Even though the meteor mutants weren't treated like lab rats the way Luthor handled his other subjects, Green Arrow and the Flash still couldn't accept what they'd seen.
Regardless of the conditions, it was still illegal detainment, and that alone crossed the moral line for the two heroes.
Oliver folded his arms and stared Alex down.
> "You don't actually think we'll believe you're the good guy just because you said all that, right?"
Now that he was sure Alex was the mastermind behind that facility, Oliver knew exactly where he stood.
Alex, on the other hand, looked unconcerned.
> "Whether you think I'm good or bad isn't my problem."
"What matters is this—"
"You broke into my base. You pay the price."
He smiled faintly, a cold edge in his eyes.
> "Calling it 'cooperation' was just me being polite.
Don't tell me you think you actually have a choice?"
Oliver let out a short, humorless laugh.
> "And what exactly are you going to do? Kill us?"
He'd survived more deathtraps than he could count.
Threats didn't move him.
Unfortunately…
he wasn't facing a normal threat.
He was facing Alex.
A walking cheat code.
BOOM!
Alex vanished.
A sonic blast ripped through the room, sending a gust of wind whipping across Oliver and Barry's faces.
The two heroes blinked, stunned.
> "…He just left?"
"What the hell?"
Oliver had been bracing himself for torture, threats, some villain monologue—something.
Not… whatever that was.
BOOM!
Another sonic crack split the air.
The room blurred—
And suddenly, a crowd of people appeared out of nowhere.
Time froze.
Oliver and Barry turned pale.
Because every one of those faces…
…was familiar.
John Diggle.
Dinah "Black Canary."
Thea Queen.
Felicity Smoak.
Members of Team Arrow—every single core member.
Oliver's mind went blank.
He stared, stunned, pupils trembling.
He couldn't even breathe.
> "No… no, this can't—how do you—"
He could accept that Alex learned his identity.
But knowing the entire team?
Their base?
Their real-time location?
Impossible.
Unless…
Unless he had impossible abilities.
(It wasn't luck. When Oliver was knocked out, the entire Arrow team panicked and discussed rescue plans aloud in their base. Alex heard everything across the country.)
A single thought formed in Oliver's head:
We're helpless.
Felicity blinked, adjusting her glasses.
> "Oliver? What… what's going on?"
They had been in their Star City bunker one second—then teleported here the next.
Diggle, ever the soldier, leveled his stance.
> "Who the hell are you?"
He glared at Alex.
BOOM.
And then—they were gone.
All of them vanished into thin air.
BOOM.
Alex reappeared alone.
Oliver immediately understood:
Alex could kill his entire team with zero effort.
His heart sank.
He could face death without fear.
But he would never gamble with his team's lives.
Slowly, reluctantly, he exhaled.
> "…I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
> "Correct. You don't." Alex replied calmly.
Oliver clenched his jaw.
> "What do you want from me?"
> "Use Queen Industries' resources to synthesize a mineral for me."
Alex tossed him a hard drive.
> "The details are in there."
Oliver checked nothing—it didn't matter. Refusing wasn't an option.
Alex then turned toward Barry.
Barry stiffened instantly.
If Alex could drag Oliver's entire team into the room like toys…
what about Team Flash?
A chill ran through his spine.
Alex took a step toward him.
> "Your turn, Barry."
Barry swallowed.
Alex didn't threaten him.
Instead, his question was completely unexpected:
> "Tell me everything you know about Zoom."
Barry blinked, stunned.
> "Zoom? Why?"
Alex folded his arms.
Because Zoom—also known as Hunter Zolomon—was a speedster.
Like Barry.
Like Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash.
All connected to the same cosmic phenomenon:
The Speed Force.
And Alex remembered something Barry once said—something he'd overheard with super-hearing:
> "Zoom stole my speed."
Which sparked a dangerous idea in Alex's mind.
A wild, outrageous, impossible idea—
He wanted to steal Zoom's Speed Force.
Yes, the Speed Force granted extreme speed…
But it was far more than that.
It was one of the four fundamental cosmic forces in the DC Universe.
And Alex didn't plan on letting that kind of power slip by.
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