Providence
August 9, 10:10
After finding out the grumpy old guy in the helmet liked me, I took advantage of that to peruse his majestic and expansive library a few more times, mainly for stuff to help with my mystic machine projects.
However, during my time there I chanced upon some magical formations, two of which caught my eye when I brainstormed on this procedure. One had a function of keeping a being's body and soul firmly tethered to the plane they were in.
They couldn't leave or be whisked away unless the effect doing the displacement possessed sufficiently powerful backing and/or magic. The other formation was about completeness. Basically making something, anything that had some parts missing, whole by searching through time and space.
This spell was originally created to help sorcerers and magicians recover lost tomes from just their remains, and it was faulty at times. Turns out some things would stay buried no matter what.
Not Wally's connection to the Speed Force though. With the aid of my mystic eyes, I'd improved the formation drastically, focusing it on Wally's flickering, poor connection to the colossal and all encompassing font of energy.
Using these formations in conjunction with the regeneration and soul sealing spells I'd cast on the boy meant we'd created a full proof situation where the chances of something bad happening had been reduced by a significant amount.
In the unlikely eventuality that he somehow died, I could bring him back in a snap. As for him getting sucked into the Speed Force, that was just my paranoia, but if it turned out to be right, the formations were the best thing we had against that.
The amount of energy Flash had built up with the aid of the suit was quickly reaching the required levels. One last time, I checked the formations, the spells, the chemicals hanging over Wally and then the boy himself.
This was it. Silently, I met the gaze of everyone present, locking eyes with Jay Garrick longer than anyone else before looking down.
"Now!" I yelled through the PA system.
Flash came to a sudden stop, the golden band he'd created pulling into him before launching off his person towards his nephew. The glass containers holding the red and green chemicals shattered at the same time the lightning struck.
Wally jerked in seat, the gold arcs of potent electricity arcing off of him violently, almost shrouding him in their sheer quantity. His vitals spiked on my tablet before flattening all of a sudden.
That sight didn't fill me with dread due to the tests Flash and I had run to determine the differences between him and Wally. Speedster vitals were wonky in a way that normal health monitors, especially ones that measured heartbeat didn't pick up things correctly when it came to them.
Also, the feedback from the spells told me Wally's soul was still in its rightful place and that any damage his body had accrued had already been patched up. For all intents and purposes, he was fine.
So what—
My words died as the still redhead vanished from his seat and his worried uncle's side. Similar to the latter's yellow lightning, trails of the yellow energy crisscrossed the entire chamber from top to bottom in haphazard lines.
The entire structure began to shake from the teen's sheer velocity and I began to smile and so did the others.
When they heard a familiar obnoxious voice, and the yell of joy that followed, the smile widened and everyone began to cheer. We had done it.
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Outer Space
August 9, 21:00
As an apology to Felicity for missing that one date and the ones after it, I took her to a place that was out of this world. Literally. Granted, today was a Saturday, not a Friday like our normal date days.
However, I believed what she was about to see would be enough to wipe my former transgressions from her mind. With my hands over her eyes, I gently led my curious girlfriend through the interior of my personal ship, The Bus.
This craft had the capabilities of the two Zephyrs and more, but its role had nothing to do with Shield. It was all mine, to do with and go where I pleased without anyone the wiser.
Owing to that, it had a more homey feel, being less rigid and militaristic in its design. For the interior, not the exterior. On the outside, you would be hard pressed to find any differences between it and the other Zephyrs.
On the inside however, the same level of focus and work that went into making every deck, room, and compartment functional had simultaneously gone into making them comfortable and inviting. Because of this, it wasn't hard to set up a nice dinner with a view of the earth in all its glory.
The first thing Felicity noticed when I removed my hands was the table with the food, cutlery and whatnot. Having kept the place purposefully dark, I didn't react at the surprised but underwhelmed face she got.
I simply tapped a waiting button on my watch screen and a shutter at the end of the room began to roll up. It didn't make a noise, but the light that began to filter into the drew her attention in an instant.
She looked over and grew stunned, locked in place as she took in the enormity of the planet. I fell in step beside her and held up her glasses. She'd gotten her eyes corrected long ago, but she still liked to wear these from time to time.
She blinked hard and looked down, first at the glasses, then at me.
"It's okay," I said upon noticing the telltale sign of gears spinning furiously in her mind. "No need to say anything. Just soak it in."
Without a word, she took the glasses and resumed taking the Earth in. I, on the other hand, stepped away and prepared the dinner table for the inevitable meal we were going to share.
Long or not, Felicity's appreciation of the view came to an end and she found me waiting there. With one arm, I directed her to the table. She blinked and looked at what was at the end of my gesture, reining in her curiosity.
She helped herself to a seat and I pushed her in.
"That is the single most amazing thing I've seen."
"Right? I'm really glad I could show you."
"No, thanks for showing me. Even though you did it as an apology. An apology I'd already accepted by the way."
The look of reproach flew across the table and hit me square in the chest. "I know. I just wanted to do something nice in addition."
"Elliot…" Felicity reached over and grabbed my hand. "You've already done something nice for me. A lot of them actually. I could list them all but I don't think I'd finish. The thought that you have to do more than you do everyday is frankly crazy."
"Everyday huh," I said, giving her a knowing look.
"Don't…" she closed her eyes and looked away, hiding her embarrassment. "You know that's not what I'm talking about."
"I know, and I understand where you're coming from. Trust me, I don't feel I have to do more. I actually want to. So don't get worried about that."
Felicity chose her response to that in record time and I reciprocated it, leaning forward over the table. We met in the middle, sharing a kiss that conveyed more than words ever could.
"Let's eat," I smiled after sitting down.
"Let's eat," she parroted, before making a short callback to some earlier stuff. Her whole body language changed to a different type of hungry. "About… the everyday stuff. Are we… up here?"
I found it hard not to smile. "Yes. Babe, I don't know if you know this, but there's not a time or place where I'd not be down for that stuff. On that note though, gravity or no gravity?"
"Grav— oh, I see what you mean. Both?"
"Both."
""Both.""
"Both is good."
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Star City
September 29, 19:42
One thing movies and tv shows got right was how hard it was to convince someone that their own relative, someone of their own blood, had tried to kill them or at least plotted to have them killed.
This was especially difficult in cases of parents. A good chunk of them were blind to the faults of their children, so even giving them hard evidence of the reality wouldn't cut it. They needed to hear the truth from the child's own lips.
In this case, we were dealing with the case of a brother who wanted his own blood dead so he could take the throne—some cartoon villain shit, I know—but I don't think that difference mattered.
Some would say it carried a little less weight than having your own progeny want you six feet under but I felt they were not that dissimilar. Because I had to deal with a person who refused to believe the evidence laid before them.
Vlatava, as far as I was concerned, did not exist where I came from. It was one of the many things unique to the DC universe, and it was ruled by the man I currently shared the command room of the Zephyr II with, King Josef Vladek.
Yesterday, the time, effort and resources dedicated to keeping a watchful eye on Deathstroke and other Light affiliated members had finally produced actionable intel and evidence that could be further used against the cabal and its members.
I still hadn't pieced the logic and reason behind it, but Count Vertigo in his agreement with The Light had chosen yesterday, September 28 as the day of his brother's death.
While I didn't know the reason for the date, I knew what The Light stood to gain. Vlatava bordered Markovia, and Markovia it is said in some legends was the birthplace of metahumans. It is also the location of the special mud that could awaken these abilities in those with the metahuman gene.
With these little nuggets of knowledge, it wasn't hard to see that The Light wanted a situation similar to the current tensions of the Bialya-Qurac, tensions engineered by the power hungry Queen Bee and sustained by her allies.
By taking Josef Vladek and his daughter off the board, The Light would have direct access to Markovia by way of Count Vertigo. Because it would be one of them on the throne. Someone who not only shared their interests but goals as well.
Of course, before all this could happen, the King had to die first. And since he was alive and well here, it meant The Light had already lost but did not know it.
With Sportmaster and many of the original League of Assassins' members out of the picture, the only one left to deliver this master stroke of a plan was Deathstroke. And he did so with a professionalism and lethality that would've been beautiful were it not for his alignment.
Sadly for him, the Josef he shot yesterday and the Perdita he tried to do the same to afterwards were not the real ones.
Upon discovering news of this plan and piecing things together, I moved fast, contacting the League and the team. So the Josef currently in Vlatava was Manhunter, keeping up the illusion of his death with his mental powers while M'gann had assumed the role of the young Perdita.
In order to further keep up appearances, we had M'gann and a couple of the team members—Superboy, Roy, and Artemis—put on disguises and act as her bodyguards on her way out of the airport.
Huh… now that I think about it, it made sense. Sorta.
Perdita had a heart problem. She needed a transplant and had been booked for a surgery in Star City today. Was that the reason Vertigo had chosen yesterday? So that even if she survived the attempt on her life, the ensuing chaos would render any attempt to get her on a flight futile?
Honestly, it seemed like a bit of a reach but whatever.
We had a King to convince of his brother's betrayal and treachery.
"Green Arrow's on sight," I said upon noticing the Leaguer's car roll up into the parking lot overlooking the airport's super busy entrance.
Apparently the Vladek's were like celebrities here. Though when I thought about the royal family in England, this situation didn't seem that much different.
The active scanners piecing through the crowd and the algorithms rifling through scores of camera footage dredged up another face we didn't expect to see here.
It was a man on the latter end of middle aged, carrying a case, his neck wrapped in a thick scarf and his whole body hidden in a large black coat.
Merlyn the Archer.
"Green Arrow. Merlyn the Archer is on site."
"I see him."
He already knew the plan, so there wasn't much to say to him.
Instead, I kept up the scans and brought up the feeds of the airport's interior cameras so everyone could see the attempt go down. Everyone in this case being his highness, his bodyguards, and Batman.
Without him and the Justice League, I wouldn't have been able to convince the King of this plan to save his life and catch The Light with their pants down as quickly. It was only their reputation that facilitated all this.
The command room remained quiet during the entire altercation. Altercation in this case being a sudden attack from Vertigo's goons hidden in the crowd welcoming "Perdita" and her guards.
The team members played their part and feigned dead, and Green Arrow entered the scene at this juncture, taking out these assailants.
From there, we followed him and the young queen as they fought off attacks, dodged gunfire from more of the mercenaries, dodged arrows from Merlyn, and finally ended up in a standoff with the older and more experienced archer.
However, even his wealth of experience could not foresee that Green Arrow would "cheat" by using a tranq arrow. The old fossil never saw it coming, the joy on his face as the arrow whizzed by him dulling as the gas it expelled in its wake did its work on him.
This is where things were about to get interesting. Behind the scenes, I had located Vertigo long ago but decided not to announce the man's presence, leaving it up to him.
Not only did he have cartoonish motives, his personality, mannerisms and even mode of speech fell into that same category. He walked with an upturned nose, considered everyone beneath him, and liked to hear himself talk.
King Josef's puzzled and betrayed reaction to his brother's presence made me fist pump inwardly, but I showed no outward reaction like the king did. Instead, I kept my attention on the screen and watched Vertigo attack Arrow and "Perdita" with his vertigo wave headset.
The mood in the room shifted as the stereotypical noble pressed on the attack. His voice came through Green Arrow's comms, telling on himself and finally doing what not even The League had not been able to do with the evidence I showed; convincing his brother.
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