Second Chances: Flash

Chapter 28

When Cisco returned home to his apartment that night, he found Cindy waiting for him.

"Hey, how was your day?" Cisco asked his girlfriend.

"Lousy. Captain Singh refused to authorize my request to launch an investigation into the Flash." Cindy grumbled as she grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator.

"Really?" Cisco asked, trying to hide how happy he was to hear that.

"Yeah, and apparently I'm on probation with the threat of being demoted back to a uniform writing parking tickets if I don't learn to get my apparent vendetta against metahumans under control. Especially since I don't think that he'll approve my request for a metahuman task force either." Cindy said as she and Cisco sat down on the couch.

"Well, and I know you're gonna hate me for saying this." Cisco said.

"Then don't." Cindy said, already knowing what he was going to say.

"No, Cindy, this vendetta you have is going to destroy your life and it's going to lead to you pushing everyone you care about away." Cisco said, since Cindy had been on a warpath ever since metas had started showing up and it had gotten even worse after her father was hurt.

"Cisco." Cindy said.

"No, enough is enough. I get that you want to keep this city safe, but honestly, metas are just like humans. There are good and bad ones, but you seem to only be focusing on the bad ones. What are you gonna do when you come across a regular person who's meta who hasn't done anything wrong? Are you gonna arrest them just for being a metahuman?" Cisco asked.

"Cisco, please." Cindy said.

"No, it's time you let this go." Cisco said, right as there was a knock on the door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Cisco asked.

"No, and I'm guessing that you weren't either." Cindy said as she reached for her gun, but Cisco waved for her to stand down as he looked out the peephole to see who it was.

"Mr. Reynolds." Cisco said when he opened the door to find Cindy's father, Josh Reynolds, who in the old multiverse, had been called Breacher, but now in this reality did not have powers of any kind, that made him no less terrifying to Cisco.

"I've told you you can call me Josh Ciscy." Josh said and Cisco chuckled, since it was refreshing to know that Cindy's father still liked him in this reality.

"Sorry, old habits die hard." Cisco said.

"It's fine." Josh said as he used his cane, a parting gift from his encounter with Sunshine that had left him with a permanent limp. It was a miracle he was still able to walk, but anyways, he used his cane to limp into the apartment.

"Daddy, what are you doing here?" Cindy asked as she helped her father sit down on the couch.

"Captain Singh called me. I think he was hoping I could talk some sense into you, since after what he told me, I agree that it sounds like you're taking what happened to me even more personally than I am." Josh said.

"Dad, metas are responsible for giving you that limp. They caused you to have to retire." Cindy said.

"First off, your mother was already pushing me to retire before I was ambushed, since I'm not as young as I used to be and second off, it wasn't metas, it was one meta. And yes, I'll admit that most of the ones you see on the news are criminals, but not all of them. In fact, more often than not, you see stories about the Flash saving lives. They're not all bad. You need to let this vendetta go. It's okay to be angry at the meta who attacked me, but don't take that out on all metas." Josh said as Cisco could tell that between him and Cindy's dad, they were finally starting to get through to her.

Cindy finally burst out crying as she finally took her father's words in.

"I've just been so angry for so long. I don't know how to live without it." Cindy said.

"Which is why I think you should speak to someone about this." Josh said.

"I'll think about it." Cindy said, not wanting to admit how much she could probably use counseling, though she was starting to feel some of her hatred towards all metas starting to fade away a little.

"Well, in the meantime, why don't you call your mom and then we can take your parents out to dinner. On me." Cisco said, since he was honestly closer with Cindy's family than his own, since he and Dante were still estranged in this reality, something Cisco knew he needed to fix soon, especially in the event that the car crash that killed him happening again, though hopefully since Barry would not be creating another Flashpoint, that wouldn't be happening, but still.

"Cisco, you don't have to do that." Cindy said, since it was still hard for her to acknowledge that her genius boyfriend made more money than her, since his salary from Mercury Labs was at least double what she made as a cop.

"I want to. Especially since I have big news to tell you myself." Cisco said.

"Really." Cindy asked, smiling at him.

"I got promoted today." Cisco said.

"Wait, what?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, Barry is taking Mercury Labs in a new direction, which includes starting up a video game division, so, in addition to my responsibilities on the R&D team, he's also making me the head of our new gaming division." Cisco said.

"Wow, that's basically your dream job." Cindy said, proud of her man.

"But you're still going to be working in their tech division right? I mean, some of those weapons you've worked on are really nice." Josh said.

"Yes, Barry assured me I'll still be able to work on that sort of stuff, but he knows how much I love an opportunity like this." Cisco said.

"Then I say congratulations and I'll never say no to you paying for dinner. I still think you're an improvement over some of Cindy's other boyfriends." Josh said and Cisco nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind." Cisco said and Cindy rolled her eyes, though she was happy that her father and her boyfriend got along, since that was a nice change of pace from some of her previous relationships.