TW: Thanks.
Gallifrey 22.3: Thank you.

Watchtower

Mid afternoon

Logan was nursing a beer, staring at Gambit as the other mutant shuffled his cards. And for once, Gambit wasn't eying Rogue, which confused Oliver, Sara and Bobbi when they noticed Logan eying Gambit.

"So what he do now?" Oliver asked and Logan was silent for a beat.

"Nothing. I just…I remembered something," Logan said, surprising them both.

"About Gambit?" Bobbi asked for clarification and her father nodded.

"What did you remember?" Sara asked as Bobbi and Oliver exchanged a look.

"He's not the first person I met by the name of Remy LeBeau," Logan announced, to their surprise. "There was a guy I met just before I lost my memories, he'd been held prisoner by Stryker. And he also had the power to blow things up."

"So, they had the same name…and the same powers?" Oliver asked in belief, which was shared by Bobbi and Sara.

"Yeah. And what are the odds of two people having the same name and the same powers?" Logan asked sarcastically.

"Not high," they all looked over to see Fury had walked up behind him. "The man you met….he was our Gambit's father."

"He never mentioned having a son," Logan said after thinking hard and Fury smiled tightly.

"He wouldn't. Remy LeBeau Senior was captured by Stryker for experimentation on mutants. To his wife, it looked like he just up and vanished, left his son behind. When he escaped, he didn't want to put his son in danger, so he stayed away," Fury explained and it was silent for a long moment.

"How do you know this?" Sara asked and Fury chuckled.

"I met him a few years after it all went down. That's when he told me about the gruff guy with metal claws who seemed to have lost his memory," Fury said with a glance at Logan. "He worked with me for a while; he was even there in the Chitauri invasion. Unfortunately, his luck ran out that day. He died a hero."

"Does Gambit know?" Oliver asked with a look at the mutant in question, who'd been joined by Rogue as she sat down next to him, which seemed to perk up Gambit.

"No. Sometimes…it's best to let the past stay in the past," Fury said and a dark look crossed Oliver's face.

"Not always, Sir. Gambit has a right to know why his father left. Tell him…Or I will."

Unspecified location

Not long after

"How could you guys not tell me? How could Barry?" Iris demanded of her father, Cisco and Caitlin.

"Do we really have to talk about this now? With the evil men with guns?" Cisco asked with a gesture to Eiling and his men.

"No, keep going. It'll be more to put in my report about just how guilty each of you are," Eiling said with a smirk.

"Iris, later," Joe said with a pointed look.

"Dad-"

"You are giving them exactly what they want, evidence to lock Barry up for the rest of his life," Caitlin said softly so Eiling and his men couldn't hear. "If you want to be angry about it, wait until you see Barry again."

"Was I that bad before Ollie looped me in?" Thea asked as Team Arrow, the Queens and Lances watched the exchange.

"Yeah, but in fairness, Slade was manipulating you," Felicity said.

"You've been awfully quiet, Dad," Laurel noted with a look at Quentin.

"Now hardly seems like the time to ask questions about Oliver, with those guys watching," Quentin said with a look at Eiling and his men. "Although things certainly make a lot more sense now."

Before anyone could respond to that, there was the sound of gunshots. Eiling and his men looked behind them, towards the exit. There were more gun shots, followed by the sound of slashes and cries of pain. Then, it was silent.
The sound of someone approaching the door was heard and Eiling's men took aim at it. Finally, the door opened and Kane walked in, dragging two bodies, men dressed in army uniforms.

"Wade Eiling. They say when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Tell me, is that what's happening to you?" Kane asked as he dropped the bodies.

"You might want to explain who the Hell you are before I have my men open fire," Eiling said and Kane laughed.

"Who I am is of no consequence to you. But you're either with me, or you'll have to watch the people you love most die," Kane announced and they all stared at him.

"Maybe you're a little confused. You're the one with the guns pointed at him," EIling said and Kane smirked.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Zeke. Rick. Kevin's dad," Kane said, the three in question looking at him stunned.

At that moment, several phones buzzed, all belonging to Eiling's men. Eiling merely stared at Kane, who smirked.

"Trust me, you're gonna want to answer that," Kane said with a laugh.

One by one, Eiling's men all answered their phones, staring at the terrified faces of their loved ones, all gagged and restrained.

"You all have a choice. You can join me…or you can watch your loved ones die. What's it gonna be?" Kane asked.

For a split second, it was silent. Then, Eiling's men all turned, taking aim at Eiling.

"Fire," Kane ordered.

Eiling didn't even have time to react. His men all opened fire on him without hesitating. Iris yelped as everyone else stared in shock, EIling's bullet filled body falling to the ground, blood pouring from him.

"Good choice," Kane said as he walked forward, smirking at Team Arrow, the Queens and Lances. "Take them. There's a truck waiting for you. Some of my men will have instructions for you. If you want to see your families again, you will follow them."

"Hey, hey! Where are you taking them!?" Cisco demanded as Eiling's (now Kane's) men began hauling Oliver's loved ones to their feet, forcibly leading them out.

"You don't need to worry about them, Cisco," Kane said, smirking as he walked up to the floor of them.

"How do you know him?" Iris asked in shock and Kane laughed.

"A little slow on the uptake, aren't you, Iris?" Kane asked mockingly and Iris scowled.

"Stay away from my daughter," Joe warned him and Kane shrugged.

"Fine by me, Detective. She's of no interest to me. The three of you, however are," Kane said, his gaze moving from Joe to Caitlin and finally landing on Cisco. "Oliver Queen knows you, trusts you. Which makes you three useful to my plans. You're going to give Oliver a message from me."

Shortly after, Kane walked out of the room, meeting a blond woman outside.

"Thank you, Esme. But now, our ways part. You won't want to be a part of what happens next," Kane told her and Esme nodded.

"Our agreement was that I would keep an eye on Wade Eiling's movements, knowing he would eventually target vigilante supporters. Now that you have what you wanted, it's pointless to continue this arrangement any further. Good luck, Kane," Esme said and Kane smirked.

"I won't need luck. By the time Oliver Queen sees the full extent of my plan, it will be too late," Kane said before walking off.

Esme watched him leave, a twisted smirk crossing her face as the Omega symbol briefly flashed across her forehead.

New York, Oscorp

Early afternoon

Gwen walked into an office, looking around briefly. Then, she walked over to a computer, attempting to access certain files.

Parker house

The previous night

"I have to get close to Norman. It's the only way I can find out who those people he tried selling my dad's experiments to were," Peter explained once Gwen had seen the whole video.

"You're a new research assistant, Peter. You won't get access to that that kind of information. But the projects Norman worked with your father on should still be on file," Gwen said, thinking. "You wouldn't have clearance to access those files…but I do."

"No, it's too risky," Peter said immediately.

"From what you've told me, Mr. Osborn framed someone else for his crimes, just like he did with your dad. How many more people is he going to hurt if we don't do something?" Gwen pointed out.

Peter hesitated, torn between his desire to protect Gwen and his need to take Norman down. But she was right, he couldn't let Norman hurt anyone else the way he'd hurt his father.

"Okay…okay…"

Now

Gwen quickly went through the files, dating back decades. Sure enough, there were a few files by Richard Parker. But, when she tried to access them, there was a beep and box popped up, saying the files could only be accessed by Norman Osborn.

"Damn it!" Gwen swore, wondering what she was going to tell Peter.

Washington DC

Not long after

In the office of the Secretary of State, Barry sped in, Chloe in his arms.

"Okay, Clark's standing guard, but Ross'll be back soon. Whatever you're going to do, do it now," Barry said as Chloe headed for Ross's computer.

"It'll take me a minute to access his network, of course its password protected," Chloe muttered as he plugged something into the computer. "It'd help if we knew what it was."

"Try Hulk," Natasha said over the Comms. "He's been obsessed with Banner for years."

Chloe put it in and was surprised that it worked.

"Points for obsession," Chloe said as she began going through, pausing as she ran a program and found something. "Project Icarus."

"What's that?" Barry asked as he came over her shoulder.

"Only file Ross has marked for his eyes only. In Greek mythology, Icarus died because his pride made him ignore his father's instructions, he flew too close to the sun. It's about fallen heroes who reach too far," Chloe said, frowning as she examined it. "It has a list of known associates with vigilantes to be brought in for questioning."

"Joe and Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Felicity, Dig, Roy, Oliver and Sara's families," Barry said, growing paler with each name.

"A video file is uploaded every two hours," Chloe said, clicking and they stared, horrified at the group being held at gunpoint by various men.

"Do you have a location?" Barry asked his mind racing.

"No, but give me a sec and I will find out," Chloe promised, immediately searching for it.

"Do it fast, Chloe," Clark muttered from where he stood outside the office, dressed in a suit with glasses. "We've got company."

Ross was heading towards them, on the phone, seeming to not notice Clark. Even with glasses, Clark was uncertain that Ross wouldn't be able to recognize him. A second passed, the longest second of Clark's life before Chloe spoke up.

"Okay, I have the location. They're at some military base in Metropolis; it's been abandoned for a while. The perfect place to hide."

"Then let's go, now. Ross is almost here."

Barely a second later, Ross looked up, but Clark was gone. Entering his office, Ross found it empty, no sign of Barry or Chloe.

Watchtower

Not long after

Oliver grabbed his bow as Sara walked up behind him.

"We're ready to go. We're taking the Black Bird, Barry and Clark are going to meet us there," Sara said and Oliver nodded shortly. "You ready for this? Once we go up against Ross's men, there's no going back."

"There was no going back the moment Ross went after our families," Oliver said darkly. "It's time to put a stop to this, once and for all."

Metropolis

Not long after

While Clark dropped Chloe off somewhere safe, Barry was running, on his way to the location of the base when he looked up and froze.

For running next to him, barely three feet away, was a second Flash. And not just any Flash, it was a second Barry Allen.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the second Barry vanished, gone as quickly as he appeared. Before Barry could try to process what had just happened, Oliver's voice came over the Comms.

"Barry, we're headed for the base in the Black Bird. How far out are you and Clark?"

"Uh, a minute or two, maybe," Barry said after doing some quick math.

"I can be there in a minute, I just dropped Chloe off at Smallville," Clark radioed in.

"Well then get here fast, we're going to end this," Oliver ordered.

Abandoned base

Not long after

Tony, in his Iron Man suit, flew over the airbase, quickly doing a span.

"I see about five heat signatures down there," Tony told the others as the Black Bird came into view.

"Just five?" Sara questioned in alarm.

"All I can find. They're coming from a room near the west side of the base," Tony told her.

Inside the Black Bird, Oliver clenched his hand into a fist, fear gripping him. Only five. Aside from his and Barry's loved ones, there had been several men here earlier when the last video had been posted.

Feeling a hand grab his, Oliver looked over, seeing Bobbi looking at him with a soft look. After a moment, Oliver nodded, taking a deep breath. Fear could not control him.

"Let's not assume the worst. Logan, land this thing and we're heading inside," Oliver order.

"Copy that," Logan said from the pilot's seat, setting the Black Bird down outside the entrance to the section Tony had directed.

Tony landed near the Black Bird as Oliver, Sara, Bobbi, Logan, Steve, Natasha, Rogue and Gambit all walked down the ramp. Less than a second later, Barry and Clark both sped onto the scene.

"Clark, can you see anything with your X-Ray vision?" Steve asked.

Clark was silent, concentrating. After a moment, he looked through the walls and what he saw alarmed.

"Halfway around the building, there are two men and women, they're restrained…and there's a body with them," Clark explained, to their alarm.

"Can you…describe the body?" Sara asked, she, Oliver and Barry listening fearfully, terrified it would one of their loved ones.

"It's a man, middle aged, dressed in a military uniform soaked with blood," Clark described before pausing. "There's someone else, a blond woman. And she's headed this way."

Unnoticed to the others, Rogue put a hand to her head, appearing pained briefly. Then, she lowered her hand and lifted her head, a blank expression on her face. As the others prepared to head inside, Rogue removed a glove on her hand and walked forward, placing a hand on the unsuspecting Clark's face. He gasped in pain, immediately feeling his strength leaving him.

"Rogue!" Logan cried out as they all saw this.

But Rogue didn't respond, merely continued draining Clark of his strength. Barry sped over, grabbed her and took her away from Clark. This seemed to break whatever spell Rogue had been under and she blinked, like she was just waking up.

"What…just happened?" Rogue asked.

Clark staggered away, still weak and it was at that moment that Esme emerged from the base entrance, holding a knife. She threw it at Clark with expert precision. Clark looked up, everyone else too preoccupied with Rogue to notice the knife.

It seemed to fly in slow motion to Clark, and he was too weak to dodge. So instead, Clark raised his hand to catch it. But, at it reached him, the blade glowed bright gold before, to his shock, it went right through his hand. Clark grunted before the glow spread throughout his entire body as the others all watched in horror.

"Clark," Natasha said as Clark yanked the knife out.

Barry released Rogue before seeding over to Esme, knocking her out with a quick blow to the head.

"Clark, are you alright?" Oliver asked and Clark stared down at his wounded hand for a moment answering.

"No. My powers…they're gone."

If you're going to bring in D&W Gambit into the main X-Men timeline, you need to address Origins Gambit. Hope you enjoyed the backstory.

I think you all know what that second Barry Allen was about.

Both Kane and Darkseid are moving towards the final phase of their plans. Starting with capturing Oliver's loved ones and taking away Clark's powers with Gold Kryptonite.

Get your special sock out, nerds. It's about to get good.