Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sara wakes with a jolt, breathing heavy. She surveys her surroundings, a habit that she can’t seem to stop. 

Ava, on Sara’s right, sleepily puts her hand on Sara’s forearm. “You okay?” 

“Ummm, yeah. I’m just going to– I’m going to get some water, I think.” Sara says shakingly and removes the covers.

“Nightmare?” Ava asks. 

“I’m fine,” Sara says absentmindedly heading towards the doors. 

Ava props herself on the bed. “That’s not what I asked,” Ava calls out as Sara leaves. Ava flops back down on the bed. She rolls over and checks the clock. 4:31 am. Right on time Ava thinks.

Sara’s nightmares have been getting more frequent recently. But she always wakes up at 4:30, it’s like clockwork. At first it started as once a week, but the frequency has increased over the last month and the severity of Sara’s actions aren’t getting better either. Ava has tried to let Sara handle it on her own, but Ava doesn’t think Sara’s doing anything to cope with the nightmares. I need to intervene soon, she’s not getting better.   

Sara stumbles out of their bedroom, shaking and breathing heavily. Breathing too heavily and too rapidly. She’s dizzy and nauseous and can’t seem to walk straight or do anything besides think about her nightmare. She puts her hand out to the wall and almost falls down. That wall was further than I thought it was. Sara thinks. I need to hide. I can’t have anyone see me like this. She tucks herself in her little corner she found since Day 1 on the Waverider. 

She leans her head back on the cold wall, which soothes her entire body and centers herself. I’m not going to cry. I’m not going to cry. I’m not going to cry. I just need to grab some water. Grab some water, Sara, just do it. Make sure no one sees you like this. She steadies herself taking a couple of big deep breaths. I can do this. She steels her face and walks out of her hiding spot determined to head to the Gallery. 

When she arrives, she spots Zari asleep at the dining table. She lets Zari continue sleeping. 

Zari’s sleep schedule is very inconsistent as well and she doesn’t like it when people wake her up as well. There’s been a handful of times Sara finds Zari sleeping like that. At first she would wake Zari up and tell her to sleep in her bed, but after Zari explains how she can’t go back to sleep after being woken up. So, her and the Legends just let her sleep wherever she is. 

Sara quietly goes and grabs a glass of water and downs it. She didn’t realize how thirsty she was. She wipes her mouth and figures she better get back to bed before Ava starts to worry about her. 

There’s been time Sara goes to the gym after an extremely bad nightmare, but while Behrad has been at peace with sleeping on the couch in the lab, he’s not too excited to hear loud noises in the room at odd hours of the night. And Sara hates “working out” with people watching her because it’s more of Sara losing herself and destroying her body in the process and she doesn’t want anyone to see that.

So, she begins to head back to her room. 

“Gideon, is Ava asleep?” She asks. 

“No, Captain Lance. She seems to be waiting for you.” 

Sara pauses. There’s been times that Ava goes to sleep or just begins to fall asleep if Sara returns to their bedroom. Other times Ava stays up with Sara until they start getting ready for the day.  

Sara just wanted Ava to be asleep this time. Just go in there, everything will be fine.  

Sara enters her room and Ava is staring at the empty space of the bed, where Sara’s supposed to be.

Ava hears the doors open and looks up at Sara. Ava’s eyes look soft and loving with maybe just a little too much concern or compassion. Sara walks over to the bed and gently slides under the covers. She notices the sheets are damp, probably from her sweat. She starts staring at the ceiling, too afraid to do anything. Ava begins to snuggle into Sara’s side, nestling her head between Sara’s neck, Ava’s arm tucked under her own chin. 

Both of their hearts are beating fast. Both are afraid to move or say the wrong thing. 

Ava starts, “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t lie to each other?” 

Sara pauses, that wasn’t what she was expecting. 

Ava continues, “when you said ‘you were fine’ before running out of here.” 

“We did. We did agree.” Sara starts softly combing through Ava’s hair. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Not really.” 

“I know you haven’t been sleeping well the past month. Has it been the same nightmare?”

“Yeah, it is. Back from my league days.” 

“Who is it? From your nightmare?”

Ava is getting more bold, Sara thinks. Ava never asks these direct questions. They either skirt around it or another topic comes up. How can Sara tell Ava about the Nightmare details? 

“Some guy or something, I really don’t know. Never got their name.” Sara says vaguely

Sara asks Ava a question thinking of another topic.

Chapter Text

“Captains,” Gideon says. Before Gideon can respond again, the bed shakes and shifts, throwing Sara off the bed while Ava takes Sara's spot. Sara hits the back of her head against the night table before slamming on the ground. Ava catches herself against the edge of the bed and looks over the edge at Sara. “A Level 5 Timequake just occurred, location Star City, 2018. I recommend assembling the entire team now.” Gideon says. 

“Ya think,” Ava and Sara retort together. 

“Gideon, call everyone to the bridge now,” Sara commands. 

“And tell them it’s urgent,” Ava adds. 

Sara deadpans Ava. “You really think telling the Legends that it's urgent they’ll get there in a timely manner.” 

“Yes,” Ava says confidently. “They felt the same thing we just felt. They’ll get there.”

Sara and Ava start to get dressed. “I bet it’ll take 45 minutes to get all Legends to the bridge.”

“What?! No 20, 25 max.” 

“You really want to take that bet, babe?” 

Ava hesitates. 

“I’ve been on this ship for seven years. I’ve seen it all. It will take them at least 45 minutes.” 

“You just got thrown off a bed, Sara. I think the others will come.” 

“Whatcha wager?” 

“Whoever loses has to top first.” 

“Oh, you’ll love to win that one, wouldn’t you?” Sara says, eyeing Ava up and down. 

Ava tugs on a shirt. “Why did you think I bet on that?”

Sara pulls on a jacket and Ava is right by her side grabbing Sara’s hand. Sara turns and gives Ava a quick kiss. 

“Gideon,” Sara says facing the door, “start the timer.” And they strut towards the bridge. 

When they arrive at the Bridge, there’s no one in sight. The ship rumbles a little. 

“Looks like no one came running to the Bridge. But,” Ava inhales. “I’m not worried, there’s still plenty of time.” 

“Plenty of time,” Sara echoes. 

They stand at the console in silence for a few minutes. “So,” Sara starts again. “I’m thinking you’ll start with a strap-on, ooh, and one of those that vibrates.” Sara licks the bottom of her lip.  

“And I’m thinking you haven’t won yet. Slow down there.” 

Sara stares straight into Ava's eyes. “Gideon, what’s the time?” 

“It has been seven minutes and 16 seconds since you asked me to start a timer.”

Sara quirks an eyebrow. “I bet the first person will show up after ten minutes.” 

“Well, technically, we were here first.”

“We don’t count,” she says seductively, getting closer. 

“Fine,” Ava caves, “Less than ten minutes then the loser plans a fancy dinner before.” 

“Well played, Sharpe.” Sara leans in for a kiss, biting Ava’s lower lip. Ava’s hand goes to cup Sara’s cheek. Sara deepens the kiss, and Ava reciprocates. Sara's hand goes to Ava’s head, tugging slightly. Ava moans a little, and Sara soaks it right up. She lets her tongue edge the bottom of her lips when she pulls away. 

“I think we have a winner,” she whispers against Ava. Ava gives Sara the face, never knowing how Sara can do that. As if on cue, the doors open on one side. Zari walks in casually holding two donuts. 

Zari looks around. “Wait, am I the first one here?” Zari asks. 

“Yep, looks like Zari is the only one that takes things seriously.” Sara says to Ava, while rubbing her head.

“I was thrown out of my bed onto the floor, so I thought I would make an appearance, and it sounded urgent. Donut?” Zari asks. 

“No Zari, I don’t want a donut,” Ava says dismissively. “Gideon, what time did Zari come in?” 

“Miss Tomaz arrived through the doors at exactly nine minutes and 53 seconds.” 

 Ava and Sara exchange looks. 

“You’re fucking with me,” Sara says. 

Ava grins and leans into Sara's ear. “I like Chardonnay with Fettuccine Alfredo, and don’t forget the chicken.” Her hot breath makes Sara shiver.

“I thought I was the one who was supposed to plan it.” 

Ava contemplates this, “I know, but I’m just helping you out. You,” she points at Sara, “do not know how to plan anything or combine anything in a cohesive manner.” 

The ship rumbles again. 

Zari looks at Sara, then Ava, with a very confused look. 

“We betted each other what time the first person was going to show,” Sara explained. 

“And don’t forget the time of the last person too.” Ava reminded. 

“Shh, she doesn’t need to know that part.” 

“We don’t need to tell what the bet was for,” Ava says. Sara does a high-pitched giggle. 

“And I won’t ask,” Zari says, shoving the rest of the first donut in her mouth. “Hoowww wwooonngg?” Zari asks with her head tilted up to keep the donut in her mouth

“45 minutes,” Ava says. “But now it's 30 minutes.” 

“Actually, 27 minutes and 25 seconds.” Gideon responds, pulling up a timer. 

Ava starts to panic slightly. Pressing on her comms and talking in a stern voice. “Legends, you have 20 minutes to get ready and get in the brig now!” 

“Wow, Ava! We might need to put in a rule for how many times to use the comms. And also they have 27 minutes and 6 seconds.” 

“They have 20 minutes,” Ava insists. 

Sara scrunches up her face. “You can only use the comms one more time.” 

“What! That wasn’t the rule. I can do whatever I want.”

“One. More. Time.” Sara says. 

“Three,” Ava holds her head high. 

“I know what you’re doing, one.” 

“Three,” Ava says sternly.

Sara conceived, “Fine, two, but only cause I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Ava says, smiling.  

Just then, Astra walks in. “I’m here. I’m here.” Astra says. “Ya know, you can only look this good in 25 minutes with magic.”

The ship rumbles. 

“But you always look good,” Zari comments. 

“Yeah, cause of magic,” Astra says. 

“Astra, or Zari, have you seen anyone else?” Ava asks, pleading a little.

“I saw Behrad in the Gallery when I was getting my donuts.” Zari says. 

“I peeked into Spooner’s room, and she was awake. Then I went by the bathroom and the shower was running.” 

Sara smirked. 

“Why was the shower running?” Ava asks. 

“Cause someone’s taking a shower? I thought you were smarter than this?” Astra asks. 

“We just had a Level 5 Timequake and someone is taking a shower?” Ava says in disbelief. 

Nate comes running into Bridge and hunches over, breathing heavily. “Am I late?” He asks, sucking in breaths. “I think I’m late.” 

“Nope, good on time. Unlike the rest.” Ava says

Sara notices Nate's hair. “When did you have time to get that much volume in your hair?” Sara asks, knowing the answer. 

“I took a shower and put some product in it.” 

“You were the one in the shower,” Ava says, accusingly. 

“Ummm, yeah. You can’t get this nice hair without taking a shower.” 

“Okay, we are at the 15-minute mark with five people missing. I’m using one of my passes.” Ava presses on her comms again. “Team meeting immediately. I am not kidding around. Spooner, I’ll take your gun privileges away. Behard, your weed. Gary, just get your ass here. Mick, your beer. And John just get your ass here as well.” 

“Damn babe, now I really need to win. I like this side of you.” Sara’s mouth curving into a coy smile. 

“Now I really know what the bet is.” Zari says, regrettably, hanging her head low. 

“Bet? What bet?” Nate asks. Astra looks confused as well. 

“Sara and Ava bet sex, and dinner,” Zari says defeatedly, “on how long it will take to start a Legends meeting. Sara lost on dinner. And Ava’s trying her best for sex.” 

Sara and Ava look sheepishly. 

“So, you bet our time to get so you guys could get dinner and a show,” Nate says.

“Yep,” Zari responds for them. 

The ship rumbles. 

Ava turns to Sara, changing the subject. “You’ve been captain for seven years. How can it take over 20 minutes to assemble the team?” Ava asks pleadingly 

“Well we would have probably started by now. But I thought we could wait a few extra minutes.” Sara says. “And besides, technically I’ve only been captain for six.” 

“How long did it take for the OG Legends to do team meetings?” Zari asks. 

“Oh wow, the OG Legends,” Sara thinks, “Well…” Sara laughs. “Typically, we would actually meet together in the gallery in like 15 minutes. Argue, try to kill each other. Go our separate ways. Then it would take 30 minutes for everyone to cool down and walk to the brig with Rip yelling at us. But then, when we got there, we would try to kill each other again. Then Rip had to settle us down. Take a few to the medbay–”

“Wait, you guys needed to go to the medbay?” Astra asks, confusion evident. 

“Yeah, there were a couple of instances: like when Carter hit Ray in the chest with his hammer, ooh, or when Snart froze Ray’s finger.” 

“Why does this seem like a beat up on Ray time?” Zari asks. 

“Well, because Ray was more civilized,” Nate coughs, “a lot more civilized than the rest of us, and would try to intervene and force us to get along. Then, the others didn’t like that and would take their frustrations out on Ray.”

“So, when did you actually have all of your members there?” Ava asks determined to get to the bottom. 

“Well, like I said, we were all never there, but if we were… three hours minimum.” Everyone’s draws drop. "Happened like five times.”

“I would have paid to see that.” Spooner says. 

Astra looks confused. “You did! Remember when we entered Gideon’s mainframe. And it was nothing spectacular,” Astra says. 

“Oh yeah, we did. That was.. Interesting. I never want to go back there again.” 

“So, I guess that means we are less chaotic.” Nate concludes.

“Well, we’ve taken fewer trips to the medbay, so yeah, it's less chaotic,” Sara says. 

“Actually Captain Lance,” Gideon intervened, “it would take the OG Legends an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes.” 

“Gideon, how long does it take us to get ready now?” Nate asks. 

“Approximately one hour and 5 minutes,” Gideon responds. 

Sara gives Ava a cheeky smile. Ava rolls her eyes and smiles at Sara. 

“At least no one has tried to kill each other.” Zari notices. 

The timer has 5 minutes left. Ava presses her comms and in an angry voice she says, “Guy’s you have 5 minutes to get here now.”

“Babe, you know John’s not wearing his comms right?” Sara says. 

“Son of a …” Ava snaps. 

The doors open and Spooner walks in holding up her gun. “Sorry guys, I needed time to clean my gun.” She said, showing off her gun. 

Ava sighs and holds the bridge of her nose. “We don’t even know what the mission is yet.” 

“Any chance you saw the others, Spooner?” Sara asks. 

“I think I saw Gary and Behrad.”

“You didn’t bring them?” Ava asks. 

“No, those two seem very heated in an argument. Something about bathroom privileges.”

“I’m about to take everyone’s bathroom privileges away,” Ava says. 

“You think taking away the only bathroom we have with ten people living on a ship is the solution?”

Ava rolls her eyes and turns her head toward the timer. “And time’s up.” 

“Gideon,” Sara asks while smirking, “who is all awake and on board the ship?”

“Mr. Green is currently running to the Bridge from the restroom. Mr. Tarazi is using the restroom. Mr. Rory has slept through the entire ordeal. And Mr. Constantine is at his house presumably without a comm.” 

The ship rumbles. 

“Okay,” Sara says, “Zari, go grab a beer, wake Mick up, and drag him here. And Astra and Spooner go wake up John.” 

Zari shoves the rest of her second donut in her mouth and heads to the gallery. Astra and Spooner grab a time courier and teleport to John’s place. 

Ava’s eyes glare at Sara. “What are you doing?” Ava asks. 

“Leading and getting the team together. What else?” Sara responds, shrugging.

“Why couldn’t you have done that 45 or even 15 minutes ago?” 

“Well 15 minutes ago we still had five people missing. And secondly, I wanted to win.” Sara says while shrugging. “Couldn’t help the enemy.” 

Chapter Text

10 minutes later, the whole team is there standing around the console. Zari has another donut in her hand. Mick is nursing a beer on the steps of the parlour and John is half asleep on the other side of the steps. 

“Gideon,” Sara says, “show us what you got.” 

“There is a major time aberration in Star City, 2018, which is what caused a Level 15 Timequake.”

“Wait Gideon,” Sara interrupts, “there’s only 10 levels.” 

“I understand, but after thinking about it, Level 10 did not do it justice, considering the potential end of the world.” 

Astra and Spooner's jaws drop.

The newbies. Sara thinks. “Please continue.” 

“As I was saying, going through Time Bureau records, it states that Rip Hunter was murdered mysteriously on March 9, 2018, in his office at the Star City Time Bureau,” Gideon says while displaying photos of Rip. Rip’s neck is sliced open with one laceration. Very little blood is spilled, and nothing is disturbed in his office.

Everyone is frozen. Sara’s grips tighten.

“How did Rip die?” Astra asks. 

“Autopsy reports show his carotid artery was slit very precisely with a knife. Nothing in Rip’s office was disturbed, and it looks like Rip did not fight back.”

Spooner is the first to speak, “I’m confused. Why does this man’s death affect the timeline this badly? I would think someone bigger than a dead man would trigger the end of the world.” 

“It’s Rip Hunter,” Ava says. 

“Who’s Rip Hunter again?” Spooner asks. 

“He was the founder of the Time Bureau,” Ava explains.

“And from the year 2166.” Sara continues, “he used to be a Time Master, someone whose duty was to protect the timeline. It was a corrupt organization that we blew up 6 years ago. After that, we assumed the responsibility of protecting the timeline. He is an integral man to the timeline.” Sara pauses. “I don’t, I don’t get it, Gideon. How can Rip die?” 

“In the original timeline, Rip died on April 9, 2018, he used the time drive to…”

“Save our lives so we could get away and come up with a new plan to defeat Malice.” 

“Correct, in the new timeline, Rip died on March 9, 2018. 5 weeks before he was supposed to die. Without Rip to save you guys in April, Malice succeeds in his plan to destroy the world and time while leaving humanity to suffer endurable pain for the rest of time. It's not Rip’s death, but what he was supposed to accomplish by dying, since it was Rip’s idea to use the Time Drive.”

“Wow! Way to lay it on thick,” Nate says. 

“It should be noted that due to the severity of Rip dying, if not fixed in the next 48 hours, the timeline will cement. It should also be noted that because of the catastrophic damage to the timeline, I am unable to see past this event and into the future.” 

“Any good news, Gideon?” Astra asks. 

“I’m afraid not,” Gideon responds. 

“Okay, but wait Gideon, all we have to do is stop Rip from dying?” Sara asks. 

“That is correct. And hopefully find the person who murdered Rip.” Gideon says.  

“Okay, see easy-peasy lemon squeezy. We just can’t let Rip die.” Nate says. 

“Easier said than done,” Ava says. 

“Oh, come on Ava, give us the benefit of the doubt,” Zari says. 

“It will be, because we have to do this. We have to save Rip, and we have to save time. Or we have to save Rip until he has to die, again.” Sara says.

Silence engulfs the rooms. Everyone’s staring at each other, not knowing the next move. 

“Okay, look guys, I know this is Rip. And I know some of us were very close to Rip,” she says, looking at Gary and Ava, “but we have a job to do. And that includes saving Rip in order to let him die. And we have to do that in that order. No saving Rip or looking for time loops, we have to do this flawlessly. We cannot mess this up, I know I say that all the time, and I know we goof up a lot of times, but the timeline has to stay intact. We are going into a very sensitive time and area, and one wrong move could mean another disaster on our hands that we cannot deal with. Does everyone understand this?” 

The group nods in agreement. 

“Wait, Gideon, you said we had 48 hours to complete this?” Ava asks. 

“Well, 46 hours and 45 minutes. Major time anomalies like this one will cement faster. It is well advised to complete the mission in 46 hours and 45 minutes.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Nate says, “I mean, what’s our average to complete a mission?” 

“Average is 40 hours and 38 minutes.”

“Still under,” Spooner comments. 

“Gideon, if you're so advanced, why don’t you give us useful knowledge when the time is right?” Astra asks.

“Could have saved me a lot of time and energy,” Ava complains. 

“You never asked?” Gideon replies. Ava throws her hands up. 

“Okay, Astra, Behrad, and Spooner, we are going to be heavily relying on you guys for support here. The rest of us have to keep a minimal distance from this; we cannot allow ourselves to see our past selves or the team.”

“Why?” Astra asks. 

“Because that could create a paradox, another anachronism and/or another timequake all while dealing with this problem,” Zari says. 

“Z’s right, the last time we interacted with our past selves, we created a time-storm that almost killed us. Sara said. 

“Well, technically, we also tried to time-jump, which caused the time-storm,” Nate reminded her. Sara tilted her head in acknowledgement. 

Mick stands up. “I’ve heard enough of this crap. Sounds like I can’t be a part of this in any way. Good luck saving and killing the Englishman. He always gave me a headache.” And with that, Mick walks out of the Bridge. 

“Okay, Gideon,” Ava says, “walk us through the events that were happening in 2018 so we can remember what we are getting ourselves into.” 

And Gideon does explain how Zari just joined the team. Damien and Nora Darhk were trying to find the Zambesi totems (Gideon reminded how Nora was still working for her father). They were about to find the death totem. At this moment, the Legends are in possession of the Spirit, Wind, Fire, and Earth totems. Kuasa is in possession of the Water totem and is working for the Darhk’s. And the race against trying to stop anachronisms so that Malice wouldn’t break free of his cage. Lastly, she talked about Rip’s troubles with the Time Bureau, Amaya's presence, and the “new” relationship of Sara and Ava.

“Good. Gideon, bring up the Star City Clock Tower.” Gideon does, “This will be our first clue as to why Rip may have died.” Sara says. 

“What does an old clock tower have to do with this?” Astra asks. 

Sara hesitates and closes her eyes. “This is a League of Assassins safehouse,” she opened her eyes, “located in Star City. I used it a lot when I was in the League. The laceration on Rip’s neck was done by a trained assassin, using League technique. This is where we start.” 

Ava looks at Sara with worried eyes. 

“And with that, meet in the cargo bay in 15 minutes, dressed and ready. Nate, Gary, and Zari stay on the ship and QB from here. And the rest of us will see what we can find. Clear?”

Everyone nods. 

“Alright get going.” 

Chapter Text

Ava and Sara are in their bedroom getting ready. 

“You really just let Mick walk out of there?” Ava asked. 

“He was right, ya know. None of us should be doing this anyway. It’s better if he stays on the ship. Besides, this was a hard time for Mick.” Sara says. 

“What do you mean?” 

Sara pauses and takes a deep breath, looking at the ground. “Look, when the Legion of Doom took over and used the Spear of Destiny to create an alternate universe, we were all trapped there. And as we were reclaiming our memories, some of us died trying to fix time, but we didn’t die either. That’s a long story in itself. But Mick always had a soft spot for Amaya, and he saw her get frozen by Snart, his old partner. He obviously never talked about it, but he drank more and was withdrawn more than usual after that, and I think seeing Amaya die really impacted him. And I guess potentially seeing Amaya again,” Sara looks up at Ava, “would have just brought up a lot of things.”

“You mean feelings?” Ava asked.

“Yeah, feelings.”  

“And what about your feelings?”

“About?” 

“The time period… the death totem… the League of Assassins,” Ava asked? 

Sara looks down at the mention of the League. “Look, we need to get going.” Sara heads for the door and Ava follows from the opposite side, grabbing Sara’s arm before she can walk out. Sara and Ava make eye contact, daring the other to speak first. 

“I can’t,” Sara whispers. Ava looks into those beautiful blue eyes clouded by darkness and pain. She can see the worry written all over Sara’s face, the guilt. 

“Tell me what you need?” Ava whispers. 

To everything to stop. Sara thinks. “I need this mission to go as smoothly as it can. We can not mess this up. I don’t think the universe can take another hit like that.” 

“I know, babe. The Legends always find a way, and we will find a way this time too.” 

“Okay,” Sara says. She leans into Ava for a kiss, and they head for the cargo bay. 

Astra and Spooner head to the Gallery to eat a quick breakfast. Astra grabs French toast, and Spooner eats grits.  

“So I’m a little lost,” Astra says. 

“I’m a lot lost, so guess we’re in the same boat,” Spooner says. 

“We’re in a drowning boat. Why did we need to go to the Clock Tower? I figured we just show up when Rip was about to die and just save him.” 

“That’s not how it works, newbies.” Constantine strolls into the Gallery. 

Astra and Spooner are startled by Constantine's appearance. 

“You can’t just show up when a person is about to die. Our work is to prevent the death, not lead it up to their doorstep. We need to find out who’s gonna kill him and stop him before he’s even close to the big loof.” Constantine explains. 

“But why does Sara believe we need to look in the Clock Tower?” Astra asks. 

“Were you guys even in the conversation?” Constantine asks. 

“I got lost after Rip dying. But, I did understand the part where I play a key role in this, but I. Don’t. Know. How.” Spooner says, thinking. 

“Rip died by a League of Assassins hand–.” 

“Wait, what is the League of Assassins?” Astra interrupts. 

“And don’t say it’s a League made up of Assassins,” Spooner adds in. 

“I’m sorry, luvs. But it’s what it is. A group of highly trained, nearly unkillable assassins whose only job is to kill and to serve the Demon’s Head.” 

“And Sara knows this because…?” Spooner asks. 

“Because she was a part of it. And died for it. Then was resurrected and I, yours truly, put her soul back in her body.” 

“Wait, Sara has already died?” Spooner asks. 

“That woman has died more times than you can count on two hands,” Constantine says. 

“And she was a part of the League of Assassins?” Astra asks. 

“Yup. That’s where she learned to fight.”

“Huh.” Spooner grunts. 

“Well I best let you two finish up. Captains don’t like tardiness.” 

Spooner and Astra get up and dump their bowls in the sink and head for the Cargo Bay. 

Constantine walks out of the Gallery and Nate comes running towards Constantine. 

“Where are you off to, Squire?” Constantine asks. 

Nate holds up a root. “I need you to do your magic and make more of these?” 

“And why should I?”

“Because you owe me.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know what, but you owe me.” 

“Fine, what even is it?” 

“Lyago root.” 

Constantine takes it in his hands and whispers a few words. He holds it out for Nate, but there’s still only one root. 

“It didn’t work,” Constantine said. 

“Okay?” Nate said. “Can you make it work?”

“I already tried, and nothing happened. Your favor is owed.” 

John walks off, leaving a furious Nate. 

“Damn it, John,” Nate calls out. 

In the cargo bay, Sara and Ava suit up. Ava grabs a couple of guns and stash them one on her hip and another strapped to her ankle. Sara grabs her batons, a sidearm, and stores more knives on her body. 

Astra and Spooner come stumbling down the stairs. 

“Read for duty, Captains,” Spooner says slurring, saluting to Sara and Ava sloppily. Then she runs into some boxes on her side. 

Astra just starts cackling up. “You... You... You just fell.” Then she stops. “Oh my god. I can feel my heartbeat.” She puts her hand to her chest. 

“Oh my god, me too!” Spooner says. They look at each other, then start laughing again. 

“Who’s there!” Spooner yells and turns around facing the cargo bay stairs and raising her gun. Her aim is way off, aiming for the wall to the right of the doorway. 

 The motion startles Astra into falling down.

 Sara and Ava are just gawking at the sight before them. 

 Sara is the first to speak. “What the hell is going on?!” 

 Spooner turns back, lowering her gun. 

 “I don’t know,” Spooner says. 

“We were just walking to the Cargo Bay from the Gallery,” Astra explains. 

Suddenly, there’s a loud thud from the top of the staircase, and in comes Constantine, slowly making his way down. He misplaces his foot and he comes crashing down the stairs landing on his butt.

“John, what did you do?” Ava asks, clearly not in the mood for his antics. 

“Well nothing,” John says. 

Then Behrad follows behind. “Duuuude, why are you on the floor? That thing's nasty. I mean if you think about all of the germs on the bottom of our shoes. And since you're by the cargo bay doors, that’s dirt from the outside. Who knows what we're tracking in every single time period? And like we don’t clean in here or anywhere really.”

“At least someone’s normal,” Sara comments. Ava just gives Sara a side glare. 

“Gideon,” Ava says, “what is going on?”

“It seems like everyone is displaying signs of ingesting the Zambesi herb, Lyoga Root, without having come into contact with the substance.” 

“What the hell is a Lyoga Root,” Ava asks Sara. 

“That makes so much more sense, Gideon,” Sara comments. “The Lyoga root is a hallucinogen used for spiritual healing. If ingested it can connect people with their totems more and have them travel to the spirit world and visit their ancestors.”

“Okay, who had access to the Lyoga Root?” Ava asks. 

“Mr. Heywood asked Mr. Constantine to duplicate the Lyoga Root; however, Mr. Constantine’s efforts proved fruitless. I fear instead of duplicating the Lyoga Root, Mr. Constantine dispersed the Lyoga Root as an airborne substance that the crew has inhaled.” 

“Okay, but why aren’t Sara and I affected by it?” Ava asks. 

“Nor is Mr. Green showing side effects. My hypothesis is due to Gary’s alien biology, but for yourself and Captain Lance, my only assumption is because you guys are clones and Sara’s alien biology.” 

“So.. you're, saying. my, entire, team. is high?” Sara asks star-strucked.

“That is correct,” Gideon says. 

“So much for them not being involved.” Ava comments. 

“Where is Gary?” Sara asks. 

“He’s in the lab currently.” 

“Well, get him here and start filtering the air,” Sara says. 

“What are we going to do?” Ava asks. 

“I think I can feel color,” Spooner says while rubbing one of the containers. Astra and Constantine join her. 

“Well we still need to save history, I guess it’s just going to be the two of us,” Sara says. 

“But, can we do it?” Ava asks.

“This might actually go smoother than with the whole team. This was always supposed to be a low interference kind of mission. We can do this.” Sara says confidently. 

Gary walks down the stairs. “Gideon says you needed me?”

“Yes, Sara says, “the whole team besides us three have inhaled a substance. I need you to care for the rest of the team while Ava and I deal with the anachronism.”

“You mean the entire team?” Gary says, panicked.

“Look, just get everyone some water and Nate and Behrad their fidget spinner or something. You’ll do fine. Just don’t eat anyone. No matter how annoying they get. Now,” Sara turns to Ava, “we need to get going. We’re losing daylight.”

“But it’s night out,” Gary comments while hesitating. 

Sara rolls her eyes, turning around. “Gideon, open the cargo doors.” 

“I’m sorry, but I can not do that,” Gideon responds. 

“Umm why?” Ava asks. 

“If I open the doors now, the air containing the Lyoga Root will escape and the air can only be cleaned by my filtering system.” 

“Umm I think the population can handle getting a little high?” Ava says. 

“I highly discourage this course of action.” 

“What about the Jumpship? Can you clean the Jumpship in a short amount of time?” Sara asks. 

“Affirmative. The Jumpship will be decontaminated upon your arrival to it.”

“Great, let’s go to the Jumpship. Oh, and Gideon, put the ship on lockdown mode after Ava and I leave. Do not let the Legends do anything, no time travel, no couriers traveling to someplace, no interacting with anyone while they are high.” Sara says. 

“Affirmative.” Gideon says. 

Chapter Text

 Sara and Ava hold hands, swinging them around a little. They get to the Jumpship. Sara goes in first, stumbling on the steps to the Jumpship; she then sits in the pilot’s seat. Ava follows, sitting in the passenger seat closest to Sara. 

 “We’ll sit the Jumpship on the outskirts of Star City.” 

 “Okay, babe,” Ava says. Sara gets them off the Waverider and turns on autopilot. She spins around in her chair, facing Ava, and a wave of nausea hits Sara. 

 “Do you think Gary will be okay?” Ava asks. Sara is a little startled. She thought Ava would want to talk about feelings or the League. 

 “Umm,” Sara says slowly, “I think Gary can manage. He’s always managed to take care of things in our absence.”

 “You mean worry and fret about it.” 

 “That too. But, hey, we put the Waverider on lockdown. So the only trouble is if they cause any damage to the ship. And we can fix that.” 

 “What if they break it beyond repair, or they make it so we can’t get back on?” Ava asks. 

Sara just tilts her head and stares at Ava. 

“You’re right, I shouldn't worry. Speaking of worry…” Ava looks at Sara. 

 “Look,” Sara had been thinking this for a while now, “when we encounter the League, I don’t want you fighting them. Just let me handle them. There shouldn’t be many of them, and I can take care of them on my own.” 

 “What! Sara, that’s ridiculous. I can handle myself out in the field.” 

 “I know you can, babe. But they are different. They are trained in combat. Most people we fight are.. thugs.” 

 “Sara, I have training in combat.”

 “It’s not the same!” Sara demanded. She takes a deep breath. “League training and training for the Bureau are not the same thing. In the League you spend hours and hours on end training and fighting. The people we are about to face could have years of training.” 

 “Okay, but we spar? And when we first met, we fought on the Waverider. I held my own; it came out to a tie.” 

 Sara looks down, unable to make eye contact with Ava. 

 “Unless,” Ava continues, “we weren’t really fighting? Have you ever actually fought me, all out?” 

Sara still doesn’t look at Ava. “Look, Ava, I did two and a half tours totaling to eight years of training with the League. I was a fully trained assassin after year 1 because of how much I excelled.” Sara takes a breath. “When we fought the first time, it was just to distract you from coming after my team. I needed to buy them time in order to complete the mission without you hovering over them.” Sara looks at Ava. “But, you are an amazing fighter. You have improved so much over the past years. And your technique is incredible and very unique. But, right now you’re going to have to trust me. I can handle them. I don’t want you wrapped up in this.” 

Ava is still frozen. I’m not her equal. “Okay, I trust you.” But secretly, Ava wanted to prove her wrong. Prove that she could handle herself. 

I am trained in combat. I’ve fought with Sara for years, but apparently, she didn’t go all out. I guess I don’t win that often. But, usually when we spar no one actually wins. We just spar until we’re both tired or our times up. But, I can hold my own in a fight. I’m literally programmed to fight, I guess. But then again, I went against protocol and fell in love too. 

The Jumpship lands with a soft thud. 

“We’re here,” Sara whispers. 

Ava and Sara exit the Jumpship. Ava’s mind is still whirring. Sara grasps Ava's hands and plants a kiss on them. Ava's thumb starts massaging Sara’s hands. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if we hold hands in town,” Ava says. “We can’t afford any delays.” 

“I agree,” Sara says while stopping, letting Ava stand in front of her. “Just wanted to get as many kisses as I could.” Sara leans in, and Ava reciprocates. Ava’s hand cups her cheek, and Sara’s hand goes to Ava’s hair. Sara's tongue lightly runs the bottom of Ava’s lips. They break apart, their foreheads still touching. 

“I love you,” Sara whispers. 

“I love you too,” Ava whispers back. They stand there like that. Neither one wanting to leave each other’s presence. Finally, Ava backs up. Sara allows it, and they begin walking towards the city. 

Chapter Text

Oh, no. They leave me here to tend to seven Legends, BY MYSELF. Gary thinks.  I can’t even take care of myself half the time. Ohh I least I don’t have to write another report. Those reports were awful, and I always got yelled at too. Gary is filling glasses of water for everyone with the help of Gideon. And Ava and Sara’s suggestions were not helpful. He starts doing what they asked, but eventually, he’s going to need to come up with things on his own. He finishes filling up seven waters, then runs to grab the fidget spinner. As he’s walking back in the Gallery, Mick stumbles in too. 

“What are you doing time dweeb?” Mick grunts. 

“I'm getting water for the Legends.”

Mick walks to the Food Fabricator and grabs a six pack. 

“I don’t think drinking is in your best interest.” 

“Considering I’m seeing people I don’t want to see, I think I’ll take the six pack,” Mick says as he walks out. 

“Umm…” Gary follows, “Who are you seeing?” Gary inquires. 

“None of your business,” Mick grunts. 

Gary follows Mick all the way to his quarters. “Maybe if you talk about it?” Gary says. Mick walks in, but the doors shut in Gary’s face. “Okay,” Gary yells, “maybe when I come back.” 

“Don’t come back!” Mick yells. 

In Mick’s room, he stares at Snart and Amaya. “He didn’t leave us, what a gentleman,” Snart said. 

“Why are you here! I thought you would leave when I left.” Mick lashed out. 

“Mick,” Amaya said thoughtfully, “you're still high–”

“So, I can’t get any peace and quiet.” 

“Nope, not when I’m around,” Snart said. 

“Why are you here?” Mick asks. 

“Why am I here? Well, there’s some unfinished business, and apparently I’m caught in the middle.” Snart looks between Mick and Amaya. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mick gets in Snart's face. 

“Oh, you do. There are things you need to figure out,” Snart says right back. “Just admit it, you liked Amaya.”

“No,” Mick growls, “Pretty did, he liked her.”

“But you did too,” Snart says. “You cared for her.” 

“I couldn’t,” Mick said, looking at Amaya. “You always had a special place, but I.. I..  couldn’t.” 

“I know, Mick,” Amaya said. 

“You believed I was more than the animal inside. I thought I proved that to you.” 

“You did,” Amaya said

“Then why are you here?” Mick said. 

“I don’t know,” Amaya said. 

Chapter Text

After a while, Ava pipes up. “What did you mean when you were talking about the Clock Tower?”

“I don’t know what you mean, it’s a Clock Tower that was abandoned, it was one of the safehouses the League set up. There’s others in Star City, but this one seemed like the best area because it’s close to the Time Bureau.” Sara says, evading what Ava really wants to know. 

“Okay,” Ava says, “but what did you mean when you said you used it.” 

Sara sighs. “When I was in the League, doing work in Star City, I was given permission to use that safehouse. It had a view of the whole city, and you could see for miles past it.” Sara said, reminiscing on the last part. “I also used it when I was vigilanting as the Black Canary.” 

“What was that like? Vigilanting?” Ava asks. 

“Ummm.” Sara thinks, “It was fulfilling for me. Originally, I came to Star City to check-in on Oliver. I saw him with…" Shado’s green hood. "Umm.” Sara restarted. “I thought Oliver was back in Star City and I had to check it out. After, I didn’t want to return to the League, so I stayed and started vigilanting, going after men who targeted women.” 

“You weren’t tempted to see your family, being back in Star City?” 

“I was, and I did. I came back to Star City to check on them.”

“And?”

“And, I caused a lot of turmoil, but eventually they were happy I was alive.” 

Ava nodded, taking in the information. She always tried to remember what Sara said, especially when she was talking about her past. Sara rarely opened up, but Ava always loved it when she did. It, one, showed that Sara trusts Ava enough to share, and it allows Ava to know more about Sara. 

They walk around in silence more, but Sara’s mind is going. Sara’s looking around the city. This used to be my home. It hasn’t been my home in a while. I don’t know anyone or anything anymore. I’m so lost. It’s not what it used to be. 

“You okay?” Ava asks. She can tell Sara is lost in her mind. She can literally see the gears turning in her head. But she can’t read them. 

Sara startles back to reality. “Yeah, just thinking…” Sara knows Ava will ask so she just goes ahead. “Ya know, this used to be my city, my home. But I barely recognize it anymore. So much has changed. I don’t know if I can call this home anymore.”

“This will always be your home, it’s where you grew up, you just have to let it be your home. If you open up to it and explore it.” 

“Maybe… but between the League of Assassins and my time on the Waverider, and the fact this is a new Earth, I don’t think it can be my home anymore. I haven’t really lived here since I was 19, in a different Star City. And like I said, Earth Prime, there’s so much history that's new–” Sara stops in her tracks, turns away from Ava and starts vomiting. Ava goes to hold Sara’s hair wary not to step in the vomit. 

She finishes, “Oh my god.” Sara says standing up. Letting the night breeze go through her. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I am now.” 

“What was that? Are you not feeling good?” 

“Umm… I’ve felt better,” Sara chuckles. “We should probably get out of here,” Sara starts walking. “We need to find out if the–” Sara stops in her tracks again. 

“What?” Ava asks, worried she’s going to throw up again. 

“We’re in 2018, right?” Sara asks. 

“Yes?” 

“And the League of Assassins murdered Rip?” 

“Yep, I don’t see what you’re getting at?” 

“Ava,” Sara sighs dramatically, “the League disbanded in 2016! That’s two years ago!” 

“Oh, but you said it was done by the League.”

“No it was, I’m sure of that. I’m guessing there’s an anachronism which is a league member. But it’s not under Ra’s Al Ghul’s orders.” 

“So… who’s orders?” 

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Sara starts pacing. 

“Look, let’s just get to the Clock Tower and go from there.” 

“No, if it’s not Ra’s, then they might not even need a safehouse. If they're working for someone, they would just be on the run.”

“Okay, you said ‘might.’ So you’re saying there’s a chance?”

“If they time traveled, but were displaced throughout time, then they could still try to use it as a safehouse, I guess.”

“Okay, I think we should still head to the Clock Tower. See if there’s any clues.” 

Sara thinks on this. “Okay, yeah sure. Maybe we can pick up some more weapons. Yeah,” Sara nod, “let’s go to the Clock Tower. 

Chapter Text

Gary started in the lab where Behrad was lying on his bed/couch. “Behrad, how are you doing?” 

 “Pretty good,” Behrad answered. He inhaled on a joint in his hand. 

 “What are you doing?!” Gary asks, setting his tray down. He goes over to Gary and rips the joint out of his hand and extinguishes it. “You are already high! Why are you smoking?” 

 “Oh, I am. I forget,” Behrad begins laughing very hard. 

 “Here.” Gary hands the fidget spinner to Behrad. “Play with this.” 

“You know I was thinking…” 

 “Oh no,” Gary complains. 

 “If you compete with yourself, are you first or last?” Behrad looks at Gary but he just shrugs. He continues, “If you think about it, you're not first, so are you considered last. But, if you’re not last, could you be first?” 

 “I have no idea,” Gary says. “Do you know where the others are?” Changing the subject. 

 “No, no idea. They haven’t come in here.”

 “Even Nate?” 

 “Haven’t seen him since the bathroom, which isn't quite unusual since we’re normally on different pee schedules.” 

 Gary turns to look at Behrad with a puzzled look. 

 “He usually goes pee about an hour or 90 minutes after me. Him in the shower this morning threw off the entire routine.” 

 “I see.” Gary says. “Well, carry on.” And he lifted a glass of water, put it in front of Behrad and left.” 

Chapter Text

“Just keep your head down. We should start to get into a bad area.” Sara whispers.  

Sara and Ava walk side by side. Ava can see the Clock Tower in the distance. It’s the tallest building in the area. Sticking out like a sore thumb, literally. 

They are right next to the Clock Tower and only need to turn the corner to get to the door.

“Sara?” An unknown voice yells out. 

Sara whips her head around looking for the source. What appears from around the corner is a short light skinned, black hair woman. 

“Sara!” she says excitedly and runs towards gripping Sara in a hug. 

“Sin!?” Sara says in disbelief, wrapping her hands around Sin as well. 

Ava just stands there shocked, staring at Sara, not knowing what to do. 

“I..I thought you were dead. I mean I heard rumors that you were alive or something but I knew you were dead or…” Sin just breathes out heavily. “You're here?!” 

“I am, I am, Sin,” Sara says gently. “I missed you so, so much. How are you doing?” 

“Oh, you know. Been around here and there. Bouncing around.”

 “You're still living on the streets?”

“Don’t got anywhere else to go.”

Ava nudges Sara. 

“Oh, Ava, right. Umm. Sin, meet Ava. Ava, Sin.” 

“Hi, how’s it going?” Sin asks, extending her hand.

“Good, thanks for asking.” Ava says.

“Ava, this is Sin, my sister from another mother. When I was in Star City I found her one night and we became fast friends. She helped me a ton when I was Black Canary.” Sara says. 

Sin has this huge smile on her face, just beaming. She tries to hide it by lowering her head down. 

“And Sin,” Sara says. “This is my wife, Ava.” Sin looks up.

“No way,” Sin says incredulously. 

Sara just nods. Sin jumps toward Ava bear hugging her. Ava is taken aback by this and was not prepared for it. She stumbles back a little. I don’t think her smile could get any bigger. Ava thinks while smiling. Sin finally lets go. 

“Oh my god, we have so much to catch up on,” Sins says, eagerly.

“Look,” Sara says, “I wish we could but Ava and I have to get going, we’re in a time crunch and we need to get to the Clock Tower.” Sin’s smile fades a little. “But, I promise to come back, with Ava, and we can talk all we want, but we have to go.” 

“Oh yeah, that’s fine,” Sin says. “Go save the world.” There’s a slight pause, “But just so you know. The Clock Tower, it’s locked. I was still sleeping up there and then one day I came to it and it was locked. I tried picking the lock, but it didn’t work. I’ve been sleeping beside it though, but I never see any action.” Sin looks down at the last part. Sara has a worried look on her face. 

“Don’t worry Sin, we’ll take a look and see what’s going on and we’ll get to the bottom of it.” Sara says.

“Thanks,” Sin says and goes back to hug Sara. 

Ava can see Sara’s face, full of sorrow, regret, pain, worry. Sara starts looking up, her eyes watery, taking a shaky breath. 

Sin lets go, “go save the world.” 

“Okay,” Sara says, “but we’ll be back. I promise.” 

Sin smiles, a small one like she can’t take Sara’s word for it. “I know you’re busy. It’s okay.” 

Sara pauses, thinking. “I promise to do everything in my power to come back. I won’t forget about you. How about that?” 

“Yeah,” Sin says disappointedly. 

Sara wants to say more, but Ava gently touches her arm. Sara looks at Ava, a small moment passes through them, I know, we need to go.

Sara gives Sin one more hug. “I love you, always remember that.” 

“I will,” Sin says, soaking in the moment. 

Sara lets go and she and Ava make their way toward the Clock Tower door. Sara doesn’t look back when they turn the corner. She can’t or else she would just stay with Sin forever, or take her to the Waverider. 

Chapter Text

Nate runs into Zari’s room, the door closes fast and Nate puts his back to the door, panting loudly. 

“What the fuck?” Zari asks while sitting on her bed. 

“There’s something out there.”

“What really?” Zari says eye wide. 

“It has three legs, two stomachs and lots of eyeballs, no face, and claws the size of knives.” 

“You saw it?”

“Yep, and it’s out there.” Nate softly says. 

“What are we going to do?!”

“I like broccoli.” 

“Wait, I heard it was your fault anyways.”

“Noo, noo it wasn’t my fault, really?” He starts grabbing his face. 

“That’s what I heard.” 

“Ooh the Lyoga root.” Nate nods remembering, “I remember giving it to John.” 

“Why did you give it to John,” Zari laughs. 

“I wanted, I wanted to forget Amaya. I think” 

“Why, Amaya’s so cool. She’s so cool, and chill, and loving.” 

“Because we were time traveling back to that time period. And I didn’t want anything to happen and I was anxious, but then I thought about her when using the Lyoga Root which didn’t work.” 

“Wait, wait, wait. You have feelings for her… still.” 

“I mean nothing compared to you.”

“I hope so.”

“My heart is and will always be for you.” 

“But you took it so you would forget about her.” 

“I took it so I wouldn’t have to think about her. There’s a difference.” 

“There is?” Her voice increases in pitch, she can’t process too much while high. “I mean I think there is.” 

Gary then knocks on Zari’s door, startling both of them, Nate more than Zari. 

“He’s back. The three legged man is back.” Nate gasps. 

“Uh, no. It’s just Gary.”

“Come in, Gary.” Zari says. 

The door opens and Gary is carrying glasses of water on a tray. “I brought you guys some water. Hope this helps.” He says as he gives Nate and Zari a glass. 

“What about the three legged man?” Nate asks. 

Zari chimes in, “Yeah, Nate told me all about him.”

“Umm. Nope, no one out there, except for me, and I have two legs. So, I think we're good.” 

“Did you kill him?” 

“Umm.” Gary thinks for a sec, “yeah?” 

“Ahh Gary, you’re the man.” Nate says bear hugging Gary. 

Gary spills the tray of water all over the floor. 

Zari starts laughing, not understanding that there’s water all over the floor of her quarters. 

“Oh my god. That was so funny.” 

“Oops, my bad.” Nate says. 

Gary just looks apologetic and runs out of the quarters. He soon returns with towels and starts cleaning up the water. “No worries, it’s just water.” He soon cleans up the water and exits Zari’s quarters. 

Chapter Text

They approach the Clock Tower and Ava attempts to twist the door handle. 

“Still locked,” Ava says. 

“Step back,” Sara says. Ava does and Sara kicks up her leg and slams her into the door. It doesn’t budge. “Shit.” She tries again. The door only rattles. 

“Well, what now?” Ava asks. 

“Something dangerous.” Sara says. Gritting her teeth. 

“Like?” 

“Like scaling a 50 foot building and jumping over an alleyway.”

“Dangerous,” Ava concludes. 

“Come on,” Sara says angrily. She keeps walking and finds a fire escape on the building next to it. Ava follows, more confused than ever. 

“If you want, you can stay down here and I can open the door from below.” Sara says.

“No, I’m good. Wherever you go, I go.” 

“Fine by me.” 

Sara gets a running start and jumps on the right side of the wall, then jumps again to the left side of the opposite building, jumps again to the right side and pushes off grabbing the lowest rung of the fire escape. Her vision goes blurry, but Sara brushes it off. She does a muscle up and is standing on the lowest platform of the fire escape. Sara looks down, a little proud of herself. 

Ava eyes her warily, amazed at what she just saw. Parkour was never one of Ava’s strong suits. She was decent at it, but definitely not an expert at it. She eyes the sides of the building, calculating the best way to just duplicate what Sara just did. Sara lets her analyze the building, not wanting to intervene just yet. Ava closes her eyes. Just go for it. What’s the worst that can happen, you break your neck? Just go. Ava opens her eyes, determination brewing inside of her and goes for it. Ava copies Sara moves, but on the third push off the wall slides a little. But because of her height, and how low the rung is, Ava is able to grab it. She breathes heavily. Shit, now I have to do a muscle up. She instead decides to do a pullover lifting her chin and throwing her legs over the bar. She climbs onto the fire escape, smiling proudly. 

“Good job, babe,” Sara says. 

“Thanks.”

“The easy part is over.” Sara says, starting to climb the fire escape.

Fuck Ava thinks. “What else is there?” She follows Sara. 

“Oh, just the jump between the buildings to get to the Clock Tower.” Sara says nonchalantly. 

Crap. I forgot about that. Ava thinks. 

“Don’t worry it’s just stairs to get to the roof and then the jump.” Sara says, putting Ava at ease. 

“So, who was that?” Ava asks, catching up to Sara. There’s not enough room for two people. So, Ava trails behind a little. 

“She’s…” Sara falters, “a really good friend I had, a great one. I don’t know, Ava. It’s a long story.” Sara really doesn’t want to talk about it. She never forgot Sin, but honestly, Sara hasn’t thought about her in a while. Forgot to wonder about her, what’s she doing, how’s she doing, if she ever made it off the streets. Obviously not. This mission is already bringing up a lot and Sara just can’t talk about her past anymore. It’s exhausting and infuriating to remember, and sad, so sad. 

“We have 50 feet of stairs. We have a lot of time.” 

Sara sighs. Her brain feels fried and her muscles are aching. “We should have grabbed food.” Sara says angrily. 

Ava reaches in her back pocket and provides two granola bars and hands one to Sara. 

“Here.” Ava says.

“Aw, thanks, babe.” Sara eagerly opens it up and takes a bite. “What would I do without you?” 

“Starve from the looks of it.” 

Sara chews more slowly, thinking of what Ava just said. I have starved… I’ve starved for 6 years. Damn it. Stop these thoughts. You’re fine. You’re literally eating now. Why did you say anything, you knew that was going to be the answer. 

Sara slows down and begins looking at her granola bar.  

“Sara, you okay.” Ava notices the change in demeanor. 

“Uh, yeah, thanks for the granola bar. It really helped.” 

“Something on your mind?” Just tell me the truth. Ava thinks. 

Always, Sara thinks. “Just thinking about the Clock Tower and the best way to approach it.” 

There’s a moment of silence. 

“You gonna tell me about Sin?” Ava asks, looking down. “Still have a lot of ground to make up.” 

Why do you want to know? Why are you so nosy now? Sara thinks. She turns around annoyed. “Look, I promise to tell you more about her, but later. We have a mission and my head needs to be in the right place.” Sara snaps. She takes a deep breath. Ava has shrunken down. She speaks more gently this time, “I just need some peace and quiet. Just until we get to the top of the roof.” 

“Okay,” Ava whispers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.” 

Sara feels bad now. She didn’t mean to snap at Ava. “I’m sorry for snapping.” Sara steps down lowering herself to Ava’s height giving her a little kiss. “I’m sorry,” she whispers with as much apology as she can.

Ava looks up into Sara’s eyes. She can see that Sara is clearly sincere, but there’s also so much going on in her eyes. Ava can see pain, worry, she can see Sara’s mind whirling at a million miles an hour. It’s what happens when Sara’s hangry. Ava thinks. She snorts out loud. Sara’s a little taken back. 

“Sorry,” Ava says, chuckling, “it’s what happens when you’re hangry.” 

Sara laughs a little too. “It’s a good thing you fed me. But, I will try better next time.” 

They kiss again and Sara resumes walking up the stairs.

Chapter Text

After what happened in the cargo bay, Astra and Spooner attempt to make their way to Spooner’s quarters. But they’re stumbling and their surroundings seem to be amplified tenfold. There’s constant ringing in the background. The hallways keep changing shape getting farther or closer in size. At one point Astra turns thinking she’s at an intersection but hits her head on the wall. 

“Oww.” Astra screams and falls to the ground. 

Spooner laughs at her. She puts her hand on the wall and grabs the wall railing. 

A whoosh sound occurs and Spooner no longer has back support causing her to fall on her ass. 

Astra begins laughing this time as Spooner is still starstrucked on how she ended up on the floor. 

Both women end up laughing while crumbling to the floor. 

Astra is the first to stop because she can see what’s behind Spooner. “What is that?” 

Spooner stops laughing to turn around. “Woah,” is all she can say. 

They both get up and walk further into the room. It wasn’t very big, more like a wider corridor. It was lined with shelves, objects occupying most of the space. Included is also a TV inside the wall along with a console. 

“Gideon, what is this place?” Astra asks. 

“This is Compartment 36...” Gideon begins, but Spooner and Astra have their hands on their ears from the seeming deafening sound. “a special storage area.” They slowly crumble to the floor. 

“Gideon, Gideon, too loud.” Spooner complains. 

In a lower voice Gideon asks, “My apologies, is this volume better?” 

“Yes,” Astra says. “Now can you tell us what this place is without blowing my eardrums out?”

“Yes,” Gideon continues in a low voice, “as I said, ‘this is compartment 36, a special storage area.’” 

“Storage area is right,” Spooner says, looking at the large weaponry. “This can take out a few people.”

“Indeed, although none of these weapons have ever been used.”

“You’re telling me all of this firepower and it’s never been touched?” Spooner says.

“Correct, Legends have always had their own way of handling situations. Rip Hunter put these here as back up.” 

“Wait, you mentioned that Rip Hunter person,” Astra says, “tell me more about him.” 

“If you’ll wait 10 minutes, I can make you guys sober enough to remember the details I tell you of Rip Hunter.”

Chapter Text

They finish the rest of the walk in silence. Their labored breathing got heavier as they climbed the stairs. 

“It’s a good thing we didn’t need to run up those,” Sara says, panting heavily. 

“No kidding. I’m exhausted.” Ava says. 

Sara sits down on something. “Let’s take a break. We deserve one.” 

Ava wasn’t going to complain and sat down beside Sara. Ava took Sara’s hand in her own, rubbing and massaging it. Sara smiles down, enjoying the alone time. The midnight air is refreshing and breezy. Sara looks out across the city. I could just stay up here forever. 

Ava looks at Sara and sees the worry disappear. Sees her smile, a genuine smile that isn’t always on display. She rests her head on Sara’s shoulder. Sara leans into it, snuggling against Ava. 

“What are we going to do?” Ava whispers. It’s deeper than their current situation and Sara understands. 

“I don’t know, I just know I want to stay up here and forget everything, but if we do, then there might not be a here.” Sara answers. They sit there in silence, enjoying the moment, the feeling of each other in their hands. 

Ava stands up facing towards Sara, their hands still grasping. Ava takes Sara’s other hand and then Sara stands up. 

“I love you,” Ava mumbles.
“I love you too.” 

They stay there together, foreheads touching. 

“We have to go,” Sara says. 

Ava backs away and faces the Clock Towers. “What’s the plan?” 

“There’s a compartment door on this side of the Tower that we can use to sneak in.” Sara says, walking towards the edge. She points towards it. “I’ll jump first getting on the edge, then I’ll open the door, crawl through, then you can follow.”

“Have you ever done this before?” 

“Nope. First time. I knew it was here, but never needed to use it. I know it’s doable because other people have done it.” 

“Perfect,” Ava says, sarcastically, “nothing like doing something the first time.” Sara smirks at Ava’s comment.  

It goes way better than Sara had in mind. She thought for sure, something would go wrong and one of them would plummet to their deaths, but it didn’t. Sara did a running start to jump onto the ledge of the Clock Tower. She skillfully twisted the door knob thankful it was unlocked. She ducked into the compartment and was safely on the other side. Ava succeeded too, in running and jumping into the compartment and ducking her head inside as well. 

“Hard part accomplished,” Sara says happily while closing the door. Ava produces a nervous smile. “Let’s go.” And together they duck further in the shadows. 

Ava follows Sara, not 100 percent sure what’s happening she tries to keep her hand on one side of the wall. Sara seems to know what she’s doing and she continues going faster, without even making a creak on the floor board. Ava follows closely behind, but soon can’t keep up. She only made a sound here and there, but if she went faster she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from making noise.  

Sara continues faster and Sara soon gets too out of reach for Ava’s comfort. “Sara!” Ava hisses. Sara stops and Ava can sense she turned around. Ava catches up and feels for Sara until she finds her and gives Sara a death grip on her forearm. 

“Sorry,” she whispers. “I got caught up in the moment. You’re doing good.”

“Sorry, I just felt like you were getting farther away from me.” her heart pounding in her chest.

“Sorry, I’ll go slower,” Sara says. And they continue into the dark hallway. 

Chapter Text

“Rip Hunter was the captain of the Waverider before Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe. He was my original Captain. We were the perfect duo team. When we were a part of the Time Masters.”

“Wait, Time Masters was the…,” Spooner's thinking, “the corrupt organization.” She said, looking up proudly. 

“Yes, it was located at the Vanishing Point, a point outside of time and space. The Legends blew it up, Leonard Snart sacrificing his life to ensure the destruction. After the destruction, Rip then and the rest of the Legends assumed the responsibility of protecting the timeline. Soon after, the Legends were on a mission that did not go according to plan. Rip was time scattered to 1967 Los Angeles. He was brainwashed and started working for the Legion of Doom.”

“Legion of Doom, I remember this,” Astra says. “It was when we went into your mind. They were trying to change the timeline, permanently. Rip was brainwashed into helping them.” 

“Correct. The Legends and the Legion of Doom were racing to get their hands on the Spear of Destiny, also known as the Holy Lance.”

“Holy Lance?” Spooner asked. 

“Indeed.”

“Convenient.” 

“I will say Captain Lance preferred that name better.

“At the last stand, the Legends created a time paradox to save time; therefore, creating anachronism throughout time. This caused Rip Hunter to create the Time Bureau. The Time Bureau was tasked with protecting the timeline as well, but as a more organized group of people. Rip Hunter and eventually Ava Sharpe ran the Time Bureau until 2019.” 

“Can you tell us more about how Rip died?”

“During another last stand against Malice, a time demon was threatening to destroy time. Rip Hunter used a Time Drive, the device that enables vessels to time travel, and used it to postpone Malice’s rise. In doing so, he also sacrificed himself during the explosion.” 

Astra and Spooner nod. 

“That is why Rip’s death is significant to the timeline. If he does not die at the exact moment, all of time is thrown off balance. Rip came up with the idea to use the Time Drive; therefore, he’s the only person who can do the job.” 

“Huh, guess the dude’s important. Good for him.” Spooner says. She turns to Astra, “Do you want to get ice cream?” 

“Umm. yeah. I could always use some ice cream.” 

They gave the place another look down and exited the compartment.

Chapter Text

They turn a corner and start to see a faint light up head. Sara stops and turns around back to the corner. 

“Okay, we need to be really quiet here. Remember our deal?” Sara asks. 

It takes a moment to register what deal Sara was talking about. Then she remembers the deal about only Sara fighting. “You fight, yeah I got it.” Ava says disgruntled. 

Sara notices Ava’s unhappiness but knows it for Ava’s best interest. “Everything’s going to be fine,” Sara reassures Ava. 

Sara turns around and walks toward the light. Ava follows closely behind, straining her ears to hear anything.

They get to the end and Sara surveys the area. It’s just like I remember. Not too much was disturbed from last time. There’s still metal bars wrapped all around the Tower. They are up in the air near some of the metal piping and there's boards that enclose the whole area. People could easily walk across them and go around the entire Clock Tower in the air. The only thing is there are more weapons and tools on a table and there’s this weird giant clear box that almost looks like a display case. Sara spots three League members. Two are asleep and the other is keeping watch and sharpening his sword. Three people, I can take them easily, Sara thinks. 

She turns back around and gives Ava the motion to stay. Ava looks at her irritatedly but nods her head. Once Sara knows that Ava will actually do what she is told to do, Sara creeps out onto the wooden boards and positions herself to strike. Ava creeps to the edge of the wall. 

Sara jumps down 20 feet in the air and lands on top of the warrior awake. She punches him in the face and then whips out a baton and strikes him again. The other two have woken up and go to fight Sara. It seems Sara already knows this and is prepared for their strikes. She counters Guy 2 and then Guy 3. Turns back to Guy 2 and hits and subsequently hits Guy 3. Guy 1 is up and charges her again and Sara pushes him away. She continues taking turns on each guy pushing them back so she can attack the other. But, she’s only getting a few hits back, mostly playing on the defense. 

Ava hears grunts above where she is. She watches intently and is amazed by what she sees. Sara is single-handedly fighting three trained assassins at a time. Her movements are precise and fluid. Sara moves so quickly and is aware of movements that are even happening behind her back. 

Sara deflects the hit from Guy 2 and attempts to quickly strike him as well on the face. She does that successfully; however, is penalized with a slash across her back. She grunts a little and turns around to face Guy 1 who did it. I need a better weapon, a sword will actually do some damage. She thinks as she strikes Guy 1 across the abdomen. Guy 3 approaches and Sara kicks him square in the chest knocking him off his feet. Sara continues on trying to find a moment to disarm and take one of their weapons. These guys have had years of experience in the League. They know every move I’m going to make. And I know every move they're going to make. The assassins start to get angrier, seeing they haven’t accomplished too much. They fight harder realizing they aren’t dealing with a thug, but a trained warrior like themselves. Sara can tell she’s out of shape. She hasn’t had to fight like this in years. But she enjoys every minute. The adrenaline rushing through her. Working her mind for different strategies and attacks. The feel of a weapon in her hand. The sense of feeling invincible. It’s like autopilot for her and she’s loving every moment, she can even feel herself smiling at times. 

Ava just witnessed Sara get slashed from the backside, they both do a small gasp, one from shock, and the other from pain. But instead of Sara screaming in pain or something someone normal would do being cut, Sara grins, no she smirks, her signature smirk. But Ava just worries more. She can tell the assassins are going harder on Sara. She wants to jump down and help, but she’s scared to. Not scared to fight the warriors, but scared of how Sara will react. Sara hasn’t been herself lately and she seems more wrapped up in her head than normal. This mission has taken a lot out of the both of them and has literally taken out the rest of the team. Ava stays quiet, being mesmerized by Sara’s movements. 

Meanwhile, Sara is still trying to figure out how she’s going to take down 3 trained assassins. She just hopes Ava won’t intervene. All of a sudden she’s only fighting two people and sees Guy 2 run to the table with weapons on it. Great. Sara thinks More weapons. I need to stop him. In one fluid motion she kicks Guy 3, turns mid air and kicks Guy 1. She dashes to the weapons table to stop Guy 2, but then he turns around. Satisfied with his new choice of weapon. Sara stops dead in her tracks. 

It’s nothing fancy at first, just a long metal pipe, but the end of it looks different, weird. The other two guys have recovered and surround Sara from behind. Guy 2 switches a switch and the funny end of the pipe sparks electricity. An electric metal pipe, handy, Sara thinks. So much for getting a better weapon. Guy 2 swings it a little, he doesn’t look nervous anymore. The only thing Sara can do is smirk, but on the inside she’s freaking out. That must be new, they didn’t have that when I was training. The League always used hand-crafted weapons, very old fashion. But, this, this is new. Sara notices how the guy is able to hold the shaft part, so she uses it to her advantage. Guy 2 does a stabbing motion at Sara which Sara dodges and grabs onto the shaft turning her back towards the guy hoping to elbow him from behind. The guy was expecting that though. So, he kicks Sara in the back of her knees forcing her to fall to her knees. She can see Guy 1 and 3 advancing and rolls to the side to avoid being hit. She’s down on one knee looking down, breathing heavily and flicks her hair back up. She’s pissed now, and exhausted, but she has to keep going. She knows she can not let that touch her or she’s done for so she avoids it. She runs towards the group and starts slicing again, wary of the metal pole. Due to her attempts of avoiding the pole, she sacrifices herself to more cuts from the other guys. 

Great, Ava thinks. Now they can electrify people. Just what we need. Sara’s motions are getting sloppier and she’s getting more cuts from the other two people not holding a two foot long taser. Sara starts verbally grunting from the exertion.  

Sara is a little too slow getting back to Guy 2 and Guy 2 takes advantage and thrusts the weapon inside Sara’s side. Sara’s whole body seizes up and she falls to the floor. She’s still conscious, but breathing heavily. The assassins just look at her, breathing heavily as well, clearly not happy about how the course of events just played out. They start speaking, but Ava realizes she can’t understand them. Arabic? Ava thinks. Sara doesn’t speak, but she squirms around on the ground. Ava concludes she has to do something now, she can’t just sit and let her wife be killed in front of her. She grabs her gun and aims for the head of Guy 2. Bang. The shot rings out and Guy 2 crumbles to the floor. Guy 1 and 3 fling their arms like frisbees towards Ava and Ava ducks, but metal pieces lodge into Ava’s gun making it unusable. Everyone moves, Sara moves to get up but is restrained by Guy 1, Guy 3 runs to the table to get his bow and Ava grabs her gun from her ankle, jumps down and rolls out of her jump. Guy 3 has his bow pointed towards Ava who has a gun in her hand, and Guy 1 has Sara up, restrained with a knife to her neck. 

“Don’t shoot her,” Sara pleads. 

Ava and Guy 3 are at a standstill. Guy 1 just presses the knife to Sara’s neck more. 

“What should we do?” Guy 3 asks. 

“Capture,” Guy 1 responds. 

“Noo,” Sara screams. 

Guy 3 releases his arrow and it lodges into Ava’s gun, again… Sara tries to jerk away, but is held back by Guy 1. Guy 3 drops the bow and starts fighting Ava. Ava holds her ground for a while, playing on the defense. She sees an opening and attempts to strike, only realizing that Guy 3 did that to open Ava up for a defeating blow. Ava lays at his feet knowing it's useless to get up. 

Everyone is breathing heavily now. Sara knows they lost the fight and is terrified to know what the League could do to them. 

Guy 3 takes the spear and continually shocks Ava until she’s passed out. Then, he goes to Sara. Guy 1 kicks Sara in the back of the knee causing her to fall to her knees. Sara stares him directly in the eyes. Guy 3 starts shocking Sara. It’s like every nerve is on fire, but her jaw is locked so she can’t scream, or moan, or anything. She’s just frozen. Until black starts to cloud her eyes and then she fully succumbs to the darkness. 

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe none of those weapons have been used.” Spooner said, astonished. She had chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce.  

“I know, I felt like we could have used some of that here recently.” Astra said, then biting into her own mint chocolate chip. 

“Wanna test some of it out?” Spooner asks eagerly. 

“Umm. You forgot sometime.” Astra says, while Spooner looks confused. “We’re in the time stream.” 

“Oh, right. Um, I meant when the ship isn’t in lock down mode.” 

“What weapons?” Gary asked, scared. 

“Oh, we found a whole storage compartment full of weapons that we wanted to try out.” Spooner turned to Gary. 

Just then Gideon came on throughout the whole ship. “The ship’s air is now decontaminated.” 

Mick walked in. “Don’t touch it.” He commanded walking toward the food fabricator. 

“Why?” Spooner asked. 

“We don’t need guns any more. Those were for emergencies only and we’ve never touched them.” Mick answered picking up another pack of beer and heading out. 

“But, if we’ve never touched them, how do we know what they do?” 

“We don’t. That’s why we don’t touch them, ever .” Mick emphasized. He seemed really serious. 

Spooner looks down at her ice cream, disappointed. 

“Has anyone seen Constantine?” Gary asks. “I haven’t been able to locate him.” 

Murmurs of no ring out.

Gideon assists, “When Mr. Constantine found out he was not involved in the mission he went to his mansion.” 

“How, the ship is on lockdown?” Gary asked. 

“The ship was not on lockdown at the time of Mr. Constantine departure because the Jumpship had not left with Captain Lance and Captain Sharpe.” 

“How are they doing?” Nate asks, walking into the gallery. 

“I have not heard anything back from them. It has been some time since I have heard from them.”

“Can you try contacting them?” Nate asked. 

The only noise in the room is Spooner and Astra eating their ice cream. 

“I attempted to contact them; however, did not hear a response.” 

“That's a little suspicious.” Gary says. 

“No. It’s not.” Mick grunts. “Just give them time. They’ll respond.” And he walks out. 

“It is…” Nate agrees. “They’re usually quite responsive especially considering their ship was just contaminated with Lyoga root.”

Silence engulfs the room as they think. 

“Gideon,” Nate continues, “in an hour contact them again and tell us what the response is.”

“Affirmative.” 

Chapter Text

Ava wakes up on the ground. She can feel her side ache. She sits up and rubs her face. Correction, her whole body hurts. Ava looks around and is brought back to reality. She’s in the Star City Clock Tower, but she’s also in a clear box. The box she noticed in the corner is now moved more central to the layout. She spots Sara and runs to the glass. 

Sara is tied in a chair, chains and ropes wrapping around her whole body, arms, abdomen, and legs. Dried blood is stuck to her skin where she was cut from her previous fight. Her lip looks dry and has a dried blood spot. Her arms and legs have slight blood on them. Ava looks at the glass of the Clock Tower and it seems to almost be turning dawn. 

She bangs on the glass. “Sara,” she barks. She doesn’t stir. Ava looks around, the League members are nowhere in sight. That’s odd. Where did they go? It doesn’t matter, we need to get out of here. Ava bangs on glass harder. “Sara!” she roared.

Sara groans this time, shifting her head. Ava sighs with relief. Sara jerks her head, and tries moving. 

“Sara, it’s okay, I’m right here.” 

Sara looks around, the previous events coming back to her. “We need,” Sara frets, looking around. “We need to get out of here.” 

For once we agree, Ava thinks. “I agree.” 

“God, my head is killing me.” Sara complains.

“Are you okay? You’ve been acting strange since this morning?”

“It’s been a strange morning.” 

“No, it’s something else…” It suddenly dawns on her. “Did you hit your head?!” 

Sara remembers, “Fuck, I did. I forgot about that.” 

“You’ve been experiencing signs of a concussion.”

“It was when the Time Quake happened. I was thrown off the bed and hit the backside of my head.”

“Sara,” Ava scolds, “you have to be more careful.”

“Yeah, next time I will carefully throw myself off the bed.” Sarcasm evident. 

“You have to tell people and allow us to help you.” 

“I literally forgot about that and right now is not the time. I need to figure out how we are getting out of here.” 

Ava sighs, defeated in trying to get Sara to take care of herself. 

After a few moments of silence, there’s a weird popping sound. “What was that?” Ava asked. 

“My thumbs… dislocating.” Sara tries to wriggle her hands. 

“Why did you feel the need to dislocate your thumbs?” Ava questions. 

“It doesn’t matter. It didn’t work.” There’s another popping sound. Ava just stares at Sara impatiently, waiting for an answer. “Sometimes if you dislocate your thumb you can slide out of handcuffs.” Sara says pointedly. “Oliver taught me that.” 

“Well let’s figure out a way that doesn’t involve hurting yourself more.”

“What about you? Have you tried punching the glass?” 

“No, I just woke up too. You think that will work?”

Sara shrugs her shoulders. “One way to find out.” 

Ava looks down and is thankful her belt is still on her. She unfastens it and wraps it around her knuckles. She reels her arm back and jabs at the glass throwing her whole body against the punch. It only makes a sound. She tries again and the last time she puts all of anger and frustrations out with it wishing it would break. It doesn’t do anything. There’s no marking or crack, anything that would suggest it would be about to break. 

“Got another idea?” Ava asks. 

Sara’s not disappointed it didn’t work, she figured the glass would most likely be heavier and therefore harder to break. She looks around. “Give me a minute.” 

“All of your league training and you can’t get out?” Ava bites back, throwing her hands up.

“These are League members,” Sara growls, “they know all of the tricks. That thumb trick was the only thing I could think of, but it was a long shot anyways.” Sara growls. 

“Well let me go back to punching the glass, I guess,” Ava says, wrapping her hand again.

“Okay, but be careful.” 

Ava rolls her eyes, this just makes her even more angrier. Between punches she yells, “I can take care of myself.” 

Ava tries punching the glass several times, it doesn’t seem to do any damage. 

“Just stop. You need to rest.”

“Why, I haven’t done anything!”

You got your ass kicked, Sara thinks but lets it go. “Look, just stop! I need you to save your energy. We have no idea what we’re getting into!”

Ava stops, breathing heavily. Fear crept inside her voice, “what could happen?” 

Sara doesn’t say anything, but looks away. 

“Sara, I need to know, so I can prepare. What. Could. Happen!?” Ava says. 

“Best case scenario they let us go?” Sara says, trying to be cheerful. 

Ava scoffs, “and worst case scenario?” She says annoyingly. 

Sara sighs, “We’re tortured to death.” 

Ava, with a slightly panicked face, reaches for her comms. “Damn it, they took my comms. What about you?” 

Sara moves her shoulder to her ear. “Nope.” 

“So, back to punching glass?” Ava asks. 

“No, don’t. It’s useless, it's probably bullet proof glass or something. They wouldn’t make a box like that with breakable glass.”

“So, we just sit here?” 

Sara struggles this time, desperate to get out of her bonds. “There has to be a way.” She snarled. 

Just then a door opens from behind Sara.

Sara sits up.

“Don’t say anything,” Sara insisted. 

Chapter Text

Ava looks at Sara worriedly, but Sara puts on a cold, dark mask not showing any emotion. 

The League Of Assassins walks through, ignoring Ava and turning to Sara who’s looking straight ahead.

“We know you can understand us. Speak!” Guy 1 says. 

“I do,” Sara says, looking him straight in the eyes. 

“You were trained by the League of Assassins. What is your name?” He raises his sword to Sara’s neck. 

“Ta-er al-Sahfer.” 

“The deserter. You traitorous bitch. We should kill you right where you are.”

They know who I am. That can't be good, Sara thinks. “And who are you?”

“You do not ask the questions here. We do and we serve Ra’s Al Ghul. Unlike you, traitor.”

“I was released. I have no obligations to Ra’s Al Ghul. You can not hurt me under those pretenses.”

“No, but I can hurt your friend for killing our brother, traitor.

“She killed him in battle. That’s fair.” 

He rushes forward with a small knife, “she killed him with a gun,” he slices her neck on the side, “a coward’s weapon from a distance. And then lost to me in mere seconds.” 

“Leave her alone, do whatever you want to me. I will take her punishment.”

 “So, you will take her punishment and your punishment?” 

Sara contemplates. “Let’s make a deal. I know you’re looking for Rip Hunter. I can help you find him.”

He looks to his partner, “We are.” 

“You give me her punishment and I’ll give you what I know about him.”

“Both of your punishments. Non-negotiable.”

Sara sighs. This will probably be the best deal she can make under these circumstances. “Fine. I will give you information on Rip Hunter in exchange for being punished on two counts.” 

“Deal, we start in the early afternoon, 2 hours.”

“And you do not touch the girl.” 

“Correct, that is part of our deal.” 

They glance back at Ava and turn to leave, shutting the door behind them. 

“What the fuck did you do?” Ava demands. 

Sara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. 

“I heard Rip Hunter’s name in that. I’m not crazy.”

“No you’re not,” Sara opens her eyes. “I made a deal. I needed to.” 

“What? What deal?” 

“I give them information about Rip and in exchange they torture me.”

“What! That’s not a fair deal? Why do you need to be tortured?” 

Sara just looks up at the ceiling, contemplating on whether she should say the full reason. 

“Tell me the truth,” Ava chastised. 

“Because you killed that League person.” Sara hisses quickly, frustration edged in her voice. Ava doesn’t say anything, her mouth opens, but no words come out. “And I was released from the League.” Sara adds in. 

“Why–?!”

“Because you didn’t let me handle things.” 

“You were lying on the ground! They beat you. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

“I knew! That’s why I didn’t want you getting involved.” 

“Well, I didn’t know because you’ve been keeping me in the dark.” Ava turns around not facing Sara. “This whole time, this whole mission, this whole month, you’ve been keeping things from me and I’m tired, Sara.” She turns back around. “I’m tired of treading lightly, of being bossed around, and wondering what’s happening or might happen or what you’re thinking.”

“See that it's, right there. I don’t want you to know what I’m thinking.” Sara snarls back. 

 “But I don’t get to know what might happen to me? Or you, considering you’re about to get tortured.” 

“Look, we need to figure out what I’m going to say to them before they start. They’ll want to know information beforehand.” 

“Oh, it’s a ‘we’ now. And I guess you’re not going to answer any of my questions.”

“I’m a little busy right now.”

 “I am too. Worrying if my wife is going to die or not.” 

“Fuck!” Sara shouts. “I need you to shut the fuck up!” She yells. Sara growls. Her mind is racing a thousand times a second. She tries to remain calm and says, “Tell me where Rip’s house is in Star City.” 

“6984 Memorial Lane Apartment B, Star City,” Ava says. “Why?”

“Look, I need you to… I need you to understand… Damn it! Don’t do anything irrational, don't say anything. I will be fine. No matter what happens or what I look like I will be fine and I will survive. Okay? Please, just don’t say anything. Don’t threaten or anything.” Sara is looking at Ava with pleading eyes. 

“Okay?” Ava whispers. Then the doors fly open. And Sara’s face is back to that cold glare again. 

“My, my.” Says Guy 1 walking to Sara.

Sara switches to English. “We have a deal.” Sara says angrily. 

Guy 1 glances towards Ava, then towards Sara. “We never shook,” he says shrugging. 

“There was mutual and verbal confirmation of the deal. You have to honor that or you do not serve Ra’s Al Ghul.” Sara glares into his eyes, determined. 

“But, you are a traitor. I’m sure he will make an exception for you.” 

Sara scoffs. “You really have no idea who you’re dealing with. Ra’s will never accept that. Go on, try asking him. Or wait, he’s dead.”

“Where we are from we serve Ra’s even here. But, if you insist he’s dead, then you can't ask a dead man. So really it is up to us.”

Sara is at a loss for words. She can’t figure out a way to scheme her way out of it. 

“But, alas, I did really want to make her scream.” He glances at Ava who is scowling at him. “But, we have other business to attend to, so you will have to do, for now. But, when we come back,” he leans in front of Sara, “we will see if your wife is as brave as you are.” 

Sara spits in his face. Blood and spit covers the League’s face garment. “I told you, you do not touch her, punish me, and then leave us alone. Or I will make sure that you spend an eternity in hell on your last days here on Earth.” 

“You are no position to be making those threats.” 

“I promise.” 

Chapter Text

Mick leans back in his chair, drinking his second round of 6 pack. His mind trying to forget the earlier encounter. The only thing he really remembers is shouting between him and Snart, while Amaya stayed quiet. The last thing he remembers is Snart taking a swing at him, knocking him out cold. Once he woke up, both Snart and Amaya were gone. And he went to grab another pack of beer. In the gallery, he heard them talking about the Compartment 36, and he knew he had to put a stop to it right away. 

He goes back to his room, trying to remember the events that just went down. 

“I think, I am here as proof that you have changed. You are not just the bad guy, the criminal, but a hero, in the light. You have come a long way Mick Rory. Look, you have children 49 of them, a grandchild. The animal inside of you, it’s soften, become… domesticate.”
“And that’s so wrong, why?” 

“I don’t know, Mick. We’re in your mind.”

Mick growls and throws his empty beer bottle on the wall. 

“Maybe…” Amaya starts. “This is your way of accepting it. Accepting how much you have changed. How much you have grown Mick. Because it certainly is incredible. Now, you just have to accept it. Accept the change, but be okay with your past as well.”

He opens up his last beer when an alarm sounds.

Mick grunts, but doesn’t move, knowing what it’s meant. He slowly finishes his last beer cherishing the bitter taste. 

After finishing his last beer, he slowly stands up and moseys his way to the Bridge, hoping the team has something figured out before he gets there. 

Unfortunately, that was not the case and he walked into complete and utter chaos. 

Chapter Text

Guy 1 takes a knife from his gown and stabs Sara in the left arm and leaves the knife in. Sara only grunts and she’s biting down on her lips. 

“And I vow to make you scream, to make you beg for death, but I won’t give it to you.” He takes another knife and stabs a little lower than the other knife. Blood starts seeping from her arm. 

Guy 3 takes a sword and starts cutting her other arm. Overlapping cuts and sometimes hitting the same cut repeatedly going over it making it deeper. 

Sara can tell she’s out of League Torture Practice, but she’s still not feeling the full effects of the blade. That was one of the first things Ra’s Al Ghul taught Sara when he took her under his wing. How to torture… and how to endure torture at the same time. He would slice, flay, and stab Sara. She even remembers him hovering in her ear, whispering how to numb and disconnect the body and mind and she did. She accomplished that faster than most people. 

Guy 1 goes over to grab a handful of small needles. He sits behind Sara where her hands are tied behind her back in the chair. He slowly puts needles in 3 of her fingers on the right hand. Then, he uses his knife to rip two fingernails off the other hand. He stands up behind her and yanks her hair back, a small gasp escapes Sara’s mouth. He grips her head tighter and pulls her head back further, causing Sara to grit her teeth more. While Guy 1 still had his grip Guy 3 rams his palm into the knives still in Sara’s left arm. 

Guy 1 walks back to the front of the chair beside Guy 3. They start punching and kicking Sara. One would hit her face, then the other her abdomen or legs. Alternating back and forth, sometimes hitting her in the same place twice. At one point there’s a knife sticking out of Sara’s side, but then it is soon taken away and replaced someplace else. They stop to admire their work. Blood is seeping from where they stabbed her, her side, both her arms, and her left thigh. Bruises haven’t formed, surely will in the near future. 

At one point, Sara can feel her body screaming at her, but then another moment later she can’t feel anything. ‘Embrace the pain, but cut the pain off from affecting you. Open yourself up, and remember that each slice, each stab is punishment.’ Ra’s Al Ghul whispered in her ear.

“A few more rounds and we can untie her. Let’s aim for her legs. Don’t need her running around.” 

“Agree.” 

They start kicking near her legs. Hitting the shin bone in the front calf. Both found long sticks and continued to whack her in the legs. 

Guy 3 takes a knife and goes to Sara’s back. There’s not much showing with the chair in the way so he aims for her right shoulder. Slicing bizarre, but deep patterns. 

After, Guy 1 gets close to Sara’s face holding a knife. He wipes blood from her face so she can get a better view of the knife. 

“Do your worst.” Sara says with a tight lip grin. He smiles as well, a sinister smile, then flips the knife so the blade is by his pinky finger and then drives the knife on the top of Sara’s left kneecap. Sara jumps at the pain and starts moving around slightly, the pain getting to her. Guy 1 just continues to drive the knife in deeper. Sara makes a grunting noise and starts breathing heavier, the pain becoming unbearable. She looks away, wanting an escape. Then she closes her eyes and focuses on her breathing, focusing on disassociating. 

Guy 1 releases his hand, leaving the blade in. Satisfied, he said, “We can untie her.” 

Guy 3 then takes another knife out and starts cutting the ropes where Sara is tied. Once undone they shove her out of the chair. She falls to her right and starts squirming around. Guy 3 kicks her in the face making her lay on her back. He then starts kicking her in her stomach and ribs. Sara attempts to curl into herself, but it's useless since her hands are still tied behind her back. She thinks she hears the crack of her ribs on the right side. 

Guy 1 drags Sara by the hair to a nearby pole. Sara tries to protest, fighting back, but it’s hopeless. He takes a cuff and chains and cuffs Sara’s right hand to the pole. While he’s doing that, Guy 3 goes and heats up a metal rod with the symbol of the Demon’s Head ring. He holds it in the fire waiting for it to heat up. Guy 1 rips down the clothing of Sara’s neckline on her left side exposing the skin. Guy 3 walks over to Sara and starts pressing the smoldering Demon Head ring into Sara’s chest. Sara can almost feel each time the ring burns through a layer of skin. She doesn’t dare move around, she starts staring off into the abyss. Once satisfied with the depth of the burn he tosses the pole to the side. 

“Get the shock pole.” Guy 1 says. Guy 3 walks calmly to the weapons table and grabs the two foot pole again. He hands it to Guy 1 who messes with the settings, upping the voltage. Then he goes to shock Sara in the thigh. Sara jolts up and begins to convulse until settling down again. Moaning slightly. That didn’t feel good, she thinks. He does it a few more times, hitting Sara in the gut or an arm. Each time her muscles tightens so much that it takes longer for her to release her muscles. And Guy 1 intervals between the shocks are getting shorter. The last time he waits until he can see Sara’s muscle relax before shocking her again. It feels like forever when he shocks her, but she knows it’s mere seconds, but her muscles are getting tighter from use. 

Finally, he tosses the pole next to the now cold demon ring emblem.  

Guy 3 takes a knife out and goes to Sara’s right thigh. He cuts a line about 4 inches then moves to cut another line parallel to that. Oh shit, flaying. He attaches the two lines making a 4x2 box then starts carving out that piece of skin. Sara shuts her eyes at the pain. She can feel pain shooting from the area everytime he shifts the knife slightly. ‘Feel the pain, and then feel the pain slipping away, slowly. The blood starts pouring immediately down the side of her thigh. Sara stares at the patch of skin that is completely detached from her skin. Then, Guy 3 takes the patch of skin and throws it to the corner. 

“Are ya done yet?” Sara mumbles. 

Guy 3 grabs Sara’s chin, “What did you say, traitor?” 

Sara says it more clearly, “Are you done yet?” 

“No,” and he starts punching her in the face and stomach.

After a while a weird beeping goes off from Guy 1. Guy 1 and 3 look at each other before nodding. Guy 3 drops Sara on the ground with the thud. They unchain Sara and drag her back to her chair, sitting her down and typing new ropes around her. 

“Off so soon?” Sara asks. This results in Guy 1 digging and clawing his fingers into her wound on the kneecap. Again Sara squirms again trying to fight back. 

“We shall be back. Don’t worry once we’re back all of our attention will be devoted to you, and your precious wife.” Taking his fingers out. 

“So, no go on the deal then?” 

“We never had a deal. I told you we do not negotiate with traitors such as yourself.” 

“Could have fooled me, we gave the address.”

“You gave us only a sliver of information we already had.” 

“No, you guys are just mercenaries for hire.” Sara concluded. “I know you guys don’t belong in this time. You’re just hired for muscle.”

“Do you want us to destroy your knee?”

“Hit a sore spot then, huh?” 

Guy 1 shoves the knife in her kneecap again, but this time twists the knife, “As did I.” 

Sara just jolts forward a little, but not squirming as she did before staring Guy 1 right in the eyes.

“We have business to take care of.” Guy 1 says and slowly pulls the knife out, prolonging the pain.

With that they glanced at Ava, collected all of the weapons, and made their way to the door.