𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 ― b. allen ¹ ✓

THIRTY-THREE

Rob took another step forwards, tears filling his eyes. "Can I see him?"

"I'm sorry, visitation's for family only."

"Being his fiancé makes him family, doctor," Joe insisted.

"Uh, sure," the doctor approved, and a teary-eyed Rob entered the room.

Joe lowered his voice. "Will he be able to return to the force?"

"I'm actually not sure he'll be able to walk again."

Juliet shut her eyes for a moment, her heart dropping. "Shit."

The doctor went back in the room. Joe glanced back at Juliet and Barry for a moment before walking straight ahead. The two shared a look. That wasn't good. They followed him, Juliet removing her arm from Barry's.

"Joe, where are you going?" Barry asked.

"I need to end this," Joe answered.

"Not by yourself."

Joe whirled around. "Yes, by myself! I know him! I can find him. I don't want anybody else getting hurt, especially Iris and you two."

Juliet shook her head. "Iris—"

"Mardon said he was going to avenge his brother. That goes beyond me. It goes all the way to the both of you and her. You two say with Iris, and you keep her safe. Do not leave her side."

Juliet sighed before nodding. "Fine."

She watched as Joe walked off. Juliet rubbed her eyes tiredly for a moment. God, how had everything gone so wrong?

The first place they thought of to check where Iris could possibly be was Central City Picture News. Iris worked there basically all the time, so it was a giveaway. They entered to see multiple reporters milling around.

Barry tapped on the shoulder of the first reporter he saw. "Hey, have you seen Iris West?"

"She went to see her dad," a man replied, and Juliet looked up to see him walking down from the upper portion of the room. "You're Barry Allen and Juliet St. James, right?"

"That's us," Juliet confirmed.

"Her friend-slash-brother and her friend-slash-sister? Or is that brother-slash-friend and sister-slash-friend?"

"Friend is fine," Barry stated as he shook the man's hand.

"Oh, I'm Mason Bridge," the man announced.

Juliet followed after him. "Iris has told me a lot about you, including the fact that you think Harrison Wells is mad."

He is.

Shut up, brain.

"Oh, no, no, no, I never said he was crazy," Mason protested. "He's a sociopath and a liar, for sure. Really? You don't see it? All the time you three spend together?"

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"Sometimes when I'm bored, I follow him around. And for the most part, he keeps to himself, except when he's meeting up with you two, which he seems to do quite a bit. And then one time, he met up with Simon Stagg, and then poof, no more Simon Stagg."