Earth-1
Central City
It was a rare occurrence that Oliver would leave Star City. Save for the occasional world saving and running away from things that where too painful. But in the face of his own doppelganger and Laurels ghost, there was no hesitation for him to follow the group to Central City. If it also got them out of his home city and his base, that was a plus for him too.
The whole thing was too much like a punishment. Showing him Laurel alive and happy, not to mention still with him. Or rather a version of him. It was a tease of what might have been, had things gone very, very differently.
So yes, Oliver was more than happy to leave Star City. If it meant he could stop looking at a vision of what might have been.
As they arrived at their Central City compatriots base, Oliver watched as Felicity rushed forward to cheerfully greet Cisco and Caitlin in the S.T.A.R Labs control room. The other worlds Oliver and Laurel, or Dinah as she had asked to be called, moved over to greet their own teammates.
That was when the Star City group froze at the sight of the new faces. There was polished metal that shone in the harsh lab lighting. Coming from both a shining silver body and a gleaming golden armour. Felicity trailed off her happy chatter to stare in awe at the new people.
"Who…?" The question remained unfinished as if Felicity no longer had the thought process available to complete it. Luckily the point got across.
"This is Cyborg and Wonder Woman," It was Dinah that introduced her teammates, gesturing to each person. Cisco and Caitlin's attention came to Black Canary, the woman with Laurel's face.
"Another Laurel Lance doppelganger?" Caitlin asked faintly, as her face paled slightly.
"I guess so," Cisco replied just as softly, looking just as thrown.
"Hey," Barry greeted appearing at Oliver's shoulder. The archer watched as a second Flash appeared next to the dimensional travellers. His jaw tensed at yet another person joining the unknown ranks.
"Seriously Barry," Oliver hissed quietly to his friend, "Where did they come from?!"
"What we can work out is, that there was a breach between our worlds. Someone from their world was experimenting with it, when it…well pulled them in." Barry explained, glancing across the room at 'them'. "Something happened then, some kind of malfunction with their teleporter. It opened multiple breaches and pulled them all in."
"Teleporters huh?" Oliver repeated blankly.
"I keep telling myself, I'll get used to all this strangeness," Dig said flatly, "Then something like this happens. Seriously man! What the hell?!"
"They're just here until we can make sure no one else came through," Barry continued to explain, "Then we can send them home."
"There may be more?" Oliver asked cautiously.
"Chances are… yeah." Barry gave an uncomfortable positive, obviously reading Oliver's darkening tone.
"I don't like this," Oliver declared, finally giving voice to his rising paranoia. "Do you trust them? Do you even know who else came through?"
Barry's mouth worked but he had no answers. But Oliver wasn't done with his questions.
"Do you even know what they're capable of?"
"Cyborg is really awesome with …computers." Barry stopped at Oliver's unimpressed look. "No, not really."
"Send Cisco and get Kara," Oliver ordered as he turned to look at the visitors. The armoured woman seemed to arch an eyebrow at him, as she gave him an accessing look. "I'd like to have a Super on our side if things go south."
Having enough with ghosts and possible threats Oliver turned and walked from the room. Only to pause at the entrance and turn back.
"What did you say about another Laurel Lance doppelganger?"
#SC#
The pipeline was a marvel of science, and a glorious feat of engineering. Sadly, none of the dimensional guests seemed all that impressed. They were even less so when they found out what Team Flash had been using the space for.
"The cells have a dampening field that prevents the Meta's powers from getting through," Cisco explained gesturing to the large glass window and the pipeline beyond. "Once in there, they ain't getting out."
The alternate Oliver and Barry exchanged looks, as Dinah crossed her arms. But it was Wonder Woman that spoke.
"So, you are just holding them here," She asked looking from Cisco to Barry, "Indefinitely?"
"Without trial or basic civil rights?" Dinah asked, "A second chance?"
"They're Meta's," Cisco explained, "There's no other way of holding them. They'll just escape and kill more people. Catching them was hard enough the first time round."
Now the visitors looked confused.
"The police doesn't have Meta holding facilities?" The visiting Flash asked.
"No," His double replied, "They aren't ready for dealing with Meta's."
"No one really is," Dinah replied, she looked to her teammates "In our world, there we have task forces and special groups for Meta crimes. We also have a few Meta prisons, like Strikers in Metropolis."
"I could send you some specs," Cyborg offered, "So you have some basis to work off."
"Yeah," Cisco replied looking a little overwhelmed, "That would be great."
"Enough," Earth-1 Oliver ordered sharply, "Focus please. Cisco, the reason we came down here?"
"Oh right," Cisco said moving towards the computer screen, and called a compartment into position. Black Siren was sitting cross legged in the middle of her cell, she looked up with a dark glare as she felt it slide in to dock. That was before she registered the sight before her and started to laugh.
"Well, well, well," She sung, climbing to her feet. Her eyes landing on her doppelganger, "Looks like there's another out there playing the little birdie." She looked her double up and down and gave a mocking smirk. "You might want to rethink your choices. That mask has already killed the Laurel Lance of this world."
"I'm different," Dinah replied simply. Black Siren shrugged dismissively.
"If the fishnets fit," Was all she said, as if she didn't believe her. Her attention then drifted to the two Oliver's and something dejected settled over her face.
"So, I guess even the multiverse has figured out a way to punish me." She said softly, "Not one, but two versions of you. That's two worlds where you made it off that boat, why not in mine?"
She apparently had enough of talking, as she moved to lean against the back wall of her cell. Arms cross, as she stared blankly at them.
Earth-1 Barry turned to his worlds Oliver.
"See Oliver," He said softly, "Its not our Laurel. Its someone else."
"All I see," Oliver replied, "Is a woman in pain."
"She tried to kill us," Barry argued.
Oliver turned to look at Black Siren, watching how she seemed to push herself as far back into the wall as she could. She was more effected by their presence then she was letting on. Oliver shifted, looking to the alternate Black Canary and back. Finally turning to look at Barry.
"You should have told me," Was all he said before he moved towards the cage, they kept her in. He saw Black Canary and his double leaving, followed by their team. He heard the alternate Flash call out. "I have a question! How do you feed them and how do they go to the bathroom?" Before he focused on the woman in front of him.
"Your worlds Oliver never came back from the island?" He asked. Watching as the Laurel from another world seemed to wince.
"Never made it to the island," Black Siren corrected, tightening her arms across her chest. The picture of a defensive stance. "Your…His father came back, my Oliver didn't."
"I'm sorry," Oliver said gently, and she huffed a dismissive sound. But he could see he was getting to her. Or at least he hoped he was. He was reading her, like she was his Laurel. But if Barry was right and she really wasn't the same. He might have been way off.
"On my earth, you've been dead for ten years," She didn't seem to realise she was talking, as her gaze seem to haze over in memory. "I moved to Central City for a fresh start. One bad decision after another and here I am now, in a cell on a parallel earth telling my sad, sad little tale to the doppelganger of the man I…. the man I loved."
"It doesn't have to be like that," Oliver replied, stepping closer to the glass. "You still have a chance now, a choice."
"Why do you care," She scoffed, turning away from him. "Cause I look like someone you used to know? That didn't mean anything to your friends. They put me in here and threw away the key."
Oliver scowled at the thought, casting a glare over his shoulder in the direction the others had gone. "It doesn't have to be like this," He repeated, turning back to her with his most earnest expression. "You do have a choice. Right here and right now. Someone once told me that circumstance could make something poison or nectar. What they meant was that we get to choose what we are, we get to choose who we are. This is your chance."
He watched as she finally turned back to him, stepping forward closer to the glass.
"So, tell me Laurel," He said, watching her swallow at the use of her name and wonder how long it had been since someone used it on her.
"Who are you really?"
#SC#
Superwoman knew that without Bruce there, she would have just flown right in to anything on this earth. Literally. But he was right about not knowing what to expect about this world. He was always good at keeping her feet on the ground. Also, literally.
Her scans of the world from high orbit, showed a planet that was both remarkably similar and completely different from the one she'd come from.
Heroes and Meta's both existed but they were no where near as wide spread. The publics reaction was still swinging towards the negative view. Another reason to stay off the radar. Again literally.
So, she waited as Bruce sort to get his Batwing working and try and find a way to reconnect to the Justice League's communications. In the end all she could do was wait. But there was one thing that not a lot of people knew about her.
Superwoman was surprisingly patient.
#SC#
"We need to get out of Metropolis."
Harley looked up from her cards, she'd managed to convince some of the men to play poker with her. Not that they really wanted too, it was clear to tell that were terrified about the whole thing. One or two of them, even had their cards facing the wrong way so Harley could see them. She turned to face her fellow dimensional traveller, and with a confused frown asked. "Why?"
"You don't mess around in Superwoman's backyard," Killer Frost said simply, as she paced her way around the warehouse.
"Well she ain't here," Harley replied, tossing down her cards and going through the pile for ones that suited her better.
"Are you sure about that?" Killer Frost asked, raising a white eyebrow at the nutcase. "Anyway, the thought of hanging out here still gives me the creeps."
"Pavlov's dog response," Harley stated, before cheering as she 'won' another hand of cards. "Mistah Jay and I play in Metropolis all the time! While once or was it twice…. anyway, it was a blast!"
"We can have a blast somewhere else," Killer Frost snapped back.
"Okay," Harley shrugged back as if she really didn't care either way. "As long as it's fun…...Ohhhh, Let's go to Star City! We can't have Batman, we can have the Batman knock off!"
"You want….?" Killer Frost cut herself off and shook her head. "You know what, I don't care. Just wake up that lump of metal. I'm not carrying his heavy ass around anymore."
"Oh Tinman?" Harley questioned before grinning widely and gesturing behind Killer Frost. "His been awake for a while."
Killer Frost turned her head slowly, watching as the skeletal metal body of Metallo stepped out of the shadows. His eyes glowing with a sickly green light. She turned back to glare at Harley.
"You could have told me sooner."
A/N: Sorry for the wait, and for the fact that this is kinda a bridging chapter.
Question to you. Which Metallo do you want? Standard Justice League cartoon Metallo or the Metallo that could reshape his body into anything?
Oliver and Black Siren's conversation was half taken, half inspired by e05e10 Who are you? Which I don't own.