Chapter 9
The Rescue of Jessie Quick – Part 1
Three days after S.T.A.R Labs had hosted the titanic duel between Jack Harper and Seto Kaiba, Harry Wells had gathered all the members of Team Flash in the primary control room. Barry and all the others could see that he had something serious to tell them.
"I've asked all of you here to discuss something important." Harry began. "You all know that three days ago, I betrayed Zoom when he made me an offer to get my daughter back in favor of helping Barry. Knowing that he can't control me, Zoom's use for my daughter was sharply curtailed. I'm going back to Earth-2 to save her, that is, if..." Harry paused a beat to keep his voice steady and even. "If he hasn't already killed her."
"That's not an easy job. Zoom might be weakened by what you guys told me you did, but he probably isn't that weak." Joe said.
"I know that, detective. Just like I know you'd do the same thing in my position." Harry said.
"Well, we're not gonna let you do this alone." Barry said. "We'll help you."
"Allen, while I appreciate the gesture, even with a bit of his speed, you're not nearly as fast as Zoom. You still can't beat him."
"Maybe he can't, but I think we all proved pretty well we can take him down a peg or two working together." Cisco said. "Just look at what we did to him."
"Admit it, Harry. You want help on this. Why else would you have told us instead of just leaving? You're smart, you know having them with you can only help." Iris said.
"I may be able to improve further on the Velocity-6, even up Barry and Zoom a little more." Caitlin said.
"And I could maybe come up with some more anti speedster weapons." Cisco said.
"You know we're coming with you." Barry said with a small smile.
"Fine." Harry said.
He did not smile back, but the look in his eyes changed minutely and gave away his satisfaction with their answers.
"Hey guys, since it seems clear we're going to do this, there's something I think I should bring up." Cisco said.
"What is it, Cisco?" Joe asked.
"Well, when we beat Zoom the last time, it was largely due to surprise. Unless we get some unbelievable good luck, we're not gonna be able to surprise him this time. In fact, we'd be grossly underestimating him if we didn't assume he's probably just waiting for us to do something just like this."
"Where are you going with this?" Catilin asked.
"I'm just saying, we were kinda lucky last time. This time, if we want to have our best shot at pulling it off, we should bring in every resource we can. We're great at tech stuff and finding people, but for this one, I think we'll need someone able to do some more stuff. Someone who can make a plan for any and everything." Cisco said.
"Cisco, I think we can do this without bringing Jack and his team in on it. Besides, I'm sure they're busy trying to find Bakura." Barry said.
"I agree with Cisco." Iris said. "Jack's shown he's a far better strategist than any of us, plus, his magic could possibly be the deciding factor in everything. There's probably some card which would make Zoom... freeze or something."
"And regardless, I can get Mr. Kaiba to help with the tech since traveling to another dimension will probably provide invaluable data to help towards getting him and Mokuba back to their home." Cisco said.
"Harper, his girlfriend, and those kids do seem to have a good team dynamic from what I've seen. They could be valuable back up in the fight. We'll bring them in." Harry proclaimed, leaving no room to argue.
"Alright. I'll go talk to 'em." Barry said and then flashed out of the room.
Everyone looked in the direction Barry had left by, and then all looked at each other again.
"Why's he going to talk to them?" Caitlin asked. "He could have just called."
No one had an answer to that.
OOO
At that moment, Jack, Mana, Yugi, Joey, Téa, and Tristan were all huddling together underneath the window of a downtown restaurant. All six of them peering up through the window as unobtrusively as they could, they saw Bakura sitting at one of the tables, having lunch.
After they're day of fun, the group had spent the previous day and a half tracking Bakura. They'd used a combination of Jack looking into the future through the Millennium Ring, Mana's extrasensory perception, the application of certain spell and trap cards on the part of Jack, Joey, and the Pharaoh, and old-fashioned, deductive guesswork with the whole group figuring it out together. There had been a few setbacks, mostly due to the fact that Bakura somehow seemed able to obscure Jack's ability to look into the future, but they'd still found him in the end.
The six of them had decided on the plan they'd use to capture him together as a team. It was a relatively straightforward plan, but would require perfectly executed timing to pull off. Jack would use the "Teleport" card to get them all in there, Joey and Tristan would instantly grab Bakura, Téa would keep any and all civilians back, the Pharaoh would summon Dark Magician, he and Mana would use their magic to try and contain Bakura's powers for a second, and Jack would then use his "Shadow Imprisoning Mirror," card to hopefully trap Bakura where he wouldn't be able to do any damage ever again. It was only a temporary solution, since it meant they'd be trapping the good Bakura in the mirror along with the evil spirit controlling his body, but they'd decided it would do until they could figure something else out.
Jack turned his head and looked at his five friends. Téa, Joey, Tristan, Yugi and Mana all returned his look. Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed, the Pharaoh took his place within the group, and they all silently told each other that they were ready. Jack nodded and held up his right hand, his fingers spread open. He silently counted down from five for their plan to be put into action. Unfortunately, as he reached "two" on his fingers, a loud, zooming, burst noise sounded behind them and they all turned to see Barry standing there.
"Hey Jack I... What are you guys doing?"
They all looked at Barry, then quickly spun their heads around to look into the restaurant. Bakura was now looking back at them with his trademark snide sneer. He gave them a small wave, held up a card, and disappeared in a flash of light.
"AAH! You idiot! Do you know what you just did?! We actually had the drop on Bakura and a nearly foolproof plan for taking him until you blundered in!" Jack shouted at him.
"Jack, calm down, we'll get another shot at him. We know he won't leave until he's either lost or gotten what he wants." Mana said.
"Hey, I'm with Jack on this one." Tristan said. "Do you have any idea how rare it is to surprise that evil spirit? We'll probably never get that opportunity again because of Flashy here."
"I agree that it is greatly frustrating, but, it'll do us no good to dwell on what almost was. Clearly, Barry has something important to say, or else he wouldn't have come to us as he just did. We should at least hear him out." The Pharaoh said to everyone.
Agreeing without saying anything, the six of them all looked at Barry. Barry stood there, an obvious aura of mortification and apology radiating from him.
"Okay, so, the whole team and I are planning to go to Harry's Earth to save his daughter from Zoom. I, I came to ask your guys help in planning the mission and carrying it out." Barry said in a small voice.
"Really? Ya screw up our plan to catch da most dangerous guy, pretty much ever, and den ya got da nerve to ask our help wit somethin you're doin?" Joey asked.
"Look, guys, I'm really sorry I messed up your plan, but we really could use your help. Harry's daughter's life in on the line, if she isn't dead already. I know you guys from the show don't typically go looking to plunge into trouble, but can you really refuse to help us save an innocent girl?" Barry asked.
Téa, Tristan, Joey, Mana, the Pharaoh, and Jack all looked back and forth to each other and communicated their decision without any words.
"Alright, we'll help." Téa said.
"But we're still mad at you." Tristan said.
"And I'm leaning towards hating him again." Jack whispered to Mana.
OOO
An hour later, the two teams were all gathered together back in the S.T.A.R Labs control room. Even Seto and Mokuba Kaiba were present, having been called by Cisco. Everyone was waiting quietly while Jack was pouring over everything they had on Zoom. The information was displayed both at the primary control station and on the larger, wall screen overhead. Everyone present was silently reading and waiting for Jack's assessment.
"Is this literally all of the intelligence you have on Zoom?" Jack asked with incredulity.
"I know we don't have a lot to go on." Caitlin said.
"No, you have nothing to go on." Kaiba said. "Harper's right this time. You have no idea on this guy's identity, location, habits, frequented locations. You don't even have so much as sketch of his real face. You couldn't find anyone with this kind of intel."
"And I certainly can't come up with any kind of master plan based on it." Jack said.
"Harper is right." Harry then said. "We've got nothing. We don't know where Zoom is now, but we can be reasonably sure that once we go to rescue my daughter, he'll arrive shortly thereafter. We should just go to my Earth, find Jessie, and then deal with Zoom when he shows up."
"No offense, Harry, but that's kind of stupid." Mana said.
Harry shot her a scowl filled with anger, impatience, and disbelief at her impertinence.
"Mana's got a point. Just blindly runnin in's a surefire way to get all our gooses cooked." Joey said.
"They're right, Harry. What we do next is pretty obvious." Cisco said.
"We'll go to Harry's dimension..." Yugi said.
"Find his daughter..." Téa continued.
"Scout out where she's being kept..." Caitlin said.
"I'll come up with the plan to save her and deal with Zoom..." Jack said.
"And then we'll get her back." Barry finished.
"And we'll be going along to help, but mostly just to study the interdimensional mechanics of these breach portals." Mokuba said.
Harry growled to himself for a moment, then quieted.
"Fine. We have to proceed slowly in order to make sure this runs smoothly, anyway. Getting her back is all that matters."
"Okay. That's settled. Jack, you and your guys should maybe go pack some things to bring in case we're on Earth-2 for a while, and we'll get the breach ready in the meantime." Barry said.
"Good idea. We'll all meet back here in a couple hours." Mana said.
She, Jack, and their friends then turned and began to walk out.
"Ha! Another cross dimension road trip just a couple days into this one. Man, we just keep getting cooler." Tristan said as they left.
"Only if by 'cool' you mean 'eternally dweebish.'" Kaiba said.
"I don't see you lookin' very cool lately, Mr. I just lost another duel, again!" Tristan spat back.
"He's got you there, rich boy." Joey said mockingly.
"Come on guys, save it for this Zoom weirdo." Téa said.
Harry rounded on the members of Team Flash.
"Are we sure we can rely on them?! This is my daughter's life we're talking about!"
"They seem a little rough around the edges, but I think all their hearts are in the right place." Joe said.
"Yeah, for sure." Cisco said. "Trust me, they might seem like they hate each other sometimes, but when it comes down to saving the world, except for you guys, there's no one I'd rather have with me. Together, especially with Jack and Mana, I doubt if there's anything those eight couldn't do."
"I guess you people will be there to compensate in case their bickering endangers my daughter's life." Harry said, but did not sound entirely pleased with the prospect.
OOO
Across town at his new hideout, Bakura finished receiving a report on the movements of his enemies from his sources. After he'd finished absorbing the information, he opened his eyes and smiled evilly to himself. Turning to his rear, he saw that his partner and intended mark, Hunter Zoloman, the evil speedster Zoom, was waiting for an update.
"Well?" Zoloman asked.
"They've formed a rough outline of what they're going to do. They're falling into the trap perfectly." Bakura nearly laughed out.
"How can you be so confident they won't be able to deal with the trap we've set up?"
"Because you're going to guide them into it and make sure it springs at just the right moment." Bakura said.
"Of course." Zoloman said, with a small smile.
What Bakura didn't know, or, what Zoloman thought he didn't know, was that Zoloman had a plan of his own. Almost immediately after Zoloman had first seen the strength and versatility of Bakura's powers, he'd launched a one man campaign of research to try to make Bakura's powers his own. He'd watched the entirety of the Yu-Gi-Oh series, both in English and Japanese, read the whole of the manga, and read every dissection and analysis article possible on the world he'd come from. Since he couldn't come up with an explanation to justify the absence he would need to find a magical relic on his current Earth to take them forcefully, Zoloman had decided his only course was to follow the apparent rules of Bakura's powers. Once they sprung their trap on Flash and Harper and their teams, during the course of it, he would turn on Bakura, thereby initiating a new challenge against him, kill him, and claim the powers for himself.
"I'm just going to go back to Earth-2, check over everything one last time before I take my place with the goodies." Zoloman said and turned to leave.
"You're welcome, by the way." Bakura said suddenly.
Zoloman turned back to his partner. "Excuse me?"
"If it weren't for me using my 'Shadow Concealing Darkness' card to hide the fifty-fourth breach in the city, you'd be at the mercy of the one within S.T.A.R Labs as the fools wanted. So, you're welcome. I think it was quite generous of me."
Zoloman stared at him. He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to this. He knew that Bakura was trying to bait him into doing something. He was possibly looking to start a fight right then and claim his, Zoloman's, speed. The problem was that Zoloman knew if he didn't catch Bakura off guard, he didn't think he could take him. He'd heard what Bakura had done to Vandal Savage, and he had been equipped with what was supposed to be an unbeatable weapon.
Both Zoloman and Bakura knew they each had every intention of betraying the other and were just waiting for the right moment to pounce. In that moment, Zoloman had two ways to answer Bakura's taunt, and neither of them was good. If he rose to the taunt and fought Bakura, unless he could end it in less than a second, which with Bakura's swift, duplicitous mind, he wasn't sure he could, he thought it a very high chance he might lose. But, if he backed down from the challenge, Bakura would take it as the sign of submissiveness it would be and think he'd won.
Zoloman then thought that on the other hand, if he did tactically back down in this moment, it might give Bakura a false sense of superiority and make him lower his overall alertness by a degree, which could only be good for Zoloman later when he made his move.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks." Zoloman said, trying to sound like he was trying to sound tough despite giving in.
He then super-sped out of the hideout to check on the status of the plan. As he had done shortly before, Bakura smiled evilly to himself.
"The fool has no idea!" He thought.
OOO
Back at the penthouse, everyone was packing. As they didn't have any but the clothes on their backs, Joey, Tristan, and Yugi were in charge of packing food, water, and other supplies they might need. Mana and Téa were in one of the bedrooms packing a few changes of clothes for themselves and Jack while Jack was going through his entire card collection, selecting cards and building decks he thought they might need for the mission.
"Hey Mana?"
"Yes, Téa?"
"This is a little embarrassing, but the other day, we didn't get to finish our shopping trip. Could I maybe borrow a couple of bras? I think we're about the same size." Téa asked.
Mana smiled. "Sure, that'll be no problem."
She then went over to the dresser, opened a drawer, and lifted several bras out.
"Here, I think these should do." Mana said as she handed them over.
Just then, Yugi stepped into the room without knocking.
"Hey, Téa, Mana, we're all done packing the food, and Jack says he's almost finished if-"
Yugi suddenly stopped talking as he saw the bras in the girls hands.
"Uh, are those..." Yugi muttered, his face turning bright red.
Then, the Millennium Puzzle glowed, and it was then the Pharaoh standing there instead of Yugi.
"What? Yugi, why did you switch?" The Pharaoh asked out loud, looking down at the Puzzle.
He then saw the transaction going on between the girls as well, and blushed himself, but to a far less degree.
"Ah, please forgive me. I'm just going to go and see if the guys need any help." The Pharaoh said and quickly ducked out of the room.
After he was gone, Mana looked at Téa and noticed that she had blushed a little bit as well. She couldn't help but feel a combination of amusement and sympathy for Téa in the scene. They continued to pack, and Jack then came in a couple of minutes later.
"Hey, could someone maybe explain why the Pharaoh has turned beet red?" He asked.
Mana smiled again and just managed to stifle a giggle.
"I'm finished. I'll just wait with the guys for you two." Téa said and took a bag with her out of the room.
Jack looked at her as she moved past him out of the room.
He looked at Mana. "Is Téa okay?"
"She's alright. It's, well... it's a girl thing." Mana said.
"Alright. You ready to go?"
"Yes, except, Jack, I'd like to talk to you for a minute."
"Okay, what's up?"
Mana went over, sat down on their bed, and patted the spot beside her. Jack stepped over and sat where she had indicated.
"Jack, we're doing the right thing by helping to save Harry's daughter. I know and accept that, and I love you for wanting to help with that, but still, something about it makes me worry." Mana said.
"Worry? Mana, what do you mean?"
"When we first started helping Barry and them, you said it was just an alliance of convenience, that we would just help them until they helped us get Bakura, and then we'd go back to how our lives were before. But, since then, you've started doing more than just reciprocating so they'd help. You've even done a couple of patrols, like you were looking for bad guys to fight. Jack, you know I don't doubt your ability to take care of yourself. With your powers, that isn't even a question. But, I'm worried that you may be getting too into this 'hero' thing. You know that this isn't like the way it happens in the show, where every battle is done with the cards and there usually isn't any physical danger to worry about. What we're about to go into, someone could die, and I don't want to lose you."
Jack looked at her in silence for nearly a full minute before he spoke.
"Mana, you're... there's something in that. This is more dangerous than anything on the show, and a lot more so than any of the small crime fighting we've done in the past. I've actually thought about this myself a couple times. Despite our combined powers being enough to take pretty much anything these meta-human weirdos can dish out, one lucky shot from them or one wrong card from me, and it'd be all over." Jack then paused for a long moment. "Still... there's something exciting about what we've been doing fighting those guys. It's kind of fun, kind of... intoxicating."
Mana looked at him, and the worry in her eyes grew. Jack saw this and was quick to try to allay her fears.
"We should probably get going." Jack said.
The two of them stood up. Jack then spontaneously pulled Mana into a hug.
"We're gonna be fine. It's us. There's nothing we can't do."
Mana hugged him back tightly.
"I hope so." She thought.
OOO
Back at S.T.A.R Labs, everyone was gathered in the room that held the breach to Earth-2. Almost everyone had a bag in their hands.
"So, who's all going and who isn't?" Yugi asked.
"Well, I need to go in case Jessie needs any on the spot medical attention." Caitlin said.
"Mokuba, Mr. Kaiba and I need to go in case Harry's Earth-2 satellites could do with a KaibaCorp upgrade to help with the search for her." Cisco said.
"I obviously do. Unless we capture Zoom in some sort of trap, I'm the only one who has a chance against him." Barry said.
"I don't need to dignify that with a response." Harry said.
"Iris and I will hold the fort down here. Hopefully it'll stay quiet while you're all gone." Joe said.
"Jack, are all six of you guys going to?" Iris asked.
"Where one of our pals go, we go." Tristan said. "That's the rule of the gang."
"Well, good luck everybody. Everyone come home safe." Iris said.
"Don't worry, we'll take care of 'em." Joey said. "We survived Marik and the force of Ra, we should be able ta handle dis."
"Let's get going." Kaiba said irritably. "The sooner we get this over with, the closer Mokuba and I will be to going home."
He then walked forwards without hesitation and the breach made itself visible. Kaiba stepped through it and Mokuba followed right behind him.
"Come on, guys, we better get there before Kaiba can claim he's doing everything himself." Jack said, triggering snickers from his group.
He and the five others stepped through the portal as well with no trouble. Before they could leave, Joe stepped close to Barry.
"Bar, can I talk to you for a sec before you guys go?"
"Sure, Joe."
They took a couple of steps away from everyone else.
"Here it is. I know you and Jack have never gotten along much, but I want to be sure you're gonna put your best foot forward with this thing. This is Harry's daughter we're talking about here. I know you can't completely appreciate what it means to him, but I do, and I want to be sure her chances of coming out of this thing aren't endangered by any personal dislikes." Joe said.
Barry stared at his adoptive father for several seconds.
"Joe, you're right. The stuff between me and Jack has been uneasy to say the least, but I promise you, I'm not gonna let anything so petty get in the way here. We're going to save Jessie, not bicker amongst ourselves. I promise you that." Barry said.
"Okay. That's what I wanted to hear. And you also promise me that you'll bring yourself back in one piece."
Barry gave a small smile. "I promise, Joe."
"Good. Now, go get 'em."
Barry nodded and then stepped back to his friends.
"Everyone ready?" He asked.
Caitlin, Harry, and Cisco all nodded and they proceeded through the breach. On the other side of the portal, instead of what they had been expecting to see, namely, a shining, beautiful, slightly different Central City, they were greeted by the scene of an unfolding battle. Mana had her hands spread far apart, projecting a magic force-field to protect herself, Tristan, Téa, Mokuba, Yugi and Kaiba from the blasts coming at them. Past Mana's force-field, they could see that Jack and Joey were both running, jumping and doing whatever they could as best as they could with several monsters already summoned to deal with the unexpected enemies. The four of them rushed up to beside Mana.
"Mana, what happened?!" Barry asked.
"We were ambushed!" She said. "They fired out of nowhere as soon as we got her. Jack played a card that managed to save us, but Téa and Tristan were still injured. I put up this force-field, and they jumped into it."
"Those idiots!" Kaiba declared. "What do they think they're doing trying to fight real enemies with duel monster holograms?!"
"Kaiba, now's not the time!" Yugi yelled at him.
At that moment, a split second before Barry was about to flash out into the fray to help the others, Jack and Joey were slammed into Mana's force-field, and then everything became silent. The unseen aggressors had disappeared. Jack and Joey rose back up, holding cards at the ready, just in case. They held that position for nearly a full minute until the Pharaoh had walked back to them, and they then decided everything had ended for that moment.
"Is everyone alright?" Barry asked.
"Tristan and I got some frostbite from that blast, but I think we're alright." Téa said.
"Don't worry, Téa. I'll have the both of you as good as new in no time." Mana said, placed one of her hands on each of their injuries, and applied her healing magic.
"I don't get it." Caitlin said. "Who attacked you?"
"Probably someone sent by your pal, Zoom." Kaiba said.
"But, if Zoom knew where our breach let out, why wouldn't he ambush us himself?" Barry asked.
"Zoom considers this his world, as in, his property." Harry said. "He has every meta-human in this city too terrified to ever disobey him. He could send an entire army after us if he chose to."
"Dat still doesn't answer why he isn't doin' his own dirty work." Joey said.
"It's simple, Joey. Zoom's playing at a new strategy. Trying to create an effect to scare us." Jack said.
"I think Jack's right. It's similar to something you might do, Kaiba. Zoom's trying to tells us that he could reach out and get us anytime he wants to." Yugi said.
"But, wait, one thing doesn't make sense here." Caitlin said. "Zoom obviously knew we would come for Jessie sooner or later, so we were always going to be walking into a trap. But, how could he have known where we would come out in this world?"
"Allen and I closed every breach on Earth-1 except for the one in S.T.A.R Labs. There was no other place we could come out." Harry said.
"Not every one. There's obviously at least one more that Zoom used to come back here." Mana said.
"She's right." Cisco said. "And as for those metas, it's been three days since Harry betrayed him. He's probably had whoever that was lying in wait for the last day or more, knowing we'd be right here eventually."
"But, they had us practically dead to rights. Not to sound morbid, but why didn't they finish us when they had the chance?" Tristan asked.
"Pretty sure Zoom likes to play with his food before he eats it." Barry said.
Jack then knelt down beside Mana.
"How are they?" He asked on Tristan and Téa.
"All done now." Mana responded and cut off her magic.
She and Jack straightened themselves and then helped the other two to their feet. Téa and Tristan stretched their leg muscles and did semi squats for a second until they were satisfied.
"Wow! That really works!" Tristan said.
"Yeah, Mana, you're amazing." Téa said.
"No, really, it's not that big a deal." Mana said modestly.
"Hey guys, you know, we should probably get going before someone decides we look like a good target, just standing around here." Mokuba said.
"He's right. Let's get to Harry's S.T.A.R Labs and we can move forward from there." Barry said.
"Everyone follow me." Harry said and began to lead the way.
As they walked, everyone took in the look of this city which was the same city in the same place where they had just been. It looked largely the same, but with very noticeable differences, most at the forefront being an elevated, monorail train, and the overall aesthetic of the city. This world's cars and buildings had a bearing which was reminiscent of designs from the nineteen-thirties. Several members of the group thought it all looked very pleasing to the eye as they went.
OOO
An hour later, the team was in Harry's S.T.A.R Labs and had finished setting up their work stations and sleeping quarters in case their mission took a while. They had all met back up in the primary control room to discuss their next move.
"Alright. Everything I have on Zoom is at our disposal." Harry said.
"And it's been upgraded with KaibaCorp software." Kaiba said.
"So, how do we go about findin' this Zoom guy?" Joey asked.
"I've got an idea on that." Barry said. "Harry, Zoom's the only speedster in this world since Jay lost his powers, right?"
"Correct."
"Then, maybe if we could identify some kind of power signature for my speed, we could feed it into the computers and have the satellites scan the world for it. Zoom's signature would be different, obviously, but that'd be even better really. We might be able to use that to figure out places he frequently goes. One of them has to have Jessie." Barry said.
"I can get some clues by going to places Zoom has been known to be. I might get a vibe." Cisco said.
"I'll go with you." Mana said. "None of us should go anywhere alone, and besides, I might be able to pick up on something else with my perception powers."
"Joey and I will hit up the slums, knock some heads. Sometimes the low level guys know more than they're given credit for." Tristan said.
"Actually, I think you and the Pharaoh should do that." Jack said. "It isn't enough for none of us to go anywhere alone. No offense to anyone, but more than half of us here don't have powers and would be totally helpless against Zoom. No one should go anywhere without someone who could possibly protect them."
"I think that's a good idea. We don't want to lose anyone." Yugi said.
"And while the Pharaoh and Tristan are doing that, Joey and I will hit up some of the other places Zoom has been known to be. I'll summon Silver Fang and he may be able to pick up on Zoom's scent. Might lead us somewhere." Jack said.
"We should also try to set up some kind of speedster early warning for this building, in case Zoom tries to get some of us while the others are away." Mokuba said.
"I'll stay here and help with that." Téa said.
"I think we can rig something up." Harry said.
"Okay, I think we've got a good plan here. Everyone be as careful as you can." Barry said.
Everyone gave a silent acknowledgment, but before they could separate for their respective tasks, they were joined by an unforeseen guest. Hunter Zoloman in his guise as the former Flash of Earth-2, Jay Garrick, walked into the control room. Everyone looked at him as he entered.
"Jay." Barry said with surprise in his voice.
He and the other members of Team Flash all stepped over to him.
"Garrick, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"I came into the lab on Earth-1, and Joe and Iris told me what you were doing. I was surprised you didn't bring me in to consult on this, given my history with Zoom, but instead of taking offense, I went down to the breach and got here as quickly as I could to help."
Over on the other side of the lab, Jack, Téa, Mana, Tristan, Yugi, and Joey were all watching the new man with a slight degree of curious wariness.
"Is anyone else getting an odd feeling?" Téa asked.
"Like something's off? Oh yeah, I'm definitely feelin' it." Joey said.
"Jack, who is that man?" Yugi asked in a low voice.
"I'm not really sure. I've seen him once before, but he hasn't come around the lab on the other Earth much while I've been there. I think he had powers like Barry's here on this world, but lost them to Zoom somehow." Jack said.
Kaiba then took a step closer to them. "For once, you geeks might be right. I don't like the look of that guy's eyes."
"Yeah. He looks like he's got something up his sleeve." Tristan said.
"Do we think he could be on Zoom's side or something? That he's hear to spy on us?" Yugi asked.
"Anything's possible at this point, but I think we can all agree to keep our eyes on him." Kaiba said.
"Everybody be sure to be on you best behavior until we know one way or the other." Mana said. "Whether he is up to something or not, we don't want to show our hand."
Jack gave a smile at her words. "God, I love you."
"Shouldn't we let Caitlin and those others know what we think, too?" Téa asked.
"I don't think so. Look how chummy they are with him. They'd never take us seriously." Mokuba said.
"He's right. We gotta play this close to the chest." Joey said.
"Come on, guys. If we're going to play nice, we should go introduce ourselves, make him think we're clueless." Yugi said.
They all walked over and joined the others.
"Oh, hey. Sorry, we forgot about you guys for a second." Caitlin said to them. "You all haven't met him, yet. This is our friend and ally, Jay Garrick."
The eight members of the duel monsters team all took turns introducing themselves and shaking hands with the man, making it seem like they already trusted him implicitly on the recommendation of their friends. Jack ended up being the final one to shake.
"Oh, I saw you in the lab that one time, when the arrow guys were there. I think both you and this young lady were there, but we didn't properly meet then." Zoloman said.
"Yeah. Terrible oversight on our part. It's good to have another friend and hero watching our backs." Jack said, further playing at their group's strategy.
"Same to you. So, how can I help?" Zoloman asked.
Barry then told him about their plan for how they were going to go about finding Zoom. Inside his mind, Zoloman smiled to himself. They were doing exactly as Bakura had predicted they would, which fell perfectly into his own plan.
"I see." Zoloman said out loud. "In that case, maybe I should go with Cisco and Mana. I might be able to lend some psychological insights into Zoom which could help. I have fought him more than anyone here."
"Well, going by those lines, then you should probably stay here and help with the speedster tracking and countermeasures instead. Your knowledge could prove to be the key to defending this place if it comes to that." Jack said.
In the back of his mind, he gave himself a slight commendation for his quick thinking. He didn't want this guy to be alone with Mana anywhere, and the counter proposal he'd just made was logical enough that no one could argue with it. At least, no one could without having a specific reason to. It was also partly a test to see how the man he knew as Garrick would respond. How quickly he responded and the intonations of it would tell Jack all he needed to know.
After a beat that was almost imperceptible to everyone present, Zoloman said, "You know, I think you're right. That would work better for everyone."
"That's settled then. Everyone get to your jobs, and remember that my daughter is counting on you." Harry said.
Everyone shared a tense look and then did just that.
OOO
Some time later, Tristan and the Pharaoh were making their way through one of the poor, crime ridden areas of Earth-2's Central City.
"So, where do you think we should start?" The Pharaoh asked. "I'm a bit out of my element here."
"I've got an idea. We need to find the right kind of bar and go from there. It might not be our usual thing, but you'll need to follow my lead." Tristan said.
"Alright. I'll trust your judgment."
They proceeded down the street until they found the kind of pub that Tristan was looking for. It was clearly a biker bar, with more than fifteen motorcycles parked out front despite the midday time.
"I think this could be it." Tristan said.
The Pharaoh gave a good look over the place. It appeared to be what the Pharaoh believed to be referred to as a dive bar. The building itself did not look too old or run down, and in fact, like most of the city, looked very high-tech in a way. It was these disparaging characteristics, and the neon sign of a man mangling a rat in his teeth which made him question the rationality of whatever his friend was thinking.
"Tristan, are you sure about this?"
"Thirty percent. But, I got you, and we've got those emergency beacons from Cisco, so I'm not too worried."
Tristan then walked right into the place with the Pharaoh behind him. Inside the bar, everyone simultaneously stopped what they were doing and peered over at the two newcomers in the stereotypical, old west style. The Pharaoh and Tristan stared back at them.
Tristan whispered out of the side of his mouth, "Whatever you do, don't look nervous at all."
The Pharaoh nodded. Scoping out a group of six men who were the cleanest and seemed to be wearing the highest quality leathers in the place, Tristan approached them. As he and the Pharaoh stood in front of them, the men looked the two of them over, and then smiled condescendingly.
"Preschool's across the street if you're lookin' for milk, kids." One of the bikers said.
All of his buddies burst out in uproarious laughter. Tristan kept his face stony and just continued to stare them down as they laughed. When it started to subside, he reached into his pants pocket, and when he pulled his hand out, he displayed a large wad of cash. The bikers almost instantly silenced themselves and looked at Tristan with new attention.
"That's better. Now then, you're going take me and my friend here to see your boss so we can discuss a possible business arrangement." Tristan said.
"What makes you think we have a boss? Or that we're into anything?" One of them asked.
Tristan then gave them a look which said that he was not amused with the game they were playing.
"Because, those look like expensive guns under your jackets, and I'm betting those really nice bikes out there are yours. Now, you're probably thinking that you could just us knock us down and take this money if you wanted, but, then you'd have to deal with our armed friends outside, waiting for just in case we don't walk out unharmed. So, what's it gonna be? Oh, and keep in mind when you talk to your boss, that this is just the down payment, there'll be more later."
The bikers all turned away from the two of them and whispered among themselves for nearly a full minute.
"We'll have to make a call. See if the boss is interested." A bald man in the middle said as they all turned back.
"That's fine." Tristan said.
He then walked ten feet away from them so they could make the call in privacy.
Joining him, the Pharaoh asked, "Tristan, what was all that?"
Tristan smiled conspiratorially. "Not bad, huh? That was kind of my Kaiba impression. I just kept thinking about how he would handle guys like that. Having to spend so much time around that jerk might actually pay off for once."
"I admit, I don't think I could have pulled that performance off. But, where did you get all that money?"
"From Jack." Tristan said. "He gave it to me for bribes, and also, in case of a situation like this."
"Jack's always thinking ahead." The Pharaoh said with a small smile.
"Yeah. Kind of like you, when you're dueling."
"Hey!" They heard from behind them.
Half turning, the two of them looked at the bikers.
"Boss says he wants to meet you. We'll be takin' you there now."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Tristan asked with command.
The bikers then all got up from their table and the Pharaoh and Tristan followed them out.
OOO
Inside S.T.A.R Labs, Harry, Barry, and Zoloman were working on their venture. Using sensors Harry had developed to employ cutting edge radar, sonar, and other forms of detection, he, Barry and Zoloman were working on establishing an identifiable energy signature for Barry's speed. Since they didn't have the same special treadmill, able to keep up with Barry's speed, as they did on Earth-1, they'd set up the sensors down in the particle accelerator pipeline.
To help make sure no one could catch on to what they were doing, Harry had told all of his employees within the building to leave for the day.
From their observation post just outside of the pipeline, Harry and Zoloman were watching Barry continually streak past their position.
"How are we doing?" Barry asked over his communicator.
"Almost there. Think we'll have it in another hundred laps." Harry responded.
"Got it." Barry said.
"What is it you're trying to key on?" Zoloman asked.
"With his first thousand laps, I was trying to establish the effect of his super-fast footfalls on the ground beneath, thinking maybe their might be a minute, tectonic effect within the Earth we could detect." Harry said.
"But that's not what you're doing now?"
"No, that didn't work. Instead, the lightning that trails speedsters when they run to keep the friction from tearing them apart, I've just now in the last two hours found that it leaves a very detectable electrostatic wake of sorts within the air molecules it passes through which stays active for a yet unknown amount of time. I've almost pinned down a particular signature for Barry's speed, and once we have that, we'll have a basis to scan for Zoom's own speedster wake." Harry explained.
"Good." Zoloman said, putting a tone of expectant optimism in his voice.
In his mind, however, Zoloman was debating if he should do anything about the situation. Bakura's plan for dealing with the heroes, and his own plan for them and Bakura was hinged upon them actually discovering where Jessie Wells was hidden. Zoloman saw he needed to make another tactical decision.
He could do nothing and continue his plan to let them get close and then fake a grand revelation of figuring out where she was, as he had planned. His issue with that was that if the trap did not work as envisioned and they managed to escape, they'd have what sounded like a highly efficient way of tracking him. There was nothing he would be able to do to avoid it's detecting him, aside from never using his powers, which was a wholly insupportable option.
"I've got to sabotage this system, even if I have to risk ruining the plan by killing Wells." Zoloman thought.
He vibrated his hand at super-speed, intending to phase it through Harry's back and kill him instantly by crushing his heart. All he had to do was snap his whole arm forwards at the same pace as his hand and Harry would be dead before he really knew what happened.
"Alright, Allen, we've got it. Come back." Harry said into his radio.
Zoloman pulled his hand back and stilled it. Barry was with them in a second.
"So, you've got something? We can track Zoom?" Barry asked.
"I believe so." Harry said with a contented smirk. "Let's go input this into the satellite systems."
Barry, Harry, and Zoloman all then headed out of the pipeline. Following behind two of his enemies, Zoloman silently cursed himself. For the first time in years, he hadn't been fast enough.
OOO
At the same time just outside of S.T.A.R Labs, in its parking lot, Téa, and Mokuba were setting up the speedster traps in case of attack. They were at that moment placing one of a hundred devices which resembled a landmine on the ground. Mokuba dropped it onto the pavement from three feet up, and then Téa bent down and tapped a sequence of three buttons, making claw prongs flip down from the top of the device and stab into the ground to keep it in place.
"So, how are these things supposed to work again? You didn't really explain it before." Téa asked.
"It's pretty simple, Téa." Mokuba said. "Seto's out in the city setting up Harry's sensors which will detect if anything moving faster than five-hundred miles-per-hour passes them. If that happens, these babies will activate and create a wall of kinetic energy which should cancel out Zoom's speed and repel him."
"Should?" Téa asked.
"Well, Harry did say they were prototypes. He said he hasn't had an occasion to use them until now."
"And we're just supposed to set these in a big circle around the building right?" Téa asked.
Mokuba nodded.
"Well, listen to this, I've got an idea. What if instead of just a wall, we put these into a descending, spiral pattern? Make it so that the circle gets smaller and smaller the closer it gets to the building. That way, if Zoom were to come after us here, he'd be forced to follow the spiral to it's endpoint, and there we could maybe have some kind of trap waiting for him."
Mokuba looked up at her for a moment, and then his face changed and brightened.
"I love it! We can either have Jack do some card magic when he gets back or put a real landmine or something at the trap point. That's a great idea, Téa."
Téa smiled and was very pleased with herself. She and Mokuba then set to work arranging their little surprise.
OOO
Meanwhile, Mana and Cisco were arriving at the building which was the scene of one of Zoom's crimes.
"It's an apartment on the fourth floor, right?" Mana asked.
"Yeah." Cisco said, consulting a tablet. "Number fourteen."
Mana then made her magical staff appear in her hand, closed her eyes, and used it to make a kind of scan of the building.
She opened her eyes and looked at Cisco. "No one's in that apartment right now. Should be safe to go up."
"Never get tired of that stuff." Cisco said with a smile. "Mind getting the door?"
Mana smiled at him, and then gave a wave of her hand and caused the buzzer door to unlock and open for them. They walked in and nonchalantly headed up to the right door. Once there, Cisco knelt down in front of the knob.
"Now, time to work a little magic of my own." He said.
"Cisco, you know I could just-"
Cisco raised on hand to cut her off.
"You have your talents, please allow me to use mine."
She smiled. "Sure. You're right, of course."
Cisco took a tablet out of his bag and typed on it.
"Okay, according to Harry, most common locks in this world are electronically controlled, so, accessing the building's internal network, an original Cisco trick, a little KaibaCorp attack subroutines to get past the last firewall, and..."
Cisco and Mana heard the door lock click.
"Boom!" Cisco exclaimed with pride.
The two of them opened the door and went in quickly so as not to be seen. As they stepped into the living room, Mana audibly and visibly shuddered.
"Mana?"
"I'm okay, it's just, I can feel the death that happened in here. I can feel how scared the people who died were." She said.
"Makes sense." Cisco said, tapping the tablet and grimacing. "According to Harry's intel, this was the sight of one of Zoom's first massacres. Six cops arrived to check on a reported murder, but when they got here they found nothing. It says that only seconds after, Zoom came in and killed all of them save one. Says he killed the last guy later that night."
"He let him live long enough to tell the story." Mana said gravely.
Cisco then found himself staring at a particular section of wall near the base of the floor. Fearful, hesitant, but unable to keep himself from doing it, he went down to one knee and placed his hand on the spot. A vibe vision passed before his mind's eye and he saw one of the cops who had been killed lying in a heap in that spot, not quite dead yet. Zoom was looming over the man in all of his frightening countenance.
In mocking tones, Zoom rasped out, "Don't be afraid."
He then killed the man. Cisco came out of the vision with a gasp and breathed heavily.
"It's just a game to Zoom. He enjoys inspiring fear." Cisco said.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a burst of blue light which could have been Zoom's lightning trail illuminated the room, causing Cisco to shriek in terror like a little girl. He held himself with his hands on his head, expecting to be injured grotesquely at any moment. It took nearly twenty seconds of nothing happening before Cisco lifted his head to see that the room was still empty except for himself and Mana. Looking at her, Cisco saw that Mana's emerald green eyes were filled with delight. She began to snicker, which turned into a giggle, and then evolved into a full blown guffaw. Only then did Cisco realize that she had used her powers to make the light and purposefully scare him.
"Mana, that was not funny!"
Mana stopped laughing long enough to make eye contact with him, and then burst into hysterics again. Despite himself, Cisco couldn't help but follow her lead and broke out laughing with her.
"Okay! Okay, it was hilarious! But, I'm still so mad at you!" Cisco barked out through his hysterics.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist." Mana said, wiping a single tear of pleasure from her eyes. "It was getting so somber and heavy in here, I had to do something to break up the atmosphere."
"Bet you keep Jack in stitches with that kind of stuff." Cisco said semi sarcastically.
"He's learned to appreciate my sense of humor." Mana said.
A split-second later, her eyes went wide and she looked back at the door they'd come in through.
"What?" Cisco asked.
"I just got a sense. I don't think Zoom phased through the door when he came in here the day of those murders. I think he touched the doorknob."
"That means-"
Cisco walked back over to the door, steeled himself, and took the knob in his hand. The vision began with seeing Zoom touching the knob and super-speeding away from the building. The vision followed Zoom, saw him enter the mouth of a cave, and Cisco then came back to himself in the apartment.
"Anything?" Mana asked.
"Yeah. I think we just got a big something."
OOO
When Mana and Cisco were wrapping up, Jack and Joey were still in the middle of their efforts. As discussed, they'd been to the sight of one of Zoom's other crimes, and Jack had summoned Silver Fang. The monster dog had taken nearly ten minutes to pick up on the scent. Since they didn't have anything which already had Zoom's scent on it, neither of the guys really knew how Silver Fang had found it, but he had told Jack he was reasonably sure it was the correct scent to follow. For the past forty minutes, Joey and Jack had been following him through the city streets.
"Hey, Jack." Joey said.
"Yeah?"
"I was just thinkin', we haven't talked much the past couple days, about anything besides Bakura, I mean. You're one of our friends now, so I was thinkin' we should get to know each other better."
"What do you want to know?" Jack asked.
"I don't know, anything. Like, how'd you and Mana get together? You know, you're probably the first guy in history to ever actually date a duel monster."
"Well, that's a pretty simple story. Once I knew I had my powers, I went to test them, and Mana was one of the first monsters I summoned who didn't try to kill me. That was before I'd really figured out which ones to never bring out."
Joey chuckled. "You dog, swept her right off her feet, huh?"
Jack gave one, sharp, bursting laugh.
"Are you kidding? Back then I would have been lucky to make a connection with a golden retriever. She swept me off my feet. I fell in love with her at first sight."
"But I bet you were pretty smooth at the dating game."
"Wrong again." Jack said. "It took me three months to build the nerve to ask her out and our first date was the train wreck of all time. No, to be totally honest, the only reason you see the happy man able to speak confidently today is all because I met her."
"I guess I can see that. Ya know, you're a lucky guy. I've noticed the way she looks at ya. It's the same you look at her."
"I'm sure you know what you're talking about. After all, you've got the same thing."
"Huh? What are ya talkin' about?" Joey asked.
"You mean a certain blonde who favors the Harpie Ladies doesn't come to mind?" Jack asked back teasingly.
"What?!" Joey declared, his face going red. "You, you're crazy, man! Mai's just a friend, is all!"
"Right. And the reason you're flushed is because your face suddenly needed the blood."
Joey frowned and his face soured a little.
"I take back what I just said. I've now decided dat you and Mana spend way too much time together. From what I've seen so far, that's exactly somethin' she'd say."
"But, seriously, I know it hasn't been very long yet, but you guys aren't regretting coming to help us, are you? I mean, just this mission is technically more than all of you bargained for." Jack asked.
"Hey, already knowin' how much you've watched that creepy show, you ought to know us better den dat. You're part of da gang, and you know what that means" Joey said.
"Good. That makes me feel better."
"But, don't get too complacent. Kaiba's not the only one who might like to take a crack at dat title of yours."
"In your dreams, Wheeler! Besides, since you technically don't exist on my Earth, you couldn't even enjoy it, anyway." Jack said.
The two continued to talk and banter with each for another few blocks. After they'd turned a corner, they stopped all of a sudden, facing a monumental surprise.
"Dis can't be right." Joey said.
"Silver Fang, are you sure?" Jack asked the monster.
Silver Fang gave a low growl and bark in response.
"He says he's sure. Says he followed the scent which had a touch of darkness to it. Says that it was old and decayed, but he picked up a fresher one along the way, which led to one only a couple of hours old, and it comes here. Zoom's definitely been in there at least once at the same time as we've been." Jack said.
He and Joey stared forward, looking up at S.T.A.R Labs.
OOO
The Pharaoh and Tristan had been riding on the back of two of the biker's motorcycles for the better part of half an hour to the very edge of the city. They figured it was about as far from their start point as they could get without actually leaving the city. Where they were now, all semblances of the shining, glittering, futuristic paradise of a city were completely absent. It looked as poor and rundown and crime ridden as it in all likelihood was.
The bikers finished the journey outside of a grimy, ancient motel which looked to be at least sixty years old. It's nineteen-fifties design motif, built in the days when owning a motel was still something to take pride in and the building to be cared for, showed its decay more than anything. The small patches of chrome siding from the rocket ship theme which actually still glowed amongst the general grime looking like ghosts desperately clinging on to their belongings, even in death.
Tristan and the Pharaoh followed the bikers into the large reception lobby where guests would have once gone for drinks at the built in bar and socializing with each other. It had been transformed into even more of a kind of common play area with card tables sporting scattered remains of poker games, a general hanging cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke, and some smells at which the two guys did not want to guess.
"So, where's your boss?" Tristan asked sternly, making himself seem unconcerned with their surroundings.
"Shut up!" A girl's voice suddenly shouted.
Looking to their left, they saw sitting at the bar a young woman with cropped, shoulder length red hair. She turned to face them, giving them a shock they hadn't been expecting.
"SERENITY?!" Both the Pharaoh and Tristan exclaimed together.
The girl was the Earth-2 Serenity Wheeler, Joey's younger sister, dressed in all black with leather pants and a leather jacket on over her top. She was several years older than the Serenity that they knew, and with her hair, chrome necklaces, bracelets, rings, and nearly overdone punk makeup, had almost been unrecognizable. Serenity was surprised for a moment before her expression changed to a kind of curious anger.
"How do you two know my name?" She asked.
Tristan stammered, "Uh, well, we-"
"We know your brother." The Pharaoh said to cover.
"You know, my wussy, goody two-shoes of a brother? Great way to try to sell yourselves. I was told you've got a serious business thing to talk about, so what do you want?" Serenity asked.
Tristan took a step closer to her and spoke confidently.
"I want to pay you to find a meta-human who can kill Zoom."
OOO
Inside of S.T.A.R Labs, Harry, Barry, and Zoloman were all back in the primary control room. Harry was programming the satellites with the signature of Barry's speedster wake.
"This is it. Once this new program comes online, we'll very likely find where he's keeping my daughter." Harry said with intensity.
"We'll get her back." Barry told him with equal fervency.
Harry gave him a half nod, and then pressed the "enter" key on the keyboard. The main screen changed to show a map of Central City and the surrounding area for twenty miles. A moment later, a colored path snaking and twisting through the city streets began to draw itself on the map.
"It's working. It's tracking Zoom's wake." Barry stated excitedly.
The trail on the map then made it's way past S.T.A.R Labs.
"He's been here today?" Harry asked no one, both surprised and curious.
"It looks like Zoom's been all over the city just today." Barry said.
"His trail's starting to move towards the city limits." Harry said.
Zoloman then thought to himself that this was the moment of ultimate decision. He'd made a plan, and so far, he'd made every effort to stick to it, but he was a man who prided himself on his ability to improvise and adapt. He decided that with Harper and all of his magic, idiot friends gone, now would be the perfect time to do something. Half of Harper's friends were just outside and would be no trouble at all to put permanently out of the way. He could then easily capture Barry by himself. He was still at least three times faster even with the small amount of speed Wells had stolen from him. But, that would entail giving away that he was, in fact, Zoom, and his instincts told him not to part with that particular ace until absolutely necessary.
What Zoloman did instead was that he first put one hand into his pocket and activated a beacon device he had hidden away. Secondly, he placed his other hand out of sight, on the underside of the control station. He phased his hand threw the metal, ripped at the wires, and shot an amount of his speedster lightning in at the same time.
The control station, the wall montiors, and most of the lights in the room all instantly and simultaneously shorted out, and or, exploded, electrical sparks flying from all of them. All three men jumped back from the console for safety.
"What the hell was that?!" Barry asked.
"Some kind of surge, or maybe a computer spike." Zoloman said.
"I don't like this." Harry said. "That was no accident. We have ranks of both surge protectors and the best firewalls in the world to prevent spikes. We were close to finding something too, I'm sure. I'm getting my gun. Something's about to happen."
Harry left the room to do as he had said.
"I'll go outside and make sure those kids you brought are alright." Zoloman said and hurried out at a normal man's pace.
Barry then decided that he'd dawn his Flash suit as well, but before he went to put it on, he had a thought. His memory of the past few moments rewound to just before everything blew, and he thought he'd seen a faint flicker of what looked like blue sparks coming from the man he knew as Jay Garrick.
OOO
At the biker's motel, the Earth-2 Serenity Wheeler was staring at Tristan and the Pharaoh. Her stare continued for several moments until she broke out laughing. Unlike with the guys at the bar, Serenity's laugh came as a surprise to the Pharaoh and Tristan. Not only had they not been expecting it, the genuineness of it told them that she was no longer considering them sincerely.
"Oh! For a second there, I thought you guys were serious." She laughed out.
"We're dead serious." Tristan said, trying to keep his voice even to retain a business like appearance.
"Come on! I don't know why you guys are going to lengths like this for a joke, but everyone knows that since the Flash disappeared, almost no meta has a snowball's chance in hell against Zoom."
"There has to be at least one! Maybe someone Zoom forced to work for him so he could keep them close. Someone he might not think would be a threat." Tristan said.
Serenity's face then became earnest again. "Now why do you suggest that?"
Tristan suddenly grimaced. He'd overlooked thinking up an explanation for all of this, and he certainly couldn't tell her his idea to get a meta-human who works for Zoom to give up his location.
"I'd quite like to know that myself." A voice said.
Looking to their right, the two saw the familiar face of Cisco coming out of what had been the manager's office. His hair was different, slicked back over his head, he had on a burgundy colored, leather blazer, and high tech sunglasses which emitted a blue light on the outside of the lenses over his eyes.
"Cisco?" Tristan asked.
"Oh? Familiar with my work, are you? Well, yes, I am. Francisco Ramon, also known as Reverb, at your service. Now, suppose you answer my girl's question before I decide to shatter your nervous systems."
"Uh..." Tristan searched for an answer.
"It's all right." The Pharaoh covered, stepping forward. "I know it's still difficult for you to talk about. Allow me to explain it to them."
Tristan nodded his head, a thanks lighting in his eyes.
"Oh, the strong, silent type speaks does he? Okay, porcupine head, what is it?" Reverb asked.
The Pharaoh thought quickly. Normally, he would never tell any lie, but the situation being what it was and that this criminal version of Cisco was almost certain not to appreciate the truth, he and Yugi put their minds together to quickly come up with a story.
"It's very simple." He said. "My friend here, several months ago, his parents were murdered by Zoom. They were a very close family, and I was close to them as well. We want Zoom to pay for what he's done, and with the fortune my friend's parents left him, money is no object."
"Well, that is very interesting. What do you think, Serry?" Reverb asked.
"'Serry?'" Tristan asked in his mind with both revulsion and jealous anger.
"If they're really willing to pay, could be worth the risk. You're planning to get rid of Zoom eventually anyway. Would be worth it if it weren't for that thing." Serenity said.
Tristan and the Pharaoh's eyebrows lifted questioningly.
"True, and the extra capitol could come in handy. Although, there is a truly significant risk of death in this venture I don't think you appreciate, Pharaoh and Tristan." Reverb said.
The two of them could not hide the looks of surprise on their faces.
"Did you really think Zoom wouldn't inform his lieutenants about some stupid kids coming to try to mess with him? Not that you didn't put on a good show. If I didn't know better, I might have been convinced. But, there might still be a way we could help each other." Reverb said.
Before either the Pharaoh or Tristan could ask what that might be, a giant hole was suddenly torn out of the roof and two winged, fiend type, duel monsters swooped in. They made a fast circle of the room, killing several of the bikers, rendered Reverb unconscious, and then carried him away through the same hole. The whole scene had lasted less than five seconds from beginning to end.
"Reverb!" Serenity yelled up at the newly created skylight.
Lifting themselves into sitting positions, Tristan and the Pharaoh found that their time with the biker's was not yet over. Both Serenity and two of the surviving men were pointing pistols at them with enmity in their eyes.
"Don't move!" She commanded.
OOO
Back at S.T.A.R Labs, Kaiba, Mokuba, and Téa had just finished their task with the energy wall and were heading back in when Joey and Jack came up to them in the parking lot.
"Hey, what did you guys find?" Téa asked.
The two of them explained how Silver Fang had led them back there and how it was certain beyond doubt that Zoom had been there at the same time as them.
"Harper, I thought you had a little more sense than the other dorks. You really believe that the hologram of a duel monster made this revelation to you?" Kaiba asked with a touch of mocking disappointment in his voice.
"Maybe there really is something to this magic stuff, Seto." Mokuba said. "I mean, how else could we have ended up in this situation in the first place?"
"Simple. We had the misfortune of being pulled into a naturally occurring version of one of those breach portals along with the geeks back in our world." Kaiba said.
"You really don't ever quit, do ya?" Joey asked, a little exasperated.
"Okay Kaiba, so then how would you explain something else you saw with your own eyes? The Ph-, er, Yugi's Dark Magician's blast actually knocking Bakura down." Jack said.
He had changed his word to "Yugi" simply to try to streamline the conversation.
"Light particles of the hologram briefly given solidity as a side effect of the energy being given off by the portal." Kaiba answered without missing a beat.
"This argument isn't gonna get us anywhere, guys." Téa said, becoming frustrated herself.
"Hey guys!" They all heard.
Turning around, they saw Mana and Cisco coming up on them at a half jog. Joey then looked back at Kaiba.
"Alright, smart guy, answer me this: How do you explain Mana bein' the Dark Magician Girl?"
"So, Harper picked a girlfriend with a resemblance to the picture on the card. Big deal." Kaiba then cracked an arrogant smile. "Says a lot more about him than her."
Joey sighed with resignation and held his face with one hand. "Téa, you're right. It's pointless."
Cisco and Mana then joined the rest of them.
"Hey! We may have a hot lead on Jessie's location!" Cisco said excitedly. "And it's all thanks to Mana."
"No, you had the vision. We couldn't know it without you." She said back.
"No, but you said about the door knob. I never would have thought of that!" Cisco responded.
Mana started, "Yeah, but if you hadn't-"
"Would someone please just say whatever it is?!" Kaiba shouted, interrupting.
Everyone quieted a moment.
"Fine, yeah, okay." Cisco said more somberly. "We think Zoom is holding Jessie in some kind of-"
Before Cisco could finish, everyone was shocked to see Jack shoving Kaiba down to the ground from out of nowhere.
"Kaiba, look out!" He shouted.
A sharpened spear of ice buried itself in Jack's left shoulder, very near to his heart. He fell onto his back on the ground, blood already beginning to stain his clothes red. Mana stared down at the man she loved with sheer, pure horror darkening her face. The words she herself had said to Jack mere hours before rang in her ears; "someone could die." But, she had no time to dwell on any possible what-if's, as the burst of a sonic scream forced herself, Téa, and Mokuba to join Jack on the pavement. Finally, the explosion of a fireball several feet in front of them took Joey, Cisco, and Kaiba off their feet as well. Looking up, they saw three figures approaching. Only Cisco was able to recognize all three faces.
"Ronny, Laurel, and Caitlin?" He muttered to himself.
The villainous, Earth-2 incarnations of his friends stopped five feet away from them. One moment later, they were joined by Zoom, stopping on a dime in the middle of his subordinates.
"Hello, everyone." Zoom rasped in his frightening, demon like drawl.
To be continued...
OOO
A/N: That's the end of the first two-parter for this story. At this point, I think we're about halfway through the whole thing. I want to thank everyone who's followed, favorited, or even just read the story all the way to this point and would love to hear what you think about it in the reviews section. Thanks, and there will be more coming soon.