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Sometimes you can be selfless, at other times the greed may consume you. Sometimes you make mistakes, other times you mean exactly what you do, and once you do it there is no going back.
“Guys a little help here would be nice!” Barry screamed into his com set.
“Working on it Barry, just hold on a little bit longer” Iris worryingly said back to her husband. Two hours, in just two hours the country had been demolished. A group of meta terrorists started attacking and with the Legends Lost in time and team Arrow MIA Barry was facing them all alone. Explosions sounded everywhere, no matter where you looked you would see someone hurt, someone dead, or someone dying.
Three hours, Three hours and the flash was about to lose hope. There was no chance he alone could defeat this group of metas. He had no chance, STAR labs collapsed 30 minutes ago, the team just barely escaping with all their limbs attached. The Flash was lost his hope. Broken legged and hopeless, he fell to the ground.
Four Hours, Four hours vision fogged, and barely seeing straight Barry zoomed from building to building saving whoever he could, and putting out abandoned fires before they spread. The Army had arrived one hour ago, The fight was over.
Barry retreated home to the West house, (which was somehow left untouched anlong with the rest of Central City) and collapsed into his wife, no energy left in him to get up again. After hours of fearing the worst would happen to her husband, Iris finally exhaled and unleashed Barry from his cowl soothing his hair down.
The tension in the living room was finally released, Barry had awoken and was spread out on one couch with Iris, still exhausted from the battle. Joe was sitting in his armchair while Caitlin and Cisco battled in the kitchen over what snack was appropriate for this victory; nachos or pizza. Joe and Barry’s attention spans, however, were fixated on the news (Iris, of course, was yelling at Caitlin and Cisco saying for them to just pick something already so Barry could get some food in him). The reporter was removed from the screen and replaced with President Fredrick. He stood proudly as he began to speak.
“20,000 American citizens lives have been wasted today”. Barry winced at the number. “All of this caused by gruesome meta freaks who don’t belong here. None of them ever will.” At this point Iris’s attention was set on the News, she squeezed her husband's hand without realizing. “20,000 American citizens, 20,000 humans.” Joe’s brows furrowed in anger as he stressed the last part of the sentence. Barry was entirely calm, he knew what was coming. He went upstairs and changed out of his suit. “Metahuman, no meta-freaks’ rights have hereby been officially relinquished.”. Everyone in the house froze. “They are not human, they are not our friends, they will not be our neighbors, they-are-not-humans-.” The West house was silent. “Everyone in all of the US will be scanned for meta DNA if any metas are found they will be apprehended. All meta “marriages” are hereby terminated, along with any other relationships, Metas are not our children not our parents, nor any other part of our families”. Barry walked back down the stairs at this point and wrapped his arms around his crying wife, she was his wife, and no one would take that away from them.
The house was silent aside from Iris’ gushing tears, Meta jobs are terminated, everything is gone. The President announced that military officers will be going around to every building and scanning everyone that walks in, they said that anything found in this country will be taken, and terminated. The way he stressed that word, thing Barry hated that word, but what could he do about it, that's what he was now, a thing.
-------------------------Next Day------------------Barry and Iris’s loft--------------------------
“Barry no! How can you possibly be thinking of doing that” Iris yelled at her husband as he was getting ready for work?
“Iris no matter how much I try to escape it, I'm going to get taken, it's unavoidable. They will be at our Loft soon enough anyway.” Barry calmly retorted. “I'm not going to run from it if it's going to happen I'm gonna face it with whatever honor I have left.” Iris stayed silent. She slowly, slowly walked up to her husband and planted a gentle kiss on his soft lips. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop him, to save him. So she stood at the doorway as her husband walked out to his death, hushed tears leaving her weeping eyes.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Barry walked up to the precinct door surprised there was no guard stationed there. Walking inside he then realized they were taking much bigger precautions with the police force. He Walked into his place in the back of a long line inside the Precinct and stood right behind his father in law. Joe paled at the sight of Barry, his oldened eyes expressing every bit of emotion he had in him; Anger, fear, but mostly sorrow.Soon enough Barry was at the front of the line, Staring the guard in the eyes poker face on. “ID” stated the direct guard. Barry simply handed him his badge and license, not daring to say a word. “Arm, we need a blood sample” The guard continued. Once again, Barry simply stuck out his arm knowing what was coming next. The guard took the sample. Barry heard a beep. He was tackled to the floor, meta cuffs immediately filled the empty void around his wrists. Barry was only slightly surprised when a shock collar was strapped around his neck. The electric pulse surged through his system. Barry stayed on his knees, poker face strong, not a tear fell from his eyes, he did not scream, he didn't say a word. His fists barely even clenched as he sat on the floor in the middle of the police station. All the officers stared wide eyes at Barry, how could the little boy they watched grow up, the ‘younger brother’ of the station who always had the brightest smile plastered onto his face be a meta human? How can a man they worked with for years be one of what they were determined to stop? “Why don't you tell the nice policeman here what your powers are”. The guard said to Barry in an offsetting tone that could send shivers down any man’s spine. However, Barry didn’t move, he stayed on his knees, poker face strong, eyes locked with the guard. “Look, why don't you make this easy on us”, The guard said, his hand now firmly wrapped around Barry’s neck. However, Barry didn't move, he stayed on his knees, poker face strong, without a tear shed.The guard was done with Barry’s nonsense, he grabbed Barry by the neck and threw him straight across the room, Barry’s back hitting the wall hard. The crashing sound startled all the police in the station as the back of Barry’s head began to bleed out. Barry simply turned over, back on his knees, poker face strong, face entirely unaffected. The guard reactivated Barry’s shock collar still trying to break him. Captain Singh was holding Joe back from racing over and helping his son. “BUmp it up, 900 colts”. The guard said bluntly.“What are you doing, that will kill him!” Joe shouted aggressively still being held back by his dumbfounded and worried captain.“I know it will detective after all my intentions are to kill It.” The malicious ended bluntly. Throughout this entire interaction, Barry did not move, He stayed on his knees, poker face strong. Everyone in the precinct could hear the device powering on.They fired the shock, Barry felt the rejoicing electricity board=ing through his veins. Speed Force lightning flickered around his body. The meta cuffs broke off of Barry. But yet Barry didn't move, he stayed on his knees, poker face strong.The guard looked down at Barry, a short-lived dumbfounded look spread across his face, he replaced it with a demonic grin within seconds as he strapped Barry into two more pairs of cuffs, “Well, well, well, Look who we have here. Seems as though the flash decided to pay us a little visit, and ‘grace’ us with his presence.” The guard said while holding Barry’s head up. The entire station went silent, no one dared say a word. “Get up ‘all mighty’, you’ll do very well in the auction”. Finally, finally, Barry moved, he stood up and allowed himself to be dragged off by the guards, poker face strong.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Barry remained still faced as he was forced into the back of the S.W.A.T van. He winced at the sight of both the young and elderly people surrounding him. He winced at their obvious innocence. Some seemed to have fought, since he saw blood trickling down noses and black eyes beginning to form on the metas’ once unscaved faces. He winced at the loss of hope sewn deep into their expressions. He winced at every teardrop that hit the floor and at every heavy breath taken in. Barry couldn't stop his thoughts from wandering as the van made stop after stop, more innocents being forced into the already overcrowded van.“I was supposed to protect them”“I was supposed to keep them safe”“I was supposed to be their hero”“Who will save them now?”“Who will save us now?”His self-destructive thoughts were cut short by a sudden stop that caused his head to ricochet off of the wall behind him. All sound in the van was cut off. Mouths moved with no noises coming out, as if they were all marionette puppets abandoned by their puppeteer and left with their strings all tied up. All the noise was cut off in the room, all except the soft whimper of a young girl whose wrists were too small for her cuffs, causing them to slip straight off. Tears were cascading down her red-flushed face. In the midst of the panic surrounding them all, she would seem unnoticeable. Barry examined her and came to the conclusion that she couldn't be more than five years old, very obviously making her the youngest person in the very crowded van. Barry slowly, cautiously made his way toward the young girl, realizing she must be the one causing this and not wanting her to bring unwanted attention to herself. Barry slowly, cautiously kneeled down in front of her, taking notice of every slight shift in her face, scanning for signs of worry or fear. Barry slowly, cautiously placed his large hands over her smaller, trembling ones, allowing her time to pull away if she chose to. He slowly, cautiously caressed the young girl's palms trying to calm her down as his father once did to bring him back from his own panics. The switch was flipped very obviously as the young girl fell into Barry’s embrace, an eruption of sound followed the action as she ceased using her powers. The small child was very obviously crying and uncuffed. As abrasive sunlight filled the once again quiet van, Barry looked up, face to face with the cause of this unsetting and hushed environment. Three heavily armed guards had guns pointed at the metas, scanning the crowd for the source of the metahuman power outburst. It didn't take long for them to realize that the small, innocent girl held tight in Barry’s embrace was the ‘guilty’ party. Even without his powers, Barry could feel the world slow around him as their guns focused on the sweet girl in his arms.It felt like a blur. The sound of gunshots filled the air. Barry tried to force his body between the soldiers and the child holding onto him like a lifeline. He felt two bullets implant themselves into his shoulder. Two bullets, three guns. Barry froze as he felt blood trickle down his shaky arms. He slowly, cautiously looked down at the innocent child he had tried to shield. His mouth fell agape, eyes watering as he studied her unmoving form.Porcelain doll-like eyes with tears still falling down her blushing cheeks. Her hair pinned back in red-stained french braids. She was dressed simply, a blue and pink polka-dotted dress covering her drenched body. Unsure if the blood was his or hers, Barry finally let himself turn her unmoving body around and look at the back of her head. A single bullet wound. Crimson cascaded down his hands as the van door slid shut, locking the crowd back into darkness. Barry would not allow himself to let go of the young child he had failed to protect. “The bullet must have directly pierced her parietal lobe, the part of the brain that allows one to feel physical pain. She wouldn't have felt herself dying”, he tried to convince himself. “She wouldn't have felt herself slipping away, she wouldn't have felt herself dying”.If only Barry had known what would await him, he would have prayed for a bullet to have struck him in the brain as well.