Life Without Love Is No Life Worth Living
Chapter 1: The Truth Will Out
Summary: Leonard Snart and Sara Lance are two people who swore that they would never love anyone else again. Especially with what they do on a daily basis. But what happens when the man that they are trying to stop takes the two of the hostage and tries to pit them against each other? Who would win? The Crook or The Assassin? Or would love prevail?
Disclaimer: I don't own Legends of Tomorrow.
The fight was not a good one. In fact, it was nowhere close to being a good one. Not only had they blown their chance at stopping Savage in this time, but two of their own had been taken hostage by his men after both had been hit with tranquilizers. Of course, Rip had the fleeting thought to leave Sara and Leonard behind and just continue on his way with Ray, Jefferson, Stein, Mick and Kendra, but if he had thought of voicing the thought, he knew he would immediately be shut down. He had pulled them all together to be a team, and with that blasted code that Snart and Rory had come to live by, the rest of the team had quickly come to live by it too. There was no way in hell that the Waverider was leaving this time. Not without all of its inhabitants aboard. So instead Rip had asked Gideon to locate the missing two members and to run a simulation of how to get them back. The outlook was far from favorable.
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Sara opened her eyes and tried to sit up but let out a groan at how sore her muscles were. What kind of training had Rip put them through that would cause this much pain to a trained member of the League of Assassins? But as she stood up, and promptly sat back down at the amount of spinning her head was doing, Sara started to get concerned. There was no way that what she was feeling had been inflicted, in any way, by Rip. As much of an agenda as he had, there was no way he would push anyone on the team to the point of dizziness and heavier-feeling-than-usual limbs. No, this was someone else's doing. And there was really only one person who Sara could fathom doing something this extreme, and that was Savage.
As she came to this realization, Sara's head had stopped spinning and she was able to slowly take in her surroundings. She wasn't on the Waverider. She was in a cell. A cell that was only big enough for one thing: hearing the echoing cries of any other captives. Placing her hands slowly on the bars of her cell door, Sara jumped back. Whatever kind of place this was; Savage was making sure that any captives wouldn't attempt to escape... at least not after a few shocks from the electricity coursing through the metal bars. Turning away from the cell door, Sara let out a sigh. Surely her team knew by now that she was missing. Surely they would be looking for her. Surely they would be able to rescue her.
It was only as she heard the heavy footfalls echoing down the corridor that seemed to be coming closer that Sara started to realize that she had no idea how long she had been unconscious. She had no idea if anyone else on her team had been taken by Savage's men, or if it had just been her. She had no way of judging how long she should hope for a rescue team to be beating up the bad guys so that they could get her out of this place. She had no idea just what tortures Savage conducted here on his captives. She didn't even know if Savage himself was here. But as the footfalls came to a stop outside of her cell, she got her answer.
"Hello again my dear Canary." Savage sneered as one of the guards turned the electricity off of the bars and slid the door open only to step inside and firmly grab her upper arm. "It's time that we have a little talk."
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Leonard knew the second that he opened his eyes that something was off. The bed, if you could call it that, he was laying on was hard as a rock. His Cold Gun was not to the side of the bed and within reach. The clothes that he had been wearing had been replaced with prison garb. And there was the buzz of a small surge electric current humming by the cell door. His first thought after taking all of this in was not of the team, or even of himself. It was of his beautiful White Canary. Leonard couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he had started to refer to her, in his mind, as his, but that was beside the point. He had seen Sara go down and had been racing to her side when he himself had been hit. If they were both being held captive by Savage's men, then Leonard knew that things were not going to end well.
It would only be a matter of time before Savage was able to figure out how much he cared for Sara, and would use that against him, but he hoped that his Canary would be able to hold out long enough for Savage to not figure out how much she cared for him. Because if Savage knew how much the two cared for each other, then he would definitely torture both of them until he got the information that he wanted. But on second thought, maybe if Savage found out how Sara felt about himself before the immortal found out how he felt about her, then Savage would just torture Leonard, and wouldn't hurt Sara. That had to be the better option between the two, right? Hope that Savage found out how much Sara cared so that Leonard would get the torture, leaving Sara safe from harm?
That's when Leonard heard a voice. A voice that he was starting to be able to distinguish in a crowd, one that told him his Canary was close by. "Hello again my dear Canary. It's time that we have a little talk." That did not sound good. Leonard had to do something. He couldn't let them hurt Sara. No one on the team would forgive him if he could bargain for Sara's life and didn't do it. Leonard was sure that if the team had to choose between leaving him to die, and leaving Sara to die, they would choose to leave him. Everyone on the team knew that Sara had already been brought back once, and that she was not a fan of the after effects.
"Savage!" Leonard said suddenly as he stood and walked towards his cell door.
"Ah, I see that our other friend is awake as well. Gentlemen, if you would, please bring Captain Cold along. He might enjoy the conversation." Savage said motioned for the guards to open Leonard's cell as well. "I must say you have wonderful taste in woman Mr. Cold. Extra feisty with a helping of danger and mystery. Not exactly my preference, but I could always go for a change." He mused on as he ran his fingers through some strands of Sara's hair.
"Lay another finger on her and I'll end you." Leonard snarled.
"Snart, stop it!" Sara exclaimed.
"Oh, oh, a lover's quarrel. How delightful." Savage said with a smirk as he turned away from both of them, motioned for one guard to lead Sara and one to lead Leonard, and then walked away.
"Are you alright?" Leonard asked in a low voice so that only Sara could hear him.
"I would have been better had you not just threatened him on my behalf. It's nice that you care so much about me Leonard, but really, you might have just made the whole situation worse for both of us." Sara muttered back.
"Time will tell." Leonard commented.
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Ray was pacing back and forth as Gideon ran the scan of the city to try and find Sara and Snart. Sure he didn't care about Sara in the way that Snart clearly did, or the way that Oliver used to, or in the way that Nyssa did, but she was still the only connection to home that he still had at the moment. Everyone one else on the team was more or less located out of Central City, he and Sara were the only two that were located out of Star City. At least, 2016's Star City. Rip didn't count as being from Star City. From where the whole team stood, Rip wasn't even a thought to anyone that they knew. He wasn't going to be around for another 130+ years in their timeline, and his family wouldn't be killed until a century and a half after their time. So yeah, Rip was from Star City, but he wasn't from Ray and Sara's home.
With all the pacing that he was doing, Ray was starting to, in the back of his mind, fear that he would eventually ware a hole in the floor of the ship. Seriously, what was taking Gideon so long to find Sara and Snart? It wasn't like the city that they were currently in was all that big, maybe 7x7 sq miles, but it seemed like the AI was taking a considerably longer amount of time than it would to scan a city like New York. With a sigh, Ray stopped pacing and turned towards the table. His own eyes scanned over the map of the city, willing himself to see an anomaly that Gideon had missed. They needed to save their teammates. And there was no way that anyone on the team was going to allow Rip to buckle up in his Captain's seat until Sara and Snart were back.
"Gideon, what's taking so long? We should have already located them by now." Ray questioned impatiently.
"I apologize for the delay Mr. Palmer, but I am having difficulties with locating Ms. Lance and Mr. Snart. I fear that they might no longer be in the city." Gideon said and Ray's heart fell.
Not in the city? How could Savage and his men get Sara and Snart out of the city without any of them realizing it? How had Savage managed to get close enough to Sara and Snart while the whole team had been out in the field fighting, without anyone else on the team realizing it, and get to them. Apart from himself and Professor Stein, Sara and Snart were two of the smartest members on the team... at least street smart. There was no way that they wouldn't have noticed Savage or his men coming towards them, even if they had been fighting at the time.
"What was the last location you had them?" Ray asked.
"Don't answer that request Gideon." Rip snapped quickly.
"You don't get a say in this. Sara and Snart are MIA, and you are just sitting back and doing nothing to try and save them. We are ALL a team, you included. Start acting like it Rip. Gideon, Sara and Snart's last known location." Ray repeated as he stared Rip down.
"My intel shows that Ms. Lance and Mr. Snart were last seen in the field, when the team was fighting. There has been no sight of them since." Gideon replied.
"Thank you Gideon." Ray said as he turned towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rip asked placing a hand on Ray's chest to push him back.
"I'm doing that you should be doing. I'm going to find Sara and Snart and I'm going to bring them back." Ray said while sidestepping around Rip and heading out.
"Ray, wait up."
"Look, Kendra, I'm sorry, but I need to go find them. Sara is the only person that I have from home." Ray said as he glanced over his shoulder at the reincarnated deity.
"I'm not going to stop you. I'm going with you. We all are." Kendra said while motioning behind her to the rest of the team.
"Rip won't be thrilled that we're all going." Ray commented.
"Screw Rip. He has his own agenda, and sooner or later it will bite him in the ass. We are a team; we save our own... when we can." Jax said with a quick side glance at Kendra.
"Let's go then." Ray said with a small nod.
"Where exactly are we going to start looking for them?" Mick asked.
"The last place that Gideon has a record of them being. The last place any of us saw either of them. At the scene of the fight." Ray said with a sullen expression.
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Leonard was mentally kicking himself. Sara had been right. By threatening Savage, he had screwed them both over. He had betrayed himself by even speaking in the first place when Savage had touched Sara. If he had just kept his mouth shut, then maybe he would be the one being beaten, not Sara. Maybe it would be her screams for Savage to stop and not his own. Maybe it would be his blood that was pooling on the floor and not hers. Maybe he would be the one that was being tortured to death and not her. He had wanted to protect Sara, but instead, he had just put her into harm's way and might have even delivered her death sentence.
"ENOUGH! Just let her go!" Leonard shouted, his eyes trained on Sara's body.
"Why would I do that? You haven't told me what I want to know yet." Savage sneered as he hit Sara again.
"Please! I'll tell you everything that you want to know! Just leave her be!" Leonard shouted.
"Will you now?" Savage asked looking like his interest had been piqued.
"Yes!" Leonard said.
"Why, then have you and your team been following me?" Savage asked as he half turned away from Sara.
"Rip Hunter, you kill his family in the future. He wants you dead in the past, his past, or yours, however you want to look at it, so that you aren't around to kill his family in the future." Leonard said.
"Len... stop." Sara said weakly.
"I won't let him take another member of our team." Leonard snapped back but winced when he saw Sara recoil at his tone.
"What makes your group so special? Why did this Rip Hunter choose all of you?" Savage questioned.
"Because we had little to no effect to the timeline. He is using us as pawns to get his revenge on you." Leonard replied.
"Len, please, stop." Sara begged.
"No Canary, I'm not going to stop." Leonard said. He wasn't going to use her real name in fear of giving Savage more information about their team that he might not already have.
Leonard noticed Savage looking between himself and Sara as if trying to come to some kind of conclusion. Leonard then looked straight at Savage as he could see a conclusion come to fruition in the immortal's eyes. He steeled himself for the coming impact. He had figure it out. Leonard and Sara cared about- nay, loved- each other in a way that Savage had only seen in one other pair: Chey-Ara and Khufu. And the blow that came was exactly what Leonard expected. A gut wrenching stab to the abdomen before Savage left the room, his men following behind him, effectively leaving Leonard and Sara alone.
"Len... why would you do that?" Sara asked as she slowly made her way over to him.
"I couldn't let him hurt you anymore than he already had." Leonard said before coughing up blood.
"You're an idiot if you think seeing you stabbed in the stomach doesn't hurt me." Sara said in a small voice.
"Are you okay?" Leonard asked.
"I've been better." Sara replied looking deep into his eyes.
"Good, then I did the right thing." Leonard replied, his mouth filling with blood again before he coughed that up too and closed his eyes.
"No. Len, stay with me. Please. I can't lose you." Sara begged.
"You have to know... I did it because I couldn't lose the woman that I love." Leonard said, his voice strained.
"Don't talk like that Len. The team is coming. I just know it. Hold in there, please. I can't lose the man I love, please hold on until the team gets here." Sara begged, her eyes filling with tears.
"I love you Sara... My Canary." Leonard said softly before his head fell to the side.
"NO! LEONARD!" Sara screamed as she tried to shake him awake, her own injuries starting to take their toll as she leaned over him and sobbed.
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The screams that the team heard as they entered the underground compound could only be described as heart wrenching. But it was a cry that they all recognized. No one had ever brought it up in fear of how she would react, but everyone on the team had been woken up at one point or another by Sara's screams when they were sleeping on the Waverider, so hearing her scream now only propelled the team forward. They were so close. So close to finding Sara and Snart. So close to getting their teammates back. So close that they didn't take into account how easy it was for them to get to their missing teammates. But the sight they came across when they came to the end a corridor of jail cells was more heart wrenching then the screams that alerted them to Sara and Snart's location.
Snart lay completely still in a pool of his own blood while Sara lay on top of him, barely moving herself. Her screams for Leonard to wake up had aggravated her injuries to the point where she was next to unconscious. Not wanting to hold on to hope if she was going to come through and the man she loved wasn't going to be there by her side. In her mostly unconscious state, Sara vaguely noticed as Ray lifted her off of Leonard's body while Mick lifted Leonard. No one said anything as the team rushed back out of the compound and back to the ship. Sara could faintly hear a voice calling Leonard's name, but it was so distant that she didn't realize that it was her own voice.
The last thing that Sara heard before drifting off into the darkness was 4 simple words. "I love you Leonard."