⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘
CHAPTER TWO
ordinary turned extraordinary
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WHEN JULIET WOKE up, the first thing that she noticed was that she was hopelessly confused.
Her entire body felt tingly, her mind was spinning, and for some really weird reason, Poker Face by Lady Gaga was playing. She slowly fluttered her eyes open only to be met with the sight of a strange room. Her eyes trailed down to see herself in a hospital bed. Her breathing escalating, Juliet slowly sat up and looked around. The room had a row of computers, and she was hooked up to a bunch of machines. A boy with long hair and a girl with strawberry blonde hair were both staring at her in shock.
"What . . ." Juliet whispered, her anxiety getting the best of her as she pulled the wires off of her. "Who . . . where . . ." Her eyes then widened upon noticing the unconscious boy lying next to her. "Barry!"
She touched his bare shoulder, but when she did, a red spark emitted from him onto her skin. Juliet quickly retracted her hand from the shock, but as she did so, Barry let out a sharp gasp and sat up.
"Oh my God!" the long-haired boy exclaimed.
"Where am I?" Barry immediately asked, very panicked. He then looked over at Juliet. "J?"
Juliet was too busy freaking out to be smitten by his shirtless state. "I genuinely have no idea what's going on."
"They're up," the strawberry blonde girl commented.
The boy then held up a walkie talkie to his mouth. "Dr. Wells, get down to the cortex, like, right now."
A flashlight was then shined in Juliet's eyes by the girl, making her squint and lean back. "Pulse ninety, pupils equally reactive to light." She did the same to Barry. "Pulse one-twenty, same thing."
"Pulse one-twenty?" Juliet repeated to herself.
She then pushed herself out of the bed, the sheets falling off her bed to reveal her in nothing but a sports bra and a pair of leggings. Juliet stopped for a moment to regain her balance before pressing the palms of her hands to her temples in effort to stop her mind from spinning.
"Hey, hey, woah, woah, relax, you two," the boy encouraged gently. "Everything's okay. You're at S.T.A.R. Labs."
"S.T.A.R. Labs?" Barry asked. "Who are you?"
"I'm Cisco Ramon. She's Caitlin — Dr. Snow."
Dr. Snow held up two cups. "I need you both to urinate in this."
Cisco took the cups away from her. "Not this second."
"Hold on, I'm so confused," Juliet cut in, walking to join Barry's side. "I'm sorry, but what's happening?"
Cisco looked straight at Barry. "You got struck by lightning, dude." He then focused on Juliet. "And you got hit with a red chemical and got electrocuted."
"What?" Barry whispered. He turned around and looked at himself in a computer screen, Juliet doing the same. "Lightning gave me abs?"
Juliet tilted her head at her reflection. "My hair got more red?"
Dr. Snow briskly walked up to the two, addressing Barry first. "Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead, they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration." She then addressed Juliet. "As for you, when you got hit with that chemical and then got electrocuted, the combination of the two mutated your cells. That explains why your features may be different."
Cisco took Juliet and Barry by their shoulders. "Come here. Have a seat." They sat down. "You two were in a coma."
Juliet shared a look with Barry for a second. "And how long were said comas?"
"Nine months," a new voice answered. The two of them turned around to see that it came from none other than Dr. Harrison Wells, who had entered the room in a wheelchair. "Welcome back, Mr. Allen and Ms. St. James. We have a lot to discuss."
Juliet swallowed nervously and stood up. Dr. Snow handed her a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt, and Juliet took it with a gracious smile. She pulled it on before following Dr. Wells into the hallway with Barry beside her.
"It's hard to believe I'm here," Barry admitted as they ventured down the hallway. "I'm sure J is feeling the same. We've always wanted to meet you face to face."
"Yeah?" Dr. Wells replied. "Well, you both certainly went to great lengths to do it. S.T.A.R. Labs has not been operational since FEMA categorized us as a class four hazardous location." Juliet glanced over to see a broken cage that said GRODD on it, but she didn't think much of it as she continued to follow Dr. Wells. "Seventeen people died that night. Many more were injured, myself amongst them."
Juliet glanced over the railing to see the destroyed remains of the Particle Accelerator — something she thought that would change science forever — before looking over at Dr. Wells, her eyes full of disbelief. "Oh my God, what happened?"
Dr. Wells hesitated for a moment. "Nine months ago, the Particle Accelerator went online exactly as planned. For forty-five minutes, I had achieved my life's dream, and then — then there was an anomaly. The electron volts became unmeasurable, the ring under us popped. Energy from that detonation was thrown into the sky and that, in turn, seeded a storm cloud—"
"—that created a lightning bolt that struck me and eventually caused Juliet to be electrocuted," Barry finished.
"That's right." Dr. Wells paused again and looked down at the remains of what could've been the greatest discovery of all time. "I was recovering myself . . . when I heard about you two. The hospital was undergoing unexplainable power outages every time you were going into cardiac arrest or Ms. St. James had a seizure, which were actually both misdiagnoses because you see, you both weren't flatlining. Barry, your heartbeat was moving too fast for the EKG to register it. Juliet, your brain activity was off the charts, but it was because too much electricity was traveling through it for the EEG to handle." Dr. Wells led them back to the room were they had woken up, and the sliding door opened for them to enter. "Now, I'm not the most popular person in town these days, but Detective West and his daughter, not to mention Mr. and Mrs. St. James and their daughter gave me permission to bring you both here, where we were able to stabilize you."
"Iris?" Barry questioned.
"Noelle?" Juliet inquired quietly.
"Iris and Noelle, yes," Dr. Wells responded. "Both of them came to see you two quite often."
Juliet looked down at the ground sadly. The last time that she had spoken to her sister was a day before the Particle Accelerator turned on, and Iris she had spoken to the day it actually turned on. She had no idea that it would be nine months until she talked to either of them again.
"Iris talks a lot, but Noelle's sweet," Dr. Snow admitted as she handed Dr. Wells a drink.
"Also, they're hot," Cisco added.
"We have to go," Juliet then revealed, grabbing Barry's hand and pulling him with her.
"No, you can't," Dr. Snow protested.
Dr. Wells turned his wheelchair around. "No, no, no, Caitlin's right. No, now that you're awake, we need to do more tests. You two are still going through changes. There's so much that we don't know."
"I'm fine," Barry told them. "Really, I feel normal. How about you, J?"
Juliet nodded in agreement as she backed up into the doorway, Barry doing so as well. "Me too. Thank you all for saving our lives."
They began to walk down the hallway, but Barry paused for a moment. He let go of Juliet's hand and backtracked to the room they were just in. Juliet rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, knowing exactly what he was going to ask Dr. Wells.
"Can I keep the sweatshirt?" Barry asked.
"Yeah, keep the sweatshirt," Dr. Wells answered.
"Okay."
Barry then caught up with Juliet again, and the two continued their way to the elevator, determined to see their best friend again — and, in Juliet's case, talk to her sister.
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THE SECOND JULIET got into her apartment after her and Barry left S.T.A.R. labs, she called her sister. Juliet had heard her little sister cry many times, but this one was different. She had never heard Noelle be so relieved before. It made tears of her own spring to her eyes. Juliet would've liked it if she could actually see her sister face-to-face, but Noelle was currently getting her degree at National City University and had a lot of work to do.
Her and Barry didn't really make a time for going to Jitters to surprise Iris at work, but Juliet was too excited to wait for him to text back (he was horrible at it.) So after washing nine months of laying in a bed off of her and getting ready for the day, she left her apartment.
Since Jitters wasn't that far away, she made it there pretty fast. Through the window, she saw the familiar frame of Iris West pouring coffee into the mugs of people in the coffee shop. A wide smile broke out onto her face at the sight of her best friend. She pushed open the door, breathing in the scent of coffee beans.
Iris suddenly looked up from pouring a cup of coffee and instantly froze. Juliet let out a small laugh and extended her arms just the tiniest bit to say I'm here. Iris then instantly set down the coffee pot and ran over to Juliet, pulling her into the tightest hug imaginable. Juliet gladly returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm and the two of them rocked back and forth on their feet from the forceful impact of the hug.
"Jules!" Iris exclaimed, pulling away from her but keeping a tight grip on her arms. "What — you — lightning — chemicals—"
Juliet nodded. "Yeah. That did happen. But I'm all right."
Iris' eyes then set on somebody behind her. "Oh my God."
She let go of Juliet. Juliet turned to see her running to Barry, who apparently had just arrived. Barry caught her in his arms before setting her back down. Juliet smiled brightly (ignoring the pain in her heart because this was happy time) and walked over to the two of them.
"You two are awake," Iris commented. "Why didn't S.T.A.R. Labs call us?"
"We just woke up," Barry explained.
Juliet pointed to him in agreement. "Literally."
"Should you both even be on your feet?" Iris questioned.
"Iris," Juliet cut in, chuckling softly. "We're okay. Promise."
Her expression turned serious yet sad at the same time. "I watched the two of you die. You both kept dying — Barry, your heart kept stopping, Juliet, your seizures were out of control—"
Barry placed Iris' hand on his chest. "It's still beating."
"Feels really fast."
Juliet tapped the side of her head. "My brain is also fine."
"Oops," a worker then let out.
Juliet glanced over. She saw one of Iris' coworkers bump into someone, causing the tray in her hand to be knocked over. Her eyes widened and she lifted her hand just the slightest. However, when she did that, a tingling feeling spread throughout her entire body, and the tray and all of the things on it stopped in midair, like something was controlling it. Her hand automatically lowered, and the tray continued to fall as normal. She brought her hand up and stared at it in shock. Did she just . . .? No, Juliet scolded herself. You're being stupid, Jules.
"Are you okay, Tracy?" Iris inquired.
"Yeah, I got it," Tracy replied, cleaning up the broken glass on the floor.
Iris then turned back to Juliet and Barry. "My dad is gonna be so happy to see the two of you. Let me get my stuff, okay? Be right back."
Juliet let the forced smile fall off her face. That was so weird . . .
"You feeling all right?" Barry asked.
"Hmm?" Juliet replied, snapping herself out of her trance. "Oh. Um, yeah, I'm okay. You?"
"I feel . . . weird," Barry admitted to her quietly.
Juliet sighed. "To be honest, so do I. I mean, we were hit with about a billion joules of electricity. It's gonna take some time to bounce back from that."
Barry nodded, but he still looked uncertain.
Iris then came back from getting her belongings and the three of them left Jitters. While on the way to CCPD, Juliet and Barry allowed Iris to catch them up on everything that she had been doing while they were in their comas. Basically, it was school, work, visiting them, repeat.
Finally, they made it to CCPD. Every officer they saw greeted them with enthusiasm, but there was only one specific officer that Juliet and Barry basically wanted to see. They finally found him in the main office area with the other detectives, who all froze in shock upon their entrance.
Juliet, her face instantly brightening, pretty much sprinted right into his arms the moment his eyes set on them. Joe was stunned for a second before hugging her back tightly. After a couple moments, he released her and pulled Barry into a hug.
"Oh, you two scared the hell out of us," Joe said, his voice filled with relief at the fact of them now being awake.
"Yeah, that was quite the nap you took there, baby face, and you still look twelve," a detective commented to Barry. He then turned to Juliet. "You too, St. James."
Joe placed a hand on either one of Barry and Juliet's shoulders. "You both look okay. Are you really?"
Juliet placed a convincing smile on her face. "Yeah."
"Detective West, we've got a five-fifteen in progress at Gold City Bank, two dead," another detective informed Joe. "Storm's really picking up on the south side. I'd grab your rain gear."
Joe immediately went to leave. "I'm sorry, Barry and Juliet, I got to run."
"Do you need our help?" Barry questioned, Juliet nodding in agreement.
"No, you two take it easy," Joe ordered as he grabbed his jacket. "There'll be plenty for you both to do once you settle in. Let's go, partner!"
Joe patted Iris' shoulder before walking off. The familiar face of Eddie Thawne then stopped in front of Barry and Juliet. Juliet blinked. He was Joe's new partner?
"Hey, Allen, St. James, glad to see you," Eddie voiced as he pulled on his jacket.
Juliet offered him a tiny smile. "Glad to see you too, Eddie."
He then focused his attention to the brunette next to them. "Hey, Iris."
"Detective, you should go," Iris suggested. "My dad doesn't like to be kept waiting."
It was obvious Iris was trying to play it cool — but Juliet knew better. There was a sort of lingering glance between Eddie and Iris, one that was filled with adoration.
Eddie patted Barry's shoulder. "Glad you're both back."
Juliet raised an eyebrow at Iris as Eddie walked off. Iris sent her a warning glance as if to say not right now. Juliet subtly nodded.
Barry then walked over to a glass case. Juliet followed, and a frown immediately was placed upon her lips. It was a picture of Fred Chyre, Joe's old partner, with a plaque of his name inside with the picture and a plaque saying Never Forgotten on the outside.
"The night of the explosion, Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre," Iris explained. "Mardon and his brother died trying to escape. Their plane crashed."
"Iris, got a minute?" a detective then called.
Juliet sighed and looked up at Barry for a moment as Iris walked away. So much had happened while they were gone.
"Hey, Barry, Juliet," a police officer holding a criminal then stated with a smile. "Good to see you two."
She smiled back at him, but her facial expression immediately turned panicked when she saw the criminal reach for the other police officer's gun as he was turned around. Juliet put up her hand as a reflex, but then something totally weird happened.
The criminal completely froze and couldn't move, and that same familiar tingling feeling like back in the coffee shop spread throughout Juliet's entire body. Her eyes widened upon noticing red energy traveling smoothly between her fingers. Then, in a blur, Barry was gone for a second and then returned to Juliet's side. The blur that was Barry stopped the criminal and made the police officers apprehend him once more.
"Screw you!" the criminal shouted as the police officers dragged him away.
Juliet stared down at her hand before sharing a scared look with Barry. What the hell . . .
"You two okay?" Iris inquired upon noticing their newfound fear.
"I — I'm fine," Barry stammered. He then grabbed Juliet's hand tightly, presumably for comfort. "J and I just need some air. But we'll call you tonight, all right?"
Barry tugged Juliet behind him as they exited CCPD. They were in the alley behind the building, where they wouldn't be able to be seen. Juliet (reluctantly) let go of Barry's hand. He immediately lifted up his other one, which was vibrating fast.
"Something's wrong," Juliet announced, her voice panicked. "Barry, something's wrong with us." She looked down to see the same pure red energy traveling between her fingers before it became a ball in her hand. Juliet held it up for him to see with wide eyes. "What is this?"
"What's happening to us?" Barry whispered.
In a blur, he then sped forwards to the other side of the alley. He turned back around, only to speed back towards the cop car. Juliet gasped as he he landed on the back of the cop car and shattered the window.
"Oh God," Juliet let out. "Barry, are you okay?"
She let the ball of energy fall from her hand, but it made the pavement crack. Juliet yelped and jumped away from it.
Barry's eyes widened. "Juliet . . ."
"What?" Juliet asked, her mind frazzled.
She then looked down. To her great surprise, her arms were fading away. A huge tingling feeling spread throughout her body and everything went dark for a second. However, when she opened her eyes, she was in a completely different spot than before.
Barry pointed at her. "You just teleported."
"I did what?" Juliet questioned incredulously.
He pointed to the spot where she originally stood. "You were there." Barry then pointed back at her. "And then — and then you were there."
She pressed her hands to her temples. "What is going on?"
"I — I don't know," Barry admitted. "J, these . . . these are powers."
They had to get to S.T.A.R. Labs. Now.
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JULIET DEFINITELY WANTED to understand these new, strange powers that she somehow acquired.
After admitting to Dr. Wells, Cisco, and Caitlin about what they discovered they could do, they had brought them to an abandoned S.T.A.R. Labs runway to test out their powers. Juliet had changed into a pair of leggings, sneakers, an athletic long-sleeved shirt, a band around her waist to track vitals, and she had tied her now-red hair up into a low ponytail so she could wear the red helmet Cisco insisted on making her wear.
Barry's outfit, on the other hand, was definitely . . . interesting. He was wearing a tight red biketard, red sneakers, knee pads, elbow pads, a pair of goggles, and a helmet and waistband like Juliet's. It immediately made Juliet fall into a fit of giggles once she saw him.
"How's it fit?" Cisco inquired from outside the van.
Barry stepped out first. "It's a little snug."
"I think you've never looked better," Juliet teased as she followed behind him.
"Shut up, J."
"At least you'll be moving so fast no one will see you," Cisco replied, starting to lead them out onto the runway. "See, Barry, you thought the world was slowing down. It wasn't. You were moving so fast it only looked like everyone was standing still. And Juliet, you thought that you were controlling those things to stop, and that's because you were. As an instinct reaction by raising your hand to stop something, your brain registered to actually make those things stop by using telekinesis." He then gestured to the tent behind him. "Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output, and Caitlin, your vitals."
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Energy output, huh? I might have a lot of that."
"What do you do?" Barry asked to Cisco.
"I make the toys, man," Cisco answered. "Check it. These—" he held up a gold lightning bolt and a red symbol that sort of looked like a fancy M "—are two-way headsets with a camera I modified. Typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your guys' case, potential sonic booms or loud noises caused by energy blasts, which would be awesome."
He then took off Barry and Juliet's helmets to attach the technology to them. Caitlin then walked up with a tablet and began pressing things on their waistbands. Juliet let her do what she needed to, but Barry kept staring at her curiously.
"What?" Caitlin questioned.
"Nothing," Barry responded. "I just noticed you don't smile too much."
Juliet facepalmed at his blunt comment. "Oh my God, Barry."
"My once promising career in bioengineering is over, my boss is in a wheelchair for life," Caitlin began. "The explosion that put you two in a coma also killed my fiancé. So this blank expression kind of feels like the way to go."
Juliet's heart ached for the girl as she walked away, and then she hit Barry's arm. "Nice going, Barry."
"How was I supposed to know?" Barry protested.
Dr. Wells then rolled up to them. "Mr. Allen, Ms. St. James, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint."
They both nodded. After placing back on their helmets, Barry got positioned in his starting block while Juliet placed herself next to him. She shook her hands out quickly to relieve some of her nerves. Juliet then shared a quick look with Barry and nodded reassuringly. It was time to show them what they could to.
Barry then sped off down the runway, leaving a gust of wind behind him. Juliet allowed the tingling feeling to make its way through her body and she imagined different spots on the runway. Each time she imagined it, she would find herself there. Smiling, she then teleported back in front of the S.T.A.R. Labs team. She willed the red energy to travel up and down her arms.
"Woah," Cisco whispered in awe.
Juliet then focused on the speedometer in his hands. She gently lifted her fingers upwards, which caused it to float up out of his hands and stay in midair.
A huge crash was then heard from the very end of the runway. Juliet turned to see water flying up in the air. Her eyes widened. Barry. She removed her focus from the energy and from suspending the speedometer and pictured the end of the runway. Once she teleported there, she saw Barry on the ground clutching his wrist, which was bent at a very awkward angle.
"Barry!" she exclaimed in concern, dropping to her knees beside him. "Oh my God, are you okay?"
He stared at her incredulously. "Does it look like I'm okay?"
She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Okay, come on. I'm taking you back to them."
"Wait a second, you're teleporting me? J, no. What if I get stuck somewhere in between—"
"Barry," she interrupted. "Do you trust me?"
The two stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Juliet felt her heart begin to race against her chest as she did so. Finally, Barry nodded. She let out a deep breath and pictured the start of the runway where the van was. Juliet placed all of her focus on taking Barry with her, and they then appeared back by the tent. Caitlin immediately began to check what had happened while Juliet stood up.
One quick trip to S.T.A.R. Labs later, the group of five found themselves in the same room that Barry and Juliet had woken up in earlier that day. Caitlin started to do x-rays on Barry and gave him a brace to help him heal is wrist. Juliet stayed with Barry just to make sure he was all right. Then, three hours later after a second x-ray, Caitlin was holding up a tablet of an x-ray that she had first done on Barry's hand and wrist. One part of his bone was broken off.
"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture," Caitlin informed Barry as him and Juliet sat on one of the hospital beds.
"Had?" Barry repeated.
She swiped upwards to show an x-ray of his hand completely back to normal. "It's healed . . . in three hours."
"How is that even possible?"
"We don't know . . . yet."
"You really need to learn how to stop," Cisco told Barry. "And Juliet, you're just . . . so cool. I — I mean, your powers, absolutely flawless . . ."
Juliet smiled at him in appreciation. "Tell me something I don't know, Cisco."
He pointed at her. "And confident. I like it."
Dr. Wells rolled up to Barry. "What happened out there today? You were moving pretty well, and then something caused you to lose focus."
"I started remembering something," Barry admitted. Dr. Wells gave him a look, almost urging him to go on. Barry quickly glanced at Juliet before continuing. "When I was eleven, my mother was murdered. It was late. A sound woke me up. I came downstairs, and . . . I saw what looked like a ball of lightning. Inside the lightning, there was a man. He killed my mom. They arrested my dad. He's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrinks, they — they all told me what I saw was impossible. But what if the man who killed my mom was like me?"
"Well, I think I can say unequivocally you are one of a kind." He then address Juliet. "You too, Ms. St. James."
Juliet then placed her hand on top of Barry's and gave it a tight squeeze. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile. She knew how hard everything surrounding his mother's murder was, but maybe, just maybe — these new powers could give them an insight on that ball of lightning that Barry saw that night.
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update 4/4 of my four days of updates for my four books!!! hope y'all enjoyed my christmas present to you in the form of updates <3
anyways
HI HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER AKA THE BEGINNING OF JULIET AND BARRY'S POWERS
BING BONG
anyways I'm officially declaring that the ship name for juliet and barry is st. allen <3
also the playlist I made for this book is full of bops like I'm listening to it and JAMMING