4 Years Earlier
Athena skipped along, holding the hands of her new parents. Her mom had died in a car accident and her father died when she was just a baby, so it felt wonderful to have a complete family again. She wondered where they would live, what school would she go to and if there were any other kids her age near their home for her to play with.
As they pulled away from the place that had been her home for the last two years of her life, Athena vocalized some of these questions, along with others. Her new mom smiled and said "You'll see soon sweetie." Athena sighed, but settled in for the car ride, questioning what her future would hold for her.
4 Years Later
Once everyone, Legends included, had met back up with Fury and the others aboard his ship, a meeting was called. Fury, Hill, Avengers and company, Daisy and company (minus Phil, who thought it best to wait until later for the other Avengers to know he was still alive), the Legends and the reluctant allies of the Avengers were the ones in attendance. Black Panther had finally arrived and so was in person for this meeting.
"So let me get this straight. Zoom is once again causing problems by bringing criminals out of their timelines to here." Sara stated. At a nod from Barry, she continued "Why the heck bring them here? Why not bring them to a time where there is no one to stop them and take over the world then?" "You're thinking it's a distraction?" asked the Black Panther, who was not yet ready along with the Wasp to give up his identity.
"But a distraction from what? I mean, I used to be a criminal and if there is one thing I know it's that there is no point in having a distraction if there is nothing to distract from." Scott broke in. "Yeah, and what timeline are they trying to distract us from? The current one or another?" asked Peter, who was trying to prove he could keep up with this kind of conversation.
Suddenly a swirling orange vortex opened behind him and a man with a red cape stepped through saying "Good question. Now considering that the ones that protect the timeline had shown up here, I would bet that it would have something to do with another timeline. They've given us plenty to keep busy for quite a while." "Who are you?" asked Ray Palmer. "Dr. Strange. My job is a bit like yours on a much more complex stage." Strange replied.
"Now, has anyone seen this Zoom character around since he attacked the SHIELD base?" he added. Everyone looked to Barry who said "Hey, if you want me to give you live updates on where he is, I need to be patched into my team, they're the ones with the software." "Patch him through." Fury said to Hill. Cisco and company appeared floating above the table and this time they could also see them. "Barry!" Cisco exclaimed, "I was just about to try to Vibe you! But dude I see I need not have worried, I think I am going to die in geek heaven right now, hang on a second."
Caitlin rolled her eyes a bit, before saying "Ignore him, please." "Caitlin, what do you guys have on Zoom currently?" Felicity broke in and said "Nothing, he disappeared from the last coordinates we sent you shortly after we tracked you leaving them and we haven't seen anything from him since." "So either he has gone back into the speed force to who knows where, or he has figured out how to block us from tracking him." Caitlin finished.
Iris walked into the frame just then and said "Be careful Barry, Zoom could pop out at any point and time." "I know Iris, I'll be careful." Barry said with a soft smile, before looking at Caitlin, "We may need Killer Frost and Vibe to join us, think you can get him to stop drooling long enough to do so?" "On it. Be there in a jiff." Barry ended the call as the girls got to making Cisco move. Fury sputtered, "Who do you think you are, calling in more people?"
"You are going to need all the help you can get." Barry said simply, causing Oliver to smirk. For the second time that day, a vortex opened behind Peter, startling him as two figures stepped out. "Everyone, meet Vibe and Killer Frost." Barry said as way of introductions. Looking around the rather full room, Fury nodded and said "Okay, now we are getting somewhere. Anybody else have anything they would like to add."
"I do." Said Tony. "It's something that I've been developing since our last big fight we had, the one where Storm Bringer joined us." He pulled out a familiar looking dagger, which caused Percy's eyes to spark dangerously. "Hey, that's one of the daggers Annabeth loaned to you that you were supposed to return!" "Well, I borrowed one. Besides this isn't one of them, but a replica I made." Tony said smugly. Percy scoffed and said "What good is that going to do us, it won't hurt people." The statement earned him some puzzled looks from those who hadn't been privy to his first time with the Avengers.
"As I said, it's a replica. I've kept its high durability while adding some spice to it." he said, dragging it across his hand lightly to show it would now cut a human, as he continued "I've been working on it for the day when those things we fought, the first time we were the Avengers, come knocking at our door again. A little extra fire power never hurts." While Percy was still annoyed that he hadn't listened and had been messing with things he didn't understand, he had to admit he was impressed with what Tony had accomplished.
"So if that isn't the original dagger, then where is it?" Percy questioned. "Safe, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter. Never know when I may need it again." He gave Percy a pointed look, causing Percy to roll his eyes, after all he could die buy any weapon any other human could die buy too. "Hate to butt into this little love fest over here, but what's the plan?" asked Killer Frost. Her voice sent shivers down a few of those who hadn't witnessed it before, it was almost an echo with a bit of cold to it, nothing like they had ever heard before.
"I'm going to have Felicity and Iris work with Gideon, if that's okay with Sara, to see if they can track down where the heck Zoom is. Meanwhile, the rest of us will hunt down those who he brought back and secure them either aboard the Wave Rider or here until we can get them back safely to their own timeline. Hopefully we can keep from breaking the timeline too much." Barry said. "Rip will appreciate that." Sara muttered before saying louder, "Sure, have Felicity and Iris brought to the Wave Rider, I'm sure Cisco can handle that."
"Okay, once they do, myself and a few others will track him down." Barry said, "I was thinking Percy, Kara, Lincoln and Daisy." "Please, may I come? My brother was a speedster so I might be able to help." Wanda interrupted to ask. Percy nodded and said "Okay and Wanda, Kara can keep up pretty well so that will be just enough for us to each take two. Meanwhile, if not everyone has been rounded up yet, you guys can keep doing that or use the Wave Rider to return them to their times. Sound like a plan?"
Everyone nodded, and Percy said "Okay let's do this."
XXX
4 Years Earlier
Athena woke up with a start, everything around her silent. She groaned as she realized her head hurt. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was being in the car with her new family, heading towards her home. She tried to move only to realize she was strapped down. As she started freaking out, a man stepped out of the shadows. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."
Athena wasn't sure she trusted the man, but stilled a little to make him believe she was did. "Good, this will be much easier if you just cooperate." The man said as he walked closer. Her eyes grew big as she saw the needle in his hand, and she tried to scream, only to realize she was gagged tightly. He saw her breathing increasing and he frowned as he said "Relax, this will work better if you are relaxed."
He reached her side and started softly, comfortingly petting her head. Without realizing it, Athena did relax, only to be startled by the stinging sensation of the needle entering her arm. As she started to panic, the man held her down firmly, the earlier gentleness gone as he said "Do not struggle, you'll only make this worse for yourself."
To try to help her relax, he asked "What is your name?" removing her gag so she could answer. "A..Athena. Where are my mommy and daddy?" the little girl asked, a tear forming in her eye. The man frowned and said "Do not worry about them, they will never find you here, if they even bother to look. After all, you aren't their real daughter and they can always get another where they got you." Athena gasped, his words stinging for it wasn't something she herself had never thought of, but rather thoughts just like it went through her mind the whole time as they were going through the adoption process, why did they want her.
As the man moved to regag her, Athena, desperate to connect with any human, even if they were her captor asked "Who are you?" The man hesitated in his movement before replying "Hunter, Hunter Zolomon." With that he re-tied her gag and left the room, leaving Athena alone with her thoughts. Would her new parents even come looking for her? What was he going to do to her? What was in the needle that he had stuck in her?
Thank you spiderman1fan for your review on my last chapter! I haven't actually watched Black Lightning, its on my I want to watch list along with Titans, but I'm super far behind on all my shows that at the moment I can't add any without feeling guilty. However, if you message me a bit about him and Static Shock (whom I'm assuming is a character in the show?) I might at least be able to give them a mention or brief cameo. :D
A thousand apologies for missing last weeks update! Life just got crazy and I didn't have anything really ready for it (only the brief little section at the beginning of this chapter was done), so I put it off until this week rather then rush to write something up last Monday. I hope this was worth the wait. A little note for those who either don't watch the Flash or simply don't remember which speedster is whom anymore, Hunter Zolomon is Zoom. Hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter, let me know if there is anyone you would like to see in future chapters that hasn't been mentioned or even has been mentioned, but not enough for you.
