You and I Collide

Chapter 2: Ra's Al Ghul

xXx

Sara woke with a gasp, her temples throbbing in that way she knew all too well.

"Minor Concussion." she assessed mentally, feeling along the back of her head where she must have been struck.

"Good, you are awake." a stern feminine voice spoke to her in the league's Arabic, hidden in the shadows along the far wall. Sara looked up, her head spinning at the quick movement, but it no less dampened her instinct to observe her surroundings. Surroundings she'd recognize anywhere. She'd spent five years in this place, longer if you counted certain recurring stints.

"How did I get here?" she finally replied in the same dialect.

"You fell through a portal." The woman replied still cloaked in darkness. "Do you remember how you fell?"

Sara hesitated. Did she? The last thing she remembered was taking fire as she and her team left the Waverider. She'd fallen back as Leonard and Mick took shelter behind an overturned truck, hoping to circle around the enemy and attack from behind. Clearly that hadn't worked out.

"There was a fight." she finally spoke. "I was separated from my team." she shook her head as it throbbed with repressed memories. "I must have been thrown into another earth."

"What makes you say that?"

"The League on my earth was disbanded." Sara explained.

"You know where you are then?" the shadowed woman questioned.

"I am no stranger to Nanda Parbat." she replied. "I called this place home once, on my earth."

"I see." the woman replied. "There is no escaping the League then." the last part was said more to herself, but Sara heard it regardless. "We shall help you return to your own Earth." the woman said. "Perhaps we may even be able to help close these portals that have opened all over the world."

"I would greatly appreciate your help." Sara replied, then; "I assume I'm speaking to Ra's Al Ghul."

"You assume correctly, Sara." the woman said, finally stepping out of the shadows. Sara stamped down her first reaction as the familiar face was revealed to her.

Her face held laugh lines, though she doubted this version of her found much occasion to laugh. Her left eye was closed, a thin scar starting from mid forehead and ending beside the corner of her mouth, transecting her eye.

"Horrifying isn't it?" Ra's questioned, her voice low and Sara got the feeling she wasn't talking about her injury.

xXx

"You guys are not going to believe this." Cisco practically sang as he slid to a stop through the door of the main lab. The regrouped teams turned to look at him, his breathing heavy as if he'd sprinted in.

"You totally cheated." Kara complained coming up behind him. "I won rock, paper, scissors I get to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Barry questioned.

"The scientist we went to get is Mayor Snarts' wife." Cisco said really fast much to Kara's horror, but she beat him to the next part.

"It's Sara." she grinned triumphantly as Cisco cursed.

"Seriously?" Felicity asked a grin spreading across her face.

"This is the best day ever." Barry added grinning wickedly.

"With the exception of the metahumans from multiple Earths, the threat to the safety of the public and the fact that we still have no idea what's behind this." Joe added. "But no, seriously, that's kind of funny. Nobody tell Quentin, though."

As if on cue Wells led the rest of the team and their, plus one, into the main lab, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright." Wells began, rubbing his hands together. "Everyone, this is Dr. Sara Lance-Snart, Sara, this is everyone. You probably recognize pretty much everyone here."

"Pretty much." Dr. Lance replied.

"So we can skip the individual introductions and move on." Wells continued, he gestured for Alex and Wally, Kara and Cisco to drop the cases they were carrying on a table just beside them. Sara went to them, opening them up.

"Dr. Lance has come up with a prototype to scan vibrational signatures, but it needs fine-tuned before it's completely operational." Cisco explained moving to her side. Felicity and Winn came up as well, looking through what they'd brought along. Dr. Lance got to work explaining everything she had been working on since Dr. Wells and his daughter returned from another world.

"Dr. Lance, do you think your machine could help us find whatever is doing this?" Caitlin asked.

"In theory." She replied looking up from digging through one of the cases. "From what I've seen so far the portals are opening randomly, so I think it's safe to say there was an ignition point that kick started all of this and now it's spiraling out of control. That being said, whatever was close to the ignition point would have an energy residue disturbing its vibrational patterns. A side effect of tampering with the stability of dimensional space."

"That makes sense. So those anomalies will give it away."

"Exactly."

"Then we better get to work." Rip's voice sounded as he followed Jesse, leading the team into the main lab.

"Well that's trippy." Dr. Lance muttered as she caught sight of not only Leonard, but Sara as well.

"Tell me about it." Cisco replied. Jesse caught sight of Dr. Lance and zipped over to give her a hug.

"I'm so glad you made it okay." Jesse told her.

"Me too, I'm sure my husband is pitching a fit right now, but he'll just have to get over it." Dr. Lance chuckled.

With the reunion over, Jesse quickly explained that she'd filled the Legends in on Dr. Lance's work, though she'd left out personal details per Lisa's request. While more scientists gathered around to help Dr. Lance, Lisa took Leonard aside to explain.

"I'm the Mayor of Central City?" He questioned skeptically. Lisa nodded. "So basically I'm still a crook."

Lisa snorted. "It gets better though."

"Oh? How could it?" Leonard asked sarcastically.

Lisa gestured to the alternate Sara where she was writing out her equations to explain to Stein and Ray. "Her full name it Dr. Sara Lance-Snart."

Leonard froze, his poker face failing him for the first time since he was a rookie thief. He cut his eyes across the room where their Sara was standing off by herself watching everyone from a distance.

Leonard had seen a lot while trapped between the dimensions of time and if not for the Spear of Destiny going haywire and ripping a hole right through his prison, he would probably still be there. Trapped between the ages watching the infinite possibilities time could take pass him by.

He found it ironic that the first person he saw when he woke up was the last person he saw before he "died". Sara was sitting by his bed in the medical suite, holding his hand and watching over him. Only one person had ever looked so happy to see him before and that was Lisa, so he was unprepared for how her happiness made him feel. Despite that he couldn't bring himself to hate the feeling. The infinite possibilities had shown him just how happy they could be together.

Unfortunately, Sara was hesitant to open her heart to him, no matter how much she wanted to. He'd learned about her sister from Mick and he realized that having him offer her something she'd always wanted, whether she would admit it or not, and then losing him only to return home where everything was supposed to be okay and find out she not only lost her sister but couldn't go back and save her seemed to have broken her. Though she hid it well.

She was still his friend, as unnatural as that word was when applied to him, but now Leonard had to work twice as hard to get them back to the place they'd been when he sacrificed himself just shy of You and Me. But Leonard was a patient man and, more importantly, one hell of a thief.

Leonard looked back at Dr. Lance, watching her gesture to her life's work, trying to explain it to people she only half knew. She was as passionate as her counterpart and Leonard could only assume he and his own counterpart were similar to see the same beauty in her passions that he saw in his Earth's Sara. Passion that was surprisingly lacking at the moment.

Sara was leaned against a table along the far wall, eyes scanning the room, moving from person to person. She hadn't seen her friends or family in months and yet she kept herself away from them. There had been no happy hellos, like Jesse and Dr. Lance; not even acknowledgement of the Queen siblings or Felicity, whom Leonard had on good authority was practically another sister to her.

Something wasn't right.

xXx

"My sources tell me there is a scientist in Central City that is working on this breach problem." Ra's explained in English this time. "It would stand to reason he is our best option."

Sara nodded in agreement and they lapsed into silence, the droning of the plane's engines the only sound between them. It had been six hours since she'd awoken in the lair of the demon and in that time Sara had only been able to recall vague memories. She knew there had been a fight before she blacked out, her team holding off a pack of metas as they disembarked the Waverider, but that was the extent of it. Ra's had assured her that they would come. How she could be so sure, Sara didn't know but she supposed you didn't become Ra's Al Ghul by being ignorant.

"So," Sara finally spoke up. "How did you become Ra's Al Ghul?"

Her counterpart did not look at her, her eye leveled at the netting covered wall across from them. "After being trapped on Lian Yu for five years, I returned to the world and became the vigilante, The White Canary. My sister, Laurel, eventually found out and joined me as The Black Canary. We defended Star City as best we could. And then Ra's showed up. We'd managed to put a damper on his plans for Star City a few months before and he was impressed, wanted us to join him. We said no. He attacked Laurel, poisoned her, and forced me to fight him for the antidote to whatever he'd forced on her. But I lost and we both died.

And then I wasn't dead anymore. There was so much rage, so much anger. I went after Ra's before I even understood what any of it meant. He was startled, though you couldn't really tell. He talked me down, convinced me that if I killed him I would still be a monster. So I let him train me and when I was ready we fought again. And I won."

"Is that how you lost your eye?"

"It is. A glancing blow that nearly ended me again." Ra's explained. "I took over the League after his death and I've done my best to change this organization. But I've learned in the ensuing years that it's not so simple. That the League is more important to the world and its events than I was ever willing to admit before. It is an unfortunate reality but one I must now endure."

"My Laurel is gone too." Sara replied after a time. "Killed by Damien Dahrk."

"Darhk is still alive in your world?" Ra's questioned.

"Only in memories." Sara answered.

"So you got your revenge?"

"No, I wasn't the one who killed him. But in the end I did one better." Sara smirked. "I told him his future, and how everything he loves comes crashing down around him. And there was absolutely nothing he could do to change it, because time wants to happen whether we like it or not."

Before Ra's could answer the pilot informed them that they were only a few minutes out from Central City. They landed not long after and fought their way through the streets to Star Labs. With members of the League at their back, Sara and Ra's led the way into the building meeting resistance near the main lab in a line of armed scientists. They stopped before them, showing them as best they could that they weren't there to cause trouble.

"My name is Ra's Al Ghul," Ra's began only to be cut off by one of the scientists. Sara made a mental note to let Jax know college was definitely a valid idea when the Legends retired.

"What does the League of Assassins want with us?" Jax asked.

"Not you, Mr. Jefferson, though your work in mechanical engineering is quite impressive. We're here for Dr. Snart."

"Leonard Snart?" Sara exclaimed, shocked. "That's the scientist who's working on the breach problem?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" said man spoke up, coming out of the lab behind his colleagues.

"No," Sara breathed. "Not at all." she shook her head. "It's gonna be an interesting conversation when I get home though."

Dr. Snart looked confused, but brushed it off. "I assume you're not from this Earth then." Sara shook her head before gesturing to Ra's.

"She's your earth's version of me."

"Sara finds herself here involuntarily." Ra's explained. "And she needs to get back to her own Earth, where they're working on this problem as well."

Leonard looked between them, seemingly studying them in a manner that was so reminiscent of her own Earth's Leonard Snart.

"I can't promise anything, but we can try." he told them, gesturing for them to follow him into the lab.

xXx

"You alright assassin?" Leonard questioned quietly as he sauntered up to Lance. He stopped beside her, leaning against the table as well.

"Peachy." she replied simply. "Why do you ask?" she continued.

"It just seems to me you don't appear too happy to see the friends and family you haven't seen in months now." he told her. She shrugged.

"Must be the circumstances." she answered.

"Yeah, must be."

xXx

She watched as her counterpart jumped down from the ship before it vanished. This woman was ready for a fight, ready to jump in and defend her team. Lance, took the opportunity to attack. Her teammates were distracted, she would never see it coming and they would be none the wiser. Lance would take her place and they would have another distraction in place.

The only problem was, as she struck the blow that would ensure her place, she couldn't help but feel frustration. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

But this had to be done, so she played her part.

xXx

"So you have your own Dr. Snart on your Earth?" Jax said by way of greeting as he joined her where she sat watching said man across the room. This Jax was surprisingly similar to her Jax, and Sara found comfort in that fact.

"He's not a scientist on my Earth but yes, I do." Sara replied. Sara had always found Leonard attractive, there was no doubt about that. He was tall and lean, with an incredible jaw line and gorgeous blue eyes. His intelligence was of course icing on the cake. Seeing him here, at home in the lab, made perfect sense. She couldn't help but think of what could have been in their own world had his father not brought him down.

"What does he do then?"

"He's the best thief in the world." she chuckled at the shock playing across Jax's face.

"So he ends up like his dad then."

"No," Sara corrected forcefully. "He doesn't. Not at all. Leonard couldn't stoop that low if he tried."

"Good to know." Jax replied. "So I take it you know him pretty well then."

"We work together." she replied simply, though Jax was certain that wasn't the whole story.

And he wasn't wrong. They had almost had something once. Something she was so afraid of, she could only issue a challenge and walk away, hoping that he understood what she was trying to say without actually saying it. She'd been happy so many times in her life only to have it snatched away from her, and Leonard was no different. First his death, then Laurel's, it was all the proof she needed that she wasn't supposed to be happy; that people like her didn't get happy endings. She was sure of that, and she kept it in mind as she led The Legends in Rip's absence.

And then he came back, and everything she'd been telling herself for nearly a year had been turned on its head. She had no idea what to do anymore. With her internal struggle taking center stage in her mind she decided she would step back from a leadership role until she could focus again. Rip took over, having signaled them to pick him up, claiming his work was finished now. She just wasn't sure what to do any more. Life had never been easy after The Gambit, and The Gambit itself was perfect evidence to her faulty judgement. She knew she could be happy with Leonard, but was it worth the risk that it could all come crashing down around her again?

"Alright," Dr. Snart spoke up across the room. Drawing her from her thoughts. "I can get you off this Earth, but I can't guarantee you'll get to your own." he told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, with these deeper readings that have been coming in, I can only come to the conclusion that some of these portal openings are deliberate." he explained. "At first it seemed like all the breeches were opening up randomly in equally random locations but this data suggests that its not entirely random."

"So, for some unknown intent, someone is purposely doing this?" Sara clarified. Leonard nodded.

"Which we can only assume means your being here was not a random act." Ra's spoke up from the other side of the lab where she had been conversing with Dr. Barbara Gordon before Leonard interrupted.

Sara sighed standing up. "All the more reason I need to get home. The last thing I remember was walking into a fight with my team. I need to get back to them, to know they're alright."

"Well, like I said, I can get you close, but the breeches aren't direct routes. You have to cross one then find the next one and cross through that one. It's like taking a bus across town when none of the lines run a straight course." Leonard explained.

"Can you tell us how to find the ones we need?" Ra's questioned.

"We?" Sara asked.

"If this is intentional as Dr. Snart believes it is, then you will need back up." Ra's explained.

"Jax mocked up a scanner. All we need to do is scan your own vibrational signature and it should point you through the right breeches like a GPS." Leonard explained.

"Good, we should get moving quickly then." Ra's replied and they set to work.