I looked around and realized I was on the waverider, which until then I had never been on. I stopped in confusion as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Kara with empathy in her eyes. I lost control and started sobbing. She pulled me into her arms and I dug my face into her shoulder. The comfort of her arms around me made the pain lessen, if only a little. We stayed in that position until she broke away, "Carly, you couldn't have saved her."

"You don't know that." I said wiping a tear from my cheek, "If I had answered that damn call, I might've gotten to her in time. Maybe, I could've used a portal to teleport her to us, but I was so busy with the fight I didn't even check who had called. This is all my fault."

"Carly, I understand how you feel." Kara began

Her nice words actually made me angry. I was hurting and I knew she was just trying to help, but I was pissed, "You have no idea how I feel. I felt her die, Kara. It isn't just that I lost a friend, I felt it. I felt her fear. Her pain. Her suffering. I felt all of it. She helped save me from her father and in return I let her die!"

Kara wanted to say more, but I noticed the others meeting in the comms room. I pulled back from her and went to stand by the others. Kara came up beside me, but neither of us said a word. I wasn't mad at her, just myself. I had done this and I was going to fix it.

The Monitor stood before all of us with genuine grief, "You have all lost a great hero."

"The wrong hero." Barry muttered

"I do not disagree. You have suffered a horrible loss, but you have every reason not to lose hope." The Monitor said as he looked around at all of us, "Across space and time exist 7 heroes. Beings of the purest will, who can ultimately defeat the Anti-Monitor. They are known as Paragons."

"Paragons? And you're just dropping this on us now?" Barry asked with poison on his tongue.

The Monitor looked toward him with honesty, "I only recently learned of their existence by consulting "The Book of Destiny". After Oliver's early demise, I went back into the time stream and retrieved it intact. It is now safely stored in this ship's library."

"So it's what, plan "B"?" I asked with the same type of anger Barry had. We looked at each other with understanding.

That's when Kara suddenly perked up, "Uh, but wait. If the book can rewrite destiny, can it bring back Earth-38 or any of the other Earths?"

"Trying to re-create an entire world would surely drive one to madness." The Monitor explained as Kara's hope faded, "The book is powerful, but there is always a cost. Using it for something that big could make a person go mad or even kill them. I wish it could, this is not how I saw events unfold, but as the Anti-Monitor gets stronger, I grow weaker. We must find all 7 Paragons or we're all doomed."

"How about, like, a hint?" Batwoman asked

"I have 4." The Monitor said looking around the room, "Kara Zor-El, despite all you have endured, you are the Paragon of Hope. Sara Lance is the Paragon of Destiny and I only have descriptions for the other two Paragons. One is of a second Kryptonian, who is said to have suffered a greater loss than most mortal men could endure. Today, he stands as the Paragon of Truth."

"And the fourth?" Kara asked

"The Paragon of Courage is known only as the Bat of the future. Earth-99 exists in a future time where Bruce Wayne has dedicated himself, body and soul, to fighting crime. The path to find him will lead you to the Paragon of Courage." The Monitor explained

Ray became stiff with a look of shock on his face. He looked around at the group trying to see if anyone else was as excited as he was, "I'm sorry. Go back. Bruce Wayne is the Dark Knight?"

"If we could all keep that to ourselves, that'd be great." Kate muttered as Ray straightened his posture.

Clark, Lois, and Iris were going to go find the Kryptonian. Barry, Mia, and Sara were going to find a way to bring Oliver back. While Kate would go look for her future cousin with Kara by her side. I wanted to join Kara, but I also just wanted time alone. I left the comms room and entered one of the side rooms. I was looking back at the footage of Earth-38 being destroyed when someone walked into the room.

The second his voice rang out every hair on my body rose to a point, "An entire universe wiped from existence is distilled down to a computer graphic. How sad is that?"

The anger inside of me boiled over and I lunged at him. I used my speed to appear in front of Lex, grabbing his shirt, and slamming his back into the wall. I gritted my teeth as I yelled, "Lena killed you!"

"Yeah. Only for a little while." Lex looked me over with intrigue, noticing something was different. "You've changed, Carly. Last time we met you were just Supergirl's best friend, easy hostage, but now something is different. You're stronger. Faster. Meaner. What happened to you?"

"Let's just say I transformed." I said, baring my fangs at him.

His eyes went wide with shock only to go back to smug within seconds, "You were turned into a vamtronian. That is interesting. Yet that is not all I see, you have darkness inside of you. This transformation has made you more angry and violent. You want to beat the Anti-Monitor...no, you want to kill him."

"You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Don't I?" Lex questioned as he looked into my eyes, "I have been traveling down a dark road for quite a while, Carly. Evil can sense evil and it is all over you. You want to be good, but you need blood to survive and everything you feel is heightened. You get a little too angry and murderous rage could set in. You are not a good guy, Carly, just as much as I'm not."

I sensed movement and turned to see Kara and Kate walk into the room. When Kara saw Lex she stopped dead in her tracks and became angry. Before she could attack him the Monitor appeared in the room, "Everyone has a part to play, even Lex Luthor."

I looked at the Monitor and took a step back from Lex. He fixed his suit and gave me an annoying glare. Meanwhile, Kara couldn't keep her anger handled, "You did this? You brought that poisonous snake back?"

"His destiny was unfulfilled. Lex Luthor still has an important role to play." The Monitor said

"So you can revive him, but you can't bring back Oliver?" I asked

"I restored Luthor long before the crisis caused my power to wane."

"And what about those innocent lives on Earth-38? Did they not have destinies to fulfill? I'm sorry, but I can't trust a man who thinks Lex Luthor is an ally." Kara ranted as she left the room. When she left, the Monitor vanished. Kate wanted to punch Lex, but decided to follow after Kara instead.

I began to go after them when Lex grabbed my arm, "You will go evil at some point, Carly. Whether it be during this crisis or after. You are a wolf in sheep's clothing just as I am. Don't pretend you are anything different."

I pulled my arm out of his grasp and ran after Kara. When I found her, she was alone, as Kate had wandered off to prepare to find Bruce. Kara looked just as broken as I felt, "Kara, I'm sorry about earlier. I was mad at myself, not you. Can you forgive me?"

She looked over at me and her frown turned into a smile, "Of course, I can. It's just now that the Monitor has brought Lex back, everything is jumbled. I don't know if I should trust him, let alone go find a Paragon for him."

"Kara, listen to me." I said as I sat down next to her on some crates, "He is our only shot at bringing everyone back. If he says Lex is a part of it then we just have to trust he's right. What other choice do we really have? The universe is being erased and we are the only people who have the capabilities to stop it. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions to save the day."

Kara smiled with understanding, "When did you become so smart?"

"I learned from the best." I said with the same smile.

Just then Harbinger ran into the room with Lois, Clark, and Iris by her side. Their sudden arrival made Kara and I stand up just as fast. We noticed how worried each of their faces were and it made us nervous. I looked over at Kara just Harbinger told us the news, "Lex is gone."

"What do you mean Lex is gone?" Kara asked

Clark took a step forward and explained, "Harbinger found Lex in the library with the book of destiny. He vanished just before we could grab him. He's…"

"Planning to kill every Superman on every earth he comes across." Lois finished

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked aloud to myself.

Kara clenched her fist, but tried to keep calm, "Why don't I come with all of you to find the Kryptonian? If Lex is an issue, I can help you handle him."

"No, you can't." Harbinger insisted with urgency, "You need to be there with Kate to find the Paragon of Courage. She needs help on this."

"But I can't let Clark do this on his own."

"Why don't I go with them?" I asked as the group all looked over at me, "I might not be a Krytonian, but I have powers. If something happens I could help."

"Well, then its set. Carly will go with Clark and the others while Kara goes with Kate." Harbinger restated

"One kink in the plan." I said as everyone looked toward me with confusion, "I can't go in the sun without bursting into flames."

"As long as you cover up and stay in the shadows you will be fine. I will get you the gear you will need. Just leave it up to me." Harbinger said with a smile.

Kara wasn't happy about it. She still treated me like I was a human, weak and powerless. Yet now I had super-like powers. Now that I was a half vamtronian, I might as well use my abilities for something. Otherwise, I might turn dark like Lex tempted. I knew he was just trying to get under my skin, but part of what he said hit home because deep down I knew he was right.

Kara went with Kate to Earth-99 while Lois, Clark, Iris, and I went from Earth to Earth to try and find our Superman. Harbinger had gotten me a black long-sleeved sweater, black pants, thick shoes, sunglasses, a brimmed hat, and even a black umbrella. I looked like a spy on a mission or a criminal, choose your pick. I thanked her with a fake smile and we went our way. The four of us went to almost 10 earths and Lex had always gotten to Superman before we had the chance to save him. The last earth we made it to was Earth-96 and we had finally beat Lex.

"Ray tracked Lex's last breach to this Earth, so he can't be far." Iris said looking down at the watch Ray had given her. It had tracking capabilities for all the Paragons, which came in quite handy.

We entered the Daily Planet and noticed an office at the end of the hall with Clark Kent plastered on it. He was the Chief Editor which made our Clark a little jealous has he hadn't made it to that high of a position yet. We peeked into the glass walls and found a man at the desk.

They began to enter when I noticed the entire office was glass. My clothing helped, but being in that much sun made me quite uncomfortable. Just going from earth to earth was taking it out of me. I grabbed Iris' arm and pulled her back, "I think I should wait out here. At least out here there are shadows I could hide in."

Iris looked at all the glass walls and then back at me, putting her hand on my shoulder, "Carly, you can do this. Just stay closer to the inside of the room. We will try to do this quickly and then you can go back to the safety of the ship. I promise."

I reluctantly nodded as Lois led the way as we all went into the office. The man noticed our presence and turned around. The shock that appeared on all our faces was quite obvious and Lois was the first to point out the reason for the shock, "Uh, he looks just like Ray Palmer."

"Who?" Asked Ray look alike Superman.

"Um, do you have a second?" Iris quickly asked, ignoring his question.

"Sure. For a citizen of Metropolis, always. If you wouldn't mind contacting my assistant." Superman said holding out his business card to Iris.

She declined the business card as Lois got to the point, "It's about Lex Luthor."

Superman's smile faded to a frown. He kept his cool and tried to keep a straight face, "I appreciate your concern, but this isn't my first go-around with Luthor. I can handle him."

"That's not the point. Lex has changed the game. He isn't just some crook anymore." Our Clark warned

The sun was making me feel very uncomfortable. I wasn't lighting on fire or anything, but I felt hot and clammy. I moved closer to his desk to get into the shade of the room, when he noticed me for the first time. He looked at me with confusion as the same look appeared on my face.

"Do I know you?" Superman asked

The group looked at me and I shook my head. I took my sunglasses off and he stiffened. Superman looked toward me and truly noticed me for the first time. His eyes went wide with shock and joy. The others noticed his reaction as they looked toward me, but sadly, I was just as confused as they were.

"Carly…" Superman muttered as he walked around the desk and pulled me into a very tight hug. So tight in fact that I began to be unable to breathe. Even as a half vamptronian I needed oxygen. Luckily, he pulled away and scanned my face to see if I was real, "I thought you were dead."

I grabbed his hands and pulled them away from my face. I explained and tried to be nice about it, "I'm not your Carly. I'm from another earth in a whole another universe. I'm sorry."

That's when Iris' reporter brain kicked in and she asked, "How did your Carly die?"

Superman pointed at the wall behind us. The wall was filled with plaques each with a name. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Perry White to name a few. I stepped closer and noticed my name near the bottom with another beside mine. My stomach dropped when I noticed Kara was listed. I knew she wasn't my Kara, but it still made me feel sick.

Superman bit his lip and explained the tragedy, "A reject from Gotham felt that we didn't cover him enough, so he played what he called a practical joke and gassed the building."

"All these people died?" Lois asked

"My friends, my wife. I lost everyone in one fell swoop."

"What about Kara? She has superpowers like you. How could she have died in that gassing?" I asked

"She died trying to save you. The other you." Superman said as I turned to face him, "You were trapped on the top floor and Kara flew up to save you. The gas was more potent than Kara and I thought, meaning it could kill her. I told her not to risk it, but she couldn't leave you to die. She tried her hardest to get you out, but the gas got to be too much and she collapsed. I tried to save her, but by the time I got there it was too late."

I began to cry and the others were in sad moods as well. I was the reason Kara died on this earth. It wasn't me, but it was. I wiped away the tears in my eyes as our Clark pieced it together, "Almost as if you've been through more loss than any mortal man could endure."

"I think we just found our Paragon." Iris said with a small smile as she turned to look at Superman, "We need you to come back with us. I know this sounds insane, but you might be the key to saving the multiverse."

"That's actually one of the least insane things I've ever heard, but first, we stay and face Luthor." Superman said as he vanished and returned in his suit.

Our Clark smiled and did the same, "And you won't do it alone."

That's when Lex decided to appear in the room. Both Supermen prepared for a fight as Lois and Iris crossed their arms with annoyance. I wanted to attack Lex, but I held back as Lois threatened him, "We won't let you kill him, Lex!"

"Oh, I've moved on from that." Lex said with a mischievous smile, "Never thought I'd say this, but I'm tired of killing Supermen. So much more fun making Superman kill Superman."

Lex lifted his hand into the air and whispered something. The book lit up as Earth-96 Superman began to gasp. He collapsed onto his knees holding his head. Clark tried to help him, but Superman quickly got up and wrapped his hand around his throat, "You don't belong here."

"We're here because we need your help." Clark gasped as he tried to rip the other Superman's hand away from his throat.

Superman scoffed and looked directly at me as he said the next thing, "Help? I couldn't even save my wife, my friends. I don't care about your universe."

"Yes, you do. You're the Paragon of Truth." Iris begged

"There's only one truth. I serve Lex Luthor." Superman said, throwing Clark out the window as he flew after him. When glass shatter a beam of light hit my uncovered face and I used my speed to appear in the darkest part of the room. The burned healed almost instantly as the two supermen were flying around fighting one another with Lex just standing there, laughing.

Lois and Iris to my side and helped me stand up, "What are we going to do about him? If we don't hurry, they will kill each other."

"We need to get that book from him." Lois whispered

"And fast." Iris said as Superman threw Clark into a building across the way. We looked at each other and knew what had to happen. Luckily, Lex was standing in the shade of the room so I used my speed to appear behind him and use a vase from Superman's desk to knock him out. When he hit the floor, Iris and Lois grabbed the book.

They began to pry the book open as I noticed blood on the vase I hit Lex with. My attention was locked onto the blood as it dripped down the vase and landed on my hand. Nothing else mattered except for it. I began moving my face closer to lick the blood off the vase, but Iris snapped me out of it, "Carly, help us with the book."

I broke out of my trance and noticed both of them looking at me with worry. I dropped the vase and quickly ran over to them. They looked a little scared, but they weren't afraid of me. So I helped them open the book as all three of us held the book open.

Lois looked down at the page and figured out what had to be done, "Picture the Clark that we met. Focus on what the universe knows he's meant to be."

Just then Superman threw Clark into the room, right through one of the still intact windows. He approached Clark and was preparing to punch him again. Iris was the first to point out the problem, "I'm pretty sure it's not working."

"It's like...it's like Lex turned all of his love into hate." Lois explained

That's when it hit me. I left Iris and Lois to hold onto the book as I approached Earth-96 Superman, "Clark, this isn't you, not the real Clark, the one that Perry White respected and Jimmy Olsen looked up to and Lois loved. Not the one who risked his life to save his cousin who flew into a building to save her best friend."

"You know nothing about me or them!" Superman yelled

"We know more than you think." I said as I kept my cool and channeled my inner Kara. She was always better at dealing with emotions than I was, "They would want your memories of them to lift you up, not drive you to darkness. That's the truth, Clark, and the truth means everything to you. Remember who you are."

Superman grabbed his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. Our Clark got off the floor and came to stand beside Lois. Superman suddenly relaxed and opened his eyes.

"You okay?" I asked

"Actually, this is the second time I've gone nuts and fought myself. I'm sorry for what I said as I meant none of it." Superman said looking over at the unconscious Lex, "Now, let's go save the multiverse."

When we arrived back at the Waverider, Barry was back with his group. I looked toward him with question in my eyes and he shook his head. I stepped forward and pulled him in for a hug. I knew this Lazarus Pit was the only thing that could've brought Oliver back and I knew how much Oliver had meant to Barry.

When we separated from our hug the Monitor had come into the room, "Well done. You have succeeded in finding the Paragon of Truth. Lex Luthor played his role. He led you to him."

Superman stepped forward as Sara, Barry, and even Mia's eyes went wide with surprise. I explained why he looked like Ray just as Kara and Kate came into the room.

"Yeah? How many more people did he hurt to do that? The Bruce Wayne we met wasn't the Paragon of anything. He was cruel and broken. He killed the Superman of his earth." Kara said as she looked over and noticed Superman, "Whoa, Ray. You are looking jacked."

"No, no, no, no. This is your cousin, sort of...he's Superman from Earth-96." Our Clark explained

Superman pulled Kara in for a hug and Kara awkwardly hugged back. Then Kate got to explaining why they didn't come back with their Paragon, "Uh, so Batman tried to kill Kara, and now he's dead, so we're doomed."

"We shall see. I believe Dr. Palmer's work is now finished." The Monitor explained

Ray came into the room and looked at Superman with the same shock as everyone else had. This time Superman had a similar look of shock, "Wow, so this is the man everyone says I look like. Less muscular, but I see the resemblance."

Ray tried to retort, "Well, I might not be a hulk of a man, but I have the brains of three. Plus, I don't wear underwear overtop my pants."

The group giggled at the comment and Superman, instead of getting angry, joined in on the laughter. Ray awkwardly smiled and then headed over to his machine to explain what it was, "So this is my new invention. I've never actually built a Paragon detector before. This will be the trial run to find the final 3. Everyone might want to take a step back."

Everyone stepped back as he flipped the switch on the machine. It booted up and he pressed start. The machine began scanning and making weird beeping noises. Eventually, it locked in on a location, but it wasn't an earth. It was the ship which Ray pointed out, "Apparently, there are still a few bugs."

"Your machine works just fine. That light is the Paragon of Courage." The Monitor said

"Yeah. Well, Bruce's body isn't on the ship, so…" Kate began

"No, but you are. I said the path to Earth-99 would lead you to the Paragon, and that has come to pass. You are the Bat of the future, Kate Kane. You are the Paragon of Courage." The Monitor announced as everyone glanced over at Kate. She awkwardly left the room as Kara came over to me.

"Are you okay? I know going in the sun is uncomfortable for you. Did anything happen?" Kara asked

"I'm fine, I promise. Maybe, I'm a little toasty, but nothing I can't handle." I said as I noticed Kara looking toward where Kate had gone, "Go after her. I'm fine, Kara, really. Go check on her."

She nodded and ran after Kate. Not telling her how I felt was really wearing on me, I felt like I could burst. Superman from Earth-96 noticed my lingering look as he came to stand beside me, "You should tell her."

"Tell her what?" I questioned

"That you like her."

Once the words left his mouth, all the color from my face drained and I looked over at him with worry, "How did you know?"

He smiled and put his arms behind him, "The look you gave her when she came in earlier and the look you just had as she left was clear. It is obvious that you care deeply for her. You should tell her."

"I can't." I denied with crossed arms, "With everything going on, I don't want to make things more complicated."

"On my Earth, you two were married." Superman said as I looked up at him with disbelief, "You were. On the day of the gassing you had come to visit Kara for your 5 year anniversary. She was out to lunch and when she came back the gas was consuming the building. She went to save you, but she knew getting you out was impossible. So rather than living without the love of her life, she died holding your hand."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked with tears in my eyes.

"I am telling you this because you love her and if this Kara is anything like the one I knew, she loves you just as much, if not more. Waiting will only make things worse. This might end in tragedy. Wouldn't you want to be holding the one you love when the world ends?" Superman suggested

"I just don't know…" I began

"Carly, listen to me." Superman said grabbing my arms, "You might not be the Carly on my earth, but she had these same worries. Don't let your worry of failure outweigh your chance of love. Tell her how you feel before the world ends."