itâs not the first time ciscoâs called himâthey have each othersâ contacts saved for a reason, and itâs not just to talk about video games, no matter what alex thinks. theyâve all gone to each other for help more than once by this point. so when cisco asked, he hadnât needed to think about it before breaching over to central city, walking into the main room in star labs just in time to hear the long rant from someone he hasnât met yet, and cisco defending him.Â
âdoes being vetted by supergirl and martian manhunter work? cause i actually donât even know what kind of background checks jâonn had to call in on me for my job, but honestly itâs probably better that way, cause iâm guessing theyâre way too thorough.â he doesnât want to think about just how much jâonn and the deo probably know about his past, or anything else. âso uhâdefinitely not a psycho killer. promise. or a fan of that word, actually, so⌠avoiding that would be nice.âÂ
âor a speedster, for the record. just a normal human who happens to be very good with a computer. this? this is my thing.âÂ
he drops into the seat in front of the computer that he always claims when he makes his way to central, reaching into the drawer he knows cisco hides snacks in, grabbing a handful of twizzlers before leaning back. âso whatâre we dealing with that you need me?â
Hartley stared at him, a moment gaping, then immediately his eyes flicked over him, calculating, not unlike reading lines of code. Khakis ⌠boring, generic, probably standard nerd. Hair, mussed, not brushed, usually too busy, or anxious, always touching it. He smells ⌠like iris spring generic soap, maybe straight? Too bad.
Heâs at home here, moving to a specific area, opens a drawer with ease to grab some of-
âSnacks at the screens Ramon? Really? Â Your monitors are always sticky.â He hummed a bit, before moving to the empty monitor, between Cisco and Winn.
âWinn, first of all, welcome, thank you for offering to help. Second, pay no mind to mister âI have no social skills or friends Iâm not payingâ. this is Hartley Rathaway.â
Oh, shit. He didnât introduce himself. Was that, he should have done that. Brushing back his hair, he nodded to him, âYes, thatâs ⌠Iâm Hartley Rathaway. So you work with âŚâ
âSupergirl, Martian Manhunter, basically every cool trading card we donât already have. ie why I told you he was amazing, and perfect to help us.â Cisco rolled his eyes, before grinning at Winn, âRight yes, monster of the week!â
He took a file, sliding it to the main screens on the wall. Hartley cleared his throat, trying to save face, âWeâre dealing with a meta human who gained technopathic abilities. They were dormant since the particle accelerator blast, but apparently they recently were electrocuted on and IT job and it ... all came to a head.â Hartley typed a few keywords, changing the file, âSo sheâs able to create kinds of AI versions of herself to infiltrate systems and frameworks. Government systems, banks, all of it. But because she is actually still an organize being, we canât simply purge her from systems, sheâs immune to our efforts so far.â
Cisco nodded, âAnd since youâve dealt with like soooooo many AI baddies, and electro meta humans ... well, thatâs why they call you Computer Lad.â
Hartley frowned, âRamon thatâs a terrible name, youâve really gone downhill.â