New short story! My apologies in advance if some areas of this story feel rushed, but I did not want to unnecessarily drag this out. Anyway, it's a short one. Enjoy!

-Writer207


Siren's Song


A series of mysterious disappearances plagued Boston in 2003. Men and women alike proclaimed they were going out for a drink or a date and never returned. Most were never found, while some ended up in the waters of the Charles River. The police believed they were suicides since there was no other DNA found on the person and foul play was always ruled out because they had no enemies. Their friends and families vehemently denied their loved one would ever take their own life, but the police did not have any reason not to think about suicide. It was a mystery never solved.

Until the Legends came down from the time stream to fix the problem, as the disappearances have been caused by a Fugitive – in other words, this was their problem to deal with. They descended in the city and decided to split up and cover as much ground as they possibly could to find their Fugitive.

Mick and John were already not up to the job. Last night, they had decided with Charlie to get drunk for no apparent reason. The men were still dealing with a killer headache while Charlie could still function. With the amount she chucked down in a day, it would be no surprise if alcohol had replaced the blood in her body. Charlie and Ray were going to one out of two most common areas where the men and women lived who disappeared while Zari and Sara were going to a bar near the waterfront, where some of the men and women often came to grab a drink.

At the time they arrived in Boston, two men and one woman had already fallen victim to the creature already – but since they were set to die later that year, their early deaths did not immensely change the timeline. Now it was up to the Legends to find the Fugitive and stop it before it could make another victim that may gravely impact the timeline.


After spending some time in the bar at the waterfront and looking around for anything out of the ordinary and after finding out there was nothing there, Sara and Zari gave up for the day and decided to come back to the area later. They were confident in their ability to find the Fugitive – they just had to give it some time.

"That was a bust," Zari said, a disappointed look on her face. She would have liked to have found their Fugitive in the bar, or at least to have heard Charlie or Ray tell them they had found it. They looked at every face in the bar and talked to half of them, but they still had nothing. They did meet one guy whose friend had gone missing but that was about the extent of their success.

"We'll find it," Sara said, "It can't hide forever."

"Stop right there," a familiar voice behind them said. Zari and Sara stopped in their tracks and glanced at one another. They recognized the voice and hadn't thought they would ever hear it again.

"Crap," Sara muttered and she and Zari turned around. Five yards behind their position stood a Time Master who did not seem to match with the time he had been sent to by his bosses or where he had gone to on his own accord. He wore a long dark brown trench coat and pointed his six-shooter energy gun at the two ladies. There was not even a glimpse of recognition on his face – he watched them as he would anyone he considered an enemy.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Rip Hunter asked them.

For a moment, the two women stayed silent. A wide smile appeared on Sara's face and she clasped her hands together.

"Good job, Rip," she said, "You really are good at this."

Both Rip and Zari stared at her with a confused look on their faces. Rip racked his brain about where he possibly could have met these two and lowered his gun while Zari turned her head to Zari with a glare that could easily be translated to are-you-kidding-me?

"What are you doing?" She whispered low enough so that Rip wouldn't hear it.

"Just go with it," Sara whispered back in the same low voice. Rip regained his confidence and posture and remembered he could be dealing with enemies who would want to confuse him.

"How do you know my name?" He asked. He wasn't any less hostile, though his voice suggested he was more open-minded towards them and maybe wanted to engage in a conversation with them. Them knowing his name intrigued him.

"I am Sara Lance and this is Zari Tomaz," Sara said as she pointed at herself and Zari. "We are working for the Time Bureau."

"I don't believe I have ever heard of it," Rip responded in a skeptic tone. He probably still believed his bosses did not keep too many secrets from him, only the necessary ones.

"Of course you haven't," Sara continued and hoped her bluffing was enough to convince him, "We are a separate branch of time institution. We are working with the Time Masters to deal with threats to the timeline that are more dangerous than time pirates. People have vanished when they originally shouldn't have and something extremely dangerous is behind it."

Rip had lowered his gun and had put it away. at least he trusted the two ladies enough not to want to shoot them or treat them as enemies anymore.

"What something?" He asked.

"That's classified," Sara said. Rip was not ready to learn what was truly going on here. The reasons would amount to spoilers for a future that he never lived to see. "All you need to know is that this dangerous individual needs to be stopped at all costs."

"It seems we're looking for the same thing," Rip said. He finally approached the two Legends and closed the distance with an amicable posture. "We might be able to catch your fugitive faster if we combined resources. How about we share intel on your ship?"

Zari and Sara glanced at each other and neither seemed to really know what they should answer to the proposition. They could use the help, but it was just as easy to resolve the problem without Rip's help, as well. Their doubts soon shifted to whether or not working together with him was going to mess up the timeline now Rip has prematurely met not only Zari but also Sara Lance. He was still old enough to work on his own and the murder of his wife and child could be mere weeks, possibly days away from his point of view.

"Is there a problem?" Rip asked when they didn't immediately answer. He'd noticed the tension and indecision hanging in the air. Within a split second, Zari took over the conversation from Sara.

"Not at all!" she said in a light panic, Sara staring at her while she spoke. "We'd love to work with you."

A modest smile appeared on his face. Sara had not done anything to stop Zari from talking – this Rip was suspicious and had not acted very trusting towards the Legends when he had first brought them together. Sara wanted to avoid Rip becoming suspicious of them now by not taking Zari aside to discuss a strategy in not telling Rip what his future held.

"We'll leave in just a minute," Sara said, "Let me just tell my team that you are coming." She reached up to her ear to activate the comms.

Rip frowned. "So it's not just the two of you?"

"There's six of us," Zari explained and Rip nodded in understanding. She noticed that he had not been talking about his own team. He had to be working on his own now, but for how long had he been alone? And for how long will he be on his own until he recruits the Legends?

"Alright team, listen up," Sara said in a feigned peppy voice, hoping the wording and the tone would make the others listen in carefully. Or, at least she hoped Ray and Charlie would listen; Mick and John would probably listen passively and they wouldn't respond to her comments, either. "Zari and I came across Time Master Rip Hunter."

For a moment, there came no answer. Sara thought she could continue talking, but then someone answered.

"Rip's here?" Ray said, sounding shocked. He, too, hadn't expected Rip Hunter of all people to show up, either.

Sara nodded, though Ray could impossibly see it. "Yes, he is. One of the Fugitive's victims must have had quite an impact on the timeline. He came to check it out and now… we're working together."

"Does he know it's us?" Ray asked. That was a good question: did he know they were his future teammates?

"No, he doesn't," Sara responded. It might get them into trouble, but those were worries for later. "We will regroup at our timeship and exchange information there."

"I'm on my way," Charlie chimed in for the first and last time.

"There's one more ominous alley up ahead," Ray said, "I'm going to quickly take a look."

"And then you come back," Sara pressed. It may not be a wise idea for any one of them to go about the area without a partner.

"Copy that," Ray said and then the comm line went silent. Sara imagined Charlie meandering back in the Waverider's general direction. She imagined John and Mick either scrambling to get dressed or to groan and hope they would have enough time to slowly get their clothes on, if they weren't already dressed.

Sara turned to Zari and Rip again, who had been patiently waiting for her to inform the other team members.

"Shall we go?" Rip asked. Sara nodded confidently.

Hopefully, this would all go smoothly.


Ray had been walking down a wide street in downtown Boston. So far, he had not found anything of value. Very quickly, Charlie had decided that splitting up would mean they would cover more ground and Ray had agreed. He had spent the rest of the time on his own. he decided against calling Charlie – if she found something, she'd let them all know.

"Alright, team, listen up," Sara said rather enthusiastically over the comms. Ray stopped walking down the wide street to listen. The way she said it was odd, and he feared something was going on. Maybe she had found something.

"Zari and I came across Time Master Rip Hunter." Ray frowned. Well, that's not good. was he supposed to have visited this place before forming the Legends or was it the Fugitive that had drawn him here? These and many more questions he couldn't outright ask ran through his mind.

"Rip's here?" Ray eventually asked.

"Yes, he is." Ray ran his fingers through his hair while Sara continued talking. This was bad and potentially harmful. "One of the Fugitive's victims must have had quite an impact on the timeline. He came to check it out and now… we're working together."

"Does he know it's us?" Ray asked. The way he was going to act around Rip would be determined by when this Rip came from. He wouldn't particularly like it, but to protect Rip's personal timeline of events – and consequently, the Legends' – he'd have to.

"No, he doesn't," Sara responded. "We will regroup at our timeship and exchange information there."

So they had bumped into a Rip Hunter from before he had created the Legends. This gave them another opportunity to screw up the timeline, and an easy one at that – one slip-up would be more than enough.

"I'm on my way," Charlie said. Ray was surprised to hear she was actually going to return right away instead of walking off to spend a little bit more time in Boston. Who knows what made her decide to follow an immediate order, especially since she did not know the Time Masters or Rip Hunter. Someone will have to explain that to her…

"There's one more ominous alley up ahead," Ray said, "I'm going to quickly take a look."

"And then you come back," Sara said and Ray nodded.

"Copy that." Ray moved away from the wide street and walked closer to what he considered the ominous alley. While he'd been talking to Sara, the strange noise came from that particular alley. Dense fog rolled over Boston, obscuring most of his view. It was hard to see any further than five feet into the fog.

The noise was most audible when he stood right at the entrance. Now he could hear it more clearly, he realized it was music. It was an upbeat melody with a sorrowful tune. He must have heard it somewhere before and yet, he was certain he had never heard anything like this before, so hauntingly beautiful and captivating. As he was paying attention to the music, he barely noticed he was caught up in the fog, with nothing around him but silhouettes against the white.

Someone bumped into Ray. The Legend blinked a couple of times, feeling as if he'd just woken up. The fog wasn't as dense as he thought before and the music seemed quieter now he didn't focus on it. The man who had nearly crashed into him looked longingly into the fog with glazed eyes.

Ray reacted instinctively and pulled the man away from the alley. All of his energy went into this one small movement. The man was unwilling at first, but Ray's efforts were well worth it. He, too, seemed to wake from a deep slumber; his eyes were no longer glazed and he regained his common sense again.

"There's a gas leak there," Ray told him. "Firefighters are on their way. You might want to take another route." He pointed to the east and the man listened to him. It saved his life, and maybe that of others. When people learn there's a gas leak and that someone's already been called for it, they might stay away.

"Okay, it's definitely around here," Ray said in the comms, hoping that someone was listening to him now. There came no reaction, so he knew Sara and Zari weren't listening to him. Hopefully, Gideon was recording this, just in case. "Current position is somewhere on West Seventh Street. I'm going to investigate."

Ray might have told them more. However, the melody returned and this time, it demanded all of his attention. For some reason, he immediately shut off the comm device when he heard the tune again. Each step he took deeper into the fog and towards the melody was one where he lost a bit more agency. He could not stop himself.

He'd already lost when he heard that lovely music.

From out of the fog, the silhouette of a person appeared as the music intensified. Ray approached it.