~The Legend Kids~
Catriona, Ethan, Ben, and JJ walked around the corner to see Ryan and Kaleb sucking face, as per usual. Catriona smirked. The two of them just couldn't help themselves. Every time they were near each other they either had a make-out session or started shamelessly flirting with one another. Not for the first time, she found herself wondering if she'd ever meet someone she could be so in love with. Someone who mattered more than anything else in the world. Someone she could kiss whenever she wanted to and not care about who saw.
She shook her head, shoving the thought in the back of her mind, as she always did. That could never be in the cards for her, could it? The only boys that actually talked to her were either gay or insufferably annoying. No one that could actually love her back.
"Okay, lovebirds, we're here," Catriona said, as Kaleb and Ryan finally broke apart. "So, what's the plan?"
"I'm sure you all remember the stories of our parents and Rip Hunter?" Kaleb said, looking at each of them in turn. They'd all learned of the Legends during a superhero reunion/picnic three years ago. (The whole thing had been Ray's idea.) Their parents hadn't planned on telling the kids their legendary stories, but when "we're work friends" wasn't a good enough excuse as to how they all knew each other, they had to spill the beans.
"Yeah, he was the guy who gathered the first team of Legends," JJ shrugged.
Kaleb pointed at her. "Correct!"
"What about him?" she asked, looking incredibly bored. Like she didn't even want to be there.
"Twenty-five years ago, Rip Hunter dropped our parents - and grandparent - off here in this exact spot," Kaleb told her. He gestured around them, pointing at the varies buildings surrounding the group. It was dark, shadows looming in every corner. Overhead, stars shone brightly, like tiny little nightlights illuminating the entire city. From the street, just a few feet away, cars could be seen zipping by in a hurry to get to and from their late night shifts. "And he left the Waverider in a hidden location that only the Legends knew about, in case of emergencies."
"And...?" Ethan frowned.
"And this is an emergency," Kaleb said.
"You're saying you know where the Waverider is hidden?" Ethan asked, his voice full of skepticism.
"My sister is stealing it as we speak," Kaleb nodded.
"Cool!" Ryan grinned. The others stared at him. He shrugged. "What?"
"I'm not buying it," Catriona said. "How would you even know where to find it? Pretty sure your parents never told you."
Kaleb shrugged. "That's true," he admitted. "But Dad is a thief. Mom is a highly trained assassin. What can I say? Laurel and I picked up a few things."
"Or...she's going to follow your parents all night until they get the Waverider for us," Ryan said.
"That too," Kaleb nodded.
"Okay, so what?" JJ said. "We steal the Waverider and stop the Legion of Doom from taking over?"
"Precisely," Kaleb nodded. "Our parents will be out trying to find Rip Hunter. Meanwhile, we're going to find a way to take down the Legion via time travel. We'll follow their movements throughout the timeline. Exploit their weaknesses."
"Why don't we just let our parents do that?" JJ asked. "They're the ones who're trained for this kind of thing! We're just a bunch of kids!"
"That's exactly why this will work so well," Kaleb insisted. "They won't suspect a thing."
"Great I'm in!" Ryan nodded. He didn't mean to sound like a mindless robot, but there was no way he was going to let his boyfriend run off and likely get himself killed without him. Ryan Hall would have even followed Kaleb Snart into the depths of hell if it came to that.
Ben shrugged. "Whatever," they said. "Are we gonna beat up some old guys or what?" Their purple hair was poking out through their black beanie, and their clothes were almost as flashy as Catriona's. Sometimes Kaleb wondered if the two had gotten themselves into a competition to see who could wear the loudest outfits.
"Yeah, okay," Ethan shrugged. "But only because they need to pay for what they did."
Kaleb nodded. He decided it was best not to comment on Ray's death, least it strikes a nerve. Instead, he turned to the girls and asked, "Ladies?"
"We're in," Catriona said at once, making JJ glare at her. "Like I said before, you'll need someone with an intellectual mind. And JJ needs a new team."
JJ shook her head, looking very annoyed. "Just so you know," she told Kaleb. "I never agreed to join this...thing. I'm only here because I lost a bet. So, as soon as I get the chance I'm ditching all of you."
"Fair enough," Kaleb smirked. JJ just folded her arms over her chest and huffed.
"We're all gonna die," she grumbled.
~ Laurel ~
Laurel crouched behind cars and ducked behind trash cans, as she followed her parents down the street.
Every once in a while, she saw her mother pause, like she knew they were being followed. But Laurel would quickly hide before she could spot her.
Eventually, the two turned down an alleyway, where they met a scrawny brown-haired man. Laurel ducked behind the dumpster in the ally, listening to the three adults as they spoke.
"Okay, Gary, did you bring it or not?" Sara asked, sighing heavily.
The man, Gary, nodded hastily. "Y-yeah," he stuttered. "Although, I'm not sure why the Legends can't just go into the Bureau and get the Waverider instead of -"
"We kind of pissed off the lady in charge," Len shrugged like he didn't think it was a big deal.
"Ava?" Gary asked. He blinked, looking back and forth between the married couple. Slowly, the man broke into an awkward grin. He turned to Sara. "Was it because she's your ex?"
"She's not my ex!" Sara snapped.
Gary flinched back slightly. Laurel couldn't blame him. Her mother was a pretty scary woman on a normal basis, never mind when she got angry. The man started stuttering. "Right, yeah. Not your ex. Just a clone of your ex...But if you think about it, that kind of does make her your -"
"Gary!" Sara hissed. "Waverider. Now."
He nodded hurriedly, reaching into his pocket. "Right. Yeah, of course! Whatever you say, Captain Lance!" He frowned and slowly pulled his hand out of his pocket. "Or would it be Captain Snart, now?" He glanced at Laurel's dad. "But technically he's Captain Snart. That's confusing. Do people get you two mixed up a lot?" He pointed back and forth between them.
Laurel rolled her eyes. This guy got distracted a lot. Normally, the girl had plenty of patience, but tonight she had a crap tone of people waiting for her to get this job done. Not to mention she was kind of on the clock. The longer she stuck around, the more likely it was she'd be caught.
Sara rubbed her temple with one hand and held her other hand out to the man. "Gary," she said. "The keys."
"Oh yeah!" Gary reached in his pocket once more. This time he pulled out a small rectangle remote and handed it to Sara.
"Thank you," the assassin said. She pressed a button on the remote, and the Waverider appeared in the center of the ally.
"Okay," Gary grinned. "Good luck! I'm going to go play with my Legend action figures now." When Len raised an eyebrow at him, he spluttered awkwardly, trying to backtrack. "I mean, I, uh, I am not going to do that, because I totally do not have anything like that. Okay bye!"
He pushed a button on his watch (time courier, as Laurel would later learn) and a portal opened up. It looked as though someone had pushed open a curtain, opening up a window to another world entirely. Laurel covered her mouth, stifling a gasp. She'd never seen anything like it before. Gary rushed through the portal, entering a small office with a metal desk and several papers stacked on its surface. (And also the several Legend action figures that he totally did not have.)
The portal closed as soon as he had gone through. Sara shook her head and opened the drawbridge of the time ship.
"He seems...colorful," Leonard commented as they boarded the Waverider.
"That's one way to put it," Sara agreed. When Laurel saw her parents around the corner, she ran forward, ducking inside the Waverider just before the drawbridge closed. She hid behind some of the crates in the cargo bay, be sure to stay extra quiet. One by one, her parents picked up the rest of the Legends. Each time a new passenger entered the ship, Laurel got down, laying on her stomach, hoping that she wouldn't be seen.
~The Parents~
The Legends had gathered on a rooftop overlooking Star City. The team stood shoulder to shoulder, like eight of them had so many years ago, when they had first joined forces to stop Vandal Savage from destroying the world and the future. Now they had gathered, similarly, to stop the Legion of Doom - again - and track down their former captain for help.
"This brings back so many memories," Jax commented, looking out at the horizon. He was wearing one of his old white shirts under his favorite brown jacket and jeans. His body was still lean, his muscles still tight with strength.
It had been years since he'd actually done any real superhero business (if you didn't count the events that had taken place two months ago that was.) He was no longer a metahuman, and he hadn't been for years. Not since Firestorm had broken up after the unfortunate events at Barry and Iris's wedding. Jax had helped the Legends out with a little demon problem in the old west, but after that, he mostly just lived a normal life with his family.
But he couldn't pretend he hadn't missed it. It felt great, being back on the field, helping people. The rush of adrenaline, as he rushed to save innocent lives was incredible, like nothing he'd ever felt before. Still, it wasn't quite the same as being Firestorm. His had felt empty now that Stein was gone. (Though over the years he had learned to deal with it.) He missed the feeling of the air beneath his feet, the wind brushing against his face, as he took to the skies, fire surrounding his body.
Mick grunted. "Just try not to get roofied again." He was a big, scary looking guy with the largest build of the entire team. His buzz cut and quick temper often caused people to misjudge him, thinking he was a dumb oaf who only cared about fire and destruction.
Though, if one got to know him well they would find he was surprisingly intuitive and secretly very loyal to his friends. The only reason he had brought Jax's technical kidnapping up was that he could sense something was bothering him, and he had wanted to lighten the mood for the younger man's sake. Tonight he wore a familiar burned and tarnished coat along with some suspenders and an old shirt he only put on when he expected to be burning some stuff.
"Wait," Nate smirked. "Hold on. You were roofied?" He was a skinny man with light brown hair and charming eyes. The man didn't look like much at first glance, but in battle he could transform his skin, making it so that it was made entirely out of steel.
"By Stein," Mick told him.
Nate was trying and failing, to hold back his laughter.
Jax didn't dignify any of that with a response. Instead, he just rolled his eyes, recalling the memory. It was one of those things that had pissed him off at the moment but had learned to laugh about later on.
"So, what's the plan?" Carter asked, looking at Leonard. "I'm assuming you have one?" Even though it had been centuries since he had been Prince Khufu of Egypt, the man still held himself in a somewhat royal manner. He was always calm, always professional. Not much of anything could move him. Though, honestly after living over four thousand lifetimes things began getting a little dull.
He had sandy hair and a permanent bored look in his eyes. He was what people considered fairly good looking, and he could have any woman his heart desired. (Though, his heart only longed for one woman. The same woman it had always been chasing, the same woman he would love until the end of time - his wife Kendra.)
"Of course," Leonard nodded in an over exaggerated Snart like manner. He, after all, had a plan for just about everything. Len had a buzz cut, similar to Mick's. Though, his didn't make him look as frightening. More cold and distant.
His smaller frame made him look more intelligent, and his icy eyes were constantly flickering around, calculating everything in an almost machine-like way. Leonard wore his iconic blue parka along with jeans and a long sleeved shirt under his coat. "We're going to track down Rip using that." He gestured at a briefcase sitting on the ledge, opened so that they could see a high tech watch-like object.
"Okay," Kendra said slowly. "What's that?" Her brown eyes twinkled with curiosity. The woman hadn't always liked getting messed up in these crazy schemes and this super-powered world. She hadn't even wanted to join the Legends at first. But she had a heart of gold and she wanted to do the right thing. He brown hair fell just below her ears, and her skinny frame often made people underestimate her. She was tougher than she looked.
It was clear by their faces that the rest of the team didn't understand what the Snarts had up their sleeve. They had never seen this device before in their lives. But, whatever it was, they knew it had to be full proof. Or, at least, as full proof as anything could get with the Legends.
"It's called a Vortex Manipulator," Sara explained. "We got it from the Time Bureau."
"Got it," Jax said. "Meaning you stole it?"
Sara smirked. "Something like that."
~The Time Bureau~
Three weeks ago
Leonard and Sara had just snuck inside the Time Bureau headquarters. The place was huge, with corridors that stretched as wide a football field. Every few feet there was a door, open so that they could see computers so huge they went from the floor to the ceiling.
"Hmph," Sara huffed. "That's a bit excessive."
Leonard didn't say anything. He was completely focused on the mission at hand. Five nights ago, Sara had a little run-in with one of the Time Bureau's agents, Ava Sharpe.
(Leonard didn't know much about the woman, as he'd been dead when the Time Bureau was just starting out. This, in fact, would be the first time he'd ever actually interacted with the other time traveling team. However, judging from the stories his wife had told him, they were quite the pain in the ass.)
While Sara and Ava had been fighting, as they usually did when they ran into each other, Ava let slip that the Bureau had a secret weapon. Something that could stop the Legion for good.
Naturally, Sara wanted to take it from them and use it to stop the baddies first. The Legends had been in a rivalry with the Time Bureau since the two teams had first crossed paths. Of course, they'd turn it into a competition.
Sara paused in the doorway at the end of the hall. "This is it," she said.
Leonard nodded. He moved to pick the lock. They'd gotten in smoothly enough, but with all the experience Leonard had to pull heists, he knew it wouldn't last. Something was bound to go wrong.
Leonard's suspicions were proven correct as soon as they entered the room. It was a small room; the walls curved around, forming a semicircle. In the center of the room was a glass case sitting on top of a platform raised from the floor. However, the glass case was completely empty.
"Damn," Sara cursed. "It's gone."
"Captain Hunter took it." The Snarts turned around to see none other than Ava Sharpe. Sara rolled her eyes.
"He knew he couldn't trust you Legends, so he took the weapon somewhere you'd never find it."
"Rip is the one who brought the Legends together," Sara pointed out.
"Yes, and you've done nothing but mess things up, since," Ava retorted.
"We killed Vandal Savage and stopped the Legion of Doom once," Sara said, folding her arms over her chest. "Not to mention fixing aberrations and anachronisms."
"Most of those aberrations and anachronisms were created by you," Ava sighed. "And need I remind you the Legion of Doom is back?"
"We'll stop them again."
"Or you could just let the professionals deal with it."
Sara blinked. "Professionals? You couldn't even detect that Julius Caesar was in Aruba. Besides, what do you know? You're just a stupid clone!"
"And you almost ruined the timeline on more than one occasion," Ava said, ignoring the clone comment. (Though Len could see it struck a nerve.)
"Almost, being the operative word," Sara said.
"Hm. You're right," Leonard muttered to his wife. "She is annoying."
Ava shot him a look. He just shrugged, not really phased. The Bureau agent rubbed her temple as if she was getting a headache.
"This is ridiculous," Ava said. "An ex Legion member and an incompetent captain."
"Okay, one," Sara said, glaring at the other woman, "he doesn't remember being part of the Legion. Two, I am not incompetent." (That wasn't entirely true. Leonard could actually remember bits and pieces of his time with the Legion, since coming back from the dead. But considering his wife was on a role, he didn't bother to correct her.)
"Well, if your definition of competency is cleaning up your own messes, then sure," Ava said. "You're the best at your job."
"I'm bored of this conversation," Leonard sighed. He walked over to another glass case hanging from the wall. "What's this?"
"Don't touch that!" Ava shouted. "That's a Vortex Manipulator. We need it in case we ever need to contact Rip Hunter."
"Hm..."
Leonard had the lock picked in under five minutes. He held the Vortex Manipulator up, examining it. "What does it do?"
"That is hardly your concern," Ava told him.
"Answer him," Sara hissed.
Ava rolled her eyes. "It teleports the wearer throughout time and space," she said. "It was transferred here this morning from another facility in Cardiff, Wales. Torchwood."
She gave Sara a look. "They're even more incompetent than you are."
Sara rolled her eyes.
"We're taking this," Leonard announced.
"Uh, no," Ava glared at him. "You aren't leaving with that. It doesn't belong to you."
"I'm a thief," Leonard told her. "Taking things that don't belong to me is what I do."
Ava moved to snatch the Vortex Manipulator from his hands, but Sara moved quicker. She punched the other woman in the face, knocking her to the floor.
"Let's go!"
Leonard pressed a few random buttons on the Vortex Manipulator, making he and his wife disappear.
"Damn it!" Ava yelled as she jumped up.
~The Parents ~
Present day
Mick shrugged. "Probably accurate."
Sara smirked. "Now we're one step ahead of the Time Bureau."
"Do you even know how that thing works?" Carter asked.
"No, of course not. We just stole a device that could help with our mission. Why would we bother to learn how it works?" Leonard said sarcastically.
"Fair point," Kendra said. "How does it work then?"
"You just press the buttons and enter the time and place you want to go," Sara said.
"It keeps track of the most recent time jumps," Leonard said. "We can use it to find the last place Rip was before the Time Bureau."
"Okay," Amaya nodded. "That's actually not a bad idea." She still looked fairly young, as Leonard and Sara had just picked her up from the 1940s. The woman had long, gorgeous dark hair and vibrant brown eyes that sparkled with kindness and fierceness. Around her neck hung one of the six totems of Zambesi, granting her the ability to summon the spirits of the animals.
"We can have Gideon put in the coordinates on the Waverider," Sara said.
"When are we leaving?" Carter asked.
"Wait. Is that your daughter stealing the Waverider?" Jax interrupted.
"Yeah, it looks just like her," Nate agreed.
Leonard and Sara looked over to where they had parked their time ship. Sure enough, there was a blonde teenage girl standing on the drawbridge. She waved back at them.
"Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!" she called over. "Kaleb and I are getting a team and going to stop the Legion of Doom!"
"Um, what?" Sara blinked.
"Bye!" Laurel grinned. She ran inside the ship. A few seconds later, the Waverider took to the sky, leaving the Legends stranded on the roof.
"...I'm not sure if I'm more proud or worried," Leonard frowned.
Mick stared at his best friend, completely poker face. "Both," he said. "Definitely both."
"So much for tracking Rip," Kendra said.
"What are we going to do now?" Amaya asked.
"Plan B," Leonard said. "We need to find our kids before they do something stupid."
~The Kids~
Laurel smirked to herself. Stealing the Waverider had been extremely easy. All she had to do was follow her parents around until they brought the ship on top of the roof. Taking it was a piece of cake.
She stood on the bridge, overlooking the controls, frowning. "How do I get you in the air..."
"I can help with that." A voice rang throughout the room, making the blonde girl jump and yelp in surprise.
"Who said that?" Laurel asked. She looked around the room wildly.
A blue holographic image appeared at the center console - a bald, female head. "I am Gideon, the artificial intelligence designed to help the Legends on their missions and foresee that the basic needs of the ship are taken care of. For example, flying the Waverider from one place to another."
Laurel stood up and smiled to herself. She remembered hearing about Gideon from her parent's stories. "This is sick," Laurel mused.
The others waited for Laurel to return with the time ship.
It had been an hour and a half before a massive vessel began descending from the sky. It was maybe thirty feet wide and twenty feet long. Underneath, there were orange lights glowing, futuristic. A drawbridge lowered, as the ship landed in the middle of the valley outside the abandoned apartment buildings. Laurel Snart sauntered down the bridge, an air of swagger surrounding her, pure usual.
"Dang, dang. Diggity dang - a - dang," she said with a grin. "Everyone showed up."
Laurel's blonde hair was tied back in a high ponytail; her blue eyes sparkled with amusement, as everyone rolled their eyes at her Heathers reference. (She was utterly obsessed with the musical.) Her blue t-shirt was a little too long, so she tied it behind her back with an extra hair tie. Her jeans were faded, and her converse had many holes in them. But that was Laurel for you.
"Come on!" She waved at the gang. "I'll give you a tour."
The Waverider rider was just as big on the inside as it was on the outside. There were many rooms; so many that it would be easy to get lost if one didn't know the vessel. There was the kitchen, the fabricator room, the engine room, the bedrooms, etc., etc. The tour ended in the room where they'd strap in during time jumps.
Laurel turned to face the team when she'd finished showing them around. She was glad they'd all agreed to come. Admittedly, she didn't think her and her brother's plan was going to work. Surely, she'd thought, they'll think it's too dangerous. Yet, here they were.
"Well," JJ said slowly. "This is...something."
"Oh, you haven't even met Gideon yet!" Laurel grinned.
"Gideon," Ethan repeated. "The A.I.?"
"Exactly!"
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you all." The mechanical voice echoed from the ceiling, causing the team to look up and around.
"Finally?" Catriona asked. "You mean you knew we'd come?"
"Indeed," Gideon replied. "I am programmed to see all possible outcomes throughout the timeline."
"Cool," Ethan said. Catriona rolled her eyes at him and muttered something about him being a moron, but he'd learned to ignore her.
"So, where and/or when are we going first?" Ryan asked, directing the question at Laurel and Kaleb.
"To place it all began," Kaleb said. "To the year the Legion was just beginning."
"2030, Star City," Laurel clarified.
"I'm setting the coordination, now, Captains," Gideon informed them.
Laurel frowned. "You know," she said. "Captain is such an overused title. Let's be Commanders."
"Alright, then, Commanders," Gideon said. "Strap in."
The team quickly ran over to the seats and, pulling the safety straps over their chests as they did so. The Waverider took to the sky a second later, blasting off into the depths of time and space.
"Woo!" Laurel cheered. Then, she began to sing Big Fun from Heathers. Naturally.
"The folks are gone; it's time for some big fun! Big fun!" she sang. "We're up til dawn having some big fun! Big fun!"
The others groaned. It was going to be a long trip...
This revisions done! Woo! So, I'm changing things up a bit. Instead of going to 2017 they'll go to 2030, where I'll make up my own version of how Lex Luthor started the Legion. The original version is just a mess and...not well thought out all. So...it's all going bye bye now. I already have the first nine chapters revised on watty, but I don't have them posted on FFN yet. Bare with me. I'll try to do that tomorrow after classes
That's all for now,
Toodles!
~ Elsie
