Chapter 101: Sting

Twenty-four hours after the discovery of Hunter Zolomon's body, Barry finally got confirmation of what he already suspected.

"It's him?" Barry crossed his arms, tapping a single finger against his arm.

"It's him," Cisco affirmed with a sigh. Hartley, standing beside him, twisted a pen in his hands with a dark look on his face. "The body you discovered is the body of Earth-1 Hunter Zolomon."

Barry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to keep his temper in check. "I see. I will contact A.R.G.U.S. immediately and inform them. Please get the anti-speedster technology out of storage."

"Barry…"

"Now, Cisco."

Once word had been sent to Amanda, a task force had immediately been assembled while a plan was made. Considering the danger of confronting a speedster, it was important they caught Zoom off guard for the attempt. That, and that no civilians were in the immediate vicinity for fear of hostages.

Both were tall orders. Zolomon was currently teaching summer chemistry classes at CCU, meaning that he had anywhere from dozens to hundreds of hostages if they tried to catch him at the wrong time. If they were going to do this, they needed to be careful not to alert their target.

Thankfully, the very thing that was making this such a difficult task also gave them something of an opportunity. As a professor, Zolomon had office hours that were publicly posted on the school website. Combined with this being the summer, that meant his office would have little to no visitors during a time where he was guaranteed to be completely stationary in one, secluded place. All they had to do was ensure that the rest of the building was emptied prior to that time to limit his number of possible hostages.

Ultimately, the following Friday, a week from now, was the day chosen. There was only one class in the building that held Zolomon's office — Zolomon's own. He held office hours about two hours after that, so any of his students that desired to visit him were likely to stick inside until then. An easy enough remedy was to hold a block party some streets away — far enough that any student that still needed to visit Zolomon during his office hours could go there first and then come back later.

Once the building was emptied of all except their target, a blockade would be made outside, comprised of multiple A.R.G.U.S. agents, with a remote meta-dampening field to cover the general outside vicinity and cancel out Zolomon's powers if and when he left the building. Then the Flash would be sent in to confront Zolomon and lure him outside, where his powers would be dampened and he could be easily subdued. A simple, but effective plan.

Even so, Barry couldn't help but feel some foreboding. He hadn't forgotten how Zolomon had allegedly murdered 'Jay Garrick' on his earth, his own alter-ego. He had seen footage of that fight, and both combatants were clearly speedsters. It was still unclear how he did that, though Barry speculated he had a metahuman under his control that had similar powers to Everyman, or perhaps even Christopher Chance. It's entirely possible he may have switched himself with such a shapeshifter upon revealing how he had his own men impersonate Barry's team and Laurel. Zoom was smart, after all. He couldn't have discounted the possibility that Barry had used his time on Zoom's earth to investigate and discover Zoom's own identity, after all.

Well, whatever the case, they couldn't afford to allow whoever was masquerading as Earth-1 Hunter Zolomon run around any longer, if only for the sake of the true Hunter Zolomon. The poor man was an innocent who had only been murdered because he had the unfortunate luck of being the doppelganger of a murderous supervillain from another earth. He deserved justice, like any other murder victim, and Barry fully intended to get it for him.

First was the block party — multiple flyers and posters were quickly designed, made, and posted all over the CCU campus. A social media campaign was also quickly launched, making the announcement viral online. A.R.G.U.S. personally funded the block party, though officially it was for the JL Fund: a charity created by the members of the Justice League to help out with the collateral damage of their numerous battles. With the growing popularity of the Justice League in the wake of the Dominator Invasion (another event the JL Fund had helped with the aftermath), already numerous people had made their intentions to visit public.

This included the entirety of Zolomon's class, to everyone's relief. Now that they needed to ensure any auxiliary employees weren't present, which was done by simply… pressuring the central office to give everyone except Zolomon an unexpected day off, the day before the operation was to happen to prevent a possible leak. That taken care of, it was a simple matter of making the rest of the preparations and simulating and practicing the actual take down.

Before anyone knew it, the day of the operation came. Barry watched quietly in a disguised van as the hidden cameras installed within the building (along with the already present security cameras) displayed a feed of every possible corner inside. The exceptions, of course, being the restrooms — and Zolomon's office. No need to tip the man off, after all. If he was every bit as smart as Barry assumed him to be, he would memorize the general outlay of his office for any possible disruptions.

Barry watched as the class was conducted. Watched as every student exited the room and the building. Watched as Zolomon retreated to his office and stayed there. As soon as confirmation was sent and the outside area was clear, dozens of A.R.G.U.S. agents exited from their hiding spots and started setting up the blockade and the meta-dampening field. Barry watched them too, and once the signal was given, exited the van as the Flash.

He walked purposefully into the building, and then sped the rest of the way to Zolomon's office. The Flash breathed in deeply, before slowly opening the door and slipping into the room. Zolomon was seated at his desk, head buried in some documents.

"I'm sorry," the man said absentmindedly, "but office hours aren't until two."

"I'm not one of your students, Zoom."

Zolomon's head snapped up, and he stared up at the Flash, who was leveling a dark glare at him.

He stared… and then he grinned, just as darkly.

"So you finally figured it out, did you Flash?" Zolomon laughed, standing up.

"Or maybe you always knew?" he added ponderously. "After all, you always did keep me at arm's length."

"It doesn't matter. It's over, Zolomon. Even if you escape me now, the moment you step outside your powers will be dampened and you'll be swamped by dozens of highly-trained agents. You're beaten."

Zolomon smirked. "Ah, Flash. That's where you're wrong. Our game… has only just begun."

Then, using his enhanced speed, he drew a knife from the inside of one his drawers. The Flash tensed and drew his own knife, preparing for a fight, only to watch in disbelief and a slight amount of horror as his enemy slit his own throat. The now-dead body collapsed over the desk, spilling life blood all over the papers and furniture, staining everything. The knife he used to kill himself slipped from his hands and dropped to the floor.

The Flash stared, only to be startled by an unexpected blast of light. Looking in the direction of where it came from, he blinked as he saw it was a camera. A digital camera. A model that he was certain had a remote uplink to a cloud server.

Barry wasn't stupid. Far from it. He knew immediately what Zoom had just done.

"Fuck."

"Laurel, I love you, but I still don't understand how you can stand eating that," Oliver complained as he watched his lover dip another french fry into her shake.

Laurel smirked at him before making a show of eating the fry, biting into it slowly, much to her boyfriend's disgust. To make things worse, Kara, who had elected to join them for lunch that day, had decided to mimic her. Oliver watched in deep resignation as his sister dipped multiple fries into her shake at the same time and began munching on them.

"Why?" He asked the world.

As if the world was answering him, there was a ping on his phone, at the same time as ones on the phones of both his dining companions. With a sigh, Oliver got out his phone to check the alert — and froze.

"Ollie…" Laurel breathed out, expressing the same distress he was no doubt feeling.

Kara put a hand on her head as she stared at the post that had been just made online. "What happened?" she quietly asked.

Jefferson Pierce hummed as he sifted through some papers on his desk. The current session of summer school was almost over, which meant he would be able to return home soon for some relaxation. Lynn and him were once again trying to see if they could work things out, now that the 100 and the ASA were no longer issues thanks to the Justice League. With crime in Freeland sufficiently down and his days as a vigilante mostly limited to his duties with the team, Lynn felt more comfortable with the idea of him being a vigilante.

Of course, the fact that Anissa was also now doubling as a vigilante despite both their protests was a definite snag. Even now Jefferson felt some reluctance letting his daughter out on the streets, even though Freeland now required multiple protectors with his new duties. No matter how hard and how well he trained her, he couldn't help but fear that one day, he'd come back from a mission to find her dead or worse.

The joys of being a father… Jefferson couldn't help but think derisively.

"Dad!" Anissa burst through the door of his office, face completely harried.

Jefferson set down the papers he was reading, frowning. "Anissa?"

"Look!" she stomped forward, shoving her phone forward. Jefferson hesitantly took it from her hand and looked down at the screen. His eyes widened.

Mari McCabe hummed as she continued fashioning the fabric around her living matinee doll. "Do you think you could turn to your left?"

J'onn J'onzz, currently transformed as a young woman of Asian descent, grumbled but complied. "Why did I agree to this?"

"Because you still owe me for that mission in Bolivia," Mari answered candidly as she tucked a pin into one of the folded over fabrics.

"I highly doubt such a favor qualifies acting as your personal dress-up doll," J'onn retorted drolly.

"Uh, yes it does! I took a gunk shot to the face for you! My mouth tasted like sewage for hours!"

"Mari—"

A ping on both their phones cut them off. Frowning, Mari silently told J'onn to wait on his stand while she went and picked up her cell. She stared down at the screen.

"Mari?" J'onn called out to her after she stayed silent for too long.

Mari didn't answer. Instead, she lifted her phone, showing the picture on the screen to J'onn. J'onn blinked, then grew grim.

"Oh God," Iris put a hand to her mouth as she stared at the newly posted photo.

"I knew it," Eddie hissed as he stared at the same photo from his own computer.

The photo in question was a full color picture of the Flash standing before a dead body of an unknown man — tentatively identified as Hunter Zolomon, a well-respected professor at CCU. In the Flash's hand was a knife, no doubt the murder weapon used to kill his victim. The photo had been posted mere minutes ago, and was now spreading throughout the entire Internet at a rapid pace.

As the entire precinct erupted into complete pandemonium, Iris discreetly picked up her car keys. She needed to leave, now.

The first thing Barry did once he realized what happened was use his comm to contact the A.R.G.U.S. task force outside and explain what happened. After having them deactivate the meta-dampening field, he sped out of the vicinity and left them to do the clean-up while he snuck back into the West house and changed back into his civvies. Then he drove to S.T.A.R. Labs in his regular car just so suspicion wouldn't be mounted.

Upon arrival, he could immediately tell that everyone had seen the picture Zolomon had uploaded to the Internet, judging by the questioning looks they gave him as they gathered into the Cortex. Barry was about to explain what happened until he saw Iris enter soon after him, a pensive look on her face.

"I didn't kill him," Barry immediately blurted out.

Iris pursed her lips, then nodded. "I believe you, Barry. But…"

Barry closed his eyes. "I know, Iris. I know."

"He killed himself in front of you?" Amanda demanded hotly over the video feed. On similar screens were the rest of the Justice League, who looked to be just as in shock.

"Grabbed a knife and slit his throat," Barry sighed, rubbing one of his temples. "Then came the camera flash and I immediately realized what he was trying to do."

"The CCPD will launch an investigation," Laurel mused, tapping her chin, "and even if all the signs point to a suicide—"

"—That still doesn't account for the Flash's presence in the picture. He would still need to be brought in for questioning," Oliver finished for her.

"Is there any way the government can take over the investigation?" Mari suggested.

"Not without causing questions," Iris interjected into the conversation, arms crossed. "And even without that, there's no doubt that some in the CCPD will try to investigate in lieu of that anyway."

"Eddie?" Barry instantly guessed.

"Eddie," Iris nodded. "This is public now. Everyone in the Justice League, not just the Flash, are now under a microscopic view. Letting the government take over the investigation can do more harm than good, at least in regards to your public image."

"We could release a statement to the public about our suspicions of Zolomon being Zoom," Jefferson offered.

Everyone gave him a pointed look.

"Right," Jefferson palmed his head. "We got all our evidence from an alternate earth. Bad idea."

"Plus it makes me look like I killed an innocent man due to some extreme paranoia," Barry noted.

"So… what are we to do?" J'onn asked the question everyone was thinking. "I could transform into him and reveal him as Zoom, but I would never be able fake the super speed and if they question me it will become clear that I'm not the real Hunter Zolomon. And it's a well-known fact that Martian Manhunter is a shape-shifter."

Barry bit his bottom lip. "For now, the Flash has to go in hiding. Until my name is cleared, Firestorm will be the primary protector of Central City with Vibe as backup." From behind him, Cisco visibly perked up.

"And as for the Justice League, what are to be our responses?" Kara questioned. "There's no doubt the media will hound us for our own opinions on the matter."

"The same in any case like this, sister," Oliver replied with a dry tone. "No comment."

"If the Flash is out of commission, what are you going to do then, Barry? What happens if there's a threat that Firestorm and Vibe can't handle?"

"If there's a threat those two can't handle then I'll send in Pied Piper or call in Supergirl. And if that isn't viable then I'll deal with the issue myself. The safety of the city will always come first." Barry crossed his arms. "But as for what I'll be doing for the meantime, the same as I have for the past couple of weeks. Train, build, and try to find Zoom."

A short silence fell over the entire Cortex.

"How do you think he's been making doubles of himself? Does he have some kind of metahuman under his control than can clone others?" Laurel wondered.

"Maybe," Barry conceded, "But something in my gut tells me it's not that. Whatever it is, however, it doesn't matter right now — we still need find him first."

"And what if we do? Barry, that operation was literally our best chance at catching him. Even if we do find him, the only person who has any chance at catching him is you now that we can't prepare a trap in advance. And if you can't be seen in public…" Oliver trailed off.

Barry knew exactly what his older brother was thinking. If the CCPD did handle the investigation into Hunter Zolomon's death, then an arrest warrant would no doubt be issued for the Flash. Any attempt to confront Zolomon ran the risk of police interference, and with the anti-speedster technology at their disposal, they would no doubt attempt to take them both down. While he's confident that both of them could avoid those measures if need be, that also meant Zolomon would have plenty of hostages to hold him off for a possible escape.

What a mess. "I don't know," Barry confessed, hating the fact that those words were leaving his mouth. "But it's the only way. We find him, we catch him, we expose him, and we stop whatever plan he has in the works."

Everyone exchanged uncomfortable and uncertain looks.

It seemed they were feeling as much confidence as he was.

I really hate that guy. Barry thought to himself, sighing.

We're winding things up. Soon, everything will make sense.

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