Hunted

Chapter 1: Outlaw

Panting, Barry Allen awoke with a start. Struggling to distinguish dream from reality, Barry frantically looked around himself, only settling down once he realised he was in his cell and not on the battlefield.

Sitting up, Barry swung his legs over the side of his bed and held his head in his hands. His thoughts were interrupted by the sounding of an alarm and the mechanical whirring of his cell door opening.

"Get up inmate 14-12-87" a deep, almost metallic voice spoke as Hank Henshaw appeared before him.

"Now?" Barry asked weakly.

Hank nodded, a twisted smile etched on his face.

"Time to die"

Some time earlier...

"In other news, the reward for assisting in the arrest of known terrorists Green Arrow or The Flash has increased dramatically. The same can be said for anything information Cadmus may find useful pertaining to metahumans living among us. In order to encourage more civilians to come forward and make Trinity City that mush safer, Cadmus have issued ..." the news reporter spoke.

Barry sighed, throwing the TV Remote on the table after hearing enough of the lies Cadmus were spreading.

"I don't know why that stuff gets to you the way it does, it's the truth" Barry's roommate James Olsen commented, barely looking up from his breakfast.

"What's so true about it? Neither The Flash or Green Arrow are terrorists, they stopped the Dominators!"

"Yeah only after the alien invasion had happened. Metahumans were bad enough, but now we've got aliens running around the city. Not to mention, The Flash was responsible for bringing the bloody Dominators to Earth in the first place. If not for Cadmus, Trinity would have gone to hell long before now"

Barry gave James an exasperated look.

"Hunting anyone with enhanced abilities isn't the answer James! It's just Cadmus' way of controlling the masses, experimenting on metas and aliens alike and calling it the law!"

James stood up quickly and looked wearily at Barry.

"You're starting to sound like a sympathiser" he warned.

Barry scoffed.

"My job is to help catch metahumans, you really think I'm a sympathiser?"

James shrugged.

"Speaking of, I've gotta go," Barry added glancing at his watch. "I'll see you later"

"Mr Allen, how nice of you to join us 10 minutes late, what is your excuse this time?" The Trinity City Police Captain David Singh.

"I don't have one sir" Barry answered honestly, walking towards the 'crime scene'. "I really thought I was going to be on time"

"I get it Allen, I do. It's a big city, Central, National and Star City all in one? It's gotta be hard to navigate"

Barry chuckled.

"You have no idea"

Since metahumans were outlawed and hunted under the rule of Cadmus, Barry couldn't use his speed to get to work every morning. It meant he had to wait at traffic lights, be held up by slow walkers and occasionally use public transport. Three years had passed and he still wasn't used to travelling this way.

"Just try and leave earlier tomorrow okay? Sawyer's waiting for you over there" David gestured to where Maggie had set up a perimeter of police tape around an enclosed area.

"Hey" Barry greeted, ducking under the tape.

"Hey Barry, how are you?" Maggie asked hugging her partner.

"As well as I can be living in a city that wants to kill me" Barry answered simply.

"What about you, I hear you moved in with Alex" Barry nudged Maggie slightly.

"How did you... Kara!" Maggie grunted, realisation dawning on her.

Barry nodded, laughing.

"You know, you dating my girlfriends alien sister is really cheating. Very intrusive."

"Oh is it really? We both know, I would've found out anyway"

"Because I would've told you"

"Sure, let's go with that"

Maggie raised her fists at Barry in mock outrage.

"You do know I could win this fight before it's begun?" Barry smirked

"Fine" Maggie grumbled jokingly, slowly lowering her fists.

Barry stared at the 'crime scene' around him.

"Why are we here anyway?" He asked.

"Another potential metahuman sighting" Maggie answered, clearly annoyed at the amount of these her and Barry has been sent to.

"Again?" Barry groaned "Why did they have to raise the stupid reward?"

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked

"Didn't you see the news this morning?"

Maggie shook her head.

"Cadmus are raising the rewards for any information about Metahumans," Barry leaned in closer so that his voice was silenced. "As well as mine and Oliver's arrests"

"Fucking ridiculous" Maggie thought aloud.

"Yeah, you're telling me"

Barry glanced around again.

"It doesn't look like anything's here"

"Could you sweep the area, pick up anything that could indicate the claim was true?" Maggie asked hesitantly.

"Maggie, you know I can't. If I'm caught, I'll spend life I'm prison ... or worse" Barry reminded her.

"Please, I'll sleep a lot better tonight knowing we didn't condemn an innocent party" Maggie whined.

"Fine." Barry agreed "but only because I'm happy for you and Alex"

Barry out of sight of any police officers or civilians before using his speed to search the area, finding nothing.

Returning to his concealed area, Barry was about to walk back to Maggie when a familiar voice caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

"Allen?" Captain Singh asked seeing Barry appear out of thin air. "How did you get there?"

Barry started panicking

"Captain Singh! It's uh, it's not what it looks like, I was just searching the are for clues and ,,,"

Realisation dawned on Captain Singh as he interjected Barry.

"You're one of them" he stated, taking out his phone.

"Sir please.." Barry pleased hopelessly.

"You're a metahuman!"