I want to apologize for the wait, I got distracted with binging stories, and writing a bunch of other stories which I'll be posting soon, but I don't want to make the same mistakes I made with my other ones, so I'm taking my time and really focusing on plot, etc. Y'all are so awesome! Thanks for sticking with this story!

"She doesn't know, does she?"

Barry slowly lifted his head, a snarl set on his face. He met Eiling's smirk and wanted so badly to punch it right off his face.

"What?" he snapped.

"Ms. West. I'm assuming she doesn't know your identity?"

The silence that followed gave Eiling the answer he was expecting, and he chuckled manically. "Oh, this should be rich! No powers, no way to vibrate your voice or features." He swiped a tear from the corner of his eye, and set his jaw, regaining his composure just as quickly as he'd lost it.

Barry sucked in a ragged breath, and stood, anger flashing in his eyes. "What are you playing at, Eiling!? Why do you need to get Iris involved!? She's innocent! Please!"

"The Flash. Begging. Now, this is the show I had been waiting for." He waved a hand in the air. "Relax, I'm not that cold-hearted."

Barry truly thought this was when Eiling was going to call off his men-keep Iris away from this mess, but then he pulled something from his back pocket, a small device, and tossed it into his cell.

Eiling turned to walk away, then looked over his shoulder. "Voice modulator. I don't want to suck away all your fun." He snapped his fingers in the air, and gestured over his shoulder to what Barry would assume to be guards out of his line of sight. "Bring her in."

Barry's blood ran cold.

With shaky fingers, he snapped the modulator onto the collar of his suit, and turned it on, a small beep signalled it was working.

-ooo-

Hands.

Warm hands cupped her cheeks.

A soothing voice echoed in her ear.

She knew that voice.

Flashie.

Iris snapped her eyes open, suddenly extremely alarmed. He shouldn't be here, he was in Starling, and she was…

Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.

A cry of relief escaped his lips, and Iris stared blankly at her surroundings, completely ignoring the hero who was latched tightly onto her.

Sand. Rock. Bars.

Cage.

"Iris, hey, look at me, please."

"Flash, wha-what."

"Iris, I know it's a lot to take in, but you need to be quiet. He'll hear you."

Still a little dazed, she latched onto his arm and pulled herself into a sitting position.

Iris' heart sped up. He wasn't vibrating his face, and those eyes. She knew those eyes.

"Iris?"

"Flash, what's going on!? Where the hell am I!?" Iris' blurred vision cleared slightly, and this time, she was able to take in the state of the man in front of her. An uneasy feeling settled at the pit of her stomach. Blood. He was caked in so much blood. Cuts littered his cheeks, his arms, legs, stomach. Rips and tears in his suit, bruises on the patches of exposed skin. And he still wasn't vibrating his face.

Iris reached out a hand, and settled in on Flash's cheek. She observed every little movement. His eyes fluttered shut, and he leaned into her hand. Iris smiled, but her eyes were filled with worry. She brushed a thumb over the gash, and winced.

"What happened to you?" she whispered, brokenly. Her hand moved to gently touch the large tear that striped across his torso, dried blood caked around the edges, a large slice in his skin that looked irritated.

Barry only shook his head and swallowed hard.

Iris furrowed her eyebrows. "Why aren't you healing?"

He gazed up at her, and met her eyes. Iris felt her heart stop. Those eyes. That gaze which at the moment held so much sadness.

Barry gestured at his ankle, to which Iris caught eye of the glowing blue, high-tech cuff around it.

"Wha-what the hell is that?"

He lowered his head, almost as though in shame. "Power dampening cuff."

"So-"

"-I can't save us this time." Iris didn't miss the way his voice cracked, she could hear how broken and scared he was. It terrified Iris to her core that the man in front of her-the man she thought didn't fear anything-had given up.

"Hey, don't say that. I believe in you, Flash."

Barry shook his head and stood. Iris nearly screamed when he stumbled back to the ground, his entire body trembled, but he took in a deep breath and pushed himself back up. With a limp, Barry walked over to the far wall, and slid down it, before leaning his head back.

Iris crawled over to him. "What did they do to you!?"

Barry pursed his lips. "I...think it's the cuff. Either that or...blood loss. Both, maybe," he whispered. Iris took his hand in hers.

"We need to get out of here!"

Barry lifted his head and met Iris' eyes. He didn't give a damn whether she knew it was him or not.

"Iris, they brought you...brought you...for leverage," Barry stopped, realizing he was starting to stutter; he took in a deep breath, and continued, "against me. For info, and I'm going to give it to them because," Barry gasped when a sharp pain hit him suddenly, and he knew it was the infection setting in in his abdomen. He gritted his teeth, and continued, ignoring Iris' pleas for him to stop talking and be careful. "Because...I-I...I can't let you...hurt...get hurt." Talking was suddenly so much harder for him. Everything about him just wasn't functioning right.

Power dampener.

Iris shook her head in disbelief. "What is wrong with you!?"

Barry looked up at her with half-lidded-but just as confused-eyes. "What?"

"I'm fine, but newsflash you obviously aren't! Now I don't give a damn what they want from you, you better not say one word. We're going to get out of here, we are going to get that cuff off of you so you can heal, and everything is going to work out, okay!?" A tear slipped down her cheek, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. Iris leaned forward, and pressed her forehead against his. "It has to."

Barry smiled at her weakly, reached out a hand to tip her chin, and placed a gentle kiss to her lips. Then another.

When he pulled away, Iris had a dorky grin on her face, slightly dazed. "About damn time," she whispered.

Barry's head dropped back against the wall, and Iris mimicked his position beside him.

"I won't let them hurt you, Iris. I won't."

She rested her head on his shoulder, and gripped his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze that told Barry she understood.

-ooo-

He knew something was wrong as he stepped out of his vehicle, and headed for the house. Joe hadn't heard anything out of Iris all day, and she hadn't shown for work. Sure, he had yet to check the house, which is what he was doing right now, but fatherly intuition told him what to expect.

Joe stared at the car keys on his front step-Iris' car keys-and had to bite back the urge to throw up when he picked up the note underneath it. Under that? The Flash's emblem, blood crusted in it's edges; It felt like a punch to the gut.

With shaky fingers and blurred eyes, Joe opened the piece of paper.

You look for them, we'll inflict more than just pain.

Joe wasted no time in pulling out his phone from his back pocket, and dialing Cisco.

-ooo-

"Barry has gone missing," Iris whispered, causing him to turn his head and look at her.

"Hm?"

"My dad told me you were in Starling and couldn't help. I don't know why he lied to me."

Now that he couldn't vibrate his face, Barry had to duck his head a lot to talk to her. It really irritated his neck.

"He'll show up."

Iris' lip quivered. "Do you think he's okay? We had a fight, and...what if he died thinking I hated him!? What if-"

"Hey, don't talk like that."

Iris nodded and chewed her lip. "I told him he wasn't the same anymore, that he'd changed," she whispered, and shook her head slowly. "I don't think that! I don't! Sure, he's going through something right now that I can't seem to figure out, but I still love him the same. I do! He's disappeared and thinks I hate him."

The speedster grabbed her hand, and shook his head. "He knows you care, Iris."

Iris opened her mouth to reply, when the heavy pounding of military boots sounded from down the hall, and Barry pushed himself to stand, shielding Iris behind him.

"Eiling."

"Mr. A-Flash."

Iris' breath caught in her throat. He knew his identity. Everyone seemed to know his identity but her!

"Stay away from her," Barry warned, and stepped closer to the bars, fists clenched at his sides. Iris didn't miss the way they trembled slightly.

"Alright."

Barry's jaw dropped. "What?"

"If," Eiling's grin broadened when he saw the frustration in Barry's eyes, "you give me the information I want."

Barry snapped his head back to look at Iris, and frowned. She shook her head slowly, trying to assure him that she would be okay. Barry didn't give a damn about how strong Iris was-he knew she was-but Eiling and his...methods were far beyond just strength. If Iris got one scratch on her from being in here, he would kill every last person in this building.

Barry inhaled sharply, and looked back at the anticipating general. Both of them knew what Barry was going to say, it showed in the smirk at the corner of his lips, and the panic in Barry's eyes.

"Fine."

"Flash! No!"

"Iris. This isn't your decision to make!"

Eiling chuckled darkly, and pulled out a small notepad and pen from his back pocket. "Firstly, I want to know what your top speed is."

Barry worked his jaw for a few seconds, swallowed hard, and then spoke, the words hardly coming out of his mouth; "Eight-hundred-thirty-six."

"Flashie, please! Stop!"

"Ah, very good. Now, tell me, how did you obtain your powers?"

Iris noticed the second Barry stiffened-even more so than before-they both knew what Eiling was most likely going to do with this information.

"Go on, Flash. Give me an answer."

"I-I was," he clenched his eyes shut, and shook his head slowly, then looked over at Iris, "in my car," he lied.

Eiling narrowed his eyes, but gestured for Barry to continue.

Iris' eyes widened slightly. She leaned in, suddenly intrigued, and definitely guilty for it.

"Speeding down the highway when...a wave of dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion sent it flying in the air, simultaneously knocking me out for a few hours." Barry never felt so uncomfortable in his own skin than with Eiling's gaze boring holes in him, and the feeling of Iris' stare on his back. "When I woke up," he finished, "I had super speed."

There was a deafening silence following Barry's story, where Eiling just stood there, staring at him suspiciously, before he nodded his head and raised an eyebrow. "I'll be back."

The second Wade left, the sudden urge to vomit overwhelmed Barry; a dizziness in his head made his surroundings blur. He locked eyes with Iris, an apologetic look in his eyes, and crumpled to the floor.

-ooo-

"We can't track them." Joe's sudden appearance in the cortex startled Cisco into falling out of his chair.

"What?" Caitlin asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Joe tossed two items onto the cortex desk, and Cisco crawled back in his chair to look at them. They both gasped simultaneously. The doctor reached out to brush her fingers on the emblem, then picked up the car keys.

"This was our last option. Joe, where did you get these?" Cisco questioned.

The detective looked as though he was doing everything he could not to fall apart right there. "It was on my doorstep when I got home from the precinct."

Caitlin's bottom lip quivered, and she turned to look at Cisco. "Weren't we going to see if we could get a signal off of that," she gestured at Barry's emblem, "what now?"

Cisco shrugged, and buried his face in the palms of his hands. "At least they're together," he mumbled, and Joe shook his head.

"We don't know that! We don't know a damn thing!"

"Alright. What was plan B?" Caitlin asked, and pulled out a chair for Joe to sit down in. With the way his knees were shaking, she was surprised he hadn't collapsed yet. "Any other ideas on how to track them, Cisco? Have you tried pinging Iris' cell?"

"The hell do you think I am? Of course I did!" Cisco immediately regretted snapping, and softened his features. "Sorry."

Caitlin raised a hand a smiled weakly. "It's fine I understand."

Cisco turned to look at Joe, then, an idea hitting him. "Joe, can I see the note?"

Joe nodded and pulled it from his back pocket, confusion written in the lines in between his eyebrows.

"Thanks."

"What're you thinking?"

"This isn't your usual printer paper. Maybe running a sample of this through the mass spectrometer in Barry's lab to determine the molecular makeup of this paper, and any other chemicals or whatnot on it, could lead to what brand of paper and-"

"-potentially the last place it was!" Caitlin interjected, a bright smile on her face. "You're brilliant!"

Joe perked up slightly, hope in his eyes. "Are you sure about this, Cisco?"

The engineer nodded, and stood up. "Let's do it."