A flickering light swung gently in the dim hideout, its glow was only in the middle of the room, while the rest was dark along the stone walls. The air was thick with silence, broken only by the measured footsteps of an assassin returning from an errand in Central City.
The assassin dropped to one knee before Lady Shiva.
"My lady," she said, voice steady despite the tension in his shoulders. "It's confirmed. Simon Stagg is dead."
Lady Shiva stood at the far end of the chamber, her back to her, gazing at the worn katana mounted on the wall. She didn't turn around.
"How?" she asked flatly.
"A single stab wound," the assassin replied. "Precise. Efficient. No signs of struggle. We suspect a hidden blade."
Lady Shiva finally turned, her expression unreadable. "A knife? So… poetic."
She strolled toward the kneeling woman, and her every step seemed so quiet and efficient.
"Simon was a liability," she said, more to herself than to her. "Greedy. Desperate. He played at power without understanding the cost."
She stepped forward, each motion deliberate and silent. The folds of her cloak brushed against the stone as she approached the kneeling assassin.
"Simon was a rat," she said. "Greedy. Loud. Untrustworthy. But…he was our rat. A tool, not a partner. His ambition could have served a greater purpose."
She stopped a breath away from the assassin. "His plan was reckless, yes, but even some recklessness has its uses."
The assassin spoke, still kneeling, "His recklessness has cost us, Lady Shiva. My lord Ra's al Ghul is displeased. Of the scouts we sent to Central City nine months ago, none returned. One was found with multiple stab wounds. Another's neck snapped cleanly, like a twig. The rest were recovered without their hearts."
Shiva's gaze darkened. Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"No ordinary man could do that," she murmured. "But Central City is no longer ordinary, is it?"
She turned away, her tone low and thoughtful. "The man in the red mask…Sentient machines… And Harrison Wells."
She stopped near a shadowed corner of the chamber, her hand resting against the cold stone wall. "Simon reported and sent a recording just minutes before his death that someone had leapfrogged a century of AI development. Those two robots were alive. If that's true…"
She turned back to the assassin. "Then we aren't dealing with mere science anymore. We are dealing with a new beginning. A spark that should have never ignited."
The assassin lifted her head slightly. "Should we retaliate?"
Shiva shook her head. "No. Not yet."
Her voice dropped, calm and calculating. "Let them think the storm has passed. Let the person continue building their machines. Let Harrison Wells continue hiding his secrets. But mark my words…"
She walked to a desk hidden in the shadows, retrieving a sealed scroll bearing the insignia of the League of Assassins.
"…we will watch them. We will learn who the builder is. And when the time comes, we will decide if they are either to be recruited… or erased."
She handed the scroll to the assassin. "Deliver this back to headquarters. The Demon's Head must know we are not retreating. Only… repositioning."
The assassin took the scroll and bowed low. "Yes, Lady Shiva."
Shiva turned her gaze once more to the katana on the wall.
As she shifted her sleeve,
But her gaze slowly slid down, drawn not to the blade, but to the tiny, fragile thing resting on her wrist that was covered by her sleeve. It looked as if it had been crafted by a four-year-old, with little blocks that had words written on them, spelling out something special.
It was a bracelet.
A childish. Mismatched. Beads clumsily tied together by small hands that once trembled with joy instead of fear.
Mama
The single word stared back at her. In every other language, in every dialect, even martial arts that she had mastered… it had never felt as heavy as it did now.
Her lips trembled.
A ghost of a smile tried to surface but was crushed under the weight of years.
She closed her eyes.
The silence of the chamber pressed in like a grave.
It felt like the same day when she had found her sister's body lying dead on the ground. But this time, it felt worse, so much worse.
Her hand curled over the bracelet, gently shielding it, as if protecting it from the cruelty of the world she had seen.
A distant memory flickered in her mind.
------------------------
A child sat curled in her lap, small fingers tracing the edge of a worn storybook. The girl's black hair shimmered in the warm glow of the lantern, but nestled in those strands were streaks long, snowy white strands woven through her black hair.
The child laughed softly as she pointed to a picture in the book, then turned her face up toward Shiva, eyes alight with wonder. Blue eyes, clear and wide with joy.
"Mama, that one looks like you," she giggled, pointing to a graceful warrior drawn in the pages.
--------------------------
Shiva's lips curled faintly in that memory; she remembered smiling back, even if it was rare then, too.
---------------------------
Then the girl reached into a little cloth pouch she had clumsily tied at her waist.
Her tiny hands fished out a mess of tangled thread and brightly colored beads. She held it up like it was the greatest treasure in the world.
"Here you go, Mama!" she beamed, her face glowing with pride. "I made it! All by myself!"
She leaned forward, struggling to tie the mismatched bracelet around Shiva's wrist. The knot was lopsided, the beads uneven. But in the center, there was a blocky, wobbly spelling made of letters strung together:
Mama
The girl beamed as she tied it around Shiva's wrist with clumsy fingers. "I made it myself. So when you're away… You don't forget."
Shiva had frozen in that moment. The book almost slid from her hands.
Forget? How could she?
She remembered saying nothing. Just putting the book aside and pulling the child close. Holding her so tightly, she feared the girl might break. The world outside had never felt so far away. Or so bearable.
"Mama, I'm tired. Are we going to go to the green pool again? That creepy grandpa always looks at me weird." The girl said tiredly all of a sudden.
"Yes, we have to, so you can get better soon." Shiva said while hugging her.
"Okay."
And then—
The memory cracked like glass.
The warmth faded.
--------------------------
"I'm sorry, my little one…" she whispered. Her voice broke just for a moment, shattering the illusion of the unshakable assassin.
"Mama should have been faster…"
Her knuckles whitened. Then, slowly, she inhaled, steadying herself.
For just a breath, the steel behind her voice wavered. The fortress of discipline cracked, but only for a moment. Her brow furrowed slightly as if pushing back the weight of the memory, the regret, the guilt.
But that moment passed. She composed herself, exhaling slowly, the mask of control slipping neatly back into place.
She pulled her sleeve back down gently, covering the beads beneath the cuff.
She looked at the katana once more, and this time, there was no hunger for power, no fire of revenge, only the stillness of someone who had already lost too much.
Shiva turned from the weapon and disappeared into the darkness of the chamber.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
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The Next Morning
S.T.A.R Labs- Cisco's Workshop
Clara POV
The morning sun streamed faintly through the high lab windows, illuminating the floating motes of dust and making them shimmer like tiny stars. It was too early for most of the team, but I was already awake, nestled in the corner of Mr. Cisco's workshop.
A thermos of warm cocoa sat untouched on the workbench beside me. I stood on a stepping stool in oversized slippers, wearing a borrowed S.T.A.R. Labs hoodie that nearly swallowed my tiny frame. My red eyes were locked in focus, brows furrowed as I held a soldering pen in one hand and a magnifying lens over Svarog's shoulder plating with the other.
I had heard Cisco grumble about not wanting "a ten-year-old messing with heavy-duty tech." But after seeing Mr. Svarog, he simply cleared a space and muttered, "Well, if anyone can fix Robo-Dad, it's Mini Tony Stark over here."
I never understood what he was talking about or who Tony Stark was.
I looked at Mr. Svarog lying on the table, powered down, with half of his chest plate open. A complex cluster of wires, humming circuits, was exposed, and I could see some wires were damaged and dent marks around the chest and all around. Those marks were from when he was fighting so many clones during the fight with Multiplex.
"Hold on, Mr. Svarog…" I whispered gently, almost as if I were speaking to a sleeping friend. "I just need to reroute the wires and then fix the dents since you didn't take too much damage…"
I paused for a moment and used a small brush to gently sweep away the fingerprints. Then, I opened a small toolkit that belonged to Mr. Cisco in his workshop and pulled out replacement wires that I had found among the spare wires he had discarded in the trash.
"Silly adults... You shouldn't throw away wires that can still be useful for repairs." I muttered to myself.
I nodded to myself and pulled my stool closer, slipping on Mr. Cisco's oversized safety goggles. They kept slipping off my nose. "This is why I need my own pair," I mumbled.
I wanted to be taller so these can fit...I hate being so small.
Gently, I removed the old, damaged wires and replaced them with new ones, watching as they connected and faintly glowed, syncing with Mr. Svarog's other wires and systems.
Ding!
[Svarog] Repair progress: 80% completed.
"Okay. I just need to do this, and Mr. Svarog should be fine." I muttered to myself, since the system had always helped me with the repair process every time this happens.
I didn't notice Mr. Cisco walking in, holding a coffee cup and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his sleeve. He paused in the doorway, silently watching me as I grabbed pliers from the toolkit with practiced hands. I went to the stepping stool to get near Mr. Svarog's shoulder as I locked the pliers around the edge of one crumpled plate near Mr. Svarog's shoulder. "Okay… just a little pull…"
Ka-CHNK!
The tool hissed as I applied pressure, slowly realigning the bent plating. There was a satisfying pop as it snapped back into shape.
"You're seriously ten?" he finally asked, raising an eyebrow. Seeing movements felt precise and natural, like I had done this a hundred times before.
I jolted slightly and turned to face him, blinking in surprise. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to invade your space so early. I just… Mr. Svarog had some damages, and I didn't want it to—"
"Relax," Cisco said, waving a hand dismissively. "I told you yesterday that if anyone can fix that walking terminator, it's you. You're like a little genius gremlin who feeds on schematics instead of cereal."
I blinked at him, then tilted my head a bit. "Cereal?... Never had it before, what is it?"
Cisco just blinked at me, then sighed.
Cisco walked over, peeking inside Svarog's exposed systems. "Did you just reuse the old wires that were in the trash?"
Clara nodded shyly. "I kinda searched your scrap bin. Most of it was still viable."
"Still viable," Cisco muttered under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief. "You scare me a little. In a good way."
I smiled faintly. "Mr. Svarog is my family. I want to keep Mr. Svarog and Pascal safe. They're my family that I had by my side at my camp."
I looked at Cisco for a long moment, watching his smile shift into something softer and more respectful, almost protective. "Yeah, well… you're not alone here, Clara. We're your friends, too," he said.
I blinked, slowly absorbing his words. "Really?"
"Of course!" he said, gesturing dramatically to the room. "You helped Barry out and gave him enough time. You also brought a two-ton robot that is very protective. You are also ten years old, which I don't think a normal ten-year-old would make this robot like you have. That officially puts you on the list right under 'A genius prodigy'"
I giggled, relief washing over me as it was my first genuine laugh since the day before. "Thank you, Mr. Cisco," I said, feeling grateful.
"Don't mention it," he replied, tapping the side of my cocoa. "Make sure you drink that before it turns into sludge."
"I will, let me just finish up fixing Mr. Svarog's dents, he has." I said, moving the stepping stool to his other shoulder.
"Hey, Clara, who taught you to do all this? I don't think you could have done this by yourself." Mr. Cisco asked.
"Oh! It was actually something I have called th-" I was cut off when I felt something stop my voice instantly, and the pliers in my hands trembled slightly as the cold, I felt an invisible pressure as if something was watching me from behind, I didn't want to turn around.
I'm scared. I don't want to die.
Alert!
[Player], you are about to say something that is not allowed to another person. I suggest not doing so, as a severe penalty will be enforced against you.
My pupils dilated. The comforting glow from Svarog's chest suddenly felt distant, and the room, once warm and smelling of cocoa, now felt colder, tighter, like I was only by myself in a dark room.
The warning of the system that was once blue was now red in my vision, flashing like an alarm. I clenched my teeth. Not now… not in front of Mr. Cisco.
"Clara?"
His voice snapped me back.
I gasped and quickly turned away, pretending to focus on the dented panel. "S-sorry! I, um… I thought I saw something on Mr. Svarog's shoulder."
Cisco frowned, clearly noticing the shift. "You okay? You kinda got cut off when you were about to tell me."
I nodded quickly, forcing a smile. "Yeah! I just thought I saw something on Mr. Svarog and was focused on his plating. Maybe I'm a bit dizzy from being here for a while.
He didn't look convinced. Not entirely. But he let it go, for now.
"Hey, just chill out. I totally get losing sleep over tech stuff, trust me, I've been there. But you're still a kid. You need your rest, some cocoa, and all the cartoons you can handle, or whatever it is ten-year-olds dig. So, take it easy, you've done well enough."
I nodded, grateful he didn't press the question again. My fingers returned to the metal shoulder, but my thoughts were spinning.
That was too close.
The system had never warned me like that before.
Actually, that wasn't entirely true; it had given me my first warning while I was still at my camp while I was fixing an Automaton Spider. Some campers had asked me who taught me to fix robots, and when I tried to answer them, I was cut off by a warning. A day later, the campers became seriously ill. It was my fault for speaking out when I wasn't supposed to.
They were punished for it instead of me.
I can't tell anyone about it, not even Mr. Cisco. But why? Why was it so dangerous?
I decided not to ask about it because I'm afraid the system will punish me for asking that type of question.
Ding!
Reminder: Some knowledge is restricted. You are not allowed to talk about the Adventure System to anyone. If not, there will be severe consequences enforced.
I exhaled slowly and wiped sweat from my brow with the sleeve of the oversized hoodie. Mr. Svarog's repairs were almost done. I could see the wires were all fixed. All I had to do was close up Mr. Svarog's chest and then activate Mr. Svarog with my laptop.
"Alright," Cisco said, stretching. "I'm gonna head upstairs and see if anything is happening in the city. If you need me, shout."
"I will," I said, watching him go.
As the door slid shut behind him, I whispered softly, not to the system, not to Svarog but to myself.
"…I just wanted to tell the truth." I said to myself as I got off the stepping stool and logged in to my laptop, and pressed the buttons needed to activate Mr. Svarog
Ding!
Main Quest- Completed
What It Means to Be a Hero
Info: Help the Streak defeat Danton Black in your way, however you see fit.
Rewards: Battle Suit Lottery Ticket(10x), Mechanical Parts (500x), Resilience Cube(NIKKE), A hand puppet of Svarog(Useable for the outfit [The Hermit]), Heat Resistance Mechanica Parts
My eyes widened a little as the reward window flashed in front of me. The words "Resilience Cube – NIKKE" hovered in the air with a golden shimmer before dissolving into my inventory. I didn't fully understand what that one did yet, but… it felt important for something in the future.
The heat-resistant robot parts could be extremely useful if a supervillain has something very hot that attempts to burn Mr. Svarog. With these heat-resistant mechanical parts, they won't be able to hurt him or any other robots I create.
Perhaps I should use the [Battle Suit Lottery Ticket] today or soon. If I get a good outfit, I could help Mr. Svarog, Big Brother Barry, or even Big Sister Caitlin.
Ding!
[Journey Across the Multiverse] is now unlocked!
A gateway has been opened. As your reputation and strength grow, you are now able to visit other universes. Your actions will ripple across realities. Choose your paths wisely.
World Roll System Activated.
Would you like to roll for a destination?
I blinked. "Journey Across the Multiverse…?" I whispered to myself. My heart beat a little faster, not with fear this time, but curiosity. Were there other places like Central City? More people like Big Brother Barry, or… even where mommy and daddy are?
My fingers hesitated over the blue screen. I knew what happened the last time I tried to tell someone about the system. But I was given this reward by completing the quest, so it's safe.
"...Okay. Roll." I said.
The system's display shifted, showing white transparent cards, and then turned from blue to gold cards, resembling tarot cards flipping in the air. No clunky spinning wheel, just holographic cards sliding to the left and right, like moving images of cards.
One by one, three options appeared before me, wanting me to choose one.
Ding!
Now Rolling…
1st World Selected: Eighty-Six
Realm: Human World
World Origin: Eighty-Six
Faction Affinity: Spearhead Squadron
Bonus Effect: [Project Together] now resonates with their military technology. It can now be completed and adapted for advanced combat use.
2nd World Selected:
Realm: Digital/Virtual Reality
World Origin: Sword Art Online
Faction Affinity: Companion/AI
Bonus Effect: Adventure System upgraded. The player is now compatible with neural-link technology and be able to access games and their data while helping other players in that world.
3rd World Selected: NIKKE: Goddes of Victory
Realm: Post-Apocalyptic Warfare
World Origin: Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
Faction Affinity: Pilgrim (abnormal)
Bonus Effect: "Two Worlds, One Hope" If a Nikke is ever created in The Flash universe, it will become a symbol of hope for Nikkes everywhere… that there is a place for them on the surface.
I stared as the final card slid into place and faded into the [Multiverse Travel History] log. My breath caught in my throat.
Ding!
You may choose to visit one world for 24 hours (real-time).Or, you may store your rolls for later. A new world becomes available every 3 days. Up to 3 stored at once.
Would you like to open a portal now?
I hesitated.
The camp… Mr. Svarog… Big Brother Barry and Big Sister Caitlin…Mr. Cisco...they are all here. What if something happened while I was gone?
But…
What if this journey could help me protect them better?
I reached forward, then paused, my fingers trembling just a little.
"…I'll wait," I whispered. "Just a little longer. I'll use it… when I'm ready."
The golden light faded softly, and the system accepted my decision without pressure.
But I know that it's only being nice to me for right now...sooner or later, it will possibly make me go, whether I like it or not, and I don't want to know when it will happen.
[Adventure System Reminder:]
You may access one stored world roll every 3 days.
New worlds unlock through Quest Completion, Fated Quests, and Key milestones.
Memory synchronization between worlds is supported.
Current Rolls Stored: 3/3
I knew the system wasn't always kind. It never really asked—it just told. This was the first time it felt like it gave me a choice. But how long would that last?
I looked over at Mr. Svarog, his chest now fully sealed, the new plating smooth and almost warm beneath my hand. He was whole again. I smiled faintly and leaned against the workbench, cradling lukewarm cocoa.
"I'll get stronger," I murmured quietly. "So if I do have to go… I'll be ready."
I then opened my status to see how much progress I have made since the main quest was completed.
Name: Clara
Age: 10
Parents: ??, ??
Powers: Unknown
Faction: Wildfire
Companions: Svarog, Pascal, Automaton
Spider (3), Automaton Grizzly (7)
Mechanical Parts: Kryptonite Mechanical
Parts, Heat Resistance Mechanical Parts, Mechanical Parts (1,240)
Dark Matter Particles: (100)
Energy: 100/100
Hunger: 90/100
Stamina: 100/100
Debuff: PTSD (Active when Triggered), Immune Weak System
Skills: Regeneration of The Pit
"I'm still scared," I whispered, fingers clutched around my cocoa. "Even with all this power… I'm still just a little girl, aren't I?"
No answer came.
But that was okay.
I'm not the grown-up that I want people to see. I'm just a little girl.
I closed the status screen and looked at Svarog again. His pink eye glowed faintly just enough to confirm that he was powered in standby mode.
"Tomorrow," I said. "Maybe… I'll try one of those Battle Suit tickets."
I stared down at the last little reward floating in my inventory. A hand puppet of Svarog. It was silly… soft… almost handmade in a strange way.
Like something a child would treasure.
I reached in from my [Inventory] and summoned it, and since it's for an outfit, I could preview it.
The little puppet plopped onto the workbench, floppy arms and all. I blinked… then let out a little giggle. It was ridiculous. But warm.
With careful fingers, I slipped it on and held it up.
"Mr. Svarog…" I whispered in a high voice, mimicking his deep, robotic tone as best as I could. "Clara, you have done well. But now… You must rest. Or I will be forced to carry you to bed like a very tiny potato sack."
I couldn't help it. I laughed. A real laugh this time again.
Then… I cried just a little too.
Because for the first time in a long time…
I felt safe when I was with Mr. Svarog, and that's what I wanted.