.:35:.

Caitlin rested her fingertips against her forehead, the skin between her eyebrows folding together with the pressure. It was hard; trying to wrap her mind around everything she had just been told. Especially since it made as much sense as it didn't. A part of her believed Barry; he wouldn't give his opinion on the situation, wouldn't have said anything if he didn't believe it was the truth. But another part of her couldn't imagine believing it was true; why would the person who wanted to help him progress want to hurt him so badly.

"Caitlin, I know this is hard to hear—"

"No, Cisco, it's not that," Caitlin insisted, shaking her head. She took a deep breath and started to rub her temples, a pounding starting to form. "It's…it's everything." She looked up as Cisco moved and sat down by her side, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Barry's telling the truth, Cait," he said gently. "Joe and I even went to Starling to figure some things out and it was basically proven there. That car accident that he was in that killed Tess…I know it's hard to believe this but I've been…seeing things. I saw this, I don't know, alternate life of something, where I went down to where we tried to trap the Reverse-Flash during Christmas and he killed me."

Caitlin lifted her head and looked at the side of Cisco's face. This was the first time she was hearing this. "You saw it?"

"It's hard to explain, but I get these flashes of things, like I've seen then before. I saw that happen and Barry and Joe…they have good reasons to believe this is true." He shook his head. "I don't want to believe it. Harrison has been a father figure to me for so long, but I don't have a choice but to. It's all.." he trailed off and changed the subject. "And I know this is hard for you, Cait, because of what's going on between you too—"

"—Nothing's going on between us," Caitlin said quickly, almost numbly. She was surprised Cisco was able to hear her, she mumbled so much. Her eyes closed and intense emotion crashed into her like a wave breaking against the rocks. "Nothing can go on between us. I can't, Cisco—" now she took another breath. "Cisco, I knew Harrison could walk. He can walk; he's been able to for a longtime."

Cisco blinked rapidly and Caitlin briefly wondered if he was trying to remove an eyelash from his eye rather than absorbing her information. Then he brought his fingers up to his temples and rubbed them. "What?" His tone was flat and Caitlin winced.

She hadn't wanted to keep it a secret for so long but she also had no idea how to tell the others and Harrison had asked her to stay quiet. Harrison had asked her to lie to everyone else. Harrison…she shook her head. Harrison had made her feel like a fool; if he lied about things from the very beginning what about his relationship with her—even thinking the word made her skin crawl—was real?

"He can walk, Cisco. He doesn't need a wheelchair. He's never needed one. Well, he needed it at first but now he doesn't and he has the Reverse Flash's suit stored somewhere—"

"Then that means we're right!" Cisco leapt to his feet. "We have to tell Barry."

Caitlin shook her head. "We don't know if we're right as far as him being the Reverse-Flash, Cisco, just that he wasn't as injured as he originally told us." She swallowed hard, on the verge of tears. Guilt was a bastard of an emotion. It did nothing but continue to grow, even whatever was causing said guilt was relieved. I should've told them, was the guilty thought that plagued Caitlin.

She should've told them about Harrison when she first found out. She should've told them he could walk, that he was lying about his injury, that she was lying for him, that she was his accomplice in a way. Oh God…she had kissed him, felt for him, slept with him. And all the while Ronnie had been affected by the Particle Accelerator explosion to the point that he was homeless and it had ruined the life of Martin Stein as well. And all Ronnie wanted was to have the life they should've had before the explosion and for them to leave Central City to have that life.

With her.

She couldn't fault him for it, he hadn't asked to become a metahuman, he had just tried to protect her and things ended up that way. He wanted the life back he had lost, but she had moved on and found her purpose with STAR Labs, Cisco, Harrison, Barry, Brady, and Cadence. It hurt to see he wanted to leave and she wouldn't go with him.

Maybe, I should have…

"I trusted him, Cisco," Caitlin whispered. "We all did. I tried to think that he had a good reason for keeping his being able to walk a secret. That he was trying to help motivate Barry this whole time. He asked me not to tell and I didn't say anything and now this happened." She shook her head. "I can't imagine if Barry's right, that he really did murder his mother and if I helped in some way…"

"You didn't."

"I did. By not saying anything…"

"You just did what you were always taught to do Cait. Trust people you love. I mean, I don't know how far your feelings for Dr. Wells goes. I mean, if you want to share that information you could, I'm always here to listen…I kind of want to know for myself." Cisco stopped his rambling when Caitlin glared at him and he quickly got back on track. "None of this if your fault."

Caitlin closed her eyes and nodded. He could say that all he wanted, maybe it was the truth. But it was hard to believe. She dealt with facts and the facts were saying she messed up believing in someone who promised every everything he managed to deliver.

"We're going to figure out what to do, Cait. Joe gave the perfect idea, who need to figure out how to lure him into a trap and get some answers, if we go in blind it'll just tip him off that we're on to him and then we'll get the upperhand."

"Does he have a plan already?"

"Well, the first one was to not tell you or Cade and we know how that turned out," Cisco said with a half smile. His eyebrows then came together and he turned to look over his shoulder. He glanced into the hallway that led to the empty pipeline pod Caitlin had gone to as soon as Barry revealed his suspicions to her. "Speaking of which, we should see how that's going."

Caitlin nodded, chewing her lower lip. That was probably a really good idea. Having news like that thrown in her face was hard enough for Caitlin, Barry and Cade couldn't have been doing so well either. She glanced over at Cisco who appeared calm and felt a sudden rush of intense admiration for him. For someone who was always making references to pop culture events—betrayals within comics and other forms of superhero lore were among the best he spoke about—but to read it and live it were two completely different things.

And here he was, comforting her.

He did a lot more than anyone gave him credit for.

Caitlin nodded once more and got up along with Cisco and headed back towards the cortex. She and Cisco could hear Barry's and Cadence's arguing voices before they came close to the two. From the rapid fire way their words came out as well as brief pauses every now and then Caitlin could tell they had the same thought Cisco and Caitlin had. If it were true they didn't want to tip Harrison off that he knew they were coming for him.

Their whispers were as harsh as a cold wind blowing on a winter's day. Caitlin practically felt the temperature drop as they continued to move closer. She could hear Barry's frantic voice now, whisper tinged with desperation

"Cade, you're not listening to me! I know it's hard but you need to listen to what I'm saying. The Reverse Flash...Harrison Wells, killed my mother!"

It was less than a second that Cadence responded and Caitlin could hear she was as irritated and scared as Barry was. "I get that Barry, I do! And I feel for you, it hurts to see how much you miss her. But you only lost your mother once! I can't listen to what you're saying because if what you're saying is true...then I'm going to lose my dad twice."

The conversation ended there and seconds later Cadence stormed by Cisco and Caitlin nearly leaving a burning path in her wake. Cisco squeezed Caitlin's arm, letting her know he was going to see if Cadence was okay, quietly asking if Caitlin was alright. Caitlin nodded back and continued towards Barry, knowing he had to be hurting just as badly.

"Hey," She said quietly, moving towards him. Barry who had been running a hand through her hair, turned towards her. His face softened and he cleared his throat.

"Hey," Barry replied. His eyes searched her face as he asked, "How are you holding up?"

She smiled a little. That was Barry alright, the news of Harrison's true identity had to hurt him more than the others combined. If what he said was true then his entire life had been ruined because of a man that pretended to like him, pretended to be a confidant, pretended to be a mentor and father figure to the young man when he wanted nothing more than answers.

She didn't know how he did it. Caitlin gently shook her heard. "I don't know how I'm doing, Barry. I don't know how you're doing, how you can sit here and care about the rest of us when this should be hurting you the most."

He shrugged. "I don't have time to think about myself, I don't think I have the energy. I just…we need to come up with a plan to get him out of here. I need to focus on that." He looked away for a minute, suddenly appearing very interested in the pattern of the floor. There was no pattern on the floor. "I don't think I can do anything but that."

I know how he feels, Caitlin thought. And she made sure Barry understood as well, "When Ronnie died I became frozen. I didn't think there was anything else to live for. And there were many other moments throughout the time we've been working together to save Central City where I've had the same thoughts. What was the point? How could I move on? But over time you've helped me realize that being stuck, being frozen in time wasn't going to help you. With discovering the extent of your abilities, Barry, we're a team. And I can't help the team if I'm frozen. Neither can you."

Barry nodded back. He continued to keep his gaze on the ground. Caitlin walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at her curiously and she held out her arms. "You look like you could use a hug," She commented.

A light chuckle escaped his lips. "I can never turn down a hug." He wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly. "Thanks, Caitlin."

"You're welcome, Barry."

.

..

...

Harrison stretched his arms over his head as he came to a stop within the sewers. Then he leaned forward and rubbed his lower back, deftly pressing his fingers into the fabric of his yellow and red suit. Sitting down for so long was really starting to take its toll on him. But that was part of the point, the biggest part of his plan that would help him figure everything out. Besides, by the way things were progressing he would be able to reveal his intentions soon.

Sooner than he anticipated, especially with Tess back in the picture now. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Tess. The sound of her name made something within him stiff, much like the same way a kitten purred in delight at being scratched a certain way. He hadn't known what it was like to lose that feeling until it came back full force. Maybe he'd take advantage of it, it'd be a pretty nasty shock when she found out the truth of things. As it was, he would need to be leaving soon if he had anything to say about it.

The only thing standing in his way, as it were, was General Eiling. Of course, there was always something going on with Wade. He should've seen it coming sooner to do something about it. Then again, for what he knew of the future, he couldn't have things happen at the wrong time or else it would create disastrous results.

General Eiling glared at Harrison as he walked into the open area of the sewer where he continued to be tied to a ladder that stretched up and disappeared into the shadows on the ceiling. Harrison chuckled and squatted in front of him once more. Reaching out, Harrison ripped the tape away from General Eiling's mouth, causing the graying man to wince.

"I'm sure you're very uncomfortable with this tape but as long as I've known you, you don't tend to stop talking," Harrison commented. He glanced down at the tape stuck to his fingers and flicked it away. "Not to mention you have a nasty streak of redemption within you that can't otherwise be tamed so I'd rather not run the risk of losing my fingers."

"I don't know what it is you're planning, Wells—"

Harrison's smug smile dropped and an expression of fury replaced it. He took a breath through his nose, looked away for a moment, then looked back to General Eiling. "Please, while within our own company call me Eobard Thawne. Harrison Wells isn't here anymore." Then he paused, bringing a hand up to lightly tap his chest. "Well, I believe that's not entirely true. He's here, he's always been here. It's just a matter of whether or not I want to let him out from time to time."

A chuckle escaped his lips. "Let me tell you, though, my doctors seem to have a field day with my medical records. Part of the time it appears that I have every allergy under the sun and that my eyesight is bad, I blame that on Harrison. But there were times where my allergies were very manageable, I'm at peak physical condition—as much as I can be for someone in a wheelchair—and my eyesight is amazing." He waved a hand. "That's the price to pay when I take over someone else's life but I had no choice, things needed to move faster."

"What's that supposed to mean?" General Eiling ground out, one eye swollen shut, a bruise down the side of his face, and his arms tied behind his back. "I know things were strange with you, Harrison. But not this strange."

Harrison let out a short, annoyed breath between his teeth. He pulled off his glasses and tucked them in the front of his suit. He could see just fine for now."Yes, I believe this would be hard to figure out. Just know that you're not the one in charge here, I am."

"And what is it that you want, Harrison?" Eiling ignored the fury that flashed through Harrison's blue eyes. He knew he had the upper hand in the situation. If Harrison wanted to get rid of him there was nothing else that Harrison could use to his advantage for information. He didn't believe the Assassination Bureau would be stupid enough to make their plans known at the moment. Not when one of them was closer to Harrison than he thought.

"I want to know everything you know," Harrison explained. He stood up to stretch out his legs. That took only one second for the pain in his muscles to dissipate. "More importantly, I want to know why you were chasing down Bette, what plans you had for her, if you continue to have plans for her, and what is it that you're doing in Central City right now."

"So you're telling me you haven't figured all of this out yet?" A smug smile came to General Eiling's face. "I believe you're losing your touch, Harrison. Normally it was like you could read my mind."

"More like see the future."

"I'll believe that. I believe there are a lot of strange things about you, Harrison. I'm sorry; you wanted me to call you Eobard. I must commend you, you always have a way to know what's going to happen before it happens and have an answer for everything. Why don't you tell me the answer this one?"

Interesting…Harrison tilted his head to the side, an almost calm expression on his face. Then he pursed his lips and bared his teeth. Throughout that movement there was a sudden flash of a cleft in Harrison's chin, making him resemble another man compared to the docile natured scientist Eiling knew before. This man is smarter than I gave him credit for. "You didn't show up again until Firestorm made his appearance so I believe there is something there you want. And then Cadence"—he had to stop and swallow hard, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his heart—"mentioned you're trying to make some sort of a metahuman revolution."

"Revolution wouldn't be the word I would use. Uprising, maybe, a new source of government, maybe. Not a revolution." Eiling started to speak in a strong tone, strange compared to the weak position of his body. "We're not supposed to stop these metahumans, Harrison, we're supposed to help them nurture their powers and figure out a way to use them to our advantage. Become hometown heroes. Become a force that should be reckoned with."

"You always did have a military mindset, Wade," Harrison said. He turned his back to Eiling and took a deep breath. When he turned back around it was as if looking at a different person. The facial structure and facial features were exactly the same of the man Eiling had known for years; however he looked like a complete stranger. "You think I'm doing this for my health? I have to stop you because I know what will happen. Your version of the future and mine are two completely different things and I'm not going have you ruin that."

"Harnessing the Firestorm project doesn't equate a terrible future," Eiling insisted. "Think of the sort of military we could now have, the military we can bring to other countries. This could be a way to create world peace and if we can figure that out with project Firestorm then why not take the chance?"

"I'm sorry, that's a chance I can't risk. Not when it means that it's risking my home," Harrison commented. He took a step back and waved an arm out towards an opening in the sewer line that led to the room. Eiling's earnest expression was wiped clean when there was a low, growling sound steadily moving towards them. "Though I must commend you on still being the same man I can count on you to be."

"You don't know what you're doing Harrison," Eiling spat. "You don't know what you're giving up!"

"Oh believe me, I do. I know everything you want to do and I know how it'll play out. It's a side effect from all of the choices I've made in my life thus far. I tend of have a sort of a sixth sense about these things." He walked over to Eiling and slapped his hand down onto the man's shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Eiling managed a few seconds before he winced with pain, making Harrison smile. "It's such a shame that things have to work out this way. But I'm not going to let you stand in my way."

The low growling sound came once more and Harrison looked over his shoulder as the lumbering figure moved into the room. His smile was almost sadistic as he turned back to Eiling, who stared at the figure behind Harrison's, slowly tilting his head back as he took in the massive size.

"I believe you remember, Grodd," Harrison commented. He crossed his arms. "He sure does remember you and the experiments you've continued to inflict upon him when he wasn't in the position to express his pain."

"Go to hell, Harrison!" Eiling spat.

"I'm sure I'll be there soon, but at the moment I'm much too busy." He turned to race from the room and made it few feet, red streaks shooting out behind him before he came to a sudden stop. He paused, taking in everything from his sense; the smell of the sewer, the feeling of the scratchy concrete wall beneath his fingers, the taste of the stale air on his tongue, and the sound of water trickling in the distance.

Harrison frowned.

His eyesight was starting to blurry once more.

He was losing control.

.

..

...

"Sit there and don't move until Ryder comes to get you."

"Okay."

Cisco looked at Cadence funny as she turned back to some papers on her desk. He took a step into her office, knocking on the door gently. "Are you talking to me or him?" He joked, motioning over to Brady, who sat quietly in a chair in the corner of the room.

Brady looked up and smiled a little at Cisco before turning back to what was obviously his homework. Cadence gave Cisco a passing glance, looking at her computer screen once more. "I was talking to him," she said nodding over to her son.

"Mom's mad at me," Brady whispered.

"I'm not mad at you," Cadence snapped.

Now Cisco raised an eyebrow as he stepped further into the room. The tension radiating from the office he could feel as soon he walked into CCPD headquarters. Then again, it was difficult to go near there or STAR Labs now that they all knew of Harrison's potential betrayal. Still, there wasn't anything that had shown they couldn't trust him. Despite Caitlin's confession, there was a part of her that was still quick to defend him with what he had done for them so far.

if I hadn't been to Starling City I wouldn't believe it either, Cisco reminded himself. Harrison was his father more than his own father was and now to know he was the one that brought them together as well as to tear them apart. Fear continued to plague him whenever he fell asleep, seeing the evil grin on Harrison's face as he relived the day he died. Almost as if he was another person.

Cisco took himself out his thoughts as he looked around at the walls of Cadence's office. So far there wasn't much that was put up other than a few pictures. He smiled when he saw the picture of him and the rest of the STAR Labs team set up on her desk. Then it faded when he realized how close their team was to falling apart due to secrets and lies that were hurting everyone.

Then she turned her gaze to Cisco, glaring at him for a second. "And before you ask, I'm not mad at Barry either."

"I wasn't going to ask," Cisco said defensively, holding his hands up. "Then again, I'm not sure about Barry but even I know saying something like…" he trailed off, glancing at Brady, who wasn't paying attention. "Like what he told us isn't something that many people actually want to hear. And wouldn't help much in terms of dating."

"I'm not dating Barry, Cisco," Cadence explained. She rubbed her face. "Now would be the worst time for that. Is this what you came to talk to me about? Because I'm not sure if you remember, but I have a lot of work I need to go before Captain Singh is down my ass. I've been behind since we went to Starling earlier this week."

"How far behind can you get in a few days?" Cisco asked.

"Enough," Cadence replied. Her eyes shifted behind Cisco and she sat up straight in her seat, suddenly smiling sweetly. "Captain Singh, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, Candace, you can help me by getting the files I need. I'm sorry if I'm cutting in this little pow-wow that you have going on but I granted you the time you needed to leave so please don't waste my time." Captain Singh then turned to Cisco and looked him up and down. "What do you want?"

"You know, Captain Singh, I've helped ou the CCPD a few times now," Cisco started. He clasped his hands together. "And I was sort of wondering if there was a chance that I could, I don't know, get some sort of a medal or maybe even a room—"

"—don't press your luck, Cisco!" Captain Singh cut him off, causing Cisco to nod and stake a step away from the short, angry man. "And tell Mr. Allen that I need him to catch up on some things, too. We're falling really far behind and there continue to be strange cases going on around here. I don't need him, Thawne, and Joe distracted."

Cisco nodded like a bobble head as Captain Singh left the room. Then he turned back to the fire metahuman with a raised eyebrow. "Candace?" He questioned.

"Yeah, somehow he doesn't seem to remember my name at all. But at least he knows who you are, Cisco." She cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat once more. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"To talk," Cisco said. He crossed the room and sat down in the seat across from her. "This isn't easy for any of us you know, we're all being betrayed by this."

"I know," Cadence said calmly. She looked away from him. "And I know I'm being incredibly selfish but to know that practically every little thing in my life is a lie? And to know that if this is true and it's happening to you guys too? I don't know if I'd ever be able to face him."

"That might be what he's counting on," Cisco pointed out. "To know that you wouldn't be able to go against him if something ever happened. That way he would have Barry all to himself." He lowered his voice as Brady turned a page in his book and frowned, staring at the math problems that looked back at him. "But if we're going to stop him we'll need yours and Brady's help." Cadence didn't respond. Cisco licked his lips. "Look, I know what you're feeling. I've had this suspicion about him since I've had these flashes where…where he killed me."

Now Cadence looked at him sharply.

"I didn't want to believe it was true but I keep seeing it. And if what happened there is true, then Barry's telling the truth. And we need to find a way to destroy him."

Cadence thought for a minute, then shook he head. "Not destroy him," She said. "Capture him. We need to capture him." Cisco's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed something strange flicker through her eyes. Almost as if they suddenly came alive once more. "I can't…I don't think I can…"

"It's alright, I get it." Cisco reached out and grabbed onto Cadence's wrist. "I don't think I'd be able to do more than that, either. But we have to stick together on this. It's going to be hard to prove, especially since we have to act like everything is normal until we have one hundred percent truth."

"But knowing him he already knows we're onto him. One thing I definitely learned from him is to always know everything about your opponent. Chances are he's going to be one step ahead of us."

"Again, not unless we stay as normal as possible."

Cadence gave a hint of a smile and twisted her hand around so that she held his as well. "You already have a plan don't you?"

Cisco gave a determined smile. "I have many plans within my repertoire. I like to keep ahead in case something happens with, say, the Rogues, or a wayward metahuman. I didn't think I'd need to add a psychic gorilla to our list." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, scrolling through it for a few seconds. "Okay, so are we thinking Saving Private Ryan or Home Alone for our inspiration?"

A/N: Thank you for being so patient with me you guys. Not only had I been dealing with writers' block lately but I had also been traveling a bit so I didn't have a lot of time to write. So now that I'm back I have a bit of a filler chapter than usual but it moves things along. And with the news that The Flash is going back into production on Wednesday and hearing that Tom Felton is now on the show, it's gotten me back into gear to write for The Flash.

Hopefully I'm at least writing the story about season 2 before the third season starts airing though. Lol! So now we've got some Snowbarry and Ciscade friendship moments that I haven't really shown a lot through these last few chapters/within this story.

Hope you guys like the chapter.

-Riles

PS - As you can probably guess, this isn't the last you'll see of their reactions to Harrison's (potential) betrayal. Since I know their reactions were a bit lackluster here. And check out my sisters' and my crossover The Serenade of War as well as go back a few chapters to take a vote on the sequel title.