In the past year, everything had changed for Stella. She had lost her adopted family, the only survivor when their house exploded, but she had finally found the people responsible. It had been hard to learn that her newly manifested speed-a power she didn't even have at the time of the attack-provoked the offense; without them, though, she would never have tracked down the killers, or her real family.
Since then, two jobs were at the top of her list: finding her birth mother, and living up to her family legacy. The fact that she was the granddaughter of Jay Garrick, the original Flash, and the daughter of Hal Jordan, Earth's first Green Lantern, still made her head spin. It was a beautiful day in Gotham (for once, she thought), and she was running to her grandpa's house in Keystone for lunch.
Out of nowhere, there was a bright streak of yellow across her path. Stella immediately skidded to a halt and threw up her guard-nothing should have been a blur to a girl who could run faster than light could travel. The speedster-the streak could hardly be anything else-moved behind her suddenly, and before she could react, she felt a sharp rap to the back of her head and everything went black.
She woke flat on her back some time later. Her hair felt disgusting, gooey, and there was definitely a metallic scent in the air. She sent her hand back to investigate, and it returned covered with blood. Stella almost lost her lunch.
"Well, shit..."
She realized she had no clue where she was and started taking stock of her surroundings. She was lying on the floor of an empty warehouse, and the only light came from broken windows. Through them, she could see Wayne Enterprises, and the angle of the sun told her that not much time had past. That's good, she supposed.
And that, she thought as her attention returned to the room she was in, is really, really bad. Not only was the warehouse full of busted old walls with exposed metal support beams and easily broken pipes-lovely items for beating, second only to the crowbar-but the man who had very nearly captured her while she almost single-handedly stopped a bank robbery by the Order a few months ago, the Red X, was hovering nearby. Well, it's no surprise he could capture me, the thought, noting that he looked extremely mad, and somehow older. She started looking for her comm link. "I need-"
"Help? You won't get it." Stella turned at the sound of the cold voice behind her and was rewarded with a slap so forceful it knocked her down.
Stella turned back, spitting out blood and holding her hands up defensively. "Who are you?"
The girl approached Stella, pulling her up by her shirt. Stella finally got a look at her. Other than the uniform Stella usually wore, the girl was her identical in every way.
"I'm Jane," her mirror said, slamming her into the ground. The girl's voice was fuzzy as Stella struggled to stay awake.
"And I'm better than you."
Stella tried to push her away, fighting as hard as she could, but the girl was too good-too fast. Every punch she threw was blocked, every time she thought she was free as she shoved away, Jane just pulled her back.
She finally saw her opening. She threw the fastest, hardest punch she could muster, laughing with relief as she heard the audible CRACK of Jane's jaw under her fist. As she turned to escape, she felt a sharp, painful prick in the back of her neck and collapsed, suddenly unable to move.
She could feel herself being lifted again as Jane threw her over her shoulder and heard a sickening crunch as Jane set her own jaw. "You really shouldn't have done that, Girlie..." the girl chuckled coldly behind her.
This... Stella thought sluggishly, this is worse than being out cold...
Knocked out, she wouldn't be able to witness this...to feel this. And it didn't take her growing feeling of dread to know that this girl was a sign of worse things to come.
She could feel the drug wearing off slowly- too slowly. High metabolism was a godsend in situations like this, but the outlook was still grim. Speedster v. speedster battles were something Stella hadn't gotten much time to work on, and this girl knew what she was doing. It was one thing halting bank robberies and catching bullets, that was chasing turtles, shooting fish in a barrel. Fighting someone at her speed, even faster, it seemed, was something completely different.
Even as the drug wore off, Stella could feel herself losing consciousness again; as she looked at the water Jane was dragging her through, confused, she realized that the red tinge came from bloody tears in her face and torso. As her metabolism broke down the drug, she suddenly felt the pain of her wounds before blacking out once more.
"Well, wake her up, Jane, I haven't got all day."
Stella could hear a metallic rummaging underneath the mans voice. She decided to sneak a peek, cracking open her eyes just in time to see Jane's hand come down hard against her semi-healed, disfigured face.
Jane smirked as she listened to Stella's failed attempt not to cry out. "So, what's the plan, Eo?"
Stella closed her eyes again, trying to keep calm. Eo. Eobard Thawne. She opened her eyes for an instant to confirm the man's identity as he left his supply cabinet. Professor Zoom.
The sociopathic speedster smiled at Jane as he showed her two small, egg-shaped devices. "These charges will go in her knees. If they move at a speed beyond 60 miles per hour..." He ran a finger across his throat and laughed. Jane looked at him admiringly.
"Amazing idea..." Jane shuddered slightly and laughed. "Completely twisted...but still."
Stella pushed herself as far away from Jane as she could get with the wall behind her as the clone knelt down and pulled out another vial of tranquilizer and stabbed it into Stella's chest before she could react.
Behind her, Zoom had turned to the desk, pulling out a medical kit. His voice was even, almost flat, as he spoke, examining a scalpel. "Remove her clothes, Jane."
Jane looked at Thawne and nodded. She batted Stella's sluggishly defensive hands out of her way, grabbed the neck of her shirt and the front of her jeans, and ripped them off effortlessly; this wasn't much of a feat, as the trip there had destroyed Stella's clothes as much as her body, practically shredding them.
In that moment, Stella knew it was now or never. Using all the willpower she had, she fought the effects of the tranquilizer off enough to swing her foot up as quickly as she could towards Jane's head, currently turned towards Thawne.
She realized a moment too late that she had aimed poorly, and had sent a burst of wind past Jane's ear. Jane looked to the source just in time to duck her head out of the way, getting a slightly dazed look as Stella's boot glanced off her head. Steel-toe boots, Stella thought, gotta love em. She brought her foot back to swing again, grimacing with frustration as the tranquilizer slowed her efforts again, giving Jane enough time to recover, grab Stella's foot, and twist it hard and fast, laughing with satisfaction at the loud crack. It was a small mercy that Stella barely felt her ankle break.
Stella stare up at Jane, giving a quiet laugh of resignation as the tranquilizer took its toll, knocking her out. The last thing she knew as the world faded to black was a rumble as a bright flash of green tore the outer wall of the room off.