AN: warning: there's a pretty vivid description of vomit somewhere in this chapter

also I know I said I would post this friday, but I finished early, so here ya go!

Ch 12

Bart had been barely conscious and in and out of sleep for a while, now. He still hadn't opened his eyes, instead he just continued to let himself dream. He dreamt about what his life would be like if Zoom hadn't ruined it. He dreamt about being back on the team and being a hero again. He dreamt about spending time with Wally like he did when he was a kid, he tried to brush off the lingering doubt that the Wally from this time would even want to be around him. He even dreamt about Jaime and what things would have been like if he'd never been moded.

But mostly, he kept dreaming up different ways that Barry could rescue him, which left him conflicted. Until now, he hadn't realized how badly he really wanted to be saved. He thought he was ready to die here, but if that were true, he wouldn't be thinking about living so much.

After what felt like ages, Bart eventually gave in and opened his eyes, if only to reassure himself that he was still here. Not that he wanted to be here, but he was actually beginning to let himself find comfort in the fact that he was still alive, and If he had survived this far, maybe he really was going to make it out of here. Maybe the Flash really was going to come for him.

Bart found himself in the attic. There were heavy chains wrapped around the cuffs on his wrists that pinned his hands to a bolt in the wall above his head.

His head was throbbing. His whole body was throbbing, really. His hands and forearms felt like they were on fire, and his vision was still blurry, so he was having trouble concentrating on anything else. He was still barely conscious, and it was dark, but eventually, the room started to come into focus. There wasn't much up here, except some old board games, boxes, a few blankets, and an old grandfather clock. If it was working correctly, it was about 10PM. Some of the boxes had labels on them, like 'toys' or 'movies.' It was weirdly comforting, seeing stuff that suggested some good things must have happened here.

Then he noticed something less comforting. Sitting on a shelf near Bart, but just out of his reach, was a timer, and it was silently ticking down the seconds until midnight.

A bomb.

Almost as if on cue, Zoom suddenly appeared in the attic, holding a small device in front of Bart's face.

"Know what this is?" He asked rhetorically, as he pressed a button that separated the device into two pieces. He attached one piece to the chains on the wall around Bart's hands, "Think of this one as the lock," He kept the other piece in his own hand, then got himself to the opposite end of the room, putting a good amount of distance between himself and Bart. "and this one, the key."

He pressed a button to activate the device. Nothing happened, or at least, it didn't seem like anything happened. Zoom inched his way closer to Bart, and once he got about 10 feet away, he reached out his hand and knocked on an invisible wall so that Bart could hear that there was something there. Then he vibrated his hand against it to test its strength. Zoom smiled, pleased with the results.

"Now no one, not even the man of steel himself, can get near you without the key." He waved around the device in his hand, then pressed a button that deactivated the concealed force field. Bart looked up at the device attached to his chained hands, then shifted his glance towards the bomb. Zoom's plan finally started to sink in.

"You're going to kill me..." Trying to speak made Bart realize how sore his throat was from almost suffocating twice, so it didn't come out as loud as he had intended. Bart meant it as a question, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Maybe not. Let's see... Would you like to help me destroy the Flash?"

Bart opened his mouth to respond, but his throat was still so raw that nothing came out. He knew the question was a double edged sword. Bart was pretty sure that Zoom was just using him to get to Flash, anyways. He would probably kill Bart either way. He would also probably kill Barry either way. Bart suddenly regretted fantasizing about the Flash coming to save him. Now he hoped that Barry wouldn't give Zoom the satisfaction of even showing up. Zoom didn't deserve the privilege of having that confrontation on his terms.

Finally, Bart just shook his head in response.

"I didn't think so." Something changed in Zoom's face momentarily. It almost looked like, for a split second, he felt some kind of sadness. It disappeared just as quickly, though. If Bart had still been wearing the inhibitor collar, he probably wouldn't have noticed at all. Then Zoom's expression changed to a more familiar one. Anger.

Zoom punched the wall nearest to him, leaving a sizeable dent. Then he clenched his fists tightly, and he actually began trembling. Bart had seen Zoom angry before, but never like this. Zoom was more than just angry now. He seemed... hurt? Which Bart didn't understand at all. Seriously, what did he expect? Had Zoom really thought that Bart would go against everything he stood for, for him?

Eobard was still trembling when he began to explain. "After all this time... You act as if he's the only family you have left! I've been here this entire time, and even after everything! Everything I've done for you, you still choose him over me…"

Bart fixed heavy hate-filled eyes on Zoom. How dare he act like was better than Barry. Barry never killed anyone, much less anyone that Bart loved. Barry never tortured Bart. Barry would never even hurt him, not intentionally. Bart was pretty sure that Barry might have actually cared for him. And all Thawne had ever done was make Bart's entire life a living hell. Finally, Bart managed to get out a few gravely words. "What... have you ever… done for me?"

Zoom frowned, and took a few moments to answer. "You really haven't figured it out, have you? … and I used to think you were so clever. Do I really have to spell it out for you?"

Bart only blinked, trying to make some sort of sense of all this, but he was still in a haze that made thinking very difficult. He figured he must have a concussion from when he was knocked out earlier. Zoom just took a deep breath, trying to calm his agitation before he continued.

"Please, remind me again how you escaped from the Reach on the day you were meant to be executed…"

"Nathaniel saved me…" Bart said with as much conviction as he could muster, but it was really only a whisper. He had no idea what Zoom was trying to imply, but he didn't like it.

Zoom did not look happy with Bart's response. His fists clenched again and any parts of his face that weren't concealed by his mask began to redden with fury.

"You don't think it was strange that he was able to break into a highly secure Reach facility with no help? I made sure there was only one guard at his entry point. I made sure he would be able to get to you. I dropped clues to him for weeks to help him to find you. And who do you think let the psychic go walking around without a collar on? Hm? On that note, who do you think released you from your collar, essentially guaranteeing your escape? If it wasn't for me, you would be long dead. If it wasn't for me, you would have never been able to come here! If it wasn't for me..." He paused, and began quickly pacing the room, as if deciding whether or not to continue his rant.

Instead, he stopped right in front of Bart, knelt down so they were eye level, reached for his mask, and pulled it off…

Bart wasn't sure if it was the concussion, or what he saw that made the room spin. Everything was still so foggy, and he could hardly concentrate on the face in front of him, but there was no denying that he knew the man before him. It was someone who he wouldn't have been successful in coming here without. Someone who Bart felt he owed saving the world to.

Zoom was the man from the market.

"Y-you…?" was all Bart could say. There was no way this was real. Zoom wanted him to come to the past? Why hadn't he realized it sooner? He never questioned how Nathaniel had been able to save him, or why Psimon happened to be there in the right moment to subdue all the guards. He always assumed that it was Psimon who had something to do with his collar being turned off. He really thought that the man from the market was just a kind soul, helping out two people for a good cause. But it was all fake. It was all a part of Zoom's plans the entire time. Bart finally got out another word, it was barely even a whisper now. "...why?"

He was asking himself more than Zoom. Why hadn't he seen this coming? Why hadn't he questioned any of those coincidences? Why hadn't he thought twice about any of it? Bart retreated into himself in an attempt to mentally shut down. He couldn't handle the rush of emotions and guilt that would come if he stayed aware. He didn't even want or care to know Zoom's answer, but he got it anyways, even if he was trying not to listen.

"Frankly, I didn't like sharing you with the Reach. I really thought you would see things differently after coming here. We could have been a great team… you and I, taking on the Flash together. It's been a dream of mine for quite some time now. I thought that if you could be broken, then maybe you could be fixed, and that you might start to see things more clearly. But I was wrong about one thing." He gently took Bart's chin in hand and inspected his blank expression and now glazed over green eyes. "You are broken... Maybe you already were. I'll admit, I may have had something to do with it. But still, after my attempts to rectify that, you refuse to be fixed. And even if you didn't, I think you may be beyond repair." Zoom puffed out his lower lip in mock sympathy, or maybe even real sympathy? Bart felt like he didn't know anything anymore. "You can still serve one purpose, though." Zoom held more firmly onto Bart's chin and waited for a reaction.

Bart knew what his 'purpose' was. He was just bait. His purpose was to lure the Flash here, so Zoom could kill him. Maybe it was Bart's fate to help Zoom kill the Flash, since that's how things would have turned out regardless of any decisions he made willingly. He realized then that nothing he ever did had really mattered. Zoom was like a God, all controlling. All powerful, at least when it came to Bart. Suddenly Bart wasn't so grateful to be alive. How many lives would have been spared if it wasn't for Bart? No, if it wasn't for Zoom.

Bart shook his head, trying to get Zoom to let go of his chin. The touch from that man made him want to throw up.

"You can't escape me, Bart…" Zoom only tightened his grip. "You thought you could run away from me, didn't you? Is that why you wanted to come here so badly? You thought you could come here and it'd be like the rest of your life never happened, that no one would remember but you? Well… I remember. I remember everything. And no matter how fast you run, no matter where or when in the world you run to, I will always be three steps ahead of you. The only place you can escape me is in death…" Zoom's face softened slightly. "And I'm finally ready to let you go."

At that point, Bart couldn't stop the anger from coming to the surface. As his anger grew, the room spun faster. He opened his mouth to yell,

"The Flash was already dead! He was dead and you had me come back and save him just so you could be the one to kill him? You killed everyone! Just so I could come back instead of Lian? Just so you could kill me? So you could kill the Flash! You really thought I would ever want to join you? I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

but Bart's dry throat wouldn't allow the words to escape his lips.

Instead, his stomach contracted and allowed something else to come out of his mouth. Vomit.

Since there wasn't much to expel, nothing but stomach acid and blood burned it's way up Bart's already tender throat before sputtering out of his mouth and onto Zoom's hand.

Bart was shaking now, with rage or because he was sick. He couldn't steady his hands, and a small amount of fresh blood seeped down his arms from the cuffs. He wanted to scream out, but since he couldn't, he welcomed the pain for once. It was almost like a different kind of release.

Zoom stood up and shook the vomit off, barely acknowledging it, then he scanned the room for something to clean it up with. He shifted his attention to a thin blanket that laid on the floor in the corner. The next instant, he was wiping the bloody bile from his hands with the edge of the blanket, then he was inches from Bart's face once again.

"Disgusting." He muttered as he eyed the vomit dripping from Bart's chin. He ripped off one long piece of fabric and wiped the bile away, then pulled the dirty fabric over Bart's mouth and tied it tightly behind the top of his neck. Bart was too tired to resist, but the taste and smell of his own stomach acid and blood dared his gag reflex to summon more of it. Luckily, there was nothing left to release. Bart would have much preferred an instant death from an explosion than drowning in his own vomit.

"The Flash should show up soon enough, and I want his undivided attention. So I'm going to need you to be quiet for me, alright?" Zoom looked amused as he watched Bart struggle to breath in without gagging.

Then Zoom ripped off another piece of fabric from the blanket. Bart just sighed as it was wrapped around his eyes and tied behind his head.

Zoom walked away, and stopped before leaving the attic.

"Remember, Bart. No one can get near you without the key... No one." He repeated for emphasis. Bart could practically hear the evil smirk that Zoom always wore. "Let's see if the Flash can get you out of this one."

Then Bart heard two things simultaneously that destroyed any semblance of hope that might have been left in his spirit.

The click of the button activating the force field around him.

And the clink of a small device hitting the floor, only a few feet away from his feet, inside the force field.

The key.

AN: So did anyone see that coming?

Any questions?

Please review and let me know what you think :)

I'm going out of town for a few days and won't have my computer, so the next update will have to be sometime next week. Sorry in advance for the longer-than-usual wait time between chapters. I promise it will be worth it the wait!