Ellie Bishop: Yep, now four to go. No kidding on Thor. Thor allowed himself to be taken in by his ego and, just like when we first met him, it cost him everything. Yeah, his scene with Frigga is one of my favorite Thor moments. Yeah, guess so on Ra's. True enough on Clint; I guess that's why they made Clint a family man. Well, it's not going to be easy. One thing I've noticed over the years is that fans of female characters, particularly the female fans are prone to ignoring the flaws of and trying to excuse the actions of their favorite female character. Thank you, I don't.
Guest 2.0: Glad you enjoyed it.
Sakaar, 2010
Afternoon
Bruce, Roy and Jay stuck their heads out from around the corner, getting a look at the target. Two Sakaarian guards stood guard in front of a locked room, holding what Roy and Jay assumed were Sakaar's version of rifles.
"Not bad, only two guards," Bruce muttered before looking over at Jay. "Think you can get those guns away from them?"
"Easily," Jay said with certainty.
Roy eyed the two guards, feeling something off. This couldn't be that easy. Experience and Oliver's teachings told him that.
As if summoned by Roy's thoughts, a dark haired, biracial woman wondered over to the two guards, shouting at them and Bruce swore.
"Who's that?" Roy asked as he and Jay turned to Bruce.
"Angry Girl," Bruce said in Hulk's voice before returning to his own. "That's a problem. She's a Valkyrie, an Asgardian warrior. She works for the Grandmaster."
"I don't suppose she'll help us?" Roy asked dryly.
"Probably not," Bruce acknowledged. "We won't stand a chance in a fight against her without the Hulk. Our best bet is to lay low until she leaves."
However, they quickly lost that option as the guards spotted them. Jay grabbed Bruce and Roy and sped out of the way as the guards opened fire, some kind of lasers shooting out of their weapons. The lasers hit the wall and steam came off the spots where they had been hit.
"I hope the others are having more fun than we are," Roy grumbled.
Krypton, 1979
Morning
"Okay, so how exactly do we get in there?" Cisco asked as he, Oliver and Rhodey stood in the back alley they had arrived, looking at the building Cisco thought Jor-El was in.
"And how do we even find Jor-El once we're inside?" Rhodey questioned.
Oliver was silent, trying to think. Seeing a man exit the building dressed in white robes, Oliver got an idea.
"Cisco, I need you do something for me," he told Cisco.
The man was walking to his vehicle when, suddenly, a Breach opened up underneath him and he fell through it with a yelp, vanishing from sight.
In the alley, the man fell out of the Breach and was immediately grabbed by Oliver. Putting the man in a chokehold, Oliver waited until the man was unconscious before lowering him to the ground.
"Alright, so what now?" Rhodey asked.
"Now, I take his clothes and go inside," Oliver explained and the other two caught on.
"And find out where Jor-El is. Nice," Rhodey said impressed.
"Stay on Comms. In case something goes wrong, I want you two to Breach to my location so we can get the stone and get out," Oliver ordered.
The Phantom Zone
Steve stood alone with Zod in the throne room, the Rogue General having commanded to be left alone with Steve. Slade been dragged off, along with Steve's shield and Slade's sword as Zod circled Steve like a shark circling its prey.
"Where's Slade?" Steve demanded and Zod chuckled.
"You worry for him. You should," Zod said, stopping in front of Steve.
Without warning, Zod suddenly struck Steve across the face and Steve was thrown to the ground by the strength of the blow. Steve pushed himself up, the taste of blood in his mouth as Zod laughed sadistically.
"This is quite a sight to behold. The Great Captain America, on his knees before me," Zod said gleefully and Steve looked at him sharply.
"You-"
"That's right, I know exactly who you are Captain Rogers. Just as I know who your friend, Slade Wilson is," Zod said, kneeling down in front of him. "You see, a few days ago, I encountered a very special entity. A fallen enemy of one of your new allies. Barry Allen's greatest enemy."
"Eobard Thawne," Steve realized, remembering the name from swapping stories with Barry a few days ago.
"He has been reduced to little more than a ghost, but the power of the Negative Speed Force allows him to communicate with beings in the living. And he told me all about you and your Avengers," Zod said with a nasty smirk.
As Zod sneered at him, Steve spotted something dangling from his neck, an orange stone hanging from some thread around Zod's neck.
The Soul Stone, Steve realized with a start. But getting it from Zod would not be easy.
"Oh, I see, this is what you came for, is it?" Zod sneered, holding up the Soul Stone.
"Whatever Thawne promised you, he won't follow through. You can't trust him, he's just using you," Steve warned him and Zod only laughed.
"Oh I know. But their thing is, I'm only too happy to let him use me," Zod said with a sadistic smirk. "As for trust, I don't trust anyone. Trusting someone is a calculated risk, which I'm sure you know. You and I are not that different."
"We're nothing alike," Steve said coolly.
"Headstrong, single-minded, decisive, we were born to be leaders," Zod told him.
"You're not a leader, you're a tyrant," Steve said firmly and Zod laughed.
"Well, we shall see, won't we?" Zod said menacingly.
Krypton, 1979
Dressed in the Kryptonian's white robes, Oliver entered the building unnoticed, just another face in the crowd. Seeing that he assumed was the front desk, Oliver walked over to it.
"Excuse me, I have a meeting with a Jor-El, but he forget to tell me where his lab was," Oliver said and the receptionist chuckled.
"That sounds like Jor-El, he kind of gets lost in his work sometimes, don't take it personally. Fifteenth floor, end of the hall, first room on the left. Can't miss it," she said and Oliver smiled gratefully.
"Thank you," Oliver said politely, walking away and, once a safe distance, tapped the Comms piece in his ear. "You get that?"
"Fifteenth floor, first door at the end of the hall on the left, we got it," Rhodey assured him.
"We'll be ready," Cisco added.
Seeing what he assumed was an elevator open up, Oliver saw an opportunity. Oliver rushed over as a couple entered the elevator. Seeing him, the man held the door, allowing Oliver to enter at the last second.
"Thank you," Oliver said gratefully.
"Not a problem. Going up?" the man asked as he pushed a button with numbers written in a language Oliver had never seen before.
"Yes, fifteenth floor," Oliver said politely.
"Well you're in luck, we're headed there now," the man said and Oliver relaxed slightly.
"You new around here?" the man's companion, a dark haired woman with cool eyes asked as she regarded Oliver coolly.
"I'm just here for a meeting with Jor-El," Oliver lied.
"Well we'll take you to him. He's Astra's brother in law," the man said as the woman, Astra, eyed him suspiciously.
Sakaar, 2010
Jay quickly sped over and disarmed the guards, knocking them out. However, that still left Valkyrie, who was eying them oddly.
"Who the Hell are you people?" she asked bluntly.
"Not your enemy," Jay told her, hoping that would be enough.
It wasn't.
"Well, you just took out two of the Grandmaster's guards. And I get it, he's insane, but he keeps my booze stocked as long as I give him contenders. And although I couldn't care less what you're doing, I'll have to stop you or else he might not be so generous," Valkyrie said as she pulled out a knife.
Seeing no way out of a fight, Jay sped towards her and tried to grab the knife from her. However, as he grabbed her arm, she took him by surprise by sending a powerful push to his chest. Jay was sent flying, hitting the wall hard and dropping to the floor, dazed. Valkyrie was about to approach him when she saw something coming her way. She cut it down and two halves of an arrow fell as Roy notched another arrow.
With a smirk, Valkyrie rushed Roy. She tried to strike him with her knife but Roy easily dodged it. Roy frowned as she continued trying to strike him; her moves were uncoordinated and sloppy. As he saw her bloodshot eyes, he realized…she was drunk.
Roy had no sooner come to that realization than Valkyrie managed to grab him, throwing his bow away and put his neck in a chokehold. Roy pulled a flechette out from under his sleeve and attempted to stab her but it barely fazed her. Even a drunk Asgardian was a formidable opponent. Roy tried to figure a way out of this when, suddenly, a laser hit Valkyrie in the face. She groaned, letting Roy go before another one struck her. She was thrown back, hitting the floor, out cold. Roy messaged his neck, sweet air feeling his lungs, breathing heavily. Jay stood up, he and Roy staring at Valkyrie before turning to Bruce, who lowered his Sakaarian rifle.
"Thankfully she's drunk, otherwise that probably wouldn't have worked," Bruce admitted.
"Well, we're not done yet," Jay said as they turned to the door.
Jay walked over, vibrating his body before phasing through the door. After a moment, the door opened and Jay stood in the doorway. Bruce and Roy followed him inside and saw the room was filled with treasures unlike anything they had ever seen. But there was only one thing that drew their attention: a red stone, placed on a mantle like it was an invaluable treasure.
The Reality Stone.
"It can't be this easy," Roy declared as they reached the glass covered mantle.
"No," Bruce agreed. "From what I saw when I was here, the guy is a maniac who values what he sees as his. He would have put in some kind of security system."
"There's definitely some kind of failsafe here," Jay agreed as he studied the mantle, seeing some technology built into the mantle. "But we don't need to worry about it."
Jay vibrated his hand before he phased through the glass and pulled his arm back out. Opening his hand, Jay showed Roy and Bruce the Reality Stone.
"Piece of cake," Jay grinned before a red blur sped in; surrounding them before it vanished, taking them with it.
The Phantom Zone
Steve was led out of Zod's throne room by two of Zod's men, his hands bound by shackles. Hearing cheering, Steve looked up, his eyes widening in horror at what he saw.
Zod sat on a throne, smirking in sadistic amusement as he watched two men fight. A small crowd of Zoners egged them on as Steve saw some cages with prisoners positioned around the room. Slade was in one, his helmet gone as he watched the scene with a grim look, as though the scene brought back painful memories.
One of the combatants, a man wielding an axe, swung his weapon, which made contact with his opponent's neck. Blood flew up into the air as the other man fell and the crowd cheered. Steve watched in disgust as the body was dragged away before the man with the axe turned towards him. With a roar, the man lunged for Steve.
Steve dodged the strike before the man whirled around, forcing Steve back as he dodged the strikes from the axe. Seeing a shied on the ground, Steve picked it up and used the shield to block the axe. Steve then struck the man in the face twice with the shield, causing him to drop the axe before Steve punched him, hard. The man stumbled into a pillar as Zod leaned forward in his seat. Slade watched uneasily as the crowd cheered. Steve looked into the eyes of the man, seeing the fear in them, and dropped the shield.
Slade relaxed slightly as the crowd booed. Steve looked over at Zod, meeting his gaze unflinchingly as Zod stood up, the crowd going quiet as Zod raised a hand.
"In the arena, we answer failure with the only thing suitable. Death," Zod said and the crowd cheered.
"I won't kill for you," Steve said firmly over the roar of the crowd.
With a smirk, Zod walked down from his throne and over to Steve. Drawing his sword, he pointed it at Steve as Slade watched worriedly. Then Zod turned and drove it though the man Steve had been fighting.
"In any arena, only one fighter walks away," Zod said as he pulled his sword out and the man fell to the ground, dead. "It's kill or be killed Captain."
"In your world, not mine," Steve said, his eyes filled with righteous anger.
"But this is my world," Zod said with a smirk.
Zod then turned around, walking away and Steve was grabbed by the guards. They then dragged him over to a cage and threw him in the cell. By pure coincidence, this landed him right next to Slade.
"You alright?" Steve asked in concern.
"I believe I'm the one who should be asking you that," Slade said with a slight grin before looking out at the arena with a wistful look. "It's funny. A tyrannical madman who holds fighting matches between his men. That's exactly the situation I was in when I first met Oliver. Somewhere out there, Edward Fyers is laughing at me."
"Zod has the Soul Stone," Steve said and Slade looked over at him. "It's hanging around his neck."
"Wonderful. And how do we get it? We're outnumbered and Zod took our weapons. Even if we get them back, fighting our way out only works if we get that stone," Slade pointed out.
"I know how men like Zod think. He's not any different than the Red Skull or Loki. Which is why I know what he'll do next," Steve said before telling Slade his plan.
Next chapter will conclude the time heist, so stay tuned.
Since, as of season six, Thawne is apparently Voldemort now, I don't think it's too much of a stretch that Thawne could appear as a ghost like figure like he did to Nash before possessing him. This is based on clips and what I've heard from others, as I stopped watching Flash after season five excluding Crisis, so I hope I'm making sense.
The reason Valkyrie was defeated kind of easily is because she was drunk and out of practice. It was noted by Thor in Ragnarok that Valkyrie drank a lot, which I'm guessing is by Asgardian standards, so I don't think it's much of a stretch to say it would have impaired her in a fight. If Roy and Jay had faced the Valkyrie from the end of Ragnarok, it would have been a very different fight.