⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER TWENTY
'tis the damn season

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

THE LAST THING Juliet wanted to see when she walked into the cortex was James Jesse on the screen, wearing a red and green plaid suit with a bowtie and a sparkly red Christmas bow.

"Oh, God," Juliet complained. "At least warn a girl first."

"Citizens, you know, the holidays can be a time for gentle reflection on the year past," Jesse said. "Our ups and downs, our triumphs and heartaches, but don't forget, it can also be a time for disemboweling our enemies."

"We don't have a Trickster on Earth-Two," Jay stated.

"He's one of a kind," Caitlin replied.

"No," Jesse continued. "My stocking won't be completely stuffed until it's filled to the brim with bloody Flash and Scarlet parts. So what do you say, speed freak, and just freak? You want to roast chestnuts?"

Juliet frowned. "He called me a freak."

"J," Barry lightly scolded. "Are there any clues as to where he is based on the video?"

"None that I can see," Cisco answered, sitting down in one of the rolling chairs in front of a computer.

"Guys, there's a reflection of something in his cornea, see?" Jay voiced.

Juliet stepped closer to the screen. Cisco zoomed in on Jesse's eyes, and sure enough, there was indeed a reflection. It kind of looked like a children's toy.

"What is that?" Barry asked.

"Not sure," Caitlin responded.

Juliet squinted at it. "Is that a teddy bear wearing a bowtie?"

"That's Mr. Jiggle Wiggle," Harry revealed, making Juliet blink in shock.

"Come again?" Cisco questioned.

"It's a doll. A stuffed children's toy. I gave one to my daughter when she was six."

Cisco typed for a moment. "Mr. Jiggle Wiggle was manufactured by Okamura Toys . . . Yahtzee! Okamura once had a shipping facility in Central City that shut down four years ago. It's been abandoned ever since. What if Weather Wizard's there? The wand's not finished."

"Maybe not," Juliet replied, squeezing Barry's hand once before letting go. "The Trickster will be, though."

Juliet teleported into her suit before teleporting to the location. She landed in the building as Barry sped in next to her — it was definitely abandoned, but the horrifying toys the Trickster had made were scattered around. Juliet turned, only for a flashlight to shine right in her eyes. She blinked a couple times before she finally saw none other than Patty standing there, her gun and flashlight drawn. Juliet's eyes widened a little, and she allowed her eyes to turn red so she would be less recognizable.

"What are you doing here?" Barry demanded, vibrating his vocal cords so his voice echoed.

"Same thing as you two," Patty responded. "Trying to catch a murderer."

"Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel," a nearby creepy doll sang, making Juliet's head whip over towards it. "I made it out of clay."

"We can't let Christmas hog all the holiday fun!" Jesse's voice exclaimed over the song. "Happy Hanukkah!"

At once, hundreds of tiny dreidels came out of boxes. They spun fast towards them, practically acting on their own accord.

"Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of C-four! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!"

Juliet's eyes widened further. The dreidels spun faster and faster, probably meaning that they were about to explode. She immediately held out her hands, red energy traveling from her hands up and down her arms. At once, all the dreidels stopped, succumbing to Juliet's control. A blanket of red energy seemed to cover the floor, lighting up the dark warehouse.

"I am afraid we are definitely looking at closed casket funerals," Jesse continued.

"Is there a path you can run?" Juliet inquired, making her voice echo as well.

Barry shook his head. "Not one that I can see."

"Okay. Both of you, hold onto me." Juliet felt Barry and Patty place their hands on her shoulders. "I'm gonna let go of the dreidels, and then I'm gonna teleport us out of here."

"But we'll only have, like—" Barry began.

"A second, I know," Juliet finished. She glanced back at Patty. "This might feel weird."

Juliet took a deep breath. She lowered her hands back down to her sides. Juliet then let go of her concentration, extinguishing all of the red energy inside of the warehouse. She immediately focused on herself, Barry, and Patty, and the familiar tingling sensation of her teleportation ran throughout her body. Juliet brought them outside, just in time for all of the dreidels to explode back in the warehouse. She turned, her shoulders sagging in relief as she watched fire shine through the windows and a cloud of smoke billow towards the sky.

"Detective," Barry protested when Patty started to walk away towards her car.

"It was all just a trap for you two," Patty announced. "Mardon and Jesse aren't even here. They're still on the loose."

"How did you know this was the place?" Juliet called.

"Because there was a reflection in Jesse's eye of Mr. Jiggle Wiggle. And that's the thing that my dad bought — it doesn't even matter."

"That's why you came here alone without any backup?" Barry urged. "Because of your father?"

"You don't know anything about me," Patty insisted.

"Maybe not, but this was reckless," Juliet told her as gently as she could. "You could've gotten hurt."

Patty stepped closer to hem, tears shining in her eyes. "Except Mardon didn't kill my father. I did. See, he had a little shoe shop, and we didn't have any money, so I worked there after school. Except one day, I decided not to show up, because I was being stupid and silly with my friends. I didn't even call to tell him that I was ditching. So he brought the deposits to the bank, not me. He was shot and killed by Mardon, not me."

"That's why you became a cop," Barry realized. "Joined the Metahuman task force."

"It'll be legal when I kill Mardon. I have made my whole life about getting justice for my father, even if it meant I didn't have a life." She let out a choked laugh. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

Juliet, through the shadows, gave her a tiny smile. "Sometimes, things are a lot easier to say when you're talking to someone without a face."

"Thank you for saving me," Patty said.

"You know, even if you get this guy that wronged you, it doesn't always make things better," Barry stated.

"It has to be better than this."

Patty then got in her car. She turned it on and drove around the two heroes standing in the road. Juliet let out a sigh, turning to watch the car drive further and further. Sure, things might've been weird between her and Patty ever since she tried to give Barry her phone number and then so eagerly tried to make it up to Juliet, but she's seen from first hand experience with Barry how anger can blind a person. Patty wasn't thinking straight, and Juliet wasn't quite sure how to fix it.

ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ

CISCO HAD FINISHED the wand, and Barry said it looked eerily familiar, which was definitely a good sign, because it meant it would work. Juliet was pacing around the cortex — it was officially Christmas, and instead of preparing for her sister's arrival, she was preparing for a showdown between Weather Wizard and the Trickster.

Barry pointed at the screen when it suddenly beeped, centralizing on a location. "What's that? Is that Mardon?"

"That's definitely him," Cisco confirmed. "Atmospheric pressure just dropped two-hundred hectopascals."

"Where?"

"Central City Square."

"The tree lighting ceremony," Caitlin remembered.

Juliet sighed. "There's a shit ton of people there." She glanced up at her boyfriend. "C'mon."

Barry walked forwards and grabbed the wand Cisco had made. Juliet got back into her suit and teleported to the top of the building where Mardon was. She looked up to see Mardon standing carelessly on the ledge of the building. He didn't seemed shocked at all by Juliet and Barry's sudden appearance.

"Oh, glad to see you," Mardon told them. "Maybe you can help me."

"Help get back into a jail cell?" Barry guessed. "That'll be our pleasure, Mark."

"No. No, see, I'm trying to decide if I should kill everybody down there with a deadly hail storm, or — little trickier, with acid rain. What do you think?"

"I'm thinking neither, if I'm being completely honest," Juliet admitted.

Barry raised the wand. "You see this wand here? Guess what?"

Mardon didn't want to listen. He just spread his arms and fell gracefully off of the building. Juliet's eyes widened and she ran to the ledge, expecting to see him fall to his death. That definitely wasn't the case, because Mardon had righted himself and was using the air to fly. Juliet stared at him in shock.

"Um . . . guys?" Barry began. "He's flying."

"He can fly?" Caitlin asked. "Since when can he fly?"

"Well, he's using his powers to alter the air pressure around him to create pockets of updraft that can—" Cisco explained.

"No, he can fly," Harry interjected.

"Barry, Juliet, get him," Jay instructed.

Juliet sighed. "I'm on it."

She focused on the street right under Mardon, which was close to the square and where the crowd was. In fact, it was right overhead. Juliet teleported in the midst of the crowd and lifted her hand up towards the sky, making Mardon immediately stop in midair. Barry then sped in next to her. Juliet let her concentration drop, and he lifted the wand up before Mardon could get away again. The wand sucked in all of the wind that Mardon had been using. He immediately fell to the ground, rolling and groaning in pain. At once, the crowd started to scream and run away from them.

"You didn't really think we'd let you hurt all these people, did you?" Barry questioned loudly.

Mardon pushed himself up off the ground. "No, of course not, but bet you're gonna let me hurt you two."

Juliet suddenly heard a whirring sound. Her eyebrows knit in confusion, and she looked down to see a box wrapped in green wrapping paper with a red ribbon tied around it wheel up to her and stop by her feet.

"Feliz Navidad!" Jesse exclaimed, and Juliet looked to see him sitting in a Santa outfit on the chair where the kids met Santa. She suddenly got an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. "Time for a real war on Christmas."

"What is this?" Barry inquired.

"That is a box with a bomb in it," Mardon answered.

"Yup, I've handed out about a hundred of them today," Jesse added, reclining back in the chair with a candy cane. Juliet stared at him, her jaw clenching. "It feels so good to give."

"You see, right now, there are a hundred random children who've each taken home a box just like that one and are shoving it under their Christmas tree. There's no way for you both to get to all of them, even if you knew where to look."

Juliet's hand itched with energy, and she felt her mind spin — they were practically trapped. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"What, me?" Mardon countered. "Kill a hundred families? No, that's up to you two. I'm happy just to take your lives. So, this is how it's gonna be. You two are gonna stand there and let me end you both. Very publicly, and very painfully. And I'll let everybody live, but if I see even a little flicker of electricity on you, or a glimpse of red on you . . . the casket makers in this town are gonna have a very merry Christmas. So, Flash, Scarlet . . . what's it gonna be?" He extended his hand out. "Huh?"

Juliet and Barry shared a glance. They didn't even have to to know what the other was thinking. No way could they let a hundred families die over the two of them. Going into this whole superhero business, Juliet always had to be prepared to die — although she trusted everyone back at S.T.A.R. Labs to figure something out, it was still scary practically knocking on death's door. At least she had Barry by her side.

Barry handed Mardon the wand.

"There you go," Mardon said.

He then summoned an ice chunk in his hand. Juliet swallowed nervously, and Mardon used the air to send it flying. It flew right at her and made contact with her chest. Juliet grunted in pain as the ice hit her, and her body flew back until she landed on the ground.

"Scarlet!" Barry shouted.

Juliet pushed herself up onto her hands with a groan. "I can take it." Another ice chunk then hit her in the back, and she got knocked back down onto the ground. "Never mind, I can't take it."

Barry then got knocked back right next to her, also by an ice chunk. "Oh, wasn't expecting this."

"'Tis the damn season, I guess," Juliet replied.

Mardon then lifted up the wand to the sky. Thunder boomed and lightning crackled. He then swept his hand upwards, making Barry fly into the sky. Mardon swung the wand like a fucking baseball bat, and lightning hit Barry, making him fly off towards the street.

"No!" Juliet screamed. She then noticed Mardon glaring at her. "Oh, Jesus Christ."

Let's just say it wasn't fun being a baseball.

Juliet's body slammed onto the street next to Barry, slightly shrieking in pain. "I hate my life."

"Flash, Scarlet, you all right?" Mardon taunted. "You don't look so good. I know . . . I'll give you a jolt."

Juliet suddenly felt Barry's gloved hand grab hers. She held on tight as Mardon summoned a lightning bolt with one hand. It went through him, and came out of the other end with the wand. The lightning bolt forked into two, and Juliet felt it hit her right in the chest. She cried out in pain. Before she knew it, it was over. Juliet slumped back down onto the street, breathing heavily. Her entire body practically screamed at her and everything was going fuzzy.

Mardon let out a breath of content. "I'm done. They're all yours."

Jesse laughed evilly and kneeled next to them. "To think this city worships you!" He pulled out a sharp knife from his coat. "But, when I kill the Flash and Scarlet, they'll realize I'm the man who saved Central City!"

He put the knife closer to Juliet's heart. Juliet had no thoughts except fuck me fuck me fuck me when there were explosions in the distance, almost like fireworks.

Jesse froze and looked back at Mardon. "Was that you?"

"No, gut them!" Mardon ordered.

"All right! I'm gutting already."

"Barry, JJ, the bombs are gone," Cisco voiced.

Juliet pushed herself up onto her elbows, her eyes starting to glow red. "Now, come on. Did you really think you would win?"

Jesse's face fell. "Uh-oh."

She flicked her hand, sending Jesse flying away from her. Juliet then turned and flicked her hand again, bringing a string of lights towards her. Barry took them and swapped the wand for them. He sped off, tying Jesse to a nearby post with the string of lights. Juliet then pointed the wand at Mardon and turned it. At once, all the wind sucked towards the wand, and Mardon spun through the air before landing on the ground, utterly defeated. Barry skidded to a stop next to her, already obliging in a high-five from Juliet raising her hand.

A new police car suddenly drove onto the scene. Juliet instantly recognized it as Patty's, which probably wasn't good. Patty got out of the car, holding a very large gun.

"Detective, it's taken care of," Barry reassured her. "They can't hurt anyone else."

Patty didn't care. She pulled the trigger on the gun she had, and a collar emerged from it — usually one to keep criminals on the ground. Juliet's eyes widened and she held her hand out, stopping the collar right before it hit Barry's leg. Patty turned to her with a glare and shot the gun again — okay, two collars, she came prepared. Juliet let the wand drop from her hand, and Barry sped to catch it as she lifted up her hand to stop the other collar from attaching to her.

"Mind control," Juliet stated at Patty's withering expression. "Maybe you forgot."

"Let them go, Scarlet," Patty ordered.

"I can't do that."

Patty dropped the larger gun and pulled out her pistol, pointing it at Mardon. "This is for my father."

"No, no, no, Detective!" Barry protested, taking a step closer to her and raising his hands in surrender. "Detective, no, you can't do this."

"He killed my father for a couple hundred dollars. What was so important that my father had to lose his life?"

"Detective, listen to me," Juliet said softly, lowering her hands so the collars fell to the floor. "Mardon's going to rot in prison for the rest of his life. He'll get what he deserves, I promise you that."

"He deserves to die!" Patty shouted.

"Not like this, he doesn't."

"You don't have it in you, pretty lady," Mardon taunted.

Juliet flicked her hand, making Mardon's head knock sharply to the side. "Hey, you, shut the fuck up."

Patty stared down at him harshly. "I've been asking myself that for the last for years, and now I know."

"No, Patty!" Barry yelled. "You pull that trigger, your life ends, too. You will go to prison. Everything and everyone that you could have had in your life will be taken from you, again."

"Mardon has taken almost everything from you," Juliet continued. "Don't let him continue to do that. I might've not known your father, but I'm positive he wouldn't want you to do this. Let him go."

Patty kicked Mardon, making him roll over onto his stomach. "Mark Mardon, you're under arrest."

Juliet let out a breath of relief. She turned to Barry, high-fiving him yet again as Patty handcuffed Mardon.

Jesse sobbed over from his place on the post. "That was beautiful."

Leaving Patty to deal with Mardon — which was probably for the best, something for closure — Juliet and Barry went back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet teleported out of her suit into her regular clothes, pushing her hair behind her ear. It might've not been the most relaxing Christmas, but at least now she could kick back and stop worrying about super villains trying to bomb children.

"Barry, Jules, hey," Joe greeted, coming out of the treadmill room.

Juliet smiled. "Hi."

"Everyone's heading over to our place for Christmas. You okay?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah, no, nothing a little Metahuman regenerative healing capabilities won't cure. How did it go with Francine?"

"It was good," Joe responded. "It was really good, actually. I mean, I spent so long lying about her being dead that I started to believe it myself. But the truth is, those feelings were always there. That anger, that regret, the guilt . . . I just didn't realize how much I needed to forgive her. And now . . . there's room for another West."

"Did you meet him?"

"No, he still doesn't know. That'll come."

Juliet's smile grew. "Joe, you have a son. How fucking crazy?"

"I know, right?" Joe agreed. He then pointed at Barry. "Speaking of which, take this."

Barry watched him take off his watch — the very same one Joe always wore that was given to him by his father. "What? No, no, no, no, I can't take that."

"I've always said that one day I would give this to my son . . ." Joe held the watch out to him, and Barry took it. "And now I have. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. Thank you."

Joe hugged him tightly. "Love you."

"I love you, too," Barry replied.

"See you at the house." Joe pointed at Juliet as he walked away. "Your present is coming, don't you worry."

"I can't wait," Juliet stated. Her phone then buzzed from her pocket, and she pulled it out, only to gasp excitedly. "Noelle just said she got to the house."

Barry nodded. "You go ahead, I'll meet you there."

Juliet's eyes narrowed at him — he seemed . . . off. "You sure?"

"I'm sure." Barry leaned down and kissed her gently for a moment. "Go see your sister."

She didn't really want to leave him when he was like that, but Juliet could sense he wanted to be alone for a moment. Juliet then teleported away, landing in the shadows by the West house. She bounded up the steps and opened the door, only for her face to brighten as she tore off her coat. Standing in the living room, decorating the tree with Iris, was Noelle, her little sister. At the sound of the door, Noelle turned.

"Oh my gosh, I was wondering when you'd get here," Noelle voiced, placing down her ornament and walking around the couch. "Hi, Jules."

Juliet hugged her sister tight. "Hi, Elle."

"I've missed you." Noelle pulled away a little. "Where's lover boy? He's usually stuck to your side like glue."

"Lover boy? I think you've spent too much time with Iris."

"Hey!" Iris yelled from her place by the tree.

"I've only been here for, like, five minutes," Noelle protested with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's enough, though," Juliet said. "He'll be here in a few."

Joe and Barry arrived a little later. They each said their own hello's to Noelle before everyone kind of roamed around the living room. Joe had made a batch of Grandma Esther's eggnog and him and Cisco were in the midst of testing it out. Iris was still fixing up the tree, Barry and Jay were talking, and Caitlin was trying to hang mistletoe from the ceiling.

Noelle wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly. "It's so cold. Why is it cold?"

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're wearing a short-sleeved shirt in December," Juliet answered. "I think there's a sweater of mine upstairs in Barry's room."

She scrunched her nose up a little. "I did not want to hear that."

"You can borrow one of mine, Ellie," Iris cut in.

"You're a lifesaver." Noelle then turned and walked up the stairs. "And you're probably never getting it back."

Iris sighed. "Should've expected that."

"Strong enough?" Joe asked to Cisco.

Cisco poured himself a glass of eggnog. "We'll see."

Jay then walked up to Caitlin, who was still struggling — ever the savior. "Hey."

Caitlin stopped jumping for the ceiling. "Oh!"

"What do you have there?"

"Mistletoe."

Jay looked confused. "What's mistletoe?"

"Oh, um, it's a hemiparasitic plant from the genus Santalacaea family in North America, I think," Caitlin rambled.

Jay took the mistletoe from her and hung it on the ceiling. "Caitlin, I'm kidding. We have mistletoe on Earth-Two."

"Right, of course."

"Um, we also have this tradition over there."

The two looked at each other shyly before stepping forwards and kissing for a moment. Juliet smiled at them — they were so sweet.

"We have that tradition here, too," Caitlin revealed.

"Aww," Joe let out.

"Finally," Cisco commented.

Barry wrapped an arm around Juliet's waist, tugging her in close. "Wanna kiss me under the mistletoe?"

Juliet took a sip of her eggnog. "Let me think about it."

"You have to think about it?"

Iris went towards the door when there was knocking. "Oh, let me get that."

"Eggnog, please?" Caitlin inquired.

"Yeah," Jay agreed.

"Hi!" Iris exclaimed, in sync with a familiar voice. "I'm so glad you could make it."

Patty, looking much happier and wearing the most adorable Christmas sweater, hugged Iris. "Aw, thank you for having me. Merry Christmas, this is for you."

"Thank you."

"Of course."

"Patty," Juliet began, smiling widely. "I'm glad you're here. It seems like you've had a rough past couple of days."

"I have," Patty agreed. "I've just been dealing with something by myself, but I'm okay now." She extended two presents towards her. "This is for you and Barry."

"Aw, thank you." Juliet took one of the presents. "You didn't have to."

"They're matching sweaters. I saw them while shopping and immediately thought of you two."

Juliet's mouth dropped open in shock and she looked up at Barry. "Babe, oh my God."

Barry sighed. "I'll put on the matching sweater."

Noelle then came bounding the stairs, looking much more comfortable in one of Iris' sweater. "This is the comfiest sweater, and I'm keeping it forever."

Iris shook her head. "I'm convinced half of your wardrobe is just my stuff."

Joe straightened up at another knock at the door. "Are we expecting anybody else?"

"Not that I know of," Iris answered.

"I don't know, maybe Harry changed his mind," Barry suggested.

Joe opened the door, only to freeze. Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion and she peered around to see better. Standing in the doorway was a kid, maybe late teens early twenties. He also seemed . . . familiar.

"Hi, I'm Wally," he greeted. "I'm Francine's son."

Juliet's eyes widened. She looked over at Iris, who seemed absolutely dumbstruck. Juliet then slowly looked up at Barry, who seemed just as shocked as she was.

Joe extended his hand to him. "I'm — I'm — I'm Joe. This is Iris."

"Hi," Iris whispered.

"Hi," Wally responded. "Uh, I just wanted to — uh, I don't know. I guess now's a bad time. You've got company, so . . ."

"No," Joe insisted. "No, no, no. Come in."

Wally walked into the house. Juliet stared at him, her shock coming off of her in waves. She was definitely not expecting that.

'Tis the damn season, indeed.

〖   ϟ   〗

okay besties I know I was supposed to update yesterday BUT I got my wisdom teeth out so let's just let it slide

on another note the anesthesia they gave me was making me cry and I was just sitting in the cvs parking lot waiting for my mom to pick up my meds and I was absolutely BAWLING while listening to the moment I knew (fav song on red btw) because I kept imagining how sad taylor must've felt at her birthday party