⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
bleeding love

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

"LITERALLY WHAT THE fuck," Juliet said.

She was sitting in a seat at a table at Jitters with Barry next to her, her forehead on the table right next to the latte she had gotten. Her and Barry had agreed to meet Iris there to catch up. Juliet was excited to hear all about her new job that she had gotten at Central City Picture News (her best friend was going to be a reporter!), but everything was sort of dimmed because of the news that Dr. Wells had just told them.

Barry rubbed circles on her back comfortingly, a solemn look of his own on his face. "I know, J."

"No, no, no, I am having the worst day ever," Iris' voice stated, making Juliet look back up to see her approaching them. "We both can't be having the worst day ever, okay? And I was really looking forward to getting some good complaining in."

"Don't mind me," Juliet told her, tucking a hair behind her ear and taking a sip out of her latte. "Go ahead, 'Ris."

"Okay, well, turns out that the real reason they hired me is because they think I have some sort of connection to the Flash and Scarlet, which I don't," Iris revealed, making Juliet frown. "Not anymore. And I've been teamed up with Mason Bridge, who is a legend, who I admired, before he told me I was a worthless, talentless millennial."

Barry nodded. "Well, the people we admire aren't always who we'd like them to be."

"Well said. So, I'm screwed."

"No you're not," Juliet argued. "Listen, you're Iris motherfucking West—"

"Tone it down, Juliet," Barry cut in with a small laugh.

"⁠ —and if this Mason guy doesn't see you for the talented journalist that you are, then his writing is probably shit."

Iris stared at her. "He won the Pulitzer. Twice, I think."

"Oh," Barry replied softly. "Good for him."

"Thanks, you two. Having someone believe in me, it's, um, a small . . . really, really big thing."

Juliet gave her a small smile. "We're always in your corner. You know that."

Iris then got up from the table to go order herself some coffee. Juliet took a small sip of her latte, suddenly feeling the table buzz. She looked down, only to see that Dr. Wells was calling Barry. The two of them shared a glance.

Barry decided to answer the phone, Juliet leaning closer so she could hear the other side. "Hey, what's up?"

"Listen to me ⁠— Hartley escaped," Dr. Wells voiced. "He's loose in the facility."

"Okay." Barry looked over at her with wide eyes. "Will you stay here—"

"—⁠and cover for you?" Juliet finished. "Yeah. Just let me know what happens."

"You're the best, J."

"Don't I know it."

Barry then sped away in a flash of yellow lightning. Juliet sighed and fixed her hair since it blew all over the place from the wind, trying to look as natural as possible.

Iris then turned around from getting her coffee. "Okay, your turn. Why are you having the worst day . . ." Iris' eyes set on the table. "Where'd he go?"

"Emergency," Juliet explained casually. "He had to run. But I'm still here, so that has to count for something."

Iris sat back down at her chair. "It counts for everything, Jules. So, do you want to tell me why your forehead was resting against the table when I walked in?"

Juliet sighed. "Turns out Dr. Wells knew there was a possibility that the Particle Accelerator could explode."

"And he turned it on anyways?"

"Yep."

Iris sipped her coffee. "What the fuck?"

"Exactly," Juliet agreed. She shook her head. "This whole thing kind of makes me feel sick."

Her phone then buzzed. Juliet glanced down to see it was a text from Barry — Hartley's gone. Cisco's knocked out. She picked her phone up and read it over a couple of times.

"Something's going on at S.T.A.R. Labs," Juliet announced. She gave her best friend an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, 'Ris, but—"

"You can go," Iris said. "We'll just reschedule. It's okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Jules, I'm sure. Go."

Juliet gave her a tight smile and stood up from her chair. "If that Mason guy keeps giving you a hard time, I'll punch him in the face."

Iris let out a small laugh. "You'll be the first one to know."

Juliet then left Jitters. She went behind the building and closed her eyes, teleporting to S.T.A.R. Labs with a tingling feeling spreading throughout her body. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the cortex. Sitting in the middle of it was a hospital bed, which had Cisco laying on it. Above him was lights and he was hooked up to machine. Barry was standing next to the bed.

"How did he escape?" Juliet immediately asked.

Barry shrugged, his eyes still on Cisco. "I don't know."

"He somehow managed to break the glass of the cell," Caitlin revealed from the med bay.

"But that should be impossible," Juliet insisted. "Do you think he used those thingys in his ears that he said he couldn't remove?"

"Not sure. But he obviously got captured by us for a reason."

Cisco's head then started to move back and forth. Juliet moved closer to the bed, watching as Cisco's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Hey," Barry began. "Welcome back, Mr. Ramon."

Cisco grinned and tried to sit up, but winced and held the back of his head. "Ooh. Oh, man." His eyes widened as he fully sat up. "Caitlin."

"She's okay," Juliet told him. "Look."

Caitlin walked up to him and put a hand on his chest. "You need to rest. You have a concussion. You're lucky."

Cisco looked between Barry and Juliet. "Please tell me you got him."

Barry shook his head. "I guess the attack on his family's company was a fake out so we'd catch him."

"And give him direct access to S.T.A.R. Labs," Caitlin added.

"But why?" Juliet cut in. "What does he need from us?"

"I should've known he was up to something," Cisco voiced. "This is my fault."

"Hey, man, this is on me, too," Barry insisted.

"And me," Juliet said. "Barry and I shouldn't have left—"

"This is no one's fault but mine," Dr. Wells interrupted, and Juliet looked up to see him in the doorway of the cortex. "I earned the blame — I'm not interested in sharing it. Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes. And he's right. He won't stop until I do."

"Where are you going?" Barry questioned when Dr. Wells turned his wheelchair.

"To earn back your trust."

Juliet didn't know what that meant at the time, but the next day, she found her answer. She stood by the staircase at the CCPD precinct, leaning her back against the rail with her arms crossed across her chest. Barry was next to her. There were a lot of reporters around, including Iris and who Juliet could only assume was Mason Bridge. She watched as Dr. Wells rolled up to the podium with many microphones that they had set up for him.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Dr. Wells stated. "And for those of you that read the ten-volume report issued by the Norris Commission, well, I commend you on your tenacity. You already know, then, the circumstances that led to the explosion of the S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator. Or rather, you think you do. Now, the Commission's finding was that the catastrophe was caused by a chain of events that nobody could have predicted, including myself. The truth is . . . I was warned there was a chance the Particle Accelerator might fail. I was warned by a former colleague, a friend. I chose to ignore the warning and in so doing, I let down all of you." Dr. Wells glanced over at Juliet and Barry. "As a new friend pointed out . . . I failed this city. I failed this city and I failed those who trusted me the most. By coming forward today . . . it's my hope I'm taking the first step toward regaining that trust. And your trust as well. Are there any questions?"

Mason Bridge stepped forward, his voice louder than the rest of the reporters. "Do you have any intention of rebuilding the Particle Accelerator?"

Dr. Wells, however, looked in between all the other reporters to the one in the back. "Miss West, do you have a question for me?"

And through it all, Juliet smiled. She craned her neck to look as her best friend walked forward confidently, her phone held in her hand.

"I don't believe you answered my colleague's question, Dr. Wels, so I'll ask it again," Iris said. "Do you have any intention of rebuilding the Particle Accelerator, either now or in the future?"

Juliet nodded proudly. She nudged Barry with her elbow excitedly, making him slightly laugh.

"Of course not," Dr. Wells answered.

"Thank you for your answer, Doctor," Iris responded.

"It's my pleasure. No further questions."

Dr. Wells then wheeled away, ignoring the rest of the reporters behind him. Juliet gave Iris a big smile as she approached her and Barry and immediately hugged her tight.

"You did it!" Juliet exclaimed, pulling away. "I'm so proud of you. Also, did you see the look on Mason's face when he got ignored? Priceless."

"It did feel good," Iris admitted.

The three of them chatted for a while until Juliet, Barry, and Dr. Wells went back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Caitlin and Cisco were waiting in the cortex when they arrived.

"Has Hartley made contact yet?" Dr. Wells inquired.

"What makes you so sure he will?" Caitlin argued.

"Because he's Hartley, and he'll want to have the last word."

Juliet pointed at Cisco. "I thought you were supposed to be resting."

"The answer to why Hartley fooled us into catching him is in here, and I'm gonna find it," Cisco protested, a tablet in his hand.

Dr. Wells let out a deep breath and followed after Cisco, who sat down in the med bay. Juliet sat down in a chair, allowing it to spin slowly as she summoned red energy in her hand and moved it between her fingers to keep herself occupied.

Barry chuckled from beside her. "You're so fascinated by it."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to not be?"

Barry shrugged. "I just find it adorable how you get so caught up in staring at it."

Juliet blinked, feeling her cheeks heat up the same color as her energy and her heart start to race. Adorable. Barry thought she was adorable.

Snap out of it, Juliet scolded. Ignore Barry. Oliver. Oliver. Oliver.

Why were things so confusing now? Juliet focused back on her energy, guilt settling in her chest.

Suddenly, the speakers started to make a weird noise. Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion and she looked up towards the ceiling, extinguishing her energy.

"What's that?" Caitlin asked.

They then began to pop and spark everywhere. Juliet's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, suddenly on high alert. She slowly started to stand up, her hands ready at her side.

"Nice gambit, Harrison," Hartley's voice said. "But this isn't over."

"Hartley, what do you want?" Dr. Wells demanded. "What do you want, Hartley? I already gave my mea culpa today."

"The city already hated you. You don't think I noticed that press conference was a pathetic bishop sacrifice? No, no, no. I've played with you too many times to let you get away with that. This is between you, me, the Flash, and Scarlet."

"You don't want to play for those kind of stakes with me, Hartley."

"Actually, I really do," Hartley replied. "What do you say? One last game of chess?"

"You and I both know that the winner of the game is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake, and you clearly have a move in mind," Dr. Wells insisted.

"You're right. And I'm already at the board. So why don't you move your precious scarlet knights . . ."

Dr. Wells looked over at Juliet and Barry. Juliet gave him a small shrug. She was willing to play if he was. If there was anybody who could match Hartley in a dangerous game of chess, it was Dr. Wells.

"While I take out a few pawns," Hartley finished.

That certainly wasn't good. Juliet sped into her suit, holding her mask in her hand as she anxiously walked back and forth slowly. She tapped her mask on her other hand, her mind spinning slightly.

"All right," Barry said to himself quietly. "All right, Cisco, where do we go?"

"I can't trace the signal," Cisco responded. "He could be sending his messages from anywhere."

"Cisco, scan for seismic activity," Dr. Wells told him. "If Hartley's using sonic blast, the vibrations could cause tremors."

He typed for a moment. "Look, over here. Quake activity but no fault line."

Juliet looked up at the screen. Sure enough, it showed a seismic report of an earthquake.

"The Keystone Cleveland Dam," Caitlin stated.

Barry looked over at Juliet and held his hand out. "You ready?"

Juliet took it, swallowing her nerves. "Ready."

"Barry, Juliet," Dr. Wells protested as the two of them walked away, hand-in-hand. "Don't underestimate him. He's brilliant."

"Well, good think we'll have you in here," Barry responded, tapping on his ear.

Juliet let go of Barry's hand put her mask on before closing her eyes. A tingling feeling spread throughout her entire body, and before she knew it, she was at the dam.

Hartley had caused a huge backup of traffic. He stood there in his cloak and his stupid sonic technology gadgets, causing a car to fly off of the damn with a woman still in it. Juliet's eyes widened and she raised both of her hands, focusing everything on the car. Red energy traveled up and down her arms as well as surrounding the entire car. It stopped in midair, and the flash of yellow lightning that was Barry ran and got the woman, placing her safely on the bridge. Juliet let her focus on the car go and lowered her hands, causing the car to fall and crash in a fiery explosion at the bottom of the dam.

"Barry, Juliet, you need to disarm Hartley immediately," Dr. Wells instructed. "Immediately! Do you hear me? He is a master of distraction. He is a maser of hiding his true endgame."

Hartley then walked forwards and used his gadgets to send multiple cars flying throughout the air. Juliet raised both of her hands up above her head and focused on all of the cars flying at once. Miraculously, they all stopped in midair. Juliet felt her mind spin and her muscles ache, but she held them long enough for Barry to run inside and get all of the people. Once he was done, she released her concentration, causing the cars to fall to the bottom of the damn. She stumbled backwards slightly, black spots dancing in her vision.

"Barry, Juliet, you need to get out of there!" Dr. Wells ordered. "You need to get out of there immediately!"

Juliet held her hand out towards Hartley, causing him to freeze entirely before he could send another sonic blast. Barry took the opportunity and ran forwards, snatching his gadgets off of his wrist and throwing them to the side on the road. She walked up to join Barry's side as he stood over Hartley.

"It's over!" Barry yelled. "You lose!"

"Amazing," Hartley commented. "He replaced me with you two? Total morons. I got you with the same trick twice."

Suddenly, Juliet's ears started ringing awfully. It was like the sound was vibrating through her brain. She let out a cry of pain and stumbled backwards, clutching onto either side of her head. Tears sprung in her eyes as she pressed her palms onto her ears in effort to get it to stop.

"Scarlet," Barry said, but his voice sounded underwater to her. "Scarlet! What did you do to her?"

"I got the idea watching you and Harrison chit-chat . . . to use your suit's own speakers to kill you," Hartley revealed.

Juliet felt her body collapse under her and fall into Barry's arms, her body screaming in pain as he lowered her to the ground. "Flash . . . leave me . . . get him."

"That feeling? That's your organs shearing apart. And you activated Scarlet's frequency when you disarmed me. In chess, we call that a discovered attack. You don't see it until it's too late. I can switch at any time, but watching you look so panicked . . . it's fantastic. Right, Harrison?"

"Flash," Juliet pleaded, coughing and spitting up blood on the ground, feeling herself get extremely lightheaded. "Let me go."

"No," Barry argued, helping her sit upright, positioning her body between his legs so her back was pressed up against his chest. "No, Scarlet, you're more important right now."

Hartley stared down at her, and Juliet could see it even through the haze that the pain caused her. "You don't seem so special anymore. Given how easy it was to bring you both down, I wonder if Harrison will even miss you two."

Suddenly, the pain let go, and the ringing in Juliet's ears went away (well, not the intense one, but a residual one was left.) She gasped for air and her body ached. Juliet began to breathe heavily as she pushed herself up, using Barry's knees to do so. She leaned forwards and tried to control how the world was spinning while Hartley cried out due to his gadgets being destroyed.

"Scarlet," Barry breathed out, holding onto her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Oh Jesus fuck," Juliet complained. "Everything hurts."

"Juliet, can you hear me?" Dr. Wells questioned, still sounding quite far away.

"Kind of." She wiped the blood away from her mouth and turned to look at Barry. "Why didn't you stop him? You could've left me."

"No, I couldn't have," Barry insisted. "You were hurt. That was the only thing on my mind."

"Okay, that's kind of sweet, but you're still an idiot."

"I'll take it."

She then looked over at Hartley's unconscious form on the ground, smiling triumphantly. He might've outsmarted her and Barry, but in the end, Dr. Wells was smarter.

Barry ran Hartley back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Meanwhile, Juliet teleported into her normal clothes and put her suit back on the mannequin at S.T.A.R. Labs in the blink of an eye, standing in the doorway as Barry came back up from putting Hartley in the pipeline.

"How do you feel?" Caitlin inquired.

"All right," Juliet replied. "My ears are still kind of ringing, but other than that, I'm fine."

Barry placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're yelling, J."

She lowered her voice. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay, it'll pass," Caitlin voiced.

Barry looked at Cisco. "Nice moves. Thank you."

"Anytime," Cisco responded. "I think I'm gonna take my doctor's advice and go lie down."

Caitlin gasped. "What a great idea!"

Cisco walked out of the cortex, Caitlin trailing behind him. "Man, I feel like I'm hungover times ten."

"I'm not surprised."

Soon enough, the only people left were Juliet, Barry, and Dr. Wells. Juliet let out a deep breath and placed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

"It's difficult for me . . . to admit when I'm wrong," Dr. Wells revealed. "Certainly, in front of an entire city but also . . . also my closest friends." Juliet smiled softly at that. "So I hope one day to restore your trust and faith in me."

"It was today," Juliet said. "You saved my life. Thank you."

He nodded once to her. Barry then pulled a picture frame out from underneath the coat he was holding. It was the picture that they had taken the other day of all of them in the cortex. Juliet grinned a him before walking away, Barry following after her.

They went to the CCPD, where they instantly entered the precinct. Joe was bent over his desk doing some work. Juliet glanced up at Barry for a moment — although she didn't know why she did that — before the two walked up to the desk.

Barry clapped once. "Hey."

Joe looked up at them. "Hey. Man, that press conference today was something else." Juliet nodded in agreement as she sat down on top of the desk, Barry sitting next to her, their shoulders pressed together (that wasn't an important detail.) "Dr Wells . . . took a lot of guts to do that. I have to give him that."

"He has his moments."

"What's up?"

"It must've been hard for you," Juliet stated.

"What?" Joe asked. "To be this handsome?"

"No. I was talking about raising Barry and mostly raising me. Well, more so Barry."

Barry elbowed her side gently. "Hey."

"Oh," Joe replied. "No."

"Well, two kids who loved math and chemistry, whose idea of a fun afternoon was doing experiments in the garage. J's right — couldn't have been easy. As soon as we started AP classes, you had no clue how to help Juliet and I with our homework."

Joe shook his head. "No."

"It must've felt like you were competing with Richard Dawkins, Neil Tyson, Elliot St. James, and Henry Allen," Juliet continued. "But none of them could ever replace you, Joe. Not even Dr. Wells."

"Aw," Joe commented, letting the w drag out.

Juliet shook her head, laughing slightly as Barry and Joe shared a high-five. Joe then held his fist out to her, and she bumped his with hers.

"All right, I'll see you at home," Barry told Joe.

"All right," Joe replied.

Juliet smiled at Eddie, who was passing by. "Hi, Eddie."

Eddie smiled back at her. "Hey, Jules. Hey, Barry."

Barry looked down at Juliet as they walked up the stairs to their lab. "Are you coming back to Joe's, or are you going back to your apartment?"

Juliet shrugged. "I've got no plans tonight, so . . . either, really."

"Wanna stargaze in the backyard like we used to?"

Juliet grinned softly, nodding her head slowly. "Absolutely."

〖 ϟ 〗

hey . . . so uh . . . y'all may hate me for the next two chapters

I think you know what's coming

sorry in advance

but we do have to get back to our regularly scheduled programming

love y'all the most <3