Chapter 93: Court of Law
Barry hummed as he carried his customary bag of Big Belly Burger into CCPD's 1st Precinct, following the familiar route to Joe's desk. He paused, however, when he saw a familiar and unexpected face.
"Laurel?"
Laurel turned around and smiled at him. "Barry!"
"What are you doing here?" Barry asked, stepping forward so they could exchange a one-armed hug.
"A case for CNRI," Laurel explained, "there's a whole jurisdiction issue with the evidence and everything and I'm just here to clear it up with Central's DA. I just met with her, in fact, so if you want to hang out later, I'm free."
"I'd love that," Barry said, smiling. While he obviously wasn't as close to Laurel as Oliver and even Kara were, he still considered her a close friend and a valued teammate. "Meet me at Jitters in two hours. That's when Iris gets off work, so she can join us there too."
"Great!" Laurel turned to leave. "It was nice seeing you Barry!"
Barry returned the farewell before continuing on to Joe's desk. There was Big Belly Burger that needed to be inhaled.
"This is so good," Laurel moaned, almost orgasmically, as she drained her latte like one would a shot.
Barry smirked, taking a sip of his own coffee as Laurel filed into S.T.A.R. Labs. "I'm glad you like it. I assume you're something of a connoisseur considering your job?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. Coffee is a law student's lifeblood, Barry. I would've never survived college without it."
"Duly noted," Barry acknowledged as they entered the main elevator. When the door opened, Laurel frowned as she glanced around the many construction apparatuses dotting the hallway.
"I know this place is usually empty, but to me it feels emptier than usual, if that was even possible."
"Eh, it's not just you. Caitlin and Ronnie have been spending less time here because of the wedding, and Cisco sent notice yesterday that he was going to visit his family for the next couple of days."
"And you're okay with that?"
Barry shrugged. "It's not like I need the backup all that much, and it's better than listening to Cisco constantly whining to me to let him go out in the field."
Laurel looked at him quizzically. "Why is it you're not letting him go out on the field? His stint in Detroit while we were dealing with the Shadows went well, all things considered."
"Well, for one thing, we had to convince him to wear something that actually covered his face while he was out fighting crime as Vibe," Barry noted, sounding very unimpressed.
The Black Canary winced. "Yeah, that was a poor judgment call."
"It was a terrible judgment call. If we had to advise on something as simple as identity concealment, then I don't feel comfortable letting him go out there on his own."
"You could stick it out there with him, like Ollie does with me."
"Perhaps, but honestly, not until he grows up a little. He still sees this whole venture as one big game, and that kind of attitude is going to bite him in the ass if it continues."
Laurel opened her mouth to argue Cisco's case a bit more, perhaps out of solidarity with another aspiring hero, but an alarm from the computer cut her off. "What was that?"
"Meta-alarm," Barry explained, zipping towards the monitors. "A meta is attacking a refinery south of the city. Two metas in fact, judging by these readings."
Laurel frowned. "Are you sure you'll be fine handling them on your own?"
"I'm sure, but a little backup wouldn't hurt, just in case."
"It's too bad I left my suit at my hotel room—"
WHOOSH!
Laurel sighed, as she felt her Black Canary suit appear in her hands. "Seriously Barry?" Not waiting for an answer, she walked off to quickly change. Barry simply shook his head and smiled.
Since Black Canary didn't have her bike with her, she had to content herself with being carried in the Flash's arms, and gladdened herself with the fact that her boyfriend was so understanding. And the fact that said boyfriend was the surrogate brother of the man currently carrying her. The last thing she needed to deal with was a jealous significant other.
They made it to the refinery in standard record time, and their arrival was punctuated with confusion. Despite the alarm, the place looked completely deserted and largely intact. Or as intact as any abandoned industrial center could be. Already, both Canary and Flash felt sinking feelings in their guts.
"Flash…"
"I know," Flash grunted. "This is a trap."
"Brilliant deduction, Flash."
Immediately, both heroes whirled around to be greeted by a most horrendous sight. Zoom, the evil speedster from an alternate earth that had defeated and humiliated the Flash so many weeks ago, was standing before them. Blue lightning arced around him, highlighting the dark, depthlessness of his coal black eyes.
Beside him, a woman in a black leather suit with coattails and long black sleeves. Around her neck was a black choker, and she wore a mesh mask that covered her entire face, revealing only her eyes and her long, flowing platinum blond hair. This must be the second meta, Canary thought as she drew her tonfas. She didn't stand a chance against Zoom, but perhaps she could take out this meta at least before contacting Supergirl for help.
Flash was already taking out his beacon to do exactly that, but before he could press the button, Zoom bum-rushed him and knocked it out of his hands. The two speedsters soon began their duel, leaving Canary all by her lonesome with the other meta. Canary quickly took advantage of the situation, twisting her tonfa in her hand as she moved forward to strike.
The woman blocked it, surprisingly enough, and retaliated with a punch that Canary quickly dodged. Another spin, another strike, another block, and soon they were in their own elegant dance, a deep contrast to the haphazard running around by their male counterparts. She's good, Canary quickly judged after another one of her strikes was blocked. Whoever this meta was, she had extensive training in hand-to-hand combat. Almost as much as Canary, if the vigilante hazard to guess.
But let's see how she deals with this. With that thought, Canary electrified her tonfas, causing them to spark not unlike the adversary her comrade was currently facing. Her opponent hesitated at that, and it cost her — Canary swung true, and the block her opponent made sent her reeling back, clutching her arm in pain. Canary followed up with a kick to the face, and then another kick, and then dropped down with a leg sweep. The meta fell to her back, and Canary moved in for the finishing blow.
Then, the meta did something expected. She lowered the bottom half of her mask, and screamed.
Loud.
Canary collapsed in pain as wind rushed past her, sending her loose hair flying. She dropped her tonfas in favor of trying to block out the sound with her hands, covering her ears as tightly as she could. But it was fruitless. The sound was too loud, and her ears continued to ache, almost to the point of bleeding. It was completely disorienting to her, and she fell to her back, her entire body twitching.
Suddenly, the screaming stopped. Before Canary could find relief in that, the meta appeared before her, and the vigilante could just feel the smirk on her opponent's face.
"Poor little Canary," the woman said with false sympathy and sweetness, holding up a hand to mockingly wiggle her fingers in a goodbye wave. "Bye bye, birdie."
She then reared her right foot back, and Canary only had time to close her eyes before she was struck into unconsciousness.
When Laurel woke up, she was in civilian clothing again, her Black Canary suit and tonfas nowhere to be seen. Her bleary eyes slowly came back into focus, and she had to restrain herself from reeling back at her new surroundings.
This place, wherever it was, was not for the faint of the heart. Laurel had seen some pretty terrible things since first becoming a vigilante, some as recently as the last month or so, but this… this was just sick. The room was dimly lit, there were chains and cobwebs everywhere, the colors were dark and gloomy — it, plainly, looked like a serial killer's lair. Laurel would know, she had spent enough time studying criminal law to recognize the hallmarks of one.
And Laurel, Laurel was stuck in a cage of her own. Some kind of cell, with strong, glass-like material securing her inside. She looked around the room some more, spotting more cells like hers. Prisoners? she wondered. Was she the only one? Or were there others?
"Laurel?" A voice cut in, giving her her answer.
"Caitlin?" Laurel gasped out as the prisoner of the cell across from her walked out from under the shadows. Caitlin Snow, in torn, ratty clothes and dirt covering her face. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been here for the last couple of weeks," Caitlin explained tiredly. "And I'm not the only one."
"What—? Who else!?"
Caitlin simply looked to her right. Laurel glanced at the following cells, and blanched. Ronnie, Professor Stein, and Cisco, all in different cells, all in differing states of disarray.
"You three as well?" Laurel gasped in realization. "Then that means, the ones we've been interacting with lately—"
"—were their doppelgangers," Barry groaned out.
Laurel finally glanced at the cell next to hers, seeing that it contained her ill-fated crimefighting partner. Barry still had his vigilante suit, but it was crumpled into a ball next to him, replaced with normal clothing. There was some faint bruising on his face that was already beginning to heal. However, the fact that he was laying on his back and in clear pain did not bode well.
"Barry," Laurel asked cautiously, kneeling over to the barrier separating their cells. "Did Zoom… you know?" She gestured to her back for good measure.
"No," Barry shook his head, "He didn't this time. He sure as hell wasn't gentle, though. You?"
Laurel slumped her shoulders. "I was winning the fight, I had her on the ropes and everything, but right as I was about to knock her out, she… screamed."
"Screamed?"
"It's not what you're thinking Barry. Her scream—it's her metahuman power. It was so loud and piercing and powerful too. Sent dust flying along with my tonfas, made my ears bleed. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be those sonic booms Supergirl occasionally makes when she's flying. She was like some kind of… banshee."
"Siren, actually."
Everyone's attentions were immediately drawn to the new arrival. Laurel scowled when she saw it was the same metahuman she had just been talking about with Barry. The woman that had knocked her out and, presumably, stripped her of her suit. God, what Laurel wouldn't give to clock her a new one.
"Black Siren," the woman continued, heedless of Laurel's dark thoughts. "But I think you know me by another name."
Laurel's scowl deepened, and she was about to retort, only to freeze when the woman removed her mask, finally revealing her face.
"Laurel Lance," Black Siren smirked, gesturing to herself, "meet Laurel Lance."
"No way…" Laurel stepped back in shock and horror, staring into what was unquestionably a mirror image of her own face.
"Surprised to see me?" Black Siren held out her hands, showing off the curves of her body.
"Immensely," Laurel bit out. "How? Why?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Siren retorted mockingly. "Thanks for the suit, by the way. It'll make a nice costume when I meet up with your Ollie."
It took a moment for the statement to register in Laurel's mind, but once it did, the vigilante's face morphed into a look of pure rage. "You bitch! You stay the hell away from him or I'll—"
"You'll what?" Siren cut her off, sounding amused. "In case you haven't noticed, you're in there, like a little caged song bird, and I'm out here, free to wreak havoc. I wonder if your Ollie kisses as well as mine did?" She adopted a mock thinking pose.
Laurel let out an inarticulate scream as she began to repeatedly slam her fists against the front wall of her cell, throwing out a steady stream of threats that sounded shocking coming out of her mouth. Siren simply laughed at her fit, taking great joy in her distress.
"Screwing around with the prisoners again, Siren?"
"Like you don't enjoy it yourself, Reverb," Siren easily retorted as a lookalike Cisco entered the scene. The actual Cisco clenched his fists as his doppelganger glanced at him, smiling smugly.
"True. How's it going in there, Francisco?" Reverb tossed to the other man, who scoffed and looked away.
"Ah man, did you guys start without us?" And there was Not-Ronnie and Not-Caitlin. Barry frowned when he saw there was no doppelganger of Stein with them, thinking back to when he had picked up Cisco from Detroit. Ronnie had claimed that Stein had a thing with his family, which was why he wasn't there with the couple to meet with their friend. If that had been when those two had replaced his friends…
"Where's your Stein?" Ronnie asked, formulating the question before Barry could.
Not-Ronnie smirked. "In here," he tapped his chest, "Don't bother asking for him, though — I haven't heard his voice in years."
Ronnie grit his teeth, while Stein, in the cell next to him, paled dramatically. That would probably make the next few merges awkward. Provided they ever got the chance to merge again.
Don't think like that, Barry.
"You're all kind of pathetic, aren't you?" Not-Caitlin said, turning around slowly to observe them all, lingering particularly on her own doppelganger, who couldn't help but flinch away. It was only to be expected; Caitlin was kind, a sweet woman who wasn't much for violence. Her doppelganger obviously was.
"What did you expect, Frost?" Reverb snorted. "Their entire earth is pathetic. Did you see how primitive it was compared to ours?"
"Here, here," Not-Ronnie saluted to that.
"Enough."
And just like that, everything stopped.
The previously smug and triumphant doppelgangers stiffened as Zoom burst into the room, leaving a brief wind in his wake. They all backed away, bowing their heads deferentially to the speedster. Zoom ignored them all in favor of observing the prisoners, just like Frost had, dismissing each of them one by one until his eyes finally landed on Barry.
The moment they made eye contact, Barry made to stand up, trying not to wince in the pain his body was in. He walked towards the front of his cell, standing face-to-face with Zoom until only the glass barrier was separating them.
"Flash."
"Zoom," Barry said evenly, though no one could mistake the sheer loathing beneath his voice.
"Don't bother trying to get out. These cells are made out of carbyne. No metahuman can escape them."
"Really? So a normal human could?" Barry asked, half-sarcastically and half-wonderingly.
Instead of answering, Zoom began to vibrate. Everyone watched in shock as he phased through the carbyne barrier. Barry only managed to back away half a step before Zoom began punching him at sonic speed again and again and again.
"BARRY!" Laurel shouted in panic. The other prisoners also started shouting, all either calling out for Barry or screaming at Zoom to stop. After a minute, the speedster did, dropping a wheezing Barry to the ground. Barry clutched his sore body as Zoom once again phased through the carbyne barrier, exiting the cell.
"Don't bother trying to escape. Even if you do, you're never getting home," Zoom warned his enemy before turning his attentions to his henchmen. "Let's go," he ordered.
"Wait!" Zoom glanced back at Barry, who had dragged himself towards the carbyne barrier, using it to support himself so he could sit upright. "Why are you doing this? What the hell are you planning? What do you want?"
Zoom's stitched mouth creased into a sick grin. He went back to Barry's cell and crouched down so he could look down at a defiant Barry. "What I want… is your world, Flash."
Barry narrowed his eyes. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
"You'll see."
With that said, he sped away. Reverb followed his lead by opening a portal, and the doppelgangers threw their prisoners some last parting smirks before exiting into it to God knows where. The entire room grew dim again as the portal closed, and everyone soon turned their attentions back to Barry, looking at him in concern.
"Barry?" Laurel gingerly touched the carbyne barrier separating her and her friend, as if it were Barry himself.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Barry waved her off, wincing. "I'm already beginning to heal. Man, does that bastard hit hard."
"Good," Laurel said in relief, then began looking around again. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"Don't look at us," Cisco said before she could ask. "We've already tried everything. I even blasted this thing with my powers. No dice."
"I'll get us out," Barry interjected, wincing again.
"But how?" Stein asked, Ronnie crossing his arms beside him.
"Zoom just showed us, remember?"
Caitlin blinked. "You mean the phasing? You think you can do that? Even with us?"
"Once I've healed enough, yes. But what worries me is what happens afterward. He said that even if we escape, we won't make it home."
"What do you think he meant by that?" Laurel asked, biting her lip in worry.
Barry shook his head. "I don't know. But it can't be anything good."
Everyone exchanged worried looks at those ominous words. That did not bode well at all.
"It doesn't matter, though," Barry continued, "we still need to get out of here. The world depends on it."
"You think the others can't handle it?"
"Not if they don't know there's anything to handle. And even if they do, not even Kara or J'onn can keep up with Zoom. And if they can't catch him…"
"… then we're all doomed," Laurel finished, letting out a shuddering breath. Barry was right. This was not good.
Not good at all.
I love writing Zoom, especially his interactions with Barry. My intention is to make his animosity with Barry in this timeline more of an actual rivalry than it was in the show, eclipsing even his enmity with Eobard Thawne. Don't worry though, Thawne will still be a major enemy for Barry in the future, I can assure you.
Obviously part of it is because Zoom is my favorite Flash villain, as I've said before. But another reason is because in this universe Barry actually hates Eobard less than he does in canon. Sure, Thawne killed his mom and framed his dad for it, causing his first life-defining tragedy, but as I said — it was his first tragedy.
Since then, Barry has had many, many more, some of which considered even worse than what happened to him that night (mind-numbing torture by Wintergreen, anyone?), including the loss of a mentor and two more parental figures (even if one of them came back). When it comes down to it, Thawne was just the first in a long line of people that have screwed him and his family (adoptive and otherwise) over. The only reason Barry was interested in him was because he wasn't properly punished and because his dad was still in prison. Once Henry got out and Thawne was out of the way and out of mind, Barry stopped concerning himself with him.
Another reason is because Thawne never got Barry to trust him or care about him. Sure, Barry sort of liked him despite himself, but for the most part their entire relationship was basically Barry waiting for the inevitable betrayal. They both knew what was going on, they were just waiting for the shoe to drop.
With Zoom, it's going to be different. Zoom actually got one over Barry, by himself. He humiliated Barry in front of the entire world, managed to plot his way into Barry's city with Barry being none the wiser. And we all know how much this Barry prides himself on his paranoia and his intellect. Barry hates the guy not only for threatening his city, his friends and family, but also for bettering him.
That's it for now. Please comment or review, flames will be ignored, constructive criticism welcome, and don't forget to update the TV Tropes page!