[Brentwood] - Frenzy

After hearing that Brentwood Academy will be taking students to the Halloween festival at (insert location), Oliver Queen decides this is an ideal opportunity for Connor Kent to meet Roy Harper and Mia Dearden-Queen, to test the waters before revealing that he is - genetically speaking - Connor's father. To make the encounter "less weird", Oliver invites along Mal Duncan and Ray Terrill; not understanding the motives behind Mr Queen's strange request, Connor brings along Wally West for moral support.

Before the extended Queen Family can meet, however, Wally and Connor are dosed with a compound called Frenzy, a narcotic originating with the Church of Blood that has begun changing hands as a street drug. While in most the drug merely amplifies adrenaline and testosterone, Frenzy proves to have an amplified effect on Wally's speedster metabolism, and doubly so on Connor's part Kryptonian physiology. It doesn't take long before the two provoke each other into a chaotic battle, one that is narrowly averted thanks to the intervention of Team Arrow (and others?).

As the effects of Frenzy begin to wear off, Wally and Connor are instructed to stay put, and stay out of trouble. Now aware of each other's meta abilities however, the two stubbornly refuse, and Mia - left to "babysit" - is too bored, agreeing that the three of them should investigate the source of the Frenzy for themselves. Their investigation leads them back to a warehouse that Connor had staked out with Oliver days before, confirming Connor's suspicions that they have found the right place. Busting in to settle a score, the trio find themselves face to face with Bane, who seems to have augmented himself with some new kind of kryptonite-laced version of Venom. With Connor off-balance, Mia suffering from an "I don't have an arrow for this!" situation, and Wally unable to go toe-to-toe with Bane on his own, the two are saved only thanks to the arrival of Team Arrow, and an unexpected bombshell ("Get the hell away from my son!") from Green Arrow.



1) Halloween Festival
Use this opportunity to have Roy & Mia interact, and to have Ray & Mal interact, to establish/reinforce those dynamics. Possibly Stanley Wilson as well, using his migration to Gotham as an excuse to exposition Mia's migration. Also use the opportunity to establish students and teachers from Brentwood Academy, possibly students from other (ie. not rich) schools, and possibly other Gotham characters as well - police, journalists, etc.

2) Smackdown
Wally and Connor are dosed probably through carnival food (candyfloss?), something that Connor will never have experienced, and thus Wally will insist he eats - and partake of excessively himself. This pay be part of an unrelated Church of Blood plan to cause chaos at the carnival and showcase the effects of Frenzy, or it may be a targetted effort by Klarion Bleak who, as a Lord of Chaos, presumably knows who Wally and Connor really are. Wally's powers lightning will turn red as a reaction to the Frenzy, and he will become stronger, but a little slower, as the Frenzy reduces the speed/frequency of his Speed Force lightning. Wally may begin to behave in a way reminiscent of the Reverse-Flash, including the glowing eyes and constant vibration. Connor's abilities will be enhanced as if he was using Red Shields from Young Justice, unlocking more aspects of his Kryptonian DNA and potential, but at the expense of heightened rage, and impared reasoning. The duo may be subdued by the efforts of Team Arrow, or they may simply burn through the Frenzy in their system very quickly, and pass out. This is the Hulk vs Thor fight in Ragnarok, but more red. (the lightning-wielder is just as buff and handsome though).

3) Recovery
Now aware of each other's meta-status, Wally and Connor are able to compare notes. This is an opportunity to soft reset their respective backstories. Why do you have Superman powers? How do you know Oliver Queen? The two will need to be instructed to stay put somewhere (Mal's house?), perhaps waiting for a doctor (Tommy? J'onn?) to arrive so they can be checked over. The person instructing them to stay (Oliver?) needs to be someone they will ignore / rebel against.

4) Investigation
Wally, Connor, and Mia will need to figure out what happened. Mia may have some observations that may tip them off to the possibility that this was Frenzy: perhaps Wally comes up with the theory that perhaps the colours of speedster lightning, kryptonite, and the emotional spectrum are somehow connected. If they are able to conclude/speculate that it if Frenzy, they presumably have enough awareness between the three of them that there is a connection to the Church of Blood: it may be a known/rumoured thing, part of the sales pitch for the trendy new drug. Their next course of action could be to visit the Church of Blood itself (an opportunity to introduce Brother Blood?), and/or it might involve shaking down Jason Bromorton - Brentwood's known Frenzy dealer - to find out where he gets his drugs from. Either way, one thing will lead to another, and the trio will make their way to the Queen Consolidated warehouse that Oliver and Connor staked out the day that Chocolate Kryptonite was born.

5) Boss Fight
Bane is now using a kryptonite-based substance to enhance his Venom. This is the basis for Green Light, the next drug to hit the streets. On humans, Green Light can cause latent metagenes to activate, especially after prolongued exposure, similar to the "meteor rocks" in Smallville. On existing metas, it is essentially like nitrous, significantly enhancing their existing abilities. Not only does this make it uncomfortable for Bane to be close to Connor, as the kryptonite in his blood begins to take effect: it also enhances his strength towards kryptonian levels, and certainly to a point where he is more than a match for Wally's speed. It may even enhance Bane's reflexes - think Superman's eye moving to look at The Flash while he's superspeeding in Justice League - helping to explain why he's a problem for Mia as well: he may be dodging or catching arrows, and what-not. Oliver's arrival - perhaps because Mia wisely hit a panic button, and/or because he knew they wouldn't stay put and so has been following them the entire time - is an opportunity to demonstrate that a) just punching the thing isn't always the solution, b) teamwork is the answer, and c) listening to Green Arrow (especially mid-fight) is usually a good idea. Oliver may not even participate very much himself after his initial entry: he may quarterback the trio instead, allowing them to win the day as a team, with a little mentorship. (in the future, they will switch out Oliver for Hank Hall as this mentor figure).

6) Aftermath
Oliver and Connor will need some time to contextualise exactly what Oliver means by "my son", and how that reframes all of the help, support, and encouragement that Oliver has given so far. In the meantime, Wally will have some time with Roy, to reconnect, to OMG about the discovery that Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow, which Wally had somehow not put together yet. This may be an opportunity for some Spitfire banter, where Mia teases that "You probably didn't figure out that I was Mia Dearden-Queen, either," to which Wally responds blankly, because he has no idea who Mia Dearden-Queen is.

7) Epilogue
Presumably, Team Arrow have handed Bane over to the GCPD, but everyone knows that won't stick. The police van carrying Bane to lock-up is stopped mid-transit, and he will be freed by someone whose presence starts to hint at the connectedness of the conspiracy. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to introduce Penguin: as a fixer, getting Bane out of jail on behalf of Intergang is exactly the sort of thing they pay him for. In that case, perhaps Captain Cold and Killer Frost are there as well, having stopped and opened the van, while Penguin stands around looking suave, establishing the idea that the ice villains work for him.



1) What stage of Ray's story are we at? Does he know that Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow yet, or do we want to save that reveal for later? Was he invited along as a friend, an ally, and/or as a budding reporter who was supposed to be writing a blah piece on a Halloween carnival, only to get the front row scoop when things get chaotic? Also, where is Ray at in terms of his powers, and will he - covertly or otherwise - use them to try and help the situation in some way? Are his sunlight powers instrumental in purging / weakening the Frenzy in Connor's system (the healing effect of yellow sunlight), is he not at a stage where he can / is using them, or is it somewhere in between where his participation may be accidental/incidental, but also accidentally effective?

2) How much is Klarion involved? Is dosing the Carnival with Frenzy just a field test / publicity stunt to show what kind of chaos it can cause when unleashed on a crowd, or are Connor and Wally targetted in a more deliberate way, given the kind of knowledge/insight a Lord of Chaos might have? Does he participate only in the opening scene at the carnival, or is he following along / observing, perhaps watching from the shadows as the Bane fight goes down?

3) How do Wally and Connor avoid being exposed, and trashing the place? Do we rely on Wally to inadvertently superspeed them into the distance (far enough to not be recognised), perhaps as part of a rugby/football tackle type manoeure at high speed, or do we need someone/something else to intervene and stop them from a) being recognised, and b) hurting anyone? Is this an opportunity to introduce Captain Marvel or Red Tornado, using them as the plot device that moves Wally and Connor away from the crowd, only to provoke the anger of both of them at once and be forced to retreat (or punched towards the horizon)? Or, is this something that Klarion does, in a "No, no, no, you idiots! Someone will see you!" sort of way? After all, letting people suffer the consequences for things is such a lame Lord of Order thing to do. Or, do we throw a complete curveball, having them moved/transported away from the crowd with no obvious explanation, leaving it as a loose end for us to come back and build on later (like the Doctor travelling backwards through Season 5, with the mop and the fez)?

4) What will the fallout of this be? Because of the red lightning, and the heat vision, are media outlets going to speculate that this was a fight between the Reverse-Flash and a rogue Kryptonian? Is this just an isolated, everyday event for Gotham City, or do we want it to spark attention in some way? For example, do we want to have Hector and Constantine there in the crowd, a) to cameo/(re)introduce them, and b) so that they can sense the presence of the Lords of Chaos meddling in things, to begin nudging them in Brentwood's direction? If Captain Marvel plays any part, do we want Commissioner Gordon there (for a day out with Barbara) so that he can witness this vigilante escallation, setting that up as a potential plot hook?

5) Is the carnival a means to an end, just something we're hop, skip, and jumping through to get to the Connor/Wally fight, or do we want to indulge in the carnival itself? What sort of things do we want to do? Connor participating in arcade games? Someone getting a tarot reading from Madame Xanadu? Have Connor be shown up by Mia at some sort of accuracy/archery/shooting game, only for Oliver to nudge him towards the test your strength hammer thingie so he can redeem himself (and beat Mal in the process)?

6) How does the Wally/Connor fight end? Is it like Ragnarok, where the lightning-wielder has the upper hand against the rage monster, but they get zapped by a taser arrow (a special anti-speedster taser arrow, that Mia has had handy ever since Wally first met/annoyed her?) before they can score the winning blow? Does Ray use his sun powers, weakening Connor a little bit, or does the Frenzy burn out of his system quicker because Wally ate so much damned food, giving the speedster an unfair advantage - and thus allowing the two of them to argue about who would win for the rest of time?