⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘

CHAPTER THREE
control, juliet, control

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

THERE'S A SORT of heart-wrenching, soul-crushing feeling that people get when they see their crush kissing another person. The world seems to go in slow motion and the mind starts to spin, and it's unclear if that feeling will go away any time soon.

Juliet knew that's exactly what Barry felt in that moment.

They had returned to Jitters the next day in search of Iris, only to find her kissing Eddie Thawne through the window. Juliet, already having pieced everything together after their interaction yesterday at CCPD, looked worryingly over at Barry. Barry was staring at the window, hurt flashing across his face. He didn't know, but Juliet felt that way every single time he looked at Iris lovingly. That's why she felt so bad for him, because she felt bad for herself (yes, she knows it's selfish, let's move on.)

She let out a sigh and put her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "I'm sorry. I know how much you like her."

Barry shook his head. "I should've known that I would never have a shot."

"That's not true," Juliet gently argued as Iris caught their gazes through the window. "Nobody can say what the future may hold, Barry."

Iris quickly hurried outside, and the three of them began to walk down the rainy street of Central City in silence until she finally spoke up. "You can't tell my dad. He doesn't know about me and Eddie."

"Doesn't seem like anyone's in on the secret," Barry replied.

"I was gonna tell you and Jules, but then Juliet kind of figured it out on her own—"

Barry instantly rounded on Juliet. "You knew?"

Juliet raised her hands in surrender. "Their gazes at each other said everything. It's not my fault you're completely oblivious."

"Guys," Iris interjected. "When you two were in the hospital, Eddie covered my father's shifts so that we could both be with you. I thanked him with a cup of coffee, and things just kind of . . . happened. And it's good."

"Dating your partner's daughter — isn't that against department regulations?" Barry asked.

Juliet instantly rolled her eyes. She got it, Barry was upset over the whole situation, but that really didn't give him a right to try and shut down Iris' happiness.

"Why are you so upset?" Iris questioned.

"I just don't like having to lie to your dad, you know?" Barry answered.

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of screeching tires and police sirens. Juliet glanced over, and her eyes widened upon seeing that the police car spun out and was about to hit him. Barry grabbed both her and Iris and pulled them down to the ground as the car crashed. Juliet then looked up to see the face of Clyde Mardon in the car the cop was originally chasing, and she immediately got confused. Didn't he die because of the Particle Accelerator explosion?

She then felt a gust of wind, and Barry left.

"Barry?" Iris inquired, clearly puzzled by how he had left so fast.

Juliet got to her feet and grabbed Iris' hand, pulling her up as well. "Come on."

The two of them began to run in the direction that commotion was coming from. Then something weird happened — fog came rolling in, one that was dense and extremely close to the ground. Juliet's eyebrows knit in thought, but she continued to run. Multiple cop cars passed them on the way there, and once Juliet and Iris arrived at the scene, they saw it was a scene of a car crash. Juliet, however, figured it was much more than that.

"Barry," Juliet breathed out, instantly running over to him. She took his face in her hands and began to inspect the cut on his face. "Oh God, are you all right?"

He gripped onto her wrists. "J, something's wrong — we're not the only ones—"

"Barry," Iris cut in, making Juliet drop her hands. "How did you — how did you get here so fast?"

He shrugged, but the expression on his face screamed panicked. "Luck, I guess."

The police roped off the scene so they could start investigating.

"That poor man," Iris said as the body of the man who was killed was rolled away. "The way that fog came in, I have never seen anything like it."

"Barry!" the voice of Joe then shouted, and Juliet turned to see him walking up to them. "Juliet! Iris."

"I'm all right, dad," Iris reassured him.

Joe looked in between Barry and Juliet. "What the hell were you two thinking having her out here?"

"No, no, no—" Iris began to protest.

Joe then rounded on her. "And I told you, when you see danger, you run the other way. You're not a cop."

"Because you wouldn't let me!"

"You're damn right!"

"Joe, J and I need to talk to you," Barry voiced.

"We do?" Juliet asked. She then nodded upon seeing the pointed look Barry gave her. "Yes, we do."

"It can wait," Joe responded.

"No, now," Barry stated firmly. The three of them moved farther away from Iris. "I know who did this. It's Clyde Mardon. I know everybody thinks he died in a plane crash after the S.T.A.R. Labs explosion, but he is alive. All right, something happened to him that night. I . . . I think he can control the weather. The recent robberies, they all happened during freak meteorological events. And when I just confronted Mardon, the street was instantly enveloped in fog." He then noticed Joe's incredulous look. "Of course you don't believe me. You never believe me."

"Okay, you want to do this now?" Joe questioned, raising his voice. "Out here? Fine. Mardon is dead. There is no controlling the weather, Barry, just like there was no lightning storm in your house that night. It was your brain helping a scared little boy accept what he saw."

Barry shook his head. "My dad did not murder my mother."

"Yes, he did! Your dad killed your mother, Barry! I am sorry, son, but I knew it, the jury knew it, and now he's paying for what he did."

"Joe—" Juliet started to argue.

His head snapped towards her, making her go quiet. "And Juliet, you believe his story, right? Look, I don't know why you do, but you need to open your eyes and see reality. This is the real world, not some made up fantasy. I have done my best to take care of you two, and I have never even asked for anything in return, not even a thank you, but what I do ask now is that for once in your life see things as they are."

"Juliet has nothing to do with this," Barry told him quietly.

He then grabbed her hand and began to pull her away. Juliet couldn't help the permanent frown on her lips as Barry led her farther and farther away until they couldn't be seen anymore.

"Barry—" Juliet began.

He held up a hand, making her stop. "Not right now, J. We have to get to S.T.A.R. Labs. I'm gonna run us, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

Barry then gathered her in his arms and took off. Juliet gasped at the feeling. All around her, people and cars were still and her and Barry were the only ones moving. She felt the wind whip in her hair and against her cheeks until it finally ended. Barry set her down, and she stood still for a moment to regain her balance.

"So that's what it feels like," Juliet commented.

She then looked around. They were in the lobby of S.T.A.R. Labs, and Barry instantly took off towards the elevators. Juliet followed him. As they went up, she glanced over at him. His jaw was clenched and his expression was stone-cold — he was angry. She went to go say something to him, but the doors opened to a hallway. Barry instantly got out and went to the room where they had woken up yesterday, Juliet trailing behind him.

"Juliet and I weren't the only ones affected by the Particle Accelerator explosion, were we?" Barry inquired loudly.

Dr. Wells glanced back at Cisco and Caitlin before turning back to Barry and Juliet. "We don't know for sure."

"You said the city was safe, that there was no residual danger. But that's not true, so what really happened that night?"

"Well . . . the Accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes, and then . . ." He swiped something on his wheelchair, making a diagram of the Particle Accelerator show up on the TVs. "It all went wrong. The dimensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world. Antimatter, dark energy, x-elements—"

"But those are all theoretical," Juliet interrupted.

"And how theoretical are you?" Dr. Wells countered. "We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City, though we have no way of knowing exactly what or who was exposed. We've been searching for other Metahumans like you two."

"Metahumans?" Barry repeated.

"That's what we're calling them," Caitlin explained.

"I saw one today. He's a bank robber, and he can control the weather."

"This just keeps getting cooler," Cisco voiced.

Juliet blinked at him. "Cool? No, Cisco, it's not. Somebody died today because of it." She then let out a sigh. "Mardon must have gotten his powers from that storm cloud like Barry and I did. He's still out there, and we have to stop him before he hurts another person."

"Barry!" Dr. Wells exclaimed as he went to walk away. "That's a job for the police."

"J and I work for the police," Barry argued, and Juliet crossed her arms.

"As forensic assistants."

"You're responsible for this. For him."

"What's important is you two!" Dr. Wells yelled. "Not me. I lost everything. I lost my company, I lost my reputation, I lost my freedom." He then pointed at Barry. "And then you broke your arm, and it healed in three hours. Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world — genetic therapies, vaccines, medicines, treasures buried deep within your cells and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero! You're not heroes. You're just two young people who were struck by lightning."

Juliet shook her head in disbelief. She turned around and walked out of the room, back towards the elevators. Her and Barry stayed in silence until they got back outside, where the sun was setting. Juliet was vaguely aware of the way Barry was typing something on his phone, but she was more focused on how this whole situation was utterly ridiculous.

Barry held out his hand to her. "Come on."

"Where are you taking me now?" Juliet asked, irritation evident in her voice. "Because right now, I just want to go home and kind of forget that I can move things with my mind."

"J, I know you're upset, and I am too, but I want us to go talk to someone." He held out his hand further to her. "Do you trust me?"

Juliet stared at his face for a moment, her heart starting to beat against her chest. Finally, she took his hand, because she did trust him — wholeheartedly, might she add.

"Who are we talking to?" Juliet questioned.

"A friend," Barry replied.

Just like a few minutes ago, he gathered her back in his arms and started to run. Juliet tried to make sense of where they were going, but she was all sorts of disoriented, as she was moving faster than she had ever gone before. Finally, Barry stopped, and after Juliet regained control of herself, she glanced around to see herself on a rooftop in a city that definitely wasn't Central City.

"Where are we?" Juliet inquired.

"A roof," Barry answered. "In Starling."

"A roof," Juliet repeated. "You brought me to a roof in Starling? For what?"

"To see me," a deep voice then announced.

Juliet froze. She turned, and standing there on the other side of the roof was a hooded figure, holding a bow with a quiver full of arrows on his back. It was none other than Starling's own vigilante, the Hood.

The Hood looked to Barry. "My identity isn't given out to just everyone, Barry. It puts them in danger, and it's my secret to decide."

"Juliet's my best friend," Barry explained. "If you trust me with your identity, you'll trust her. I promise."

Her eyes widened. "Wait, you want to show me who you are?"

Barry glanced down at her for a moment before looking back to the Hood. "If you do, you'd be making the right decision. We have a story to tell you."

"We do?" Juliet asked. Barry gave her a look, and she quickly cleared her throat. "Uh, I mean, yeah, we do."

The Hood sighed before finally pulling down his hood. Juliet's eyes widened upon his true appearance — it was the billionaire Oliver Queen, who had been missing because of a boat crash for years but had just returned a couple of years ago. Once he assumed that she had taken it all in, Oliver pulled his hood back up.

"Oh," Juliet let out. She blinked and then glanced between him and Barry. "So — uh, how do you two know each other?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later," Barry replied. "Now, onto what happened . . ."

Barry then began to explain to Oliver. He told him about the night his mother got murdered and the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. Juliet only jumped in to tell her about how she had gotten her powers from that chemical and the residual electricity Barry had shocked her with, still a little bit dazed about this revelation of who the Hood actually was.

"So that's my — and Juliet's — story," Barry voiced. "I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible, never imagining that I would become the impossible."

"So why come to me?" Oliver questioned. "Something tells me that you didn't just take Juliet and run six hundred miles to say hi to a friend."

"All my life, I've wanted to just do more . . . be more. And now I am. And the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up. What if Wells is right? What if Juliet and I aren't heroes? What if we're just some people who were struck by lightning?"

"I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you two. I think it chose you."

"Chose us?" Juliet echoed.

Barry shook his head. "I'm just not sure Juliet and I are like you, Oliver. I don't know if we can be some . . . vigilante."

"You can be better," Oliver responded. "Because you can inspire people in a way that I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference, saving people . . . in a flash and a blast of scarlet." He then turned around, put on his mask, and deepened his voice. "Take your own advice. Wear a mask."

Juliet offered him a small smile. "It was nice to meet you. You can trust me, I promise."

He nodded once at her. Oliver then jumped off the building, immediately shooting his arrows into the other building to rope him back up.

"Cool," Barry said.

Juliet was quick to stop Barry before he went to run. "Uh-uh. We're teleporting this time. Come on, let's go."

And with a tingling feeling running through her body and the color scarlet outlining her figure, her and Barry left Starling City, back to their home that they were determined to keep safe.

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

DR. WELLS HAD told Juliet and Barry to leave the job to the police, but they couldn't let this go. So, that's when they found themselves back at S.T.A.R. Labs, looking at case files with Caitlin and Cisco.

"J and I have been going over unsolved cases from the past nine months, and there's been a sharp increase in unexplained deaths and missing people," Barry announced. "Your Metahumans have been busy. Now, we're not blaming you, we know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. We know you all lost something. But we need your help to catch Mardon and anyone else out there like him. But we can't do it without you."

Cisco then grinned. "If we're gonna do this, I have something that might help."

He then brought them downstairs to his lab, where two mannequins with suits were situated. Juliet took a step closer, extremely impressed. One was a full red suit, and the other was a long red coat, a red corset-like top, red fingerless gloves, black pants, black boots, and a black mask.

"Something I've been playing with," Cisco said, displaying his suits. "Designed to replace the turnouts firefighters traditionally wear. I thought if S.T.A.R. Labs could do something nice for the community, maybe people wouldn't be so angry at Dr. Wells anymore."

"How are they going to help Juliet and I?" Barry inquired.

"It's made of a reinforced tri-polymer. It's heat and abrasive resistant, so it should withstand your moving at high-velocity speed or Juliet's energy blasts. And the aerodynamic design should help you maintain control. Plus, it has built-in sensors so we can track your vitals and stay in contact with you two from here."

"Thanks. Now how do we find Mardon?"

Caitlin stepped forwards with a tablet in her hand. "I re-tasked S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City." Juliet, Barry, and Cisco walked over to her to see the radar of a storm. "We just got a ping. Atmospheric pressure dropped twenty millibars in a matter of seconds. I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city."

Juliet stepped forwards and looked over at Barry. "You ready?"

"Let's do this," Barry stated.

Barry sped into his suit while Juliet teleported into hers (which worked surprisingly well.) Cisco's suit fit her like a glove and she felt very comfortable in it. Since her suit didn't have a hood like Barry's did, the strap of the mask that went around her head had small earbuds that she was able to put in that would work as a comm system. And with a glance to Barry — in which he responded with a nod — the two of them left S.T.A.R. Labs.

Juliet closed her eyes and imagined the farm Caitlin was talking about. The tingling feeling came and went, and she opened her eyes to see that she was there. There was a storm raging and a tornado was forming. A piece of wood went flying, and her eyes widened upon noticing it was about to hit Joe and an unconscious Eddie (when did they get there?) She lifted up her hand and flicked it, making the piece of wood fly to the side away from them. Barry then skidded to a stop next to her.

"Barry, Juliet, this thing's getting closer," Cisco's voice said through her ear. "Wind speeds are two hundred miles per hour and increasing. Barry, Juliet, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, loud and clear," Barry answered loudly due to the raging winds.

"If it keeps up, this could become an F5 tornado."

"But it's headed towards the city. How do we stop it? Guys?"

Juliet stared at the tornado for a moment longer. "Unravel it."

"How the hell are you gonna do that?" Caitlin asked.

"I'll connect to it and try to move it the other way while Barry will run around it in the opposite direction."

"Barry would have to clock seven hundred miles per hour to do that, and you'd have to use up a lot of energy," Cisco pointed out.

"Your bodies may not be able to handle that speed or that much electricity in your brain," Caitlin argued. "You'll die."

"We have to try," Barry replied.

Juliet swallowed her fear and looked up at Barry. "Good luck."

"Same to you, J."

Immediately, Barry shot forwards in a flash of yellow lightning and started to run around the tornado in the opposite direction. Juliet then lifted up her hands, red energy traveling between her fingertips. She focused on the tornado and swept her hands to the left, using all of her concentration and power to make the tornado go in the opposite direction to unravel.

Juliet was pushing herself to the absolute limit until Mardon blew Barry back. He sent her a gust of wind as well, making her fly back and land on the ground. She let out a small groan before stumbling back onto her feet.

"It's too strong," Barry shouted.

"You can do this, Barry and Juliet," Dr. Wells then encouraged over the comms. "You were right, I am responsible for all of this. So many people have been hurt because of me, and when I looked at you both, all I saw were another potential victims of my hubris. And yes, I created this madness, but you, Barry, and you, Juliet, you can stop it. You can do this. Now, run, Barry, run! Control, Juliet, control!"

Juliet gritted her teeth and lifted up her hands again as Barry ran back to the tornado. She could do this.

Control, Juliet, control.

And that's exactly what she did. She put all of her willpower into focusing on making that tornado unravel, doing the same thing she did earlier, but stronger. Red energy traveled up and down her arms as she pushed herself harder. She could feel herself getting weaker, but she would not give in.

Finally, with both her energy and Barry's speed combined, the tornado completely unraveled. Juliet stumbled forwards a little bit as she ran towards Barry, clutching her mask in her hands since it had come loose from all the wind. She didn't even care, because they had done it. Juliet sunk to her knees by him, unable to hold herself herself up anymore.

"Hey," Mardon then voiced, and Juliet looked up with wide eyes to see him pointing a gun at them. "I didn't think there was anyone else like me."

"We're not like you," Barry responded. "You're a murderer."

Mardon went to shoot, and Juliet squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact. However, another gunshot was heard. She opened her eyes to see Mardon on the ground and Joe with his gun in his hands.

"Barry?" Caitlin questioned. "Juliet?"

"It's over," he replied. "We're okay."

Joe sunk to his knees in front of them, confusion etched across his features. Juliet merely leaned her head on Barry's shoulder as his arm wrapped around her, pulling her into his side.

They had defeated their first Metahuman, but Juliet had an inkling that there were many more to come.

〖 ϟ 〗

wattpad won't let me put text to speech on this book and I don't know WHY

anyways

season one of the flash was so funny like what the fuck happened all I feel is pain now