Chapter 4: Cisco Falls
The engineer's screaming stopped as he realized that he'd stopped falling. Somebody had caught him and was now hanging upside down as Cisco's weight flipped them. Looking up, Cisco was shocked to lock eyes with Harrison Wells. The scientist had managed to catch Cisco's arm as he'd fallen. Now the older man's face was bright red and he was grunting as he he struggled to keep a grip on his employee.
"Hang on Cisco," Harrison said. While their relationship was strained, he still cared about the young man. He'd never forgive himself if he let anything happen to the brilliant engineer.
"Dr. Wells," Cisco gasped. The other man looked horribly uncomfortable, his useless legs dangling oddly as he hung upside down. Grunting, the man started to move, as if he was trying to get Cisco to let go.
"Stop, what are you doing?" Cisco's eyes widened and he hung on tighter as they started to swing. Straining, Dr. Wells didn't answer him and Cisco realized in terror that his boss was about to kill him, letting him fall to his death.
Dr. Wells let go and Cisco screamed as he fell and hit the landing with a resounding "thump." Realizing he was now safe, Cisco's scream died in his throat and he looked up at Wells in shock. The scientist had a moment to sigh in relief as he saw Cisco was okay before his line snapped and he dropped. Seeing his boss vanish from sight, the engineer screamed again and rushed to the railing of the stairs looking down.
There, hanging from the railing of the stairs a floor below, hung Dr. Wells. He'd hit the railing and was hanging on tightly. "Could somebody maybe give me a hand or ten please," Harrison begged, unable to look around.
"Harrison, we're coming," Joe shouted. He started swinging towards the stairs where Cisco was still staring down at Dr. Wells. As Joe managed to get to the landing with Cisco, Mac started talking Felicity through doing the same. "Come on Cisco," Joe said tapping the other man on the shoulder and rushing down the stairs to where Harrison was clinging.
"Please, help," Harrison mumbled. Unable to see the action, he yelped when he felt a hand on his own.
"Oh, help. Thank you." With a grunt, Joe started pulling Harrison up, Cisco standing back and staring for a moment longer before jumping in to help when Joe's grip slipped a little.
"Pull," Joe ordered as he and Cisco started winning the battle to pull Harrison to safety. They got the majority of his body over the railing and collapsed into a pile on the landing, pulling him completely to safety and tangling the trio together in a painful mass of bodies.
"Ouch," Harrison complained as he was jostled around and finally managed to roll away to relative safety.
"I so did not need to do that," Cisco said, staring at the ceiling and trying to slow his pounding pulse.
"I think my body has now successfully dumped all of my adrenaline into my blood stream in one go," Harrison added. Taking a shaky breath, he sat up.
"Hey, look at me," Joe ordered, also sitting up and seeing a splash of blood on Harrison's neck. Following orders, Harrison looked to about the only friend he had in the new world and tried not to react when Joe reached out and undid the strap on his helmet.
"Ouch," Harrison grumbled.
"Yeah, I bet," Joe said as he examined the scrapes. "Looks like you took a layer of skin off your cheek and you cut your chin." Turning Harrison's head to the side and back, he found no other injuries.
"Stings like hell," Harrison grumbled.
"But you'll live. Anything broken?" Joe figured hitting the stair rail the way Harrison had must have hurt.
"No, just bruised I think. Honestly there's so much adrenaline in my system I can't feel anything. Mr. Ramon, are you okay?" Looking over Joe's shoulder, Harrison tried to figure out if Cisco was injured.
"Yeah," Cisco said tersely. Briefly he considered thanking Dr. Wells for saving his life, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just couldn't trust the man. "What do we do now?"
"We'll finish it on foot," Mac said, coming to join the group. She was getting something out of her pack as she spoke.
"What about Harrison?" Joe asked, motioning at his friend.
"I think I can rig his harness to hook into mine," Mac said. "You don't look like you weigh too much so if you're willing to piggy back, I'll take you the rest of the way."
"Possibly the most demeaning way to travel, but I think my ego can take it," Harrison said with a shrug. "Just tell me what to do." Nodding, Mac knelt next to him and started going over everything. A few minutes later they were trudging up the stairs, Harrison strapped to Mac's back.