Central City Museum
December 21st, 2013

"And I am pleased to welcome to the stage, the one for if not for her, none of us would be here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Eliza Merrisson."

A loud applause broke through the halls of the Central City Museum of History, people dressed in their fanciest clothes cheered as someone walked on stage. She was dressed much like everyone else in the vicinity, with a light blue dress encrusted with crystals around the neckline and down her arms. Her dark brown hair was pulled away from her face as she smiled and looked around the room.

"Thank you. After 2 years of hard work and excavation, it is my aught most pleasure to welcome the pharaoh Amenhotep III, ninth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, to Central City."

A red curtain that had been hanging behind the stage fell to the floor revealing the large room filled with relics of Egypt's past. Many gold pieces were showcased in glass cases, one of the biggest being a large sarcophagus made out of gold and stone. Statues on loan from the British Museum of History and the Cairo Museum littered the floor with the pharaoh's likeness for all to see.

The audience broke out into another round of applause, but just as the noise started to die down, an explosive bang made everyone stop short. Eliza, who as also clapping with the crowd, scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion and walked off stage towards the door of the museum. After moving through the crowd, Eliza walked out of the front door with some other patrons and watched as the STAR LABS particle accelerator let out a flash of blinding light. It seemed as if a wave of energy was released from the building, and was heading in all directions, including towards the Central City Museum. Eliza was the first to break out of her shock.

"Everyone inside! NOW!" She screamed, sending the others into a panic as they ran back inside. Eliza was just about to head in as well, but stopped short when a small girl came into view. She couldn't have been older than 6 years old and looked around confused and scared as everyone ran. Eliza didn't take a moment longer to run towards the little girl, pick her up and run to the doors to hand her off to a man holding the door for them. "Get inside. I'll shut the doors."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes, just go!"

The man ran off, little girl in his arms, just Eliza rushed in and shut the first of the glass doors. She was rushing to shut the second set when her heel got stuck on the metal wiring on the floor, making her not able to move on. Eliza tried to pull her shoe free, and as she looked over her shoulder she saw the energy from the particle accelerator moving faster in their direction. She wouldn't have time to unstrap her shoe from the buckle and shut the door. So Eliza pulled the doors towards herself, locking them in place with her arms and squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself. The rumbling of the blast got more powerful as seconds flew by, and as Eliza was about to open her eyes, she was hit with the force of the blast. It pushed her painfully into the doors, trying to open them with its strength, but Eliza put all her weight into keeping them shut. Her skin burned as the wave of energy rushed over her, something in her brain felt like it was being branded as Eliza let out a large scream.

Far too long and all too soon, the wave passed. Eliza looked up to see through the door everyone from the event staring at her, shock written all over their faces. It was the last thing Eliza saw before she passed out, landing on the doors that she kept close to finally open as she fell through the doorway onto the floor.

4 months later . . .

Her body felt like it was sinking into the ocean, the added weight from her drifting farther and farther down pushed on her muscles and lungs. But as if an air pocket appeared around her, Eliza took a quick breath, shocking the people in her hospital room. Cisco Ramon straightened his back in the chair he was sitting in to lean over Eliza's bedside, watching to see if his friend was waking up after so long. Barbara Gordon looked up from her phone and left the wall when she saw Cisco move closer to Eliza's bedside.

"El. Hey, can you here me?" Cisco asked softly, putting her hand on her arm. Both people in the room watched as their friend that has been in a coma for months scrunch up her eyes before blinking and looking around the room.

"Cisco?" Her voice was soft and it cracked as she spoke for the first time in 4 months. Cisco let out a laugh, relief flowing through him like a rapid river. Barbara smiled and walked over to the bed, catching Eliza's attention. "Barb?"

"Hey sweetness. You decided to take your sweet time waking up."

"What happened?"

"The particle accelerator at STAR LABS malfunctioned. The radiation from the explosion ended up hitting you at the exhibition opening and...you've been in a coma for four months." Cisco explained, his face showing the distress and guilt he felt.

Eliza looked over at Cisco in shock, "Four months?"

"El, I am so sorry. I was there that night-"

"Cisco," Eliza grabbed his hand from where it was on her arm. She squeezed it and gave him a small smile. "Its okay. I'm not blaming you for this."

"The good news is that you're awake now." Barbara spoke up, grabbing Eliza's other hand and putting her other on Cisco's shoulder.

"And the bad news?"

Barbara looked over to Cisco and squeezed his shoulder. "We have to do some tests later." Cisco said. Eliza looked between them in confusion, not really knowing what to say.

"What, why?" Eliza asked.

"We need to know how the particle accelerator affected you that night." Cisco said, sitting down on the bed near Eliza's legs.

"How do you know that it affected me at all?"

"Because since you have opened your eyes, they have been glowing red." Barbara said. She moved to the other side of the room and grabbed a small compact from her bag before walking back over and handing it to Eliza. The woman started to sit up before grabbing the compact and opening it to reveal that her eyes were indeed glowing. It was as if some mystic energy was trapped behind her irises and Eliza became almost entranced with the swirling movement the smoke-like energy was making.

"If it helps, you're not the first. There have been others affected by the particle accelerator and they have been given powers." Cisco piped in. Eliza snapped the compact shut and looked to her friend.

"Powers? You think I have powers?" She asked.

Barbara took back her compact and smiled at Eliza, "If your eyes are any indication, then yes. Don't worry, I'm not going back to Gotham until we know exactly what happened to you."

"And where do we go to figure all this out?"

A sigh escaped Cisco's lips as he uttered the answer. "Where it all started. STAR LABS."