Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
This one will follow up on the events of last chapter, and reveal the rest of Godspeed's plan. Also, we'll see Nora in action again.
Also, I've gotten questions about the color of Nora and Stephen's lightning. I imagine their lightning being a kind of reddish-orange color.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 7- Star City
It's been two days since the thefts in Central City. Despite the best efforts of the New Avengers, they've failed to find any sign of Godspeed or his Rogues. Nora has been especially frustrated by this.
Down in the lair, Stephen sighs as he again hears his sister throw something across the lair. He turns around to see her glaring at the wall.
"Sis. I know you're frustrated we weren't able to catch the Rogues and stop those robberies. But we can't win every time," Stephen says.
"What are you talking about, Stephen? We never win!" Nora says in irritation. She looks right at her brother and says, "We've never beat Godspeed or his Rogues! Not once! And I know Godspeed didn't gather the Rogues just to help get stuff to make a perfected Velocity-9. His plan's not done, and we still have no idea what his plan is, just like we haven't known what his plan was from the day he showed up!"
Nora's eyes begin to glow red as her other powers begin to activate. At this moment, Stephen again finds himself grateful that he got his mom's more physically destructive powers.
"Nora, calm down," he says as he walks over and kneels down in front of his sister, placing his hands on her knees to draw her attention to him. He looks her right in the eyes and says, "Nora. I know it's frustrating. Yes, Godspeed has always been at least a step ahead of us. But we can't give up. Do you think Mom and Dad gave up everytime an enemy was a step ahead of them. Look at Dad when he fought the Reverse-Flash. He was always at least a step behind, but he managed to win."
He sits there for a moment, then says, "We are going to win, Nora. Now matter how many times he beats us or escapes us, in the end, Godspeed will lose. We will beat him eventually. I promise."
Nora sits there for a moment, then closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths before opening them again. "Thanks, Stephen." He smiles and stands up, pulling his sister to her feet and giving her a hug.
Suddenly, there's an alarm. The twins break apart and look at William, who had been napping at his computer station, but is now fully awake and typing away.
"What is it, William?" Stephen asks.
Williams keeps typing for a moment. Then, he says, "We've got a problem. I set some digital bugs on the systems of all the places that Godspeed and his Rogues have robbed so far, to keep an eye out for more suspicious activity and any chatter relating to the robberies. Well, the bug I set on Kord Industries' server just activated. There's a robbery in progress at a Kord Industries site in Star City."
Nora and Stephen look at each other. Star City had descended into chaos after the Decimation, following the deaths of most of Team Arrow in the Decimation. Over the years, the situation got worse and worse. Now, Star City is mostly abandoned, with vast sections of the city now in ruins. It was virtually a ghost town.
"Any details?" Nora asks.
"Yeah. It's Weather Witch and Deathstroke," William reports, looking at them with a grim expression on his face.
Nora and Stephen look at each other. "I've got this," Nora says before racing off.
"Nora!" Stephen shouts, but Nora is already long gone. He sighs and says to himself, "Still as excessive and impatient as ever."
(Star City, Kord Industries warehouse)
Evelyn smiles as she and Grant gather the crates and stack them in the truck. "Well, this has been easy," she says.
Suddenly, there's the sound of a speedster behind them. The two whip around and see Nora, now wearing her suit and mask, standing a few yards away.
"Well, well, well. The Silver Flash couldn't beat me, so you thought you'd give it a try," Evelyn taunts Nora.
Nora glares at them, while looking past them towards the crates in the truck. She recognizes some of the labels. A new bomb that Kord has recently developed for the US Air Force.
"Where are stealing bombs?" she demands.
"Well, why don't you ask our leader?" Evelyn responds. A second later, there's the sound of racing speedster behind her, and Nora's blood chills. She turns around, and there is Godspeed, just a few yards away.
"Go. I'll handle her," Godspeed says to Evelyn and Grant, who quickly race to get in the truck. Nora wants to race after them, but knows Godspeed would stop her. She knows she has to handle Godspeed first.
"What do you want with these weapons, Godspeed?" Nora demands.
"What do you think?" Godspeed answers arrogantly.
"I'm going to stop you," Nora growls.
"You can try," Godspeed says before he races off. Nora takes off after him.
Within second, Nora realizes just how much faster Godspeed is with his new V-9. Even before, he was fast, and could outrun Nora and Stephen. Now, Nora realizes she has no chance at all of keeping up with Godspeed. Several times he races away and disappears, only to reappear from another direction and land a blow that knocks Nora flying. It's clear at this point that he's just toying with Nora.
After doing this several times, Nora decides to try something. When Godspeed vanishes, she races towards one of the few skyscrapers still intact in Star City, although it's long been abandoned. As she races up the side of the building, she briefly glances back, and sees Godspeed racing after her.
When she reaches the top of the skyscraper, her velocity carries straight up into the air, Godspeed coming right after her. Godspeed's extra speed quickly causes him to catch up with Nora, right before gravity takes over and they begin falling again.
Given that they are high in the air, speed is virtually meaningless. And it's in this situation that Nora has an advantage. Drawing on her lessons in unarmed combat from Slade Wilson, she begins exchanging blows with Godspeed. She manages to land some particularly fierce and powerful blows, knocking the wind out of Godspeed a bit, and even managing to break a rib.
Unfortunately, she and Godspeed don't remain airborne for long. As they reach the ground, Godspeed manages to get his legs out on the sloping roof of an abandoned bank, and begins running. He holds onto Nora and soon stops, throwing her into the wall of a crumbling apartment complex. As she scrambles back to her feet, Godspeed races around her, landing punch after punch at high speed. He's moving so fast around her that even she can hardly keep an eye on him.
Finally, Godspeed lands a particularly fierce blow that knocks her flying over an old dumpster before coming to a stop against the wall of a ruined building, multiple broken bones keeping her from getting back up.
Godspeed walks up, lightning sparking off his body as he laughs mockingly. "You are fast, XS. But even before, you couldn't keep up with me. And now, I am faster than you could ever hope to be," Godspeed taunts.
Nora groans in pain as Godspeed laughs again. He moves in to finish the job, when suddenly, almost out of nowhere, Stephen comes hurtling in and lands a blow that knocks Godspeed flying into the side of a building. Godspeed quickly recovers and regains his feet. He looks at Stephen, standing protectively over his sister. "Well. Your partner is here," he says mockingly. He laughs a bit before he says, "Very well. I will let you go now. But, next time, you won't be so lucky. This is nothing you can do to stop me. And this land will bow before me!" He laughs again before racing off.
Stephen quickly races to Nora's side. "You okay, sis?" he asks.
"Yeah. I'll be alright in a few hours," she says, but stares in the direction Godspeed disappeared.
Seeing the look on her face, Stephen asks, "Nora? What is it?"
Nora looks up at him. "Godspeed. I think he gave away his plan. Gathering allies. Creating V-9. And stealing a whole bunch of bombs." She looks off in the direction of where Godspeed ran off, then back at her brother. "I think Godspeed is planning to take over the United States."
And, I'll end there.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know some of you were hoping I wouldn't have had Star City end up like it did in the Arrow Season 7 flashforwards. And, technically, it didn't. In this, it's even less of a city then it was in the flashforwards, and in this, the Glades haven't risen up as their own city. The Glades are just as ruined as the rest of Star City. And honestly, with what happened in the Decimation, I can see Star City descending into chaos.
I also hoped you liked the start of the chapter. I wanted to include at least one scene in this story of Nora and Stephen just sharing a real twin moment.
Also, I finally decided it was time to clarify which of their mom's powers the twins got. Nora got more of the mental powers, such as the ability to read minds and to engage in mental manipulation, while Stephen got the powers of telekinesis, energy blasts, and creating shields. And yes, I do realize that those powers could have helped out a lot in the fight with Weather Witch last chapter. But, for my story to work, Stephen had to lose that fight.
I'm sure some of you are wondering about the mention of Slade in this chapter. In this timeline, Slade never went to Earth-99, and at some point, Nora and Stephen were trained in unarmed combat by him. Slade is dead by now in this story, so unfortunately, he won't be showing up.
As for the reveal on Godspeed's plan. We never got any indication in the show of what Godspeed wanted beyond just making V-9. So in this story, I decided to have him take a bit of a page out of Zoom's book, and made him so that his plan is to rule the U.S. You'll find out later just how the bombs play into his plan, though I'm sure it's not to hard to guess what exactly it is.
Alright. That's it for this chapter. Next chapter will feature something I think you all will really enjoy. But for now, leave a review, and stay tuned!