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Chopper, en route to The Raft
Night
"So, what exactly did Barry do to land himself in here?" Cisco asked as he sat next to Tony in the chopper that was on its way towards where Barry was being held.
"There's this new law that prohibits vigilantism unless you abide by the approval of the UN. Barry was part of a group that decided they'd rather not," Tony said vaguely.
Cisco eyed Tony in suspicion. He had a very good feeling that Tony was omitting certain facts. Because, as reckless as Barry could be sometimes and as angry as he still was over Dante, Cisco just couldn't see Barry going against the UN without a good reason. Cisco's train of thought was suddenly cut off as he saw something beginning to rise up out of the ocean below them.
"What the hell is that?!" Cisco exclaimed startled.
"The Raft. It's where Barry is being held," Tony explained.
Down in The Raft, Barry was in his cell, lying on his cot. He had been separated from Clint, Sam, and Scott, placed in a separate cell. He knew Wanda had been placed somewhere in this section of the prison, but he didn't know exactly where. He fingered the collar around his neck which was inhibiting his powers. He never realized how slow the world moved until he didn't have his speed.
"It's funny how slow the world moves when you don't have super speed, isn't it?" A familiar voice spoke up.
Barry sat up and looked over to the side of his cot. Harrison Wells stood in the corner, but the sadistic smirk on his face gave away who it really was.
"Thawne. Great, another Red Death hallucination," Barry sighed.
"Been a couple months since that's happened, hasn't it Barry? You remember the last time, right?" Thawne asked as he circled Barry, like a shark circling its prey.
"How could I forget?" Barry asked softly, remembering back a few months ago.
Barry's apartment, two months ago
Night
For a night away, Barry had taken Wanda back to his apartment for some alone time. They were watching a movie when Wanda fell asleep on his shoulder. Barry was content to simply watch her sleep when a voice spoke up behind him.
"How could you do this to me?"
Barry looked over his shoulder to see Iris standing behind him, a look of betrayal and pain on her face.
"You're not her. You're not real," Barry said as he turned away from her, trying to block out her voice.
"I am as real as you are. You betrayed me with her," Iris hissed as she walked around, kneeling in front of him, glaring at Wanda hatefully.
"Iris, I'm never going to be able to see you again," Barry said patiently, wrapping his arms around Wanda's sleeping form protectively. "The moment the tachyon device was destroyed, our relationship ended. The real Iris would understand that. But you aren't her."
"You love me, I know you do," Iris pleaded as she placed her hands on either side of his face.
"I loved you. But you're gone, many earths from this one. You're basically a ghost to me now. And I can't love a ghost for the rest of my life," Barry said as Wanda stirred.
"Barry?" Wanda questioned, opening her eyes as Iris seemed to disappear.
"Hey, sorry if I woke you," Barry said, trying to play it off.
"Who are you talking to?" Wanda asked.
"No one," Barry said quickly and Wanda gave him her 'I know you're lying to me' look.
"Barry," Wanda said and he sighed.
"Another Red Death hallucination," Barry said and Wanda took his hand, hoping to offer comfort. "This time it was Iris, telling me I betrayed her because I'm with you."
"Do you believe that?" Wanda asked as she put a hand on the side of his face.
"No," Barry assured her. "But even if I did, it doesn't matter. Iris is far from this earth, I'm never gonna see her again. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss her. Joe, Oliver, Cisco. But I can't stop that from making me live my life. And I want a life with you; I want to build a future with you. Because I love you Wanda Maxmioff."
"I love you to Barry Allen," Wanda smiled beamingly before pulling him in for another kiss.
The kiss started off gentle and sweet but quickly turned aggressive. Wanda pushed Barry on his back before removing his shirt…
Now
As Tony talked to Ross about the files he had sent him, Cisco looked around. The more he saw, the more concerned he grew. If Barry was in here, there was definitely something Tony wasn't telling him.
"Who the hell is this?" Ross exclaimed as he spotted Cisco. "This is a secret government facility Stark!"
"Cisco Ramon, resident of Earth-1," Cisco held out his hand to Ross but dropped it when Ross didn't shake it. "Well, I've met two of you Earth-66ers and so far, I'm not impressed."
"What the hell is he talking about?" Ross demanded as he turned to Tony.
"You ever hear of the Multiverse theory?" Tony asked and got a blank look in response. "I'll take that as a no."
"Basically, there are an infinite number of earths. They exist in the same place but they vibrate at different frequencies. An earth where President Lincoln wasn't assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. An earth where we're all evil. An earth where the Nazis won World War Two. And so on and so on. You're Earth 66 and I'm from Earth-1," Cisco explained and Ross looked at him incredulously.
"Is he...all there?" Ross asked Tony and got an annoyed look from Cisco.
"After all we've seen in the last eight years, this is what makes you think someone's insane?" Tony asked incredulously and Ross sighed.
"Let's say for one second I believe this. What are you doing here?" Ross demanded.
"You have someone from my earth in your custody: Barry Allen. I'm here to take him home," Cisco clarified.
"You know, you Red Death hallucinations have been trying to break me for the last year," Barry said as he lay on his cot, eyes closed. "Don't you get it by now? You will never break me."
"I just find it ironic," Thawne said as he paced in front of Barry's bed. "Here you are, in a secret government prison where you are unlawfully imprisoned. Ironic."
"What are you talking about?" Barry asked as he opened his eyes, looking over at Thawne.
"He's talking about what you did to us," Barry looked over to see Peak-A-Boo walked out of the shadows. "Do you have any idea what it was like locked in that little cell?"
"You left me no choice," Barry justified. "I couldn't send you to a normal prison; they weren't equipped to deal with you back then. As soon as you were, I sent you all there."
"What about me?"
Barry looked over to see Laurel Lance step into view. By the smirk on her face, he knew it wasn't the Laurel he knew. No, this was Black Siren.
"What was your excuse for keeping me in that little cell?" Black Siren demanded.
"We couldn't exactly send you to jail, since you're a dead woman here. And you would have been put to death on your earth. I couldn't let that happen, it would be as good as killing you myself," Barry tried to defend himself.
"You could've told us about her," Oliver said as he suddenly appeared next to Black Siren.
"Or you could've told me," Lyla said as she appeared on Black Siren's other side. "Argus is more than equipped to deal with Metahumans like Black Siren. Something you're well aware of Barry."
"You didn't lock us up because you had no choice; you did it because you like it. You like the power it gave you over us," Black Siren sneered.
"That's not true," Barry denied and Black Siren laughed mockingly.
"We all know that's a lie Barry," She taunted him.
"Face it Barry. Deep down, there's a part of you that's just as twisted as Zoom. He was right about that," Oliver told him and Barry put his hands over his ears in an attempt to block it out.
"Shut up," Barry snapped. "You're not real, you're in my head."
"We're your thoughts Barry," Lyla pointed out.
"Every last twisted one of them," Black Siren said with a sadistic smirk.
"Now who's the villain Flash!?" Thawne shouted, the face of Harrison wells fading into the face of Eobard Thawne. "Now who's the villain!?"
"Now who's the villain?!"
"Now who's the villain?!"
"NOW WHO'S THE VILLIAN?!"
Barry covered his ears; closing his eyes as every Metahuman he had ever locked up in the pipeline suddenly appeared in his cell, screaming the same thing over and over again.
"Get out of my head!" Barry suddenly snapped as he got to his feet.
Suddenly, his cell was empty, leaving only him in the room. The only sound in the room his heavy breathing.
"You want me to let him go?" Ross asked skeptically.
"Technically, Allen is an illegal alien," Tony pointed out. "He's here without any form of approval from any government. We deport them, so why not let Allen go back to his earth? The only reason he was here in the first place was because he was trapped here."
"Unless you two want the public to know about this place," Cisco interjected. "Because I doubt that they know about this prison. And I doubt any of this is legal, if your laws are anything like my earth's. Where we believe in free speech, due process, and all that stuff."
"Come on Ross," Tony shot Cisco a look that said 'you're not helping' and looked over at Ross. "Just let him out of his cell and you'll never hear about Allen again."
Ross was silent, obviously considering his options. Cisco was just about to Vibe blast this guy and find Barry himself when he signaled over one of his men.
"Take Mr. Ramon to Allen's cell. Let him out," Ross ordered before looking over at Tony. "I'm releasing Allen into your custody Stark. Make sure he gets off this earth. You have twenty four hours."
As Tony and Ross walked off, Tony saying something about needing to talk to some people, Cisco was led to another section of the prison. There were mostly empty cells they passed with glass walls, cots, and a living room size space. Except one, which had an occupant. A young woman with dark hair and eyes in a strait jacket that had some kind of collar around her neck. She looked at him as he and the guards passed and his heart dropped. Suddenly, Cisco found himself comparing what was going on here to the pipeline prison. He didn't feel so good about that.
They passed the cell and a few cells down, the guards stopped him. The pulled out a key and one of them unlocked a door. They opened it and gestured for Cisco to enter.
Cisco cautiously entered he cell and looked around uncomfortably. It didn't take long for him to spot Barry. Barry was in the corner of the room, his hands over his ears. He was rocking back and forth, muttering incoherently to himself. Cisco hesitated, getting major horror movie vibes (no pun intended) as he saw this. Nevertheless, he moved forward.
"Barry?" He called out hesitantly.
"You're not real," Barry said without looking up, his yes swelled shut. "You're in my head. You're in my head. You're not really here; you're just a hallucination caused by the Red Death."
"Barry, it's me, Cisco. I'm here to take you home," Cisco said as he put a hand on Barry's shoulder.
This quickly proved to be a mistake. Barry grabbed Cisco by the arm and flipped him on his back. Barry then jumped on Cisco and wrapped his hand around Cisco's throat.
"You're not real!" Barry shouted with a near crazed look in his eye.
Panicked, Cisco shot a low powered Vibe blast at Barry. Barry was knocked off of him and sent flying. The guards rushed in, training their weapons on Barry as he landed on his back. Cisco stood up, messaging his throat as Barry sat up. He blinked, staring at Cisco as though he was seeing him for the first time.
"C-Cisco? Is it really you?" Barry asked hesitantly, not daring to hope.
"Yeah man, it's me," Cisco said, noting the crazed look in Barry's eye was gone.
As Barry stood up, Cisco waved the guards off. Reluctantly, they lowered their weapons as Barry shakily walked over to Cisco. Barry placed a hand on Cisco's shoulder once he reached him, as though he needed physical contact to assure himself that Cisco was really there. Then, without warning, he pulled Cisco into a tight hug. Barry's shoulders shook with emotion as he clutched Cisco. Cisco awkwardly pat Barry on the back, still not quite ready to forgive but knowing that Barry needed him in this moment. Clearly, Barry had been thorough a lot the year he had been on this earth. And perhaps, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Caitlin whispered in his ear, he needed to reassure himself that Barry was alright as well.
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If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 50+ chapters at patreon.com/Darkphoenix11