Balancing the peach cobbler in one hand, Lydia fished out her let to her brother's apartment. She knew she should have called before coming over, but if he wasn't home, she'd just leave the cobbler there with instructions for reheating it in the oven. But she also wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time and just wander in. She pushed open the door as soon as she heard the lock disengage and called out, making sure he knew she was here. When no one answered, she wandered in cautiously.

“James?” She called out again as she headed for the kitchen. Still no answer. She saw the table was covered in paperwork and files. Curious, and seeing no one was home, she wandered over. He must have left in a rush if he had left all this just lying around. She looked over the files, glancing over everything briefly before a picture caught her eye. She reached over and grabbed the file it was attached to, turning it to face her.

The cobbler crashed to the floor as she saw a familiar face stare back at her, glass skittering across the floor as she picked up the file with two shaky hands. Marty’s doppelganger (she knew it was, as they may be the same to most people but she knew the subtle differences) was alive, according to this file. Alive, and in SHIELD custody.

Her costume formed instantly and she was outside in a matter of moments. The file contained coordinates to the facility, most likely for James's benefit, but she knew how to read them too. She was a streak in the sky before she even knew what she was doing or why. It didn't take her long to reach Oklahoma, and it wasn't hard for her to spot the facility from air; she'd seen enough of them growing up to know what she was looking for.
Lydia's landing was a bit harder than she had wanted, leaving a dent in the cement. She hadn't realized how angry she was until then. Of course her entrance had startled the personnel inside the facility, setting off some alarms and an armed response.

“I just want to see <i>him</i>.” She held up the file, feeling annoyed at all the hostility. She could feel her scalp starting to itch and she didn't want to put on a pyrotechnics display and scare them further, so she just took a deep breath and added, “please.”

“You're….um...you're not cleared for this facility, ma’am.” one agent said, bravely stepping forward. Lydia figured him for the senior and gently out here at the moment, though she was sure there were higher ups inside.

“Well get me cleared! You know I don't have to ask, but even I don’t want to get yelled at by the director for destruction of property. So, ask whoever and let me in.” She tried to remain calm, tried to be reasonable, but she had been put through hell by that asshole, and she didn't have a plan for what she'd do when she got in there, she just knew she needed to look him in the eye. Maybe then the nightmares would stop.

The agent in charge seemed to be talking to someone on his headset, though he seemed to have gone to the Phil Coulson school for poker faces because she couldn't tell what was happening. Then his phone rang and he answered it before holding it out for her. “It's the director.”

Lydia took the phone and put it to her ear, waiting to get an earful. “Can you not destroy my buildings, please? I have enough trouble with that. Now, Lydia, why are you there?”

“You know why. You know who's here.” there was a long pause on the other end.

“Lydia,” Phil sounded almost tired. “There's nothing there for you.”

“There's closure.” Phil sighed again.

“Hand the phone back to Agent Chapman.” Lydia did as she was told. The rest of the conversation was brief, with lots of nodding before it ended. Then Agent Chapman looked at Lydia and motioned for her to follow him. They took the file from her and led her deep underground to an isolated cell, suspended over a hole so deep she couldn't see the bottom. It was a giant metal cube, and she couldn't see any windows or a door.

“Wait here a moment. We're prepping it for a visitor.” Lydia waited, rather impatiently until they gave her the all clear and a door slid open on the top of the cube. Without much prompting she flew over and lowered herself in. And all she could do was stare. She wasn't sure what kind of glass or polymer or even shielding separated them, but it wasn't enough. All of the things she had wanted to say flew out of her head the moment she set down.

Months had gone by since Martin Jordan had been defeated by his emerald counterpart. Most of the Terror Titans were dead or sent home. He'd been here since SHIELD discovered his assistance against his former "allies". He'd decided that it would be a good plan to stay put until he had the lay of the universe figured out. Once that was all done, and his other plans fell into place, he'd flee. He just wanted to get off the planet.

The cell was interesting. Some kind of transparent metal. The construction was actually rather fascinating to him. Barnes truly believed that this would hold him here. It was laughable. But he was going to stay there as a guest for as long as he felt like it. This version of Barnes was slightly more competent and less obsessed with Danvers and others. Martin felt, more than heard the impact against concrete. He could sense her presence. There was anger and rage, but something else underlying. Something that he'd missed. Her fear.

Lydia Danvers had finally come to play.

As the hatch opened and Lydia moved into the chamber, Martin stood up from his chair. It was only respectful after all. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to straighten it out. It had been awhile since he'd had a chance to make himself look good. He smiled at Lydia and stayed in the center of the cell. He didn't want to scare her. She'd obviously come here for a reason.

As she set down, Martin waved to her, making sure to wave with the left hand, so she could see the ring wasn't present. He wanted to make it apparent to her that he was powerless. Not that anyone in the entire facility trusted him. If he'd had more time, then he could have worked a better plan for an escape, but he wasn't sure that the one he'd made was enough.

"Hello again, Lydia. You're looking well. I'm glad that you made it out of the invasion. I'm glad you did. You're much better than your counterpart. Did you come here to talk or are you here to talk about Walter and James and their little secret mission?"

Lydia's ears were ringing, she could feel her heart beating like a bass drum in her chest. She had thought she had things to say but all she heard in her own head was static. She didn’t think she’d ever actually get the chance to face him, the reason she couldn’t sleep at night. She had been told he was dead. She had been lied to. If she was in a more rational state of mind, she could understand why; this was exactly what they were trying to avoid.

She watched him try and fix his hair, somewhere in the back of her head, thinking he needed a haircut. He’s not your Marty. He’s nothing like Marty. He doesn’t need a haircut, he doesn’t need a shave. He’s not someone you need to worry about like that. She continued to stare as he waved, showing he had no ring. She had known that though. They had gotten back from his universe, unable to get the ring back from Red Hood. Presumably it was still with him.

She didn’t hear anything past “Hello again,” because her mind went blank. He was being so nonchalant, like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t given her some of the worst nightmares of her life and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t know she had moved until her fist hit something. The impact sent out a ripple along the shielding in a red octagonal grid that separated the two and made the whole cube sway. Her reaction was instant; she took several steps back and put her hands at her sides, looking only slightly repentant. She had never lost control like that.

Finally her brain caught up with the rest of her body, his words filtering in. Walt and James on a secret mission. It would have explained why there was files all over the apartment like they had left in a hurry. But how the hell would he know about that?

She took a deep breath and, “...what secret mission?’

Martin hadn't expected the impact against the shielding. It actually sent him stumbling back a step or two. He watched the energy shield ripple against the impact for a second. Martin held up his hands. "I deserved that." He actually did look repentant, when he spoke. "Hey, ask them to let you in here. I'll let you knock me around a little if it will help."

Lydia had a confused look on her face. He realized she was finally focused when she asked about her brother and Flash's secret mission. Martin looked her in the eye. "They're going to finish cleaning up the trash from my universe. They're going after Winter Soldier and Reverse Flash. If we're all good, maybe your brother will throw those two douche canoes into a black hole and we'll never see them again."

Jordan stretched, popping his neck and moving his arms to loosen up. "If you're wondering, I know lots of things. I know you're a human star these days, my counter part is grounded and that my ring is in the hands of a third rate pretender." Martin gave her a smile. "If I'm being honest though, I don't mind the last one so much. I don't have to listen to the thing in my head anymore. I can think clearly without it these days. More like I used to be."

He touched his hand to the wall of the cube, without setting the barrier shield off. "Listen, I know it probably doesn't mean anything, but I'm sorry for the things that happened. It doesn't change anything, but I wanted you to know that."

It was hard to form complete sentences at the moment, as there were far too many things she wanted to shout at him, but now they were competing with a suddenly endless amount of questions she had. Her anger and agitation still simmered under the surface. Anger had been a feeling she'd had a lot these days. She didn't like it, didn't like snapping at her friends and family for no reason. She took another deep breath, trying to control the anger, not let it control her as she rolled her tongue around in her mouth, searching for what to say next. She was tempted to ask to be let in, to let go and hit him. But that would mean the anger won. And she couldn't do that.

She shifted, crossing her arms when he said Walt and her brother were working together. Though if they were working together and if there was a Reverse Flash running around, they would need to work together to beat them. The corners of her mouth twitched at his description of the Winter Solider and Reverse Flash. "What? You don't like them either? Not all friends with the other crazy people from your universe?"

He spat out a surprising amount of correct information that made her eye him suspiciously. She doubted anyone would feed it to him, so where was he getting it? The info about Red Hood having his ring could have been something he just knew, could have sensed it's return to this universe. Everything else though...

He smiled at her...and she had to look away. It made him look too much like her Marty. He spouted something about how he used to be, before the ring. She knew all about the corrupting influence of a yellow ring. She'd heard from her dad, from Hal, from Marty. She could almost believe what he was saying. "Like you used to be? And how is that, hmm? Just a jerk with delusions of grandeur?" she looked back at him.

And then....and then he apologized to her. Lydia grimaced and looked away, running a hand through her hair and holding at the top of her head. "Don't," came her shaky reply. She would not, could not feel sorry for him. She wouldn't! And yet, her anger was ebbing. She was just not built to hold it in and use it. "Don't, just don't...I can't...I can't just forgive you. I don't even really know why I came here, but that was not it." She stepped up close to the barrier, arms wrapped around herself and looked at him. "They had convinced me you were dead, so, I dunno...I guess I came here for closure."

"I will be completely honest with you. They were a means to get out of that dying universe. I wasn't friendly with any of them. Most of them were bad even for villain standards. I just went along, so I'd have access to a portal. I came here to start over." Martin shrugged at her. "I tried getting friendly with your doppelganger. Ended up with bruises, burns and a broken wrist. It was like spending a night with a running lawnmower." He gave a small shutter at mention of that.

As much as Lydia was trying to be hostile towards him and channel her anger, he could tell that there was some curiosity there as well. Martin knew that he would be able to use that, but he didn't want to manipulate her. He just wanted get her to stick around and talk a bit. If he was being honest, he'd missed company. Even though her annoying older brother was just trying to interrogate him, Martin had to admit that he'd gotten used to the little sessions they'd been having.

He tensed up at the question about his past. The wince on his face, showed that Lydia had scored a direct hit. Martin took a breath and then spoke. "It's hard to remember who I was. My parents were killed in the war with the Controllers. The Sinestro of my universe gave me that ring to avenge them since the Controllers wiped out the Green Lantern Corps. Their blight spread across the stars. I spent too much time wearing his ring. Letting him use me for his experiments." There was a pause. "I guess I came to my senses, because I just wanted to get away from that place. The invading force here, just gave me the option."

The shaky response was a good sign. It meant that he'd managed to get through her defenses at least. Maybe some part of what he'd said got through. Martin withdrew his hand from the barrier. "No, that's fine. I didn't expect forgiveness. It just needed to be said. Honestly, when your Marty attacked me, I realized that this was the chance I needed. I let him think he killed me. Used constructs to fake it and let him have my ring. And then I tried to escape, but your brother black bagged me and brought me here instead." Martin started pacing the floor again.

"I could have left at any time, but I was honestly hoping that you'd come see me before that. Well, that and I didn't realize that you'd let Reverse Flash into this world. Or that Winter Soldier was still alive. I suppose I got sloppy. Distractions happen." He took a deep breath and then turned, looking at Lydia.

"They're in for a fight. I can help them. I can end the threat to your world once and for all and bring them home to you. If you want me to."

Getting a call from Phil Coulson, the Director of SHIELD while flying over South East Asia could be good or bad. Getting a call from Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD and concerned father figure to your daughter? Usually bad, no matter where you're flying over. And so it was that Carol Danvers' phone rang to inform her that her daughter was some place she wasn't supposed to be. Mildly disconcerting at the very least. At least she had said "please" while trying to force her way into the base.

"And what, exactly, is at the base that would make her want to go there, Phil?" There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Phil spoke again. There was a lot that Carol had missed in the 10 years she'd been tossed around time. But all of the rather horrible stuff had happened within the last year or so. And Phil had been reluctant to share, if only to focus on the better aspects.

"I'll send you the coordinates and fill you in on the case file as you fly. It's a story." Phil sounded tired, even over the phone. That concerned Carol just a little. But as she flew, and Phil told her about what the base was for, and who exactly was housed in there, she could understand why her daughter had gone there. She would have done the same thing. Of course, she wouldn't have been nearly as nice about it. That was one thing she'd give Phil; he'd raised Lydia to have the biggest heart and more consideration for others than anyone she'd ever met. Which made the things that had happened to her all the more horrible.

"How does she still smile, Phil? How is she still so..."

"Cheerful? James always said there wasn't a power in the universe that would stop Lydia from being cheerful. But, it's how she copes. At least in front of people. Natural leader, that one. Knows people look at her to know if things are going to be ok. So, if she's falling apart, they know it's bad. She mostly falls apart with two gallons of chunky monkey and a Great British Baking Show marathon. Which then causes every available surface to be filled with every conceivable type of pastry known to man." There was an exasperated fondness in Phil's voice as he talked about the pastries. Carol had seen the disaster that was her kitchen, she just thought Lydia was fond of baking, but had been informed that's how she worked through issues. Carol wouldn't complain too much about the mess if she kept getting German Chocolate Cake out of the deal.

As Carol came in to land, she could see where Lydia had made her presence known. Carol herself landed with much less force. She reminded herself that she was just here to extract her daughter and leave. Maybe go get ice cream in Italy or something after. That was it. But everything Phil had told her rattled around in the back of her head. And as they waved her in to the control booth, she caught a glimpse of the screens from the cameras inside the cell. She didn't like it at all. She tried to be rational about it, tried to think Lydia knew what she was doing in there. But they were too close together for two people at such odds.

She was flying at the cell before she knew her feet had left the ground.

Lydia was still trying to decide if he was telling the truth. Marty had all but said he'd killed his doppleganger, which proved at least that part of the story to be plausible. But everything else? With the Winter Solider and Reverse Flash running around? Could she believe that? Could she afford not to? Her heart told her no, she couldn't afford it. But her head told her she had to. She couldn't know he was telling the truth. She was about to answer as such when the hatch came off with one loud, metal sheering tear before her mom dropped in. Her head was wreathed in flame, swaying around in some cosmic breeze as her landing shook the whole cell. Her gaze was fixed on Marty as she tried to put herself between him and Lydia.

"Mom! Stop...Mom no." Lydia kept herself between her mom and Marty, trying and struggling to hold her back.

"You..." Carol didn't even look down to acknowledge Lydia's struggle. She heard Phil's voice over and over in her head, telling her what had happened. He'd kidnapped her, kept her captive for almost a year, away from her friends, her family. She wanted to do more than just mess up his face. Her fists started to glow brighter as she took a step forward, causing Lydia's feet to sink into the metal flooring.

"Fine!!" Lydia shouted. "Go help!" She looked at him over her shoulder. "I have no idea how you're getting out of here and I'm not helping you, but if you say you can then do it!" Lydia knew her mother was magnitudes stronger than her at the moment, and she was a momentary barrier at best. But it was all she could do. She had come here with much the same kind of rage, but she couldn't hold onto it that long. Never had been able to. She could definitely say she did not get that from her mother.

The original Captain Marvel's appearance was unexpected to say the least. His intel said that she had been killed years prior in the great battle. But he supposed recent events must have caused her to be brought back somehow. Well, Lydia was entitled to good news, he figured. Carol didn't seem very happy to see Martin, but that was par for the course.

Lydia looked like she was holding her own against her mother. Barely. Martin knew that he could intervene and stop the elder Captain Marvel. He could end this very quickly, but Lydia would not approve of his methods or his lashing out against her mother. The power inside him was best used elsewhere. As she spoke to him, Martin knew it was time to take action.

A golden aura surrounded Martin as he walked through the force field and looked over for a moment. He held his hand up and created a sulfurous barrier to help block Carol's attack. It would fade when he left, but it would give Lydia a few moments to breathe. "She's angry, but also afraid for you. I can sense her fear."

"I need to be honest with you. I didn't push you as hard as I could during the torture. I made sure that it was never enough for you to talk. Because I didn't want your counterpart to kill you once you gave up all your information. I don't even think you'd call that mercy, but I tried to protect you, so that your friends could save you. That's why I called them. And why I let them in when the time came." He cleared his throat, a look of regret on his face. "I'm going to go save your brother and the Flash now. I know that you can never forgive me for the things that happened and that's fine, but I hope that in some small way what I'm about to do helps you see that I'm not all bad."

Martin Jordan of another universe began to fade away, leaving a golden after image. The simple prison garb disappeared, replaced by black and gold armor with pointed shoulder pads, a golden domino mask with tapered ends and a white and gold cape. There was no need to hide what he was any longer. "I'm taking my ring back from the pretender and leaving the space sector. I know it's stupid to ask you to come with me, so I will try to stay out of your way." He blew her a kiss as his form completely faded away, leaving only the symbol of fear behind for a moment before fading completely. His construct barrier faded a few minutes after that.