Flash Duel

by Mega Ghost

When the particle accelerator exploded, lonely Yu-Gi-Oh player Jack Harper is suddenly in possession of a real Millennium Item. But when he discovers he has the power to summon flesh and blood duel monsters with their own minds and personalities, he decides he's in for more fun than he's ever had in his life. That is, until Yami Bakura appears, as real and alive as anyone else.

6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jack Harper was down in the S.T.A.R Labs training/obstacle course room. He'd been a partial, fractional member of Team Flash for a little over a month. The fractional part was a situation which had developed more or less on its own. Jack was not yet fully comfortable with the other members of the team, and he sensed the feeling was reciprocated. Also, at that moment in his life, he was more interested in trying to reconcile with Mana than mingling with his new allies and potential friends. He'd gone out on city patrols with Barry a few times, but mostly he'd been keeping Harry and Cisco from putting him and his powers under a microscope.

However, due to the continual prodding of Cisco and the rest, Jack had agreed to do this training session so they could observe in-depth how proficient he was with his powers and try to analyze just how they worked. Cisco had rigged up a number of drones to zoom around the room for Jack to shoot down with his powers. The drones had also been programmed to fire taser shots at him to better simulate a real fight.

Jack shoulder-rolled to his left, dodging a taser blast and on his back, shooting his right foot out in a roundhouse-kick that whacked a drone in the side. Another drone took advantage of his vulnerability and shot him in the stomach with painful electricity, making him momentarily spasm. Jack drew a card from his deck, quickly looked at it, and played the trap in quick succession.

"Activate Brilliant Spark!"

Bolts of energy fired from Jack's duel-disk and fried the drone's interior electronics. Jack quickly got to his to feet and had to dash to his right to dodge behind a scaffold to evade the blasts from another two drones. He drew another two cards. The first was a fusion spell card, which was useless, so he deposited it directly into the graveyard. The other was a trap card he could use.

"I activate Shield Spear."

A five-foot-long spear with a two-foot wide shield at the base of the blade materialized in his free, right hand. Jack jumped out from his cover and ran forward, the shield of his weapon protecting his head from the stunning shocks. He stabbed one drone right through its camera eye and then spun the spear up over his head and clubbed the shield down on the base of the second one.

Jack took the card from his spell/trap zone, placed it in the graveyard mechanism, and turned to the watching Joe and Cisco. Despite feeling like a mere perfunctory member of the team, Jack couldn't help but smile with satisfaction, proud of his performance.

"Well?" Jack asked.

"Not bad," Cisco said.

"Not bad?" Joe asked. "With all the hype you gave those drones and he just took out six and skewered one of 'em and all you got to say is 'not bad?'"

"Session's not over yet and I had those on a lower setting." Cisco said to Joe before looking back at Jack. "Alright Mr. Magic World Champ, let's see how well you do against ten drones turned up to eleven."

Cisco tapped his tablet screen and ten more drones rose out of their cases and floated menacingly above Jack. Jack didn't even turn around to look at them. He just crossed his arms and continued to look at Joe and Cisco.

"Boys." Jack said succinctly.

In a dazzle of violent gracefulness, in a matter of less then five seconds, every last drone was sliced and destroyed by two figures moving too swiftly to see clearly. Their work finished, they joined Jack by his side and became stone still and visible.

Cisco was temporarily aghast with surprise. They had plenty more of those drowns in storage, but it had taken him hours the previous night to recalibrate their programming to try to make them fitting training opponents for Jack. Coming back to himself, Cisco looked down from Jack's face to his duel-disk where he saw the two monster cards beside Dark Magician Girl's. The monsters in question were the Strike Ninja and the Senior Silver Ninja.

"When did you even summon them?" Cisco asked.

"About five drones ago." Jack said. "I thought those wouldn't be all and a good duelist always plans his strategies in advance."

"Looks like he beat you, Cisco." Joe laughed.

"Alright, I concede. Got enough data anyway, so we can stop for today." Cisco said.

Jack turned to his two monster friends and spoke to them in Japanese. "Thanks, guys. See you in a couple days for training."

Both ninja nodded to him and he removed their cards from the disc. Jack approached the other two men, waiting for their appraisal.

"So?"

"Alright, I'm impressed." Cisco said. "How'd you know how to use that spear thing, anyway?"

"I've been training in hand-to-hand combat with Strike Ninja and a few other monsters twice a week for about eighteen months. I realized early on there was a lot I could learn from the monsters and I took full advantage of the opportunity."

"Ha! He could probably give Green Arrow a run for his money." Joe commented.

"Well, what else what would you expect from the Deck Master?" Cisco asked jokingly.

"Who?" Jack asked.

"You. 'Deck Master.' That's your hero code name."

Jack paused for a moment, his face clouded by a combination of perplexity and dissatisfaction.

"I'm not going by that."

"I knew you'd like it." Cisco said absently. "Say what now?"

"I'm not going by that name. That's one of the most ridiculous names I've ever heard."

Cisco was dumbfounded. "Wha, you, tha... look, you don't get a say in this. That's your hero name!"

Jack's face then became stony and intense.

Cisco said, "Let's just move on. Alright, the sensors were scanning you throughout that session. Whatever energy is coming from that ring of yours, we should be able to decipher it now. And it is..."

He tapped the screen of his tablet and it sounded a negatively intoning beep.

"Unidentifiable?! What's with this thing? I recalibrated the sensors myself to have them pick up the energy."

"I told you, it's magic. Magic can't be quantified. Not even by your wacky, bleeding-edge science." Jack said in a disinterested tone.

"Jack, you okay, man?" Joe asked. "You're not exactly the outgoing type, but you seem sorta down, out of it."

"Lot on my mind. Bakura and Zoom... and problems at home." Jack said.

Cisco saw the pain on Jack's expression and his own softened from slightly angry to compassionate.

"Issues with your girlfriend?" He asked.

Jack considered blowing off the question for half a moment but decided that Cisco's question came from a place of genuine concern instead of merely trying to fill the awkward silence. Remembering his determination to try and not act like Kaiba, he answered.

"Yeah, Cisco, sorry man. Things between Mana and I haven't been great the last month, but I don't wanna talk about it. Look, uh, I gotta go. I have a lunch date with Mana and we're gonna try and work things out. I'll see ya later, guys."

With that, Jack turned and walked away.

"Man, that kid really doesn't do too well with people, does he?" Joe asked.

"Guess he just isn't very happy without being on good terms with Mana." Cisco said.

"I know what that's like, but, I mean, how in love with her can he really be? When you get down to it, she's really just a card brought to life by his powers."

"Clearly she's a lot more than that to him."

OOO

Up in the small lab off the primary control room, Barry was on the speedster treadmill running flat out, trying to increase his speed for their next encounter with Zoom. Outside, Caitlin and Harry were watching from the monitor booth.

"He just hit one-thousand three-hundred seventy-five." Caitlin said.

"What's the fastest Barry's ever run?" Harry asked.

"Little over mach-two when he ran back in time."

"That's not good." Harry said. He then spoke through the microphone into the room, "That's good, Barry."

The treadmill then cut off and Barry dismounted the machine.

"We have our work cut out for us." Harry commented.

Stepping into the booth, Barry asked, "I'm not getting faster, am I?"

Caitlin began, "Well-"

"No. You're not." Interrupted Harry.

"Alright, well, let's fix this, right?" Barry asked. "I mean, I can't beat Zoom at this speed. I felt like I was standing still next to him."

"Oh, that's because you practically were. Zoom is at least three, four times faster than you at this point." Harry said.

"How is he so much faster than Barry is and Jay was?" Caitlin asked.

"Physiology, form, strength. Could be a number of things. Attitude, diet..."

"Okay. Well, there's gotta be something we can do about it. So, let's just figure it out. Fast. Okay?" Barry said.

His phone then buzzed and he looked at it to see a text from his girlfriend, Detective Patty Spivot.

"All right, I gotta go. I'm meeting Patty. I'll see you. Thank you." He said as he walked out.

Harry turned his head and looked to Caitlin.

She tilted her head questioningly and asked, "So how are we gonna help, Barry? I'm out of ideas and we've tried everything you suggested."

"Well, not everything."

OOO

Twenty-five minutes later Jack was walking into the Central City Museum of Natural History. It was a large building, even as museums went. Unlike its counterparts in cities like New York and Los Angeles, the Central City museum had been built to resemble a Gothic castle. An old, English style arch framed the primary entrance, constructed of dark gray stone blocks.

The interior was the same as any high-class museum with sections and wings dedicated to paintings, sculptures, history, biology, zoology, and many other subjects. Jack climbed the stairs to the second floor and headed straight for the section which housed the ancient Egypt exhibit.

The Egyptian exhibit was made up to look like a Pharaoh's tomb. There were columns of sand-colored stone spaced throughout, an eight-foot sphinx statue, hieroglyphics on the walls, effigies of royal guards made from solid gold, canopic jars, and other relics in glass cases, and in the middle of it all was the traditional mummy in its sarcophagus.

Jack always had the strangest feeling whenever he entered this exhibit. It was a feeling of familiarity, almost as if he were returning home.

Shaking the feeling off, he walked on and soon found Mana helping some of the other museum workers rearrange one of the displays of mannequins. Mana was wearing a white, button-up blouse, a black, knee-length skirt, and the jacket Jack had given her the year before for their first anniversary. Her blonde hair was in its regular arrangement. Jack had noticed long ago that she never tried to wear it any other way, never mentioned anything about changing it, or had ever even put it into a ponytail. He didn't know if that was because he'd told her that he loved the way it looked or if it was just because she didn't care to.

Finishing up her work, Mana turned to leave and saw Jack. She gave him a small smile and walked over to him.

"Hi, Jack." She said.

"Hey, Mana."

They gave each other a small hug and a quick peck on the lips, the gestures genuine but filled with awkwardness.

"So, I'm all finished here for the day. Where are we going for lunch?"

"I thought we'd go to that cafe you like over on tenth street." Jack said.

Mana smiled, nodded her head and the two walked out of the exhibit together. They did not take each other's hands as they instantly would have if things hadn't been uncomfortable between them.

Just as they were leaving the Egypt section, a man in his mid-sixties wearing a tweed suit approached them. He had a balding head, a thick, white mustache and a slight paunch to his gut.

"Mana my dear, you're not leaving already, are you?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I have a lunch date. Oh, Dr. Lawrence, you remember my boyfriend, Jack."

"Ah, yes, of course. We met at the staff Christmas party. How are you, my boy?" Dr. Lawrence asked, extending his right arm to shake.

Jack took it and shook hands. "Just fine, sir. It's nice to see you again."

"Oh, there's no need to be so formal. I'm Mana's boss, not her father."

Mana giggled at the small joke and the sound of her laugh made Jack smile as well.

"You know, I don't know where you found her my boy, but make sure you hold onto this strange and wonderful creature you have here. She is amazing. She claims to have never gone to any college and yet she knows more about ancient Egypt than even I do." Dr. Lawrence beamed.

"I hope to. I really do." Jack said, looking down at Mana's face.

"Well, I won't keep you two lovebirds any longer. Go and enjoy your youth."

Dr. Lawrence gave them a warmly caring smile and moved on. Both Jack and Mana watched him go for a moment before looking at each other. The doctor's uplifting mood had rubbed off on them a little and they gave each other a far easier and loving smile than they had minutes before.

"Come on, let's go." Jack said with a slight laugh.

OOO

At the cafe on tenth street, the reprieve from the discomfort created by Dr. Lawrence had evaporated away. Jack and Mana were sitting and eating in awkward silence. Unfortunately for Jack, this was not an altogether unfamiliar occurrence.

Over the last month, the closeness and intimacy between him and Mana had continued to degenerate. He didn't think she was still outright angry with him, but it was like they didn't know how to be with each other anymore. They were hardly talking. Their conversations were becoming limited to "please pass the salt." They were like a couple who'd been married for fifty years. The only comfort for either of them came in their sleep where they still always ended up cradled in each other's arms.

"Hey, Mana..."

She looked up from her burger and salad. "Yes?"

"You know, with everything happening the last month, there's something I haven't gotten to tell you." He then leaned forward and whispered to her. "I've met the Flash."

"You met the Flash?"

"Yeah, and, well, I'm actually kinda a part of his team now. I'm helping out, stopping criminals."

Mana gave him a small smile.

"That's... that's very interesting, Jack. It's impressive."

Their silence then resumed. It went on for another five minutes before Jack couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, Mana, come on, talk to me. That's why we came here, isn't it? To try to talk and work this out, get back to us? In all our time together, we've never not been able to talk to each other before. Mana, I want us to be like we were. You have no idea how much I miss you."

Mana sighed. "Okay, Jack, here it is. I'm not mad at you any more about what happened, but, I'm still not completely over it. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get past it. I really don't know what we should do."

Jack had no response to that. He had even less idea how to get them past it then she did. The remainder of their meal and the walk back to their apartment was passed in staunch silence.

OOO

That night at the docks, the S.S. Tithonus, a merchant ship, was tied up at the pier and the captain disembarked, followed by several of his crew members and a man in shackles. Meeting him on the dock was a single cop.

"Welcome home. Any trouble?" The cop asked.

"Nah. But, believe it or not, we got ourselves a stowaway."

"Give you his name?"

The prisoner was brought closer to the two men.

"Didn't say. Sat in the brig silent for three weeks. He was all decked out in this when we found him." The captain said as he handed a wool coat over to the cop.

Opening it, the cop found that the coat was filled with many holstered blades.

"Jeez. How many are there?"

"Thirty-two." The prisoner spoke. "And I will polish them all in blood before long. I've waited a long time for this hunt, and you have brought me very close to my prey."

The captain turned and approached. "Mister, you're not gonna do any hunting in those handcuffs."

"Oh, but Captain, you're wearing the cuffs."

The prisoner lifted his hands to show that they were free of restraints. Looking down, the captain confirmed that the shackles had indeed been clamped onto him. The prisoner stepped forward and rammed his shoulder into the captain, knocking him to the ground. He then began to walk towards the cop.

The cop pulled his gun and aimed it. "Who taught you that? Houdini?"

"Actually, I taught him."

The cop pulled his trigger, firing the gun but the prisoner dodged to the left and the bullet struck one of the ship's crew members. The prisoner then gripped the gun in the cop's hands, turned it, and shot twice into the cop's gut.

Bending down, he picked up his coat and put it on. He took one of the daggers out from its holster and hurled it ten feet into the heart of one of the three remaining crewmen. Crossing the gap in less than a second, he extracted the knife from the man and used it to quickly execute the other two before they could do anything to defend themselves. He then stepped over to where the captain fell and stabbed the dagger into his heart, finishing him off.

"Soon another sacrifice will be made." The man said, thinking out loud as the image of a person with wings like an eagle passed through his mind. "I feel you out there."

The man walked off, heading into the city to begin his work.

OOO

The next night, Cisco and Kendra Saunders were entering C.C. Jitters, the locked doors unlatched by Kendra.

"Advantages of a trusting manager." She said, eliciting a chuckle from Cisco.

"Ah! A lot's gone down in this place." Cisco said.

Kendra turned on the shop's stereo and soft music began to play.

"So, what's up"? I thought we were gonna go to dinner?" Cisco asked.

He then saw that one of the tables had been set with plates, two covered meals, and two bottles of wine.

"Whoa! What's going on here?"

"I couldn't decide which restaurant to go to, so I thought we would create our own." Kendra said.

She lifted the cover off one of the plates. "Voila! Short rib, Yukon gold puree, and asparagus. Gotta have a vegetable."

"This is nice."

"I like to cook. I didn't know if you like red or white, so I got you both."

"Ooh! Two bottles. That's kind of dangerous, don't you think?" Cisco asked.

"You're not gonna run away all of a sudden, are you?" Kendra asked back.

"Trust me, I'm staying by your side as long as possible."

"Good. You know, it's been really great hanging out these last few weeks. It's helped make the move a lot easier, so thanks."

"You're very welcome."

They leaned in close, their lips touched, but before they could kiss, a voice sounded from near the entrance, speaking in a foreign language. It was the prisoner from the boat. Cisco and Kendra turned and looked at him.

"Sorry, but, how did you get in here?" Kendra asked.

"Hey man, this place is closed." Cisco said.

"You are just as beautiful in this life as any other, Priestess Chay-Ara."

"Priestess?"

"Uh, you're gonna have to go, dude." Cisco said.

"Not without her, dude." The man said mockingly.

He opened his coat, revealing his weapons.

"Oh my God! I don't understand, what do you want?" Kendra asked.

"I believe I was clear."

The man then pulled out the same dagger he'd used for murder the night before. Behind his back, Cisco triggered an emergency alert on his phone.

OOO

In his CSI lab at police headquarters, Barry's phone rang. Picking it up, he saw on the screen that it was an emergency beacon from Cisco and instantly super-sped out of the lab to deal with it.

OOO

In their penthouse apartment, Jack and Mana were just about to sit down to their own dinner.

"You know Jack, I've been thinking and I don't know how I feel about you helping the Flash. He tends to go up against some really dangerous people." Mana said.

Jack was about to respond to her when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out, seeing the call for help.

"I'm sorry, Mana, we're gonna have to talk about this later. Emergency."

Jack ran out of the kitchen, picked up his duel-disk from it's charging station, put it on, and ran out towards the balcony.

"I summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Red-Eyes materialized in mid-air, already flapping his wings to stay aloft. Jack stepped off the balcony and sat upon his friend. Before Jack and Red-Eyes could depart, Mana came out onto the balcony with her jacket in her hands.

"Wait! I'm coming with you." She said.

Jack was going to ask why, but between the determined look in Mana's eyes and that both he and Barry would be there, limiting the chances of her being hurt, he decided it could wait. He gave a small smile and a nod and she climbed on. Red-Eyes then performed a dive-bomb to pick up speed and they were off.

OOO

"Kendra's not going anywhere with you, Highlander." Cisco said.

"Oh, is that your name now? Kendra? Quite boring. I believe it allowed you to blend in for a while." The man then addressed Cisco. "Now, give her to me and I'll make your death fast."

"It ain't gonna happen." Cisco said sternly.

The man smiled and was just about to throw his dagger when Barry sped in and slammed into him with his shoulder. The man fell to the floor on his back. A moment later, Red-Eyes landed just outside, the pressure from the landing flap of his wings shattering the glass of the doors. Jack and Mana slid off the dragon and stepped inside.

"You are done here, pal." Barry said to the man.

"So is he."

The man straightened up, turned and threw his knife, aiming it for Cisco's heart. Barry ran to catch the knife, Jack drew his cards to try to help, but it was Mana who responded fastest. Using her magic staff, Mana used her powers to transform the dagger into a fluffy pillow that harmlessly struck Cisco in the chest before falling to floor and changing back. Everyone's eyes glared at the dagger then shifted to Mana. Jack had a big smile on his face. He was extremely proud of her in that moment. They then heard glass shatter and turned to look. The man was gone, having escaped out of a side window.

Cisco turned back and gasped in relief. "Oh! Oh, Barry, Jack, thank you, guys!"

"Dude, come on." Barry said.

Cisco's face changed as he realized he just gave away Barry's secret identity.

"Cisco, we're not the ones you need to thank, you know." Jack said.

"Huh?" Cisco asked.

He then remembered that Mana was there and that she was the one who saved him.

"Oh! Right. Mana, thank you. Sorry."

"Okay, guys, we should probably get out of here before someone notices him." Jack said, pointing towards Red-Eyes.

"Is... is that a dragon?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, we should go. Lot's to explain and this isn't the right place to do it." Barry said.

From the doorway, Red-Eyes uttered a low, long growl to everyone inside.

"Yeah, go ahead pal, you can stretch your wings." Jack said.

"Just make sure you stay above the clouds and try to stay over the city. We don't need you showing up on any military radars." Mana added.

Red-Eyes growled again and took off. All of the group then left Jitters.

OOO

Thirty minutes later, Kendra, Jack, Mana, and all of Team Flash were gathered in the primary control room of S.T.A.R Labs.

"I can't believe you're the Flash." Kendra said to Barry. She then spoke to Cisco, "And that you work with the Flash."

Cisco chuckled. "Yeah, let's keep that on the DL."

"This is the same knife that was used to kill the men at the docks. The residue's a perfect match." Barry told the group.

"So, it is the same guy." Joe stated.

"Definitely. But, the thing is, these blades are old. Centuries-old."

Jack stepped over, picked up the dagger, and looked at it carefully.

"This dagger is older than just centuries. This thing looks like it could be Mesopotamian."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked.

"I've got hobbies, like anybody. I study up on antique weapons. I find them interesting." Jack answered.

"Do you have any idea why this guy would be after you?" Iris asked Kendra.

"No. I've never seen him before in my life."

"Well, he was certainly acting like he knew you." Cisco said. "He kept calling her Priestess Chay-Ara."

"Chay-Ara?" Mana asked. "That's Egyptian. Ancient Egyptian."

"I grew up in Wisconsin and I've never even left the States, so..." Kendra said.

"Well, if we can be sure about anything, it's that this guy is powerful. I got a strong sense of magic off of him in Jitters." Jack said.

"This guy, he's clearly incredibly dangerous, so I need you to at least let us try to protect you." Barry said to Kendra.

"I can put a detail on her." Joe said.

"You didn't see this guy, Joe. No offense, but I don't think a cop is going to be able to protect her." Cisco said.

"I think maybe I could, but it'd take up a lot of time, following her around, and I get the feeling this guy is the patient type." Jack said.

Barry said, "That's not necessary. We have a few friends who can lend a hand, but, we're gonna need to leave Central City."

"And go where?" Kendra asked.

Barry didn't answer. He turned and walked out of the room. Cisco followed him to discuss his decision further.

"So, you're the 'Mana' that Jack is always talkin' about, huh?" Joe asked her.

"Yes, I am. It's very nice to meet all of you. So, Jack's mentioned me, I guess."

"If by 'mentioned' you mean talking about almost nothing but how 'amazing' and 'wonderful' you're supposed to be." Harry said in a disgusted tone.

Mana blushed at that, turning her head to look at Jack. He was looking at her as well, his own face almost as flushed.

"You know, you're different somehow than I would have thought. More real." Joe said to her.

"Well, Jack's said from the beginning that they're all living, sentient beings and his powers just bring them here from their world. We've seen the Red-Eyes dragon close up and he was real enough. No reason she should be any less." Caitlin said.

"I'm still working on figuring out the science behind how Harper's powers work. And I will figure it out. There's no such thing as magic." Harry said.

"Does he really believe that?" Mana asked Jack.

"Yeah, he does. I find it best just to humor him on that belief." Jack said.

To that, Mana laughed softly and Caitlin, Iris, and Joe all had to stifle laughter of their own.

"Call us when it's time to move out, guys. Mana and I need to get something to eat." Jack said.

"Sure, Jack. It was nice to see you again, Mana." Iris said as the two walked out.

"You too, Iris. It was nice to meet everyone."

In the hall, while waiting for the elevator, Jack turned to Mana.

"Mana, I meant it about us getting some dinner, but I really just wanted to talk to you alone."

"About?"

"I... I just wanted to ask why you chose to come with me tonight. Not that I didn't like it. In fact, I loved having you there with me, knowing you had my back. It's just, this afternoon it seemed like you might have suggested we take time apart from each other, and then you're diving into battle with me. I just don't get it."

"Jack, I don't want to be apart from you. When you said there was an emergency, I just got this idea that since you're doing this, maybe if we worked together on it we'd be able to get past everything and really reconnect." Mana said.

Jack paused a moment to think about that.

"Well, I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm up to try."

Mana nodded as the elevator doors opened and they climbed on.

OOO

Meanwhile in Star City, Damien Darhk and his H.I.V.E commandos had invaded an A.R.G.U.S storage depot. Darhk was at that moment recharging his magic powers by sucking the life out of the guards. He was cruelly mocking the dying man by mimicking his gasping sounds.

"Oh, gosh, that's fun. I really could do this all day. Open it up." Darhk said.

One of the commandos opened the rear doors of a semi-truck, revealing a large metal case on the inside.

"They could have at least tried to hide this chemical bomb. Serves them right it's getting stolen and used against them." Darhk said.

A whistling through the air caused Darhk and all his commandos to look behind themselves, seeing an arrow embedded in the concrete floor. Turning back and looking up, they found Green Arrow, Speedy and Spartan standing on top of the semi-truck.

"Oh, you brought arrows to a gun fight." Darhk said.

"What guns?" Oliver Queen asked.

He turned a switch on his quiver harness and instantly, all of the commando's guns flew out of their hands and collected at the arrow in the floor.

Darhk said, "That was actually pretty clever. Kill them."

Green Arrow, Spartan and Speedy jumped down off of the semi-truck and immediately started to punch, kick, block and counter Darhk's commandos.

OOO

In the Bunker, Felicity Smoak was at her computer station, watching over the fighters.

"'Felicity, the magnetic arrow gag will never work.'" She said to herself in an imitation of Oliver. She then said in her own voice, "Yes, it will, my love, because I am really smart. And guess what, Oliver? It did work."

"Felicity? Honey? It's a little hard to fight with you doing that in my ear." Oliver told her over the coms.

"Oh, I totally forgot that this was an open line. Keep doing what you're doing. Make smart decisions."

OOO

Back at the fight, Oliver blocked a punch, struck the commando in the face with his bow, and push-kicked him in the chest. He then turned around to his six o'clock and punched another man in the side of the head.

Thea Queen kicked a man in the small of the back, dodged, and countered a punch from another.

John Diggle was fighting three commandos at once, expertly parrying their blows and striking them back with strong, expert boxer's punches, sending them all to the floor. Working together, the three vigilante heroes swiftly and efficiently incapacitated all of Darhk's men.

Just as he'd knocked out a commando, Oliver turned and there was Damien Darhk. Darhk put his hand on Oliver's chest and began to suck the life energy out of him.

"Ooh, you know, I gotta be honest, I really thought we'd be doing this dance a lot longer. Night, night." Darhk gloated as he pushed harder with his magic, killing Oliver.

Before Darhk could finish the job, Barry flashed in, grabbing Oliver away from the villain and taking him to safety. As he was about to query no one in particular what had happened, a huge rift in space tore open in the back of the room and sucked Darhk and all of his men into it. It then vanished without a trace.

Outside, in an alley beside the building, Barry sped Diggle to a stop beside Thea and Oliver. Diggle instantly ripped his helmet off his head and vomited on the ground.

"Damn it. Every time."

"It's the Flash!" Thea declared. "Did I know we knew the Flash? ...We know the Flash, okay. I didn't know we knew the Flash."

"Thank you. But I don't think you ran all the way here to protect us." Oliver said.

"No, not to protect you. I need to protect a friend." Barry said.

"Well, you know you can count on us, Barry, but we should really finish up with Darhk or he's gonna have a chemical bomb that could decimate half this city." Diggle said.

"No need to worry about them." Jack said as he jumped over the fence on everyone's left to join them. "They're cooling their heels someplace they won't be able to hurt anyone."

Jack stood near Barry and met Team Arrow for the first time. Thea's eyes widened and her heart-rate increased when she saw him.

"Uh, Flash, who is this?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, who's this?" Thea asked, taking a step closer to the other men.

"This is Jack Harper. He's a new member of our team." Barry said.

"'Jack.' That's such a great name." Thea said.

Jack looked at her, his eyebrow twitching upward in puzzlement at her tone.

"How exactly are Darhk and his men taken care of?" Oliver asked.

"Well, that's kinda complicated. We should probably go somewhere secure to get into it." Jack said.

Oliver nodded and turned to lead them back to the Bunker.

OOO

The elevator doors opened into the Bunker and everyone walked off.

"Wow! Nice new digs." Barry said.

"No kidding." Jack said. "This place makes S.T.A.R Labs look like a cave."

"Barry. So good to see you." Felicity said as she hugged him.

"Oh! Good to see you, Felicity."

When the hug separated, she instantly hit him in the chest.

"How come you didn't tell me Zoom broke your back?" Felicity then pulled him into another hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Barry turned his head and looked at Oliver. "So, this is what it's like dating her."

"More bruises from her than from Deathstroke." Oliver replied.

"Starting to think I joined the wrong hero team." Jack said jokingly. "Things seem much more interesting here."

"So, you can really just play any card on this duel-disk thing and it works for real?" Thea suddenly asked Jack.

Jack turned and started, surprised to find her standing next to him.

"Uh, well, yeah. Spells and traps do real-life equivalents of their game effects and I can summon living monsters here from their world."

"That is so cool." Thea responded, staring at him dreamily.

"And possibly extremely dangerous." Oliver added. "I don't know much about that game, but I do know that some of those monster cards depict very powerful looking creatures. What if one of them decided to go off on a rampage?"

"Come on man, I'm not an idiot. I'm deathly careful about the cards I play with the power of the Millennium Ring. I never summon any monster I haven't made friends with and I don't play any spell or trap cards that I don't know what they'll do. I mean, there's one trap that shows a wave of lava covering the whole Earth. You really think I'm gonna risk activating that?"

"Fair enough." Oliver said.

From the other side of the room, Kendra, Cisco, and Mana stepped onto the raised, computer platform.

Kendra said, "Okay, S.T.A.R Labs is impressive, but this is..."

"This is completely wrong." Cisco said, cutting her off. "Did you guys even look at the specs I sent over? This is a tragedy. I'm mourning for the death of engineering."

Barry, Oliver, and Jack were all three watching with quiet enjoyment at the scene as Felicity gasped up at Cisco.

"Copper wiring to handle the processing speed from the Palmer satellite or else your system is gonna overload." Cisco finished his tirade.

Felicity responded, "Yeah, but that didn't happen. I mean, it hasn't happened since last week. I mean, it didn't... It happened yesterday."

"I think Cisco's going to put you over his knee." Mana cracked.

"Don't think I don't want to. I just wouldn't. Because Oliver would punch me." Cisco said.

"Hi." Kendra then said, interjecting herself.

"I'm Felicity."

Kendra walked down the steps to shake hands. "I'm Kendra Saunders. I'm Cisco's..."

She trailed off and looked back at Cisco, unsure of how to finish the introduction.

"She's my new beautiful friend, who kisses me, occasionally." Cisco said.

A moment of awkward silence followed.

"Right." Thea said. "I'm Thea. This is John Diggle and this is my brother."

"Oliver Queen." Kendra said.

"Hi."

"And since we haven't been introduced yet, I'm Jack Harper and this is my girlfriend, Mana."

"You have a girlfriend?" Thea asked.

Mana then walked down and stood next to him. She looked at Thea, her eyes squinting a small degree as she thought she detected something.

"Yes, he does." Mana said.

"Oh, you're the Yu-Gi-Oh guy Cisco told me about. He wanted help trying to figure out your powers." Felicity said.

Jack looked at Cisco. "I get that you're having a tough time with the whole 'magic is real' concept, but I really don't remember ever giving my permission for you to discuss my life with a large group of people."

"Uh, Jack, you see..."

Felicity interrupted, "Well, he didn't really discuss your life with me. It's not like he told me you're dating the Dark Magician Girl or that your only real friends all come from playing cards." She paused a long beat. "I said all that out loud, didn't I?"

This time, both Jack and Mana glared at Cisco, their faces growing angry.

"Please don't feed me to Red-Eyes." Cisco said.

"Barry said you need our help." Oliver said to Kendra, changing the subject. "Somebody very dangerous is after you."

"Yeah, and I have no idea why."

"What does this guy even look like?" Thea asked.

"I can help with that." Mana said.

She summoned out her magic staff and used it to project a translucent, three-dimensional image of the man from Jitters. He was crouched in the same crouch he'd used to throw the dagger at Cisco.

"This is him." She said.

"Yeah. See, that's something I would never think of." John Diggle said.

Felicity looked closely at the magical hologram. "Hmm. Kinda rockin' that Dothraki look."

"That's very cool, but unfortunately, it doesn't help us track him down." Oliver said.

"Oh, here, let me." Barry said.

He walked over to a small table and used a sketch pad and pen to super-speed draw a mugshot of the man.

"This should help."

"Nice. Let's see if facial recognition can find a match." Felicity said.

She stepped up onto the platform and used her computer to run the drawing through her tracking software. It took only a few seconds for the computer to deliver a black and white photo of the man in question.

"That's him." Kendra said.

"Yeah, strange. This picture's from 1975." Felicity said.

"Which would make him about eighty years old right now." Barry said.

"Okay, what else can you tell us?" Oliver asked Kendra.

"He said we've known each other for ages, but I've never met the man before."

"But there has to be some kind of connection."

"Maybe he's some kind of immortal." Jack speculated. "That would explain the age and his weapons and if he's been around for a long time, his mind could be long gone."

"That's ridiculous. No one is immortal, and besides, with the type of skills he was showing, he couldn't be crazy." Barry said.

"Thinking one person is another person doesn't have anything to do with your hand-eye coordination." Mana said.

"Could be, but there still has to be some kind of connection to Kendra." Oliver said, looking at her.

"Not one I can think of. I just moved to Central City six months ago." Kendra said.

"Why'd you move there?"

"I just felt drawn to the city, I guess."

"Kendra, there is a reason this guy's after you. Think." Oliver directed her.

"Look, man, we just came out here to hide out for a bit until we figure things out, so you can just take it down a little." Cisco said.

"You came here because you need our help. This is what my help looks like." Oliver said.

Barry then said, "Oliver, we just saved you guys from whatever the hell Flock of Seagulls was about to do. The least you can do is just-"

"Barry, none of us have superpowers." Oliver interrupted. "You brought Kendra into our world without knowing who she is or what this dude that is after her is looking for. You made all of us unsafe. So, maybe you ask the questions."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Felicity uttered as she put her hand on Oliver's arm. "We're all friends here, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Oliver grunted.

"Why don't we go back to our place and have some drinks and we can talk."

Barry shrugged. "Cool."

"Yeah, sure." Jack said.

OOO

Inside Oliver and Felicity's apartment, everyone was lightly drinking and enjoying a much friendlier conversation.

"I'm not changing my nickname. I like 'Speedy.'" Thea said to Cisco.

"Are you familiar with my body of work? If you are, then you know I can come up with something so much better than 'Speedy.'"

"Yeah, you mean like 'Deck Master?'" Jack asked from behind the couch.

"That's what you named him?" Thea asked.

"What? That is a quality hero name that captures what he does perfectly." Cisco defended himself.

"I don't know." Mana said. She was from behind the opposite couch. "I think maybe something more like 'Monster Tamer' might work."

"See? This is why I work alone in naming. No one else can appreciate the nuances of the art." Cisco said.

"Why don't you get a haircut, and then maybe we can talk about it." Thea said to him.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at that, making Thea turn and look up at him with a smile. She held her hand up towards him and Jack slapped his hand into hers. From behind Cisco and Kendra, Mana frowned at that.

"I think you're just mad cause my conditioner game is on point." Cisco said.

Talking to Felicity, Barry said, "So, the CEO of Palmer Technologies is living with Oliver Queen. It's insane how much life can change in six months, huh?"

"Which you would know better than anyone considering that there's another Flash, another Dr. Wells, from another Earth and now you've got a guy who rides dragons?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know, it's been trippy lately."

A distant timer then dinged and Felicity went to retrieve her pigs in a blanket from the oven.

In a corner, Jack walked up to Mana who was looking out of the window.

"This is different, isn't it? Our socializing is usually just with each other. I don't think we've ever been in a room with this many people we actually know, or kinda know, before." He said.

"You seem to be making friends, though. You and that Thea girl seem to be getting along." Mana responded.

Jack was slightly taken aback. Her tone had been curt and cold, like how it was when she'd been mad at him over the Bakura incident. This greatly surprised and confused him. He had thought they had just been starting to get close again. The events of the last day and some of the talks they'd had had certainly suggested it.

"Well, she seems nice and I thought her crack about Cisco's hair was funny, but that's all. I mean, I don't really know her."

"You seemed awfully chummy to me."

Mana then looked over and saw Thea eyeing Jack intensely. Not knowing why precisely she was doing it, she looped her right arm around Jack's left and pulled him off in a direction away from the others. On the couch, Thea leaned out towards Cisco to talk softly.

"Hey Cisco, what's the deal with Jack and Mana? Are they really boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"All I know is that they've been together for more than two years and very recently have been having some problems. That's all you're getting out of me. They could zap me underwater if they wanted to and as you saw, they're already more than a little peeved at me."

Thea turned her head and looked at Jack again. She thought he was one of the most handsome men she'd ever met in her life. As soon as she'd seen him, something had clicked in her mind. Although she had far from forgotten her previous flame, Roy Harper, it had been almost a year since he'd left the city after faking his death. This was the first time since then that she'd felt attracted to any man, and if Jack and Mana really were having problems, she thought there was no harm in taking a shot.

Oliver moved to the center of the room and raised his glass.

"I would like to propose a toast. I wish it wasn't just the dark times bringing us together."

Barry then dashed past Oliver, taking his glass, and continued the toast.

"But it is friends like you that make those dark times worth having."

Oliver chuckled. "What a guy! Steals my drinks, steals my words. As I was saying, to both old friends and new friends, it's good to see you all. Cheers."

Everyone else echoed 'Cheers' and drank. After taking his drink from his lips, Jack looked to his side at seemingly nothing.

"Yeah? Really?" Jack then spoke to the whole group. "Speaking of friends, there's another one who'd like to say 'hello' to everyone as well."

He opened the deck case on his belt, took out a single card, and played it on the duel-disk. The bright light of summoning illuminated and Kuriboh was floating there.

"Everyone, this is Kuriboh, one of my best friends."

"Hoo!" Kuriboh sounded to all of them.

"Aah! He's so cute!" Thea enthused.

"And that thing's actually real?" Oliver asked, looking hard at the small monster.

Kuriboh, his eyes becoming angry, floated over swiftly and lightly rammed Oliver in the chest, pushing him back a step.

"Does that answer your question?" Jack asked.

"You should probably know that most duel monsters don't like to be called not real. In fact, we were probably the very first life forms to evolve in the whole multiverse." Mana said.

"I'll keep that in mind. Sorry, Kuriboh." Oliver said.

Kuriboh hooted happily and rubbed his fuzzy body against Oliver's face. The party went on, everyone drinking and talking and enjoying themselves. At one point, Barry walked over to Cisco who was standing by himself. Looking over at Kendra, Cisco's face was full of worry and dread.

"Look, don't worry, all right? We're gonna keep her safe. I promise." Barry said.

"Yeah, I know." Cisco turned to face him. "Look, there's something I never told you. The first time I kissed Kendra, I got a vibe."

Barry shook his head in a way that said "Yeah, and?"

"No, not like that kind of vibe. Like I vibed-vibed."

"Oh!"

"Remember the man with wings? It wasn't a man. It was Kendra. And she was, like, a bird." Cisco said.

"You think that she's a meta-human?" Barry asked.

Cisco shrugged his shoulders and mumbled uncertainly.

"Wait, why didn't you say anything about this sooner?" Barry asked.

"Well, I didn't think it was related, but I guess, now, it has to be."

Barry looked at him with exasperation, unsure of what to say.

"Look, I don't want her to know about my powers." Cisco said. He turned to look at Kendra again. "I have this great thing going with her. And she laughs at my jokes, and she loves movies, and... I just... I've never felt like this before, and I don't want to sabotage it."

Barry nodded his head and put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I get the feeling."

At that moment, Kendra was staring out of the window across the room, transfixed.

"Look!" She yelled.

The window she'd been staring at exploded inward as the man from Jitters crashed through, swinging on a rope. Everyone gathered together closely as the man approached.

"I will always find you, Chay-Ara." He said.

Barry flashed out of the room and instantly returned, giving Oliver his bow and arrows. Mana pulled out her magic staff. Jack drew a card, looked at it, and held it over the spell/trap zone, ready to activate it.

"Don't move!" Oliver ordered as he pulled an arrow taught in his bow.

"Then how will I kill you all?" The man asked.

The man reached into his coat, pulled out, and hurled six throwing knives at the heroes. Oliver loosed his arrow, and Jack played his card. At the same time, Barry kicked into super-speed, everything happening in slow-motion to him. He ran in front of all of his friends, catching the daggers before they could pierce everyone. The man then threw a seventh knife which cut into Barry's shoulder just as he caught the blade aimed for Thea. Barry fell to the ground, momentarily grabbing his friend's attention.

Mana fired a magical attack from her staff. The man shoulder-rolled to his left, dodging it. Oliver fired a second arrow, which the man easily caught before it struck him.

"Activate 'Special Hurricane!'" Jack proclaimed.

A white, energetic cyclone shot in through the broken window for the man. He dodged again and the hurricane continued on, knocking Jack, Mana, Cisco, and Kendra all into the wall behind them.

Oliver charged forwards. He swung his bow sideways at the man's head, the man ducked underneath it and Oliver sent a right cross-punch that connected hard with the man's chin. The two men continued to trade blows, countering and diverting each other's strikes at every turn. The man blocked a closeup arrow from Oliver's hand, kicked Oliver in the right kidney, and then pushed him away with a kick to the lower torso. Oliver fell to the floor beside Barry.

Kuriboh then floated in quickly and clawed at the man's face with his little arms, causing several deep cuts. The man kit Kuriboh hard in the side, sending him away.

Climbing back to their feet, Mana and Jack rushed in to face him. The man threw another dagger at them, but by combining his magic with his ninja training, Jack turned, running horizontally on the air itself and evaded it. Mana took advantage of the man's attention on Jack, got behind him, and struck him in the groin with her staff. Jack then reached the man, spun in mid-air, and kicked the man in the head. On the floor again, Jack and Mana each stuck their hands in the man's face.

"Dark magic attack!" Jack yelled.

"Dark burning attack!" Mana yelled.

Their combo hit him point-blank in the face, sending him careening backwards and out onto the balcony. Running in with her own bow and quiver, Thea aimed and shot an arrow. It struck the man directly in the heart and sent him toppling over the guardrail.

"What did you do?" Oliver asked his sister.

"I ended it."

Felicity, Kendra, and Cisco came out from where they'd been hiding.

"This is why we ask questions!" Oliver shouted.

Oliver, Barry, and Jack then all went out onto the balcony and looked over the side. The man was nowhere to be seen on the ground below.

"Where did he go?" Barry asked.

"Oh, boy." Oliver said.

"You know, I'm honestly not surprised." Jack said.

OOO

Forty-five minutes later, Oliver, Kendra, Barry, Jack, Mana, Felicity, Cisco, Diggle, and Thea were all down in the bunker. Felicity had the 1975 picture of the man displayed on her computer screen.

"Okay. Thanks." Oliver said into his phone. "Lance is gonna call if he gets any information on... whoever that is."

"I know where we can get some info." Barry announced to the group.

Cisco knew exactly what Barry was referring to. Even though he still didn't want to do it, he thought there was no other way to proceed. He looked at Kendra, seizing her attention.

"Kendra, I have powers. I get these vibes from people, they're visions of meta-humans. And I had one of you."

Felicity asked, "So, A, you're saying you're a meta-human, and B, she's a meta-human?"

"I don't know." Cisco then spoke to Kendra. "In these visions, you could fly. It was like you were a bird of some sort."

"A bird?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah."

"What else did you see?"

"That's it. Just you with wings."

"That's actually not our only option for figuring this out." Jack suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Diggle asked.

Jack didn't answer directly. "Cisco, when you vibe, you don't actually get a whole picture or the whole story, do you?"

"No. Not nearly."

"There's something I've been playing close to the chest. Since a little before Bakura showed up, I've been discovering that my Millennium Ring gives me more than the power to manifest from the cards." Jack said.

"Grodd." Barry said. "You did some kind of mind-control thing."

Jack nodded.

"I thought you used the 'Brain Control' card or something there." Cisco said.

"I didn't. I..." Jack trailed off.

Mana noticed his body tense, his fists clench and unfurl, his eyes go down to the floor. This was hard for him and she understood why. The potential of Jack's powers granted to him by the ring were so far different, in fact, so far beyond all the other's that it set him apart from them completely, and this was the moment he was going to have to reveal that. Mana stepped closer to him and placed her hand over top of his at their side.

Jack went on, "I did that... myself... without any cards."

"You took over mine and Grodd's minds?" Barry asked.

"How?" Oliver asked, his tone beginning to be forceful.

"As far as I can tell, it seems my ring possesses the abilities of more than one of the Millennium Items from the show. The capability to totally control anyone's mind is the power of the Millennium Rod. I haven't tested for the powers of some of the other items, but one I think I do have is the power of the Millennium Necklace. The power to see the past and future."

"Jack collapsed while having a vision of the future the day Bakura arrived." Mana told them. "Although we haven't quite figured it out yet, we've been trying to consciously use and explore that power."

"So, you're saying that you could look into the past and get the whole story on this guy?" Kendra asked.

"Maybe. It's a possible option, at least." Jack said.

"So, what sort of powers from the other items could you possibly have?" Oliver asked.

Jack hesitated but sighed and answered. "If I have the powers of all seven items then, mind-reading, soul reading to see intentions, re... rewriting someone's personality and thought processes, sending people to the shadow realm, and last but less drastic, the ability to destroy all the darkness within a person."

Although neither of them physically moved, Jack and Mana could see Barry and Cisco take a mental step away from. The members of Team Arrow seemed unsettled, but not actually alarmed. Thea walked over to Jack and placed her hand on his shoulder, ignoring Mana on his opposite side.

"That seems like a big responsibility." She said, looking at him with sympathetic eyes.

Mana scowled at Thea and pulled Jack a step away from her.

"Yes, like the choice whether or not to shoot someone in the heart."

Thea scowled back at Mana.

"Oh! I did not see all this coming." Groaned Felicity.

Just then, all of the lights in the Bunker turned off for a moment and when they brightened, there were over twenty people dressed in garb which was both reminiscent of but different from traditional ninja wear.

"Oh, I think there's a lot you didn't see coming." Malcolm Merlyn said.

Everyone looked at them, greatly surprised by their entrance. Oliver aimed a gun. Jack drew his cards.

"Great! More surprises. Who the hell is this?" Cisco said.

"That's my dad." Thea said with venom.

OOO

Meanwhile, in Central City, Caitlin and Harry were busily working on a formula intended to make Barry faster. It had been conceived of by Harry on Earth-2 and originally intended to be used by Jay Garrick. The idea of the chemical was that it would temporarily boost the amount of Speed Force in the subject's body, like a nitrous oxide for speedsters.

Caitlin had volunteered to aid Harry in the project when she'd found him working on it hours earlier. Harry himself had never been able to perfect the formula since his expertise was in technology and not biochemistry. They were then in the primary control room, working on the complex chemical configurations at the desk computer screens.

"I think I did it." Caitlin proclaimed.

Harry straightened up and shifted to her station, looking closely at her screen.

"What do you know, Snow. I think you did do it."

Behind them, Jay Garrick, aka Hunter Zoloman, aka Zoom walked into the room.

"Velocity-Six?" He asked.

Harry and Caitlin turned to face him.

"This is what was so urgent, Harrison? You get me to come here so I can take your speed drug?" Jay asked, continuing his performance of the wounded, embittered hero.

"That's right." Harry said.

"You knew about this?" Jay asked Caitlin.

"Of course she did. She figured it out." Harry said for her.

"Uh... I thought this was to help Barry." Caitlin said.

"It is to help Barry, which is why we need to do test runs on subjects who once had the Speed Force in their system." Harry said.

"Speed Force doesn't work like that. It's not something you can create in a lab." Jay argued.

"How do you think you became the Flash, Garrick? By me and a lab. Science is what did this to you, to Barry, to Zoom. Science is what we need to stop Zoom, and this is our only option."

"Find another one! Speed Force can't be replicated or enhanced. It's a living thing. It's a gift that was given to me. That drug, you have no idea what it's gonna do. I'm not letting another one of your experiments mess with me again, Harrison. You find someone else to be your guinea pig." Jay spat.

He turned to storm out.

"Jay!" Caitlin said to stop him.

"Caitlin, keep that serum away from Barry."

He then did leave, walking the fast, angry stride of someone who had no super-speed. At Caitlin's side, Harry was putting on his jacket and ball-cap to go out.

"Where are you going?" Caitlin asked.

"To pick up what we need."

"Wait! Jay just said we shouldn't give it to Barry."

"We're gonna do what we need to." Harry said gravely before leaving.

OOO

Back in the Bunker, Oliver lowered his pistol away from Merlyn. Seeing this, Jack placed his card back in the deck.

"Now then, the man you're looking for is Vandal Savage." Merlyn said.

"Vandal Savage? Never heard of him." Diggle said.

"Well, who is he?" Barry asked.

"Some say the most trusted adviser to Genghis Khan. Others say he guided Julius Caesar through the Gallic Wars. But one thing the league knows for sure, he was there for all of it." Merlyn explained.

Cisco asked, "So, what are you saying? He's like a vampire or something?"

"Not a vampire. An immortal."

Oliver then looked at Jack. "So, you were right."

"Okay, we've officially stepped into crazy town. Immortality?" Kendra asked.

"I magically summon creatures that aren't supposed to exist from another dimension. Immortality isn't really that weird." Jack said.

"This can't be possible." Kendra said.

"There's nothing you can do to save her now." Merlyn said.

"Kendra, do not listen to him." Barry commanded.

"I...I just need some air." Kendra said before walking away.

Cisco followed after her.

"Hey." Barry said to Merlyn. "We are gonna do whatever we have to to keep Kendra safe. Whether you think we can or not."

"Luckily, you already have a secret weapon." Mana said.

Everyone turned to look at her. She had a nearly smug smile on her face which conveyed they were all about to be extremely grateful.

"Jack and I can come up with a strategy for anything."

OOO

"Kendra! Hey." Cisco yelled as he caught up to her outside. "You gonna be alright?"

"This is a lot to take in right now."

"Look, I'm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me before. I didn't want things to be different between us."

"It's not that, Cisco. If what everyone's saying is true, and it's beginning to seem like it is, my whole life just changed. I am so not ready for that."

"I hear what you're saying, I do. When I first learned about my powers, I remember feeling that exact same feeling. And sometimes, I still feel that way. All I can say is, every day gets a little bit more normal." Cisco took her hand in his. "I promise you."

Kendra looked down at her hand and smiled at him. "Thank you."

"You are so welcome."

Out of nowhere, a masked man with giant, eagle-like wings swooped down, picked Kendra off her feet, and carried her off.

"Kendra!" Cisco yelled.

"Let me go!" Kendra shouted at her captor.

It was no use. The man flew quickly out of view with her.

OOO

Less than three minutes later, everyone was mobilized and searching. Barry was super-speeding through the streets, Oliver was on his arrow-cycle and Jack and Mana were soaring over the building tops on the back of Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

"Guys, did you find anything?" Barry asked over the coms.

OOO

"I'm on it." Felicity and Cisco said at the same time.

Cisco rushed forwards and tried to use the computer himself.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! This is my house. Don't worry, we're gonna find her." Felicity said, pushing him back.

OOO

The man with wings gently set Kendra down on the roof of a building. He, himself then landed and folded his wings back, making them vanish into an unknown and unseen compartment. He removed his mask and looked at Kendra.

"Wow. You look as beautiful as ever."

Kendra took a step back, away from him.

"Chay-Ara, it's me, Khufu."

Kendra suddenly had a short, disjointed vision of the same man in a flame lit room, dressed in ancient Egyptian clothing. Another vision accompanied it. One of her and Khufu together, kissing in bed.

"Do you remember? Look at me." Khufu said.

Kendra looked at him.

"You need to wake up."

"What are you talking about?" Kendra asked. "I don't know who you are."

"You will once you emerge. Until then, you need to stay by my side so that I can protect you."

"Protect me? From what?"

"The man who is hunting you. Vandal Savage."

OOO

Felicity's computer beeped, a successfully obtained address displayed on the screen.

"I got 'em! Fifty-seventh street tower."

"I'm right near there." Oliver said over the coms.

"Mana, Red-Eyes, and I are closer. We'll get there first." Jack said through his earpiece.

"Always a pleasure watching you work, Smoak." Cisco said.

The two raised their hands to high-five, but Felicity missed and the edge of her palm just grazed against Cisco's.

"That was pitiful." Cisco said.

OOO

"I know this is a lot to take in, but you sort of just kinda have to trust me on this. I..." Khufu paused, his attention wavering. "Just one second. Stay right here."

He unfolded his wings, flapped them, and lifted off. Up in the sky, Khufu zoomed straight for Red-Eyes. He flew up close to Red-Eyes, swinging at the dragon with his mace, hitting him in the chest with all his strength. Red-Eyes fell to the right, forcing Jack and Mana to take a firmer grip on his back to keep from falling off. The dragon nearly collided into the top of a building. He straightened his wings and managed to pull up just enough to crash land on the top of the building, skidding to a halt just before he and his passengers would have fallen off again. Jack and Mana quickly dismounted Red-Eyes and moved to check on him.

Down on the street, Oliver was riding hard towards Kendra's location. The winged man flew towards him. Oliver let go of his handlebars, stood on the bike, and shot three arrows, one after the other. Khufu dodged all of them and then threw his mace, knocking Oliver's motorcycle out from underneath him. Oliver fell hard to the ground. Khufu landed and picked his mace back up.

"Give me the girl!" Oliver said through his vocal modulator.

"Not gonna do that, Robin Hood."

"You're making a big mistake."

"I'll take my chances."

Khufu threw his mace again, but Oliver blocked it with his bow. Oliver spun around, swinging his bow for a chest strike. Khufu hit the bow away and punched Oliver between the pectorals.

OOO

"Barry! Change of venue." Cisco directed. "Birdman and Oliver are at fifty-fourth and Motor now. Hurry!"

"On my way!"

OOO

Khufu threw a hook-punch that Oliver ducked under. Oliver hit him with a left-hook to the chin and a right-cross to the cheek. Khufu grabbed the back of Oliver's head, pulled him down, and kneed him in the stomach. He then hit Oliver in the stomach with a powerful push-kick, forcing Oliver back onto the ground.

Two-hundred feet away, Khufu saw Barry rounding a corner. He ran forward, timed it just right, unfurled his wings, and carried Barry up, off the ground. He lifted Barry a hundred feet and then let him fall.

Oliver shot a grappling arrow into a building, stringing a steel line that Barry grabbed onto and slid down, breaking his fall.

"We need to expose his wings." Oliver said.

"I'm open to suggestions." Barry said.

"What, now you're listening to me?"

"It's your city, Oliver."

Khufu came back again, swooping towards them. Oliver drew and fired four successive arrows, never hitting his mark. Khufu dived and tried to hit Oliver in the head with his mace. Oliver went into a shoulder-roll, missing the blow. As Khufu made a run for Barry, the speedster used his arms to create two mini-tornadoes that stopped Khufu and held him in place. Oliver then shot an arrow that was intended to bind Khufu's wings, but it was knocked off course by Barry's wind.

Just as Khufu was about to free himself from the tornadoes, Jack, Mana, and Red-Eyes came back into the fight. Red-Eyes soared close and tail-whipped him down to the street. Khufu on the ground, Barry super-sped around him in circles and flung his lightning at his target. It hit Khufu, knocking him out entirely. For good measure, Jack had Red-Eyes step forward and place his foot on top of Khufu, trapping him.

Oliver and Barry stepped close and looked down at their unconscious adversary.

"That's new." Oliver said.

"Yeah. Comes in handy." Barry replied.

Both then looked up at Jack and Mana. Their faces were slightly haggard and wind burned from their first part of the fight. Oliver shot them a small, quick salute.

OOO

In the S.T.A.R Labs control room, Harry had returned and was using a syringe to draw out a measure of the synthesized Velocity-Six compound.

"We can't use that serum on Barry." Caitlin said as she watched him do this.

"That's up to him, isn't it?" Harry asked. "If Barry wants to stop Zoom, this is what he needs."

"Jay said it could hurt Barry."

"Well, Jay's a coward."

"Jay's a scientist who knows a lot about speedsters."

"You're a scientist, Snow. You've been watching Barry, you know he's nowhere near as fast as he needs to be. This other mentor, this other Harrison Wells, did not want him to reach his full potential. I do."

"There's always another way." Caitlin said. "Jack's powers could be the key. He could have a card that could stop Zoom or one that could make Barry faster without any lasting effects."

"Snow, one, Harper is not really interested in stopping Zoom, only that made up character that seems to be real. Two, we still have no idea what kind of effect using his powers to enhance Barry could have. Three, even if we did, why would we use his powers when there's an answer already right here?"

"You know, you're really starting to sound a lot like the other Wells."

Caitlin walked away.

"Put your hands in the air." Harry heard from behind his back.

Turning, he saw Patty Spivot, Barry's girlfriend, standing there with her gun trained on him. She'd followed him back after spotting him on the street.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"You're under arrest." Patty said. "Dr. McGee was right. She did see you."

"Christina McGee?"

"At Mercury Labs. You're Harrison Wells."

Harry tried to explain as he took a step forward. "Yes, I'm Harrison Wells. I'm not the Harrison Wells-"

"Stop! You move closer and I'll shoot!"

Harry took another step. "Give me that-"

Patty fired. The bullet blasted directly into his left pectoral, right where his heart was. The sound of the shell casing tinkling on the floor seemed to reverberate in his ears like thunder as he collapsed.

Hearing the shot, Caitlin rushed back into the control room.

"Oh my God! What have you done?!" She asked Patty.

Caitlin bent down to tend to Harry. "Harrison. Harrison Wells, stay with me. Come on Harrison, stay with me." She turned and looked at Patty. "Why did you shoot him?"

"I thought that was a gun. I'm sorry. I'll call 911."

"No, don't!"

"Why?"

"Because this-" Caitlin paused, unsure of how to explain. "Didn't Joe West explain this to you?"

"No." Patty said.

"Just call Joe."

"Okay."

Patty took out her phone and made the call.

OOO

Over in Star City, down in the Bunker, Khufu was waking up, chained to a support column. Everyone was standing around, looking at him fiercely. After regaining himself enough, Khufu tried to break himself free, struggling hard against the chains. Felicity flinched from the action.

"Where is she?!" Khufu demanded.

"What's your name?" Oliver asked.

"You're putting her in danger and I'm the only one capable of saving her."

"A very interesting perspective on what the word 'saving' means." Thea commented.

"She's the love of my lifetimes, sweetheart. I was not gonna hurt her. Let me go!" Khufu said.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we'll decide when that happens." Jack said. "Also, I'm not really a fan of that tone. Don't take it again."

Thea looked at Jack and smiled warmly. Khufu then calmed and settled a bit as he watched Kendra walk into the center of the group.

"Chay-Ara..."

"My name is Kendra Saunders."

"In this life." Khufu said. "And I am, was, Carter Hall, but that is not who we are."

"What does that mean?" Kendra asked.

"You're Priestess Chay-Ara, I'm Prince Khufu, and we're lovers, soul mates. We've been partners for four-thousand years."

"This is finally starting to make sense." Mana said.

"What do you mean?" Barry asked.

"Reincarnation." Jack said succinctly.

"Exactly. Each time they die, they're born again. I even recognize their names now. Priestess Chay-Ara and Prince Khufu of the Middle Kingdom Period. We did an exhibit on them at the museum a year ago." Mana explained.

"Yeah, that's how it is." Khufu said. He looked to Kendra again. "We're drawn to each other in each life and after we die, we reincarnate to find each other again, and again, and again. And now that I've found you, we should really get out of here."

"Okay, Romeo, why don't you pump the brakes?" Cisco asked.

"These people cannot protect you from Savage any longer." Khufu said to Kendra.

"Do you know who Vandal Savage is?" Oliver asked.

"He's the man who murdered both of them in the first place." Mana stated.

Khufu's face became filled with shock. "How could you know that?"

"Mana's from ancient Egypt as well, even before your original time. She can read hieroglyphics like no one else can. It's how she got the job at the museum in the first place." Jack said.

"When they were bringing in the artifacts for that exhibit last year, I found a parchment written by the Priestess Chay-Ara, a kind of ancient diary. In it, she wrote of her lover Khufu, and of the Priest who was also in love with her. She wrote how she feared the Priest and what he might do, and considering it's a known and established fact that Priestess Chay-Ara and Prince Khufu were murdered, it's safe to assume who the murderer was." Mana explained.

"But why come after them now?" Oliver asked no one in particular.

Khufu answered, "In every lifetime, he hunts us down and kills us. He's done it two-hundred and six times. I'm not planning to make it two-hundred and seven."

"Why does he kill you?" John Diggle asked.

"His life force is tethered to ours. Every time he kills us, he becomes more powerful. You do the math."

"You're 0 for two-hundred-six and you still think you're her best bet?" Cisco asked.

"Okay, so what we need to do is just find Savage and get rid of him." Barry said.

Khufu scoffed. "Well, you can't get rid of him, my friend."

"Oh, yeah? Watch us."

"It might be harder than you think." Malcolm Merlyn said as he emerged from the shadows, his League of Assassins ninja behind him.

"Wha, tha, is that the only way this guy knows how to enter a room?" Barry asked.

Merlyn said, "My associates tell me Savage left Star City a few hours ago."

"For where?" Diggle asked.

"We're not quite sure. But I assume after his run-in with you, he realized he needed something more powerful to complete his mission. We think he's trying to locate the Staff of Horus."

"Sorry, what is that?" Thea asked.

"It's a relic from our past." Khufu said. "An ancient and powerful weapon. If Savage gets his hands on it, it's gonna be nearly impossible to stop him."

"Since when did our lives suddenly become an Indiana Jones movie?" Cisco asked.

"Felicity. Think you can find it?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah. It's probably at some museum somewhere. I'll, uh, work my magic, see what I can find."

"There's no need for that." Mana said. "It's been in the new arrivals section of the Central City Museum of Natural History for eight months, stuck in some kind of bureaucratic limbo before it goes back to Cairo. I'm supposed to be inspecting it tomorrow."

"The museum." Jack muttered.

He began to rub his chin and pace slightly back and forth, pondering over something.

"The museum, Savage."

"Jack?" Barry asked.

"The museum, Savage." Jack repeated.

"Jack, do you have something?" Oliver asked pointedly.

"Maybe. I think I'm starting to see a strategy that just might work. We have the bait, we know where he'll be and that as of now, all we really need is a little help of otherworldly power. Hmm."

Jack stared blankly at the floor for another second before shaking his head hard.

"I can't figure it out here. I need to see the exact layout of the room in order to plan properly."

"I'll bring up the blueprints on the computer." Felicity suggested.

"No, that won't work. I won't be able to visualize. I need to be there."

"You're gonna come up with a plan to stop him? That includes all of us? All on your own?" Barry asked, disbelief in his voice.

"Strategies are what I do. You guys need to keep working on this end. I've got a card that can get us there instantaneously, besides, I need to go to my place to get the right cards. Mana, let's go." Jack said.

Mana nodded and the two of them began to walk away to a more open area. Thea walked quickly up behind them and touched Jack on the shoulder, making him turn back to face her.

"I'm going with you." She said.

"Thanks, Thea, but, this a 'magic' kind of thing, not an 'attempted murder' kind of thing, and we don't need any cheerleaders. You really wouldn't be able to help us plan." Mana said.

"Except that you guys have just met me, Ollie and Diggle and you don't know our strengths and weaknesses. I do." Thea said.

"She's right, Mana. Thea, come on." Jack said.

Thea smiled triumphantly and Mana frowned darkly at her. The three of them stood in a triangle pattern in front of the elevator doors.

"We'll follow you as soon as we can. Keep us updated and if possible, fill us in on the plan over the phone." Oliver told them.

Jack nodded. He then took his current deck out of the duel-disk, replaced it with another from one of the cases on his belt, and drew out six cards. The third card being the one he wanted, he placed the others back in the deck.

"Activate 'Teleport!'" Jack declared.

One by one, a small piece of their bodies seemed to simply vanish in rapid sequence until they were truly no longer there.

"We're running out of time." Khufu announced.

Everyone turned back to look at him.

"Chay-Ara, you need to emerge. Now. Come on. What is it going to take for you to believe me? You saw my wings. I know you know this is true. Please, just let me show you how."

The look of confusion and contemplation on Kendra's face made her apprehension plain and obvious.

OOO

Joe West entered the S.T.A.R Labs control room and walked straight to the hospital bed and equipment Caitlin had setup for Harry.

"How's he doing?" Joe asked.

"He's losing oxygen."

Turning his head, he saw Patty standing six feet to the side of the bed, watching everything.

"I need you to leave."

Patty walked up to him. "Joe I-"

"Patty, go." He said rigidly.

She shifted to her left and exited without saying another word. Joe turned his attention to Caitlin again, ready to offer any assistance needed.

"There's a bullet in a branch of his pulmonary artery that's blocking off most of the blood flow from the left lung." She said.

"Are we able to get the bullet out?"

"Not without causing too much damage. I need Jay's help."

Joe reached into his interior jacket pocket for his phone and stepped away to make the call.

OOO

Inside the Central City Museum of Natural History, Jack was scoping out the basement where the coming fight was to take place. The room was quite large, needing the exceeding space for the crates all the new artifacts arrived in. The wooden containers created not only a plethora of potential cover but also a near labyrinth of turns and dead ends. Jack was including both factors into his calculations. He and the girls had already mapped out a basic strategy and were now fine-tuning the plan.

"Thea, give me an overview of yours, Oliver's and Diggle's particular fighting styles again." Jack directed.

"Well, with mine and Oliver's arrows and hand-to-hand skills, we're good at both close and medium distance combat. John's just as good up close, but with his pistol and marksmanship, he's great at long distance as well."

Jack sat down on the top of a three-foot crate. "Okay. I think we've got a decent plan going here. A few more tweaks and it should be nearly unbeatable."

"It's a good plan, Jack." Mana said.

Thea sat down beside Jack on the crate. "Yeah, it is. It could go off without a hitch if we play our cards right."

Jack chuckled at that.

"No pun intended." Thea added.

Mana scowled at Thea again. She knew her dislike originated from jealousy for how Thea was acting towards Jack, but for that very reason, she didn't care. Mana did not like how Thea seemed to be trying to worm her way between her and Jack, and she was getting ready to do something about it. A more vindictive part of her mind wondered how Thea would like it in the lava lakes of the Dominion of the Beasts.

"Mana." Jack said.

His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and tempered her mounting hostility a bit.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"They have a weapons locker in the security booth, don't they?"

"Yes. I believe they still do. Mostly pistols and a few shotguns I think. Why?"

"Could you go get them and bring them down here? I've got an idea for a few diversionary and scare tactics we might be able to rig up with them." Jack said.

"Why doesn't Thea go and get them? She doesn't seem to be very busy at the moment."

"Because I don't think Thea can open the booth door and the locker without tripping the alarm. She also couldn't use a levitation spell to get all the weapons back down here in one trip." Jack said.

Mana considered for a brief moment and decided making a scene out of leaving him and Thea alone together wouldn't make her look very good. She wasn't happy about the idea, but she would do it because he asked her to. Nodding her head affirmatively, Mana walked away.

"I'm sorry about Mana." Jack said to Thea. "I'm not really sure what's going on with her today."

"It's alright. It's been fun getting to know you. Interesting too. From what Ollie told me a little earlier, I think your powers may be just slightly more complicated than Barry's."

Jack chuckled again. "You know, you're the first person I've met since Mana who's really able to make me laugh. It's been nice meeting you and your team, too."

"We should keep in touch after this is over."

"Yeah, definitely."

"Maybe one of us could even come to the other's city and we could see each other, privately."

Thea placed the palm of her hand on the back of Jack's. Jack looked down at it as if he were staring at an alien object. He withdrew his hand out from under hers.

"Okay, connections forming, realization dawning, understanding Mana's problem." Jack said. "Uh, Thea... you're a very attractive girl, and you seem like a nice person, but, there really isn't anything that could happen with you and me."

"But, Cisco told me that you and Mana we're having some problems lately."

"I'll deal with his gossiping later on. But, as to this, whatever problems Mana and I are having, there's no one for me but her, in this or any other world."

"She really means that much to you?" Thea asked.

Jack smiled warmly. "She's my everything. Before I met her, I had nothing. I was practically nothing. Then, like lightning, I was the happiest guy on Earth. There's so much about her that makes me smile. From the way she makes me laugh to the way she hides her eyes during a horror movie. I love her more than I can ever express."

"Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed. I thought you and I could have some fun and that it could maybe lead to something. But, on the whole, I'm happy for you. I hope we can at least be friends."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Jack said.

"Uh, I'm gonna go scope out the best cover spots."

Jack nodded and Thea stood up and walked away. Unknown by either of them, Mana was standing behind a distant crate, having never left the room. She'd been so irrationally scared that Thea might be able to entice Jack, she'd been compelled to hide and listen to the whole conversation. She was holding her hands over her heart and tears of happiness were streaming down her face.

OOO

Oliver, Barry, Khufu, Cisco, and Kendra were all peering over the edge of a building.

"So, you just want me to jump?" Kendra asked Khufu.

"Fall, jump, swan dive, whatever suits you. Just do it."

"Okay, this isn't the X Games." Cisco commented.

"And this is how she emerges? She just falls towards her death?" Oliver asked.

"Yep. Four-thousand years of experience says that's exactly how. Just watch and learn." Khufu said.

"No, I'm sorry." Barry said. "What are we doing? Why are we listening to this guy? Come on, Oliver. You're the one who's supposed to ask questions."

"Okay, but after what we saw, after what Cisco said, after what I saw what Jack can do, I cannot believe I'm gonna say this... but it kinda makes sense."

Barry could not believe what he was hearing. Khufu gestured one hand in a way that told of his satisfaction with the situation. Cisco scoffed. Kendra climbed up onto the ledge of the roof.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Barry yelled at her.

Kendra half-turned back to them. "I need to try."

"Are you serious?" Barry asked.

"Yes, she is." Khufu said and nonchalantly pushed her off the edge.

Kendra fell screaming through the air. After only half a second, Barry flashed down the side of the building, caught her, and ran her safely back up to the roof.

"What the hell was that?!" Barry yelled at Khufu.

"Saving her life." He responded. "You should have emerged. Something is blocking you. Well, we should just try again and see-"

"NO!" Cisco and Barry screamed at the same time.

"We are not doing that again. Kendra, you don't have to do this. Oliver, we can stop Savage, okay?" Barry said.

"Barry!" Oliver said loudly.

"What?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah. Keep an eye on him." Barry told Cisco.

Oliver and Barry walked a short distance away from the others.

"What is going on with you?" Oliver asked.

"I'm trying to keep her alive."

"Then I think we let her jump."

"Are you kidding?"

"Barry, I get that you're desperate to help and you want to be the hero and you wanna save her yourself. But, I think she has to have a part in it, too."

Barry scoffed.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"It's just the rules keep changing. One day, I have to run through time, the next I'm fighting a telepathic gorilla, the next, we're fighting an immortal madman trying to kill a reincarnated Priestess, the next I've got a guy on my team who's got the power to change people and pull dragons and God knows what else out of thin air with one little card."

"This has something to do with Jack?"

Barry hesitated. "No."

"You sure about that? Seems like a factor. I saw how you and Cisco recoiled away from him when he told us about what he thought he might be capable of. And even though it was second hand, the way Felicity told me about your situation is he isn't really meshing with your team, that he tends to go his own way. Seems to me there isn't much trust between you two."

"You know what? You're right, I don't trust him. His powers could allow him to do anything he wants, and he could make it so that no one knows and we're depending on him to come up with some kind of plan. I trusted Wells, look where that got me. And Jack, he could take over my mind and body anytime he wants. You heard him admit to doing it before. How am I supposed to trust Jack?"

"Let me ask you this: with your speed, what's to stop you from doing anything you want and getting away with it?"

Barry didn't have an answer for that. After a moment, he said, "You know, I just never thought I'd have superpowers and feel more powerless than I ever have in my entire life."

Oliver said, "That part I understand. But you have already helped Kendra. You have kept her alive. So now, let's help her get her wings, and then she can give you a lift back to Central City."

Barry laughed softly once. His phone rang and he answered it.

"Jack?" Barry listened to the man on the other end. "Okay."

He ended the call.

"Jack says they set up some kind of magic early warning. Savage is about two hours out from the museum."

"If it's decent, I'm going to go with whatever plan Jack's come up with. How about you?" Oliver asked.

"I don't like it, but for tonight, if you will, I will."

OOO

In S.T.A.R Labs, Harry's vitals monitor started beeping rapidly, receiving Caitlin and Joe's immediate attention.

"Now what?" Joe asked.

Caitlin looked at the monitor. "His systolic pressure's dropping. He's gonna code."

Just then, Jay Garrick walked into the control room.

"How bad is it?" He asked.

"There's a bullet in his pulmonary artery." Caitlin said.

"Can you close the wound if I get it?"

"Yes."

"How are you gonna do that?" Joe asked.

Caitlin picked Harry's syringe gun off of the table of tools.

"With this. It's a serum called Velocity-Six. It could give Jay temporary speed. He can phase through Dr. Wells' chest and remove the bullet."

"Yeah, but I told you, I've no idea what's gonna happen if I use that."

"It's our only option. If you don't do this, Dr. Wells will die."

Jay hesitated a moment, grabbed the syringe gun from her hand, and injected the serum into his wrist. Lightning flashed through his eyes and he groaned in pain as the drug took effect.

"It's working." Joe said.

Jay used his temporary burst of powers to vibrate his hand at super-speed. Vibrating between the molecules, he dipped his hand down into Harry's chest and lifted it back up with Patty's bullet nestled in his palm.

"BP and oxygenation is rising. Blood flow's returning to his lungs." Caitlin said. She turned to Jay. "Thank you."

OOO

Cisco and Kendra were still on the roof of the same building an amount of time later.

"I was just thinking, all the moments in my life when I felt different, like something was wrong with me, now I know why." Kendra said.

"It's gonna be alright, okay?" Cisco said. "Look, I know what it's like to have your life suddenly change like this. I can help you get through this."

"I don't know if you can. Cisco, there is a whole other life inside of me. Hundreds of lives that I need to know about. I think I need to do it by myself. I have to embrace my destiny. I have to believe."

Kendra climbed up onto the ledge.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You don't have to do this."

"Carter was right. Something's holding me back. Maybe it's Central City, or you, or what I thought my life was going to be. I'm never gonna become who I really am unless I let go. I have to do this."

Kendra spread her arms and jumped.

"No!" Cisco screamed.

She rushed towards the ground at terminal velocity. Halfway down, she opened her eyes and a pair of huge bird wings emerged out of her back. She pulled out of the dive and soared upwards in a swooping arc.

"Oh my God!" Cisco exclaimed.

He hooted and hollered happily as she made a pass overhead and turned to come back. A foot above the roof, her wings folded back into place and she fell onto the roof and rolled. Cisco came running up to her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm gonna have to learn how to use these things."

Cisco chuckled. "You'll get the hang of it... Hawkgirl."

Kendra smiled at the name.

OOO

Vandal Savage used one of his daggers to bust the lock of an emergency exit and entered the Central City Museum of Natural History. The lights in the museum were all off. The only illumination was whatever could filter in through the high windows. He walked slowly through the wide-open hallways, scanning thoroughly for any opposition.

Leaving the marine life exhibit, he stepped into an intermediary hall and an arrow was instantly shot at him, grazing his head. Savage's temple began to bleed, but he ignored the injury.

Savage spoke loudly into the open space. "I see you deduced what I am after! I must commend your tenacity! I've never encountered opponents quite like you before!"

The sound of a pair of beating wings made Savage turn his head to the southward hall.

"Chay-Ara."

He walked into the hall, traveling a short distance to the dinosaur and paleontology exhibit wing. The sound of air being shifted by wings filled the large room.

"Chay-Ara, is that you? You should just come out, my dear. You know I'll make your death as painless as possible. I always do."

From the far end of the wing, Barry ran in at super-speed. Vandal Savage used his super reflexes to throw a punch for Barry's face, but Barry slid under the fist, kicked Savage's feet out from under him, and ran away. While still on the ground, a red arrow buried itself in the floor in front of Savage's face and began releasing a cloud of smoke. Savage coughed and choked from the smoke and moved swiftly away from the noxious gas.

Savage stopped to allow his gagging to subside but became on alert when he heard something odd. An audible grinding noise perforated his ears. It was soft but clear and reminiscent of two dry boards of wood rubbing together. Looking behind himself, Savage saw the skeleton of a spinosaurus stepping off of its pedestal and walking towards him. The reanimated bones reached Savage before he could run and it used it's long snout to bash him in the chest and send him sliding across the waxed floor.

Savage didn't come to a stop until he collided into the side of the grand staircase in the main reception area. The lobby was brighter than the other wings had been. Moonlight softly brightened the room through the skylight in the ceiling.

From behind him, several gunshots rang out and one nailed him in the left shoulder. A burst of magical energy erupted from the high, midsection of the staircase and blasted him into the middle of the lobby. High above Savage, he saw three figures jump from the perimeter of the skylight and dive right for him with fists extended. Savage barely had time to think they resembled medieval knights before their fists connected with his torso. The combined strength of the knights shattered the floor beneath Savage, making all of them fall into the basement.

Still, in midair, the knights pushed their legs against Savage, jumping away from him. Savage turned his head and saw why. In the basement floor, right where he was falling was some kind of wide, gaping hole. The hole was filled with nothing but impenetrable, swirling blackness. All his foes were standing at the edge of it, waiting. Savage got the distinct impression that the hole would somehow go on for infinity. He fell into the hole.

Around the edge of the hole, everyone was wearing their hero suits. Even Mana was wearing her blue and pink Dark Magician Girl outfit. The only one not in a special getup was Jack.

"I can't believe that worked." Barry said.

"Why? It was a good plan." Thea said.

"There is a reason Jack has been the world champion duelist for eight years." Mana said.

"Barry does have a bit of a point." Diggle said. "Forcing this guy into position to send him into this bottomless hole thing, I didn't think it would be so easy."

"It was not." A voice said.

The three knights returned to the rest of the group. They were the monsters known as Legendary Knight Timaeus, Legendary Knight Critias, and Legendary Knight Hermos. Each one of them had their swords drawn and at the ready.

"They're right. Look!" Oliver shouted.

Savage was pulling himself up out of the trap by a steel line he'd thrown just before falling in. Jack pulled the trap card out of the spell/trap zone to deactivate it, but he was too late. Savage used his core muscles to lift his bottom half out of the mouth of the hole just as it closed up. All of the heroes tensed and readied themselves for a fight. Savage looked at them and smiled with a wild, inhuman kind of pleasure.

"Astonishing! In all my millennia, I've never encountered abilities like yours before. I will remember you and this fight long after you're dead."

Barry ran forward and tried to execute the same slide and kick maneuver, but Savage anticipated the tactic, timed it right, and stomped down on Barry's chest. Oliver, Thea, and Mana fired their arrows, and a bolt of magic at the same time. Savage swatted the arrows away with one of his daggers and then lifted Barry up as a human shield against Mana's attack. Barry was sent flying across the room and crashed hard into a wooden crate, half concussed.

Jack drew and looked at a card. "Activate 'Hammer Shot!'"

A mallet the size of a tank crashed down through the ceiling. Savage dove out of the path of the weapon. A second later, Jack and his three Legendary Knights each bore down on Savage with swords. Jack's came from the spell card "Salamandra," the whole length of the blade engulfed in flames. Savage pulled a second dagger from his coat and used both to block all the swords.

"Diggle!" Jack shouted as he shifted his stance and made a hole.

Diggle took aim and shot a bullet through the gap right into Savage's chest. The force of the shot pushed Savage back a step and he used the momentum to get out of the lock of blades holding him down. Jack pointed his sword and sent a torrent of fire at Savage. The immortal dodged, but only enough to keep all but his left arm from being burned. He extinguished his arm quickly and threw one of his daggers at Jack. It hit him in the thigh and just barely missed the femoral artery.

Jack fell down to one knee, but Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos pressed on. Savage and the knights entered a fierce duel of blades clanging, blocking and countering each other. From behind them, Thea and Oliver each shot an arrow at Savage. He blocked one, but the other hit him in the right arm, freezing it solid with liquid nitrogen. Mana, Oliver, and Thea then joined into the hand to hand fight with the other monsters.

Oliver swung his bow, Savage blocked the blow and elbowed him in the face. He blocked and counter slashed into the armor of all three knights. He kicked Thea in the knee and then spinning-kicked her in the side of the head. Diggle then fired another bullet that hit and shattered Savage's frozen arm. At the same time, Mana knocked the dagger out of his remaining hand with her staff and fired a burst of magic into his center-mass.

Just as Barry had been minutes before, Savage was sent hurtling backwards, crashing through several crates. Barry, Jack, Diggle, and the Legendary Knights all moved and stood beside Oliver, Mana, and Thea. They all looked at Savage's prone form. The moment quickly became quietly tense as they waited to see if they'd won. They hadn't.

Savage slowly sat up and, strangely, had a wide, victorious smile on his face. Everyone saw why when he lifted his left arm and was holding the Staff of Horus. The heroes all readied themselves anew.

Savage spoke, "You've come closer to defeating me than anyone in history ever has. I congratulate you for that achievement, but this game IS OVER!"

The crown of the staff glowed with energy and Savage blasted it at them. Barry flashed Oliver and Thea away and the three Legendary Knights covered Jack, Mana, and Diggle with their bodies. The attack hit the knights, sending them and the others crashing onto their backs. Timaeus, Hermos, and Critias instantly disappeared, weakened from the hit.

Savage charged up another shot, clearly aimed for those on the ground. Jack pulled a card from his deck and looked at it.

"Activate 'Seismic Shockwave!'"

An earthquake began shaking and rattling the whole building. It was low intensity and lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to sufficiently throw off Savage's aim. The staff's blast struck an empty section of the floor instead of Jack, Mana, and Diggle.

Oliver leaned out from the cover he'd taken and fired a fast salvo of five arrows. Savage blocked the first few, but an electroshock arrow hit him in the leg, sending a hundred-thousand volts into his body. Barry then super-sped in and punched Savage with an uppercut to the chin and one to the stomach. Thea shot an arrow that just missed puncturing his brain but tore through the flesh of one cheek. Mana sent a barrage of rapid-fire magic which peppered Savage's chest.

"ENOUGH!" Savage screamed.

A massive blast-wave of power emanated from the staff. It encompassed the entire room, blowing everyone back. Oliver and Barry were thrown into a concrete wall. Diggle and Thea were sent flying forty feet, through the doors into the outer hall. Jack, acting on instinct, grabbed Mana into a hug and covered her, taking several shards of wooden shrapnel into his back. Everyone but Savage was out cold. Every crate and artifact in the room had been decimated.

Savage looked over all his handiwork and faintly smiled to himself. He stepped over to where Jack and Mana lay. His body was prone over hers, still protecting her. Savage knew he had to kill his foes while he had the chance or they would just come back again. He pointed the staff down at the two of them and started charging it again.

Before he could kill them, an ugly, ghost-like creature appeared and slashed across his chest with a sword, pushing him back. Bakura walked in from the outer hall and stood between Savage and Jack. The ghost hung close to his shoulder.

"Normally I wouldn't interfere with one so similar to myself, but I have plans for this fool and I need him alive for now. I cannot allow you to kill him."

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"You must be mentally challenged. I just said what I'm doing here." Bakura said calmly.

"How did you even know about all this?"

"Let's just say I like to keep a close eye on my enemies. Now, I'll give you one chance to leave here alive."

"I do not fear you!"

Savage fired off a bolt from his staff. Bakura's Millennium Ring glowed and the shot was harmlessly dispersed. Savage repeated his action several times, but with no altered result.

"Fool! Your pitiful powers are no match for mine!" Bakura sneered evilly.

Bakura pulled a single card out of his pocket.

"I summon Diabound!"

The giant, horrid monster appeared. It had ash white skin, the torso of a man, and it balanced on the tail of a serpent which had a hissing snake's head at the other end.

"What is that?!"

Savage was gaping up at the monster, his eyes wide and his confidence gone. He was feeling fear for the first time in thousands of years.

"It is the implementation of your destruction. Now, feed, my pet!"

With one swift motion, the snake-head of Diabound lashed out, grabbed Savage in its mouth, and swallowed him whole. Bakura smiled at the sight.

"Enjoy the shadow realm." Bakura said with great amusement.

He looked down at Jack and Mana.

"If only I didn't have to defeat you in a duel first. You're living on borrowed time, mortal. Try to make the most of it."

Bakura then turned and walked out.

OOO

Two hours later, Barry, Oliver, Mana, Thea, Diggle, and Jack were all back in S.T.A.R Labs, sitting around the primary control room. Jack was sitting reversed in a desk chair with his shirt off so that Mana could apply her healing magic to his back. Caitlin and Jay were standing next to Harry's bed.

"So, what happened exactly?" Caitlin asked.

"We fought Savage, using Jack's plan. It was going well, we almost had him." Oliver said.

"Yeah, until Jack's brilliant plan went all to hell and Savage nearly killed us all." Barry said.

"It was a good plan, Barry, and it nearly worked. There was no way Jack could have known Savage had that line or would be able to use it in time." Oliver said.

"And if it weren't for Jack, Mana, and their monsters, we wouldn't have been able to do the damage to Savage we did." Thea added.

"Maybe, but we don't even know what happened to Savage." Barry said. "For all we know, he's on his way back to Star City right now to finish Kendra and Carter off."

"No, he's not." Mana announced. "I used my powers to scan the room, in a manner of speaking, after we came to. The aura of Savage's power terminated a few minutes after we blacked out. I don't know how, but that only could have happened if he died. He won't be bothering anyone again."

"Yeah, if we can even believe you." Barry said.

Jack turned in his chair and looked squarely at Barry. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I wouldn't be surprised if she was making up that story just to cover for the fact that you messed up."

"HEY!" Jack jumped out of his chair. "Mana doesn't lie and I'm not gonna just stand here and let you talk to her that way. Apologize to her, now!"

Barry and Jack stared each other down for a long moment. Everyone else looked on and silently wondered if there was about to be another fight. Barry blinked first.

"You're right, I shouldn't have said that. Mana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything."

"It's alright, Barry."

"Look, guys, the important thing to focus on is however it happened, we did it. We won. Savage is gone and Kendra is safe." Oliver said.

"What about the museum itself? You guys didn't destroy any priceless artifacts, did you?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes and no. Jack used a card that somehow reversed time on the museum itself. We left it like we hadn't even been there." Diggle answered.

"Would everyone please shut up?" Harry groaned softly from his bed.

Caitlin quickly turned to him. "Dr. Wells, you're awake. You're going to be okay."

"Well, that's good news." Harry said.

"You will probably be very sore for a while, though."

"Sore's better than dead."

"Yes, it is."

Caitlin walked away and Harry looked at Jay.

"How you doin' Garrick?"

"Your serum's out of my system. And I will never take it again."

"What serum?" Barry asked.

"It's nothing." Jay replied quickly. He then asked Harry, "Right?"

Harry just looked back and said nothing. Jay then scoffed, turned, and walked straight out of the room.

"Well, since everything seems to be wrapped up, we should probably be getting back to Star City." Diggle said. "We'll call Felicity and have her tell Cisco it's safe for all of them to come back."

"Thanks." Barry said, too tired to say more.

"Well, Team Flash, this has been interesting." Thea said.

She, Diggle, and Oliver all stood up. Oliver moved over to Barry and the two men grasped hands.

"Until next time." Oliver said.

"Til next time." Barry said back.

Oliver turned and he and his team started to walk out. Oliver stopped again after a few steps.

"Jack, Mana, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to talk to you privately for a second."

The two of them followed Team Arrow into the outer hall.

Oliver said, "I just wanted to say that I'm very glad to have met you guys today and it's been fun."

Jack laughed softly to himself.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"I think Jack thought you were going to ream us out or something." Mana said lightheartedly.

"Yeah, I did."

"No. Nothing like that. Actually, I wanted to tell you that I'm very impressed with how you handle your powers. If you can even do half things you say you're capable of, then I'm impressed all the more. Not many people could resist the urge to use abilities like that." Oliver said.

Jack was silent for a moment. "Wow. Uh, thanks, man. I was not expecting that."

"I'd say you deserve it." Diggle said.

"Definitely." Thea said.

"It's been a pleasure getting to know all of you, as well." Mana said.

"There is something, though." Oliver said. "I don't know about the rest of my team, but I'd kind of like to stop Damien Darhk for myself."

He looked at his two friends. Diggle and Thea both nodded an agreement.

"You sure about that?" Jack asked. "I deactivate that card, he'll come out right where he went in. He'll have a head start on you guys."

"We'll figure it out." Oliver said.

"Jack, maybe we can make things a little more even for them. I think you have a card that can do it." Mana said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Hold on. I think I put it in this deck."

Jack removed his deck from the duel-disk and leafed through it.

"Here it is. Activate 'Anti-Magic Arrows."

A quiver of arrows materialized in Jack's hand and he presented it to Oliver.

"Here. These arrows shouldn't be affected by Darhk's magic in any way. Should put you on more or less equal footing."

Oliver took the arrows from him with a smile.

"Thanks, Jack. You know, believe it or not, I have some idea what it feels like to be different from everyone else. You ever want a change from Team Flash or Central City, there will be a place for both of you on my team if you want it."

"I... I appreciate that. I'll keep it in mind. See you around, Green Arrow."

Jack held out his hand and he and Oliver shook.

"See you around, Deck Master."

"Please don't call me that." Jack said laughingly.

The two men took their hands back, and Team Arrow got into the elevator and left.

"So, we should probably go home and get some sleep. It's been a long day." Mana said.

"No kidding. I feel ready for a vacation."

Mana laughed. "Should we tell Barry and them we're going?"

"No, I think we've had enough of them for one day. Maybe for an entire year. All I want now is a burger, a shower and bed, and not necessarily in that order."

"Then, let's go."

OOO

Mana stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around her chest, finished with her shower, and walked into their bedroom. She found Jack seated on the edge of the bed, stretching out his muscles.

"Ugh! I haven't felt this tired since I tried to learn horseback riding from Gaia. Boy, am I glad I decided to give up on that one."

Mana sat down next to him. She started giggling. "I'd never seen anyone dirtier then you were after that."

Jack chuckled. "And it took almost seven whole treatments from you before my arm was working right again."

They both laughed heartily together. As their laughter subsided, Jack looked into Mana's eyes, and seeing how bright and happy they looked, he decided that now was likely the best time to talk.

"Mana, look, about what happened when Bakura showed up, you know I didn't mean to hurt you and I'm so sorry I did. And you know you're so much more than a card to me. Honestly, the majority of the time I completely forget it needs to be on the duel-disk. You're my best friend. You're the first person who ever believed in me." He gently cupped her face with his hand. "I love you so much, Mana."

She touched his hand with her own. "I love you too, Jack, and I'm sorry I was so confused about everything for so long. I know you'd never hurt me on purpose. I feel so bad about how miserable I've made the both of us over the last month."

"Plenty of time to make up for it."

Jack then leaned in close to her and the two began to softly kiss each other back and forth. After a minute of kissing, Jack pulled at the knot of Mana's towel and it fell to the floor. Mana giggled and the two fell back onto the bed.

OOO

He ran through the dark corridors as hard as he could, unable to stop, unable to turn back. He didn't know if he was running towards or away from something, all he knew was that there was something somewhere in those halls that had him moving like he was.

He stopped as an odd sound hit his ears. It was a baby crying. He moved forward again, turning a corner into a room lit by torches along the walls. Two men and a woman were standing on the other side of the room. They were all dressed in ancient clothes and seemed to be of middle eastern blood. He couldn't be more accurate than that. They were all standing around a cradle.

The three began to speak frantically to each other. Their words were in a language he couldn't understand, but he did understand the tones they were using. They were arguing about something. All of them seemed to be in agreement about something being horrible, but one seemed to be arguing in favor of whatever it was at the same time. The woman began to cry.

She frenziedly lifted the baby out of the cradle and held it close to her.

He gasped as he caught sight of the baby. It had his exact hair.

OOO

Jack sprang up in bed, panting hard, a film of sweat all over his skin. Mana, awakened by his stirring, sat up and looked at him with worry.

"Jack, what is it?"

"I had this really weird dream... or, maybe a vision. I don't know. But, I think I saw myself in it."

"Do you think it means something?" Mana asked.

"I don't know. I really don't."