⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
always an angel, never a god

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

THE STORIES ALWAYS depicted that the heroes would someday fall. Juliet, unfortunately, had seen it happen before her very eyes. But hearing the news that Laurel Lance had died due to the hands of Damien Darkh, it kind of . . . stunned her.

Unfortunately, Barry and her had missed most of the funeral, due to another attack on the city. Juliet teleported there in a black dress, holding Barry's hand, who was wearing a black suit. They found Oliver standing by the recently dug grave surrounded by flowers, staring down at it blankly. Juliet frowned and walked up to him with Barry. Once they were by him, Oliver glanced over. Juliet could see the sadness and fury in his eyes.

"We're sorry we missed the funeral," Barry said.

"Zoom?" Oliver guessed.

"Yeah."

"There was a time I would have thought this was my fault, that I brought this darkness upon us, but now I I know it's not my fault. It's my responsibility."

"Responsibility to do what?" Barry asked.

"To end it," Oliver answered. "I'm gonna kill him."

Juliet just stared at him. She couldn't blame him for that. After all, the second she found out Zolomon was pretending to be their friend as Jay and turned out to be Zoom, she swore she was going to kill him. And this was Laurel they were talking about. It was the same rage, even more heightened, then from when Ronnie died.

"Ollie," Juliet began softly. "This guy's magic. If you want me to fight magic with magic—"

"No," Oliver interrupted swiftly. "I have to kill him. It needs to be me."

Juliet nodded. "Okay."

"Is there anything we can do?" Barry questioned.

"I want to be left alone," Oliver admitted.

Juliet reached over and squeezed his arm. "Take care of yourself, Ollie." She let go. "We'll be here when you need."

And with that, she teleported her and Barry away, leaving Oliver to soak in his vengeance.

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THE CITY WAS on fire.

And Juliet meant that literally. Fires everywhere, fights everywhere, Earth-Two Metahumans everywhere. They attacked the city on an actual rampage — well, that was until Juliet and Barry stepped in, taking all of the Metas into custody and stopping all of the fires.

At the very end, Juliet was totally exhausted. Yet Barry, on the other hand, was as chipper as ever. They went up the elevator of S.T.A.R. Labs with Iris, who had just gotten off of her shift.

"We usually take these guys down one at a time, not one hundred at a time," Barry stated.

"And yet, you don't seem overwhelmed," Iris commented.

"I know we can do it."

"I want a nap, though," Juliet admitted. "Or maybe a full eight hours of sleep."

Cisco suddenly ran down the hallway, looking panicked. "Guys, you have to come see this."

Juliet ran after him. "What do you—"

She entered the cortex, only for her eyes to immediately widen. Sitting on one of the stools, still in the same clothes she was in when Zoom took her, was none other than Caitlin.

"Caitlin?" Barry inquired.

"She's in shock," Henry reported. "A little dehydrated and malnourished, but I think she'll be fine."

Caitlin nodded. "I'm okay."

"Oh, Cait, what happened to you?" Juliet asked. "How'd you escape?"

"He . . . let me go. I didn't think he would, I thought it was a trap. But . . ." She looked to Barry, tears rolling down her cheeks. "He told me you were dead."

"I'm not," Barry insisted. "I'm right here. We're all here, together."

"Snow," Harry voiced. "Jay's not here. You're safe."

Caitlin shook her head. "He's gonna overrun the city. You can't stop him."

"Yes, we can," Barry argued. "Listen to me, he's not going to succeed. We've got this. This is our Earth."

"You don't know that. You don't know what he is capable of."

"I know from being in the Speed Force that the universe is with us, not Zoom. And if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose?" He looked back at them. "Right, guys?"

And . . . there it was. Ever since Barry had come back from the Speed Force, he had been practically convinced that he was invincible. Juliet didn't know what it was about it, but he was so certain that they were going to win. But Caitlin was right — given all those Metas, they didn't have a clue on what Zoom was going to do.

"Yeah, yeah, right," Jesse quickly agreed.

Barry looked up at Caitlin. "You've been through a lot. You should get some rest, come on."

Caitlin allowed him to help her up. "You were in the Speed Force?"

Barry then led Caitlin over to the medbay while explaining what happened to him. Juliet sighed, pushing some of her hair back away from her face.

"Okay, I'm gonna say it," Cisco announced. "Um, we don't think he's just being a little too—"

"Overconfident?" Iris finished. "Yeah, maybe it was his time in the Speed Force. I mean, he's acting like he's invincible now or something."

"Yeah, like nothing fazes him anymore, which isn't—" Henry began.

"Realistic, no," Harry said. "Somebody need to talk to him before letting his guard down gets him hurt or worse."

"I mean, he did bring me out of my coma," Jesse reminded them. "That's bound t make someone a little overly chipper."

"Well, like I said, somebody needs to talk to him."

Instantly, all of the heads turned to Juliet.

"Yeah, okay, it's always fucking me," Juliet stated. "I'll work on it, but there's no guarantee he'll listen. Especially not with the Speed Force God in his ear."

After a while, Henry, Harry, Jesse, and Iris all dispersed. Meanwhile, Juliet and Cisco went into the medbay to check up on Barry and Caitlin. Caitlin was fully asleep in the bed while Barry sat in the chair next to her, a mug of coffee in his hands. Juliet crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, staring at Caitlin's sleeping figure.

"Hey," Barry greeted softly.

"She's out like a light, huh?" Cisco questioned.

"Yeah. Jay really did a number on her."

"It's not like he exactly used kid gloves on the rest of us."

"She'll be okay," Barry insisted. "She just needs time. And for us to finally bring Zoom down, which we will."

"Yeah, because the universe is with us, right?" Cisco inquired. "Listen, man . . ."

He suddenly froze, his eyes widening. Juliet stared at him for a moment until he gasped, coming out of his vibe.

She nodded to him. "That was obviously a vibe, so what'd you see?"

"I saw a bird," Cisco replied. "Like, a dead bird."

The computer suddenly started beeping with an alert. Juliet pushed herself off the doorframe and turned, walking into the cortex. On the map on one of the screens clearly pinpointed a place in Central City.

"Mercury Labs," Barry said.

"It's under attack," Cisco added.

"Let's go," Juliet voiced.

She got into her suit before teleporting to Mercury Labs. When she got there, the whole building was collapsing. From what, Juliet didn't know. She went inside, and amidst all the chaos, she got the remaining members out. Once she was done, she teleported back outside, just in time for Barry to run out with Dr. McGee. Together, the two heroes and all of the workers watched as Mercy Labs crumbled to the ground.

Dr. McGee looked to them. "Thank you, Mr. Allen and Miss St. James." Juliet's eyes widened and she looked over at her. "I'm not stupid."

Well, shit.

They took Dr. McGee, who was still shaken up, back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet took off her mask, because there was no real point of hiding herself now.

"So how did you know?" Barry inquired.

"Your real identities?" Dr. McGee responded.

"Yeah."

"Come on, Barry, I'm a scientist. We're paid to be perceptive. And you two were always a little too well informed when things go pear-shaped in this city." She then looked to Henry. "But I don't believe we've ever met before. Dr. Christina McGee."

Henry shook her hand. "Dr. Henry Allen. I'm Barry's father."

"Okay, now that the cat's out of the bag, did you happen to see who it was that caused your building to collapse?" Barry asked.

"I didn't see anything," Dr. McGee admitted. "It happened so fast."

"Maybe the security cameras caught something?" Caitlin suggested.

"Can we access them?" Henry questioned.

"Mercury Labs does have a Crash-Survivable Memory Unit," Dr. McGee answered.

"A what?"

"Virtually a black box for buildings. It will have stored all the security footage right up until the building collapsed."

"Barry and I will go see if we can find it," Juliet offered. "This wasn't just a random Metahuman attack. Whenever somebody attacks Mercury Labs, they always have a specific reason."

"Yeah, someone's after something," Cisco agreed.

"Yes, and that someone is probably Zoom," Caitlin added.

"There may be one more possibility," Dr. McGee revealed. "A few months ago, I saw Harrison Wells running out of my facility. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm certain it was him. Is there any way he could have anything to do with this?"

All of them shared awkward looks. Harry.

Harry, as if on cue, walked in. "A few months ago? Sure. Now? No."

"Yeah, there are a few more things that we could catch you up on, Dr. McGee," Barry told her.

Juliet and Barry left Dr. McGee with the others to tell her everything that happened. They searched under the rubble of Mercury Labs until Juliet ultimately found a black box — in fact, it was the only in-tact thing from the collapse, so it had to be it. Juliet then teleported back into the cortex, landing there the same time Barry sped in.

She held it up. "I think we found it."

"That's the one," Dr. McGee confirmed.

"All right, great," Barry commented. "Dad, Dr. McGee, Cisco. Why don't you guys crack this open, see what you can find?"

"Sure," Cisco said.

"We'll go see what kind of Metahuman powers can take down a building like that and how to stop it," Harry replied.

Barry nodded. "Great."

Jesse followed after Harry. "Sounds like fun."

"All right, J and I are gonna go see if Joe needs any help in the streets. Everybody cool here? Should be a piece of cake, right?"

Juliet's eyebrows knit in thought as she walked out. "Barry, hold on for a moment."

Barry turned to her for a moment. "Yes? We have to—"

"Joe can wait for a second." She stopped in the elevator lobby, crossing her arms across her chest. "You told us that the Speed Force changed the way you see things, but . . . you seem optimistic. Like, extremely optimistic, even with all of the chaos happening right now. Did you see the future or something?"

"Not this time. What I was shown in the Speed Force didn't just change my mind, it changed me. I don't know — what you're seeing as optimism is, for the first time, I'm just not afraid anymore."

"I understand that, I really do. But, baby . . . I know we take risks every single day, but be careful."

"What do you mean?" Barry asked. His eyes then widened slightly and he backed up away from her. "J, I don't — why are you trying to take something from me that I fought so hard to get to?"

Juliet watched him for a moment. "Barry, I'm not taking anything from you, I promise. Listen, we have been through so much shit ever since we started doing this." She stepped towards him. "I believe in you, one hundred percent. Just like I know you believe in me."

"I know. And I'm fine, okay?" He reached up and put his gloved hands over her face. "Thank you for worrying about me."

She gave him a small smile. "Worried girlfriend is my full-time job."

"I love you." Barry leaned down and kissed her for a moment. "But I'm fine."

She didn't really believe him, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

The alert sound then beeped overhead of them. Juliet glanced up at the red flashing lights before turning around and running towards the cortex, Barry right behind her. The first thing she saw when she entered was everyone congregated around a screen. Juliet moved around the desk of computers, only to see that fires were making the shape of Barry's Flash symbol.

"What is that?" Barry questioned.

"It's CCPD," Cisco answered.

"Zoom."

"Barry, don't do it," Henry protested.

He didn't listen. Barry sped off in a flash of yellow lightning.

"Oh my fucking God," Juliet let out.

Henry looked at her pleadingly. "Jules."

"Already on it. I'll be back."

Juliet then teleported to CCPD. She went to the first place she could think of — her and Barry's lab. Zolomon was standing by the crime scene board that Barry had made to solve the murder of his mother while Barry was standing in the doorway. Meanwhile, she was right behind Barry's desk in the middle of them.

Zolomon looked at her. "Julie. So nice of you to join us."

"Don't call me that," Juliet replied swiftly.

"I know you didn't call me up here just to banter," Barry stated. "Let's finish this. Right now."

"Actually, I did," Zolomon revealed. "I called you up here to tell you you can't keep running from one Meta to the next. Around and around, like a dog chasing its tail."

"I'll do whatever it takes to stop you."

"If only that were good enough. 'Cause here's the thing — I know you. I know you, I know what's holding you back. You and me . . . we're really just the same person."

Juliet raised her eyebrows. "You think Barry's a stone-cold murderer? Yeah, okay."

"You'll see. You'll both see. We are. Same tragic background. Same reason for running. Same desire to be the fastest, to be the best. The difference? You think your anger is dirty somehow. You want to be seen as pure, the hero. Doesn't it get exhausting? Doesn't it get exhausting, Barry? It was exhausting playing Jay, believe me."

Barry stared at him. "I'm not pretending."

His body charged up with electricity, but there was a sudden rumbling in the distance. Juliet looked out the window in the direction of the sound, straightening up in high alert. The building right across from them was shaking, about to collapse.

"Now, if it were me, I'd let that building tumble without a second thought," Zolomon voiced. "But you, you'll never let that happen, will you? That's why I'm gonna beat you, Barry. And you too, Juliet. Because you two always have to be the hero. And while you're playing the good little kids . . . I'll be busy winning."

Barry then sped off. Juliet glared at Zolomon as he smirked and wrenched her hand to the side, making him fly head-first into the wall in the hallway. She walked up to him and kicked his head, sending him tumbling down to the floor when he tried to get up.

"Fuck you," Juliet said.

She then teleported away, going to be the hero again. After saving everyone, the two went back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

"We can't let Zoom destroy another building," Barry insisted. "We need to take him down. Now."

"And how do you propose we do that with an army of Metahumans laying waste to Central City?" Harry inquired. "We couldn't stop Zoom on my Earth. What makes us different?"

"We're a team. We start with the Metahumans, they're his armor. We take them down first, then Zoom's more vulnerable."

"Barry, we don't even know how many of his minions there are," Caitlin argued.

"There could be hundreds, a thousand," Iris added.

"And all of them, they're all working with different powers," Cisco agreed.

"It could take weeks to track them all down," Joe stated.

"Guys, we don't have weeks," Barry protested. "So what we need to do is come up with a way to stop them all at once."

"Again — how?" Harry asked.

"Cisco, your goggles, your camera, they didn't work on Earth-Two, right?"

"Yeah, it was a whole different frequency," Cisco confirmed.

"And — and the way you took down the Time Wraiths, that was based on frequency. Hartley's entire shtick . . ."

Cisco stood up. "I think I'm smelling what you're stepping in."

"Yeah," Harry said.

"So basically, we create some vibrational tech that can take down the Earth-Two Metas."

Barry grinned. "Basically."

"Oh, I gotcha," Harry responded.

Cisco smiled. "Me too."

"I'll help," Caitlin offered.

"I'll let you know if I hear anything from CCPN," Iris announced.

Juliet smiled at her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"You guys . . ." Barry called before they all left. "We got this."

Juliet and Joe shared a look. She shrugged, saying I tried, your turn, before walking into the medbay to keep herself busy. If this thing actually worked, it could change everything — but she had a feeling Barry's optimism was still getting in the way.

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this took me so long to write wtf