⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
mind control versus mind control
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
EDDIE WAS TRULY missing.
No matter how hard Juliet and Barry searched, they literally could not find him at all. Which was hard to do, since they could appear anywhere in a matter of seconds. Dr. Wells must've taken him somewhere incredibly hidden.
Juliet stood with Barry and Joe in the precinct the next day. She held a folder in her hand, and the two were going over some evidence. There had been a lot of robberies lately, ones that they couldn't seem to figure out anything about.
"Where is Thawne?" Captain Singh asked, walking out of his office.
"He took some personal time," Joe answered.
"Yeah, uh, Eddie's been going through some stuff, Captain," Barry added.
"Yeah, aren't we all?" Captain Singh argued, and Juliet slightly shrugged. Fair enough. "You got anything on these gold store robberies? Perps hit up two more in the last week, and we still got nothing."
"We're working on it," Joe replied.
Juliet nodded in agreement. "We have some tests running up in the lab, and we're just waiting on the final results."
"All right, well, pick up the pace," Captain Singh said. "And see if somebody can contact the Flash and Scarlet. Maybe they can help speed things up, or materialize things out of thin air. You know what I mean. Get going."
Joe turned to the two when Captain Singh walked away. "Anything?"
"No," Barry responded. "I mean, we've looked everywhere."
Joe sighed. "Keep looking."
"Of course, yeah."
The two went back up to their lab and finished up some work. They had to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs, which, honestly, seemed kind of in disarray now that Dr. Wells was gone, even as much as Juliet hated to admit it. She let out a deep breath as she pulled her coat on, stopping next to Barry's desk.
"Hey," Iris greeted, and Juliet looked up to see her walking fast into the lab.
"Hey," Barry stated. "Uh, J and I are heading out right now. What's up?"
"Something happened. And I'm not supposed to say anything, but I couldn't keep quiet."
Juliet shared a quick glance with Barry, her heart slightly sinking. "What's up?"
"The Man in Yellow, he took Eddie right in front of me," Iris revealed, and although Juliet already knew, it still broke her heart nonetheless.
She widened her eyes, pretending to be shocked, and reached out a hand. "'Ris, oh my God."
Iris, however, moved away from her hand, making Juliet blink in shock.
"Are you okay?" Barry questioned.
"No, no," Iris protested. "Not at all."
"No, I—"
"Scarlet was there. She told me to go home and not to talk to anyone because her and Flash would fix it, but they haven't. I think the police should be out there searching for Eddie."
Barry shook his head and took Juliet's head, walking them over to the lockers in their lab. "No, Iris—"
"My dad needs to know the truth," Iris insisted.
"Maybe Scarlet was right about this one," Juliet stated quietly, even though her mind was screaming at her. "You know what he's done. Joe and the cops are no match against him. All that would happen is that they would get hurt."
Iris walked up to the two of them. "So you think the Flash and Scarlet are out there, right now, searching for Eddie?"
"I'm sure they're doing everything they can to find him," Barry replied.
Iris did nothing but stare at them in disbelief, which made Juliet's heart clench. "Yeah, well, I'm finding it pretty hard to trust the Flash and Scarlet right now."
Juliet tried not to let hurt flash across her face. Iris didn't trust them, didn't trust her?
"Then trust us," Juliet voiced, almost pleading. "Look, 'Ris, this whole situation . . . it's fucked, and I'm so sorry. But everything is going to be okay, I promise." She tugged on Barry's hand a little. "We have to go, but we'll see you later, yeah? Call us if you need anything. Love you."
Juliet and Barry then walked out of the lab. The two went back to S.T.A.R. Labs, heading over to the cortex. Cisco was sitting at the computer desk.
"Hey," Barry began, reaching his free hand up to touch the wall above the entrance.
Juliet shook her head. "You're such a boy." Her eyebrows then knit in confusion at the sight of all the cameras her and Barry had taken after they saw Dr. Wells had been watching them. "No way you're keeping all of those cameras that Wells spied on us with. Little creepy, Cisco."
"First rule of mechanical engineering, JJ," Cisco stated. "Never waste good tech." The computer then beeped, and Cisco rolled over to look at it. "Central City Gold Reserve's under attack."
"Gold?" Barry repeated, looking down at Juliet. "That's the case Singh wants us on." He glanced back to Cisco. "We'll be right back."
They let go of each other's hand and got into their suit. Juliet immediately teleported to where the robbery was, only to see one guy wearing armor and a gold helmet with a machine gun firing at the officers with smoke everywhere. She landed right in front of the attacker, and Barry sped in right next to her.
"You picked a bad day for this, pal," Barry told him.
Juliet went to walk towards him. However, as she did so, multiple images started to flash through her mind. A laboratory. Blinding lights. A syringe. Someone in an army uniform standing over her. A high-pitched ringing echoed throughout her mind and she clutched the sides of her head in pain, slightly stumbling backwards.
A doctor in scrubs. Syringe again. A growl. Sticking the syringe in skin.
Juliet sunk to her knees, her head throbbing and spiking with pain. Her entire body filled with horror and fear, and she had to resist the urge to scream from it. She wanted it to end, she wanted it to end, but no matter how hard she tried to stop it, it kept on going.
Doctor again. Syringe again. Blinding lights again.
Juliet breathed heavily, her chest heaving up and down. She pressed her hands onto the concrete and looked up, blinking the haze from pain out of her eyes. The attacker was hunched over, moving himself around like some sort of . . . monkey. At once, he straightened up and ran away.
Barry looked over at her, also on the ground, apparently affected the same way she was. "What was that?"
"No fucking clue," Juliet answered.
Once they regained some of their strength, they went back to S.T.A.R. Labs and told Caitlin and Cisco what happened. The two of them sat next to each other on the bed in the medbay, their masks completely off while Caitlin checked their vitals and everything. She shone a small flashlight into two of their eyes.
"Both of your eye movements are normal," Caitlin explained. "No signs of neurological damage."
"Do you think the thief might have been a Metahuman who put the whammy on you or something?" Cisco inquired.
"Look, I — I don't know," Barry replied. "When Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger."
Juliet winced. "Bad times."
"But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear."
"Hmm," Cisco commented, pulling the security footage from the whole thing up on the computer. "Looks like when you two went down, the thief got disoriented too."
"Maybe all three of us got whammied," Juliet suggested.
"Then you know how it feels," a very familiar voice then cut in.
Juliet's eyes widened, and her head snapped over to the main part of the cortex. Standing there was none other than Iris West, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket and a stone-cold look on her face. Juliet felt her veins fill with ice as she stood up, her mouth slightly dropping in shock. She glanced over at Barry momentarily, and the two them shared a panicked look.
Well, fuck.
Iris walked up to the medbay. "Hi, Barry. Hi, Juliet. Or should I say the Flash and Scarlet?"
Juliet didn't say anything. She snapped herself out of it for a second, tapping on Barry's arm to get her to follow her. Juliet then walked up to Iris and took her forearm, not even sparing a glance at her face, because it would hurt too much. She took Iris into the treadmill room, where Iris immediately took her arm out of Juliet's grasp and walked to sit on the treadmill. Juliet threaded her fingers through her hair and slightly pushed it back, pacing around slightly.
This was not good. This was really not good.
"I — wait, how did you find out?" Barry asked.
"When Scarlet touched my arm the other night, I saw a ring on her finger, the very same one that Juliet has," Iris said. She held up her hand, pointing at the own ring on her finger. "The matching ones you gave me for Christmas, the ones we never take off."
"But I never—" Juliet began, her mind spinning. "No, it's always covered by my glove. I always make sure that it is."
"It wasn't. I saw the Sagittarius symbol. It wasn't hard to figure out Barry was the Flash, either. The Flash and Scarlet are always together, and so are you two." She let out a small, humorless laugh. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner."
"You're angry," Juliet voiced, letting her hand drop, her hair spilling back down. She stopped in her tracks. "I can tell."
"I'm not angry, Juliet," Iris protested. "I'm just disappointed."
She flinched. "That's arguably worse."
"Does Eddie know?"
"Yes, he does," Barry answered after a moment of hesitation.
"Is that why he got kidnapped?" Iris continued.
"No, we don't know why Wells took Eddie. I—"
"Dr. Wells is the Man in Yellow?"
Juliet sighed. "Shit's crazy, 'Ris."
"Everything he's been doing, helping us . . . it was all a lie," Barry admitted. "Wells killed my mom."
Iris' eyes immediately filled with tears. "Is he gonna kill Eddie?"
"Absolutely not," Juliet insisted. "Barry and I are going to get Eddie back, I promise you."
"Yeah, Scarlet said the same thing."
"Scarlet's trying her best!" Juliet exclaimed, placing her hands on either side of her face and letting out a deep breath. "Okay. Iris, you have to believe us. There is an innumerable about of times that I wanted to tell you about all of this. Like, a minimum of five times a day. I wanted to tell you right away because you are the first person I go to for everything, but then everything got so fucked, and then Joe—"
"Wait, wait, wait," Iris interrupted. "You're telling me that my dad knew and he told you two not to tell me?"
"He was trying to protect you," Barry protested. "All of us were."
Iris glanced in between them. "Yeah, well, maybe it's time you three stopped."
She then stood up, brushing past the two and walking right out of the treadmill room, and probably out of S.T.A.R. Labs altogether. Juliet watched her go, her heart sinking all the way to her stomach and her mind spinning impossibly fast.
Juliet stumbled forwards, setting herself down on the treadmill. She tucked her knees into her chest, setting her chin down on them and wrapping her arms around her legs. Barry sat down next to her, putting an arm around her and tugging her in close. Her head rested against his chest, and he leaned down, pressing a kiss to the top of it.
This was never meant to happen. She didn't want it to happen like this.
ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ
JULIET'S MIND WAS still reeling from the events of yesterday. Iris hadn't talked to neither her or Barry — understandable, but still hurt like hell.
However, even in the events of a crisis like this, duty still called. Juliet and Barry walked into S.T.A.R. Labs, heading straight for the cortex with Caitlin and Cisco trailing after them.
"J and I just got a call from Joe," Barry explained. "The Central City Gold Reserve is about to transport three-hundred million dollars in gold bars to their Coast City vault. Singh told Joe they think the man in the mask is gonna make a play for it."
"Okay, but we still don't know if he's responsible for those weird images you two saw," Caitlin argued.
"How are they transporting the gold?" Cisco questioned.
It was hilarious, actually. They were transporting their gold in an ice cream truck so it wouldn't be as suspicious. Cisco was tracking the truck on the computer while Juliet and Barry were in their suits, following the truck from a safe distance.
"Woah, the truck just got hit by a land mine," Cisco revealed over the comms.
"Is Joe okay?" Barry inquired.
"We don't know yet," Caitlin replied.
Juliet immediately teleported to the location, and Barry sped in next to her. She saw the man in the mask advancing on Joe, both of them holding guns. Juliet immediately held her hand out, focusing in on the man in the mask. Red energy traveled up and down her arm and it surrounded the man as well. He immediately froze, and Juliet swept her hand to the side, causing the man to go flying into the ice cream truck. He crumpled onto his back, clearly unconscious.
She walked up to Joe. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, you?" Joe asked.
"I just didn't want you to have to shoot him a second time." Juliet looked down at the man by her feet. "And my day is going horribly. I'm upset."
"So is this guy. Let's see what Goldfinger has to say for himself."
Joe bent down and took the mask off of the man. However, who it was made Juliet's eyes practically bulge out of her head. She remembered it all — Bette, having spikes fly into her, the kidnap of Firestorm.
"General Eiling?" Barry questioned in shock.
They took him back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet and Barry had gotten out of their suits, and they stood in the pipeline with Caitlin and Joe. Her arms were crossed across her chest and Barry's hand was resting on her lower back. All of them were just staring at Eiling, who was awake now, but he was standing completely still in his cell, looking blankly ahead, not saying a word.
"What is wrong with him?" Barry inquired.
Juliet tilted her head. "It's like there's nothing going on in his brain. Like, his head is literally empty."
"I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder," Caitlin said.
"Which should hurt like hell," Joe added.
"And it didn't even seem like he felt it. I did a complete body scan, and otherwise, General Eiling is perfectly healthy."
"So why is he just standing there like a robot?" Joe asked.
"I just got off the phone with A.R.G.U.S.," Cisco announced, walking into the pipeline. "Officially, Eiling is on administrative leave."
"Unofficially?"
"I spoke with Diggle's wife, Lyla, and she said Eiling's been missing for the past three months and A.R.G.U.S. is covering up for it."
"Makes sense," Barry commented, looking back at Eiling in his cell. "Last time J and I saw the general was when the two of us and Ronnie broke Professor Stein out of that military facility. I'm sure they're covering that up too."
"So where has he been since then?" Joe questioned. He walked closer to the cell a little. "General Eiling, why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?"
No answer.
"Maybe he's in some kind of a trance?" Caitlin suggested.
"General, do you remember me?" Barry inquired. He then looked down at Juliet for a moment. "Or her?"
Eiling's eyes turned to them. "Flash. Scarlet."
Juliet's eyes widened. Wait, what? Eiling should not have known their secret identities.
"Woah, how does he know you two are the Flash and Scarlet?" Joe asked.
"Not sure," Juliet answered. "General—"
"Eiling not here," Eiling said, his voice deep and slow. "Eiling bad."
"Maybe it's some kind of psychotic break presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder," Caitlin voiced.
"Caitlin."
Everybody stopped. Juliet blinked in confusion and looked at Caitlin, who was evidently shocked to hear that.
"Caitlin good," Eiling continued.
"Oh, uh, thank you?" Caitlin responded.
"Mm, forget multiple personalities," Cisco interjected. "You guys have seen The Exorcist, right?"
Joe stared at him. "You and your movies." He looked back at Juliet and Barry. "Keep talking to him. He seems to respond to you two."
"Uh, why is Eiling bad?" Barry questioned.
"Eiling hurt me," Eiling admitted in that same growling voice. "I hurt Eiling."
Juliet blinked, because what the fuck was going on? "Who are you if you're not Eiling, then?"
"I . . . am . . . Grodd. Fear . . . me."
Juliet looked up, sharing a look with Barry. They slowly turned back to Cisco and Caitlin, who looked shocked and panicked.
"What is a Grodd?" Barry inquired.
They took them back upstairs and put on a video. It showed of a full cage with the name tag GRODD, and Juliet vaguely recalled a broken cage that said GRODD on it, back when her and Barry had woken up and Dr. Wells had showed them the destroyed part of the Particle Accelerator. Inside of the cage was a gorilla, and Caitlin was smiling fondly down at it.
"Oh, Grodd is a gorilla," Barry began.
Juliet smiled sarcastically. "My day just keeps getting better and better." She let out a very fake laugh. "I'm fine."
"Five years ago, Eiling and Wells were working on a project to expand soldiers' cognitive abilities during battle," Cisco explained.
"What we didn't realize is that Eiling was trying to create soldiers with psychic abilities," Caitlin continued.
"What do you mean psychic?" Joe asked.
"Eiling was trying to create these super-soldiers with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities," Cisco said, and Juliet looked over at him. "Basically, he wanted to create an army of Juliet's."
"But when Dr. Wells found out about the terrible experiments that Eiling was doing, he shut down the entire project," Caitlin stated.
"So our psycho-killer has a soft spot for animals," Joe replied. "That's sweet."
Barry pointed to the video. "What happened to Grodd?"
"We don't know," Caitlin revealed. "After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I went down to check on him and his cage was empty."
"So he could have been affected by the same energy that hit Barry and Juliet?" Joe questioned.
"When the dark matter hit Grodd, all the drugs and serums that Eiling injected him with could've activated," Cisco voiced. "Maybe the Accelerator explosion created a Meta-gorilla. And I think we know what happens when a super intelligent ape who's pissed off at humans escapes captivity."
"Cisco's right about the first part," Caitlin responded. "This is the first brain scan that I did on Grodd."
Barry stared at the scan on the screen. "Woah. His primary motor cortex and Broca's area are lit up like a Christmas tree."
"From Eiling's experiments. And this is the brain scan that I just did on Eiling." She pulled up another scan. "His brain is lit up in the exact same way."
"So Grodd and Eiling are connected somehow?" Joe inquired.
"I think that somehow, Grodd is transmitting neural signals to Eiling's primary motor cortex, like how Juliet uses her powers," Caitlin said. "Mind control, telepathy — who knows what Grodd is capable of now?"
"So he's like me, but . . . in gorilla form?" Juliet asked. She then nodded. "Okay, that's comforting. Today is just awesome."
"What do we think Grodd wants?" Barry cut in. "Revenge?"
"I do not like the fact that Wells rescued Grodd," Joe admitted. "I don't think it's a coincidence that this gorilla shows up at the very same time we're looking for Wells."
Caitlin nodded. "Grodd and Wells always did have a special bond."
"It wouldn't surprise me if Wells was using Grodd to distract us. If we find Grodd, we find Wells. If we find Wells—"
"We find Eddie," Iris' voice finished, and Juliet looked up to see her best friend walking into the cortex. "And I'm gonna help."
Caitlin gave her a smile. "Know anything about gorillas?"
"I just might." Iris walked up to the computers and sat down, typing for a moment. Juliet let out a small sigh and walked forwards, standing by the row of computers. "There have been reports of some sort of animal down in the sewers."
"Mmm," Cisco hummed in response. "Alligators." His face turned incredulous at their confused expressions. "C.H.U.D.s. R.O.U.S.es? Am I the only one who watches movies around here?"
Iris looked back at the computer screen. "Uh, a few months ago, two sewer workers went missing. The search party reported hearing strange animal-like noises down in the tunnels."
"Where exactly did they go missing?" Barry questioned.
"Uh, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street."
Cisco rolled out the chair and sat down. "There's an access point to the sewers about two blocks east of that intersection."
Barry nodded. "I'll start there." He then looked down at his girlfriend. "Wanna go on a date with me to the sewers?"
Juliet scrunched her nose up at the thought. "Not particularly."
"Come on. Please?" He turned on his puppy dog eyes, which basically meant his brown eyes turned real big and they softened, hitting Juliet's heart straight on. "For me?"
Her eyes slightly narrowed at him, already feeling herself cave in. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" Barry said innocently.
"You think that every time you say Please? For me? that I'll just do anything you want?"
His eyes got even bigger, if that was possible. "Please? For me?"
Juliet sighed, her weakness for him finally getting the best of her. "Oh my God, fine." She looked completely unimpressed. "This is the worst. The things I do for you."
Barry put his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, you can act least act a little excited."
She blinked up at him. "What do you want me to do, a fucking cartwheel?" Juliet shook her head and sighed. "Whatever, let's just go."
"You're both not going alone," Joe insisted. "I'm coming too."
"Huh, wading through miles of rats, roaches, and human excrement," Cisco commented. "Count me out." He then noticed the look Joe gave him. "Count me in."
"He's your monkey."
They had gathered all of the necessary supplies, including weapons, but the main weapon — according to Cisco — was Juliet. If Grodd had mind control, and she had mind control, it was pretty much only down to the battle of who was stronger. Cisco said his money was on Juliet, but Juliet honestly wasn't so sure.
Juliet held onto Barry's hand tightly, disgust running through her veins as she walked through the dirty water. The sewers were illuminated brightly from Cisco's headlight, Joe's flashlight, and a red ball of energy that Juliet had summoned in her free hand.
Joe then lit a flare and set it on the pipes before starting to pull off his backpack. "Cisco, take the rest of these flares, light them, drop them as we go. It's our path back." He then extended his hand out. "Give me that banana." Cisco gave him the banana. "Okay. Stay close."
"Definitely," Barry agreed, squeezing Juliet's hand.
"Not going anywhere," Cisco added.
Juliet shook her head. "I hate today."
They then wandered into the dark tunnel, completely unaware of the large, dark shadow that passed close to them. Cisco did as he was told and continued to light up and drop flares into the dirty water — which was up to their knees now, and Juliet was hating the fact that she wore jeans.
"I can't believe I'm down here looking for a supernatural gorilla," Joe admitted. "I'm terrified of regular gorillas."
There was then a loud thud. Juliet let go of Barry's hand so he could hold onto his tranquilizer gun better and ran forwards, extending her hand out a little. Ahead of them was still nothing but darkness, only slightly illuminated by their lights and Juliet's energy.
"What was that?" Cisco inquired.
A rat then squeaked on some of the pipes.
"Oh, oh," Joe let out.
"Woah," Cisco said, stopping in his tracks to look at something. "Hey, hey, guys, look at this." They walked closer to the walls of the sewers, only to see the letters G and D written multiple times with white chalk. "Incredible."
"Looks like we're in the right place," Barry voiced.
They continued walking on, and as they got further down the tunnel, the more writing propped up. It started with more letters, then Grodd, then actual drawings. It then merged into sentences and equations.
"Somebody want to tell me what we're looking at here?" Joe asked.
"Grodd's evolving," Juliet answered, putting her energy closer to the wall to get a better look at the writing. "He's getting smarter."
"Getting smarter. Great."
There was then a growl that echoed throughout the tunnels. Juliet slightly jumped and breathed heavily, turning around with her hand extended. It definitely sounded a lot like a gorilla.
"If I hadn't seen Jurassic Park, I wouldn't be nearly as frightened right now," Cisco revealed.
The growl got closer and closer to them, along with pounding footsteps. Juliet breathed heavily, glancing around anxiously as more noises sounded throughout the sewers.
"So if he's getting smarter, you think he might be getting bigger too?" Joe questioned. The growl then got extremely close, and there was sounds of movement from all around them. They all froze. "That must have been a truck passing over, right?"
And then the growl was right by them.
Juliet whipped back around, only to see a huge shadow rounding around the tunnel. Cisco groaned and doubled over, dropping his flashlight onto the ground. Barry quickly stepped forwards and shot his tranquilizer gun right at the shadows, and there was a howl of pain.
The high-pitched frequency suddenly echoed throughout Juliet's mind, and she reached her hands up to either side of her face, squeezing her eyes shut in pain. Bright lights. Vitals. A syringe. Chains. A gorilla.
"No, no, no," Juliet stated.
She pressed her hands against her temples, wincing at the visions Grodd was making her see. Honestly, it felt like she free-falling, her body weightless and her mind spinning. The same crawling fear crept inside of her
It was a little hypocritical of what she was about to repeat, considering she literally had mind control and used it on people, but Grodd was using his for pain and destruction. She used hers for good and to take down bad people.
Get out of my head, Juliet recited to herself, vaguely hearing a thud next to her, multiple gunshots, and voices. It was hard to concentrate, but like she did with her powers, she pushed the pain away. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head.
She could feel Grodd pushing back against her, trying to regain dominance. Like, literally pushing, because she could feel her legs starting to lift off the ground. Juliet planted her feet on the ground, gritting her teeth to stay concentrated. She would not let him have control over her.
"Get out of my head!" Juliet shouted.
The pain, the ringing, and the visions all went away. Juliet's eyes shot open, only for them to be glowing a bright shade of red. She gasped for air, her muscles shaking. Juliet looked down at the ground, her eyes fading back to their original brown, only to see Cisco kneeling next to an unconscious Barry. But that wasn't the only thing that was wrong.
Joe was gone.
〖 ϟ 〗
okay yes juliet go off my queen
also we are officially five chapters away from the ending!!! how did time fly by so fast!!!
gif by zcndayas!