Hartley Rathaway

"It's time to pay the piper!"

- Hartley Rathaway Hartley Rathaway, self-styled as Pied Piper, is the son of Rachel and Osgood Rathaway. A former employee of S.T.A.R. Labs, he was fired by Harrison Wells for trying to stop the activation of the Particle accelerator.

Early life
Hartley was a child prodigy and son to Rachel and Osgood Rathaway. For a long time he was beloved by his parents and set to eventually take over the family business. However, when he came out as gay to his parents, they threw him out and cut off all ties to him.

Time at S.T.A.R. Labs
Eventually Hartley was hired by Harrison Wells at S.T.A.R. Labs, becoming his protege and favored employee, something that did not sit well with his fellow S.T.A.R. Labs co-workers, including Caitlin Snow. While he got along well with Wells, Hartley was arrogant and demanding towards his co-workers making very few friends. He was quick to alienate himself to Cisco Ramon on his first day of work, showing outward contempt for Cisco, due to the fact he arrived to work wearing a Star Wars T-Shirt and also because of Wells' praise of Cisco's skills.

Eventually, Hartley made the realization that the particle accelerator could explode, Wells refused to listen, fired Hartley in order to avoid his interference, and blackmailed him into staying silent about the problem. As Hartley predicted and Wells planned, the accelerator did indeed explode. Hartley was caught in the effect, resulting his hearing being augmented to superhuman levels. Unfortunately the levels caused him overwhelming pain and caused him to have to create a special device in order to control his hearing. He also went on to create gloves that emitted sonic attacks.

Hartley attempted to to call his parents, Rachel and Osgood, though they refused to call him back.

Prodigal Son Returns
At this point Hartley sought out vengeance against Wells and S.T.A.R. Labs. His first act of vengeance was by sending Wells a warning at his home, shattering the glass windows with a sonic attack. He next attacked his family's office building, in order to draw the attention of The Flash, and be taken to S.T.A.R. Labs. There he antagonized Cisco (even naming himself "Pied Piper", much to Cisco's annoyance) and Caitlin, while snidely telling Wells (and Barry) that he knew Wells' deep dark secret.

It turns out that Hartley had intended for himself to get captured. After escaping his cell (and injuring Cisco and Caitlin in the process), he hacked Wells' computer to steal files on Barry so as to create a means in which to kill the Flash. Later, he lured the Flash to the Dam, where he executed his plan by having his gloves emit a tone that matched Barry's speed frequency. Thankfully, Wells used nearby cars radio signals to interfere with Hartley's weapons causing them to explode in Hartley's hands.

Hartley found himself back in his cell at S.T.A.R. Labs, where he was confronted by Cisco. Rather than being worried, Hartley cooly informed Cisco that he himself would let him out of the cell, because he knew where Ronnie Raymond was and what really happened to him.

Search for Ronnie Raymond
Eventually, Cisco's guilt regarding what happened to Ronnie during the accelerator accident drove him to do just as Hartley predicted, and release him from his cell. Using specially designed handcuffs, Cisco and Hartley investigated where Professor Martin Stein was killed during the accelerator accident. There they found a blackened outline of his body, similar to the kind left by nuclear explosions. Hartley attempted to use Cisco's confusion to make a run for it, but Cisco was ready, as the cuffs he had created were designed to let out a painful sonic vibe which Cisco triggered via remote control. Although in pain, Hartley was impressed by Cisco's ruthlessness.

Their next stop took them to Barry's lab at the Central City Police Department where they examined footage of Professor Stein's death. There they saw that what looked to be a ghostly image of Ronnie merged into Professor's Stein's body. As Cisco realized what this meant, Hartley employed his hearing aid device to use Cisco's own weapon against him, rendering him incapacitated, and allowing Hartley to escape again.

Personality
Hartley is intelligent, arrogant and demanding, according to Cisco Ramon, he was both a jerk and a "dick" towards his co-workers making very few friends. He was quick to alienate and belittle Cisco, largely out of jealousy, although he did respect and get along well with Harrison Wells, whom he saw as a sort of father figure, until he was fired by the latter. Despite these negative traits of his, Hartley did care about the well-being of the people of Central City, when he realized that the particle accelerator could explode.

Hartley had a very close relationship with his parents, Osgood and Rachel, however when he revealed to his parents that he is gay, their relationship became estranged.

After the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion, he became vengeful, unstable and has a complete disregard for innocent lives.

Powers

 * Superhuman hearing: After surviving the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion. Hartley gained the power of superhuman hearing. It allows him to hear far better than a normal human. He is also able to hear radio waves and distinguish their frequencies.

Skills

 * Genius-level intellect: Hartley is a genius of the highest caliber and is described by Harrison Wells as one of the most brilliant minds he has ever met.
 * Expert tactician: Hartley possesses a keen, tactical mind. He is also good at keeping his enemies guessing what the endgame is until it is too late.
 * Expert engineer: Hartley is skilled enough in engineering to make a pair of sonic gloves from scratch.
 * Expert computer hacker: Hartley is a capable computer hacker, he was able to hack into the computers from S.T.A.R. Labs to create a means in which to kill The Flash; that matches Barry Allen's speed frequency.
 * Multilingual: Hartley is capable of fluently speaking, at least six languages including English, French, Spanish, Latin, and Japanese.
 * Hand-to-hand combatant: While unknown to what degree, Hartley is aggressive in a fight. Despite being handcuffed at the time, Hartley was able to fight off Cisco and initially escape his captor before Cisco activated a rigged setting on Hartley's earpieces.

Weaknesses

 * Vulnerable eardrum: Because Hartley's hearing is so powerful, he can be overwhelmed by even the most basic sounds. Due to this weakness, he is forced to wear a device in his ear to limit the sounds he hears for the rest of his life.

Equipment

 * Sonic Gloves: Hartley possessed a pair of gloves that are able to emit sonic vibrations. At their lowest frequencies they could shatter glass. At their highest frequencies they could bring down an entire office building.

Trivia

 * He is the first person to escape from the Pipeline.
 * In the DC comics, Hartley Rathaway is the supervillain (who was later reformed) known as Pied Piper. In the "New 52" reboot of The Flash comics, he was also romantically tied to David Singh.
 * He is an avid chess player, and often incorporates chess metaphors into his speech (e.g. describing his victims as "pawns", and the Flash as a "scarlet knight").
 * Hartley's sound emitting gloves and his hearing problems coming from an accident (the comic version was born with them) make him similar to the Batman Beyond villain Shriek.
 * In a draft of the pilot episode dated February 3, 2014, Hartley was still a member of the S.T.A.R. Labs team at the time that Barry came out of his coma. In fact, it was Hartley who created the original costume for The Flash, claiming that he had made it for firefighters after having been involved with a fireman named Chip. Most of Hartley's dialogue and role within the episode itself were inherited by Cisco. Within the episode, both Cisco and Caitlin describe Hartley as difficult to work with and unpleasant to be around.