Earth 1, Central City

Wally West was out of his depth and he knew it. Unfortunately Mirror Master and Top had realised that even sooner than he did. Top had him staggering from side to side, barely able to keep his balance. Mirror Master was laughing.

''That doesn't look quite fair'' a new voice stated.

Top, who'd joined her partner in seeing the funny side, suddenly found the situation had changed. She screamed, when she found herself suddenly on the ground, entangled in a net. A second later, Mirror Master had the same problem.

''Don't bother struggling'' the cool, deep, voice advised.''My nets have meta-dampening properties.''

Wally turned to look at his rescuer. The person who'd come up behind him was certainly startling - clad from head to foot in black body armour, complete with full face helmet and carrying an impressive array of weaponry. The voice was that of a mature woman.

He knew who she was of course - Lady Midnight, the new Central City vigilante. He wasn't too sure what he should do. She was formidable, frightening, in appearance as well as weaponry but didn't have the standing with Central City Police that he did as a member of the Flash team.

''They're all yours, Kid Flash.'' she threw over her shoulder, as she began to walk away.

''Thankyou'' that sounded a bit lame, even as he said it.

''You're welcome.'' she turned the corner and was out of sight.

She'd first appeared about two weeks ago and opinions were mixed about her. He knew, from Barry, that some of local police rather liked her. All her weaponry was non-lethal. She didn't kill anybody. None of the lowlifes she tackled had been seriously injured. She had some kind of electro-magnetic pulse device that had stopped a couple of getaway vehicles in their tracks. He'd just seen her chosen method of dealing with rogue metas. She also had a stun gun.

Of course, her weaponry was far above what was needed to deal with the lowlifes she was targeting so effectively. There was a lot of speculation about her on social media -some of it wild to the point of crazy. She was a police department prototype - the future of policing being tested on the streets. Or the military were doing the same thing. Conspiracy theorists thought she was the first step in martial law. She concealed her face because she'd been hideously scarred by a mugger - that theory had her out for revenge. She was an alien. She was half-human, half-alien.

Wally knew the truth - from Barry, who had agreed that she could train in Central City - for now. He hadn't sounded overly keen.

X

When Joanne had seemed to want to veto the next phase of the project, they had all stared at her.

''Bear with me'' she began to explain. ''We all know Chronos is going to be hard to beat. You've done as well as you can with the tech side - and what you've done is great - but there's one weakness in your plan. The man inside the suit'' - she held up a hand as Mick seemed about to interrupt ''you're putting Mick up against Mick. Two men who have the same fighting style, the same way of thinking - the other one could be able to read our Mick like a book.''

'''There is that-'' Ray said reluctantly ''but the tech -''

''The solution's obvious'' she went on. ''Give me the suit.''

Mick spluttered ''They - We - can't do that. You're a woman.''

''You've noticed that, have you, lover?''

She realised that he was feeling protective towards her, which was nice but not the main reason for his objection. Inside he was hopping mad about this whole Chronos thing, remembering how he'd been twisted and used by the Time Masters in the original timeline. Taking on and eradicating this Chronos was his chosen way of dealing with the memories.

''Look'' she went on. ''I was a Survivalist - still am in a way. I know weapons. I've had combat training. I know Mick. But the other Mick doesn't know me - or so you tell me.''

''She might have a point'' Ray allowed. Mick glowered at him.

''I don't have to do this alone'' she pointed out. ''If we pick our time and place - I can have Mick, Ray, Nora, Leonard and F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M, for back-up. We take him on together.''

There had been quite a bit more arguing - toing and froing of the same objections - but in the end Mick had reluctantly agreed. Providing she trained, including under his direction. So she'd prowled the streets of Central City, dealing with armed robbers, muggers, pickpockets and so on.

She'd put the Lady Midnight suit through its paces, out in a remote area. Barry Allen had come along and made a few suggestions. Queen had added a few good tactical contributions.

Finally, even Mick admitted she was ready. This had been her final Vigilante outing. Now she had to wait for the rest of the team to come back, so they could plan their Chronos trap.