Flashpoint 2: Advent Solaris

by Empire-of-the-East

DCAMU. Post-Apokolis War: Contains inevitable spoilers. The war against Darkseid ended horribly, absolutely horribly. So horrible in fact, that a new timeline had to be created. Barry did not want to open his eyes at first, fearing that this new timeline would end just like the rest. He had to open them eventually though, and not long after that did he fall down the rabbit hole.

9. The Key

Shadow had made his way to return to the Kalinske about as soon as he had heard of Rouge's injury, let alone the rest of what happened at Angel Island. He had the fury and determination of a tank storming it's way through the streets of a war torn city; there was no stopping him whatsoever. With Barry filling him in on the rest of what had happened along the way, his rush towards the ship only grew with both fury and speed.

I should have been there

Shadow thought, no he knew that if he had been there the battle would not have been so dire. Chaos would perhaps not have had to awaken to intervene, Mighty would not have fallen, and Rouge would not be injured.

I should have known better

I should have protected them

Even though in his mind he knew it best to not blame himself, there was something in his heart that prevented him from doing so. That also swore that he would never let this happen again.

His attitude didn't change the slightest when he was again onboard the ship, either. He all but shoved other personnel aside as he stormed his way towards the medical bay with as headstrong a face as had ever been seen on him before. There was no soldier, doctor or nurse who possibly could have stood in Shadow's way, not even Barry or Wally could have feasibly stopped him; his self-given mission was far too much important.

All the latter two could do was follow after him. For Barry it wasn't much different from whenever Clark or Bruce were angry at anything.

Reaching the room where Rouge was being kept at, Shadow was at the very least relieved to see that she had very few bandages on her - only a few on her torso, covering the area at which she had been stabbed. There was no sign of Omega in the room, though as Shadow walked in and approached Rouge the two human speedsters were right behind him as he spoke concernedly:

"Rouge, are you alright?"

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, sitting up in her hospital bed as Shadow rushed into the room and to her side, with Rouge hardly having time to say anything else as Shadow trailed on:

"What happened? How bad is it?"

"Shadow" Rouge stopped him from going on, "I'm fine, it was just a stab wound, already had my stitches put in. Though, there was at least one casualty."

"I know" Shadow nodded, "I was filled in on the way here."

"Then I guess I don't have to bore you with all of the details" Rouge remarked back before returning herself back to what Shadow was serious about, "But seriously it's okay Shadow, I should make a speedy recovery, the doc says I only need a bit of time to rest and let the stitches set in."

Shadow nodded yet again, though found himself incapable of saying anything more. There was plenty in his mind that he wanted to say, though instead he remained staring blankly at the room around him while only the ambient sound of the ventilation filled it. Barry and Wally just stood idly by, perhaps also kept silent by how awkward this had become or perhaps wanting to give Shadow and Rouge the space to discuss things without interruption. Shadow wanted to mention something about what he had discovered, though there was still one more question that he quickly - nigh immediately - felt more important:

"Where's Omega?" he asked, to which Rouge was quick to answer:

"He's in a separate room, getting repairs and recharged. He stood his ground but was still pretty banged up."

"I, see."

"Shadow" Rouge said as she cupped one of the ultimate lifeform's hands, giving him an assured smile, "It's alright, we're gonna make full recoveries."

"You wouldn't have to if I had been there."

"Shadow, it's not your fault, we had no way of anticipating an ambush."

Yet again there was silence in the room as after but a single 'hmph', Shadow found that he had nothing to say. Rouge herself found much the same, though it was at the very least only a brief period before that feeling passed over her and she had but one more thing to ask of Shadow:

"So what about you? Did you find anything interesting on your little trip?"

Shadow's eyes widened when he heard those words; he didn't know to respond to them. He checked in the cuffs of one of his gloves and indeed he found that the three photographs he had taken from the past were still in his possession. However, he didn't want to give them to Rouge at first. Or at least he wasn't sure if he should, not wanting her to risk getting enjoyed like this again.

However, looking at the look in her eyes was ultimately enough to get Shadow to concede. Bowing his head, he handed the pictures over to her while explaining them:

"I found these pictures in an underwater soleanna lab. I think they may have some connection to Mephiles, or at least whatever it is he's after."

As Shadow handed the photos over to Rouge and she held them in her hands, Barry and Wally went over to her side as well in order to get a look at them as well. All three of them were silent, with the first image looked at being the one of the phoenix-like bird of fire flying above a set of what appeared to be 52 planets - all of them set on fire while a field of horrifically well detailed echidna skulls surrounded the planets like stars in the night sky.

It was enough to make Rouge a fair bit alarmed, as she said:

"What is this trying to say?"

"Looks like a bird" Wally commented, "A phoenix, literally lighting entire planets on fire."

"Well that's being literal" Rouge answered, "Must be some end of the world prophecy. This is clearly ancient echidna art, they have a knack for doing these sorts of things, but this one seems even more grim than their other predictions…"

With her voice trailing, Rouge went to the second image of the three. The one in which two darkly painted humanoid figures - one being bald while the other sporting four eyes, long hair and horns - were clashing before what appeared to be a large circular object. Rouge was more concerned rather than alarmed, though Barry was far more feeling the latter as his eyes witnessed this.

Rouge was the one who spoke first, however:

"What? What is this trying to say? Two of their gods fighting?"

"No" Barry, staring at the image from over Rouge's shoulder, said in a hushed tone, "They're showing how the last timeline...ended."

"What?"

"Unc" Wally said as all three of the others looked at Barry, "What are you talking about?"

"Cyborg" Barry explained, "Vic, to defeat Darkseid and Trigon, he opened a boom tube somewhere. I think it was a black hole or something but I didn't exactly get a chance to ask him, but it sucked both of them and all of Apokolips in. That literally appears to be what this...art...is depicting….and, I have no explanation for that. At all…"

Yet again there was a moment of silence in the room.

At least until Wally remarked:

"Well...I certainly missed a lot…"

"Be happy that you did, kid" was Barry's only response. Remembering all of this was horrible enough for him, imagining what fate could have befallen Wally had he been there was not something he felt like thinking about more than he already had.

"Anyway" Shadow cleared his throat in order to divert attention back to the photographs, "There's one last image that I'm particularly concerned with."

"Oh?" Rouge replied, quickly checking the image out. Of course, it was the photograph of echidna hieroglyphics. It wasn't as foreboding as the murals, though given it's being paired with them it was no doubt potentially related. Nevertheless, they still were just words - as Rouge said: "Well, this one is just some echidna hieroglyphics."

"I know" Shadow nodded, "I was wondering if you would be able to translate them for me, since I have a feeling that what they say could have some insight into Mephiles."

"Hm, well" Rouge nodded as she looked at the photograph again, "Luckily for you I do happen to have experience in deciphering these things. Let's see what we got here."

There was a pause from Shadow, Barry and Wally as they let Rouge translate the words in the photograph. It was a bit of an awkward silence, goosebump inducing for that matter, though it was necessary if they wanted to get anything done. It also proved to not last very long at all either way, as before they it had even sunk in they heard Rouge's voice begin reading the words in the image aloud for all of them to know:

"Abandon all hope should the union of three lord over the seven servers; This world and all others shall be scorched by their wrath; Tyranny and despair shall prevail for all eternity."

After reading such an ominous text, Rouge's eyes widened and her ears even perked up as she looked at an equally stunned Shadow - neither of them having any remote idea of what to say. Barry and Wally were much the same, looking at each other and at their companions as if hoping the other would have an explanation for what they had just heard.

However, truth be told that none of the four had any answer for this.

They had ideas, but before any of them could open their mouths to even offer a single question the door to the room slid itself open and their attention was directed to a figure walking in. A figure who was none other than Gretchen Goode.

Walking herself into the room, Gretchen Goode made herself both known as well as made it seem as though she was utterly unaware of what the four had been talking about prior to her entry:

"I see you made it back to the ship safely, Shadow! Of course, that's no surprise to me."

"Hmph"; Shadow honestly didn't have anything to say to her.

Putting aside his lackluster response, Gretchen maintained a calm smile to her face as she continued on with that she had entered the room to say:

"Well, I do happen to have news that may be of interest to all of you."

"What's goin' down?" Wally asked, raising a brow at this being dropped onto them. Gretchen's smile remained as she elaborated:

"Well, I recently received intel that a group of violent individuals - not too unlike the ones you described attacking you at angel island, are currently raiding a dig site in the Soleanna Desert; while the archaeologists are still there, I may add."

Shadow, Barry and Wally wasted little time in beginning to take their leave from the room. They knew they didn't precisely have time to waste if such a thing was going down. However, they were also joined by Rouge, who actually got herself out of the hospital bed - wincing a bit as she did so, having to hold her side momentarily as it was the first time she got onto her feet after what had happened prior. Turning to look at her, Shadow was quick to tell her:

"No" shaking his head, "You should stay here and recover."

"Shadow" Rouge sternly remarked as she looked right up at his face, "I'm not a child, and you're not my father."

"But-"

"I'm fine" the bat said as she walked herself towards Shadow, "I just need to get myself out of this gown and into a proper suit, and I'll be as good as I was before it even happened!"

"Oh, Rouge" Gretchen Goode suddenly chimed in, seemingly concerned about Rouge's wellbeing herself, "I don't know, your stitches may not have set in yet. Perhaps it is in your best interest that you stay here - at least for a little while longer!"

"With all due respect ma'am" Rouge responded, "I'm going."

Gretchen seemed unsure of how to respond, instead she said nothing and merely turned her view to Shadow as if curious to see if he had anything more to say on this subject. However, after looking over at Rouge and then back at Goode, Shadow only gave the military leader a silent nod to show approval of Rouge's decision rather than anything else.

Seeing the writing on the wall, so to speak, Gretchen then stepped aside as if to allow Shadow, Rouge, Barry and Wally to walk their way out of the room - which of course the four did.

Without saying a single word more.

Before the group knew it, they were already traversing the vast desert that took up the near entirety of the island's eastern half. A vast expanse of bronze sand illuminated by the scorching heat of the sun's rays spread out before their eyes while they traversed the wide open 'fields' of rolling sand dunes which decorated the landscape as though they were waves of the ocean only frozen in time, with scant appearances of rocks and long since submerged ruins of a time long gone by.

Entire pathways of stone, many parts of them eroded away by the grains of sands carried forth by the wind, silently told the tale of what had once been a prosperous civilization. Statues of various ancient figures also occasionally peeked from the confining dunes, though they too were not without their age and damage.

Yet still, the four of them road on.

The hovercrafts they were given glistened brightly whenever the sun shined down onto them, their light reflecting off of their surface in a manner that could very well blind anything unfortunate enough to gaze directly at it. Primarily grey with black and red as secondary colors, the crafts each had but a single seat and a large circular, disc-like shape to the front where their engines made an almost soothing humming sound as they were used to traverse the landscape while hardly leaving a single track.

Shadow, Rouge, Barry and Wally all rode on these side by side with one another, googles over their eyes to protect from any potential sand. It was certainly hot, though there was no time for a water break.

As to be expected, Rouge was indeed dressed in a suit rather than that most unflattering hospital gown - in fact it looked as though she had never been injured at all, as she was back in an outfit nearly identical to the one she had on before and seemed perfectly fine operating her own vehicle.

Even so, Shadow was not one to take chances; especially if the same perpetrators were potentially involved in their current objective.

Speaking of which:

"So" Barry said to the others via a communication device he and the others had attached to their ears, "How much further until our destination?"

"I'm assuming we just wait until we start seeing explosions and debris flying everywhere?" Wally chimed in, "I mean, that's usually how this works, in case you forgot."

"Right, well I guess I walked into that one."

"Yup."

Though he did sigh, Shadow still clarified things for the two of them:

"According to commander Goode, they are attacking one of the dig sites, so it shouldn't be too far. However, it's strange how there aren't any signs of a struggle."

"Yeah, exactly what I'm saying!" Wally replied, "Either we're off course, or somethin's up!"

"That or both, kid" Barry added.

"Hey!" the group were distracted by the sound of Rouge's voice loudly exclaiming, "What are those?"

"Huh?"

"What's what, Rouge?" Shadow asked, looking in Rouge's direction as all of them stopped their vehicles just as she herself did, at which point they noticed Rouge looking and pointing to two large pillars that had suddenly appeared from nothing - as if they had emerged from the sand without warning.

They were tall, sandstone constructed columns. They were withered with age with more than enough cracks to spare, though atop of them rested stunningly detailed eagles while across their cylinder trunks were rows of painted arrows pointing in the same direction as one another: something which did not go unnoticed from the group.

"I think they're forming some kind of path for us." Rouge remarked, noting how their arrows looked, "Maybe we should follow?"

"Or, or or or" Barry was quick to suppose, "They're leading us into a trap. I've watched more than enough movies to know that is always an option in these situations."

"We don't have the time to debate" Shadow was quick to interrupt, "Let's just keep moving." and with that he turned on the engines to his hovercraft and drove according to the arrows on the pillars, with the other three silently following after him in quick succession. As he had just said, there wasn't enough time for them to debate about it any further - they had to keep moving.

Ultimately, Rouge's theory seemed to be correct. With each pair of pillars that they traveled through, another pair sprung up not very far ahead, at times slightly off in positioning as if to encourage the group to make turns just like that of the winding, slithering sands themselves.

Of course, Rouge couldn't help but remark.

"Told you so~"

Barry however just grumbled in a defeated response, both not having anything to say and also feeling embarrassed about it.

The group followed these mysterious pillars as they emerged, following them down a winding path through and even over the various dunes of sand that surrounded them. At first it did not seem like they were heading towards anything peculiar at all, as at first all they came across were hills of scorching hot sand and more columns rising from it.

However, that was not the case forever.

Eventually they did stumble across what appeared to be the archaeological dig site, though what it looked like by the time they had arrived was not precisely what they were hoping for.

The site was the ruins of what appeared to be a plaza. There was an obelisk with various ancient writing across itself, in the center of what appeared to be a circular amphitheatre like set of sandstone seats heading downwards into the ground from where the group had parked their hovercrafts. There were signs of archaeology in the area in the way of tents and modern day technology scattered about, though it was the way in which they were strewn about that concerned the group as they began walking around the area.

What made things worse is that there were not only blackened residue of explosions both in the sand, but also one some of the stone seating. Let alone the fact that there were puddles and even trails of fresh blood, yet no signs of any corpses.

It was the latter that concerned Barry in particular. Already he could picture the Paradooms springing from behind some of the tattered, torn tents and lunging themselves at the group right then they had their guards down.

He could feel the hair on the back of his neck rising and goosebumps tingling throughout his entire body, as the entire time they walked down towards the obelisk he was ready for an ambush. As ready as he was though, he didn't know if he could handle it. The last thing he wanted was for Wally to be subjected to those abominations, to such a fate. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had to watch such a thing unfold.

Even the sound of Wally's voice calling out made him jump from being so on edge:

"Yo, archaeologists?! Are you here?! Are you alive?! It's alright! We're the good guys!"

"W-Wally!" Barry exclaimed, "Not so loud!"

"Uh, unc, we're here to rescue people?"

"I-I know, b-but…"

"Barry does have a point" Shadow said as he and Rouge were right at where the obelisk was, Rouge herself checking it out and using her gloved hand to get some of the dust off as he continued on, "We've arrived late, the attackers could still be within earshot."

Then Rouge's investigative voice distracted him, as well as the others:

"You appear, glorious in the sky's horizon, great bird of fire, beginner of life! Arisen over the eastern horizon, you filled the land with your beauties. Your fiery wings decree whom shall inherit your land, and whom shall perish. All of Soleanna obeys only you, your great, radiant imminence. Elevated far above all others, may your reign be perpetual light."

"What are you reading, Rouge?" Wally asked, rushing his way over to her in order to look at the obelisk she was reading - she even said as such:

"Just what's written on in this obelisk" she explained, "It appears to be-"

"Ancient Soleannan"

That voice did not come from either of the four, and upon hearing it all of them curiously turned their heads in its direction. It was a feminine voice, though not one that any of them recognized. However, they had no reason to be alarmed as it was a caucasian woman - middle aged, with shoulder length brown hair that had bangs across her forehead; her brown eyes having glasses atop of them and her body dressed in khaki pants with a white collared shirt tucked into it. She had plenty of dust and scrapes on her though overall seemed fine as she cautiously approached them, continuing on with her words:

"The text, it's an ancient Soleannan hymn to their sun god, Solaris."

"Solaris…" Shadow muttered to himself beneath his breath, before looking at this woman and asking: "Who are you?"

"Can I know who you are all, first?" she responded, "I don't know if you haven't noticed but, I'm pretty much alone out here...I just need to know if you're trustworthy."

"Don't worry" Shadow nodded, "We're with G.U.N."

"Oh thank god" the woman was quite relieved to here that, a smile actually appearing across her face as she now more confidently approached them, "It was about time you showed up, ever since that festival this entire country's gone to Hell in a hand basket."

"Oh, we know" Rouge replied, "But besides that, are you alright? Looks like we missed out on something big."

"I'm fine" the woman explained, though she bowed her head as she explained, "But the rest of my colleagues aren't so lucky. We were excavating the ruins here when out of nowhere...these, women attacked us. These five, seemingly alien women, with the kind of powers they seemed to possess, either that or they had chaos emeralds on them. They just began slaughtering us, left and right. I was lucky to find a place in some of the rock formations to hide, though I'm sad to say that nobody else seems to have been that lucky…"

"It's alright" Barry said, placing a hand onto the woman's back to comfort her, "You were an unarmed civilian, there's not much you could have done."

"I….I know…"

"Anyway, we can't dwell on that right now" Shadow interjected sternly, "We need to escort you back to the city, though it would be beneficial to know what you were looking into precisely - for insight as to why the group may have attacked you."

"I really can't tell you why they attacked us" the archaeologist explained, "We were really just minding our own business when they assaulted the site like maniacs; though if it was for something we were investigating, we did just uncover this…"

As her voice trailed off, she pulled out from the backpack she had strapped to her person an item which left Shadow and Rouge both astonished - it was what appeared to be a perfect replica of the Scepter of Darkness. It had the same glass crystal body encased in finely crafted, ornate rock; complete with the carved out falcon wings on either side. Of course it was empty and devoid of any actual darkness, though that was a given. With widened eyes, Rouge couldn't help but remark:

"How did you get this?"

"I found it buried in the sand" the archaeologist explained, "Not long after I did, those insane women showed up and attacked us."

"What…" Shadow asked as he too remained stunned by this turn of events, "What was your name, again?"

"Oh, It's Helena Sandsmark, I-"

Before any further word could be said, they were interrupted by what sounded and felt like something flying right past them. The sound of the wind whipping past them resulted in their eyes directing right onto what appeared to be a black arrow having suddenly found itself lodged in the sand.

Curious as this was though, the fact of the matter was that this arrow was beeping.

Realizing what this was, Shadow shouted accordingly:

"MOVE!"

And like that, the group made sure to evade the impending explosion just as it was set off. Shadow ducked and carried Rouge out of the way, while Barry took Helena and dashed her to a save area behind a rock formation tall enough to hide her. Wally was quick enough to swiftly escape the explosion's blast radius.

However, there was the object of the hour to worry about: the scepter, which had been dropped from Helena's arms in the commotion though miraculously seemed unharmed from the explosion's blast.

"The scepter!" Rouge called out, noting it's position so far out in the open.

"Don't worry! I'm on it!" Wally replied, rushing at his fast speed towards the scepter - managing to just barely snag it as a hail of multiple explosive arrows rained down upon him, one after another each of them exploding in a circular pattern as he raced around the sandstone seats and from there up to the top of the obelisk - managing to spot the source of the arrows from afar just before one last explosion forced the structure itself to crumble to the ground.

Landing on his feet, Wally immediately went to his communicator to contact them as he continued to outrun hails of arrows.

"Snipers!" he said, "Two of them, off in the distance!"

"Copy that" Shadow responded, nodding, "I'll take-"

Before they could even share any more dialogue, suddenly the group were grabbed by what appeared to be a literal blob of darkness emerging from beneath them; with the sound of a bird's cry echoing in the distance Shadow, Rouge and Barry found themselves constricted by this snake-like blob and lifted into the air before being slammed down onto the sand beneath their feet with loud, crashing thuds accompanying them.

The hail of arrows stopped temporarily as Wally looked to see what was going on - however his moment of decreased speed was enough for one more arrow to be fired. This one had contained with it a rope that snared Wally successfully, wrapping around him and making him drop onto the desert ground below.

Not even Helena was safe, as her hands were forced behind her back and she let out a cry of sudden, sharp pain as a figure emerged from behind her and began dragging her out into the distance besides the others.

As Shadow, Rouge and Barry recovered they were reunited with familiar faces. Familiar, colorless faces. Nega Raven, Nega Starfire, Nega Wondergirl and Nega Wonder Woman had arrived to greet them yet again with their grayscale, red-eyed presence - all of them descending from above and getting in battle ready positions surrounding the trio of heroes. Nega Damian had also arrived and was the figure holding Helena Sandsmark hostage, holding a tight grip on her arm.

However, they still were not the only members of the villainous group: as with a thud Wally was plopped roughly down right next to the main trio, and it was by not only Nega Speedy but another figure as well: a new figure. He was greyscale and red-eyed like the others, though based on his appearance he was a man not far removed from Barry's age - with light skin and a goatee upon his chin. His costume went well with Speedy's, having an archer theme to it; though this larger and even more muscular man sported a hood with his in addition to his arrow quiver.

Looking at him made Barry wince his eyes. He could swear that something was incredibly familiar about him, but he had no recollection of him at all.

Even still, yet another figure drew this response: a fifth and final feminine figure emerged from behind the others. Though she yet again was technically grayscale and sported glowing eyes of red it could still be told from her general appearance that she was a rather slender woman about Diana's age, though she sported far lighter hair. Her suit was black in color, and was of a bustier-leotard combination with the leggings being more of a gray and tapering down to black combat boots - her look finished with a short leather jacket that barely reached beyond her chest, fingerless gloves, and a choker on her neck

She too was a figure that Barry swore in his mind that he recognized - in fact it gave him a headache trying to recall any memory about her at all, but alas he was unable to.

There was not enough time to do so anyway, as before long Shadow - gritting his teeth, commented:

"I'm going to assume this is the group that attacked you earlier?"

"No, not us" Rouge answered, "Do you know these people?"

"As a matter of fact, I do" - and with that remark Shadow wasted no time springing himself into action. Nega Raven attempted to act, trying to yet again use her magical abilities, this time generating several daggers that she attempted to plunge directly at Shadow as he jumped into the air - only for him to spin into his ball form, shattering them all he barrelled at her far too fast for her make any meaningful attempt to stop it. Slamming directly into her head, he managed to swiftly knock her to the ground - though this immediately drew the attention of the others.

Nega Diana held out a hand to stop the mysterious new nega from attacking Shadow herself, as if to claim him as her fight before they yet again charged at each other and clashed fists. A shockwave emitted from the impact. The blows they traded afterwards was nothing short of impressive either, such as Shadow managing to kick Diana's sword away with his feet or Diana successfully blocking a direct punch from Shadow - forcing Shadow off to the side. She managed to land a hit to him and knock him completely to the ground via elbowing his back, though he swept her to the ground as well with a sweeping kick.

Diana soon had to roll as Shadow fired a chaos spear at her head, with Diana's retaliation being to toss her shield right at proved to be her undoing however, as after successfully swaying to evade it, Shadow grabbed it and threw it right back towards her.

Any real Diana would have easily been able to deal with the blow, though for Nega Diana the speed and sheer strength which Shadow exerted to toss it left her defenseless enough that the shield itself managed to slit her throat wide open. At first, everyone - Barry and Wally especially so - as they saw the blood spatter and heard the gurgling from Nega Diana's face, however they ultimately couldn't be too shocked as the blood was not red but instead a rather bright shade of green.

Then came the reveal of Nega Diana's true form.

Churning and shifting, her body shifted into that of what can best be described as a human sized insect. A body overall akin to that of a hornet, though with a posture more akin to that of a mantis as while it's thorax remained horizontal, it's abdomen tilted more vertically. It's eyes were monocolored, a piercing green while it's thorax and abdomen were painted a striped mix of blood red and jet black, with sharp spikes across the center of it's back. Supporting itself were two pairs of sturdy yet also scrawny legs upon its thorax, while it's two arms had long dagger like appendages just above it's two-clawed hands.

It should also be stated that indeed, this creature was not injured by the neck attack - in fact the shield itself completely vanished as it's true appearance was exposed. It still had a cut across its neck, though as it reared up with it's antennae flaring and hissed angrily at the absolutely stunned Shadow it was evident it was in no such mortal injury.

Barry, Rouge, Helena and Wally were absolutely stunned by this as well - their mouths agape and eyes widened as much as they possibly could. All Barry could even manage to say was:

"Well, that certainly isn't Diana…."

There wasn't any time to dwell on this revelation yet though - as the insectoid beast immediately pounced itself onto Shadow. Guided solely by instinct and reflexes Shadow had to accept being forced onto his back on the ground though still managed to firmly grasp the creature's claws as they threatened to stab into its head while it stood atop him with its mandibles drooling and gnawing while emitting even more monstrous sounds.

Rouge, Barry and Wally attempted to go to Shadow's aid - though they were stopped by the others. Nega Starfire fired her energy blasts directly at Rouge, forcing Rouge to take to the sky with her in hot pursuit. As they clashed with each other in the sky, Barry attempted to make a run at Shadow and the beast he was pinned by though was stopped from doing so by Nega Wonder Girl who managed to lasso him. Tightening her grip, the lasso still glowed as Barry struggled to break free from it.

Wally meanwhile managed to vibrate out of his own confinement, though the moment he managed to do so he was attacked by Nega Raven who yet again tried to grab at him with her psionic powers - only by using his speed was he able to avoid the grab of the hand she had conjured up. However both she and the two archers - Nega Speedy and the man accompanying him, kept their eyes on the blur that he had become. Yet another barrage of arrows was fired into the sky, raining down onto the sand to deliver explosions across the landscape.

Yet Wally managed to evade each and every single one.

At his damn near top speed he charged directly at the adult archer once the barrage was complete, narrowly avoiding a blast of Raven's magic which instead hit Nega Speedy and caused him to explode to pieces instead while Wally's elbow collided harshly with the gut of the adult archer - sending him to the ground complete with a shockwave from his impact with the sandstone ruins beneath him.

While Nega Speedy's remains morphed into chunks of burnt insectoid matter, the older archer however turned to color. His skin turned caucasian, his hair and goatee blonde, and his suit as well as arrows a clear green color. He even began speaking, letting out audible groans as he held his head with one hand. The sight shocked Wally, though it wasn't dissimilar at all to what happened when his uncle had freed him. Realizing that, he went to the man as he began sitting up and said:

"Are you alright?"

"Other than the piercing headache and feeling like I'm having an absolutely brutal hangover, yeah I'm doing great" the man sarcastically responded, just as Wally chuckled a bit and helped him back to his feet, "Green Arrow."

"Kid Flash."

"Great, now MOVE!" and with that both Green Arrow and Wally had to speed into action. Arrow jumped into the air and Wally sped out on foot to avoid a blast from Nega Raven's powers. As the smoke and dust from the resulting explosion cleared, Nega Raven had a barrage of Arrows fired at her in the formation of a circle. She pulled up an energy shield to protect herself from any ensuing blast though instead was met with the arrows emitting even more and longer lasting clouds of smoke around her instead.

Relinquishing her shield, she flew herself out of the smoke only to leave herself wide open to an arrow that did actually explode - though not directly on her, rather just before hitting her, however it was more than enough to send her flying back towards the ground. Or at least into a roundhouse kick from Wally that sent her slamming directly into a rock.

Once her head slanted downwards as if she was yet again knocked out of commission, she too seemed to regain her coloration. Her skin turned to more of a pale caucasian look, and her outfit turned to a mix of deep blues and violets, with red rubies on her belt and holding her hooded cape. Beginning to deduce how this worked, Wally rushed right over to her side and kneeled down while seeing Green Arrow turn his attention to firing at Nega Donna, getting her to release Barry from her grip so that the two could fight her together.

Wally knelt down beside Raven and held her head with one hand, saying in a calm voice:

"You turned back to color so I'm hoping you're both okay and on our side now" he said, "Please tell me my hunch is right…"

As he gently shook and held her, she winced and whined a bit before beginning to open her eyes. She once again had color in them, a deep blue - nearly violet, color; with her sclera having been restored to its natural white. Looking at Wally she weakly said:

"Thank...you…"

"Don't mention it!"

Raven was about to say something, but her voice had to quickly rise to a sharp shout as something else caught her attention:

"Look out!"

"Huh-AH!" Wally barely had enough time to react before a katana wielded by Nega Damian was plunged right towards him. He and Raven were both lucky enough to dodge the attack, forcing the sword to instead be plunged directly into the rock - though Nega Damian was quick to pull it back out and maintain battle stance while glaring at an equally battle ready Wally.

He could tell immediately who it was just by looking him up and down.

"Well, you're not Dick" he remarked, "So I take it you're the son of Batman I heard so much about. That or some overgrown wasp pretending to be him!"

That last remark prompted Nega Damian to charge at Wally, brandishing his Katana, however not only did Wally use his speed to slide and evade him, but just as Damian swung his sword and body in the other direction to strike at the speedster again he found himself trapped in the now purple aura of Raven's psionic powers - still conscious though utterly unable to move as he was held in her grasp.

"Stop!" Raven exclaimed, clamping one of her fists tightly as she held the Nega Robin firmly with her powers. However, looking at his face she couldn't help but curl her brows into that of a face filled with sorrow, her voice turning from a demand to more of a plea as she could only softly mutter out "please…"

Holding him firmly in her grasp, she had all the power to destroy him right then and there - yet she couldn't. Looking at his face as it looked back at her rendered her emotionally powerless. Gritting her teeth, tears began to stream from her eyes as she begged fate to not make her have to do this.

Gripping her fist together, she could feel the tears beginning to drip from the bottom of her face down onto the sand beneath her feet.

Looking at his face, even as it and the rest of him remained trapped within the hold of her dark violet aura and even as it snarled at her in contemptuous rage, she couldn't yet bring herself to harm him any further. If at all, for that matter.

She would have to battle with her own mind in order to do what must be done.

Not again…

Please, don't make me watch this again….

No….no...Raven...it's not him….

You need to remember...it's not him!

Closing her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth, she waved her arm upwards as she released her hand, as though she was throwing something upwards towards the sky. Which she was, as she had to send Nega Damian flying towards Nega Starfire just as the latter had Rouge slammed down to the ground. Nega Damian struck Nega Kori just as she fired one of her charged grayed energy blasts - and with Nega Damian deploying some of his batarangs just before impact both of them promptly exploded upon contact. Their remains morphed to those of the insectoid beasts as they proceed to rain down onto the sand.

Even though it was neither the real Damian nor the real Koriand'r, Raven still fell to her knees and kept her head towards the sand, covering her face with her hands as her grief overcame her. At the very least she had someone, Wally, to kneel beside her and place a hand on her shoulder as comfort.

Even Rouge looked at her with sympathy as she got back onto her feet, though she had little time to thank her for the save as soon the bat's attention was taken to the other three's struggles.

Fortunately, Nega Donna and the monster that had been posing as Diana were short lived at this point. The insectoid beast had just then been stabbed right through it's abdomen by a chaos spear courtesy of Shadow, letting out it's shrieking death throes before Shadow at last kicked it's corpse off of him. Just in time, as Nega Donna had successfully used her lasso to grapple and slam Green Arrow into Barry, knocking both of the men to the ground and could have potentially finished her had it not been for Shadow then hurling himself in ball form right into her arm - completely cutting it off with but a single strike in the process.

Of course, it also revealed to them that she was not an enthralled person but indeed a monster just as her 'mentor' had been, for 'her' true insectoid form was exposed as 'she' screamed and screeched with the loss of her arm. The revelation meant that Barry and Green Arrow no longer had to hold back however, and as such a single slide kick from Barry sent 'Donna' into the air where she was finished off by a single electric arrow to her abdomen courtesy of the man in green, the voltage from the projectile being enough to end her by the time she landed back on the ground.

Green Arrow with a smirk even quipped:

"Consider that bug, zapped."

However, even as Barry, Shadow, Rouge and Green Arrow grouped up yet again their battle still was not over. In the commotion they had forgotten about the last remaining 'Nega' being - that of that woman whom Barry struggled to remember. Standing before the four of them with a glare in her pure red eyes, she twisted her head and neck in preparation for incoming conflict, and the others had much the same sentiment.

At least, save for Green Arrow.

Looking at her face he came very quickly to know precisely who it was, and with widened eyes and a shocked tone he said:

"Dinah?"

"Who-" Barry wasn't able to finish that thought, for within mere moments Nega Dinah released her ability onto them all - that being her canary cry. An ear piercing, glass shattering sonic cry that very well could have killed them let alone leave them with severe damage to their ear drums. Within mere seconds the entire area was filled with the echoing sounds of her wailing cry, and all four of the heroes who stood before her grabbed their ears in pain and fell to their knees if not to the ground.

There wasn't even enough time for Green Arrow to have warned them about this.

However, not all hope was lost. Raven and Wally were lucky to have been out of the direct radius of the cry itself - though they of course were more than able to hear it with how loud it was. Looking off in the direction of the noise, the two of them were able to see Nega Dinah managing to keep the other four at bay with her sonic call, though seeing as how the woman was currently remaining stationary Wally knew what to do. Turning to Raven he said to her:

"Wait here, I'll handle this and be right on back!" before of course, speeding on.

As to be expected, Raven didn't exactly have the time to respond to him at all.

It mattered not though, as Wally had more than enough speed to approach Nega Dinah swiftly - in a matter of mere seconds for that matter. He was preparing a charged speed-assisted punch to her in the hopes of either freeing or exposing her as with the others, though the moment he would have made contact with her she dissipated in a cloud of darkness and instead he merely swung at the fading smoke and ultimately landed face first in the sand.

However, with her gone there were no further hostels to fight and such the group finally had a much needed period of time to recover. Shadow, Rouge, Green Arrow and Barry got up still rubbing at their ears and groaning, while Wally had to spit sand out of his mouth. Raven meanwhile quietly approached them, being the only one relatively unharmed in comparison.

Of the group, it was Barry who spoke up first:

"Okay so that certainly is a lot of information to take in at once, but I'll start with first what the hell are-were those...things, and second is Ms. Sandsmark okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine!" thankfully, Helena indeed emerged from behind the rubble of the obelisk, she had plenty of dust and sand on her but was otherwise unharmed as she approached the group with plenty of relief in her voice, "I'm sorry I wasn't much help but, I don't exactly have superpowers."

"It's alright ma'am" Barry smiled, "We're just glad you made it out safely."

"Well" Green Arrow then directed the attention over to himself, "That still leaves the question about the big scary shapeshifting man sized hornets from hell."

"Changelings" Raven's voice uttered, directing everyone over to her as she approached them while she elaborated further in their moment of silence, "Those creatures are changelings. They have the ability to take the form of powers of anyone or anything that they….consume."

The fact that saying that last word made her tone shift to a more saddened, pained one was not lost on the likes of Barry and Wally.

"C-Consume?" Green Arrow was alarmed by that, and it didn't take him long to ask "Dinah, is she-"

"Black Canary is enthralled" Raven answered before he could finish his worrying, "She is under Mephiles' direct control, but is otherwise fine."

Green Arrow quieted down then, unnerved that Dinah was under a form of mind control though relieved that it actually was her. However, Barry couldn't help but become more than curious as he realized that something just wasn't adding up with the way this Raven was talking; in addition he still had no idea who this Green Arrow actually was or why he had previously been enthralled:

"Hold on, how do you know who Mephiles is?" he asked, "Wally didn't have any idea when he was freed from being, enthralled, and…." he looked at Green Arrow and paused, though the only response he got was a shrug:

"I have no idea who or what 'Mephiles' is myself."

Raven was about to speak, but just as she looked up and opened her mouth to do so she found herself frozen in place. Within moments she was holding her head as though she had a piercing migraine, bringing her to her knees within a matter of seconds. The others approached her, alarmed by her presence, though once her head tilted upwards and her eyes opened wide Shadow held out an arm to prevent anyone from getting closer.

They had reason to do so before long, for once her head tilted back to look at them they could see her eyes had yet again changed. However, not to pure red; Instead, only her sclera were red. The rest of her eyes had shifted to an emerald green color - with the pupils becoming rhombus shaped. Exactly like his .

Even the look on her face shifted from a relatively neutral look to that of an uncharacteristically sinister grin as she seemed to begin laughing menacingly - her voice shifting from her softer feminine one to a far more masculine one. Shadow, Rouge and Barry recognized the sound of the laughter as none other than Mephiles himself, though they had no time to respond to this as soon enough Raven went the way of Dinah and too dissipated in a cloud of darkness that was washed away by the wind's breeze.

There was a long pause between the lot of them in response though, all of them having their eyes wide and mouths agape as they processed what they had just witnessed.

Though, at least one of them had to break this silence:

"Okay…" Green Arrow commented after shaking his head back to reality, "Can we get out of this desert now because I'm pretty sure shit is about to get even crazier."

"Yes" Helena added, "I'd very much appreciate that escort back to Soleanna now."

"We'll be leaving shortly" Shadow said to the group, "But first I need to make sure that we still have the scepter in our possession."

Wally immediately grabbed and felt around himself for the scepter, confident that he was the last person in possession of it. However it was to no avail as much to his shock and embarrassment he found it was indeed not on his person at all. Luckily for him though he did not have to say as such, since Rouge happily reported to Shadow:

"Not to worry, I have it right here" she said while holding the scepter in her hands, "It was dropped in the sand during all of the commotion, made sure to pick it up the moment I saw it."

"Good" Shadow nodded, turning to Sandsmark to promptly ask, "I hope you don't have any complaints about us taking it."

"You're G.U.N., remember?" she snarked back in response, "I'm in no position to say no to you at all."

"Very well then" Shadow then began marching back towards where they had parked their hovercrafts, which miraculously had been out of the way of the previous battle, "Then let's get Ms. Sandsmark back to Soleanna and report back to the ship."

Though it was very needless to say, the lot of them were all more than ready to take their leave of the desert. The ocean of sand was better left to the scorpions.

It was ultimately thankful that the group had brought four hovercrafts with them, as Helena and Green Arrow were easily able to occupy two while Barry and Wally stayed with the group on foot using their speed. Ultimately the ride back to Soleanna was uneventful, as it was very much like the ride they had taken on their way to the dig site in the first place. Most of the group was silent and fixated on the landscape ahead of them, with Shadow for instance having his mind preoccupied about what exactly happened with Raven before she vanished as well as what exactly the changeling creatures were - let alone how this was all connected to Mephiles.

Barry on the other hand had his eyes and mind fixated on Green Arrow, and in fact ran himself up close to him to ask:

"So" he said, "Who are you, again?"

"Like I told the kid, Green Arrow" the green archer responded, "I'm gonna assume you're the Flash, if 'Kid' Flash is any indication."

"Heh, yup" Barry answered back, "That'd be me alright. Anyway, I know this is gonna sound strange, but I feel like I remember you from somewhere before, but trying to think about how gives me a headache."

"Oh yeah? I know a few people who probably feel the same way."

"Ha!" the two shared a chuckle at that joke, Barry certainly enjoying this man's humor, but he still had to explain things to him nonetheless: "So how'd you end up captured by Mephiles?"

"Oh so I was captured by this Mephiles guy the whole time? I thought I just blacked out or something, though I guess on further thought the hangover theory really doesn't hold up…"

"Yeah" Barry nodded, "Before you went green, you were grey, mute, and trying to kill us. Wally over there was the same way before I snapped him back out of it."

"Huh…" just then something within Green Arrow's mind seemed to light up as if it had all just come to him. With a gasp he said: "Holy shit….I remember now!" as Barry listened closely, Oliver Queen was quick to explain what had happened, "Me and Dinah were minding our own business in D.C. when this big alien guy showed up out of nowhere with an army of things that were kinda like those 'Changeling's but beefier and without the shapeshifting, calling himself Darkseid and basically pulling the whole evil conqueror thing. So being heroes, we got to work kicking those minions' asses, and making a pretty sweet team if I don't say so myself….when...it all suddenly went dark."

All the astonished Barry could say was:

"Oh my god…"

Then Rouge just had to chime in via communicator, having overheard the conversation:

"Looks like Barry found a friend!"

"Huh?" Green Arrow was confused by that, until Barry explained:

"You're from the previous timeline."

"The previous what?"

"Darkseid, his attack on D.C." the speedster elaborated, "That was in the timeline before this one, before I had to make the second flashpoint!"

"I'm still not following."

"Basically, if I run fast enough it can cause a universe wide reset of time. I've done that twice, right now we're in what would be called the post-second one era, basically."

"Ah" Green Arrow admittedly did not understand, but at least pretended to, "Well, if you reset the universe...how do I still remember the old one, exactly?"

"Wally's the same way" Barry explained, "I think Mephiles taking you two hostage somehow prevented you from being affected by the flashpoint."

"Well I can't wait to be caught up on everything I missed."

"Ha" Barry remarked, "Well you and…"

"My fiance"

"Your fiance; missed out on being part of the Justice League, I can tell you that much."

"The Justice League, huh?" Green Arrow quipped, "Sounds fun."

"By the way" Wally suddenly chimed in via communicator, "You wouldn't happen to know a Speedy, would you?"

"Speedy? Yeah, he's my side-protege" Green Arrow answered, which excited Wally quite a lot:

"Dude!" he exclaimed, "I was wondering if he had a mentor or not! Whenever I asked him about who taught him the skills he had, he kept saying he couldn't remember! Said he 'thought' he taught himself!"

"Hah, oh really now?"

"Yeah" Barry added, "It appears when you're removed from the timeline, everything and everyone left behind sort of morphs to cover your absence."

"Convenient."

"Yeah…." with his voice trailing off as he lost ideas for topics, Barry instead just said but one last thing; "Name's Barry, by the way."

"Oliver." Green Arrow responded.

"And I'm Rouge!" Rouge yet again chimed in via communicator, "The other guy is Shadow, by the way; just so we're all acquainted with each other. I'm assuming you intend to stick around to help deal with Mephiles?"

"Considering he's still got Dinah, you're damn right I am."

"Heh, the more the merrier!" Rouge replied, "We really do need all the help we can get with this one!"

Before Shadow himself could add anything to the conversation, he received a transmission from his communication device that was not from anyone currently in the party. His attention was immediately diverted to it as the voice of a G.U.N. operative soon spoke to him after some brief static:

"Agent Shadow, Agent Rouge" the man said, "E-123 'Omega' has reported that he has engaged Mephiles at Wave Ocean, head there immediately!"

Hearing that, Shadow couldn't help but immediately slam his foot down on the craft's accelerator - speeding on ahead of the others with more than enough drive and determination than was honestly necessary. Luckily the others were capable of keeping up with him this time, they certainly had to if they didn't want to miss what was coming next.