Alexander looked at his supposed to be dead counterpart. His counterpart glared back at him, the green flames on his hands flared dangerously.
" How are you alive? I thought you died in the car accident. " Alexander demanded his own hands started to glow with soft green light. Was this a trick?
" I don't understand what's happening. " Cisco said quietly behind them. The other Barry was standing next to him. The other Barry shrugged helplessly in response.
" Well I'm not dead. As you can see. " Alexander's counterpart spat out with thick sarcasm that Cisco didn't expect from him. Of course the two Alexander's would be different.
" Why didn't you go to your mom? She still thinks your dead. How can you be so selfish? " Alexander seethed almost shouting at his counterpart.
" How am I selfish? I am not selfish! Even the stupid sniffling baby isn't selfish. Far from it. He's annoying though." The other Alexander crossed his arms confusing the others with his strange words.
" What're you talking about, uh, other Alexander? " Cisco said not knowing what to call the supposed to be dead Alexander.
" Alex. He prefers it that way. " The other Alexander said extinguishing the green flame on his right to then extend it to Cisco. Cisco didn't move staring at the hand warily. Alexander, no, Alex withdrew his hand grinning as the green flames came back on his hand.
" Well? " Alexander said impatiently. He was getting tired of all these confusing matters.
" After the car accident there was this man. He said Alex needed to disappear make mom think that Alex dead. Make everyone think he's dead. Or else mom dies. " Alex looked at the small group before continuing, " There is two of us. Alex is too nice and he is always stuttering nervously. He is always scared of everything, and that is very annoying. He seriously can't man up for once in his life. There is also the fact that his teacher abused him behind everyone's back. And he was eleven when it all went down hill. "
Everyone else who was listening were shocked. They were not expecting that, especially Alexander.
" Of course Alex didn't know how to handle it, too fricking scared to go to anyone for help. So he made me. Made me to deal with his problems whenever he gets angry, and he doesn't even know I exist. I don't even have a name. Talk about unappreciated." Alex snorted and finished by crossing his arms despite the fact that his hands were still on fire.
" Why don't you name yourself? You obviously have the ability to do so. " Alexander said not taking in all of the information at once. It was slowly sinking in.
Alex looked at Alexander through his cracked glasses. " To lazy. Have more important things to do. "
Caitlin didn't expect to land on someone when she fell out of the black hole. She honestly didn't expect to even get out of the black hole at all. Or was it even a black hole? She didn't know what trick that sentinel pulled on her. The minute she fell onto a warm body she was quickly shoved off. Caitlin grunted in indignation as she hit the ground hard. She looked up to see a familiar face looking back at her.
Alexander stared at her, looking absolutely surprised to see her. His hands glowed with a soft green, ready to fight. He was wearing different clothes, a simple plaid shirt and jeans. His glasses were crooked on his face, probably due to Caitlin landing on him.
Caitlin's heart raced in realization that she was just separated from her friends leaving them to fight the sentinels. No, she needed to calm down. Needed to find out what was happening. Caitlin rubbed her head absentmindedly. Where was she? She didn't recognize where she was. She wasn't in the alleyway, did she somehow teleport to another part of Central City? No, that doesn't make sense.
" Alexander what's happening? Where are the sentinels? " Caitlin asked deciding to remain on the floor. Alexander raised a dark brow at her question.
" Where are you from? Not the far in the future I can tell, but you might be from the past. But how did you get here? " Alexander's hand stopped glowing knowing that Caitlin wasn't a threat.
Caitlin didn't know how much this Alexander knew about whole traveling into alternate dimensions but he seemed familiar with it. She must be in the past. Caitlin began to explain as much as she could, " I was fighting these robot assassin things that were going to kill Barry and- "
" Don't tell me anything about the future! I know what you're talking about. Okay just tell me how you got here. " Alexander looked down at Caitlin who still hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. His green eyes were serious.
Caitlin explained as much as she could without revealing too much about the future. Alexander seemed to get the gist of the situation and was already making plans in his head.
" Alright, I'll help you get back to your time and universe but I need your help first. You may or not know about that General Eiling in this dimension has been hunting and capturing meta-humans. He's been planning on using them for military purposes but hasn't gotten out all of the flaws in his plan. He has captured the Barry Allen in this dimension, I've been planning on how to break him out of the secret facility that Eiling been holding him in. This is where you come in Caitlin. You're going break Barry out of that facility. " Alexander paced in circles around Caitlin. He seemed strangely excited for the surprising turn of events.
Caitlin tried to ignore the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead. She was at the facility where all of the captured meta-humans were being held. Apparently the Caitlin that was from this dimension had a job at the facility, as a doctor. Alexander told her that she needed to impersonate her alternate self to break Barry out of the facility.
" Doctors come in and out of Barry's holding cell to check on his vitals and clean him. Today it was your alternate self's turn but you're going to impersonate her and break Barry out of the facility. It's going to be hard since there are many security systems made specifically for meta-humans. " Alexander had explained to her, showing Caitlin a map of the facility.
Caitlin took deep breaths as she walked through the halls of the facility. She was heading to a lab waiting her turn to check on Barry. She saw glimpses of the other meta-humans holding cells and shuddered.
" Eiling doesn't see the meta-humans as people, he sees them as weapons. He doesn't personally care about them as long as they are functional. " Were Alexander's warning her of Eiling's cruelty to the meta-humans.
Caitlin didn't know why her alternate self would want to work here. Caitlin would never want to work here, at the facility. Seeing people being treated so inhumanly, being treated like objects was horrible. She couldn't imagine the difference between her and her alternate self. How could her alternate self stand this? Of course she didn't know and probably would never find out. She wasn't going to stay in this dimension for long. She hoped.
" I will put all of the security cameras on a loop so you will have a chance to free Barry. " Alexander had told her. " Barry is being held in this chair meant to paralyze him, there are these needles that kind of act like acupuncture points. The needles are meant to block his energy in a way, you'll need to deactivate those first. No ripping them off, that will probably kill him. Then you get the cuffs off his wrists and legs. The security system I will have to deactivate it but you don't need to worry about that. Unfortunately you'll be on a time limit. "
Caitlin began to work on some paper work that was at her workstation. Time passed slowly but eventually the watch on her wrist told her that it was time to check on Barry. She walked a steady but slightly wobbly pace to Barry's holding cell. Alexander's warnings repeated in her head like a mantra.
Act normal. No nervousness. Don't get caught.
Caitlin let out a small breath when she slid her card down the slot to open the tightly sealed door. She heard a few hisses from the door as it began to unlock itself. The door began to slowly open and Caitlin bit her lip in anticipation. Her heart rate accelerated, she knew fully well that messing up will not be an option. Alexander's words still repeated in her head.
If you get caught...
Caitlin straightened out a wrinkle from her coat. Okay this is it, Caitlin thought reassuring herself, remember how to deactivate the chair. She remembered Alexander's instructions very well. She had a time limit that was going to motivate her to go faster. Her heart rate steadied a little bit.
...I don't think I will be able to save you Caitlin. And I will never forgive myself if I let that happen.
The doors slid open to open to reveal a stark white room. There were no mirrors or any kind of color on the walls. The only thing in the room was a figure sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with a few machines around it. Caitlin's eyes widen at what she was seeing, her heart ached for this Barry. She remembered seeing those mugshots from the box behind Alexander's desk. The Barry in the picture looked miserable and horrible.
The chair had a reflective sterilized silver surface. The chair honestly was more like a stool, it had no back where a person would usually lean back on. The chair looked like it was once bolted to the floor but was welded to the floor later on. Two metal poles were behind the chair, not actually attached to the chair.
The person sitting on the chair was a different story. Barry from a distance looked like he was staring at the door but his eyes were closed and he showed no reaction to Caitlin when she entered. He had a feeding tube situated in his mouth down his throat, he also had on a urinary catheter. He must not be allowed to move at all, Caitlin thought sadly.
His arms were held down onto the chair's arms by metal cuffs. There were two cuffs on each of his arms, one on his wrist another on his forearm. His legs were also restrained with metal cuffs to the chair's front legs.
Barry was wearing a tight metal vest that had a lock on it. The vest had thick, long sickening looking needles sticking out of it. The needles were in rows on Barry's back and there were four on his chest. The needles had wires attached to the end. The wires were long and were wrapped around the two poles behind the chair, eventually leading to a small box on the floor. He had a metal band around his waist with steel chains that were bolted to the floor attached to it. Eiling was obviously taking no chances.
" Don't worry Barry, I'm getting you out of here. " Caitlin whispered before heading towards the small box on the floor. The small box controlled the needles that were in Barry's chest and back paralyzing him.
She carefully began deactivating it knowing that the box would slowly shut down. Caitlin needed to take out the feeding tube and urinary catheter so she spoke a soft warning to Barry before she began. She took out the feeding tube expecting Barry to cough but he was unresponsive, he was also unresponsive when she took out the urinary catheter. It worried Caitlin even more about Barry's mental state. How long was he here?
She unlocked the metal band that was around Barry's waist and set it down on the floor. She unlocked each cuff that was in his arms and legs. Still there wasn't any kind response from Barry. No movement. Nothing. Barry was completely still on the chair not showing any signs that he knew what was happening.
The small box on the floor beeped telling Caitlin that the needles were deactivated. Moment of truth, Caitlin thought before taking a card of her pocket. She put the card into the slot that was the lock on the metal vest. She slid it down, finally unlocking Barry's last remaining restrainment.
The needles on Barry's back and chest hissed and twisted thirty-five degrees clock-wise before popping out of the vest, landing on the floor with a dull metallic thud. The vest itself was made of four parts. One part for the front another part for the back and two parts for the sides. Each one of the parts of the metal vest slowly feel off it's prisoner.
Barry didn't move at all. Just kept on breathing. Caitlin frowned in concern and started to say, " Bar- " The hands grabbing her neck stopped her from finishing. Rude, right?