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𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER SEVEN
finding a match

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PROFESSOR STEIN WASN'T getting any better. Unfortunately, he was getting worse, his head occasionally going up into blue flames as he thrashed fitfully around his bed. Right now, he was having another one of his episodes.

"Hold him steady!" Cisco exclaimed, and Juliet immediately pressed her hands down on his leg while Barry took his shoulders.

"He's dropping out," Caitlin announced.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on," Cisco rattled off as he placed a device on Professor Stein's chest.

"Cisco, we're losing him."

"Got it!" Cisco then turned around and typed on the computer for a couple of seconds, and suddenly, the blue flames went out on Professor Stein's head and he stopped thrashing. He placed his hands on his head, slumping against the desk in relief. "Oh, Dios mio. Thank God."

Juliet sighed and removed her hands. She tucked some of her hair behind her ears, feeling the tiredness slump on her already.

"He's getting worse," Barry stated.

"Look, I did what I could to re-engineer Doctor Wells' original stabilizer to quell the reaction, but I don't know what he used as a power source," Cisco replied. "The best I could find was the one from his wheelchair."

"And how long will that last?" Caitlin asked.

Cisco then walked into the cortex. Juliet frowned at Professor Stein's figure before turning around and following Cisco, crossing her arms across her chest. Barry trailed after her, the hand on the small of her back igniting her skin through her shirt.

"Well, that's the problem, is we had already used up most of its energy trying to dampen the Metas' powers during our little rogue air trip with Weather Wizard and company," Cisco revealed. "I think we got a few days tops."

"And he's stuck in bed?" Barry questioned.

"Yeah, when he wakes up, I'm gonna transfer the stabilizer to this—" he tapped on a rod of metal "—give him a power cane, get him moving."

"We have to save him," Juliet insisted.

"I think I might know how to do that," Caitlin admitted. She then pulled a diagram up on the screens in the cortex. "When the Particle Accelerator exploded, the dark matter that collided with Professor Stein fused with the Firestorm matrix and altered the normal molecular processes that occurs within his body. Those highly reactive molecules needed something to bond with in order to stabilize."

"And that's where Ronnie came in," Cisco replied.

"Yes, and now that Ronnie is no longer a part of Professor Stein—"

"Those molecules don't have anything to bond to," Barry finished.

"And the longer he goes without merging, the more unstable he becomes," Caitlin explained.

"Ugh," Cisco commented, basically saying all of their feelings out loud. "All right, so, what do we do?"

"We find another . . . participant."

"Okay, cool, so, how do we do that? Are we just gonna make a Tinder app for potential Metahumans? 'Cause I'm pretty sure merging with Stein and randomly bursting into flames sounds like the biggest swipe left of all time."

"But even if we do find another participant who's willing, Stein can't just merge with anyone," Juliet added.

"No, he can't, but I have done some research, and I found two potential candidates that might be compatible with him," Caitlin voiced, walking up behind the computers and pulling up two pictures of people — Henry Hewitt and Jefferson Jackson. "They both were affected by the dark matter, and they were both admitted to the hospital showing symptoms of gene rearrangement mutation. And they both share the same blood type as Professor Stein and Ronnie."

"All right," Barry said. "I mean, this is more than an organ donation. We'll need more than tissue typing to see if their bodies are compatible."

"If I can isolate the genetic locus of the two candidates and cross-reference it with the mutations in Professor Stein, I might be able to find a match and save his life."

"What do you need to do that?"

Turns out, she needed a blood sample. Juliet immediately looked up at Barry, her eyebrow raised. Barry let out a deep breath and pressed a kiss to her hair before speeding off.

Barry sped back into the lab, holding two test tubes full of red liquid. "All right, blood samples from both potential candidates."

"Damn, that was fast even for you," Cisco told him.

"I may have skipped the asking for permission part."

"Oh, so you're a blood stealer now?" Juliet inquired.

"Shut up, J," Barry responded, but there was a small smile on his face.

Caitlin took the two samples. "Let's see if we can't find a match."

While Caitlin and Cisco were doing that, Juliet and Barry did have to go back to work. She was in the midst of walking down the stairs from her lab with a case in her hand, leaving Barry behind to finish up something.

"Jules?" a familiar voice called, and Juliet turned on the stairs, seeing Patty walk up to her. "Hey, uh, I was actually just looking for you, or Barry — mostly you." Patty fell into step beside her. "Wait, am I allowed to call you Jules? I — I just heard a bunch of the others—"

"You're fine," Juliet approved, giving her a small smile despite the weird air between them after what happened. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to show you this." Patty handed her a bag. "These were just found in an alley off of Eastwood Avenue."

Juliet lifted up the bag to her eyes. "Are these teeth?"

"Shark teeth," Patty confirmed with a laugh as they walked down the steps. "And I have an eyewitness that says he saw a shark walking on land — a man-shark."

"A man-shark?" Juliet repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Huh. Sounds like a shit sci-fi movie Barry would make Iris and I watch."

"Or awesome sci-fi movie."

"Right." Juliet then noticed the excited expression on Patty's face. "Wait, you're being serious? You think there's a man-shark roaming Central City?"

"I — I mean, I know it sounds really wacko, but I mean, nothing seems impossible now that we have Metahumans, right?" Patty asked, hope evident in her tone. "And I thought it would be fun, you know, for us to work together again on a case."

Juliet saw right through Patty. She didn't want just to work on a case together for fun — she wanted to make up for what happened that day at Jitters. A dark part of Juliet thought for a second that maybe Patty was going to use her to get to Barry, but she didn't seem like the kind of girl to do that.

"I would agree, but I don't usually work with Metahumans," Juliet responded.

Patty's face slightly fell. "Oh, okay, yeah, that's fine. I can handle it."

"But I can run a test for you." Juliet offered her a small smile. "It'll be really quick, no time out of my day."

Patty grinned again. "That would be amazing. Thanks . . . Jules."

"Detective Spivot," Joe greeted, walking up to them.

Patty looked at him. "Detective."

"How's your man-shark case coming?"

"It's good. I was just gonna go and canvas the area, see what else I can dig up, and Jules here agreed to run some tests for me."

Joe blinked at her. "Really?"

Juliet nodded. "Really."

"So, progress," Patty stated. She then looked at Juliet. "Thanks again."

Joe squinted at Juliet as Patty walked away. "What?"

"It's nothing," Juliet replied as she entered the precinct. "I think she thinks she's on my bad side now, which she isn't, and she's trying to make up for it."

"Why would she be on your bad side?"

"Oh, she tried to give Barry her number."

Joe sighed. "What is up with my partners and my children? First Iris, and now Barry."

A sudden spark arose in Juliet. Iris was meeting with her mother for the first time ever since finding out she was alive.

"How's Iris doing, by the way?" Juliet questioned, handing off the evidence file to a passing police officer. "I talked to her last night, but I haven't had a chance to today."

Joe shrugged. "Eh, she's pretty nervous about seeing her mother after all these years."

Juliet's phone buzzed and she pulled it out, only to see it was a text from Cisco. "Hey, sorry, I have to go. Cisco just texted me about Professor Stein."

"Okay, go. I'll cover you and Barry with Singh."

"Thanks." Juliet turned around and walked out of the precinct, looking up at the stairs. "Barry?"

"Coming," he responded immediately, rounding the corner and walking down the steps. Barry instantly took her hand. "Let's go."

Together, the two of them headed back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Professor Stein was now awake and standing, holding onto his new power cane that Cisco had made for him.

"Well, I must admit, I never imagined the Sphinx's riddle about a man requiring three legs would ever apply to me, but if this device keeps me mobile, then I will gratefully oblige," Professor Stein said.

Caitlin placed a hand on his shoulder in passing. "Hopefully, you won't need it for much longer." She walked up to the computer and pulled up the results from the blood Barry had taken. "There was no agglutination in the blood samples, and cross-matching was negative for both, and it appears that the dark matter from the Particle Accelerator explosion mutated their genes in a very similar way it did to yours. I think they're both potential matches."

"So who do we go with?" Barry inquired, staring up at the screens of the two candidates.

"Well, my first choice is Henry Hewitt. He graduated summa cum laude from Hudson University with a double major in applied physics and bioengineering."

"A Hudson boy, I like him already," Professor Stein replied.

Juliet stared at the other picture. "But what about Jefferson Jackson?" She walked closer to the screen on the wall to read. "He was the quarterback in high school, had a four-point-oh GPA, and has the physical attributes."

Barry nodded in agreement. "And it looks like more of his alleles match than Hewitt's. Doesn't that mean that he's more compatible?

"On paper, perhaps, but Hewitt is a scientist," Caitlin insisted. "Clearly, he's trying to make something of his life. I think he'd be open to something like this."

Juliet frowned a little — it seemed like Caitlin was having tunnel vision. "Well, I say let's meet with both of them before making a decision."

"That's an excellent idea," Professor Stein approved.

"I'll see if I can get Hewitt here," Caitlin stated.

"All right, in the meantime, we'll go meet with Jefferson Jackson," Barry voiced, waving Juliet and Professor Stein to follow him.

"And I will try to find something else to help keep you stable," Cisco added, pointing at Professor Stein.

The next day, Juliet teleported her, Barry, and Professor Stein to a mechanic garage where it said that Jefferson worked at. Her hand tightly interlocked with Barry's, the couple trailed beside Professor Stein into the garage. Multiple machine parts were everywhere and an upbeat rap song was echoing throughout the place.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Professor Stein inquired.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Juliet answered. "Jefferson works here as a mechanic."

"Could indicate a strong technical aptitude," Professor Stein commented as Barry reached over and rang the bell on the front desk for attention. "That's a positive." He then noticed a box of medicine. "Oh, prone to allergies. That's definitely a negative, not to mention his taste in music."

Jefferson Jackson then stood up, a tool clattering to the floor. "Would you prefer Celine Dion instead? I got the Titanic soundtrack in the back there."

"No, thank you."

Barry extended his free hand to him. "Jefferson Jackson, right?"

He shook Barry's hand. "People call me Jax."

"Ooh, catchy," Professor Stein responded.

"Uh, well, my name's Barry Allen, and this is Juliet St. James and Martin Stein," Barry told him. "We're with the Department of Safety. It's a small, newly formed agency."

"Very new, we probably don't even have a website yet, do we?"

"You need to see our licenses?" Jax asked. "I mean, we're all up to code here."

"Uh, no, it's nothing like that," Juliet voiced. "We're just compiling data on people who were affected from the Particle Accelerator explosion two years ago."

Jax sighed. "Look, I lost enough time in my life 'cause of that stupid thing going wrong. Now, if you don't got a car I can fix, I can't help you."

"If — if you would consider coming back to S.T.A.R. Labs with us, I believe we can help you," Professor Stein said.

"Help me how?"

"Well, we know what the Particle Accelerator did—" Barry began.

"Look, I already told you, I don't talk about that night," Jax cut in.

"Why is that?" Professor Stein questioned.

"Because that's when everything changed. I got hit hard. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. Busted up leg, torn ACL. The look on my mom's face, I knew any dreams I had of playing pro ball were over."

Juliet felt her heart sink. Sure, her and Barry had gotten struck by lightning and she got sloshed with a red chemical that turned her into whatever she was, but she had turned out okay. Jax, on the other hand, had all of his hopes and dreams ripped away from him.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Barry stated.

"Yeah, well . . . look, I gotta get back to work," Jax replied.

Barry let go of Juliet's hand to scribble his number on a notepad. "Yeah, um . . . here, it's just . . . it's our number." He ripped the paper and placed it on Jax's work station. "Just think about it, okay?"

With that, the three of them left Jax behind in the garage. Juliet glanced back for a moment at his figure — she didn't know why, but something seemed different about him.

Juliet teleported them back to S.T.A.R. Labs, and Barry's hand found its way back to hers, like it always did. However, the grip on it tightened when they entered the cortex, only to see Henry Hewitt standing there. Juliet slowed in her tracks and looked up at Barry, the two of them exchanging a look.

"Caitlin, what's going on?" Barry inquired.

"Hi, I'm glad you're back," Caitlin said excitedly. "This is Dr. Henry Hewitt. This is Barry Allen, Juliet St. James, and Professor Martin Stein."

Barry extended his hand out, but Hewitt merely brushed past them and went right to Professor Stein. Juliet's eyebrows knit in thought. Okay, fine, it was Professor Stein, but he could've at least acknowledged them.

"How do you do?" Professor Stein greeted.

Hewitt shook his hand. "The illustrious Martin Stein. I've read all your papers back at Hudson, especially on transmutation. Fascinating. You're a legend."

"Oh, please. I think you're overestimating my contribution to the field."

Caitlin looked at the two superheroes with a large smile. "Isn't he great?"

"He's got an ego the size of Texas, but, yeah, he's all right," Cisco answered.

"So, where's Jefferson Jackson?"

"We just need more time," Barry revealed.

"We don't have more time," Cisco protested. "I couldn't find another power source for the cane, and that thing's running out."

"Okay, then let's do the merge," Caitlin urged. "Hewitt's in."

"Wait, what?" Juliet asked. "You told him everything about the Firestorm matrix?"

"Absolutely. Becoming Firestorm is a huge life change. He needs to know what he's getting himself into."

"If I remember correctly, vector, variance, hypotenuse—" Professor Stein was saying.

"Proton, neutron, go H.U.!" him and Hewitt finished together.

Juliet leaned closer to Barry. "Is that a cult motto?"

"Aw, look at that, that's so cute," Cisco commented, an overly large fake smile appearing on his face. "We'll have two Professor Steins if this works."

Caitlin stared at him strongly. "It's gonna work."

"Yeah."

"Okay," Barry agreed. He looked down at his girlfriend. "J?"

She let out a deep breath. "Fuck it."

Cisco then got the Firestorm splicer that they had made for Ronnie and presented it to Hewitt. Juliet leaned her hip against the desk of computers to watch, her shoulder pressing into Barry's. A thing of comfort, so inexplicably them.

"When I put this splicer on your chest, you're gonna feel a rush," Cisco explained. "That's a molecular primer being released into your body. Then you can make physical contact with Professor Stein, and . . ." He made a whooshing sound. "Firestorm matrix will take over."

"Easy enough," Hewitt responded.

Caitlin walked up to Professor Stein. "Ready?"

"No time like the present," Professor Stein said. He then let Caitlin take his power cane away. "Thank you, my dear."

"Okay," Cisco whispered to himself before placing the splicer on Hewitt, which immediately turned on.

Hewitt let out a breathy laugh, presumably from the rush he had gotten that Cisco had talked about. At the same time, Professor Stein and Hewitt lifted up their hands. Once their palms touched, where their bodies met immediately burst into flames. However, as quickly as it had started, it immediately extinguished. Juliet tilted her head in confusion.

"Try again," Professor Stein insisted.

They touched hands again. This time, there was no flames at all. 

"This is unexpected."

"Something's supposed to be happening, right?" Hewitt questioned. "Why isn't it working?"

"I don't know," Caitlin answered.

Cisco walked up to him. "Uh, well, looks like you two aren't compatible after all." He took the splicer off of Hewitt. "I'm just gonna . . ."

"So all this was for nothing?" Hewitt inquired.

Professor Stein looked at him. "Believe me, no one is more disappointed than I am."

"Yeah, don't be so sure about that." Hewitt looked right at Caitlin. "Next time, try to get your act together before you get someone's hopes up."

Hewitt then angrily stalked off. However, just for good measure, just to show how angry he was, he pointedly knocked his shoulder into Juliet's on the way out. Juliet scoffed and clenched her jaw. Barry immediately straightened up beside her, but she placed a hand on his chest, telling him to stop. She then lifted up her other hand, and without looking, she flicked it, red energy discreetly traveling through her fingertips. Immediately, Hewitt entirely ran into the wall.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Juliet called once she heard his body hit the wall. "Oh, wait, it seems like it already did."

Barry lifted up a hand. "Nice one."

Juliet high-fived him. "Thanks, babe. Always my number one supporter."

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BY SOME SORT of miracle, Jax had called Barry's number. He had showed up to S.T.A.R. Labs, and that's where all of them were now. Juliet watched, with a slight smile on her face, as Jax looked around the cortex.

"I'm really glad you decided to come," Barry told him.

"I thought S.T.A.R. Labs had to shut down," Jax admitted.

"It's under new management."

"Huh. Woah, what kind of treadmill is that?"

"Cosmic," Cisco answered.

Jax laughed softly. "Cool. So, let's get stared. You got some kind of Billion Dollar Man technology that's gonna fix my knee?"

"Actually, Jax, this isn't about fixing your knee," Barry revealed.

"What are you talking about?"

"When the Particle Accelerator exploded, the energy wave that collided with you is known as dark matter," Professor Stein explained.

"And it didn't just hurt your knee," Caitlin added.

"It — it changed the molecular structure of your body."

"Woah, hold on, Gray," Jax interjected. "So you're saying I'm like one of those Metahumans I keep hearing about on the news?"

Professor Stein stared up at him. "Yes, I am. Please, call me Professor."

"We think you have potential capabilities," Barry continued.

"What kind of capabilities?" Jax asked.

"Uh, the same as Professor Stein," Caitlin replied. "The ability for your body to process fission and fusion."

"And you can harness excess energy and turn it into these massive nuclear blasts," Cisco stated. "And you can fly. There's also that."

Jax looked at Professor Stein. "So you're saying you can do all this?"

"Only during times of convergence with a willing partner," Professor Stein responded.

"Convergence? You and me?"

"Yes."

Jax laughed and waved his hands about, brushing past them. "No, this is crazy."

"It's not crazy," Juliet cut in. "You said the Particle Accelerator ruined everything for you. This is your chance to make it right."

"Yeah, sorry, you got the wrong guy. I don't want nothing to do with this."

"Wait a second, we are giving you the chance to be a superhero, and you're gonna say no that quickly?" Caitlin questioned.

"Yeah, not my kind of thing," Jax said.

"If the man isn't willing to participate—" Professor Stein began.

"Look, I saw your test scores, Jax," Caitlin voiced. "Your grades were good enough to get into college, but you didn't go. Why? Is this the type of guy you are? One setback and you fold? Well, then maybe you're not the guy for us anyway."

Juliet's eyes widened in shock. "Caitlin."

Jax spread his arms out. "Well, maybe I'm not."

"Jax—" Barry started to say, but before he could go on, Jax completely left the cortex.

"Maybe this just wasn't meant to be," Professor Stein insisted.

"Cait, wait, I mean, Jax could be our last chance at saving Professor Stein," Barry told her.

"He said no to being a superhero," Caitlin reminded them. "Who does that? I mean, you two didn't say no when you had the chance. Cisco, would you?"

"Chance to have superpowers?" Cisco inquired, but he sounded a little strange. "Sign me up."

"But there's so much more to it," Juliet cut in. "What we're doing right now is asking Jax to leave everything he does have behind and change his entire life. That's not a decision that can be made lightly. I mean, it took Barry and I a long time to figure out this whole hero thing, and honestly, I don't even think I do have it figured out."

"Exactly, which is why we need someone who wants to do this," Caitlin said before walking off.

Barry watched her. "Where are you going?"

"To get Hewitt back. We have to try again."

Juliet, Barry, and Cisco shared a look. They were running out of time.

〖 ϟ 〗

patty's such a cutie ugh I love her