Final recruit: Veronica Rowen a.k.a. KO. The apex of the definition of an antihero with the ability to absorb and control kinetic energy.
Stormy grey eyes wondered up and down the seemingly empty side walk in front of the bank ATM. She wore a black leather half jacket with a knit black scarf hood, a dark red shirt, a pair of dark jeans, black leather backless fingerless gloves, and a pair of calf high black boots. She spotted a figure a good distance away leaning against a lamp post, but paid it no real mind knowing she had more than enough skill to take whoever it was out.
She moved across the street playing the role of skittish young woman, keeping her figure hunched and a grip on her satchel. Once in front of the ATM she raised her hand which began to glow red, her eyes glowing just as bright in the same color as she used her powers. One more look around, making sure the figure was still a far piece away, she placed her hand on the machine and a pulse of red energy covered the machine for a moment.
There was a muffled bang and then the money started pouring out of the machine straight into her bag. Once it was empty and her satchel full she made her way down the street only to stop short hearing a woman's scream. Mumbling angrily under her breath she ran toward the scream unaware she had a follower.
Another scream for help from a nearby alley she was passing caused her to stop short with an annoyed sigh. She looked down the alley and spotted three bulky shadows, one of them pinning a slimmer shadow against the brick wall. Rolling her eyes with a tired sigh she walked into the alley, flexing her hands. She started to whistle as she walked gaining their attention as she stood just inside the mouth of the alley, her hands on her hips.
"Who the hell are you?" One of the men demanded taking a threatening step toward her, but she only whistled in reply. The man holding the terrified woman shoved her to the side causing her to stumble back landing on the ground with a thud where she laid huddled, too afraid to move.
"I think it's a woman." The first man leered.
"Lucky us, just when this one was getting boring." The second man sauntered forward taking in her appearance. She had long waist length dark red hair, stormy grey eyes, pale skin, straight nose, full light pink lips, and a diamond shaped face. She was standing about '5, 4' and had a petite hourglass body frame that the man was sure he would enjoy as he reached for her.
In a quick series of movements she smacked his hand away with the back of her forearm at the same time she brought her knee up to his unprotected side with enough force to cause a few of his ribs to snap. With each impact she made there was a burst of red energy which seemed to lend power to her attacks. He screamed in pain as he doubled over, but a quick elbow to the back of his head silenced him as he fell to the ground unconscious.
She looked up to the others who stood in shock; her face still covered shadow, but her red eyes visible in the darkness, glowing eerily. She cocked her head to the side, a silent invitation to see who would attack her next as she started to whistle again.
"That the best you can do?" One of the bellowed with false bravado.
She grinned as they ran at her, but just as she had taken care of the first man she took care of them. She sent them both into the walls on either side of the alley, cracks spreading out from their forms like spider webs. They both fell from the wall with sick thuds, then moved no more, their groans the only indication that they were still alive. She stood over the bodies of the unconscious men with a satisfied smirk before she looked back up at the woman who was clambering to her feet.
"Thank you, thank you so much…" The woman sobbed grabbing her hand causing her to let out an annoyed growl.
"Leave, now." Veronica snapped with bite pushing the woman from her with a snarl, red eyes flashing sending her running away from what she was sure was some kind of demon woman.
Veronica looked away from the woman's retreating form and to the men she had knocked out. She started up her whistle again as she went through their pockets taking anything of value she could find and stuffed it into her satchel, along with the woman's purse that she had so conveniently left behind in her panic to get away. With one last look at her accomplishment she turned on her heel only to see that the figure had been at the post.
"That's some nose you got there sugar." Veronica commented, her southern accent lending a lilt to her voice as she got ready for another fight. Her comment caused the man to frown dryly with one raised eyebrow.
"How kind of you to point out Miss Rowen." He deadpanned raising up a weird gun and flashing it before she could ask how he knew her name knocking her out, that's how it all started.
-0-
Fast Forward….
"Aah!" Rip jumped up from his seat snapping his hand to the back of his head. "It's been quite a while since I time-jumped far enough to experience side effects." He looked at his hand. "Fond memories."
"I can't feel my face." Jax stood up along with the others, probing his face in distress.
"Fine feel I." Leonard said calmly.
"Linguistic dysplasia, that should pass shortly." Rip said.
"Better it now." Leonard said.
"I think I'm actually ok this time." Veronica said proudly as she stood up, but her legs gave out forcing her to cling to the console to stay up. "Never mind."
"Am I the only one who can't feel their face?" Jax was still distressed.
"I can't feel my…" Ray looked down before quickly looking back up. "I better not say."
"Mr. Rory appears unaffected." Dr. Martin pointed out.
"What's going on? We time-jump?" Rory came to.
"Yeah, we time-jumped." Sara said as she helped Veronica regain her footing. "But "where to?" is the better question."
"The town of Salvation, the Dakota territory, 1871." Rip answered.
"I can't believe it the Old West." Ray smiled.
"This isn't going to work." Rory said straight away.
"It'll buy us time." Rip countered. "We can hide out here while the Hunters search the other Fragmentations."
"Not to be disparaging on your plan, but what if they decide to check this place first?" Veronica pointed out as she shifted from foot to foot testing her stability.
"You know, feel free to loop us in whenever it's convenient." Kendra commented.
"As you've seen, time doesn't operate as is generally thought. It wants to happen. It takes time to harden. The timeline is unclear on occasion, constantly in flux." Rip explained to them.
"Hence the difficulty in locating Savage throughout history." Dr. Martin nodded.
"Indeed." Rip said. "And one of the other interesting notions of time travel is the existence of Fragmentations."
"Temporal blind spots, specific places and times the Time Masters can't see." Rory said as he moved past Rip.
"The town of Salvation and its surrounding environs are located within one of these Fragmentations." Rip said.
"So, basically, we're hiding out in the Old West and hoping your boogeymen don't find us here." Leonard stood to his feet.
"The Hunters are not boogeymen." Rory warned. "And you better hope they don't find us."
"Well, at least not until I get a chance to "punch a few doggies" or "bust a bronco" or two." Ray said in bright eyed excitement, the rest of the team eyeing him.
"Oh, sweetie…" Veronica patted him on his shoulder. "No…just no."
"Not that I condone animal cruelty." Ray assured her, mistaking her words for admonishment instead of how she meant them more as a verbal cringe at his vernacular. "It's just that I watched a lot of Westerns as a kid."
"Alas, you'll have to enjoy the Old West from in here, I'm afraid." Rip said.
"Oh, come on. What's the harm in us just taking a look around?" Sara tried.
"With this group? Clearly, you haven't been paying attention." Martin pointed out.
"Ugh, if I'm in the Old West and I don't get to look around, I'm going to kick myself." Ray lamented.
"I could help with that." Leonard offered.
"I'll keep an eye on them." Rory said as he walked away. "Don't worry. I'll be a good boy."
"You must feel so reassured right now." Veronica tilted her head to the side while Rip adopted his long suffering look.
-0-
The team gathered in the fabrication room dawning their period clothing. Veronica wore a fitted pair of dark grey pants, a pair of brown boots, a white dress shirt that tucked into her pants, a brown closed vest, a red bandana tied loose around her neck, a knee length grey duster, a grey cowgirl hat with a brown band, and a brown holster on her right hip.
"I look just like Wyatt Earp." Ray grinned.
"Now, the fabricator can make clothing, but you're also going to need era-appropriate protection." Rip said moving over to the wall displaying the era appropriate weapons. "This era can get a little, uh, rough."
"Oh, six shooters?" Jax said as Rip picked up two six shooters.
"Actually, most guns of that time period had hammer blocks, thus reducing the number of shots to five." Ray pointed out.
"Now, this should go without saying, but considering this group, I am going to say it only use these weapons in the case of extreme emergencies." Rip held out the guns to Kendra and Sara who shared an amused look.
"You make it sound like you're not coming with." Kendra pointed out.
"From your duster and revolver, I'd imagined you as much an Old West aficionado as Dr. Palmer." Martin said.
"Indeed I am. But my time is best spent back here on the ship, plotting our next move against Vandal Savage." Rip told them. "Besides, as Mr. Rory says, it's only a matter of time before the Hunters find us here."
"Don't worry." Leonard assured him. "We're not going to put down roots."
"Yeah, we'll stay out of trouble." Sara ran her gun along her arm.
"Mm, how I hope and pray that to be true." Rip said clearly not believing her.
"Sometimes I feel like you don't trust us." Veronica twirled her gun before slipping it into her holster with a wink.
"Can't imagine why." Rip said dryly.
-0-
They walked into town, the streets nothing more than muddy lanes and the building no taller than two stories. People watched them as they moved down the street toward the saloon as everyone watched them go by.
"This must be pretty homey for you Veronica." Ray commented.
"Pert near." Veronica nodded having grown up on a ranch with her foster family.
It was a lot of hard work and she felt more like a ranch-hand than a daughter, but she loved the horses and all that came with it. She had always planned on working with horses for the rest of her life as soon as she was eighteen, but things hadn't turned out like she wanted at all.
"Remember, we're just here to get the lay of the land." Martin said as the sounds of saloon music filled the air. "No trouble."
"Sure that'll happen." Sara said dryly.
"You never know sugar, anything can happen once." Veronica shrugged.
"I need a drink." Rory went straight to the bar, Kendra, Sara, and Veronica following him.
"Wow. It's a real old-timey saloon." Ray's face was a mask of awe. Martin was looking around as well in wonder, running into one of the women there.
"Oh, I beg your pardon." She smiled at Martin.
"Not at all, ma'am." Martin tilted his hat.
Veronica leaned against the bar looking out over the saloon while her companions got their drinks. Her eyes moved from person to person until she caught the gaze of a man sitting alone. He was in the shadows so all she could see were his eyes, unblinking and refusing to look away first.
"That tastes like gasoline." Kendra grimaced after taking her drink.
"Pretty much." Rory took his straight down. "Hit me again." Rory took down another drink. "Time doesn't pass normally in the Vanishing Point. It's been years since I've seen the bottom of a glass."
"Years? How long were you Chronos?" Veronica asked sending the man a cheeky wink before turning back to the bar.
"Never counted." Rory replied. "Doesn't matter. Turns out it was just another gig anyway."
"Doesn't seem like it." Sara twirled her glass around. "You're different now."
"Better or worse?" Rory asked
"Don't know yet." Sara eyed him as she kicked back her drink.
"You can handle your liquor." Rory pointed out. "I like that."
"I've been on more than a few dates with guys who thought we'd get wasted and they'd get lucky, but somehow they always ended up the ones under the table." Sara smiled smugly.
"You haven't drunk with me." Rory countered.
"Is that a challenge, Mick?" Sara straightened up.
"Line them up." Mick ordered and the bar tender hopped to it.
"You two have fun, I'm going to see how Martin is doing at the card tables." Veronica pushed off the bar moving across the room more than aware of the pair of eyes following her movements. "My money's on you Sara, don't let me down."
Sara saluted her with her drink before taking it down starting off the competition with Mick.
"Seems that you've caught someone's attention." Leonard joined her in her walk across the saloon.
"I reckon so." Veronica grinned.
"Careful kitten, don't go falling in love and having to leave him broken hearted." Leonard commented.
"I always leave a trail of broken hearts behind me." Veronica hummed twirling a piece of her hair around her finger then letting the curl go with a bounce. "Don't see why I should keep it to one time period."
"Aren't you the little minx." Leonard smirked as they joined Martin at the tables. "Didn't know you played cards."
"Like you, Mr. Snart, I am an enigma." Martin through some money on the table. "Raise." The other men put down their own money as well then Martin revealed his winning hand with a flourish. "Aha. Thank you, gentlemen."
"Well I declare." Veronica leaned against Leonard's chair, one arm braced on the back of it.
"I'm impressed." Leonard agreed.
"My father was what some might call a degenerate gambler, others would say criminal." Martin informed them placing his money to the side as the cards were shuffled up again. Veronica eyed the two men across from Martin who seemed agitated at the doctor's winnings, her hand drifting closer to her gun. "When I was old enough, he'd pull me in on some of his schemes." Martin laid down his bet. "I picked up a thing or two at a few of the card tables he frequented. Then I took a different path. Like father, like son isn't always inevitable, Mr. Snart."
"I'm proud of you Martin, it's been almost a whole hour since the last time you demeaned someone to make yourself feel better." Veronica patted him on the back with a sardonic smile. Martin shot her a glare before he revealed his hand and reached for his money, but the man across from him grabbed his hand before he could pick it up.
"I had a full boat." The man snarled laying out his hand.
"As did I." Martin said as a woman came over placing a drink next to the angry man. "Full of kings, which beats your pair of queens."
"Don't I look busy to you?" The man grabbed the woman's arm painfully.
"I'm sorry." The woman said. "I…"
"You spill another drop of that whiskey, and you will be." He ground out, squeezing her arm hard enough that it would leave bruises.
"Just because you're losing doesn't mean you have to pick on the wait staff." Martin admonished sternly.
"Mind your own business, grandpa." He snapped back.
"Unhand the lady." Martin ordered standing to his feet causing his chair to scrape back against the wood floor.
"Now, now, boys, let's just take it easy." Leonard said casually.
"Don't want to do anything you may regret later sugar." Veronica hummed out.
"Oh, when my friends here are being reasonable, we know we have a problem." Martin gestured to Leonard and Veronica who kept their eyes on the man.
"I'm not the one with the problem." The man stood to his feet. "You are."
The man drew his gun on Martin and there was a gunshot causing the patrons gasp and scream. Martin clutched his stomach in fear, but it was the man who fell dead to the ground. Martin looked from the dead man to where Leonard was still leaned back with a smoking gun in hand.
"You killed him." Martin said in shock.
"You're welcome." Leonard replied.
"Nice shot honey." Veronica whistled.
"Thank you." Leonard drawled. "At least someone appreciates me around here."
More men stood to their feet, in fact it seemed that half of the bar was up starring them down. Those who were not involved quickly ran for the exit knowing that a fight was on the way and not wanting to be caught up in the middle of it.
"Clearly, the deceased was a friend of yours, but my friend here…" Martin tried to smooth things over.
"Your friend drew first, got put down." Leonard said easily. "It was a clean shot."
"Do we look like we care about clean?" A man growled out.
"He has a point." Martin said.
"It would explain the smell." Veronica waved her hand in front of her face right before the man through a punch at Leonard who ducked out of the way, returning the attack with one of his own making contact.
The saloon burst into chaos as everyone was attacking each other. The pianist music became upbeat, glass was shattering, and everything that wasn't nailed down became rubble. The team instantly took to the brawl battering their way through anyone that came anywhere near them with the exception of Mick who was passed out at the bar.
Veronica ducked under a flying chair coming up with an uppercut to another man's jaw when he tried to grab her and he was sent across the room into a table. Her eyes were a deep red as she spun around with a back kick into another man's gut sending him flying back. Everything came to a grinding halt when the music was cut short by someone getting slammed into the piano and a gunshot was fired.
"All right! Playtime's over." The man Veronica had made eye contact with earlier stood from his table. He had a deep rough voice that did wonders for his western drawl. He was wearing a Calvary uniform, what hair that could be seen under his hat was dark, his eyes were hazel, stubble covered his jaw and chin, but his most prominent feature was the scaring over the right side of his face though it did nothing to detract from how handsome he was. "Anybody's got a problem with that, they answer to me."
"Thank you, Mister…" Martin said as he came over to them while the rest of the bar backed off.
"Hex…Jonah Hex." He eyed them as he introduced himself. His gaze lingered on Veronica, tilting his hat to her. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"No." Martin answered for them. "My friends and I are, uh from out of town."
"Way out of town." Hex commented before leading them all out of the bar back into the street. "All right." Hex turned to them. "Why don't you folks tell me where you're really from?"
"I'm not sure that's any of your business, sir." Martin replied.
"Let me rephrase that. Tell me when y'all from." Hex said surprising them all. "You eight stick out like a dog in a manger."
"Like he said sugar, we ain't from around here." Veronica crossed her arms.
"You think you're the first time travelers I've ever come across?" Hex questioned once again locking gazes with her.
"Uh, yes." Martin replied as if it was obvious.
"Where is he? I got some words that need saying." Hex questioned.
"Where's who?" Veronica asked.
"Rip Hunter." Hex ground out.
-0-
They took Jonah back to the ship when he made it more than clear that he was not going to let them go without him and they took the time to introduce themselves to the scarred man.
"Veronica Rowen." Veronica was the last to introduce herself and held out her hand.
"Ma'am." The way he took her hand allowed it to slide against her before firmly, but gently squeezing it, lingering for a moment before letting go.
Veronica would be lying if she didn't admit she liked the warm way her smaller hand felt in his larger hand or what his gaze was doing to her stomach and that voice, all gravely and masculine. It took Leonard nudging her sharply in the side to break her out of her temporary trance much to her embarrassment. Ray, Veronica, and Jax took Hex into the main room while the others went their way. Jax tapped on the glass to Rips office gaining his attention. Rip let out an annoyed sigh before striding out of his office.
"What is it about you people that whenever we go to a new timeline, you feel the need to pick up…" Rip stopped short upon noticing who it was that was with them. "…strays?"
"Nice." Jonah commented as he looked about himself. "I didn't get to see it last time around."
"Last time?" Ray asked.
"A long story, which we will not be telling." Rip said quickly.
"But will more than likely come to light in the next course of events anyway so why not just tell us now?" Veronica sat in one of the jump seats with her hands behind her head and her legs stretched out crossed at the ankles.
"No." Rip replied curtly.
"My coat suits you good." Jonah cutting into the conversation.
"What are you doing here, Jonah?" Rip asked.
"Collecting on a bounty, wetting my whistle, when your friends here got in a lot of trouble." Jonah replied.
"We might've gotten into a barroom brawl back in town." Ray admitted sheepishly.
"Well, that was entirely predictable." Rip glared as Ray.
"One of them poured lead into a member of the Stillwater gang." Jonah told him.
"Mr. Rory." Rip said.
"Snart, actually." Veronica corrected him.
"Oh, that was gonna be my next guess." Rip sighed.
"Who was your third?" Veronica asked.
"Guess." Rip narrowed his eyes at her.
"That is just rude." Veronica pouted. "You know as long as you keep thinking the worst of us that's all you're going to get."
"I'll bare that in mind Miss Rowen." Rip scoffed.
"You recruited us knowing what we were yet all you ever do is complain about what we are." Veronica glared. "If you didn't want us around you shouldn't have recruited us captain."
"This guy tried to kill Grey." Jax told him, cutting into the age long fight that had been brewing between the two for some time. "Snart saved him."
"And brought this town a whole lot of hell in the bargain." Jonah said, his eyes glancing to Veronica who rocked to her feet sauntering over to them, her arms on her swaying hips. "Those boys you were trading hands with in the saloon they're all members of the Stillwater gang."
"Why can't a gang ever be a bunch of good guys?" Ray asked wistfully.
"They tend to call them leagues, gives their gang a more positive spin." Veronica pointed out.
"Jeb Stillwater and his friends been raiding this town for the past three months." Jonah informed them. "Stealing, robbing, killing."
"Well, he'll have to go through us." Ray stood up straight.
"No, he won't." Rip cut in sharply. "No doubt your little ruckus has already placed the timeline at risk, to say nothing of potentially alerting the Hunters to our presence here."
"Sounds like someone's planning on busting out of town again." Jonah looked to Rip.
"Leaving already?" Rory came into the room.
"No." Ray said quickly. "No. Look, this town is being terrorized by the Stillwater gang." Ray placed his hat back on his head. "And I aim to do something about it."
"You "aim to"? You getting all native on us, Haircut?" Rory grinned. "Or you've been hanging around Veronica too much."
"Oh honey, he'll need a lot more work to get my southern twang down." Veronica shook her head with a grin.
"Look, we signed on to this mission…" Ray tried to reason.
"To stop Vandal Savage." Rip interjected.
"To be heroes." Ray went on. "And saving a town from a marauding gang of criminals that is what heroes do."
"Quite a posse of saints you're riding along with nowadays." Jonah tilted his head up while Rip looked beyond frustrated.
-0-
Ray walked into the sheriff's office with Veronica and Jonah that same night hoping to offer his assistance. Veronica had come along as well saying that she needed some air that was not being shared with Rip. The sheriff was in the jailhouse busy about his desk stuffing a few bags with his personal items.
"Howdy." Ray cleared his throat gaining his attention. "I'm Ray…John Wayne."
"What do you want, Mr. Wayne?" The sheriff asked, glancing at Veronica who had covered her small laugh with a cough at Ray's new name.
"Well, I, uh I reckon you could use another hand with the Stillwater gang." Ray offered with a bright smile.
"You boys have any experience with law enforcement?" He asked, Veronica rolling her eyes.
"Yes, we all have experience fighting crime." Veronica injected. "And my names Veronica, not that you seem to be gentlemen enough to ask."
"Congratulations, then." The sheriff took a badge pressing it into Ray's hand and tossing another to Veronica.
"You're making us your deputies?" Ray asked.
"Nope." He corrected. "Just made you the new sheriff and she's your deputy."
"Excuse me, what?" Ray looked at him wide eyed.
"Stillwater gang has been shooting up this town for months now." The ex-sheriff said walking over to the door. "It's only by the grace of the good Lord that I'm not pushing up daisies myself. And I am done with pushing my luck."
"But you're the sheriff." Ray called after him, but he wasn't coming back.
"Congratulations." Jonah said eyeing them out of his peripheral vision. "By the way, you might find a warrant or two out for me around these parts."
"You know, we have stuff back on the ship that can fix your…you know…" Ray awkwardly pointed to Jonah scarred face.
"Fix what?" Jonah asked, deadpanned.
"Yep. Nothing." Ray covered up quickly as he walked away. "Never mind."
"I never thought in a million years that I would be any kind of law enforcement." Veronica looked down at the badge in her hand apprehensively. Jonah eyed the lovely woman before him, eyes like a summer storm and hair redder than a red rose, she was something else. He walked closer to her taking the badge form her hand turning it over in his hand.
"Seems to me you being part of those legends of yours you'd be a shoe-in." Jonah commented.
"About that…" Veronica laughed a bit. "Some of the other members of the legends and I are not exactly what you would call straight laced."
"That so?" Jonah caught her gaze.
"I'm a vigilante where I come from, an anti-hero." Veronica explained, not breaking eye contact. "Took the law into my own hands quite often, sometimes I defended it and other times I broke it, but mostly I broke it."
"Seems to me you been keeping it lately more than breaking it." Jonah pointed out to her. "You had no reservations that I could see coming out here to face off against the Stillwater gang."
"What can I say, I'm a brawler." Veronica smirked up at him.
"Seems to me you might be a hero as well." Jonah stepped in close pinning the deputy badge to her vest.
"You don't even know me." Veronica tilted her head.
"Ma'am that is something I would like to resolve." Jonah smirked down at her.
"Hey you two!" Ray popped back in making the two of them step quickly apart. "We should get the others up to speed and see what we can do about the Stillwater gang."
"Right, on our way." Veronica sighed out in irritation as she followed Ray out, Jonah chuckling as he brought up the rear.
-0-
Veronica sat behind the sheriff's desk with her feet propped up watching as Ray paced back and forth. He was rambling so much and so fast that she couldn't understand a word he was saying, but she was pretty sure that he was coming up with some sort of plan.
"Thanks by the way." Ray said suddenly.
"For what?" Veronica looked up at him.
"For doing this with me, you know, standing up for the town." Ray clarified.
"Yeah, well, we're teammates now, this is what we do." Veronica shrugged and did a double take when she saw Ray's large grin. "What?
"It's just…well…" He scratched the back of his head.
"Just what?" Veronica let her feet fall back to the ground as she rested her arms on the desk leaning forward.
"When we started all of this…well…you weren't exactly…" Ray stuttered out as Veronica rested her chin on her closed fist watching him in amusement knowing what he was getting at.
"Please just spit it out Ray." Veronica sighed.
"You weren't exactly the friendliest person, or the most honest, or the…" Veronica raised a brow and Ray stopped mid-sentence awkwardly clearing his throat before going on. "You're more of a team player now and you care more about others, you don't do it for a reward anymore." Ray blurted out causing Veronica to sit up straight. "I didn't mean any offense."
"No, it's ok Ray." Veronica assured him looking down at the desk. "It's been nice…being a part of a team." Veronica shrugged drumming her fingers on the desk top. "Kind of like having a family."
Ray smiled softly down at her knowing that being in foster had done her no favors. Before he could speak gunshots and shouting broke out in the street.
"One of mine is dead." Stillwater called out as he and his gang came to a stop.
"Ready?" Ray looked to Veronica.
"Yep." Veronica stood up.
"And this here town's gonna pay." Stillwater went on as Veronica and Ray came out of the office standing in the middle of the road before the gang. "Now, who the hell are you supposed to be?"
"John Wayne Salvation's new sheriff and this is my deputy, Veronica Rowen." Ray introduced them, Veronica gave them a lazy salute. "And this here town is under our protection."
"A lady deputy, now don't that beat all." One of the gang scoffed, the rest of the gang laughing.
"I hate small talk, what the hell do you miscreants want?" Veronica said in boredom.
"Well, you being new and all, you don't know about the arrangement that we got." Stillwater glared at them. "See, me and my boys, we ride into town, we take whatever we want."
"In exchange for what?" Ray asked.
"Not killing nobody." Stillwater answered, his gang laughing.
"Well, that sounds reasonable and all, but arrangement's over." Ray told them.
"Arrangement's over, boys." Stillwater echoed, his gang laughing again as he got off of his horse. He walked up to them, confident with his men behind him. "They teach you numbers where it is you're from? 'Cause the way I see it, there's only two of you and a whole mess of us."
Stillwater pushed his coat tail back and drew his gun on them. There was a gunshot and Stillwater's gun flew from his hand. The gang looked around for any sign of the shooter, but saw none.
"You get out of town, and you don't come back, or the next bullet goes in your eye." Ray ordered them.
"We have sharpshooters all around. Do you really want to test us?" Veronica tilted her head slight to the side. There was a tense moment, the stare down to see who would blink first.
"Let's ride, boys." Stillwater relented and with a shout he and his men rode out of town. Cheers and applause erupted from the townspeople for their new sheriff and deputy.
"Nice, Haircut, you to red." Rory said as Jax joined the cheering. Ray turned to the crowd tipping his hat to them while Veronica gave a small wave.
-0-
They all returned to the wave rider with Jonah in tow, the team complimenting Ray and Veronica on how well they had done.
"Guys, that was badass." Jax chuckled.
"Let's not oversell it." Leonard said.
"Running a bad guy out of town's always been - on my bucket list." Ray beamed.
""Bucket list"?" Jonah questioned.
"It's list of things to do before you kick the bucket, you know, before you die." Veronica supplied as they came into the console room.
"Well, you better hope it's a real short list, String Bean." Jonah commented.
"Ye of little faith." Veronica admonished playfully. "We can handle the Stillwater gang."
"Well, you're all just tearing up the 1870s, aren't you?" Rip snapped as he came from his office.
"Stillwater and his gang's like a hornets' nest, and your friends here keep poking at it." Jonah groused.
"They saved the town from being raided, man." Jax defended them.
"Today, but what about tomorrow or the day after that? For a bunch of time travelers, you don't seem to understand the future much." Jonah starred them all down. "The day will come when you'll all leave and Salvation will end up like Calvert."
"What's a Calvert?" Rory asked.
"A closed matter." Rip replied.
"Maybe we should open it." Veronica looked between Rip and Jonah.
"A word, Mr. Hex?" Rip said ignoring Veronica. "I believe you've all done enough for one day."
"Well, now I definitely want to know what a Calvert is." Rory said as Hex went into the office with Rip.
"Then it's a good thing we have access to a supercomputer." Martin said walking over to the console. "Gideon?"
"Calvert was a town in Oklahoma circa 1868." Gideon answered.
""Was"?" Veronica echoed and all of their faces became drawn as they watched the fate of the town fold out before them.
-0-
Veronica stood at the console with Hex pressing a few of the controls, biting her lip as her brows furrowed in concentration. She had taken off her jacket and thrown it over one of the nearby seats and her vest was now unbuttoned. She pressed a few buttons and noting happened so she tried again with the same result.
"Do you actually know how all of this works?" Hex eyed her obvious confusion with some amusement.
"Nope." Veronica replied shaking her head. "But I have a super awesome friend who can help. Gideon, could you bring up a map of the town and surrounding area please?"
"Oh course Miss Rowen." Gideon brought up the map on the screen.
"Thank you Gideon." Veronica said as she looked town at the map pointing to a section. "Now with what Martin got off of the bar keep it seems like Stillwater would more likely be held up around this…" She stopped short when she looked up and found that Jonah was standing very close to her. He was leaning over her shoulder behind her with his arm braced against the console. "…this area."
"There's some pretty deep in the woods out there, but there's a clearing they may be set up in." Hex leaned closer pointing out the location, his hand finding its way from the console to the small of her back under her vest so she could feel the heat of his hand through her shirt.
"That seems like a good place to start." Veronica cleared her throat looking away.
"We should get some horses together and get your friends." Jonah said as Veronica felt his thumb rubbing her back and quickly stepped away with a flushed face.
"I think Ray is down in the hold, we should get him first." Veronica said as she quickly grabbed her jacket then heel toed it out of there, a smirking Jonah following behind her to the hold.
This was no how it happened. She was the flirty confident one leaving the men as putty in her hands, not the other way around. She was the heart breaker, but she found that she didn't want to break this one's heart, she wanted to keep it. Which was ludicrous considering she had only just met him and would soon be on her way out of this time period. She had to keep her mind in control and her heart in the back seat.
"The information Mr. Stein got from the barkeep paid out and Miss Veronica got your ship's map up." Hex said as they came upon Ray and Rip. "We know where the Stillwater gang's holed up."
"All right." Ray placed his hat on his head. "Let's ride." He held up his hand to Hex. "Up high."
Hex eyed him strangely until Ray put his hand back down.
"You coming, Rip?" Jonah looked at him, but the captain shook his head. "That's what I thought."
-0-
They made their way through the murky woods just before daylight on horseback, Veronica pouting a bit when Ray told her it would be best if she kept her powers down to the minimal meaning no explosions. Usually she'd ignore such advice, but in this instance he knew he was right so she begrudgingly agreed.
"We could've used Sara on this roundup." Rory commented.
"A lady? You crazy?" Jonah eyed them.
"Just remember, we're here to arrest Stillwater, not kill him." Ray said, trying to quickly cover up what Jonah had said.
"He always this much of a stick in the mud?" Jonah asked unaware of the danger he was in from a certain red head.
"Yes." Rory replied with a dark chuckle. "But that's not you should be worried about right now."
"What?" Hex looked at him and Rory pointed over to Veronica, Jonah looking to the red head.
"No place for a lady, why do you think I'm here?" Veronica eyed Hex darkly. "Or do you just not think I'm a lady?"
"You are a lady, that's why you're staying back here, if anything goes wrong you ride for help." Jonah checked over his gun missing the panicked looks of Jax and Ray, the entertained looks of Leonard and Rory, and the red eyed glare from Veronica herself.
"Is that so?" Veronica snapped her legs sending her horse charging forward into the camp guns drawn, the others quickly following.
Ray, Rory, and Jonah dismounted fighting hand to hand amongst the gang. Amongst the chaos Ray had managed take out Stillwater and placed him on Leonard's horse. Jonah was surrounded by three men with guns not liking his chances to much. Veronica jumped from her horse wrapping her arm around the neck of one of the men and pulling him to the ground. He struggled to get up but she brought her gun down on the back of his head knocking him out.
Another man came for her, but she crouched down spinning around kicking his legs out from under him. Quickly standing again she kicked him in the head at the same time she threw a rock she had scooped up hitting the last man in the forehead sending him back.
"Still think this is no place for a woman?" Veronica eyed his gob smacked face, moving off to her horse before he could answer.
"Jeb Stillwater, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney." Ray listed off.
"There won't be Miranda rights for another 100 years." Leonard rolled his eyes before taking off.
"Fall back! Fall back!" They all started to leave the camp, but Jax was caught by a rope and yanked back off of his horse.
"Jax!" Rory called out as the gang fired on them and they returned fire, but were outnumbered.
"We got to go!" Jonah yelled.
"Not without Jax!" Leonard replied as the gang advanced on them.
"Well, we got Stillwater." Jonah countered. "It means we got leverage. Live to fight another day or die tonight your choice."
Reluctantly they followed Jonah in retreat rushing back to the ship as fast as the horses would take them.
-0-
"Where is Stillwater?" Martin demanded as they all ended up in the console room of the Wave-Rider.
"He's knocked out cold in the med bay." Veronica plopped down in one of the seats crossing her stretched out legs at the ankles.
"Well, this is a simple matter." Martin was clearly on edge at the loss of his charge. "We trade Stillwater for Jefferson as Mr. Hex suggested."
"It's not that simple." Ray told him. "If we release Stillwater, we're back to square one and the town is still in danger."
"So is the kid." Leonard pointed out.
"And we'll figure out a way to get him back without releasing Stillwater." Ray told him.
"I got a notion." Hex spoke up from where he leaned against the wall. He pushed off sauntering over to them. "Set up a quick draw. You win, get your guy back. You lose, you set Stillwater free."
"And, by "lose," you mean get shot and killed." Martin said in annoyance. "Oh, great. Pistols at high noon."
"Finally, someone's talking sense." Rory looked over his own gun.
"There has to be another way, a better way." Martin tried.
"Sure. Go after Stillwater with all your gear from the future." Jonah said walking over to Rip. "I don't know how that'll sit with your captain, though."
"Mm, let's assume it's a bad idea." Rip replied.
"So who's standing in the middle of Main Street?" Rory asked.
"I'll do it." Raymond said right away.
"Raymond, now is not the time to indulge your cowboy fantasies." Martin admonished him.
"No one else is stepping forward." Raymond pointed out. "Plus, I'm a decent shot…at least I was with an air rifle."
"Sweetie, there is a big difference between shooting a can with an air rifle and shooting a man with a pistol." Veronica crossed her arms. "Maybe you should let me do it."
"You've shot someone?" Ray's brows rose.
"I do tend to shoot back when people are shooting at me." Veronica nodded. "And in my previous line of work it happened quite often."
"I can't believe you're encouraging this." Rip glared at Hex before making his way to his office, Jonah following him.
"You know it's the only way." Jonah replied.
"Dr. Palmer and Miss Rowen are going to get themselves killed." Rip glared at him.
"I think you forfeited your right to an opinion when you refused to leave the ship since we've been here." Ray walked up to the office with Martin, Veronica, and Leonard following him.
"I had good reason." Rip told him.
"Because of Calvert." Martin said.
"Yes, but not in the way you think." Rip relented, struggling. "Leaving Calvert, leaving this era is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
"And why is that, Captain?" Leonard asked in a low drawl.
"A Time Master is trained to do his work without interference, which means not helping people or being a hero." Rip told them. "But as you've seen, Dr. Palmer and Miss Rowen, this era offers many opportunities for heroism. I found it enticing."
"And you still managed to leave." Hex said eyeing the captain. "Something's been bugging me all these years. If you'd have known what Turnbull was going to do to Calvert, would you have left?"
"That's the thing, Jonah." Rip admitted. "I did know." With no warning Jonah's fist connected solidly with Rip's jaw sending him back into his chair with a pained groan, his hand clutching his jaw. "I deserve that."
"You deserve a lot worse." Jonah pointed an accusing finger at him. "You knew, and you still left?"
"Of course I knew. I was a Time Master." Rip told him. "And therein lay the problem. Like Raymond, like Martin, like Veronica, I felt the pull of heroism, of this era's penchant for being rife with opportunities to make a difference." Rip stood up from his chair gesturing to the three. "That's one of the things that called to me, and that is why I had to leave. Because had I stayed I could no longer have remained a Time Master. But I'm no longer a Time Master which is why I'll face Stillwater."
"Wait. I said that I would do it." Ray stepped forward.
"And get yourself shot and killed? It's appreciated, but I'd rather you stayed alive." Rip said.
"Which is why I stepped in." Veronica gestured to herself.
"You're a good shot Miss Rowen, but I need to do this." Rip admitted and Veronica nodded stepping down. Rip turned back to Hex. "Send word to Stillwater's posse. I believe high noon is in less than three hours."
-0-
It was a mucky grey day with a misting cold rain that seemed to seep into the bones. The crowds had gathered to see the spectacle and a coffin was laid out ready and waiting for the loser as well as a photographer. The Legends were spread out a bit, all more nervous that they were willing to admit.
"You think Hunter can pull this off?" Veronica asked Hex as they stood in the street of the town.
"Reasonably." Hex replied. "If not, I got dibs on that newfangled revolver of his."
"Then I get his ship." Veronica said with a small smirk.
"That was some fancy fighting you did earlier." Hex commented.
"You mean when I pulled your bacon out of the fire?" Veronica asked sarcastically with a raised brow. "Yes, yes it was."
"All women do that in your time?" Hex asked.
"Just about." Veronica nodded as Hex let out a low appreciative whistle. "Does that bother you?"
"It's just not the way things are around here." Hex shrugged.
"Shame." Veronica surveyed the town just as the gang came riding into town with Jax. Leonard brought their leader out of the jail, his gun pointed at his back.
"You sure about this?" Ray asked Rip.
"Well, if anything, it feels good to be out here again, in this era." Rip replied.
"Well, don't get too attached." Ray cautioned him.
"That is what I keep telling myself." Rip drawled out. "I'll be drawing for Sheriff Palmer."
"How do me and my boys know you're going to keep your word?" Stillwater questioned as Leonard twirled his gun around shoving it into the leader's hand.
"Sheriff Palmer's a straight shooter." Leonard replied.
"Then he should be the one in the street." Stillwater looked over the gun checking if it was loaded or tampered with. Satisfied he ran the gun along his arm before holstering it.
Rip moved forward dramatically throwing back the tail of his coat to get better access to his gun. Stillwater took up his position starring down Rip, both men tense as the crowd around them. Suddenly both men went for their guns and just as the camera flashed they shot. Stillwater fell back to the ground, a bullet hole right through his heart. Rip twirled his gun as he stood straight putting it back into his holster.
Stillwater was placed into the waiting coffin and Jax was released, quickly running back to the other legends. Martin met him halfway as the gang mad a run for it out of town.
"Jefferson, are you all right?" Martin asked.
"Yeah." Jax nodded. "Did you just shoot somebody for me?"
"Yeah." Rip replied. "You're welcome."
"I don't think we're done here yet." Sara stepped away from the group. Three men stepped forward clearly the bounty hunters from the Time Masters. The towns people scattered in fear at the sight of the strange men.
"Oh, no." Veronica reached down gripping her guns.
"They found us." Rip breathed out as the hunters took out their weapons and opened fire.
"Ah, friends! Welcome." Rory grinned like a maniac as he fired at them.
"I think you'll find this slightly more effective than your current sidearm." Rip pressed a revolver with glowing green cartridges into Hex's hand. "Yes, I will be wanting that back, by the way." Rip moved over to Ray handing him a small box. "And you'll be needing this."
"What about revealing our future tech to the locals?" Ray asked taking the box.
"It doesn't seem to bother them. Shall we?" Martin turned to Jax who grabbed his hand transforming into Firestorm, Hex crossing himself as he watched them fly off laying down cover fire. Kendra's wings spread out and she took off into the air above the hunters.
"What about our guns?" Leonard demanded.
"Sorry." Rip replied. "Grabbed what I could."
"I think I can make do." Veronica's eyes glowed red as did her guns. Her bullets now infused with her powers caused small explosions upon impact.
"That's what's up! Y'all better stay the hell away from us!" Jax called out after a successful attack.
"Calm down, Jefferson." Martin cautioned him as Rory engaged in hand to hand fighting with one of the hunters beating him back into a corner.
"Traitor!" The hunter accused.
"Not possible. I was never on your side." Rory growled out. "I was on my side."
Kendra and Sara were double teaming a man when Ray minimized in his suit flew through his chest bringing him down. Rory spun the man around holding him from behind his arm wrapped around his neck. He ripped off his mask revealing an older man with a greying beard and hair.
"You'll never win!" He spat out at Rory.
"Wake up, pal. We already did." Rory unloaded on the man taking the hunters knife slicing across his chest. Rory pushed him back against a horse hitching post taking his sword and shoving his down through the mans shoulder into his chest.
"Fool." The man breathed out, blood running form his mouth. "The Time Masters have initiated Omega Protocol." Rory's eyes went wide. "The Pilgrim's coming for you, Chronos. Your deaths are just a matter of time."
"Yeah, yeah." Rory replied as the man died.
"Well, that was easy." Veronica commented as she blew the red energy off of her guns before twirling them and placing them back into their holsters.
-0-
The town moved on rather quickly for having just seen something so strange, almost acting like they hadn't seen it at all. Rip wondered down the busy streets over to Hex who was loading up his horse getting ready to leave town now that the fun was all over.
"You're not staying." Rip said.
"Are you?" Hex asked.
"Me? You know I can't." Rip shook his head as Jonah mounted his horse. "But this town still needs a sheriff."
"Well, I'm not the law-and-order type nor the staying-in-one-place type either." Hex declined. "Well, we have that much in common at least."
"At least." Rip agreed. "Be well, Jonah."
"Nice thing about my world for you, it ain't going anywhere." Hex told him.
"Ah, perhaps we will see each other again, my friend." Rip said.
"Yeah. I reckon that'd be okay." Hex clicked his tongue and made his way out of town, but slowed upon seeing Veronica leaning against one of the posts outside the jail house. Veronica smiled at him with a tilt of her head while Jonah returned her smile touching his hat in return before taking off.
"Surprised you're not riding off into the sunset with him." Leonard commented coming up to stand next to her.
"Yeah well I'm not sure I'm ready to live without modern conveniences just yet." Veronica shrugged as they stepped off the porch and walked over to Rip.
"Interesting fella." Leonard said.
"Indeed." Rip agreed.
"This town's seen a lot of interesting." Veronica pointed out.
"Suppose you got one of those doohickies that erases people's memories or something?" Leonard asked.
"No." Rip lead them away down the street. "But skepticism and disbelief are a far more effective tool."
"So, if anybody here talks, no one will believe them." Leonard surmised.
"Would you, Mr. Snart? Miss Rowen?" Rip asked to which both knew they would not.
-0-
They all gathered in the console room of the ship getting ready to take off again since their hiding place had been discovered.
"So how are you feeling, given your concerns about becoming addicted to this era once again?" Martin asked Rip.
"The last time I left, Martin, I did it to be with those closest to me." Rip replied. "I'm doing the same again."
"So where to now?" Leonard asked.
"Or, more specifically, when?" Sara corrected him.
"Is there another Fragmentation we can hide out in?" Kendra asked.
"Unfortunately, matters are not quite so simple." Rip replied stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"How'd I know you were gonna say something like that?" Jax sighed.
"Because that's just the way our luck runs." Veronica sighed. "What's going on now?"
"Rip's buddies." Rory began.
"And yours." Ray pointed out.
"The Time Masters have issued Omega Protocols on all of us." Rory told them.
"That sounds pretty terrible." Ray said.
"The worst kind of order they can issue they've sent the Pilgrim after us." Rory pressed.
"Who's the Pilgrim?" Jax asked.
"The Pilgrim is the Time Masters' most deadly assassin, and she will stop at nothing until each and every one of you are dead." Rip told them.
"Ooh, scary." Leonard mocked. "Pretty sure we can handle ourselves."
"But it's not that simple is it?" Veronica eyed Rip and Rory.
"Indeed which is why she won't be going after the present-day versions of you." Rip told them. "She's hunting our younger selves." Everyone going tense at this information. "And she won't stop until each and every one of us has been erased from the timeline."