DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Flash
5 Months Ago
Nothing made any concreate sense to Barry. His brain felt like mush, and the world seemed to spin and fade in and out.
He was sure of one thing, however: the man fully dressed in black brought pain.
That very man was standing in front of Barry right then. When this man wrapped his fingers around Barry's head, white agony filled the speedster's body.
The pain brought a memory forward. The memory was never a good one.
This time it was of his father. Barry was nine years old, and he was picking up a pizza with his dad. They talked and laughed the whole way to and from the pizza parlor. But it ended when they got home.
Young Barry was holding the pizza box on his lap, Henry opened the door for his son. Barry wasn't holding onto it hard enough, and the box containing their dinner fell onto the ground top-first.
Barry's dad had never been an angry man, but due to a hard day at work, the man just exploded.
"I'm sorry!" Barry immediately called out. But Henry didn't listen.
After his dad stormed through the door, Barry's mom asked with concern, "What's wrong?"
To which his father replied, "Your son ruined dinner."
Barry was in tears by that point.
Nora opened the pizza box. "It's fine. Some of the cheese slid off but it's still edible."
So they ate the pizza in complete silence.
Later that night, Barry's father apologized, but that part of the memory wasn't as visible in Barry's mind.
The mysterious man pulled his hands away from Barry's head, and the speedster found himself crying.
He wasn't given much time to get his bearings when the man's fingers were back against his temples, and pain ripped through Barry again. Along with another memory, this time about Iris.
Barry was excitedly waiting for Iris in Jitters. She walked through the door and took off her grey jacket.
"Hey!" He greeted, big smile on his face.
"Hi." She greeted back, smile on her face as well.
"One incredibly heavy cronut, and one Americano with an extra shot. Just the way you like it."
Iris responded, "Just the way I like it." At the same time as Barry.
"I know. I know you, Iris."
After a moment, Iris reacted with, "So, um, what is going on with you? You're acting like Christmas came early." She took a sip of her coffee.
Barry chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it did. Kind of." He took his hand in hers, "Iris, um, I still think about you all the time, and I know you've been thinking about me too, so let's just stop thinking and start doing-"
"Barry-" Iris interrupted, smile gone from her face.
"I know, I know that we both have awful timing, but we were meant to be toge-"
"Barry, what are you talking about?"
He was confused. "You and me. We like each other."
Iris pulled away from Barry, and looked him in the eye, "Barry, we've been over this, okay? Nothing has changed for me."
"No, but it has."
"How do you know that?"
Barry searched her face, but he didn't find any of the love her saw earlier, in the other timeline before the tsunami hit. "I just… I just know some stuff somehow. Er, I don't know. Maybe it's like ESP or something, bu-"
"Barry. I love Eddie. Okay?" She grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair. "I'm sorry, but nothing has changed for me since Christmas. And you can't keep springing this on me, okay?" She stood up. "It's not fair that you keep making me the bad guy that keeps telling you no."
Then she left with a sigh, leaving Barry alone in the coffee shop.
The memory ended there, and the hands came off Barry's head.
Through his sobs, Barry screamed out, "Why? Why are you doing this to me?"
The man just turned and left.
But he would be back soon. And all that would happen over again. Only with different memories.
Iris rushes through the elevator and into the cortex, Wally following close behind her. The reporter stops in her tracks when she sees The Flash's emblem sitting on the desk between her dad and her friends.
"Oh my gosh. Barry." She gasps, rushing forward and taking the lightning bolt symbol in her hands. "I wasn't sure that I believed it when you told me over the phone." She whispers.
"But this is a good thing, right? The speedster must have Barry, and that means we can find him." Wally chimes in.
Caitlin points out, "Barry was wearing his suit when he went missing. There wouldn't be any other way for the speedster to get it."
"Yeah, but what I don't understand is that the metahuman Barry went to fight didn't have super speed." Cisco responds.
"You know what else is fishy? Why would the speedster leave The Flash's insignia here after robbing a bank and showing up at the CCPD? It's almost like he's playing some sort of sick game with us." Joe questions.
"Looks like you got one thing right," an all too familiar voice rings throughout the room.
Before any of Team Flash can react, a rush of wind and golden lightning sweeps past them.
The voice, much closer now, continues, "Guess that's why you're a detective."
Everyone's gaze swivels toward the young man standing in the cortex. Iris's jaw drops as she takes in the face that she knows so well.
"Barry?" She whispers. The reporter steps toward the person she thought she'd lost forever. Her arm rises to touch his face, even though something is off in his expression. His green eyes, once friendly and bright, had turned cold and dull. In place of his wide smile is now a small, twisted leer. Not to mention that he's much skinnier than when she last saw him.
Barry speeds to the opposite side of the room before Iris's fingers make contact with his cheek.
No one speaks or even makes a move. They should be hugging, happy that Barry is back home. But this isn't the same Barry that they knew.
"What happened to you, man?" Cisco asks softly.
Barry lets out a dry, mocking laugh; something so un-Barry-like. "What happened to me?" He begins walking in a slow, deliberate circle around the room. "I was tortured while my "family" just continued on with their lives."
Each person flinched at the accusation.
"We searched everywhere for you, Bar. We never stopped looking." Joe explains.
"Of course you didn't. That's why it's been seven months." Barry responds curtly.
With tears streaming steadily down her face, Iris finds her voice again, "We would never give up on you, Barry."
"You did more than give up on me. You used me, manipulated me, abandoned me. And now I'm going to return the favor. By making your lives a living hell."
Cisco fingers the tranquilizer gun he has kept there since Zoom dragged Barry's beaten and barley conscious body through Central City and into STAR Labs. Cisco is beginning to realize that Barry isn't right in his mind. Whatever his kidnapper did to him left the young man broken. The Flash needs to be stopped before he does something he'll end up regretting.
The difficult part will be catching the speedster by surprise.
Cisco makes eye contact with Caitlin. She seems to know immediately what he's thinking, and gives a tiny nod.
"Barry, you're not okay. Let me run some tests, maybe do some scans." Caitlin says gently.
Barry tilts his head in an almost crazed sort of way. He slowly strides in Caitlin's direction until he's in her face, but she doesn't back down. Instead, the doctor looks directly into her friend's eyes.
With Barry facing away from Cisco, he slowly pulls the tranqu gun to his shoulder, waiting for an opportunity.
"No, I'm not okay, Caitlin. And neither will any of you when I'm finished." Barry declares, eerily calm.
"Let me help you." Caitlin responds, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Barry pulls back as if he'd been burned. At that same moment, Cisco pulls the trigger. The tranquilizer dart hits its mark, the needle sinking into the back of the speedster's shoulder.
Barry's body goes limp almost immediately, and he hits the floor with a thump. In the moments before unconsciousness takes hold of him, Barry looks almost like himself again.
The room seems to take a sigh of relief.
Joe breaks the moment of stillness, "Let's get him into the pipeline before he wakes up."
Team Flash is all there when Barry wakes. There's a brief look of panic on his face when his eyes open, but it's gone in an instant when he realizes where he is.
The Flash stands, a mocking smirk prominent on his face, "Here you all are, preaching about love and how you never gave up on me, yet you threw me in a cell like a prisoner."
"This is for your own good, Bar. We need to protect you from yourself." Joe responds, trying not to show how much his son's words hurt him.
"You aren't thinking clearly." Cisco adds.
"My mind has never been more clear than it is now." Barry looks Cisco straight in the eye, "You're going to regret throwing me in here. If I can get out of that place, I can definitely get out of" he slams his palms on the glass "this."
Cisco looks for any sign of his friend in the eyes of a now stranger, but finds nothing. "What happened to you?" He whispers.
Iris lets out a barely contained sob before turning and running out of the room.
Wally, who has been quietly watching, murmurs, "I'm going to go see if she's alright." He inches down the ramp.
"I'll come with you." Caitlin says, needing to get away.
After the two of them leave, Cisco puts a hand on Joe's shoulder, "Come on, let's get out of here. We'll figure out what to do next." He mumbles in the detective's ear.
Joe nods, causing Barry to clench his jaw.
Cisco places his fingers on the control pad. Before the metal door closes over Barry's cell, Joe calls out to his son, "We're going to help you, Bar. I promise."