Guest 2.0: Glad to hear it.
Guest: No, I meant stopped.
Star Labs, Earth-1
Night
"Looks like things are starting to calm down out there," Ralph said to Cisco as he and Caitlin entered the cortex. "Whatever we were fighting seems like it decided to pack up and leave."
"Which could be really good or really bad," Caitlin noted.
"I'm gonna vote bad. The date, it's here," Cisco said and Caitlin and Ralph froze.
"The Crisis," Caitlin and Cisco nodded.
"And I think it's just starting," he said grimly.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light that blinded the trio. When it faded, they saw that they were no longer alone. Oliver, Barry, Harry, Kara, Patty, J'onn and three teenagers were there, looking around bewildered.
"Barry?" Cisco said in shock.
"Guys?" Barry questioned as he saw his teammates. "We're back on Earth-1."
"How'd we get here?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"I think it was Luke," Annabeth said, remembering what Luke had said and how his hands had glowed. "I think he got us all out just time."
"In time for what?" Kara asked a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"You already know the answer to that Kara Danvers," Mar Novu said as he appeared, causing Cisco, Caitlin and Ralph to jumped.
"Holy frak, could you not do that?" Cisco complained but he was ignored.
"I'm afraid your universe is no more," Novu said and Kara's face was a mix of shock and grief.
"Alex, Clark, Eliza, my mother-" Kara started.
"All gone," Novu informed her. "As this earth and the entire Multiverse will be, should we fail to stop Kronos."
Unknown location
Same time
Thawne, still holding the lantern, walked out of a Breach into a dark room. It was a throne room of a temple. Thawne walked over to the throne and got down on his knees. Opening the lantern, the flame from Olympus flew out, seeming to make contact with an invisible, formless mass. Thawne was forced to avert his gaze as a blinding flash of light filled the room.
When it faded, a dark haired, bearded man stood in front of the throne. Thawne bowed his head in reverence.
"It is my honor to serve you Lord Kronos," Thawne said in respect.
"You have done well Eobard, but there is still work to be done," Kronos said as he gripped his hands into fists, examining his new body. "Although I now have a body, I am a shadow of my former self. I need more power before I face my children and those demigod pests."
"Fortunately, we still have many more earths to consume before we worry about that my lord," Thawne said with a twisted smirk.
Star Labs
Not long after
"So, the gods-" Ralph started as Barry explained everything to him, Cisco and Caitlin.
"Yeah," Barry said with a nod. "It was a hard thing for me to wrap my head around to, but they're real."
"And your mom was Aphrodite," Cisco said, his voice conveying how ridiculous it sounded.
"Yeah," Barry said lowly. "I know how it sounds, trust me."
"After everything we've been though, we believe you. It's just…" Caitlin trailed off, not sure how to put it.
"Insane? Yeah, trust me, it wasn't any easier for me," Barry said dryly.
"This is why you said you needed to stay away," Caitlin said and Barry nodded.
"It's been a long few weeks, I've been processing a lot," Barry said.
"Like how Patty is apparently a demigod?" Cisco said and Barry nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah, apparently she was sent here to see if I was demigod. She ended up falling in love with me along the way," Barry said tiredly.
"Well that's…" Ralph trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Messed up, yeah, I know," Barry said with a sigh.
"Are you okay?" Caitlin asked after a moment.
"Ask me if we all live through this," Barry said with a weak smile. "Where are Joe and Iris? Are they okay?"
"I don't know where Iris is, she didn't take you making me leader while you were gone well, she hasn't been around by lately," Caitlin explained and Barry nodded, not surprised. "Joe was out in the thick of this earlier, trying to get as many people to safety as he could. He's back at the Precinct now."
"Always has to play the hero," Barry said a chuckle.
"Well, you had to pick it up from somewhere," Cisco pointed out and Barry nodded, conceding his point.
"Barry?" the four of them turned as Patty entered the room. "Am I interrupting?"
"No, its fine. It's nice to see you again Patty," Caitlin said politely.
"You to Caitlin, Cisco," Patty greeted as she walked in, turning to Ralph. "I don't think we've met."
"Ralph Dibny," Ralph introduced himself, holding a hand out to her.
"Patty Spivot, nice to meet you," Patty said as she took his hand in a handshake.
"You wanted something?" Barry asked and she nodded as she dropped Ralph's hand.
"The demigod working for Kronos, I know who it is. Barry…its Eobard Thawne," Patty said after a moment and Barry started.
"Thawne, you're sure?" Barry asked in shocked alarm.
"Yeah. At first I thought it was Harry but it was Thawne, he nearly killed me," Patty explained as Barry ran a hand over his face. "I'm sorry Barry."
"Thawne, of course. I should have expected it; I can never be free of him. And now he's back. He's back and he's with Kronos," Barry ranted as he walked back and forth.
"And we'll stop him. Just like we've stopped him every time before," Caitlin assured him.
"You're not alone in this Barry. We're with you," Ralph promised.
"So am I," Patty promised. "I know I wasn't there with you the first time you faced Thawne, but I'm here now. And we'll face him together."
In the longue, Kara was sitting down on the couch, drinking a glass of scotch. But, being a Kryptonian, it had no effect on her.
"Drowning your grief in alcohol won't help, trust me," Oliver said as he walked over to her.
"Well, it's the only thing I have left," Kara muttered as he sat down next to her.
"We both know that is not true. There are still countless worlds out there, all with millions of people that are being targeted by Kronos. Kara, I'm sorry that we couldn't save your earth, but there are still a lot of people we can save," Oliver tried reasoning with her.
"And what good am I if I couldn't even save my own earth?" Kara asked bitterly.
"You need to get over yourself Kara," Oliver said and she looked at him angrily. "I left my family behind for this, knowing that, in the end, I was going to die no matter what happened. That I would never see Felicity or my children again. But I didn't give up because of that. Your earth is gone, but there are a lot more that aren't. So, if you decide you wanna be a hero and save those earths, we'll be in the cortex."
Oliver then turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Kara to her thoughts.
Later, Oliver, Barry, Percy, Patty, Caitlin, Harry, Annabeth, Thalia, Cisco, Ralph and J'onn stood in the cortex, facing Novu as he addressed this.
"The demise of Earth-38 is a great lose, but we must not lose hope. Before he can battle the gods, Kronos will need to absorb the power from several more earths. This will buy us time," Novu explained.
"Time for what?" Caitlin asked and Novu smiled.
Novu held out his hands and, to the shock of Oliver and Barry, the Book of Destiny appeared in his hands.
"I destroyed that last year," Oliver said in shock.
"After the fall of Earth-38, I went back into the time stream and retrieved it. After consulting with Athena, goddess of Wisdom, I have learned of a failsafe in the multiverse. There is hope Oliver: Seven Paragons, beings of the purest will spread throughout space and time."
"Seven Paragons. 'Seven heroes shall answer the call'," Percy remembered and Novu nodded.
"Athena also agrees that The Prophecy of the Seven refers to these Paragons," Novu explained.
"Okay, so where do we find these Paragons?" Kara asked as she entered the room.
Oliver looked over at her, relieved she had showed up. He had not been sure if he would have gotten through to her. Kara looked over at him and gave him a slight nod before Novu spoke.
"Oliver Queen," Oliver whipped his head towards Novu as everyone looked at him. "Despite all you have endured, you have forgiven those who have wronged you; you have chosen to be a champion for your city, to help lead it into a better era. Now you must lead all of us as the Paragon of Humanity."
"No surprise there," Barry said as Oliver felt like he was waiting for a joke that never came.
"Percy Jackson," Percy straightened as Novu turned to address him. "You were the demigod child the last great prophecy spoke of and now you are part of this prophecy as well. You are the Paragon of Destiny."
"You sure you got the right guy?" Percy asked skeptically but Novu pressed on.
"Barry Allen," Barry stood to his full height of Novu turned his gaze on him. "Despite all you have lost, you have never let it diminish your ability to care for others. Your greatest power is your ability to feel compassion and show kindness to others. You are the Paragon of Love."
"Son of the love goddess, Paragon of Love, makes sense," Cisco muttered.
"Thalia Grace," Thalia straightened subconsciously at the use of her last name as Novu turned to her. "Courage is never simply heading into battle. It is looking inside ourselves, knowing our weaknesses and able to turn away from them, as you did when you accepted Artemis' offer to avoid the prophecy. You are the Paragon of Courage."
"Of course you'd be courage, you're the bravest person I know," Percy said with a smile as Thalia digested this.
"J'onn J'onzz. A warrior must know not only when to fight, but when not to fight, to use their mind and heart instead of their body and violence. You are the Paragon of Honor," Novu said as J'onn bowed his head humbly.
"I think your math is wrong. You said seven Paragons, but I only count five," Ralph said after a moment of silence.
"I have only descriptions of the other two Paragons. One is of a Kryptonian who has endured a lose more than most mortal men can bear. Today, he stands as the Paragon of Truth. The other is known only as the Paragon of Hope. She is her world's first hero, an Amazon who is also a demigod daughter of Zeus," Novu explained.
"Okay, so how do we find them?" Patty asked.
"Harry Wells has half the answer," Novu said as everyone turned to the confused Harry. "Pariah had you working on it before Earth-38 fell."
"The device," Harry realized and Novu nodded. "It's a Paragon detector."
"Indeed. It will lead us to the location of the other two Paragons," Novu said.
"So we find these Paragons and then we stop Kronos? It's that easy?" Oliver said skeptically.
"No, it is not that easy. For the last month, you have been gathering items at my request," Novu said, waving his hand and the Lion's skin, Laden's scale, the sword of Al-Fatih, the sphere containing the energy from Lian-Yu and the Dwarf Star Particles appeared near the computers. "It is time to use them."
"Okay, so how do we do that?" Percy asked bluntly.
"First, we need the help of The Ghost King," Novu said and Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth started.
"You mean-" Annabeth began and Novu nodded.
"Indeed Annabeth Chase. We will need Nico Di Angelo," Novu confirmed.
Kronos would be played by Hugo Weaving. Thank you to Aragorn II Elessar for his help with the casting.
I'm not going to be doing Kara wanting to try and bring her earth back because I hated that storyline and Kara annoyed me throughout all of it.
I have a lot to say about Paragons and how it was used in Crisis, so I apologize in advance if this comes off as ranty.
The concept of Paragons was a cool idea, but, like with most cool ideas used in the Arrowverse, the execution fell very flat. There should have been more diversity among the Paragons between the different DC universes, not just one big pile of Arrowverse characters being Paragons. But even that aside, the Paragons they did pick were pretty stupid. Of the Paragons chosen, only J'onn and Routh's Superman were good picks.
Kara, Sara and especially Kate should not have been Paragons. None of them were worthy of the titles and even Novu can't seem to give justification for Kara and Sara being Paragons besides 'hey, you're a Paragon, so get to it'. Kate especially should not have been a Paragon, as I said earlier. Even my personal feelings aside, I could at least accept Kara and Sara being Paragons because we'd seen the trials they had gone through to get to that point. But Kate, even aside the fact that someone who couldn't care less about giving her city hope is somehow deemed worthy of being a Paragon, we literally just met her the previous year. It also doesn't help that the role of Paragon of Courage seems like it was made for Oliver but was given to Kate instead. It would be like if in Avengers Endgame, Captain America and Captain Marvel swapped roles. Instead of Steve, Carol is the one with the major screen time, she's the one leading The Avengers during the final battle against Thanos, she's the one who picks up Mjolnir while Steve is only in the movie for about ten minutes. See how stupid that is?
Barry wasn't worthy of being a Paragon either but it made sense from a narrative perspective that the main character of the Arrowverse (While Oliver started it, I consider Barry to be the main character of the franchise) would be a Paragon. But the writers just put it off for as long as they possibly can. The fact that Barry wasn't the first person to be named a Paragon is a crime in and of itself, but its put off for so long that, by the time he's named a Paragon, it just feels like he's a throwaway Paragon that only survives so Oliver can use him to fight the Anti-Monitor in part four.
Ryan Cho was okay, I actually think his scene with Novu in part four was one of the best scenes in the crossover. But the Paragon of humanity being some random guy we had never met was just so stupid. At the very least, it should be a character who we had already met somewhere.