6Just something that came to me after reading the latest chapter of Aragorn II Elessar's 'One too many Dark Knights'. Timeline wise, it takes place after Arrow 5x18 and Flash 3x16.
Unknown location
Barry groaned as he came to. His foggy mind attempted to make sense of it. He had been heading towards Cisco's after telling Iris they needed space when something hard had hit him in the back of the head. It all went black after that.
Barry realized that he was in a dimly lit room and that he was chained to the floor. Trying to phase out of them offered no results. Something was wrong with his powers.
"You'll find your powers don't work in here."
Barry looked up as a dark haired man walked into the room, his eyes widening as he recognized the man from recent reports coming out of Star City.
"Adrian Chase," Barry breathed and Adrian smirked.
"Hello Barry," Adrian greeted him calmly. "Nice to finally meet you Flash."
"What are you doing here? What did you do to me?" Barry demanded, wondering how Adrian knew about him as Adrian smirked.
"You see those lights?" Adrian asked, pointing towards the dim lights hanging from the ceiling. "They put out an energy pulse that temporarily cancels out your speed. As for why I'm here, well, out of all his allies, Oliver Queen seems most fond of you. I thought it was time we got to know each other a bit better."
"So what, you're gonna kill me to hurt Oliver?" Barry asked and Adrian chuckled.
"I have no interest in killing you Barry. Oliver, he showed me who I really am when he killed my father. And that's what I'm gonna do for you," Adrian said with a smirk.
A little later, Adrian was holding Barry's head underwater as Barry thrashed before Adrian pulled his head out. Barry coughed the water up as Adrian let him go.
"145 seconds. According to the autopsy report, your mother didn't die straight away after getting stabbed, not like your father. She lived for 145 seconds before she died," Adrian said as he let Barry's head go. "Even with a hole in her heart, she was still conscious enough to feel every pain, terror filled second as her life slipped away."
"Don't you talk about my mother," Barry almost growled but Adrian ignored him.
"I know why you chose the name Flash though. And it wasn't because it was a name Oliver or Iris gave you," Adrian said as he knelt down in front of Barry.
"If you're so wise, why did I do it?" Barry snapped.
"Because the night your mother died, you appeared a dozen blocks away, in a flash of light," Adrian told him. "Choosing the name Flash, it gave you a sense of power over that night. By calling yourself Flash, it took away the fear and confusion you felt about that night."
"I thought you were going to do something more impressive than torture," Barry said and Adrian smiled.
"Barry Allen, always joking to cover up the scared little boy you are inside," Adrian chuckled as he began to circle. "I want you to tell me a secret Barry. I want you to tell me the one thing you've been afraid to admit to yourself."
"How many times do I have to tell you, I don't know what you're talking about?!" Barry snapped and Adrian shrugged.
"That's alright. You'll come around eventually. Where were we?" Adrian asked before he grabbed Barry by the head and plunged him head first back into the water.
Barry passed out and, later, he woke up to find he was lying on the ground. Adrian was putting pictures up on the walls.
"Do they look familiar?" Adrian asked as he saw Barry was awake.
"W-what?" Barry stammered as he pulled himself into a sitting position.
"These are your victims Barry. You messed with time, it had consequences. These are the names of everyone who has suffered before of your mistake," Adrian pulled a picture off the wall and walked over to Barry. "Dante Ramon killed in a drunk driving accident."
"I didn't know that would happen to Dante," Barry defended himself.
"Would that have stopped you?" Adrian asked but continued before Barry could answer. "Confess your secret Barry and all this ends."
"What, that I created Flashpoint?" Barry asked confused.
"Nothing so pedestrian Barry. Confess your secret and I'll let you go back to your life," Adrian offered. "I'll unlock those chains and you'll never hear from me again."
"You…are insane," Barry said after a moment. "You've killed how many people? For what, to prove some sick point to Oliver? I made a mistake when I created Flashpoint, but nothing I have done compares to what you've done."
Adrian sighed before, to Barry's confusion, he walked over to the wall and pulled off another picture.
"Clyde Mardon," Adrian pulled off the picture. "He was the first Meta you stopped. Joe West killed him with two bullets to save you."
Adrian then pulled out a gun, pointing it at Barry.
"Confess your secret or you get the same two bullets," Adrian said as he took aim at Barry.
Barry remained silent, staring up at Adrian defiantly. With a shrug, Adrian pulled the trigger. Barry then cried out in agony, pain shooting through his side. Barry looked down at his side, where a bright red stain marred his shirt. Adrian then pulled the trigger again and Barry fell on his back, paralyzed from pain.
Later, Barry cried out as Adrian dug out the bullets, pulling them out.
"Must hurt a lot more without your powers, especially since you don't heal without them," Adrian noted. "You must feel so powerful, running around your city with that suit. But, like Prometheus took away the gods' power, I took away yours."
"Are you planning on torturing me by talking me to death?" Barry asked hoarsely, his voice weak from pain.
"You know, the truth is you're just one bad day away from being Oliver, despite what your team likes to think. I wonder what that day would be," Adrian mused before pulling out the gun again. "Do you want to where I got this gun?"
Barry looked up at the gun, studied it before it hit him like cold water dumped on him. It was Joe's gun, the same gun Joe had used ever since Barry had been a child.
"Joe didn't even know I was in his house," Adrian told him.
"If you touched him, I swear I'll-" Barry started.
"You'll do nothing," Adrian cut him off as he got to his feet. "You see Barry, until you confess your secret; everyone you love is at risk. Joe, Iris, Wally, Caitlin, Cisco, Julian and HR. It's only a matter of time until I kill one of them. Confess Barry."
"I don't know what you want me to say," Barry said brokenly.
"Oh come- I want you tell me the one thing you've never told Joe, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin! I want you to tell me the one thing you've been afraid to admit to yourself!" Adrian exploded.
"I don't know!" Barry snapped.
"Well then let me give you a bit of an idea. Remember when you got Cisco's brother killed? Or how about when you gave Caitlin an evil personality that made her so afraid she had to lie to everyone and manipulate Julian into joining Team Flash? Your two best friends and you alienated them both. You've ruined both of their lives with your selfishness!" Adrian shouted.
Angrily, Barry pushed back the past the pain and jumped to his feet, attempting to lung for Adrian but the chains held him back. However, Adrian seemed pleased by this reaction.
"Now we're finally getting somewhere. I know what's going through your mind. You're thinking if you can just get out of those chains, maybe you can overpower me, knock me out, escape. But it's not just about saving yourself, no, there's something else in there," Adrian said, beginning to pace back and forth. "You told yourself you went back in time because Zoom killed your father but that was an excuse. Zoom killing your father, an excuse. Thawne killing your mother, an excuse. The idea that Flashpoint was some rash decision you made, an excuse."
"An excuse for what, huh? Tell me!" Barry snarled.
"You tell me Barry! You tell me," Adrian demanded. "Confess Barry. You told yourself that Flashpoint was a rash decision you later regretted. But that's not true, so why? Why did you do it?"
"Because I was being selfish," Barry muttered so softly that Adrian had a hard time hearing.
"What?" Adrian asked.
"I WAS BEING SELFISH! I DID WHAT I WANTED, EVERYONE ELSE BE DMANED!" Barry exploded.
Barry breathed heavily, the words hanging between them. Seeing Adrian's smirk, he knew he had finally said what Adrian wanted to hear. His legs giving out, Barry fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
"How does it feel, knowing I saw the one thing you couldn't admit to yourself?" Adrian asked smugly.
Barry was silent, falling on his back as feelings of guilt and self-loathing welled up in him.
"For the past year, you have ruined the lives of everyone you come into contact with. Now you finally know why that is. You used your father's death to justify playing God with the timeline. There's a price to pay for that. Your mother paid it. Wally paid it; Iris is going to pay it. Are you really going to tell me Cisco, Joe and Caitlin are better off having known you?"
"You promised you'd let me go if I told you my secret," Barry said lowly, all the fight having left him.
"And I will," Adrian promised as he picked up a blowtorch. "But first, a history lesson. In the days of The Gladiators, the romans would brand their criminals as a reminder of what they had done. So, I'm going to give you a gift Barry. Your powers may return, but by that time, the marks on your body will be permanent. When you look at the scars, you will remember our time here together and the secret you told me."
Adrian rolled up Barry's sleeve and Barry cried out in pain as he felt the flame on his skin.
When Barry awoke next, it was to the sound of birds chirping. Adrian was gone, as were the chains. As Barry weakly sat up, he looked down at his arm. True to Adrian's word, the spot where the flame had licked his skin was perfectly visible. Burned into his arm was the word 'selfish'.
I'll be blunt, Barry in season three was the worst version of himself. The villain of season thee was not Savitar, but Barry himself. Nearly every bad thing that happened was a direct or indirect result of Barry creating Flashpoint. Not to mention Barry was completely unrecognizable, going from a hero whose heart was always in the right place to a jerk who only cared about Iris. Which only got worse and worse as the show went on.
