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Hi! You've reached Ghost and Miracle. We can't come to the Author's Notes right now because we're trapped on Earth 0 trying to avoid being brutally murdered by The Batman Who Laughs and dragged into the Dark Multiverse for all eternity. We do not own any copyrighted franchise depicted within our stories. Please leave us a review, and we'll reply if we haven't been Infected.
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THE PRESENT…
Kara touched down outside STAR Labs and made her way to the cortex. This turned out to be a supremely bad decision, as she encountered several scientists – human and alien – on the way. People she'd never seen before. All of them retreated at the sight of her dishevelled and ragged appearance. Eventually, after getting turned around twice, she reached the cortex, but the person she found there was not Cisco.
It was Lena Luthor.
"Lena?" Kara whispered, jaw-dropping open. Lena turned away from the console, brilliant smile on her face.
"Kara? You look terrible, what's going on?"
Kara had no idea what to say. Lena… she was looking at her like she'd done before. Before she learned that Kara was Supergirl. Before she'd discovered the depth of Kara's utter betrayal of her friend. Did this Lena not know? But then what was she doing in STAR Labs?
"Kara? Was it an alien? A metahuman? Do I need to call someone? Is Ellie okay?"
Kara flinched at the name, grabbing hold of the wall and crushing the cement. Her head swam, the image of that horrible machine flooding her mind. That voice… that gorgeous terrified voice.
Beyond the haze of Kara's tired and panicked mind, Lena pushed a red button on the console beside her, then rushed to Kara's side, grabbing her under the arm and holding her steady.
"Hey, hey, hey? What's wrong? What happened?"
Kara swallowed, and before she could stop herself, words were tumbling from her mouth.
"You don't hate me?" Lena's eyes widened.
"Hate you? I could never hate you! You're my best friend, Kara."
Tears welled in her eyes, and she slumped down the wall, Lena kneeling with her.
"Don't worry, Caitlin's on her way. Let's get you to a bed." Exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally, Lena was able to manhandle her to a gurney with relative ease. Kara passed out the second her head hit the pillow.
SUPERGIRL: S3EP02 – DAUGHTERS (COLD OPEN)
September, 2017
Kara opened the door to her loft and led Ellie inside, a tiny hand gripped in hers. Barry brought up the rear. Ellie was staring around the room in total awe, a Supergirl plushie gripped tightly to her chest.
"What do you think?" Kara asked.
"It's amazing! You really live here?"
"Yep!"
"And I get to live here too?" Kara grinned softly.
"You better believe it."
"Wow…" Ellie whispered. She let go of Kara's hand and ran into the centre of the room, spinning around several times as she giggled. Barry closed the door behind them, then leaned in to whisper something in Kara's ear.
"Alex, Lena and Maggie…"
"Are behind the couches!" Ellie exclaimed, stopping her twirling and staring into the loungeroom in confusion.
"Why are you hiding?" She asked in confusion. Alex pocked her head up from behind Kara's couch, scowling. Kara facepalmed.
"Note, surprise parties don't work when you're adopted daughter is telepathic," Lena observed, raising her head up beside Alex's. Maggie appeared on Alex's other side, then raised an air-horn above her head and blasted it.
"SURPRISE!" Alex winced, and Lena detonated an air-canon of confetti, letting the flakes of paper rain around Ellie's head. The tiny girl absolutely beamed, and Kara's heart melted. Daughter. She wasKara's daughter now. In every way shape and form. She'd signed the adoption papers this morning. As of that moment, Ellie was officially Elizabeth Danvers, care-dependent of Barry Allen and Kara Danvers.
It had been daunting and euphoric at the same time. Alex was over the moon, and Eliza should be arriving soon, having insisted on catching the first train after Kara had called and explained the situation to her.
As Ellie rushed over to Alex and pulled her into a hug, Barry wrapped an arm around Kara's shoulders, and she leaned into his shoulder.
This was perfect.
THE PRESENT…
"Okay," Alex said, pacing back and forth, "So, after you guys found Ellie in that lab, you took her in, partly to protect her, partly because realistically, you were the only ones who could take care of her." Barry ran a hand through his head.
"And we co-parented?"
"More or less," Alex said, taking a sip from her mug of coffee.
"She lived here with Kara for the most part – you decided that keeping her out of Central City was probably smarter, and you could run between cities much quicker than Kara could fly."
"Makes sense."
"Ellie… to be honest, she probably saved my marriage." Barry blinked.
"What?"
"Maggie and I…, we couldn't agree on whether we wanted kids or not. I did, she didn't. But with Ellie to care for, I could focus all my attention on her. And we made it through. Two years of being married, and we haven't looked back once."
Barry sighed, unable to really focus on what Alex was saying. Instead, he was mulling things over in his head.
The Thinker. Did he use Ellie to create the Bus-Meta's in this timeline, instead of Barry himself? For Barry could think of no one but the Thinker who could be behind something so horrible. Dozens dead… Three metahumans escaped. The destroyed cuffs could have been Null, Janet Petty, a bus-meta with gravity bending powers. The closed cuffs… Ralph probably, or maybe Becky Sharpe. The open ones… Kilgore, if Barry had to bet.
Of course, that was assuming that the metahumans were the same as the bus metas at all. Who knew what had changed and what hadn't?
But if Ellie was simply telepathic… how had that given the Thinker the ability to charge people with Dark Matter? Something was missing here. Something about Ellie's powers he didn't understand.
"What else? What was DeVoe's plan?"
Alex winced.
"That bad, huh?"
THE FLASH: S4EP06 – I THINK; THEREFORE, I AM
December, 2017
"DeVoe," Barry said, pacing in the cortex of STAR Labs. Standing anxiously in various positions around the room were the members of Team Flash. Cisco, Caitlin, Joe, Harry and now Ralph. "His name was in the Flash Museum. He was one of our greatest foes. This has to be him."
"Are you sure? It could just be a coincidence," Joe pointed out.
"It has to be him. He did this to Ellie, abducted Ralph and Null and Kilgore and used that… that lab to turn them into Metahumans. But how? Why? What does he have to gain?"
"Maybe he wants to give himself Metahuman powers?" Caitlin suggested.
"But we've seen easier ways to do that," Cisco said, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed.
"We have. This guy hasn't. It could be just the first step to some master plan," she retorted, and Cisco threw his hands up.
"Point."
"Well, we can't act until we have his first name," Ralph said, "There are over fifty 'DeVoes in Central City alone." Barry continued to pace. Maybe Caitlin was right. Maybe this person just wanted to become a metahuman that bad, but Barry didn't buy that. There had to be some other plan. The Flash Museum had labelled DeVoe one of his greatest villains. Alongside Reverse-Flash and Zoom. Godspeed hadn't made that list. Grodd hadn't. But this new threat had. He remembered the armoured hoverchair locked away in the glass case.
When he'd gone up against Reverse-Flash and Zoom, they'd always been one step ahead of him. They'd predicted his actions and planned accordingly. Surely this new person would be watching them too. Would be planning for Barry's moves. Trying to anticipate him and the team.
He had to think like Thawne. Like Zoloman.
The others started talking about contacting the Council of Wells, which they'd met the previous year. Barry continued his pacing, mind whirling.
Thawne. He had known Barry intuitively because of his actions both in the future and their constant battles. He'd known to attach himself to Barry through the guise of friendship, agreeing to help him help others. He'd bet on Barry's kindness and compassion blinding him to the truth.
Zoom. Jay… Zoloman had tried a similar plan with a different method. He'd introduced himself as a source of information and backed that up by helping Barry to take down the villains he sent from Earth 2. He'd learned about Barry's attachments, and then, when he'd known enough to force him to give up his speed, he'd forgone the ruse. He'd abducted Wally to get Barry's speed. He'd killed Iris to trick him into powering the Magnetar. Barry's kindness had been the knife.
Ralph had asked about time-travel, and Cisco, Caitlin and Harry were emphatically talking about why that was a terrible idea.
DeVoe. He hadn't built himself into the team as the others had. Which meant he had to have some other means of predicting their actions… or he'd set up a trap, and Barry's response had provided his adversary with the knowledge of what to do next. But what trap could he have fallen into? Null and Kilgore were locked up in Iron Heights. Could Ralph be a plant? If that was the case, why be so… unlikeable? Jay and Thawne had positioned themselves as mentors, as well charactered allies to endear themselves to the team. Ralph was a pain in the ass. If Barry could risk kicking him from the team, he would.
So what was it? What trap could Barry have fallen into? What actions might have revealed to this hidden adversary, who didn't know him as Thawne and Zoom and August had, that Barry's compassion could be used against him?
"Oh fuck," he whispered. The room quieted, but before they could ask the reason for his outburst, he had already raced from the building, running down the interstate.
Ellie. Ellie had been his act of kindness. That gorgeous girl, who was kind and beautiful and full of love. The girl who'd attached herself so perfectly to Barry's heart, and Kara's for that matter. The perfect tool.
Hook. Line. Sinker.
Barry raced into Kara's loft, skidding to a stop. Alex lay sprawled on the floor, and floating in the middle of the room was the same chair he'd seen in the future. Seated atop it was a man with skin as pale as milk wearing a black bodysuit. Dozens of wires snaked from his head into the back of the chair; and trapped by the throat, tiny hands beating at it as she screamed, was Ellie.
"Put her down!"
"Barry, HELP!"
Barry nudged the Legion Ring as Ellie's scream threatened to crush him.
The man laughed.
"How sentimental. I must admit, hiding her in another city was a smart move. Unfortunately for you, I am much faster."
"Put my daughter down, DeVoe," Barry said, edging closer, eyes narrowed.
'Barry!'
'I'm coming. I promise.'
Ellie tried once again to pull DeVoe's hand from her throat, but the effort was futile.
"I must thank you for taking care of my property Mr Allen. You've done an impeccable job."
He wasn't surprised DeVoe knew his name. Had expected it. The question was, did DeVoe know Kara's identity?
"Now I really must be going."
"Wait!" Barry exclaimed, stepping forward and raising his hands in surrender. "What do you want?"
DeVoe hesitated, analysing Barry.
'I love you, Ellie.'
'Bar… Daddy!'
"To enlighten the world, Mr Allen. I want to enlighten the world." The chair, Ellie, and DeVoe all vanished in a flash of white, and not a second later, Kara flew into the loft, eyes ablaze. Too late. Barry sank to his knees and began to weep.
THE PRESENT…
Kara flickered back into consciousness and immediately leaned over the side of the hospital bed and vomited.
"Hey! Those were my favourite shoes!"
Kara's awareness slowly came back to her. She was in STAR Labs hospital wing, though it looked slightly different. And she had just vomited all over Cisco's shoes. Caitlin, who stood on Kara's other side, instantly began laughing. Kara groaned, falling back against the pillow.
It had just been a dream. There wasn't a girl in her loft without a mother. A mother that Kara had erased. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
Lena grabbed Kara's head and poked a light into her eyes.
"Motor responses normal, no fever… I'd say she's fine." Kara batted her away, then, realising just who it was, she grabbed her friend and pulled her close. Lena seemed flummoxed by the action at first, but relaxed into it, wrapping her arms around Kara and patting her awkwardly on the back.
"It's okay. I'm right here."
Lena pulled away, and Kara tried to discreetly wipe away her tears. She failed.
"What's could have ever made me hate you?" Kara flinched as if struck.
"Why don't you hate me?"
Lena looked at her as if she'd grown a second head, so Kara turned to Cisco, who was cleaning his shoes with paper towel and grumbling.
"You didn't tell her?"
Cisco looked up at her.
"Uh, no. We haven't even told Ralph. Or Joe. The only ones who know, are the paragons, Ray, Alex, Nia and Team Arrow. The Bats don't even know yet, and Black Lightning is the only member of his team J'onn gave new memories."
"No offence Kara," Caitlin chimed in, "but what's the point of telling everyone? We've… we've seen what happens with alternate timelines. The danger of knowing different histories. Knowing about my Earth 2 doppelgänger was a major contributing factor to the creation of Killer Frost."
"Not to mention Flashpoint," Cisco said, wincing.
"Uh, don't know what?!" Lena exclaimed, looking between the trio in utter confusion.
"The world ended," Kara whispered, locking eyes with her friend.
Lena raised an eyebrow.
"As in, what? Every other Tuesday?"
Caitlin chuckled, but Cisco just shook his head.
"As in, the apocalypse came, and everyone…" he drew a line across his neck, and Kara whacked him.
"This is what came after… Round 2, so to speak," Frost finished.
Lena swallowed.
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Kara muttered, eyes downcast, "that I have a daughter I don't remember."
Cisco facepalmed.
"Oh god… Ellie… she didn't…" Frost rounded on Cisco.
"You didn't tell her!"
Cisco backed away from Frost, who's hands were starting to freeze.
"I've got two timelines rattling around in my head, and I only have our half of the original, not Kara's! How was I supposed to know she didn't have a kid on her side! She didn't come from our world, so I assumed she must have come from Kara's! Everyone else has existed on one of the original Earths that Oliver merged!"
"Kara…what happened?" Lena asked warily, sitting down on the bed beside Kara's downcast face and taking Kara's hands in hers.
"I… I ran away. I couldn't… I hoped maybe Cisco could… I don't know… split me. Or find the version of me that's supposed to be here. Maybe I didn't kill that little girl's mother."
"Oh, Kara…" Lena pulled her into another hug as Frost bled back to Caitlin.
"Can you do it?" she asked Cisco, "bring out Kara's memories of Ellie."
Cisco scratched his head.
"I don't know… I could try."
Kara clenched her jaw and reached a hand to Cisco, who took it hesitantly. Lena rose from the bed and laid a hand on Cisco's shoulder.
"I'm coming too."
"I'm not sure that's…"
"Don't care. Do it Vibe." Cisco sighed, then closed his eyes and scrunched up his face.
"I'll monitor you from outside," Caitlin said.
For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Kara just sat there, looking around the room. Then, like a tv glitching between channels, reality began to flicker. Everything around them took on a blue tint, and STAR Labs flickered out of existence as crackling filled her ears. Kara glanced to Lena, who was mirroring Kara's own astonishment, observing with wide eyes. STAR Labs was washed away, engulfed in an enormous storm. Or… more accurately, it was several storms clashing against one another.
There was no sound save the crackling, but reality around them was a battle of wind and power. There was a blue storm, swirling around Cisco himself like a tornado, spiralling both above and below them, yellow and red lightning bolts flickering within the wall of churning clouds. Two spheres of energy – one red, one gold – flared within the tornado, dancing through the lightning. At the peak of the hurricane was a pool of white power, reflecting down on them like sunlight through water; below was a similar phenomenon but black as tar, and bubbling with what Kara could only describe as hate. Finally, a reflective blue light swirled around their bodies, clinging to them like an aura.
"CISCO!" Lena screamed, "What's happening?!"
"I'm trying to get a lock! The Speed Force is trying to lock me out!"
"Why?" Kara demanded. Cisco's eyes remained tightly closed, body trembling, his fingers trying to dig into Kara's invulnerable skin.
"I…" he trailed off, and, a second later, the storms vanished as if they'd never been, and they fell to a cement floor.
Sound returned to them in a rush. The screaming of a child.
"Let me out of here!"
Ellie.
Kara blinked away the dizziness that threatened to engulf her, searching out the voice without thinking. A desperate need bubbled up inside her. An aching desire to find her daughter and hold her close. It warred with something else. A dark feeling in the pit of her stomach. In her very bones. A deep, foul urging. Something she had never truly felt until that moment. But she knew it. Knew it as if she'd spent her entire life with it. A screaming rage. A desire to find the person who had taken her daughter and tear them apart. Hate.
She pulled away from Cisco, who was gasping for breath, kneeling on the floor with Lena beside him. They were in a warehouse of some sort. Tall roof, open plan floor, small high windows. In the centre of the space was an enormous machine, with wiring and antennae pointing towards the ceiling. In the centre of the device was a capsule with glass walls. And trapped inside was a little girl of no more than four or five, blonde hair tied in pigtails. Vivid purple eyes stared out of that glass at a figure in an enormous hoverchair.
"Peace Miss Elizabeth," the Thinker said in a slow voice, thick with an accent Kara couldn't place, "No pain will come to you. I simply need you as a battery."
"Let. Me. Go."
Ellie's eyes flared a bright purple, and the machine started to rattle, despite being bolted to the ground. The Thinker chuckled.
"Impressive. You've come far since our last attempt at this. I should have anticipated that providing you with a more inviting environment would cause an increase in force output."
Ellie screamed from within the glass tube, and she started floating up into the air.
The Thinker grinned.
"Now, we can begin." He pressed a button on his chair, and the roof around the machine retracted. The antennae extended up into the sky, and purple electricity began to crackle along the metal. The sky above turned dark, storm clouds brewing to boil in an instant.
"What's happening?" Kara whispered, staring around in confusion. She needed to go to Ellie. Needed to help her. But the vibe held her in place. This wasn't real. It was a mirage of the past, pulled together by Cisco's powers.
"It's the night the Sage Force was born," Cisco said, Lena helping him to his feet.
"The Sage Force?"
Lena nodded.
In the vision beyond, a flash of yellow lightning signalled Barry's arrival. He skidded to a stop before the machine, a look of horror on his face.
"Daddy!"
"Ellie! Are you okay!?"
"She's fine, Mr Allen," the Thinker snapped, spinning around in his chair and rolling his the sky above, the clouds split apart to form an enormous vortex. Beyond was not the storm of lightning Kara had expected. Instead, it was… like an ocean of light, a vibrant violet colour, surface rippling under the breath of invisible wind.
"Then what the hell are you trying to do? Create new Metahumans? Why?"
"You truly are an idiot. You and all your friends. You think creating metahumans is my goal? How… simple-minded." He gestured with a hand back to the container, Ellie banging on the glass inside, machine rattling under the force of her power.
"The world is stagnant Mr Allen! It is trapped in a vicious cycle of violence and hate. I intend to save the world. To make people understand that the people they hate are the same as them. Just people. Will you stand in my way?"
"With her power, I can do it. You have no idea what that girl is truly capable of. She is a conduit into the Multiversal consciousness itself, just as you are a conduit for time and speed."
"So what?" Barry demanded, "You torture a four-year-old girl as a tool to mind-control everyone on Earth? It doesn't matter what your end goal is DeVoe, that's evil!"
"You think I didn't predict that reaction? You think I would have bothered kidnaping the girl, engineering your care for her, if there had even been a ten per cent chance you would see my plan as I do? A chance to save the world."
Barry grinned.
"No. I don't think you would. You seem like a practical guy DeVoe. A smart guy. I think I would have liked working with you. Maybe together, we could have done something great…"
A Breach pulsed into existence beside the machine, and the real Kara flew out, blasting twin bolts of heat-vision at the chair. They passed straight through, striking the wall on the far side of the warehouse. At the same time, a bolt of purple energy shot from the antennae up into the sky. It struck the ocean's surface, and a shockwave of violet light exploded through the cloud layer.
Mirage Kara screamed in rage as Barry ran up to the machine. The second his foot hit the metal, a shell of gold lightning enveloped the device, and he was blasted backwards as Ellie cried out in pain, grabbing her head and falling to the ground inside the glass container.
Mirage Kara tried to punch DeVoe, but her fits passed clean through the holographic image.
"Ah. Kara Danvers. How nice of you to join us."
"Rao take you, DeVoe."
Another Breach materialised on the ground, and mirage Cisco, Ralph, Alex and Frost ran out.
Kara tried to get to Ellie, but the same energy barrier appeared, blasting her backwards. The Thinker threw his hands wide, looking to the sky.
"I planned every possible variable of this encounter. There is no way for you to defeat me. Perhaps you recognise the design Cisco?"
Cisco, who was staring at the machine, gasped in horror.
"The Magnetar."
"Precisely. It's thanks to the Speed Force Storm you unleashed on the city that I know how to do any of this. Thanks to the Speed Force I drained from the Flash in the underground lab that I can ensure you can't stop me. But instead of unstable lightning, my device will harness the power of Elizabeth's 'Sage' Force to disperse a wave of thought powered Dark Matter across the world. Power I can guide…"
"MY NAME IS ELLIE!"
Ellie had risen up in her containment chamber. Her hair had bled to solid gold, floating in the air, violet eyes burning with energy. She screamed, placing her hands on the side of the machine. Then she pushed.
DeVoe's device groaned, gears grinding, antennae rattling. Then, with an ear-shattering 'BOOM!',the Thinker's exploded outwards, sending a shockwave of energy through the warehouse. Only Barry was unaffected. Wrapped in golden lightning, he raced forward into the shockwave and grabbed Ellie from the centre of the debris. He pulled her free, sliding to a halt and pulling her close. The beam shooting into the sky shut off, the ocean beyond vanished, and the storm collapsed. Ralph expanded into a giant tarp to protect Cisco, Caitlin and Alex, but Mirage Kara simply ignored the flying wreckage, running to Barry and Ellie.
"Mom! Dad!" Mirage Kara pulled the two of them as tight as she could as the hologram of the Thinker disappeared, and rain started to pour through the roof, soaking them all to the bone. It fell through the real Kara as if she wasn't there.
"That's… that was magnificent. I mean you told me before but… I never really… understood," Lena muttered. Cisco was standing perfectly still, fists still clenched.
Kara… All Kara could do was stare at her alternate self and her… her daughter. And her Barry.
She loved him. You could see it in the way she clung to him for dear life. How, together, they embraced that tiny girl as the gold faded from her hair, and her eyes returned to their standard blue.
"She loves him. And that's my… our daughter." And just as she'd known hate the second she felt it, she knew the love that swelled within her watching Ellie cling to her other-self. Seeing Barry hold them both. She thought she'd understood love before. Felt it before. For Mon-El. But compared to this. The tightening of the chest, the heat that rushed through your brain. The tingles running up the spine. Mom. No love she'd ever felt before held a candle to the need that gripped her at that moment. The need to go to that child, her child, regardless of blood or origin, and tell her everything was going to be okay. The primal urge to wrap her arms around Barry and kiss him with everything she had.
Forgetting the dream, the illusion, she tried to run to them, and Cisco called out.
He grabbed her shoulder, and the scene was swept away in a rush of blue storm clouds and yellow lightning.
"Kara!"
The storm cleared as soon as it appeared, replaced with a beach in… in Starling City. Somehow, she just knew that it was Starling City.
"A little warning next time, Barry?" John Diggle exclaimed, drawing Kara's eye to the water's edge. Barry and Kara stood there with Oliver and Felicity on one side, and Sara on the other. The beach was only small. Nothing compared to the sprawling sandy bays of National City. Just a tiny strip of sand between the water and a park that backed on to a road. On the other side of the road was a row of shops, including a Big Belly Burger. She… didn't she know this place?
"Sorry," Barry said as John hyperventilated, and Sara laughed at him. Once he regained his breath, John waved the comment away.
"It's okay. What did you need?"
"You got ordained to marry your brother and Carly, didn't you?" Felicity asked, head resting on Oliver's shoulder.
"Yeah…"
"Well," Oliver said, smiling broadly, which was so shocking an image Kara's jaw actually fell open, "Considering we're currently going 0 for 2 when it comes to trying to get married. We figured we'd get you to do it. Right here. Right now."
John blinked. Then he blinked again.
"For real?"
"Yep," Felicity said, popping the 'p'.
John beamed.
"You should've just asked me in the first place."
Oliver groaned, and Mirage Kara laughed, Barry's arm around her waist.
"That's what I said," Sara exclaimed, though she was smiling just as warmly.
John gestured for Oliver and Felicity to stand on either side of him, with Barry next to Oliver and Kara and Sara next to Felicity. Barry was pursing his lips, fiddling with something in his pocket while Mirage Kara, grinned at Felicity and Oliver.
"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to… well um…" Dig began, then stopped, "You know what, let's not tempt another alien invasion. Oliver Queen, do you take Felicity Smoak to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do."
"Felicity Smoak, do you take Oliver Queen…"
"I do."
Sara barked a laugh, doubling over, and John rolled his eyes. Mirage Kara had turned her attention back to Barry, and had noticed the conflict running across his face that real Kara had.
"That works too, I guess. Then I now pronounce you…"
"Ah crap. Wait!" Barry exclaimed, and everyone looked to him like he'd grown a second head. Then he dug in his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. Oliver swore under his breath, and Sara and Felicity both grinned like fools.
"I was gonna do this on Christmas, but now works too. Kara Danvers, would you make me the happiest man on any Earth, and marry me?"
Kara's throat constricted as her mirage jumped Barry, wrapping her legs around him and kissing him soundly on the lips. Sara cackled, grabbing hold of John to support herself while Oliver grumbled, and Felicity jumped with joy.
"Yes. Always yes. Always and forever. Whatever Earth. Whatever timeline. Whatever planet. Always."
Dig peeled himself away from Sara, shaking his head.
"Okay then. Well. I don't really know if any of this is actually official, but you can lift mountains so who cares. By the power invested in me by some guy on the internet, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your brides."
As mirage Kara kissed her Barry, Cisco's hand tightened on Kara's shoulder, pulling her back into the storm. The world shifted once more as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
Kara, Cisco and Lena landed in an old office building. Dozens of desks lay strewn across the open-plan room, the light hanging from the ceiling cacked in dust. But two people stood amongst the debris, fiddling with a circular device on the floor projecting what looked like a star chart onto the darkened roof.
"Any luck on the distress signal we weaved into Crisis?" One of the figures asked. A woman wearing a leather jacket and jeans. She had shoulder-length blond hair, dyed with red highlights to create a sunset effect. She was typing rapidly into a white gauntlet with a touch screen built into it on her arm.
"None." Her companion replied. He wore a similar outfit, but his hair was a dark brown, almost black. He wasn't overly tall, nor was he particularly muscled, but his jaw was very well defined, and his shoulders broad.
"Damn. It was worth a try," the woman said, abandoning her gauntlet and turning towards the map on the roof. "I still can't get a vibrational lock either. I don't understand it."
"Well, somethings happened on the outside," the man reasoned, and the woman smacked him across the back of the head.
"That wasn't necessary," he muttered, rubbing his head.
"Obviously something's happened, Ghost! Otherwise, we wouldn't be stuck here! The question is, what happened?"
"I've been with you the whole time Miracle; how could I possibly know?"
"I don't know. Use that nerd brain of yours and come up with a theory."
Ghost sighed, then pulled one of the map points closer. It floated down in front of the couple, enlarging in size. It was Earth. A small tag appeared beside it labelled Earth-33. It wasn't a star chart at all. It was a map of the Multiverse.
"Our powers allow us to manipulate Story," he said hesitantly, "but what happens if we're stuck on a world with no story to tell?"
"What do you mean?" Miracle asked.
Ghost ran a hand through his hair.
"What if something's happened on our Earth that's stopped new DC Comics stories from being published. If there's no story to tell…"
"we can't write ourselves home," Miracle finished. "Like Groundhog Day."
"Exactly. A temporal feedback loop, but with narrative causality instead. No narrative, no escape."
They fell silent until a soft laughing began to echo through the tower. The couple turned to one another, expressions of absolute terror crossing their faces.
"Ghost? Miracle? Come out, come out wherever you are!"
Ghost gulped.
"He found us," Miracle hissed. Ghost grabbed the device on the floor, clicking the map away. Then together, the couple ran for the nearest window and jumped through.
The scene shattered, and Kara, Cisco and Lena fell back into STAR Labs. Cisco immediately collapsed, blood dripping from his nose. Caitlin dropped down beside him, and Lena helped her pull him onto the gurney. Kara… she just sat frozen on the floor. Her mind was spinning. Flying through scenes and memories. Memories of Barry. Memories of Ellie. Memories of her.
She saw the Crisis on Earth X. Watched Barry drive himself to the brink trying to save her from Overgirl and Dark Oliver. She felt the crushing pain that closed around him when Reign had nearly killed her. And she remembered the agony of beating her hands bloody on the Thinker's dome, trying to get to Barry and Ellie and Central City trapped within.
She sat there unable to move, as Caitlin and Lena worked together to stabilise Cisco. Perfectly frozen, until Clark arrived and threw her over his shoulder, taking her up into the sky, and flying towards the Fortress of Solitude.