Authors Note: Hey Everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I've been on a bit of a Flash binge lately so I've got some inspiration. This take place right at the end of season two. It always infuriated me how the team treated Barry in this episode. Shooting him in the back?! Come on guys! And then they acted so callous when they explained why they did it. I don't know... it just angers me. I wrote this to try to make it a bit better, at least in my book. I should publish another chapter with Joe's reaction too! Lots of love - Lorna :)
Barry groaned, shoulder flaring with sharp pain, though he couldn't remember why. His mind felt unnaturally groggy, like there were memories just on the edge of the mental fog that he could almost recall, but not quite. Without even opening his eyes he pushed himself up off off the cold tiled floor that he could feel underneath his cheek. He peeled his eyes open and was greeted with hazy blobs of color that were working their way into actual objects slowly. It was almost maddening how something that should have only taken a couple of seconds took at least a minute, like something was slowing him down. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Finally, Barry managed to catch the clear image of his barren and rather confined surroundings. He was in one of the cells and with that thought, a dozen images came flickering back into existence. His shoulder hurt because Joe and Wells had shot him, quite literally in the back, with a heavy anesthetic, enough to knock even him out for long enough to drag him in here. The only two parental figures he had left in his life had betray him, and for some reason, he couldn't even bring himself to be mad at them. He just felt numb and a little loopy.
"Barry, you up?" Someone asked from outside his cage.
Slowly Barry turned to meet Wells' gaze. He felt like he should be angry, that he wanted to be angry with him, but he just couldn't hold onto the feeling enough to do anything with it.
"Where's Joe?" Barry managed to ask, ignoring Wells's question altogether.
"He might come back in a minute. He couldn't watch you be locked up." Wells replied calmly. "It's hard to watch someone you love start to go down a bad path."
"What- What did you do to me?" Barry accused, brows furrowing in both confusion and a little flair of some simmering rage.
Wells looked at him pityingly. "I'm sorry, Barry. We couldn't let you race him. It would have destroyed you, one way or another."
"We?" Barry questioned, words fluttering in and out of his head, struggling to take hold. "I don't understand."
"The entire team agreed you had to be stopped Barry." Wells answered sympathetically. He crouched outside of the cell.
Something fiery burned inside of Barry, pushing his lazily beating heart into a small frenzy.
"That wasn't your decision!" Barry snapped, breathing hard. The world started getting distorted again, the little spark smothering under the oppressive weight of whatever was happening to him. It was getting hard to think clearly and his lungs burned despite his now even breathing. "It wasn't any of your decision to make!"
Wells looked at him, his eyes full of sorrow. "I know, Barry. We all know. We're taking something from you we have no right to take, but we couldn't let your anger turn you into something your not, and you're not like Zoom, Barry. We couldn't let him turn you into that."
"I-" Barry started, stutteringly, but the world was still tilting and swaying so he wasn't able to continue. The thought fluttered away from him, like almost every other thing he had felt since being in here, like that what they were supposed to do. The absent thought left him cold. Something wasn't right and he knew it. "What are you doing to me? I- I can't hold on to anything. What did you do?"
Wells put his hand up to the glass, spreading his finger out. "The cell is filled with a mixture of different anesthetics. Caitlyn came up with it. It's supposed to keep you calm. Despite being in the cell, you still have your remarkable metabolism and regenerative properties, so the room has to constantly keep filtering in both oxygen along with the gasses to have it be effective."
"You're drugging me?" Barry asked through clenched teeth. His head was feeling fuzzy.
Wells looked at him, eyes burning with both guilt and determination. "Just for the next couple minutes. We didn't know how soon you would wake up, and we couldn't talk you out. It should stop toon."
"The effects?" Barry slurred.
Wells hesitated, "They could last anywhere from an hour to a couple of hours."
"Why would you do this to me." Barry whispered, one hand coming to wipe down his face as though he could wipe away the betrayal and confusion.
"We're doing this because we care about you Barry." Wells replied softly.
"Then why doesn't it feel like that?" Barry murmured, curling in himself.
"It doesn't feel like it because you're upset right now Barry, your hurting." Wells answered gently. "And we're stopping you from giving in to all the anger you feel, and it feels like we've betrayed you because we knew how much it meant to you and we've stopped you."
Barry gave a vindictive laugh, "You literally shot me in the back. I think that may be the definition of betrayal" Barry turned to face Wells, still on his knees. His glazed eyes met Wells's and Wells frowned at him sadly.
"I know, and though I don't regret stopping you, I'm sorry it had to come to it." Wells murmured. "But Barry, your friends have not betrayed you, we're giving you a break. Please understand that we do this because out of all the people in this world, you are good, Barry. You're a hero and we couldn't let Zoom twist you into becoming a villain."
"You of all people should know how it feels to have someone you love taken from you Wells. The only difference is that your story ended happily and mine ended in a graveyard." Wells watched as the young hero's eyes started fill with tears. The comment struck an unwelcome chord in Wells.
"You're right, I did whatever it took and my daughter nearly rejected me for it. Do you think your dad would want to become a killer? To seek revenge.?" Wells asked.
"What does it matter?" Barry yelled, tears beginning to roll off his cheeks. "He's dead! He can't tell me what he thinks, and he'll never be able to ever again because I couldn't save him."
"Barry." Wells replied calmly. He could tell that the concoction of gasses was clearly affecting Barry's filter. "Barry." He forced his voice to be soothing. "Barry. Your dad loved you. He wouldn't have wanted you to save him if it meant destroying yourself in the process and he wouldn't want you to do that now. Zoom has taken so much. Don't let him take away something else."
Something broke inside Barry, snapping into a thousand of broken shards. Horrible heart breaking sobs overtook the young man. Wells tried to whisper soothing words to Barry through the glass, noticing with alarm how the more upset the hero got, the faster his shaking became until they seemed more akin to the Flash's vibrations. A cold feeling of guilt washed over Wells as he realized what he had to do. He stood up and turned something on one side of the cell. The whole cell began to smell just faintly odd and Barry realized that the room began to spin in a wave of drowsiness. The tears didn't stop but he collapsed to the floor hitting his shoulder hard against the cool tile.
"Thought you said you would stop drugging me." Barry accused horsely through the glass, staring at Wells.
Covering his face with a vacant expression, a mask of cool indecision, Wells replied. "I guess I was lying."
A frustrated, betrayed scream ripped out of Barry's mouth before the world became black and peaceful once again.