Christmas came early this year, because I am uploading two chapters today! Runnin out of Time chapters 8 & 9 are both going up, so leave me a review and let me know what you think as we start to close off!

"Where the hell is Jay?" Cisco grunted as he was pulling a thick rope over his shoulder that was tethered to Dr. Wells' new and latest contraption, "I could really use some help here-argh!"

"Keep it up, Cisco!" Joe encouraged but his voice had a heavy pant in it too.

"Someone needs to go down and see what's taking him so long," Wells looked at the two, "we can't do this all alone, the more help, the faster we move."

"Iris!" Joe called.

She came running in a matter of moments, "Yeah, dad?"

"First, are all the oxygen pipings off?" Harrison said through gritted teeth as he utilized his strength to push the cart forward.

"Caitlin is getting the last of them."

"Good, now we need you to go downstairs and see what's taking Jay so long, we need his help," he said briskly as sweat started to pour down his neck.

"Got it," she went running off in the opposite direction.

Cisco gave one long and hard tug and finally went limp and breathed heavily, "When Jay gets back up here and helps finish to pull this thing, I'm gonna kill him."

"Get in line," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Jay?" Iris' calls echoed through the hallways as she looked back and forth. It was like a huge labyrinth, "Jay?"

"Iris?" he heard a soft and strained voice come from up ahead.

"Jay?" her voice became more panicked as she ran forward. Up ahead was Jay's body on the floor stretched out and a painful expression on his face.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" she knelt by his side and saw a small but deep gash above his left eye.

"Yeah, yeah-ow-I'm okay," he panted and looked up at her.

"What happened?" A feeling of dread swept down her back as she saw Garrick was right outside of the room that led to the pipeline.

"It's Barry, he-he attacked me."

"Barry?" the news of these horrible deeds her brother did never became less shocking, "He attacked you?! How did he get out?!"
"I-I don't know," I saw a bunch of lightning and heard this loud banging and came to check it out," he tried to sit up but winced, "then all of a sudden he came at me and I hit my head hard, it's all kind of fuzzy."

"We need to get you to Caitlin," she helped prop up Jay, his arm draped over her shoulder. He clutched his abdomen and her heart swelled with guilt. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she felt some sort of responsibility because Barry was her family.

Poor Caitlin had had enough action for the week between Barry and Jay and her, it had been crazy. She helped carry Jay to the elevator where they traveled up. They exited and she finally got Garrick to the cortex where Dr. Snow was just returning from checking the oxygen pipings.

"I just finished, Iris-" she started but when she turned around and saw Iris and Jay, Caitlin stopped, "Oh, God, what happened" she hurried over to help Jay from Iris.

"I'm okay, Cait," he leaned back into a chair, "just a scratch."

"It's deep," she slipped on her gloves and was examining the laceration, "just a few stitches will do."

"I'll go tell Wells," Iris dipped her head and exited the room.

"Thank you, Iris," Hunter lied.

He turned to Dr. Snow who was bringing over her first aid kit, "How did this happen, Jay?"

"It was Barry."

She stopped for a moment and looked into his eyes, "Barry?"

"He's out, Cait."

"Oh no!" her eyes widened and she hurried over to the desk where she pressed down the intercom button, "Attention!" her voice rang throughout the whole facility, "Meta-human escape, I repeat, Barry has escaped!"

She slammed her fist against a red button where an alarm started to blare across the whole of STAR Labs.

Damn, Hunter nodded and looked around, impressed.

"The doors are sealing, so is the pipeline," she huffed and walked back over.

"So nothing gets out," Zoom nodded and pretended to wince as Caitlin prodded at his brow.

"Or nothing can come in."

She was talking about Barry.

"Let's hope Wells' machine will work, " she gulped, "otherwise we have two rampant metas to deal with."

I hope so, Hunter smiled inwardly.

"Dad, Dr. Wells!" Iris came running into the Garage, where the trio had finally dragged the machine to get into the van through hydraulic machines.

"Iris?" her father came running forward to meet her as he heard the frightened tone in her voice.

"We need to hurry!" she panted and was caught by her father.

"Why? What's happened now?" Wells asked.

"It's Barry, he's loose!"

Just then an alarm started to blare through the facility and Caitlin's static voice echoed through the Garage, "Attention! Meta-human escape, I repeat, Barry has escaped!"

"Damn it."

"What do we do?" Iris' eyes were wide.

"First, we need to get this thing out of here," Cisco began to run over to the hydraulic panel, "before the doors-"

At that mention, immediately metal dividers came down on the doors and sealed everyone in, "-seal off," Cisco finished his sentence half-heartedly.

"We need to get the doors open," Joe looked to Wells, "it's your building, what do we do?"

"Wait, how did Barry get out? And where's Garrick?" Harry looked to Iris.

"Jay went to get his tools and he heard some noise in the pipeline. He went to check it out and Barry attacked him," her voice grow lower and a shadow crossed her face at the last sentence.

"Did he tell you how he got out?" Cisco placed his hands on his hips.

"No, he hit his head so he said it's fuzzy, I think he has a concussion."

"Conveniently," Harrison muttered under his breath.

Iris glowered at him.

"Doesn't matter how, but Barry is loose," Joe walked forward, "we go back to the cortex and regroup."

"No, we get this thing out here and downtown," Harry ordered, "it's our best shot of stopping the underground fire before it reaches here or anywhere else."

"How long do you think we have?" Cisco wiped his brow with his forearm, "10-15 minutes?"

"If that," the scientist shook his head, "Joe, Ramon, we take the van, this thing will be tethered to the back. Iris, you help Caitlin with Garrick and make sure no more meta-humans escape the pipeline, or we'll be in big trouble with Barry out of commission."

"And what about Barry?" Joe raised his brows and looked to Harrison questioningly.

"We need to figure out a way to reverse the Mind Magician's power," Cisco nodded.

Everyone looked at him scrutinizingly.

"Mind Magician? No? It's a cool name!"

"Save the nicknames for later, Cisco," Joe shook his head and chuckled, "Wells, you can't build something that'll help?"

"Oh, sure, Detective West, let me just go to my lab and quickly screw some bolts together and make a machine that'll counteract the effects of dark energetic mind control," Wells said bitterly, "I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker."

"There has to be something," Iris persisted, "remember the Rainbow Raider? We used the colorful lights?"

"Emotions and the telepathic grip on the mind are two very different things, Ms. West," Harrison smiled bitterly.

"Well, I don't see you doing anything but complaining," she sassed him, "what do you got?"

"I'm thinking of something more on the lines of psychological warfare."

"Warfare?" Joe blurted, "When did we reach that level?"

"When he took Barry from us," Cisco said darkly, "but Wells is right, he's not fighting him physically, more psychologically."

"Agreed," Harry nodded, "we can't fix Barry, he's just the puppet. You need to go to his master."

"The Mind Magician," Joe exhaled, "I guess that name stuck, Cisco."

He beamed proudly.

"Okay," Iris started to back out of the room, "I'll tell Cait to open the Garage doors and consult with her and Jay on any ideas to take on the Magician. You guys deal with the fire."

They were already hopping into the van and waiting to pull out into the open air.

The feeling of being free was something so rejuvenating, Barry loved it. He felt the wind pump past him at high speeds as he tore through the city and dodged cars and pedestrians clogging up the road. His sparking orange electricity cast off him like the tail of a comet and he was a speeding ball of energy racing through Central City.

But the ground felt hot underneath him. It was like the feeling he got when he was wearing his converse and running, not his suit, The soles of his feet were burning and he looked down in confusion. The suit was made to withstand his electricity and sparks. Then it must not be his suit, but the underground. Jay Garrick was true to his word when he said there was an underground fire. That was pretty ingenious, why hadn't he thought of that.

An image of Garrick and blue lightning flashed in his mind; he saw the tall and newly discovered speedster snapping his master's neck with a flick of his hand. No, a tight feeling formed in the pit of his stomach, that can't happen.

What to do about the fire…how would he stop it? He had enhanced healing and he was fast, but he wasn't indestructible. Barry needed to see the root of the problem and how close he could get to the nearest oxygen tank to stop it from fueling the fire.

"Hey!" he grabbed a sprinting construction worker with scorched clothes roughly by the shoulder, "where did this thing start?" he yelled above the clamor.

The guy was struggling to escape, but Barry's fingers pinched harder, getting impatient, "L-look, man, I don't know," he stammered, "I think it was a few blocks down, a few fellas we're working a site down there underground, but what help are you?"

"Excuse me?" Barry scoffed. On account of his memories, he had saved all these pesky people from countless metas.

"Y-you robbed the bank!" the worker looked around wildly as the sea of people flew around them, "And you were at the precinct, people don't think you're good anymore!"

Barry growled and ran the man up against the brick wall of the alley just a few feet away, "What did you say?!"

"P-please, Flash, don't hurt me!"

Something inside Barry shifted. He blinked and noticed the fear etched into the man's face. The construction worker was scared of him. He let the man drop and he scrambled away from the speedster hurriedly, joining the crowd once again.

He heard Jay's warning in his mind. The fire must be stopped. The man said it was a few blocks down and he sped down there to see columns of fire come bursting out of the sewer openings in the ground.

"Jeez!" Barry's eyes widened as he dodged a pillar of fire that appeared right in front of him, "What the hell!?"

The speedster ran farther and the ground got hotter, the fire had been burning here for a while now then because the asphalt was slick with melted oil and fluid. His feet started to burn hotter, but he needed to find a way to get down there to stop it. How could he?

"Barry Allen," he heard a familiar voice and he turned around instinctively.

"Sir," Barry ducked his head as he saw the Man in Black, "you shouldn't be here, it isn't safe."

"You're planning to put out the fire, aren't you?" The stranger walked closer to Barry, "Don't."

"What?" the Flash's eyebrows furrowed, "Why?"

"Because I started it."

"It's pretty ingenious," he nodded and that dark gleam glittered in his eyes, "but you'll get hurt."

"By whom?"

"Jay told me if I don't put this out, he'll kill you."

"He can try," the man scoffed, he was still wearing that all black outfit, "you remember what I did to you, Barry, once you disobeyed."

Barry gulped and nodded, unconsciously rubbing the fading scar of where the pole seared through his body.

"I was holding back," the Stranger smiled maliciously, "I won't be with him."

"But the people-" Barry remembered the terrified look in the construction worker's face.

"The people don't matter, Allen, they're a dime a dozen. We need to focus on the bigger picture here."
"This isn't the bigger picture?" He hopped from foot to foot as the ground started to cast off waves of white-hot heat.

"I have one more thing to do before this city bends to its knees," he laughed evilly, "First, the bank, you still their provisions, you annoy them. Then the armored cars, you steal their security, their sense of safety. Then the fire, you make them evacuate, give them an obstacle they can't take on. Finally, my biggest trick yet is about to come," he rubbed his hands together in anticipation and his eyes glowed, "but I need your help."

"Anything," Barry's eyes never left the Stranger's.

"Good, follow me," he started to turn but something inside Barry was keeping him rooted to the ground. The man's terrified face, the tidal wave of screaming people, the burning ground, something needed to be done.

"Well, come on then," the man called impatiently.

"I-I can't."

"What did you just say?" he snarled and walked fast to the speedster who wouldn't meet his eyes but there was a grim expression on his face, "you stupid boy, you listen to me now."

"But I need to help the people," he choked, the words were hard to come out of his throat.

The Man in Black's nostrils flared and he gave the speedster a hard and sharp shove to the chest, "You take orders from me! No one else, and certainly not that annoying conscious of yours!"

Barry didn't have a chance to get up from the floor. Another powerful migraine pounded in his head like a drum amplified 1000. His eyes burned and watered as his vision went red for a moment and his brain was splitting in half. An overwhelming part of him was telling him to obey his master, but a smaller and defiant part wasn't letting him.

"Ahh!" he rolled on the floor and dug his hands in his head, "Make it stop!"

"Not until you listen to me again, Flash!" it was bad, Barry had been away from him for too long. His powers had been wearing off and his original morality was coming in again to replace it. That wasn't good either, because all of his teachings weren't going through to Barry, he wasn't registering them. This time he would need to go harder, he would need to be more powerful, persistent, and dominant.

"See me, Barry Allen!" he stood tall and pushed Barry over with his foot, "You answer to me only, whatever I think, you think, whatever I do, you do! There is no room for your thoughts, your mind is one with mine!"

The Scarlet Speedster wailed on the floor and breathed through clenched and gritted teeth. His nails came away with blood and his brown hair was matted and sweaty. His entire body was pounding along with his headache, like a sledgehammer was having a field day in there.

"Do you understand, Mr. Allen?" the Stranger persisted.

The speedster nodded weakly.

"I said, do you understand?"

"Yes," he exhaled heavily as the migraine began to recede bit by bit. It was like he was taunting him.

"Good, now stand up and follow me."

Whatever resistance Barry had in him had been snuffed out by Garrison Paul. While everyone dealt with the mysterious underground fire, they wouldn't see what the big plans of his really were.

"Here!" Cisco ordered Wells as he swung the wheel around and the STAR Labs truck screeched to a sudden stop.

"Where do we take this thing?" Ramon hurried out the door and towards the back, opening the doors.

"I contacted Singh and the Fire Department," Joe huffed, "they know we're coming. They have a team to help us."

"Thank God," the engineer groaned as he saw the big and heavy metal machinery waiting in the back of the cargo carrier.

"How far are they, West?" Harry came out of the driver's seat to admire his innovation,

"Should be here any minute," the detective looked at the scientist, "they'll take it down to the nearest hatch big enough for it."

"Good, it's going to need a big and clear opening to operate."

"How exactly does this work again?" Joe had a look of doubt on his face, "Try explaining to the captain you've got a huge fan that'll take care of the fire."

"The goal is to exert a powerful enough gust of wind to scatter the oxygen atoms so the fire can't easily catch."

"Like Clark in Superman Returns?" Cisco said excitedly.

"Who?" Harrison narrowed his eyes confusedly.

"Are you telling me you don't have Superman on Earth-2?!" Cisco's eyes grew wide as saucers.

"Super-what?"

"Oh my god," Cisco covered his face with his hands, "I can't."

"Forget it, here comes the force," Joe had an amused smile hanging on his lips. There were a squadron of police cars, SWAT trucks, and fire engines.

"Damn, Captain," Joe went and patted his superior's shoulder as he approached, "you really came through."

"Well, anything to catch this son of a bitch," Singh's smile was half genuine.

"Of course," Cisco cleared his throat, "we need to get this thing to the closest sewage hatch big enough to fit the rotors."

"The civilians are being evacuated from North Street and on, it's gotten too hot," Singh pursed his lips, "but there's an old service hatch there that might be able to work."

"Good, get these fire engines to haul ass, Captain Singh," Harrison Wells came forward like a shadow, "I'll rid with one to set it up."

The Captain whistled for his men to come forward and attach the giant fan to their backs. Harrison hopped into the passenger seat of a fire engine and waited for the wheels to turn.

"What exactly are the plans?" Barry came walking up to Garrison. Paul rolled his eyes, Enough with the questions.

"I'm planning an assassination," he smiled grimly.

"An assassination?" Barry's eyes glittered, "I like it."

"Do you now?" he looked at the Flash with bitter sarcasm, "Last I recall you weren't able to kill 5 cops."

"That was a failed mission," he ducked his head, "it won't happen this time, but who are we targeting?"

"Someone with power-political power," he nodded and narrowed his eyes, "it would make a statement to kill them, it would be cause panic and chaos in the city thats so tremendous, I would rise to power easily. But, Flash, there is one thing."

"Yes?"

He felt the Stranger press something cold and metal into his hands, "I want you to do the honors."

"What? Really?"
"Mr. Allen, what better way to cut your ties to this city then you pulling that trigger. It will show them all that you aren't their puppet to control anymore."

"I like it," Barry's eyes twinkled in the light.

"Good, now let's get moving. The people are congregated at the town square. Give me a lift."

Barry clutched the Stranger by his black coat and sped down the streets.

Chapter 9 is out now!