Archive of Our Own ^beta

Star City, Earth-Prime

As an armada of Shadow Demons flew among the skies of Star City, people in the streets looked up to see the horrifying creatures as they all flew past the people, watching in fear.

Arrowcave

Felicity Smoak typed on her tablet as she spoke on comms. "Alright, team, heads-up. The Shadow Demons are all upon descending Gardener Pier, so there's your location."

"Copy that, Overwatch. We're en route" White Canary responds.

Gardener Pier

As the heroes, consisting of The Flash, White Canary, Spartan, Wild Dog, Black Canary (Dinah Drake), Lex Luthor in his Lexosuit, Dreamer, Alex Danvers, Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Superman, and Batwoman, arrived at the location, Alex notices J'onn's human appearance in his Martian armor.

"Well, this is new." She comments, gesturing towards J'onn's appearance.

"New world, new look." J'onn replies, before Sara spoke up.

"Cut the chatter, they're here." She said in a stern voice.

And just as Sara said, the Shadow Demons suddenly appeared in front of the heroes, and they suddenly flew at the heroes. Flash sped to the Shadow Demons, Supergirl, Superman, and Luthor flew up, and the rest charged at the army on foot.

Flash sped through the army, while both Superman and Supergirl unleashed their respective heat vision from their eyes, with Luthor firing an energy blast from his armor gauntlet, and Wild Dog, Spartan, and Alex fired at the Shadow Demons with their guns. However, the Shadow Demons then vanished into mist, leaving everyone confused.

"What the hell?!" J'onn demanded in confusion, as the Flash sped back to the group while Supergirl, Superman, and Luthor landed back on the ground, observing the confusion.

"Was that it?" Barry asked, as he and the others then turned around and saw the mist enveloping around.

"It's not over yet." Sara said.

The mist suddenly dissipated to reveal the Anti-Monitor, in his full form, and somehow brought back to life, as the heroes stared in anger and shock. How was this possible...?!

"Paragons. The universal safeguard meant to defeat me. They have failed to save the multiverse, they always fail." He mocked, before scoffing as he slowly walked towards the heroes. "It is time to meet your end. I am destiny incarnate, inexorable and inescapable. You are nothing. And once I am done, life will cease permanently to exist. I will stride across your bones and bask in the glow of Antimatter, and all of existence shall be mine! Surrender now, and I will grant you all a quick and painless death."

"Not today, not ever." Sara said, slightly stepping forward, without an ounce of fear in her. "Oliver died so that we could continue to fight. He sacrificed everything for this new world, and we will not fail him. We will not fail this world. So, I don't care how many Shadow Demons you have, or many demons you fought in how many hells You've never fought all of us before, not us united! For Oliver!"

"For Oliver." Kara whispered, inspired by Sara's speech.

"For Oliver." Barry said, willing to fight for his friend's memory.

"For Oliver!" Diggle said, wanting to prove himself to everyone why he saw himself as Oliver's brother.

"FOR OLIVER!" Everyone else loudly declared as they now felt confident in themselves and ready to fight the Anti-Monitor, while the latter glared at the heroes.

With that, the heroes charged into battle as the Supers flew up again, along with Luthor, and Flash speeding off. Batwoman threw a batarang at the Anti-Monitor, but he blocked it in time, summoning a force field around him as everyone else attacked the cosmic being, all at once. Alex, Spartan, and Wild Dog fired bullets from their handguns, while Supergirl and Superman flew above the Anti-Monitor and shot heat vision from their eyes, Martian Manhunter trying to mind blast him, Flash zipped by and threw lightning bolts, Dinah unleashing her Canary Cry, Luthor firing blasts from his armor, and Dreamer firing her energy blasts from her hands, but neither made a dent on the bubble as the Anti-Monitor blocked each attack with ease.

However, after a while, the Anti-Monitor saw that the White Canary had a look of defiance on her face, similar to the one that the Spectre had when they fought at the Dawn of Time. Seeing that, he ran out of patience and stopped playing games with the heroes.

"ENOUGH!" He then slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing a shockwave across the pier, and sending the heroes to the ground.

"Do any of you honestly believe that this is all new to me? Do you know how many Earths I've destroyed, how many heroes I've killed? How many Kryptonians, Speedsters, and vigilantes I have annihilated?! And you think you can beat me? I AM THE ANTI-MONITOR! YOU ARE ALL NOTHING BUT INSECTS, MEANT TO BE SQUASHED BENEATH MY HEEL WITHOUT A MOMENT'S THOUGHT!" He yelled, before his eyes pulsed with Antimatter.

Suddenly, the Anti-Monitor grew giant, to about the size of a skyscraper, and the heroes all looked up in horror.

"I'LL SHOW YOU!" He roared as he then stomped on Batwoman, Dinah, and Spartan, killing those three, as he then fired an antimatter blast at Lex, disintegrating him into nothingness, as everyone else watched with horror.

"NO!" Rene shouted in anguish, as the Anti-Monitor then removed his bloodstained boot from the ground.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Supergirl shouted, rage boiling through her right now. "You're done now, Anti-Monitor!"

"Not until you all lie dead on my feet, and me bathing in your blood." The Anti-Monitor said, before raising his hands.

He began to summon a tiny sphere of energy, as the heroes then realized what he was going to do.

"Kal! On my mark!" Supergirl yelled, as her eyes began to glow bright blue with heat vision.

Superman understood what she meant as his eyes were glowing blue as well. "Just tell me when!"

The Anti-Monitor then launches the energy sphere as Supergirl now sees this as an opening.

"NOW!" Supergirl shouts as she unleashes her heat vision at the energy sphere and Superman doing the same as he too unleashed his heat vision as well, both colliding in a clash as the sphere began to enlarge into a giant ball, easily countering the Kryptonians' heat vision.

The two Super cousins, the children of Krypton, struggled to deflect the large energy blast, even with their immense power. However, Dreamer then joined them both as she then fired her energy blasts with intensity as well.

"The Age of Heroes... ends NOW!" The Anti-Monitor declared, as he continued to increase his power to the sphere, resulting in the Pier to shake as it neared the ground. "Struggle all you want, but it's over! Your meager powers are not enough to defeat me! That's what you all deserve for humiliating me at the Dawn of Time!"

The heroes all gained a look of despair as they were all on the verge of defeat. Is it too late?

"He's too powerful! We're all going to die, and there's nothing we can do to stop it!" Barry whispered to himself in horror.

"What are we going to do?! I wish Oliver was here!" Sara shouted in despair.

Suddenly, the sky darkens with clouds, with the sound of thunder rumbling, to which all the heroes, and even the Anti-Monitor, noticed as a familiar voice is then heard.

"Barry. Sara." A deep voice said from the skies, echoing all throughout.

Everyone looked up at the sky as they all listened to the voice, with Barry whispering in surprise. "Ollie..."

"Was that...?" Sara trailed off as she looked up to the sky as well.

"You've all handled yourselves well out there, my friends. But this fight isn't just yours to finish alone, the Anti-Monitor is our concern, as is mine." Oliver said, as he descended from the dark skies in his normal attire, as other heroes suddenly appeared as well through a green mist; The Ray, Frost, Vibe, Black Canary (Earth-2 Laurel Lance), the Atom, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, Jay Garrick, Firestorm, Black Lightning, Zari Tomaz, and John Constantine.

Barry, Sara, Rene Nia, J'onn, Alex, Clark, and Kara all stared in amazement seeing the other heroes arrive, but what stunned them most was seeing Oliver return, and alive. Oliver's pupils then glowed a bright green, as he then transformed into the Spectre, with his cloak appearing as he put on the hood.

"You came. You really came!" Barry shouted in joy, relieved and hopeful again as his friend returned.

However, Mobius was in disbelief. "No, you can't be...! HOW!"

"Mobius! You have failed... this Earth!" The Spectre declared as he then fired a green energy blast at the Anti-Monitor, with Supergirl and Superman again firing their heat vision, along with Dreamer firing her energy blasts once more, Flash, Kid Flash, Jesse, Jay, and Black Lightning joining in by their throwing respective lightning bolts, The Ray firing light beams, Black Canary unleashing her Canary Cry, Atom firing energy blasts, Firestorm firing fire blasts, Frost shot ice beams, Zari blasting air blasts, and Vibe firing vibe blasts. Constatine, however, conjured protection spells to protect every single one of them. Basically, everyone else was doing all they could to stop Mobius, and push back his energy sphere.

The Anti-Monitor was stunned to see his sphere being pushed back, the blasts from the heroes colliding as they were now in a deadlock, trying to deflect one another. However, he focused on adding more power to the energy sphere. The Spectre noticed that each of them were struggling to counter the beams.

"Kara, Clark, concentrate! Look past your fears, Nia! You can do it!" He shouted, before asking. "Are you all willing to let the Anti-Monitor destroy this new world?! This new world we all worked and fought so hard for!"

Hearing those words hit the heroes so hard as there was truth to what was said, but the Spectre would not let them wallow in self-doubt, especially not at this moment. "We can all end this now! But we must work together!"

Inspired by the Spectre's words, the heroes continued to unleash their respective full might against the Anti-Monitor, as the sphere was starting to be pushed back.

"Oliver, you were the first person I went to when I told you of my powers. You were the one who inspired me to become the Flash! And how did I repay you after everything? By letting you die alone the first time, and I wasn't there to help you the second time! I will not make the same mistake, not this time!" Barry grunted, as he threw more lightning bolts.

"You gave your life for everyone on Earth-38, for my life and Barry's, and all I said in return was you shouldn't have done that! I was more focused on bringing my Earth and my Argo City back! I'm sorry, Oliver! I was wrong to criticize you, I was wrong to put my own selfish needs over everyone else's, and I'm sorry for everything!" Kara said to Oliver as she continued to unleash her heat vision to the fullest extent of her abilities.

"No! NO! I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY MERE INSECTS!" The Anti-Monitor shouted in despair as he then tried to add more force to his powerful blast, before suddenly feeling an intense migraine in his head. He fell to his knees as he grasped his head in pain with his right hand before turning to see the cause of the pain; it was the Martian Manhunter, along with Miss Martian, who arrived alongside the former in the sky, as they both unleashed a powerful mind blast at the cosmic villain.

"Martians!" He sneered, glowering at them.

"TOGETHER! NOW!" The Spectre shouted, as he, along with the others, all unleashed their respective powers as they all yelled, and finally pushed the Anti-Monitor's energy sphere back, eventually destroying it as it went for the Anti-Monitor.

"NOOOOOOO!" He shouted as he tried to summon another force field to shield himself and deflect the blast. However, that was not enough as he was then launched away from Gardener Pier, sending him up and away from Earth and right into space.

"DAMNED PARAGONS OF THE MULTIVERSE! DAMN YOU ALL! I'M GOING GET OFF AND WHEN I DO, I WILL RIP YOU SHRED AND DISINTEGRATE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!" The Anti-Monitor shouted as he continued to be blasted away, as he then turned his head around and saw something.

"Huh?" He let out in confusion before realizing that it was the sun. "It's the Star for the Solar system. Perhaps I will blow that up, and let them all freeze to death in eternal darkness."

However, he immediately noticed something that was already far too late. "NO! I'M HEADING RIGHT TOWARDS IT!" The blast pushed him right directly inside the sun, colliding with it as his body started to become destroyed and disintegrate from both the blast and the immense heat.

"NO ONE DEFEATS THE ANTI-MONITOR! I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED! I HAVE NOT YET REACHED THE LIMITS TO MY POWER!" The Anti-Monitor shouted in agony one last time as his body then began to burst, first by his heart, before eventually exploding in the Sun's core, his body being destroyed and incinerated in the Sun's core.

Gardener Pier

The heroes, exhausted, all stared up at the sky to see the dark clouds finally disappear and the blue sky return at last. The Anti-Monitor has now been defeated at last, and never to return ever again!

"It's over. It's finally over!" Barry said in an exhausted tone.

"Thank you, Ollie." Sara said, turning around to thank Oliver, but he wasn't there, much to her confusion, along with everyone else's. Oliver was just there a moment ago, fighting beside them. Where did he go?

"Oliver? Oliver, where did you go?" Kara called out, wanting to know where Oliver was.

"He was just here a moment ago." The Atom said in a perplexed voice.

"He's gone, Ray. He must've left once the Anti-Monitor was finally destroyed." J'onn stated, as he and M'Gann landed on the ground.

"Martian J'onn's right, mate. I felt his presence leave after we sent the bastard up to the Sun." Constatine spoke up.

"Even if so, he was here, fighting beside us as he encouraged us to keep on fighting." Barry said with a gentle smile, knowing that Oliver was there to help them. "Even if he's not with us anymore, Oliver will always be there by our side."

Everyone else stood there as they all took Barry's words. But still, the biggest question remained lingering in their minds; was Oliver's appearance the result of him as the Spectre, or was it all just an illusion? For Barry and Sara, it doesn't matter. They got to see their friend one more time.