The Pied Piper (Flash 2014)



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.

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.

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.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 the Piper to escape again

TGTTA 2
The Pied Piper ends up joining with The Author and the past villains syndicate along with Blaine, Theo Noble, Dick Roman and Deathstroke.