CHAPTER EIGHT: NOT FAST ENOUGH
Red Arrow had never been to Central City before. Though he and Green Arrow had lived near it for so long, he'd never been able to see it despite his mentor's many travels there to team with the Flash against various enemies. But now he was going there, and he was very happy for such a thing. He knew he was brash and arrogant many times, but all that mattered now was for the villains behind the threat to be exposed and defeated, then placed in prison, where they would never harm anyone ever again.
He was in a laboratory at the moment alongside the Flash, who was consulting with a friend about anything unusual that might have happened after the threat. However, so far, the scientist had not found anything, which was surprising to the Flash, it seemed.
"Are you sure about this, Francisco?" Flash asked. "After that kind of a threat, I would have expected something to happen by now."
Francisco "Cisco" Ramon turned to him. He was also a superhero in Central City known as Vibe, but according to him when Red Arrow and Flash walked in, it had been so quiet that he'd taken the day off from those duties.
"Fortunately, I've found nothing so far," Cisco said. "But there is something I think you should know. I'm just wondering if you heard about it however. Even with being a member of the Justice League, you should have heard something about it, I'm sure."
"What are you talking about?" Flash asked.
"There was a massive breakout from the city penitentiary! Didn't you hear?"
"When did that happen?"
"About three weeks ago! Many of the enemies escaped, unfortunately, but most of them were taken back in," Cisco explained. "Killer Frost and Captain Cold were among those who were fortunate enough to escape from the guards. We have no idea where any of them are now."
"Well, this could end real badly," Flash said. He turned to Red Arrow. "Have you stayed in contact with the rest of the trainees since you left the Watchtower?"
"No," Red Arrow admitted. "I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to. Everything's been happening so darn quickly, so—"
"It's all right. We just need to be ready for whatever's coming. I can tell already that something bad is about to happen, but I'm not sure when it will. We just have to keep standing around her for the moment, hoping we make the right move when the time comes. It's strange, because usually, I'm my cheerful self, but right now, I've become more serious than I wish to be."
"Well, with all the crap that's happening, I'm not surprised!" said Red Arrow. "Let's just hope I can get ahold of Green Arrow or Black Canary. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of them, because they've both been like family to me. They took me in when no one else did. So I want them to be safe, if you know what I mean. And those who are with them."
"We all do," Flash said. "Cisco, is there a possibility you can connect with either of the two using my communicator? We need to make sure they're okay."
"Of course, that's one of the things I'm here for," Cisco said. He took the communicator from Flash, who'd held it out to him, and then connected it to his computer. As the system came online, Cisco turned to Flash. "There's one problem, you realize, if Killer Frost comes to attack you, right?"
"Yes, I know," Flash said. "I wish Caitlin had never become the monster she is now. I blame myself still, but Iris and Wally like to tell me otherwise a lot. But sometimes, I'm just not sure what I should do."
"Wait, does Caitlin know your secret identity?" Red Arrow asked.
"Yes, which makes her an even more dangerous opponent," Flash answered. "And she knows my every move usually, because she worked here once, helping me out."
"Okay, I'm getting the communicator online," Cisco said, knocking them out of that conversation. "Just hold on a sec…voila!"
The large screen on the wall just ahead of them displayed Black Canary's face all of a sudden. Red Arrow was very much relieved as soon as he saw her. But then he realized she seemed frightened, with sweat rolling down her face and blood trickling from her mouth.
"What's happening?" Flash asked her. "Is something wrong?"
"We've run into trouble," she explained. "There are assassins here! Nightwing is battling one of them, but I don't remember his name! Oh no, he's been knocked out! We need backup over here, and we need it quick! AGHH!"
She screamed, and the communication line suddenly went dead. Flash looked to Red Arrow, whose expression was that of complete horror. He couldn't blame him. After all, he'd just seen one of his mentors be taken out.
"Try Green Arrow, Cisco!" Flash demanded. "And please hurry! We don't know what's going on with him!"
Cisco nodded and tapped a few keys. Then the screen came back on again and Green Arrow was seen. Aqualad was not far from him. They both seemed in pleasant moods, and it was obvious they had not been attacked just yet, something Red Arrow was relieved about.
"Hey guys!" greeted Green Arrow. "What's going on?" He saw their expressions, and his suddenly became more serious.
"Black Canary's been defeated," said Flash. "We don't know how, but we heard that she and Nightwing were battling against a group of assassins, which makes things complicated. But she was taken out while her communicator was still online. We don't know what's going on. Have you two been through anything just yet?"
"No, we haven't," Green Arrow replied. "Are you sure that she's been taken out?"
"Knocked out, at the least," Red Arrow said. "She was bleeding in the video, as well. We need to get over there to Blüdhaven and make sure she and Nightwing are all right! I may not know the latter as much, but I know he was a great candidate for becoming a member of the Justice League during our training sessions! We need to get over there and save them!"
"Relax, Red Arrow," came Aqualad's voice. "You must be calm if you are to go through all this. We know there are many things circulating in your mind, but you must understand it is vital to be patient and to wait. If you allow yourself to be taken over by this anxiety, then you will become susceptible to the mind games your enemy plays on you in battle."
"All right, I'm calm," said Red Arrow. "But you have to realize it's hard right now, especially with all that's happening right now! We have no way of knowing what's about to happen to either of them, do you know what I mean?"
"We do, but—" He exclaimed something loudly, and then the transmission turned to show Flash, Red Arrow, and Cisco what was happening there. A giant fireball had come out of nowhere, landing right on the rooftop where Green Arrow and Aqualad had been standing only seconds before.
"Son of a—" came Green Arrow's voice, but he was cut off by his own scream as something came and hit him. At least, that was what Red Arrow believed. "Aqualad's been injured! Part of the fireball hit him! We're under attack! Be safe, Flash! Take care of Red Arrow!"
"What's going on there?" exclaimed Flash. "What in the name of God do you see over there?"
But there was a cold laugh, and then a voice said suddenly, "You will never find out."
The transmission was lost then and there, as if the assailant had destroyed the communicator.
"Oh God." Flash walked around, trying to think everything through; but despite the fact he could process his thoughts quicker than anyone else, he couldn't come up with a plausible answer as to how everything was happening.
"Is there someone else we can try?" asked Red Arrow. "Batman, Wonder Woman, someone?"
"Batman. We need to contact Batman," Flash said. "He's usually the most sensible person. He may be dark and brooding, but he's sensible enough."
"Already on it," Cisco said.
And then the screen came back up. But when it came into focus, the screen showed not Batman, but a beautiful young girl with emerald eyes and a black vinyl costume covering her body, as well as a black vinyl cowl. She seemed to have not noticed them just yet.
"Um, hello?" said Flash.
The girl jumped when she heard his voice, and then she looked into the communicator. "Oh, sorry," she said. "I didn't know this thing was on. Batman told me to hold on to it while he searched for something. Don't ask me what, because not even I know. He doesn't tell me much when it comes to these things."
"That sounds like Batman, all right," muttered Flash. "Who are you, though? I remember Batman said he had someone in Gotham, but he never said anything about who that was."
"My name's Catwoman," she said. "I can't tell you my true name, of course. But we're here at the Gotham City Police Department. I've heard of all that's going on. To be honest, with what happened only a little while earlier, I'm not all that surprised. You see, a few days ago, I encountered one of our older villains, Otis Flannegan, also known as the Ratcatcher. He was dying, and I called Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin down. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, he died. And he'd just been about to tell us who had hurt him. But he died before doing so. There's something else that happened, but I'd rather not talk about it."
They heard footsteps, and Catwoman turned around to see Batman standing there. She seemed surprised, though as no one could see her face, they weren't completely sure. There was a man standing there near him. They weren't sure who he was, but through the information given to them by Catwoman, Flash and Red Arrow guessed he might be the police commissioner.
"What's going on?" asked Batman to Flash.
"We've run into problems," Flash replied. "We tried contacting Black Canary and Green Arrow, and we're both certain there's something bad happening. Black Canary was hurt when we contacted her, and when we contacted Green Arrow, he and Aqualad were attacked only a little while later. I think the villains who gave us that message planned for all this to happen. It seems we keep running into these traps without even trying to a lot of the time! We need some advice from you, Batman. What do you say?" Flash seemed real eager to hear what the Dark Knight had to say.
Batman did not say anything. He seemed to be thinking. But then he said, "You need to be on your feet. Make sure you keep an eye on Red Arrow and all those near you."
"Have you had any luck with…whatever you're doing?"
"Yes. I must return to it now," Batman said. "I've left coordinates in your communicator to find a safehouse in the case of being overtaken in an attack. Go there if something happens."
"Will do," Red Arrow said. "Hopefully it's big enough for us."
Batman left, leaving Catwoman standing there. Batman's voice could be heard again, but it was unknown what he'd spoken. However, Catwoman said to Flash, Red Arrow, and Cisco, "Well, I've gotta go! See you guys later!"
The communication's link was gone just like that.
"Well, that was different," said Cisco. "He didn't give us any info on what he might have found. This is starting to get to me, because I feel we need to know. Without any information at all, we're stuck here without a plan."
"Well, I'm sure we can find some way to do this," said Flash. "With that big mind of yours, and my big mouth, we should be able to think of something. Do you have any ideas, Red Arrow?"
"To be honest, all I care about is finding my mentors," Red Arrow said. "They raised me when I needed it. I was raised the correct way thanks to them, but without them, I don't have a very good mentor. I need help here. We need to leave and find them!"
Flash opened his mouth again, but he was cut off when the entire lab suddenly shook. It was as if something had exploded inside it. Flash looked over at Cisco, both of them wondering what could be happening. But then they shrugged, leaving Red Arrow to think that they were being attacked by something they hadn't experienced before. He couldn't think of the last time something like this had happened before, either.
"What caused the explosion?" Red Arrow asked. "There must have been an explosion. Nothing else could have caused this entire building to shake. An explosion must have been caused. Either that, or someone is tunneling into the place from the basement." As he spoke those words, his voice trailed off. He looked to Cisco with fear evident on his face. It was probably in his eyes, as well, but it couldn't be seen due to the domino mask covering them. "Is there a deep enough basement where such a thing can happen?"
Cisco ran for his life. Red Arrow looked to him, and Flash said, "He's running to the basement."
Red Arrow and Flash quickly followed, with Flash making sure he didn't run too fast so Red Arrow and he could make it there at the same time. When they arrived in the basement, which had taken them nearly ten minutes to do so as a result of the vast underground facility, used as both a lab and a bunker in the case of a nuclear strike or something of that sort, Cisco stood there with great fear in his black eyes.
"They're coming in from below ground," said Cisco. "We need to get ready. My costume is above-ground, however…and…" His eyes widened. "I could have gotten it when I was running down here. But I'm ready to fight, nonetheless. I just wonder who's going to be attacking us. I hope it's not Caitlin."
"Don't worry, it's not," came a higher-pitched, dark and taunting voice. It reverberated throughout the underground lab. Red Arrow took an arrow from his quiver and notched it on his bowstring. He held it in front of him, prepared for the attack. But then something happened neither of the heroes had been expecting. A giant drill burst from the ground, and a few villains jumped from a cockpit, which the heroes saw were where the drill was controlled from. Flash had seen all three of the villains, one of them belonging to Batman, known as Bane, and the other belonging to Green Arrow, known as Count Vertigo. The third he knew as the Cheetah, an antagonist for Wonder Woman. She wore a black leotard. Flash believed those were the only enemies, and believed he could take them down. But he'd overlooked one enemy. "Hello, Flash," came the voice from behind him, the same voice who'd spoken just before the drill had broken through.
Flash whirled around and found the Reverse-Flash, also known as Zoom. "Thawne!" he said in surprise. "How in the heck are you here? The last I saw you, you were in that special cell over in—"
"Yes, yes, that hellhole of a prison, the second maddest place on Earth, behind Arkham Asylum," Zoom said. "I've been waiting for this moment to come. But I've waited for so freaking long. It's thanks to my…accomplice that I'm back and stronger than ever. Now, why don't we return to the battle we found ourselves in before your friends came into the fight and helped you. It was thanks to your cheating that I lost. But you don't have many friends here now, do you?"
"He has us, bozo!" Red Arrow snapped, holding the bow and arrow at Zoom. "This arrow has a thermal sensor, and as soon as it hits you, a shock will travel through your body! Not enough to kill you, but enough to stop your heart for a few minutes. How does that feel to you, Thawne?"
"So you've learned my last name," said Zoom. "How good. But that arrow won't work. Even with its thermal sensor, I'm too fast. I'll just catch it." Zoom stopped speaking, and then studied Red Arrow's face for a moment. "Your mentor was the Green Arrow, right? And the Black Canary? Too bad about them. I think I heard they were killed, isn't that right, Bane?"
"Yes, it is," said Bane in a thick Spanish accent. "It is only logical for their young protégé to feel deep, angry pain at the loss of his mentors. The loss of the only ones he ever loved."
Red Arrow snapped, and he ran right at Bane. But Bane was too smart for him, dodging and taking hold of his costume. He threw Red Arrow across the room. But as such a thing happened, Red Arrow loosed the arrow, which whizzed through the air, and even though Bane attempted to stop it, the arrow passed through a small opening between both his hands. The arrow stuck itself in the tube that fed Bane all his steroid-fueled energy. The arrow activated the electrical shock, causing the Venom tube to burst. The Venom was now electrified, and unfortunately for Bane, he was caught right in the middle of it. Bane roared in pain, and when the electrocution was over, Bane collapsed and fell into unconsciousness.
Red Arrow smiled to himself, then felt hot blood trickling down the side of his head. He looked to Zoom, who was smiling at him. The other villains were looking back-and-forth between one another, seemingly wondering when they were supposed to attack.
"Well done, little one," taunted Zoom. "You would have made your mentors proud."
"Shut up," Red Arrow growled. He looked behind Zoom and said, "Too bad you won't make it past this."
The Flash ran at Zoom, but almost impossibly, the Reverse-Flash whirled around and grabbed Flash by the throat. He threw him at a wall hard enough for it to crumble, revealing steel rods. Flash attempted to get to his feet, but Zoom stomped on his chest. Flash groaned, and there was a small cracking sound. "You see, I've always been better than you, Flash. That's no surprise, is it? You've never been strong enough to fight me. And now, for the finishing touch." He took hold of one of the steel rods, broke it free from the wall it was helping to support, and stabbed it downward. Cisco and Red Arrow could only watch as the rod sank into Flash's right leg. Blood spurt from the wound, and Flash screamed out in pain.
"This is what happens to those who oppose me," Zoom said, forcing the rod down deeper, causing Flash to scream louder. He looked to Cheetah and Vertigo. "Attack those two. Make sure to kill them!"
Cisco concentrated for a moment, and then opened his eyes. "Red Arrow, get the heck out of here! This is going to get bad in here, I'm sure of it! Now go!"
Red Arrow nodded, and was about to run when he saw Flash throw something. He caught it, and found the communicator in his hands. Flash said, "Use it to contact the others! Hurry!"
Red Arrow nodded, turned around, and ran for his life.
He felt the ground beginning to shake, and looking back, he found that Vertigo had attempted to run after him. But now he saw Cisco was concentrating and causing shockwaves to run through the ground. But Cheetah came up behind Cisco, hitting him hard in the back of the head and sinking her claws into his abdomen. He screamed, and then the pain was too much, causing him to go silent. Blood dripped from her claws when she took them out.
Red Arrow hurried toward whatever was in front of him. He wasn't sure what he would find when he reached his destination. At the moment, he was too fearful to look back. Both of the heroes behind him were defeated, and now he was heading to a place he didn't even know.
But then he found there was an opening in the wall in front of him. It was very surprising, seeing as how there was the possibility of someone entering inside. He guessed that just before the two heroes behind him were knocked unconscious, they had done something to allow him to escape.
He heard growling behind him, and he realized Cheetah was coming toward him. He wasn't sure how close she was, but he was sure he had to hurry. The opening was coming closer. Almost there…almost there…
He was caught. He felt Cheetah's hand clasp over his right ankle, and he fell to the ground. His chin hit first before the rest of his body, and he could taste blood.
But there was a way he could get free. He took one of the arrows out of his quiver and stabbed down as hard as he could. He heard Cheetah screech out in pain, and her grip was lifted from his ankle. Taking the moment into consideration, Red Arrow ran toward his exit, only to find it was about to close. He jumped through the opening and fell into a pool of water. He wasn't sure what the pool of water was, but he surfaced to find himself a small distance from the lab all of a sudden. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. But then he remembered the communicator and the coordinates Batman had sent it. He decided it was time to do what he was supposed to do, get to that location and save his two mentors.
Meanwhile, Zoom, Vertigo, and Cheetah stood over the unconscious bodies of Flash and Vibe. Cheetah was bleeding from her left hand as a result of Red Arrow stabbing the arrow into it. Not far from them, Bane was of normal human size, laying in a pool of Venom. He was beginning to stir.
"This is surprising," Cheetah said. "The boy was smarter than most of the other sidekicks, from what I've heard. Did you hear about the Bat's youngest sidekick, though? He escaped from Firefly easily. This boy defeated Bane too easily. He's smart, but he's also stupid. As all children are."
"Yes," said Zoom. "But now we're lucky. We have two superheroes in our grip. Should we take them both? I'm not sure."
"Scarecrow probably only wants the Flash. The other one shall remain here, to bleed out. Now we know that he is a superhero, though," Vertigo said.
"But I already knew," Zoom told him. "I'll speak to you about it later. But let's leave Vibe here, take Flash and Bane, and get back to Legion headquarters. Aquaman and Flash are down now. Five central members left to go."
