The Girl of Steel and the Silver Speedster Ch. 15
Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowlings and Supergirl the CW. I own nothing and I don't make any money from this story.
Chapter 15: If No Risk, then No Reward (Part 3)
_o0o_
Lena's heart was pounding as she gazed through the grate of the ventilation duct into the particle accelerator ring. She watched in dismay from her hiding place as the soldiers dragged their friends into the chambers that Team Flash used to hold meta-human criminals.
They were all alive, unconscious but alive.
They had been caught completely by surprise when the security alarms started going off. Lena knew in seconds what had happened. All of their big guns had been lured away leaving Star Labs, and by extension her, Felicity and Iris defended by only Caitlin and Mick.
When they realized that it wasn't a platoon of troops, but rather just the black clad archer. She thought the Nazis arrogance might have worked in their favor. That confidence lasted all of five minutes. Because that's how long it took for the Dark Archer to beat every fighter they had, by himself. First it was Mick. He had run in first with his heat gun blazing and tried to flame broil the Nazi. He deftly dodged all of Mick's attacks and pinned him to the wall with a bolo arrow.
Lena would keep it to herself how impressed she was by his equipment. Bolo arrows, exploding arrows, kryptonite arrows. This man had an arrow for almost every situation.
Next to go down was Caitlin, or rather Killer Frost. With Mick drawing all of the archer's attention, she managed to get within a few feet of him without him noticing. She got her hand on his bow and froze it in his grip. The fight was looking up, until he triggered some kind of controlled explosion from his bow. It shattered the ice and knocked Frost out cold. Just like that, their most powerful meta present went down even faster than Rory. Clearly, she would have to reevaluate her opinion on the effectiveness of seemingly outdated tools like a bow.
She felt a brief spike of hope when Felicity's teammates from Star City picked that moment to show up and help. They had the wise idea of all three of them fighting him at once. She could see the influence their Oliver had in the training of his teammates. They never got in each other's way and their styles seemed to interlock with each other; it almost appeared choreographed. But in the end, they were no match for him.
Black Canary wasn't doing enough damage with her staff, so she tried to use her sonic scream (Lena refused to use the ridiculous nickname. Canary's don't 'cry') but their opponent managed to switch positions with Mr. Terrific who wound up taking the full force of the blast. A well-aimed tranquilizer arrow took down Black Canary before she could draw a second breath. Lastly, he disarmed Wild Dog of his guns before a brutal blow to his head with his bow knocked him out.
It had been a harrowing experience to watch on the monitors as the evil version of Oliver Queen completely outclassed their defenders. But they didn't have time to dwell on that. They had to think quickly or they would be captured right along with them. Iris had the brilliant idea of hiding out in the ventilation system and quickly ushered Lena and Felicity inside before climbing in behind them and lifting the grate back into place. From there, they had a front row seat as more Nazis invaded Star Labs under the watchful eye of the Fuhrer.
"What can you see?" Felicity whispered from her crouched position behind Lena. Iris further behind her listening intently. The ventilation shaft was too small for even two of them to see through the grate.
"They've locked everyone in the pipeline. They all appear to be alive." Lena whispered back as she continued to gaze through the slats. She could hear Felicity and Iris both release a sigh of relief before she silently pushed away from it and back towards her friends.
"Okay, so good news. Our friends are still alive. Bad news, they aren't going to be able to help us." Iris summed up. "We just have to hide here until the others get back and kick some Nazi ass."
Hating to burst her hopeful bubble, Lena shook her head at Iris. "I don't think we can count on them to come save us. If our friends had won the fight at the warehouse, or even if they were still battling it out, the soldiers wouldn't be flooding in here."
"You think our guys lost their fight at the warehouse?" Felicity questioned with dread seeping into her bones. She worried what that meant for their friends. She was more worried about Oliver.
"We have to operate under that assumption." Lena nodded, trying to keep her voice even so they didn't see her own panic trying to get the best of her.
"Okay, so new plan…" Felicity paused to think for a moment before giving up. "I got nothin. How about you guys?"
"We need to get to Cisco's lab. The sample of kryptonite should be finished by now." Lena advised.
"How is that going help us get our friends back?" Iris asked confused by Lena's thinking.
"It probably won't. But if the Nazis intend to set up shop here then sooner or later their version of Kara is going to turn up and the first thing she's going to do is sweep this entire facility with her x-ray vision to find us. When that happens, I would like to have the only thing that can hurt her on hand." Lena explained, a sliver of annoyance entering her voice at having to point that out to Iris.
"That's a good point." Felicity agrees while pointing at Lena. "Okay, so we need the kryptonite. How do we get to Cisco's lab from here?" she asked, still looking at Lena.
"Well you tell me. This is your earth."
Felicity's cheeks turn a little pink at Lena words. "Right. Iris, which way?" She asks, turning to look at their ebony skinned cohort.
Iris gestures back the way they came. "This way, come on."
They started making their way through the vents single file with Iris leading the way. On hands and knees of course, because there wasn't much room inside the vents, they were hiding in. They were lucky none of them were taller than 5'5. However, as she was at the back of the line, Lena had to endure staring at Felicity's jean clad butt as they both followed Iris in the direction of Cisco's Lab.
"After we get the kryptonite, anybody got any ideas on how we free our friends?" Felicity asked them both from her place in the middle of the line.
Iris didn't have an answer. And Lena was glad Felicity was ahead of her so the blonde couldn't see Lena roll her eyes at her. "I don't know. I came to this earth to attend a wedding, not battle Nazis. I'm making this up as I go."
She could hear Felicity and Iris both groan at her words, but neither made their displeasure known beyond that. They certainly weren't about to blame Lena for their current predicament. They hadn't been expecting this either.
The rest of the trip was made in silence as they all tried not to think about what may be happening to their loved ones at that very moment. They were delayed a few minutes by running into two dead ends and needing to backtrack. Iris apologized needlessly for these mistakes. Knowing the layout of the facility and being able to navigate the vent system were two different things.
But they did make it to the vent that overlooked Cisco's lab eventually. But were further delayed from reaching their goal by the presence of three Nazi soldiers tearing apart the room. Iris carefully climbed over the grate and a little way past it so Felicity could take position on one side of the grate and Lena the other.
The two tech savvy women observed them as quietly as possible, trying to determine what exactly they were after in Cisco's lab. Felicity was able to hear what they were saying, but unfortunately, she couldn't understand them. She looked up and met Lena's eyes before she silently mouthed 'do you speak German?' Lena nodded her head to indicate that she did before turning her attention back to the soldiers.
Listening to the soldiers didn't yield any results either. They spoke to each other briefly. Little things like "you, grab that extension cable," and "don't forget that." Not nearly enough detail to figure out what exactly they were there for. But it didn't matter. They left the room as soon as they had what they wanted.
The ladies waited for the sounds of stomping boots to fade before they pulled the grate loose and helped each other out of the vent duct.
"What exactly did they take?" Iris asked as they all gazed around the room.
Lena and Felicity were both flummoxed. "Looks like nothing more than power cables and spare components. Nothing really vital." The blonde answered in confusion.
Lena had to agree with that assessment as she noticed one of the soldiers had left his rifle on one of the tables. Probably had his hands full when they left. Lena made to pick it up, until her eyes landed on the reason they were there. She quickstepped towards the annealer she had placed the chemical mixture in before the others had left. Quickly donning the glove that she had left on top, she turned the handle and opened the door. Reaching inside, she pulled out a cluster of glowing green crystals that fit in the palm of her hand.
It wasn't much, but it would have to do. "Okay, we've got what we came for. Now we-."
The sound of a rifle bolt being pulled stopped all three of them cold. They turned and faced the door to see that one of the soldiers from before had returned to retrieve his gun. Lena clenched her fist around the kryptonite, hoping he hadn't seen why they were there, as he ordered them to their knees.
They had to watch from their positions on the floor as he pulled out a radio and requested backup. Lena could tell this one was smarter than the one in the church. He wouldn't be lured closer so she could knock him out. He wasn't taking his eyes off them. Lena was desperately trying to come up with some strategy before his friends showed up. But she had nothing.
This is it. We couldn't save them and everybody else is already captured. We've lost. Lena could feel the despair settling heavily in her chest making it hard to breathe. When she was pulled from her morose thoughts by shouted voices coming from the soldier's radio.
The words were garbled. Too many speaking at once. The one in front of them asking what was going on but got no response.
Lena felt the heavy rock that had taken residence in her chest vanish. Hope returned as she thought Kara and her friends had prevailed and come to rescue them.
And they were being rescued, just not by who she expected.
The soldier was still shouting over his radio when a burst of light like a camera flash illuminated the room before he dropped his radio and his gun. He hung limp in the air for a moment before being violently jerked to the side and sent sliding out the door into the hallway.
A smile stretched all the way across Lena's cheeks at the sight of the black suit with silver lightning bolts standing in front of her.
"Oh my god, Zoom." Iris' panicked voice didn't even register as Lena practically jumped to her feet and ran right at her brother. Laughing as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Not even noticing when he didn't reciprocate.
"I have never been so happy to see you." She declared to the shock of everybody in the room.
"Lena get away from him. You don't know who he is." Iris yelled frantically, almost in a panic, as she and Felicity got back to their feet. Iris' tone conveyed that she knew who he was, and they weren't friends.
Lena wasn't deterred. "I do know him." She gripped him tighter for a moment before releasing him and turning back to face her companions. "Kara, Alex and I told you about him before. This is… Paladin." Lena managed to divert herself before she said, 'my brother, Harry' not certain if he wanted to reveal himself to the people on this earth.
"Paladin?" Iris asked as she took a closer look at the speedster and realized that his lightning was silver and not blue, he was wearing a helmet not a Hannibal Lecter-ish mask and a few other subtle differences between him and the speedster that had killed Barry's father.
"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" A distinctly British accent asked them, a certain weariness to his voice that had Lena frowning. She looked at him before comprehension dawned on her. They were on a different earth, he didn't know she was a Lena he had already met.
"Harry," she whispered so only he could hear her. "It's me Lena. From Earth-38."
Before she knew what had happened, he had his arms around her waist and was spinning her around (thankfully at a regular human pace) while laughing at the top of his lungs. His laugh was so infectious she couldn't help but let out a whoop of surprise and join in his laughing.
Meanwhile, Iris and Felicity watched the scene before them in amused bewilderment. They smiled at the sight, not knowing they were watching two siblings who were overjoyed to be reunited, but were happy for them.
Lena enjoyed the moment as best she could and squeezed her arms around him a little tighter. Something felt wrong about the hug. She tried to define what the problem was but couldn't put her finger on it. Harry didn't feel the same as she remembered. When he finally put her down, he held her at arm's length as he looked her over. "Are you alright? That man with the gun didn't hurt you, did he? Let me look at you."
"I'm alright. And relax, I won't have changed that much, it's only been a few days." Lena spoke while the smile returned to her lips.
But her words seemed to drain the good cheer right out of Harry. "Days for you maybe. For me, I left your earth more than six months ago."
That sobered Lena up. The thought that so much time had passed for him...it was jarring. And it doubled her concern about that difference she felt when she hugged him. She wondered if this was how Kara felt when she found out Mon-El had been in the future for seven years. Lena wished she could take his helmet off and see for herself any changes to his appearance. She hoped he didn't have a beard like the Daxamite now sported. She hadn't liked it when Lionel had grown a beard, and when Lex decided to do the same she had begun to despise facial hair.
"Guys, I hate to break up this reunion, but there are still Nazis in the building and now they know we're here." Felicity's words brought them all back to earth.
"Those guys are Nazis? What's going on Lena?" The speedster queried.
"They're from Earth-X. They came here with an evil version of Kara to try and conquer this earth. A first step towards conquering the entire multiverse. And we think they've already captured every hero on this earth, plus our Kara and our Alex." She summed up in a rush. She could give him a more detailed explanation later. For the moment Felicity was right, they had to deal with the other soldiers in the building.
"Alright then. You three head for the control center in this place and I'll clear the way for you."
"Okay. We'll just-" Iris started to say but stopped when he left the room faster than she could follow. "And I thought it was annoying when Barry did that."
"Let's go." Lena declared before they ran out of the room, their destination the cortex.
On the way, they found the bodies of many Nazis littered throughout the hallways. Some had claw marks carved into their chests, others had their necks twisted in the wrong direction. Clearly Harry had fallen back on his old habits of killing without compunction. Felicity and Iris were visibly disturbed by this, Iris more so than Felicity. If what she was told was true, then Oliver had racked up quite the body count before trying to be a better hero. They made it to the cortex to find Harry cleaning a dozen dead soldiers out of the room.
"That's the last of them in this building. What's next?"
Iris moved to the main console and accessed the security system, Felicity a half second behind her. "I'm opening the cells and letting Caitlin and the others out. Once I have them open, I'll head down to the pipeline and wake them up."
As Iris turned and ran out of the room to check on their friends, Felicity started to speak. "If there were security cameras at the warehouse the Nazis disabled them. I'm going to try and access the bodycam on Oliver's suit. If it's still functioning it should give us eyes inside."
The various monitors lit up with footage of the warehouse. Felicity looked triumphant, for all of a second before her mind processed what she was seeing on the screens. They saw a black clad Oliver and Kara (sporting black lipstick of all things) standing about the warehouse. The camera, or rather Oliver, turned for a moment and they caught a glimpse of their Kara and Barry. Both of them were chained to the floor with collars around their necks.
'Most likely power dampeners', Lena thought, unable to take any pleasure in the knowledge that her friends were at least alive, as she listened to the Fuhrer try to get in touch with the soldiers here. 'When his troops don't answer he's going to come back here. Likely with their Kara and the rest of their army'.
"How did they manage to capture everybody?" Felicity asked in worry. Just as Lena caught a glimpse of something in the far-left corner of the screen.
"I think I know. Isolate that segment." Lena pointed to the appropriate spot and Felicity did as she was asked. Blowing up what looked like a man in armor standing at the far end of the warehouse. The bottom dropped out of Lena's stomach as she realized that the figure wasn't wearing armor but made of metal. "That's Metallo. A Kryptonite powered cyborg designed to kill Kryptonians."
"That explains how they managed to take down Kara."
"So, if I can destroy him the others might stand a fighting chance?" Harry asked, trying to formulate a plan of attack.
Lena nodded at the idea. "Maybe. Yes, if you can strike him directly in his Kryptonite core with enough force it should cause a rupture and he will self-destruct. Once that happens, you'll only have a few seconds to free the others before the Earth-Xers can regroup."
Felicity didn't share Lena's confidence. "Even with your help and him out of the way, are we sure that's going to be enough to stop them from getting captured again?"
"It'll be enough if we can take their Kara out of the fight." Harry summed up.
"This should help with that." Lena said as she held up the piece of Kryptonite she had taken from Cisco's lab and offered it to Harry. He quickly slipped it into the belt of his suit before looking back at Lena.
"Where are they?"
Felicity answered by pulling up a map of the city and a red line highlighted the quickest path from their current location to where their friends were being held captive. "This is the most direct route. If you- "
"I can't raise anyone on comms. What the hell is going on?" They heard the Fuhrer demand over the speakers. "I think they know." It was bizarre, the tone with which the response was spoken. It was Kara's voice, but it certainly didn't sound like Kara. It was hard to explain, even in their own heads.
Felicity spoke in a panic. "They're on to us. You've gotta go. Run, RUN."
That was all the incentive Harry needed to tear out of there at his top speed. Lena whispered a quick 'be careful' before looking back at the monitors. Counting the seconds before she would see that first spark of silver.
Three
Four
Five
Lena heard a distant Boom over the speaker, a voice yelling "Everybody down." The camera image shifted to show the concrete floor of the warehouse rising up to meet it. But before the image was completely distorted, she caught a glimpse of a flash of silver, then a bright light and the screens were filled with static.
_o0o_
Overgirl groaned as she came to on the concrete floor of the warehouse. She pushed her upper body off the floor and flipped her hair out of her eyes as she tried to clear the ringing from her ears.
What happened?
She ran through her memories as she tried to recall what had happened. The heroes had tried to infiltrate their base on this earth. They fought and of course the heroes lost. Thawne bragging. Oliver returning triumphant. Then… an explosion.
Getting her feet under her, she looked around and her mouth dropped open at the sight before her. Her soldiers were, like her, picking themselves off the ground. Thawne was a few meters away, awake but clearly disoriented by the blast. Her Oliver just starting to stir from his place at the base of a stone pillar he had been knocked against in the explosion.
But the heroes.
The heroes weren't chained up anymore. Their collars were off and most of them were already on their feet. The cheap knockoff of her was wasting her time checking on her sister. The assassin was grabbing the nearest weapon she could see and their Oliver already had his bow in his hand and was reaching back for an arrow.
Then her eyes landed on the cause of all this. Crouched down with his back to them, watching as the heroes gathered themselves before he turned to face them. Black suit, silver lightning bolts, he had the good sense to wear a helmet. She'd give him points for being practical at least. But it didn't matter, she was already imagining her boot on his throat for daring to interfere with their plans.
"Who is that?" she snarled, wanting to know the name of the man she planned to burn a hole through with her heat vision.
"Paladin." Thawne answered. But she didn't spare the brash speedster so much as a glance. "For a moment, I actually thought we were in danger."
She was momentarily mystified by the sight of this Paladin holding up his hands with his fingers curled and seeing metal spikes protrude from his fingertips. Claws. This guy actually uses metal claws. What's this guy think he is, a panther?
She was pulled from her thoughts by Supergirl rising into the air, looking right at her. She growled at the sight. Forget it. I'll break his neck later.
Supergirl came rocketing straight for her. Overgirl took off and collided with her in mid-air. Supergirl tried to throw a punch that she blocked with her forearm. Supergirl's other hand tried to take hold of her shoulder, only to be grasped by the wrist and have her arm twisted. Supergirl shouted her pain as her hold broke easily.
Supergirl looked worried as she assessed the position she was in and Overgirl smiled. "The collar you were just wearing dampens your powers. You won't be at full strength again until you can recharge under the sun. With your powers running on empty this fight will be easy."
Overgirl kept her hold on Supergirl's arm as she pulled back her other fist and sent it careening right into the other blonde's cheek.
_o0o_
The Fuhrer couldn't believe this was happening.
How did this happen?
His knuckles were white inside his gloves as he clenched his teeth to restrain the raw, seething rage that was burning in his chest.
How had this happened?
How had they missed him?
Weeks of preparation, of meticulous planning, of gathering every resource they could possibly need. Weeks of carefully observing every player in the game so there would be no surprises. They had even taken special precautions so the viber couldn't spy on them.
Everything had been going so well. The pieces had all fallen into place so perfectly. They had the "heroes" of two different earths at their mercy. They had the replacement heart for his wife and the necessary equipment to transfer it. With the resources of two worlds at his fingertips, victory over not just this earth, but every earth was within his grasp.
Then this black clad menace had to show up and ruin everything. 'If we don't get this situation under control, we might not have enough time to save her.'
His eyes swept the room from his crouched position against the pillar he had landed against when Metallo exploded. He tried to assess the situation as fast as possible.
His wife was currently airborne, engaged in a fistfight with her inferior copy. The other Kryptonian wouldn't be at full strength. His wife would win that fight easily enough.
His soldiers were attempting to subdue the red head and the assassin, while keeping the old man and the mongrel from getting close enough to merge into Firestorm. They wouldn't be able to beat the two well trained opponents, but they would keep them out of his hair for long enough.
Thawne was in a similar position, zipping around the room with the other two speedsters. One hot on his trail as the other moved to intercept him. Despite his own boasting to the contrary, there was no way he could outrun two speedsters at the same time. They would catch him eventually. But no matter. Thawne was useful, but he had already prepared the device. His usefulness was at an end. As long as he kept those pests occupied for long enough, it wouldn't matter if he died trying.
His gaze swept the building in seconds looking for the biggest threat-
A swift whistling alerted him to lean back as a green arrow embedded itself in the concrete next to his head. A lesser man would be dead, were it not for his finely-honed senses and quick reflexes, that arrow would have pierced his skull.
Turning in the direction it came from, he spotted his lesser-self nocking another arrow.
His fury at the situation overcame him as he grabbed the shaft of the arrow that nearly killed him, and gave a mighty pull. He wrenched it loose and swiftly knocked it before firing it back at the other archer. There was a spark as the two arrows collided midair and ricocheted in different directions. Missing both archers by a wide margin.
He realized at that moment that he didn't want to waste arrows in a shoot-out. He was angry enough that he wanted to kill someone with his bare hands. Who better than that green mockery of him?
With that in mind, he charged the green clad archer with the intent of settling this contest in close quarters.
_o0o_
"Who's the guy in black?" Sara shouted at Alex while she brought her knee up into the face mask of the soldier she had been grappling with. She snatched his gun off his belt before he fell to the ground, unconscious. She tossed the gun to Alex, preferring hand-to-hand over firearms, before turning to find her next opponent.
The redhead caught the gun with a deft hand before shouting back, "That's Paladin. We told you about him remember." Alex yelled in answer as she fired at the scrambling soldiers.
"Do me a favor, remind me to say 'thank you' when this is over." Sara retorted before she put the new speedster out of her mind and got back to the fight.
_o0o_
He can't keep up. Barry realized with dismay.
The speedster Thawne had called Paladin (whose appearance reminded Barry uncomfortably of Zoom) tried to pursue Thawne through the warehouse. But he couldn't do it. Barry was running as fast as he could. He had to if he wanted to keep up with his greatest rival, as he chased him throughout the warehouse. Around them, the battle between the heroes of earth and the soldiers of Earth-X continued.
The three of them weaved between people, ducked under bullets flying through the air, and ran up and along walls in an effort to outmaneuver each other. Barry could see that he was closing the gap between him and Thawne. But the longer this chase went on, the further the other speedster fell behind.
The arrival of the speedster that Barry assumed was the ally Kara and Alex had told them about was certainly fortuitous, in that it gave them a second chance. But they were now fighting at a disadvantage. All of them were feeling the effects of being captured and tortured. Not to mention Barry was studiously trying not to think about what Earth-X Oliver might have done to Iris and their friends. "Enjoyed hurting them," was very ominous, and sent tremors of fear down Barry's back. But they had to put that aside if they weren't going to be recaptured.
Chancing another glance over his shoulder he saw the other speedster stop running before he turned his eyes back to Thawne. At that moment, Thawne veered left up and began running horizontally along another wall in an effort to put some more distance between himself and Barry as the red speedster had to shift to redirect his forward momentum.
Probably for the best. I can handle Thawne. Barry thought. He knew Thawne would have to change direction again any second if he wanted to stay ahead of him. If Barry timed it just right, he should be able to cut him off and-
Whoosh
Barry had to push off the wall he was running along to avoid colliding with the other speedsters. Somehow, Paladin had gotten ahead of them, phased through the wall that he and Thawne were running on, and collided with Thawne with the resounding thunderclap of one fast moving object hitting another.
Barry landed on his feet and looked on in shock as Paladin and Thawne landed hard on the floor, rolling over each other in a tangle of black-clad limbs wrapped around a yellow clad torso. Barry wasn't sure what had to hurt more, their bodies hitting the concrete, or each other. Pulling a move like that, he's smart to wear a helmet. But how in god's name did he get in front of us?
Rolling with their momentum, Thawne accomplished getting to his feet as he fought to escape the other speedster, who fought to hold him. Barry watched as Thawne attempted to body throw the other speedster away. This was a mistake as Paladin had managed to dig his claws into Thawne's waist while they both rolled across the floor. With a full body twist and some highspeed movement, Thawne was able to hurtle the other speedster away from him. And Paladin's claws ripped into Thawne's side and left four long bloody gashes from his back and around to his stomach ending right above his hip.
Thawne howled in pain as he fell back to his knees. One hand braced against the ground and the other cradling his torn flesh to try stemming the lifeblood beginning to stain his yellow suit.
Barry turned to look at the other speedster to find him crouched on all fours where Thawne had thrown him. It was hard to make out over the sounds of gunfire and fighting but Barry thought the other speedster was growling at Thawne. Deciding to ignore that, Barry moved to engage Thawne again, but before he or Paladin could take more than a step towards the yellow speedster, another loud crash echoed nearby.
From the center of a newly formed crater, Barry could see their Kara struggling to get to her feet. She managed to roll over onto her front before Overgirl landed behind her and wrapped her arms around Kara's throat in a chokehold. She tried to pull the other blonde's arm away from her throat with no success.
Barry looked back at the other speedster and shouted at him. "I've got Thawne. You help Kara."
The other speedster didn't even hesitate. He darted off to help the Kryptonian.
Barry looked back at Thawne to see his glowing red eyes glaring at Barry, who scowled in return before they both charged each other again.
_o0o_
Kara rolled over in the crater she made with her body. Planting her hands to push herself up. Her determination to rise bolstered by the thought, 'I can't let her win'. Kara knew that without her, Overgirl would mow her team (and Harry this time) down again. So, she had to get up.
She had just succeeded in getting to her knees when a hard tug on her hair wrenched her back with a cry of surprise and pain. The next thing she became aware of was an arm, hard as a steel cable, snaking its way around her throat and constricting. A hand on the back of her head kept her where she was.
Kara didn't need to see her face to know that Overgirl was smiling down at her. This was her plan. They needed her alive so she was just going to choke her till she passed out. She tried to force the arm away from her jugular but succeeded only in wasting what little strength she had. Her vision had almost gone black when the arm was heaved away, and Kara fell forward and gasped for breath. As the black spots vanished from her sight, the sound of something hitting the wall made her look up.
Overgirl had Harry pinned with her hand at his throat. "That is the last time you get in my WAY." She shouted the last word as she raised the fist that wasn't pinning Harry against a wall. Her intent to put it through his skull.
Kara observed in horror what she was certain would be Harry's execution. She could see Harry trying to dig his claws in the arm that was holding him in a last-ditch effort to save himself. But Kara knew it would be in vain. His claws had never been able to hurt her, let alone-
"AHHH."
Her thoughts cut off at the shriek of pain from her double. Kara, Harry and Kara's evil twin all stared in shock at the gashes that had appeared on the other Kryptonian's arm. Looking down at his blood-stained claws, Harry seemed just as shocked that his claws had been able to harm the Kryptonian.
Overgirl was so stunned by Harry's ability to hurt her that she didn't realize she had released him from her hold until it was too late. He recovered first and went back on the attack. She looked up from her bloody arm just in time to see the glint of Harry's claws coming for her face. Her reflexes were good enough that she managed to lean back in an effort to escape the strike, but it was too little and too late.
The noise from the battle going on around Kara faded to nothing. All she heard was the squishing sound of metal meeting flesh foreshadowing the drops of Kryptonian blood raining down, and Overgirl's head lurching to her right with the force of Harry's strike. Overgirl stopped, still as a statue, just like she had when Oliver shot her with a kryptonite arrow. The fact she had been injured not immediately registering in her mind.
When the pain finally hit, water started to gather in her eyes as she squeezed them shut and opened her mouth to scream in pain. She clamped both her hands over the four cuts on the left side of her face that extended from her left ear almost to her left eye. She stumbled back from Harry who tried to capitalize on this unexpected advantage.
Unfortunately, Overgirl rallied and grabbed both of his arms at the wrist and slammed him into the wall again, leaving several cracks in the stone. Little rivers of blood ran down her skin as she snarled at Harry, her face twisted in pain and rage. Her eyes flashed and Kara knew what she planned to do. She had little time to act.
Using what power she had left, Kara rushed to tackle her double, colliding with Overgirl just as two beams of light grazed his suit, leaving a gouge in the leather. Kara didn't have the strength to move her but she did knock her off balance and wrestled one of Overgirl's arms away from Harry. The aforementioned arm shot backward and collided with Kara's face. Kara's head was throbbing, but she didn't let go of Overgirl.
Able to move again, Harry got control of her other arm and the two of them forced her back against the wall. A meaningless gesture as Kara had no strength left to hold her with, and Harry wouldn't have the power to outmuscle her even if she hadn't been throwing him around like a rag doll. With a tremendous heave, she threw Harry into the air away from her. The hand she had thrown Harry with curled into a fist and started to move towards Kara's left cheek when Harry used his superspeed to get in front of it and Overgirl …halted.
For a frozen moment, everything stopped. The loud sounds of gun fire, the crackle of lightning bolts; the whole battle just stopped along with Overgirl. Where a moment ago rage had warped her face into something frightening, now her face was totally blank. As if all emotion had just vacated her body. Then she started to gag like she was moments away from throwing up.
And she did, just not bile. Kara blinked as Overgirl expelled a glob of blood down her chin. Her eyes moved downwards. Kara's followed and both Kryptonians stared at the clawed hand buried knuckles deep in Overgirl's abdomen just below her ribcage. Her eyes moved back up to meet Harry's before she snarled and tried to throw another punch.
Harry moved his arm backwards, ripping his fingers out of her flesh, before thrusting them forward again, adding four more puncture wounds to her torso. Kara and Harry both threw their full bodies into forcing Overgirl's back against the wall she had pinned Harry against. Harry restrained her right arm while Kara held her left.
Quick as a serpent's strike, Harry's arm shot back and thrust forward twice more, bringing the total number of stab wounds to sixteen. Overgirl's suit was almost entirely red from the waist down as blood continued to gush from her torso. The 'queen' of the Nazis was practically hanging limp between the two heroes. Harry pulled his arm back again and raised his claws higher. He took aim at the center of her chest.
Kara saw the fear spread across Overgirl's face as she realized Harry planned to make his next assault the final one. Part of Kara knew that she had many times been where Harry was and had shown no mercy to her victims. And after ending the lives of so many, a part of Kara enjoyed the fact that her evil twin was finally on the receiving end of an execution. But her heart rebelled at the thought of wishing death on another.
Even a Nazi.
She considered stopping Harry like she had with Morrigan Edge, but she never got the chance. "NO!" a loud voice cried out from behind them. Followed by a swift whistle of something cutting through the air before Harry grunted in pain. Then he screamed in agony as he was washed in silver electricity. His form blurred around the edges before his whole body shot the short distance to the wall in front of him. He bounced off the hard surface, only to zigzag in another random direction. He wasn't chasing anything or headed in one direction, just running in circles around the room. It was hard to make out through the flashes of silver and at the speed he was moving, but he seemed to be trying to stop. He only stumbled before glancing off the side of a support beam and falling flat on his face still suffering.
Kara watched as he writhed on the ground in pain. She couldn't understand it. It was like Harry's own powers were turning against him. Then she spotted the black arrow sticking out of his back.
Kara didn't even see the fist-full of knuckles that met her face and sent her rolling away from Overgirl. But from her new spot on the ground, she did see the Fuhrer catch Overgirl as she fell forward into his arms. He rolled her over as gently as he could so that he could see her face.
"No, no, no, no," he chanted as Overgirl tried to catch her breath and ended up gagging on blood. "Stay with me. Did you hear me? Stay with me Kara."
She felt a brief stab of pity for him (for both of them). They might be the malevolent dictators of possibly the worst earth in the entire multiverse but watching him hold her body in his arms and stroke her cheek to make her open her eyes... In that moment he was just a man watching his wife die.
Overgirl's eyes closed, she stopped gasping for breath, and her body went still. He tried to shake her awake. He pleaded with her to open her eyes. But nothing worked. Kara was worried about what was going to happen next. Would he try to kill all of them now that he didn't need Kara alive anymore? Would Overgirl's death cause her to self-destruct at any moment? Prometheus proved they had no problem killing themselves for their cause, would he order his soldiers to kamikaze themselves in an effort to kill as many of Earth-1's heroes as possible?
Kara never got to see what nightmare scenario Nazi Oliver had planned because he had another idea. Almost reluctantly, he reached into a pouch in his suit and pulled out the solar device Lena had given to Alex. He pressed the button on the side and threw it into the air. It went off like a grenade. Only instead of an explosion, a ball of light ignited in midair and the entire warehouse they had been fighting in was illuminated.
Some stopped fighting to cover their eyes. Some turned to see who had triggered it and why. Nazi Oliver watched as his wife's eyes flew open and she started coughing to clear her airway. The dose of yellow sun had acted like an electric shock to her heart.
But Kara didn't care that Overgirl was alive. Or that their Oliver picked her up as he shouted orders to withdraw. Or that Thawne managed to break off his fight with Barry and zip away. All she cared about was that she felt like she could breathe again. As the warm yellow light washed over her, her fatigue melted away. Like invisible chains that had been holding her down just snapped. Free of those weights she didn't just climb to her feet, she rose into the air. She flashed her eyes at the few lingering soldiers and felt smug as they flinched at the sight of her. One of them threw his weapon aside, and pulled something out of his coat. He shouted something in German that Kara didn't understand before holding his hand up and pressing his thumb on the red button of a black remote.
Explosive devices hidden throughout the building began going off. Kara turned from the Nazis who were rapidly sprinting for the nearest exit to locate her sister. She spotted Alex near the center of the room with Sara, both looking around frantically. Their friends were scattered all over the building. There was no way they would get everybody out in time. Alex and Sara both toppled over as a bomb went off nearby destroying a support pillar. The loud groan of straining metal signaled the roof collapsing over their heads.
Kara moved as fast as she could to catch it. She stood over them and raised her hands right as the metal roof landed in her outstretched palms. Her shoulder tightened under the strain, and her knees almost buckled, but she managed to stay on her feet. Explosions were still going off one by one when she saw Barry run under her metal umbrella and deposit professor Stein. He ran back out and came back with Jax and repeated the process with Oliver. Once they were all under the enormous sheet of metal, Kara lowered herself to her knees and balanced the weight on her shoulders.
Then they waited.
After a few minutes the sound of explosions and falling concrete ceased. With a grunt of exertion Kara succeeded in throwing the piece of roof away from them. But the strain left her feeling lightheaded. 'I guess the boost from Lena's device is wearing off.'
"Is everybody o-. Is everybod-," Kara couldn't seem to draw enough air into her lungs to speak. She thought she heard Alex say something but it was muffled like she had stuck cotton balls in her ears. Blackness started creeping around the edges of her vision and she could feel those invisible weights again. This time they were too heavy to lift and they dragged her down to the ground.
_o0o_
Consciousness slowly came back to her. It started with the awareness of the insistent and annoying beep-beep beeping, coming from somewhere in the room. The next thing she became aware of was the scratchy feeling of sterile sheets that had been draped over her. Those two things alone told her she was in Star Labs.
Her eyes slid open and she tried to sit up. She was hindered for a moment by the presence of solar lamps looming over the medical bed she was lying in. Her movements were jerky, clumsy with fatigue, but she managed to gently push them aside.
With that out of the way, she pushed herself up and shifted her legs over the side of the bed. She stopped for a second at the sight of her bare feet. Taking further stock of herself, she noticed for the first time that she was in a sterile gown. Kara gave her head a small shake to clear the cobwebs and pondered this for a moment before realizing; 'of course, they changed me out of my suit. How else would Alex and Caitlin be able to treat me?'
And it was them who treated her. She knew this because if the Nazis had managed to recapture them, she would have been restrained and under guard. Safe in that knowledge, she heaved herself off the bed.
Her footing was a little wobbly at first as she straightened up. She felt exhausted. Which explains why they left me under the lamps. My cells must not have fully recharged.
Recognizing that she was in the slightly more private med lab just down the hall from the Cortex, she made her way in that direction with the intent of finding her friends. Her steps became surer the further she went, but she kept one hand on the wall just in case her fatigue came back. As the open entryway to the Cortex came in sight, Kara began to hear voices. And the closer she got the more she realized that the owners of those voices were arguing.
"-an't be happening. Howcould you let this happen?"
"We didn't letanything happen Lena. We were in the middle of a battle."
"Yes. A battle you were losing until he showed up and saved your asses. Seems to me the least you could do is return the favor."
Kara stepped around the doorway of the Cortex to find Lena and Alex in the middle of the room with all her Earth-1 friends stationed around the room in one big circle. Even the ones who hadn't been invited to the wedding. All of Team Legends and the rest of Team Arrow were present. With the exception of John Diggle.
Even during the Dominator invasion, she had never seen so many superheroes in one place. And they all seemed to be cowed by the tongue lashing they were getting from Lena.
"Lena, I'm sure they did everything they could." Felicity valiantly tried to defend but Lena wasn't interested in any excuses.
"No Felicity. If they did everything they could, he would be here."
"Hey. What's going on?" Kara half shouted to get the attention of everyone present. Which she did.
"Oh my god Kara." Alex immediately abandoned her fight with Lena to see to her sister. "What are you doing up? You should still be in bed." Alex wrapped her arm around Kara's shoulders and guided her to a chair a few feet away. A chair that was inhabited by Caitlin, who promptly vacated at the sight of her patient. As soon as she was seated, Caitlin and Alex both began to examine her. Alex took her pulse while Caitlin shined a penlight in her eyes.
"I'm fine guys. Really."
Alex emphatically shook her head. "No, you're not. Kara, you've been passed out for hours."
Kara nodded at her sister. "Okay, but why exactly did I pass out?"
"Shock brought on by acute hypotension." Caitlin answered in a breath.
Kara looked at her before turning her head to Alex and silently prompted her for a less clinical explanation.
"She's saying you passed out because your blood pressure dropped dramatically."
"Why did my blood pressure drop?" Kara asked turning back to face Caitlin.
Caitlin raised her eyebrows like she couldn't believe she had just asked that question. "You fought another Kryptonian. Got hit with a beam of kryptonite radiation. Had your powers shut down. Fought the same Kryptonian again with your powers drained. Had your powers jumpstarted and then drained again. In short, your system couldn't handle the strain it was put through, so it shut down." She explained, this time avoiding the medical jargon to make it clearer.
"You are so lucky that you didn't solar flare." Alex tacks on, her concern for her sister obvious.
"But you're going to be fine. And we're all thrilled, but Harry isn't so can we please get back to helping him?" Lena interrupted, to Alex's visible annoyance. Thinking the Luthor was being a little flippant about her sister's current condition.
Kara on the other hand, didn't care. As she had just realized that the British speedster wasn't among the gathered heroes. "What's the matter with Harry? Was it the arrow he got shot with? Is he okay?" She asked a little frantically. Her worries only grew when nobody answered her. In fact, the more she talked, the more everybody in the room seemed to avoid looking at her. Everybody except Lena, who just looked angry.
The silence dragged on for a moment, then two, then three. Every second that passed felt like a hand squeezing just a little tighter around her neck. If they were afraid to say, Kara wasn't sure she wanted to know. Finally, the silence dragged on so long that Kara couldn't take it anymore.
"Guys? Where is Harry?"
At last, Oliver did what nobody else seemed capable of. He looked her in the eye and answered. "They took him." Felicity put her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze to remind him that he wasn't alone. She knew he was beating himself up over this. There were few things Oliver excelled at more than self-flagellation. "They grabbed him as they made their escape. They took him Kara."
Kara closed her eyes and clenched her fists in her lap as Oliver's words rang in her head. 'No wonder Lena is pissed, we just let her boyfriend get kidnapped by the bad guys.'
"Okay, so let's go get him back." Now everybody was looking at her. "Let's gear up and go get these guys."
"Kara. It's not that simple." Barry spoke from where he stood with Iris leaning into his side.
Kara could guess what they were all thinking. "Guys, this won't be like the last fight. Metallo has been destroyed and Overgirl was barely alive after the fight. We can take them this time."
Kara was surprised when Lena shook her head. "That's not what they're talking about Kara. We already tried tracking them again and came up with nothing. There were no other attacks, radiation spikes, no sign of them at all."
"We don't know where they are?" Kara summarized in frustration.
"Quite the opposite actually," Wells grumbled from where he was standing with his arms crossed, looking just as downtrodden and guilty as everybody else in the room.
"We know exactly where they are." Cisco stepped into the middle of the room. "With nothing better to go on, I tried vibing them again. Whatever it was they were doing to jam my vibes, they stopped. Either to lure us into another trap, or just to taunt us. We aren't sure which. Problem is we know where they went."
Before Kara could declare that she didn't care if it was a trap, that they weren't going to abandon Harry, Oliver spoke. "They retreated to their home earth. Your friend is a prisoner on Earth-X"
_o0o_
White hot pain shooting into his wrists and thighs jolted him back to the waking world. He thrashed on the cold metal slab in a vain effort to move away from the source of his suffering. The scream of agony was muffled by the mask strapped to his head to restrain his jaw. He tried for a moment to free himself. Tugging on his restraints only made the pain worse, and he couldn't phase his way out.
After some time (felt like hours) the initial shock wore off enough that the pain was at least tolerable. So long as he didn't move. He tried to assess his situation. His suit and gauntlets must have been removed because he could feel cold hard metal pressed up against his back. Thankfully, he could feel that he still had his shorts on, so he was spared the indignity of being naked before his captors.
Looking down he got a glimpse of what was restraining him. The mask that reached from the top of his cheeks to beneath his jaw kept him from being able to move his head more than a fraction of an inch. But he could just see the tip of a metal spike protruding from his bloody forearm. He imagined that spike was attached to the table he was laying on. It had pierced his arm on one side and gone straight through to the other. Pinning him to the table like a bug.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." A sardonic voice speaks to his right but all he could look at was the ceiling. Harry would have turned his head to look at the owner, were it not for the restraints. Fortunately, the bastard moved into his line of sight and leaned over him with a patronizing smile on his face. Like Draco Malfoy before him, Harry hated this man in an instant.
"Indulge my curiosity for a moment. Given all the times you've come back from the dead, has anybody ever said that to you before?"
Harry just glared at him.
"Oh, of course. Where are my manners." He smiled and pretended to slap himself on the forehead in an exaggerated and patronizing 'ah ha' moment. "Hello, my name is Eobard Thawne. Welcome to Earth-X. You could just blink once for yes and twice for no." The now named Thawne, placed his hands on the edge of the table as he spoke. His tone and actions were as casual as if he were chatting with a friend in their home. For his part, Harry tried not to let his trepidation show on his face at the name Eobard Thawne. To show weakness in this situation could make his already dire circumstances worse.
He had heard of this man, but this was the first time he had ever been face to face with him. Thawne's violation of the laws of the Speed Force was even more grievous than his own. This was very bad.
Harry tried to keep his anxiety from showing on his face as he continued to glare at Thawne. He was determined not to let Thawne see how anxious he was being this close to him. The feeling intensified as Thawne put his weight on his forearms and leaned in further, only a few bare inches between them.
"You know, despite the trouble you've caused, I actually feel the urge to compliment you. I've met many different speedsters in my travels. Some from different earths, others from different timelines, but none are as despised by the Speed Force as you. Its contempt for you rivals my own. That takes talent. As somebody who loathes the Speed Force, I salute you." He brought one hand up to his brow before pulling it away in a mocking gesture. His lips spread in a hair-raising smile worthy of Hannibal Lecter.
The hairs on Harry's arms and neck were standing on end. His heart was racing. Harry had stood face to face with a basilisk, stolen an egg from a mother dragon, battled aliens and made a deal with the devil himself, and never had he felt so cornered before. This man was a predator, and if Harry didn't think of something fast he might wind up the evening meal. But he couldn't allow Thawne to know that. Harry was vulnerable enough already, so he only continued to glare.
"Let me ask you a different question: which do you think would look better hanging on my wall, your helmet or your gauntlets?" Harry refused to respond and Thawne pretended to be hurt. "Come on, be a good sport. I was thinking about placing them on a nice mahogany plaque mounted on my wall. Afterall, you're not going to need them anymore?"
That comment lit a fire in his belly. Pain or no pain, fear or no fear, Harry wanted nothing more in that moment than to jump up and bite a chunk off of Thawne's nose.
Thawne laughed at him. "Are you imagining taking a snap at me? Sorry to disappoint, but that would be why we thought it was a good idea to muzzle you." He tapped a finger on the hard metal of the mask over Harry's jaw, and a shiver ran down his back at almost being touched by this sociopath. "You've proven to be as dangerous with your teeth as you are with your claws. Advantages of having an apex predator for an animagus form I imagine."
Harry couldn't keep the surprise off his face this time as Thawne smiled at him. He knew he had gotten to Harry this time when he saw his eyes widen. Very few enemies found out about his animagus form and lived to talk about it. If Thawne was well travelled enough to know about that, Harry worried what else he could know.
Their battle of wills was broken by the sound of doors banging open. Thawne rose off of the table and half turned to look at who had entered. Harry was still stuck looking up at the ceiling.
"Status Thawne." A gruff voice spoke "You worked on her for four hours, if you're out here she had better be alive."
"The operation was a success. She is in stable condition." Thawne bit out an answer through clenched teeth as footsteps indicated the owner of the voice was moving closer.
"She had better be," The other man growled as he moved into Harry's line of sight. He was a tall, well-built man with blue eyes, blonde hair and a full beard. And what Harry guessed was a perpetual scowl on his face. Harry knew this man. He had met a few different versions of Oliver Queen on other earths. He hadn't gotten along with any of them.
Thawne didn't seem any happier to see him.
"What was the damage?" The archer growled impatiently.
"I fixed the internal bleeding, set the broken bones, and stitched up her face. With her healing powers, they shouldn't even scar. She should be out for a few more hours."
"That's not the damage I'm talking about and you know it," Queen growled in disdain. Thawne looked at him with equal condemnation. It made Harry wonder if these supposed allies hated each other or if this just how people treated one another on this earth. "What effect did the added solar radiation have on our timeline?"
"There is good news and bad news there." Thawne hummed. "That quick shot of solar energy you gave her restarted her heart and gave me the time I needed to get her on the table. But the physical harm done to her was extreme. We had to use a large supply of her blood we keep stored for emergencies. That blood was untainted by the excess solar energy and will take time to work through her system. It may have bought us a few extra hours. That still gives us enough time to capture Supergirl and perform the transplant, but it leaves me no margin for error. If anything goes wrong on the table…" Thawne didn't finish his thought. He didn't have to. Everyone in the room knew what he was alluding to.
"Then you had better not make a mistake." Queen snarled at him threateningly. His eyes moved down to Harry who he had largely been ignoring up to this point. "Why is he still alive?" He didn't wait for an answer to his question as he pulled a sword from a scabbard on his back and raised it above his head.
Harry tensed as the blade began a downward arc and he grasped that he was about to be beheaded. Harry had never given much thought to gods. Even back when he had first witnessed magic and mythical creatures and ghosts. Even after he learned of the existence of the Speed Force. It had never crossed his mind that there may be something greater than himself. At least not in the sense of an all-powerful deity. But in the milli-seconds he had as that blade came down, Harry prayed. To whatever god would listen, he prayed that somebody would stop that sword before it reached him.
Shockingly, his prayers were answered by the most unlikely source. A brief glimpse of red lightning heralded Thawne rounding the table and catching Queen's arm.
"We need him alive." Queen jerked his arm out of Thawne's grasp but didn't put away his sword.
"We need him alive." He reiterated. "With the setback he caused we don't have the time to travel back to Earth-1, battle the heroes and retake Star Labs before it's too late. But with him here, we can lure them to us. Our facilities are already prepped, we just have to catch them once they get here."
Queen just shook his head at Thawne's plan. "Why would they risk facing us on our own territory over one man who was foolish enough to let himself get caught?" He knew he wouldn't risk himself or their plans just to save one man. That's why when Tommy was captured he had resigned himself to never seeing his friend again.
Thawne's smile was as condescending as his reply. "Because they're heroes. They're stupid like that."
Queen contemplated that for a moment, his face turning speculative. "How will they know where he is?"
"I've already turned off the jamming devices," Thawne answered with his twisted smile still in place. "Cisco will try to vibe his location and when he does they will come for him. All we have to do is wait for the prey to wander into the trap."
One side of Queen's mouth lifted in some form of a smile. "Be ready when they get here."
With those parting words, he turned and left.
Thawne waited for the sound of his footfalls to fade before looking back at Harry. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Thawne leaned back down on his forearms as he got close to Harry. Again, reveling in the power he had over the bound and gagged Brit. "I hate him." He whispered so only Harry could hear. "The arrogance of that powerless fool thinking he can give me orders. Thinking he is a threat to me." Thawne growled at the thought. "I despise him. Nothing would make me happier than to shred his beating heart in his chest. But for the time being, I need him. A means to an end. Just like you."
Harry's eyes narrowed at what he was hearing. "I couldn't care less about saving the Kryptonian. Or keeping you alive to do it. I just spoon fed him a bullshit excuse I knew he would swallow. I have my own reasons for keeping you alive."
Now he understood what Thawne was implying, and he didn't like where he thought this was going. "I plan to hand you over to your old friend, Zero Sum."
Harry felt his heart go cold and all the blood drain from his face at that name. Thawne chuckled at him. "Oh yes. He and I are old acquaintances. And since I do owe him a favor, I figure handing him you will balance the books. After all, there's nothing in the world he wants more than your head. I wonder if he'll hang it on a yew wood plaque. He would probably find that poetic."
Harry was starting to feel lightheaded. But he didn't think it had anything to do with such unwelcome news. He started to notice something wet and sticky at his fingertips. From the coppery smell in the air, he concluded it was blood. His blood.
Thawne looked down at the blood pooling on the table. "Oh, about that. These restraints are designed to keep the patient on the table. They stem most of the blood loss but not all of it. So, should the patient manage to remove them, they would bleed out in a matter of minutes. Keeping them weak while in our care, and killing them should they try to escape."
Thawne pushed off the table and stood straight before turning and moving in the direction Queen had left in. However, he couldn't resist a parting taunt. "If your friends plan to save you, they had better hurry. Between the accommodations, your hosts and Zero Sum on his way, you don't have a lot of time."
_o0o_
Cisco Ramon raised one hand to remove his vibe goggles from his head. His other hand holding a helmet taken from one of the soldiers that he had been using to help vibe the right earth. Everybody from all the different superhero teams had crammed themselves into the room and were all staring anxiously at him; waiting on tenterhooks to hear what he saw.
"Well? What did you see Cisco?" Iris prompted him.
"He's alive. Thawne just left the room. And it is a trap. They're waiting for us to come and rescue him."
"Which you are going to do, right?" Lena asked the room at large. The almost complete silence that had pervaded the room while Cisco used his powers was giving her too much room to think. And the more she thought about it, the more frightened for Harry she felt.
"Don't worry Lena, we aren't going to leave him there." Kara tried to reassure her friend.
"Woah, woah. Time out." Curtis Holt, also known as Mr. Terrific, held his hands up in the classic T position as he spoke. "For those of us who just got here, who exactly is this guy that we are planning on going to Nazi earth to rescue?"
"He's called Paladin. He's a speedster and a friend." Kara informed them, for once, calling Harry a friend and meaning it. In Kara's opinion, saving her, Alex, Lena and all of their friends on this earth from Nazis went a long way toward smoothing their relationship.
"Wait, your earth has a speedster?" Amaya Jiwe asked. She and the other members of Team Legends had arrived shortly after their return from the warehouse.
Kara shook her head. "No, he isn't from our earth. He was sent there as part of his parole."
This information caught Sara's attention. "What do you mean his parole?"
Kara looked exasperated at having to explain this but seeing as Harry wasn't here to tell his own story she didn't have much choice. "He was the speedster of his own earth. But he broke some law of the Speed Force." Here she looked at Barry, hoping he might have something to add as Harry had never told them exactly what law he had broken. Barry raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing.
"However, instead of turning him into a Time Wraith, he struck a deal with the Speed Force. They would send him to other earths, where he would help however he could until he did enough good to earn his freedom."
"So earlier, when you said he had already moved on from your earth…" Iris asked leadingly.
"He had completed the task he was supposed to complete when they sent him there. Then he was off to the next earth. That was just before we came here for your wedding."
"Good to know he is on our side. When he first showed up I thought I was looking at Zoom. He kind of acted like him too." Iris mentioned, glancing at the helmet Cisco was still holding. The helmet had four deep tears in the metal. Mick, who was standing next to Cisco, looked down at it before taking it out of his hands and holding it at eye level to examine it.
"The guy's a beast." Mick declared with his rumbling voice. Then his eyes widened and his mouth spread in a manic grin. "I like him."
There wasn't an eye in the room that didn't roll at Mick's words.
"How did they catch a guy that vicious?" Dinah 'Black Canary' Drake asked.
"It was weird." Kara started to explain. "The dark archer shot him with an arrow, and it was like his powers went haywire. He started running but couldn't seem to stop. He collided with a wall and a pillar and the whole time his lightning trails weren't trailing him. More like they were attacking him."
"What the hell kind of arrow does that?" Nate Heywood, also known as Citizen Steel, asked.
Felicity shared a quiet look with Oliver before turning apprehensively towards Curtis. He shrugged his shoulders indicating it was her call. Felicity nodded at him as she prepared to bite the proverbial bullet.
"I think we know." She began to explain. "Barry, do you remember when Thawne first revealed himself and you asked Oliver for help in stopping him?"
Barry nodded at her reminder. "Yeah, with Oliver and Firestorm's help, we managed to catch him."
"Yeah, well during that fight Oliver used an arrow on Thawne that was supposed to inject him with nanites."
"Supplied by yours truly." Ray Palmer, also known as the A.T.O.M., smiled like a little kid at getting to add to the conversation.
"Those nanites were supposed to shut down his speed. But they only worked for a few minutes." Felicity continued like Ray hadn't interrupted. "Like Barry said, you guys still managed to catch him, and he got erased from the timeline. We thought that was the end of that. But later, when Zoom came to our earth I realized that we may need something a little more effective and I've been trying to design a better arrow for dealing with not-so-friendly speedsters. And with Curtis' help, we came up with this."
She pulled up the image of an arrow with a cylindrical bulge at the end of the shaft and a two-pronged tip. The computer displayed an exploded view of the schematic of the arrow, showing the circuitry inside. "This is our anti-speedster arrows."
"You guys designed an anti-speedster arrow?" Barry asked apprehensively, getting a better understanding of how Kara felt when she realized Oliver carried a kryptonite arrow.
"Well, design-ing an anti-speedster arrow. We haven't worked out all the bugs yet." Curtis unhelpfully supplied.
"After Thawne beat the nanite arrow and Barry demonstrated the futility of using a tranquilizer arrow on a speedster-"
"Horse tranquilizer arrow." Barry mumbled remembering the incident with the criminal Caitlin had dubbed Rainbow Raider. The last metahuman Cisco would ever let her name.
"We tried making an arrow that had a little more oomph to it. It's supposed to act like a capacitor. It takes in energy from an outside source then it channels that energy into the tip. And since speedsters generate electricity as they run they basically become the battery for their own taser arrow."
"The more they run, the more energy they generate, the more they shock themselves. Yowch," Caitlin summarized with an empathetic grimace.
"That sounds like a pretty effective weapon." Alex interjected. "So, what's the problem with it?"
Felicity shared another look with Curtis and his shoulders sagged as he realized that he would have to answer this time. "It doesn't work."
"What? Why not?" Cisco asked, a little annoyed that a cool project like this had been kept from him.
Curtis continued. "The circuits can't handle the amount of energy they would be conducting. The arrow fries itself before it channels enough electricity into the speedster to cause any harm. We tried to shore them up so they could handle the necessary energy. But the end result was an arrow with a head as round as a bowling ball and almost as heavy. Even Oliver couldn't make a shot with something like that."
"Then how did the Nazis make it work?" Rene Ramirez (aka Wild Dog) asked his fellow Team Arrow member.
"Overgirl," Kara answered for him. "On Krypton we managed to design a clean burning power source that would last for centuries that was no bigger than a softball and could power a city the size of New York. She probably helped them make it so they would have a weapon against Thawne."
"What does any of this matter!" Lena barked at them all. Kara and Alex both looked at her in shock. Lena wasn't known for sudden displays of emotion. "Right now, he is at the mercy of Nazis and one of your worst enemies. And you're all wasting time."
Kara held up her hands in a calming gesture as she tried to placate her friend. "Lena, it's okay. We are going to get him back. Cisco said he is alive and they are keeping him that way. There is hope."
"You don't understand Kara." Lena spoke forlornly as she frantically tried to take a breath. "I held out hope for him when he left. I didn't know where he was, or if I would ever see him again. But I could hold on to hope that he was out there. This time I know where he is, and he's at the mercy of a psychopath, surrounded by Nazis on the most nightmarish earth in the entire multiverse. And I can't do anything to help him."
Lena's lips began to quiver as tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes. She had been trying desperately to contain her emotions since her brother had first turned up to save them. When he ran off to save her friends, she had promised herself that she would take full advantage of his presence here while she could. And when they returned without him, it had been too much. The last week had been one trial after another and the thought of losing her brother-
Lena Luthor had reached her limit.
"I have no hope without you Kara. Without all of you. If you all are unwilling to save him then I have nothing to cling to this time." Lena could feel the tears bubbling up in her eyes much like the emotions spilling over in her chest. Suddenly breathing felt almost impossible, and she allowed Kara to pull her tight against her own chest. For once, she didn't care about the affectionate display in front of others, or how badly they still needed to talk. Right now, she needed her best friend.
Kara held her tighter as she whispered in her ear. In the all-consuming silence of the room it was heard by all. "We will get him back. Do you hear me, Lena? We will get him back."
"Damn right. Dude saved our asses, we aren't gonna leave him with the Nazis." Rene spoke up.
"No, we're not." Oliver's gruff voice agreed. "Which means there is only one option. We're going to rescue him. We're going to Earth-X."
_o0o_
First, let me say please no hate mail for some of the descriptions I used when writing the Nazis point of views. I do not share their point of view, and I'm certainly not a racist. So, when I write things like describing Jax as a "mongrel," that is just me trying to be realistic in my writing. It doesn't mean I agree with the opinion. I did not mean to offend anybody.
Secondly, I want to answer a few PMs I received. I won't mention any names, but you know who you are. I'll start by saying: I did not promise anything. I said I would try and hopefully have this chapter out before thanksgiving. And I sincerely tried to deliver that. But as I have said before: real life has to take precedence over writing.
So, while I'm sorry you guys had to wait a little longer than any of us wanted, sending me inflammatory PM's does not speed things up. It actually made me consider postponing this chapter out of spite, but I realized that would be petty and needlessly punish my friendlier readers who waited patiently.
But you want to know something weird: there are times I actually like getting flames. Because even if your opinion of my story is that my story sucks and you just want to tell me that, you still read the whole thing. I get reviews and PM's from the same readers every time I post (again I won't mention any names, but you know who you are) and all they do is complain and flame me. But I just can't get over the fact that even though they hate my story they keep reading it anyway. When even your critics can't stop reading your work, you have to be doing something right.
If you're trying to imagine what it looked like when they had Harry nailed to the metal table, I imagined it like Wesley Snipes after he was captured in blade 2. I figured blood sucking diseased vampires and Nazis from a parallel Earth might share that same sadistic means of torturing somebody.
And the reason that the Nazis didn't know about Harry will be explained in a later chapter. I have something planned for that information. So, those of you who noticed that little detail, just put a pin in it for now.
With that, I hereby conclude chapter 15. Until next time, good morning, good afternoon, and good night.