Although the explosion site was relatively remote, it still drew considerable attention.
The Flash arrived first.
Nothing remained. The blast signature matched Bette Sans Souci's explosive power—or Jack Kadere's copied version of it—and Cisco confirmed satellite footage of Jack departing the scene in Iron Man armor. Case closed. Jack Kadere did this.
After the Flash left, the police arrived.
Barry had to return a second time in his civilian identity, quietly informing Joe that Jack Kadere was responsible and advising them not to waste resources on the investigation.
Once the police cleared out, another group appeared.
A.R.G.U.S. agents—silent for months—descended on the site. Their team leader conducted a thorough inspection, filed a report, sanitized all evidence, and withdrew without a trace.
As if they'd never been there at all.
---
Aboard the Aerie.
Jack retracted his armor into its wristband form, had Caitlin walk him through the finalized Velocity serum formula, and instructed her to prepare several backup doses before sending her back to S.T.A.R. Labs via Trajectory.
The serum's key component was Vandal Savage's regenerative cells combined with Speed Force energy. Jack observed the modified cells carefully, confirming they showed no signs of reconstituting into Savage himself. Caitlin's alterations had rendered them inert—building blocks stripped of their original owner's essence.
Cells were merely cells.
He secured the Staff of Ra in the collection room and emerged to find Trajectory already returned.
"This is nano-shrinking technology." Jack projected the technical specifications for her to memorize. "Apply it to the entire Aerie. Once you're finished, you're free."
Trajectory studied the holographic formula, but her mind was elsewhere. She knew the complete serum composition now, yet without regenerative cells and Speed Force access, that knowledge was useless. "After I'm done, can I still—"
His phone rang.
Jack found the device and answered.
"It's Laurel. I—"
"Missed me?" He smirked.
"Felicity is right next to me," Laurel said quietly.
"Oh? So if she weren't there, you'd admit it." He chuckled. "Good to know."
Silence on the other end. Then: "My mother just contacted me. A.R.G.U.S. wants to meet with you. They have something to discuss."
"Not interested."
A.R.G.U.S. had nothing worth his attention at the moment.
"They…" Laurel hesitated. "They seem to have captured some of your people."
"Then let them kill them." Jack hung up without another word.
Laurel stared at her phone, stunned. She considered calling back, then abandoned the idea. Turning to Felicity, she shook her head. "He refused. What now?"
"Forget it." Felicity's voice carried equal parts frustration and resignation. "Let him deal with his own problems. We need to focus on finding Huntress. She disappeared after killing Frank—we have to locate her before this gets worse."
"Has Catwoman returned yet?"
"She got what she came for, but apparently she made a couple of new friends in Gotham. She'll be back late."
---
"Get to work." Jack pocketed his phone and gave Trajectory her orders before descending from the Aerie.
In the villa's training area, Laurie was teaching Thea combat techniques. Both women wore athletic shorts and tank tops, their pale legs catching the light as they moved through drills.
They stopped the moment Jack approached.
"Find someone called Black Siren," he said to Laurie. "Black leather, nose ring. Bring her to me."
"Right now?"
"Right now."
Laurie nodded and left without another word. Moments later, the red-and-gold female Iron Man armor streaked out of the villa and into the sky.
Thea watched her go with undisguised envy. She sidled up to Jack, hooking her arm through his. "Just make me a suit too. It's impossible to beat her otherwise."
"That's what makes it interesting." Jack remained unmoved.
"That's not fair!"
"Fairness is God's department." He swatted her ass lightly. "I'm only in charge of fun."
Thea huffed and followed him inside.
---
After showering, Thea changed into a short dress and padded barefoot to the living room. She sprawled across the couch, head propped on a cushion, her slender legs draped over Jack's lap. Her feet swung idly, deliberately brushing against him.
Jack glanced at her with half-lidded amusement but said nothing, curious to see how far she'd push.
Thea feigned indifference, but her toes traced increasingly deliberate paths along his thigh, creeping higher—toward the Staff of Ra, as it were. The kind of artifact that made other men weep with inadequacy and women ache to be impaled upon it.
"I'm bored," she murmured. "I want to pop some pills."
"Then pop them."
She rolled over suddenly, straddling him, her eyes locked on his. "You're my drug."
"Then take your dose."
"Hmph."
Thea smirked and began sliding down his body.
She tugged his pants open and freed him—already half-hard from her teasing. Her fingers wrapped around the shaft, stroking slowly as she studied it with exaggerated appreciation.
"God, I missed this." She kissed the tip, tongue flicking out to taste him.
Jack threaded his fingers through her hair but didn't push. "Show me how much."
She took him into her mouth, lips stretching around his girth. Her head bobbed slowly at first, working him deeper with each pass, her tongue swirling along the underside. Wet, obscene sounds filled the room as she found her rhythm—faster, hungrier, her cheeks hollowing with suction.
Jack groaned low in his throat. "That's it."
Thea pulled off with a gasp, spit trailing from her lips. "Fuck me. Now."
He hauled her up, bunching her dress around her waist. No underwear—she'd planned this. His fingers found her already slick and wanting. He dragged them through her folds, teasing her entrance, circling her clit until her hips jerked against his hand.
"Jack—"
He pulled her down onto his cock in one smooth thrust.
Thea's moan caught in her throat. She braced her hands on his shoulders, adjusting to the stretch, then started to move. Rolling her hips. Grinding. Building a rhythm that had the couch creaking beneath them.
"Harder," she breathed.
Jack gripped her hips and drove up into her, meeting each downward roll with a brutal thrust. The slap of skin echoed through the room. Thea's head fell back, her moans rising in pitch, fingernails digging crescents into his shoulders.
He flipped their positions—shoving her onto her back, hooking one leg over his shoulder. The new angle let him sink deeper, hitting spots that made her back arch off the cushions.
"Oh fuck—right there—don't stop—"
He didn't. He fucked her through one orgasm, then another, her cunt clenching around him in rhythmic spasms. By the time he finally came—buried to the hilt, grinding against her cervix—Thea was a trembling, incoherent mess beneath him.
---
For a long while afterward, Thea lay sprawled across the couch, utterly spent. She didn't have the strength to move a finger.
Through half-lidded eyes, she gazed up at Jack and murmured lazily, "Can you please make my armor first? I promise I won't wear it until I beat Laurie without it."
Jack studied her flushed face. "You're so beautiful," he said softly.
Thea's smile bloomed. "Really? What's beautiful about me?"
"Your thoughts." He patted her leg and laughed. "Your thoughts are beautiful."
Her expression curdled. She pushed herself up to argue—
The front door opened.
Laurie walked in, a woman in tow. Her armor retracted into a wristband as she moved. Ignoring the obvious aftermath scattered across the living room, she addressed Jack directly. "I brought her."
"Laurel? What happened to you?"
Thea instinctively scrambled to cover herself, then froze when she actually looked at the woman Laurie had brought.
Black leather from throat to boots. A studded choker around her neck. A silver ring glinting in her nose.
This punk aesthetic was nothing like the Laurel Lance Thea knew. They might as well have been two completely different people.
"You know me?" Black Siren studied Thea with surprise.
---