“I didn’t shoot you, if I did you’d be crying in pain. I merely tagged you. You’re not answering the question and I have no patience to dance around the issues. I could have lost my life in this quake and I need to know who started it.” Oliver said with a curt expression. He hated that he had to be so brass with Cisco, he was a harmless young man with such wonder in his eyes. Did he honestly think the young man could be the cause? His instincts screamed yes but his damned conscious pushed for him to ask. “If you’re going to talk, we can go to S.T.A.R labs.”
Cisco’s expression dropped. “You’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you, Oliver. If I’m going to tell you, I can’t wait until we get to the lab. Barry kicked me out of there anyway.” He said with a sigh. In his mind, he was connecting the points on how he was going to tell the other man. Cisco took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he started. “I’m the cause of all of this. I’m to blame. It’s all my fault, and it was out of my control.”
“I did ‘bro’ you. Probably because you’re my brother and that’s what all the cool kids say.” Violet slung an arm around Cisco’s shoulder. “Sounds good.”
“All the cool kids? Ooookay. Whatever you say.” He grinned as she stepped closer and threw her arm over his shoulder. It was easy, as he was just an inch or two shorter than her. “I live on the 5th floor, and there are 6 levels to my building. I think I might be in the clear, but some of my framed stuff may have fallen off the wall and whatnot.”
“I’ll leave one of the rooms open for you, alright? You just…you can’t be in the Cortex anymore.” Barry took a breath, taking a step back and motioning vaguely. “That’s fine..just…yeah.”
“Thanks,” Cisco sniffed, wiping his face. “It’s obvious you want to be alone right now, so I’ll grab what I need and get out of your hair.” He said, turning on his toes and walking the few feet to his lab. He grabbed his usual tech duffle, placing some of his tools gingerly in the bag, including the tools to reset the wristbands. Cisco was planning on stopping by Barry’s place later and asking him to input a new password. He wasn’t about to let his best friend push him away like “Okay, I’m all set.” Cisco sighed, slinging the bag over his shoulder. “I guess I’ll, uh- see you around?”
Violet smiled and pulled him in for a hug. “I missed you too, bro.”
“You totally just ‘bro-ed’ me. You’re so weird, Vi.” Cisco said with a laugh, one of the first genuine ones in a while. The smile reached his eyes and they crinkled around the edges. “You wanna get out of this rubble and see what state my apartment is in?”
Violet allowed herself to move forward, holding out her hands for him to take so that she could look at the bands closer, her curiosity getting the better of her. “I figured you were just going for the metro look,” she said softly, her eyes peeking up at him under her hair shyly, feeling foolish for being afraid of him so quickly.
“Nope. I would wear these unless it was absolutely necessary. I hurt people, and I can’t fix that. I put these on for everyone’s protection, even my own.” He sighed, glancing from where she held his wrists up to her face. As their eyes met, a smile spread across his face. “I’ve missed you Vi. I’m glad you’re back.”
Violet still looked uncomfortable. “I thought you just could make glass shatter,” she said softly so that she wasn’t provoking him.“ She took a half step back as he advanced but ended up holding her ground. “I barely know you anymore, Cisco. You were the brilliant scientist that I dreamed about being my brother and then I met you and you were the nerdy man-child that really was my brother and you were better than I could have hoped. But–” she faltered. “But… This? You stumbling around alleys in the wake of an earthquake that you… made. Out of your bare hands…” She was starting to feel real fear creep into her mind. She had never thought that guy obsessed with pop culture references and watching all of the Star Wars in proper order could be… dangerous.
A smile tugged at Cisco’s lips. “I can do much more than just shatter glass, Vi. I never showed you what I could do. I didn’t know I was capable of this kind of destruction. It was my own fault, I didn’t properly deal with the repercussions of the nightmares I was having and the emotions behind that all. I’m not dangerous now,” Cisco said, showing the girl the silver bands on his wrists, the hint of a smile gone as soon as it graced his tanned skin. “I made these for other metahumans, but I was a danger to this whole city, so I put them on. They essentially take away my powers while I have them on. I can’t hurt anyone anymore. I won’t hurt anyone anymore. It was all an accident.”
Barry’s jaw tensed, the speedster for once wishing he was as unreadable as Oliver, but was definitely failing. It was torture, hearing Cisco plea, but he knew it was better for him to be gone. As far from Barry as possible. “You already chose Thawne Cisco. And…I can put your lab and stuff in one of the exterior offices or something, but I can’t have you in the Cortex or in the main facility anymore.” Barry couldn’t hold eye contact, it all he could do not to break down in tears at even this hurt he was hitting Cisco with. But he kept forward, reminding himself that it was better for Cisco to cry and be heartbroken over this than be dead. Which was obviously what was going to happen if he stuck around Barry too much longer.
“I didn’t choose anyone! Please, Bar. Don’t do this, not now. Not when I need this staple in my life.” Cisco pleaded before sniffling and wiping his face. “Just give me some time to pack up some stuff and I’ll be out of your hair.” He said, making a mental plan in his head. Barry wasn’t going to push him out of his life this easily.
“Your parents are as blind as ever,” Eobard said, just barely hiding his distaste for the people in question. Oh, certainly their neglect and disapproval of their youngest son had paved the way for Wells to play such a major role in his life. It had been something he could use, but that didn’t make it right. At least Eobard could justify himself with knowing when he was wrong. “I’ve never underestimated your contributions. If anyone can persevere through this trial, it would be you. It will be you, I know your future, remember? You’re going to be legendary.”
Eobard didn’t like the thought of anyone shooting at Cisco. It just seemed so unnecessary. Violence was far from the most effective strategy to employ with Cisco, and that Eobard had learned the hard way. Regardless of how he felt about the subject, at least it was helping Cisco calm down, and keeping him distracted. “What damn fool thought shooting at you would help you train?” He remembered an incident with Barry, during his time as the team’s mentor. “Don’t tell me it was Queen.”
“Don’t you know the first thing about time travel? Don’t talk about time travel! Especially the person’s future! You could change the future by tell me about my future!” Cisco rambled, somewhat scolding the man before sighing. “It’s funny I don’t feel like I can accomplish much of anything right now, especially after all that’s happened.”
Cisco fiddled with the tool he found in his desk drawer, twirling it between his fingers before it dropped to the floor. “It wasn’t Oliver, it was another one of my buddies.” Cisco lied, and he knew his lie was bad. He’d never really been good at lying, and now he realized why.
Violet automatically took a step back from him and watched him suspiciously. “You… caused it? Why. Why would you do that?” The leftover fingerprint in her brain started to burn slightly. “Are you one of them now?”
Cisco took a step towards his half-sister. “You really think I meant to cause this kind of destruction? You think I would stoop that low as to purposely harm thousands of innocent people? You know me better than that, Vi.” He said, feeling guilty once more for the many lives he unwillingly took.
Violet cleared her throat, extremely offput. This was not her plan. She sniffed and nodded slightly, keeping her distance. “Yeah, Cisco. It’s me. I’m glad you weren’t hurt in the earthquake.” Her speech was slightly disjointed and awkward.
“I wasn’t hurt because I caused it.” He said matter-of-factly, finally beginning to accept his actions, voluntary or otherwise. “When did you get back? More importantly, why did you skip town without telling me?” Cisco took a step toward the sibling he had just learned about a few months prior.
Cisco backup 