⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘
CHAPTER TEN
girl goes boom
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
THIS WAS PROBABLY the best idea they had in a while.
Iris suggested to Barry and Juliet that they all go out to their favorite bar in Central City together to have drinks and play darts. Then, Juliet had the brilliant idea to invite Cisco and Caitlin. After all, they could all use a break, even if it was just for a night.
Juliet stood at one of the bar counters, absentmindedly stirring the Malibu Bay Breeze that was situated next to her. She was laughing at something that Cisco had said with Caitlin while Iris was playing darts with Eddie and Barry was sitting by himself like a loser. They were all watching the darts game going on in front of them.
Barry then approached them with a tray of shots. "Guys, I have a problem."
"We all do when guys like him exist," Cisco replied.
"Yeah, he's so hot," Caitlin voiced dreamily. She then turned back to them, sitting up straighter. "Uh, I mean, genetically speaking. Because I'm a geneticist, of course. Oh my God, do I sound like Felicity?"
Juliet let out a laugh. "I was going to agree with you, and yes, you do sound like Felicity."
"I'm not talking about Eddie," Barry admitted. "I'm talking about this." In super speed, Barry then took all of the shots that were on his tray. "I can't feel anything."
"I've heard that from drunk you more than once," Juliet responded, taking a sip of her drink.
Barry rolled his eyes at her. "No, the alcohol is not affecting me. I mean, I literally feel nothing."
"It's your hypermetabolism," Caitlin announced excitedly. "I need a sample."
"I'll get more shots," Cisco stated before going off towards the bar.
Caitlin dug through her purse. "I swear, I had a vacutainer in here."
"Wait, you carry a blood collection kit in your purse?" Barry asked.
"You have your hobbies."
Juliet shrugged. "She got you there."
Cisco then came back with another tray of shots. All of them took one and clinked their glasses together before taking the shot. Juliet squeezed her eyes shut and slightly winced at the harsh taste. She shook it off and looked at Barry.
"Still nothing?" Cisco questioned.
"I can't get drunk," Barry answered. "I mean, I'm only twenty-five and my drinking days are already over."
"Come on, Allen, you're up," Eddie urged. However, his phone buzzed, and he pulled it out from his pocket. "There's a bombing on Eighth and Pass." Juliet's eyes widened and she straightened up, looking at Barry as Eddie and Iris kissed. "I gotta go, babe. Sorry, guys."
"I've got an early shift at Jitters," Iris added, getting her purse to follow after Eddie. "Jules, Barry, we'll catch up tomorrow."
"It's getting late, anyway, so I'm just gonna . . ." Barry trailed off.
He grabbed Juliet's hand and navigated them through the crowded bar. Once they were in a quiet part of the street outside the bar, the two got into their suits and set off. Juliet teleported to an alley by the two streets and Barry skidded to a stop next to her. They then heard cries for help, and the two looked up to see a fire on the high floor of a building and a window washer hanging off one of their ledges.
Barry pressed a finger to his ear. "Guys, there's a window washer, and he's gonna fall."
"Don't try and catch him, you don't have super strength," Cisco said.
"I can maybe try and lower him down?" Juliet suggested. "Not sure though, that could take a lot of concentration that I don't think I can handle yet. I — I don't want to risk that."
"Well, is there, like, a bed store near here?" Barry inquired. "What if I get a bunch of mattresses and stack them?"
"Barry, this isn't a roadrunner cartoon," Caitlin scolded.
He then walked backwards a little bit. "How fast would I need to go to run up the side of a building?"
"How far up do you need to go?" Cisco asked.
Barry continued to walk back further and further, so far that he started to come in over Juliet's comms instead of her hearing his actual voce. "I don't know. Fifty meters, give or take."
Juliet looked up. She couldn't just stand there. Maybe if she couldn't lower him, she could hold him in place. She lifted her arms up and concentrated on the man, red energy starting to travel up and down her arms. Red energy also surrounded the man and held him in place. She started to get that same headache she always got when she used too much of her powers at once, but she ignored it.
"Guys, hurry," Barry pleaded. "J's holding him, but he needs to get down."
"Just run really fast and you'll be fine," Caitlin reassured him. "But you need to maintain your velocity on the way down, or . . ."
"Or what?"
"Splat."
"Great."
"Don't go splat," Juliet stated, her muscles tightening. "I'll hold him in place, you go."
The flash of yellow lightning that was Barry then ran past her. Juliet watched as Barry miraculously ran up the side of the building. He grabbed the man, making Juliet focus her attention to the falling ledge. While Barry ran the man back down, Juliet concentrated on the ledge and held it in place.
Red energy surrounded that was well, and just like she suggested earlier with the man, she started to lower it at a slow pace. She could feel herself getting dizzy from the amount of concentration, and when the ledge was about twenty feet above the ground, her body gave out and she was forced to let go. The ledge then completely crashed onto the ground, breaking apart. Juliet let her concentration go and stumbled back a bit, black spots entering her vision.
Juliet then turned. She saw Barry leave the man on the ground, but Iris was right over her shoulder. Juliet closed her eyes and caused them to turn red, also placing a thin red veil of energy over her face to disguise her identity. Iris continued to look at her in shock as Barry sped off. Juliet then teleported away from the building.
Just another day of being a superhero.
It was only hours later when Juliet found herself back at the crime scene as her CSI persona, this time where the bomb had actually exploded. The place was a complete wreck — obviously, it had been bombed. However, as Juliet and Barry tried to find any evidence, nothing was sticking out to them.
"Barry, Jules," Joe began. "What do you got?"
"Bombers typically have their own unique signatures," Barry explained. "Crimped wires, fragmentation. The level of sophistication is telling once I've analyzed it. You show me a bomb, I can usually find a clue in it."
"It sounds like there's a but coming."
Juliet sighed. "There's no sign of an oxidizing agent. It's like the floor just blew up on its own."
"Things don't just blow up," Joe replied.
Eddie then walked up to them. "Security guard said our bomber was a woman, red hair. Must've cut the security camera's feed. There's no footage, but there might be something else." They followed him to another room with filing cabinets. "Some kind of small charge blasted the doorknob off."
"Any idea what's missing?" Joe questioned.
"My guess is one of these files. It's gonna take days to figure out which one."
"Let's let Barry and Juliet do their thing."
Juliet gave Eddie a small smile as he walked out of the room. She shared a look with Barry before walking up to a cabinet. Sure, Barry might have super speed, but she could at least help. While she sorted through her files normally, Barry did them at super speed, often speeding to other portions of the room, making Juliet's hair fly from the gust of wind.
"Please tell me you found something," Juliet said, already bored after sorting through one drawer. "I'm over it."
Barry held up an empty file. "Just in luck."
"Thank God." She nodded her head to the door. "We'd better get going."
They gathered up all of their evidence in a box and made their way back to the CCPD. However, as they got off the elevator, they saw Joe approaching them with a serious look on his face. Juliet then noticed two army soldiers following him out towards them.
"Uh . . . if you're trying to recruit me for the army, the answer is no," Juliet told them.
Barry elbowed her. "What's going on?"
"General Eiling is relieving us from the bombing case," Joe responded, making Juliet raise an eyebrow. "Give these men everything that's relevant."
"Sure thing."
Barry handed off the box to the soldiers. However, he super sped his hand and took the evidence bag of the missing file from the box as the soldiers walked away.
"You two and a few civilians from S.T.A.R. Labs might want to check into that," Joe stated.
"For sure," Juliet agreed.
The two went upstairs to their lab to make it seem like they were doing something. However, once they got there, Juliet teleported both her and Barry back to S.T.A.R. Labs. There, they told Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells everything they knew about the case and what Barry had found in the file room.
"A VA file number is all the info you have on the bomber?" Cisco inquired.
"CCPD's been ordered off the case," Barry revealed.
"Well, who has the power to do that?" Caitlin asked.
"The army. Some General. His name was Eiling, I think."
"General Wade Eiling," Dr. Wells announced as he wheeled farther into the cortex.
Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion. "You know who he is?"
"Yeah, I know who he is. About ten years ago, General Wade Eiling contracted S.T.A.R. Labs to develop enhanced gene therapies for soldiers. I was interested in the potential medical benefits for civilians. General Eiling really wanted to develop mind reading capabilities for interrogation purposes. I stopped the study when I saw his techniques up close, but our split was less than amicable."
"He took all the evidence J and I collected on the bombing," Barry voiced before handing the file to Dr. Wells. "Everything but the folder."
"Well, lucky for us, the VA finally joined the new millennium and digitized their records," Cisco said, spinning around to face the computer. "A lot of redacted info, but our girl's name is Bette Sans Souci, an EOD specialist for the army."
"EOD?" Caitlin questioned.
"Bombs."
"Is there an address?" Barry inquired.
"Hold on, here we go," Cisco continued. "One person in case of emergency. Cameron Scott. Inglewood."
Barry looked down at Juliet. "Come on, we're running." He gave her a look when he noticed the expression on her face. "You teleported me, it's only fair."
"Fine," Juliet begrudgingly agreed.
After getting in their suits, Barry took Juliet in his arms and sprinted away. Within a minute, they were there. Barry immediately stopped and placed Juliet down, making her stumble a bit.
"Oh God," Juliet let out.
"Bette Sans Souci?" Barry began, and Juliet looked to see a woman with red hair standing right in front of them.
The woman immediately turned and started to run in the opposite direction. Juliet instantly teleported in front of the woman, making her stop again. Barry appeared by her side as well.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you," Juliet told her softly. "You just have to come with us, okay?"
Barry reached out and went to take the woman's hand.
"Don't touch me, please!" Bette exclaimed.
He went to get her more forcefully, but Bette then placed a hand right on Barry's chest. Immediately, it turned purple. Juliet stared at it in confusion. Uh . . . what?
"Get whatever you're wearing off of you," Bette instructed. "Hurry!"
With his eyes wide, Barry sprinted off. Juliet's hands flew to her mouth in shock as she watched the place where Barry ran to immediately explode.
All rationale thoughts flew out of Juliet's mind. She didn't care that she was going to let Bette get away, her mind was focused on one thing and one thing only — Barry. There was no way she could go on without making sure he was okay. Juliet immediately teleported to the spot, only to see Barry in just his underwear kneeling on the ground with the remaining pieces of his suit around him.
"Oh my God," Juliet breathed out. She dropped to her knees beside him and placed her hands on his shoulders, her hands burning at the touch from his bare skin. Juliet was too scrambled to be smitten by his state. "Are you okay? I literally just watched you explode."
"I'm fine, J," Barry answered. "We should probably get back to Cisco and Caitlin. I clearly don't have comms anymore."
Juliet nodded. She focused on the two of them, and in seconds, they were back in the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry went into one of the med bays to grab a S.T.A.R. Labs shirt. He pulled it on while Juliet got back into her regular clothes, letting out a deep breath.
"Uh—" Caitlin began.
"Don't ask," Barry interrupted.
"I'm gonna ask," Cisco said. "Where's my suit?"
"It's . . . gone."
"What do you mean it's gone? What did you do with my suit?"
"It may or may not have exploded," Juliet revealed. "You see, Bette pressed her hand on Barry's chest, it turned purple, she told him to get out of his suit, he ran away, and managed to get out of it before it went . . . you know, kaboom."
"My suit went kaboom?" Cisco asked incredulously.
"Did you not just listen to what I said? Bette Sans Souci isn't carrying bombs, she's a Metahuman."
Dr. Wells then wheeled into the room. "With the ability to cause spontaneous combustion upon tactile contact."
Cisco faced him. "She blew up my suit."
"You have, like, three more," Caitlin argued.
"Okay, I have two, and I loved that one."
"All right, what else do we know about her?" Barry questioned.
"Oh, I don't know, she's pure evil?" Cisco stated as he turned to the computer. "We're gonna find this girl and send her butt into the pipeline. No one blows my tech into smithereens and gets away with it . . . unless she looks like that."
"I don't think she meant to hurt me," Barry admitted.
"Well, her being a Metahuman explains General Eiling's interest in her," Dr. Wells voiced.
Joe then walked into the cortex. "And why he stole the case from us. He didn't want anyone to know what she could do."
Dr. Wells nodded to him. "Detective."
"Doctor. So . . . human bomb. Must be Tuesday in Central City."
"Yes, and General Eiling's not one to give up a potential asset without a fight."
Juliet shook her head. "We have to find Bette before he gets to her."
"Barry, Juliet, can I see you both for a second?" Joe cut in.
Juliet quickly glanced at Barry before nodding. The two of them went out into the hallway with Joe.
"When were you planning on telling me that Iris saw the Streak and the Materializing Figure?" Joe inquired.
"That was not planned," Barry insisted. "She caught us off guard."
Juliet nodded in agreement. "We literally had no idea she was going to be there."
"We had a deal," Joe continued. "You two keep her in the dark about the Metahumans, and I don't go Floyd Mayweather on you."
"Okay, Joe, we know," Barry protested.
"And she's writing a blog now."
"We already talked to her about that."
"Well, talk to her again," Joe urged. "And be more convincing."
Juliet let out a sigh and nodded. However, Joe just continued to stare at the two of them.
"Oh, you mean, like, at this exact moment?" Juliet asked.
"Yes, I do," Joe confirmed.
Barry then sped off and Juliet teleported outside of Jitters for Iris' intervention. However, as the two of them tried to talk to her, the more Iris tried to resist. Juliet wasn't surprised, though — Iris was incredibly stubborn.
"You've got to stop writing about these people," Barry told Iris. "They don't even exist."
"I saw them, Barry," Iris said. "They wear red suits, like, a uniform or something, and the man has a lightning bolt on his chest and the girl wears a long red jacket."
"You sure you weren't drunk?" Juliet countered.
"I was not drunk, and I know what I saw. They both wear masks. I think they . . . smiled at me."
"Okay, first of all, if they are wearing masks, that probably means they don't want people to know who they are," Barry explained.
"It doesn't matter who they are, what matters is that people know that they're out there," Iris voiced. "What is wrong with the two of you? This is important to me. Why can't you be more supportive?"
Juliet crossed her arms. "I'm supportive of everything you do, 'Ris, but this blog is anonymous."
Iris scoffed. "Okay, you know what? Our entire lives, Barry, you couldn't scream loud enough that the impossible existed, and Juliet joined because she believed you, and now it's actually happening in Central City. I have proof of it, and you don't want to know about it? That doesn't make sense. So when you two are ready to tell me what this whole routine is really about, then we can talk."
Juliet pulled her phone out as Iris walked away, letting out a deep breath as she answered the call from Cisco. "What's up?"
"We've piggybacked onto General Eiling's own surveillance," Cisco responded. "According to what they're saying, the lovely Ms. Sans Souci was just spotted in Inglewood."
"The same neighborhood as Dr. Harold Hadley's office, the military surgeon who performed several procedures on her," Caitlin added. "That's why she was looking for the folder."
"You've got to get to her before Eiling does."
Juliet hung up the phone and looked up at Barry. "Back to Inglewood."
The two exited Jitters. They got into their suits, and Juliet closed her eyes, imagining the office of the Doctor in Inglewood. When she opened them, she was inside the office, standing before Bette and whom she presumed to be the doctor. Barry then sped in beside her. Bette turned to look at them, but a gunshot came through the window, the bullet hitting Bette's arm. She fell to the ground.
"You okay?" Barry questioned as him and Juliet kneeled next to Bette. "Look, we can get you out of here. We can help you understand what happened to you."
"How?" Bette inquired.
Juliet gave her a small smile. "Because it happened to us." Something was then thrown into the room and starting strobing. "We have to go."
Barry, with Bette in his arms, then ran out of the office. Juliet followed in suit, teleporting out and back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ
AFTER A LONG night, the group plus Bette were all back in S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet stood there in her regular clothes, her arms crossed as she listened to Dr. Wells explain to Bette about the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. There was currently a diagram on the screen, showing how the Accelerator exploded and the wave that overtook Central City.
". . . as the detonation dispersed throughout Central City, a number of people were exposed to a wave of unquantifiable energy," Dr. Wells was saying. "One of those people . . . was you." Caitlin then handed Bette a pair of gloves. "You were in Central City ten months ago."
"I had just returned from Afghanistan," Bette responded. She started to pull on the gloves. "I was there defusing roadside bombs and . . . shrapnel ripped through me. I was flown back state side. Spent months at the base recuperating, and next thing I know, I became the thing that almost killed me. And Eiling's favorite, new lab rat."
"The dark matter must have combined with the bomb particulate inside your body," Caitlin announced.
Bette looked at her. "I thought Eiling did this to me."
"Eiling is not smart enough to create someone like you," Dr. Wells replied. "Clever enough to see your value."
"Do you know of any others who were changed?"
Caitlin shrugged. "There've been a few."
"But no one that looks like you," Cisco commented. Barry then leaned his forehead against the top of Juliet's head in embarrassment, and she slightly laughed, elbowing him in the side. "I'm sorry. That was inappropriate. Please don't leave."
Caitlin leaned closer to him. "I know how to perform a lobotomy."
They then decided to check Bette's vitals. She sat on the treadmill while they all looked at her through the window on the other side.
"Her cellular structure's unlike anything I've ever seen," Dr. Wells stated.
"Her nitrogen levels are off the charts," Caitlin added before entering the room she was in.
Juliet sighed. "Can we help her in any way?"
"To answer that question, we have to understand how she works, and to understand that, first we have to study her in action," Dr. Wells answered.
Cisco immediately got excited. "You want her to blow stuff up. Yes, now we're talking."
"Not in here, she's too unstable."
"I know."
"I know you know."
However, as about a minute went by, the systems started to beep. Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion, but her eyes soon widened. On the computer screen in front of her was live footage of General Eiling and some soldiers coming up the elevator.
"Lock down the pipeline, get Bette out of here," Dr. Wells ordered. "I'll take care of Eiling."
Cisco immediately ran off to go to the pipeline.
Juliet walked into the room, holding out her hand to Bette. "Come on, we gotta go."
"Take her downstairs to the garage," Cisco called. "Barry, take us down there too."
Bette took Juliet's hand. Juliet focused on the both of them, and soon enough, they were in the garage.
"Woah," Bette said. "Did we just . . . teleport?"
"Perks of my powers," Juliet responded with a small laugh. "So, I don't really know what Cisco wants to do here, but I guess we'll just wait."
Barry then sped Cisco and Caitlin down. Cisco had several miscellaneous toys in his arms for some reason. The five of them then climbed into a S.T.A.R. Labs truck, where Cisco drove them to an abandoned spot where Bette could practice her powers.
When they got there, and got everything set up, Bette took off her gloves and grabbed a blue frisbee. Bette threw it into the air, and after a couple of seconds, it exploded.
"Four hundred and twenty-seven KPA's," Cisco announced. "He trauzl rating is around forty-five. That's the same as any plastique. Plastique. Ha, first try!"
Juliet and Barry started to follow Bette as she walked away from the table. They joined either side of her.
"Downrange, insurgents started booby trapping cars," Bette told them. "The rest of my tour, I was terrified to touch another vehicle. Now, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life terrified to touch another human being." Bette turned to them. "Have they tried to help you?"
"Uh . . . yeah, they've helped us learn how to use our powers, not reverse them," Barry responded.
"If they could reverse it so you weren't a Metahuman, would you?"
Juliet paused for a moment. "A friend of ours told us that we were chosen to be given our powers for a reason. That may or may not be true, but our entire lives, Barry and I have always wanted to help more. Do more. And now we can."
Barry's phone then vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out. "Sorry." He nodded his head to Juliet, and she followed him a little farther away as he placed the phone on speaker. "Hey, Joe."
"I see your little conversation with Iris was a rousing success," Joe said. "She just posted another story about the Streak and the Materializing Figure."
"Come on, Joe, we tried," Juliet insisted. "But she's just stubborn and won't back down when she finds something she believes in. You know that."
"She's got her name on it now, Jules."
Juliet threw her head back in frustration, knowing that it was her that mentioned something about the blog being anonymous. "Fuck."
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have asked you to say anything," Joe voiced. "I just wanted you to know. Okay, bye."
"What was that about?" Cisco asked, and the two of them turned to face him.
Barry let out a deep breath. "Iris posted about the Streak and the Materializing Figure again. She signed her name to it."
"Oh, that's not good. If one of these bad Metahumans we're dealing with figures she knows something—"
Juliet nodded. "They're gonna target her. Yeah, we know."
Her and Barry then shared a look. They needed to do something about this . . . but how?
〖 ϟ 〗
I hope y'all know that I'm not making juliet be weak when she can't do certain things. I'm just trying to highlight that she has her limits and she hasn't really trained on using her powers all that much so she's going to feel weak when she overexerts herself too much :)
also it pains me to keep calling jules the materializing figure but I PROMISE her actual name is coming in like three chapters I just need iris to officially name them lol