The ship was quiet.

Slowly, Thermos lifted up the grate, peering around for a few seconds before silently deciding that the coast was clear, making his way out into the open. Behind him, Len and Sara followed him out.

"How did you even know that was down there?" Sara asked, glancing around and frowning at the silence.

Before Thermos could answer, Len spoke up, "When Rip first recruited us, I sent Lucky to case every square inch of this tub in the event there was something worth stealing… There wasn't."

"That explains you…" Sara turned to Thermos, "… what about you? How did you know about all that?"

"…. Time Ships are all pretty much built from the same model. Same hidey-holes."

Before Sara could protest that answer, Len spoke up, moving towards the pilots' chair, "Enough! Let's just get out of here."

"Wait, what about the team?"

"There's nothing more we can do for them."

"Woah, woah, woah…" Thermos held up his hands and frowned at Len, "… You're just gonna leave Mick?"

"If the Time Masters are half as twisted as Mick said, there's an excellent chance Mick is no longer Mick. Now why aren't we flying yet?!"

"Because we're not going anywhere!"

Thermos nodded in agreement with Sara, folding his arms over his chest, "Yeah, and even if we wanted to, we're in a hangar surrounded by an entire armada of time-ships!"

"It's the Waverider. We've got guns. We can blast our way out!"

"What are we?! Bonnie and Clyde?!"

"More like Bonnie, Clyde and their pet…" Sara muttered, ignoring the glare Thermos shot her as she raised her voice again, glaring at Len, "And I'm not going anywhere without the rest of the team."

Within seconds, Len had his cold gun powered up and aimed at Sara, "Maybe I didn't make myself clear." He snarled, smirking when Thermos moved in front of her, his powers flaring to life.

"Don't do this…" Thermos muttered, "… come on Leonard."

"He's right…" Sara piped up, "… Don't act like you're that same cold-hearted bastard that I first met. I remember Russia, and you were the one who told me not to kill Stein!"

"Yeah, because you seem to have a problem with being a killer. I, however, don't."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Sara pushed Thermos to one side, and moved to stand directly in front of the cold gun, "Prove it…" 5he hissed, "… Shoot me."

The tense showdown must have only lasted seconds, but it felt like hours, with Thermos getting ready to dive in front of Sara at the first sign of Len pulling the trigger. Just as he thought the older man was going to do exactly that, the antique phone rang.

Nobody moved.

Eventually, Thermos headed over to the phone, keeping his eyes on the other two as he answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Thermos."

Thermos's eyes widened behind the goggles, "Gideon, you're alive!"

Almost immediately, Len stood down as they both turned to face Thermos as Gideon continued.

"If be being "alive" you mean that my operating system is intact, yes, I was able to upload into the latency core to avoid being wiped out when the Time Masters- "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can share war stories later…." Thermos quickly interrupted, "… Where are the rest of the team?"

"They're in cell block 4587, and they, too, are alive for the moment."

"What do you mean "for the moment"?"

….

"I really hate this plan." Thermos muttered as they crept out of the ship, "I mean, I know it was mostly mine and Gideon's plan, and my genius is the driving force…. But I really hate it."

"Shut up."

"I've changed my mind, I need to- "

"Shut up!" Sara glared at him, "Finish putting these things on the ships and let's get back to the Waverider."

….

"I can't just stand around here and wait to die!" Ray groaned, peering around the cell block, like an escape plan would suddenly just appear in front of him.

"Well, if it's any consolation, you're not alone."

"Oh, you're giving up too?"

Stein rolled his eyes, "Well, let's just review our situation, shall we, Raymond? They're turning Mr. Rory back into Chronos, I I'm about to have a nuclear meltdown and our captain thinks our future is already written for us!"

"…. You know what I think?" Ray glanced at both of them and frowned, "I think you're both a couple of quitters."

"There's no escape from either these cells - or from the future…. Face the facts, Raymond. We're completely out of allies."

"You're forgetting Sarah, Snart and Thermos! As long as they're on the loose, we still have a chance!"

….

"Just another moment." Gideon reported, "I'm almost through."

Snart glanced up at the ceiling, still tapping his ring against the metal of the deck, "Even if this works, we're never gonna be able to fly out of here."

"Well, that's the beauty of having a time-ship." Sara muttered, "We don't have to fly anywhere."

As the tapping got louder and more frequent, Sara eventually snapped. "Can you stop doing that?" As Len smirked and mockingly held his hands up in surrender, Sara rolled her eyes, "Why did you start wearing that thing, anyways?"

There was a brief moment of silence, before Len finally answered, eyes focused on the silver ring, "It's from the first job I ever pulled off with Mick…. A Freeport warehouse."

"Cute." Thermos muttered, as Sara smirked.

"Oh, you do have a sentimental side?"

"It's not a keepsake…." Len scowled, "… It's a reminder."

"Of what?"

"…. That even the best laid plans can go sideways. Spent a lot of time prepping for that heist. Casing the target. Memorizing shift changes and delivery schedules, and then surprise! Turns out they'd upgraded their security system…. We had to bolt. Three weeks of planning and all I have to show for it Was a lousy pinky ring."

"So sad."

Len shrugged, "Considering I'm about to trade my life for nothing, I think I came out ahead."

It was at this moment, that Gideon piped up again, "The Time Drive is back online."

"Guys…" Sara moved over to the Captain's chair, "… Strap in."

…..

"Sir, the Waverider just time-jumped."

"Order all available time ships to pursue."

"Sir, the captains aren't prepared for- All of them!"

….

"Godfrey, what's happening?"

"I'm sorry, Captain. Critical systems are being overridden by an external- Singing a song Don't mess around, you just got to be strong. Just stop- "

"- Godfrey?"

"- 'Cause I really love you Stop! I'll be thinking of you- "

"- Godfrey, reboot."

"Look in my heart. And let love… Keep us together. Whatever… "

….

Druce stormed into the cell block, the annoying song still ringing in his head, "Your friends have time-jumped away…. We've lost them. And I've lost any reason to keep you alive."

"Hold on, let's just talk about this a moment!" Ray begged, as a lesser time master entered the block and raced over to Druce.

"Time Master Druce- "

"Kill them all…." Druce ordered, ignoring the minion as he pointed at Ray, "… Starting with him."

"Yes, sir…. But we've calculated when the Waverider is headed."

"Past or future?"

"… The present."

Seconds later an ice blast hit the minion in the head, with Sara, Snart and Thermos quickly taking out the rest of them.

"Hey, did somebody order up a rescue?"

"Thermos. Mister Snart and Miss Lance…" Stein sighed in relief, ".. your timing is impeccable."

And then they heard the sounds of familiar footsteps, a mechanical breathing echoing throughout the room.

"…. Or not."

Everyone turned their attention to the entrance, as the Chronos suit stepped into the room, gun whirring as it was aimed at them, with Len leaping to the fore-front of the group.

"Mick…" Len pleaded, "… come on, put the gun down Mick."

Silence.

"Chronos, fire!" one of the Time Master's ordered.

This time, the silence was practically deafening, before Chronos shrugged. "Sure thing." He muttered, before spinning around and firing at the Time Master, sending him flying to the ground. Slowly, Mick removed his helmet, striding over to the fallen Time Master and smirking down at him, "If I recall… I made you a certain promise."

"No!" the fallen man begged, as Mick raised his foot into the air and held it over the man's head, "I beg of you, no!"

There was a sickening crack as Mick's foot came stomping down on top of the man's head.

"… Dude…" Thermos eventually broke the silence, "… that was wrong on so many levels."

"Shut up."

After successfully managing to escape Vanishing Point, the team gathered around the console.

"Professor's in the Med-Bay…." Len sighed as he entered the room, "… Promises not to blow up while he's on board."

"Considerate of him."

"Yeah, the Professor's condition is the least of our worries, I'm afraid." Everyone fell silent and turned to Rip, who was looking more than a little down.

Ray also looked a little down, "Yeah, much to my chagrin, it turns out everything we've done, maybe even our whole lives, has been determined by the Time Masters."

"What?!"

"The Time Masters have this thing called the Oculus…" Rip explained, "… which allows them not only to gaze into the future, but to engineer it."

"A future where I'm dead, apparently."

Sara frowned at Ray's statement, "And why would they want you dead?"

Thermos chuckled, "Have you ever listened to what comes out of his mouth? No offense Ray."

"Ummmmm- "

"- Now, in my opinion, Dr. Palmer's death is not part of their plan." Rip interrupted Ray, before he could say anything in reply to Thermos… not that it completely shut him up mind you.

"Now, that's not reassuring." Ray muttered, "Why- OW!"

He turned to Thermos, a look of betrayal on his face.

"So… you're saying the Time Masters wanted me to do that?"

"What I'm saying is that they've been engineering our lives to move in very specific directions." Rip sighed, "And we are playing out that script even now."

Sara pushed herself to her feet, a frown on her face, "So, we can go to 2016, but that might be what the Time Masters want. Or we can go get Kendra and Carter- "

"- Which could also be what they want." Len finished.

"Then we need to do what they don't want." Everyone turned to Ray as he continued, "If the Oculus is what they're using to control us, then we need to destroy it."

"But how do we do that if the Time Bastards are pulling our strings?" Len asked, "And… exactly how much have they been controlling?"

They all heard the unasked question. Was what happened with Mick and Lucky, all the tension, the arguments and the eventual conclusion… was that all because of the Time Masters?

"Well, Druce told me that the Oculus' ability to control our actions doesn't work in the Vanishing Point, most likely because the Vanishing Point itself exists outside of time."

Mick nodded in agreement with Rip, "Explains why we were able to escape."

"And why we might actually have a shot at destroying this thing." Sara smirked and slapped Ray on the room, ignoring his quiet protest, "I'm with Ray."

"… Ow."

"If I'm gonna be someone's puppet, I'm gonna be the one who cuts his own bloody strings." Rip muttered under his breath.

"And I like blowing stuff up."

Ignoring Mick, Ray straightened up. "We set out on this mission to stop Savage and save the world. To become legends and change our fates…. That mission hasn't changed."

"This is madness."

Silently, both Mick and Thermos turned to Len, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"You love madness…" Mick grumbled, just as Len said, "I like it."

With everyone agreeing to the plan, Rip clapped his hands together in excitement. "Gideon, plot a course to the Oculus Wellspring. Team I think it's about time we seized our destinies back!"

…..

Ray yelped as a cupcake was thrown at his face, only just managing to catch it as Thermos strode closer.

"If you're going to die, there's no sense in watching what you eat." The masked man chuckled, watching as Ray actually managed to catch it, "The Time Masters have been known to make mistakes, you know?"

"But what if those mistakes were all part of their plan?" Ray frowned, only for his eyes to widen, "Actually, I gotta stop thinking about it. The temporal implications are infinite."

"… Yeah, stop thinking about it."

A tense silence fell between the two.

"So…" Ray cautiously spoke up, "… what do you have against the Time Masters anyway?"

Silence.

"It's just that, you- "

"- If this Oculus thing is true." Thermos interrupted, "Then they ruined my life."

Without giving Ray the chance to answer, he stormed out of the room, leaving a confused Ray behind.

"Ruined… his life?"

…..

"Not in the mood." Mick grunted, eyes on Len as he held up a pack of card.

"I was thinking that we could talk…" He moved into the room, leaning against the wall right next to Mick's head, "… especially as we were all just following a script."

"You're still an asshole." The words were harsh, but Mick couldn't help but smirk as Len then moved to sit next to him.

"Guilty…" Len shrugged, "… So, what do we think of Rip's plan?"

"Does it matter?" Mick sighed, "We're all puppets on strings anyway. No matter what they all believe, the Time Masters would have figured out the plan."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Len shuffled a little closely, "It's funny… we've always been the family who didn't play by the rules. Yeah, it used to drive us mad when we were raising Lucky but- "he sighed, "- I don't know. I don't like the fact that we've been played."

Mick growled in agreement, "Yeah… I hate being someone else's puppet."

"Do you think they planned what happened to Lucky?"

"… Probably. Make things tense between us so that can have a weapon and then get rid of the kid to make you vulnerable." Mick sighed, "I told you this whole thing was a mistake."

"I know… I know."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, before Len felt his hand grabbed as Mick tugged at it, the arsonists hand moving to his cheek as Mick encouraged Len to look at him. "I'm not letting them control this." He muttered, "Not a fucking chance."

Len didn't get the chance to respond.

….

"Captain, we've arrived at the Oculus Wellspring on the far side of the Vanishing Point."

As they all headed into the storage bay, Thermos couldn't help but feel like something was wrong… something was seriously wrong here.

"Based on Captain Hunter's description, the Oculus is a massive temporal computer, most likely powered by a scaled-down supernova contained at the bottom of the Wellspring." Stein clapped his hands together, before turning to the others, who were all either frowning or rolling their eyes at him, "Why aren't any of you more excited by this?"

"Personally, I'm excited to blow it up." Thermos piped up, smirking as Stein rolled his eyes.

"Dr. Palmer will deactivate the core contained supernova, which should create an anomalistic event." Rip started, turning to Stein, who looked… way too happy that we were doing this.

"A very big explosion." Stein nodded in agreement.

Although, as much as Thermos hated to admit it (them going to their probable deaths and everything), it did sound awesome.

"Sounds like a plan." Mick grunted.

The plan sounded solid, however, they all knew the risks involved. However, as they walked through the cargo doors, running straight into one of the Time Masters, they all thought they'd get further than this.

"Hello again, Rip. Right on schedule." The man sneered at them.

"Uh, I think we've walked into a trap." Ray muttered, as the guards all surrounded them, guns aimed at their faces.

"No… it's destiny." The Time Master chuckled, "I must say you've all played your parts well. As with everything else you've done, I'm afraid it was all for nothing."

Rip shook his head in disbelief, "All your posturing…." He whispered, "… All your claims about doing what's best for the timeline, about protecting history, and it all comes down to cold blooded murder."

"The difference between murder and execution is only a matter of authority. I have it. You don't." The Time Master turned to the many guards, "Kill them."

Everyone tensed up, with Thermos already flexing his fingers, preparing to conjure up a couple of ice walls that would by themselves some time.

And then there was a whirring from up above, blue laser bolts hitting the guards in the chest and sending them crashing to the ground.

Once they'd all been taken care of, and the danger of being shot had passed, all attention turned to the ship that was flying above them, watching as it slowly came to land behind them. As a familiar figure emerged from the ship, Gideon's voice echoed throughout the area

"Returning the Jumpship to the Waverider. Good luck, Mister Jackson."

"Hope I'm not too late." Jax beamed at them as he raced over, with Stein running to meet him.

"No Jefferson, you're right on time."

They clapped their hands together, a swirl of fire surrounding them as they merged Firestorm.

Rip however, only looked confused. "How did you- "

"- What? You thought you were the only one who knew a thing or two about time travel?" Jax smirked.

"… Good work." Rip spun around on his heel and moved forwards, "We need to get to the Oculus before reinforcements arrive."

They strode confidently into the nearby building, where a strange looking device sat on a platform, right in the centre of a swirling green pool of… death.

The niggling feeling that had been building at the base of Thermos's spine increased, prompting him to clench his fists tighter.

Something was going to go wrong.

Slowly, Ray made his way over to the machine, opening it up and peering inside. "It'll take about two minutes to figure out how to self-destruct this thing."

"We'll buy you some time." Rip turned to the others, "You lot guard the entrance. Thermos, you're with me."

…..

Two minutes seemed like a lifetime, and Thermos was only getting tenser by the minute, "Hurry up, puppy!"

"How much longer?"

Ray winced, "Well, just about to reverse the polarity matrix. Once I do that, I say we have about two minutes before this whole place goes boom."

"Boom?!" Thermos yelped, "How big of a boom?!"

"On a scale from one to ten?" Ray shrugged, "A googolplex."

After a few more seconds of fiddling, Ray groaned, pulling off his helmet and gloves, causing Rip to frown in concern.

"What are you doing?!"

"I can't work with all this gear on."

"You can't- "

"- A programmer needs his hands!"

"Ray- "

"- I got this, don't worry."

"No, you don't!" At the change in Rip's tone, even Thermos turned to look at him, frowning at the look on Rip's face. "This is what I saw…." Rip continued, "… This is what Druce showed me. This is how you die."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Ray sighed and nodded in determination. "It's okay…. All my life I've wanted to make a difference. Creating a future for you guys without the Time Masters influence, that counts."

Suddenly laser fire came out of nowhere, making Ray yelp in alarm. "That said, I'm in no rush to die, so keep 'em off me, okay?!"

"Yeah, yeah. We got you!" Thermos created a small ball of fire in his palm and threw it in the direction of the oncoming guards, watching as the ball bounced along the floor, catching several of the guards at once.

"Ha! Just like Mario Cart!" he cried out, yelping and ducking as the laser fire seemed to increase in intensity. Caught off guard by this, Rip narrowly dodged being struck in the shoulder, only to fall backwards and skid towards the edge of the platform.

Just before he could slide off of the edge, Thermos dived forwards and grabbed Rip by the arm, narrowly avoiding a tragedy.

"Just so you know…." He grunted, as he pulled Rip to safety, "… I'm not doing this because I like you!"

"Yes, yes, I know!"

"All right… Almost done."

Then there was a click, and Ray seemed to deflate. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-Oh?!" Both Rip and Thermos exclaimed at the same time, turning their hands to Ray, who had his hand shoved into the machine.

"There seems to be a failsafe to prevent tampering, which probably includes trying to blow this thing up."

"What does that mean Ray?!" Thermos snarled

"I have to maintain contact with the failsafe in order to destroy the Oculus!"

A cold shiver went down Thermos's spine… maybe this was the cause of the bad feeling he'd been having. "Fuck. Our. Lives!" he snarled angrily, one of his ice blasts hitting a guard right in between the eyes.

"You two should get back to the ship!" Ray begged, as Rip shook his head desperately.

"We are not leaving without you!"

"You've seen the future! I'm dead already!"

At these words, Thermos came to a swift decision in his head, groaning slightly as he stopped firing at the guards, striding over to Ray… and punching him in the head, knocking him out instantly and sticking his own hand into the device.

"Thermos- "

"- It's not a sacrifice!" Thermos cut Rip off, "I'm trying to freeze this thing in place, but it's too hot in here! Give me a minute and I'll join you! Now get outta here!"

Rip hesitated for a moment, before bending down to press the button that shrunk Ray down to his miniature size, quickly putting the tiny figure in his pocket, before rushing away.

"A little bit of an argument would have been nice…" Thermos grumbled, still trying to freeze the contraption in place, "… an 'oh no Thermos, it's too dangerous'… something like that."

"We're leaving!" Rip called out, as he met up with the others.

"Where's Raymond and Thermos?" Len asked, frowning when Rip winced.

"Ray is in my pocket, and Thermos has a plan of his own apparently."

"… What?"

"Someone needs to be present to destroy the Oculus, and Thermos is attempting to freeze the mechanism."

Len and Mick glanced at one another, before they turned and headed back towards the Oculus, ignoring Rip's frantic protests.

"No, no, no, no, no, you can't! There isn't time!"

"Yeah, we gotta go!"

Quickly Len and Mick raced over to the Oculus, causing Thermos to growl and swear in frustration.

Mick never noticed Len slipping something into his pocket.

"Thermos- "

"- Get the fuck out of here!" Thermos ordered, tensing as Len grabbed his shoulder.

"Not without you kid!"

"I'll make it! I've nearly managed to freeze it shut!"

This was a lie, but those two didn't need to know that.

"Go on! I'll be right behind you!"

Mick moved to leave, clearly believing the lie… Len however, stayed behind.

"My love…" he spoke up, loud enough that Mick stopped in his tracks, "… please forgive me."

Thermos turned, just as Len's gun came down heavily on his head, knocking him out instantly as he collapsed to the ground. Gently lying the gun next to the unconscious body, Len quickly took his place.

"Get him outta here!" Len ordered, frowning as Mick shook his head.

"No way, I'm- "

"- Mick! Now!"

There was a brief moment of hesitation, before Mick growled and lifted Thermos and the cold gun up off the ground.

"We'll come back and get you." He growled in promise, before rushing off, Thermos still cradled in his arms.

Just as Mick disappeared from out of sight, the Time Masters and several guards emerged from around the corner.

"No!" The Time Master cried out, "Shut it down! SHUT. IT. DOWN!"

Len just smirked, "There are no strings on me."

He closed his eyes as the light from the Oculus over-powered him, thinking of Mick and Lucky.

…..

As the Waverider flew away, only just escaping the blast, there was nothing but silence inside.

Nobody was moving.

Eventually, Ray mustered up the energy to speak up, clearing his throat nervously, "He traded his life for ours…" he sighed, "… he was a hero. Which I'm pretty sure is the last thing he wanted to be remembered as."

"But that's what he was."

Mick remained silent, his eyes still on the doorway that Thermos had stormed through.

Unseen to Mick and the others, as soon as Thermos stormed out of the door and out of sight, he collapsed against the wall, one hand over the lower half of his face as his shoulders started to shake, muffled sobs breaking free.

Managing to make it to a spare room… Lucky's room, he pulled a communicator out of his pocket.

"I need you here…" He mumbled into the device, "… I need you."

"Hey."

Mick glanced up at Ray, glaring at him weakly, "Get out…. I want to be alone."

Ray ignored him, "Gideon has confirmed that the Oculus has been destroyed. From here on out, it's tabula rasa."

"Pretend for a minute that I don't speak Greek- "

"- Latin." Ray winced at Mick's growl, "Sorry. What I mean is… from this point forward, our actions are our own. We have free will."

"That supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yes."

"It means that Leonard didn't die for nothing…. And neither did Lucky."

Mick was silent for a few moments, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small ring, "He planted that on me before it happened… he used to call it his wedding ring."

"… I'm sorry, Mick."

"I killed Declan, Druce is dead…. The Time Masters have nothing now that their ship was completely destroyed. Yet I still feel a need to kill someone for Lenny."

"Well, Savage still has Carter and Kendra?"

"….. He'll do nicely."