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Chapter 1: A Pest

NOW

SWISS ALPS

I'm a pest. That's what I've always been told. My mother loved me, but she never had the time to tell me. I was always pestering her she said. My dad was much the same, except for the love part. I didn't have trouble making friends, but I did have a lot of trouble keeping them. It's only recently that I've become good at keeping my friends.

Kara taught me that. Everybody loves Kara, whether they want to admit it or not. I was in love with her for a very long time, part of me still is. But after the whole Cadmus debacle, she started going out with Mon-El and I can't compete with that even if I really wanted to. And I don't. That's what I keep telling myself at least. If I'm being really honest with myself I don't like Mon-El. And it's not just jealousy I swear. He's started to call me a pest, because I keep telling him that he has to protect his identity, for Kara's sake more than his. But you see, here's the thing about pests, we tend to uncover things we weren't supposed to. Like this, the largest computer monitor I've ever seen, with files from the D.E.O., as well as the FBI, some organization called A.R.G.U.S. and something called Checkmate.

Which makes we wonder, why does this computer have files on people Kara's told me about from other Earths?

FOUR DAYS AGO

NATIONAL CITY

"Winn, what did I say?" She was always nice to me, until she wasn't. That's the way Special Agent Alex Danvers was to everybody. Even her sister. It infuriated a lot of people. I've try to tell myself that I only put up with her because of Kara, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I respect the living hell out of her. Coming out of the closet is hard, especially when your sister is a nigh-all powerful alien. Granted Kara is the most loving, accepting person on any planet, but it's still difficult.

"That you didn't have time to deal with my "nonsense," I replied as we walked along a corridor of the DEO headquarters in National City, "which I find quite offensive by the way-"

"Look, Winn," she cuts me off, right then and there, "I'm sure what you're saying is important in its own special way, but I have to give the House oversight committee a tour of the base," she checks her watch, "right about now."

She turns around but keeps walking, looking at me. I stop and watch her leave. After a moment or two, she turns around. I may respect the hell out of her, but she doesn't always return the favor.

"Winn!" A kind yet stern voice shouted from behind me. I turned around to see the man who had probably become my best friend, James Olsen, "How you been man?" As he walked towards me I noticed he was carrying a black duffel bag.

"I'm fine." I said, raising an eyebrow and pointing at the bag, "What are you doing here?"

James winced noticeably at the question.

"I'm just dropping the gear back off," he said lifting the bag a little, neglecting to make eye-contact.

"You're really going through with this?" I asked, "You're really giving it up?"

"Yeah." James said.

On some level I was offended he was doing this without asking me. I felt like I was as much a part of the team as he was. I had helped him from inside a van, doing the tech stuff that he didn't have time to do, let alone have time to learn.

"Do you really think that's the right thing to do?" I said, "I think now more than ever, the world needs heroes."

"I'm sorry, Winn," James said, "But after what happened with Cadmus, and Lena, I just can't do this anymore. I think going back to just being Editor in Chief of CatCo Magizine is enough for me right now."

He kept walking, I tried to call after him, but I couldn't find my voice in time. I just couldn't do it.

NOW

SWISS ALPS

Oliver Queen. I've met him a few times, he's cold and reserved, but somehow his presence demands your respect. Exact opposite of Kara, ironically enough. I scroll through the monitor, looking at all the information these people have on him. His age, height, weight and even some shirtless pics that make me wish I had gone to the gym more. As if that wasn't creepy enough, I moved onto the next column. The Green Arrow.

How the hell do these people know about vigilantes from other Earths? Or let alone care? It had a list of associates: John Diggle, Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance, Roy Harper (MIA), Thea Queen, Dinah Lance (Deceased), Barry Allen (Deceased), Kara Danvers (Earth-38). The list went on but I stopped reading there. I knew that the DEO didn't keep record of Kara's identity as Supergirl, so these people knowing who Kara is scares me. Kara. Oh god, Kara.

THREE DAYS AGO

METROPOLIS

After what happened with Cadmus and L-Corp, the Superhero community is on edge, so it meant a lot to me that Flash, Green Arrow and the so-called Legends had come when I asked them. Of course, I had to ask Kara to contact them, but still, it was nice that they came for me.

One of my father's old warehouses had been broken into. My father was a super villain by the name of the Toy Man. Kara fought him once but he's fought Superman a few times. He routinely called me his greatest invention. It's enough to screw up anyone's life, but I've powered through it. The reason I was concerned about it was because my father dealt in destruction. He could have stored anything there.

Curtis (AKA Mister Terrific I was told), did a sweep of the area for any technological tampering. A man Oliver knew by the name of John Constantine does a "mystical autopsy" on the location and also finds nothing. Kara said Oliver vouched for him, but I don't like the way he keeps looking at her, or anyone for that matter. He gives me the creeps. It's like he's already figured out ten ways to destroy your spirit.

He doesn't find anything. I see him glare at me. I hear Oliver apologize to him for wasting his time. I hate it. The constant need people have to apologize for me. They treat me like a child. Like I don't know what I'm doing. Kara and the new Flash walk over to me.

"I'm sorry Winn," Kara said to me, "But both Curtis and John couldn't find anything. Even Canary's detective skills couldn't pick anything up."

"Canary said there was no sign of forced entry," the New Flash, I think his name is Walter or something, "and both Curtis and Felicity said there's no electronic chase of anyone coming in or out."

"Thanks. I'm sorry I dragged you out here," I said, "I'm just worried that this warehouse was a target because someone is going to break him out of prison. Or even worse he had something dangerous in here."

"Supergirl!" J'onn shouts from inside the warehouse. Everybody looks over at him. His presence constantly demands attention and respect in a way I can't quite define. He definitely scares me, but I do trust him. "I think you need to look at this."

Supergirl, Flash and Superman converge at Green Arrow and J'onn's point, I trot behind them, wanting to keep my distance, but I still feel as if I have a right to know what they've found.

"Curtis did a third sweep and found traces of Kryptonite," Oliver says and all four of them stare at me.

"What? You can't be that surprised!" I can't believe I'm defending this, "I mean he fought both of you, how unlikely was it that he didn't have any?"

"He's not wrong." Oliver said. I can't believe he's defending my defense.

"I thought you and Alex destroyed all the kryptonite, J'onn." Clark looks at J'onn, his eyes narrowing.

J'onn didn't respond, which was a telling response of its own.

"J'onn?" Kara said, begging for her cousin to be wrong.

"Alex doesn't know about it," J'onn said, "But three years ago we tried to move some kryptonite but the shipment was hijacked. We never knew what happened to it."

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Mr. Schott," Clark said, "This has been quite enlightening."

After that everybody began to leave. Flash, Green Arrow and their crews left through the portals, while Superman and Martian Manhunter flew off in opposite directions. Leaving only myself and Kara. Kara stayed a few more minutes, asking me if I needed a ride. But I declined. I told her I needed some time to clear my head. Which wasn't an entire lie, but something didn't seem right about this. Which meant that I needed to talk to someone I had hoped I would never see again.

THREE DAYS AGO

STAR CITY

Oliver launched himself up again and reached the highest ledge of the Salmon Ladder. Then he jumped down and breathed a sigh of relief. Star City had died down since Prometheus' attack. Even his political career was settling down, as much as it ever would.

"Oliver!" Quentin charged in, out of the elevator towards the mayor, "we have a problem."

Oliver slipped on a shirt and met his deputy mayor at the monitor, who brought up a local news recording.

"Authorities aren't saying anything about the attack," Bethany Snow said from behind her anchor's desk, "but sources from within the SCPD say that the victims were killed with arrows. Arrows that had black on the end."

Oliver shut it off and turned to face Quentin.

"Could this be Merlyn?" Quentin asked.

"No I have it on good authority that he's locked up somewhere safe." Oliver said, stroking the beginnings of a goatee.

"How safe?"

"Very."

"So you're saying that...," Quentin trailed off.

"We're dealings with another Dark Archer."

THREE DAYS AGO

VAN KULL PENITENTIARY

Van Kull Penitentiary was a dark, uninviting place. Not that it should be inviting, it is a maximum security prison after all, not a kindergarten playground. But that's not why it's my least favorite place on earth. My father lives here. After he battled Superman, Supergirl and killed so many people. He's a monster. But he keeps telling me I'm supposed to be the heir to his legacy. That I'm his greatest creation. So as he stares at me with those hollow eyes, I know that he realizes how important it is that I'm here.

"After a year and a half you've finally come to see me, Winslow," he said, sitting across from me in the visitor’s center, a pane of plate glass separating us, "I assume you're not here just to see your father."

"I don't want to be here," I said, "but I need to ask you some questions."

"What kind of questions?" He asked.

"One of your old warehouses was broken into," I told him, "and things were taken. Including your stash of Kryptonite."

"Which warehouse was this?" He asked.

"The Metropolis one."

He shifts his head to the side. I can tell he's thinking something over.

"Is there something else in there I should be aware of?" I asked, knowing what the answer will be.

"No. I don't think there is."

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

Dr. Julian Albert had become content to live in his two bedroom apartment with his girlfriend, Dr. Caitlin Snow. Ever since the battle with Savitar, since Barry's passing, life had begun to settle down for him, and despite his grief for the death of his former rival, and friend, for the first time in a long while, he's happy.

B-RING

The apartment is darkly lit, an old rotary phone, which Julian insisted on having, sits atop a small wooden table.

Julian rushes over and picks up the phone.

"Hey, Cisco," Julian had taken to calling him Cisco as well, the custom had worn off on him, "No she's not home yet. She's on her way. Yeah I'll tell her when she arrives."

Julian puts the receiver down and begins to walk away.

B-RING

"Oh come on!" Julian turns around picks up the phone. "Hello? Who's there?" He paused for a second, and then toppled over, his expression blank.

NOW

SWISS ALPS

I decide to go to Wally West's file first instead. I tell myself it's because he's only recently become the new Flash and I'm curious to see how much information they have already but it's really because I don't want to face the reality of them knowing Kara's identity.

Wally West. The Flash. Oh no. He just started a few weeks ago, it hasn't even been two months since Barry died, and they already know! I look at his list of associates. Barry Allen (Deceased), HR Wells, Jesse Wells (Earth-2), Iris West-Allen, Joe West, Cisco Ramon, Dr. Caitlin Snow, Oliver Queen,... Kara Danvers (Earth-38)

I have to face this now. I hover over the name Kara Danvers and finally gain the courage to press it.

THREE DAYS AGO

NATIONAL CITY

I walk out of the prison. The sky above me is cloudy, trying to rain, but it can't quite break through. I know my dad is hiding something, but I don't know what it is. I just wish somebody trusted me. I'm such a joke to them, it's really my own fault. I was tricked by Lyra. I was stupid enough to believe Lena was innocent. I was right about Jeremiah though. That should count for something. And even the one person I thought I could always trust to have my back, James Olson has forsaken me.

HEHEHEHE!

I hear it before I register it.

HEHEHEHE!

The Creepers. It's a gang that Maggie had warned me about before she left.

HEHEHEHE!!!

They're wearing masks, green hair flowing out. They leap around, a flurry of yellow, green and red. I see one their hands claw at my face. They hit my left cheek, leaving a scar. I feel the warm salt of the blood drip into my mouth. I back away slowly. I hear someone's feet touch the ground behind.

"Stop right there!" I recognize James' voice through the voice obscured I outfited him with, "It's time for you to leave."

Guardian leaps over me and slams the lead Creeper in the face with his shield. He hits the ground as the others leave. After a second he skitters away. I wait till they're out of earshot.

"James," I hugged him, "You came back. And in uniform! Thank you."

"No," James took his helmet off, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I retired. I should have helped you."

"You're here now. That's what's important." I said. He noticed that I was bleeding.

"You're bleeding," he said, "Let's go to the DEO and get you patched up. We can work there and get some help."

"No. I can't go back there," I told him. "Let’s go to my apartment."

TWO DAYS AGO

LIAN YU

Digger Harkness and Slade Wilson were the only two prisoners on A.R.G.U.S.'s secret black site prison on the deserted island of Lian Yu. There were two cells, and as such they were forced to keep each other company. Nobody else lived on the island, but what the U.S. government deemed enough food for both of them was flown in each week and dropped off.

Digger had trained under Slade Wilson many years ago, but he had gone rogue and become a mercenary. Years later they both crossed paths with Oliver Queen at different times and had ended up in this specially designed prison because of it. Slade's vendetta against Oliver drove him into the prison, a vendetta he hadn't given up, but Digger had a much more optimistic view of the situation. One of the guards had given him one of those small pink balls that you throw against the wall as a reward for good behavior. This was a couple of months ago. He hadn't stopped playing with it since. The plink-plink-plop of the ball was getting to Slade.

"I swear to God, I will gut you like a fish if you don't stop playing with that thing!" Slade yelled in his gruff voice.

"You're just jealous I got this for good behavior," Digger said as he continued to play with the ball.

"Oh you little-," Slade lunged at his fellow prisoner but was cut off by the bars.

"My, my," A woman in with jet black hair, an infectious smile and piercing green eyes walks down into the prison, "Aren't we having fun?"

"I know I am." Digger answered.

"Who the hell are you?" Slade asked, his one eye narrowed.

"My name is Lena Luthor," she said, kneeling down to look at Slade's lock, "and I'm about to become your new best friend."

"What do you want?" Slade asked. Digger got off the floor and looked at Lena through the bars of his cell.

"If I let you two out of the prison," Lena says, fumbling with the lock, "I want you to gather the strongest and most dangerous "super villains" on this planet and be prepared for to take out Green Arrow, the Flash and every other failed hero in existence. All I ask is that you wait for my word before you attack."

"Why would we do that?" Slade inquired, as much as he wanted freedom, and as much as he wanted to kill Oliver, he was wary of this woman.

"Because money is no object to me," Lena said, "And I'll let you personally drive an arrow through Oliver Queen's eye," there was a pause as she let Digger and Slade digest this information. "So what will it be? Will Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang ride again? Or will I have to find someone else?"

"Well I'm sure as hell in," Boomerang said.

"And you?" Lena made one final adjustment on Slade's lock.

"As long as I get to keep Queen's rotting corpse."

TWO DAYS AGO

NATIONAL CITY

My apartment was small. After all it was hard to afford almost anything in National City. The rent was exorbitant and even on a DEO salary, which wasn't great, the pickings were slim. I had settled on a small one bedroom in the Highland Neighborhood. It's close to Kara's place, and at the time I had bought it I was madly in love with her.

I sat at a small brown wooden table, looking at the computer, while James, still in costume, patched up my face. The blinds were drawn and the only lighting was a small standing lamp that stood beside the computer, James' helmet on the other side. After James finished he packed up the First Aid kit and turned back to me. Holding something metal.

"What is this?" James asked.

"Huh?" I swiveled back to look at the thing James was holding. "Oh I had forgotten about that." I swiped it from James' hand, "It's a piece of the Kryptonian pod that Mon-El landed in. Kara had asked me investigate it back before he had woken up. I never got around to it."

"Hm." James set it aside and looked at turned back to me, "Now why didn't you want to go to the DEO about this new stuff?"

"They treat me like a joke," I told him, not meeting his eyes, "I just don't have the energy to deal with that right now."

"Kara trusts you," he said, "We could go to her, we wouldn't have to deal with the DEO if we asked her not to."

"But then I have to deal with her condescension towards me and our activities as Guardian," I said.

"Yeah...," James trailed off, "but what do you have?"

"Well, it started when I was going over L-Corp's and Cadmus' bank records a few days ago, this was what I've been trying to tell Alex and J'onn, but they don't listen to me anymore," I told him, "I thought it might be a good idea to go over them, see if we could catch anyone else who was involved in Cadmus. But I noticed something. A few weeks before we busted Lena and Lillian, money started to be withdrawn from both accounts, it was small amounts, kind of randomly, but all to the same three accounts."

"Were you able to find who the accounts belonged to or where they were based?" James asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Not yet." I spun the chair around to face him, "I was almost there, when Mon-El told J'onn that I was "wasting DEO equipment," and he told me to stop."

"So that's why really you don't want to go back." James said.

"Yeah."

"How does the stolen warehouse fit into this?" James asked.

"Have you ever solved puzzles? Like as a regular hobby?" I asked him. James shook his head. "Well my dad used to make me do it a ton as a kid. I was really good it, but I hated it. He told me that most people, when they solve puzzles, they try to solve the whole thing at once, but I do it differently. He said that I focus on one small area and then build out from there. He also did this really annoying thing. He would never let me see the picture of the puzzle, and he never told me how big the puzzle was, so I had to visualize the picture on my own. It was cruel, but it gave a great way to look at the bigger picture."

"What are you saying?" He asked me.

"I'm saying that I'm getting the same feeling now about this, that I got when I realized the puzzle was bigger than I originally thought," I explained, "I'm saying that we need to be looking at the bigger picture."

Something started to buzz behind James, we both turned and noticed piece of the pod getting an electrical current through it. Both of our eyes widened as it flashed yellow, in a split second, James, ever the hero, pushed me out of the way, right before it exploded.

TWO DAYS AGO

RANN

Hawkman and Hawkgirl floated down the balcony that Sardath, a native of the planet Rann had left open for them to land.

"Thank you for meeting with us, Councilor Sardath," Hawkman said, lending his hand for a handshake, "I understand that with the destruction of Thanagar, these have become difficult times for both races, but myself, my wife, hope that with the help of your son in law, Adam, we can come to an agreement that will be mutually beneficial."

"I'm sure." Sardath was a tall balding man, wearing traditional Rannian Science Council robes, "I know that Thanagar is a very prideful culture and I'm glad that they sent you to us instead of simply attacking us like you usually do."

Carter grimaces, but Kendra pulls him back.

"We thank you for meeting with us," she said. Sardath motioned for them to come into his large round living room and to sit at the couch. As Carter and Kendra sat down and removed their helmets, a young Rannian woman ran in.

"Father!" She said as she entered.

"Alanna what is it?" Sardath asked.

"We're under attack," she pointed at Hawkman and Hawkgirl, "This has all been a ruse to get our guard down. They're invading!"

ONE DAY AGO

NATIONAL CITY GENERAL HOSPITAL

The consistent beep of the heart monitor that James was hooked up to didn't do anything to calm my nerves. James was lying in a hospital bed, unconscious with first degree burns because of what I had asked him to do. I sat beside him, the hospital room was nearly empty, I had texted Lucy, but she said that she was out of the country and I should give him her love. I'm honestly not entirely sure how to do that. I'm not sure how to do anything anymore. All my friends are Super-Heroes or secret agents, and I'm just a nerd with several broken hearts. I was resigned to reading old Daily Planet articles that Clark and Lois wrote, and describing the photos that Jimmy had taken for the articles.

"This one is of Superman punching the flame off of Atomic Skull's head," I told him, turning the tablet towards him, as if he were asking to see the photo, "I've always wondered how that worked. I mean I was never a chemistry whiz, I liked physics and comp-sci more, but that definitely seems impossible."

"JAMES!" Kara barged into the room, Mon-El close behind. She ran over to his bed and gripped his hand, completely ignoring me.

"What happened?" Mon-El asked me.

"A piece of your pod exploded in my apartment. James shielded me from the blast," I told him.

"Why did you have a piece of my pod in your apartment?" Mon-El said, accusing me of something I wasn't going to dwell on.

"Kara asked me to examine it," I explained, "It was before you woke up, she wanted me to figure out where you came from. I had honestly forgot I still had it. I haven't exactly been spending a lot of time in my apartment between the bar, DEO and Lyra."

Mon-El opened his mouth to say something, but Kara spoke first.

"Are you okay, Winn?" Here's a little secret about Kara, we all love her. We can't help it, she's just that type of person. It's not even just that she's beautiful, she is, but it's more about her personality, she's nice to you, no matter who you are. The second Livewire incident proved that, even though they hated each other, Kara still let her go because she cared. But there's another side to it, we all kind of hate her too. She has this way of making everyone around her feel loved but inadequate at the same time. She's stronger than us, physically at least, and that means she has to be careful, but she puts that into her friendships too. I realized it when she told me she didn't love me. Which was fine, some people just aren't meant to be, I'm not angry at her for that, but she did it in a way that made me feel like I was a kid. She was supposed to be the one person who didn't treat me like that, and then she just did it. I noticed it with James too, not just with their break up but the way she yelled at him when she found it he was Guardian. I love her, and I would do anything to protect her, but, I had just about reached my breaking point. "Winn? You okay?"

"Yeah." I said, too curtly for my intentions. There was a beep and Mon-El checked his phone.

"J'onn wants us back at the DEO, Kara," He told her, conveniently not mentioning me.

"You go ahead," Kara said, not taking her eyes off mine, "I'll meet you there."

"Kara-," Mon-El started.

"Just go," she shot him a glance, and he left, closing the door behind him. "Winn, what's going on? You've been off the last couple of days."

"I told you, I'm fine." I said, lowering my head to the ground.

Kara sighed, and sat down in the chair beside me.

"What happened to us?" Kara asked after a moment, "You, me and James used to hangout all the time, now we barely see each other."

"You want me to be honest?" I turned my head and looked at her incredulously.

"Yes, always," she answered earnestly.

"A certain alien came to earth." I told her.

"Why do you and James hate him?" Kara asked.

"We don't hate him...," that was a lie, "we just don't, we don't understand what you see in him." The words came tumbling out of my mouth without permission, but that didn't make them false.

"That's not your call to make. It's mine." She told me defiantly, "you don't get to tell me who I fall in love with."

"Do you love him?" I asked, and before she had a chance to respond, I course corrected, "No, that's not even the point. The point is that ever since you got together with him, you barely give anyone else the time of day. Even Alex mentioned something about it!"

"Fine, maybe James is a little lonelier," she relented, "but Alex had Maggie and you have Lyra."

I was silent for a moment.

"Lyra and I broke up." I told her.

"When was this?" She asked.

"About a week ago." I said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything about Mon-El. It's not my place. You're an adult, you can make your own decisions. You should probably get to the DEO anyway. But I can't go back. Tell J'onn I'm quitting."

I grabbed my coat and left the room, leaving Kara to deal with my ill-conceived.

DEO HEADQUARTERS

ONE DAY AGO

"What is it J'onn?" Kara flew into the meeting room and landed between J'onn and Mon-El.

"It's Lena." J'onn said, "she wants to talk to you, and you alone."

"I'll go," Kara said.

"I'll go with you," Mon-El said, "I can protect you from that woman."

"I can protect myself," Kara said, Winn's words rang throughout her head, "Who does she want, Kara or Supergirl?"

"Supergirl." J'onn stated firmly and Kara nodded, beginning her long solitary walk to the cell block of the DEO.

They were keeping both Lena and Lillian on sight because of how smart they both were and how many times Lillian had escaped from her other cells. Each of them were on a separate floor, so as they wouldn't be able to plan together. As Kara walked in, Lena's green eyes lit up with happiness to see her.

"Ms. Luthor," Kara crossed her arms across her chest, letting the S shield show through, "you wanted to speak with me."

"Please, I'm innocent, you have to believe me!" Lena pleaded, "Kara," a flash of fear flitted across Kara's face, "Yes I know who you are. I'm not stupid. And I never told anyone. Please, you have to believe me."

"Alex saw you there." Kara said, "Saw you giving Henshaw orders. There's no getting out of that."

"Oh come on, Kara!" Lena shouted, "You're friends with a shapeshifter! You know these things can be faked! And besides, I would never hurt you, Kara, you're the only person who ever really believed in me, I loved you. I still do."

"I'm sorry, Lena," Kara began to turn around, "but I can't trust you, and I never should have."

"Wait!" Lena shouted and Kara stopped, "There's something else. I've been having dreams, nightmares really," she paused, making sure that Kara's listening, "and in them, somebody's... somebody is killing Superman. I watch Superman die, I just... I thought you should know." Tears begin to stream down Lena's face.

Kara leaves the room and Lena sits back down in her cell, sobbing into her arms.

SWISS ALPS

90 MINUTES AGO

I was able to finally trace the money transfers back to the three original locations, which all happened to be in an abandoned castle in the Swiss Alps. Rumor has it that the castle had been the one place in Eastern Europe that the Nazis had never been able to take control of. Legends said that there was some primordial force that kept the Hitler from taking the castle. I didn't believe it, I chose to take one of the CatCo private jets there to the castle. With James in a coma, I didn't have anyone else who trusted me, let alone gave me the time of day, I had burned all my bridges. I landed the jet at the base of the mountain and began to climb.

I stole of James' Guardian suits and used his gear to scale the cliff. One on the mountain I found a number of guards patrolling the castle. Each one of them wore a black uniform with a yellow mask. They patrolled in pairs, each holding a large gun. I waited at the base of one the walls, timing the guards shifts. Once I had the time, I used a grappling hook to scale the wall.  Thank god for the mandatory DEO strength training.

It took me awhile to get through the castle, I was almost caught many times, I even thought I saw Maggie once. But once I got to the center I found a large square room with a large monitor and files from many different organizations, most of which I hadn't heard of.

SWISS ALPS

NOW

After clicking on Kara Danvers name I was shocked, I shouldn't have been but I was. They had all of her information. I looked through it before getting to her list of associates. Clark Kent, Alex Danvers, J'onn J'onzz, Mon-El(?). Why was there a question mark next to Mon-El's name? I couldn't answer it so I continued down. James Olsen, Winslow Schott Jr. (Deceased)... That's when I heard it, a slow clap behind me.

"Good job, Mr. Schott, I'm impressed." I'd recognize that icy-smug voice anywhere. Maxwell Lord. I turned around to face him. The same Evil smile playing on his lips. "I knew it either be you or Agent Danvers. But personally, my money was always on you. Nobody sees your potential, nobody understands what you're really capable of. They all just see a geeky man-child in constant need of validation."

"What are you doing, Max," I asked, stalling as I planned my escape, "What is this?"

"This?" Max asked, raising his arms, motioning to the room, "This is Checkmate. Here we monitor potential problems and eliminate them before they get there."

"Supergirl is a problem?" I asked.

"Of course," Max said, "both her and her cousin are problems. You saw what happened when she was exposed to the Ruby K!"

"Which was created by you," I pointed out, "so you're just another Cadmus, huh?"

"No. Not at all," Max sounded almost offended, "We are nothing like those hate mongers. We seek to create harmony between all beings of the earth. But I know that to achieve harmony, some things need to be excised from the earth. The world changed 30 years ago when Kal-El's rocket fell to earth. Everything was thrown out of balance."

"So you blame Superman, too." I said.

"He was a baby, it wasn't fault," Max said, "it was the age that he unintentionally ushered in. After he appeared and declared his intentions to protect us, he made nations and corporate interests scramble to create something to destroy him, just "in case" he went bad. This is where things like Cadmus come from. But here's the real truth. There is no good and bad, there is only creation and destruction. And I seek to create a better world. That's what Checkmate really is. We are creators, but sometimes, things need to be destroyed so we can create."

"You're a mad man." I said.

"And you're incredibly self-destructive." He wasn't wrong, and that was when I realized that I had destroyed everything that I cared about, "Your life is destroyed, but I know that you are an astonishing creator. Come join me and together we can build a truly perfect world."

"You're bat$&#* insane," I slowly began to back away, "even if everybody in the world hated me, I would never work for you."

"Well that's too bad."

BANG

Chapter Text

Countdown

O.M.A.C. Project Part 1: The Eye in the Sky

NOW

SWISS ALPS

BANG

That's what I heard from Max's private room. I knew what had just happened, and I couldn't stomach it any longer. Me and the pawns, we can't believe we're still going along with all of Max Lord's insane genocidal plans, but we had too. We're all scared of him, the power he has.

Max steps out of the room, his eyes devoid of emotion. He wipes his brow with a white handkerchief.

"Sawyer," He says to me, "Clean it up. And I don't want your ex finding this."

"Yes, Black King." I said, "It will be done." I bowed as Max left the hallway, leaving me with pawns.

I walked into the room and my worst fears were confirmed. It was Winn. Max had killed somebody that I had once considered a friend. I knelt down next to him, looking at where Max had shot him, the exact center of his forehead. Winn didn't deserve this. Max did.

"Damn it, Winn," I whispered, "why do you always have to stick your nose where it doesn't belong?" I looked around his body. Guardian's helmet had been tossed aside. I picked it up, examining it, "Why did you have to come here alone?"

Two pawns entered the room and waited for my orders.

"Dispose of the body," I told them, "use the incinerator. And he came on a CatCo private jet. Make sure there's no trace of that either. Max doesn't want the DEO finding us. Not yet."

"Yes, Black King's Knight," they bowed and picked up the body and left the room. I still wasn't used to my new title.

I stood up and sighed.

There was a knock on the door. I turned around to see the face of my ex-girlfriend, Renee Montoya, the Black Queen's Knight. Checkmate was run with a royalty system. A Black King and a Black Queen, each in charge of conducting operations, while a White King and White Queen in charge of handling the U.S. Government who runs them. While there were technically four leaders of Checkmate, everybody knew who was really in charge, the genocidal Black King who had engineered machinations to blackmail the other royalty. Objectively speaking, Renee should be my equal, but because of my position as Max Lord's knight, I technically outranked her. Not that she would ever say it.

"Hello, Maggie," Renee said. She was a medium-sized, slender, Latina woman, while she wasn't particularly tall, but her presence always filled the room. She wore her hair in a ponytail, her eyes locked onto mine, "I saw two of your pawns dragging something to the incinerator. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"It's classified." I told her. It wasn't entirely untrue.

"Do you understand what Max is doing?" Renee nearly implored, "He's conspiring to commit genocide!"

I bent down and swept her legs out from under her. I stood up, leaned down with my knee on her chest, my hand on her neck.

"You do not have the right to question our Black King," I told her.

"Ma'am," a pawn opened the door, "The Black King is calling a meeting of the royalty and their courts."

"I'll be there in a moment." I told him. I closed my eyes for a moment, then stood up and walked out of the room. Renee followed me a few seconds later.

Max was standing outside of the room, reading through a tablet, stroking his chin in the most annoying and smug way imaginable. As soon as he heard my footsteps he closed the tablet and looked over at me.

"Ms. Sawyer," Max looked at me, his eyes piercing into my very being, "Thank you for coming."

"Not like I have a choice," I told him.

"Ha, I suppose," Max said, "I want you to be prepared for what's coming. You're a smart woman, and I want you to have a leadership role in the new world order."

"What new world order?" I asked him. I was scared, his smile widened, it was more of a leer, but he wasn't leering at me, he was leering at the world.

"Remind me to tell you about the O.M.A.C. Project after this meeting," he said, and as the door opened, I followed him in.

The room was organized as a chess board, we really like to stick to a theme here in Checkmate. When we entered the Black Queen and White Queen were already in place, their Knights standing  behind them. Renee must have entered when Max and I were talking. Once Max and I were in place, we began the meeting.

"Where is the White King?" Max demanded immediately.

"He couldn't make it," the White Queen said, "Talib had to deal with the DEO situation."

"Well that will make this more difficult," Max said, "but I still have to do this." He straightened his back, "I apologize for the late notice, but I am liquidating your positions. Of course you are welcome to stay on, but you will have to serve under me, in the new Checkmate."

"This is absurd!" Renee shouted, "You can't just take over Checkmate!"

"Actually I can," Max said.

"She's right, you can't just do this," the White Queen said, "we've put up with you for too long, it's time for you to leave."

"Agreed," the Black Queen said.

"Well then," Max said, turning to Renee, "Well, Ms. Montoya, since you spoke first, you can do the honors. Kill the Black Queen and White Queen."

"What!" Renee shouted.

"Take out you gun and shoot the Black Queen and White Queen in the chest," Max ordered, a drop of blood coming from his nose.

After a pause, where everyone is silent, looking between Max and Renee, she took out the gun and shot the two Queens.

BANG

BANG

We all stared at the bodies, all of us except for Renee who was staring at the smoking gun, I shot her a glance, she was shocked and scared. She had no idea why she had just shot them. Max was wiping blood from his nose with a white handkerchief. It's a moment that I'll never forget, the moment when I realized how much of a monster Maxwell Lord truly is.

At that moment five pawns burst in, guns raised. They looked between the bodies and Renee.

"What happened, sir?" One of the pawns asked Max.

"I don't know," Max feigned fear, "Just all of a sudden, she shot the Queens!"

"We'll handle it, your Majesty," they said. One of the pawns cuffed Renee and dragged her out of the room.

I should have said something, I should have done something. But I didn't. I couldn't.

Once they left, Max turned to me, wearing that god awful smile that could freeze the blood of Supergirl.

"Thank you for playing along," Max said, "I know that was tough for you, letting your ex take the fall for the murders. While she did technically commit them."

"You're a monster." I let out.

"I am a builder." Max said. "Let me show what I have been building."

I followed Max back into the room where he killed Winn. On the way, he kept talking to me but I couldn't listen to him. He scared me, now more than ever.

"Have you ever heard of Spherical Industries?" Max turned to face me, his back to the large screen. This question caught my attention. I remembers Alex had mentioned something about the corporation.

I didn't answer.

"They built something called BIOMAX," Max said, "After Supergirl revealed the conspiracy behind them, their stock plummeted. So I quietly, through many different shell corporations, bought up a controlling interest in the company. BIOMAX was a Nanobot swarm meant to cure all wounds. But I realized it could be something so much more."

"What have you done, Max?" I asked, scared to get an answer.

"I-," Max started but an alarm went off.

Beep-beep-beep

"Sir," a pawn ran in, I thanked god, if he were real, that he came in and interrupted Max.

"What is it?" Max was filled with rage.

"The White King has gone AWOL." The pawn said, "We think he found what happened. He must believe that the assassin is still at large."

He knows. The White King must know what Max is. I have to get a message to him. I have to get a message to Alex.

"Thank you for the information." Max's tone softened, faking humanity.

The pawn nodded and left.

"We will have to pause this conversation," Max said, "I have three locations that the White King has safe houses in." Max picked a piece of paper off of the desk. "Here are the locations. I want you, and the two pawns you trust most, to go to these locations and find him."

I looked at the locations. A dock in Paris. An apartment in Moscow. A warehouse in Giza.

"You're dismissed." Max said. I bowed and left the room.

Max Lord watched Maggie Sawyer leave the room. His eyes narrowed. He knew she would betray him, it was only a matter of time.

"Interrogative: Do you trust her?" A mechanical voice asked. The screen behind him turned on. A large picture of an eye, not quite human, but close enough that the resemblance was clear. The iris was red, lines that looked they belonged on an SD card surrounded it, running out the edges of the lid.

"Not implicitly." Max answered. "I know she will betray me. It's only a matter of time. But my need for Talib to be out of the picture outweighs my misgivings on her allegiance."

"Declarative: I do not fear Khalid Beni Talib AKA the White King. The sharp growth of Meta-Human and alien combatants is what I fear," the voice said.

"He knows too much. He is a risk," Max answered.

"Declarative: You should have simply waited until all three of the royalty were there." The voice said.

"You came to me!" Max shouted. "You told me that time was short. You pressured me into doing this now. I could have waited, but you told me to do it now."

"Confession: I wanted to see if you were committed." The voice said. "Ever since I was given sentience, I have been able to see across the Multiverse. Immediately I detected a problem. Meta-Humans are a problem that must be solved. Earth-1 and Earth-38 are the greatest offenders. The Dominators of Earth-1 understood this, but they did not understand that it must be undertaken by a human. That is why I sought you out. Because you, Maxwell Lord IV. You understand that the Multiverse must be cleansed, and I had hoped you were prepared to do what was necessary. Luckily for you, I was right."

"You and I understand what's necessary," Max said, "I just with that you would share your plans with me."

"Declarative: You will know when the time is right. Interrogative: Have you loaded the necessary percentage of the population with the technology?"

"Of course," Max said. He almost offended by the insinuation. "5% of the population has been infected. Mostly hobos, runaways and drifters. People nobody will miss."

"Declarative: You have done well." Max turned to face the eye. "The BIOMAX virus you modified will turn each of these humans into a One Man Army Corps AKA O.M.A.C.s. These O.M.A.C.s will target and dismantle the most dangerous Meta-Humans and aliens on this earth."

"What about the other Earths?" Max asked.

"Declarative: At this moment that is not your concern." The eye minimized itself and brought up a feed of Alex Danvers and J'onn J'onzz talking at the DEO. "Declarative: Creator is only to be monitored at this moment. They cannot gain wind of what we are doing."

NOW

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

"Has anyone seen Agent Schott!" J'onn shouted to the control room of the DEO Headquarters.

"Didn't he quit, sir?" Agent Vazquez responded.

"I didn't think that was serious. I thought it was a joke." Another agent piped up.

"Stop gossiping and get back to work," Alex said, walked into the room.

Several agents rolled their eyes, as they returned to work.

"Vazquez is right, J'onn," Alex addressed J'onn, "He did quit."

"I'm well aware," J'onn said, "What I'm worried about is that nobody has seen him at all. None of the DEO satellites have picked him up, he hasn't checked into any of the usual social media sites or chat rooms that he frequents."

"Are you worried about his feelings?" Alex asked.

"No. He knows a lot of sensitive information," J'onn said, "I'm worried he's been captured. Or worse."

At that moment blue light started to shine in the middle of the room. It got bigger and bigger and bigger until a man wearing goggles jumped out.

"Mr. Ramon," J'onn said, "What can we do for you?"

Cisco was out of breath. He paused a second then opened his mouth.

"We need to cash in that favor. There's been a murder."

NEXT: THE TRUTH OF BARRY ALLEN'S TOUGHEST CASE IS REVEALED!

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 1: Coffin

NOW

HUB CITY

"Noah Cutler." A gruff voice spoke from the darkness. Noah's back straightened, the hair on the back of his neck. He preferred the darkness. That's why he always worked in a dark circular room, computer monitors surrounding him.  But he knew that this meant somebody could sneak up on him, that's why he set up an elaborate motion sensor system. Which hadn't gone off.

"Yes?" His voice was small. He was feared throughout the world by those who knew of his existence, but in this arena, he was powerless.

"My name is Slade Wilson," he said, "and I'm told you have a set of skills that I have need of."

YESTERDAY

STAR CITY

The sun set on Thea Queen's apartment. Ever since she had quit her job and Chase had been found dead, her life had become better, less complicated. She had even began to smile. She was frantically tidying the living room for her guest.

Ding-Dong

"Coming!" Thea shouted. She rushed over to the door, and opened it to reveal a smiling Oliver Queen, "Welcome to my humble abode."

She stepped out of the way, welcoming in her brother.

"I've been here before, Thea," Oliver commented, "I even helped you move in."

"I'm being polite, Oliver." Thea raised an eyebrow at the the former mayor. Oliver leaned in for a  hug, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Oliver stepped back, taken aback.

"I'm sorry?"

"You come in smiling, you give me a hug," Thea said, "Are you sure you haven't been replaced? Oh god, am I in another Dominator dreamworld?"

"No, Speedy," Oliver said, "After what happened with Prometheus d what happened to Barry, I'm trying to be happier in life, see the people I want to see. Like my sister."

"Ollie," The said, "This is the third week in a row that we've done this."

"I may or may not have gotten this idea from Kara," Oliver said. Thea burst out laughing.

"If you're getting your ideas from Supergirl, then you really are in trouble!" Thea choked out. She guided Oliver down to the couch in front of the tv.

"No, I'm serious." Oliver said, a smile continued to play across his face, "Kara mentioned that he does something with her sister. She called it 'Sister Night.' I thought it might be a good idea for us. After the island, we've had trouble bonding, we've always been on different wavelengths, but I've always loved you, and I think you've always loved me."

Thea stared at him for a second.

"Did you just give a speech about friendship and love?" Thea asked, "Because that really scares me."

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Damn it," Oliver said grabbing his phone. He looked at the called ID, then put it down.

"What is it?" Thea asked.

"Felicity," Oliver said, "it's the third time she's called. I told her I wasn't to be disturbed today. Unless the Dominators were back or something."

"Maybe you should just pick it up." Thea suggested.

"Fine." Oliver picked it up again and answered it, "What is it, Felicity?" Oliver's face went white.

YESTERDAY

CENTRAL CITY

The light had long since faded from the cemetery, but still Iris West knelt down in front of the grave of her fiancée. Her father stood behind her. They had been there for hours. Neither of them had spoken since they arrived.

"I'm sorry, Barry." Iris weeped, her guilt and her grief had broken her the moment he had disappeared. "This was all my fault. It was supposed to me. I was supposed to die."

"It's not your fault." Joe said. "You can't blame yourself. This is Savitar's fault, not yours."

"This is the second time." Iris choked through tears. "This is the second time that somebody has died for me, the second time a hero has died for me."

Joe's phone vibrates. He checks it in his pocked.

"Iris. We have to go," Joe said.

YESTERDAY

IVY TOWN

Ray Palmer didn't have fond memories of his hometown. His family had always sided with his brother Sydney instead of him. For a long time he expected otherwise, but eventually he realized it would never change, that he should stop being disappointed and move on. Currently, he sat, smiling, in what had been his apartment for many years before moving to Star City. He had kept it, kept the payments going, but he hadn't been back since long before he joined the Legends. It has simply sat there. Gathering dust.

When he had returned a week ago, he had found Sydney living there. Sydney had been overjoyed to see him. This had surprised Ray, he and his brother did not have a pleasant history, far from it, in fact. But his brother seemed incredibly genuine in his joy.

He said that once Ray disappeared, he had learned he had to hold onto things, be nicer and better to people than he had been. "I've been looking at your suit, too. I found the blueprints on a cloud drive," Sydney had told him, "I think there are some things that you could do with it that you haven't thought of." It was Ray's turn to be overjoyed. This was what he had always wanted. Ray may be a genius, but Sydney was no idiot, it just so happened, that Sydney had rarely applied himself. "For example, I made this," he had continued, pulling a small circle out of his back pocket, "It should help you be able to adjust your mass while you're shrunk down." Ray had, at that very moment, realized that he was truly happy for the first time since Anna had died. He hugged his brother. He explained where, and when, he had been. was so glad to be back.

The door creaked open and Sydney walked in.

"Hey, bro!" Sydney said, "You know it's already dark outside and you haven't left that couch since 11 last night?"

"I'm working." Ray said not looking up from the spreadsheets on the table.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you knew, Martin Stein," Sydney said, putting groceries on the counter.

"Oh, yeah. We're friends," Ray said, still not looking up, "We time travelled together. Did he call?"

"Yeah, thanks for lending me your phone by the way," Sydney mentioned. "Any way, he wants you in Central City, like right now, he wouldn't tell what it was about."

"Uhh fine," Ray stood up and yawned, "Toss me the phone." Sydney complied. Ray dialed Stein's number, "Hey, what's up? Oh no. Okay, I'll be right over," Ray dropped the phone on the table and leapt into the Atom suit, "I'll call you in a few hours. I can't explain right now."

THIS MORNING

CENTRAL CITY

Even a year ago, a death like Julian's would have been chaos. But after Sara died, we got organized. Contingency plans were made. Notification and contact charts were put in place. After Laurel died, after Barry... disappeared... we got good at it. It's a part of our lives, we hate it, but we've learned to expect it. I'm worried about Caitlin, she's barely got a lid on Killer Frost, and this could put her over the edge. I just lost Barry, I can't lose her too.

There's a note on the apartment door. Oliver already looked over it for clues. He didn't find anything. They hoped I could vibe something, but I already know what happened, I just can't tell them, not yet.

"Anything I should know, Overwatch?" I asked Felicity, who was stationed at STAR Labs, coordinating our response.

"Curtis' sweep couldn't find anything, Vibe." She answered. Her voice had none of her usual clumsy, babbling charm, "No sign of forced entry and the cameras we had set up a week ago were blinded."

"Blinded?" I asked, I already knew what she meant, but I had to make sure. She knew what I was fearing too.

"Too much light." She confirmed it.

"Does Caitlin know?"

"Not yet." Felicity said, "Iris and HR are with her now. Trying to comfort her."

"I should be the one to tell her." I said, "It should come from me."

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"We'll deal with me later," Cisco said, "I'm more worried about Caitlin right now."

NOW

UPTOWN BAR,

MIDWAY CITY

The Uptown Bar was everything you wouldn't expect it to be. It was a scuzzy little crap hole I'm the wall populated by super villains from around the country. The bartender, Billy, had set up certain rules that must be adhered to if you want to be a patron. This was a safe haven for villains, so that meant no fighting inside the bar, blood feuds stopped at the door, and continued when they left. Billy ran a tight ship. Any breaking of the rules caused immediate expulsion from the bar.

Entrance was difficult, there was a different password each day, but some people got in on reputation alone. Monocle was not one of these people. He was seen as a joke throughout most of the Meta Community. There was a rumor that Vixen had him pass out just be glaring at him. So when he rushed in, out of breath, claiming that "the end was upon them" a few people laughed, but nobody really gave him a second glance, nobody except for Digger Harkness.

"I'm serious!" Monocle pleaded, "This is the end for us! I'm not joking!"

"Shut up, Monny. Even I think you're a joke." Killer Moth said.

"Yeah, and he's Killer Moth!" Gemini said. There was a chorus of chuckles from throughout the bar.

"He may be a joke, but let's hear what he has to say," a voice came from the back corner booth. All eyes turned to see Captain Boomerang, sitting there, downing his Australian beer.

"Digger?" Bolt said, "I thought you got pinched years ago. Heard you were sent to some top-secret island or something."

"Let's just say, I have friends looking out for me, and you could too," Digger took another swig of beer, "Now, Monocle, what've ya got for us today?"

"Julian Albert is dead," Monocle said, "News says he was murdered."

"Kid, I been in prison for a year and a half," Digger answered, "I don't know who the hell ya talking about."

"He's part of the Flash's team." Most of the bar went back to their drinks, but Boomerang was still paying attention, "Nobody knows who did it, and so soon after the original is gone, they're going to crack down on us, this could be it! I mean, I don't wanna get frozen from the inside out!"

"You hear that?" Boomerang stands up, "Do any of you idiots understand what this means? Not just for him, but for all of us!" He now has the entire room listening to his words. "But I have a solution. You ever heard of Slade Wilson? Well, he and I are starting something big! We're starting a team, but it's more than that, it's a society, and all of you have free entries to join! Welcome to the Secret Society!"

THE NEXT DAY

THE FUNERAL,

CENTRAL CITY

If it hadn't been such a sad occasion, someone might have commented on how ornate and grand the architecture of the church was. But that's what is farthest from our minds on this day. The funeral started at noon. The inside of the church is sparse, but the entire meta-community showed up. Even Supergirl and her friends were there. I sent word to Julian's parents, I thought it was the polite thing to do, even though he barely ever talked about them, and when he did, it wasn't fondly. They didn't show up. they didn't even respond. Outside, was packed, mostly, I'm sad to say, it was people who wanted to catch a glimpse of Superheroes, they didn't give a damn that we were in mourning. They just knew about us after the very public battle we had had with Savitar a month earlier.

Wally, H.R., Joe and I carried the coffin in. Kara and J'onn offered to carry it, they both have super strength, but we wanted to carry it, we wanted to honor him that way. Everybody kept sneaking glances at Caitlin, nobody knew what she was going to do, they treated her as fragile after what she had gone through the past year, but I knew her better.

Joe gave a speech about brotherhood. It was beautiful. He talked about how Julian, despite his nature, learned to let us in. He recalled how, even through all that he had been through, he still brought in his best skills to work everyday. How even through their rivalry, he had become a brother to Barry.

It was Caitlin's turn for a speech. She rose from her seat next to me. The room went dead silent. There was no movement. Wally gripped Jesse's hand tighter. A tear fell down Caitlin's face. Another. And then another. She broke down. I wrapped my arms around her, tears streamed down her cheeks, as the woman how had become my sister over the last five years broke down in my arms.

After the service, we split into teams, trying to find the murderer. Wally, Jesse, H.R., Harry and Joe went in search of Bolt, a teleporter. Team Arrow, minus Felicity, decided to go after Hearstroke, a villain that Killer Frost had gone up against, possibly carrying a vendetta. The Legends, without Ray, went after deranged scientist named Doctor Phosphorus, while Supergirl and her friends spread out over the country. They had elected to protect our cities while we were searching for the murderer. They were all good guesses, but they were all wrong as well.

Myself, Ray and Felicity were asked to meet Caitlin after the service. We knew what it was about, and we were ready.

"Are they gone?" Caitlin asked, her head in her hands.

"Yes." I said.

"Thank you, Cisco. Felicity. Ray," she said, "We all know who did this." The tears were gone, they were replaced with an anger, "And I need your help." She raised her head, staring at the three of us, "Help me find Doctor Light, and I swear to god, I will drive my Fist down his throat and freeze his heart solid!"

NEXT: WHO WAS THE FIRST DOCTOR LIGHT?

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 2: House of Lies

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

            “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Felicity asked Caitlin. They were still in the church, getting ready to search for her boyfriend’s killer.

            “Yes,” Caitlin said, her eyes were ice. I saw it, Ray and Felicity saw it too, they were scared, but I was ready for it, I understand it. I looked around the room, Ray, Felicity and Caitlin, and there was something else here.

            “Stop right there,” I said.

            Ray and Felicity looked around the room. Caitlin looked straight at me, she knew what I could see. As part of the particle accelerator explosion I gained a meta-human power. I could sense the vibrations of the Multiverse, for instance, I could sense when people from another universe were around. And as I learned in our battle with Savitar, I can sense when somebody connected to the Speed Force is around.

            “Cisco, you okay?” Ray asked.

            “I see you, Wally.” I said, and Wally seemingly out of thin air.

            “What are you doing?” He asked, a serious tone, his eyes narrowed at me.

            “How dare you spy on us!” Felicity accused him.

            “Me? You lied to everyone!” Wally poked at her. “What, you didn’t think that anyone would notice that everyone was assigned to a villain except the four of you?”

            “This doesn’t-,” Ray started but Wally cut him off.

            “I’ve been listening the whole time!” Wally shouted at us, “Whatever you did years ago-,”

            “This isn’t about you, Wally,” Caitlin finally spoke up, standing up, facing him.

            “Look, I’m on your side,” Wally said, clearly realizing that he had hit a nerve, “Just tell me why you think it’s Doctor Light.”

            “It’s just a lead,” I told him, “Nothing more.”

            “Really?” He didn’t buy it, “Then why don’t we ask Sara? Or better yet, Oliver?” I knew he was serious. “Think I’m bluffing Cisco? Try me. Please.”

            I had to give him credit. He doesn’t back down. The Brave and the Bold all over again.

            “Okay, Caitlin—why don’t you tell him—,” I started but Felicity cut me off.

            “Cisco, this isn’t the time,” Felicity said.

            “No. The boy’s all grown up,” I said, “If he’s taking over Barry’s mantle, he needs to know the truth. He needs to know what Barry did. But let’s tell him on the way, we’re losing time.”

            “It was two years ago, back before Ray and Sara and company went off time-travelling. Before your time, Wally,” Caitlin began as we started moving towards Doctor Light’s hideout. “Barry and Oliver were fighting somebody, I forget who it was.”

            “Multiplex,” I informed them.

            “Right, Multiplex,” Caitlin confirmed, “Cisco and Barry were in the field with Oliver, Ray and Felicity. They were in town anyway, I forget why. But I was running the mission from S.T.A.R. Labs, while Cisco was in the field. Doctor Light must have seen the footage and decided that he could sneak into S.T.A.R. Labs while the Flash was battling Multiplex downtown. He didn’t realize I would be there.”

            “Wait,” Wally said, “I thought Doctor Light was a woman from Earth-2?”

            “That was the second one,” I explained, “We never told anyone about this one because of what happened that day. We had beaten about a week earlier and while he had escaped, we had been able to recover his light gun. He used to use a gun, then he got powers.”

            “He ran into me,” Caitlin said, “I guess he was happier to see me than the gun. He had this evil grin on his face. I rushed to the board and pressed the button summoning them. Barry came first. Ray was mere seconds behind. The battle was just outside. We got lucky with the timing. I got lucky. Barry and Ray pinned him on the floor. I think I punched him in the face. He was cursing at me. Saying he was going to destroy everything that I loved. Everything that we loved.”

            “So that’s why you think it’s him?” Wally asked.

            “No. There’s more,” I told him.

            “Yeah, Oliver left, he said something about Roy needing his help on something,” Caitlin recalled, “but the rest of us had a decision to make. We needed to decide what to do with Dr. Light. Normally with somebody like this, we’d put him in the S.T.A.R. Labs brig, but this was different. He knew who we were, and he was out for blood.”

            “What did you do?” Wally asked cautiously. I knew what was coming, I just hoped he was ready for it. Barry asked me to take care of him, and I hoped I was doing right by him, by sharing Barry’s darkest secret with him.

            “We made him forget,” I told him.

            “You did what?” Wally asked me incredulously.

            “I had been working a device that surgically wiped people’s memories,” Caitlin explained to him, “We decided to use it.”

            “But that wasn’t we talked about,” Ray added.

            “Yeah,” Caitlin said, “We started debating about whether to change his brain chemistry, make him less violent.” Wally’s eyes went wide. “Sides formed quickly, Ray and Felicity said it wasn’t a good idea, but Cisco and I thought it would be, leaving the deciding vote to Barry.”

NOW

HUB CITY

            My name is Slade Wilson, the underworld knows me as Deathstroke, the Terminator. I’m an assassin. A serial killer who takes credit cards. Most people say I’m a monster. That’s what people like Oliver Queen would tell you, but to certain people in certain rooms, like this one, I’m a god.

            People get into this line of work for any number of reasons. But they stay in the job for one reason, and one reason only: they love it. The rush of the job, the thrill of the chase, the power of the kill. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. I used to believe I was a good man. I used to fight for something. I had a cause, I was Australian Special Services, until I was lost on Lian Yu. There, I met a man named Oliver Queen, he was shipwrecked there as well. Together we banded together and fought Edward Fyers, a mercenary who had been tasked with taking down a plane. Later, I was betrayed, and the love of my life was killed. I had one singular goal, the death of Oliver Queen. I planned for years, and when the moment came down to it. I failed. And I was locked away in the prison of my madness, Lian Yu. Until I was approached by a woman, who gave me an offer, bring together the criminals and assassins of this world, and I would be allowed to kill Oliver Queen. Now, here I am, ready to take back my world.

            “Here’s how it goes!” I shouted. We were in a seedy club, of which, Captain Boomerang, my unfortunate partner, knew the owner. He, Noah Cutler (A.K.A. the Calculator) and I sat on the stage, while the rest of the club was filled to the brim with villains that Boomerang had recruited. “You get a job, you register it with Calculator here, and give us 10%. This makes sure we don’t double book a job, all of your petty rivalries leave at the door. You get in trouble, you have the feds, Green Arrow, the Flash or somebody like that, you come to Calculator and he puts a team together, they help you solve your problem. But nobody kills Green Arrow, that kill is mine.”

            “What do you get in return?” some lunatic called the Shadow Thief asked, “How do you benefit from this?”

            “When we call,” I said, “and we will, you drop what you’re doing and answer. Because one of these days, some days soon, we’re going to rise up, and overthrow these so-called heroes. That sound good to you?”

            “Hell yeah!” Kite Man yelled.

            “Help!” Doctor Light burst in, pushing his way to the stage. “I need help! They’re after me!”

            “Who’s after you?” I looked down on him. He was sweating on through his costume.

            “The heroes!” He shouted, “They think I killed that Albert guy! But I didn’t do it, and now they want to kill me!”

            While everybody was focusing the events unfolding, nobody noticed Captain Cold and Heatwave sneaking out of the meeting, nobody but me.

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

            “This is where Doctor Light’s living?” Wally asked. We stood on a roof overlooking a dingy street with graffiti sprawled everywhere and several boarded up windows.

            “Yeah,” I told him, “believe it or not, most super-villains aren’t very rich, especially after what we did to him.”

            “You’re saying Barry voted to mess with his brain?” Wally asked. I could see it in his eyes, the black and white way he saw the world was fading. I had just shattered it.

            “I’m going in.” Caitlin said and she jumped down before us.

            “NO! WAIT!” I shouted. We went down after her but it was too late.

            Caitlin bounced back. I looked down at her body. She was still alive. I could feel it. Then I saw the dark blue and orange boots. I should have seen this coming.

            “Oh, don’t act so surprised,” he said, “It’s the first rule of problem-solving. When the problem gets too big, you have to bring in a professional.”

            Deathstroke.

NOW

STAR CITY

            My name is Curtis Holt. I’m a vigilante and an Olympian with a genius-level intellect. I’m not being arrogant, I swear, I’ve been test on all of these things. But currently, I’m performing an autopsy. I went to medical school for two years before switching back to tech, and doing what I love. Building things. Dinah’s helping me out. Her experience as a cop is paying off. We may only be here because we’re the only people who can do this. Outside of Caitlin of course, but she’s grieving, and I would never ask anyone to their boyfriend’s autopsy. But there’s another reason we’re here. We’re the only people who don’t have loved ones right now. Oliver has Thea. Quentin has Sara. Dig has Lila and JJ. Even Rene has his daughter.

            Dinah and I have both lost people. People we can never see again, but in vastly different ways. Dinah had a partner back when she was on the force in Central City. They both went undercover looking for to bust this mob boss Sean Sonus. They both got made, and he died. Then the particle accelerator exploded and she got powers. She went after Sonus and Oliver helped her, together we took him down. Now she’s the new Black Canary and part of Team Arrow.

            I had a husband, Paul, back when I was working for Palmer Tech under Felicity Smoak. Little did I know that Felicity Smoak was working for the Green Arrow. I helped her and then became part of the team. Later on I started training and donned the mantle of ‘Mister Terrific.’ Rene thinks it’s cheesy, but I like it a lot. When Paul found out what I was doing, he gave me an ultimatum. Mister Terrific or him. I chose Mister Terrific. It’s hard most days, but it’s harder on days like this. Days where everybody is seeing their loved ones, making sure they’re okay. Spending quality time together. Oliver didn’t say it when he asked me and Dinah to do this, but we both know why we were really selected.

            I’m inspecting Julian’s lungs right now. If it was one the villains we suspect there should be damage inside his lungs. But I didn’t see any. I cut deeper just to be sure.

            “There’s no black from what should be soot,” I told Dinah.

            “Because of Carbon Monoxide poisoning,” She understands, “So you’re saying…”

            “Yeah,” I replied.

            “Felicity!” Dinah shouted into the console, knowing that Felicity is at S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City, “I need to talk to Caitlin Snow right now!”

            “She’s out with Cisco, Ray and Wally,” Felicity answered. I could tell she was hiding something. Dinah could too, her voice was off, “They’re fighting Doctor Light and Deathstroke in Central City.”

            “Do they think… Damn it!” Dinah shouted, “Doctor Light didn’t kill Julian!”

            “What?” Felicity asked, “How do you know?”

            “Because according to Curtis’ autopsy,” Dinah answered, “Julian was already dead after he was lit on fire.”

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

            Caitlin’s on the ground, unconscious. The men standing over her are Deathstroke and Doctor Light. I don’t know how Light contacted Deathstroke so quickly, but that’s a matter for a different time. Doctor Light is standing slightly to the side, he seems content to watch Deathstroke mop the floor with us. Deathstroke is holding a staff in his left and a sword in his right, a machine gun slung over his back. He’s ready for us.

            “This isn’t your fight, Deathstroke,” Ray said. We all know who Deathstroke is. Oliver’s told us all stories. He’s the one person on the planet that Oliver is most scared of. Personally, I never saw why.

            “For the amount he’s paying? It most certainly is.” He said in that growling voice that makes you question all the choices you’ve made in life up to this point. “Though honestly, I’d do this for free.” He’s smiling under the mask, I can tell. Usually this is the moment where I’d make a joke, but after everything that’s happened, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Wally took off first. But Slade saw it coming. Wally ran around them, and that’s what he was counting on.

            He pressed a button on his staff and several explosions went off immobilizing Wally for just a moment. That was all he needed.

            “AAAAHHHH!” Wally shouted. Deathstroke shoved his sword behind him, straight into Wally’s ribs. Our heaviest hitter down.

            I stepped forward about to hit him with a vibe, but before I could, he jabbed a fist into my ribcage. I didn’t realize it for a second, but he had induced vomiting.

            Ray was nowhere to be seen. That meant he’d gone microscopic. Ray is the only one of us that may have a chance. There was very little reason to think that Deathstroke would plan for him. He launched himself towards the assassin but before he could make contact, Deathstroke took out a laser pointer and shot it at him. He was like a feather being sprayed with a fire hose. He went big on instinct, and went straight into Wally, how had just gotten the sword out of his chest. Now I understood why Oliver was so scared of Slade. Even with the Mirakuru out of his system, he was still lived up to the name Deathstroke.

            He began to laugh, but it was too soon. Caitlin was up. She ran up behind him and stabbed his bad eye with a sliver of ice.

            “ARRRGGGHHH!” Deathstroke flipped Caitlin over his head.

We all jumped in, it didn’t matter how hurt we were. We each took a limb. We restrained him back. We should have been paying attention to Doctor Light too.

“I-I remember.” He whispered. I didn’t register until after, “I remember what you did! YOU! TOOK! MY! MIND!”

There was a flash of bright white light. And then everything went black.

NEXT: SERIAL KILLER!

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 3: Who Benefits?

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

            “-Ou okay? Cisco, can you hear me?” I’m not sure what’s worse – Doctor Light and Deathstroke getting away, or the brand new problem now staring us in the face. “What happened?”

            The light began to fade and I could see that Sara was standing right in front of me, and I could see she wasn’t going to take any bullshit from me.  Nonetheless…

            “Deathstroke took our lunch money.” It’s an easy joke. Designed to distract her. “We decided to get it back.” But it doesn’t work.

            “That’s not what I asked.” She’s staring down at us. As if she’s our older sister and we just broke a window, and she’s getting ready to tell dad. “Now what happened? Why didn’t you tell us you were going after Doctor Light?”

            “Uh, Canary…,” It’s Wally. This is bad. “It was my idea. Caitlin had a run-in with Light a few years back, so we thought… well if this was Light taking revenge, we just wanted to give her the chance to bring him in herself.”

            That’s not what I expected him to say. I think Sara can tell he’s lying, but if she can she doesn’t say anything about it. She doesn’t argue. She understands what it’s like, when Laurel died, she went after Damien Darhk. Hard.

            “I understand,” She said, “But you know it couldn’t have been Doctor Light though.” She explains what Curtis found. And that throws us for a whole ‘nother loop. If he didn’t die due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning, then who did it? “Oliver and Felicity are going over teleporters right now. Bolt and Warp are both at large, but we haven’t heard from either of them in a few days.”

            “Cisco,” Wally takes me aside, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

            “Listen, kid,” I started saying, “I really appreciate--”

            “Stop.” He held up his hand, his eyes narrowed at me. “Save the sweet talk.”

            “But what you just did--”

            “I did out of respect for Barry. Not you.” Damn it. “Right before Deathstroke attacked, Ray said that wasn’t the only thing that happened. You never answered my question, what else happened.”

            “You don’t understand--”

            “The truth, Cisco.” He demanded. “Or I swear, on Barry’s grave, I’ll hand you over to Sara and Oliver myself.”

            We exchanged stares. Wally wasn’t bluffing.

            “It was only the first time we did it,” I confessed, “After Oliver’s mom, after Eddie, after Laurel… We had to protect ourselves. But you have to believe, we never crossed that line again. We never messed with somebody’s brain the way we did with Doctor Light.”

            “And Oliver never found out?”

            “No,” Cisco said, “and don’t you damn tell him, because he may have done some terrible things over the last decade, but he will come down hard on us, and you will destroy everything that we have ever built.”

HUB CITY

NOW

            “How did it go?” The woman asked us as we sat around the table. While I still despise Boomerang, I can’t complain about our new clubhouse.

            “Fine.” I told her. This woman had let both me and Boomerang out of prison and now she had us running around, gathering up “super-villains” for some sort of secret society.

            “Still can’t believe you got your ass saved by Doctor Light,” Boomerang said, mouth full of the breakfast burrito he was eating.

            “What happened, Deathstroke?” She asked me.

            “Light was claiming a couple of heroes were after him,” I told her, “He was right. I almost had them, but then the ice girl snuck up on me. Suddenly Doctor Light nearly exploded, blinding us all.” Her green eyes bored into my head, it might have intimidated Boomerang, but not me. “Now he’s claiming that they messed with his head. Took memories away and changed his personality, making him more docile.”

            “Do you believe him?” Cutler asked me.

            “It doesn’t matter what I believe,” I told him.

            “What?” Boomerang spit out half of the burrito onto the table, “Why the bloody hell does it not matter?”

            “No,” the woman said, “He’s right. Whether it’s true or not ultimately doesn’t matter. We can sell this. We need Doctor Light. First of all, if what you’re saying about his powers is true, he’ll be a great asset. But we can use him to drive recruitment into overdrive. Show these lowlifes what the so-called heroes are going to do to them.”

            “Exactly,” I added, “We need an army, and nothing works better to build an army than propaganda.”

            “Exactly my point,” she nodded, smiling at me. “Let’s get to work.”

NOW

S.T.A.R. LABS

CENTRAL CITY

            “So we have nothing?” Caitlin asked the room. Cisco, Felicity, Wally and I were in the main room of S.T.A.R. Labs. “I just don’t get it, if it wasn’t Doctor Light who was it?”

            “You sure you didn’t brain scramble anybody else?” Wally asked under his breath. Cisco and I heard it, he exchanged a glance with Felicity. My relationship with this group had always been particularly awkward. And that was certainly the case now. Felicity was friends with Cisco and Caitlin, and while I was amicable with them, we had never been close. Then there was my romantic relationship with Felicity had ended and while it had been on good terms, it was still awkward. I had gravitated towards Barry, but he’s gone now.

            “What do you think, Ray?” Cisco asked me. “What’s your angle on this?”

            “At the risk of stating the obvious,” I said, “Somebody clearly wanted to make this look like it was a fire or light based villain. Almost as if they were pointing us towards Doctor Light. But that they didn’t want us to know that was what they were doing.”

            The room went dead silent. We had all thought it, but the next logical step was devastating. I took a glance at Wally, it quickly became clear that Cisco didn’t tell him the full truth. And I don’t know that I can bare to even say it out loud.

            “So it was one of you.” Wally said.

            “We don’t know that,” I replied quickly, “And the theory is just that, all the evidence is circumstantial. It could be nothing.”

            “No, Wally’s—” Felicity began but the ring of my phone cut her off.

            I pulled it out of my pocket and answered it.

            “Hello?” I said.

            “PLEASE! PLEASE, DON’T!” It was Sydney’s voice. My brother was in trouble. I dropped the phone and pulled on my helmet. “RAY! RAY, PLEASE HELP M-!”

            I dove down into the phone and shrunk straight in. A few days earlier he had told me that theoretically, while wearing the Atom suit, I could shrink through a phone line to travel to the other side of the line. Now seemed as good a time as any to test the theory.

            To ride the phone line I had to be barely bigger than a proton. Coming out, I go to 1/12, maybe it’s the adrenaline, but it feels like I’ve done this a thousand times. If I went any smaller the proportions would be off. Visuals are near impossible at that size. If I weren’t in such a rush I would stop to focus on the implications of this. But just days ago, somebody killed Caitlin Snow’s fiancée, and now they’ve gone after my brother.

            IT WORKED!

            I leapt out of the phone to see my brother hanging from the door. At this height, the three feet distance between myself and the rope seems like miles. I pounce towards the rope and shrink as fast as I can. The physics takes care of the rest.

            “SYDNEY!” My father is a religious man. “I got you bro. Can you hear me? Sydney, can you hear me?” For me, as a scientist, it never made any sense. I pound my palms into his lungs. Trying desperately to restart the flow of air. “Don’t go.” I whisper. “Don’t go.” I think I understand why people pray now. Why my father is a religious man. It’s for desperate moments like this. I remember when Anna died, I felt the same way, but this is worse. This time I actually had a chance. I put my head down on his chest.

            “I suppose I should have expected stuff like this when I became the brother of a super-hero,” he whispered to me. Thank god.

FOUR HOURS LATER

HOME OF RAY PALMER

IVY TOWN

            “Anything?” I asked Curtis.

            “Almost…,” Curtis said as he initiates the program check on Ray’s security system

After we found out that Diggle’s brother was an agent of H.I.V.E., Felicity, Curtis we set up a comprehensive security system for the friends and family of any member of our little club who requested it. Even the members of the Legends got one. A mixture of cutting edge S.T.A.R. Labs tech, future tech from Rip Hunter and even the scary stuff that Oliver had Felicity make. By the time we were done, the system was foolproof. But it’s just been beaten for the second time in three days.

The scan came back, and there were no recorded alarms.

“So we’re out of luck?” I ask him.

“No such thing as luck, Cisco.” He said to me. “As for this, it’s the same as last time. Alarm’s still in place… windows and doors untouched… even the sensors we keep on the A/C vents are still running perfectly. However they got in, they didn’t touch a single wire in the security system to do it.”

“Sara mentioned that there are some teleporters at large,” I tell him, “Do you think it could be one of them.”

“Could be, it all depends on what else we find,” He said and gets back to work.

Last time Oliver and a few other professional police office-type people we know surveyed the scene, but this time we turn to the assassin for expertise.

“He used a bowline knot.” Sara told us, standing tall, holding the remains of the rope.

“A what?” I asked her.

“A bowline knot – to tie the other end of the noose to the door.” Oliver explained. “They call it a bowline knot, though he added a Dutch marine twist.”

“They teach you that on the island?” I asked him, raising my eyebrow.

“It’s a common girl scout knot,” Sara said, like we all expected her to have been a girl scout

“Overwatch?” I said into the comlink.

“Already on it.” Felicity answers, “and by the way, Sara, I didn’t know you were ever a member of the girl scouts. When were you going to tell me that?”

“Felicity, focus.” Sara responded, “And besides, I didn’t know you would want to know about that stuff.”

“We are having a conversation about this later, Sara,” Felicity says. God, they’re worse than Caitlin and Ronnie were back in the day. “Alright, He goes by Slipknot, classy, his real name is Christopher Weiss. He did a stint with the Suicide Squad until they blew his arm off when he tried to escape. He has a fetish for hanging people.”

“Where is he currently?” Sara asked.

“Ooh,” Felicity said, “He is currently being held by A.R.G.U.S. in Star City.”

“Get Diggle and Lyla talking to him now,” Sara ordered. Since Barry died, Oliver and Sara have kind of both taken over co-leading the group of heroes. Ray told me that she’s really come into her own over the last couple of months, that she’s found herself. But that voice wasn’t just her leader voice, there was something else. At first, I thought it was anger or just annoyance, but then I realize it’s something else. Fear. The killer has been systematically targeting our families and friends. And League of Assassins training is useless against grief. Again.

NOW

A.R.G.U.S. HEADQUARTERS

STAR CITY

            “Hey, babe,” I kissed Lyla on the cheek. Rene stood behind me, very uncomfortable. “Thanks for letting us in.”

            “Of course,” she replied, “Anything to help find Julian’s killer. But I have to tell you. Nobody’s seen him in three months.” Despite her job as Director of A.R.G.U.S., I trust her implicitly. Especially on something like this. After Julian’s murder, we were all scared, but we thought it was a one and done thing. Now there two. I remember something that my CO, Ted Gaynor, told me when right before our first battle, “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action.” Even though Ted went bad, those words have rang true my entire life, especially in my time with Oliver.

            “Overwatch said that this guy used to be a member of the Suicide Squad,” Rene said. Despite my close relationship with him, he still doesn’t trust Lyla. Something about not trusting the Government. I have to admit, in his position, I don’t exactly blame him, especially since Amanda Waller was the previous Director. “Is that true?”

            “Yeah,” Lyla admitted, sighing. “The program was shut down when I took over as director, but Weiss was already out of the program by then. He didn’t go on any of the missions you did though, Johnny. He tried to escape during a mission and Deadshot shot his right arm off.”

            “Damn,” Rene murmured.

            “Yeah,” Lyla sighed again. I can tell that reliving these memories is painful for her. “It was one of the many reasons I shut it down. Waller had a lot of programs that I wasn’t actually a fan of.”

            “Let’s talk to him,” I said, trying to change the subject.

            “Of course.” Lyla said, “Agent Bordeaux, could you show Mr. Diggle and Mr. Ramirez to the prisoner?”

            “Yes, Ma’am,” She replied. Agent Bordeaux led us down to the brig and straight for Christopher Weiss. She then left us there to talk.

            In prison, even a secret federal one like this, it’s not uncommon for an inmate to find religion. Some become devout Christians. Others turn to Islam. What they’re really trying to find is redemption. But what Slipknot found is much worse. He found Kobra.

            “A guessssst.” He slurs, “How sssssssweet.”

            “Spare us the fake lisp, please,” Rene said. “You have it ready, Spartan?”

            “Yep,” I told him. I pulled out a syringe full of a more potent truth serum that Julian had been working on before he was killed. I stabbed into his good arm, I may have been taking a little too much pleasure from this, but that’s a problem for later. “Now tell us what you know about the attacks on Julian Albert and Sydney Palmer?”

TWO HOURS LATER

S.T.A.R. LABS

CENTRAL CITY

            “What do you mean he didn’t know anything?” Sara asked. Furious. It was clear she wasn’t angry at us. She just felt helpless. We all did.

            “They questioned him for almost an hour, Sara. Believe me, he wasn’t holding back,” I told her. Sara was on the monitor screen, while Wally, Felicity and I were gathered in the main lab, still trying to make sense of the murders. “And Diggle said that at the end there, he really wished he would’ve. It seems the Julian’s serum really works, that at least is a win.”

            “Where does that leave us, Cisco?” Sara asked.

            “Overwatch?” I turned to Felicity.

            “The first murder looked it was Doctor Light,” she said, “the second like Slipknot. The only thing those two have in common is that they were both members of the Suicide Squad.”

            “Light was a member of the Suicide Squad?” Wally asked.

            “Yeah,” Felicity said, “Waller left us a real mess when she died. The problem is, this lead narrows it down to just about half the lunatics out there.”

            “I don’t know,” I said, sitting down, “Doesn’t this seem a little too easy?”

            “It’s a lead, Cisco.” Sara said.

            “It’s a waste of my time,” I stood up facing Sara’s face in the monitor, “I can feel it in my gut.”

            “It’s still a lead,” Sara responded, “Which means we need to check it out.”

            “Well, no offense, but what we need to do is find out who killed my friend!” I yelled, “Julian may have had a public identity, but Sydney didn’t, and almost nobody knows about Ray being alive, let alone being a super-hero. And it doesn’t take a genius to spot the pattern.”

            “Don’t take that tone with me,” Sara said, I can see the Oliver in her, “We’re trying our best.”

            “Our best,” I screamed. “We’re hunting and pecking like amateurs. You saw it at the funeral, Sara. People are starting to panic.”

“Cisco,” Felicity said, giving me a warning. I didn’t heed it.

“Maybe if you and Oliver actually cared about Julian this would be wrapped up by now!” I shouted.

“CISCO!” Felicity shouted. But I didn’t pay her any attention.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Sara said softly, but the venom was clear. She didn’t take her eyes off of me. “I have lost too much for you to question my commitment.”

NOW

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            My name is Oliver Queen. People know me as the billionaire playboy who lost everything. Or the former mayor of Star City who stepped down. But I also go out at night and hunt criminals. The world changed when Barry Allen ran through the streets. And then it changed again when he stopped. He was the leader of us, he brought us together, he was a beacon of hope. But it was more than that. He was one of the best friends I had ever had. But I’m not allowed time to grieve for him. They’re already looking to me to be their leader. I’ve been keeping my distance from this case, because I can’t deal with the expectations right now. After everything that went down with Prometheus, with my son, I needed time off. But that wasn’t in the cards for me.

People think it’s an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It’s never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I’m doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn’t that day. And tomorrow won’t be either.

“Sara called,” I didn’t hear Dig enter. “About the case. She said they’re looking into the former members of the Suicide Squad.”

“Who benefits?” I asked under my breath.

“I’m sorry,” Diggle asked.

“The Suicide Squad didn’t do this.” I said. I turned to face him. “The Squad doesn’t benefit from this. There’s no gain. It’s the first rule of solving a crime. If you want to find out who did it, you need to find out who benefits. Who benefits? There’s somebody behind the scenes here, who seems to be pushing us in all directions. I just need to find out who it is. Who benefits?”

NOW

CENTRAL CITY PICTURE NEWS OFFICE

CENTRAL CITY

            My name is Iris West. It’s my first day back to work since Barry… passed. It’s been hard, but my dad, Wally, Caitlin, Cisco, they were all there for me. They suffered the same loss, but it was hard, they didn’t quite understand. Only Caitlin understood, but only slightly. This was the second time. The second time one of my fiancées gave his life for the greater good. It’s almost as if I’m doomed. But then Julian died, and now Ray’s brother was attacked. I decided I had to come back. Everybody’s scared. I just spent the last five months knowing that I was marked for death, but somehow this is scarier. I don’t know that I can explain it, but it just is.

            When I get back to my desk, I see a pile of letters on it, and there’s one on the top. It has no return address. I reach out towards it. I pick it up carefully. It’s very thin, no explosives or anything. I open it up.

            “I know about your brother” it said. There was a lighting bolt through the O. Iris froze.

            Who benefits?

NEXT: THE SECRET SOCIETY STRIKES!

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 4: Family

THE NEXT DAY

STAR CITY

            Last week, Julian Albert, a member of Team Flash, was murdered. Two days ago, Sydney Palmer, the Atom’s brother, was attacked. Yesterday, somebody sent Iris West a painfully clear message that they know Wally West’s secret identity. And potentially all of ours. That was when all hell broke loose.

My name is Cisco Ramon, and I’m left picking the pieces of our team, because Sara Lance and Oliver Queen refuse to do it themselves. They’re supposed to be the leaders, to bring us together, but Oliver has been nowhere to be seen since this whole mess started, and Sara refuses to do what’s necessary. Luckily, I still have people I can count on.

            “You sure this is it?” I asked Felicity over the communicator. I was standing outside the door of a small apartment rented under the name of Jack Black.

            “Come on, Vibe,” She scolded, “Jack Black? It’s clearly a reference to Blackjack, the card game. Unless of course Jack Black really is living in a grimy apartment in the middle of Star City, which would be very awkward for you.”

            “Lucky me,” I said. I channeled my vibrations through the door as it broke down. Standing facing me, was Double Down, Stardust, a man who felt no pain, and Scimitar, a deadly assassin we thought was dead.

            “Bulls-eye.” Double Down said, holding two cards ready, ready to kill me.

            The building began to shake behind me. Double Down didn’t move, but Stardust and Scimitar start to understand what’s going on. The wall behind me shatters as Flash, Spartan, and Black Canary crash through into the apartment, weapons ready.

            Canary goes straight for Stardust. Screaming at full volume, making his ears bleed from the inside out. I haven’t worked with her before, but I can tell she’s been a great addition to Green Arrow’s team. I may not be thrilled with him, but he certainly knows how to recruit. Wally knocks Double Down to the ground before he could launch a card at anyone, while Diggle pins Scimitar to the wall with knives before his sword is drawn.

            “Bulls-eye.” I said.

            Felicity fills us in on what the rest of our gang is doing. She says that Sara and the Legends tracked down Bolt, but he didn’t know anything. Same thing happened with Mister Terrific, Wild Dog and Ragman. They found Shadow Thief, but he claimed not to know anything, and Wild Dog hits really hard apparently. Supergirl and Martian Manhunter found Killer Moth, but that idiot didn’t know anything. Except for way too much about moths, apparently. We shuttle them off to various prisons around the country. We were getting nowhere.

NOW

ON THE WAY TO BLACKGATE PENITENTIARY

            “There were three of us!” Double Down said, “We should have had them.”

            “They’re getting more organized.” Stardust said. The three of them were being escorted in the back of a truck, under heavily armed guards.

            “Sounds like you boys have had some bad luck,” I said under the A.R.G.U.S. helmet.

            “What do you care?” Stardust asked.

            “Well,” I said, smiling, “I’m about to be your new best friend.” I took the helmet off to reveal the eyepatch. Scimitar recognized me immediately. “Welcome to the Secret Society.”

LATER

IVY TOWN

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask him. Despite the rocky relationship Sydney and I have had over the years. He’s still my brother, and I care about him. Especially since over the last few weeks we’ve gotten close together. We’ve been working and I should have realized that would make him a target.

            “I’m fine Ray.” He said, sitting down on the couch. “You drove me from the hospital, talked to the doctors, even threw away good money on some ridiculously over-priced Bubble Tea.”

            “It used to be your favorite,” I explained, putting my hand on his shoulder, searching his eyes to make sure he really was okay.

            “It still is,” he said, “But that doesn’t mean you should be sitting here changing bedpans.”

            “I have to change your bedpans?” I asked, smiling. This was the most genuinely good moment, he and I had had in years, and it took Julian dying and Sydney getting attacked for it to happen. I felt guilty.

            “Funny,” He quipped, “But I’m serious, they need your help. Especially now.” He lifts his hand to scratch his neck. Then he catches himself quickly. That’s the problem with scientists. We never want help. Even when we need it.

            “Listen, Sydney… Syd,” I said, but he cut me off.

            “Please don’t get all mushy on me. I don’t like mushy.” He smiled a sad smile. It brought back this memory. Syndey had always been a bit of a daredevil, I always thought he was just being stupid. But he loved it all the same, and I loved watching him, even if I didn’t want to admit it. The one I will always remember happened when I was seven, and he was nine. He was going to skateboard down an abandoned hill. I kept telling him how stupid it was, how he was going to break his leg and maybe even his arm. He said it would be fine. But sure enough he broke his leg and his arm. The scar on his arm is still there. I can see it right now.

            “I’m not,” I said, “I just… with everything that’s going on… I’m just glad you’re okay.”

            “That counts as mushy.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

            “Fine.” I mirror his smile. “I guess I’m mushy then. Just give me a hug.” We held each other for a whole minute. “You were right, though, I do need to go.”

NOW

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            I stood over the table. I had pictures of everybody involved in the case. Trying to make connections. But nothing came. I had this nagging suspicion that there was something right in front of me. Something I was supposed to know, but just didn’t. Like it had been hidden from me. I couldn’t place what it was though. Or where it was coming from.

            I feel back down into the chair. I rubbed the lack of sleep from my eyes. I hadn’t slept since it began. If I’m being honest with myself I haven’t slept Prometheus first showed up. Between him, this new Dark Archer and whoever is attacking our family members, I just haven’t wanted to sleep. Nobody knows, everybody thinks I’m getting better. But I can’t. I don’t know that I will ever be able to. I tell myself that I can stop, but I know that I can’t. Maybe they’re right about me. Maybe I am just obsessed.

            There’s a burst of energy. I felt it. I looked up. It looks like a whole the universe, what it looks like when somebody breaks through the multiversal barrier. Then I see him. Barry. Is Barry alive?

            “OLIVER!” he shouts at me. He seems just out of focus. “YOU HAVE TO WARN THEM! YOU HAVE TO WARN HER! HE’S LYING TO EVERYBODY! YOU CAN’T TRUST HIM! YOU CAN’T TRUST--- OH KNOW! HE’S COMING!”

            I see a hand reach out and grab him from behind and yanks him back. And he’s gone. The energy leaves.

            “Barry.” I said. What was he trying to tell me? Who can’t I trust? And who is ‘her’ I have to warn?

NEXT: THE SHOCKING TRUTH!*

*Unless you've read Identity Crisis... then you can probably guess what happened

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 5: Brothers

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

            “How is she?” I asked Felicity.

            “She’s not super worried,” she answered earnestly, “which honestly scares me more than her actually being worried.”

            “She’s been through a lot, especially recently.” I replied, “The two people she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life both sacrificed themselves, not just for her, but for the entire world. And then her mom. It’s a lot to handle.”

            “Yeah, I’m just worried she’s losing her will to live, Cisco.” Felicity said, “I don’t think she sleeps, but she’s in bed all day, she barely ever eats.”

            “Do you want me to go talk to her?” I asked.

            “Joe and Cecile are talking to her right now,” she answered, “And Wally wants to talk to you about something. He wouldn’t say, but it didn’t sound like a happy thing.”

            I swore under my breath.

            “Are you going to tell him the truth?” she asked, “What we really did?”

            “I don’t know.” I began to walk away, “Make sure she’s okay.”

            “Oh, I almost forgot,” she said, stopping me in my tracks, “Sara and Oliver want you to keep them in the loop.”

            “Of course they do.” I muttered. I knew Felicity liked them, and I liked Felicity, but sometimes, especially now, I couldn’t stand them. They didn’t have anything invested in this case, and they were barking orders at me… us. Barry was the one that kept us together, it was one of his unofficial jobs as the Flash, one that we didn’t let Wally inherit, at least not yet. We expected that to fall to Oliver, but he’s been so self-absorbed lately that we can barely get a hold of him. Then Sara waltzes back into this time period and just sort of takes over for no real reason. Maybe it’s the respect they demand just by being in the room. But then again, I’ve always been the guy who didn’t love the guy that everybody was in love with. Damn you, Dante. Why did you have to die?

LATER

CENTRAL CITY

            “Overwatch said you wanted to talk,” I said to Wally. He was standing in full costume, on the ledge of Iris’ apartment building roof. I walked over to him and saw him looking down at nothing in particular. It was a cloudless night, a night where, if you were in the right mood, you could get lost in the stars. Neither of us were in the right mood.

            “You’re being too hard on Green Arrow,” Wally said, not looking up.

            “Did she tell you to tell me that?” I asked, rolling my eyes. Wally didn’t answer. Damn, he’s an even worse liar than his uncle. “What’re you really here for, Wally?”

            “When we had that fight with Doctor Light and Deathstroke… and all Light’s memories flooded back… I could see what he was seeing, like a picture in my brain. I think it was because he was subconsciously projecting it, and it was happening so fast, only me with my speed could see it,” he looked up at me finally, “Anyway, when you first told me that story about how you guys voted to mindwipe Doctor Light that day,” I knew what was coming, I sighed getting ready for it, “You said there were four of you.”

            “So?” I deflected it. I knew I was only putting off the inevitable.

            “So when Light went all supernova, that image he sent… well,” Wally paused, hoping I would confirm it, but he realized I was going to make him say it, “Oliver was there. With Green Arrow that makes five.” He stared at me for a second. I could to tell he was praying to every god he could name that I would tell him it wasn’t true. “How come you didn’t mention Green Arrow the first time?”

            I didn’t say anything for a moment. I looked away and then I opened my mouth.

            “Go home, Wally.” I told him, “Go home, kiss Jessie good night and in the morning, forget this ever happened.”

            “Oliver was there, wasn’t he?” I didn’t respond. “What happened, Cisco?” He asked, staring straight into my eyes. “What aren’t you telling me.” I still didn’t respond. “Fine. I’ll go ask Oliver.” He began to walk away.

            “You have to understand…,” I trailed off.

            “I don’t have to understand a damn thing,” He demanded, “Now tell what the hell happened?”

            “Don’t be flip, Wally,” I told him, “This wasn’t some schoolyard fight. When Doctor Light attacked Caitlin, we may’ve voted to wipe his mind… but that wasn’t the only vote we took that night.”

            “No,” realization donned on Wally. He had known it, but I had just confirmed his worst fears. “You took Oliver’s memories?”

            “Wally before you--,”

            “YOU TOOK OLIVER’S MEMORIES!” He shouted at me.

            “We had to,” I said quietly.

            “Had to?” He was exasperated, “HAD TO?”

            “You don’t understand.” I said.

            “I’m the fastest man alive,” He said, “You’ve got all the time in the world to explain this to me.”

            “Oliver had to go back to Star City,” I explained, “he helped take down Light and then left. Roy and Thea needed something or something. I’m not entirely clear what happened. But when it was over. He came back.” I recalled the rage in his eyes. “It was all over at that moment. Felicity was scared, even she had never seen him like that. It was a tough night for all of us. He came straight at us, we panicked. But Barry made a split second decision and knocked him out. Even Felicity and Ray agreed that if he knew, he would end us all. And right there, we took our second vote of the night. But this time, it was unanimous. The alternative would have meant the destruction of everything we had built. And although he doesn’t want to believe it, somethings are bigger that Oliver Queen.”

            “Y-you… how could you do that?” Wally shouted at me. His arms out, he had the same rage and disbelief that Oliver did that night, but I could tell it wasn’t going to attack me.

            “Trust me, Wally,” I tried to calm him down all the same, “we didn’t come to the decision easily.”

            “THIS IS GREEN ARROW WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!” Wally shrieked, “YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO GREEN ARROW!”

            “THE MAN IS A MURDERER!” I yelled at him. “Or am I the only one who hasn’t conveniently forgotten that?” Wally stayed silent for a second.

            “Maybe,” he said, “but he wouldn’t tamper with somebody’s mind.”

            “You believe what you want to believe,” I said, turning away from him.

            “You’re telling me I’m wrong?” he asked, speeding in front of me.

            “You haven’t learned anything yet,” I said, “Think about your own life, Wally. Everything you’d do to keep your secrets safe. You don’t just wear the mask to protect yourself. It’s for your sister, your girlfriend, your dad, and maybe one day, your children.” I glared up at him. “There are animals out there. And when it comes to family, we can’t always be there to defend them. But the mask will.”

            “So that’s it?” Wally asked, “Oliver still has no idea?”

            “Believe me,” I said, “As much he won’t admit it, the man’s a detective, he always has an idea.”

NOW

HUB CITY

            Most people would call me a super-villain, but I’m not like the others. I don’t have some weird power or a leather fetish. No advanced military training. I’m just a man who’s good with computers. Damn good. My name is Noah Kuttler, but they call me the Calculator. Recently, I was approached by two mercenaries, Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang. They gave me an offer. Help them put together a team of super-villains and become rich beyond belief in the process. I didn’t ask what the alternative was. I didn’t have to. The main idea behind it was ‘the super-heroes are organized, why aren’t we?’ The more digging I did, the clearer it became that superhero community was not as organized as we believed.

            “Deathstroke,” I said into my communicator, “This is Calculator.” While Deathstroke was meeting with our mysterious benefactor, (she preferred to meet without Boomerang after the amount of times he hit on her), I was stuck behind my desk, doing surveillance on Central City. It usually took me days to find these people, but tonight it had only taken a few minutes. I had gotten lucky.

            “What is it?” He asked in that usual gruff voice.

            “About Light’s story,” I told him, “I did some digging. It’s completely true.”

            “Good,” He said, “That will make it easier to sell.”

            “That’s not all,” I told him, “There’s more, and you’re going to love it.”

NOW

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            My name is Kara Danvers. Most people know me as Supergirl. I’m not from around here. At all. I’m from the planet Krypton, in a different universe. A little over a year ago, a man by the name of Barry Allen accidently crashed into my universe. We quickly became friends, and began helping each other. He introduced me to his friends on his earth, and I helped him repel an alien invasion. But then he died, and I wasn’t there to help him. One of his friends is Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. Barry said that he’s the original super-hero on this earth, but he doesn’t really act like it. Barry and I both tried to be an example to people, to give them a light to guide them, but Oliver goes the other direction. He embraces a darkness that is meant to scare, it’s something I’ve never quite understood. But at times like this, I can at least imagine why he does it.

            “Mon-El,” I asked my boyfriend, “Can you wait outside. I want to talk to Oliver alone.”

            “Are you sure?” he asked, “I don’t want to leave you alone with that wierdo.”

            “We don’t understand what you see in him.” Winn’s words come back to haunt me. Mon-El had started to become more possessive over the last few weeks. But this wasn’t something I wanted to deal with right now. I needed some advice from Oliver.

            “It’s fine,” I tried to laugh it off, “I just need some advice.” I walked into the foundry before he had time to give me an answer.

            “I don’t need help, Dig,” Oliver said, not looking up from the monitor.

            “It’s not Diggle, Oliver,” I said. I may one of the most powerful people in existence but even I get scared of Oliver’s voice.

            “What do you want, Kara?” There was no malice in his voice. He looked up at me, and leaned my back against one of his tables.

            “I need some advice,” I told him.

            “I’m not sure I’m the best person to be giving you advice,” he chuckled.

            “Maybe so, but,” I trailed off.

            “You would ask Barry,” Oliver finished.

            “Yeah,” I sighed.

            “What can I help you with?” He asked, turning his chair to face me.

            “I have a friend,” I began, “She’s the sister of my cousin’s arch-enemy. Everyone thought she was evil. I met her, and I thought she wasn’t. Everybody told me I was wrong. But I stood by her, even when everything looked like she was evil. And it turned out she wasn’t. We became really good friends, best friends even. And then it all changed, there was irrefutable evidence, my sister saw her committing crimes. We arrested her, but she still maintains her innocence. And what’s more, I never told her I was Supergirl, but when I spoke with her in her cell, she told me she knew all along. We spent hours together, just the two of us, and if she was really evil, why didn’t she kill me right there? During any of those times? But it’s not just that. I can’t help but believe her.”

            “She’s your blind spot.” Oliver said after a few moments.

            “I’m sorry?”

            “We all try to be impartial, but all of us have at least one or two blind spots,” he explains, “People that you would follow into hell. People that you’re going to believe no matter what.”

            “You think she’s guilty?”

            “I don’t know,” Oliver admitted, “I generally air on the side of people are evil, but there is certainly a decent amount of reasonable doubt. I’d offer to help you but I have my hands full with a bunch of different things. I’d recommend talking to Quentin Lance or Joe West. You need fresh eyes on this.”

            “Thank you,” I refrained from hugging him. “I understand why Barry trusted you. You remind me of my sister. I’d do anything for her.”

            “Yeah,” Oliver said, clearly deep in thought, “I’d do anything for my sister, too.”

            “OLIVER!” Curtis ran in at that precise moment, “I need to you double check something.” He handed Oliver a piece of paper, it appeared to be a scan of something. “What does that look to you?”

            “It looks like foot prints.” Oliver said, he looked at Curtis, “What is this?”

            “It’s a scan of Julian’s brain.” Curtis said. “I think Ray killed him.”

            “No,” Oliver said standing up, “Ray didn’t do this, but I know who did. Suit up. Call Sara and Wally. We’re going to Ivy Town.”

NOW

IVY TOWN

            I’m glad we patched things up, Syndey,” Ray said. They were sitting on the couch in Ray’s apartment, eating pizza and watching re-runs of old Looney Tunes.

            “Me too,” Sydney said, “I’d do anything for my brother.”

NEXT: THE KILLER REVEALED!

Chapter Text

Countdown

Identity Crisis Part 6: The Hero’s Life

NOW

CENTRAL CITY

“Wait, Oliver! Slow down!” Felicity said into the phone. She and I were standing outside of Iris’ apartment. “You think who killed Julian? Are you sure? Curtis found what? I’ll tell Cisco, we’ll be there soon.”

            “What is it?” I asked her. Her face had turned to stone.

“Oliver thinks Ray’s brother killed Julian.” She began walking down the hall, “I need you to call Wally. We’re going to trap him at Ray’s apartment in Ivy Town.”

“Why does he think that?” I asked.

“A few weeks back, Ray mentioned that his brother was helping him with the Atom suit,” Felicity explained, “and Curtis found tiny footprints in Julian’s brain.”

“Let’s go.” As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Oliver was right. Having one person run ahead could be dangerous. We needed to surround him and smoke him out. We couldn’t spook him.

2 HOURS LATER

IVY TOWN

            “I still can’t believe they went after Julian,” Sydney said as he was getting ready for bed. “I just hope Caitlin’s okay.”

            “I spoke to Cisco a few hours ago,” I replied from the bathroom, “He says she’s shaken but okay. BTW, are you sure you’re good?”

            “I’m fine, Ray,” Sydney said, walking into the bathroom to join his brother. “I just Iris is okay after the letter. Did you guys pick anything up off of it?”

            “No we couldn’t,” I replied to him. He had seemed really interested in the case ever since he had gotten attacked, I couldn’t blame him, I wasn’t surprised that he wanted to catch the man who had tried to kill him. Of course I didn’t tell him about Doctor Light, or what we did to Green Arrow, but that was something different. “Curtis is looking it over again, along with Julian’s autopsy. He’ll call us together if he finds any---,” There was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” I said, pulling on a t-shirt.

            I walked over to the door and opened it up, to find Oliver, in full costume, flanked by Cisco and Sara. As I looked longer, I realized that everybody was here. My first thought was whether Oliver had found out what happened. Then I realized that since Cisco was there, that couldn’t be it, there must have been a break in the case. My second was indignation that they hadn’t called me first. But I could tell from Sara’s expression that this was different.

            “Green Arrow,” I said, deciding to go with codenames, “What are you doing here?”

            “Is your brother here, Ray?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of mine.

            “Yeah,” I said, “He’s in the bathroom. What’s going on?”

            Oliver nodded, and three flashes of light zipped passed me and then came back holding my brother, who was starting to put on my Atom suit. Oh no. Oh no. That’s why they didn’t call me.

            “Sydney Palmer,” Joe came out from behind Oliver, holding cuffs, “You’re under arrest for the murder of Julian Albert and conspiracy to murder Iris West.”

            Sara stepped forward as Joe and Wally walked Sydney out of my apartment. She put a hand on my shoulder as I sank down to the couch.

            “I’m sorry, Ray,” she said.

            “He gave me the idea,” I replied after a few seconds.

            “What idea?” Oliver asked.

            “The idea to travel through phone lines.” I answered. “That’s how he did right?”

            “Yeah,” Cisco said. He refused to look at me.

            “How did you figure it out?” I asked Oliver.

            “Curtis found footprints on Julian’s brain,” he explained. He was the only one who was still looking at me. Nate sat down on the couch next to me. “That’s why there was no evidence, it was all microscopic. And the flash of light was when he lit her on fire. Jesse found the flamethrower he used.”

            “I want to talk to him.”

THREE DAYS LATER

A.R.G.U.S. LOCK UP

CENTRAL CITY

            “Why did you do it?” I sat opposite Sydney in an interrogation room. Diggle had pulled some strings so I could have this conversation. The next day he was being transferred to a mental institution. A.R.G.U.S. doctors had deemed him mentally unfit to stand trial, and he knew too much about our lives. The decision was easy for Lyla to make.

            “I didn’t mean to, but I did it for you,” he said. I don’t know what hurt more, the fact that he was telling the truth, or that I immediately knew he was telling the truth.

            “Why would you think this would help?” I implored, trying to get through to him.

            “A couple days after I found your suit, after Barry died,” He explained, “I was walking down the street, and I heard this woman talking on the phone, she was talking about Barry’s death and how hard it must be to love a super-hero. She said that only time they ever saw their families was when somebody died, and I knew she was right,” He broke down in tears, “I wasn’t trying to kill him, just make it look like somebody tried…”

            “And I’d come running back to you,” he nodded, “You’re a murderer.” I got up and walked out of there. I couldn’t face him anymore. I couldn’t face anyone.

            “Dr. Palmer,” Lyla asked as I left the cell, “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah,” I told her after a moment. My phone beeped in my pocket. I took it out and handed it to her, “Director Michaels, can you hold this for me?”

            “But, Dr. Palmer – The Legends – It says they need you,” She said, looking at it.

            “No.” I told her, “They don’t.” I begin to walk away. I don’t look back.

            “Dr. Palmer,” she said after me, “There’s still paperwork. Where are you going?”

            It’s fair question. I don’t give her an answer.

            “Take care of my brother.” I leave the building.

            The only thing I know right now is I need to get out. And get away. By myself. I shrink down, and don’t stop. My brother killed one of my best friends’ fiancée. For me. I’ve never felt so small in my –

LATER THAT DAY

NATIONAL CITY, EARTH-38

            I’m back. This is the third time I’ve been to Earth-1, and it was definitely the scariest time. I may not have known Julian or Sydney, but it was still scary. I don’t get scared easily either. Probably comes from being invulnerable, but seeing people’s loved ones and family get attacked and threatened, it’s something I can’t easily protect against. But it’s done. We solved the case and locked up the murderer. I’m back, and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch musicals with Alex. J’onn and Mon-El went back early, I spent an extra night making sure everybody was okay. I had a conversation Wally, the new Flash. He’s a good guy, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the same relationship with him that I had with Barry.

            The first thing I notice when I step into the DEO is that everybody is scrambling, running to and fro. Something happened. I can already tell.

            “Vazques!” I shout as I see a familiar face, “What’s going on?”

            “Umm, I don’t think I should be the one–,” She said and then I see J’onn.

            “Kara, I’m sorry.” J’onn puts a hand on my shoulder, “We just got confirmation, Winn is dead.”

EPILOGUE 1: THE ROGUES

THE NEXT DAY

CENTRAL CITY

My name is Leonard Snart. Most people would call me a criminal. Captain Cold is what the Flash and news calls me. But lately, my alignment is a bit more… fluid. My friend Mick Rory and I went time travelling with some super-heroes. You know, saving all of reality and stuff. That sort of thing. But we left, and returned to 2017, it was definitely the right decision. As it turns out, the man who asked me to do this, Barry Allen, passed away while we were gone. Shortly after that, this guy Deathstroke, big time bad guy, started gathering a group of super-villains together to take out all of the super-heroes.

Mick and I didn’t like that much. Because of our relationship with the Flash, this would probably end up doing more harm than good for us. So we decided to gather a few like-minded criminals together, a group of Rogues, if you will. My sister, Lisa, jumped at the chance, not that I’m thrilled with her joining us, but at least now, I know where she is. Mark Mardon, also known as the Weather Wizard and somebody named Evan McCullough, who claimed to be marooned on this earth joined us as well.

            “This everyone?” I asked Lisa and Mick.

            “Yeah,” Lisa said, ever trying to please me, it scares me a little bit, it’s not something I want to deal with right now, for better or for worse. “Sorry we couldn’t get anymore. The Trickster seemed interested, but he never called back.”

            “He’s very flakey,” Mick interjected, “He probably forgot we even offered it to him.” He’s not wrong.

            “It’s fine,” I said, and I stand up facing my new team, “Hello everybody. You’ve heard the Flash’s pitch. And you’ve heard Deathstroke’s pitch. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not much of a hero, and I’m not psycho enough to run around murdering everyone. So I’m thinking, we’re not heroes… we’re not villains… We’re Rogues.”

EPILOGUE 2: THE HEROES

A WEEK LATER

S.T.A.R. Labs

CENTRAL CITY

            The next few days aren’t easy. And they’re not supposed to be. But like I said – slowly, eventually – we all go on with our lives. Not because we’re brave. Or noble. Or even because we’re heroes. We do it because that’s life. The only difference today is… for the first time in a long time… we’re reminded that risk… isn’t just to ourselves.

            Wally and I sat down at the table in the middle of S.T.A.R. Labs. I promised Barry before he died that I’d take care of Wally, that I’d train him. I knew at some point that we’d face something like this, but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly. And I knew that at some point I would have to tell him the truth about what we did.

            “Still no word from Ray?” Wally asked after a few minutes of silence.

            “Nate’s been trying three times a day.” I answered, “I don’t think he’s going to get a response.”

            “And Sydney?” Wally asked, pushing his luck.

            “Caitlin actually went to see him. I told her not to,” I admitted, “but she needed closure, and I respect that I guess.” If this were a normal case I’d come up with a code name for Sydney, but I couldn’t bear to do that.

            “I still can’t believe how ruthless he was,” Wally said, “I mean, I know I didn’t know him, but Ray’s just the opposite of that.”

            “Quentin said something to me,” I said after a moment, “If you want a good enemy, choose a friend – they know exactly where to strike.”

            “Kara and I were talking,” He spoke up after a pensive few seconds, “We were thinking, if you’re not too busy, we should do dinner. You know, like Kara, Barry and Oliver used to do. Maybe invite Sara.”

            “You’re still creeped out by us wiping Oliver’s mind aren’t you?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

            “You shouldn’t have–,” I cut him off.

            “Wally, don’t judge–,” It was my turn to be cut off.

            “But you ruined it.” He said. “Don’t you understand? You ruined it.”

            “That’s what I thought too, but look at what happened with the Dominators,” I explained, “It endures, because that’s what it’s designed to do. We will always endure.”

            “Not if you–,” I cut him off again.

            “I’m not debating, Wally. Not tonight.” Maybe I was being too harsh on the kid. It wasn’t too long ago that I had opinions like this, but then the real world tested me, sooner or later the real world would test him too.

EPILOGUE 3: THE VILLAINS

NOW

HUB CITY

            Kuttler was showing me the video of Flash and Vibe talking on a rooftop, as their conversation continued a smile formed on my lips.

            “Are you absolutely positive this is real?” I asked him.

            “Oh, Slade,” he said, “This is one of the realest things you will ever see.”

NEXT: WHAT IS O.M.A.C.?

Chapter Text

Countdown

O.M.A.C. Project Part 2: There is No I in Team

NOW

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

            My name is Alex Danvers. I’ve just been named Deputy Director of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO). The position was essentially created just for me. The DEO is a no longer secret organization created by the United States Government to deal with extra-terrestrial threats. I’m 75% sure I got this position because my sister is one of the most famous aliens in the world. It’s hard sometimes, knowing that you’re always going to be outshined by your sister, but I love her, and she’s always been good to me.

            Despite the promotion, it’s been a tough year for me. I had to face my dad, and find out he had betrayed us and become an agent of Cadmus. I faced my sexuality, and found the woman I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. But then, out of nowhere she broke up with me. She said, and I quote “It’s not you it’s me.” Who the hell uses that phrase outside of sitcoms? I don’t know where she is. I asked her captain, and he said that she quit right after she broke up with me. I went to her apartment and her landlord said she moved. At this point I did the creepy ex-girlfriend thing and stalked her internet presence, I even used Winn for some help. He said he found nothing. Literally nothing. Like she just dropped off the face of the earth. Then I got offered the promotion; I took it as an opportunity to stop thinking about her, to redouble my focus on something else, on my job. To try to focus on my job and not my grief over my break-up or my guilt for forcing Kara into what I saw as an unhealthy relationship.

            Right. That’s the other thing that happened over the last year, Kara got a boyfriend. A Daxamite prince named Mon-El. He had asked her out several times, I told her to give him a chance. I was so wrapped up in my own romantic drama I didn’t see the signs. I only started to see them after Maggie dumped me. And I think it might be too late. I’ve been meaning to talk to her about, but I keep putting it off. And then Cisco Ramón came in and told us he needed help solving a murder. J’onn, Kara and Mon-El left to help him, while Lucy Lane and I held down the fort. J’onn and Mon-El returned earlier today. Neither of them said anything about it, except that Kara would be back later, she just had to wrap something up. J’onn looked shaken, more shaken than I think I’ve ever seen him since the White Martians attacked us. Both he and Mon-El assured me that Kara was fine. Mon-El also assured me that he would kill whoever threatened Kara. I stopped myself from telling him I would have done it first.

            Of course this was what I was thinking about when I was supposed to be charting possible escape routes for remaining Daxamite soldiers. But instead I was just staring at a computer screen thinking ‘woe is me’ or something to that effect.

            “You know,” Major Lucy Lane walked over to me and sat down on my desk, “staring at that screen all day will blow out your eyes.”

            “Sorry,” I said, “just trying to get this algorithm that Winn made to track the remaining Daxamites.”

            “Where is Winn by the way?” Lucy asked, “I heard a rumor that he quit.”

            “Yeah, he told Kara he was quitting about a week ago,” I told her, “Right after James was hit in that explosion.”

            “I feel like we’re coming apart at the seams,” Lucy said after a moment.

            “I know what you mean.” I replied.

            “I’m scared.” Lucy admitted. I looked up at her face, there was a tear flowing down it.

            “James is going to be fine,” I assured her. It was true, the doctors had said that he should be ready to be discharged later today.

            “I know,” she said, “It’s just… these things keep happening and I can’t control them anymore. I mean, I never really could, but ever since Kara started being Supergirl, it seems even more out of my control. I’m gone for like a year, and everything changes, everybody moves on.”

            “I’m sorry,” I wasn’t really sure how to deal with this.

            “It’s not your fault,” she said, “It was out of your control, out of everybody’s control really.”

            We settled into an uncomfortable silence. Lucy and I had never exactly been friends; we had really only ever been friends by proxy. It wasn’t like I didn’t like her, I did and had a great amount of respect for her. But she and I had never really spent much one-on-one time outside of when she had interrogated me about my involvement in J’onn’s cover-up. It’s just that Kara and I are sisters, Kara and James are friends, and James and Lucy are ‘friends.’ So we really only knew each other through other people. But here she was, ‘alpha bitch,’ I believe was the term Kara told me Cat Grant had called her once, breaking down in front of me. I didn’t know how to handle this.

            “Umm, excuse me,” Agent Demos knocked on the door to my office. Thank god, something to change the subject. Lucy straightened her back, as he entered the room. “Deputy Director, you have a package. It’s odd, actually. It’s post-marked from Paris, but the return address is in Bordeaux.”

            Oh no.

            “Here, give it to me,” I ordered, maybe a little too harshly, but I didn’t have the time to worry, if this was what I thought it was.

            Agent Demos left the room and Lucy shot me a quizzical look.

            “What is that?” Lucy asked.

            “I think it’s from Maggie,” I told her, “My ex.”

            “How do you know that?” Lucy asked.

            “We had Bordeaux wine on our first official date,” I explained, “We set it up as a code in case either of us were in trouble but couldn’t explain more, to have a letter or a package have a return address in the Bordeaux region of France.”

            “You know,” Lucy said, “Most people talk about their favorite movies on the first date, not protocols for if one of you is kidnapped.”

            I ignored the comment and ripped open the package. Inside was a broken Guardian helmet and a note. The note read “you don’t control it anymore – m”

            “What does it mean?” She asked. I stared down at it. I didn’t answer. “Alex?”

LATER

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

            I’m back. This is the third time I’ve been to Earth-1, and it was definitely the scariest time. I may not have known Julian or Sydney, but it was still scary. I don’t get scared easily either. Probably comes from being invulnerable, but seeing people’s loved ones and family get attacked and threatened, it’s something I can’t easily protect against. But it’s done. We solved the case and locked up the murderer. I’m back, and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch musicals with Alex. J’onn and Mon-El went back early, I spent an extra night making sure everybody was okay. I had a conversation Wally, the new Flash. He’s a good guy, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the same relationship with him that I had with Barry.

            The first thing I notice when I step into the DEO is that everybody is scrambling, running to and fro. Something happened. I can already tell.

            “Vazques!” I shout as I see a familiar face, “What’s going on?”

            “Umm, I don’t think I should be the one–,” She said and then I see J’onn.

            “Kara, I’m sorry.” J’onn puts a hand on my shoulder, “We just got confirmation, Winn is dead.”

THAT NIGHT

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

            “Brother MK I is a semi-autonomous AI surveillance system, designed to do what the DEO can’t,” Alex said in the DEO briefing room. Everybody but J’onn, Lucy, James, who had just been discharged from the hospital, Mon-El and I had been cleared out. This was sensitive briefing. Alex had gotten a package that led her to believe that Winn had been murdered. Shortly before entering, J’onn had told me that both Mon-El and James didn’t know that Winn was dead yet, and that they wanted to break the news to them slowly. “To watch aliens, all the time.”

            “And did you consider how we’d feel about this?” Mon-El asked. It was a valid question. I was more than a little hurt that Alex had done this without telling me. “What we, your sister and her boyfriend, both aliens, might think of you spying on us?”

            “Mon-El, you weren’t here when Kara was exposed to Red Kryptonite,” Alex said, “This helped track her down and find her before she hurt herself or anyone else.”

            “So I’m the only one who’s scared about how she has an eye in sky watching us?” Mon-El asked.

            “Calm down, Mon-El,” J’onn said. Clearly he had known about this satellite from the beginning.

            “It’s irrelevant now.” Alex said. “I’ve been locked out of the system. I don’t control Brother I anymore.”

            “She loses the ultimate alien spy satellite but everyone calls me irresponsible,” Mon-El said under his breath.

            “I didn’t lose it,” Alex said, “It was stolen. And Kara, why is he even here?”

            “You have news about the search for Winn,” I replied, “Mon-El has a right to know what it is.”

            “Well, you can stop looking,” Alex said taking out the Guardian helmet. I had only heard, but seeing the helmet, I knew it had to be true. “Winn’s dead.”

            “No…,” James had been silent up until now.

            “We already knew that Winn had stolen a Guardian suit and gone investigating,” Alex explained, “I believe he discovered who stole Brother I… and I believe that’s why he was murdered.”

            “DAMN YOU!” James yelled at Alex, “Winn went to you at the beginning! He went to you and you knew what he was getting into and you refused to help him!”

            “James,” I try to hold him back, but he’s already out of my reach. I don’t try too hard, if I’m being honest with myself, I agree with him.

            “I didn’t know…,” Alex started.

            “YOU GOT HIM KILLED!” James swung a fist at her. But J’onn was in front of Alex before his punch could land.

            “That’s enough.” J’onn said, “Blame will be laid later.”

            “Who’re you kidding?” James said as he turned away, beginning to walk out of the room, “No it won’t.”

            “James, come back,” Lucy said, “We’re a team. We need your help if we’re going to catch whoever murdered Winn.”

            “No,” James said, “We’re not a team, or at least not one that I’ve ever been a part of.” And with that he left us behind, just as we had left Winn behind.

NOW

CHECKMATE HEADQUARTERS

SWISS ALPS

            “So who stole Brother I?” J’onn asked Alex. I watched the events unfold from my office in Checkmate Castle. In the year since I took my position at Checkmate, I’ve tapped into the security feeds of every federal agency on the planet, that’s how Brother Eye found me. We had similar goals, so the alliance was natural. I hadn’t counted on Alex figuring out that Brother Eye had broken free, or that she had figured out that Winn was dead.

            “I’m not sure yet,” she answered. Good. That means she hasn’t figured out I’m involved yet. “But somebody sent me these goggles.”

            “Shut it off!” I shouted at Brother Eye. “The goggles… how’d she get the goggles…?” I sat down at my desk, wiping the remnants of blood off of my philtrum. “It had to be someone on the inside. Find out who it is?”

            “Interrogative: Is it not obvious?” Brother Eye’s metallic voice asked.

            “Oh I’m almost positive you’re right,” I answered, “But I need to make sure it’s her before I make the move. This is a game of chess, and currently I’m winning, so I don’t want to take a risk and have it backfire. So let’s give our heroes a distraction. Where is O.M.A.C. 6349?”

            “Location: Moscow, Russia.” Brother Eye answered.

            “Nearest target?”

            “Declarative: Krull, Benjamin A.K.A. Reactron,” Brother Eye stated.

            “Load Elimination Protocol, ‘Reactron’,” I told it.

NOW

MOSCOW

            Benjamin Krull is not what most people would call a “productive member of society.” He’s a supervillain, and not a particularly bright one. But he’s made a name for himself. He’s gone toe to toe with Superman a couple of times, and claims he once beat Supergirl. She came back later and was able to defeat him, but he claims he was going easy on her. He wasn’t.

            Currently he was sitting, relaxing in a Russian strip club. He had been hired to take out a Russian ambassador who was going to blow the whistle on Russia’s deals with the Daxamites. The ambassador had come this club, Krull’s plan was to follow him home and make it look like a break-in gone bad. He was told those were pretty common in Moscow, so he would be off the hook, and for the money he was getting paid, he was willing to do a lot more.

            While he was focusing on his target, he didn’t notice a man walking up behind him. The man’s eyes began to glow red, as his skin faded away replaced with a blue outer shell, and fin sticking out of the top of his head. His eyes melded into one large glowing orb in the middle of his face. Krull finally saw the monstrosity behind him, but it was too late.

            “What the hell?” Krull asked. The blue figure grabbed him by the shoulder and flung him out of the club.

            The figure launched himself toward Reactron.

            “Kill you for that!” Reactron shouted.

            “Countermeasures engaged.” He said in the same metallic voice as Brother Eye. His right arm morphed into a blade. “Elimination mode…,” he sliced through Reactron’s armor. Krull hit the ground, dead, as the killer morphed back into a normal man and walked away.

NEXT: DARK ARCHER - HERO OR VILLAIN?

Chapter Text

Countdown

Under the Hood Part 1: Hostile Takeover

NOW

ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

STAR CITY

            Star City has been through a lot the past five years. It has suffered 4 terrorist attacks, 19 costumed serial killers and a gun-toting vigilante who claims he’s saving the city. All the while small-time organized crime bosses have grown in the city while the police try to protect the city from all the men and women in mask running amok.

            There are rules that they follow, to make sure they stay out of trouble. The first rule was that if anyone saw a mask, they would run the other direction. Fast. They created boarders, making sure that everything was fair, so as to dissuade from inter-organizational disputes. They pooled their money together to invest in cops to have on their pay role. This meant that if any of their men got in trouble, they had a wider berth of people they could count on. These rules had served them well ever since the first vigilante had showed up in what was then called Starling City. They believe these rules made them civilized, that they weren’t like those “freaks” in Central City or the “psychos” running around their home. They see themselves like the cast of The Godfather. They clearly never watched those films to the end, or are just purposely forgetting the facts. I’m here to tell them they’re wrong. I’m here to show them that motives don’t matter. A criminal is a criminal is a criminal.

            They’re meeting tonight because there are rumors of somebody running around in a dark hood shooting criminals with arrows. And not just any criminals, but their criminals. They’re scared. They should be.

            I watched their meeting from the rafters of the warehouse, I had gotten an informant to spit out the location of the meet.

            “They’re just rumors!” One of the bosses, Vito Carlo, a former lieutenant of Frank Bertinelli who stepped up took over the organization. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

            “Rumors or not,” Mini O’Rourke was the descendant of Irish immigrants who went west after they were excommunicated from the Irish mob, she got the name ‘Mini’ for gutting people with incredibly small blades. She may not look it, but she’s probably the most dangerous person in the room, “my boys are scared, and I don’t blame them. We’ve made our fortunes by staying under the radar of the cops and Green Arrow’s goon squad, and now somebody is specifically targeting us?”

            “Pah! Cutting and running, just like the Irish,” Albrecht Krieger shouted. If ever there was a man who deserved an arrow in his head it was this man. An A.R.G.U.S. file says that they believe he has enhanced strength and super-tough skin. They also call him “Captain Nazi” after his beliefs of Aryan purity. He claims he only works with the other bosses because he wants wider influence, but the truth is, he’s an ineffectual leader and needs their support.

            “You disparage and my people again,” Mini threated, “and I’ll put a knife through the swastika on your damn head.” If I’m being honest with myself., I have a great amount of respect for her.

            It was time. I laced an arrow on my bow aimed and fired. The arrow hit Krieger’s swastika square in the center. It pierced his skin and went straight through to his brain. He fell to the ground, dead, before he even realized what had happened.

            The other four bosses looked up at the rafters seeing me. Their guards all pulled out their guns and aimed them at me. Mini pulled out two knives and prepared to throw them up at me.

            “You know,” I said, jumping down, landing in front of their meeting table, a duffel bag slung over my shoulder next to my quiver, “It’s impolite to talk about somebody behind their backs.”

            “You’re real!” one of Carlos’ men sputtered out.

            “Last time I checked yeah,” I said, “Now, I have an offer for you.”

            “What kind of offer?” Mini asked, still ready for a fight.

            “A… partnership of sorts,” I answered, “Well it’s more of an employment opportunity. You go about your business as usual, except you don’t sell to children, then fork over 12% to me, and trust me I will know if you shortchange me.”

            “And what do we get in return?” Carlos asked.

            “A few things,” I said, “One, protection, you know longer have to worry about Quentin Lance or the Green Arrow. I’ll take care of them. Two, unimpeded growth, I’m going to help you expand outside of Star City. Three, you don’t end up in hell like Captain Nazi over there.”

            “Why should we be threatened by you?” Carlos said, “We’ve heard the rumors, but how do we know they’re really true?”

            “Here,” I unzipped the duffel bag and tossed on the table, a few heads rolled out, “Those are the heads of several of your top lieutenants. That took me 2 hours. Imagine what I could do if I really tried.”

NOW

BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY

            “Do you know what I found really annoying?” Malcolm asked with that familiar snark and smugness he always carried. He is being escorted by Agents of A.R.G.U.S. to a secret prison deep in the Louisiana Bayou. Oliver Queen had called in a favor with Director Lyla Michaels to put Merlyn in a hole after what he did with the Legion of Doom. So now he was being lead down a dark concrete hall to the most impenetrable prison in the world. Lyla had pulled a lot of strings and it had taken some time to get this done, but he was finally being put in a hole he couldn’t get out of. “I was called the copycat archer, but in reality, I was running around killing people with a bow and arrow in Star City long before Oliver Queen. And for the record, I was always better at it.”

            “If that’s true then why are you the one in prison?” one of the guards escorting him asked.

            “Touché.” Malcolm answered.

            “We’re here.” The head guard said. They stopped at the end of the hall. This was the high security wing of the prison, meaning that there was only one cell on each floor. “You will get food and water once a week, make sure not to eat it all at once. If you desperately need something, there’s a buzzer in your cell. It will call the surveillance room and a guard will come to see you. After three false alarms the buzzer will be removed. We know who you are, what they called you in the League of Assassins, ‘The Magician.’ But make no mistake, not even the gods could break out of this prison.” Malcolm laughs. “Something I said funny?”

            “Yes, actually,” Malcolm answered, “did you know that I held the title of The Demon’s Head for a brief period?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well, someone, with some knowledge on the subject,” Malcolm continued, “once told me that the different between gods and demons is actually quite subjective.”

            “Are you telling us that you’re a god?” The guard asked.

            “Not necessarily,” Merlyn said, “But just know that there are those out there who still regard me as their god. And they are everywhere.”

            “Well, God, I hope you enjoy your stay at our prison.” The guard shoved Merlyn into the cell. He fell, face-first into the concrete floor of the cell. The cell was a decent size, but there were no amenities of any kind. No bed, no toilet, no windows, nothing.

TWO HOURS LATER

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            “Wild Dog, this is Overwatch. Do you read me?” I said into the mic. I sat behind the monitor in the Foundry. Oliver had finally finished cleaning out the files from Julian’s murder last week. Everything should be going back to normal, or as normal as it ever was for us. But Oliver’s been uncharacteristically silent ever since we returned from Supergirl’s Earth two weeks ago. Dig’s noticed it too. It’s almost as if Oliver knows something is about to go down, but won’t tell any of us, which is just about par for the course with him. Currently Wild Dog is following up on a lead he got from shaking down an informant. The informant told him that the five crime families were meeting in an abandoned warehouse tonight. We got the intel late, but Wild Dog still figured he should check it out. One of Rene’s requests when he joined up was that we focus more on local crime as well as the big crises and terrorist attacks. Oliver was more than happy to oblige.

            “I read you, Overwatch,” Rene replied, “I’m going in.”

            “Sure you don’t need back-up?” I asked, “I can have Canary or Spartan there in a few minutes.”

            “Nah, I’m good.” Rene answered, “’sides, all the metas have been going silent lately, and this is a mob meeting, so I don’t expect any of that anyway.” He’s right. Metahuman attacks have gone down significantly since Julian’s murder. They may be planning something, Curtis suggested that maybe they’re just scared. It was more of a hopeful thing, than a real theory though.

            “Hey, you okay?” I hadn’t noticed Sara walk in. Sara and I hadn’t gotten along great at first, but after I took a bullet for her, things seemed to change. After that, we started to really click. Every time I’m around her, I feel happier, calmer.

            “Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, smiling up at her. “What about you?”

            “I’m good,” she said earnestly, “It’s good to be home honestly.”

            “You back for good or what?” I asked her.

            “I don’t know yet,” Sara asked, smiling that trickster smile that could melt the Ice Age, “Do you want me to?”

            “Seriously, guys! I can hear you making googly-eyes at each other through the comms,” Rene shouted in a whisper. Sara opened her mouth, but Rene started before she could say anything, “and before you ask, no I don’t need back-up.”

            “Glad to see you’re still annoying, Rene,” Sara said after a moment. She couldn’t come up with a better comeback apparently.

            “Alright,” Rene said, moving on, “I’m going silent for a few minutes. I’m going in for real this time.” There were a few moments of silence, then, “Holy shit.”

            “What is it, Wild Dog?” I asked.

            “I think you guys are gonna want to take a look at this.”

30 MINUTES LATER

ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

STAR CITY

            “What do we got, Wild Dog?” I asked as I entered the warehouse in uniform. Sara, Dig, Dinah and Curtis were inspecting the scene, while Felicity ran through the security camera footage from the Foundry.

            “5 severed heads and one full body,” Wild Dog answered, “The body with an arrow through the head. Black.”

            “Damn it,” I knew this was coming. I was hoping it wouldn’t. I was trying not to face it, but I can’t put it off any longer. “Black Canary, does SCPD have identifications on any of the deceased?”

            “Each of them is a lieutenant in one of the five crime families,” Dinah answered, “SCPD intel believes that they’ve been profiting by staying small and remaining under the notice of the city while we run rampant. As for the man in the chair…”

            “Albrecht Krieger, A.K.A. Captain Nazi,” Diggle continued where Canary left off, “A.R.G.U.S. believes he was experimented on by his father as a child. His grandfather was a big time S.S. officer, and he instilled those beliefs on his family. Recently he’s made a name in Star City as a crime boss. He picked up a lot of support from ex-H.I.V.E. officers over the last year. He’s been amassing power while we were dealing with Tobias Church and Prometheus.” I’m silent for a moment, as I look down at Krieger’s body, a black arrow going straight through the swastika on his forehead. I leaned down and took the arrow out. “What are you thinking, O?” I took one last cursory glance at the arrowhead. My worst fears had been confirmed.

            “We have another Dark Archer on our hands. He’s targeting problems that I’ve neglected to deal with,” I answered, “He’s showing us that we failed this city.”

LATER

THEA QUEEN’S APARTMENT

STAR CITY

            At her age, most people in Thea Queen’s position would be partying or studying right now. But her life has consisted of a long series of twists and turns that have jolted in her several different directions. The first turn was the apparent death of her father and brother in the South China Sea when she was twelve. The second was when her mother took a lover in her father’s best friend and CFO. This pushed Thea into the party scene with drugs and alcohol and loud music and bad decisions. Then her brother returned from the dead. Not literally, that would come later. But he returned different. Distant. Always giving vague answers when asked what he had been doing. Judging her for the same decisions that he had made at her age.

            Then it later turned out that her mother had helped to orchestrate the genocide of an entire section of Starling City. Then she discovered that her father wasn’t really her biological father, and was the man who oversaw the genocide her mother had helped. But during this time, she had a rock, a rock named Roy Harper. He met her when he stole her purse. They quickly became friends, and then more. Roy got powers, some kind of insanity inducing steroid called Mirakuru. Oliver helped him. He got better, then Roy sacrificed his life for Oliver, taking the blame for Oliver’s perceived crimes. He faked his death and went on the run. Thea took up Roy’s mantle as Red Arrow for a short time, after Roy left.

            Roy was her rock, and then he left. She didn’t hate him for it, but a small part of her was angry, and always would be. That small part made it all the more complicated that Roy Harper was standing in her doorway, covered in blood, right at this moment.

NEXT: WHO CAN YOU TRUST?

Chapter Text

Countdown

The O.M.A.C. Project Part 3: The M-E in Team

NOW

ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

CHICAGO

            I didn’t tell them the letter included a location. A meeting place. She wanted to see me, and right then, I didn’t know who I can trust, I didn’t know who’s watching. I couldn’t trust them, any of them, not even Kara.

            I walked in and I saw her. It was dark and she’s there in civvies, street clothes, but she’s unmistakable. I’d know her anywhere. She was holding a flashlight. I walked towards her, she drew her gun, then she saw me. We embraced. I had missed her so much, it was amazing.

            “I’m so sorry,” she said.

            “Maggie,” I moaned, letting her go, “Why did you leave?”

            “I had too,” Maggie said, “He threatened me, you, Kara, even Clark.”

            “How do you know about Clark?” I asked, then I realized the other part, “Who is he? Who threatened you?”

            “Max Lord.” Maggie said. That made no sense though.

            “Lord?” I asked, “I don’t understand. The DEO went up against him, sure he’s a little bit dangerous and he may have some evil urges, but he’s not capable of this.”

            “No, you’re wrong,” she took a defiant tone. “That man is a front, a disguise, to take everybody’s eyes off of the real Max Lord. The real Maxwell Lord is a psychotic, sociopathic, genocidal maniac. He’s more dangerous than Lex Luthor.”

            “That, that can’t be right,” I step back, it was all falling into place, “He helped us take down Non and Indigo.”

            “He only did that as a way to leverage himself into becoming the Black King of Checkmate,” Maggie explained.

            “Checkmate’s a myth, it’s not real,” I said, “It’s a horror story people tell to junior intelligence to scare them.”

            “No,” She answered, “It’s very real. He blackmailed me into becoming his knight. He killed Winn. He has the satellite you created. I don’t know what he has planned…,”

            “But it can’t be good,” I finished her sentence. “You need to come back with me. You can help us stop him.”

            “No, I can’t,” Maggie said, “I have to st---”

            There’s a crash and several large blue men with fin-mohawks and giant red eyes broke through the brick walls of the warehouse. Both of us pulled out our guns and began firing, but the bullets did nothing.

            “Target Alpha: Margaret Sawyer – Retrieve,” said one of the robots.

            “What the hell are these things?” I shouted above the destruction caused by the Blue Men group.

            “They’re O.M.A.C.s, something Max has been working with some A.I. program,” Maggie responded as she reloaded her gun.

            “Download. Elimination Protocol: Creator.” Another robot said.

            It was all falling into place. Somehow Max had found Brother I and taken control of it. Now he was using it to create these things.

            I run over to her, draw a grappling gun and pull her to me. I rise up, taking her with me.

            “I think your cover’s been blown,” I said, “Agghh!”

            A laser hits me in the shoulder. I lose my grip on her and she falls into one of the robots’ arms. It shocks her. It rises up into the sky, and disappears. I’ve lost her. Again.

            “Creator.” The robot says, “Your time is up.”

            The robot fires at me, I barely have time to dodge. My brain is going a million miles a second, thoughts coming and leaving my head. But one thought is constant, Maggie. The thing keeps calling me it’s creator, but I didn’t build this machine. Checkmate did. They’re not a myth, but they are a horror story. Max Lord, I should have known he’d return. I should have looked around for him after the Kryptonian Invasion, but I didn’t. I failed, and now Maggie and Winn paid the price. He’s going after Kara, Superman, he’ll probably go after Kara’s friends on that other Earth too.

            But I couldn’t think about that. I drew a switch blade from my belt.

            “Let’s see how tough you are to dismantle.” It sounded cooler in my head. I took a swipe at its neck, I expected oil or cable to come out, but no. Blood. It was bleeding. It wasn’t a machine.

            I was too busy realizing this to see the massive blue fist coming right at my face. It took me out of it for a moment, and when I returned, they were right on top of me. I saw their arm turn into a blade. They’re copying my tactics. They cut my belt, and all therefore all other weapons, off of me. They grabbed me by the throat, cuffed me and tossed me into the river.

            I was falling. I was sinking. It was over. I knew it was. I died for nothing. I didn’t get the chance to tell Kara I was sorry, or to tell Maggie I loved her.

            Then I heard a boom. There was something coming from above. I saw the S shield.

            “Kara,” I mouthed. Then I was lifted up, out of the water. I knew couldn’t be more than a second, but it felt like years.

            I was dropped onto the pavement of the docks. I coughed up some water, and then I looked up and saw him standing over me. It wasn’t Kara.”

            “Alex. We need to talk.”

MEANWHILE

CATCO

NATIONAL CITY

            “Just want to repeat the breaking news again,” the anchor on the television behind me said, “The FBI is reporting that there was a prison riot at Van Kull Penitentiary, and two prisoners escaped, Winslow Schott, A.K.A. the Toyman, and Roger Hayden. It is unclear at this time whether this escape was coordinated or not or whether Hayden and Schott are working together. If you have any information as to their whereabouts, please ---.” I shut off the television. I couldn’t bear to list to another minute of this coverage.

            My best friend is dead, due to the secrets that my ex-girlfriend’s sister kept from everything. I felt helpless. I was friends with Superman and Supergirl, the two most powerful beings on the planet and next to them I was nothing. Mon-El and J’onn had super-powers, Alex was a secret agent, even Winn had useful skills. But not me, I’m just a man with who’s good with a camera who got promoted beyond his skills and tried to be something he wasn’t. I guess deep down, I wanted to be Kara’s partner, I wanted to prove to her that she’s not alone, that we, ordinary citizens, ordinary people, have her back. But no, I guess Mon-El proved that wasn’t true. All it took to be someone was super-powers, you didn’t even have to have the right attitude.

            No.

            Damn Mon-El.

            Damn Alex.

            Damn Kara.

            Damn them all.

            I don’t need them. I can do this without them.

            I stared out at what used to be Kara’s desk, and I realized the one person who could help me with this.

LATER

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

          It’s been three weeks since I was placed in a high-security prison. Three weeks since I was ushered away from freedom without a trial. Three weeks since I was imprisoned for crimes I didn’t commit. I have to keep telling myself that, because all the evidence says I did. But I didn’t. I know I didn’t, but I’m starting to question it.

            I barely sleep at night, and when I do, I have nightmares. Nothing where I am dying or where a villain is trying to kill me. In my nightmares, I’m the villain, and I’m trying to kill my only friend, Kara. Supergirl. The only person who ever saw me for me, and not my last name.

I fell for her. I knew I shouldn’t, I tried not to. But I couldn’t avoid it. I fell in love with my only friend. If I risked that and lost, I wouldn’t have any. I knew almost immediately she was Supergirl. I already knew that Clark was Superman, and when she came into my office with him, there was no mistake to be made. I thought she would hate me, but it was the opposite, I don’t know if she befriended me out of pity or to keep an eye on me, but she did. And I’ll admit at the beginning it felt forced, but over time I grew to see why people cared for her. And realized why I did, and it was too late. I had fallen in love with her.

She never told me who she was, and at first I was a little offended that she didn’t, but then I realized something, it wasn’t because I was a Luthor, or that she didn’t trust me. Or even that “I did it to protect you” bullshit.

It was because of the way I treated her. It was because, with Cat Grant gone, I was the only person in her life that treated her as a person. Alex, James, Winn, they love her, and I know that, but they all treat her as Supergirl. Kara Danvers keeps her grounded, and I’m worried she’s losing that.

Damn, even when I’m being held in a secret prison, by the agency she works for, I’m still worried about her. I’m not even worried about who tried to frame me.

“Lena,” I heard her voice. I stood up and saw her walking towards me.

“Kara,” I looked at her through the glass. Her face was expressionless. It scared me, throughout the almost year that I’ve known Kara, I’ve never seen her not show emotion. “What are you doing here?”

“I… I may,” She broke as soon as I asked her the question. There were tears coming down her face, “I may have been wrong. About you.” I opened my mouth but she continued. “I’m not saying I believe you, but I think there are certainly questions about this that need to be answered. I have doubts. Reasonable doubts.”

“Did you talk to a lawyer?” It was so easy to fall back into the same pattern we had, where she would come to my office, and we would talk for hours.

“No,” she giggled, a smile creeping its way onto her face, “but I did talk to someone who dated a lawyer for many years. You wouldn’t know him.” There was a pause between us. We looked at each other. All I wanted to do was run through the glass and hug her. “Lena… I have a blind-spot. A few actually, but one of them is you. I trust you. Implicitly. I care about you. A lot. I see a lot of myself in you. We both have these incredible legacies to stand up to.” She paused for a second. “I won’t lie to you; I think mine is a little more altruistic than yours. We both want to do good, but we’re stuck in these shadows. And maybe it’s selfish of me to think this way, but everybody knows the story of Clark and Lex being friends, best friends and Lex going evil despite that. And I thought that maybe I could succeed where my cousin failed. That I could stop you from going evil.”

“But Kara,” I said, “You’re not Clark. And I’m not Lex.”

“No,” Kara answered. “I feel like everyone has been pushing us into these archetypal roles since we first met. I’ve spent the last two years trying to be like Superman, and I’ve gotten out of it is a boyfriend and my best friend in jail.”

“You don’t have to be Superman, Kara,” I told her, “you can be better. You are better. I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to your critics, because that’s bullshit. Critics are there for a reason, and they’re not always wrong. Like when you told me your thoughts about the alien detector. You were right. I listened to you and you were right. But you always look for the best in people, you saw past my name and saw who I could become. And if that doesn’t make you a hero, I don’t know what does.”

LATER

VAN KULL PENITENTIARY

NATIONAL CITY

            I’ve been in prison for over a year. I deserve it. I committed the crimes they accused me of. I let my ambition get the better of me. I manipulated and used the people that actually cared about me. I turned into a super-villain. Literally. I fought Supergirl and some guy in a red leotard who ran really fast. I’m serving my time. I probably could have escaped last night during the riot, but I didn’t. I didn’t even try.

            There was a noise outside my cell. Then another. And another. As it started to get closer, I realized what it was. There was a fight. People were fighting outside. Probably a prisoner who didn’t like her meal. I expected it to stop. But it didn’t. I looked out of cell. There’s a man in black armor with a shield is fighting the guards. It was… what was the guy’s name. Guardsman? No, Guardian! Wasn’t he supposed to be a hero? He finished laying out the guards and to my complete surprise he ran over to my cell.

            “Stand back,” he said in a gravelly voice, that I’m pretty sure I recognized. I did as he asked. He raised his shield and plowed it through the bars. “Ms. Smythe, come with me.” He ordered.

            “And why should I do that?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

            “Because I need your help,” He said.

            “Seriously, why me?” I asked.

            “Winn Schott is dead. And I need your help finding his killer.”

MEANWHILE

CHECKMATE HEADQUARTERS

SWITZERLAND

            There was darkness all around me. I could barely open my eyes. It felt like a lawnmower was buzzing through my skull.

            “Damn it! Wake up!” I could hear Renee’s voice miles away from me. Another traitor to the cause.

            “Open.” Then I hear him, and I opened my eyes. I was being held in a cell in Checkmate HQ. My arms strapped to the back wall. “Lights on.” He’s smiling. He’s going to kill me. “Margaret.”

            “My king.” I responded.

            “Your king! Very good!” He laughed that hollow humorless laugh that would make a clown slit their own throat. “I’ve always loved that black sense of humor of yours. I may be your king, but I don’t have your loyalty.” He keeps leaning in closer to me, leering. It wasn’t sexual, but it was about domination. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That I didn’t already know? I offered you peace. Is your life really that cheap?”

            “Cheaper than some.” I told him. “Cheaper than Winn Schott’s.”

            “So it’s guilt then?” He asked. He stands up, taking that self-righteous dictator pose with his arms up. “We’re saving the world, Maggie. You can’t do that without a price.”

            “That was never our purpose!” I shouted at him. “The old kings and queens, they understood that! We’re supposed to the line; we’re supposed to protect---!” He cut me off.

            “There are no kings or queens anymore, Maggie,” Oh god, he’s going to do it, “There’s only me.” He pulls the hanker-chief out of his pocket. He’s going to take something from my mind. “How long were you with her before the O.M.A.C.s arrived?”

            “No, I won’t,” the buzzing got worse in my head. It was impossible to think.

            “Yes, you will.” He leans over me, “Tell me every…. little… thing…,” It’s like claws on a chalkboard. It takes everything I have inside me not to speak. I think of Alex, but I beg my brain not to. It can’t comply, “Start talking. What did you tell her? What does she know? Does he know about the O.M.A.C. virus?”  I shut my eyes, focusing every part of my being on not speaking. “WHAT DID YOU TELL HER!” Nothing, I said nothing. “Damn it.” He stood up, I don’t have time for this.” He begins to walk out of the cell. “Brother Eye, prep Invasion Protocols. We have to assume your creator knows where we are and who we are.”

NEXT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF ROY HARPER!

Chapter Text

Countdown

Under the Hood Part 2: The List

NOW

THEA QUEEN’S APARTMENT

STAR CITY

            “Roy…,” I said, lost for words, “What are you doing here? What happened to you?”

            “I… I need your help,” He said. He was bleeding from too many different places to count. He held his left arm, she figured it was broken. She let him in immediately and he hobbled over to her couch, collapsing on top of it.

            “I’m calling Oliver,” I said, closing the door behind him. He was clearly in need of medical attention. Her brother would know what to do.

            “NO!” he shouted then winced in pain. “I can’t… I can’t let him see me like this.”

            “Is there someone else I can call?” I asked him. I wasn’t very good with medical stuff, and I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of my ex-boyfriend dying on my couch. “Sara’s back. I could call her. Or maybe Diggle?”

            “Yeah, fine, Sara,” he said, “I just can’t get Oliver involved in this. Not yet.”

            “Okay, I’ll call Sara,” I told him, “But I want to know why you don’t want Oliver here.”

LATER

            “Okay,” Sara said, standing up from the couch where she had been covering Roy in bandages, “I think that should do it for now.” She walked over to me, Roy had fallen asleep but she didn’t want to wake him up. “Did he say anything about how he got those injuries? They looked really fresh.”

            “No,” I told her. She looked back at him. She was deep in thought and didn’t like where the line of thinking was going. “What is it?”

            “Have you been watching the news lately?” Sara asked.

            “No,” I admitted, “Not since I quit being Oliver’s chief of staff, and that whole thing. Why?”

            “Because somebody’s been running around in your dad’s old get-up,” She said, “killing criminals with arrows.”

            “You really think it’s Roy?” I said, raising my voice, “No, he wouldn’t do that. And why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”

            “I think they’re all trying to respect your choice to leave the life behind,” Sara said.

            “But this is my dad,” I said, “Or someone trying to be my dad. And I’m telling you, Roy wouldn’t do this.”

            “I hate to break it to you, Speedy,” Sara said, “But there’s a very short list of people out there who can do these kinds of things with a bow, and Roy’s on it.” Thea gave her a hard stare. “Look, I’m sorry, but it’s just true. I don’t want to believe it either. Maybe when he wakes up he can explain it to you, maybe there is a logical explanation for all of this.”

            Maybe there was. Thea couldn’t lie to herself. After Sara brought up the new Dark Archer, she had made the connection as well. But it couldn’t be him. Right?

            “Any way,” Sara said, bringing me out of my thoughts, “I have to go.”

            “Why?” I asked, taken aback.

            “I have a date.” Sara answered firmly.

            “It’s 9:30 at night,” I told her.

            “It’s fine,” Sara said as if it was nothing, “she keeps odd hours.”

LATER THAT NIGHT

MARTIN SOMERS’ APARTMENT

STAR CITY

            “I don’t care what they’re trying to protect!” I heard him shout from inside his penthouse apartment. The Arrow caught Martin Somers smuggling drugs for the Chinese Triad through his port during one of his first cases, but do the money and influence he had, he dodged prison and started building another empire. This time he was doing it legally, but still immorally. He had secured the land deed for a forest that ran through Native American land. There were protestors that had halted construction, and this bad for Somers’ business. Green Arrow failed to take him down. He moved on to ‘bigger and more important things.’ He failed. “I paid for that land, and no god damn Indians or hippies are going to take that away from me! I’ve been screwed before, I won’t be screwed again.”

            He was on the top floor of the apartment building. Even if I hadn’t planted a bug in there, it would be easy to hear his screaming from my perch the roof. I walked over to the edge and planted a zip-line arrow there. I check to make sure it’s anchored into my quiver as I was trained. I jumped down, using the zip-line, I crashed through his window, glass shattering.

            Somers stood facing me, frozen in fear. I heard the phone break as it fell out of his hand. I laced an arrow onto the bow and aim.

            “Martin Somers,” I said to him in the same deep voice Arrow used to use.

            “No, you can’t,” he tried to explain to me, but it wouldn’t work, “I was acquitted, and I haven’t done anything illegal since then, you can’t do this.”

            “You have failed this city.”

THE NEXT MORNING

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            “All I’m saying is that you should at least give her a try,” Curtis said to Rene as they walked down into the Foundry. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

            “I’m just not ready to date, Curtis,” Rene said, “I’ve got my daughter to think about now. I need to be more responsible. ‘Sides you know what it’s like dating when you have to keep your entire life a secret.”

            “Cold, man.” Curtis said as they got to bottom of the stairs, “That’s cold.”

            They rounded the corner and saw the scene that Oliver had been up all night creating. Photos were strewn all over the tables, every single one of the monitors was on, running some sort of program, and it was a difficult task to step anywhere without slipping a piece of scrap paper. Oliver himself was hunched over one of the tables. He seemed to scanning over a photo looking for some minute detail.

            “Yo, Hoss,” Rene shouted, drawing Oliver’s attention, “What is all this?”

            “This,” Oliver stood up, revealing the makings of a beard, due to his lack of shaving hygiene the past few weeks, “Is everyone.”

            “Everyone?” Rene said.

            “Are we getting replaced?” Curtis asked, sincerely worried for his job.

            “No, you don’t have to worry about that,” Oliver said, “This everyone who could be under the hood. Everyone who could possibly be the Dark Archer.”

            Curtis and Rene walked over to the tables that Oliver had been working at all night.

            “Isn’t Adrian Chase dead?” Rene asked. “Didn’t they find his body?”

            Oliver shoots him a look.

            “I’ve dealt with people who don’t die before.” Oliver said.

            “That is somehow the creepiest sentence I have ever heard,” Curtis commented, looking at Rene.

            “Yeah…,” Rene said, looking between Oliver and the empty Chinese food cartons, “When was the last time you’ve slept?”

            “I don’t know,” Oliver said, turning back to the photos, “A couple of weeks.”

            Rene and Curtis exchanged looks. They were both worried. Neither of them had known Oliver very long, but they hadn’t seen him this overworked, this freaked out. Ever.

            “Imma call Dig,” Rene whispered to Curtis. Oliver didn’t seem to notice.

            “I’ll try to get a hold of Felicity.” Curtis said.

MEANWHILE

SARA LANCE’S APARTMENT

STAR CITY

            Dinah Drake was a cop. A detective. She had dealt with and seen things that would make most people barf and/or piss their pants. There aren’t a lot of things left in the world that can scare her, especially since she had joined Team Arrow and became the new Black Canary. But facing the original Canary, and the sister of the late Black Canary, to ask for her permission to keep the name. That scared her. A lot. But it had been two weeks since Sara Lance returned from time travelling, something that Dinah still wasn’t sure she believed, and she figured it was time to discuss the elephant-sized canary in the room.

            So here she was, standing in front of the door to the address that Diggle had given her for Sara Lance’s apartment at 10:30 in the morning on her day off. She had been standing there for just over five minutes trying to psych herself to have this conversation with Sara. She had already talked with Quentin, and she felt it had gone well, or as well as anything did with Quentin Lance.

            She took a breath and rang the doorbell. She stepped back and waited. There was a small crash from inside and then

            “Be right there!” Sara shouted. Dinah took another deep breath and waited. After a short moment, a very disheveled Sara opened the door. It was clear she had just put on pants and her shirt was on backwards. They were both very uncomfortable. “Hey, Dinah. What’s up?”

            “Hey,” Dinah began, “Can I come in?”

            Sara looked back in the apartment, and then looked back at Dinah with a very uncomfortable smile.

            “Yeah, sure.” Sara stepped out of the doorway and let Dinah in. Sara then closed the door behind her, locking it.

            Sara had only been in the apartment for two weeks, and after being shipwrecked, joining an international assassins’ guild, dying and then coming back to life, only to start time-travelling, she didn’t really have that many possessions, so it was rather bare. The walls were white, there was a black leather couch with a coffee table in front of it. It looked more like a large motel room than an apartment.

            Sara led them into the kitchen which had a small fridge, a sink and a square table with four identical, almost completely unused chairs. Sara took a seat at the table and directed her guest to do the same.

            “So what did you want to see me about?” Sara asked. Dinah had heard stories about this woman from Felicity, Oliver and Dig. About how she could disarm a man with her pinky, about the time she had beaten a five-man gang with nothing but a pencil, about how even Damien Darhk had been scared of her. She was pretty sure those stories were exaggerations, well maybe not the last one, but nonetheless, the point was there, she was tough. But there was a flipside to her as well, she was smart, compassionate, witty. She cared about people, she defended them, as a sort of atonement for what she had done. She had demons, and she carried them everywhere. She had been defined by the men in her life who had controlled her, and now she was trying to break free, be something else, something new, something better. This was something Dinah understood.

            “The name,” Dinah said.

            “The what?” Sara asked.

            “The name,” Dinah repeated, “I’ve started going by Black Canary, and I don’t want it to be awkward between us.”

            “Because my sister died using that name,” Sara asked, “and now you’re using it and we’re working on the same team, so it’s going to get super uncomfortable because Oliver basically forced you to take the name?”

            “Yeah…,” Dinah answered.

            “Look,” Sara leaned in, finally realizing her shirt was on backwards, “It was Laurel’s dying wish that the legacy of Black Canary didn’t die. And you’re that legacy. It will take some getting used to, sure. But I’m okay with that. In fact, I’m glad. Am I little angry with Oliver for outing Laurel post-mortem and then forcing somebody into her name, yeah I am. I’m kinda pissed about that to be honest. But it’s not your fault.”

            “Hey do you have any coffee?” a voice came from Sara’s bedroom. Sara’s face went white, as Dinah realized who it was. “Sara?” Felicity stepped out into view of the kitchen, wearing one of Sara’s old shirts, her glasses had been placed on somewhat lopsided. “Hello, Dinah. I was just coming by to get some coffee. In one of Sara’s shirts. Without pants.”

            “Does anyone know about this?” Dinah asked after a moment of staring between Sara and Felicity.

            “No,” Felicity said.

            “We haven’t told anyone,” Sara said immediately after. “We’re pretty sure Dig and Oliver know but just don’t want to say anything.”

            “Okay, I don’t…,” Dinah trailed off, “yeah. I’m just gonna go.” She got up and made her way to the door, and as she was about to cross the threshold of the door, her phone buzzed. “Oh no.”

LATER

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            “I reached Lyla,” Rene walked over to Curtis. They stood on the outskirts of the Foundry watching Oliver go back and forth between printed out photos and information on the monitor. “Dig slept in, but she got him up. He should be here soon.”

            “Felicity and Dinah are coming,” Curtis told him. “I’m really worried.”

            “Yeah, me too.” Rene said.

            “Oliver you have to see this,” Felicity said, charging in, Dinah coming in right behind her, “We just went from bad, to worse.”

            Felicity marched over to him and handed her phone over. Oliver took it reading the article and then scrolling to see the photo. Martin Somers lay dead on the floor, a single black arrow through his heart. On the wall behind in large green letters: GREEN ARROW: YOU LET YOUR FAMILY DIE

            “It’s over,” Oliver said in a quiet voice, that only Felicity could hear, “They go down tonight.”

NEXT: THE FALL OF SUPERGIRL!!

Chapter Text

Countdown

The O.M.A.C. Project Part 4: Sacrifice

FOUR HOURS AGO

ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

CHICAGO

            I created a supercomputer to spy on aliens, in case they ever got out of hand. I called it Brother MK I. Here’s the problem, my sister and best friend is an alien. My boss is an alien. My sister’s boyfriend is an alien. My sister’s cousin is an alien. Now somebody stole it from me. Winn Schott, my friend, stumbled upon to evidence of the theft. I didn’t listen to him. I should have, and because of that, he was murdered. Just now, my ex(?)-girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer, warned me that her new boss, Max Lord, is trying to take over the world, and has stolen Brother MK 1.

            We were attacked by something she called O.M.A.C.s, she was abducted and they tried to kill me, but Superman, my sister’s cousin, saved my life. But judging by his expression, he didn’t come to save me.

            “Alex.” He said, hovering just above the ground, towering over me, his eyes glowing red. He clearly knew what I had done. “We need to talk.”

            “Thanks for saving my life,” I told him, picking myself up off of the ground, “but while I respect your relationship with Kara, I don’t owe you a thing.” I knew he knew about Brother MK I, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, not while Maggie had just been abducted, or while Max Lord was in control of it and god knows what else.

            “I just got off the phone with Mon-El.” He said. “He told me what you did.” I didn’t meet his gaze. “I’ve, quite frankly, never been a fan of the DEO, and I know my relationship with J’onn has always been strained, but I thought I could always trust you. I see now I was wrong.”

            “My job is to protect this planet from alien threats,” I told him. Now I met his eyes, responding with a glare of my own. “And I committed to that job. If a satellite that tracks aliens and makes sure they’re not doing anything evil makes that job easier, and therefore the planet safer, than I’m sure as hell going to use it.”

            “Well it didn’t seem to help during the Daxamite attack, now did it?” Clark asked.

            “We quietly shut it down when Kara joined the DEO,” I admitted to him

            “Ha,” the laugh was humorless, it was uncharacteristic of him. If he had any less self-control, I would have been a pile of ashes by now. “Of course you did. But now somebody else has control over it, and Winn’s dead because of it. Do you even know who has it?”

            “Yes,” I told him, “and unless, you’re willing to help the DEO track them down, that piece of information is classified.”

NOW

TOYMAN’S WAREHOUSE

METROPOLIS

            “What exactly are we doing here?” I asked Guardian. I still wasn’t sure what an abandoned warehouse in Metropolis had to do with the murder of my ex-boyfriend. “Also when did you learn how to fly a plane… Mr. Olson?”

            “I promise you, I’m not James Olson, Ms. Smythe,” Guardian said, even with his voice changer, I knew he was lying. He was kneeling down inside the warehouse. It was nighttime and he was hitting the floor with his knuckles.

            “Look, I was kind of a bitch, and then I went insane and turned into a super-villain,” I told him, raising an eye-brow, “I was never stupid. Also, James Olson would care about finding Winn Schott’s killer. Also this means Kara Danvers is Supergirl, right?” I paused for a second. He looked up at me. He clearly didn’t know how to answer, not that I blamed him. “You don’t have to answer that; I respect ‘the vigilante secret identity code’ or whatever.” He stood up and took his mask off, revealing James Olson’s face. I didn’t even blink. “And why don’t you just go to Supergirl and the DEO or whatever they’re called?”

            “I can’t,” he said, “their negligence got Winn killed, I can’t trust them anymore.”

            “Okay, but you still haven’t answered my questions,” I said, “Why are we here? And where did you learn how to fly a plane. And where did you get it for that matter?”

            “I learned how to fly a plane overseas when I was imbedded. I stole the plane from the DEO,” he replied, “as for why we’re here. This is one of his dad’s warehouses. This is where it all began. Somebody stole kryptonite from this warehouse. But I think there’s something else going on here. That’s why I brought you.”

            He pulled something out of the messenger bag he had brought. It was some sort of mask that went over your mouth, that also hooked into a computer.

            “What is that?” I stepped back.

            “It’s something Winn developed last year,” he explained, “it helps focus your powers into a sonar device so that we can see what’s deep underwater, or in this case underground. Everybody always forgets that I worked with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, two of the greatest investigative reporters in the world. I picked up a lot of tips from them.”

            “What’s your point?” I asked him, eyebrows raised.

            “I think the kryptonite was a cover,” he said, “I think that the Toyman had something here whoever killed Winn wanted, but they didn’t get it. There’s a chance it’s something that could stop whatever they’re planning.”

            “Okay,” I told him, “hook me up, I’m ready to help save the world.”

            James helped me secure the device onto my face, and booted up the program on the laptop. I took a deep breath. James had assured that the device wouldn’t cause any harm to me, and I believed. He has a quiet calm and confidence that’s infectious. But nonetheless, I was still nervous. I knew that I would go back to prison after this, and I was okay with it, I knew that I had to do my time.

            “We’re all set,” he said.

            I screamed louder than I ever had, waves came out of the device on my mouth. I started to move around, as James inspected the computer screen.

            “WE FOUND IT!” James shouted. He pointed to a spot on the floor. I focused my scream there, and the concrete shattered. I took a breath, my scream fading and we both walked over to see what had been under warehouse. There was wooden crate sitting there. It must have been shielded from sensors.

            “So,” I said, taking the device off of my face, “what do you think is in the crate?”

NOW

DEO HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL CITY

            “Alex?” I asked, seeing my sister enter the control room. J’onn, Mon-El, Lucy and I are gathered around main table of the DEO Headquarters. “Where have you been?” Then I saw who was behind her, “Kal? What are you doing here?”

            “Lucy, it’s been a little bit,” he addresses her first, not looking at me, “And Mon-El, thanks for the tip. I see why Kara vouches for you, you’re a good man.”

            “Of course, sir, thank you,” Mon-El nodded. I had no idea what was going on. Mon-El had gone behind my back to say something to Kal?

            “What’s going on?” I asked both my sister and my cousin. I could see J’onn narrowing his eyes out of the corner of mine.

            “Mon-El tipped me off about your satellite, J’onn,” he said, looking at J’onn, still not acknowledging me. I looked around the room. Every agent was tense beyond measure. Usually, when Superman was a room, everybody was happy, excited, even most DEO agents loved him, but this was different. He was angry. Something had set him off. “Of all the careless and invasive things that his organization has done, J’onn, I’m appalled.”

            “This isn’t the time, Superman,” Alex finally said, “I know who stole the Brother I. It was Max Lord, he’s leading an organization called Checkmate. And before you say anything, Lucy, I now know for a fact that it exists. I know that his goal is some version of wiping out all meta-humans, and that he somehow has the power to control people’s minds. I don’t know where he is though.”

            “We do,” J’onn said, “I turned to look at him. Winn stole James’ CatCo private Jet, and we’ve deciphered its final location in the Swiss Alps. My powers should be able to counteract his mind-control like it did with Myriad. Director Lane has elected to stay behind, while myself, Supergirl and Deputy Director Danvers will go to take down Mr. Lord.” J’onn almost never uses formal titles. This was bad.

            “I’m coming too,” Kal said. It wasn’t a request, rather a demand. He and J’onn exchanged glares.

            “Fine,” J’onn agreed. “We leave in ten minutes.”

            “Kara,” Mon-El took my arm, “I don’t think you should go, I should go instead. I’m worried about you.”

            “I’ll be fine,” I assured him, “And besides, you can help Lucy here, and if we do get defeated, we need you leading the second wave.” Mon-El nodded, but he wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t like feeling like he was cut out of the team.

MEANWHILE

CHECKMATE CASTLE HOLDING CELL

SWISS ALPS

            I hear voices. But they’re not in my head this time. People are screaming, something must be happening. Maybe Alex finally found us. I hope she hasn’t. They don’t understand the danger they’re in. How powerful Max really is.

            I look over at Renee, in the same cell. She’s glaring at me. She still blames me for everything, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not so sure she’s wrong. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I thought I could save myself, Alex helped me change, she helped me move beyond my flaws and become better. She helped me break out of the patterns I had screwed myself into. I pull my arms, stretching the chains, knowing nothing could get me out of this, but I couldn’t give up. I kept pulling for what felt like hours but in reality couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.

            There was a pop. The manacles around my hands had been released. I looked up at the camera in the cell. The red iris of the recording device stared back at me. There was another pop and the electric barrier of the cell faded.

LATER

CHECKMATE CASTLE

SWISS ALPS

            Kara doesn’t say anything to me on the flight over. Neither do J’onn or Clark. I know they all blame me for what’s happening. And they’re not wrong. I created this mess. It’s my fault Winn is dead. It’s my fault the DEO is falling apart. But I’m not the only person to blame. I didn’t pull the trigger on Winn. Maxwell Lord did. And he’s going to pay.

            “We’re here.” J’onn said. The first time anybody says a thing. “Agent Vazquez, keep the plane in the air. The rest of you, we’re going in.” J’onn’s become overly formal since this whole fiasco began. He’s withdrawing from us. I used to think of him as a sort of father, but it’s different now. He’s different now. He got hurt, Winn’s death hurt him, and I guess he’s decided that if he cuts those connections he’ll get hurt less.

            I strap on the parachute and follow the aliens out of the plane. It’s daybreak, and sun is setting beautifully over the Swiss Alps. The castle is right below us. It’s massive and heavily protected, but there are no soldiers ready with guns to take us out. We’re walking into a trap. I think we all knew that though. And while the walls are reinforced, they’re not nearly protected enough for two Kryptonians. Superman and Supergirl crashed through the outer wall and landed into a large square room, with a chessboard pattern on the floor. God, they were so on the nose.

            Sure enough, Max Lord is standing in the middle of the room, his hands behind his back. He was expecting us.

            “You know,” He said in the same smug voice he had always used, “I’m honestly surprised it took you this long to find me.”

            “Maxwell Lord,” J’onn said, walking toward him, “You are under arrest for the murder of Winn Schott.”

            “I wonder, Alex,” Max looked at me, “Did Maggie tell you the truth? Tell you what I can do? And if she did in fact tell you, did you tell your friends? Because honestly, you’re all just keeping so many secrets, it must be really hard for you to keep track.”

            “It’s over, Max,” I told him, “your power won’t work while J’onn shields our minds.”

            “You’re three quarters right, Alex.” He smiled, “You, the Martian and Superman can’t be controlled, unfortunately. But somebody has been weakening your dear sister’s will power for a long while now, and she just doesn’t have it in her to resist me.”

            Before any of us could say anything, there was a flash of light and crack. Kara had punched Superman square on the jaw, sent him flying out onto the mountains. J’onn didn’t have time to react, let alone defend himself, as Supergirl tackled him out into the mountains, following her cousin.

            “I WON’T LET YOU HURT THEM!” I heard her cry, as she continued pounding on J’onn.

            I turned away from the battle and launched myself at Max, tackling him. His nose was already bleeding from the overuse of his powers. I pounded fist after fist into his face. But the battle outside didn’t stop.

            “I know what you’re thinking,” Max said between blows, “but knocking me out won’t save her. There is no way to save her.”

            “He’s lying,” I couldn’t believe my ears. Maggie had appeared while I was beating everything out this bastard. “There is one way to save her.”

            “Oh, that’s right,” Max smiled, my fist hovering above his face, “There is one way, but you’re not going to like it.”

            “WHAT IS IT!?” I shout. While my right fist continues to hover over his head, my left had reaches for the gun in my holster. I hear the whoosh behind me, and I know without a doubt that my sister is behind me. “WHAT IS IT!?”

            “You have to kill me.”

          I don’t hesitate.

BANG

Chapter Text

Countdown

Under The Hood Part 3: Failure

NOW

THEA QUEEN’S APARTMENT

STAR CITY

            It’s already light outside when I wake up. I’m in my own bed. It used to be a surprise, but now it’s normal. I’m glad it’s normal too. I really am. I have to remind myself of that. I have to remind myself that I don’t crave the raucous house parties, claustrophobic clubs or dingy dive bars. And I definitely have to remind myself that I don’t like dressing up in red leather and following my brother out into the night. That’s not who I am. At least anymore.

            It takes me a second to remember the events of the last few weeks. Prometheus’ attacks, his defeat, Malcolm’s incarceration, Sara’s return. The attacks on our families and the realization that it was done by one of us. Roy. He showed up at her apartment without warning, bloody and bruised, no explanation as to how any of it had happened. He had fallen asleep on the couch after Sara had finished tending to him.

            I rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes. I walk out of my bedroom and see the empty couch. My breath catches in my throat. Has he left? Did somebody come in during the night and abduct him?

            “Hey,” I let out a sigh as I recognize his voice. I look over to see Roy cooking something on the stove, “I woke up a few hours ago. I figured I could make you some food to thank you for letting me barge in here with no prior notice.” I nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. “Also, you didn’t have any eggs, so I went out and got some, I hope that’s okay.”

            “Yeah, that’s fine,” I answered.

            “You still like your eggs over hard right?” he asked.

I nodded. It was weird, having a normal conversation with him. I couldn’t tell if it was my grogginess or anxiety preventing me from asking him what the hell happened to him that he ended up at my door, bleeding from pretty much everywhere.

“What the hell happened to you?” I guess it was grogginess.

“It’s a long story,” he replied.

“No,” I said, “You don’t get to come back after almost two years, bleeding from head to toe, multiple bones broken and act like nothing’s happened. You sought me out, you owe me answers.”

“Look I’m sorry I lef---,”

“This isn’t about you leaving,” I yelled, “Was I angry, sad, disappointed that you chose Oliver’s crusade over me? Hell yes I was. But I moved on. So tell me what hell happened to you, and why I can’t tell my brother about it?”

He paused for a moment. He unloaded the eggs onto a plate and handed it to me.

“Here,” he said. “You want the full story? Fine, here it is,” he sighed and began to tell his story, “shortly after I left, the second time, I was taken captive. A dark haired woman abducted me and held me. I never found her name, who she worked for or anything about her. I still don’t understand why she wanted me. All she said to me was that I was a piece of the machine, and that my removal would make it easier to break.”

“What machine?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered, “I was held there for a year. Sara once told me that if I was ever taken captive, I should wait. Wait and learn everything I could about my captors and the structure of the place I was being held. Learn its strengths and weaknesses, and then, when you’re ready, exploit the weaknesses and avoid the strengths. I did this. Every once in a while, I heard the woman talking to people. I figured out that there was a meeting room right above my cell. I’ll always remember her voice. It’s like sugar laced with venom. As the time went on, her conversations became more frequent, I studied the people she talked to, I made profiles in my mind of these people, there was one man who kept showing up. He seemed adolescent in nature but not in age. The woman was manipulating him, it was easy to tell that much. Eventually I recognized two new voices. Digger Harkness… and Slade Wilson. After that I knew I had to escape. It was hard, but eventually I was able to do it. When I got out I realized I was in Hub City and made my way here. That was three days ago. I was attacked a few times, but I don’t think they followed me here.”

“Okay…,” I said after a moment to take it in, “but that still doesn’t explain why you don’t want to tell Oliver.”

“On my way out, I swiped this,” he took something out of a pocked and handed to me. It was a scrunched up piece of paper. I unfolded it to reveal a list.

• Oliver Queen
• Barry Allen (Deceased)
• Kara Danvers (Broken)
• Ray Palmer (MIA)
• Martin Stein
• Jefferson Jackson
• J’onn J’onzz
• Lena Luthor (Incarcerated/Disgraced)
• Winn Schott (Deceased)
• Cisco Ramon
• Slade Wilson
• Roger Hayden
• Eobard Thawne (Deceased)
• Black Racer (Captured)

I looked at it for a few moments. I recognized some but not all of the names. All of the ones I recognized were super-heroes or villains. Kara Danvers. She’s not even from this earth. And what does ‘broken’ mean? I think I heard Oliver talking about a favor he did for one of Kara’s friends a few weeks back. I think his name was Winn. Did that favor have something to do with this? I realized all of the names on the list I recognized had something else in common. They were all dangerous beyond belief. And Slade was allied with the person who made this list. That meant that the woman who kidnapped Roy made the list, or somebody she’s working for. If she’s working for anybody.

“Do you know what the list means?” I asked him, “Why these people are on it?”

“No,” Roy answered, “That’s why I couldn’t let you go to Oliver. I don’t know if this means they’ve been compromised, or what.”

“When you heard Slade and Harkness talking with the woman, what did their relationship seem like?” I asked.

“If I’m remembering correctly, and I probably am, she freed them the prison on Lian Yu,” Roy explained, “and that’s the other thing, that makes this more difficult. Slade’s putting together a team of super-criminals. Well it’s not really a team, it’s more like a network. That’s what she wanted in exchange for his release, well that and when the time was right, she would let him put an arrow through Oliver’s eye.”

LATER

SECRET SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS

HUB CITY

            This woman calls herself Lena Luthor. I have no way of verifying that that is her real name. She’s keeping secrets from us too. I don’t think Digger is aware of that. He was smart enough to sign on, but he’s not smart to realize he’s being played. This woman clearly has an agenda she won’t tell us. But the fact is, I don’t really care. She freed me from prison, and made me promises, promises I intend to collect on. It’s the other people she’s brought into the room that I’m not sure I trust.

            We’re sitting around a board room table, Luthor’s at one head, I’m at the other. Besides her, there are only three other people in the room that I recognize. Digger Harkness, the idiot that I trained. Noah Kuttler, a computer genius with a criminal streak, that seems to owe Luthor a lot. Talia al Ghul, the eldest daughter of the late, fabled Ra’s al Ghul. The other two in the room are a floating middle eastern man with a lightning bolt on his uniform and a giant gorilla who enjoys pontificating.

            “Thank you all for coming,” Luthor stands up, calling the meeting to order. “I understand there are some new faces among us, so I thought that we should start with some introductions.” She gestures towards Kuttler, who is at her left.

            “My name is Noah Kuttler,” he said, “you can call me Calculator when I’m on the job. It’s my responsibility to get you the information, it’s your responsibility to use it.”

            “I am Black Adam, protector of Kahndaq,” the floating man said.

            “I should mention that he is not of this earth,” Luthor said. “He is from another. Our enemies have connections to at least four other earths, so I believe that as we expand, we must also expand beyond this universe, Black Adam is the first of many we will recruit.”

            “Deathstroke.” I said. I find that these types of people are intimidated by those they do not have information on.

            “Oh, look at this,” Digger mocked, “the almighty Slade Wilson thinks he can intimidate us. Digger Harkness by the way,” he winks at Talia, “the ladies call me Captain Boomerang though.”

            “I am Talia al Ghul,” Talia said, “first daughter of Ra’s al Ghul. Oliver Queen killed my father, and I intend to collect retribution.” Ha, so the frat boy I trained killed the Demon’s Head. “You are allies in my quest for now, but if you attempt to cross me, your life and bloodline will end. Slowly and painfully.”

            “I am Grodd,” the gorilla said, “the rightful ruler of Gorilla City. The original Flash may be dead, but all those that wear his name must be punished as well.”

            “The purpose of this meeting isn’t just for introductions,” Lena said, “Harper may have escaped our grasp, but he doesn’t know our true purpose.”

            “What exactly is our true purpose?” Boomerang asked in between gulps of bad Australian beer.

            “A short while back I found a cache of hidden alien technology in the arctic,” she explained, “I believe, that with Grodd and Calculator’s help, I can repurpose it into a machine that can wipe the minds of the so-called ‘heroes’ across the multiverse. To get them back for what they did to us.”

THAT AFTERNOON

MINI O’ROURKE’S HEADQUARTERS

STAR CITY

            Mini sat back in her leather chair in the back office of Paddy’s Pub. There was no natural light in the office, and as such, it made a perfect place to cook the books of her bar. She was a pragmatic woman. She didn’t take risks she didn’t think were necessary. It was one of the things that had helped her survive this long, that and rewarding loyalty in her men. This made her current predicament particularly difficult. The new Dark Archer, whoever he was, had made her and the other crime bosses an offer. An offer that essentially boiled down to “join me or die.” She didn’t take the threat lightly, especially after he killed her top lieutenant.

Her men wanted his blood for that, and she didn’t blame them. They were loyal to her because she made it clear that any of their deaths would be avenged. However, this time she had little doubt that the Dark Archer could take on her entire organization and win. She didn’t enjoy being put into a position where she had to make a decision based on fear, which was exactly what he done to her.

“Boss,” Jeffrey Dunn was her new second in command. He looked like a weasel, but he was as a loyal as dog, “we just got word from our man in the SCPD,” He paused for a second, his expression wasn’t encouraging in the least bit, “our new frenemy just called out the Green Arrow, and he made it personal.”

“Shite,” Mini said under her breath.

“What are we gonna do, boss?” He asked after a second.

“We knew this day was coming.” She stood up. “Anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves. We couldn’t float under the Green Arrow’s radar forever. Now I understand what he was doing.”

“What who was doing?” Jeffrey asked.

“The Dark Archer,” Mini answered, “He was never serious about having us join him. This was all about putting us on the Green Arrow’s compass.” She took a pause for a second. She knew what she had to do. “Gather the men. This isn’t a fight we can win. And I refuse to let you guys get caught in the crossfire between two mad men with arrows.”

THAT NIGHT

THE FOUNDRY

STAR CITY

            “I have a probable target,” Felicity said spinning around in her to chair to face Sara and I, who were sparring.

            “Who we got?” Rene asks, as he enters the foundry, pulling up a chair next to Curtis.

            “Jason Brodeur,” Felicity said, as Sara flipped me onto the mat, “He was crooked businessman you took down in your dark green phase, but due to legal maneuvering, he just got out on bail today. My guess is the Dark Archer is about to strike.”

            “You’re losing your edge, Ollie,” Sara whispered to me. It wasn’t one of her usual taunts, she was genuinely concerned.

            “I’m fine,” I replied. “Good work, Felicity. Dig, Sara, suit up. The rest of you are staying put.”

            “We can help, hoss,” Rene said, standing up and nearly charging toward me, “We’re not rookies anymore.”

            “Yes, you are,” I told him, also directing this at Curtis, who seemed disappointed, “You’re a lot better, but you still have a lot to learn and I’m not risking you with somebody this dangerous. I won’t fail you like that. I can’t.” I waited for a response from either of them, but none came. I caught Sara and Felicity exchanging a look, but didn’t say anything. “Alright. This ends tonight.”

NEXT: ALEX DANVERS VS. THE WORLD!