"Take a seat." Hartley gestured to the theatre. "I have rows and rows of them." To be fair, there were a lot of seats. A lot. Hartley leaned back, relaxing even more. No, he had nothing to fear from him, not today. "You look stressed." Not so surprising, that. What topic should he breach? Where to even start? "Seems like you're not that much of a hero in a crisis."
"I didn't come all this way to make small talk. Tell me what you want or I'm walking out." And he could. Cisco built him disrupters into his cowl to prevent Hartley's instrument from working. Cisco explained how it'd work but it just didn't sink in. All he knew was that it'd kick in as soon as any unusual frequency kicked in. "I'm not playing this game with you." Mostly because he was hurt, suffering and he didn't need to be kicked down by people like Hartley.
"Three things." Hartley held a finger up, marking the first thing he wanted to talk about. "First of all, I want to ask you a simple question. Do you know if there's a way to rid someone of their power?" He didn't mean to give away why he was asking, he wasn't even entirely sure he knew why he was asking. He was scared of his own power. More scared of how people saw him now. He wasn't an idiot and he didn't want to end up dead or worse.
"... You'd be better off talking to the team at Star labs. Or the former Star labs." That'd be a question that Cisco and Caitlin would know. Barry had no idea. To the best of his knowledge, it was possible but it depended on how. After all, Barry had lost his but not entirely, it was still in his genetics, it could be 'rebooted'. "It's not my area." It was Doctor Wells area and he'd gone and left them. Fuck. He didn't want to think about him. "Next question?"
"Second thing then." Damn. He shouldn't have expected him to be of much use. He supposed he should ask Cisco, if Cisco would ever talk to him again. Maybe the opportunity would come, Cold could give him a call when he had his hands on Cisco. Might as well. "There are a lot of aspects to your power, aren't there? You're not just fast. What else can you do, Flash?"
"I'm not telling you that." Barry once again shut the question down because no, that was stupid. Explaining every aspect of his power to someone this dangerous? Who attacked Cisco the other day and once threw a load of cars full of people at him? Yeah, no, he didn't want to play this game and share all his weak spots. "Maybe you'll find out next time we fight. You've got one more question, Piper. Make it a good one."
"Fair enough." Useless, but he hadn't expected anything else. Hartley lifted his third finger. He was playing a game here, of course he was. He hadn't truly thought that Barry's answers to the other question would be of any use. "Do you know how unusual a speedster's energy is, the sound waves they create? I know that you didn't run all the way here. You didn't start running until a few seconds ago. My guess is that that you can't run very far right now. You're injured."
And not the best actor. "My question is, Flash. Did you know that I can hear him?"
Of course he knew, of course he was playing games, because that was just the world he lived in these days. No one said what they meant and no one took it easy. He was very tired, he didn't know how much strength he had left in him but he had enough to speed forward, grabbing Hartley as he did and yanking him by the collar of his shirt. He was soon against the wall, pinned there as Barry clenched his teeth, his words practically hissed through them, the tense in his body is obvious. "Don't play games with me. Don't think I couldn't take you down if I wanted to."
He held him in place and glared at him. "Who?" He knew who but he needed to hear him say it.
"Come on, don't be a bully." Hartley didn't feel very threatened, he didn't even try to defend himself. Instead he tried to keep from tensing, minimising the strain on his throat so he wouldn't risk accidentally hurting himself. "I'm sure you could. Lock me up again. Make sure I can't do a thing. Maybe shut me up." Hartley chuckled and then rolled his eyes. "Now who is playing games? You know who. The man who chose you. How could he know that you'd end up mattering? My second question again, Flash. What other powers do you have?"
"I'm not telling you. Stay out of my life and stay away from him. I'm going to sort this alone. don't need you meddling." Barry shoved him and pulled back, moving away from him just as his back spasmed violently and his leg gave out from under him. To say Barry hit the floor hard would be an understatement. It was a rather humiliating moment and his injured leg felt dead under him as he lay there for a second. Fuck.
There wasn't even much thought involved, Hartley simply moved forward and knelt down next to Barry, putting a hand on his shoulder. What did the villain do when the hero was injured right there with him and he hadn't been the one to cause the injury? It seemed very unusual, that much was for sure. "Is it your leg?" What was he supposed to do? "This is ridiculous..."
"Sorry. Didn't mean to ruin your moment." Barry snapped in annoyance, rolling his eyes. It was hardly his fault, he overdid himself Caitlin ordered him not to and he did it anyway. He never should have come. He forced himself back upright and shoved Hartley away, holding onto the wall for support. His leg wasn't even the real issue, it was just weak and when his back when, it gave. It always gave. Last time it happened, he was running and let's just say, he slammed face first into the pavement at a speed no one should ever do that at. "I'm fine."
"I didn't ask you to pin me to the wall, did I? I'd like to at least know if you're good-looking before I do that." Hartley looked at him with a frown. What did he even do about this? "Whatever. I suppose that gives us more time to talk. You know now. That he's not who he claimed to be, that he was using you. That he planned for all of this all along."
"I know that." He was aware that Wells betrayed him, that he killed his mother, that he was setting him up all this time but he couldn't answer any questions, he had no idea what to say or how to answer it. With a sigh, he gave up his display of strength and just sat himself onto the floor. Was the point? He knew he was weak. "I don't know his motivations, his name, why he did what he did, where he is or if he's exactly like me before you even ask. I don't know. Okay?" He had no knowledge, no anything. He was just alone, confused and betrayed.
"You can travel through time. Can't you?" Hartley looked at him, then around them just for a moment. He stepped closer again. "It all adds up. Why he knew who to hire. How he treated those he hired. Why you're the chosen one. And I looked at STAR labs, I looked at all the evidence there is of the incidence that caused all this. It could have been so much worse, couldn't it? A billion in one chance of it being this contained. Luck or you knew exactly where to be."
"But why me? What did he hate so much about me that he did this? He set everything up to mess with my life." And yes, Wells had done that to all of them but he had never done as much to Cisco or to Hartley as he did to Barry. Did he hate him? Was Barry that bad that he deserved to be hated like this? It wasn't fair. He didn't even know the guy. Barry sucked in a breath and looked down. "He changed my whole life."
"I don't know. But I know him better than he thinks I do, so my best guess is that he liked what he saw in you, wanted it for himself and that he felt you didn't live up to what you really could be." Hartley shrugged. Who knew? The entire premise still hardly made sense to him, but he was right. He knew he was right. "There's hardly ever a solution found in asking yourself "Why me?""
"I guess not." Barry huffed and lowered his head, hating everything about this. This city was ruined, he was poweless, there was nothing he could do and he wanted so badly to ask for help, for some kind of advise and the only person he could ask betrayed him. He was all alone in this and Caitlin and Cisco kept looking at him for answers. Where did he even start to fix this? "I don't know why he did what he did. I'm sorry he did it to you too."
"Oh, please. I'm just an afterthought to him. But I'll make him regret that. I'll make him pay for everything." Revenge was still on his mind, of course it was. In a city as ruined as he was, it was never far from his thoughts. "You're not the only person in this city who has the power to change things, Flash. You just need to make sure it won't be the wrong people changing it."
"I can't exactly do much, can I?" Barry huffed as he climbed onto his feet and moved towards the the end of the stage. Whatever Hartley wanted out of him, he wasn't sure what it was but he didn't think he could give it to him. "I can't help you. Not yet. I'm not strong enough yet. I will be but..." Well, what was he supposed to do? He had no guidance, his strength was low and he was out of his element. He missed Wells.
"You'll contact me when you can move again and the world looks less black and white." Apparently Hartley had full confidence. Either way, he followed the Flash and pulled a card out of his pocket with his free hand, holding it out to him. "My number. And you should change, unless you can run back. People are looking for you. I could have been rich, just giving them your location today."
"And yet you haven't." Barry took the care as a sign of good faith and eyed the exit, it took all of his strength to speed from here but he did it to avoid having to slowly limp out. Once outside, he was pretty much flat on his face again. This sucked so much. He was going to go home, lie on Stein's couch and binge eat cocoa pops.
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And not the best actor. "My question is, Flash. Did you know that I can hear him?"
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He held him in place and glared at him. "Who?" He knew who but he needed to hear him say it.
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