Back with another chapter.
I'm pleased you all seem to be enjoying the Gorilla City arc so far. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. P.S. I'm doing the dialogue of when Grodd and Solovar speak directly in italics. That will be the case fro the rest of the arc.
willdawg992003: Jocasta is locked into Barry's suit, and it never specifically says in the MCU that Tony's AIs are only connected to a satellite. Tony, I think, would've prepared for the possibility of Barry going back to Earth-1, and made it so Jocasta would work on Earth-1.
Chapter 34- Escape from Gorilla City
Barry sits against the bars of the cage, not sure of what to do. Jocasta has not found a way for him to break out of the cage. And if she hasn't found a way by now, Barry's sure she's not going to.
"Barry. Do you really think you could kill this Solovar? Do you think you could take a life?" Caitlin asks him.
Barry just looks at the ground, not sure what to say. Then, suddenly, the echo of heavy footsteps hits their ears, and he gets to his feet.
A few moments later, a massive, white-haired gorilla, a little bit bigger than Grodd, walks into the room. Grodd follows him a few steps behind. Barry looks at the white one. This could only be Solovar.
The two gorillas walk right up to the cages, before Solovar turns to Grodd and says, It is as I feared. The humans court war with Gorilla Kind. Why did you not tell me, Grodd, that more humans had entered the city?
I was about to inform you, Solovar, Grodd replies. This answer apparently is not good enough for Solovar, who backhands Grodd hard enough to knock him to the ground.
Turning to three humans, Solovar demands, Why? Why are you here? To study us like animals? To make us your pets?
Barry looks Solovar in the eyes and replies, "No. No. We came here in peace. Our friend is here. We just came to ask for you to release him. We mean you no harm. Please, let us and our friend go, and I promise you that we won't come back here again."
Solovar narrows his eyes. Suddenly, Cisco closes his eyes for a moment. Then, he opens them, and says in a deeper voice, "My brethren have seen you."
Caitlin and Barry turn to look at Cisco. He looks at them and says for Solovar, "Your fate is sealed. You will all die by my hand in the arena so that all will know that Solovar's justice is wise and swift."
Barry glances down at the ground, formulating a plan, before turning to Solovar himself and saying, "Alright. I'll make you a deal. I'll fight you in the arena. Just me. And if I beat you, you let me and my friends go, and you leave us alone for good."
Solovar looks at Barry as if amused, then says through Cisco, "I accept. Humans and their arrogance. First you will suffer. Then, I will grant each of you a horrible death." And with that, Solovar turns and walks out. Grodd pushes himself back to his feet and follows Solovar out.
Barry stares after them. Then, he says confidently, "I'm gonna beat him. I've faced worse. And with my new suit, I've got more advantages." He looks at Caitlin, then at Cisco, and says, "We're gonna get outta here."
(Some time later, the arena)
The air is filled with the roar of gorillas as Barry walks across the arena towards Solovar. Before his adventure on Earth-99, he might've been nervous. But now, he's calm, collected, and formulating a plan.
Back in the cell block, Caitlin and Cisco are straining to see out the window. Caitlin turns to Cisco and asks, "Do you really think Barry can beat Solovar?"
"Yes," Cisco says without hesitation, "I know he can. I just wish I had a way to talk to him." His comm device was one of the things Grodd had taken from him when they got captured.
"He does have Jocasta. That should give him an edge," Caitlin points out.
Cisco nods, then a horn blows. "It's starting," he says.
Back in the arena, Barry is now just yards away from Solovar, who is wielding a shield and a spear. Barry finds himself thinking it's good that Solovar's shield isn't like Cap's.
After you die, your friends will follow you into the black, Solovar says.
"We'll see," Barry says confidently, then runs right at Solovar, intending to start off with a volley of speed punches. But, Solovar is ready for him, and deflects Barry off his shield.
Barry goes rolling across the ground for several yards before coming to a stop. As he tries to get up, Solovar runs up to him and slams him with his shield, breaking Barry's nose, sending some blood flying, and knocking Barry flying back again.
As Barry struggles to get up, Jocasta pipes up and says, "You can't beat him hand to hand. You need to get some distance before making your next attack."
Barry dodges out of the way of a strike from Solovar, then races the wall of the arena and begins running around it. "Jocasta, got any ideas?" he asks.
"You could attempt a lightning throw. It may not knock him out, but it could daze him," she replies.
"Worth a shot," Barry says. He starts running faster, getting to do a lightning throw.
But, Solovar has other ideas. He starts running until he's in the exact center of the arena, then jumps high in the air, and slams his spear into the ground when he comes down, sending a wave of dust and dirt out from him.
"Jocasta. Life support," Barry commands.
"On it," Jocasta replies, and a second later, the life support mask snaps into position over his face. Barry then races down to the ground and braces himself. The wave washes over him. Barry just waits for it to pass, breathing normally through the mask. As soon as the dust passes, the mask retracts.
"Okay, Jocasta. I need another idea," Barry says.
There's a pause of a few seconds. Then, Jocasta says, "A punch while vibrating your hand might be enough. And if you hit him with your repulsors immediately after, that should be enough to knock him out."
Barry nods. He sees Solovar running at him, and runs out of the way, running behind Solovar. When Solovar turns to face him, Barry vibrates his hand and does an uppercut aimed at Solovar's chest. The blow is powerful enough to knock Solovar into the air. Then, Barry raises both hands, and fires his repulsors at Solovar at near point-blank range. One of the beams hits Solovar in the face, and the other hits him in the chest. The combined force of the two repulsors, coupled with the lingering effects of Barry's vibrating punch, is enough to knock Solovar unconcious. He crashes to the ground and doesn't move.
Barry looks down at Solovar, his mask retracting. He then looks around at the gorillas, who are all staring down at him. He vibrates his vocal chords to amplify his voice, then shouts, "I won't kill him! I won't!"
All the gorillas are staring at Barry. He looks around at them and shouts, "I know you all fear humans! You think we want war with Gorilla Kind! We don't! We're not all murderers and killers! We only want peace! Which is why I'm sparing your leader! We call it mercy!"
From his position on a raised platform at the other end of the arena, Grodd growls before commanding, Take him out.
There's a slight whistling, and Barry feels a dart hit him in the neck. He looks around, then feels the effects of the tranquilizer hit him, and collapses.
Far overhead, Kara is watching the events unfolding. As she sees some gorillas take Barry away, she activates her comms and calls out to Clint, "Clint, this is Kara. I'm above the arena, and just watched a fight between Barry and this huge white gorilla. Barry won, but the the gorillas knocked him out with something. They're taking him back to the cells now."
Outside Gorilla City, Clint nods to himself as he hears Kara's report. "Alright. Get back to my location and we'll figure out a plan to get them out of there."
(Short time later, cell block)
Barry groans as he comes to. He looks around, then asks nobody in particular, "What happened?"
"Congratulations. You won," Cisco says, with just a hint of sarcasm.
Barry groans as he stands up, then looks over at Caitlin's cell, to see Harry slouched against the bars. "How's Harry?" he asks.
"He's still catatonic," Caitlin says.
Just a few seconds after Caitlin says that, Harry's eyes suddenly snap open and he quickly gets to his feet. Barry sighs, knowing what's happening. Harry turns to Barry and says, "Flash."
"I won. Solovar promised to let us go," Barry says sternly.
Harry-Grodd stares at Barry for a moment before saying simply, "No."
Barry looks confused. "No? What do you mean?" he asks.
"Solovar's words mean nothing now," Harry-Grodd says.
Barry narrows his eyes, realizing the truth. "You never had any intention of letting us go, did you?" he demands.
"I told you I needed you. I could not defeat Solovar in combat, but you could. You did, and now I am the ruler of Gorilla City, and all the gorillas will follow me," Harry-Grodd says harshly.
Barry stares at Harry for a moment, the full truth hitting him. "Solovar never wanted to attack Central City. You do," Barry states simply.
Harry-Grodd glares at Barry and says angrily, "You took my home away from me and now I will take it back! The gorillas saw what you did, Flash. They saw you defeat Solovar, and now they are afraid of humans and will do anything I order, and I will order them to invade your Earth, and your city will burn!"
"You were planning this the whole time," Barry says in a low voice.
"Yes," Harry-Grodd says slowly before looking in the direction of Caitlin and saying, "Father taught me well. Always think ahead. And I had plenty of time to think in cages built by you and then by Solovar!"
"Then why don't you just kill us? Huh, we already did your d*** dirty work for you!" Cisco says angrily.
"Still need you," Harry-Grodd says simply.
"I'm not doing anything for you," Barry says.
"Not you, Flash," Harry-Grodd says before pointing to Cisco and saying, "You."
Barry and Caitlin both look at Cisco. Harry-Grodd, still pointing, says, "You will open the breach to First Earth. My army will cross that breach and all the humans in Central City will burn before Gorilla Kind!"
Barry stares at Harry-Grodd for a moment before deciding to try a last-ditch effort to reason with Grodd. "Grodd, you are smart, maybe smarter than all of us, smart enough to know that you cannot do this. Intelligence and violence, they're opposites from each other. What you want to do, it's not logical, not for someone as wise as you are," he says, taking the time to maybe poke Grodd's ego a bit to get him to back down.
Harry-Grodd looks down for a few moments before saying, "You forget, Flash. I am an animal. I am a gorilla. Kill or be killed!"
Realizing that Grodd can't be reasoned with at this point, Barry steps closer to the bars between him and Harry-Grodd before saying angrily, "I'm gonna get out of this cell, and I'm gonna stop you."
Instead of replying, Harry's eyes close and he collapses. Then, they hear the footsteps before Grodd comes down the stairs behind Caitlin and says, No, you won't.
"Yes, they will."
The unexpected voice catches Grodd and Barry off guard. But before they can even move, there's a twang, and an arrow sprouts from Grodd's shoulder. Grodd starts to roar in pain.
Barry turns towards the main entrance into the cell block to see Clint standing there, bow in hand, grinning.
"I think it's time for you to take a nap, Grodd," Clint says. Then, without warning, the stone next to him smashes apart as Kara flies through it. She flies right up to Grodd and punches him hard enough to knock him out.
Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco stare at them in shock. Kara turns to the three of them and says, "Hey, guys!"
"Kara! Clint! You two have perfect timing!" Barry says happily.
Clint smiles as he walks up to Barry's cell. "You know, I've noticed something Barry. You always seem to get thrown in jail when I'm not with you," he says teasingly.
Barry narrows his eyes. "Seriously, Clint?" he says.
Clint laughs before saying, "Yup. And how poetic. You broke me out of the Raft. Now, I have to break you out of a gorilla prison."
Clint turns to Kara and nods. She nods in return before saying, "All three of you, move to the back of the cells." They quickly obey her. She then steps right until she near the front of the cells. Then, using her heat vision, she cuts right through the bars, cutting the entire front of the cell block away. She then pulls it out and throws it aside.
"Yes!" Cisco says as he almost literally jumps out of his cell.
"Alright! Come on! Grodd's not gonna stay unconcious for long. We need to get out of here," Clint says calmly but firmly.
Barry nods. "Kara, you take Cisco and Caitlin. I'll take Clint and Harry," he orders. Kara nods, then wraps one arm around Cisco and another around Caitlin. Barry does the same with Clint and the unconcious Harry, and races off. Kara instead uses her heat vision to cut a circle out of the ceiling, then flies up through that, Cisco cheering like a schoolboy.
Kara flies above Barry as he runs away from Gorilla City. They make it several miles before coming to a stop.
As they stop, and Barry sets Harry down, Harry starts to wake up. Caitlin makes her way over to him and asks, "Harry, are you okay?"
Harry groans as he says, "I have a headache, I guess. And...what is that? I smell."
Caitlin shakes her head a bit and says, "That counts as okay."
Harry staggers to his feet. "Where-where am I? My daughter, Jesse..."
Barry cuts him off. "She's fine, and you're gonna see her in a minute. We can explain everything soon, but for now we have to get out of here before the gorillas can realize we're gone," he says.
A distant roar captures the attention of all 6 of them. "Well, too late for that," Cisco says. He then hurriedly turns around and says, "Time to warp out of this madhouse." He then opens a breach, and together, the 6 of them walk through the breach.
It's over a minute before Grodd arrives on the scene. Realizing his quarries are gone, he roars in anger.
(Earth-1, STAR Labs cortex)
"And that's when I finally broke free of HYDRA's control," Bucky says. Everyone stares at him in amazement.
Bucky has been trying to keep their minds off of their friends, and father in Jesse's case, by telling them the story of how he and Steve were friends back at the start of World War II, his early service in the 107th, his capture by HYDRA, his rescue by Steve (explaining how Steve had become Captain America in the process), his service alongside Steve as a Howling Commando, his fall from the train, being captured and turned into the Winter Soldier, his history as the Winter Soldier, and finally his role in the HYDRA uprising and his final fight with Steve aboard the Insight Helicarrier.
Everyone in the cortex is staring at him in amazement. Some of them feel much more wary now of Bucky, but others feel more accepting of him after hearing everything he's been through. Among them is Laurel, who is staring at Bucky with a new sense of respect.
Finally, Joe asks, "So, how did you end up meeting Barry?"
But, before Bucky can answer that question, there is a beeping noise. Jesse looks at one of the monitors, then grins as she gets up and hurries out of the cortex. At normal speed. Knowing what that has to mean, everyone follows her.
When they reach the breach room, they find Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Clint, Kara, and Harry all walking down from the platform on the other side of the room.
"Dad!" Jesse says as she hurries over to him and throws her arms around him. At the same time, Laura runs over to Clint and hugs him tightly.
"Barry!" Iris cries out. Knowing now's not the time to tell her, Barry walks over and hugs her, but makes sure not to hug her too tightly.
He quickly lets her go before turning to Joe. "Sorry you missed it," he says with a grin.
Joe grins back and says, "I ain't." He hugs Barry too.
Barry then turns to Bucky and Laurel. "How'd it go?" Barry asks Bucky.
"Alright. She behaved herself quite nicely. Just so long as I kept the Big Belly Burger orders coming," he says with a slight grin.
Barry rises an eyebrow and looks at Laurel. She shrugs and says, "I'm addicted to that place. What can I say?"
Barry laughs. "Well, for behaving yourself so nicely, I will personally pay for all the Big Belly Burger you want for the next week," he says.
Laurel grins slightly. "Now we're talking," she says.
Barry grins and turns back to the rest of the team, right as Wally asks, "So, what happened over there. You fight some really smart super apes or what?"
"Yeah, we did. And they were very smart, but today, at least, we were smarter," Barry says confidently.
(Later, the cortex)
Caitlin sits at the computers, thinking about everything they just went through on Earth-2, feeling very glad that Killer Frost didn't emerge at any point, or that she didn't have to use her powers.
Suddenly, she hears footsteps behind her. Turning around, she sees Laura walking in.
"Hello, Dr. Snow," she says warmly.
Caitlin smiles. "Mrs. Barton, I think you can call me Caitlin. Provided I can call you Laura," she says.
Laura laughs softly and says, "Alright, Caitlin."
Laura takes a seat next to Caitlin and looks at her. "What's wrong? I can tell something is on your mind," she asks.
Caitlin looks at Laura for a moment, not sure what to say. Then, Laura's expression changes, and she asks, "Is it about Killer Frost?"
Caitlin looks at her in shock. After a few seconds, she asks, "How...how did you know?"
"Barry mentioned her when he stayed with us for a few days back on Earth-99. I remembered it when we came here, and I asked Iris about it, and she was able to explain it to me in a little more detail," Laura says simply.
Caitlin looks at Laura for a few moments before sighing. "Yes, it is. I'm just...I don't know what to do about her. She's so dangerous, and I don't know if I can keep her in forever," she says.
"I think you're fearing her too much. Yes, it may be healthy to fear her a little, but not to the point it controls you," Laura says. She then smiles broadly and says, "Why don't I take you down to one of the spare rooms and introduce you to the kids? I think you could use some time to unwind and relax. Maybe we could even get some pizza to be delivered."
Caitlin laughs. "Alright. Let's do it," she says, then gets up and follows Laura out of the cortex.
(Outside STAR Labs)
"So, you beat Grodd?" Iris asks Barry as they walk out of STAR Labs.
"Yeah. I can hardly believe it. But thank goodness we had Clint and Kara there to help get us out," Barry says. Iris smiles at that too.
Iris then takes Barry's hand and says, "Well, shall we get back to the apartment?"
Barry keeps expression neutral, but his mind is racing. He knows the moment he's gonna have to tell Iris is coming, but he can't bring himself to do it right now. He needs to think about what to say. Luckily, he has the perfect excuse to get out of this.
"Not now. You head back to the apartment. I need to run over to Star City and brief them on what's happened to me, and let them know that Oliver is still missing," Barry says.
Iris looks confused. "Wait, you never saw him on Earth-99?" she asks.
"No, I didn't. Either he got sent to another Earth, or somewhere else in the Earth-99 universe, or elsewhere in time. I need to let them know. Also, I think I need to let them know I let Black Siren out," Barry says.
Iris looks concerned. "Yeah. I still think you're making a mistake Barry," she says.
Barry looks right at her. "Iris. You are not going to convince me otherwise. I can already see in her. There is good in her, and if we really try, we can fully bring out the good in her. But, in any case, nobody deserves to be locked in the pipeline. Not even her. I'm not saying we're gonna keep her here. We will only if she really needs to be watched. If she proves herself trustworthy enough, I'll let her go to forge a new life. If she blows this chance, I'll take her down, but she goes to Iron Heights."
Iris looks at Barry. Barry can tell she wants to argue, but he cuts her off by saying, "I probably won't be back until super late, so I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, he races off, heading for Star City.
Iris stares after him. Something feels wrong to her.
I'll end there. I hope this chapter was good.
I obviously changed a few things. Some of the dialogue had to change since Julian wasn't there. And I changed a few things with the fight with Solovar. I never quite understood how Cisco was able to keep a communication device he could use to coach Barry in his fight with Solovar. So, I changed it so that he lost the device, and Jocasta took the role instead. And thought it was minor, I had him retract the mask before he started talking to the gorillas, or it would'v been much harder for them to knock him out.
I've gotten some reviews for more Supergirl action, so I decided to have her and Clint rescue them instead of them tricking Grodd. I also decided to have Laura be the support for Caitlin at the end. The Bartons will play a major role in helping Caitlin with Killer Frost.
Now, many of you will probably be wondering when Iris is gonna learn about Barry and Wanda. I'm currently planning for that reveal to take the place of the proposal scene at the end of Episode 14, but there will be clues for Iris to pick up on starting at during the next chapter. And no, she is not gonna take it well.
Also, for those wondering, we're not gonna see much specific Bucky/Black Siren in this story. That will be saved for a later story. I am planning to do a spin-off revolving around Bucky and Black Siren, though I'm not yet sure whether to have it take place before Infinity War or after Avengers 4.
Alright. I'll end here for now. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Review, and stay tuned for the next chapter!