Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“A dragon?” Sara asks, raising a skeptical brow at John and Charlie. “You’re sure?”

“Aye love,” John confirms, “Why do you seem so surprised?”
It’s a fair question, Sara supposes. It isn’t like they haven’t faced crazier. Hell, they first found out about the mythical fugitives because John found a dragon’s head lying around and threw it at their feet. But fugitives have been becoming scarce lately, meaning they’re either all taken care of or they have gotten much better at hiding. In any case, the magic alarm hasn’t gone off in over two months, their missions have been much more run of the mill lately; at this point a dragon just seems like something that should’ve reared it’s ugly head, no pun intended, sooner.

“Fair enough,” She concedes, coming out from around her desk and pushing through the pair of them, heading for her seat. “Where to?”
“Ontario Canada. Niagara Falls to be exact. 1986.”

Sara nods and punches Charlie’s coordinates into the navigation system while Gideon announces for everyone else to get to the bridge.

“You’re going to regret interrupting me Gideon,” Zari chides as she puts her tablet down safely on her desk and starts heading for the bridge. “I’m working on coding hair into your projection.”

“While I do appreciate that Ms. Tomaz, removing a fire breathing dragon from 20^thcentury Canada does seem to be of a higher priority at the moment.”

Zari considers making a retort to that, maybe a vague and empty threat to not finish the program if she can’t get more than ten minutes to herself, but she ultimately decides against it. It isn’t Gideon’s fault missions pop up when they do, often coincidentally in the exact moments she has decided to stop procrastinating her projects.

Instead she heads for the bridge without saying a word, finding herself entering alongside Mick, who is too preoccupied with shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth to say anything.

“Gideon says we’re looking for a dragon?” She asks as she heads for her flight seat and pulls the restraint down over her head.

“Yup,” Sara confirms, “Canada 1986, shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Doesn’t this lot have a record of things going bad as soon as you say something like that?”

Sara shrugs, but the action is accompanied by a smirk. John isn’t wrong, Zari thinks to herself, though lately their track record hasn’t been all that bad. If you don’t count the whole incident of him and Charlie breaking time that is.

“Call me an optimist.” Sara says before swiveling her chair around to face the controls, and then they’re off.

They set down The Waverider in a clearing in the woods not too far from Niagara Falls. The reports Gideon shows them are that of tourists being dragged off, roasted alive, and most likely eaten by a supposed dragon that no reporter seems to be able to get a clear picture of.

That fact doesn’t exactly sit well with Sara, but if they don’t stop this dragon then Ontario is doomed to become a wasteland by the end of the decade, and that’s certainly going to cause some complications for the timeline, to say the least. So they’re going to have to investigate to figure out what exactly it is they’re dealing with.

“Ok,” She says as they all get up from their chairs and converge around the main console. “The name of the game today is tourists. We’re here to look around and see the sights, and if I hear about any one of you trying to go over the falls in a barrel, there’s going to be hell to pay later.” She doesn’t mean for her eyes to land somewhere between Mick and John when she gives that warning, not entirely anyway. But at least they have the decency to either look away (Mick), or roll their eyes (John), and at least Zari handles the glance towards Charlie for her.

“Ok, let’s move.”

“Wow, we actually found a mission that you of all people don’t have to change clothes for.” Zari’s voice suddenly rang in Charlie’s ear as they all headed out of the forest, a touch of judgment as always, but not quite as hostile she’s been before.

Charlie still rolls her eyes, but there’s a smirk playing on her lips. She and Zari have gotten better with each other ever since she and John broke reality, and then subsequently fixed it. In fact, she’s gotten better with most of the team since then.

“What about you?” She teases, eyeing the other woman up and down and just barely managing to stifle a laugh at the sight of her baggy, faded denim jeans with matching jacket and the pink and white cow print scrunchie holding up her high ponytail on one side of her head. “You fall off a tractor?”
She is getting better with the team, doesn’t mean she has to acknowledge it 24/7.

Zari gives her a rather unimpressed glare before producing a small bag of cheesy pretzel bites from her pocket.

“Ha ha, very funny” she mocks, “I’m just glad for a mission where I can bring snacks,”

She then proceeds to pop another two little bites into her mouth, never offering to share, as usual.

They make it out of the woods fairly quickly, coming out at the back of a trailer park crowded with the RV’s of vacationing families.

“Man, I always wanted to take a cross-country trip in one of these.” Ray says, his eyes trailing over each RV he passes with the wondrous expression of a child in a toy store. It truly is a wonder they haven’t yet lost him on a mission.

“I did something like that once,” John comments idly as they navigate their way through the maze of campsites. “Not bad, but you gotta go with the right people, otherwise you’ll all end up strangling each other.”

“I don’t know,” Zari interjects, “You live on The Waverider long enough you learn how to tolerate close quarters.”

“You’re one to talk,” Sara snorts, “You’ve only been here a year.”

“The ship’s close enough,” Mick grumbles, “I couldn’t live on a bus with you people.”

“It’s not a bus!” Ray whines, somehow insulted as always. “RV’s have a lot more space than you would think…”

This trails into a back and forth between Mick and Ray, and Charlie personally sides with Mick. She may not be having as many problems with the Legends these days as she was before, but that doesn’t mean the idea of living in something small as an RV with them sounds appealing.

“Would you two focus?” Sara finally interrupts the argument as they reach the front of the campground. “We need to be on the lookout for the dragon.”

She’s barely finished the sentence before the sound of screams suddenly sounds out from somewhere down the road.

“Well that was easy,” Charlie comments, noting the eye roll from her captain, but as usual she ignores it and nothing more is said on the matter.

They take off running down the street, something that gets increasingly difficult the further down they get as there are crowds and crowds of people running away from whatever is happening over at the site of the falls. As they get closer Charlie does see a blur of something out of the corner of her eye, and so she looks up just in time to catch a glimpse of a black blur vanishing over the tops of the trees.

“Bullocks,” she swears under her breath. She can’t exactly tell what the blur was, and that only enforces the notion that this isn’t going to end well.

The dragon is in the air above them and the falls, wings stretched out and fire spewing from its mouth in a blaze of glory. How she was able to be picked up by the magic detector early on and yet this thing the size of two high rises has managed to stay hidden until now Charlie will never know, but that doesn’t much matter right now.

“Ray?” Sara all but gulps, staring up at the horrific sight in the air as well. “Please tell me you brought your shrink ray.”

“It’s not-” Ray glowers at her, but is cut off when the dragon spits a fireball that just narrowly misses their group, and that must be enough to convince him that this is neither the time nor the place to be correcting people. “Yes I brought it!”

He produces the item in question, along with his suit, from his pocket as Sara starts telling them the plan. Keep the dragon occupied and away from Ray until he can get a clear shot at it. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Oh, and don’t do anything stupid, that is a constantly ignored guideline with this team.

“Hey ugly!” Mick shouts, firing his beloved heat gun in the direction of the beast, as though it could actually do even minimal damage. The dragon doesn’t even appear to notice, and instead flaps it’s wings as though it is about to fly off to some more populated area.

“We need to ground it!” Ray shouts, though Charlie just barely hears him over the loud wind cause by the dragon up above. “If we can get it to land it’ll be easier to get the shot!”

“On it!” Before she can blink Zari is off in a tornado, flying up towards the dragon with Ray soaring after her. The rest of them watch the two go, not so lucky as to possess the power of flight.

It’s hard to see from down here what exactly Zari is doing, Charlie would guess blasting wind into the dragon’s face based on the angle she’s at, but she can’t be sure. Whatever she’s doing it’s working, because the creature is descending and Ray looks like he’s lining himself up into position to take the shot and then before she knows it there’s a flash of light and the dragon is gone, replaced by a small black dot which Zari swoops down to catch.

The dragon is actually kind of cute when it’s all shrunken down and huddled in on itself against Zari’s chest. Sara only takes a brief look at it, but it’s a long enough look to admit to herself that the tiny creature suddenly resembles a puppy rather than a monster. They’re going to have to move out quick, unless she feels like explaining to Mick again why they can’t keep a dragon on the ship. At least Nate isn’t here this time to add to the begging.

They set off back for the campground they came through, and one would think that capturing a fire-breathing dragon would be the hard part of the mission, but that is proving to not be the case.

“Someone else take this!” She hears Zari’s rising panic coming from behind her and turns just in time to see her friend losing her grip on the squirming little dragon, Ray attempting to either help her get ahold of it or take it himself, either way it isn’t working and the little dragon wriggles free of Zari’s arms, even using Ray’s as a springboard into the air.

Fortunately, just when Sara thinks they are about to spend the rest of their day chasing a pint-sized dragon throughout Canada, it clumsily flies itself right into a tree and Mick is able to grab it off the ground.

“It must be disoriented from the shrinking,” John observes and Sara just lets out a breath of relief, choosing to forgo acknowledging the fact that Mick is petting the little thing and the action seems to actually be calming it down. Whatever works, she’s seen far too much to question something like that at this point.

“Let’s just get it to the bureau,” she huffs and they trudge forward, weaving back through the maze of RV’s and this time needing to worry about avoiding some where the families have decided to make a hasty retreat.

They manage to get back to The Waverider in one piece and Mick and Ray go to secure their new friend for a time jump while everybody else mills about on the bridge. They’ll jump as soon as the dragon is secure.

“Wow Mick, you are surprisingly good with him.”

Mick rolls his eyes at Haircut’s observation, though he also pulls the little guy in his arms just that much closer to his chest, so take that for what it’s worth.

The dragon is pretty cute; even he can admit that. It’s completely black, except for it’s eyes, which are big and a piercing green color. That should make it look that much scarier, but there’s something about the stubby legs that negates the effect. Plus it’s purring against him like a cat, so there’s that.

Yeah, he thinks it’s pretty cute, so sue him.

“Ok,” Haircut practically cheers when they enter the rec room, which is also where the new brig is. He’ll never understand that design, he’s pretty sure the kid and Hunter took out a wall by mistake when they were remodeling and never put it back up. “Let’s get our little friend here locked up.”

Mick doesn’t even wait for him to finish before heading over to the containment pad and putting the dragon down, rubbing at it’s head a bit once he’s got it down.

He then turns to go, and gets one step out of the containment area.

“Alright Haircut-” He stops himself short, noting the other man is lunging forward with a look of panic on his face. Mick doesn’t even have to turn fully before he sees the little dragon launch itself at Haircut, wrestling him to the ground and biting at him.

“Hey!” He shouts, diving to get a grip on the dragon and pull it off his teammate. “Little bastard!”

He’s trying to yank it off of Haircut, whose trying to shove it off, but for a little guy it’s strong and biting and clawing until finally there’s a high pitched whining sound and…

Oh shit.

The ship gives an unexpected dip that has Sara bracing her hands against the control panels. A growl comes up through her throat; they’ve been doing so good recently too.

“Boss?!” Mick’s panicked voice is in her ear before she can think about contacting him, and shit if Mick’s panicking this must be bad.

As though to prove her point, the lights start flickering, and she’s fairly certain she hears a minor explosion from somewhere down the hall.

“Dragon gout ahold of the shrink thing and got it in reverse. Ha-” He gets cuts off by a crash, and Sara curses, and there’s another explosion somewhere on the ship and the emergency lights and alarms start blaring.

“Everybody strap in!” She shouts loud as she can, all but throwing herself into her seat and yanking down the restraints.
“Gideon, set a course for The Time Bureau!” Nothing. “Gideon?” Nothing. “Shit.”

She starts setting the course manually, and then the sound of metal tearing away from metal catches her ears and she forces her hands to work faster. They have to make a jump, now; otherwise they’re going to be freefalling through time.

“The ship’s coming apart!” Zari yells behind her.

“No shit!” She yells back, not even looking over her shoulder, her hands still flying over the controls.

There’s glass breaking and sparks flying everywhere in the background, John cursing and she’s pretty sure someone puking, but Sara tunes it all out. They just need enough for one jump, no matter how bad. They have to make it to 2019.

With one final input of data that Gideon’s system may not even be reading she plows the lever to jump forward with all her strength.

“Um, Director Sharpe?” Ava glances up at the sound of Gary’s nervously gulping voice and his hesitant knock on her open door. Most people wearing that expression would mean that something is terribly wrong, but with Gary it’s just as likely that the vending machine is out of Snickers.

“What is it Gary?”

He doesn’t answer her at first, his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out for a concerning length of time, even for Gary.

“Um…” He finally manages, his hands beginning to fidget awkwardly. “We um… we’ve received a call from S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City. It seems that The Waverider has crashed.”

Her blood runs cold.

“Everyone’s ok!” Gary hurries to tell her, and while she does hear him and it sends a course of relief through her veins she’s still on her feet and pulling out her time courier, inputting the coordinates even as Gary continues to talk and follow just on her heels.

She opens up the portal and the two of them step through, finding themselves in the parking lot of S.T.A.R. Labs where Ava is finally able to breathe, because the entire team of Legends, including Sara, is standing out there with a few other people.

“Thank God,” She breathes out in relief, making a b-line for her girlfriend and pulling her into a tight hug.

They’re embrace only lasts a moment before Ava has to push Sara back, a need to assess her injuries refusing to let all of the anxiety leave her body.

“I’m fine,” Sara promises her, not that Ava is going to take her word for it.

“To hell you’re fine.” She argues, though in all fairness Sara actually doesn’t appear to be hurt at all. There are no scratches on her, no blood, maybe a bruise somewhere Ava can’t see, and that’s the thought that worries her. “You just crashed through time!”
“No, we didn’t.” Sara assures her, taking Ava’s tense hand from her shoulder and bringing it to her lips for a light kiss. “We were able to make the jump here before we lost all power, a little off course from The Time Bureau but still 2019. The ship’s just outside of town in a field, we didn’t hit anything.”

Ava nods, her eyes making one last scan over Sara so that her mind will finally accept that she is ok. She then looks around the parking lot at the rest of The Legends, who all look as unharmed as Sara, save for Rory who’s a little banged up and…

“Where’s Ray?”

“Inside,” Sara answers, a certain guilt suddenly in her eyes. “He took the worst of it, but he’ll be ok.”

Ava nods, a part of her mind thinking about how she’s going to have to tell Nora about this and already dreading it.

“What happened?”
By this question The Legends, Sara included, are all doing their damnedest to avoid eye contact with her. She doesn’t know if she should be worried or angry, but when Rory finally lifts up a tiny dragon by the excess skin folds on it’s neck she chooses worried.

“This guy,” Rory says, “He’s more trouble than he looks.”

The feeling of disappointment that Ava used to have regarding any interaction with The Legends is almost a comfort.

“Yeah…” Sara drawls uncomfortably, “It looks like we’re going to be here awhile.”

Chapter Text

They head back to the field, the site of the crash, to try and salvage their personal belongings and anything else that might have been destroyed in the crash. Of course between falling out of the sky and the dragon there isn’t much that’s been left in once piece, but they’re all finding a few odds and ends here and there. For Sara it’s her picture of her and Laurel with Dad, even if the frame is shattered into a million pieces, she’s still able to fold up the photo and tuck it into her pocket. There are a few of her other belongings still in tact too, enough to fill up a medium sized cardboard box, but nothing really of any importance. After she’s inspected her office and what’s left of her room she heads for the cargo hold, or what’s left of that anyway. Might as well take inventory of which of their miscellaneous items they still have.

Most of the hold is destroyed or flat out missing, save for a few crates and their contents. That damned Stein puppet is still here and unharmed, because of course it is. A few other relics of the past are accounted for as well; including Kendra’s mask, their cowboy hats from the old west, a violin that’s been here since Rip recruited them still with no explanation, and…

And a blue parka.

A small gasp passes over her lips upon seeing that, and for a moment she just looks at it. When she does finally reach into the crate and pick it up she does so tenderly, holding the jacket as though it might break, or disappear in front of her. She runs one hand over the fur of the hood, careful not to pull even a single fiber loose, and she sighs, thinking.

A clanging sound brings her back before her thoughts can go too far, and she looks over her shoulder to see a shadowy figure coming down the corridor and pushing debris out of it’s path. She piles everything back into the crate, along with her box of personal things.

“Man,” a familiar voice says, exasperated as expected but Sara is still smiling as she rises to her feet, and when she turns the newcomer is smiling as well. “I leave you guys alone for one year, barely, and The Waverider goes up in flames.”

He isn’t wrong, and while The Waverider’s current condition certainly is a problem it isn’t the first thing on Sara’s mind; not when Jax is standing in the doorway teasing her.

She heads over and gives him a hug, her arms locking tight around his neck. It’s been too long since she’s seen him, and while it was nice to meet his future self last year she’s happy that he isn’t quite that old yet. He’s not married with a baby just yet; he’s still her kid brother for a while longer.

“What can I say? We just can’t survive without you.”

He chuckles as they part, shifting his focus to take in the destroyed cargo hold.

“Man…” he trails, “What are you guys gonna do?”

She folds her arms over her middle and shrugs; that is an excellent question. “The Time Bureau has mechanics, they’ll do what they can to fix up the ship-”

“Oh I know,” Jax interrupts and she raises a questioning eyebrow. “How do you think I found out about this?” He asks, an amused smile on his face. “Mick called me, said The Waverider needs some work if I was looking to make some extra money. We talked to Ava, I’m helping with this.”

She smiles at that, and makes a mental note to thank both Mick and Ava later. It’s not like she doesn’t trust the bureau mechanics but, well, this ship is their home and it makes her feel a whole lot better about leaving it to be fixed if Jax is going to be around.

“I meant what are you guys doing in the meantime?”

She shrugs again. The team hasn’t really had a full discussion on this, just more of some quickly exchanged “here’s where I’ll be if anyone needs me.”

“Shore leave, I guess.” She answers, “I’m going to be staying with Ava, Mick says he’s going to hang around Central City for a little while or something, he didn’t seem too sure. Ava offered to time courier Zari home but she isn’t exactly keen on going back to 2042, last I knew she and Charlie were talking to Ray about-”

“Charlie?”

Sara stops and smiles at him, putting a good-natured hand on his shoulder. “Looks like we’ve got some catching up to do kid. How about a drink?”

He barks a laugh, “Lead the way Captain.”

Zari frowns as she makes yet another scan of her room. Aside from the gaping hole in her wall her quarters are mostly untouched by the damage, though many of her belongings appear to have flown out the hole. She’s managed to salvage a few things: some video games, one controller, her prayer mat, a few random pieces of clothing and jewelry, and her bedding. She’s got it all loaded up into a box, her bedding bunched up into a pile in her arms, and Ray standing in her doorway doing his best to keep from picking at the bandages on his shoulder.

“Ok,” she finally says, accepting that she isn’t going to find anything else in her room worth taking. “Ready whenever you are.”

“Actually you and Charlie are going alone, so you’re just waiting on her.”

Zari blinks at him, confused. He’d offered for Charlie and her to stay in his loft in Sunnyvale, and she had assumed he meant with him.

“I’m going to stay with Nate for a little while, in D.C.” He explains, obviously noticing her confusion.

It doesn’t take Zari longer than a few seconds to understand why he isn’t coming with them, and it isn’t because he’s been missing Nate. It’s because of Nora. Because she’s in D.C. and she can’t exactly leave, so as long as they’re here he is going to go to her.

“You don’t have any neighbors who might find it weird that two random girls are suddenly living in your apartment?”  She asks and Ray shrugs like he never considered such a thing but even now that she brings it up he isn’t too worried about that.

“I mean Mrs. Hafer can be a little nosey, but I haven’t been to that apartment in over a year. If she asks just tell her you’re my sister or something, and you can always call me if you need to.”

Zari nods, and not even a minute later Charlie walks in with familiar pink straps strung over her shoulder.

“Ok, I’m ready.” She announces, though Zari is still zeroed in on those straps.

“Is that the cat backpack?” She asks, incredulous. She had been so sure they’d gotten rid of that thing.

Charlie just shrugs, evidently not seeing any problem.

“Yeah, it works for traveling. I mean the fabricators down and your friends at S.T.A.R. Labs only have so many of those boxes, so I figured, why not just use this?”

Zari rolls her eyes, forcing herself not to answer that question. The ship is in pretty bad shape… ok; it’s in terrible shape. Odds are The Waverider is going to be out of commission for weeks, maybe even months, but she sincerely hopes the Time Bureau mechanics can work fast; if for no other reason than she isn’t sure she can handle living in an apartment with only Charlie for company for very long.

“Thought you would’ve skipped town.”

John Constantine looks up at the sound of the familiar, gravely voice coming from behind him. It’s Mick Rory, because of course it is. The Waverider goes down in flames and the two of them, after gathering their belongings, head straight for the nearest bar.

Not that John had many belongings to claim.

“On my way,” he promises even has Rory sinks down into the empty barstool next to him. “Just grabbing a pint for the road.”

“Hm.” Rory hums, his go-to response for most things, and orders himself a beer.

They sit there in the silence for a few tense moments, the kind of moments John can’t stand. It isn’t like they have anything to talk about, but then again; they don’t exactly have a lack of things to talk about.

The Waverider is virtually gone, and on some level they both know she likely isn’t coming back. It’s on that level that John feels some sympathy for Rory. The Waverider has been the other man’s home for over three years now, the Legends his family, and John will admit that they aren’t a half bad family to have.

“What about you?” He asks, though Rory only responds by raising his bottle to his lips. “You skipping town?”

Rory takes his time sipping his drink, downing only a hair less than half the bottle; before he finally pulls it away from his lips and considers it before placing it back on the countertop.

“Not sure,” he rumbles, “Never had much to come back to on shore leaves.”

He takes another swig of his beer, and while he says it easily enough that some people might be uncertain as to whether or not this fact has ever bothered him, John knows better.

“Well then,” he says, pausing to take a healthy gulp of his own drink. “I guess you’re going to have some time on your hands.”

Another rumble, followed by another swig of his drink.

“Yeah,” he says, “Guess so.”

Charlie is waiting very patiently, in her opinion at least, for Zari to finish up saying goodbyes. A part of her wants to fault Zari for this, tell her it isn’t like they’re never going to see these people again. But she isn’t entirely sure if that’s true. She’s lived long enough and taken on enough identities to gain a decent understanding of people. People say things, they make promises, but then life gets in the way. She wonders if Zari knows that too, if that’s why she’s taking so long saying goodbye.

When the goodbyes are finally finished Ava uses her time courier to give them a portal to the hallway of Ray’s place in Sunnyvale. They step through one right after the other, their belongings gathered in their arms, and when the portal closes behind them they just stand in the hallway for a moment. It’s suddenly sinking in that they’re on their own. There isn’t going to be any Rory down the hall or Sara next door. No more Ray in the lab or John in the library. They’re all split up.

With nothing more than a glance to each other they make their way down the hallway, Zari producing the key Ray gave her from her pocket.

“Why’d he give you the key?” Charlie asks, to which Zari merely rolls her eyes.

“Cause he trusts me.” She answers just as they reach the door. Charlie almost says something to that, but the door opens before she can, so she lets it go for now.

The loft is exactly what one might expect the home of Ray Palmer to look like. Almost everything is new, if a little dusty due to a year of abandonment. The space itself is big enough, which is nice. They’ve entered into an open space between a living area and a kitchen.

“Nice place,” Charlie muses as they walk deeper into the loft.

Past the living area is a hallway that leads to three doors. They open the first and find what is clearly Ray’s room. It’s neat and tidy aside from the desk in the corner, which is overrun by papers, loose wires that don’t appear connected to anything, and other odds and ends. Ray had mentioned to them before they left that one of them was more than welcome to move into his room if they’d rather not share the guest room. They have permission to do whatever they want with his room and his stuff; he doesn’t foresee ever coming back here except maybe to visit them. But still… it feels like an intrusion, for Charlie at least. Granted her entire existence is based off copying somebody else’s identity but this, this is something she’s never done before. She has never walked into someone’s home and just done what she will with the life they left behind. Some shape shifters have but not her; it’s never been her style.

Still, she and Zari have already agreed they don’t want to share the guest room, and she does know Ray better. Maybe she’ll have a better idea of what to do in here.

“Well,” She eventually says, clapping Zari on the shoulder, “I’m gonna go check out my room.”

“If I had known crashing The Waverider would be all it would take to get you to move in with me I would’ve done it myself months ago.” Ava teases as she helps Sara unpack her things, not that she has very many things. Just one cardboard box and large bin from the cargo hold that they’ve already put down in the basement.

Sara grins at her words, that adorable grin of giddiness that Ava loves so much. She doesn’t know what she ever did to deserve a girlfriend as wonderful as Sara Lance, but she is far from complaining.

“It’s gonna be weird,” Sara says, “I don’t know what I’m going to do while we’re waiting for The Waverider to be fixed.”

Ava hums, walking over to her girlfriend and putting her hands on her hips, groaning away the thought of The Waverider getting fixed and taking Sara away with it. Sara hums into the contact, bringing her lips against Ava’s for a few soft, hungry kisses before those grow more heated and they eventually topple back onto the couch.

They each emit a small squeal as they go down, laughing once they land and resuming their kisses.

“You’ll find something to do with your time,” Ava promises between kisses.

“I’m sure.” Sara agrees, and that is when Ava feels Sara’s rather talented fingers on the buttons of her pants. She moans into her girlfriend’s mouth, suddenly that much more excited for the upcoming weeks.

Mona frowns as she applies the antiseptic cream to the scar on her abdomen. At this point it doesn’t really serve any purpose other than it is supposed to help minimize the scarring, but even that is looking to be a long shot at this point. She isn’t angry with Kaupe over it, how could she be? He was only trying to defend himself, and in the end it wasn’t enough. She’s always thinking about him, wondering where he is right now. The cynical portion of her brain, the portion she often pretends doesn’t exist, has spent the past few months insisting that he’s dead. But she doesn’t want to believe that, and so she forces herself to continue entertaining the daydream that he escaped those men somehow. That he is somehow alive and out there; living happily. That the only reason he hasn’t come back is because it’s too dangerous. She chooses to have hope that-

A knock at her door brings her back to reality.

Actually, it’s more of a slapping, frantic, loud, and unrelenting.

“I’m coming!” She calls, pulling her cami back down over her abdomen and hurrying out from her bathroom while the banging continues. “I said I’m coming!” She practically growls, but the sound carries on even as she gets a hand on the knob. “Ok, what-?”
She stops, cuts herself off completely.

“Oh my god.” She gasps, one hand flying over her mouth before she’s on her knees. “Kaupe!”

He’s hurt, badly. He’s bleeding almost everywhere and she pulls him into her arms to try and help him stand but it’s no use. He’s conscious, barely, but she still takes it as a good sign. He’s also breathing heavily; the sounds rough on her ears. But practiced, a pattern to his strained voice.

“What is it?” She asks, and he takes a few more gasping breaths, his voice getting stronger with each one.

“Ne…ne… Neron.” He finally says, the word broken by his unfamiliarity with English, but still audible. Neron.

“What does that mean?” She questions, “Did he do this to you? Is he the one who took you?”

Kaupe starts gasping again, trying desperately to tell her more, but he has already overexerted himself for being in this condition, and so before he is able to say another word, in any language, he promptly passes out.

Chapter Text

Mona manages, if barely, to drag Kaupe through the door of her apartment. She cringes at the sight of the blood trails smeared into the floor by doing this, both in the hall and in her living room, and she can only hope that nobody will come walking by before she can get at least the hallway cleaned up. As soon as he’s inside she closes the door and props him against the wall.

“Oh Kaupe,” she says quietly, one hand lying against his cheek. She gives him a light shake but it doesn’t do any good. At least he’s breathing. So long as he’s breathing there’s hope.

“Ok,” she says, her voice trembling with panic as she rises to her shaky feet. “Don’t worry Kaupe. You’re safe. I’m… I’m gonna get help.”

With that she races back to her bathroom, fast as she can, her head looking back over her shoulder every other second as though whoever hurt Kaupe like this might burst into her apartment and steal him away again the moment she takes her eyes off him.

If she’s being honest with herself, it’s a distinct possibility.

She grabs her phone from the edge of the sink and then immediately heads back to Kaupe, only looking at her phone long enough to find the desired contact and press call.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end is much too chipper for this time of night, and while that is normally something she takes comfort in she is too scared right now to find it anything but irritating.

“Gary,” she says, her voice only slightly steadier than her trembling body. “We’ve got a situation.”

Zari groans, rolling over harshly onto her side and pulling the blankets up to her chin as she tries desperately to get comfortable. It shouldn’t be this hard; she has certainly slept in harsher conditions, much harsher. But it isn’t so much the conditions of where she’s trying to sleep that’s keeping her awake so much as it is the circumstances. Yesterday she was in her room on The Waverider, playing video games and trying to figure out how to make Gideon’s projection appear less… robotic, she supposes. Now she’s here in Ray’s bedroom in Sunnyvale, in his bed, with Charlie just across the hall and that’s it. No other Legends are around for miles.

She groans again, she isn’t going to be getting any sleep tonight. So she sits up and pushes back the covers, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress and letting out a low sigh. She then gets up and heads over to the light switch, flipping it on and scowling a bit when her eyes don’t require any time at all to adjust. She really isn’t going to be sleeping tonight.

She starts looking around the room, not that Ray left much here. There are a few books on his shelf, mostly textbooks; along with a few novels that she skims through the titles of before deciding none of them spark her interest at the moment. Aside from the books the shelves contain some action figures and a few DVDs, most of them musicals. Zari smiles as she picks up a copy of Singing in the Rain, running her hand over it gingerly. She puts the DVD back and steps closer to the cluttered desk, her eyes wandering over the various papers and half constructed models that lay abandoned there. She pushes some of them out of the way of the others, curious as to what Ray was working on the last time he was here. There are some blueprints, some notes, and almost none that correspond with one another. Most of it is for his suit, something detailing the shrink ray, and other things like that.

Then there’s the blueprint that catches her attention.

It’s more of a sketch than an actual blueprint, and a very basic one at that. It’s a human body, a woman’s body. Odd, Ray isn’t normally the type to just draw things like that. Besides, this sketch is far from being perverse. It’s scientific, not detailed or even the least bit anatomical. Just an outline of a woman, a lack of any detailing between the legs and two tiny semi-circles on the chest to signify breasts the only clues to the sex. Zari chuckles a little at the lack of detail, her mind conjuring up an image of Ray’s face flushed red with the embarrassment of drawing a woman’s outline even though he was most likely alone at the time, no one around to tease him. She can picture him apologizing to the piece of paper, promising it that he doesn’t mean to intrude or something else of the sort but he has to draw this part.

The question is, why?

She flips the paper over, and sure enough there is a label written out in Ray’s scribbly handwriting.

AI Android.

“Ok Gary I’m on my way.” Ava says, rather dejectedly in Sara’s opinion, as she hangs up her phone.

Sara can’t help but to smirk at how annoyed her girlfriend looks as she turns around, and how cute it is. She already knows what’s coming, and so she only allows Ava to get out a short apology before she steps forward and settles her hands onto her love’s hips.

“I have to go,” Ava all but actually pouts and so with the smirk still on her face Sara leans in and kisses her.

“It’s ok,” she breathes against Ava’s lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She can feel Ava smiling against her kiss this time, and that makes Sara smile even more.

“I know,” Ava says, going back for one more kiss. Then another, then another, and then another…

“Seriously babe,” Sara nearly purrs when one more kiss will undoubtedly have them heading for the bed. “I’ll be here.”

“Hm,” Ava hums as she pulls away, her expression set in a soft smile that makes Sara’s heart melt, especially when Ava tucks a stray piece of her hair away behind her ear. “I know you will be.”

They share one more kiss before Ava finally yields to the demands of her job and heads out of the bedroom. Sara, because she just loves watching Ava get ready for work no matter the time, follows as far as the open doorway and takes up a residence there. She watches as Ava marches down the hall and towards the main living area of the apartment, and she smiles to herself. Ava is always marching. She never just walks. She is always a woman on a mission, it’s a switch that just can’t be turned off, and if it can Sara hopes she’ll figure it out one day. Not that she doesn’t love the sight of her girlfriend opening the coat closet and ripping out her jacket like she’s going to be late, which for someone with time courier is just absurd, but to be able to say that she knows how to slow down the whirlwind that is Ava Sharpe would be an achievement she would love to have the honor of.

“Ok,” Ava calls back over her shoulder, her keys in one hand while she opens the front door with the other. “I’ll be back.”
“I know,” Sara nods, still smiling, and so of course Ava’s smile returns.

“Ok bye,”

“Bye.” Sara gives her girlfriend a tiny wave as she finally leaves the apartment, the sound of her car starting up coming just a moment later, and it occurs to Sara that it may as well have been an eternity since she last stood in a moment like this.

Just standing in the hallway, watching and waiting patently as someone gathers their things and goes wherever they’re supposed to be. Even just after returning to Star City moments like this were a rarity she never appreciated enough. But now she can. Now she’s going to have plenty of chances to sit here and watch Ava fuss over paperwork, getting out the door, or other little things. For the first time in a long time, ironic as it sounds, she has some time to breathe.

It’s a strange feeling, if she’s being honest. She almost feels like she’s been on the run her whole life, and now she isn’t. Ever since she was nineteen and that damn boat went down she’s been running from one problem to the next, and now she’s been given the chance to stop. She walks her way into the kitchen, slow and meandering, drinking in this feeling of stillness.

Unfortunately it doesn’t last very long. Before she can stop it her mind conjures up the memory of standing in this very spot, Ava’s silk robe around her and fuzzy pink slippers on her feet, with John Constantine standing in front of her and telling her that this isn’t who she is.

The memory leaves an uneasy feeling inside of her, a sensation of dread that maybe, just maybe, he’s right. She’s spent so long running, so long being broken…

No. No she isn’t that person anymore. She isn’t broken, she isn’t an assassin, and most importantly she isn’t lost. So this form of normal, this sweet domesticity, this can be who she is now. She’s earned it.

Nora’s eyes snap open and instantly she furrows her brow in confusion. She isn’t sure if it’s her magic or just the way she grew up, always needing to be on high alert, but for as long as she can remember she has been a very light and very sensitive sleeper. She can’t explain the how, but when she’s asleep she just knows when someone or something is coming. It’s a survival instinct. The thing is it’s currently the middle of the night, no one is supposed to be down the prison wing aside from the actual prisoners, yet this odd feeling that someone is coming doesn’t feel dangerous to her.

That’s when the door opens, so she turns her head to see who it is, and then furrows her brow even more.

“Ray?” She asks as she sits up, “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry,” He whispers loudly as the door closes behind him. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I-” She cuts herself off, her mouth groping for a word, any word, but she has no idea what to say. “This better not be a prison break.”

She doesn’t think it is, but that’s what she’s settled on saying, and Ray smiles.

“No,” he says, “No Nate was called in for… for something that’s going on. The Legends are in the present for a little while and I’m staying with Nate. So I came with him and, well there’s nothing I can do out there so… I thought I’d come and see if you were awake.”

There’s a lot to take apart from that answer, but she starts with what is likely to be the most concerning part of it.

“What’s going on?”

If Ray looked uncomfortable before, and boy did he, he looks downright anxious now. He hesitates a moment, words visibly at war with each other in his mind, before he finally speaks.

“Kaupe showed up at Mona’s apartment.” Nora’s entire body goes ridged at that. Mona had told her about Kaupe’s abduction, once she returned to work after being out for almost a month.

“Is…” She trails off, suddenly unsure as to whose wellbeing she is about to inquire about; thankfully Ray seems to understand that.

“They’re both fine,” he tells her, “Well, Mona more than Kaupe, he’s in pretty bad shape but they have him in the infirmary. Mona and the doctor seem pretty confident that he’s going to be ok.”

“That’s good,” she nods, though if she’s being honest she isn’t entirely sure that she believes it is.

She’s never met Kaupe personally, but from what Mona’s told her he sounds like he’s only slightly more evolved than a wild animal, not quite as much as a human. She’s happy to hear he’s going to be ok, but she’s still worried about Mona. From what Nora’s gathered her caretaker has some kind of an attachment to Kaupe, and considering he’s the reason Mona nearly died a few months ago she isn’t convinced that is exactly the safest thing.

“Yeah,” Ray speaking against pulls her from her thoughts. “Anyway I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be able to visit you a little more. The Waverider crashed and-”

“The Waverider crashed?!” She echoes his words, “Are you ok?” And here she had been worrying about Mona and Kaupe.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Ray promises, but there’s something about the way his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes that has her doubting him. “We all are. There was an incident with a dragon. I shrunk it down but while Mick and I were putting it in the containment field it got free and got the resizer in my pocket-”

“Wait,” she interrupts him, holding up a hand and trying to make sense of this story. “The Waverider crashed, and you had a rapidly growing dragon on your pants? You’re sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah,” he insists again, “Yeah I’m fine.”

No, she decides, she doesn’t believe him. Not for a second. But he is walking and talking, happy as ever, so he must be ok enough. Besides, it isn’t like she could do anything for him anyway.

“Ok,” she accepts, “Well, I’ll be here.”

He nods, a touch of anger in his expression, because it’s him.

“So will I.”

She should tell him not to waste his time on her, but instead she gives him a small smile. She can’t deny she likes the idea of seeing a little more of him for a while.

Ok, now that the chaos is dying down Nate can finally breathe. He’d sent Ray off to chat with Nora, thankfully Ava had no objections, just to get him out of the way. Not that his buddy can’t be helpful during an emergency but he isn’t the kind of doctor that’s useful in a situation like this, and the bureau’s infirmary is only so big. Ray understood, though once Nora’s name was mentioned Nate doubts Ray was listening much.

Anyway, things are finally calming down in the infirmary. The doctor, with the help of Mona because she has a better understanding of Kaupe’s physiology, has stabilized Kaupe. So that’s good, one major problem dealt with. That leaves them with the next problem, trying to make sense of what the hell happened to Kaupe.

“He just showed up at my door,” Mona claims for probably the tenth time tonight.

The four of them; himself, Ava, Gary, and Mona, are all sitting around a conference table in a room not too far from the infirmary, just in case.

“How did he even find you?” Ava asks and Mona gapes for a second before she seems to find her voice.

“He must have sniffed me out.”

“Sniffed you out?” Ava asks, not exactly unconvinced but… not quite understanding.

“Yeah, he has a great sense of smell and I’ve been in his cell enough-”

“He can smell you through the force field?”

Again Mona gapes at their esteemed director, and as though it’s been summoned a memory buried deep in Nate’s mind of a conversation from months ago resurfaces seemingly out of nowhere. A conversation about hair and man meat and-

Oh shit.

“That doesn’t matter.” He says before Ava can determine where Mona might have been standing that Kaupe was able to get her scent, truthfully he doesn’t want to think about it himself. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is we have him back.”

“Right,” Ava agrees, and Nate notices Mona exhaling in relief along with him. Crisis averted, for now. “We have him back, and more importantly you said he gave you a name?”

“I think,” Mona says, voice unsure. “It sounded like a name but not one I’ve ever heard.”

“Well we’ll look into this Neron, and hopefully when Kaupe wakes up he’ll be able to tell us more.” Ava says and just like that their little meeting is adjourned. They start filing out of the room one by one. Ava first, followed by Gary, then Nate gets up himself and he’s assuming that Mona is following him until…

“Konane.” He stops, and turns around to find Mona is still seated, and looking up at him with a serious expression that looks so out of place on her usually cheery face. “His name is Konane.”

Exasperated, because what the hell else is he supposed to feel right now, Nate glances around helplessly before he finally decides to close the door and reclaim his own chair. He’s quick sitting down, his elbows landing on his knees even before he’s fully seated, and he studies his friend over his hands for a solid thirty seconds before finally speaking.

“I am going to choose to believe that you know that because you’re a mythology nerd and learned enough of the Kaupe’s language to ask him his name.”

“I mean you’re not wrong.”

It should be good news, yet it only confirms what he’s suddenly come to believe, and he drops his head in defeat.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Wait, I thought you already knew?” Mona asks him, “I started to tell you and-” she cuts herself off with the apparent realization that they were talking about two very different people on that day a few months ago.

“I thought you meant Gary.” He admits, with a wince, and the look on her face is an odd mix of disgusted and embarrassed.

“Gary?” She asks, evidently leaning more towards the disgusted end of things. “No! I mean Gary’s great but he’s more like a big brother or something to me.”

Ouch, that’s going to be a painful conversation later.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he says, and while he is very sure that it does matter, very much, he’s going to stand by the statement that it doesn’t because it is too early in the morning for this headache. “For now we need to focus on helping Kaupe, or Konane or whatever his name, get better and figure out who this Neron guy is. Ok?”

Mona nods, her eyes cast down at her lap. “Ok.”

“Ok.”

With that he gets up, but Mona remains where she is, so once he has the door open he turns back.

“Hey,” he says, getting her attention. “Your business is your business. I’m not going to tell Ava about your little crush.”

Finally her face lights up in its usual smile.

“Thanks Nate.” She beams and he smiles back, turns to go, and then turns back.

“But if he asks I am telling Gary that you told me you’re not into him. That guy needs to start barking up another tree.”

She giggles at that, “Fair enough.”

Sara’s asleep by the time Ava gets back at nearly three in the morning. Of course, she’s awake the instant she hears the car door close in the driveway. She only has to listen for a few seconds to be sure that it’s Ava, and so she snuggles deeper into the warm blankets of the bed with a happy smile on her face. She doesn’t fully go back to sleep, but she lets herself relax. Her eyes closed, her ears lulled by the sweet sounds of Ava rustling around in the living area and then the bedroom as she changes for bed. Finally the mattress dips and Sara’s smiles widens, her eyes still closed.

“Hey,” Ava whispers into her ear, taking a strand of hair and tucking it back. “Are you awake?”

Sara hums in reply, no actual words, but she knows Ava’s gotten the message that she is, in fact, wide-awake.

The blankets and the mattress shift as Ava settles down, one arm draping over her side and a light kiss to her temple eliciting a laugh from Sara.

“I’m sorry I had to leave on our first night together, but-”

“Mm,” Sara hums, opening her eyes and rolling onto her back so that she can look up at Ava. “First night?” She asks, reaching one hand up to run it along Ava’s face. “We’ve spent the night plenty of times.”

“I know,” Ava promises, “But this is the first night since you’ve officially moved in.”

For a moment Sara is left speechless, and the frown looming over her lets her know when she’s been silent too long.

“Officially?” She asks, because oh how she loves the sound of that it’s just… she hadn’t known.

“Well, yeah.” Ava almost laughs, “It’s just… you know we talked about it back after The Legends officially fixed time, but then all the mythical fugitives happened and we agreed it wasn’t the best time. But I just figured now that The Waverider’s out of commission and you’re going to be here for a few months anyway, and even after it’s fixed your missions had been pretty slow recently, so I just thought-”

Sara can’t listen to this adorable babble for another second. She moves her hand from Ava’s cheek to the back of her neck and pulls herself up to kiss her.

“It’s the perfect time,” she whispers after she pulls away, and then goes back in for another kiss.

Ava smiles against her mouth, and they get lost there for a moment, just caught up in each other and their happiness.

“Great,” Ava hums during one of their few pauses for breath, and unfortunately it isn’t long after that Sara feels her body go ridged in her arms, a typical Ava signal of worry.

They pull apart, and Ava rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed at her own inability to stop worrying about whatever crisis she was called to tonight and just enjoy the moment.

“I just hope this whole Neron thing doesn’t turn out to-”

“Neron?” Sara asks, her voice and eyes serious, all her carelessness suddenly dissipated.

“Yes…” Ava drawls, visibly worried by her reaction. “The Kaupe turned up at Mona’s apartment tonight, covered in blood. He whispered the name “Neron” before he fell unconscious.”

Sara can feel the air leaving her body. Her heart feels like it’s freezing over with stone and her mind is moving about a million miles a minute with nowhere to go.

“Sara?” Ava asks, still worried. “What is it?”

She doesn’t want to say it; she doesn’t want it to be real. She doesn’t want any of this to be real. All she wants to do is fall into bed with Ava and sleep until noon, just for once. But she can’t. All she can do is look at her girlfriend with wild, terrified, and very serious eyes.

“We have to call John.”

Chapter Text

Using a Time Courier to get around the present can be dangerous but there are instances when it’s worth the risk, and when a fugitive who has been missing for months shows up bloody and uttering the name of a demon is when Ava is willing to admit that this is one of those instances. She and Sara quickly get dressed, much to her annoyance, and she uses her Time Courier to bring them to John Constantine’s apartment.

“I swear this place smells worse every time I come here.” She comments as soon as the step through the portal, her nose scrunching up and she has to fight the urge to gag. The whole building reeks from the front door all the way to the roof, and while John’s apartment hadn’t seemed any better or worse than the hallway the last time she was here it really wouldn’t surprise her if he were partially responsible for the horrible stench.

“You come here often?” Sara teases, throwing a dirty smirk over her shoulder and Ava immediately regrets sucking in a breath to sigh, the awful stench fogging over her lungs.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Sara laughs again, but this time she doesn’t say anything.

They’ve reached John’s apartment by now, and Sara raises her hand to knock on the door.

No answer.

She tries again, but the feeling has already settled over Ava that this isn’t going to go quick like they’d hoped. Well, like she’d hoped anyway. Sara is convinced that this is only the tip of the iceberg, and as much as Ava hates to admit it she’s probably right. Something like this isn’t just a one and done. She can hope all she wants that John will be able to fix whatever is going on by himself and as quickly as possible, but the actual chances of that being the case are slim to none.

There still isn’t any answer at the door, so with a low groan Sara kneels down in front of the door and takes, of all things, a set of lock picks out of her pocket.

“Do you always have those on you?”

“Usually in my White Canary belt.” Her girlfriend answers in a tight voice of concentration, her fingers moving the tiny tools with an expertise Ava never knew she possessed. “With The Waverider down I figured I might not be wearing it much but… never hurts to keep these on me.”

The sound of the lock clicking punctuates her sentence, and she grins with victory as she straightens up and pushes the door open.

“After you, my lady.”

Ava doesn’t know whether she should laugh or roll her eyes, so she settles for both. The apartment is dark, not to mention more rotten smelling than usual.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in months.” She comments, the deeper in they go the worse things get. A fine layer of dust on everything, a mouse scurrying across the floorboards. No sign of life anywhere. Then the absolute most terrifying thing of all.

“Sara.” Her voice is low, frightened, and as Sara comes up behind her she can hear her steps slow until they stop.

In front of them is a mirror, with one simple thing written on it in large letters, in blood.

John Constantine

Sara reaches up to touch the mirror, and Ava has to fight the urge to reach out and yank her hand away. Like she half expects whatever did this to come jumping out of the mirror and end them both if it’s disturbed. But nothing happens except for a layer of dust wiping off with Sara’s finger.

“This must be why he joined The Legends.” She muses and Ava looks at her questioningly, so she explains further. “When I first tried recruiting John he turned me down, and then the next day he just showed up on The Waverider with the excuse that we were going to need his help. I wondered what caused the change of heart, and after he told me about Neron I figured he must have had something to do with it. I just didn’t know what.”

She places her hands on her hips, her eyes studying over the mirror as if it can answer all their questions.

There are so many of those, and it would be naïve to think that more won’t be one their way. Who is Neron? What does he want? And, most pressing at the current moment: if he didn’t come here after the crash, then where is John?

As he tilts back another shot in a vain attempt to pull himself out of his sour mood John already knows it isn’t going to work. Coming here had been his idea, a distraction that works for him about half of the time, but not tonight. Tonight he’s too busy feeling sorry for himself, thinking he would have been better off staying at that hole in the wall in Central City to drown his sorrows rather than setting foot into this mess. He tries to focus on the entrainment, if the men and women on stage can even rightfully be called that, but it’s no use. The strip club, John has decided, has lost its appeal. He’s telling himself that it’s only this particular club that’s unappealing; it’s bright lights and pounding music too much distraction from the lackluster dancers, but on some level he knows it’s more than that. Oh sure, even on a good night for him this place would probably be a disappointment. But that doesn’t change that tonight isn’t a good night. Tonight is defeat, misery, and self-pity; lots of self-pity. So much that the thought of watching these pitiful dancers for even one more second has his head hurting.

He gets up from his seat, clapping Rory on the shoulder and then turning for the door. How he came to be traveling with Mick Rory of all people he has no bloody idea, but at least the man isn’t opposed to drinking and keeps quiet. He stumbles his way out of the club; maybe he’s had a little too much tonight, oh well. He isn’t so drunk that he can’t stand on his own two feet, and as soon as he’s out that door he feels infinitely better. Oh yeah, all he needs is some fresh air and a good smoke. He takes up a residence against the concrete wall of the club and lights up, feeling better even before the cigarette gets to his lips.

It’s a good thing too, because he has just barely gotten a taste of his favorite habit when a large hand comes and plucks it from his mouth.

“Hey!” He shouts in protest, not entirely surprised when he looks up to see Rory standing in front of him, though the cell phone being shoved in his face is a little unexpected.

“Boss wants to talk to you.”

He snatches the phone and all but slams it against his ear.

“What is it Sara?” He demands, and ok maybe the harsh tone is a little uncalled for but with The Waverider destroyed he has just lost his best shot at avenging Des and it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s haunted again by Neron; he’s earned the right to be a little pissy.

Well, speak of the bloody devil.

By the time Mona arrives at the Time Bureau for the official start of her day she still hasn’t gotten any sleep. After getting back to her apartment she had scrubbed Konane’s blood out of the hallway, most of it out of her own floor and wall, and by that time it had been nearly 4:30 and she still hadn’t felt like sleeping. So she’d curled up on her couch with her laptop, logged into Netflix, and started a binge of The Magic School Bus for the hundredth time. (Not the reboot. Never the reboot.)

She’d tried to doze off, but it hadn’t happened, and so after only four episodes she’d shut down the computer and gotten ready for work.

She’s been in a haze pretty much ever since Konane showed up at her door, though it started to fade into an actual grip on reality sometime during the second or third episode of Magic School Bus.It still isn’t completely gone; she suspects it won’t be until Konane wakes up. So she focuses on moving along until that happens, and if any of the other creatures notice that she’s a bit out of it when she’s doing her breakfast rounds they don’t give any indication of it.

That is, none except for Nora.

She’s asleep when Mona lets herself in, but she wakes so quickly that she’s sitting by the time the door has closed.

“Morning,” Mona greets, enthusiasm rather lackluster.

She doesn’t even try and fake it like she’s done with the other fugitives. There isn’t any point. Ray was in here last night, so Nora knows exactly what’s going on.

“Hey,” Nora’s voice is unsure, her arms crossed over her chest as she slowly crosses over to the edge of her containment cell. It’s obvious she’s sizing up the situation, and Mona feels so small under her analyzing gaze that, even though Nora hasn’t actually said anything yet, she finds herself feeling the sudden urge scream at her to shut up.

Over the past few months the two of them have built up a friendship, and through that friendship Mona has confided in Nora her feelings about Konane. Feelings Nora has her own feelings about and has made those clear. Granted she’s been nice about it, always reminding Mona that she’s never met Konane herself and she knows first hand that judging a book by it’s cover isn’t right. She just wants her to be careful, and Mona is grateful for that, but today she isn’t in the mood to hear it.

“Is he..?” Nora’s trailed question cuts through her thoughts and Mona sniffles, her hands shaking with Nora’s bowl of oatmeal, when had she started crying?
“Stable.” She squeaks, thankfully her voice is still steady. “Still asleep from the sedatives, but stable.”

She pushes the bowl through the containment field, her eyes never once leaving her trembling hands.

“What about you?”

Nora doesn’t sound sure in her question, in fact she sounds like she’s only asking because she knows that she should, with no actual plan for how she is going to respond to whatever answer she receives. But there’s no judgment. Nothing to indicate that Nora believes her foolish for being so worried about Konane. That’s enough for Mona, and so she finally lets her tears fall free. She knows, logically, that Konane is ok, but she’s just so scared. What if this Neron comes back for him? What if he really isn’t ok and he doesn’t wake up? What has he been through in all these months he’s been missing? What if he isn’t the same as he used to be? What if he never will be?

She is only faintly aware that she’s fallen forward through the containment field. She forces her legs to help her up onto the raise floor, Nora’s hands awkwardly hooked under her arms and trying to pull her up as well. She settles hard against her friend, her face in her chest. She knows Nora doesn’t usually do feelings and this is probably beyond uncomfortable for her but she can’t bring herself to stop. The floodgates are open and just the warmth of having someone, something alive to cry to, is too necessary right now.

“It’s ok,” Nora eventually whispers to her, one hand moving in not-quite-gentle, but far from harsh, strokes along her shoulder blades while the other lays firm on her back. “Shh… it’s ok.”

The ride to The Bureau is quiet. It’s they’re first morning together, since she officially moved in that is, but they aren’t talking. After she’d called every Legend in hopes of finding John Sara had finally tracked him down with Mick, and after explaining why she was bothering him he promptly promised to be at the Bureau first thing in the morning.

So that’s where she and Ava are going, rather than lying in bed and enjoying the start of what’s supposed to be their extended time together. They didn’t sleep much after leaving John’s abandoned place, only a little more than an hour. Long enough that Sara woke up with a tiny inkling of hope that the night had all been a dream, but no such luck.

“I’m sorry.” Ava finally breaks the silence of the car, and Sara turns to her with an almost smirk playing on her lips.

“What are you sorry for?”

Ava doesn’t take her eyes off the road, but she does wave one hand around as if she wants to gesture to something but has nothing that’ll work.

“This.” She settles on, voice exasperated. “I mean you’ve barely been home five minutes and already something’s come up-”

“I’m a Legend,” Sara interrupts with a laugh, “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know,” Ava almost shouts in that adorable tone of exasperation. “Maybe to get more than an hour with you?”

Again Sara laughs. “To tell you the truth I’m actually kind of glad something came up.”

The look Ava give her, the look of complete and total betrayal, is enough to keep her laughing.

“What?” She asks through her laughter, “You and I both know it’s going to take forever for The Waverider to be fixed, I need to do something while I’m here in the present.”

“I guess,” Ava agrees with a growl, “Still. I wish it hadn’t been so soon. I just, and this is going to sound terrible considering The Waverider, but I was excited for us to get to be a normal couple for once. You know just normal days with no time travel or worrying about saving the world.”

“You run the Time Bureau.” Sara points out to her girlfriend, which earns her a growl that is every bit amused as it is frustrated.

“I know,” Ava groans, propping an elbow against the window ledge and using her hand to rub at her head.

“Look,” Sara says, reaching over to lightly squeeze her girlfriend’s thigh, enough to get her to look at her. “We determined a long time ago that our relationship is never going to be normal.”

“I know,” Ava sighs, sounding no more thrilled about this than she was a few minutes ago. Sara understands it; she wishes they’d had more than an hour just enjoying each other too. But stuff like this is always going to be happening. It comes with the life, and she wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Hey,” she says, putting on her best encouraging voice. “Whatever happens with this thing, we’ll make it work. Ok?”

Ava nods, “Ok.”

Nothing about this is ok.

It’s bad enough that Nate had to stop Ray from following him to work, and he’s sure his buddy will show up later regardless to visit Nora, but on top of that he has to worry about explaining to his dad why the Time Bureau is spending so much money to fix The Waverider. Hank may like The Legends, now, but Nate isn’t sure he likes them enough to see the cost of fixing the ship as justifiable. Of course he can’t worry about that yet, because right now he’s escorting John Constantine down to the infirmary to talk to Kaup-Konane.

This has been a long week, and it’s only Monday.

At least Konane is awake when they arrive, even with Mona sitting by his side with red-rimmed eyes; it’s a step in the right direction.

“Hey buddy,” he says to Konane before directing his attention over to Mona. “How’s he doing?”

“Good,” Mona answers him in a quiet voice. “I think. I just came in a few minutes ago, but Dr. Beecher didn’t seem worried about anything.”

Nate nods, and then he looks back and forth between her and John, not sure where he should start with this. He decides on Mona, reasoning that if they’re going to get any information out of Konane they’ll need to be able to understand it.

“Can you translate for him?”

She looks taken back for a moment. “I can try,” she says, not sounding very confident. “I’m not fluent but… I think I understand enough.”

“I’ve gone hunting for a Kaupe or two in my time, no offence Mate.” John says, the second part directed at Konane. “Never found any but did enough research, I should be able to pick out a few words here and there.”

Mona looks more disturbed by that than Konane does, but Nate supposes that makes sense if their guest can’t understand them.

“Ok,” he says, “Good, between the two of you we might be able to figure out what happened to Kaupe.” He makes sure to use the species term, they aren’t exactly positive that Konane is in as good condition as he seems, he doesn’t want to risk touching a nerve by using a name he has no business knowing. “Who wants to ask him?”

John and Mona look at each other for a moment. Mona with an expression of uncertainty and John one of “be my guest”. Eventually Mona takes the challenge, looking softly a Konane and waiting patiently for him to meet her eyes.

“Konane?” She asks experimentally, and though he looks nervous he also holds her eye contact, so Nate supposes that’s something. “Neron,” a slight growl at the new name, from both Konane and John. “’O… ‘O wai ‘o ia?”

“Hewa.”

“Evil.” John translates with a growl before Mona can even try. She looks back at him for a moment, bewildered, and then back to Konane.

“Uaʻehaʻo ia iāʻoe?”

That question, whatever it is, gets a grunt.

“No ke aha mai?”

Konane looks away from Mona, briefly, at that.

“No ka mea,” he starts slowly, “Ua hoʻohana wau e hana no ia.”

“You-!” John doesn’t get to finish, because Nate starts holding him back soon as he raises his fist. The two of them struggle for a minute, John pushing himself forward and Nate pushing back.

“What is it? What is it?” Nate demands, still trying to keep John from pummeling Konane.

“Him!” John seethes, “He worked for Neron!”

Still holding John back Nate whirls his head. Mona looks a mix between extremely worried and shocked while Konane… Konane looks sorry. He looks back and forth between them and John, and a crucial detail crosses his mind.

“Worked?” he demands of John, and then his head swivels back to Mona. “Past tense?”

At first Mona doesn’t look like she understands, then she scrambles and says something he doesn’t understand, and then calls out to him in a word he does understand.

“Yes!”

“Good!” He says, turning his full attention back to John. “He doesn’t work for him anymore-”

“That’s what he says!”

“Oh grow up!” Nate shouts, finally pushing John back against the wall of the infirmary, where he lands and sinks to the floor with a hard thud.

“Neron abducted him from us. He showed up at Mona’s last night bleeding out. I don’t know what your beef is with Neron, but beating up Konane isn’t going to help you. What is going to help you is taking a deep breath, calming down, and listening to what he has to say.”

John looks at him like he’s crazy, but then he rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath, and after a few seconds he gets to his feet.

“Ok, fine.” He says, stepping towards the bed that Nate sees Mona scoot herself just a hair closer to. But Konane looks on unfazed.

“He aha ka mea Neron makemakeʻoe meʻoe?”

“He’s trying to what?”

Ava knew calling John Constantine, while necessary, was going to be a decision she’d want very much to regret because of inevitable stress whatever he had to say would cause her.

“In short terms,” Nate says, looking as at a loss as she feels. “Neron is trying to bring hell on Earth.”

Ava looks to Sara, who is also staring at Nate with wide eyes.

“Ok,” she finally says, “And how does he plan on doing that.”

“There’s a spell.” John admits; hands shoved down deep in his pockets in a guilty manner. “Easy enough to find but not impossible, but it’s useless without the saucer.”

“The saucer?” She asks, unimpressed, but John nods with a grave seriousness.

“It’s essentially an idol, just in the shape of a saucer, that allows the spell to work. According to Legend the saucer was divided into four pieces and scattered by an ancient order of witches and warlocks.”

“Well if Neron can’t use the spell then we don’t have anything to worry about.” She says, wanting to believe for a moment that they’ve actually gotten off easy.

But John squashes that fantasy with a wince.

“Well that would be the case,” he admits, “Except he knows where the first piece is.”

There’s a beat of silence after that, because while the information certainly raises more questions it hardly answers any. John must realize this, because he sighs and continues.

“Before the pieces were scattered they were embedded with a failsafe, should there ever be any actual need to bring the most damned souls in history back to life.” He bitterly explains, “Each piece contains a clue as to where the next one is. Apparently, back in the day, Neron used to occasionally employee our Kaupe friend to extract revenge on mortals who owed him a debt they weren’t willing to pay. Neron got his souls and Konane got a meal-.”

“I’m sorry,” Ava interrupts, “Konane?”
She notices Nate’s eyes are a little wide, but all John does is shrug.

“It’s a good thing you got a caretaker who cares enough to learn the names of your creatures, love. Makes the whole interrogation bit more friendly.”

She isn’t going to dignify that with a response, though she does make a mental note to commend Mona later.

“Anywho,” John continues, “For awhile everything went along swimmingly in that partnership, until your little stunt with Mallus.”

Ava glances at Sara, who looks taken back, and she wants to snap that finger John is wagging at her right off. But she restrains herself, and Sara doesn’t ask any questions; they both know John is going to explain.

“Konane was sent into the prison realm by a high chief after Neron asked him to dispose of his son. After you lot opened up the prison realm and he was spit out wherever he was Neron was ready to resume their partnership, but Konane wasn’t so willing-”

“I’m sorry,” Ava interrupts again, holding up her hand in a gesture of silence. “But what does any of this have to do with hell on Earth?”

John sighs, looking annoyed, and if he doesn’t get to the point she is going to really give him something to be annoyed about.

“Konane ran.” He simplifies, “Then he ended up here with you lot. Turns out there was a soul Neron hired him to dispose of back in the day who knew the location of the first piece, and gave it up in an attempt to save his life. Neron took Konane because he thought he had the piece, and has spent the last few months interrogating him for its location. He held out long as he could but… he couldn’t hold out forever.”

There’s another pause, everyone taking in the new information.

“Ok,” Sara finally breaks the silence, a determination in her eyes that Ava knows all too well. “Where is he going?”

Chapter Text

Ray comes a little later than he would like to for his visit with Nora, purposely, because he knows dropping in on her last night had been unexpected and so he doesn’t want to put her off by showing up again too soon. So he’s waited until about mid-afternoon, hoping it’s long enough, because he really doesn’t want to wait any longer to see her again.

Unfortunately, he just might have to.

He’s only just stepped out of the elevator when he sees a portal opening up in the main control center of The Bureau, and stepping out of it is a cursing Constantine followed by Sara, Ava, Gary, and Nate.

“Would you calm down?” Sara scolds as they enter, to which John rounds on her, fuming.

“No, I will not calm down.” He seethes in her face, not that she’s affected by it.

“Hey!” Ava shouts, reaching to pull John away, meanwhile Sara stares him down while Gary and Nate awkwardly exchange glances.

“I bound Neron to Des and now he has control of his body, he has the first piece to the saucer, and we’ve got nothing but one bloody glimpse at the car he drove off in! We’ve got nothing!”

By now Nate is helping Ava restrain John, though even as he move towards them Ray knows it is less out of concern for Sara and more out of wanting to keep a fight from breaking out in the middle of The Bureau’s main office. Sara could take John blindfolded and with both arms tied behind her back.

“Hey!” He calls as he approaches, waving to get their attention. That seems to do the trick for John after a moment, an anchoring reminder that they are in public. “Hey, what’s going on?”

There’s an awkward look that’s exchanged between the five of them, some kind of silent debate happening among them.

“This way,” Ava finally says, just when Ray is starting to worry they aren’t going to tell him. He follows her and the others into a conference room, where she promptly closes the door.

She sighs, surveying all of them like she doesn’t know where to begin.

He has an idea.

“So what’s going on?” He asks and suddenly it’s Sara’s turn to sigh.

“It’s a long story.” Her eyes fall onto John, who is scratching at the surface of the conference table. The room remains quiet, all eyes on John, and Ray’s eyes flitting around from one person to the other.

“Alright,” John finally huffs, looking up and meeting his eyes. He doesn’t even acknowledge the others, just him, and then he explains everything.

He tells him about Neron, about Desmond, about binding their souls together and how that act has allowed for Neron to take control over Desmond’s body. He explains about the saucer and hell on Earth, and how Neron beat them to the first piece and got away.

“Wow,” Ray exhales when the explanation is done with, leaning onto the table and looking to Sara out of habit. “What are we gonna do?”

“We don’t know yet.” Ava answers instead of Sara, her head leaning into the fingers of one hand as though she is attempting to stave off a headache. “We have no idea where Neron is heading, by the time we found him at the location of the first piece he already had it and was speeding away. Jumping around the present with a Time Courier is too risky to the timeline so we can’t chase after him that way.”

Ray blows out a sigh, but Sara’s head snaps up, her eyes wide with an obvious idea.

“Why don’t we tail him?”

“What?” Ava asks, raising an eyebrow at Sara.

“Tail him.” She repeats. “Follow him. We got a look at his car, including the license plate. If we can find where he is we can follow him every step of the way to the other three pieces.”
“Except he already has a major head start.” Ava interjects.

“We only need to beat him to one piece.” Sara points out.

“Those pieces are very spread out love,” John says, “Who’s going to go chasing a demon all across the country?”
That is when Ray gets an idea, one he is confident Sara shares if the pulling smile at the corner of her mouth is anything to go by.

“We will.” He says, and every eye in the room snaps to him.

“What?” Ava demands, and so he squares his shoulders.

“Send The Legends.” He elaborates, “None of us are exactly busy at the moment.”

“Besides,” Sara puts in, “Neron started as The Legends’ problem, let us fix it.”

Ava looks like she wants to say no, very badly, but Sara is fixing her with eyes that Ray has seen her use before and he’s yet to see Ava deny that look.

But this time might be different.

“Can I talk to you?”

Sara follows Ava out into the hallway, admittedly a little caught off guard by the request, but not completely if she’s being honest. She closes the door behind them, though if she knows anything about the group they’ve left in the conference room it’s that all four of them will have their ears pressed against the wall.

“What’s wrong?” She asks, noting how Ava is avoiding her eyes.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“What?”
Ava sighs, clearly trying to collect her thoughts, while Sara folds her arms over her chest.

“Ava what are you talking about?” She tries again, and this time her girlfriend levels a glare with her that makes her heart clench. “Ava?”

“I get that Neron was brought to The Legends first,” she eventually says, “But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to go chasing him.”

She reaches forward to grab Ava’s hand, a small smile on her face.

“It does,” she insists, “The Legends take care of our own. Neron is John’s mess, meaning he’s our mess, meaning I have to go.”

Ava looks like she still wants to argue, very badly, but they’ve had this conversation already. She needs to do something while she’s here in the present, even if that something is chasing a demon.

“Promise you’ll call?” Ava finally asks with a little bit of a pout that makes Sara laugh.

She leans up and kisses Ava, professionalism in the workplace be damned.

“Every chance I get.”

Turning for the sink Charlie gags into her hand, willing away the urge to vomit as best she can.

“Oh come on,” Zari scolds, “In your immortal life this can’t-” the word are cut off by her own gag. “This can’t be the worst thing you’ve… you’ve seen.”

Charlie inhales deeply, her head tilted up at the ceiling as so to avoid their problem as much as she can.

“It’s in the top five,” she manages between breathes, oh what she wouldn’t give to have her powers right now so she could shape shift into something that doesn’t have a nose.

“Ok,” Zari says through a deep breath of her own, her voice getting stronger. “Ok. I think I’m good. You?”

She risks one deep inhale through her nose, and while her eyes water her stomach doesn’t churn as much as before, so she tilts her head down and lets it out.

“Yeah.”

“Ok,” Zari doesn’t sound like she’s as good as she’s claiming, but she’s probably as prepared as either of them is going to get. “Here we go.”

With that they turn back to their problem, each cringing but at least the gagging is minimal this time. From an outsider’s perspective they probably look ridiculous. Both of them wearing rubber gloves and Zari a pair of lab goggles she’d found in Ray’s room, Charlie is still bitter about the fact that there apparently aren’t any extras to be found. She could use some, as she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of something jumping out and squirting acid in her eyes. God only know what’s in this refrigerator.

“I think this is the worst of the smell.” Zari announces, curling her fingers around the handle of a putrid milk jug.

“Then get rid of it!” She encourages, shrinking back even further where she’s already positioned behind Zari.

“Really? I thought maybe we should keep it in here a few more months!” Zari snaps, already moving the milk.

Charlie is about to make a retort when the sound of Zari’s ringtone interrupts her chance.

“Can you get that?” Zari asks, still occupied with the rancid milk.

“Uh…” Charlie drawls. Her eyes wearily landing on the buzzing phone nestled securely in her friend’s back pocket. Well, she supposes it’s either Zari’s ass or the milk, and that’s really no contest at all. “Sure, on it.”

She takes the phone and pulls off her gloves, Zari moving around her to get the milk to the sink while she answers.

“Hey Sara, Zari’s a bit busy at the moment. What’s up?”

She listens to Sara’s offer while also watching Zari attempt to dump the solidified milk down the sink drain, holding up a hand as a motion for “stop” when the other woman moves for a pair of scissors. Zari’s looking at her as though she’s crazy, like needing to cut up a milk jug to get it’s contents out isn’t crazy, but this offer is getting interesting.

“Sounds great. We can be ready in ten minutes.”

She fights the urge to laugh at the way Zari’s eyes bug out and she starts whispering about the refrigerator and “We can’t be ready to go anywhere for another few hours! You are not leaving me alone with this mess! If I have to suffer, you have to suffer!”

“Ok, see you then. Yup, bye.” She says cheekily into the phone and then hangs up while Zari huffs.

“Now don’t pout.” She scolds her friend, placing her phone down on the island countertop. “Put the milk back in the fridge and get cleaned up, we’re going on a road trip.”

With that she turns to go pack up the few belongings she has in her room, and as partially expected Zari follows her.

“What?” She demands, marching behind her all through the apartment. “What do you mean we’re going on a road trip?!”
“Apparently that demon Constantine bound to his ex took control of his body.” She explains, leaning her hip against her doorframe and folding her arms over her middle. “He’s after some plate that can bring about hell on Earth or something. I don’t know; Sara gave me the short version. Point is The Legends are going on a road trip to stop him, and that includes us. Now Gary is going to open a portal here in ten minutes so get changed and get packed.”

“And what about the rancid fridge?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie shrugs, “Ray’s going on the trip. It’s his fridge, his mess, just let it fester until we’re done and then make him clean it.”

With that she closes her bedroom door, confident she doesn’t need to say anything more.

A lot of weird things have walked their way into Nora’s cell, but none so weird as Ray holding a duffel bag that he claims is full of spare clothes.

“And what am I supposed to do with that?” She asks, eyes flicking up to meet his, which are wide and bright as always.

“Take it with you.” With that not-so-helpful explanation he produces Mona’s keycard from his back pocket and deactivates the containment wall of her cell. “We’re going on a road trip, it’s kind of a long story, I can explain everything on the way to the garage. Come on!”

He motions for her to follow him but she doesn’t budge.

“Ray,” she finally says, voice a touch sad and tired as she moves her fingers through her hair. “I’ve told you, no-”

“This isn’t a prison break.” He assures her, “It’s a long story, but the short version is The Legends are chasing a demon. We have Constantine but he’s faced this guy alone before and lost. Big time. We need your help to beat him. Ava has agreed to release you into the custody of The Legends for this mission and, if all goes well, you’ll get a retrial at the end of it.”

That sparks her interest. A part of her is still tempted to say no, to stay right here and not move because if she takes one step out of her cage and this turns out to be a trap then she’s thrown away any and all hope of ever earning her freedom. If anyone else had come to her like this she would do exactly that and wave them goodbye; the only way to be sure this isn’t a trick.

But this is Ray.

He would never play her like this. There is no amount of dark magic or mad science in the world that could make him. She trusts him, and maybe that’s why they sent him.

Her step down from the platform is shaky, anxious, and she accepts the hands he has outstretched to her. Once her foot lands on the ground, and no guards burst through the walls with guns pointed at her, she brings down her other foot. Once she’s totally on the ground, Ray still beaming at her and no guards, she allows herself to smile and fix the grip she has on his hand, interlocking their fingers.

When she first does this his expression changes from a smile, and for a moment she’s worried she’s read too deep into things. Maybe this isn’t what he wants, or maybe this isn’t how she should go about it, maybe…

No.

The smile returns to his face, a relieved smile, and he squeezes lightly on her grip until her own smile returns.

Walking down the halls of The Bureau is interesting, to say the least. Every person they pass is looking at her with weary eyes, but none of them move to stop her, which even further proves that Ray is telling the truth about what’s going on. They walk into the elevator and Ray presses the button for the garage level. As soon as the doors close Nora feels a whole new wave of anxiety washing over her, because her suspicions are now completely gone. This is real. She is getting a second chance, and if she screws it up-

“Hey,” Ray interrupts her thoughts, “Everything’s going to be ok.”

She nods, even if she isn’t totally convinced. It doesn’t matter anyway, because the elevator stops and the doors slide open to reveal they are only a few feet away from where The Legends and Ava are gathered. No turning back now.

Ava doesn’t exactly look comfortable as she steps towards the group, but based on the way she is also looking at the others that discomfort may not be entirely directed at her so she tries not to take offence. They’re gathered in front of an RV, white in color aside from the black swirls along the sides, and suddenly the duffel bag slung over Ray’s shoulder makes sense.

This isn’t the average time travel type of mission.

Suddenly a portal opens up and, along with Gary, the only Legend not already standing here steps out; Mick Rory.

“I thought I already said I wasn’t gonna live on a bus with you people?” He demands as Gary closes the portal up behind them.

“And yet here you are.” Sara comments, Mick shrugs, and so that’s that.

“So what do we do if we actually find Neron?” Zari asks, her attention somewhere between Sara and Ava.

“You call me.” Ava answers sternly, “My agents and I will portal to wherever you are and pick him up. The same goes for if you get a piece of the saucer.”

“When we get a piece of the saucer.” Sara corrects, and while  she doesn’t exactly look convinced Ava nods, and then shifts her attention to the entire group of them.

“Right now our satellites are tracking Neron moving northwest from his last location, we’ve hooked up your GPS to our lock on him, so just follow that wherever it leads you.”

Nora can’t help but to look around at the other Legends, especially now that it’s sunk in that she’s going to be in extremely close quarters with them for the foreseeable future. None of them seem interested in her, which is good. John she knows likes her so that’s another plus. Hopefully if she just keeps her head down and does as she’s told she can get through this. It’s how she’s gotten through everything else in her life.

“Ok kids,” Sara’s voice sounds out. “File in, it’s time to hit the road.”

Chapter Text

After kissing Ava goodbye Sara files onto the RV, though she barely gets up the steps with the door closed behind her before she almost bumps smack into Mick. The RV isn’t big, as the team is currently discovering. There are the standard driver and passenger seats up front, and above those is a bed that’ll fit two people with a collapsible ladder currently folded up and secured against the ceiling. Behind the chairs is the walkway most of them are currently standing in, and then starts the rest of the furniture. There’s a booth for eating against the left wall, a countertop behind it with a built in sink, mini fridge, and oven. Above that is a row of cabinets framed around a window. Across from the kitchen area are two floor to ceiling cabinet doors that Zari has opened up to reveal they house a bunk bed. The back half of the RV is nothing more than a small bathroom, a washer and dryer built into the wall on the other side, and at the very end a bedroom with a queen size bed.

“I ain’t sharing a bed,” Mick rumbles, and with that said he steps to the side and flops down in the drivers seat.

“Ok…” Sara drawls, “Anyone else want to handle sleeping arrangements now?”

The others look around at each other, some looking more uncomfortable than others, and then Charlie bites on her lip through a smile.

“Well… If no one else is calling the big bed.”

“Actually, do you mind if I split that with you love?” John asks, though Charlie hardly looks deterred.

“Of course not John.”

With that settled she starts for the bedroom, and John follows.

Sara then looks around at the others, specifically Ray and Nora. She had kind of been hoping they would take the queen bed. But they’re just standing there, looking incredibly unsure of themselves, and maybe Nora isn’t ready to be that close to Ray.

Hopefully that’s the case, because she’s still the Captain, and she would like to be able to get to the wheel as quickly as possible if need be.

“Alright, anyone care if I go up there?” She asks, gesturing to the bed spread above the seats. It’s probably the least comfortable bed on the RV, just a thin mattress pad over the plastic of the interior. But it’s close to the wheel and anything else important.

She gets a chorus of “nopes” in reply so she’ll take that, though for the moment she drops her bag into the passengers seat.

“I’m gonna take a bunk,” Nora’s small voice speaks up, though she doesn’t move until Sara gives her a nod.

“Ok,” she says and only then does Nora turn for the bunks, Ray’s head turning along with her.

“Do… Do you care if I take the other one?”

Nora turns back almost looking caught off guard, and yet not.

“No,” she promises and that’s that, which is exactly the sentiment Sara gets from Zari’s underwhelmed expression.

“Guess it’s you and me Captain.” She says, tossing her own bag up to their bed, of course she has to lean up on her toes to push it in so it’s secure.

Their first day on the road goes pretty well, all things considered, at least in Zari’s opinion. Apparently Mick, of all people, is the only one among them with a license that qualifies him to legally drive the RV, so looks like he’ll be doing most of the driving. The rest of them are going to have to entertain themselves.

“We should play I spy!” Ray happily suggests midway through the afternoon, even though no one has complained of boredom yet.

From where she’s sitting on one side of the booth Zari looks around at the others, trying to figure out what exactly gave Ray the idea any of them would want to play I spy. She hasn’t been doing much of anything, John is sitting across from her playing solitaire with tarot cards, Charlie is back in the bedroom with the sound of her music carrying in throughout the RV, Nora is sitting on the floor with her back against the doors to the bunk bed and her nose in a book, Mick is driving, and Sara is now peering over from the passenger seat. None of them look impressed with Ray’s suggestion and as he starts to quickly realize that his eager puppy-dog face is falling into one of sadness and dejection.

Damn it.

“Sure Ray,” Zari finds herself agreeing. “I’ll play.”

He perks up considerably at that, and while they clearly don’t need any more players for him to be satisfied she still sends a glare around the room for the others until Nora marks her page and puts down her book.

“Ok.”

“Mick and I will play from up here.” Sara adds and while Mick makes a grunt that sounds like it could start an argument he doesn’t actually say anything.

They play for the better part of an hour, with the others occasionally joining in. Eventually though, they all get bored and one by one the number of players drops. She and Nora are the holdouts. The two of them and Ray play for a full fifteen minutes longer than any of the others until Nora finally throws in the towel and returns to her book. After that the game is easy to end and Zari goes and switches places with Sara, putting her in the passenger seat to keep Mick company.

“Are we in Kentucky or Ohio?” She asks, trying to make sense of Sara’s map. They have their phones with the GPS tracking the satellite of course but they had also decided that, since they really don’t know where they’re going, they should keep a physical map to mark where they’ve already been.

“I thought we were in Indiana,” Mick answers, unconcerned.

His eyes remain on the road and so Zari checks over the paper map again, and then looks out the window for any sort of highway sign but finds none, and then she promptly gives up. So long as they don’t stray from Neron’s path their actual location doesn’t matter much.

They drive for a little over another hour, during which time they pass a sign that says Welcome to Indiana, before pulling off into a town that supposedly has a campground for RV’s.

“Neron still moving?” Sara asks, peering over the side of the seat and Zari glances at the blue path on the GPS screen.

“Yup.”
“Good,” Sara says, “We’ll pull in here, maybe find a grocery store. After that we’ll see what Neron’s path is like, if we can stop here for a few hours and get some sleep we will.”

“Just bring me back something,” Mick requests, “Gonna sleep while I can.”

“Sure thing,” Sara says with a nod before she turns to let the others know the plan.

They find the campground easily enough, and Mick pulls into a site without any issues. They all file off the RV, Mick included so that he can stretch his legs a little before heading back to take a nap, and start off for the town.

As they walk through the camp Zari finds herself just ahead of Ray, who is conveniently alone because Nora is over with John and whispering with him about something, likely something to do with magic. In any case she knows she isn’t likely to get another moment alone with Ray in the next few days, what with the RV only being so big and all. So she slows enough to fall into step next to him, before she loses her nerve.

“Hey, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Of course Z,” he looks mildly concerned by her sudden request, which is fair. “Anything.”

She nods, assured that he won’t be mad or even annoyed when she explains herself.

“I need you to help me make a person.” She blurts out, quiet enough so that he’s the only one who will hear. It’s not that she doesn’t want the others knowing about this idea of hers it’s just, well she isn’t sure it’s even possible, and she would like to hear the odds from Ray before anyone else.

But Ray isn’t saying anything; in fact he’s barely walking along with her. He’s just gaping down at her, eyes wide with shock.

“Uh…” He eventually stutters, “Wow. Uh… Z, I mean, I know we’re friends an all but-”

“No, not like that Ray.” Damn, that question really came out wrong; she knew she should’ve thought this through more. At least he looks relieved now that she’s shut down the assumption he had apparently jumped to.

“Oh good. Well, not good. I mean… I don’t mean it would be bad, not at all. It’s just it seemed a little sudden, and I didn’t think you even wanted kids. Not that you would be a bad mom, no. I-”

“Ray!” She interrupts his stuttering, which was admittedly amusing for all of two seconds but she is trying to have a conversation about something serious.

“Right,” he says, “Sorry. Ok. So if you don’t mean it… like that, then what do you mean?”

“An android body for Gideon.” She answers. “I saw your blueprints in your apartment, I know you’ve thought about it before.”

“More or less,” he says with a shrug, evidently unfazed by her telling him she went through his stuff. “Those blueprints weren’t exactly for Gideon, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered using them for her. It doesn’t matter, I couldn’t figure out a way for it to work.”

“Oh it can work,” Charlie’s accented voice suddenly cuts in as she butts in between them. “I’ve seen it in one of the timelines from when John and me broke reality.”

“Really?!” Ray asks with his usual brand of an excited smile. “Do you know how we did it?”

Charlie frowns at that, and there’s something more in her face than simply not knowing how they made Gideon an android, but Zari can’t put her finger on what.

“Sorry, no dice. All I know is Gideon looked every bit as human as the next bloke.”

“Aw man,” Ray practically whines, “I wish you had asked.”

Charlie gives him a bitter look and a hum, “Sorry,” she says. “I was a little busy trying to put things back to normal, as some people were dead.”

“Right,” Ray nods, a sobering look on his face and Zari wonders if he’s even considering the fact that he might have been the one who was dead.

Which, given Charlie’s expression, she is now almost certain he was.

“Anyhow,” Charlie goes on, clearly groping for a way to get off the subject of her and John’s reckless stunt. “Sorry about the eavesdropping, just overheard that talk about Z being a mum and, to be quite honest, I really wanted to know where it was going.”

If Zari could disappear into a black whole and away from this conversation, she would.

Ray’s face turns beet red with embarrassment, and Charlie laughs, because of course she heard the whole thing.

“Why so embarrassed?” She teases Ray with an obnoxious grin. “I’m sure you and Z would make adorable babies.”

Grocery shopping is interesting to say the least. Sara hadn’t really noticed until now just how different everyone’s eating habits are. On some level she had known, it isn’t like they haven’t had a team dinner before, but having the replicator makes it easy to make everyone happy. Making everyone happy with the limited budget Ava was able to get them for food on this trip is a lot harder.

Not to mention the fact that they’re even in a grocery store together is an adventure all it’s own.

Mick hasn’t come, he broke off from the group when they reached the gas station next door to the RV camp and said he was going back from there so he could get some shut eye. That’s fine. After three and a half years on The Waverider with him Sara knows what he eats. It’s the others that are turning out to be a problem. Zari doesn’t eat pork, and apparently Ray tries to avoid it as much as possible. John has weird objections to random snacks, while Charlie is willing to eat some of the absolute strangest things (sheep’s liver being at the top of the list) yet she refuses to touch some of the most normal foods in the world (cereal, for example).

Sara doesn’t think she’s all that picky, though Ray claims otherwise when she tries telling him cauliflower is going to go bad in their fridge because he is the only one who is going to eat it.

Of course the refrigerator only adds to the problem because it’s so small, and for seven of them that is going to be a tight fit. Most of their food is going to have to be stuff that doesn’t need to be kept cold.

In the end they leave with supplies for pasta and meatballs, two boxes of cereal, a jug of milk, two packs of cookies, a bag of sour cream and onion chips, a case of water, some deli meat, cheese, bread, and two cases of soda because nobody could agree on one single flavor and Charlie is still pouting they didn’t get pineapple.

(“Where in the bloody hell did you even get hooked on pineapple soda anyway?” John had demanded to know as he put one pack of Coke cans and another of Sprite into their cart.

“Exactly there!” Charlie had retorted. Sara had forced them to leave the aisle before a fistfight broke out.)

Now they are facing a new issue; needing to walk back to the RV with the groceries.

They hadn’t thought that part of this through, but at least it isn’t too far of a walk; not impossible to make the trip anyway. Still, by the time they get back they’re all dragging and it’s a wonder no one dropped the water or soda.

Mick is still asleep in the driver’s seat so they’re all quiet as they can be while putting things away, and while Sara is fairly certain Mick wakes anyway he doesn’t say anything. With the groceries as put away as they’re going to get Ray starts opening the cabinets in search of pots so that he can make the pasta, and apart from Nora the rest of them file back off the RV.

“I’m gonna call Ava,” Sara informs the others, and while Charlie gives her a thumbs up and John raises a suggestive eyebrow with his tongue poking out on his bottom lip, Zari hitting him, she walks away and dials her girlfriend’s number.

Ava is still sitting at her desk when her phone buzzes, the screen showcasing the smiling face of Sara Lance.

“Hey babe,” she answers the call, “Where are you guys?”

“Indiana,” Sara answers, “Grabbing some supplies and Mick’s catching some sleep. Neron’s still moving but he has to stop at some point. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch him when he does.”

“Ok,” Ava says, trying to keep her fear from seeping into her voice. They need supplies, and with only one qualified driver Mick needs sleep. If they have to stop then they have to stop. It’ll be fine.

“Don’t worry babe,” Sara chuckles, always aware of exactly how she’s feeling. “We’re gonna catch him and stop this thing.”

“I know,” she says, nodding even though Sara can’t see it. “I know. Just don’t take too long, I still want my time with you.”

Sara laughs on the other end, “Don’t worry, this’ll be done in no time.”

Chapter Text

Neron is still moving, even as the hours of the night are dragging on, so it’s a good thing Mick took that nap. Right now it’s well after midnight and they’re on the road again, everyone except for Mick in bed for the night and asleep.

Or, in Sara’s case, trying to sleep.

She’s never been the easiest sleeper, a stark contrast to her bunkmate who was out like a light within five minutes of crawling into their little cubby of a bed. There isn’t anything particular that’s keeping her up, though she would be lying if she were to say her mind is unoccupied. She’s thought about everything from the damaged ship to her call with Ava earlier. They hadn’t talked long, but they had talked enough. “I miss you’s” and “come home soon’s” were exchanged, as well as progress updates. The smile that comes across her face at the memory is genuine, but she doesn’t need a mirror to know that it isn’t full. It’s soft, happy, and yet…

Thud

And yet she’ll have to think about it later.

Thud, thud.

She raises her head and props herself up on her elbows, but that’s as far as she can get in this bed. With a quiet groan she flips onto her stomach and crawls around to the end of the bed, kicking Zari more than once in the process.

“Hm?” The other woman asks, partially alert and still very drowsy, Sara isn’t even completely sure she’s actually awake.

She doesn’t look back to find out, though. She’s too preoccupied with the continuing sound of a frantic banging coming from somewhere inside the RV.

She isn’t seeing anything unusual, but clearly she isn’t the only one whose noticed the sound because one thing she does see is Charlie emerging from the back half of the RV and rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“What the-OW!”
“Nora-AH!”

She’s cut off by Ray bursting through the right-side door of his and Nora’s bunk bed and slamming it into her face, just before he falls out of his bed and his falling body forces open the left door.

“The hell is going on back there?” Mick growls just as Ray’s face collides with the floor, and the doors slam back shut with a bump in the road.

Ray scrambles to get back to his feet and throw the doors back open, and of course he gets slammed in the back of the head and nearly thrown onto Nora’s bunk by them swinging back.

Now seems like as good a time as any to intervene.

Thankfully their ladder is still down, rubber grips the only thing holding it to the ground but it works. Sara climbs down from her and Zari’s bed and walks over to the scene at the bunks, to which Charlie is now holding one door open.

The bunks aren’t exactly big enough to sit up in, but Nora is managing best she can crouched against the back wall and breathing heavily, looking like she’s coming down from a panic attack. Ray, after being knocked onto her mattress by the door, is sliding off and onto his knees and pleading with her to calm down.

“It’s ok, it’s ok.” He tells her over and over as she starts apologizing, explaining that she woke up and it her head on the ceiling of her bunk and due to still being partially asleep she thought she was trapped somewhere.

Sara steps away to give the two of them some privacy, moving over to Charlie.

“Do you have anything we could tie that door open with?”

“Not sure, hold this.” With that Charlie gives her the handle for the door and disappears back into the bedroom, where John is somehow still sound asleep despite all the noise.

She comes back a few minutes later, when Nora has calmed down. With her she has three belts linked together and she attaches one end to the door handle and the other to a ring on the bathroom curtain.

“There,” she says proudly, her hands on her hips in satisfaction. “Well, I’m going back to bed.”

Yeah, Sara can get behind that plan.

The next time she wakes up the RV is significantly quieter. It’s morning this time, and the only sounds in the RV are those of the road underneath them and the occasional jerking of the bathroom curtain now that it’s bound to one of Nora and Ray’s doors. This time she’s a little more careful not to kick Zari awake as she climbs down from the bunk. There isn’t anyone else awake, save for Mick, still at the wheel.

“You want to stop soon?” She asks, poking her head into the little cockpit of the two seats.

Mick makes a low rumbling noise. “Can’t,” he says, “Demon turned around last night, must have gotten the second piece, we weren’t even close.”

Sara groans at the new information closing her eyes and wiping her hands over them as she falls into the passenger seat.

“This isn’t gonna work,” she says simply, and Mick snorts.

“Yeah, figured that out around four.” He agrees, “I’m starting to think this guy doesn’t actually need to sleep. Good news is since he turned around we’re technically ahead of him now. But…”

“But with no idea where he’s going we almost have to let him pass us.”

“And he could turn in another direction.” Mick reminds her, “Right now we’re both going southeast, but he could get on a road and start going southwest, or just west.”

Sara hums, he’s right, there are too many variables in this and that isn’t even to mention that they have a huge disadvantage with only one driver, he’s probably ready to drop as is.

“We have to get ahead of him.” She muses, “Actually ahead of him.”

He hums, and it’s quiet for a minute, her thinking and him waiting for her to determine a course of action.

“I’ll talk to John.” She finally says, “See if he can think of anyway to predict where the third piece is.” Mick hums again, accepting the plan. “In the meantime,” she continues, “How hard is it to drive this thing?”

He looks at her then, surprise in his eyes before he hardens his gaze and fixes it back on the road.

“No.”

“Mick-”

“I said no.” He repeats firmly, “Last thing we need is to get busted cause one of you idiots runs a stop sign with the wrong license.”

“We’re on the highway, there are no stop signs!” Sara points out, “Look, I know you like being the driver but we can’t stop every time you’re about to pass out from exhaustion.”

“I’m fine.”

“For how long?” She snaps, not in the mood to put up with his stubbornness. “We haven’t even stopped for coffee and you’ve been driving all night. You’re worried about us getting caught with a bad license but I’d rather that then you falling asleep at the wheel.”

He doesn’t say anything to that, and it’s one of those silences that Sara recognizes as him thinking through her words and looking for a loophole, before he eventually sinks his shoulders and gives in.

“Fine,” he agrees, “We’ll switch at the next stop.”

And they do.

Mick pulls off at the next exit and brings the RV into a plaza to park. Ray and Zari disembark on a coffee run before they take off on the road again, and Mick goes with Charlie to a little convince store because “you idiots didn’t get anything for breakfast except cereal”, and Nora gets in the shower. This leaves Sara alone with John, the two of them sitting at the little booth table and eating their cereal.

Perfect.

“We have to get ahead of Neron.”

“Not possible.” John counters her statement with barely a reaction, his attention not wavering from his spoon for even a second.

“It has to be.”

“It’s not.” He finally makes eye contact with her on that. “I want to catch Neron more than anybody, he took Des from me, but those pieces are the only way to locate one another for a reason. No other way of tracking them was ever created. Believe me love, people have looked.”

She knows he’s telling the truth, he would do anything to save Des, no matter the danger. So she drops the issue for now, if only to keep him from snapping, and it isn’t long until the rest of the team returns.

Mick claims the passenger seat this time, falling asleep within minutes of her pulling them back onto the highway. She had offered him her and Zari’s bed but he’s standing by not sharing a bed, even if he would be up there alone, and she isn’t going to bother fighting that battle.

Driving the RV isn’t overly complicated, and thankfully traffic is light enough while she gets the hang of it. They still don’t have the slightest idea where they’re going, and Sara considers more than once that maybe they should just stop somewhere until Neron at least gets close to them and then they can pick up his trail, it isn’t sounding like a completely horrible option if there truly is no way to get ahead of him.

Being with the Legends is decidedly nothing like what Nora had been expecting.

Ok, she doesn’t exactly know what specifically she was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it. She didn’t think the team would be so… casual, about her accompanying them. Ray has never said anything specifically but she doesn’t think any of them knew he helped her escape the Time Bureau the first time around, so she had assumed they would blame her for seducing him or something ridiculous like that. If that isn’t enough reason for the team to be against her there’s the whole business of her father murdering the Captain’s sister, and not to mention said Captain is dating Ava so that at least should have them wary. She doesn’t hate Ava but she’s also pretty sure the Bureau Director isn’t convinced of her reform yet and probably wasn’t the first to suggest this little parole.

But so far the team hasn’t said anything. In fact, they’ve barely spared her a second glance. Even after last night when she woke up in a panic and disturbed everybody. All they did was tie up one of the doors so that it won’t happen again and that was that, no questions.

It’s oddly comforting and a little unnerving all at once, and she doesn’t know what to do with herself.

Ok, to be fair, none of them seem to know what to do with themselves right now. Sara and Mick have switched places for the day in terms of seating, but the rest of them are stuck pacing around the RV. Zari had thought to bring a computer with some movies downloaded onto it, but for now she’s seated at the table with Ray and they’re using it to work out formulas or something for some big project. John’s in the shower, even after Sara’s warned him that the hot water probably won’t last much longer, he said he’d take his chances. Charlie was in her own little world via her ear buds for most of the morning but her phone died and now she’s being forced to pace around bored while it charges.

Something that isn’t sitting well with her.

“Ugh… How much longer until we can get off this bus?” She asks, making what Nora is sure to be her tenth circle around their tiny living area.

“Not sure,” Sara calls from the drivers seat, and in response Charlie growls before slumping down on the edge of Zari’s seat, practically in her lap.

Yup, Nora thinks to herself as she returns her attention to her book; the Legends are an interesting group.

Zari doesn’t pay much attention to Charlie when she first plops down on the edge on the booth. She scoots over maybe an inch but otherwise doesn’t even acknowledge the newcomer; she’s too focused on her codes and algorithms for the potential Gideon android. Charlie, apparently, does not like that because after all of ten seconds she gives a dramatic sigh and flops backwards right over her lap.

She tries to go on ignoring the antics, but Ray’s looked up from his notes, and if she knows anything about him it’s that he isn’t so good at ignoring distractions.

So she sighs, unimpressed, and tilts her head down to look at the former shape shifter spread across her lap in the confined space of the booth.

“Can I help you?”

“Not really,” Charlie replies with a casual shrug, her head tilting back so she can study the plastic of the wall. “You know, this is a lot comfier than it looks.”

Zari rolls her eyes and goes back to her work. She spends the next twenty minutes or so trying to code but it’s a little hard to focus with Charlie lying there and singing to herself, her fingers playing idly with everything from the stitching on the booth to the hem of Zari’s own shirt. She really starts to loose her focus when her legs begin going numb, but she shifts them under Charlie’s back and doesn’t meet the gaze when the other woman looks up.

She should, though.

She should tell her to move. She should tell her that she isn’t a bed and if she wants to lie down she should do it anywhere but here.

But she doesn’t.

She just keeps on coding and discussing with Ray.

They can’t go on like this.

Neron is behind them and according to the satellite heading towards them, but they’ve hit the coast of Maryland and with no idea as to where he is actually going they can’t keep driving aimlessly. So Sara makes the decision to pull them off the highway and into Ocean City, it’s a tourist city with a place for RV’s so they shouldn’t attract any suspicion.

“Ok,” she announces as they pull into the campground. “We’re stopping here for the night, we’ll see where Neron is in the morning. Don’t get into too much trouble.”

The team can’t promise anything, as usual, but Sara almost doesn’t care once she’s standing again. How Mick drove all night and still wanted to drive further she will never understand. Disembarking from the RV she smiles as the fresh air enters her lungs, she’s always loved the salty smell of the coast, even after The Gambit. It’s late in the afternoon; soon it’ll be time for them to find something for dinner, but for now the team is heading off in different directions to explore the tourist city.

She, on the other hand, has to be Captain for a few minutes longer.

Taking out her phone she walks back into the RV, just to be sure she has privacy from any neighboring campers, and she punches in Ava’s contact. She only has to wait a few seconds for her girlfriend to answer and bring a smile to her face.

“How’s it going?”

“Alright,” she answers, swinging her foot around restlessly. “We just stopped for the night.”

“What?” She can almost hear Ava freezing in the middle of her paperwork on the other end. “You’re ahead of Neron.”

“Exactly. And we don’t know where he’s going.”

She hears Ava sigh on the other end, can envision her rubbing the corners of her eyes and back to the bridge of her nose.

“Ok,” she eventually says, “Just keep an eye on his path. Anyway there’s uh… there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“What?” Sara asks, her body going ridged; she doesn’t like the tone nor the hesitance in Ava’s voice.

It’s another few seconds of silence, and they drag on forever, before finally…

“I got an update from Jax today,” she finally says, “The damage to The Waverider is… extensive, even if Nate can convince his father to grant the additional funding we’ll need for the repairs… Honey I’m sorry but I’m not sure The Waverider is getting fixed.”

A part of Sara has known that would be a possibility, a part of her even suspected that might be what Ava had to tell her, but she still braces herself against the counter.

“Ok,” she says, because what else can she say? “I’ll call you back later.”

“Sara”-

“Bye.”

Chapter Text

Mick knows something is off with Sara when the team goes out to a restaurant for dinner. He doesn’t think the others notice; she’s pretty good at hiding it behind a smile and jokes, but something isn’t right. She nags about causing a scene a little more than normal, is a little too dismissive about it when they all split up afterwards; she doesn’t even give them a curfew. To top it all off when they all start filing back to the RV she isn’t there, and even after everyone’s gone to bed but him she still hasn’t shown up. He isn’t worried per say, she’s a big girl and by far one of the most responsible on this team. So he waits up, sitting in the driver’s seat and reading a book by flashlight, until he finally hears a pattern of soft thuds on the roof.

He gives her a minute, he doesn’t know where she’s been, and he debates bringing beer but if she’s already drunk it’ll be the last thing that she needs, so he decides against it.

He creeps out of the RV, trying to avoid waking up anyone, and glances up once he’s outside to see a pair of legs dangling off the roof overhead. He’s sure she sees him, even if she isn’t saying anything; she’s at least heard the door. So he walks over behind the RV and hauls himself up the ladder to the roof where he finds her slouched and not giving the slightest indication that she knows he’s there, but he knows better than to think she doesn’t.

He crawls along the metal surface, hoping the sound of his weight won’t wake anyone inside and draw them out, especially not Haircut. Her coming up here hadn’t woken anyone but, well, he isn’t exactly as light or graceful as she is.

He comes up next to her and gets himself situated, neither of them saying anything even after he’s settled.

Well, not at first.

“Am I selfish for having wanted to come on this mission?”

Her voice is soft, scared, and she’s only looking at him out of the corner of her eye, her hands knotted together in her lap. He really should’ve brought the beer.

“Course not,” he tells her with a shrug, not at all sure about where this is coming from. “A little nuts, you spend enough time looking out for our stupid asses.” She laughs at that, a real laugh that reaches all the way up to her ears, which of course brings a smile to his own face before it grows serious again.

“Why do ya think you’re being selfish?”

She huffs at that, her hands coming up and dragging over her mouth while she thinks.

“We were back for five minutes,” she finally says, “And I couldn’t get on a mission fast enough.” Her face is still serious, and it suddenly dawns on Mick that this is maybe the most serious he’s ever seen her look. After all this time, after all the tough calls she’s had to make as Captain, he doesn’t think he has ever seen her looking this… well… lost.

“Jax called Ava,” she finally tells him, “I’m gonna give him a call in the morning but, according to her, he’s not sure if The Waverider’s gonna fly again.”

She looks at him with that, gauging for his reaction. He’s sure his face is long with surprise. He’d known the ship was in bad shape after the crash, the cynic in him even thought she might be beyond repair. But to hear it…

Oh yeah, he definitely should’ve brought the beer.

“So…” He has no idea what to say, but he’s gotta come up with something. “This might be our last ride?”

Sara almost looks like she’s going to cry with those words said out loud, and a tear or two might get swiped up by her palms when she moves to push her hair back behind her ears, but he really can’t tell and wouldn’t call her on it if he could.

“Ava was so excited to have me home.” She says, her eyes back to looking out at the other trailers and RV’s ahead of them. “We’ve been talking for awhile about me moving in with her and with things more calm on the ship these days she thought now might be the perfect time, and after The Waverider was fixed I could split my time a little more evenly and I was all for it but now… Ugh, now I just don’t know.”

She finishes the long explanation by burying her face in her hands, and Mick has no freaking idea how to respond. He’d known the two of them had been getting closer, they’re dating, and you’d have to be an idiot not to notice how much time Sara’s been spending off ship and in the present. But he hadn’t realized it’d gone so far that they were talking about moving in together at all, never mind right this second.

“Uh…” He isn’t good at this; he doesn’t do feelings. For Sara he’s willing to try and make an exception, happy even, but she is going to have to bear with him.

Well, she’s always been good at doing that.

“Look,” she says, bringing her head up and resting her chin on her hands. “I know how you feel about Ava.”

He can’t help but to squirm at that reminder.

“But I also know how you feel about me.”

She gives him a minute to digest that, cause never once has he actually told her how he feels about her. But the mutual understanding has always been there, or at least, it has ever since Snart.

Snart was a brother to him, and to Sara he was… well he could’ve been something. Ever since he died the two of them have looked out for each other, both on the field and off. At first it was a little awkward, he’d been through a lot of shit in that past year and she was still getting use to being Captain. But eventually they’d found their rhythm, and personal feelings for her girlfriend aside he wants her to be happy.

He’s glad she knows that.

“What do you think I should do?”

He’s quiet for another few seconds; he wants to choose his words carefully, for once.

“Doesn’t matter what I think,” he finally decides on, “Matters what you think.”

She looks away from him at that, an almost annoyed smile creeping onto her face.

“You want to live with her?”

She groans, her head falling into her hands yet again, so he doesn’t bother waiting for a verbal answer.

“You love her?”

“Yes,” she says almost right away, bringing her face back up but not quite taking it out of her hands. “Of course I love her but… When she first asked me to move in with her and split my time, before all the magical creatures were running loose throughout history, I told her it was a great idea and that I was ready to be a partially kept woman.”

She hesitates for only a fraction of a second before deciding to continue.

“John told me I was wrong. That I’m not the type for fuzzy pink slippers and that, no matter what I tell myself, I never will be. I told him to screw off but now…”

She sighs, her arms now folding over her stomach as she bends slightly over herself. “Now I’m thinking maybe he was right.”

Mick lets that sit for a minute, torn between wanting to focus on the fact that Trench Coat knew about this and the actual problem, regarding to which a part of him knows exactly what he wants to say but it isn’t his place. Sara is trusting him with this; he has to respect her feelings in it.

“You want to be that type?”

She actually laughs at that, small and sad, but amused all the same. He’ll take that.

“For a day or two, maybe.”

She takes a second to breath there, likely just now coming to the realization, and knowing what it means.

“It isn’t that I don’t want the fuzzy pink slippers, or movie nights, or laying in bed until noon on Saturday mornings just-”

“Alright,” he cuts her off, he wants to help but he doesn’t need to hear what it is she and The Suit do when their alone; it’s bad enough hearing it on the ship.

She chuckles at his interruption, but stops, thankfully.

“That stuff is great, but I’m good having it only once in awhile. You know, after missions have been endless and I desperately need a break. Ava’s more of a ‘nine to five, whose turn is it to cook dinner’, type girl. I’m-”

“You’re more of a ‘the alarm’s blaring, go out and fight a monster, everyone’s in charge of their own dinner unless it’s a holiday’, type girl.”

The laugh she gives at that is the first one all night that isn’t undercut by sadness or frustration. It’s light and amused, and wholeheartedly agreeing.

“Exactly,” she acknowledges, “ I don’t want the whole white picket fence, 2.5 kids, honey I’m home crap. And I don’t know if Ava does but-”

“She wants something closer to it than what you do?”

She nods, regret on her face, and damn he’s going to have to tread carefully here. There’s something else on her face too, a realization, and whatever it is she’s groaning once she comes to it.

“I’m gonna have to talk to her, aren’t I?”

“Might be a good start.” Mick answers and when she groans he slings an arm around her shoulders and pulls her into him. She falls back against him easily, heavily, her head lolling against his chest in a way that makes him chuckle.

“Don’t worry,” he tries to tell her, though he doubts the advice will resonate. “You got enough of that to do with trying to keep us in line.”

She snorts at that, “Tell me about it.” She says, “I don’t know how I’m going to tell the others about the ship.”

Yeah, that one’s going to hurt.

“One problem at a time.” He finds himself saying, and he can’t tell if that noise she makes is a laugh or a groan, but it somehow manages to agree with him and call bullshit all at once.

Neither of them says anything else, and they don’t stay up on the roof much longer, but for the time that they do Mick spends it oddly hopeful that this isn’t the end for their motley crew.

While they’re waiting for Neron to get ahead of them they have some time to kill, and thus Ray has decided that since they’re in a place that literally has “ocean” in the name they should spend what time they can on the beach.

“None of us exactly packed for the beach Ray.” Nora had told him, as gently as she could, last night when he made the suggestion over dinner.

“So?” He had asked, undeterred. “There are beach shops all over this place, we can go shopping after dinner and get what we need.”

Somehow the team had agreed to the idea with very little protest. Maybe they all thought Neron would pass them by morning and so there was no harm in Ray’s wishful thinking.

But here they were, up just after the crack of dawn and some of them taking turns behind the bathroom curtain to get changed.

Nora hadn’t had any problem with this until she actually got into the bathroom with the black bikini she’d picked out last night. She hasn’t worn a bathing suit since she was ten years old, the summer before her family moved to Star City and her life plummeted downhill. She hadn’t thought much of it last night while shopping, it was easy enough to eyeball what would and wouldn’t fit her, but now she’s quickly realizing that adult bathing suits are a little harder to get on than kid ones.

Giving up on getting the sliding cups of her top to stay in place while she ties the garment around herself she debates whether or not the embarrassment of sticking her head out of the curtain is worth it but she doesn’t exactly have many options, so she decides to go for it; at least with it being tied to the door of her bed she can save a little of her dignity.

Charlie is still in the back half of the RV, and while she normally wouldn’t be Nora’s first choice when looking for help she can’t exactly think of who would be.

“Charlie.” She whispers, quiet enough so the others don’t hear her on the other side of the door but loud enough that her intended target does. “Could you come in here and help me, please?”

Charlie nods dutifully. She’s wearing a one piece but it has so many complicated looking ties it’s enough to assure Nora that she’ll be able to manage this.

“Hold the top where you want it, one hand if you can manage.” Charlie instructs as she steps behind her, brushing her hair over her shoulder and out of the way. Nora does as she’s asked and holds her hair with her free hand.

“This too tight?”

“No, a little loose actually.” Nora answers and so Charlie pulls the string a little tighter.

“Like that?”

“Perfect.”

She sets to work tying it there, and Nora catches a glance of herself in the mirror, and she can’t help but to smile. They may just be killing time on a mission, this isn’t a vacation by any means, but it’s been so long since she’s been able to do something like this. It feels like a lifetime since she last thought about where she put the bottle of sunscreen or her flip-flops, and it feels so good to have those thoughts again.

“There,” Charlie announces, patting her shoulder gently, “All done.”

With that she leaves the bathroom, and Nora grants herself one more smile in the mirror before she follows.

The walk to the beach isn’t too long, and it’s early enough that they don’t have any trouble finding a good spot to set up.

“I’ll never understand the beach,” Charlie says with her hands on her hips as they set up their chairs and towels. “You just sit in the sand all day? Where’s the fun in that?”

“Beer.” Is Mick’s version of an answer as he spreads his towel out over his chair and rolls the cooler close to it.

Sara rolls her eyes at the antics, “Go in the ocean,” she suggests, “It’s a little more exciting.”

Charlie doesn’t appear wholly convinced, but Nora thinks on the suggestion. Most of her beach memories involve sand castles and seashell collecting, but she does vaguely remember the joys of jumping over waves as well.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Ray, of course, cheers and the next thing Nora knows he has dropped whatever he was in charge of carrying and she’s being dragged off towards the water.

They must look ridiculous, two grown adults running down the sandy hill of the beach and towards the water. Ray goes splashing right in but Nora, as soon as her foot comes down in that first puddle of water, squeals and jumps back.

It’s freezing.

“Nora?” Ray asks, his brow furrowed, though he doesn’t appear too genuinely worried.

“Why is it so cold?” She asks, and with a laugh at her problem he shrugs.

“We’re still a little in the north.” He reminds her, “You’ll get use to it; it helps if you go under.”

And suddenly Ray, who is without a doubt the single gentlest person whom Nora has ever had the pleasure of knowing, get’s an evil gleam in his eyes.

“No,” she says firmly, though she’s smiling broadly, and that look is still there on his face. “No, Ray!”

“Come on,” He presses, “It’ll make it easier.”

“No!” Damn it, she is still giggling ridiculously.

“Come on…”

Ray is never insistent or whiny like this, but as he steps closer to her Nora can’t help the pull she feels towards him. She can see in his eyes what he’s thinking, and no, she doesn’t want the cold of the water anywhere near her. But she does want to have some fun.

“Be quick.” She gives in and with a bright smile he hurries over to her and scoops her up in his arms bridal style.

She squeals as her feet leave the ground, and the deeper he wades in thee tighter she holds to him. Finally, once he’s knee deep in the freezing water, he stops.

“Ray…”

“Hold your breath!”

She barely has a second to comply with the order before he winds her back and then throws her forward into the water. She comes up as quick as her body will let her, shivering, but laughing, and lost in the sight of Ray’s smiling face.

While the rest of the Legends relax John, who doesn’t think he could relax even somebody drugged him, decides to take a walk down the beach. He gets down to the shore just in time to see Nora and Raymond knocked over by fair sized wave. He smirks at the sight; at least she’s found happiness.

Walking along the shoreline, hands in the pockets of his swim trunks and cigarette in his mouth, he sees just about every type of person there is out there. He walks past kids, teenagers, the elderly, and every single one of them has somebody.

There are couples walking along the beach hand in hand, some so young he wonders if their parents are nearby, and some much, much older. There are little kids running to and from the arms of their parents, older kids pushing and tugging each other into the water, all of them smiling and laughing.

Once upon a time he sincerely believed that he would never know a happiness like that; a companionship. But then he met Des, and now he has to save him from Neron.

Or die trying.

Chapter Text

From the early moments of the morning Zari can see something up between Sara and Mick. Not only did she fall asleep long before Sara showed up in the RV last night, but this morning during breakfast she sees Mick give The Captain a look. It’s one of their silent agreements, something that probably concerns the rest of the team but for now those two are keeping it to themselves.

She really hates when they do that.

She doesn’t say anything on the way to the beach, and even once they’re there and set up she still waits until Ray, Nora, and Charlie have all disappeared to the ocean and John has wandered off. She might hate Sara and Mick keeping secrets, but she’s been the responsible one enough times over the last few months to understand why it’s necessary sometimes.

“Ok spill,” she demands once it’s finally just the three of them. “What’s going on?”

The two of them exchange a look, and then Sara sits up to rest her elbows on her knees.

“Ava called last night,” she says, “And I double checked with Jax this morning, before anyone was up. The Waverider isn’t in good shape.”

Zari knows her mouth has fallen agape, she wasn’t expecting that.

“What do you…” She doesn’t know how to finish; her mind is too busy reeling. Her first thought is her and Ray are really going to need to get their android up and running now, if the ship is toast, and then she starts to worry how bad the Waverider’s condition actually is. Is there even anything of Gideon left to salvage? Was their project too little too late?

“There’s still a chance,” Sara is saying, but she doesn’t exactly look hopeful. “Jax is heading to S.T.A.R. Labs today, he’s going to see if maybe they can help. But… we might have to face the fact that this is out last mission.”

Her mind is still reeling, trying to take in the news; she almost doesn’t notice that Sara is still talking.

“Which means… you’re going to have a choice to make.”

That halts her thoughts in their tracks. It takes her too long to understand, she almost asks what choice and why just her, but with the way Sara is looking at her the question doesn’t need asking.

She has to choose a time.

If The Legends are over with at the end of this mission then that means she is either going to have to stay here in 2019 and live through the whole world going to hell for a second, possibly third depending on this mission, time, or she can go back to 2042 and attempt to pick up the broken pieces of her life.

She nods at Sara, “I’ll think about it.” She promises and Sara nods in return.

Suddenly she doesn’t think she can sit still in her chair anymore, so she gets up and decides to go check on their teammates down by the ocean.

She can’t find them at first, not that she’s worried. The waves aren’t huge or rough, but they’re big and constant enough that swimmers keep disappearing below the surface before popping back up.

The water is cold, and the deeper in that she wades the more the temperature brings her out of her thoughts. She gets about up to her hips when she starts really feeling the pull of the tide around her, waves crashing out just beyond where she’s standing and giving her the backlash of the spray.

And, when one crashes particularly close to her something hard knocks her under.

She tumbles through the water and along the sand, tangled up with… something. Something that’s flailing around every bit as much as she is, something pushing her away and holding onto her at the same time, something-

The tide finally recedes and she’s left lying there in the shallow water, with Charlie strung out on top of her.

“Oh,” Charlie says, coughing up some water. “Hey Z.”

Zari is coughing as well, even as the two of them untangle themselves and get to their feet.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Charlie apologies, an adrenalin induced smile still on her face as she catches her breath. “Didn’t get through it in time.”

Zari hums in reply, still admittedly a little distracted.

“Are you alright?”
She opens her mouth to answer Charlie and assure her that she’s fine, but before she can Ray and Nora appear next to them.

“Hey,” Ray calls, “Did you guys see that plane?”

Zari furrows her brow at the odd question, as does Charlie.

“Sorry Ray,” The former shape-shifter chirps, “We got knocked under.”

“Oh, one of those planes with the advertising banners just flew by, and the banner said something about half priced admission at a waterpark! It probably isn’t far!”

He looks so hopeful, and while Zari can think of about a million reasons she should be shooting the idea down, Charlie’s face has already lit up in a huge grin and, really, this can’t be the worst idea they’ve ever had.

This has to be the worst idea that Nate has ever had.

He is just starting to forge a relationship with his father, one that isn’t based upon mutual distain anyway. Taking the step to go golfing with him already feels like stepping around a field of landmines, but going golfing with him and knowing that he has to ask about the Time Bureau getting some additional funding for repairs to The Waverider that may not even be possible is just sounding like a death wish.

But, he was the idiot who suggested they talk about work over golf, so he has nobody to blame but himself.

“You’re up son,” his dad says, stepping aside so that Nate can tee up.

That’s what it’s called, right? Teeing up?

God this is going to be a long day.

He goes for the tee, balancing the little white ball on the tiny wooden perch.

“Thanks,” he mumbles as he straightens up and starts lining up a swing, even though he’s sure it’s obvious to his father that he has no idea what he’s doing.

“So dad,” he says, pausing just long enough to swing for the ball, and hit it with a surprising amount of accuracy. “You remember The Waverider, right?”

His dad chuckles and they trade positions so that he can set up his own shot.

“Of course Nathaniel, it’s a little hard to forget coming face to face with a real life Minotaur.”

“Right,” Nate acknowledges and then his dad hits his ball far off into the distance. “Well, Ava wanted me to let you know that there’s been an accident. With The Waverider.”

“Oh no,” his dad at least appears genuinely concerned by the news, so that’s a good sign. “Is everyone alright?”

“Everyone’s fine,” he assures him, “But the ship’s in pretty rough shape. It got torched by a dragon. From the inside-”

“What?”

“It’s a long story.” Ok, everything with The Legends is a long story and this is probably one of the shorter ones, but considering it probably could have been prevented by Mick and Ray being a little more vigilant, his dad doesn’t need to know that. “The main thing is that there’s a lot of damage to the ship and, well, The Bureau could really use some additional funding in order to fix it.”

A frown spreads across his father’s face as the two of them gather up their bags and start the walk for wherever their balls have landed, and while the expression is far from comforting it doesn’t exactly scream rage, so Nate is going to mark it as a small win.

“So this is about money.” His father doesn’t sound as disappointed as he has when saying those words in the past, he doesn’t mean them in the same way, but Nate can’t deny it still stings.

“Hey I warned you there would be shop talk.”

“I know,” his father says, somewhat apologetically. “I guess I was just expecting nothing more than a status report, preferably something I don’t have to go back to my office worrying about.” He laughs at his own words, before his face grows a touch more serious again. “At the most I expected to maybe hear about the condition of that wolf man, I’ve heard he’s returned to you?”

“You mean Konane?” Nate asks, “He’s doing alright, apparently he was being held captive by a demon but-”

“A what?” His dad interrupts, “And Konane? I’m talking about the creature who escaped his containment six months ago.”

“Yeah,” Nate knows he sounds a little impatient, but God his dad needs to get better at listening. “His name is Konane, and he didn’t escape, he was kidnapped. By this demon named Neron. He’s basically possessed this guy Desmond and is hunting down some saucer to bring about Hell on Earth and-”

“What?” His father interrupts, stopping in the middle of the green. “A demon?”

“Yeah,” Nate replies with little more than a shrug. “Just like Minotaurs and shape-shifters, demons are real and there’s one on the loose. This one, Neron, needed Konane because he knew where to find the first piece of this Hell bringing saucer. Right now he has two pieces and-”

“What does this Desmond look like?”

Nate scrunches his brows together. That’s an… interesting, question.

“Nathaniel.” His father continues, and he suddenly looks very, very, worried. “What does he look like?”

The waterpark is definitely one of their better ideas, in Charlie’s opinion at least. Running around history is fun and all, but there is nothing quite like the rush that comes with sitting at the front of a double tube and plummeting at high speed over a plastic hill. Zari is shrieking behind her, which only serves to further her laughter, and before she knows it they’re being dumped into the pool at the end of the slide.

“Well, that was fun.” She muses while the two of them dismount over the side of the tube, pulling it along while wading through the water.

Zari hums in agreement, and once they’ve gotten out of the pool and placed their tube onto the pile she turns to survey the landing area of the two slides.

“Did Ray and Nora beat us?”

Charlie looks out at the pool as well, they had set off at the same time as their friends, and so it would stand to reason that the pair of them would have come out around the same time.

Sure enough, as though on cue, Ray and Nora’s tube comes bounding out of the second slide and hits the water in just the right way that Ray gets thrown over the side of it.

Zari cringes and Charlie laughs at the sight, and they wait patiently for their friends to come to the steps.

“Well that was fun,” Ray says, clearly unbothered by the water still in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Charlie agrees, though she is already scanning around for their next endeavor.

And she thinks she’s found it.

“Anyone up for that?”

She points over to a large, open slide not too far from where they are now. It’s tall; possibly the tallest in the park, and one big shoot almost straight down.

“Uh… sure. Why not?” Ray replies, looking a little pale. “We’ve faced worse.”

“I’m gonna sit this one out.” Nora claims

“Same, I want to get a water.” Zari seconds, so it looks like it’s just her and Ray.

After splitting off from Ray and Charlie, Zari tags along with Nora, weaving in and out of the crowd of people.

“So…” Nora draws, a little awkwardly, once they’re in a slightly less crowded area. “Where did you spend your one day of shore leave?”

Zari can’t help but to frown at the memory, specifically the smell she encountered.

“I was living with Charlie in Ray’s old apartment, which would’ve been fine except he didn’t clean out his fridge when he left a year ago.”

Nora crinkles her nose at that, remarking a disgusted “ew” as they find a line for a water stand. “So what made you decide to live there with Charlie?”

She shrugs, that hadn’t been so much of a decision as it had been a natural happenstance. They’d both needed a place to stay and Ray had one that was big enough for two.

“Just worked out that way.” She shrugs, “Why do you ask?”

Now it’s Nora who shrugs, looking away with her cheeks flaring red in a way that has Zari furrowing her brow.

“I’m not exactly great at making friends.” She eventually says, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Zari says, quickly paying for her water and feeling like a bit of an idiot. “Besides, making friends with The Legends happens whether you want it to or not. You’ve already got Ray wrapped around your finger, and you’ve got me.”

Nora beams at that, the expression a little awkward but sincere nonetheless.

“Thanks.” She hesitates after that, some other words apparently frozen on the tip of her tongue. “What about… What about Sara? Do you think she, you know, hates me?”

“Hates you?” Zari asks with a furrowed brow, “Because of Mallus? No, Sara wouldn’t-”

“Not Mallus.” Nora interrupts, “My father. He… he killed her sister.”

Oh.

Zari is fully aware that she isn’t being even the tiniest bit discrete when she takes a long gulp of her water, but she needs a few seconds to think. She had known Sara had lost her sister, but the details of how were never exactly given to her. She’d figured it had been unexpected; the possibility of murder had even crossed her mind. But she never would’ve considered it had been the doing of Damian Darhk.

Damn, and Sara was willing to work with him in the end.

“That’s a conversation you’ll have to have with her.” She finally answers, swishing her water around as she carefully considers her next words. “But… the Legends were founded on second chances, from what I understand. Sara is usually open to hearing all sides of the story. Like I said, talk to her, but I don’t think she has anything against you because of what your dad did.”

Nora doesn’t appear completely convinced by that, but even if she could think of something else to say she wouldn’t get much of a chance, because the very woman they’ve just been discussing suddenly appears through the crowd and in front of them.
“Where are Ray and Charlie?” Sara demands, eyes wide and urgent.

“Over on that thing,” Zari answers, pointing over to the giant slide.

“Ok,” Sara huffs, “Go get them, because we’ve got to go.”

Let the record show that Nate almost doesn’t grab Mona around the waist and hold her back when she moves to punch his father square in the jaw, and while she is thrashing about in his arms he seriously considers letting go. He doesn’t steel up, so he’ll think of that as “if she gets out, oh well.”

But she doesn’t get out. She calms down enough that he can set her down and trust she isn’t going hit anyone, and then he has to restrain himself from punching his father himself.

“I’m sorry!” His dad is still pleading and he grinds his teeth with a scowl, turning and glaring at the older man.

“Save it.” He spits, “Just save it. You’ve already done enough damage.”

When he turns around he is fully intending on following Mona out and leaving, he really is, but he just can’t and instead he swivels back around.

“What were you thinking?!” He shouts, “Working with Neron!?”

“I’m sorry! I told you, I didn’t know anything about these creatures and he said they could be valuable!”
“So what? You were just going to use whatever creatures the Legend’s brought back as expendable soldiers?”
He doesn’t know what he’s expecting for an answer, but this painful silence isn’t it.

“Oh my god.”

“Nathaniel-”

He holds up a hand, and it’s enough to stop Hank from saying anything.

“I don’t want to hear it.” He says, his voice somehow firm and broken all at once. “Just save it, I have to go and clean up your mess.”

Hank does try to say something else, but he doesn’t listen. He walks away and leaves the traitor alone in the conference room.

Chapter Text

Getting back onto the RV Charlie heads right for the bedroom so she can get changed, but of course John is already there and sitting on the foot of the bed with a cigarette poking out of his mouth.

“You look like you’re having a good time,” she comments, noting the window is cracked open, so she isn’t going to berate him.

“Tell me love,” he starts, plucking the cigarette from his mouth just long enough to talk. “If you were chasing down the demon who tricked you into binding him to someone you love so that he could possess his body and literally raise all bloody hell, would you be having fun?”

She doesn’t answer right away, instead moving about the room and gathering an armful of her clothes from the floor. John’s pretty on edge, and for good reasons, so she’s going to give him a minute to get his snippy little attitude in check before she starts calling his bullshit.

Of course John Constantine is nothing if not bull-headed. If he knows that he’s bordering on the territory of being out of line he isn’t about to admit it, never mind apologize. Instead he remains silent, sulking and smoking his fears away while she strips out of her bathing suit and hangs it on a hook to dry and then dresses herself. At that point she places her hands on her hips and huffs.

“We’ll get him back you know,” she says, but John just blows out another cloud of smoke.

“Oh yeah?” He asks, “And what happens when stopping his plans means sending him, and Des, back to Hell?”

Sara is starting to doze off in the passenger seat when the sound of her phone buzzing promptly wakes her up. Blinking her eyes open and yawning she reaches for the cup holder where she’d placed her phone and doesn’t bother suppressing her groan upon seeing Ava’s ID; Mick knows the turmoil in her head already.

“Hello,” she answers, arching her back in a stretch.

“Hey babe, I was just calling to check in and see how you’ve been holding up since last night.”

Ava doesn’t exactly sound like she was even sure she should call, though given the way she hung up on her Sara completely understands that.

“Yeah, we’re uh, we’re doing alright.” She checks over her shoulder to see if any of the others are around, though even if they’re out of sight that doesn’t mean they’re out of earshot, especially not in their current quarters.

Of course they’re all back there, except for Ray, who still has to be somewhere close by. Zari and Charlie are sitting at the booth with Z’s laptop in front of them and a box of taffy they must have picked up in Ocean City on the table. Nora and John are seated on the floor, across from each other with some kind of book that likely details magic between them.

“We’re back on the road,” she decides to say, turning back around and hoping Ava won’t ask any direct questions about if she’s told the team about the ship yet, because apart from Zari and Mick she hasn’t and she doesn’t want them to find out via eavesdropping.

“I know,” Ava says on the other end. “We’re tracking your progress remember?”

She does remember, she wouldn’t forget something like that, but it’s all she’s got for a status update.

“Right…” That one stupid word is all she can manage to come out with. She doesn’t have anything else to say, at least nothing she wants to discuss with Mick right here and the majority of the team behind her.

“Ok…” Ava’s drawl is almost as painful and awkward as Sara’s own, and the sound of it has her slouching down in her seat and running her free hand over her face. She can feel Mick trying not to stare at her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe she can just-

“So how’s the trip?”
It takes everything in her not to sigh.

“I mean, I know it isn’t really a trip,” Ava continues, “But I’m sure you guys are finding some time for fun.”

“Yeah,” Sara confirms, very unenthusiastically. “Yeah we’re great.”
“Are you ok?”

She sighs, because no she isn’t ok, not after last night and frankly not since the Waverider crashed. She has no desire to lead Ava on, but she also has very little desire to break up with her right now, over the phone, with all her teammates sitting behind her.

“Sara?”

“Yeah,” she murmurs, “Yeah I’m ok. Just tired, we’ve been on the road awhile and I’m gonna take over driving soon-”

“Driving?” Ava demands and it takes all Sara’s self control to keep herself from bashing her head against the dashboard as she realizes her mistake. “You don’t have a license to drive the RV.”
“Well Mick is the only one who does and he still needs to sleep. Besides, I drive a time ship, I think I can manage an RV.”

That defense would probably go over better if she hadn’t snapped, but it’s too late now. She can practically hear Ava gaping on the other end, likely debating whether she wants to be angry or concerned at the outburst.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

Sara can’t stop herself from sighing this time; she would’ve rather Ava gone with anger.

“Yeah, like I said I’m tired and-”

“Sara.” Ava interrupts her, her tone stern and impatient. “Come on what’s wrong?”

She closes her eyes; there isn’t any getting out of this. The only possible way to get Ava to drop it would be to tell her the truth; that she doesn’t want to talk about it with her whole team right here. But that team is a very nosy bunch, and if she says that then they’ll be all over her for the remainder of this mission asking if she’s alright and assuring her she can talk to them.

“I’m sorry Ava.” She finally says, pinching the bridge of her nose as her eyes close with the realization that she’s going to have to do this now.

“Sorry? What do you mean sorry?” Ava sounds more desperate and worried than she does angry, and Sara isn’t sure if that’s good or bad.

“I just… Look, I don’t want to do this over the phone-”

“Well you’re doing it over the phone now Lance.”

Fair enough.

“I’ve been thinking, about being in the present and living together and it’s made me realize that overall… I don’t… I don’t think we want the same things.”

There’s a beat of silence, one so long that she’s starting to wonder if Ava’s hung up, but just before she can finally say something to check the other woman’s, albeit quiet, voice returns over the line.

“So you want to break up?”

She knows Ava can’t see the tears leaking out of her eyes, nor her eyes shut tight or her nodding head, and a part of her is grateful for that. The other part, however, is well aware that it means she has to open her mouth and try to get actual words out.

“Yeah,” she manages, her voice only a touch on the raspy side. “I’m sorry.”

It’s silent again, and this time Sara really does think Ava’s hung up.

“Ok,” she just faintly hears on the other end, and then a beep finally confirms Ava hanging up.

She sniffles, swiping at her eyes. It isn’t more than a few seconds before she feels a comforting weight grip her knee, Mick’s finger’s giving it a light squeeze that brings a watery smile to her face. She takes another second or two before she’s satisfied that she’s staved off the tears enough to peek over her shoulder again, and when she does she sees Zari and Charlie snap their heads down in unison, practically staring at the laptop’s keyboard rather than the screen. John is already on his feet, turning on his heel and making a swift escape for his room. Nora has scrambled into her bed and then, as though this is going to somehow make things less awkward, she reaches out and yanks on the door they’d tied open, closing herself in.

Of course when she closes that door it moves the bathroom curtain to the side with it, and there’s Ray. In the shower; eyes wide and hands scrambling to cover himself.

The next ten hours aren’t as awkward as Mick had feared they might get. It’s a little rough at first, mostly cause Witch Girl closing her door had yanked the curtain away from Haircut and so New Girl had to very quietly explain to him why it had happened. That very nearly turned into him trying to ask Sara if she’s alright; but New Girl saw it coming and distracted him. Once the sun set things got infinitely easier to manage, as the team had the good sense to turn in early, or at the very least pretend to turn in early and instead all shut themselves in Trench Coat and Fake Amaya’s room with New Girl’s laptop.

Ugh, he really needs to come up with some better nicknames for those two.

Right now it’s just him and Sara, the others are probably all passed out over their movie by now. Even if they aren’t they’re too far away to hear anything they say, none of them will be getting the courage to leave the back anytime tonight.

He and Sara have already decided he’s gonna pull over at the next stop and switch places. He’d tried telling her he’s ok to drive the whole way, just needs some coffee, but she wants to drive, and right now he isn’t going to deny her something she wants.

Or at least, he isn’t going to outright tell her no.

She’s asleep right now, curled up in the passenger seat with her knees to her chest. Her face is a little red, a result of both the tears and the sun from the beach and the waterpark. Her hair’s all mussed up and spread over her face and she’s snoring softly. He can’t help but to grin a little at the sight, it isn’t often that Sara gives into her exhaustion and just passes out. He’s always grateful when she does though, lets him know she’s taking care of herself. With how much she does for the team they both know that gets put on the back burner a lot, and he’s more than happy to watch over things while she recharges.

Especially after today

He drives for another hour before he has to pull off into a rest stop and get a coffee, and he isn’t surprised in the least when putting the RV into park is enough to stir Sara.

She hums with the grogginess of being woken, and ok she said she could drive but she is obviously still tired.

“Shh... Go back to sleep Boss.” He whispers before her eyes can open, moving the fingers of one hand gentle across her hairline in the way he’d seen Snart do for Lisa a couple times. “I’ll be right back, just getting coffee.”

She murmurs something he doesn’t understand and then contentedly nuzzles her face back into her chair. Whether she’ll actually stay asleep or not is hard to predict, but for now she’s back out so he gets up and stretches out his limbs.

He starts to leave, he really needs that coffee, but it’s been hours since he heard so much as a peep from anyone so he derails to the back of the RV. Passing through the bathroom he slides open the flimsy door to the bedroom and chuckles at the sight before him. The whole crew, minus him and Sara of course, is sprawled out in a tangled pile on the queen-sized mattress.

Ray is the only one with his head actually on a pillow, his magical girlfriend curled tight into his side with her head on his chest and her arms circled around him. The two of them would almost be a peaceful picture if they didn’t have one of Charlie’s legs strung over them. She’s sprawled out over the center of the bed like one of those big dogs, her second leg down on Nora’s ankles. She’s twisted so everything below her waist lays flat but her upper body is sprawled onto its side; a position only she could find comfortable. One of her arms is thrown over Zari’s hips, and Zari is spread out half on top of Constantine and half slouched over with her arm out like she’s looking for Charlie; her hand settled just behind the other woman’s back. Constantine is, well, he’s lying on his back in nothing but his boxers (probably only for the sake of Haircut and Witch Girl); half under Zari and half falling off the bed. The latter can also be said for the laptop, which is balancing precariously on the foot of the bed and so Mick leans forward just enough to snatch it up and place it safely on the ground against the wall. Hopefully none of them will be dumb enough to step on it when they wake up.

With the laptop saved he goes into the service station and gets two coffees and a bag of mini donuts. He then puts some fuel in the RV and goes back inside, leaving the donuts on the counter and walking back to the little cockpit, where Sara turns to look up at him. He’s a little disappointed she’s not asleep, but he’d been partially expecting it, which is why he got her a coffee.

“Already drank half of mine.”

She rolls her eyes, it’s his way of telling her he’s going to keep driving, and while she’s obviously far from amused she takes her cup and takes a long sip. If he’s gonna be driving, she’s gonna stay up and keep him company.

“Why?” She nearly growls and he chuckles, climbing back into the drivers seat.

“For once I got something that no one else on this team is qualified to do, let me have it.”

She looks like she wants to argue, but she just takes another sip of her coffee and so he puts the RV in drive and starts pulling out.

They’re quiet for a while, until long after he’s passed the next exit sign and finished his coffee. He doesn’t want to push her to talk about anything she doesn’t want to, but he does want her to know that she can talk about it.

“You ok?” He finally murmurs, not taking his eyes off the road. She doesn’t answer him at first, probably thinking it over, and then…

“I will be.”

He nods, and he knows there’s more, but he isn’t going to push her.

“Well, let me when you get to the bad mouthing your ex stage of a break up; I’ve got some good ones.”

She snorts in laughter and he smirks with a small gleam in his eye. Yeah, she’s going to be just fine.

When Ray wakes up the first thing he does is knit his eyebrows together, because there is a foot in his face. Why is there a foot in his face? Hecan barely fit on his bunk, how the hell did someone else manage to cram in?

Oh right, probably because he isn’t in his bunk. He fell asleep watching the movie with the rest of the team in Charlie and John’s bed. In fact, it’s Charlie’s foot that’s in his face. He’s also teetering on the very edge of the bed, but Nora is nuzzled comfortably against his chest, so that’s ok. Of course just as he’s thinking that the RV takes a turn and suddenly he is falling off of the bed. He secures one arm instinctively around Nora, the other reaching down to the floor to stable them, and he gets kicked in the face by Charlie as well.

“Hm?” Nora murmurs, awoken by the sudden displacement. She looks up at him as she wakes with that look she normally gets before she starts hitting him, but this time she doesn’t get to that point.

“What’s going on?” Charlie yawns, sitting up while Zari groans from somewhere on the other side of the bed.

“Up and at’em, Legends.” Sara’s chipper voice comes calling before she appears in the open doorway, snickering at the sight of all of them.

Ray can’t see much beyond himself, Nora, and of course Charlie’s foot, but they must all look pretty ridiculous crammed into one bed.

“Hope you all slept well, because we’re here.”

“And where is here exactly?” Zari groans, and Ray is almost positive that thumping sound his her head flopping back onto a pillow.

“The only logical place to go hunting for a piece of a hell bringing saucer,” Sara answers with a shrug and a slight smirk. “Disney World.”

Chapter Text

The fabricator is nice, but it has been too long for Mick since he last knocked a security guard unconscious outside of a locker room and stole his clothes. They might have lucked out with this piece; the demon isn’t here yet, it’s hidden close to not only one of the very few places in Disney World where you can park an RV, but also a place they would likely be sneaking into anyway, and as previously stated, he gets to knock a security guard out. It’s the perfect mission.

“Ok,” Sara says, she and the other girls coming out of the woman’s locker room in their own liberated uniforms. “Found a map in there, the beach should be just on the other side of those trees. This whole place literally spans thousands of acres, and we somehow managed to end up in a spot where we only have to walk 20 yards so if we could not complicate things that would be great.”

“Relax Boss, we’ll be fine.”

Sara looks a little reassured by that, not much but a little, and that’s more than he can say for the other two.

“Yeah… Somehow we aren’t the ones I’m worried about.” New Girl comments, obviously referring to the rest of the team. Boss rolls her eyes and starts out walking, so they all follow.

“I told them all to stay on the resort.” She says, “We can’t have them going too far. Ray wasn’t thrilled but I think he wanted to see the castle more than Nora did. Hopefully she’ll convince him to stay here and, I don’t know, ride a horse or something.”

A part of Mick does feel for Haircut. They’re here in what’s been labeled the happiest place on Earth, and he is most certainly the happiest person on Earth, and he can’t even go anywhere. The resort they’re at is one of those nature themed ones, so hopefully Sara’s right and he’ll find some pony rides or somethin’.

“As for John,” she continues, “He’s too busy moping; said he’d keep watch at the RV.”

Well, hopefully the place won’t be up in flames when they get back.

The resort’s beach is pretty small, it isn’t too hard to find the dock and stealing a boat is even easier. They might not have even needed to steal the uniforms but he isn’t complaining.

This shouldn’t be this easy. When Pretty called and said the piece is hidden in Disney World of all places that’d been enough to have Mick thinking this was going to be difficult. But when Pretty got to the part about it’s exact location, buried in an old pool on Discovery Island, the abandoned part of Disney World, and he had been pretty sure getting there would be damn near impossible. The fact that so far that isn’t looking to be the case… it doesn’t sit well with him.

“So what’s the plan?” He asks, they’re almost halfway across the lake now and well out of the resort property; if anyone were going to try and stop them they would’ve done it by now.

“According to the tracker Neron is in Disney. Ava’s working on pinpointing exactly where, but considering we could only track his car we might not be able to pinpoint him.” Sara answers and Mick knows better than to touch that with a ten-foot poll.

“You two still talking?” But apparently Charlie doesn’t.

He and Zari both give her a look, and while Boss doesn’t exactly look thrilled with Charlie’s words she shrugs them off.

“We have a job to do.” She says, and so that’s that.

The rest of the ride to the island passes by quietly enough, still looking easy, until they really get closer and Mick realizes he can’t see where he’s supposed to dock this boat.

“Uh…” He drawls out, looking at Sara who is already scowling.

“Hurricanes must have taken out the dock.” She growls, “Get us as close as you can, from there we’ll have to kill the motor and get out and push.”

“Well, lovely day for a swim.” Charlie comments while Mick follows the orders.

He manages to get them in close enough that they’re barely waste deep in the water when they have to hop out of the boat, though with all the splashing involved he almost doesn’t know why he bothered.

They push the boat up onto the shore bank, the sand being enough to secure it.

“Ok, so now what?” Zari asks.

“Now?” Sara echoes, her voice a little more on the sarcastic side. “We hike.”

Ray thought he didn’t break rules, but as of late he’s starting to figure out that when Nora Darhk is involved that mindset goes out the window. The two of them have gotten on a shuttle to Magic Kingdom after promising John they’ll be back long before the others return. He dismissively lit up a cigarette and waved them goodbye, so hopefully that means he isn’t going to contact Sara and tattle.

“Ray, we really don’t have to do this.” Nora whispers, leaning into his side. She’s seemed a little on the anxious side ever since they got on the shuttle. “I’m still on thin ice with this parole.”

Ah.

“Relax.” He tells her as comfortingly as he can, taking her hand in his and squeezing lightly. “Sara, Mick, Charlie, and Z have Discovery Island covered, and it’ll probably take them all day. Depending on lines we’ll probably only have time for a few rides, but I promise you we’ll be back before they even know we left.”

She groans through a closed mouth, looking away and taking back her hand so that she can wring it together with her other one.

“Hey,” he whispers firmly, glad when he gets her attention back. “Look, if you really don’t want to go to Magic Kingdom we can stay on this bus and go right back to the resort, no problem. I just thought there might be stuff here you’d want to see.”

“And that’s sweet Ray.” She beams at him, taking a deep breath through her smile. “Ok, a few rides.”

He beams back at her; it’s obvious that something is still bothering her, but they’re ok for now. Maybe a day in the park will get her mind off whatever it is.

Zari has been to a lot of strange and dangerous places throughout her life, if most of those came before or after the Waverider is hard to say, but hiking for hours through an abandoned island theme park is definitely near the top of the list in terms of overall creepiness.

On one hand it’s hard to believe this place was ever a tourist attraction of any kind. All the paths are beyond the point of overgrown; the buildings are far, few between, and falling apart. There’s even a single bike wheel leaning up against some hunk of metal that looks like it was blown off some sort of attraction thanks to a hurricane. There are nets, or pieces of nets anyway, strung up in the tops of some of the trees.

The fact that they’re looking for an abandoned alligator pool doesn’t make this any less unnerving, and nor does it help when they finally find said location.

“Isn’t this pool supposed to be dried up?” Mick asks, because according to the map (they may not have time travel, but the Internet does have pictures from 1995) they’re in the right spot. Only the wall that once separated the alligators from the lake on the other side isn’t.

Sara growls as she tears her eyes away from the map.

“Damn wall must have crumbled.”

“Great,” Zari finds herself saying, because the piece is supposedly embedded in the concrete make-up of the pool, but if it’s all crumbled and eroded away… “So the piece that we thought was at the bottom of a dried up pool, is now at the bottom of a very functional lake.

Sara nods, sighing along with the action.

“So what now?” Mick asks, “Call Haircut?”
“No,” Zari denies, folding her arms over her chest and beginning to pace. “His suit was in his pocket when your little dragon friend crashed the Waverider, he still hasn’t fixed it.”

She notes Charlie giving her an odd look at that, and Sara just sighing with outright misery.

“Great,” they’re Captain mutters. “Just great. We finally beat Neron to a piece, and we have no way to get to it.”

Charlie’s face has now shifted from curious to thoughtful, a small smile spreading across her features as she eyes the high water not even ten feet away from them.

“Maybe not.” She says, her grin now down right mischievous.

Zari does not like it when she gets that look.

“I still have trace amounts of my powers.” She says as her only explanation before she screws her eyes shut in what looks like a very painful expression, and it isn’t long after that a few little slits open up on either side of her neck.

“Gills, nice.” Sara approves, but Zari can’t help but thinking back to the last time Charlie tried using her powers and posed as John to fool her; the way she exhaled so loudly when she gave up and had to lean on the table for support, swearing she would never be doing that again.

“How long can you hold that?” She asks, because sure this is a much lower scale transformation, and she doesn’t actually know how long she had held John’s form, but…

“Long enough to find the piece.” Charlie promises, inching ever closer to the riverbank. “But I really should get started.”

“Be careful.” Sara warns, “And make sure you come up for air if you need it.”

Charlie nods, and without another second’s delay she jumps into the lake and disappears under the water, leaving an uneasy pit to settle in Zari’s stomach.

There is nothing that Nora would like to do more right now than to smack her head harshly against the nearest wall, except for maybe enjoy Disney World like a normal person but that isn’t looking like it’s going to happen either. She and Ray have agreed that they can’t take too long here; they do have to be back at the RV before those who went saucer hunting. He thinks that’s the only thing freaking her out, considering listening to orders is a big part of her parole.

If only it were that simple.

She can’t believe she is having this problem in the first place, or that it’s SO bad. Ray keeps trying to distract her as they stand in line for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, one of the rides that had a reasonably short line, by pointing out all the cool little things to look at along the way.

She could swear she is going to be sick.

She really does feel bad, and not just physically. Ray keeps asking her what’s wrong and if she wants to leave right now, he’ll call an Uber or a cab or something back to the resort no problem. It’s sweet, and a part of her REALLY does want to leave and go back to sitting on the RV with John. But another part of her wants to stick it out. She wants to stay. She wants to for once in her life have fun like a normal person and not let her long list of issues get in the way.

She manages to survive the rest of the line and the ride is fun, getting off she’s almost forgotten her anxiety, but then they’re halfway to the next attraction and she’s starting to panic again.

Damn it.

“Nora?” Ray asks, and she knows her hand in his has gone cold and clammy but out of pride she’s been refusing to reclaim it.

“Yeah?” She asks, a poor attempt to play dumb that he clearly sees right through.

“Are you sure parole is the only thing you’re worried about?”

She closes her eyes with a sigh, maybe if she talks about it.

She leads him over to the side of the walkway, away from the crowd, and focuses her eyes intently on something past him.

“Fifth grade was the last grade I finished, before my life went to shit.” She says, finding the courage somewhere in the feeling of his eyes on her to look at him. “I did a research report on Disney World that year.”

He chuckles, he is still obviously worried, but he does always love when she gives him insight into her life before Mallus.

“Did you know Walt Disney designed this place so you wouldn’t be able to see the outside world from the inside?” She asks and Ray grins for a moment, probably amused she’s remembered this obscure fact all these years, before the realization clicks and he starts looking around, apparently needing to confirm what she’s said, and then he looks at her with something akin to horror.

“So… we’re in Disney World but… to you… this is basically…”

“One big cell,” she says in unison with him. “Yeah. Except this is a cell where everything is bright, and happy, and perfect, and somehow that’s worse because-”

“Because you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Yeah.”

That hangs awkwardly in the air for a minute or two, talk about a buzz kill.

“Oh man,” Ray sighs, “Nora I’m sorry. I-”

“No,” she interrupts him, leaning forward and taking his hands desperately in hers. “It’s ok, I didn’t even think of it that way until we got here, and now I can’t stop.”

“Ok,” he says, giving her hand a light squeeze. “Ok, come on, let’s get you out of here.”

“No.” She says firmly, planting her heels into the ground even though he isn’t trying hard to tug her anywhere.

“Not yet. Just… one more ride. Any ride. I… I want to stay. Please.”

He looks hesitant; he knows that the longer she stays here the more she is going to unravel.

“Ok,” he eventually agrees, and a big smile breaks out over her face. “Ok, one more ride, not too long of a line, and if at any point you change your mind we’re gone.”

She nods in agreement, she can accept those terms.

She can do this. She can do this. She just has to maintain her powers for long enough to find this blasted piece of saucer.

The only problem is, she has no idea what she’s looking for and it’s getting harder to breathe. She can feel her lungs fill with water every few seconds, choking her, and she has to force the gills back. She needs to hurry up, needs to find this piece, she needs to-

She can’t breathe.

There’s something pressing down hard on either side of her neck, not strangling herself per-say but covering her gills and this time she lets them retract but it doesn’t do her any good. She’s choking on water and now a lack of oxygen. She thrashes against whatever it is suffocating her, a heavy weight on her back, but it just clamps on tighter, and she’s choking now, water filling her lungs, and, and, an…

Charlie has been gone too long.

Zari is pacing along the riverbank, Sara doing the same, and Mick is sitting on a fallen tree. Charlie went under over an hour ago and she still hasn’t come up for air even once.

“She’s probably downstream by now,” Sara tries to rationalize, “Somewhere where if she comes up we won’t see her.”

She’s probably right, but Zari can’t stop pacing and worrying. She should’ve been back by now. She doesn’t want to think about how she could be literally be anywhere under the water, how that piece could be anywhere. All she can think is that it’s been too long and that last time Charlie used her powers it clearly physically hurt her, she could barely move to stand up.

But it’s fine. It has to be fine. It’s Charlie; she’s too damn stubborn to kill.

So why is she still this worried?

She continues to wonder that right up until she gets her answer, when someone who very clearly isn’t Charlie comes rising out of the water.

“The Legends.” This man chuckles almost maliciously, in an eerily calm voice that serves as enough to announce his identity.

Neron.

“I’ve been looking forward to-”

Zari doesn’t hear the rest. She’s already off, charging at the river and diving beneath its surface to find Charlie.

Chapter Text

Sara sees Zari jumping into the water, even though her eyes are locked onto Neron, who doesn’t so much as flinch even with Mick pointing his gun at him. Instead he stands relaxed, smirking at them with the confident expression of someone who thinks he’s already won.

He even holds up a curved and jagged piece of ancient looking concrete for her to see.

He spares Zari the briefest glance as she goes plunging headfirst into the lake, but doesn’t appear actually worried in the least. Instead he gives Sara his full attention.

“I must admit; I’m surprised you found me as quickly as you did, even if it did take you three pieces. Although once I realized the old man’s kid was working for the Time Bureau I knew it would only be a matter of time.”

Well, if he’s insistent on the standard super villain monologue.

Sara raises her hand up to her ear, tapping her comm and hoping Ava didn’t turn hers off after their conversation last night.

“We’ve got Neron.” She says, and the demon’s smirk grows.

“I may be trapped in this mortal body,” with that he disappears into thin air, and she and Mick whirl their heads around.

“But I still have a few tricks,” his voice calls out and Sara barely manages to get a glimpse of him in the trees behind her before he disappears again, and reappears right in front of her. “Up my sleeve.”

With that he’s gone, and not even a second later there’s a time portal opening up with Ava, Gary, and an entire squadron of Time Bureau agents storming out.

Perfect.

Ava, to her credit, looks more annoyed with the fact that she’s been called here for seemingly no reason than she does with any personal business, but Sara isn’t so naïve as to think they won’t be talking about it.

“He got away?” She asks and reluctantly Sara nods.

“He got away.”

Ava scowls, and then surveys the area awkwardly, her eyes very pointedly anywhere but on Sara. Gary and the other agents are fanning out around the area, but they won’t find him. Given the fact that he has been driving this whole time Neron likely can’t teleport himself very far, but he has to be off the island by now. Not to mention now that he knows they’re tracking him he probably won’t be returning to his car.

“Are we going to talk about it?”

The question doesn’t come entirely out of nowhere, obviously, but Ava still looks a little uncomfortable about having asked it, despite her confident tone. She hates bringing personal business into the field, but there are some things that just can’t wait.

Especially if the end of the world is upon them.

They should talk about it, Sara knows that they should, but when she meets Ava’s eyes and sees the hurt in them she desperately wants to do anything but.

“I told you I didn’t want to do it over the phone.” She sighs and Ava nods, and it’s only now that Sara sees the tears brimming on the edges of her eyes.

“I know,” she says, hands shoved awkwardly into her pockets. “I just… what changed?”
Oh how Sara wishes she had an answer to that.

She tries to think of one, of anything that she can say, and eventually she comes up with a shrug.

“I don’t think anything did.” She says, taking a step forward, and she can’t deny the hurt that settles in her chest when Ava matches it with a step back. “I just… I’m not ready to be even a partially kept woman.”

“I don’t-”

“I know,” Sara interrupts “I know you don’t want to tie me down. That’s why you have to let me go.” Ava nods, not happily, but there’s a certain understanding in her solemn expression.

“Ok,” she says, “To tell you the truth, I’ve thinking about that too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” She practically laughs, “I didn’t want to, but come on Sara you barely had five minutes away from The Waverider and already you were jumping right back into action.” She breathes in deep through her nose, not quite a sigh but close. “I guess our relationship just ran its course.”

Sara smirks a little, and when Ava takes a step forward she doesn’t back up.

“I’m gonna miss you.”

Her thin smile is real, “You too.” She says, and finally Ava smiles at her, and then it’s back to their insane reality because the river behind them suddenly erupts like a geyser and when the water settles Zari is lowering Charlie to the ground.

Zari is getting right down to business with reviving their newest team member, giving her chest compressions and quickly switching to blow air into her mouth. Sara races over, along with Mick, but all they can do is watch as Zari goes through the process before, finally, Charlie starts coughing.

She coughs into Zari’s mouth, which has Zari gasping and coughing a bit herself as she staggers back. Charlie rolls onto her side to get the water out easier, curling in on herself before she finally starts to pick herself up on shaky limbs. Mick’s there at her side, along with Zari, helping her ease up to her feet.

“Are you ok?” Zari asks while Charlie nods through her coughing and winds her arms tightly around one of Mick’s for support.

“Yeah.” She manages, “Yeah.”

They reconvene back at the RV, needing to use Ava’s Time Courier because Neron destroyed their boat on his way out. Ray and Nora are nowhere to be found and John claims they went off to do some rides, because of course they did. Ava looks like she’s going to lose it just at that, but Sara gently reminds her that they have bigger problems to worry about and while her now ex looks like she wants to be doing anything but listening to her, she does, and instead orders Gary to take the other agents back to The Time Bureau and she’ll catch up.

It would take a machete to cut through the tension in the RV.

Zari and Charlie are in the bedroom, changing out of their sopping wet clothes, which considering how concerned Zari was has to be filled with a tension all it’s own. The rest of them are spread around the main area of the RV; John on the floor with his back against the wall and legs sprawled in front of him, Mick sitting in the booth, Sara leaning against the counter, and Ava as close to the door as she can get without making it too obvious she would rather be anywhere but here.

She’s also checking the GPS tracker every five seconds.

“Neron’s car still hasn’t moved.” She announces, just like she did a minute ago.

“Course it hasn’t.” Mick scoffs, “He knows we’re onto him.”

Sara sees Ava gritting her teeth, well at least now that they’re broken up she won’t have to defuse nearly as many arguments between those two.

“He’s got three pieces now,” John points out, taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey that he’s pulled out of somewhere, and before he can finish his sentence or Ava can take the drink from him the door opens and Nora and Ray come rushing in.

“Hey, sorry we’re late, we came as soon as you contacted us.” Ray excuses, shrinking under Ava’s hard gaze.

“It’s fine Ray, we can talk about that later.” Sara interjects before this can go any further, though to be honest she doesn’t really intend to talk about it later. They have so many bigger problems to worry about.

“Yes, probably during Hell on Earth.” John groans.

“So Neron got the piece?” Ray asks and Sara nods.

“Yes,” John says, “And with it the directions to the last one, meaning we have no bloody idea where to look!”
He takes another swig from his bottle, all of them staring at him, until Nora speaks up.

“How did the third piece end up in that pool?”

Now they all turn their attention to her.

“What do you mean?” Ava asks, and Nora shrugs.

“Well, this saucer is ancient, but that piece was embedded in the concrete of a pool that was built in what? The 60’s or 70’s?”

“The pieces have been moved before love,” John all but laughs at her, “They’re linked to one another, their maps change along with them. Neron is hardly the first maniac to have gone after them.”

That is what gives Sara an idea.

She looks at Mick, who raises an eyebrow at her. He has to be thinking something along similar lines as she is. It’s a long shot, to say the least, but at this point it might be their only chance.

Ring, ring, ring…

“Oh, I’ll be right back baby.”

The little girl sitting in her highchair looks at her as she walks over to the counter and retrieves her phone, raspberries stained all over chubby cheeks in a sight that has her laughing. That amused smile turns to a frown, however, when she glances down at her phone and doesn’t recognize the number displayed on the screen. It’s probably a telemarketer, the area code is all the way in Star City for crying out loud; she shouldn’t answer. But… something compels her to press accept and bring the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Kendra?”

Her eyebrows knit together, there is something familiar about that voice but she can’t place what.

“Yes…” She drawls carefully, “Whose this?”

“It’s Sara.”

That still takes a minute for her mind to process, but once it does her face lights up in a smile, not that Sara can see it.

“Oh my God, hi! How are you?” She’s still grinning as she takes her phone with her back to the table starts wiping the berries off her daughter’s face.

“I’m good, the Legends are good, still hunting psychopaths through time. Actually, that’s why I’m calling.”

Finally, her grin falters a tiny bit.

“Sara I’d love to help but Carter and I have kind of given up the whole Hawks thing for now-”

“That’s not what I mean,” Sara quickly assures her. “No, we’re looking for a piece of an old relic, one that would’ve been right up Savage’s alley.”

Kendra nods, picking a few more raspberries out of the container and placing them on the high-chair tray.

“What kind of relic?”

“A saucer that could bring about Hell on Earth.”

She doesn’t have to think very long on that one; it was only one lifetime ago that she last dealt with it.

“Yeah, um, yeah Savage went after that a few times. Carter and I hid some of the pieces in our last life.”

“Perfect, do you remember where the last one is? A demon has the first three.”

Kendra sighs, it isn’t like those things are numbered, and who knows if someone else inadvertently found and moved one or two of them since she last did so.

“Maybe, which ones does the demon have?”

“The first one,” Sara says, which still isn’t helpful. “The next one was somewhere near Indiana, the third was in Disney World.”

Ok, that rules out at least one that she hid.

“Ok, um, just give me a minute.” She says and she puts the phone against her shoulder, glancing at her daughter who is close to finishing her snack and thus will probably start banging her hands to be picked up soon, not to mention crying if she leaves the room.

“CARTER?” She yells down the hall, “DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU PUT YOUR LAST PIECE TO THAT HELL SAUCER IN OUR LAST LIFE?”

“I BURIED IT IN AN ALLIGATOR POOL.” He shouts back.

“WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER ONE?”

“WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IT?!”

Kendra huffs just as he comes through the doorway of their bedroom, “Why are you looking for that?”

“I’m not, it’s-” Of course that is when little Miranda decides she’s had enough of sitting in her high chair and starts wailing, banging her hands on her tray as Kendra rolls her eyes and hands Carter the phone.

“It’s Sara,” she explains, and Carter fumbles with both the phone and his words for a moment before he finally gets caught up with the situation.

The next few minutes for Kendra are spent bouncing Miranda on her hip and into quiet, while also listening to Carter promise their old friend that he can go fly to Philadelphia and check for the other piece he buried, and if it isn’t there he’ll head for the Arizona desert and search for hers.

“Um… I’ll call you once I check Philly but if I were you I would start heading for Arizona.” He says, “Yeah, if he was on the East Coast when you started he probably has the one from Philly, but I’ll check anyway. Ok, bye.”

He sighs once he hangs up, looking at her with an apologetic expression she has known too well over too many lifetimes.

“I’ve got to-”

“I know,” she interrupts him, stepping forward to press a loving, and slightly lingering, kiss to his lips. “Call me if you need back up.”

He nods, “Ok.”

He leans down and kisses her one more time, on the forehead, and then proceeds to do the same to Miranda.

“So you’re telling me,” Ava says, pacing the tiny space that is the RV’s main living area, which has only gotten more cramped since Zari, Charlie, Ray, and Nora all joined the party. “That all this time, you have known someone who knows exactlywhere these pieces are?”

Sara rolls her eyes, “It’s not like we knew that.” She defends, “John said the pieces were all originally hidden by some ancient order, he never mentioned psychopaths and people trying to stop them have been moving them around all throughout history.”

John shrugs off her accusation, “Well sorry love, but it didn’t exactly cross my mind as vital information considering it didn’t change a damn thing!”

He moves to take another sip of his whiskey but by now she is standing close enough to where she can take the bottle from him.

“Ok, whatever.” Ava snaps, fanning her hands out in defeat. “Just start driving to Arizona, if you manage to get this piece Mr. Heywood might actually not order me to fire you all when this is over.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Ray says, stopping Ava with her finger hovering over her time courier. “What do you mean fire us?”

Sara sags where she’s standing against the wall, perfectly aware of Mick’s and Zari’s eyes on her while everybody else’s are fixed solely on Ava, who she can also feel staring at her.

“I told Sara,” she says like it’s nothing, and Sara is partially convinced Ava does, in fact, have at least a tiny inclination that she should stop talking. But this is business, and even if they were still together business always comes first. “The Waverider isn’t going to be able to be repaired, so this is effectively the Legends’ last mission.”

The tension in the room somehow manages to increase ten fold, everyone dead silent and staring at either her or Ava.

“I was going to try and bring you all on as regular agents,” Ava continues, “I’m still going to. But it’s going to be a whole lot easier if the world doesn’t go to Hell first.”

It’s still quiet, no one even acknowledging that offer.

After a few seconds of unbearable silence Mick stands up, and in maybe the most unexpected turn of events today he saunters over to Ava and plants a firm, but friendly, hand on her shoulder.

“You might want to get out of here.”

Ava heeds his warning with a nod, activating her time courier and then looking at them all with sympathy on her face, and then she’s gone.

Leaving them in silence.

Eventually Mick ambles over to the cockpit and starts up the engine, they’re already detached from the campsite so all he has to do is start driving. It’s still quiet; all of them standing around and looking at each other sadly.

Except for those looking at her. Aside from Zari, all of those looks contain at least some level of hurt or betrayal.

“When did she tell you?”

It’s Ray who breaks the quiet, his hand firmly gripping Nora’s and his voice that cold tone of serious she has only heard a handful of times.

“Ray,” Zari all but pleas, she’s sitting over on the edge of Nora’s bunk, her voice a warning.

“The other night,” Sara answers, “Right after we got to Ocean City.”

The RV goes quiet again; all of them letting the information sink in.

“I didn’t know about her trying to bring us on as normal agents.” She continues, “I only knew about The Waverider, and I was going to tell you guys, I promise. I was just looking for the right time.”

Ray nods, clearly still not happy she hadn’t come forward yet with the information, but the understanding is clear on his face. It’s a lot to take in; she knows he isn’t going to hold that against her. Besides, Ava had told her The Waverider’s chances of being repaired weren’t looking good, but now to know it’s definite…

Charlie lets out a sigh, “Well this sucks.”

Chapter Text

Zari is still awake at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. when Sara and Mick finally switch their positions again and the Captain comes crawling up the ladder into their bed. She looks up and searches for Sara’s eyes in the dark, and finally sees the glimmer of them.

“Hey,” Sara whispers as she gets settled beside her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping.” She says before she can think better of it, and she may not be able to see the eyebrow Sara is raising at her but she knows it’s there.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah,” she says quickly, and she could leave it there. She isn’t good at talking; she doesn’t do feelings other than anger and the occasional disappointment. Not to mention Mick is still awake below them, he can probably hear anything they say, but then again she knows he won’t say anything.

She closes her eyes and braces herself, Sara’s earlier words ringing around in her head. She needs to make a choice, and if she has to do that then she needs to consider everything.

“How did you know?” She blurts, and only in that moment does she realize she might have been silent for too long. Oh well. “That you were… that you… you know…”

“You’re gonna have to give me a little more to work with Z.” Sara teases good-naturedly, an undercut of genuine concern in her voice.

Right.

She takes another breath, trying to sort the words out in her head.

“How did… how did you know you liked girls?”

She’s biting down on her lip, her stomach feeling as though it’s knotted itself up so tight it’ll never come undone, and Sara is silent. Allah, maybe she never should’ve brought it up.

“Well,” Sara finally, finally, says. “I was in The League, and Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter was assigned to give me a little extra help, believe it or not I wasn’t exactly the most promising recruit the first time around.”

The little side note puts her more at ease, probably the point, and for the record she doesn’t really believe it.

“Anyway, we were spending a lot of time together, and it’s not like I didn’t know I was staring at her, but I never really thought about it. Until she kissed me.” She lets that hang for a second, “Any reason?”

She sounds like she knows, but Zari still closes her eyes with embarrassment. She should know something like this by now.

“It’s ok Z,” Sara assures her, and they’re already pressed close but she scoots even closer anyway, propping herself up on her elbow. “Charlie?”

“Is it that obvious?” She asks with a groan, and she sees Sara shrug with her free shoulder.

“Not before today.” She says, “You realize you had no idea how deep that water was, right?”

At that Zari barely suppresses another groan and lolls her head to the side away from Sara, who starts giggling.

“Relax, it’s ok.” She says, “Hey, come on, you have to know nobody here will even think twice about it, right?”

She sounds genuinely worried about that, and Zari almost laughs; she wishes it were that simple.

“It’s not that,” she promises, forcing herself to look at Sara’s worried face again.

“Then what is it?”

She thinks a minute, trying to form an at least partially simple way to voice her problem.

“Was it really that easy for you?” She finally asks, “That girl just kissed you and you knew?”

Sara purses her lips, and though Zari can’t see her expression clearly in the dark she’s pretty sure it’s a fairly thoughtful one.

“Not exactly,” Sara admits, “I had only been with guys before Nyssa, and looking back I guess I had looked at girls before but… I don’t know, I never really thought about it.” With that she lets herself collapse onto her back, “Things were different back then, nobody really talked about being anything other than straight and nobody really expected it from anyone. So, when she kissed me and I liked it, I didn’t really know what to do.”

“So what did you do?”

Sara snorts a laugh at that, which she supposes is a good sign.

“Well, first I pushed her off of me, and then I locked myself in my room for at least five hours.”

Now it’s Zari’s turn to start laughing, and she can feel Sara smiling at her.

“And then, after I finally came out for dinner, she caught me after and apologized, and I told her not to.” She’s then quiet for a minute, thoughtful. “I guess being in The League made it easier; being away from society and all.”

Zari nods, she can understand that much.

“I’ve only ever been with guys,” she says, the sound of Sara’s head turning against her pillow encouraging her to continue. “And barely. Argus taking over didn’t happen all at once, but it started getting really bad when I was around eleven.”

She’s been careful not to mention this before, at first it was only because she didn’t think to, and then the more time she spent with the team and learned about the delicacy of time travel it became more in the interest of preserving the timeline, but at this point it’s looking like it might not even matter.

“I guess that’s supposed to be the age where you start noticing people but… laws were changing every day and I was too worried about being thrown in jail for breaking a rule I didn’t even know existed, or just for being me. I didn’t have time to pay attention to things like who I was looking at.”

She pauses to wipe away an unexpected tear in the corner of her eye and bring herself back to the problem at hand.

“Anyway, I had always thought the purpose of dating was to get married, and that the purpose of marriage was to have kids. By the time I was fifteen I had decided I didn’t want to bring anyone into the world with it being so bad, so I guess I just never bothered to think about it. Ever.”

She hadn’t thought about it, actually, what she’s saying now. She has never given much thought to the reason she was never as boy crazy as some of the other girls growing up, she’d always just assumed she was more focused on real problems than they were. She had always assumed the reason she didn’t date was simple: she didn’t want to worry about someone else. But hearing herself say it like that; the suggestion that she hasn’t made it a priority because she thought it was pointless, maybe she’s more cynical than she thought.

“We’ll unpack that baby thing later,” Sara says after a long beat of silence, “But back to the whole dating part. You don’t have to date, but there are reasons to do it beyond the ambition to have kids.”

“I know that now,” she assures her friend “But, even when I did bother to look at a guy I never really got as… as excited about it as other girls did, you know? They were always talking about how this guy was hot, and that guy was hot, and some I agreed with but most… I just didn’t get it.”

Sara nods, her lips still pursed with thought.

“And… you’re wondering if that was because you weren’t really into guys?”

“At least, maybe not as much.”

Sara nods again, and it’s quiet for a long moment.

“Well…” The Captain finally says, “I don’t know if kissing Charlie would make things any more clear. But it’s always worth a try.”

The words come out with just the faintest hint of a dirty smirk, and Zari can’t help but chuckle.

“Thanks,” she says before her face grows a little more serious. “Ok, sorry for dumping all this on you right after Ava.”

“Please,” Sara huffs, a laugh still evident in her voice. “It’s fine. Actually, it’s kind of nice to worry about someone else’s romantic problems for a change.” Zari smirks to herself, and it’s another few seconds of companionable silence, and then Sara sighs heavily. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just better off on my own.”

“Don’t say that,” Zari chides, “You sound like me.”

They both take a second to laugh at that before she continues.

“So things didn’t work out with Ava. You just need someone who’s a little more on equal ground with you. Also, no offence but Ava is kind of a stick in the mud, and you’re the Captain but you’re also pretty cool sometimes. I think maybe you could use someone who likes to cause a little trouble every once in a while.”

Sara hums, a sad kind of hum that Zari wasn’t really expecting.

“I had that once,” She says wistfully, “Or, I almost did. We beat around the bush for a little too long, and I think we were finally about to pull our heads out of our asses but then… then he died.”

Zari, with no idea how else to responded to that, gapes. She can hear the faintest hint of a crack in Sara’s voice.

“Sara I’m so sorry.”

Sara shrugs, lying on her back and idly playing with her fingernails.

“It’s ok,” she says, and then shudders and wipes at her eye. “It was a long time ago, and like I said, we never got to find out if it would’ve worked.”

“Do you think it would have?”
The question is out of her mouth before she can stop it, and Sara doesn’t answer right away, taking a moment or two to think.

“Yeah,” she eventually says, “I think it would have.”

The piece isn’t in Philadelphia, Carter calls first thing in the morning to tell them that. So they’re racing a demon to the desert and, since they know they have no real chance at winning that race, they’re all hoping Carter can get there first. The atmosphere of the RV is understandably tense from the time they all get up; it stinks having nothing to do but wait.

Ray is trying to distract himself from the impending doom that may very well fall upon them by working on his and Zari’s plans to create a body for Gideon, but he can’t bring himself to focus on it. Not really.

“You were dead.”

He looks up from his sketches at the words, confused by Charlie’s presence standing over him, and then settling herself down onto a free space of floor next to him.

“Um…”

“In the botched timeline where Gideon was, or at least looked, human. What made that timeline different was you had died, along with some of the others, but it means you weren’t-”

“I wasn’t the one to create Gideon’s android.” He finishes for her, and she nods sympathetically at him.

“I’m sorry Ray.”

He nods, his best at being accepting.

“It’s ok,” he tells her, “It’s ok, it’s better to know. Now we can disregard all of…. All of my notes.”

“Hey, no.” Zari insists, she’s been sitting at the table eating breakfast, and when he moves to discard his notes she intercepts and snatches them from him. “We don’t know that. I was still alive in that timeline, for all we know I found your notes in your apartment and used them to create her android.”

“Except you found my notes in this timeline and even together we haven’t been able to make them work.”

“Well…” Zari tries but it isn’t any use. He appreciates what she’s trying to do, he really does, but he would rather just accept that it won’t be his work they use to create Gideon’s android and move on so maybe they can figure it out.

“It’s ok Z,” he assures her, “And maybe you’re right, I mean so far we have managed to figure out how to make a mostly functioning body, so even if I didn’t build Gideon’s android in that timeline hopefully I can help in this one.”

Zari still doesn’t look impressed, but more importantly Nora is now reaching around him and sifting through his notes.

“Hey John?” She asks, studying a schematic for the exterior of the body. “Did you bring a spell book?”
John, who is over at the counter making himself a sandwich, looks up. “A little pocket one.” He says, digging through his pocket and then tossing her a small book bound in blue leather.

She catches it and starts flipping through it, which Ray doesn’t totally understand considering she still has one of his sketches in her lap.

“If you think you can create a body for that computer with magic, you’re mistaken love.” John says, “Those spells were written long before robots were even an idea, you can’t use magic to create one.”

“Maybe not,” Nora counters confidently, “But Ray and I have combined science and magic before, and it saved your life, so maybe I can adapt a spell or two.”

Ray knows he’s smiling like an idiot, and that Zari is rolling her eyes while Charlie is smirking, but he can’t help it. He’d had to work so hard to convince Nora she could help John that day, so to hear her suggest her help…

Man, he loves that little smile she’s giving him.

Carter is out of breath by the time he reaches the desert, but he likes to think he made pretty good time. Coming all the way from Philly in less than twenty-four hours, even flying, is pretty impressive. The only problem he has to face now is trying to remember which cactus Kendra hid her piece under in their last life, preferably before the demon gets it.

You know, simple.

He starts walking; switch it up for a little while, and save his wings for if, hopefully not when, he really needs them. Kendra wasn’t all that specific in their last life when she told him where she’d hidden the piece, and he knows she doesn’t remember any specifics anymore. That had been the whole point of burying it in a desert. There would be no land markers, nothing significant for over a hundred miles. You would need a compass to find the piece.

A compass, or the previous piece.

Shit.

He walks on for hours, taking to the skies for periods but it’s no use. He barely even knows where he’s going anymore.

They’re maybe halfway through Texas when Mick watches the sky go black in a matter of seconds around them.

“It supposed to storm tonight?” He rumbles, not a huge fan of the pit settling in his gut.

“Nope,” Zari says from behind him, and he looks over at Sara, who is looking back at him.

Her phone starts buzzing in the cup holder, screen lit with the name of her ex, but she doesn’t need to answer and hear what’s going on.

They don’t need to be told they’ve just lost the race.

Chapter Text

Nora is sitting at the table with Ray and Zari when Mick asks his question, and in consequence they all swivel their heads to look out the dashboard.

Oh-

“Bloody hell.”

Yeah, John’s words about sum it up.

The sky has turned a mix of orange and black, and just as Zari tells Mick that no, it is not supposed to storm tonight, the entire RV shakes and then screeches to a halt, all of them lunging forward with the force.

“Mick!” Charlie shouts as they attempt to recover from the harsh stop.

“You want to burn alive?”

What?

They all get to their, albeit shaky, feet and stagger towards the front of the RV. Nora keeps by Ray’s side, or behind him really, once they’re all crowding together.

The road before them has split open into jagged cracks with fire erupting out like geysers.

“Shit.” Zari curses and Mick makes that humming noise at the back of his throat as he shifts the RV into park there in the middle of the highway.

“Well, we’re dead.”

He gets a few looks, as well as a few nods, and before anybody can say anything else there’s a faint light behind them followed by the sound of a time portal opening up, Ava stepping out looking a mix of worried and pissed.

But, for once, the Director is speechless.

Her arms are spread in front of her, the demand of an explanation visible on her parted lips but silent. It’s over. They’ve lost.

“We’ll find Neron and destroy the saucer.” Sara offers, clamoring out from her seat and joining their little huddle.

“Won’t do any good love.” John says before anyone can even think about backing her up. “Saucer’s useless now. In order to stop this now we’d have to push Neron into the pits of Hell and somehow manage to keep him there, and even if we could manage that we would have to do it by midnight, or this will become permanent no matter what.”

With that he gives a swift kick to the wall, cursing as the sound of his foot colliding with the paneling becomes the only sound amongst the haze of defeat.

Nora has felt a lot of pain and disappointment throughout her life, to put it mildly, but this is a whole new level. For crying out loud, this isn’t all that different than what Mallus had been planning, even if she would rather lose to Neron than Mallus if for no other reason than the sheer principal of the thing.

“Is the saucer totally useless, or just useless to Neron?”

They all look at Ray, Nora especially, and he’s fixing John with a desperate glare that their resident warlock very clearly doesn’t have the patience for.

“What are you going on about?”

“The saucer.” Ray repeats seriously, “Is it totally useless now? Or only to Neron?”

“What does it bloody matter?” John practically laughs. “He summoned the most damned of souls from the pits of hell, and as they get stronger more will be coming! He can’t use it again but that-”

“What about us?” Ray snaps, his face completely serious, and judging by the expressions the others are giving Nora is sure she isn’t the only one who thinks he’s lost his mind.

“What about you?” John asks, indulging the inquiry.

“Could we use it?”

This time John scoffs, “Are you not hearing me Raymond?” He asks, stepping into Ray’s space. “The souls of the damned have already been summoned, and-”

“What about the un-damned?”

John stops mid-sentence with the interruption, his face screwing up in confusion to match that of the rest of them.

“What?”

“What about the souls that weren’t damned to Hell?” Ray further inquires, and Nora can admit that her jaw goes just a little slack as she starts to put together what he’s saying.

“Neron used the saucer to summon souls, previously living souls, and bring about Hell on Earth. But he isn’t the only one with dead allies. So, my question is, could we use the saucer to call for back up?”

There is a long, long moment of quiet after that, and the disbelieving grin that stretches across John’s face is hard to read; Nora can’ tell if he’s considering the idea at all or not.

“You want to wage a war between Heaven and Hell?”

Ray shrugs, “If that’s what it takes.” He confirms, “Is it possible?”

Nora snaps her attention to John, because she has no idea if it’s possible. John doesn’t look entirely confident either, but there is a small, sad gleam in his eye after a moment.

“Maybe,” he says, “But my own soul is too damned to pull off light magic like…that…”

He trails off, his expression suddenly something she can’t place; maybe it’s what John Constantine having hope looks like. In any case his eyes are on her, and slowly he’s pointing his finger in the same direction.

“But yours isn’t.”

Her eyes go wide.

Her? The former demon vessel?

“John-”

She tries apologetically but he takes a step to the side, away from Ray and now in front of her.

“You’ve used light magic before Nora, in fact I think it’s the only kind you’ve used since you were freed from Mallus’ control.”

“With Ray’s help.” She reminds him, “Half of what we did to save your life was science-”

“And the other half was you.” He counters, “Nora you’re as damaged as any of us are, but you yourself have never given into the darkness. You can do this.”

She isn’t convinced, despite the blossoming feeling of hope in her chest, but she can’t argue. Not with the way John is looking at her, begging her, because it’s Des that Neron is bound to and if they’re even going to stand a chance at unbinding them they’ll need to be able to fight his army first.

She wouldn’t wish on anybody their soul being bound to a demon, but especially not the love of John Constantine.

He did his best to save her. She owes it to him to try and save Des.

One advantage to Hell taking over The Earth is that there isn’t much damage using a time courier to get around the present can do. The world is falling apart anyway, they may as well add potentially unraveling the timeline to the list of reasons why.

Carter is still out in Arizona, getting them a lock on Neron’s location. Once they have that the plan is for Ava to time courier them there so they can grab the saucer and get back here to use it, after that they’ll go take on Neron and his army and hopefully they’ll be able to separate Des from the demon before sending the latter back into the pits of Hell, which they also have to close up.

It isn’t a perfect plan, not by a long shot, but it’s the best one they’ve got.

John is in the back bedroom with Nora right now, trying to prepare her as best he can for the spell, while the rest of them are readying any weapons they brought along with them on this trip.

“Good news,” Charlie announces, coming sauntering through the bathroom curtain, Sara had been wondering where she was. “John says Neron brought these guys back from Hell, but he isn’t controlling them in any way other than motivation.”

“How is that good news?” Sara asks, her brow arched, and Charlie gives her that grin of trouble that always makes her reconsider letting her stay.

“It means they might be able to be reasoned with.”

“Neron summoned the worst of the worst,” Zari interjects, popping a grape into her mouth. “People who never wanted anything other than to watch the world burn-”

“Hey!” Mick huffs indignantly from the background, to which Zari rolls her eyes before continuing on.

“You can’t reason with them.”

Charlie shrugs, that troublemaker smile still on her face.

“Maybe reason is the wrong word.” She admits, “Blackmail might be more like it. My point is, I have friends in Hell, some who owe me favors, so when we go to get the piece I’m going to stay there and see who I can find.”

“What?”

“No.”

“You’re nuts.”

Charlie actually frowns when the entire group starts voicing their disapproval, like she really didn’t think they would have a problem just leaving her not only behind enemy lines, but basically in Hell.

“Charlie.” Sara says, holding up her hands for everyone else to be quiet. “We’re not leaving you behind in Hell.”

“I’ll be fine.” The other woman protests, “Look, even if we can use the saucer, I’m willing to bet there are a lot more blood thirsty warriors who went to Hell than to Heaven. We’re going to need the help from the other side too, and I know I can find some people who will be willing.”

Let the record show that Sara does not approve of this plan, at all. But the fate of the world is at stake, and Charlie isn’t wrong. First off the chances that they even will be able to use the saucer, if they can even manage to get it, aren’t all that great. Not that she doesn’t have faith in Nora but… well, she hadn’t exactly seemed very confident when she agreed to try. If it turns out they can’t use the saucer they’re going to need all the help they can get in taking down Neron, and having some of that on the inside could mean the difference between winning and losing.

Sara sighs through her nose; she really hates being the Captain sometimes.

Zari doesn’t like this.

Ok, none of them like this, but charging headfirst into what may as well be the center of Hell is insane, and not to mention she made the incredibly ill-advised decision last night to spill her guts to Sara about feelings she isn’t even sure she has; therefor she now has to deal with the woman pulling her outside of the RV where they can get some privacy.

You know, among the raining ash and rivers of lava.

“I don’t want to talk about this.” She says firmly before Sara can even get a word out. She knows very well this is about Charlie’s insistence to stay over at Hell headquarters for recon after they get the saucer. She doesn’t like that plan either, probably more than she’s willing to admit, but she could never hate that plan enough to want to have this conversation.

“I know this is pushy.” Sara says, ignoring her, “But if you have anything to say to Charlie, you should do it.”

She scoffs, and apparently that’s the wrong answer.

“I’m serious Z,” Sara practically pleas, “If something happens to her you don’t want to regret not saying something.”

Zari levels a glare with the Captain, her hands on her hips.

“There are a lot of things I wish I had said to my brother.” She says, “And to my parents, and to my friends, before they all died. I know what it’s like to live with regret-”

“Then you know it never gets easier.”

She doesn’t have a counter for that, and before she can think of one Sara puts a heavy hand on her shoulder.

“I know you don’t do feelings, and you’re confused right now-”

“I swear if you start giving me the talk-”

“But you don’t want to spend the rest of your life wondering what might have happened. Trust me.”

She presses her mouth into a firm line, and that line is easy enough to turn into a small, humoring, smile.

“I’ll think about it.” She promises and Sara nods with a dutiful little grin of her own, and then without another word she moves past her to get back into the RV.

She will think about it, to be fair, and while she can picture herself confessing her feelings, for lack of a better term, she really has no idea how Charlie will respond and once she opens that door…

Charlie had better survive this crazy plan, because she is nowhere near ready to deal with this.

Getting the saucer ends up being easy enough, apparently with his fellow demons summoned Neron didn’t think it was worth taking much care to guard. They leave Charlie behind which, Mick will admit, doesn’t sit right with him. Then again it’s obvious it isn’t sitting well with anybody; especially not Boss. So he doesn’t say anything about it, they’ve got enough to worry about now that they’ve got this stupid thing; like if Witch Girl can even make it work.

They’re all gathered outside the RV, which he’d pulled over, not that it matters really but he still did it.

“Ok,” Witch Girl breathes nervously, taking the saucer from Boss and holding it out while Trench Coat swaggers up next to her.

“This spell can only be performed once per witch or warlock.” He announces, “We’ve only got the one shot, so whoever you all want on our side, make sure you’re thinking about them.”

“Come again?” Mick asks, and Witch Girl shutters nervously, but Trench Coat doesn’t seem to notice.

“When Nora starts the spell,” he explains, “You all are going to place your hands on the saucer. She’ll be doing the magic, but it will be summon whoever is called upon by anyone touching it. You think about them, and if they’re up there.” He says, pointing up at the dark sky, “They’ll come down.”

Now that he’s hearing the explanation Mick is suddenly aware he had no idea how he expected this was going to work, but he knows he wasn’t expecting this.

“The people we call for,” Sara asks, and she almost sounds scared. “Will they…. Will they be like they were before they died?”

Trench Coat gives her a smile that if Mick didn’t know any better he would call it understanding.

“Aye, love.” He tells her, “They’ll have their souls.”

He then moves on and gestures vaguely around them all at the apocalypse that is unfolding.

“No matter what happens today, the survivors are the survivors, no matter where they came from; Heaven, Hell, or Earth.”

Mick’s already meeting Boss’ eyes when she turns to glance at him, her thoughts clear on her face.

“Ok,” Haircut breaks up the heavy silence. “Everyone ready?”

Probably not. His girlfriend looks the least ready of them all, but she nods anyway and holds out the saucer a little further, and that’s that.

They all step forward, each of them gripping a hand around the edge of the saucer, and then Nora closes her eyes.

“Deef reverof erif s’lleH taht htraE no eb lliw ti ro, deen ew seno eht su dens.”

Mick doesn’t dare to do more than peek one eye open, and then he opens the other.

Nora’s glowing. Literally glowing with this bluish-white light around her that doesn’t look right with the red flush of her skin or the sweat on her forehead. He doesn’t know much about this magic stuff, so he has no idea if it’s supposed to hurt or not, but she looks like she’s in pain and he’s debating yelling for Haircut to open his eyes. He probably knows more about what’s supposed to happen.

But Nora’s pushing on, so for now he’ll keep his mouth closed and hope he doesn’t regret it later.

“Llaf ew erofeb slegna rouy fo pleh eht deen ew, llac ym raeh esaelp nevaeh!”

The light around her grows, and grows, and grows until Mick has no choice but to close his eyes again and there’s a clap of thunder that has them all jumping back, the saucer clattering to the ground and smashing back into four jagged pieces.

He looks around, and if nothing else they can say they fixed the sky. It’s blue again, not a cloud in it, but that looks pretty out of place with the fire still shooting out of giant cracks all over the ground.

“Did it work?” New Girl asks, she’s looking at the sky too, and then around at all of them.

Oh, and Trench Coat’s already walking off.

“Scan the area,” he says, “They can’t be far, but it’s doubtful they’ll all be right here.”

Ok…

They fan out, careful to avoid all the lava. Mick heads into the trees, or what’s left of ‘em anyway, that are off on the side of the road. He doesn’t know what, or who, he’s looking for. Sure, if what Trench Coat said is true and anyone they were thinking about, so long as they made it to Heaven, really will just show up then he has some idea. One idea.

That’s the one he focuses on, the one he’s looking for, when the next things he knows he’s getting a face full of hot dirt and something crushing his spine.

He curses as he goes down, the thing on top of him moving and wriggling and kicking until he finally pushes to his hands and knees and bucks it off. It makes a girly sort of squealing sound, and as his eyes find it laying on the ground and piece together its shape he rolls them.

“Watch it Charlie.” He sneers, kneeling up fully and brushing his arms off as the former shape-shifter gawks up at him. “What are you even doing back here? Get kicked out of Hell already?’

“M-Mick?”

He freezes, his eyes wide.

No accent.

“Amaya?”

Chapter Text

When Laurel opens her eyes she feels like she has been asleep for forever and a day. Her eyelids are heavy and she feels stiff all over, and soon she’s squeezing them shut again as the memories hit her like truck.

Damian Darhk.

The arrow stabbing into her and the choking feeling of her airway filling up with blood.

Doctors and nurses hovering around her.

Ollie.

A seizure.

Nothing.

Nothing. Just like falling asleep. She exhales heavily and sits up, looking around. If there were ever a time to say “definitely not in Kansas anymore” it’s now. She isn’t in her hospital bed, but rather on the ground, at the base of a tree. As the world comes more into focus she notices that the Earth under her and the air around her is warm, actually it’s hot.It must be summer, and that’s enough to get her head swimming. How long has she been unconscious? And how did she get here?

Where even is here?

She gets to her feet, which feel like they’re made of lead and Jell-O at the same time. She has to brace herself against the nearest tree to stay upright, her breathing starting to regulate. Once she’s fairly confident her legs aren’t going to collapse underneath her she takes a step forward, keeping her weight braced against the tree before she finally pushes off, and then stumbles into all but throwing herself onto the next one. She grabs onto the tree with much more desperation than she would normally care to admit, her breath coming out in heavy pants once again.

Ok, this could take awhile.

He shouldn’t be alive.

He can’t be alive.

It’s… It’s impossible. He shouldn’t be here. But the air, and the ground, the trees… he can see, feel, and smell them all. But it’s impossible. He should be dead. He-

“Martin!”

It’s real. By some miracle, he’s here.

He does his best to sit himself up, opens his mouth to call out but at first no words come. He hears the hurrying footsteps though, and he can see the owner of the familiar voice that called out to him.

“Miss… Miss Lance.” He finally wheezes, reaching an arm out in a vague motion of beckoning her closer.

She’s at his side within seconds, kneeling in front of him and letting him grasp her shoulder in a firm grip. He can’t say why he’s surprised at this point to find her solid under his touch, perhaps it’s that he was expecting he would pass through her like a ghost, it certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing to ever happen to him.

She’s smiling at him, her eyes shining with tears, and he’s certain his own expression must be very similar.

However, before he can ask her anything, he hears the very distinct sound of an explosion somewhere off in the distance and his face falls into one of worry.

Hers, on the other hand, doesn’t waver at all.

In fact, if anything, her grin grows broader once she notices his concern.

“It’s a long story,” she says, her grip on his arm tightening as her other hand settles on his back. “I can explain once we get back to the others.”

He nods, and helps her get him to his feet. His legs feel wobbly beneath him and he needs to hold heavily to her shoulder for support. But once they’re up the ground begins to feel more stable beneath him, and taking a step isn’t as hard as he thought it might be. Oh, he is still moving at the pace of a man far older than he is himself, with the tremoring muscles to match, but he’s here and he’s moving, and that is more than enough.

Wherever here is and however he got here falls to the wayside of his mind for now, overshadowed by the sheer joy of this mysterious reality. Someway, somehow, he’s alive.

He smiles at his Captain. He has no idea how any of this is possible, perhaps he has been dead for a time and is now resurrected, maybe, but he suspects that whatever the situation is she has a significant amount to do with it.

“Thank you, Miss Lance.”

Rip groans as soon as his eyes open, pinching them tight for a long while until he can finally bear the light of the sun directly above him. He’s sprawled out on the ground, and as his senses start coming back to him he realizes it’s much rougher, and hotter, than he remembers the field being.

Oh Bullocks.

He starts to sit up and take in his surroundings, a decision which he instantly regrets. Not only is he sitting in the middle of a road, but also there is fire spurting out of the ground in tall streams all around him.

“You look rather confused.” A voice says from somewhere behind him, and he twists his body to see a blonde man in a trench coat not unlike his own sauntering towards him.

“Most people have already scattered in panic, which makes me think you woke up here Mate.”

Rip rolls his eyes at the way the man punctuates his words by pointing a cigarette at him, before popping into his mouth and lighting it up.

“John Constantine, I presume.” It isn’t really a question, not with his track record. “Your reputation precedes you.”

The man, definitely Constantine, chuckles as he draws nearer.

“I could say the same about you, Rip Hunter.” He snickers, “I’ve heard a lot of stories.”

Rip rolls his eyes; he can only imagine where someone such as John Constantine might have heard about him.

He takes another survey of the area whilst he’s getting to his feet, and then he nearly topples right over upon standing, just barely managing to stick his arms out and regain a sense of balance.

“That’ll wear off Mate.” Mr. Constantine assures him, “The disorientation.”

He sighs, he isn’t stupid, he knows what that means for him.

“So I’ve been-”

“Dead?” Constantine finishes for him, a crinkle of sympathy around his eyes. “Yeah, for roughly a year now. Sorry Mate.”

Rip blows out a very, very slow breath. It isn’t entirely a surprise, he had known the chances of surviving his little stunt with Mallus were, well, non-existent. But looking around…

“Please don’t tell me Mallus-”

“Nah, that Bastard’s old news.” Constantine actually waves off his question. “Hopefully.”

Rip almost doesn’t want to ask about that little addition, not that he gets the chance.

“No,” Constantine goes on, taking his own look around at their environment. “We’re dealing with a whole different demon. Come on, I’ll explain on the way back to the others.”

Sara has to help Martin walk in order to get him back to the RV, and while a part of her is worried over that another part is taking comfort in how his steps are growing stronger the more they walk. By the time they’re back on the road and nearing their destination she’s only holding onto his arm, and just barely, so she’s willing to let herself believe he’ll be fine.

Nora had stayed behind at the RV to wait for them, and she isn’t alone when they get back.

“Rip!” Sara calls out as she and Martin near them. It’s just three of them; Nora, John, and Rip, who looks partially happy to see her and partially disappointed.

“Miss Lance,” Rip greets, coming over to her and nodding at Stein. “Professor Stein, you’re looking well.”

“Yes I…”

Stein is still talking, but Sara’s stopped listening. Her eyes are fixed past Rip, onto the sight of two figures emerging out of some nearby trees, one leaning heavily on the other.

“Laurel!”

The next thing she knows she’s dropped Martin’s arm, glancing back for only a fraction of a second to confirm that he is, in fact, standing on his own, and then she’s bolting for her sister.

“Sara.” Laurel gasps, throwing her weight off Ray and onto her as she gets closer.

Sara grabs on tight, and it’s clear that if she lets go Laurel is going to fall face first into the burning pavement. For a moment she doesn’t care about that. She’s too busy being wrapped up in the feel of Laurel in her arms. She’s consumed by the familiar scent of her hair; of the sound of her breath hitching unevenly as she registers that Laurel is crying.

That’s enough to bring her back to reality.

She looks over her sister’s shoulder at Ray, who is visibly worried as well, but before he can say anything they hear more footsteps approaching and look over to see Mick coming up the road with someone in his arms.

“Anybody else having trouble walking?” He calls, and as he gets closer Sara realizes with wide eyes that it’s Amaya in his arms.

Laurel sniffles, turning out of their embrace but still keeping a majority of her weight dependent on Sara.

“Me,” she squeaks, and then inhales through her nose to stave off more of the tears.

“That’ll wear off soon.” John’s voice says from much closer than Sara thought he was, and when she turns her head she sees that he and the rest of their group, aside from Zari who still hasn’t returned from searching, has come over to join them all.

“A side effect of coming back from the dead. Your soul is, for lack of a better term, a little groggy. It has to wake up your body, it’ll depend on how long you’ve been dead for how long it’ll take to wear off, but it shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.”

“Dead?” Amaya gapes, still nestled in Mick’s arms. “I’ve… I’ve been dead?”

Sara notes that her sister looks a little surprised as well, but that makes sense. Of all the times she’s died, she still doesn’t recall anything about any kind of afterlife.

John sighs, approaching Mick and Amaya, a studying squint to his eye as he almost inspects the latter of the two and Sara doesn’t miss how Mick tightens his hold on her.

“I’m afraid so Love.” John says, “And, just out of curiosity, what’s the last thing that you remember?”

Amaya blinks at him, gaping. The gears are almost visible as they turn around in her head, like she’s digging the memory up from a very deep hole.

“Um… Leaving the Waverider.” She finally says, and then nods, apparently suddenly more sure of herself. “I got off the ship to go back to my village, in 1942.”

John nods, “Well, this is a long story Love.” His voice is suspiciously apologetic, “Short version, we need help, so your friends here used an ancient relic to summon their allies who have gone. Now for most of them that’s just fine, but for you it gets a little complicated.”

All of their eyes are on him now, and Amaya is blinking with a complete lack of understanding.

“You see, you did get off that ship in 1942, and you did settle down and raise a family. But getting off that ship was the last this lot ever saw of you, so when they were summoning you to help with our little disaster here… they were thinking of this version of you.”

Sara needs a minute to wrap her head around all that, and judging by the look on her face, Amaya does too. She hadn’t even considered to think of a different version of anyone she was summoning, or what the effects might be.

“Hey,” Zari’s voice suddenly calls out, and they all look up to see her coming around from the other side of the RV, helping someone else walk along with her. “This guy belong to anyone?”

Sara hadn’t been sure she had thought of him in time to actually get him back, but apparently she had.

“Dad.”

Despite what he told Ava, despite her calling off the repair team, Jax is still buried knee deep in the torched systems of the Waverider. It’s a futile mission, he knows it, but he can’t help it. This ship was his home for two full years, it just doesn’t feel right to abandon it.

But, much as he hates to admit it, he knows there won’t be any fixing this.

The whole place is a wreck, literally, one big shipwreck. The closest thing to progress that he’s managed to make is getting Gideon back online, which is bittersweet because her speaker system is still damaged so she’s online but she can’t talk to him.

He is in the middle of cursing said speaker system when he hears footsteps behind him, and when he turns he sees Gary stepping through a time portal.

“Uh…” He splutters, because he isn’t supposed to be here, but Gary doesn’t look like he’s too worried about that.

In fact, he looks like he’s trying very hard to suppress a smile.

“Follow me.” He orders, and oh yeah, he is definitely trying his hardest not to smile about something.

So, naturally, Jax drops his pliers and follows, if for no other reason than curiosity.

When they step through the portal they come out in the middle of a road, with a couple stopped cars around but seemingly no actual people except for the Legends, all crowded around the side of their RV. He’s about to ask what’s going on, why he’s been brought here, when he notices one face in the group of Legends.

“Grey?”

He has to be going crazy, that’s the only explanation. He’s spent too much time holed up in the Waverider alone and now he’s lost his mind. But the old man smiles at him, even stepping forward.

“Jefferson.”

That can’t be a trick of his mind. Grey’s voice is real, and the others are all smirking; they see him too.

“Grey.” He’s practically crying at this point, surging forward and hugging his old partner. He shutters against him, trying to get himself under control, but damn, it isn’t every day people come back from the dead.

He can’t say how long they hold each other for, only that once he finally brings himself to pull back Constantine starts talking about needing to go over the plan.

Sara is half listening as John goes over the plan of attack. They’re going to take the RV through a time portal to the same location they used to get the saucer in the first place. After that they’re essentially going to be bashing demons left and right until they can get John close enough to Neron to undo the spell he used to bind him to Des. Once those two are separated all they have to do his push Neron into one of the many cracks in the ground leading to Hell and so long as they do it by midnight this all can be history. Simple.

Which is why she’s only half listening.

The other half of her attention is focused on the allies who are suddenly here with them again, or more accurately, the one who isn’t.

She still has Laurel’s arm wound loose around hers for balance, and when she glances across the group at Mick, Amaya is still in his arms. He meets her eyes, his brow quirked to match her own, wondering the same thing she is.

Where is Leonard?

She had thought about him, admittedly more than she did her dad, but no one has found him scattered anywhere nearby. She keeps glancing at the trees, half expecting him to come limping out demanding to know what the hell is going on. She refuses to believe he wasn’t in Heaven to call upon. Sure, he wasn’t always perfect, but after what he did to save not only them, but all of history as well, there is no way he went to Hell.

She’s still wondering where he is when John disbands their little meeting, telling them all to take the next half hour or so to prepare and then they’re going demon fighting.

Immediately, Ava appears in front of her.

“Hey, I’m going back to the Time Bureau to grab some weapons. Did you have anything in the apartment that I should get?”

She gapes for a minute, thinking. She has her stuff here, had figured she would need it, but… just in case…

“Yeah.” She decides, “In that storage crate I brought back from the Waverider. There’s a coat and some tools in there.”

Ava scrunches her nose at that, clearly confused.

“We’re walking into Hell in the Arizona desert, and you want me to bring a coat?”

She glances around them one more time, still scanning for Leonard.

“There uh… there might be one more person coming to help us. He’ll appreciate it.”

The look she gets from that shows Ava knows there is a lot more behind this mystery ally than she’s letting on, but she doesn’t call her on it.

“Ok,” she says instead, and then disappears through her portal back to her office.

Leaving Sara alone with Laurel giving her a very knowing look.

“Ok,” her sister nearly laughs, “What have I missed?”
Sara allows herself to grin and give Laurel a half-hearted glare.

“A lot.” She answers, tightening her arm around Laurel’s. “Come on, I’ll catch you up.”

With all the fuss over people coming back from the dead and needing to prepare for battle it isn’t hard for Nora to slip away from everything, nor is it difficult for John.

She finds him hiding out behind a sigh boasting twenty more miles to Dallas, his cigarette in its favorite corner of his mouth.

“What can I help you with, Love?” He asks, not bothering to turn around and look at her.

She gives a light smile, a faint chuckle, and folds her arms over her chest.

“You and I both know separating a demon from a vessel isn’t easy.”

“You can say that again.” He scoffs, and then he finally turns. “Nora, I am truly sorry I wasn’t able to save you all those years ago.”

She glances to the ground, only for a second. She doesn’t like thinking about those early days, particularly not that one on which he brought the Legends for backup and Ray and Zari tried saving her. Things could’ve gone so differently if she had just gone with them, wildly differently.

“I know.” She promises him, “That’s not why I’m here.”

He nods, his smile sad, and she even though they both know she already knows what he’s going to say, she asks her next question anyway.

“If it comes down to it..?”

No. She can’t finish the question, and with a knowing gleam in his eye he looks off into the distance; away from her eyes.

“What can I say Nora? In his final moments, your father was somewhat of an inspiration.”

Chapter Text

Amaya’s been quiet ever since Trench Coat dropped the “lived and died” bomb on her, not that Mick blames her. That’s gotta be a lot to process. She lived her whole life; got married, raised a family, grew old, the whole shebang. Now she’s back here, at a point when her life had barely started, and she can’t remember anything from after this point the first time around.

She also can’t walk, which is about the only thing she has vocalized.

“How am I supposed to fight a demon?” She asks, a little pout on her face that despite the circumstances makes Mick smirk.

“You’ll be fine.” He promises her, “You’re already doing better.”

She doesn’t look impressed by that, at all, and the scowl is even more adorable than the pout.

Not that he would ever tell her that.

In his defense it’s hard not to look at every little expression of her face right now, what with her face only being a few inches away from his. She has her hands placed firmly in his, his fingers curling around hers. He’s trying to help her get her bearings, to at least get her steady enough on her feet to walk, or at the very least drive.

“So for you guys it’s been a year?” She finally asks, catching him a little off guard, but he grunts in answer.

“About,” he says, “We’ve missed having you around.”

She smiles at that, and then goes back to looking at her shaky feet. He’s kind of at a loss for what to say to her now, or if what he did say was even the right choice. On their way back to the group, before she’d found out she’s been dead for they don’t even know how long, he had filled her in on a few things. He’d started with Charlie, it seemed like a pressing matter and he had called her that name upon seeing her, so it was as good a place as any to start. He had also mentioned Boss’s relationship and break up with The Suit. After that he told her about the dragon and the Waverider, and how the Legends might be done after this. She wasn’t happy to hear about that one.

“Uh… So how you holding up?” He finally blurts out, regretting it instantly, especially once he hears her sigh.

“Honestly?” She relents, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt more relieved.”

Oh?

She must see the question on his face, if the hint of amusement in her little smile is anything to judge by.

“I mean… the whole time I was with the Legends, I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to go back to Zambesi and settle down. Even when I was with Nathanial I knew it wasn’t going to work.” She takes a shuttering inhale as he steps back, pulling her with him, and her grin widens as she takes her first successful step. “I had a destiny planned out for me, and I followed it. Now I get a second chance at my life, and this time… I’m free.”

They’ve taken two more steps, and Mick knows he should still be pulling her along and encouraging more. But for whatever reason he’s stopped. They’re just standing there, in the middle of the literal highway to Hell, with fire shooting up from the ground in random places at random times, and all of their friends walking around and preparing for the biggest battle of their lives.

He has one job; help Amaya walk, and he’s stopped to stare at her.

Oh, and she’s staring back at him, with a softness in her eyes that has his throat going dry.

He hears a throat clear, and when he and Amaya look up The Suit is standing not too far from them, looking almost like she doesn’t want to interrupt.

“It’s time to move out.”

He nods, and she disappears around the corner of the RV.

He looks back down at Amaya, who’s looking up at him with enough awkwardness that he knows she’s also realized how close and still they’re standing.

“Um… We probably have to move fast.” That should get him to move, but for whatever reason it doesn’t and she has to continue. “And I’m not sure I can do that right now.”

Finally he shakes his head, bringing himself back.

“Right.” He says, and then he scoops her up into his arms just like before.

They’ve had worse plans, or so Sara keeps telling herself. It isn’t working, for the record. Right now they’re all jamming into the RV, Mick just stepped in carrying Amaya so that isn’t exactly the most comforting sign. He exchanges a look with Martin, who has already regained his normal coordination, but because he and Jax can’t merge as Firestorm anymore due to having taken the cure to separate them the plan is for him to stay in the RV. Amaya was supposed to drive, since it was obvious when Mick walked out of the trees holding her she isn’t going to be in fighting shape, but now Martin is settling into the driver’s seat and Mick’s getting Amaya situated into the passenger side.

Who drives doesn’t matter, and Sara has long since learned that no plan ever survives its execution. Things always happen. Always. A change in positions like that is so minor it shouldn’t even count as a change. But it does, and when the changes start this early, she can’t help but fear what might come later.

“Hey.”

There’s a hand on her shoulder accompanying the voice, the sound of which sends chills down her spine; she never thought she would hear the voice of her father again.

“Hey.”

“You alright?”

She actually laughs at that.

“Are you?” She asks, “You did just come back from the dead, and trust me, I know that can be a little disorienting.”

He frowns at her, he doesn’t like that reminder.

“I’m fine.” She promises, “As fine as I can be going into something like this.”

Her dad smiles at her, that humoring smile that let’s her know he’s trying to understand, he really is, but the fact that she can say “something like this” as though she’s done things that come close to the level of driving straight into Hell before, is causing a bit of a disconnect in his brain. Not that he doubts her, but he doesn’t exactly want to acknowledge that this is her normal.

“We’re gonna win baby.” He promises her, slinging his arm along her shoulders and giving her a little shake. “With your team, this demon is never gonna know what hit him.”

She smirks a little at that, hoping he’s right.

Well, she’ll find out soon enough.

Kendra does not like the looks of what she’s flying into.

Everything looks bad, everywhere, but the Arizona desert is easily distinguishable as the epicenter of all this chaos.

Amazingly, she doesn’t get shot out of the sky, and she comes down where Carter’s waiting for her, giving him a quick kiss and a once over with her eyes in greeting.

“Where’s Miranda?” He asks, looking her over as well.

“With your parents, they’re all pretty shaken up.”

“I can imagine.” He says, but a bit of the fear leaves his eyes.

She’s about to ask where The Legends are, when a bright light suddenly appears out of nowhere behind Carter and opens up into a large square, and through that square comes, of all things, an RV.

“What the..?” Her question trails off as the portal closes behind the RV and it comes to a stop, the door opening and Sara stepping out.

“Hey guys,” she says almost casually as the rest of the team starts filing out behind her, along with a few others whom Kendra doesn’t know.

She hurries over to Sara, wrapping her old friend in a hug and then pulling back to look past her and two the others. She lets Sara go and heads over to them, hugging Ray first and then letting go of him to survey the others, her eyes settling on Rip.

“So what’s the plan?” She asks and he smirks at her, his expression smug, and then nods over to where Sara is talking to Carter.

“Ask the Captain.”

She barely has a second to process that before her husband and the apparent new Captain of the Legends make their way over.

“Ok,” Sara says, hands on her hips. “We need you and Carter to fly ahead with Nora and John, you need to find Neron and get them as close to him as you can. The rest of us will be right behind you.”

“Ok,” she agrees readily, and then looks back at the group to see which of the strangers she’ll be taking.

The first one, John, steps forward quickly enough. The second doesn’t, but it’s painfully clear which one she is by the fearful way she’s looking up at Ray, her eyes closing when he presses a tender kiss to her forehead and gives her hand a squeeze.

Kendra doesn’t say anything when the moment ends and the woman steps forward. She watches as Carter approaches John and instructs the other man to place his arm along his shoulders, and then they take off.

“Hi,” she says softly to Nora, trying to break the ice. The other woman smiles in a friendly enough way, and getting her situated to fly isn’t hard. Before she knows it they’re off, following Carter and John in search of a demon.

And here she thought she had left this life behind.

Once Kendra and Carter are off with Nora and John the rest of them file back into the RV, though it isn’t long before the spurts of fire all around them start to get a lot less random and a lot more targeting, a few just narrowly missing the RV, and only because Martin just narrowly manages to swerve around them.

Yup, Sara thinks to herself, here they go.

There are people charging straight at them, mostly men on horseback with long spears, but the sounds of gunshots ringing out in the distance is a clear sign that Neron thought of as many killers from history as he could when he used the saucer.

“I think this is our stop.” Ava says and Sara nods in agreement.

Martin obviously agrees as well, because if he slammed on the breaks any faster they might have all fallen over.

“I can’t promise we’ll be in this exact spot later.” He warns as they begin to file out.

“Do what you need to do,” Sara says, and as though to prove her point Mick hands one of the spare guns Ava had brought to Amaya on his way out.

She follows after him, and when she goes to close the door behind her she finds her dad standing right on her heels.

“Be safe baby.”

She nods; he’s going to stay with Martin and Amaya.

“You too.”

With that and a smile he reaches out and pulls the door closed, and as the RV speeds off there’s no time to waste. Demons and resurrected soldiers of the past are already closing in on them.

She jumps right into action, bashing attackers with her Bo left and right. Some she’s able to knock into the wider cracks in the Earth where the lava has been spurting up. Lava or not they don’t come back, so that’s a good thing to note.

She doesn’t know how long they’ve been fighting, or if they’re making any real progress, when all of a sudden she hears a roar above her head and she looks up to see, somehow unsurprisingly, a time portal opening up with a very familiar full sized dragon flying out.

The dragon torches over a quarter of their adversaries on its way down, brining the battle practically to a standstill, and a howling “YEE-HAW!!!” sounds out from it’s back. It lands only long enough for Nate to jump off in the middle of their group.

“Hey, sorry I’m late. Iggy was not cooperating at first.”

“Iggy?” Ava asks as Sara gets closer, all of them looking up at the sky and watching the dragon fly off.

“Well, Ignatius,” Nate corrects both himself and Ava, “Iggy for short. Mona’s really been working with him, but it still took forever to get that saddle on.”

Ava is just gaping at this point, clearly this is the first she’s hearing about any of this. Sara almost wants to laugh, if not at the absurdity of being rescued by the very dragon that fried their ship, then at least at Ava’s expression.

“So, did I miss anything good?”

She grins at Nate’s question, even as she hears Mick getting on the comms behind her, telling anyone who isn’t standing here but is on their side to not shoot at the dragon.

“Nope,” she says, “Things are just getting interesting.”

Don’t shoot at the dragon. Right, ok, why not?

To put things lightly Charlie has not had as much success in recruiting help as she would’ve hoped. Apparently Neron didn’t summon too many of the sinners who owe her favors.

“Ok!”

Her heart nearly leaps out of her chest as the one hellion she did manage to recruit pops up in front of her. She doesn’t even know him, but he had called her Amaya and after she explained she isn’t Amaya but is working with the Legends he was still more than willing to help.

She’ll take what she can get.

“So bad news, Neron has an army of giant trolls guarding is little… throne area.” He explains, making odd little gestures with his hands. “It’s not really a throne, per say, it’s more of a mountain of volcanic rock that he brought out of Hell with him.”

“Great,” she huffs, “Well, Sara did say she’s sending us some flying backup.”

“So, hopefully we’ll be able to get to the top of this mountain?”

“And push Neron off it.”

She’s trying to think of something more to say, if for no other reason than to keep her new partner from doing it, when she notices two figures up in the sky coming down.

“Get back.” She orders the annoying man, grabbing his arm when he doesn’t immediately comply.

Of course, there aren’t a great many places to hide in the middle of the desert, and she isn’t too keen on diving into one of those Hell cracks. With no other ideas coming to mind she just starts booking it, but alas, the she and her companion can’t outrun the newcomers.

They touch down right in their path. They appear human, aside from the giant hawk-like wings that retract into their backs. They also have John and Nora with them, and that sends a relief wave through her system. This is their help.

She’s so relieved, in fact, she almost doesn’t notice Nora’s wide-eyed expression fixed on her partner.

“Dad?” The witch asks, and with her brow furrowed Charlie looks over at the man, whose name she honestly didn’t bother catching upon meeting him.

“Nora doll.” He gasps in relief, stepping forward and wrapping her in his arms. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re safe.”

The others, at least, seem just as taken back by this display as she is.

“Hi,” The woman of the pair of flying strangers says, reaching out her hand. “You must be Charlie. I’m Kendra, and this is Carter.”

“Nice to meet you.” Charlie obliges, shaking the offered hand. “I’m not really sure who this wanker is.”

“Damian,” The man, Nora’s father evidentially, says as he detaches from his daughter. “I introduced myself earlier.”

“I wasn’t listening.”

He looks quite offended by that, but he doesn’t get much of an opportunity to act on it before John steps forward, impatience obvious just in his steps.

“We all know each other, fantastic! What’s the plan?”

“Well,” Damian begins, “As I was just telling Charlie, Neron is up at the top of a mountain about twenty miles that way.” He enunciates his words by pointing off in the proper direction. “Guarded by giant trolls.”

John sighs, kicking at the ash settled on the ground and cursing. They let him go with venting his frustrations in a little tantrum for a few seconds, and when he’s done he huffs out one final sigh and lights up a cigarette.

“Ok,” he says, “Then lets get a move on.”

“What?” Damian asks, seemingly horrified. “Do we have any sort of, oh I don’t know, any sort of plan?”

“Of course we do.” John says, “We’ll explain on the way.”

Let the record show that Charlie doesn’t like the sound of that, but the look on Damian’s face is amusing enough to convince her to go along with it.

As another hell-spawn falls Laurel finds herself increasingly more relieved that she picked up walking again pretty quickly, and the same can be said for fighting. She still isn’t at 100%, and her coordination is questionable, but she’s getting better with every move she makes.

Sara’s apparent ex-girlfriend managed to get her a Bo, which she is beyond grateful for. She’s taking down adversaries left and right, as even with a dragon now on their side Neron’s minions are still coming in droves. She bashes one in the side of the head, then spins around and bashes another, and then, within a fraction of a second-

She’s on the ground, and moving.

She glances down in shock, she hadn’t felt anything so much as touch her, but sure enough there is a black, ghost like tentacle wrapped around her middle. She tries to kick it off but her foot goes right through it, and then it takes hold of it.

The only other thing she can think to do is let out a scream.

She screams loud, and constant, until she sees Sara running for her. Looking back at the tentacle she sees she’s being dragged for one of the ominous cracks in the ground and so she keeps screaming. Sara’s getting closer, Zari right behind her, but then she feels the ground vanish underneath her still free foot and upon looking back she realizes she is already halfway in the Hell crack.

Still screaming as she reaches out and Sara has to dive to reach before she’s dragged over the edge, Zari nearly diving on top of her. But Sara manages to grab her hand.

Laurel helps in any way that she can, clawing at the ground with her free hand and trying to climb out of the crack with her free leg. Eventually she feels her other leg pull free and then she’s practically flying to the surface and crashing into Sara and Zari.

“They must be getting close to Neron.” Zari comments as the three of them pick themselves up. “These things are getting more defensive.”

Sara nods in agreement, her hand going to her ear.

“Martin?” She asks, “Did you get that?”

Laurel can’t hear what the older man replies, but by the expression of panic that Sara’s face morphs into she’s guessing it isn’t anything good.

“What is it?” She asks, resulting in Sara’s head swiveling to her.

“We have to get back to the RV.”

They are getting close to Neron, for the record.

Giant trolls are strong creatures but they’re far from geniuses. Getting to the top of Neron’s mountain is akin to child’s play, the real challenge so far is proving to be separating him from Desmond.

A challenge, which, Damian Darhk is surprised to admit, they might actually have a chance at winning.

Oh, right now it doesn’t look good. The Hawks, himself, Nora, and the not-shape shifter are holding off the demon’s resurrected army left and right while Constantine is failing to exorcise Neron from his boyfriend, the former of which is actively mocking his efforts by the way. But Desmond hasn’t been Neron’s vessel for long, meaning that while the bond is by no means easy to break it might still be possible.

With more than one warlock working at it.

“Nora and I have to help Constantine!” He shouts at Charlie over all the insanity when he gets relatively close to her. “You need to hold them off!”

“You realize I’m just throwing fucking rocks at them, right?!” She shouts back without even a moment’s hesitation. “I don’t have my powers or any actual weapons!”

She isn’t wrong. So far she’s been staying closest to Neron and John, taking care of any attackers that somehow manage to get through both The Hawks as well as Nora and himself, and she’s been doing it using nothing but whatever brute force she has packed into Amaya’s tiny frame.

“You’ll be fine!” He calls back, using his magic to send an oncoming boulder flying over the edge of the mountain. “It’ll only take a minute!”

“Yeah, that’s what he said coming up here!”

Again, true. John did say that, and yet they’ve been up here for at least an hour.

“That’s why we’re stepping in!” He says, and without waiting for a reply this time he races off, over to get Nora.

The decision, ill advised as it probably is, is to split up.

Mick goes with Sara, her sister, and Jax back to the RV. Stein had come over the comms saying they were under serious attack from those ghost things that nearly dragged Laurel into Hell. Everyone else continues towards Neron’s place, though at this rate it’s doubtful they’ll make it in time to help Charlie’s group with anything. It’s getting close to midnight, so one way or the other there’s going to be a winner soon enough.

And here Mick thought he was going to have to die to go to Hell.

The RV isn’t where they left it, Stein was supposed to keep them moving, but their tracker’s had them in the same spot for the last twenty minutes.

Mick does not like that fact.

He keeps running, even with his lungs burning and his gun almost out of juice he keeps running. They never should’ve left those three alone. Even in an RV with a few weapons it’s still incredibly dangerous. They never should have-

Shit.

There’s the RV. Right here in the middle of the desert, about ten miles from the nearest road.

On it’s side and up in flames.

Chapter Text

Charlie ducks behind the corner of a particularly large rock, chucking a much smaller one at the latest oncoming demon on her way. She can hear Nora, her dad, and John all chanting in some odd language that she knows she learned somewhere, centuries ago, but truthfully she couldn’t afford to listen even if she wanted to. She’s too busy trying to keep from being thrown off this mountain by an angry giant troll. The hawk people are helping all they can, but without any other back up it hardly suffices.

She grabs another rock and chucks it around the corner, nailing a troll in the head.

“YES!” She cheers, because frankly she’s pretty proud of herself for surviving this long, and of course that is the exact moment in which she notices Neron flying.

And screaming.

“Ok,” she muses to herself, “Let’s hope that’s a good sign.”

“Shit.” Jax curses, running over to the downed RV, despite the protest his knee is so vehemently giving. Mick and Sara are ahead of him and Laurel and Zari are right behind him.

They make it around the RV and Jax doesn’t know whether to stop short or keep booking it, and his heart does drop to his stomach.

Grey and Amaya are both up, Grey more than Amaya, and struggling to pull Sara’s dad away from the wreckage.

Sara’s mind is clearly working faster than his, Laurel’s too, because the two of them rush up immediately to help and so Jax follows, moving to Grey’s side while Sara and Laurel take over dragging their dad.

“He saved me.” Amaya croaks, sagging against Mick as he gently pries her away from all the commotion.

She’s covered in grease and ash, her face and arms cut up, probably from the glass of the windshield. Grey has a few cuts and scratches too, though not anywhere near as extensive as Amaya.

“They…” Grey starts to stutter, eyes wide with panic. “The um… the… I think they might have been Huns? They threw a grenade at the RV. We unbuckled and tried to run but…”

He keeps trying to stutter out the story of what happened, Amaya interjecting in certain parts about this being her fault and how she wasn’t able to move fast enough, frankly Jax is only about half listening. The majority of his attention is focused on Mr. Lance, Sara, and Laurel.

It’s only now that he realizes Mr. Lance’s shirt if drenched with blood, and Laurel and Sara have stopped dragging him along, instead choosing to lay him down where they are.

He’s standing just close enough to the whole scene to hear the older man’s wheezing breaths getting weaker, and to see every tremor of his hands as he reaches up to rest one on Laurel’s shoulder and the other on Sara’s.

“You’re both here.” Their dad coughs, a wide and almost laughing grin on his face. “My girls…”

His voice trails off with that, his head lolling back and so Jax bows his own head; tears clouding his eyes.

Not even ten seconds later there’s a clap of thunder and the ground starts closing up.

Let there be no mistake, when going into today John Constantine was 99% certain that if the Legends were to win and they were to free Des from Neron, and then ultimately banish Neron into Hell, he would be going down with him. The other 1%, well, that’s what’s happened.

He’s alive.

It took three of them at once, but they’ve done it. Neron is gone and rotting in Hell, all alone, and Des…

Well, that’s the part he’s working on finding out.

He’s sprinting over to where Des’ body is lying lifeless at the center of the mountaintop, where Neron had been when they finally exorcised him. Des had dropped then, and only now is John hitting his knees right at his side.

“Des?” He asks, desperate as he worms his arms under Des’ shoulders and props him up. “Des? Talk to me Des? Are you there?”
He gives him a shake, and when he doesn’t respond he gives him a harder shake.

“Des? Come on Des open your eyes!”

He doesn’t, not at first, but he does groan and scrunch his eyes in a tiny sign of life that floods John’s systems with relief.

“Des?”

Another groan, softer this time, and finally those beautiful brown eyes flutter open.

“Jonny?”

He laughs, actually laughs as his face splits into a grin and he pulls Des closer, hugging him tight and near sobbing into his shoulder.

“Oh Des!” He sobs, “Oh, you have no idea what I’ve gone through to get you back.”

He feels Des actually laughing against him, pushing himself back just enough that John is forced to go with it and look down into his eyes.

“Do I want to know?”

It’s a mocking question, one that has John laughing himself, as well as Charlie as she approaches.

“Probably not.” She comments, and she isn’t wrong. But when Des looks at him with a more seriously questioning expression he smirks.

“Don’t worry Des, I had some help.”

Again Des chuckles, “John Constantine asked for help? Wish I had seen that.”

“Oh trust me,” Charlie pipes up from the background, “It was quite a sight.”

With Des laughing at that John comes to the sudden, and horrible, realization that these two are probably going to be fast friends with plenty of embarrassing tales to bond over.

He helps Des to his feet, relieved when he finds that he’s able to support his own weight and walk properly. He hasn’t been dead, not technically, but John had still been a bit worried about that.

The two hawks land right then, the Darhk’s walking up behind them.

“Neron’s forces, those who are still alive, are scattering.” Kendra reports and he nods.

“At least they’re all contained to one time period this time, Love.”

She appears more than a little confused by that, her husband as well, but Charlie nods in agreement and after only a few second Kendra shrugs off her confusion. She knows it must be something in the Legends’ realm of normal.

With Hell now back where it belongs, and the amount of times they’ve used the time courier to get around the present taken into account, Ava announces over the comms that they’re all going to have to hike to the base of Neron’s mountain on foot to rendezvous.

Sara’s fine with that, to be honest.

Gary did risk one last time portal into the present to get to the wreckage of the RV and take her dad’s body back to the Time Bureau. Odd as this thought is, Sara can’t help but be grateful that at least he was stabbed. He wasn’t dragged into the pits of Hell; he went back to Heaven.

“Well we’re both alive,” Laurel remarks through a sad huff, “This is new.”

Sara snorts, a small smile gracing her lips. “You’re not a Lance until death has had its hands on you and said no thanks.”

Laurel makes a hum that is part agreement and part amusement, with just a hint of sadness in there too for the obvious reason of the one Lance that death did take today.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “About dad.”

“He was your dad too.” Laurel reminds her, her brow crinkled, but Sara only shrugs.

“True, but for me he’s been dead for over a year.” It does hurt; of course it hurts. She just got him back and now he’s gone again, but in all that was going on she didn’t really have enough time to get use to him being back.

Laurel though, she’s never had to be use to him being gone.

She must be realizing this fact at the same time, because her face falls and she nods mutely.

“I guess I really have missed a lot.”

Sara frowns, as that is a sentiment that she understands. So she reaches over and takes Laurel’s a hand, hoping to reassure her.

Amaya’s walking now, which Mick knows is a good thing, but he can’t deny the existence of the dull pang in his chest due to her not needing him to hold her up anymore.

She’s walking with Zari, presumably catching up, and while Mick won’t call what he’s feeling jealousy he still has no interest in examining it.

Still, if there’s any one of them who should be jealous it isn’t him, it’s Pretty.

He’ll admit that, while he isn’t surprised in the least to see Zari is someone Amaya’s excited to reconnect with, he is a little surprised she didn’t immediately attach herself to Pretty’s side now that he’s here. He would’ve thought that now that she’s free of all that destiny crap she would’ve been jumping right back down his pants.

He doesn’t miss how Pretty keeps looking over at her, either, but that’s something he’s going to leave alone for now. They’re coming up on the base of the demon’s mountain anyway, and there are seven figures walking towards them.

At first it’s hard to tell who’s who, but the fact that there are more coming out than there was going in with this group is probably a good sign. Heck, a part of him even gets his hopes up for just the barest fraction of a second, his eyes scanning the figures for a certain strolling asshole he’d be able to recognize a mile away.

He’s not there.

As they get closer it’s easy to recognize The Hawks, and Trench Coat, then Charlie and Witch Girl just because they’re so familiar. But the other two are a littler harder to place. He knows one of them, probably the one holding hands with Trench Coat, has to be Desmond. But the other one, the one closer to Witch Girl, is a little harder to place from this distance. It isn’t until they get a little closer that Mick realizes who it is, shit.

“No way.” He hears Boss say softly, and upon remembering exactly what her history is with this guy he looks over at her and her sister.

Boss’s lips are still parted with shock following her words, her sister’s expression matching until she recovers and starts marching forward towards the newcomers, which effectively snaps Boss out of her trance.

“Laurel wai-”

SLAP

Mick doesn’t bother suppressing the chuckle when Laurel slaps Damian Darhk hard enough that he has to take a step back, reeling. Witch Girl looks a little pissed, but not pissed enough to do anything, and Laurel, well, she’s still seething.

“How the hell are you still alive?” She demands, Darhk still rubbing his jaw when he looks back at her.

“I could ask you the same question, I didn’t think you’d have gone to Hell.”

“Oh yeah,” Charlie says, looking smug, even though Mick doubts she know the history between these two. “We used the saucer to bring down some back up from Heaven.”

Darhk nods, because of course that’s a reasonable explanation.

“Well, Miss Lance, good to see you and um, sorry about, you know, killing you.”

Laurel doesn’t look impressed by that at all, neither does Boss, but they also don’t look like they’re about to strangle Darhk back to death right here so Mick’s going to assume that means the conversation is over for now.

“Speaking of the plate,” he says, stepping forward and taking the busted pieces of it out of his pocket. “What are we gonna do with these?”

They all look around at each other, because of course they didn’t think this part through.

“We still have the time courier.” Zari says eventually, “We should hide them through time.”

“No,” The Englishman vetoes, “No matter how far apart we scatter them time will eventually catch up, not to mention that hiding any of them in the past could cause a paradox.”

That’s sound logic if Mick’s ever heard it, but Boss with that thinking look on her face takes a step towards their old Captain.

“Not necessarily.”

They hide three of the piece around the present, scattered around the world this time, but they’re taking precaution with the last piece.

Sara and Jax have to use Ava’s time courier to get here, and true she didn’t have to come, but she’s the captain, and if anyone is going to risk their neck coming here it should be her.

No matter how much she hates this place.

It’s every bit as eerie as it was when they came here looking for the Spear of Destiny. Time doesn’t move at The Vanishing Point, so there are still sparks flying from lights in the ceiling, lights flashing on and off at random, and pipes still leaking in a few places.

“Ok…” Jax drawls, clearly no more comfortable with being here than she is, “Which pile of rubble are we hiding this thing in?”

She looks around, trying to find a pile in this place where a piece of the saucer might blend in seamlessly, while also trying her damnedest to keep her eyes off the perfect one.

The biggest one; right in the middle.

“A small one.” She says, “Big enough to hide it in but small enough it wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice to look.”

Jax nods at her and starts walking around with the piece, looking for a good pile. She searches too, kicking a stray rock here or there. There’s collapsed metal littered all over the ground as well, without so much as a speck of dust gathered on it despite being mixed with rock, because time doesn’t move here.

Suddenly her eyes go wide and she feels her heart freeze mid-beat in her chest; time doesn’t move here.

She whirls her head around and locks her gaze onto the large pile she’s been so determinedly avoiding, then back to Jax still kicking around the smaller piles, and then back to the big pile.

Time doesn’t move here.

The next thing she knows she’s moving, sprinting, hoping against hope that she hasn’t completely lost her mind. She only stops when she’s looming over the pile, her breath rapid and desperate as she starts pulling at the debris. She’s faintly aware of Jax calling her name, asking what’s gotten into her, but she doesn’t answer. She just keeps pulling at the rock and metal, trying to get it to budge even just an inch. She feels Jax’s hand on her shoulder at the same time she finally gets a piece of rock to move, and a lot more comes tumbling down with it.

She and Jax have to jump out of the way, Jax still demanding an explanation, but when the avalanche is over there’s something sticking out from the center of the pile.

A hand.

“Oh shit.” Jax mutters, and then they’re both scaling the remainder of the pile, pulling at pieces of debris as quickly as they can.

Sara can feel the tears springing into her eyes as they pull at rock and the remains of the wellspring, trying to be as careful as they can, but when she sees his face she gasps.

Leonard.

There’s blood everywhere on his face. Everywhere. Outlining his nostrils, trailing from his head, his cheeks, the corners of his mouth, everywhere. None of it’s dry, but it isn’t flowing either. It’s just there, glistening, frozen in time.

Her hand is shaking when she reaches forward, her fingers hesitant to land on his neck and confirm his fate one way or the other. But it has to be done, and when she finally brings herself to look for that pulse it takes all her self-control to keep from sobbing.

“He’s alive.” She gasps, looking back to Jax, “He’s alive.”

Jax’s eyes go wide, but he only stands motionless for a second before he starts tearing at the rubble with renewed strength and she quickly joins him. They start toppling the metal and rock, kicking away anything they can’t lift.

“Where we gonna take him?” Jax eventually questions, not slowing his pace at all. “Med-bay on the ship is down.”

That is a very good question. It’s clear that the only thing that’s kept Leonard alive until now is essentially being frozen in time, meaning that the second they leave The Vanishing Point his body will start reacting to time again and so they’ll have to move fast.

The Time Bureau has a med-bay, but it’s not really equipped for something as bad and bloody as this, but a real hospital would raise FAR too many questions.

“S.T.A.R. Labs,” she decides, “If anyone can help him, it’ll be them.”

Mick has to do a considerable amount of threatening to shift Gary’s fear from Ava, from the timeline imploding, and from Ava again before gets the second time courier so they can all get to S.T.A.R. Labs, but now that they’re here Zari thinks that might have been for the best.

Sara called less than five minutes ago, saying they had found Leonard Snart buried in the rubble of the Oculus wellspring and had brought him to S.T.A.R. Labs. She hasn’t mentioned that things were hectic but now that they’ve gotten here Zari is seeing that they’re probably the last thing team Flash needs right now.

They came out in the cortex, which contains windows to the medical room and in there it’s complete madness. She can’t see everything, but so far she’s seen Barry and Cisco dive over each other, each to grab some odd piece of equipment, Caitlin switch from Caitlin, to Frost, and back and forth like that at least six times in just the short time they’ve been here, Sara start pushing Mick out of the way, and finally Leonard.

She’s never met him before, but she knows enough to know this prone form lying on the hospital bed with tubes coming out of him and bandages covering him isn’t how he would want to be seen.

She turns and walks out of the cortex, where most of their little band of misfits is gathered. She eventually finds her way to a lounge area, and Ray Palmer sitting at the bar and swirling a teabag around a patented S.T.A.R. Labs mug.

“Ok, what’s eating you?” She asks as a means of announcing to him that he’s no longer alone. She walks in when he looks up, inviting herself behind the counter to look around for some decent coffee.

“What do you mean?”

“We won, you know.” She says, finding the coffee and setting the container on the counter. “We sent the demon back to Hell. John got Des back, Nora got her dad back, Sara got her sister, we even managed to bring back Stein, Rip, and Amaya. Even your teammate who you all thought died three years ago is back. For once good triumphed over all evil. So why are you, Mr. Optimist, sitting here looking like you wish that tea was whiskey?”

Ray does chuckle for a moment, unenthusiastically, but still.

“I don’t drink whiskey.” He reminds her, but he doesn’t continue more than that.

She starts making her coffee, trying to determine a further course of action when she ends up not needing too.

“Snart’s been suffering for three years.” He says, “We just flew off and left him there. Even when we went back looking for the Spear of Destiny, we didn’t bother looking for him. We didn’t have a body but we all just assumed he was dead.”

“You didn’t know.” She tells him firmly, “Why would you think he was alive? Nobody else survived that explosion.”

His expression concedes to that, if only a little bit.

“Still,” he eventually says, “If we had found him then he might have a had a better chance at surviving. Don’t get me wrong, Caitlin’s the best doctor around, but still, the med bay would’ve helped. Not to mention that out of all of us Sara was the one to find him. I mean if he doesn’t make it… Man, Sara’s the strongest person I know but I don’t know how she’d survive losing him a second time.”

Zari stares at him, leaning her weight onto her elbows.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” He says with a sigh, “Sara and Snart… they weren’t a thing but… they should’ve been. They could’ve been but they-”

“They had their heads up their asses?”

Ray actually snorts at that, finally taking a sip of his tea.

“Not how I was going to put it,” he says, “But yeah, pretty much.”

Her coffee is done by now, but she doesn’t move to pour it. In fact when she finally does push up off her elbows she disregards it entirely and moves for the door.

Amaya has seen plenty of strange things throughout her life, probably more than she remembers, but this is definitely one for the books.

She can’t tell if it’s better or worse that Charlie appears to be sharing that same opinion.

They’re not alone, they’re in the cortex with nearly everyone else, but they are also a good distance away in a back corner and looking each other up and down.

Yeah, this is definitely one of the weirder things she’s ever seen.

“I’d change if I could.” Charlie finally says, the accent somehow making this equally more comfortable and more uncomfortable at the same time. “But unfortunately Jonny Boy ripped away my powers after I transformed into you.”

Right, so they’re stuck like this.

“Right, um, why exactly?”

“Didn’t think he could trust me.” Charlie answers with a shrug, and Amaya nods hesitantly at it.

 They just stare at each other for another few awkward moments, occasionally looking over at the others, and then back to each other. Thankfully it isn’t long after that when Zari comes marching back into the room and heads straight for them.

“Hey,” she says, looking almost panicked. “Can I uh… can I borrow Charlie for a minute?”

The two of them glance at each other before Charlie goes off, following Zari out of the cortex, and not even ten seconds later Nathaniel is up from his seat and coming over to her.

“Hey,” he says, smiling from ear to ear in his usual contagious way.

“Hey,” she returns, stepping forward to give him a hug. “So what’s going on? Mick was telling me you left the team?”

“Yeah.” He answers as they move a little further back and sink into two of the desk chairs. “Yeah I um… I started working at the Time Bureau. They have an office in D.C. and I started patching things up with my dad so…”

“That’s great.” She says with an honest smile, leaning to the side and nudging his shoulder with hers. “I’m glad.”

“Hm thanks.” He’s quiet for a second, his hands gripping and un-gripping nervously at the rim of his seat. “You know… if you want, he would love to meet you.”

She does smile at that, even if it is a touch regretful.

“I’d like that.” She says, and when his face lights up she knows she shouldn’t have led like that. “But, maybe just as your friend.”

He deflates instantly with that. “Oh.”

“Nathaniel, I’m sorry. It’s just… so much has changed since I left, and I don’t think I even know the half of it yet. I just need to be on my own, for awhile, figure out who I’m going to be in this time.”

He nods with a closed mouth smile on his face.

“I understand,” he says, “Keep in touch?”

“Of course.” As if that was ever in question.

With that out of the way she gets back to her feet, stopping just long enough to lean forward and kiss him lightly on the forehead. She sneaks her way out of the cortex then, off to maybe find where Zari disappeared to with Charlie and catch up a little more.

She gets as far as one hallway before she rounds a corner and then promptly darts right back.

She really thought this whole “look-alike” situation wasn’t going to get any weirder, but rounding a corner to see her doppelganger kissing her best friend? This new life is really going to take some getting use to.

Chapter Text

“Is everything alright Z?” Charlie asks as she follows Zari down the hall, doing her best to match her friend’s brisk pace. She’s a little worried, honestly, she has no idea where Zari disappeared to after they got here and with all that’s happened recently, well, there’s really no telling what’s going on with anyone at this point.

“Z? Z come on, talk to me. Z-”

Zari spins on her heel just as they reach the end of the hallway and enter into a small lobby by the elevator; her face frantic and nervous looking in a way that has Charlie’s stomach doing summersaults.

“Zari?”

“Sara never pulled her head out of her ass.”

Um… ok? Charlie isn’t sure what exactly she’s supposed to do with that, or why it’s so important that she had to be pulled away from the cortex to know, or even what it’s about really.

“Uh… Z I don’t-”

“With Snart.” Her friend continues, not that it makes anything any more clear whatsoever. “Sara and Snart danced around each other the entire time he was on the Waverider, but they never pulled their heads out of their asses and then he blew up in the Oculus.”

“Ok…” She drawls, still incredibly confused as to why she’s being told any of this. “Well they just found him alive and-”

“But he…” Zari cuts herself off this time, her expression frustrated as she begins looking around at the walls and floors before she finally looks up to meet Charlie’s rather concerned gaze.

“Zari?” Charlie asks, because in all honesty the other woman looks like she might be about to vomit.

“I…” Zari stutters, her eyes going frantic again before she closes them and then, with a loud and long sigh, tips her head back until it hits the wall.

“Ugh… I don’t know anything!” She groans and Charlie laughs at the sudden dramatics.

“That’s ok, you’re a Legend. Of course you don’t know anything.”

Zari cracks one eye open at that, either amused or unamused, it’s a little hard to tell, and then she closes it again.

“I have to pick a time.” She groans, to which Charlie raises an eyebrow.

“Come again?”

“The Waverider’s done.” She sighs as she reminds her of that, bringing herself to stand straight again. “I’m from 2042, so if I’m not traveling through time anymore I have to pick one to stay in. 2019 or 2042.”

Charlie’s lips part, her mind searching for words but she’s coming up blank.

“Oh,” she finally manages, “Oh yeah, that um… that makes sense.”

Zari gives her a tight, almost sympathetic smile at that.

“I don’t know anything.” She repeats, “I know a lot about computers and fighting, but I don’t know anything about people and feelings, and lately I’ve been thinking that there might be some things about myself that I don’t know.”

“Like what?” Charlie asks, folding her arms over her chest, her mind beginning to form an idea as to where this might be going but… no. That’s, that’s impossible.

Still, with the way Zari’s looking at her through guilty, half-lidded eyes, she can’t help but wonder.

“I don’t know.” Zari answers, blushing hard as she takes just the slightest step forward, leaving the distance between them at a minimum. “But… I want to pull my head out of my ass and find out before it’s too late.”

Charlie’s breath hitches in her throat, and that hitch turns into a gulp when Zari’s hands come up slow to frame her face.

Her fingers are shaking as they touch her cheeks, her eyes far too serious and scared for someone who is normally so confident and self-righteous.

So, naturally, Charlie takes a little initiative.

She pulls Zari closer, slow enough to allow her the chance to move away if she wishes but fast enough to make her own desire clear. Fortunately Zari doesn’t move away, and while the kiss is hesitant at first it quickly melts into something easy and natural as breathing.

When all the fussing and running around the tiny medical room is finally over Leonard is still alive, which Caitlin is claiming to be a miracle all it’s own. She says that so long as he survives the next twenty-four hours his chances at recovery will be good.

Sara knows she should find that reassuring, but she doesn’t.

He looks better now that he’s gotten cleaned up. The bloody wounds on his face were tiny, only one above his eye requiring a few stitches. The worst of it is his right hand, which Caitlin says he’s lucky to still have and wouldn’t have without Frost and her healing powers, which thank god can be used on other people. Even so, Caitlin still put the hand in a cast to make sure it doesn’t fall apart. She’s trying not to let the oxygen mask freak her out too much, Caitlin made it clear that if he makes it through the night and into tomorrow afternoon then he won’t need it for more than a couple of days. A broken rib punctured his lung, not too bad but that combined with his other internal injuries means he’s going to need the extra oxygen.

“He’s gonna be pissed if he wakes up with that thing on.” Mick speaks up from the opposite side of the bed.

Sara smirks at the comment, humoring. It’s just the two of them in here now, with the occasional exception of someone poking their head in to announce that they’re going to head out somewhere, a few asking to be kept updated.

“No,” she says, “He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out three years have passed.”

Mick’s only acknowledgment of this is a hum from the back of his throat, and then it’s quiet for another few seconds before they hear a pair of soft feet stopping in the doorway.

They both turn to look, and this time it’s Amaya, looking very unsure of herself and taking a few hesitant steps into the room until she’s standing at the foot of the bed.

She doesn’t say anything at first, just looks down at Leonard with sympathy, though if it’s for him or for them Sara can’t tell.

“How is he?”

Sara sighs, deep and tired, as she looks over their injured crook and tries to find some words of reassurance.

“Stubborn.” Mick answers first. “Bastard blew himself up, slept under a pile of rock for three years, and then survived those idiots trying to fix him.” He punctuates that with a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the cortex. That has Sara smiling and Amaya laughing.

“He’ll be fine.”

It’s hard to tell if Mick really believes that or not, and Sara isn’t sure if she or Amaya do either. But she nods along with it, letting her gaze fall back to Leonard.

He’ll be ok. He has to be ok.

“What about you?”

She looks back up at Mick’s question, but his eyes are on Amaya, who shrugs.

“I’m alright.” She says, swaying awkwardly on her feet. “Just… being back is turning out to be a lot to take in.”

Mick nods, and Sara’s gaze flits between the two of them for a minute, then back to Leonard, and then back to them.

“Why don’t you two go get some food or something?” She suggests, her eyes meeting Mick’s, because she knows he’s going to protest. “I’ll be here.”

Mick still looks hesitant, as does Amaya, but soon enough Mick gets up from his seat with a grateful gleam in his eye, and he nods at Amaya that it’s ok.

“You want anything?” He asks her as they head out, stopping in the doorway.

She gives a small smile, thinking on what she wants and where they might go.

“Strawberry milkshake if you go anywhere near Big Belly Burger.” She requests and Mick nods, “Thank you.”

With that the two of them are gone, and she’s alone with Leonard and the soft beeping of the heart monitor.

After a few minutes of sitting there and doing nothing but looking at him she leans forward and gently takes the thick cast over his hand in her own, afraid to put too much pressure on it.

“Hey Crook,” she murmurs, smiling as the nickname leaves her lips for the first time in far too long. “I don’t know if you can hear me, if you can then I just want to warn you that Mick’s planning on punching you as soon as you wake up, and if he chickens out I’ll do it. It’s um… it’s been three years since the Oculus, and we’ve spent that time thinking you were dead so you definitely deserve it.”

 He does deserve it, for the record, for going and being a damn hero on them. Even so, she kind of has a feeling that when he wakes up she and Mick will both be a little too caught up in relief to punch him right away.

That might be a day two thing.

“Anyway, I know that isn’t the most promising thing to wake up to but… you have to wake up Leonard. You have to. I mean if nothing else you still have a kiss to steal.”

She pauses to wipe a few tears from her eyes using her free hand, her other hand still tracing gentle patterns over his cast.

“Come back to me Crook, please.”

“Wow.”

She spins in her chair when she hears the voice in the doorway, her eyes landing on Ava, who has an unreadable expression on her face.

“Ava.” She doesn’t exactly gasp, but the exclamation is still surprised, and a little dreading.

Ava studies her a moment in response, her arms crossed as though she’s trying to make a judgment and isn’t even sure where to begin. Eventually she moves her gaze to Leonard and nods her head towards him.

“You never mentioned him.” She observes as she pushes herself off the doorframe and comes deeper into the room, stopping where Amaya had at the foot of the bed.

“Ava I-”

“Don’t.” She interrupts firmly, but her voice isn’t harsh, and when her gaze turns it’s soft.

“Don’t apologize.” She insists lightly, “When I first started working at The Bureau Rip had me read all your files, and you can’t read Mick’s without reading his.” She nods over to Len with that, before looking back to her. “We’re not right for each other Sara. But him?”

She smirks; an expression Sara was not anticipating seeing during this conversation. She then crosses over to stand behind her, eyes fixed on Len almost admiringly.

“He held down a dead man’s switch to save the world.” She looks down at her then, that knowing smirk still there. “His crazy matches yours.”

Sara finds herself laughing at that, quiet but real, and then she feels Ava’s hand on her shoulder giving a firm squeeze.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She says as she saunters back over to the door. “I am going to go back to the Time Bureau, ask Mona what she’s doing tonight, and proceed to spend the next five hours in a bar complaining to her about you and our coma patient here.”

Sara chuckles again at that.

“Ok, oh and Ava? Thanks.”

Ava nods, smiling just a little bit, just enough that Sara can tell that once she gets past a little frustration, her ex-girlfriend is going to be just fine.

“Just don’t let him get away this time.”

There have been times in which Laurel has thought about needing a drink and worried that she’s slipping, and then there have been times in which she has thought about needing a drink and she knows damn well that she isn’t slipping and it’s perfectly normal to need to take the edge off every once in awhile. Those are the situations in which she ends up bitter, because she knows she isn’t slipping but she will if she pours that drink.

Today is one of those days.

As if coming back from the dead and losing her dad weren’t enough she is in the same building as Damian Darhk, who may be reformed, so she can’t exactly kill him in retaliation for killing her. Oh, and if that weren’t enough to drive any normal person to drink, Barry has just finished catching her up on recent events and apparently her doppelganger from Earth 2 has been masquerading as her for a little over two years now. So she can’t even try and pick up her old life.

Yeah, if she ever needed a drink in her life, she needs it now.

But she isn’t about to add renewed alcoholism to her list of problems, so when she walks into the first seedy bar she can find in Central City she walks right up to the counter, sits herself on a stool, and orders a soda.

The bartender looks at her a little questioningly; apparently it’s evident just by her face that she’s been through a lot today. Then again, it could be the fact that it’s five a.m. Most people who drag themselves into a bar at this hour are in desperate need of whiskey.

Oh and she is, but instead all she has is her soda.

There aren’t many other people here. One guy at the other end of the bar, one worker cleaning up a few tables, and then one couple sitting at a table right by the door.

Except it isn’t a couple, it’s Mick Rory and that Amaya girl.

She doesn’t know them, not by anything more than reputation that is, but she knows they’re Sara’s friends and Amaya did just come back from the dead so screw it; at the very least she knows she won’t be getting the “everything will be ok” speech from Mick Rory.

She takes her soda and goes over to their table. Mick, sitting on the side of the booth that faces her, sees her coming and looks up, which prompts Amaya to do the same.

“Hi,” she says when she gets to the table. “Mind if I join?”

Mick gives Amaya a look, one that says it’s her decision, and she responds by scooting over in her seat.

“Of course not.”

Laurel smiles and says a small “thanks” as she plops down in the new space, not unaware of Mick’s quizzical eyes on her soda.

“You don’t want a drink after today?”

She hums with thought, almost amused by the question. She’s not sure anyone has ever not walked on eggshells around her when it comes to alcohol, not since her problems started anyway.

“I would love one, but I can’t.”

Mick hums, though his brow furrows skeptically as he briefly looks her up and down.

“Pregnant?”

She’s going to choose to blame it on the stress of the day that she does nothing more than gape at him for a few seconds, Amaya face palming next to her.

“Addict.” She eventually corrects, unimpressed.

He makes another one of those humming sounds at the back of his throat, seemingly unfazed by his mistake, and then he pushes his plate towards her.

“Here,” he offers, “If you can’t have booze, then fried crap is the next best thing.”

The fried crap in question is nothing more than what’s left of his French Fries, plus a half eaten burger that she is going to assume isn’t part of the offer.

“Thanks.” She says, taking one of the fries and swirling it around the puddle of ketchup on the edge of the plate. “So, long day for you two?”

Mick shrugs, but eyes Amaya with a look that has Laurel directing her attention over to the other woman.

“I walked around a corner and saw my doppelganger kissing my best friend.” She confesses and Laurel doesn’t quite know what to do with that, although to be fair Amaya doesn’t seem to either.

“I’m sorry.” She settles for saying, reaching over and taking another one of Mick’s fries. “If it makes you feel any better, my doppelganger took over my life after I died.”

Amaya blinks at her at first, which she more or less ignores by grabbing more fries, and then Mick snorts.

“Sucks to be you two.”

They both level him with very unimpressed glares at that, Laurel being the first to break it and look over to Amaya with a new curiosity.

“So what are you gonna do with your life now?”

“I don’t know.” She answers with a shrug, her face thoughtful. “I’ve already lived a life I don’t remember. Maybe I’ll go see my granddaughters and figure it out from there. You?”

“No idea,” Laurel answers, “My doppelganger took over my job, and according to Barry she really needed the second chance so I’m not going to take it away from her.”

She stops to take one of the last fries on the plate, really thinking for the first time about what she should do now.

“I’ll probably tell my friends in Star City that I’m alive but… I don’t know, maybe I’ll stay out here and crash with my mom until I figure things out.”

Yeah, that sounds like a semi-solid plan, and Amaya’s small smile and nod look like those of agreement so she’ll take it.

Yeah, this isn’t going to be easy, but she has a second chance at her life; she’ll figure it out how to do something with it.

It’s been a few days since… well, since everything. Things are still far from normal for everyone, and with their group Zari honestly doubts they will ever be normal, but they’re working at it. She’s made her choice about a time at least, as well as a job as a data analyst at the Time Bureau, and while she and Charlie haven’t exactly worked out what they are yet they have agreed to move back into Ray’s apartment together and share a room this time, as Ray and Nora will be in Ray’s room, so hopefully they’ll figure that out soon.

However they have a much more pressing matter to deal with first; the spoiled milk in Ray’s fridge.

She knew they should’ve finished cleaning before the road trip. Charlie had insisted that it would be fine, that they could let the problem worsen and then make Ray deal with it because he is the one who left the milk there to begin with. But no. Now it’s been in there long enough that even if they wanted to just sit on the couch and make Ray deal with it they couldn’t, the whole apartment stinks.

Nora’s magical force field is just barely holding up against the smell, and it’s getting weaker with Ray’s glove covered hands stuck through it. He has the jug now, so that’s something.

Or at least it is until he starts panicking.

“It’s disintegrating! It’s disintegrating!”

“What?!” Zari shouts, meanwhile Charlie all but dives over the sink and starts pushing at the window.

“I don’t know!” Ray shouts back, scrambling to get a better grip on the rancid milk, which is quite literally seeping through it’s packaging. “The plastic must have weakened after-hey!”

“Sorry!” Charlie says as she takes the milk and then, before anybody can stop her, chucks it out of the newly opened window.

The four of them crowd around the window the watch as the unstable jug plummets through the air and then explodes all over the parking lot.

Ray is aghast, and Nora looks a little worried about repercussions as well but she doesn’t say anything.

After looking at their faces, and the huge grin on Charlie’s face, Zari opts not to say anything either. Instead she just bends down and nudges Ray’s legs out of the way of the cabinet so she can search for the air freshener.

Sara groans as she arches her back, getting up and stretching, and then pacing. The office chair she’s been sitting in almost non-stop the past week is comfortable but she can only take so many hours of sitting.

She’s been trading off with Mick. He’ll be here in a few hours, hopefully. Lisa’s on her way from Gotham, they’ve spent the past few days debating on when to tell her they found Len and finally did it last night. They tried telling her to stay put and they’d let her know when he woke up, but no, she was adamant that she was coming as soon as possible.

Sara spares a glance to Leonard with that thought.

“You better wake up by the time your sister gets here.” She warns him, “She’s going to kill you if she came all the way out here for nothing.”

“From what Mick’s said, she’ll probably kill him anyway.”

Sara turns to the door with a smile at the sound of the voice, hurrying over to hug her own sister.

“Hey, how was Star City?”

Laurel shrugs as they pull apart from their embrace.

“Alright,” she says, “I think I gave the other Laurel a heart attack, and Ollie a stroke.”

Sara snorts a laugh at that, it being easy enough to imagine.

“But it was fun.” She continues, “I talked with the other Laurel and we agreed that since I want to stay in Central City we’re just going to go on with our lives. We got Felicity to hack some old hospital records so as far as the government is concerned she is my twin sister.”

“Your twin sister named Laurel?”

“Laurel is my middle name, it’s now her first name.”

Sara laughs at the defense, and while Laurel gives her a look of mock offence she’s laughing too.

“You guys really think that’s going to work?”

Laurel shrugs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Everyone close to us knows the truth, it’s not like we’re lying to our friends.”

They take a minute to just laugh at the situation, before Laurel finally nods her head over Sara’s shoulder.

“How’s he doing?”

At that Sara has to fight the urge to groan, swinging her leg as she turns around.

“He’s…” She stops herself short, and she can feel Laurel smirking behind her.

He’s watching her.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Laurel whispers in her ear, not that Sara is really listening. She just barely hears the door click shut after Laurel is gone, and then it’s just her and Leonard.

“Hey Assassin.” He says in a weak voice, coughing a bit as he sits himself up and so she hurries over to the sink to fill a glass of water for him. “What’d I miss?”

He takes the cup from her when she offers it, and she waits patiently for him to finish drinking before answering that question. She takes the cup when he’s done with it, taking her time as she puts it back on the counter to brace herself.

“Well,” she says when she knows she can’t stall anymore. “For one thing, three years.”

Never in her life did she think she would ever see Leonard Snart caught off guard, for a multitude of reasons, yet here they are. His eyes are wide, his lips parted with shock.

“The Waverider’s toast.” She tells him, deciding that she may as well come right out with the worst of it. “There are a lot more Legends now.”

She takes a step closer to his bed, hesitating only a moment before lowering herself to sit on the edge of the lumpy mattress.

“Lisa’s on the straight and narrow.” His eyes nearly bulge out of his head with that one, and while it is amusing it’s also a good indicator that she should dial back the new information she’s throwing at him.

Well, almost.

“And… I still love you.”

It shouldn’t really surprise her that he doesn’t react to that, at all, for a solid minute. She’s already rocked his world more than enough with telling him how much time has passed and Lisa, not to mention the fate of the Waverider and even just the allusion to how much the team has grown. At least she doesn’t have to tell him how many of them died over the past three years, though that will probably come later. She probably should’ve waited, you know, a few minutes at least before dropping this bomb on him.

But she can’t take it back now, and finally he’s leaning forward, shifting to be closer to her.

“Still?” He practically gulps, a sound that almost has her laughing.

She does smile, guilty and happy all at once, as she leans in a little closer too.

“I was too pissed about the gun to say it back then.”

He chuckles, and she isn’t sure which of them is leaning in now, maybe both, but no matter what she isn’t about to complain. Not when his lips are finally brushing against hers.

“And you’re sure this is going to work?”

Zari closes her eyes when she hears the question again. She’s never known Rip all that well, but if he was half as annoying as a Captain as he’s been throughout this process then she can understand why some of her friends who were Legends from the beginning complain about him so damn much.

“I was sure last night,” she tells him, just barely keeping her voice below the point of snapping. “I was sure last week, last month, and six months ago. It’ll work. Just give us a few minutes to finish it.”

“But-”

“Rip.” Ray interjects, he’s losing his patience with the former time Captain as well, which is truly a testament to how insufferable he’s been as of late. “It’ll work.”

“It better,” Jax throws in, coming in from the bathroom down the hall. “Do you guys have any idea how hard it was to find a portable hard drive strong enough to hold Gideon?”

“Considering she fried three laptops?” Zari asks, hands on her hips while Ray finishes putting together the final touches on the Android body that’s piece by piece been dominating their kitchen table for the last six months. “I can imagine.”

“I told you guys to just build her at S.T.A.R. Labs.” Sara pipes up from her seat on the couch, or Leonard’s lap to be more specific.

“Where?” Zari asks, “In Cisco’s workshop? He’d keep taking her parts.”

“Besides,” Charlie puts in, seated on the counter with a drink in her hand, watching their strange little family bicker. “Ava’s got rules about using a time courier to get around the present, and a commute from Star City to Central just to work on Gideon would’ve sucked.”

“Finally!” Rip exclaims in an oddly exasperated, and yet proud, tone. “A Legend who follows the rules!”

Zari snorts, she can’t help it, and while her girlfriend looks a little offended by the reaction she is also grinning wickedly.

“Rip, you have really got to get out of DC more often.” Leonard comments from the couch, just as the front door swings open and Mick and Amaya come marching in.

“Sorry we’re late, our plane was delayed.” Amaya excuses while Mick makes a b-line for the couch and collapses next to Leonard and Sara, exhaling in relief.

“I hate flying.” He announces, just in case they were wondering.

“You lived on a time ship for four years.” Nora says from her own seat in the armchair.

“Wasn’t as crowded.” Mick defends, which is fair enough.

“How are Mari and Kuasa?” Stein asks, approaching Amaya, who smiles back at him even through her tired demeanor.

“They’re good. Getting a little better with me being here.”

Well, that’s a good thing. When those two had first found out about Amaya being back but without her memories things had gotten off on a little bit of a rocky start. Kuasa got used to it faster, considering she’d met this version of her grandmother before in Salvation. Mari has been a little bit of a harder sell, apparently she was still a child when Amaya had died and even with the explanation of time travel she’s been having trouble accepting that her grandmother is here, she knowsher, but she doesn’t remember her.

“While that is very nice to hear Ms. Jiwe, can we please get on with the thing we all came here for?”

Seriously, she is going to kill Rip.

“Ray?” She asks, turning to her friend and hoping he’ll say he’s done.

Thankfully, he looks up at her with a chipper smile.

“All set on our front.”

Finally.

The android they’ve built for Gideon looks exactly like the human form she’d created for herself up in her matrix, if Zari does say so herself. Of course there are a few seams where the medal is fused together, but ideally those will all go away once they turn it to human flesh. The hardest part about building her, aside from actually finding time to do it while also working for the Time Bureau and cleaning up the remnants of Neron’s army, was the insides. She and Ray had to create an exact replica of human insides using machine, a process Charlie and Nora were surprisingly helpful with.

“Great.” Damian Darhk exclaims, standing up and clapping his hands as he crosses over to the kitchen table.

Everyone else who isn’t already in the kitchen follows him; crowding around the table the best they can while still leaving enough room for Ray, Nora, and Jax to get through.

“Are you sure you want to do this dad?” Nora asks, probably not for the first time. Hell, Zari’s asked him that same question herself.

They need a life force in order to turn the android human and animate Gideon, a powerful one, and considering Damian Darhk has extended his own life via stealing the life forces of others, well, he has some to spare.

“I’m sure,” he promises, even if he does seem a little nervous. “After all the horrible things I’ve done, this is the least I can do. Besides, there’s only a 50 % chance this will kill me. Other 50%...” He trails off that statement with a shrug, “We’ll just have to wait and see how many years I have left.”

Nora does not look comforted by those odds, none of them do, but no one protests against the plan. After a second Nora gives her father a quick hug and then that’s it; they’re all ready.

“Ok.” Zari says, barely remembering to breathe. “Here goes nothing.”

She takes the hard drive from Jax and then gently elevates Gideon’s head, brushing her hair to the side so she can plug in the hard drive at the port at the base of her neck. With how long Gideon’s been offline they know she isn’t likely to come back the second she’s plugged in, plus there’s always the chance the android isn’t as compatible with her as they think and it’ll fry. They need some sort of a sign before Nora and her father can go through with their part in all this.

“Gideon?” Zari finally brings herself to ask, the tension in the kitchen heavy. “Gideon can you hear me?”

No response. Not for a second, then two, and then three. She glances up at Ray, who is apparently already looking at her and worried. Maybe they messed up the circuitry, maybe the complex systems just don’t work, maybe-

“Where am I?”

Zari snaps her head back down. Gideon is looking up at her, confused as she can manage to express, and Zari is so relieved at all the tension leaving her body that she nearly drops the android’s head.

“Hey Gideon,” she all but laughs, “You’re in our apartment. It’s a long story, but first I need you to hold still for a minute.”

“Hold still? Ms. Tomaz I-” She stops herself, the words and their underlying meaning seeming to register. She starts to raise her arm, and while she marvels at it and Ray makes a quick explanation of what they’re up to Zari yanks out the hard drive and hands it back to Jax. They can’t have that still attached when they turn her human.

“Ok Gideon,” Ray finishes his short explanation, while lifting up his “magic conductor” as they’ve taken to calling it, from underneath the table. “Just do like Zari said, and hold still.”

“Got it.” Gideon confirms, not seeming to notice when Darhk takes her hand.

Darhk grabs on to the end of Ray’s conductor with his other hand, and just like that the high tension of the room is back.

“Ok.” Ray says, almost shaking, and then he turns the conductor on.

Both Darhk and Gideon seize up, and then Darhk’s head turns towards Gideon as though a magnet were pulling it. A light glow starts coming off his face, extending towards Gideon’s face and slowly erasing the fine lines of the metal. The two of them seize some more before finally the glow is gone and Darhk is staggering back, Gideon giving one final tremor before she collapses back on the table with a thud.

Ray and Nora follow Darhk back, holding their arms out to catch him even though he hasn’t fallen. He looks ok in Zari’s opinion, certainly alive, and Gideon…

Gideon’s eyes have snapped open and she’s sat herself up on the table, Rip reaching over her keep her from falling.

“Gideon?” He asks, his eyes almost wide as hers. She’s breathing heavy, looking around in all directions up until her eyes lock on his hand on her bare arm.

They’d dressed her in yoga pants a tank top, not really sure how all this was going to pan out, or what she would like to wear.

“I can feel that.” She says, eyes still on Rip’s hand even as she brings her own clumsily over and just barely brushes her fingers against it. “I… I can feel that!”

That’s when the cheers break out, and Rip helps her down from the table. She can’t really stand without holding on to him, they learn quickly, but as Ray opens the fridge and brings out the cake he’d insisted on making for today and she feels Charlie’s arms coming around her waist from behind, Zari lets out a laugh.

She’s a cynic; nothing will ever change that. But these people who would and have traveled to Hell and back for each other, shouting and laughing in an over cramped kitchen, she’s glad she found them.

“Hey!” John’s voice cuts through all the noise, and Zari isn’t blind to Des sneaking away from his boyfriend’s side with a piece of cake in hand. “Who took my cake?”