⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
did some force take you because
I didn't pray?

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

SOMEHOW, TALKING PEOPLE out of stupid shit seemed to be a new part of the superhero job description. Ever since Juliet and Barry had given Wally a chance and talked to him, he had been acting out. In other words, he was acting reckless by fighting against Zoom's Metahumans from Earth-Two, and Joe wasn't the biggest fan of it.

Juliet teleported to Wally in her suit, already making her vocal cords vibrate so her voice would be masked, and there was a slight red blur over her face. Barry instantly sped in next to her, making her hair fly off of her shoulder onto his back. The two of them looked at Wally, who was sitting in his car with a police radio he had taken.

"Stealing is illegal, you know," Barry began. "Detective West tells us that you've been fighting Zoom's army on your own."

Wally nodded. "Yeah. I want to help."

"Admirable," Juliet commented. "We respect it. But if you really want to help . . . leave it to the police."

"Like you two did."

"We do have powers, Wally," Barry insisted. "It is a little different. This isn't your fight. It's ours."

"No, it's all of ours," Wally argued. "This is my city too now. It's up to all of us to protect it."

"Barry, Juliet, we got a major Metahuman alert at Fifth and Main, get there," Cisco instructed over the comms.

"On it," Juliet replied. She then pointed at Wally for a second while walking backwards. "This conversation isn't over."

She then turned and teleported away to the intersection that Cisco told her to. Once she landed, and Barry sped in next to her, she focused her attention to the person standing there.

"Why is it always so difficult to choose?" the woman complained in a very familiar voice, turning around to face them.

Juliet froze, her eyes widening in disbelief. Because standing in front of her was the very same girl that was supposed to be dead — in fact, the one who Juliet had just gone to a funeral for, and the one who Oliver Queen said he would kill the one who ended her life too early.

"Barry, JJ, what is it?" Cisco asked.

"It's . . ." Barry trailed off.

"Laurel Lance," Juliet supplied.

Except it wasn't — at least, not the Laurel that they knew. This Laurel was dressed in all black, her black lipstick-covered lips curled into a smirk and a malicious intent in her eyes. It was quite obvious who she was — Earth-Two Laurel Lance.

"Laurel," Barry stated, and they started to circle each other on the rain-covered street.

Earth-Two Laurel chuckled. "Laurel Lance is dead. On this Earth, anyway. Poor Black Canary. Bye-bye, birdie."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "What's your name?"

"You can call me . . . Black Siren. Zoom mentioned that you two might be showing up."

"If he told you what we can do, you should look more afraid," Barry told her.

"And so should you," Black Siren voiced.

"So, Siren . . . why'd you make Mercury Labs collapse?" Juliet questioned.

"Because I like to watch things crumble and fall. Guess what. You're both next, red."

She opened her mouth, and Juliet suddenly got where Siren came from. Black Siren screamed an an extremely high-pitched volume, a mass of sound waves blasting from her mouth. Juliet got knocked back by the sheer force of it, and she landed on the ground with a thud, her ears ringing. Then the second blast came, and Juliet just laid there, totally helpless. She pressed her palms to her ears and tried to get up, but she was all sorts of disoriented.

"Was that too loud?" Black Siren inquired, but her voice sounded underwater. "Perhaps we should quiet things down a bit."

Juliet only had half a mind to fight back before a foot collided with her stomach, making her fall back right on the ground. She grunted in pain as she landed back on the pavement, Barry's body landing right next to hers.

"You know, the sad thing is, I think Zoom's actually afraid of you two," Black Siren admitted. "And I didn't think that he feared anything. And you, you're hardly worth the chills." Juliet's eyes narrowed, and she pushed herself up to rest on her elbows, watching as Black Siren walked around them. "How many Metas did he send to try and kill you? Well, it's too bad. He should have just sent me because that way, you would have already been—"

She was ultimately cut off by a car screeching as it spun around, colliding into her. Juliet's eyes widened as she watched Black Siren fly off the ground and land on the pavement. The passenger door of the car then flew open, and she saw Wally in the drivers seat.

"Get in," Wally urged.

Barry stumbled up and held out his hand to Juliet. She used it to help herself up, and the two of them ran over to the car. There was absolutely no time to figure out a backseat situation, so Barry sat down, and Juliet collapsed into his lap. Instantly, Barry made his face vibrate, and Juliet cast the red shadow over her face. Wally grinned and spun the car around, driving fast away from Black Siren on the ground.

"I thought you might need a lift," Wally told them.

"Yeah," Barry let out. "Thanks."

Juliet gripped onto Barry's hand. In within a second, she teleported the two out of the car and back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Once they were in the cortex, Juliet let herself fall to the ground, staring up at the lights above them.

Caitlin rushed over to them. "Oh my God."

Juliet waved her off. "All good. My ears are shot."

Caitlin brought them to the medbay. Juliet healed everything just by touching the spots, as usual, but Barry would take longer than that. He sat on the bed while Caitlin cleaned up the blood in his ears.

"Why do so many villains that we go against use sound as a weapon?" Caitlin asked.

"What?" Barry shouted, his hearing still not back to normal.

"Nothing. You're gonna be fine."

Joe pushed himself off of the door to the medbay. "So Wally just drove on up into the thick of it?"

Barry nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Must have been some conversation you three had, seeing as though he did literally the opposite of what we wanted."

"This I can hear."

Joe stared at him. "It's not funny."

"I'm sorry," Barry said.

"I'm in no laughing mood."

"Joe, we tried," Juliet explained. "I told him to leave it to the police, but he has a drive to protect this city. He's determined."

"Yeah, determined to get himself killed," Joe protested.

"Or determined to help people," Barry corrected. "And be glad, or you know, J and I would not be standing here right now."

"Well, he was lucky tonight. I don't want to see the day when he isn't."

"We've got more than luck on our side, Joe."

Barry then walked into the medbay. Juliet watched him go for a moment, a heavy weight in her heart. The last time she had tried to talk to him, he accused her of taking his optimism away. But she couldn't just let him keep doing this to himself. It wouldn't end well for him, or any of them.

Juliet quickly locked eyes with Iris for a moment, her gaze pleading. Maybe if she couldn't get through to him alone, they could get through to him together. Iris sighed and nodded her head towards the medbay. Juliet smiled graciously at her, and the two entered the medbay together.

"You know you're not invincible, right?" Iris stated.

Barry grinned. "Yes, of course, I know this. Joe's being overprotective, but I get it.

"Yeah, but it's like you think that nothing can touch you. Like nothing bad can get in your way. That's not true for any of us."

"What are you saying?"

Juliet crossed her arms across her chest, tilting her head slightly at him. "You had an experience in the Speed Force. And trust me, I'm optimistic that we're going to win, but . . . if I've learned anything from being a superhero, being scared sometimes can get you far. It helps us make decisions. And you also sound delusional."

Iris elbowed her swiftly. "Jules."

"Worried girlfriend is a full-time mode, and blunt girlfriend comes around when she needs to." She looked back at Barry. "You know I love you."

Barry shook his head. "I love you too."

A little while later, the group found themselves downstairs in the breach room. Harry was sitting on a chair, some kind of device by his ears. Every few seconds, it would play a noise.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed.

"Sorry," Cisco mumbled.

"Ow!"

He chuckled. "There we go."

"Are you kidding me with this?" Harry complained.

"Hey, at least it works."

"Tremendous."

"What is it exactly?" Barry questioned.

"It's just a small source of joy, but more importantly, it's how we're gonna stop Zoom's army," Cisco revealed.

"By giving them all electroshock therapy?" Joe inquired.

"By diving them all dimensional shock therapy."

"This is where I play stupid and you explain the science."

"Okay, fair enough," Cisco voiced. "So all matter vibrates at its own unique frequency, right? You disrupt that frequency, you disrupt the matter."

"Like how an opera singer shatters glass with her voice," Iris said.

"Exactly. So we found out that all Earth-Two people vibrate at their own, more erratic frequency."

"Higher frequency," Harry added.

"Different frequency," Cisco responded.

"Higher."

"Higher frequency than we do."

"Right," Joe agreed.

"So I ran this all past Hartley, right?" Cisco continued. "And he postulated that we could create a sort of dimensional tuning fork — voilà—"

Harry got up from the chair. "Okay, you didn't do it yourself."

"Just let me have this one, okay?"

"Have, it, have it."

"Thank you," Cisco replied, turning towards the whiteboard to draw his diagram. "So if you run around the city fast enough to create a refracting field, the device can send out a pulse that'll bounce off of it, split apart, and collide with itself over and over. And JJ, if you connect with that pulse, you can make it move faster."

"Amplifying it to an erratic frequency on the Earth-Two Metas—" Barry started to say.

"Higher," Harry reminded him. "Higher frequency."

"Higher frequency on the Earth-Two spectrum."

Cisco pointed to him. "And when that pulse hits anyone from Earth-Two—"

"It'll disrupt their nervous system," Caitlin finished.

"Earth-Two Metas go night-night."

Iris raised her eyebrows. "Even Zoom?"

"Even Zoom," Cisco said.

"Harry and Jesse are from Earth-Two," Joe announced. "How do we keep the pulse from hurting them?"

"Oh, Detective, I didn't know you cared," Harry admitted.

"Yes, you did."

"Uh, we designed these headphones to protect us from the pulse."

"Beats by Wells," Cisco joked.

Suddenly, the screen lit up, and it started to beep. Juliet looked over at it, only to see a centralized location with Black Siren.

"Cisco, it's your Metahuman alert app," Caitlin voiced.

"That's the high-rise development on the west side," Joe told them.

"Hundreds of people live there," Iris added.

Harry took off his headphones. "Ramon, we're up. Let's go. Set that pulse off right now. Allen, you need to start generating that refracting field right now so St. James can make that signal move."

"But Black Siren can take down this building at any point," Barry insisted. "Wha — all those people, Wells."

"I can go to her," Juliet offered.

"No, you're crucial to the refraction," Harry argued. "How many more people are gonna die while we wait?"

"Guys, which is it?" Joe cut in.

Cisco froze, his eyes widening. "I think I just got the worst idea of all time."

An absolute fool proof plan, really. While Juliet and Barry would be out dealing with the frequency thing, Cisco and Caitlin would dress up as Reverb and Killer Frost to distract Black Siren from taking the buildings down. Juliet got into her suit, leaving her mask off as she walked back into the breach room with her boyfriend.

"All right," Barry began, announcing their presence.

"All right," Harry agreed. "We're synced up with whatever the heck that thing is."

"Finally something we're both baffled by," Joe said.

"I'm kidding. That, my friend, is a seventy-five TSB forty-thousand watt reverberating sound amplifier designed to single out the operating frequency of every single Earth-Two being on this planet, which, when contained and magnified by the Flash creating a sound pressure wall around the city and Scarlet helping move the frequency, will render all of us Earth-Two beings unconscious. Hence . . ." He held up his headphones. "The safety precautions."

Henry shrugged. "I'm baffled by it."

Juliet smiled briefly. "Everyone ready?"

Harry put on his headphones. "Yes, we are."

Barry pulled his hood off and ran out of the room. Juliet put on her mask and teleported right to the center of the city. Even though it was far, she could faintly see the line of lightning going around the edge. Juliet shut her eyes, simply just allowing herself to feel. A part of her powers was mind control, but it didn't always apply to people. She had never tried it with sound waves or frequencies before, but then again, there was a new time for everything.

It was like a little ping in her brain when she detected it. Juliet allowed energy to light her palms up red and she moved them back and forth, moving the frequency at a much quicker pace. She could feel it bouncing back and forth against the wall Barry was creating.

And then she couldn't feel it anymore. Juliet opened her eyes, letting the energy dissipate from her hands. She blinked a couple of times, black spots entering her vision. It might've seemed calm, but in reality, it took a lot out of her. Her powers always did, though.

"Barry, Juliet, we did it," Joe announced. "Bring them all in."

"Copy that," Barry replied. "We're on clean up."

They then jumped around the city, picking up all the Metahumans that had fallen and bringing them back to S.T.A.R. Labs to put them in the pipeline. The very last one being Black Siren, who was clearly not very happy to be put in her cell, because she kept trying to get out by screaming. Juliet watched, now in her regular clothes, with an unimpressed look on her face.

"What's that?" Cisco taunted. "I can't — I can't hear you through the double-paned soundproof glass. It's — it's kind of hard to make out what you're saying."

"So should we tell Sara and Captain Lance about her?" Caitlin asked.

"No," Barry answered. "I've seen what interacting with your family's doppelgangers can do."

"And they'll probably tell Ollie," Juliet added. "Then he'll get his hopes up, and I'd really not like to see them come crashing down again. Besides, that's not Laurel."

Cisco closed the door to the Particle Accelerator. "No. It's just a poor imitation. Speaking of, that was a pretty good Killer Frost you did back there."

"Guess I was just in the right head space to play a cold, vicious killer," Caitlin admitted.

Barry glanced at her. "How are you doing? Are you okay?"

"No. But I think I'm gonna be. Being out there with you guys, fighting Metahumans, saving people . . . it's the first time I felt normal in a long time."

Juliet grinned and wrapped an arm around Caitlin, bringing her in close. "I'm proud of you."

Cisco extended his arms out. "This is a group hug moment."

"Yeah," Barry agreed, wrapping his arms around all of them.

And together, the original Team Flash and Scarlet embraced each other, giving them strength to whatever the fuck was going to come next.

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

NO MATTER HOW many times she did it, it was always strange to Juliet showing up at CCPD — her job — as Scarlet — her other job. But in this case, with the CCPD getting involved with Zoom and his army, she needed to. Barry sped them both back into the precinct, where Captain Singh and Joe were on the case of looking for Zoom.

"The Metas we spoke to said Zoom created a breach and escaped," Barry explained.

"And how did he do that again?" Joe questioned.

"No idea, but he's on Earth-Two now," Juliet voiced.

"Earth-Two?" Captain Singh repeated before looking to Joe. "That something else I don't want to know about?"

"No," Juliet, Barry, and Joe chorused.

"All right. Well, Flash and Scarlet, thanks. The people who saved Central City once again."

Barry shook his head. "No, we're all just part of the same team."

"Speaking of teams, where the hell are Allen and St. James?" Captain Singh inquired to Joe.

Juliet's eyes widened briefly, and she grabbed onto Barry's arm, teleporting them away. They got into their regular clothes in record time and exited out in the main part of the precinct. Juliet trailed behind, watching in amusement as Barry kept rushing around.

Barry bumped into a passing officer. "Ooh, sorry, man, sorry. Hey. Heard my name. Uh, what's up?"

"Good, well, you two have got about a hundred Meta criminal cases to get through, so I would get to cracking if I were you."

"On it," Juliet said.

Joe nodded to Captain Singh as he walked away. "Captain." He then pointed his folder at Juliet. "Well done."

"I'm kind of known for saving Barry's ass. I think we can count that as a power, right?" She then giggled as Barry pushed her head gently. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding . . . sort of."

"Listen, uh, I've been thinking about Wally some more," Barry revealed as they walked further into the precinct. "And J and I have discussed it."

"Are you two gonna talk to him again?" Joe asked.

"No, we're not."

"Why not?"

"This is a conversation that needs to happen from a parent," Juliet explained. "He's your son."

Joe put his folder down. "I know he's my son."

"What I'm trying to say is that he has all of your values. You want to help people and keep this city safe. So does he. You both have that drive to do what's right. We become that thing that we always believe we're not, and Wally's heading down that path right now. He's going to become a hero, and neither Barry nor I want to stop that from happening."

"I really don't think you should either," Barry added.

Joe looked at the two of them. "I can't wait till you two have kids and they torture you. I'mma laugh in your face."

Barry chuckled. "All right, gramps."

"Poppa," Joe called.

"What?"

"My grandkids are gonna call me poppa."

Juliet smiled. "Adorable." She took Barry's outstretched hand and allowed him to guide her towards the stairs. "Our kids are going to be perfect, though."

Barry nodded and planted a kiss to the top of her head. "No doubt about it, baby."

A little while later, all of them gathered at the West house for a family-slash-celebratory dinner. Juliet, wearing a plum-colored velvet dress, helped Iris, Caitlin, and Wally set the table. She looked up when the door opened, grinning when she saw Barry and Henry walk in, who had been spending some father-son time together.

"What is this?" Barry questioned.

"Blame Iris," Cisco voiced.

"Okay, I just figured that since Henry is officially back for good, we should celebrate," Iris insisted. "And since Zoom is gone and the city is quiet right now."

Henry took off his jacket. "Oh, I appreciate it, Iris. Thank you."

Barry instantly walked up to Juliet, sliding his hands onto her waist. "You didn't tell me about this?"

"I was told not to," Juliet responded, pressing up onto her toes and kissing him quickly before melting into his side. "In the wise words of Cisco, blame Iris."

Iris laughed for a moment. "I hope you don't mind I invited Dr. McGee."

Barry focused on the couch, where Dr. McGee and Henry were deep in conversation. "Seems like somebody's glad you did."

"Mm-hmm. So I guess you are invincible."

"Told you. The Speed Force is with us." Barry then glanced down at Juliet. "And since I'm feeling extra invincible lately . . . oh, Juliet, marry me, darling?"

Juliet giggled at him and elbowed his side. "Ask me later, and maybe I'll say yes. And maybe with a ring. It could be paper, though."

Jesse walked up to Wally. "So is it true? You saved the Flash and Scarlet's lives?"

"Oh, I mean, I was just in the right place at the right time," Wally said.

"Proud of you, Wally," Joe told him. "You did good."

"Thanks, dad." Wally then looked at Jesse when she chuckled. "What?"

"I'm just — I'm proud of you too," Jesse replied.

Caitlin placed the turkey on the table. "Soup's on."

"Hey!" Cisco exclaimed. "Taking out a city full of monsters makes a man hungry."

"First, a toast," Joe interjected, holding up his glass. "To family."

"To family," they echoed.

"That's my kind of toast, short and sweet, let's eat," Cisco commented.

He suddenly froze, his eyes wide. Cisco then gasped, blinking rapidly as he came back to.

Barry stared at him in concern. "Cisco? What — what is it? What'd you see?"

"What do you mean see?" Wally inquired.

"Cisco gets visions," Caitlin explained.

"I don't understand," Cisco whispered.

"What, Cisco?" Joe asked.

"Earth-Two splitting in half. Straight down to the poles. Tell me I didn't just vibe the future. Please tell me I did not just see the end of the world."

A flash of blue lightning suddenly entered the house. Juliet jumped, her eyes widening as she watched Zoom wrap an arm around Henry's neck.

"Our story continues, Flash," Zolomon said.

He then sped away, taking Henry with him. In an instant, Barry sped away as well to follow him. The only thing . . . he left Juliet behind. (Which she didn't blame him for, it was just an unfortunate sidenote.)

"Henry!" Dr. McGee shouted.

"Oh my God," Iris let out.

"Shit, shit, shit," Juliet repeated. "Cisco, where is he? Cisco, where'd they go?"

"I — I—" Cisco stammered, pulling out his phone with shaky hands. "I don't know, let me track him—"

"Fuck." Juliet's hand ignited with red energy against her will — a product of her emotions. "Cisco, please."

"Got him. He's at Barry's childhood home."

Juliet didn't think twice about it. She teleported straight there, not thinking about the consequences of Wally seeing it or anything. Barry had lost his mother to the Reverse Flash. Henry was all he had left — and here he was, right in the hands of Zoom.

However, she was way too late.

She landed in the living room, only to see Zolomon thrust a vibrating hand right through Henry's heart. Juliet froze in her tracks, her heart sinking all the way to her stomach, and Barry's agonizing scream ringing through her ears.

〖   ϟ   〗

sorry for the month-long hiatus, thank you for being patient <3

the amount of times that I wrote luna (another oc of mine) instead of juliet while writing this chapter is actually ridiculous