Truth and Lies
(Based on the CW television series, The Flash)

“What the hell just happened?”

Caitlin levelled a clear, hard look at Cisco.  “You know what happened.  You were there.  I was there.”

Everyone else had gone; but they lingered, having no one to go home to and a deep need to talk.  Looking at it one way, of course, the team was at a high moment of triumph.  Team Flash had won.  The Reverse Flash—Wells-not-Wells—had been defeated, his powers disabled by nanites.  He now languished in the Pipeline, safely locked away.  What they’d do with him was another matter, though not a question they could answer right now.

If ever.  Looking at it another way, it was the same question they’d avoided for months without answering.  Avoided even thinking about answering, in fact.  Only the compulsion of the unavoidable had driven them to improvise a solution.

“This has been one crazy day.  Night.”  Cisco thought again.  “Week.”

“Oh, yeah.”  Caitlin bit her lip.  “I can’t believe—”

“Me either.”

“Not when I actually stop and think….”

“Captain Cold.”

“Yeah.”

“And we went along with it,” Caitlin marvelled.  “Did we just get caught up in Barry’s … enthusiasm?”

“Did we have a choice?  I mean,” Cisco added quickly, “We weren’t really asked, were we?  I mean, not really.  It was Barry who went to talk to him, talked him round, brought him here, made that … that … devil’s bargain with him.  For what it was worth, which is nothing….”

“How he could trust him?” mourned Caitlin.  “He really thought he’d keep his word.”

“Oh, he keeps his word,” said Cisco bitterly.  “Like he said he’d torture my brother if I didn’t do what he wanted.  He kept his word!”

Caitlin didn’t bring up her own kidnapping.  In the event, she’d been rescued unharmed, at least physically.  Dante’s hands still hadn’t quite fully recovered from the ice yet.

“How Barry could trust him…?” marvelled Cisco.

“Well, he knows better now.”

There was a long pause.  (Well, Barry should know better now.  Even Snart had pointed it out.  “I’m a criminal and a liar, and I hurt people, and I rob them,” he’d said.)

“You heard him, right?” Cisco said, and repeated it again.  “Though,” he added, “I think it’s one of those logic paradoxes.  You know.  He says he’s a liar; but that means he lies; and, if he lies when he says he’s a liar, that means he’s telling the truth.”

“He is telling the truth,” Caitlin said.  “He hurts people.”  And the two of them shared a glance; and Cisco nodded.  “But the trouble is,” she added, “Barry heals.”

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