Part Three of a Three Chapter Set Posted on July 14th, 2020.
Chapter 33:
A hideous creature echoed out with a mighty roar. He slammed Flash down onto the ground. The impact sent her flying down to the ground, with a sickening impact. Every single bone in her body had been rattled from the impact of this creature taking her down to the ground.
"Okay, Tiny, let's try that one again!" Flash yelled.
"My name is King Shark and you will bow before me, speedster!"
Oh, King Shark, that was a very appropriate name somehow. Flash struggled to her feet, the breath almost knocked out of Brianna's body. She had been scooped off of the ground and shaken like a rag doll. Flash struggled to break out of the attack, but there was nothing. She was thrown off to the side, the breath almost knocked out of her body from the impact of her being smashed down.
"Hang, on, I'm coming."
Iris's latest shots did nothing other than to anger the monster. It dropped the grip of Brianna, only to rush towards Iris at surprising speed. Iris just dodged the attack and King Shark smashed through a series of crates. It roared in anger and turned around to go after Iris.
The two speedsters zipped around the giant meta. All they accomplished were two flies zipping back and forth against the creature's body. King Shark caught Flash in mid-air, with the punch almost hitting it.
Oh, the breath was almost hideous. Fish breath, although that would be a small hope for Flash with what King Shark's diet was. As she struggled, King Shark prepared to lower Flash down into his mouth.
"Now, it's your turn to perish!" King Shark rorared.
A loud roar echoed and Diana appeared, her lasso wrapped around the jaw of King Shark. King Shark struggled out of the attack and whipped back to catch Diana off guard. Diana flipped to her feet and motioned for the heavens above her.
Power Girl dropped down from the skies and lowered the boom onto King Shark. King Shark appeared to have seen red and resembled a bull more than a shark. Power Girl rocked King Shark with a huge uppercut punch and Diana rocked King Shark with a huge kick.
The loud cracks echoed around King Shark. Flash whipped around and nailed King Shark with an uppercut punch which dropped the creature down onto the ground. The sizzling efforts brought them down.
"Okay, net result, one captive criminal," Brianna said.
Oh, Iris just groaned. Regardless, of Brianna's bad joke, they had captured one creature.
"I wouldn't celebrate just yet. There's still a lot of work to be done."
The figures of Black Siren and the Hood exiting the shadows painted a very grim open for what they were going to have to deal with sooner rather than later.
"I'm going to tell you one thing, you're far from over."
Black Siren returned with the speedsters, Diana, and Karen to Star Labs. King Shark had been captured and contained until he could be brought to more permanent accommodations. Black Siren hoped to have never seen him ever again, but that hope was dashed the moment he showed up.
"We stopped him," Flash said.
"You did," Black Siren agreed. "And there's going to be more on the way. So I wouldn't breathe too easily."
"It's Zoom," Iris said.
Black Siren nodded, glad that one of the speedsters managed to cotton on to the fact there's a dire situation just staring them in the fact. Which was not going to stop for anything.
"And he's coming, for me and for Power Girl, and if he catches a hint of speedster around, he's coming for you," Black Siren said.
Iris and Brianna stared towards Power Girl, perhaps in some vain attempt to get a second opinion. The superheroine responded with a very grim nod and this resulted in Brianna throwing her hands up with a sigh. Well, if Zoom was coming.
"This meta was just a way to gauge what you're capable of," Oliver said.
"Do you have a way to defeat him?" Brianna asked. "Please tell me that in all of your training, you have a way to defeat Zoom. Please, tell me that…."
"I'm working on it," Oliver said. "Keep your head down and keep your eyes open. I'll be back."
Oliver stepped out, with Black Siren, Power Girl, and Wonder Woman following close behind. Brianna's eyes averted to one side, towards their caged meta-human. Iris reached over and placed a gentle hand on her sister's to get her steered back into the conversation.
"I know that look," Iris said. "And we're going to stop Zoom. Doctor Wells-Morgan, she's working on something….I know, I know, but she's the best hope we have."
Oliver had her in line, which is why Brianna did not worry about Thawne. What worried Brianna most of all was something that worried Thawne. That one was almost too unsettling to think about, and it caused chills to erupt down her spine.
"I just….I just need to take a walk," Brianna said. "Clear my head."
"I'll come with you," Iris said. "We shouldn't go out alone."
Zoom stood out in the open. He was not surprised that King Shark was unsuccessful. Although, he had his orders to bring the speedsters back to him alive if he was. But, Zoom had little surprise about the lack of the capabilities of that particular partner.
Suddenly a rattling echoed which diverted Zoom's complete and full attention over to one side. Zoom came face to face with a mysterious speedster in yellow. Fast, and Zoom could taste it.
"You're not the Flash," Zoom said.
"No, merely the reverse. And this ends now, Zoom."
The two zipped together, with Zoom's hand smashing down into the speedster. Oh, he was a quick one, Emmy would have to give him that. She dodged a blast of dark lightning and came back up. She moved around to try and stick her hand through the speedster's chest to end this all. Zoom blocked the hand and with one crushing blow, shattered every single bone in it.
"You've never fought anything like me. And I scare you. As I should."
The Reverse-Flash groaned and Zoom grabbed her by the throat. She fired as many punches and Zoom smashed the Reverse-Flash to the ground.
Zoom's fingers sparked to light. Speed, she would need more of it. So much more of it, it would hurt. The Reverse-Flash struggled underneath the grip, but struggle as she might, Zoom had the upper hand.
Two more blurs rocked into Zoom from either side. Those blurs knocked her off. Flash and Impulse, if the newspaper reports were correct. Zoom readied themselves for the battle.
Zoom flipped Impulse down onto the ground with one finger. Impulse stuck a landing and almost had her legs crumple out from underneath her. Zoom's fingers whipped back and sent Impulse down onto the ground with one more hit.
Now, it was the Flash and oh, her speed would be the sweetest of them all. The two figures circled each other and Zoom caught Flash with an uppercut to the point of the ribs. Flash returned back and almost used Zoom's momentum against him. Zoom blocked the attack and reversed the reversal to send Brianna into the wall.
Zoom's skilled motions moved over and caught Flash in the back.
Everything just hit Flash hard like a ton of bricks. Her back cracked and her spine felt like it contracted. Zoom bombarded her with a force of a car hitting a brick wall at three hundred miles per hour, with the whiplash sending her backwards.
"And now, this is your end, Flash," Zoom growled. "Your speed is mine."
An arrow came from the ground and caught Zoom in the back of the knee. Zoom almost laughed off these pitiful efforts until nano-bots flooded his body from the wound which had been created. That made Zoom's body vibrate at an uncontrollable speed.
Seconds before the Black Siren's scream could finish him off, Zoom's fumbling hand opened a portal and he disappeared.
"Flash, oh my god!"
Iris's screams alerted them something was not right. Brianna was not moving although her breathing was shallow.
"I can't...feel anything."
Caitlin bit down on her lip nervously and consulted her clipboard. A recovering Emmy sat by the side of her hero/enemy/protege, really their relationship had gotten complicated with so many time line alterations. Iris clasped Brianna's hand and looked on the verse of losing her mind.
"Her healing factor should have worked by now."
"The dark matter which powered Zoom must have slowed it down," Emmy said.
"Yes, these readings are all off," Caitlin said.
Black Siren rocked back and forth. She supposed it was a good thing that Zoom did not take Flash's speed, although he was still out there. Their little trick to use the speedsters as bait to bring Zoom out in the open and infect him with nano-bots which would corrupt his speed, it almost worked. But they only had one shot about that.
"He's out there still," Black Siren said.
"I know," Oliver said. "And Brianna will be easy pickings for him, unless we find a way to heal her."
The problem was, as Caitlin and Emmy found out through the tests they ran, that Brianna was healing at a fraction of her normal capabilities. She would be dead from her injuries, if she was not a speedster.
"There's only one thing on Earth which might jumpstart her healing factor."
Emmy's eyebrows raised and she understood Oliver's meaning, very plainly and extremely clearly.
"You refer to the Lazarus Pit?"
"Yes," Oliver said. "Of course, I have no idea what will happen when a speedster gets thrown in a Lazarus Pit. It's never been done before."
"It's unprecedented territory," Emmy said. "The pits are so closely guarded. Of course in my timeline….such a thing never was able to happen. So much has changed."
So much has changed. Oliver turned to Iris.
"There are risks…."
"We don't have any options," Iris said.
"Yes...do it," Brianna said.
Oh, it hurt for her to breath right now. It felt like someone had taken a bunch of white hot knives and began to jab them in the side of her throat.
"I'll prepare for the transportation to the Pit in Nanda Parbat," Oliver said. "Send word back they need to get it ready."
Iris found the chanting in the temple to be kind of eerie. Her gaze followed Brianna's descent into the pit. Caitlin, Black Siren, Oliver, and Emmy all stood by. Iris more anxiously. Nyssa and several skilled members of the League stood by as well.
Caitlin closed her eyes and she went into Killer Frost mode. Just in case something happened. Right now, the speedster had been slowly lowered into the pit. The Lazarus Waters bubbled underneath her as Brianna went into the pit.
"They're restoring her to full health," Oliver said. "Madness is only inevitable."
"My father was proof of that," Nyssa said. "But my father used that Pit more times than anyone should have and the echoes of everyone who ever dipped in the Lazarus Waters, they reside in that pit…"
From the depths, Brianna Allen rose and she landed on the ground with a solid pop. The waters cascaded off of her body and Brianna's wild eyes whipped around. One could almost see the terror which flashed through them.
"NO!" Brianna yelled. "GET AWAY! DON'T RUN TOWARDS THE ANTI-MATTER!"
Brianna whipped around and her body started to vibrate at super speed. Killer Frost shot icicle blasts directly at her, only Brianna dodged those attacks and ran around in circles, almost literally. This loud thumping echoed throughout the room as Killer Frost made a movement towards her.
A blast of lightning erupted and shocked Brianna back into place. It snapped her back her mind.
In the shadows, a dark-haired woman with a light brown skin-tone approached. She dressed in a black tank top and tight black pants. A very attractive woman appeared with a smile.
"Nora?" Brianna asked.
"Yeah, um, Mom, it's me," Nora said. "Hey."
"You freed yourself?" Emmy asked.
"Well, you left me a way out in case of an emergency," Nora said. "And Emmanuelle, Zoom runs a bigger risk of destroying us all, than any time paradox, so I'm here now."
"You are," Emmy said. "And you're right. We're going to need all of the hands we can get. I'll collect the other one."
"Other one?" Oliver asked.
"You mean...oooh, that's right, no spoilers," Nora said. "Totally unschway. Things are different. Oliver Queen is now my Dad, he's Ra's al Ghul, I have two moms, and I guess in this timeline Oliver never met F…."
Emmy put a finger up to Nora's lips and Nora realized she almost blurted out something she should not. With her mind caught up with her mouth, she watched as Emmy disappeared.
"So, nice to meet you all?"
The Plot Continues In the Next Chapter