boldandthebrave | a new post? in 2024? incredible

[Barry hasn't ventured out of the house today. It's his day off, as far as he's aware, and he doesn't have to go in to the lab. He's planning on doing some chores around the house while Iris is at work conducting an important interview. When he woke up, it was so much like all those years ago, that with his memories blocked, he just... fell into old habits. He can't remember that Iris is long dead, he can't remember that he lives in this house with someone else. He can't even remember that his nephew is grown with a family of his own, thinking Wally is still a young teenager.

He doesn't remember being the Flash.

Iris was easier to fake than Carol, thanks to her public persona. There was more to go on. She seems far less off than the Carol imitation had, as she gets into her car and leaves Barry to his coffee and house chores. He's about to go back inside when Hal comes storming up onto the porch.

He blinks, obviously confused.] I'm sorry, we have to go where?

[Yup, doesn't remember him at all. Figures. And while that maybe stings just the tiniest bit, Hal isn't anywhere near fragile enough to dwell on it. It's the mind control. Or...whatever this is. Although, even with no memories, his weirdness tolerance still seems to be pretty high. Small favors]

We don't have time for this, Barry. [They need to figure out what's going on and get out of here] This is all fake. The house, the neighborhood, everything you remember. [Iris. But he isn't sure he wants to touch on that one just yet] You need to hurry up and wake up.

[Barry mostly looks confused as he looks at Hal. There is a sort of... faraway quality to his gaze, indicating that whoever did this probably has a stronger grip on his mind and memories than they had on Hal's, and if he's stuck back in memories before he was the Flash, then of course, he doesn't recognize his best friend Hal.

Though... after a moment, there is maybe a faint spark of recognition.] Have we... met before? [He sounds incredibly unsure about that... but also not in a hurry to go anywhere.]

Listen, it's not often I get a day off from the lab, and I need to get some things done around the house before my wife comes home, so... can I help you...?

[Hal's patience with this has officially run out. Not that he ever had that much to begin with. Honestly, he's not even that surprised that Barry seems to be buying so much into this. Someone needs to add "very susceptible to mind control" to his file. He rolls his eyes, moving closer to Barry]

Fastest man alive but slow as fuck on the uptake. [And then he's basically pushing Barry back against the front door, kissing him hard and caging him in. If anything is going to work, this will. Barry's used to actions from him more than words]

Hey now- [He starts to protest at the insult, but then suddenly, he's being pushed up against the door, coffee mug tumbling from his hand into the bushes next to the porch. The kiss, rough and hard, steals his breath, and blue eyes widen for a moment in surprise, before he- he melts into it, honestly, there is no other way to describe it.

It's like a switch flips. Barry brings his hands up to Hal's shoulders, resting there instead of pushing him away, and after that initial surprise, he parts his lips and kisses him back, unable to deny the familiarity of it. Hal's gesture just sort of bulldozes past the block on Barry's memories, exactly as he'd planned, and when they finally part, Barry's looking more clear - less like he's wandering in a daze, or a dream.

His hands stay on Hal's shoulders, squeezing.] Hal. What in the world is going on...?

[For the briefest of seconds, Hal is almost worried this won't work the way he thinks it will. But then he feels Barry basically melt into him and he knows it's going to be fine. When they part from the kiss, Hal stays close, unwilling to get out of Barry's personal space just yet. The clarity and recognition returning to Barry's eyes gets a smile out of Hal and he leans in for a brief, much gentler kiss]

'Bout time. Welcome back, Bar.

[At least now they're in this together. They can tackle just about anything together]

Some kind of mind control or memory block. This whole world is fake. They had me in a fake Coast City. Not a very good one, either.

[Hal is probably pretty lucky it did work, considering how deep in the delusion Barry was. But his reaction to Hal is unmistakable, and immediate, and strong, being pressed up against the door by Hal's solid figure. Barry's fingers curl in the fabric of his shirt, and he doesn't try to escape Hal's personal space either. That smile is too compelling, and he exhales quietly into that gentler kiss, returning it, if briefly.]

Was this really your first instinct to break mind control or memory block? [Kissing him senseless up against his (fake) front door, that is. But then it seems to hit him what Hal is saying, about a fake Coast City, about this Central City being fake.

He looks over Hal's shoulder, in the direction Iris's (fake) car went, expression falling a bit as it starts to sink in. Not that he says it out loud. Instead, trailing one hand down Hal's arm to feel his hand,] I don't have my speed. Your ring is gone too.

We were chasing a new meta before this, weren't we...?

Only for you. Anyone else and I would have had to come up with an actual plan.

[Barry doesn't say anything but Hal notices regardless. He doesn't say anything either. It's gotta be hard for Barry, being thrown into a reality where Iris never died and then being pulled back out to realize it was all fake and she's still dead. Hal tries to never bring up anything related to Iris because he knows it's a hard subject for Barry. So, really, this is just mean. All the more reason to find whoever did this]

Nope. No ring. And I was already counting on the no speed thing.

That's the last thing I remember. Whoever that meta is, he's probably the one responsible. Only problem is figuring out where he is and how we get out of here.

Lucky it was me then, I guess. [Ha, imagine if it were Supes or Bats.

Barry still feels a little off, as they stand there, still pressed together against the door and keeping their voices low. If they're being observed, it's probably not the worst thing. Thinking that he's been trapped in this... false world, with a specter of his dead wife to keep him placid, it's not a good feeling, and he's busy internally working through anger and grief and so much more. Whoever did this is getting an ass-kicking.]

Hm. This... illusion or simulation, whichever it is, has to be based at least partially on our memories, right? [There were some details in the house, now that he thinks about it, that were accurate to his memories of his home when he was still married.]

I wonder if we could get our powers back if we went through the memories of how we got them originally.

[This is a strange situation, so Barry can't really be blamed for still feeling off. What a weird day]

Seems to be. Especially in your case. [In Hal's case, they don't seem to have dug very deep. They definitely didn't manage to dig out anything actually accurate about Carol]

Yeah? So how do we do that? I don't see any crashed spaceships around here.

I guess they couldn't get through your thick skull as easily. [It's an attempt at a joke, at their usual banter and ribbing. It comes off a little weak though, since Barry is still trying very hard to keep his thoughts off of Iris, and how pissed he is that someone would dredge these memories up to use against him.]

You didn't have to walk the full distance from Coast City to Central City, right? Maybe if we take off in the right direction, thinking of the memory in question, we can... get it going.

We can try with the lab first? Where I got struck by lightning.

Or maybe you're just easily mind-controlled. Ever thought of that? [He gets it. That's part of why he has yet to get out of Barry's personal space. That and maybe he also needs the closeness right now. No one can prove anything]

That's as good an idea as any. A lot of the details are pretty phoned in, but Central seems relatively accurate. [Barry's memories were apparently more of an open door than Hal's. He might wanna work on that] So the lab it is, I guess.

You're rude. [There's no heat behind it. He's grateful to Hal for snapping him out of this... elaborate dream, or simulation, or whatever it is that taints his memories. Obviously this was something he was more susceptible to. Is it really any surprise, though, when Hal's power is his will?]

We can use that to our advantage, hopefully. [If he can get his speed back, and they can find Hal's ring, then maybe they can take control of this situation back and break the illusion. It's the best idea he has right now, anyway.

Barry rummages in his pocket for his car keys.] Lab it is. I'll drive. We'll find out on the way if this is going to work. [Because... he has to will a thunderstorm into existence now. Fun.]

You like it.

[It's not really surprising at all that Barry was more susceptible. And how were they supposed to know that the meta they were chasing could do this? Most of the time when you're after someone you've never encountered before, you find out what their powers are just like this. Experience.

Hal reluctantly gets out of Barry's space, because they can't really go anywhere attached to each other]

Let's go, then. I can't remember the last time I saw you drive. [Teasing to try and distract from the fact that this is all pretty fucked, actually]

I like you. [It's Barry, he can't turn it off.

But oh well, you live and you learn. They'll figure out some way out of this - they usually do. And if they take too long, he's sure the League will be showing up to do it for them, though he hopes it doesn't come to that, just because it'd be embarrassing.

He's just as reluctant to pull away, but they've got to get to being heroes again - there'll be time to hold each other when they get out of this.] Ha, it's been a while. I'd say hopefully I remember how, but it doesn't look like this illusion is fully rendered - we probably won't run into traffic.

[He slides into the car parked in the driveway, something he hasn't really bothered with in a long, long time, and waits for Hal to join him.]

Obviously, I like you. My taste is questionable.

[He follows Barry to the car. The last time they were in a car together was years ago, before either one of them died, and it was Hal driving. So this should be interesting. He gets into the passenger seat of the fake car in the fake driveway, shutting the door behind him]

As funny as it would be to watch you crash a fake car, I'm glad for that. What's your plan when we actually get to the lab?

[Barry still remembers how to drive. He's not bad at it, never was. He pulls out of the fake driveway, and onto the street. It's- strange, how unformed some of the world is, and how detailed some other places are. It's going to give him a headache if he thinks about it too hard, or focuses on any of those pedestrians without faces.]

It's not much of a plan, honestly. Mix up the same chemicals I did that night, try to get struck by lightning again.

[And... it's funny, the closer they get to the lab, the more Barry focuses on it and this piss-poor plan, it actually does start to rain in this fake world, the distant sound of thunder in the background.]

Well. Okay.

[That is, in fact, a terrible plan. But Hal has no better ideas so he's not exactly in a place to throw stones here. At least if this poor excuse for a plan works, they'll be one step closer to getting out of here. That seems like a long shot until it actually starts raining.]

On the bright side, Bar, we may have just found out that this fake world we're stuck in is manipulable. Keep focusing on that.

[It's a relief when the storm starts up around them. That means at least one of his theories was correct - that some part of this is drawing from memories, from their thoughts. By thinking on that night, that storm, the lightning that struck him, that maybe he could bring that around and unlock his speed again. Then they can do the same for Hal, hopefully get his ring back. With their abilities back, it should be much easier to find and deal with this meta.]

That's what I was hoping for. With any luck, maybe it's just a mental block on our abilities, and by recreating how we got our powers, it might remove that block.

[He pulls up in front of the CCPD lab, and slides out of the car, glancing up at the sky - a bolt of lightning flashes across it, lighting up their faces.] Hopefully this works.

Could be. That makes about as much sense as anything else that's happened to us today.

[Hal gets out of the car too, looking up at the sky. It's weird how encouraging that lightning is. Everything about this day is weird. Honestly, Hal can't wait to find the meta responsible for this]

Hopefully. Let's go get you struck by lightning. [As you do]

Yeah... It's been a weird one. [Barry agrees, a little more faintly, as his thoughts flit back to earlier, that pleasant daze of having breakfast and seeing Iris off to work. To how he probably wouldn't have broken out of that control for a while, if left to his own devices, because it had felt so- nostalgic, once-upon-a-time normal.

But he can't focus on that right now. He shoves his keys into his pocket, and leads the way into the labs, swiping his card to get them in. The scenery here is clearer than a lot of what's outside, distinct in Barry's memory. Lightning cracks outside, thunder following, an echoing boom.] Alright, let's see... You stand here, and you should be safe.

[Barry directs Hal to one of the walls, away from the shelves of chemicals and the skylight.]

That's putting it lightly.

[Hal feels like maybe he should be...offering some sort of comfort or something. This has undoubtedly been harder on Barry than it has on him. But he also feels like the time for that isn't right now. Once they get out here, he can do that. Right now they need to get out of this illusion so Hal can beat the shit out of the guy who put them here]

I just want you to know that the only reason I'm okay with this is because it's probably our only way out of here and you've already survived it once.

[He goes where he's directed without even questioning it, though. He's not wild about this plan but he trusts Barry's judgement]

Tell me about it. [There isn't time for comfort, or dwelling on his own mishmash of emotions, or even for thinking about how Hal must be feeling to wake up with a fake version of Carol. They're superheroes first, and while they're trapped here, unaware of the waking world, they need to focus on the situation.

Still, as he places Hal in a spot where he should be safe from breaking glass and lightning strikes, he smiles wryly at Hal's words.] Sorry. Don't panic, alright? It'll all be fine.

[He's right - Barry survived this once before. And he's fairly sure he'll be fine again. Glancing up through the skylight again, noting the intensity of the storm, he gets to it, mixing up the same chemicals he remembers working with that night.

It doesn't keep the lightning strike from being quite dramatic looking, shattering the skylight and the bottles and beakers of chemicals, sending Barry crumpling to the ground. His theory was right, though - as electricity crackles around him, he feels the speedforce again, and pulls himself to his feet with a gasping breath.]

I don't panic.

[That is a lie. But only because Barry is involved. Anything else and it would be true. Barry just has this tendency to draw the full spectrum of emotion out of Hal. It's very annoying.

The lightning strike is...about how you’d expect watching someone get struck by lightning to be. Hal has to mentally remind himself over and over again that it's fine. This has already happened once and Barry's fine. He stubbornly ignores the little whisper in the back of his mind that says that it'd be just his luck if it turned out to not be fine. It's incredibly relieving when Barry stands, though he doesn't approach for now]

Why does everything you do have to be so damn dramatic?

[It's disorienting, getting struck by lightning again. Going from feeling like a regular person (which, wow, he hasn't felt that in forever, and he'd barely let himself enjoy it?) to having his speed back. It felt like before, a hard and painful kick in the chest that steals his breath before the pain goes away, burns that last only moments before they heal. The speedforce is crackling around him as he stands, shakes off that disorientation.

Only to smile apologetically at Hal, who has never had to see this before. No one has, actually - he was alone when it happened the first time.]

Sorry. It worked, though, didn't it? [He's at Hal's side in a flash, offering his hand.] So now we just have to get your ring back.

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