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This story takes place after Season 2, but as if Flashpoint never happened.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Flash
Cisco Ramon stares blankly at his computer screen, his lips pursed. It's late at night, and the buzz about the new speedster's arrival has worn off to the point where all that remains are the lingering reminders of the day that Barry disappeared. Cisco can't stop the memories from surfacing.
It was supposed to be quick. Deal with the metahuman activity coming from a warehouse outside of town, then come right back to STAR Labs. Easy, right? Caitlin wasn't even in the cortex helping Cisco work behind the scenes.
"How much further?" The Flash asked over the comms as he raced away from Central City.
"Should be another mile, on your left." Cisco replied.
From the cortex of STAR Labs, Cisco hacks into the security camera in the warehouse, where large amounts of energy were being detected. That much energy could only come from a meta.
The monitor displayed a man standing in the middle of the room, his back facing the camera. Barry cautiously entered into view.
The metahuman spoke first, "Ah, Flash. I was hoping you would show up."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Barry asked suspiciously.
"Because I have great plans for you." The meta responds, and threw his arms out at his sides. Energy expelled from his body in a wave, causing the security camera to go offline, and static to fill the comms.
Cisco's spine straightened. He leaned forward in his chair. "Barry? Can you hear me? Barry!"
Only static answered him. Cisco sat in worried silence for a few moments then, miraculously, the comms came back online.
However, Cisco's worry didn't fade. Barry's shouts of pain replaced the deafening static.
"Barry! Answer me!" Cisco tried again, but no response came from the superhero.
Cisco grabbed his phone and calls the only person he can think of that could reach his friend quickly.
"Joe! Where are you right now?"
Then Barry's shouts fall silent.
When the detective arrived at the warehouse, it was empty.
"He's not here, Cisco." Panic was prominent in his voice.
Cisco was watching two screens: one displayed the layout of the warehouse, and the other showed The Flash's location.
"That's not what his tracker says. Keep looking. Barry has to be there."
Joe searched the entire building, but found nothing. After an hour, Barry's location disappeared altogether. Team Flash looked all over Central City in the following days, but found no clues.
The metahuman never showed up again. He seemed to vanish… along with Barry.
Cisco pushes himself away from the desk with one, hard movement.
"Why did this have to happen?" He yells into the empty room.
The following morning Detective West wearily enters the precinct after a sleepless night.
"Joe," a familiar voice calls.
"Captain Singh." Joe greets his boss.
"How are you holding up today?" The Captain takes in the bags under Joe's eyes.
The Detective sighs, "It's been rough. I don't know how much longer I can do this."
Singh places a hand on Joe's shoulder. "I know, but we'll find Allen."
"Tha-" Then a strong wind materializes, causing papers to fly in all directions.
Everyone looks around frantically as a lightning engulfed figure races around the workspace. Officers raise their guns and attempt to aim at the speedster, but it's no use.
The speedster stops running, instead stands facing everyone in the room. The cops keep their guns trained on the figure.
Since the speedster is vibrating his entire body, the only defining features that Joe can make out are that this speedster is tall and male.
"Who are you?" Captain Singh calls out.
The speedster simply tilts his head to the side in response.
One police officer concludes that this metahuman can't be trusted, and he fires. The speedster catches the bullet with ease and lets it drop to the floor with a ping.
Suddenly the speedster is in the offending officer's face. The officer shrinks back, trembling. In an instant, the speedster leaves in a flurry of lightning and wind.
Everyone searches the room, but the meta is nowhere to be seen.
Detective West makes his way toward the elevator, his phone at his ear.
Joe rushes into the cortex where Caitlin and Cisco are waiting for him. Joe tried to fill them as much as he could in over the phone, but he still feels more comfortable being at STAR Labs to handle this new meta.
Before anyone can say anything, a blast of air streams past them. It's a telltale sign of a speedster, but the metahuman is nowhere to be seen, having left as soon as he appeared.
"Where did he go?" Joe asks, looking around frantically.
"I don't know." Cisco types wildly on his keyboard, searching for any indication as to where the speedster ran off too.
"Oh my…" Caitlin's distraught voice causes both men to put their attention on her. They follow her wide-eyed gaze to an object sitting on the desk in front of her.
Lying on top of the scattered papers is The Flash's unmistakable white and gold lightning bolt emblem.
7 Months Ago
Barry Allen woke up in a dark, empty, cell-sized room. His head pounded, yet he desperately tried to remember how he had gotten there. The last thing he could remember was fighting a metahuman. There was pain. A lot of it. Then nothing.
He hoisted himself up and fought off the dizziness that overcame him. Barry then shuffled to the locked door. The metal was cold as he pounded on it with both fists. He tried to phase through it, but to no avail. The door must have been made of some sort of special material.
"Hey! Let me out!" He shouted, voice slightly hoarse.
When no answer came, they young man slid to the floor. He sat there for what seemed like hours.
The sound of metal on metal infiltrated the silence. A small slot in the door opened, and a tray holding a bland meal slid through.
Barry jumped up, "Hey! Who are you? Why am I here?"
But the slot closed without an answer from the other side.
"Wait!" He yelled, and struck at the slot but it was sealed.
Barry looked down at the food in front of him. There was some kind of meat-looking substance, a slice of bread, and a small tin of water. Even though it didn't look appetizing at all, Barr's stomach protested loudly. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. So, the young man choked it down.
Hours passed slowly. Those hours turned into days, then weeks. Barry had no idea exactly how long he had been stuck there, however. He slept when he was tired, and ate when food was slid into his room. Eventually, Barry stopped calling out to anyone who might be outside the door.
With no one to talk to, Barry could feel himself begin to go a bit insane. He would see a light appear out of the corner of his eye. Thinking the door was finally open, he swerved his head around. Yet nothing was there, and the door was as tightly shut as it always was.
Ultimately, Barry stopped caring whether or not he was actually losing his mind because his hallucinations gave him something to think about besides his family and friends who he missed so bad that it physically hurt his heart.
The more lifelike hallucinations started with being woken up by the sound of barking. Barry cracked his eyes open to find a small Yorkshire Terrier starring at him. The dog looked exactly like the one his neighbors had back when he lived with his parents.
"Teddy?" Barry mumbled, his voice rough from disuse.
At the sound of his name, the dog ran forward. But in the blink of an eye, Teddy vanished.
Similar hallucinations continued. Barry saw his sixth grade English teacher, who hated all her students. He saw his mother, who looked exactly like he remembered her. He even saw himself once, which was a bit strange to say the least. The visions always ended at some point.
Everything changed one day after Barry had been locked in the room for months. Barry was laying on the floor, slightly curled in on himself, when light filled the room. The door had finally opened.
At first Barry thought it was another hallucination, but he didn't recognize the man standing in the doorway.
"I think you're finally ready for the next step, Flash." The man boomed.
Only when the man dragged him from the room, did Barry understand that it was real.