Sara isn't really a wedding person.
Oh, she's thrilled for Barry and Iris. She is. Really, truly happy for them, especially given what she's heard about timeline changes and evil future Barry and Iris sort of coming back from the dead. (Something she figures she knows a thing or two about, albeit in a different way.) But that still doesn't mean that she wants to go to their wedding and smile and act like she wants to catch the bouquet and lie about her job and turn down offers to dance...
The idea of the singles table, she thinks with a sigh, leaves her cold.
The whole Waverider crew is invited, although Amaya and Nate don't even know the couple in question. Sara thinks Mick's actually a bit touched by the invite, although he demurs in favor of staying to keep an eye on the ship. Amaya promptly volunteers to do so too, which means that Nate (with whom she recently went through a quiet, relatively non-messy breakup) promptly decides he is going to the wedding.
Sara, who's decided that captain's duties do not mean any sort of keeping tabs on who's sleeping with whom on the ship, accepts all three decisions without comment.
Ray and Stein and Jax, of course, all eagerly start making plans. During a brief stop back in 2017 London, they get Gideon to send RSVPs for the three of them, with Stein making a quick call to Clarissa and Lily to deliver the news. (Ray tries not to look too eager; Sara rolls her eyes.)
And against her better judgment, she accepts too.
They park in the outskirts of Central City on the morning of the wedding, giving the five of them time to make their way to meet the members of Teams Flash and Arrow at STAR Labs for a brief get-together before they have to start pretending to be ordinary, everyday people and not Legends and heroes.
Iris is radiant as she greets them; Barry is beaming as he shakes hands and accepts hugs. Sara notices that his gaze slides off hers at first and wonders why he's looking so guilty, but then Cisco is bouncing up and down in front of her, asking about their recent adventures... and she allows herself to be distracted.
Iris and Caitlin have some time before they have to whisk off to start the process of hair and makeup with Iris' other attendants, those not "in the know," as Cisco intones solemnly. The group of them gather with takeout and drinks right there in the Cortex, chatting and telling stories, and making Barry blush whenever possible. Felicity, perhaps predictably, proves to be the best at it, with helpful additions from Thea. (Iris doesn't blush. Iris simply promises to get even. Sara believes her.)
Sara is disappointed to learn that Team Arrow hadn't realized that she, and the other Legends, were going to make it, meaning that her father had elected to stay back in Star City and "hold the fort." She resolves to visit before they leave, turning a piece of pizza crust over and over in her fingers and wondering just why she agreed to this whole thing.
Another voice, though, breaks into her reverie.
"I just hope," Joe West says, taking a long sip of coffee, "that all hell doesn't break loose here."
Iris mock-glares at him, Barry looks horrified, and Cisco and Felicity immediately start making hissing noises and holding up the sign against the evil eye. Joe just rolls his eyes and continues.
"Well," he says, "no one realizes it except the folks in this room, but the Flash is not going to be doing any hero-ing tonight. 'Cause he's marrying my little girl. " He pauses to eye Barry, who looks a trifle abashed. "And a good many of the city's cops are going to be here too. I'd just feel better if we had one person who could do a little patrol. In case of metas or..."
He gives Barry a look, but Sara, relief flooding through her, doesn't see that.
"I can do that," she says, putting down her drink. "Really. Please. Let it be my wedding gift to you. I'm feeling restless … and, hey, Nate didn't RSVP anyway, so it's just like he's taking my spot."
Barry protests. Iris tells her it isn't necessary. Oliver looks like he'd wished he'd had the same idea himself. Cisco looks disappointed. And Jax takes one long look at her and then quietly backs her up, quickly followed by Stein, Nate, and Ray.
Which is why she's here. Skulking quietly through the streets and rooftops of Central City, back in black (a tactical outfit, rather than leather) for once, as white tends to show up dramatically in the dusk and dark.
A November wedding makes for an early sunset, so the city is already shrouded in shadow. Sara rather likes it that way, really. She does a little roof-running for old times' sake, enjoying the freedom and the feeling of physical activity, then pauses to look at the cathedral where the West-Allen wedding ceremony should just about be winding up.
She's happy for them. Really, she is.
Mick and Amaya, back at the Waverider, have agreed to keep an ear out for Sara's comm, but she has no intention of calling upon them unless there's an emergency, all too cognizant that she might be interrupting something. She also knows that she can call upon the others if there's need, but she doesn't think it will be necessary.
Her presence out here is merely a precaution. She thinks.
Barry, already in a tux and looking equal parts excited and nervous, had found her as she carefully checked all her weapons and the comm, getting ready to head out into the city as he and the others headed off to the church.
"I..." His voice trailed off; he fidgeted a little. Sara lifted an eyebrow at him. "Well. There's a big exhibit right now at the Central City Museum. Pottery and ceramics, worth a lot more than they look like, trust me.
"It might..." He trailed off again, looking like he's choosing his words carefully for no reason that Sara, impatient, can see. "Well. It might be a target. Maybe keep an eye on it." A sideways glance. "Just... ah, well, be careful... I mean... you never know who..."
"I'm not an assassin anymore," she told him shortly, pulling her gloves on. "I'm not going to leave a string of bodies in your city, Barry. No worries." She'd been pretty sure she hadn't kept the merest whisper of hurt from her tone, but she also didn't much care.
"No!" Barry held his hands up as if in defense. "No, I didn't mean it like that at all." He sighed. "Really. Just… be careful."
Sara relented, giving him a small smile. "I always am." She patted his arm and motioned to where Cisco, the best man, had wandered into the Cortex, clearly looking for the missing groom. "Congratulations. And tell Iris the same. I'll keep your city safe." His city, she thinks, unable to restrain the thought any longer. Yes, Leonard would have approved.
Barry had given her a tiny smile in return, almost as if he'd heard the thought. "Thank you, Sara. And…thank you."
It's full dark out now, and at the church, there will be a receiving line started. Or maybe people will have started moving on to the reception. Sara shakes her head, turning slowly from her position atop one of the city's older buildings, one on which a perching Canary actually has to share space with a few gargoyles. The city is fairly quiet; the only sirens so far have been for perfectly ordinary DWIs and traffic infractions. It's probably too early to find much trouble down near the club district.
Well. Barry had seemed to be fixated on the new museum exhibit. Maybe she should check that out.
The museum, a large building that takes up an entire city block, is dark and quiet. Sara notes the positions of video cameras as she moves around it, unseen. She might be an assassin rather than a crook (her mind tries to shy away from the words; she ruthlessly doesn't let it), but she can case a building with the best of them. Assassins do breaking and entering, too.
So when she gets to the south side of the building and notices one of the cameras, just one, with the usual green "on" light muted, it trips every warning bell she has.
Of course the door nearest that camera opens when she tries it. And of course it leads directly into an unloading area for the traveling exhibits, so that the pieces don't have to be paraded through the entire museum.
She ghosts through the dark room, noticing that the video camera there is still and dark, too. There's a tiny crack of light at the far end, from what is presumably the main exhibit room itself. She moves toward it, starting to shake her bo down into her hand, but rethinks it at the idea of a room full of fragile, precious pottery.
She also has a gun in a thigh holster, but she chooses to ready a few throwing knives instead. More precise, at least in the right hands.
And then she takes a deep breath, pushes the door open, and moves inside.
It's a long, narrow room, and the end she's at is at least semi-lit. However, the other end is dark…and while it's quite difficult to see the tall figure standing there, apparently studying a piece sitting on a plinth, Sara has no trouble at all picking it out.
For a moment, she considers simply stepping back through the door. Whatever this is, it's not a threat to the city, not really, nor a threat to the people there. Just some old pottery, and a crook out to make a few bucks.
She'll never know, fully, what stops her. What makes her take one silent step, then two, toward the other end of the room and order "Don't move!"
The black-clad figure freezes, but Sara is already taking in details, the tall, lean profile, the faint gleam of silver in short-cropped hair, the sense of a feline strength.
And her heart stutters, because it isn't, it can't be…
She's just close enough to the intake of breath, the long release of that breath.
"I should have known this would happen," the figure murmurs to itself, or himself. And he straightens, turns, and steps out of the shadows.
"Hello, Sara," says Leonard Snart.
