themaninthelightning:

Running across Central City was an agonizing and slow process for the speedster. Physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting.

He’d given his leg enough time to heal to a point where it could support his weight, but there was a world of difference between able to support his weight and sturdy enough to run. When he rolled his pants leg up to inspect the added damage, his knee looked wrong, knobbly and offset. Eobard was forced to take the journey in short bursts, left hand skimming along the passing walls for support as he tried to land on his left leg as little as possible. By the time he reached S.T.A.R. Labs, his clothes were soaked through with sweat, adding to the fine layer of dust and Allie’s bloodstains. His body was shaking, not with his typical vibrations but from the exertion of his run.

The more he saw of the ravaged city, the stronger the connection to the tsunami grew in his head. Fewer bodies and less water, but still that savage sense of confusion, shock, and desperation permeating every block. Eobard skirted past every cry for help. He was not a good man or a hero, he was–or tried to be–an immensely practical man, and where this city needed him most was with Cisco. That didn’t stop him from taking note of the location of every stranded and helpless citizen, or from keeping a steadily rising count in the back of his head.

What made the sights even harder to bear was the knowledge that Cisco could be responsible for this. Unintentionally, but Eobard had to conclude that, logically, Cisco could be. Cisco could be just powerful enough to wreak this much havoc. Eobard rounded another large crack in the city’s streets, recalling what he knew of the hero Vibe in the future. There was a time, in Eobard’s past and potentially Cisco’s future, when Vibe had been a powerful and talented superhero. When Eobard realized Cisco was meant to be Vibe, he’d imagined that great and honorable destiny. Not this.

Was this due to his influence? Had his tampering altered something fundamental and crucially important about Cisco Ramon? These thoughts were difficult to sort through.

…he wanted Len. He wanted to curl up in his lover’s arms and hide, and just turn off his awareness of the rest of the world for a while. But that assumed that Len was still alive (he had to be, Eobard could not have just killed another person he loved; he’d sworn that Cisco would be the last). There were some thoughts Eobard could not bring himself to consider.

He leaned against an exterior wall of S.T.A.R. Labs, eyes closed, reaching for equilibrium within himself. If he couldn’t remain calm and balanced, there was no way Cisco could reach that point. He pulled off his shirt and scrubbed his face with the inside, trying to look cleaner and more presentable. The old gift shop was located just off to one side of the main entrance, and the backroom to the shop still held the old merchandise in stock. Eobard selected a new sweater and made a makeshift crutch out of a long, loose metal pipe. From there, he limped further into the building.

The structure had survived the explosion of the particle accelerator, so it endured being the epicenter for a major earthquake as well. It had been shaken, but not broken. Eobard found Cisco in his private lab, past the Cortex. The lab was a mess, parts of Cisco’s inventions and his tools scattered across the floor. The young man himself was loosely curled in his chair, elbows on his knees and chin tucked into the crook of his arm. He was facing away from the door, away from Eobard.

It struck Eobard that he was standing in the presence of a man who could make an entire city tremble. A man who could stop a speedster in his tracks. A man who had every reason to hate him, and very little reason to trust him. There were a thousand ways for this to go wrong. Anyone with a better sense of self-preservation would turn around and leave, right now.

Eobard stepped into the lab, clearing his throat. “Cisco? I’m here. We’re going to take control of this situation, of your powers, of… everything.”

Since Barry ran off to be the Flash and save the city, Cisco ran back to his lab. This was the place he used to escape from the everyday toils of life, it was a place where he could test theories and create new tech. Nothing could hold him back here, but now there was something holding him back – his powers. He was fairly certain that his powers caused the quake, whether it was on purpose or not, he wasn’t sure. There was a darkness within him that was growing, and he didn’t know how to put a stop to it. After two phone calls with Eobard, Cisco was in no way reassured or calmed down by any means. 

He’d been pacing back and forth in his lab between the calls, and th second ended with him throwing his phone against the wall. He didn’t care. He was upset in everyway possible, but he needed to calm himself down. How did he calm himself down after his nightmares? Cisco tried pulling up his netflix account on the computer, but the quake must have screwed with the internet connection. Cisco slammed his hands down before plopping down into his chair and pulling his knees to his chest. Could this day get any worse? The man buried his face in his knees and closed his eyes, the events of the day running through his mind. All the people he injured or killed, all the destruction he had placed on this city – his home. A tear ran down his cheek as he heard a familiar voice. 

“Nothing can fix this.” He said, defeated.