— 𝒮—

"𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐀," 𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐋𝐄𝐃, dragging out the 'a' for as long as possible as he sat down next to her.

Her eyebrows furrowed as he placed a to-go cup of Jitters coffee in front of her and she turned to him with a suspicious look. "What do you want from me?"

Cisco grinned and shifted his chair closer to her as he leaned forward and pulled up a document on the computer in front of her. "So, I wrote this research paper on how the speed of sound correlates to the—"

"Yeah, yeah," Sophia sighed, brushing his hand off of the mouse and beginning to review the first page.

"I love you." Cisco grinned as he stood up and slapped her on the back. "You and your two billion and seventy IQ."

"Mhm." She nodded, rolling her eyes before returning them back to the document.

"Guys!" Caitlin rushed into the Cortex, her hair a little frizzy and her phone clutched in her hand. "Dr. Wells—his house was attacked last night!"

"What?" both Sophia and Cisco exclaimed simultaneously.

The two of them shared a look of apprehension before following Caitlin out the door, and the three of them swiftly made their way over to Dr. Wells' home.

After a lot of wrong turns, and a lot of Google mapping, they arrived outside the grand house, though they hardly had the time to appreciate it as they hurried out of the car.

There was already a swarm of police cars parked outside, and Sophia was sure that both Barry and Joe were already inside.

That suspicion was confirmed as they saw the two talking to Dr. Wells as they walked in, and Sophia's eyes widened when she saw all the glass on the glass ceiling was now in little fragments on the ground.

"Dr. Wells!" Caitlin said hurriedly as they rushed over to him. "Dr. Wells, are you okay?"

"Dr. Snow, I'm fine," Dr. Wells reassured her with a small smile. "A little chilly, otherwise I'm fine. Hello, Sophia, Cisco. Make yourselves at home as best you can," he offered before beginning to roll off. "I'm gonna make a hotel reservation."

Cisco looked around at the large place, which was filled with glass walls, art pieces, and modern furniture, his eyes wide in awe. "This place is so sick."

"Yeah," Barry agreed as he walked up to them. "Hey, what took you guys so long?"

The three of them exchanged an awkward look as Cisco told him, "We got lost."

"We've never been here before," Caitlin added with a small shrug.

"Really?" Barry asked in surprise, his eyebrows raising. "Never?"

Sophia sighed, "He tends to keep his private life . . . private."

— 𝒮 —

Now regrouped in the Cortex, the group stood around the TV monitors as they stared at the profile of Hartley Rathaway—the person who had attacked Dr. Wells' home.

Sophia exchanged a look of irritation with Cisco; they both hated him.

"Hartley Rathaway possesses one of the finest scientific minds I've ever encountered," Dr. Wells told them.

Joe's eyes were slightly squinted as he nodded to the screen. "Any ties to Rathaway Industries?"

"His grandfather founded it, his father expanded it, and Hartley was set to inherit the throne," Dr. Wells answered.

"What happened?" asked Barry with furrowed eyebrows.

Caitlin sighed as she put her hands on her hips. "He came out to his parents." She shrugged before continuing, "Old money, old values."

"They were estranged when we met but brilliant," Dr. Wells mused as he stared at the picture in front of him. "I couldn't have built the particle accelerator without him."

"You guys have never even mentioned his name," Barry pointed out with a shake of the head.

"That's because Hartley had a . . . challenging personality," Caitlin responded as she scratched the back of her neck.

"What she means is he was mostly a jerk," Sophia clarified with a wrinkled nose.

"But every once in a while . . ." Cisco added, "he could be a dick."

Joe laughed at the statement, with Barry chuckling along.

"Let's just say that Hartley, like many outliers, had trouble relating to his peers," Dr. Wells said with an amused smile.

"Yes, but he was always your favourite," Cisco pointed out with a small glare as he folded his arms.

"The chosen one," Sophia added on, causing Dr. Wells to tsk. "He referred to himself like that."

"So if you two were so close," Joe asked as he turned to Dr. Wells, "why would he target you?"

Dr. Wells looked up at him for a moment before turning his gaze back to the screen. "Hartley left STAR Labs about a year ago after we had a . . . a disagreement."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed. "About what?"

Barry's worried gaze came upon the two, and he quickly interrupted the small silence, "Look, don't worry. We'll stop him. I won't let him hurt you, any of you." He turned to Joe, beckoning him as he began to walk away. "Let's get back to my lab, all right?"

Cisco stared at the photo of Hartley, his arms folded as he muttered, "I could have gone my whole life without seeing that jerk again."

Sophia sighed in agreement before walking back over to the main desk, sitting in the middle as she resumed the document that she had hardly gotten a chance to look at that morning. She barely noticed as the others left the room, though the silence was a little eerie.

She leaned her chin onto her hand as she narrowed her eyes, though she soon removed it as she quickly typed to fix some typos.

Almost an hour later, her attention shifted to the right monitor as a beep sounded, and her eyebrows furrowed before realizing what was happening.

An attack at Rathaway Industries. Seemed like Hartley was on the path of revenge.

Quickly, she pulled out her phone and dialled Barry's number, and she only had to wait for a second for him to pick up.

"Hey."

"Barry, it's Sophia," she said hurriedly as she made her way out of the Cortex.

"I think I know why you're calling."

She barely had time to think of an answer as he hung up, and she rolled her eyes as she pocketed her phone. She should teach him some phone etiquette later.

Quickly, she found the others in the workshop, and she swiftly beckoned them back into the Cortex.

They took their spots as the speaker played Barry's voice for them.

"It's over, Rathaway."

"You know my name," Hartley responded. Sophia shuddered at the sound; it's been a long time since she'd heard the horrible voice. "I know some names too. Caitlin Snow. Cisco Ramon. Sophia Byun. Harrison Wells. I can hear their radio waves emanating from your suit. About nineteen hundred megahertz. Is that them on the other end listening? Are they gonna hear you die?"

"No," Barry replied coolly. "They're gonna hear you get your ass kicked."

You could practically hear the smug smirk on Hartley's face. "Okay."

After a few moments of what they could assume was fighting, hearing Barry's grunts, he suddenly said, "Looks like you're not as smart as everyone says."

"Smart enough to have figured out who Wells really is," Hartley hissed. "You see, I know his secret."

Sophia's eyebrows furrowed as she glanced toward Dr. Wells, whose smile had faded. What secret?

They had no time to touch on this, however, as Barry told them that he and Hartley would be arriving in a moment, and she, Cisco, and Caitlin quickly made their way towards the elevator, whose doors opened a minute later.

Hartley, his hands bound by power-dampening handcuffs, and being pushed forward by the suited Barry, drawled, "Being scooped up by a guy clad in head-to-toe leather is a longtime fantasy of mine, so thanks."

The three of them walked up to him, causing an unfriendly smile to grow on his face.

"Well, well," Hartley leered, "the gang's all here. You've lasted a lot longer than I'd have thought, Cisco."

Cisco, his arms folded, swiftly retaliated, "And you didn't last ten seconds against the Flash."

Hartley seemed unaffected by this. "I was thinking of calling myself Pied Piper."

"Hey," Cisco said in offence, "I assign the nicknames around here." He paused for a moment before giving a reluctant nod. "Although that one's not bad."

"You too, Sophia," Hartley added as he looked at her, a smirk on his face. "With your incompetence, I thought you'd last no more than a year."

"Hey, only I can call her stupid," Cisco cut in, his eyes narrowed. "And sucks for you, her IQ is eight trillion now. Don't quote me on that."

"Caitlin." Hartley turned his attention towards her as he raised his eyebrows. "Never did get that wedding invite."

"Shut the hell up," Barry muttered as he pushed Hartley forward, where Cisco then grabbed him.

"Stay in front of me," Cisco ordered as he shoved him forward.

Sophia followed Cisco and Hartley towards the Pipeline, where she and Cisco then forced the man into one of the cells.

Cisco checked the tablet that was attached to the wall for the scan and furrowed his eyebrows as he stepped towards the middle and said, "Scanner's detecting foreign metallic objects in your ears. Take them out."

Hartley shook his head. "I can't. I suffered head trauma when STAR Labs exploded. My hearing was severely damaged. Without these, I'm in pain you can't imagine." His eyes flickered past the two as Caitlin walked in, and with his gaze set on her, he added, "We all lost something that night."

Sophia gave a worried glance to Caitlin, who only sighed and folded her arms in response.

"Heh," Hartley chuckled as he looked around the cell he was in. "Very clever, repurposing the antiproton cavities into confinement cells. Wells' idea, I'm sure."

"It was mine, actually," Sophia corrected with a scoff, earning proud smiles from the two friends beside her.

"Little Sophia," Hartley murmured in Korean, a taunting grin on his face. "Still begging for her master's approval."

Sophia replied in Korean as she slowly stepped toward him, "If you're so smart, why are you in a cage?"

"Hartley," Caitlin cut in, "don't make this more difficult than it has to be."

Hartley tilted his head as he turned to her, a small smile spreading on his face. "I forgot," he spoke, switching to French, "You don't like emotions. They're messy."

"Enough, Hartley," came Dr. Wells' voice from behind them as he rolled up, causing the man to sigh and roll his eyes. Dr. Wells' eyes glanced at the three of them as he murmured, "Give us a minute."

As the three of them turned to leave, Hartley, in English, called, "See you soon, Cisco."

"Doubt it," replied Cisco as they walked out, not bothering to spare Hartley a second glance.

"God," Sophia sighed as they headed back towards the Cortex, "that guy pisses me off."

By the time they had made it back to the Cortex, they managed to hear Hartley talk to Barry through the speakers, "It feels good to have the great Harrison Wells behind you, doesn't it? But one day . . . this man will turn on you . . . in a flash. And even you won't see it coming."

Sophia's eyebrows furrowed as she came to Barry's side, peering at the monitor that was displaying the footage of Hartley staring at the camera.

"My only hope is that he leaves you in better shape than he left me," Hartley continued. "If you're lucky, you'll only be dead. Because every day, I have to live with the agonizing, piercing screaming in my ears."

They watched as silence came, and they could only assume that Dr. Wells, who wasn't in the frame, had turned around to leave, but Hartley wasn't quite finished yet.

"Heh. I almost forgot. I told your pet I know your deep, dark secret, Harrison." He paused. "Have fun letting him in on that one."

The four of them sat around the desk at the back left corner, troubled expressions on their faces and a stiff silence in the air.

Only a few minutes later did Dr. Wells roll in, and he gave them a knowing smile as he came in front of them. "I assume you were all listening. Hartley was telling the truth," he admitted as he sighed. "I have not been honest with you—with any of you." He stretched his arms behind his head for a moment before clasping his hands together and putting them in his lap.

Sophia exchanged a nervous look with Cisco; she had no clue what he was talking about, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"The accelerator," Dr. Wells confessed after a brief pause of silence. "Hartley warned me that there was indeed a chance that the accelerator could explode."

Sophia's eyes widened as her grip on the edge of the table tightened. She felt her mind begin to cloud with a mixture of confusion and anger, though she tried to ignore it as she watched as Dr. Wells sighed and shook his head.

"His data did not show one hundred percent certainty—just that there was a risk, but it was a real risk, and yet I made the decision . . . that the reward . . . that . . . everything we could learn—that everything we could achieve, that all of that" —he paused for a moment as he regained control over his breathing— "simply outweighed that risk. I'm sorry."

Sophia hardly had the ability to gauge the others' reactions as she put her head in her hands and shook her head, her eyes shutting.

Her attention turned up to Caitlin only a moment later as she stood up and shakily said, "The next time you choose to put our lives and the lives of the people that we love at risk . . . we'll expect a heads-up."

Their gaze hardened on the man, Sophia and Cisco followed Caitlin out of the Cortex.

— 𝒮 —

"You sure you're okay?" Sophia said softly to Caitlin as the two of them headed towards the Cortex.

"I'm fine," Caitlin reassured her with a small smile, though it soon turned into a frown as they entered the room and saw it void of life.

Their attention quickly turned to Cisco, who was fiddling with Hartley's gauntlets in the Med Lab, and they stepped inside.

"Where's Dr. Wells?" asked Caitlin.

"I'm not sure." Cisco sighed. With a small shrug, he added on, "Barry was right. Hartley was using sonic resonance. The intensity regulator's measuring decibels. But you know what's weird?" Cisco's eyebrows furrowed as he looked towards them and continued, "He had it set to the lowest setting."

Caitlin's face soon became baffled as she slightly shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he could've completely destroyed his father's building if he wanted to in one blast," Cisco answered distraughtly as he leaned back in his chair.

"So why not just do it and leave?" queried Caitlin with a small shrug, her eyebrows knitting together as she looked at the gauntlets. "I mean, why stick around and run the risk of getting caught?"

A look of realization dawned on Sophia's face as she breathed out, "Unless he wanted to be caught."

Ignoring the questioning looks from the other two, Sophia dashed down to the main desk, slowing down and giving an exasperated sigh as she saw that Hartley's cell was now completely empty, and the glass front was now shattered.

She pressed the alarm before hurriedly speaking into the microphone, "Dr. Wells, there's been a Pipeline breach." She turned to the other two, who had come to her side, and pointed her finger as she instructed them, "Stay here."

Sophia then sprinted out of the Cortex and down the hall, skidding slightly as she reached the door to the Pipeline.

She hurried in, but was soon thrown back as the cell wall exploded, and she saw the mere outline of Hartley's figure before her vision faded to black.

— 𝐵 —

Barry gazed down at Sophia in worry, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips tightly pursed.

She didn't seem all too hurt. Her skin was a little redder than normal and there were a few bruises developing on the skin that he could see, but other than that, she seemed okay.

He could only hope she really was okay.

He placed a gentle hand on her cheek, frowning at how warm it was. He quickly removed his hand, however, as Cisco came to his side, and he cleared his throat.

"You think she'll be okay?" Barry asked.

"Eh, she's a tough cookie," Cisco reassured him, though his voice was a little thinner than normal. "She's gone through worse."

Barry gave a small hum as his eyes roamed over her features.

"While she's knocked out, though . . ." Cisco began, taking Barry out of his little moment of adoration, "I know you're the frickin' Flash and all, but I will take you John Cena-style down if you hurt her."

"What?" Barry questioned, finally taking his eyes off of her as he turned to Cisco. "What are you talking about?"

Cisco raised his eyebrows. "Drop the act. I know you're crushing on her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Barry chuckled nervously. "And if I did, I'd suggest we don't talk about it when she's right next to us."

"She's not conscious," Cisco pointed out. "I'm just saying, Barry, you better treat her right. Or else I will do you wrong."

Barry raised his hands in defence. "If anything happens—which I doubt, she doesn't like me like that—I won't hurt her, Cisco."

His eyebrows furrowed. "But she does—"

"Guys?"

The two of them instantly turned back to Sophia, whose eyes were now squinting as they adjusted to the light.

Relief instantly filled Barry. She was okay. Probably.

"Hey," Barry said softly, his smile widening as her gaze turned to him. "Welcome back."

She gave a small chuckle and was about to sit up when she gave a small groan and clutched the back of her head.

"Ugh," she muttered as she slowly sat herself up, but her eyes widened as she breathed out, "Cisco, Caitlin."

"Hey, they're fine," Barry quickly reassured her as he nodded.

Cisco put a hand on her shoulder. "Right here."

"You need to rest," Caitlin said sternly as she came to her side. "You have a concussion. You're lucky."

"And an idiot," added Cisco with a small grin.

Sophia rolled her eyes in amusement before looking at Barry and sighing. "Please tell me you got him."

Barry shook his head, causing her to groan. "I guess the attack on his family's company was a fake-out so we'd catch him."

"And give him direct access to STAR Labs," continued Caitlin.

"But why?" Barry questioned breathily, his face scrunching up.

"I should've known he was up to something, I'm the super-genius," Sophia mumbled as she rubbed the back of her head. "This is my fault."

"Hey, this is on me, too," Barry swiftly said as he shook his head, "I shouldn't have left before—"

"This is no one's fault but mine," cut in Dr. Wells as he wheeled into the Cortex, drawing their gazes towards him. "I earned the blame. I'm not interested in sharing it. Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes—he's right. He won't stop until I do."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed as Dr. Wells turned. "Where you going?"

Dr. Wells looked up at them as he replied, "To earn back your trust."

— 𝒮 —

"Has Hartley made contact yet?" asked Dr. Wells as the group entered the Cortex.

Dr. Wells had just broadcasted his confession of what he had admitted to the four of them earlier that day, in hopes to settle peace with Hartley. Whether or not it had worked was unknown to them, but they could only pray to soon get an answer.

Caitlin leaned against the side of the main desk as she questioned, "What makes you so sure he will?"

Dr. Wells gave her an amused smile. "Because he's Hartley, and he'll wanna have the last word."

Sophia hardly paid any attention to this discourse as she grabbed a tablet from the main desk and passed Barry to head towards the Med Lab. She needed to find out why he needed to be in STAR Labs—and soon.

"Soph," Barry called as he turned his eyes to her, "you should be resting."

She paused as she turned to him and shook her head to dismiss his worried gaze. "The answer to why Hartley fooled us into catching him is in here" —she lifted the tablet— "and I'm gonna find it."

Not bothering to wait for a response, Sophia turned back around and took a seat in the Med Lab, her eyebrows furrowing as she began to swipe the screen.

She was joined no more than a moment later by Dr. Wells, who murmured, "You have nothing to prove."

Sophia glanced over her shoulder as she muttered, "Not true."

Dr. Wells gave a small scoff of amusement. "Do you know why I hired you, Sophia?"

"You said you saw something in me," she answered dismissively as she continued working on the tablet, "I know."

"What I saw was humanity," Dr. Wells added. "You and Hartley, Sophia, you're both brilliant—you even more so now. You both have mental" —he snapped his fingers— "sparks, but his brilliance subtracted from the experience of working here, whereas your brilliance, your heart, your warmth, your humour—it just adds to it."

Sophia paused, letting the tablet rest on the table as she turned her gaze to him, though she remained silent.

Dr. Wells gave a small chuckle as he shook his head and looked out in front of him. "There's no chosen one, Sophia." He looked back towards her, a small smile drawing onto his face. "There's no second or third favourite—never was. It's just us."

Sophia gave him a grateful smile, but their eyes were soon turned to the ceiling as it began to rumble.

"What's that?" Caitlin questioned.

Suddenly, a few sparks flew from the ceiling as Hartley's voice came over the PA system, "Nice gambit, Harrison, but this isn't over."

"Hartley, what do you want?" Dr. Wells asked angrily as he rolled down to the Cortex floor, Sophia passing by him. "What do you want, Hartley? I already gave my mea culpa today."

"The city already hated you," Hartley responded mildly. "You don't think I noticed that press conference was a pathetic bishop sacrifice? No, no, no, I've played with you too many times to let you get away with that. This is between you, me, and the Flash."

"You don't wanna play for those kind of stakes with me, Hartley," Dr. Wells warned.

"Actually, I really do. What do you say? One last game of chess?"

"You and I both know that the winner of the game is the one who makes the next to last mistake, and you clearly have a move in mind," Dr. Wells replied, his eyes flickering upwards.

"You're right, and I'm already at the board. So why don't you move your precious scarlet knight . . . while I take out a few pawns?"

Barry immediately changed into his suit, and began pacing around the room as he asked, "All right, Cisco, where do I go?"

Cisco, who was furiously typing into his computer, shook his head. "I can't trace his signal. He could be sending his messages from anywhere."

"Cisco, scan for seismic activity," Sophia instructed quickly as she sat down next to him, "If Hartley's using sonic blasts, the vibrations could cause tremors."

Cisco nodded quickly, and it wasn't long until the map suddenly had red lines dashing all over them.

"Look, over here," Cisco said as the TV monitor displayed the map. "Quake activity but no fault line."

"I think he's on Cleveland Dam," Caitlin murmured.

"Barry," Sophia warned as Barry began to walk towards the exit, "don't underestimate him. He's brilliant."

Barry gave a small nod before a grin came onto his face as he tapped his ear. "Well, good thing I'll have you in here."

A burst of lightning and a strong wind later, Barry was gone.

"Barry," Dr. Wells spoke quickly into the microphone, "you need to disarm Hartley immediately. He is a master of distraction; he is a master of hiding his true endgame"

Sophia scrolled through her tablet once more before her eyes lit up. "Aha!" She quickly walked over and opened the files on the computer, and her eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

"'Aha' what?" Dr. Wells asked worriedly, his eyes flicking over to her.

"I figured out what Hartley stole from STAR Labs—why he let himself get caught," she answered, her eyes quickly reading over the material.

"Which brings us to the 'uh-oh,'" Cisco stated with narrowed eyes.

Sophia awkwardly turned to the group as she informed them, "He has all the data on Barry's molecular scans."

Caitlin's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would he want that?"

"He can get Barry's frequency," Dr. Wells realized. He raised his voice as he ordered, "Barry, you need to get out of there. Get out of there immediately!"

Barry clearly ignored them however as he shouted a few moments later, "It's over! You lose."

"Amazing," Hartley scoffed. "He replaced me with you, a total moron. I got you with the same trick twice."

They suddenly heard Barry groaning, and their attention was turned to his vitals on the right computer screen, which began to fluctuate dangerously.

"I got the idea watching you and Harrison chit-chat," mused Hartley. "To use your suit's own speakers to kill you. That feeling? That's your organs shearing apart. And you activated the frequency when you disarmed me. In chess, we call that a discovered attack—you don't see it until it's too late. Right, Harrison?"

"Barry's vitals are bottoming out," Caitlin exclaimed. "We need to do something."

Dr. Wells pushed Cisco's chair away, ignoring as he questioned him and as he typed, said, "Barry's on the travel road of the dam at rush hour surrounded by cars. And those cars are gonna have satellite radio. Satellite sends a signal, song comes out the speaker—"

"Yes, I know how satellite radio works," Caitlin interrupted. "How does that help?"

"Well," Dr. Wells murmured as his eyes narrowed at the screen, "I'll have a satellite send something other than a song. Hartley is about to hear something he wasn't expecting—a sound wave that'll meet the frequency of and destroy his weapons. Sophia—"

"Four-hundred-and-ninety-nine-point-five hertz."

"Thank you."

A few moments later, and Barry's groans and yells had come to an end, reassuring them that Dr. Wells' plan had worked out.

"Barry?" Sophia asked into the microphone. "Can you hear me?"

Barry's voice was extremely loud as he shouted back, "Sort of!"

— 𝒮 —

"Hey, Acai-Barry," Sophia greeted as Barry walked into the Cortex later that evening, a small smile on her face as she examined his face. "Is your hearing better?"

"Yeah, I think so," he answered loudly, causing her to giggle.

"Barry," she scoffed in amusement as she put a hand on his arm, "you're very loud."

"Sorry," he apologized with a small grin that made her heart skip a beat as he lowered his volume. "I'll work on that."

"You know what else you need to work on?" she questioned as she raised her eyebrows.

His eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"How you answer the phone," she told him as she swatted his arm. "I call you, and you go 'I know what you're talking about' and hang up. Whatever happened to 'thanks' or 'I'll be there in a second'?"

"My bad," he chuckled, rolling his eyes in amusement. "I'll do that next time someone's life is in danger."

"Yeah," she quipped, "you better. Now," she added as Caitlin came up to the both of them, "I think I'm gonna take my doctor's advice and lie down, because my head hurts like shit."

"Oh, wow," Caitlin scoffed, "what a great idea."

Sophia nodded as Caitlin began to guide her out of the Cortex. "I feel like I'm hungover times ten."