Author's note: Yes, I know that Atomic Skull is typically a Superman villain, but if you closely when Zoom was addressing his army, there was a guy there with a green glowing head and hands. I'm taking a little bit of a leap, but I'm working off the premise that maybe that was Atomic Skull. That being said, please enjoy.
Zoom's metahuman army had scattered from the fight with the Central City Police Department after The Flash had shown up. Most were running around, doing as they were told, causing chaos and terrorizing anyone they came across. Right now, Joseph Martin, better known by the name he'd been given on Earth-2, the Atomic Skull, was working his way through the southern part of the city. He'd already set fire to a few buildings, mostly storefronts, a doctor's office, and now he was coming up to apartment buildings. At least he assumed that these passed for apartments.
He knew that he was in a bad neighborhood, but he didn't care, it wasn't like the people around here could do anything to stop him. He could hear people moving in alleys and between buildings, doing their best to avoid his carnage. He tried not to think too hard about how little that actually meant to him so he wouldn't break out laughing in hysterics, but every now and then a chuckle escaped.
He was walking in front of a small hair salon when he spotted a woman walking up the street all alone. At least he assumed it was a woman since he couldn't see her face because she was walking away from him, though even if she was facing him, the white hoodie she had on under her leather jacket would be covering her face. But the high heeled boots she had on kind of made the confirmation for him. While anyone else might have been running, she had a steady, almost unconcerned manner to her step. Then again, she was probably trying not to look out of place. Then again, if she's walking alone at night while we're destroying the place, he thought, she must be a special kind of stupid. He practically growled at the sight of her walking, realizing that maybe he'd get to have some real fun tonight.
"Hey pretty lady, whatcha doin' out here all by your lonesome?" he called to the woman who kept walking without looking up. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" He began moving toward her, closing the distance quickly as she remained unhurried.
As he closed in, he called out again, and again received no response. Finally, in a fit of impatient rage, he added extra heat as he pumped himself up. The green flames around his skull went from a pulsing hum into a roaring inferno. He channeled the flames into his hands and let loose with a fireball in her direction. It travelled just passed her head, close enough to get her attention and singe her hoodie. She stopped and turned her head toward him, though he still couldn't make her out.
"Got your attention now don't I, sweetheart?"
Without acknowledging, she turned forward again and began walking again.
"Stupid, bitch," Atomic Skull muttered and took off after her. Despite the noise he made while getting closer, the women never sped up, slowed down, or broke stride. He threw another fireball at her and this time she stopped. He took the opportunity to get right up next to her and finally loomed over her, nearly a full head taller. "So what, you think I ain't gonna hurt you?" Atomic Skull shouted, the flames from his head casting a foreboding green glow to the area surrounding them.
"You wouldn't hurt a lady would you, Joe?" the woman asked before turning around.
When she was finally facing him, she lifted her head up to look at the taller metahuman. As he leaned in, Atomic Skull almost laughed again at the sight in front of him. "Hey, Doc," he smiled as he gazed down at Linda Park, Doctor Light herself. Linda watched as the flames on his head and hands began to recede, leaving Joseph Martin's skull almost unhampered for her to look at. Love the hair," he remarked on her longer, redder hair.
"Girl's gotta change her look every now and then. Keeps things interesting."
"Rumor had it that you were dead."
"Not dead, just off Zoom's radar," she responded. "And I'd like to stay that way."
Joseph laughed, not a full laugh, but a condescending chuckle that told the former Earth-2 resident that secrecy might not be on the menu.
"You know Zoom'll find out you're still here eventually," he told her.
"Later though, rather than sooner, unless you tell him."
If it was possible for him to do so without lips, Doctor Light could've sworn he was smiling. "Zoom was all kinds of pissed when you failed to kill The Flash."
"I wasn't the only one who failed."
"You were the only one who tried to run before doing it, though. Flash tried to bait Zoom because of it. You are not one of his favorite people because of it," Atomic Skull said, almost laughing. "And you know he doesn't forgive...or forget."
"Zoom's not gonna get the chance to come after me," she said, a small smile creasing her lips.
"And how do you figure that?"
"Cause the Flash is gonna kick his ass first." This time her smile was wasn't small and it wasn't trying to be hidden.
Atomic Skull was almost impressed. The Doctor Light he knew, she was tough, but she was also a coward; more likely to run from a fight if it looked like it would save her own hide. And she certainly never put faith in someone else to save her. So this idea of hers, that the Flash would somehow stop Zoom, it would be admirable if it wasn't so childish.
"This is Zoom's city now. And he's letting us have it. And I'm sure he'll be pleased as hell when I put you at his feet."
Doctor Light took in a deep breath. She knew this might night happen. Once she saw that Zoom had reappeared and that he had brought friends with him, she knew she should've stay inside and away from the eyes of anyone who might recognize her. But she hadn't eaten in two days.
Just my luck, she thought, caught because I'm out of groceries and that little old lady next door is in the damn hospital and can't make me a damn meal. But once again, as proof that her luck wasn't always the best, the damn market at the end of the block was closed thanks to the carnage Atomic Skull and his buddies were causing, so she was forced to head home empty handed, making her run into this clown.
"Come on, Joe," she purrs, trying to turn on the charm with a little flirting. "You wouldn't turn in little old me right? After all, we are friends."
Atomic Skull leaned in until he was face to skull with Doctor Light and practically snarled. "Where Zoom's concerned, I can do without a friend like you, especially since you won't be alive much longer," he growls while grabbing her arm.
Doctor Light shook him off and pushed him back. "You're not taking me anywhere," she said getting her hand up.
Atomic Skull threw a punch which Doctor Light ducked under and shoved her hands against his torso, pushing him again, but this time added some of her powers to the shove, sending him back a few feet. Atomic Skull fired a green flame at her, which despite Doctor Light's use of her own powers to shield her, knocked her back several feet and to the ground. She could feel her head spinning from the fall and tried to shake it off, but she'd hit harder than she thought. I'm out of practice, she thought as she struggled to sit up.
"Gotcha," Atomic Skull celebrated. His cackle echoed down the empty street. He closed in, this time slowly, like a predator does when his prey's wounded and he knows he can take his time. "You've gone soft, Doc," he told her as he moved in until he was practically standing over her. "Living here, with these sheep, sucked the killer instinct right out of you, made you even more useless."
Atomic Skull brought his hands up, a ball of flame forming between them, growing as he fed more into it. He lifted the fireball into the air, prepared to drop it when an explosion from behind him stole his attention. Doctor Light didn't know if the explosion was another meta causing their own damage, or just something being set off from Atomic Skull's damage, or, unbeknownst to her, a gas line rupturing and meeting with an electrical spark, but she took the distraction and used it for own.
While still on the ground, she brought both her hands up and forced them to begin glowing. She could feel the power she was sending into them building as she fed it into them. "Hey, Joe," she shouted to get his attention. Once he turned back to her, she spread her arms out and sent a cascade of light around them that could be seen for a few blocks. The force of the blast knocked Atomic Skull off his feet and Doctor Light kept watching him, looking for movement. There was none.
She pulled herself off the ground and slowly staggered her way toward him, her hands still readied to blast him again if need be. As much as she hated knowing that he'd turn her in if he survived, she still hoped he was alive. I don't need another body on me, she thought. She let out a breath of relief when she saw his chest rising and falling. Still alive, good, she mused. She kicked him in the ribs, hoping it didn't wake him, but feeling he deserved it.
"I don't have a killer instinct, Joe, because I'm not a killer."
She looked around, making sure no one saw her, hoping that he'd done too good a job of scaring everybody inside. When she was as certain as she could be that no one was witnessing this, she pulled her hood back up and kept walking back to her shoebox she called an apartment. Someone will find him eventually.