⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
nothing but rage
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
OLIVER HAD TOLD Juliet and Barry to meet him back at that house at the edge of town. Juliet had no idea why they were going there. He didn't really give them much detail at all. All he really gave them was a time and a location.
Juliet teleported away from her apartment to the house at exactly the time they were supposed to meet. When she opened her eyes, she was standing outside the house. Barry wasn't there yet — typical — but Oliver and his motorcycle was. He held an arrow in his hands and looked over at her as she started to approach him.
"You know, it still blows my mind that you can just appear places," Oliver admitted as Juliet climbed up on the porch.
She shrugged. "Well, I guess that's what happens when you get combo'd by a red chemical and a lightning strike." Juliet looked around. "Why are we here?"
"You'll see," Oliver replied. "I may not be able to help you with the whole magic aspect—"
"I'm still not a wizard."
"—but you have a couple other things to learn."
Juliet then looked at the arrow in his hands. Smiling slightly to herself, she lifted her fingers up. The arrow lifted up out of her hands and into the air. Red energy traveled around it as well as traveling between her fingers. Juliet's smile grew as she started to make it slowly spin.
"Who needs an arrow when you have mind control?" Juliet asked. "Maybe I can do this instead of using energy blasts all the time."
"See, there's one thing we've already learned," Oliver voiced, staring up at the arrow in somewhat amazement. "You shouldn't rely on your powers for everything, Juliet."
Their conversation was cut short by a flash of yellow lightning running down the road and up to the house. Juliet glanced over once the lightning stopped to see Barry climbing up the steps onto the porch.
"Hey," Barry greeted. He then noticed the suspended arrow. "What are you doing?"
"Holding an arrow in the air, you?" Juliet responded casually.
"You're late," Oliver stated. "Barry, how can you have super speed and still not be on time?"
"Sorry, I guess the super tardiness kind of neutralizes it," Barry answered. "So how do we catch Bivolo here?"
"Oh, no, we don't here. We're here to train."
"Train?" Juliet repeated, raising an eyebrow as she removed her focus from the arrow and caught it in her hand. "Should we have like, studied, or . . ."
Oliver took the arrow back when Juliet outstretched it to him. "I read your friend Iris' blog post on the Flash and Scarlet, and I visited all the crime scenes you fought at."
"Don't you sleep?" Barry questioned.
"Last month, you two took on a man named Leonard Snart."
"We call him Captain Cold."
"We can talk about you giving your enemies silly code names later," Oliver said.
Juliet crossed her arms. "I'll make sure to do that when we get coffee with Deathstroke and the Huntress."
Oliver gave her an amused look, making Juliet grin before he continued. "The point is that you engaged Snart on a commuter train, which he derailed."
"Okay, there may have been some damage, but I got the job done, I was the hero," Barry insisted.
"We were heroes," Juliet corrected. "Yep, I was there, too."
Oliver turned to face Barry. "Barry, when you approach a new environment, do you case every inch of it? You could. You have the time. But you don't, and Juliet is left cleaning up all the pieces for you." The three of them then started to walk off the porch. "You just run in blind. There's a difference, Barry, between having powers and having precision."
"You're not giving Juliet this same speech?" Barry inquired.
"According to Iris' blog, Scarlet's always the one to fix things when they go wrong. So no, Juliet's not getting the same speech."
Barry shook his head. "When J and I came to you thinking about going out and helping people, you said we could be an inspiration."
Oliver picked his bow up off of his motorcycle. "Living this life, well, it takes more than a mask. It takes discipline. And since you are probably as stubborn as I am—"
Barry pointed to Oliver's bow. "What is this for?"
"You're going to run over there, you're going to come back at me, and you're going to get hit with an arrow."
Juliet blinked and looked at Oliver with wide eyes. "He's going to do what now?"
Barry laughed it off and shook his head. "No I'm not."
Oliver laughed with him for a moment before his face went straight. "Yes you are."
"Okay, fine. I will humor you."
Barry then ran over to the hill. Juliet glanced over at Oliver for a moment. She knew there was something else up with this. Her eyes trailed around her surroundings for a moment until they locked on two arrow launchers. Juliet's mind began to place the pieces together.
"Um, Oliver," Juliet began slowly. "Don't you think it's a little harsh to have Barry think he's in the clear and then have those shoot him out of nowhere?"
"No," Oliver replied. "And do not stop them with your mind."
"Oh, okay."
"Ready?" Barry called from the hill.
Oliver then drew his bowstring back, and arrow notched. "But good job noticing your surroundings."
"It's like you said, I'm picking up all the pieces," Juliet stated. She paused for a moment. "You know, now that I think about it, it's kind of been that way forever."
Oliver stared at Barry for a moment longer before shooting his arrow. Barry sped forwards in a flash of yellow lightning and caught it with ease.
"Nice try," Barry voiced.
Suddenly, the two arrow launchers fired, and the arrows embedded in Barry's back. Juliet flinched and watched as Barry cried out in pain.
"What, you shot me?" Barry demanded.
Oliver pulled the arrows out of Barry's back, making him cry out in pain again. "I heard you heal fast."
Barry pointed to Juliet in exasperation. "You're not gonna shoot her?"
"No, Barry." Oliver looked over his shoulder as he walked away. "Because she's actually aware of her surroundings and noticed the arrows, unlike you."
Juliet let out a small laugh and approached Barry. "Yeah, come on."
"This isn't fair," Barry complained. "He shoots me and you just get let off the hook."
"You'll be okay," Juliet reassured him. "With your speed healing, your back will be healed in, like, five minutes."
Barry straightened up, slightly wincing in pain. "Or maybe Oliver didn't shoot you for another reason."
Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Iris was right, J. He looks at you differently."
"Are you sure the arrows didn't mess with your head?"
"No, I'm being serious," Barry protested. However, Juliet couldn't help but detect some kind of . . . bitterness in his tone. "Oliver acts strange around you. I don't like it."
"Well, I may not know him that well, but he seems perfectly fine," Juliet responded, feeling herself get a little choked up from how tense the air was. "We should probably follow him."
They did a little more training, which was mostly just Oliver lecturing Barry about how even though him and Juliet were a team, he should also start to notice his surroundings. Juliet didn't really do much. She kind of just stood there and watched. It was then time for Juliet and Barry to head back to the CCPD. However, when they entered the precinct, they saw Eddie back in Captain Singh's office, the two of them clearly in some kind of argument.
"Hi, Joe," Juliet said, gaining his attention as her and Barry stopped in front of his desk. "What's going on?"
"Eddie's making his case for the task force again," Joe answered.
"But I thought the Captain shot him down already," Barry stated.
"Well, apparently, he's got a new argument. The Arrow made another appearance last night. And you two forgot to tell me that you got Bivolo's name from shooting that storage guy in the leg."
"Barry and I are not responsible for the Arrow's actions," Juliet voiced, the three of them walking into the lobby.
"Well, what word would you use to describe how you got this info?" Joe countered. "I'm gonna go with torture."
"I don't — the Arrow gets results," Barry said.
"He's a crazy man."
"Look, I don't actually disagree with you at the moment, and I'm sure J does too, but we wouldn't even have Bivolo's name if it weren't for the Arrow. So, maybe instead of judging him, you should just be thanking him."
Joe gave Barry a look. "Two things I won't be doing in this life — playing professional baseball, and thanking that lunatic."
Juliet frowned as Joe walked away. "Aw, he would be good as a professional baseball player." She then noticed the incredulous look Barry was giving her. "Oh, sorry."
The two forensic scientists went upstairs to their lab. Like before, Juliet could still feel a thick layer of tension surrounding her and Barry, and she didn't understand why. Maybe she was just stupid, but she couldn't figure out why he was acting so off with her.
After catching up on some work that they had, Juliet and Barry decided that they should probably go back to S.T.A.R. Labs. She quickly teleported there and ended up in the hallway. Barry sped in beside her and the two of them started to walk, not saying a word.
Felicity then ran up to them. "Hey."
Juliet grinned. "Hi, Felicity."
"How'd it go with Oliver?"
"You know, to be honest, not exactly the partnership I thought it would be," Barry admitted.
"Oh, did he really do the thing with the arrows?" Felicity asked.
Juliet nodded. "He did the thing with the arrows."
Barry's eyes widened and they stopped in the doorway of the cortex. "You both knew he was going to shoot me?"
"Woah, it is practically impossible to tell when Oliver's making a joke," Felicity responded.
"And I saw the arrow launchers," Juliet added. "He told me to not stop them, so . . ."
Barry stared at her. "You listened to him instead of using your powers to stop me from getting shot?"
Juliet blinked, clearly taken aback. "Woah, okay. It wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like, Juliet?"
"Why are you acting like this?"
"Hey, we just got a ping from the facial recognition software on Bivolo, AKA, Prism," Cisco announced, stopping their argument.
Caitlin turned around in her chair, looking confused. "Since when do we have facial recognition software?"
"Happy Hanukkah," Felicity said.
"Where can we find him?" Juliet questioned, looking at the computer screen to see a picture of a guy wearing glasses.
"Traffic cameras just caught him entering a residence at one-six-eight Jarvis."
"We should let The Arrow know," Felicity suggested.
"I can handle this solo, I've done it before," Barry insisted, walking over to his suit on the mannequin.
"Sorry, but what do you mean by solo?" Juliet demanded, rounding around the computers.
"By solo, I mean alone, which means you're not going," Barry explained, and Juliet scoffed. "I don't need your help, or his help, or anyone's. I can do this by myself."
"You're being stupid."
"Oh yeah? Watch."
Barry then sped into his suit and left the cortex in a flash of yellow lightning. Juliet stared at the door of the cortex in disbelief, moving the pieces of hair out of her face. What the fuck was this all about?
ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ
THE NEXT DAY, Juliet and Barry were back at S.T.A.R. Labs, like normal. However, the only difference this time was that Barry had claimed that he had looked into Bivolo's eyes last night, and it had stunned him momentarily, causing Bivolo to get away. Juliet watched as Caitlin did a scan on Barry in the medbay, leaning against the wall casually.
"No signs of macular damage," Caitlin revealed. "Your retina and cornea seem unaffected."
"I told you, I'm fine," Barry stated.
Felicity walked over to him. "You said Bivolo whammied you. No desire to go MMA on any of us?"
Barry shook his head in response. "No. Yeah, I mean, something weird happened with his eyes for a sec."
"Weird thing?" Caitlin questioned.
"Yeah, everything went red."
"You were right," Felicity told Caitlin.
"Okay, next thing you know, Bivolo was gone," Barry continued, brushing past Juliet as he he entered the main part of the cortex. "Look, obviously his powers didn't work on me, so."
"It was stupid for you to go out there alone, you take too many risks," Caitlin argued. "As fast as you are, that's gonna catch up with you. You should've at least had Juliet with you."
Barry turned around and stared at Caitlin. "Caitlin, I'm not Ronnie. You got to stop treating me like I am."
Juliet's eyes widened. Oh, there was no way he just said that.
"You're right," Caitlin agreed, her voice choked up. "You're not."
Caitlin then walked out of the room. Juliet stared at Barry in disbelief, crossing her arms across her chest.
Barry's eyes flickered between the gazes of Juliet and Felicity. "What?"
"You are such a loveable dummy," Felicity responded.
"Not so much loveable right now," Juliet muttered, rolling her eyes."
Suddenly, Juliet felt her phone buzz. She took it out of her pocket and saw that it was a text from Oliver.
"It's Oliver," Barry announced, obviously getting the same text. "He wants to have another session."
"I'm sure he's not going to shoot you again," Felicity voiced. She then paused. "Maybe you should wear body armor."
Juliet closed her eyes and teleported to the house. She opened her eyes to see herself standing at that same abandoned house. Oliver was standing on the porch next to her, and Juliet gave him a fleeting smile before it disappeared, because Barry was further into the house.
"Thinking of new ways to embarrass me?" Barry inquired.
"I'm not trying to embarrass you, Barry," Oliver replied as he turned around. "But you went after Bivolo last night alone and you lost him."
Barry scoffed at that. "And you've never had a misstep?"
"'Course I've had missteps." Oliver gestured for Juliet to follow him, and the two of them walked further into the house. "Barry, I have been living this life for almost eight years, encountering things that you can't even fathom, and I am still alive. Not because super speed or magic—"
"When are you going to stop thinking I'm a wizard?" Juliet interrupted.
"—kept me out of the ground. It was because I realized that I needed to keep learning, keep training, keep getting smarter, and until you get that, despite your best intentions, you will do more harm than good."
Barry shook his head. "I finally see it. You're a little bit jealous of me, aren't you?"
Juliet's eyebrows raised in disbelief. Holy shit, what was he going on about?
"A guy like you — handsome, rich, can have any girl he wants — jealousy's probably a new emotion for you, so you might be a little slow to get what it is that you're feeling."
"That's your theory?" Oliver asked, even though he knew it wasn't true.
"Absolutely," Barry said confidently, getting in Oliver's face. "So you can train, lift weights, climb that stupid barn till your heart explodes, but you'll never be as fast as I am. You'll never be what I am. And that's got to hurt your rock hard pride, Ollie."
Oliver stood still as Barry walked away. "I told Felicity you didn't want my help."
"Yeah. You're finally right about something."
"Okay, Barry, you're acting like a bitch," Juliet told him. "I don't know who planted all these irrational thoughts in your head, but you need to stop."
Barry rounded on her, and Juliet's breath slightly hitched in her throat — he looked scary, which is something that she never thought she would see. "I'm acting irrational? Says you, the one who listened to a guy she just met and let her best friend get hurt. Pretty sure that makes you the world's worst best friend."
Juliet froze, her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach. "You don't mean that."
He stared straight into her eyes. "I do."
Barry then sped off. Juliet stood there in shock, tears burning at the back of her eyes. Had she really done the wrong thing? But never in her life would Barry call her the world's worst best friend — that was taking it too far.
"Juliet," Oliver began, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"He's going to snap," Juliet stated, pushing down her emotions for now. "We're supposed to be getting back to work, and he's going to snap, and it's not going to be good. I have to go."
"It's not fair to you that you have to keep cleaning up Barry's messes, Jules."
Juliet looked over at him, her stomach churning at the use of the nickname, and she gave him a sad smile. "World's worst best friend coming to save the day."
She didn't give him a chance to reply and teleported out of there. Juliet found herself in a secluded corner of the CCPD up on the right floor and entered the lobby. Her eyes widened upon seeing that Barry was clearly snapping at Captain Singh. She rushed over to them, catching Joe's eye and waving him over.
"Sorry, Captain," Juliet voiced, giving Barry a look as he rolled his eyes at her. "He's . . . had a rough few hours."
"You remind him who answers to who," Captain Singh ordered before walking off.
Joe stared at Barry incredulously. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I'm so sick of Singh talking to me like that," Barry admitted.
He then punched the wall, which was a very un-Barry thing to do. Juliet and Joe shared a look of concern."
"He's still our boss," Joe protested. "Now I know you're upset about losing Bivolo—"
"Wait, wait . . . you're just like him," Barry responded, walking up to Joe, who slightly pushed Juliet behind his back. "Like Wells, and Oliver, and everyone else my whole life that didn't think I could get the job done. Do you want to help me, Joe? Do you want to help me? Get my dad out of prison. You helped put him there, didn't you?"
Juliet stared up at Barry, her gaze fierce yet gentle at the same time. "I don't care if you think I'm the world's worst best friend right now or not. But you have to listen to me. We have to get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. I can even teleport us, it'll be quick."
However, Barry was staring at something else. Juliet followed his gaze to see him staring at Iris and Eddie. That's when he snapped. Barry walked straight up to Juliet and bent down a bit so that they were eye-to-eye. She pushed down her nerves and kept their gazes together. For a split second, his muscles seemed to relax, but they tensed once more. Barry placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed them, making Juliet stumble back into Joe. Joe caught her and helped her straighten up.
"I'm calm!" Barry shouted. "Okay? When I'm not calm, you'll know."
Before Barry marched away rom them, his eyes glowed red. Juliet watched him leave. She knew exactly what had happened. Letting out a deep breath, she looked up at Joe, who nodded to her. Juliet took Joe's hand and hid behind the wall before teleporting them away back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Barry said he's fine, but he's not," Juliet announced to everyone as she entered the cortex. "He was whammied. The person that I just talked to was not my Barry Allen. Barry isn't usually angry, but he was now. His eyes glowed red before he left to God knows where."
"It's possible that his body is fighting off the effect, so it's hitting him slower," Caitlin explained.
"When it comes to rage, that is not a good thing," Dr. Wells added. "The longer you suppress your emotions—"
"The bigger the explosion," Felicity finished.
"Considering what he can do, how do we even stop him?" Joe questioned.
"A cold gun would come in real handy right about now," Cisco admitted.
"Hey."
"I'm just saying."
"None of us can stop Barry besides Juliet, and even though her powers are strong, an angry Flash wouldn't be good to face alone," Dr. Wells began. "Fortunately, Felicity knows someone who can help her. I think you better call back Oliver Queen. We're gonna need The Arrow's help."
Juliet froze and she stared at Dr. Wells incredulously. There was no way . . . how did he know? None of them had slipped up. She knew that Dr. Wells was extremely intelligent, but this seemed weird.
Felicity stood there, dumbfounded, as all of them (besides Juliet and Dr. Wells) looked at her in shock from the revelation. Nevertheless, Felicity did what she was told and called Oliver before calling Diggle. It wasn't long before Diggle arrived, and Juliet gave him a small wave. They explained the situation to him, but Cisco was stuck on one thing.
"Ooh, see I knew the Arrow was Oliver Queen," Cisco rambled, walking up to Diggle excitedly. "I mean, I had it narrowed down to, like, a list of a hundred and fifty people, but he was definitely on that list."
Diggle gave him a look but moved past it, looking at Dr. Wells. "Do you have a way to stop Barry's rage fest?"
"I have an idea about how to do that," Dr. Wells revealed. "Joe, we're gonna need your help."
"We need to find him first before he hurts somebody," Joe stated.
"I have him," Felicity announced. Juliet looked up at the screen to see Eddie on the ground, Barry standing up and approaching him. "Facial recognition picked him up on a traffic camera downtown. Oh God."
"Eddie," Juliet breathed out. "This is not going to be good. I've got to go."
"Oliver will meet you there," Diggle instructed.
Juliet quickly teleported into her suit before teleporting to the scene. She was on the sidewalk, watching everything unfold. Eddie was still on the ground, Barry was yelling at him, and Iris was standing there, watching the entire thing.
Eddie then got up and charged straight for Barry. Barry merely sped forwards, picked him up, and threw him back on the ground.
"Eddie!" Iris yelled.
"Who the hell are you, huh?" Barry demanded, his vocal cords vibrating. "You think you can just come along and get to have whatever you want? What gives you the right?"
Juliet teleported in front of Eddie, who was starting to crawl away. She made sure to blur her face and vibrate her vocal cords as well with her powers so Eddie and Iris wouldn't recognize her.
"Flash, you need to stop," Juliet told him.
Barry advanced on her, and even though he was taller than her and Juliet had to look up, she still stood her ground. "I feel fine, Scarlet. Now go disappear."
Juliet noticed the way his eyes glowed red again. "You do not feel fine. And I'm not going to leave you alone."
The two were now very close to each other. Juliet felt her heart beat against her chest — whether it be from fear or from Barry himself, she didn't know. She guessed fear, because this was not Barry Allen.
Barry's eyes glowed red once more. He lifted up his hands again, ready to push her back, but Juliet was faster for once. She held out her hand to him, focusing all of her concentration onto him. Red energy traveled up and down her arms as she held him in place, as well as around Barry. He tried to glare at her, but since he couldn't move his head, it didn't really work.
Juliet kept her gaze on him as she slowly backed up. She didn't want to hurt him, not one bit. Juliet never liked it when her and Barry fought. But right now, this wasn't him. So Juliet switched hands on which one had the concentration, and with the free one, she punched him right across the face. Juliet let go of her concentration on him and breathed heavily as she watched him fall to the ground from it. Ropes then tied around Barry, and Juliet glanced over to see Oliver standing there with his bow.
"Run," Oliver demanded.
"Eddie, run!" Iris shouted, and Eddie scrambled up off the ground before following her.
"You need to calm down," Oliver stated.
Barry smirked and tilted his head a bit. "And you need to hold on."
Before Juliet could do anything, Barry held onto the string and ran off. Oliver was still at the other end, being dragged. Juliet followed the trail of lightning to see Barry take Oliver to an alley. He spun around, making Oliver spin around on the ground. Juliet teleported next to Oliver, glancing down at him in concern for a moment.
Oliver lifted up his bow and shot an arrow at Barry. However, Barry just dodged it with his super speed.
"You missed," Barry commented.
Oliver shook his head. "No."
The arrows then exploded. Juliet's eyes widened and she slightly jumped. Barry got thrown forwards with a yell and crashed onto the ground. Barry stayed face-down for a second, and Oliver looked up, gesturing Juliet to come with him. The two maneuvered around Barry so they were behind them. Barry then stood up, and Oliver shot Barry in the back. He cried out in pain.
"Two thousand milligrams of horse tranquilizer," Oliver voiced. "Should be hitting you any time now."
Barry fell to his knees, but he ripped the arrow from his back and started to vibrate, making all the tranquilizer pass through his system easily.
Juliet pointed to him. "Didn't think about that. You know what, that's on me for not telling you he could do that."
Barry turned back around. Juliet felt herself get nervous from the angry look in his eye. She held up her hands, ready for him. Barry then sped forwards, and in a flash of yellow lightning, he ran around her and Oliver in a circle. Juliet put up a forcefield around them with energy, her mind slightly spinning, but she ignored it.
Oliver then aimed his bow up and shot an arrow to the top of a building. He then harnessed himself up, leaving Juliet at the bottom.
"Where are you going?" Barry demanded. He completely ignored Juliet and ran up the side of the building.
He said something else that Juliet couldn't quite hear before removing the arrow, making Oliver start to fall. Juliet quickly lifted up her hands and focused everything she had on Oliver. He suspended in midair for a moment before Juliet lowered him back onto his feet gently.
Oliver looked over at her. "Thanks."
Barry then sped back down, looking between the two. "Is that all you got?"
Juliet's eyes narrowed. "You've seen what I can do."
She immediately summoned a red ball of energy in her hand and threw it at him. Barry only dodged it with his super speed before running at Oliver. Oliver started to try and hit Barry, but because of his super speed, he didn't get a single punch.
Juliet then decided to try something she had never done before. But right now, she had no ideas, and this was the most plausible option. If she had enough energy in her hands, who said that she couldn't suspend herself?
She summoned two balls of red energy in both hands. However, instead of throwing them, she focused her hands to the ground. Her palms glowed red and slowly, but surely, she felt her feet leave the ground. Juliet slightly smiled to herself before focusing on Barry.
Juliet caused him to stop running, and even though it took a lot of her concentration to do that, she did. Barry froze in place, and Juliet willed herself to move forward fast. She extended her leg and kicked him in the shoulder, sending him flying backwards. Barry crashed into the ground while Juliet lowered herself to the ground, watching him.
Before she knew it, Barry sped up from the ground and stopped right in front of her. Juliet barely had time to blink before Barry raised his fist and punched her right across the face. She shrieked at the sudden pain and fell on her back on the ground. Juliet let out a groan from the impact and raised her head, only to see Oliver getting punched by the flash of yellow lightning that was Barry until ultimately, he hit the ground next to Juliet.
Oliver then hit a button from somewhere on his suit. Two arrows came flying from arrow launchers.
Barry turned and caught them. "Fool me once."
Oliver then threw an arrow from his hand to Barry. It impaled him straight in his calf, making Barry fall to his knees while crying out in pain. Oliver got up from the ground and extended a hand out to Juliet. She took it and got up. The two of them watched as Barry pulled the arrow out and also got up. He glared at Juliet and Oliver, still breathing heavily from pain.
"This isn't you," Juliet said softly. "Barry, wake up. We still believe in you."
Barry's eyes glowed red again. No super speed this time, Barry walked up with his fist raised and went to punch Juliet. However, Oliver maneuvered himself to stand in front of her and caught Barry's punch in the palm of his hand. Oliver quickly punched Barry before spinning around, holding him back in a chokehold.
The S.T.A.R. Labs van then came and skidded to a stop, the side of it facing them. A door opened and bright lights began to blink in a certain pattern of certain colors. Juliet squinted at the sudden lights and averted her gaze. She looked over at Barry and Oliver. Oliver was no longer holding Barry while Barry seemed to be in some kind of trance while staring at the lights. He snapped out of it before doubling over, holding his hands over his eyes and groaning.
"Barry, you okay?" Oliver inquired.
He faced them. "Oh, this is going to be a special kind of hangover."
Juliet let out the tiniest laugh. Yep, her Barry was definitely back. Barry's attention immediately went to her, and his eyes turned sad at her swelled cheek, which was already starting to bruise. He stumbled over to her and lifted up his hand, touching it lightly. Juliet slightly flinched at the pain.
"I did this to you," Barry whispered.
Juliet shook her head. "It's okay, Barry. You weren't in your right mind." She then reached up and touched her cheek, making her skin glow red before it healed itself. "I heal fast too, remember?"
Oliver blinked at her. "You can heal yourself? Oh my God."
Juliet put her arms around Barry's waist while Oliver put his around his shoulder. The two assisted him in going over to the van as he limped.
"Oliver, Juliet, I'm so sorry," Barry voiced.
"It's not your fault," Oliver replied. "But we do still have your Metahuman to take care of. Anything left in the tank for either of you?"
"Well, if not, there's three of us, right?"
Oliver smiled slightly. "Right."
As a trio, the three of them successfully caught Bivolo with the help from both Team Flash and Team Arrow without getting whammied. They brought him back to S.T.A.R. Labs, placing him a containment cell in the pipeline. All of them watched — Juliet, Barry, and Oliver back in their normal clothes now — as Bivolo started to complain.
"You think this will stop me?" Bivolo demanded, turning around to face them with his eyes glowing red. "I will make you tear each other to pieces! You will all die screaming with rage!"
"Blah, blah, blah, no prison can hold me, heard it all before, pal," Cisco spoke over him, walking away as the Particle Accelerator door closed. "Adios, Prism."
"I liked Rainbow Raider," Caitlin admitted.
"Okay, you don't get to pick the names."
"I have a prison like this," Oliver stated, looking around the pipeline. "Mine's on a nearly inhospitable island in the north China Sea, but this works too."
Juliet followed after him, raising an eyebrow. "You sound so casual about that. What's the island called?"
"Lian Yu."
"Oh, that's where you got stuck, right? Barry told me some things about your past . . . not everything, but some."
"Yeah, that's where I got stuck," Oliver answered. "I was there for five years. Learned a lot of survival stuff, but one thing that I didn't learn was—" He glanced over at her, amusement swimming in his eyes "—magic."
"Are you ever going to give it up?" Juliet responded, letting out a small laugh as they entered the cortex. "I told you, I'm an ordinary girl who can do extraordinary things. It's all energy, I'm telling you."
"I'm going to keep calling it magic."
"You do you, Ollie."
The nickname was said so easily that Juliet didn't even catch that she said it. She walked over to Felicity happily to engage in another conversation, completely missing the way Oliver stared after her, watching her curiously, wondering why such a simple nickname from somebody else other than Thea felt so right.
"My identity is a closely guarded secret known only to a few, and if it were to get out, will endanger my family, my friends, and it would embolden my enemies to retaliate at me through them," Oliver explained to Team Flash as a whole once everyone was gathered.
"What Oliver is trying to say is that he had a lovely time working with you and getting to know each of you, and he can't wait to do it again soon," Felicity translated
Oliver nodded. "Right."
"You know, it didn't sound like that's what he was saying," Cisco said.
Joe approached Oliver. "I may not agree with your methods, but thank you."
Oliver shook his hand. "You're welcome."
Juliet gasped quietly and looked up at Barry. "He said it."
Barry looked down at her, grinning. "Now we just have to get him to play professional baseball."
"That might take some convincing, though."
Felicity then walked up to Caitlin. "Hey, if I had a DNA sample I was unable to fully break down, do you think you could isolate the genetic markers for me?"
"Sure, what's the sample from?" Caitlin questioned.
"The Canary's murder."
Oliver looked down at the ground. Juliet slightly frowned. She didn't know much about Team Arrow, but it was evident that the Canary was important to him.
"Of course," Caitlin agreed sympathetically.
The two of them hugged for a moment. Juliet grinned at them momentarily.
Dr. Wells wheeled up to Oliver. "Mr. Queen, I met your father once. Charity event. One of the things we spoke of was you. I think he would be very proud of the man you've become."
"Thank you," Oliver responded before shaking his hand. "And please, call me Oliver."
After talking for another couple of minutes, it was time for Team Arrow to leave. Juliet gave tight hugs to both Felicity and Diggle, promising to keep in touch. She had just let go of Felicity with a bright smile before she heard someone call her name.
"Juliet," Oliver began, making her look at him. "Could I talk to you for a quick moment?"
"Sure," Juliet agreed, and the two walked to the entrance to the medbay, away from the others. "What's up?"
Oliver gave her a curious look. "Since when could you levitate?"
"I honestly didn't know I could do that. Literally, it was just a spur of the moment thing. I often find myself learning more about my powers when I'm in high-stress situations."
"Well, you're a great superhero, Juliet," Oliver told her, and Juliet knew he meant it. "I still think you shouldn't rely on your powers for everything, but for right now, you might be the most powerful person on the planet, so . . ."
"Yeah?" Juliet inquired. "More powerful than you, Mr. I-Survived-Five-Years-On-A-Deserted-Island?"
"I'm not downplaying my skills, but you can mind control people, and I just shoot them with arrows."
"Well, if you ever need any wizardry in your life, I'm your girl," Juliet voiced, laughing slightly.
Oliver gave her a small smile. "I may not need any wizardry, but I could use a little Juliet St. James."
Juliet stared at him for a moment, a grin spreading across her lips. "And I could use a little Oliver Queen." She looked up at him for a moment longer. "Bye, Oliver."
"Bye, Juliet."
She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as she watched him leave. Her heart started to beat against her chest and her stomach fluttered, like it always did around Barry Allen. But it wasn't from Barry Allen this time, and Juliet kind of liked that she felt that way around Oliver Queen.
〖 ϟ 〗
I finished this chapter . . . this morning. HEHE
omg the next chapter is that random episode of arrow where team flash goes to starling I'M EXCITED