They carried him down to the Med Bay and strapped him down, just in case, and hooked the medical cuff to him. Sara and Mick watched as he tried to fight against the sedative. Gideon was told to keep him sedated until they could figure things out. It was Stein that came up with the best suggestion.
"Gideon, please run a brain wave scan of Mr. Snart. Hopefully it should tell us if he is having a break down."
After a few minutes, Gideon informed them that the scan was finished.
"Put it up on the monitor please."
"You will find Mr. Snart's initial brain wave pattern on the left, and the current one on the right," Gideon informed them.
Jax was looking hard at the pattern on the left. "Well, that explains a lot of things."
Sara threw him a hard look. Then she waved her hand over the mess that was the second scan. "Gideon, what's all this? They don't look anything the same."
Suddenly Ray jumped up, excited with his idea. "Gideon, take that first scan and place it on top of the second scan. Now remove it from the second scan." Slowly lines started to disappear from the monitor. What was left was a single set of waves. "Look at that. If I didn't know better, I'd say he had two different sets of brain waves. But that wouldn't make sense."
"Or two different personalities in the same space!" Sara had finally put it together. "He was telling the truth. Len, and whoever it is, are sharing the same body."
Sara's conclusion had sparked a lot of conversation among the team. Everyone was talking at once. Ideas were being bounced back and forth about how it could happened and when it could have happened.
Mick had to raise his voice in order to be heard by everyone. "It doesn't matter how or when it happened. We just have to work on how to fix it."
"It's hard to fix something we don't understand," Rip finally offered. I think we have to talk to the source. Get him to tell us what's going on. It's the only thing that makes sense."
After a short time, they had come up with what they thought was a plan. They walked over to the bed that Len was laying on. Gideon was still pumping sedatives into him.
"Are you sure about this? I can stay if you want," Mick offered.
"No, it's all right. He might respond better one to one. Besides I can always kick his ass if it comes down to it. The rest of you can monitor from the bridge." And with all that decided, the rest of the team left.
Sara stood over the sleeping Len. "Gideon, I need you to back off on the sedative. I need just enough that he can speak but not enough to keep him on his feet. I don't need him getting loose and trying to get out of here."
"Do you believe that is wise?" the AI inquired.
"No, but I believe it's our only option."
Sara took a chair and sat down next to Snart. She didn't know how long it would take or even how to take this. She thought about what Len, or whatever it was, had said, about his suicide attempt. Did he really think he was worth so little?
And who would he be when he woke up? Snart? Or the other . . .thing? Person? She didn't know what to call it.
She felt helpless, waiting for him to wake up. If there was something in there with him, what would he be like when it was gone? Would he just go back to being himself? Would he be able to handle it? She brushed his forehead with the back of her hand. He may need a lot of help when this was over. What would he do when he found out everyone knew something so personal about him that he had kept hidden? How would he feel when he found out there was something out there that knew everything about him, had accessed his memories and his emotions? Oh boy. His emotions. Something he had tried so hard to push down, to keep under control, to hide. Way too many things to think about. Maybe he would need a good shrink after all.
After about an hour, Len took in a deep breath and tried to open his eyes. He could only force them halfway, and it took him a few seconds to realize he wasn't in the brig anymore. When he tried to sit up, he found he was restrained, and at first he was in a panic, struggling against the straps.
Sara laid a hand on his arm, and he saw her for the first time.
"Where am I?" He demanded.
"You're in the Med Bay. Who am I talking to? Leonard Snart? Or someone else?"
"Does it really matter?"
"We found two different sets of brain wave patterns," she informed him. "Who are you and what are you?"
"How long have I been here?" He asked. "What are you doing to me?" He was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open.
"Gideon is keeping you sedated, for everyone's protection. I repeat my question: Who are you? What do you want with Len? With us?"
"I guess I am what you, in your time, refer to as a meta-human. I died, or so I thought, in an explosion. I lost my body, but my mind was still in tact, fused with the air that surrounded it. I learned to control that air to get around."
He paused for a moment. The wall in his mind was getting harder and harder to keep up, the other one was fighting back.
"Getting too hard to think," he confessed.
"I'm not stopping the sedative, if that's what you want. You still haven't told me what we should call you. I am assuming you have a name."
"You can call me Ethan. I can't even remember my given name any more."
"All right, Ethan. Now, what do you want with Len?
"What I want is to go to 2020. And you are going to make it happen," he said confidently. "Right now, your friend is . . ok. His mind is intact, for now. If you want that to continue, I suggest we get going."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a fact. The longer I stay here, the harder it will be for him to keep us separated. He won't be able to tell which memories are his or mine. Some have been known to go mad." He looked directly at Sara. "Look, you want your friend back, and I need a ride. They know how to track me now. I've been just one step ahead of them for some time. Sooner or later, probably sooner, they'll figure out where I am." He closed his eyes. It was hard to concentrate.
"Who's tracking you?"
"Bounty hunters. So far, I have been able to hide. Your friend was . . . just a convenience."
"Just a convenience?!" Is that what you call it?" Sara was getting mad and got up to pace. "You invade his mind, trap him inside his own body, and who knows how much damage you've done, and you call him a . . .convenience?"
"I needed him. I still do. I can hide in 2020. I have friends there that can help me. I just need a way to get there."
"And what happens to Snart when you get there? Do you just leave and invade someone else?"
"Depends. Depends on how long we've been bonded and how strong his mind is. I'm not giving any more information until I know where I stand. You take me back to Toronto, 2020, and I give you your man back. Deal?"
"I have to talk to the others. I'll be back," and she left for the bridge.
When she arrived, every one was quiet. "Well, you all heard. What do you think?"
Mick was the first one to speak. "I say deal. I don't know how much of this Len can take, if he's telling the truth."
"Do you think we can trust him, I mean Ethan?" Ray asked.
"We don't need any bounty hunters on our tails," Jax stated. "I say we turn him over to them. He must have done something to have a bounty on him."
"With or without Snart?" Mick asked, challenging Jax.
Once again Stein was the bearer of a well thought out idea. "First, I think we should talk to Mr. Snart, and try to determine if he's alright. Or at least try to find out how much damage has been done. The sooner the better, if his information is correct. Then we can decide what to do from there."
"Mick, you know him the best," directed Rip. "Go with Sara and Professor Stein. "Talk to our guest and make a deal. We don't move until we talk to Snart."
As Mick walked past Sara, on his way out, Sara grabbed his arm. "Are you up to this?"
"I don't know. But no one here knows him better than I do. If something"s wrong, I'll know it."
"If we want a more accurate measure of his mental health, he needs to be off the sedatives. It could affect his state of mind, " the professor offered. "I would keep him restrained, though, or perhaps sent back to the brig. There's no telling how he will react."
Sara stood in the doorway. "We can't keep him on sedatives forever. The brig is a good idea. Let's go talk to Ethan."
When they arrived, Stein explained their plan to Ethan.
"And what if you don't like what you find?" Ethan asked. "There's already been a small amount of . . .damage. I can't guarantee anything."
"Then we'll deal with it." Mick demanded. "Get up. We're going back to the brig."
Ethan sat on the bench in his cell. Mick had asked to stay inside with him. Sara and Stein waited outside the door.
"Anytime you're ready." Mick wanted to get this over with. He wasn't sure what he felt about this. What if Len wasn't Len any more?
Ethan took a big breath, held it, and closed his eyes. After about 5 seconds, he looked up, confidence having been replaced by bewilderment and confusion. Len stood up, looked around wildly, breathing faster and faster as he tried to make sense of things.
Mick, walked over slowly, trying not to scare him, and put a hand on his arm. "Len. Len it's me. It's Mick."
Len pulled away and backed up. It reminded Mick of a trapped animal. Len didn't take his eyes off him.
At first he didn't say anything. He couldn't put his thoughts into words. Mick turned, looked at Sara, then back at Len.
"Len. Calm down. You're in the brig. Everything's fine." Len didn't give any indication that he had heard.
"Len, you have to be strong. You have to fight this. We're gonna fix this. I just need you to hold on. Can you do that?"
Len just shook his head, then he said his first words "Mick? What's going on?" Then he looked toward the door.
"See, Sara's here." Mick pointed toward the glass.
Len walked over and put his hand on the glass. Sara put her hand on the glass over his. "Sara?" he whispered.
"I'm here." She could barely get the words out.
"Help me. . . .I can't . . .it's all mixed up." He started looking around again.
"I know. We're trying to make it better." She was trying to offer him some hope.
"They're coming. They're coming for us." He whispered.
"Who? Who's coming" Stein asked.
"I won't go. I won't let them take me. You can't let them take me."
"He's obviously having a hard time separating himself from Ethan." Stein stated. "We better get this deal done as soon as possible before we lose him for good."
Len put his palms over his temples and closed his eyes. When he looked up again, Len was gone.
"I told you I couldn't guarantee anything."
"Where's Len? Bring him back!" Mick was pissed.
"No. As you could see, your friend is running out of time. Do we have a deal?"
"Why are the bounty hunters after you," Stein asked. "Did you commit some terrible crime? Body snatching, perhaps?"
" I was a thief. Somewhat like your friend. However, with my . . .unique. . .ability to blend with others, it was easy to search their memories for codes and such. I would use them to take what I wanted. I seem to have made more than a few enemies along the way.
"You're going to be adding us to the list pretty soon," Mick threatened. He really wanted to punch this guy in the face, but he knew it wouldn't do any good.
Suddenly Rip recalled all three of them back to the bridge.
When they got there, they heard the tail end of the message.
"-we'll be waiting for your reply."