Summary: Magic Researcher Cisco Ramon is a devotee of the god of technomagery - Harrison Wells - but something has been off about the all powerful Wells ever since he ditched his last apprentice for the speedy demi-god known only as The Flash. Cisco isn't quite sure what's going on but he knows where he can get some answers... but Wells' former apprentice, Hartley Rathaway, is a difficult person to get a hold of, especially since he seems to have turned into a dragon.
Hartmon Fest 2019 – Mar 6th - mythology
Notes: Well, this one is a weirdo, that's for sure. (Admittedly this is basically my "Hartley is an angry dragon" joke writ large...)
For the purposes of this story, assume Hartley fixed his eyesight with magic and thus doesn't need his glasses. He also uses magic instead of tech for his hearing aids. (Mostly so I don't have to explain what happened to the glasses/hearing aids after his initial dragon transformation.)
Here There Be (a) Dragon
Cisco Ramon was a fairly new devotee to Harrison Wells when the Event occurred. Cisco's parents weren't thrilled that he was going into technomagery instead of sticking with the family gods, which were largely all music and home related, but Cisco wanted to spend his time learning the secrets of the universe, celebrating the unknown, and having his intelligence actually appreciated for a change. So he'd considered carefully the pros and cons of different technology and magic affiliated gods and settled on Harrison Wells, a former human turned divine about 40 or so years earlier (after spending only about thirty years in the transitory demi-god state) and whose areas of influence affected both magic and technology.
Magitech was Cisco's preferred area of research, so Wells was just the perfect fit for him.
And then a year later a specialized accelerator meant to channel previously unheard of levels of magical energy exploded, nearly destroying the city. It became known as the Event. In the aftermath there were eleven dead, six people unaccounted for, and people were popping out of the woodwork with unexpected divine aspects every which way you looked. Some of them, like the Flash, were powerful enough to achieve near instant demi-god status despite the lack of devotees.
Wells lost a number of his own devotees after the kerfuffle died down. Not enough to knock him back to demi-god status, but a fairly sizable hit nonetheless. And Cisco found himself propelled upward in the ranks of human devotees despite his lack of experience. He hoped it was because of his prodigious intelligence - he was a brilliant inventor and all the new powered people had given him wondrous ideas for inventions - but Wells himself seemed to have taken an interest in Cisco's work that made the young researcher... uncomfortable.
He wondered if the brilliant god thought that Cisco was particularly susceptible to Wells' gifts, but researchers who'd previously benefited from those gifts now spoke in quiet undertones about their prayers going unanswered and their creativity waning. There were more devotees considering jumping ship to worship gods like Tina McGee or Ray Palmer. It didn't help that Wells' personality had abruptly shifted and he seemed to be playing favorites. Not just Cisco, either, but his friend Caitlin Snow and the mysterious demi-god who only went by the name the Flash.
At first, Cisco thought that Wells had sustained some sort of injury during the Event. That perhaps his powerset had been altered and it was affecting Wells on a personal level. But rumors claimed that the changes had actually begun before the Event. Some thought it started with the abrupt departure of Wells' previous apprentice - a young man named Hartley Rathaway - and others thought it began before Rathaway's departure and the changes to Wells' behavior had precipitated the event.
Of course, the rumors also claimed that Rathaway had been kicked out due to practicing arcane and terrible magic and he'd since stripped himself of his own humanity, morphing into a dragon. So... rumor might not be wholly reliable in this case.
Still, Cisco wanted answers. He wanted to know why his home had become unsafe and why his god stopped answering so many prayers and why the prayers that were answered were done in such strange and uncharacteristic ways.
So he packed up a travel bag and headed out for the mountains region a half-day's drive from the city where the dragon once known as Hartley Rathaway was said to reside. Hopefully Rathaway would have answers, regardless of what form he was currently taking.
"What the fuck do you want?" demands an extremely loud voice when Cisco approaches the entrance to the cave.
It was the third one he'd checked, using a refined version of a life-signs search spell. The first use had taken Cisco to an empty cave. The second use to a cave with a bear in it and the less said about that encounter the better. But third time was indeed the charm, assuming the loud voice belonged to Hartley Rathaway.
"Uh, hi? I'm Researcher Cisco Ramon. Are you Apprentice Rathaway?" He took a few tentative steps inside the cave.
"I was. And then that bastard turned me into a dragon." The loud voice was indeed coming from a dragon. Western style, with arms, legs, and wings for appendages... beautiful, shimmering green scales. "You're staring."
Cisco didn't really mean to stare, but those scales were gorgeous. "You make a really pretty dragon." Cisco blushed.
There was a long silence while deep blue-green faceted eyes stared at Cisco. and then... "go away."
"Something's wrong with Harrison Wells, isn't there? That's why you're like this. Please. I want to help."
"Unless you can undo a transformation spell implemented by a demi-god on the verge of godhood, you're no use to me," Hartley grumbled. Cisco wondered if the bad attitude was because he was a dragon or if the dragon form was a result of the bad attitude.
"Would it hurt to at least let me take a look? I can always find more help and come back. That useful enough for you?" Cisco drawled in irritation.
"Fine." Hartley took a few clumsy, lumbering steps forward. His scales glittered mesmerizingly and Cisco nearly got caught up in staring again.
"So how did this happen?" Cisco walked over to the grouchy dragon, muttering the spell to allow him to view magic. Then he grimaced and fine tuned it because the amount of magic coming off Hartley nearly blinded him.
"Harrison did this to me. Or at least, the jackass pretending to be Harrison did it."
Freezing in his slow circle around Hartley, Cisco said, "uh, what?"
"I went home to see my parents about a month before the Event. I was gone for a week and when I got back, there was something wrong with Harrison. He'd stopped answering my prayers about two days before I returned and he was acting weird when I came to see him afterwards. And then... his form glitched. For a second there was someone else standing there and then he looked like Harrison again. But I'd seen that he was really someone else and he cursed me for it. I didn't realize at first what he'd done. It took a while before the transformation set in. I had enough time to check the accelerator and... it was sabotaged. The Event wasn't an accident, it was planned."
It made an unfortunate amount of sense. Which Cisco said out loud, adding, "fake Wells must have intended to create the demi-gods and demi-humans that resulted from the Event. He's taken special interest in a demi-god with speedster abilities."
"A speedster? There hasn't been one of those since The Speed Force defeated Savitar at the cost of being locked out of the universe," Hartley exclaimed, startled.
"I know." Cisco tried not to think too hard about what that'd mean. Their world had maintained a fragile stability thanks to the current setup of gods. No gods of time around to make things messy and the gods of war had been quiet for decades. A lot of the more troublesome gods were sleeping and demi-humans and demi-gods had become a lot rarer. Harrison Wells, Tina McGee, and Raymond Palmer were the only new gods to come to power in nearly a century. A speedster, though... that was a time-based power. It meant massive change was coming and they were going to be stuck living in an era of massive upheaval.
"What makes you think he's a demi-god and not some trickster god?" Cisco asked, changing the subject.
"He probably has trickster elements to his powerset," Hartley allowed. "Either that or some technomagery. I can't think of any other way he'd manage to successfully divert the prayers meant for the real Harrison for so long. But he can't handle the load of all of Harrison's prayers, so he's been ignoring a lot them."
That did make sense. "If he keeps this up, Harrison is going to lose too many devotees and fall back into being a demi-god again. He's too new a god to maintain his power without our prayers."
"I know. And I've been useless. But everyone I went to for help tried to slay me. Assholes," Hartley grumbled.
"Well, it looks like the transformation spell all ties back to a point right here," Cisco told him, reaching out to touch Hartley's hip and then...
"Draconspheres." The word seemed to echo through the air as Hartley ran and something stung at his hip, but he didn't have time to stop...
Cisco jerked away. "What the fuck?"
"Are you alright? Shit, did my scales cut your hand?" Hartley sounded genuinely worried now.
"No. My hand's fine. I think... I think I just had a vision. Of the moment when fake Wells cursed you." Cisco ran a shaky hand through his hair. He'd been born magic neutral, capable of manipulating magic but no powers of his own. Visions were the realm of seers, people with inborn magical gifts. To have this now... he'd been effected by the Event after all.
Which seemed to be the same train of thought Hartley was having. "Do you normally have that gift or... is it a result of the Event?"
"The Event," Cisco said tersely. "Didn't even know until just now, but..." but if it might explain the fake Wells' interest in him. Visions meant Cisco was a demi-human now, with the power boost that came with it. (He wasn't going to consider the idea he might be a demi-god. That just... didn't bear thinking right now or he'd freak out.) "But maybe I can undo this on my own after all."
"Cisco, what are you..."
Cisco reached out with his magic and charted the whole of the spiral running through Hartley's form. He couldn't unravel it, but... maybe he could change it. "Do you like being a dragon? I mean, if you could shift back and forth voluntarily would that be a thing you'd enjoy?"
"Y-yes...?" Hartley hesitated a moment and then said, "do it. I don't want to be stuck like this a moment longer."
"Awesome," Cisco muttered and then poured his magic into the curse, twisting it further until it snapped and he could reform the magic the way he wanted it to go. By the time he was done, there was a very handsome naked man on the ground in front of him.
"Holy crap," Hartley muttered, staring up at Cisco in shock.
Cisco blushed and studiously did not check out naked Hartley's assets. "Um, I've got clothes in the car you can use. I'll just, uh, go fetch them."
They ended up setting up camp for the night in Hartley's cave. Hartley was too exhausted by the curse being broken and reformed. Cisco was equally exhausted from using magic on a scale that had previously been utterly beyond his capabilities.
There wasn't really much talking beyond Hartley thanking Cisco and a short discussion regarding dinner - camp dinners Cisco had brought with him - and mumbled directions regarding setting up the tent and the sleeping bags Cisco had in his car. Hartley also accidentally figured out how to change back into a dragon and, thankfully, his clothes changed with him meaning that he did not wreck the only spare clothes Cisco brought for this expedition... and he did not have to spend the drive home in Cisco's car naked the next morning.
That would have been very distracting and tempting for Cisco to look when he shouldn't because, wow, was Hartley attractive. It was basically a toss up to which form of Hartley's was more distracting. His shiny, dragon scaled form with the shimmery scales or the very fit, handsome human form that Cisco wanted to kiss all over. Okay, so definitely the human form and Cisco still couldn't meet Hartley's eyes without blushing and stammering.
What with Cisco's need to keep his eyes on the road and Hartley being lost in thoughts, the drive back to Central City was pretty quiet.
"Okay, so what's our next move?" Cisco asked, once they were back in his apartment and both had taken turns showering and changing into fresh clothing. And also acquired lunch.
"Any leads on who the Flash might really be? If we can convince him that the Harrison he knows is a fake, he could get us in to confront fake Wells easily. Otherwise we're going to have to be sneaky about it." Hartley drummed his fingers along the coffee table as he thought it over. "There's only a handful of places fake Wells could be hiding Harrison without his power leaking out too noticeably. The best hiding place would actually be the pipeline itself. It would've flooded with magic during the Event and there's likely still massive amounts of stray magic all over the thing. Harrison's powers leaking from a god-prison wouldn't stand out at all amongst all that."
Cisco nodded, not bothering to bring up his fears that Wells might already be dead. Killing a god was hard even for demi-gods, but god-prisons were actually fairly easy to make; even magic-nulls could construct them using the right tools. Of course, actually catching someone with a god-prison was another story entirely, but once caught the prison could usually be shrunk down to about the size of a suitcase and just... wheeled around as needed. There was also the feeling Cisco had in his chest, a sort of connection between god and devotee that couldn't be usurped even though his prayers had been. A certainty that Harrison Wells still lived.
Presumably Hartley could still feel that connection too.
"No leads on the Flash, sorry," Cisco said. "Dude is just way too good at the quick change when it comes to covering up his face. There's just enough obscured by his mask that if I've seen him without it my brain can't match up the features enough for recognition to kick in. That being said, my friend Caitlin's friend Iris is a reporter who has been following the appearance of the Flash since he was known as the Streak, so maybe she knows something?"
Hartley snorted in amusement. "The Streak? Yeah, I'd rather be known as the Flash too. Both have connotations with being naked in public, but at least the Flash connotations are less immediate."
"I'd have probably gone with something like Sonic and wound up sued by a video game company," Cisco admitted.
The smile on Hartley's face was really quite beautiful.
After lunch was over and Cisco left a message with Caitlin, they headed over to Hartley's apartment. Luckily Hartley had set up an auto pay on his monthly rent, which meant Hartley's stuff was still where he'd left it, untouched by all but dust for the last several months. The downside was that Hartley had no idea if he'd still been paid the last few months and he was worried about the state of his bank account. Also there was the fact that his keys, cell phone, and wallet were missing - possibly still somewhere in the pipeline where he'd started losing his clothing as the curse he'd suffered began transforming him.
After a brief argument with Hartley's landlord over the lost keys, the duo were let into the apartment while the super went to go create a duplicate for Hartley to take with him.
Hartley immediately went to his computer and checked his bank account. "Huh, so I am still getting my salary. That's... a relief. Not that I was doing anything to earn it, but I can be conflicted about that later."
Cisco snorted in amusement, earning another beautiful grin from Hartley. They gazed at each other a long moment and it probably should've been awkward but it really wasn't. Just as Cisco was contemplating leaning over and kissing Hartley, the super knocked at the door.
Hartley got up to retrieve his new key and the moment seemed to be over.
"So, I can try calling Caitlin again," Cisco offered.
"No, she'll get back to you when she gets back to you," Hartley replied. "If we rush things and she prays to Harrison only for fake Wells to intercept the prayer... well, we don't want him getting suspicious about you."
"Fair enough," Cisco allowed.
"I'm a dragon," Hartley said, dropping back onto the couch next to Cisco with a giggle. "That's... shit, that's amazing, Cisco. I didn't let myself really enjoy it before because it was forced on me and Harrison is in danger and I was so angry because I couldn't do anything to help him, but... I think it's finally sinking in. I can be a dragon any time I want because of you. And that... that is just..." Hartley leaned over and kissed Cisco, hard and hungry. He started to pull away, muttering an apology.
"Don't stop," Cisco complained, pulling Hartley back in and reveling in the heat between them as Hartley deepened the kiss while clambering onto Cisco's lap.
They'd just pulled Cisco's shirt off when his cell phone rang. Cisco was cursing under his breath as he reached around Hartley to grab it off the table.
Hartley, on the other hand, just looked amused as he slowly slid off Cisco's lap back onto the couch. "We can finish that later. Is that Caitlin?"
"Yeah," Cisco sighed and hit the call answer button, bringing the phone up to his ear. "Hey, Cait," he greeted.
"Cisco," she responded warmly. "Enjoying your time off?"
"Immensely," he replied, glancing heatedly at Hartley, who blushed a little. "Hey, so I was hoping you'd be willing to put me in contact with that reporter friend of yours."
"Iris?" Caitlin sounded surprised. "Of course. But... why?"
"She's done interviews with a lot of the demi-humans and demi-gods that have popped up since the Event and..." Cisco nibbled his lower lip in thought. They probably should've come up with a cover story and Cisco didn't think it'd be a good idea to involve Caitlin unless they absolutely needed to. He'd beg her forgiveness later. "So, I... I had a vision."
"What? But you aren't prescient."
"I wasn't, no, but that seems to have changed." Cisco paused and then added, "it's why I wanted the time off. But I've got this whole list of questions and I don't know where to start and, well, I thought maybe the notes from your friends interviews might help me make some sense of what's going on with me."
"I've already texted you her contact info. Should arrive any minute. When you get back to work on Monday, you're letting me do a full physical and magic re-indexing. If you've got a powerset now, you need to know what it is so you can learn to control it pronto." Caitlin sounded like she'd gone into full on mother hen mode.
"I promise, Caitlin." His phone buzzed in his hands as the text came in. "Thanks for the contact."
"Let me know if you have another vision," Caitlin insisted. "Depending on how your powers work, the vision could be affecting different parts of your brain. I want to be sure your powers aren't the kind that hurt you when you use them or... well... powers that affect the brain are tricky, okay?"
Which... Cisco had not considered that aspect. "I promise, Cait," he repeated. "If I have another one, I'll let you do all the medical scans you want even if it isn't Monday yet."
"You'd better." Then they exchanged goodbyes and Cisco ended the call.
"I feel bad about lying to her about why I took the time off," Cisco admitted, staring at the contact information in his text messages. "But the fewer people who know that you're back, the less likely it is to get around to fake Wells, just like you said."
"I'm sorry about that," Hartley said, bumping Cisco's shoulder with his own and offering Cisco his shirt. "Thought you might not want to be shirtless when you call Iris West."
"It's the principle of the thing," Cisco agreed, blushing, as he put the shirt back on.
"I can always take it back off you again later," Hartley added, smirking when Cisco blushed harder.
"Don't distract me," Cisco muttered, tapping the contact information to add it to his contact list and then dialing the number.
Iris agreed to meet them immediately at Hartley's apartment, though she was bringing her boyfriend - Barry Allen - along with her. Which, unfortunately, meant that Cisco and Hartley didn't have time for more than some very heated kissing on Hartley's couch before they were having to let Iris and Barry in.
"You're... Hartley Rathaway," Iris says, staring at him in shock once she and her boyfriend were inside.
"I'd heard you'd turned yourself into a dragon," Barry blurts out.
"Someone cursed me, actually," Hartley replied, sounding far to blasé about it for someone who'd barely been human again for twenty-four hours. "It's thanks to Cisco that I'm human again."
"But..." Barry paused, uncomfortable, "I was told you did it to yourself, trying to use unnatural magic to rise up the divinity chain faster than normal. That what you did to yourself could never be fixed." His voice trailed off uncertainly, because obviously Hartley was sitting there looking very human.
Hartley's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. Harrison told you that. But tell me this, Barry. When you're standing in front of our god Harrison Wells, does the person in front of you really match the feeling in your heart? Is his voice the one that answered your prayers when you discovered your love of science and magic?"
Barry's mouth opened and then snapped shut. He looked away. "No. He hasn't been... he hasn't been the same since the Event."
"Since shortly before, actually," Hartley corrected and then recounted his tale once more, adding details as Iris - ever the reporter - prodded Hartley with questions.
"Who did you go to for help after transforming?" Iris asked.
"There were a couple of people I knew from college who worship other faiths. But I was rapidly losing my human appearance and getting really large... and my mouth was suddenly unfamiliar so my ability to enunciate my speech properly was pretty much gone at first. None of them would help me; I'm not sure they even knew it was me, though." Hartley looked upset by the memories, so Cisco reached out to hold his hand, running his thumb lightly over Hartley's knuckles. In response, Hartley gave him a startled, but grateful, smile.
"Why did you really contact me?" Iris gave them a look. "Obviously it wasn't because Cisco wanted to know more about the other demis who resulted from the Event..."
"Actually, I would," Cisco interjected. "Since I kind of seem to be one myself."
"Really?" Barry perked up, looking fascinated. "Do you know your powerset yet?"
"Visions?" Cisco shrugged. "Mostly I'm just way more magically powerful than I used to be. Definitely don't qualify as magic neutral anymore, that's for sure."
"We were hoping you could help us reach the Flash," Hartley interjected. "Apparently you've interviewed him. The impostor who's taken Harrison's place has given the Flash free reign of STAR Labs. If he's willing to help us get into the pipeline, it would make finding the god-prison Harrison is trapped in easier. If we can free him, then maybe we can force the impostor to reveal his true identity and run him out of Central City."
Barry and Iris exchanged careful looks. Iris nodded, once, and Barry let out a sharp sigh.
"I'm the Flash," Barry said, looking back to Cisco and Hartley.
Cisco blinked in surprise. "Seriously?"
Hartley didn't seem phased at all, though. "That's convenient. Will you help us?"
"Yes. I will."
"I would like to write this up as an exclusive interview with you afterwards," Iris interjected, waving her notepad at Hartley. "You too, Cisco. I want to know what inspired you to go looking for Hartley and how you reversed a curse planted by a demi-god on your own."
Sheer luck and instinct seemed like a bad answer, even though it was true.
"Um, sure," Cisco responded, probably sounding ridiculously nervous. The idea of being treated like someone special or news worthy was just... bizarre. "When should we go poking around the pipeline?" he asked, blatantly changing the subject.
"He, uh, he goes home every evening still, so tonight? Maybe we could meet in the parking lot around nine or ten?"
Hartley nodded. "That sounds good." And then the real planning began.
Once the door shut and Iris and Barry were gone, Hartley turned to Cisco. "So, as much as I'd like to get back to the making out we were doing before, I'm kind of exhausted. I just... I didn't sleep well as a dragon and if we're going to be up late looking for Harrison, then... I'd like to be better rested. But I'm... I'm afraid if I go back to sleep then I'll wake up and this'll all be a dream. I... that is... I'd like it if you'd stay and maybe nap with me? Or just sit in bed and read while I nap?"
Cisco crossed the short distance between them and kissed Hartley on the cheek. "I'll nap with you. Even with the sleeping bag, the cave floor was awful to sleep on last night and all the driving I did the last two days really zapped my energy too. I hope you don't mind cuddling? Because if I'm in bed with another person then I cuddle by default."
"I would absolutely like to be cuddled," Hartley said, amused but sincere. "I still want to take your shirt off, though." He smirked as Cisco went beet red and stammered out an affirmative response.
The problem with trying to find a god-prison in the midst of a place densely saturated with magic was that there wasn't really much of a way to determine which magic came from the original saturation and which was freshly leaked from the prison. They had, at least, managed to narrow down a specific section of the pipeline to check. While the magic levels in the pipeline were dissipating slowly, this particular section was still at much higher levels.
Maybe thirty minutes into their search, a big problem showed up. That problem? Fake Wells.
"I thought I got rid of the nuisance you posed," the demi-god sighed, mockingly, and... no, this was definitely not the person who inspired Cisco to dream and innovate.
"I'm more tenacious than you gave me credit for," Hartley sneered in return.
"Must've taken quite the team to undo my magic... or... what is that?" Fake Wells frowned and peered at Hartley. "They rewrote it?"
"I rewrote it. I broke your magic and rewove it into something better," Cisco spoke up, sudden fury sparking in his chest. This was the being who'd caused Hartley so much pain and Cisco wanted to make him pay.
"Oh, Cisco, how could betray your god like this?"
"You aren't my god," Cisco snarled in return.
"Who are you really?" Barry demanded, moving to stand protectively between fake Wells and the two researchers he threatened.
"Well, I suppose the game is up." His laughter changed in pitch and the appearance of Harrison seemed to fizzle out until someone else was standing there. A man in a yellow suit, not unlike the one Barry wore now as the Flash. "You could say I'm your equal and opposite, Barry Allen. Call me... the Reverse Flash."
Barry took a step backwards and his voice sounded horrified as he said, "I've seen you before. The night my mother died."
"Yes, that's right. I killed her when your future self stopped me from killing you. And then when I tried to go home, to my time, I barely made it to about a month before the first test of the accelerator before my ability to travel in time abruptly failed. I apparently altered time a bit too much and the snap back hit me hard. The Event wasn't meant to happen for another five years due to a freak accident involving a demi-human's dormant powerset activating at exactly the wrong moment. Or the right moment, perhaps. A divinely inspired moment, even. But I needed it to happen sooner so that I could use your powers to boost my own."
The Reverse Flash darted towards Barry and backwards in a blink of an eye, taunting the younger, less experienced speedster. Barry ran after him and suddenly there were just two blurs, circling the pipeline.
"Shit, how are we supposed to find Harrison in all this?" Hartley looked pissed. "They're re-saturating the damn pipeline."
"Do you think you could stop them as a dragon?" Cisco asked.
Hartley shook his head. "I think I can distract the Reverse Flash long enough for you and Barry to finish the search, but they need to come back down to our speeds first."
Cisco nodded and then closed his eyes and feeling along with his magic for what the ambient magic of the room looked like. There was too much magic for his preferred method of altering his sight, but... this seemed to work better now that he knew his magic levels had changed. The pipeline glittered with magic; it was beautiful and unlike anything Cisco had ever seen before. Pockets of change and chaos that seemed to lick at the feet of the speedsters, coalescing into... something. The Reverse Flash was playing Barry, likely in an attempt to go home.
That needed to stop, immediately. New instincts seemed to whisper in Cisco's ears and he raised his hands and released his magic in waves. It slammed into the Reverse Flash, freezing him in his tracks while Barry came to an abrupt stop, gawking at the sight.
"I can't hold this for long," Cisco gritted out and Hartley nodded.
Within moments, Hartley was suddenly a dragon again, barely fitting in the pipeline. But he began to bat at their enemy, bashing him to the ground and then the ceiling as Cisco released his magic.
"We need to find Harrison," Cisco reminded Barry, who nodded and then disappeared into a blur.
Seconds later, he reappeared with a box the size of a duffel bag. "What about this? It's leaking magic with no discernible source."
"Seems like a good candidate," Cisco agreed. "Can you open it?"
Barry's hands left weird little after images everywhere as he tried, and failed, to open the box. "No. Dammit!"
"Stand back," Cisco told him and released another high powered wave of magic at the box. One of the sides seemed to crumple inward... and then light came pouring out of the box. Cisco had to hide his eyes, it was so bright.
When the light cleared, Hartley was human again, kneeling in front of Harrison. Cisco realized he'd dropped to his own knees too. But Barry and the Reverse Flash were nowhere to be seen.
Cisco watched, a little dazed and confused as Harrison Wells helped Hartley stand up, then walked over and gave Cisco a hand up too. There was a frisson of energy in the air unlike anything Cisco had ever felt before. He wondered how it was the fake Wells had ever managed to fool anyone who'd met the real god of technomagic.
"I'm very proud of you both," Harrison said. The first words Cisco had heard him speak in person.
He was never forgetting this moment.
"Where's Barry?" Cisco asked, as they headed out of the pipeline.
"The Reverse Flash got away from me when Harrison was released," Hartley admitted, sounding faintly embarrassed. "He started running again and Barry went after him. But there must have been enough magic built up to open a... portal in time? I don't know what it was, but he ran through it and Barry followed after him."
"I can still hear Barry's prayers," Harrison spoke up, leading the way back to his office. He'd wanted to decompress in more comfortable surroundings and get up to speed on what he'd missed. "The Reverse Flash, whoever he really is, seems to be gone. But Barry's... I'll let him explain when he gets back. Should be soon, at least."
The rest of the walk sort of blended together for Cisco, despite being hyper aware of being in the presence of the Harrison Wells... but also of the way Hartley was letting Cisco lean on him for support, Hartley's arm around his waist and fingers curling against his hip. But then he was sitting on a couch beside Hartley, head against Hartley's shoulder and trying not to pass out. He'd definitely overdone the magic that evening, though he could still feel reserves within himself that he'd been unaware of before. He was simply unused to channeling that much power all at once.
It was an uncomfortable thought that he'd get used to it. Cisco had never wanted power for himself. Recognition and acceptance, but not power. He didn't really know what to do with it. Though, he supposed that using it to help others wasn't a bad start.
A cup of warm coffee was pressed into his hands by Harrison, who chuckled at the befuddled expression that crossed Cisco's face. Though not quiet sure where the coffee had come from, Cisco needed it desperately and he took a deep drink. Just the perfect temperature, the right amount of cream and sugar, and a hint of vanilla and cinnamon...
Of course a god of researchers who lived on caffeine could make the most perfect cup of coffee Cisco had ever tasted.
The exhaustion threatening to bowl Cisco over receded and Cisco was able to sit straighter, though he continued to lean against Hartley's warm presence. He also became aware of Hartley's concerned expression and he spared a hand from holding the coffee in order to hold one of Hartley's hands instead.
"Caitlin's going to be very irritated with you in the morning," Harrison predicted.
"I'll deserve it," Cisco replied. "She's going to poke me with more needles than necessary and call it being thorough."
"Well, Cisco, you aren't the only one who could do with a magic re-indexing around here. If you intend to keep the dragon transformation magic, Hartley, then it's going to start settling in and becoming a part of you."
Hartley's grip on Cisco's waist tightened just a touch. "I want to keep the magic," he confirmed. Cisco got the impression the magic wasn't the only thing Hartley wanted to keep... and Cisco was very okay with that. He shifted a little closer to the other man in response.
Harrison just nodded, a knowing expression on his face. Then he looked off to the side and raised a hand. A glowing portal appeared and Barry stumbled out to collapse in a heap on the floor. Harrison helped the speedster stand back up, then handed him a cup of perfectly conjured coffee.
Barry took the coffee gratefully and wore an expression of bliss for a moment afterwards. It occurred to Cisco that researchers were all really weird people.
"What was she like?" Harrison asked Barry, sounding oddly envious.
"She was... she was very kind," Barry replied, stunned. "I..." he glanced over at Cisco and Hartley. "I met the Speed Force. She named me her Avatar."
Gods named Avatars to complete the jobs they were incapable of completing themselves for whatever reason. Avatars could be anyone: normal humans, demi-humans, demi-gods, even lesser gods. To be named the Avatar of the Speed Force, though...
Change wasn't just coming to the world. It was already here.
Cisco stared at the results in shock, then turned to Caitlin.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Cisco, I ran everything three times. You complained about the extra needles, remember?" She hugged him while he griped about her 'thoroughness' anew. "That's basically demi-god levels of powerful."
"I don't want this," he muttered against her shoulder. "I don't want to outlive everyone I love."
"Ah, well... you might get to keep me around. I've been showing signs of some sort of ice-based powerset. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, but..."
Cisco pulled back with a grin. "Oh, Cait, that's so..."
Caitlin put a hand over his mouth. "Do not say 'cool' or so help me, I will run the tests a fourth time."
He started giggling and then so did she.
"Your new boyfriend's on track for becoming a demi-human with that new dragon form of his, too," Caitlin pointed out. "I haven't tested him yet, but I've got no doubts there." She shook her head. "That's just amazing how you did that for him, Cisco."
"He's not... well, we haven't discussed anything yet. He might not actually want to date me, Caitlin."
"But you want to date him?"
"Yes. Yes I do. But I'm not going to be making any assumptions until he and I actually talk about it. So don't you go making any assumptions either, okay?" After all, Hartley's interest in Cisco could have just been gratefulness and the need to be around someone who made him feel safe. That could wane now that the Reverse Flash was gone and Harrison restored. Admittedly, Cisco had gotten the impression Hartley wanted to keep Cisco around but... again, they hadn't actually discussed anything yet.
There was a light knocking at Caitlin's door before she could answer Cisco, but she did nod a offer him a rueful look before opening the door to the hall.
Hartley was standing there, looking a touch nervous. "So, I'm here to steal Cisco from you," he told her.
"Take him away," Caitlin replied, gesturing with a grin. "But be back tomorrow, it's your turn for tests, then. And tests again every month until your magic-index stabilizes."
"Yes ma'am," Hartley replied with a slightly mocking salute that had her swatting his shoulder.
Cisco rolled his eyes at them, but followed Hartley out into the hallway. "Here to steal me, huh?"
"Well, only if you're agreeable to being stolen away by me." Hartley sounded nervous again.
"Very agreeable," Cisco declared, reaching out without a thought to take Hartley's hand reassuringly.
A bright smile lit Hartley's face. "So, then, I guess this means you'll go on a date with me tonight?"
Pressing a kiss against the corner of Hartley's mouth, Cisco felt a pleased little thrill run through him at Hartley's soft gasp and the way Hartley's eyes flickered shut for a moment. "Yes, Hartley. I'd love to go on a date with you."
Notes: The world building behind this one is just odd.
So the idea is that normal humans come in three~ish magical categories: null, neutral, and powered. Magic nulls can't use magic at all, but can still utilize magic imbued items. Magic neutrals have little to no inborn magic, but can manipulate ambient magic. Magic powered have inborn magic in addition to manipulating ambient magic. Humans with extreme amounts of inborn magic, however, begin exhibiting powersets - metahuman type gifts. There's some fuzzy crossover between being magic powered and being a demi-human, which is the first step on the divinity scale. Demi-humans tend to have longer than average life spans due to their magic and pretty much always have a powerset of some kind. Human prayer is basically concentrated belief, a power all on its own and some theorize its the true source of magic. Whatever the case may be, that belief can further saturate a demi-human with magic until they turn into a demi-god, a near-immortal human with massive powers. Most demi-gods gain the ability to spark creativity in their 'domain' for those who pray for it, but can't handle a lot of followers all at once - thus Eobard couldn't handle all the followers of even a 'young' god like Harrison. Being able to hear and answer prayers is a sign of a high-level demi-god and, again, there's a fuzzy overlap in there but gods are nigh invulnerable and cease aging entirely, amongst other things.
The Speed Force took a lot of magic out of the world with her when she was locked out of linear existence, which in turn caused the most powerful gods - some who were more forces of nature than people, they were so powerful - to either voluntarily reduce their own power in order to survive or to go into a sort of magical hibernation in hopes that one day the world's ambient magic would eventually return to levels that could support their existence once more.
Some of the gods are worshiped in traditional ways with shrines and the like. Other, newer, gods accept that sort of worship, but prefer to work with their devotees to inspire their creativity personally and lead the way to new discoveries or works of art. Thus Harrison running STAR Labs. Not all of his employees are devotees to him - as in he's their primary god - but most are.
But... the real inspiration for all this was just the idea of Hartley as a dragon flinging Eobard around like a chew toy. Hartley definitely deserves that sort of closure, right?