Hi everyone. Yes, big surprise, I decided to post a new chapter today. I had a day off during the week. So I took the opportunity to write the sixth chapter.
Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 6:
The whole city of National City was in awe. Instead of a magnificent blue sky, it was a red sky that radiated the whole city. Including the sun.
Once back at DEO, faces defeated, Alex turned to Brainy, while John, stunned, wondered:
"What happened to the sun? Why is it red?"
"Technically, our sun is fine and it's still yellow," said Brainy.
"So why is the sky red?"asked Mia.
The Coluan had an image of Earth seen from space shown with dotted lines touching part of the planet.
"In reality, we see the sun through a magnetic force field emitted by a series of satellites that surround the Earth. This force field filters our sunlight, in such a way that only red waves reach us."
"It has happened in the past," added Alex. "Lex Luthor had worked it out to eliminate Superman."
"How is this red sky bad for Kryptonians?" Connor asked.
"I get my powers from the yellow sun from Earth," said Supergirl.
"And without yellow sun, you have no powers," finished Mia, shocked. "Another shot from Leviathan to reach Supergirl."
Oliver walked over to Brainy.
"And you can't reprogram these satellites to make this red sky disappear?"he asked.
"Unfortunately not," replied Alex. "These are military satellites that reprogram at any time. I don't understand how they were able to hack their system. Leviathan could never have done that!"
"They wouldn't, but William could," Mia replied with a shattered look. "He's a computer genius, he could very well have had access to these satellites and produce this magnetic force field."
"Do you think Leviathan forced William to do this?" asked the Kryptonian.
"That would explain why they would have removed it," added Oliver, nodding.
"How can these people force William to do this?"exclaimed the archer angrily.
"Maybe we didn't give him a choice," replied John.
"Anyway, we're no more advanced to find him," continued the young girl from Green Arrow.
In the Leviathan headquarters, William was sitting in front of a large computer. He'd access to any satellite whatsoever. He could navigate where he wanted… If he hadn't been held captive, he would have been happy to be there. Only he had been forced to hack military satellites to produce a red sky, preventing the sun's rays from reaching the city of National City. Supergirl was therefore vulnerable.
Margot came to see him.
"William, thank you again for this beautiful outdoor show! Supergirl is now easy prey with this red sun."
William just growled in anger as an answer.
"This isn't personal, you're serving a great cause for humanity."
"You keep me here against my will, you force me to be your geek and I should smile and dance the jig? No thanks!" said the sarcastic young man to him.
"Don't forget that if you disobey us, your sister and your friend will not live long enough on this Earth," reprimanded the old lady. "Their lives are in our hands."
"I'm not going to forget it," said William with a dark look.
"Think of all we could do together, William. Overcome misery in the world. Punish the murderers. All the humanitarian causes we could undertake. Even make your future better. Leviathan is powerful!"
"No kidding, so powerful that you need me to defeat the Girl of Steel!"the young man mumbled mockingly.
Then Gemma came back to them.
"Margot, our guest has arrived," she announced.
"Very well," replied the old lady, delighted.
Then a tall man came into the room. He was a very imposing man, who wore a metal arm on the left side. But when William met his eyes, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in terror. This man was the perfect double of Ricardo Diaz, a deadly enemy of Green Arrow. William hadn't forgotten that face the day Diaz threatened him and Felicity in an ARGUS hideout.
"This is Ricardo Diaz, a brand new member," announced Margot with a grin.
"It is an honor to serve Leviathan," replied the man with a sinister smile.
He brandishes his metallic arm in the air.
"I've dreamed of taking revenge on the Kryptonians for years. Since I lost my arm because of Superman. I can thank Lex Luthor for this wonderful gift. He and I shared the same hatred for these Krypton monsters."
"Rest assured that you will have your revenge, Mr. Diaz," replied Margot.
Then Diaz turned to William, who was stunned.
"Thank you very much kid, for helping us eliminate this Kryptonian vermin," he threw him.
William was far too shocked to answer, which amused the man with the metal arm.
"That looks like you saw a ghost."
William stammered, still frozen in amazement:
"You look a lot like someone I met once. A person who wanted to kill me!"
Diaz laughed before retorting:
"I'm very flattered. You better do what you are asked. Or else, your little sister will experience a very painful death."
The young man of the future was stunned. He had to quickly find a way to escape from Leviathan.
In the DEO building, Oliver stood in front of the balcony watching the city under the red sky. Supergirl came to see him.
"Brainy is looking for all of Spielman's contacts, and seeing if one or more of them are related to Leviathan," she explained to him.
"You shouldn't be outside, that's dangerous for you," Oliver said without looking at her.
"It's just a red sky, no kryptonite," retorted the kryptonian.
"But you have no powers! Someone could easily kill you!"
"Oliver, I'm not a damsel in distress. Whether I have my powers or not, I'm Supergirl, and I'm not going to let Leviathan intimidate me. They hold your son. I intend to show them that I am not afraid of them."
Oliver finally turned his gaze to her.
"You are really brave."
Supergirl smiles a little, before retorting:
"Actually, I wanted to see how you were doing. I imagine it must be disturbing for you..."
"It is not the first time that William is targeted," answered the archer of Earth – 1. "At each meeting, there is always someone to kidnap him. First there was Damian Darhk, then Adrian Chase… each time because of me. To reach me. Because I'm Green Arrow or Oliver Queen. I know how to handle enemies more powerful than me, but when it affects one of my children… the fight is hard…"
"Except this time, it's not because of you. Leviathan detains William because they are trying to reach me," Supergirl pointed out to him. "Because of me."
"Kara, I'm grateful for what you did with Mia and Connor. And I don't want you to blame yourself for the kidnapping of my son. We will find him."
"I imagine it must make you weird to meet your children of the future. Especially Mia."
Oliver frowned.
"Why Mia?"
"Since you left after her birth, and that she had to grow up without you, without ever meeting you once."
The archer looked stunned, then the Kryptonian hastened to answer:
"She was the one who told me. She told me that you left her and Felicity in a cabin, and that you never came back. She also told me that she didn't have a simple life. Oliver, what's going on? Why would you have abandoned your own child? It doesn't look like the Oliver I know."
"You don't know me, Kara."
"Maybe not all, but I got to know you. When we first met, I wondered what Barry saw in you, and I finally get it. And I'm sure this Oliver would never have left his wife and daughter behind him. So why would you do such a thing?"
Oliver returned his attention to the city of National City, before replying:
"I left with the Monitor, - Mar Novu… do you remember him?
"Of course I remember, what's going on?"
Oliver then told him that Mar Novu, the cosmic being of divine essence had come to find him in the chalet, and that he had forced him to leave to save the Multiverse from a future catastrophic Crisis.
Kara looked dumbfounded.
"Why did you do that, Oliver? Why didn't you call me or even Barry? We could have helped you!"
"Barry and you weren't supposed to know. I joined him because I made a deal with him last year."
"A deal?" Kara exclaimed, eyes wide with amazement.
"Last year, when we faced Deegan, Barry and you, were destined to die. I couldn't accept that. So I asked the Monitor to save you and exchange, I had to join it to prevent the Multiverse from disappearing. He saw me die, and he told me it was inevitable. I chose this option, rather than Barry and you have to die.
The Kryptonian was very shocked by all these revelations. She didn't know if she should be angry with Oliver or sad that he had to make such a sacrifice.
After a silence, she asked in a trembling voice:
"Barry knows?"
But she was sure her friend was not. Otherwise, he would have told her about it.
"No, he doesn't know anything. And it's better like that," replied Oliver.
"Better that way?" Supergirl exclaimed, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "So, you sacrificed yourself… Mia spent her whole life without meeting or knowing her father… to save us, Barry and me?"
"I did what I had to do, Kara," replied the archer in a neutral voice.
"You didn't have to make this choice! That's... I can't believe it! Rao, that's so..."
"If I had to do it again, I would definitely do it again," added Oliver.
"And Mia, have you thought of her? What did she go through without you? How can you do this to him?"
"Of course I thought of her!" Oliver got carried away. "What do you think? How easy was it to leave her? And leave Felicity? I think about that every day since I left the cabin! Barry and you represent the light, you are heroes. The ones the world needs the most. If someone has to die, it's better to be me, rather than the two of you. And for Mia… I'm sure everything will be fine for her."
Supergirl had always gone up.
"You were wrong to hide that from us!" she retorted.
"I did what was right, I don't have to justify myself to you," Oliver replied dryly.
Neither of them realized that Mia had listened to them behind them. And she was very shocked. Then she seemed to think.
Still in front of a large computer, William reflected on his assets at his disposal. He had in front of him a computer tool allowing him to have access to practically everything. He had to use this fabulous technology to send a signal of his position. If he could reach Supergirl... The National City superhero might have had a team to assist him, like Green Arrow and Flash. It would be possible that his message reaches them, if he used the satellites that projected the red sky… He had to send a coded message to report his position, and then, manage to create a portal that would bring them towards him.
He looked behind him. Margot, Gemma and Diaz were talking to each other, in their corners. None of them paid attention to him. It was time to act. Very quickly, he threw himself on the keyboard and typed his message and clicked send.
In the DEO, while all the officers were trying to track Leviathan, Brainy got up from his chair and called the manager.
"Madam Director! We've just received a message from one of the satellites projecting the red sky!"
Alex looked stunned.
"A message?"
"Yes, a strange message."
His call caught Connor, John, Mia, and then Supergirl and Oliver.
"And what is this message?"asked Mia, intrigued.
Brainy activated a key and a message appeared on the DEO control screen:
"Blackstar, I'd love to talk!"
Supergirl frowned. Oliver, John and Alex were surprised.
"Blackstar?" exclaimed the Kryptonian.
"What does that mean?" John Diggle wondered.
Mia, on the contrary, was thrilled. She exclaimed:
"That's William! He's sending us a message! William gets in touch with us!"
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"How do you know? asked her father, curious.
"What is it, Blackstar?" asked Alex.
"Blackstar, it's me," explained the excited young archer. "It's a pseudonym that I took when I acted in hiding in the future. And this sentence: "I'd love to talk!" this is the first thing I said to William, when we first met! I'm telling you, it's William speaking to us."
"Right," Connor confirmed. "Blackstar was an assumed name for Mia."
"So William would have been able to communicate with us using one of the satellites that emit the red sky," Brainy explained.
"So you have to let him know that we got his message," hastened to intervene Kara.
"Brainy, answer him," Alex ordered.
"Just tell him OK," added Oliver thoughtfully.
The Coluan complied and wrote the answer.
William was relieved. His message had reached its goal. He launched a new message.
"My God!" exclaimed Mia, reading the answer on the screen. "He sends GPS coordinates, and says he can open a portal for us to reach."
"Not so fast, Mia!" Alex intervened. "How can you be sure it is not a trap? That seems too easy!"
"Alex is right," answered the archer of Earth – 1. "Who tells us that it is really William who speaks to us?"
Mia seemed scandalized before retorting:
"He just pronounced Blackstar and the words I said to him, the day of our meeting. Leviathan may have knowledge about us, but certainly not about details like that."
"There is a 91% chance that Leviathan won't be able to learn about these very personal details," added Brainy.
"Thank you, I'm starting to love this guy," exclaimed Mia at the Coluan.
Then the latter continued:
"However, if we want to save him from Leviathan, given the little information we have about this mysterious organization, our chances of success without the powers of Supergirl are almost zero."
"So that red sky has to go," Connor said.
Supergirl sighed, while Mia turned to Brainy:
"William knew how to hack satellites to create this red sky. He may be able to make it go away. We would have to ask him to erase this red sky so that Supergirl can help us."
"Mia, I keep saying it's a big risk," said Oliver. "We can't afford to go headlong like this."
"I agree with Mia," replied Supergirl, nodding. "That's all we have as a lead to find William. We would be foolish not to take this opportunity."
Mia glanced triumphantly at the Girl of Steel, while Brainy wrote the message to William.
He had a wait, and the OK response appeared on the screen.
"This is gonna work!"launched the young archer.
Alex and Oliver were unconvinced, while Supergirl approved of the girl of the future.
"Like daughter, like father," muttered Alex to the archer.
"I don't know if she really got her personality from me," Oliver said simply. "Maybe she got it from Felicity."
"I assure you, even Kara can be stubborn."
Oliver couldn't help but chuckle.
"I noticed," he replied.
William had to make the red sky disappear, so Supergirl could intervene to deliver it. It was doable, but provided you did it quickly. Immediately, the red skies disappeared, he would suffer the wrath of Leviathan.
But it was a risk to run.
Immediately, he strummed keys on the keyboard. Quickly, the red sky took on a blue color with a magnificent yellow sun.
"The sky is back to normal!"cried Connor.
"Even the sun," added Mia, excited.
Then a vortex erupts in the center of the WD checkpoint.
"It must be the portal," Supergirl announced.
"So we're going to get William back!" Oliver said, putting his green hood back on.
"Let's go!" added Alex, taking a weapon with her.
William had just finished activating his gate, when someone made him turn around suddenly. He discovered Diaz in horror.
"What did you just do, kid?"he cried, outside of himself.
"You have just made a serious mistake, William, which will have serious consequences," said Margot with a grim look.