Disclaimer:

"Hello, everyone. I was wondering if you could tell me where some friends of mine are. Ghost and Miracle? Those authors who keep having to tell you that they don't own any copyrighted franchises? Perhaps you've seen them, or heard from them? Me and my friends are searching the Multiverse, but haven't been able to find them. Send me a review if you have any information that could help us…"

"Regards, Bruce Wayne of Earth -22."

The Present Day…

Barry stood on the floor of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator, simply staring into space. He knew what he needed to do, he was just trying to build up the courage to actually do it.

Kara was still missing. No one had seen her in almost a day now. Not since Clark had taken her away. Once Barry had dropped Ellie at her school that morning, he'd gone to Metropolis looking for Clark, but he'd been unable to find him. Then he'd come to STAR to meet with Cisco and Caitlin and someone called Lena. She was nice, if a bit formal, but she seemed to genuinely care about Kara.

STAR was no longer what he'd left. The building was a ruin no more, all the damage had been repaired, and hundreds of people were working in offices or labs. And the majority of them appeared to be aliens. The Cortex and its associated areas had all been sealed off from the main complex, but… STAR Labs, a functioning business again? It was practically unthinkable. Actually, how hadn't they thought about it before? Even the Cortex was different. The computers were all far more advanced than on Earth One, the chairs - for some reason - were leather and not plastic, and the wall where his suit had sat now contained a dozen silos. Each was a chrome white, and labelled with a different symbol. Though his was still in the centre, Oliver's was on the left and Kara's on the right. But neither looked remotely like their suits from the last reality.

After getting over his shock, he'd spoken at length to the three scientists about Kara, her condition, the toll her shock was taking, and some things he really wished had been kept a secret. Then Cisco and Lena had explained what they'd seen in the Vibe.

That was what lead him here. There was one place he could get all the answers he needed. He just wasn't certain he dared. The last time he'd entered the Speed-Force, everyone had become stranded through time.

"I'm not sure demanding answers of cosmic-powers is a wise course Mr Allen." J'onn J'onzz, in his human form, floated down from the entryway and landed on the metal beside him.

"It's always worked for me before."

J'onn raised an eyebrow.

"Well, usually…"

"This reality is far from the one we left. You don't know what you could be running into."

Barry sighed, turning to look at the Martian.

"That's why I have to do it. Running is what I'm best at. It's how I solve problems. It has to give me an answer to this one too."

"What if you become lost? Would you do that to your daughter?"

Barry flinched, pulling his eyes away from J'onn's sympathetic face.

"Is having a child such a bad thing? Is being married to Kara so distressing?"

"NO!" Barry exclaimed. He ran a hand through his hair, gripping it and pulling. "I… It's not that. You forget, this isn't all that new to me. I've dealt with things like this before. You try and change something, and when you come back, nothing is as you left it."

"Your Flashpoint," J'onn guessed.

"Yes, and more. Time isn't something that bounds my existence like it does everyone else's. I've time-traveled half a dozen times, and each time things have shifted. I turned a super-villain into a hero by accident, I turned my best-friend into a psychopath… I've seen alternate timelines where I become a hopeless wreck, or a deranged serial killer, traveled to a half dozen different universes with different versions of me and my friends. I've watched my wife… Iris… get murdered right in front of me. I watched my daughter get erased from existence."

He took a long harrowing breath, trying to steady his heart beat.

"Ever since I became the Flash, I've had a ticking clock counting down on my life. 'The Flash, Missing! Vanishes in Crisis!'. You can't understand what that's like. Knowing there's a specific date where you're going to sacrifice everything, and never come back. My daughter came from the future, risking everything, just to meet me. She had no memories of me. She didn't even know I was the Flash… and Thawne stole her away. Just like he's stolen everything else from me."

He looked back to J'onn, staring into the man's unflinching gaze.

"Kara is wonderful. She's the most brilliant person I've ever met, or ever will meet for that matter. Being married to her, having a daughter… It's a dream J'onn. Something that perfect? It's not in the cards for me. Its not my destiny. I was supposed to die in the Crisis. Now I'm just living on borrowed time."

He turned back to the empty accelerator ring and narrowed his eyes, mind made up.

"Kara came to Cisco because she wanted to know if she could restore her past self. This other me… the father Ellie knows and deserves… I don't need Cisco's help to bring him back."

"Oliver remade the Universe for you Barry," J'onn said, grabbing Barry's arm. "For all of us. To give us a chance to do things right."

"I am doing things right," he snapped back, phasing free of the martian's grip. "I'm doing the only thing I'm good at. Running."

Before J'onn could say anything more, Barry took off, accelerating with a sonic boom. Five laps around the accelerator, then he threw himself into the air. J'onn had barely moved.

The swirling portal he'd been expecting did not appear. Instead, the gateway to the Speed-Force formed as a crack in the air, flickering with electricity, rainbow steam pouring forth into the world. He ran into it anyway.

The Earth vanished. Replaced by that all encompassing cosmic storm. A tunnel of blue energy, images swirling amongst the eternal sea. Everything Cisco had told them about. He could see himself, struck by lightning, found on the ground by Kara. He saw himself in the future, fighting alongside Kara and Oliver against the Reverse Flash. In a bar, drinking to heroics. He saw them adopt Ellie, watched them trapped beneath an enormous dome. He saw Overgirl, pulled down into a sea of molten tar. And then he was kissing her. In Kara's apartment, atop a skyscraper, in STAR Labs, in New York 1776.

The tunnel shattered, and Barry fell into an ocean of rainbow light stretching as far as the eye could see. The very air around him seemed to refract, rippling like water, yet entirely non-corporal. Golden lightning thundered around him, crackling between churning storm clouds like islands stranded throughout eternity. It was into one of these islands that Barry crashed. He didn't fall through as he'd feared. The storm cushioned his landing, lightning crackling up from the vapour, licking at his feet.

Heart pounding, desperately trying to take in what he was seeing, he stood up on shaky legs and stared out at the sea. It was not as endless as he'd thought. He could actually see what appeared to be the surface high above him, and a landmass in the distance. Far, far below him, was another surface. It was not the ground like a true ocean, but rather the other side of a pool of water in space.

A light of effervescent violet faded into existence around him, hovering around his head like a halo. The air shimmered, and the rainbow refraction coalesced into an image of a young version of himself, conversing with a far younger Eobard Thawne.

Barry stepped back and followed Eobard's gestured hand towards a screen.

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, which means this Speed Force we burn as lightning when we run has to come from somewhere. So I broke down the particulate structure and used the Multiversal Quantum Positioning System STAR Labs developed to search for similar energy formations across the Orrery of Worlds. Look what I found." He tapped a key, and a grid of floating spheres appeared on his map. A space towards the upper edge, like a wall of energy, illuminated.

"Everything points to that energy storm. I think this power you call the Speed Force, and it has to be some sort of reservoir, another dimension perhaps. The way you got here, time travelling. I think you must have run so fast you entered this Speed Force in your time and got spat out in mine. To get you home, all we'll have to do is reopen the gateway you used to get here."

The image splintered back into rainbow energy, which then coalesced into… into a woman? Tall, with hair a coppery red, wearing an elegant white dress that refracted the colours around her. Her eyes were miniature storms, swirling with energy, eternal in depth. Her form… it was not fixed. She did not have an outline, her body fuzzed to light at the edges, and it was impossible to tell where her hair ended and the light began. But the lightning… golden electricity rippled across her body, sparking outwards to reconnect with the sky.

YOU ARE NOT ONE OF MINE.

Barry stepped backwards as the awesome voice thundered around him. The woman didn't move her mouth, but he knew it was her voice, as sure as he knew how to breathe.

YOU ARE FROM… FROM OUTSIDE?

The voice softened, and the woman stepped forward. She raised a hand towards Barry, face etched with curiosity. Before she could touch Barry's skin, the cloud beneath his feet roared upwards, spiralling into a vortex all around them. In an instant, he was within the storm he'd expected to see. The speed-force as he'd seen it before. Nora Allen stepped out from inside the storm-wall, face panicked, terrified.

"Mom? What's going on?!"

'She is not us, Barry,' his mother said, the voice of the Speed-Force he knew, 'She is the Speed-Force of this new reality. They do not…'

She was cut off by a thundering 'BOOM!'. The storm wall blasted apart, and Barry was falling again. Down, down, down he fell, and each time a storm cloud tried to catch him, a shard of rainbow light would blast it apart.

I CAN SENSE IT NOW. A CRISIS. YOU COME FROM A MULTIVERSE DESTROYED. HOW ARE YOU HERE?

Lightning crashed around him, licking tenderly at his body as he fell. The wall of energy at the bottom of the ocean was growing closer and closer. He tried pulling at the lightning, tried to draw the Speed-Force into him. The lightning flickered around him, but he couldn't connect to it. A scream of pure agony ripped through the air, through Barry's very mind, and he reached again. He imagined the feeling of running, the feeling of the air surging past his face, the thrill of the lightning.

'No Barry!'

Something gave, and Barry's eyes shot open. A bolt of lightning arced out from one of the storm-clouds, spearing him through the chest.

The ocean vanished, and Barry dropped into the blue vortex of the Speed-Force. He stopped falling as a howling wind surged upwards from below, rotating around him like a hurricane. Lightning bled from his body, funnelling upwards into the stormwall. The violet light returned, clinging to his body like a shell. At the highest peak of the storm was a pool of white power, reflecting down like sunlight on a warm summers day. Far below boiled a sea of pitch black, like molten tar. Finally, a burst of red burst free from the storm. It appeared at first like a bird, but it quickly dissolved into a ball of angry red. A sphere of gold chased it through the storm, but Barry wasn't watching it. His gaze was locked on the cloud layer. Beyond the wall, like a washed out mirror, was himself.

He reached out to the reflection, and the Flash behind the mirror reached back. Their fingers met at the storm wall, and memories blossomed in Barry's mind. Memories of Kara. Of a meeting on a train and bringing flowers to her apartment, of singing in a New York bar and kissing in the rain.

He felt the love this Barry had for Kara. It was unconditional, utter devotion. He would do anything for her, had done anything for her.

As one, they glanced down to the sea of tar.

YOU DIED. EVERYTHING DIED. A MONITOR GONE ROGUE. A CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. WE SHALL SPEAK WITH HER ON YOUR BEHALF, AND INVESTIGATE THIS… ANTI-MATTER UNIVERSE. IF SUCH A WORLD EXISTS WITHIN THE ORRERY, IT WILL BE FOUND AND OBLITERATED.

The voice went silent, but Barry could think of nothing but the memories flooding into his brain. For he was seeing something now that he couldn't understand. This new Multiverse… it was not as kind a place as he had thought. There was a Darkness, a shadow, and something trapped within that he could barely comprehend. He could see a great and terrible storm, rolling across a shattered plain and washing away all before it. A tempest brimming with power immeasurable. And he was running before it.

"Thank you, Barry Allen. Now go. Live your dream."

A new voice, clear as the most exquisite diamond, yet holding a depth greater than the deepest ocean, whispered in his mind. It was beautiful, powerful, magnificent, and it was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

His mirror self smiled at him, and Barry was jerked forward into the storm wall. He crashed through the lightning, and shot back into the Particle Accelerator ring. He hit the floor on his shoulder, then his head, then his back and head again.

His head swam, body growning in pain it didn't understand. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep. And in his sleep, he dreamed…

SUPERGIRL: S3EP10 - WHEN ANGELS FALL

January 2018

Ellie gripped the armrests of her seat aboard the Timeship Stormrunner, golden Legion Ring reflecting the flashing red lights of the alarms blaring overhead. In the seat beside her was Evelyn Sharpe, a woman Ellie considered one of her closest friends. On her other side was their new recruit, Mon-El of Daxam. In the captain's seat ahead of her, face knitted in concentration, was Brainiac 5. Her other best friend.

"TEMPORAL FRACTURE DETECTED! IMMEDIATE RESPONSE REQUIRED!"

That was the voice one artificial intelligence called Gideon, which was currently having a seizure. Or what passed for a seizure when you didn't have a body.

Out the main viewer, the Temporal Zone was engulfed in a terrifying storm of epic proportions. Bolts of golden lightning tore through the sea of green light, frantic, desperate. Wherever the lightning struck, the walls of time were stitched back together by threads of effervescent violet, which, after a few moments, faded back to green.

An event that shouldn't be had occurred, and now time was trying to tear itself apart. The Speed Force - time's accelerator as it were - was still running, pouring gas into a broken engine. The Sage Force - the engine cleaner, in keeping with the car metaphor - was trying to patch the leaks, but until the trigger was repaired, the damage would only build. Enter the Legion - cosmic mechanics.

"The Storm is preventing us from getting a lock on the Origin point!" Brainy yelled, "Saturn Girl, you'll need to weave us into the correct time period!"

Ellie nodded, and closed her eyes.

For a brief moment, Ellie saw exactly what you'd expect to see when you closed your eyes. The backs of your eyelids. But Ellie was a conduit for the power of cosmic thought; story, at an eternal and infinite level. Lines of the purest white bloomed behind her eyes, and Ellie's mind chased the corridors out into the pattern.

To say that Ellie was a telepath would technically be a lie. Yes, she could hear peoples thoughts, speak back to them, and, if she wanted to, dictate their actions. But Ellie did not actually control minds or thoughts. She was instead a conduit of the very power of consciousness. The Sage Force - the force that created story itself. She had always thought the name a bit… limited. If she were to name the power, knowing what she did now, she would call it the Conflict Force. But she had grown up calling her gift the Sage Force, as per Cisco Ramone's talent for naming, and so the Sage Force it remained. By tapping her powers, she could interact with reality as it weaved itself around her. She could listen on peoples thoughts, even at a subconscious level, and send her own thoughts to people who could listen. She could move things within the pattern - herself, or objects, giving the appearance of telekinesis. And she could tweak peoples stories, their place in reality, so that they performed actions she wished. But she could not control people, and often the pattern would fight back against her tampering if she pushed too far. It was a fine line to walk.

That was what she could do when drawing on the Sage Force. What she could do when she journeyed into it was far different. She could follow individual thoughts… threads, into the pattern of reality, and look into the fabric of the cosmos itself. That was what she did now. She traced lines of white thought through the history of Earth. Once, she had needed technological help to do this. She had learned much since then. The sheer breadth of knowledge available would overwhelm anyone who tried to take too much in, but Ellie knew the thread she searched for like the back of her hand. Nestled amongst the billions of white threads - the lives of ordinary people - were rare threads of a different colour. The easiest way to find who she was looking for, was to look for Barry Allen. He was always easy to find. A thread of solid gold, crackling with electricity, that drew in all the lines around it, including a thread of shimmering violet (Ellie's own thread). Entwined with Barry's thread, was a white line. A line that, right now, was frailer than Ellie had ever seen it before.

She slid along the thread of Kara Allen, and slipped into her eyes.

Kara climbed on shaky feet to the top of a crater. Blood dripped down her face, her suit was torn down the middle, and her left arm was dislocated. Her entire body burned in pain from invisible wounds, but her mind was clear. The street was full of people - some running, others, cameras out, unable to move. Police sirens were coming towards them, and Kara's earpiece had been ripped free in the fighting. Neither cops nor DEO would be able to stop this thing.

A woman in a black suit - undamaged - emerged from the wreckage of a car, carrying in her hand a flaming door. She wore a mask like a spider's web, across her face, irises a dark red. Kara didn't recognise the crest she wore, but the smile. That look of maniac glee. That she knew.

The demon hurled the door with super strength, and it slammed into Kara's exposed gut. The metal crushed against her skin, but the velocity threw her backwards into the air. Twin beams of blistering heat-vision hit Kara, right in the chest, and they melted through her suit and skin alike. She screamed in utter agony, and the heat-vision vanished, replaced by a fist straight to the jaw. Kara's head snapped back, and she hurtled through the air, delirious and burning.

Ellie snapped back to the timeship as Brainy exclaimed in triumph.

"Hurry!"

The Stormrunner trembled fiercely, then, in a flash of white, they burst into existence over National City in January 2018.

The monster known as Reign stood atop a high-rise, holding Supergirl by the neck.

"Brainy!" Ellie screamed, throwing off her restraints and charging for the door, Mon-El and Evelyn on her heels. Brainy's hands flew across the console, and a dozen torpedoes launched into the air. Ellie ignored it, running through the corridors of the ship in a haze. She closed her fist, then flicked it out, and her ring pulsed once. Nanites emerged from the gold shield, spreading across her body in seconds, hardening into a suit of red and white. Her hair braided itself, long and gold.

She jumped down the stairs into the cargo bay as the ship turned and the doors slid open. Then she launched herself out into the abyss.

Ellie pulled at her connection to the Sage Force, and gravity vanished. She propelled herself forward around the ship, and took in the sight below her. The building had been utterly destroyed in the blast, but she could hear not thoughts and see no threads. No one had been in the building. No… there were still two. But they weren't human. Ellie dropped to the bitumen road next to the debris, around which a crowd was gathering. She spotted Aunt Lena, and James Olsen too, staring out with utter horror.

She thrust her hands forward, then pulled them down, and a massive chunk of the destruction soared out of the way. Revealing Supergirl, lying in a crater, rubble all around her.

"Mom…"

A pulse of rage burned in the ruins, and Ellie clenched a fist, thrusting it forward with a scream just as Reign shot out of the wreckage. A beam of violet energy blast the creature in the chest, and it screeched in pain. Ellie pulled more power, and shot a second beam. Reign met it with heat-vision, pushing her back. So Ellie locked eyes with Reign, and seized her mind.

The street fell away, replaced by a dark forest, liquid shadow rolling across the ground. In the sky above, a violet sun burned. Two figures, two women, appeared in the dark. A human and a monster.

The woman did not rise as Ellie materialised from violet light, but the monster locked hate filled eyes on her.

"What are you?!" It snarled in challenge, red eyes gleaming.

"I am judgement. You do not belong." Ellie raised a hand, preparing to exorcise Reign from the mind of Sammantha Arias.

The sun winked out of existence, and the mindscape shattered. Ellie was pulled back into the real-world as her powers disappeared. She screamed, sinking to her knees. Now?! Really!

REIGN IS NOT YOUR STORY. YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH.

Ellie snarled at the voice in her mind, but her powers did not return, and she could do nothing. Reign pulled itself from the ground, took one look at Ellie, and fled into the night. Evelyn landed beside her, holding an enormous metal bow in her hands. Instead of an arrow, a bolt of pure plasma was loaded to the string.

Ellie ignored her friend. Instead she ran to her mother's side, where Mon-El already knelt.

"Mom!"

Kara lay unmoving. Her suit was torn to shreds by heat vision and who knew what else, and fresh blood was pooling around her head.

"Please Mommy. This isn't how it ends."

Ellie placed her Legion Ring against her mother's chest, and a current of electricity shot through her. Her body jolted, then she took a pathetic breath.

She was alive.

A sonic-boom crashed through the street, and her father appeared, swathed in golden lightning.

"Imra! What's… KARA!"

Barry dropped to his knees and tried to grab his wife, but Ellie, tears streaming down her face, put a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"You can't. Moving her could do even more damage."

He swallowed, then James and Lena were standing over them.

"Oh God," Lena whispered, "What was that… that thing?"

"It's called Reign," Evelyn said shakily, eyes on Kara, "Worldkiller."

Sirens filled the air, and seconds later, Auntie Alex and Uncle J'onn were there with a spinal-board. Ellie, forgetting her false identity, forgetting her place, grabbed her Dad and held onto him with everything she had.

SUPERGIRL: S3EP11 - DEMONS RUN

'CLANG!' 'CLANG!' 'CLANG!'

"Oliver!" Felicity's voice rang through the Arrow Bunker.

'CLANG!' 'CLANG!' 'CLANG!'

"OLIVER!"

Oliver paused in his ascent of the salmon ladder, looking over his shoulder towards the petite form of the genius hacker.

"What is it?" he called, taking a deep breath as his muscles strained on the metal bar.

"Kara… she's on the news…. Oliver, she's not getting up."

Oliver dropped to the ground and grabbed his shirt as he began running towards the case where his suit and bow hung. Within thirty seconds he was completely suited up and racing towards a secret locker in the back of the Bunker – the place he kept the Kryptonite Kara had entrusted to him.

"Oliver! Is that… where the hell did you get that!" Felicity exclaimed, rushing after him as the elevator opened to reveal Dig. The ever-reliable ex-bodyguard instantly picked up on Oliver's mood, snapping into a wary mode, hand flitting towards the gun at his hip.

"Dig, you've got command. You'll have to handle things here for however long…" The rest of Oliver's statement was lost, as a streak of red and yellow lightning lanced through the Bunker.

The next thing Oliver knew, he was – infuriatingly – in the arms of one Barry Allen, aka the Flash, practically flying down the highway between Starling and National. A second later, Oliver was on his feet again.

He took a precious moment to regain his composure, blinking away the nausea that always accompanied being ferried via superspeed. Then he snapped his eyes open, drew, and nocked arrow to bow.

He was in a medical suite with glass windows and white panelled walls. Several metal tables covered in medical implements, computers and other machines lined the walls, but dominating the space was a bed surrounded by golden effervescent lamps, each giving off incredible amounts of heat. Crowded around the bed, all staring at him in shock, were Alex, J'onn Jones (whom he'd met the previous year in Metropolis), Superman, Caitlin and Cisco.

Barry appeared beside them, cowl pulled back, eyes ringed with red, hands trembling.

"I've searched the city. There's no sign of this… Reign person," Barry stated, tone sharp.

"What happened?" Oliver asked, voice low and dangerous.

"We're not sure," Alex said, expression mirroring Barry's own haunted look, "a woman calling herself Reign, Kryptonian according to our analysis of the video footage, attacked her. We don't know why, or what her motivation is…"

"Will she be okay?" Clark asked hesitantly.

"Kara was still feeling the effects of the red-sun exposure on Earth X, should she was weaker than normal when this thing attacked, but her body is regenerating as normal," Caitlin said, "We managed to stabilise the collapsed lung and remove the shattered bone fragments from her internal organs. Its… its lucky I'd already done preliminary examinations on how to operate on her physiology." Caitlin glanced towards Barry at this point, and Oliver frowned. Why had she… Oh. "Or we might be having a very different conversation." Barry grabbed the table edge, flickers of yellow lightning running along his fingers. Oliver's hand clenched around his bow.

"She's still in a coma," Alex whispered, "and we've got the lamps on to refuel her cells. How long it'll be until she wakes up? There's no way to know." Oliver nodded, then gestured to Barry. The two stepped out of the room and onto a balcony overlooking the central hub of the DEO below.

"This is going to get messy, Barry," Oliver warned, voice low, eyes darting around the room from beneath his mask and hood.

"I'm long past caring, Ollie. Whoever this person is, if she can take out Kara…"

"We've all got problems," Oliver finished. Barry didn't meet Oliver's eyes, instead staring at a man on the bottom floor. He was clean-cut, and wore ordinary clothes – leaving him somewhat out of place in what was clearly a military establishment. Sitting, back against the wall, was Imra Ardeen, golden hair hanging limply in its braid over shoulder. Her face was covered in tears.

"The Legion showed up just in time," Clark said, stepping up beside them. His face was just as dark as theirs.

"We're going to find this Reign person Oliver," Barry said, jaw clenched. "She might be as strong as Kara, but she's nowhere near as fast as me." He paused. "Did you bring the…"

Oliver nodded, casting a glance at Clark.

"She gave it to you?" He whispered.

Oliver nodded again.

"Good enough for me."

"Whatever you three are going to do, I want in." They spun around, coming face to face with Alex , fingers repeatedly tensing around the grip of her gun.

Barry shook his head.

"Sorry, Alex, don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your ability to be bad-ass – I saw you in action on Earth-X. But you can't keep up with us." Alex gestured to Oliver.

"And he can?"

"Kara, Barry and I train monthly, practicing skills and attacks with each other and constantly updating our respective moves and abilities," Oliver told the distraught woman, "We fight together as a unit. You're a brilliant fighter Alex, but…"

"I'd be a liability," she finished, frowning. "Kara never mentioned…"

"We don't advertise it," Barry said, "it's a private thing." He turned to Oliver.

"I'll scout the city from the ground again, Clark, take the sky. We'll meet at Kara's hideaway in an hour." He vanished in a blur of lightning, and Clark shot out the DEO balcony after him. Oliver grabbed Alex's shoulder.

"If you want to help, show me everything you have from the fight. Everything."

Barry flashed into an abandoned office in Catco Plaza. Oliver was already seated at a desk, Felicity on a square in the corner of the screen. Camera images were flashing across the screen at hundreds per second. Clark stood behind them, arms crossed, eyes closed, face contorted in a concentration Barry recognised from Kara's face. He was using his hearing.

"The footage definitely suggests a Kryptonian Oliver. But she's not holding back her punches like Kara and Clark do. Each one creates a gravity wave that damages nearby infrastructure. One hit is all it would take to kill you or Barry."

"I know. But we can't just sit here and do nothing," Oliver said.

"I… I don't like this Oliver. I've tried calling the Waverider, but there's been no answer. I've even activated the distress beacon Hal gave us to call the Green Lanterns. Nothing."

"I trust Evelyn and Imra, and we have the Martian as well. Reign can't beat all of us."

"She doesn't need to beat all of you. Only J'onn and Clark can take any of her hits. Oliver… this fight you're trying to prep for… it's like a six-character party with only one and a half-tanks trying to take on an endgame Raid boss. Do you know the odds of surviving that?"

"I appreciate you're using video-game logic to describe a super-villain Felicity," Oliver said, rolling his eyes.

"Sounds like something from a video game," she mumbled.

"I spoke to everyone on the street," Barry said, "None of them saw where Reign came from, but all of them begged me to tell them Supergirl was okay. Do you know how bloody hard it is to say she'd going to be fine when we have literally no idea whether she'll make it to the morning?" Clark opened his eyes and placed a hand on Barry's shoulder.

"Yeah. I do, and it doesn't get easier."

Barry took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm just… I can't stop seeing her like that… helpless. I've never seen her like that before. It's terrifying."

"Where's Ellie?"

"With Joe, far away from any television or device which streams the news."

"The footage is all over the globe. Stations from Australia to Hungary are playing it on repeat."

Barry took another long breath.

"What's the plan?" Clark whispered.

"I've taken down a Kryptonian before," Barry said.

"Me."

"If I keep my wits about me, I can stay ahead of her punches. I know lightning doesn't work this time, so I won't make that mistake again. It's Oliver that I'm worried about."

Oliver swivelled his chair towards them.

"We've been practicing. Teaching each other the tell-tale signs we make. I know to look for the vibrations in the ground to prepare for a speedster punch. I can predict and track a Kryptonian by their wind and gravity disturbance. Speedsters don't have enhanced awareness; they can't outrun what they can't see. Kryptonians can't dodge individual shots - they have to move their entire bodies out of the way, so expect a burst of speed to evade a trap. They can't perceive things in slow-motion like speedsters can, but they can hear the string of my bow when it releases. The key is getting you off-balance. If Reign is disorientated, I can hit her. That's your job." He gestured to the screen.

"This… thing… whatever she is, it doesn't fight with training or finesse. She punches, hard, and uses the pain to follow through. You have to turn the tables. Skill beats strength every time. Its when you get sloppy that the trouble starts."

The computer pinged.

"I've got a possible lead. The mask is preventing facial ID from getting a lock, but there was a NORAD satellite above the city when the attack happened. I've taken… um… temporary control of it, and used one of Cisco's algorithms to scan for gravitational disturbance patterns consistent with Kryptonian flight. I've isolated a path leading to a house in suburban National City, but its faint."

Barry glanced to Clark and nodded, then grabbed Oliver and flashed them down the side of the building. Within seconds he'd reached the house Felicity had spoken of. He placed Oliver on the sidewalk, gave him a moment to adjust, then sped to the front door. Clark flew down from the sky, quietly to avoid any noise, and landed on the footpath beside him. He squinted, focussing on a room on the second story.

"Two bodies. Both on the top floor, in two different rooms. One of them's a kid."

Oliver frowned.

"A hostage?"

"I don't think so. She's just… sleeping? A secret identity?"

Oliver bit his lip.

"I don't like this… give me two minutes."

Oliver approached the house from the door furthest from the sleepers. The lock was simple to pick, and he eased the door open without a sound. This was not the home of a skilled combatant, or even a paranoid ordinary person. There were no strategically placed weapons or defences, not even a burglar alarm. Something was very wrong here.

The house was very suburban - upper-middle class. An ironing board stood in a corner, wrinkled clothing still draped across the top. An iPad sat on the coffee table, beside an empty mug.

Cautiously, he made his way up the stairs, testing each one for creeks before he put his foot down. Not a sound. He padded down the hallway, being careful to avoid the room Clark had signalled out. Instead he made his way to the room next door. It was most definitely a kids room. Gaudy pink walls, clothes scattered across the floor, and bed-side table a mess. The bed covers featured a swirling blue and purple motif he didn't recognise.

Lying in the bed, completely asleep, was a girl somewhere between 9 and 12 by Oliver's guess. Was this Reign's daughter? She certainly wasn't a hostage.

Keeping his ears peeled for any sign of a disturbance from the room over, Oliver pulled down his mask, but left the hood up. Hopefully, the girl would recognise the suit. Hesitantly, he placed a cupped hand over the sleeping child's mouth.

She jerked away instantly, eyes going wide in fear. With his free-hand, Oliver raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for quiet. The girl started heavy breathing, looking around in terror. Then she returned her focus to his face, and he tried to smile reassuringly at her. That's when she realised who he was. The terror faded instantly, the light of excitement jumping into her eyes, and Oliver was struck with a horrible thought. 'A criminal could use me, or Barry, to trick children. It would be very easy.'

She sat up, and Oliver pulled his hand away. She opened her mouth to speak, but he gestured with the finger to his lips, and she closed her mouth once more, nodding. Bow slung over his shoulder, he lifted the girl off her bed, carrying her with arms beneath her knees and shoulders. The bed squeaked slightly, but otherwise, they made no sound. She wrapped her arms around his neck, glancing around the room, no doubt trying to figure out what the Green Arrow was doing in her bedroom in the middle of the night.

Oliver's exit from the house was not as silent as his entry, but considering he was now somewhere between 35-40 kgs heavier than when he entered, he was happy with that. He slipped out the backdoor, and the kid shifted in his arms. Trying to look back the way they came. But she didn't speak, which he was thankful for.

They reached the front of the house where Clark and Barry were waiting, and Oliver put the girl - who was now staring at the two superheroes, completely star-struck - down on the asphalt.

"Flash, can you…" Barry nodded, and in a blur of lightning, he and the girl had vanished.

Oliver took a deep breath, and drew an arrow from his quiver, the tip carefully encased in lead. He glanced to Clark.

"Go."

Superman lifted floated towards the front door, and knocked.

Oliver rolled his eyes, then ran towards the neighbours' house.

Kara fluttered back to consciousness, and realised, rather dumbly, that being in pain sucked.

She pulled herself upright, wincing in pain, and locked eyes on two people standing at the door to the DEO infirmary. The first was Imra - in her red and white outfit, golden hair tied in it's long braid. The second woman was significantly shorter, wearing a blue and red suit with gold piping. It looked kind of like Barry's suit. Her hair was tied into a loose pony tail, and a red mask obscured the entirety of her upper face.

"I want to help."

"I know you do Ally, so do I. But the Sage Force won't let me, and you can't be here. If Dad senses you…"

"I… I couldn't not come, Els. The whole timeline has shifted. I've suffered temporal reversion twice in the past few days."

She looked nothing like Imra - far more… normal. Unruly wavy chestnut brown hair, a runners build, and she was maybe Kara's height. Slightly shorter actually.

"It's because of that bloody Nazi attack, Alex. The same thing has been happening to me…"

"No. It's something else. I think there's a greater plan at work. The Nazi attack was just the match that lit the fuse…"

She trailed off, eyes darting towards a television on the far side of the room,

"Something is coming," 'Alex' whispered. Kara tried to focus on the screen, and she couldn't help the gasp that slipped from her lips when she did. A gasp that immediately brought on a fit of coughing. A camera was fixed on Clark, Barry and J'onn fighting against Reign.

The woman spun around, and Kara caught a glimpse of two eyes; one the same blue as Kara's, the other pure white. A long, thing scar ran from her hairline, across her nose and white eye, to a jagged ear-lobe.

The mystery woman's eyes widened, then she vanished in a burst of silver lightning.

Imra started to approach, but Alex, Kara's Alex, shoved her out of the way, moving to the bedside in a panic.

"Kara! Are you alright?!"

"Sore," she croaked, dismissing the girl for now, "What's happening?"

She gestured to the TV. Vibe jumped out of a breach and blasted Reign with a vibrational wave, but she ignored the shot, and blasted him back into his breach with her heat-vision. Superman then tackled Reign from behind, and they disappeared from view.

"They wouldn't tell me," Alex grumbled, "They got all secretive and left. Apparently, you have a secret hide-out you never told me about?"

Kara didn't answer. She was still fixed on the tv. Superman and Reign were grappling on a road downtown. Barry appeared then, running around the pair and kicking up a storm of lightning that blocked them from view.

"Barry… he looked like he was going to murder someone Kara." Kara flinched. She and Barry hadn't told anyone they'd gotten married by Dig. Not even Alex or Joe. They'd wanted to keep it as a special thing just for them, and not overshadow Oliver and Felicity's wedding.

"I have to help," she said, throwing off the sheets and trying to stand up. Alex placed two hands on her shoulders, trying to push her back to the bed.

"No way! You're lucky to be alive. You've got a severe concussion, fluid build-up in your lungs, and major internal bleeding. You can't go anywhere. You will die if you try."

"I can't just leave them…" Her sentence failed, as she started coughing erratically again, chest burning.

"You have to. For once, Kara, let somebody else save you."

Oliver jumped off a skyscraper, a kryptonite arrow gripped in his left hand. His bow was broken, his left shoulder was definitely crushed, and his head was still ringing from being hurled into a streetlight. Barry had only just raced him away from the fight before he'd taken a Kryptonian punch to the face. Was this what it would be like if Clark or Kara truly stopped holding back? He didn't like the place that thought took him.

Downtown National City was on fire. The Kryptonians had knocked down two buildings already since Barry had, in a desperate race, forced 'Reign' from the suburbs to prevent too much destruction. They'd managed to bring her half-way across the city before she caught their plan, and had instead attacked the nearest populated place to lure the League out. She'd succeeded.

He fell through the air as the battle raged beneath him. Reign had Superman in a choke-hold, and Flash was nowhere to be seen. Vibe was unconscious, and the Martian was running to help Superman. He wouldn't make it in time.

Oliver growled as he fell, giving away his position. Reign released Superman with a kick to the stomach and caught Oliver by the throat as he tried to stab the arrowhead through the monster's neck. She grabbed his hand, snapping the bone instantly.

"Did you honestly believe your pathetic weapons could kill me? I am justice; the vengeance of a dead world."

"You're a rabid dog," Oliver hissed, "And I'm going to put you down like one."

A sonic-boom shattered every pane of glass in a mile radius, and the Flash's fist collided point blank with Reign's jaw, carrying with it all the force of an object moving at Mach 6. Reign's head snapped back, and she, Barry and Oliver all went flying. Oliver slammed to the bitumen, Legion Ring preventing him from breaking any more bones.

He didn't let the pain get to him. Refused to. He'd spent long years learning how to ignore pain.

He rose to his feet, one arm hanging limply, his other hand practically crushed, and raced towards where Reign lay, unmoving. Barry was only a few paces away from her, unconscious. With the two fingers he could move, he grabbed the kryptonite arrow from the road and rammed the head into the monster's neck. Reign's eyes snapped open as green energy ran through her veins and she screamed in agony. Clark dropped from the sky and pounded her head into the pavement. She shut up instantly, eyes glazed over.

"Ow," Clark hissed, grabbing his chest and wincing.

"Green Arrow… how are you still walking?" J'onn exclaimed, reaching them, blood dripping from his head.

"Mental fortitude."

Oliver, disguising a wince, stepped over to Barry and placed a hand to his neck. His arm was a bloody mess, but he was still breathing.

"What do we do with her?" Clark asked, grunting as he grabbed Reign by the collar.

"The DEO can…"

"No," Oliver said sharply, moving towards Cisco, "This is League business."

"You can't be…"

"He's right J'onn. The DEO isn't equipped to handle this… whatever it is," Clark said, hefting Reign over his shoulder.

"The DEO is perfectly capable. Our job is holding fugitive aliens Superman."

Oliver ignored the two as they began bickering, and instead slapped Cisco across the face. He bolted upright, screaming, fists coming up in a gesture that wasn't at all threatening.

"You alright?"

Cisco relaxed, rubbing what looked like a broken leg.

"Yeah… next time, remind me to stay home."

Oliver snorted, then offered him a hand. He took it, eyes going to Barry.

"He'll heal. He did the… the… what-do-you call it? Where he needs the run-up?"

Cisco huffed. "The Super-Sonic Punch. He's not supposed to do that anymore. It damages the capillaries in his hand." He glanced at his friend one more time and rolled his eyes.

Clark shoved J'onn in the shoulder as the Martian approached, and black DEO sedans approached down the damaged road. Oliver grabbed Cisco's shoulder and leaned close.

"I know where Snart's Cold-Gun came from." The genius paled visibly. "You think ahead, and I respect that. You have a cell, don't you?" Cisco gulped, but nodded.

"At an off-the-books STAR facility in Keystone, where Barry would never find it."

Oliver nodded, and walked back to Clark and J'onn.

"Cisco will deal with Reign," he said, and he and Clark locked eyes. They nodded to each other, and Cisco, hobbling on his broken leg, opened a small breach in the pavement. Clark dropped Reign into the portal, which snapped closed after her. J'onn, jaw clenched, spun on his heel and made his way towards the men. Caitlin rushed past him, bolting to Barry's side with her medical bag in hand.

Clark watched them for a few minutes before his phone started ringing. He pulled it out, and winced.

"The missus?" Oliver guessed with a smirk.

"Yep."

Three days later…

Lena stepped into her office, the clack of her heels coming to an abrupt halt as she realised a woman was sitting opposite her desk. She was short, nerdy, with glasses and straw-blonde hair in a high-pony. Lena froze, wracking her brain. Did she have an appointment? She'd lost track of time over the last few days as she oversaw deals and directed organisations to repair the damage done in Reign's attack.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Lena said, putting on her CEO face and striding towards her desk, "It's been so busy, and I haven't slept in days."

The blonde jumped, standing up and smiling at her.

"Oh, that's alright. We've dealt with our fair share of disasters in Starling City, I understand."

The penny dropped.

"You're Felicity Smoak, CEO of Smoak Technologies, formally Palmer Technologies, formerly Queen Consolidated."

Felicity beamed again.

"Yep. That's me. Nice to meet you." She offered her hand, and Lena took it warmly. This woman had an infectious way about her. You couldn't help but smile in her presence.

"So," Lena said, shaking her head as if to clear it, and smiling in turn, "What brings you to National City?"

She knew of Felicity Smoak. There weren't many women in business who didn't. An IT technician turned secretary, who'd taken over from Ray Palmer after his not-death in a laboratory accident. She'd almost lost the company when she was crippled, but, with a team of dedicated scientists, had managed to recover not only Palmer Tech, but the use of her legs as well.

"Well, I'm actually just the herald, but I think we'd get along great, and we should definitely work together in the future. Us bad-ass women ought to stick together after all."

Lena frowned. "A herald?"

"For me." Her desk chair spun around, revealing a man in a green leather suit and hood. A compound bow sat on the couch beside him. Lena couldn't help the twin rushes of excitement and anxiety that flooded through her.

"The Green Arrow. I had wondered where you got your gear. Now I don't."

Felicity winked at her.

"Believe it or not, he started out with just a rusty recurve-bow and a robin-hood fetish."

The Green Arrow scowled at her.

"I did not."

Felicity poked her tongue out at him, and Lena raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what can I do for you."

The Arrow looked her over for a few seconds, before sighing.

"I apologise in advance, but I did have Overwatch here compile a pretty comprehensive background check before I came here."

Now it was Lena's turn to smirk.

"Really? How flattering. Find anything a basic google search couldn't have told you?"

"You're a good person."

Lena blinked. That… had not been anywhere near what she'd been expecting.

"Your company finances are all clean. You've spent millions repairing the damage to this city. You protected Catco from Morgan Edge, and you helped us against the Daxamites last year." He paused, steeling himself. "Normally, that wouldn't have been enough for me. Not given who your family is. But Kara trusts you. Without question. And that's enough."

Lena couldn't help the soft smile that crossed her lips.

"Supergirl, Superman, now the Green Arrow. Kara certainly gets around."

Now it was Felicity's turn to chuckle. "You have no idea."

"Ms Luthor, the Justice League needs your help."

"For what?"

Green Arrow nodded to Felicity, and she pulled out her phone and sent off a quick text. A second later, a shimmering blue and silver portal burst into existence on her balcony. Felicity and the Green Arrow both stood up and walked through without hesitation. Then Lena, knowing full well what she was doing was completely stupid, and that Lex would have her head, followed them.

She emerged in an underground facility, judging by the concrete walls and lack of windows. The walls were lined instead with metal tables, covered in scientific equipment. Everything in the room was tinted red by enormous lights in the roof, floor and walls. Superman stood in the corner, two Green Lanterns beside him. A few paces away, before a number of monitors, stood Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramone, whom Lena had worked with to create the Lead Bomb in Metropolis.

On the far side of the room, in a cell with walls of rippling red energy, was Lena's wayward CFO.

"Sam!" Lena exclaimed, ignoring everything else in the room and rushing towards the cell.

"Lena!"

"No don't!" Superman barked, and a wall of green-energy formed in the air between Lena and the cell. She crashed into it, and the light clung to her like toffee.

"Lena, please! You have to tell them! I'm not a monster! Please!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Lena snapped, prying herself free from the light.

"Ms Luthor," Superman said gruffly, "I'd like the record to say that I was against trusting you, but I was outvoted." Caitlin stepped out from behind the monitors and grabbed Lena's arm, helping her free from the light.

"You're an expert with alien biology Lena. I can't help her own my own. I don't know how."

The African-American Green Lantern let the construct vanish, and Lena stumbled free into Caitlin's arms.

"What do you mean? Someone start explaining!"

Green Arrow stepped up beside her and offered a tablet.

"Lena!"

Lena clicked play on the video, and watched as Sam, dressed in Reign's suit, tried in vain to escape the prison. She blasted heat-vision at the walls, tried to burrow through the ground. She screamed murder and hate. And then, after stumbling directly into the shield and getting violently electrocuted, she fell to the ground, and the red tint to her eyes faded away.

When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. Sam's face was covered in utter panic and pure fear.

"What… I don't understand."

"Neither do we," Caitlin said, "but a brain scan revealed symptoms concurrent with chronic schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, and her body can only metabolise sunlight while the Reign personality is in command. I hope that, with your help, we can isolate the two personalities, and kill Reign while saving Sam."

Lena nodded pursing her lips and turning away from her crying friend.

"I'll do whatever I can."