Chapter 91: Doctor Light
It was two weeks after the Battle of Nanda Parbat that Barry Allen finally made some headway in finding Zoom.
Or, at least something to that effect. After the incident with the League of Assassins, the Justice League separated again to deal with the crime in their hometowns. Barry, as the sole hero of Central City, was left on his lonesome and trying to settle back into things now that he had fully recovered from the beating he had gotten from Zoom and no longer had to deal with League shenanigans.
Having finally fully patched things up with Iris and now with almost no more secrets between them, the two of them had fallen back into their previous rhythm of hanging out every other day and spending one night entirely dedicated to them alone. Eddie was a bit put out, but Barry didn't really care — it was nice hanging out with his best friend again, just chilling around and watching movies and eating out. Occasionally she asked questions about his time with the League and about his career as the Flash thus far, and Barry answered them the best he could.
For the most part, it wasn't hard. Except for the part about Eobard. Iris was understandably disturbed and angered to hear about him. About how he had murdered Barry's mother and framed Henry, how he had murdered the real Harrison Wells and took over his life, about how he had tried to manipulate Barry all his life. They both agreed if that there was one benefit to Barry being lost at sea, it's that it loosened the hold Eobard had over him and gave him the skills he needed to turn the man's plan against him.
Surprisingly, the fact that Eobard was one of Eddie's descendants didn't get much of a reaction out of Iris. She had a hard time believing someone so evil was somehow Eddie's great-great-whatever, of course. Eddie, for all his faults, had a strong moral center and was an honest cop. Even Barry would've found it far-fetched had the information not come from the man's own mouth. But the possibility that the man might be one of her descendants hadn't seemed to cross her mind.
Not that Barry was going to call attention to it. Partly because he knew it wasn't true, and partly because he didn't want to say why he knew it wasn't true. That one final secret was one Barry was going to keep to the grave if he had to. Iris was happy. That was all that mattered.
And honestly, Barry was happy too. Not only did he have his best friend back, but things were finally starting to look up for everyone. Oliver and Laurel had finally gotten together with Nyssa (even if it was something of a long-distance relationship), Talia had been beaten back and wouldn't be a problem for several years, Cisco was coming along on his training and might be ready to start his superhero career and Caitlin and Ronnie were getting married soon. Life was on the upswing.
Except for one thing.
Except for Zoom.
They had been making absolutely no progress in finding Zoom. None. It was like the bastard had dropped off the face of the Earth. There was no activity anywhere that suggested the involvement of a speedster that wasn't Barry, and it was driving him insane. As long as Zoom was out there, as long as the man who broke his back was running around free, Barry couldn't rest. Whether it was from pride or anger or even that little sliver of fear, sleep was fitful and full of dark dreams.
Perhaps that's why the world decided it was time to throw him a bone.
"Flash, we've got a metahuman attack at CCPN."
Flash grunted to acknowledge Vibe's statement before speeding over to CCPN's main building. Already he could tell that something was wrong. The place was blaring with bright light, even when you considered the fact that it was nighttime. Flash held up a hand to shield his eyes, before rushing inside, bursting through the doors.
He quickly took in the scene. CCPN's famous news anchor, Linda Park, was cowering away from a young woman in a black and white jumpsuit, wearing a helmet with a black visor covering her face. The woman turned towards him and then lifted an arm, facing the palm of her hand against him. Flash had a moment of warning, a shout from Linda and a glow from the hand itself before he was forced to throw himself to the side, shielding his head from the blast so he wouldn't be blinded.
Flash rolled himself behind a desk, before drawing a knife. Taking a deep breath, he used his super speed and threw the knife before the woman could react, aiming directly for the visor. While it wasn't able to pierce the glass, the force from the projectile managed to knock off her helmet, revealing… Linda Park?
It was only his years of training that stopped him from freezing in shock. He quickly drew two more knives and aimed it at the Linda-copy's hands, eliciting a shriek from the woman as her hands began to bleed from the two wounds. She was so distracted that Flash was able to easily sneak up behind her and knock her out with a sharp blow to the head. Not taking any chances, he took out a pair of meta-dampening cuffs and snapped them on the metahuman's wrists, then gazed at the woman he had just rescued.
The woman who shared her face with the woman he had just defeated.
As Linda Park gaped at her clone, Flash turned on his comm. "Vibe? Contact A.R.G.U.S. We've got a situation."
"They're identical," Amanda told him, handing Barry the DNA results, "Not even twins could have such close matches for DNA. There's only one difference between them."
Barry narrowed his eyes as he took a look at the results for himself. "Let me guess: an active metagene."
"Yes. My eggheads are going spare — how is that even possible?" It was telling how much this was getting to Amanda. She had lost her usual smug tone for genuine perplexity.
"Are we sure that Linda Park wasn't born a twin?"
Amanda shook her head. "We ran a background check three times and interviewed the woman herself. She's an only child."
Barry clicked his teeth. "Then we have no choice — we'll have to interrogate the meta. Is she awake? Have her wounds been treated?"
"Yes and yes. We've got her locked up in one of the cells and we've kept the cuffs on her in case her she's hiding something nasty with her abilities," Amanda raised an eyebrow, "I take it you want to handle the interrogation."
"The Flash has a reputation," Barry shrugged, smirking, "Might as well use it."
Barry put his Flash suit back on and then walked into the prison wing of Central City's A.R.G.U.S. base. He passed the many cells of meta and non-meta criminals alike, many of whom were also doubling as members of A.R.G.U.S.'s famous Task Force X, better known as the Suicide Squad. Some ignored him, some watched him, some even jeered at him, but none of them dared to contend with his wrath. They all knew how dangerous he was.
Finally, he made it to the cell of the Linda-copy. Unlike all the others, the door had been replaced with a glass barrier, not unlike the cells in the Pipeline. It allowed him a full view of her — upon a closer look, while she was nearly identical to the actual Linda, there were differences. She had more make up on, for one, and her hair was held in place by a headband, preventing any bangs from obscuring her face. She was out of her stylish, futuristic jumpsuit and was now wearing the standard orange one, with her hands wrapped tightly in white bandages.
Flash placed his hand onto the intercom next to the cell door and turned it on, allowing him to speak through the glass while looking at the Linda-copy. While an interrogation was more effective when both participants were face-to-face, Flash decided on this first before they went on the hard route. No need to shed any unnecessary blood.
Right. Since I don't know her character, best way to start is to be blunt. "Who are you?"
The Linda-copy said nothing, only staring neutrally at him.
"You aren't Linda Park, or anyone related to her. Linda is an only child and so are her parents. Your DNA is too close a match for you to just be a lookalike either, and if it weren't for the active metagene they'd be outright identical. So, tell me: who are you? A clone?"
Again, she still said nothing. Flash scowled beneath his mask.
"Look. You aren't getting out of here anytime soon, if ever. You're a metahuman who's caused huge amounts of property damage and tried to murder someone. It will be years before you're going anywhere, so I suggest you start talking. Maybe then you'll get out before your hair turns gray."
Much to his shock, she smiled at that. Flash's scowl turned into a confused frown. "And now you're happy about that. Why—" His eyes widened, "You weren't there to just kill Linda. You were there to replace her."
She remained silent, but that slight twitch in her face indicated that he was onto something. Flash latched onto it and pushed forward. "If you were trying to replace her, then you must have had a reason. What were you trying to do? Were you jealous of her? She's got some claim to fame as a news anchor, after all, though not much since it's local news. Or maybe it's something more sinister."
Another twitch. Flash's mood lifted, and he pressed on. "It is, isn't it? What is it? Were you trying to get your rocks off then disappear and allow her name to take all the blame? Or maybe you were hiding from someone? Someone that knew your name but not you?"
Finally, a real reaction. Linda-copy glared at him, though the hint of fear in her eyes betrayed the truth. "So it's that one. You're afraid. Well, if you tell me everything, I promise to take down whoever you're scared of. Then maybe we can talk about shortening your sentence."
It seemed that was what needed to make her crack. Though not in the way Flash expected. The Linda-copy snorted, as if Flash had just told some hilarious joke. "You wish, Flash."
"What do you mean by that?" Flash asked, voice dark. "In case you didn't realize it the first time, I am a very dangerous man, my dear."
"You are," Linda-copy agreed, "But he's more dangerous than you." The way she said it, it wasn't some bold claim, but rather a matter of fact.
"And what makes you so sure about that?" The Flash asked, careful to mask how unnerved he was.
Linda-copy shrugged. "Because he proved it."
And just like that, it all came crashing down.
"Zoom," Flash hissed with a vein of deep anger.
"Yup. You can threaten me all you want Flash, but you'll never be as scary as him."
Flash glared at her, before he smiled. Linda-copy seemed to sense that, judging by how she slowly began to drop her smirk in favor of an uncomfortable look.
"I might not be as scary as him," Flash started, voice svelte, "but I'm still scary. And in case you've forgotten, Zoom's not here right now. He probably doesn't even know where you are. But I do, and I can do whatever I want with you."
The Linda-copy began to pale. Flash smirked. "I'm a killer too, honey. A professional killer, one that's had years to master the art under the greatest assassin in the world. There are so many ways I could kill you right now that your head would spin from the sheer amount. And many of them, my dear, are very slow, and very painful."
He was bluffing, of course. She was beaten and captured and there was no reason to harm a clearly desperate woman. If she refused he'd just call in J'onn and have him sift through her mind, though hopefully she wouldn't have any mental barriers up that would force J'onn to tear through them.
"So it's up to you," Flash shrugged, "Either you tell me everything you know about Zoom, or I call in some friends and get started on the fun. Well, fun for me — not for you."
Linda-copy gulped. "Fine," she bit out, though it stuttered with genuine fear. "Just don't kill me."
Flash crossed his arms and tilted his head. "As long as you tell the truth and don't try to screw me over, I won't."
The prisoner pressed her lips together. "Zoom brought me here to attack you," she started, "but after I saw some of your exploits on the news, I knew I wouldn't stand a chance. So when I realized there was another Linda here—"
"Wait," Flash cut her off, "Another Linda? Are you saying your name is Linda Park as well?"
The self-proclaimed Linda nodded slowly.
"And you said that Zoom 'brought you here'. Brought you from where?"
Linda gulped. "Another world. Like this one, but different. I think he called it another Earth, whatever that means."
Flash's mind screeched to a halt. Just like that, everything clicked into place.
"You're from a parallel universe," the speedster breathed out in amazement.
Linda bit her lip, not sure how to react to that statement.
"Tell me everything about Zoom and your world," Flash demanded, mind now completely alert, "Now."
When an emergency Justice League meeting at the Hall of Justice was called for the second time this month, many of the members couldn't help but wonder what it was this time. While crime rested for no hero, that didn't mean that there had to be some kind of wide-spanning threat that demanded the attention of the seven greatest superheroes in the world all the time. It was seriously starting to get annoying, and more than one Leaguer was wondering when it was finally going to end.
One look at a stressed and pacing Barry Allen, however, was enough to clue them in that it wouldn't be ending anytime soon.
As everyone seated themselves around the table, some eyed Barry with more than a little worry. "Barry," Oliver started, taking charge as always, "what's going on?"
"I know who Zoom is."
Everyone immediately stiffened at that. "You do?"
"Well, not exactly. I don't know his real identity yet, but I do know where he came from and why we can't find him."
"And why is that?" Kara prodded him, intertwining her fingers in front of her as she put her elbows on the table. "And how did you come across this information?"
Barry sighed. "Recently, I apprehended a metahuman criminal that attacked CCPN, intending to kill the news anchor Linda Park. Normally, I would've just dropped her off at Iron Heights, but I took her to A.R.G.U.S. instead. And this," he took out the remote and pressed a button, showing side-by-side pictures of the two Lindas, "is why."
Everyone blinked. "Barry," Jefferson spoke slowly, "what are we looking at?"
"On the right, is Linda Park. And on the left is the metahuman who attacked her — also named Linda Park."
Astonished looks were exchanged. "How?" Laurel demanded, gazing at the two pictures in trepidation.
"The second Linda, the metahuman, is from an alternate Earth," Barry explained.
"You mean a parallel universe?" Kara exclaimed in shock.
"Parallel universe?" Mari asked, confused.
J'onn frowned. "A mirror world, so to speak. One that is identical to our own, but with distinct differences."
"It's the basis of the Multiverse Theory," Barry added for clarification, "The idea is that all these universes exist in the same space, but they vibrate at different frequencies, allowing them to coexist at the same time. And like J'onn said, they're almost identical but not truly. On this Earth, I'm the Flash. But on another, I could just be a simple CSI. Or maybe a jazz singer. So on and so forth."
"So on this Earth, Linda Park is a news anchor…" Oliver started, catching on.
"… and on another Earth, she's a metahuman criminal," Laurel finished, also beginning to understand.
"Yes," Barry confirmed, smiling.
"So are you trying to say that Zoom is from the same Earth as the second Linda?" Jefferson asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"I am. Apparently on her Earth, Zoom is a powerful metahuman supervillain who has conquered Central City and has all active metahumans under his thumb. She's one of them."
Mari blinked. "But if that's the case, how is she here? And how is Zoom here, for that matter?"
Barry crossed his arms, "According to her, Zoom has the power to open these 'breaches' between earths. He's not the only one either — there's another metahuman working for him called Reverb who can do the same. Zoom sent her to our Earth to kill me, but she quickly realized she didn't stand a chance against me, especially when she learned I wasn't afraid to kill people like Zoom. So she tried to take the place of this Earth's Linda, using her doppelganger's body to fake her death while subsuming the identity of our Linda."
Oliver narrowed his eyes. "That was her plan?"
"Yes," Barry nodded, frowning. "You've realized it too, haven't you Ollie?"
"Realized what?" Kara asked, looking between her two brothers.
"This… Linda-2 was planning to kill her doppelganger and assume her life. And if Barry hadn't caught her, she would've been able to do it easily and all of us would've been none the wiser. What's to stop any of our doppelgangers from doing the same thing to us?"
A suffocating silence followed that statement, as everyone gazed at Oliver in horror.
"You don't mean—" Jefferson cut himself off. It was too terrible to even think about.
"I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to face the facts. We have no idea how long Zoom has been on this Earth, studying its people, studying us. He doesn't even have to replace someone in our inner circles, just someone close enough to keep an eye on us. And that's not accounting for rogue elements like Linda-2, who are willing to kill to get out from under his thumb."
"Then what do we do?" Mari asked desperately, voicing the question for everyone else. "How are we going to separate the fakes from the real things?"
"Simple," Barry said, catching everyone's attention, "We use questions about our pasts that can't be easily answered. They can't know everything about us, after all."
"And what of people who aren't a part of the League?" J'onn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We can't tell anyone who isn't in the know yet," Oliver noted, pressing his fingertips together, "It would just bring too many questions that can't be answered right now. But we should tell those who are in the know and prep questions for them as well, just in case."
"And after that?" Laurel asked, voice bleak. "When does it end?"
Barry scowled. "It ends when we take down Zoom."
Another silence followed that statement.
While it sounded simple, everyone present knew the task ahead was anything but.
First chapter of Act III! Finally, the Justice League is catching up to what's going on. Alas, the troubles ahead are going to bring them to the brink, and when it's all over, none of them will ever be the same.
As to why Linda-2 didn't attack Barry, unlike in the show, she saw the Flash's exploits and realized that if she tried there was nothing stopping Barry from killing her in self-defense, since he's been known to do it before. And if she didn't try to kill Barry, she'd be killed by Zoom instead. Either way she was screwed, so she tried to take a third option and replace Linda-1.
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