Astrid woke up again. She knew that her sneer comment had angered the man, so much that he had hit her, knocking her out. The feeling of dried blood to the side of her head told her that she had been out for a little while. She was feeling light headed. He must have injected her with something. Her hands were still bound behind her back, but now they were restrained with something made of metal.
"Astrid, finally you're awake." Iris exclaimed, "The Flash is here!" she was ecstatic.
"The Flash?" Astrid asked turning her head, sure enough, the scarlet speedster and Vibe were standing right in front of them.
"You guys need to help us!" Astrid said, "Quick, untie us!" but they didnt untie them.
Vibe shot an energy blast right for them, making Iris scream. "Iris, he's playing with our heads! They aren't really here!" Astrid said when she had realized that it had all been a hallucination.
"I thought that he couldn't get into your head?" Iris asked.
"I thought so too… but he must have injected me with something. It's lowered my inhibitions. Whatever happens, you need to remember it's all just a trick. I've seen this before. He wants to break us, but you need to resist. We will get out of here, I promise you, Iris!" Astrid explained.
There was a slow clapping coming from the darkness, he had been there watching them all along. "Astrid Sutherland, there are other ways to torture you than to get into your mind." He approached them and whispered something into Iris' ear.
He untied Iris and handed her a dagger, leaving Astrid still tied up in her chair. Astrid tried to read Iris' mind, but her powers had been dampened. When he had knocked her out, it was clear that he had switched her wrists restraints with those stupid power dampening cuffs. Which explained the trickery from earlier, and right now he was clearly in Iris' mind.
Iris stood before Astrid with the dagger in her hand, he had compelled her.
"Iris, bring the weapon to her cheek. Scar her pretty little face." Dr Edgar instructed.
"Iris, you need to fight it! You need to!" Astrid said alarmed.
But Iris swiped the blade across Astrid's cheek in one swift move, making Astrid blink. It had hurt and she was bleeding, but she was not going to break. "I will not break!" Astrid snapped at the doctor.
"You certainly have strong will power. But remember, you are wearing restraints that dampen your powers. When you were sleeping, I was able to see in to your head. I saw your deepest and darkest thoughts. And when this reporter realizes what she has done, it will break her. She will destroy you!"
"And you won't leave a single finger print on the knife… so you won't get caught." Astrid snapped, "Very clever… but you're forgetting one thing. You're nothing but a weak man, who does his dirty work through tricks and compelling others! We are still stronger than you!"
The man sneered at her, and Iris immediately slashed the other side of Astrid's face, once again making her flinch. She was still under the man's compulsion. But Astrid still refused to cry. "It won't work. Keep trying!" Astrid yelled out, bringing up her mental wall again.
As this was happening, Cisco saw the action as if he were actually there himself.
"Cisco? Are you okay? What did you see?" Caitlin asked him, noticing the look of shock on his face. She put her arm around him and moved him to sit down in his seat.
"He's using Iris to hurt Astrid. I saw her slashing a knife against her face, as if I was actually there!" He managed to say.
"That's grim." Caitlin said looking over at Barry.
"Did you manage to see where they were? Anything?" Barry asked him, impatiently.
"No, there wasn't much light. Astrid can't use her powers either. We have to be missing something! Harry, that guy's doppleganger! There had to be anything that stood out? Names? places? He has to have something in common with this guy!" Cisco pleaded.
"I never actually fought him, Ramon. But I met people that did." Harry argued.
"Well, get to work… go chase up leads with your council of Wells! Or your other World Walkers! This is urgent!" Cisco snapped at him.
"It's not that easy, Ramon!" Harry snapped back, throwing a tablet across the room and storming out.
Cisco slumped in his seat, "That jerk broke my tablet!" he mumbled angrily.
Caitlin went to go after Harry, but Barry stopped her. "You deal with Cisco. I'll speak with Dr Wells." Barry knew the real reason that Dr Wells had gone into his office, he knew that it had something to with DR Fate.
Barry entered the office of Dr Harry Wells and closed the door behind him. "Are you going to summon her father? We need his help." Barry said.
"I cannot help you, Barry Allen." The echoing voice of Dr Fate sounded from behind Barry, making both he and Harry look up.
"Some father, you won't even protect your own daughter!" Barry snapped.
"As much as this is hurting Kent, I cannot stop this man. The gods will not allow me to." DR Fate said.
"Remove your helmet, I bet that Kent would argue otherwise!" Barry snapped.
"Barry," DR Wells cut in "If I'm correct, this is a test for Astrid to overcome. The gods have set it before her."
"A test?" Barry asked, "I'm beginning to see why your buddy Constantine hates the gods so much… Fine, but there should be something that we can do about all of this. Do we know of any other names that this DR Psycho has gone by? Cisco had that name right on the mark! He has to go by another name."
They heard the voice of DR Fate give up a name before he disappeared again. "Carlo Montez".
"That's a start!" Harry snapped.
He and Barry hurried back into the cortex.
"Carlo Montez!" Dr Wells said to Cisco.
"You're acting like I should know that name?" Cisco grumbled back.
"Get to work, Ramon! Search the name in the database, now!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Cisco snapped back, he typed the name and was surprised that he got a match. "You guys, here he is!"
"It says that he used to work for STAR Labs," Barry said.
"On the human sciences floor." Caitlin added in, "he left when Astrid took over the facility for her father and wow… He has been all over the place… even with…"
"…the Grodd project…" the three of them said in unison.