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.

7. Chapter 7: Poisonous

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

I'm truly, truly sorry for taking so long with this chapter, guys. My internship's been demanding a lot and asked me to stay after hours to finish some work. Deadlines and all that, you know the feeling, I'm sure.

But like I've said before, no matter how long it takes me for me to finish writing a chapter, it is not a sign of me ever slowing down or ceasing to stop writing. As long as there are people like you who enjoy the story, I'll have all the fuel I need to continue writing.

Now this chapter doesn't follow the plot of Flash S03E06, it's a separate chapter, actually.

Thanks again for all the reviews and messages you've sent me. It will forever mean the world to me. Can't express my gratitude enough for it.

Now to answer some reviews:

FanBoy01: I agree, Venom is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Can't wait for Venom: Let there Be Carnage to come out in the cinema.

guest: Thanks, my friend. Do not worry, I'll be covering the entire crossover when reaching those episodes. I promise. Spoiler alert.

Panther-10: I like your suggestion, my friend, I really do. But I kinda have an idea in the works of how it's gonna go from here. I hope you have a good day too and also stay safe.

Starpottergeek: Thanks, m8. Haven't decided on other characters to add, but I do appreciate the suggestion.

Guest: That's a really good idea, man. I will definitely consider that.

Hunter41963801: I'm not gonna spoil anything my friend.

So, without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 7: Poisonous

While sitting alone on his stool, his eyes were locked onto the thick envelope in front of him. Seth hadn't moved his blue eyes off it for even a single second, which would worry a normal person. But as he is alone in the kitchen of his home with the rest of his family asleep, he is able to sit there alone and think about the contents of the envelope and also of another worrisome thought.

He thought of two things…

… Caitlin's permanent transformation into Killer Frost, which she seemed sure was closing in…

… And Stefanie's life insurance check which Matt brought to him from Earth-616…

Ever since Matt handed it to him, the mutant hadn't even touched a single note of cash. He wanted to talk about it with Caitlin before making decisions, but she was dealing with her own situation. He didn't feel like adding more to her plate.

Seth could feel Caitlin was terrified by the thought of her possible transformation into Killer Frost. She wanted nothing like that, not to become a villain. All of his words, even a lifetime's worth of them seemed unable to ease her dread-filled mind.

"You really think it's a permanent transformation?" Venom asked.

The mutant understood why he stated that question. In the past they've seen a plethora of powered people who randomly transformed but returned to normal after an hour or so. "We don't understand metahuman powers that much, but we do know someone who has the same exact powers as Caitlin herself."

"Earth-2 Caitlin." The symbiote stated.

"Remember what she said to us and Caitlin, one day she woke up and was Killer Frost." Seth said. "Caitlin fears the same might happen to her."

"Wanna prevent it?"

"I don't know." Seth shook his head. "I just have to stay by her side through it all, I guess."

"Dad?"

Looking to the direction of the sudden voice, Seth came face to face with Evelyn who walked over to him. "What are you doing up, honey?" He asked his daughter, checking the clock.

"Could ask you the same question?" She countered. "I was thirsty." She walked over to the kitchen sink and took a glass off the shelf and filled it up with water from the faucet. "Why are you up?" Evelyn asked, turning around to face her father.

Pointing to the envelope he answered. "I'm thinking of what to do with this check."

Evelyn, taking a seat beside her father, asked him. "Thought you'd talk with Mom first and then, like, put it into our trust funds or something?"

"I wanna talk with your Mom about it, of course, it's just… She's scared of her powers." Seth said.

Evelyn nodded her understanding. After her parents got home, and they were alone, they told her and her sisters about Carla's instructions. That continuously using her powers would accelerate her mother's transition into Killer Frost.

"Dad, what do you want?"

Chuckling Seth answered truthfully. "You know what I want for your Mom, Evie. I want her to accept her powers, that she won't become like Killer Frost of Earth-2 just because they have the same powers."

"Mom does know that Earth-2 Killer Frost turned to the good guys, right?" Evelyn asked after sipping on her water. "She's really afraid of becoming a villain with these powers."

"That's the thing about powers, they can turn people into someone or something completely different. Like this…" He snapped his fingers to empathize.

"I know that won't happen to Mom." Evelyn smiled widely, completely assured.

"What makes you say that?" Seth wondered, inwardly surprised by her confidence.

"Mom has something her doppelganger never had before…" She gestured to their surroundings and themselves with a twirling finger. "She got us, her family. We're her anchor. Killer Frost will never come to be."

"Even if she did, she wouldn't necessarily be bad." Seth argued.

"Kinda like how "Venom" is the best dad of all time." Evelyn chuckled, empathizing with the name of her father's alter-ego.

"Exactly." Seth smiled, kissing the top of her head. "And Caitlin and I have the best daughters of all time." He noticed, in her look of embarrassment, a strange, but hidden look of regret. "Anything else on your mind, honey?"

"Just…" She sighed, clenching her hands in self-anger. "I hate how the bow Uncle Matt gave me was destroyed so easily. He spent some of his honeymoon making it, after all."

"You can't blame yourself for that honey." Seth told her soothingly. "What's important is what you did after that." Evelyn looked confused, unsure of what he meant. "Though your bow was broken into pieces by an enemy's attack, you stood your ground and continued onwards. Even utilizing another new technique to fight back against an aerial enemy." He referred to her daggers of light. "It was smart and impressive. You stood your ground against a more experienced foe, and won still. So, stop beating yourself up over that. You did good, really good out there."

"Thanks." Evelyn blinked rapidly, realizing what his words meant. "Wait, you watched me fight?" Seth didn't say anything, but his silence and his facial expression spoke volumes. "You're such a helicopter parent, Dad." She finished her water.

"I have no regrets." The elemental chuckled.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Anger filled Seth's veins and his mind seethed with rage while he was taking in what Joe showed them. Everyone stood in the Cortex, watching the monitor display body cam footage from the prison transport van that was attacked last night.

It showed the van driving behind one police vehicle, but only for a second when it was suddenly flipped onto its back. The footage showed it still coming to film through a cracked lens, but it was slowly being covered with red blood.

But through the sheer of blood and cracked lens, the team was able to see Rhino attack the officers that had jumped out of the two front police vehicles.

Gesturing to the monitor, Joe answered. "This is the body cam footage from one of the drivers in the transport van. Both of them are alive, but in critical condition."

"Any casualties?" Caitlin asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately, yeah." Joe said, sighing in pain and regret. "We have ten dead, three in critical condition and one in a gurney, awake but barely able to move a muscle. Speaking is enough for him to scream in pain."

"That's not all." Barry said, having analyzed the crime scene with Julian and CSI scientists earlier today. "The eight officers whose necks were snapped… Forensic analysis indicates that the blood spatter patterns and trajectory remains were caused by a high-speed collision."

Seth narrowed his eyes. "Whatever hit them would have to have been moving fast."

"So, we're dealing with another speedster, maybe?" Frankie asked from the ceiling.

"Like the first time when Reverse-Flash showed his ugly mug." Cisco recalled with a shiver, his entire body shaking the memory. "You don't think Eobard Thawne's coming back, right?"

"No, that's not it." H.R. sounded sure for some reason. He downed his cup of coffee.

Ruby gave him a glare. "And how'd you know?"

Removing his cup from his mouth with an exaggerated sigh of relief and satisfaction, Harrison stated. "Cause, young Fury, Reverse-Flash is not the only speedster this team has faced off against, am I right?" He gleefully asked, twirling a drumstick around in his hand.

Evelyn nodded. "Yeah, he's right." H.R. triumphantly pointed his drumstick at her. "We've dealt with him and Zoom. Not to mention, Trajectory as well."

"Yeah, but those last two are closed chapters." Cisco reminded the younger metahuman.

"Yeah, that's true." Barry nodded.

Joe looked confused with hints of anger. "Then who offed my officers?"

"I think I know that." Iris announced, running into the Cortex. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a chip. "We can look through this."

"What's that?" Harrison asked, examining the small microchip intently.

"It's a memory chip." Cisco told him with a scoff, taking the chip out of the reporter's hand.

"But where's it from?" Caitlin asked Iris.

"One of the officers that were attacked." Iris started. "He was kicked into a car, unable to move and knocked out. But his body cam was still rolling, getting everything."

"So, we can see what happened." Caitlin realized.

Cisco immediately went to work while Seth asked the reporter. "How'd you get that chip?"

"Yeah, it's police property, baby." Joe asked.

"I have friends on the force as well." Iris said. "Think it's salvageable?" She directed at Cisco.

"Yeah, it is. It's slightly damaged but Friday and I worked through it and now…" Cisco faced the monitor with the others before pressing down on a key. "Feast your eyes on it." He brought up the footage after it's cleaned up with his and Friday's help.

Everyone saw the footage, grimacing and covering their eyes when Rhino thrust a vehicle into an officer while throwing the other two into walls.

"Hold it!" They heard an officer call out, Aleksei facing that direction and came face to face with the eight officers from the other remaining police cars. Everyone on the team saw the officers hesitate, most likely because of the destruction and death he caused with his bare hands.

Seth knew better than anyone of this world and Earth-19 that Rhino wasn't the least bit scared of those shotguns. He didn't fear blades or bullets, not much he feared in the multiverse… aside from a permanent fate within that metal battle suit.

More than anything, that maniac desired freedom from his battle suit that he's confined within.

"Only one person could give him that." Venom told his host.

"The man he freed." Seth realized.

His attention was diverted to the screen when he heard Rhino cackle. "No… You do… For him."

His words confused the team, but only for a second when they noticed a familiar red crackle of lightning ran behind the officers and in a flash… Appeared in front of Rhino, revealing his form to be The Rival, while the officers had their necks snapped and fell to the ground.

"Edward Clariss." Barry realized.

"He's still kicking." Seth spoke through gritted teeth, his jaw cracking from the intense pressure he's putting into it. "So, he was alive and is now working with Dr. Octopus." He saw Rhino release the other three villains out of the flipped van. Edward Clariss equipped them with their weapons, using his superspeed and also used his powers to shatter the ice on Otto's neck, allowing him access to control his mechanical arms again.

Cisco paused the video, turning to meet the mutant's eyes. "Seth, you know these creeps better than the rest of us. You know why they'd work together with a speedster they don't even know."

"I have a guess." Seth said, nodding his head to the suit on the mannequin in the middle of the Cortex.

Connecting the dots quickly, Caitlin deduced. "It was to have someone who could fight off the Flash."

"Yeah." Seth nodded. "Also, Octavius usually surrounds himself with powerful allies like he does with Vulture and Rhino. He's the brain, the mastermind, and keeps other villains close like grunts."

"He's really that smart?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, he is." Seth sighed. "Once upon a time, this man was one of the greatest and most generous scientists of the world, working on perfecting advanced prosthetic limbs. He was motivated to make those because of a neurological disorder he was developing, apparently something he got from his earlier, golden years."

"How'd a great guy with such a wonderful goal go to The Dark Side?" Joe asked. "And suddenly have a maniac kill dozens of my colleagues."

"Not sure of why he turned out like he did, but he did. And he's the brains of the operation, Joe." Seth pointed to the screen, aiming his finger at the villains around Otto. "They're his muscles. Sadist muscle, nonetheless. But that doesn't mean Octavius is harmless, he's just as dangerous and ruthless as all of them. And with his mind, he's even more dangerous."

"You have no idea what his plan is?" Barry wondered of the elemental.

"Not in the slightest. Back on 616, his plan was always centered around revenge. But here, it could be anything, actually." Seth answered.

"What's the plan then?" Evelyn asked, looking between everyone. "We wait for them to show up or something?"

"I don't know, really, honey." Seth sighed. "Iris, keep trying to find Taskmaster. I'll see if I can find that group of maniacs." He gestured to the group of villains on the screen. "City's not gonna be safe with these crazy-pants around. Much less last with those maniacs out there."

"And in the meantime?" Ruby asked.

"Pray and hope they don't do anything." Seth stated. "Or worse, if they get bored."

"And we get coffee!" Harrison said. Everyone else on the team gave him dry looks.

"I'm gonna go to work instead." Joe sighed, walking to the exit.

The mutant saw his look and heard his words, spoken with a tone of anger and regret. He followed the detective into the hallway, walking after him. "Joe?"

"Seth, I'm fine." Joe turned to face him.

"Still a host to a symbiotic lie detector." Seth reminded him, crossing his arms. "Wanna try that again?" Joe ran a hand down his face. "Those officers' deaths hit you pretty hard, didn't they?"

"I watched them come up, Seth. Most of them I helped along, gave them tips on how to become better officers." Joe said. "And now… I saw them dead on the ground today. I watched some of them get wheeled into ambulances… I watched some of them struggle to even open their mouths. It's not something I wanna see all the time… Or ever for that matter."

"Unfortunately, it's part of the job Joe." Nodding to his badge on his belt, he stated. "With that thing comes both protection and loss. Sometimes it's gonna feel like the loss is the worst pain of all, and it's gonna feel like it's gonna wreck you into pieces. But you have to soldier on, remembering you're carrying your fallen comrades on your shoulders. Fight in their place so their deaths aren't in vain."

Joe chuckled, putting his hands on his hands on the sides of his waist. "Sometimes I forget you're a soldier too. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, hero, soldier-"

"Criminal." Seth added.

"Not to me." The detective shook his head. "Thanks, I needed that." He nodded his thanks.

Seth reminded him. "That's what partners are for Joseph."

"Call you if a case pops up." He told the mutant before walking away.

"Alrighty!" Seth called out before moving back into the Cortex. He saw his daughters talking and saw Caitlin walking over to him. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." Caitlin smiled. "Joe doing okay?"

"He's… Hurt." Seth answered honestly. "Those officers meant a lot to him, obviously. He's a good man like that."

"Yeah, he is." Caitlin agreed. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna train in the Klyntar Cave, try and take my abilities to the next level." Seth answered. Caitlin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "The girls can join me after they're done with their homework if they feel like it." He turned around, walking out of the Cortex and making his way to the training room.

But Caitlin's eyes remained narrowed, as though she knew he was hiding something. Though he could very well fool the rest of the team, she knew him better than that. She could see through him with ease, see something's burdening him.

X

"ARGH!" Venom shouted within the Klyntar Cave, thrusting his fist into the measurer in front of him. His flame-enveloped hand smashed into the hexagonal device, the flames coming over it.

Just like the first time he tested out the capabilities of the training room, the device shined with a red color and sucked in the flames from his fist. As the hexagonal device shone with a red light it fell into the ground.

Upon its return into the field, two more popped out over his head. Seth glanced at them, sending the two devices a glare while lightning coated both of his arms. Roaring at them, he swung both arms upwards and extended them, lashing out his clawed hands like whips.

Each of them attacked the devices, clawing at them with sharp, pitch-black claws. As his claws slashed against the measurers, Seth noticed that none of his attacks left a mark on them. They're well-made and sturdy enough to survive an attack like that without a scratch is impressive to the mutant.

Seth noticed that they shined with a blue light. The light traveled over the entire room, charging it up with newly converted energy. Each of the measurers over his head returned to the ceiling. "Who's next?" He asked, waiting for the next measurers to reveal themselves.

But for a few strange, awkward moments not a single measurer appeared. Lowering his arms, he looked around in search. "Friday, what's going on? You break down or something?"

"It's not her." Caitlin announced her presence to the mutant, making him snap his attention to her when she's on the platform. "It was me."

"Cait?" Seth said in surprise, he didn't feel her coming in at all. "What are you doing here?"

Walking down the staircase, she said. "Just sent the girls off, said they're gonna train at the Badlands. I wanted to talk to you alone." She came to a stop, standing in front of her humongous boyfriend. "What's wrong with you? You've been acting secretive ever since you saw those guys on the screen." Seth looked unsure of what to say. "Are they really that much trouble Seth? You can talk to me, you know."

"We know." Seth's voice morphed while his symbiotic mass retracted, retreating back into his body and he stood before her in his normal height. "It's just I feel like more and more problems from Earth-616 keep coming, and I'm not a fan of it."

"It's not your fault, Seth." Caitlin assured him. "They may call you friends or be your foes from long ago, but I know better and so does the rest of the team."

"Thanks, Cait." Seth smiled. "But I'm concerned about what's going on…" Caitlin looked confused. "I've fought Octavius multiple times; he's never been this easy to defeat."

"He knew his own weakness?" Caitlin wondered if that was the case.

"He's too smart to not know about this." Seth recalled what Friday told him before. If Caitlin should be let into the fold? Honestly, it was a valid question and the dumbest one he's ever been inquired of. Out of all on this very team, there's no one other than her he'd have by his side.

She's the one who has his heart after all.

"Friday? Open project SS." He instructed the AI which brought up a digital folder on a nearby monitor.

"SS?" She inquired, confused by the name. Her confusion intensified when seeing the digital lock on the folder. "It's locked."

"Password locked. I was the only one to have access to it." Seth answered before facing the monitor. "Alpha Level, Sierra Tango Delta 084 Maestus." The file chimed when receiving the correct password input.

"What's that?" Caitlin inquired when seeing a digital folder appearing in the middle of the screen.

"Maestus is Latin for "Sinister."" He elaborated. "The rest of the password is my S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance level and code. I've never said anything about my code to anyone on the team, except for now to you." Turning back to the monitor, the folder opened up and revealed a blue screen with six slots in a grid-like pattern.

Caitlin stepped closer to the screen, seeing the blue headline "Maestus 6" over the grid, which had four images in the slots. Four images of the four dangerous villains from Earth-616 that called Seth their friend. "Maestus… Sinister 6?" The native doctor asked her boyfriend who nodded.

Turning her attention back to the screen, she narrows her eyes on the four images. "Rhino… Vulture… Shocker… and Dr. Octopus… What is Sinister 6, Seth?"

"A group of supervillains from Earth-616." Seth answered. "They're villains who follow the leadership of Otto Octavius, who's tried to defeat Spider-Man. They're villains who've crossed paths with him and by that, also made enemies in other heroes. By themselves, they're dangerous. But under Otto's leadership, they're able to decimate an entire city alone." He responded.

"You're worried they're gonna form here too?" Caitlin asked.

"I am." He confirmed. "They already have four members here. Only two members remain. But with Edward Clariss in their midst…"

"They already have five members, yeah." Caitlin stated, following his train of thought. "Who's the last one?"

"Honestly, I can't say for sure, Cait. Except for their leader, Octavius, their members have always varied." Seth bit his lower lip. "I'm really, really worried. I don't know who might show up next and join the Sinister Six."

"Whoever shows up…" Caitlin's fingers intertwined with his. "We got the numbers and we're gonna fight and win against them."

Seth shared a smile with his mate. She was right. They'd fight and win against whoever shows up… Dangerous or worse.

X

"I'm just saying I have a right to be worried." Jody Mills argued with her wife while driving into Central City's city limits. in the darkened night.

"Honey, we've been over this, you gotta learn to trust Annie." Donna Hanscum couldn't help but laugh and chuckle at her wife's words of distrust. "She's our daughter, after all. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't trust our own child?"

"I know we're her parents, yes. But I also know Annie is totally capable of throwing a kegger while we're not here. Totally, totally capable." Jody said. To her, she wasn't mistrustful of her daughter. She's just not underestimating her.

"Your faith in our daughter astounds me, honey." Donna laughed, which got her wife to join in and laugh as well.

The two of them are former sheriffs from various towns, one watching over Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the other guarding Stillwater, Minnesota. But both had long since parted ways with their careers as sheriffs when they got married, both renewing their old passions in science and became scientists after their marriage.

Because of their former careers as sheriffs, they were asked by their previous department captains if they could come and join the sheriff's retreat in Hibbing. They were to present and talk about their choice to let go of the badge to pursue other careers. They had to spend the entire weekend there as it's a two-day convention.

Because of that, they had to let their adopted daughter Annie stay behind alone in their home in Central City. That alone worried Jody enough to almost sneak off to call her daughter.

As soon as the convention ended, they drove away in a hurry to Central City with Jody behind the wheel, as she insisted… or demanded. "If I find just a single beer can in the living room, I'll do the impossible and handcuff our daughter to me at all times."

"You wanna handcuff yourself to Annie and haul everywhere like she's luggage?" Donna could practically imagine the way those two would try and bite each other's heads off. "You really wanna explain to our next clients why your daughter is stuck to you?"

Jody faced her. "They'll understand… And that's when I find a beer can in the living room or a boy in her bedroom."

"When?" Donna laughed. "Bejeezus, honey, let me fix this issue then." She pulled out her phone and skimmed through her list of contacts before finding her daughter's number. "I'm calling her."

"Oh, put it on speaker." Jody said, her eyes on the road ahead.

Donna gave her a dry look. "Obviously." The line connected and she said. "Hey, Annie?"

"Hey Mama. Hi Mom." Annie greeted her parents over the phone.

"Hey, honey. You doing okay there? You eat well? Not breaking anything, maybe?" Jody wasn't subtle at all with her questions.

Annie laughed from the other end of the line. "Mom, I'm fine. I haven't broken anything or hosted a party."

"I'll be the judge of that, young lady." Jody countered.

"Wow, was the retreat that bad?" Annie chuckled at her mother's bluntness.

Donna laughed. "Forgive your Mom, her manners have been swinging ever since that darn retreat."

"Thought you guys got to shoot guns?" Annie inquired with another chuckle.

"We did, but not the good stuff." Jody groaned. Covering the phone in her wife's hand, she whispered. "At least we're not hearing firecrackers this time?"

"Heard that, Mom!" Annie shouted, causing her mother to remove her hand from the phone. "Well, hope you brought back souvenirs or something at least?"

"No guns." Donna said.

"Well, that's no fun." Annie joked as her mothers drove down the streets.

Suddenly a shadow came over their car like it flew over their vehicle, making Jody narrow her eyes and look around in search. "What was that?" She looked through the windshield.

"What's wrong, Jody-O?" Donna asked, turning away from her conversation with her daughter.

"I… I think something flew over us." She answered unsurely.

"Just a bird, Mom." Annie told her mother.

Jody shook her head, even though her daughter couldn't see it. "I'm not sure it is, honey."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Okay, honey, now you're ju-"

SHATTER

She was cut off when the window glass shattered… Something similar to a tail shattering the fragile element and wrapped around her body. "AAARRRGGGHHH!" Donna screamed when being pulled out of her seat and car.

"Donna!" Jody called out to her wife.

"Mom, what's going on?" Annie asked frantically.

"Don't worry… She's not going anywhere… Neither are you…" A strange voice spoke… Before whatever took Donna shattered Jody's window, wrapped her form, and pulled her out.

"A scorpion?!" Jody shouted.

"Mom! Mama!" Annie shouted over the phone…

But no answer came… as the car itself crashed into a tree and Annie tried to call out to her mothers with all of her will… But no response ever came…

X

(West Household)

Joe walked down the staircase with a yawn escaping his mouth. He felt like it was gonna be another troublesome day, though he hoped it'd only involve paperwork which he could take care of alone by his desk. But with this being Central City, he didn't find it likely for him to have an easy day.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he looked around in search, looking for his daughter, Iris. She said she'd be here, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He noticed a plate with scrambled eggs and a food cover over it on the dinner table, along with a note.

Walking over to the table, he took the note in hand. Seeing that it's Iris' handwriting, he reads it. "Had to go quickly, was called on an assignment. Made you breakfast. Love you, Dad. Iris." She had written, placing a heart at the end of the message.

The detective chuckled at her message. "Thank you, honey." He said to himself, removing the cover from the plate and eating the breakfast his daughter had prepared for him. After finishing his wonderful meal that his daughter made him, he drank from his mug with fresh, piping hot coffee.

But as soon as he finished his coffee, Joe's phone rang. Picking it up he looked at the caller ID, seeing that it was a number that he didn't recognize. Cautiously, he accepted the call and placed the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hi." He recognized the voice as a young woman's. "Is this Detective Joe West?"

"Yes, this is him. Who are you?" Joe asked worriedly.

X

(Snow-Fury Loft)

Tendrils shot out from Seth's back when the toaster chimed, shooting out two slices of toast that he caught and placed in front of him. Like he had done with the two other sandwiches, he turned his eyes to Evelyn who's by the dinner table with her sisters, all three eating breakfast.

"Evie, what's it gonna be today? Turkey and cheese? Or…" Seth trailed off, wondering if she had other preferences in mind.

Turning around in her chair, Evelyn made eye contact with her father. "Peanut butter and jelly, please. It would be cool if we could bring waffles to school."

Caitlin got the jars of peanut butter and jelly out for her mate. "We'll make some for you guys when you come back from school, alright?" Her daughters smiled and nodded their agreement. "Think they got my habits then."

"Lucky them, plus it's great comfort food." The mutant nodded with a smile. He checked the clock. "Girls, shake a leg. You got school."

"Bus or Evie?" Ruby asked.

Frankie reminded her sister. "You know we have two parents who can drive, right?"

"And we have a sister who can shadowport for free." Ruby nodded to the direction of their sister.

Evelyn hung her head. "Really feeling the love here, you guys."

"Good thing we all do." Seth said, moving to her seat and placing a kiss on the top of her head. His daughter blushed embarrassedly. He turned his head to the counter again, this time because of his phone vibrating, almost falling off it.

"Your phone's ringing." Caitlin picked up his phone and checked the caller ID. "It's Joe."

"Joe?" Seth thought it was weird for him to call him so early at this time of the day. Accepting the call, he placed his phone to his ear. "Joe, hey."

"Seth, you up for a job?" Joe asked immediately.

His words came through with an urgent tone, the mutant narrowing his eyes at them. "Always. What's wrong?"

"I'll send you an address, meet me there. I'll be late, have to talk with the captain about this case. We're gonna talk to someone who called about this case." Joe explained.

"A witness?" Seth asked.

"Not really, no. Trust me on this." Joe said.

"Always do. Send me the address, I'll be there." Seth finished the call. "Gotta go, guys. Got a case."

"Good luck with it. Call me if you need help." Caitlin shared a kiss with her mate.

"Thanks, will do." Seth walked to the nearest window. "Girls, have a great day at school." While waving his hand at them, he reached the window and jumped out of it in one single jump.

"Dad's really crazy sometimes." Evelyn admitted, her sisters and mother nodding their agreement.

X

Having arrived a few moments ago, Seth walked on the streets of the very nice residential area. The area's filled to the brim with great family houses, all of them behind white picket fences. The mutant couldn't help but take in the houses for the second time.

Houses of various stories, either one-story houses or two-story buildings. Nice, wide trimmed lawns of green grass in front of the houses. Even the wooden fences appeared polished, brightened. This was the perfect residential area for families to settle down in.

"Wow…" Seth said when coming to a stop in front of a two-story house. Much like the other houses in this area and like the West household, the house's two-story house with a porch and a great wide grassy lawn. Dozens of windows, allowing whoever is in the house to view out into the world.

But as he watched the house… He couldn't help but think back to his old house from long, long ago on Earth-616…. The one he had with Stefanie and Bucky.

X

(Flashback)

"So, this is the house you couldn't stop prattling on about?" The young woman with her long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. With the sun shining outside, she had to have her usual red pair of red sunglasses ready, but now that she's inside she's got them placed on top of her head. Her green eyes, shining like real emeralds, taking in the living room that she and Seth would call home. Letting go of the carrier in her hand, she stretched her hands over her head, stretching out her entire 5'9 tall curvaceous body which is clad in a white tank top with an open black hoodie over it while her legs are clad in a sports pants.

Stefanie Panes turned around, facing her boyfriend who showed off, putting down four moving boxes down on the floor. "Yeah, got a good price and all for it." Seth said, dusting off his hands. "What do you think?" He moved closer to her.

Pretending to think it over, Stefanie put a finger to her chin and mulled it over. Turning her eyes downwards, she faced the small form of their very young boy in the portable baby carrier. As always, the boy had a goofy expression on his little bright face, his brown eyes looking around curiously as he examined his new surroundings. He was still in his pajamas from this morning, not willing to part with them yet. his hands busying themselves with the sand globe.

"What do you think, Goofball? You think Daddy's right about this place?" Stefanie asked their son who stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry. "Oh wow, must really love the place."

"Thanks, Bucky." Seth gave his baby son a thumbs up, his son responding with a shake of his sand globe. "But seriously, Stef, what do you think?"

"It's great, actually." Stef walked out of the living room. She walked over to the staircase, running her hand over the wooden railing. Peering up, she saw the entrances to the three upper bedrooms and also knew the entrance to one of the bathrooms was up there. Downstairs is another bedroom along with the last bathroom. "I mean, we got everything here. Bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, kitchen, lots of space and a great front garden. Plus, it's not far from the schools and my workplace."

"Exactly." Seth agreed. He didn't have to worry about that since he's a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, allowing him to have a quinjet pick him up and fly to wherever he needs to be.

Tapping the side of his head with her index finger, Stefanie inquired. "How's V feeling about the move?"

"He said, and I quote, "Anywhere's better than that crap-hole you called an apartment, as long as we got chocolate."" Seth recited his partner's words.

"Sounds like a demand." Stefanie turned her eyes to the side, seeing tendrils sprouting from her mate's back and playing with their son. "At least we know we got a great babysitter in Venom, right?"

"Anyone's better than Peter and Jessica." Seth said sternly, never again would he ask those spider-heroes to babysit.

"Oh, come on, Goofy loved that swing." Both parents heard their son laughing at the mention of the web-swing. Stefanie pointed a finger to him. "See that, Goofy liked it."

Giving his girlfriend a strange, dry look, Seth said. "We really gotta talk about that name."

"Your sister's idea, Broody." Stefanie reminded him with a chuckle. "But so this is our forever home… We gotta get unpacking then."

"Heck yeah!" Seth clapped his hands, crouching down to their son and unstrapped him from the carrier. "Don't worry, buddy, you're getting your own room first though. That's first on the agenda." He assured his son.

Together, Seth and Stefanie walked up the stairs with their son and readied themselves to get their son's room ready.

X

"DAD?!"

"Jesus!" Seth shouted, placing a hand over his beating chest. He took a step back and looked shocked to see his daughter Evelyn there. "Evie, what are you doing here? Other than trying to give me a heart attack?"

"That'd be embarrassing on your part, Dad." Evelyn jokes. "You forgot your wallet." She handed him his wallet.

"You didn't steal it did you?" Seth got his answer when his daughter whistled innocently without making eye contact. "Well, thanks for giving it back. But why are you here? You're supposed to be in school."

"P.E. teacher's sick, so had two hours to kill. Asked Mom where you were, and poof, I'm here." Evelyn said. Looking around, she asked. "Uncle Joe not here yet, and you watched houses?" She asked.

"No, he's not and…" Seth chuckled. "Thought of the first house I bought with Stefanie."

"And Bucky." Evelyn remembered the stories of the boy who could have become her little brother. "Wonder what it would be like to have a little sibling."

"When it's a baby, you deal with a lot of diapers, interrupted naps, puke and even more diapers. But you, your sisters and your Mom… You'd have fallen in love with Bucky that's for sure." Seth said. Parts of him wondered what life would have been if he had been able to take Bucky with him to Earth-1, bringing a goofy bundle of joy into a whole other world where he'd get sisters and a new mother.

He wondered what life… with Caitlin and their girls would be… with a baby in the mix?

Seth gritted his teeth in pain, feeling a burst of pain in his head from a migraine at the thoughts.

"You interested in the house?" The father and daughter turned their heads to the side where they saw an adult African-American woman with short gray hair. She walked over to them with a welcoming smile. "The house is for sale."

"Oh?" Seth let out in shock, turning back to the front of the house in front of them. It was only now he noticed the "For Sale" sign. "Wow, didn't notice this one till now."

"I get that, it's an impressive building after all." Cora gestured to the house with a chuckle. Holding out her hand, she greeted them. "Name's Cora Lewis."

"Seth Fury." Seth shook hands with her. "And this is my daughter."

"Evelyn Fury." Evelyn said, shaking hands with the woman afterwards.

"A daughter? At your age?" Cora asked the mutant with a tilted head.

Seth chuckled. "I get that a lot, trust me. She's adopted, as are my other two daughters."

"You adopted three daughters?" The woman said impressively. "Not bad, young man. Very impressive. Adopted a daughter myself, actually. Ryan's a real troublemaker, trust me. So, where do you live now?"

"Apartment loft in the city." Seth answered, nodding in the direction of the city.

"Oh, Dear Lord!" Cora gave a dramatic reaction to that response, making Seth and Evelyn share a confused look. "Son, you gotta get your entire family out of that shoebox and into a real house, a real home. Lofts aren't for families, young man. Your wife tell you that?"

"My girlfriend, actually, and no she hasn't complained about our home." Seth sheepishly responded, his cheeks turning red in a flash at the image of his mate in a wedding dress, standing at an altar with him kissing her lips after lifting her veil. That image would be breathtaking.

"Well, she's gonna change her mind with this. Trust me." Cora handed him a folder. "Take a look at these, and you'll love the place. It's everything about the place, when it's made, cash and all the boring stuff. I have to go and hopefully, next time we see each other, you're the new owners of this house." She walked back to her car after waving her goodbyes.

Evelyn looked to her father and then to the house. "House seems expensive, Dad. Sure, you wanna let go of the apartment for this place?"

"Maybe." Seth responded, his eyes taking a look at the folder's contents. "It's not that expensive, actually, and we still have the money from Stef's health insurance. We could actually buy this place, to be honest."

Though she opposed the idea at the beginning, Evelyn thought about it for a second and stated surprisingly. "Actually, it might be good for Mom to get out of that place."

"What?" Seth asked in shock.

"Seth?" Joe called out to the mutant from behind him and his daughter. "Sorry it took so long, took a detour to the precinct. Evie, you here too?"

"Yup. Like a bad penny, can't shake me off." Evelyn stated, her father giving her narrowed eyes. It sounded like something he'd say, and she stole it. "Mind if I tag along?" She asked her uncle.

"Yeah, sure, but you keep an eye on her." Joe pointed to the mutant.

"Always do. Where's the person we need to talk to?" Seth asked.

The detective pointed a finger to the house on the opposite side. "Right there. Come with me." Joe led them across the street and to the one-story house. "Girl's name is Annie. And she's concerned about her mothers."

"Wait, she called you directly?" The mutant asked when reaching the porch of the house.

"She did." Knocking on the door, Joe added. "It's important, trust me on this."

Before Seth could respond, the door opened up and revealed a young woman with light brown skin and with long dark brown hair, her body's covered by an oversized blue sweater and a pair of dark-blue pants. "Detective West?" She asked curiously, but also confusedly due to Seth and Evelyn's presence.

"That's me, Annie." Joe gestured to the others. "This is Dr. Seth Fury, civilian consultant for the CCPD, and his daughter, Evelyn." One nodded his greeting, the other waved hers.

"Annie Hanscum-Mills." Annie introduced herself to the last two. "Come in." She stepped aside so they could come in. She closed the doors and faced them. "Sorry, I haven't prepared anything for you, Detective. Just was… was only expecting you."

"It's alright, you can trust them, Annie." Joe assured the young woman. "But what's this about? You seemed skeptical on the phone."

"It's about my Moms, Jody and Donna." Annie answered.

"Jody and Donna?" Seth directed to the detective; he hadn't heard those names before now.

Joe, turning to Seth and his niece, answered. "When I was a beat cop, the captain sent me to different cases and in different cities that were outmanned. Some of those were in Sioux Falls and Stillwater. There I worked with the local sheriffs, Jody Mills from Sioux Falls and Donna Hanscum from Stillwater. They're good people." He informed.

"Okay." Seth had an idea of what's going on. "But did something happen to your mothers, Annie?"

"I don't know, actually." Evelyn could see Annie struggling to fight back tears, her eyes already wet as she tried to answer. "I- I was home alone for the weekend because they had a police convention they had to go to Hibbing. They called me last night and… The phone suddenly stopped, neither of them responding no matter what I said." Now tears flooded her face, rolling down her face.

Evelyn looked around before her eyes locked onto a box of tissues. She walked past Annie, snatching the box and handing her a tissue. "There, there." The young metahuman comforted the girl.

"Thanks." Annie nodded her gratitude.

Seth calmly asked. "Annie, anything you have from that call could help us."

"I don't know what to say." Annie responded, the mutant feeling his partner giving the girl a mentally distrustful look. "I got a call from my Moms, both of them were on the way and then I heard glass shattering in the background before the call was shut off."

"Oh…" Evelyn let out with gulp.

"I don't know what happened to them." Annie wiped off the last of her tears.

"Shattering glass." Joe started. "Could have been a car crash." He muttered his thoughts.

"You hear anything about that from the other officers?" Seth inquired of him and got a shake of his head as a response. Nodding his acceptance, another question came to the mutant's mind. "Annie, why'd you call Joe directly? Why not call the precinct?"

"My Moms told me of Detective West, that he's a great cop people can trust. I trust my Moms, so I called him directly with the number they left me in case they didn't make it home." Annie explained.

"Got quite a rep, huh, Unc?" Evelyn chuckled at her uncle who smirked.

Joe's attention went to the windows when he heard sirens blaring. "What the…" He walked over to the windows, pulling the curtains aside to peer through the glass. His eyes widened at the sight of police cars driving past the house. "CCPD cars."

"Something happened?" Seth inquired.

"Let's check it out." Joe glanced at Annie. "Annie, I'll work the case when I'm done checking on whatever happened out there."

"Thanks, Joe." Annie smiled her appreciation.

Joe, Seth and Evelyn walked out of the house and followed the cars. Thankfully they didn't have to walk far, the reason being the scene was only three blocks away. And the sight of the scene confused them.

Through a mass of people that had gathered around the scene, all of them were told to step back so the police force could work by officers, the three of them saw it was a car that had run into a large tree. The impact caused the front of the vehicle to cave in, and it must have happened a while back as there was no smoke coming from the engine.

"Yo yo!" Cisco's voice called out to them. "What's the haps, guys?"

"Cisco, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at S.T.A.R. Labs?" Evelyn asked.

Giving her a dry look, he countered. "Shouldn't you be in school right now?" Evelyn gave a chuckle as the viber answered. "Remember Barry's crashing at my place for the time being, and he asked if I'd wanna come with when he got the call about this mess." He gestured to the crashed car.

Seth chuckled when recalling their living situation. "Forgot he's been at your place. How's that going?"

"He's a generous guest." Cisco politely and kindly said. Seth knew there was more to it, his expression told the viber he's demanding the truth. "He uses his speed a lot. It's like living with a thunderbolt."

"Thought as much." Seth chuckled.

"But Barry's been acting strangely for a while…" Cisco nodded to the speedster who's walking around the crashed car, examining it thoroughly. "Like he's been acting distant and hateful."

"That's unusual." That really didn't sound like the usually happy and cheerful speedster. While he didn't have a friendship with him, the mutant did find it odd for him to be this way. Seth felt like he had to check on this, but he then noticed Cisco's eyes, the pair having dark circles around them. When the viber yawned, Seth asked. "You okay yourself? You look like you've barely slept."

"I spent most of last night working on the BOOT that Octopus modified. It's incredibly complex now. It's like I didn't even make it, a completely different beast than what I've made and designed." The metahuman admitted. "I'm both impressed and scared by his work. It really would have killed Barry if he continued moving, increasing the voltage. Thing could have made the electric chair seem like a bug zapper."

"That's Dr. Octavius, alright." Seth walked past the viber. "I'll talk with Speedy Gonzales." Cisco grew worried at his words.

Barry sighed, getting back to his feet. He looked to the side, seeing Seth walk to him. "Hi, you're here."

"Well yeah, I'm Joe's partner. I go where he goes." Seth reminded the speedster. "What's with you? Cisco tells me you've been cranky. What, you spilled your milk too many times?"

"Can't I have a bad day once in a while?" Barry faced the mutant.

Seth scoffed. "If it's a bad day, fine. But weather's sunny and not a dark cloud over our heads, and you're not a good liar." He made eye contact with him. "What's the deal?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because I've been having zero luck against the Earth-616 villains so far." Barry in frustration whispered loudly, aware that both officers and civilians were close by. "Taskmaster whopped me around like I'm an amateur. Rhino didn't struggle against me and kicked me around like a ragdoll. Dr. Octopus didn't even think I was worth a damn and used a trap to stop me in my tracks while he fought you. I didn't amount to much against these guys."

Sighing his annoyance, which didn't go unnoticed by the speedster, Seth reminded him. "You already forgetting, before you were trapped by Octavius, you saved a kid from being killed by your colleague, Albert?" Rather than a question, his words came out as a statement. "Also, if all it takes for you to keel over is a few bad matches, then you might as well hang up your crimson cowl. You won't be running for anyone like that."

"What?" Barry said in shock.

"Look around you, Barry." Seth started. Barry obliged, looking around and saw dozens of civilians close to the scene. He saw two adult males holding hands, both of them with fear across their faces. "Couples holding each other close, as though they're afraid they're gonna lose their other halves." Continuing, the speedster saw the elemental nod behind him.

Barry followed the direction and saw a family there, a single mother clutching her son and daughter close to her body. "Families, big and small, worried sick that they're never gonna see each other again. A parent fearing the worst for her children." Seth nodded to the side when Barry returned his eyes to him. He followed the instructions and saw a father and mother, both holding the arms of their son while also holding bags. "Tourists on their one vacation a year, now interrupted and left a memory of fear in them."

The speedster was confused, lowering his gloved hands. "Point? I'm not getting what you're aiming for, Seth."

"They are the point." Seth started. "Regardless of everything you and I separately stand for, they're the reasons we're here, why we're fighting. Why you run, why I protect, they're the reason. It's because of people like them there are heroes, that there's a S.H.I.E.L.D. on Earth-616."

Seth turned back to Barry. "To villains, they're collateral damage, they don't hold meaning to them. How'd you think they'd have fared against Taskmaster, Rhino and Octavius?" Barry gulped at the image of innocents facing off against those villains. "Losing is hard, yeah, no doubt about that. But in our business, it's better to lose a hundred fights and save a life in the process than lose a single life to a villain's actions and win hundreds of battles."

"Guess I've never thought about it like that." Barry admitted sheepishly, but also in shame.

"Yeah, you have." Seth argued. "But you're blinded by your losses, by your defeats. In your mind, you compare 616ers to the metas you've been fighting here on this Earth. Like I told you before, they got more experience than you. Think of them with either the same intelligence or same bloodlust as Thawne and Zoom."

"Thawne… Zoom…" Barry sneered at the names, neither of their names brought out good memories.

"Careful. Next time he feels like this he might just change the timeline again." Venom pitched in.

Seth agreed with his partner. Neither of them trusted Barry had enough self-control to keep himself from manipulating the timeline again like it's his story to rewrite as he wishes. "If he does that again… Kiddie gloves are off." He told his partner.

"Maybe you're right." Barry agreed. "Gotta focus on the job I have now, then." He admitted.

"Finally, you're saying something right." Seth admitted bluntly. "Instead of focusing on the fights you've lost, focus on the scene before you. Cause someone was driving this car…" He gestured to the vehicle.

"Yeah, I know. There's no one now. More strangely," Barry waved the mutant over to follow him. Following him, Seth saw the CSI scientist point a flashlight to the steering wheel. "Check it out, there's no blood on it."

"Means there wasn't any collision?" Seth asked, looking confusedly at the front of the car which is certainly caved in from collision with the tree.

"There was a collision, but no one was inside of the car before the crash." Barry clarified.

Having heard the conversation and examination from afar, Joe walked over to the powered beings. "You mean they jumped out of the car?"

"I don't think that's the case here." Barry shook his head. To empathize with his explanation, he pointed to one of the doors. "Take a look at the doors and the shattered windows." To Seth and Joe's surprise, the speedster casually tries to open the door he pointed to but without success. "It's locked." He shook the handle of the locked door. "To jump out of the car while moving, you'd have to open the doors first, after all."

Barry continued his explanation, pointing to the shatter glass. "And look at the way the glass is shattered, there are only shards inside of the car, not outside or on the ground. Something rammed through the outside of the car, on the other side of the glass and attacked whoever was inside the car."

"So, something slithered their way into the car, breaking the car and wrapped around the drivers?" Cisco asked. Barry shrugged. "Sounds crazy."

Evelyn faced the viber. "That's the official name for Central City."

Seth looked past his daughter and the viber, focusing his eyes on the dented trunk. "You guys check the trunk yet?" As he asked, he walked to it.

"Not from what I've gathered, no." Barry said. "Why?"

"Look at the dent." Seth pointed to an upwards-pointed dent. "I've seen dents like this before, and they're not done from the outside." He gestured to the way the dents are protruding out of top of the trunk.

"It's from the inside." Barry followed his train of thought. After politely asking the mutant to step aside, he stood in front of the trunk and used his gloved hands to open it. The trunk popped open, and everyone looked inside.

Inside of it, they found two suitcases and a pair of colorful papers. The suitcases were slightly damaged and bruised around the sharp corners of them.

Seth, having received gloves from Joe, reached into the trunk and took the colorful papers. Seeing that there's text on them, he read out loud. "Hibbing Police Retreat." That made him and Joe share a wary look. Returning back to the papers, he noted when seeing names on them. "They're tickets for a police retreat."

"What are those names on them?" Cisco nodded with his head in confusion.

As they already had knowledge on what this meant, Seth and Joe were about to answer but they were unable to answer when another one answered for them.

"Donna Hanscum…. Jodi Mills…."

Joe paled at the voice and turned around, coming face to face with Annie. Her eyes wet with tears and stood shakily before them. "Annie, what are you-"

"It's my Moms' car." Annie gulped; her eyes focused on their total family car. The same one her mothers assured she'd get when she passed her driver's test. "That's our car."

"Who's this?" Cisco asked in confusion.

Once again, before either Seth or Joe could answer, Annie beat them to it. "I wasn't completely honest before." That confused Joe and Seth. "Before they were cut off, my Mom said something strange and another voice said something else. But it was strange."

"What?" Evelyn asked.

"… My Mom said… Scorpion." Annie worriedly and confusedly answered.

"Oh fuck." Seth cursed under his breath.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Mac Gargan. Of course, it's him now." Seth loudly complained in the Cortex as he and the rest of the team checked his mugshot.

"MacDonald Gargan?" Joe read his full name.

"Another mercenary type." Cisco sighed in disbelief. "Your Earth's full of those guys. What's wrong with working good old-fashioned jobs, like Big Belly Burger?"

Ruby crushed Cisco's dreams and fantasies with her next words. "616 doesn't have a Big Belly Burger."

H.R. almost spat out his coffee at those unbelievable words, like it was the outrageous statement to ever utter. "That is outrageous. A world without BBB is no world at all. It's like a world without…" He held up his coffee mug, still steaming with piping hot coffee. "Coffee."

"Like yours?" Evelyn wondered, raising an eyebrow at her own counter.

"Okay, my world is a world, but not quite a good one because of the blight that wiped out our coffee crop." Harrison quickly explained, swallowing large amounts of coffee as though to calm himself down. "But S.F."

"S.F.?" Seth muttered that nickname confusedly.

"What can you tell us about this fine fella?" H.R. gestured to the Mac's face on the screen.

"First of all, he's not fine at all." Seth started. "Second of all, not much unfortunately."

"What do you mean? Don't you know this guy, Dad?" Frankie asked.

Ruby answered for her father. "Dad's never fought this guy before. Most he has is the information that Friday has. Right, Dad?"

"Leave it to our little Brainiac to know everything." Seth nudged Caitlin who smiled. "And yeah, she's right, I've never fought this guy personally. But I do know he's a maniac who fights in a mechanical scorpion suit. He's rarely seen without that suit on, which has a cybernetically-controlled mechanical tail."

"And… Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't scorpions have another certain trait other than the curved tail?" H.R. suggestively said while scratching his back with a drumstick.

Cisco rolled his eyes. "Poison." He answered.

Harrison gave a mock drumroll with his drumsticks before pointing one of them at the viber. "Point one for San Francisco. That is correct. Now does our friend MacDonald also hold poison?" He directed to Seth.

"Don't know. I've never fought him before, and anyone who's fought him was either too dead to be analyzed for residual poison or just battered to death by his tail." Seth answered. "It's gonna be a gamble if we're gonna face him without knowledge of his stinger's contents."

"And that's not all." Caitlin said, moving to the console and pulled up a 3D version of a scorpion on the monitors. Zooming on its virtual stinger, she explained. "When stung by a scorpion, it's venom usually occurs in children. And when it happens, it usually includes breathing difficulties, muscle twitching or thrashing, or peculiar movements in the eyes, head, neck."

"Also, nausea and vomiting, hypertension." Frankie surprisingly added. Her sisters and her parents gave her shocked looks. Shrugging her shoulders, she answered. "What? I read."

"That's true, but like Seth said, he does use poison in his stringer, but there is a chance he might not use scorpion venom." Caitlin stated, getting confused eyes from the others. "Guys think about it, it's not like Gargan's gonna extract venom from every single scorpion in Central City. Most of the 616ers we've met are really impatient. They're likely to lose their head in a heartbeat."

Frankie smirked at her sister. "Think she's talking about you, Rubs."

"Wanna say that again, Sis?" Ruby gritted her teeth, cracking her fists.

Evelyn pitched in. "Thought she was talking about Dad."

"Oi!" Seth hung his head at the shots his daughters were taking at him. "But Cait's right, yeah. He wouldn't waste his time on finding scorpions and trying to get their venom. He'd be using another form of poison. But what… I don't know."

"Hmmm…" For some reason, probably to get their attention, H.R. hummed obnoxiously.

Cisco feared a vein would start bulging on his forehead. "H.R.?"

"Yes?" Harrison faced the viber.

"Something you wanna share with the rest of the class?" Cisco asked.

"Well… Hmmm… Maybe…" He sipped on his coffee, again. "Was just thinking…" He tapped his chin with a drumstick. "Is there not another natural source for toxins?"

""Plants/ Plants"" Caitlin and Seth said at the same time, both sharing a smile at their own unison.

Once again, Harrison started another obnoxious drumroll. "Two points to Snow-Fury!" He announced and also, annoyingly, mimicked cheering and screaming fans. "Yes, plants are all around us, giving us life and all the necessary love. Like coffee. But alas, though bearers of life, they also bear… Poison." Harrison finished off dramatically.

Ruby gave her parents a deadpanned look. "Mom, Dad, anyway it's possible you can get high from coffee. Think H.R. is about OD." She quipped.

"It is not possible, Little Fury." Friday announced.

"Little Fury?" Ruby asked in shock. "Uncle Matt's gonna get his ass handed to him."

"So, we should find areas where venomous plants grow in the city and maybe stake them out?" Barry suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, yeah." Seth surprisingly agreed with the speedster. "Cisco, think you can gather up places where there might be those plants in the city?"

"With Caitlin's help, not at all." Cisco smiled and shared a fist-bump with Caitlin.

Turning around to face the viber, Seth asked him. "You think about joining us out in the field, Cisco?"

If Cisco had a beverage in hand and some of its liquid in his mouth, he would have done a spit take at those words like a cartoon character. "Wait, you want me out there in the field with you, your girls and Barry? Fight off a maniac in scorpion PJs? Hell to the NO!" He exclaimed.

While Cisco screamed, Caitlin noticed a folder on the edge of the table.

"Why not?" Seth asked. "It'd be a good experience for you to go out and fight with us." Nodding to his hands, he said. "Might be good to put those vibe blasts to use other than opening breaches."

"Yeah, maybe when we're not dealing with 616 crazies." Cisco was obviously against that idea. "But I'll start working on a list of locations like that."

"Plus, I'll make some possible antidotes to counteract poisons we might be hit with." Caitlin declared, her eyes shifting back and forth between the folder and her mate.

"I'll speak with Annie again." Joe stated. "Feels like there's more to this than she's letting on. There's a reason why her parents were captured, I'll figure out what she knows." Seth nodded his acceptance.

"Dad, what do you want us to do?" Frankie asked her father, ready to fight and get out in the field.

"The three of you travel in a group this time." Seth told them. "Go out and search for him. But if you see Scorpion, you don't go close-range. You keep your distance and attack from afar, get him away from civilians. And more importantly, don't get hurt if you fight him. Last thing we want is for any of you to get poisoned."

His daughters nodded their agreements.

"I'll patrol on my own. Barry, keep your earpiece close." Seth walked till he stood under the skylight. "We have to find this bastard fast." He jumped out of the skylight.

Caitlin watched her mate leap out of the Cortex, knowing that she now had time to dive into the folder he brought back to the base.

By the time he came back, she'd have a lot of questions for her mate.

X

Iris walked up the street, her hand clutched around her phone which displays the address of the daughter whose parents were kidnapped. Her editor had gotten wind of the car crash and learned who the family was inside of it. Scott wanted her to interview the daughter, maybe find any clues as to why her parents were kidnapped.

But Iris also had other motives. She knew the girl must be scared out of her mind right now, and she was worried about her. No child can handle their parents being gone after a crash.

However, unlike the girl herself, Iris knew that the parents are in the clutches of a sadistic villain from another universe. The reporter feared what this evil manic might do with the girl's parents. "Hope she's okay."

While speaking to herself, she didn't hear a car door opening behind her. She only realized this when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. "Iris!"

Iris turned around and saw her father walk away from his car and towards her. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna ask you the same, baby girl." Joe kissed her cheek and then noticed where she was heading. Deducing quickly, he said. "You're gonna interview the girl of the kidnapped parents."

"Like father, like daughter." Iris quipped her counter when seeing his badge.

Joe nodded and asked. "You remember when I used to go to Sioux Falls and Stillwater as a beat cop?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I used to complain a lot back then." Iris recalled. "But you always came home with a smile and laughed a lot."

"Met some good people back then." Joe walked with his daughter to the house. "The parents are Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum, both are former cops from Sioux Falls and Stillwater. They were on the way home from a police retreat in Hibbing."

"They're still cops?" Iris asked, confused by his words right now.

"No, they're not. Don't know the full story, but I know they left the force some time ago." Joe answered just as the father and daughter came to stand on the entrance of the house they intended to go to. "I'm hoping we can get answers from Annie. Maybe their capture is related to their current jobs."

"Good idea." Iris nodded as her father knocked on the front door.

A few moments passed and the door opened up, Annie meeting them. "Detective West, you're back." She noted Iris. "And you are…"

"Iris West, with CCPN." Iris shook hands with Annie.

"CCPN?" Annie asked. "Don't know if I'm up for an interview. Ms. West-" Her eyes widened in realization. "You're Detective West's daughter?" She pieced the pieces together.

"I am, yeah." Iris gave a gentle smile. "And you don't have to worry about any interviews, Annie. I'm here as a friend and I want to talk, is all. Maybe I can help find your mothers, if possible."

Annie smiled, believing her generous and kind words. "Come in." She let the Wests walk into her home and she led them to the couch. "Please, take a seat." She gestured to the couch.

"Thanks." Iris replied.

"So, Annie…" Joe took out his notepad while Annie herself took a seat in a recliner. "I didn't ask before, but do you have any ideas as to why your parents were kidnapped before?"

"I don't know, Detective West." Annie shook her head.

Iris then asked. "What about their jobs?" Annie turned shocked at their question. "They were kidnapped for a reason, Annie. Maybe it's because of their jobs."

"Jobs. Both my Moms are scientists." Annie answered, shocking Joe. "After retiring from the force, they became scientists."

"Where do they work?" Joe inquired.

"They've been working in various botanical gardens, taking samples of a certain type of plant." Annie answered. "Last I heard, they were examining plants in Star City before they had to go to the police convention in Hibbing."

"Plants?" Joe started, recalling what Seth told them back at S.T.A.R. Labs. "Any chance we're talking about venomous plants?"

"Maybe." Annie shrugged unsurely. "I can't say for sure, but I do know my Moms specialized in handling certain types of plants."

Iris made eye contact with her father. "Safe to say it could include poisonous plants."

"Yeah." Joe nodded his agreement. "Annie, you know anything else?"

"No, nothing other than what I've already told you, Detective West." Annie said.

"Could we maybe look through some of their work files, if they have any lying around?" Iris asked.

"Yeah, of course." Annie got up on her feet. She walked towards the office where her mothers keep their files and took out a few boxes.

As they were placed on the table before them, Iris and Joe knew they had to go through them all so they could find any clue as to the whereabouts of the kidnapped parents.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Hey." Cisco got Caitlin's attention as they are the only ones in the Cortex. Together, they've been going over a map of the city which has a lot of green and forestry areas where plants could grow. "You got any luck on your end?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

Shaking her head, Caitlin answered. "No, not really."

"Great! We got squat." Cisco looked around worriedly.

"What's wrong?" Caitlin asked her colleague.

"Nothing. Just don't want this moment of peace to be ruined by H.R. Wells and his coffee addiction." Cisco stated with a scowl.

Caitlin chuckled. "Still unsure of him?"

Cisco nodded immediately. "Yeah… But that's not all."

"What is it?" Caitlin thought back to Seth's question earlier today. "Is this about Seth asking if you wanted to join the fights like you did back against Dr. Alchemy?"

"Maybe…." Cisco tilted his head back and forth. "It'd be bitching fighting with your boy and Barry, for sure. But… Don't know if it's right for me to fight now." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What? If you had powers, you'd go and fight with Seth and your girls."

To the very best of her abilities, Caitlin tried to keep any emotions away from her face so as to not give away her secret. Thankfully it succeeded as she replied. "If I had powers… Then… I don't know." She looked up in thought. "I don't know if I'd actually use them if I had powers. But I think I'd rest easier if I was out there with Seth to watch over our daughters."

"Oh yeah, Venom Family at their strongest." Cisco chortled. Caitlin joined in on the laughter. "Heck, I'd pay big money to see that."

"Don't hold your breath." Caitlin nudged his arm. "But you think about fighting with the others?"

"Can't say anything for sure right now. But Vibe's not joining the field yet." Cisco replied before leaning back to his computer. "But worry not fine folks of Central City. Vibe may not join the war on the frontlines, but Cisco Ramon will definitely help out from his comfy seat in S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Really?" Caitlin asked, returning to her work on the computers like her colleague. She expected a comment from him regarding his strange announcer-like voice, but the viber didn't say anything and merely had a wide smirk. "Okay, time to work."

"Sounds like you stole Seth's catchphrase." Cisco teased.

X

Somehow, strangely enough, Seth managed to sneeze as Venom… Causing a small burst of air to shoot out of his mouth. The elemental straightened up while in the air, shooting out a tendril and swung higher up in the air.

He came to a stop, landing on the side of a tall brick building. Using the back of his right index finger, he wiped the area where his nose would be. "What was that about?"

"Think someone's talking about you." Venom teased his host. "Might be your mate. Get working so you can get back to her."

"First, we get love advice from Friday, and now you? Dear God." Seth ran up the side of the wall, not able to understand how he kept getting relationship advice from a computer and an alien clone.

"You thinking about what Evelyn said before?"

"That a new house for Cait might be good…" Seth muttered as he reached the top of the building, spiraling into a jump and crouched on the edge of the roof. "What did you think she meant by that?" He asked his "other" while peering over the city.

"Heck if we know what goes through your daughter's head." Venom candidly replied. "But she's got her reasons, maybe ask her of them next time."

"Yeah." Seth agreed. Returning to their mission, the mutant pressed a finger to the side of his head, connecting his earpiece to S.T.A.R. Labs. "Cait, you guys find anything?"

"No, but we did get something from Iris and Joe." Caitlin responded.

Cisco continued. "Apparently Hanscum and Mills examined some unique plants in Central City before their police convention. They're called… Um… Ah…" The metahuman was struggling with the pronunciation.

Hearing a chuckle from the other end, Seth then hears Caitlin step in. "They were studying the Eclipta Alba plant."

"That's a powerful plant used for health benefits." Seth remembered.

"And, aside from beauty and skincare, it's also pretty powerful when it comes to antidotes." Caitlin added.

"If this was Scorpion's work, he'd want to reduce the chances of his victims recovering from his venom by ridding the city of the plants that could save them." Venom admitted. "But why would he take those scientists… No matter, you guys got a location for the Eclipta Alba?"

"You're not far from the location, actually. About four blocks away from you, in a park." Seth heard his mate say. "Go and be careful, okay?"

"Always." Seth assured his mate. Removing his finger from the earpiece, he turned his attention to the city. About four blocks from his current position, he could see a small building in the middle of a park. "Must be there."

Leaping off the rooftop, he swung towards the park where Eclipta Alba grows. In a matter of minutes, he quickly came to the park. Dropping down on the ground, he rose to his full height and looked around. Surprisingly he saw that no one was here.

"Must be an off-day." Seth mused while walking around the park.

WHOOSH

"Hey!" Barry slid to a stop. "Cisco told me this is where a possible antidote is."

"Figured as much." Seth looked over his shoulder. "You find anything yourself?"

"Squat." The Flash answered with a groan. Stretching out his arms, he said. "What about you?"

"Same." Seth answered before walking closer to the small building in the middle of the park. "Funny how this park holds plants with such health advantages."

"Yeah… You've never fought Scorpion before, have you?" Barry asked the elemental.

"Never had the displeasure." Seth answered, leaping off the ground and onto the roof of the building. He crawled up the side of it till he reached the top of the building. "Where is he?"

Barry sped up to the rooftop. "You really think someone dressed like a scorpion would just lie around here? And where exactly would he hide?" The speedster jokes.

What neither of the heroes noticed… was a form crawling on the side of the building from the other end… Crawling like a spider on the wall… But he was no spider, he was something far more sinister…

With a stinger on his tail… dripping with a greenish liquid…

"Behind you!" The man shouted, jumping off the wall and swung his stinger.

Managing to turn around to face the villain, Venom snatched the speedster and jumped out of the way. Thankfully the two dodged the attack, landing on the ground and looked up to see the villain. Barry got his first look at the villain known as Scorpion and shuddered at his form.

He is truly clad in a scorpion-like suit. The suit itself is dark green with a black under skin. The helmet was equipped with vermillion optic lenses. The villain flexed the three fingers on each hand. His feet dug into the rooftop tiles, the two claws on each foot easily piercing through them. As though it was a serpent's tongue, the long tail extending from Mac's rear swiped the air as though it was searching for its next prey. While swiping through the air, drops of poison escaped from the tip of the stinger and melted the asphalt it connected with.

The only part of his body that was visible is his mouth, which formed a scowl at the sight of Venom. "Seriously? You here too? Thought the Doctor was joking when he said you'd be here too."

"Last thing anyone ever wants is to see your ugly face." Venom sniped while letting go of the metahuman. "Gargan."

"So, this really is Scorpion?" Barry asked.

Mac Gargan gave him a look. "That your sidekick?"

"Why does everyone think I'm the sidekick?" Barry complained.

Venom gave him a dry look, wordlessly asking him if he seriously thought enemies would think the bigger and scariest guy in Central City would be seen as the Scarlet Speedster's sidekick.

"Yeah, okay you're right." Barry faced the villain again.

"Enough talk!" Scorpion shouted, jumping off the rooftop. Landing on all four, he jumped after the speedster as he lashed out his right hand and tried to slash the speedster.

Barry dodged the attack. But Mac expected that and turned his body, using his stinger to attack the speedster. The Flash groaned in pain when he felt a combination of stringing pain from the stinger penetrating his skin and also searing pain from the liquid that touched his skin.

When Barry fell to the ground, Seth saw the wound on his shoulder. Strangely enough, it wasn't red as it'd be with blood oozing out of the wound. It was dark-green as the poison completely coated it.

"What did you do to him?" Venom demanded, withdrawing his sword.

"What I'm supposed to do to you next!" Mac exclaimed, leaping after the elemental with a swipe of both hands. Venom jumped back, away from the attack, but that only led to Scorpion's extensible tail striking like a snake, penetrating the side of his neck.

Venom screamed in pain, staggering back and out of Mac's reach, forcing the stinger to pull out of his neck. Seth held the area where his neck was punctured. When removing his hand from the area, he checked his palm and saw that it was covered by the green poison.

"Me, I'd end it now." Scorpion started. "But Octavius' got other plans for you guys, and he wants to torture you both…." He showed a smile. "Which I respect."

Seth growled his anger, lashing out his left arm and split it into dozens of tendrils to try and strike Scorpion. But Mac dodged the attack, jumping out of the way and running away with a cackle. But with the way the tendrils attacked around him, he honestly didn't see the need to avoid the attack.

"What's…" Barry struggled to stand up. His vision darkened into a strange blur.

"What is this?" Seth subconsciously released his hold on his sword, it fell to the ground. The mutant fell to his knees, his vision, like the speedster's, blurring into darkness and fell to the ground.

X

Whether it was seconds, minutes or hours, Seth didn't know but he woke up to a strange smell.

Rotten eggs!

At that smell, Seth's eyes snapped right open, and he jumped off the ground. He tried to land on the rooftop of the building again, but his control was wavering, and he only managed to embed his fingers into the side of the establishment, his claws holding him up while looking down.

With his fingers embedded inside of the wall, he hung on the side of it and looked down at the ground…

Or lack of it…

"Is that…" Seth couldn't believe his own eyes. "… A sea of poison…?" It truly looked like a sea of poison was before him. It looked real and unbelievable. The mutant was even able to see trees, bushes and the entire park melting away before his own eyes.

"What is this…" He said, still not believing his own eyes as more and more things disappeared before his eyes. But as he watched everything melt away into nothing, he remembered he wasn't alone when fighting Scorpion.

"Flash, where are you?!" He shouted, hoping for a response from the annoying speedster. But when no response came, he thought he had run away before this happened or something else entirely.

Looking towards the city, he saw that the rest of the city was no better than the park. It was flooded with a sea of poison. But unlike everything organic in the park, nothing melted the city. The buildings remained standing and didn't melt from connecting with the ocean of acid.

"Venom?" Seth tried to call out to his "other", but he didn't get any response. His voice and even his thoughts were warped and blurring uncontrollably. Because of his current state of mind, no doubt influenced by the poison, even his vision was getting weaker, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Have to get to higher… ground…" Seth managed to put a plan together. He stretched out his arm, lashing out a series of tendrils and wrapped them around a melting tree. He pulled on it and swung up into the air. Another series of tendrils shot out and embedded into the side of a building, pulling him to it.

Venom stuck to it like glue and looked down, staring deeply into the boiling sea of dark-green poison. It scared the life out of him to see his home, the home where his family lives is now flooded with a toxic ocean. At the thought of his family, he pressed a finger to his earpiece, connecting a line of communication to S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Cait, you there?" He asked, impatient and hoping for an answer.

But an answer came through the comms… But it wasn't the voice of the woman he loves… It was the man who did this to him…

"What's wrong, Venom?" Scorpion's voice came through the comms. "Expecting someone else to call back?"

"This isn't real!" Seth shouted to himself, trying to force himself to see through the hallucinations.

But Mac cackled inside of his head, making Seth grit his teeth at his awful voice. "You sure about that? Why not go for a swim then? Heard the water's good for the skin this season." He continued to laugh.

Seth looked down again, seeing bubbles on the surface of the poisonous ocean before popping. He knew it was the poison that caused him to see this overwhelming and terrific hallucination, there was no doubt of that. But he couldn't risk it, he'd remain on elevated ground no matter what.

Mac's laughter increased tenfold, making Seth hold his head with both hands at his obnoxious voice. "If you're like this, wonder how Speedy's doing then?"

"Speedy…? Barry." Seth realized he was hit by the poisonous stinger as well. Meaning the speedster couldn't be faring any better than he is right now.

"Seth?"

The mutant's head perked up when hearing a familiar voice gently call out his name. "Cait?" He'd recognize the voice of his beloved anywhere and everywhere. At the sound of her voice, he swung toward the direction of her voice.

"Seth?"

He passed a few buildings, and every time he'd come to a stop, he'd hear Caitlin call out his name impatiently…. Like she was waiting for him to come back. "Caitlin-!" The elemental came to a stop, cutting his own sentence short when he felt sudden pain rain over his mind.

Once again Seth had to hold his head with both hands, falling to his knees on the rooftop and screamed in pain. "What now?!" The pain intensified, forcing the mutant to slam his head into the ground in an attempt to rid himself of the pain. It was as though an earthquake took place inside of his head, trying to shatter his entire mind into a million pieces.

His vision was being affected by the earth-shattering destruction in his head… Causing his eyes to be enveloped in black and green fog-like substance.

"There you are."

The moment he heard Caitlin's voice again, the fog-like substance in his eyes dissipated. Lifting his head off the ground he widened his eyes at the sight of her.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"What's going on there?" Cisco asked out loud, his eyes showing an immense level of confusion at what he's seeing on the monitors.

"Seth? Can you hear me?" Caitlin inquired into the microphones, trying to contact her mate.

Neither of them understood what they're seeing right now. Their screens showed the two heroes running and swinging all over the city like crazy, traveling from one spot to another in a matter of seconds for some reason. But more worrisomely, no matter how much the two shouted into the microphones neither Seth or Barry heard their words and continued to run around in the city.

"What's with those darndest alarms?" H.R. asked, walking into the Cortex and pressed his hands down on his hat… as though it was an extension of his head. "What is it?" He gasped with hope. "Is it a new brand of coffee?"

Cisco snapped his head up to meet his eyes. "Are you for real? Why would we have a coffee alarm for something like that? Why would anyone?!" He exclaimed at the Earth-19 native who shrugged his shoulders. "And no, of course it's not some coffee alarm, it's Barry and Seth."

"Seth's not responding. The comms are working, but he's not listening at all." Caitlin elaborated while tracking her mate's movements.

"Barry's the same. Neither of them are responding to our wall, like they can't hear us at all." Cisco added, tracking down the Scarlet Speedster on his computer. "They're running amok right now."

"Mom, what's going on?" Frankie asked when hearing their conversation. "Is Dad okay?"

"I don't think he's doing well right now." Caitlin said, watching as he's moving again. "Go to him, all three of you. Watch out and make sure nothing's wrong with him."

"Where is he, Mom?" Evelyn asked.

"I'll send the coordinates." Caitlin told her daughters.

X

"NO STOP IT!" Barry screamed over the rushing wind as he sped through the city. Ever since he was slashed by the Earth-616 villain's poisonous stinger, he's been running and running, trying to outrun the disastrous and horrible hallucinations he's forced to witness.

He came to a stop, finding himself in an alleyway. He panted, sweat pouring down his face. Barry shook his head, chanting to himself. "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not her."

"…My beautiful boy…"

"NO!" Barry screamed, running away and up the side of a wall. He tripped, fell down and rolled on the rooftop. "Don't come any closer. Get away!" He screamed out loud, looking around frantically for any sign of them.

He sighed his relief when he couldn't find them anywhere, thinking he had somehow outrun his nightmarish hallucinations.

But to his fears… That was only wishful thinking.

"… Why are you running…"

Barry's eyes snapped open, turning his head around to see… Leaves gathering, spiraling and raising into the air. Each and every single one of the leaves disintegrated, turning into dust. The dust assimilated, forming a… person… No…

Barry's mother… Nora Allen…

"Nora" showed a kind smile with a tilted head. "My beautiful boy…"

"No, no. Stop it! I can't go through this again." Barry shook his head frantically, not willing to accept whatever's in front of him. He already made this mistake once. Not again. He wouldn't fall for this again.

"Why are you running away from me, Barry?" "Nora" asked, stepping closer to her son. "It's me, Barry."

"No. Stop it. You're not my Mom." Barry countered with a shaking head, making the mistake of making eye contact with whatever took the form of his mother.

The very moment they made eye contact with one another; "Nora's" eyes darkened as did her expression. Her motherly expression disappeared in an instant and a scowl took residence on her face. "I know now… You don't want me anymore. You never wanted me, right?"

"No, that's not true, Mom." Barry tried to reason with her though he knew she wasn't real. "Mom, I swear."

"Then how come I died because of you?" She sneered, her words causing Barry's heart to shake and crack painfully. "How come you had a life with me and your father, but you let us die anyway? Did we mean so little to you?!"

"No, I loved you. I promise you." Barry exclaimed.

"But you let us die anyway! We raised you and loved you with all of our hearts, but we still lost our lives because of you!" Nora shouted. "Maybe it's a blessing that we lost our lives, that I and your father were killed. We wouldn't have to live with you anymore. Best thing that ever came out of dying!"

"No… Mom, please." Barry tried to say.

But he wasn't allowed any more words as "Nora" stopped him with a shake of her head. "You don't want anyone to be happy… My boy… Not even…" Barry watched her form dissipate again, returning to dust-like form again before reforming again…

This time… Taking the form of another person he loves…

Iris West looked at him with saddened, wet eyes. "You don't want me to be happy, Barry. You don't have that in you."

"Iris… No… I want you to be happy… Happy…." Barry hyperventilated, trying to convince Iris. "I always want you to be happy…. I swear."

"Can I believe you?" Iris asked. "You let your mother die twice, get erased from your life willingly. When is that gonna happen to me, Barry?" She stepped closer to him, making the speedster crawl backwards. "When are you gonna let me die?"

"I won't!" He shouted, trying to convince her.

But Iris shook her head again, not believing a single word coming out of his mouth. "No… The moment you're unhappy with your life… You're gonna let me die, along with the rest of those you call family. Face it, Barry. As long as you're happy, you don't care if others suffer or are in despair…"

"… Or even if lives are lost in the process…"

"No, never!" Barry told her.

But once again, not a single word from him got through the hallucination. To the hallucination, those words had no bigger value than empty air. All around you… But only that… Empty.

Iris lifted her head, looking past the downed speedster. "You won't even lift a finger when he kills me."

With fear cascading over his expression, Barry turned his head around and…

"Something wrong, Barry?"

Barry crawled back, trying to back away from that monster who's ruined his life so many times. The man… Who took his mother from him with a knife penetrating her heart…

"Thought you'd be happy to see me again after so long?" The unmistakable form of Reverse Flash asked while stepping closer to him. "What's wrong?" He asked, still wearing the face of Earth-1 Harrison Wells.

"This isn't real! This isn't real! This isn't real!" Barry chanted, looking away from the form of Eobard Thawne while shaking his head. He knew this guy wasn't the real deal, the real Reverse Flash was gone and would never return.

But still, the sight of the yellow, evil speedster brought back a flood of horrible memories, all of them hitting him at once like a tsunami that very well could have conquered the skies if it so desired.

"Oh really?" "Eobard" smirked. "Then you won't mind if I do this." He spoke with a vibrating voice, speeding past the downed speedster.

An eerie feeling spiked inside of Barry, making him snap around and see Iris trying to run away but came to a stop when Eobard appeared in front of her, grabbing her by her collar and lifting her up. Eobard showed a wider smirk, directing it to Barry. "Gotta run."

"Iris!" Barry screamed when seeing Eobard run away with her. In the back of his mind, he knew neither of them were real, just incorporeal forms that were there to trick him. But he couldn't handle the thought of that monster kidnapping Iris, and with that fueling his mind, he ran after them.

In a flash, he chased the incorporeal speedster without hesitation and with all of his might.He followed the evil speedster with all of his strength, trying to catch up to him. They ran and ran throughout the entire city. No matter how far they ran, they kept on running. Whether it was to the very edges of the city or even to the most forsaken places of the huge city, it didn't matter to either of them…

One was a speedster that had long since departed from this world….

The other was a very much living speedster that was set on catching the hallucination of the evil speedster who ran off with the hallucination of his girlfriend.

Finally, the two speedsters ran up the side of a skyscraper, reaching the top of it. Barry came to a stop a few feet away from Eobard who was holding onto Iris's terrified and thrashing form, holding her over the edge of the building.

Reddish lightning continues to spark over the hallucination of Reverse Flash who didn't stop smiling, especially when seeing the look of despair on Barry's face. "What's wrong now, Barry? You said it yourself, "This is not real", right?"

"Put her down." Barry shouted despite his words. His attention was diverted when smelling the unmistakable smell of acid from the sea of poison under them.

"Why?" Eobard said. "She is not real right. Then neither will her death." He said, his smirk widening right before… He released his hold on Iris.

SCREAM

The hallucination of Iris West's screams reached the high heavens as she was descending towards the sea of greenish acid.

"NNNNOOO!" Barry released a similar scream, one able to echo through the heavens as well before running after her, rushing down the side of the establishment.

And even though his speed was greater than ever, he couldn't seem to catch up to her, no matter how hard he tried.

"Iris!" He shouted, trying to reach out for her-

X

In the real world, the one that is devoid of any hallucinations, Barry was hurled off the wall he was running on by an invisible force. The Scarlet Speedster didn't know it, but that invisible attack saved his life because if he continued running, he'd have ended up crashing directly into the asphalt.

Barry groaned in pain upon collision with the street, sent rolling like a ball. The speedster returned to his feet and was met with the sight of a… white plated jet that appeared very high-tech that suddenly appeared out of thin air, as though it was always there but never seen or noticed.

The jet held itself up with its thrusters' exhaust ports pointing downwards as the cockpit glass slid back, a figure in white clothing jumped out. Landing on the ground, the figure stood up and reached into the insides of their coat.

The speedster looked at the person with confusion, not recognizing the person before him. "Who are you?"

The person didn't answer, lashing out her hand and threw a flat spherical object with a large object in the middle of it. Time slowed down to a crawl, Barry using the time to examine the device with his eyes before avoiding it.

When the device stuck to a wall, the speedster turned back to the person in white. "Miss me!" Barry boasted, staggering on his feet.

"I know." The person answered.

The device shone with a red light before a pair of bolas ejected themselves from the spherical object. With his back to it, Barry didn't see them coming and they successfully wrapped around his body. The speedster brought down to his knees when an electric shock coursed through his entire body.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon." The person said, pulling out a syringe. A liquid dripping out of the needle.

X

"There you are."

No matter how much he was used to hearing her voice, Seth couldn't believe the ethereal voice that Caitlin Snow uses. Hallucination or not, hearing her voice was something out of this world whenever she spoke. And the way she looked… She looked just like an angel.

She was sitting on the front staircase of the porch to a two-story house. Her long chestnut brown hair straightened and flowing down her back, seemingly longer than ever. Her body clad in a long flower-patterned red dress, each golden flower that is embroidered into the dress greatly highlighted the beauty of both the dress and the wearer. Unlike the rest of Caitlin's torso, her feet were bare. Her legs are crossed over one another.

"Cait?" Seth asked, still in shock of her presence.

"Caitlin" gave him a chuckle while standing up. "Who else, silly?" She quipped, dusting off her dress. "Come on." She walked up the small staircase, reaching the wooden front door. "The girls are waiting. And you know the rules, bud…" She nodded to his demonic symbiotic form. "No Venom-ness in the house. Frankie's already struggling with that, you know. You need to lead by example, babe."

"Frankie?" Seth's real voice returned as his Klyntar retracted back into his body. "The girls are here."

"Yeah, of course. School's done for today, so where else would they be." "Caitlin" giggled at his tone, like he was truly shocked. "Come on, they're waiting for us." She waved him over.

Seth followed her, walking past the threshold of this very real house that Scorpion's poison had crafted in his mind. Even the sound of the door closing behind him seemed real. Everything about his surroundings seemed just as real as the sea of poison outside of this house.

It was a big two-story house, the entrance very close to the living room that is connected to the dining room with a single long dinner table. The table was set with plates and cutleries. A staircase close to the entrance, leading up the second floor. The mutant wondered if it was only bedrooms upstairs or maybe more.

Looking around, he saw various shelves with dozens of framed photos of their entire family. Not even in real life did they take this many pictures… It actually made the mutant sad.

"There you are, Dad." Seth's eyes snapped to the dinner table where he saw "Ruby" holding a tray with steam emitting from it. "Where have you been? Lasagna's getting cold cause of you." She placed the tray on the table.

"Hey Dad!" "Frankie" surprised her father with a slap on his shoulder.

"Bout time you got here; we were getting tired of waiting." "Evelyn" joked, elbowing his side.

Seth couldn't help but chuckle at their playfulness. He watched them rush over to the table, taking a seat on either side of the long table. Feeling arms wrap around his form from behind him, he looked over his shoulder and saw "Caitlin" is the one responsible for it. "Where were you? You were gone for a while, got worried."

"I'm… I'm sorry, Cait." He apologized to her, already forgetting that he's speaking to a hallucination. Though it's a hallucination, he could honestly feel her arms wrap around his form and hold him. Her eyes are the exact same as the original, even the smell of her is the same. "Kinda lost time, I guess." He gently replied, placing one hand over her intertwining fingers that are wrapped around him. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Well, come on…Food's getting cold." "Caitlin" nodded to the lasagna.

Seth turned his attention to the tray… And his eyes expanded in shock. Instead of seeing the piping hot lasagna he saw before in Ruby's hands… The tray was now filled with the same boiling dark-green poison that is outside in the city. Though more was being poured into the tray from the inside, and it somehow seemed to rise and overflow, flowing down the sides of the ceramic pan.

"What the fuck?!" Seth said, shaking himself out of Caitlin's arms.

"Ruby" smiled, staring at the poisonous meal. "Food looks good." Her sisters agreed, even "Frankie" drooled. No doubt her symbiote partner is getting the better of her hunger.

"Caitlin" took a seat at the end of the table, holding a big ladle. "Let's eat."

"NO!" Seth screamed, thrusting out his arm and unleashed a series of tendrils. Before any of his family members could take in the toxic food, the mutant's tendrils smashed into the pan and shattered it completely to pieces. The poisonous contents spilled all over the table. As the tendrils returned to his form, he realized that all of this is nothing but fake. "Cait, what's the deal?" He said, though the realization was still there.

Her long brown hair covered her eyes, her head pointing downwards as she lowered the ladle. "Seth…" She lifted her eyes, her brown eyes now completely black and leaking dark-green poison. "Why would you do that?" Her voice distorted demonically.

"Caitlin…" Seth trailed off in fear, his voice morphing and distorting. When facing the hallucinations of his daughters, he saw they are in no better state than their mother. Their eyes completely darkened with a black substance, crying dark-green poison. "Girls… Not you too."

He couldn't bear to see them like this… Black eyes with poison leaking out of them… It was like watching the husks of his family… Mere fear manifestations of his family… Of those love…

"Stop it… Stop it!" He shouted out loud, screaming to the high heavens and lowest pits of hell to make this hellish show stop.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Frankie asked, her voice morphing as one half of her body was covered by her symbiote, both host and symbiote speaking in unison. "You look scared."

"Stay away from me!" Seth shouted, his form enlarging into Venom with tendrils lashing out of his entire body. With this form he hoped he'd be able to scare the hallucinations to disappear. But those demonic hallucinations continued walking towards him, inching closer and closer to him… Like zombies…

"Stay away!" Seth jumped backwards, smashing his way out of the front door and rolled on the ground. He landed on his four limbs and watched the house. When getting out of the house, he looked down at the ground and ultimately slammed his head into it, feeling the hard surface crack from his headbutt into it.

He did it to shake himself free of those awful hallucinations, but he didn't feel the least bit free.

Instead, he felt that he had ready himself. So, getting back to his feet, he was ready for a fight if necessary, wearing an expression that is best suited for the Lethal Protector. But when facing the house, his expression softened when seeing that…

They returned to normal…That the hallucinations of his loved ones returned to their normal state, no longer having black eyes leaking with poison. All around the house is dissipating, turning into dust and slowly falling apart.

"No! NO-"

X

What Seth didn't know was his three daughters had arrived, standing in front of his form that was devoid of his symbiote form. But they were incredibly worried when seeing that his eyes were completely green with black spots.

"Dad?" Evelyn said, waving her hand in front of him to get his attention.

When no response or action came, Ruby pressed her earpiece. "Mom, we found Dad."

"There's a but coming right?" Caitlin asked.

"But he's out of it." Ruby looked around her father's face. "He's not responding to anything we're saying."

"He looks out of it." Frankie noted, sticking out her index finger and sharpening her claw. Carefully, she poked his arm with her claw. Not getting a single reaction, she withdrew her claw and said. "Oh yeah, he's definitely out of it."

"Scorpion must have poisoned him." Ruby deduced.

"Find an entry point." Caitlin instructed her daughters. "Maybe if you find some of the poison, it might help us make an antidote."

"Wait." Evelyn stopped them, pointing to her father's face. "Dad's… He's crying." She noted when tears began flowing down his face. "What's he seeing…?"

X

Inside of his mind… Inside of the hallucination-plagued world, Seth cries from seeing his entire family vanish into dust in front of his eyes…

He didn't know that his real daughters out in the real world are trying to call out to him, but he didn't hear a single thing. Seth's attention was focused on the dust that spiraled away and blown away by the wind, scattering all around in the world.

Suddenly… The dust that returned to where the house was… Spiraling around in three places…

Assimilating into three different beings, Seth widened his eyes when seeing his daughters again. For a second, relief filled him and caused his heart to beat again, allowing him to live again.

But his relief was brief when seeing that all three of his daughters were clad in the suits of their alter-egos… Their eyes oozed dark-green poison, crying it out of their blackened eyes. The same poison slid out of their mouths, akin to saliva emitting out of starving customers at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"Why'd you ruin that, Dad?!" Magenta screeched in rage, both of her arms morphing into jagged swords.

"He did something wrong. It's wrong! It's wrong!" In this hallucination-plagued world, Eclipse had her bow and pulled back an arrow on it. Her darkness and light enveloping her projectile.

"Die! Die! Die!" Destroyer chanted, taking out her blade and transferring enough gravitational force into it that caused the ground.

"You're not them." Seth said back… Though he was still in fear… But he knew that these beings would strike him down and won't until he's dead.

He had to get serious.

X

"What did Dad just say?" Magenta said, stepping back in fear of his words…

More so when his form was engulfed by his "other" and he stood before them as Venom again.

Seeing the bloodthirsty eyes pointing at them, Eclipse formed light daggers in her hands. "You don't think Dad's gonna…"

"Oh yeah, he is." Destroyer agreed with a nod of her head, retrieving her blade. Her father snarled at them. "Dad, we don't know what you're seeing, but I know it's not good. Come on, you're not really gonna attack your own daughters, are you?"

"You're not real!" Venom shouted at them. Gritting his teeth, he exclaimed. "You're not real!"

"Yeah, I think he will." Eclipse said before the elemental charged them with a jump, his outlashed arm turning into adamantium. "Yeah, he definitely will! Move!" She avoided the attack when he swung his metal appendage, her sisters moving away as well.

Magenta slid to a stop before morphing her hands into maces. "Sorry, Dad." She ran towards her father, jumping up and swinging one of them for his face. But Venom caught it with a tight grip, lifting his daughter up and roared in her face. "Okay, this is just embarrassing!" She said, swinging her body back and forth to gain momentum before swinging her legs upwards, hitting her father's jawline.

The blow to his face made him release his hold on the ferrokinetic and she jumped out of his reach. Magenta lashed out one of her hands, curling her fingers and forced a rooftop ventilation machine off the ground. With a swing of her arm, she launched it with her full might.

Venom growled in anger, grabbing the component with both hands. With said hands, he tore the component in two and threw them away before rushing towards her.

But a series of light daggers hitting just inches away from his feet put a stop to his charge. A snap of his head in her direction, Venom made eye contact with Eclipse. "Sorry, Dad. But can't let you go on a rampage. Fight the poison, please!" She pleaded, but formed more blades in her hands to ready herself for more attacks.

Her words didn't reach him, only anger showed itself to the surface and with it came fire, blazing along the surfaces of his arms. Unleashing a roar, he ran towards her with an animalistic ferocity. Venom swung his flaming claws for her, but she stopped each incoming slash with a broadsword made of light.

Upon collision with her light weaponry, Venom's claws burned, and he groaned in pain. "Sorry, Dad." Evelyn muttered, thrusting out her darkness tendrils from her arm and slammed them into his stomach, pushing him back and into the surface of the rooftop.

"Calm down, Eclipse, you don't have to kill him!" Magenta reminded her sister when seeing her literally embed their father into the surface with her tendrils of darkness.

"I know, I know, sorry." Evelyn pulled back her tendrils. "Think he's down?"

Magenta looked into the hole, seeing her father embedded into it and with closed eyes. "I think so." She faced Ruby. "Whatcha think, Nerd Squad?"

"…" Too busy with examining her father's state, Destroyer didn't respond and watched her father's expression. "I'm not su-" She stopped when his eyes snapped wide open. "Fuck, get awAY!"

Her tone raised to a shout when suddenly tendrils sprouted from the ground, trying to attack them. Evelyn used her shadowporting to avoid them, Frankie countered her father's tendrils with her own tendrils lashing out to meet the opposing ones, Ruby jumped into the air, avoiding the striking tendrils coming like pythons.

Performing two backflips to dodge the attacks, Destroyer came to a stop and reeled back her Chakram blade before hurling it after the elemental. Venom backflipped out of the hole, pulling back his arms and swung his tendrils around. His random tendrils attack deflecting the blade.

Ruby saw it coming, quickly plucking it out of the air. Using the momentum she got from his attack, she threw the blade after him again and with greater speed this time. Venom cried in anger, lashing out his tendrils and using them to shield him.

However, with the penetration abilities of Vibranium and the greater speed of the throw, Ruby's chakram blade cut through the tendrils. Having paved its way through the symbiotic appendages, the blade cut into his chest and Venom groaned, holding his chest where the Vibranium blade was embedded.

"This isn't real! You're not real!" Venom groaned in a shout.

"Yes, we are, you stubborn dumbass!" Ruby shouted, appearing in front of him and punched his face with one hand, the other one retrieving her blade. "And this is pathetic on your account, Dad." She exclaimed, alternating between punching him and swinging her blade to attack his face.

Before Evelyn could jump in, joining her sister, she heard her mother in her earpiece. "Evie, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"Um…" She let out unsurely. "Dad's… Fighting us?"

There was a long pause before Caitlin finally responded. "You're fighting your father now?!" She shouted. "Why?"

Magenta landed behind her father. "Can't offer an explanation now, Mom." She said, thrusting out her arms and stretching out her wrists from her elbows. Like a pair of anchors, they hooked into her father's shoulders and pulled back.

Venom groaned, feeling himself be pulled back, causing his back to lean back and Ruby continued her assault on his face, striking him with her fist and her blade. Magenta slingshot herself into his back, causing her father's face to slam into the ground.

She grimaced at the sight. "Sorry, Dad." She apologized, retracting her hands.

But Seth wasn't down yet and lashed out an arm backwards, wrapping his humongous clawed hand around her form. Forcing himself back onto his feet, he snarled at his daughter in his hand. "Not good enough."

"Dad, I'm really sorry, but your breath stinks! Did you eat a stuffed toilet or something?" Magenta exclaimed in his face.

Before Seth could counter, several light daggers flew through the air and hit the side of his face. Venom groaned in pain, releasing Frankie and used a flaming hand to yank the daggers out of him. "Sorry, Dad. But I seriously hope you didn't plan on eating Frankie."

"Evie, get your head straight." Ruby told her sister, not liking the image of her father picking out pieces of Magenta from between his fangs.

Roaring out loud, Venom got his three daughters' attention, flames bursting out of his entire body. "You're not real!"

"Oh crap." Ruby said.

Neither of the three daughters knew how to handle their father when clad in crimson flames.

But something out there was looking out for them, when a gatling of red energy bullets came flying and hit their father. The series of energy attacks caused Venom's focus to dissipate and along with his focus, his flames disappeared.

Venom was pushed down to a knee.

While that happened, the girls saw that the energy bullets came from a white-plated high-tech jet that appeared out of thin air, materializing before their eyes. The cockpit glass slid back and jumped out of the flying vehicle, landing on one knee.

The person rose back to their full height and walked past the three girls. "Stay back." She said, Ruby widened her eyes in shock at the person she recognized.

"The hell…" Ruby let out in shock as the person stopped in front of her father.

Even now Seth didn't know that a person stood in front of his large form, but with his current poisoned state of mind and pain from the gatling of lasers he didn't know about it.

The person smirked at the sight of the familiar mutant and reached for her waist, pulling off her gray pistols. With the mutant in his current condition, he didn't notice or even react when the woman aimed her pistols at his chin.

Her smirk widened as she placed her fingers at the triggers and pulled them. In an instant, she unleashed a flurry of red energy bullets in the elemental's face. Each shot coming from her weaponry made Venom stagger back.

While it was fun for her to deliver this old flame some hurt, she had to get on with her mission.

When pushed back, the woman ran towards him and jumped into him. Running up his torso and kicking his face, making him fall down and land on his back. The woman landed on the ground in a crouch. Raising to her full height, she walked over to the elemental while holstering her pistols.

At the same time, Destroyer, Eclipse and Magenta watched in shock to see this strange woman walk on their father's torso like he's some kind of floorboard.

"Hey, get off him!" Magenta shouted at the strange woman standing on top of her father. When she didn't listen or respond, basically ignoring her words, the ferrokinetic morphed her arm into a mace. "I said, get off him!"

"Sis, wait!" Destroyer stopped her sister from jumping into action, grabbing her forearm.

"What are you doing?" Eclipse asked.

"I know her… She's a friend." Destroyer answered.

"First one to call me a friend in this world." The woman said with an accent, akin to a Russian accent but not quite it. The woman reached down her right leg, reaching into her right high boot and pulled out a big syringe. "Hope your father's not scared of needles."

Without any hesitation whatsoever, the woman plunged the syringe into the mutant's neck, casually puncturing through his symbiotic skin and jamming the needle into his neck. The girls shivered and flinched at her casual action while their father snarled in pain.

The woman pressed the back of the syringe, injecting the contents of the needle into his system.

Venom gasped loudly when feeling the liquid enter his body. His eyes opened and blinked rapidly. The strange hallucinations he's been seeing slowly disappear. The symbiote around his body slithered into his body. This time… Seth looked up and saw who was standing on top of him.

And he couldn't believe his eyes at the person smirking down at him.

The woman is not much older than him, perhaps a year or so. She has short, grayish-white hair, the right side partly covering her eyes. Her body is covered by a white coat with a light and dark gray uniform underneath. Much like his own, she has piercing blue eyes and grayish-white eyebrows. Her sleeves are pulled up and her hands are placed on her hips. Her two gray pistols are holstered on the left and right side of her waist.

"S-Silver?" Seth asked in disbelief, not believing that she's here. Or understanding why his ex-girlfriend is standing on top of him like he's some kind of a sidewalk.

Silver Sable's smirk widened. "Hello, Misha."

"At least it's not Symkarian, again."

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Once again, everyone on the team was left speechless at the latest Earth-616er to show up. While happy it wasn't another villain like their latest visitors from that Earth, she exuded a great amount of confidence that actually terrified the natives of Earth-1.

Ruby was once again ecstatic to meet the one and only Silver Sable of Earth-616. She's only heard tales of how powerful this one and single human back on Earth-616. But hearing tales are nothing compared to meeting and seeing the legend herself. Seeing the woman fight the elemental with nothing more than skills and firearms without hesitation proved that Silver Sable lives up to her expectations.

More than anything right now, Ruby wanted to fight Silver Sable in a one-on-one fight.

Silver isn't a fool. She had noticed the gravity manipulator's eagerness and she wanted to repay it somehow. But for now, she waited for her ex-boyfriend and the speedster to be treated.

Iris turned her eyes to the entrance of the medbay where Caitlin stepped out of it. "Caitlin, how are they?"

"Barry's okay, just shaken up from the poison. Slightly hurt and bruised from the bolas I had to unwrap." Caitlin started. "Seth's the same, though he does have a concussion and also a headache. And he does look like he's in pain from fighting you three." She nodded to her daughters who looked proud.

Silver chuckled at that diagnosis. "Happens when a fool slams his head into the ground."

"Fool?" Seth heard her words, walking into the Cortex while holding his head. "Who are you calling a fool, Silver?"

Showing another smirk, she replied bluntly. "You."

"Seriously?" Seth gave her a dry look.

Joe looked between Seth and Barry who joined them a second later. "Are you two okay after that acid trip?" He rushed over to the facility when hearing what happened with the two of them.

"Yeah, I'm good." Barry said shakily, still feeling the lingering effects of the poison and electricity. "Thanks to… Her." He gestured to Silver, who's expression hardened.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Silver. And Joe, BTW, acid trips are much nicer than what happened to us." Seth admitted.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"My baby sister, despite being a language teacher, tends to forget the meaning behind the words "cruelty" and "creativity." And even forgets how to be nice." Seth practically confessed to his sister drugging him at some point in his past.

Once again Silver showed a smile. "That was a wonderful time."

"Of course, you would think that." Seth groaned with a roll of his eyes. Silver chuckled.

Caitlin's eyes shifted between the two, noticing their banter and words. "Seth, who is this actually? You seem to know her? Another friend?" She felt another wave of jealousy come over her, along with hints of hope that this one is nothing more than an old friend.

"What a friend…" Cisco said, gobsmacked by the beauty of the woman in the middle of the Cortex. Parts of him wanted to visit Earth-616 to meet the beauties of that universe. But he feared that this woman might just riddle him with bullets if he tried anything. She's scary.

Silver kept her emotions from showing on her face, but inwardly she was giving him a narrowed look. Seth chuckled and shot down his hopes as he explained while scratching his head. "Well… This is Silver Sablinova, or Silver Sable as she's commonly known. On Earth-616, she is the owner of an international security corporation. In the eyes of many, they're an international mercenary army. S.H.I.E.L.D. has worked with or against that army in the past, many of those missions I've joined or spearheaded."

"Feels like there's more to that, Dad." Frankie said.

Silver raised an eyebrow at those words, specifically the last word she called Seth.

Blushing embarrassedly, Seth answered. "Well… Silver… She's my ex-girlfriend, too."

A series of gasps came from every single person in the room. H.R. coughed on his coffee drink, almost spitting out all of his beautiful beverage. "This one is your ex-girlfriend?" He asked for clarification, pointing to the beautiful woman in gray-whitish clothes.

"Yeah… Trust me, it's awkward as hell." Seth admitted. He faced his ex-girlfriend. "Silver, questions I'd love for you to answer later, but how the hell did you come here and when?"

"And how'd you manage to stay hidden this entire time?" Evelyn asked intrigued by her.

Silver pointed up to the ceiling. "When brought to this world, I was flying in my jet, chasing Gargan."

"You chased that maniac?" Caitlin asked, stepping forward. "Why? Did he steal something from you?"

"No, he escaped." Silver started. "My army and I worked together with the police force, capturing him. We had him in a convoy but he escaped somehow and killed several of my soldiers." She added. "I followed him with my jet, but we were both pulled into this world by a strange portal. I flew around this city, trying to find him but with little luck. I saw… This guy…" She gestured to Barry. "Almost falling off a building and talking to the open air."

"When I was poisoned." Barry deduced with a sad sigh, remembering what happened when he was poisoned by that vicious toxic.

"Thankfully I had antidotes prepared for this scenario." Silver announced.

"About that…" Caitlin started slowly, feeling slightly scared by the sight of the woman. "Do you have an additional antidote? We might be able to replicate the antidote in the event others are also poisoned by Scorpion."

"Can't you just take their blood…" Joe pointed to Seth and Barry. "…and get a sample of whatever she put into them from that?"

"That might be difficult with the way their bodies work, Detective Joe." Harrison knowingly stated, twirling a drumstick in his right hand.

"And how do you know that?" Cisco countered, doubting every word coming out of his mouth… Mostly his intelligence, or lack of anyway.

Caitlin nodded her agreement. "H.R. is right." Cisco gave her wide eyes of disbelief. "Both Seth and Barry's bodies produce tremendous amounts of heat. Seth from his elements, Barry from his speed. As soon as the antidote had done its work, it had already been burned away."

"Precisely, that's what I meant!" Harrison-19 exclaimed with a swing of his drumstick.

"No, you didn't." Frankie doubted him.

"I do have one other." Silver pulled out another syringe. Caitlin went to take it, but the 616er pulled it back and out of her reach. "But before handing it over…" She narrowed her eyes, making the native doctor shiver. "Who are you? And…" She gestured to the three young girls. "Who are those girls, Seth? One of them called you "Dad.""

Placing his hands on Caitlin's shoulders, Seth started. "This shaking beauty is my girlfriend, Caitlin Snow." Caitlin blushed at his words, trying to mask her blushing cheeks. The mutant laughed at her cuteness and nodded to their daughters. "Those are our daughters: Evelyn, Frankie and Ruby. They're adopted." He added before she got any strange ideas.

"Thought so." Silver stated with a smirk, facing her ex-boyfriend. "They're too cute to be yours."

"Are you kidding me with that?" Seth exclaimed.

Joe chuckled, mentally agreeing with the corporation leader. "Thanks for saving our boys here. Means a lot." He expressed his gratitude to Silver. "But how do we find this bug fella before he gives the rest of the city an acid trip into Crazytown?"

"Actually, scorpions aren't bugs." Seth started.

Caitlin continued. "They're arthropods."

"Not the time for biology lessons, Dr. Snow and Fury!" Cisco complained.

Unbeknownst to the others, Silver was suppressing a smirk.

"He said something before we were hit by his poison." Barry said, thinking back to their encounter with Mac Gargan. "Yeah, he said Octavius is paying."

"Not surprised, Gargan never thought for himself once." Silver quipped. "He's a mercenary, only listens to money. Who has he attacked so far?" She asked, directing to her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend.

Cisco helped them, bringing up profiles of the two scientists Scorpion has kidnapped. "These two fine citizens."

"Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum, scientists with specialties in plant life." Seth answered. "We have this theory of Gargan kidnapping those two to find the location of the Eclipta Alba plant."

"Of course, he'd rid any chances of making the antidote, prolonging his victims' suffering." Silver didn't sound shocked at all by his revelation. "We have to find them."

"We have to, we promised their daughter that we'd bring her parents back." Joe stated.

"Then we will find this scoundrel and stop him." Silver sneered, cracking her fists in anger.

Seth reminded her. "We're not gonna kill him, Silv. We capture him and get information out of him."

Silver Sable nodded. "Then… We kill him." She pulled out her firearms, removing the safety instantly.

"No!" Seth shouted. "We're not gonna kill him, for God's sake! When are you gonna change your entire "Shoot first, ask questions later"- policy?"

"Never. It's effective." She replied bluntly as though it's the obvious response.

"She's pretty hardcore." Cisco admitted.

"Brother, you got no idea." Seth pitched in.

X

(Klyntar Cave)

Inside the Klyntar Cave, Caitlin and Seth worked together, analyzing the residual poison inside of Seth's body from his encounter with Scorpion. They've been spending almost an hour on the computers, trying to decipher the poison.

While they may have an antidote and the means to replicate it, they also wanted to examine the poison itself. Call it their curiosity as scientists.

The elemental was a bit sore from the extraction as Caitlin had to use a big needle to retrieve it from his body. While analyzing the poison he's been squirming in his chair, twisting his arms around and turning his torso side to side. "Damn it."

"Guess you're not used to being poked and prodded." Caitlin chuckled.

"Well, it was hard to focus on that with my doctor being hotter than the sun." Seth countered with a flirtatious smirk. Caitlin blushed, leaning over to him and shared a kiss with him. The elemental reciprocated the kiss, kissing back with just as much love.

But as they kissed, Ruby entered the training room and watched her parents enthralled with one another. "Oh, get a room you two."

Disconnecting from her mate, Caitlin gave their daughter a stern look. "Young lady, you're practically begging to be grounded."

"Oh no, anything but that." Ruby mocked a fake retaliation. "Anything but that, dear Mother. I will do anything but that. Any other fate I will accept, but house arrest."

"Okay, calm down, Drama Quake." Seth quipped at his child. "What are you doing here? Wanna help your folks with analyzing poison?"

"Heck no. I just have questions for you Dad about Silver." Ruby announced.

Caitlin lifted her head, tearing her eyes away from the computer screen. "You wanna know about your Dad's ex?" Both Seth and Ruby heard the hints of jealousy in her voice, one found it funny and the other thought it was adorable. "Why?"

"Just thought she's cool, is all." Ruby chortled before facing her father. "Hey, Dad. Why'd you two break up? Did you break up with her? Or did she break up with you? What was she like in your relationship? Did she smile at all? How'd you meet? Did she ever use you as target practice? Did you break any of her stuff?"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Slow down with the 100 questions." Seth told her with hands held up, pointing his palms at her. Thinking back to his time with Silver Sable, the elemental explained. "We met through meetings and missions, most of which were sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. For some reason, my Dad always had me meeting up with her. We clicked after a few meetings, went on dates between missions and personal stuff, and then finally made our relationship official. Out of everyone, my sister and Matt were the ones most shocked by our relationship."

"No kidding." Caitlin pitched in. "Don't think she's even shown a single smile other than when speaking with you." This time she wasn't hiding her jealousy.

"That might be… But only one person makes me smile like an idiot." Seth kissed that very person to empathize his point. Caitlin smiled back, kissing his cheek in response.

"But what was she like when you were dating?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

Speaking honestly, he answered. "Much like your mother: Funny, sweet, cool, smart. Unlike your Mom: Very deadly, trigger-happy, most of the time returned with blood on her hands." That last one made the mother and daughter gulp in fear, wondering what kind of hobbies this woman has to kill time. "But I was happy with her, and she was happy with me. We had fun and things were good."

"Why'd you break up then?" Ruby wondered.

"Missions and work got too much, and we also lived in separate countries. While it may have been easy to just come and visit one another, it still affected our relationship, so we chose to call it quits and returned to being friends." Seth explained. "But we rarely saw each other after that, with my S.H.I.E.L.D. work and her royal duties and her work with Sable International."

""Royal duties?" What does that mean?" Caitlin asked in disbelief.

Ruby knew the answer to that. "Silver's the princess of the Symkarian royal family. She's a big deal worldwide."

"You dated a princess?" Caitlin asked her mate with a cold glare. "Really?"

"What? I'm dating a queen now." Seth countered, once again making his mate's face turn bright red. "But what makes you so interested in my previous relationship, Rubs?" He asked his daughter.

"Curious. I mean, she took you down with ease, something we couldn't do even with our powers. And I've always wanted to meet her, I've only heard stories or read about her in articles and nothing more." Ruby answered.

"You got a shit ton of idols, kiddo." Seth chuckled and Ruby didn't deny it, showing a smile. "Where is Silver anyway?"

"She's out canvassing the city in her jet… Which looks awesome." Ruby said, inwardly hoping she could ask the princess for a ride inside of the high-tech jet. "She's hardcore, she doesn't even want to relax."

"All work and no play, that's how she rolls." Seth recalled.

Ruby had another tough question to ask her father. "Dad… About before when you were poisoned… What happened? What did you see? You acted really strange. Your eyes were all green and crazy-looking before you started attacking us."

"You saw something?" Caitlin asked in concern.

"Hallucinations." Seth said, his hands clenching at the memories returning to him. He didn't feel it but sweat began forming on his forehead, slowly pouring down his face. "But honestly, it was like living a nightmare. I saw a sea of poison under him, on the streets. The entire city was flooded with that horrific sea and… Everything organic, everything living was nowhere to be found. It was scary, but it was nothing compared to what I saw later."

"What did you see?" Caitlin asked, her hand placing on top of his.

Turning his hand around, interlocking his fingers with his mate's, Seth answered slowly. "I actually saw you guys… Our entire family was there, in a nice little house. We were about to have lunch, the five of us together." Caitlin felt his hand squeeze hers, as though he was desperately holding onto reality, onto her and their family. "Something happened to you all… You were bleeding poison out of your eyes and looked like… You were husks and not even alive… Like you were controlled…. You disappeared into dust and then… the girls came back and attacked me. I fought back… against you guys…"

Caitlin and Ruby shivered when seeing Seth's eyes darken, all life and emotions vanishing from the surfaces of his ocular organs. "That bastard made me see that… If I honestly need a reason to tear out his insides and strangle him with them… He couldn't have given me a better one than this."

Though his daughter feared his current state of mind, Caitlin wasn't and raised a hand to his cheek. The moment her fingers touched his face, all life and emotions returned to his face as he faced his beloved mate. "I can't imagine what you went through when you were poisoned, Seth… But know this, that will never happen to us. We're here with you, forever and always. It was a hallucination, not real, Seth… Trust me, it won't happen to us in real life."

"She's right, Dad." Ruby pitched in, knocking her father's shoulder. "This is real… Our family is real… Nothing's gonna happen to us. Not without going through us."

"Before that, young lady, you need to get your butt into the medbay for a medical checkup." Caitlin stated, her head nodding to her daughter's arms. "Go, I'll be there when this analysis finishes up." Ruby nodded and walked to the exit.

But before she passed the threshold, she turned on her heels and announced. "Oh yeah, I told Silver she could stay at our place while she's here." She walked out of the Klyntar Cave.

Seth paled. "Rubs…" He shared a look with his mate who gave him a curious look. "How do you feel about my ex staying with us?"

Before she could even move her mouth, the computers beeped as the analysis had completed. "Hold that thought, babe." Caitlin told her mate. The two faced her screen, showing the identified substance from the residual poison. Both read the dialog box with the substance.

"Ovatoxin-A/ Baeocystin Mixture."

"Guess you were right, Seth. It's a hallucinogenic neurotoxin." Caitlin told Seth. "If Silver hadn't administered the antidote when she did, your mind would have kept creating nightmares that your bodies would have thought to be real."

"Trust me, they were so real I tried to hurt myself to snap out of it." Seth admitted.

"Tomorrow, I'll go and find the Eclipta Alba plant again, getting the natural steroid to make the antidote." Caitlin declared. "But I'll need an antitoxin to mix a permanent antidote."

"Maybe go through those Hanscum-Mills files again, maybe something to help you out." Seth suggested.

"Yeah. I'll see if I can find something that can help us out." Caitlin said.

They had their plans for tomorrow then, their tactics for how to tackle this maniac's poison. But maybe that wouldn't help the victims who've been kidnapped by his monster.

X

The first thing Jody felt when she came back to the waking world was the feel of cold metal wrapped around her fists, restricting her movements. When she opened her eyes, she found herself hanging from the ceiling with long chains attached to it, handcuffs attached around her wrists. Her feet barely touched the floor.

Getting a better look at her surroundings, the former sheriff of Sioux Falls saw that she was in the middle of a platform within what appeared to be an old abandoned water treatment plant. She could see the rust on every device and machinery, along with rust on the sewer tunnel entrances around them. There are dozens of tunnels, walkways and large basins around them, but not a single drop of water in any of them or passing through them. As though water hadn't been here in years.

This place hadn't been used in a long, long time…. Which didn't help the awful smell in anyway. It smelled worse than a swamp on the hottest summer day.

"Finally awake, sleepyhead." Jody snapped her eyes to the side, seeing her wife, Donna in the same situation as her. "Jody-O, you okay?" Donna couldn't help but ask her wife, though she is in the same situation as her.

"Funny, was gonna ask you the same." Jody gave a hollow chuckle. "You okay, hon?"

"Been better." Donna empathized with a shake of her restrained hands. "Have a feeling Alex's gonna be pissed if we don't make it home for dinner."

"Well, then she'll know what she's putting us through then." Jody laughed.

"Glad to see you're having fun, then." The two scientists' heads snapped up in time to see the form landing on a nearby railing. Scorpion stood, crouching on the metal railing and leered at the two women. His mouth opened as he cackled at the sight of them. "Hope you ladies like your accommodations." He gestured to their surroundings with a wave of his cybernetic tail, casually dropping off drops of poison.

"Definitely not getting a five-star review, buddy." Donna joked despite facing off against a villain.

Mac Gargan dropped off the railing, crawling towards the woman. "Well, I am sorry to hear that, but maybe…" He smirked evilly, his tail slithering around her form and carefully aiming his stinger at the bridge of her nose. Donna feared that even moving a single muscle would cause her body to make contact with the venomous weapon. "I can make it more enjoyable… For one of us, that is."

"Leave her alone. you maniac!" Jody demanded, struggling against her restraints in vain.

The clanging of her chains did grate Mac's ears, making him grit his teeth in anger and frustration. "Keep that up, then I might just lose my patience… and trust me, lady…" Scorpion's tail tightened around Donna's form, making her groan. "You won't like what I do to people who make me lose my shit."

"As Mrs. Mills said, leave her alone, Mr. Gargan." A voice spoke through a computer speaker. Jody turned to the side and saw an open computer formed like a small case. The screen showed the irritated face of Otto Octavius. "Mr. Gargan."

"Alright. Alright, I heard you for the first time." Scorpion uncoiled his tail from Donna's form. Turning around, he got up to his full height and walked over to the computer. "Was just joking around."

"I've made it very clear that you are not to harm either of them if you still wish to be paid." The evil mastermind reminded him sternly. Mac scoffed at the words, not liking the reminder at all. "Give me your report, did you encounter any resistance?" Otto inquired.

"Saw your old pal Venom again, and some nobody in a tacky red onesie." Mac said with a scoff.

"Like he's one to talk about others' clothes." Donna thought to himself.

"Doc, how long am I supposed to have them here? Thought you had everything you needed." Mac scoffed.

"Did you manage to get the information of the Eclipta Alba plant from your guests?" Otto asked.

"Yeah, so what?" After capturing them, Mac had knocked one of them out and asked the other one for the location of the plant, threatening her with the murder of the other if she didn't cooperate. "But you told me to leave those plants alone for some reason."

"Which I'm happy you obliged to." Otto smiled. "But remember, your job is merely to stall those pesky heroes, to give us more time for our project."

"Which is what?" Mac asked for clarification.

"Classified." Otto stated.

X

(CCPD)

The next day, Seth arrived at CCPD, walking out of the elevator, to search for Silver. When he and Caitlin woke up, they helped their daughters to search for the leader of the mercenary who had disappeared when the morning hours hit.

When she was nowhere to be found, Seth told his family that he'd search for her while they went on with their day. First place he visits to find her is the local police department. "Where is she, that Silver?"

"Always was a handful with that one." The symbiote told his host with a chuckle.

"You're not wrong." Seth said, but then noticed Iris looking around in search. Curious as to her being here, he walked over to her. "Iris." He got her attention. "What brings you to this fine establishment?"

"Hey." Iris greeted him with a smile. "Actually, I was showing someone around."

"Who?" Seth asked. But the reporter gave him a dry look. Realizing what that look meant, the mutant stated. "Silver's here, isn't she?"

"Yup. That girl didn't even wait for me to answer and just dragged me out of my window." Iris could still feel her heart beating crazy. "She practically threw me into her cockpit."

"Hold on, she flew in her jet over your house?" Seth suppressed his need to exclaim his sentence. Iris nodded rapidly. And he was pretty sure, Iris just described her kidnapping. "Jesus, that one doesn't change no matter what. Wait, what did Joe have to say about that?"

"About a high-tech weaponized jet flying over his house?" Iris sarcastically said.

"Yup, he'd bring a gun." Seth realized. "But where is Silver?"

"Well, she wanted me to tell her where the precinct is and here we are." Iris gestured to their surroundings. "She went in to talk to the captain here." She pointed to the area with the desks, which leads to the captain's office.

Seth had a feeling of annoyance brimming inside of him. "Why do I feel like she's gonna end up causing trouble?"

"She has a problem with dealing with authority?" Iris wondered.

"Iris, in most cases, she is the authority, or she makes sure she is." The elemental chuckled. "She's tough and impossible to fight against." He heard the doors to the captain's office open up and watched as Silver walked out of it with the captain.

Silver looked in Iris' direction and found her ex-boyfriend there. "Ah, Misha, you're here too."

"Looking for you. Next time you wanna disappear like that, how about leaving a note or something?" Seth sternly told her.

Not appearing the least bit bothered, Silver stated. "That will not happen, Misha." Before either Seth or Iris could question her further, David Singh came to their side. "I spoke with your captain."

"She did. Fury." David faced his consultant. "You didn't tell me you knew of this maniac who kidnapped those two civilians."

Not knowing what Silver told his captain, Seth chose to lie his way out of this. "Only in previous work, as I've treated his victims, but I've never had the opportunity to meet this man myself."

"Understood." David accepted. "But your friend here…" He nodded to Silver. "She told me she's been following this man for some time now. Also, that you two have worked in the past."

"That is true." Seth chuckled, faking an embarrassed expression. "Though her sudden visit did explain a lot. I'm sorry for not coming forward yet, but I didn't expect to see such an old face here."

"That's alright. Your friend here also tells me that you can work out an antidote that will neutralize whatever this Gargan fellow carries in this suit of his." David stated.

"We're already working our way through the list of components needed for the antidote." Seth answered. "If anyone falls victim to his venom, we'll be ready to administer an antidote. But because of this villain's capabilities and the fact that he caught two esteemed former sheriffs off guard, I'd advise the officers to distance themselves from Mac Gargan."

"Was already planning on doing that, Dr. Fury. Thanks, I'll be counting on you for that." The captain said. "But we've got strange witness reports from all around that Flash and Venom have encountered Gargan."

"He also goes by Scorpion." Iris chimed in, hoping the nickname would make it easier for the captain.

David gave a disbelieving look. "Of course, he's another maniac with a strange nickname. But anyway, they met this maniac and civilians have been calling on the hotline, saying that both Venom and Flash have been acting like they escaped the looney bin. And that's from one encounter. I don't even wanna think what he might do to the whole city then. Let's get to work so we can stop this guy before that happens. Work with Allen, will you?" Seth nodded, knowing full well that this was an order and not a request that he could deny.

The captain turned to face Silver. "Ms. Sablinova, I'd appreciate it if you'd stay and offer your expertise on this case."

"Da." She gave her approval.

Iris could see question marks popping into existence, appearing all over the captain's head. "That means "Yes" in Russian, Captain Singh."

"Oh, okay." David nodded and walked away.

"Russian is not popular in this city, is it?" Silver inquired.

"Wrong city." Iris quipped. "But Seth, you still want me to see if I can find the whereabouts of Taskmaster, right?"

Seth answered. "Yeah, I do. You're more adept to that kind of work than most right now. The others have their strengths, just like you do yours. Right now, your strengths are needed for this work. Lean in them and your instincts, and you'll find the bastard soon enough."

Iris nodded. "Alright, I will. Thanks for trusting me with this task."

"Only person whom I can trust with this task. But focus on your own work, of course. Don't want my favor to get you fired, after all." The mutant told her honestly, understanding if she had to focus on her own work before this.

"Alright finished my articles, just need to recheck them before handing them off to my editor." Iris declared before walking away.

"Day's barely started and she's alright ahead of her work." Seth thought to himself, impressed by her workmanship. He faced Silver again. "Next time if you need a friend's help, maybe not kidnap them from their home from your jet. Your manners suck as always."

"They are not, they are effective." Silver countered with her argument. "So, Taskmaster is here too."

"Told you last night, Silv. We got a lot of bastards from 616 here." Seth reminded her. "Almost got all of Sinister Six here, too." They walked over to the staircase that is closest to the CSI lab. "What did you tell the Captain?"

"That I was a private investigator who's been tracking Gargan for a long time, following him to Central City." Silver started. "I told him that many of my subordinates had fallen to his poison and were too far gone to be saved. I told him that I've come to avenge my fallen comrades and stop Gargan's venom from raining over this city like it has done to ours. That reminds me…" When reaching the top of the stairs, she faced the mutant again. "The speedster, The Flash, the one in the red suit, he was also hit by his venom."

"Means he had hallucinations too." Seth realized with a scoff. They reached the entrance to the CSI lab; the elemental slid the doors open. "This is the CSI lab."

Inside of it, they found both Cisco and Barry in the room. "Those are the ones we met yesterday." Silver noted at the two metahumans. "Greetings."

Cisco turned around, meeting the eyes of the two 616ers. "Hey you two."

"H-Hey!" Barry exclaimed from his desk, suddenly dropping off his pen. He jumped up to his feet, walking around his desk and over to his lab equipment. "H-H-Hey, guys!" His hands shook when raising to push buttons on machinery.

"He's this jumpy from his first acid trip. What did this guy do in college?" The symbiote quipped to his host.

"Not all can handle this…" Seth said, walking towards the speedster. Barry tried to work but he stopped when he saw the mutant lean against the table he's using. "Albert not here to annoy you?"

"H- He's busy with something else, something personal, I think." Barry tried to stop his trembling hand with his other one but to no success. "Damn."

"Looks like his hallucinations threw you for a loop, huh?" Seth asked.

The speedster examined the mutant's form and behavior, checking his hands and the rest of him for any side-effects from the horrific hallucinations. "How are you okay? I can't stop shaking from those nightmares."

"I'm more pissed off, I guess. I mean, this wasn't a natural thing. It was the side-effect of an enemy's attack." Seth admitted. "Don't tell me you're scared of Scorpion's stinger now."

"Aren't you?" Barry asked. "I mean, this guy showed me hell and I can't stop seeing it."

"Again, we had better chances of surviving this than others." Seth stated. But his words didn't seem to work on the speedster. Raising his fist back, he slammed it down on Barry's hand, almost forcing him to scream. "You wanna sulk all day for what happened to you, go ahead. But unlike you, civilians who could get poisoned can't run away and might just run into traffic and get killed." Barry listened closely. "Others might end up dead if we don't stop Scorpion soon. Normal humans don't have our systems, they don't have a secondary immune system. They don't have your speed or my elements to protect them, to prolong their lives."

"I don't know what you saw that made you out this way, but you can't let that stop you. Otherwise, more people are gonna be kidnapped or worse, see the same horrors you and I saw." The mutant told him seriously. "Take a minute to yourself, then get back on the horse. We still got work to do."

"Why aren't you scared of what he showed you?" Barry asked.

"I'm scared, of course. I didn't like what I saw…. But way more than anything, I'm pissed off… And I'm gonna enjoy finding Scorpion again and taking him down." Seth confessed. He walked over to Cisco. "Hope you decontaminated his suit properly, otherwise more on our team are gonna be poisoned."

Cisco assured him. "Oh, don't worry, I've done my part. I've made sure his suit is thoroughly clean."

"Good." Seth nodded.

"But honestly… I'm surprised, Seth." Seth raised an eyebrow. Cisco elaborated. "You've been helpful to Barry, listening to his plans and even agreeing to them… It's like you're losing you're…"

"I'm not losing my hate for him if that's what you think." Seth cut him short. "Just because I'm helping him, agreeing to his plans or anything else like that… It's because he's an ally, not a friend. With these guys, like Scorpion, Rhino, Octopus and who knows who else, we need all the help we can get. Even from that moron." He gestured to Barry. "So don't misunderstand my actions, Cisco."

Since meeting the rest of his team, Silver knew that there was something between her ex and the speedster. While she does want to dive into it, wanting to know more about it, she wants to focus on Mac Gargan instead. "What is the plan now?" She asked.

"Make antidotes and find Gargan." Seth answered. "Cait's already out retrieving drops from the plants we need and also finding atropines we need for it. I'll go out and search my own way."

"I will join you." Silver walked after the mutant when he went to the exit.

X

(Central City Picture News)

Sitting alone in the newspaper publisher station, Iris sat by her table and uploaded the video that her father showed them before in S.T.A.R. Labs. It was the best and only lead she had so far.

Iris' reporter instincts told her that there was more to this video than what they watched back at the facility. So, this time, she'd thoroughly listen and analyze the entire video if she had to, even if it took hours for her to do so.

The video finished uploading, displaying itself in the default video player. Iris skipped ahead to the point where the video paused back at S.T.A.R. Labs. One last time she made sure no one else was here before she turned on the video.

The video started… Showing Otto Octavius standing with Rhino, The Rival, Shocker and Vulture. It showed Dr. Octopus lifting himself up from the ground with his mechanical arms which he's regained control of. Even though it was from a different perspective, Iris could imagine that the evil mastermind was looking down on his companions.

She heard Otto speak. "Thank you, Mr. Clariss. You've proven yourself to be a valuable companion indeed."

She saw Herman examine his gauntlets before he spoke. "Not bad, newbie." She flinched when seeing him thrust his right hand out, launching an air blast that flipped over a police car.

She watched as Adrian flexed his mechanical wings before speaking. "He hasn't proven himself useless as of yet, yes." He agreed with Herman and Otto before jumping into the air, flying over his companions.

Speaking with a vibrating voice, Edward spoke. "What can I say?" He cracked his fists, emitting a cracking sound. "I aim to please, after all."

"Yes, that is true." Iris heard Otto Octavius speak. "While I do appreciate your assistance, Mr. Clariss, but…" She watched confusingly as Dr. Octopus turned around, looking over the fallen van. She hears him speaking… Talking to someone. "Why did you not come to our aid, Taskmaster?"

"Taskmaster?" She muttered in shock.

She listened as a familiar voice joined. "Three seems excessive." Iris recognized that voice anywhere. The voice of Taskmaster, the same man defeated Barry when meeting him for the first time. "Missing one, aren't we?"

"One…?" Iris muttered in confusion. "Is there a certain number to these guys?"

"Yes, we are." Otto answered. "But do not worry, I've already handed him his assignment." She heard the evil mastermind assure the mercenary. "Your ally, did she have enough time for her project?"

"They got another one?" Iris paused the video. She'd watch it again, but she was too confused by this revelation. "With Scorpion here… They're waiting for someone else… A woman who's working on a project."

This was news she had to share with the rest of the team… Their city might be facing more than what they've initially thought.

X

In an instant, the two had exited the police department building and traveled into the city. Seth resorted to traveling by swinging through the city, running on the sides of buildings. Silver chose her signature way of transportation: Her high-tech jet with camouflage capabilities.

Before they started moving, Silver gave the mutant a communication device that would allow the two of them to talk while moving through the city. Seth heard her voice. "Seth, where would Gargan hide in this city?"

It's a logical question for someone new in town to ask someone who's more familiar with the territory. Moreover, Silver trusts his words and judgement. "Unclear at the moment." He informed his ex-girlfriend while coming to a stop on the edge of a tall building. "But someone like him wouldn't be able to move freely in this city, not without being noticed."

"Obviously…" Silver agreed with the mutant who was ticked off. "But you've been in this city longer than I have. You know places villains might use to get away from prying eyes."

Thinking back to his countless battles with the villains he has faced in this city, Seth mentally made a list of possible areas that could be used as hideouts. "Tall places, above cameras and civilians… Or…" He widened his eyes in realization, looking down at the streets. His red eyes focused on the manhole cover, or rather focusing where it led to.

"Someone like Scorpion wouldn't use anything above ground… He'd use whatever's underground." Seth thought to himself, realizing that the underground sewer networks would be the ideal hiding place for someone cosplaying as a Scorpion.

Facing the direction of the cloaked high-tech jet, Seth asked. "Silver, do you have a map of the city in your system?"

"Da." Silver replied.

"Find the blueprints of the sewer systems of the city, and then find the nearest entrance for us to use." Seth told her.

"You think Scorpion is underground?" Silver asked.

"Only thing that makes sense." Seth admitted. "After having attacked me and Flash, he disappeared quickly without anyone seeing him. The only way for someone like him to move freely is to do so where eyes don't wander. Sewers would be ideal for someone like to move around with."

"Seems correct. I have found an entrance." Suddenly Silver's jet's cloaking deactivated, revealing the high-tech jet. The cockpit window raised itself, and Silver nodded to the left wing. "Jump on, call the speedster. We have work."

"Fine." Seth jumped onto the wing as they flew to the location of the sewer entrance.

X

Thankfully the entrance to the sewers wasn't far, only ten or so blocks away from the city. They found the tunnel leading to a small lake on the outskirts of Central City. Silver parked her jet outside of the tunnel and waited for the speedster to join them along with Seth.

Silver took out her guns and checked them over. While doing so, she asked Seth while he was withdrawing his crystal sword. "That girlfriend of yours…"

"Caitlin?" Seth asked. "What about her?"

"She seems interesting, like the perky blonde." Silver chuckled.

"Yeah, she's interesting like Stef, for sure." Seth remembered when Silver met Stefanie and Bucky. She immediately fell in love with the little bundle of joy he called his son, but she was completely baffled by his then girlfriend who was terrified by the sight of the Symkarian princess. But though it started out awkwardly, the two quickly became friends.

He hoped the same for Silver and Caitlin, seeing as they'd become great friends if given the chance.

"I love Caitlin, Silver." Seth confessed to her.

Silver nodded. "I know that already, fool." She told him.

WHOOSH

A flash of lightning appeared before them, and Barry slid to a stop. "Hey, I'm here." He took a look at the entrance of the sewers. "So, you think Gargan's hiding out in the sewers?"

"Wouldn't be the first villain we've had to deal with a villain underneath the city." Seth stated as they started walking into it.

He feared what might happen in the sewers. Under the city is a sewer network that is nothing short of a long, winding labyrinth of tunnels, walkaways and humongous basins that operated and cycled the whole city's water system for the benefit of every single life that lived above ground. This place has an underworldly smell that'd disorient anyone, but in such close quarters someone who can scale walls like Scorpion would easily be capable of unleashing a sneak attack.

And the two heroes have already experienced what one sneak attack from Mac Gargan could do to them. Another one could probably end their lives if they are too careless.

Taking a single step into it, they were immediately assaulted by the completely awful stench of everything that humans expel during a bathroom break. Barry instantly covered his mouth and nose at the smell, but the two 616ers continued onwards.

"Smells like death in here." Barry groaned, gagging at the smell.

"Wuss." Silver told him, checking a corner before resuming onwards.

Facing Seth, Barry stated. "Joe wanted to come down here and help us with this."

"Hope you told him no." Seth said, and the speedster nodded. "Good. Last thing we need here is to worry about Joe here with us, going through the same as us."

"The same…" Barry clenched his hands at the memory of his poisoned state of mind, where the hallucinations of his mother and Iris told him that he never wanted them to begin with. He always wanted them...

Seth narrowed his eyes on his form. "What did you see back there? When you were poisoned."

"I saw…" Barry didn't know how to start. He clenched his hands at the memory of that awful hallucination. "I saw my mother…. Sometimes it was my father… Sometimes it was Iris… Then I saw Thawne, taking Iris away and dropping her off the side of a building…"

"You dealt with the poison longer than me." The mutant deduced. "When I woke up, you were gone."

"I was already running around in the city. But it honestly felt like I couldn't outrun it." Barry confessed with fear clad to his face like a mask.

"It was in your mind, it's impossible to outrun what's in your head." Seth reminded him. "But what happened?"

"I kept seeing those hallucinations all the time, no matter how much I ran." Barry revealed with terror on his face. "My Mom said… I didn't want her anymore, which is why I kept running away from her. That she died because of me. How I had a life with her and my Dad in Flashpoint but let them die anyway. But then she said it might have been a blessing when they died, they wouldn't have to live with me anymore. She said I didn't want anyone to be happy… Not even Iris. And Thawne just toyed with me, acting like Iris' life wasn't' real or like it was meaningless."

"Don't think about it. They're hallucinations for a reason." Seth told him.

Before either of them could say more, Silver returned from the corner. "Stop bro-mancing, come here!" She ordered them. Barry sped to her while Seth jumped onto a wall and ran on the surface of it, rushing to her location. They found her crouching down on the walkway. "See here."

Being the CSI scientist, Barry looked over her shoulder and watched what she's pointing at. It was deep cavities in the ground. "Cavities…" He examined the holes, running his gloved hands over it and checked the holes. "I think something with claws did this."

"Something or someone?" Silver asked. "Scorpion's close." She returned to her full height and looked around, seeing that they had reached a cross section with three different tunnels leading elsewhere. "He's hiding in the water treatment plant in that direction." She pointed a finger in the direction of the tunnel to the left.

"What makes you say that?" Barry inquired.

Seth chuckled. "You memorized the sewer network, didn't you?"

"Of course, I did." Silver said smugly, jumping onto the walkaway of the left tunnel. "That might be where he's holding the hostages."

"It might be a trap." Barry reminded her.

"Even so, there are lives at stake. Come on!" Seth shouted, his clothes morphing into symbiotic skin and covering his entire form till he stood as Venom. The speedster and the elemental ran after Silver who was far ahead of them, quickly reaching the end of the tunnel.

They reached the end of it, getting out of the tunnel and found themselves in the water treatment plant. It was strange for a treatment plant to be within the sewer network itself, perhaps a design principle unique to Earth-1.

It was a large platform in the middle of the abandoned room. Rust had long since gathered around the entrances of the tunnels. Every device and machinery were in no better state than the tunnels, almost completely covered in rust. Not a single drop of water was in the basins or flowing through the tunnels, only things filling the bottoms of them are weeds and rotten plants of various types.

"Hey!" The three of them looked ahead, seeing the two hanging and cuffed forms of the two kidnapped scientists, Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum. "Hey, we're here!" Jody called out to them again.

"We're coming!" Barry sped over to them. Venom grabbed Silver and leaped onto the platform. Seth let go of his ex-girlfriend and she walked over to the hostages. "You guys okay?"

Donna chuckled, shaking her hands. "Aside from our current situation, I'd say we're peachy, friends." She chuckled.

Venom gave a toothy smile while chuckling. "Your daughter told us you're a barrel of laughter, guess she wasn't wrong." He told them while helping Donna down by tearing her chains to pieces.

Jody blinked rapidly. "Daughter? You mean, you met Annie?"

"She called Detective Joe West." Seth clarified while helping Jody down.

"Who then called us?" Barry said while using his speed to vibrate the cuffs off Donna's wrists.

"What do you know? That girl actually listens to us." Donna chuckled while the speedster took care of Jody's cuffs.

Jody didn't respond to her wife's jokes. Instead, she immediately jumped into her arms and wrapped her into a tight bearhug. "I'm so, so… So happy you're okay, honey."

"Could say the same about you, Jody-O." Donna wrapped her arms around her wife. "And to think she hated hugs when we first met." The two shared a kiss.

Flash and Venom smiled, happy that they had saved two parents from the claws of a maniacal villain.

"Where is Scorpion?" Silver demanded to know, cutting the married couple's moment short. "The man who kidnapped you… Where is he?!"

"Oh, he'll be there shortly, Princess Sablinova." Seth flinched and gritted his teeth at the voice that came from the computer. Looking over his shoulder, the mutant saw an open computer in the form of a small case. He saw that on the screen was the face of Otto Octavius. "When Mr. Gargan told me of your presence on this Earth, I was greatly shocked. I would have prepared something worthy of royalty."

"You again!" Barry shouted. "You tricked us!"

Otto laughed at his angered words. "Did you really think it was that easy to defeat us, Flash? We're not like the villains you face every day, those that fall after a single tap to their heads. You realize that, right? Or is your ego so wounded it blinds you to the obvious? And all from one simple trap." He continued to laugh as more rage and anger cascaded over the speedster's expression.

"Your men killed loads of good men and women." Seth sneered; he couldn't contain the hate he had for this man who is responsible for the deaths of many of Joe's fellow officers. "Why?"

"All in due time, old friend. All in due time." Otto cackled.

Silver pushed the two heroes aside. "Where is Gargan?! Tell me now, Squids!"

"Like I said, he'd be there shortly, Princess Sablinova." Otto showed a smile. "In a matter of second-"

SLASH

Otto's words were cut off when the computer screen was cut in half by a familiar dark-green cybernetic tail. The tail threw the computer away, crashing it into a wall and hearing it break into a dozen pieces. Scorpion revealed himself, crouching down on the platform in front of them.

"Finally…" With a dark and evil smile, he twirled his tail around and threw drops of poison around. "I can let loose."

"So, the master finally loosened the lease on his dog." Seth insulted the man while spinning his crystal sword. "You're gonna regret what you did before."

"Oh yeah, sure you're not just looking for another fix?" Scorpion said, twirling his stinger around and flung his poison around. "I'd be happy to give you and your friend another dose."

"Flash, get the ladies out of here." Silver ordered the speedster. Aiming her guns at the villain, she added. "We'll handle Gargan."

Nodding his acceptance, Barry stated. "I'll be back!" He told them, speeding to the married couple and took them away.

Mac smiled. "So, I gotta deal with a demon and a princess? What a treat." He cackled before charging them.

"In your dreams!" Seth countered, meeting his charge with his entire body turning into adamantium. They met each other; the crystal sword met the stinger filled with venom. Sparks went off from their collision along with drops of poison from the stinger.

Scorpion lashed out his right claws before swinging them out for the mutant. Venom used his left hand, blocking the claws and lifted the villain off the ground. The mutant threw him away and towards a wall.

But as he was flung in the direction of the wall, he spiraled around and landed on the wall, using it as a platform for him to scale. "Gonna have to do bet- WOAH!" He shouted mid-sentence when suddenly red energy bullets came flying at him.

Silver continued her red storm of bullets, trying to take down the scaling villain who avoided them. "Seriously, you trigger-happy psycho, knock it off!" He shouted, aiming his stinger at the woman and unleashed bullets of dark-green venom in rapid succession.

As they continued coming her way, Silver dodged them with a series of acrobatic feats, leaping and jumping to avoid them. While the gunfire continued for what seemed like forever, the mutant jumped into action and ran on the wall to attack Scorpion from another direction.

However, Mac noticed the large elemental and momentarily stopped his gunfire to try and slash with his tail. Venom grabbed it with an adamantium hand. "Take this!" With his other hand, he thrusted out his sword against his chest, stabbing the villain.

Scorpion was pushed off the wall from the stab and spiraled in the air. He landed on the platform, but only shortly before jumping after the woman. Reeling back his claws, he tried to slash her. Silver used the side of a gun to block his attack. Raising the other one to his chest, she pulled the trigger and unleashed a fury of energy bullets at point-blank.

Each shot didn't penetrate the armor, but it did make Mac groan in annoyance and pain at the small tremors. Silver swung her right leg, kicking his head up and spiraled around. Getting into a crouch, she pulled the triggers of both guns and unleashed another series of energy bullets at the villain.

Venom watched the onslaught continue and leaped from the wall. Turning his arm into adamantium, he swung it down into the villain's back, smashing him down into the ground. Not giving him a moment to rest, he grabbed Scorpion's tail and swung him around.

In one violent swing, he slammed him down on the ground again. "What is Octavius planning?" He demanded.

"Planning a party, what'd I know?" Mac sniped, turning his head to face the mutant standing over his body. "He just told me to find a plan, kidnap a pair of randoes, and then I'd get paid when I'm done with you and the Princess!" He tried to slash him with his claws again in frustration.

"Meaningless asking questions, he's got no brains to answer them." Silver chimed in.

"I heard that, princess!" He shouted, using his tail to push the mutant away and pushed himself back to his full height. "I'll kill you guys right here and now!" Scorpion charged them both, swinging his tail around and shooting bullets of poison.

Seth ignited lightning around his entire body before jumping into a spiral, avoiding the blasts. Silver pivoted on her feet, displaying great evasive skills to dodge the dozens of venomous blasts. While avoiding the blasts, the woman fired off energy bullets again.

Venom saw a chance when seeing the villain jump into the air. Enveloping his entire arm in flames, he took a stance and embedded his feet into the ground. Releasing a mighty roar, Seth hurls his arm and splits it into dozens of blazing tendrils.

Barely getting a moment to react or even counter, Mac was assaulted by flaming tendrils and pushed into a wall, causing it to cave in. Retracting his tendrils, he looked for the villain, but he could barely get a glimpse of him. "Stay down, and answer our questions!"

WHOOSH

Barry returned, coming to a halt behind the mutant. "Hey." Taking a look around to examine their surroundings, he was surprised to see that so much damage had been already done. "Guess I missed a lot."

Silver walked over to them. "Did you secure the women?"

"They're alright. I dropped them off at CCPD." Barry announced. "What about him?"

"We make him speak." Silver reloaded her firearms, aiming them at the hole instantly. "Venom, get him out!" She ordered the elemental.

"What's with her?" Venom asked his host in confusion, who'd also noticed Silver's eager and impatient behavior. "She's too…"

"Something's going on… More than what she's let on." Seth told his partner.

"He's not down yet!" Barry shouted when seeing movement within the hole Scorpion is inside of. Pulling himself out of it, he jumped out of the hole and landed on the platform before the three of them. "Tough guy that's for sure."

"Oh, Flashy is back." Scorpion noticed, raising his head and showing that one of his lenses had broken off. "Good, more for me to hunt down."

"Not much of a hunt." Silver snapped her guns in his direction. "You will die here."

"Oh yeah!" Suddenly Mac burst into laughter. "You sure you want that before you get your little information?" Both Barry and Seth narrowed their eyes in confusion. Their confusion didn't go unnoticed by the villain. "Looks like your little friends didn't know about this. Didn't wanna share with the rest of the class, huh?"

"Silence!" Silver shouted, running towards him at full speed. She raised her foot, swinging it for his head.

But Scorpion smiled when seeing his provokes made her come closer to him. He jumped off the ground and slammed her down into the ground, pinning her to it. Not giving her a moment to retaliate, Mac used his tail and attacked her, embedding the stinger in her stomach.

Silver gritted her teeth, screaming through it in immense pain. "Silver!" Venom shouted, using his sword like a bat and knocked the villain away. The stinger was pried out of the mercenary's stomach when he flew off.

Seth saw red and jumped after the villain, fighting him inside of a tunnel. Barry sped to the downed woman, crouching down by her side. "Are you okay?" He helped her up, raising her head.

Continuing to fight back pain to her utmost ability, Silver said. "I-I'm fine." Though Barry knew what Scorpion's venom did to someone, and unlike with him and Seth, Silver's a human. Therefore, the effects of the venom would be worse for her. "G-Go help Venom, Flash!" She managed to exclaim.

"I…" Barry stopped himself, realizing where they were. He took a look around himself, seeing the circular formation of walls around them and noticed water on them. "That'll work." He realized he could use these walls to his advantage… Especially with the villain using cybernetic weaponry.

Pressing his earpiece, he relayed his plan to the elemental. "Venom, bring Scorpion back here. I have a plan. Trust me."

"Just get to it!" Venom shouted, busying himself with the villain he's dealing with.

Barry nodded and began his plan.

WHOOSH

Silver felt a gust of air hitting her face when the speedster began moving. Lifting her head, fighting back the pain once more, she saw The Flash running on the walls around them. He ran in a tight circular formation, almost as though his entire form was enveloped by lightning.

It's the first time she saw Barry Allen in action, she was in awe from the sight. It's as though he had completely become a bolt of lightning, that kept getting bigger and bigger and even more violent. Lightning sparked from his entire body, crackling on the surface he's running on. It's like the underground's housing a thunderstorm.

"Not bad." She admitted.

Hearing a roar from the opposite tunnel, she watched as Venom jumped out of it. His hand wrapped around Scorpion's head before throwing him down into the middle of the platform. The mutant landed on the ground, turning to face Silver. "You okay?"

"What do you think, idiot?" Silver countered with a nod to her stomach, an area of it is completely covered in dark-green poison.

"Oh right." Seth snatched her up just in time as the villain struggled to get back on his feet. They jumped off the platform. When they removed themselves from it, they saw the speedster jump into the air, spiraling as he traveled through the air.

Looking downwards, he turned his eyes downwards and saw that Scorpion was directly underneath him. Time slowed down to a crawl and the speedster let all of his gathered lightning come over him, passing over his entire body.

The lightning he has gathered latched onto his arm and with one powerful swing of his arm, he launched his lightning akin to Zeus hurling lightning as though it's a halberd.

While trying to get his bearings together, Mac saw a flash of yellow shine over his head and he came to a stop, looking up into the sky to see what's happening. The only thing that awaited his eyes… was a flash of lightning when the lightning struck him.

The lightning that Barry had gathered was so tremendous and powerful that it did more than just knock out Scorpion, but also destroyed the entire platform under his feet. From the wall, Venom saw the villain actually be launched into the ground by the lightning halberd, piercing through it entirely.

Venom glanced upwards, turning his eyes to the speedster who almost hit a wall. "Looks like someone's been training." He lashed out tendrils, wrapping them around Barry and pulled him into his hand. "Not bad, Flash."

With a chuckle, Barry gave a thumbs up. "Lost to two 616ers already, can't lose a third time."

"You lost to us twice." Venom candidly reminded him, chuckling when the speedster dropped his head in embarrassment at the painful reminder. Facing back to the sight of the battlefield, he saw that the entire platform had been leveled and crushed into pieces from the lightning attack.

"Though it's a small amount, there is still water around the place, even inside of the platform. With the water there, it means the lightning could have traveled across and through that entire platform, magnifying the intensity and strength of the lightning bolt." Seth glanced at the panting speedster in his hand. "Impossible as it might seem, this guy is a genius and a brainiac in his own way and he is getting field experience…"

"Still a miserable idiot most times, but he can be a powerful ally." Venom agreed with his host when following his train of thought.

United the two of them faced the crumbled battlefield again. "Scorpion's gonna have to wait this time." Seth admitted. He had Silver Sable in his hand who needed treatment.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Returning to the facility, the mutant handed off Silver Sable to his girlfriend in the medbay before dropping the speedster into a chair. Strangely enough, it was only those two with Cisco and Caitlin in the medbay and H.R. slurping down on his fifth coffee beverage from Jitters.

"Well, fellas, seems that's another victory for the good guys, right?" Harrison-19 chuckled in his chair by the console, he placed his feet on the desk.

"Not exactly, H.R." Barry said, taking off his gloves. "Scorpion's still out there."

"What are you talking about?" Cisco heard the speedster's words, walking into the Cortex. "You really think that Gargan survived that attack? I mean, you basically pulled a Zeus on his face. You'd be crazy to think he survived that attack."

"Crazy is practically the norm on Earth-616, Cisco." The mutant reminded him. "But just in case I did have my girls go to that place again and check out the rubble. If we're lucky, they might find Gargan's suit completely crushed into pieces."

"That'd be the upside, right?" The three powered men giving him dry looks at that question. Harrison seriously asked if a villain losing his only weapon would be a good thing or not.

"This guy is messed up in so many ways it's impossible to count them all." The symbiote told his host.

"No kidding." Seth agreed. He then saw in the corner of his eye Caitlin walking out of the medbay.

"Silver's gonna be fine, she didn't start flailing around so the poison hadn't taken effect just yet." Caitlin revealed.

"Is she conscious?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, she is, But she can't move around too much." Caitlin answered. "Why? What is it?"

"Something's more to this fight with Scorpion than what Silver has let on." Seth started. "When we fought back in the sewers, Gargan seemed to know something Silver knew. I think something more happened back on Earth-616, something other than Silver losing her men."

"Like what?" Caitlin asked.

"Reason why Sable International is such a big deal is because of their numbers and advanced arsenal. And villains are only interested in one of those things." Seth purposely trailed off.

Caitlin didn't even have to piece it together. "The weaponry." She stated the obvious.

Nodding his confirmation, Seth added. "If there's one thing those villains would be interested in then it'd be the advanced weaponry that Sable International develops daily. They've even worked together with S.H.I.E.L.D., working together on immensely powerful weapons that could take down huge threats. Even extraterrestrial threats."

"Wait, what?" Barry asked.

It didn't reach the mutant's ears, who continued to walk to the medbay. "I'm gonna have to interrogate our Silver patient for a bit." For some reason, Seth cracked his hands as he prepared himself for his interrogation. "You guys might wanna stay out for a bit." He walked into the medbay, passing the threshold.

Tapping the desk with a drumstick, Harrison got Caitlin's attention. "You might wanna join your gung-ho, trigger-happy, temperamental, crazy mad doctor, before he does something bat-shit crazy."

In a flurry, Caitlin nodded her head and followed her mate into the room.

X

Underneath the city, down in the sewer networks, at the water treatment plant that Venom and Flash wrecked, the three young heroes scoured through the rubbles in search of Scorpion's remains. Everyone but Destroyer were hoping that they'd find the villain's suit.

Taking her eyes away from looking through rocky remains, Eclipse glanced at the pile of rubbles that Ruby stacked up to make a make-shift chair for her to sit on. "Rubs, we know you're not allowed too strenuous work, but you could at least help us out a bit?"

Ruby sighed. "No way. Call me when there's something fun."

"Does she think she's better than us or something?" Evelyn said, really ticked off by her sister's words.

Magenta, who remained standing on a nearby wall, used various tendrils and her ferrokinetic powers to remove the rubble and scrap to pave their way. Frankie glanced at her bickering sisters. "You guys doing any better on your end?"

"Not really." Ruby said tiredly, cleaning the lenses of her mask. "Yo, Evie, didn't you say Dad and you went looking at a house or something? That true?"

"Not exactly." Evelyn shadowported to the platform, standing close to her sister. "I went to Dad to give back his wallet and I found him daydreaming in front of a big family house."

"He was thinking of his days with Bucky and Stefanie, right?" Frankie asked, her face now devoid of her symbiotic mask. Evelyn nodded her answer, taking off her eye mask. "Dad's been thinking about them for a while, hasn't he?"

"Not surprising, you know, Sis." The gravity manipulator started. "Dad almost lost the three of us when Barry changed the timeline, it'd be the second time he lost his family."

"But the first time it was from a villain. Had this happened…" Evelyn didn't wanna say it, that their erasure had come to be at the hands of someone they and their parents once considered a friend. That would have shattered their parents' hearts and… She couldn't help but imagine that their father would decimate and reduce Barry Allen to ashes…

Or to something that could never be recovered…

"Wonder how Mom would feel about Dad looking at another house?" Frankie mused the thought.

Evelyn pitched in. "Think she'd actually be up for that idea." Those words surprised her sisters, just as much as it shocked their father yesterday.

"What do you mean? Why'd Mom be up for moving?" Ruby asked.

"You guys don't know…" Evelyn trailed off; her sisters hadn't realized it yet. "Our home… It's the same one Mom has had this entire time."

"What's your point, Sis?" Frankie asked in confusion.

Evelyn explained. "She might have us back and the memories of us, sure, but to Mom… Mom still remembers a life where she didn't live with us and Dad, where she was alone in the apartment, all by herself and dealing with those strange visions of people that meant the world to her, but she didn't know that, nor could she ask anyone for help."

"… Mom… Mom probably hates that… Hates that our house is also the place where she didn't have a family and was also haunted by those nightmares." Ruby hated herself for not realizing this earlier. Her right fist clenched, furious with herself for being blind to what's been in front of her eyes.

Unknowingly the ground around them began to shake. Frankie felt it, holding herself up with tendrils anchoring her. "Rubs, you're shaking."

"Mom said-"

"I know what Mom said!" Ruby shouted, interrupting Evelyn, while lashing out her hand. Out of her control, she launched a gravity wave from her hand and caused several pieces of rubble to fly off and scatter. As all of them fell to the ground, the gravity manipulator held her arm and winced. "Damn it!" She cussed at the new wave of pain traveling through her limb.

"Told you!" Evelyn rushed to her. "Mom told you not to use your powers yet, your arms are still healing." She reached into one of her pockets, taking out a few pills. "Here take these, they're painkillers. Mom gave them to me before we left."

"Thanks." She took the pills, swallowing them immediately after throwing them into her mouth.

Meanwhile, Frankie noticed something strange on the ground, amidst the area where Ruby removed rubble. She jumped down from the remains of the platform, landing in the area. Once again tendrils sprouted from her back, using them to throw away whatever remains of rubble stood in her path.

Noticing her sister's actions, Ruby, continuing to hold her paining arm, moved closer to the edge of the platform remains. "Frankie, you find something?"

"Maybe." Frankie answered. When seeing a huge rock in her way, her entire body became enveloped by her symbiote, and she flexed her black claws. Digging her claws into it, she lifted it up and threw it away. Magenta widened her eyes when seeing the smashed computer in the form of a suitcase that she caught a glimpse of before. "Found it."

"What is it?" Evelyn asked.

A tendril held up the computer remains. "Dad said something about a computer, right? Here it is!"

Now the sisters had something they might be able to make sure of for their fight against the gathering of villains.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Inside of the facility, Seth stood in the medbay, standing at the end of the gurney that Silver Sable is occupying. Her coat was removed, allowing her stomach to be wrapped in bandages and antidote had long since been administered, completely neutralizing and erasing the poison from her system.

But that was not important right now.

Silver and Seth had been staring off against one another for several moments, looking into each other's eyes with nothing but determination and a blazing inferno of resolve. Both of them showed the same emotions and feelings, not willing to back down.

Caitlin, however… She didn't understand why it had come to this. Neither of them had stated a single question since the mutant and her stepped into the medbay, they continued to stare at each other for what seemed like eternity. And she feared they'd just continue to stare at each other if she didn't step in.

"Babe?" She got Seth's attention, making him turn his eyes to her. "Didn't you have something to ask her, or are you just gonna have a staring contest with your ex for the rest of the day?"

"Right… Sorry." Seth apologized, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly.

Silver chortled. "Your girlfriend's funny."

"She is." Seth agreed. "But Silver, you have something to tell us, don't you?" Silver faced him with a deadpan look of absolute seriousness. "What else did Scorpion do to you? He did more than just kill your men, didn't he?" Unlike Caitlin, he was able to read Silver. "Gargan stole something from your company."

"Correct." Silver started, startling Caitlin and Seth. Making eye contact with the native female doctor, she inquired. "Dr. Snow, do you know what my corporation specializes in?"

"Manpower and weapons." Caitlin answered.

"Correct again." Silver nodded. "My security corporation is international and helps other agencies, like S.H.I.E.L.D. constructing various weapons of multiple kinds. Anti-villain weapons." She turned her eyes to face her ex-boyfriend. "Even anti-hero weapons."

"What?" Caitlin asked with wide eyes. "What anti-hero weapons?"

"You know of one, Cait. Remember what Matt made two years ago in our final fight against Reversal Flash." Seth started, knowing her mind would find the answers to her own question.

Her eyes widened in realization. "The VenomBuster."

Nodding his confirmation and agreement, Seth added. "Many heroes in our world were treated with fear, thinking of the countless possibilities of them losing control of their powers and what might happen. Because of that, countermeasures were developed in that event. One of them is an Avenger, one of Earth's mightiest heroes, yet he is always feared and treated like a monster. The VenomBuster is a variation of the HulkBuster armor that was made in the event the Hulk would lose control and go on a rampage."

"That might be true… I get people being afraid and wanting to prepare for the worst. Cisco did the same for Barry if he became a villain." Caitlin clenched her fists. "But I can't believe people would make weapons against heroes who do good, like you Seth."

"Just like with Bruce Banner, the man who is the Hulk, I agreed to the development of the VenomBuster, just as Dr. Banner agreed to the HulkBuster construction. Heck the man even helped build it." Seth admitted. "Most of us have agreed to their construction and development, those who haven't are those that can't be trusted."

"Even if it could kill you?" Caitlin asked.

"I accepted that wholeheartedly, which is why I left the Buster armor in Matt's arsenal and told him of my weaknesses." Seth said with a smile. "But speaking of these anti-hero weapons…" He turned his eyes to Silver again. "That's what he was after right?"

"… I lied before." Seth and Caitlin turned confused. "Scorpion was captured after he broke into one of my hidden labs in the city, this lab is where we scored data and blueprints for significant weapons. He took a substantial amount of data from it and put it into a data drive. Along with the police force, he was captured."

"But the drive was nowhere to be found?" Seth asked.

"Da." She said in Russian. "We looked but couldn't find it. We were gonna interrogate him when he escaped the convoy, killing several of my men."

"Which is why you were adamant on interrogating him when we captured him." Caitlin connected the dots. "You were desperate for the drive with the weapons."

"But now that I know that Octavius is behind Scorpion's actions, I now know he is in possession of weapons that can kill your boyfriend." Silver directed a nod to Seth.

Caitlin's mind went into mayhem. What could kill Seth could also kill Frankie, their daughter. She feared what might happen now that the Sinister Six is in possession of dangerous weapons that could destroy others. "What kind of weapons were there?"

"I am not certain." Silver's words brought a curtain of fear over them.

In an instant, Caitlin's eyes snapped back to her mate. "Seth, we have to tell the others of the Sinister Six now."

Seth didn't disagree with her. This was getting bigger and bigger now…. Planetarily big.

X

Per Caitlin's suggestion… Or rather her order… Seth and she returned to the Cortex. He then spent the next several minutes talking about the Sinister Six, explaining everything he had about the evil group of six villains.

The three girls returned as well, handing the remains of the computer to Cisco who began working on trying to salvage whatever data they had.

The natives had a series of mixed reactions. Joe and Iris had joined them a few moments ago, arriving in time to join the revelation. Along with the other members of the team, they were left with a mixture of emotions.

The team was left in dismay at the news. They just learnt that a group of supervillains from Earth-616 might be forming on their Earth. Powerful, dangerous, sadistic and malicious villains under the leadership of the dangerous mastermind with mechanical arms, Dr. Octopus. Six powerful villains who're able to cause mayhem and chaos in the city alone.

They could very well destroy Central City in the blink of an eye.

The natives looked at the secret project that Seth had made in secret. A blue screen showing the villains that have appeared so far, including Scorpion who has recently arrived. It showed Dr. Octopus, Rhino, Vulture, Shocker, Scorpion and The Rival.

It was akin to how the Sinister Six looks on Earth-616, but this time they have a new member that is Edward Clariss, the evil speedster The Rival.

Joe looked at the mutant. "You've been doing this for a while now? Keeping this project secret from us all to keep track of the ones that have shown up so far."

"Wanted all cards on the table before coming forward with this." Seth answered. "Sorry for this, but I had to be sure."

"How'd you guys defeat these guys?" Cisco said with a tired look while his programs scoured through the computer remains, trying to find salvageable data. The elemental was positive his tiredness is a façade to hide his annoyance because this villain group already has an incredible name that he did not come up with.

"With the help of other heroes. Splitting them always helped, but most times we were split up by them and they plucked us off one by one, two villains against one hero." Seth answered. "Worse is, they never had a speedster in their group."

"So, Rival and Taskmaster are their upgrades?" Iris asked.

Caitlin blinked her eyes curiously. "You said "Taskmaster". What do you mean?"

Seth faced the reporter with wide eyes. "You found something, Iris?"

"When we watched that body cam footage before, we hadn't finished it. I watched the rest of it before and found this." Iris took the chip and put it into the computer. She opened the video, using the standard media player just as she had done at CCPN. "There was so much more in this video than we realized."

"What do you mean, Iris?" Barry asked in confusion.

Iris didn't answer. Instead, she let the results of her findings do the talking as she started the video, displaying it on the wall monitors.

The video started, showing Dr. Octopus standing with his henchmen consisting of Rhino, The Rival, Shocker and Vulture. It showed the evil mastermind lifting himself up from the ground with mechanical arms that he regained control of again.

Everyone in the Cortex heard Otto speak, thanking the pitch-black speedster. "Thank you, Mr. Clariss. You've proven yourself to be a valuable companion indeed."

They saw Herman examine his gauntlets before he spoke. "Not bad, newbie." She flinched when seeing him thrust his right hand out, launching an air blast that flipped over a police car.

They watched as Adrian flexed his mechanical wings before speaking. "He hasn't proven himself useless as of yet, yes." He agreed with Herman and Otto before jumping into the air, flying over his companions.

Speaking with a vibrating voice, Edward spoke. "What can I say?" He cracked his fists, emitting a cracking sound. "I aim to please, after all."

"Iris, we already watched this part." Iris heard Ruby's reminder.

"Not this part." Iris quickly brought their attention back to the monitors.

"Yes, that is true." They heard Otto Octavius speak. "While I do appreciate your assistance, Mr. Clariss, but…" They watched in surprise when Dr. Octopus turned around, looking over the fallen van. They hear him speaking… Talking to someone. "Why did you not come to our aid, Taskmaster?"

"What?!" Seth screeched in rage. "Taskmaster was there?"

"But he didn't help them?" Frankie said.

"Even though he's in cahoots with those bastards." Evelyn followed up.

They continued listening to the footage, hearing the familiar voice join the conversation. "Three seems excessive." Everyone on the team recognized the mercenary's voice as he spoke through these speakers once upon a time. "Missing one, aren't we?"

"Think we all know who that last one is." Iris said with a knowing tone, everyone knew the answer.

"Scorpion." Joe said.

"Yes, we are." They heard Otto answer. "But do not worry, I've already handed him his assignment." She heard the evil mastermind assure the mercenary. "Your ally, did she have enough time for her project?"

Seth clenched his hands, the sound of his knuckles cracking through the Cortex. "They have one more ally in their group."

"A female by the sounds of it, yeah. But we don't know the nature of her involvement and what she's doing. We don't even know who she is." Iris said. "And it means there are not limited to six members now as we fought."

H.R. let out a dramatic sigh, stating. "Sounds like we got a Sinister Seven on our hands instead."

"Oh, come on! He gets to name someone!" Cisco complained. A second later his program chimed with a result.

"Seth, you know these guys better. You know Taskmaster as well." Joe said. "You know who this woman could be?"

"I don't have the foggiest idea, honestly. Maybe it's a client or something from this Earth, but I don't know." The mutant answered. "But this means we're dealing with more villains than we initially thought. And by the sounds of this, Taskmaster's got a project going on now."

"What does this mean?" Harrison asked.

"Means we're dealing with more problems." The viber announced, his eyes expanding to new limits when shock fell over him. "Oh crud."

"What is it?" Caitlin asked him when seeing the fear and shock cover every inch of his face.

Sharing a look with Seth and Caitlin, Cisco's eyes then fell on Silver. "You and your corporation developed anti-hero weapons… But it looks like the data that Gargan stole was specific weaponry." They waited for him to announce his findings. "Gargan used this computer to transfer the files, but only a few of them were salvageable from his attack…. But it looks like the type of weapons he stole were sonic weapons."

"Sonic weapons?" Barry muttered.

"Sound… Which is…" Harrison trailed off, hoping for someone to fill the blanks he couldn't fill out himself.

"A Klyntar weakness." Seth answered.

"Means it's a way that could actually kill me and Dad." Frankie announced sadly. "To kill symbiote-bearers like him and me."

"The other weakness is fire, but I doubt Venom's daughter Magenta will suffer damage from fire attacks." Seth stated.

While that did ease the fear in Caitlin's heart, she couldn't help but fear what might happen now that the Sinister Seven is in possession of sonic weaponry, the very type of weapon that could hurt her daughters and the man she loves.

"And in Octavius' hands… They could very well become the greatest and deadliest weapons to ever be in this universe." Silver Sable admitted through gritted teeth.

The symbiotes inside of both Seth and Frankie felt their "other" feeling the emotions coursing through the Sable International CO. They could feel her regret and guilt coursing through her entire being like a massively violent, dangerous current. Right now, Silver was berating herself for allowing the creation of the sound weapons.

"I should never have let those be built." Silver berated herself for this grave, grave mistake.

"Don't blame yourself for that, Silv. A lot of enemies on our Earth are weak against sound attacks, like the original Venom. You can't blame yourself for how a weapon's used, you built it with good intentions." Seth told him.

"Maybe, but I have to take care of this mess." Silver announced.

"No." Seth shook his head, disagreeing with her words. "It's best you go back home, Silver. There might be trouble on Earth-616 now that the Raft is compromised. Now they need Sable International more than ever." He told the woman.

"But what about this city?" Silver asked.

Ruby crossed her arms. "Don't tell me you already forgot about us now?" She feigned hurt.

Silver chuckled. She made eye contact with the elemental again. "Are you sure about this? I can stay."

"We've got enough heroes here to be ready for whatever they might throw at us." He promised Silver. "You can go home, Silv. Trust us…. Plus, we have some other things to deal with…" In the corner of his eye, he glanced at his mate.

The news definitely left them scared, as they now have to face the Sinister Seven now, plus more trouble might come with this mystery woman's project.

X

(Snow-Fury Loft)

Seth fell down onto his couch, looking up at the ceiling. Back at the facility, he along with the others bid Silver Sable farewell. It was both weird and nice to see her again, but it did sadden him to see her leave. But he had to accept that this wasn't her world, her home, and she had returned to Earth-616 to aid the world that is left in chaos due the Ryker's incident.

Leaning forward, he intertwined his fingers and his elbows were placed on his kneecaps. "What do we do with the Sinister Seven now?"

"We fight them, we beat them and send their asses packing to 616." His "other" told his host. "What else is there to do?"

"I'm just worried about this mess with this mystery woman that Taskmaster's aiding or whatever." Seth told his partner.

He felt his partner give a mentally raise of an eyebrow. "We know you're thinking about Evelyn's words before, these two worries piled on each other and quickly became a mountain in your head, dumbass. Talk with Evie, she'll explain everything."

"Dad?" Seth lifted his head, seeing his daughters walk over to him. Evelyn continued. "You okay?"

"Actually, I've been thinking about what you said before, Evie." The elemental told his daughter, gesturing to the couch so they could take a seat themselves. "It's about what you said before when we stood in front of that house."

Evelyn understood what he wanted to know and nodded, starting her explanation. She told her father everything she told her sisters back in the sewers. The mutant understood why Evelyn said what she said… and she was right.

Their home… This very place… This was a constant reminder of a life that Caitlin had lived, a place where she was haunted and tormented by memories and visions of people she loved… Of people she knew she loved but could never put a name to their faces that warmed her heart.

Seth berated himself for not realizing this sooner. Though this very place is filled with memories upon memories of them living together as a family, it is also the place where Caitlin's heart and mind had been burdened by daunting images of a life that she did have.

"God, I'm the worst." Seth held his head with both hands. "I didn't even think that Caitlin went through something like this."

"Dad, we're no better." Frankie nudged her father's arm. "We didn't even think about this until Evie said everything about the two of you seeing a house."

"Sorry, Dad, didn't think it'd weigh on you like this." Evelyn told her father, saddened and guilty that she did this.

The elemental shook his head. "Don't think like that, honey. I'm happy you brought this to me. I was so blinded by all this Earth-616 mess that has now become this Earth's problem that I hadn't even thought of how your mother feels in this house after we returned to this world."

"What do you want to do now?" Ruby asked her father. "Want us to move if Mom is okay with it?"

"I don't know, really. But I have to talk with your mother first… If she's up to this." At that moment, Seth lifted his head and looked around in search. "Speaking of, where is your mother?"

Frankie shrugged her shoulders. "Mom said she'd be back soon, and had to pick something up."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the doors opened as if on cue, revealing Caitlin walking into their home. "I'm home!" The four other people turned their heads, seeing her hold a white box. When facing her daughters and her boyfriend, she was surprised when seeing them wear confused looks. "What's wrong, you guys?"

"Cait…" Seth stood up from the couch, facing his girlfriend. He didn't know how to start this conversation with her. "… Cait, do you hate our home?"

"What?!" She practically shouted, giving a megaphone a run for its money. All four of them turned shocked by her sudden blaring voice. "Why would you ask that, Seth?" She asked, stepping closer to her family.

Seth explained everything his daughters told him, showering her with another wave of surprise and shock. Caitlin's mouth was left agape at the words, not able to believe the question. When the explanation was finished, she blinked rapidly when it had all sunk in.

"You thought I hated our home because I didn't have you four when Barry reset the timeline?" Caitlin finally asked, able to form words now. They nodded their heads in agreement. "Because of the memories I had lingering in my head?"

Evelyn raised her hand, her appendage shaking the entire time. "Sorry, Mom, it's my fault. I kinda thought you and Dad were talking about finding a new place because of…. This place brought you nothing but those memories, causing you pain."

"I'm not gonna lie, it was a struggle back then." Caitlin confessed slowly. "Trying to find the difference between what's in my heart and what was in my head." She gestured to their home, her eyes pointing everywhere within it. "And this place… It didn't help much either, really. Especially without the four of you." She shared eye contact with her daughters and her boyfriend. "But you're here now, and that's what matters to me, more than anything."

"Caitlin." Seth took her hand, holding it with both of his. "We might be here as a family, sure…. But we don't want you to feel pain in any way, even if it is because of our house." He rubbed her hand. "Are you sure you're okay? If you're not, maybe we can look for a house."

"I mean… That nice lady did complain about our current place." Evelyn chuckled.

"Seth, I promise you and our daughters right here and now, if I think our home isn't enough or causes me pain in anyway…" Caitlin leant closer to him, kissing his lips. "I will tell you."

"Good." Seth knew she was telling the truth and that her promise was genuine. He could tell without his "other" acting as a lie detector.

"Mom, what's with the box?" Ruby asked.

"Anything to do with that errand you had to run?" Frankie followed up.

Caitlin smiled widely, facing her three daughters and walked over to the kitchen counter. "Well, like you guys I was thinking back to you guys being in the Speed Force and remembered something crucial." She placed the box on the counter, pulling the lid off.

The others saw it was a cake with three layers. Neapolitan cake with three types of frosting on the surface. Pinkish cream of strawberry frosting. Creamy white vanilla frosting. Glistening dark chocolate frosting. And in the middle of it are three names, written in white chocolate.

"Evelyn. Frankie. Ruby." Seth read out loud. As soon as he read those names out loud, he realized why Caitlin bought this cake. With a scoff, he said. "They had their birthdays while they were in the Speed Force."

"Yeah, I remembered that earlier and thought I had to remedy that with this." Caitlin smiled with a gesture to the cake. "One big birthday cake for our three bundles of joys." She said, ruffling Evelyn's hair and making her laugh.

"Guess there's only one thing to say then." Seth reached into the drawer, taking out three spare birthday candles and stuck them into the big cake. Sparking a flame on the tip of his index finger, he lit the three candles up. Caitlin nodded her agreement.

The parents faced their children. "Happy birthday, girls! / Happy birthday, girls!" They exclaimed happily.

Their daughters smiled, leaning forward and blowing out the candles before eating cake together with their parents. Caitlin and Seth smiled widely as they enjoyed their slices of cake, enjoying the moment and time together with their daughters.

But what the others didn't know was that Caitlin felt an abyss grow in her, an emptiness in her lower abdomen. She couldn't put her finger on it, but for some reason she felt it growing and almost envelope her entirely.

It was like something was missing from her… From their family even…

It terrified her more than the possibility of Killer Frost emerging from within whatever darkness she harbors…

X

Inside of a darkened, overshadowed room, sparks served as a small light source went off as Otto continued his work and welded the metallic pieces together. Other light sources came through the vents as the fans turned, allowing slivers of light through and shine over the metal plate he's working on.

While using two of his tentacles to hold himself up he used his other ones to help him work on the red metal on his table. Otto's attention to his work came to a brief stop when the computer screen beside him chimed with an alert.

Otto sighed lightly; he already knew who it was without even looking. Raising a mechanical arm, he pressed a key on the keyboard to accept the incoming call. A pop-up screen appeared, expanding on his screen and starting the webcam.

Scorpion's face filled the webcam. His mask cracked, his suit scorched and a scowl of anger on his face. "Doc?!"

"Evening, Mr. Gargan." Otto politely greeted his henchman without making eye contact. "How has your evening been? Eventful, I take it?"

"Eventfully SHITTY!" Mac boomed from the other end of the connection. "My suit is all messed up from following your plan, Doc! My stinger's practically dead and the rest of my gear is toast! What was the point of letting that punk in red leather shock me, kidnap a couple of nobodies, poison that Symkaria chick, Venom and the punk, and steal a damn thumb drive?"

"Time, Mr. Gargan. Time is a necessity for our plans." Otto reminded him.

"Great. You get time, I get roasted like a chicken." Mac groaned through gritted teeth.

"Do not worry, Mr. Gargan. Return to the base…." Otto finished welding, putting down his tools and then held up the plate of red metal he's been working on. "I'll repair your suit to perfection, once again."

"Got it, Doc. Later." Mac reluctantly agreed, closing down the webcam.

"Impatient as ever." Otto admitted with a chuckle, flexing his upper mechanical arms and stretching out the claws. The evil mastermind gazed at his claws and the palms of his mechanical hands, admiring his upgrades. "Precious…"

"How's the plan going, Doctor?" Taskmaster asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Perfectly, Taskmaster." Otto told the mercenary. "I take it your partner got what she needed from me?"

"She did and she wants me to see the results soon." Taskmaster stated. "What's your latest science project?"

"Oh, you'll see soon enough." Otto placed the metal armor plate on the table again, raising himself up from the ground and turned around, pointing both of his arms at a nearby table. His palms shined with energy, gathering into the centers of his mechanical palms. "But this is what I've been aiming for a long time."

Though his mask cloaked his facial expressions, Taskmaster watched with surprise as destructive soundwaves projected from the upper mechanical arms that not only flipped the table over, but also caused it to quake apart.

"Not bad." Taskmaster admitted impressively.

"For war, you have to equip yourself with the right tools." Otto smirked victoriously.

With his new upgrades for him, and a henchman, nothing would stand against the Sinister Seven…

Even if they did…. There's another one that'll come to their aid.

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps!

Scorpion has entered the fray, revealing himself to be the sixth member of Sinister Seven, the seventh being none other than Taskmaster himself.

And it was more than just that, it had been revealed that Sinister Seven now possess sonic weaponry stolen from Sable International on Earth-616.

Silver sable herself joined the fray this time, helping the heroes stop the scorpion-armored villain.

Hope you guys liked the Supernatural reference, I've got a few of those in the back of my mind.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!