"Oh my God, is that you, Ethan? What happened to -" He stopped short when he realized he didn't know the other two people.

"Had a little trouble with bounty hunters. Had to ditch and make other arrangements."

"Other arrangements?" Mick growled.

Ethan ignored him. "Tell Ruby to meet me here tomorrow, same time."

"Got it."

"Let's go. The other patrons don't like strangers."

Just as they were leaving the bar, Ethan tried to make a break for it. He grabbed Sara and pulled her in front of him, putting his arm around her neck. "Let me go or I'll kill her," he growled.

Mick didn't answer. Obviously Ethan didn't know Sara. She threw all her weight into her arm and elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him to let her go, then she threw him on his back, putting a knife to his throat.

"Kill me and you kill him," Ethan reminded her.

"I'll don't have to kill you. Try that again, and Gideon will have a job to do when we get back."


The bounty hunters boarded the Waverider. They searched the ship, top to bottom, but couldn't find Snart.

"We took a vote and decided to hand him over. He jumped one of my men, sabotaged my ship, and got away," Rip explained. "Guess he didn't like the company."

"You're lucky we're in a hurry or we might just set you up for target practice," Auris said. "Back to the ship. If we're lucky, we can still track him."

"What about the repairs?" Rip asked as the hunters left.

Rip and Jax got all the repairs done. "We need to get going as quickly as possible. We need to find them before the bounty hunters do." A course was set and the Waverider took off for 2020.


The three of them went back to the jumpship. It was cloaked and provided them with a safe place to wait. Mick was getting worried, the more time they took, the harder it would be for Snart when this was over.

Sara kept finding herself watching Smart, finding it hard to accept that it wasn't Snart. He looked like him, sounded like him, but he wasn't him.

Ethan caught her looking, and came over and sat next to her. "He likes you, a lot. But he finds it hard to trust, to open up to people. His mother broke his heart when she left him. He swore he'd never let that happen again. Lisa is the only one who got past his defenses. Of the two women he's ever been close to, his mother included, he got burned both times. Give him time. He's not sure he's deserving of love."

"Doesn't it bother you to know so much about him? How can you delve into his most personal thoughts, feelings and . . . "

"Secrets? We all have secrets. I just learned how to use them to my advantage."

"Before we meet tomorrow, I need to talk to Snart," Mick demanded. "I . .we . .need to know if he's alright."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Right now, the less we go back and forth, the easier it will be later."

Sara repeated what Mick stated. "We need to talk to him. Good idea or not, we need assurances. We need to know he's still in there, somewhere."

"Oh, he's still in here," he said, pointing to his head. "However, right now, he's my insurance."

"Either we talk to him now, or we go right back to the Waverider and take the hunters up on their offer," Sara demanded.

He looked back and forth between them, trying to see just how serious they were. Neither one wavered or backed off.

"And if you don't like what you find?" He asked.

"We just want to know if he's still there. We'll worry about the rest later," Mick stated.

"Alright. But don't say I didn't warn you."

He sat down, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. In just a few seconds, Len opened his eyes.

He jumped out of his seat. He was completely confused as to his surroundings. He turned around a couple of times, trying to make sense of where he was. He never acknowledged the others, until Mick grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at him.

"Len . .Len . . .it's me, it's Mick, can you hear me?"

Snart pulled away, backing up until he hit the back wall. He stared at them, but couldn't seem to answer.

"Len, it's Sara. You're in the jumpship. We got away from the bounty hunters. You're all right."

He was so tired. He had been fighting for so long. His legs couldn't support him any longer, and he slid down the wall. "I can't do this," he finally whispered, to no one in particular. "I can't do this any more."

"Yes you can!" Mick sat on his knees , right in front of him. "Look at me! You have to be strong. Sara and I are right here."

"Mick?" he asked, looking like he just noticed him for the first time.

"I'm right here. I need you to listen to me. Can you do that? Can you do that for me?"

Len shook his head yes.

"Good. This should be all over by tomorrow. I need you to hang in there. Just a little longer." He looked back over his shoulder. "Look, Sara's here." He motioned for her to come over. "She was worried about you."

Sara came over and sat on the floor next to Len. "Hey, nice to talk to you again."

Suddenly Snart jumped up and started pacing. His voice was going faster and faster in rhythm with his pacing. "They found us. They found us, but we got away. We had to hide, get away, go home. Have to go home." Sara thought he was mixing his memories with Ethan's.

Sara stood up and walked over to him. He stopped pacing when she put her hands on his face. "Yes, we're going home. We're going home tomorrow." Then she turned and walked off the ship.

"Sara!" Mick called. But she didn't answer. When Mick turned back, Len was gone.

"I tried to warn you."

"Stay here," he warned Ethan. "Don't try anything stupid. You try and touch any of the controls, the ship will read your DNA and give you the jolt of a lifetime." He turned around and followed Sara out the door.

He found her sitting on a log, staring off into space, tears running down her face. He sat down beside her and tried to console her. "He's strong. He'll get over this. You just have to give him some time."

"He's barely there. I can't seem to reach him. What if he never comes back?"

"First we see what Gideon can do for him. She can be quite miraculous sometimes. If we have to, we get him some professional help. He's going to need you. You can't fall apart now."

Sara just shook her head and wiped her eyes.

Mick tried to usher he back. "We should probably get back inside before he finds a way to bypass the controls."


The Waverider arrived in 2020. Gideon was able to track the jumpship and they landed on the Waverider.

"So, what did you find out?" Rip asked.

"We made contact with a friend of a friend. We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully all this will be over tomorrow." Sara informed him.

"How's Mr. Snart?" Stein asked.

"As well as can be expected. But, I suggest we don't blow this. He can't go much longer. What about the bounty hunters?" Mick asked.

"They know you're in 2020, but they don't know where. It will take some time for them to find us. In the meantime, we need to be careful. We were warned, he's very resourceful."

"Had one run-in already. Sara set him straight."

"We'll have to be especially careful tomorrow. If he is as desperate as he appears, he may be capable of just about anything."


The next morning, Rip pulled Mick aside and asked him about Snart.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Mick confessed. "We tried to talk to him yesterday, but he couldn't pull himself together. But he is in there, somewhere. I just hope that when all this is over, Gideon can help us pull him back."

"We should start getting ready. We have a lot to do before the meeting," Sara reminded them.

The plan was simple. Len, Mick, and Sara would go to the bar with Stein; Ray and Jax waiting close by as back up, just in case things went wrong. Everyone was issued coms and weapons. Everyone except Ethan, that is. Mick wanted to put him back in handcuffs, but Sara said it wouldn't go well at the meeting.

The four of them walked into the bar. Jax and Ray came in behind them and sat down at a table, trying to look like they fit in, listening on their coms. Ethan nodded at the bartender, who ushered them into a small back room.

Sara and Mick kept a hand on Ethan in case things turned ugly. Standing at a table was a middle aged, black haired woman, with a hand held controller of some kind in her hand.

"Hello Ruby," Ethan announced as they walked in.

She pointed the controller at Ethan and took a reading. "Well, Ethan, seems you came home to roost after all. New friends?"

"You know how much I love to make new friends. We need to talk."

They all sat down at the table in the middle of the room.

"Who are they?" Ruby asked, looking at Mick, Sara. and Stein.

"Friends of his, they want him back," he said, pointing at his head. "Look, I ran into some bounty hunters and managed a new ride. However, they know how to track me now, and they know what I look like. I need a place and a new face to help me lay low in case they show up. What can you do for me?"

"A place to hide isn't impossible. But a new face? A new body? No one is just going to volunteer for that. You know what happens over time. Just how long you been in there?" Ruby asked.

He looked at Mick and Sara before he answered. "Maybe too long. But they won't go without him."

"He has a name, Leonard Snart," Mick informed her. "And he's right. We won't leave without him. We had a deal. We bring him here, and we get our friend back. So what do we do now?"

Ruby took her time, looking at them, and considering her options. Finally she stood up. "It's a good set up, Ethan. Being able to blend with others. I hate to lose you and your . . .talents. Be here tonight around eight. I'll have found a place to hold up by then. You can tell the others waiting in the bar that they can leave with you and don't bring them back and I'm assuming you know not to bring any weapons." She turned and went out the back door.

"Told you they don't like strangers. You guys sure don't blend in well with this crowd." And with that they went back to the Waverider.


At 7:30 they left the ship and headed for the bar, Len, Mick, Sara, and Ray. Ray had shrunk down in his atom suit and was following along, trying to stay out of the way. He was going to be part of their back up.

"Keep your coms open. I want to hear everything that goes on." Rip had told them.

They entered the front and Ruby ushered them out the back, to a waiting van. The windows were all blackened out. They were checked for weapons by the driver. "Can't be too careful," Ruby informed them as she held the door open. "Get in." Ray followed behind.

When the van stopped, Ruby opened the door. "We're here. Get out."

They were looking at a large building. It probably had been used as a small factory or a warehouse at one time, but looked like it had been empty for some time. They went inside and saw about 10 guys who looked like they had been living there. Mick thought it looked like a space he had hidden out in at one time.

"Now what?" he asked. "We had a deal."

"This place was easy. Finding another body is another matter." Ruby told them.

"That's not my problem," Mick said, looking right at Ethan. "How long can you be without a body?"

"One or two days at the most, depending. The ideal is a couple of hours. After that, it gets harder and harder to blend."

Suddenly Mick grabbed Ethan, relaying the message he received from Rip. "They found us. Rip says the hunters are on their way here."

"Everyone grab a gun," Ruby yelled. "We're about to be raided."

"What about us?" Sara asked.

"What about you? Just stay out of our way, and you might get out of this alive."

Ray heard everything and waited outside for the hunters to show. Mick and Sara waited behind an empty tool rack. It didn't take long.

"They're here!" Ray yelled into his com. "They're here!" Mick repeated to everyone.

The front door blew open and smoke started to fill the room. After that it was chaos. It was hard to see, but shots were being fired back and forth. Ray flew in and took out a couple of the hunters. Then Firestorm showed up and they took out a couple more. Mick and Sara ended up each fighting hand to hand and took out their opponents. The only one not fighting was Ethan. He watched and waited for an opportunity to arise. He was surprised when a gun scooted across the room and landed at his feet, from the hunter Sara took out. He picked it up. Mick found himself looking at the barrel of a gun pointed right at him, by a hunter. Ethan aimed his gun and fired, just as Sara leaped onto the man trying to shoot Mick. From the momentum, both of them ended up crossing between Mick and Ethan. In all the mess, Ethan ended up shooting Mick in the shoulder, instead of the hunter. Mick went down, and Ethan dropped his gun.

The fight didn't go much longer. Most of the hunters had been taken out, but a couple had been caught. Firestorm landed and separated into Jax and Stein, and with Ray's help, and what was left of Ruby's men, they rounded up what was left of the hunters. Auris was one of them.

Sara checked on Mick and asked Ray to fly him to the Waverider, but he didn't want to leave. She propped him up against a wall and approached Ethan. "Anyone ever teach you how to shoot?"

"I'm a thief, remember. Not an assassin."

"Well it shows. C'mon. We still have work to do."


The few hunters that were left were forced to sit on the floor, while the others stood over them, guns at the ready.

Ruby grabbed Auris and pulled him off to the side. "What are we going to do with you boys? You picked the wrong people to jump. I suppose we could shoot you and hide the bodies, but I think I got something better for you." She grabbed his arm and walked him over to where Ethan was sitting.

"I think we found our man," and she pushed Auris next to Ethan.