Child in Time
Chapter 22
Warnings: none
Chapter 1: link
Previous chapter: link
Big Belly Burger did not usually warrant jealousy. At least, not in this century. Harrison could get himself one when this business was through. That was what he told himself as he wheeled down the hall and into the Time Vault, replaying the last tender morsel disappearing into Allen's undeserving mouth in the Cortex.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Wells." Gideon's smooth, tinny voice greeted as he crossed to the dais in a handful of purposeful strides.
"We'll see, Gideon," Eobard replied, casually readjusting his watch before directing his attention to the AI's holographic face. "Pull up the feed from cameras 118 through 127."
"Certainly."
Nine live videos replaced Gideon's face, forming a 3x3 grid. Soldiers in fatigues posted outside a concrete building. More soldiers, drinking beer and chatting off-duty in a break room. A couple more making their way down a dim, grey hallway. Still more in another room shooting paper targets with automatic rifles.
"Barbaric..." Eobard muttered, lip curling in derision.
Then - there he was. General Wade Eiling, conveniently crossing through camera 126 to take a seat in his office where camera 127 waited.
It wasn't that Eobard wanted to see General Eiling. Eobard would have been happy to never see the man again. Unfortunately, however, Eobard had gotten the feeling that the general would be paying another unwelcome visit soon and Eobard was very rarely wrong.
After several minutes of watching Eiling work in silence, Eobard finally spoke again.
"Bring up my log. New entry: Subject has retrieved the infant from the Impostor Reverse Flash however, attempts to convince him to return to his usual activities have yielded no results. It remains to be seen if this new overprotectiveness is temporary or an additional cause for concern."
Eobard paused, swiping his hand across the interface to pull up the cameras again with a frown. Eiling was thumbing through a thick folder stamped F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. while a sergeant major said something he clearly wasn't interested in listening to.
He swiped back to the log.
"Priority remains the restoration of temporal integrity. To that end, efforts will resume immediately toward identifying the Impostor, determining motive, and removing him from the equation. Only then can I truly make substantial progress in returning the infant and myself to our respective times."
Eobard did not immediately dismiss the log when he was through. His gaze lingered on the glowing text as though the neatness of the record might impose some order on the chaos Barry Allen had dumped into his carefully managed life.
"Pull up the Cortex security feed."
"Of course, Doctor."
The log vanished and the heart of S.T.A.R. Labs appeared in its place.
At first, nothing seemed to be particularly worrying. The computer monitors glowed their usual cool blue. On the far left edge of the frame, just off the ramp into the medbay, Caitlin stood beside a cot while Barry sat on its edge with the infant propped against his chest. Barry was holding a bottle at a careful angle, head bent, attention entirely consumed. Eo's tiny fingers were clenched in the front of Barry's shirt.
Caitlin and Barry's heads both jerked suddenly to the right. Eobard followed their gaze.
The distance between Cisco and Hartley was already too small.
Hartley's mouth moved first. Whatever he said made Cisco bark something back immediately, quick and hot. Cisco took one step forward. Hartley did not retreat. He only tilted his head and smiled that thin, poisonous smile Eobard knew far too well.
"Oh, god damn it..." Eobard muttered. Red lightning licked briefly at the edges of his vision as he crossed the Vault and seated himself again in one smooth motion. Glasses on. Expression calmed. Hands relaxed on the armrests despite the fact that he wanted very badly to put Hartley Rathaway through a wall.
By the time the doors to the Cortex opened for him, Caitlin had already planted herself between Cisco and Hartley with all the rigid, brittle determination of someone trying not to make a bad situation worse.
"Okay. Nobody is taking another step," she said, one hand braced out toward Cisco and the other angled toward Hartley. "Cisco, breathe. Hartley, please just...stop talking."
Cisco looked like he might have laughed if he had not been so furious. Instead, his mouth twisted hard and ugly.
"He started it-"
"I don't care who started it." Caitlin interrupted.
Hartley's expression sharpened, pleased in the most infuriating way possible. He tilted his head, blue eyes glittering behind his glasses.
"Temper, Cisquito. Though, I suppose lashing out is easier than admitting you're out of your depth." His gaze flicked deliberately toward the medbay where Barry still sat with Eo. "Then again, failing to protect the people around you does seem to be a pattern. Tell me, how did that containment unit work out for you? The one that was supposed to trap the Man in Yellow?"
Cisco lunged.
Caitlin caught him with both hands against his chest, heels scraping on the floor as she shoved back with all the strength she had.
"Cisco, no!"
"Enough."
Dr. Wells' voice cut through the Cortex like a knife.
Cisco was breathing hard, eyes still locked on Hartley, gaze murderous, though he no longer seemed ready to run Caitlin over to get to the other man. Caitlin lowered her hands by slow degrees, though she stayed exactly where she was, squarely between the two men as if she did not trust either of them not to make another, worse decision.
"Go back to your workshop, Cisco," Harrison said evenly.
Cisco stared at him.
The old instinct to obey was warring visibly with everything Cisco now knew, everything he no longer trusted, everything he wanted to say. Harrison could see it in the tension working in his jaw, in the way he shifted his weight forward and then forcibly back again.
"He doesn't get to-" Cisco began.
"Now." Harrison's tone sharpened only slightly.
That did it.
Cisco's nostrils flared. For one absurd second Harrison thought he might actually refuse. Then Cisco looked at Caitlin, looked at Barry, looked at Hartley with naked loathing, and gave a tight, furious nod.
"Fine." He took two backward steps toward the hall, then pointed at Hartley without taking his eyes off Harrison. "But if he says one more thing about me, about any of us, I reserve the right to kick his ass."
Hartley snorted. "How terrifying."
"Hartley, I swear to god, if Cisco doesn't hit you, I will. Shut up," Caitlin snapped suddenly, startling both of them.
For one blessed second, Hartley actually did. Barry, who had gone utterly still through the entire exchange, poorly covered a laugh and tightened his hold on Eo when the baby shifted against his chest with a small, uncertain whimper. Harrison's eyes flicked to Hartley, then to Cisco's retreating back, then to Caitlin returning to the medbay, calculating the fracture lines running through his team even as the beginnings of a new headache pressed behind his eyes.
In a military base a few miles away, General Eiling was still flipping through that damned file, and Eobard had the distinct, sinking sense that they were jumping from one crisis straight into another.
