Helena looked heartbroken. “It was never my intention to hurt you, mio caro. It was in the beginning to use you but that plan changed as soon as you asked me out on a date and pretended to be so sauve. And when you stayed the next morning. Please.” Her voice was soft. “Don’t leave me too. I have no one.”
“There was no pretending. That was a sincere attempt. I really don’t appreciate these comments, Helena.” Cisco said, continuing his persuit to get out. “I can’t stay connected with someone that is toxic.” He stopped in his tracks, realizing what he’d just said. That wasn’t him. What was going on? Cisco blinked hard a few times trying to rid the darkness from his vision. He needed to get home. Fast. “Helena, I-I’m sorry.” He breathed before running off.
If I don’t have a decent bowl of mac and cheese, I’m going to explode. Bye Bye Jesse. Death by cheese.
“You okay there, Chica? Want me to make some good ol’ Kraft dinner?” Cisco said, poking his head around the corner. He was visiting STAR Labs for the afternoon, and it was nice to be back where he felt at home. This was a new face, though. Cisco was determined to make this woman’s day better. No. Matter. What.
“Aren’t you sweet?” Len said with a bit of his more familiar sneer. “I don’t want to talk about what happened to me. Caitlin has it handled. What I’m more interested in is Lisa. She’s…I can…”
Len huffed out a breath, then handed Cisco a notebook. “I can talk to her. She’s like a.. like a goddam ghost. I can’t see her, but I can feel her sometimes, in the room with me. And she writes notes. I need you to get your ass to the hospital room and do what I asked you two weeks ago. I need you to vibe, and see if you can find her.”
Cisco shot an annoyed glance Len, knowing his all too familiar snarky tone. He took the notebook and began flipping through the notebook. “Wow. Okay. This is big. There definitely something else going on here. Let’s head over there and I’ll see what happens. Sometimes my powers aren’t really shoot and go. They act of their own accord sometimes.” Cisco babbled as he wandered down the hall to put some real clothes on. In just a minute, he walked out with his usual screen printed tee and a hoodie instead of the pj pants and plain white tee he had on before. “Ready Freddie?”
“I-I know,” she replied, “that’s what I was hoping to talk to you about, actually.” For a moment, she pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face and behind her ear and then placed her hands on top of her knees. “It’s just about this whole… thing. I was wondering how you adjusted.”
“I’m getting there.” Cisco laughed, biting the inside of his lip only because there was no nail to bite. He needed to get these nervous habits under control. “The powers are quite a lot to handle, and different aspects began showing up everyday. Soon, everything was really hard to handle and I kind of went off the grid. I did a lot of bad things to a lot of people that I really love.” Cisco said, his eyes now looking like they were plastered open and staring at the table. “I royally screwed up.” He said with a sigh, sipping the drink without breaking the gaze.
“They’re slow killers and come with a slew of health problems. I am of sound body and mind, can’t let you do that to yourself. It would weigh on my conscious forever.” She sat down along the counter, letting her ankles cross as she watched him. “You’re not a failure, you’re scared. You did something wrong and now you think you’ve fallen from grace and have become a little splat mark on the ground. You’re Cisco Ramon, you can do anything. Rising to the occasion and being the man and scientist I know you are–it’s inevitable. Hiding out won’t do you any good. It’s just a temporary fix.”
“I am a splat mark on the ground, Cait. I’ve fallen, and I can’t seem to pick myself back up. A temporary fix sounds a lot better than a permament one. A permanent one would probably mean training, counseling, running tests constantly, and so much more crap I don’t want to bother others with.” Cisco sighed, turning his head so he was facing Cait, his cheek smooshed against the cool counter. “I hate being a bother. I hate being a burden. I hate being like this.” He said, raising his hands and dropping them slowly. “Why did this happen like it did? Why can’t I just be normal?”
“I had to sweetheart,” she said, reaching out and grabbing Cisco’s hand to stop him from leaving. “My cover was blown and i didn’t want to hurt you too.”
Cisco pulled his hand away. “Don’t sweetheart me, Helena. I’m used to getting hurt. It would have been better had you just told me.” He continued walking, determined to get away from the woman.
Deathstorm knew the extent of the powers Reverb held on his own earth and didn’t want to push his luck. He had no idea to what extent the other man had honed the same skill, but he wasn’t about to give up, not when Zoom potentially held his life on the line if he didn’t make good on getting what he was told to get. “Fine by me.” he spoke, and with that, sent a wave of fire into the other mans car, blowing up not only the vehicle but the entire contents before start toward the lab.
Cisco saw the fire zooming toward him with just enough time to jump away from the car. He felt the intense heat from the car and it was suddenly on his back as well. He rolled on the ground, putting out any fire that had caught on his clothing. He looked up and saw not-Ronnie walking toward the place he considered his second home. “Not on my watch,” he whispered, pushing his palms into the ground and sending strong vibrations toward Deathstorm. He glanced back at his car, the flames eating at the interior, and the wrappers littering the floor acting as fuel for the fire. “Damn.” He sighed, standing up and taking a few steps away from the burning vehicle, suddenly feeling the pain in his back where the cloth had burned to his skin.
Cisco backup 