Chapter Text
“Pied Piper.”
The voice was raspy with a static edge. It made the hair on the back of Hartley’s neck stand on end. Or perhaps it was the lightning crackling around the intruder. Either way, Hartley was filled with an animal instinct to run, but he recognized the figure as a speedster and knew it was pointless to flee.
“I don’t go by that name anymore,” Hartley said as stoic as possible. The creature seemed to regard him curiously, tilting its head to one side. Hartley forced himself to look into its face and show no fear. The inky black eyes were cold and unnerving.
“I have a job for you,” the creature spoke finally. Hartley scoffed.
“I may be unemployed, but I’m not that desperate.” He couldn’t help but flinch as the speedster moved in front of him in a blink. He could feel the heat of its suit radiating against his chest and face. The creature was taller than him, and Hartley had to force himself to keep his head up in defiance.
“You, Hartley Rathaway, will rejoin Team Flash and report their activity to me,” the voice seemed to reverberate around the small space that Hartley called his apartment.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you hate them. Caitlin Snow, Francisco Ramon, Harrison Wells,” the creature drawled.
“Harrison Wells is dead,” Hartley said, venom in his voice.
“Not the Harrison Wells from my world. He’s joined the Flash’s team and helps them in secret. You will spy on them for me, and when I kill Harrison Wells, you will be free of him once and for all.”
The speedster’s exit caused a lofty stack of books by his bedside to topple over, and Hartley became aware of the harsh beating of his heart as he listened intently to the speedster retreating miles away. Hartley backed himself into a rickety chair and propped his elbows on his work table. It had mismatched legs and rocked a little, but Hartley paid it no mind as he calmed himself. He suddenly had a lot to think about.
~
It was a few days after the monster’s visit when Hartley saw him again. He was playing poker with a few of the rogues. Mick was on his left, and the empty chair Lisa had long abandoned sat on his right. She rushed back into the room suddenly with a tablet in hand. She shushed everyone and placed it in the center of the table. On the screen was a livestream of the monster holding up a lifeless speedster.
The Flash’s body was bent at odd angles that made Hartley feel ill. Lisa wolf whistled next to him, and he winced, turning his hearing aids down with a glare in her direction.
“Do you think he’s dead?” she asked. Hartley shrugged, looking away from the screen. The creature had called itself Zoom. At least now Hartley had somewhat of a name for it.
He had given Zoom’s words a lot of thought. He wouldn’t have even considered the notion if Zoom hadn’t brought up Harrison Wells. The name sent an icy feeling through Hartley’s chest. It had only been a few months since Hartley had heard that Harrison was dead. He’d used an irresponsible amount of his savings that night to purchase a bottle of champagne and celebrated alone in his dingy apartment. He’d felt a weight lift from his shoulders and even applied for a job at Mercury Labs in the hopes that his reputation had recovered upon his former employer's demise. No such luck.
“Turn it off now,” Hartley groused, messing with the dial on his aids. The gravelly voice of the monster did nothing for his constant headaches. Lisa clicked off the tablet and pursed her lips at him.
“You’ve been snippier than usual these last few days, dear. Is everything alright?” she asked in her fake, sickly-sweet tone. Hartley rolled his eyes.
“Fine,” he said shortly, standing and pacing around the room a bit. He felt restless—on edge. He hadn’t told Lisa or anyone else about his encounter with Zoom. He didn’t want anyone’s opinion on what he should do, and he didn’t want anyone’s pity if it turned out that Harrison Wells was alive.
“Perhaps I wouldn’t be snippy if someone hadn’t damaged my aids,” Hartley added, scowling at Mick. The man merely grunted as he set fire to one of his cards, ignoring the protests of the people around him.
Hartley’s hearing was the cherry on top of his regret at ever having met Dr. Harrison Wells. The dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion had given him enhanced auditory function. He could hear everything from miles away. Everything. It was annoying and rather painful. As much as it killed him to admit it, the aids Cisco had made for him last year were better than anything Hartley had come up with. They worked to lessen the intensity of the sounds around him. He could turn it down as low as he needed and even turn them off to have blissful silence—or at least he could before Heat Wave had gotten too close with his heat gun once. The aids had been temperamental ever since.
“Are we playing or what?”
~
Hartley’s opportunity came in the form of Leonard Snart of all people.
“Miss me, kid?” the man asked after Hartley flicked on the lights. He was sitting at Hartley’s table wearing his blue parka, looking at Hartley casually as though he wasn’t supposed to be locked up at Iron Heights.
“What are you doing here?” Hartley asked incredulously, setting his groceries on the peeling counter. He crossed the room and sat on his bed, cross-legged, and stared at the original rogue.
He would never tell the man, but he was glad to see him. Snart was there when Hartley was recovering from the damage to his hearing. He gave Hartley the crappy apartment they were sitting in, and had provided him a small income for doing odd jobs for the rogues: fixing a piece of tech here, advising on a job there, nothing explicitly illegal. He’d provided Hartley a family of sorts for which Hartley would always be grateful—albeit silently. He couldn’t afford to wear his heart on his sleeve. Not anymore.
Snart told Hartley about Mardon breaking him and Trickster out of Iron Heights and everything they were planning. He also confided that he had warned The Flash about their plans. This caused Hartley to raise his eyebrows at the older man, but he didn’t dare say anything.
“How are things around here?” Leonard asked.
“Magical as always,” Hartley snarked. “Lisa and I bake cookies for orphans, Mick picks flowers for the elderly, and on the weekends we all volunteer at the animal shelter.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have left you in charge. Everyone’s soft now.”
“No one is in charge of Lisa,” Hartley pointed out. Snart nodded his agreement.
“True. Humor me, kid. What’s really going on with you?” Snart had been talking to Lisa, Hartley realized. He thought about telling Leonard about Zoom’s assignment. The man was different than the rest of the rogues. Hartley could confide in him, though he didn’t often. Telling him, however, meant that he would have to tell why he was considering it, and Hartley didn’t want Snart to know he was still hung up on Wells. It felt like a betrayal somehow. Snart had put so much effort into helping Hartley move on.
“Nothing,” Hartley lied. Snart gave him a look but didn’t push any further.
~
“I know what Mardon and Trickster are planning,” Hartley spoke in lieu of a greeting. He stepped into the cortex and watched as Cisco, Caitlin, and a man he’d never met swung around in alarm. The look on Cisco’s face was priceless.
“What the hell?” Cisco demanded.
“Who is this?” the stranger asked at the same time.
“I’m Dr. Rathaway, but you can call me Hartley,” he said, making a show of raking his eyes over the stranger's body. Caitlin made a tutting noise and moved a little closer to the man. Hartley found that interesting and felt his lips pull into a smirk. “I came to help.”
“Why would you help us?” Cisco said. He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. Hartley supposed he was trying to look intimidating, but he hardly pulled it off.
“They’re planning to blow up children and their families on Christmas. Despite what you may think of me, I couldn't let that happen,” Hartley said. Cisco looked skeptical, and Caitlin had that pinched look about her. Hartley didn’t know the mystery man enough to read him, but he didn’t look nearly as distrusting as the other two.
“I think we can use all the help we can get,” the blond spoke slowly, seeming to read the tension in the room. “My name’s Jay.”
Hartley nodded to him. He wondered then if he’d met Jay somewhere before. There was something about him. He sounded familiar somehow. With this train of thought, Hartley abruptly became aware of the individual heart beats all around him and resisted the urge to mess with his aids.
“So, what’s the big bad plan then?” Cisco asked, arms still crossed.
“Trickster is downtown right now passing out explosives to children wrapped as Christmas presents. He’s already given out dozens, so there’s no way to stop this before it happens,” Hartley began. Cisco scoffed, and Hartley gave him an impatient look.
“So you came here to tell us that the damage was already done?”
“No,” Hartley drawled, “I came here to tell you that you can use the polar signature of one of the explosives to draw out the others. I would have done so myself, but thanks to a certain someone, I no longer have access to the necessary equipment.” As Hartley spoke these words, another man entered the room.
Hartley’s breath caught in his throat, and for a horrible second he thought he might pass out. His vision tunneled for a moment, and his head felt light. It occurred to him how mortifying it would be to wake up from fainting in front of the Star Labs crew and managed to recover himself.
“I thought you were dead,” Hartley said. He wasn’t proud of the slight waver in his voice.
“I’m not him,” the man said flatly. His brows creased in a way that Hartley knew meant he was fed up with something. He knew this man so well, or at least he thought he did.
“This is Harrison Wells of Earth-2,” Caitlin said. Cisco gave her a look like she’d said something she shouldn’t have.
“Earth-2?” Did that mean? Surely not. That was all theory, and far-fetched theory at that. Hartley stared at them, waiting for an explanation. Cisco was the first to break. He briefly explained the multiverse and what little they knew of it so far. If he was trying to keep his dislike for Hartley out of his voice, he wasn’t doing a very good job.
“I see,” Hartley said, trying to seem unfazed. His mind was reeling with this new information. It hardly mattered though. Harrison Wells was the villain in Hartley’s story, and it didn’t matter to him that this Wells wasn’t his. It was Harrison all the same.
He was saved from having to say anything else by The Flash’s voice shouting over the comms. Cisco sat back down and wheeled around to face the monitor. Everyone else, Hartley included, stepped behind him to watch. Trickster and Mardon were killing the Flash, and the speedster was letting them to save the children.
“We need to find one of those bombs, and then figure out how to use it to draw out the others,” Hartley said quickly, ignoring everyone’s wince as The Flash took a particularly hard blow on the monitor.
“We can use one of the breaches,” Wells supplied. Hartley pushed past the writhing in his stomach the man’s voice caused to think about what he’d said.
“That’ll work,” he said thoughtfully, tugging at his earlobe as he ran through the schematics in his mind. He didn’t look at Wells.
Cisco, Jay, and Wells shouted out ideas and plans as they all moved for the exit. Cisco insisted in a rather snappish tone that Hartley was not needed as they left. This was all fine by Hartley, who had no desire to spend any more time than necessary with Wells’s doppelganger.
He wasn’t sure what to do with himself after the three men left. It was just him and Caitlin in the cortex now—far less tense with Cisco and Wells gone but still palpable. Caitlin hesitantly pushed Cisco’s chair toward Hartley in a silent invitation to watch the monitors with her. He accepted while keeping a neutral look.
Watching the monitors was more exciting than Hartley would have liked to admit. He listened with bated breath as the men worked out how to get the bombs through the breach while the Flash was getting his ass kicked by Mardon and Trickster. Caitlin let out a cheer when it was over, and Hartley couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. Caitlin beamed at him when she caught it, and he rolled his eyes.
All of the men returned and celebrated their victory with over-embellished retellings and claps on each others’ backs. Hartley tried to slip out unnoticed until Caitlin brought attention to him.
“We really couldn’t have done it without Hartley,” she pointed out. Hartley stopped in his tracks and put on a cool expression.
“No thanks necessary. The rogues are more palatable without Mardon around,” Hartley shrugged.
“We’re having a little Christmas Eve get together at Joe’s. You should come,” Caitlin said. Hartley was surprised for a moment, though he shouldn’t have been. Caitlin had always treated his mannerisms as endearing rather than irritating much to Hartley’s chagrin. He was about to decline the invitation when he caught the incredulous look Cisco was shooting at her, and he found he couldn’t resist bothering the engineer further with his presence.
“Is Wells going?” he asked. Caitlin shook her head. “I’m in.”
He tried not to laugh at the look of utter horror on Cisco’s face. It made the idea of suffering through an evening of pleasantries with Team Flash and friends worth it.
~
Hartley changed into some nice clothes he’d managed to hold onto during his turbulent period of unemployment. He wore a dark green sweater with a dress shirt underneath so the collar stuck out. He paired it with some black trousers and dress shoes. He then took a cab to the address Caitlin texted him. He hoped he wouldn’t regret giving a member of Team Flash his number.
When he pulled up outside, Hartley paid the driver and stepped onto the porch. He could hear the friendly chatter inside. Cisco was teasing Caitlin for liking the new guy. Barry and Jay were trading speedster stories. Hartley already felt out of place and wondered if he should just call the cab back and go home. He’d just turned back when he heard footsteps approaching the front door.
“Hey, man! You made it!” Barry Allen beamed at him, stepping aside and gesturing to come in. Hartley nodded once and entered. It was warm inside, and the room smelled faintly of gingerbread and peppermint. Hartley could hear the crackling of the fire and the ticking of a timer in the kitchen.
“I just wanted to thank you again for your help today,” Barry said, “the team, I mean. Thank you for helping the team.” Hartley, of course, knew that Barry was the Flash but thought it best to keep that to himself for the moment.
“It was fun,” he admitted. “It’s been a while since I was able to put my natural-born brilliance to good use.” Barry seemed to find this statement a little amusing as he steered them into the living room.
“Look who made it,” Barry called. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Caitlin was smiling at him while Iris looked over inquisitively. Cisco downed his drink and turned his back to them. Joe West was the first to speak.
“Hartley,” he walked over with a hand out to him. Hartley shook it sheepishly. “I want to thank you for helping out the team. You saved a lot of lives tonight.”
“Glad to help,” Hartley said quietly.
“We should have reached out after everything that went down with Wells. You were right, kid. Just promise me that you’re done with the whole shattering buildings and such now that he’s gone,” Joe said.
“I promise,” Hartley said, a genuine smile breaking out. A weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying lifted from his shoulders. Joe chuckled.
“Eggnog,” he offered, handing him a glass. Hartley took it gratefully. The gathering wasn’t nearly as miserable as he thought, and after a while, he actually started to enjoy himself. He ended up in an intense debate with Iris over something in the latest issue of Central City Picture News. It ended with her huffing and shoving his shoulder. He laughed and felt lighter than he had before. Perhaps it was the eggnog.
“So, you sticking around?” This was Jay. The man seemed to tread lighter than anyone else in the house, like he was trying not to draw attention.
“Maybe,” Hartley said, and he could tell Cisco was listening in because he was holding his breath in order to hear. “I worked at Star Labs before Wells Original fired me for warning him about the particle accelerator. The explosion of which permanently altered my hearing. One could argue I’ve more than earned my place.” Cisco huffed at this and stood up rather abruptly. He excused himself when Caitlin gave a questioning look and left for the kitchen.
“Well, you certainly seem like an asset to the team,” Jay said.
“Oh, I am,” Hartley assured. Jay laughed good-naturedly.
Hartley was glad he came.