Chapter Text
It had been a deceptively slow day so far. Since becoming the Flash, Barry had become wary of days like this. Nothing was happening; no supervillains were on the loose terrorizing the city, no aliens were invading, and the world wasn't ending. It was unsettling, and it made Barry nervous.
Iris would call him paranoid. She was probably right, but in Barry's defence, if the past couple of years had taught him anything, it was that when things seemed too quiet, it usually meant that someone new was waiting in the shadows, ready to strike, and Barry planned to be prepared for it.
Better prepared than dead, he always says.
Okay, he's never actually said that, but that didn't mean it wasn't accurate.
Settled in his lab at CCPD, Barry's leg jittered under the desk as he scanned over his last case report for the evening, correcting a quick typo before closing the file. Barry stood, stretching, his back giving a satisfying pop.
His workload had gone by surprisingly fast, even for a speedster. The stack of files had reached a height heretofore unseen just that morning—Not bad for a day's work. Caitlin would have rolled her eyes at that. Heretofore, how posh sounding.
Barry paused, mid-stretch. He hadn't heard from Caitlin or Cisco all day, absorbed as he was in his work. That was definitely unusual; the three of them had practically been living in each other's back pockets for the past two years of him being the Flash. It was rare for a day to go by without them checking in. Another result of the past couple of years. With everything that they had been through together, it made them nervous to go very long without seeing each other, without being able to confirm for themselves that they were all still alive and in one piece.
Barry wasn't sure what he would do without them at this point.
Mind made up, Barry snatched his jacket from the back of his chair, flashed out the door, and set his course for STAR Labs. Barry wondered if the two geniuses wanted to grab a pizza, or seven, to share with him at home. Maybe they could watch a movie together. It would be nice to spend some time with his best friends without the threat of the city being destroyed hanging over them.
Barry zipped into the Cortex, skidding to a halt in front of the main monitors, only to stumble in surprise.
The lights were off. There was no one there.
Barry was immediately on guard.
There was always someone here, especially on a Friday evening. It was practically a zoo out there, with drunk idiots running amok, robbing banks, and performing generally ill-advised stunts. He made it sound worse than it actually was, but it was semi-accurate, meaning they definitely would have let him know if they weren't going to be in for the evening.
Barry shivered, unsettled. It was never this quiet.
"Cisco? Caitlin? You guys in?" Barry shouted, his uneasy tone echoing down the empty halls.
"Okay, apparently not," Barry muttered to himself, on edge.
He flashed around the cortex, double-checking, just in case he missed them. Nothing.
Back turned to the hallway, Barry pulled out his phone and pushed the first number on his speed dial. The dial tone rang and rang, his nerves building and building before finally connecting.
"Barry!" Cisco shouted from the other end of the line. Barry jerked the phone away, ear ringing. "Thank goodness; we've been trying to reach you for hours!" Cisco exclaimed, relief dripping from his tone. Barry could faintly hear someone in the background, probably Caitlin, exclaim something in an equally relieved tone.
"Cisco? What's wrong? And where are you guys? I'm standing in the Cortex, but nobody's here. Is Caitlin with you?" Barry rushed out, glancing around the room as if they would suddenly appear out of thin air.
"Cait's with me. We're stuck in the speed lab. Some crazy dude with this, like, green glow, just barged in while we were fixing the system from last week's lightning fiasco. Then he just winked, and all the doors slammed shut! We haven't been able to get out, and none of our comms have been working." Cisco stumbled over his words, clearly on edge, and honestly, Barry was right there with him. There was someone with clearly malicious intentions wandering around the lab, and Barry hadn't been there. What if something had happened to them?
"I have no idea why," Cisco continued, "but the comms suddenly just started working again out of nowhere." Barry could picture him running his hand through his hair in frustration.
"Okay, breathe, Cisco, we'll figure that out later. Sit tight; I'm on my-" Barry turned to flash out of the room when there was a sudden BANG, and the phone he had just been about to hang up shattered in his hand. Barry cried out in pain as the shards sliced through his palm and the side of his face.
Barry cradled his injured hand as he spun around, eyes wide in shock. There, leaning casually in the entryway to the Cortex, was a man draped in a long black leather coat and matching visor, the edges pulsing a sickly green glow. He looked like he crawled directly out of The Matrix, slicked-back hair and all.
He had no idea what this guy's deal was, and he didn't get to ask Cisco before being rudely interrupted by his phone practically exploding in his hand. Something that was definitely going to freak the two geniuses out. He'd have to buy them dinner for a week to make up for the heart attack, but it would be worth it if it meant that they all made it out of this in one piece.
"Who the hell are you?" Barry said, on guard.
"Oh, me?" the man gestured innocently to himself. "Well, if you must know, people refer to me as The Chemist, but you can call me Vixlin," he paused, "Flash." He dragged out the word, grinning in vindictive pleasure.
If Barry wasn't freaked out before, then he definitely was now. There was no way that this guy could know he was the Flash. And yet.
Well, nothing to be done about it now. He needed to deal with this guy as fast as possible so he could check on his friends.
"You know who I am, which means you know what I'm capable of." Barry readied himself to speed the intruder to the Pipeline. "Meaning you've made a big mistake thinking you can just walk in here and mess with my friends, pal." Barry only managed to take one step forward when Vixlin moved, whipping out the gun sitting on his hip so fast that even Barry couldn't track the movement.
There was another BANG, and pain practically exploded across his side as a bullet pierced right through his favourite shirt and into the sensitive muscles of his stomach. Barry screamed as he crumpled to the ground, a burning sensation flaring up and spreading rapidly across his body. This was no ordinary bullet. And Barry should know; he's certainly been hit by enough of them during his tenure as the Flash.
Barry shivered, holding back a whimper as he pressed his hand over the wound in confusion.
He couldn't feel his speed.
"By now, I'm sure you've realized that there's something special about this particular bullet." Vixlin strolled over to Barry's prone body. "I made them myself; they're a blend of my scientific knowledge and my unique skill set." Vixlin pulled down his visor, revealing his eyes, glowing the same poison green as his outfit. At least he was consistent.
This guy must be a meta, Barry thought, gritting his teeth against the pain. Though what his powers were was a mystery to Barry. What he did know was that whatever substance was causing the red-hot burning sensation that was still coursing through his body must have suppressed his powers, which meant no speed healing to save him this time.
Barry coughed, choking as he struggled to suppress a scream. Vixlin chuckled, leaning over his crumpled form before sending a savage kick directly into the weeping wound. Barry howled like a wounded animal, spitting up blood and curling into himself, the hole in his stomach gushing over the pristine floor of the cortex. He could feel his life force practically draining out of him, his healing suppressed by the meta-dampening properties of the bullet. If he couldn't get it out in time…
"Why are you here?" Barry wheezed, struggling to get air into his lungs. "And what did you do to my friends?"
"Oh, not to worry, they're fine. I only needed them out of the way. You really should be more concerned about yourself right now." Barry could hear Vixlin rummaging around the room, opening and closing drawers, searching for something, his pace mellow as a summer breeze as Barry writhed in agony not ten feet away.
"They're just a bit, shall we say, preoccupied with the doors of your, hmm, speed lab, was it? Did you know your security system has an incredibly convenient backdoor that anyone can casually stroll through? You really should get that fixed," Vixlin said in snide consideration. "As for why I'm here, well," Vixlin reappeared above him, grinning as he displayed his prize—a small silver sphere glowing an ominous poison green, very on theme. "That's for me to know and for you never to find out," Vixlin said smugly.
Figures.
Barry didn't recognize the device, probably a brainchild of Cisco's, but he knew it must be an essential part of something dangerous and probably destructive if Vixlin went to all this trouble to retrieve it.
Unfortunately, Barry was currently struggling to stop the bleeding that was rapidly threatening his life, much less stop Vixlin from carrying out whatever villainous plan he had in mind.
"Well, I suppose I'll leave you to it then. But don't worry. I programmed the doors that your precious friends are trapped behind to open in approximately one hour, which is plenty of time for me to make my escape." Vixlin kneeled and ran a finger down Barry's face, deceptively gentle. Barry was tempted to bite him but couldn't quite work up the energy before Vixlin pulled away. "I'm sure your friends will find you eventually. Unfortunately for you, by then, it'll be too late. I almost wish I could stick around to witness the devastation on their faces when they stumble onto your lifeless body." Vixlin stood, tone derisive as he backed away.
"Oh well, maybe next time. I have what I need, and you certainly aren't in any position to stop me. Farewell, Flash." He gave one last dramatic flourish of his hand, a smug sneer twisting on his face, before spinning on his heel and strolling languidly from the room.
Barry groaned, curling around the wound in his stomach. He shuddered in agony, trying to find some solution to his current predicament.
Predicament seemed too mild of a word.
Caitlin and Cisco were still locked in the speed lab in a completely different part of the building. Iris and Joe were out of town visiting Wally at school in Keystone City, and none of it would have mattered anyway because his primary mode of communication was still in charred pieces scattered across the room.
Which means that there was only one solution.
By this point, he had already lost way too much blood. For him to have any chance of surviving this, Barry needed his speed healing. Unfortunately, his healing was currently out on vacation, with the bullet suppressing his powers still lodged firmly in his stomach. Which meant that it needed to come out, like right now—preferably, fast enough to avoid bleeding out before his healing could catch up and mend the bulk of the damage.
Typically, fast was not something he was concerned about.
Today was anything but typical.
Barry groaned as he rolled onto his good side, mentally bracing himself for the wave of pain that would sweep over him at the movement and hoping against all hope that he would be strong enough to ignore the siren's call waiting to drag him down into the depths.
If he passed out, it was game over.