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𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥
CHAPTER FORTY
no boyfriend, no sleep, no
happiness
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THE ROOM WAS stuck in a stunned, and extremely melancholy, stretch of silence. Juliet breathed heavily from how she was still knelt on the floor by Barry's ripped up suit, surrounded by shards of broken glass. That expel of energy — definitely caused by her emotions — had taken a lot out of her. She had never done something like that before, but the pain of losing Barry was enough to cause something that catastrophic.
"Barry, he's gone," Iris let out, sunken into the arms of her father.
"Harry, you . . ." Juliet trailed off, her voice hoarse from the screen. A tear dripped down her cheek, and she felt like she couldn't fucking breathe. "Harry, you promised it would be fine."
"This wasn't su — I didn't — I'm so sorry," Harry said.
"We lost him," Henry added.
"No, no, no, no, he — he could've got knocked somewhere or maybe even run there," Cisco insisted, climbing up on the platform. He typed for a moment on the computer. "Nothing on the GPS."
"There were strikes all over the building," Harry stated before connecting to the comms. "Jesse, come down here, please." However, there was absolutely no response. "Jesse? Wally?"
Once again, silence. Harry, Iris, Joe immediately ran out of the room. Juliet, however, stayed there. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't go anywhere. It was like she was stuck in a loop of horror, not quite sure how she got there and not quite sure how to leave.
Cisco approached her carefully, kneeling down beside her. "JJ."
"Remember — remember when we first fought Zoom, and Barry got all beat up?" Juliet asked quietly, and Cisco nodded. "I thought he was dead then. The sight of his body . . ." She shook her head, more tears rapidly flowing out of her eyes. "This is worse. At least I could see him then."
"Henry, Wells' daughter is upstairs," Joe announced, running back into the room. "The energy hit her too." Henry said nothing and just continued to stare ahead. "Her heart stopped beating. Henry!"
He snapped out of it, running his hands down his face and standing up. "All right."
Juliet then watched as Cisco reached his hand out, almost hesitantly, to Barry's suit. He placed his hand upon it, and just like always when he vibed, he froze, his eyes going slightly out of focus. Juliet sniffled and watched him carefully until he gasped, coming back to himself.
"I saw him!" Cisco exclaimed. "I saw Barry. He's alive."
Her eyes slightly widened, suddenly feeling like she could breathe a little easier. "He's alive?"
Cisco nodded, reaching out and taking her hands. "He's alive, JJ."
"Oh, thank God." She practically fell forwards in relief, collapsing into Cisco's arms and hugging him tight. "Thank you."
He rubbed her back. "I've got you, JJ."
After a couple moments, Juliet pulled away. She gave Cisco a soft smile before standing up and wiping the tears off of her face. Juliet then looked back towards the others and gave them a single nod. Together, her, Cisco, Joe, and Henry went back upstairs to the cortex. Harry was standing in the medbay, looking over Jesse, who was unconscious in the hospital bed.
"Cisco says Barry's still alive," Henry announced. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," Harry answered quietly.
"Harry, I vibed him in the center of a storm," Cisco explained. "It was, like, in, like, a vortex or something."
He froze. "He's in—" Harry then turned around to face them. "He's in the Speed Force."
Henry stepped towards him. "Get him out, damn it."
"I—"
"You can get him out, can't you?"
"I don't know if I can," Harry insisted.
"Henry," Joe interjected. "Come here." Henry then walked over to them with a sigh, and Joe lowered his voice. "Listen, you are the only one that can help Jesse. Let me sit on Wells till he figures out what the hell he did to Barry, and we can get him back."
"Joe, I know you love Barry, okay?" Henry said. "But you have Iris, and you have Wally, and you have Juliet, and you have Noelle. Barry's all I have left."
"I promise. We'll find him."
Juliet let out a deep breath, pushing some of her hair back with her fingers away from her face. It had been a long, long day. But she couldn't sleep. Not without Barry here, and not without being the city's only superhero. She had to push forwards, no matter how hard it was.
Coffee would help. Probably.
Iris then came back after dropping off Wally. "How're you holding up, Jules? Dad texted me that Barry was alive, but . . ."
Juliet shrugged. "As good as I can be with my boyfriend disappearing." She rubbed her eye for a moment. "He's apparently in the Speed Force, and since we don't know how to get him out, I just feel . . . stuck."
They then turned back to the scene on hand. Harry was examining Jesse, making sure she was okay. Unlike Wally, she still hadn't woken up from that energy blast and from her heart stopping.
"Thank God you're here," Cisco stated. "Caitlin's usually the one doing this, but . . ."
"Heart rate's normal," Henry reported. "Reflexes and breathing are fine. She should be waking up. She's just not."
"It was the same with Juliet and Barry," Iris admitted, and Juliet looked over at her, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. "Um, after the first accident, they were in comas that no one could explain."
"What did you do with them?"
"So, they brought them here — well, Wells brought them here," Cisco added.
"The other Wells," Iris clarified.
"Right, the Wells who was actually Thawne."
"Eobard, not Eddie."
"Right," Cisco voiced.
"It's — it's complicated," Iris continued. "Anyway, we took care of Barry and Juliet while Wells — Thawne — treated him."
"Are there any records of that treatment?" Henry questioned. "We might find clues how to help Jesse."
"Uh, yeah, they'd be downstairs in the storage room in the morgue," Cisco responded.
Iris looked at him. "Ew, you guys have a morgue?"
"Well, it's not like a morgue morgue. It's not — it's like a poor man's morgue, really. Morgue-ish."
"Would one of you go get them, please?" Henry inquired.
Cisco nodded. "Okay, well, I'm not going alone."
Juliet sighed. "All right, Cisco, come on."
He gasped. "Scarlet the savior."
"That's my name, don't wear it out. 'Ris?"
"And why would I go down there?" Iris argued.
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Because you always drag me into things, and now it's my turn?"
Iris' eyes narrowed. "I hate that you're right."
"Of course I am."
Iris and Cisco grabbed flashlights, while Juliet ignited her palm with red energy. They went all the way down the storage room, and Juliet led the way into a place that was definitely an official morgue. There were the chemicals and tools everywhere.
"Okay, so it's a morgue morgue," Cisco corrected. "But, you know, we had to keep the dead Metahumans somewhere."
Iris looked at the tools and picked up a long scalpel. "Yeah, looks like you did a lot more than just store them."
"Fake Wells might've done a few dissections for study purposes."
Juliet looked around. "Considering Gideon said that Thawne wanted to experiment on me, I'm just now realizing that this should've been a sign."
Iris nodded in agreement. "And this didn't tip any of you off that he might be secretly evil?"
"It was a crazy time, okay?" Cisco protested. "We had a lot going on." He then looked at the computer. "I'll tell you what, it's a good thing Thawne was so organized."
Iris looked up when there was a loud thud and a clutter sound. "Would you stop knocking stuff over?"
"You stop. I didn't touch anything."
"Okay, whatever you say."
Cisco typed for a moment. "Okay, this is it. This is Barry and Juliet's ex-file."
Suddenly, the metal door on the wall crashed to the ground. Juliet jumped in surprise, and her head whipped towards it, suddenly on high alert. Once she saw what it was, her eyes widened completely. It was Tony Woodward, their old bully who had gotten the power to turn into metal. That situation had been a crazy one, but what was even crazier was that Tony had died during that whole power outage at S.T.A.R. Labs. Yet here he was, alive, and honestly looking like a zombie.
Juliet stared at him blankly. "Oh my fuck."
"A zombie?" Cisco asked. "For real?"
He backed up towards them as Tony knocked over a whole shelf of materials in anger.
"Tony?" Iris let out.
"Nope, not Tony — not anymore," Cisco replied. "Get behind me."
Iris pushed her way forwards. "You get behind me."
"Or how about I go in front?" Juliet offered, stepping in front of the two of them. "I am a superhero, mind you."
Tony let out a grunt of anger and knocked another table over. Juliet raised her hand, her energy being the brightest thing in the room.
"Tony!" Iris exclaimed.
He turned away from Juliet's energy and the flashlights, almost like it was burning him. Tony then suddenly looked up and saw himself in the mirror, his distorted face contorting into a shocked expression. He screamed and knocked the mirror away before running off. Juliet watched him go, honestly just lost.
"Anybody else confused?" Juliet questioned.
"Didn't see that one coming," Cisco agreed.
Iris shook her head. "No."
"Zombie Girder. This . . ."
Yeah, this definitely wasn't good. Girder had run off so fast that Juliet didn't even know what was going on, but all she did know is that they couldn't have a zombie running the streets. Especially since he was so angry and could turn into metal.
Instantly, Juliet turned and held out her hands to the others. Iris and Cisco immediately got her message and grabbed them. Juliet concentrated on the three of them, and instantly, the familiar tingling feeling spread throughout her body. Within a second, they were standing in the cortex.
"We've got a new problem," Cisco announced. "Our Accelerator experiment seems to have reanimated one of the dead Metas in our morgue."
"Reanimated, like brought back to life?" Joe inquired.
"Life-ish. You ever seen The Walking Dead? It's The Walking Dead, but without higher brain function and with major rage issues. Still unsure if our brains are on the menu, though."
"Which one?"
"Tony Woodward," Iris responded.
"The bully from school who turned into the metal man?" Joe asked.
Juliet sighed — the thought of her being eleven years old and getting shoved up against those lockers, or the sight of Barry's bloodied body from him, wasn't really something she wanted to relive. "Unfortunately."
"That's not good, Cisco."
"History repeats itself," Harry interrupted from his chair, where he was sitting next to Jesse. "First as tragedy and then as farce."
Joe walked up to him. "Wells, as a parent, believe me, I have nothing but sympathy for what you're going through. Listen to me closely when I say to you, we got a lot of fires burning at the same time, and if we all work together, we just might be able to put them out. Let Henry take care of your daughter. Me and Juliet and Iris will handle this Girder situation, but you and Cisco are the scientists. You're the only one who can bring Barry back from wherever the hell he is right now."
"Ramon . . . give those medical records to Henry, and meet me in the Breach Room in five minutes." He stood up and put his glasses back on. "We've got work to do."
Juliet grabbed Cisco's arm for a moment. "Keep me updated, will you?"
Cisco instantly nodded. "And if we need more science, you're the first person we're calling."
She gave him a soft smile and let him go. "Good luck."
Joe then turned to her and Iris. "Now we just need to find Tony."
"Yeah, hopefully before he kills someone," Iris added.
"He won't," Juliet stated. "Not if I can help it. Let's roll."
They searched on the computers for a moment, but there was nothing really popping up. Finally, after a while, Juliet just decided to go downstairs and check on Cisco and Harry. Her, Iris, Joe, and Henry went to the Breach Room, but the sounds of commotion and electricity got louder and louder. She entered, only for her eyes to widen. Right in the middle of the room was a swirling cloud mixed with lightning bolts. From inside the loudness of the storm, she could hear Cisco yelling.
"What is going on in here?" Iris questioned.
"Just hang on a little longer, Ramon, a little longer," Harry instructed.
"Harry, no," Juliet voiced firmly. "We've already lost Barry, we cannot lose him, too. Get him out, you're killing him."
He pulled the plugs. Immediately, the whole storm went away. Cisco doubled over inside the same contraption Barry had been in, breathing heavily. Juliet shook her head and walked up to it.
"Cisco, you okay?" Juliet inquired, and he nodded.
"I saw him," Cisco revealed, trying to catch his breath. "Barry, he turned to me. I'm sorry. I lost him."
Juliet's heart sank. No, no, no — Barry still had to be alive, he had to be. She lowered her head, feeling tears prick at the back of her eyes again. But, if Barry was still in that storm, and Cisco saw him, that meant he must still be in there.
She knew she wouldn't rest until she got her boy back.
Juliet, Iris, Joe, and Henry went back upstairs. She immediately collapsed in one of the chairs, tying her hair up messily and putting her chin in the palm of her hand. Her tiredness was increasing, both from physical and emotional exhaustion. All she wanted was Barry and sleep, but here she was, with neither.
"Woah, Cisco's Metahuman alert app is going crazy," Iris commented. "Oh, Tony just trashed the hell out of Jitters."
"Now, that is strange," Joe noted. "He knocks over a hydrant on Fourth and Stevenson, doesn't go in the building, then smashes a Humvee in front of the Big Belly Burger, but doesn't go in the building. Gets to CC Jitters, he actually goes in."
"Yeah, it's like Jitters was his target, but why?" Iris asked.
"When I was in Iron Heights awaiting trial, I had a cellmate who always swore he was gonna break out," Henry said. "At a pre-trial hearing, he stole a deputy's gun and escaped in a police cruiser. There's a point to this, Joe, I promise. Now, the poor, dumb bastard could have gone anywhere, right? But he was apprehended two hours later. Do you know why? 'Cause he went to his old girlfriend's house looking for her."
"So you think that's what Tony's doing, even in the state he's in now?" Joe questioned.
"I think people are creatures of habit, sometimes at a level stronger than conscious thought."
Juliet's eyes suddenly widened, the realization striking her mind. "Iris."
Iris turned to her. "What?"
"You." Juliet stood up from her chair, walking over to her best friend. "Tony went to Jitters for you. Remember when you called me, all shaken up? You said he flirted with you. Then he went after you, he kidnapped you . . . and now he's after you. Again."
"So, when he was after you the first time, where'd you see him next, after Jitters?" Henry inquired.
"Home," Joe stated, pointing to Iris. "He came to our house when he took you. Wally's there now."
"No, no, dad, this is good," Iris insisted. "We know where he is, and we know what he wants. That means we know how to beat him."
"How do you propose we do that?"
"We use me as bait to lure him back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Jules can kill him . . . again."
Juliet raised her hand. "Just to be clear, I didn't kill him the first time. That was all Thawne. And it's going to be a hell of a lot harder to kill him when he's metal. I'm gonna need Harry and Cisco's help."
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HEYYYYY GUYSSSS there's only five more chapters AHAHAHAHA I'm fine