Chapter 12
(Waverider)
"Oh, crap, crap, crap! Where do you guys think they're taking them?" Felicity asked in a panicky tone, as she, Cisco, and Conner had just gotten the alert of what happened to the other heroes.
"Those Men In Black types are probably gonna take them to a secret lab and run experiments on them," Cisco answered in an equally panicky tone. "Have you seen Stranger Things?"
"I heard about it, but what does a TV show have to do with any of this?" Conner said.
"Life imitates art, Superboy," Cisco said, as he headed over to a briefcase in the cargo bay. "Either way, we need to rescue them."
"We? No offense, but I'm the only one here with super-strength and super-speed," Conner pointed out.
"He's got a point, Cisco," Felicity said. "You and I are just the tech support."
"No, this is tech support," Cisco said, as he opened the briefcase containing gun blasters inside. Picking up one of the blasters, he added, "Set your phasers to stun." He then turned to Conner. "Take us with you. We're about to have an adventure."
(Unspecified Facility)
"Are you all right?" Amaya asked Ollie, who was the last to come to as the two of them, along with Mick and Nate, were locked inside a room.
"Yeah," Ollie answered, taking in his surroundings. "I'll be even better once we find a way out of wherever the hell we are."
"This is why I hate the government," Mick said. He turned to the latter two. "Can't you two use your powers and get us out of here?"
"Whatever they tranqed us with is screwing with our powers," Nate explained.
"See? This is exactly why we should've had Superboy with us," Ollie said, before turning to Mick. "Still think it was a good idea benching the one person who is invulnerable to the tranq darts and could've gotten all of us away from those evil Men in Black agents in the blink of an eye?"
"You're right, Robin Hood, I screwed up," Mick admitted.
Just then, an inhuman grunt attracted their attention and the four heroes turned to see a Dominator strapped to an operating table.
"Hey, he's still alive," Amaya noted, as she took several steps forward. "Although something tells me none of us are gonna be alive for long."
"Wait," Nate said, as he got up from the bench and walked forward to stand next to Amaya. "This is the exact opportunity we've been looking for."
"To get captured?" Mick asked, incredulously.
"No," Nate said. "To talk with one of the Dominators."
"And find out what they want with our planet," Amaya added.
"Well, this is a first," Mick said. "Talking with an alien."
"Maybe it's a first for you, but not so much for me," Ollie said, as he and Mick also stepped forward and stood beside Amaya and Nate.
Nate cleared his throat as he walked up to the restrained Domination. "Excuse me, Mr. Alien Guy."
In response, the Dominator let out an angry shriek, causing all four heroes to wince from the loud, painful sound.
(Central City, Present Day)
Barry, Oliver, Sara, and Ray, all of them wearing their full costumes, stood outside waiting for the new President's arrival. There was no one else in sight.
"So where's the President?" Sara wondered.
"She's late," Oliver said.
"Well, you gotta figure she's got a lot on her plate, what with the whole alien invasion thing," Ray pointed out.
"And her predecessor getting killed," Sara added.
Barry turned to Oliver. "Hey, um, what'd you say to Clark and Kara earlier? Kara seemed pretty angry. I didn't know she was capable of being angry."
"We've got movement," Sara warned, as she, Barry, Oliver, and Ray turned around to see three black SUVs and a car of the same color approaching and screeching to a halt around them.
The drivers and passengers climbed out of the vehicles. An old man with glasses climbed out of the back seat of the car and walked up to the heroes. His men were armed with guns.
"I'm sorry," the man apologized in a smug manner, "President couldn't make it."
"Who are you?" Barry asked.
"If I tell you, I'll have to kill you," the man said with an unpleasant smirk, as his men raised their weapons training them on the four heroes.
(Unspecified Facility, 1951)
"Look, we just wanna know why you attacked our planet," Nate said to the Dominator. "I mean, we're just down here minding our own business, then you guys just drop from the sky and attack us. Why?"
There has been a recent emergence of meta-humans on your planet. The Dominator answered, his mouth not moving.
Ollie glanced around at the other three heroes. "Please tell me I wasn't the only one who just heard that loud, creepy alien voice without his mouth moving."
"No, we heard it too," Nate answered.
"Good, just making sure I'm going loony here," Ollie said.
"Wait, he's talking about the JSA," Amaya said in realization, stepping closer to the Dominator.
Ollie turned to her. "Wait, the JSA? That doesn't happen to stand for 'Justice Society of America' by any chance, does it?"
"It does," Amaya answered. "I'm a member of the Justice Society of America, a group of covert superheroes who were active during World War II."
"World War II?" Ollie asked in surprised.
"Yes, you sound surprised," Amaya noted.
"Well, that's because the Justice Society group I'm familiar with was active during the 1970s last time I checked, not World War II," Ollie said. "Must be another one of those random differences between universes."
We are here to determine if your kind are a threat. The Dominator said to the heroes.
Suddenly, the doors in the room burst open as several armed agents, as well as the glasses-wearing man from earlier and two men in white coats who were obviously doctors walked in. The armed agents trained their guns on Ollie, Mick, Nate, and Amaya.
"Let's start with him," the glasses-wearing man said, pointing to the Dominator, before turning to the heroes. "The rest of you will have to wait your turn."
(Central City, Present Day)
"Uh, I think we have a misunderstanding," Ray said. "See, we're the good guys. The President invited us here."
"Barry, I think it's time we do something, and fast," Oliver whispered.
As Agent Smith's men opened fire, Barry sped around the area, catching all the bullets before any could hit the other heroes and then knocking out all the armed men. Out of nowhere, a bullet struck Ray in the shoulder, but it simply bounced off of his Atom exo-suit.
"Sniper," Oliver noted.
"On it," Barry nodded, before immediately speeding up to where the sniper was and knocking him out.
More armed agents appeared around the heroes. Oliver shot an agent in the shoulder with an arrow knocking him down, while Sara attacked another agent with her batons before kicking him to the ground and Ray blasted two agents each with an energy beam before switching to his fists and engaging agents in hand-to-hand. An agent shot at Ray only for the bullet to bounce off his suit, and then Ray punched the agent unconscious before engaging another agent and throwing him over one of the trucks. Oliver punched an agent unconscious and then shot another in the leg with an arrow, causing the agent to stumble over in pain. Oliver leapt over the hood of the car and punched the last agent in the face, knocking him out as well.
Barry sped in front of the elderly glasses-wearing man. "We're trying to help you. This is how you thank us?"
"You don't understand," the man said. "The reason the xenomorphs are here..."
"Is because they have a beef with the meta-humans," Sara cut him off. "Tell us something we don't know."
"Like, what exactly have we done to them?" Barry asked.
"Nothing yet," the man answered. "But they see individuals with powers such as yours as a future threat. And frankly, so do I."
(Unspecified Facility, 1951)
Ollie, Mick, Nate, and Amaya were still locked inside the room as they heard the Dominator screaming in pain from another part of the facility. Amaya hit the door in frustration, wanting so badly to get out and help the Dominator.
"What do you think they're doing to him?" Nate asked.
"Same thing they're gonna do to us unless we get out of here," Amaya answered.
Suddenly, the sound of bullets and men screaming as they were thrown against the walls came from right outside the door. A moment later, the door burst open, revealing Superboy standing on the other side with Cisco and Felicity behind him. In Superboy's hands were Ollie's bow and Mick's heat gun.
"Sorry that it took longer than necessary, but we got here as quickly as we could," Conner announced.
"Great, saved by geeks and an alien," Mick remarked.
"An alien who could've prevented the four of you from getting captured in the first place had you not told me to stay on the ship," Conner said. Turning to Ollie, he said, "I found something for you, by the way."
"Thanks a lot, champ," Ollie said with relief, as he took his bow from Conner. "Last thing I need is for this baby to get lost over sixty years in the past, much less in another universe."
Conner then handed Mick his heat gun. "And I believe this is yours."
"Ah," Mick gushed happily, looking at his heat gun like it a large bundle of cash he'd just found.
"It's a good thing you found those," Nate said to Conner. "There's no telling what effect leaving them here would have on the timeline."
"Waverider is ready to take us back to 2016," Cisco said, before he, Conner, Felicity, Ollie, Mick, Nate, and Amaya started heading off just as they heard another loud scream from the Dominator, causing the heroes to stop.
"If we leave him here, they're gonna kill him," Nate said.
"So what? He's an alien," Mick remarked.
"Technically, you're an alien from his perspective when you think about it," Conner pointed out, causing Mick to glare at him.
"Just because they're douches doesn't mean we have to be," Cisco added, also looking at Mick.
"E.T. in there may not be so innocent, but I wouldn't wish what they're probably doing to him on even my worst enemy," Ollie said.
"We gotta send him home," Cisco said.
"How?" Amaya asked.
"Don't we have one of their ships aboard the Waverider?" Cisco said.
"Yeah, but it's damaged," Nate said.
"Felicity and one of you guys could help me fix it," Cisco said, just as he and the others heard another loud cry from the Dominator.
"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Felicity said.
"Guys, it's up to us to show the Dominators we're better than this," Cisco said.
"I agree with Cisco," Conner added. "We have to get him out of there."
(Another room in the facility, 1951)
"Fascinating," the glasses-wearing man said, as he and a doctor stood on either side of the Dominator, who was still restrained to the table. "The creature's nervous system is not unlike our own, which means it must be capable of experiencing pain."
"Maybe that's why he's been screaming!" Conner exclaimed angrily, as he burst into the room just before the doctor could stick the Dominator with a syringe.
Conner shot heat vision at the syringe, causing it to shatter in the doctor's hand. In a blur of movement, he then punched the glasses-wearing man in the face knocking him unconscious, and a split second later, appeared on the other side of the operating table punching the doctor out as well.
Amaya, Nate, and Ollie entered the room behind Conner and rushed to the Dominator. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here," Amaya said softly, as Conner quickly ripped off the restrains that were keeping the Dominator bound.
(A few hours later, Waverider)
"Bye," Cisco said, waving goodbye to the Dominator ship as it took off in the night sky. "He didn't even say thank you."
"What is that?" Felicity asked, indicating the alien device that Cisco was holding.
"I think it's a transponder," Cisco answered, as he turned around.
"Where'd you get that?" Felicity asked.
"I may or may not have stolen it from his ship," Cisco admitted.
Felicity took the device from Cisco and looked at it. "What does it do?"
"I think we can use it to communicate with him when we get back," Cisco said.
"Oh, my God, like an alien pen pal," Felicity said.
"Exactly," Cisco said.
"You kids finished?" Mick asked Cisco and Felicity in a bored tone, and the three of them, as well as Conner, Ollie, Nate, and Amaya took their seats. "Gideon?"
Yes, Mr. Rory.
"Prepare for, um..." Mick started.
"Time jump," Nate said.
"Time jump," Mick finished.
Course plotted for Central City, 2016.
With that, the Waverider took off and quickly arrived back in the present.
(Central City, Present Day)
"If you're such BFFs with the Dominators..." Sara began.
"Then why don't you call them off?" Oliver demanded.
"We know you sent them packing once before back in 1951," Ray added.
"That was just a reconnaissance mission," the old man said.
"What brought them back?" Barry asked.
"You did, Mr. Allen," the man answered, causing the other heroes to look stunned.
"He knows who you are," Ray muttered to Barry.
"You threatened the entire universe when you used your powers to upset the normal course of time," the man continued.
"You're talking about Flashpoint?" Ray said in realization. He turned to the man. "How do you even know about..."
"They told us," the man cut him off.
"I made a mistake, okay? I'm not gonna let it happen again," Barry said.
"For the past sixty years, we have enjoyed a truce with your so-called Dominators," the man explained. "You broke the truce."
"What do they want?" Oliver asked.
"I've negotiated a deal with them," Smith explained. "If Mr. Allen surrenders himself, they will leave us in peace." He turned to Barry. "You really wanna save the world? Here's your chance."
(Waverider)
The time-ship landed in the airfield of the STAR Labs hangar. A moment later, the transponder device in Cisco's hand started beeping.
"What's it doing?" Nate asked.
"I don't know, either our food's ready or this guy's trying to call us," Cisco answered, as he and everyone else stood up. "Hey, how do I answer it? I..." He sat the transponder down on the console and a hologram of the Dominator appeared.
"It's him," Conner noted. "The same one we saved in 1951."
"He's even uglier than the last time we saw him," Mick remarked.
Sixty-five of your years ago, you saved me from capture. The Dominator said to the heroes.
"Listen, you don't need to thank us," Cisco said.
"Yeah, he does," Mick said. "He can thank us by turning around and heading home."
"Or better yet, calling off his invasion," Ollie added.
I will show you my gratitude by sparing your lives, but I cannot do the same for Barry Allen. The Dominator said, causing Cisco, Felicity, Conner, and Ollie to tense. If your friend does not turn himself in, we will have no choice but to deploy a weapon that will exterminate all meta-humans.
With that, the Dominator's hologram faded, leaving the six heroes to stare in both concern and stunned silence.
(Later, STAR Labs hangar)
"This is most likely a trap," Clark said, as he, Ollie, Conner, Kara, Sara, Cisco, Ray, and Nate stood together in the hangar. "It's not like the Dominators to be satisfied with getting their hands on only one meta-human."
"Especially considering how threatened they are by them," Ray agreed.
"Yeah, well, if I know Barry, he's gonna wanna be that one meta," Cisco said, worriedly.
"Well, Oliver is trying to talk him out of it," Sara said.
"And if he does, what's the collateral damage of the meta-bomb?" Nate asked.
"Projected casualty count is around two million non-meta-humans," Cisco answered.
"There has to be a way to save Barry and stop the bomb from killing that many people," Kara said in a worried tone.
"We'll come up with a way to succeed at both if we work together," Clark said, with determination. "We've defeated worse many times before."
"Yeah, these zombies from above are nothing compared to Darkseid, Doomsday, or even Zod and his Kandorian super-army," Ollie agreed.
"Or Non and Indigo from my Earth," Kara added. "If I could defeat them, we can definitely do the same to these Dominators."
"Maybe we can negotiate with them somehow," Conner suggested.
"I think that's a good idea," Nate agreed.
"Yeah, I don't know if you two noticed, but our last chat with them didn't go so well," Cisco pointed out.
"Well, what do we got to lose?" Nate asked.
"Look, maybe we should contact them," Sara said.
"And make it fast," Diggle announced, as he and Jax walked into the hangar. "We got incoming."
Cisco got on a computer and checked a map that showed the various sites of the Dominator ships.
"Dominator ships are coming in worldwide," Diggle continued, as everyone looked up at flat-screen showing the same map Cisco was looking at on the computer.
"Including Central City," Jax added.
"Yeah, but they're not moving or anything," Cisco announced. "They're just sitting there."
"For now," Diggle said.
"So much for the truce Secret Agent Man negotiated," Ray remarked.
"They're attempting to leverage us into turning Barry over to them," Clark said. "We can't let that happen."
Sara turned to Cisco. "Contact the Dominators."
(A few minutes later)
"Looks like your friend's not calling you back," Nate said, as Cisco was using the transponder to try and contact the Dominator, while Nate and Conner stood next to him.
"No, he's not, but I got a plan B," Cisco said.
"What is it?" Conner asked.
Cisco pointed to the transponder he was holding. "If this came from their drop ship, and the drop ship came from the mothership, theoretically, I could use it to vibe myself and one of you up there."
"And if you can't?" Nate asked.
"Then I'd be vibing us into the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space," Cisco answered.
"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Conner said, concerned for Cisco and Nate's well-being while he knew he'd survive in space.
"Yeah, let's hope," Cisco agreed. "Okay, one of you take my hand."
"I'll do it," Conner volunteered. "I could survive in space if this goes wrong."
After Cisco took a deep breath, he and Conner took each other's hand and...
They found themselves inside the Dominators' mothership.
What an unusual gift. The Dominator announced, turning around to face Cisco and Conner. You appear to be a meta-human as well.
"Yeah, well, I figured you'd cut me some slack seeing as how we saved you back in 1951," Cisco reminded the Dominator. "Remember that?"
Much has changed on your planet in the last sixty years. The Dominator pointed out. The threat of your kind has become imminent.
"Listen, E.T., we're not a threat," Cisco tried to explain. "Metas are protecting this planet."
"Besides, the man who captured and tortured you back in 1951 didn't have superpowers," Conner added. "He was just a regular human."
But what happens when a man like him inherits abilities like yours? The Dominator pointed out. We have seen it happen on countless other worlds, which is why we must exterminate your kind before the scourge of your planet becomes the scourge of ours.
Suddenly, Cisco and Conner came out of the vibe as they found themselves back in the hangar.
"What happened? Did it work?" Nate asked them.
"It worked all right," Conner answered. "That Dominator is definitely out of his mind."
"What if he's right?" Cisco asked. "What if, in using our powers to make the world better, we actually end up destroying it?"
"Dude, I get it," Nate said. "Barry screwed up."
"Yeah, so did we, back in 1951," Cisco pointed out.
Nate sighed. "We messed with time when we freed the Dominator."
"Who is now coming to kill us," Cisco said. A guilt-ridden look then appeared on his face as a deep realization washed over him. "This whole time I've been mad at Barry. Now I'm the one who messed with time. I just wanted to make things right. I only ended up making them worse." He turned to Conner. "You were right about everything you've said earlier. My mistake is no different than the one Barry made."
"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't just your mistake," Conner said. "We all made the decision together, although if I have to be completely honest, I can't in good conscious say I regret saving the Dominator. I just don't have it in me to leave anyone suffering like that."
"Yeah, same here," Cisco said, before walking off as he pondered over all the ways he'd horribly treated his best friend in the last couple of weeks and had to come to terms with the fact that he'd been a hypocrite the entire time.