This is my first every Flash Fanfic and so... yeah. Questions?
Please Review
Iris took steady breaths, eyes wide as she stared up at the pale ceiling above her. Blunt, red-chipped finger nails sunk into the cold steel of the table her partially clothed body was strapped too. Sweat sprung along her hair line and slipped down the edge of her face.
In...out...in...out... She could not forget to breathe. No matter what, she had to breathe.
Fear squeezed at her chest and anxiety clawed at her lungs.
Breathe...
A flash of orange out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, stealing her desperate breaths away. Her whole body stiffened. Tears pricked at her eyes, teetering along her eyelashes before breaking free and slipping down both of her high cheeks bones.
Soon her nightmare, her tormentor, her torturer came to stand over her, smiling down at her kindly. She studied his face for the millionth time. Sharp jaw line, deep laugh lines folding the skin around his mouth, the same crinkle along the edge of his eyes. This man smiled a lot, she often thought. That was how he came to have such wrinkles.
His face was unfamiliar, rather, it had been... the first time she had laid eyes on him. Now, she had memorized every line, dimple, and freckle on the man's face. She could tell you how short he usually kept his dark blonde hair, how many streaks of gray ran through it. Iris could tell you the exact hue of the man's blue eyes – indigo, his eyes were indigo. She could tell you his lips would turn down and his left eyebrow would dip lower then the right when he was annoyed. He was annoyed a lot. She could tell you that his face would go blank when he was angry, indigo eyes suddenly pale with ice, back stiff. He was angry a lot.
He always wore an orange button-up shirt, with dark pants. Always.
Iris could tell you that when he was excited he would pop his neck, left then right, while a groaning noise would press its way past his lips.
Iris's fingers pressed further into the table as the man twisted his neck, left then right, groan slipping by his lips, which were slowly beginning to twist into a smile. He held a black tablet out in front of him, one long, thin finger tapping away at it.
"You're lucky, Iris." He spoke. Her chest began to burn. She had forgotten to breathe again. "If you survive this... You will become my favorite. You will become one of my most prized creations."
She forced air into her lungs, never taking her eyes off the man, even as he moved away from her, out of view. Her anxiety grew. The cuffs wrapped around her wrists dug into her wrists as she subconsciously pulled at them.
"Ah..ah... No Iris, dear." The man lightly scolded. "We don't want you hurting yourself again."
"Why... Why are you doing this?" She asked, her dry voice barely a whisper over the hum inside of the room.
"Now what have I said about speaking out of turn? Let alone asking questions?"
Iris eyes shut tightly, unable to face the realities of her situation any longer. She wished she could sleep. She sometimes escaped this place when she slept.
The man groaned again, followed by pop, pop, from his neck. She felt ill. "You'll be wonderful."
She opened her eyes again, not feeling comfortable with not being able to see what the man was doing. She wished she hadn't as soon as she saw the large needle filled with deep red liquid looming over her face.
A whimper left her as her body bucked against the table, wanting to move away from the man.
"No...no... please no..."
Her pleas went ignored as the man's fingers entwined around her hair harshly as he jerked her head left and shoving the needle into the back of her neck.
She screamed.
Who ever said no news was good news, needs to seriously reevaluate themselves. The young man thought through clenched teeth.
Barry eyed Caitlin and Cisco with weakly guarded frustration on his bruised and battered face from yet another encounter with a powerful and pesky meta-human, he had received more bad news. They stared back at him with pressed lips and furrowed brows, worry.
"Its been three months," he hissed out. His chest burned and his ribs groaned with every breath he took. He was not in the mood for bad news. "How can three months go by without even a lead about what happened to Iris!"
The two shared a look. "Well, we did have a lead-" Cisco was promptly elbowed in the ribs, causing him to stare hunch over and stare woundedly up at Caitlin. "Why..." He groaned.
"The lead didn't pan out, Barry." Caitlin quickly said. "It wasn't really a lead at all!"
Barry's eyes widened in disbelief. "You had a lead and you didn't tell me?" His voice trembled and he leaped off of the medical bed. "Why didn't you tell me!"
"Like she said," Harrison rolled into the room, "the lead didn't pan out." The man glanced at the other two in the room.
"Still, you should have told me!" Barry frowned. "What if this lead really was the one who took Iris. Had an idea of who took Iris!"
"Barry, it wasn't a lead." Harrison reminded calmly. "Nothing would of come from it, Cisco was just speaking without thinking again."
"Guilty," Cisco quickly chimed in with a grimace.
"Bu-"
"I think its time you start to consider the possibility... Iris may not be alive anymore." The dark-haired man said calmly.
Barry face twisted and his head reeled back as if he had been punched. "How could you say... something like that."
Harrison kept his eyes locked on Barry. "You work for the police, Barry. How well does kidnapping cases turn out, especially after such a long time?"
Barry shook his head, rejecting the idea. "She's still alive and I'm going to find her. There's no way I can save so many people in this city daily and not even save my best-friend when she really needs it. I want the lead you guys had. And I want it now." He turned his back on Harrison to face Caitlin and Cisco. "Please..."
Iris scrambled back in the darkness. It was so dark, and it had been so dark for so long, she almost forgot sometimes how it felt to see. Her arms wrapped around herself, fingers digging into the ribs. She would count them sometimes, run her fingers along the rounded edges.
She heard a noise and usually when she heard a noise that she did not make, boots thudding on the ground then pain would follow.
She heard the boots and she scrambled back further against the wall, hoping it would swallow her whole, like always, it never did. Instead she felt the boots she had heard earlier sink into her ribs, and the air escape her lungs. Her ears rang.
She cried out and scrambled away, fruitlessly hoping to escape the beating that was coming. A fist connected with her face, sending her head crashing into the metal floor of her dark prison. The beating continued on from there.
The voice would start soon.
"Fight back, Iris." The man in orange voice echoed inside the walls from someplace else. It had been awhile since she had 'seen' him in the sense since her world had been nothing but darkness for so long, but she could not forget his voice. He was inside the room somehow, she could tell. "You have the power now to do that. So protect yourself and fight back." She couldn't understand. She never understood anything the man was saying. She could hear his teeth grit together in frustration. Her heart sunk. "Fight back, Iris, are you will be punished!"
No...No...No... "No!" She spat out suddenly overcome with anger. No more punishments, she couldn't take anymore punishments. Another heavy boot was heading towards her bruised stomach, she could feel it coming. The air was disturb around the foot.
She brought her hands up and caught the boot with a grunt. "No!" She twisted the limb without a thought until she heard a satisfying pop. The man screamed and dropped to the ground, howling in pain.
The lights flicked on. Iris quickly shut her eyes and pressed further in the wall behind her, one bruised arm came up to shield her face. Her eyes burned.
Slow clapping made her slowly lower her arm and peer through blurry eyes ahead of her, at the hazy orange man. The other man was rolling around on the floor, gripping his left ankle, she ignored him and focused all of her attention on Mr. Orange-man.
"You did it." He popped his neck and groaned. "Congratulations, Iris, would you like to eat as reward?"
Her stomach clenched at the thought of food. It had been so long since she had food.
"Well would you?" The man asked, tone hinting at annoyance.
Iris's back straightened. "Y-Yes... please."
A slow smile tugged at the man's lips.
Iris watched Mr. Orange-man spread grape jelly on a scone as he softly hummed to himself 'twinkle, twinkle little star'.
She shifted in the beautifully carved dinning room chair, her bare feet flat on the cool dark wood floors. She plucked thoughtlessly at the sleeves of the coral green dress she was wearing, it was beautiful and expensive, she could tell.
She couldn't understand anything this man was doing.
"Since you haven't eaten in awhile," the man spoke up, not taking his eyes off his food, "you should begin with the the light broth prepared for you." His eyes left the bread briefly and settled on the white and gold bowl, filled with greenish-yellow liquid in front of her. "Its chicken." He took a bite of his scone. There was other breakfast foods spread out along the table
Iris looked down at the the bowl. Her stomach ached. She took a small breath before hesitantly picking up the spoon sitting next to the bowl. She dipped the spoon into the bowl and brought it to her slightly bleeding lip. Once she had eaten a spoon full, she couldn't stop herself from finishing the bowl.
When it was empty, she was still hungry.
"Usually, one after not eating for so long with become full after a very small amount of food because of their stomach shriveling up in size. But not you, Miss West, you still have plenty of room don't you?"
Iris slowly licked her lips, savoring the taste of the broth on her lips. "Yes..." She whispered. "I can eat more." Her eyes subconsciously darted to the other foods on the table.
Mr. Orange smiled. "Its because of your changes. Now," the man stood from his seat at the head of the table, which made Iris stiffen. She followed him with her eyes as he moved to a cabinet sitting along the far wall. He opened the top drawer and pulled out two iron cuffs.
Iris throat tightened. But she hadn't done anything wrong... why was he...? She tried thinking of what she had done wrong.
"Be still," he ordered as he approached. Iris froze and could only watch as the man clamped the cuffs around her wrists, locking her to the chair. "I would like to test something out." He walked away again. He began to hum 'twinkle, twinkle, little star' again. "Have you noticed the wounds from your beating has already healed, Iris?" She frowned, glancing down at herself. She didn't feel any pain, only fear. "That's not normal. It also isn't normal for someone to go a month without eating anything at all... and be alive let along have enough strength to break a grown man's ankle by merely yanking hard enough. If you were at full strength I'm sure poor Antonio would have been minus a foot." Mr. Orange laughed. He returned, a pair of hedge trimmers in his hands. "I would like to see how fast you can regrew limbs."
Iris shook hear head, heart pounded. "No..." She begged. "Please don't..." She balled her fingers into balls. "Please..."
"Release your fingers, Iris. Don't you want more food? Don't you wish not to make me angry?"
"Fifteen minutes, remarkable..." The man said in awe, his humming coming to a stop along with Iris's scream. It was fifteen minutes last time too, and the time before that and before that. Why did he keep doing it over and over again?
Iris bent over, her body shuddering horribly as she heaved the little food that had been inside of her out. Another one of her fingers rolled against her bare feet. She was in so much pain it wasn't describable.
She sucked in air as tears raced down her cheeks.
"I wonder does a larger limb take longer to grow back. What if I took off a whole hand?" He pondered, groaning and popping his neck. "Would it also take fifteen minutes to grow back?"
Iris sobbed. Her blood dripped on the floor, drip...drip...drip... It was so loud. Why was it so loud?
"There's only one way I can see for sure right?" He asked with a laugh. Iris felt the metal of the trimmers press on the sides of her left wrist. She closed her eyes.
"Professor Becker..."
The man sighed and Iris opened her eyes. They both looked as a young blonde entered the room. She was dressed in a dark tank top and cargo pants, a pair of black, leather gloves hid her hands. The blonde's eyes lingered on Iris for a second, their was nothing behind the blonde's green eyes, no horror at the sight before her, no compassion, no anything. No. There was something... dislike.
In Iris's hazy mind she realized that for whatever reason this woman disliked her. It wasn't that she cared... it was just odd.
"What is it, Floe?" The man asked, his disinterest clear as he turned his attention back to Iris, poking at the bleeding flesh which should have been her pinky finger. Iris gasped and shuddered, but never took her eyes off Floe.
Floe's red painted lips twisted in displeasure. "We have a problem and it come in the form of a visitor." Her eyes locked on Iris's briefly. "Could become a problem."
Becker sighed. "Importance scale?"
"How much does she mean to you, Professor?"
Becker stiffened and Iris frowned in confusion. "Ah... took longer then I expected. I'll be right there."
Floe shot Iris another glare. "Yes, sir."
Barry looked around around the lobby of Becker Genetics, his hands shoved into his pockets, his face sat in firm stubbornness. This was his fifth time coming here with no success and being turned away at the door, today he wasn't going to leave without seeing someone.
Yes, the others had already ruled out this place, but he needed to see. He needed to find out. He turned around, looking away from the clear balcony above him which was filled with people moving quickly. Every-time he came here everyone seemed so busy. His eyes found the brown-skinned receptionist again, who had also been watching him. Upon seeing him look at her she rolled her eyes, and smacked loudly on her gum. Their conversations hadn't been the most pleasant.
He was just about to go over to her again when a man exited the door behind the receptionist desk and stopped to talk with her. He was wearing a white lab coat and an orange shirt underneath. He looked up at Barry after the woman had motioned at him.
The man smiled and made his way over, offering his hand. Barry hesitated before taking it. "Thomas Becker..."
"Barry Allen." The brown haired man quickly said. "Thank you for coming to speak with me."
"Its not a problem," Thomas motioned to the sitting area nearby and walked over to it. Barry followed, sitting in one of the yellow leather chairs after the man. "What brings you by, Mr. Allen? I heard you are a police officer?" Thomas crossed his legs.
Barry cleared his throat. He had to lie a little. "I... work with the police."
Becker's smile didn't waver. "Oh? What brings you here, Barry Allen – who works with the police."
Barry reached into his jacket and pulled out a photograph of Iris. He watched the man's face carefully. "Have you seen this woman?"
Becker took the photo into his hands and examined it with sharp eyes. "No... I can't say I have." He handed the picture back to Barry. Barry accepted the photo back, his heart sunk and he swallowed.
"Are you sure?" He pushed.
"Positive... I would have remember such a beautiful face."
Barry placed the photo back in his pocket and stood with heavy shoulders. He eyed the man still sitting for awhile. "Can I have a tour of your lab?" Something wasn't right. He had no idea what, but he felt as if something wasn't right.
Becker shrugged. "Make an appointment with, Rasha over there and I'm sure you can be put on the waiting list, I'll even tell her to skip you ahead of some people."
Barry bit the inside of his cheek. "Alright, thank you, Mr. Becker."
The man stood. "No problem, Mr. Allen."
She use to wonder why he was doing this to her, bur realized it didn't matter. What happened, happened. What was going to happen, will happen. Iris no longer asked herself stupid questions like why and when was someone going to come save her?
The Flash... Barry... her father... Eddie... No one was coming.
Iris looked up as Professor Becker entered the simple room she was given. She quickly backed herself into the nearest corner, pressing her body between the nightstand and wall. Her arms came up to shield her face.
Becker smiled at her. "Come on out, Iris, I have something to show you."
I have something to show you usually meant a beating, if not a beating then another agonizing treatment, if not a treatment then some other form of torture. She lowered her arms and stared at the floor, Running her thumb over each one of her fingers on her right hand gently. One...two...three...four...five... they were all accounted for, but for how long?
"Come on, Iris, you can trust me. I haven't once told you a lie, now have I?"
She wondered what that had to do with anything.
"But other people have lied to you, allowed you to take the role of dolt... dupe. I'll always be straight with you. Come..."
She had no other choice but to come.
Iris stared at the photo being displayed before her on screen, her chest was tight, but she couldn't identify what she was feeling. That scared her.
"Your so-called best-friend Barry is the Flash and your father has been aware of the fact from the very beginning. They allowed you to run around not being told anything like a dumb child. They didn't trust you enough with this secrete. They lied to you over and over again."
Oh... She blinked. Oh... That's what he was doing, she realized suddenly. He wanted her to hate Barry and hate her father. He wanted her to only have him. He wanted her to see him as her everything. The one person who had never lied to her. He was right, he hadn't told her any lies while, obviously she had been lied to for months.
Tears pricked at her eyes, but she swallowed them. She lowered her head, pulling her gaze away from Berry's face.
Oh...
Fine, it that is what Professor Becker wants, she'll give it to him.
Trust him, and only him.