Everything Comes With A Price

4| Is There Anything Left?

Third POV:

"Are you ready for this next strike, El Bariq?" Merlyn asked from the sitting area. Barry had finished training and stood in the room with a towel wrapped around his shoulders.

Barry nodded, a grim smile creeping up his face. "Of course, sir," He said, easing down into the chair across from Merlyn.

Merlyn motioned to the plans he'd laid out on the table in front of him. "You are to start targeting people close to Team Flash here in Central City. You will begin to take lives when necessary. Do you understand?"

A staff was suddenly in Barry's hand. "Yes, of course, I do. I shall go prepare for the evening then." He gripped his staff before he turned back to face Merlyn. His face held no mercy, not a bit of it. Nothing remained of the kindness of his former self when he was on a mission, that was reserved for his beloved alone. "One last thing, sir. My beloved is visiting after my strike, I assume the proper accommodations will be taken?"

"Of course, El Bariq,"

Barry nodded and then was gone, leaving a gust of wind.

Merlyn smiled, because this was going to get interesting.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Iris walked into Star Labs and immediately ordered Wally to search for any trace of Barry and Merlyn. Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow had gone back to Star City to face a villain and they'd be back momentarily. Harry was running diagnostics with Cisco and Caitlin, so Iris was alone in the cortex. She needed to talk to them about this.... thing with Barry.

"Hey, guys, I need you all in the cortex, I'm going to call my dad and Cecile. We can fill Wally, Oliver, and everyone else in when they get here, okay?" She called.

Several minutes later, everyone was assembled. Iris stood from the monitor. "Cisco, bring up what we know on Barry's disappearance," She said and Cisco did just that. "Okay, what do we know?" She asked.

"Barry went home about a year ago and was kidnapped by the League of Assasins. He was taken in to begin training, which we don't know the extent of what happened. It looks like Barry passed, but he looks colder than usual. Any thoughts?" Cisco said.

"Yeah, everything that the League did to Barry makes him suppress himself, the old one. Everything that Barry is, or was, will be pushed farther and farther back until he reaches a day where he is not himself anymore. On that day, there will be nothing left for us to save," Sara said.

Joe stood up. "Then we need to save Barry as fast as possible."

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Wally was tired, he'd been searching and fighting for months. He'd always thought of Barry's job as easy, but now that he had to do it full time, while dealing with Iris and searching for Barry, he wasn't so certain. He was begging himself and the team in his head to save Barry and get him back to normal. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out, but he needed to stay strong, and help direct Cisco, Frost, and Ralph when they were in the field.

He mostly needed to work with Oliver and Sara, because the more they did, the faster they would have a chance at saving Barry. Wally itched to just run away back to Earth-2 and hang out with Jesse. She always gave him the option to help, and he always agreed, but with Iris, there was no break, no second to relax and clear his head. He was walking to the Speed Lab to train. Walking down there was the only chance of relaxation he got.

He knew Cisco would be down there, running diagnostics to create something new to save Barry. He heard footsteps behind them, two pairs. He turned around and saw Sara and Oliver.

"Hey, guys, you need something?" He asked, not wanting to catch them at a bad time.

Sara gave Wally a dry smile. "No, we just wanted to come down and train. Oliver promised me a spar or two before we went on a quick patrol, so you could rest," She answered, waving him off. "I'd also like to look at some gadgets from Cisco for my Canary suit. I wanted to update it a bit."

Wally smiled, turning to Oliver. "And I assume you're okay with getting your butt kicked by Sara over there?"

Oliver scoffed. "Who said Sara was better than me?"

"All the times she beat you did," Wally replied.

Sara chuckled. "I'd be careful, Wally. That's his 'I'm really pissed at you right now' face."

Wally laughed. "Let's go train."

The two followed him into the Speed Lab and they began training for one of the hardest moments of their lives.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Barry was ready. He'd changed into his suit, before restocking his series of knives, though this time he had a bow staff, confined into its smaller form, attached to his belt. His suit was made out of a fiber that allowed for him to use his speed with martial arts, without burning it. His hair had grown back to its normal length and it wouldn't grow any longer. He made a stopover to see Merlyn. "Sir, I'm getting ready to head out."

Merlyn was sitting in a chair in the sitting area, reading a set of plans sent by Ra's Al-Ghul. He managed to tear his eyes away from it for a second to stare at Barry. "Sounds good, El Bariq, you have everything, and know you know your targets?"

Barry nodded slowly before giving a dark, cold grin. "Yes, sir. I'm prepared for Team Flash and Arrow when and if they come." He flexed his fingers, letting the speed drawn from his emotions, connecting him to the speed force. His electricity surged through his body, anxious to run and feel free, nothing to hold him back. If anything, or anyone, tried, it would not end well for them.

Merlyn clearly knew this as he smiled. "Good, I'd get going now, don't want to be late, do you?"

Barry bowed his head before he was gone, leaping upon the walls into the darkness.

He landed on the building of the CCPD, nothing compared to hurting Julian Albert, Caitlin/Frost's love, and Captain Singh. Barry was on top of the roof, staring at the city, formulating his plan to threaten the two in a way, that would draw out the team. He placed his mask on his face and started to work his way into the building.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Iris sat staring at the monitor, sighing as she rubbed her heels together, trying to keep a rhythm to her thoughts. This helped her think logically, and not have her emotions about Barry cloud her mind. She heard a BEEP from the monitor signaling a trace on Barry. "Felicity, get in here. Everyone else, suit up! You're going to the CCPD."

Caitlin was standing in the doorway. "He's going after Julian."

Joe shook his head from his spot. "He's also going after Captain Singh." He showed her the live stream on his phone and Frost was immediately there.

"I'm going to save Julian and get Barry back if it's the last thing I do!" She stormed out to go find the others, keen on saving her love.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

A/n: Wooh. I haven't updated in a while, huh? I've been focusing on HAUN mostly, so this was very rushed today. I'm going to delay the final two chapters of HAUN until next Wednesday. This week is building on my distance learning and writing some longer chapters for this. I love you all, thanks to rossylynch6 for inspiring me to update.

Good luck!

XOXO-Captain R