Cisco: Not joining a cult. I’ve got it all figured out with her. Everything is fine, Bar.
Barry: Her other guess is your turning to a life of crime. That’s not happening either, right?
Cisco: DO you know me at all? Barry, I told you things were fine.
Now Lisa was getting worried. As she heard Cisco’s speak, she knew exactly where he was. It reminded her of when she first got her Gold Gun. She was just as ruthless and drunk on power. It was a high you could easily become addicted to.
She had paid for it. It seemed every time she has become impulsive and irrational, something always made her suffer. From her kidnapping and failed attack on Thawne and just her life as whole. Somehow the universe made sure her sins were punished.
Maybe that’s why she was trying to help people now. Not all the time but here and there. The price for her darkness was becoming too deep and now her one ray of goodness and light was slipping. And right now, no one needed her more than Cisco.
“I understand the feeling.” She assured him, but becoming very anxious at the smile on his lips. “But Cisco, trust me, nothing good comes of it. True friends would realize that the quake was an accident but purposely enjoying the fear you bring people will have karma bite you so hard in the ass. Look at my life, I’m a prime example. You need to be careful, Sunshine, megalomania isn’t attractive when it comes to you. Your friends should have stayed by you, knowing this was an accident. I mean, look at the damage they cause in the name of good, it’s not that black and white-I’ve told you that before.” A small sigh escaped her lips. “I’m sure the Rogues could give you some work if you needed it but don’t let this take you down a dark road, Cisco. I know lies down it and I’m trying to spare you from it.” She slid her fingers through his hair as her other hand cupped his face. “I will never be scared of you, I am scared for you. Scared you’ll turn out like me and that isn’t a good thing. I will try to help you anyway I can.” She assured him.
“My best friend kicked me to the curb because of a particular person I’ve decided to trust, and he doesn’t agree. But I just need to let go. Let go of the people that held me down, and let the repressed emotions out. I need to get out of town for a little bit.” He sighed. “You can’t come with. I can’t risk hurting you. I could never live with myself if anything happened to you because of me.” As her hand cupped his face, he leaned into her palm and let out another sigh of relief. “You should be scared of me, Lisa. You haven’t seen what I can do. I’m scared of me.”
Cisco: Just…Don’t worry about it. I’ll leave you alone, and that way you’ll be better off. Good luck with things, Bar.
Barry: I’m gonna worry Cisco. Your sister thinks your joining a cult. Are you actually okay?
Cisco: Not joining a cult. I’ve got it all figured out with her. Everything is fine, Bar.
Hartley laughed. “Come now, Cisquito. We both know that you need someone else helping you. And I’m not someone who matters to you. Yes ‘a life is a life’ and all that noble stuff but I can help you. Think of it as penance.”
“What do you gain from this?” Cisco said, cocking his head to the side. “I know well enough that you don’t offer to do anything unless it benefits you in some way.” He took a step toward the other man, closing the gap between them.
Violet bit her lip, closing the gap and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. “I love you, Cisco. I wouldn’t have tried to make you stay. I just wanted to know what was going on. If you would have told me what you just said I wouldn’t have freaked out.”
Cisco tensed at the hug, but relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her. “I didn’t want to hurt you, physically or emotionally.” He sighed, holding back the tears he so badly wanted to let out. He knew he couldn’t though. He knew his powers got out of hand if he let his emotions get the best of him, he needed to push them back until he could get out of town. “I’ll take the jammer off my phone as soon as I’m in control. I’m sure by them you’ll have decrypted it.” He said with a short laugh as he pulled away to look at her face. “It’s all going to be okay.”
Hartley rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you think I wanted this?” Hartley gestured to his ears. “I was perfectly happy not being able to hear. And now I hear everything all at once and every single day it’s like my ears are slowly pushing a stake through my skull.” Hartley pursed his lips. “I can help you develop your skills, you know. No strings attached. My gloves work similarly to your extremities. The differences in timelines is a bit of a conundrum… Until recently, most studies on time travel and alternate timelines are based upon classical general relativity. Coming up with a quantum version of our current timeline to figure out the time evolution equations for density states in the presence of closed timelike curves shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I don’t think any of us wanted this, Hartley.” Cisco sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t let the powers get the best of him. “I don’t need someone else helping me, potentially getting hurt. I can’t risk it. I’m still too unstable, I can’t trust my own judgement. Hartley, you shouldn’t trust me.”
Lisa leaned into Cisco’s embrace. Making sure to try to hold on to him to give him some stability. She wasn’t the best as this warm and fuzzy shit but she was going to try.
“You can do whatever you want. We Rogues could always use a hand,” she teased. “Just breathe and stay…stay for me…Centra City isn’t home without Cisco Ramon.” She confessed. “You need to stop blaming yourself for everything. Shit happens, Cisco. People live and die, this was an accident.”
“But because of the earthquake, everybody and their brother is either mad at or scared of me. I hate people bring mad at me, but I’m sort of liking people being afraid of me. Is that completely wrong?” Cisco said, leaning his head on the back of the couch. “It feels wrong and good at the same time.” A sly smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. “But it was my fault. I lost control. I caused the death of so many people.”
The earthquake. That was Cisco? It took everything in Leonard not to step away from Cisco. He’d felt the power of that quake. Had seen the results. People had died because Cisco couldn’t control his powers. Not just a few. Many. And here the kid was, destroying more things, just for the fun of it?
He kept his voice calm, aware that what he was about to say might not go over well. “You just told me a minute ago that you are leavin’ town because you’re unstable and dangerous. Now you suddenly have things under control? Which is it, Cisco?”
“I was unstable. Now I’m more stable. Not 100%, but striving to it. I’m leaving for the weekend, and by the time I get back. I will be in control, I guarentee it.” Cisco looked up at the man, hoping he saw that he was still the Cisco he knew. “I’m no different than I was before. I was just out here releasing my frustrations in a way that wasn’t dangerous to the citizens of Central City. I never expected anyone to come out at this time of night.”
Cisco backup 