Chapter 25:
Amanda Waller folds her arms while overseeing the fact that Grodd gets safely in the cell. It's almost tragic wha thappened here and she would like to strangle Eiling for causing this problem. Lyla and several of the other top ARGUS agents move the Gorilla into the cell.
"Get the psychic dampeners up."
The gorilla enters the cell and drops down onto the wall. His eyes still burn a hole through Waller and it's obvious by the look of him that he's not finished. Waller grumbles, this creature gives her the creeps. She steps closer towards him, trying to figure out what he has to do.
'Enjoy this moment.'
Waller shakes her head and returns back to the conversation at hand. Lyla steps closer towards Waller and obviously wants a word with her boss. Waller complies and walks several levels up. They move to a private corner of the room.
There's many questions regarding what Lyla has in her mind.
"The HIVE leader is Eleanor Darhk."
This causes Waller to remain stoic for a few seconds. Lyla decides to press on with the questioning.
"It seems impossible given she's a ten year old girl. And ARGUS is currently keeping very close tabs on Nora and her foster parents...and...well there's nothing out of the ordinary."
"We just captured a super-intelligent gorilla. There's plenty out of the ordinary here."
Waller leans back and considers the options.
"Clone, alternate dimensional counterpart, time travel...it could mean any number of things. I could only begin to guess."
Another couple of deep sighs come from Waller. This entire mess from what she's learned is putting the entire world in danger. Not just her world.
"HIVE is like cockroaches. We're going to have to work extra hard to eliminate them. And once we get the HIVE Queen in, we'll find out exactly who she is."
"We're chasing down several good leads now, Director."
Waller snaps her head back and responds with a very brisk nod.
"Keep it up Agent Michaels and keep me posted. I want to know the second when you have her in your crosshairs. And I wouldn't mind taking an extra look at Luthor."
"He's come up clean."
Waller tightens her fists in frustration. A couple of agents rush past them and move to the elevator. Waller waits until they clear the area before she responds to Lyla's assessment.
"Yes. I know. But, I still want to make sure he's not involved in this. He always tends to be in the center of a few recent events."
Something about Lex Luthor shifted, something changed. Waller walks down the hallway and moves back to the elevator. Goosebumps come on the back of her neck. It's an odd feeling, but she's been used to these odd feelings, the second she's returned back from the past, being restored by Flashpoint.
One step at a time, one movement at a time. That's what it's all about, as far as Waller is concerned. She walks out into the hallway and takes a deep breath before getting on the elevator and going down.
X-X-X
The fact Lena says it is so urgent puts Supergirl on the path to seeing what is up. If anything happened to Lena, well Kara will just have to deal with it. She goes so fast that even Flash and Jesse are a bit less closer to her. Of course they catch up in due time.
Kara holds up the phone and double checks the address. This is most certainly the spot where Lena is.
"Is it…."
"Yeah, this is where she told me to meet her. I don't have the slightest idea why."
The trio of heroes move into position. Kara scans the area to make sure there's no trouble. The sound of a dripping faucet puts her on edge about as much as one would expect. Kara breaths in and breaths out, waiting to see if anyone would come out.
"Lena?"
"I'm afraid not."
"It's not the Luthor she expects. A tall dark-haired woman steps out of the shadows. Kara puts herself on high alert, and both Flash and Jesse step forward to come face to face with her.
"You. What did you do to Lena?"
The woman answers with a smile and holds up her hand. An image of Lena working in her office.
"There she is. Safe and sound, working in her office, ignorant to what we're doing here. At least for right now."
Another wide grin comes over the face of the woman the very second she locks eyes onto the other two.
"I see you've brought friends. Can't say I blame you given your past dealings with us."
Kara snorts, yeah given that those past dealings ended up with her strapped to a table in a lab, until Alex and the rest of the DEO tracked her down, she's glad that Barry and Jesse are backing her up right here.
"Ms. Wells and Mr. Allen, I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you."
Another person who just casually drops his secret identity like it's nothing. Barry tries to remain it cool and Jesse tenses up. Barry reaches in and grabs her hand to stop her. His eyes fixate on the woman and while he does not glare at this woman at the same contempt as Kara does, there's still an underlying measure of agitation.
"Just who are you?"
"She's Lillian Luthor. She returns an illegal terrorist organization known as Cadmus."
Lillian just frowns at Supergirl's hostile assessment of Cadmus.
"We are a group of freedom fighters to preserve humanity's place here on Earth. Cadmus is on a mission of peace. We intend to make sure the aliens will not replace us. You cannot deny that some aliens are hostile and would wipe us out if we do not fall in line with our ideas."
Kara takes a few seconds to take a deep breath before responding through gritted teeth.
"Not all."
Lillian just smiles and nods.
"I've learned a lot about your planet, Krypton. How your council isolated itself from outside influences. Decided to regard the plights of other races with casual indifference. The fact that you're so accommodating to let people who would poison our culture in is hypocritical given your people reacted to anyone who tried to enrich them from their outdated philosophy of what roles Kryptonian men and women had from society. Anyone who did not follow the laws were sent to the Phantom Zone, not because they did wrong, but because they didn't follow the ways of Book of Rao. Your aunt knew about that, didn't she?
Kara's eyes flicker in danger. Barry can tell this argument is not going in a direction which is going to get there any. A debate of political philosophy would distract them from the real reason why they're here.
"You posed as Lena to draw us here, but why?"
"Because, I need your help."
"I'm here to warn you that the Lex that is on Mr. Allen's Earth is the Lex from this Earth. My son, brilliant boy he is, found a way to switch himself out. His Earth 1 counterpart is in prison while he roams free."
Lilian looks on, but Kara just folds her arms. Barry and Jesse look on as well, wondering how this one is going to pan out. There's a bit of a nervous situation between both sides of this.
"I questioned poor Lex's mental stability after Kal-El drove him insane."
Kara rolls her eyes and hisses like an angry viper. Barry grabs her hand to prevent her from lashing out.
"And now he might be a pawn of some sort of gorilla."
"We took down Grodd. He's locked up."
Lillian considers Barry for a second before nodding.
"If you did succeed, you have my sincere gratitude. But, pride comes before a fall….but we have a severe problem. Another one of the Gorilla's associates broke into a Cadmus vault and stole alien DNA samples we cultivated to study over the past few years."
"You mean the alien DNA samples you cultivated from my cousin and you son to create…."
"Yes, Project Kr, well, I'm sure that he's in a safe home."
"You shouldn't concern yourself with Conner. Because you won't be getting your hands on him again."
"How maternal of you."
"Not something you would know anything about."
"Technically he is my grandson…."
"No! You don't have any right to…."
"Ladies, enough!"
Both Lillian and Kara snap out of the discussion. Barry puts a bit of power in his voice and actually makes both of the women shut up and listen. He wonders if this is some kind of power that he did not know he had or if he just yelled loud enough.
"Who stole it?"
Lillian gains her composure and starts speaking once more.
"I didn't get a good enough look at his face, but the technology he used was so advanced it might as well have been magic."
This causes Barry to let out the breath he's been holding. Obviously, they did not see the last of this gentleman.
X-X-X
Lena puts together the last bit of paperwork for the deal which she hopes will go through today. It will make L-Corp a significant amount of money and hopefully erase some of the bad will given Lex's mental trip a few years ago.
"Ms. Luthor, a moment of your time, please!"
A quirky gentleman in a grey suit enters her office. Lena reaches underneath her desk and pulls the drawer open.
"Just one question, how did you get past security?"
"Come on, Ms. Luthor, there's no need to act like that. I have with me an idea which will change you life. It will make everything for the better. Just give me one minute of a time so I can wow your mind and razzle-dazzle you."
Lena reaches for the gun in her desk, only to find her attention caught by a glint of a golden ball out of the corner of her eyes. The ball keeps spinning and emitting a number of different, relaxing colors.
"Is it not pretty, Lena?"
"It's very eye-catching, sir."
Lena tries to fight it off. It appears to be some kind of hypnotic trick. No matter how hard she tries, the minute she catches sight of the man's ball, she cannot close her eyes. The bright colors emit off of it as a pattern and relax the parts of her brain which regulate impulse control.
The quirky gentleman smiles when Lena watches the bouncing bulb.
Abra Kadabra has Lena under his thrall right now and he could not be happier.
"So, if you could be a dear and bring me to Project XQR3?"
X-X-X
Kara is glad to get away from Lillian Luthor because it takes every fiber of her being not to want to punch the woman in the face for all she's done. Thankfully, Barry's there to help her reign in. And Kara realizes that by lashing out against Lillian, she'll be only justifying every one of her points by lashing out in violence.
Therefore, she's glad to focus on something else. Barry and Jesse move side by side with her as they begin to pick up Lena's papertrail. They're outside of L-Corp.
"Lena's got some good security. It could take us forever to get all of the co…."
Jesse's hand moves like a blur over the panel and in about three seconds cracks the code of the security.
"Done."
"I love you."
Jesse just smiles and decides to ask the question on her mind. The three of them move forward as she does this.
"So are we trusting Lillian at face value?"
"No."
"No."
Jesse sighs at both of their curt and quite blunt responses.
"Alright, but i just had to check you know."
Kara understands. Jesse and Barry do not have the same experience dealing with Cadmus as she does. She has an entire laundry list of reasons to want to see Lillian chucked in some kind of cell deep underground. She's just not sure it is going to stick at some point.
Someone with money and resources like that is going go very far in the world. Not to mention, Lillian is a strong and self-made woman, along with the fact she labels herself as a feminist, and playing that card is a way to drum up a lot of support in the current political climate. Some people will sell out their own self-worth based on a label and that much frustrates Kara just as much as anything these days.
Regardless, they move into the lab. Kara listens for anything.
"So, Abra Kadabra, what if he got to…."
Barry gives Kara a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"We'll deal with it."
A figure moves in to the underground vault. Jesse, Kara, and Barry move in quickly to take a look at the figure making her way to the vault.
Lena's accessing the vault. Kara notices a milky flash in her eyes when she shifts through the contents of the vault.
"Lena...snap out of it!"
It is almost like Lena Luthor is an entirely different world.
X-X-X
"Oh, this is unfortunate. I'm afraid Ms. Luthor's mind as left the building. She works only for me...to get what I want...and what the lovely Madam Hive wants."
Flash, Jesse Quick, and Supergirl turn their attention to Abra Kedabra. Last time Flash went up against him, he sent him several centuries into the future, to show him a world ruled by HIVE and by Grodd.
"What are you after?"
"Oh, obviously, I'm after the final part of the AMAZO. But, unfortunately, it's not here like I thought it would be. Mr. Luthor says he kept a small part of the alloy Ivo used to create his masterpiece."
Lena reaches into the vault. In an instant, Supergirl rushes in to grab her.
"Lena, snap out of…."
A blast of energy comes out of Lena's arm and sends Kara flying backwards. Her business clothes fade away and reveal it to be nothing other than a holographic illusion from Abra Kedabra.
Lena stands before them, wearing Lex's old battlesuit. Jesse cannot help and think that it looks like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
"Lena, my dear."
"Yes, Master."
"Hand me the alloy and finish off these intruders."
"Of course, Master."
There's a second between Lena getting the alloy and Abra Kedabra receiving it. Barry slows down time around them all, leaps in and snatches the alloy from between them.
They blink and Abra Kedabra turns his attention to Flash.
"Fiendishly clever."
While the two speedsters go to engage the sixty-fourth century criminal, Supergirl jumps up and grabs Lena around the wait before flying her up through the ceiling.
"I'm really sorry about this."
The two smash through the floor, around the bodysuit.
Abra Kedabra conjures two swords and shoots beams of high impact energy which turns anything it hits into concrete. Including the two speedsters if he can touch them.
X-X-X
Kara does not want to do this, she does not want to fight her friend. The front of the suit opens up and reveals a small piece of Kryptonite powering the suit. The sinister embrace of the deadly energy causes Kara to step back for a minute. Lena's suit packs a punch, especially to Kara's weakened body.
"Lena...you've got to snap out of this. You're Lena Luthor, you don't bow to anyone!"
A blast of energy shoots towards Kara. She feels the first beads of sweat rolling down her cheek. Lena sends a miniature rocket towards her and causes a pipe to explode. Water fills through the area and Supergirl flies above it.
"I'm serious about this. Your mind is stronger than this. You're not going to bow down before him or anyone."
Lena's eyes flash with anger and she channels the energy from the Kryptonite into one big energy beam. Supergirl floats out over the air. She cannot get close enough to the armor thanks to it.
"If you fold now, you're going to prove Lillian right. You weren't strong enough to take over. You were never as good as Lex. Because, let's face it, Lex would not allow himself to be a puppet for anyone."
Kara's harsh words give Lena some pause for a second. She starts shaking her head, in an attempt to clear the thoughts.
A struggle in Lena's mind, between her mind and Abra's control undergo. There's a part of her which wants to make her lose control, but by continuing to attack Supergirl, she becomes what everyone expects her to be. What some people hopes she will be.
Lena fights, her nerve impulses not her own. Lena tries to regain control.
If there's one thing that Lena Luthor is capable of, it is defying the expectations people throw down on her. There's a deep rattling the further and further she tries to keep her arm up and steady. Lena lets out a very hrash breath.
"You have to….I don't know how much longer I can…."
"You can because you're Lena Luthor."
The suit gets onto auto-pilot and prepares to engage the weapons systems on their own, given how Lena's vitals now go off the chart. Supergirl moves over to the wall and rips out a piece of the lead paneling.
After thanking Rao that Lex lined this place with lead, Supergirl flies as fast as she could. She smashes the lead over the Kryptonite power source, causing it to disengage from Lena's suit.
X-X-X
A beam of green light chases Barry around. Abra Kadabra holds up his gauntlet and rushes at at Barry. The ground underneath him starts to transmute into some kind of sticky goo which forces Barry and Jesse to stick down onto the ground.
"Magic trumps speed at any day."
"Oh, that was a dirty trick."
Jesse tries to move her legs just enough to get her feet off of the ground. Only she cannot do it. Instead, Abra Kedabra, holds up the piece and smiles.
"I've got it."
Lena drops down, dragging Supergirl in with her cape. The Girl of Steel's eyes blur over just as Lena drags her into the perfect position. Abra Kadabra breaks into a very wide and prominent smile.
"Good, job, my pet."
"You're right, he did fall for that one."
Suddenly, Lena relaxes a dart which hits Abra Kadabra in the neck. It drops him down to the ground, but only for a second. He activates the gauntlet and he disappears in a flash.
Speaking of flash, both Jesse and Barry break themselves of the goo. Kara rises up to her feet and looks a bit ragged. Jesse reaches in and grabs her by the shoulder.
"You okay?"
"Yeah...Kryptonite is...it's still a pain."
"You mean your race doesn't have anything like radiation shielding?"
Kara responds with a shrug.
"You know, I never asked. And neither did my cousin."
Jesse responds with a snort. Advanced race indeed, can't even get down the basics.
"Well, if you don't, I can build both you and your cousin something which should block out the Kryptonite while also allowing you to keep absorbing sun's radiation. And maybe some kind of filter, to filter any sunlight from any sun into yellow solar rad…."
"Jesse...now's not the time!"
Jesse turns her attention to Barry for a second.
"I got a scan off of the alloy. We better run though."
"Right."
"I'll stay here with Lena, make sure the Brain Trust does not get Amazo."
"Of course."
Barry and Jesse leave nothing other than their dust behind. Kara helps Lena out of the bodysuit, seeing that she's wearing nothing other than than her underwear underneath. Kara tries not to gawk too badly, although Lena's underwear is about as expensive as one would expect.
"Thanks for snapping me out of it, Kara."
"I'm Supergirl, remember."
"Oh, we're still playing that game?"
With those words, Lena passes out from exertion. Kara decides to get her out of the lab and to get some proper medical attention. Between the fight on the outside and the fight on the inside, Lena's taken a bit of a pounding.
X-X-X
Jesse and Barry follow the tracker back to the place where Lillian called them over in the first place.
"That's…."
The second they pass the doors,a glowing box engulfs both Barry and Jesse. The doors open to reveal Lillian Luthor. Somehow, Barry feels like they should have seen this coming about a mile away. Lillian looks over them. Barry tries to vibrate, only to feel every single nerve ending of his body shooting like it's on fire. Running at it is only like running headlong wall.
"Conserve those brain cells, Mr. Allen. They might be of use to you where you're going if you hope to survive."
"How?"
Lillian looks about as smug as smug can be.
"Ever since you showed up on this Earth to assist Supergirl the first time, I made sure that I was ready for you in case you became a complication. I made sure I had a weapon which was fit to trap a speedster...and when Ms. Wells showed up for the first time, I made sure to have a matching box. All I waited was to take the right moment to get you right where I wanted you."
"So, Abra Kadabra stealing from Cadmus, that was a trick."
"No...he did steal from us, but I sensed an opportunity to get what I want. And while I did not get exactly all that I want..give that Supergirl's not trapped alongside you two."
"Sorry to burst your bubble."
A few seconds pass with Lillian surveying both of the speedsters in their cages.
"There's one thing you two forgot. And that is a mother would do anything for her son."
Lex steps out of the shadows with a big grin on his face. Lillian is not done talking yet.
"And that self-righteous bitch thinks that she has any right to question my value as a mother. She has no right, I did anything for my children, I'm making a world a better place for my children. We're going to make this world great again."
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
Jesse wants to bang her head against the speed wall repeatedly.
"Well, you can disagree with my mother all you want, but I'm with her."
"And now I'm nauseous."
Barry gives Jesse a sympathetic smile before turning his attention directly towards Lex.
"It's a pity that you chose the wrong team, Barry. But, I don't expect you to make smart choices. Given that a simpleton like Thawne is one of your greatest enemies"
Lex raises his eyebrow and smiles. Lillian brings out a crate and opens it up to reveal the rest of the AMAZO.
X-X-X
The seconds tick by and our heroes realize the dire situation they are in. Jesse almost screams.
"There's no flaw in this speed trap."
"Of course it isn't, because I designed it."
Jesse wants to punch Lex in his smug face so badly right about now. She drops to her knees and breathes deeply.
Barry wonders what their options are and more importantly, at the end game for the Luthors is. Lex steps over and opens up the closet. A projector with a glowing red crystal is put into Lex's hands.
"This is a Phantom Zone projector. It took my team years to create it. And now it's going to blast you to the Phantom Zone in mere seconds."
Lex pauses for a second.
"Send my regards to Kal-El, if he's still alive."
A blast of light and both Jesse and Barry disappear. Their bodies contort into spectral energy before appearing on the crystal. Their faces imprint onto the crystal in open mouth shock.
"Now, we can go forward and we can purge the alien menace with AMAZO."
"We?"
Lex turns his attention and the Projector to Lillian before pushing the button and transporting Lillian Luthor into the Phantom Zone seconds after Jesse and Barry.
"And you should have known better to trust your son, Mother. I am a Luthor after all. I'm what you and Lionel made me."
Lex throws the Phantom Zone projector onto the ground, picks up a sledgehammer, and smashes the entire thing into pieces. He adjusts his tie and picks up the AMAZO box. He presses his watch and a beam of light engulfs returning to the base.
X-X-X
Waller exits the elevator, eyes faded over and head pounding immensely. She shoots the guard outside of Grodd's cell in the back of the head with no wasted moment.
"Yes, that's it. Now release our friend."
Abra Kadabra stands behind Waller, holding the glowing orb in his hand. Waller's fighting it, but he only needs to hold her under for a little longer.
"Someone will have to take his place, or every guard in this base will come straight here the second is empty."
"Just open the cell."
The cell opens and then Abra Kadabra motions for Waller to step into the cell. Grodd steps out of the cell and follows him.
'It's down the hallway. Cover me.'
An illusion field makes sure that no one notices a large gorilla roaming the halls of ARGUS without any trouble. Grodd reaches the end of the hallway and smashes open a large metal door. The door bends and gives Grodd the ability to access the vault.
Grodd comes across a large metal helmet. The gorilla snatches it into his hands and walks out, alongside with Abra Kadabra. He walks past the cage containing a docile Waller before snorting.
'Soon, all humans will share your fate. They will be in cages, much like you've kept my kind in cages for all of those years.'
Waller says absolutely nothing and Grodd does not pay her any mind at all. Madam Hive appears at the end of the hallway, waiting for the rest of her team to show up.
"Are you ready?"
'I have everything.'
She drops a black box down onto the ground. Several red lines manifest on the floor and start to infect ARGUS's system and anyone wearing their technology with a virus which would cripple them. She leaves nothing to chance.
X-X-X
The minute Jesse and Barry do not check in, Kara bolts off. Alex is keeping an eye on Lena, so she is not concerned with that fact. Still, there's plenty of concern when Kara enters the lab.
The Girl of Steel utilizes her X-Ray vision to scope out the area around the lab to try and pick out any patterns, trying to figure out what happened. There's just way too many questions raised right now and unfortunately, there's not a sufficient amount of answers on top of that.
Instantly, Kara notices a cracked piece of a familiar red crystal. She notices two more in the line of sight.
It's a Phantom Zone Projector Crystal, although one that's a bit more fragile than the ones which came naturally in the ARGO valley. Kara drops down a second later and holds the Phantom Zone crystal in her hand.
"Still hot. Which means it's been recently used."
Kara spends about three or four minutes hunting for the remaining pieces of the crude Phantom Zone projector. The one at the Fortress had been destroyed after Kal-El accidentally released General Zod and his minions from the Phantom Zone when he was still new to this entire Superman thing.
She heard the story through one of Kal's old friends, Lana, and it just showed how much much Kal grew as Superman.
Still, Kara realizes that she's going to have to find a way to fix this Projector and there's only one place in the world which may have the spare components to rebuild it.
X-X-X
Lex is not about ready to break out the best wine yet. One more time, Grodd, Nora, and Abra Kadabra joins Lex for this final meeting. Most of the AMAZO lays out on the table, with the exception of the Gauntlet which would complete the powerful android.
"So, what do we do about the gauntlet?"
Nora's words bring Lex's attention firmly over the attractive, but, dangerous woman.
"It's at STAR Labs."
"Which has paper thin security. Now that the Flash is out of the way and in the Phantom Zone now would be the time to strike."
"We don't want to overplay our hand just yet. And your information about STAR Labs security is very much out of date. Barbara Gordon upgraded it severely and given who she works for, you know she has access to some technology which would make breaking into STAR Labs problematic."
Lex loathes to use that word, but it is fitting in this situation.
"And there are other threats. It would be much better if we rebuild the gauntlet. You did get a good look at it when you had it in her grasp, I assume."
The very thinly veiled reminder about how Nora allowed the gauntlet to get away back in Jump City really digs underneath her skin.
"Yes, I held the power for a second. But there's someone else who may have gotten a better look."
Two HIVE operatives wheel a very tormented looking Gizmo into the room on a stretcher. Bubbles of drool come out of his mouth and knife wounds appear on parts of his body.
"Grodd, if you would see what he remembers and describe it to me and Mr. Luthor.
'Of course.'
Gizmo screams at the Gorilla attacks his mind, not bothering to care whether or not he destroys it. Not important by any means as far as Grodd's concerned.
X-X-X
A misty, red sky is the scene around Barry. Rocks, miles and miles or rocks as far as the eye can see, along with caves. A chill of something, whispers of creatures who are after their blood. Barry knows it, they're in the Phantom Zone.
"Barry...this isn't good."
"Yeah, I know."
He and Jesse hold hands when navigating towards the treacherous landscape of the Phantom Zone. They know from what Kara told them how this was a prison for many of the worst criminals in the twenty-eight known galaxies and likely many of the galaxies which were forbidden knowledge used this as a dumping ground.
A growl echoes from the area and a hideous monster appears. It has several tentacles and teeth and moves towards Barry and Jesse.
Barry turns to run, only to find himself tripping over his feet. Jesse hustles at a normal speed for a healthy young girl, but not super speed. She helps Barry to his feet.
"Powers…."
"I forgot!"
They find themselves about ready to be the midnight snack of this hideous creature.
A figure wearing a torn red cloak jumps out of air, plunging an axe in the back of the neck of the creature. Blood spurts out of the creatures neck, a sickly blue color.
The cloak flips from the figure jumping down and bringing the axe down onto the creature. A loud splatter of blood follows right before the figure turns around.
Despite the greasy hair and beard, there's no denying that Flash and Jesse Quick come face to face with Superman.
"Come with me if you want to live."
Chapter 26:
Caitlin leans back in the chair at Star Labs and waits for the return of Barry, Jesse, and Kara. The fact neither of them return at this point, well she will not deny it worries her a little bit. However, one stolen look a second later towards Iris indicates to Caitlin that it worries Iris even more. Therefore, Caitlin resolves to keep a cool head in the situation, given how much Iris is about ready to go over the top.
Of course, worried did not even begin to cover what Iris is feeling. She has a sixth sense something really bad is happening to Barry right about now. She cannot really put her finger on what. Iris paces back and forth in the lab. Burning thoughts as to what happened reaches her. Iris cannot pinpoint precisely what, except for the fact there's some kind of nagging suspicion that Barry, Kara, and Jesse met with some kind of trouble which got them in trouble.
Iris paces up and down on the floor of Star Labs up until the point where Caitlin clears her throat. She stops cold and realizes the black streak marks left behind on the floor. I
"Right, I'm sorry."
Caitlin shakes her head.
"It's fine. I understand. And I feel you."
Iris is really glad that someone understands to be honest. And Caitlin would be the person who would understand beyond anyone else. Caitlin pushes out a chair and Iris sits down on it.
"It's just….I really wish I would have gone with them."
"Well, someone needed to help keep an eye on Central City for however long Barry was gone. That was the responsible thing to do staying behind."
Be that as it may, Iris still feels a twinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach over not being able to come along with the mission. She takes comfort in the fact that Caitlin is scanning the area.
"They arrived at Earth-Two and then they made a side trip….looks like they returned to Kara's Earth. Should have known that the other component of the android was there...from there...it's almost like they dropped off of the multiverse."
This does little to lessen Iris's fears. This only increases them and adds an entire bundle of questions on top of the many, many questions they already discuss right here and right now. Iris bites down on her lower lip and releases it in a frustrated grimance.
"We'll find them."
Again, Iris appreciates the fact that Caitlin offers her these particular words of encouragement. It's something which is hopeful for the future.
A loud blip starts and Iris jolts out of her thoughts.
"There's some kind of strange energy signature."
Then, almost as on cue, the lights flicker on and off almost as if there's some kind of power spike. Caitlin quickly moves in to assess the source of the disturbance. She pulls back from it and frowns. Her forehead crinkles up deep in thought. Caitlin keeps it calm.
"There's some kind of strange power s…."
A portal opens up. Sara and Laurel pop up from the portal. In their arms, several glowing, long blue crystals. Iris pops up to her feet and looks at both of the women.
"You have it. You have the archives?"
Laurel's expression becomes very solemn the second she answers the question.
"Yes….you won't believe what we had to go through to get them."
Iris is pretty sure that there's some kind of story there, but Caitlin clears her throat to bring them back into the conversation at hand.
"Anyone, hopefully there's a clue that….."
Caitlin clears her throat and picks up an image of the traffic cameras in Central City. A large android in the center of the city drops down with glowing eyes.
"Or they could have just beat us to the punch and assembled the damn thing right here and right now."
There's many questions, the most important question was how this happened. There's really no time to waste, unfortunately. Iris, Laurel, and Sara prepare to suit up. Sara catches Iris's arm and looks her dead in the eye.
"That thing absorbs powers."
"Yeah...but it might also absorb abilities as well. You know, you two and your fighting styles, and also Laurel's Canary Cry."
Laurel realizes that right away and then she swallows the growing lump in her throat. They will just have to go out there.
"Caitlin, look at the archives….see how Superman and Rip stopped them."
"Okay...exactly how…."
Caitlin touches the crystal and they react, causing garbled archive images to pop up in front of her face.
"Okay...show me the fight between Superman and AMAZO."
The images swirl around before allowing Caitlin to see the images of the previous battle between Superman and AMAZO back on Earth-Thirty Eight.
This was not going to be an easy road for any of them.
X-X-X
The Phantom Zone is one of the most treacherous places in the entire known universe and the terrain reminds Barry of that. He, Jesse, and Clark sit closely together when moving. They move through what appears to be some kind of storm. Barry hears a rumbling, and sounds, whispers, whispers.
The whisper of "help" echoes from the distance. Barry is about ready to investigate.
"You learn how to ignore that after the third time you almost get killed."
"How do you not jump in and save the day?"
Clark's expression grows very grim before he answers Barry's questions. They jump a large chasm. Thankfully, they just barely make the leap. Any misstep and they would plummet down to the monsters living down there. Clark watched a prisoner fall to his doom at that very spot on his first day.
Helpless to stop it. Human in this Phantom Zone, Clark figures out from day one he needs to find a way. And the days in the Phantom Zone passes much quicker. Based on his calculations, Clark figures they are now only realizing that he's gone in the Phantom Zone.
"How did you get here?"
Jesse's question is fair enough and Clark gets a deep breath.
"It all started simple enough. I left Earth to deal with a crisis and after that was averted, I returned. No one knew I was back just yet, but before I could return to work at the Daily Planet, a signal for a crisis caught my attention. I had no choice, but to check it out, only to figure out much too late how it's a trap."
That's unfortunate, but Superman realizes that's the price that he paid.
"The last thing I remember was running into the giant gorilla…."
"Grodd."
Flash practically growls the name. Thankfully, Grodd's not a problem at the moment, being locked up in ARGUS's base. Then again, Barry still sleeps with one eye open regarding one of his most dangerous enemies.
"If that's his name, I ran into him, and the next thing I knew, I was in the Phantom Zone. I don't remember anything in between seeing the Gorilla and ending up here."
That just seems about right. Barry, Jesse, and Clark move to the terrain. Clark ushers them into a cave. Seeral hideous creatures wearing cloaks, with bony hands pass them. This brings a frustrated whimper from Jesse. Barry reaches out to clutch her hand, to tell Jesse it's going to be okay.
And maybe tell himself things might work out just fine as well, although that's only secondary right now as far as Barry is concerned.
"So, now what?"
"We should find a way out of this place for starters."
Jesse tries not to lose it. However one of those creatures reminded her a lot of Zoom and that's a pretty sore spot for her still. The only solace is that Barry's here to protect her, although she finds it very nerve-racking because it's very uncertain how much Barry can protect himself at this point.
"I've found a back door out of the Phantom Zone."
Barry raises an eyebrow before sighing.
"And given the fact you're still in here with us, it means that you haven't quite found a way to get it working."
The pained expression on Clark's face tells them the story. The obvious growing frustration in the mind of the Kryptonian hero is shared by the two speedsters, given their predicament in here as well in addition to what Lex's plans are going to be.
"The fact that everything in here wants to kill me, because half of them were put in here thanks to my father, it doesn't really help my productivity any. And the fact some of the technology...is very tricky to deal with."
Jesse reaches out and puts a hand on Clark's shoulder to help reassure him. Even though, there's really not that much reassurance the younger woman has right about now.
"I'll give it a shot...just keep those things off of me."
"I might be able to….how did you two get into the Phantom Zone?"
"How much time do you have?"
Clark smiles at Barry and stands up to is full height. The ax in his hand makes it very obvious how intense Clark is right at this very moment.
"Plenty, given that it's going to be a while before this storm subsides. And the creatures are done feeding."
This causes a churning in the pit of Barry's stomach.
"As far as freaky Dementor things go, I find the time wraiths to be worse. These aren't nearly as terrifying."
Clark fixes a stoic expression on his face.
"I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one."
X-X-X
Kara enters the Fortress of Solitude. Time is of the essence. She gathers pretty much every piece of the damaged Phantom Zone projector.
Dropping down on the ground, Kara notices the normally glowing crystals in the Fortress are very dim. This causes the Girl of Steel to be on her toes and realize that there's something that's just not right.
Exactly what's not right is a pinprick of red light etched on the edge of her forehead. Kara hits the ground when one of the Fortress Security Robots tries to take a shot at her.
One becomes three as the robots bombard Kara with multiple blasts of high intense energy. Kara uses her heat vision to nail one of the robots.
A second one whips out a large metal cable at her.
"Disable and destroy the intruder!"
Kara wonders the cause of the glitch of the Fortress. Two security robots pulling her in two different directions and another one coming at her with a huge whirling buzzsaw makes Kara squirm.
"You will not stop his plans."
Someone compromised the Fortress, and the answer is obvious. Lex has been a pretty busy boy. The fact he managed to do so raised some unsettling questions for Kara, and ones which she struggles to answer.
One thing she does not struggle to do is free herself from the tether of the security robot. The metal snaps and one of the large pieces of the robot hits another robot. Kara flies through them, sending blasts of heat vision through the robots.
The crystals in the Fortress turn red and emit simulated red solar energy. Kara stops on the ground ,conserves her reserves, and makes a run through the Fortress. She dodges another security laser and makes her way to the console. Kara jams her palm onto the console.
"Raofall Emergency Protocol Alpha Zero Four."
Kara breaths a little bit easier when the red lights go off and the entire Fortress goes black. She breaths in and counts to ten before the Fortress comes back on.
The Fortress runs through the system reboot and the symbols burning into the crystals indicate that it will return into some pre emergency state.
It will take several minutes to do so. Time, Kara admits grimly, they really do not have at this point. Yet, patience, being a virtue, is something that she's just going to have to entertain, while waiting and watching for the Fortress to come back to a normal condition.
"Kara."
"Yes?"
"You have successfully restored the Fortress and I have isolated and eliminated the cause of the critical compromise. I can inform you that the people behind it is Lex and Lillian Luthor."
So Lillian's is not on their side. Kara could have seen that one coming a mile away, with or without her super powerful vision.
"Two of my friends have been sent to the Phantom Zone by the Luthors."
"Yes, along with Kal-El. I have had reason to believe that after his return from his deep space mission, Lex Luthor and his associates have arranged a trap to transport him into the Phantom Zone."
This particular bit of information leads to an unsettling feeling breeding in the pit of Kara's stomach. She tries, very hard, not to lose it, even though there's many chances.
"I brought the projector pieces that Lex or Lillian or whoever used…."
Kara holds it out and the Fortress scans it for less than thirty seconds.
"I'm afraid that it would take much too long to construct a fresh method to extract them from the Phantom Zone, especially with the crude apparatus you've brought me."
Kara's face falls and her fists balls up.
"There is a backdoor portal built into the Fortress, which you can use to try and recall any recent transfers. I intended to use it to locate and find Kal-El the minute his departure had been revealed.
"Good, then bring it back."
Kara senses from the long pause that there's some kind of problem with using the portal.
"Unfortunately, there is an energy storm in the Phantom Zone which may prevent any extraction."
Nothing could ever be too simple.
X-X-X
Black Canary, White Canary, and Impulse appear on the town square of Central City. A few seconds pass as Impulse reaches out.
The AMAZO android drops down onto the ground. Immediately, despite the fact she knows that it's currently in a hidden vault in STAR Labs, Iris spies a freshly created gauntlet for the android. It hovers, a glowing purple and green when landing on the ground.
'If you're hoping for Flash to come and back you up, you're too late. He's been sent to the Phantom Zone.'
The voice of Grodd comes out and this causes Iris to rise up. Sara and Laurel brace themselves for a battle.
"You...you can't be telling the truth."
'There's no reason for me to lie. Flash is gone, as is Supergirl and Jesse Quick by this time. And you, Impulse, are going to be the next hero to fall. Even if you pale in comparison to them.'
A desire to prove herself that she can handle this as well as Barry, Jesse, or Kara swells up in Iris. Instantly, Sara reaches in and grabs Iris's arm in a warning manner.
"Don't rise to his bait."
AMAZO reaches out and motions for one of them to go forward. He points at Sara for a second. Sara pulls out a large staff and swings it.
"Remember, you got to stay out of his range."
"Yeah, I know."
Sara dives at AMAZO and tries to land on top of his head. Only for AMAZO to swat her out of the air. Two energy daggers come out of the hands of the android. One of them smashes into the wooden staff she wields. The other one knocks Sara down onto her knees and causes a burst of pain to come over it.
"And he is as well."
Sara dodges the back hand punch. She does not have any desire to die again and that shot almost comes close to knocking his head clean off.
A blur of light comes out and a figure in a suit of super powered armor blasts AMAZO. Sapphire drops down to the ground, in all of her glory.
AMAZO turns its attention to Sapphire and Sapphire locks onto target with him. Several miniature rockets come out and blast AMAZO at full power.
One of the rockets catches AMAZO in the chest and sends him flying backwards onto the ground.
Sara, Laurel, and Iris run over to back up Sapphire. Sapphire looks on with a slight smile popping over her lips.
"Did I do it? Did I take it down?"
AMAZO rises up to a standing position and locks its eyes onto Sapphire. Laurel responds with a sigh and gets ready to attack.
Only for a wave of energy to knock her down to the ground. Iris rushes behind him only to get a force shield halfway across the city where she runs. This knocks Iris completely down onto the ground.
The "wound" in AMAZO's chest heals over. The android storms closer and closer to the group. Sara moves back into the attack. If at first you don't succeed, try. Despite all of the abilities that it has, she knows there has to be some kind of weak spot in it. It's just a matter of exploiting and finding a way to take it down before there's trouble.
Sara drops down behind the android and swipes its legs out from underneath it. AMAZO does a somersault and whips out a chain made of organic material to disable Sara.
She will give the devil its due, it's pretty impressive.
X-X-X
Clark, Jesse, and Barry walk through the treacherous terrain of the Phantom Zone. A figure in the mist rushes towards them, scramming extremely frantically when she makes her way over. It takes them a few minutes to realize that it's Lillian Luthor who is coming at them.
Lillian drops down to one knee at their feet. Jesse nudges her off and then bends down to look at her.
"So, the apple does not fall far from the tree?"
"I don't understand. I did everything Lex asked...and he decided to send me here...he's confused."
"Actually, I believe your son is a sociopath."
Jesse's words cause Lillian's eyes to widen and anger to come out of them.
"You don't have any right to tell me! I was a good mother! I gave Lex everything...it was all his fault that Lex went completely insane!"
The angry woman points a finger at Clark. Barry puts himself between the two.
"Regardless of who we blame, we all want to get out of the Phantom Zone."
This is one point Lillian is going to have to agree. While she hopes the prisoners rip them apart, Lillian thinks that she's done nothing worthy of being sent here. Everything she's done has been for the good of all humanity. Several deep breaths follow from Lillian a second later.
"I believe there's a way out...at least that's what Lex has hinted to me...but it's guarded."
"This way."
Clark, Jesse, Barry, and Lillian all walk. Jesse keeps a close watch on her, wielding the knife she obtained in one of the badlands of the Fortress.
"You betray us and there won't be enough left of you to send back to Earth."
"I...agree to a truce until the moment we return back to Earth."
Barry hopes this is not another trick. Perhaps for her to find the portal and to damage it before she finds her own way back to Earth. It's not a risk any of them can take.
He grabs Lillian by the shoulder and instantly she slumps unconscious. This results in Jesse and Clark looking at him. Barry throws up his hands in a defensive stance.
"You know, there's always a chance she's going to stab us in the back."
"Yeah, but you have to carry her now."
Barry drapes Lillian over his shoulder and drags her dead weight. Thankfully, they move their way to the clearing, where there's a cave. Clark extends a finger and points it out.
"Right there. The gateway is in that cave."
Jesse, Barry, and Clark enter the cave. Barry puts Lillian's unconscious body down in the cave and watches as Jesse moves over to look at the technology.
"The crystals are not jammed properly in place...someone's been here and tried to mess with this before…."
"It's going to need a sample of my blood to fire it up."
Jesse hands Clark the knife and he cuts his finger. Blood drips on the rune where the crystals should slide in. Jesse spends the next few minutes, carefully working the crystals in place. It's a very long haul to try and get them ready, but she just manages to get them in.
A loud rumbling outside. Barry holds his head up.
"Almost there."
"What's that?"
Clark steps outside and sees a hideous creature roaming towards them. Barry sees him to, with its grey skin and multiple bone spikes, it looks like a real threat, a real menace, and it's stampeding right towards them in a blink of an eye.
"Doomsday."
"Yeah, there's a name that…."
"He killed me."
"He killed you?"
"I got better."
Clark does not have much time to turn to them.
"I can't let him get back to Earth, any Earth. Therefore, you and Jesse get to the portal and I'll hold him off."
"But, what about…."
"Run, Barry, run!"
If Barry had a nickel for every time someone said that to him, he would be a very rich man. Regardless, he figures out that it's a good idea for him to run. He walks over to the portal, standing by Jesse who almost has it configured.
The sounds of Clark swinging his ax come out in the distance. He dives at Doomsday.
This thing once killed a Superman at full power. Barry is about to go and back him up, but Jesse clings onto his arm and pulls him back into the room.
"You heard him. He'll find a way home."
Barry and Jesse, with Barry dragging Lillian Luthor behind him, enter the Portal and it vanishes with a pop. The sounds of fight and bones breaking echoing which is not a good sign for anyone involved.
X-X-X
Lex sits and watches all of the different powers AMAZO has flash above the screen. He spends some time studying the programming, and waiting for his move. His new and improved battle suit lays ready in the next move, for the right moment to strike.
For now, Lex is going to let the monkey have his moment. There will be opportunities later for Lex to enact his plan. Plus, he's getting a lot of amusement of that particular rag-tag bunch of do-gooders getting knocked about. Lex leans back, hands folded with a big smile on his face. He's like a kid on Christmas morning with all of the possibilties.
The door slides up and Madam HIVE steps into the room. She drops the mask to face Lex.
"Do we have a problem, Nora?"
"Just hoping that the gorilla will hold up his end of the deal. I half expect him to get mad with power."
"It was you who brought him to me and suggested the switch between myself and my coutnerpart in this Earth. He must be confused….he hasn't quite ascended to greatness. But, I'm sure as a Luthor, greatness will come in time."
Nora finds herself very used to this wave of confidence. She casually drums her fingers against the wall.
"If the gorilla steps out of line…."
"There's a part of you who doesn't trust me, does it?"
Lex turns his attention towards Nora.
"You second guess the plan. You think what you might have done differently. I admire your desire to look at everything from all angles."
The bald billionaire leans in a bit closer to the leader of HIVE.
"But, your father understood that he could not allow himself to second guess…."
"Don't bring my father into this. Ever."
"Right, he's a sore spot for you. Given what...he put you through…."
"He thought he was doing right."
"Yes, fathers often do. They often think they are the ones doing right for their children. But, they're only doing right for themselves."
Lex puts a hand on Nora's hair and starts stroking it for a few seconds. Nora pulls away from him and glares Lex pretty much dead on the eye.
"My father never raised a hand to me in anger. But, he did not need to. His words of disapproval were more than enough to leave a lasting impression. I have my demons with him. Even if I even admit your demons were more literal."
Nora closes her fist a few seconds later and takes a deep breath.
"If it wasn't for Flashpoint my father would never have..."
"Yes, I know. Barry's ignorance has ruined many lives. But, he's lingering in the Phantom…."
Out of the corner of his eye, Lex notices an energy portal opening up and two speedsters coming out of it, dragging the limp body of his mother behind them. Nora notices it as well and she starts to fume as well.
"You told me this plan would work."
"No plan completely survives contact with the enemy. One of the things you must realize."
Lex considers the point that either Grodd or Nora are moments away from stabbing him in the back. But, now that they've both come close to outliving their usefulness to Lex especially when he's able to move forward.
X-X-X
Barry and Jesse drop out of the Phantom Zone, sucking in breaths. Oh, and Lillian joined them, but she was still napping.
"We're back on Earth...our Earth as well...how did you?"
"Well, I wasn't sure it would work. But I'm glad it did….the real question is what are we going to do with that?"
Barry looks down at Lillian who is still sleeping from the maneuver Barry pulled over her. According to the person who taught it to him, she'll be out for at least four more hours.
"Hold on for a second."
In a blink of an eye, Barry takes Lillian and returns. He drops her off in the Pipeline, the best place to hold her until this all blows over.
"Barry?"
"Hey, Caitlin, good to hear your voice again."
"That makes two of us. Unfortunately, we've got a huge problem because the Brain Trust has found a way to rebuild AMAZO."
Those words coming from Caitlin makes this a very obvious frustration. Seconds pass before they come across the fight.
"And Grodd's in the driver seat."
They move over to see Black Canary, White Canary, Impulse, and Sapphire, who did not decide on a codename yet, fighting AMAZO. AMAZO is one step ahead of them at all times.
'Welcome back, Flash. You will regret leaving the Phantom Zone.'
'Grodd.'
"Yes, but I do look forward to finishing you off personally.'
AMAZO rushes towards Flash and knocks him almost through the wall with a huge punch. Jesse moves behind him and throws a blast of lightning at him. AMAZO shifts intangible and Jesse's bolt of lightning sales up over the air and lands into parts unknown.
Impulse moves at Jesse's shoulder and the two speedsters move out of the way for AMAZO's counter attack.
"We haven't been close enough to get a shot in. Sapphire got him long range, but now he's prepared for her armor."
"Wonderful….we're going to have to get a scan."
Barry runs his hand through the ground AMAZO is standing on. AMAZO returns stomping down onto the ground and sending a vibration which causes Barry crashing down. Barry avoids AMAZO's attack. It bombards his mind with several waves of energy and causes Barry's head to almost split open.
'You can run Flash, but you can't….'
Sara catches him on the underside with a dagger. This causes AMAZO to spin around, blades at the ready. It opens its mouth and Canary Cries at Sara, who tilts back and dodges the attack.
"You really are tricky, aren't you?"
Those words come out from Sara the very second that AMAZO returns fire on her.
"I don't know how this is working. We still have the gauntlet, right?"
"Right!"
"The…."
Everything clicks in Barry's mind a second later. The cackle of energy is different on the right hand, almost cruder in the discharge.
"Go after AMAZO's right hand!"
It's easier said than done for any number of reason. Regardless, they have to try.
Sara considers the fact that calling for backup might be a good idea. She has no idea where the rest of the Legends are, but she hopes that least some of them can back them up.
X-X-X
"I have some encouraging news."
At this point, Kara's chomping at the bit for some encouraging news. She will be glad to hear it, always and especially now.
"Your two friends, Flash and Jesse Quick have managed to find the gateway and open up a doorway to their Earth. Unfortunately, at this point it will be an ill-advised risk to open up a portal and find Kal-El."
A portal opens up and Kara stands up straight. She comes face to face with Power Girl who appears.
"Flash sent me a message and said that you might need some help getting your cousin out of the Fortress. He had to run, so he didn't get any details...but I just happened to have a spare Phantom Zone projector in my lab. All we need is a sample of Kal-El's DNA to get him back to Earth."
"There is some skin samples of Kal-El still in one of the pods which you can utilize."
"Thank you."
Karen finds what she's looking for in an instant and uses it to program the Phantom Zone projector. She presses a button and seconds later, the portal blasts open and Kal lands down onto the ground.
"Oh, thank you!"
Kara moves over to help Kal up to his feet.
"What happened?"
The Man of Steel shakes his head in response.
"I'm….Doomsday….I just got away."
"Barry left you there?"
"Only because I asked him."
Kara's not shocked at all. She helps him into one of the pods and bombards him with yellow solar energy which heals the cells on his body.
"Thank you."
Supergirl throws her arms around Power Girl to give her a very strong hug. She manages to crash land face first into Power Girl's bosom, which causes Karen to smile.
"I don't blame you. They have their own magnetic pull. Or so I'm told."
Kara pulls back, red in the face. Karen ruffles her hair and seconds later Clark emerges, ready then ever. He moves in to change into a Superman suit and gets ready.
"Star Labs, I think."
Kara, Clark, and Karen drop down to the ground. Caitlin stands up in surprise.
"Hey, Caitlin, this is my cousin, Kal-El, better known as Superman. This is my alternate Earth counterpart, Power Girl...she's much more advanced than I am."
Caitlin notices the large window in Power Girl's costume and finds it...fairly tricky not to look straight at it.
"So, I see…"
"Yeah, but what happened? Is Barry back?"
"He's fighting AMAZO. He could really use the back up."
"So, Lex got him back together….I thought that you had the gauntlet locked away."
"We do."
"That's not good. The android is not working properly."
"Um...that's good, isn't it?"
Caitlin has enough uncertainty in her voice and Kal's about ready to justify it.
"Not when it is in danger of reaching critical mass."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
AMAZO keeps the heroes off of balance. It does not help how Grodd's in the driver's seat and doing pretty much everything possible in an attempt to take control of the situation. Barry pulls himself up to a standing position to fight AMAZO. Laurel and Sara stand up on either side of him, breathing about as heavily as possible.
A rattling sound echoes with AMAZO moving towards them. Intend to take them down.
'It's going to be over, Flash. You're finished.'
A blast of fire catches AMAZO flush in the face. The android backs off, only to reveal some of the Legends got Sara's message. In the form of Heatwave, Vixen, and the Atom.
"Alright, back off whatever you are."
Vixen presses her totem and a large rhino charges AMAZO. Amazo blocks the rhino seconds before it smashes into him, and then pushes it backwards.
Atom comes behind AMAZO and tries to put his hands on him. AMAZO propels Atom back several feet across the ground.
"Okay, do you think that someone could get the number of the truck that just ran me over? Because, I don't think I quite got it...when it hit me that hard?"
"Look alive, haircut!"
Heatwave fires another blast of fire at AMAZO. It's body absorbs the intense heat before blasting a beam of cold right at Heatwave and kncoking him down to the ground. AMAZO rushes towards Heatwave and takes him down with another blast of cold energy, dropping both him and his gun on the ground.
Vixen slaps a large bird down onto AMAZO's shoulders. The deadly android starts to struggle before it fights out of the attack. Vixen flies back, putting the brakes on before she struck the ground.
"Hang on!"
Sara rushes back in to back up her team. AMAZO blocks her staff with a sword and then slices the staff in half. Sara looks down at the android before she flies back down to the ground with a thud.
Atom lifts AMAZO off of the ground and then sends him flying down.
"Hey, I got him!"
AMAZO reaches out and wraps a hand around the Atom's throat before slamming him down to the ground as hard as humanly possible. The Atom struggles against AMAZO's grip, fiercely kicking his legs and swinging his arms.
A blur of light enters and Superman knocks AMAZO off of Atom before he can be ripped apart piece by piece. Atom looks up, a wide eyed expression on the face of Ray Palmer.
"I got saved by Superman."
"We've got to stop this thing or at least get the gauntlet off of him."
Sara shakes her head, wiping a drop of blood from her lip.
"Yeah, Grodd's figured that one out. I guess that we're back to square one or something. I don't know what….I don't know what the end game is for something like Grodd."
"Nothing good."
Those words come from Iris who wonders where the hell Barry went in all of this.
She gets her answer when a super fast cyclone starts forming around AMAZO and shielding the rest of the heroes.
'I don't know what you intend to accomplish.'
Those words from Grodd echo out into the distance. The Fastest Man Alive keeps circling around him, going around and around until the point where Barry flies out of the corner and smashes AMAZO with one of the biggest punches possible. Rattled is a pretty good description for what Barry does to AMAZO.
AMAZO flies off of the ground and Barry moves from left to right, tapping into the speed force energy. The beams of golden light keep assaulting AMAZO. AMAZO's android body cracks apart with Barry doing his hardest to rip AMAZO apart, taking him apart one piece at a time.
One can hear Grodd's howling agony from the rooftop. He tries to direct AMAZO, only to realize how Barry's ripped the gauntlet off of him.
The speedster moves up the side of the building at Grodd after AMAZO's been dismantled Grodd tries to take down Flash only to find Flash a bit too quick for him. He rushes Grodd off of the edge of the building.
After taking AMAZO apart piece by piece, Barry hurls Grodd as fast as possible down to the ground. Without another option, Barry puts his hand through Grodd's helmet, and fries it.
The gorilla drops down to the ground, rendered completely docile from Barry's attack. The Flash takes a deep breath, parts of his costume smoldering from the attack.
Something tells him that this is not over. No, his troubles just start.
X-X-X
Lex Luthor clicks his tongue in a very disapproving way. The gorilla should have finished off the heroes. Lex steps into the field against them.
"Is this guy crazy?"
He hears Black Canary's question the second he walks out to the field. The Legends, Flash, Black Canary, and Superman all arrive, alongside Supergirl and her counterpart from another Earth, who Lex learns from Nora is called Power Girl. Quite the specimen, Lex will have to keep her around to dissect her later.
"You've defeated Grodd. And you've thought you've defeated AMAZO, didn't you?"
A long and gripping pause follows. Lex removes his tie, his shirt, and his jacket. Heatwave's eyes widen.
"This is your big plan. To make us watch you strip?"
"Quaint, Mr. Rory. Very quaint. But, I am going to show you just how strong I am and how weak you are….and who the true master of AMAZO is."
The parts of AMAZO lift off the ground and magnetize to Lex's body. Instantly, Barry shows up just in time to bare witness to Lex and AMAZO becoming one.
"Well, this day has just gotten worse."
Superman swallows and looks very grim at this point.
"Lex, you have to listen. Putting on that armor, you're signing your own death warrant."
"No, Kal-El, I'm not signing my death warrant. I'm merely sealing yours. You're going to see what true power is all about once I break all of you before me."
In an instantly, Lex releases an amplified Canary Cry which sends all of the heroes scattering. Broken glass flies at them from the impact along with pieces of concrete. Lex breaks out into a smile while moving on forward and stalking the heroes. Barry pulls himself to a standing position.
"Lex, you have to…."
Lex stomps on Barry's back and drives him to the ground. He blocks a beam of light from Sapphire's armor and knocks her down to the ground. Supergirl comes up to blast him with ice breath only for Lex's suit to absorb the cold and fire it back to scatter the heroes.
"I am what I should have been this entire time. And now all my enemies are in one place...and they will all bend to my will."
"No!"
Sara hurls a dagger at the back of Lex's exposed neck. Lex turns around to catches it.
"A noble attempt, but one which will end in vain. Just like each and every one of you will perish by my hands."
Lex clamps his hand around the dagger and further destroys it. The heroes move into position to try to do their worst. Lex is invincible against them. There's nothing they can do to stop them, absolutely nothing.
X-X-X
Nora sits in a chair and monitors AMAZO's progress. She decides not to get involved for one simple reason. The AMAZO is about ready to go full critical and Lex's actions start speeding up the process.
She thinks about everything she's done, Everything she's made an honest attempt to accomplish and would hate to think that it would be all wiped out by the vanity of one Lex Luthor.
Now the suit's becoming unstable, and Nora had a feeling with the gauntlet, it might not last as long as Lex. Unless Lex has gone suicidal or very insane, she did not think he would interface with the armor. Surely, he had access to the same data she did and thus can to similiar conclusions? But yet, here she was and here she was. Nora did not even begin to understand how insane Lex went in a situation like this. She only can bite down on her lip and let out her sighs of frustration.
Grodd's down and Nora cannot be too displeased with that. He served some purposes, but also there was a sense of being guarded around him at at all times.
A lunatic like Thawne shaped him, and now the results are obvious. He's taken many of his "father's" ideals to heart, twisting and turning them until he became something else.
Then again, people define themselves by the actions of her father. Nora closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Her purpose never defines itself more clearly than it does now. HIVE will lead to a new revolution, it's not her fault the do-gooders keep getting in the way. Flashpoint opens up many possibilities and it also sends Nora on the path she is there.
She hopes to build a world where her younger self will not grow up to be tainted by the darkness. If it wipes her out, then Nora's content with that. However, she's done enough studies to indicate she's a paradox that exists outside of the timeline. Technically already dead, but Flashpoint opened up a portal to the realm she's in.
The battle continues outside. Nora's just glad she's safe inside of this shielding room. With each tick, she notices that Lex's suit of armor becomes increasingly unstable. And it's not just the suit she's worried about, it's not just the suit which is becoming more and more unstable. Nora lets out her breath in another hitch and waits for the big one to drop.
"Just wait. Just wait and see if they save the day. Of course they were, Lex is blinded."
X-X-X
Power Girl comes down from the heavens and reigns as many punches on Lex as possible. Lex releases a flare of solar red energy which causes her powers to be weaker and weaker.
He blocks the combined speed attacks of both Iris and Jesse at the same time. His arms extend out and he sends them flying backwards.
"I didn't think the suit could do that."
"The powers of the aliens, the powers of all of the heroes, and my superior intellect. I'm unstoppable."
"No, you're only as strong as the suit. Which is rapidly becoming unstable the more you use it."
Lex knocks Atom out of the way with a flick of his wrist and goes to meet an old friend. Superman stands across from Lex in all of his self-righteous glory. Lex wants to smack him down. He creates a force field around himself and all of the efforts of the heroes and Rory bounce off of him.
"Once again, you try and preach to me. Not aware of what my full potential is. Not aware that I'm superior to you."
Superman flies at Lex as fast as possible. He tries to remove the gauntlet and get it out of here. Lex is not about to give up his power just yet. He twists Superman around and slams him down to the ground. Two swoops brings a knife at the throat of Superman with Lex's heel pressing against his head.
His robotic limbs manifest from the ground and hold the heroes in place. The Man of Steel struggles against the Kryptonite knife against his throat.
"You have to listen to reason for once in your life."
Lex's eyes bulge and go completely red. Bloodshot eyes, never a good sign for someone as dangerous as Lex. He keeps bombarding forward just a little bit and shoves Superman down onto the ground as had as possible.
"I don't need to do anything. Can't you see it, Kal-El? Self-righteous and egotistical to the very last moment. And squandering all of that power you have. You could have been so much greater."
Lex nails Superman hard in the ribs and forces him to fold before him.
"Instead, you use that power, thinking that you're some kind of hero. But, you're not. No hero would do what you've done."
Lex's delusions shine through and Superman struggles to pull himself back to a standing position. Only for Lex to rear back and nail him with a glowing punch to the side of the head. Blood splatters out of the side of Superman's mouth and all over his face from the repeated shots from Lex's fist into the side of Superman's face. He constantly goes to town on the Man of Steel, rocking him.
Superman struggles to get up to his feet, only to collapse down onto his knees. Lex rears back and hammers away at Superman's mouth and jaw, spilling more blood from his lip due to the intense impact.
"You look down at the people that you think you help. You look down at them. You try and think that you're some kind of hero. I could have changed the world if it wasn't for you!"
"No, Lex. You just used me an excuse. You could have been a better person, if you just made the right choice."
"I don't have to take this! Not from the likes of you. Not now! And not ever!"
Lex pounds Superman into a pulp with multiple punches.
"To use the words of a foolish man, you will kneel before me!"
Another huge punch nails Superman across the side of the head. The bloody imprint of Lex's hand rests against his skull. Superman tries to come up and instead collapses down to the ground. Lex kicks him several more times at the ribs, the other heroes held at bay by the field.
X-X-X
Barry coughs several times. He needs to get it together. He needs to get it together right now. He moves over to see Jesse, Kara, and Iris all pulling themselves up from their failed attempts to get at Lex.
"I've got a plan...and I think that we can pull it off when he's distracted."
The one thing about Lex Luthor which is obvious is that he is fixated one thing. It's the one thing he's been fixated on for years and that is to level Superman with one of the biggest beatdowns possible. Every single punch rattles and causes Barry to cringe.
"Follow my lead."
Barry goes, Jesse goes, Iris goes, and then Kara goes around him.
Superman's head whips back from another punch.
"This is nothing compared to Doomsday."
"He's a brute. I want to savor the moment. I want to see you truly and utterly broken before my…."
Lex screams in agony when some punch breaks through the force field. He turns around just in time to come across a blur zipping from all directions, going zig-zag, from right to left and left to right. Lex groans with the blur following on through.
"I don't know what you're trying to prove."
Jesse vibrates her hand through the gauntlet and takes it off of him. Lex turns around and goes after Jesse to reclaim his weapon of choice.
Only to see Supergirl come down from the heavens and smash him with a couple of rapid fire punches into the armored man. The punches bounce off at the armor. Lex turns around and wields the Kryptonite knife at her.
Iris rips the knife out of Lex's hands and takes it far away. Lex howls in agony.
"You can't stop me! None of you can stop me! Give me back my gauntlet!"
Jesse holds the gauntlet in her hands, but the suit is still giving off an immense amount of power. Lex moves at a surprising amount of speed.
It's exactly what Barry hopes for, tricking Lex into going fast enough so he can safely grab him. Barry zips into position on Lex and yanks him into a warp.
Everything goes super fast, almost too fast for Lex's mind to process instantly. There's only one thing which enters his mind and that is the speed rippling around him is nothing, if not beautiful. It pounds Lex's pulse and takes him further and further to the edge.
The rattling sound echoes of pieces of Lex's armor ripping apart. Lex only barely registers this in his mind. Instead, his mind registers the majesty of the speed force and entering it at a rapid fire rate.
Barry removes the suit and causes the unstable components of it to burn out. He comes out of the other end of the portal and hurls him down to the ground.
Lex's smoldering body, wearing nothing but an undershirt and undershorts pulls himself to a standing position.
"It was beautiful! Everything was beautiful! Why did you take me away from it? It was so beautiful? Why?"
Lex scrambles towards Jesse to get his precious gauntlet. Jesse hurls it into a rift in space time and it lands harmlessly in a place where it cannot get it.
"I was a god! I was a god! I WAS GOD!"
Lex starts swinging at the heroes and screams in agony. Now that he does not have his suit, Lex is just left with his intellect, which while dangerous most of the time, is something which is scrambled a whole lot after he went through the portal and down the speed force rabbithole.
One of the most brilliant men in the multiverse turned into a sobbing wreck, this close to achieving ultimate power, and falling so fall.
X-X-X
Kara walks over and extends a hand to Clark. Clark's still bleeding from the mouth, although with the Kryptonite radiation removed, he's able to heal.
"You alright?"
"I had much worse. Remember the time I died."
Kara sighs, all too well. Everyone moves around to see a babbling Lex waving his arms around.
"I had it! I had you….I had you...and I had you! I had you all. And I had you...you….Superman! You bowed down before Lex Luthor! I could have moved mountains! I could have turned water into wine! I could have healed the sick if you just let me...why didn't you let me? I was a God!"
"Lex, you need help."
"No! You're the ones that need help! Because, I could have saved this race, several times over. Humans...humans...they need a god to bow down before. Not some selfless hero."
The portal opens and the DEO agents step out of it. Lex continues his endless ramblings, paying them no mind.
"You can see it! I saw the future! I saw beautiful things. Wonderful things! Life is beautiful! Life is wonderful! Life is grand! I have power! Because power is grand."
Heatwave rolls his eyes.
"Guy's fried his brain cells."
"No! I'm not the crazy one! I'm the only sane one! I could have...you could have….I could have…."
A tranquilizer dart from Alex nails Lex in the back of the neck and sends him falling to the ground. His mad ramblings cease. Barry turns to Alex.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
"What happens to him now?"
"Well, Lex gets locked back away...although we should return the other Lex to your Earth because technically he's done nothing wrong, just yet."
Barry concedes. He just hopes this ordeal from the other Lex does not warp him into anything other than this Lex. He recalls something, almost lost in the heat of the moment.
"I've got Lillian Luthor. She's in the Pipeline at Star Labs."
"Good. We'll take her back as well."
To say Alex has a bit of a bone to pick with Lillian Luthor would be the understatement to end all understatements. Given the fact Lillian dissected Kara previously. She allows Barry to lead the way to pick up their other prisoner.
X-X-X
Barry looks inside of the new and improved cell which Grodd completely is in. This time, there's going to be no escape for him. He looks over his shoulder, with Jesse, Caitlin, and Karen coming up to him, smiles on their faces when they approve. Caitlin's is a bit remorse.
"So, Lex and Lillian are back in lockup, and Grodd's...well he's not doing rather well."
"No, he's not. When i removed the helmet, it might have regressed him."
The problem is, Barry figures that in time, Grodd's going to heal and then he'll be back with a vengeance against Barry. That's one thing that he can bank on.
"If he recovers, he's not going to be too happy with me right about now."
A very morose smile pops over Karen's face.
"Was he ever happy with you?"
Barry considers it for a second and responds by shaking his head. Grodd's been through a lot, but that does not excuse what he does.
He's now in the cell, with the neural dampeners Jesse, Caitlin, and Karen made on him. They're keeping Grodd at bay.
Jesse puts her hand on Barry's shoulder and leans in a bit closer to him.
"So, the Luthors and Grodd have been accounted for."
"Yes."
"What about Madam HIVE or Abra Kadabra?"
"We've searched all of the known HIVE safehouses. We have not seen any sign of her there."
Someone like that being out in the wind is very dangerous for any number of reasons. Barry hates to admit it, but there's a whole lot of frustration building due to this particular situation.
"We'll find her. Abra Kadabra on the other hand, he vanished after my encounter with him on Kara's Earth. If I had to guess, he's back in the future...a future which I hope is not ruled by HIVE gorillas."
Jesse crinkles her nose and Caitlin sighs at the reminder of the bad future. Karen raises her eyebrow a few seconds later.
"Wow, that's one future….well one that I don't want to visit anytime soon."
"Don't worry, you're not the only one. Thanks for your help."
"Yeah, any time. And sorry about being such a stubborn bitch earlier. I can't apologize enough. I can't help, but think I almost caused this mess."
Barry waves it off and Karen sighs.
"I better be getting back to my Earth. As I was reminded, there are threats there which I should pay a bit closer attention to."
She gives Jesse a smile and moves over to enter the portal. A flash of light announces Karen's left the premises and returns to her Earth.
This leaves Barry alone with Caitlin and Jesse.
"So, ready to get back?"
Jesse just smiles.
"Yeah, after today, I'm ready to relax. Until the next big crisis on multiple Earths happen."
Barry smiles and moves with Jesse. He is about ready to leave, until he notices Caitlin with her eyes on Grodd. She shakes her head and moves off.
"He's not what he used to be."
"None of us are. Some of us for the better and some of us...not so much."
Barry tightens his grip around Caitlin's waist and the two of them move off, alongside of Jesse. Now that Waller's no longer compromised, Grodd is in the best hands he could be.
They may think about moving him later.
X-X-X
Superman looks over Central City, and waits for Kara to return to meet him. She flies over towards him, with Sara and Laurel in tow.
"So, are you coming back or are you sticking around?"
"I might be sticking around for a little bit. But, I'll be home soon."
Superman smiles at both Lance sisters when they walk over towards him.
"It's a pleasure to work with both of you."
"Oh, the pleasure is all ours. And I'm sure if Rip was here, he would send his regards."
"Is everything okay with him?"
Sara hesitates for a few seconds and then shrugs her shoulders.
"It's one of those complicated situations. I'm holding down the ship the best I can, both literally and figuratively. I'm pretty sure though he'll be glad that you were here to help us. Really digging the beard by the way."
"Yes, but I have a feeling it will be coming off soon enough. It just doesn't fit me."
"Well, some would disagree."
Sara smiles and shakes her head. She decides that there are things she needs to get done, as much as she would like to stick around and hang out with her sister and the others, especially now that the world's not at stake.
"Better go. Leaving my team to their devices is not a good idea. Especially considering half of them were further in time then I thought that they were. It was nice meeting you and working with you."
Sara means this honestly. After all, Superman's the standard bearer in the future for all people fighting for truth and justice. From what Sara can piece together, he's not part of this Earth until after the great Crisis. An event which is only in pieces. Regardless, she leaves.
No sooner than Sara leaves, Flash appears all the way up the street.
"Sara's not here?"
Laurel smiles at him.
"You just missed her by that much."
Laurel holds her forefinger and her pinky apart to demonstrate. Barry shrugs and comments with an obvious fair enough. He turns to Superman who gives him an encouraging smile.
"Well, every time we meet, it seems to be when I'm in trouble. Hopefully, next time it would be me under the thrall of some alien starfish or being trapped inside of the Phantom Zone."
"Let's hope so."
Flash and Superman shake hands in a moment of respect.
"You know, it might be a good idea if we had some better way to organize. Even across multiple Earths...because the threats are only getting bigger."
Barry knows that and he bids Superman a goodbye. It leaves him alone with Black Canary and Supergirl. Supergirl just looks thoughtful.
"You know, Kal's got a point. It might be a good idea to have some formal group of heroes together, even across multiple worlds."
Laurel looks pretty thoughtful.
"Even across this world….I mean, Team Flash, Birds of Prey, the Titans...we'll all good in our cities, but worldwide, it would help if there's some unifying banner, for anyone who wants to join. On this Earth, or others."
Kara just breaks out into a smile and nods.
"Some kind of group of Superfriends? Maybe with our own headquarters or something? I'm sure we can figure out how to make it work."
Barry looks on thoughtfully. There's a few ideas in his mind, but naturally he's one voice in a sea of many. Finding a common ground with many people is going to be the trickiest. Even on a smaller team it can be tricky, never mind the larger team of heroes they're opposing
"There's people that we might want to get on this. We'll see what happens."
The future demands they take several steps to prepare for threats. Barry is confident for a better and brighter future.