⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
back to the future
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
AS EACH MINUTE ticked closer to nine fifty-two, Juliet's anxiety increased. They only had about half an hour left until Dr. McGee was supposed to die, and so far, nothing.
"No sign of tachyon activity," Harry announced, staring at the screen.
"We're running out of time," Barry insisted. "We've got to find them."
"It'll take a few minutes for the device to reach full power once it's activated, but when we find it, you're gonna have to get there fast," Cisco replied.
"Hey, Barry, Jules," Caitlin called.
Juliet looked over at her. "Yeah? What's up, Cait?"
"Have you found out anything else about Jay's doppelganger?"
"There's no Jay Garrick on this Earth," Barry answered.
"That's so weird," Caitlin commented. "Everyone has a doppelganger."
"Maybe try asking him," Juliet suggested. "I'm sure he'll tell you if you do."
"Okay."
Suddenly, the alarms started to blare throughout the cortex. Juliet's eyes slightly widened — this was it.
"Tachyons!" Cisco exclaimed. "Eighty-Seventh and Avenue J."
Juliet and Barry locked eyes for a split second. They didn't have time to waste — it was now or never. Juliet teleported into her suit before getting out of S.T.A.R. Labs. Once she got to the site, she saw the machine Cisco had described, plus the Reverse Flash standing in front of Dr. McGee with his vibrating hand raised. He wasn't wearing the face of Harrison Wells this time, though — he was in his actual form, blonde hair and all.
Her eyes narrowed in anger and she reached out her hand. Instantly, she connected to Thawne's mind. Juliet wrenched her hand back before pushing it away from her, causing Thawne to fly up into the air and slam into a fence. At the same time, Barry sped in.
Barry put his hands on Dr. McGee's shoulders. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Dr. McGee responded, sounding a bit shaken up.
"Okay, get out of here, all right? Go, go!"
Juliet then looked over at the machine. She summoned a red ball of energy into her hand and threw it at the main power source of it — the thing Dr. McGee had been working on. Once her energy made contact with it, it sparked and pieces started to fly off.
"That was my way home!" Thawne shouted in anger.
Juliet tilted her head at him. "Am I supposed to be sad for you?"
"You're not going anywhere," Barry told him.
"You haven't won here, Flash, Scarlet," Thawne argued. "I'll find another way back."
"You're gonna have to get through us first."
"You really think you're fast enough to stop me?"
"Let's find out," Barry replied.
Thawne pulled the hood of his suit up, his body vibrating and his eyes glowing red. "Catch me if you can."
He then sped off in a flash of red lightning.
"Go," Juliet urged.
Barry nodded. Without a second thought in his mind, he sped off, his yellow lightning starkly contrasting to the red Thawne had. Juliet felt her heart pound against her chest and she stepped forwards a little. There was one thing that limited her powers — super speed. It was hard to concentrate on someone if they were running that fast. All she needed was for Barry to catch him.
Juliet reached up, touching the earpiece in her ear. "Hey, Cisco. When Barry catches him, tell me where they land."
"He caught him," Cisco responded not even a few seconds later. "Abandoned warehouse not too far from here."
Juliet nodded to herself before teleporting there. She landed, only to see Barry holding Thawne's body up by the neck of his suit, pressing him against the gate. Juliet recognized the tense stance, the fire in his eyes . . . Barry was fucking mad.
"This was between us, it ends now!" Barry shouted.
He then used his super speed to punch Thawne over and over and over again. Juliet's eyes slightly widened. In all of her years of knowing Barry, she had never seen him like this. It was understandable, though.
"Barr, you got to stop!" Joe yelled. "Barr, don't kill him! Just bring him in!"
Juliet then reached up her hand, connecting her mind to Barry's. At once, his entire body stilled — since only his hands were going at super speed, it was easier. The dark warehouse started to glow red from her energy. Thawne fell with a groan to the ground, barely conscious.
"Let me go, Juliet," Barry ordered.
"I will if you let him go," Juliet told him softly, walking up to the two of them. "Don't give him the satisfaction. He doesn't deserve it."
Juliet noticed his breathing started to even. She lowered her hand, letting her concentration drop. Juliet watched him carefully, making sure he wouldn't go back to beating the absolute shit out of Thawne.
"Get the cell ready," Barry said to the others back at S.T.A.R. Labs.
With one more punch, he completely knocked Thawne out.
Barry didn't say anything to Juliet afterwards. Juliet didn't blame him — he was probably too blindsided by his anger. Don't get her wrong, Juliet was absolutely mad, too. She just wished Barry would talk to her so he wouldn't bottle so many things up.
Juliet had teleported her and Thawne back to S.T.A.R. Labs before he could wake up. She put him in the cell Cisco had prepared and found immense satisfaction in watching the doors close. Juliet then went back upstairs to the cortex, taking off her mask. Cisco had set up one of the screens to show live footage of Thawne. He woke up not long after, and they all watched him stare up at the camera.
"Hey, he can't . . . ?" Joe trailed off.
"Phase his way out?" Cisco guessed. "No, he can't do that."
"It's the same cell we used to hold Dr. Wells last year," Caitlin added.
"Barry, where are you going?" Joe asked when Barry started to walk away.
"I'm going down there," Barry answered.
"No you're not," Harry protested. "The more he learns about you, the more you will alter the timeline."
"He killed my mom."
"He's from the future. He hasn't done that yet. He doesn't even know you're the Flash, and you need to keep it that way."
"You already said that his mother's gonna die no matter what we do," Joe argued.
"There's ramifications any time anybody messes with the timeline, and it's impossible to predict what those ramifications are going to be," Harry explained.
"Barry, you caught him and you stopped him from killing Dr. McGee," Caitlin voiced. "In my book, that's a win."
"This doesn't feel like a win," Barry responded.
Juliet frowned at him. "Hey." She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding her head towards the hallway. "Come on."
She slid her hand off his shoulder and started to walk out of the cortex. Juliet glanced behind her, and when she noticed Barry was actually following her, it put her heart a bit at ease. She brought him out to the elevator lobby, which would be a nice, quiet place for them to talk.
Juliet crossed her arms and turned to face her boyfriend. Barry sighed and slumped against the wall, sliding down it until he was sitting. Juliet tilted her head at him before slowly walking over. She lowered herself to sit right next to him, their shoulders pressing into each other's.
"I'm not mad at you," Barry began. "For stopping me from hurting him."
Juliet gave him a soft smile. "I know you're not mad at me. You're mad at him. Which is completely understandable, given the circumstances."
"I just . . . they want me to sit back and not do anything while the man who killed my mother is downstairs."
"I know." She reached out and took his hand, and Barry instantly locked their fingers together. "It doesn't feel like a win. Trust me, I know. I feel it, too. But you caught him, which you haven't done before. I'm proud of you for that."
"I want to talk to him," Barry admitted.
"Okay," Juliet agreed, squeezing his hand. "Let's go talk to him."
They got out of their suits and back into their regular clothes before going down to the pipeline. The two of them stood in the shadows, making sure that their faces were completely hidden from Thawne's gaze. Barry reached over and opened the door to the screen. Juliet watched as the door to the Particle Accelerator slid open, revealing Thawne's cell.
"Is that you, Flash?" Thawne questioned. "Scarlet?"
"Why do you hate me so much?" Barry inquired. "Hate us?"
"I didn't always. I was obsessed with you. For so long, I wanted to be the Flash and Scarlet. I spend years figuring out how you came to be. Duplicated the reaction . . . and it worked. I became like you." His eyes slid over to Juliet. "Kind of. Haven't gotten your powers yet."
"And you never will," Juliet insisted.
"Right, so what happened?" Barry continued.
"This ability to travel through time revealed the truth," Thawne replied. "My fate was to become your greatest enemy. I was never going to be the Flash or Scarlet, so I became the reverse of everything that you were. The more people you saved, the more you were loved, the more I had to take from you."
"That is why you killed my mother? That's why you ruined my life? Because you couldn't be us?"
"I became better than you! I am the one thing you cannot stop, Flash, Scarlet."
Barry shook his head. "No, no, no. Not anymore. Our race is over. And you lost."
"I've learned what time period you're both from," Thawne said. "And one day soon, I'll learn your names."
"We need you in the cortex now!" Caitlin's voice announced urgently from above.
Barry walked back to the screen and shut the door, locking Thawne back in the Particle Accelerator. Juliet watched him for a moment before extending her hand out to him. Barry took it, and she teleported them into the cortex.
She did not expect the sight that she was met with.
Cisco was laying on the hospital bed, rapidly convulsing and blood flowing out from his nose. Joe and Harry were trying to hold him down to the bed. Caitlin was over by the computer, watching his vitals get worse and worse. Juliet's eyes widened and she scrambled into the medbay.
"Holy fuck," Juliet commented. "We leave for five minutes and this happens? Speaking of which, what is happening?"
"He's experiencing an uncontrollable amount of electrical energy in his brain, putting him in a prolonged state of chronic seizing," Caitlin told her.
"What?" Barry questioned. "Can you stop it?"
Caitlin turned to look at them, her face scared. "I don't know." She went back to the computer. "Hold him down."
"We're trying!" Joe responded.
"Sedate him, Snow, now!" Harry demanded.
"Come on, come on," Barry urged.
Caitlin pulled a needle from the shelf. "Benzodiazepine. This should do it."
She stuck it into Cisco. Slowly, his body stopped convulsing. Juliet put a hand on her forehead. Jesus Christ, too much had gone on today.
Joe let out a breath of relief. "Finally."
It wasn't over, though. Even though Cisco had stopped convulsing, his body became transparent, almost like a ghost.
Juliet stared at him in shock. "Oh my God, what the fuck?"
"What was that?" Barry inquired.
"What's going on?" Cisco shouted, his body fading away even more. "Where the hell am I?"
"Cisco!"
"It's the timeline," Harry announced.
Barry looked at him. "What? What are you talking about?"
"When you — when you captured Reverse Flash, we ruptured the timeline. That's what this — all the blood and the seizures and that and all — Cisco is being affected to — to — by the changes to the timeline. The changes to the past and the changes to the present — this is what this is. We need to do something. We need to do it fast."
"Like what?" Joe asked.
"We need to restore the timeline," Harry revealed. "Barry, Juliet, you need to get Reverse Flash and send him back to the future as quickly as possible."
Oh, just their luck. They had caught their greatest enemy, and now they had to let him go. Juliet loved her life.
"What?" Barry demanded. "Are you—"
"Barry," Harry insisted.
"I just caught him! You want me to let him go?"
"Keeping him here is killing Cisco!"
"Barry, if this is the only way we can save him, you got to do it!" Joe ordered. "You got to let go of Thawne!"
"I can't," Barry practically whimpered, his hands pressing into his head.
Juliet raised her hand. "Uh, I did a bad thing. When we got to Dr. McGee, I destroyed the tachyon drive in that speed machine. It'll be impossible to reach a speed necessary to get Thawne back to the future."
"You two can," Harry stated.
Barry blinked. "What?"
"Your speed coupled with Thawne's speed plus a push from Juliet, that'll be enough to catapult him through the time continuum. You can do it."
"Barry," Juliet called, and he turned to see that her eyes were filled with sadness. "We can't lose Cisco."
"All right," Barry agreed. "All right. Let's do it. Let's do it."
Harry went down to get Thawne out of the cell and explain what was happening. Juliet got back into her suit, and her and Barry went down to the pipeline. Thawne was leaning against the door to the Particle Accelerator, looking awfully smug. Juliet clenched her jaw in anger.
"I win again, Flash, Scarlet," Thawne taunted.
Juliet flicked her hand, making his head knock harshly to the side. "Shut the fuck up."
"All you have to do is provide him with enough momentum to get him past the space-time barrier," Harry explained. "The extra push from Juliet will help with that."
Barry nodded. "All right."
"Hey, listen to me. Thawne knows about you. Right here, right now. This is where he learns about you, all of you. It's how he knows about S.T.A.R. Labs, how he knows about me — the Harrison Wells from this Earth. And there's nothing I can do about it. There's nothing you can do about it. This is his origin story, and it's going to happen no matter what you do. But right here, right now . . . you can send him back to his time. You can save your friend. You can save Cisco and then move on with your life."
"This could be a good thing," Joe added. "You can finally let go of him."
"I could throw him three centuries from now, and he'll always be a part of me," Barry responded. He then turned and walked up to Thawne. "Time to send you back where you belong."
Juliet then raised her hand. Instantly, her mind connected to Thawne's. She didn't hold him in place like she usually did with others this time, though. It was just a connection in preparation for launching him. Juliet focused on her connection, red energy traveling between her fingers.
"We'll meet again soon, Flash and Scarlet," Thawne said.
"We know," Barry voiced. "And every time, we'll be ready for you."
Juliet tilted her head slightly at him. "Good riddance."
Thawne and Barry then sped off, a mixture of red and yellow lightning. Juliet stood on the platform, watching them run by her every second. Before her eyes, she watched a wormhole start to form in the Particle Accelerator, looking a lot like the one last year. Juliet then thrust her hand out at the same time as Barry threw him. At their combined pushes, Thawne flew through the air and into the wormhole, and it disappeared.
Juliet let out a breath of relief and lowered her hand. Barry then sped up next to her on the platform.
She shrugged. "Fuck him, honestly." Her eyes then widened. "Holy fuck, Cisco."
Juliet teleported them back up the cortex. When she entered the medbay, she saw that Cisco's body was solid again.
"He's gonna be okay," Caitlin announced.
"Oh, thank God," Juliet breathed out.
ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ
DUE TO A combination of everything that happened to his body, Cisco had stayed passed out all night. Caitlin had cleaned the blood off of his face as well so he looked normal now, which was a relief. It wasn't until the next morning when he woke up.
Cisco groaned. "My head feels like it's in a vise. What happened?"
"I think you vibed one too many dimensions," Harry answered.
"Maybe I should stop doing that."
Joe laughed. "Yeah, he's gonna be fine."
Cisco slowly sat up. "How did you, um . . . get the vibing to stop?"
"We sent Thawne back to his time."
Cisco looked over at Juliet and Barry. "You let him go?"
Juliet smiled at him. "You're way too important, Cisco. There's no way we were letting him take away another person."
"Thank you."
"Of course," Barry replied.
"Okay, I think I need a Big Belly Burger," Harry admitted. "Anyone?"
"I'm good, thank you."
Joe pointed at him. "Yeah, no pickles."
"Two triple triples, please," Cisco added.
"Fries and a Sprite would be lovely," Juliet said.
Harry glanced at them. "You got money?"
"Mmm," Cisco hummed.
"Rest up, all right?" Barry instructed. "J and I will be out here."
Juliet narrowed her eyes at him as they walked into the cortex. "You're going to eat about half of my fries, aren't you?"
Barry wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her in close. "You know me too well, gorgeous."
〖 ϟ 〗
me cutting patty out of this story like she was nothing bc she was practically nothing for this plot <3 bye girlie I'll miss you queen