⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘
CHAPTER TWELVE
bullies will still be bullies
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
TRIGGER WARNING: non-consensual kissing
ALL JULIET WANTED was a quiet evening. Literally just one night to have for herself. She had even prepared everything — a nice meal, a tall glass of wine, a movie on the TV. However, the second she had sat down on the couch with her things, she heard police sirens sound in the distance. Juliet let out a groan, throwing her head back in frustration. Of course some crime had to ruin her plans, but she guesses that duty calls.
Juliet immediately teleported into her suit which was at S.T.A.R. Labs and was back at her apartment in the matter of seconds. She walked over to her window and saw the red and blue flashing lights in the distance. Imagining the place where they were, she closed her eyes. A tingling feeling spread throughout her body before it quickly ended.
She opened her eyes to see herself standing in front of a police blockade. A yellow Humvee was speeding towards a teenage boy, who was crossing the street without a care in the world. Juliet's eyes widened and she quickly teleported to the boy, grabbed him, and teleported him off to the side.
"Are you okay?" Juliet asked.
The boy, a blank look in his eyes, hesitantly nodded. Juliet then heard a crash. She turned to see that the Humvee had crashed through the police cars and was continuing to speed. Barry's familiar flash of yellow lightning then ran past the Humvee. She looked in the distance to see that the Humvee was now stopped, due to a dead end. Juliet then teleported in front of where the Humvee was, only to see herself standing in front of a gate. Barry was standing next to her, holding the side mirror of the Humvee.
"Step out of the vehicle!" Barry ordered.
"If you say so," the man driving replied.
However, when he stepped out of the car, he also managed to rip the car door off.
"Oh shit," Juliet whispered.
The man spun around and threw the door at them with full force. Juliet held up her hands and focused on the door, red energy traveling up and down her arms. She stopped the door from coming at them and suspended it in midair. Juliet then pushed her hands forwards, throwing the door back at him. It definitely should have hit him and made him fall, but the man merely turned to metal and made the door drop down on the ground with a clang.
He then started to approach Juliet, making her breath slightly hitch in her throat. Something about the way he was walking towards her was reminding her of something, of someone that had done something to her in the past.
She didn't have time to dwell on it, though. Barry stepped in front of Juliet and punched the man in the face. The man's skin turned to metal once more, and Juliet slightly winced at the sound of bones cracking and Barry's scream of pain. Before Juliet could do anything, the man curled his fist and punched Barry with his metal skin, sending him flying backwards to the other side of the Humvee.
The man crouched down over Barry. "Looks like you were born to take a beating."
Juliet slightly tilted her head at the phrase. Something about it seemed . . . familiar.
The man then turned back towards Juliet and gave her a wink. She gritted her teeth and summoned a red ball of energy in her hand. Juliet then threw it directly at him. Despite the man turning into metal again, he still got blown back from the blast of energy, away from her and away from Barry.
Juliet then ran up to Barry and sunk to her knees next to Barry, who was clutching his hand in pain and had a bleeding lip. "Come on, while he's down."
Barry glanced back for a moment, only to see the man standing up from being blown back, his eyes fluttering shut. "How . . . how did you—?"
Juliet slightly smiled. "Magic beats brawn, I guess. But you're hurt. Let's go."
With that, Juliet placed her hands on Barry's shoulders and teleported the both of them back to S.T.A.R. Labs. They appeared in the cortex, Barry still laying on the floor and Juliet still kneeling beside him with her hands on his shoulders. Barry's eyes were completely closed now. Juliet looked up, and as if on cue, Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells entered the cortex.
"Barry?" Cisco began in concern, noticing his hurt state.
Caitlin ran over to join them. "Barry, are you okay?"
However, as she placed a hand on his leg, Barry let out a noise of pain. Juliet looked down at him in worry.
"Juliet, what happened?" Cisco demanded.
"I'll tell you later," Juliet promised. "Right now, we need to help him. Please."
A little while later, and with a lot of x-rays and cleaning up wounds, Barry was situated on a bed in the cortex with Caitlin putting a cast on his hand. Juliet, now back in her regular clothes, was leaning against the desk of computers with her arms crossed.
"Thirteen fractures," Caitlin announced. "That's a new record, and that's just in your hand. You also have a concussion, three cracked ribs, and a bruised spleen. Even with your powers, you'll need a few hours to heal."
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Damn, dude. He really rocked your shit."
"What exactly did you hit?" Dr. Wells questioned.
"A man," Barry answered. "A big, bad man."
"His skin somehow turned into metal," Juliet added. "Everything that hit him, he just . . . deflected. Well, except for this." She then summoned a red ball of energy in her hand. "Blasted him right off of his feet."
"Interesting," Dr. Wells commented as Juliet extinguished her energy. "A man of steel."
"So you two went after a Metahuman alone?" Cisco inquired. "Dudes, why didn't you call us?"
"We didn't know what he was," Barry insisted. He then sat up with a groan. "Besides, we were off duty."
Caitlin looked like he didn't believe him. "Hmm."
Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion. What was that about?"
"You're lucky he didn't knock out your teeth," Cisco told Barry. "Those puppies don't grow back. And thank God for Juliet."
Juliet gave him a high-five. "Amen."
"The strange this is I feel like I knew him," Barry admitted.
"Wait, you felt that too?" Juliet said, and Barry nodded.
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked.
"He said something that was familiar, and the way he approached J with this look on his face . . ." Barry replied. "But he's gonna hurt someone if we don't stop him. So how do I fight a guy that's made of steel?"
"Juliet," Cisco immediately voiced.
She smiled slightly at him. "Thank you, Cisco. But I can only do so much by myself. Sure, I can hold him down, stop him from moving, and keep blasting him back, but he'll just keep getting back up."
"We will find a way, something that includes Barry with Juliet's powers," Dr. Wells stated. He then pointed to Barry. "Tonight, you heal."
Barry then laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Juliet exhaled and walked a little closer to the bed.
"You hungry?" Juliet questioned. "I could get us some food."
He looked up at her, and his green eyes almost made her melt. "Really?"
"Yeah. That guy interrupted my dinner, anyways." Juliet gave him a small grin and ruffled his hair a little. "I'll be back."
With that, Juliet left the cortex, the orders of each person from Big Belly Burger imprinted in her mind. However, she couldn't help but wonder why the man who turned into metal was so familiar to her.
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THE NEXT DAY, Barry and Juliet walked into the precinct at the CCPD. They spotted Joe sitting at his desk, watching a video on his laptop. Juliet could only assume it was something that had to do with the murder of Barry's mother. As they got closer, Joe noticed them and took his headphones out, closing the laptop.
"Hey," Barry greeted softly.
Joe looked up at them. "What happened to you both last night?"
"Got beat up by a steel-plated sociopath whose only weakness is Juliet's energy. Good times."
"So he is a Metahuman?"
"Yep," Juliet replied.
"That Particle Accelerator's the gift that keeps on giving," Joe said.
"Tell me about it."
Joe's eyes then flickered in between the two of them. "You okay?"
"Relatively," Barry responded. "Any idea who he is?"
Joe shook his head and grabbed his briefcase off the floor and his jacket from the back of his chair. "Eddie's taking point while I run down a lead. I need you two to work with him until I get back."
"Wait, why us?"
"Because he saw something impossible that he's got questions about, questions that I can't answer."
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "So you want us to come up with some things that sound science-y so he actually believes it and forgets everything happened?"
"Exactly," Joe answered before leaving.
Juliet nodded once. "Oh, okay."
The two of them noticed a meeting happening in Captain Singh's office. They probably had to be there, so they entered.
"He stole the Humvee and evaded capture," Captain Singh was saying, handing out case files. "So pleased you could join us, Mr. Allen and Ms. St. James. Rough night?"
"Uh, just a little beat, sir," Barry replied, Juliet nodding in agreement as she took her case file.
"As I was saying, our perp yanked three ATMs after he boosted the vehicle. ATM security cameras caught him on video. We got a hit in the database. Tony Woodward."
Juliet immediately froze, her eyes widening and her heart sinking. She looked down at the picture in her case file, disgust running through her veins. Juliet suddenly started to feel sick to her stomach.
"He's got a history of violence, petty theft, assault, going way back to juvie," Captain Singh continued. "Dropped off the radar ten months ago. Looks like he's back."
Juliet suddenly got transported back to elementary school. The way he approached her with the same look in his eyes as he did last night, the way her back pressed up against the lockers, the way he stepped in front of her, the way he trapped her in, the way his lips were so rough against her, the way she couldn't escape because she wasn't powerful enough to push him off . . .
"Allen, St. James," Eddie's voice then called, snapping Juliet out of her trance. "Hey, Allen, St. James."
Barry seemed to snap out of it as well, presumably remembering how Tony used to bully him. "Hey."
"You two all right?"
"Fine," Juliet voiced stiffly, even though nothing was fine. "What's up, Eddie?"
"Listen, I saw something last night I just can't get my head around," Eddie told them, the three of them walking out of Captain Singh's office together.
"Uh-huh," Barry said, urging him to continue.
"I fired a dozen rounds at our car thief, and it was like they sparked off of him.
Juliet shrugged. "He could've been wearing body armor."
Eddie stared at her. "On his face?"
She paused for a second. "You know, that's a fair point."
"Hey," the voice of Iris then greeted, thankfully stopping their conversation. Juliet turned to see her best friend (well, sort of, they still weren't talking) walk up to them. Iris looked at them. "Juliet. Barry." She then focused her attention back to her boyfriend, and Juliet and Barry shared a glance, going back to their case files, now feeling very awkward. "Hi, babe, I saw the news. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, which you would know if you checked your messages," Eddie answered. "I tried you three times."
"Sorry. I had to work late. Um, so I heard that the Materializing Figure saved a kid. Any comment, detective?"
Juliet slightly winced. She definitely needed a better name than the Materializing Figure. Maybe she should get on that.
Eddie sighed. "All I know is our perp got away, but Barry and Juliet here are gonna help me find him."
Barry looked up from the case file. "Yeah."
"Fine, I have other sources," Iris stated, turning to Eddie and straightening his tie. "I will see you tonight." She kissed him quickly. "Bye."
"Bye," Eddie replied.
Iris then left. Juliet let out a breath. It was a lot harder not talking to Iris then she realized. Like Iris had said, the two of them couldn't be separated for long. But Juliet hated the fact that what happened to Bette could happen to Iris if she kept putting her name on her blog. She couldn't bare to go through with that.
"What is going on with you three?" Eddie inquired.
Barry smiled unconvincingly. "What do you mean? Nothing, it's fine." He then backed up and hit the door, making Juliet let out a small laugh. "It's — sorry, it's fine. I don't know."
Juliet followed after Barry as they made their way up to their lab. "Smooth."
"Yeah, yeah." He then looked over at her. "Are you okay?"
Her eyebrows knit in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, J," Barry said. "Tony."
Juliet swallowed nervously. "It's definitely a plot twist, I'll tell you that much."
"J, I know what he did to you," Barry voiced quietly.
She nodded slowly. "If it wasn't for you, he would've continued to kiss me despite my protests."
"I'd do anything to protect you, you know that," Barry insisted, and Juliet felt her stomach flutter. "I swear, J, we're going to take him down. For real this time."
Juliet gave him a small smile. "I know. Thanks, Barr."
He slung an arm across her shoulders as they entered the lab. Juliet let out a laugh and indulged in his side hug before they went to get started on work.
A little while later, Juliet and Barry found themselves at S.T.A.R. Labs. Now that they knew who the man who could turn into metal was, they obviously had to tell the team. Juliet and Barry each took turns describing what Tony had done to them as children, even though it was a little hard for Juliet to talk about. It made her feel extremely gross.
"Your childhood nemesis is not an unstoppable Metahuman," Cisco announced. "That is seriously messed up."
"I had a childhood nemesis," Caitlin admitted. "Lexi LaRoche. She used to put gum in my hair."
"Jake Puckett. If I didn't let him copy my homework, he'd give me a swirly."
"Now that we've established that we're all uber-nerds, what are we gonna do about Tony?" Barry asked.
"For real," Juliet agreed. "I wasn't powerful enough to stop him from kissing me then, but I'm ready to knock his ass out of the park."
Cisco grinned. "Glad you asked. We're gonna train you, man — well, since we know Juliet's powers already work on him. Karate Kid style." Cisco then entered the treadmill room, and Juliet, Barry, and Caitlin followed, only to see a metal robot standing there. "Behold! I call him Girder."
"For the record, not my idea," Caitlin cut in.
"Fighting is physics. It's not about strength, it's not about size, it's about energy and power. Channel your speed the right way while combining it with Juliet's powers and you can totally take his bad boy down. Now, obviously your Girder is a moving target, except if Juliet holds him in place. So . . ."
Cisco grabbed a controller and moved some things, causing the metal robot to move.
"I have ice and bandages standing by," Caitlin added.
Cisco continued to move the robot. Barry then ducked under Girder's arm, starting to punch him in the side. The fight continued on and on with Barry punching him until Cisco caused Girder to punch Barry back. Barry then landed on the ground, clutching his shoulder and letting out a groan of pain.
"I'm pretty sure I just dislocated my shoulder," Barry revealed.
"Oh, love that," Juliet commented. She then walked up to him. "Come on."
Juliet helped him up carefully. She then walked him back into the cortex, setting him down on the bed where he had been last night. Caitlin took a quick x-ray, and sure enough, Barry's shoulder was definitely dislocated.
"Okay, not gonna lie, this is gonna be quick but extremely painful," Caitlin stated.
Barry's phone then rang, and he picked it up to see that it was Eddie. "Oh, speaking of pain." He answered the phone and put it on speaker so Juliet could also hear. "Eddie, hey."
"Allen, we found the stolen Humvee in the alley at Fremont and Lawrence," Eddie explained. "Need you and St. James down here to do your thing."
"Great. We'll see you in a sec." Barry then hung up the phone and laid back on the bed. "Okay, let's do this."
Juliet held her hand out to Barry. "Want me to hold your hand?"
Barry took it. "Yeah, kind of."
Caitlin then placed her hand on Barry's shoulder, prepared to pop it back into place. "So, Barry, when you said you and Juliet were off-duty last night, you weren't visiting Iris again, you know, in disguise? 'Cause that would be reckless and a little creepy."
Barry shook his head unconvincingly. "No."
Juliet blinked at him. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"Good," Caitlin responded before popping Barry's shoulder into place, making him let out a scream and squeeze Juliet's hand tightly.
Barry turned out to be fine. While he ran to the crime scene, Juliet teleported in a concealed spot. Barry ran up next to her, and the two of them walked to the crime scene together. Sure enough, there was the yellow Humvee that Tony had stolen.
"Allen, St. James, you two really need cars," Eddie told them.
"We usually managed on foot okay," Barry responded. "What do we got?"
"The rig Tony Woodward boosted last night. No sign of the stolen ATMs." Juliet then focused on the two metal barrels of alcohol in the trunk, which was open. "Probably got those where he's holed up, though he's gonna have one hell of a time breaking 'em open."
Juliet placed down her CSI case. "You'd be surprised."
"So, about you two and Iris—" Eddie began.
Barry shook his head. "Look, Eddie, we had a fight, and I just don't really feel comfortable talking about it with you. I'm sure J agrees."
Eddie crouched down next to them. "I get that, and I get that you three go way back. To be honest, I was a little threatened by you two at first."
"You were threatened by us?"
"Sure. I mean, I've seen how close you three are, but you seem like good people, and Iris, I just want her to be happy. From my experience, good friends are hard to find."
"Detective," a police officer interrupted. "Excuse me."
Juliet looked down at her case and started to pull on her gloves. She couldn't help but take Eddie's words to heart. Iris was the best friend she had ever had (well, besides Barry) and the two of them were like sisters. They basically were, considering how much time Juliet had spent at her house. Juliet decided that once this whole thing with Tony was over, she would go talk to Iris.
Eddie then came back to them. "So what do you think?"
Barry stood up. "Judging by the mud and kegs, I'd say he got hammered, stole a big-ass truck, and went joyriding. I bet the kegs are stolen, too. Rusty Iron Ale, it's a micro brewed right over in—"
"Keystone, I know the place. Let's check it out."
Juliet quickly picked up some gravel left on the floor of the car and placed it in a plastic bag. She then put the bag in her case and closed it up, following Eddie to the car.
After a very uneventful car ride, the three of them made it to Rusty Iron Ale in Keystone. They walked up to see multiple guys loading kegs in a truck. Juliet crossed her arms across her chest.
"Gentlemen, CCPD," Eddie stated, holding up his badge. "Any chance some of your merchandise was stolen last night?"
One of the guys shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
Eddie then pulled out a picture of Tony. "How about this guy? You seen him?"
Juliet looked up at the guy on the truck. He immediately looked away, making her tilt her head at him.
"His name's Tony," Juliet said, her gaze straight on the guy. "I bet you know him."
"Hey," Eddie called.
The guy then turned around. He immediately made a break for it. Eddie turned and ran after him.
"Allen, St. James, come on!" Eddie urged.
Juliet and Barry then followed after Eddie. She noticed the place where the guy had turned had a dead end with a little opening in the gate that he was probably thinking of going through. Juliet stopped for a moment and imagined the place in her mind. A tingling feeling spread throughout her body, and soon enough, she was there. The guy, Eddie, and Barry were all running towards her.
And before she knew it, the guy punched her straight across the face.
Juliet let out a shriek of pain and fell to the ground, clutching the side of her face where she was hit. It immediately became sore and she started to taste blood in her mouth. She looked up, still in shock, only to see Barry grab the guy by his shirt.
Barry slammed the guy against the wall, his face inches away from him. "You touch her again, I'll kill you. Got it?"
Eddie held out a hand to Juliet. "You all right, St. James?"
Juliet took it and let him help her up. "Yeah, I'm good. Nothing quite like getting punched in the face on a sunny afternoon."
"I didn't do nothing, man!" the guy protested.
"You just punched her in the face, what do you mean?" Barry demanded.
"And why'd you run?" Eddie questioned, slightly pushing Juliet behind his back just in case the guy decided to punch her again.
"Look, it was an accident!" the guy insisted.
"What was?"
"Tony falling, okay? But I swear to God, we didn't kill him!"
"Keep talking," Eddie said.
"About ten months ago, Keystone Ironworks. Boss is handing out pink slips. Tony gets his, and he just snapped. He started beating the crap out of the guy. We pulled him off, and then the lights went out. Some kind of power surge." Barry looked back for a second and locked eyes with Juliet. They both knew what it was. "And then Tony went over the railing right into a vat of molten scrap. Just gone."
Eddie then pulled out handcuffs, and Barry transferred the guy to Eddie. "Lucky for you, he's still alive."
"What?" the guy inquired, obviously shocked as he got handcuffed.
Eddie looked straight at Juliet, who was still holding her cheek. "How'd you get in front of us?"
"There was a shortcut," Juliet answered, it slightly hurting to talk.
Eddie then walked off towards the car to take the guy into custody. Barry watched after him for a moment before walking up to Juliet. He reached up and lowered her hand from her face. Barry then looked at her cheek himself.
"You okay?" Barry asked. "It's starting to bruise."
"Nothing a little powers can't fix," Juliet answered. She then reached up and touched her cheek, and the soreness and the blood in her mouth went away. "Hated that he did that, but I guess shit happens." Juliet exhaled as the two of them started to walk back to the car. "You and I both know what happened that night, don't you?"
"Unfortunately."
Eddie then drove them back to the CCPD, where they took the guy who had admitted what happened to Tony and punched Juliet back into custody. She was sitting at her desk while Barry took the sample of gravel she had taken to S.T.A.R. labs. Juliet was writing something about the case when her phone buzzed. She looked over to see she was getting a call from Iris, which made her really confused. Iris was quite stubborn, and she wouldn't have just talked to Juliet so out of the blue unless something was wrong.
"Hello?" Juliet began.
"Can you come to Jitters?" Iris inquired, her voice slightly shaky. "Please, Jules. I need to talk to you."
"Yeah, okay," Juliet answered, slightly frowning. "Is everything okay?"
"Not really."
"I'll be there in five."
Juliet hung up the phone. She grabbed her jacket and pulled it on as she left the lab. Juliet then left the CCPD as a whole and walked into the back alley. She looked around to make sure no one was there before teleporting out to the alley by Jitters. Juliet then walked into Jitters, only to find Iris standing there by the counter, evidently waiting for her.
"Oh, thank God," Iris breathed, walking up to Juliet and pulling her into a hug.
Juliet hugged her back, but she just became even more confused. "Hey. What's the matter?"
"I'm being stupid, that's what's the matter," Iris replied, squeezing her a little tighter. "I should've seen your point of view on the matter instead of being so inconsiderate. I've missed you so much. It's been hell not talking to you."
"And I should've seen how important everything about this is to you. I've also missed you." Juliet then pulled back and looked at Iris' face. "I love that we're apologizing right now, but you and I both know that's not the real reason you called me here."
Iris nodded. "Tony was here."
Juliet's eyes slightly widened. "What?"
"Yeah. He came in and told me he found my blog about the Streak and the Materializing Figure. Then he flirted with me, and when I went to call Eddie when he showed up on the TV, he broke my phone and then gave me a lot of money. And get this . . . his arm turned to metal. But after that I just really needed to see you."
"Well, are you okay? I can only imagine how scary that was."
"Yeah, I'm fine, but are you?" Iris countered. "I mean, he's back, Jules."
Juliet gave her a tight smile. "I will be fine once all of this is over." She then linked her arm with Iris'. "But you and I have a lot to catch up on."
And even though everything going on and all the painful memories that Tony brought with him, Juliet was just glad to have her best friend back. Now she just needed to add Barry into the mix.
〖 ϟ 〗
THANK GOD FOR JULIET !!!!!
also I added in that part about juliet and tony to make him even more of an asshole. sorry if it made anyone uncomfortable, but I hope the trigger warning helped <3
it def also gives an insight as to why barry is so protective of juliet UGH my babies I love them