"Keep scanning for seismic activity, Cisco. If Hartley uses his gauntlets, it could cause tremors."

Cisco, his face set with determination that was quite telling of the thoughts running rampant through his mind, was already working by the time Dr. Wells had barked out the order. As Laura finished putting on her gear, Barry paced the entire length of the room, already decked out in full Flash gear, looking extremely agitated. The last words they'd heard from Hartley were still fresh in her mind, and she had to release a bit of frost to keep herself calm. Chess metaphors were never the subtlest, and she had a feeling that Hartley wasn't bluffing in the slightest.

"I've got him!" Laura was by Cisco's side in seconds, Barry on her heels, and she watched as the map he had pulled up zoomed on in an area that was only vaguely familiar.

"Sensors outside of the city are picking up quake activity but there's no fault line in sight. It has to be him."

"That looks like the Keystone Dam." Caitlin supplied, and Laura nodded in agreement – it was the closest thing nearby on the map. As she slipped on her goggles and Barry pulled his cowl up, Dr. Wells approached them. It was obvious that Hartley's words had struck a chord with him as well, but there was something else buried underneath that mask that Laura couldn't quite place.

"Don't underestimate him, either of you."

"That's why we've got you guys on the other end." Barry sent a reassuring smile to Dr. Wells, and the next thing Laura knew, her world was nothing but the lightning and the wind.


When Laura's world finally came to stop, a car was flying over the edge of the Keystone Dam.

Tens of cars were backed up on the road, and many people were still trying to get to safety as Hartley sauntered over the roofs of their vehicles. Laura had half-hoped that this time of night, the dam would be abandoned, but then again, Hartley wouldn't have chosen the location if it didn't make things harder for them. Barry was running down the side of the dam before she could blink, returning with the vehicle's shaken driver moments later, a distant crash and a dim flicker of an explosion following moments later.

However, before either of them had a chance to attack, Hartley unleashed a wave of sonic blasts at the cars in front of them. Laura's heart caught in her throat as she watched them fly into the air, the drivers' faces frozen in pure terror.

"GO!" She screamed at Barry, and as he took off, she thrust her hands out, cold flying from her fingertips to form a thick wall of ice between them and Hartley as Barry returned with the shaken drivers. As the civilians ran for safety, however, a high-pitched wail ran through the air, and Laura turned her back just as the wall shattered into hundreds of shards of ice. As he strolled towards them across the bridge, Hartley looked more confident than Laura had ever seen him, and both Laura and Barry just barely managed to dodge another round of sonic blasts. As she countered a blast aimed at her with a beam of cold, Laura's com line opened up.

"Really not a good time now, guys!" She managed, cursing the distraction as one of her blasts was countered by Hartley.

"Laura, get out of there now!" The sudden sharp note of fear in Dr. Well's voice made her falter.

"What are you talking about?" Laura was distracted momentarily as one of Hartley's blasts nearly clipped her, but she recovered quickly enough to dive for cover behind an abandoned truck.

"Cisco found out what Hartley stole from us – all of your molecular scans, yours and Barry's. Laura, you need to get out of there now!"

However, as Dr. Wells shouted in her ear, Laura caught sight of Barry ripping off Hartley's gloves and throwing him to the ground.

"It's over – you lose, Rathaway."

"You know," Laura stopped short at the smug tone in Hartley's voice, Dr. Well's frantic voice distant noise in her ear, "it's amazing that he replaced me with you. A complete idiot. I got you both with the same trick…twice."

Laura saw Hartley's gauntlets light up a moment too late, and the warning shout died in her throat as a bolt of pain shot through her head. She let out a cry of agony as the pain sent her to her knees, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Barry collapse to the ground as well. He was clearly in pain as well, gasping wordlessly as his knees buckled underneath his weight, the edges of his body blurring. Another searing streak ripped through her mind, and Laura let out a scream as she crumpled. It felt as if her entire body was trying to rip itself apart, and she had the distinct feeling that that was exactly what was happening as she coughed up a splatter of dark blood on the damp ground.

"H-Hartley…turn it o-off!" In the distance, she heard him laugh, and something solid suddenly connected with her ribs, sending her on to her back. Her vision filled with bursts of white light as a fresh, sharp pain filled her chest, and she had to fight to keep her eyes open, gasping for air as Hartley crouched over her.

"You know, I expected better from you, Laura. You could have been great – you could have been someone. And now, you're going to die, fighting battles for a man who won't lift a finger to fight in the war he started."

Laura wanted to say something, to beg for mercy, to spit in his face, but blood filled her mouth, her throat burning as she struggled to roll on to her side to cough out the coppery liquid. Her vision swam as she laid eyes on Barry, who still gasping in agony as he struggled against the pain they shared, coughing up strings of crimson blood as well.

"I can't say it hasn't been fun knowing you. I suppose you could say I might even miss you." Hartley sneered above her, and Laura gasped aloud, a piercing pain filling her gut as she coughed up more blood. She was hardly even aware of the world around her now, the agony leaving her paralyzed on the ground.

"Goodbye, Laura. Say hi to Ronnie for me, won't you?"

Her vision was starting to darken, blurring faintly at the edges, and Laura blinked back tears as she stared up at the dark sky. It reminded her all too much of the night everything had changed, surrounded by flame and unable to move, to save herself. It was happening all over again, but now there wouldn't be any hope of rescue or survival. She was going to die here, in the middle of nowhere, and as she finished her thought, Laura found herself unspeakably angry. It was one thing to let Hartley walk all over her when she couldn't fight back, but now? If she let him get away, if she let herself fail, he would win.

A harsh crackling sound filled Laura's ears as she rolled herself on to her front; she bit down hard on her lip to keep herself from screaming, but if it drew blood or not she could not tell. The crackling continued and Laura almost passed out as the pain lessened by a fraction, her arms trembling underneath her weight. Still, she forced herself to her knees, and even as the world faded in and out, Laura continued to fight against the tempting darkness. She could still see the familiar black figure walking away from her, and something in Laura ignited as she finally found herself on her feet. She could do this.

She could do this.

Every step forward shook her to the core, but Laura forced herself to keep going, no matter how much her body screamed at her to stop, to rest. With every step, the darkness faded away, and the harsh crackling soon overpowered the painful soundwaves. Soon, the only thing Laura was aware of was that Hartley had stopped, and she suppressed a growl as he turned around. For a second, he faltered, his eyes wide with shock, before then he grinned, his eyes lighting up with glee.

"I always knew there was more to you, Sanders. I knew that there was something you were hiding. If only you could see yourself now."

Laura didn't respond, and her eyes slipped closed as a wave of cold flooded her entire body. The feeling was exhilarating, and Laura met Hartley's eyes once more, the cold leeching away the pain in one fell swoop. For a second, the great Hartley Rathaway looked almost scared. Then, that fear fell away and a familiar whirring sound filled the air as he raised his gauntlets at her.

However, as he did so, Laura heard another high-pitched whine filling the air. Hartley's expression of triumph suddenly shifted into one of fear as the sound peaked, and he let out a shout of pain as his gauntlets started to spark. Laura watched as he tore them off, and her stomach lurched at the sight of the raw blistering on his hands. But as Hartley turned to face her, Laura was already there, and the last thing he saw coming was her fist. She had a strange sense of triumph as she made contact with his face, and for a split second their eyes met, before Hartley collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The faintest hints of frostbite were already forming at the edges of his jaw.

As she stood there, however, there was a crackling and a slight discomfort in her wrists, and Laura glanced down just in time to see her hands transform back into flesh and bone. Somehow, she couldn't even bring herself to care. She was alive, and so was her partner.

It was over.

They had won.

Checkmate.


"And that is how we do it!"

Cisco was going crazy, Laura was certain, or at least having an aneurysm or a stroke. He looked as if he'd actually had a good seven hours of sleep and maybe a decent meal, but nobody at S.T.A.R. Labs was going to stop him from celebrating. Caitlin was practically beaming, and Laura knew that her friend never looked that happy to put away any metahuman. Even Dr. Wells looked pleased, his usual stern expression replaced by something resembling a smile.

"So Hartley used our own coms against us?" Laura asked, still feeling a little light, and winced as Caitlin prodded her stomach with one gloved hand. There was a large, darkening bruise in the shape of a boot over her ribs where Hartley had kicked her, but a bit of cold applied to the area kept any residual pain at bay.

"Yep – the molecular scans he stole allowed him to find both your and Barry's natural frequencies, and he adjusted his gauntlets to target those frequencies through you earpieces. You're just lucky your organs weren't entirely sheared apart."

Amongst other things. Laura mused silently, and pulled down her shirt as Caitlin finally finished her examination. She could still see her hands after she'd punched Hartley, just as smooth, as hard and as inhuman as the day that she had smashed her way out of that cell the Reverse Flash had trapped her in. Thankfully, Barry hadn't seen anything after she'd punched Hartley out cold, and Hartley, well, he hadn't exactly been in a talking mood. At least he was locked up in the Pipeline now, in a cell that had been specifically tailored to his area of expertise – no hearing aids were going to help him escape this time. She couldn't quite believe that he had gone down so easily, especially after the last time, but Laura had a feeling that Hartley wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Which meant, in the short run, they had won.

"I knew there was more to you, Sanders. I knew that there was something you were hiding. If only you could see yourself now."

As she watched her friends celebrate their victory, Laura found herself distracted by that moment back on the bridge. What did Hartley know? What had he suspected? She had so many secrets now, it disturbed her to think that he even knew – or had looked into – one of them. And she was fairly certain that she had even more questions than secrets by now. It was disconcerting to think how much he could possibly know – how much power he had over if he knew the truth. The thought made her wrists ache, and Laura had to fight down a wave of nausea as an unwelcome thought of the future came to mind.

But that was over now. Whatever Hartley knew about her, he wouldn't be able to get to her now. At least, Laura hoped that was the case.

"Dr. Sanders – may I have a word?" Laura was abruptly pulled from her thoughts as Dr. Wells made his way over to her. Out of curiosity, she followed him out of the control room; when they finally emerged from the building, it was on one of the balconies that faced the city. For a long time, the two of them stood there, simply looking out at the lights of Central City, and just as Laura was beginning to enjoy the silence, he spoke:

"I wanted to thank you. For what you said, earlier."

"I'm glad I could help. I see Cisco and Caitlin are making eye contact with you again." He let out a chuckle at that, and Laura couldn't help a wry smile as she watched him out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, you were right."

"About what?"

"My mistakes. I have made many, many mistakes in the past, but it has always been my nature to seek out…loopholes, alternatives, instead of fixing it on my own. In some ways, you and Mr. Allen were just another way I could fix my mistakes without facing the problems that I created. I've hurt so many people through my ignorance, Laura, and I am ashamed to admit that I was ignorant of that fact myself."

When he didn't speak again for a long time, Laura turned her back to the city, and when she saw the distant look in Dr. Wells' eyes, unguarded by the glasses folded in his lap, Laura hesitated. Everything he said was true, she knew that. But a repentant man was far better than a man who refused to see his own flaws, and she had the feeling that her employer had come to understand that. For that, she could no longer hold anger against him.

"So, what do we do now?"

She could have sworn she saw her mentor smile as she spoke, and for some reason, Laura found that it no longer looked so abnormal on his face. In fact, it looked as if he had just been allowed to rest for the first time in many years.

"Now…now, we move on."

"That sounds good to me."

"...goodnight, Laura."

"Goodnight, Dr. Wells."


"Oh, Cisco, if only you knew, what our dear friend Dr. Sanders was really like. How…differently you would look at her."

"Keep talking, Hartley. You don't know anything about her."

"Well, you see Cisco, that's the thing – I know everything about her, which is more than I can say for you, Cisquito. I know how she spent the first thirteen years of her life in fear of her father. I know that Laura Sanders didn't exist on Earth up until seven years ago. I know a great deal about her, and I know just how much she hasn't told you."

"You're lying – all you've ever done is lie."

"Not about this, Cisco. No…I'm quite certain about this."

"I don't believe you."

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to see for yourself, won't you?"

"...goodbye, Hartley. Hope you enjoy life in prison."

"This isn't goodbye, Cisco. Not by a long shot."

I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Remember, reviews are welcome! Thanks for reading, you guys!