Flashpoint Mayhem

by TrueHorror88

Another victory for the team, yet someone was unable to celebrate that and chose to make a world-shaking decision. Barry saved his mother from death, changing his past and his present, but it also affected others without him knowing. Seth and his family are just as affected, maybe more. The team faces newer threats, but they're not new to the Lethal Protector. They're threats.

5. Chapter 5: Stampede

And now another bedtime story for you wonderful readers out in the big wide world…

Once again, I hope you're all safe and sound and healthy wherever you might right now.

Hope you're all keeping up with Flash and CW shows, as well as the MCU. Really love Black Widow.

Also, regarding the last chapter for both Spiderman and Taskmaster, both of them are modeled after their Marvel's Spiderman PS4 game versions. I chose them as such, as they're more life-like.

Regarding this chapter, this will not follow the plot of Flash S03E05.

Thanks again for the reviews and messages you've sent me. Means the world to me.

Now to answer some reviews:

Guest: I can't promise if he's met up with the Guardians of Galaxy or not, but he does have a past from his life on Earth-616, after all. Who knows who might show up next?

guest: Thank you. Thanks for the suggestion. Whether or not I'm gonna continue the series to S07, that depends on the readers… Mostly.

Starpottergeek: Thank you. Don't worry, it's not the last we see of Taskmaster. And Eliza's gonna have some fun with the symbiote samples she got. Maybe not another Carnage, the one true Carnage is Cletus Kasady, in my book at least.

So, without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 5: Stampede

While her smirk widened, Eliza walked over to her desk. Holding both vials of blood samples in her left hand, she reached under her table and pressed a button there with her right hand. The machines on her side of the lab started up again.

Walking away from her desk, she rushed to the nearest machine which was a unique prototype of a blood fusion machine. The machine's constructed with two flasks placed together, a tube is between them connecting the two. Connected to the middle of the tube is an even bigger flask that's reinforced with a metallic strap.

"Fancy toy there." Taskmaster said, leaning against the table behind her. He watched her work.

"Don't be so shocked…" Eliza looked over her shoulder. "You have a name."

"I do." The mercenary nodded.

"You gonna give it?"

"Would it make a difference?" Taskmaster inquired casually.

"Nope." She turned back to her machine, holding the vials in one hand each. "This is a special prototype DNA fusion machine. I've made it so it can take in any kind of DNA and combine with another type of DNA flawlessly."

Taskmaster narrowed his eyes. "Thought you were a biochemist?"

"So does everyone else." She quipped before pouring in the samples into the two flasks.

The flask on the left side's slowly filling up with blood. She analyzed it before, and was in awe of its unique structure. She had never seen something like this blood before. It was human… and at the same it's more than human.

The flask on the right side slowly fills up with the other blood sample, which also holds the symbiotic black mass that's swimming within it. She analyzed it and her mouth couldn't stop smiling at the potential of this sample. While analyzing it, she could see that the symbiote mass is doused in blood and elements… and strength. Something beyond humans… beyond the humans of this Earth.

The client and contract killer watched the two blood samples travel into the tube that connects their respective flasks. When reaching the middle of the tube, they both slid down into the bigger flask, mixing with one another.

When reaching the bottom of the bigger flask, now that the two samples have been mixed together, they are now completely something else…

It appeared akin to symbiote mass, but it was thicker and growing in size… with different colors overlapping on top of each other…

…Dark blue which shifted grey and back to dark blue…

…Purple…

…Green…

…Orange…

…and also, a reddish and yellow color…

"Why is it different colors like that?" Taskmaster asked, both intrigued and confused by the symbiote colors that were different from the one that Venom bears.

"Don't know." Eliza unscientifically answered. "Yet…" She looked over her shoulder, facing the mercenary she hired.

"This one… Is useful." Taskmaster announced.

He was intrigued by Eliza's experiments… But more importantly, he was waiting for his payment.

X

(Central City Docks)

Central City Docks remained darkened with shadows and darkness falling over the entire city. Shipping containers were stacked on top of each other. All of them are in different colors and spread over the docks. While there wasn't a single soul amongst the containers, the security cameras attached to high positions looked down, turned around and recorded everything that's not happening at the docks.

This place's secured so nothing would happen…

Though that was only temporary… as something appeared in the air above the docks….

Dark-blue lightning sparked above the shipping containers… Such a violent charge that caused the lightning to crackle over the top of the containers… From afar, it looked like a star over the containers, shining brightly.

In the middle of the immense violently sparking energy that had formed out of nothing, a big black and dark-blue sphere of condensed energy began forming from the thunder-like energy. The orb itself began to grow rapidly, the electricity shot out, blasting away all of the containers that's within its vicinity.

Other containers were either pushed away or they were launched into other containers, embedding themselves into them like spears breaching shields. Dust was kicked up by the electricity that burst out. Electricity from the orb crackles, shooting out like arrows of lightning and burning through either asphalt or metal with ease. Even some of the containers were hurled into the air, their latches opening up and their contents flying out of them, scattering over the area. As lightning hit the docks, smoldering hot and burning debris was sent flying into the air, falling over the entire docks like meteors. The security cameras close to them burst into pieces, exploding off the latches.

This happened even more as the unusual sphere grew more in both size and magnitude, causing more miniature catastrophes to take place at Central City Docks, making it appear akin to a battlefield with each attack.

Few moments afterwards, the energy sphere now took on the form of what was similar to a hole, a gateway of swirling dark energy. It continued to grow bigger, taking on an impossible size for a doorway.

Electrical pulses emanated from the gateway, each one having different effects. One pushed everything away. Another one broke them, causing them to split open. A third one burned asphalt and metal, causing them to melt.

A fourth pulse burst out again, one much larger and more powerful than the previous ones combined. This one… did more than releasing a pulse… Something… passed through it.

"RAWRH!" A roar-like grunt came out of the person who was thrown out of the portal. The humongous, titanic person landed on the ground, his form cracking the asphalt upon landing. The person's hands swung into the ground.

He turned his shining blue eyes upwards… taking in his surroundings.

A sick smirk took place on his mouth, which was exposed through the opening on his helmet. "Nice playground." He spoke with a heavy accent.

The person turned his eyes to the side, seeing the huge body of water that is there. Running towards it, bulldozing anything in his path he jumped off of the ground and into the water. As soon as the splash echoed through the air, causing the water to waver and tremble through the body of water, another pulse erupted from the portal.

Two blurs came out of the portal, shooting out at incredible speed. One of them spun in the air, landing on the side of a stack of containers. The other, unfortunately, ungracefully slammed into the ground which cracked upon impact.

The taller person, the one on the side of the container stack, looked down at the shorter companion. "You okay, kid?"

Pushing debris away from their body, the shorter person sat up. "I'm fine, yeah. Don't worry."

Nodding her acceptance, the person looked back up at the portal. "Damn it." She said when the portal that brought them here closes down. "We're stuck here."

"And "here" is where?" The shorter person asked.

"Definitely not Kansas." She quipped.

X

(Speed Lab)

"What exactly is the plan here?" Jesse yawned when she and Barry walked into the Speed Lab. The others had come as well, except for Joe and the daughters of the Snow-Fury family. Joe's at work and the daughters are training in the Klyntar Cave.

Seth, walking in front of the speedsters, turned around to meet their tired eyes. "We're gonna train now." They looked reluctant, but the mutant reminded them. "You both asked me to train you, I'm gonna train you but it's under my rules."

"Still early." Barry admitted, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Not my problem." Seth said dryly, reaching into his pockets. "Put these on." He threw them each a metallic bracelet.

Cisco narrowed his eyes suspiciously at those two. "What are those?"

"You'll see." Caitlin answered for her mate, already knowing what his plan was. She questioned his methods of training, but more than anything she trusts him to make the right choices.

Jesse and Barry examined their bracelets that are completely made of metal but also with a small blue power source. "We just put them on?" Seth nodded his confirmation to the female speedster who placed the bracelet around her wrist.

"What are they gonna do?" Barry asked, his eyes looking down at his wrist after taking the bracelet on. Suddenly the blue power source emitted a blue light, and he felt the device tighten. "Seth, what's the-" He stopped when he saw Seth standing in front of him, his hand thrust forward and flicked his forehead with his fingers.

"Oh!" Barry was hurled off his feet, sent rolling on the ground.

"Barry!" Iris shouted when seeing him roll into the track entrance. Snapping her head to Seth she demanded. "What's the deal with that, Seth?!"

Seth lowered his hand, his middle fingernail returning from adamantium to normal. "Partly because of satisfaction, but mostly because of training."

"How?" Jesse swung her eyes to him, worried she might be flicked off the ground next. "Why? What's the point?"

"And why isn't he healing?" Harrison asked when he saw a small wound on the male speedster's forehead.

Looking up in realization, Cisco stated. "They're power-dampening cuffs!"

"Point one to Vibe." The mutant nodded. "Right now, the problem with both Barry and Jesse is that they're relying too much on their speed. I'm gonna train them to fight without their powers now." He took a fighting stance, lifting up his fists. "When combined with their powers, they'll actually be farther along."

"You're gonna fight my daughter?!" Harry exclaimed.

"Before you say anything, Wells," Seth started. "I trained your daughter back on Earth-2, along with Rubs and Evie. You can doubt her capabilities all you want, but I won't." He saw Barry getting up and walked up to Jesse's side. "For the record, I have a remote that opens those cuffs again. Try and get it back… If you can."

"Alright!" Jesse charged for the mutant. She swung her fists, each one he easily dodged. Harry's biting into his nails in anticipation and fear for his daughter's safety. She tried to go for an uppercut, but that was easily blocked when the elemental used his palm to grab it. "Come on!"

Chuckling at her complaint, Seth added. "Not a bad idea, Jesse. But you're gonna have to go for another approach to get me, mostly you." Jesse looked confused. "Remember I taught you some basic fighting moves so you can defend yourself. I'm your teacher, I'm not about to be overcome by my students. Not so easily."

With his free hand, he grabbed her other hand and spun her around. Seth planted his foot into the ground, and released her and threw her away. Jesse slid across the ground, sliding towards a wall. "One down…" He threw his hand backwards, grabbing Barry's fist that tried to attack him from behind. "One to go."

"Feels like you're cheating." Barry asked, trying to get his fist out of Seth's hand but to no avail.

"It's training." Seth reminded him, pulling the speedster close and throwing him away. He heard Barry grunt in pain upon collision. "Again."

"Wait, you didn't say you'd use your powers." Barry said, getting back up on his feet.

"And I never said I'd not use them." Seth countered. He clenched his hands. "Up again! We're not done."

"No! No! No! No!" Harrison rushed off the platform, waving his hands around and stopped the mutant from engaging in another fight with his daughter. "Training's over! Right now!"

"Seriously?" Seth stated, lowering his fists and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Dad, are you kidding me?" Jesse rushed up to his side. "You're gonna interrupt my training now? Why?"

"Because this is dangerous!" Harry shouted into his daughter's face. "I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"I'm not keen on Barry getting hurled around like a ragdoll too." Iris admitted, walking off the platform and rushing down to her boyfriend's side. "Maybe we should call it quits for now."

"Agreed." Harry stated adamantly. Caitlin shared a chuckle with her mate who chuckled back. Then the Earth-2 scientist blurted out. "Besides, we don't have to have a villain like Fury to train you."

"Harry!" Caitlin exclaimed sternly.

Silence fell over the Speed Lab, everyone pointing their eyes at the mutant and the Earth-2 scientist. Harrison realized what he said, after getting a stern look from his daughter, turning his head to face Seth. "Fury, I-"

"Training's over." Seth announced, cutting him off. "If you want to train again, we go again tomorrow, same time, same place and without a peanut gallery." While the others saw him wear a stoic and hardened expression, Caitlin could see he's affected by Harry's words.

"Dad!" Seth looked towards the entrance, seeing Ruby there with a smile on her face. "Uncle Joe called, there's a case. You're needed. That guy, too." She sloppily pointed to the male speedster. "Central City Docks."

"The docks?" Ruby nodded to her father's question. "Alright. Friday, send Joe a message, I'll be there in five minutes."

"On it, Boss." The AI agreed.

Seth walked towards the exit of the facility. "Dad?" Ruby got her father's attention. "Can I come with? Please. I wanna see if it's anything interesting."

"You wanna see if it's an Earth-616 villain, don't you?" Caitlin saw right through her daughter who smirked. Normally, she'd have her daughter stay behind and not focus so much on Earth-616 madness. But considering she could help Seth get his mind off Harry's words, she said. "Your homework is done, right?"

"Finished it all last night, and my two assignments." Ruby said.

Seth turned his eyes, facing his mate for permission. Nodding her head, she granted him permission. "Go on, take her with you. Make sure she doesn't get into trouble with the case, or the officers for that matter."

"Promise." Seth walked over to his daughter. "Come on, kiddo. Time for work." She followed him.

"Wait, Seth what about the cuff-" Barry stopped talking when the cuffs opened up, falling off his wrist. "What the?"

"Didn't he say…" Jesse trailed off when the bracelet fell off.

"I lied. It was on a timer." The elemental stated when walking out of the training lab.

"I'll check on my daughters." Caitlin walked off the platform. "And Harry?" She got his attention. "Seth isn't a villain. You should know that better than anyone. Don't ever call Seth that." She finalized, walking away from them and went to the Klyntar Cave.

Harry bit his lower lip.

X

(Central City Docks)

"Geezus!" Joe West exclaimed at the state of the shipping docks. To his eyes, it appeared akin to a battlefield where not only wars took place but also natural catastrophes. It looked like an act of God had come over the area. "What is this?"

As soon as they got a call about this case, the detective called various officers and detectives to the shipping area to examine it. Not only them, but the CSI scientists had all been called to partake in the investigation. With the scope of the damage here, it was an all hands-on deck situation now.

"Trouble." Julian Albert told the detective when walking to his side. "Something of a different magnitude did this."

"You got any ideas?" Joe asked the metahuman expert.

Julian gave a heavy sigh. "At the moment, I do not, Detective. At first, I thought it was Venom responsible for this mayhem, but from what I gather this isn't his style or his attack pattern, or his powers."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"That Venom can't attack long-range anymore." Seth announced when he and Ruby arrived at the scene. Julian was shocked to see him, and Joe was shocked to see his daughter here. "The level of damage that's done here isn't within his arsenal anymore, not with close-ranged elemental attacks."

"Exactly." Julian was impressed. "And you are…"

"This is the civilian consultant that you vouched for, Albert. This is Dr. Seth Fury." The detective gestured to the secret elemental.

"Oh, so this is the man who worked the case with the Dragon." Julian walked to him. "Julian Albert, Metahuman CSI Expert."

"Seth Fury, bioengineer and rookie consultant." They shook hands after greeting each other. "Pleasure to meet you and thanks for vouching for me, Albert."

"You're welcome." Julian nodded. "Magnificent report you and your… wife wrote?"

"Girlfriend." Seth clarified, fighting very hard to hold back his blush from showing.

Julian looked to Ruby who looked around in interest. "Who is this small child?"

"My daughter, Ruby. She showed interest in this case and wanted to come along." Seth answered.

"And I'm not that small." Ruby stated sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sure." Julian didn't sound convinced. "Just make sure she doesn't get in the way." He looked past him and his daughter, finally seeing Barry arrive at the scene with a case. "Finally decided to come, Allen."

"Sorry. Traffic." Barry lied, walking towards him.

"Right." Once again, Julian didn't sound convinced and walked away to continue his investigation.

Barry looked around in shock. "What happened here?"

Ruby scoffed. "Isn't that your job to figure out?" She walked over to the nearest damaged container, crouching in front of it.

"Great, we got Julian and Ruby, two people with attitudes." Barry commented.

Seth elbowed his forearm, making him grunt in pain. "My daughter. I'm a cannibal, don't piss me off." He warned him and walked closer to the detective. "Joe, you got any clues, witnesses, anything that can help us figure out what happened here?"

"No, unfortunately no." Joe said, walking around the rocks that were embedded into the ground. "Barry, you got any ideas?" He asked the speedster.

The metahuman shined light over the melted metal. "I got no ideas, to be honest. But it took a serious amount of heat to burn through metal and ground. It was like a thunderstorm was here." He pocketed his pen flashlight. "It looks like a battlefield."

"And we have no idea what happened here." Joe sighed.

"Maybe not." Ruby snapped her fingers, getting their attention. She pointed a finger to the melted security cameras. "Think those can be salvaged?"

"With Cisco's help yeah…" Seth trailed off, turning to the body of water close by. Noticing something floating within it, he walked over to it. Ruby, Joe and Barry followed him. They watched the mutant crouch down the edge. "Look."

Joe and the others faced the water, seeing that floating at the surface of it are an array of rocks. "What is it?" The detective didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Making sure no one was nearby to see him, Seth shot out a tendril out of his palm and wrapped it around the nearest piece of floating wet rock. They watched him pull it into his hand. He held it up for the others to see. "Notice anything strange about this?"

"It's wet." Joe answered.

"Aside from that?" Seth chuckled.

Ruby noticed her surroundings, examining them and then turned to the rock in her father's hand. "The rock's different from the asphalt around us."

"Yeah, that's sea stack and not asphalt like around here." Barry noticed, taking the rock in his hand and ran his palms over it. He saw Joe's confused look at the name. "It's a stack of rocks in the sea that looks like a stone tower, commonly separated from the main shoreline. They occur wherever there is a water body and a cliff."

"Exactly." Seth nodded. Pointing to the warzone-like crime scene, he said. "At first, I thought it was from whatever caused this, but then I noticed the number of rocks around us and compared it to the number in the water." He gestured to the body of water. "It's a small number here and they're different from asphalt."

"But what does this mean?" Ruby asked, pointing her words to her father.

Seth answered. "Means whatever caused this jumped into the water. And it has a dense mass, strong enough to actually break off sea stacks into rocks that float to the surface."

"So, chances are it's close to Central City or at least close to a water body." Seth answered.

"Hope we're not dealing with another King Shark attack. My house can't handle another shark attack." Joe quipped.

"King Shark?" Julian said, walking up to them and hearing their words. He faced the other CSI scientist. "You think it's that ridiculously named metahuman from last year? You think that one did this, Allen?"

"No, not me." Barry spoke gritted teeth of annoyance. Seth and Ruby shared a look at his visible frustration. "It was Joe who thought that."

"Huh? I'd assume you were the one without brain cells of this sort." Julian said, turning around to speak with the other officers.

Joe held a hand in front of Barry. "Calm down, Barr." Pointing a pencil at the melted security cameras, he said. "Let's get those cameras to S.T.A.R. Labs and have Cisco work his magic."

Ruby chuckled again, but she stopped as soon as something slid down her nose. Looking away from her father, she wiped her nose and checked her finger. Her eyes widened when she saw blood on the back of her finger. She quickly dried it off, wiping it away on her pant leg.

"You saw it, right?" Venom said, having noticed his host's daughter wipe off blood.

"I did…" Seth said without looking at his child.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"What horror did this?!" Cisco bellowed out loud as soon as everyone returned from Central City Docks. The mutant dropped off one of the melted security cameras on a cart table in front of the viber. "What did this?!"

"That's what we're hoping you can help us with, Cisco." Seth stated matter-of-factly.

Caitlin walked up to her mate's side. "Are you okay?" She asked, stroking his arm. She was referring to what happened back in the Speed Lab before.

"I'm fine." Seth pointed a finger to their daughter. "But our daughter here tried to take an officer's taser."

"Narc!" Ruby shouted.

Caitlin scoffed with a chuckle. "Guess we got two daughters with sticky and long fingers."

"Hey!" Evelyn complained, walking into the Cortex. "Heard that, Mom."

"Sorry, honey." Caitlin chuckled as she ruffled her child's hair.

Iris looked at the camera on the table. "So that's what happened at the docks?"

Barry looked shocked. "You already knew about what happened there?"

"I got my own feelers, babe." Iris smirked.

Seth looked back to the viber. "Cisco, think you can get some answers out of this thing?" He pointed to the security camera.

"Are you doubting me, Dr. Fury?" Cisco faked pain, holding his chest with both hands. "Your words hurt me, Doc. I'm seriously hurt. I don't know what to do about the pain."

Smiling like a hyena, tendrils appeared out of the mutant's back. Each of them holding a different medical tool… The kind used for a dissection. "Good thing I'm a doctor then, Cisco. Get to the gurney, we'll begin the operation."

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" Cisco frantically chanted, pulling his hands off his chest and grabbing the camera and rushed to the side lab to work. "I'll work! I'll work!"

Everyone was sure they saw the viber push a door up with a tackle before rushing into the hallway. "Looks like he's heading for his workshop." Caitlin muttered. She turned to her mate. "Babe, why are you holding a toothbrush?"

"Oh, forgot about this one." Seth took the toothbrush while retracting his tendrils and medical tools. "Evie, where's Frankie?" He asked her.

"Still training in the Cave." Evelyn admitted, her parents' brows furrowing in response. "Yeah, she's been going at it for a while now."

"That girl of ours." Seth sighed. "I'll take care of this. Um…" He pulled Caitlin closer. "Cait, could you take a look at Ruby for me?"

"Why? What's wrong?" Caitlin turned concerned.

"She had a nosebleed back at the docks. She thinks I didn't see anything, but I did." Seth whispered. "You take care of one daughter, I take care of another, leave the last one to her own devices."

"She might steal others' devices." Caitlin jokes. "Go. I'll look after Rubs." Seth nodded and walked towards the exit.

"Need a hand?" Harrison asked.

"My daughter, I'll help her. Have yours be ready for training tomorrow." Seth countered, walking out of the Cortex.

"Rubs." Ruby faced her mother who waved her over. "Come here. I need to do a checkup."

"On me? Why?" Ruby started but she conceded when she saw her mother give a stern look that made her back down and follow her parent's words.

Joe noticed the Snow-Fury parents' attitudes. "Something wrong with Caitlin and Seth?"

Jesse scoffed. "Ask my Dad." She walked over to the medbay.

X

(Klyntar Cave)

His ears perked up at the loud grunts of frustration and the shakiness that emitted from the combat-specific training lab. While the small tremor he felt was impressive, he did focus his attention on the sounds of frustration instead.

"Hope she's okay." Seth thought.

He walked slower than before, almost soundless, to sneak closer to the entrance to the training lab. Seth reached it and looked into the lab, seeing his daughter hard at work.

Seth raised his eyes in surprise and interest when he saw his daughter try and mimic one of his own attacks. He saw Frankie standing in her symbiote-clad form in front of five hexagonal power-absorbers. She's reeling her arm back before launching it again with a swing. Just like he does, her arm splits into five tendrils and shoots through the air and attacks the power-absorbers.

He finally noticed the monitor on the side, close to the power-measurers. The screen showed each of the power intake of all five measurers. Problem was that each of the levels were different, not a single one showed the same level as the others.

"She's struggling with her powers now?" Venom asked in confusion. "She's never had this problem before. What's changed? The dark matter in her?"

"No. It's her feelings and thoughts." The mutant thought back.

"Damn it!" Frankie shouted, her eyes shining bright magenta and slamming both hands into the ground. Her powers subconsciously activated, shaking the entire training lab. "Won't work…" She said, glaring at the power-measurers with hate.

"You're too scatter-brained." Seth's voice made her hate dissipate, her eyes returning back to blue and turning to him, seeing her father walk towards her. "You're focusing on too many things at the same time, and you can't focus on the strength of your attack." He pointed to the varying power levels on the monitor.

"Really?" She asked in surprise.

Nodding his head in confirmation, he added. "Plus, you're not doing it the right way." He stood beside his daughter. His long sleeve shifted and covered his entire right arm in a black mass. Enveloping his entire arm, it turned his hand into a clawed hand. Pulling his arm back, he spread his fingers. "This is not just a technique that the host themselves can do. It's a combination technique that both host and symbiote have to do together. If one is unfocused or unwilling to aid, then the attack's gonna be ineffective. But together…"

Planting his feet into the ground, Seth grunted and thrust his arm out. When launched, his arm split into five tendrils and attacked the five power-absorbers. They lit up with a shine and Frankie saw the monitor show his power level, all of them showing the same level. "Wow." Both host and symbiote let out unitedly.

Reforming his arm, Seth said. "Not that I'm against the idea of mimicking another symbiote-user, why exactly are you using my move? Why not make a move of your own?"

"Wanted to try it for a while." She admitted.

"Try a move of your own, your symbiote is still stronger than mine, kiddo." Seth kissed the top of her head. "Come on, we got work to do."

"Trouble?" Frankie asked, getting out of her suit. He nodded in response. "Coming!"

X

Within the medbay, Caitlin was slowly drawing blood from her daughter. Ruby looked bored more than anything ever since stepping into the room. Jesse watched from afar, her eyes looking away from her father. She's leaning against the doorframe, watching the mother examine her child.

Removing her needle from her arm, Caitlin told her daughter. "Your father told me you had a nosebleed back at the docks." Ruby faced her with widened eyes. "Don't be surprised, honey. Your Dad's got more vision than most here. Except for maybe Frankie, of course." She sheepishly added, seeing as both of them have 360 degree vision.

"Still a narc." Ruby groaned.

"Most parents are." Caitlin quipped, walking over to the table and placed the blood sample into the analyzer. "It's a rule as old as time."

"Rules are meant to be broken." Ruby countered as she secured the tape around the area where she drew blood.

Caitlin turned to her child again, showing a serious look. "Honey, did something happen? You've never gotten nosebleeds before. Do you have any medical conditions you've neglected to tell me or your father about?"

"Wouldn't they have shown themselves before?" Jesse asked.

"No, they wouldn't because I don't have any medical conditions, Mom." Ruby told them both. "I'm fine, Mom. Maybe it's just a small wound in my nose."

"Or…" Caitlin trailed off.

"What is it?" Ruby asked. Jesse listened carefully as Caitlin started her explanation.

"When you fought Top before, you… You shook yourself when you were affected by her vertigo. You used your gravity powers to shake yourself to get rid of it."

"She gave herself a concussion?" Jesse asked.

"More like she gave her entire body a concussion." Caitlin clarified. "She used gravity powers to shake herself off it and it must have affected her bones and the rest of her biology at the same time. That must be why she's experiencing these things like nosebleeds."

"If that's what you know, Mom, why bother taking my blood?" Ruby asked.

"Cause there might be more, honey." Caitlin said. "I have to be sure nothing else happens to you. It's my job. Plus, it's nice to spend time with you like this."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Mom, you're talking like we don't spend any time together."

"I'm sorry, it's just that you and your sisters have been spending a lot of time in the Cave, and I feel like I don't get any time with you without having to do checkups first." Caitlin confessed to her child. "I know why you're training so hard, of course… And I'm proud of it, but it's kinda lonely still."

"It's gonna change, Mom, I swear." Ruby assured her mother. "Next time, we won't train, we'll spend more time with you and Dad."

"I'm gonna hold you to that." Caitlin hugged her daughter. "Thanks." She pulled away and turned to the analyzer. "Looks like it's gonna take some time with the blood analysis."

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"616 DNA takes some time to work through our machines, kinda like with your Earth-2 DNA." Caitlin explained, getting up from her chair. She looked into the Cortex, seeing her mate walk over to Evelyn with Frankie. Then Cisco entered, holding a data chip. "Looks Cisco's finished with his work. Let's go." She waved both girls after her.

"Cisco, what did you find?" Barry asked him when he plugged the data chip into the computers.

"Haven't looked at it yet, but I did manage to salvage it from those roasted cameras." Cisco said while bringing up the footage. "So, ladies and gents, ready your popcorn, cause Ramon Cinema is about to premiere its first movie ever!"

Everyone couldn't believe how he loved to act like an announcer now.

Cisco pressed play, starting the salvaged footage.

Everyone in the Cortex faced the monitor, seeing Central City Docks on the screen. It was nighttime on the footage as everything was darkened. They could see how the docks looked prior to the events that turned it into the battlefield that it appeared to be today.

They narrowed their eyes when they saw dark-blue lightning sparking from the sides of the camera's field of vision. It was a violent and powerful charge, sending the lightning out and it crackled over the top of nearby containers. The lightning intensified, some of hitting the security camera and causing it to shake.

"What is that?" Iris asked.

"Another speedster?" Wally asked when seeing the strange lightning.

The lightning had a thunder-like intensity, striking the camera again, this time causing the footage to flicker.

"What is that?" Joe asked, directing his words to the scientists.

"Not a speedster." Seth stated, clenching his fists again. "That's the lightning generated from an Earth-616 portal." He assured them confidently, just as the footage from the camera fully broke into static.

"For real?" Cisco asked.

"Are you sure, Fury?" Harrison asked.

"Positive." Seth answered them both with his one word. "Two years ago, when Carnage opened the portal that he jumped through, dragging Liv with him, that same portal emitted that kind of strange lightning."

"So, we're dealing with another Earth-616 threat." Ruby smirked. "Yes."

"Calm down, sis." Frankie nudged her sister.

Evelyn faced her father. "Dad, you know any villains on that end who could do that level of damage?"

"Frankly speaking, honey, most of the villains could do that kind of damage." Seth started. "But that's not all, that damage on the docks could have easily been done by the portal forming."

"But at least we know it's not a metahuman from this Earth." Joe said. "But what's the plan now?"

"I'll start going out on patrols, my daughters will do the same." Seth faced Ruby. "You still have that grappling hook from last year, Rubs?" She nodded her confirmation. "Get it, you're gonna be travelling a bit like your sisters. Speedsters?" He turned to Jesse and Barry. "You two, do the same, run around the city and see if there's anything suspicious. If you see something there, you call me and the girls."

"Why?" Wally shrugged. "I mean, they're speedsters, they can outrun any threat."

"Running is good, but fighting is just as great." Seth countered. He turned to his daughters again. "Girls, suit up, would you?" They nodded and rushed off to get their suits. Assured they are out of hearing distance, he turned to Caitlin. "Cait, you figure what happened with Rubs?"

"The machine's still analyzing her blood. I'll tell you as soon as it's done." Caitlin took his hands, looking deep into his eyes. "You sure about going out there? You still have the city out for you." Though he's stronger than most on the team, he could still be hurt. She feared that and so much more, especially with old villains from his neighborhood showing up.

"I'll be fine, I promise." Seth cupped her hands, bringing them up to his mouth. He placed a kiss on them. "Promise." He promised her again before walking till he stood under the skylight. As his form shifted into black symbiotic mass, he jumped out of the skylight.

Joe looked at Caitlin. "Caitlin. Don't worry about Seth, he's gonna be fine."

"Joe, it's hard not to worry about him when the entire city's out for his head." Caitlin said saddeningly, rubbing her eyes. "And I can't help but worry the same is gonna happen to my daughters. That one day, the entire police department's gonna be gunning for them next."

"That won't happen, Caitlin." Iris told her, trying to ease her mind.

"Iris, their father is already being hunted and has a bounty on his head…" Caitlin turned around, walking towards the medbay. "Think I just don't have much faith in our city now."

X

WHOOSH

After suiting up in their respective suits, Barry and Jesse sped around and in the city. After running through the city for the tenth lap, they came to a stop in front of an abandoned church. It was a large and rusty church with barred windows that were shattered completely.

"Well, that's not at all ominous." Jesse quipped at the sight of the old church.

"Yeah." Barry agreed, panting heavily from numerous laps of exhausting running. "No argument there."

Jesse Quick glanced at him. "You doing okay there, sport?" She asked sarcastically.

Before The Flash can counter, both of them then hear someone speaking in their earpieces. "If you two got time to chit chat, you got time to get running and searching. Get to it!" Destroyer shouted in their ears. Both speedsters groaned at her bellowing voice. "What a bunch of babies." They heard her complain.

Turning off her earpiece, Jesse faced Barry. "She may not be biologically his, but she's got Seth's mouth."

Barry nodded repeatedly, turning off his own earpiece. "Yeah, no kidding." He straightened up again. "But they're all going through some stuff."

Jesse knows he's referring to how the girls were almost erased from existence when him traveled back in time, creating Flashpoint, and also with the fact that their father is seen as an enemy of the city. "I was thinking about that, actually." She got his attention. "What if The Flash" she gestured to him. "paid the police captain a visit, telling him to rethink the entire Venom is a criminal?"

"Maybe… But something else is worrying me." Jesse saw Barry exhale before explaining. "Seth is acting like nothing's out of the ordinary even though he's got a bounty on his head. The city hates him, yet he's… He's acting normally."

"How much do you know about Seth's life from Earth-616?" Jesse asked him. She raised an eyebrow when he started to struggle, trying to find an answer in vain. "Really? Someone you've been working with for 2 years, a friend, ex-friend, and you don't even know five things about his past."

"I do." Barry countered. Jesse had a look on her face, telling him she wanted proof. "Okay. First, he had a fiancé and son before coming to this world. Secondly, he fought Carnage many times. Third, he knows Black Cat. Fourth… Um… Um…"

"Yeah, genius, that was three." Jesse wiggled three fingers mockingly. "You really don't know Seth."

"Seth's got secrets." Barry defensively said. "And doesn't share it with the rest of the class."

"You think he's okay?" Jesse wondered. She received a shrug. "Try and ask him next time. Learn about him."

"How? He hates my guts, for a good reason." Barry reminded him.

"No one can hate forever, Barry. Wait and give him some time. He'll come along." Jesse told him. They turned their headpieces on, and faced each other. "Wanna go again?"

"Yeah." The Flash nodded.

But before they could begin to run, they felt a tremor coming from the church behind them. Jesse immediately pressed on her earpiece, connecting herself to the team back at S.T.A.R. Labs. "Guys, check out our location, would you?"

"What's wrong, Jesse?" Harry immediately asked.

"We're getting tremors from the old church in front of us." Barry answered with a gulp. "We'll check it out, see what's the deal here." The two walked slowly towards the rusty entrance.

"Wait for us!" Venom shouted over the rushing wind, as he swung through the air.

"We'll be fine, Seth." The Flash told him over the comms. He and Jesse pushed open the door, which accidently caused it to fall off the hinges. They saw the rotten wooden door fall to the ground and actually break into two pieces.

"Wow…" Jesse muttered in shock. She took in the surroundings, seeing that it was just like an ordinary church but filled with dust and barred windows. The otherwise sacred white interiors of the church are covered from top to bottom in dust and spider-web. The only source of light coming in is through the small gaps in the barred windows. The decorative and colorful images of God's angels are completely cloaked in dust. The apse is filthy and dirty just like the rest of the church. The pillars are still large and stable, which is shocking because of the chapel's current state.

Taking a glance at the rows on the left side of the nave, Jesse could see dust piles remaining on the seats. "What is this place?" She wiped her finger on the seat, gathering up dust and rubbing it with another finger.

"St. Paul Lutheran Church." Barry answered, shocked to see the church in this state. "The church's been like this since before the particle accelerator explosion. Shame really." He returned to the task at hand, looking around in search. "But what the heck caused that tremor before?" He looked around again. "Something did cause that-"

Another tremor traveled through the church, shaking off both dust and cobwebs from around them.

Jesse gulped. "Th- That was closer, wasn't it?"

"Much closer, yeah." Barry nodded. A drop of sweat rolled down the exposed area of his cowl where his mouth is.

It rolled out of his cowl and touched the ground… With how silent the church is now; it should have been heard upon collision…

CRASH

But it was instantly deafened by the sound of the left church breaking into pieces when something… humongous crashed through it.

Both speedsters covered their eyes with their arms, shielding themselves from the hail of splinters that came flying. Out of instinct, both Jesse Quick and Flash sped out of the church, coming to a stop outside of it. They looked forward, only for time to slow down around them… as the entire entrance to the church came flying towards them.

They looked behind them, making sure no civilians were in the way, before dodging the flying entrance as time returned to normal, causing the entrance to break into pieces upon collision with the brick wall.

"What was that?" Jesse asked.

"Not what!" They heard a booming voice with an accent shout out to them. Turning towards the voice, the speedsters widened their eyes at the sight of the man before them. The person before them is easily over 7 feet, towering over them all. He appeared to be extremely muscular. But what stood out was his… armor? It's a gray armor, designed after a specific animal… the kind that sports two horns on his helmet.

"Who!" They saw a smirk form on his mouth, which, like Barry's cowl, is exposed on his mask-like helmet. Exhaling he pointed both of his shining blue eyes at the metahumans, he said. "So, you are heroes of this city?" He laughed at them, mocking them. "Funny suits. Sure you not clowns!" He continued to laugh, bellowing them out.

"Like you're one to talk about appearances." Barry countered, gesturing to his humongous metal suit. "And who the hell are you, exactly?" He asked while Jesse looked around, seeing if any civilians were close by.

Unfortunately, they are immediately surrounded by intrigued civilians. Thankfully, from afar they could hear police sirens blaring, indicating the police force's about to join them.

Jesse faced the metal-clad titan. "How about you surrender and don't cause trouble for others here?"

"Surrender?" His feet stomped the ground, shaking and cracking the asphalt under him. The man in an animal-like suit punched the ground with both hands. "Ants think they can order the Rhino?!" He announced his name, roaring at them. "Rhino steps on ants!"

With that, he charged for them with his head bent down as though it was the rampart. He pointed both horns at the speedsters, who sped out of the way, running away from the rhinoceros-like man who strangely enough kept charging.

Coming to a stop, Jesse and Barry saw the man ram his way through a brick wall of an empty building. Smoke and dust erupted out of the open windows of the empty building that… in almost an instant fell to pieces, completely demolished by that singular attack.

"How'd… What?" Jesse struggled to form a sentence.

"Is this guy for real? He leveled a building in a second." Barry said. He was about to call for backup but then the brick wall closest to him and Jesse burst when Rhino ran through it. The two speedsters dodged the incoming bricks that flew like bullets.

But they couldn't dodge the two huge hands that wrapped around their forms, lifting them off the ground. Rhino cackled. "Let's go for a run." He ran towards a bunch of cars, each one filled with people.

Widening her eyes at the sight, she realized what he's planning. "He's gonna pummel them all." Remembering what she learnt from Barry, Jesse vibrated her entire body and phased out of his grip. She showed off her superior speed, speeding towards every car in their path and pulled out every single civilian and got them out of harm's way.

Rhino smiled, continuing his charge and sending dozens of cars flying to the sides. Barry was gonna do the same as the female speedster and phase out of the villain's hand, but he was then thrown into a car. He didn't get any time to counter as the humongous rhinoceros-armored man slammed his shoulder into him, continuing his charge with Barry slamming into every one of the cars in his path.

Coming to a stop, the larger man punched the Scarlet Speedster into the ground. Barry grunted, ricocheting off the asphalt. Rhino saw another opportunity and lashed out his right foot, kicking the speedster into a van. Upon collision, the vehicle tipped over.

"Flash!" Jesse Quick called out to him in concern when she came to a stop after getting civilians out of harm's way. Police vehicles arrived shortly after.

A heavy cackle reached her eyes, making her turn and see Rhino face her with a smug grin. "This is the best Central City has to offer?" He gestured to Barry as though it's a bad joke. "I request a new champion." Pointing a finger at Jesse, he continued. "What do you say, devochka? You new challenger?"

"What…?" She muttered in shock. Her eyes drifted behind the large man, still seeing smoke raise up from the building he demolished.

"Fine!" Rhino got her attention again and ran towards her, his head bent and aimed his horns at her.

"Jesse, get away!" Harrison screamed to his child through the comms.

Jesse could barely hear her father's words… Her attention was solely focused on the two horns that are about to ram through her chest… Snuffing out her life like a small, weak flame.

But Rhino's assault came to a complete halt when a large metal clawed fist slammed into the side of his face, before two arms wrapped around his neck and held him, stopping and putting an end to his charge.

"We told you to wait…"

Jesse blinked her eyes rapidly, finally snapping out of her fear-induced paralysis and saw Venom standing before her. He has both arms wrapped around Rhino's neck, keeping him from moving though the larger man tried to struggle his way out of his hold.

The speedster looked up to his face, her eyes meeting his red ones. "You okay, Jesse Quick?"

"Y-Yeah." She nodded.

Nodding back his acceptance, the elemental turned his attention to the villain. "Showing your ugly face here, too, Aleksei? Big mistake!" The earth element inside of his body clad to his bones, strengthening them as he somehow managed to lift the huge villain off his feet. Reeling him back, he then threw the rhinoceros-like villain back and to the ground.

His form rolled on the ground, causing it to crack with each roll. Though he was thrown away and his stampede came to a stop, Aleksei Sytsevich smirked widely and got up to his feet again. He faced the mutant. "Well, well… Hello, tovarishch."

Venom gritted his teeth when hearing the Earth-616 villain call him "comrade" in his native language. It brought back some nasty memories from their past.

"Not the time for that, Seth." The symbiote told his host. "We're in the middle of a fight now."

"You're right." Now wasn't the time to reel in bad memories, now's the time for a fight.

Venom snarled at the villain.

From afar, Eclipse appeared out of a smog of shadows with her sisters. "That's one huge guy." Evelyn admitted.

"Not just any guy…" Ruby excitedly smirked behind her mask at the sight of the familiar villain. "That's Aleksei Sytsevich, the Rhino. He's a mad man with incredible strength and can tear down any building in a matter of seconds."

"Sis, love you and everything…" Frankie chuckled sheepishly. "But you're getting way too excited about this guy that almost killed Jesse."

"Oh, Whiney's here?" Both Frankie and Evelyn paled when they heard the pure shock in their sister's voice when she turned to the female speedster. "Oh, thought she ran away."

"Get my daughter out of there now, Furys!" The three sisters groaned through gritted teeth when hearing Harrison's shout through their comms. "Get Jesse out of there!" Harry repeated.

"You do remember your daughter's the fast one, right?" Ruby calmly replied, pressing down on her earpiece to speak to him. "She's a speedster, you know."

"Just get her out of there!" Harry screamed.

"Harry, stop screaming at my daughters!" Caitlin shouted back in the facility, reprimanding the Earth-2 scientist. Harry seemed to back down after that. She then calmly spoke to her children. "Girls, be careful. This guy just took down a building alone. Get civilians out of the way. Jesse too, then back up your Dad."

"And Barry, too." Cisco pitched in.

"Yes, him too." Caitlin added.

"Fine." Evelyn accepted. She pulled out her bow and an arrow. "You two go down there and get people out of the way, I'll stay here and support Dad."

"Fine." Frankie accepted, jumping off the roof and Ruby followed her.

"It's Venom!"

Suddenly screams of disbelief and fear filled the air following a civilian's fearful exclamations. People began to run away, others remained stuck in their position. Police officers leaped out of their vehicles and raised their firearms, pointing them at the large elemental and the villain he's facing off against.

Venom wasn't interested or fazed by the number of weapons pointing at him. Growling at his foe, Seth said. "What do you want, Rhino?" Looking around himself, he saw civilians nearby along with his daughters who're trying to escort them out of harm's way. Jesse finally moved, helping Barry down the van. Having registered them all, he flexed his hands, turning them into adamantium claws.

"To fight, of course…" Rhino punched the ground again with both hands, like a real rhino preparing to attack. "Tovarishch. And kill!" He roared. "Nothing excites me more than that." As his snarl escaped his mouth, he charged for the mutant.

Roaring his own response, Venom embedded his feet into the ground, planting himself and stood like a barricade. Akin to a blockage, he took Rhino's attack. His open hands met the villain's own fists, holding them tightly. Seth growled when he felt the enemy push back, his feet pushing up debris in response.

"I've missed this, tovarishch!" Rhino shouted with another wide smile, his front horn trying to pierce into Seth's forehead, but met resistance in the form of an adamantium forehead. "Haven't you?!"

"Can it!" He slammed his head into the horns.

Jesse let go of Barry who assured her he's able to stand on his own two feet after being escorted to the streets and out of harm's way. "What do we do now?" She asked the other speedster.

"I don't know." Barry said, placing a hand on his sore and bruised stomach. "Think we need to leave this to Seth now."

"Everyone, open fire!" Both Jesse and Barry snapped their eyes to the line of police officers behind Seth that cocked their firearms. Turning their eyes to the other side, they saw another line of police officers behind Rhino, each of them cocking their guns too.

"No stop!" The Flash screamed.

But it was too late when officers pulled their triggers, unleashing hailstorms of bullets from two sides, attacking both Venom and Rhino. Aleksei groaned in annoyance at the sound of bullets connecting with his experimental armor that's practically a second layer of flesh. Seth didn't flinch, the bullets hitting his symbiotic mass, losing their momentum and falling to the ground with a clatter.

The bullets continued firing on their father. Evelyn couldn't help but pull her arrow back further, her light increasing and enveloping it. "Bastards…" Her darkness came out as she sneered in anger.

"Sis, don't do anything." Frankie surprised her with her words.

"What do you mean? Why?" Evelyn asked her sister. She didn't get a response, so she had to take in the battle scenario in front of her and on the ground. Her eyes widened when she quickly realized her father's plan. "Dad's smart." She slightly loosened her grip on her arrow, her light and darkness dissipating from her sharp-headed projectile.

"Sometimes we do forget our Dad is the more experienced hero, compared to Allen and Jesse." Ruby admitted through the comms.

Having heard their talk, Jesse looked confused. "What are you talking about, guys?"

She heard Evelyn explain. "If Dad wanted to defend himself against both Rhino and CCPD's gunfire, he would have turned his entire body to adamantium. But he only changed his head and his hands into that. Unlike with Rhino's armor where the bullets bounce off his armor and hit everything, Dad's symbiote skin is like a sponge. The bullets won't bounce off it."

"They'll lose their speed and just fall to the ground." Barry caught on. "And not hit any of the remaining civilians."

"His city hates him, yet he still protects it even if they open fire on him." Frankie said while getting people out of the street.

Venom looked around him, seeing that civilians were out of the way, and only police officers behind him and his foe, he turned to face Rhino again. "Let's end this!" Twisting his hand out of the opposing hand, he ignited flames in his right hand.

Aleksei barely got the chance to react when the flame-cloaked hand clenched into a fist that slammed into his face. The strike to his jaw disoriented him, making him groan and stagger. The villain was pushed further back when a series of swift punches connected with his face.

Seth thrusts out both hands, splitting them both into tendrils and wrapping them around Rhino's head and torso. Without giving the villain a chance to fight back, the mutant pulled him closer and assimilated his arms and slammed both fists into his stomach.

Releasing a roar from his mouth, he lifted the Earth-616 villain up and over his head. Police officers gaped their mouths in shock at the sight of one villain lifting another over his head.

Letting out another war cry, the mutant hurled Rhino to the ground. Aleksei rolled on the ground, but slammed his fist into the asphalt, straightening himself up into a crouched position. "Perfect!" He praised the elemental while digging his hand into the ground. Easily, he pulled out a boulder-sized chunk of concrete and threw it after Venom.

Before the elemental could react, Magenta jumped down in front of her father. Reeling both her arms, she stretched her fingers. She then thrusts out both arms, each one splitting into dozens of tendrils. Their tips sharpened into blades. The sharpened tendrils cut into the boulder, digging into it.

Frankie lashed out her hands, her tendrils slashing the concrete into pieces and sending them flying into the air and scattered all over the ground. Rhino smirked at the sight. "Wonderful, devochka!" He praised her, giving her a mock applause. He looked between her and Venom. "She has your eyes, Venom."

"That a good thing?" Magenta quipped with a tilted head.

"Hey!" Venom tapped the back of her head with the back of his right index finger.

Rhino growled and was about to attack. But two arrows of light hit his left shoulder, piercing into his armor and pushed him back. Eclipse appeared beside her father and sister. "Stay back, ugly." She threatened him with two arrows pulled back on her bowstring.

Aleksei was about to attack but then he felt an invisible force strike his torso, pushing him further back. "No chance…" Destroyer said, holding her blade. "He's uglier up close, actually." She admitted with a smile behind her mask.

"Funny…" Rhino's smirked widened, completely happy and intrigued by the other heroes. "More challengers, more toys to break into pieces." He cackled.

"Go for his legs…Eclipse, Magenta." Seth stepped in front of his daughters. "We'll fight him with Destroyer."

"Finally." Ruby could barely contain her excitement right now. She's getting to fight one of the most destructive villains of Earth-616 with her father. "Let's go!" She jumped in front of her father, charging for the villain.

Rhino roared, raised two clenched fists that he embedded into the ground. Pulling them back up, he tore out two huge chunks of concrete once more. He ran towards the former HYDRA assassin, swinging the two pieces of concrete at her like they're melee weapons.

Destroyer performed a backflip, dodging the first swing. When landing on the ground she spun around, avoiding the second swing. Returning to her full height, she threw her Chakram Blade. Rhino saw it coming, but it only connected with one of his horns, bouncing off it and flew back into its owner's hand.

Before the huge villain could move again, he groaned when something akin to a blinding white laser destroyed the boulder in his left hand. Rhino groaned in frustration. He saw Eclipse lower her cupped hands. He howled, reeling his left hand back before throwing the concrete boulder after her.

However, pinkish tendrils wrapped around the boulder and Magenta jumped into the air, swinging the boulder around. With her free hand, she curled her fingers and forced a car up from the ground. Her powers fought against her commands, causing the vehicle to compress itself into the form of a sphere.

Frankie then threw the metal sphere into Aleksei's head, causing him to stagger again. Having gained enough momentum, she threw the concrete boulder after the villain's left leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

Venom jumped over the enemy, slamming both adamantium feet down on his chest and pushed Rhino down on his back. "It's over now, Rhino." He snarled at the enemy, pressing down on his chest with his foot and pinned him down.

Aleksei cackled. "It's not over until one dies, tovarishch! Like them!" He reached behind him, snatching two cars. He used them like mallets, hitting Venom's head repeatedly. The blows to his head, made the mutant get off his chest.

Rhino returned to his feet and then hurled both cars over Seth's head. He, along with his daughters, saw the cars flying towards the two speedsters. Barry was still too hurt to move but Jesse wouldn't let anything happen to him. She pushed him out of the way, pushing into a pile of trash bags and she faced the cars.

But they were too close… and she couldn't have dodged them.

Thankfully… That didn't come to be.

"Sorry, Rhiny, can't happen!" A feminine voice called out, appearing in front of Jesse. The speedster saw her raise her hands… Each one of them crackled with yellow lightning.

"What the…" Jesse trailed off when she suddenly saw a big yellowish lightning-like blast emitted from them. The powerful lightning is strong enough to push the two cars away, causing them to lose their momentum and fall to the ground with a barely audible clatter.

Jesse turned her attention to the figure in front of her, as did Barry, both seeing the person turn around to face them. It's a woman in a suit that bore a resemblance to a hero recently returned home to Earth-616. It's a suit that consists of a mask that covers her entire head, except for her mouth and the top of her head, allowing her long brown hair to flow. Her eyes are covered by lenses, similar to plastic lenses. The rest of her suit's mainly black, but has a stylized red spider on her chest. Her shoulder area and arms are colored with red, carrying a black web pattern on them. Under the spider is an upside-down yellow triangle, placed in between her breasts. The same triangle is placed on the backs of both hands and on her mask forehead.

She looked into Jesse's eyes before turning to the male speedster. "You two okay?"

"Yeah." Barry nodded.

"Thanks." Jesse sighed. "Why did you save us?"

The woman smiled. "What kind of hero would let people get hurt like this?"

Venom narrowed his red eyes. "Isn't that-"

"RAWR!" Rhino punched the mutant's back, making him fall down on the ground. "Pauki come too, huh?" He cackled at that, getting her attention.

"Miss me that much, Rhiny?" The female spider-hero asked. "Sorry, but that's one-sided."

"Get off him!" Ruby jumped into the air, swinging her Chakram blade for him.

But Rhino used his horn to meet her blade. Parrying the blade, he grabbed the girl with his fist. "You're annoying!" He reeled back his other hand, clenching it to a fist and launched it for her body.

"No!" Evelyn pulled back an arrow.

"Don't you dare!" Frankie thrusts out her arms again, splitting them off into bladed tendrils and shooting for the huge villain.

"Can't have that now!" A young voice quipped, coming from the air over their heads. Rhino turned his attention to the voice and was met with a lightning-cloaked fist slamming into his face. Aleksei was pushed down to the ground, his grip on Ruby loosening and she was released.

Ruby was shocked by what happened. She only snapped out of her trance when she suddenly felt an arm wrap around her waist. Her arms instantly wrapped around the neck of the person who caught her. She released a gasp when she was suddenly on the side of a building, looking down on the fight.

Her attention was snapped back to her savior. Like the person who saved Jesse and Barry, the person who saved her is wearing a predominantly black suit. But it's not just black, it's also partly red. And just like the other hero, there's a red spider across his chest alongside a V-shape red line stretching from the groin up to his shoulders. His web-like outlines throughout his suit's torso and mask are colored red against his black color scheme. Looking down, she saw his finger joints on his gloves are red and his palms are black.

His eye lenses are white, narrowing her shocked eyes. "You're that shocked?" He quipped. "I mean, I can't see because of your mask, which is really cool. I mean, really." He raised a finger, gesturing between their masks. "Wanna switch?"

"Uh, no…" She shook her head. "Thanks for saving me."

"D-Don't mention it." The hero assured her with a stammer and a sheepish chuckle.

Seth narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Who's that?"

Rhino's growl of annoyance made the heroes face him. The former mob enforcer from Earth-616 shifted his gaze between the array of heroes standing before him. Letting out a scoff, he realized he was outnumbered and would end up the receiving end of a multitude of powerful attacks if he stayed any longer.

Facing Venom, the villain showed a smile. "Till next time, tovarishch!" Rhino raised his arms and then like mallets, slammed them both down to the ground. The strike to the ground, kicked up a dust storm that came over the entire street like a smokescreen. Seth shielded his daughters with his form whilst the others covered their eyes with their arms.

When the smokescreen dissipated before them, they all saw that somehow Rhino had disappeared. "Still an annoying magician…"

"Seth?!" The female spider-hero shouted in a whisper, getting the elemental's attention.

Looking up and down the hero, Seth widened his eyes in realization. "Jessica?!" He pointed a finger at her following his whisper.

The other heroes watched them nod their heads in confirmation, giving one another confirmation of their individual identity. Both of them pointed a finger at each other's suits.

"New suit? / New suit?" Both asked one another at the same time. The other heroes shared a look of surprise. Both Seth and Jessica let out a gasp of shock. "Like you're one to talk! / Like you're one to talk!"

The others wondered if those two even realized they're repeating each other's sentences back at each other.

Jessica laughed at their exchanged sentences. She placed her hands on her hips and admitted with a chuckle. "Looks aside, we haven't changed a bit."

"Agreed." Seth smirked. But it fell when he realized something. "But first…" He swung his head backwards, facing the wide-eyed young hero in the black and red spider-suit… Who's still holding his daughter very close! "Let go of our daughter."

"Oh, right. Of course, sir." The man in the spider-suit detached himself from the wall and let go of Destroyer. His lenses are wide-eyed at the sight of Venom. "It's… It's really you, Venom, right?"

"Yeah." Venom looked back, seeing the officers facing them still. "Let's get out of here." He faced Jessica who nodded her agreement.

They had a lot to talk about.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Wow…" Cisco's mouth was opened widely when he got a good look at the woman in the black spider suit. With her mask pulled off, she's showing off her emerald-green eyes as she looks around the Cortex. Her younger companion, had also taken off his mask, showing that's a young man of African-American heritage and he's got brown eyes.

And everyone on the team noticed that unlike his older companion, he seemed more interested in both Ruby and Seth, which didn't go unnoticed by the mutant and Caitlin.

Unlike Seth, the rest of the team seemed interested in the woman and her younger companion and what they're doing here.

"Okay!" Caitlin let out, walking out of the medbay. "Jesse, Ruby and Barry are all okay." She faced her mate. "Want me to check on you, too?" The three people she mentioned walked out of the side lab, fully treated.

"No need, I'm fine." Seth assured her.

"That's good." Caitlin nodded. She then turned her attention to Jessica. "Now that that's out the way, mind telling us who you two are?"

"Not even telling your friends about us… You're the worst, Seth." Jessica quipped and the mutant gave her a mock glare. Chuckling, she gestured to herself. "I'm Jessica Drew. But out there, in my suit, I'm Spider-Woman."

Seth turned to the younger man who looked wide-eyed to meet his eyes. "And the one who saved my daughter is…?"

"Miles Morales, sir." Miles jumped forward, shocking everyone on the team, when he rapidly and enthusiastically shook hands with the mutant, using both hands to shake his hand. "It's a pleasure- No, an honor to- to meet you, sir. I mean, Venom, I mean-"

"Seth." Seth told him. "Seth Fury is my name, Miles. And thank you for saving my daughter, Ruby."

"Ruby?" Retracting his hands, Miles turned to the girl who had her mask off, showing her long bleached-blonde hair and green eyes. "So, your name's Ruby? Pretty name…" He chuckled sheepishly.

Ruby stiffened like a board, her cheeks burning up with a bright red color. "Oh thanks… Your name's nice too." She could practically feel her entire head glow red like a lantern.

Magenta noticed that from within her host's mind. "Didn't think she'd ever get a tomato face."

"Yeah… Guess even the hard-ass assassin, Ruby Fury gets weak in the knees at the sight of a guy she likes." Frankie quipped in her thoughts.

Evelyn looked at her sister's face. "Sis, you okay? You're looking a little red there. Are you sick? Do you have a fever?"

"No!" Ruby shouted into her sister's face. "I'm fine, just… I'm fine! Just shut up!" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from her sister, her eyes ending on Miles who looked right back at her, both turning red like tomatoes.

Barry groaned in pain, but fought through it to ask the elemental. "Seth, who was that guy? Was he even human?"

"Isn't he a metahuman?" Jesse asked.

Seth could see the frustration on their faces. Both were beaten and overwhelmed by the humongous villain, and it left them in a state of defeat, making them hate themselves greatly. Sighing he closed his eyes as he called out. "Friday, bring up all you have on Aleksei Sytsevich."

"Right on, Boss." The AI accepted, bringing up all she had in her database of the villain on the monitors on the wall.

"Friday?" Miles smiled, snapping his eyes to the mutant again. "Is this a Stark Industries-issued AI?"

"That she is." Seth asked, impressed with the younger hero. "Might have to go deeper into his story soon."

"Another little weirdo, if you ask us." Venom said.

Forgoing his partner's words, as they're not useful, the mutant turned their attention to the monitors as did the others. Joe saw a profile of the villain. For some reason, his mugshot is also of him in his Rhino-like armor. "Aleksei…" He didn't even wanna try and pronounce his last name. "He's Russian?"

"Yeah, a dangerous and strong man." Seth noted.

"That's an understatement, dude. I mean he did tear down a building singlehandedly." Cisco quipped. "And that suit, what is it?"

"Yeah, doesn't look like normal Iron PJs." Wally quipped.

"Doubt anyone would have his taste." Miles quipped.

"If only it was PJs…" Seth started. "That's not just clothes or armor… Aleksei is a former Russian mob enforcer. He became known as Rhino after having an experimental armor grafted to his skin."

Iris struggled to absorb that piece of information. "You're saying that entire suit of armor is actually part of his body? It's not something he can take off or anything? It's one with him?"

Jessica answered. "Yeah, it is. And because of it, his strength is enhanced to a tremendous level and the same goes for his durability. You guys saw his strength firsthand." She looked at the speedsters. "I'm amazed by the fact you can still walk around."

Harrison looked at her. "If it weren't for you, they wouldn't be here right now. Thank you, Ms. Drew."

"Just call me Jessica, please. And even if I hadn't been there," She looked between Seth and the three young girls. "I'm sure Seth and those three would have figured something out."

"But Seth…" Cisco got his attention. "You fought this maniac before? How'd you fight him?"

"With strength and with smarts." Seth started. "Rhino's not just like other powerhouses who rely on brute strength we've fought against before, like Girder. This guy's got a crazy bloodlust too. Just alone he can demolish a city."

"And he's too big to be carried off, so neither Barry nor Jesse can't take him to another area that's less populated." Joe said.

Jessica assured him. "Don't worry, Detective West, we'll stop him. We'll find a way."

"Oh, that actually reminds me." Caitlin got their attention. She tried to keep her emotions at bay, but she couldn't help but feel a sliver of jealousy come over her and show itself on her face. Pointing between her mate and the female spider-hero she asked. "How exactly do the two of you know each other?"

"Oh right, I never gave a name back then." Seth realized and faced his mate. "Remember when I told you about Madame Web? How she feared I'd go to the Dark Side and she sent an assassin out to get my head?" Worriedly she nodded and listened along with the others. Pointing a thumb at Jessica, he answered candidly. "Meet Jessica Drew, the woman who tried to kill me at Web's orders."

"You're joking, right?" Evelyn asked her father. "She tried to kill you before and you still trust her?" She asked skeptically.

"I'm sure, Evie. Unbelievable as it might sound, Jess here did save me more than a few times back on Earth-616." Seth told his daughter. "OW!" He groaned in pain when he felt a pair of fingers pinch the side of his neck with lightning tipped fingers.

Jessica removed her fingers from his throat and countered. "What's that "unbelievable as it might sound" supposed to mean, exactly? Remember I almost killed your ass more than a few times. Only true part about your sentence was that I saved your useless ass?"

Everyone was sure they could see smoke emit from all over the mutant's body while multiple veins began popping on his forehead. "Who are you calling useless, exactly? I saved your ass more than a dozen times, moron. How about I jog your memory?" He clenched his fist, symbiotic mass enveloping it and morphed into a clawed hand that immediately ignited with flames.

Showing a smirk on her face, Jessica sparked lightning around her hand. The lightning surprised everyone else on the team. "Sounds like you need a little lesson in respecting others, Seth."

"Hold it!" Caitlin stopped her mate from attacking, placing a hand on his shoulder. When he looked over his shoulder to see her, Seth calmed down. "Babe, you need to stop getting into a fight with your old friends from 616, please. I honestly thought you were gonna attack Peter before."

"Alright, alright, I'll stand down." Seth extinguished his flames. "I'll calm down."

"Babe?" Jessica thought in surprise, her eyes glancing between the two and seeing their care and love for one another.

"Also," Harry got their attention, pointing at the lighting around Jessica's hand. "it appears like Fury; Drew is also able to use and project lightning attacks."

"Not exactly." Seth countered, shocking the Earth-2 scientist. "What Jess here uses isn't lightning like me, it's bio-electricity that she organically generates. It's not the same with me, though the results are similar, in the sense we can both utilize lightning for offensive purposes. Though last I checked…" He turned around to face Miles who looked up to meet his eyes. "Jessica is the only one to use bio-electricity. Obviously, my information is outdated, it seems." The young spider-hero widened his eyes when he heard the impressiveness in his voice.

"Oh, Peter never told you when he was here?" Jessica gestured to the young hero. "Peter's been training someone to become the next Spider-Man… None other than Miles Morales." Seth raised an eyebrow. "Don't be so shocked, pal. Miles here might surpass me, Peter and you one day."

"Is that so…" Seth faced Miles again, who looked like he's about to pass out from shock. Showing a soft and calm smile, he said. "If Peter vouches for you, you have my respect, Miles."

"I-I do?" Miles stammered, pointing at himself in disbelief.

"Course you do… Plus, you did save my daughter after all. I respect you for that and I'm grateful to you for that, Miles." Seth honestly told the younger hero.

"Daughter?" Jessica thought in shock. She faced the girl Miles saved. "Wait, Seth, is that one your daughter?"

"One of them, yeah. That's Ruby." Seth pointed to Ruby who nodded her greeting. "Then we have Evelyn." Evelyn showed a peace sign with her fingers. "And Frankie." Frankie waved her hand. "They're my and Caitlin's daughters."

"Hey." Caitlin greeted her.

Jessica faced her and paled because… For a second, she thought she saw an old friend of hers that had long since passed away because of a murderer. "Stef…" She blinked her eyes and she once again saw Caitlin Snow. "Nice to meet you all."

Caitlin noticed her strange hesitation. She put it aside to return to the matter of dealing with Rhino. "Now that's out of the way, how exactly are we gonna deal with Rhino?"

The reporter faced the 616 heroes. "You guys fought him before? How'd you win?"

"With strength and with smarts." Seth repeated. "Rhino's strong but he's a brute at best. Brute strength is forte but in numbers we can handle him -"

"Oh! Like that time, you fought Rhino on Brooklyn Bridge with Peter?" Miles declared, getting shocked eyes from Seth and Ruby. "That was so awesome! I mean, you saved an entire bus of kids and a car of four people while fighting that guy."

His sudden interruption shocked Seth greatly. He didn't expect to be reminded of a past adventure of his or how such a young man showed him such admiration.

"What is he talking about?" Jesse asked.

Before Miles could reply to her Ruby answered. "It was a fight Dad had against Rhino. Guy was attacking people randomly on Brooklyn Bridge. He was practically bulldozering his way through the bridge. But Spider-Man and Dad stopped him."

"Yeah, exactly!" Miles couldn't contain his excitement now. "Venom fought back against Rhino, but he had to stop when a bus of kids was about to fall off the bridge on one side, a car on the other side was about to fall off too, but he stopped them both."

"And behind him, Spider-Man saved other civilians." Ruby continued. "Rhino continued his rampage, but Dad stopped him with attacks to his head, making him focus on him instead of civilians. But Dad didn't fight after that because he waited for Spider-Man to get the other civilians behind him away."

"And Venom tanked all of Rhino's attacks. He stood his ground and didn't even flinch when fists kept raining down on him." Miles smiled widely. "It was like Rhino was trying to break down an impenetrable, unmoving wall with no success. It was so epic."

"Both of them are correct." Seth confirmed with a smile. "But I had to break a section of the bridge, so Rhino fell into the water under the bridge. When Peter saved the people from the bus I held up, I followed Rhino into the water and fought him in the water. That was hard."

He wasn't surprised with how Ruby knew of his adventures; she's repeatedly told the entire team of her admiration of him as an anti-hero while she was growing up. But Miles was different. "Miles, how do you know about that?"

"Miles knows all of you and Peter's adventures from Earth-616. He's your number one fanboy." Jessica cheekily stated. Miles scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "He knows them all like the back of his hand."

"Kinda like Rubs, huh?" Caitlin glanced at Ruby who kept her shocked eyes glued on Miles.

Barry then said. "But he's gone now, so we have to wait and be ready when he appears again."

"I got to go, CCPN is gonna want the scoop on this one." Iris declared, moving to the exit.

"I'll give you a ride." Joe said, following his daughter. "Wally, wanna come with?"

"No, not yet dad." Wally said when glancing at Jesse.

Joe followed his eyes and understood with a nod. He shared a look with Seth. "Keep me updated, partner." The mutant replied with a nod of his own as the Wests walked towards the exit.

Seth looked at Caitlin. "Cait, Jessica and Miles don't have a place to stay? You mind if they stay at our place?"

"Course not, they're your friends after all." Caitlin said. "But you go on ahead, I have to stay and wait for Ruby's results to finish."

"Okay." Seth accepted. "Wanna see my home?"

Jessica smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."

X

(Mercury Labs)

"So, he's from your world too?" Eliza asked from her desk, her eyes pointing at the television screen that showed the live footage of Rhino attacking Jesse Quick and The Flash. "He's powerful."

"Against those two, of course." Taskmaster agreed while checking his energy firearm thoroughly. "If the spiders or Venom hadn't interfered, Rhino would have impaled them both and killed them."

Eliza turned in her chair, facing the master mercenary. "You sound sure?"

"I've seen Sytsevich work before." He holstered the firearm. Taskmaster narrowed his eyes on the strange machine working over the alien mass he extracted from Venom. While still in the huge glass ball that's mixing and turning the blood-mixed symbiotic mass, it still showed a myriad of colors that didn't appear similar to Venom's or Spider-Man's. "You're not gonna pay, are you?"

"What?" Eliza asked, shocked by his words.

Taskmaster turned around, making his way to the exit. "I did my job, I didn't get paid, I'm leaving."

"I said I'd pay you!" Eliza jumped out of her chair.

"With money?" The mercenary asked as he continued to walk.

"No, with something better, the chance to actually defeat Venom." Eliza's words made him stop in his tracks. "If I can get this working the possibilities are endless!" Taskmaster looked over his shoulder. "Think about it. With symbiotes the prosthetic world can be revolutionized." She looked awestruck at the symbiote mass that she's containing in the glass sphere.

Her fingers touch the surface of the glass, running over it gently as though she's afraid the glass itself is gonna break. "When given the proper catalyst it can take the form of anything we want it to. A hand, a foot… anything. It's an impenetrable prosthetic and gives you unimaginable strength. No one would ever have to be hurt and feel the pain of not having a limb now."

"And…" Taskmaster knew there was more to her words than just a nice sales pitch.

"And the power of elements themselves." Eliza said in a sinister tone. The mercenary's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Think about it, this symbiote mass is a piece of Venom himself. According to you, he's been around for years, elements and all. Means that there's a chance that these elements are coded into this DNA. I just have to unlock it. and anyone who uses this symbiote will have the powers of Venom."

"And I'm the guinea pig." Taskmaster deduced. "You want me to have those powers, that symbiote?"

Eliza smiled. "You wanted your payment, right? Well, there it is."

Taskmaster's eyes continued to be narrowed, almost glaring at the scientist. "Powers… Like Venom's…" He muttered in shock, facing the sphere. "You can give me those?"

The scientist could see the gears in his mind turning. "You told me you've never been able to beat him, to defeat Venom once and for all. But work with me, I'll be able to make you just as powerful as Venom. Or maybe even stronger."

"… You can do that?" He asked skeptically.

"Yeah… I need help, though." Eliza said, her eyes pointing at the sphere.

"I can give you that, if you keep up your end." Taskmaster walked towards the exit again.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked him in confusion, shooting up from her chair and walking after her…

Neither of them noticed the glass sphere shaking more from its contents fighting its confines.

"To get you your help." He answered vaguely before leaving the lab.

"Help…?" Eliza retook her seat again. Smart as she is, she couldn't understand how a mercenary from another world would be able to find help on this Earth. He's a stranger in this city. Aside from her…

Did he actually know anyone who could work on this matter?

Or is she wrong?

Strangely enough… the sphere stopped shaking and had calmed down as though it was urgently worried before….

X

(Snow-Fury Loft)

"Nice place you got." Jessica said while walking over to the couch. As she admired the apartment loft, she took a seat on the couch, crossing her legs. Seth brought his daughters home along with Jessica and Miles, where they both changed into normal clothes.

His daughters walked into their bedrooms and Miles decided to get some fresh air. That last one did ease Seth's mind because he was worried about him and Ruby getting closer.

"Thanks." Seth closed the fridge with a tendril. He walked to the couch and handed her a beer. "Here."

"Thanks." She accepted the bottle and opened it. Jessica saw the mutant open a bottle for himself and take a sip. Reciprocating, she took a sip of her own bottle. "You really got that life now."

"What do you mean?" Seth leant back in his seat.

Gesturing to the rest of the living room, the pictures and the kitchen, she said. "The family life, the work life, the hero life… Best of three worlds, all in one package. Including those three kids of yours, they're great."

Pointing a finger at her, Seth stated seriously. "You're not babysitting them. Made that mistake with you and Peter when you babysat Bucky."

Jessica gave him a look. "Oh, come on, that little bugger loved that web swing Peter and I made."

"I was referring to the time you two literally webbed my son to the wall like he was some sort of mural." Seth reminded the spider-hero. "Oh yeah, what about Miles here? Why were you with him when you showed up?"

"Peter asked me to mentor him in Venom Blasts while he's out on some SHIELD mission with some of the Avengers." Jessica explained.

"Venom Blasts?" Seth wondered.

The spider-hero answered. "That's what he calls his bio-electricity." She sparked lightning on her fingers. "I've started using the same name, actually."

"Pretty funny that Miles is a fan of mine." Seth chuckled.

"He knows everything about your adventures, so does that girl of yours, Ruby." Jessica leant forward, facing the mutant with a curious look. "How's that possible? The others didn't seem to know a thing about your life from Earth-616. But she did."

"Ruby's from Earth-616, like us. But she's from the year 2018." Seth shocked her with his sentence. "Ruby was kidnapped from her timeline by an evil speedster who took an overdose of a speed drug, drastically increasing his speed and causing him to run into the future of a distant Earth."

"That's bonkers even for our standards." Jessica took a sip of her beer.

"What if I said Ruby's actually the daughter of General Hale and was trained to be a HYDRA assassin, who looked up to me and studied all of my adventures growing up?"

Once those words were registered, Jessica almost did a spit-take, coughing up all of her alcohol from shock. "You serious?" She asked, wiping off alcohol from her mouth.

"Deadly." Seth assured with a nod. "But she's changed and she's my daughter now. Hope there's no hard feelings, Jess." Seth knows she's got an unpleasant history with the international terrorist organization.

"It's a shock, sure, but I'm fine. She's your daughter, after all, old friend." The spider-hero told him. "What about that Caitlin girl of yours?" She smiled cheekily.

"What about her?" The mutant asked, his mouth never leaving his beer bottle.

"She reminds me of Stef." This time Jessica shocked him with her sentence. "I mean, she can actually make your stone-ass face smile, which most of us thought was impossible." She chuckled. Seth removed his bottle and showed a smile. "She's special."

"More than you think." Seth admitted. "Caitlin's all that and more. I don't ever wanna live a life that's without Caitlin Snow, to be honest."

"Sounds like you're in love." She joked and he responded with a sarcastic laugh.

"Yeah, wait till you see them together, Ms. Drew. They're so cheesy." Frankie quipped, jumping down from the staircase and landing on the floor. Her father gave her a mock glare while Jessica laughed. The ferrokinetic looked around. "Mom's still not back, Dad?"

"No, think she's still going over Ruby's bloodwork." Seth lowered his beer, placing it on the table. "I'm gonna go and check on her, see if she needs a helping hand." He got up. "And Frankie? That move you did back there against Rhino's boulder?"

Frankie faced her father, giving him her undivided attention. Seth smiled, showing a thumbs up of approval and impressiveness. "That was an awesome move of using your arms to attack."

"Thanks… Think I understood what you meant by using Magenta's powers." Frankie clenched her hand to empathize. "She's not her Dad, she's not Venom… She's his daughter and has more powers than him. She's better than him, stronger than him. I have to rely on her powers."

"Keep the compliments coming, Frankie. I ain't complaining." Magenta boasted.

"Feels like we're being looked down on, actually." Venom admitted.

Frankie faced her father. "Don't worry, Dad, I'll surpass you one day, I swear."

"Keep that up, kiddo." Seth smiled. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out. Opening it up, he saw that it's a message from Caitlin. "Your Mom wants me to come to S.T.A.R. Labs, I'm gonna go and help her out." Frankie nodded her acceptance as he walked towards the nearest open window. "I'm gonna regret this, but Jess, keep an eye on my kids, okay?"

"Sure." Jessica said, thought inwardly annoyed by his words. Knowing full well he annoyed her, he triumphantly reached the window and jumped out of it. The spider-hero chuckled. "He still jumps out of windows like me? Damn except for his new look and that sword, he's still the same old Seth."

Frankie walked over to the couch. "Ms. Drew, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Frankie, but stop calling Ms. Drew, would you? Jessica's fine." She told the young ferrokinetic. "What's on your mind?"

She took a seat on the couch on the opposite side. "I'm worried about Dad… The city, the police hate him, even some of our teammates do, but Dad's not acting any differently, like it doesn't bother him. Did something like this ever happen on Earth-616?"

"Guess neither your old man nor your sister's said anything, huh?" She said, her eyes catching sight of both Evelyn and Ruby walking down the staircase. "I can tell you all if you want?" Jessica offered the young heroes, all three nodded.

"Here goes nothing…" She thought to herself before starting her explanation.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Caitlin tapped the desk worriedly. At this point, it was a miracle that her desk surface was unscratched after having tapped on it for the hundredth time or more even. She finally got a result from the tests that she took for Ruby… and the results worried her.

She thought she was misinterpreting the results and refreshed the results, trying to get another result that wouldn't worry her so much. Alas, it ended up as the original result, showing her the most worrisome results she's ever seen.

She had to ask Seth to come and join her, hopefully the two of them together would be able to clear up the confusion she's harboring inside of her.

"Come on, Seth. Where are you?" She muttered, her eyes facing the clock on the corner of the screen. Caitlin sent her message two minutes ago, and she felt like that was more than enough time for him to come to her side. "Where are you?" She chanted, biting her lower lip in worry and out of habit.

"Cait!" Seth called out when entering the Cortex through the open skylight. He landed on his feet, snapping his head around till he found her. Their eyes met and he saw a tremendous amount of confusion and worry residing in her eyes. "Cait, what's wrong?" He all but rushed into the side lab.

"It's Ruby… Something's wrong." Caitlin gulped.

"What?" He asked in concern.

Caitlin faced the computer and Seth followed the direction of her eyes. Both of them saw the screen displaying the results of Ruby's bloodwork in the form of a DNA sequence. It was her unique sequence as it showed signs of Gravitonium.

… But it was clearer now than ever and showed that there was something strange in her DNA…

"Ruby's DNA sequence is different from before." Seth asked, focusing his eyes on the screen and hoping he's wrong. "What does it look so different from before?"

"I remember how it looked pre-Flashpoint, and it looked nothing like this." Caitlin confessed. "I thought it was because of the dark matter that came directly from the Speed Force. Now it's cleaner but still strange."

"What does this mean?" Seth placed a hand on his forehead. "Does this mean… Ruby had more than just Gravitonium injected into his body, like cellular modification? But how?"

"I don't think that's the case." Caitlin shook her head, getting her mate's attention. "I think something else happened to Ruby, maybe at birth or before. It'd explain why her DNA sequence is so strange and different from a human or a metahuman's DNA. But I don't know… What does this say about Ruby?"

"It doesn't change anything. She's our daughter, no matter what. Our kid." Seth adamantly said. "Nothing's changed. She's our child. So what she's different on a strange level? Doesn't mean anything."

"I agree…" Caitlin faced him. "But that doesn't mean nothing. What do we do?" She asked her mate who was shocked by the question being directed at him. "Seth, Ruby connects to you better than me. She opens up more to you since you're from the same universe and she's your idol."

"That might be…" Seth rubbed his chin. "But even so, this was before she met either of us, when she was nothing more than General Hale's and HYDRA-" Realization hit him like a lightning bolt. "HYDRA!"

"What?" Caitlin asked in shock and confusion by his exclamation. "What do you mean "Hydra"?"

"It's a blessing in disguise that Jessica showed up on this Earth." Seth admitted. Without even looking at her, he knew Caitlin's confused and he answered. "Ruby's entire history was from HYDRA Preparatory Academy, where her mother was trained as well. She was raised there to be the Destroyer of Worlds, a HYDRA project. So only HYDRA would know about this project, about Ruby."

"So how does Jessica fit into this mess?" Caitlin asked, her confusion still holding strong.

"Long story short, Jess has history with HYDRA for a time. She was their assassin, too for a time, and she partook in some of their projects, she might know about this." Seth answered.

"Okay, get her to come. We need her help now." She urgently told him.

Seth nodded and walked out of the lab. "Seth, wait!" He came to a stop, looking at her. "What do we do with this information? We tell Ruby?"

"Yeah, we do… When we understand it. But it doesn't change how we feel about our daughter." He stated adamantly.

"You're right." Caitlin nodded her agreement. "She's our child."

Their love for their daughter hadn't changed a single bit. Though something bizarre about their child had been revealed to them, their feelings for Ruby hadn't changed. As parents they love their children unconditionally. Though HYDRA might have had something done to their daughter, it wouldn't make them stop loving her.

Not now, not ever…

Suddenly the parents looked up when alarms crazily blared over their heads. "Bad timing as always, Central City." Seth slapped his own face in annoyance. "Friday, what's the situation?"

"Attack on a Mercury Labs storage unit in downtown, Boss. Zero casualties, hundred percent destruction." The AI announced.

"Go." Caitlin ordered Seth, telling him to jump into action. "Save the city, get info from Jessica and then we help our daughter."

"Alright." Seth walked to the open skylight. "Friday, call Jessica Drew, have her meet me at the site of the attack. No one else comes." He jumped out of it in one jump.

"Friday, make sure our daughters aren't following them too." Caitlin told the AI. "They need to talk about this alone."

X

The mutant swung through the air, using tendrils like web-lines to swing through the air. He released the tendrils and spiraled into the air, landing on the side of a skyscraper and ran on it like an animal.

With the shocking information he just received from his mate, it was easier for Seth to act as an animal rather than the person he's become. He didn't know how else to deal with the fact that his daughter might not be a human…

"Does it bother you?" Venom asked when hearing his host's thoughts.

"No, of course not. She's our daughter… But… It worries me that HYDRA did more than just prepare her for this Destroyer of Worlds mess." Seth replied while jumping off the skyscraper, resuming his swing with tendrils shooting out the backs of his hands. "I hate not knowing what's going on right now."

"What we do every day when we're in the field is not knowing what's going on, Seth." Venom started. "And more than anything, we've faced off against HYDRA before in our past, old friend. We both know that those monsters are evil, unpredictable and dangerous… What they've done to people, good people, innocent people… It's unforgivable."

Seth couldn't disagree with his "other". HYDRA has a long, long, long history of doing unspeakable things to people, those within their wide circles, those outside their circles, even those they consider enemies. It was impossible to count the atrocious things the terrorism organization's done to the world.

"But whatever happened to Ruby, we'll figure it out and take care of it." Venom told his host. "Like you said, doesn't change how we feel about her."

"Yeah, you're right." Seth swung higher up into the air, landing on the edge of the rooftop before running on it. "Thanks Venom… Now I just hope Jessica can shed some light on this matter."

"Hey!" As if on cue, the mutant turned his head and saw Jessica swinging right beside him. "You called me, what's the deal?" She asked while shooting out web-lines and swinging alongside the elemental.

"Attack on a storage unit owned by Mercury Labs. Need to see if it's Rhino. We need to take a look, we're the better option against him."

"I wouldn't count those girls of yours out, or Miles for that matter. Speaking of, he's gonna be waiting at S.T.A.R. Labs. He's got thousands of questions ready for you when you get back, man." Normally Jessica would have expected a response from him after those words, but strangely enough he didn't answer and only faced ahead. "Something wrong, Seth?"

"We need to talk… after seeing what happened at that storage place." Seth replied, wind emanating from his entire body and catapulting him forward when swinging again.

"Oh, okay." Jessica definitely knew there was something bothering him. Something that clearly involved her and that confused her. Performing a trick of her own, bio-electricity emitted around her entire body, increasing her agility and swinging faster after the elemental.

In a few short minutes, the two Earth-616ers arrived at the site of the attack. They watched the scene from the opposite building, seeing the storage unit… or what's left of it, anyway. The metal doors were all but caved in, and the brick walls of it were torn off, thrown off and shattered all around the surrounding area. The ground around the storage area was broken and shattered from humongous feet that had stepped into it.

"Rhino did this alright." Jessica confidently said. She narrowed her eyes, her lenses zooming in on the beaten and smashed storage unit that was surrounded by a dozen police officers and forensic scientists from CCPD. "Maybe he needed to snatch a last-minute project to display at the Central City Science Fair." She quipped.

"Wonder why he'd attack this place-"

WHOOSH

"Is he gone?!" Both Venom and Spider-Woman turned their heads, coming face to face with the panting and exhausted face of Jesse Quick. While the 616ers were shocked at the sight of her, Jesse herself walked to the edge and looked around with her head snapping left and wing. "Rhino's gone. Damn it!"

"Jesse." Seth got her attention, her face flushed with sweat. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I want to defeat Rhino, once and for all." Jesse exclaimed, but it mixed in with her panting of exhaustion.

Jessica walked forward. "Jesse, calm down. Take a couple of breaths, would you? It'd be best for us all." The female speedster sighed and reluctantly obliged to her words, taking a few breaths to steady and calm herself. "Good. Now as you can see, Rhino's already made his getaway and left that place in shambles. So, here's a job for you."

Jesse listened closely as the senior hero explained. "It's not safe for me and Seth to go down there since I'm unknown and the big oaf's got a price on his empty head." Venom scowled his annoyance, sticking his tongue out in retaliation. "Go down there, scout and see what's happened, anything out of the ordinary you check and report back to us."

"Okay, I will." Jesse nodded, speeding away the next moment.

Whistling her impressiveness, Jessica placed both hands on her hips and spoke. "That girl's got gusto if nothing else. Her powers aren't too shabby either."

"But she's in regret right now, which is why she sped up here to begin with." Jessica was surprised when she heard Seth's real voice. "We need to talk now, Jessica."

"What is it?" She asked the mutant.

Seth clenched his hands, which didn't go unnoticed by the spider-hero, he had to ask a very hard question from her, even though it might cause some harsh memories to resurface.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Wow!" Miles shouted, crawling on the ceiling of the Cortex. From his vantage point, he admired the Cortex, looking down at the natives of this world and Seth's daughters… Mostly Ruby.

Of the natives are Detective Joe West, Wally, Barry, Cisco. Caitlin remained seated by a computer, her mouth constantly letting out giggles when she and Evelyn and Frankie see Ruby blushing while keeping her eyes glued on Miles.

The wall-crawler is clad in an open gray hoodie and a T-shirt along with blue pants. He looked down at the natives again, this time seeing Cisco, Barry and Wally examining his suit that he took off a few moments ago. "Uh, please don't touch my suit too much. It took a while to make it." He asked politely.

Cisco scoffed, pointing at the spider-hero with a screwdriver while his face is accompanied by an insulted look. "Don't worry, young padawan, I'd never do that. But seriously your suit is awesome."

"Yeah, no kidding." Barry admired the suit. "Did Peter make you this?"

"Initially a gift, yeah." Miles let go of the ceiling. "But after a while, I changed it to fit me… to be more me, you know. I had help, but this is the end result." He said.

"It's a cool suit." Ruby muttered, and it was registered by the young wall-crawler, his face turning beet red in response to her comment.

Caitlin noted this with a raise of her eyebrow.

"You actually changed this?" Wally asked with a gesture to the suit, somewhat skeptically and also in surprise. "For real?"

"Had help but yeah, I did." He nodded. "I'm proud of it, so please don't break it." He practically pleaded.

Frankie faced the three of them. Holding up her hand, she flicked her finger and the screwdriver in Cisco's hand and pulled it into her hand. The three faced her with disbelief. "Don't mess with his suit. Dad's gonna be pissed." That made them back off.

Evelyn looked at her sister. "Really think you should use our Dad as a threat like this?"

"Why not? Can't argue with the results, right?" The ferrokinetic pointed at the three guys who backed away from Miles's suit.

Miles once again looked around, taking in the place. "But seriously this place is pretty cool. It's nice to have a base of operations like this one here."

Caitlin noticed his words and reminded him. "Miles, you were here yesterday. Why are you acting like it's the first time you see our base?"

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, he admitted embarrassedly. "Guess I was too focused on Seth being here." He giggled. "Speaking of when is he gonna be back? I kinda have like a few… thousand questions to ask him."

Caitlin laughed at that confession. "He's out on a mission right now with Jessica. They'll be back in a few, then you'll be able to ask him anything you want." She saw him thrust his fists into the air in victory. "You must really admire Seth, huh?"

"Of course!" Miles all but shouted. "I mean, he's like one of the coolest heroes on my Earth. He looks like a villain but is actually a hero and fights to protect innocents. He's awesome. Him and Peter protected my neighborhood so many times I lost count. Any troublemakers regretted everything when standing before those two."

"One's a quippy spider-combatant hero, the other's an elemental, stoic Lethal Protector." Ruby continued with a smile. "Complete opposites, yet they work together hand-in-hand like brothers-in-arms."

Miles nodded with a smile. "Pete's always described your Dad that day, like a brother. I've wanted to meet him for a long time." He felt himself get redder from holding eye contact with the gravity manipulator, forcing him to turn around to find something else to divert his attention to. He settled on the mannequin with Barry's suit. "Is that…safe?"

Cisco feigned hurt. "Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?"

"It's just…" Miles didn't know how to state the obvious. "There's no security here." He admitted.

"That is true, people waltz in here every day like they own the place. And absolutely no one makes a damn effort to change it." Ruby admitted, her own face red from both frustration and also from catching Miles's glances that are aimed at her.

"Yeah, it really doesn't sound safe." Miles admitted. "I mean, hasn't Seth said something to this before?"

"Repeatedly, yeah." The detective replied with a chortle. "Man, Seth better watch out when he sees this kid. He'll talk his head off when they have some alone time."

Feeling cheeky, Caitlin raised herself from her chair and looked at Ruby. "Rubs, how about you bring Miles to the Cave? Might be nice for him to see your training grounds."

Ruby blinked rapidly. "M-M-me?" She stuttered. Her mother gave a wink. "Okay, fine, if you say so, Mom." She faked reluctance and waved the wall-crawler over. "You up for it?"

"Definitely!" Miles admitted, jumping over the console to follow Ruby who smiled at his enthusiasm.

When assured they are out of hearing distance, Evelyn faced her mother. "Didn't know matchmaker was part of your job description, Mom."

Boastingly she flicked her brown locks and joked. "I am a woman of many talents, after all, Evie." Both her daughters laughed in response to her quip.

"Jesse?!" Harry screamed, running through the hallways and into the Cortex. He looked around frantically in search. "Have you guys seen Jesse?"

Joe answered. "Yeah, she's out with Seth and Jessica right now, canvassing the site of Rhino's latest attack on a mercury storage facility."

"What?!" Harrison shouted. "Why didn't she tell me? Why is she out there to begin with?"

"What are you worried about, Harry? Jesse's gonna be awesome." Wally stated.

"I know that West, of course I know that. I raised her, but this Aleksei maniac almost killed Allen and could very well kill my daughter!" Harry screamed.

"Not with Seth and Jessica out there." Caitlin argued. "Those two won't let anything happen to her no matter what."

"How? Do you know that for sure, Snow? You don't know Drew. How can you trust her?" Harrison rapidly fired off his questions.

"Cause Seth trusts her!" Caitlin shouted. "Don't care what you think of him, but I trust him with all of my heart. And I know he wouldn't let anything happen to Jesse, not as long as he has a say in the matter." She gave him a look. "Something I thought you'd have realized by now."

She walked around the console, walking into the medbay.

"Honestly…" Frankie got Harry's attention. "For a smart guy, you're awfully stupid if you don't understand my Mom's words." She followed her mother.

"What?" Harry asked.

Evelyn sighed. "Have you already forgotten that Dad had a chance to come back to Frankie, Mom, be with his family, with me and Ruby too, but chose to stay behind on Earth-2 to help and save the world that you and your daughter calls home. Not to mention, he also saved your daughter. Doesn't sound like a villain to me, Wells." She went with her mother and sister.

Harrison… He bit his lower lip, unsure of how to respond now.

X

Wind continued to blow over their faces, causing Jessica's long hair to flow in the air and Seth's shorter hair to stand up. They've been standing on the rooftop for a while now, just staring into one another's eyes.

Jessica's eyes held confusion.

Seth's eyes held both determination… and worry.

When she registered those two emotions in his eyes, Jessica didn't know how to feel about them. Except making her grow concerned for the mutant. "What's wrong, Seth? You look like someone killed your favorite pet."

"Never had a pet before, they're terrified of me." Seth reminded her, the symbiote inside of him would forever bar him from ever having a pet. "But that's not important right now, or is it what I want to talk to you about." He inched closer to her. "I need to ask you something."

"Okay." Jessica nodded.

"Not gonna lie to you, it's hard. It's gonna resurface some old, hard memories… open up old wounds again." Seth warned her.

Those words would have worried anyone else, but Jessica continued to grow concerned for the questions he's got loaded in his chamber. "Drop the suspense, Seth, what's the deal? Tell me."

"… You know how I said Ruby's HYDRA assassin, General Hale's daughter?" Jessica nodded. Seth asked. "She… Something's weird about her DNA. And it's prior to meeting me and Caitlin, so from her Earth-616 life."

"And she's part of HYDRA, I get that." Jessica knew it's about that awful HYDRA terrorism group now.

"… Tell me everything you know about the HYDRA project Destroyer of Worlds." Seth demanded.

That name caused Jessica's eyes to expand to planetary levels. She hasn't heard that name in a long time. "You know that name? How?" She asked. She hadn't heard that name since her time as HYDRA's assassin. One name out of many.

"That was Ruby's training, her entire goal." Seth said. "She trained herself, studied harder than anyone since she was a kid to become the Destroyer of Worlds, as though it was her one and only purpose in life. It changed when she met me on Earth-2. It's where she got the name of Destroyer… From me, after hearing her origin."

"It's more than her origin." Jessica muttered, Seth heard it and widened his eyes. Sighingly, she walked to the edge of the rooftop, looking over the city with a heavy look as she started. "I know everything about the Destroyer of Worlds project, Seth. You're not gonna like what you're about to hear."

"It's about my daughter, I'll like it if it can help me understand her better." Seth followed her to the edge. "Please tell me."

Jessica nodded. "While I was their assassin, I made the most of my time and took a look at their projects. Amongst them was the Winter Soldier Program, the Centipede Project, Project Deathlok… as well as Destroyer of Worlds." Seth listened as her explanation began, his attention solely focused on her and her words.

"Destroyer of Worlds was a project that Daniel Whitehall, a HYDRA head made. It was one of HYDRA's many attempts to create a super soldier that'd finally surpass Captain America. This one took a different approach than the others. With this project, Whitehall intended to recreate a super soldier by designing an individual capable of taking on the properties of any known material."

"Seriously?" Seth feared the possibilities of that project being brought to fruition. "Can't be, right? Sounds like Carl Creel." He recalled the bare-fist fighter that has the ability to absorb the properties of any material he came in contact with.

"He was just a test subject." She revealed.

Seth widened his eyes, quickly inquiring. "Wait, does this mean Ruby's the result?"

"Apparently, in a sense, at least." Jessica answered vaguely. She faced him and understood the evident confusion on his face. She explained. "From what I gathered back then, Whitehall and the other heads were intrigued by the strength of one of their students from HYDRA Prep… Guess who?"

"Ruby wouldn't have been born by that time, so it must have been her mother, General Hale." Seth deduced. "But Rubs never mentioned anything about her mom being subjected to the project."

"In the general's time, the project would have only been started, nowhere near ready for use." Jessica stated. She gulped and spoke. "But something else stood out in the files on this project… Which scared me really. Apparently, this member, General Hale in her younger days… she was selected to be artificially inseminated and give birth to their perfect human specimen to be the Destroyer of Worlds."

"B-B-b…" Seth trailed off, his mouth opening and left gaping open. "That means…"

"Yeah…" Jessica gulped, swallowing a huge amount of saliva. "I think-"

"I was created to be a weapon." Both Seth and Jessica snapped their heads around, facing the direction of the familiar voice. Their eyes expanded in shock when they saw…

…Ruby and Miles standing there…

Unlike the spider-hero, the gravity manipulator had her mask taken off and shock was clad to her face like a second skin.

"Rub-" Seth was cut off when he saw her step back, her hand letting go of the mask. Ruby turned around, a single tear rolled down her cheek, her gravity powers erupting from her entire body and catapulting her off the rooftop. The entire building shook from the force, making all three heroes jump off it and stick to any nearby surface they could find.

Once finding a place to land on, Seth looked up to find his daughter. Only to see she was nowhere to be found. "Ruby!" He screamed.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Seth sat in a chair; his face covered by his hands. He, Miles, Jesse and Jessica returned to S.T.A.R. Labs where they divulged the news of Ruby's origin to the rest of the team. Iris had come to join them as well, having seen news of the latest attack on a Mercury Labs storage unit. But the reporter, like the rest, was shocked to hear of Ruby's life.

Caitlin struggled to fathom the news she just received about her daughter. Chosen to be the perfect candidate to create the perfect host to be the ultimate supers soldier, Ruby's mother was artificially inseminated to give birth to Ruby, who'd become the Destroyer of Worlds. She couldn't believe that an organization like HYDRA would actually go to such inhumane lengths to create the ultimate weapon like this. And from what she heard from her mate and Jessica; this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Frankie and Evelyn didn't know how to react or what to even say. Their sister was birthed so she could become this weapon of mass destruction. Ever since they became a family, they knew that Ruby was their mother and HYDRA's assassin with deadly skills. They've heard the stories of what happened on her Earth, in her timeline, where she was able to cut off the arms of a person with speedster-like powers with her Chakram blade.

But that was not important now, they just wanted their sister back just like their parents wanted their daughter back.

"Can't believe it." Joe clenched his hand in anger. "HYDRA did this to Ruby's birth Mom, just so they could have a super weapon."

"One out of numerous atrocious things HYDRA's done." Seth declared, running his hands down his face. "And Ruby heard it and she ran off to who knows where now."

"God, Ruby…" Caitlin said in horror. "She must be out of her mind right now, thinking that she's not a human or something."

"Which would be accurate." Harry muttered.

Seth and Caitlin glared at him, but Miles shouted before they could say anything. "DNA doesn't make a human!" The parents of Ruby snapped their attention to the young spider-hero with surprise. "Ruby's just as much human as the rest of us here, Dr. Wells. Just as much as you and your family. Ruby's a human, don't ever say anything that states the opposite."

Harrison backed down… He didn't feel like saying anything else, he might say something that could end up with him being hunted down like a dog… By Seth.

"Miles." The hero faced Seth with a stiffened body. But he relaxed when he saw the smile on the mutant's face. "Thanks for that. Means a lot."

"Of course." Miles gulped before saying. "I feel like I should apologize for going out with Ruby before, Dr. Fury. She was worried and wanted to show me the city and it ended up with us getting close to your location. We overheard what you said… I'm sorry."

"I feel responsible too." Jessica declared, her right hand grabbing onto her left forearm. "I'm sorry for this, Seth."

"Neither of you need to apologize for this." Caitlin told the spider-heroes. "You did nothing wrong. If anything, it's my-"

"Nor did you do anything wrong, Cait." Seth cut her off. "You were just being her mother, and worried about her after she used gravity to shake herself and had a nosebleed." That piece of news shocked the others on the team. "No one is to blame for this, alright. Me and Caitlin were worried about Ruby as we are her parents, which is why we looked into this strange thing we saw in her DNA. That's why I sought out Jessica who had more information on HYDRA than me."

"But what do we do now, Dad?" Frankie asked her father for guidance.

Getting up from his seat, he said. "Long shot now, but we're gonna go to places that she frequents."

Caitlin quickly thought of such places and stated. "That'd be home, school, training grounds, Jitters and the Badlands."

Evelyn gritted her teeth. "Not a whole lot of places to search at."

"But it's a start." Caitlin said, putting on her jacket. "I'll check at home and school, ask our neighbors and any of her classmates if they've seen her recently."

"I'll take places that are farther away." Evelyn declared, walking off to get her suit.

"Me too." Frankie said, her form already being enveloped by her symbiotic mass and leaped out of the open skylight.

"I'm gonna go, too." Seth turned around.

"Seth, wait." Barry made him stop and turn his head to face him. "Are you sure about going out by yourself? We still have Rhino out here to take care."

"My daughter takes priority before that bastard in iron PJs. Jessica and Miles will be more than enough to help you guys out while me and my family find Ruby." Seth countered. "Family first, Flash. Always that with me."

"Wait, Seth." Miles called out to him. "Let me come as well, please."

"No, Miles. I want you to stay with the others and help them." Seth said adamantly. Tendrils shot out of his back and slingshot him through the skylight and into the open air.

"Miles." Joe got his attention. "He's gonna be fine… and so is Ruby. Trust Seth."

"I do… But I'm just worried about her." Miles confessed. He couldn't stop his feelings of concern for the gravity manipulator.

Just the thought of her getting hurt… caused his heart to ache in pain.

X

(CCPD)

"Think Seth's gonna be okay?" Barry asked Joe as both are in the elevator of the police precinct. They returned to the police station to work on the latest attack on the Mercury storage unit.

Joe, speaking as a parent, answered. "He's a father who watched his child cry in front of him after she learnt the origin of her birth… It's heartbreaking." He could only imagine what his best friend's feeling. "Let's just hope Seth and the others find Ruby before she does something."

Barry perked his head up. "What do you mean? Think she's gonna do something?"

"I'm not-off-the-charts smarts like you, Wells, or the others back at S.T.A.R. Labs, but I know emotions enough to understand that they can make you do things you can't control." Joe explained. Their elevator reached the lobby floor and the doors opened up. "For now, we just focus on this case with Rhino."

"Sounds good enough." Barry said, though he hated it, he couldn't help his friend. Even though Seth may not have accepted his help when it's offered. They walk into the lobby where they see Julian writing a report by the receptionist's desk. "Julian."

The CSI metahuman expert turned around and saw Barry and Joe coming his way. "Oh Lord…" He muttered at the sight of his CSI colleague. "Allen, of course you're late again."

"Sorry, something came up." Barry apologized to his colleague for the hundredth time.

Turning to meet his eyes, Julian scoffed. "Unless it was a seven foot man in a metal rhinoceros suit smashing down your car, I think you can manage, Allen." Before Barry could counter, the metahuman expert continued. "Oh right, you don't have a car, which explains your continuous tardiness."

The detective, once again, jumped between them. "Enough both of you." He turned to the expert. "Julian, you sound sure that Rhino attacked the Mercury Labs storage unit?" He noted.

"Rhino? Strange name, but appropriate for this villain, Detective West." Julian started. "And yes, I feel assured that this Rhino is also responsible for that wreck. The level of damage surrounding the unit and caused to it is akin to the brute force that attacked our port and also those cars earlier today."

"We know why that place was attacked in the first place?" Barry inquired. He held back a scoff when he saw Julian groan at his question, or his voice, or his being at all.

Julian replied. "No, I do not, Allen." He faced Joe again. "Which is why I took the liberty of contacting their CEO, Dr. Christina McGee so she could shed some light on the matter."

"Good initiative, Julian. Thanks." Joe expressed his gratitude.

"No need to thank me, Detective, it's my job." Julian said before turning around.

"That guy really grinds my gears." Barry admitted through gritted teeth.

"Seriously? A few words tick you off like that." Both Barry and Joe turned their heads, shock coming over them when they saw Jessica Drew walking towards them. Out of her spider-suit, she's now cladded in a blue blouse and black pants with a black jacket over her blouse. Crossing her arms over her chest, she continued. "Isn't that a bit immature, Barry? Makes you sound like a child."

"No- I mean-" Barry groaned.

"What are you doing here, Jessica?" Joe asked the 616er.

"I know Seth said he and his family want to find Rubs alone, but I still feel responsible, so I'm just gonna ask around and see if she's been seen. Thought I'd start off with places she might be familiar with other than the ones Caitlin mentioned." Jessica answered.

"You thought she'd come here?" Joe asked.

"Detective, from what I could gather, you're Seth's best friend and like an uncle to those girls of his. It's not unlikely she'd go to another family member." Jessica revealed.

"Good point." Joe said. "Really hope Ruby's gonna be fine."

"You're not alone on that, Detective." She agreed. "But Ruby also got HYDRA agent training, chances are she'll expect us to look for her here and actually stay away."

"Slim chances then?" Barry said.

Jessica faced the speedster. "Chances are chances, doesn't matter if they're big or slim. I take them if I have to."

"What about Miles? Is he out looking as well?" Joe asked.

"He is, yeah." Jessica nodded.

"How'd you find this place? You couldn't have found this place by yourself." Barry asked.

"Had help." She pointed a thumb backwards to Iris that's surprisingly speaking to Christina McGee. "Don't know who she's speaking with though." Jessica added.

"Dr. Christina McGee, CEO of Mercury Labs, the research company that owned that storage unit Rhino wrecked." Joe answered as Christina and Iris walked towards them. "Dr. McGee." He greeted the CEO with a handshake.

"Detective West. Mr. Allen. Pleasure to see you both again, albeit under these circumstances again." Christina greeted the officers.

Iris walked to Barry's side. "Hey, babe." The two shared a kiss.

Christina glanced at Jessica with a curious look. "I don't think I've ever met you, though."

"Jessica Drew, Doc." She introduced herself. "Associate of Seth Fury."

"Dr. Fury's associate?" She noted. "Perhaps from the same world as he, too?" Jessica widened her eyes. "It appears I'm right."

The reporter nudged Jessica's arm, getting her attention. "Dr. McGee knows everything about us and Team Flash. You can trust her." Jessica nodded her acceptance.

Joe looked at her. "Dr. McGee, your storage unit was attacked before, do you have any idea as to why?"

"I don't know why it was targeted to be exact, Detective." Christina started. "But the contents of that specific storage unit contained old prototypes. I checked the building itself after the attack, and the contents were gone by the time I arrived."

"What kind of prototypes were stored there, Dr. McGee?" Barry asked her.

"Unfortunately, not even I know that Mr. Allen." Christina surprised them with a shake of her head. "That storage unit was used to store experimental projects that were designed for military use. Amongst those items were prototype weaponized bees made by Brie Larvan."

"And there are more of these weaponized prototypes?" Iris asked.

"Most likely, yes, Ms. West. I found out that my employees constructed such items in my company and had them fired and placed their technology in a separate storage unit." Christina explained. "I had various members of my company store the objects in there, but the tech and the types of them I do not know."

"Who else knew of this unit?" Jessica asked.

"Unfortunately, that is an equally hard question to answer as well." Christina revealed. "A lot of employees know of its existence, both former and current ones have knowledge of its existence."

"Could this have any relation to the previous case at your facility, Dr. McGee?" Joe inquired.

"Was a possibility until this morning, Detective West. We found our previous prototypes destroyed into pieces in front of our company building this morning." Christina announced.

"Lovely." Jessica sarcastically quipped as she rubbed her eyes.

Christina looked between the group and directed at Joe. "Is Dr. Fury not here? I would have thought he'd be here with you, Detective and work on this case with you."

"Unfortunately…" Joe bit his lower lip. "He is dealing with an urgent family situation right now." He vaguely revealed.

"I understand…" Christina trailed off; her hand pressed against her chin in thought. The others watched the gears in her mind turning. Her eyes widened in realization, and she informed the detective. "Detective West, I believe there is something that could be of use."

"Anything will help, Dr. McGee." Joe told her.

"Mercury Labs, following its reconstruction, developed various storage units that are out in the public, like the one that was attacked, and also ones hidden in the open." The Mercury Labs CEO revealed.

"You think one of these hidden ones might be targeted next?" Barry deduced.

"Perhaps, yes." Christina gave Joe a small piece of paper, one written with the address of one of the hidden units. "You're welcome to look around."

"Thanks, we will." Joe then escorted Christina to the elevators.

Iris looked between Jessica and Barry. "So, what's the plan now?"

"I'm gonna go back to S.T.A.R. Labs, train with Jesse." Barry answered.

"I'll go out and see if I can help find Ruby." Jessica informed them. "If I come across Seth, I'm gonna tell of this thing, maybe he can help Joe or something." She walked towards the exit.

She felt guilty for helping expose Ruby's origin. She wanted to rectify it, by any means.

X

"How's it going on your end?" Caitlin directed her question into her phone that's pressed to her ear as she exited Central City High School. She checked the schoolgrounds and spoke with Samantha Arias, asking her if her daughter recently showed up. Unfortunately, Ruby hadn't come to her school. That worried her and she quickly bid her farewells before rushing out of the school while calling her family.

She really hoped they had better luck than her.

"Nothing on my end." Magenta regretfully answered.

"She wasn't in the Badlands, either." Eclipse answered. Just like her sister, her voice is full of regret.

"She's not at home either." Venom replied.

"Where is she?" Though she'd already looked around, she once again scanned the schoolgrounds for any sign of her daughter. When she, like before, didn't find anything useful she sighed and tightened her grip on her phone.

Her other hand… clenching and… unbeknownst to her… emitting white cryogenic mist…

Disturbing thoughts erupted in Caitlin's mind, distracting her and made the icy mist around her hand dissipate. "Seth! Go to S.T.A.R. Labs, right now, please!"

"What?! Why?! Think she'll go back there?" She heard her mate's urgent and confused query.

"No, worse. What if she finds your dimensional portal device and goes back to Earth-616?" Caitlin confessed her worst fears, speeding up her pace to her car.

"What?! Mom, you really think Ruby would leave her home? Leave her family?" Frankie shouted her disbelief.

"You can't believe that, right, Mom?" Evelyn asked in fear.

"I don't want to, honey, but… I can't help but think so. Pain, hurt and fear… they make people do reckless things." Caitlin tearfully said. "Seth, please."

"Already on our way!" Seth shouted over the comms, already running on whatever surface he could find to quickly reach the facility.

"I'm gonna go another round through the city, I'm not resting until our daughter's back home." Caitlin determinedly stated.

"Likewise!" Seth agreed.

She hung and raced to her car. The secret ice metahuman came to a stop when she saw Jessica leaning against her vehicle. The spider-hero waved at the bioengineer. "Hey, Caitlin."

"Jessica?" Caitlin walked closer to her. "What brings you here? Kinda in the middle of something." she sheepishly said.

"Guess that means Ruby's not here, either." Jessica received her answer when Caitlin sighed in disappointment. "Sorry, thought maybe I could help you search here."

"Thanks… But I really don't know where she could have gone off to." Caitlin wiped away tears. "I'm a bad mother." She couldn't help but feel like she failed one of her children.

"No, you're not, Cait." Jessica assured her. "You're worried about Ruby and you're out here right now and trying to find her. That's not a bad mother, that's a great mother." She argued, but Caitlin seemed reluctant. Sighing she let out a chuckle before saying. "You're just like Stef."

Caitlin narrowed her eyes. "You mean Stefanie Panes? Seth's late fiancée?"

"That's her alright." Jessica quipped. "You remind me a bit of her, actually. Always blaming yourself when something happens to your child. Something similar happened back home a few years ago. I'll tell you all about it later." She promised the native bioengineer.

"Thanks, but for now… I have to find my daughter, and I have no idea where to look." Caitlin said, her hands clenching again in self-frustration. "I'll look around in the city again, it's the only option I have left right now."

"I can help you." Jessica offered. Caitlin nodded her acceptance, both women walking into the car before driving away.

As soon as it was out of sight…

Ruby Fury walked out of an alleyway, her eyes red from crying and both her hands holding onto her forearms. She knew it'd happen, but she was still shocked to see her mother come to her high school to search for her.

After all, who'd want to help someone who's not even a real person…

"What am I then?" Ruby asked, her hands clenching and tears swelling in her eyes. As tears leaked from her eyes, her fists tightened their hold and her knuckles practically cracked. The ground… The ground around the sad and hurt gravity manipulator cracked as well, her powers causing the asphalt to fissure.

"What… What am I then?" Ruby asked herself again because she didn't feel like… She didn't think human suited her now…

She was all alone now…

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Seth, calm the freight train down!" Cisco shouted, gasping in shock as he had to both reason with the mutant and dodge the items he threw away.

While working on his Vibe Goggles and his gauntlets in his workshop, the viber was suddenly pulled away from his desk when Seth appeared with tendrils sprouted and began searching through his drawers, shelves and boxes in search for the dimensional traveling device.

"Seth, seriously, take a chill pill!" The metahuman told the mutant, who continued scouring through his workshop violently in search of the device. "Seth!"

Snapping his attention back to Cisco, he said. "What?"

Cisco lowered his hands similar to how the volume of a device would be lowered. "Calm down, and I can tell you the device isn't here."

Getting up to his full height, Seth inquired. "Then where is it?"

"Not sure." Cisco asked, picking up items and tools that were thrown away when Seth began his search. "I can't say for sure, but maybe it's in the Cave."

"Did Ruby come here?" Seth hopefully asked.

"No, sorry." Cisco regretfully informed, the mutant cussing in anger through gritted teeth. "Would she even have come here after what happened?"

"Ruby's a fighter, most fighters like her and me work through our problems in fights, training and we work it off." The mutant said. "It's how we blow steam off… But what happened to her… Damn it!"

Cisco saw his hand clenching, practically turning white and every single vein on his fist was bulging like crazy. The viber was actually surprised to see there's no elements of sorts coming out of his hand. "Seth, Ruby won't just leave her home and her family."

"I really hope so, Cisco." Seth admitted, once again speaking through gritted teeth. "I… I… Damn it, I'm a horrible father."

"You're not, you're a good parent." Cisco said, picking up more tools and placing them back on his desk. "You're here right now, like a bull in a China shop, and just wreaking havoc in my shop to try and find something that can help your daughter. You're taking action yourself, you, Caitlin and your entire family's out now searching for Ruby."

"Yeah, just hope this search will lead anywhere and we get our daughter back safe and sound." Seth said, hoping his child is safe. "I'm gonna take a look in the Klyntar Cave, see if the device's there." He rushed out of the workshop.

"Yeah, sure… Just leave me…" Cisco awkwardly trailed off, looking at the mess he left behind. "With the cleanup… Why not…" The viber didn't know what to say or do… except for cleaning up Seth's mess.

X

(Klyntar Cave)

While running through the corridor to Klyntar Cave, Seth's ears perked up at the sound of a punching bag being hit by a series of quick jabs. "Ruby." Thinking it's his runaway daughter, the elemental quickened his pace and rushed towards the entrance of the training lab.

He slid to a stop, looking into the training lab with hopes raised high…

But they were squashed when he saw Jesse Wells standing in the Klyntar Cave, delivering a storm of fists to a sandbag. "Damn it, it's just you, Jesse." Seth let out, getting the speedster's attention.

Jesse, while panting, sarcastically said. "Sorry to disappoint."

Seth noticed her hands are clad in training gloves. "Working off frustration or stress?" Jesse didn't answer, she took off her gloves and dropped them to the floor. "Both, I'm guessing."

"Take it, the search's not going well?" She asked.

The mutant nodded and walked towards the platform. "She's still out there in the city… Hopefully." He crouched by the computers and searched under the desks. "What's with you?"

"What do you mean?" The speedster asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look at you, you're pissed and frustrated right now." Seth looked through a drawer, rummaging through it. "Anyone with half a mind can see that, dummy." Tendrils sprouted from his back, shooting around the platform and searching as well. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" She recited his question in disbelief. "I've just been training with Barry, running around in the accelerator ring, but what good will that do against someone like Rhino."

"Squat." Seth said. "You might as well try to dig your way to Earth's core with a spoon."

"Yeah, exactly, so I'm here and training my ass to face him again. But what good will that do?" Jesse chuckled hollowly, not believing in herself.

"Not much, really." Seth answered, his eyes focused on boxes in front of him. "You're not like Jessica, or Miles for that matter."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.

"Those with spider powers, like Miles, have the proportional strength of a spider. They can lift a lot." He sheepishly added. "Though, Jess she can lift a lot more. Think she can lift 7 tons or something. She lifted me on various occasions when we fought in the past. So unfortunately, since you don't have that level of strength, it's gonna be harder for you to fight Rhino."

"Seriously? So, it's impossible for me to actually fight him?" Jesse scoffed.

Looking over the platform, Seth faced her. "I never said that. I said it'd be harder, not impossible. You're really Harry's daughter, thought you were smarter than him?"

"And what does that mean?" She asked him.

Sighing, mostly out of annoyance and frustration, he stated. "Jesse, when I trained you back on Earth-2, why do you think I gave you that specific way of fighting before?"

"Cause I was human back then, no powers?" She suggested.

"Half-right." Seth, having found the device and placed it on the desk, walked around the computer and down the platform and walked over to her. "What's the other half?" He asked, standing in front of her. Jesse struggled to find the answer, looking unsure and shrugging herself shoulders at the end.

Once again, Seth sighed. "I'm a teacher, I'm supposed to teach you, not just give you the answers immediately. But I'll make an exception this time, mainly because I have a runaway daughter out and about in the city." The mutant pressed the tip of his index finger against Jesse's forehead, making her perk her head up in confusion. "Get it?"

Jesse's eyes widened in realization. "I'm smarter than Ruby and Evelyn."

"Don't say that to them, they might cut you or drop you off a skyscraper." Seth quipped. "But yeah, you're smarter than those troublemakers of mine. I knew that, though you don't have powers, you'd rely on your own powers that you've honed like a blade: Your mind. You'd be able to use that big brain of yours like your own powers, fight your way out of a pinch by using everything around you like a weapon."

"You always believed that I'd be able to fight my way out, my way?" Jesse asked in surprise, like it was truly and utterly unexpected. Her own father didn't believe in her so easily when she first got powers and she wanted to help people. Yet Seth, someone she knows and cares for as a friend, acts as though he fully, wholeheartedly believes her and has faith in her.

"Of course, I do." Seth adamantly said, once again getting shocked eyes from Jesse. "It may have been once or twice on Earth-2, and an interrupted training session this morning, but I was your teacher all of those times. A teacher always has to have faith in their students, hope they make the right choices with the tools that we teachers entrust them with."

"Thanks… It's weird hearing you say that even though my Dad said that awful thing about you before." Jesse admitted.

"You're not your father, Jesse. You're not responsible or to blame for his actions or words." Seth started. "He may not trust me or ever, but I'm okay with that." That worried the speedster. "Plus, I trust you to make the right choices, Jesse, always."

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"You're willing to use your powers to fight against people like Rhino and others like him. Anyone who's like that and wants to defend their home has my respect." Seth finalized, his words making a smile form on Jesse's face. "I'm gonna go now, find Ruby… Then I expect to see you on the battlefield against Rhino." He walked to the exit.

But he came to a stop when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw it was Joe calling him. "Decline it, we got a kid out there right now." Venom told his host.

"Trust me I want to… But I have to answer this, though." The elemental replied, accepting the call and placed it to his ear. "Joe, it's me. What is it?"

"Seth, I know you're busy with Ruby's case, I know… But we finally got approval for the warrant we needed to search the place with the hidden Mercury Labs facility that Dr. McGee told us of." Joe told him. "Can you come and give me a hand?"

"Joe… Ruby's out there… I have to find her." Seth spoke through gritted teeth, the grip on his phone tightening. "I can't leave her alone, Joe."

Jesse heard him and pitched in. "Seth. I can look around for her. Go help Joe."

Seth moved his phone away from his ear. "You sure, Jesse? You're busy training?"

"Reconnaissance, rescue and search counts as training in my book." Jesse showed a thumbs up. "Leave it to me."

"Thanks…" Seth accepted in the end, though he was reluctant. He didn't wanna leave his daughter alone to fend for herself. But the better parts of his mind did listen to her, seeing that the logic of a speedster running around in the city would be faster to search for his daughter than he'd be able to swing through the city. "Thanks Jesse, means a lot."

"That a yes?" The detective asked, hoping for the answer he wanted.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Send me the address." Seth walked out of the lab, leaving Jesse to speed away and get her suit.

X

(CC Jitters)

"Black coffee with milk and sugar for Hale!" The barista at the coffee counter called out.

Wearing a ratty old black hoodie over her clothes, with the hoodie covering her head, Ruby walked up to the counter. She reached into one of her front pockets, pulling out a few dollars. "Thanks." She dropped them on the counter before taking the coffee mug.

"Hate that name." Ruby muttered to herself as she took a seat in the chair closest to the farthest corner. She didn't want to be bothered by the other customers and anyone else, she had her own mess to deal with….

Which involved her eyes staring into the spiraling coffee in her mug, mixing with the milk. Her eyes focused on the whirlpool in the middle of the mug. As she watched that spiral, she couldn't stop thinking of her family…. And her role in it, following her origin.

What place would she have in her home?

What would she even be in that family?

A human… Or something else?

What could she be?

She's not a human after all. She's not… Ruby's something else. Every thought she birthed was immediately filled with self-doubt… every cell and fibers rebelling against her… Her brain… Her heart… Neither of them knew what to think…

She's conflicted for some reason…

As though it was subconsciousness taking control of her actions, Ruby's hands crossed over each other, her fingers curling and scratching her forearms through the fabrics of her sleeves. The gravity manipulator shook her head and removed her hands from her forearms, she had to get out of here and find another place soon enough.

"Gotta leave soon…" She thought to herself, putting an end to her scratching and reached for her cup. But the cup handle cracked suddenly, falling off the cup itself and landed on the table. "What?" Ruby asked, but question marks might as well have just appeared over her head when more cracks appeared around the mug.

Eyes widening, she jumped out of her chair and rushed to the exit just as the cup itself shattered into pieces, it's scolding hot contents spilling all over the table and spilling down the edges of it. Ruby got a brief glance of it happening before she exited the coffee shop through the back entrance.

But she wasn't the only one to see that… Caitlin walked down the staircase close to the back entrance, having looked down from the upper level. She saw everything happening from there and saw her daughter leave the coffee shop abruptly as her coffee mug started to fall apart.

Jessica quickly followed the bioengineer, noticing the coffee spilled on the table. "That girl of yours is going through a tough time, Caity." She noted.

"…Yeah…" Caitlin agreed but something odd stuck to her mind.

Ruby scratched her arms…

X

"Hope your warrant covers breaking down doors," Seth said as he and Joe got out of the police vehicle. They arrived at an old shipyard that was in Mercury Labs' name. As soon as they exited the car, the mutant immediately noticed the huge gate-like doors which made him crack his fists. "cause I feel like breaking things."

"So…" Joe gave him a dry look. "Nothing out of the ordinary." Seth replied with a dry look of his own. "And no, not without a ton of paperwork. I'm not a fan of that." The detective noticed a closed vent close to the top of the shipyard.

"Tch." He scoffed in annoyance. "What a waste of time." Seth faced the doors again. "I could tear these doors to pieces in a heartbeat."

Joe reminded him. "Right now, you're not Venom, you're Seth Fury, a civilian consultant to CCPD. You can't go knocking down doors like a crazy person."

Seth gave him a stare. "My daughter's out in the city, feeling like she's not a human or a real person right now, Joe, and you expect me to just, what, brush those feelings aside? Because of work. I can't do that, sorry, Joe."

"Nah, I should be the one to apologize, Seth." Joe walked closer to the doors with Seth. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Sorry for snapping at you." The elemental apologized. "I just don't know what to do now… I'm scared for Ruby."

"I get that…" Joe trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Seth asked when hearing him trail off suddenly.

"Check it out." The detective pointed a finger at the vent he found before. This time… it wasn't closed. "That thing was closed a minute ago, now it's open." Seth followed the direction of his finger, seeing the open vent. "I'm positive of it."

"…" Seth walked towards the doors. Stretching out his hands, he pushed on both of them with a small amount of strength. The doors immediately swung open. "Looks like something's looking out for us." He looked into the open and abandoned shipyard's interior.

Joe pulled out his gun, cocking it. "As if that's ever a good thing."

"Pretty cynical of you, Josephine." Seth quipped, though he didn't disagree which led to him morphing his hands into claws.

"Let's go." Joe walked ahead and the mutant followed him into the shipyard. They saw that it was only holding a small number of containers within it, other than that there were metal beams over their heads that appeared to be very rusty. "Why'd Dr. McGee and Mercury Labs choose this place as a hideout for their lab?" He asked when he saw a beaten and rusty, wrecked ship in the middle of the shipyard.

"Considering what happened last year, where it was totally demolished by Black Siren, it makes sense that Mercury would make some off-site or hidden facility like in here." Seth answered, walking around the piles of rotten wood planks. "Appears this was also used as a dump site of sorts."

"No kidding." Joe agreed, crouching down to avoid spiderweb. He coughed, shooting out air that caused dust to fly around him. Incidentally, that led to him coughing even more. "God, this is disgusting."

"Joe, you okay?" Barry asked over the comms.

"I'm fine, Barr, don't worry." Joe replied. Turning his head, he saw the mutant stand on the side of a rusty and bended metal support pillar, looking down from his vantage point. "You see anything up there that can help us?"

"Not really. Nothing suspicious, illegal or anything technical in sight." Seth answered.

"At first glance, maybe." Joe stated.

Releasing himself from the pillar, Seth landed on the ground and asked. "Did Dr. McGee give you anything else to lead us on?"

"Nah, just the address of this place." Joe answered.

Seth deduced. "Must have been wary of disclosing information about a hidden facility like this in a police precinct."

"Probably, but right now, I'd like to actually find the "facility" part of this place before we run into a guy with a hook or something." Joe admitted.

Seth chuckled and followed his partner. "Yeah, tru-" He stopped talking when both he and Joe heard a clatter over their heads. Both faced the direction of the sound, looking around at the ceiling.

When Joe couldn't find anything, even with a flashlight pointing at the ceiling, he asked the mutant while facing his eyes upwards. "You think Frankie followed us?" He knew very well that his niece's ability to turn invisible.

"Nah…" Seth narrowed his eyes. "But someone's here, that's for sure."

"Evie, perhaps?" Joe asked.

"Not any shadow-like smoke anywhere to be her, Joe." Seth said… He widened his eyes when he had another way to confirm another nearby presence. "Venom, you're up."

"We're not alone." The response came from his "other".

Seth recalled something Jessica told him. He lowered his hands, inhaling deeply. Joe watched curiously as his partner inhaled more air. He then bellowed out. "Miles, come out!"

Joe lowered his gun. "Miles?"

"Oh my God!" A third, but familiar voice exclaimed. They looked upwards and saw Miles' form, clad in his Spider-Man suit, slowly appearing out of thin air. He was crouched on the side of a pillar, his eye lenses widened in shock. "You really knew I was here? Oh my God, Peter wasn't lying about your skills, Dr. Fury."

Chuckling, Seth recalled. "Jess told me you had more powers than Pete. Never mentioned you could turn invisible like me and Frankie. Not bad, Miles."

"Oh, thank you." Miles scratched the back of his head embarrassedly.

"You knew he was here?" Joe asked the mutant.

The elemental noted. "Haven't completely understood the reason for it, but I can't feel Magenta with Venom's powers, even though parent symbiotes should be able to detect their child. Thought that was the case here, that Frankie followed us, but I used Venom's powers and I actually felt a presence we couldn't see with our own eyes."

"Really?" Miles landed on the floor, standing before the other hero. "That was incredible. I didn't know you could do that, sir."

"Miles, already told you: No "sir" or "Dr. Fury", just Seth." Seth reminded him.

"Right… Right, Seth." Miles nodded his head.

Joe holstered his gun. "Thanks for the help with the doors." Miles gave a thumbs up. "But why'd you follow us?"

"Honestly…" Miles chuckled, pulling his mask off. "I wanted to help you out with this case, maybe finish it quickly, so I could apologize properly for letting Ruby convince me to go to you."

"Miles, it's my daughter you're talking about. Like I said before, Ruby would have gone with or without you." Seth said. "You don't have anything to apologize for, I assured you of that." He promised the young hero.

Joe understood the young man's feelings. "Well, since you're here, how about you help us out then?" Miles nodded. "Good. I'll check ahead, and you two wall crawlers stay here, or walls or what not." They nodded and the detective walked ahead.

Miles spun around, taking in the shipyard thoroughly. "Reminds me of the beat my Dad always patrols."

"He's a cop?" Seth asked.

"Yeah." Miles nodded. "Everyone likes him… Though, most of the cops in his precinct don't like you."

"Nothing new about that, Miles." Seth replied casually.

"Still really weird that people don't like you." Miles started. "I mean, I've got all of the articles of you and Peter working together with the Avengers and fighting alongside horrible enemies. Like those fights against HYDRA and AIM. You saved dozens of people, but the police and many civilians called you a villain, but you still prioritized their lives above all else, like a real hero."

Seth came to a stop, his back facing the young spider-hero who continued. "You continued standing in front of enemies who used machine guns and bazookas. You stood your ground and fought with Peter; your fight was the biggest fight in Harlem that time. It might even surpass your fights against the Chitauri when they invaded New York and tried to destroy it. It was so awe-"

"Miles." The hero was surprised when the mutant interrupted him. Seth turned around, facing the young hero again. "I really appreciate how you feel, seeing me as a hero, as someone you admire… It's nice. But I'm not right for a role model or anything like that."

Those words didn't go unnoticed by Joe and his comms earpiece that took in those words.

"You know that I've always given my everything to protect the innocents, even if that meant fighting like a villain against a worse one." Seth said. "I don't think it's right for you to see me as a role model, or even call me a hero. Look at me, I'm a guy whose own city hates, there are even those on my team that sees me as a villain. Honestly, someone like you shouldn't look up to someone like me, Miles. Peter and Jessica would be much better fits than me, no doubt in my mind."

Joe clenched his fist at those words. Seth himself doubted himself, not his capabilities, but himself as a hero. He was surprised to hear those words coming out of the mouth of the man who took a sword through his chest for his city, for his home, for his family.

His family and the team back at the facility, listening in on the two heroes as they had their conversation.

"I have to disagree with you on that, Seth." Seth blinked his eyes in confusion at Miles' words. "I can't help but see you as a hero, cause… Cause that's what you are to me… after you saved my Mom."

"Your mom?" Seth asked, his ears piqued to hear his explanation and his mind working overtime to find a connection or resemblance to someone he's saved. Granted that's a long list.

"Yeah." Miles smiled. "It was years ago, when the Chitauri invasion took place. Those aliens attacked everywhere, quickly making their way to Harlem, my neighborhood. We only had a few officers fighting back, but they couldn't do squat against them. My Mom was out of our home, trying to divert people out of the way. I hadn't gotten my powers back then, so I could only help evacuate people out of buildings. My Dad fought back as well, somewhere away from me and my Mom. My Mom was about to help a young girl up on her feet again, but then these Chitauri aliens showed up over her head, about to shoot them both. But you came… and saved her."

In realization, Seth widened his eyes. "I remember that." Miles turned shocked, a smile forming on his face. "Cap told me and Matt, my brother-in-law, to spread out and defend areas that are low on defensive forces like police. I got to Harlem… I do remember showing up, saving a woman and a little kid. I checked on them before continuing onwards."

"Pummeling blue alien ass!" Miles exclaimed, his voice awkwardly echoing inside of the shipyard. Seth gave a brief chuckle at his exclamation. "Sorry for that. But honestly, no matter what you say or do, no matter what anyone will tell me… I will always see you as the hero who saved my Mom."

"Your Mom…" The gears in his head finally clicked. "Rio. Your mom's Rio Morales, right?"

"You know her?" Miles asked in surprise.

Nodding his head up and down, Seth stated. "After the invasion, my Dad and I helped out in Harlem. Your Mom was like the foreman and she didn't let us do anything other than her orders. Think she might have scared my Dad."

"Thanks… But I really mean this, Seth… You're a great hero, I'll always admire you for that." He smiled. "You're the greatest hero to me… always." He assured the elemental. "You're the guy who saved my family after all. Looks like a villain, but only has the actions of a true hero."

"Thanks…" Seth didn't know what else to say. Here was a hero in front of him, who knew everything about him from his Earth-616 adventures, and despite everything else their native world and this world is saying, Miles believed solely and wholeheartedly Seth's a hero.

He couldn't believe that Miles actually saw him as someone worth admiring. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that he spoke with Frankie beforehand.

"The next generation of heroes looks bright." Venom threw in his two cents.

"Yeah…" Seth thought back. He then narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion, leaning down close and staring into Miles' eyes, that immediately filled with fear as the distance between their faces became shorter. "Just to be clear, you're not just trying to butter me up with compliments and such to convince me to you let get near Ruby, are you? Hmmm?" He hummed accusatorily.

"What?! No! No! No!" Miles shook his head rapidly, swinging it from side to side like crazy. "I mean, I'd love to get to know Ruby, of course! She's wonderful, sweet, nice, beautiful, amazing, smart, intelligent and amazing, and beautiful-"

"Calm down, Miles." Seth chuckled at his chants, which involved a lot of repeats. "I'm joking." Miles calmed down, dramatically exhaling his relief. "Your parents are gonna be proud when they realize the hero you are. But you got my trust, kid, and you can get close to Ruby."

"Thanks, Seth." The spider-hero smiled with a nod.

"But you hurt her in any way, I'm gonna throw you off a building." Seth threatened him. "Or a skyscraper, maybe a bridge."

"Stop threatening to throw a kid off a building." Joe disciplined the mutant, walking towards them. "Or a skyscraper, or anything for that matter."

"Calm down, Detective Long Ears, I was joking." Seth assured him. "What about you? You find something interesting other than our talk?"

"Unfortunately not, the place looks clean and untouched. I can't even find the entrance to the place." The detective pulled out his phone. "Think I'll call Dr. McGee again, see if she can give us direction in this abandoned shipyard of horrors."

"Why?" Seth gestured to Miles. "We got Miles here."

"What do you mean?" Miles himself asked in confusion.

"I know Pete's tech pretty well after working with him before, and I'm positive that suit of yours, like his, have advanced technology. Like lenses that can analyze environments." Seth knowingly said.

"Oh…" Miles realized what his intentions are. "Sure." He pulled his mask on again. "Give me a lift?"

Joe looked confused. "What are you two talking about?" He inquired as the mutant grabbed Miles' forearm.

Seth smirked and threw the spider-hero over his head, throwing him towards the ceiling. Miles shot out a webline from his right shooter, latching onto a metal beam in the middle of the ceiling. He spun around it before swinging onto it. Standing on it, Spider-Man narrowed his eyes, looking around with his high-tech lenses.

"What's Miles doing?" Joe asked, once again not understanding everything going on between them.

"He's scanning the environment with his lenses." Seth answered. "Peter has that feature in his own suit, and if that one's like his, it means Miles can do the same. Which… means…" He stopped when Miles pointed a finger at a container close to them. "Bingo."

"I was gonna go with "Bingpot."" Miles chuckled, getting off the beam.

Joe walked over to the container, raising his hand and tapping the container. They then heard a hollow echoing coming from within it. "It's hollow."

"It leads to somewhere else." Seth said. "Smart…"

Joe looked at the elemental. "Still up for breaking something?"

"Always." Seth announced, thrusting his fist into the container door. He turned his entire arm into adamantium before easily tearing it off and threw it away. "Less satisfying than I had hoped. Got anything else I can break?"

"Hold that thought." Joe said, walking into the container. He looked around within its empty interior. "What are the chances there's more to this than meets the eye?"

"Pretty big. Look." Miles pointed at the floor. Both Seth and Joe followed the direction of his finger, seeing the dust-ridden floor. "Check out that area." He gestured to the floor panel they're standing on, which appeared to be cleaner than the rest. "Dust pattern's different than the rest here, means this one's been moving somehow."

Seth snapped his fingers in realization. "It's a hidden entrance door."

Miles walked over to the wall, placing a hand on the metal surface. Bioelectric lightning sparked over his hand, traveling over the wall. Seth and Joe saw his lightning light up conduits inside of the wall, connecting to a spot not from him. A panel opened up upon the lightning meeting it, revealing a junction box. "Jackpot." He walked over to the box itself, placing his lightning-cloaked hand on it.

"Seems weird to have a junction box here, so close to the entrance to a secret facility." Seth admitted skeptically.

"Maybe it's a prototype." Joe thought out loud as the spider-hero finished overloading the junction box with lightning. The door opened under their feet, showing a staircase…

…

But something else reached their ears.

"Wait!" Seth heard something…

…A beeping sound…

Miles' spider-sense blared like a police siren in his head.

"Get back!" Seth's voice morphed when his form became instantly enveloped by symbiote mass, enlarging him into Venom and grabbing Joe. Miles jumped out of the container…

… just as it happened…

EXPLOSION

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Jesse?! Jesse?!" Harrison screamed into the comms system though his daughter had long since turned off her earpiece. Barry, Cisco, Harry and Wally stayed behind in Cortex after the speedster returned from a run around the city. Jesse was out searching with the Snow-Furys. Iris joined them briefly, but only till the end of Seth's words to Miles that they heard through her father's comms.

She had a story about Venom to write and she wanted the rest of the city to read it. Hopefully, it'd help make them rethink their thoughts on the elemental who bears the appearance of a villain but fights as a protector of Central City like The Flash.

Harrison… He was busy trying to get through to his daughter who didn't want to listen to him at all. "Jesse?!"

"Harry, you can scream into the computers for the rest of the day, but it won't change the fact that your daughter cut off the comms on her end. We can't do anything about it from this end." Cisco reminded the renowned genius scientist from Earth-2.

"Then breach over to her, Ramon, and tell her to turn them on again!" Harry exclaimed at the viber.

"How about I breach you there right now, instead? Sure, dropping you off through a dimensional gateway won't hurt you all." Cisco mused.

"Try it, I'll cut your hair." Harry threatened.

"Calm down, you two." Wally said. He faced the Earth-2 scientist, reminding him. "You know, Jesse's pissed you interrupted her training with Seth, and called him a villain to his face."

Harry looked at him. "I didn't say it to his face, West."

"Whatever the case, you really shouldn't have said that to him, Wells." Barry pitched in, taking off the gloves of his suit. "Seth's a good guy… who is gonna hate him till the end of time, probably, but overall a good guy."

"Great guy, if you ask me." Cisco said.

Wally nodded his agreement. "Yeah, Seth's a good person-"

"Don't you think I know that fellas?" Harry took a pen, throwing it at a wall in frustration. "Of course, I know that he stayed behind on Earth-2 to save my daughter at the cost of not seeing his own family again! I know that!" He screamed so loud it was though he was cursing at the heavens themselves.

At that moment, the three of them could see Harrison struggling to find a way out of this hole he accidently dug for himself. He was covered in self-hate and frustration from actually insulting a friend who put his life on the line for, not only his home world, but also his own flesh and blood.

Harry hated himself for calling Seth a villain.

"Harry, it's fine… Just apologize to Seth." Barry told him.

"I know Fury's like that. But… How's that gonna help with Jesse?" Harry said, purposely changing the topic to avoid more pressure.

Wally saw that and suggested. "Maybe try and apologize to Seth first, then Jesse's gonna come back to you."

"I hope so, West." Harrison said.

A notification alert emitted from the computer and Cisco rushed to it, standing at the console. "There was an explosion."

"Where?" Barry asked, putting on his gloves again.

"Where Joe and Seth are right now." Harrison answered.

X

Smoke filled the entire shipyard that somehow still remained standing despite the immense explosion that took place a few moments ago. The entire hidden entrance that Mercury Labs had made was completely wrecked, and up in smoke.

Several panels were bulged on top of something… someone… who awoke and lashed out his arm, thrusting the panels away from him. Another series panels were pushed off and Miles showed himself from under them.

Venom returned to his full height, looking at the spider-hero who stretches his arms. "You good, Miles?"

"Yeah, not the first or last explosion I've dealt with." Miles joked.

"We believe that." Venom looked around in search. "Joe? Where are you?"

"Here…" They heard his sneer. Facing the direction of the voice, they saw Joseph West… stuck in the middle of a huge spider web. "Get me off this thing, now."

"Sorry for that, Detective." Miles said, running over to him.

Laughing demonically at the sight, Venom followed him. "Suits you, Spider-Joe."

"Can it." Joe said while Miles helped him down. "Miles, I do appreciate the save after Seth threw me, but really? A spider-web?"

"Work with what you've got, Detective West. Right?" Miles joked.

"Cut the kid some slack, Joe. He saved your ass." Seth replied.

Joe nodded, looking at the destroyed entrance and container that led to the secret Mercury Labs facility underground. "Think Rhino did this?"

"Guy's got fingers the size of pipes, no way he could have rigged a bomb down there on his own." The elemental stated confidently. "Means he's had help."

"Means he's not alone." Miles added.

"And not far." Joe said… just as they felt a series of tremors traveling through the ground.

Venom wrapped both his arms around Miles and Joe, pulling them to his chest and shielding them just as the farthest wall broke down as Rhino rammed through it. The Russian enforcer from Earth-616 tackled Seth, launching him off the ground and through the entrance doors, both flying off the hinges.

Tendrils shot out of his entire body, latching into the side of a building before the mutant swung into the air, avoiding Rhino's hand as he tried to grab them. "Tovarishch, you're back! How wonderful!" He exclaimed at the mutant. "With puak and small man!"

"Did that guy seriously call me "small"?" Joe asked as Seth let both him and Miles go and placed them on the roof of a building.

"In his defense, Detective, everyone's pretty small." Miles said, jumping out of Seth's arms onto his right shoulder. "Looks like he's ready for a fight."

"Makes three of us." Seth craned his neck, snarling demonically at the villain. "Joe, stay here. We'll handle him."

"What?" Joe asked.

Venom faced him. "You're a cop, cops don't work with villains." He reminded him. "Miles, let's go!" Both shot out a tendril and webline respectively and swung towards Rhino.

"Seth, you damn idiot!" Joe shouted… before realizing he now had to find a way off a rooftop.

X

(Central City Park Plaza)

Strangely enough, just like some parts of history and how Venom is seen in this timeline past-Flashpoint, Central City Park Plaza had changed completely. Now it was more than just a large plane of green grass. Now it has large trees that young children are climbing on. Sidewalks spread around the park, multitude of families and joggers walking and running on them, respectively. Even a few playgrounds with swings that most children are playing around in, kicking up sand and throwing it at their parents.

The biggest change of them all here in the park was the large lake, it's always filled up with fish and ducks. Benches were placed around the lake, allowing various people to take a seat and enjoy the sight of the clear water rippling in the lake. They also feed the ducks with pieces of bread and other small food types. Sunlight continued to shine over the water, illuminating the depths of it to those who take in the lake's beauty. Ducks swimming around, causing the water to ripple.

Sitting on one of the benches is Ruby Fury. She's been sitting there for some time, probably an hour or so if not more. Her fingers fiddled with the one slice of white beard in her hand, pulling off pieces of it and rolled them into small balls. Though she didn't look at them, when she was sure they're in appropriate spheres she threw them into the water.

Her teeth remained gritted, just like with her previous throws, as she threw yet another ball of bread. The ducks practically swam around her spot, trying to be the first ones to snatch bread balls.

She didn't know how to act right now, no idea where to go next. She just kept going to places she knew her family wouldn't search for her at. Following through her plan, she ended up at Central City Park Plaza and reveled in the changes that followed the reset of the timeline.

Ruby stared at the lake, thinking back to the time she said those hateful words to Seth on Earth-2. That she wasn't his child and that he shouldn't treat her as such, and ran out on him. ending up sitting by the lake in the Woodlands of that universe's Central City.

Just like she did on that Earth, she thought back to her own thoughts, overlooking them all. It's the first she's done this on this Earth, or at least, as far as she can recall.

She just found out her origin is through a HYDRA project, one of the Nazi organization's many attempts to create the ultimate super soldier. Because of her mother's superior strength in a fight, she was chosen as the perfect candidate to birth the perfect specimen to become the Destroyer of Worlds. Ruby knew very well she was being trained to become the Destroyer…

What she didn't know was that she wasn't even a real human… a real living being… She's nothing more than a science experiment… Something HYDRA made…

Something that they could discard if they didn't see any more use for her…

"What am I?" She asked herself. Ruby's eyes pointed at the lake, focusing them on the family of five ducks. The two parents swam in a straight line, their three ducklets following them. One of them seemed to tilt weirdly as though it was struggling to swim.

The former HYDRA assassin widened her eyes. Turning them to the sides to check if anyone saw first before she used her powers, using gravity to help straighten the ducklett. As though it knew what happened to it and who did it, the ducklet faced Ruby and quacked its gratitude.

Ruby chuckled at that. A duck really thanked her with a quack.

She saw one of the parent ducks swing to the back of the line, nudging the head of its child to get its attention. The child quacked at her parent before resuming the line. The parent gave another quack, following its child back into the line.

Ruby smiled, one of happiness but also of sadness. Happy because she saw the ducklett be brought back to her family, sad because she didn't know how her own parents are doing now.

"Hey Rubs." The gravity manipulator didn't even have to turn her head to know it was her mother greeting her. Caitlin saw that she was focusing on the lake and the duck family, so she took a seat beside her on the bench. Sending a grateful look to Jessica, she turned her attention to the lake as her daughter. "Took a while to find you."

"… Never made things easy for anyone…" Ruby replied slowly, her eyes never meeting her mother's. "Why are you here?"

"My daughter goes missing, crying her eyes out, and you think I'm just gonna stay behind and do nothing?" Caitlin replied. "Your father told me everything… I'm sorry you had to find out like this, honey."

"Why do you bother?" Ruby asked her, tears running down her cheeks again and her hands scratching her forearms again. "I'm not a real person… a human."

"Like I said, your Dad told me… and what?" This time Caitlin got her daughter's attention. "Why does it bother you this much, Rubs?" She asked with a smile.

"Mom… Don't you know what it means?" Ruby turned in her seat, facing her mother fully. "I'm not human."

"And?" Caitlin asked, once again confusing her child.

"What do you mean "and"? I'm not a human, not a real human. I'm a science experiment." Ruby stated.

"Sounds familiar." Her daughter's confusion increased tenfold. Caitlin could see the confusion on her face grow exponentially. She explained. "Ruby, you must have realized by now, no one in our family are humans. Your sisters are two metahumans, from two different universes when you think about it. I'm a metahuman myself with powers like her formerly evil doppelganger, but in secret. Your father practically boasts every day he's not a human… So why does it bother you that much if you're not a human? None of us are humans anymore. So, we're just like you… You know DNA, altered or otherwise, doesn't make a family."

"You sure about that?" Ruby skeptically asked.

"It doesn't." Caitlin firmly said. "You are our real daughter, a real part of our family."

"But I'll always be the girl who was created to be a weapon. And HYDRA will always be my origin." Ruby wiped tears away. "I hate that's my origin, that I come from that now."

"I don't believe that your time with HYDRA was all bad, honey." Caitlin wrapped an arm around her daughter, pulling her close. "My baby… Sometimes I feel guilty that I wasn't there for you, your sisters when you were born. There for your first steps, your first words, your first time vomiting." Ruby chuckled at that embarrassing list. "But you know what I realized when I actually became your mother… It doesn't matter where you come from, it just matters that you got to where you are now, with me and your father. Even if we had the same DNA, the entire family, it wouldn't have made me or your father love you anymore than we already do."

"You sure about having a science experiment like me as a daughter?"

"You're Ruby Fury, our daughter… That's who you are, and it won't ever change how we feel about you. Your past brought you to our lives, that's why I'm thankful for it." Caitlin kissed the top of her head. "Cause it gave me a daughter that's completely irreplaceable."

"Mom…" Ruby blinked her eyes, more tears rolling down her face.

"Were you worried we wouldn't love you anymore when we learnt about this?" Ruby didn't answer her mother's question. "Silly girl, we love you no matter what. Earth-616er and everything else about you. Nothing we would change about you."

"Mom… I'm sorry for running off like that." Ruby said.

"Well, beats running away to god knows where, if you ask me." Caitlin chuckled.

Ruby recalled what her mother told her after she returned from the docks with her father. She really only spends time with her mother as a patient, not much as a daughter. Ruby admired Seth greatly, she's done that since she was a kid in training at HYDRA Preparatory Academy…

But now… She could see there's another parent who deserves as much admiration as what she directs to her father, maybe even more…

Her mother's truly special…

"What's that?" Ruby gasped when seeing smoke coming from the city.

Caitlin faced the direction of her daughter's eyes. In worry, she pulled out her phone and checked CCTV with Friday's help. "Rhino's attacking again, your Dad and Miles are fighting him."

"What about Frankie and Evie?" Ruby asked in worry.

"Searching for you." Caitlin replied as she typed away on her phone, sending a message to both Frankie and Evelyn. "They're on the way right now."

"I'll go…" Ruby said. Caitlin looked at her in worry and her child replied. "I'll be fine, Mom. I promise you that. My dad's out there right now, fighting… I'll help and protect him, too. Trust me."

"Always." Caitlin reached over the bench side, pulling out a bag. "You're gonna need this."

Ruby took the bag, looking inside and saw that it was her helmet. "Thanks, Mom." She smiled and stood up. Thankfully, she kept the rest of her suit under her oversized hoodie. "I'll go." Caitlin nodded.

"Not alone." Jessica revealed herself to the pair.

Ruby nodded her thanks before the two jumped into action.

X

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Rhino's cackles echoed through the city streets, mixing with the screams of civilians running away as the large man ran through the lanes. With a growl, he stabbed a car with his horn and flung it over his shoulder.

At the same time, he smirked when seeing both Venom and the younger Spider-Man swinging after him. Aleksei came to a short stop, embedding his hand into the ground, tearing up a chunk of asphalt again before throwing it after them.

"Haven't you learnt it's not nice to throw things? You're too old to throw a tantrum!" Miles quipped, catapulting himself to the boulder. Clenching his fist, bio-electricity enveloped his hand before he thrusted it into the asphalt projectile.

Upon collision his attack easily broke the boulder into pieces, sending them flying to the ground. Rhino resumed his run.

"And he's not even listening! Seriously rude!" Miles quipped; faking hurt before resuming to swing after the villain.

Venom swung past him. "They never do." He ran along the side of a building, leaping off of it. He reeled back his right arm, turning it into adamantium before swinging it. His fist collided with the side of Aleksei's face, making him grunt and fall to the ground.

He got up on his feet again, growling annoyed at the mutant and spider-hero. But his growl was cut short when Miles shot a web shot, covering his mouth with web.

"Sorry, bad boys get a timeout." He shivered at his own words. Facing Venom who made eye contact with him, he added. "Makes me feel bad."

"Kid is like a mini-Peter." Seth thought, but he didn't know if that was good or bad.

Rhino tore off the webbing, growling at the two heroes with anger. "You two face death now!" Despite what he said, he turned around and ran away.

"Where's he going?" Miles asked.

"Doesn't matter where, what matters is that we stop him." Venom stated, grabbing the spider-hero and placed him on his back. Lashing out both his hands, he grabbed onto two opposite buildings. Jumping backwards he jumped into the air and catapulted himself into the air.

"Seth, use your sword. You have one, right?" Miles asked him. Inwardly he really wants to see him use that crystal sword.

"If he doesn't stop, a sword won't make much of a difference. And in a populated area like this, Rhino could do a lot of damage."

"We have to move him, then." Miles deduced.

"I can help with that." Both heroes turned their heads, surprised to find Evelyn on Seth's free shoulder. "Hey Dad. Miles. Be ready." In an instant, her shadowy darkness enveloped them all and she shadowported them away.

Rhino looked over his shoulder, trying to find the heroes. But he couldn't find them anywhere. When he turned his attention back ahead, he was shocked to find Eclipse there with a smirk. She ran to him and jumped onto his chest.

In an instant, her darkness wrapped around his form and she shadowported them out of the way.

X

(Central City Docks)

"ARGH! /ARGH!" Both Miles and Seth grunted in pain when they appeared out of the shadows. The elemental landed on top of a container; the spider-hero landed on the ground.

Miles snapped back up to a sitting, looking around with eyes bulging out of his lenses like a cartoon character. "What just happened? Where are we?"

"Evelyn's ability: Shadowporting, she can teleport via the darkness her body emanates. She teleported us elsewhere." Seth examined his surroundings, widening his eyes when he saw its Central City Docks. "Smart, she moved us to the docks."

"But why?" Miles asked, taking in the already severally damaged area.

"It's already wrecked here and unpopulated after we told to everyone get away." Magenta said, revealing herself before her father and the spider-hero from Earth-616. "Mom told us of what happened in the city with Rhino and you guys. Evie then suggested she'd get the three of you here with her powers while I readied everything here."

"So, we can let loose here." Venom flexed his chest, the handle of his sword sticking out of the middle of it, and he grabbed hold of it before yanking it out of his body. "Perfect. We need to finish this and find your sister then."

"Jesse's out looking too." Frankie informed her father. "We'll find Ruby, Dad."

"Let's protect her home now from that rampaging dolt." Venom stated, twirling his sword around. He braced it against his shoulder. "Rhino's gonna meet his match here."

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Rhino screamed when Eclipse brought them out of darkness.

She shadowported to her father and sister's side, panting heavily from exhaustion and overwork. "Damn guy needs to lose weight. It's impossible to teleport a guy who weighs more than a train."

"Not the time to give villains health advice, Sis." Frankie joked as the villain himself returned to his feet, stomping the ground violently.

Aleksei faced the elemental and the other heroes, embedding his feet into the ground. "City or here, your fate is sealed." He growled at the heroes, showing a toothy grin.

"Annoying guy." Magenta forced her hands into maces. "Let's take him down!" She jumped into action, running to the huge villain.

Rhino growled, swinging his fist for her. Much to his surprise, Magenta blocked his fist with one of her maces. She parried it, making his fist embed into the ground. Spinning around, Frankie swung both her maces into the side of his face and made him stagger.

Evelyn knew she couldn't risk doing more damage to the docks than what's already happened. Her arrows would only cause more destruction to the area, she had to take a much closer approach this time. Cupping her hands together, she formed a broadsword of light.

Eclipse joined her sister, charging towards the villain and swung her blade. Though it was light against metal, Rhino's metal managed to block her attack as he used the back of his hand to stop her attack. He swung his free hand for her, but she avoided it by crouching. Twirling her sword around, she pulled back her light sword before thrusting it forward.

Rhino jumped back, but not before the tip of her light broadsword grazed his chest and left a cut. When regaining his balance, Aleksei examined his chest with his fingers and saw the small cut on it. Enraged by her attack, he planted both hands into the ground and tore up a large piece of asphalt and threw it after them.

Before the girls could try and stop the boulder from coming, both Seth and Miles appeared before them. Black flames enveloped the crystal blade of Venom's sword before he swung it into the boulder. Bio-electricity sparked over Spider-Man's hands before he, in a series of swift attacks, thrust them at the boulder.

The black flames and bio-electricity worked together, causing the boulder to break into dozens of pieces.

As the pieces went flying, Venom charged the villain pulling back his sword and swung it. Rhino cackled as his "old friend" went on the offensive, using his sword to meet the crystal blade. Somehow their respective blades clashed against each other, releasing sparks as they continued to fight for dominance.

Miles, while reluctant to do it, ran up Seth's back and jumped onto Rhino's back. He delivered a series of punches to the back of his head. "Come on, Rhino, you can't be this stubborn. Who helped you with that bomb?"

Aleksei groaned at the punches coming to his head, he tried to use his hands to get the spider-hero off of his back but to no avail. "I got many friends, pauk!" He countered, still trying to pluck the young hero off his back.

Seth used that to his advantage and turned his fists into adamantium, throwing his punches at him and causing him to stagger back. Miles used that opportunity to place his hands on the villain's head, sparking his electricity again and letting it come over his entire form.

Groaning in rage and frustration, Aleksei finally managed to reach behind him and grab the young hero by the back of his suit and pull him off. "Pest!" He hurled Miles away and towards a stack of containers.

Using his skills and the training he's received from Peter Parker, Miles shot a webline. It attached to the stack of containers, and he used the momentum he's got to swing around it and into the air. Turning upside-down, he lashed out both hands and shot web shots at the huge villain.

Rhino crossed his arms over his face, shielding his head from the web shots. He tried to move, but found that he couldn't move even a bit. Looking down at his feet, he saw both are stuck to the ground because of the immense amount of webbing on them.

"What?!" He reached down to tear the webbing off, but an adamantium fist to his face sent him flying off the ground immediately. Despite his huge form, Rhino was rolling on the ground, coming to a stop when his back hit a container.

He groaned and looked up, seeing the heroes standing not far from him. Each one of them standing ready for another fight with him. However, his attention was drawn somewhere else when a pipe hit his head. Aleksei faced that direction and saw Jesse Quick, playfully throwing a pipe into the air before catching it again. "Miss me?"

"Not really." Rhino countered candidly.

Jesse threw another pipe at his face. "Words hurt." She mock sulked, puffing out her cheeks and looked away with crossed arms.

"Not as much as this!" Rhino got up to his feet, running towards the speedster with his horn lowered like a lance. None of the other heroes intervened, trusting Jesse's decision to provoke the enemy into an attack. They watched as he seemed to ram into Jesse's location, causing a tremor to come over them and containers fell over him.

"Did she just drop containers on top of herself?" Miles asked Seth while pointing a finger at the falling containers.

"No." Venom said, shaking his head. As he expected, Jesse appeared after running through a container wall, phasing her way out of the mess she created. "Not bad, kid."

"Thought we lost you there for a second." Frankie said with a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine." Jesse faced Seth, giving a wide smile. "Had to use my other superpower on this one."

"That's how you do it." Seth narrowed his eyes when he felt another tremor close to them. "But he's not down yet…" He gritted his teeth as his fears were confirmed when Rhino burst out of the container pile, throwing them away.

Frankie used her powers, catching the various containers that came flying their way with her ferrokinetic powers. "Guy really doesn't know when to quit…"

Like he was a gorilla, Aleksei punched on his chest like it's a drum. "I will not be defeated, not now!" Grabbing containers, pulling them back, he then threw them after them.

Once again Magenta was about to grab them…

… But something else… stopped them… mid-air…

"You caught them?" Evelyn asked her sister in surprise.

"I… I didn't…" Frankie answered, just as surprised as her sister.

"Seriously?" Everyone was shocked at that voice. "Don't give Frankie credit for my work, Evie. That sucks!" Facing the sound of that voice, they were all shocked to see Destroyer… Ruby standing there, one hand stretched out, keeping the containers suspended in the air.

"Ruby?" Seth asked, lowering his sword in surprise at the sight of his runaway daughter returning.

"Save the teary reunion for later, Venom!" Spider-Woman announced when swinging to the enemy. Letting go of her webline, she thrust out her hands into Rhino's face. Before he could react to her sudden appearance, she instantaneously discharged bio-electricity from her hands and into his face.

It felt as though Aleksei was hit by a lightning bolt, pushing him back. Though he was hit by it, he managed to gather his bearings again and stood back up. But the containers he threw before, the ones both Ruby and Frankie are holding, are thrown at him again in full force.

As the storm of containers came flying down on him, Jesse clenched her fist. "Thought I had him with that." She hated that her stack of containers didn't even seem to faze the humongous rhinoceros-like villain.

"Giving up already?" Jesse Quick turned to Venom who spoke to her without facing her. "It's part of the job: You fail. you get back up and try again harder. Don't back down from one enemy's shield, no matter how strong. Tear it down with a spear of your own making."

"So, poke the bear with the biggest stick you can find?" Jesse quipped. Her own words gave her a flash of inspiration, her mouth gaping in realization. "Seth, I have an idea,"

"What?" Seth asked, turning to face her.

"If we attack him from all sides, we might be able to stop him once and for all." She suggested her plan. "Spider-Woman can launch electricity, Eclipse can shoot light, Destroyer can fire off gravity blasts."

At the mention of her name, Ruby turned her head. "And you can fire off a lightning bolt. Ready that. In the meantime, Dad, Miles and Frankie can hold him off."

"Close-range, huh?" Magenta smirked, morphing her arms from maces to swords. "I'm in."

"So am I." Spider-Man declared, lowering himself on the ground and sparked electricity on his hands.

"On it, you guys get ready." Venom stated, twirling his blade around. "Jesse." The speedster faced him. "Run, Jesse. Run."

She smirked.

WHOOSH

In a flash, she ran away, speeding around in a circle to gather enough momentum and lightning at the same time. Evelyn grabbed Ruby's hand with one hand, the sisters smiling at one another through their masks, her other grabbing Jessica's hand before she shadowported them away.

"I missed you, Ruby." Seth thought, without his symbiotic partner covering his face, he was sure he'd be bawling like crazy.

"Accurate."

Seth rolled his eyes and turned to meet Rhino who cackled. "Let's go!" He roared, charging for the huge villain who returned with a charge of his own. Pulling his sword back, the elemental swung it down.

Aleksei groaned, meeting the incoming crystal blade with his horn and blocked it. As though it was a clash between swords, they attacked one another with their respective blades again. Blocking one another before resuming the attacks.

Both Miles and Frankie used Venom as a springboard, running up his back and over his form. The ferrokinetic used her sword to strike his back, spinning around to rapidly attack down his back and strike the back of his left leg.

Rhino was forced down to a knee, still managing to hold off Seth's sword attacks. But those blocks came to an end when Spider-Man appeared, blocking his vision with web shots converting an enormous amount of bio-electricity in his right fist.

Miles stomped the ground, releasing a war cry before thrusting his fist into the villain's back. Upon contact, it was as though the bio-electricity in his fist caused an explosion on Rhino's back and pushed down to the ground.

Throwing his sword away, making it embed into the ground behind him, before raising his hands and intertwining them. As his hands turned into adamantium, lightning sparked around his hands and flames ignited, wind gathering around his hands. The combinations of four elements strengthened one another. Venom roared and swung his hands down like a sledgehammer, bringing it down on Rhino's head.

Aleksei screamed in pain, from the elements he felt coming through the attack but also from feeling the horn on top of his helmet that he felt cracking before breaking off. Miles and Frankie jumped away, both in awe of seeing the villain be thrust into the ground that cracked and fissured from the elemental's attack.

"That's the… Lethal Protector's power." Miles said awestruck by his powers.

Venom removed his hands from Rhino's hands and jumped backwards, out of the way and looked around. Running around in a large circle, he saw Jesse gathering up a tremendous amount of lightning as she continued to run in a circle. He saw the ground around Ruby cracking as more and more gravitational force was gathering around her. Evelyn's presence was almost invisible to see from the immense light she's forming between her hands. Jessica was essentially turning herself into an incarnation of electricity with the thunderstorm she was generating.

"NOW!" Venom called out, jumping out of the way and shot tendrils to wrap around Miles and Frankie and pulling them out of the way.

"Let's rock!" Jessica thrust her hands out, discharging her bio-electricity in one powerful Venom Blast.

"Take this!" Ruby thrust out her hands, projecting the immense and destructive gravitational blast.

"Here!" Evelyn aimed her sphere of concentrated light out, shooting an intense beam of brilliant light.

Jesse came to a stop, time slowing down to a crawl as she swung her arm. The energy she gathered, the lightning she generated by running around in an uncountable number of rounds, passed over her entire body and latched onto her arm. Though she was Zeus themselves, she threw the lightning bolt like it was an arrow of yellow lightning.

The Earth-616 villain barely got a chance to register the attacks before the four attacks, from various sides, connected with him. He released a loud scream from the various attacks, causing a series of explosions to erupt on his metal suit.

But as soon as the explosions stopped, Aleksei dropped down to the ground again. Completely knocked out now, he won't be able to get up again for a while.

"Nice!" Ruby announced. "ARGH!" She gasped when suddenly two pairs of arms wrapped around her form, ensnaring her. Looking around, she saw both her sisters wrap her arms around her. "What's the deal with you morons?" She demanded, trying to fight her way out of the double-bearhug.

"Shut up, you moron." Frankie said, not easing up on her hug.

"We just missed you." Evelyn added, tears running out of the holes in her eye mask where her eyes look through.

"Seriously?" Ruby thanked her mother for bringing back her mask because she would hate her sisters for seeing her blush like a tomato.

The three sisters felt a shadow come over them, all three looking up to see Venom standing over them. He wrapped his arms around them all, pulling his three daughters into a bone-crushing hug. "We're so… So… So… Happy you're alright." He tightened his arms around them all.

Instead of Ruby smiling and saying she's alright, instead she shouted in pain at the hug. "Dad, seriously stop!"

"What's wrong?" Seth released them, and watched Ruby hold her forearms when her sisters released their hug. In an instant, the symbiotic mass retracted, and the mutant crouched down before her. He slid her sleeves up….

… and paled at the sight of the deep, dark bruises on her forearms…

"Dear God…" Seth thought in fear.

He had seen this kind of damage before…. Almost identical to the ones he saw in the past…

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"OW!" Caitlin heard Ruby say as she examined her arms in the medbay. "Mom, if this is your way of punishing me for running away, I'm sorry alright! Just calm down, would you?!" She complained and pleaded to her mother at the same time.

"I'm mad sure, but I'll just ground you later." Caitlin said bluntly, her eyes never leaving her daughter's arms. "But I'm more worried about this." She admitted, examining the bruises with both fear and awe.

While crawling on the wall, Frankie asked. "Mom, what happened to Ruby's arms? She's never had these before."

"Is she okay?" Evelyn asked.

"I'm not that weak, you two. I can handle this." As though it was to correct her statement, Caitlin gently pressed on a bruise which made Ruby sharply take in air. "Ow…"

Caitlin gulped and diagnosed. "The bruising was caused by capillary ruptures in your arms." She reached to the side, taking the tablet off the cart and tapped on the screen. Turning it around for her children to see, she explained while showing the scans from Ruby's scans. "X-rays showed more than 75 hairline fractures from Ruby's clavicle to her fingers."

"What?" Ruby asked in shock. "Why? How? I don't understand how that happened."

"I have a theory…" Caitlin trailed off just as Seth walked into the medbay with Cisco, the former holding a case and the latter wearing a disappointed expression.

Seth winced at the sight of the bruises on Ruby's arms. "Hairline fractures, right?"

Caitlin turned shocked at his words. "How'd you know? I didn't even tell you about this."

"I had the same problem at Ruby's age, maybe younger." Seth declared to their shock while placing the case on a nearby cart. He saw Ruby's confused look and explained. "You got those bruises from your powers, Ruby, you directed them inwards."

"But Ruby's never done this before with her powers." Frankie noted. "Why'd she start now?"

"State of mind. It must have started back at the fight with Top, where Ruby shook herself free of the vertigo." Seth stated. "And with what happened lately, she must have subconsciously directed them inward."

"Which explains the nosebleed." Caitlin realized. Seth nodded his agreement. "But what did you mean by you having the same problems?"

"When I started with the fire element, it hurt me back whenever I tried to control it. I felt my skin sizzle and my bones melting. I kept scratching my arms like crazy." Seth answered. "It got worse when the other elements were thrown in the mix. My entire body felt like it was thrown into a wood chipper."

"But wouldn't that have been the same case for Ruby?" Evelyn asked. "She has Gravitonium in her entire body."

"Much like you and Frankie, honey, Ruby uses her hands and arms to send gravity blasts." The mutant explained to her. "Because of that, the arms will be the most targeted areas." He gestured to Ruby's arms. "Which is why we have this end result."

"So, what do I do?" Ruby asked.

"You wear these." Seth opened the case, pulling out thick dark metal arm braces. Small metal circles are placed around them. "They're casts made from compression microfibers, to help contain the Gravitonium in your arms, minimize the damage." He handed the casts to Ruby.

"You made these?" Caitlin asked, slightly shocked because she didn't expect him to have experience with constructing devices or braces before.

Cisco pitched in, correcting his colleague. "No, he didn't. But he did keep me from accessorizing them, and told me to follow the exact instructions to a T."

"Anything else, it might have decreased the functionality of the casts." Seth stated, helping Ruby put the casts on. "Not gonna lie, they're gonna suck for a while and itch like hell."

"I can handle itching, Dad." Ruby inhaled deeply, looking between the faces of her family. "But I'm really, really, really sorry for running off like I did."

"Well, I heard it's normal for teenagers to run away from home at least once or twice in their life." Caitlin quipped.

"So, I'm normal, huh?" Ruby laughed as though that was the last thing people would ever say about her. When the last strap was tightened, she flexed her fingers on both hands. "Yeah, sucks bad and itchy as hell."

"Language." Caitlin pinched Ruby's cheek, making her groan in retaliation. "And you're forgiven, kiddo. Just… next time, we get a revelation like this, don't run off. We deal with it as a family, okay?" While rubbing her cheek, her daughter nodded.

Seth couldn't help but smile at the sight of Caitlin and Ruby interacting the way they are. Maybe Caitlin was right, she didn't have the same bond with Ruby as he does. But that would change soon. He could foresee that.

"When did you become clairvoyant?" Seth heard his "other" ask mockingly.

"I got to find a mute button for you one of these days." He told his partner. Seth got his family's attention, pointing a finger back into the Cortex. "You guys ready to join the rest of society?"

"I don't have to apologize to the rest, do I?" Ruby looked as though she dreaded the very idea of expressing gratitude to the others.

"Maybe just Jesse." Ruby gave Frankie a dry look. "She went looking for you."

"Alright." Ruby groaned, she got up from her gurney and her family followed her into the Cortex. Instantly, she turned to Jesse, still in her Jesse Quick suit. "Jesse… Thanks for searching for me. And sorry for causing you guys trouble."

"Just happy you're alright." Jesse hugged Ruby.

Once unwrapping their arms, Ruby turned to Jessica and Miles. "Thanks to you two, as well."

"We're glad you're okay." Jessica said.

"Goes double for me." Miles admitted. Quickly realizing what he said, he covered his mouth with both hands. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." He chanted through his hands.

Ruby smiled, blushing like a tomato again.

"Smooth." Seth chuckled. He turned to Jesse again. "Jesse, great job back there."

Harry looked shocked. "She did a great job?"

"More than just great." Jessica pitched in. "She had a plan, ready to fight a giant in an iron suit, and she… She can throw lightning." She smacked her mouth. "Yeah, still need a while to process that last bit."

"You get used to it." Caitlin assured her.

"Fury." It was time for Harrison to spill his guts. Seth faced him with a sigh. "I'm… I'm…" He struggled to say the words. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier today, and about what I said about Ruby."

"Come again?" Ruby asked, narrowing her eyes threateningly.

"Forget it… I'm sorry." He apologized again, this time to all the Snow-Fury clan.

"It's okay, Wells." The mutant said. "Hate how everything the city says got to you, but it's fine with me. Point is, all is good now." Harry smiled. Seth narrowed his eyes when he saw Miles and Ruby sharing a look.

"Yo, Seth?" Jessica got his attention. "You have a way for us to get back to our own neighborhood? No offense to Central City, but we like our own neighborhood walls more."

"Oh, you're leaving?" Ruby asked Miles and Jessica, worried she wouldn't get time with the young spider-hero.

Seth figured he could do something nice for his daughter, just today. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the dimensional traveling device. With no subtlety at all, he broke it in half. Everyone heard the sound, turning to see the elemental hold the halves of the dimensional traveling device. "Oops, looks like I broke this thing. It takes a while to rebuild this one. Guess you're stuck here for a few days."

"Really?" Miles' eyes lit up.

"What are you talking about, Seth?" Cisco asked. "With me and Harry here, it'll take ten minute-OW!" He stopped when he felt Evelyn elbow him.

"Take the hint, Vibe." Evelyn withdrew her elbow.

"Oh," Cisco realized what she meant. "yeah, it's gonna take a while for us to remake that thing."

"Really?" Ruby asked, unknowingly using Miles' same words.

Caitlin smirked. "Ruby, you know Jitters is still open for a few hours… Sure Miles would love to see our city's best coffee shop."

"Really?" Ruby asked with a smile, looking between her parents.

"Be home by 7, dinner's on the table of course." Seth said.

Miles walked over to Ruby, holding out his hand for her to take. Which she did and he led her out of the exit like a gentleman.

"Real charmer." Caitlin jokes.

"Oh right, gotta give her some cash." Seth rushed after his daughter and Miles.

"Wow… Dad's really opening up to Rubs having a boyfriend." Evelyn turned to her mother. "Think the same courtesy will extend to me and Frankie?"

"Don't poke the bear, honey." Caitlin jokes, ruffling her daughter's hair.

Barry turned to Jessica with a questionable look. "Jessica, can I ask you something?" The spider-hero nodded. "Why is Seth so cool about this entire thing?"

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked, curious as to what he meant.

Cisco continued Barry's question, elaborating for the speedster. "He means the entire city's gunning for his head, itching to put it in a trophy case. And he's just acting-"

"Like it's another Tuesday." Barry continued his question.

"You guys, except for Ruby, don't really know much about Seth, do you?" Jessica asked, her eyes going back and forth between the many faces she can see.

"It's something to do with the other Venom." Caitlin deduced, shocking Jessica into giving her a strange look. "I had my suspicions for a while now, but it clicked when I saw how Peter, you and Miles were unshocked by this."

"Caity's right." Jessica started. "Your favorite and only mutant on this Earth was also one of the most hated heroes on Earth-616. Heck, Peter mistook him for the other Venom multiple times before Seth corrected him with his actions. Then I was sent to kill him too, but Seth saved my ass, now he's like the annoying brother I never wanted." They laughed. "But… Seth never let that get to him because he knew what taking on another villain's look would bring him. He knew wearing the face of Venom would bring him grief, pain and hate…. But somehow Seth rose above that and chose to only care about two people."

"The powerless that need defending, and the troublemakers who cause them trouble. People he defends, people he defends against." Jessica continued. "Think his father drilled that into his head or something, or maybe Seth learnt to do so with the years as a hero. Seth… he took two oaths."

"One as a doctor." Caitlin noted.

Jessica nodded before adding. "The other as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, to be the shield. To protect those in danger. Along the way, he must have learnt that not everyone has to like the shield."

"Sounds like a tough life." Jesse said, not knowing if she could handle that if Earth-2 started hating her as she tried to save Central City.

"It's the life he chose, and he doesn't regret it." Jessica said. "People hated him, even to the point of putting a bounty on his head like here, but he remained strong and continued to fight the good fight. Even though his baby sis and father told him to step away from the frontlines for a bit, he wouldn't do that and stood as one of the first heroes on the battlefield no matter what."

"Sounds like Seth." Caitlin said with a smile.

"He's changed a lot since 616, that's for sure." Jessica said.

"Seth!" Joe shouted, rushing into the Cortex. He jumped into the Cortex, looking around in search of the elemental. "Where's Seth?"

"Hold your horses, Josephine!" Seth called, walking into the Cortex. "Had to give cash to my daughter who's going on her first date… Why do I feel like I'm gonna use the satellites to spy on my daughter?"

"Don't spy on our daughter!" Caitlin chastised him. "Joe, what's wrong? What is it?"

"Rhino's convoy to Iron Heights was brought down… He escaped." Joe revealed.

"What?" Seth asked. "What happened? Who did that?"

"No idea, we don't know." Joe rubbed his eyes. "CSI's called to the case, all hands on deck. Told the captain it'd be without you." Seth nodded his acceptance. "Barr, come with." He waved the speedster after him. Barry followed him out of the Cortex.

"I'm checking in on that, sounds interesting." Cisco ran after them excitedly.

"Wow." Wally said.

Jesse walked over to him, nudging his shoulder. "Wanna get out of here? Hang out before I have to leave."

"Always." Wally took her hand and the speedster sped them out of there.

Harry walked away, sipping on coffee and thinking of Seth's idea of spying on his daughter using high-tech satellites. Jessica looked around, seeing herself in the mix with the Snow-Fury members. "So, what's the plan for us then?"

"In a day or two, we're gonna send you and Miles back to Earth-616, then we can also ask Earth-19 Wells to join the party next." Caitlin replied. "Means Ruby and Miles have a couple of days to have fun."

"Cait, you're gonna make me rethink my idea on spying on our child." Seth admitted.

"Don't!" She chuckled, mock slapping his cheek. "Jessica, you okay with staying with us for a few more days?"

"Course." Jessica laughed. "But you got cars big enough for so many?"

"No need for cars when you got me here." Evelyn grabbed her and Frankie's hand. Caitlin placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Dad, you coming?"

"I'll swing my way there, honey. Be home soon." Seth promised her with a smile. Caitlin accepted that and Evelyn shadowported them out of the way. The mutant dropped his smile, walking around the console till he stood before the computer. "Friday, wakey wakey, eggs n bakey."

"I'm here, Boss. What's the problem?" The AI asked him.

"When I saw Rhino back there… I only had one bad thought there, and I really hope I'm wrong." Seth started. "Open a project, make it private, only available to me till I wanna share with the rest of the class. And by then, I hope I'm really, really wrong."

"Done, Boss. What'd you like to call it?" Friday asked.

"SS." Seth answered.

For his sake and for his city's sake, Seth hoped things wouldn't get…. Sinister…

X

As the day came to an end… nighttime quickly came over Central City, darkening the entire city with shadows and darkness as their solar light source went to rest.

Walking into a darkened alleyway, Taskmaster looked around in search. He waited for his associate to meet up with him at this location. But he had a feeling it wouldn't be long… for his associate to meet him…

Then… it happened…

As though he felt it coming, Taskmaster lashed out an arm and shot a grappling hook, attaching it to the edge of the nearest rooftop. Clenching his hand, he pulled himself out of the way away from the long black mechanical device that stretched like an arm, lashing out to try and grab the mercenary with the two sets of claws on the arm. The larger claws are tipped with yellow.

Taskmaster reached the rooftop, spinning around till he stood on the roof. He unequipped his sword handle, pressing the button on it and ejected his photogenic blade. Swinging with expert skills, he blocked the two mechanical arms that tried to attack and grab him.

One tried to attack him from behind, the mercenary blocked it with his shield that he instantly unequipped. The mechanical clawed arms attacked from two sides and Taskmaster blocked them both with his blade and his shield.

Jumping backwards, dodging the two mechanical arms and he pulled out his firearm. Pulling the trigger, he shot the arms before they could come closer to him. His energy shots didn't damage the arms though they did keep them from coming closer to him.

"And you asked me to leave my weapons, Doctor." He scoffed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The two arms stopped their attack. They placed themselves on the rooftop, anchoring themselves to the roof before lifting something… someone… up.

Slowly, from behind the edge of the building, a man revealed himself. A balding man with dark hair and green eyes that are covered by round welding goggles. His physique showed itself, revealing itself to be a chubby man, clad in a dark green bodysuit lined with a black polymer.

From Taskmaster's point of view, it was impossible to see it, but he knew that from the center of his lower back are four long mechanical arms, each one equipped with two sets. They are attached to his lower back via a harness.

From his elevated position, holding himself up with his mechanical arms, the man looked down on the mercenary from his native universe. "Do I need to remind you, Taskmaster, this is not your home."

"You do not…" Taskmaster holstered his weapon and shield. "Doctor Octavius."

"You called me. Why?" Dr. Octopus demanded to know with a hostile tone. "Is this about payment for you to release Rhino from the prisoner convey?"

"That was easy, Doctor." Taskmaster declared. "But this is about another job… One where you can help me, Doctor."

Otto Octavius narrowed his eyes, intrigued but also… curious.

X

(CCPN)

"West?"

Iris looked up from her computer, seeing her editor Scott Evans walking over to her, a few pieces of paper in his hand while wearing an upset look on his face. That look didn't comfort her, making her shoot up from her chair. "What's wrong, Evans?"

"What's this?" He held out her take on an article, the one she handed him before.

"My article?" Iris asked confusedly, taking the article in her hand.

"Definitely not what I'd call it." Scott stated candidly, placing his hands on his hips. "You're writing like Venom's a hero? Seriously? Him?"

"I think he is a hero, yeah." Iris admitted, crossing her arms. "I know he is. He stopped Clock King, saved me, my Dad, my late fiancée, and a number of civilians two years ago. He saved the city against Carnage, rescuing a poor defenseless girl. And he even led an army of metas to defend our city last year against Zoom."

Scott bluntly said. "You failed to mention he also massacred more than half of East Street Skulls the same year he saved you, your dad and your fiancée." Iris clicked her tongue sheepishly. "You're painting the city's glorified serial killer as a hero? You're smarter than that, West. Rewrite it." He demanded.

"Evans, I'm not comfortable with smearing a great hero as if he's a villain." Iris defensively said. "Guy saved my life before, I don't wanna be part of any ruination to him."

"Understandable. I'll ask someone else to write. Come into my office in 10 minutes, I'll have another assignment for you." Scott stated.

Iris lowered her eyes, aiming them at her article. She couldn't help but read her own article though she knew it word for word.

"Venom: Hero or Menace?" She started reading in her mind. She took a seat by her desk again. "Whether we want to accept it or not, we have another guardian angel out there. Not the one we call the Scarlet Speedster, but one that's been deemed as our city's Lethal Protector. Venom has done things, yeah, but he's done so in the name of protecting our home. He's scary and has done scary things, but that was only in our city's home. Whether we like him or not… Venom will always protect our city, our home… his home."

She couldn't think of a better article to help make the people realize that Venom is not a villain… She didn't know what else to do.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, Breach Room)

"Guys, I've never vibed across 18 dimensions before." Cisco complained, while holding up the breach to uphold a connection to Earth-19.

The ones in the breach room to greet Harrison Wells from Earth-19 are Wally, Cisco, Barry, Harry, Jesse, Seth and Caitlin.

Caitlin thought it was overkill to bring her daughters along in case this one turned out to be evil, like… most of their Wells'. But she did, for some reason, allow her mate to keep his sword close.

"Just a little bit longer." Harry told him, holding his energy rifle and aimed it at the breach.

"Let's hope this one has better bedside manners than the ones we've had so far." Seth quipped.

Smirking, Caitlin faced him. "Why? Afraid of sharing the title?"

"Ouch." Seth feigned hurt.

The breach pulsated, flashing with a bright blue color, before suddenly a man jumped out of it. He's wearing a hat, a black jacket and a black bag on his back. He turned his head, his face to see them all. Everyone watched Harrison Wells' face.

Distortedly he greeted them. "Greetings, Earthlings." Harrison-19 saw their eyes grow wide in fear and concern. He dropped the façade. "I'm just kidding. I don't really talk like that." Harry lowered his rifle, Cisco took off his goggles, Seth lowered his sword. "Just always wanted to say that. "Earthlings."" He laughed.

"Wells with a sense of humor." Caitlin chuckled. "That's new."

"Yeah, feels like a sign of the apocalypse." Seth added.

Harrison-2 turned to give the couple a dry look. "Hey. Sharp shooter." He turned to face Harrison-19 who walked closer to him. Harrison-19 admired his face. "You… You're handsome."

Harry scoffed. "I know."

"I know." Harrison-19 scoffed back in a joking tone.

"Likewise." Harry praised him.

"Yeah." He told his doppelganger from Earth-2.

"I'm sure. Harrison." Harry held out his hand.

The Earth-19 doppelganger grabbed his hand, shaking it and replied. "Harrison. Call me H.R."

"H.R. it is." Harry accepted. Gesturing the rest of the team, he introduced them. "This is the team, then. This is Cisco Ramon; he can do anything."

Cisco shook hands with the Earth-19 native, who responded with his own way of greeting. "Oh… Okay."

"This is Doctor Caitlin Snow." Harry gestured to her.

"Hi." She shook hands with H.R.

"She is brilliant. Albeit sharing a relationship with a chocolate-addict." Harry stated, giving a sneaky look at the mutant who gave him a look. "Don't." He told H.R. Pointing to his daughter, he said. "All right. That's my daughter, you don't have to shake her hand… Uh, that gentleman is Wally West." He gestured to Wally.

He pointed to Barry. "This is Barry Allen… Or as we call him on this Earth, the Flash."

"Welcome to Earth-1." Barry greeted the Earth-19 native.

"Thanks. "Earth-1." That's weird." H.R. chuckled.

"And that's…" Harry pointed to Seth. "Formerly of Earth-616, but now Earth-1 hero, Seth Fury. Or as he's called on both Earths, Venom."

"Nice to meet you, H.R." Seth nodded his greeting.

"Seth… Venom… Cool." H.R. gleefully admitted.

"Okay." Harrison got their attention. "Well, we don't have to stand on ceremony." He holstered his energy rifle. "We don't have to go through all the tears again, do we gang? Right?"

"Well, did I- Did I cry last time?" Cisco unsurely asked, pointing to himself.

"I'm talking about myself." Harry clarified.

Cisco nodded. "Hey, listen. Don't worry about him, okay?" He pointed to H.R. "There's only one Harry." Harrison smiled and hugged the viber who reciprocated.

"I wanted to tell you. Back in our fight with Mirror Master… The molecular decelerator, it wasn't working." Harry whispered before disengaging the hug.

"What does that mean?" Cisco stammered his question.

"It means that we did not get Barry out of the mirror. It wasn't us." The Earth-2 scientist stated.

"Then who did it? Seth?" Cisco muttered, glancing at the mutant.

"You tell me. Think Seth would save someone who almost killed his daughter?" Harry inquired.

"See you later." Barry hugged Jesse. "Earth-2's gonna have one hell of a speedster protecting it."

"Well, I did learn from the best." Jesse glanced at Seth who gave a thumbs up. "And I had a teacher who believed in me."

"You ever need help, Jesse, you holler." The mutant told her.

"Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, I'll be back." Jesse looked at Wally.

"Of course, you are." Seth chuckled.

"Okay." Harry got Jesse's attention. "You guys. Ready?"

Jesse nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"Okay, Cisco. Out with the old. In with the new." Harry quipped to the viber.

"Oh…" Caitlin cooed. "You'll never be old to us, Harry." Harry smiled his thanks.

"Though, that'll change if you get into a retirement home of course." Seth joked.

"Gonna miss you too, Fury." Harry stated. He faced his daughter who moved to his side. "Ready?" He asked as the viber opened a breach to Earth-2.

"Yeah. Okay." Jesse held out her hand.

Jesse wrapped his hand around hers. "Okay. Let's do this. Oh, one more thing." He remembered, turning his head around to face them. "While I'm gone, never, ever, no matter what-"

WHOOSH

Harry was cut off when Jesse sped them through the breach, which closed upon them passing the threshold.

"Damn it, Jesse! Just when we got to the good part!" Seth shouted his complaints.

"Oh, oh…" H.R. exhaled. "What was he gonna say? We're all, like, "What was he gonna say?" That's cool, though. I'm starving. You guys have Big Belly Burger?"

"Some things never change." Caitlin chuckled.

"No kidding. Wells' craving BBB." Seth chuckled.

H.R. inhaled deeply. "Famished."

X

(Snow-Fury Loft)

"Thanks again for helping me with everything here, Jessica." Caitlin said, pointing to the array of clean dishes and utensils by the sink. After dinner with the entire family and Miles and Jessica, she and the female spider-hero cleaned up. Seth decided to go for a beer run whilst their daughters and miles went out together, showing the Earth-616 native around.

"Don't mention it, least I could do after that delicious dinner." Jessica said, stretching her arms. "You and that hard-ass boyfriend of yours is one first-class cooking couple."

"Why thank you." Caitlin spoke in a fake British accent, making Jessica laugh. "You and Miles decide when you're going back?"

"Tomorrow morning, yeah." Jessica answered. "Think it's time we go back to our own neighborhood…. After he said his goodbyes to his girlfriend." She childishly said.

"Ruby's certainly happier with Miles here, that's for sure. Thanks for that." Caitlin smiled widely. "And thanks for telling me more about Stefanie while we were cleaning. It meant a lot."

Jessica looked at him. "Guess Seth doesn't talk much about her or Bucky?"

"He did but now… It's varying now." Caitlin said. "But right now, he's focused on Ruby. So am I."

"Mom?!" Ruby herself burst through the door, coming to a stop in front of the two female adults who turned shocked. "Sorry, do you have some cash on you? Forgot I used my last cash for coffee earlier."

"Hope it was decaf." Caitlin quipped, pulling her wallet out and handing her daughter some cash. "Here, no alcohol." She sternly.

"Yes, yes." Ruby chanted. She looked at her mother tenderly, confusing her briefly. "Mom, thanks again for looking for me before, but also for giving my mask back and all. Means a lot, that you were out for me and looking for me and all."

"I'm your mother, Ruby. Always and forever. I'll be looking for you even if it means searching the multiverse alone." Caitlin confessed. "Though, I'm sure I could squeeze in your father and sisters."

"You sure you want Evelyn to steal throughout the entire multiverse?" Ruby said.

"Okay, I might have to rethink your sister's role in that situation." Caitlin quickly pointed a finger at Ruby. "Doesn't mean you should be running through the entire multiverse, young lady. Do that, you're grounded for life and spending your time doing chores every day."

"Promise… But Mom." Caitlin tilted her head, Jessica listening as the daughter opened her heart to her mother. "Soon, not now… But I'd like to change my look, not be Destroyer anymore."

"Why?" Caitlin asked in shock.

"Destroyer was Ruby Hale's dream, her goal, her dream and her purpose." Ruby admitted. "But Ruby Fury… She's someone else, has another dream and doesn't have a purpose. She's someone else who's ready to be someone that can be a protector, someone her father and mother can be proud of."

"Already there, honey." Caitlin stroked Ruby's cheek. "Go, be with your sisters and Miles." The gravity manipulator smiled and ran out of the door.

"Girl of yours is special." Jessica pitched in.

"They all are." She rolled her neck. "Think I'm gonna take a shower in a bit."

"Oh." Jessica smiled cheekily. "I know what that means." She walked to the exit, getting her jacket.

"You're welcome to wait, Jessica." Caitlin told her, but the spider-hero merely replied with a cheeky smile and walked out of the door. "616ers are a mystery I might have to solve one day." She joked and took off her white blouse.

She quickly dropped it off in her room, placing it on the table. Reaching behind her neck, she carefully unhooked the chain of her necklace. Caitlin smiled as she held it in front of her face, holding it in front of her eyes.

The silver necklace that Seth gave her their first Christmas. A diamond snowdrop protected by the black tinted fangs of Venom's maw. Caitlin was still surprised and awed by how the fangs also had white veins… Closely resembling the real deal. She remembered how she felt when she received this gift… that Venom would always protect the snowdrop…

Seth would always protect Caitlin…

Caitlin couldn't help but think about her life with Seth… How it'd changed ever since he came to this universe… She learnt to open her heart again, let others come in… She learnt how to love again… She became a mother… She learnt how to have a real family…

"Love you, Seth." She said, facing the necklace as though she's staring into Seth's blue eyes. Caitlin gently placed the necklace on the table. Along with her bracelet. When all of her accessories were off, she began taking off her clothes before moving into the bathroom.

Turning on the water, she stayed out of the shower stall and watched the water stream projecting from the showerhead. She stretched out her hand, connecting it into the stream and checked it. When it was comfortably warm enough, Caitlin stepped into the stream of water.

The water cascaded over her entire form. Her hands moved her hair, sliding her fingers through it and letting the water soak into it. Caitlin sighed in relief at the feeling of warm water coming over her, she really needed this.

Once she was sure her back had been properly watered, she turned around and let the water splash over her frontside. But as she moved her face closer to the stream of water, letting it cascade over her face she closed her eyes, and didn't see cryogenic mist emitting from her hands. The icy mist spread and covered her entire stall, freezing the walls and even froze the water stream coming out of the showerhead.

For some reason, Caitlin didn't feel the water anymore and she opened her eyes. Her eyes widened at the sight of her shower frozen solid. She gasped, exhaling at the same time and letting out cold white air from her mouth, that only further froze the stall.

Caitlin quickly got out of the shower, drying her hair off with a towel and wrapped a larger towel around her form. She moved to her mirror by the sink and removed her towel from her hair…

Her eyes and mouth gaping at the sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her hair and face… starting to turn similar to her once-evil counterpart.

Her hair has a streak of white hair…

Her lips showing shades of blue…

She took hold of the strand, holding it with both hands and examining it thoroughly. Horrified, she quickly took out a pair of scissors and cut the strand of white hair off.

After letting go of the hair she cut off, she took her phone and dialed a number. The only one she could contact now.

X

"Caitlin, what happened?!" Seth screamed when he ran into their apartment loft, he literally kicked the door open and kicked it shut. He got her call two minutes ago, while he was swinging back home from his beer run, and upped his speed to get back home.

He knew he'd get complaints from his neighbors… again… But it'd be worth it if Caitlin's in trouble.

"Cait!" Seth shouted for her, running into the middle of the living room. He looked around in search. "Cait, where are you?!" He withdrew his sword…

"In here."

Seth heard her voice coming from their bedroom. Running to it, he tackled the door open and looked at the bed…

He let go of her sword, dropping it to the ground… at the sight of her.

Sitting on the bed, clad in a towel, is Caitlin Snow. Her skin was still wet from the shower and… she was still beautiful as ever and Seth couldn't help but gape his mouth in awe of her beauty. Whether it was his elements doing it, or his love for her being this strong, but he could feel his heart beating like a jackhammer in his chest at the sight of her heaven-sent form. She was breathtaking.

Caitlin noted his hesitation and stood up. "Seth, glad you came. I-"

"Have I been reduced to a booty call?" Seth cut her off.

"What?" Caitlin asked, pulling her head back with a confused look.

"I'm not complaining, or anything, just… shocked… and…" He trailed off, looking her up and down. "A whole lot of other things I can't possibly say right now. So, had to ask. I am?"

"What? No!" Caitlin shook her head. "You're not- Never mind. Come with me." She walked past him.

"That is both a relief and a disappointment." Seth admitted.

"Horndog." Venom chastised his perverted and horny host.

"Shut up." Seth told his partner before following Caitlin. She gestured to their bathroom with a worried look. Curiously, he walked into it and examined everything. He saw frozen water from the showerhead and frost all over the walls and stall glass. "Holy hell."

"I did that." Caitlin gulped in fear of her own words, like she couldn't even believe her own words. "It just happened."

"I can imagine." Seth nodded his understanding. "Your powers fritzing out today?"

"While searching for Ruby, yeah." Caitlin replied.

"Explains a bit. Emotions play a huge part in power management." Seth reached out, breaking off a thin icicle that's from the showerhead. Placing it on the tip of his finger, he said. "Must have gotten haywire after using your powers from when you used them on the mirror that trapped that idiot."

"And continued till now for some reason…" Caitlin stopped speaking, narrowing her eyes suspiciously on the mutant. "How'd you get here so quick?" She asked, moving back into their bedroom. Coming to a stop in front of their bed.

Letting go of the thin icicle, he followed her into the bedroom. "What do you mean, Cait?" He stood in front of her, standing with his back to their bed.

"You were on the other side of the city, yet it took you two minutes to get back. How?" Caitlin asked, crossing her arms.

Seth blushed; this time not able to stop his head from emitting black smoke. "I mean- I- You see- It was-" He stuttered, fumbling his words and Caitlin gave a teasing smirk. "Jessica might have… Messaged me, telling me to get home… cause you…"

"Were in the shower, right?" Caitlin finished off his sentence. "So, you… Thought you could have a little moment with me?"

"Not exactly, little." Seth realized what he said, seeing Caitlin's smirk widen. "I'm leaving." He moved to the side.

But even though she didn't possess superstrength like him, she stopped him with a hand placed on his chest. She pushed him. "You… Are not…" Caitlin pushed him down on the bed, the mutant giving her a surprised look. "Going anywhere."

Seth didn't know what to say when suddenly Caitlin crawled up the bed till she was staring directly down to his eyes. "Feels like you're not expecting a "sorry."" He noted sarcastically.

"I'm not." Caitlin trailed a hand up his chest to his throat… Cryogenic mist emanated from her hand, causing Seth to moan when he felt the ice spreading on his skin. "Oh God, Seth!" She pulled her hand away from his throat.

"What?" Seth asked.

Caitlin turned confused, but then she saw the ice melting off his skin. "You didn't feel that?"

"The ice? I felt it but not like it changed anything." He explained. "I have ice in my veins, babe. Nothing new if you put it on my skin." He shrugged.

"Sounds like you want more." Caitlin didn't let him answer, smashing her lips onto his and slid her fingers through his hair. Seth wrapped his arms around her form, pulling her closer. In the process of bringing her closer, her towel undid itself.

… But it quickly froze over when more cryogenic ice spread over the towel… and the bed…and Seth…

The two settled into a night of passion… Something they've haven't since reuniting in this new timeline…

X

With a sharp intake of air, Edward Clariss woke up in a startle. He sat up, turning his eyes around to take in his surroundings. His surroundings were familiar to him. It was the same sanctuary-like place where he was regifted with his speed and his memories from his life in Flashpoint.

Edward looked down on his body, seeing if he was hurt or wounded from whatever… that thing was that attacked him in his cell.

He sighed his relief when seeing he was only bruised.

"The marvels of speed and it's many powers… Which you wasted!"

"Alchemy." Edward recognized that voice, jumping to his feet and looked around. He faced the altar where Dr. Alchemy himself is facing him. Though his face was hidden, the speedster could envision his look of disappointment.

"You failed, Clariss!" He bellowed out his anger.

"I'm sorry." He asked in fear.

Pointing a finger at him, Alchemy stated. "I gave you your speed back, your life from Flashpoint. I made you fast again, to have speed again… and you fail immediately!"

"I'm sorry. Please." He begged. "Let me try again. I won't fail this time. I swear." He pleaded just like back in his cell at Iron Heights. He also feared that if he didn't get another chance to redeem himself, he'd face the wrath of that monster again.

Lowering his hand, Alchemy revealed. "Alas, you still have some use. You will have another try..." Edward sighed in relief. "But not alone and no longer will you run on your own."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"This time… You will join forces with others." Alchemy revealed to his shock.

The Rival would no longer run on his own… Now he would run amongst others… But who?

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps!

Central City got their latest visit from an Earth-616 native, Rhino! His visitation caused the city a building and the destruction of two Mercury Labs laboratories, but all's well now as the city was protected by Venom and Spider-Woman and Spider-Man Miles Morales.

But that's not the only troublesome event to take place today. The team, and more importantly, the Snow-Fury family learnt of Ruby's true origin. She was more than just General Hale's assassin, she was also the product to be made into the perfect candidate to become The Destroyer of Worlds, the reason being her mother's strength as a teenager. Hale, at a young age, was artificially inseminated to create the perfect specimen as the subject for becoming the destroyer.

This revelation was revealed to Ruby who ran away as a result, her entire family in distraught searches for her. They look everywhere for her, even to the far ends of the Badlands. They couldn't find her anywhere, which only increased the stress on their shoulders.

Causing Caitlin to emanate ice powers…

In the meantime, after helping Jesse deal with a state of mind issue, Seth was asked to help Joe with a case that might help them get the drop on Rhino, which he reluctantly agreed to him. Though, surprise came over them when it revealed that Miles Morales followed them secretly with his invisibility.

Miles opened up about his admiration to the mutant, who told him it was not right for him to be seen as a hero for an aspiring hero. But Miles was adamant that he was a true hero, even though some of his teammates and Central City didn't see him as such, he'd still see the man who saved his mother as a hero.

Their visit to the shipyard which was a front for a Mercury Labs facility was interrupted by Rhino who broke into the place and attacked the three of them. Joe was placed somewhere out of harm's way while Miles and Seth fought him.

As that fight took place, Ruby was alone by the park and watched a family of ducks at a lake, along and dwelling on her thoughts as she's dealing with how she's not a real human. But her thoughts are then corrected by Caitlin who've followed her runaway daughter to the lake and took a seat beside her.

Caitlin told her, assured her daughter that her origin or past doesn't change how her family thinks of her. They love her no matter what. Ruby's feelings and thoughts are straightened, and she rushes to fight alongside her father and sisters.

Together with Miles and Jesse, the Snow-Fury family defeated Rhino, but they were left in distraught when, after the fight, Ruby's arms showed extensive bruising. Seth recognized the damage and prepared casts for her to use, similar to the ones he had to use when he was at Ruby's age.

But that was not the end of their problems.

Caitlin began showing signs of transformation, her lips and hair changing into the colors of her evil counterpart, indicating that Killer Frost would soon reveal herself on Earth-1.

Eliza had hit a wall in her research to create more elemental symbiotes akin to Venom, which led Taskmaster to call on the aid of Dr. Octavius.

Meanwhile, Doctor Alchemy has decided to give The Rival another chance… But this time, not alone.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!