Chaos on Earth-2

by TrueHorror88

He did it to save his new home. His family, to save his daughter and the woman he loves. But instead Seth Fury was flung into Earth-2 and became Zoom's prisoner. Now aiming to use everything in his powers to find his way back to his Earth and reunite with the ones he loves, he fights. But it won't be easy. How will Earth-2 fare against a true demon? A mutant? A Lethal Protector.

13. Chapter 13: White Feathers of Distrust

And now another bedtime story for you guys out there.

I hope you guys have an amazing Christmas with friends and family, and I hope you guys also have an amazing New Year's Eve coming up.

Thanks again to Ryu otsutsuki for helping me along this journey with this story.

There's gonna be a few extras here. You might know them from the canon.

So without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 13: White Feathers of Distrust

Not a single sound was uttered in this world. It was like a shadow had fallen over the entire world that she knew…

Removing any and all sources of light that was known to man…

As though an enormous shadow was cast over this entire world shrouded it and thicken with each passing second…

No matter how much she looked around, Iris couldn't see through the thick veil of darkness that coated the city of her hometown. She couldn't find anyone there like it had absorbed them all into infinite darkness.

Iris looked around, trying to find anything but she kept finding herself in this dark world of her home, Central City. All forms that are around her are completely enveloped in pure darkness. The detective turned her gaze upwards, trying to look into the skies but they were like the rest… darkness.

"Barry!" she called out to her husband in fear as she looked around, hoping that he would hear her voice. "Barry! Anyone!" she looked around and kept calling out for anyone and her husband, even her new friends. "Seth! Ruby! Evelyn! Jesse!"

But none of them were there to answer her distress…

"Iris…"

She snapped her head around at the sound of that familiar voice. "It can't be…" Iris trailed off with shock… her feet moving against her commands and making her way backwards.

Her mouth opened up and let out a gasp when she felt her back collide with something. Iris snapped around and looked down at her gun… but it was not in her holster… nor was her holster for that matter.

Looking back up… her eyes widened at the sight… at that familiar sight…

"…F-F-Fred…" She stammered confusedly.

Walking closer and closer to her with slow steps, almost agonizingly so, was a familiar face. Gray ragged hair on top of his head. Pale aged skin on his body, hiding under the formal attire of a white shirt, a dark-blue tie and a pair of dark-blue pants. All of that covered by his signature brown suede leather trench coat. His face was hurt and beaten… like he had been in a brawl or something worse. Even scorch marks around his face and hands and clothes.

"Fre-"

Before Iris could ask her old mentor of what was going, before any of her questions could be formed outside of her mouth, Fred grabbed her by the shoulders with a tightening grasp, like he was trying to tear her arms off.

Fred neared her face and screamed into her face. "Stop it, Iris!"

"Stop what?" Iris tried to shake herself out of his grip, but it was no use, she couldn't get out of his grip. "What are you talking about?!"

"Stop it! Don't go after him!" Fred shook his old student violently. "Don't go after Blackfire!"

X

"AAARRGHH" Iris screamed with her eyes snapped open as she sat up abruptly from the bed.

"Iris!" Barry heard his wife's scream and sat up himself and turned to his wife. He saw the sweat pouring down her face and oozing out of her entire body. Even when she wiped it off with her hand, more took its place. "Honey." He hugged her and brought her in close.

"Barry, good you're here." Iris breathed out in her husband's arms. Before the embrace with her husband, she felt herself hyperventilating from the nightmare's horrible experience. "Sorry for waking you up, Honey. Didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay." Barry assured her while stroking her hair. "You began fidgeting in your sleep. And then you…just startled."

"I had another nightmare again." Iris revealed to him.

"What was it about?" Barry asked… but the look on her face told him that he already knew what it was about. "It was about Fred again, wasn't it?" she nodded and while her sweat soaked his clothes. "It's about Blackfire again?"

"Every time I see him, he tells me to not go after him." Iris straightened up from him and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "But I have to. If I don't… dozens of people are gonna experience hell."

"I know that, and I love you for trying to stop him. But… I don't wanna lose you, Iris." Barry told her as he lovingly stroked her face.

"Nothing's gonna happen to me, Barry. I swear." Iris looked into his eyes while her hands cupped his face and brought it close. "I'm not going anywhere, and if I do… I'll be running back to you. Always and forever. I love you, Barry."

"I love you, too, Iris." Barry leant closer to her and kissed his wife on the lips. They stayed connected like that for a several moments, letting their love keep them connected through this amorous act of affection.

But while the two were connected via their lips, they sniffed the air, smelling it. Their nostrils widened at the smell… of fried eggs.

Disconnecting from each other, Iris and Barry looked at each other in confusion before they looked around. "What's going on downstairs?" Iris asked when realizing that smell was coming from… THEIR kitchen.

"Let's go." Barry said and put on his clothes quickly as did Iris who put on a robe over a gown. She pulled out her gun and with her husband walked to the door and out of it.

X

Husband and wife, both taking caution steps down their staircase as they sought to investigate the situation happening in their kitchen. They heard mouths chewing on something within the kitchen and a rather ravenous chewing sound, like a hungry dog feasting on the meaty skeleton remains of its prey. Reaching the end of the staircase, they nodded to each other and then rushed down to the floor and turned around to face the direction of the kitchen.

However, their eyes expanded when seeing Seth standing by the stove and frying eggs with a spatula. As he let the mixed eggs cover the entire pan, he didn't appear that frightened by the gun pointing at him by the detective.

While Seth took out a plate with different contents and put them on one side of the eggs, Iris and Barry turned to the side and saw that the three girls were sitting by the table and eating. Feeling the married couple's eyes on them, the girls waved at them before turning back to their meals.

Seth, who didn't mind the ravenous chewing happening beside him, and turns to the married couple. With the spatula pointing at the detective's weapon, he said while he flipped the omelet was covering its filling and frying. "You bring your gun to every meal, Detective? Or are we somehow the exception?"

Ruby swallowed her food and said, "Well, she does have a thief, a prisoner of Zoom's, an assassin from another universe and a cannibal from the same universe living under her roof. I'd actually be hurt if we didn't give special treatment."

Jesse gave her a look. "You think having a gun trailed on you is special treatment?"

Evelyn chuckled and patted Jesse's shoulder. "It's pointless asking her that, it's how she's wired."

"Finally, someone in this house gets it!" Ruby exclaimed.

Seth pointed the spatula at her. "You finish eating your omelet otherwise no muffins for you." He sternly said and she laughed in response before returning to her meal again. He looked to Iris and Barry and explained. "Figured with all that's happened lately, I thought it would be nice to get some proper breakfast into us all."

"Aw, that's really sweet of you Seth." Iris cooed and put her gun on a nearby shelf. "And sorry for bringing a gun in here. Forgot you guys were here for a second, and I didn't know who was in the kitchen."

"Don't tell me you were expecting Zoom to be standing here in an apron and cooking you guys breakfast?" Seth joked, and honestly couldn't imagine that speedster as someone who would willingly wear an apron for anyone… even if that someone was a Mrs. Zoom.

Barry and Iris took a seat at the table and the CSI scientist asked the mutant. "What's on the menu then. Chef?"

"Philly cheesesteak omelet and there's chocolate chip muffins in the oven baking right now." Seth answered whilst he pointed at the oven. "Also have some coffee brewing if you guys need a wake-up call from last night's rest. So take a seat and dig in." he returned from the stove with two plates with omelets.

"Thank you, it looks amazing, Seth." Iris praised the food and asked him. "You made this yourself?"

"Yeah. Back at the academy, me and my sister would have cheat days from our training days." Seth started. "And when we did, I would occasionally make this for us both. Nice way to start a cheat day." He gestured to the meal he made.

"It's really good." Barry said after taking his first bite of the omelet. "You're an impressive…" he stopped himself from talking as he heard the ravenous chewing grow louder. Looking around curiously, he looked back to the mutant. Before now, neither he nor his wife noticed that a black tendril was stretching out of his back.

Both husband and wife followed the tendril. Their eyes once again widened to new limits when seeing the tendril moving around vigorously within an open food container. It was almost like it was trying to break out of it like it was a cage that confined its movements.

Seth followed the direction of their disbelieving eyes and saw what they were looking at. He chuckled embarrassedly. "Venom was getting a bit hangry, so I bought him a box of chocolate doughnuts." The oven chimed and another tendril shot out of his back. It opened the oven and pulled out the muffin baking pan with the perfectly baked muffins. "Awesome, they're good." He placed the tray on the table and took a seat himself. "Dig in."

"Thank you." Iris said as she ate a muffin. She enjoyed the flaky texture and the feeling of chocolate melting in her mouth. "But Seth what brought this change on? Think it's the first time you've ever made food for us."

"Not really a change. Just wanted to thank you two for letting us stay here is all. Not to mention getting rid of Evelyn's charges before. You've done a lot for us, and I wanted to do something nice for you." Seth took a bite of the omelet and put it into his mouth and began chewing.

"You moved Heaven and Earth for this city, Seth. We should be the ones to thank you." Barry said. But he narrowed his eyes on him suspiciously and stated. "But I can't help but feel like there's more to this?"

The mutant smirked and put down his coffee on his plate, right beside the muffin. "Thought someone here would see through it." With the tendril retracting into his body, the mutant reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. It was strange as it appeared to be an old-fashioned flip phone made of a dark-blue metal. "Got this in the mail this morning with a message."

"From who?" Evelyn wondered.

Jesse reached out for the phone and held it with both hands. Her fingers moving around the flip phone and opening it up. Her eyes following the same patterns as her hands and examined the phone. She deduced out loud. "It's Atlantean steel and tech. it's their version of old-fashion."

"Exactly." Seth nodded.

Ruby knew what this meant and said. "Wait that means…"

"Mera reached out to me." Seth finished the young assassin's thoughts. Seeing the confused faces on their faces, he elaborated. "Mera wants me to meet her at Jitterbugs today. She didn't say what or why for this meeting, but she apparently wants to see me again."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "So the beautiful Atlantean that saved your ass from further harm, the same one you had your new gigantic sword pointed at…"

Evelyn then followed. "…The one that told you that she has friends who have been spying on you, and also this house, meaning the rest of us as well…"

Creepily, Jesse was the third one to follow, putting the phone on the table again. "…now wants to have a date with you, a mutant with elemental powers and cannibalistic tendencies because of his symbiotic roommate? Not to mention being from another universe."

"Two at that." Iris corrected the universe native with a knowing smirk.

"Not a date!" he said loudly to them. "I think she just wants to get to know me better."

"So…" Ruby smirked teasingly. "A date."

"God you girls are unbearable." Seth rubbed his eyes with a chuckle, while the girls giggled. "But Mera said to meet her later this afternoon at Jitterbugs' upper floor. Didn't realize they had that when we were there last."

"They do." Barry said. "Despite Joseph's obvious despise of me, I have been there a few times. And the upper floor is used for fine first-class dinery. Lots of CEOs, police captains, big names can be found up there."

"I hate those places." Seth breathed out before sipping on his coffee. "I usually find some scumbags there." He stood up from his seat. "I'm gonna go outside and train some more with my sword. To kill some time."

"Sure thing, Demon King Arthur." Evelyn joked and laughed.

The mutant gave her a look with his tongue poking out and walked out the back door and into the backyard. The moment the door pushed closed, he heard from within. "Why didn't you ask the detective of the scream coming from her and Barry's bedroom?"

"Cause it's not the right time for it. Not yet. And I, for some reason, doubt she would be honest about what it was about?" Seth stated to his partner.

"Could be because of a fetish the two shares." Venom stated suggestively.

"Stop it!" he stated while he took out his sword and began cutting trees.

X

"You arranged a meeting with Venom?!"

This time it was Lindy who had to scream out her shock at her red-headed Atlantean friend who had told her of her plan. Even Marcus Bishop and Tony Woodward had to cover their eyes in shock of their boss calling out aloud in shock.

The Atlantean with her hands, told her to decrease her volume before stating with her own words. "Lindy calm down. Look at your hands." Gesturing her hands, both the two male henchmen looked at the hands of their boss along with the boss herself.

Lindy looked at her hands… her eyes laced with sorrow at the sight. Her arms were shifting. One moment, they're pale white…the next, they changed into a darker color. "Oh God, not again." She breathed out in dismay.

"Boss calm down." Tony calmly told her as he walked closer to her.

"Remember, just breathe." Marcus followed up helpfully. "In and out."

Lindy listened to her male guards' advice. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and exhaled. Inhaled again before exhaling again, releasing all the stress and shock that was brewing in her body in outtakes of air. Her arms returned to their usual tanned skin color again. Sighing, she said gratefully to the men. "Thank you both, so much. It means the world."

"Well, it's nothing compared to what you have done for us, Boss." Tony patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Yeah, the man's right." Marcus agreed with a smile as he fetched a tumbler of tequila for Lindy. "You did so much for us, something that anyone else would never do for us. Heck, you're a savior."

"Keep your engagement rings in your pockets, boys." Mera jokingly stated, her hands gently pushing the boys away. Both of them laughing in response to her words as they in mock defense held up their hands. "But yeah, I sent a burner phone to Seth, one with a message about having this meeting. I want to talk with him again, get more intel about him."

Tony turned to her. "You think he's likely to open up to you?"

"I'd hope so." Mera shrugged. "I did save his life though, but then again, I did try to seduce him, and he found about it instantly. So looking at a fifty-fifty chance of the guy opening up to me right now." With her hands, she acted like a scale of the chances of her plan working. "But I really do think we can trust him, Lindy."

"What makes you sure of that, Mera?" Lindy asked her dear friend. The level of trust the Atlantean was putting into the Demon King was unlike anything she's ever put into the other people they've asked for help. It was like the powerful Atlantean was willing to trust the man with her life.

Mera smiled and confessed, "Cause unlike anyone else in this city, this guy was willing to jump in front of three defenseless kids and chose to fight against Zoom and five of his henchmen, including his two top lieutenants alone. This is just my gut feeling right now, but I think he genuinely didn't give a damn about what might have happened to himself."

"He only cared about the kids." Lindy finished her friend's words with a gaped mouth.

"He did." Mera nodded.

"If the guy did that, then he has my respect." Marcus stated determinedly.

"So do I. Anyone who puts kids above themselves can't be that bad of a guy." Tony added himself.

"Unless…" the three of them turned back to Lindy who continued to remain skeptical. She interlocked her fingers once taking a seat on the chair at her desk again. They saw a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her face. "…he's playing us. He's a metahuman, we've never encountered… we don't know his true intentions."

"Then I will figure them out." Mera finalized and walked out of the door, she had to be ready for her meeting with the Demon King.

Marcus looked to his boss again. "Boss, what do you want?"

"I trust Mera with all my heart, I really do." Lindy's interlocked hands shook with a tremor from her nervousness. Her eyes changing colors. First blue, then yellow, then green, then red, then brown and then black. "But I don't know if I can trust this guy yet, not after he had his sword pointed at Mera."

Tony leant against the wall. "What do you wanna do then, Boss?"

"I know they're probably gonna wanna stay out of it, those two idiots but…" Lindy breathed out. "Get the Hawks."

X

(West-Allen Household)

The pages of the newspaper in her hands flipped to the next page. Ruby was curiouser and curiouser about this world with the passing time of late. And she wondered if there was any news of Venom's fight against the evil speedster and his group of metahumans in the Woodlands.

But she didn't find any news of that fight in any of the pages in the newspaper. "Was pretty far in the forest… guess no one would go in there and actually record a fight like that. And even if they did, they're not like Seth. Chances of them wanting to try and take on Zoom would be close to zero."

"Hey Ruby." Iris got the young assassin's attention as she walked into the living room. "What are you reading there?"

"The newspaper." Ruby closed it. "I thought maybe they'd be something about Seth's fight against Zoom and his merry band of metas out there, but there's wasn't any."

"Don't be surprised. It's rare for any journalists to want to go into the Woodlands." Iris told her. "A lot of them and a lot of civilians do the same because they're afraid of running into Zoom's metahumans." She took a seat on the couch beside the girl. She saw the look on the girl's face and asked her. "What's wrong, Ruby?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. Still a bit… I don't know, guilty from what I said to Seth the other day."

"There's nothing I can say to make you feel better, kid. Sorry." She ruffled her hair. "But that doesn't mean you can't try and try."

"I went off like a brat at him, and he still saved me from Zoom." Ruby smiled warmly; the detective surprised to see such a genuine smile of warmth forming on the girl's face. "How can a guy who turns into a demon like him be so damn nice?"

"He's an adult and a father at that." Those words seemed to cause the girl's smile to widen. "Taking care of innocent people is the job he chose for himself when he became both a doctor and a hero, or whatever he is. But willing to protect innocent kids no matter who they are, and no matter what and against anything with every inch of his will is something only a parent can do." Iris saw the girl's face again, this time donning a confused expression. "You said before, you never had a father, right?"

"Never knew him." Ruby corrected her. "Only been me and my Mom my entire life and endless training and classes at HYDRA Preparatory Academy. Along with constant lecturing and occasionally berating."

"Parenting at its best, right?" Iris joked.

"That's one way to put it." Ruby joked back. "But how do I make it up to Seth? I really have no idea on how to say I'm sorry again."

"Best way to make it up to a guy like him?" Iris had the assassin's full and undivided attention. "Get stronger and maybe save his ass next." She suggested and Ruby smiled.

"Sounds like a plan." She accepted the idea; she didn't have any other plans to work on than that. And saving him? Sounds like the best way to make to him for being a brat.

The backdoor was pushed open from the other side and Seth walked into the living room. Most of his clothes appeared to be have taken damage given their ragged stage. Iris looked at him and saw his sword in his hand. She drifted her eyes to his attire. "The tree fights back or is the squirrels that fought back because you took out their homes?"

"And the detective manages to throw in a joke." Seth smiled. "I had Venom dig his tendrils into the ground and attack me from various angles. I tried parrying them with my sword, but a few of them still made contact with me."

"Must have been angry for the lack of chocolate." Ruby laughed.

"Yeah." Seth looked around. "Hey, where's Barry? He told me; he'd give me a lift to Jitterbugs for my meeting with Mera."

Iris pointed upwards. "He's getting ready upstairs. But what about you, don't you have to be ready yourself?"

"Sure, just a second." True to his words, the clothes on his body turned black and spread over his entire body. The clothes stopped shifting and turned into a dark-red shirt under a black leather biker jacket with white streaks running down from his shoulders to his wrist sleeves. Grey pants formed on the lower part of his physique at last. "There, all done."

"Nice. You clean up nice." Iris praised him… and she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of his symbiotic powers that allows him to form clothes to his liking so easily.

"I want a symbiote now." Ruby admitted.

"Yeah that's not happening." Seth said as Barry came downstairs.

"Ready?" The CSI scientist asked the mutant.

"I am." The elemental looked to Ruby. "Ruby be nice to Jesse and make sure none of you do any stupid while I'm gone okay?"

"Sure thing. Don't fall head over heels for the feisty redhead, okay?" Ruby quipped teasingly to him.

Seth walked to the back of the couch and ruffled her hair. He made it even more annoying for her and let water seep out of his hand and into her hair. Ruby gasped at the cold water touching her head and slapped his hand away. "Dick move!"

"Language!" Seth told her in a mock stern tone. "Alright, take care guys." He told them and walked with Barry to the door.

"See ya, Seth!" Ruby called out to him.

"See you guys!" Iris called out next.

X

The drive to the lounge bar was driven in silence. Barry kept his eyes on the road in front of them without looking away for even a second. Seth was seating beside him in the passenger seat. His eyes, like the driver's, pointing ahead but his chin was resting on the knuckles of his right hand.

Throughout the drive, the mutant's mind returned to their morning. Evelyn, Jesse and Ruby hadn't heard it due to the sound of his purposefully rattling of the kitchen utensil back in the kitchen when he made their breakfast, but he heard it clearly.

The definite scream of fear and horror… from an even worse nightmare.

"There's something that the detective isn't telling us." Venom told his host.

"Figured as much, but I wonder what's going on with her?" Seth thought back before his eyes drifted to the man who knows her better than anyone else in this entire world, her husband, Barry Allen. "If there's something going on with Iris, then he's the one to know about it."

Seth turned his head to face him. "Barry?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Barry answered.

"What was that scream about before? The one coming from you and Iris's bedroom before." Seth asked.

The mutant watched the CSI scientist's face instantly pale before he watched a gulp being swallowed loudly with a gulp. Following the lines of his arms, Seth immediately noticed his hands tightening their hold on the steering wheel. His hands flexed, his muscles tightening and tensing up from the mere statement of the question. It looked as though Barry right now was afraid of inhaling more air as the air inside of him was kept within.

"I-I-It was nothing." Barry stutteringly said, but the moment he began to stutter was enough for the mutant know that it was a lie. "Just a bad dream Iris had."

"She gets them a lot lately?" He asked in concern, his partner slithering around inside of him and listening on the conversation to spot for any lies.

Barry sheepishly coughed with his mouth closed. The native of this universe felt like he was put under the mutant's microscope and felt like his every movements were being watched. In a way, it was like he was a criminal being interrogated by a merciless detective.

But at the same time, it felt nothing like that… it felt worse.

"A bit after a hard day at work, you know. But that's all." Barry laughed with sweat trailing down his face. "She probably thought about some of her old cases that left a sting on her. It happens to cops like her."

"Remember, I'm an Agent of a secret governmental agency, Barry. I know what it's like when a case leaves a scar on you." Seth reminded him understandably. "When the feeling of defeat still lingers on you after its been solved." His fists cracked. "It doesn't get easier no matter what."

"Yeah, you get it." Barry nodded as the car was pulled to the sidewalk near the lounge bar entrance. "We're here. So good luck on your date and rememb-"

"Not a date!" Seth exclaimed loudly in the CSI scientist's face, the man himself wincing and pulling back in fear. He pushed the door open. But before he swung his feet out of the car, he told Barry seriously. "Barry, I hope you know that both you and your wife can trust me. So whatever it is, you're hiding… I hope you can trust me enough in the near future to tell me. Either you or your wife." He went to walk out.

But Barry grabbed his forearm. "Seth." The elemental turned his head to see his serious face. "What it's about…" he gulped, the mutant widening his eyes in shock of the scientist's action. "I can't talk about it. It has to be Iris. Trust me, she's gonna tell you about it, when she's ready."

"I trust you, pal. Don't doubt that. I'll wait for Iris then." Seth assured him and got out of the vehicle.

Barry watched the door close behind the mutant's back and hoped inwardly that Iris would divulge the information soon. Because the longer he was out there…

… the more lives would be terrorized by the… Rival of Zoom…

X

(Jitterbugs)

Once again, Seth walked through the doors of the lounge bar and was bombarded with the smell of alcohol and the sounds of jazzy musical instruments playing to their highest level. He looked around and saw various people being entranced by the musical joys filling the space of the lounge.

He looked around and smiled. "Could really get used to this place."

"Oh, you're here again."

Seth had to withhold his chuckle when hearing that lazy way of talking, almost dully. It made it even more difficult to not chuckle at as he knew it was coming from Joseph West. Turning to him, he once again saw the musician hold a tumbler of whiskey. "How's it going Joe?"

"It's Joseph, pal. And yeah, it's going fine." Joseph corrected him. "Why are you here? And alone?"

"Have a meeting with a friend here." Seth said. "How's the singing going?"

"Good enough to keep the people coming." Joe callously said as they both moved along the lounge. The musician turned his arms to the sides and pointed them at the guests. "You know, I figured out where I remembered those one of those girls from before."

"Which one?" Seth asked seriously.

"The little brunette." Joseph took a seat and the mutant took a seat on the one in front of him. The musician put his drink on the table and leant forward, his hands intertwining. "That little girl used to steal from this bar a lot a while back. Why did my daughter, a detective taught by the best, let a little thief like her stay in her own house?"

"Don't hate Evelyn. I know she stole from you as well, but she just trying to survive. Life dealt her a bad hand." Seth told him. "But I asked Iris if she could help with Evelyn's charges, and she did, after I helped out with a case of hers. One that needed special point of view, one from a bioengineer's view. I was the only one available to do that, because I have studied metahumans before."

"So what? You suddenly a consultant for the CCPD?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"I guess you could say that." Seth vaguely said. "But back to Evelyn. She's not a bad person, and I'm taking care of her now, so don't hold it against her for activities."

"You care about this little girl this much?" Seth nodded instantly to the musician's query. "For a stranger you care so much about a random girl… heh, must be a father."

"Takes one to know one." The mutant smirked.

Joe smiled and leant back in his chair, "I don't have anything against her. Yeah, she took my wallet but only stole around twenty or so dollars. I usually keep a few hundred bucks in case of emergencies or something else for my friends up on the stage. But she only took a small amount."

"She's not a bad kid." Seth told him again.

"I know that." Joe nodded and pointed his finger at the stage. "You sing?"

"I have been known to dabble in the area. I actually had a job at a bar before myself and sang there. People liked it." Seth said with a smile.

"Sounds like a challenge." Joe dared.

"Maybe later, old man. But you gotta lay off Barry then?" Seth wagered, and the musician scowled. "He's your daughter's husband, man. Give the guy a chance. He's not a bad guy, despite what you think."

"Small chance, if you can sing a song up there later." Joseph finished off with a gesture to the stage before walking away.

"Sure thing, Joe." Seth said and got up from his chair. He walked to the bar and looked to see if Mera had come. She was there the last time and now… she wasn't. "Guess punctuality is not an Atlantean skill."

"I wouldn't say that."

He turned around on his feet and got a surprised look on his face at the sight of her. Mera was walking towards and different clothes than last time. She was wearing a mouth-gaping beautiful dress before and now it was different. The Atlantean was now wearing a grey zip hoodie over a blood-red T-shirt. The lower part of her body was clad in dark-blue jeans fitting tightly to her legs. Her crimson red hair was pulled into a long ponytail. Over her hoodie was a black leather jacket.

She had a smile on her face as she walked over to the mutant. "You don't look so bad."

"Likewise, I guess, this's not going to be another seduction tactic, is it? Judging by your clothes now, I mean." Seth gestured to her clothes.

"Once again, I'm sorry about that." Mera apologized and walked to the staircase. Grapping the railing with hand, she looked back and said. "Come on, I already reserved us a table. Get your butt up here." She walked up the stairs and the elemental followed her.

"So what is this time? Poison? Get my guard down with alcohol and food, maybe?" he joked as they were led to their table. The other guests giving him strange looks when hearing his joke. Most of them also widened their eyes when realizing who his companion for the evening was.

"No, just a simple meeting, I promised you that on the message, didn't i?" The woman told him after taking a seat and so did Seth. "I told my friend about you wanting to meet face-to-face to talk about this entire situation. But she's not ready yet."

"Guess, I'm gonna have to focus on the messenger then. You." Seth pointed a finger at her and the waiter came back to them with a pair of menu cards. "Thank you." He thanked the waiter as he accepted the card. "I hope you're paying."

"That was the plan." Mera assured him and put down her napkin on the table. "Guess it's the least I can handle. Mind if I order for us both?" Seth shrugged and accepted her suggestion. The waiter came back to them. The Atlantean took both cards and handed them to the waiter. "Two Atlantean Specials."

"As you wish, Ms. Curry." The waiter bowed and walked away to relay the order.

Seth raised an eyebrow. "You must be famous around these parts."

"I admit I have come here many, many times." Seth looked intrigued with narrowed eyes. Mera blushed and said embarrassedly. "They have a wider range of drinks that they don't serve here in Atlantis. And again Seth, I am sorry for trying to seduce you before…I just had to get a feel on you."

"Instead of apologizing to me again and again, how about you do something for me then?" Seth had a serious expression on his face. Mera gulped and swallowed loudly. "I need protection."

Looking absolutely baffled by his statement, she asked absentmindedly. "A demonic king with a big-ass sword needs protection? Yeah I need a few drinks to swallow that."

"Not for me." He clarified and the Atlantean's attention was returned to him. "You know everything about the place I'm staying at?" Mera nodded. "The people too?" she nodded again. "Then you know I don't want anything to happen to them. They're kind enough to let me stay at their house with the girls ever since I came to this world and started causing trouble for Zoom."

He leant over the table and closer to her, seeking to whisper his request to her ears only. "But I don't want my problems to become theirs. So I want you to protect them if they might get into trouble. Zoom and any of his merry fuckers can't come anywhere near Iris or Barry."

"Detective Iris West-Allen and CSI scientist Barry Allen." Mera thought out loud. "Yeah, before my friend called me about this job, I heard about those two. Apparently, they have a pretty good teamwork going on and are really good at their jobs."

"I can vouch for that." The mutant added. "They're good people, all of them. Their kindness won't be their downfall, so I want you, Mera, to personally watch over them."

"One condition." Seth looked shocked. "I want to meet them, at their house and tell them the news myself. And then I can assure you that I will not hesitate to protect them from any and all harm that will stand before them."

"Thank you, Mera." Seth smiled and reached over the table. "But I have to tell you something first…" Mera thought it was weird for him to want to cup her hand, given her marital status. However, she was then corrected when the demon took the napkin and pulled it away. Her face paled when he revealed her metahuman alert watch. "I am not a metahuman."

"You're not?!" She loudly whispered out her response.

"Okay. Let's see… where to start…" Seth perked his head up as he began. "The Singularity that appeared above the city, I'm gonna take a guess and say that you and the entire world have heard about it."

"Some of us have seen it on the TV, but yeah. I was here in the city when it happened." Mera informed while their appetizers were delivered by the waiter. "Oh, thank you. Oh, Seth, the Atlantean Special's a big course meal. Hope you have a big stomach."

"Oh, I do." Seth admitted and watched the appetizer be put on their table. "Bacon-Wrapped Scallops, huh?" He remembered from the menu.

"With Spicy Cilantro Mayonnaise." Mera finished off.

"Well back to the story. The Singularity came from my world." Mera's knife never even came close to her scallops from the shock that followed those words. But it didn't stop the mutant from digging into the scallops on his plate. "The Singularity was due to a Particle Accelerator on my Earth that injected a particle that collided with a speedster who ran inside the Accelerator Ring multiple times to achieve Mach 3."

"Wait? Your Earth? Does that mean?" she was too shocked to even say it. She

"Yeah. The multiverse is true." He took hold of his glass of water between two fingers, sliding it in front of him. Swinging his eyes from side to side, he looked for anyone who might be looking at them from other tables. Finding no one, he dipped the tip of his index finger into it. Mera watched as he rubbed his thumb with his index finger.

"My friend kept saying that it was possible for other universes to exist, but I... always thought it was a joke. I never took it serious." Mera stated.

"Trust me, it is very much true and I'm proof of it." Separating his fingers from each other, he used his water powers to separate the water drop into three smaller drops. Mera was wide-eyed at the display of his powers, if she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was another Atlantean. "I'm from another universe, much farther from this one… not the one that created the Singularity."

"You're from two… universes?" Mera was unsure if she heard his words correctly or misunderstood him.

Nodding his consent, the mutant raised his other hand and pointed it at the furthest water drop. "Think of these water drops as universes. This furthest one is the one that I was born and raised in. It has its own heroes and villains that continues the multiverse's rule of cats fighting dogs. I was fighting against a villain there myself, and it ended up with an accident that literally sucked me and my baby sister into a wormhole that shot us out in another universe along with the villain."

Mera appeared to have caught on. "And that's the universe that created the black hole in the sky?"

"Exactly." Seth confirmed while his finger turned to the drop that was closest to his thumb. "It's this one. The world that I'm from… where my friends and family are…" he gritted his teeth, but he felt his partner ease his mind with the waves of soothing emotions. He smiled again and continued. "But the black hole was like a portal, a gateway if you will, between my world…" his finger turned to the drop in the middle. "This one, your world."

"It was connecting our two Earths?" The Atlantean had to ask.

Seth nodded with a smile and dropped the three drops into the glass again before taking it in his hand. "Yup." He drank from it and turned to Mera who remained shocked while the main dishes were placed on their tables. "These look good as well. Any other question for you to ask me."

"What are you?" She instantly fired off. The woman looked around and leant over the table again. "You say you're not a metahuman, but what are you then? You can turn into a demon hellion and has these incredible powers over the elements… what are you, Seth Fury?"

Unbeknownst to them both, two pairs of eyes were watching them from the ground floor with intense eyes.

"The Earth I was born on… doesn't have metahumans." Seth started. "But instead, they have a different type of powered beings. A type of being gains their powers from a mutation, a gene that manifests itself following experiencing puberty, sometimes earlier. But only a small amount of the human population has this gene. Through this… X-Gene." Mera widened her eyes again. "The ones with this X-Gene and powers are called mutants."

"And you are a mutant?" The elemental nodded to the Atlantean's question while he ate his food. "That's incredible. A being of naturally gifted powers from a young age… it was like you are an Atlantean of the lands itself."

"Easy, princess." He halted her with his hands. "Bit of an exaggeration on that. I can stand on water, but that's only in my real form like this." Seth gestured to himself. "But my mutation, my X-Gene, allows my body to be an environment for elements that I put inside of it. By absorbing an element like an injection, I can use that element from any part of my body. Right now… I have seven elements inside of my body that I can use when the situation calls for it."

"That's amazing." Mera smiled goofily... and the mutant had to admit she looked good without a serious expression.

"Careful, Caitlin's not gonna like that." Venom teased his host. But it was also meant as a warning.

"I know that, pal. Caitlin might freeze us both with a single glare." Seth thought back. Despite all his powers and all his efforts to avert it, he couldn't stop the smile from forming on his face at the memory of her chestnut brown hair that felt like silk in his hands. The way her amber brown eyes looked like brighter than the finest gold ever to be found.

"But Seth..." The woman got the elemental to get out of his trance. "What about that demonic form of yours?"

"He's an alien clone of a villain from of my origin universe, a villain also called Venom." The Atlantean gaped her mouth again. "I got him when I was very young. I can't go deeper into that subject because it's a painful memory of mine from that time."

"Aliens… Oh King Atlan…" Seth looked confused by her words and watched as she drank her entire water drink. "Here I thought things with you couldn't be much more complicated, but then you just pull out a story like this." Mera groaned and the waiter came with deserts. "Hope you like Chocolate Mousse Pie?"

"A favorite of mine." Seth casually said and took the fork. "Mind answering a question for me?"

"Least I can do." Mera quipped.

"Why?"

That single word caused the Atlantean to… ironically feel a tidal wave of bewilderment crash over her. She had expected an array of different questions to come her way from the elemental. But those that were predicted in her mind were carefully worded and not compacted into one single worded question. It caught her off guard and she looked around.

Swallowing the piece of cake in his mouth, he clarified. "Why me? Must have been other guys in this world that could be within your radar. Why me only?"

"That I couldn't answer even if I wanted to." She stated her answer. "My friend brought me in because she wanted someone could pique your interest and could…" Mera clicked her tongue sheepishly as she continued. "Maybe, a very huge maybe… take you out if you turned out to be a bad guy."

"Funny." Seth said and let the passing waiter take their plates. "He didn't give us a check?"

"I pre-paid the orders." Mera stated as she stood up and walked to the stairs with the mutant. "But sorry about this."

"Well, I hope you have a car with you. Cause I'm gonna have to go back to the house again."

"I do." Mera assured him as they reached the ground floor.

"Joseph?" Seth called out to the musician who turned to him. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to say singing here is gonna be tomorrow. Gonna bring the girls as well."

"Last chance you get, pal. Unless, you scared." Joe challenged him.

"Game on, geezer." Seth smirked daringly and the mutant and his companion walked out of the lounge bar.

A tumbler was slammed down on table loudly, as the woman with long black hair and golden-brown highlights replaced her feet on the floor again. The woman licked her lips and turned to the exit. "So that the guy Lindy wants us to keep an eye on?"

"Yeah, he is. Lindy wanted us to keep an eye on them, in case the guy decides to attack Mera." The short-haired man stated. "I mean, he is the one who had his sword at her throat."

The woman turned to him and looked concerned. "Are you okay, Carter? You look a bit pale?"

Carter Hall shrugged. "That sword… our friends… I don't trust anyone with that god-awful blade." He poured the rest of his drink down his throat. "I am very, very tempted to find him and kill him myself, Kendra."

The eyes on Kendra Munoz-Saunders' face expanded. "You wanna find Blackfire and kill him?" she whispered out the words.

"Yeah, I do." Carter stated. "Or at the very least, Zoom. Either of those two needs to be taken care of. And right now, Lindy is too worried and too focused on a gigantic motherfucker who looks more bad guy than good guy. It's stupid."

"Hey." Kendra tapped his hand. "You forget who managed to get us out of trouble before. Lindy. She always has a plan that works out for everyone. That's the kind of gall she is. Trust her."

"If you say so. But I'm not gonna trust anyone with that big hell blade." Carter got up from his chair. "Even if Lindy says that." He walked out of the back entrance.

Kendra threw a final glance to the front entrance again before walking after her other half again. "I hope you're not going to do anything stupid, Carter." Her right hand was clutched around the straps of her travel bag.

…A silver-tipped sharp edge shone with light touching it when sticking out of the bag…

X

(West-Allen Household)

"Guys, meet Mera Curry." Seth introduced the Atlantean who had saved his life from an encounter with Zoom and the rest of his metahuman posse. The two had already walked into the room and they were met with the faces of the people that the elemental's been housing with.

"So this is the beautiful Atlantean?" Ruby stated without any visible facial expression. But inwardly she was shocked to meet an actual citizen of a world thought to be lost, a real life Atlantean.

Mera turned to the mutant. "Beautiful huh? You do know you were the one who pointed that I'm married, right?"

"To be exact, I never said you were beautiful." Seth defended himself and pointed his hands to the three girls. "That's all them. They're kids and they're natural troublemakers at that age."

Evelyn pouted, "Hey, I'm not a troublemaker."

Jesse chuckled. "No, you're just a teleporter."

"I'm sorry, a teleporter?" Mera stated confusedly with shock.

"Yeah, girls you talk with the Atlantean. I'm gonna have a talk with the adults. Barry, Iris, to the kitchen, please." Seth walked to the kitchen with the married couple following him.

The Atlantean looked to Evelyn again. "You're a teleporter?"

X

"What do you want to talk about?" Iris asked the elemental.

Seth made sure that the girls and Mera was out of hearing distance and stated to the married couple, "The girls don't know it yet, but I have arranged for Mera to be your protection if troubles come at your doorstep."

"What do you mean by that, Seth?" Barry asked and his wife was wearing a shocked expression.

"In case, I'm not there and Zoom or his henchmen wanna pay you guys a visit, Mera will take of it. She's probably just as strong as am I am." Seth stated, the shocked faces on the two caused him to elaborate. "I really appreciate everything you two have done for me, letting a stranger like me into your lives. You're letting me live here in your house, eat your food, sleep under your roof and more importantly…"

Neither Iris nor Barry knew what to expect when he continues his words. It was as though time stood still from the expectation raising to new limits that nothing short of the level of the stratosphere. It felt like seconds turned into minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. And days turned….

…to forever…

But then Seth finally spoke. "The two of you are have been willing to put your trust, your faith in me. You're trusting me with your lives, and I wanna be worthy of that trust. So there's no limits to what I have to do to protect you both. I know asking Mera about this favor without consulting you guys, is not right of me, but I have to. It's important to me."

"Getting an Atlantean to be our bodyguard?" Iris couldn't help but chuckle. "You really are a hero, Seth. Or anti-hero, in your case."

"How did you guys know about that?" Seth wondered; he didn't recall telling the two of them about that part of him.

Barry was the one to reply. "Jesse told us that in your world, well worlds, that you are known to be an anti-hero. A hero who's willing to do the bad things for the right reasons. And apparently, you are the idol of our little strangely-wired assassin from another universe."

"Sounds about right." Seth sighed. "But another matter, I need to say." The two gave their full attention again. "I want Mera to stay here with you two tomorrow, you three get acquainted with one another. Names, numbers, living addresses, make friendship bracelets for each other and become BFFs or whatever. Just so you guys can trust each other and know it all, so you're ready for an emergency."

"Sure makes sense." Barry agreed.

"But what about you? You gonna go on a shopping streak with the girls? You don't look like the type." Iris commented.

"I have a daughter, thank you very much. Thankfully, she's more about training and fighting and spending time with her dad." Seth smiled warmly before continuing again. "I'm gonna go back to the Woodlands and train the girls again. I've been way too lax with their training."

"What do you mean, they've been training themselves and expanding their powers on their own. Isn't that well enough?" the mutant heard the argument coming from the detective.

"Not if their arsenal's too weak to defend them against Zoom and his cohorts." Seth countered. "I'm gonna have to go a little harder this time. Evelyn's the problem though and so is Jesse for that matter. One doesn't have enough fighting experience and the other keeps too exhausted from her powers when in use."

"May I come with a suggestion?" Barry held up his finger. The mutant and the detective looked to each other before looking to the CSI scientist again with nodding heads. Clearing his throat, he explained. "You said that her powers manifest themselves in light and darkness… in the form of arrows, right?"

"Well, the light side of her, at least, but yeah." Seth said.

"But what if she could somehow… channel it through something. An object perhaps. Would that perhaps lessen the burden of her powers' drawback?" He suggested.

"Possibly yeah. But it's not always the case, it comes down to the materials. I don't know if there's materials on this Earth that's strong enough to contain the powers of shadows with incredible strength and teleportation. Not to mention her light that can penetrate anything and is incredibly blinding." Seth looked unsure. "I'm not sure, but I can try."

"Wait, what if we gave her weapons?" Iris suggested, the elemental looked unsure and shrugged his shoulders. She shared a look with her husband. "She could maybe channel her powers into weapons. We've seen metahumans do that before. Evelyn's a metahuman, too. She should do that. And we might have something in our basement that Evelyn might use."

Both men looked confused by her words.

X

Following closely behind her, Iris walked into the basement with Seth and Barry. The moment the door was swung open, the nostrils on the elemental's face flared open from the dust blasting into his face. "Think they're not really the cleaning type of people."

"Since when have you been the cleaning type, Seth." Venom stated to his host. "But yeah, they got a shit-load of dust down here. Might wanna blast a few hurricanes down here while you're down here."

"Yeah, cause blasting a cyclone of wind down here, in a basement under a house, is definitely not an idiotic plan." He snidely said back.

"Jackass, your liver is still edible. Don't tempt us!" Venom threatened.

"Get a new threat, would you? Heck, go to a Wikipedia site for jokes, might do you some good." Seth joked.

"We could always go for your testicles."

Seth abruptly stopped in the middle of the basement, thus continuing a long discussion with his "other" that felt like eternity. Iris reached under a shelf and pulled out a duffel bag. Turning her head to the mutant, she saw his strange state of paralysis. "What's wrong, Seth?"

He shook his head. "Just a long ass talk with my partner. But what is that?"

Grabbing hold of the straps she lifted the bag from the table and handed it to the elemental. "Something you can use tomorrow. For Evelyn."

Taking it in his hand, Seth said. "Thanks. Hope it's gonna be useful."

"Likewise." Iris said. "Think you need to go and tend to your lovely guest. Tell her she can spend the night here, if she has to."

"We can arrange another bed for her or something. That or you can sleep down here, Seth." Barry chortled.

"Like Hell that's happening." Seth said before walking up the stairs.

With the two left behind, Barry turned to his wife with a shocked look. "Iris, I thought for sure you were gonna tell him about Blackfire… about Chyre." He spoke in a whisper, afraid that the elemental or others are gonna hear him. "But… you didn't?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. About telling him about him…" Iris turned around and locked at an evidence box on the floor. The name "Chyre" painted on it with big red letters on the lid. "Telling him about Blackfire… seemed too hard. What if the same thing happens to him?"

"Iris…" he walked closer to her and cupped his wife's face with both hands. "Seth's not Fred." She got a saddened expression. "I know it's hard to hear, but Chyre's dead. And Seth's so much more than Fred, he's a hero. A hero who's never been thought to exist in our world. We have to ask him."

"Maybe… but he's a father, he has a daughter, universes away from this one. A daughter who might think that he's dead right now. I can't let him risk never seeing his daughter again because of me and what's happening in our world." Iris confessed tearfully.

She remembered the times that Seth would talk about the woman he loves…. The daughter he speaks so dearly off, the apple of his eye…. Iris couldn't be the reason for his family to never see him again. She would be no better… than Blackfire himself.

"Okay." Barry would always support his wife no matter what. "I'm here for you. I will back any and all decisions you make, I promise you that, as your husband. Don't worry, take your time."

"But not too long… he's still out there." Iris remarked as she felt her husband's arms embrace her in a loving hug.

An embrace that she desperately needed right now….

X

(Woodlands)

The next day was started off with bright sunlight dazzling over every inch of the magnificent forestry woods of the Woodlands near Central City. The hike was much shorter this time around. This time they didn't have the married couple with them, which made it perhaps easier for the mutant and the three girls to get into the woods.

Seth looked around and the area near the lake. "Perfect."

He felt his "other" mentally raise an eyebrow within his mind before the question came. "Why do you want this place exactly? Chances are Zoom and his metas are gonna be on our ass again if we stay here."

"It's a risk we have to take at this point, Venom." He answered out loud. "This way, I can really train them to new limits."

"Is this today's training grounds?" Ruby called out from behind as she and the other two girls followed behind.

"Yeah they are, but it's gonna be a bit different today." Seth said and put down the duffel bag on the ground.

"How different?" Evelyn wondered with crossed arms.

The mutant looked to Jesse who was huffing and panting. "Because this time, Jesse's gonna learn how to fight against me." The native girl in question snapped her head up to the elemental with a shockingly gaped mouth. Seth smiled while he let icy white mist emit from around his body and mix with the black smoke as well. Lightning sparked on his body as did wind. His fists turned into adamantium. "With my powers." The black tendrils shot out of his back.

"What?!" she screamed unbelievably loud… and the other three could have sworn they heard birds flying away in shock of the sudden scream. "You want me to fight you with your powers on?! Why?!"

"I can't take it easy on you guys anymore. Training's gonna be for real now. Which means, my powers are gonna be on. And frankly, Jesse, you've, come a long way, but you haven't reached the level I think is good enough for you to take on a metahuman yet." Seth announced. "So trust me, I'm gonna have to go all-out from now on. And not just you." His eyes pointed to the powered girls. "You two, as well."

"I can't wait for that." Ruby smiled sickly happy.

"It's gonna something, alright." Evelyn admitted.

Jesse gave them a look. "Am I the only one who's not looking forward to this?!" She said.

"Probably." The symbiotic mass spread over his arms and his arms, forming adamantium claws. "But I'm doing this to help you guys defend yourselves. So come on, Jesse. Step forward." The native girl stepped forward till she stood in front of him. "When you're ready."

"You're not gonna go easy on me, are you?" He shook his head with a smirk. She sighed in defeat. "Thought as much!" she charged for him and swung his arm for him.

But her fist never came to connect with him because a series of tendrils wrapped around her body parts. Starting with her arms, the tendrils wrapped around her legs. Each them tightened their hold and squeezed her. "Ow!" Jesse stated out loud in pain.

Seth didn't like to hurt her, but he had to do it now. For her sake. "I'm sorry, Jesse. I am, but I have to do this, for you."

"It's okay." Jesse told him in an assuring tone while she tried to struggle out of his hold. Lashing his arm out back, he gathered wind around his palm before hurling it at the girl's torso. The wind blast pushed her out of his tendrils' grasp. She groaned as she laid on the ground. "Get up, Jesse. You're not done yet."

"No, I'm not." She said determinedly and got up on her feet again. Retaking a fighter's stance, she said. "I'm not done yet. Not till I at least got one hit."

"You can certainly try." He challenged and the native girl rushed him again. This time, she stretched out her hand downwards and quickly picked up a long tree branch. Resuming her charge, she swung the tree branch from downwards to his face.

The flames around his right arm slammed into the branch and broke it in two pieces. Before Jesse could let herself feel shock, his left adamantium arm grabbed both of her hands and held them above her head, lifting her above the ground.

"What the?!" she let out in shock as she felt her feet leave the ground.

"Nice choice." Seth complimented her. "It's good to think outside the box and use the things around you. Heard you did back when Zoom and his friends paid a visit before. But you can't always do that. You might find yourself in an area where they're no life, no branches for you to use as a tool."

"What do I do if find myself in a situation like that?" she asked.

"Use your arms and legs, strengthen them. You might not have powers, but you definitely have the power to make yourself stronger and faster." He released his hold on her again. She landed on the ground with a small thudding sound. "These are the powers already in your arsenal. Sometimes the weapons you need are the ones you were born with."

"My Dad never taught me things like this before." Jesse admitted.

"My Dad did." Seth chuckled. "It was the best way for me to become an agent of SHIELD and become the very best elemental combatant there is." He grabbed her hands. "Use these for a while now, turn these into your weapons and then Zoom and his metahumans are gonna be ones running."

"Bit of an overestimation, right?"

"Not really." Seth surprised her with that answer. "Metahumans, mutants… they're like people who hold a normal weapon. They think that one thing about them makes them invincible, damn near untouchable. Basically powers makes them super cocky and might put in a horrible makeover, including a very sour personality change."

Jesse smirked, "That didn't stop you from making out with Killer Frost, did it?" her right foot lifted backwards and dug into the ground, digging dirt and sand up and on the tip of her shoe.

Seth threw up his arms and exclaimed. "Why do you guys-" The native girl thrusted her foot upwards, hurling sand and dirt into the mutant's face, abruptly interrupting him and causing his field of vision to be blocked. "Ah!" he let out a cry when feeling the dirt and sand grains sting his eyes.

His tendrils retracted and he covered his eyes with his forearm. Jesse smirked and ran forward again. Lashing out her foot, she swung her feet for his body again. Without the aid of his eyes, his partner controlled his movements and brought both arms forward side by side. He expected to feel the impact of her limb connect with his own.

But what he didn't see was the smirk widening on her face and swung her feet around backwards. The back of her foot slammed into the right side of his face. "ARGH!" A pained scream escaped his mouth and retreated from her. His hands cupped his cheek.

"YES!" Jesse exclaimed happily at her achievement, she felt like she had received an award for a scientific discovery that only she has uncovered. "Finally! I got a hit in!"

"Not bad." Seth wiped away the rest of dirt and sand from his face, he felt like he had to dig into his eyes to swipe away the remaining grains that still stung his optic organs. Making eye contact with her, he stated. "I'm impressed. You started to use your surroundings more, you thought outside the box."

"Well, I had a good teacher." She quipped with a smile.

He squatted and scooped up sand in his hand. "Simple elements like sand and dirt can very well cause the needed shift in a battle, to tip the scales to your side. It's a pretty basic thing that even a lot of pro fighters don't know." Seth stood up again, the grains slipped through the gaps of his fingers. "But you figured it out instantly."

"Thanks. Wanna continue?" Jesse asked, resuming another fighting position.

However, a shaking of his head caused her to be surprised. "Like I said, you have to train your body to new limits, and get stronger." Pointing his eyes to the powered girls. "I have to train those two next. You have to train yourself alone for now. Do it at your own pace and make sure that you push yourself."

"I will. Thanks." Jesse went to walk away.

"Jesse." The girl turned around to face him. "You never told me why you were captured by Zoom and his hang of misfits. I hope you can tell that at some point, cause the more I know is gonna help me help you." He revealed. "Well, whatever, good luck with your training."

"My Dad." Jesse started, the mutant opening his eyes in a shocking manner. "Zoom took me because of my Dad. He wanted to make him hurt, and because of that, my Dad is doing anything he says. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Doubt I know her father." Seth thought to himself. Chances of him knowing him would be slim unless it was a doppelganger. "Gonna have to wait." Another mystery for another time while he remains on Earth-2.

Scratching the back of his head, he admitted. "He's a father himself, so I get it. When one's child is in harm's way, then a parent will stop at no lengths to get them back. She wasn't my daughter back then, but a psychopath captured Frankie and held her hostage because of me. I went ballistic at the thought of her in danger and immediately jumped into battle to find him and save Frankie. I wouldn't let anything stop me from saving her and I would do anything for her. Even trying to blow up a Singularity. I get it. He's probably doing everything in his power to help you right now."

"Maybe…" Jesse said doubtfully, the mutant tilting his head in confusion. The native girl got out of her thoughts and ran over to a tree to commence her training.

Seth narrowed his eyes. "More than meets the eye, huh?" he looked back to the other two girls. "Ruby, you up for a sparring?" He beckoned her over with his finger.

The assassin cracked her knuckles as she walked over to him. "I'm ready. And you better not go easy on me."

"Like I said before, you already have experience and you are much stronger than the others, so things are gonna be different." He told her with a smirk. The smirk was enveloped by a black mass with white veins that spread over the entirety of his body. Ruby looked upwards as he grew taller and bigger.

His face bubbled like boiling water and the white skull extension covered over his face and his eyes turned crimson red. The white spine spiraled around his arms and dug into his hands again. "This time, we will fight you to our full extend. So get ready."

Ruby couldn't hide her excitement from showing on her face. "I can't wait for this to happen."

Venom smiled maliciously and raised his hand again. A mass formed on his palm, bursting and revealing his massive crystal sword. "Let's see how long that will last!"

X

Two pairs of feet touched down on the ground not far from the group of girls training with the elemental demon, Venom. Both clad in silver armor that appeared thick enough to even withstand bullets. Their shoulder pads appeared to have the same pattern, gridlines that gave the appearance of feathers. The same was with their helmets. The sides of their helmets accompanied with black feather-patterned pads. Small bags attached to both of their thighs.

Each of their backs paired with large…. Pale…White… Feathery… wings.

The man held a silver-handled mace with golden spiked ball in his right hand, twirling it around in his hand as he looked ahead at the sight of the group training. The woman beside him had holsters attached to her thighs as well. Each one holstering a firearm. Her hand had her binoculars placed in front of her eyes.

She zoomed in on the elemental who enlarged his form into the form of the Demon King. "Seeing him on the news, hearing about him and actually seeing him turn into that is incredible."

"Yeah." The man took off his helmet and revealed the face of Carter Hall. "But that sword…" he tightened his hold on both his mace and his helmet. "He's no better than Blackfire then."

Placing her binoculars inside her bag, she took off her helmet. "Carter, we can't judge books by their covers, and that means this Demon King too. I mean, look at him." Kendra Munoz-Saunders gestured to the elemental and the young girl.

They watched the elemental swing his arm down from above, hitting the ground after the young girl dodged it. His sword came from the left, but she jumped backwards and avoided it. The same could not be said when a series of tendrils wrapped around her hands and threw her away. They watched him open his maw and firing a blast of flames after her.

"What? A gigantic demon trying to kill a girl?" Carter sarcastically remarked, but he thought it was exactly like that.

"No, you dumbass." Kendra chortled. "He's just a guy who's training a young girl right now. To better her chances of her fighting against Zoom and his gang of metas. He's doing something for her sake. And Mera wouldn't vouch for him, if he was another bastard like Zoom or Blackfire."

"I don't know about that, Kendra." He held his mace high. "But if he makes the wrong move, I'm gonna smash his head clean off his body."

"Carter," Kendra had to resist the very powerful urge to slap herself in the face from that statement while she gestured to the demon again. "I think you have to be worried about him smashing your head clean off your body."

Carter didn't dare to disagree with that.

X

Ruby dug her feet into the ground and made eye contact with the demon again. The young assassin watched as Venom twirled his sword around. The trees around them shook from the gravitational prowess within the girl.

Venom smiled. "You don't have to use your hands, Ruby. The power is in you. From what you told us, just the mere thought of you wanting to crush your opponent's head is enough for your powers to respond in the same way. Imagine it." She listened to every word escaping his mouth, following his instructions as best as she could. "Imagine the shaking of the trees. The ground cracking with each pulsating thought passing through your mind." True to his words, those exact things happened.

The trees began shaking again, violently shaking more and more with the passing of each second. Trees began to tear into pieces and fall down to the ground. The ground cracked opened like it was Mother Earth's mouth opening up and ready to swallow anything that's within the reach of her teeth.

The pieces of the shaken trees were unfortunate to meet such a fate; gobbled up by the very foundation of which their roots called home.

The smile on the maliciously looking demon widened once more, smiling proudly at the sight of the young assassin's progress. "Nice… Ruby." Seth thought impressively.

He swung his blade around again, this time challenging the young girl. "Come on, Destroyer. Show us how you fight! Imagine it! Imagine the gravitational push that will hurl even us to the skies!"

Ruby sharpened her gaze on the mutant and like an explosion, a gravitational blast connected with the elemental's stomach and launched him off the grounds like he was a hit by a missile. Seth was surprised by the level of destructiveness hiding within her powers. His body crashed into one tree before ricocheting into another one. Venom was then launched into another tree and bounced off it, causing his hold on his sword to be released from his hand.

He screamed out in both pain and shock before his body was slammed into the ground. The sword's blade dug into the ground right beside his head, digging deep enough so only the handle and the guard can could be seen.

While his mouth opened and closed repeatedly to let out an array of pants, Seth thought to both his partner and himself. "She's much, much…" he looked upwards and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the trees with broken branches and torn forms of each of them. "Much, much stronger than I expected."

"She could definitely give Olivia a run for her money." Venom stated.

"Yeah." Seth agreed while both and his partner straightened themselves up to a sitting. "Last time, Ruby tried to hurl us like that, we wouldn't even budge an inch. But now… she was able to throw me unbelievably far away from her. A few days have passed, and this happened all of a sudden. Incredible. She's powered up, all right?"

"She might have more to fight for now." Venom said with a chuckle. "A good heart, the right reason, the sufficient training, that's enough for anyone to reach levels like hers."

"Got that right."

Venom got back up on his feet and wrapped his hand around his sword handle. He extracted his weapon from its confines of the field. Tendrils slithered out of his back and he put his sword on his back. The tendrils wrapped around the weapon and pulled it close. He jumped off the ground and latched onto the side of a large tree. "What the hell?"

Seth stopped moving and asked him partner. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Thought we saw a large bird before. Guess, we were wrong."

"I'll get you some food when we get back." Seth told his partner before leaping again. Thinking it was nothing more than just hunger.

This time he had to train Evelyn.

X

Ruby looked around in search for the elemental. "How far did I throw him?"

"Too far, I think." Evelyn joked as she stepped closer to the assassin's side. Her eyes turned to the duffel bag on the ground. "What do you think he has in that bag there?"

"Definitely not a bunch of candy bars, that's for sure. Even though, he does have a sweet tooth." Ruby quipped. Her ears perked up at the sound of rustling leaves and cracking bark. Turning her eyes to the direction of the upper parts of the trees, she saw Venom jumping off them and landing on the ground. "Welcome back. Hope you had a safe flight with Hale Airports."

Venom leant down to the assassin's face. "You are definitely not getting a five-star rating. And definitely getting a lousy review."

After a laughing for a short while, Ruby said. "So what do you think of it? Maybe learn how to lessen that blow?"

"No. it was perfect." Seth revealed while his form was retracting the symbiote into his body again. He rotated his arm and walked to her. "I am shocked with how much you were able to do, Ruby. I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks." Ruby smiled happily.

"But here's the challenge." He smiled. "This time, I don't want you to attack, but instead learn how to restrain with your powers."

"Restrain?" she asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You saw how I used my tendrils to keep Jesse from moving and captured her?" The assassin nodded. "I want you to do the same with your powers. Learn how to hold your opponents with the visible force of gravity itself. Once you learn how to do that, there's nothing in this world, or even the multiverse that you can't stop with your powers."

"That's sounds like a good goal." Ruby admitted with interest.

However, that interest was only a small fraction of what it turned into after Seth said. "And if you can learn how to do that, you change it and actually use it to apply pressure, apply weight to the target themselves. Basically, you'd be forcing them to the ground."

"I did that once, back in our universe, in my time." Ruby said and the mutant looked confused. "There was this woman, Daisy from SHIELD, who tried and wanted to help after I infused Gravitonium into my cells. But I was out of control and I was angered. I just compressed her lungs instead of accepting her help."

"Yeah, but that very same technique can also be used to stop a fight. You can use it to force a target's weapons down to the ground and crush it to pieces." Seth told her.

"Guess, I have a new goal now." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, you do." Seth winked. "But you're gonna have to learn that alone. You can ask if you can do it with Jesse maybe, you know train with her." The assassin smirked sickly. But the mutant saw it and he held out a tendril in front of her face, waving it around in her face in a disapprovingly. "You are not going to crush her limbs or the rest of her, alright? That's a big "No-No"."

"Not even a little bit?"

"Not even a fraction of a little bit." Seth clarified.

"Fine." Ruby held out her hands and walked away. "Good luck with Eclipse, old man."

"She really is a swamp mouth." Seth said with a short laugh. He turned to the metahuman girl who was walking towards him. "You ready for a training session, Evie?"

"I am." Evelyn said and without putting her hands together or closing her eyes, her entire body shined with the combination of both light and darkness. The marks on her face formed quickly as well. "I've been training a lot lately." Without much effort now, her palms pressed together formed a light sword.

"Haha, you keep impressing me, Evelyn." Seth remarked impressively. "But you can cancel the sword now, kiddo. I have something else for you to do now."

"Um, okay." Evelyn released her hold on her sword. The moment she did, the light weaponry disappeared. "But what so then? What do you want me to do?"

Seth walked over to the duffel bag and zipped it open. "I took a look at these last night, but I think these will go well with your skills from both parkour and athleticism." Evelyn's confusion was still strong, and it only grew stronger when the mutant revealed the items within the duffel bag.

His hands were clutched around different objects. The right hand was clutched around the grip of the dark-green bow. The left hand was holding the straps of a small quiver with dozens of arrows in it. "Iris gave these last night. Apparently CCPD had a recent visit by a green archer. And he lost both his quiver and bow, not really smart that one." He handed them to her.

"Thank you." Evelyn grabbed them. She swung the quiver over shoulder and made sure it was secured on her back. Checking the bowstring, she held it up and pulled on the string again. "Feels good."

"You know how to use it?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, my Dad took up archery in his high school years. He still did it a while after I was born. He showed me a few tricks and taught me how to use it." Evelyn said but her confusion was still there. "But what's the point? I can already make arrows sharper than any known metal."

"Yeah, but it takes an enormous toll on your body whenever you use that power." Seth said informingly. "So we are gonna try something else instead." Gesturing to her weapons, he continued. "Think maybe another way to ease you is to let your powers flow through a weapon. It might lessen the toll on you."

"Might?" she recited that single word.

He decided to speak honestly. "I really don't know, the chances of the materials of these weapons handling the force and pressure of both your light and darkness… they might burst if that happens."

"Don't you know how to make weapons?"

"No, I don't, sorry." Seth told her regrettably. "Never been much for making weapons. Only using them." He turned around and looked for a target that was nowhere near Ruby or Jesse. Looking in the direction of the lake, he saw a large tree on the other side of it. "That should do it. Aim an arrow at that tree and make sure to use your powers."

Evelyn nodded and stood near the shore. Seth stepped back and tendrils shot out of his body and hooked into the ground, anchoring him to the earth underneath his feet. He watched the light and dark energy within the metahuman intensify, glowing out of her body.

Inhaling deeply, she reached behind her back and pulled out an arrow. She placed the arrow on the arrow rest on the bow. Her fingers grabbing hold of the bowstring and pulled it back. Exhaling deeply, the energies from within her body ran over her arms. The bowstring was getting dark and darker, enveloped in a sheer of darkness that waved thin string around like an ocean of shadows. While the darkness continued to run over the string, the light from within her roared and ran over the arrow, slowly embracing it in a force of pure brilliant light. The arrowhead was appearing to be sharpened while shining so radiantly.

Seth couldn't help but be entranced by the increasing sharpness. Like metal be hammered and hammered as it was being forged, the redder and redder it grows, the stronger it gets when finally turned into a weapon. "Each strike burns it redder and the more its strength increases. Guess the same applies here." The elemental thought.

"Her darkness strengthens it and the light sharpens it?" Venom suggested his thoughts on the matter.

"Perhaps…" Seth noticed Evelyn's hands shaking, and so did the bow and arrow she holds. "Evelyn." He got her attention without her turning to face him. "Don't think about the damage, about what might happen if you fail. Whatever happens, I can stop it. I promise you that. Believe in me and believe in yourself, Evie. I trust you."

"Thank you." She couldn't help but feel herself at ease at his words.

Pulling the string back further, she exhaled one last time, the darkness and light of her powers combined… before she released.

The moment her fingers let go of it, the pure white light-embraced arrow shot forth in a blinding flash. Darkness spiraled around both ends of the arrow before wrapping around the shaft. It paved through the air and water under it blew to the sides from the immense power from within the flying projectile.

It reached the other shore…

PIERCE

The arrow pierced into a tree and remained stuck in it. And the arrow was still shining brightly with light and darkness. The light burned the impacted area of the tree, burn marks scorched the area. And it dug into the darkness's strength emitted through the projectile and cracked through the thick bark.

"I did it!" Evelyn jumped and down. She didn't feel exhausted this time. "Seth, did you see that?! I did that and I don't feel weak this time."

"I saw it, and yeah it's really impressive, Evie." Seth narrowed his eyes on the arrow on the other side of the lake. The arrow kept emitting energy and damaged the tree's bark. "But…" Evelyn looked worried at his words and turned to the arrow as well.

A faint cracking sound reached their ears. And fearfully, Evelyn's eyes widened. "Oh no!"

BURST

Right before their very eyes, the arrow burst into a thousand pieces and scattered its remains around the shore on the other side of the lake.

"Why? I thought by spreading my powers into the weapon would have been enough…" Evelyn clutched her hands tighter around the bow. Her eyes were stinging with tears from the overwhelming flood of failure that was slowly drowning her.

"Looks like I was right after all."

Evelyn turned her tearful eyes to the mutant who walked closer to her. He saw tears rolling down her face. Crouching down in front of her, he used his fingers to wipe the tears away from her face. "I wasn't talking about you, Evie."

"W-W-What did you mean then?" she stuttered the question.

He took hold of the bow in her hands and ran his fingers over the bow. "Look here." Evelyn looked at the bow. "The bowstring was close to be snapped because of the darkness. And the same applied to the arrow."

"What do you mean? I don't get it." She asked after registering the damaged bowstring.

The elemental took an arrow out of the quiver and held it with both hands. "See here." Without much effort, he broke the arrow in two by applying pressure to it from both ends of it. "The arrow and bow are both made to utilize the strength of a normal human. But a metahuman like you, they're weren't designed to withstand or adapt to that level of power." He groaned. "I wish Matt was here."

"Matt? Who's Matt?" Evelyn asked.

"My best friend and my brother-in-law." Seth started. "He's another mutant like me. But he's able to form nanites out of his bone structure after being kidnapped like me and my sister and underwent a year of hellish experiments. He became a weapons engineer after graduating from the SHIELD Academy." He looked up into the skies. "My sister's a psychologist and used her brain to assess and help mutants when their powers began manifesting. She handles the mental rollercoaster in their minds. I take care of anything that's biological. Like something that can halt their powers maybe if they can't control them. Matt's the same, but he does with technology instead. He's able to make devices and even weapons that withstand the powers of a powered being."

"You think he could make something like that for me?" came the question from Evelyn.

"Yeah." Seth threw the broken pieces away. "Definitely something that can easily handle your powers. You'd like him." He smiled. "He might even give you something that do more than this."

"Sounds cool." Evelyn smiled again.

"But this time, you have something else to do." He formed an ice staff in his right hand. "Now, we're gonna play a fetch."

She frowned and slapped him. "Do I look like a dog?" she asked with a pout.

"Nothing like that!" he assured her while he broke off the top of the staff. "But I want you to control your teleportation."

"Every time it happens, is out of my control. They happen on their own." She said with clenched hands.

"Actually, they happen because of your emotions, kiddo." Seth revealed. "Last time, you did it was because you were feeling sadness from a nightmare. You just have to find a good source, like your happy memories. Sometimes that's all takes."

"The same way I can flow both my light and darkness inside of my entire body?" Evelyn asked curiously.

"Precisely." He held up the icicle staff in his hand like he would hold a spear. "I'll throw this spear away and I want you to grab it before it hits the ground or after it does… with your teleportation powers. I know you can do it."

"You think so?"

"You natives of this Earth really like doubting me, don't you?" he quipped and assured her earnestly. "I believe in you, Evelyn Sharp. It's time for you to do the same."

"Okay." Evelyn looked ready, her eyes displaying a massive level of concentration.

"Let's go then." He reeled the spear back before letting out a cry as he launched the ice weapon into the air.

She saw the ice staff passing through the air. Evelyn recalled how Seth told her to focus on the power of imagination, the same thing she did when she let her darkness and light flow and combine throughout her entire body. But this time… she didn't think of them both.

Instead, she focused on solely one element… the darkness.

The onyx… pitch-black… darkness that coursed through all of her veins. Crashing and bouncing off her every cell. Running through her with unimaginable strength and enveloping her cells and spreading through the rest of her autonomy.

The darkness seeped out of her again and wrapped her entire body, not a single light touching her before…

She disappeared and left remains of the dark shadowy mass.

Without looking in the direction, Seth felt her presence disappear from behind him… and the smile on his face widened. "Nice going, Evie!" he looked in the direction of his thrown staff again. This time widening his eyes at the sight.

Already there, Evelyn had grabbed the ice staff with a smirk on her face. But that's not what surprised him the most. What surprised him was the fact that the young metahuman did not appear to be least bit winded from teleporting.

"Must require less power or something. Perhaps even based on what she's looking at or what she remembers of the location of her intended teleportation destination."

"So what do you think?" Evelyn asked as she reappeared behind him.

Smirking happily, he said. "I am really proud of you, Eclipse." Evelyn blushed embarrassedly. "We're gonna have to take a break from the entire bow and arrow training because I don't have any experience in making those weapons. Instead we're gonna take your teleportation training to the next level."

"You want me to jump scare Jesse or Ruby?" Evelyn wondered humorously.

"Jumping scaring an assassin sounds like the greatest plan of all times." Seth sarcastically stated while his clothes changed and turned black. "You're gonna chase me…" The symbiote mass spread over his entire form and he turned into Venom. "

"You are gonna chase us." The mutant clarified with a wicked smile.

"Teleporting after a demon who can leap like a monkey? Your training gets crazier and crazier, Demon King." Evelyn said.

"Oh yeah." He jumped backwards and lashed out a tendril out and wrapped it around a tree. Pulling on it, he yanked him onto the tree. "See if you can catch this monkey, kiddo." Venom leaped away and jumped away from her.

Evelyn smiled happily at the challenge, and the darkness quickly enveloped her. It disappeared and so did she, marking the start of another fun chase.

X

"That was too close!" Carter let out after he touched down on the ground. His legs gave out and he fell down on the ground on all four, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to come to terms with had happened… or rather what would have happened.

From afar, hey saw the young bleached-blonde girl use her invisible powers to launch the Demon King away and through the forest and through the trees. He and Kendra had to take flight again and dodge the incoming meteor-like Venom.

They were closed to be spotted and they had to get away… neither didn't want to be discovered.

Kendra looked around in fear. "Think we're far enough from them. Maybe too far from them." She ran her hand down her face. "We should go back again and keep watch over them. We have a mission that we need to complete. Let's get going."

"Yeah." He got back on his feet again, having calmed down greatly and put on his helmet again.

The woman spread her wings again and put on her helmet as well. Carter spread his wings, and then both he and Kendra jumped into the air next.

WHOOSH

But a familiar and eerie whooshing sound behind them reached their ears and they turned around to face the source. And despite all their greatest wishes, they saw, to their misfortune, the pitch-black eyes of the evil speedster looking at them.

Blue lightning continued to run over the horrifying form of Zoom. His eyes shifted between two of the flying beings. "Hawkman." He gave the name of the flying man who took out his mace. The evil speedster turned to the flying woman. "Hawkgirl."

"Zoom." Hawkgirl sneered in anger at him while she took out firearms. "Why are you here?"

"Birds. Tenacious and impudent birds that flaps their wings incessantly." Zoom formed a smirk and his dark eyes displayed psychotic happiness. "Birds that needs to be… exterminated… by my hands."

"Just like you, as always, Zoom." Hawkman said unimpressively while he held his mace high. "Fine words that doesn't measure to anything you do. Pretty weak."

"Is that so?" Zoom said. With lightning fast movements, he thrusted his arms forward and spun them around, unleashing two wind-funnels that connected with the flying man. Hawkman was too distracted by the shock to dodge the wind assault. And it pushed him back and into a tree with immense force. The impact with the large tree caused bile to force its way up and out of Carter's mouth. His body sliding down to the ground and the mace slipped out of his hand as well.

"Carter!" Hawkgirl exclaimed in worry. She saw red and turned her firearms at the metahuman and pulled the triggers. "Die you son of a bitch!" While the bullets fired, she flew around in a circular motion. Flying around and unleashing hailstorms of lead at him from various angles.

But not a single one connected with the speedster.

In his eyes the bullets moved slower than snails as they traveled through the air. He chuckled and merely swung his arms around in different motions. After plucking the dozens bullets out of the air, time returned to normal.

Kendra stopped flying and remained suspended in the air as she looked at him. "What?"

Zoom opened his clenched hands and the bullets that he gathered from her attack slipped through the gaps of his fingers, letting them fall to the ground. "What's next, Hawkgirl?"

Carter got up on his feet again and saw Kendra charging Zoom. But it was useless as he appeared right beside her and slammed his fist into the side of her face. The punch was packed with the force of his blue lightning and its force was enough to launch the flying woman away and into a tree again.

"Kendra!" he screamed and picked up his mace again. Enragedly so, his wings sprung out of his back and he charged for the speedster with his mace lashed out. He neared Zoom and swung his mace. But it was dodged.

He landed on the ground and made eye contact with the speedster. Zoom turned his head to look with one eye at him, as though Carter wasn't worth looking at with both eyes. "Big mistake, facing me. Even with your little girlfriend."

His arms flapped and he twirled the mace around in his hand. "I'll take my chances, Zoom." Leaping forward, he spun around and lashed out with his right wing, performing a wing attack.

Leaning backwards, Zoom dodged the incoming winged attack. Straightening up again, he swung his fist into Hackman's face and pushed him back. Carter's face was riddled with anger and he spun around again, both of his wings spread out to their full extend.

Spinning with incredible momentum caused his wings to turn into a blur as he neared the speedster. Zoom couldn't help but chuckle at the futile attempt to land a blow. It a desperate attempt that made it damn near impossible for him to not laugh.

His own hands lashed out and grabbed hold of one wing. Pulling on it, he stopped the flying man's momentum and swung him into a tree. Carter thought he was safe but Zoom appeared before him and launched an array of lightning-fast fists into his torso.

More bile was thrown up and soon blood followed it and soaked the front of his suit. But not matter how much blood flooded Hawkman's armor and his own fists, Zoom continued his onslaught on the man's body.

Finding an opening through the merciless strikes, Carter swung his mace once more. This time managing to get the speedster to sped backwards and putting distance between them. Within his cowl, Zoom's ears perked up at the sound of triggers being pulled and dodged another wave of lead projectiles.

Hawkgirl landed down beside Hawkman. Her hands holding guns each and pointing them at Zoom, ready to fire at any seconds. She briefly looked at him with a turn of her head. "Carter, are you okay? Can you still fight?" she asked in concern, but she was far more worried about whether or not he could stand right now.

He took off his helmet and threw it to the ground. "Watching a new demon from afar was easy enough. But fighting against an old one, that's a bit harder."

"We can take him, together." She confidently told him.

"I know better than to argue with you." Carter chuckled bloodily. He straightened up again and swung his weapon again. "Let's fly then."

"Yeah!"

Both flyers leaped into the air once more, raising higher and higher up with their wings flapping them to new heights. Zoom didn't appear the least bit threatened of them ascending above his head.

Hawkman dived on for the first swing, literally swinging his mace for the evil speedster. But it was dodged and before Zoom could counter, Carter rose up again. Hawkgirl flew down next and swung with her left wing after firing six bullets.

Zoom swiped them away and turned to her again. But his chest was met with the fully extended left wing on her back and pushed him back into a roll. Speeding up to his full height again, he appeared behind the female flying and wrapped his hand around her neck from behind. His claws digging and scratching the sides of her throat, fine lines of blood trailing down the sides. She winced at the feeling of her own life blood oozing out of her body.

"Kendra!" Hawkman screamed and charged for them both. With the added velocity of his short flight, he hurled his mace.

Smiling wickedly at the launched weapon. He with a mere push of his other hand and the release of another, he pushed Hawkgirl in front of him. Kendra widened her eyes as did Carter…

…

PIERCE

The sound of the mace's spikes penetrated the barrier of flesh on Hawkgirl's shoulder and stuck itself on her body. She was pushed down on the ground and Carter rushed to her. Panting heavily, almost to the point of hyperventilating, he got down on his knees and pulled off her helmet.

Cupping her face, he said apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Kendra."

"B-B-"

He looked confused at her stammering words that did not spark any recognition of the words in his head. "What are you saying?"

Fighting through the immense pain spreading from her shoulder, she screamed her words. "Behind you!"

Carter managed to swing his head back and was met with the form of blue lightning slam into his body and thrust him into a tree. He was pinned to the tree, by the throat, in the grasps of the evil speedster. He smiled viciously.

Hawkman didn't know what expec-

But he soon got his answer the sound of another piercing sound echoed in his ear tunnels… along with the sound of his own flesh forced open to accommodate… the five pitch-black claws that thrusted into his body…

The shocking feeling of his blood seeping out of his stomach forced any and all possible sounds in his mouth to be halted from escaping. The same applied to Kendra who was unable to make any sound as she watched the blood flow down the midnight-coated claws of the menacing speedster.

Zoom yanked his claws from the flying man's stomach and let Hawkman fall down to his knees. Managing with all of his powers, he turned his eyes the love of his life. "K-K… Kendra…" he said.

Kendra didn't understand why he spoke like that, spoke like it was the final words he was to ever utter to her. Horror and terror fell over her entire being like it was a rainy day as she realized why he spoke so defeatedly.

The black speedster stood behind Carter, his claws risen to the air and his eyes pointed at the flying woman who remained on the ground. Kendra shook her head. "No. No. Please, no." she knew what he intended to do and pleadingly asked of him to no do that. "No don't!"

"Your mistake… was to challenge me!" Zoom stated before clenching his fist with blue lightning running over his hand. The next second he brought it down.

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOO!"

CRACK

X

(West-Allen Household, Porch)

Seth and the three girls made their way back to the West-Allen house. The training went well for all three. Not perfect, but well enough for them to get better control of their individual powers, or lack thereof.

Jesse seemed more confident in herself and judging by the bruises on her hands, she didn't waste the time on anything but training. And from her words to him at the Woodlands, she seemed eager for more training. All she needed was a confident boost which happened because of the landed attack on him.

Ruby showed Seth the aftermath of her training and the results as well… on him. Without moving and without the using of her hands, she was able to pin him to the ground with a gravitational force that increased with each smirk on her face. It didn't take long before he felt like he had the weight of an entire mountain, forcing his body to crack through the ground. He was impressed and glad that he was able to spark that flame within her.

Evelyn did just as impressively as the others, if not more. While she may not have been able use her bow and arrows without damaging either of them, she was able to perform teleportation unbelievably well. She was able to catch him a lot of the times as he continued to leap and leap like Venom. Most of the times, she had managed to land on his back.

He was proud to see them all so devoted to their training and he knew he was glad he was able to teach them.

"Gonna be interesting the coming few days." Venom said.

Seth chuckled as they reached the stairs on the porch. "Yeah. But we have to look for anything in the city that might help us back to our universe. We'll go swinging and check out the entire city soon enough."

"Might be time for that for us to do that." Venom agreed. "We have to get home somehow at some point."

"Yeah, we can let the girls train themselves in Iris and Barry's backyard tomorrow while we go out and train." He explained.

"Man, that was awesome!" Jesse jumped up on the stairs with an exclaim. She smiled and laughed. "Tell me, I'm not the only one who feels like this?!"

Ruby chuckled. "For once, we agree on something, Jesse. These training sessions are amazing!"

"Yeah!" Evelyn was so hyped, she jumped onto the wooden railing on the house. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

"Glad to hear. But tonight, we're gonna have a little break again. We're going to Jitterbugs later." Seth said as he reached the door.

Evelyn jumped down from the railing. "Why?"

"A surprise, kiddo." Seth told her and saw the three of them turned their heads upwards with sighs. "Grow up." His hand reached for the doorknob and was about to turn it.

But it was already swung open and revealed Mera Curry who walked through it. "Hey, thought I heard you guys. Welcome back."

"Hey you." Seth greeted her back, noticing her jacket hanging around her arm, and the girls said quick greetings themselves before walking past the Atlantean. "So how did the bonding session with the West-Allens go? You guys already best friends?"

Mera chuckled. "Yeah, they have all my contact information and such, so when they get any troubles, I'll be here to help them." She put on her jacket. "I have to go and talk with a friend of mine now, so it's gonna be a short meeting now."

"Sure thing. But you have time later, me and the others are going to Jitterbugs to enjoy another nice break." Seth informed.

"Don't know if I can come to that. But I'll try." Mera told him as she walked down the stairs. "But my friend who's been watching you and the house here, she called me to come back to her to talk."

"Alrighty. Hey." He stopped her and saw Mera turn to face him from the bottom of the stairs. "Something's been bothering me, Mera." She looked confused and saw him walk down the stairs to stand in front of her. "You're a powerful Atlantean, powerful enough to even give Zoom and his merry band of bastards a scare. Maybe even stronger than me. So how come you didn't come and actually stop Zoom and the rest before?"

"Honestly, I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that." The Atlantean scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she said. "Atlanteans are very, very territorial. We don't mess with other cities' businesses. Anything outside of Atlantis is not worth our efforts, a lot of them think. I don't like it, but I have to follow their rules sometimes, big figure back home."

"But why change it now? Doubt it was because of me."

"It wasn't. It was for my friend." Mera said. "She's done good before, a lot of good and she asked me to help her with you. Things that needed my assistance appeared and I said yes. One-time thing. I have to protect Atlantis."

"Because of your own will or because of this territorial sense?" Seth wondered, the Atlantean not finding the words to speak any more out of shock. "Do it for the good of the people. Be the one to end their misery." He finished before walking to the door again. "Say hey to your friend for me. And I'm gonna be expecting that meeting at some point. Getting tired of messengers at this point, really."

"Gee thanks." Mera feigned hurt.

"No offense, of course." Seth added as he opened the door and got in.

"Wonder if Lindy will meet him…" she thought out loud before turning around. "Have to check up on her now."

X

(Jitterbugs)

Sometime later, Seth and had others walked into the lounge bar again. This time they chose to wear less-than-extravagant clothing. The others had already taken a seat and watched as the mutant made his way to Joseph West.

"So you're ready to prove yourself, pal?" Joseph smirked behind the rim of his drink.

"Born ready. As long as you keep your end of the deal, of course, and lay off Barry." Seth reminded the musician with crossed arms.

"If you do well, Dr. Fury." Joseph notified him again.

Seth smirked and took the glass from the musician's hand. "Watch and learn, Joe." He downed the scotch unmanneredly before handing back the glass. "I'm gonna sing my heart out."

"Hey. You got inspiration for this song?" Joe wondered.

"Yeah… the love of my life… who's not here with me as she remains in another world..." Seth said, and it sounded vague to the musician.

But the words that he spoke right now… was probably the truest words he has ever spoken ever since he was hurled into this universe. Cause no matter where he would be in this entire wide ocean that is the multiverse…

… his heart would beat to mere mention of the woman he loves… to beat to find Caitlin Snow again… to love her again… as it should for the rest of his entire life… and nothing in the realm of the world… worlds even… would prevent him from returning to her again… so he could once more hold her in his arms… and tell her he would always love her and never leave her again.

Because in his heart that beats like a drum at the thought of her… he believes that she's waiting for him.

And he would be coming to her… like a speeding bullet.

He made his way to the microphone. Looking around at the audience, he was surprised to find so many there and then saw his friends there. He gave them a short wave before greeting through the microphone. "Hiya, people! My name's Seth Fury, and… well, let's get going then."

Turning to the band, he asked. "Hit it!"

(Song: Waiting for Superman by Daughtry)

The friends and others watching the mutant, saw him steel himself with closed eyes. Unlike the others in the audience, the friends of the elemental doubted he was doing it to get rid of excess nervousness within him. He looked confident enough to have done this before, so they wondered why his eyes were closed.

However, in his mind, he was only thinking of the memories of his love… of the woman he was gonna go back to again… to continue to be her…

… Lethal Protector…

She's watching the taxi driver, he pulls away
She's been locked up inside her apartment 100 days
She says "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late
He got stuck at the laundromat washing his cape"
She's just watching the clouds roll by and they spell her name
Like Lois Lane
And she smiles, oh, the way she smiles

She's talking to angels, counting the stars
Making a wish on a passing car
She's dancing with strangers, falling apart
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms, yeah, in his arms, yeah
Waiting for Superman

The moment they heard him singing those words, the girls and Iris and Barry looked shocked. The others in the audience enthralled by his voice, mostly the women specifically. And the staff too who stopped working as they listened to him sing.

Seth looked like he was only focusing on the song and all other sounds faded… as though they have lost their very meaning.

She's out on the corner trying to catch a glimpse
Nothing's making sense
She's been chasing an answer
A sign lost in the abyss, this Metropolis
She says "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late
He got stuck at the Five and Dime saving the day
She says, "If life was a movie, then it wouldn't end like this
Left without a kiss"
Still, she smiles, oh, the way she smiles, yeah

She's talking to angels, she's counting the stars
Making a wish on a passing car
She's dancing with strangers, she's falling apart
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms, yeah, in his arms, yeah
She's waiting for Superman

None of the people in the audience, be it friends of the mutant or acquittances or costumers, could understand what the inspiration behind his singing was. It was like… above levels of what they've heard before.

What they didn't know… was that it was entire heart that poured into each and every word coming out of his mouth…dedicated to someone…

Someone he envisioned to be there right in front of his eyes.

To lift her up and take her anywhere
Show her love
Flying through the air
Save her now before it's too late tonight
Oh, at the speed of light
And she smiles

All of his words… his every soul… dedicated to Caitlin Snow….

She's talking to angels, she's counting the stars
Making a wish on a passing car
She's dancing with strangers, she's falling apart
She's waiting for Superman

To lift her up and take her anywhere
Show her love
Flying through the air
Save her now before it's too late tonight
She's waiting for Superman

He finished his song and bowed to the crowd, who cheered and applauded him for his otherworldly singing. But he didn't hear the cheering or their applaud… he heard something else.

Words he longed to hear again… as though it was a distinct feeling that was calling out to him.

"I love you… Seth."

Snapping his head up again, he looked around in shock of the familiar voice of the Caitlin Snow he knows and loves. But he did not find anything or anyone that could have a voice like hers. Not even the doppelganger of his loved one was anywhere to be found.

But his useless search came to an end as the smile on his face began to widen.

"I'm coming back, Cait. Don't worry. I love you too."

X

Entering the area again, Mera revealed herself to Lindy who was seated behind her screens with interlocked hands. "You called me, Lindy? What's wrong?"

Lindy looked up to her old friend and got up from her chair with a sorrow expression. "I'm sorry, Mera."

"For what?" she asked in worry.

"I had the Hawks trail you and Venom before at Jitterbugs yesterday." She started, her friend's eyes widening instantly. "And today, when Venom trained those girls."

"Why would you do that?" Mera sprinted to the desk, standing on the opposite of Lindy with her eyes looking deeply into her eyes. "Lindy I have everything under control and Seth… I trust him. Why won't you?"

"He had Blackfire's sword at your throat, Mera!" Lindy screamed with her eyes shifting colors and her hair elongating and shortening uncontrollably. She felt her eyes, hair and skin change uncontrollably and calmed down. "I don't want to lose any more of my friends to that sword again… especially after he… took her. I won't lose anymore. Not again." She said.

"I know… Lindy. But we're gonna get her back again. And Seth will help us with that." Mera assured her comfortingly. "Call the Hawks back here."

"That's why I called." Lindy said. "They hadn't checked in a while now, so I tried to call them but none of them responded. I've been calling them for a while, and I'm worried that Venom… might have eaten them."

"He wouldn't do that." The Atlantean adamantly said. "I trust him, Seth's not that kind of guy."

"He didn't do anything."

Both of them turned around and saw to their shock, a sight that would never fade from their memory database. Kendra was walking past the threshold and into the room… her arms holding the body of a friend of theirs, a man that held a very special place in her heart.

Carter Hall was in her arms… his bloodied body lifelessly carried in and put down on the table placed at the right-side wall. Kendra was without emotions as she kept her eyes on the dead body of her love. "Zoom found us and he… we fought him… but he killed Carter… in front of me."

"He let you go?" Mera asked confused.

"So I could live and remember his death over and over for the rest of my life without Carter." Kendra's eyes were flooded with tears that flowed down her face like rain. "It's my fault… I was too weak."

"Kendra." Lindy got her attention. "I was the one who gave you and Carter the job, Because I didn't believe in Venom. Despite all the good he's done so far. Carter's death is on me and me only."

But Kendra disagreed with a shake of her head. "We took the job willingly, Lindy. You don't have to feel bad about anything. We're old enough to take responsible for this."

"I'm so sorry, Kendra." Mera hugged her friend, and let the flying woman cry into her shoulders. "I wish there was something I could do."

"There is." She wiped away the tears and looked at the Atlantean's face. "I want to kill one of Zoom's metahumans."

Hawkgirl had her talons set on revenge now.

To be continued…

And that's another chapter, peeps.

Seth told Mera Curry of his origin, well at least his original worlds. The origins of his powers have been revealed to her and she will relay the same to her friends, Lindy and her group. And his training with the girls have improved their fighting prowess greatly.

But the next time on his adventure, he has to resume his hunting of a source to return to his home universe of Earth-1. Whatever means Zoom is using for his own gains, he has to find and utilize himself if he is to have any hopes of returning to his family again and to protect the girls under his care.

Iris and Barry are still unsure if telling the elemental mutant of what truly lies within the city is worth it. They know he has a daughter waiting for him as well as another loved one. The detective can't bring herself to tell that to Seth, knowing full well that he would go in and fight with all his strength to take down the man… that rivals the terror of Zoom.

Her nightmare of a pitch-black darkened world and her old mentor's form is enough for her to put a lid on her revelation… for now, anyway.

Lindy's distrust led her to send the Hawks, Hawkman and Hawkgirl after Seth and Mera, watching them from afar without being spotted. But it lead to the Hawks' downfall as they were encountered by the horror of Zoom who encountered them and fought them. As a result of their fight, in addition to them being harmed… Carter Hall feel victim to Zoom's claws of darkness.

And now, Kendra Munoz-Saunders is out for blood… the blood of the people who took the love of her love.

Oh yeah, I based the looks of both Earth-2 Kendra and Carter on their DC Comics appearances, just for visual aid.

Hope you guys enjoyed the song, thought it would be nice to bring one of Daughtry's great songs back into the stories.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!

And once again, have an awesome New Year's Eve.