Here we go another chapter! I'm estimating at a total of 10 chapters for this, but they'll all be action packed and full of dark Barry mwuahahahah ;) thanks for all the great ideas and reviews and for my favorites/followers! Enjoy!
It was a few hours later that night, the facility was quiet and the cortex, although filled with the team, was dead. Barry had been in emergency condition for a while, but fortunately for his enhanced metabolism he passed from critical to stable. It was a game of touch and go for a while. Barry was practically dragged through the halls and to the medical room where he was carried onto the table. His entire chin and front of suit was covered in the blood that poured from his mouth. The gaping hole in his abdomen was the source of most of the damage. What impaled him was a whole different question, altogether. What happened to him for the short hours he had escaped the team's grasp? Sure, he was injured but nothing so serious and fatal like this. He was gasping for breath and Joe and jay had to pin him down to the table as Caitlin got to work on his caving chest cavity. She was throwing bloody and soaked towels right and left across the floor as she commanded Iris and Cisco to give her the proper materials. It was especially tough when she had to disinfect the wound with pure hydrogen peroxide. There was shouting on Barry's part, tears on the family's part, and blood everywhere. Now it was a matter of time before he woke up. Harrison was writing equations on the board, Jay was looking at the floor with armed crossed, Joe was pacing the floor, Caitlin was cleaning the medical tools, Cisco was wiping the blood and throwing away dirty linens, and Iris sat silently in the corner.
No one talked, no one looked at one another, they all focused on their own jobs. It was the only way everyone could cope with what happened. Barry just burst into the room, practically dead, and they were expected to save him like old times after he stole $400,000, invaded the CCPD precinct, stole 3 armored cars, and kidnapped and threatened to kill five cops. The situation wasn't good and he wasn't doing a whole lot to make it better.
"All right," Cisco sighed and stopped mopping the cortex floors, "I'm gonna address the elephant in the room-the very big, large, obvious elephant. Look, although Barry made a lot of horrible choices, do we think it was a good idea to save him?"
No one spoke for a minute until Jay's intense gaze met his, "What do you expect us to say, Cisco. Barry betrayed us all, we don't know what happened out there but it sure as hell wasn't the Flash protecting Central City."
"But it was the effect of another meta-human, right?" Caitlin came up in Barry's defense, "I'm in no way justifying his actions, but we can't completely pin the blame on him, it's not entirely his fault."
"But we're not completely sure it was a meta-human that did this to him, though. Tell her, Wells," Joe nudged the scientist despondently with his elbow.
"Look, I don't know all the facts, but my best conclusion is that it was a meta-human. That is not a concrete answer, it's just a well educated guess."
"But you're guesses have been pretty spot on all the time, Dr. Wells," Iris stood up and started to slowly walk to Harry, "what makes you think they'll quit on you now."
"Iris," Joe warned, she was heading into dangerous waters.
"No, I want to know," she looked at him with cold, disrespecting eyes, "based on his 'educated guesses' Barry almost died here on this floor in front of us and you didn't even lift a finger."
"Iris, that's enough-"
"No, she has a point," Harrison, who was taller than her, looked down at the detective's daughter. She had spirit, he could give her that, "I didn't choose to help him and if he came stumbling into this room again right now, half-dead and covered in blood, I still would keep my same decision."
Hunter looked at Dr. Wells with a newfound respect.
"You're pathetic," Iris snarled, "you don't care for anyone but yourself."
"And I'm not denying it."
"The only reason you're here right now is because of Barry, and you haven't left yet so it seems that you kind of like it down here, huh," Iris got closer to Wells, her face right in his, "but don't forget, Dr. Wells, that the last time you were on this Earth you killed Barry's mom, you killed thousands of people with that particle accelerator, and you killed my fiancé."
Their locked gaze broke away for a moment as Wells looked up to the ceiling.
"That's right," she continued with a menacing snarl to her tone, "we don't forget things too quick around here, unlike you with your kidnapped daughter back on your damned Earth-2."
"Iris!"
"Enough!" Wells erupted and pushed the detective's daughter away from him. Joe came surging forward to protect his child but another hand came and pulled Wells' shoulder away.
"Hey, guys, everyone take it easy."
They all gasped and turned around. Barry was standing right next to Harrison like nothing had happened, like nothing transpired the last few hours. Wells looked at him with shock and immediately backed away.
"Hey, what's wrong, what's going on?"
"All right, dude, no problem," Cisco said carefully and with a nervous smile, "just stay right there."
"Guys, what's the-"
Barry took one step forward and Jay and Harry pulled a weapon on him simultaneously.
"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" Barry saw the barrel of two guns pointed straight at his newly healed chest and he put his hands up in surrender, "What's going on?!"
"Like you don't know," Jay snarled, but Hunter smiled.
"No, seriously! Jay, Wells, just put the guns down, we can explain this like normal-" the two armed men took a step closer, cornering Barry to the far end of the cortex. The rest of the team was standing behind the advancing men and looked at Barry with wariness, "okay, all right! Just put the guns down, please!"
"You lied to us, Barry, all of us. Why?" Wells growled from behind his defensive stance.
"Lied?" Barry asked genuinely confused, "Lied? Lied about what?"
"Don't play games anymore, Allen!" Jay yelled, "tell us the truth, what happened back there at the precinct and the bank!"
"No, what happened the night of the accident?" Harrison inputed.
"I-I don't know!"
"You have till the count of three before I stick a bullet straight to your chest," Harrison said in a dangerous whisper, "have fun trying to pry that one out yourself-if you aren't killed on the spot."
"Please," the speedster slowly stared to back up as the armed Jay and Harry stared edging closer and closer to him, "guys, believe me, I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"One."
"I don't know anything about a bank or the police station!" Barry continued to protest, but it fell upon deaf ears.
"Two."
"Cait, Joe, Iris, Cisco! Help me, tell them!"
"Three."
Harry felt his finger start to press down on the trigger and the speedster's fear rise.
"Wait!" he stopped at the last moment as Iris came running into his line of vision.
"Iris, what are you doing, get back here!" Joe demanded angrily and in fear.
"Please move, Iris," Jay said calmly but firmly, "he's dangerous, you don't know what he'll do."
At this point, Iris was standing in front of Barry, holding his wrist. She could feel his tall skinny form behind her as he protected her from the barrels staring straight at him. There was a natural and unchanging instinct inside of her that would always make her come to Barry's aid whenever he needed.
"Just here him out, maybe he didn't know what he was doing!" Iris tried to reason with Wells.
"It's a lie," Wells said without any emotions or remorse, his gun repositioning and his angle becoming more acute, "he can't be trusted."
"Enough, Wells!" Joe roared and attacked the scientist. He ripped the gun from his hands and pushed him to the side. Cisco and Caitlin came forward to and moved Jay from threatening Barry.
"Guys, come on!" Cisco yelled, "we're acting like children, and even if Barry is or isn't normal then we need to act with reason!"
Everyone panted and let the gravity of Cisco's words sink in.
"You're right, Ramon," Jay nodded, "Barry, we're sorry."
"Thank you," he let out a relieved sigh and looked around to the others.
"Bar, you sure you're okay?" Joe looked at him warily, "Tell me something, something only I would know."
"When I was 9, I went to the movie theater without you to see the PG-13 movie and you grounded me for two weeks," he smiled and looked at his foster dad with hope.
Joe laughed, "That's right, come here," he held his arms open and tackled his son in a hug, "I'm so sorry, Barry, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Joe, really, I'm fine," he clapped him on the back and they pulled apart.
Harrison's eyes were filled with caution and distrust, "Barry, if you're truly yourself then you wouldn't mind if I asked you a few questions?"
"Of course not," he looked to Dr. Wells with compliance.
"Good," he smiled forcefully, "and it's okay if everyone is still here, right?"
"No, it's fine, they deserve to be," he looked down at Iris and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Now, why don't you start to tell us what happened. The night of the accident, how exactly did it happen in the first place?"
"I told you," Barry sighed and rested against the desk, "I was running in the streets through traffic and the minute I turned a corner, this van came barreling into me."
"Continue," he instructed.
"But right before I felt this horrible stinging in my eyes," Barry elaborated, "and this pounding headache. Maybe that's what veered me off course?" he looked to Dr. Wells.
"It very well could be," he kept his chin held high, "was there something-or perhaps someone that you came into contact with that night?"
"Something? Someone?" Barry shook his head, "no, I don't recall. If there was, then maybe they could explain what's been going on around here."
"Yes, I think all of us would like that," Wells looked Allen up and down. His stance was relaxed, his moral righteousness normal, "so you didn't see anyone during the bank robbery, too?"
"No, I didn't. Dr. Wells, I'm telling the truth, I swear. I would never lie to you guys," he looked around at the whole team meaningfully.
"Wells, what point are you trying to make?" Joe confronted the scientist, "Barry would't lie to us unless he was under the mind control from the other meta."
"Dr. Wells, I think he's telling the truth," Caitlin nodded, "and Joe's right, he wouldn't do this if he was seduced."
"Please," Barry looked at Harrison with his big brown eyes, "no mind control, nothing. I'm me again," he looked around at the Flash team, "and-and I can see I've done wrong and I want to help."
"All right, fine," he regarded Allen who smiled gratefully at him, "go to the treadmill and start warming up, make sure your vitals and your speed are still intact."
"Got it," he smiled wider and with excitement, "thank you."
Barry pulled his STAR Labs sweater over his head and stepped out of the room. Caitlin and Cisco we're prepared to follow him before Dr. Wells spoke up again, "Hold it."
"Why?" Cisco looked at his superior, "What's wrong?"
"Wells?" Joe looked at him in confusion.
Garrick and Harrison exchanged a quick look.
"I don't think that's our Barry."
"But you just said-" Iris protested.
"I know what I said," Harry argued, "I was just saying that so he would leave."
Iris crossed her arms, "Because you are pretty good at lying," she looked at him coldly, "should've known."
"It's not about you or me or any of us right now," Harrison spoke low but urgent, "I think Barry is still under the meta-human's command."
"What makes you say that?" Caitlin furrowed her brows.
"Come on, Wells, you always need an excuse, huh," Joe growled at him, "you can never leave things alone."
"Did you see him? That was someone in a Barry suit, not the real thing. Wake up!" he clapped his hands and they all jumped, "you are blinded by your love for him and that's how he got away with all his crimes."
"How do you know?" Cisco questioned the doctor.
"The last time we accused Barry of robbing the CCB of $400,000 he was outraged and indignant," Wells explained, "I brought it up as a test this time and he didn't even flinch."
"Okay?" Iris wanted to sound tough and unwavering but she couldn't keep some of the doubt from her voice.
"Also when Caitlin brought up the meta-human's mind controlling abilities, Barry was never here to know that we had made that discovery. He was off with the kidnapped cops and the three armored cars, our Barry wouldn't have known what the meta-human was even capable of-he wouldn't even know that there was a meta-human period."
"Oh no," Iris' eyes were filled with horror, "what are we gonna do?"
"He needs to be locked up," Jay said coldly and without mercy. There was a twinkle in his eye, however, "but he can't know that we have figured it out, this is our advantage."
"I-I can't be apart of this," Joe shook his head, "I barely could last time, I can't see Barry like this again."
"Detective, if you don't go through with this, it's going to look suspicious," Wells said to Joe, "you're his father. We are dealing with a dangerous, out-of-control, meta-human, everyone, we need to be acting on our A-game."
"How are we gonna do it? Where are we gonna keep him?" Cisco asked.
"I have an idea," Jay smiled.
Barry was in the exercise room where his "Ciscoed" treadmill was. It was the only thing that could handle his speed and it allowed him to practice and keep fit. If this were the real Barry and his real thoughts. He laughed sinisterly, they had no idea what was going on. No idea that they had just healed and helped their biggest threat. Now all Barry needed to do was wait for them all to gather inside the glass chamber adjacent to his room and he'd go in and snap all of their necks.
They've never done anything for you, a voice in his mind echoed, this is right.
It sure as hell was.
He saw Harrison Wells, Caitlin Snow, and Cisco Ramon come filing in. They stood behind the glass-paned room where they would monitor Barry's vitals, blah, blah.
"Barry are you ready?" Harrison spoke calmly into the microphone. Man, it took a lot of convincing for the scientist, he almost caught on.
"Uh, yeah, but where's Iris and Joe and Jay?" this wasn't good, he needed to kill them all, they all needed to be here.
"They'll be joining us shortly, why, is there a problem?"
Barry froze for a minute, there was a note of sass in the scientist's voice but when he looked over he was the same.
"No problem," Barry stood up on the treadmill, ready to begin, "but they'll be coming later, right?"
"I assume so," Harrison nodded, "let's begin."
Barry felt the pad underneath him start to move but he heard a slight thump from above him. It sounded like it was in the ceiling.
"Hey, guys," he looked to Cisco and Caitlin and Wells, "I think I heard a sound from above me. Cisco, what do you think?"
"Oh-uh, I don't know man," the engineer's voice wavered, "must be the electrical lines or something-ow!"
Barry's eyes darted to Wells who he thought he saw his hand move from under the monitor where Barry couldn't see to hit Cisco.
Damn, Barry thought angrily in his head, they know.
"Uh, actually, guys, I'm not feeling up to this right now. Maybe later-"
The glass door slid shut forcefully and the metal locks engaged. The windows reinforced themselves on the inside of the chamber with a bulletproof pane and every possible entrance or exit in the chamber sealed itself off.
Barry looked around and heard the locks clicking and doors sliding. He looked back at Dr. Wells smugly, his eyes glowing red. The controlled speedster clapped and looked around nodding, impressed.
"Very good, Wells, you figured it out, bravo," Barry continued to clap.
"Thank you."
Joe and Iris came jogging in, "It's done," they whispered to Harrison.
"Joe and Iris West," he looked at his family, "how nice of you guys to come visit me, but you do know the second I get out," his voice turned merciless and cold, "I am going to come out and snap your necks."
"Enough, Barry!" Joe exclaimed, his voice wavering.
"What are you gonna cry about it?" the Flash derided, "you can't keep me in here!" he snarled and sprinted up to the glass, pounding against it, "I'll find a way out!"
"Not anytime soon," Harry threw back at Barry, "Now, Jay!"
They all heard another thud from the ceiling and suddenly green gas started pouring into the room. Barry, realizing what was going on, stripped himself of his sweater and held it against his nose to try and escape from the chemicals.
"Breathe that in, Barry," Wells mocked, "that's Chlorpheniramine in a gaseous form, it'll knock you out in less than a minute."
The speedster knew there was no getting out of this one at the moment, but he would get out soon. He sprinted to the glass window as the gaseous green compounded flooded the chamber, "I'm gonna kill you!" he hissed at Wells and pounded against the glass, "when I get out, you'll be the first!"
Harry was silent and Iris turned her head into her father's shoulder. They all watched as Barry's legs gave out and he slid to his knees. His words were dying and his body was extending on the floor. He tried to get up, tried to fight but there was no use. His eyes slid closed and he let the gas take him away.
Barry felt cool metal against the back of his head. His body was stretched out like he was on a bed and sensation was slowly flooding back into his brain. What happened? He thought to himself in confusion. The last thing he remembered was…
He stiffened and jumped up. That bastard Harrison Wells trapped and gassed him with a chemical. He would die first then, it was settled. The Stranger finally showed him his true calling, something that felt right and good. He was meant to take out criminals and Dr. Wells hurt so many people, so it was justifiable if he went first. Barry looked down at his body to see he was on a metal cot and still dressed in his STAR Labs sweats. Around him was a small enclosed cell, one that looked all too familiar. Barry looked outside the glass pane to realize that he was locked in the pipeline. Me?! a tiny voice said in the back of his mind, I put people here, I shouldn't be in one!
"Shut up!" Barry hit his head and growled low.
"Mr. Allen, you're awake," he heard that cursed voice of Dr. Wells.
Barry looked up to see that behind the glass divider was Joe, Jay, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, and Wells. He glanced around him and nodded.
"This is actually a brilliant idea," Barry clapped and smiled smugly, "I'm impressed."
"Thank you," Jay spoke up, "it was mine."
"It's cute that you all think you can keep me in here," the speedster examined his meta-proofed cell around him, "you all do understand I have my same memories, I know how these things are built and their weaknesses."
"There are no weaknesses," Wells raised an eyebrow, "I designed them."
"And look how foolproof your particle accelerator was," the Flash sneered.
"This is to help you, not hurt you," Iris stepped forward, "we're only doing this because that's what Barry would've wanted."
"Don't you understand that I am Barry!" he suddenly exploded, everyone jumped back, "I'm the better version, one I was too scared to ever become! I am faster, stronger, and more powerful than I ever could've been!"
"But you're meaner too," Joe said gruffly, his eyes sad.
"And?" the speedster laughed, "can't you see the good to this? I can take down any meta-human, hell, they'll be too scared to show their faces!"
"That's not what we're trying to accomplish here, Barry," Caitlin said softly, "we want to put them away so they don't hurt others, not kill them. Otherwise, we're just like them."
"Oh, save the humanity crap for later, Snow," Barry rolled his eyes irritatedly, "when I get out-and I will get out-you can lecture me while I kill him," his burning eyes centered on Wells.
"You see pretty confident on that notion," the scientist started to walk closer to the glass, "what makes you seem so sure?"
"Because this wall will never be able to contain the amount of anger and hatred I feel for you, Harrison Wells," Barry stood up, his whole body shaking with fury and teeth grinding together.
"Barry, this isn't you," Cisco looked at him with worry, "that anger is going to kill you."
"Not before it kills you first," he laughed maniacally.
"Wells," Jay turned his head, "close the gate."
"No, no!" Barry dashed up to the glass and pounded his fists, "let me out, let me out!" his balled hands were banging against the glass hard and electricity started to crackle off him.
Wells gave the fighting Barry one last long look before walking to the wall and opening up a control panel.
"You can't keep me here for long! I will get out, I will find a way out and when I do, I'm gonna kill you!
The speedster saw as the metal doors were starting to slide down, but his fury and his resolve were much more powerful than common sense. He took steps back until his spine touched the far wall before sprinting forward at super speed and ramming himself against the wall.
Iris jumped and held onto her dad's coat as she saw her brother angry like never before and insane, "He's going to hurt himself!"
No one said a word as the door's were sliding close more and more and the flurry of orange electricity was getting more obscure. They could hear Barry growling and yelling as he threw himself against the walls but these cells were made for this reason. There was no way, he was getting out.
Wells rolled his shoulders, turned around, and stepped out of the room as the others watched him go.
Chapter 8 will be released soon!
