Barry Allen
I bolted towards the Griffith Hotel, not caring whether or not I would be trailing gusts of wind behind. After hours upon hours of searching, Cisco, Caitlin, Dr. Wells, and I finally got a lead to lock up Snart for good- a location.
The Griffith Hotel was less than five minutes away from Jitters, the place where Iris formerly worked at. It had modern rooming, beige wood furniture, high-tech lighting, and so forth. And the prices weren't half bad either. But that was beside the point.
Less than two seconds later, I bust through the doors of Room 224, only to find the lodging empty- wrecked and ransacked beyond belief.
Regan Williams
I had no idea where I was headed. All I saw was pitch-darkness . . . All I heard was the brakes slamming and the gas pedal at full speed, and all I felt were the frayed ropes tugging at my wrists and ankles.
My hands were tied behind my back, and I could barely feel anything. The ropes were gnawing at my skin, abrading my skin like chipped paint. As cheap as the ropes were, they hurt . . . a lot.
The blindfold at my eyes was tied securely around my head. The knot of the fold gripped tightly against my scalp, as if it were to seethe through my flesh. Snart must have really kept his hideout a secret if he fastened my blindfold so tightly.
My thoughts ultimately raced back to Snart's files I had run through my computer. Did he take the laptop with him? That would've really bad if he did, since the device was borrowed from the SCPD. If Snart was smart enough to track down whoever was tracing him on the Internet . . . Then he most likely had the capability to erase all files from the SCPD database concerning, not only him, but every other known criminal the Starling City Police force had ever encountered.
As much as the situation was dire, I couldn't do anything. My wrists were bound together behind me and I could feel the chains fastened around my ankles begin to pierce my skin.
Any police department one worked for was always required to teach their staff and faculty self-defense and clever nick knacks- even the janitors and the scientists in the forensics department.
If you were kidnapped and thrown into the backseat of a car, you would kick the corner of the glass window, where the glass had the least tension, and break it open and escape.
If your hands were tied in front of you (rope or plastic knotting paraphernalia), you would raise your hands above your head and crash them with force upon your knee.
However, I couldn't do either of the two. For one, I couldn't see, feel, or hear a car window nearby, hence why I didn't punch out any windows. Second, I couldn't break free from the ropes around my wrists using vertical movements without cracking my spine.
Suddenly, I felt the van slow down, eventually reaching a complete stop. I heard someone in the front seat take the key out of the ignition and open the car door. He exited the vehicle before slamming the door shut.
I could hear the person walk out on the gravel outside, his tread, heavy and sharp- like he was walking on ice.
Then, the trunk door slammed wide open. Gusts of icy winds crashed onto my bare skin. The warmth of the trunk van began to sift outside, gone in an instant. Now, all that was felt was the frigid cold that left trails of frostbite against my skin.
Thought I couldn't see anything, I heard Snart's distinct, passive voice echo in my ears, "You're going to go through hell, dear."
Add in that and the fact that I didn't know whether or not Snart had possession of my laptop or not to hack into SCPD redacted and local files?
I was screwed.
Barry Allen
I turned on the communication line between S.T.A.R. Labs and myself.
"Cisco," I called out my teammate's name through the earpiece. "The room's empty. You sure this is the right place?"
I heard furious typing from the other line before Cisco replied, "Yeah, Caitlin and I just checked . . . thrice. Snart was headed to that room. Are you sure he's not in the bathroom?"
In a blur, I busted the bathroom door open to only find it empty as well.
"Empty," I exhaled a frustrated sigh. "The entire room is empty."
There was silence on the other line until Dr. Well's voice was heard, "Is there a computer there, Barry?"
I took a quick scan around the room before I located a laptop stationed by a desk.
"Yeah, there is," I replied. "Why ask?"
"I think that might be our lead to Snart," Dr. Wells stated evenly. "Bring it back S.T.A.R. Labs. We'll scan the search history of the device as well as the documents factored in the system."
"Yes, sir," I responded with a nod, though the doctor wasn't exactly there to see it. "I'll run it back to the lab ASAP."
Dr. Wells added, "If there's anything else in the room that catches your attention concerning the Snart, run it to the lab as well."
"Got it," I replied before hanging up the com line.
I glanced around the room, looking around if there was any other evidence that could assist with capturing Snart, but nothing caught my eye . . . except one thing.
Before leaving the room, I grabbed the thing that caught my eye- the honey 'n' oats granola bars placed at the desk.
What can I say? I was famished. Besides, my quick metabolism would just consume its glucose, triglyceride, and monosaccharide contents in a jiffy anyways.
With a half-opened granola bar in one hand, I zipped out of the room and darted towards S.T.A.R. Labs with the laptop in hand.
Cisco plugged a USB cable in its correct slot before scanning the entire computer for viruses, malfunctions, and anti-software in case the computer was supposed to bug into the S.T.A.R. Labs computer systems. This was Snart we were talking about after all.
"Laptop's clean," Cisco said, narrowing his eyes. "Which doesn't seem right, considering it's Snart's."
Caitlin scrutinized at the laptop, walking over to the contraption before plugging the hacking software to it.
"Finished downloading all the search history, files, and information yet, Dr. Snow?" Wells asked.
Caitlin typed a few things onto the computer for several more seconds before saying, "It's complete, Dr. Wells."
The said man gave a nod of his head, indicating that Caitlin could begin looking through the files of Snart's computer.
Up on the big TV screen of S.T.A.R. Labs displayed the documents on the laptop. It was weird, though. The files shown were about Snart himself- his criminal records, lists of people the CCPD knew he murdered, his biography, and several scientific files concerning him from S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Wait," I tarried, eyes widening. "How did Snart manage to hack into our system?"
Caitlin and Cisco gave each other looks as Dr. Wells massaged his chin- deep in thought.
"Why would he even need the files anyways?" I questioned. "He's not metahuman, and he doesn't have the cold gun anymore."
Cisco's eyes widened, "Caitlin, are you thinking of what I'm thinking?"
Caitlin's eyes glanced both directions before replying, "Um, not exactly, no?"
Cisco deadpanned, "C'mon, Caitlin! At least help me make this moment more dramatic!"
Caitlin, Dr. Wells, and I simply stared at the mechanical engineer.
He raised his hands in defense, "Just a suggestion. In any case, Snart is the analytic thinker. He's not just going to waltz up into his public files and read them. He already knows them. Plus, Snart's no computer hacker, and he definitely can't hack into our systems. Otherwise, he would've have done that a long time ago. So-"
"The computer's not Snart's," I finished his sentence, frustration building. "We didn't get farther in the investigation at all."
Dr. Wells sighed, "Not exactly, Mr. Allen."
I scrunched my eyes before looking at the doctor, "How so?"
He pointed to the laptop with one hand, "If we can find out whose computer this is, we can deduce that, since you described that the hotel room was ransacked, Snart must have kidnapped whoever was in the hotel room. Since the computer files and search history showed that the user was looking up Snart's profile and history, we can say that Snart probably found out about it somehow and kidnapped the person so that he, or she, couldn't investigate any further . . . Just a theory."
"A good one," Cisco commented in awe as he began typing furiously onto the keyboard. His hacking skills weren't as amazing as that of Felicity Smoak's, but it was still pretty good.
"Thank you," Dr. Wells gave him a small smile. "Cisco."
After giving his mentor one last meaningful look, he returned to his work, cracking firewalls and passcodes to the laptop's owner's personal information.
Technically speaking, this was illegal (hacking into someone's personal information), but it was for the sake of protecting the citizens of Central City, so it was . . . Worth it.
"Pass this firewall, that firewall, a small code in Python here, a small code in Marion there and . . . Bam! I'm in!"
"So whose computer is it?" I asked, curious.
Cisco glanced at the computer screen, scrunching his eyes up, before replying, "I don't know the person, but it says here that the name of the person is . . ."
"Is?" I pressured.
"Regan Williams. Ring a bell?"
Regan Williams
Pitter.
Patter.
Pitter.
Patter.
The steady rhythm of water droplets dripping from the sewers was heard.
I was pacing back and forth in my barred cell. You could see the cage's metal rods- splattered with splotches of rust.
The cell had been purely silent for several hours now. Once Snart tossed me in the cage, he left, and I haven't caught or arena glimpse of him since.
A sly one he was- always slipping and sliding though the gaps, tracing and tracking down those who wanted to pry into his personal life.
But there was something off about Snart . . . How did he get onto the path of darkness? Was there a reason behind his actions? What was the trigger for him being an evil villain?
There were so many unquestioned thoughts racing through my mind, I failed to notice someone enter the door. The person then stood on the other side the cell's bars, facing me.
"Snart," I narrowed my eyes at him the moment I realized who it was.
He flashed me a monotone smile, the ends of his lips barely tugging upwards, "Regan."
"What do you want with me?" I asked, passively grim.
After a beat of silence, the man snorted, "I don't need you for anything."
Anyone could see through that lie.
"Oh, really," I deadpanned. "Then would you mind releasing me from this jail?"
He smiled smugly, "Yes, my dear, I would mind."
I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Anyone can see you lying, genius. Now tell me why you really want me here."
I straightened my back to appear confident and brimming with esteem, but no. Snart would find a way to counter those feelings.
This time, Snart fully smirked, flashing his white teeth in the process, "Hack into the SCPD systems and erase my files, would you?"
I scrutinized before chuckling lightly, feeling more helpless and helpless by each passing moment, "Like hell that would happen. Why don't we share stories instead? Why the black widow bites card all of a sudden?"
He still smirked, replying, "Oh, you will regret saying that. I already asked nicely, so here's the . . . hard way."
With that being said, Snart walked out of the room to only return a few minutes later with a little girl, about the age of seven. Her what seemed like lively, blonde pigtails now looked drooped and wilted- damp and dead. Her play dress was splattered with mud and dirt. She was on the verge of tears.
In one swift motion, Snart pulled out a gun out from his pocket and pressed it firmly against the girl's head. She screamed in fear, as my eyes only widened in shock and terror.
"Now," Snart smiled passively at me before saying calmly. "Are you going to do as I say . . . or not?"
Needless to say, I gulped and nodded my head in a daze.
Barry Allen
"R-Regan?" I asked, tilting my head slightly downwards, walking over to where Cisco was. "Are you sure?"
Cisco inhaled a breath before exhaling deeply, fingers rapidly typing away at the computer's keyboard, "Positive, man. Why? You know her?"
The breath I inhaled was caught in my throat, "Yeah. Kind of. She's in the forensics department at the police department in Starling City. She came here today for a business trip regarding a similar case here in Central, and so we had to work together on some things, but why would Snart kidnap her of all people?"
Cisco narrowed his eyes back onto the computer screen, "First of all, why does her computer contain files about Snart? Why was she so interested in the guy anyways?"
Beside him, Caitlin added, "Was the case she and you doing about Snart?"
I paused. It was, but I told her specifically not to look further into the investigation. Crap.
I sighed exasperatedly, "Yeah . . . We were. The case I told ou about at work earlier? The one with the black widow bites? Yeah, that's it. But I told her specifically not to look further into the case! I thought she'd listen to me."
Caitlin sighed, "That's exactly the reason why there's scientists in the world. We all want to do what people tell us not to. 'Don't play with the rockets!' 'Don't experiment with Na3Cl57 acids!' Of course, we never listen. We do them anyways."
Cisco have his partner a look, "Uh, yeah . . . Not helping Barry's point right now."
Dr. Wells then put his input in, saying, "First off, do we know anything that can help us track down Snart or Regan?"
Silence enveloped the entire room.
I scratched the back of my head before sighing in defeat, "No, not really."
Cisco crossed his arms, deep in thought, before admitting, "Yeah, no. I got nothing."
"Could we try hacking security cameras again and go through facial recognition software?" Caitlin suggested.
Dr. Wells breathed, "If that's l we got, that is probably the best idea. Now get to it."
We all nodded our heads in agreement before scrambling to find any leads regarding Snart. For all we knew, he had Regan, and there was no way in hell that I would let any one of my friends or acquaintances get hurt. Ever.
~*~~*~~~*~~~~**~~~~*~~~*~~*~
Regan Williams
Type. Type. Type.
That was all Leonard Snart ordered me to do as he held a little girl at gunpoint.
"Done deleting my files yet, dear?" He asked me in a passive form of politeness.
I sighed, faking that deleting his files from the mainframe was impossible, "I can't do it without the USB drive I left in my hotel room. Now if you let me go get it . . ."
He narrowed his eyes at me, "If you're thinking that you can escape from me, you are sadly mistaken."
With a newfound surge of bravery, I replied, "Why would I? You're holding an innocent girl at gunpoint. What else am I supposed to do?"
Snart seemed to think about my response for a moment or two before responding, "Alright, but any indication that you will contact any outsider will result in the death of not only yourself but this little girl as well."
I swallowed my fear, saying, "Yeah, I know."
Snart pushed me back into my hotel room before locking the door behind him. The little girl was still beside him- still at gunpoint.
He then began rummaging through the room, attempting to find the USB drive I possessed.
"Where is it?" he questioned passively.
I swallowed, "Bathroom drawer to the left."
He nodded his head before heading towards the bathroom. He released the little girl from gunpoint, and she immediately ran to me, enveloping me in an embrace.
Surprised, I hesitated before leaning down and returning the hug.
"I'm scared," she managed to squeak out, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Don't worry," I consoled her. "It's going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. Why did Snart take you away from your parents? Want to tell me what happened?"
She gulped down her hiccuping crying before stammering out through sobs, "I-I w-w-was with my mommy and daddy, and w-we were walking down a st-street when M-Mommy suddenly stopped and fell down. Daddy l-looked back and saw her o-on the ground, and s-so he went back to help her. And then I ran back to Mommy, but then everything went black. A-a-and that's all I r-r-remember . . ."
I held back a sharp inhale of shock. As cliche as the story sounded, it was truth, and I could do nothing but pity her. Snart probably had the mother injected with Black Widow venom before snatching away the little girl.
"Don't worry," I tried to flash her a condoling smile, tugging the stray strands of hair on her face behind her ear. "Everything is going to be okay. A happy ending, just like any other princess story."
She smiled, "I always wanted to be a princess."
I smiled as well, "You are."
I spoke too soon. Everything would not be fine.
"Sorry to break up your little happy moment," Snart stated passively, returning with the USB device I asked for. "But we need to get back to business."
I stood back up, the girl's hand in mine, before replying reluctantly, "Indeed we do."
He gave me a smug smile, "Where's your laptop? I know that you must have some information on there that could benefit me in the future. Where is it?"
I glanced about the room- to the desk, and realized that my computer was no longer there.
I returned my attention back to Snart, asking in a confused tone, "What do you mean? I thought you had it."
His smile quickly descended to a frown, walking calmly over to me and the little girl, snatching her away, and quickly pointing a gun to her head, "There's no use wasting our time here then. We're going back."
The moment we returned to the hideout, Snart forced me to sit down and work on hacking the SCPD database and erase all of his files from all local and international databases.
"Done yet?" he questioned me, still holding the poor little girl at gunpoint.
"Erasing personal files of anyone for that matter is far harder than it looks like in the movies," I muttered, loud enough for him to hear.
He narrowed his eyes on the screen, "Hurry. Pick up the speed."
I sighed, "Relax. I'm already going as fast as I can. Only problem I have is that I need Internet. I finished deleted local files without the need for Internet, but to delete files on an international level is a whole other story."
That was a lie. I didn't delete any files concerning Snart at all. Just the ones on my USB, which wasn't important. The local files weren't deleted, but I simulated to look like I did. Your play, Snart.
His eyes squinted at the screen before simply saying, "The Internet password is GoldenGlider."
I quickly typed in the password and connected to the Internet. The first thing thing I did was ask Snart, "Do you want me to delete the S.T.A.R. Labs files on you as well?"
He gave me a smirk, "Someone's being oddly cooperative. Alright. Sure. I'll be back. Don't do anything stupid."
With that being said, he handcuffed the little girl to a railing and exited the room.
I exhaled a sigh of relief before quickly hacking a traceable hack into S.T.A.R. Labs. This way they could track down Snart . . . hopefully. If I read the files correctly, the scientists there contianed metahumans in their broken particle accelerator piplines, and that the Flash, a.k.a. Barry Allen, worked diligently alongside them.
I quickly entered the S.T.A.R. Labs database and quickly typed typed the traceable hack onto the digital base. I wrote:
Snart location: North of Porter Lane. Take right at Boyd Avenue. Shack.
Was this worth the shot? I don't know. But that was my gut feeling, and gut feelings are usually right.
But I spoke too soon.
I felt a hand whip from behind me.
Snart snarled, "I knew you wouldn't voluntarily volunteer to just hack into S.T.A.R. Labs for the heck of it. You can kiss the little damn girl and yourself goodbye."
With that being said, he snapped out his sleek, silver gun and pointed it at the little girl.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, I shouted, "Wait! Kill me first!"
Maybe the Flash could reach here in time to save the girl. That would be worth it, right?
He lowered his gun and gave me a glance and a smirk, "Dramatic much? But nice suggestion . . . I'll kill you both at once."
Snart then pulled out his second silver gun from his waistband and aimed it in both directions- the little girl and myself.
I pursed my lips. I had to stall some time.
"At least, before I die," I stammered out. "Tell me why you got on this path."
Snart closed his eyes, and for once in his life, he looked remorseful, as if he was drowning in regret and sadness. He lowered his guns.
He exhaled a shaky breath, "I had a sister once. She would often get me out of prison when I was thrown in the hell-hole. But, someone killed her. End of story."
Snart then immediately re-pulled out his guns and pointed them at our heads, "As much as it would be interesting to tell you my life story, this is just a stall of time. I need to take care of you two before the Flash emerges."
And he pulled the trigger.
