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𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
guess who's back again? (nobody's
excited about it)

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"WHAT YOU GOT for us, Cisco?" Barry's voice asked over the comms.

Juliet teleported next to him in a deserted alleyway, brushing some hair out of her face. All morning, they had been canvassing the city, stopping thieves and helping people. It was refreshing, really — after basically being no use their last fight, Juliet was glad to be able to do something.

"You've been playing Good Samaritan all morning," Cisco replied, sounding tired. "Take a break. Maybe give each other some attention."

"Oh, please," Juliet voiced, leaning against the wall casually. "You know Barry's been giving me his upmost attention ever since I got taken by the Turtle."

Barry looked over at her. "I'm trying to keep myself sane."

"Whatever makes your little heart happy, babe."

"Runaway chemical transport truck heading south on Kester," Cisco announced.

"On it," Barry confirmed, nodding his head to Juliet. "Let's go."

Juliet teleported a little ways up on Kester. Sure enough, a chemical truck was coming her way, followed by police cars with wailing sirens. She watched as Barry got into the drivers seat, which was empty.

"Hey, I can't stop the truck, somebody rigged it," Barry stated.

"You can't let that truck crash," Cisco insisted. "If you do, you'll take out a whole city block."

"I've got it," Juliet responded.

Her eyes narrowed in concentration. At once, her mind connected to the truck. She lifted up her hands, red energy traveling between them. She started to make the truck screech to a stop, and right before it hit an intersection, she turned the whole thing off. It stopped completely, and Juliet dropped her hands. A police officer got out of his car and ran up to the truck right as Barry sped out of it.

Barry held up a hand. "Nice."

Juliet hit her hand against his. "Thanks."

"Nice!" Cisco exclaimed. "Now can you please, please take a break?"

Juliet offered Barry a smile. "Coffee?"

"Barry, JJ, we need you back here, stat," Cisco ordered, now sounding very serious.

She frowned. "No coffee."

"We're on our way," Barry told him.

Juliet teleported back to S.T.A.R. Labs and got into her regular clothes. Once she was finished with that, she went down to the pipeline, where Cisco told them to go. She definitely did not expect to be met with the sight of a dead Metahuman in cell. Even worse, it was the Turtle — their one key to stopping Zoom.

Her heart sank as she watched Caitlin do a full medical exam, tablet in hand. The Turtle's powers had been their only plan to stop Zoom, and it would've worked. Yet now he was dead.

Has Juliet ever mentioned how much she loved her life?

"He better not be pulling a Juliet," Cisco voiced.

Juliet blinked at him. "What?"

"Not you, you idiot. I meant from Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, that's right. I see plays."

"He's dead, Cisco," Caitlin countered.

"How'd this happen?" Harry questioned.

"Preliminary brain scan shows an acute brain aneurysm."

"The night we captured him," Jay added. "How's that for timing?"

"What does that mean?" Harry argued, noticing Jay's suspicious glance. "You think I did this, Garrick? This man is the key to us stopping Zoom, the key to me saving my daughter. Why would I want that?"

"Never understood why you do anything, Harrison."

"That's fine with me, Garrick."

"Okay," Juliet interjected loudly. "We get it. But right now, we have to figure out how to stop Zoom, because everything we've tried already has failed. Why don't we start thinking outside the box?"

Barry nodded in agreement. "I mean, we haven't even figured out how to close the breaches yet. Maybe that's where we should start."

"That's a good idea," Harry agreed. "I'll get on that."

"I'll help," Cisco offered.

Juliet's phone then buzzed in her pocket, the same exact time as Barry's. That could really only mean one thing — work.

"J and I've got to get to the CCPD," Barry said, checking his phone. "We'll check in with you guys later."

"Okay," Jay replied.

He extended his hand out to Juliet, who took it. The two went to the CCPD and started on work when they got to their lab. Juliet milled around her side of the lab, getting her own half of the work done. Even though there were two of them, they still managed to get backed up. Juliet let out a sigh, taking two of the bags out of the box on Barry's desk, when she noticed a familiar blonde walk in.

"Hey, Patty," Juliet greeted.

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you could run this trace for me," Patty began. "Someone messed with an ethanol transport truck this morning. They cut the brake line and tampered with the gear shafts, so."

Juliet took the evidence. "Sure." She turned to Barry and offered it to him. "For you."

Barry took it. "Oh, for me? Really, you shouldn't have."

"At least now we're even."

"Wow," Patty commented, looking down at the box. "Backed up, huh?"

"We are, yeah," Barry confirmed.

"Yeah, I guess I'll find out what that's like once I finish CSI school."

"Yeah, you will."

"Oh, right," Juliet let out, suddenly remembering. "Midway City, right? I think that's what Joe told me. When do you leave?"

"Two days," Patty answered.

"Wow, that's close. I've gotten so used to having you around."

"Well, I've gotten used to being here." Patty sighed, glancing at the box again. "I'll let you two get to it. See you later."

"Bye," Juliet responded. She then noticed another familiar person walk into their lab. "Hey, 'Ris."

"Hi, I just wanted to see if you were available for coffee," Iris admitted, her eyes sliding to the evidence in Juliet's arms. "But now I see that you are not."

"I have been denied coffee twice today, and I'm actually really upset about it."

"Hey," Barry suddenly said.

Juliet looked over. Joe was walking into their lab — wow, it just seemed like it was a party in there today — but he looked kind of . . . out of it. Juliet frowned at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I just went to see Francine, and, uh . . . she doesn't have much time" Joe revealed. "I already said my goodbyes, if — if you want to do the same."

Juliet glanced over at Iris worryingly. It was no secret that Iris and Francine had a rocky relationship, but hearing that her mother was going to die must not have been easy. Her heart also hurt for Wally — Francine was all he had his entire life, and she was so close to slipping away.

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GETTING AN EMERGENCY call from Cisco wasn't unexpected. After all, Central City always seemed to have something going on. But the thing that was the actual emergency — nothing could've prepared Juliet for it.

The emergency was at Mercury Labs. Juliet teleported into her suit back at S.T.A.R. Labs before heading to Mercury Labs, Barry speeding in next to her. The body was littered with floors of police officers, and standing there was Dr. McGee. Juliet glanced up, only to freeze and for her eyes to widen.

Yellow suit. Glowing red eyes. Vibrating body. The Reverse-Flash.

"What the fuck . . ." Juliet whispered.

"Flash," Thawne stated. "Scarlet."

Barry stared at him, shock written all over his features. "Eobard Thawne."

Thawne stopped vibrating, and his eyes went back to normal. "You know who I am?"

"Uh, yeah," Juliet responded, trying to keep her voice steady. "I watched you disintegrate into the air. Like, you died."

"Good to know, And guess what, Flash, Scarlet. I know what time period you're from. So that means very soon . . . you both will die."

A red flash of lightning sped towards her, and the next thing Juliet knew, she was on the floor with pain shooting through her chest. She quickly gained her senses and pushed herself up onto her feet, glancing around. There was no sign of the Reverse Flash or Dr. McGee.

"Why is the Reverse Flash back?" Juliet shouted.

"I don't know," Barry responded, sounding just as panicked.

S.T.A.R. Labs, when they returned, was stuck in probably the most tense silence they had had in a while. Barry had his elbow resting on the rail of the desk, his cheek fit into his palm as he stared blankly ahead. Juliet leaned her back against the rail next to him, her arms crossed over her chest as she kept her gaze on the floor.

There was just absolutely no fucking way this was happening right now. The Reverse Flash should've been dead because of Eddie. Eddie had sacrificed himself so Thawne would never live, but he was living. So, yeah. Juliet was fucking mad. She couldn't imagine what Barry was thinking, though, considering Thawne had killed his mother. It was definitely more of a shock to him than it was for her.

"You okay, Barr?" Joe inquired. "Jules?"

"I'm good, yeah," Barry admitted. "It's just a lot."

Juliet nodded. "I don't really know what to think."

"Eddie Thawne died, so Eobard Thawne should've been erased out of existence, right?" Joe asked.

"Not necessarily," Harry answered. "It's possible Eobard was in the Speed Force, protecting him like a bomb shelter, keeping him alive and his timeline intact. It's what's known as a timeline remnant."

"A — a what now?"

"Here, let me . . . show you. This?" Harry raised his hand by the whiteboard, and Cisco tossed him a marker. "This . . . is now." He drew a circle. "Here, today." He drew a line from the circle and drew another circle, connecting them. "This is the time Thawne comes from." Harry drew the same thing on the other side. "This is the moment you all erased him from existence, but since Thawne is from the future, this is where his timeline began." He drew an arched line over the entire thing, connecting the circle on the left to the circle on the right. "That's why he's still alive. This Thawne has not yet traveled back in time to kill Barry's mother. He's here now in this time period for the first time. Timeline remnant."

"Explains why nothing's changed," Cisco added.

"It also explains why he didn't know Barry or I's names or that we've met before," Juliet said.

Harry looked back at her. "To him, you hadn't. Not until the future."

"If Thawne dies before he can time travel again, will that save Barry's mother?" Joe questioned.

"No. That's not how it works. In our timeline, Barry's mother is already dead, and her death is a fixed point. Nothing can change that."

"All right, well, I'm gonna end this—" Barry began.

"Did I hear an I?" Juliet interjected.

"—we're gonna end this, him in this time once and for all."

"Let's find Dr. McGee, then we'll figure out what to do about Thawne, okay?" Joe insisted. "I got to go check on Iris."

Harry waved Cisco on. "Ramon."

Cisco followed after him into the medbay. Juliet sighed and put a hand on Barry's shoulder, rubbing it gently. She felt some of the tension drain from him from it.

"We're gonna get Dr. McGee back, Cait," Juliet told her, noticing her worried expression.

"It's not that," Caitlin admitted. "It's Jay."

Barry straightened up. "What about Jay?"

"He's sick, and it's getting worse. When Zoom stole his speed, it affected him on a cellular level. We need to do something about it."

"All right, like what?"

"I think we should replace his dying cells with healthy ones indistinguishable from his," Caitlin explained.

Juliet's eyebrows knit in thought. "How?"

"We find his Earth-One doppelganger."

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UNFORTUNATELY, EVEN THROUGH the databases at S.T.A.R. Labs and some of them at CCPD, neither Juliet or Barry could find Jay's doppelganger yet. Juliet knew that they weren't going to give up, though — Jay was a part of their team, and now that Juliet knew he was sick, she wanted to help him.

Also, she felt like she owed something to Witch. Jay hadn't mentioned her much recently, but she knew that he was worried about her Earth-Two counterpart. He had said they were best friends and crime-fighting partners. If Juliet helped Jay get better, it would help Witch get her best friend back.

But, for now, they had more pressing matters. Dr. McGee had died, according to Cisco. Juliet stood in the cortex, leaning slightly into Barry's side as she watched Cisco worryingly.

"Dr. McGee is dead?" Caitlin inquired in shock, her eyes widening.

"Harry and I were trying to hone my powers to find Zoom, and then we ended up using them, finding the Reverse Flash, and that's when I saw him kill her," Cisco explained. "And then he left."

"He left?" Barry repeated. "What do you mean, he left?"

"McGee built him some kind of speed machine and he ran into it and got flung back to the future."

Juliet shut her eyes. "Fuck."

"Well, you'd need superluminal energy to send someone through time," Harry stated.

"You mean like tachyons?" Barry asked.

Harry walked off towards one of the desks. "Tachyons."

"Wait, we can track their location once they've been activated." Barry anxiously watched as Harry typed. "Anything?"

"Nothing."

"I'm not doubting you, but are you sure you saw her die?" Juliet questioned, looking back to Cisco.

"I'm positive," Cisco responded.

"What else did you see?" Harry inquired.

"There was all sorts of weird tech everywhere. There was a clock."

"What time did the clock say?"

Cisco stared off into the distance for a moment, clearly picturing it in his head. "Nine fifty-two, I think. How — how is that relevant?"

"It's six o'clock now," Harry voiced, and Juliet's eyes widened a little.

Cisco stood up, pushing the chair back away from him. "Are you telling me I can see the future?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Those goggles are getting named immediately."

"But that means Dr. McGee is alive," Caitlin announced, looking very hopeful.

"That's right," Harry confirmed.

"Yeah, okay, we have three hours, fifty-two minutes to find her and stop Reverse Flash," Barry instructed. "Let's do it."

Juliet smirked to herself. "Time to beat this motherfucker for a second time."

〖 ϟ 〗

ooooh we're getting closer to the earth-two chapters how we feeling