SoA Arrowverse crossover
SoA Part 2
By Sirya Black
Chapter 1# I'm The Flash
Earth 1
Sept 14 2011
(Events from crossover of Flash Season 2 episode 18, or Supergirl Season 1 ep 18 "World's Finest" but due to interference it happens in Sept instead of March. Zoom has appeared and challenged Barry so he was already planning on getting faster.)
Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow were finishing connecting their computer systems and the remote tracking systems to the Star Lab satellites. They were setting the uplink to monitor the new device Barry was set to test.
Cisco had found the file containing the device developed in the future. It had been left inside a laptop that Eobard Thawne had used when he was pretending to be Harrison Wells. Somehow they had missed the laptop when they had cleared out his lab after his disappearance. It had been hidden in a secret draw in his desk that Cisco had accidentally discovered when he dropped his side of the desk when they finally moved Thawne's equipment to a storage room.
The device was a tachyon device. It had been discovered in the future, Barry had produced large bursts of tachyon particles that were charged with the Speedforce when he ran. This was different from pretty much any other speedster from their Earth at that time. That's why the Reverse-Flash had needed to make Barry 'The Flash'. He'd used all his own Speedforce and needed Barry to create more so he could go back to his future. They were unsure about Zoom, but as he was faster than Barry. Their questions regarding the new evil Speedster centered around; if he produced Speedforce particles himself since he was from a different Earth, or if like Reverse Flash he only used the Speedforce, absorbing what was produced by the Earths he visited.
Team Flash was seated in the command room at Star Labs with Iris watching over their shoulders. Barry was situated out at an undeveloped area near Central City's sister city; Keystone City.
Barry was going to be trying out the Cisco designed tachyon device that was strapped to his chest to try and increase his maximum speed. He'd colored it red to blend in with his suit and had added special clips that couldn't be sheared off at high speeds.
Zoom was faster than him, probably double his current fastest speed. He needed to get faster if he had any hope of defeating the evil killer. He never wanted to have to worry about being too slow again. Hopefully this device would be the answer to him getting stronger, and faster than the Black Speedster. Zoom being the second evil one he'd come across since he awoke from his coma nearly two years ago.
Barry often wished he had help to fight all the meta-humans that had popped up after the particle accelerator had exploded. Oliver Queen wasn't a super-powered hero; he wasn't even a hero really. He was just a very good archer, and had the connections to create a team that followed him. He also had the money to create really cool toys. He'd made a vigilante team that fought the corruption in Star City since his return. He'd spent five years doing nothing but surviving on an island nicknamed "Hell". Oliver had come home a super vigilant and driven man. He had also developed new skills, chief among them; how to fight and kill. He'd trained Barry to use more than just his speed when fighting but other than that he stuck to his own city and his 'own weight class' and left the meta-issue for Barry to deal with.
"Ok Barry, we are ready to test it out." Cisco told him. "Put that baby on, and let's see what it can do."
Barry quickly attached the device and powered it up. The feeling was overwhelming. The rush of energy flared through his body, every cells fueled by the Speedforce flared to life at the same pico-second.
"Oh yeah I can feel that." He marveled euphorically. The rush was incredible.
"That would be the tachyons flooding your cells boosting their Speedforce energy." Caitlin informed him proudly. "How do you feel?" She had been slightly concerned about the test. Cisco was as much about function as he was making things look 'cool', but she wasn't sure if his 'upgrades' would corrupt the device or if they were only cosmetic. As brilliant as she was, she was a bio-medical engineer, not a mechanical one. She couldn't understand the plans half as well as Cisco, who seemed like he knew every electronical piece of equipment in STAR Labs like the back of his hand.
"Different," He admitted still grinning from ear to ear at the energy spike. It had an almost 'high' effect. He could feel every cell is his body being flooded with energy. The tachyons particles were interacting with the Speedforce, enhancing their ability to draw on the energy force that powered his ability to run at unbelievable speeds. He'd never felt more connected to the energy, and for once was aware of its flow inside his body. It seemed to enter right in the middle of his chest cavity, pulse out to the tips of his limbs, and back at such a rapid speed that even he was barely aware of it.
Cisco rubbed his hands nervously before he placed them on his keyboard. His job as Barry's best friend, and technical geek made for a stressful friendship. Cisco wouldn't trade it for the world. He loved being Barry's friend, without or without the powers, but the powers did make their friendship more interesting.
"Let's see how long it takes you to get back here." He took one deep breath, doing his best to feel as confident as he pretended to be, "On my count."
Barry turned and got into a standing running stance. The glowing power of the tachyon device was a bright blue and flickered slightly as the Speedforce strained to stay contained in his body, ready to respond to Barry's call. "Three… Two… One…"
Barry took off faster than he had ever had before. He reached and surpassed his previous top speed in half the time it normally took. His lightening trail flowing just as quickly, retracting back as fast as it was produced. The Speedforce lightning had a touch of blue energy force trailing behind him, not that STAR Labs or Barry could see it from the vantage points they were observing at. Cisco was watching the monitors, watching for issues with the suit, and Barry no longer watched the lightening behind him when he ran. Caitlin was watching his health stats, and Iris who was watching the satellite feed didn't know if the blue was normal or not, she didn't say anything because she didn't want to distract the others.
"Danggggg… This thing has got you cruising!" Cisco was amazed as he watched Barry's speed numbers climb. The suit was running a little hotter than normal but that was expected at these speeds, he was causing more friction against the air as he moved.
"How fast does he normally go?" Iris inquired as she decided to watch the health screens instead of the satellite image of his lightening. It was racing all over the countryside and cityscape. The images were making her dizzy. It also reminded her stomach of how much she hated being moved at those speeds. It always left her queasy. Luckily for her didn't throw up, unlike Diggle. He was a friend of Barry and Oliver's. He always made a mess, so much so Felicity Smoak, Oliver's IT girl, had a special bucket just for such occasions in the 'Arrow Cave. Caitlin had gotten one for STAR Labs too, just in case.
"Not this fast." Caitlin smiled with undisguised glee as she stared at the screens, very happy with his health readings.
"Not even close." Cisco muttered clearly, watching in disbelief as the numbers climbed way above Barry's last best. "Are his vitals ok?" He asked Caitlin, slight concerned after seeing the speed numbers flash across the screen.
"Yeah, they're perfect." She beamed as she double checked to readouts. His readings weren't showing any signs of distress, in fact they were only slightly above resting stages. It was like he was out for a jog, not running past Mach 3.
"Cool it's like having a pit stop attached to your chest." Iris added in amazement. She'd never seen Barry do anything like this before. She was impressed by the professional way everything was being handled. Barry's health and well-being were being carefully monitored, which she had been worried about when she'd heard about this experiment. Barry had a tendency to look after others more than him. Caitlin and Cisco took their jobs to make him as health, and safe as possible in this line of work very seriously.
They watched for several seconds as Barry ran in complicated circles around the city. "Guys, I can go faster." Barry told them his breath not the less bit stressed. He still felt euphoric, and he was still not feeling any exertion from the effort to run so far.
"Do it." Cisco breathlessly encouraged him. The suit was holding up against the forces being used against it, and Cisco knew it could handle twice the speed Barry was currently going at. He'd tested the thing for friction and heat resistance with a blowtorch and an industrial sandblaster. His suit was going to holdup; there was no question in Cisco's mind.
Unknown to Barry at that moment the tachyon particles became supercharged, as The Norns of his Earth, interfered to create the doorway that was required. A breach opened. Barry never got a chance to comprehend what was happening. Before the breach had even registered, he had charged through it at just over Mach 3.
He burst out the other side of the breach near Kansas City. "Cisco?" Barry called in a near panic as he tried to slow down. It was actually taking him time to slow down. Over a full two seconds from the speeds he was running at past before he managed to stop. He took several seconds to look around. He crossed nearly fifty miles north towards Minneapolis before he managed to stop.
"Can you hear me?" Barry finally stopped after a ten second effort and looked around at the farmer's field around him and gulped in deep breaths of air and bent down to help stop himself from hyperventilating. "Cisco? Caitlin? Anybody?"
MCU Earth Also Sept 14 2011.
Darcy had starting coming by to visit Kara to help her with her grief over losing Loki back in May, because of the broken Bifröst to Asgard, cutting her off from her mother. Not that that distance was completely physical.
Kara blamed most of Asgard for what happened to Loki. She blamed her foster mother Frigga for the position Loki had found himself in. She blamed Thor and Odin for making Loki's life so unbearable that he choose to die, rather than be saved. She blamed the warriors who were not happy, but unconcerned that the strange unpopular prince was gone. Most of all she blamed the Warriors Three, Heimdall, and especially Lady Sif for their treasonous actions against him. In short she was angry and grieving alone, not a good combination for a super-powered teenager. So Darcy braved the secret lab of 'Kara Stark' to be a friend the young girl needed. Darcy just wanted her to know she wasn't alone, and had friends.
Darcy made it her mission to be there for her. It hadn't been easy. While Kara hadn't been unwelcoming, she also hadn't really wanted anyone around. Darcy persisted. Having lost her own parents, and being adopted when she was five by her parent's best friends, she knew a thing or two about losing family. Kara had allowed the girl to stay without protest, which was all the encouragement Darcy needed.
It took two months before Darcy was greeted with more than a forced polite smile. Kara was finally starting to act warmer, and more like herself with Tony and Darcy. Jane and Kara had a professional if stilted relationship. Kara was maintaining that way despite the respect they both had for the other.
Unknowingly to Kara at the time, while Thor had been on Earth, Jane and Thor had been getting pretty friendly. Kara had explained what had happened on Asgard, and Jane had been devastated by the news. Jane had also thrown herself into her work as a way to cope, making the interactions between the two women to be very limited. Jane rarely left her lab, even to sleep, bathe, or eat. Kara had cut back on her Supergirl excursions and spent more time in her lab, doing work at human speeds.
While she was quick to respond to emergencies she no longer patrolled varies cities when she was able to. Instead she stayed in her lab, or spent time at the Fortress. She spent a great deal of Brainiac's processing abilities studying wormholes, and looking for possible places Loki's body could have ended up. To say it was an obsession was putting it mildly. Darcy had managed to coax her to spend less time in the Artic and more time in sunny California.
Once Jane knew that Thor wasn't able to travel as Kara could between the Realms via seiðr, Jane had begun working hard to re-create the Bifröst. That project was something Kara wasn't interesting in supporting right now, but she didn't renege on her Patronage to Jane. She did the bare minimum to support her so far, mostly monetary only.
Darcy was sure that would change once Kara got further through her grieving period. Jane had understood, and left the young woman to grieve, even if she did find the isolation from her new friend discouraging. Kara still allowed Jane and Darcy access to the records they needed, but Darcy had acted as their go-between.
Kara's grieving was going to be a long process. Darcy had talked to a few people recommended by Pepper. These professionals (who had no idea who Darcy was actually asking their advice for) were helping Darcy understand just how damaging Loki's death was for Kara. She'd lost everyone she loved in a single accident once before. She had opened herself up to only a few people since. People who should by all accounts outlive her due to their very nature. Now one of them was gone in another 'accident'.
Unstable was not a word Darcy was comfortable around when it came to super-powered superheroes. Tony was bad enough with his alcoholism, but he had Pepper and Col. Rhodes. Kara and Tony had had it out over the Ten Rings thing ages ago. Their argument had helped him come to terms with his baggage over Afghanistan, and the terrorist organization as a whole. Of course it helped that he'd blown them sky high, but still the argument had helped him become the hero he was now, and taught him how to deal with guilt, even if he still used the alcohol as a crutch. Kara, while she knew what she should be doing, wasn't deal with her pain well. She'd cut herself off from everyone, so Darcy made it her business to be Kara's Pepper.
These days Darcy was in Kara's lab more often working as her intern/assistant then she was in Jane's, who she still officially worked for. Darcy's school internship officially ended at the end of the summer term four weeks ago. Jane had unknowingly given her full marks so she'd gotten those last six credits she needed to graduate with her degree in Political Science. She'd gone back to Willowdale Virginia and shipped all her stuff that had been in storage for the summer to her new apartment in Malibu. She had then gotten right back on the plane to come back. Darcy had headed right back to Jane's lab. Jane hadn't batted an eye. She just continued as she had all summer, as if Darcy had taken an extra-long weekend, instead of going back for six days to graduate and move. Kara and Darcy had a bet on whether Jane knew the internship was over or not.
"I wrote my own write-up dudette." Darcy had laughed when they had first discussed the end of the summer term. "Janie signed it, and I sent it to the dean. He was super impressed she got picked up by you by the way." Darcy had used her fingers to double shot her with a huge grin, something she had picked up from Tony. "He was also kind of pissed you didn't go to Culver. Said if you wanted any more degrees he'd gladly let you have the same deal you had with MIT. Something about him wanting to have a Stark as Alumni," Darcy and Kara had shared a giggle over that statement. Both knew he'd give her a degree in a heartbeat even if she didn't qualify for it, just so he could ask her for money every year.
Kara had cracked a real smile after she managed to control her giggles. "Jane isn't so absent minded that she doesn't know the date. The star positions tell her more than you think. They are a calendar in themselves." She told the young woman.
"Yeah, but the question is, does she remember the internship was only for the summer?" Darcy had asked, and Kara had saluted the point with their Long Island Iced Teas.
"Fifty bucks says she does." Kara grinned at her.
"Fifty says she's forgotten." Darcy had crowed happily. She knew Jane better than Kara and she knew how absentminded Jane was about facts that didn't have anything to do with her bridges to space.
That had been two weeks ago. Darcy had stopped by earlier this evening to collect that fifty. Kara still couldn't believe Jane had asked her when Darcy's internship ended that afternoon on the phone. They had been discussing if there was room in the budget for a new spectrograph, specifically for gamma radiation. Kara had happily handed the bright intern her crisp fifty dollar bill as she breezed through the door of her lab that afternoon. Darcy had fanned herself with the single bill with a gloating grin before she poured herself and Kara a drink. Kara found she liked the flavored ones Darcy was always getting her to try, even if Human alcohol wasn't strong enough to get her drunk.
Darcy and Kara were enjoying a simple drink of vanilla vodka on the rocks when the alert came in.
"Dimensional breach," An alert from Brainiac and JARVIS came over the lab speaker system simultaneously. Darcy and Kara both looked up from their drinks to see the screen.
"What's out near Kansas City?" Darcy asked as she moved to zoom in on the breach. "Whoa! What is that?" she asked as the wormhole destabilized and closed. Kara quickly rewound the image to see the wild looking circle hanging in the air near an empty farmer's field.
"That was a wormhole." Kara stammered, white-faced and startled by the sight. "Not an Asgardian or magical one, but a natural wormhole!"
"You look like you've seen a ghost." Darcy was worried. Course the idea of natural versus magical and alien tech wormholes was worrying; it was Kara's complete lack of color that was scaring the poor intern.
"I think I have. That's what the breach that brought me here looked like." Kara told her as her eyes stared transfixed at the image. "The wormhole I fell through was more diagonal than circular, but it had that same look to it. That blue Stargate look."
"Sorry to interrupt but someone came out of the breach." Brainiac told her. "It is currently fifty miles away and broadcasting.
"Put it on speaker." Darcy called out. She was semi-laughing. She loved how Star Trek that sounded. This was also the first time she was involved in a Supergirl interaction. Usually the AIs would give a report of something happening, and Kara would race off.
At the same time a second screen came up with an interface showing medical readouts of a much evaluated heartrate, stress levels, normal glucose levels, something called the 'Speedforce', and energy output counted in calories. A second screen popped up with a Suit analysis title. On it was a red body suit and monitors for heat resistance, rigidity, abrasion, durability, friction, testing sensors, and speedometer currently at zero. Darcy stared at the new information with wide unbelieving eyes as Kara barely scanned it, focused more on the location.
"-co, Caitlin… Anybody?" The voice sounded scared. Darcy instantly felt sorry for the guy. Kara looked more concerned than anything.
"This is Supergirl. I can hear you." Kara stated as calmly as she could.
"You're who now?" the voice asked sounding completely bewildered.
Kara smiled while Darcy choked back a laugh. "Who is this?"
"I'm the Flash." He said sounding a little cocky; as if he could not believe he was being asked that question.
"You're who now?" Kara snarked back, as Darcy continued to giggle. "Listen, Flash was it? We detected a dimensional breach. I am assuming that you created that breach as my recordings and readings here show you coming out of it." Her eyes passed over the other information and she was a little puzzled as to why he was broadcasting so much, and why that type of personal information.
"I guess so, but I don't know how that's possible." He admitted sounding a little more in control of himself. "The tachyon field was only supposed to feed the Speedforce, not create breaches."
"Alright Flash, stay where you are, I am coming to you." Kara replied, trying to be comforting by speaking softly.
"Ah ok… I'm not sure where here is, other than a corn field." His voice sounded unsure and a little overwhelmed again.
"You are fifty miles north of Kansas City." Darcy chirped helpfully.
"Never heard of it, is it far from Central City? If you can contact STAR Labs than maybe I can get them to help me get back home." Flash told them, he sounded a little unsure of himself.
Kara's eyes widened and she zoomed out of the lab at top speed. Kara's regular clothes fluttered to the floor, meaning she had changed into the black bodysuit while in flight and had thrown her clothes off instead of fading them. "Whoa dude! I don't know what you said but Supes just took off like a bat out of hell and should be to you in about…"
"Whoa, where did you come from?" Flash's voice came back. Darcy was trying hard not to cackle like a wicked witch.
"I'm Supergirl." Kara's voice replied, her voice sounded urgent now. "You need to come with me quickly before SHIELD finds you."
"What... Why? Who is SHIELD?" Asked The Flash. Darcy wished she had a picture of what he looked like. His voice sounded warm, and gave her good tingles.
"I'll answer all your questions when we get somewhere safe." She replied quickly. "Brainiac wipe all data regarding Flash from JARVIS, and lock everything else behind your firewalls." Darcy watched as all the holoscreens suddenly shut down, and popped out of existence.
"It is complete Supergirl," answered the double timbre of both computers voices. "I'm shutting down power to Miss Stark's lab." JARVIS added.
"Darcy you need to get out of there." Kara ordered quickly. "If SHIELD finds out about this, I don't want you getting dragged in." Darcy was now on more lists than she'd ever knew existed. Kara had made sure Darcy was considered a non-risk, but she couldn't risk removing her from them without raising red flags. SHIELD was one such place that had her on several watchlists in their own organization. Mostly due to Jane, but two were because she was a 'friend' of Kara Stark. The unreachable Kara Stark.
"No problem. Nice to meet you Flash!" Darcy slammed back her drink and left the lab. Whatever had spooked Supergirl about this guy was not something Darcy needed to know until Kara wanted her too. She still hoped to meet him though. The picture of the red suit looked interesting. Slim runners build, he had to be in shape, and that could be fun.
Kara looked at Flash and gave him a strained smile. "I'm about to take you somewhere no one on any Earth knows the location to." She told him with a touch of both fear and hope in her eyes. "SHIELD will never let you go if they find you." She warned him.
"I take it SHIELD is a government agency of some type?" Flash inquired as he stared at the woman in the matte black jumpsuit that covered her from her feet to her neck. It had a small red symbol of an S on her right shoulder and two dark green bands on her arms. On her belt were two sheathed daggers.
"Multi-national black ops," Kara confirmed for him. "I can help you. Unlike anyone else on this planet I have an idea where you are from. Or at least about the Earth you come from."
"What Earth… How?" He asked curious about the blond woman. He was also pretty sure she knew he was from another Earth from that statement and he wondered how much this Earth knew about the Multi-verse. Barry was also concerned, because while she was worried about some black ops division grabbing him, she looked like she worked for that type of agency. He could see the plates of armor that had been sewn into the fabric.
"Because I was born in your universe, or one very close to it," She told him as she reached for his arm to pull him close. Barry gapped at her. A dimension traveler! If he had jumped Earths unintentionally he was going to need help getting back. Hopefully she was the right person to help him, but going somewhere no one knew of was kinda scary, but so was becoming a prisoner of a black op spy organization.
"Okay…" He said carefully looking at the dark jumpsuit warily. "But where are we going?"
Barry had agreed to let her take him to the Fortress after she explained briefly that it was a hidden place where she did research, and no one could sneak up on. She made it sound like it was her version of STAR labs and since her outfit looked like some type of superhero or NASCAR costume, Barry was convinced to try it out. He wasn't prepared for her to grab him and fly faster than he could run towards the Arctic. The entrance she flew through was a tight tunnel through a break in the ice field before he was placed back on his feet in a huge underground room.
"Under the ice in the arctic," He looked up in awe at the crystallized structure and architecture. "How is this possible? How are you possible?" He poised his questions to her. He was fairly certain she wasn't using the Speedforce since she could … well fly… but she was easily faster than he was. She had flown much faster than Mach 2 for certain. He was in shock and could now understand why everyone just shook off what he could do, since he was the impossible too.
"I'm not human." She said softly as she waved her hand around. "All this is Kryptonian technology."
Barry looked around again, taking in more details. The center room was designed by interlocking Pantheon sized columns of hex and octagon cut crystals that were creating an A-frame pitch. There was a large hexagon sized room off to the side, with opaque crystal covering the dome, and two A-frame styled hallways. One immediately opened into a room that looked like it was a cross between a living room and his lab at work, just with much better machines that looked so sleek, and that was from where he was standing. The scientist in him was dying to try them out. The other hallway was dark and looked much longer with several doors opening off each side.
"Kryptonian?" He asked in awe, "I've never heard of that… wait not human?" He stopped and did a double take as that fact sunk in and he blinked as the structure over his head suddenly meant something entirely new. She certainly looked human enough and the bodysuit wasn't hiding much about her body. While it wasn't skin tight like lycra, it was still close fitting. He looked her over carefully. She certainly looked female and human. Kara stood waiting for him to finish processing the idea.
"I'm an alien, like the Asgardian gods before Ragnarök." She explained as she stood near the main crystal console in the center of the main room when he didn't respond as quickly as she'd like.
Barry looked confused and finally took his cowl off. He looked very young. His brown hair and hazel eyes gave him an innocent boy-next-door look, except his eyes betrayed that he has seen a lot in his short lifetime. He was obviously not as young looking as Kara herself, but he looked about the age she actually should be if she were human. "I'm Barry Allen." He said holding out his hand.
"My alien name is Kara Zor El." She told him with a shy smile as she took his hand carefully and gave it a normal strength shake. "But I go by Kara Stark in my everyday life here on Earth."
"So can we sit down and you can explain what is happening here and what you know?" Barry asked somewhat still looking overwhelmed and gestured towards the ledge behind her. "Then maybe I can fill in what I know."
Kara led him over to the living-quarters area away for the console and waved him to take a seat in her 'living room'. It took a few moments for Barry to actually sit as he walked up to the lab equipment for a quick look at the unfamiliar machines but could make out what their counterparts were from his own lab by the test tubes and the configurations of the machines. He was in awe of her genetics station and her obvious mass spectrometer. There were several that were obviously not anything he knew the use of but he pulled himself away when Kara playfully cleared her throat.
"I'll let you look later." Kara smirked playfully. She was curious about him now that she'd seen him near her equipment. He obviously knew what some of the analysis machines were for from the way he had looked them over. That meant he was not just a human with powers, he was a smart human with powers.
Barry sat down and after a few moments Kara began telling him the outline of her story about Krypton's explosion and the dimensional rift that resulted in her coming here and the differences in her information which seemed to suggest she was from an Earth closer to his own than this one. Barry took several minutes to digest that before he collected his thoughts he began to tell her about his powers, what he knew of them, how he got them, and the resulting fights with the metahumans that had been created the night of the accelerator explosion,. He told her of the Reverse Flash, who in a strange twist of fate had gone back in time to kill him before he became the Flash, and instead had needed to create him in order to get back to his own time. He also told her of his newest problem in the form of Zoom, and his quest to get faster so he could beat him, which had led to the creation of the tachyon booster.
"Can I see this tachyon booster?" She asked as she stared at the device attached to his chest still.
"Yeah, knock yourself out." Barry unhooked the device and handed it to her. Kara walked over to one of the scanner panels, and placed the device on the surface. Barry was right there behind her to see what she did, but he couldn't read the writing on the machines. The letters where written in strange rune and geometric shaped letters he had never seen before.
"Brainiac begin scanning and create a breakdown and visual map please." Kara ordered.
The scanner digitally broke the complicated device and the particles inside it down into specifications and a blueprint of its design in less than a minute. Barry couldn't help but be impressed by the efficiency of the scanner. If it had 3D printing ability Barry was going to beg her for the design specs. Hell, he was going to beg anyway, once he stopped gawking.
"Detecting subspace particles infused inside the tachyon field generator." Brainiac informed them. Kara wasn't surprised Barry noticed.
"Subspace particles?" Barry questioned sharply. "How did subspace particles get inside the matrix? That should not be possible. It's an enclosed system."
Kara did look concerned, "The same way they got inside my ship when I arrived I imagine." She muttered loud enough for him to hear as she bit her lip in concentration. If Frigga was right, The Norns had pulled her through the Space Time Continuum to this Multiverse. When they did, they had left an imprint in the form of those very same subspace particles… The question was; why would they pull Barry through? What did they want with him? Should she tell him?
"Wait you have a space ship?" Barry asked her, his jaw nearly hitting the floor with astonishment.
Kara looked at him like he was insane. "How else do you think I got off Krypton? I might be able to fly but I do need to breathe."
"Can I see it?" He begged. His whole body was literally vibrating with excitement.
Kara understood his eagerness and chuckled. "It's in storage down the hall." She turned to start walking towards the darkened hallway. The crystal walls began to light up as Kara walked towards it. Barry zipped to walk beside her.
"I got to say I love this Earth!" He gushed like a fanboy, watching as the pure white light began to glow making the hallway brighten with a soft warming light.
Kara couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. It reminded her of Loki when he'd first started learning Kryptonian and they would speak it, annoying everyone else since they couldn't listen in. The memory made her smile sadly, and a flash of pain crossed her face.
Barry noticed her preoccupation. "If this is a bad time-" He trailed off.
"No," Kara said softly as look down the hall. In her mind she revisited the day Loki had finally understood the writing on her reading primer, "Just a bittersweet memory."
"Can I ask?" Barry was hesitant, Kara felt touched that he was asking, and giving her the choice to say no. Darcy had pushed a little at first, but respected that Kara hadn't been ready. Tony being Tony had just made a habit of not looking at her when he asked anything about Asgard, but he still pushed. Pepper had been a better friend, but she was also very busy being Tony's part-time PA, and CEO of SI. Though Tony was managing his own calendar most of the time these days, she still had to keep he updated on things he HAD to do, otherwise he'd blow them all off. Except the children's events like Make-A–Wish, and Hospital visits, they were the ones he always made an effort to remember on his own.
"My brother died recently," She explained to Barry, who instantly became more serious, and his expression changed to one of understanding. His eyes told her he did know how she felt. They were clouded with the same pain. "He was enthusiastic, like you, about seeing my tech in action." She told him quietly.
Barry looked sad, but not pitying which Kara appreciated. "I know it never helps to hear it, but I'm sorry for your loss."
Kara nodded and gave him a sad smile. "Thank you." He was right it didn't help to hear it, but she took the saying for what it was, an acknowledgment of her pain.
Barry bit his lip in his confusion and the uncertainly if he should ask his question. "I have to ask, if he was your brother..."
Kara chuckled softly. "Foster brother would be a better translation. He was Loki, a Prince of Asgard. I'm officially a ward of the queen, and not from their planet or even this Multiverse. I was brought here by The Norns for a purpose, but I don't know what that purpose is." Though she knew it was something the do with Ragnarök, she was still unsure what it was she was supposed to do to stop or enrich it.
"Asgard… as in the Norse gods of Asgard, that Asgard?" Barry's eyes were blown wide open. The idea that they were real was a revelation and a half. That meant not only were they real people, and not myth or legends, but that they were aliens. Humans had worshipped aliens!
Kara nodded solemnly. "In this universe they never died, Ragnarök hasn't occurred here."
"But wait, who is Loki?" Barry asked confused. He'd studied mythology as part of his history credit in college, but he didn't remember a Loki. "I read most of the myths at one time, but I don't recall a Loki. And most of the newer myths were just plain made-up by the Christians that came later." He recalled thoughtfully. That had been one of the things about the course that had stuck out to him at the time, the propaganda of changing the stories, and twisting them to make the gods of Asgard flawed, or downright evil.
"The myths are very different here." Kara admitted softly. "Loki was the God of Mischief on this Asgard."
Barry thought back to the class myths He was sure there was a God of Mischief and fire, one who had helped the gods repeatedly, but was demonized because of his red hair. He'd been said to have brought about the end of the gods because of mistreatment by Asgard of both him and his many children. "Wasn't the God of Mischief Loptr the adopted brother of Odin, and uncle to Thor? He brought the most powerful weapons to Asgard, and fire to mankind?" He was sure that was right, at least the pre-Christian version of Loptr.
"Yes, at least in our myths from our Multiverse." Kara admitted. She'd never shared that information with anyone on Asgard. Knowing that Loki wasn't a part of the Myths, but the bearer of his mantel as the God of Mischief in her own multiverse was responsible for Ragnarök, that was the reason Kara refused to share them. It would have been all the excuse needed for some of the court to begin screaming for Loki to be locked up for what could come to be. She never trusted Odin, or the Court enough to let anyone see those myths. Not even Loki had seen them, and she had trusted him more than anyone.
She turned to the door that they had just come to and placed her hand on the middle of the door to unlock it. It slid open, allowing Barry to see the small silver space craft.
"Whoa!" was all he managed to say as he seemed to stagger forward to the ship. He ran his hand down the sleek keel on the side of the ship. He spent nearly five minutes examining the outside of the ship, looking and staring at the design and the symbols on the surface. He was staring at the damaged canopy when Kara stepped forward.
"That's where my- Thor grabbed the front to force it open when I crashed on Asgard." Kara managed to spit out Thor's name, and Barry was quick to look away when she seemed uncomfortable.
"Does it still fly? If the window was fixed I mean?" Barry asked, more excited than before. There were no engines that he could see, the fins on the back looked more decorative than functional, and the whole thing looked like a sci-fi prop. Which when he thought about it, it was the ultimate sci-fi prop. His fingers itched to take it apart and he didn't even understand engineering as much as Cisco did. Man, Cisco would kill to get his hands on this ship!
Kara blinked a few times. "I don't know. I never even considered fixing it."
Brainiac chimed in. "If the window was fix, and the structural integrity of the lower haul was reinforced after the crash landing, it would be space worthy. However it is a space pod, not a ship. It was designed for a single person to go from one point in space to another with only limited maneuverability."
"So it's a long range life pod?" He verified to Kara who nodded. "Wow, just imagine how advanced the space program could be if they could see this though." He looked extremely reluctant to leave the ship as he finally tore his eyes from it.
"Thank you so much! This was so awesome! Can I take a picture with it?" He begged as he searched his pockets for his phone.
Kara chuckled and nodded. He posed with the ship a few times, including the 'Vanna White' pose as Kara took the photos with his cell phone, and then sent them to her printer.
He was in awe as she led him back to the hallway to retrieve the photos. "I'll let you look at it in depth later if we have time. Right now let's see about getting a few things figured out so you can get home."
"Yeah, I really need to figure out what went wrong with the Speedforce and the tachyon generator so I can get back… if I can get back." He uttered anxiously. He was suddenly looking a little green at the thought of being stuck on a different Earth for the rest of his life. He knew he had been extremely lucky that it was Kara, who had found him first, and not this SHIELD, or any other Government agency that found.
It was Kara's turn to be intrigued. "What is the Speedforce?"
"It's this field that's generated when a Speedster runs fast enough to create the electrical charged lightening." Barry quickly ran up and down the hallway. Unlike a human Kara was able to follow Barry's movements, but it was the yellow lightning that traveled behind him that captured her attention. As Barry passed by she placed her hand inside the yellow trail and the lightening felt like a similar flare of power that Thor generated.
"That's a form of magic!" Kara sputtered as she pulled her hand back, surprised that Barry had magic powers. The yellow lightning was playing across her fingers before dying out. Unlike the magic of Thor, this magic didn't want to enter her system, and seemed to jump away from her body as if repulsed.
"Magic isn't re-" Barry cut himself off before he could insult Kara. He looked both overwhelmed and frustrated by the newest information. "Of course magic is real here." He muttered softly, not aware Kara could hear him.
"It's real on your Earth too most likely, just really rare. Krypton was aware of 'magic users' on the Earth I was expecting to land on." She informed him before she looked towards the wall where a holoscreen projector was hidden.
"Brainiac do you know anything about this Speedforce, or of any Speedsters in either multiverse?" Kara asked the computer.
Barry watched as Kara talked to the wall and was stunned when a computer simulated person of a tall man with black hair and green eyes dressed in black and green armor appeared.
"The Speedforce as Mr. Allen has described and demonstrated was known as the 'Mahoteoon Fahoyhrzhoeh'. It is a sentient representation of the reality of motion. By the estimation of the Pre-Kryptonian scientists, it is the cosmic force that pushes space and time forward. It was explored and found to be an inter-dimensional source of chronological dark matter energy, and has its own form of consciousness and intelligence much like the Phoenix Force."
"The Speedforce was able to manifest itself to communicate with chosen beings, giving them insight and abilities, to help keep the integrity of the Space Time Continuum consistent. These chosen were to uphold the timeline. When they failed they became the legendary Fahulahehon. According to the lore found on several worlds, these 'Speedsters', found themselves trapped within the Speedforce itself, as a kind of purgatory if they fail to live up to the promises exchanged for the powers they were given. These same myths state that the Speed Force itself claims to have been around since the beginning of time, and will exist until at least the end of the known universe. It is not known whether the Speedforce is a metaphysical aspect of reality itself, or if it just an aspect of a Celestial, or other higher beings such as Death."
"Whoa, that is more than we know about it, and a lot of details and specific information. These were all myths in your universe?" Barry asked when he stopped gaping, "What's a Fahulahehon, or a Celestial?"
"Fahulahehon translates to 'The Fallen'." Brainiac in his Loki form clarified. "They would be the chosen like you who failed in their responsibilities. Celestials are beings or entities that are truly immortal, or have been around since time began in one form or another. Lady Death is one such personification of a Celestial. While she doesn't walk around like a human, she can if she so chooses. They are aspects of the universe personified."
Barry took several minutes to process the information. Kara understanding Barry's completely overwhelmed state went and got him a healing gel drink that would help his body process any mental shock. It also had the added benefit of equaling out his blood glucose levels, and it tasted really good. Barry drank the thick water looking drink without comment, just sipping it as he stared at the Loki image across from him.
"So there is a Speedforce jail for people who abuse their powers?" Barry finally asked after several minutes. He still looked confused and a little frightened, but his heartrate was calm and his body was no longer showing extreme levels of emotional distress. Kara figured she had overdone it and decided to cut back on the surprises if she could. It seemed his Earth had no idea about the wider Universe beyond their solar system. "Then why doesn't it arrest Zoom? And what are these rules?"
"I do not have enough parameters to make an estimation as to why this self-aware cosmic force has not contacted you, or arrested your evil counterpart." Brainiac replied with a shrug. It was such a Loki thing to do and say that Kara nearly snorted.
Barry opened his mouth and stopped himself before he could say anything more. When it was put that way Barry was unsure what to say. Kara decided to change the subject. She shivered as she remembered Stark playing with a particle accelerator in his basement just months ago. "So the STAR Labs accelerator was sabotaged, and when it blew up it created metahumans?"
"Well it's nicknamed the Pipeline, and we had been using it to keep evil metahumans locked up since there wasn't a jail anywhere near Central City that can house them before." Barry told her with a look that suggested he wasn't that fond of the idea. "I was in a coma for seven months after I was hit with lightning. Most metas live normal lives, but the ones who were bad people before, are now more dangerous, so my friends and I try to stop them."
"That's truly commendable." She told him with a smile and a light pat on the shoulder of respect. "I take it the regular justice system wasn't up to dealing with the issue of holding a metahuman."
Barry shook his head. He looked relieved to hear approval for his team's actions from someone who wasn't directly involved in their operations. "We created the cells using some of the strongest magnets in existence, and for some of them it is barely enough. For that first year, I couldn't wait for the day that I could just hand them over to CCPD, and Iron Heights Penitentiary. I was really glad it happened so soon. I hated being judge, jury and warden. I like being just a CSI."
She nodded, understanding the responsibility he had assumed when the regular systems couldn't keep up. His drive to protect was endearing. She couldn't help but trust him because of his dedication. His honest baby face was hard to resist as well, it just screamed 'I'm honest'.
"I can imagine." His commitment to being just a CSI didn't make him any less of a cop in her mind. His actions while waiting for the system to catch up was also reasonable. He arrested the bad guys as The Flash, and he was usually the witness to their actions. It wasn't like he was locking people up for being metahumans, just those that abused their powers, and broke the law.
Kara thought back to what he said about the accelerator being nicknamed the Pipeline. "Are you saying your STAR Labs built an accelerator big enough to walk around in? It's not just a small diameter ring?" She still remembered coming back and finding half the accelerator in her lab. Tony had slammed a hole in the wall and built it though her space, which is now why she was on the other end of the hallway from him.
Barry nodded and pointed to the Console room. "Yeah the diameter of the Pipeline is about the size of your main room there easily. Pretty crazy I know! But it was supposed to be a clean energy source that could power the entire city, or maybe half the state. That's why it was so big." He rushed to explain. "I've even trained inside of it." He admitted sheepishly.
"Wells... Or I guess Thawne," she corrected herself, "was trying to build something very similar to an over-sized Arc Reactor." Kara summarized as she imagined what an arc reactor of that magnitude exploding would look like. Suddenly Tony's little makeshift accelerator didn't seem so bad. At least if it had exploded it would have only affected a small area around the mansion, and only Tony himself. This Pipeline explosion had affected a whole city, and who knew how far out!
"A what?" Barry asked, once more looking excited by the idea of learning something new.
Kara began to laugh as she pulled up the plans and a picture of the scaled down working test version of Tony's building scale Arc Reactor that was being built for Stark Tower. "This is an Arc Reactor. It's a repulsor based cold-fusion technology. It produces power at rates that allow for the output to be over three gigajoules per second from a hand sized reactor. It uses isotope Palladium-107, which captures Palladium -103, and decays into Argentum-107, with gamma radiation catalyzing the reaction."
Barry staggered as he stared at her. "Please tell me you are joking!"
Kara looked him steadfast in the eye. "I never lie." She stated plainly as she once more tried to understand why this was so hard for him to understand. His tachyon device was easily as advanced as Tony's reactor, he should understand the plans she was bringing up on the screen.
"Repulsor based cold-fusion? That's only theory!" He exclaimed his hands waving excitedly at the plans on the screen, "As of yesterday cold-fusion was impossible on my Earth." Barry stared longingly at the plans in front of him, reading as much about the reactor as he could. He could speed read information, but it never stayed in his mind when he read that fast. It would stick around for a few days then fade unless he reinforced the knowledge by studying it repeatedly, or learning it at a regular pace.
Kara chuckled and bit her lip. She should have known better than to assume he would know about cold-fusion. She inwardly winced at her blunder, so much for her 'Prime Directive' and not blowing his mind any further.
"My friend Tony, he built his first reactor out of spare parts in a cave, while he was being held hostage for three months." She told him proudly, trying to cover up her mistake.
"I've gotta meet him." Barry breathed as his eyes never left the screen taking in as much information as possible.
Kara nodded softly. "You likely will since he'll be helping to figure out a way to send you back."
"Do you think he'd be ok if I tried to recreate this on my world?" Barry asked as he took in everything again and again, making sure it was well established. He knew if he learned something at these speeds it would stay for a few days, he wanted as much time with it as he could so he might have a chance to figure it out back home.
Kara shrugged unconcerned. "I don't think he'd care much as long as a portion of the profits went to philanthropist uses that help lift people up,"
Barry thought about it as he looked at the plans again. "You mean organizations that help people get jobs, or prosthetics?"
Kara nodded happily. "That's exactly what I mean. Say twenty percent of profits, not including production costs or anything like wages and such either, just pure profit from the Arc Reactor."
Barry smiled widely. "I can certainly agree to that. It'll be years before we get there but I would gladly agree to that."
Kara nodded her head. "Go ahead. If it works just let me know. I'd love to see it someday." She smiled at him.
Barry was beginning to give himself a headache re-reading the information, trying so made to memorize it. "I think I need to eat, and lay down for a bit. My mind is blown." Barry admitted with a self-conscious look as he finished taking in the plans. "I tend to eat a lot." He admitted sheepishly, wondering how she would react when he told her how much he needed a day.
Kara laughed thinking there was no way he could keep up with her. It was nice to meet someone who was so honest and she could be honest with. "Me too, how much do you need?"
"Like ten thousand calories a day." He admitted self-consciously as his stomach decided now was a perfect time to prove his point and rumbled ominously. He'd already burned through the gel she had given him.
Kara laughed at the timing and was happy to know his intake was about what hers was. If she ate only food when she needed to support her energy requirements, which since she didn't sunbathe every day, meant she needed a lot of food to provide energy for her powers. She could supplement her appetite with the sun completely, reducing her intake of food entirely, but she loved eating too much to give it up willingly. It would also require long periods of almost nude sunbathing at over forty thousand feet for over two hours a day. That was way too boring.
"Not a problem. I can eat that in junk food in a single sitting, but we can get some really good tasting food at my New York apartment." She told him happily. She turned and asked JARVIS to send in several orders for all her favorite takeout places for them to be sent to her apartment. Then Kara setup a secured link to Tony.
"Hey Tony." Kara called through the screen that had popped into existence beside the Loki hologram. Barry saw an older black hair man bent over his work table. He was in his lab welding some of his armor back together.
"What's up Blue?" He looked behind her to Barry. "What's with the red leather lightening boy back there?" He asked as he went back to his welding. He didn't look like he was paying attention, but his ear was cocked towards the screen. "Please tell me your brother Thor didn't have a kid! Because your family needs to deal with its issues first before sending any more down here to blow shit up, or make huge craters in the planet surface... You know SHIELD is still trying to open that tin can that got left behind. I swear people still think it's mine! Like I'd leave something that advanced out for SHIELD to take."
"No, thank Rao!" Kara shuttered at the thought of Thor as a father. "But he's the reason I'm calling." She told him, "This is Barry Allen aka, The Flash. He's from an Earth pretty darn close to where I am originally from."
Tony dropped the piece of metal he was holding and pushed his welding mask up so he could see her closely. "How close?" His look was intense and his voice sounded very worried and protective, almost fatherly which was pretty darn confusing for Barry. He was pretty sure Tony was human and not an Asgardian from what he had just said.
Barry looked at Kara. "I've never seen anyone like her before," he admitted with a slight chuckle, "that I know of any way. But since she doesn't look like an alien, I'm not so sure... But I've only been to two other Earths, and I didn't really explore much. One was a planet of the Apes, and the other an evil doppelganger type place. It was really weird."
Kara rolled her eyes and then looked back at Barry. "Everything else he has mentioned is right, according to the original information I had about Earth on Brainiac's systems so far." Tony nodded and barely looked at the hologram.
He'd seen Kara's holographic projection of Loki several times now. He didn't think it was healthy. She promised to retire it at the end of her mourning period. He hoped she did it sooner.
"So my counterparts McQueen and Wayne actually exist?" Tony asked somewhat sarcastic. Tony had trolled through the system wanting to know how he stacked up with the billionaires of that Earth. He'd been hell to live with when he decided they weren't as cool as him.
"Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne, yeah they exist," Barry spoke up a little more confident of himself now that they were discussing something he understood. "I know Ollie actually. He helped train me to use my powers. He's known as the Green Arrow on my Earth."
Tony looked unimpressed. Green Arrow didn't sound as cool as Iron Man to Tony. "How did you get here kid?"
Kara sent the tachyon device scan to him. "With that... while running just passed Mach three."
"Running?" Tony inquired with a disbelieving raise eyebrow. "Sounds exhausting," He replied sarcastically. Tony sounded bored to Barry, like they were taking up his valuable time, and wasting it. Tony turned his full attention to the holoscreen with the scan on it. In a second he had the image exploded and was looking at the inner workings while still paying attention to them both.
Barry looked confused, but Kara was smirking. "No more than flying at Mach three for you." Kara laughed softly. "He has magical yellow lightning that trails behind him. Looks really cool," she smirked, "plus he's younger and cuter." She teased.
Barry blushed deeply while Tony sputtered. "You are just trying to be mean now." Tony pouted. Inwardly Tony was relieved to see Kara acting sassy again.
She laughed at him and stuck out her tongue. "You're still my favorite superhero."
"He's a superhero, too?" Barry exclaimed as he stared at Tony, "Scary level of intelligence and a superhero? Why am I surprised again?" He looked up at the ceiling as if to ask 'what the hell' to the heavens, but then he remembered that Kara was related to actual gods, and decided to keep his mouth shut.
Tony stared at Barry for a moment. "I like his kid... We'll keep him if we can't send him home." He nodded to himself as if to set the thought in his mind. Kara knew he wasn't actually joking. If Tony couldn't send him back, he was already forming plans to bring Barry into the fold. For someone SHIELD pegged as a narcissistic loner, he was awful good at collecting really amazing people, if could see past his exterior. Most people, like Fury, never tried. Those that did; like Pepper, Happy and Kara, Tony would and had killed for.
Kara nodded seriously. "First we need to eat. I'll call from the New York apartment once we're done." She made a note for JARVIS to make sure to order Tony his favorite pizza, and have Happy stay with Tony until he ate at least two pieces while it was still warm.
"Need JARVIS to order?" Tony asked as he began to review the scans from the device learning how it worked, and looking over the information about this 'Speedforce' it was supposed to interact with it.
"Nope, Brainiac already put in all my favorites for me." She replied with a chuckle. "I'll leave the device on the scanner, and Brainiac can do any tests you want while we're gone. I'll run it down to you after we eat."
"One more thing" Kara called out to him making Tony look back up. "I gave Barry the Arc Reactor plans; he's going to try to build one on his Earth."
"Kay." Tony replied distractedly as he vaguely waved at the screen. Kara took that for a dismissal and approval.
Barry looked at her in bewilderment. She laughed and smirked. "Told you he wouldn't care."
"He didn't make the charity demands?" Barry was bewildered. He had no problem giving back, she had just made it sound like it would be such a big deal to Stark that he was surprised when he didn't seem to mind. "What about demands it not fall into the wrong hands?"
Kara laughed and shook her head. "You are alright Barry Allen." She told him confidently. "I trust you don't want the bad guys to know it can power supersuits if they can be designed. Just don't make small ones and people won't think to do it. Don't tell the military how to weaponized them and make sure you patent every step of the process. That is the only thing keeping the military from stealing it from Tony right now. That and they can't create the element needed to run it." She knew he had seen the plans for the new element "Badassium" and how to create that too.
"You'll need to name the element though." She snorted.
"I kinda like Badassium." Barry chuckled with an answering smirk. "Though it is a bit publicly incorrect, I'll let Cisco have a go at it. He names all my advisories."
Kara laughed. "Let me know what you call it, and I'll release it to the media if Tony ever does try to name it publicly."
Barry shook her hand. "You have yourself a deal Ms. Stark."