A ship that has just docked has a strange, silent stowaway with a vest full of unusual knives. The poor crew soon sees how good he is with those knives, the hard way. He says something about another sacrifice, getting a brief glimpse of Hawkgirl.
Barry, Joe West and Patty Spivot investigate the bloody crime scene, wondering about the flint knives and if the murderer was a metahuman. At Jitters, Cisco Ramon finds that Kendra Saunders has gone all out to make him a nice dinner. Alas, it comes to an end quickly when the stowaway knife guy enters, calling Kendra Priestess Shayera. Cisco makes a distress call for the Flash, and Barry arrives just in time to catch a knife headed for Cisco’s chest. But the mystery man is gone. Oh, and Cisco blows Barry’s secret identity.
Might as well let Kendra in on everything, bringing her to S.T.A.R. Labs. Together, the team discovers the knife is really old and that the man was speaking Egyptian. The cops can’t protect Kendra, but maybe they have friends who can — in Star City.
Cisco wants to know why they’re involving Team Arrow, and Barry says it’s because of his suspicion that magic is involved. Besides, how busy can Green Arrow and the gang be?
Pretty busy, as it turns out. Green Arrow, Speedy and Diggle battle some Ghosts, but Damien Darhk is there too, and he soon has Oliver Queen in his deadly clutches. The Flash changes that in a second, startling Speedy, who didn’t know they knew him. Barry asks for help protecting a friend.
Pretty soon, Flash and friends are checking out Arrow Lair 3.0, and everyone is impressed but Cisco. Barry uses his super-speed to sketch the mystery villain, and Felicity manages to find a picture of him from 1975 looking exactly the same. Kendra is bewildered by all of it, and Oliver gets a little aggressive in questioning her. To chill out the tempers and frayed nerves, Felicity Smoak suggests everyone come back to their place to talk over drinks.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells and Caitlin discuss a drug that could boost Barry’s speed, sort of a nitrous oxide for speedsters. Harry has already tried and failed to create it five times, but with Caitlin’s specific expertise, they just might figure it out.
Drinks are served, and we get Cisco and Thea arguing over her Speedy code name and Barry and Felicity catching up. The two main heroes also apologize to each other, and Ollie admits he was wrong about guys like them not getting the girl.
Cisco pulls Barry aside and tells him about the vibe he got when he first kissed Kendra, seeing her as a bird of some sort. Is she a meta? They don’t have time to ponder that, as the stowaway smashes into the loft, hurling knives at everyone there. Barry catches all of them but one that hits his shoulder after grabbing Oliver’s bow at him. The mystery man is fast enough to swat away arrows, but not when Thea starts firing too. Her bloodlust gets the best of her, though, and she unleashes one last arrow that knocks the man off the balcony. To his death? Nope. There’s no body down below. Shades of Halloween, right?
Since the danger is so great, Cisco comes clean with Kendra about his powers and what he’s seen for her. The power goes out briefly, and Malcolm Merlyn and his League of Assassins troops are there when the lights come back on.
We head back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Harry and Caitlin have had a breakthrough. One person isn’t too thrilled about it: Jay Garrick, who sneers at the idea that “Velocity 6” can help improve the Speed Force. He and Wells have another big argument, which ends with Jay storming out and saying the serum should not be given to Barry. That makes Caitlin question it too.
Merlyn gives everyone the skinny on the mystery man. His name is Vandal Savage, and he’s not a vampire, as someone guesses, but an immortal. The always cheerful Malcolm suggests that there’s nothing they can do to protect Kendra, who leaves to get some air.
In a brief interlude, we see Patty startled to see Wells.
Cisco goes after Kendra, who says she’s not ready for her whole life to change. Of course Cisco has already been through that himself, and he tells her that every day gets a little more normal. Uh, does that include a winged man swooping down to grab her? Yep, Hawkman has arrived.
The computer whizzes on both hero teams track Hawkman, who tells Kendra that she needs to wake up and emerge, but he’ll protect her until she does. He flies off for a showdown with the pursuing Green Arrow and Flash, and while the winged wonder gets the drop on them initially, the combination of some arm-generated winds and arrows takes Hawkman down, and Barry’s super-speed lightning knocks him out. Green Arrow notes that it’s a new trick, and Flash says it comes in handy.
As she’s been hinting, Caitlin now is against using the serum. Harry thinks it should be Barry’s decision, and that he just wants the Flash to reach his full potential. Caitlin notes that he’s starting to sound a lot like the Earth 1 Wells before leaving the room. Someone else has entered: it’s Patty, pulling her gun since she thinks it’s the old, villainous Wells. She tells Harry to freeze, and when he doesn’t she shoots him. Didn’t see that coming! Caitlin returns and is panicked, telling Patty to call Joe West.
Our heroes have Hawkman chained up. He introduces himself as Carter Hall, though he says he’s actually Prince Khufu, and that he and Shayera have been soulmates and partners for 4,000 years. They’re fated to die and be reincarnated, with Savage killing them in every life, getting more powerful each time. After 206 deaths, he’s now pretty darn strong. Merlyn arrives to inform everyone that Savage has left town, looking for an ancient relic called the Staff of Horus. Can Felicity find it? I wouldn’t bet against it.
How about Wells? Joe tells Patty to leave S.T.A.R. Labs, and Caitlin says she needs Jay’s help to save Harry.
Carter’s idea for Kendra to emerge is to have her jump off a building. Surprisingly, Oliver says it kind of makes sense, but Carter gives her no choice, pushing her off a roof. She simply plummets, forcing Barry to save her. Again? Barry wants no part of it, so Oliver takes him aside to find out what’s bothering him. It’s mostly because even with his powers, he feels helpless. But the talk gives Oliver a feeling that Central City might be important, since Kendra was inexplicably drawn to move there.
And he’s right. Felicity says the Staff is there, recently consecrated in a local church. Barry gives Kendra a pep talk before the two heroes et off for Barry’s home.
With no other options, Jay takes the Velocity 6. It temporarily restores his speed, and though it puts him under some obvious strain, he vibrates his hand through Wells’ chest and gets the bullet out.
In yet another talk, Kendra says she’s not sure Cisco can help her. She says she needs to believe, and she climbs up on the roof again.
Flash and Green Arrow find that Savage has beaten them to the Staff of Horus, which is unfortunate since it gives him the power to create force fields and energy bolts. The heroes don’t have much luck fighting him, but the villain pauses when Kendra jumps and takes flight. Savage blows up the church, though Flash is able to speed himself and Green Arrow to safety. Kendra discovers she needs some practice with landings, but Cisco says she’ll figure it out … Hawkgirl!
Caitlin tells Wells he’ll be okay, and he figures sore is better than dead. He thanks Jay for saving his life, but Garrick says he can show his thanks by keeping the Velocity 6 away from Barry.
The heroes regroup, with even Carter saying that together, they can take down Savage for good. How do they all get to Central City? Well, Felicity is a CEO with a private jet …
At Jitters, Oliver teases Barry about the “Flash” drink, with Barry saying that if his friend saves Star City, maybe he’ll ger one too. Um, he’s already done that, more than once. A boy bumps into Oliver, dropping his Flash action figure. As he runs to his mom, Oliver recognizes the woman — and realizes that the boy might be his son. Oh snap!
OMG Moment of the Week: Even with all the crazy action, we may have just seen it at the end. If his name is Connor, that will seal it. Kendra taking flight for the first time and the Flash-Green Arrow vs. Hawkman handicap match were both worthy runners-up.
#SnowJay Alert Level: Condition Yellow. No alone time for them for Caitlin and Jay this week, but you can tell how much her attitude about things is influenced by her feelings for him.
Final Thought: A pretty great start to this season’s crossover, with plenty of action and the proper introduction of the Hawks and Vandal Savage. Some of the quips might have been a little forced, but that’s a small quibble in what was overall a fun romp. Part 2 is shaping up to be one heck of a ride, and the best part is that we only have to wait one night.