AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies once again for the long break between chapters. Real life has been just a bit in the way.

The brachiosaurus was named Burly. Sara thought that was appropriate for a dinosaur standing five stories tall and weighing something like 80 tons, according to Ray, who was so excited Sara was worried he might… pop something.

And that weight was even before throwing in the open-topped passenger gondola with its cargo of half a dozen Legends and some locals, including a small boy who stared at Sara's team curiously until his mother nudged him with a low warning that it wasn't polite to stare.

The "driver" stood at the front of the gondola. He was a little man who introduced himself as "the Bean." Sara thought that name was appropriate too; she actually stood taller than he did. Not someone anybody would expect to be able to control such a huge beast, but when she voiced that thought, the Bean was quick to correct her.

"Humans don't control dinosaurs. We work with them," he explained as Burly plodded down the road. "They share their strength, and in return we do things for them that they can't do for themselves. For example, Burly here got a nasty splinter on the bottom of his foot once, and I pulled it out for him. If he didn't have humans about to do stuff like that, he'd probably have died of infection."

"How'd you manage to find a little splinter in a foot that size?" Amaya asked.

"That 'little splinter' was about the size of your arm!" the Bean replied with a laugh. "But I got right under there and yanked it out."

"Under… his foot?" Nate asked. When the Bean nodded, he asked, "Isn't that dangerous? He could have flattened you."

A deep rumble sounded in the brachiosaurus' throat, followed by a sort of lowing. The Bean smiled. "Burly says he'd never. I'm the only one who can scratch all his itches."

Burly rumbled one more time, drawing a laugh from the little boy. "He says he doesn't like squishy things between his toes, either!"

Stein looked at him in surprise. "He says? He… talked? And you… understood him?"

"Our children learn Saurian before they learn to read," the boy's mother replied. She looked at her son sternly. "And they're also taught not to interrupt grownup conversations. Aren't you, David?"

"But Mumma! They met Squadron Leader Snart! And Freefall!" David protested, saying the names with a reverence that boys in Sara's world would reserve for sports icons.

Or superheroes.

David's eyes were shining with excitement as he went on, "They're the strongest and the bravest fliers in the Skybax Corps!"

Sara felt a little pang at those words, an echo of something she'd told Nate months ago. Not that she'd ever told him what she meant. At the time it was less painful to have him assume she was talking about Rip. And after their experience with the Legion, she doubted he'd ever believe she'd really been talking about Leonard.

She was jarred from her musing by a whistling sound from David, who was waving his arms around as if to illustrate flying. "…and then they swooped in fast as lightning and sent those carnivores running for their lives!"

"They sound very daring," Amaya said with a slight smile for the child's excitement.

"They're agitators," another passenger grumbled with a scowl. "Not willing to just get along with the Cahuengas."

"He's got good reason for that!" David's mother countered hotly. "You have no idea what we've been dealing with out in the settlements!"

The man's scowl grew deeper. "They're troublemakers!"

David's father now joined the debate. "They are heroes!"

Mick huffed sourly at that, shifting in his back-row seat to stare stonily at the mountains in the distance while the locals argued. Sara caught Ray's eye and motioned for him to let her take his place next to Mick. As they maneuvered around each other, she murmured, "You guys see if you can figure out just what we're riding into, and give me the Reader's Digest version later."

Ray nodded, and she turned her attention to Mick. "You okay there?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Another echo of the past, and just like at the Vanishing Point, he didn't look at her as he said it.

"Mick…" she sighed.

" 'm fine, Sara. Leave it alone."

She frowned, but ignored the warning in his tone. "Don't brush me off, Mick."

Now he turned toward her with a harsh laugh. "Like you brushed me off for months? All of you?"

There was bitterness in his voice and accusation in his eyes, and Sara had to look away under the force of it. "I… I know," she finally said, staring at her hands in her lap. "I knew you were hurting, but… At first I was so focused on getting revenge against Damien Darhk, and then after we lost Rip… I kept telling myself that you were tough, that you were Mick Rory who survived being Chronos."

She sighed. "I told myself you could get through this. And I told myself that you didn't want to talk about feelings."

"Well…" A little bit of concession now. "You weren't wrong there."

"Maybe not, but still… It's no excuse. A captain's supposed to be better than that." She shook her head and looked back up at him. "I told myself everything but the truth. See, I knew that if I talked to you, we'd have to talk about him…. and I… I didn't want to deal with… with my feelings about him."

His lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Yeah, well… look where that got us."

"Exactly. That's why I don't want you brushing me off this time!" she answered sharply.

He glared at her, but she refused to back down, keeping her eyes locked with his. Finally, his expression softened. He let out one of his rumbling sighs and looked back out at the countryside.

"You know the worst part of that whole mess with the Spear and the Legion?" he asked.

"Seeing… him— " She couldn't refer to the Legion's version of Leonard by name—"kill that other version of you on the battlefield?"

Mick snorted softly and shook his head. "Nah. That was nothing new."

Sara's eyes widened, and he continued, "The Time Masters used to create time remnants of us for training, so we could observe our own mistakes and learn from them. I saw myself get killed dozens of times while they trained me to be Chronos."

She really shouldn't have been shocked, knowing the things the Time Masters had done to Rip. To all of them. But still... "Killed? By the other bounty hunters?"

"Usually." The bitter smile returned as he looked back at her. "But sometimes, just to make sure I'd keep hating all of you and stay on mission, they'd put my time remnants up against simulations of the team. I came up against each of you at one point or another. You were especially tough to beat. I think you took out a dozen of my time remnants before I was able to kill you." He shrugged a little. "Your simulation, I mean."

Sara felt sick. "And there were simulations of…?" She still couldn't manage the name.

Mick nodded. "Yeah. After seeing a simulation ice you a dozen different ways, seeing it happen to an aberration isn't any big deal."

Sara nodded in understanding. She'd told Nyssa once that she couldn't stomach the killing any more, but what had really frightened her was how much she'd become desensitized to it. "So if that wasn't the worst, what was?"

Any trace of a smile fell away. "Dumping him in 2014. Before that, my last memory of my best friend was him sitting in a bar, just looking a bit confused after I told him he was a hero to me. Now, thanks to the Spear and the Legion, I have a new last memory… of him looking at me like I was his executioner."

He looked back out of the gondola. "I was hoping the bikini babes and mai tais in Aruba would help me forget that. Even dropping into Dinotown wouldn't have been so bad. A mission could keep me focused, keep me from thinking too hard about anything else."

Diversion instead of dealing with things. Of course. Sara wondered if Mick had learned that from Leonard, or vice versa. "And then Dinotown served up a version of him. One that doesn't know you."

"And one who says his partner is a freakin' flyin' dinosaur!" Mick chuckled now. "Y'know, our Snart would be in geek heaven right now."

Sara chortled disbelievingly. "Really?"

Mick nodded. "Who do you think dragged me to see 'Jurassic World?' He was never as bad as Haircut, but he loved anything to do with dinosaurs. And," he nodded toward the little boy up front, "that kid makes him sound like a rock star. He'd love that too."

There was no disbelief in Sara's laughter now, remembering their Snart's very healthy ego and flair for the dramatic. But it wasn't just conceit and self-centeredness. She knew how hard he'd worked to get out from under his father's thumb, even if the work wasn't of the legal variety, and just why he'd worked so hard.

One of those reasons was, in their original timeline, still in Central City.

The other was sitting next to her, looking thoughtful. "Guess if I had to be replaced, at least it's a cool replacement," Mick said. Then he met her eyes again, and the bitterness was gone. "Yeah, I'm okay, Sara. I won't let you down again."

They both looked up at the clearing of a throat. Stein was standing in the aisle, holding on to the back of a seat to keep his balance against the dinosaur's lumbering gait. "Our… chauffeur… says we'll be at Waterfall City shortly. It's just beyond those hills."

He pointed ahead. They could see a telltale mist rising into the sky, and hear the roar of what had to be massive waterfalls.

Stein went on, "He says we'll pass the Healer Hall first, where they took Jefferson. With your permission, I'd like to leave the group there and check on him."

"Of course," Sara replied. "Do you have any… feeling about how he's doing?"

Stein sighed. "Just a bit of… I guess you'd call it 'background noise.' It's much more muted than when he's just sleeping. It's… it's disconcerting. Jefferson's consciousness is usually such a bright presence in my mind, even when he's trying to hold back."

Mick grunted. "Two years, and I'm still not used to the way you two are in each other's heads."

Stein smiled slightly. "It's not always easy for us, either." He turned to head back to his seat, then paused and faced them again. "Speaking of things that aren't easy… Mr. Rory, I also owe you an apology."

"Were you eavesdropping, Marty?" Sara asked with a teasing smirk.

"Perhaps just a little bit," Stein admitted, giving them a half-shrug. "And I apologize if I overstepped my boundaries."

" 's all right, Professor," Mick replied. "You've talked with me about Snart before. You 'n' Sara… you both get it."

"Yes," Stein said, and his expression was rueful. "And that is why I need to apologize, not for the eavesdropping but for…."

He stopped for a moment, then drew in a deep breath. "The events of the past 24 hours or so have given me ample reason to reflect on my own actions of the past few months… and to regret them."

"Professor…"

Stein held up a hand. "Please, Mr. Rory, let me say this. You trusted me to… to fix you. You trusted me enough to be… vulnerable with me, and don't think that I don't understand what that means for a man with your history."

Normally, Stein would deliver that last sentence disdainfully. Not this time. Instead, he directed the disdain toward himself. "I knew you were suffering, yet all I did was belittle you. And then the others followed my lead."

"Martin…" No more teasing now.

Stein shook his head. "Sara, you are the Captain, but as the oldest, and supposedly wisest, member of the team, I should be… setting an example." He huffed. "I suppose I did set an example, but it was the wrong one. And I kept doing it, even when we got caught in the time storm that brought us here."

He held his hand out to Mick. "For whatever it's worth, I am truly sorry."

Mick stared at the professor for a moment, then briefly clasped the proffered hand in his own. "Well, 's not money or booze…" Stein and Sara both smirked at that, "but I appreciate it, Professor."

He leaned back in his seat and continued, "But don't start thinkin' you need to treat me like some delicate flower. The stuff you've said… the stuff everybody's said… I've said the same sort of things to all of you, too. And I've heard worse in Snart's crews. He just knew when to stop 'em from going too far."

Mick pointed at Sara. "That's part of your job, Captain. Got it?"

She smiled and nodded. "Got it, Mick."

Mick grunted in satisfaction. "Good. Now, let's knock off the touchy-feely stuff before Haircut decides to join the party."

As if summoned, Ray called back to the others. "Guys! You have got to see this!"

Burly was rounding another hill, and their destination was now coming into view. The locals had stopped arguing, several of them now gaping instead.

This was worth gaping at.

As expected, waterfalls dominated the landscape. The city was perched on a promontory between two sets of natural falls, one a narrow torrent traversed by a Roman-style arch bridge, the other a much larger cascade creating a cloud of mist where rainbows danced. Even more water flowed from sluices cut into the city's outer wall, the man-made chutes eventually joining the natural falls to form a swiftly running river.

And that was just the beginning.

Like the strange version of Los Angeles they'd crashed into, Waterfall City was a hodgepodge of architectural styles. Their road ran perpendicular to its crenellated walls, and new oddities were revealed as Burly plodded along.

A Mayan-style pyramid caught the eye first, flanked by a flat-topped glass-and-concrete highrise that could have been yanked from Star City and a golden dome reminiscent of St. Peter's. As the road curved toward the bridge they could see a Japanese donjon standing alongside a structure Sara could only describe as a giant glass pineapple. A building with a spiraling stone tower sat in the middle of it all, topped off with a huge clock.

"Waterfall City! The heart of the Tujunga Nest!" the Bean announced cheerfully. "Home to 25,000 humans and saurians, perched at the southern edge of the Great Sweetwater Lake."

The glassy surface of that lake was now coming into view as they drew closer to the bridge. Some of the passengers paid no attention to the Bean's description, leaning back in their seats and looking much like frequent fliers who'd heard the safety spiel too many times. But Sara's team and the family from the settlement all craned their necks to take in the sight as the Bean went on, like a tour guide, "This is the center of art, education and trade for the whole Nest. We've also got the best healers in the region, all quartered at the Healer Hall over there."

He pointed at the highrise, then nodded at Stein. "Sir, that's where we'll drop you off before we go on to the main depot over by the Senate Chambers," he said, and then pointed at the building with the strange clock tower. He nodded to the rest of Sara's team. "That's where they'll be expecting the rest of you lot."

By now Burly had reached the bridge. Sara was still contemplating the giant glass pineapple and wondering what welcome they might get at the Senate Chambers when David let out an excited shriek, making her whirl, ready for a fight, until she followed his pointing finger.

A white pteranodon soared above the lake, gliding in a circle. It made a couple of rounds before plummeting down to the water, furling its wings as it went under. After a moment, it emerged, snapping its beak a couple of times before starting to flap its wings to fly once again.

"Is that… is that Freefall?" David asked in an awed voice.

"Only albino pteranodon in the world, lad!" the Bean confirmed with a chuckle. "And the only pteranodon in the Skybax Corps too."

Sara frowned in puzzlement. "But those others who rescued us…"

"Oh, those weren't pteranodons. They were quetzalcoatlus skybax. Different species altogether," Ray said authoritatively. "You can tell by the crest on the head."

Sara rolled her eyes while Mick chuckled and Amaya smiled fondly; Ray was in full dino-nerd mode and completely oblivious to their reactions. "I think he's fishing," he went on, pointing to where Freefall was diving into the water again. "Wow, he dives just like a brown pelican…"

Freefall broke the surface again, and Sara caught a quick glimpse of something silvery as the pteranodon snapped his beak again. Ray grinned. "See? Fishing! Another difference between pteranodons and skybaxes. Skybaxes aren't piscivores, but pteranodons are."

He glanced at his companions, who were looking at him with varying degrees of amusement. "Piscivores? Means they eat fish?"

"You couldn't'a just said that, Haircut?" Mick asked with a smirk.

Freefall took off from the lake's surface again, but he didn't dive for more fish. Maybe he'd eaten his fill already. Instead, he flew toward the bridge, making a half-circle over Burly before landing on a tall archway leading into the city. He turned his head so one red eye watched them as they reached the end of the bridge and passed under the arch. Then he let out a caw and flew off.

"Whoa!" David's eyes were wide as saucers. "That was…"

"Awesome!" Ray and Nate finished, looking equally thunderstruck.

David giggled and nodded, "Yeah. Awesome."

Speaker Druce paused mid-monologue when Freefall glided through the huge arched window over the Senate Chambers and made a pass around the cavernous chamber. Leonard forgot both his discomfort on the hard wooden bench and his irritation at being raked over the coals as he watched his partner's flight, looking for any signs of distress after the day's exertions.

Out of the corner of one eye, he could see that Druce was also watching Freefall, with a sour expression. Leonard's lips twitched slightly at that. The Speaker never liked being upstaged, and he always seemed to hold Leonard personally responsible for his partner's scene-stealing.

Forgetting, of course, that Freefall had already been an adult with a fully formed, formidable personality when they'd bonded, and that Leonard had barely been in his teens.

Leonard ignored the Speaker's dark look as Freefall landed on the balcony above the main floor. He furled his wings gingerly and… there, he was favoring one leg as he settled and looked down at Leonard.

::I'm fine, partner. Leave it alone,:: Freefall replied to the concern in Leonard's mind. Then, drily, ::I see the Senate left you with your hide intact.::

::Most of it,:: Leonard told him with an audible chuckle.

That got him another dark look from Druce and a warning glance from Ronnie at his desk behind the dais. The Speaker finished making his point and ceded the floor to a triceratops who began his own speech in Saurian.

As Druce returned to his seat, Leonard shrugged slightly to Ronnie before continuing, ::I managed to convince them that we weren't out looking for a fight and that we only went into the Empty City on a rescue mission.::

::Well, we did. So what's all the fuss about now?::

::Brokehorn and his bunch think the Outsiders were looking for a fight.::

Freefall huffed derisively, and Leonard smiled wryly. ::Yeah, I know. But when he gets an idea in his thick skull…:: He shrugged a little. ::So where are they now?::

::They should be here any moment. Burly arrived while I was fishing.::

Leonard nodded and mouthed the word soon to Ronnie, who'd been watching him with raised eyebrows.

::So what does Ronnie think about the Outsiders?::

::He thinks I'll have plenty of time to figure out what's bothering me about them,:: Leonard replied. Then, thinking about the last thing Ronnie had said before they entered the Chambers, he added, ::He also thinks I shouldn't say anything to anyone else about… feeling like I know them.::

Another huff. ::He's probably right, the way Brokehorn is ranting about them right now.::

On the dais, the triceratops was becoming agitated. "It can only be a plot to subvert the treaty!" he growled. "Why else would they come here?"

He looked past his audience, toward the Great Door. Leonard turned and saw the small group of Outsiders entering, looking around the Chambers in wonder, but with no sign of fear…

Until Brokehorn let out an angry roar and charged off the dais, heading for the strangers at a dead run.