⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
jules & ollie: best friends edition

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

JULIET AND BARRY had done when Snart asked — they had deleted all of the evidence that anybody had against him. Once again, she really did not like it, but he was kind of their last resort because they were really running out of time. Juliet was keeping a careful eye on him, though. Like now, when she stood in an alley with Snart in her suit, staring at all of the evidence boxes in front of them that they had taken.

"We've deleted everything the CCPD, A.R.G.U.S., and the FBI had on you, and sent a virus to erase every digital record of you online," Barry told him. "And this is every single piece of physical evidence the police had."

"Good," Snart replies.

Suddenly, there was a whirring of a gun. Juliet watched as all of the evidence boxes immediately got turned to gold. She sighed, closing her eyes in frustration for a moment. Juliet should've known better. Of course Snart would bring her, too.

"I hear we're all going to be working together," Lisa Snart said.

"That's right, sis," Snart agreed. He looked at Juliet and Barry with his signature smirk. "Partners."

Juliet really wanted nothing more than to slam her head against the wall.

All four of them went back to S.T.A.R. Labs to show that Lisa would now be joining in with them. Juliet stood with her arms crossed on one side of the room, her shoulder pressed up against Barry's as they stood with Lisa and Snart. Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe stood across from them, staring at them in disbelief.

"Please tell me this is a joke," Caitlin stated.

"Oh, you were right, Lenny," Lisa admitted. "She is very uptight."

"I am not uptight." Caitlin glanced to Juliet and Barry for help, but Juliet just awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. "You can't call me uptight."

"Look, guys, we need their help if we're gonna pull this off," Barry cut in.

Caitlin looked in between Juliet and Barry. "Why are you two wearing your masks? Snart already knows who you both are."

"And I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," Snart voiced. "That includes my sister."

Lisa's eyes narrowed at him. "Jerk."

"Trainwreck." Snart's eyes then slid over to Joe. "Don't look so surprised, Detective. I am a man of my word."

"Yeah, you better be," Joe threatened. "Or I'm gonna make sure you're on that damn plane, too."

Juliet sighed and started to walk away. "I love my life. Have I mentioned that before?"

"A few times, actually," Barry responded.

"Good, because I'm really feeling it now. Life's great. I'm great. Not worried at all."

He put a hand on her shoulder, putting his face right in front of hers. "Hey. It's going to be fine. Trust me."

"Oh, I trust you wholeheartedly," Juliet said. "I just don't trust them."

Barry nodded in understanding. Juliet then glanced over to see Lisa walking away from Cisco, who looked a little agitated from that whole encounter.

"Hey, dude, have you figured out a way to get the Metahumans to the airport?" Barry asked.

"I have, actually," Cisco revealed. "And it's pretty dope."

Cisco brought them all downstairs to the S.T.A.R. Labs garage. There was a huge truck inside. Juliet placed her hands on her hips and stared up into it.

"This is cool," Joe commented. "Where'd you get this?"

"My uncle owns it," Cisco answered. "His company hauls frozen food cross country. Okay, so I retrofitted the cooling system with the wheelchair's power source to create an energy damper."

"Which means what, exactly?"

"Basically, the back of this rig is being flooded with so much power that it's effectively creating a transient pulse strong enough to disrupt the Metahumans' powers, so we can get them to the airport and get them on the plane without them getting fresh on us. Technically, we need somebody with a Class A commercial drivers license to drive this, though."

"I can drive it," Lisa announced. All of them looked at her. "What? I have a Class A CDL."

"You do?" Caitlin questioned.

"We can't all be doctors."

"All right, well, let's do this," Barry encouraged. "Plane's gonna be here in two hours."

They put harmless gas into the Metahumans' cells to render them unconscious so they could put them in the truck.

"It's done," Caitlin said. "They're all unconscious."

Juliet and Barry all brought the Metahumans into the back of the truck. Caitlin and Joe got into the van Joe would be driving, while Lisa and Cisco got in the truck and Snart got on his motorcycle.

"Dampeners are fully functional," Cisco stated.

"All right," Barry began. "Scarlet and I'll make sure the roads are clear." He gave a pointed look to Snart. "Do not stop for anything."

"Let's move out," Snart urged. He started up his motorcycle and looked at the two superheroes. "After you."

Juliet rolled her eyes and teleported away. She moved in small increments, jumping again each time Barry's lightning flashed by her.

"Hey, we got traffic up ahead," Joe warned.

"On it," Juliet responded.

She put up blockades to stop the traffic so they could get through before returning back to teleporting.

"How's our cargo doing?" Joe inquired.

"All quiet so far," Cisco revealed.

After a while, they finally got to Ferris Air. Juliet landed on her feet, her stomach twisting nervously as she watched Lisa stop the truck. She walked closer to it and ducked into the hangar, running her hands down the fabric of her red jacket.

"Ferris Air?" Snart asked, kicking the kickstand down on his motorcycle and getting off. "I thought this place got shut down."

"Oh, it did," Juliet replied. "A test pilot of theirs disappeared."

"So where's the plane?" Joe questioned. "I want to get this over with."

"Uh, it should be here any minute," Barry admitted. "Look, Joe, I know you don't agree with this—"

Joe held up a hand to stop him. "Save it, Barr. I just want to get it done."

Juliet looked around the sky. However, the longer she waited, she still didn't see a plane coming. That made her feel weird. Lyla wouldn't just lie to her like that.

"Your A.R.G.U.S. friends aren't very prompt," Snart stated. "Maybe that's why they've never been able to catch me."

Caitlin then pointed. "Look, there it is."

Juliet inwardly let out a sigh of relief, her heart rate slowing down. A plane was descending from the sky down to them.

And then everything went so fucking wrong.

Cisco ran up to them. "Guys, guys, we have a problem. The damper's fluctuating. The rig's losing power. I — I don't know why."

"Wait, can you do something?" Barry inquired.

"I'm trying."

"Oh, God," Caitlin let out.

Juliet looked up and her eyes instantly widened. Lightning was crackling extremely close to the plane.

"Mardon," Joe voiced.

Right when the plane started to get close, a bolt of lightning struck one of the jets. The jet immediately exploded and the plane zoomed right over them and landed on a hill in a fiery explosion. Juliet's mouth fell open in shock, and then the truck sparked and the back doors flew open. Her head whipped over to see all the Metahumans inside.

"Trip's cancelled!" Mardon shouted.

"I hate my life," Juliet muttered. "I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life—"

Nimbus stared right at Juliet. "Take your last breath!"

She was suddenly transported back to how he almost killed her in that mall. Nimbus instantly transformed into his poisonous gas, and all of them ran — including Joe, who was shooting his gun right into the back of the truck. Simmons shot his plasma beams from his eyes at Joe and just disappeared. Juliet saw the gas following her, and she teleported away.

Juliet found herself outside of the hangar by herself. Nimbus was in front of her, now in an even bigger cloud. He came right towards her, but Juliet lifted up her hands, narrowing her eyes on the cloud in concentration. Red energy traveled from her fingers to her arms, and she held the cloud in place. Juliet could feel her limbs start to shake, but she pushed her hands out farther, sending the cloud flying away from her.

It got smaller and smaller until Nimbus transformed back into himself, stumbling back into a machine. He turned around and glared at her, but Juliet sent a harsher glare back, her eyes starting to turn red.

A plasma blast then landed beside her. Juliet jumped to the side with a shriek and teleported away from it. Simmons continued to shoot at her, but Juliet continued to dodge. Her mind was starting to spin incredibly fast, and then Mardon summoned a lightning bolt from the sky. It hit her right on and sent Juliet flying. She cried out in pain from it, her body absorbing the electricity as it slammed against the ground.

"Scarlet!" Barry's voice screamed. "No!"

He sped over to her. However, Mardon just did the same thing. He struck Barry with another lightning bolt, and Barry landed next to her, also groaning in pain.

"Finish them, Simmons," Mardon demanded.

Juliet rolled her head to the side to see Simmons staring at them, his eyes already lit up. However, Snart then used his cold gun and completely froze Simmons. Snart turned around in shock and fell to the floor. Juliet coughed in pain, her entire body and mind screaming at her. She couldn't even focus on her powers. That lightning bolt really got her good.

"How about we call tonight a tie?" Snart began, pointing his gun at Mardon and Bivolo.

Bivolo's eyes started to turn red, ready to turn Snart angry.

Lisa pointed her gun right at his head. "I'd power down if you don't want me to melt your face."

"Let's all go our separate ways," Snart ordered. "My name is Leonard Snart."

Mardon stared at him. "I know who you are."

"Always pleased to meet a fan. Just remember who it was made sure you didn't get thrown on that plane bound for nowhere."

"You're just letting us go?" He jerked his head to Simmons. "Why'd you shoot that guy?"

Snart stared down at him. "He owed me money."

"Mmm," Mardon hummed in response. "What? You want a thank you?"

"Who doesn't like a thank you?"

Silence for a moment. Juliet tried to stretch out her side but winced in pain. This was the worst.

"Thank you," Bivolo said.

"You are so very welcome," Snart replied.

He then walked over to the place where Juliet and Barry were still laying. Juliet kept closing her eyes in pain, but she managed to open them a little to glare harshly at Snart, who crouched down beside them.

"You sabotaged the truck, didn't you?" Barry asked.

"Wow, babe, you're so smart," Juliet commented, her voice strained. "What gave that away?"

Barry lifted himself up a little bit. "Why did you let them escape?"

Snart took off his goggled. "Because now they all owe me. And something tells me they'll be a lot more use to me as part of my rogues than rotting away in the north China sea."

"You gave us your word."

"It's true, I did. But here's the thing. I'm a criminal and a liar, and I hurt people, and I rob them. What did you expect me to do? Not be what I am? I saw an opportunity to turn things to my advantage, and I did. Who you're both really mad at is yourselves. This is on you, Barry. This is on you, Juliet."

"Why not just kill us, then?" Juliet argued. "Just a little pew pew and it'll all be over."

Snart stood back up. "Well, I guess you both owe me one now, too. Good luck with . . . all of this." He got on his motorcycle. "I'm actually really excited to see how it all turns out."

Cisco sprinted up to the both of them and slid to his knees. "Hey, hey, hey."

Juliet glared again at Snart and Lisa, who was now on the motorcycle, too. "Fuck you."

Lisa smirked at Cisco. "Bye, Cisco."

Snart then drove Lisa and him away. And all Juliet and Barry could do was lay there, feeling nothing but fucking stupid.

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

AFTER THEIR FAIL of a mission, they all went back to S.T.A.R. Labs — as if they went anywhere else. Juliet and Barry had separated themselves from the others, because Snart was right. It was their fault. They sat in the pipeline together, sitting extremely close. Juliet had her head resting on Barry's shoulders while his head rested on top of hers. Their hands were tightly interlocked, and Barry absentmindedly ran his thumb over her knuckles.

"Hey," Joe greeted. "Cisco told me you two were in here."

"How's Caitlin doing?" Barry questioned — during the whole thing, Bivolo had whammied Caitlin, and she had apparently screamed at Cisco for killing Ronnie.

"He used that light thingie on her. She's fine. Mostly embarrassed."

"Yeah. That's for not saying I told you so."

"But I did tell you so," Joe insisted. "Repeatedly."

"Ollie — Oliver, sorry — he used to talk to me about things that happened to him, and it always seemed that he's not afraid to do what it takes to get what he needs," Juliet insisted. "Barry's seen it, too. Maybe . . . maybe we just thought that we could be like that. We thought we could use Snart, but he just used us instead."

"Neither of you are the Arrow," Joe protested. "That's not the kind of heroes you are."

"What kind are we?" Barry inquired as Joe sat down next to them.

"The kind that cares about whether or not those criminals lived or died. I mean, whatever Mardon and Nimbus and Shawna did, they're human beings. And you both knew letting Wells use them as pawns was wrong. You two know the difference between right and wrong. And you weren't willing to blur the lines between the two. That's the kind of man and woman you are. And that's what makes you both different than the Arrow. So, please . . . no more walks on the dark side. Agreed?"

"Yeah," Juliet agreed softly. "We won't."

The alarm suddenly started to blare. Juliet's head snapped up from Barry's shoulder, now on complete high alert. She stood up from sitting down and squeezed Barry's hand nervously.

"What the hell is that?" Joe asked.

"Guys . . ." Cisco's voice echoed from overhead. "The Particle Accelerator is fully charged and online. Whatever Wells needs it for, it's ready."

The three immediately left the pipeline. They went back up to the cortex, only to see that the screens by their mannequins were beeping and warning them the Accelerator was online. However, on the computers, it showed a live footage of outside S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet slowly walked up to it, her jaw clenching in anger. Wells was walking up to the building. He ripped the chain and lock off of the gates without any hesitation and made his way through.

"Barry, Juliet, don't even think about it," Joe stated. "Barr, Jules, no."

"You can't go out there by yourselves," Caitlin insisted.

"Yeah, we can," Barry countered.

He turned to Juliet. They shared a glance, and Juliet nodded. Barry then took his waist in his arms and ran them outside. He placed her down on the ground. The two stared at Wells in front of them.

"Well, I heard your prison transfer didn't go so well," Wells announced. "I'm so sorry."

"I know you're not, you motherfucker," Juliet called. "I'm assuming this is all a part of your master plan?"

"Actually, that didn't factor into my plan at all, but I'm impressed you two went to such great lengths to keep those people from harm. Ever the heroes, huh, Barry and Juliet?"

"You've hurt enough people," Barry voiced.

"I know," Wells responded. "You both see me as the villain, but Barry, Juliet, if you were to look back, look back carefully at everything I've done, every wheel I have set in motion, you would realize I have only done what I had to do. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"And the Particle Accelerator? How does that fit into your grand plan?"

"Well, why don't you go on inside and let me show you?"

"You know, we just learned the hard way not to trust the bad guy," Barry said.

"And yet . . . I've shown you time and time again you can't beat me, Barry," Wells stated. "Juliet maybe could . . . if she was at her full potential, which she isn't."

Juliet raised an eyebrow at him, anger filling his insides. Oh no, he did not. If he wanted to see full potential, she would give him full potential.

(And she also hated that he was kind of right — since she hadn't been trained nearly as much as Barry, she didn't know the lengths her powers could go to.)

They knew this would happen. That's why they brought in reinforcements.

The sound of fire came from the sky. Juliet glanced to the side, smiling slightly as Firestorm descended down to the ground.

"Wow, you brought yourself a friend," Wells commented.

And then came the sound of an arrow and zipping. Oliver Queen landed on the ground next to Juliet, and she looked over, giving him a quick smile in greeting. He was also wearing a very different outfit this time — Juliet assumed it was something to do with Nanda Parbat and the League of Assassins.

(It was safe to say she really had no fucking clue what was going on in that department.)

Juliet smirked. "I brought one, too."

"Welcome, Mr. Queen," Wells greeted.

"Hope we're not too late," Oliver began.

"You're just in time," Barry reassured him. "I don't care how fast you are. You can't fight all four of us at the same time."

"Oh, I can't?" Wells countered. "Trust me. This — this is gonna be fun."

Wells then held out his fist, the ring on his finger starting to glow. Firestorm lit up his head and hands, Barry pulled on the hood of his suit while lightning flashed in his eyes, Juliet put on her mask before letting red energy travel between her fingers, and Oliver notched an arrow.

Out of his ring, Wells' suit appeared. He ran into it in a flash of red lightning, and Barry immediately ran at him with his yellow lightning. They met in the middle, and in a small circle, their lightnings moved. Juliet couldn't really do anything but watch — she couldn't concentrate on them because they were moving too fast.

"Move, Barry," Oliver ordered, trying to point an arrow at Wells. "Barry, move!"

Barry suddenly got slammed against the wall by Wells, who was vibrating fast with his eyes glowing red. Wells grabbed Barry and threw him to the side. Meanwhile, Firestorm launched himself into the sky. Barry crashed into the S.T.A.R. Labs sign and crumpled to the ground, glass shattering around him.

Juliet's eyes narrowed in anger. She reached up her hand and focused on Wells, trapping him in place. Oliver then took his opportunity and shot the arrow at Wells. Firestorm threw a fire blast at the ground in front of Wells, and Juliet let go of her focus, allowing Wells to stumble back away from the fire.

"Come on!" Firestorm yelled.

Wells lifted up his arm and moved it fast in a circle. Firestorm immediately got blown away into the sky, and Barry sped away to follow him. That just left Juliet and Oliver fighting together. Wells reached down and pulled out the arrow from his leg.

"Nanites, courtesy of Ray Palmer," Oliver revealed. "They're delivering a high frequency pulse that's disabling your speed. You're not gonna be running around for quite a while."

Juliet glanced at him. "Sick, Ollie."

"Thanks, Jules."

Wells stopped vibrating and his eyes went back to normal. He looked at the two with a smirk and immediately ran at them. Oliver got his bow ready to fight, but Juliet held out her hand. She pushed it forwards, sending Wells into the barricade and sandbags. He landed on his back with a groan, but Juliet watched as Wells vibrated his body again and his eyes start to glow red.

She went to do something, but she felt her body get launched into the air. Juliet grunted in pain as she slammed against the asphalt — for the second time today. Her ears were ringing, but she could vaguely hear a deep voice. Juliet lifted up her head, hazy with pain, to see Wells standing over Oliver on the ground, his hand vibrating right near his heart.

Juliet's eyes widened. "Ollie."

She reached out, but then Barry came back, speeding Wells away. Juliet pushed herself up off the ground and ignored the black spots in her vision as she ran up to Oliver.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Juliet questioned, extending her hand out to him.

Oliver used it to pull himself up. "I'm good, you?"

"Fine." She looked up to see flashes of lightning on the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs. "It's time, dude." She held onto his hand a little tighter. "Might feel weird."

Juliet teleported them to stand on top of one of the cars in the parking lot. Barry got Wells where he want him, and Firestorm flew right at them, throwing fire at Wells. It sent Wells flying off the roof and landed on one of the cars in the parking lot on his front. The car immediately smushed and shattered from the impact. Wells stumbled to sit up, his glowing eyes and creepy smile sending a shiver up Juliet's spine. She, once again, held him in place, and Oliver shot another arrow at him right in his back.

This time, it sent Wells down for good. His smile dropped and he fell forwards, sliding right off the car. Juliet hopped down from the car and walked up to him, looking at his yellow-suited figure in pure hatred. Barry then sped in next to Juliet while Firestorm landed on the ground. The four of them just stared at the Reverse Flash for a second.

Barry looked at Oliver and Firestorm. "Thanks, fellas."

"Yeah, thanks," Juliet added. "We really appreciate it."

"No problem," Firestorm responded.

Barry nodded to Oliver. "Nice haircut. And I see we've abandoned our traditional green."

"Yeah, honestly, Ollie, you've got to tell us what's going on," Juliet insisted. "What the fuck is a Nanda Parbat?"

"Trying something different, and it's a really long story," Oliver admitted. "Look . . . I might need a favor from you two."

"Anything," Juliet immediately agreed. "Just tell us when and where."

Oliver and Ronnie then walked away. Barry extended his arm out, and Juliet instantly sunk into his side, finding comfort in how he ran his hand up and down her arm and press a kiss to the top of her head.

They had won the battle. However, Juliet couldn't help but feel that there had to be more after this. With Wells, she was sure there would be.

〖   ϟ   〗

okay tbh I've always fucking hated this episode but then OLLIE COMES BACK <3

gif by zcndayas!