Aubergine
Chapter One
A/N: This takes place before Legends of Tomorrow and before season three of the Flash. Barry and Iris are together.
(I didn't include Dr. Wells just because this is my first time writing for the Flash, and because I couldn't handle that many characters on my first try.)
As I said before, this is my first time writing for the Flash, so I would love feedback about how this is going.
Thank you for reading and enjoy!
The Flash raced down the street, only seen as a scarlet streak by onlookers. Lightning raced and crackled around his body, energizing him as he ran.
"How much further?" he asked through his com.
"Twelve more blocks," Cisco replied.
"I can't believe this guy has been running experiments on animals since the particle accelerator exploded, and we just discovered it this week!" Caitlyn exclaimed.
"I know!" Cisco agreed. "He's kinda kooky. I mean, trying to experiment with streaming consciousness into different bodies is weird enough, but trying it on the animals from Central City's zoo? Totally weird."
"I doubt he had the funds to run an experiment like this with permission," Caitlyn pointed out. "So he resorted to zoo animals."
"True," Cisco said, nodding.
"Okay," Barry said breathlessly. "I'm here," there was a slight pause. "Whoa, this place is impressive!"
The Flash stared at his surroundings in awe. This mad scientist had turned an abandoned warehouse into a state of the art science lab. Rare, expensive biological equipment was neatly arranged around the warehouse along with large cages that held the zoo animals of Central City.
"This guy must have stolen stuff from Mercury Labs. The equipment he's using is brand new," Barry noted as he walked over to a table littered with odd-looking tools.
"Barry," Cisco chided. "Focus."
"Oh, right," the Flash said. He looked around the warehouse, "It appears to be vacant."
"I wouldn't bet on that," a sinister voice said behind the Flash.
The Flash spun around to see a crazed man with wily hair standing next to one of the animal cages. He shot at the Flash with silver pistol. The Flash avoided the bullet with ease.
The mad scientist chuckled menacingly, "You are fast. Looks like we need to make things more challenging."
The mad scientist unlatched the lock to the cage he was standing next to, which, of course, happened to be holding a tiger. The Flash dodged out of the tiger's way as it lunged towards him. The Flash easily zipped the tiger back in its cage only to see that the insane man was unlatching every single cage. Gorillas, zebras, lions, giraffes, polar bears, penguins, and hippos all began to stampede through the warehouse.
"What are you doing?!" the Flash shouted to the scientist across the room. "You'll destroy your work!"
"My work is already complete," he said and held up an odd looking instrument that looked much like a glowing eggplant.
"Looks like you got your hands full."
The Flash turned his head just in time to see a hippo running straight towards him. It was much faster than he thought was natural. He dodged out of its way only to hear a mighty roar sound behind him. The Flash speedily moved out of the path of a roaring lioness who leapt into a nearby colony of penguins who frantically waddled away from her.
"Barry," Cisco said cautiously, "What was that?"
"That crazy scientist is setting all of the animals loose!"
"You need to get them back into their cages so they don't hurt each other!" Caitlyn exclaimed.
"I know, I know," the Flash said, weaving through the chaos of the animals. He ducked behind a fallen table to survey the situation.
"This is my hiding spot. Find your own."
The Flash startled and looked at the man crouching next to him behind the table, "Leonard Snart? What are you doing here?"
"This guy has the blueprints to Mercury Labs, what do you think I'm doing?"
The Flash looked around at the mess and the destructive animals racing around them, "You're crazy!"
"Everything was going fine until you showed up."
There was a large crash nearby.
"I think that's your cue," Snart said.
The Flash just looked at him in disbelief, but sped off into the fray. The Flash quickly sped through the assortment of animals and finally returned all of them back into their cages. Fur, broken glass, chairs, and tables were scattered across the warehouse.
"That was quite impressive," that insane voice mocked.
The Flash turned to see the mad scientist point is eggplant gun in his direction.
"This machine is able to switch the consciousness of the two bodies that have been hit with this ray, and now, I'm going to shoot you. I can't imagine what incredible power I will receive once I am the Flash."
The Flash sped towards the scientist, but he pushed the button before Barry reached him. The gun made a sort of choking sound and the scientist's eyes widened in fear.
"No!" he shouted. And the gun exploded.
O
Barry sat on the small bed in S.T.A.R. Labs as Caitlyn finished her examination. She shone a small light into his eyes and turned it off.
"You seem fine," she said. "I'll check on you again tomorrow, but everything is normal."
Barry sighed in relief, "Good."
"Yeah," Cisco agreed. "You wouldn't want some psycho doctor taking over your body."
"You haven't come up with a name for him yet?" Caitlyn asked, clearly surprised.
Cisco shrugged, "Nothing has come to mind. This guy just sort of freaked me out."
"Yeah, well, I've had enough weird for one day," Barry said. "I'm going home. I'm pretty tired. See you guys tomorrow."
Cisco waved.
"Bye, Barry," Caitlyn said.
O
A blaring alarm jarred Leonard Snart out of his sleep. He muttered a curse and reached for his alarm and turned it off and closed his eyes. He suddenly reopened them and sat up. He didn't set an alarm. He looked down. He didn't sleep in this bed either! He quickly got out of bed and paused when he saw his clothing. He didn't recognize it. Snart quickly located the bathroom and rushed to it. He turned on the light and looked into the mirror.
"You've gotta be kidding me," he said looking at Barry Allen's reflection. Snart ran a hand over his, no, Barry's face. Someone knocked on the door downstairs, causing Snart to jump.
"Barry! It's Iris!"
Snart ran to the top of the stairs, "Uh, one second!" He glanced back in Barry's room. How was he ever going to get ready in time? "Oh, yeah…" he muttered and used the Flash's lightning speed to quickly get changed and raced downstairs and nearly ran into the door. He was not used to the incredible speed. He opened the door.
A beautiful, young woman beamed at him, "Hey, Barry."
Snart blinked. He recognized this girl. This was Detective West's daughter.
"Barry? Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you ready for the big day?"
Uh, oh. What did she mean by that? And what would Barry say? "I sure am!" he said, hoping he wasn't overdoing Barry's optimism.
The girl eyed him suspiciously but smiled and leaned in toward him. Snart didn't realize she was going to kiss him until they were inches apart.
"Oookay," he said sliding past her. She looked confused. "I'll see you later." He quickly sped away before she could reply.
O
Barry rolled over in his bed with a groan. He didn't remember it being so lumpy. Or so cold. Did he forget to turn on the heat or something? The smell of something burning reached him and he suddenly sat up. He didn't recognize his surroundings. Barry turned his head towards the smell of the fire and looked to see Mick Rory, or as Cisco called him, Heatwave, burning a newspaper. Barry gasped in fear. How had Heatwave found him? Snart said he wouldn't tell anyone his secret unless Barry apprehended him. The sound of Barry's gasp caused Heatwave to look in his direction.
"You, okay?" he asked.
"W-what?" Barry asked, but was immediately startled by his own voice. That wasn't his voice…
"You look like you had a bad dream or something," Mick said, turning his attention back to the fire.
Barry quickly glanced at his clothing and his suspicions were confirmed.
"Um, yeah, something like that," he said quickly. "Look, I gotta go take care of something. I'll be right back."
Mick grunted in acknowledgement but kept staring hypnotically at the burning newspaper as Barry rushed out the door.
A/N: This concludes the first chapter. What do you think? (I also need a name for the crazy scientist – I am open to suggestions!)