to whom it may concern

[metatemporal]

Test results

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sent at 11:28 PM (two minutes ago)
FROM	Dr. Harrison Wells <harrison.wells@starlabs.com>;
TO	Hartley Rathaway <r88gjfke8@hushmail.com>;
resultscomparison.pdf Mr. Rathaway and associate, Attached are the DNA comparison results for your samples. Please feel free to call, email, or visit S.T.A.R. Labs during regular hours if there are any irregularities you wish to discuss. - Harrison Wells Director of S.T.A.R. Labs 4737 Garrick Ave. Central City, MO 63118 314-574-5252
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Comments

[socialactivillain]

[ When Hartley isn't paying attention, Piper switches email accounts on his phone to one of his aliases and taps out a response. ]

Re: Fwd: Test results

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sent at 1:12 PM (two minutes ago)
FROM	H. Darrow <hdarrow@keycomms.net>;
TO	Dr. Harrison Wells <harrison.wells@starlabs.com>;
Dr. Wells, Thank you for sending the results to us directly. It saves Hartley the time of having to collect samples again, though that wouldn't have been an issue had they not been stolen in the first place. And despite his strongly worded response to your initial email, I actually would be interested in the chance to meet with you in person. However, I'm sure you can understand why I'm hesitant to meet you at S.T.A.R. Labs, what with you and your colleagues' unfortunate habit of illegally imprisoning people there. Is there somewhere else we could meet? - Henry Darrow
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[metatemporal]

[ It's inconsiderate of "Darrow" to mention the metahuman imprisonment over e-mail, one of the least secure means of communication ever invented no matter the encryption strength, and since Hartley doesn't make friends easily, Harrison has to assume it's passive-aggressive rather than foolish. ]

Test results

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sent at 1:23 PM (two minutes ago)
FROM	Dr. Harrison Wells <harrison.wells@starlabs.com>;
TO	H. Darrow <hdarrow@keycomms.net>;
Mr. Darrow, If you're aware of this situation, I'm sure you must understand that any in person meeting with me runs precisely the same risk regardless of location. The least I can say, though I will not discuss details over this medium, is that no compelling argument has yet presented itself for your imprisonment. All security equipment is vulnerable to failure in some way, after all. If you would still prefer to name another location, please feel free to do so, and I will assess my availability accordingly. - Harrison Wells Director of S.T.A.R. Labs 4737 Garrick Ave. Central City, MO 63118 314-574-5252
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I'm on my phone so lol if there are any html errors pretend you can't see them.

[socialactivillain]

[ Half passive-aggressive, half letting him know that he's more than willing to let people know what's happening. He may understand first hand how dangerous meta criminals can be, but that doesn't make him disapprove of their methods of imprisonment any less. ]

Re: Test results

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sent at 1:34 PM (two minutes ago)
FROM	H. Darrow <hdarrow@keycomms.net>;
TO	Dr. Harrison Wells <harrison.wells@starlabs.com>;
Dr. Wells, I'll be stopping by Jitters shortly, if you could find the time in you schedule to meet me there. I'm sure meeting in a public place would put both our minds at ease with regards to this situation. - Henry Darrow
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[metatemporal]

[ Jitters. He doubts history will ever appreciate the bizarre historical significance of the place as he does, but this is reasonable enough, and he responds as such. Once the time is settled, there's a minimum of scheduling adjustment necessary; things for Cisco and Caitlin to do, places for Barry to be, it's not hard. Young people, especially these particular young people, have busy lives.

Perhaps Piper beats him there, perhaps not. In any case, his first glimpse of Harrison Wells will be the same as anyone else's: the glasses, the dull shades of black, the wheelchair. Calm, and not withdrawn. He makes eye contact easily, is polite to the barista who moves a chair for him, and draws up to a free table for both of them with no hint of discomfort. ]

Mr. Darrow.

[socialactivillain]

[ Piper's there first. He did what he set out to do— traced his steps from the previous day, hoping to cross back over to home, but no such luck. He texts Hartley telling him he's going to stay out awhile longer to see if he comes up with anything, because the last thing he wants to admit to him right now is what he's really doing.

He's surprised when he sees Wells come in. He was expecting someone younger, but in retrospect, his actual age makes more sense. He sizes him up as he wheels in, not quite sure what this meeting is going to bring. But he has his flute and tuning fork close at hand, just in case. He hopes it won't come to that. ]

Dr. Wells. Please, feel free to call me Henry.

[metatemporal]

[ There's a touch of irony to the way he inclines his head in acknowledgment. A sure, why not which contains an echo of some hidden amusement. ]

It's been an interesting week, Henry.

[ Clearly, he's not going to force them past small talk, though not from enjoyment of it. There's always something to learn from the way people choose to go about these kinds of meetings, and there's a lot to learn about Henry Darrow, given there is no trace of him anywhere. Not in the annals of history, though that's hardly uncommon and not too significant. Not in public records, though there are other people called Henry Darrow to be found. Not in criminal databases, not in the scientific industries he's familiar with, not in academic circles.

But so what? There are over seven billion people alive at this very moment. What are the odds that this man is someone significant?

Probably about the same odds that would see a lightning strike grant a man superhuman powers, honestly. ]

[socialactivillain]

[ He takes a moment to sip his tea and further study Wells. There's something he can't quite put his finger on about him, and he's curious to find out just exactly what it is. ]

It certainly has.

[ Likewise, he's in no rush for anything but a friendly chat. The longer they stick to the pretense of small talk, the less likely things are to get out of hand, though Piper gets the distinct impression that Harrison Wells is not a man who likes things out of his control when he can help it. He's known a lot of people like that. ]

[metatemporal]

[ Harrison hasn't come to any conclusions of that size, himself. He has his coffee and zero concern that the situation will get out of hand. But then, he does have a fairly unique definition of "out of hand." ]

How is Hartley.

[ This too is very polite, as if Wells hasn't thought about him for a while, which is true, and as if he is at least a little genuinely interested. The same tone one would use inquiring after a mutual colleague, not an embittered protege whose life he ruined. ]

[socialactivillain]

He's well. Destroying your house a second time was very cathartic for him.

[ He's trying really hard not to roll his eyes at Wells' fake interest. It's pretty obvious, but he assumes Wells means it to be. ]

[metatemporal]

[ The interest isn't faked at all; genuinely interested, but only a little, is exactly how he feels about Hartley. Wells, on the other hand, can read Piper's barely restrained eyeroll and the continued passive-aggressive phrasing, though he neither acknowledges nor responds to them.

Though Hartley and Henry are related, he hadn't expected them to share a similarly unsubtle social hostility, and that is interesting. He wouldn't leap to any conclusions on the strength of that, of course, it just makes some of the questions he already had stand out more than others. ]

Was it? It didn't seem to work that well for him the first time.

[ And this too is all easy sincerity as he sips his drink. ]

[socialactivillain]

[ He isn't actually that similar to Hartley in disposition usually, but he figures maybe Henry Darrow can be. He'd be much more honestly polite had he not heard some truly upsetting things about Wells. ]

He still ultimately got out of your Pipeline, so in the long run, I don't think he counted it as a failure the first time around.

[metatemporal]

[ Another little angle of his head that suggests polite irony, echoed in his voice. ]

I ... was talking about catharsis, but I'm sure you're right about that.

[ Since Henry has moved them forward in the conversation, however. ]

I think perhaps — and I understand why — Hartley has built me up as a greater adversary than I am in reality. [ Wells sets his coffee down absentmindedly. ] I destroyed his life and he can't yet see a way to destroy mine. There is nothing else that will satisfy him.

Which is justifiable, I think.

[ In the calm of him discussing his own hypothetical destruction, whatever that would entail, Wells seems to be contemplating something else other than Henry or the rest of the coffee shop. A not yet existent future. ]

Except that I owe much to many other people in this city than him. [ A little grimace now, quick and passing immediately into a renewal of his attention on Henry. ] One of them is the Flash.

[socialactivillain]

[ He's not convinced that Wells is quite so much the evil mastermind Hartley has described him as, or else he wouldn't be here, but he's far from believing Wells is harmless. ]

Yes, I imagine you do. Since it was your particle accelerator that has caused so many problems, even after Hartley warned you not to turn it on.

[ He pauses, covering his hesitation with a sip of tea. ]

At least the Flash seems to be a good man. Slightly misguided in some things, perhaps, but the results could've been much worse. I'd hate to imagine that speed put towards less well-intentioned deeds.

[ Not that he needs to imagine it. He's seen first hand what damage a speedster who doesn't have a good heart can do. ]

[metatemporal]

Yes, that's exactly what I was referring to.

[ No sharpness there; he's used to people having to spell out loud the basic facts of the situation. ]

What kind of 'deeds' do you imagine?

[ He has to admit, he's curious, if only because he knows Barry as such an incorruptible pillar of hopeless altruism that he's never bothered to try. (Of course, Henry presumably wouldn't.) That doesn't really figure into the plans. He wants the Flash to be the Flash. But there are things Barry doesn't think about as much as he should, like the pipeline. Idealism is one thing, and naivety another. ]

[socialactivillain]

Even just above average selfishness and greed could have unfortunate impact when paired with he ability to move so fast you can't be seen. But beyond that, I imagine he could probably get away with almost anything without someone else who could run fast enough to catch him. Even murder.

[ He feels a familiar twinge of nausea as he tries not to remember the sight of Bart Allen's corpse, but he swallows it back. ]