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.

20. Chapter 20: Venom vs Blackfire

And now another bedtime story for you wonderful people in the world.

Once again, I hope you all are safe and healthy wherever you might be in the wide world, and please be cautious with human contact.

Thanks for all the reviews, means a lot to me and keeps me going.

I also want to thank Ryu otsutsuki for helping me with the story.

Now for this chapter:

This is the second chapter of the two-part story of Seth's adventure on Earth-2, dealing with Blackfire and his heinous operations in the shadows of Central City.

Again, story is gonna be R-rated, featuring scenes of violence, crude language, mentions of human trafficking and sex trafficking.

Read at your own discretion.

Everything put in the story is only made for entertainment purposes, inspired by various TV shows and movies I have watched. Once again, the people involved in the chapter are different and random characters from the Arrowverse's TV shows. Other aspects come from other TV shows I've watched on different platforms, like Netflix, HBO and others.

I hope you guys are going to enjoy this one.

So without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 20: Venom Vs Blackfire

Central City General Hospital was in full swing, treating young patients left and right. Every room on an entire floor was completely taken. The young teenage girl victims from Blackfire's operation was still piling in and be examined by every doctor on the payroll.

In the span of a single night all nine hotels and motels under Eric Frye's control were all destroyed and every single girl from every single one of them were pulled out of there. They were saved by the Demon King of Central City.

The news was sent out on every channel existing in Central City, emitting a phenomenal amount of shock and joy over the city. Like a rainy day, surprise and happiness pouring over the entire city limits. Parents shooting up from their chairs they were chained to, their prayers answered in the best possible way imaginable. Able to hug their darling blessings of life once more as they were rescued from their personal hell. Victims can see their parents again.

The parents weren't allowed to see their children yet, the doctors needing to run more tests on them. But they were waiting desperately in the waiting areas of the floor, all of them filled to the brim. Waiting to embrace their daughters once more. Some of them were waiting in the lobby.

While Seth Fury is standing by the doorframe of a hospital room, Detective Iris was waiting and talking with a doctor. The two of them going over the results from the recent tests, results that the mutant himself asked for.

"Thank you, doctor." Iris expressed to the doctor, who walked into another room to commence another array of tests on her patient. The detective turns around, her right hand wrapped around a paper with test results. Walking to the mutant, gaining his attention, she said while holding out the paper. "I managed to get the test results the doctors took on the girls that you asked for."

"Thanks, Iris." Seth told her and took the paper in his hand. He ran his eyes over the results. Frowning and letting out a small groan, he said. "I had a feeling that those sickos drugged the girls."

"Only a few of the girls were able to answer the questions, but some of them said that the guards or the costumers would drug them." The detective revealed with a hateful glare.

Seth wrinkled the paper in his hand. "I don't regret what I did." He looks inside the room again, seeing three beds with hospitalized girls in each. Two of them asleep, the third one close to the door, awake with a look of sadness on her face. The mutant recognized her; it was the girl he saved in the first room he attacked from the Viking Motel. "How're the girls, in general?"

"Terrified beyond their minds." Iris said regrettably. "I hate how they're still like this, they finally got out of their hell and they still act like Blackfire's hold on them is still there."

"It's because Blackfire is still out there." Seth knew a similar feeling. "When I got out of that hellhole where me, my sister and my best friend was experimented on for a year, I still felt like I was still back there." He tapped the side of his head. "In here."

"How'd you get better?" Iris asked after stepping to his side. Seth had a better insight than she did. She had no idea how to cope with something like that. He, his baby sister and his best friend… all three of them aren't humans and in that hellhole, they were treated like animals. Dissecting them, cutting them open and subjecting them to unspeakable horrors.

The worst of the humanity.

"I remember it every time I'm out in the field." Iris looked shocked at his words. Registering the look on her face, he elaborated. "Back there, they tried to make the three of us into biological weapons. The best possible weapons of destruction, disposable living weapons with immense powers. I always kept that close to heart, because I was proving to those humans and to myself that I was not the weapon that they wanted or designed."

"But I think it really changed when the military base was destroyed. It's there, it really changed for me and made me think I could…" he shrugged unsurely before continuing. "…let go, I guess… of all the pain and memories, and just store them in my mind, instead."

Iris inquires curiously. "Who destroyed the base?"

Seth shrugs to her surprise. "I don't know, not even SHIELD does, actually. When the organization sent out a jet to recheck the base, they found it completely destroyed." He nodded to the girls. "Same thing needs to happen to them."

"Destroy the houses?" She wondered.

"Nah, Blackfire himself. The origin point of their hell." Iris couldn't believe what he's saying. "You know it has to be done, Iris. Otherwise, these girls will feel his shackles around their wrists at all times."

The detective didn't say anything and ran her hands down her face. "I'm gonna go and talk to Barry for a bit. How about you try and ask if you can have a brain transplant so you can get out of this death wish you have." She walked away from him.

Shaking his head, he heard his partner say. "Is she not approving of our plan?"

"What gave you that idea?" He asked sarcastically. "But she's not the only one. Ruby, Evelyn, Jesse, Mera, the male part of the happy couple, most likely Eye Sight's group too. Even the entire city, too. You're ready for that, old friend?" He asked his partner.

"You mean ready to go against the rival of Zoom in, what might be a deadly battle for the ages in this very city? Always, partner." Venom said. "What about you? You ready for the battle that we've initiated?"

"Definitely." Seth instantly replied. "These girls… We're gonna save them and rid them of the hell that binds them."

"It's you…"

Seth was snapped out of his mental conversation and returned his attention to the hospital room. His gaze met the girl who was awake, the first girl he saved from the Viking Motel. "What do you mean? You're talking to me?" He played dumb.

"It's you…" She repeated steadfastly.

Chuckling at her persistence, the mutant walked into the room, heading to the girl with an honest expression. His expression was equal to that of his words. "Guess I should retake the course of identity concealment."

The girl shook her head. "You're… You feel like Venom, and you're the only one who's been here to visit us, aside from the doctors."

Finding a chair behind him, Seth pulled it to the side of the girl's bed and sat by her side. "Sounds like you're well on your way to become a detective." The girl didn't respond to his words, not even a chuckle or anything escaping her mouth. The lack of reaction scared him. "What's your name?"

"Emma…" She said in a strange tone, like her name was a distant memory. Something she hadn't heard in a long time.

"My name's Seth Fury." He forced his growing anger to the side to even form words. "And yeah, I'm the guy who saved you last night."

"Not just us." Emma knowingly. "Blackfire's other houses, you saved the girls from there too." Seth didn't deny nor confirm her words. "Thank you…"

The mutant noticed her trailing off, like she was holding back. He then showed his own steadfastness. "But…"

"But it doesn't matter. It won't make a difference." Emma's hands tighten their hold on the bedsheets. "Blackfire will come to Central City and he will… he will kill us."

"He's not going to kill you. Any of you." He spoke firmly, assured that his words would be the written the fate of the man known as Blackfire. "I'll be the one to fight him and defeat him, no matter what. Nothing's gonna happen to you all as long as I'm HERE."

His determined voice confused her but at the same shocked her. He was so sure that it was unbelievable.

But something did click in her mind, a spark of realization. "You're going to kill him."

Seth didn't confirm or deny it. "I'll be the one to end your nightmares, you and the other girls. I promise." He raised himself from the chair, standing on his full height. "But mind doing me a favor?"

"Yeah." Emma asked with hints of curiosity, wondering what this favor was.

"You're going to meeting meet with the girls?" He asked and got a nod as the response. "Mind telling them to keep my identity a secret? I kinda insulted the commander of Crows Security and if he finds out who I am, it'd be a real pain in the ass."

"Sure." Emma narrowed her eyes. "You really insulted the commander?"

"You've seen the guy? It's hard not to insult him." Seth said defensively and Emma laughed. He smiled at the sound of her smile, feeling like the burden of her hell was slowly being lifted. "Your parents are gonna come soon and when Blackfire's done for, you'll be able to get home again, Emma."

"Thank you… It means a lot." Emma said with a smile.

"Don't thank me, I just did what anyone would do." He turned around after saying his words.

Emma smirked and corrected him. "You did what any hero would do, right?"

"That's up for debate, Emma." Seth before walking out the room.

Emma leant back on the bed, placing her head on the pillow at the top of the bed. As she laid there for a short few moments, the doctor came through the door and walked to her side. "What's up, Doc?" The patient greeted the female doctor.

"I should be asking you that." The doctor joked. "But I came to say that your parents are on their way, Ms. Desmond?"

"Thank you." Emma Desmond then looked helpful. "Is my brother Julia coming too?"

"If you're talking about the very nice young man I spoke with before? Then yeah, he is." The doctor assured her young patient who smiled.

Emma couldn't wait to see her big brother Julian again.

X

Seth passed through the hallway and looked ahead of him. He couldn't help but chuckle at the disapproving faces on both Iris and Barry's faces. Both having crossed arms over their chests as they saw the mutant making his way to them.

Sighing, Seth slipped both hands into his pockets and continued walking. When reaching them, he said with a smiling face. "Both of you have to something to say or what?"

"Actually, we do." Iris started.

"But considering this is a hospital, we're gonna hold them off till we get home again." Barry continued as the elevator came to their floor.

When the doors opened, Seth and the married couple walked into the elevators. As they closed, "I have something to tell you all too when we got home."

"What more could you tell us, Seth?" Iris asked still wearing a disapproving face.

"The truth about what I found last night at the Viking Motel. Something that made me call out to Blackfire the way I did." Seth revealed.

"Why can't you say it here?" Barry wondered.

"Better to explain it here with Lindy's group there and Mera and the rest there." Seth looked to them. "I already contacted them and told them to meet up at your house."

"Since when did our house become your base of operations?" Iris wondered as she turned to her husband.

Seth shrugs with a smile. "Well, what's wrong with that? Team Venom needs a place, don't they?"

"Team… Venom?" Barry asked sheepishly.

"What's wrong, Barry? Can't he recognize something cool when he hears it? Big idiot." Venom scoffed.

"Coolness isn't for everyone to understand." Seth stated in his mind.

X

(West-Allen Household)

Faces were long and filled with impatience back in the West-Allen House. The three had just returned from the hospital and was seated around in the living room. The three girls were seated in the couch and looking impatient as does Seth who's seated in the recliner on opposite side of them, his feet raised and placed on the table. Barry and Iris were in the kitchen, fixing up some tea for them and their coming guests.

The mutant tapped on the armrest of the recliner as he waited for Lindy and her group to come to the house. He was getting really impatient. In his other hand, he fiddled with the flip phone with his fingers. Flipping the lid up, he looked at his message.

He narrowed his eyes on the small screen as the message about the meeting was seen by the Atlantean. Hopefully Mera relayed the same message to Eye Sight's group. "Hope that she's told them."

"If not then we can just send her a fish or something…" Venom trailed off as he didn't hear a single reply from his partner. He elaborated. "You know, she's from Atlantis and-"

"And it's a lost city thought to underwater and all. Yeah, big time joke, Venom." Seth stated, not all amazed by that lame joke.

"Think of something yourself then, bastard." Venom sniped.

"Seth…" He looked up, his eyes meeting Evelyn's worried gaze. "Why did you challenge Blackfire like that? It… It was too stupid."

"Too reckless." Ruby pitched in. "Why? I expected better of you."

"I will explain everything as soon as Lindy and Mera comes." He leant forward with intertwined hands. "But you three have to decide if you wanna hear what I have to say. Because, honestly, even for a guy like me, what I saw last night… it was gruesome."

Jesse turns to him with shock. To hear that Seth was finding something gruesome? The guy who turns into demonic being with elemental powers. Willing to jump into the frontline at first notice and sever the heads of any and all enemies on the other side with his own fangs like they're nothing more than snacks.

That same person admitted that something he witnessed something last night that caused him to feel horrendous.

"How the hell…" Jesse thought to herself in continuously growing shock.

KNOCK

Seth looked to the door. "Guess, our guests have finally arrived."

"Looks like, I'll get it." Barry announced while Iris walked to the living room with a tray with tea, cups and biscuits. As the detective placed the tray on the table, her husband opened the door. A wave of shock came over his face at the person standing there. "Tony?"

That familiar name got Iris's attention with a snap of her head.

Tony Woodward formed a confused and sheepishly shocked expression as he looked at his former victim from his bullying days in elementary school. Waving uncomfortably to him, he greeted Barry. "Long time no see, Allen."

"What are you doing here?" Iris asked as she quickly walked to the door herself to the door. She was both worried and shocked at the same time. Shocked to see their old bully again and worried what their old bully might do now in their house.

Tony did everything he could to keep his mouth from gaping like a mindless fool. But to no success. "H-Hey Iris. Good to see you again."

Marcus Bishop laughed and placed his hand on his shoulder and teased. "Not a bad start, right?" he grunted as he felt his friend slam his elbow into his stomach. "Not cool, bro." He complained.

"Guys, can we maybe move this inside, please?" Mera asked them.

The two dropped their head and moved inside, followed by Mera and Lindy. The natives and Ruby were shocked to see Eye Sight of the first time. However, they did grow curious when they saw the blonde woman with blue eyes shift, her eyes turning green and her hair turning auburn red.

Lindy looked to the three girls and smiled. "Pleasure to meet you three."

"Nice to see you're here and not sending other metahumans after us." Ruby snipes uncaringly.

Mera chuckled, unsurprised by the former assassin's words and. "Oh yeah, Ruby was the kid who was almost blown up by Kendra's one-woman revenge plan."

The technopath smacked her tongue loudly, realization coming over her. "Okay, that makes sense." She turned around to face Seth. "You have some explaining to do, Seth. You told me but the rest here doesn't know anything."

The Atlantean became baffled. "You told Lindy and not the rest of us? Not even me. Didn't think you guys became BFFs so quickly."

"Wasn't exactly done as a sign of friendship, you know." Lindy confessed.

To confirm her words, Seth nodded. "It was a necessity for what's about come. You guys take a seat and I can explain then."

"It's still our house, Seth…" Iris complained in her mind at his sudden commanding of her and Barry's house.

The group obliged to the elemental's words and took seats. Seeing them all take seats on either the floor or the chairs, Seth looked to the girls on the couch. "Before we go any further, girls. The three of you are gonna have to decide if you wanna hear it. I won't blame you if you don't wanna hear it. Seeing it was horrible. Hearing about it is no walk in the park either."

"I'm curious, so I'm staying." Jesse announced.

"Yeah, I'm more worried, so I'm staying here too." Evelyn said.

He nodded and looked to Ruby. "What about you Rubs? You staying for story time?"

"I ain't scared of a scary story. Most of my childhood was a horror story." Ruby told them like it was normal.

Seth laughed and then looked to Tony and Marcus. "First off, I'm sorry for running off without you guys after losing my cool when I basically slaughtered Mirror Master in front of you two. But I had a very good reason for doing that." He knew full well that all of them wondered what he found out. The mutant had to explain it. "Aside from what was going on at the nine motels and their common mastermind, there was one third common, and stranger factor between the nine hotels."

"Which was…" Iris wondered, mostly as she was the one to get the mutant's aid on this quest.

A faint sound of cracking bones came from his clenching hands, his knuckles turning white with the amount of pressure he was pouring into them. "Each and every one of them had a… container outside of them."

"Yeah, I remember that." Tony said.

"Me too. We did see a container there, yeah." Marcus agreed.

"Okay, they had a container at them." Mera told them. "But what's so strange about that, Seth? They probably needed to get rid of something."

"That was their intention." Seth said emotionlessly. "But they didn't throw away just… something." His tone scared them… and they listened as he explained…his findings of horror.

X

(Flashback, Viking Motel)

Seth had seen various horrors in the world, in the worlds he's fought in.

But the horrors that he was looking at, within the trash container… made him want to throw up… and a need to kill bursts inside of him like a chain reaction of eruption.

He and Venom finally realized the source of the strange and familiar smell… and the source… as it was registered in his brain… made him clench his hand around the lid that was still being held open with his hand, ending up with his adamantium fingers cracking on both surfaces of it.

Mouth opening up and both white mist and black smoke slipped through his gaping maw. Even though he was looking at it with unyielding attention, his mind forced him to let the sight sink in.

The unmistakable form of… A corpse that was… small… not much taller than that of a teenager in their late years as teens… even younger maybe…. A corpse that was black… from the charred crust that was around every inch of its skeleton-like form. A formerly white skeleton was… now nothing but completely charred black from an immense malicious…

…Strike… One that rendered it to this pitch-black crust around their skeletal forms…

But that wasn't all…

A flame ignited around his left arm, emitting light that illuminates the entire interior of the trash container and its contents.

And it… showed me that it wasn't one corpse in there…

The entire trash container was filed with them… Corpses as black as the dark nights above his head.

Seth began panting heavily and rapidly at he took in the corpses… counting them in his head.

"One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six…" He couldn't handle counting anymore as the number only continued to grow in numbers. The entire trash container was filled with them, cramped with absolutely desolated corpses…

… of young children…

"Who… Who is this … fucking monster?" Seth growled. Sweat pouring down the surface of his face.

"What… you said." Venom stated in a sneer. "Blackfire is the monster who did this to so many innocent children, Seth!"

"He's… He's… HE'S GONNA DIE!"

Seth's clothes turn black in an instant, wavering next as his emotions threatened to fuel all of his elements, right to the point where he would have to discharge them… if he didn't find an outlet… soon.

"Not much."

His ears perks at the sound of that chuckling, cackling evil voice.

Snapping his head around, he sees a man standing there. A man in a tuxedo, black as the night, as is his pants. His hair was dark and he is wielding a strange gun, a small handheld gun with four panels at the end of the barrel. He was talking to the two metahumans who stood before the defenseless girls.

Though his appearance appeared similar to what Iris and Lindy told him of Blackfire's usual attire, his next words caused his confusion to fade.

"But when Blackfire hires one to guard this place, then you can't say no, can you?" The man revealed, his mere words turning the insides of Seth's stomach. He saw red when the man points his weapon at the girls and the metahumans. "And I'm not supposed to let those girls go."

He reached into his body and pulled out his sword. While the other elements emitted from his body, lightning, fire and ice, adamantium strengthening his claws, wind gathering around him, water boiling alongside his blood in his body and earth pulsing in his muscles while the black symbiotic mass pulsated as it spread over his limbs.

Swinging his sword around, he held the long crystal sword like a spear. Reeling it back, the mutant hurled it after the gun wielder… his sword crushing Blackfire's hired hand's strange gun in an instant…. Causing a horrible scream to escape his mouth.

"There might be others." He spoke to his partner before walking to that cackling bastard.

(Flashback End)

X

"Much to my dismay… Each and every one of the eight other motels had the same container. All of them had the very same trash container, each one filled with the same corpses." Seth finished off with clenched hands, pale as a ghost's fists.

The others listened to Seth's words and all of them felt realization fell over them.

Barry and Iris were the first ones to realize why he did what he did. The sight of the fates that befell on those innocent children were unbearable for him to see. As a hero and as a parent himself. That's why he went rogue, abandoning the plan and taking out the hotels single-handedly to save the girls.

Mera was really shocked to hear this. She knew that Blackfire was a horrible bastard, his men having left burnt and charred corpses of his victims all around the city like they were trash. Leaving them in alleyways like they have outlived their usefulness. His victims didn't matter in the least to Blackfire.

But they matter to Seth.

Tony and Marcus were just as shocked. Now it made sense why Seth decided to leave without them. Now it made sense why Seth tore into Mirror Master with his fangs after destroying the criminal's weapon with his sword. Why he even decided to challenge Blackfire by destroying his entire operation, it all made sense now.

He was pissed off.

Lindy knew what it was. Seth went to her to get the addresses for the other hotels. She had a feeling that he was gonna do something extremely dangerous but what she saw later that night shook her greatly. Venom instigated a challenge against the man who's the mastermind behind a huge sex trafficking operation in the shadows of Central City.

Not even the city's Crimson Comet, The Flash would consider doing something like that. Those two have fought against one another before. But the speedster was only able to deliver a blow that could knock him out, not finish him off once and for all. None of his strikes were able to do that to the metahuman.

Ruby, Evelyn and Jesse were unable to form words. When they heard of this guy, hearing that he was the man behind the biggest sex tracking operation here in the city was shocking. But now hearing that he's been leaving the remains of his victims in the streets of the city, even cramping their corpses into trash containers…

Did the lives of those innocent girls even matter to him?

"So…" Seth got their attention again, the tense silence lifted with his words. "If any of you still have complaints about me going at this the way I did… then bring it. It's not gonna change anything. I already called out to him as I did. So it's only a matter of time before Blackfire steps back in the city, to try and get me out there."

"We're sorry for what you had to see, Seth." Iris told him. She felt responsible for him having to see that horror show. "I didn't think Blackfire would have done something like that at all places."

Evelyn looks to the detective with a questioning look. "Didn't any of the officers check out the containers when inspecting the hotels afterwards?"

"No, we only transported the girls to the hospitals and getting the Johns to the precinct and thrown into a jail cell." Iris explained. "I'll have Lawton check out those containers, he's still at one of the hotels."

"I can call him." Barry told his wife before walking to the other room to call the detective.

"Iris." The mutant got her attention. "You're not going to like this, but the hospital with the girls… it needs to be protected at all times until Blackfire's dead."

"I agree with that." Lindy said but a finger to her mouth as she constructed the scenario in her mind. Her eyebrows fell as she admitted. "I think it's out of CCPD's capabilities to protect those girls."

"Not if they have our help?" Tony pitched in.

"Yeah, with us and the other metahumans in our group, we could definitely level the playing field if Blackfire tries something." Marcus adds with his hands cracking one another in excitement.

"Not just them." Mera smirked. "I can help out as well. I'm no pushover."

"None of you are." Lindy's eyes remained fallen, despite her friends' eagerness to be those girls' shields. "But a popular Atlantis native revealing herself to be a powerhouse, a former solder and a former cop, both standing as metahumans… I don't know if it that's gonna go well."

"Tony, you're a metahuman?" Iris was shocked.

"Different man all together right now, Iris." Tony told her with pride.

"I can vouch for that, Detective West." The technopath smirked, her eyes and hair color changing again. "But problem is… my group, my friends are considered criminals in the public eye. If they showed up, then it the police might just arrest them on the spot."

"I might have an alternative solution to that." Barry announces as he steps into the living room. His left hand placing his phone on a nearby shelf. "One I think Seth might have thought of already."

"I think I know what you're thinking of, Barry." He scratches the back of his neck with an embarrassed expression. "But it's not a good idea considering what I did to them before."

"What do you guys mean?" Iris asks them both confused. But she was curious about what Seth had done to who as well.

Giving Barry a look, telling him to be the one state his idea with his own words. The CSI scientist accepts Seth's looks and begins. "They might not be willing to work with us, and it's the same the other way around, but for the safety of the young girls… I honestly think Crows Security will work with us to defend the girls."

"You wanna ask those birds for help, Allen?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"Doesn't sound like a good idea asking those money-obsessed bodyguards." Marcus stated honestly, he didn't see it likely for them to work without a handsome payment.

"They might…" Seth smirked evilly. "If we convince only their three lieutenants."

"Why them?" Mera asked.

Lindy smiled and revealed. "It's because he defeated three of them himself with his bare hands." Her friends looked at her with confusion. "I had security cameras film everything and I got it on a tape."

"Please send me that." Iris quickly said, now the attention was on her. "Just for… Examining it, of course. Nothing else."

"Suuurreee." Seth sarcastically said, not at all convinced by her attempt to hide her enthusiasm to witness the defeats of the three lieutenants of Crows Security. "But if Iris really does have that on tape and brings it to those steadfast and stubborn jackasses, it might be worth using as blackmail material."

"You wanna blackmail three of Crows Security?" Evelyn looked at him like he has two heads.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've blackmailed cocky assholes in a security organization." The mutant smirked villainy.

"But you really think that will work?" Iris asks.

Seth points to Barry. "Like Barry said, for those innocent kids at the hospital, even Crows will pull their thumbs out of their asses."

"Fine, I'll set up the meeting. But…" Iris points to Seth. "You need to stay here, so you don't end up making them trigger happy."

"It's not my fault. Just my natural charm." Seth joked.

Lindy raised an eyebrow. "Why haven't you been riddled with bullets yet with that natural charm of yours?"

The elemental shrugged and then asked of the technopath. "Also, Lindy, can you do me a favor too?" She nods. "With your powers, can you find a breach? It's how Zoom's been sending metahumans to my world."

"You wanna go home?" Evelyn asks.

"Depends on how this fight's gonna go." Seth clenches his hands. "This guy's not like Zoom, he spreads a different kind of fear. I can't underestimate him… the moment I do so, I'll make a mistake and he's gonna kill me or those girls at the hospital. I can't let that happen."

"But why a breach?" Ruby asked, seeing as he didn't answer Evelyn's question.

"Gonna keep that one to myself for now." Seth quips as he stands up again. "Now that's finished, let's take care of our business."

"I'm going to the precinct now to get those birds to help us." The detective states as she walks to the door. "Seth, what about you? What are you going to do?"

"Go outside and wait in the city. Blackfire's going to come here, and I will be ready." Seth cracks his fists.

"Don't underestimate him Seth." Iris said before walking out of the door.

X

(Zoom's hideout)

"Where did you guys think he's gone?" Killer Frost asks the others with a distortive voice. She and the others are waiting in anticipation, wondering where their menacing boss are.

"No idea." Black Siren chuckles with interest. "But talk about crazy? Seth challenges Blackfire right after he destroys all of his motels, his income sources? Knew he was crazy strong, but generally crazy? That's new."

Reverb gives a half-smile. "Thought you two liked the crazies." He points his thumb to Deathstorm. "I mean, why else is he here?"

"Cause I can burn stuff and not like you, Vibe Boy." Ronnie smirks.

"Congrats, you tried to insult someone." The vibing metahuman countered mockingly.

"Brother, enough." Rupture orders his brother. "But Frost and Siren are correct. This type of attack… does not seem like Venom."

Leaning against a chamber, Deathstorm reminds the scythe wielder. "Remember Rupture, the guy was only with us for six months, as a prisoner. Not like we became his best friend or something. We don't know everything about him."

Killer Frost cocked her head. "Good kisser, I know that." She thought to herself.

"But still…" Rupture got their attention. "What would make this man take up arms and actually infuriate Blackfire himself? The one and only man bold enough to call himself Zoom's Rival."

The others had to agree with the scythe-wielder. Blackfire is truly the only man who's willing to call himself the rival to their boss. But he's been boasting about it like it was his mayoral campaign slogan, bragging about being an equal to the menacing speedster for a very long time.

True he might have become a true menace in this world, money left and right at the tips of his hands as they darken into a blaze with his powers. Enough to buy the most expensive kind of drinks and entertainment there is, either on the market or on the streets. With his income sources, vile and disgusting as they may be, money have been rolling through his front door.

Such was the life of the man known as Blackfire.

"Looks lively as ever in this dump."

The sudden voice got them all to tense and arm themselves. Black Siren kept her mouth open, ready blast a sonic cry. Killer Frost's hands emitted white mist, ice cracking slightly to form weapons. Deathstorm's head and hands ignited flames. Rupture spun his scythe around with red plasma energy and his brother points his hand at him.

But none the powering metahumans scared Blackfire, merely making him chuckle as he turns to Zoom who remained standing like a brightening statue. "You should really have your friends attend the circus, Zoom. They're perfect for it."

Frye's words didn't do anything to spark a reaction on Zoom's face. The speedster just faces him with a glare. Blackfire laughed at the eyes pointing at him. "You should get glasses for those peepers."

"What are you doing here, Frye?" Killer Frost asks, her face laced with obvious disgust.

"Why's he here?" Black Siren directed to Zoom.

Zoom faces them. "He's here… to watch the broken remains of his operations."

"Way to sugarcoat it, Zoom." Blackfire quipped uncaringly.

"But he had to come here why?" Deathstorm asks angrily.

Eric Frye showed a wicked smile and walked slowly towards the blazing metahuman. Stretching out his arms to each side, each hand clenching. With that action black flames ignited around his body as he neared Ronnie Raymond.

The flames on his head and hands on Zoom's flaming metahuman faded slowly as Blackfire had a hand raised near his face. "Don't act tough with me, Deathstorm. It didn't go so well last time, did it?"

"Knock it off, Frye." Killer Frost defended her boyfriend.

Dispersing his flames, Eric Frye looks at her. "What's wrong, Frost? No, "Cool down" joke or something? It was always something to look forward to." He looked her up and down, taking a good look at her attire and physique, his leering making her shiver in disgust. "You're still looking good as always, Frost. And what a waste your boyfriend is, he's not worth your time."

"Think that's up to her." Black Siren defensively said as she came to her friend's aid.

"Single as always, Siren?" Frye laughs as she notices her angered expression. Gesturing to himself with open hands. "You know I'm single and ready to mingle?"

"Funny coming from a man who's all about action with whatever walks on two legs and affordable on the streets?" Black Siren shot back.

Blackfire didn't get offended. "Don't hate the player, hate the game." Chuckling at their reactions, mainly the women's, he turned around to look to Zoom. "So this Venom? Guess I have to squash this ginormous bug myself, seeing as your henchmen can't do squat."

"Underestimating the bug…" Zoom formed a sick smile through his mask. "Led to the disruption of your operations, Frye."

"So what?" He snapped his fingers, lighting a black flame between the joining of his fingers. "I can get them up and running again in a snap." Eric registered the sounds of disgusted groans coming from the female metahumans. "Don't be like that, girls. Just business."

Reverb and Rupture hollowly chuckles at his casual wording of his vile operation. "Funny way of putting it."

Blackfire faces them. "Oh yeah, you got something right… there…" He made a gesture to their faces, like something was stuck on their mask and goggles respectively. Neither of them reacted to it.

"Something you should know…" Deathstorm said and garnered Blackfire's attention. "Venom here has your sword."

This got the metahuman's eyebrows to lift with surprise. "Thought the Gotham birdies had that thrown in the China Sea?"

"Just a ploy." Rupture stated.

"Roasting two birds over one flame…" Blackfire chuckles as he walks to the exit, the black flame on his fingers spreading to the rest of his arm. "I'll show him who's the king of this city." He let out before passing the threshold of the exit.

Laurel smiles with realization and scoffs before she faces the menacing speedster. "You're hoping for these two to kill each other, aren't you?"

Zoom cackled. "The extinction of two nuisances will only benefit the reign of Zoom…." He continued cackling loudly, echoing within the walls of his hidden base in the massive cliff.

Killer Frost clutched her left forearm with her right hand, stopping it from shaking. She couldn't escape the feeling of disgust that felt like a swarm of cockroaches crawling up her skin. The origin of this feeling…

Destruction of the Demon King…. Seth….

X

(CCPD)

CHIME

Iris walks out of the elevator and enters the police precinct again. She smiles happily when registering the lack of agonizing parents in the lobby. This meant that all of them are now at the hospital and embracing their daughters with all their hearts, maybe even showering them with spoils that might make the staff reconsider their visitation rights.

Oh, that'd be the story.

The detective looked to the staircase on the right side and saw the Crows three lieutenants sitting on the stairs. Sophie holding her stomach with both hands, Julia holding an ice bag to her head and Kate brushing the bruises on her face with her fingers. Smirking at the sight of their defeated heads, she walks over to them.

Kate looks up and sees the detective walking to them. "Anything we can help you with, Detective West?" She winces at her own bruises.

Julia removes the ice bag from her head. "And please, be a dear and not to talk too loud. That doctor friend of yours might have rung our bells a little too much to our liking, love."

"Yeah." Sophie muttered her agreement with the British agent. "For a doctor, he sure knows how to punch like a fighter."

The Central City native couldn't help but smile as she quipped. "Yeah, I heard about what happened. He's kind of a man of many mysteries, let's say that." She dons a serious expression and says. "But that aside, I have something to ask of your organization."

"What's that?" Kate asks curiously.

"You know about the girls that have been rescued from Blackfire's operation, right? From all nine motels." She asked.

"Yeah, we heard of that, love." Julia said with a nod.

Sophie then adds. "Heard it was thanks to Venom. Sounds like we shouldn't have come."

"Believe it or not, it's a good thing you guys are here now." The detective's words shocked them, confusion coming over their faces now. "With the girls out of his operation now, and Venom publicly calling out to Blackfire like he did, it's gonna mean that Blackfire's gonna come back to Central City."

"What's your point then?" Kate asked.

"I'm asking if the Crows can help provide security for the hospital in case of Blackfire or his men decide to come to the hospital to try and kidnap those girls again." Iris stated. "CCPD might not be able to handle it alone, but with your aid, we can."

"So we just stand in front of the hospital, guns up and if they come send them packing with holes in their noggins?" Julia excitedly wondered. Iris nods and a smile widens on her face. "Then count me in, love."

"Sounds like a solid plan." Sophia had a skeptical expression. "But what if he never comes? Then it's just a waste of manpower and resources."

"To protect innocents, there's no waste." Kate counters her colleague before facing Iris. "I'll talk with the Commander and have him arrange a squad for the hospital. We'll be there too. But if things go sideways with Venom and Blackfire, then we might have to pull the team from the hospital and fight Blackfire himself."

"And, per our orders, Venom, too." Sophia pitched in.

Iris rolls her eyes, annoyed by those orders and says. "Venom aside, it's better if neither CCPD nor the Crows tries to confront Blackfire. He's been a problem for as long as the city remembers for a reason, you know. With The Flash gone, Venom is our best shot at taking him out once and for all."

Julia cocked her head with interest. "You seem to have a huge amount of faith in the huge lad?"

"He's been the hero in our city ever since The Flash disappeared. We can trust him and no one in this city wants him to get hurt." The detective reveals with an earnest expression. "And Blackfire's gonna regret getting on his bad side."

"Let's hope so." Kate Kane muttered.

X

(West-Allen Household)

"So the Crows are on our side now? Awesome." Seth says into the phone placed at his ear. He was looking far and wide as he remains standing on the top of the rooftop of the household. As he stood there, he got a call from the detective who revealed the news of the CCPD and Crows' temporary alliance. "Nice, had a feeling those bird heads would agree to this."

"Think it's only because of Kate Kane, the Commander's daughter and lieutenant." Iris explained.

"The same daughter I knocked out with my fists?" Iris gave a hum of confirmation. "Alright, guess I should stay clear of your radar."

"You're not gonna do that, are you?"

"No. No, I really am not." Seth smirked. "You're ready for this? By that I mean, stay clear of whatever might come."

He heard a sigh from the other side. "I'm more worried about you challenging Blackfire like you did. It's… scary and I feel responsible."

"I'll avenge your old mentor and make sure those girls at the hospital can go home without fear of experiencing that hell again. To do that, I have to end Blackfire. Trust me. I will win." The mutant promised her.

"I believe you…" she trailed off before hanging up.

Closing the lid on the flip phone he looked towards the tall buildings of Central City. He couldn't help but reminisce at the sight of the sight that was far from him. "Remember when Joe called us the night when we took out Girder?"

"Yeah we do." The symbiote replied before a tendril came out of his back, spiraled around its host's body till it was in front of him. The tip of it took the form of Venom's face with the white skull. "Just like Iris called us yesterday, he too called us for an operation, profiting of the torment of the innocent."

"Yeah." Seth chuckles. "Even these worlds look the same, but completely different… it's worrying how much the bad things are the same here."

"No one, not even another universe, is immune to the horrors hidden in the dark." Venom stated.

"You're right." Seth admitted before rearing his head back, looking directly up into the blue sky. "The one thing that does remain the same… the beautiful blue skies." He sighed. "Though I said that, I kinda miss the skies over our Earth."

"Agreed."

"Having last minute regrets?!"

He and his partner turned around, facing the backyard and saw Lindy standing there. With Venom retracting himself into his host, Seth leaped off the roof and landed on the ground again. Turning his eyes to the technopath, he asked. "Nah, just thinking about my world."

"You miss it?" Lindy asked but knowing the answer already.

"Yeah." Narrowing his eyes, he pointed a thumb backwards to the rooftop. "How'd you listen to me from down here, by the way?"

"Your phone. Atlantean tech is bit harder to communicate with, but it's not impossible for someone like me. Especially as I've seen those in my days with my group." She smiled. "Btw, your search for a breach is going slow, seeing as Zoom tends to speed around like a coked-up bat from Hell."

Seth got a curious expression on his face. "Speaking of your group." Lindy gave him her full attention. "If your group is about helping people, metahumans who've lost their way and all that, why wasn't Evelyn at the top of that list? She's a kid who was hunted by Zoom and lost her parents; not to mention she was on the CCPD's wanted list."

Taking a seat on the ground, Lindy explains. "I knew about that for a while. Chyre told me of his little niece that was apparently targeted by the police force and I said I'd keep an eye out for her. While I expected her to have powers, I didn't expect her to use shadows to be teleporting randomly into places around the city like a mole digging holes in your backyard." She formed a half-smile and added with a tilted head. "Or shoot arrows made of light."

"Yeah, she's a miracle." Seth said with a smile.

Lindy looked him up and down and admitted. "I gotta say, I'm impressed with what you did." He looked confused. "I've heard the stories, listened in on their phone calls and heard it all. Heard how Evelyn's friends and family turned their backs to her, like she was a complete stranger after the Particle Accelerator blasted her with dark matter." She exhaled. "I hated it, especially when I heard that she was kidnapped by Zoom and kept prisoner with others. I wanted to rescue her, but it was damn impossible with our forces slim as they are."

"Understandable. But knowing that you tried is good enough for me now." The mutant then continued. "Aside from me, Ruby, Evelyn and Jesse, there was a guy there, too." Seth said to her shock. "A man with a metal mask, no idea what he looks like under the mask, though."

"Didn't know there would be one more prisoner, thought you and the girls were the only ones." Lindy stated while getting on her feet again. "But while searching for your breach, I can see if I can find anything about this metal-masked man of yours. I just don't think there's anything about him, though."

"Worth a try at least. This guy didn't want to be saved back there, because it would possibly mean the recapture of me and the girls." Seth revealed. "I owe it to that man to save him."

"Sounds like a good guy." Lindy and Seth walked to the back door. "You're ready for this battle? Blackfire might be worse than Zoom."

Seth wears a serious deadpan expression. "I won't underestimate him, but aside from his real name and his nickname, his operation, I don't have the foggiest idea what his powers might have to do. It's gonna be a hard fight him."

"Yeah… Just be careful. He's not a weakling, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to take out so many of my people before." Lindy offered him her advice.

Before he could nod his agreement, he turned his head around and looked to the side, to the side where he could see the top halves of the tall buildings afar in the city. Seeing black smoke rising to the sky in large quantities.

"Guessing that's his RSVP to my invite." Seth smirked.

"Be careful…" She repeated and he nodded.

He reaches behind him and pulls out the crystal sword and spins it around before running towards the nearest tree. With each step he takes, the symbiote mass takes on a part of his body and changes into the limb of the demon. His head is the last to be embraced, engulfed before he leaped off the ground. Tendrils shooting out of his free arm and pulling on it to shoot him into the air like a ballistic missile.

Hearing the sound of the mutant's jump from inside the house, the girls and the others came out to watch him swing away.

"Be careful… Seth…" Ruby muttered hopefully.

Hopeful that the elemental would success and come out without experiencing too much damage.

X

SCREAM

Wails of fear and terror came out of the mouths as they saw a car explode when a volley of black flames connected with it. People fell and almost trampled over each other as they saw more blasts of black flames were hurled like baseballs. Dodging some of them ended with the fireballs burning through sides of buildings, pieces of partially melted brick stones falling off and landing on the asphalt of the streets.

Blackfire laughed, cackled at the mayhem he was causing. Flexing his right hand, he thrusted it forward and hurled another black fire blast, hitting the middle of two lanes. The burst caused more people to scream louder and run away at full speed.

"Ah, it's good to be bad!" Eric Frye exclaimed with a laugh as though he was watching a comedy show. "Here, Venom, Venom, Venom! Come out, come out wherever you are!" He smiled like a sick child. "It's time to pay a visit to old Uncle Blackfire!"

Hearing a car alarm blaring, he snapped around and saw a car coming his way. Eric snapped his hands shut and his black flames overtook the surfaces of his entire body. Gathering the flames to his cupped hands, he thrusted them both outwards, converging a column of abyssal flames to the middle of the hurled car.

The pitch-black flames easily, and instantaneously, burned through the car roof and through the interior. Melting the car into two pieces, each one flying past him and landing behind him. Blackfire dissipated his flames and got a good look at the so-called Demon King, making him smirk.

The large pitch-black demon landed on the ground; his clawed feet embedded into the asphalt. His torso pulsating with each exhaling breath. The bended bone spikes on his chest spiking along with his white veins. The long white spines spiraled around his arms and dug into the backs of his clenching hands. His long serpent tongue sticking out of his white skull extension-covered mouth and licking the saliva of his fang-like teeth. Piercing red eyes looking directly at Blackfire.

But Eric felt his gaze shift between the demon and the colorful sword that once was blank and without color when it was in his possession.

Venom dug the tip of his sword into the ground and growled at the fire-wielder. "You… are Blackfire?"

"The one and only, baby!" He exclaimed, not in the least bit scared of this towering demon. Pointing a finger to the crystal sword, he said. "What'd you do to my sword? Aside from giving it an obvious and questionable makeover."

"It found a better wielder." Venom sneered. "Back to Central City?" He pulled the sword out of the ground and swung it around in his hand.

"Short business trip, nothing more." Eric Frye stated like it was an assurance. Veins popped over his forehead. "You destroyed my business, asshole. I don't like it when people mess with my business. You even know who you pissed off?"

Venom scoffs. "Piss poor weakling with a weak business, not to mention bragging about being Zoom's rival."

Clenching his hands, abyssal black flames ignited around his fists as Blackfire glares at the mutant, who took in the black flames with surprise. "I earned that name. Ask either Zoom or The Flash, if he decides to show his ass in the open again. I am… Zoom's rival. And I ain't about to lose to you, Venom!"

Seth saw the flames erupt and attach to the rest of his body like a blazing armor. "Let's see how that mouth of yours is gonna last before we destroy you, you piece of shit!"

Blackfire howled in rage, lashing out his right hand, blasting a fireball.

The mutant performed a backflip and landed on the side of a building, avoiding the onyx flames in process. From his spot on the building, he saw the flames burn the asphalt with ease. Intensive flames for sure, and as they kept burning was all the proof he needed to know.

"Fire's not gonna do shit against water!" Seth roared in his thoughts, tendrils shooting out of his back and fastening themselves onto the edge of the building's rooftop. Their hold on the edge strengthened briefly before pulling on his body, launching him into the air.

With the tendrils retracting to his body, he reeled his left hand and formed small spheres of water at the tips of his claws. Within a passing second, they enlarged to the point where each of them took on the same size of his fingers. Clenching his large clawed hand, the spheres fuses together before the mutant lashes out the hand. A blast of water shot into a compressed water stream.

The stream came like a beam for the blazing metahuman.

Seth failed to notice… the smirk on Eric Frye's face…

Before Seth and Venom could see it, the water beam that he emitted from his fist evaporated in an instant. The elemental widened his red eyes with shock at the immensely large amount of steam coming. It wasn't unusual for a clash of water and fire to end up in steam. But such an amount was shocking.

Narrowing his eyes on the steam, he saw a black flame… still burning strongly through the steam.

"You didn't know, did ya?" Eric's voice came out from within the concentration of steam as walked through it. Not a single scratch on him… and his flames blazing strong. Looking up to the mutant, he smirked sickly. "I'm the superior flame, Venom. Not even water can touch me!"

At his last word, the metahuman sent out another flame blast. The mutant dodged it with a leap and launched his right arm, splitting it into dozens of tendrils. The tendrils connected to the closed building and he attached himself to it after swinging towards it.

Another fireball came his way and he had to jump away again with a backflip followed by a spin. Using the momentum of his spin, the mutant swings his arm and lashes out his tendrils again. As they travelled through the air, they homed in on the forms of three cars that he brought closer to him.

Landing the ground, flames coating his every fang, he opened his mouth and unleashed flames from his mouth and lit the cars up with flames. Earth element strengthening his arm before he reeled it back and hurled the three cars after Blackfire.

Eric hurled black flame after the middle car…

EXPLOSION

And as a result to his pitch-black attacks, all three of the burning vehicles exploded very close to the metahuman's body. The area around him and Blackfire were riddled with a series of massive explosions.

While the tendrils retracted to his body, assimilating to reform his arm again, Seth gathered lightning in his left hand. With a trust of his arm, he shot out a bolt of lightning. He wasn't gonna take any chances with the wielder of black flames.

And it was the right call as a black flame came out from within the black smokescreen. The flame and the lightning collided, with the flame overwhelming the lightning in an instant and continuing its trajectory. Worry began to fill the mutant's mind and he held up his sword to block the blast.

The flame collided with his sword and pushed him back. With a roar, he swung it to the left and deflected the fire blast. He didn't feel it till now, but the back side of his clawed fingers on his right hand were hurt by the black flames, leaving a tingling pain.

"What…" Venom notes at the tingling pain on his hand.

"You're really that big a deal here?" Came the surprised and confusion to the mutant as Blackfire walked out of the smokescreen, completely unscathed. Not even his clothes were damaged from the previous explosions "I just…" Eric clicked his tongue. "…don't really see it. I already told you, man. I'm the superior flame."

"Let's switch gears then." Seth states in his thoughts whilst using his tendrils on his back as a scabbard to hold his sword. Cracking his fists he turns them into adamantium. Additional tendrils shot out of his shoulders, each one forming ice spikes.

"Oh yeah, I heard you were into that whole close-range fighting with octopus tentacles." The metahuman notes with a pointed finger, waving it around at the flailing tendrils and his metal arms.

Roaring again, the elemental jumped off the ground before charging for him. Eric didn't seem scared and smiled. The flames erupted around his body, strengthening tenfold and wrapping around him like an abyssal armor. The enemy's action was a second before Seth's fist connected it.

Blackfire's smile turned to a smirk as the flames around his body intensified once more, blasting outwards and connecting with the incoming… fist. Even the incoming ice-spiked tendrils.

SCREAM

Seth and Venom felt like everything was dead as his vision was filled with pitch-black heat as the hellish pain travels from his clawed hand and up his symbiotic large arm. His "other" screaming so loudly and painfully in his head, disorienting the mutant abominably and forcing him to stagger backwards in a fit.

Laughing hysterically at the mutant's pain, the metahuman hurled black flames for the ice-spiked black tendrils. Burning them off their stems and causing more pain to spread throughout the hero's body. "Sorry, freak. But you messed with the wrong man's business."

Halting his own screaming, the mutant managed to speak again, fighting back the pain. "At least we don't profit of the lives of innocent like scum like you. A freak is better than what you are." As he spoke, parts of his black suit smoldering and melting with glowing redness like flames touching the surface of bark on a tree. But now… it was a glowing blackness.

Raising his left arm into the air, he slammed it down on the ground with the earth element strengthening his every muscle in his limb. The earth element at his usage and cracking the ground as he unleashed an earthquake throughout the ground.

Clenching both of his hands and aiming them at the ground, the metahuman projected two concentrated columns of black flames. His blazing beams melted through the ground and caused a massive fire to spread underneath the asphalt, cancelling out the incoming earthquake with a fire spread that left the asphalt cracked with black smolder.

"How…"

"Meet the king of the underworld… baby." Blackfire thrusts both hands again, sending out a wide-spread blast of black flames for the mutant.

A small strike did immense damage to his body and his partner, a wide-spread assault… is gonna end them both.

Opening his maw, he took the risky gamble and unleashed an eruption of wind from his mouth… directly into the middle of the wide-spread infernal blast. And like a sea of abyssal flames, it was hit with the right amount… to make it explode as though it was the aftermath of a tsunami touching down on a target.

Leaving flames of darkness around the two lanes… but a fading demonic scream managed to echo…

Seeing his flames expand into an inferno near the mutant, Blackfire grew curious and walked forward. The flames around him not touching or hurting him as he stepped through them. His eyes looking around for the massive demonic being, hoping to see the corpse of a similar size.

His ears perked up at the sound of sloshing water and he continued onwards. But his eyes expanded with shock at the sight of a gigantic hole between the lanes, cracks around the rim of the hole. Walking to the edge of it, he looked down and saw the source of the sloshing waters, seeing that it was because of the surging waters within the sewer pipes. Black flames attached to pieces of charcoal burnt asphalt like glue.

"Did not expect you to be coward, Venom." Blackfire admitted in a mutter but he couldn't help but laugh at the revelation, that he scared the Demon King away.

And he wasn't the only to witness that…

X

(West-Allen Household)

A helicopter filmed the entire fight between the two element wielders, spreading the entire fight to every single channel in every Central City hose with a television. Everyone was watching the fight and was left appalled with that fight.

Especially the people in the West-Allen house, all of them watching with shocked eyes and horror forcing their mouths open.

Mera, Lindy, Tony and Marcus couldn't keep their eyes closed because they were glued to the television screen. The broken pieces of their hopes fell on them with the speed of light as they saw the pitch-black inferno take over the middle of the streets.

Iris and Barry, Ruby, Evelyn and Jesse were scared out of their minds and covered their mouths or placed their hands on their heads. The hero who saved their lives when they held captive by Zoom… was now turned to ashes by what looked like an apocalyptic eruption of flames.

His body not even burning and just… gone…

"Is…" Evelyn regretted asking but had to. "Is he really-"

CRASH

Everyone turned their heads upwards, looking to the ceiling as they heard the loud banging and clattering coming from the rooftop. "What the hell?" Iris said with her gun pointing up at the ceiling. Cocking the firearm next moment as the sound of clattering and crashing repeated itself for a few moments more.

Followed by another larger sound of crashing, stopping in front of the porch, Barry and Iris shot to the entrance door. Mera following them with her trident in hand. The detective opened the door and they all three rushed out of the house. Soon the others followed, and they widened their eyes as they saw him again.

Laying on his stomach on the ground before his friends, the flesh on his right arm still smoldering with the same pitch-black glowing from before. Half of his body still embraced by his symbiotic partner, but slowly retracting into his body again. As much damage on the host, has been done to the symbiote. The sword on his back released from the tendrils that held it, the crystal sword sliding off his body and clattering onto the ground. Dark water coming out of his panting mouth, his face and the rest of his burnt, tattered clothes stinking of piss and human excrement.

"Seth!" Iris screamed before rushing down the short staircase with her husband. The girls pushed Mera and Lindy to the side so they could rush down to him.

Mera jumped off the porch and down on a knee, right beside the mutant's inferno-tortured body. "Seth, are you okay?"

Coughing up blood and more water, he managed to form a half-smirk, despite a mix of water and blood seeping down the corner of his mouth. "Smell like so much shit and piss that even…cough…that even a sewer would stay away from me." His head dropped to the ground as his consciousness gave up, leaving him knocked out.

"We have to get him inside." Iris said and let Barry and Marcus carry him into the house. Mera rushed in behind them.

Iris looked to the sword on the ground. "Iris." She snapped her head to Tony who walked to her side. "I'll take that, I'm a bit stronger for that, and trust me, that thing weighs a ton." Girder turns his entire body and grabs the sword. He gasped as he brought up with both hands. "Oh yeah, heavier than I remembered."

The detective chuckled and had the girls follow her into the room. The four of them rushed in, right in time to see Barry and Marcus lower the hurt mutant to the couch. "Forgoing the horrific smell, he's got massive burns around his right arm, still damaged and smoldering from experiencing Blackfire's… black fire." He sheepishly said.

"Can we cool it off somehow?" Evelyn asked with a worried expression.

"He's not gonna die, is he?" Ruby asked with a terrified expression.

Iris noticed the girls' expressions and didn't like it. "Barry." She demanded her husband's attention. "Can you help him? None of us are doctors here."

"Except for Seth…" Barry gulped and looked at his smoldering arm, still with burnt flesh and simmering blackness. Sighing he stated. "We're not letting him die, not because of Blackfire's flames." His head snapped up when realization dawned on him. "Fire… Blackfire uses fire."

"No shit, Allen. Kinda of in the name." Tony retorted.

Giving him a dry look, the CSI scientist stated. "Exactly, and fire can be put out by…" He swung his head towards Mera. "Water."

Mera shifted her gaze between the mutant and Barry. "I can't heal wounds with my powers, Barry."

"Not heal, but maybe stop the burn damage from spreading on his arm with your water powers." The CSI scientist stated

Widening her eyes with realization from the wisdom of his words, she informed urgently. "I need massive amounts for something like his wounds."

Snapping his head to the girls, Barry states. No, orders them. "Girls, you three go to the kitchen and get water. Bowls, pots, even bottles, anything that can contain large amounts of water." They nodded and rushed into the kitchen to oblige to the order. He then turned his gaze to Marcus. "Marcus, do you have any experience with applying first-aid?"

"Small amount, the only kind an armed solider get is when he's the patient." Marcus informed with a shrug.

"That'll have to do." Barry replied and the vibrokinetic rushed down to the floor. The CSI scientist turns his gaze to his wife and the technopath. "Iris, you and Lindy, go upstairs and get all the bandages you can find. We need to wrap up his damaged arm."

"Why?" Lindy asks with her hair changing colors in rapid succession. "He can heal himself."

"From what I understood of his powers, his partner is the one healing him and when one feels pain, the other does as well, basis of symbiotic relationship. With Seth knocked out as he is now, chances are his partner is out cold too." Came the explanation.

"Alright, honey." Iris slapped Lindy's shoulder before rushing to the staircase. "Come on, Lindy, leave this to my husband. Trust him."

"Okay." The technopath followed the detective upstairs.

"What about me, Allen?" Tony asks, as he was the only one without task.

"Go upstairs to the bathroom." Barry surprised him.

"Why?" Girder asked.

"Get all deodorants and perfumes from the cabinets, he smells like death." Barry sheepishly admitted. Not arguing with that logic, Tony rushed up the staircase himself to the bathroom. "Come on, Seth. Don't die on us. Not now." Barry stated as he saw the girls return.

X

(Zoom's Hideout)

"What the hell just happened?" Killer Frost didn't believe what she just saw on the tablet in Reverb's hands. She and the others under Zoom's rule watched the entire fight between Blackfire and Venom, fully displayed on the tablet and showing Eric Frye turn the middle of the street into an inferno of black flames.

The only one not there to see the infernal oven be made is Zoom.

"Babe, you just saw it." Deathstorm reminds her with a gesture to the tablet screen. "Blackfire just turned Venom into a pile of ash." His words didn't overjoy the frosty metahuman, only made her sad and fear for Seth's life. She didn't believe that he was dead.

Or rather… she wouldn't want to think that.

"Wouldn't count on that." Rupture stated to their shock. When the looks of confusion reached him, the scythe-wielder confessed. "We've all fought Venom before. To think it's that easy for Blackfire to win against him, is a mistake."

"So you think he's still alive, brother?" Reverb askes.

"Look." Rupture nodded to the tablet screen.

Black Siren stepped closer to the screen, lowering her head and seeing that the smoke and flames in the middle of the streets were slowly clearing up. Her eyes widened in shock when registering the large hole in the middle of the street. A frown formed on her face when seeing it was hole connecting to the sewerage system underneath the lanes. "Don't tell me he actually made a hole to the sewers and jumped in?"

"He's gonna need a second bath." Killer Frost admitted with smile. "Might have to join him in that shower." She couldn't help but think and enjoy that small short fantasy, worth being stored in the back of her head.

For later… and private use, of course.

WHOOSH

A massive gust of wind hit their faces, followed by the sound of crackling lightning. They turned their heads around to see that it was their boss who had returned to the hideout… with Blackfire.

"Wowza!" Eric let out, still reeling in the shock of the superspeed transport. "You should drop the supervillainy business, Zoom. You'd make a killing as super-transport." Zoom gave him a narrowed eye look, the pyrokinetic snapped his finger in mock realization. "Oh wait, you're already killing. Always forget that part."

Laurel made a show of sniffing the air. "Zoom, I thought you had a policy about not bringing trash to the show. So why's Eric here?"

Eric chuckled at the cryer's insult. "Wanted to pick your brains for something."

"Not surprising, you didn't have brains to begin with." Killer Frost retorted.

"Baby, you're not exactly one to talk about brains, considering you're dating Babystorm." Blackfire chuckles when seeing Deathstorm ignite flames on his head and hands, anger written on his face. "But… it's about that Venom you guys been fighting."

Killer Frost said. "Yeah, he disappeared into a sewer after you turned the streets into charcoals."

"Yeah. If he's stupid he's gonna come again. And I need to know where he might go." He clicked the roof of his mouth and looked to the men, holding up a hand to them with the palm facing them. "Gonna have the ladies answer this, guys. No offense, but you're idiots."

"Less talk." Zoom demands with a growl.

"Knowing him… he's gonna be stupid and try to take you out again somehow." Black Siren revealed.

"Thought so…" Blackfire smirked. "Then I have an idea on what to do… to get him to come out."

"What's your plan?" The frosty metahuman asked, her mind riddled with worry for the elemental mutant. Blackfire is like Zoom, neither of them known to playing nice. They weren't some of the evilest metas in town for nothing.

"When fishing… you gotta have bait, Icy Hot." The pyrokinetic licked his lips sickly.

He was gonna get his sword back… and hold the burnt head of Venom,

X

(Flashback)

The grass in front of him was greener than he thought. The sun was shining brighter than he thought. Water looked bluer than he thought. Sky was covered with more clouds than he thought. Air, like the touch of insects touching his skin, was more startling and newer than he thought. The sight of happy humans was happier than he thought it would be. Parents and children hugging and treating each other to create moments of joy and happiness… seemed fake.

Those were the thoughts that coursed through the young boy's head as he was seated on the top of the tall green hill, his knees pulled to his chest as he kept looking at the grass. Torso covered in an old green shirt and his legs covered by a pair of dark-red shorts.

But then again, the last time he saw grass, or anything that resembled living things born from Mother Nature's womb, was an entire year ago. Happy, he was though. He was able to see his best friend and his little sister once again sitting with each other, hugging even.

He felt around the strands of his brown hair with his hand as he tried to let go of the image of their relationship getting more serious. That might be a nightmare and he didn't want that. "Please don't let that happen."

"Talking to yourself again?"

Seth Rogers gasps and puts his hand on his chest, startled by the sudden voice that screamed in his head.

"Didn't exactly scream Seth." Venom, the pitch-black Klyntar, corrected his young host.

"Why do you still talk?" Seth asked out loud.

"Got bored of your thoughts of you hoping your best friend and sister does not end up in a marriage." Venom explained.

"Not used to having a literal second voice in my head." Seth countered. The young mutant wasn't used to have the feeling of having the clone Venom symbiote inside of him. The first time they spoke together was when the pitch-black symbiote jumped him, attaching to him and slithering into him. Right before he took on the same name as the original symbiote-wielder, to be different than him and become a warrior.

Donning the same face and form as Venom… the two together wielded their powers like a sharpened scythe, bringing it down on anyone in the facility, their fated slaughtering punishment awaited them. And he didn't regret killing anyone of them.

He only regretted not be able to take down Stryker.

One thing… and only one thing did make him confused.

"Why aren't you down there with your baby sis and your best bud, kid?"

Seth turns his head around and sees the man who walks to him, the same man who stood in front of the facility's entrance with a SHIELD rescue team. The dark-skinned man's torso was clothed in a black shirt, a blue tie with white stripes around his collar, black pants and a brown jacket over his shirt. One eye functional while the other is damaged from the source of the scars on his left eye.

"Mr. Fury, what do you want?"

Nicholas Joseph Fury chuckles at his attitude. "First, I hope your attitude does not improve, it is in peak condition." He stood near his adopted son's side. "Second, you know you don't have to call me Mr. Fury. Officially speaking, you and your sister are my troublemakers now." Nick Fury took a seat on the ground beside Seth.

This time, the young elemental chuckled. "Don't you mean weapons?"

"First lesson with me, Seth: You want to know something from someone, you either found out yourself or ask me directly." The SHIELD director stated.

Making direct eye contact with Nicholas, Seth asks seriously. "Why did you adopt me and my sister? The cat wasn't enough company?"

"Goose is… Goose." Nick didn't know how to reveal the fact that their house cat is not exactly a cat but an alien called a Flerken, one that ate the Tesseract. Carol would have to handle that one. "But it's not exactly an official adoption yet. Remember, it's just a trial week of sorts."

He remembered that, but still seemed weird. Right after they were rescued and brought to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Nicholas Joseph Fury offered them a home, his home. While the Rogers were happy in the beginning, they were skeptical about this offer.

Recalling the past few days, Seth inhaled deeply and exhaled shortly afterwards. "It has been a really good last few days. You gave us lots of food. The new clothes not so bad." Nick gave a dry look. "Okay, definitely an upgrade from tattered clothes from that hellhole."

"What can I say? My sense in fashion is pretty good." The man bragged.

"Fun-"

"OW!"

Both Nick and Seth snapped their heads up at the sound of the voice that exclaimed in pain. Their eyes widened in fear when seeing that it was the younger long brown-haired Rogers sibling, Olivia Rogers who was holding her left knee to her chest with closed eyes. Matthew Almond was beside her and trying to console her as she was crying.

"Liv!" Seth shouted and got up on his feet in a second.

"Olivia!" Nick rushed into a sprint, running down the hill at top speed. His sudden take-off similar to that of a combat jet taking off for war.

Momentarily shocked by the SHIELD Director's dash, he then took charge himself. "Liv!"

"She's okay, she's with Matthew." Venom tried to soothe his host.

"Not helping Venom!" He countered loudly whilst running.

Being the first to rush to Olivia and Matthew, Nicholas slid down to his knees beside his adopted daughter's side and Matthew. "Sweetie, what happened?"

Olivia was shocked to see him be so scared. Her brother was just as surprised by the level of fear he was displaying for his little sister right now. It was surreal for him to show such an alarming expression for someone who's not his own flesh and blood.

"Olivia, what happened?" Nick asked again, seeing that his adopted daughter did not respond to his inquiry.

Matthew Connor Almond then replied for her sake. "She was climbing the tree before while I had my back turned around. She fell down and scrapped her knee."

"You." Nick points to Matthew and sternly continues. "Be careful of whoever's around you and make sure they're safe and not doing anything dangerous."

"Yes sir." Matt nodded.

"And now, you:" Nick faces Olivia. "Are you hurt?" The young psychic was still shocked. "Baby girl, are you alright? Don't tell me you tried to play monkey and swing from the branches."

Seth looked confused. "What problem would that bring?"

"Monkey fever." Nick stated, the young elemental looking at the SHIELD director is crazy.

"Why?" Olivia finally replied, her single-wordily inquiry confusing the guys. "Why do you care so much about me? About us." She pointed to herself and her brother. "We're not your real children."

"You mean you're not my blood?" Nick's question came as a statement than a question. "Let me tell you something, Livy." She and the others listened closely as the SHIELD Director told them honestly.

"Family is more than blood, Liv. It's an unbreakable bond between a parent and a child, that goes far beyond biology. Family is the people who will protect you from anything and anyone out there in the world, all the scary stuff. Family is the people you will protect from anything and anyone." Nick's words were shocking them, each one was filled with inspiration and hope. "A family is a shield that protects you while you're down, before you raise up again and take the shield yourself. Family is love. And I want you two to have a life, full of love. And I'll be your shield in that life."

"You… You mean that?" Olivia asked, tears of joy running down the sides of her face. "You'll… be our shield."

Giving her a reassuringly calm and kind smile, the father to the adopted Fury siblings reached for her face with his hand. Gently cupping her cheek Nick used his thumb to brush the streams of tears away from one cheek before going to the other one. "Always and forever, baby girl. I'll be your shield for as long as it takes." He turns to the Rogers brother. "Same goes for you, little man."

"Shields break." Seth managed to say, his cheeks, like his sister's, drenched with running tears.

"Not if it's made from the bond between family members. Strongest shield there is, stronger than anything in the world, kiddo." Nick ruffled his hair with one hand.

He was forced to withdraw his hand when he felt the small form of his adopted daughter tackle him with her wide-spread arms. She had her arms wrapped around the one-eyed man's neck. Tightening her arms around him, she began to nuzzle her tear-drenched face against his neck and stated tearfully.

"Thank you… Daddy."

Chuckling in happiness, he wrapped one arm around her form and pulled her close into a hug. "Think I can get used to that." Nicholas admits.

He felt a pat on his shoulder to the side and saw Seth standing there with a nervous expression. "Thanks… Dad."

"Oh, come here, you softy!" He chuckled and wrapped his other arm around Seth's body and pulled him close into the first family hug between the Fury's. Seeing the embarrassed faces on his adopt… on his children's faces, he states. "Get used to this, kids. We're having loads of hugs."

Nick faces the nanite mutant who looks sheepishly at them. "Matthew?" He got his attention. "Don't worry. I know a smart man who really wants to meet you."

"Thank you, sir." Matthew stated before admitting. "But please, call me Matt."

"Sure thing, Matt." Nick assures them and wraps his arms around Liv's form before raising himself to his full height, with pulled up to her. "Let's get a bandy for your knee, baby girl. Seth, you and Matt buy ice creams for us all. Don't mess it up."

Before Seth could reply, he heard a demonically dark cackle in the back of his mind. "Your old man doesn't trust you. Amazing!"

"Bastard symbiote." He thought back.

"Technically true." Venom confessed. "Remember to get chocolates. We're hungry. Loads of it. Nah, just forget the ice cream-part all together and get chocolates for all. Or just us."

"Selfish greedy symbiotic bastard."

"True again." Venom retorts with a mental smirk.

Seth had to stop… as he felt something crawl up his body. Something warm… something that felt sinister… he looked down and widened his eyes at black flames sneaking up his body like snakes. When his gaze met them, the flames exploded in a blaze.

Enveloping him in black flames and searing his skin with his mouth opening up.

"ARRRGGGG-"

(Flashback End)

X

"ARRRGHHH!"

Seth Fury snapped his eyes open and shot up to a sitting with a loud gasp. Sweat was pouring down his face. His left hand swiping over his face and wiping away his sweat. "Wow!" He let out in shock of his reaction to his positive memory of his past with his father. Though the bad ending did force him to wake up.

A series of other gasps came out from beside him, making him swing his head to the same direction. He was confused seeing the different people holding various things. Along with widely opened mouths of shock.

Iris and Lindy both holding paper boxes in their hands, multitude of them. Some of them empty and some of them open with white bandage hanging out of them. Strangely enough some of them were holding dark-blue bandage.

Evelyn, Jesse and Ruby… all three of them were holding bowls. Each of them holding two bowls. Water in some of them and some empty. Beside them was Tony with crossed arms, a variety of things in his crossed arms. All of them, strangely enough, appearing to be glass perfume bottles and deodorant cans.

Barry is on his knees with Marcus. Both of them were beside Seth and the CSI scientist was holding a pair of bandages, one white and the other one dark blue. With the bandages being registered in his head, he looked down on his hands.

His left hand wasn't covered in bandages; his right hand was… enveloped in something else. The mutant blinked his eyes repeatedly to see if he was seeing was right. After those repeated blinks, he did see that his entire right arm, from shoulder to hand, was encased in a swirling water mass.

A familiar blue aura was around the water mass and Seth looked up, finding Mera holding up her hands with the same blue aura as the water.

Looking around them all, Seth asked, after awkwardly smacking his lips together. "So… what's going on with you guys? Anything special happen while I was unconsc-" He stopped himself as his nostrils flared at a strange combination of smells. Looking down at his body, seeing that his torso was unclothed before sniffing and putting his hand over his mouth and nose. Foregoing that his Y-incision scar was open for all to see. "And why do I smell like the guinea pig for odor experimentation?"

"Oh thank God, you're back again." Iris let out with a sigh, dropping herself down to the couch and letting go of the bandage packages. "Girls, don't even think of dropping the bowls."

"""Fine.""" The three of them said in unison as they placed the bowls on nearby tables.

Ruby looked to Seth. "Can't believe you're alive… we thought you were a goner." Her eyes and face were laced with happiness and joy at the sight of him.

Evelyn smiled too. "She's not the only one."

Laughing, he teased the two powered girls. "Don't go soft on me now, you two. I've been bragging about you two being the tough ones here in the house."

Lindy points a finger to the detective. "She's the lady with the gun." He shrugged in response, not caring about that as he swung his legs from the other end of the couch to the floor now, grunting in pain all the time.

"Easy, Seth." Barry helped him into a proper sitting.

"He's right, bro. You took on hell of a beating, your arm looked like it's been dipped in Big Belly Burger fryer." Marcus joked.

Mera breathed sharply while keeping her hands up, focusing the water around the mutant's burnt arm. "You gotta thank Barry, he was the one who came up with this idea."

"Thanks for that, Bar." The elemental nodded his gratitude to the CSI scientist. "But did you come up with the idea of using my unconscious body as target practice for perfume concoctions?"

"Yeah, but that's on you, buddy. You smelled like death when we found you lying on front yard after crashing down on our roof like a drunk Santa Claus." The scientist quipped.

"You try punching through asphalt roads with a metal fist to escape a massive onslaught of flames and figure out what's underneath the random lane you're on." Seth countered.

"I take back what I said." Barry retracted.

The mutant looked to Mera. "What's going on with the water and the strange blue bandage?"

"Water is for cooling down the burn damage on your arm, the bandage is from Atlantis, water-proof inside of the water mass and wrapped around your arm." Mera swings her hands, the water following her motions and gliding through the air to the bowls on the table.

Seth saw that his entire right arm was wrapped up with dark-blue bandage. Clenching his bandage-wrapped fingers repeatedly, he said. "Dope." He ran his hand through his hair. "Fucking hell. Blackfire… is really all about black flames."

"Yeah." Jesse said in shock. "The entire fight was on television. Showing you be dominated by this bastard."

Lindy sighed. "He's seriously dangerous. What happened Seth? I don't understand how an elemental like you were hurt like that by flames nonetheless."

"Symbiote's weakness are fire, but because of something done in the past, my partner is more durable to flames." He placed his right hand on his chest, running over the line of his scar. "I ain't invincible, I can take a beating straight from Hell, sure. But I still have weaknesses. That flame… damn! Last time I felt anything close to that was from Ghost Rider."

"Who?" Tony asked, wondering if there were supernatural aspects to the world he's from.

Ruby smirked and explained. "Just a flame-skulled demon in a leather biker jacket riding a motorcycle and swings a blazing chain around. Oh yeah, he also burns out people's eyes with a literal searing gaze."

"Say what now?" Marcus wondered if she was serious and hoped sincerely that thing would stay a story and not become reality.

"Seth…" Iris got the eyes of al as she spoke to the mutant. "I'm really, really, really sorry for what I brought on your plate right now. Because I made this your mess, you seriously hurt your arm. It was still smoldering when you were on the ground before…. I'm really sorry."

"Iris." Seth smiled as he got her attention again. "Yes, you might have been the one to fan the flames, yeah. But I was the one who went to Lindy's group. I was the one who attacked the Viking Motel. I was the one who found charcoaled corpses in a trash container. I was the one who got pissed off, got the other hotels' addresses, destroyed them, beat a few Johns and Janes, got the girls out and challenged Blackfire." He holds his bandaged right arm. "And this, is the result of what I initiated. So don't take the blame… not cool, man." He added at the end with a stoner-like persona.

The detective laughed at his mock persona. "…I was afraid of losing my friend is all." Seth smiled appreciatively while Iris turns to Barry who's standing with a hand on his chin, narrowed eyes as he appears to be thinking. "What's wrong, babe?"

"Just thinking, honey." Barry stated before resuming his thinking. His eyes shifting to the mutant's Y-incision scar on his chest before turning to his arm.

Mera then asked. "How's your friend dealing with being flame-broiled?"

Shrugging, Seth started a mental conversation with his partner. "Still alive, Venom?"

"In pain… But alive." Venom replied slowly, thankfully confirming his liveliness to the host. "But whoever the fuck gave this motherfucker black flames… is gonna die."

"Let's kill Blackfire first… then we can focus on the next jackass." The mutant thought back.

They heard the sound of a phone ringing and saw Iris pull out her cellphone. "It's Lawton. Gotta take this one." She got up from the recliner and accepted the call alone and without the presence of those with long ears.

Evelyn looked to Seth. "Seth."

"What's wrong, Evie?" He replied in worry when seeing her expression.

With a gulp going down the canal that is her throat, the metahuman asked. No, she said. "Seth, wouldn't it be better if you didn't go after Blackfire again?" her question left everyone baffled. Everyone aside from Seth was wide-eyed. He knew why she was asking. "You almost died from fighting him in this one battle. Another one…" she trailed off, leaving the words to the open.

"You might die." But Ruby was more than willing to pick up the pieces. "Evelyn's right. Blackfire kicked your ass, and you could really die. Maybe you should stay clear of Blackfire's radar."

While the other natives of this city were shocked to hear their individual statements and questions, they couldn't say anything to it. They knew that the two powered girls had forged a powerful and sturdy bond with the elemental ever since they were pulled out of Zoom's prison.

He's been there to train them when they were unable to comprehend the full scope of their powers. He's been there to save them and help them when they needed it. He's been there to stand in front of them and fight Zoom and his metahumans single-handedly so they could escape. He's the one who's been there for them when they needed someone to talk with and he's been fulfilling that role to the utmost.

Like he worries and cares for them… they worry and care for him.

"I can't do that. I'm sorry, you two." Seth began with his gaze looking at the three young girls. "When I met you guys back at Zoom's lair for the first time, what was the thing I gave you guys? Incidentally, it was the very thing Jesse told me to stop doing, repeatedly I might add."

"Oh that." Jesse sucked her teeth with a look of realization. She regretted being who she was back then.

"You gave us hope." Ruby remembered those days, seeming like a lifetime ago… ironic for the HYDRA assassin from the future of another universe.

"Yeah, I did." Seth gestured to the room. "And not to toot my own horn, but I'd say I have done pretty well." He got a serious expression. "I promised those girls at the hospital with hope of ending Blackfire. I can't betray that hope. They're just kids who deserve the chance to live their lives to the fullest and on their own terms. I'm gonna be the one to make sure they don't return to that life and put an end to their nightmares." He holds up his hands for the girls to see. "With these two hands, I will end him once and for all."

He then added with a chuckle. "Or die trying."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that man. Right, Allen?" Tony asked for the CSI scientist's opinion. But he was given nothing as a response. "Barry, what are you thinking about?"

"You okay, Bar?" Seth curiously wondered of him.

"Seth!" Iris shouted and rushed into the living room with long strides. Her face with urgency and her hand clutched around the phone. "Bad news."

Forcing himself up to his feet again, the symbiote slithering out of his body and forming his clothes to cover him before asking. "What's wrong, Iris?"

"Lawton just called me and told me something bad." Iris pales. "Blackfire's closing in on the hospital with the girls."

"He's gonna try and take them back." Seth horrified their minds with his words. He turns his head to the side and sees his sword placed up against the wall. Enveloping his left arm with the symbiotic mass with a clenching of his fist. He stretched it out to the sword, shooting out his claws and wrapping them around the handle of his crystal blade to yank it into his hand. With a spin, he placed it on his back, tendrils wrapping around it like a scabbard. "Time to work."

Within an instant, he walked towards the door. "Seth?" The mutant turned his head around to look at his friends. Seeing that Iris stepped forward. "Be careful."

"Keep my bed warm, or cold, actually. Gonna face the heat now, anyway." The mutant stated with a quip and walked out of the door.

The moment he was out of the door, Barry rushed to the door himself. Iris looked confused. "What's wrong, Barry?"

"I think I have an idea of how he can beat Blackfire. But I'm not sure. I want to run it by him alone." Barry quickly informed before getting out of the door.

X

(West-Allen Household, Front Porch)

"Seth!" Barry called out, managing to stop the mutant from continuing onwards.

"Don't tell me, you're fishing for another thank you, Bar. One is all I can muster up now." Seth joked.

Walking down the small staircase of the porch, he made his way to Seth and said. "Not now, but I have something else I want to run by you; a way to defeat Blackfire once and for all."

"I'm listening." Seth said with arms crossed over his chest.

"In a briefing: What kind of experiences have you had with dark matter, personally speaking?" Barry seriously asked.

Seth scoffed as he briefly relived that memory. "Well to recap that experience: I was fighting against a metahuman, Farooq Gibran, or Blackout after dark matter hit him, someone who had to consume electricity for sustenance, a constant need. He could use that absorbed electricity for his own use, manipulating it to attack his opponents. While working with The Flash of that world, Farooq attacked us and he latched his lightning onto us both… and he fed on us."

"His dark matter was infused in his lightning and he fed on The Flash's electrical energy. It took away his powers for a while." Seth then said. "He did the same to me. But his dark matter infused powers interfered with my X-Gene's powers. Like with The Flash, my own powers were forced into a dormant state. It's because of dark mattered entered my body and I just… I just lost my partner and my elements for a while."

"There it is." Barry said with a snap of his fingers.

Seth and Venom turned confused at his words, narrowing his blue eyes on him. "What do you mean?"

Barry then revealed his plan. "Seth… What if you absorbed… Blackfire's flames?"

…

…

The mutant didn't speak for a few moments, whether it was to let that inquiry sink in or maybe having to repeat his very own words to the CSI scientist, so he could let those words re-sink in.

Pointing a hand to him like Barry was crazy, Seth said. "Barry, did you not hear what I just said? If not, let me repeat it for you, in layman terms." Drumming on his chest like a gorilla, he states. "Dark matter like bad food. Give Seth food poison after going mouth. No elements or freaky symbiote. Me die." The mutant couldn't believe how much he had to speak like he's trying to educate a toddler.

"Seth, I know and heard what you said." Barry said. "But I think you can."

"And here we thought this one is smarter than the Barry we know on our Earth." Venom retorted.

"Yeah…" Seth replied before directing to the CSI scientist. "Bar, if dark matter enters-"

"Yeah, there's the keyword. "Enters"!" Seth looked confused. Barry then explained. "Seth, you said your body is an environment for elements. You can use them whenever you want. And with the already seven elements inside of you, you can also add more elements into your body. When you say enters… that means it didn't come into your body of your own volition."

"That…" He cocked his head with realization and stated. "… Would be pretty accurate, AKA completely correct."

"That's what I'm talking about Seth." Barry nodded. "Seth, I think you can let dark matter into your body, if you let Blackfire's flames in… and accept it like a normal environment accepting a new life organism. In your body, elements are animals who need to be accepted inside of you, because that's the environment."

"Chances are…" he clenches his bandage-wrapped fist. "This will happen to the rest of my body."

"Do you know what you've showed us ever since you got hurled into this world, Seth?" Barry said, the mutant's full attention on him. "We saw you jump in front of a young girl, protecting her from a bullet that came for her head." The memory of him protecting Ruby was a fond memory. "You sought out Killer Frost of all people, to show you the way to help Evelyn when she disappeared." The story of him seeking Evelyn was unforgettable. "Not to mention, you got out of Zoom's prison, got the girls out and have become a target on your back because of that, but you still protect this city. Even against Blackfire."

"Now I know, we haven't known each other that well… but I can tell you right here, right now…" Barry assured with a smile. "I've seen things I that I never thought possible, because… you proved to this entire city that things that the impossible can be achieved." He then said. "Now, I know for sure that you're not done being the impossible Demon King." The scientist scratched his hair and admitted sheepishly.

"I'm just Barry Allen, CSI, but you're Seth Fury, Venom of two universes." He gave another smile. "If you tell yourself you can make Blackfire's flames your own, you'll do it. Dark matter or not."

Seth had to hand it to him. This Barry Allen knew how to make assuring words and put them into an incredible pep talk. A really good one. "Funny thing… The Barry Allen I know; I would give him a pep talk when he's unsure or in a pinch. Never thought I would hear one from Barry Allen."

"First time for everything, right?" Barry said with a smirk.

"Yeah…" Seth had to think about this plan for a while… while taking on the horrors of the black flame wielder.

X

(Central City General Hospital)

"Yawn!" Eric Frye shouted over the annoying wave of gunfire that came for his body. But the cape of immense pitch-black flames around his body melted the incoming lead bullets before they could connect with his skin.

Both Central City Police Department cars and Crows Security vans were unleashing arrays of bullets for the pyrokinetic who closed in on the hospital. Commander Jacob Kane was the one who's led the hail of bullet, both crows and the local police following his commands.

The three lieutenants joined the countermeasure against Blackfire but saw that the flames were like an impenetrable barrier of flames that melted away any and all enemy projectiles. Blackfire looked bored and tapped the side of his head. "You know, you're just wasting ammo, right?!"

"Hold your fire!" Commander Kane held up a clenched hand, the two groups responded to his command and ceased their gunfire. Making sure that the barrel of his gun was still pointed at Blackfire, Jacob called out to the metahuman. "Last chance, Blackfire! Stand down or we will be forced to take action."

"Does that mean you're gonna try doing something that's not firing bullets? Cause it's pretty useless and a damn waste of resources." Blackfire quipped his counter. "And had that line every worked for you? Your wife says it doesn't, trust me. I've asked her!"

"You ain't going any further!" Julia shouted.

"Accept your punishment, criminal scum!" Sophia shouted.

"Give up while you still can!" Kate Kane stated her threat.

Eric Frye looked to be thinking about their offers, even tapping his finger on his chin. "Thanks, but here's my counteroffer." With a lazy expression he outstretches his right hand, unleashing a black flamethrower. Swinging it around, he watched his flame connected with the various forms of police vehicles, cars and vans, and officers and agents. Clenching his hand, he watched as their bodies spasmed while encased in agonizing flames before stopping…

Their lives burnt out of their bodies.

"Open fire!" Commander Kane ordered the officers and agents.

"Can't have that now." Blackfire thrusts both hands outwards, unleashing a large wave of black fireballs that intercepted the bullets that tried to pass through them. But only leading to the flames paving through the air and connecting with more cars.

EXPLOSIONS

The explosions sent the Crows and CCPD officers flying and scattered all around the hospital entrance. All of them were hit by the explosive gust of air, sending them into the wall and embed them into it. Others were forced onto the ground, into vehicles even. The three lieutenants, along with others, were hurled through the entrance door.

But the Commander was left panting and heaving on the ground. Blood coming out of open wounds on his face and his right eye damaged from the explosion, and his body… too damaged from the shockwave to register the signals to move he sent out from his brain.

However, his ears did perk up at the registration of closing feet touching the asphalt repeatedly. "You know, I know the truth of what you did with my sword." He raised his foot and placed it on Commander Kane's head, slowly twisting and turning his feet against his head, grinding it against the rocky road. "You lied about my sword; you didn't drop my sword into the Arctic ocean. You've been keeping it hidden, right here in my turf." Black flames ignited along the lines of his right arm, running up all the way to his shoulder. "Why does people think it's okay to lie?"

"You're…You're not getting away with this!" Jacob Kane shouted through gritted teeth, his grinding head sending out a myriad of pain through his entire body.

"Heard it before, always bored of the same words. You pigs and birds are just a bunch of broken records in dull uniforms." The black flames intensified into an incredible blaze. "But you're not gonna be here to see that, unfortunately." He raised his arm over his head, clenching his fist and focusing his flames around his fist. "Bye by-"

Before he could bring down his flaming hammer on the Crows Commander, a pair of large feet slammed into Blackfire's body from the side, hurling him into the air. Eric landed on the ground with a grunt. He looked up at the person, narrowing his eyes at the target. "You again."

"We're not done yet, Blackfire!" Seth growled with a spin of his sword and raised his right foot before placing it on Jacob Kane's back.

"W-What are you doing?" Jacob demanded to know with one eye pointing up to the mutant's face.

"Saving your ass." Lightning sparked viciously around his right leg before converging towards his foot, shocking the commander's body with a violent shock.

"Argh!" Jacob screamed in pain when feeling the lightning spark inside of his body and hit his every vein, bouncing off his every nerve with a shock. The shock caused his body to shortly spasm, and he could feel his limbs register the signals sending from his mind. "What the…"

"Temporary dormant state of your body's limbs. A shock wakes them up." A tendril wrapped around the commander's torso and forced him up. "Get out of here, we'll handle Blackfire."

"I'm here to take him out and YOU!" Jacob shouted in distain. He tried to find his gun, but it was burned into pieces.

"Good luck with that. But those girls are your priority now, Commander. Think about them, not your ego." Venom said as he walked towards the pyrokinetic. "Let's end this, Blackfire." Feeling like he was gonna be in the way, Commander Kane ran to his agents.

"Yeah, I want my sword back, now that you mention it!" He fired off another black fireball. Venom crossed his arms, ice forming a large icicle shield. The black flames took out the ice shield, melting it in an instant. Both Seth and Venom had to grit their teeth in pain from the flames that touched his arms and the upper half of his head.

"Miscreant!" With determination, conviction and an iron-resolve, he pulled his sword out before turning his body into adamantium and took charge.

"Ballsy." The metahuman admitted with a tilted smile before hurling a black flame blast at him again. Like the previous one the Demon King took it on, burning and igniting his metal skin. "Wow…"

Venom swung his blade for the metahuman's body, hitting him on his side and throwing him into the air. Blackfire's body rolls on the ground as the aftermath of the sword swing. Eric Frye didn't know it yet, but he found himself in an empty alleyway.

He forced himself onto his knees with a roll before thrusting both hands, unleashing a blaze of abyssal flames for the mutant's head. But the elemental leaped onto the left wall, holding him there for a second before jumping to the opposite wall.

More black fireballs came for him, but Seth used tendrils to push himself out of the way. His arms raised into the air and gathering wind in his hands before thrusting them downwards, launching a wind blast to him. Blackfire used it for his own gain, taking advantage of it with a blast of black flames.

Melding together with the wind attack, the black flames burst into the above his head and exploding against Venom's body. Through the cloud of exploded black flames, Eric heard the sound of a demonic scream and thought that the mutant was experiencing a massive burn.

But through the black smoke, tendrils shot out and dug into the ground and walls around Blackfire. Seeing them tense, he returned his attention to the smokescreen in the air and saw Venom coming out of it with the velocity of a rocket.

The sword was hurled his way, but Blackfire dodged it and looked to the mutant again. The distance between them shortened and with a flex of his muscles, the black flames encased his entire body like an armor. The flames burst and touched the mutant's symbiotic body again, forcing the elemental to scream in agonizing pain as he hurled backwards.

"Son of a bitch!"

"AAARRRGGGHHHH!" Venom screamed in his host's mind. "Fuck… Pain!"

"Soldier on, Venom! We're not fighting for us…" Seth stated in his thoughts as he forced himself to a standing again.

Venom panted and heaved, struggling to breathe through the immense pain both are experiencing. Thousand knives, each one coated with pitch-black flames and stabbing all over their fully bonded body. But his host was right, they couldn't fall. Not now. Not until they've seen the metahuman draw his last breath. Not until those innocent girls in the hospital able to look forward to tomorrow with hopeful eyes.

"We're fighting for those children!" Venom growled through the searing pain.

Venom and Seth roared in unison before leaping off the ground with crossed arms, ice forming ice scythes on both hands. When close to the metahuman, he quickly uncrossed his arms and swung his arms.

Performing a backwards jump, Blackfire dodged the ice scythes and cupped his hands. Thrusting them forward again, he unleashed another black flamethrower, striking the large elemental in his stomach and blasting the ice off his body.

Holding the massive flamethrower on him, the flames began to cover the mutant and cause more screams to be emitted from his maw. Eric smiled. "Lovely scream." Cancelling out his flames, the metahuman saw a form slip out from behind the flame screen.

With the flames between them fading, Blackfire widened his eyes. He was locking eyes with the man underneath the mask of Venom. Seth wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his left arm. His right arm hanging with the dark-blue bandages falling off, burning into ashes before even touching the ground. "Looks like you get see me in all my glory, Eric Frye."

"So… You're Venom?" Eric scoffed in shock. "Are you shitting me? This is the guy who's been a thorn in Zoom's side? Zoom's gotten weak. Not what I'd expect from my rival."

"Shut up about that entire "rival" bullshit." Seth exclaimed, getting the metahuman to look confused and angered. "You're Zoom's rival? Funny, you keep saying that, seeing as Zoom never once said anything about you before. Rivals tend to talk about each other." The pyrokinetic clenched his hands in anger.

"Bullshit." Blackfire didn't believe it.

Seth gave a strained smirk. "I was his prisoner for about six months, Frye. Not a single time did he talk about you. Not even a single mention. Not from his henchmen, and definitely not from Zoom himself." The mutant laughed mockingly. "I mean, I've been here for a long time now, and not even the entire city mentioned your name. Guess you're not that impressive. I mean, the only thing you keep doing is boasting about being Zoom's rival like you're nothing without that self-proclaimed title."

"Shut up!" His black flames bursts around his body. "I earned that title! I am Zoom's rival!"

"Rivals force each other out of the city?" Seth laughed again; this time louder than before. "You're not worth having in the same city as Zoom. It's goddamn pathetic you haven't even figured that one out yet. Talk about a slowpoke."

"Shut up!" he swung his arm and thrusted a black fireball for the mutant, hitting him again and pushing backwards. Seth felt a painful surge as his body was forced to flip, and land on his stomach on the ground. He groaned in pain with his eyes looking up.

"I am Zoom's rival." Blackfire sneered in anger and stepped backwards. Stretching out his right hand as he stepped back, he wrapped his fingers around the handle of the sword that was once his. "And this… is my sword." His black flames erupted around his fist and pulled it out of the ground.

"Is that so? Never heard that one before. Then again, you're not that interesting, you scumbag." Seth offended him.

Eric Frye walked towards his downed body. When standing right before him, Blackfire points the tip of the sword at Seth's face. "In my hands, this sword can shoot my flames." He tightens his hand around the handle of his sword.

His intentions were to let his blazing black flames run over the crystal sword to project them right into the mutant's face. But to his confusion… nothing came out of the sword. Not a single abyssal flame travelled across the sword.

"What the…" Eric stopped talking when Seth began to laugh.

Locking eyes with him, Seth quipped. "Performance issues?" Slamming both hands on the ground, he forced him to a stand and flipped around. During the flip, he used an adamantium foot to kick the large crystal sword out of Blackfire's hand and into the air. The sword pierced into the upper level of the left wall. "Huh?" Seth let out. "I expected that to go a whole other way."

"Screw the sword." Blackfire's entire body was enveloped with flames. "I'm gonna burn you… and there's nothing you can do to stop me from taking back those brats." The flames centered around the palms of his outstretched hands.

"…If you tell yourself you can make Blackfire's flames your own… you'll do it…. Dark matter or not…."

Seth smirked with his right arm raising. His damaged fist clenched as he thought. "Gotta say… You're really annoying when you're right, Barry Allen. And you're more than just Barry Allen… You're just as much hero as The Flash…"

"Venom!" He shouted to himself. "Let's go!"

"Or die trying!" The symbiote shot tendrils out the sides of his right forearm. His host's mutant powers turned the tips of them into adamantium. The tendrils dug into the front side of his forearm, blood coming out of the holes they made. With a pained expression on his face, the tendrils forced a long hole to be made.

"Hurting yourself now? Didn't expect that, Venom?" Frye exclaimed.

"Quit yapping, you first-class scum." Seth held the bleeding front side of his right arm towards him, the hole pointing towards him. "See if you can burn me now!"

"With pleasure!" Blackfire's buttons were pushed and slammed both hands together, unleashing an infernal wave of abyssal flames that came for the mutant.

"This is gonna tou-"

The elemental was cut off when the massive flames attacked him like a flood. The flames filled the other end of the alley. The black flames stuck to the walls around them, the ground and shooting up into the air. Retracting his hands again, Blackfire looked around the flames to see if he could find the smoldering corpse of the mutant.

But as the flames faded… Eric Frye got the shock of his life… his eyes almost popping out of his head… "How the hell…" He let out in confusion… as he saw the mutant…

… standing there…

Seth was still standing there, in the middle of the sea of black flames. His clothes slightly burned and his mouth panting and gasping. Sweat sticking on his body and sliding down his face. The rest of his body not any different, sweat pouring down every inch.

But the strangest and the most shocking thing… was his right forearm. Its front side still pointing at the metahuman… and his black flame still attached to the skin… right where his self-inflicted wound was.

"You're… still standing?" Eric Frye said.

"I did it." Seth said. "I really, really did it." ´He made eye contact with him. "I gotta thank you, Eric." He looked confused. "You showed me something of this world. Something that I wasn't willing to accept." His left hand lifted up and gesturing around them. "This isn't my world, but there's people I so… desperately wanted to be the people I know."

He really wanted to see his friend Cisco Ramon again. The same geeky and talented engineer who wears nerdy T-shirts and a goofy expression, be it rainy or sunny, he was still like that. His talent showed with every work he committed himself too. Not see Reverb, a henchman to Zoom.

And more than anything, he wanted to see his… Caitlin Snow again. To be able to hold her again, to see the woman he loves again. He swore to himself that when he would see him again, his arms would be like pythons. Wrapping themselves around her body and squeezing her with what might seem like a life-threatening hug of love and care. But it also kept her from getting away from the shower of kisses that he would rain down on her like a meteor shower.

He would tell her above all… "I love you…" The one thing he wanted to say as he held her. Three simple words, each word with the weight of an entire planet's worth of love.

But they… aren't… here….

"This isn't my world… I'm a fool for thinking that it was." He raised his right arm. "I have to stop doing that… to become stronger and to live up to the name… I swore was given."

"What name?" Blackfire asked.

Seth looked at him with cold eyes. "I'm… no…" Black tendrils shots out of his body and wraps around the left side of his body, slowly forming a clawed hand on his left hand. White veins spread over his arm and then a white spine spiraled around his arm and dug into the back of his hand. his left hand became a clawed foot. The torso was half-covered and small spines shot out and bended forward.

The left side of his face was enveloped by the symbiotic oily water-like skin. Half of the white-skull extension covered that part and his left eye instantly turned red. "We are… Venom…The Lethal Protector." He clenches his right hand… and…

… pitch-black flames… erupted around his right arm…

"What the fuck?!" Blackfire screamed in shock when seeing his own flames on the mutant's body.

"Normally we'd have to isolate ourselves to be accepted… but…now…" he reeled his right arm backwards and placed his clawed left hand on the ground, his feet digging into the ground. "We can skip that!" He leaped off the ground for the metahuman.

Blackfire clenched his left hand, black flames bursting around it before he thrusted it forward. The mutant landed on the ground, launching his right fist. Their fists met one another in a blazing clash. Both Seth and Eric both looked shocked… as the mutant's black flames kept the metahuman's black flames from touching him.

"Black flames keep Blackfire's flames at bay? Nice." Thrusting his left hand forward, he hit the metahuman in his face, blood coming out of his gaping mouth as well as bloodied teeth. Blackfire held his mouth with both hands.

"Guck yoi!" His words came out in a gurgling mess.

"Let's take this… all the way!" Seth thought as the symbiote enveloped the rest of his body. But the moment it tried to envelope his right arm; the symbiotic skin was pushed back by its blazing intensity. "Not fully embraced yet."

"We can work with it for now." Venom suggested his logic.

Seth and Venom showed a vicious smile before charging for the metahuman again. Blackfire was too distracted by his pain to see the mutant spin around. Then, like a mallet, his blazing right arm was slammed into his stomach.

The metahuman was sent flying into the wall, bouncing off with a cracking sound coming from his body. Eric's body was ricocheted into the ground and sent rolling on the ground. He looked up and saw his sword, still embedded in the upper level of the wall.

However, its home in the wall came to an end when the mutant ran along the surface of the wall and grabbed hold of the sword handle. Jumping off the wall, he landed right above Blackfire's body. With his black flames ignited around his right arm, he slammed his foot against his stomach. Slowly applying pressure on his body, Venom growled.

At that moment felt a creeping memory return to the forefront of his mind… a memory of the last time he used his sword… against him…

X

(Flashback)

Blood flew out of the man's mouth after the brass-knuckle equipped fist connected with the side of his face. Blackfire remained passive, just leaning up against his stolen black Jeep and playing with a golden zippo lighter, as the men on his payroll kept punching and kicking the elder detective.

The detective was on his knees, both crushed after being struck with aluminum bats. His white shirt tattered from holes and knife wounds. The left side of his face swollen and blue, results from what felt like an endless beating. The rest of his body not any better, his arms held up by two men while one another man kept punching and kicking wherever he pleased.

Two of his men, both armed standing on the other side of the dark alleyway, keeping anyone away from this. Two armed guards are standing by the black Jeep. Another one was standing on front of the Jeep, a large metal case in front of his feet.

Eric Frye leant off his car and walked to the beating of the man. He snapped his fingers, the man responded to his command and stepping away from Fred Chyre. As Blackfire stepped forward, he had his right hand behind him, waving his fingers to tell the man to take the case and bring it closer.

Standing in front of Chyre, Blackfire looked at his battered hanging face. "Chyre, Chyre, Chyre, when will you get its pointless to try and stop me and my business. I mean, how many times do we have to go through this dance."

At those words, Fred Chyre lifted his head. Panting and heaving, he managed to form a sneering expression. Blackfire's men were shocked to see the elderly detective still wield such defiance on his face. He coughed while gurgling through a sentence. "…gusting…"

"What was that?" Eric said as he couldn't comprehend the detective's gurgled sentence. His man behind him opened the case and revealed the blank and colorless crystal sword that was meant for the wielder of black flames. Blackfire took it in his hand and walked back to Chyre. Sighing as he didn't get an answer, he squatted down in front of him and placed the blade near his throat. "I said, what was that?"

"You're disgusting!" Fred Chyre growled in his face, a defiance like that of a lion showing itself fighting through pain. His men remained shocked and Blackfire himself remained unshocked. "Using those poor girls for your own profit? For your greed?! It's disgusting!"

"I'm shocked you can speak that well with a half-broken jaw." Blackfire noted surprised. Fred began to snarl in anger, even trying to break free of the men holding him, even if that meant crawling to him. Giggling to himself, he asked. "Wanna know something funny?"

The detective spat in his face. "You're gonna die for taking them and ruining their lives! I already know that, you sick bastard."

Wiping that speck of blood from his face, Blackfire ignited black flames along his body and ran down his right arm. "Those girls you're so worried about?" His flames ran over his fingers and connected with his sword handle, travelling up the crystal blade. "They were nothing, when I found them. On the streets, starving and dumpster diving, then my men found them and brought them to me." The flames were now completely around the blade, searing the side of the detective's throat. "They were already ruined from the get-go. Broken dolls, really. This way they can be useful to others… and well, it pays me, so who am I to complain."

That sickening smirk on Frye's face made Fred shout through the pain. "You're gonna get what's coming to you! If not by me, or the CCPD, or even The Flash, someone will end you!" The flames on the side of his throat felt like a drill digging a hole in his throat.

Blackfire didn't faze at that threat and raised himself. "Newsflash, Chyre." The flames around the sword erupted from the blade and stroke the detective's entire body. "It's not gonna be by you, or anyone else." The pitch-black flames cascaded over his form.

Fred Chyre's pain reaches the high heavens and the low pits of hell at the same time, screaming like a burning banshee. Blackfire's men recoiled in immense fear when seeing the flames put an end to Chyre's screams. His skin, muscles, fibers, bones and organs…

Everything reducing to ashes.

"Well, that's that." He hands his sword back to his man to place it back in the case. "Guys take the night off. But before that…" Eric Frye points a finger to the pile of ashes. "Give the CCPD back their old man. Bones and all, I guess."

He turned around to walk to his black Jeep again… his operations strong as always and now, without a single bump in the road that can cause his operations to derail.

Just like a functional train.

(Flashback End)

X

That particular memory gave raise to the metahuman's defiance and his will pieced back together.

Blackfire raised his arms, pointing both hands at the mutant's head. "Piss-" His words were interrupted when the mutant punched his blazing black flamed hand into his stomach, causing blood to come out of his mouth and his hands swerving to the sides and the flames attacking the walls instead.

"Now… you're gonna regret everything." His right arm was still blazing powerfully, the black flames increasing with a heat wave touching the metahuman's body. "Thousand-fold!" Together, Seth and Venom brings down their fists on Blackfire's body.

In rapid succession to what will be an onslaught.

SCREAM

X

Commander Jacob Kane heard that painful and horrific scream, noticing that the scream came from the mouth of Blackfire. His agents and the CCPD officers also heard it, the sound waking them up from their short naps.

The three lieutenants managed to walk out with their arms wrapped around their stomachs.

While bleeding from an open wound on her forehead, Kate looked around and saw her father picking up a stray gun from the streets. "What's my Dad doing?"

Panting and gasping, Julia leant against the doorframe. "… Think… Think the old bloke's gonna check on the banshee."

"But why…Ow…" Sophia inhaled sharply as she had to take a big step forward. "But why is Blackfire screaming right now?"

The only one willing to find an answer to that question is Commander Jacob Kane who cocks the firearm he picked up from the ground. With a slow and steady pace, he walks towards the entrance to the alleyway that was the battlefield between Blackfire and Venom.

But it was not necessary as he saw something jump out of the top of the alleyway. He was shocked to see it as the form landed on the rooftop of a nearby tall building.

His left hand wrapped around the head of the metahuman's battered and thrashed body. Blackfire's left eye was beaten in. His clothes punctured with holes and tattered and burnt. Both arms hanging off his sides, each sleeve damaged like the rest of his clothes and the exposed skin, black and blue from an intense beating.

Jacob, his agents and CCPD officers weren't the only one to see him standing tall and proud on the edge of the rooftop. The hospital patients watched too… especially the newly admitted ones.

X

Emma Desmond and her family were watching from the window and saw it with happy eyes.

Julian Albert was hugging his baby sister from behind. "Our prayers were answered, little sister."

"Yeah…" Tears ran down the sides of Emma's face. "I can… I can dream again, Big Bro."

"Thanks to him." Julian knew that if he ever met the man behind his mask… he would thank with every once

X

Jinnifer and Anissa watched with her family. Their parents busy, hugging each other with tears coming out of their eyes like waterfalls of joy.

Anissa was smiling happily at the sight. This meant that she and her sister had escaped a horrible fate at the hands of that horrid monster. Thanks to him, they were saved. By the hands of the most unlikeliest heroes to have ever set foot in this city.

But that wasn't the thoughts that ran through Jinnifer's head.

She couldn't have felt any weaker than she's ever felt before right now. She and her sister had to be saved by someone else. They were weak and they just pathetic down there. Jinnifer Pierce didn't want that to happen again.

She had to be stronger…. And she did recall a visit from an agent from a governmental organization.

With a clench of her hand, lightning sparking over her fingers, she inwardly made a steadfast decision. The decision to contact Agent Odell of the American Security Agency.

Jinn needed to get stronger… and more ruthless.

X

"Y-Y-You bastard!" Eric Frye let out through the shattered remains of his teeth. "I'm Coom's rival!"

"Oh shut up already!" Both Seth and Venom were incredibly tired of this broken record with his set of broken teeth. Looking downwards, he saw the Crows Commander looking at him with shocked eyes. Not paying attention to him, he looked to the hospital.

Even though they were far away from him, only narrowly able to see them within his field of vision, Seth was still able to see the various heads of the girls he's saved. Holding the metahuman's mangled body higher up, he made sure that they could see the state of the man who brought them endless nightmares.

Like the oath he took a long time ago, he brought an end to the nightmares of innocents. Putting an end to them with his own hands.

Now… it was time to rectify some decisions he made in the past when getting to this world.

ROAR

With an open maw, he unleashed a roar that echoed across the area around them. Even reaching the hospital floors that were nearby. Venom turned his head towards the direction of the Woodlands. Earth element strengthening his legs and arms before jumping off the ground in a single leap.

A tendril shooting downwards into the alleyway, wrapping itself around the handle of the crystal sword before pulling it to his back.

Every single person, either standing on the streets or behind the windows of the hospital rooms, watched as the mutant kept leaping away. Jumping off building after building. His humongous and demonic form slowly disappearing out of their field of vision.

X

(West-Allen Household)

Thanks to Lindy's technopathic powers, she had the security cameras near their battlefield be connected to the West-Allen's television in their living room. This way everyone was able to see the glorious result of the fight between Venom and Blackfire…

Seth's victory.

"He did it!" Iris shouted like an overjoyed child, tackling her husband with arms wrapping around his form. She had hoped for this day to happen for a long time. Her mentor, Fred Chyre has finally been avenged. Thanks to her new and most loyal friend, Seth Fury.

"Jolly!" Barry gasped at the affectionate but vice-grip-like hug from his wife. He didn't want to fight it, so he wrapped his own arms around her form and pulled her close. Barry couldn't believe that Seth surpassed his own limits and his own fears and accepted Blackfire's own abyssal flames into his own body.

Moreover, he couldn't believe that Seth listened to his words.

The three girls threw their arms into the air in triumph. One villainous plague was taken care of. One that made profit of the pain of those who couldn't defend themselves. They couldn't be happier… and prouder for the mutant who saved their lives.

Tony and Marcus hugged one another. Their friends have been avenged thanks to Seth. Lindy and Mera jumped one another, embracing in a tight hug. Their friend Thea was saved and they were able to put Blackfire's era behind them like a horrible nightmare.

"Wait?" Iris got their attention. "Where'd Seth go?"

"Hold on." Lindy rushed to her laptop and worked her magic. Typing so fast her fingers turned into a blur, she quickly established a connection with the mutant's comm devices. "Seth, can you hear us?!"

"We can hear you guys loud and clear." Venom replied, all of them exhaling in relief. "You saw the fight?"

"Yeah, we did." Iris let out in gratitude. "You've done this city a huge favor, Seth."

"Pleasure's mine." Venom stated before directing to the technopath. "Lindy, how's the search for the breach going?"

Lindy brought up the search program she constructed before to check its progress. "Closing in on one right now, but it's not found yet."

"Okay. Ruby, Evelyn, Jesse." He got the girls' attention. "Be ready to move out when the breach's been located. With things taking the turn they are right now; it might be better if the four of us change locale."

Mera caught on. "You want to take them to your Earth with them, don't you?" shocked faces came over the natives' faces.

"Yeah. Originally it was our last resort if Zoom's bastards became too much. But with the Crows here too, it might just have to do for now."

"Good point. I'll help you out when you find the breach." Mera offered.

"Thanks, Mera."

"But Seth, where are you going right now?" Barry asked.

"Thanks for the tip before, Barry. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to defeat Blackfire. So thanks." Iris rubbed her husband's back while he himself embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. Venom then answered his question. "Right now, we have to remedy a past mistake. Don't worry about us."

"Trust us, after this… None of us will." Lindy smiled.

But Seth and Venom misinterpreted it, seemingly so. "The fuck's wrong with you? We've been helping you once and now you don't care about what happens to us anymore?"

Lindy blushed and stammered. "No, th-that's not what I meant!"

"We're hanging up, this conversation is just got too cold for us." He stated before hanging up.

Dropping her hands to the sides, Lindy loudly admitted. "With that voice of his, I don't know whether to think if it was a joke or not."

"Girl, you're not the only who's thought that." Iris admitted with a smile.

X

(Zoom's hideout)

A surge of wind and flames came from the entrance to Zoom's hideout. Their leader not to be found, but the various henchmen snapping their heads up and their eyes open because of that explosive noise. And none of them wanted to be taken by surprise of whatever was hidden in the large smokescreen that met their focus.

Killer Frost formed ice blades in her hands. Black Siren took a battle stance. Deathstorm ignited flames around his head and flames. The two brothers readied themselves for a battle.

However, they lowered their stances when seeing the familiar silhouette of Eric Frye. Standing tall and proud while the smoke hid his physique.

"Frye, the heck's wrong with you? Blowing up the entrance like that?" Deathstorm exclaimed.

"Damn, thought Zoom would be here. Guess I was wrong." The henchmen snapped their eyes open with shock when becoming aware of that voice. They all knew who it was.

But what surprised them like a sea of corpses, was their former elemental prisoner who was holding his large crystal sword on his left hand and in his right hand… was holding the head of Blackfire with his battered body hanging from his body. Seth was holding Eric Frye up with his single hand. "Not even Zoom's metal-masked prisoner is here? Damn it, thought I could kill two birds with one stone."

"What are you doing here, Seth?" Killer Frost asked, her guard falling down at the sight of the familiar mutant.

"Here to correct a mistake. Here you go." Seth threw the thrashed body of Blackfire forward. His body clattering and skipping on the ground till it stopped right in front of the henchmen's feet. "Think this bastard belongs to you."

"He ain't exactly one of ours." Black Siren admitted.

"Whatever." He walks slowly towards them. When close to them, he sees Blackfire try to crawl away and raises his foot before bringing it down on his back. Eric let out a bloodied cry of pain as he felt the foot pin him to the ground. "I make a really, really big mistake when I saw your faces the first time I was in here."

"Oh yeah, what was that?" Reverb grew intrigued.

"That you guys…" Seth pointed his eyes to four of the metahumans that wears the faces of his friends, including the one who looks his loved one. "…that you guys are anything like the people I know on my Earth." His words shocked them into expanding their eyes. He points a finger to the metahuman under his foot. "And this piece of shit was the kick of reality that I needed."

"What are you talking about?" Deathstorm inquired.

Seth takes on a cold lifeless expression. "I saw your faces and thought you were the people I knew. Honestly, I hoped you guys were, but I was dead wrong. They wouldn't let a bastard like this guy walk around like he is, much less accept his operations. But you're not them."

He faces Ronnie Raymond of this universe. "You're not like the Ronnie Raymond I know. He was a jackass when he and I met for the first time, no doubt about that. But he was a man I am willing to acknowledge as a hero. He was protective of his friends and loved ones and was willing to die for them. Even when it meant to do the most heroic act ever, the ultimate sacrifice to save his home, his friends and his world." The mutant scoffed. "Compared to you, a good-for-nothing self-serving piece of shit… you're the definition of worthless."

Deathstorm was without words, not able to find the words to speak back.

Seth faces Reverb and Dante. "The Dante and Cisco Ramon I know, are always disagreeing, estranged since their childhood from my understanding. But you two are actually close, still nothing like the ones I know." He turns to Cisco's doppelganger. "Cisco is a good, kind and caring guy, a friend to all passing by him. Smart enough to use that for the goodness of his city. And you're just ruthless bastard who doesn't give a crap about anything but himself. Basic sociopathic behavior, you jackass."

"Guess there's nothing to say about me?" Rupture asked.

"Well, I don't know your doppelganger that well. But better than you, Rupture and that's for sure." Seth stated his confession.

Finally, he faces Killer Frost. For a brief moment, he thought he saw Caitlin Snow of his Earth. But it was nothing more than a blurry manifestation of his mind. It vanished with a blink of his eyes, and he was once again forced to see the cold and uncaring counterpart of his loved one.

"And without a doubt in my mind now, you, Killer Frost, are nothing like the woman, not like the Caitlin Snow I love." Seth's words caused Killer Frost's eyes to widen and her mouth to gape, both expanded with realization. "The Caitlin Snow I know is a caring, loving and compassionate woman. An extraordinary scientist, but a better person and a wonderful mother. She's not like you, a cold, cruel, ruthless and arrogant woman. An enforcer for a piece of shit like Zoom and terrorizes Central City like it's your playground and kills innocent people." He scoffed with disgust. "Honestly, if your doppelganger could see you right now, she would be very disappointed in you. I was an idiot to think that you are anything like the woman I love."

Killer Frost was left speechless, like she lost the very ability to even form words. She had a feeling that there was something between her and the mutant for some reason, possibly related to her doppelganger on that earth but she wasn't sure until now. Now she knew, from his conviction and his steadfast words alone, that Seth protected her before because she bears the same name and face as the love of his life.

That's how strong his love is for her doppelganger.

"My doppelganger… You love her?" Killer Frost asked as though she needed to hear him say it again.

"With all of my heart. Like I treated you…" he twirled his sword around, till the tip of the blade dug into the ground, embedding the ground right beside Blackfire's head. "I treated all of you with kid gloves because you have the faces of my friends and family, but you're nothing like them. So listen closely."

With life leaving his eyes as though it was the hollow eyes of a husk looking at them, Seth declares. "Next time we meet… I will kill you all." He saw them gain wide eyes. "You're not friends, you're not family… And I won't hesitate to take you all down the next time." The mutant turns around, his foot grinding against Blackfire's back before walking towards the exit.

"What? My doppelganger's not in your life or something?" Black Siren inquired.

"Can't say I've met her, but most likely she's better than you Siren. Oh yeah, forgot something." He stops and looks to the group again. "Tell Zoom now that his rival's done for, I'll be coming for his head next." Seth raises his right arm, showing them the scars of his battle with the metahuman behind the sex trafficking operation in Central City. "And he's gonna wish he killed me when I was still his prisoner." With a flex of his muscles, black flames emitted around his right arm.

"Those are…" Killer Frost looked down to Eric Frye's battered body. "His flames."

"Now… they're mine. Remember this, Zoom's henchmen, I'm nothing like the Flash. I'm Venom, The Lethal Protector!" With a spin, he thrusts his right arm towards them and combines wind and the black flames together, hurling a violent blast of black flames at Blackfire's body.

With his mouth smashed and his body already hurt and thrashed, Eric Frye was unable to scream in pain from the black flames that incinerates his flesh and bone. All of Zoom's henchmen jumped to the sides to avoid the black flames. They watched as the flames eats away Blackfire's body…

Until his body is nothing more than a pile of ashes.

Returning their attention to Seth's position, they see that he is no longer there.

"Wow…" Killer Frost let out.

"We gotta inform Zoom of this." Black Siren glanced at Reverb.

"Already did so." He nods to the other side, where a breach formed of his powers was still swirling around. "He should be on his way now."

X

Seth's breathing is shuddered as he leans up against a large tree. His left hand clutched around the wrist of his right hand. The entire length of his right arm was shaking and spasming after using his new-acquired black flames. Smoke is still emitting from his limb, the aftereffects of it still going strong.

But what the mutant felt above all was the effects of this flame. "It's… Hard to combine this one with another element inside of me." He chuckled to himself. "Think we need to keep this one as a last resort or something…"

"Until we've mastered it and completely made it our own." Venom suggested.

"Yeah." Seth smiled and leant off the tree, twisting and turning his body to stretch it. "Let's go then." He went to leap onto a tree when he felt his phone chiming and ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, he placed it to his ear after accepting the call. "Lindy, what's up?"

"Seth, I found a breach!" Lindy screamed into the connection.

Briefly rubbing his sore ear, the mutant replied with an awkward expression on his face. "Thanks for that loud update, Maria Carey. Where is it? In the city, right?"

"Not exactly, it's in an abandoned facility that Sand Demon set on fire a while after the Particle Accelerator explosion turned him into walking sand castle." The technopath quipped.

Unbeknownst to her, Seth recalled the fights with Sandman… who actually turned into a walking sand castle. "Trust me, I hope not. But you sure it's out there? Sounds like a remote location without tech, how'd you know there's a breach there?"

"There's some old tech there that still functions, thankfully within my reach and they told me of something that looks like a breach, at least something smaller than the singularity."

"You gotta tell me how these conversations with technology are one day." Seth admitted.

"Think that's gonna be a while… with you leaving this universe to go back to your own world, right?" Lindy turned silent for a while, only filling that silence with the sounds of her inhaling deeply a few times. "Thanks for everything, Seth. You've been a miracle to this city. We lost The Flash but we got Venom in return, there's not enough words to express this city's gratitude."

"Don't make me weepy right now, Lindy. My sister, not to mention my daughter will tease the living hell of out of me if I show up with teary eyes." Seth joked.

"Alright, you're off the hook, for now." Lindy joked back. "Mera's bringing the girls to the location right now. You have the location on your phone right now… good luck and safe travels, I guess."

"Looks like…See ya." He hangs up after saying those words. Returning his phone to his pocket, he pulled out a pair of filthy bags, one shining with sparkles of gold and the other one not shining. "Think we should get rid of these then?"

"Keep them. They might be needed." Venom said.

"Yeah, you're right." Seth accepted and placed the bags into his pockets. Wind picked around his body and he leaped from the ground. Attaching to a branch, he jumped off if with his form being enveloped by the symbiote and continued to leap towards the area with the breach.

X

"So that's a breach?" Mera said in intrigue at the sight of the bluish swirling mass of energy, looking a like a tunnel collapsing in on itself. She was fully suited in her battle suit and her hand was clutched around the trident.

"Cool." Evelyn saw the mass of energy that was in the middle of the entire abandoned facility.

"Yeah… It's our getaway from this earth." Jesse said sadly, she was unsure of whether she truly wanted to go through with this plan. She would be forced to leave behind her entire life, her friends… her father behind. It was tremendous decision for her to make.

"And Seth's ticket back home." Ruby said with clenched hands.

Mera looked to the three girls. "Girls don't worry. Seth's gonna be with you all the way. He's not gonna let you out of his sight when you get to his world."

"Yeah, we know that… but it's crazy." Ruby said as she looked at the swirling mass of energy before her. "I mean this can take us away from this world's shitshow… in the blink of the eye. It's… relieving, you know."

"She's right." Evelyn nodded understandingly. "We can start fresh." She looks to Jesse. "What about you, Jesse? You okay with leaving this world, it's your home?"

"Yours too, Evie." Jesse didn't get a respond, only a serious look that made her confess. "I really don't know if it's a good idea to go through with this plan or not. I'm… I'm gonna leave everything behind and it scares me."

"Once Zoom's taken care of, I'll make sure you're back, Jesse." Seth assured her while announcing his presence to the girls and Mera. As they smiled at his presence, he had his eyes focused on the breach. "So that's a breach? I honestly expected it to be bigger and more scary-looking than this, kinda like the Singularity."

The Atlantean tapped his back with the pongs of her trident, gaining his attention. "I'm happy you're wrong, man. Cause I don't think I can handle a death vacuum the size of a human."

"They're fun." Seth joked. "Ow!" He exclaimed when Mera poked him with the trident's pongs. "Jeez, lady. Calm down."

"You're a bad influence." Mera joked.

Seth looked to the swirling mass again. It was right there. Right in front of his eyes, the very gateway to his home again. Through this strange energy mass, he would be able to see his friends and family again. He would be able to wrap his arms around his daughter's form… he would be able to hold Frankie again.

He would be able to hold Caitlin Snow in a life-threatening hug, not going to let her go no matter what. A smile forms on his face as he relishes in the thoughts of being able to hold his family close again. Like a magnet, he would be drawn to them. He just had to be in their vicinity.

"Time to go, girls." Seth nodded to the breach and looked to Mera. "Thanks for everything, Mera."

"You too, Seth." She nodded her gratitude and stepped backwards to let them near the breach. They all took slow steps towards it, as though they were the first people to ever cross over and witness the impossible… No… be part of the impossible.

WHOOSH

But the impossible of this world wasn't going to let them get away so easily. Seth, Ruby and Evelyn and Mera snapped their heads to the entrance to the facility. Their eyes widen with fear when seeing the lightning crackling on Zoom's form. But the claws on his right hand was clutched around the back of Jesse's shirt.

The young woman tried to fight her way out of the speedster's clutch but was pulled back. "Seth!"

"Let her go, Zoom!" Seth demanded with his sword swinging in his hand and tendrils shooting out of his back.

"You're not off the hook yet, Venom!" Zoom snarled at him. "And not… with Jesse."

"You fucking bastard, I'll kill you! Give her back!" Seth screamed.

"Let her go, Zoom!" Mera pointed her trident at him, both hands wrapping around it and ready for a fight.

Zoom cackled. "Heroes… don't win."

Seth narrowed his eyes. "Haven't you heard? I'm not a hero, I'm an anti-hero." Flames ignited around his left arm.

At the sight of those flames, Zoom exhaled villainously. "Thanks for killing Frye. He has been a thorn in my side for a long time, you helped me with my burdens, Seth. Now…" He diverted Seth's attention to the terrified Jesse who he shakes. "I help you… by lessening your burden!"

Eyes expanding with realization, Seth let out a cry. "NO!" He swung his left arm like a mallet and fired off a flaming strike after combining it with wind. But the flame covered his vision, cloaking the speedster's immediate smirk.

"Se-"

WHOOSH

Because in the next moment, Jesse's tearful exclaims were cut short when Zoom disappeared in a flash of blue lightning, leaving them alone. The fireball hit the wall behind them, causing the metal to leave charred burn mark after impact.

"Motherfucker! I HATE SPEEDSTERS!" Seth screamed into the high heavens, his booming words echoing within the abandoned facility. "Damn it, he captured Jesse."

"God…" Ruby said in fear for her recaptured friend. While she wasn't a fan of this universe native in the beginning, she had grown to care for her as a friend. Now that same friend had been captured once more by Zoom. Indicating that she was once again forced to be chained in a cell at Ascension's cliff.

"Oh God, Jesse!" Evelyn gasped in fear, her hands covering her mouth in terror. Their friend had just been kidnapped and they were useless, too terrified to even move a muscle. Even with all four of them possessing great powers, they couldn't even move a muscle when standing face to face with Zoom.

Ruby swallowed a heavy gulp. "What are we gonna do now?"

"You…" Mera got the others' attention with an empathized single-worded sentence. "You three aren't doing anything, you're going to Seth's Earth and leave everything here on this Earth to me and the others instead. We'll find Jesse and get her back again."

"You mean that, Mera?" Seth asked in shock.

"I do." Mera walked to him. "You've done enough for this city, Seth. it's time for us to show that we can defend our home without a local hero." She points a finger to the breach and Ruby and Evelyn. "But your world is waiting for you, your friends and family are waiting for you. And these girls… you promised them that you'd save them and that means getting them to your earth."

Seth was wide-eyed, appearing to have been brought into a trance-like state with all his thoughts and memories swinging around him, asking for his immediate and devoted attention.

"Will you be able to stop him, Mera?" Evelyn asked.

"Zoom's no joke, and Lindy's friends aren't exactly at their strongest right now." Ruby had to admit. Seth told them of what Blackfire did to Lindy's friends in her group.

"I know that, yeah. But it's a risk we must take, still." The Atlantean wholeheartedly stated.

The girls didn't have the will to go against her warrior-like spirit. Defying it would only be an insult to her will and determination.

"Alright." Ruby said before she and Evelyn walked towards the breach again, about to speak through it.

But before that, Evelyn notices that they were missing one man and turned around. She sees that Seth are still standing there without even turning to face the breach. "Seth, what's wrong?"

"Sometimes, I gotta curse my own damn mouth…" Seth let out in a low mutter. Facing the girls with a heavy expression, he says. "I… I'm not going back with you guys." Their eyes went wide as planets before exclaiming in unison.

"""What?!"""

"You heard me, guys." Seth said. He gestured to the breach with his head. "My entire world is right through this breach, my friends and family hoping and waiting for me to, I don't know, still be alive. My daughter and girlfriend both heartbroken… right through there and I want to see them again."

Evelyn walked closer to him with a worried expression. "Then why are you staying here?"

Ruby stepped closer to him as well. "Your entire world is right through there like you said. Why not just put an end to this chapter all together and start your life again on your turf?"

Placing a hand on a shoulder on both, Seth stated with a sincere expression. "My chapter on this Earth isn't done yet." He looked into their eyes and said. "Remember what I promised you two when I woke up in Zoom's cell?" They widened their eyes with immediate realization. The mutant saw it and stated. "I promised…" he looked to Evelyn. "You…" Then Ruby. "You…and Jesse that I would get you all out of here. I promised you all three that I would get out of this entire mess. I'm a man of my word, that means that, just like I couldn't turn my back on you two, I can't turn my back on Jesse."

Perking up his head up, his eyes pointing at the breach behind them. But to him, he was looking at the blurry imaginary forms of his friends and family. "I wouldn't be able to face my family again if I were to go back on my word and leave Jesse at Zoom's rule. Worst thing I could do is leave an innocent like her to this problem." He looked back to the girls. "You two go to that Earth and find my people, they'll help you out."

The girls looked unsure at their shared eye contact. The mutant then told them. "Plus, big chance that Zoom's gonna bring his posse here to this breach and he's gonna force the welcome committee through the breach and into that world.".

"Then we're staying here with you and Mera to fight!" Ruby shouted in defiantly.

"Sorry Rubs." Seth ruffled her hair. "But I need you guys to go to my world and stay there… till I find my way back there myself so find my family." He reached into his pocket and pulls out his two filthy bags. Taking Ruby's left hand, he placed the filthy bag in her palm before closing her fingers around the bag. "Take this bag to my brother-in-law, Matty."

He repeated the same thoughtful and caring process of gently closing her fingers with Evelyn's hand and the other filthy bag. "This one too. He'll know what to do with them." He returned to his full height and clenched his hand around his sword as he turned around.

"Seth… Please…" Evelyn said pleadingly.

"Go to my Earth and meet up with my family. This way you can escape some of this crazy and see some of home turf crazy, but its better lives for you now. Give Matt Stark those bags, he'll know what to do." He repeated as he stepped away from them. "I'm gonna stay here and take care of Zoom and his group."

The girls felt like crying right now. Because of Jesse, he had to stay behind and fight Zoom's group. But he let them go too, so they were out of harm's way and outside of Zoom's target circle… because he cares about them in a way that only he has shown them ever since he got them out of the menacing speedster's prison. He genuinely cares for them in a way that was so new and caring that it seemed foreign.

In the past… before… they knew that he was looking at them in a way that made him feel like he was looking at his own daughter, Frankie Fury. And ever since he got them out, he would treat them with a similar behavior, mostly because they're the same age as her…

…. But he cares about them more than anyone in this entire world… just like their… their…

Seth faces the Atlantean who asks seriously. "Sure you wanna jump down this rabbit hole again? It's not pretty."

"Mera." He gave her a mock smug look. "I made the hole. Might as well fill it with blood."

"Still not used to you." Mera admitted with a spin of her trident.

Without facing the girls, he told them. "Girls get your asses in gear! We'll st-"

His words met a wall as he heard the unexpected. The word he never thought he'd hear in this universe from anyone… just came from two unexpected sources.

""Dad!""

That very word had the mutant snapping back to the girls with a heart of both happiness and relief. His mouth and eyes gaping at the sight of the two girls who called out to him the way he did. "What did you two just say?" He asked like he had to hear it again… in fear of his ears playing tricks on him.

"Dad…" Ruby assured him with a warm smile gracing her lips. "Please… Please come back."

Evelyn then said with a warm smile herself. "Dad… come back… we wanna have the whole family there."

Embedding his sword into the ground for a moment, he walked to them with long strides. When within arm reach, he wrapped his arms around them both and pulled them close into a bearhug. They reciprocated with their own arms wrapping around his form.

Mera smiled at the sight and brushed a tear away from her left running eye. It was a beautiful moment to see.

Unwrapping his arms from them, he told them. "Are you two sure about this?" He looked to Ruby. "Ruby, you sure about this?"

"Yeah, I am." The powered assassin assured him with a warm smile.

"Me too." Evelyn said with a happy smile.

The mutant rubbed their cheeks gently and said. "Guess the family just got bigger and crazier now. Talk with your sister Frankie, with your aunt Liv and your uncle Matt… even your new and loving and compassionate mother, Caitlin Snow. You're gonna love your new family really quick and they're gonna love you just as much. They might be shocked when you appear out of the blue, but they won't even turn their backs on you. They're not the kind of people who'd something like that. I've been on missions with them before, they're a force to be reckoned with." He widened his eyes with realization. "Find your Uncle Matt Stark and tell him this: Latveria."

"What?" Ruby asked her father in confusion as he stepped backwards.

"Why?" Evelyn followed up.

"So he'll believe you, he's healthily skeptic. Tell them everything, all of it to them all." Seth said like it was a normal thing for him. Which is true as he is a SHIELD agent. "And trust me, I will get back to you guys. In the meantime… don't kill your sister or piss off your new mother."

"That's… That's gonna take some getting used to." Evelyn chuckled. "Love you, Dad. Come back soon." She finished off quickly with teary eyes before jumping into the breach. As the last part of her body disappeared into it, a bluish light emitted from the breach.

"Yeah. It will. Never had a Dad before." Ruby said.

"Never had sisters either, but you've handled it well with Evie. Get along with Frankie, Rubs. She's your sister, too." Seth laughed.

Ruby nodded her agreement with wet eyes. "I will, Dad. Love you. Good luck!" She jumped into the breach herself, the dimensional gateway lighting up with a blue light again.

"Ruby and Evelyn." Mera looked confused at his sudden words, he just said their names for some reason. Seth smirked. "Ruby Fury and Evelyn Fury? Huh?" He looks to the Atlantean. "Sounds good, don't they?" His head was cocked when seeing the smirk on Mera's face. "What?"

"I mean, a few of us expected this to happen a while back. And finally seeing it, is nice." Mera teased.

"Oh shut up." Seth groaned before getting a deadpan expression. With the symbiote wrapping around his hand, he stretched it to his sword and pulled it into his hand. "Damn it."

"What's wrong?" Mera asked in worry.

"We can't handle Zoom's posse every day, and sooner or later he or his worse metas are gonna find a way past us and into the breach, into my world." Seth explained.

"Then your city's screwed." Mera said in fear.

"Yeah." Seth's right hand clenched around his sword handle. Neither he nor Mera noticed the large crystal sword beginning to shine a faint light. "I won't let my friends, my family, anyone…" He sneered with an intense rage. "I won't let any of Zoom's metas through that breach and into my world."

Lightning emitted from within the sword, as though it was concentrating violently on that very point. In response to the lightning. The black flames inside of Seth's right arm blazed and ran down his forearm towards his fingers.

Mera felt a dark heat and shifted his gaze to the mutant's arm. "Seth, your right arm!"

"What the heck?!" The elemental let out in a shocked voice at the sight of his black flames erupting without him willing it. With a clench of his body and his mind set on it, he tried to get the flames to retract again. "The fuck?!" He couldn't get the flames to respond to his commands, almost like the flames are living and acting out of their own volition like an impulsive animal.

"What the hell's going with the flames?" Venom questioned in confusion at the flame's behavior. "It's not listening to your words!"

They both watches as the abyssal flames run down the length of his fingers and touches the sword handle. Seth tried to let go of the crystal sword but it was like his hand was chained around the handle, forcing him to continue watching as the black flames ran up and past the sword guard, the flames connecting with the crystal blade. The moment they did so, the flames spread like a fire on grass and enveloped the entire blade in an instant.

"Fuck…" He let out in worry. The flame's strength and heat are still unpredictable and strong enough to do immense damage. If let out of control, it could very will hurt both him and Mera.

Shock began to tear through the mutant's core as he felt his right arm lift itself, like the flames it was out of his control, and then point to the breach. Amidst the black flames around the blade, lightning began to spark around the flames too.

"Lightning too?!" Mera asked in fear of what might happen now.

"It's not me, Mera!" Seth told her. He saw that the flames on his sword intensified, blazing violently. "Mera, stay back!"

He was right to warn. The blazing and eruptive flames from the sword releases themselves from the sword and shoots into a column of black flames. Both Seth and Mera watches as the flames connects with the swirling mass. The spiraling motion of the breach made the flames pass into its inner ring. They watch as the breach turns completely black because of the addition of the bursting black flames.

Then… much to their surprise… and confusion… the breach began to shrink… No… it was being torn into shreds and burning. It continued like that for a while… till…

… till the breach itself was no longer there… vanished out of thin air…

"What just happened?" Seth asked out loud. Now able to move his right arm again and the black flames had dissipated.

"Did the breach… did it vanish?" Mera wondered and stepped closer to where the breach was. Stretching out her hand, she tried to see if something was still there with her trident. "Nothing's there; the breach is gone." She swung her head to the mutant who looked at his sword. "I didn't know you could destroy breaches with your black flames."

"I know as much about the black flames as you do, Mera." Seth stated in defense. "But that wasn't me." Mera looked shocked and he elaborated. "It was like my sword was controlled by something else and just did as it pleased."

"And the lightning wasn't yours either?" Mera asked.

"No, it came from the sword itself." Seth revealed and then thought. "Blackfire said he could do something similar."

"He said he could project flames via his sword itself." The symbiote recalled. "Was it something like this?"

"That doesn't explain the lightning that came from the sword itself. Nothing about Blackfire screamed lightning nor did anyone say anything about him using lightning." Seth replied before looking to the sword again. "Guess there's more to this thing than I thought. A whole lot more."

"Yeah." Mera walked to his side. "Mystery for another day, meaning you hopefully don't regret doing this."

"Regret letting my two new daughters meet their new mother and their new sister while I keep Zoom's gang from appearing on their truth? Hell no." Seth smirked. "I won't ever regret that."

WHOOSH

"Speak of the ugly bitch himself." Seth muttered when feeling the gust of wind that came to connect with the back of his head. Turning around he and Mera finds Zoom and his entire group standing there.

Zoom looked around to find the breach but to his confusion, didn't find any. "Where is the breach, Venom?"

Seth remained unfazed by the snarl and smirked. "You know, I gotta thank you Zoom." The speedster and his henchmen looked confused. "If you hadn't capture me somehow all those months ago, I wouldn't have been able to meet Jesse and… and my two new daughters. Guess everything does happen for a reason."

"Where is the breach, Venom?!" Zoom roared the question this time, lightning crackling over him like magma boiling within an active volcano.

"It's gone. I destroyed it." Seth smirked.

"You can… Destroy breaches?" Killer Frost asked in shock of his words.

Igniting black flames on his right arm, he said. "Guess there's some good coming from this flame at long last." He smirked evilly at Zoom. "And Zoom you won't be able to kill me."

"Why is that?" Zoom wondered.

"Because you gave me two more very, very good reasons for getting back home and I won't die because of you." His form enlarged when the symbiote took over. "We won't die!" Roaring at them he charged with Mera.

Roaring himself, Zoom took charge himself and dashed towards the mutant with his claws stretched to the sides. Lightning over his every inch and swinging his claws for the mutant's head.

But it wasn't gonna work… his head would never be taken. Not by Zoom.

His friends and family are still waiting for him to come back home.

X

(Few Minutes ago… Earth-1)

"ARGH!" Evelyn yelped when coming out of the breach. Her body landed on the ground with a grunt coming out of her mouth. "Ow." She let out in pain as she got up from the ground, raising herself to her full height. The young metahuman looked around and found herself in an alleyway.

After a single sniff of the air, she frowned in disgust and her hands instantly covered her mouth and nose, blocking the disgusting smell of overflowing trash from the trashcans. "Christ, first thing I smell on this Earth is a pile of trash. Could get this get any better-ARGH"

"WOW!" Ruby let in shock as she came out of the breach, her body slamming into Evelyn's body, interrupting her sentence. Using the momentum to her advantage, she begins to spin and lands on her feet. Hearing a thudding sound behind her, she finds her sister on the ground. "Sorry, Evelyn."

"Ow." Evelyn groaned again. "Last time, I travel through a breach."

Ruby got up to her full height and walked to the metahuman. Holding out a hand for her, she says. "Here, get up."

Evelyn smiles her gratitude to her sister and accepts the hand, letting herself be pulled up. "Thanks, Rubs." The two of them walked to the end of the alleyway, looking out to the city. "So this is… Seth's Earth."

"One of them anyway." Ruby corrected while admiring the city. "This Central City doesn't have a train above their heads."

"Nah, must not have that kind of advanced technology." Evelyn said, Ruby didn't know if she was insulting the city's current capabilities or overestimating her home universe's Central City. But it was obliviously hurtful to say.

Their ears perked up at the sound of static, crackling lightning, and their nostrils flared at the smell of smoke, something burning. They twirled around and saw the breach before them. But strangely enough, its blue form began to fade away and hide behind the spreading of black flames and lightning that washed over the swirling energy mass. Like a virus coming from the core of the being itself, it disintegrates the breach.

Leaving nothing behind.

"What just happened?" Evelyn asked.

"…Think it was Dad?" Ruby asked, getting playful eyes from the metahuman. "Yeah, it's gonna take some getting used to."

"Yeah…" Evelyn turns around to face the city again. "Let's go, meet the family."

The two of them had to meet their new family now.

To be continued…

And that's the second and final part of the two-part story of Seth's Earth-2 adventures with Blackfire.

Seth was able to end the terrors that Blackfire brought with him as he was taken out. But it wasn't without his challenges, the elemental lost their first encounter with immense damage done to his right arm. Thankfully, the mutant having to break through his limits and risk killing himself by taking in a dark matter-infused element.

If Barry hadn't been able to encourage the mutant to take on that risky strategy, then it would have been an impossible task to accomplish. But even though Seth have taken in Blackfire's element, it does seem to have its backlashes seeing as it can't be combined with other elements.

And by taking in the flames, he was able to accept the reality of this Earth. The reality that the people with the faces of his friends, family, loved ones… aren't the ones he knows and loves. Accepting that once and for all, he finally decides that the next time they meet… he's gonna end them all.

Thanks to Lindy, she was able to find a breach to Earth-1, to Seth's world. Able to return home and bring the girls with him for safekeeping and out of Zoom's territory, Seth set his sights on that breach.

But fate wasn't on their side. Zoom recaptured Jesse from their group and ran away with her. Seth was in rage, and though Mera offered to help her in his stead, he wouldn't do that. He couldn't go back on his word, his promise to the three girls.

So instead, he had to let Ruby and Evelyn go to Earth-1 while he remains on Earth-2 to rescue Jesse. But not before he got the surprise of his life when both of them called him… "Dad."

His family just a whole lot crazier.

And something took over Seth's new element and his sword, both working in unison to project his black flames and destroy the breach that would lead to his world.

More mysteries await the elemental as his adventures on Earth-2 continues.

Stay tuned and until next time peeps!