"Neither, asshole." Cisco growled and tried to glare straight ahead so he didn't have to look at this dick yanking at his hair and pushing him around. God, he wanted to yell and escape and hurt Hartley somehow all at once but he didn't do any of them. He was stuck, trapped, unable to get himself free. "I'm not telling you anything about the Flash." It was a mix, he got a pretty bad spinal injury from the full debris that stopped him from doing much and he didn't really have the will to conquer it, not with his current state of mind.
"You realise I can make you tell me whatever I want to know?" It was worth pointing out, Hartley found. He didn't much feel like exploiting that power at the moment, but there was something about feeling superior to Cisco as he felt right now, it definitely felt good to rub it in. Sometimes, often, his powers scared him. They definitely isolated him. Nobody trusted someone like this. But right now? He really couldn't bring himself to mind it too much.
"There's actually someone out there looking for you, if you'll believe it. Not the Flash, little old you."
"Oh yeah, that's just what a control freak like you needed. More power and control." Great, just great, Hartley had the most psycho power of all and he got the fortunate luck of dealing with it. Why couldn't he have a crappy power that didn't do much? Like crummy hearing, that was what he had before and it suited them both pretty well.
"... Wait, what? Me?" People were looking for him? That was insane. What did he do? "What do they want from me?"
"It's working out very well for me, you can imagine." Hartley looked down at Cisco with a smile, using his grip on his hair to turn his head to the side. There was something freeing about his power. He needed no one and no one would ever trust him again. Sometimes he felt a bit saddened, but overall it wasn't as if he'd ever had a rich social life. "Oh, I don't know. There's a limited amount of things anyone could want from you. If you ask nicely, maybe I'll tell you. Or I'll tell them that they can have you, that'd be more profitable."
"Seems like no matter what I do, you're going to sell me out so I'm not going to be asking you nicely for anything." What was the point of asking nicely when he'd just set him up anyway? Hartley just wanted to humiliate him and he was beyond done with feeling like that lately. From messing up with Harrison Wells to the meta human that went rogue, he didn't feel so good about himself as it stood without adding this. "If you're going to do something, just do it. No more games."
"I might just leave you here for your friends to hopefully find you first." Hartley pulled Cisco's phone out of his back-pocket, which put him in the awkward position of touching his ass. To act as if that didn't bother him, he gave his ass a good slap and only then looked at the phone. "Caitlin is already checking up on you, I'm sure she'll be here soon. Sweet."
He set the phone down outside Cisco's reach, but in his field of vision. "Give the Flash a message from me and I'll let her find you."
Holy shit, did Hartley just slap his ass? Cisco let out a yelp of shock without thinking and tried to wriggle away. He really didn't see that coming. "Hey!" Was he mocking him or what? And, more settlingly, why did that kind of turn him on? God, he really needed Central City to pick up again, he really needed to get laid. He was getting weird. "Leave her alone, I swear to God, if you ever hurt her..."
He didn't know what he'd do but he'd happily find a way to make Hartley suffer. No one hurt Caitlin. No one. "Depends what the message is."
"What? I'm not threatening Caitlin, get with the program. Besides, I've heard her sing. She's so tone-deaf, she probably would be immune to my powers." Hartley snorted at the thought, well aware that his powers obviously didn't work like that, but still. He thought for a moment, considered the many, many avenues of power that ran through the city right now and finally settled on one. "Tell him to meet me. The opera house, in two days, nine pm. If he's not there, I'll make someone suffer. No trap. I just want to talk with him. Or can he not get there? You can tell me now."
"I said I don't know where he is, I can only contact him." Not a total lie. Sometimes Barry would disappear and they'd have to try and track him down. For someone powerless, he was strangely good at disappearing without them noticing. Besides, he wasn't about to admit any details aloud, that wasn't his style. "I can tell him. He might, he might not." But if someone got hurt? ... He guessed Barry would have to. It was probably a trap though, had to be. "Let me go."
"Thank you. Very cooperative of you, Cisquito." Hartley ruffled his hair and leaned down. "Since you're playing nice, I'll tell you who's looking for you as if you're a precious needle in a haystack." He pulled back enough to see his reaction. "Captain Cold. I believe you're familiar? He asked me if I knew where you were, last time we talked. Seems like he's willing to pay."
Oh God no. Not him. Anyone but him. Why did he want-- oh. Shit. The guns. Cisco's eyes were wide and he tried to subtly struggle against the binds, still not grasping that the more he struggled, the more it just cut into you. "You've got to be kidding me?" Great. He was going to end up at the mercy of those two psychopaths again. He couldn't build them guns, especially not when the Flash was so weak. "Don't do this, Hartley."
"I'm just telling you, Cisquito. Not selling you out. I have my own way of doing business." That said he whistled under is breath and watched as Echo ran down his arm, then gnawed on the wire on Cisco's wrists until it snapped. He snatched the rat back up and got to his feet, relaxed stance while he waited for Cisco to do the same. "Pleasure running into you."
"Yeah, right." He could have snarked more but Cisco prided himself on being smart and not a total idiot so he kind of knew when to shut up. And this was one of those moments, he just sat up, rubbed his wrists and debated how the hell he was going to tell Barry any of this. He got to his feet and huffed, brushing past Hartley as he moved towards what was once Caitlin's med bay. "Whatever."
Hartley didn't stop Cisco, though he turned to follow him, reaching up to pet Echo for a job well done. He was curious what Cisco was getting and he wasn't about to let him get anything important, nothing that was useful to him. There was a silence and Hartley found himself at a loss for what to say. He didn't really talk to anyone but his rats these days. "...Wells survived?"
"Dunno." Cisco said bluntly as he moved shit around in the med bay and tried to find what he was looking for. There was an edge to Cisco's tone, a sort of hurt that he tried to choke back down. He didn't want to talk about Doctor Wells right now, it was still too soon. Still too raw. He finally managed to plurk Caitlin's smashed iphone from the floor, looking it over with a sad expression. Damn. It was useless now.
"What?" He didn't know? Hartley was on alert suddenly, aware that too many of his emotions showed, but the whirlwind of emotion inside him was just too much. "What do you mean, you don't know?" How did that even make sense? Where was Wells?" He took a step closer without thinking, looking at the iPhone. "...I've fixed these up before. Worked at an Apple store for a while and got bored."
Cisco didn't respond to the offer, not after everything Hartley just did to him. Not after he threatened people's lives. He wasn't to be trusted, not with a life or an iphone. He pocketed it stubbornly and then turned back to continue ransacking the med bay for his other wanted item. "I mean I don't know. He saved me and Caitlin, now he's gone. End of story." Well, not really. He was the man in yellow, he was responsible for the death of Barry's mother and he was trying to hurt Cisco before all of this but yeah, no, that was it.
"What did he do, wheel away really fast? He can't just get up and vanish. Mostly because he can't get up!" Hartley had no idea what to make of this and it was no wonder that he sounded distraught now. "Anyway, if you get a dummy phone and bypass security you can pretty much always still access the data, if you have the skills." Which Cisco did, he knew that much. "Cisco, what the hell is up with Wells?!"
"Why should I tell you anything?" And, because he was feeling just a tiny bit bitter over what just happened, God knows why, right? He decided to be a dick about it. He turned to Hartley and glared at him. "Why don't you make me?" He turned away and started to move through to the next room, pushing around broke furniture and damaged equipment to try and find Barry's sweatshirt.
"I don't want to, but I will if I have to!" Yes, Hartley sounded a lot more desperate right now then he had intended, but he wasn't even sure what answer he wanted to hear. That Wells was dead? That he had survived, that he was doing well? That Cisco had finally seen that the man was the devil and not a saint? "Tell me!" He was aware of how loud he had become when Echo started trembling against his neck, so he lowered his voice. "Please."
"I don't know what to tell you, I don't get it myself. And I'm not going to assume things and tell them to you as fact. He got out of his chair and he saved me and Caitlin. Then he disappeared." That was all Cisco felt like sharing, he didn't want to give away too much. Especially not when he didn't get it himself, it was unwise to spread things he didn't get. He finally found Barry's sweatshirt and plucked it free, dusting it off. "That's it."
"What?!" Hartley exclaimed, staring at the sweatshirt. No, he didn't find it particularly shocking, but he still stumbled back a few steps, trying to process this, his voice low as he muttered. "I was right. Damn, I was really right." Right about everything? It was impossible. Hartley shook his head, still trying to mentally piece this together. "...you'll give the Flash my message."
"Whatever, asshole. Congratulations." Cisco shoved passed Hartley and moved up to his old desk, rummaging around until he found what remained of his picture. He had to just get his stuff and go before anyone else showed up or Hartley came at him again. He gave Hartley a sideways look before shrugging. "I'll pass it on." He didn't want to but what choice did he have? It was the safest option, after all.
"Sorry," Hartley offered, without really thinking about it, his mind still reeling. He pulled out his flute while Cisco was distracted and played a little melody, closing his eyes as he used the music to freeze Cisco in place for the moment. He finally turned and picked up the bag he'd abandoned before, making his way out. It only lasted a few minutes, but it still ensured that Cisco wouldn't see him leave. "I was right, Echo."
Echo nuzzled his cheek and Hartley smiled a little, while he felt himself tearing up. Damn.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
"There's actually someone out there looking for you, if you'll believe it. Not the Flash, little old you."
no subject
"... Wait, what? Me?" People were looking for him? That was insane. What did he do? "What do they want from me?"
no subject
no subject
no subject
He set the phone down outside Cisco's reach, but in his field of vision. "Give the Flash a message from me and I'll let her find you."
no subject
He didn't know what he'd do but he'd happily find a way to make Hartley suffer. No one hurt Caitlin. No one. "Depends what the message is."
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Echo nuzzled his cheek and Hartley smiled a little, while he felt himself tearing up. Damn.