A/N: There. You. Go!
Get ready for a lots of answers. You deserved it for all your great comments that kept me motivated for more. Keep them coming.
''I gotta be honest, mates.'' Finally added Constantine after observing the man on the screen for a long moment. ''I can go downstairs, but it doesn't look like possession to me.''
''Just humor us.'' Said Cisco, arms crossed on his chest. At this point, they had nothing to lose testing every theory they had.
''Alright, lead the way.''
The archer complied, walking in front, closely followed by Joe, determined to be by his son's side, no matter what, and Wally just behind.
Cisco made a couple of steps to follow, but stopped when he noticed that nobody else was coming.
''You guys ok? Coming?''
''I'll just…I'm gonna watch from here.'' Hesitated Caitlin, still fighting tremors, trying to regain her calm from the recent memories, the words Barry directed toward her: 'You'll be the first I kill the second I'm out'. There was no reason to doubt that he wasn't bluffing. Her fear could be sensed by everyone still in her room, unconsciously prompting Cisco to walk one step in her direction before being interrupted by Iris.
''It's ok, go. '' Her hand went to her friend's shoulder while her eyes moved toward Felicity for confirmation. ''We'll stay with her.''
''We will.'' Quickly confirmed the tech girl.
Reassured, Cisco turned on his heels and jogged to catch up with the guys, joining them just as they were getting ready to open the panel keeping their speedster friend hidden. Maybe he should've stayed upstairs too. *Come on Cisco* he told himself, *your friend needs you right now, even if he doesn't think so*. He stayed strong as the Green Arrow and Constantine exchanged a couple of words before finally opening the panel, letting the fallen hero appeared before them, glaring intensely with the same level of hate he had moments earlier, burning inside, chuckling the second his eyes fell on the new member of the team.
''I see you guys already replaced me, that didn't take long. Maybe now you can consider letting me go.''
''You know we won't do that, not until you're cured.'' Calmly stated Oliver before turning his attention to his other friend. ''What do you think?''
''Something's not right here, mate, I can feel it, I hope I'm wrong. Stay back.''
Without hesitation, the Green Hero moved a couple of steps away, joining the rest of the group, all of them praying everything was going to work out and they would be able to finish the day taking a drink with Barry. The real one. The four of them instinctively took another step back when John rose his arms, pointing his open palms toward the cell door to cast a couple of incomprehensible sentences in Latin. All of this only resulted in the speedster laughing harder.
''Really? Are you seriously thinking I'm possessed? That's really pathetic.'' He mocked.
''If that's how you wanna play.'' Taking a pause, Constantine turned around to the people behind. ''Open the door.''
''I don't think it's safe.'' Frowned Oliver.
''Just do it.''
Making sure the comms were activated in the room and the girls upstairs could hear everything, Cisco spoke up for them.
''Can you knock Barry out for a moment? Like what we did last time we transported the Metas?''
''Working on it. '' Replied Caitlin's voice. ''Constantine; just make sure that whatever you're about to do, do it fast and be careful. Didn't make that gas for speedsters, can't tell how long he'll be down.''
''Don't worry love, it won't take long before I can get the exact information I need.''
''I can promise your death will be slow if you do this.'' Threatened the speedster, only to get his warning totally ignored by everyone around as, moments later, gas was invading the whole cell, pushing the hero to rush over to the door, brutally knocking against it. It didn't take long before he eventually surrendered and slumped against the door, his whole body completely limp.
''Get in, but be quick.'' Repeated Caitlin as Cisco was already approaching the control panel to open the door.
This guy might not look much, but Constantine sure could move swiftly when he wanted to, he made his way to the unconscious speedster and knelt next to him, his hand going straight to Barry's forehead, pressing against it.
''Show me your real colors!'' He shouted in total concentration before switching to Latin.
Contrasting with what he tried before, what he did this time had a real effect and an unpleasant one at that. Barry's eyes started moving violently under his eyelids and tremors appeared in his hands as his face twitched in evident pain.
''Stop! You're hurting him! '' Protectively grunted Joe, his instinct telling him to go interrupt whatever was happening, but Cisco grabbed his arm before he could move.
''Joe, wait.''
To be honest, it was 60/40 on not doing anything, nobody said anything about hurting the young man. As the speedsters featured only got tenser, Cisco's certainty was reducing pretty quickly, 'til the point a scream from the fallen hero erupted in the room. Enough was enough, Joe snatched his arm from the engineer's grab and strode forward, forcefully grabbing the man and hauling him away and on his feet before anyone had time to react, effectively cutting off the connection.
''What the hell were you doing?!'' He yelled to the other man, turning his head, relieved to see his son's body going completely limp again.
Well, limp was a bit of a stretch considering the young man's heavy breathing. Cisco and Wally were at the hero's side in an instant, trying to check him over at the best of their knowledges, which wasn't much but Cisco had some experience assisting Caitlin in taking care of the speedster.
''Detective, it's enough.'' Intervened the archer, gently but firmly taking Joe's shoulder to get him off his friend, which he did, getting back his composure.
Constantine simply wiped his hands on his coat but didn't say a thing, it clearly wasn't the first time something like that happened to him.
Seeing that Barry looked fine, from the outside at least, both Cisco and Wally quickly put him back in his cell, closing in just as Caitlin was making her entry, Iris and Felicity trailing her. Caitlin threw one glance at her still sleeping friend and close the view from him before turning to the new guest in the lab.
''You mind explaining what just happened? ''
''So? Is he….?'' Asked Cisco.
''Bad news, mate, he's not possessed.''
''What's the good news?''
''How's that a bad news?'' Confusedly asked Iris.
''I never said there was good news. The worse news is that his soul is affected as I feared. Infected.''
Team Flash started looking at each other in confusion. What the hell was that supposed to mean? It somehow sounded…bad. An infected soul? Was that even a thing? How can you even take care of an infected soul? Or even damage one in the first place, for that matter? Cisco was the first one to get a hold of himself and speak up, asking the question that was on everyone's mind:
''What are you talking about?'
''We're talking about some sort of brainwash, right?'' Tried Joe.
Constantine shrugged. ''Not really. Brainwash is pretty easy to take care of. This is way worse. The wound is so deep, it goes all the way into his soul, your friend's mind doesn't even knows he's not himself. Everything that made him who he is, his values, how he feels, who he cares about…everything has been deeply corrupted. He just does what he thinks he has to, without second guessing himself or any mental fight about if he's doing something wrong. ''
''I'm not sure I get it. He's being controlled, right?''
''Not exactly. Right now, Mr. Allen doesn't feel like he's being controlled by anything or anyone. As far as he's concerned, he's working under his own free will. He's simply convinced that the mission he's been given is the right thing to do. Nothing you can say will bring him back or get him to see reason.''
''My head hurts…'' called Cisco, rising a hand to his forehead.
''Let's just pretend I understood what you just said and the science, if we can call it that, what can we do to fix this?'' Asked Joe.
''That's the tricky part, a spell powerful enough to mark someone's soul like that is a very difficult and extremely painful one. Only a handful of people can perform it and very few specimens can stay alive through the whole thing.'' Everyone else in the room cringed at the word specimen, they were talking about human beings, about Barry in this case. ''I heard rumors about Hyde going to Europe with another victim, but I didn't expect it was a friend of Oliver. Sorry, mates.''
''What did they do to him? What can we do?'' Asked Caitlin, entering her doctor's mind.
''Hyde? Wait, is that the name of the guy who took Barry? You know who hurt my son.''
''He's not someone you want to mess with. ''
''Who is he?'' Said Wally pretty much at the same time.
''Duncan Hyde, born in 1852 in England, descending from a really old, rich and influential family who served in countless kings and queens court for hundreds of years. ''
''I think you clearly made a mistake here, he was born in 1952, right? '' Corrected Cisco, clearly putting the emphasis on the 1900. ''There's no way this guy is 164 years old.''
''I really meant 1852 and if it makes you feel any better, heard he looks good for his age. ''
''How is that even possible?'' Tried to understand Wally, scratching his head.
''It would explain the first case being in the 1920s.'' Added Iris, surprising herself at how open her mind now was to the endless possibilities this world could offer.
''It's actually pretty simple: Hyde has been in possession of the Fountain of Youth since 1924, or half of it at least.''
It might have been said in the same tone that normal people use to talk about the weather and groceries, but the contents of the sentence was far from normal, sending a wave of shock through his audience.
''The Fountain of Youth, like THE Fountain?'' Repeated Caitlin.
''Pretty sure the movies with that thing never end well…'' mumbled Cisco, only half-joking.
''So, we're facing an immortal man?''
''That explained his age.'' Said Iris, thinking out loud. ''But what is he after? What does he want with Barry?''
''You're not listening to me, are you? I'm pretty sure I said he has half of it. With the half in his possession, he can absorb people's life energy to become young again, but the effects are just temporary and there's a limit to the number of times a human body can take the changes. Absorbing a life can give a good 30, 40 years back maybe. But the second time he absorbs someone's life force, the numbers of years it takes to get back to the same physical state than before the feeding is less and less. Without the other half, he always needs to recharge himself. ''
''That explains why the time between each victim has been closer and closer, he's becoming old again faster with each…feeding.'' Understood Felicity.
''Where's that second part?'' Asked Joe.
''No one knows. It's been lost for centuries. It's probably why Hyde has been going after any experts he can find, hoping to find the location and not only save his life, but really become immortal this time. ''
''That's probably why he needed Barry; he can search a lot of places much faster than Hyde can.'' Theorized the Green Arrow.
''That.'' Agreed Caitlin. ''But also, with his regenerative powers, Hyde could probably take his energy without him dying. If I'm not mistaken. That would explain why nobody was killed during the time Barry went missing, or the first couple of months at least, if he was able to 'feed' on him multiple times.''
''Gotta give it to you, mate.'' Started Constantine to Oliver. ''You have some pretty smart friends in this town too, should've invited me sooner.'' He turned toward Caitlin to answer her directly. ''Sound pretty plausible to me from what I could get on your friend's abilities. ''
''One thing I don't get; you and the people like you have been aware about this guy for how long? Years? And you never thought about stopping all of this? Why?'' Inquired Iris, annoyed that the person who acted like he cared for people didn't lift a finger to prevent future victims.
Constantine simply shrugged once more. ''He's pretty good at hiding and he only takes a life every couple of years. Way bigger fishes to take care of first.''
''Well, he isn't anymore.'' Interrupted Cisco. ''His number of victims has been way, way up in the last couple of years.''
''It mean he's running out of time, he's probably desperate to find the other part. ''
''Where is he?'' Joe was in full detective mode right now.
''Like I said, he's been pretty good at hiding. If you want a real shot at finding him, you'll need someone who's been on the inside. ''
All together they turned toward the wall that was hiding Barry's cell. Just like they first found it at Star City and brought it back home, their only hope of getting some justice and stopping more deaths in the future was resting on Barry's shoulders, on Barry's cooperation and let's just say he wasn't in a very good mood to do so right now.
''Alright, what do we do about him?'' Said Wally, pointing the door that was hiding Barry's cell.
For the first time, John looked uncomfortable before delivering the news. ''When the victim survive the ritual and it's successful, the influence is usually until death. I'm sorry.''
''You said usually, right?'' Hopefully repeated Iris.
''I can try, but it's a long shot.''
''Just do it. '' Joe settled the matter for the rest of the group.
Let me know what you though.
Might not have a lot of time to publish stuff between Christmas and New Year, but it might also give me some time to write as much as I can to have more regular posts in 2017. Stay tuned.
