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𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
they're birds!
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SO, IT WAS safe to say that Kendra getting taken by a guy with wings was not what Juliet expected.
Her dizziness had zapped away the second she heard Kendra was in trouble. Juliet had quickly teleported into her suit before going out onto the streets of Star City. She went in small increments, stopping on blocks and occasionally looking up into the sky to see if Kendra was around. Oliver was also out searching on his motorcycle, and Barry was running, his yellow lightning flashing by Juliet occasionally.
"Guys, did you find anything?" Barry asked.
"I'm on it," Felicity and Cisco chorused.
"Birds," Juliet muttered, landing on another city block. "Who could've guessed that?"
Barry suddenly sped in next to her, making Juliet yelp and jump in surprise. "When should we expect anything on our line of work?"
Juliet placed a hand over her heart like it would calm it down and slowly glared at him. "Don't do that."
He scrunched his nose a little at her. "That was adorable."
"I got them!" Felicity exclaimed. "Fifty-Seventh Street tower."
"I'm right near there," Oliver answered. "I got eyes on him."
"On our way," Juliet said. She looked up at him. "Let's go, stupid."
Juliet teleported away. She landed by the tower, but there was no sign of Oliver on his motorcycle or the guy with wings.
"Barry, JJ, change of venue," Cisco told them. "Birdman and Oliver are at Fifty-Fourth and Motor now. Hurry."
"On our way," Barry responded.
Juliet nodded to herself. She made her way to the intersection, which was a bit of a dark and empty street. There, she saw Oliver on the ground and a man wearing leather and a helmet that kind of looked like a hawk. At the sight of Barry's lightning speeding at him, the man ran forwards with a yell. In front of her very eyes, Juliet watched as the man grew wings, caught Barry, and flew him up into the air.
The man flew higher and higher until he stopped. Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion, but her eyes immediately widened when he dropped Barry. Barry went falling from the sky. Juliet lifted up her hand, ready to act, but Oliver was faster. He pulled out an arrow with a line on it and shot it, embedding it to the top of the building near them. Barry caught onto the line and zipped his way down, landing next to the two.
"We need to expose his wings," Oliver stated.
"I'm open to suggestions," Barry replied.
"Oh, now you're listening to me?"
"It's your city, Oliver."
"Boys," Juliet interjected, making their bickering stop. She then looked up, her eyes narrowing at the man flying through the sky. "Or, you know, I could just do this."
She lifted up both of her hands. Energy that had been practically itching to be released traveled from her fingers, down her hands, and all the way up her arms. Her mind instantly connected to the man with wings, making him stop in midair, red energy surrounding his figure as well as he got mind-controlled. The man obviously tried to get out, but couldn't. Juliet lowered her hands, making the man come back down to the ground. He was a couple inches from the asphalt when she brought her hand down faster, and the man crashed into the ground with a grunt of pain. Deeming her job done, she let her concentration go.
Oliver stared at him. "Or you could just do that."
At once, Barry sped forwards. He ran in circles around the man on the ground. Extremely disoriented from the lightning, and probably from crashing into the ground, the man tried to push himself up. Barry was faster, though — obviously. He caught the lightning in his hand and threw it at the man, who rolled away and laid there unconscious.
Oliver pointed at the man. "That's new."
"Yep, comes in handy," Barry said.
"Show-off," Juliet commented.
Barry smirked at her. "Only for you."
They brought the man back to the Arrow Cave, where Oliver expertly chained him to one of the pillars. Juliet took off her mask, staring at him intently. She was practically itching to know who he was, why he had taken Kendra, and how the hell he had wings. Juliet crossed her arms across her chest, her shoulder pressing into Barry's. Oliver stood with the two in the front as well while Diggle, Thea, Cisco, and Felicity hung back a bit.
Slowly, the man started to stir. He grunted as he opened his eyes, clearly not used to the bright lights. Once he looked down and realized he was chained, his face contorted into rage and he fought against them. It was no use — all they did was rattle. He fought harder to get out, and still nothing.
"Where is she?" the man demanded.
"What's your name?" Oliver questioned.
"You're putting her in danger, and I'm the only one capable of saving her."
"You have a very interesting perspective on what the word saving means," Thea voiced.
"She's the love of my lifetime, sweetheart," the man insisted, and Juliet raised an eyebrow. "I was not gonna hurt her." He fought against the chains again. "You need to let me go."
Footsteps suddenly echoed from behind Juliet. She glanced back, only to see Kendra had appeared. When she looked back to the man, she saw that all of the aggressiveness he had had washed away the second his eyes set on her. In fact, his eyes seemed . . . soft. It reminded her a lot of the way Barry looked at her. Juliet tilted her head at him a little bit, staring at him in curiosity.
"Chay-Ara."
"My name is Kendra Saunders," Kendra protested.
"In this life," the man continued. "And I am — was Carter Hall, but that is not who we are."
"What does that mean?"
"You're Priestess Chay-Ara. I'm Prince Khufu. And we're lovers. Soulmates. We've been partners for four-thousand years. We're drawn to each other in each life, and after we die, we reincarnate to find each other again and again and again. And now that I've found you, we should really get out of here."
"Okay, Romeo, why don't you pump the brakes?" Cisco suggested.
"These people cannot protect you from Savage any longer," Carter told Kendra.
"Do you know who Vandal Savage is?" Oliver inquired.
"In every lifetime, he hunts us down and kills us. He's done it two-hundred-and-six times, and I'm not planning to make it two-hundred-and-seven."
"Why does he kill you?" Diggle asked.
"His life force is tethered to ours," Carter answered. "Every time he kills us, he becomes more powerful. You do the math."
"You're oh for two-hundred-and-six, and you still think you're her best bet?" Cisco countered.
Barry looked at Oliver. "Okay, so what we need to do is just find Savage and get rid of him."
"Well, you can't get rid of him, my friend," Carter said.
"Oh, yeah? Watch us." Barry nodded his head to Juliet. "We've got her."
"It might be harder than you think," an infuriatingly familiar voice admitted.
Juliet turned. Coming out of the shadows was Merlyn again with his band of assassins.
She stared at them. "Literally what the fuck."
"Is that the only way this guy knows how to enter a room?" Barry complained.
"My associates tell me Savage left Star City a few hours ago," Merlyn announced.
"For where?" Diggle questioned.
"We're not quite sure. But I assume after his run-in with you, he realized he needed something more powerful to complete his mission. We think he's trying to locate the Staff of Horus."
"Sorry, what is that?" Thea inquired.
"It's a relic from our past," Carter responded. "An ancient and powerful weapon. If Savage gets his hands on it, it's going to be nearly impossible to stop him."
"Since when did our lives suddenly become an Indiana Jones movie?" Cisco asked.
Oliver looked to the blonde. "Felicity?"
Felicity straightened up. "Yeah?"
"Think you can find it?"
"Yeah. It's probably at some museum somewhere. I'll, uh, work my magic, see what I can find."
"We're running out of time," Carter insisted. He looked right at Kendra. "You need to emerge now. Come on, what is it gonna take for you to believe me? You saw my wings. I know you know this is true. Please, just let me show you how."
Kendra stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Okay."
Oliver moved to go unchain Carter. Juliet continued staring at the floor in thought, her eyebrows knit in concentration. Soulmates, ending up together in every lifetime . . . she knew it sounded familiar because she was practically living in it. The words Juliet Allen in Gideon's voice rang through her mind.
Barry bumped his shoulder with hers, gaining her attention. "You're thinking too loud."
"Sorry," Juliet responded. "Just . . . thinking about what Carter said. About how him and Kendra are forever lovers."
"No way. That's our thing."
"I know." Her eyes caught on Carter, who was basically unchained now. "Call me crazy, but I believe him. Not about him being the only person who can save Kendra, I mean about the whole soulmate thing."
"You can't seriously be buying into this," Barry said.
Juliet looked up at him, a little bit confused from the tone he used. "And why can't I?"
"Guys," Oliver interjected, letting all the chains fall to the floor. "Let's go."
Their conversation dropped. Juliet kept an eye on Barry, though — something about him seemed . . . off. They took Carter and Kendra to the roof of the building. Juliet peered over the edge, the wind whipping through her hair. They were high — extremely high. It was enough to make her unnerved.
"So . . ." Kendra began. "You just want me to jump."
"Fall, jump, swan dive, whatever suits you," Carter voiced. "Just, uh, do it."
"Okay, this isn't the X Games," Cisco argued.
"And — and this is how she emerges?" Oliver asked. "She just — she just falls towards her death?"
"Yep," Carter said. "Four-thousand years of experience says that's exactly how. Just watch and learn."
"No, I'm sorry, what are we doing?" Barry protested. "Why are we listening to this guy? Come on, Oliver, you're supposed to be the one who asks questions."
"Okay, but after what we saw, after what Cisco said, I cannot believe I'm going to say this, but it . . . kind of makes sense," Oliver admitted.
"Oh, great. First Juliet, now you? Should've known."
Juliet blinked at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Meanwhile, Kendra had hoisted herself up to stand on the very edge of the building.
Barry's eyes widened as he looked at her. "Hey, hey, hey!"
Kendra breathed heavily as she stared down below her. "I need to try."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, she is," Carter confirmed, placing a hand on the back of her thigh and pushing her off the roof like it was nothing.
Cisco gasped. "Barry! JJ!"
Juliet's eyes widened and she ran towards the edge. Kendra was free-falling down to the concrete, screaming her head off, while no wings emerged. Barry immediately ran down and caught her before bringing her back to the roof.
"What the hell was that?" Barry shouted.
"Saving her life," Carter answered simply. "You should have emerged. Something is blocking you. Well, we should just try again and see what's—"
"No!" Cisco screamed.
"Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no," Barry agreed. "We're not doing that again. Kendra, you don't have to do this. Oliver, J, we can stop Savage, okay?"
"Barry," Oliver interrupted. "Barry!"
"What?"
"Talk to you for a second?" Oliver then nodded his head to beckon Juliet over. "You too, Jules."
"Keep an eye on him," Barry instructed to Cisco.
Juliet put her hands in the pocket of her jacket and walked over to Oliver, who had moved away from the group to be more secluded. Barry stopped next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, almost . . . possessively. Juliet glanced up at him in confusion.
"What is going on with you?" Oliver demanded.
"I'm trying to keep her alive," Barry insisted.
"Then I think we let her jump."
"Are you kidding?"
"Barry, I get that you're desperate to help and you want to be the hero and you want to save her yourself, but I think she has to have a part in it, too," Oliver explained.
Juliet nodded in agreement. "Girl's gotta be her own hero every now and then." She looked up at him, only to feel his grip tighten on her shoulder and his features to harden. "You need to take it down about ten notches. Why are you freaking out?"
"It's just, the rules keep changing," Barry revealed. "It's like, one day I have to run through time, the next I'm fighting a telepathic gorilla, and — and — and now we're what? We're — we're chasing down an immortal madman on a rampage against a reincarnated warrior priestess? I just never thought I'd have superpowers and feel more powerless than I ever have in my entire life."
"That part I understand," Oliver responded. "But you have already helped Kendra. You have kept her alive. So now let's help her get her wings, and then she can give you a lift back to Central City." Oliver suddenly froze, realization flashing in his eyes. "Central City."
Juliet watched him walk away. "What about it?" Oliver ignored her and continued walking. "Ollie."
The others caught on — Oliver seemed to be on a mission. They all followed him back all the way downstairs to the Arrow Cave.
"You need to check Central City for the staff," Oliver ordered to Felicity. "Kendra, you said you were drawn there."
"Yeah," Kendra agreed.
"I think you're drawn to things that destroy you the same way the two of you are drawn to each other."
"That's why it wasn't in any museum or private collection, because it was consecrated eight months ago at St. Mark's in Central City," Felicity voiced.
"We've got to get it before Savage does," Barry stated.
Oliver turned to Carter. "Carter, stay here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Carter replied.
He then looked back to Felicity. "Call Thea and Dig, and we'll have them hold down the fort in case Savage shows up."
"Kendra, last year, I lost my powers," Barry told her quietly. "The only way I could get them back is if I just forgot about everything happening around me and focused on who I was. Just believe in yourself, and your true self will emerge."
She smiled at him. "Thanks."
Felicity reached out and took Oliver's hand. "Hey, are you sure that you want to do this? If this guy's immortal and Merlyn's right about how powerful this staff is . . ."
"We'll be fine," Barry reassured her. He nodded to Oliver. "Kiss her."
Oliver looked down at Felicity. "We'll be fine."
Barry turned to Juliet when Oliver kissed Felicity, seeming a lot less tense than before. Juliet slowly started to piece everything together as her eyes trailed across his face. How she didn't like when he talked about people other than them being soulmates, and especially how her and Oliver seemed to agree . . .
Juliet's mouth dropped open a little, and she pointed at him. "You were jealous."
Barry's cheeks splashed a light shade of pink, and he scoffed. "Was not."
"Oh, you so were. Baby—"
"And that's enough." Barry took her shoulders in her hands and started to steer her away. "Let's go."
Juliet laughed a little. "I wasn't finished."
"I think you were just about there, though," Barry said.
The doors to the mannequins opened, and Juliet stared at her suit, her laughter dying down. In all honesty, she didn't know how the fuck they were going to beat an immortal, but they at least had to try.
Juliet teleported into her suit, and once the boys were ready, she extended her hand out to the two. Unlike last time, both of them truly understood what she meant. They grasped onto her hands, and Juliet teleported them to the church back in Central City. The three of them walked into the church. Juliet glanced at the stained glass windows as they walked through the aisle. Barry then sighed.
"What's going on?" Oliver questioned.
"Nothing," Barry answered. "I just like to speed into rooms, usually."
"Uh-huh. Where do you think we find this thing? I haven't been in one of these places in a while."
Juliet's eyes caught on something again. At the very front of the church was a coffin-like structure. However, the concrete was already broken.
"It definitely was there," Juliet said, the rims of her eyes starting to glow red.
"We're too late," Barry added.
"Something you're not used to saying very often, I'd imagine," Savage announced, walking out of the shadows holding a large staff with a bird at the top. He stared at Oliver when he pulled an arrow. "You tried those arrows once before, remember? They didn't quite finish the job, now, did they?"
"I'm not gonna make that mistake again," Oliver countered.
"You're gonna leave Kendra alone," Barry demanded.
"I can't do that," Savage argued. "While my destiny is to live forever, Chay-Ara's is to die, as if yours now."
At once, the staff started to glow blue. Out of the top of it, where the bird was, came a blue light. Juliet immediately summoned a ball of red energy in her hand and threw it at the blue blast. Once her energy hit it, both of them fizzled out into the air. It went like that for a moment — Juliet neutralizing the blue energy from the staff with her own, Savage deflecting all of Oliver's arrows, and Barry speeding around the blasts from the staff. Savage ultimately forced them all back so they had to crouch to safety in the pews.
"Any ideas?" Oliver inquired.
"Oh, now you'll listen to me?" Barry stated.
"It's your city."
"Okay, Oliver, you distract him," Juliet interjected. "I'll hold him in place. Barry, you get the staff."
Oliver nodded. "On my mark."
He then stood up and shot an arrow. Juliet held out her hand, connecting her mind to Savage's. He immediately froze in place. Barry sped up and tried to get the staff, but once he got close, a blue forcefield from the staff completely sent him flying back. He crashed into one of the pews, groaning in pain.
Juliet blinked at him. "That is not how I thought that would go."
Oliver advanced with more arrows, but Savage created another forcefield that also sent him flying back. Juliet raised her hands, her palms glowing red, preparing for anything. Savage suddenly started to speak in a different language — Egyptian Arabic.
"In all my countless years, I've never encountered anybody with your capabilities," Savage admitted. "Astonishing!"
He lifted up the staff. Immediately, blue energy started to swirl around it, gaining power. Juliet raised her hands a little higher, her palms glowing even brighter. If she was right, that staff would let out an enormous energy blast. It was up to Juliet to create a forcefield to block it.
Savage suddenly froze, and all the energy went away. "Chay-Ara." He then looked at the three heroes. "I used to enjoy slow deaths. Now I just find them boring."
He lifted up the staff and brought it down to the ground. Instantly, a huge blast of blue energy and a blinding white light emerged from it. Juliet went to fight against it, but she was stopped by somebody grabbing her waist and speeding her away. (Well, props to Barry — she probably was out of her mind). Barry brought them out onto the street, and him, Juliet, and Oliver tumbled to the ground.
"Thanks," Oliver said to Barry.
"Yeah," Barry responded.
Barry extended a hand to Juliet, who used it to pull herself up. "I love how brave you are, but please don't do that again."
She nodded once. "I'll get him next time."
Juliet stared ahead from her. The entire church was up in flames, and all the glass windows were broken.
"Any chance he blew himself up in there?" Barry inquired.
Oliver shook his head. "Not likely."
"So, that's like a tie, right?"
"I guess."
"I will take it."
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IT SEEMED STRANGE that Savage was still out there, yet here Juliet was, standing in line to get a latte.
They had told everyone to meet them at Central City. In the meantime — since it would take them a while to get there — Juliet suggested they killed some time by getting coffee.
"Since when is that a thing?" Oliver asked, looking at the menu which displayed the Flash and Scarlet drinks.
"Uh, about eight months," Barry responded.
Juliet shrugged, a teasing smile on her face. "Maybe one day you'll be cool enough to get a drink named after you, too."
"By the way, we still need to get Savage."
"We'll get him," Oliver stated.
Juliet suddenly felt a body hit hers. She yelped a little bit from the sudden movement, and Barry caught her, holding her upright. Juliet looked, only to see it had been a little kid who was running through the coffee shop.
Oliver bent down to get the action figures he dropped. "Watch yourself, buddy."
He picked them up. It just so happened that the action figures were of the Flash and Scarlet. Juliet smiled at it — she had no idea she had action figures of herself now. She glanced up and shared an amused look with Barry.
Oliver offered them back to the kid. "You don't want to lose these guys."
The kid took them. "Thanks, mister."
"Yeah."
Juliet watched the little kid run off back to a woman near the exit. She tilted her head a bit. Something about him seemed oddly . . . familiar. Like she could see something about him through his eyes, which definitely didn't make any sense, because she had never seen that kid before in her life.
She looked over at Oliver, only to frown when he looked shocked all of the sudden. "Why do you look like you're about to be sick?"
Oliver didn't answer. Juliet's frown deepened, and she shared a confused look with Barry. Only so many things set Oliver off, so what was wrong?
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WILLIAM <3