it’s not the first time cisco’s called him–they have each others’ contacts saved for a reason, and it’s not just to talk about video games, no matter what alex thinks. they’ve all gone to each other for help more than once by this point. so when cisco asked, he hadn’t 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 hasn’t met yet, and cisco defending him.
“does being vetted by supergirl and martian manhunter work? cause i actually don’t even know what kind of background checks j’onn had to call in on me for my job, but honestly it’s probably better that way, cause i’m guessing they’re way too thorough.” he doesn’t want to think about just how much j’onn and the deo probably know about his past, or anything else. “so uh–definitely not a psycho killer. promise. or a fan of that word, actually, so… avoiding that would be nice.”
“or a speedster, for the record. just a normal human who happens to be very good with a computer. this? this is my thing.”
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. “so what’re we dealing with that you need me?”
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.
He’s at home here, moving to a specific area, opens a drawer with ease to grab some of-
“Snacks at the screens Ramon? Really? Your monitors are always sticky.” He hummed a bit, before moving to the empty monitor, between Cisco and Winn.
“Winn, first of all, welcome, thank you for offering to help. Second, pay no mind to mister ‘I have no social skills or friends I’m not paying’. this is Hartley Rathaway.”
Oh, shit. He didn’t introduce himself. Was that, he should have done that. Brushing back his hair, he nodded to him, “Yes, that’s … I’m Hartley Rathaway. So you work with …”
“Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, basically every cool trading card we don’t already have. ie why I told you he was amazing, and perfect to help us.” Cisco rolled his eyes, before grinning at Winn, “Right yes, monster of the week!”
He took a file, sliding it to the main screens on the wall. Hartley cleared his throat, trying to save face, “We’re 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.” Hartley typed a few keywords, changing the file, “So she’s 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 can’t simply purge her from systems, she’s immune to our efforts so far.”
Cisco nodded, “And since you’ve dealt with like soooooo many AI baddies, and electro meta humans ... well, that’s why they call you Computer Lad.”
Hartley frowned, “Ramon that’s a terrible name, you’ve really gone downhill.”
