A/N: Wow, sorry everyone! This took a Hell of a lot longer to write than I thought it would! Really sorry about that. A big thank you to everyone who's stuck with this and to everyone who has found this story. Thanks for reading, following, favoriting, and/or reviewing. It's really helped move this along believe it or not.

Sorry again. Here's chapter 12 of Sick Day.

-BG

A couple of hours passed before Len managed to make any headway with his restraints. His wrists had grown raw and bloody long ago, but that wasn't going to stop him. Not even Wells' threat had done that and the pain from his struggles was nothing in comparison to the many injuries he'd suffered at his father's hand. Besides, the blood had make his right hand just slick enough to for him to finally be able to slipped free of the strap holding it.

The moment his hand was free, Len ripped open his other restraints, stumbling out of the chair as fast as he could. There was one obstacle down. He staggered over to Barry's table, checking over the system Wells had attached the speedster to. One control was definitely for a sedative. It had to be. Otherwise, he was pretty sure Barry would have woken up before now. The kid's frost burns had long since disappeared, which meant he could probably run them out of there. If Len could get him to wake up, that is.

Len played with the controls, dropping all of the IV settings down to zero. "Come on, kid. Time to wake up. We need to be gone before the good doctor gets back."

Barry didn't even stir, his breathing remaining slow and rhythmic. Len rolled his eyes skyward. Of course. It wasn't going to be that easy. Len sighed and wiped the blood off his hand before smacking Barry in the face.

Barry was awake in a split second, eyes wide as he scrambled off the table and landed hard on the floor. "What the Hell-?!"

"Barry, chill. You need to chill. Wells could be back at any second." Len held up his hands defensively.

Barry's eyes froze on Len's hands, the blood on them clearly startling the kid. "…how did…?"

"Long story, kid. We'll have plenty of time for it later once we get out of here." Len reached out with his less bloody hand and pulled Barry to his feet, noting that there were still some streaks of red on Barry's face from the slap. "Think you've got anything in the tank to get us out of here?"

"I could try…" Barry took a deep breath and for a moment he was blur of red and gold only for him to fall to his knees not three feet from where he'd been standing. "I don't understand… I could feel my speed and then it just…stopped…"

Len frowned, glancing at the IV that Barry had been attached to. "Wells must have been dosing you with something other than just sedatives."

"Something that can dampen my speed," monotoned Barry bitterly, "Great. Now how do we do this?"

"The old fashion way," said Len, helping Barry up again, "We run."

"And if Wells gets back before we get out? Asked Barry.

Len winced. "I guess we hope he's in a good mood…"

Barry swallowed and nodded, stumbling as he took a step toward the door. "…you might want to leave without me…"

"Kid, I didn't get all bloodied just to leave you here to die. If I were that cold-hearted, I would have left you here the moment I got free and made a run for it myself. Wells is a monster though and I've faced enough to know I wouldn't leave my worst enemy with them." Len hooked Barry's arm over his shoulders and steadied him. "Let's go."

"Snart-"

"Stuff it, kid," growled Len as he started toward the door, half-dragging and half-carrying Barry toward the door. He tried not to think about the pain emanating from his wrists, struggling to at least make it with Barry to the doorway before needing to take a break. One step at a time…

They were within a few feet of the exit when an alarm started blaring and the door slammed shut in their faces. Len felt a moment of desperation before he charged at the door, trying helplessly to break it down as he let Barry slide to the floor. They had almost made it…

"Sorry," whispered Barry.

Len glancing back at the kid to see the sincere regret written all over his face. He let out a sigh. "It's not your fault, Barry… This one's on me…"

"Told you. You should have gone without me," commented Barry.

"And I told you that I wasn't going to leave you here."

"Too bad," said Barry, "You're making a horrible supervillain today."

Len bit back a bitter laugh. "Guess so…"

A soft hissing noise filled the room suddenly and Len whirled around, spotting several plumes of white gas spewing from spouts in the ceiling. Whatever the Hell it was, Len wasn't in the mood to find out.

Len threw himself into forcing the doors open, struggling to pull at the door seam. "Barry, give me a hand with this!"

Barry forced himself to his feet, grabbing at the door with Len as they both pulled, neither succeeding as the gas floated closer to them. "I don't think we're going to make it, Snart…"

Len wanted to argue with the kid, but he couldn't find the strength, the gas finally reaching them and making him feel faint. A knock out gas. Fucking fantastic. Len felt his legs giving out beneath him and slipped to the floor, trying still to get back up. "Sorry, Barry… Guess I wasn't fast enough this time."

Barry let out a choked laugh, coughing as he too slid to the floor. "It's cool… At least you tried…"

Len managed a weak smile as he felt his arms give out on him and he collapsed to the floor finally. His eyelids grew heavier until they fell shut, the hazy image of Barry falling to the floor unconscious the last thing he saw before he too lost consciousness.

Cisco drove up to the ramshackle apartment complex, frowning as he observed its state of urban decay. "Felicity, are you sure this is the place?"

"I'm positive," said the blond hacker over the line, "Everything I've found says Hartley Rathaway lives here. 1959 May St., Building F, Room 106."

"Right…" Cisco parked his car and got out, locking it as he began walking around to find building F. "If you don't hear from me in a while, make sure Caitlin knows where I am. If I can't find Hartley here, I might need your help finding where else he could be."

"Oh he's there. If he's not, we'll figure that out. But he should be there."

"Thanks, Felicity. I owe you one," said Cisco.

"And I will come to collect," said Felicity brightly, "Good luck!"

"Thanks." Cisco hung up the phone, glancing warily at Building F. He sincerely hoped Hartley was here and this wasn't going to turn into some wild goose chase. They were going to need Hartley's help they ever hoped to take down Wells and get back Barry and Snart. Correction: they were going to need his help ASAP if they ever hoped to get Barry and Snart back alive.

The main doors to building F were unlocked and no one sat at the grime covered front desk except a few spiders and…was that a rat? Cisco really didn't want to know. Reading the signs, Cisco turned down the first hallway on the right. Room 106 was down on the left side at the end of the hall. The door looked to be made out of solid oak and had been painted forest green with gold numbers. In fact, it looked like the only new thing in the entire building. Hartley had to live here.

Cisco hesitated only for a moment before he knocked on the door. He waited, straining to hear any sound of movement inside the room. Hearing nothing, Cisco knocked again. "Hartley, it's me. Cisco?" Pausing to listen again, Cisco could have sworn he heard something move inside. He took it as a sign to keep talking. "Look, Hartley, I know you probably don't want to hear from me or anyone else at the Lab, but we need your help. Doctor Wells-"

Cisco's voice cracked and he had to pause and swallow past the lump in his throat. No matter how many times he replayed Wells' transformation in his head, it was still just as horrifying as the first time. "You were right, Hartley. You were right and we were wrong. I was wrong. Dr. Wells… He's…he's a monster. He's hurt some people… He's killed more people than you think… He kidnapped my friend and he's going to kill him." Cisco took a deep breath, praying Hartley was listening. "We need your help. We need your help to take down Dr. Wells."

"You know, you should have led with that."

Cisco gave a start, whirling around to see Hartley standing behind him, a grocery bag in one hand and a sonic glove aimed for Cisco with his free hand. Before Cisco could even respond, Hartley fired a blast at him, sending him flying into the hall wall. Landing with a grunt of pain, Cisco looked up at Hartley, thinking for the first time that this was a huge mistake. Why hadn't he even thought to bring backup? It wasn't like Hartley was a supervillain with superpowers, but he did have those damn gloves and Cisco wasn't armed at all.

"Hartley, please! I just needed to talk to you!" said Cisco, struggling to his feet, "Please! If you don't want to help, that's fine! We really need you, but I respect your decision. You were right and we didn't listen. But it's going to take hours for Ronnie to get here and we need to get into STAR Labs."

"Save it, Cisco," said Hartley, "Even if I wanted to help you, you haven't really given me a reason to."

"You don't want to take down Wells?" asked Cisco, mildly surprised.

"I tried that before," replied Hartley bitterly, "You stopped me, remember?"

"I do," said Cisco, "But…I…I didn't know what he'd done then."

"You mean you didn't believe me then," retorted Hartley, his glove beginning to hum again.

"I didn't want to!" replied Cisco quickly as he raised his hands defensively, "Could you? When you first found out about Wells and what he was doing with the particle accelerator, could you believe it? Did you want to believe it? Did you want to believe that the man who was supposed to be our mentor and boss was actually a deranged lunatic? Because I couldn't! I thought that Dr. Wells was a good man and he's not! He's psychotic and doesn't care about anyone."

"Except the Flash." Hartley scowled and Cisco almost expected to get blasted again. Except he didn't. "He's Wells' golden boy."

"Don't even get me started on that!" snapped Cisco, "He doesn't care about Barry at all! He wants to kill him!"

Hartley went stock-still, his gaze uncertain for the first time in a long time. "…Barry? As in, Barry Allen?"

Cisco tensed. "How do you know that?"

"You just called him Barry," said Hartley matter-of-factly, "The news has been going crazy about Barry Allen for the past twenty-four hours. First, Snart and his gang kidnapped him. Now this Reverse Flash character took him. How does he tie into Wells?"

Cisco hesitated. They needed Hartley's help with this. They really, really did and he wasn't just going to agree to help them. He needed Hartley on their side. "…if I tell you, will you promise to help us take down Wells?"

"You're not in any position to bargain, Cisco," commented Hartley.

"Well, I don't really have much to lose!" retorted Cisco, "I, we, need your help to take down Wells! If beating and blasting the crap out of me will get you to help, I don't really care! I need to help my friend and you're the only person who can help me get him back. So I'm here. Asking for your help. If I have to beg, ok. Fine. I'll beg. Just…please. Help us stop Wells."

Hartley kept looking at Cisco, clearly deep in thought. "…you really want my help to take down Harrison Wells?"

"Not just want," replied Cisco, "Need. We can't do this without you."

Hartley let out a long-suffering sigh, but lowered his sonic glove, much to Cisco's relief. "Fine. Let me put away my groceries. Then we'll talk. I want to know what the Hell is happening before I sign on."

"I'll tell you everything I know," said Cisco, "If you'll promise to at least help us break into STAR Labs. Anything after that is completely up to you."

Hartley nodded slowly. "Deal." He pulled out his keys and opened the door to his apartment, stepping inside. "Come it. Leave your shoes at the door. And DON'T touch anything."

Cisco nodded, following Hartley in and trying not to let the relief show on his face as he shut the door behind him. He had no idea what he would have done if things had gone south for him.

Eddie had just made his way back to the bullpen when Joe returned. Only, to Eddie's surprise, his partner wasn't alone.

"Dr. Allen?" sputtered out Eddie as he stood to greet Barry's father, "What are you doing here?"

"Early release," replied the senior Allen, "The DA sped things along with Barry…"

"Right," said Eddie quickly as Barry's father faltered, "Sorry. I'm glad you're out anyway, Dr. Allen. I just wish Barry were here to see it."

"You and me both," replied Dr. Allen, "And, call me Henry."

"Henry. Got it." Eddie turned to Joe who had been quiet throughout the entire exchange. "Right, the Arrow and the rest of the Rogues are downstairs in the garage. Caitlin and Mr. Diggle are with them. Apparently Mick Rory needed some medical treatment. I just left Iris and Linda up in Barry's lab. Cisco ran out about an hour ago. The Arrow said it had something to do with an idea. Cisco didn't really elaborate."

"If you don't hear from him soon, call him. If he doesn't pick up, have the Arrow call Miss Smoake and see if she can pinpoint Cisco's location," said Joe.

"Joe." Eddie, Joe and Dr. Allen turned as Captain Singh approached them, the Captain pausing as he spotted Dr. Allen. "I was going to ask where you went. Now I understand." He held out a hand to Barry's father. "Dr. Allen, it's good to finally meet you."

Dr. Allen took his hand, shaking it firmly. "Likewise. I wish it were under better circumstances."

Singh merely nodded. "On that we can agree. If you wouldn't mind, Dr. Allen, I need to speak with my detectives in private. If you could wait by Joe's desk…"

"I understand. I'm just here," said Henry, looking even more worried. He gave the trio a brief nod and headed over toward Joe's desk, plopping in the chair next to it.

Singh gave the doctor a safe look before turning back to his officers. "I've cordoned off STAR Lab. No one can go in without going through us."

"But if Wells wants in or out, we're not exactly in a position to stop him," said Eddie, "How does that help us?"

"It means that if anyone down in the basement decides to stage a rescue mission alone won't be able to screw things up before we stop the," replied Singh.

"I doubt Mr. Rory or Lisa are going to try anything right now." The trio turned abruptly, astonished to see Oliver Queen approaching them with now in his civilian clothes. "Dr. Snow had to sedate Rory after she fixed him up. He's in no shape to do anything right now."

The Captain nodded. "And Ms. Snart?"

Oliver paused for a moment. "Lisa knows what she saw," he replied, "She saw that not even the four of us were able to take on Wells. Even if she wanted to, Lisa knows that it would be completely suicidal to go after Wells on her own. She won't try anything. Not without a team."

"And you know this how?" asked Joe carefully.

Oliver grimaced briefly. "She may be a criminal, Detective, but Lisa Snart is a highly intelligent woman. Even more so than her brother. Believe it or not, she's smarter than she lets on. That and she loves her brother. She knows that working with us is her only chance to get him back alive."

"So what do we do now?" asked Eddie carefully.

"We regroup. We heal. We get all the information we can on STAR Labs from Mr. Raymond when he arrives and hopefully Cisco's idea pans out," replied Oliver.

"Speaking of Cisco," said the Captain, "Can your tech friend figure out where he went?"

"I'll call her. Ask where he might have gone." Oliver nodded to them, stepping away as he pulled out his phone.

Eddie noticed the small smile that appeared on the vigilante's face, knowing that Felicity Smoak had answered. It was a genuine expression, maybe the only genuine expression that Oliver Queen possessed after his five-year ordeal. It was pure happiness. Even if the two weren't a couple, the woman at least made the dark and brooding man smile.

Eddie managed a small smile of his own at this, thinking of Iris upstairs. How she made him feel. Her smile… The light that swelled up inside of him with every little thing she did.

"Eddie."

Eddie shook his head as he was pulled back to reality. Joe was staring at him, looking concerned. "Um, sorry. What?"

"I was saying that you looked tired," replied Joe.

"And I have to agree," said the Captain.

Eddie sighed, rubbing his temple. "I'm fine. My mind was just…elsewhere…"

"Which is why I want you, Joe and Iris to go home," said the Captain, startling even Joe, "We're not going to fix all of this right now and when Mr. Raymond and Dr. Stein arrive, we're going to need everyone at the top of their game. Allen and Snart are going to need us at the top of our game."

Despite his own reservations about leaving, Eddie nodded. "…I'll see if Linda wants to come with us. If she wants to stay, that's up to her, but…"

"You do that," said the Captain, "I'm sure she'll appreciate the company."

"You all can stay over at the house," said Joe suddenly, "We have plenty of room for everyone."

Eddie merely nodded again. "I'll talk to them." He cast a brief glance toward Joe, Henry and Oliver before heading up toward Barry's lab again, deep in thought as he ascended the staircase. The Captain was right. First, they would get some rest. Then they would bring Barry home.

Hartley watched Cisco out of the corner of his eye as he put away his groceries. The kid was sitting on the couch, trying not to fidget at the same time as he was trying not to talk. Odd that Cisco of all people could have such restraint at all. The situation had to be dire that Cisco would fight his own nature.

"Tea or coffee?" Hartley asked finally, startling Cisco.

"…um, nothing for me," said Cisco finally, "Not unless you've got the world's largest bottle of whiskey."

Hartley almost smirked at this, but found it didn't quite make it to his lips. Now that was definitely Cisco talking, but at the same time, the way he was acting… This was Hartley seeing Cisco being serious for the first time in a long time.

Hartley sat down in the armchair across from Cisco. "…then talk."

Cisco took a deep shaky breath. "Right, so Wells lied about a lot more than knowing the particle accelerator was going to explode. If I had anything to bet right now, I'd say that he made it explode on purpose, but that's beside the point right now."

Hartley tensed at Cisco's words and the scientist stopped, obviously worried that he'd said something wrong. He hadn't but the fact that Cisco above all people would suddenly believe that Wells had purposely caused the particle accelerator to explode was disturbing enough to Hartley. He motioned for Cisco to continue, trying to appear more relaxed than he felt.

"So Wells is a murderer, but not just in the sense of the particle accelerator. He confessed to the murder of Barry's mother fifteen years ago."

"But…Dr. Wells didn't come to Central City until about fourteen years ago," said Hartley cautiously, "How could he have murdered the Flash's mom if he didn't even-?" Hartley's brain caught up with his mouth. "Unless that's why he came to Central City in the first place…"

"That I don't know," said Cisco, "But I wouldn't be surprised. It's the circumstances that are what make what I'm telling you so important though…"

"Go on," said Hartley, part of him wanting to hear the answer just as much as he really didn't want to know."

"For the past fifteen years, Barry's dad has been in prison for his mom's murder. When Barry and his dad told everyone what really happened, nobody believed them. They all thought that Barry was trying to cover for his father murdering his mom."

"But he wasn't," replied Hartley.

Cisco shook his head. "No. They weren't but nobody believed him until now. Until Barry became the Flash and suddenly his story of the yellow suited man in the lightning didn't seem so impossible."

Hartley merely blinked, Cisco's words gripping his heart like a vise as his brain started connecting the dots. Wells had murdered the Flash's mother. The Flash ran with lightning. But he wore red. The only other person that came to mind was- "Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash…"

Cisco nodded. "I guess I should have just said it outright, but…"

"No," said Hartley quietly, "No, giving me the facts in order to figure it out on my own was better." He sighed, everything he knew about Dr. Wells fitting together like a grotesque image in a funhouse mirror. "Now it all makes sense."

"What does?" Cisco leaned forward, his eyes wide with curiosity. "What do you mean that 'it all makes sense'?"

"When I attacked Dr. Wells at his house, he made it out completely unscathed. While I couldn't see him, I knew he was in the middle of his house under the glass roof. He should have been ripped to shreds by the glass, but he wasn't hurt at all…"

"Damn…" Cisco whispered.

"That's not all though," said Hartley, the stunned look on Cisco's face unsettling, "When I broke out of your cells there, when I was leaving, I ran into Wells, or rather, came upon him. He had collapsed on the floor and his legs were spasming oddly. I thought originally that he could have just been hiding that he could walk after all and that his spinal injury was causing him some trouble. But with what you've just told me…"

"He was having trouble running," voiced Cisco, a dawning look on his face, "My God. I need to let the team know. It could work to our advantage. If he's having issues running…" Cisco stood. "I need to get back to the station."

"Wait," said Hartley, "You still want my help, don't you?"

Cisco froze, muttering curses to himself. "Yeah, yes, we do. I mean, if you're still up for it. Sorry. My mind's running away on me." The scientist rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed.

"Just let me get some things together," said Hartley, "I have some old schematics from STAR Labs tucked away somewhere. Let me find them and get my gloves and I'll go with you."

Cisco hesitated, looking mildly confused. "…I didn't expect you to be so…helpful."

"I'm not helping you," replied Hartley, finding himself slightly annoyed now, "I want to make Wells pay for what he did. You're giving me another chance at it. As far as I'm concerned, I'm helping snatch his precious Flash from him."

"Right…" Cisco looked more than a little uncomfortable now. "If you get a chance to turn Wells to pudding rather than Barry, I don't think I'd be as angry…"

"Betrayal sucks, doesn't it?" Hartley smirked ever so slightly, standing to go find his blueprints. "Well, Ciscquito, now you know it feels." He turned toward the back room, thinking of where he hid the blueprints again.

"Hartley." Hartley turned back toward Cisco as the scientist spoke rather hesitantly. "I'm sorry. We should have at least listened."

Hartley observed the genuine guilty and apology in Cisco's gaze and nodded his acceptance. It was as good a start as any. "I still haven't agreed to do anything more than get you in there."

Cisco shrugged. "That's good enough for me. The rest is your call."

Hartley headed back to the backroom without another word, trying not to think about the implications of Cisco's appearance on his doorstep. Maybe he would have a chance to right a few wrongs of his own.

Len felt like he had barely fallen asleep when Wells was suddenly slapping him awake. He swore softly, gritting his teeth to stop the rest of the stream of choice words he had for Wells from escaping. "You know, smelling salts work just as well…"

"It's less satisfying however," said Wells, patting Len's face patronizingly before practically gliding over to Barry's unconscious form, the young speedster now held firmly to the medical table by straps over his arms, torso, legs and forehead. Wells checked the vitals of the young man before grinning. "He's waking up."

Len grimaced, tugging experimentally at his bonds. They were tighter now than the last time, and bit deep into his forearms, avoiding the bandages he found around his wrists. So Wells didn't want him to bleed out after all. How touching… "Neat trick with the gas. How long have you had that prepared?"

"I've had this set up since…well, since Barry first joined the police department really," said Wells, "I knew that there was always a chance Barry might discover my secret. I had to be prepared. Once he knew, I could never let him go."

"You know, if you could hear yourself right now, you'd understand why I think you're one crazy son of a bitch," said Len carefully.

"Crazy? No. Desperate?" Wells shrugged. "Maybe I am. But I didn't spend fifteen years planning all of this for nothing."

"You need a better hobby," commented Len.

"Says the man who became just as obsessed with Barry as I was," monotoned Wells.

Len grimaced and Wells smirked. "Touché," Len replied, "But at least I wasn't the one stalking him for most of his life."

"A small price to pay for keeping him alive," replied Wells, "You wouldn't believe how many times I've intervened before to ensure his continued existence. Without his knowledge of course."

"Of course." Len tried to hide his scowl, but failed entirely. "You didn't want to lose Barry before he was ready for whatever madcap scheme of yours.

"Precisely, though it's not as mad as you think it to be."

"Do tell," said Len sarcastically.

Wells smiled, shaking his head in amusement. "Not yet. We have other matters to attend to first." Well's gaze drifted back toward Barry and Len's eyes followed. "Namely, making sure that both you and Barry are quite aware of my intolerance for disobedience and escape attempts."

"Barry had nothing to do with it," snapped Len, knowing immediately that it was both stupid and pointless to confess the truth to Wells.

"I'm aware," replied Wells coolly, strolling over to a table full of surgical instruments, looking at them pensively for a moment before smirking and meeting Len's gaze. "I'd say we've waited long enough for Barry to join us…"

Wells quickly flitted over to the other side of Barry's table, removing a small capsule from his pocket and breaking it under Barry's nose. Almost instantly, the young man woke with a start and began struggling to get free as he discovered his predicament. Despite this, Len had to suppress a growl. Of course, Wells had had smelling salts. He just didn't want to use them on Len. Fantastic.

"Good morning, Barry. Feeling better?" Wells smiled down at Barry whose expression hardened as his eyes filled with rage. "I thought so…"

"What the Hell do you want with me?!" Barry snapped, straining desperately at the straps that held him down. He cast a brief glance toward Len, a brief look of concern crossing his face before his gaze returned to Wells and hardened again. "What do you want with us?"

"Mr. Snart is here to ensure your cooperation. Besides that, he's nothing."

"Let him go," demanded Barry.

"No." Wells shrugged, unperturbed. "I'm not an idiot, Barry. I need you to do exactly what I ask of you and we both know you'll never do anything willingly for me unless I have something to hold over you. And I know you'd do anything to save a life. Even the life of one of your…enemies."

"Except if it were you, I'm sure he'd be all too happy to let you die," Len commented. He saw Wells' mouth twitch in irritation for a brief moment. It was the only warning he got before Wells had suddenly grabbed his right thumb and pressed down hard. There was a sickening crack and Len's world dissolved into pain.