314 - DC: The Infinite Villain (Patreon)

314 - Orange Lantern Siobhan and an Unexpected Offer

The orange power ring lit up and rose into the air.

"Sentient life-form located. Siobhan Smythe of Earth. Your greed is insatiable. You belong to the Orange Lanterns. You belong to the Rainbow Corps." The ring spoke in a mechanical voice and settled on her finger. Siobhan seemed to hear something more. Her gaze went distant as she lifted her hand. "What's mine is mine. Mine, mine, mine. Not yours."

Orange light erupted.

In the next instant, an Orange Lantern uniform formed around her.

"What... what is this?" Siobhan stared at herself, then at the ring.

"So you have plenty of greed after all. You're an Orange Lantern in my Rainbow Corps now. The ring will teach you the rest." Damon smiled faintly. "Use it to contact me if something comes up. You can go."

Siobhan looked as though she had questions, but nodded and left the apartment.

Night fell.

Lena waited in her office with the equipment she'd assembled. After a while, a shockwave breach opened and Damon stepped through with two women.

Lena recognized one of them: Lucy Lane, the D.E.O.'s current director. The other woman was unfamiliar, though striking.

"Ready? Let's go." Damon opened a breach to Earth-1 without further explanation. The equipment went through first, followed by the four of them.

The breach flashed.

They emerged at Damon's villa in Central City on Earth-1.

The equipment piled up in the lit living room. Laurie, the Silk Spectre, and Caitlin Snow rose to meet Damon and the three women who had come with him.

"Where are we?" Lena asked, looking around.

"Central City. Earth-1." Damon introduced everyone, then helped carry the equipment into a spare room to serve as a laboratory.

Laurie showed them to their rooms. Damon brought Caitlin and Lena together, explained the situation, and gave them a piece of black kryptonite. He warned them not to let Samantha touch it; they could take their time with the research. Lena was fascinated by the new Earth, while Caitlin was desperate for an answer. They began setting up the equipment immediately, talking through what each of them knew.

Samantha's role was to cooperate with the tests. Damon had brought Lucy for a darker reason of his own, one he had no intention of sharing yet.

The night passed quietly.

After breakfast, Caitlin and Lena went straight to the lab, taking Samantha with them. Damon went out with Lucy. Laurie had stayed with him the night before. Lucy clearly wanted to ask him something, but the unfamiliar city kept interrupting her thoughts.

Banners and advertisements celebrating the Flash were everywhere. Lucy was curious about Central City's hero, but even more about its troubles. She needed only the fragments she saw and heard to tell that this Earth had no shortage of them.

"Lena and Samantha are here for the black kryptonite research," Lucy said when they stopped at a cafe. "Why am I here?"

"I brought you for a reason. You'll know soon enough." Damon stirred his coffee. Iris West hadn't been here when he'd met Caitlin yesterday either. Had she stopped working at the cafe? He wondered whether she was still seeing Eddie Thawne, the young detective and ancestor of the Reverse-Flash.

"Excuse me."

A tentative voice came from behind him. Damon turned. A woman in dark trousers and a gray police shirt stood beside their table. He recognized her: one of Barry Allen's romantic interests in this version of Central City.

Even the Flash's love life had not always followed a straight line.

"I'm Patty Spivot," she said. "Central City Police Department."

"Here to arrest me?" Damon asked lightly.

"No. I need to talk to you. Could we speak alone?"

"Say it here, or don't say it at all."

Patty glanced at Lucy, then forced herself to continue. "I'm looking for a metahuman. I know who you are and what you can do. I don't know what I could offer that you'd want, but whatever I have is yours."

"Mark Mardon?" Damon asked.

Patty stared at him. "How did you know?"

"He killed your father over a few hundred dollars. You believe you should have been the one who died, and you became a cop to bring him in." Damon caught at the collar of her uniform. "The Flash might save people in this city, but he won't give you the revenge you want. Think carefully. If I help you, you'll take that uniform off for me. That's my price."

Patty's voice was steady. "I've thought about it."

Damon let go of her collar. "Leave me your number. You can go."

Relief crossed her face. She fetched paper and a pen from the counter, wrote down her number, set it on the table, and left.

Damon memorized it. "Sometimes a woman comes to me on her own," he told Lucy with a smile.

"You're going to help her? Do you even know where Mardon is?"

"Why not? She's offered something I want. And I won't have to look far to find him."