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Steps

Supergirl:

"I don't know about anyone else," Barry says, "But with all honestly, I think we should go to Oa and help Hal."

"What about Gotham City," Iris asks, "And the fake Dr. Fates?"

"The way I see it, as long as he is here, then so are the fake Dr. Fates. If we leave, then--"

"Then we're bringing to Oa an army of fake Dr. Fates," Eobard says, cutting Barry off. "Thanks for your honesty, but I think we should stay here. We should deal with the fake Dr. Fates and the Lords of Order first before going to Oa. One army at a time."

"But you heard Arisia," Jason says, "They need our help now. Now."

"So what," Cheetah asks, stepping up to Jason. "So what if they need our help now? It's not like all of us just shoot into space and go to Oa. I don't know if you notice kid, but cheetahs can't fly."

"I am sure that the teleporters the man and Dr. Crane have can teleport us to Oa," Martin says, joining Jason's side. "No need to fly."

"Uhh, actually," Dr. Crane says, putting up a finger as he takes a step forward. "I don't know if the teleporter can take all of you to Oa or not."

Dr. Crane reaches into his pocket and pulls out his teleporter.

"These things have range. They can reach anywhere in the world, but out of the world, I don't really know."

"They don't," The Man says, raising one of his hands. "The teleporters can't take all of us to Oa. At least, not without some modifications."

"Can you do the modifications," Jason asks.

"Not without some time and a whole like of electricity."

"So it's decided," Leonard says, now all eyes turning to him. "We're staying here on Earth. The green lanterns are on their own."

"Now wait one moment," The Man says, all eyes back on him. "The teleporters can't take us to Oa, but I do have a way we can get there."

"Really," Barry asks, laughing a little. "What, you got a spaceship somewhere in here?"

"Yes," The Man says, nodding his head. "I have a spaceship."

"I was kidding," Barry asks, uncrossing his arms. "Wait, do you actually have a spaceship? One that we can use to get to Oa?"

"Yes," The Man repeats, "I do have a spaceship. Give me five minutes."

Without warning, The Man runs out of the infirmary, leaving all of us behind.

"Just to be sure," Jason says, "We're not supposed to follow him? Right?"

"I don't know," I answer, looking at the doors after the man exited. "I just, don't know."

The Man is gone for a few minutes, whether it's five or not, I don't know. He walks back through the door and holds it open for the right of us.

"Come on," he says, "The Rusted is ready."

"The Rusted," Barry repeats, "Is that what spaceship is called? What would you name it that?"

"Because like me, it's incredibly old. Also, like me, it's strong, stubborn, and doesn't go down easily. Follow me."

All of us looking at each other at first, we all follow after The Man. Even Kent. Despite limping at first, Oliver and Dinah help him as The Man lead us through the hallways. Taking many twists and turns, he eventually lead all of us to a hallway I don't think I've ever seen before.

"In here," he says, pushing a button on the wall and a part of the wall splitting open to reveal a circular room with a white floor and glass wall. As everyone enters the room, I step back.

"Glass wall," I think, memories of my time on Stryker's Island coming back to haunt me. "White floor."

I see myself stuck in that cell, the lights from above draining my powers. Days after days, weeks after weeks, all I can do is just sit and listen to how my cousin is quickly taking over. About to turn away, I stop when someone grabs my hand.

"Hey," The Man says, his hand on mine. Looking at me, and then at the room, he turns back to me. "Uhh, follow me for a bit."

Turning to the others, he pushes another button on the wall.

"Go without us," he says, "We'll take the stairs."

The room goes down, the walls closing as it does, The Man nudges his head and I follow after him. He leads me only a few steps away where he opens and pushes open a tall, black door. As the door opens, I see nothing but the color black. It reminds me a lot of The Man's room.

"Give me one second," The Man says, flipping on a switch and some hanging lights coming on. The lights, however, do very little. The ceiling of the room is lit up, and so is a staircase, but the bottom is still pitch-black.

"How far does this go down," I ask, peeking over the railings.

"About 3,000 feet," The Man answers, peeking over the railings with me. Throwing one of his kungi over, I watch as his knife disappears after a few seconds.

"Why did you build this?"

"For the life of me, I honestly cannot remember. I think I had plans for something more, but then something got in the way. Come on, the others are ahead. Let's try and beat them."

"Are we going to take the stairs?"

"Well I do," The Man replies, turning toward the stairs. "You can fly, so you don't have to."

As The Man starts the walk down the stairs, I look between him and the darkness below.

"Frankly," I tell myself, "I rather walk with him. Who knows what is hidden down there? Besides him, of course. Hey, wait up."

Running to catch up with The Man, the two of us starts going down the stairs, one flight after another.

"Again," The Man says after some flights. "You can fly. You don't have to walk down with me. I know stairs."

"You know stairs," I repeat, panting a little as I try to match The Man's speed. It doesn't look like he even trying, but somehow, he is walking incredibly fast. Meanwhile, I'm running. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I know how much people absolutely hate stairs. In fact, I have a theory that if given the choice between jumping off a skyscraper to one's end or simply walking down a few hundreds of flights of stairs, people would take option one."

"That's a bit scary. Please tell me you've never tested that theory."

"Oh, of course not. As I said, it's just a theory. I've never actually tested it, and I never will. I'm just saying that people hate stairs. That's why they're the ultimate security defense."

"Stairs are the ultimate security defense," I repeat, accidentally laughing a little.

Stopping for the first time since we started walking, he turns around to face me.

"Yes they are," he smiles, crossing his arms. "After all, can you really tell me at this point, that you rather not just fly and skip over all of these steps?"

My legs are feeling weak, my arms are feeling like they weigh a ton. I'm gripping onto the railings so tight that I'm bending the metal. As I look up, I see The Man's smug smile.

"I'm not flying," I yell back, "If you can do this, then so I am."

The Man's smile disappears, he walks back up and offers me his hand.

"Here. Let me help you."

"What are you going to do," I ask, "Carry me down the stairs?"

"Yes," The Man replies. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

Turning around, he points at his back.

"Come on. I can carry you. This isn't my first trip up and down a few hundreds of flights of stairs."

Turning back to look at me, The Man must have seen my confused face.

"It's either I carry you, you fly, or you faint on the stairs. Pick one, and please oh please, don't pick the third one."

I sigh as I jump onto The Man's back. My arms going around his neck, his hands grabbing my legs, he starts to carry me down.

"This is kind of awkward," I think to myself.

The Man:

"Yeah, this is very awkward," I think to myself. "I'm carrying Kara down the stairs because she doesn't want to fly. Oh god, I hope I don't smell too bad. I should smell like nothing. I spent years making sure I smell like anything so dogs can't track me. Then again, I have been doing a lot of running lately."

Turning my head a little so I can see Kara, she looks back at me. The two of us looking at each other, we nod our heads.

"Please oh please, whoever is out there and listening, please let me not stink of sweats."

To Hyperion499. Two chapters in one week. Enjoy.

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