Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Put That Thing Back Where It Came From, Or So Help Me

For Andy's visit with Barry

"Terra, stop it." My words were said in concern, but my continued drawing and lack of emotion showed how little I cared. "You're going to beat your fists bloody, and trust me, it really isn't worth it."

"Don't you want to get out of here?" she whisper yelled as she snapped around to me, my eyes leaving the page now. "You sit around and do nothing all day and at night you run around the prison! The least you can do is take me with you!"

"Will you keep it down?" I growled, standing up so we could lower our voices. "You obviously haven't caught on to the way things go around here. I'm trying my best to help you, but you make it real hard to want to keep at it." I looked over her shoulder and eyed the bloodless dent in the concrete. "And you need to explain that," I added, pointing to it. "Things around the cell haven't been right since you got here."

"Help me get out," Terra growled back, a yellow glimmer to her blue eyes that normally wasn't there.

"I am trying," I reiterated through grit teeth. "This sort of thing takes time."

"Andy." I stiffened a bit at Boles' voice and turned away from the small blonde, my eyebrow raised in question. "You've got a visitor." I turned back to face Terra with a frown, my hands crossed at my back as I walked backwards towards the door. I caught on early that he wasn't taking me to see Barry. We hadn't been going the normal route, in fact we weren't even headed towards the visiting area.

"What's this about then, Boles?" I asked warily, eyeing my surroundings.

"Like I said, you have a visitor." He took me down to a basement, and my blood ran cold when I heard dark chuckling from somewhere inside.

"Uncuff her and stand watch," the Joker's voice floated through, Boles following his orders. When he started to walk away, Joker stepped out from a shadowy corner of the room. "Hiya, toots." Everything in my body froze, but I kept up the breezy facade. I couldn't show my fear, its how I got this far in life.

"Hiya, J," I breathed. "Don't tell me you came all this way for little old me."

"Oh, but I did," he nodded, stepping closer to me. I held my ground and titled my head at him. "I wanted to...thank you." I looked him over a moment, things turning over in my brain.

"For killing the rat or for taking your place in here?" He did this little half-growl at the back of his throat, his hand reaching up to push my hair away from my face.

"How's the leg?" he asked instead, his hands hesitant to touch me. Nothing about the Joker was hesitant, but he didn't like thinking about me as an object other than a skeleton key to get him into any place. He didn't like thinking of me as a person.

"Good as new, no thanks to you," I scoffed, my breath inaudibly hitching when he touched my chin and the spot he stabbed me in. "Withdrawls weren't any fun either."

"Couldn't be helped,"he shrugged, the tattooed 'Damaged' on his forehead glaring at me in reminder. He didn't care, not then and definately not now. "But, its clear that you can manage just fine on your own."

"Always could." He giggled a bit, his hands moving to my hip and neck.

"Do you want out, Andromeda?" he asked, his laughter turning my blood to ice. As far as I was aware, no one but Barry knew my name.

But like I had all the other times, I held my ground and puffed out my chest. "What's the catch? You get me out, I end up your slave? No thanks." The Joker's fingers tightened around my throat but my expression didn't change, I could just barely breathe, enough to know that this was just a warning. "Really," I managed to whisper. "I've made all sorts of friends." His hand loosened it's grip only to return it to my jaw, his other hand keeping my dominant hand at bay.

"You only get by in here because my people still think you're my little angel. I wouldn't screw that up if I were you," Joker growled. I hummed and forced myself to relax in his hold, his grip subconsciously lessening.

"I'm not," I provided, "I'm just staying in the place I've adapted to." My eyes drifted to the right when Boles' footsteps reached my ears.

"She's being called away," he explained. The Joker pulled my face back so I looked at him, his cold eyes angry.

"Keep up the good work," he instructed in a dark tone, instinctively pulling a nod from me. And then, completely blindsiding me, he kissed me.

There was no passion in it, no feeling, just dominance, putting me in my place, reminding me yet again that he only kept me around for my mouth. It was only when he bit down hard on my lip that I allowed myself to force him away, his cackles filling the room as he nodded to Boles, who promptly cuffed me and started pulling me away. I could taste the blood in my mouth, my lower lip split and tinting my lips blood red. "Where are you taking me now?" I growled, my muscles tense.

"You've got another visitor." The words made me sick, I didn't want to see anyone else after that. I started limping as Boles dragged me through Blackgate, my leg ceizing up with psychosomatic pain. "C'mon, kid," he encouraged when my pace began to change. I felt like I was going to be sick as he held me still to uncuff me again. I had almost forgotten it was Friday, almost forgotten Barry's promise, but I was quickly reminded as I sat across from him, my lips pulling into a smile despite the burning protest of the cut. I quickly grabbed the phone and allowed the sight of him to push away my anxiety.

"What happened to your lip?" he asked in concern, a slight frown on his lips. I ran my tongue over the spot and shrugged.

"Its prison, Barry. Not everyone is going to be my friend." The longer I sat here, the more I could feel myself relax, the close walls on either side of us creating a greater sense of it just being the two of us. The glass seperating us and the chatter around us was a cruel reminder of how much it wasn't, though. Barry didn't seem fully convinced and his lips tugged into a small frown.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a small voice. "You seem...different today." I sighed and looked away from him, picking at a spot on the table.

"I'm fine, just spent a lot of time in this place." I wouldn't take Joker's easy out. It wouldn't be easy after I was out, I'd be trapped under his paw with little to no wiggle room. No, it'd be better to continue with Terra, get out on my own terms. "I'm ready to get out."

"You only have a couple years left on your sentence, right?" I nodded and bitterly chuckled, I wasn't going to wait that long.

"Most of my release time is depenant on my behavior. I think we both know I haven't been the best noodle in here," I explained, hesitantly meeting his eyes again. Barry still wore his frown, his stare only becoming more concerned and sympathetic.

"Something happened to you," he inisted. "You aren't as full of yourself today." I gave him a half-hearted glare and rested my elbows on the little counter. "I'm serious, Andy." There was an undertone of a whine in his voice. I felt my stomach flip, loving the way it sounded. My eyes bounced around his face a moment before I gave a heavy sigh.

"I ran into an old friend," I eventually muttered into the reciever. "They weren't as friendly with me as I anticipated, hence my lip."

"Did they hit you?" he asked instantly, causing me to frown, trying to deny the fact that he cared genuinely, but it was clear on his face. I shook my head, attempting to block out the feeling of the Joker's lips on mine.

"Barry, really, it's fine. I promise it won't happen again, and I never make a promise I can't keep." He could see the seriousness on my face, but there was a glimmer of doubt within his concern.

"Andy, that looks fresh. You're obviously shooken up. What happened?"

"Andy, time's up." I released a deep breath and gave Barry a soft smile.

"Maybe another time." I put the phone on the reciever, my resolve for devience lessened today. He still held the phone to his ear as he put his other hand to the glass, my chest warming at his torn expression and my smile growing further than my lip wanted to allow. I brushed my fingers over the glass and pulled my lower lip into my mouth as I stood, feeling Barry's eyes burn into me as I was escorted away.