Chapter 11

"Cisco!" Barry shouted happily. He had a big smile on his face. He really hoped Cisco would forgive him enough to talk to him in order to get this mess worked out. But Cisco didn't reciprocated the greeting. His face was stone and Barry's face also began to freeze. "Cisco." He whispered. He saw fury in the guy's eyes. Hatred. And yet beneath it all, there seemed a deep raw hurt. And fear. Lots and lots of fear and uncertainty.

"No." Cisco overlapped Barry's gentle tone with his harsh one. "No, Mr. Allen. Get out. I never want to speak to you or Dr. Snow ever again. GET OUT!"

"Wait, Cisco let's talk this out. Please let's just talk this out!"

"No. I don't want to talk. You manipulated me once. I won't allow it again. You made me think you were my friends, my family! And then, you betrayed me. You thought wrong of me, you hurt me.

More than you'll ever know. And now, you'll pay." He turned away as Lisa raised a gun and shot Barry everywhere but where it would kill him. Barry ran like the wind and wondered what could possibly be wrong with his friend.

Cisco barely managed to resist the urge to cover his ears to avoid hearing Bar.. Mr. Allen's screams of pain. He was on his new path now and didn't want anything to change it. He could not go back. He knew that. Mr. Allen was trying to manipulate him in order to capture him and lock him up, for swapping out. Yes, that had to be it. And yet... No. He wouldn't allow those thoughts, or at least he tried not to. But, the happiness in Mr. Allen's eyes, that couldn't have been faked. Cisco reflected that it may have mirrored his own when he'd first seen Mr. Allen again. The betrayal in his eyes, the pain, Cisco thought, they'd looked real as well, and probably also mirrored his in his rejection.

There had been tears too, Cisco was sure. He'd seen tears in his former friend's eyes. Tears of mixed feelings, longing and hope, rejection and hurt, fear and uncertainty. Evil had it's ways of making it's way around, and these evils had just gone full circle and hit Cisco full force. He ran straight for his hammock in it's safe secluded part of the warehouse, forgetting all the work he had left to do, and threw himself into it. There he lay for a little while. He felt many emotions, fear, anger, regret, rejection, betrayal, guilt and uncertainty. Finally his tears came in an unexpected yell of agony as he covered his face and began sobbing hard enough to almost break his ribs. He didn't know how long he lay there, crying so hard. It hurt, each racking sob jolted his body and his heart felt ready to burst, and yet he just couldn't stop. It hurt to try so he just kept crying.

When he finally stopped crying, he realized Len had been there the entire time, just rubbing his shoulder soothingly. He raised his tortured eyes as Len reached down and wordlessly dried Cisco's wet face. Cisco passed out before he'd finished.

When Barry reached his home, Caitlin had been there forever, hoping. When Barry didn't come back with Cisco, she got worried. She was even more worried still when she saw Barry's face streaked with tears.

"Barry?" She asked. "What happened?"

"Apparently, he did switch. But I think it happened recently. We were right at the time, Cait. I know we were. But he's definitely changed now. I think he probably feels too many emotions and just can't handle them." Barry's voice was breaking, and he wanted to move away from Caitlin, not wanting to upset her, but knowing that he was going to break down in a few moments.

"Barry, while you were gone, I went to the lab and I found a note from Cisco, dated from last night. Maybe if you read it, you can find a way to talk him back." She handed him the note.

Dear Barry, Caitlin and Joe,

I'm sorry. I really am. I just wanted to save Barry. Cold said he had a cure. I hope you guys can believe me. Cold has a good side and has been treating me well. I feel conflicted. I really want to come back,but I've felt betrayed, and Cold is trying to help me through this. I can't hurt him too.

I don't know what to do. Help me.

Cisco.

And with that, Barry completely broke down and cried. Caitlin hugged him as tears flowed down their cheeks. And they knew that there wasn't much they could do now. Cisco was gone.

As soon as Cold had released Joe, he ran back to police headquarters and told everyone to file reports and call a meeting. He knew where Snart was and he wasn't letting him keep Iris for that long.

Predictably, he got taken off the case, due to emotional involvement. So he did the one thing that he never thought he'd do. He walked back to Snart's warehouse to get his daughter back. And that wasn't a good idea.

Cisco heard some of the other people working for Snart run to the entrance.

That can't be good. He thought. He stopped working on a weapon to go see what the disturbance was.

He saw Joe being shown in, and felt a wrench from his heart. This didn't look good.

"Please, take me back instead. Let my daughter out. I'm not even asking for something hard to meet. Just let her go!" Joe begged in a level voice.

"Sorry. The Flash and I have a bargain. I intend to keep it."

"He made a bargain with you?!"

"No walks on the dark side can make it impossible to see the light when you're in it."

"I can't believe him. I told him no more deals!"

Cisco was listening to all this, his heart twisting. He knew about what Iris was going through.

It wasn't a pretty thing, and Joe was quite lucky to know nothing about it. Still though, Cisco was sick of being betrayed. As long as he kept turning weapons out for Len, he knew he would never be abandoned here. His hands stopped shaking, and he started to take a fierce delight in what Joe and Iris were going through, waving away the guilt with the fact that they were working for Mr Allen.

Iris was near the end of her rope. She had enough to eat to stay alive, but she was always hungry and the fear of being beaten was always lurking in the depths of every thought and dream. She was wondering what had happened to Barry. Tears started falling down her cheeks. Barry had been so distraught over this whole thing, and she was concerned that things were going downhill. It sure didn't help that she was in this cell. She had no idea what was happening. She thought about trying to pick the lock, but obviously, it was no old fashioned lock with a key, nope, it was an electronic pad with a numerical code, and if she hit the wrong key, there was a painful booby trap. She'd tried several times, and each time, a new pain inflicter was activated. She had several cuts and bruises, one ankle was twisted and she thought her wrist might be broken. Strange that Snart didn't just break all the bones in her body, demand information and then kill her. Clearly, he had a reason to keep her alive and (relatively) well. He wanted her alive for leverage, but why not have fun with it? Did Barry make a deal? But her father had told him no more deals with criminals and he'd agreed. What was happening?

"Barry! Why can't you just not go speeding into everything without a second thought!" She moaned to herself. She didn't see, but Cisco was standing right there in the shadows, savoring her anguish, but although he didn't admit it to himself, he was beginning to think he'd chosen wrong.