In which Len finally recovers enough to tell the team his own version of events... and Carter can't figure out why the thief is lying about what happened.

"What if"... my Flash Sideways fanfic was true canon?

Here we continue the Necropolis arc, in which the team attempted one mission between the first two episodes of Legends of Tomorrow-after Aldus' death and before the stopover in Norway. It is a "what if" scenario primarily based on the timing, as the show doesn't really offer any time between in-canon missions for this event to occur.

In this chapter I address two potential plot-holes found in canon.
One, we learned in season 2 that the Waverider is capable of putting patients in stasis to facilitate their healing, but Professor Boardman was allowed to die in the very first episode of season 1... while it's possible that Chronos had done enough damage that stasis simply wasn't possible under the circumstances (and there is the whole "time wants to happen" argument), I chose to assume the difference was in the nature of the injuries and how well Gideon could separate the critical injury (e.g. the bullet wound in Len's shoulder) from the life-threatening aspect that the stasis was used to get around (the blood loss resulting from said wound).
Two, the matter of Carter's mace as a weapon. I have no idea what theory the comics provided, and the TV show rewrites a lot of the canon anyway, but that mace doesn't seem to do a whole lot of damage to normal enemies, either as a blunt object or as a spiked weapon. For my part I chose to assume that Carter's mace is a ceremonial tool with none of the weight of a real mace, and it is only his enhanced strength and whatever else the nth metal meteors did so long ago that allows him to use it as a weapon at all, let alone that he can continue using it as such for a few thousand years... but those spikes can still be dangerous, and of course, there are serious consequences to striking someone hard enough to knock them unconscious no matter the tool used. Also this point is repeated in chapter 5 when Len asks Carter directly about the issue.

All characters seen or mentioned copyright DC, CW, etc.

When Carter woke, he felt refreshed and completely dry.

How long have I been asleep?

The play of lights outside the window told him they were back in the temporal zone. No information there.

A fresh outfit lay folded at the foot of his bed. He dressed and donned his armor—now clean, though he was sure he would have woken if anyone else had entered the room—and left to find answers.

He didn't encounter anyone until he reached the corridor to the Med Bay. Sara stood guard outside.

Carter looked away from the assassin. "Still want to find out if the League can stop me from reincarnating?" he asked. "Who knows? Maybe they came up with something new since the last time I dealt with them."

"I'm still thinking about it," she replied. "Go on in, if you really think you need to."

He gave her a curt nod and approached the door. But voices within made him hesitate.

"—don't begrudge him his life," Kendra was saying. "But even if time 'wants to happen,' it hardly seems fair that Gideon couldn't heal Aldus the same way."

"It isn't just time," Rip explained. "It's also due to the nature of their injuries. In Mr. Snart's case, the most immediate threat to his life is not the damage to his shoulder, but the blood loss that resulted from it. But the damage was what needed healing, obviously. By putting him into stasis, Gideon was able to deal with the two problems as two separate processes, reduce his need for vital resources so she could repair the damage, and keep them separate for as long as necessary."

"Gideon already said something like that," Kendra said. "But what about Aldus?"

"In Professor Boardman's case, the most immediate threat was the injury itself. True, Gideon could have put him into stasis to prolong his life, but there would have been no way to separate that from the healing process. It would, instead, have prevented her from healing him at all." Rip sighed. "I'm sorry, Ms. Saunders, I know this isn't what you want to hear. And you're absolutely right, it isn't fair; no parent should ever have to bury their child... not even when reincarnation is involved."

"It does help to know," Kendra admitted. "A little."

"I'm sorry, but if you could excuse us for a moment..." Rip said. "Mr. Hall, if you could stop eavesdropping, I would like a word with you."

Carter's face warmed. "Right. Sorry." When he stepped inside, Kendra pushed past him without a second glance.

Just as well; Carter couldn't meet anyone's eyes right now. His gaze flickered around the room and settled on the unconscious thief in the bed.

Leonard had been cleaned up at some point, and his shoulder was freshly bandaged. And his breathing was finally steady. The blue light had gone out, revealing how pale he still was, but at least now Carter could believe he would survive.

"I'm surprised Rory isn't hovering over him," the demigod murmured.

"Yes, well, he had to be persuaded to shower off first," Rip said. "And Gideon might have sedated him while he was in there."

Carter spun to stare at the captain.

Rip merely shrugged. "It worked well enough on you, I figured it would be at least as effective on Mr. Rory."

"I thought the water smelled odd," Carter muttered. "You didn't try it on Sara?"

"Ms. Lance proved a little more resistant than I anticipated," Rip admitted. "She made me promise not to try anything like that again."

The demigod returned his attention to the thief. "He's all right, then?"

"It's a funny thing about healing," Rip said. "No matter the technique used, no matter how advanced the technology, the process always taxes the patient's resources." He nodded at the screen that displayed Leonard's vital signs. "He needs to recover his strength, but the worst is over. His injuries are completely healed."

"All of them?" Carter echoed. "Even the..." He waved one hand at the back of his own head.

"Gideon was able to repair that, as well," Rip replied. "That is, incidentally, what I wanted to speak to you about. You were the only one in a position to witness what had happened; perhaps you could explain how he'd sustained those injuries?"

"I guess it was too much to hope that you'd wait until he could answer those questions himself?" Carter shook his head. "There was no other way I was getting him off of that pillar."

"Mr. Hall!" Rip snapped. "I understand that you do not approve of the inclusion of two criminals on this team, but for gods' sake—"

"No, you don't understand," Carter growled. He turned to face the captain again. "He'd already been shot when I got to him. He was half dead. The only hope I had of saving him was by flying him back here. But when I told him I was going to do that, he panicked. And you know what scared him the most? Not having to trust someone, not that it was me. No, what scared him more than anything was that his fear would make it worse; he believed that once he was in the air, he wouldn't be able to keep himself under control and he'd put both of us in danger."

Rip blinked. "I... see..."

"Do you?" Carter scoffed. "He might never have been in that position if I hadn't kept pushing him. I'm not proud of that. But when I say there was no other way I was getting him down from there, I'm not being malicious. I'm saying that I didn't believe then, and I don't believe now, that he had time for a better option."

—WHAT IF: NECROPOLIS—

Carter returned to the main deck a few hours later to find Mick in Rip's office, nursing a beer with four more waiting on the table in front of him.

The demigod snatched a fresh bottle up and took a swig.

"Hey!" the arsonist growled. "Don't wanna work with thieves but you'll steal from my stash?"

"It's one lousy beer," Carter said. He took another sip and grimaced at the flavor. "Emphasis on 'lousy,'" he added.

"It's my lousy beer," Mick grumbled.

"Here." Carter set the bottle down long enough to find a twenty in his wallet and tossed the bill at Mick. "Start buying a decent brand and get over yourself." And he grabbed the bottle back up, crossed to the other side of the room, and took another drink.

The bottle was half empty when the ship's speakers snapped to life.

"Mr. Snart is awake and moving about," Gideon announced.

"Moving about where?" Mick asked.

"He's made it to the kitchen," Gideon replied. "He said he wanted 'real' food."

Carter snickered.

"Real food?" Mick echoed. "You have that on this bucket of bolts?"

"If you're referring to food that isn't synthetic, then no, not usually," Gideon admitted. "I believe what he meant by it was that he expected to receive the fare common to prisons in your era. Or worse, common to hospitals in your era."

Mick shuddered. "I guess even fake food is 'real' food compared to that."

"Why?" Ray asked. "Come on, everybody loves the green jello."

"Could you be any more of a dweeb?" Sara asked.

Carter shook his head. "He probably could if he tried."

Sara spun around to glare at the demigod. "I'm sorry, I don't remember asking you!" she snapped.

"Never mind all that," Rip said. "Is he feeling up to answering a few questions?"

The next ten seconds of silence felt like an eternity.

"He says as long as you do not interfere with his meal," Gideon finally replied.

Mick didn't need any further prompting. He shot out of his seat and down the corridor, with Sara close behind, before Rip had taken three steps.

Carter trailed behind the rest of the team and found a spot where he could listen in without Leonard seeing him. It wouldn't do any good for the team to think the thief was intimidated into lying.

"Somethin' smells good," Mick announced as he walked into the kitchen. "Oh, gross! You couldn't have cooked it first?"

"This is cooked!" Leonard protested.

"It's got pink in it!" Mick replied.

"So much for not interfering with his meal," Carter muttered.

"Better Rory than you right now," Kendra said.

Carter nodded.

"That's not exactly standard fare for a recent invalid," Rip said.

"Why not?" Sara asked. "With how much blood he lost, he needs the iron. Though organ meat would be even better."

Mick made a gagging sound.

"It can also be tougher to chew," Leonard drawled. "Depending—will you knock that off!—depending on the organ. Or full of fat. Hardly suitable for a... recent invalid."

"Do you feel up to answering some questions?" Rip asked.

"I already told Gideon I would," Leonard replied. "What did you need to know?"

"How you were injured," Rip said. "The generalities will suffice for now."

Carter listened closely. I'm damned no matter what he says. Either the thief would admit to what the demigod had done and out him to the entire team, or would prove that the blow had damaged his memory and set the League assassin against Carter for all time.

"Pretty sure you already know about the rocket launcher," Leonard replied. "Damn explosion sent a lot of debris on top of me. I did what I could to protect myself from the fallout, but it left me disoriented. By the time I could see straight, one of the locals had already climbed up the pillar and stole your rifle from me."

A pause, followed by chewing too quiet for anyone without Carter's senses to hear.

"He shot me while I was trying to reload my pistol. Then Carter showed up and tossed the guy off the pillar. He said he'd fly me back to the Waverider, and..."

Another pause, but this one was silent.

Carter's heart sank. No! He has to remember.

When Leonard spoke again, his voice was subdued. "I'd lost a lot of blood by that point. I passed out before anything else happened."

Carter blinked. "That's not..." he muttered. "No, he was still awake."

Mick produced a sound, near to a roar, that made Carter jump. It took the demigod far too long to realize that the arsonist was laughing.

"You sure that was the reason?" Mick asked. "Sure you didn't pass out 'cause he said 'fly'?"

"Not helping," Leonard said.

"Never said I was trying to," Mick replied.

"Wait, what about the marks on the back of your head?" Sara asked.

"I said there was a lot of debris," Leonard said. "Throwing my arms over my head doesn't offer that much protection."

"And the way he stood over you with his mace when I got there?" Sara said. "He was ready to attack!"

"His mace," Leonard echoed. "A weapon designed to crush skulls, if my research is correct. Is that what happened to me?"

Except Carter's mace was a ceremonial tool, with only the demigod's own strength to turn it into the weapon it appeared to be. Though if the thief wasn't aware of this fact, it would be easy, logical even, to dismiss that memory as faulty.

Especially if his memory was damaged. The mace may not have the weight of a real weapon, but those spikes weren't for show. And Carter knew from far too many lifetimes that any blow sufficient to render someone unconscious had serious consequences.

"No, thank god," Rip muttered. "The gunshot wound on your arm was the only critical injury."

"As to him being ready to attack, well, I really wouldn't be able to answer that, now, would I?" Leonard continued. "But we were still in a fight, weren't we? And the warlord had already climbed up after me; it stands to reason some of his militia could follow. Perhaps Carter thought it was one of them?"

"Gideon, are we sure that his concussion is healed?" Sara asked. "That he didn't suffer some kind of memory loss?"

"Mr. Snart remembers the attack perfectly," Gideon replied in a tone that Carter could best describe as waspish. "His memory matches the events I extracted from Mr. Hall's mind. This is the story he chooses to present."

"Be a lot more convincing 'story' if you didn't insist on calling it one," Leonard mumbled. "Was there anything else?"

Carter frowned. That Leonard's memory wasn't damaged by the blow to his head was a relief, but if he knew exactly what had happened... what purpose was there in lying about it?

"No, Mr. Snart," Rip said. "That will be all, thank you. I'd like you to report back to the Med Bay in a couple of hours. Sooner if you experience any problems. Enjoy your meal in the meantime."

The three filed out, leaving Leonard alone. Sara pointed two fingers at her eyes and then at Carter, Mick glanced at the demigod with a shrug and returned to his beers, and Rip walked by without giving any of them a second look.

The rest of the team wandered off to their own tasks, either satisfied with Leonard's version of events or as yet unwilling to question it.

Carter suspected the second theory was more likely.

Linked fics:
(sort of) Legion of Doom: Len pulls the same stunt with wandering off to the kitchen when he's not supposed to for some fine dining. Except that fic takes place during an alternate version of season 2 and he's a prisoner on the Waverider.