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CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE
oxli. gaining trust back
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CISCO AND CHLOE were tinkering with Harleys gauntlets, Caitlin walking in and asking, "Where's Dr. Wells?"
"I'm not sure." Cisco told her as Chloe let out a snappily, "How are we supposed to know, frankly right now, I don't really care either."
Caitlin looked at her shocked, Cisco had already gotten used to the snappiness, he'd seen it more frequently now.
"Sorry, Sorry. I haven't been sleeping much lately, and when I'm tired I'm snappy." Chloe told her with a sigh, dragging a hand over her face, it was only partly true.
Caitlin just nodded in understanding.
"Barry was right." Cisco told Caitlin, "Hartley was using sonic resonance. The intensity regulators measuring decibels. But you know what's weird?" Cisco questioned retort, "He had it set to the lowest setting."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he could've completely destroyed his fathers building if he wanted to in one blast." Cisco stated.
"But he didn't..." Chloe mumbled, trailing off.
"So, why not just do it and leave? I mean, why stick around and run the risk of getting caught?" Caitlin questioned.
"Hartley's smart, he wouldn't do something with no plan-" Chloe started before pausing and thinking, "Unless he wanted to get caught. ."
"Exactly. He wanted to get caught." Cisco realized, quickly getting up, Chloe following behind quickly. The screen of Harleys cell showed an empty cell with the glass everywhere. Cisco clicked the alarm, "Dr. Wells! There's been a pipeline breach."
"Stay here." Cisco told Caitlin, as Chloe followed after him. As Cisco reached the pipeline door before her it exploded, pushing him back and knocking him out as Chloe hid behind the wall. Chloe quickly ran back to the cortex, while Hartley slowly left the pipeline.
"Caitlin! Hartley's escaped! Cisco's knocked out- I think-" She was cut off as she felt something hit the back of her head and make her fall down. She quickly saw Caitlin fall to the ground her getting knocked out.
Chloe groaned as she saw Hartley enter a drive into one of the monitors. She slowly felt dizzy, the effects of getting hit hitting her slower than Caitlin, by the time she looked back up, Hartley was gone and Barry sped into the cortex.
"Hey! Are you both okay?"
"Yeah, uh, Cisco and Dr. Wells." Caitlin told him worried about the two, he quickly sped away.
Chloe shakily stood up, "I'm going to go beat his ass. Nobody tries to knock me out and gets away with it." She hissed.
"No, Chloe. He's likely gone we have to go to Cisco, didn't you say he was knocked out?" Caitlin said worried.
"Yeah at least I think, lets go."
AS CISCO WOKE up, Chloe was sitting at her desk chair, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling, her head still stung a bit.
"Hey." She heard Barry say to Cisco as he woke up, "Welcome back, Mr. Ramon."
Cisco let out a breathy laugh, trying to sit up, he went to reach for his head, "Ooh- Oh man." Cisco groaned as he got up before quickly asking, a worried look on his face, "Caitlin? Chloe?"
"Right here, Cisco." Chloe put her hand in the air.
"Hey. She's fine." Barry told Cisco as Caitlin came over.
"You need to rest. You have a concussion. You're lucky." Caitlin told him, going into 'Doctor Mode.'
"Please tell me you got him." Cisco looked to Barry.
"Oh-" Chloe let out a laugh, still looking to the ceiling, "He's going to wish we got him when I get to him."
Barry shook his head, glancing over to his older sister, the woman spacing out as she thought of what was going to happen when they actually found Hartley.
"I guess the attack on his family's company was a fake out so we'd catch him." Cisco sighed as Barry gave him the information, Caitlin finishing for him, "And give him direct access to STAR Labs."
"Why?" Barry wondered.
"I should've known he was up to something. This is my fault."
"If anything it's my fault too." Chloe shrugged, finally looking over to them, "I should've known, Hartley never gave up that easy."
"Hey. This is on me too. I shouldn't have left before-" Barry started, him getting cut off by Dr. Wells who rolled into the cortex, "This is no ones fault but mine."
"I earned the blame- I'm not interested in sharing it. Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes. And he's right. He won't stop until I do." Dr. Wells started to turn around, Barry calling out, "Where are you going?"
"To earn back your trust."
AT CCPD, CHLOE stood besides Barry as Dr. Wells set up a small press conference.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice." Dr. Wells spoke into the mic, "And for those of you that read the ten volume report issued by the Norris Commission, well, I command you on your tenacity. You already know, then, the circumstances that led to the explosion of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator. Or rather, you think you do." Dr. Wells paused. "Now, the Commissions finding was that the catastrophe was caused by a chain of events that nobody could have predicted, including myself. The truth is I was warned there was a chance the Particle Accelerator might fail."
Chloe noticed Barry look down slightly, her rubbing his shoulder in comfort.
"I was warned by a former colleague- a friend. I chose to ignore the warning and in so doing, I let down all of you." Dr. Wells paused looking down before turning to glance at Barry, "As a new friend pointed out... I failed this city." He looked back to the press conference.
"I failed this city and I failed those who trusted me the most." Chloe looked away slightly, "By coming forward today... It's my hope I'm taking the first step toward regaining that trust. And your trust as well." Dr. Wells paused, opening his mouth to speak more before closing it and then asking, "Are there any questions?"
The reporters all started talking at once their questions over lapping.
"Do you have any intention of rebuilding the Particle Accelerator?" One man asked over them all. Dr. Wells didn't answer looking over to Iris, "Miss West, do you have a question for me?"
"I don't believe you answered my colleagues question, Dr. Wells, so I'll ask it again." Iris stepped forward, "Do you have any intention in rebuilding the Particle Accelerator, either now or in the future?" Iris asked firmly.
Barry let out a small smile of proudness as Chloe let out a small grin.
"Of course not." Dr. Wells answered a small smile like smirk on his face. It seemed off to Chloe, his words didn't sound real . . . But she brushed it off, Dr. Wells was hard to read anyways.
"Thank you for your answer, Doctor." Iris nodded in appreciation.
"It's my pleasure." Dr. Wells replied as the group started taking over each other again, "No further questions." And with that Dr. Wells wheeled away.
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AUTHORS NOTE | word count : 1172
Here's chapter forty-one!
Hope you enjoyed!
I have nothing to say but I have to go do homework so yeah-
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