⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥
CHAPTER ELEVEN
earth-one linda becomes earth-two
linda
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
SEEING EARTH-TWO LINDA was honestly really strange for Juliet. Sure, she didn't act like the normal Linda and was now a murderer, but Juliet still couldn't help but picture her as the one who had her lips on Barry's all those months ago.
So, yeah. Times were fucking strange.
Nevertheless, in her suit, Juliet stood down in the pipeline with Barry. She had her arms crossed against her chest as they positioned themselves in front of the Metahuman cell where they had put Doctor Light.
"Zoom sent me here to kill you, but I didn't want to," Earth-Two Linda said, mostly to Barry — Juliet fit into the equation somewhere, but it was evident Barry was Zoom's upmost priority.
"Yet killing Linda Park was a part of your plan," Juliet countered.
"It was the best bad idea I could come up with. Leave her body for Zoom to find, he'd think I was dead, and I'd be free."
"How was he supposed to know where to find her body?" Barry asked.
"Just let me go," Earth-Two Linda pleaded. "Let me disappear."
"You would spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, never knowing when Zoom is coming."
"Okay. And what's your great idea?"
"How were you supposed to contact Zoom after you killed Flash?" Juliet questioned.
"I was supposed to get something," Earth-Two Linda answered. "Something I could only get if he was dead, and then throw it through the breach as proof."
"And then what?" Barry urged.
"Then he'd come for me. Confirm the kill and bring me home. Why do you want to know?"
"Because we want to find him."
"You really don't," Earth-Two Linda stated.
"He's gonna keep coming for me," Barry continued. "He's gonna keep kidnapping people like you, forcing them to do what he wants. We have to stop him before more people die."
Earth-Two Linda shook her head. "You can't stop Zoom."
"Yes, we can," Juliet insisted. "And we will, but in order to do that, we need your help."
She eventually agreed. Earth-Two Linda said that she would've thrown Barry's new emblem on his suit through the breach. With that confirmation, they went back upstairs, got back in their regular clothes, and told everyone what Earth-Two Linda had told them.
"Zoom wants Doctor Light to send him your new emblem," Caitlin repeated.
"Yes," Barry replied. "We need it for bait. If we can get Doctor Light to take my emblem, throw it through the breach, then Zoom will come to collect my body, and we can trap him."
"You know it took a lot of work to make that emblem, right?" Cisco inquired.
"This is the woman who was willing to kill Linda in order to escape Zoom, but now she's willing to help us catch him?" Caitlin asked.
"She knows it's the only way," Barry responded.
"Before I left Earth-Two, I worked on a serum to dampen Zoom's speed," Harry cut in. "All we would need is for Ramon to develop a weapon to deliver it."
"Oh, great, that could be this year's cold gun," Caitlin voiced. "Maybe another criminal can get it, and then we'd have Sergeant Slow."
"I would never let that happen," Cisco protested. "Sergeant Slow is a terrible name."
"Are we forgetting how much more powerful than Barry Zoom seems to be? I mean, if Barry can catch bullets, what's to say Zoom can't catch whatever you shoot at him?"
"Surprise," Harry revealed. "The element of surprise. All we would do is rig a projectile to fire as Zoom crosses into the breach. He can't stop what he can't see coming."
"That's great," Barry told him.
"Thanks."
Caitlin turned towards Joe. "Joe, voice of reason here?"
"We need a plan," Joe said. "That's as good as any." He nodded to Harry. "As long as he can deliver."
"Don't underestimate me, Detective," Harry insisted.
Juliet then felt her phone buzz, and she pulled it out to see it was a text from Patty — the two had exchanged numbers recently to keep up with cases. "Oh, hey, Patty needs us back at the station."
Barry knit his eyebrows as he followed after her into the hallway. "You have Patty's number?"
"Yeah. Just because you didn't accept it doesn't mean I can't."
"Oh my God."
She laughed at him. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
(Juliet just liked to tease him. It was kind of fun.)
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SOMEHOW, WHILE JULIET and Barry were at work, Earth-Two Linda had managed to escape from S.T.A.R. Labs. It seemed like they had not gotten to her about helping them, and all she left behind was her suit.
Now, she stood in the cortex, her forehead leaned against Barry's shoulder in frustration. God, why was everything going so wrong? This whole situation was absolutely fucked.
"Doctor Light managed to hack into the lights of her cell," Cisco explained. "The whole building runs on fiber optics that operate on pulses of light, so she turned off the dampeners and used her powers."
"I told you how dangerous she was," Harry insisted. "You should have listened to me and sedated her."
"J and I thought we had convinced her that helping us was the only way she'd free herself from Zoom," Barry said.
"Well, you thought wrong."
"Harry, I swear to God, I will throw you against the wall," Juliet stated, picking her head up to narrow her eyes at him.
"Okay, look, Doctor Light is gone, so instead of assigning blame, let's try to figure out what we're gonna do next," Joe interjected.
"Do you think she's gonna try and take Linda again?" Caitlin questioned.
Juliet rubbed her face tiredly. "Iris brought Linda back to the house so she could keep an eye on her. I thought it would be better that way."
Barry looked at Caitlin. "How are we doing with the speed dampener?"
"I think we isolated the composite," Caitlin answered.
"And we're modifying the dart the Arrow used to take down Wells," Cisco added.
"He's not Wells," Harry protested. "I'm Wells."
"Whatever, Harry."
"But we don't even really know if this thing works," Joe cut in.
"Until we try it, no," Harry replied. "This will be a field test, so can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?"
"Or how about I say what everybody's thinking? Maybe it's a good thing that Doctor Light is gone. Maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something really stupid."
"No," Barry argued, and the tone of his voice made Juliet blink up at him in shock. "No. Keep going. I'm gonna figure out another way to get Zoom."
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "You mean we."
"That's what I said."
She tilted her head in confusion as she followed him out of the cortex. "You definitely did not say that. Aren't we supposed to be a team? What is this I bullshit?"
Barry turned to face her. "Do you want to end up like Earth-Two Juliet?"
"What does that mean?"
"Hey, you two," Joe interrupted, making them look at him. "Slow your rolls."
"Joe, look, I know what I'm doing," Barry announced.
"Stop saying I," Juliet voiced firmly. "Enough. The fact that even I don't know what you're on about right now is really freaking me out."
Joe nodded in agreement. "Why don't you clue us in?"
"I'm—" Barry began, but noticed how the rims of Juliet's eyes were glowing red. "We're trying to stop Zoom. I thought you were on board with that."
"I'm keeping my options open."
"I don't understand why you think we have a choice. Zoom wants me dead, and he might want Juliet dead, too. The Metahumans that he's sending from Earth-Two, they don't care how many innocent people get in the way. Look at what happened to Iris and Linda's boss. He was just collateral damage in Zoom's war. The next time, that could be you or Iris."
"I'm just wondering if going after him now is premature," Joe admitted. "I mean, we barely know anything about his abilities."
"Wells does," Barry responded.
"You're putting a whole lot of faith in the man wearing the face of your mother's killer. I think we should find Jay, get him to help us on this."
"Yeah, Jay made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to help get me killed, and we can't just sit around and wait for Zoom to make his next move anymore. We can't. Aren't you the one who told me life isn't about playing defense, sometimes the only way to succeed is by working the offense?"
"I think at the time we were talking about your high school football tryouts," Joe replied.
Barry pointed at him. "You said you'd never bring that up again."
Juliet slowly looked up at Joe for a moment. "What the fuck."
Joe patted her shoulder. "You and me both."
Juliet sighed and walked after her boyfriend. "Barry."
" . . . sorry," Barry's voice stated quietly, just loud enough for her to hear it.
"You said you didn't want me backseated anymore." Juliet crossed her arms. "Would you like to tell me what you're doing?"
". . . backseating you."
"Right," Juliet confirmed. "Baby, I'm not going to end up like Earth-Two Juliet. And we're going to take down Zoom together, got it?"
Barry nodded. "Got it." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I love you."
"I love you more. But if you keep doing what you're doing, I'm going to have to smack some sense into you."
When they walked into the West house, the first thing Juliet noticed was how much food as on the dining room table. Her eyebrows knit in confusion as she took off her jacket and draped it across the couch.
"Hey," Barry greeted.
"Hey," Iris said.
"Are you guys having a dinner party?"
"You would think."
"I know, I know," Linda's voice came, and Juliet saw her walking out of the kitchen, carrying yet another tray and placing it on the table. "It's just, sometimes cooking helps me to relax."
"Oh," Barry let out.
"Have you heard anything about Doctor Light? Am I still in danger?"
"We're not sure, Linda," Juliet answered.
"Come on," Linda complained. "I'm going crazy here, you two."
"Yeah, she is," Iris agreed.
A timer then rang from the kitchen.
"And that is the cake," Linda revealed. "Hope you're hungry."
With that, she disappeared back into the kitchen.
Iris looked at Juliet and Barry. "She's not kidding. There's enough food in there to feed an army."
"She must be terrified," Barry stated as they wandered into the living room.
"Uh, more like furious. Larkin died trying to protect her, and it only makes it worse that the person who did it looks just like her. I mean, trust me. If Linda had Doctor Light's powers right now . . ."
Barry suddenly froze, his eyes widening in realization.
"What?" Iris inquired.
Juliet squinted at him. "I don't know if I like the look on your face right now."
"I just — uh — Linda and Light, they're identical," Barry began. "So identical that Light even thought she could fool Zoom. Now we have Light's suit. You don't even have to say anything, I know. It's a terrible idea."
"No, no, no, it's not," Iris responded. "We make Zoom think that Linda is Doctor Light and use her to draw him out."
"It's too dangerous, right?"
"It's fucking crazy, is what it is," Juliet said. She then glanced towards the kitchen. "But it's up to Linda, isn't it?"
Iris nodded in agreement. "She's desperate to catch the person who's responsible for Larkin's death, and she deserves the chance to help us."
Juliet looked over at him. "I'm in."
"Okay," Barry replied. "Let's do it."
While Iris got Linda to stop stress-cooking, Juliet and Barry went back to S.T.A.R. Labs. They got into their suits and waited for Iris and Linda to walk out of the elevator to make their appearance. Once the two had arrived, Barry sped in and Juliet materialized out of thin air in the elevator lobby.
"Ms. Park, we need your help," Barry told her, his voice vibrating.
Linda stared at them, amazement in her eyes. "Woah."
They gave Linda a debriefing on what was going on before moving to the basement, into the very same room where Jay had taught Barry to throw lightning. While Linda got dressed in Light's suit, Juliet looked around. Cisco had made multiple targets of them as cardboard cutouts and had placed them around the room.
Joe walked up to his own cardboard cutout. "Heh, dude." He turned it around to show Cisco, who was on a platform lift. "How long have you been sitting on this?"
Cisco turned his own cutout around, which was of him doing a ridiculous pose. "It's important to have hobbies."
Linda then walked up to Juliet, Barry, and Caitlin, looking exactly like her Earth-Two counterpart. "This is ridiculous."
"No, it's not," Barry stated. "You look just like Doctor Light."
"And with these gloves that Cisco rigged up, you'll be able to do what she does," Caitlin voiced, handing the gloves to Linda.
"Don't worry, they are totally safe," Iris reassured her.
"Ish," Harry added.
Iris stared at him. "Ish?"
"Well, come on, it's gotta be believable, so they really do fire and explode things," Cisco insisted. He then focused his attention on the two heroes. "And you two are going to have to let her hit you with those blasts when she gets the hang of it."
"Who exactly came up with this terrible idea?" Joe asked.
"Flash," Juliet answered.
He slowly looked down at her. "Scarlet."
"Gotta keep it real."
"Okay, it's not a terrible idea," Cisco argued. "The suits can absorb the blasts."
"For real or ish?" Iris questioned.
"What does a terrible idea look like to you, Cisco?" Joe asked.
"Okay, you know what?" Cisco responded. "I like to think I can see the bright side of things, okay? Positivity, people."
That meant they were ready to begin. Juliet and Barry walked on either side of Linda to all the cardboard cutouts, Caitlin trailing after them with a tablet in her hands.
"All right, all right," Barry said. "So just hit the ones of me and Scarlet, okay?"
Linda nodded. "Got it."
"Great."
Linda walked forwards and rolled her shoulders back a little bit before letting out a deep breath. The gloves on her hands then lit up, and she pushed her hands forwards. However, her light blasts went everywhere, hitting all of the cardboard cutouts that were basically not them, and she screamed every time. Juliet blinked in surprise and held up her hand, making Linda freeze in place.
Cisco stood up. "Uh, you know what? I'm just gonna adjust those a little. Screwdriver. Coming! Coming." He ran up to them and started to screwdrive the gloves. "Just . . ."
Juliet let her concentration drop from Linda as she stared at Joe's cardboard cutout, which was up in flames. "Okay, great start. You just have to do . . . the exact opposite."
Cisco's cardboard cutout then fell.
Juliet nodded to herself. "I love my life."
This time, they were leading Linda throughout the room, letting different cardboard cutouts appear. Linda seemed very on-edge, and she was breathing heavily when she encountered Cisco and Caitlin's cutouts. One of Barry then came out, and she pushed her hand out, only for the gloves to start sparking.
"It's on fire," Linda let out.
Barry sped away and got a fire extinguisher, but when he used it, it went all over Linda. "Ooh, sorry."
Juliet put her hand on her forehead. "Oh, Jesus Christ."
Cisco raised his hand. "My bad."
They went on. Linda seemed to be doing okay, letting Cisco and Caitlin's cutouts alone, until one of Juliet's came up right in front of her. She pushed her hand out, and when the light hit it, Juliet watched as herself sparked and burst into flames. Guess now she can finally say she crashed and burned.
"I did it!" Linda exclaimed, turning to face them with excitement written all over her face. "Did you see that?"
Juliet smiled back at her. "Good job."
Linda raised her hand for a high-five. However, a light blast shot out of the gloves and hit the platform where Joe, Cisco, Harry, and Iris were on. Juliet's eyes widened as it sparked and how Cisco completely fell to the floor.
"You all good?" Barry called to them. "You okay?"
"Sorry," Linda added.
After a little while longer, they let Linda go so training could stop. Juliet and Barry went back up to the cortex first, getting back into their regular clothes and out of their suits. The rest of them trickled in.
"Okay, no offense to Linda, but there is no way she can pull this off," Caitlin said.
"Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired," Harry suggested.
"Yup, Linda had a rocky start, but she can pull this off," Barry voiced. "I know she can. All right, did you find someplace near breach where we don't have to worry about civilians getting in the way?"
"Yeah, there's a place by the docks that's usually deserted at night," Cisco answered.
"Awesome. How are we doing with the speed-dampener?"
"My tests indicate that it should work," Caitlin replied.
"It will work," Harry stated. "I'll tune up Ramon's gloves, make sure they work better."
"Okay, great," Barry responded.
Juliet watched him curiously as he went to leave. Usually, she had a good read on him. That was just their thing — they always could tell what each other was feeling with a single glance. But now, Juliet couldn't tell what was going on. He seemed so eager, so ready to jump out of his skin for this without even thinking. What was going on?
"Hey, we're actually gonna go through with this?" Cisco questioned.
"Yeah, we're doing this," Barry confirmed. "I'm gonna have Iris get Linda ready."
Juliet blinked as he walked out of the cortex. "Oh my God, he's going manic." She rounded around the desk. "I got it, I got it." Juliet walked fast, and found Barry at the elevators. "There's the I again. Did you not think to ask me if I agreed with this?"
Barry stepped into the elevator. "You do agree with this."
"Bold of you to think so." Juliet stepped into the elevator with him, staring up at him incredulously. "Babe, even you can admit that Linda's not ready."
"She is. She's ready enough."
Juliet's eyes trailed across his face. Suddenly, she realized what was going on. Why Barry wanted to stop this so bad on his own. Juliet leaned back against the wall of the elevator, crossing her arms with a strong look in her eyes.
"I'm going to give you the truth, straight up, and you're going to listen," Juliet told him, and Barry immediately shut his mouth. "This whole thing isn't about Zoom. You're still stuck on the Reverse Flash."
"J, the Reverse Flash is dead," Barry said.
"Maybe so. But you weren't the one who stopped him, even after everything he did to you."
"All of us worked together."
Juliet shook her head. "We did. Yet in the end, you know who really got him? Eddie. I know you well enough to see that you feel cheated by it, and it only just hit me now. You weren't able to get your revenge, and now you're throwing yourself into Zoom because you feel that this is the way to do it."
Barry stared at her, even when the elevator doors opened. "I don't get how you always know what I'm feeling."
"It comes along with the forever lovers thing, babe." Juliet took his hand and led him out of the elevator. "Linda is risking our lives for us — for you. You have to think of why she's doing that."
He squeezed her hand. "I have an idea."
〖 ϟ 〗
barry in this episode . . . joe gave him a reality check fr