Rocky Raymond //Book Six// - COMPLETED

Chapter 38 - Pay the Piper

MacKenzie's POV

"Not much has changed." Hartley says, looking around the room. He sees Cisco. "Ugh, S.T.A.R. Labs... still keeping mediocre engineers around, I see."

"Do we have to work with this douchebag?" Cisco asks

"Look, I've heard that you two hate each other, but let's just focus." Barry tells the two

Hartley looks around some more before his eyes land on me. "Holy...is that Ronnie Raymond's little sister?" He questions, looking over at me. "Well, squirt, you grew up." I cross my arms

"A few months ago, I theorized there might be a mechanical way to open a breach to an alternate dimension." Cisco starts the explanation

"Looks like an engine for focusing subatomic vibrations, or as you would say, vibes." Hartley says. Cisco's eyes widen. "Oh, please. I figured that out ages ago. The hair? Dead giveaway, Ramon. You too, Flash." He says, looking at Barry. "There's only three facilities in the state that could build a suit with that much bleeding-edge tech. But only one of them had someone brilliant enough to build it."

"Thanks." Cisco says

"Harrison Wells." Hartley tells him

"There it is." Cisco says

"And Tremors, of course." Hartley says, looking over in my direction. "Aka Ronnie Raymond's little sister." He looks between the three of us. "What I don't get is why you need a machine when you could just use your damn vibes." He tells Cisco. "Unless you can't vibe anymore. Ooh, ouch. You lost your meta-mojo. Oh, well, you could try being a barista maybe."

"I gave up my powers by choice." Cisco tells him. "You know, I'm making this so that I can save the person I love the most. But I wouldn't expect you to understand that, Hartley. The person you love the most is yourself. Come find me when you're ready to work." He says and then he leaves the room

"Cecile just got Roderick back from Mercury Labs." Barry says, looking at his phone. "He's here." We got to the medbay where Roderick is in a glass chamber, his powers flickering as he lays unconscious

Nash and Allegra stand in the room, watching. "Here's what I need from you." Nash tells Allegra. "I need you to direct a concentrated UV blast into the reception conduit. Now, this containment unit... I am going to release helium into it, and when those two things collide, pop. It should lock Roderick's molecules back into human form. Ready? We'll go on three. One... two... three." And they begin their plan. "It's working." Nash says, watching

Roderick yells out in pain. "No, no, wait. Stop." Hartley says, watching Roderick in pain. "Wells, enough." Hartley says as Roderick screams. "Stop, you're hurting him!"

"Nash." Barry says and Nash stops doing what he was doing. Roderick calms down but his powers still flicker. "Hartley, I'm sorry, but we can try..."

"I was stupid for trusting you." Hartley whispers. "Don't ask me for anything, ever. My world is over. I hope yours burns." He says in pain and leaves the room

Godspeed skids to a stop. "Give me your velocity, or your city pays!" He taunts Barry. "You have one hour." Barry tries to throw a punch but Godpseed races out of the way. "You're not fast enough to stop me." Godspeed taunts. "None of you are. Death will rain down on your city, Flash, unless you give me what I want. Choose wisely." And with that, he speeds out

***

Barry and I are in the speedlab figuring out equations. He writes the quotations on the board while I write them in my notebook and we're hoping that when we're done the equations, they match

Nash walks in. "I don't think these equations are gonna help fix Roderick that much." He says. "Plus, we simply need a better bonding agent."

"You do that." Barry says. "I'm working on the Artificial Speed Force right now." Nash erases some of the board. "Nash! Hey, Nash, what the hell?" Barry exclaims. "I've been working on these all day."