Defenders of Central City, Book 14: Twisted Chains

Chapter 3 Hiccup's Story

Shannon glanced around the cortex at everyone. To put it lightly, everyone had an uncomfortable expression on their faces.

That was mainly because Hiccup had insisted that Toothless come with him into S.T.A.R. Labs, and the dragon was currently watching them from the hallway, just waiting to obliterate anyone who made a sudden movement towards Hiccup.

In fact, Cisco and Caitlin had barely taken their eyes off the dragon ever since it had came into view. But can you really blame them? Shannon decided it was far by time she broke the uncomfortable silence. She clapped her hands together.

"I believe we promised you all an explanation." Barry crossed his arms.

"Yeah, that would be good." Shannon nodded and glanced over at Snart, who was sitting against the far wall.

"Do you wanna explain it or do you want me to?"

Snart shrugged and gestured vaguely around the room.

"The floor's yours." Shannon took a deep breath.

"Okay, here goes nothing. To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that?" Caitlin, Barry, and Cisco exchanged a look before Barry looked back at Shannon and nodded. Hiccup shrugged, clearly not impressed by anything nor anyone in the room.

"Okay, good. My name is Shannon Pine. The people of Central City know me as 'Defender'. Or they did a few days ago. It's funny how so much can change in such little time. The truth is, we were all a team. And a damn good one, if I do say so myself. Mainly because we weren't just a team, we were a family. Until everything changed. Earlier I mentioned a man named Rohan. I've known him for many years now, and since the day we met he's been trying to destroy me and everything I love. Including everyone in this room."

"And you expect us to just believe you?" Cisco questioned.

"We don't even know you." Caitlin added. Shannon sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yes, I know. That's what makes all this so hard. Look, Rohan has altered reality in an attempt to destroy us." Shannon glanced around the room. Nobody seemed to be following her. She brought her hands together.

"Okay, how do I explain this? Oh!" She strode over to one of the transparent dry erase boards, pulled the cap off a marker and started to draw a link of chains.

"Think of it like this: our reality, the reality Leonard and I know to be true, is like this link of chains right here."

Shannon started to draw a second link of chains.

"And this link here represents Rohan's curse. Now, picture those two links entangled, twisted together to form this reality. The one we are all trapped in."