Earth One Laurel Lance was a hero called the Black Canary. Earth 2 Laurel lance was a meta-human criminal called Black Siren. Her father, sister and the love of her life Oliver all died and she went to the wrong side of the tracks. Earth-X is the name of a nightmare world where the Nazi's actually won World War II. the entire planet can be considered the Fatherland. Earth-X Oliver Queen is the Fuhrer. and Quentin Lance is second in command to him and openly hates his guts.
Now this is all in a blog entry for two reasons. One I'm writing a one-off where our Oliver Queen is a prisoner of the Reich on Earth X. Oliver, Barry and a few of the other heroes were taken to Earth X during the crossover. The freedom fighters wanted to close the gate with Dark Arrow and Overgirl on the other side, trapping these heroes here. So imagine they succeeded in destroying the portal. But with The Reverse Flash aka the man in the yellow suit, Aka Eaobard Thawne's help, Overgirl and Dark Archer still managed to get back to Earth X.
Kate Cassidy, who plays Laurel was unable to appear during the crossover but we do meet her Earth-X doppelganger in a Flash episode later that season. Her name is Siren-X she is super powerful and is described as 'an elite assassin gone mad'. It has been said of her that unlike Black Siren she does not have a Freudian excuse for her villainy, other than having grown up in a Nazi regime. But as Oliver points out, she does. Her father is second-in-command of the entire Nazi regime and she would want daddy's approval.
THE NARRATOR TO THIS STORY WILL SURPRISE YOU
“You've won. Alright? So take me. But spare my friends please ...I beg you.”
“Choose one to be spared.” Overgirl ordered. Oliver looked at her, confused and humiliated.
“I cannot. To chose one of my friends to live while the others were slaughtered. I cannot...”
“Well that I can understand but you draw more horror from my offer than needs be. Since you surrendered yourself, all of your friends will live. What I am ordering is that you choose one of your friends to be released. To live somewhere else on our Earth and have a chance of finding their way home. The others will live as subjects and guests of the Reich. In other words...Prisoners serving the Reich in whatever capacity my husband and I see fit.”
“Felicity. Let Felicity go free.”
“She already hid herself away from us. We don't know where she is. Choose again.”
“Barry Allen.” Oliver said immediately. “Spare his life, let him go. Once I know he is safe, I won't resist anymore. You can do what you want with me.”
“It shall be done. And it is curious you should choose him.”
“Why? Is the Barry alien you know a despicable loser, even by your standards?”
“We actually don't have a Barry Allen in our data-banks. Which means we don't have a version of him on our Earth. For you to show this much regard for him, he must be a great man by your Earth's reckoning.”
“No, I'm a great man. Barry Allen is a Good man. And I cannot stand to think what being around your kind will do to him.”
“Good, honest hatred. Very refreshing. Very well. Once we've removed his powers, he'll be released. You have my word on that Queen.”
“Thank you Kara Zor'el.” Oliver said with what could only be called embellished restraint. Already forced to his knees, he bowed his head to the ground. “I thank you...my master.”
The next...any number of days were hell. They kept him in a room called the forge. Thanks to the geothermal heat that poured through floor it was easily 130 degrees Fahrenheit in there. They hung him up from the ceiling. A few lackeys for lack of another word brought him water and food but no one spoke to him. Damien was the only one to approach him. And that was just to ensure he had all of his ribs. “Nice to see you're as much of a dick on this Earth as you were on mine.”
“Hehe, likewise. No seriously. As I'm sure you're well aware you are an absolute DICK here. It's nice to see you keep at least some of your backbone across the multiverse.”
“May I ask you a question? Besides that one I mean.”
“If you let me punch you in the face afterward.”
“Agreed. Is Laurel Lance...still alive on this Earth?”
“Yes she is. We call her Siren-X.”
“She's a Nazi? Of course, Lance is a high-ranking Nazi officer. It makes sense that she'd want to follow in her father's footsteps.”
“I take it she's dead on your Earth. And I'm surmising the 'me' you know had something to do with that.” Oliver nodded, he didn't really think it worth talking about. “Elaborate.” Oliver didn't reply. Damien walked up to Oliver and got within 4 centimeters of his face. “Elaborate.”
Oliver sighed. “On our Earth Quentin Lance is was police captain. He was...You leveraged Laurel over him to keep him quiet. But he joined my team in working to save the city and most especially to try to take you down. We'd been working together for almost a year when you...made good on your threat...and stabbed Laurel through the heart. In front of my team.”
“Well that is good news.” Oliver's eyes shot harpoons. “Not, I expect, for you. But the only version of myself I ever met was a sniveling coward. The phrase 'soft-hearted fool' is the kindest way I have to describe him. I'm glad to know he's the exception not the rule.”
“You're lying Damien.”
“Ex-cuse me, Oli-ver.”
“I spent a year chasing you down before I stabbed you through with an arrow. We got pretty good at reading each-other. If you were glad you would have spoken casually like you normally do. You would have said simply 'good to know'. But you made a point of your feelings of your reactions. Which means you were being insincere about them. You were glad to hear a doppelganger of yourself had a backbone. But you are not Glad to learn the cowardly version you met was the exception rather than the rule.”
“Never really had a nemesis before. I kind of like it. Adrian was the closest thing I had to a workplace nemesis. But he was a petulant, man-child and well...a rival more than an equal.”
“God it seems like that guy rattles pretty much everyone's rankles.”
“Not without reason either.” Damien said agreeably. He walked a couple steps away, but still within reach. “Now just so you know, I'm about to punch you in the face.”
“Then do so.” Oliver said with a mixture of defiance and acceptance.
Damien delivered a vicious backhand to Oliver's jaw. Then, apparently thinking their business concluded he turned to leave. “rajul sharaf. takhayal dhalika.” He muttered under his breath.
“What what did you just say?” Oliver yelled after him. “What was that..Ara...”
Damien did not turn around. “If you know what is good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut!” He urged in a deep, deliberate voice that people hardly ever disobeyed. Then he turned around. “People will miss you when you are gone. But there are parts of you only you will miss.”
Oliver hung his head in a non-verbal 'I understand' gesture. And to hide a small smile on his face. He never knew the man had such a crass but effective way with words. “This is...something new.” Oliver breathed. Damien left without replying.
Several days later Damien returned. “I have one question for you. Well somewhere between an insistence and a demand really.”
“Something you're curious about and you want to know if I understand it any better?”
“Oliver, you are seriously creeping me out. But yes, that's about the size of it.”
“Then pose your query.”
“alhikayat alati yajib riwayitiha – tabda alan.”
“That is not a technically a question but a challenge. You want to know if I know what you just said?” Damien Darhk nodded. “ 'The tale to be told, begins now'.”
“Okay...I guess that answers my other questions.”
“That's why you sound the way you do, like you don't know native-speaker English. You are a native speaker. But you speak a language that requires far more deliberate diction.”
“Okay....NOW you are creeping me out.”
“Would you believe me that for all of 5 minutes the League called me Rashe al Ghul?”
“There's not a lot ELSE that could explain that.”
“Were...were you Rashe, on this world?”
“The League has no Demon's Head, no leader. We were...'disbanded' almost 20 years ago. Rashe, as he was then, chose survival over identity. I continue the Leagues ways... yes.”
“Which is why you were so glad__ I should say 'relieved' to hear that another version of you had a back-bone. Proof that you don't need to be Nazi-strong to be Strong.”
“It is unsettling how well you seem to understand me.”
“Yeah, I can't say I find it particularly comfortable either.”
“I've been wondering why you asked about Laurel Lance. Were you close on your Earth?”
“We weren't together. But we were the closest of friends and soldiers in arms. At least near the end. The only good to come out of the year you tried to destroy Star City was that Quentin and I came to an understanding. We became friends...and I found my son.”
The Arabic phrase Damien said to himself on the way out the door translates as 'a man of honor; imagine that'. And was a Damien's sincere opinion of this 'softer' doppelganger of the Fuhrer. Damien Darhk of Oliver's Earth was a former member of the League of Assassins who 'continues the Leagues ways but through his own organization'. It is noted by several characters that the League of Assassins, however twisted their aims or extreme their methods, believes very deeply in a code of honor. To say the least, Damien making a comment about Oliver having a sense of honor in Arabic got his attention.
A few months later, this happens.
“Ich sah dich dort, ich sah dich, dann die traurigsten Worte, was hätte sein können.” Darhk said in an almost gloating tone as he stood just inside Oliver's cell. “Or if you prefer. 'In dieser verkorksten Welt istdas was hätte passieren können“, das, tatsächlich passiert ist.”
“Damien in case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't speak German!”
“How does the League describe 'true strength' other than 'to cull weakness'?”
“Mastery over oneself.” Oliver replied almost instantly. “Forging your own path, creating yourself. Standing apart as the word 'assassin' originally meant.”
“And that's what I'm doing now.” Oliver could barely believe his eyes as Damien undid the chains that held his arms above his head and handed him a wine-skin. After looking at the man's face a few seconds he came to believe it, but wasn't sure what to make of the overture. Damien smile wryly. “Lets' go.”
“Excuse me?!”
“I would say 'you can either trust me or you can wait here to be executed' except obviously no one around here is going to straight up execute you. The one thing you can be sure of is that I'm not deliberating taking you to your death. Trusting me really is your only option here.”
“Well or calling the guards and insisting they hang you as a traitor.”
“Oh, seriously, I thought you were a little smarter than that. Listen Oliver...damn it feels weird calling you that. You are a man of honor...and in my own way so am I.”
“Say it as Sarab would have.” Oliver insisted. Damien looked at him blankly. “The question about true strength – ask it as Sarab would and I'll go with you.”
“Proof that I do understand the strength of the League itself.” Damien muttered under his breath. He leaned down and and whispered in Oliver's left ear. “kayf yasif aldawriu "alquat alhaqiqiati" bikhilaf "'iiedam alduefi" ma hu almiqyas alakhar?”
“Okay, let's get the hell out of here.”
“You work with Leo?” Oliver asked as they ran across the field.
“You know the freedom fighters?” Damien replied. “And no, they're too uncoordinated. Besides they don't like my sort much better than they like the Nazi's. Thankfully, they're not the only group fighting the Nazi's.”
“I'm starting to pick up on that. Just tell me we're not meeting up with the Magician because then we might have a problem.”
“That would be damn near impossible. Here.” the ducked behind some crates.
“Is he 'dead for years'?”
“No...That's what Rashe called ME.”
'Of course if Tommy can be Prometheus, Damien can be the Magician' Oliver thought to himself. . Malcolm Merlyn. 'The Magician' was his original League name back home.”
“Before he became Rashe Al Ghul, I assume. Our Malcolm was our last 'demon's head'.”
(( “Death is the cowards way out. You deserve to live with your failure and I will make sure you never delude yourself with visions of freedom again.” She motioned to a pair of Oberleutnant “Take him to the Aberdeen camp. He is the plaything of the Aufseher there until further notice. Oh I'm sorry do you need me to translate that for you?”
“I have a pretty good idea. And who exactly do I belong to now?”
“Well, I will tell you this, Adrian will take great interest in your humiliation Oliver. In fact, he might even play a hand in it himself.”
“Adrian...Adrian CHASE What did I do to him on this Earth?”
“You did nothing to him. But he has, as you would say a desire to prove himself since he was sent to the purgatory of all detention centers instead of becoming Prometheus.”
“What's the German for 'the more things change'?”
“'Desto mehr ändern sich die Dinge'. The point is he'll take this assignment as his chance at redemption, a way to prove he can break even the hardest of obstinate enemies. Being a military governor of a population of sheep provides little room for advancement. Survive a few weeks under his care and I might reconsider whether you deserve a shot at redemption.”
“Thank you, mistress. I will endeavor to learn the proper attitudes. It is my intent that in time I will make you see me. Even if it is only as a servant and a...pleasing companion”
“If you endure your time with Adrian without too much ill effect, then eventually I will find another use for you. And I may come to trust you. I can see myself trusting you. The next time you stand ib my presence I will ask you for details on who everyone was on your world. It is an intriguing, concept unto itself. Multiverse, parallel universes, different lives...endless possibilities. If nothing else you can entertain me with stories. And inspire the children of the Fatherland with stories of your Earth...told in the proper light of course.”
“'I'm a defeated idiot. These are the fairy tales I used to fight for'.” Oliver guessed. “I would be all for such a thing. Because as long as someone hears the stories and learns what my Earth was like, that things like this do exist somewhere. That people like Quentin, Diggle, Barry and Sasha as I knew them truly exist...It'll be worth it.”
“You've won, alright Adrian? I am your pet and your slave, as Overgirl decreed. You have me, I'm fairly certain I'm the one you want. Please I will do anything, I will bow myself to you, confess my faults and your greatness before The Assembly itself if you want. Just please, leave my friend out of this. Keep her in the work-camp. That's where she's from isn't it? She serves quietly and calmly, quite content to be ignored by literally anyone. So send her back there, let her work the fields or in the kitchens. You'll get no trouble from her. Please don't do this.”
“How do you know this Sasha Scott is anything like your...whatever she was to you?”
“Sasha has the same open-face across the multiverse. She's the antithesis of polluted. She sucked at lying and abhorred obfuscation. I know this from the four plus years she spent dropping in on my team and my friends. It's not sentiment. At least, it's not projection. I know this is not her, the woman I knew. For one, this woman, this bait you have in front of me has lived her life down-trodden and put upon. She sees the Fuhrer when she looks at me, so I know it is not her. Also, Sasha is gone from my life. I have not been able to find her for more than two years and stopped looking. So I seriously doubt you would've known anything about her until now. You're doing this because you know us hero types. That we will attempt to save any innocent life. And how much it tears us up if we can't.”
“And I wanted to show you the power we wield over the degenerate races. And the inferior humans we rule.” Adrian said with almost clinical detachment. But there was still a veneer of perverse satisfaction. He was saying these things just to hurt me...whether he even believed it didn't matter. “You, sit down in my lap.” He commanded. Sasha walked over to him and obediently sat down. She looked at her feet the entire time.
“You mean like this?” Adrian grabbed Sasha by her hair and pulled her down. He kissed her, passionately, forcefully and repeatedly. And in what seemed like an eternity he ran his hand down her side and undid the strings of her...undergarments...without even looking. And the worst part is, she must have been as accoutered to this treatment as Adrian was accustomed to taking advantage of his prisoners. She didn't struggle at all. Sasha, my friend Sasha never met Prometheus..never met Adrian. But seeing her at Adrian's mercy, seeing Prometheus of all people victimizing her. And she just sat there at let herself be...” His words failed him. “Sasha as I knew her was an incredibly strong-willed woman. She wasn't a fighter. she was probably almost incompetent as far as combat. But she had convictions that could give her fire. And she had a reservoir of strength that not only sustained her but guided her. She burned inside when she saw suffering, and would never let it pass if she could help it. She and I agreed on everything but if I had ever told her to do something she didn't agree with, she'd have given me hell.” ((_))
“And you saw her being such a victim, so familiar with abuse that it would never occur to her to fight back.” Leo observed. “That sounds like a whole lot of suck even by our standards.”
Oliver smiled. “Felicity said that to me once. I had just described a part of my exile I hadn't told her about before. She said 'that sounds like a whole lot of suck'.”
“Well if the concise but descriptive shoe fits.” Damien said mildly.
The Arabic phrase Damien said to himself on the way out the door translates as 'a man of honor; imagine that'. And was Damien's sincere, personal opinion of this 'sentimental doppelganger of the fuhrer'. Damien Darhk of our Earth, of Oliver's Earth was a former member of the League of Assassins who quote 'continues the Leagues ways but through his own organization'. It is noted by several characters over the course of the show that however twisted their aims or extreme their methods, the League of Assassins believes very deeply in a code of honor. To hear Darhk say something about him being a man of honor, in Arabic got Oliver's attention, to say the least. And a nuance for those of us who don't speak German. The two phrases Damien spoke in his sardonic tone were "I saw you there I saw you then, the saddest words what might have been” and “In this messed up world, what could have happened is what actually happened.”
No comments:
Post a Comment