take him home with us."
"To do what?" Joe asked seriously, "Lock him in the pipeline? I'm not going to do that to him. Barry's already lost his freedom once; I'm not going to do it to him a second time. I'm not going to let him associate us with those scientists by making him our prisoner."
"Okay," Cisco said quickly, "Okay, I agree with you. I was just throwing the idea out there."
Joe nodded seriously and then looked at Iris.
"Ready?" he asked nervously.
Iris nodded and the two of them climbed out of the van and made their way into the hotel.
"What if he doesn't answer the door?" Iris asked suddenly as they were walking down the hotel hallway to room 138, "We probably shouldn't knock. He'll just phase out of the room and flee."
"You're right," her father said, nodding.
They looked around then until they found a housekeeping cart. He and Iris waited until the housekeeping lady had walked down the hallway towards the linen closet before Joe quickly swooped in on the cart, swiping the master keycard off of it.
"We have to be quick," he said as they rushed down the hallway with the card, back to Barry's room.
They paused outside the door though, staring at the black numbers,138, on the door, too nervous to open it. What were they going to say to him? How could they possibly convince Barry to come home? How could they make him see just how much they missed him? How loved he was?
Joe took a deep breath and silently slid the master keycard into the slot on the door. The light flashed green, and he and Iris shared a nervous glance with each other before Joe swung the door open.
They stepped silently into the room. The hotel room was dark and appeared to be empty. The lights were off, and the blinds were drawn on the windows. Nothing seemed to be disturbed, and the bed was still made. They saw no signs of Barry in the room.
Joe put a finger to his lips before silently tiptoeing towards the bathroom. He slowly turned the handle and eased the door open, but his face fell when he saw it was empty.
"He's not here," he said, crestfallen, "I don't get it. He was supposed to be here. According to Gideon, he was scheduled to check in at ten AM this morning. His stuff should be here, at least. There should be something here."
Joe moved towards the dresser and started frantically yanking open all the drawers.
"Dad," Iris said quietly.
"There has to be something here," he said, "There has to be."
"Dad," she said again, tears forming in her eyes, "Barry's not here."
Joe let out a shaky breath.
"Damn it!" he shouted, slamming one of the drawers shut.
Just then his phone started ringing.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Joe," Cisco's voice replied, sounding somber, "You need to come back to the van. I just found something."
Joe hung up without another word and silently gestured to Iris to follow him. He tossed the card back onto the cart when they walked past it, and they quickly made their way back to the van.
"Barry wasn't there," Joe fumed once he had slammed the van door shut behind him.
"I know," Cisco said, "I just found another report."
He turned his laptop so that Joe could see it, and he and Iris both read the title to the article he had found.
Arlington Ophthalmologist Accused of Embezzlement Scandal
"Barry's not in Ashland," Cisco said quietly, "He's not even in Ohio. He's in Arlington, Texas."
"But the room," Iris said desperately, "Edmond Dantes. It has to be Barry!"
Cisco shook his head.
"He tricked us," he said quietly, "He was never here. He just wanted us to think he was here."
"But what about the pattern?" Henry asked, "Gideon's pattern?"
Cisco sighed.
"Gideon doesn't tell the future," he said, "She predicts the most likely future. Barry is traveling more randomly than we thought. Or maybe I just didn't enter enough information into the system for it to be accurate. Maybe there was a factor that Gideon didn't account for. Or a last minute change in his plans. It could be any number of things."
"But how did Barry know we would be here?" Caitlin asked in confusion, "How did he know to book the decoy hotel room?"
Cisco shook his head.
"I don't know," he whispered.
They all were sullen and quiet as they drove their way back to Central City. They had really thought they were close to seeing Barry. Even though Barry had been states away, it still felt to them like he had been nearly in their grasp and had then slipped through their fingers. It was hard not to be a little angry with Barry. What Barry had done was cruel. He had intentionally tricked them, had gotten their hopes up and then crushed them. They couldn't believe Barry had actually staged this whole thing just to distract them.
As soon as they were back at STAR Labs, Cisco moved straight to the computer and started typing away.
"What are you doing?" Joe asked.
"I'm tracing the IP address of the computer used to book the room," Cisco said quickly, "If I can find the IP address, I might be able to trace the computer that Barry is using, assuming it's his own. I might be able to pinpoint his location."
They all watch anxiously as Cisco worked his magic on the computer, tracing the IP address. Finally, a nine-digit number appeared on the screen.
"Got it!" Cisco yelled excitedly, punching the air in triumph.
His face suddenly fell then as he lowered his fist.
"Wait a minute," he said tensely, "This isn't right."
"What is it?" Caitlin asked nervously.
Cisco looked at her, a confused expression on his face.
"It's the STAR Labs IP address," he replied.
"Barry was here?!" Iris cried, "He was inside STAR Labs?!"
"No," Cisco said quickly, "No, he couldn't have been. I have sensors set up to alert us if Barry were to return to the lab. He couldn't have been here without us knowing."
"But the rooms were booked this morning," Caitlin said, "They were booked from this computer this morning."
Joe suddenly spun around and looked around at all of them, a suspicious look on his face.
"Someone here is helping Barry stay hidden."
…..
I need everyone's help with something. I've written a letter to the writers of the Flash, and I need help spreading the message so that it gets to them. If you have a moment, please look me up on Twitter at RedQ051 and see the tweet pinned to my profile. If you agree with what I say in my letter, please retweet it or share the letter on Facebook so that it can spread and eventually get to the right people. Although it's too late to change season 3, I strongly hope that my letter will be taken into consideration for season 4. Thank you!
RedQ