The Flash's Rogues Assemble

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Damon stood on the roof of an apartment building.

Ahead of him, by the low wall at the roof's edge, someone was holding binoculars and peering into a room in the apartment building across the way. There were no scantily dressed women in the room, and no couple enjoying themselves. The person with the binoculars was not some bearded creep with a sleazy face either.

It was a woman.

A Black woman with tight, springy curls.

Her name was Shawna. There was nothing special about her background, except that she happened to be affected by the particle accelerator explosion and gained the ability to teleport. Any place she could see, she could instantly move to. In the original story, she used that ability to rescue her boyfriend from prison. Later, in a tunnel, the Flash broke all the lights and plunged the area into darkness so she could not see anything, which allowed him to capture her.

Multiplex could use swarm tactics. The Mist could support from the rear. Girder could serve as a shield. Add a teleporter who could attack or retreat at will, and the lineup was decent for a team of minor villains.

"Whew."

Shawna let out a breath and lowered the binoculars, adjusting her state. Then, from the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed someone else on the roof.

She jumped, spun around, and shouted, "Who the hell are you? Get out of here."

Damon smiled.

"I came to ask you to do something for me."

"Do something for you? Who do you think you are? Do I know you?" Shawna snorted. "Leave, or I will make you."

As she spoke, she pulled a gun from her waist and aimed it at Damon.

"Looks like everyone loves solving problems with violence. All right, then."

The moment Damon finished speaking, red lightning flared.

Shawna instantly felt a bad premonition. Her eyes locked on a distant rooftop as she tried to teleport away.

But before her power could activate, something struck the back of her neck. Her vision went black, and she collapsed unconscious.

"Why make it harder? You need to see a place before you can teleport. I am faster than you can 'see.'"

Damon bent down, picked Shawna up, and vanished in a flicker of red lightning.

He brought Shawna to the Disciple.

The Disciple was smaller than the Waverider, but it had everything it needed. Especially cells. The ship had originally belonged to bounty hunters, and bounty hunters chasing targets through time could run into all kinds of people, so its prison facilities were far more advanced than the Waverider's.

Damon casually dropped Shawna to the floor and glanced at the three metahumans held in separate cells.

Multiplex. The Mist. Girder.

Multiplex was relatively quiet. The Mist had turned into green poisonous gas and was constantly battering the cell. Girder had steeled his whole body and was pounding at the cell like he had gone berserk.

"Shh. Quiet down. Do not disturb this lady's rest."

Damon raised a finger to his lips, then pointed at the unconscious Shawna on the floor.

"I know what you want to say and what you want to ask. Be patient. Once she wakes up, I will explain everything together."

A few minutes later, Shawna groaned and woke.

She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar environment, the three people in the cells, and Damon smiling at her from the side. Shawna backed up half a step and watched him warily, but she did not use her power to escape.

She could not.

The place was completely sealed. She could not see outside at all.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Damon Keller. I know each of you very well. I know how you got your powers, what those powers are, and what you want to do."

Damon spoke slowly, still smiling.

"As for why you are here, I will keep it short. I want you to help me deal with someone."

"Why should we help you?" the Mist shouted.

"Because you are still alive. If you fight me, you cannot win. If you run, you are not faster than me. Besides, all of you gained powers. Are you really content to hide like fugitives for the rest of your lives?"

Damon smiled faintly.

"And what I want you to do is exactly what you wanted to do anyway. You want to kill your former company's president to avenge your wife. You want to kill the crime boss who made you take the fall, along with the judge and the cop who arrested you. As for you..."

Damon looked from Multiplex to the Mist, then to Girder.

"Do you not want people to fear your power? Do you not want to do whatever you want?"

Girder nodded instinctively.

"Miss Shawna, do you want to rescue your boyfriend from prison?"

Damon looked at Shawna.

"What exactly are you saying?" Shawna asked, suspicious.

"Very simple. I am gathering people who would have acted alone and putting you together as a team so you can do what you already wanted to do. You can move separately at the same time, or move as a group. Either works."

"What do you get out of it?" Multiplex asked.

"Have you heard of the Flash?" Damon asked with a smile.

Multiplex, the Mist, and Shawna shook their heads. Girder, however, sounded disdainful.

"That guy online who runs around saving people? I thought that was you."

"He is not as fast as me," Damon said with a faint laugh. "He is collateral damage, but this is still aimed at him. A superhero appears wherever something happens, so I am looking forward to seeing him face all of you at once."

"Since you are faster than him, why not do it yourself?" the Mist asked again.

"Do I need to explain myself to you?"

Damon smiled casually and opened their cells.

"Decide for yourselves how to act. But by noon tomorrow, I want to see you confronting the Flash. If any of you fails to do that and ruins my fun, I will make sure you never enjoy anything again."

Red lightning flashed.

Before the four of them could react, they found themselves standing in an alley somewhere in the city.

They looked at one another.

After a long silence, Multiplex spoke.

"I do not think this is bad for us. Four people have a better chance of achieving their goals than one, especially if that Flash comes to stop us. So we might as well get to know each other and discuss what to do."

The other three considered it for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"There is one more, but that one can wait. I will watch tomorrow's show first."

After sending the four away, Damon returned to the villa and beckoned Laurie over.

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