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And So We Turn On The Lights.
Inside the DEO on Earth-38…..
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(Oliver Queen’s POV)
The thing about the multiverse that Oliver Queen was discovering is that, on as many earths as exist in the multiverse, there exist just as many Green Arrows. Some were weather-beaten and exhausted, a few had cybernetic arms and eye patches from battles lost, and it seemed like every style of bow and method of archery was being used. There were even some Olivia Queens amongst this number, which he didn’t particularly mind. But what he also noted was that with every one of them, there was a Black Canary. Sure, some of them were called Dinah, some of them were called Laurel, and all the Olivia Queens seemed to have either a Laurel Lance or a Lawrence Lance. Honestly, if he hadn’t had spent seven years dealing with things he could never have imagined, this probably would have broken him.
But, he realized, there were things that was good about this weird situation that he finds himself in. The most important to him, at the moment, was that every one of these people was him. He knew how they thought, because they all had suffered the way that he had. So when he gathered them all up, he knew how they’d respond when they asked the one question he had been thinking about since the Crisis began.
“Who here remembers the battle of Thermopylae?”
As everyone smiled, and smirked, Oliver Queen was feeling like he could win. Of course, that meant things were about to go poorly. And in this case, poorly was in the form of his daughter from the future, Mia. She walked up to the archers, and seemed to divine what her father was planning.
“Dad? I’ve enjoyed all the time I’ve had with you, all the things you taught me about being an archer that mom couldn’t have. You taught me how to go from an angry child who got by on luck into someone with actual skills. But I know what your destiny is, and what mine is. I need to be the one who lets you have the life, the love, you deserve. You need to let me take your place on the line” said Mia, the confidence and strength in her voice reminding more than a few of the Green Arrows on the line of their own children.
Embracing his daughter tightly, willing himself to keep his memories of everything they did together, Oliver nods his head, not trusting himself to talk.
Glancing at Laurel, the love of his life, he gestured towards a private room. He knew he needed to let out his emotions. He wasn’t so stoic that he didn’t get that. But when they went out to war, he needed to seem unassailable, a god with a bow. And there was no way at all that could happen if he was spotted crying in front of the multiverse versions of himself.
But if he wasn’t seen, and he could make damned sure of that, he was going to cry with his friends, with the people who got him and understood why putting his daughter on the front lines was the right play. Even if, as he was realizing now, he hated every second of it.
Meanwhile, in the DEO training area…..
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(Barry Allen’s POV)
The Flash was not, by any objective measure you might want to use, having a good day. He needed to get ready for the battle he could feel in his bones was coming, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the people he was leaving back at earth. After everything he had gone through, between DeVoe framing him for murder and then Thawne taking away his and Patty’s daughter last year, he couldn’t help but wonder if somehow this Crisis was the final exam of a test he had been taking ever since he became the Flash.
So, not knowing what else to do, Barry Allen started to run. What he had told Oliver during that whole weird business where they swapped lives, and skills, was undeniably true. Whenever he needed to feel free, to not be burdened by whatever it was that was making his life harder and more difficult, he ran. Patty understood this, as did all the speedsters he had met over his lifetime. Just running, feeling himself going faster than most people could dream of, was a better therapeutic exercise than sitting on a couch with someone who couldn’t understand his needs and desires.
But as he finished his sprints, there was something nagging at him still. He remembered hearing from Thawne that he was going to see him during their next crisis. Could that mean…… FUCK!
Stopping immediately, Barry quick-changed into his costume and ran upstairs. He knew how the Anti-Monitor was going to strike.
Back in the DEO main hall……
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(Oliver Queen’s POV)
As Oliver Queen checked the balances on his compound bow, and waited for the fabrication machine to finish making his Semtex balls that would join his other trick arrows in the centrifuge at the top of his quiver, he suddenly looked up and saw Barry Allen in front of him, Supergirl, Superman, and the rest of the Legends at his back.
“Thawne, Ollie. That’s how it’s all going to come down. There’s no way, no matter how much power this Anti-Monitor is alleged to have, that he could make the skies red on every earth in the multiverse. You just couldn’t. But do you know who could? Thawne could. If the Anti-Monitor restored his full connection to the Negative Speed Force, Thawne could run fast enough to destroy the multiverse. And with what he did to me last year, he’s more than interested in destroying the world and building a new one with him at the head of everything. But even that doesn’t feel like enough. In addition to being a speedster, he’s also a genius. Thawne knows that we’ve been told about the Crisis, and that we’d be ready. If you were him, what would you do?” Barry said, and in the moment, Ollie knew how he’d handle it.
“If I was Thawne, I’d run it like this. We know we’re one multiverse, right? Like all the earths who are here, we are the ‘normal’ multiverses right? Well what if there’s a dark one, a one where the same people with the same life experiences and skills exist, except warped somehow? Like, a Flash where Barry killed his parents, or a Green Arrow where I became a murderer instead of a hero? If Thawne could find those guys, and get them to his side, that’s how he’d beat us. That’s how I’d run it” Oliver said.
Normally, figuring out someone’s plans felt awesome, and incredible. But almost as soon as he finished thinking, the hot frisson of joy he would normally feel cooled and turned ugly. Because this wasn’t working out how to defeat Prometheus, or how to trap Malcolm Merlyn so that Laurel could cripple him and send him away to stand trial for his crimes in a supermax prison. What he had just figured out was going to be, if they couldn’t beat whatever Thawne and the Anti-Monitor had cooked up, the end of their worlds.
And then, as the fabricator beeped and he put the Semtex balls inside the centrifuge at the top of his quiver, everything around him suddenly glowed red and he knew. So did Barry, and everyone else in the room. This was the war.
Gathering everyone around him, the Green Arrow and Supergirl nodded. If they could deliver one great speech, the one everyone here would remember until the end of their days, it would have to be now.
“Everyone here, from every earth, has been brought together to ensure that we will all continue to be, continue to exist. Some of you, this battle will be the only time we are all together. But we all took the same oath, made the same promises. We vowed to be heroes in the light. And now, more than any other time, is our chance to do that” said the Green Arrow, and they all felt stronger.
“I believe in you. We all do. Every Superman and Supergirl in this room knows what it means to stand for truth, justice, and what is right and decent. Even when the world tells us we’re wrong, tells us now is not the time, we ignore that because we know in our hearts that standing up to tyranny is never wrong. All the Green Arrows here, and the Flashes, have known that heroism means sacrifice since you all got your speed or survived Lian Yu. We will be the heroes our worlds knew, the ones our worlds loved, and we will defeat this threat. Believe in yourselves, and we can get this done.”
And with Supergirl’s benediction stated, the Defenders of the Multiverse got to work. Everything they knew needed to be saved, and who better than them?