Central City
June 20, 05:27 CDT
Barry had become far more lenient in my restrictions. Wally had stopped by a couple more times, and I was now allowed to watch TV.
Like the replay broadcast of Blue Beetle on the news.
"Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, a moment?"
"For the famed Cat Grant? I'm at your service."
"Jell-O?" Barry offered, holding out a cup of red jelly and a spoon.
"Thanks."
"So, you've begun handling situations that once upon a time, were a job for Superman."
"Hey, if the Justice League's too busy, I'm happy to pick up to the slack."
I glanced at Barry uncomfortably. "You know, if the League needs help you could go—"
"And leave you here by yourself? Yeah, that's not happening."
"I am not going to hurt anyone, Barry."
"And what if someone comes here to hurt you?"
"I told you already." A lump formed in my throat. "Everyone in the building died."
"And who killed them?"
I tried to search for an answer I knew I did not have. "Red... hood man."
"Hm, and where is 'Red Hood Man' now?"
"Off doing 'Red Hood Man' things? Maybe he is saving another alien girl from her kidnappers."
"Look, as annoying as it is to sit here with me, Blue isn't hurting anyone right now. The League can rebuild their reputation when all of this is settled and you've finished your Jell-O."
I turned back to the TV, spooning defeatedly at the cup. "I am so honored by your kind attentions," Blue Beetle waved. "And so honored to be your—We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Alien technology has been sprouting up globally, inflicting high power natural disasters worldwide."
I turned the volume up.
"Devices have already been spotted in multiple locations all over the world including Gotham, Metropolis, Taipei, and Paris."
My eyes grew wide seeing the disasters these machines had already caused. "Barry, are you seeing this?
"Barry?"
I finally pried my eyes from the TV to see Barry was gone. The room to my door had barely swung shut, and the pencil on my bedside table rolled onto the floor.
He had scribbled a note before he left.
Need to help the League. Don't move.
Moving was not very likely with the cuffs around my ankles. But sitting and waiting was not an option. I had to do something. Anything.
"I am sorry, Barry," I sighed, snaking my deformed fingers beneath the cuffs. I gave a great tug, then another, finally able to snap the metal apart.
It was hard to walk out of the hospital room casually; especially when everyone knew I was on twenty-four hour watch. That might be why I resorted to sprinting out with dozens of nurses and doctors shouting after me.
I broke through into the street, turning left and right to realize I did not know where I was. More importantly, I had no idea where the nearest zeta tube could be. Not to mention ever onlooker was fascinated by the hospital gown and my eyes.
I hobbled through Central City for nearly forty five minutes before I finally passed Wally's old high school and gained some orientation.
When I stepped inside the zeta tube, I put the coordinates in for the cave without thinking.
"Location not recognized."
Then the last night in the cave flashed through my memory. The anger and grief I felt then. Will these feelings ever leave me? Or will they always burn this way; sear into my skin like an iron?
I hesitated in that moment. Maybe everyone would be safer if I just stayed away. If something as simple as a zeta tube set me off, who knows what could happen if I ran into Nightwing. I could go berserk again, maybe hurt someone or worse.
Then I glanced at my fingers, bruised and misshapen. I am powerless right now, still struggling to carry my own weight. What could I actually do to help?
My eyes began to water at the thought of how useless I have become. How broken.
The frustration of that thought is what convinced me to change the coordinates.
"Recognized: Iris B-04."
"Iris?" Artemis and Wally turned to me, already inside the Watchtower. "What are you doing here?"
"I... wanted to help."
"Asami has deployed the egg and disabled the MFD," Dinah spoke over the computer.
"Good work, Theta. 20 squads deployed, 20 MFD's destroyed. The mission was a success. We have done it!"
It seems I was not needed at all.
"We missed one," the Atom cut into my thought. "The Earth's magnetic field is still being disrupted."
"Blue Beetle to Watchtower. I'm reading a 21st MFD. In the Arctic, hidden from my previous scans by Earth's North Magnetic Pole. Sending coordinates."
"There are no zeta tubes in the Arctic," Atom said. "How are we going to..."
"Don't worry, gang," Barry spoke up. "I've got this."
One by one, more people began to arrive. Aquaman and Green Arrow, and, "Rena?"
My body turned to ice the moment I heard his voice. My hands balled into fists so tight that they began to tremble.
"Uh oh," Wally muttered.
I turned towards him slowly, already seeing the route in which one of Artemis' arrows would be mine before she could stop me, and it would land in the middle of Dick's chest.
But, mustering every ounce of self control, I let go. I breathed. I reminded that I did love him at some point. I cannot understand how or why anymore, but I did love him. So, I turned away.
"Flash to Watchtower. The magnetic field disruptor... It's already gone chrysalis. And I'm not sure if the egg—"
"The egg is useless now. You're too late."
"What now?"
"Now you run."
"Hey, I'm no quitter. There's gotta be—"
"I didn't say 'run away.' I said run. Together you and Impulse should be able to negate the chrysalis by running counter to its energy flow."
"Is it really that simple?"
"I wouldn't call it simple. You'll be attempting to siphon its power with your own speed trails. It'll take a massive amount of kinetic energy."
"Do you think it'll be enough?"
"Recognized: Kid Flash, B-03."
Artemis and I turned to the newly empty space between us, and the zeta tube that was already powering down again.
"And no matter what, don't slow down until the chrysalis is completely neutralized."
"Rena," Dick repeated himself.
"I need to go."
"I'll take you back to the hospital," he offered.
"Fly me to where Wally is going."
He hesitated. "You're still injured, it wouldn't be smart—"
My hands were squeezing into fists again. "Either I go with you or I take myself."
Mouth agape, he nodded and so did Artemis.
We loaded onto the javelin with other members of the team rushing in from behind to join. Maybe it was because I made them uncomfortable, or maybe it was the thought of the world possibly ending, but nobody spoke for the entire flight.
Nobody said a word until the javelin landed and Dick tried to make it clear to me, "Look, it's working. You don't have to worry, Rens."
"No," Blue Beetle said. "Scarab says even with Kid Flash they're only producing half the kinetic energy needed to shut it down. Until then... it's not gonna stop."
"Wh-what do we do?" Artemis said in fear.
I looked out at the chrysalis swirling violently in the air; the blur of the boys at the bottom circling the base of it. Then suddenly everything began to make sense.
"Entropy is limitless and cannot be contained by the constructs of space or time. In this same manner, magic—including the the abilities of the Etheran and Arcane race—is the deviant of entropy itself. The Etheras utilize internal forces, allowing them to bend entropy itself to their will."
The book—Neretha's book—, Themyscira, the team, getting captured. Everything, for better or worse, has perfectly aligned so that I could be here in this moment, right now.
"Stop," Dick caught my wrist before I could take another step.
The reflex to hurt him shuddered through me, But I forced myself to do it again: to let go.
"Please," he begged. "Even at your strongest... It won't work."
I saw the fear in his face, the hopelessness. Whatever heartache and rage filled my heart was silenced looking up at him.
My ruined hand held the side of his face. "There is nothing left of me anymore."
"It'll come back."
His thinking was too wishful. I have been through this once before already; being ripped into pieces and sewn back together for someone else's purposes. It's something you don't return from.
I kept drawing him so I wouldn't forget how much I love him, how beautiful I thought he was. But that was taken away from me too.
"I know that I want to save people." I swallowed the sudden lump forming in my throat. "Let me save people."
I let go of him and he let go of me. "I'll see you, Bird Boy."
Then I left him with the others and didn't look back.
As I got closer to the chrysalis, I wondered if my goodbye was all for nothing. I have not used my powers in months, and until a couple weeks ago my hands were not fully mobile.
But the whirlwind was growing larger and we were running out of time.
I raised two trembling hands, fingers moving slowly and without grace. Despite my firm concentration, a measly few sparks were all that I could manage.
"Take a moment, and think back to all the times you've used your powers in the past," Diana held my hands, and she guided me. "Now, focus on how you felt in these times. Channel those emotions... Remember, what you are capable of can save people."
A wave crashed through me, filling each of my veins, making me feel strong for the first time in so long. Energy poured out from my crooked hands, flooding every direction with purple light until it was all that any of us could see.
The purple whirlwind grew larger and larger, thundering with the beat of my heart. It peeled at my skin, forming hairline cracks of dark purple.
I knew then that what I had started was something I did not have enough power to stop. The cap had been ripped off of the bottle and there was no way of restoring the pressure inside. My fate was sealed to be the same as my sister's.
I pushed, giving everything I could until there was nothing more to give. I could finally stop fighting, and the constant ringing in my head ceased.
The chrysalis slowed until it sparked into nothing
M'gann was the first to celebrate, "They did it! It's over!"
Each of them rushed over as the fog cleared.
"Congratulations," Kaldur helped The Flash to his feet. "You have saved the—"
"Wait," Artemis said. "Where's Wally?"
Dick looked around helplessly with her to find that only two of the four were left. "And where's Rena?"