Zero hour

Enter Lady Indigo

Barely controlling the tremors in his body, Barry made a full stop right outside the high fences keeping unwanted visitors out of the Galway's laboratory on Earth 3. In the last minute or so, he started feeling the virus simultaneously fighting and feeding on the V9, already. Caitlin was right when she said his time was limited. At this rate, it wasn't going to take long before his peak of strength was going to crash and, after that, his condition was going to go downhill fast.

"Take me to Mrs. Galway," strongly requested Barry after speeding up and stopping at the security barrier. His vibrating features and the blue flashes of lightning sparkling all around his body would've been scary enough, but the bloody and shredded vest of this Earth's Vibe dangling in the speedster's grab sure added a spooky effect.

"Right this way," said the slightly disturbed security guard surveying the gate before gesturing at his colleague to open the entrance, not that it really mattered since phasing inside would be quite easy. The speedster didn't want to charge in after being supposedly captured by a breacher.

"Tell Mrs. Galway her puppet is back," instructed the guard to the same co-worker positioned inside the small cabin from which he was operating the gate.

A few minutes later, flanked by three armed guards, the still vibrating speedster made his entrance into the eerie medical laboratory where he got two foreign bodies implanted in him against his will. Right there, waiting, were the evil couple awaiting his comeback and showing no sign they were happy that their puppet was back.

"Leave us," said Polly to the guards and advancing toward Barry like a lion moving on her prey while swiftly attaching her curly hair into a bun behind her head, "and you, take your top off. Then sit on that chair," she instructed to Barry before pointing the chair behind the cold metallic table.

Hiding the shiver of fear passing in his back, mostly thanks to his vibrating, Barry took a deep breath and took back control of his emotions. After sending back his whole body into normal speed, the CSI cooperated with the instructions.

"I escaped from the breacher and managed to kill him on my way out," he explained, carelessly throwing away the bloody jacket on the ground before sitting on the chair, shirtless.

It took all of Barry's strength not to show any reaction during the careful examination he found himself subjected to. Right next to him, the scientist woman in white coat started moving around and probing the man at multiple places, starting by his side, and then moving up to his neck. She was, no doubt, testing and verifying he still had everything implanted in him. Satisfied, she looked up at her husband who was standing nearby in his black suit and silently following her every move with his eyes. When Polly turned her back on the speedster, a sudden and unexpected shock appeared at the base of his neck, just enough to slightly jostle Barry.

For half a second there, Barry almost stayed still, which would have revealed the fact he wasn't under her control anymore. But, thanks to his speed and swift thinking, he reacted and corrected his response by pushing a fake groan of pain out of lips before jostling and twitching his head and limbs in many directions as if he was in pain.

Thank Cisco, that was a good call, thought the speedster, happy to be able to receive a soft warning about surprised attempts at controlling him.

Turning around and smirking in satisfaction, Polly took her right hand out of her coat pocket, which was undoubtedly where she was hiding the controller.

"He's good," she assured her husband who nodded.

"Where are we with the plan?" Asked Barry before an uncontrollable tremor in his left shoulder jostled him and forced him to take a couple of seconds break before continuing his sentence.