~ Laurel, Ryan, Kaleb, Catriona ~
1940s
Laurel sat in the cell, leaning against the wall, bored out of her mind. She groaned loudly, rolling her eyes, before shouting at the villains. "Yo, what's your plan here? Bore us to death? Ooh! Scary!"
"If that was the plan they could have just put us in a math class," Kaleb snorted.
"I like math," Catriona said defensively.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "But your IQ is higher than all of our IQs combined."
"Doing math has nothing to do with IQ," Catriona said. "Even a person as dull as rocks can do math."
"Actually, I've seen some rocks that are quite sharp," Laurel shrugged at her own amazingly hilarious pun.
Catriona rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean," she said. "You don't have to be a genius to figure out the solution to a problem. Anyone can do it. It just so happens that people like me don't need to try as hard as other people."
"Enough chit chat," Eabard said, opening the cell door. He stepped forward, doing his best to look menacing. The Legend Kids all stared up at him, not looking very impressed. Actually, they didn't look impressed at all.
"Now...what are we going to do with you?" he asked. "Oh wait. I know." He lifted his hand, vibrating it so quickly the teens could only see the after image of it.
"I heard stories about this," Catriona said. "You can vibrate your hand so fast it becomes intangible. The Flash did that once... It was less boring when he did it."
"I'm going to shut you brats up once and for all," Thawne threatened. He lowered his hand, ready to vibrate it through their molecules and kill them dead.
"Hey, ass butt!" The voice brought everyone's attention to the doorway. There was a teenager - seemingly male - standing there, a long steel chain about a foot long in his hands. The dude had short purple hair poking out from under a black beanie hat and hazel eyes. He wore baggy, black jeans, an AC-DC t-shirt, and skater shoes.
Thawne scoffed. "Another one?"
"Yup," the boy nodded. "Name's Ben. Ben Heywood."
Thawne rolled his eyes, as his watch suddenly started beeping. "I don't have time for this."
He shoved Ben into the cell and ran out of the room, locking the door behind him. Ben snorted.
"Jokes on him," he said. "I can get us out of here."
"How's that?" Ryan asked, skeptical.
Ben held up his hand. "I can summon objects from anywhere in the world," he explained. "As long as it's made of steel. I think I can summon a key."
"Neat," Kaleb said.
Ben held his hand in front of him, concentrating. After a moment, the air around him began to shimmer, like a heatwave on aphalt. The other three teens watched in awe, as a metal key popped into existence, landing in Ben's hand.
"Woop!" Ben cheered, running to the door.
"But the locks on the other side of the door," Catriona pointed out.
"Shush, you!" Ben told her. "With your logic. Pfft." He put his hand on the door, and the lock suddenly appeared on their side.
"Whoa," Ryan muttered. He looked at Laurel. "Can we keep him?"
"Actually," Ben said, "I'm not a boy."
"Oh," Ryan said. "Her?"
"I'm not a girl either," Ben said.
"...Them?"
"Them is good."
"Can we keep them?" Ryan asked Laurel again.
"We'll see," the commander said. "How'd you get in the 1940s anyway, Ben?"
Ben shrugged. "I snuck on your ship before you left 2017. I was hiding behind the boxes in the cargobay the whole time."
"Well...nice to meet you, then," Laurel grinned. "Shall we escape?"
"We shall!" Ben took the key, putting it inside the keyhole, unlocking the door. They pushed the door open and ran out, the other Legend Kids following soon after.
~ Sara, Nate, Amaya, Kendra, Carter ~
Two minutes earlier
Sara landed the Waverider outside the Legion of Doom's 1942 base in Germany. She was absolutely livid. Charging into the base - swinging her bo staff around and taking down guards -like the mad woman she was, the White Canary growled in annoyance. What in the hell had gotten into her kids? How could they possibly think this was a good idea?
It was even more infuriating, as Nate kept boasting that he was a better parent. (They had an ongoing bet about who's parenting skills were better. The bet had started when their kids were little. And Sara had just lost.)
"At least, my kid didn't get on the Waverider," Nate was saying, as they rounded the corner. "My Ben is a very well behaved, innocent, angel. And -"
As the Legends entered the next room, they spotted a fight breaking out. All the Legend Kids - omitting JJ and Ethan, who were still back at Torchwood - were running around, brandishing a weapon each, fighting the Legion and their goons. Kaleb was firing an anti speedster gun at the Reverse Flash. (Where he got it Sara wasn't sure.) Laurel was running around, whacking people with a makeshift bo staff. (It was a long tree branch.) Ryan was throwing chairs at Malcolm Merlyn, which seemed strangely effective against the Dark Archer. Catriona was wrestling Damien Darhk for a knife. And in the middle of it all was Ben Heywood, swinging around a steel chain about a foot long, tripping Legion goons and smacking them in their heads, no doubt giving them all concussions.
Ben waved, when they saw Nate. "Hey, Dad!"
Nate blinked, in complete and utter shock. He opened his mouth to say something; but nothing came out, and he ended up looking like a fish.
Sara gave him a cocky smirk. "You were saying?"
Nate stuttered frantically, trying to come up with something intelligable to say.
"Well...you heard Amaya!" he finally managed. "Your kids are a bad influence!"
"Right. I'm sure that's the case," Sara grinned. She was pleased to see that she hadn't lost the bet after all. The White Canary held up her bo staff, charging into battle with her kids. Nate groaned, before turning his entire body into steel and following the assassin. Sara swiped Merlyn off his feet, hitting him in the leg with her bo staff.
Nate ran over and punched Darhk in the face, while Catriona had him distracted. His metal hand was enough to knock the sorcerer unconscious, if only for a few minutes. Amaya pressed a hand to her amulet, summoning the power of a bear, before charging at the Reverse Flash, who was incapable of moving after being hit by Kaleb's gun. With one smack, she sent him flying across the room and into the far wall.
Carter and Kendra withdrew their wings, helping Laurel and Ben attack the Legion's goons. They kicked and punched the guards, knocking them to the floor. In a matter of minutes, they had path cleared for escape.
"Everyone back to the ship!" Sara yelled.
The team obeyed, even the kids. Everyone ran as fast as they could back to the Waverider, before the Legion members got back on their feet. Once they were back on the ship, Sara sat in the pilot's seat, setting coarse for 2017, Earth 394, and taking off before anyone was even properly strapped in.
~ Snarts, Torchwood ~
Sara stood over her children, hands on her hips. She was very disappointed in them. Sneaking off like that? Going back in time on a literal suicide mission? They must've taken crazy pills!
Leonard stood next to her, looking just as disappointed as Sara felt.
Sara sighed and shook her head. "What were you thinking?" she demanded. "You could have been killed."
"But we weren't!" Laurel pointed out.
Sara gave her a stern look, and the girl looked down awkwardly.
"I mean it," the White Canary said. "That was dangerous, you guys. Don't you ever do anything like that again. You hear me?"
Leonard decided it was best to simply let his wife take charge on this one. She was hitting all the main points of the lecture, anyway. There wasn't much he could add.
"We were only trying to help," Kaleb defended.
"I know," Sara sighed. "But you can't just go around insulting the bad guys. You need a plan. And a backup plan. You need training, experience. All things you don't have."
"We could," Laurel said. "You could train us!"
"I don't have the time, Laurel," Sara told her. "The Legends and I need to find Rip, and we can't do that if we're babysitting you on the field."
"You won't need to babysit us if you train us," Laurel reasoned.
Kaleb nodded in agreement. "Besides, the more the merrier right? What if you need back up? What if we can prevent another incident like Lex Corp two months ago?"
Sara paused for a moment. She hadn't allowed herself to think about the events that had taken place two months ago. Sara just wasn't the type of woman to dwell on things. She liked to keep moving forward, or else she might drown in her emotions and sorrows. But now, here was her son, reminding her about the death of her friend.
The White Canary let her hands fall from her hips, as she looked at her children solemnly. "Look," she said, "I know you want to help. I know you want to make a difference, but you have no idea what you're getting yourselves into. Ray Palmer knew the stakes. He was more than willing to die for the people he cared about. Hell, he would have gotten himself killed for a complete stranger. But you? You're not dying yet. You're too young to make those kind of sacrifices." She paused again, before say, "Anyway, it's the parents job to die for their kids, not the other way around."
The two teens grumbled simultaneously. Neither of them was quite ready to give up this fight, but it was hard to argue with their mother's speech.
Sara pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a head ache coming on. "Why don't you two go find the others? We'll take you back to our earth and finish this discussion later."
The twins nodded and left the room. When they were out of ear shot, Sara turned to her husband and sighed. "What are we going to do with them?"
"Ship them off to Canada?" Leonard suggested.
Sara snorted. "I don't think that will solve any of our problems."
He nodded slowly, staying quiet for a solid four minutes. "They'll have to leave soon."
"I know..." Sara looked down at the floor, hugging herself. "I wish they didn't have to."
"Maybe you should," Leonard said, picking at the sleeve of his parka. "Train them, I mean."
Sara shook her head."I don't want to think about this right now...How can we send them away, knowing we may never see them again?"
"We'll figure something out," Leonard assured her.
"Yeah...I guess," Sara nodded. Leonard walked over and wrapped an arm around his wife. Sara leaned into him, laying her head on his shoulder. They stood there, silently, holding each other for a good twenty minutes. If their situation wasn't so stressful, with finding Rip and destroying the Legion of Doom, it might have even been peaceful. But, as usual there was a heavy weight baring down on Sara's shoulders, so she kept charging forwar, as she always did.
"So...anything interesting happen while I was away?" she asked, looking up at Leonard.
"As a matter of fact," Leonard said, "something did happen." He retold her the story of how Ethan was almost abducted by Xavier Xander.
Sara shook her head in disbelief, when he had finished. "Is he okay?"
"Ethan's fine," Leonard said. "Just shaken."
"And Mick?"
"He's been through worse."
Sara nodded. This was getting much too insane for her liking. Her kids wanted to throw themselves into a battle they aren't prepared for, Rip was once again MIA, Mick and Ethan were dealing with Xavier's drama, and on top of all that Leonard and Sara had to worry about losing their kids in only a few weeks. After several more minutes of standing around, wasting time with her husband, Sara excused herself. She needed to think...
~ Jacksons, Weevil Cage Hall ~
Jax found his daughter sitting in a long, narrow hallway across from four prison cells with glass doors.
"Hey," he said.
JJ didn't respond. She just pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Jax sighed and moved to sit next to her. JJ hid her face in her knees.
"You know we're gonna have to talk about it..." Jax said after a moment. He didn't need to clarify what 'it' was. JJ knew exactly what he meant.
She didn't move from her position, though. Jax stayed quiet, waiting for her to say something. After a moment, JJ shifted slightly, just enough so he could see part of her face.
"I didn't mean to..." she muttered. "I didn't think...I was just tired of being the good kid..."
She sat up, but didn't really meet her father's eyes. The girl took a shaky breath before continuing. "It was stupid...and I knew it was, even back then...but..." She trailed off, helplessly stumbling over her words.
"Just tell me what happened," Jax said calmly. JJ nodded, before telling him the horrid story of how she'd gotten her basketball team drunk, before getting inside a car and wrecking it.
When she had finished, Jax just stared at her with a funny expression. At first, JJ thought he was going to yell at her. Reprimand her for drinking under age, or driving underage...or driving under the influence of alcohol...
Instead, he just shook his head and held his arms out for her. He knew he probably should scold her or something, but he figured grieving her friends and caring all that guilt around for three years was enough punishment.
JJ accepted her father's embrace graciously...and that's when everything came spilling out. The tears she'd been holding in for three years, the fear of being disowned, the hatred she'd held against herself...
She leaned into her father's chest and sobbed until it hurt. Her body shook in an almost seizure like manner; her face grew extremely hot. It was as if everything around her was crumbling, crashing down like a building set to be demolished.
Jax held his daughter tightly, doing his best to comfort her. He tried telling her everything would be fine, that she'd be able to move past this. But of course, he knew how fake that sounded. Especially, since he still wasn't over losing the only father figure he'd ever had. He wasn't sure she was hearing him, anyway, with how loudly she was sobbing.
Still, he had to try.
It wasn't until an hour later that she'd finally calmed down. The Jacksons sat silently, JJ sniffling every now and again. She blinked after another moment or two and wiped her eyes.
Jax looked down at his daughter.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"I thought you'd be mad..." JJ said quietly.
Jax shrugged. "I'll be honest. I'm a little pissed...but I think you already learnt your lesson about drinking and driving. Losing people is never easy..."
JJ nodded slowly and sat up again. She sniffled again, rubbing her eyes, as they were now red and sore.
"Look," Jax said. "I don't want you to have to carry something like that on your own again, okay? So, next time tell me immediately."
JJ laughed bitterly. "I really hope there isn't a next time..."
"Yeah," Jax nodded, wrapping his daughter in a one armed hug. "Me too."
There was a pause, before he added, "But you're still grounded for stealing the Waverider. You know that right?"
"Awe. Dang," JJ groaned.
~ Ethan and Sara, Computer Room ~
Sara was walking through the Torchwood hub, trying to clear her head, when she spotted Ethan sitting alone, slouching in one of those cool swivel chairs. Sara knew at any other time, Laurel would be convincing him to race her down the halls, seeing who could get their chair to go faster before toppling over.
But this wasn't any other time. The boy was still mourning the loss of his father. (And now he had a biological father, who was mentally unstable, added into the mix of grief and teenage hormones.)
Sara approached him with a small wave. She sat on the desk the chair was meant to go with.
"How you holdin' up?" she asked.
Ethan shrugged. He twisted the chair around from left to right, looking rather annoyed. "Kinda wish people would stop asking me that..." he admitted.
Sara nodded. "That's understandable." She remembered, when her sister had died how annoying it was when people asked her similar questions.
"I met his killer today," Ethan said out of the blue.
"I heard," Sara said.
"He said he was my real father."
Sara stared at the boy in front of her, more than a little concerned. Mick and Ray had made it a point several years ago that they didn't want Ethan to know about Xavier.
"You believe him?" Sara asked.
Ethan shrugged again and twisted the chair around some more. "I don't know," he said. "Not really. I mean, he looked like me, but he didn't raise me or anything."
"True," Sara agreed. She watched, as Ethan continued to twist the chair around, looking rather restless.
"Something else on your mind?"
"Yeah," Ethan said.
"Wanna talk about it?" Sara asked.
"He doesn't talk about him," Ethan said. "He just sits around and gets drunk. He acts like he never even existed. Doesn't he care?"
Sara let out a long sigh through her nose. Of course this would be the thing that was bothering him.
"Believe me," Sara said. "If he didn't care, he wouldn't have punched the crap out of Xavier. Mick just...He's not very good with feelings."
"Xavier?" Ethan asked. "That's the guy's name?"
Sara nodded.
"Hm...But why doesn't he talk about it at all?" Ethan said, switching back to the other topic.
"Sometimes, these things are just too hard," Sara told him. "Especially, for people like your dad. You can be the toughest one around, charge into battle on the front lines. You could defeat monsters from all across the multiverse...but still the scariest thing you'll ever face is your own feelings."
Ethan blinked, letting her speech process through his brain. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a second later and slouched even further in his seat. This whole thing was just unfair!
Sara patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, before standing up. "I'm gonna go start the Waverider," she said. Ethan nodded.
Sara stared to walk away, looking hesitant to do so. When she was out of sight, Ethan leaned back in the chair and groaned. He got up and started walking around, bored of sitting around.
~ JJ and Ethan, Torchwood hallway ~
Ethan and JJ ran into each other half an hour later, while they were both aimlessly wandering the halls of Torchwood.
"Uh...hey," Ethan said, when he seen her.
"...Hey," she said back.
"So...about earlier..." he started.
JJ chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "Yeah...sorry about that..."
"Me too..."
"So...we're good?"
"Yeah," Ethan said. "I think we're good."
"Good..." JJ said.
Ethan nodded slowly. "I...think Sara said she was getting the Waverider ready to go home..."
"We should probably head over there," she said.
"Yeah," he agreed.
They walked together, and for the first time in a long time JJ felt that odd fuzzy feeling in her chest. The feeling that came with friendship.
~ Catriona, Torchwood Morgue ~
Catriona wasn't sure how she ended up in the morgue. All the Legends were busy scolding their kids, and since her mother wasn't here she didn't have anyone to yell at her. So, she began wandering around the Torchwood building. Somehow or another that caused her to wind up in the place's morgue.
It was mostly dead alien bodies and weird surgeon tools. (Yes, she had looked at the bodies. Don't judge her!) She found a few scrubs in the corner, hanging on a hook on the wall. There were rubber gloves in on cabinets.
In the center of the room lay an operation table in which the coroner would examine the dead bodies. The place was really quite creepy.
Something clattered behind Catriona, making her jump. She whipped around, but didn't see anything but a bunch of shelves. Hesitantly, she walked over. "Hello? Someone there?"
Catriona walked around one shelf, coming face to face with...a jar on the floor. Somehow it had been knocked over and fell to the floor.
"Hm," she mused, picking up the jar. There was a sticker on its side, Zygon brains written in black sharpie.
"Dunno how Zygon brains work," Catriona muttered to herself, "but I'm pretty sure that jars don't spontaneously fall off shelves, even if it's full of weird alien organs."
She turned around, frowning. Suddenly, the morgue seemed twice as creepy as it had before. She got the strangest feel, a chill running up and down her spin. Something was watching her.
Catriona put the jar back on the shelf and hurried towards the door...but she didn't move quickly enough. Something stopped her.
It was a large figure, maybe ten feet tall. The thing was as skinny as a twig, bones poking through snow white skin. Its eyes were as black as coal, and it had teeth as sharp as a knife.
Catriona stared up at the creature with wide eyes. She would have screamed, but her voice caught in her throat. She started backing away, bumping into the operation table. Panic started to build up inside her chest, as the creature stepped towards her. There was no where to run. No where to hide.
The thing placed a large, two ton hand on her forehead. Catriona blinked, suddenly feeling woozy. Her vision began to blur; her legs became wobbly. Her vision began to blur; her legs became wobbly. She almost fell, but the creature picked her up and placed her on the operation table.
"Wha...?" Catriona muttered. The creature was making bizarre growling noises. Catriona shuddered.
It's gonna eat me, she thought. The creature leaned over her, and the last thing she saw before blacking out was its ugly, wrinkled, grey face.