Disclaimer: I obviously do not own any of these characters...everything here is borrowed with love. ;)
16.
A shot rang out.
"Let him go!" a woman cried.
The two men holding him did as she said, shoving him to the ground. Rip scrambled to his feet, eyes locked on to the angels in front of him.
They hadn't moved.
"Same old Rip, can't do anything without us," called a familiar voice.
"Sara!" Rip breathed in relief. He glanced away for just a moment to see his former teammate striding toward him and a tall, red-haired woman handing a shotgun off to her before focusing back on the angels.
"Don't worry, you can look away," he heard Ray say, "We got this."
"Rip," Sara greeted, tipping her hat as she arrived. She was wearing her previous old western outfit and was followed by the team plus two unfamiliar faces.
One, the redhead, wore a red jumper and short jean skirt. She hung back behind the second man, her face hidden by his rather large hat.
I wear a Steston now. Stetsons are cool. The shadow of a memory echoed faintly in Rip's mind. He shook it off and refocused back on the angels.
"Ugly suckers, ain't they," Mick said, interrupting his reverie.
"Don't blink!" said the strange man in the Stetson. Now that Rip was relieved from watching the angels, he could get a proper look at him. He wore black skinny jeans, suspenders and a bowtie to go with the hat. He was sporting a tweed jacket and a rather large chin.
The man, whoever he was, was speaking sternly to the Legends. "Remember, they're quantum life forms. They can only move—"
"When you're not looking," Rip finished. The man stopped abruptly and turned to him. Rip furrowed his brow. "Sorry, have we met?"
"Well, that depends," the man replied cryptically, playing with his suspenders.
"On?" Rip asked.
"On what you remember," the man answered.
"Doctor," said the redhead. She placed a hand on the man's arm and stepped into view. Rip recognized her voice as the one who had shouted out earlier. "Hey you," she said.
"Uh…hello," Rip said. Despite imminent danger, he couldn't help but notice how stunning she was. But he couldn't think about that right now.
"Sara, what the hell is going on?" Rip asked, turning to his former teammate, "Not that I don't appreciate the rescue, but who are these people? What are those creatures?" Rip paused mid-rant to see yet another familiar face in the crowd he hadn't expected to see. "And what the hell is he doing here!?" he yelled, jabbing his finger at the man in question.
"Long time no see, Cap't," Snart greeted him snidely.
"How many times do I have to tell you it's dangerous to mess with the timeline," Rip said exasperatedly at Sara, "By pulling Snart from an earlier timeline you have put the entire future in jeopardy!"
"We didn't do anything to the timeline, Rip," Sara replied calmly, "He found us."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rip snapped.
"It means I didn't die, moron," Snart answered for her.
That got Rip's attention. The former captain was silent for a beat, processing that particular piece of information.
"But—how?" he asked at last, "I saw you die."
"No, you saw me get blown apart into a million pieces," Snart said, "I found someone to put me back together again."
"That would be me," the man in the bowtie said with a grin, "Or, not me, but an alternate version of me from a parallel universe. It's complicated." The man gave a little finger wave. "Hello! I'm the Doctor."
"Um…" Rip glanced between the Doctor, Snart, Sara, and the redhead. "Right, well it's clear there's a lot I don't understand at the moment," Rip said, "But first, how do we get rid of those…things?"
He watched as Amaya, Nate, and Jax herded the townspeople back inside their homes, warning them not to come out.
"Set them on fire!" Mick said. His back was to the group, helping Ray watch the angels.
"You can't set them on fire," the Doctor said, "They would just eat up the thermal energy like it was a bag of crisps."
"Then we smash them to pieces," Mick replied, turning around and breaking his vigil with the angels.
"Mick!" Sara yelled.
"Haircut's got it handled," Mick said.
"I did win every staring contest I had as a kid," Ray said in response, eyes still locked with the angels, "It was kind of the only contest I won. Besides science fairs."
"Professor, give him a hand, would you?" Sara said to Stein, "Or an…eye."
The Doctor laughed and pointed. "An eye! Good one."
"Well?" Rip cut in, "How do we defeat them?"
"We don't," the Doctor replied, "They're quantum life forms. You can't burn them, freeze them, or smash them to bits. Our best bet is to outrun them, and I don't think that is going to be very easy."
"Because as soon as we look away, they move," Rip said.
"No," the Doctor said, "Because they are after you, and they will stop at nothing to find you."
"Me? What did I do?" Rip asked.
"You destroyed their feeding grounds," the Doctor replied, "You erased Winter Quay off the map and with it hundreds if not thousands of angels…and they are very cross with you."
"No I didn't," Rip said, "What are you talking about? Sara, what the hell is he talking about?"
"Apparently," Sara said, "You had another life at one point."
"Another one?" Rip exhaled, hands on his hips. Things were just a little over his head at present, and he was still half drunk from earlier. "Bloody hell, how many are there?"
Sara just shrugged.
"We'll have a proper conversation where you tell me all about it later," Rip said, "But for now we need to deal with the issue at hand."
"Is there any way we can trap them?" Sara asked the Doctor.
"I was able to do it once before, but no, I don't think that's an option this time," the Doctor replied.
"It doesn't matter. We need to draw them away from the town. You said they're after me. If I run… do you think they would follow?" Rip asked.
"We're not leaving you behind," said the redhead firmly. Rip realized he didn't even know her name.
"Look, I appreciate your concern but I'm not about to put the rest of you in danger," Rip argued, "If they're after me then it's my—"
"And I said no way!" the redhead yelled at him.
"Sorry, who the hell are you?" Rip demanded.
"I'm your wife!" the redhead yelled, her eyes filling with tears.
"I had a wife," Rip replied angrily, "She died."
It was undoubtedly the wrong thing to say. The redhead put a fist to her lips and choked on a sob, struggling to hold back the tears.
The Doctor stood between them, his head bowed. Grief stretched across his face.
"I did warn you," he said softly to the girl.
"Look you," the girl said angrily through her tears, ignoring the Doctor and jabbing a finger under Rip's nose, "I don't care if you remember who I am or not, I am not leaving you to those monsters so shut your stupid face about it!"
Rip stared at her, speechless, not sure how to answer to that. He turned to Sara, who just shrugged.
"You heard the lady," the captain said, "So, what are our options?"
"Allow me," Snart said, stepping forward. He held up his cold gun.
"Freezing them isn't going to work," Rip said, returning to his senses, "Weren't you listening to what the Doctor said?"
"I wasn't planning on it," Snart said. He handed his gun to Mick. "Hold that, would you?" He stepped forward, toward the angels.
"Snart, what are you doing?" Rip yelled. "Snart! God dammit, why does nobody listen to me?"
"Relax Cap't, I got this," Snart said. "Ray, Professor, you're going to want to get behind me," he said, raising his hands. The pair looked confused, then did as he said. Snart continued talking as he advanced forward, staring at the angels.
"Sara, I may have left out a few more details from my story," Snart called behind him. He heard Sara sigh loudly.
"Why am I not surprised?" she replied.
"Doc, remember how I told you I beat the Sontarans?" Snart asked.
The Doctor was suddenly at his shoulder, helping him to watch the angels.
"You said you overpowered them with one of their own laser guns," The Doctor said, "Which I find highly unlikely, given their strength in numbers."
"So I lied," Snart replied, "It wasn't a gun. Get behind me."
The Doctor stepped back, and Snart released a pulse of blue light from the palms of his hands.
A wave of blue energy flooded the street, engulfing the angels frozen in its center and petering out a number of yards behind them.
"Woah," Mick said.
"Damn," said Jax. Him, Amaya, and Nate had finished with the townsfolk and rejoined the group just in time to witness the show.
"You're a meta?" Sara blurted, sounding both shocked and infuriated at the same time.
"That's just not fair," Mick grumbled.
"I'm not exactly thrilled about it," Snart replied, "It's why I didn't say anything."
"Well, it's nice of you to join the club, but it doesn't look like it did anything to the angels," Nate said.
"Perhaps if you increased the potency of your attack?" Stein suggested.
Snart took his advice, pushing the energy from his palms and focusing the pulse wave at the angels. It phased right through them with no effect.
Snart lowered his hands.
"Why didn't it work?" he asked the Doctor.
"Quantum life forms. They feed off energy," the Doctor replied, "I imagine your 'blue rinse' feels like a day at the spa for them."
"Well," Ray said, "It was worth a try."
"I suppose this means we're back to square one," Amaya said.
"We need to get them away from the town," Rip said again. The redhead started to say something but he stopped her. "You don't have to leave me behind, but we need to draw them out in the open and away from all these people."
Sara nodded. "We'll fall back to the ship, let you three lure them out," she said. She turned to the Doctor.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"We're going to need horses," the Doctor replied, "One called Susan, makes for better conversation. No, never mind, it'll be too distracting. Just three ordinary horses will do," he reconsidered.
"Three horses, roger that," Sara said, raising an eyebrow.
"On it!" Nate said, running off. Amaya followed him.
"Anything else?" Sara asked the Doctor. She looked at Rip too.
"My laser pistol would be handy," Rip said, "Upstairs in my rooms, in the bedside drawer. Second door on the right."
"Be right back," Sara said. "You three," she said to Ray, Snart and Stein, "Keep your eyes on those statues." She ran off to the inn.
As soon as she was gone, the Doctor shot Rip a look of disgust. "Oh brilliant, guns. As if that's ever worked against a couple of living stone creatures," he said, heavy on the sarcasm.
"Maybe," Rip replied, "But it might make them angry enough to follow us."
"They're already angry. I'm guessing you were the one taking pot-shots at them earlier?" The Doctor rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself. "Idiot."
"I don't like it either," the redhead said. Rip realized he still didn't know her name. "Amy," she said, as if reading his mind.
"Rip Hunter," he replied. "And I don't need you to like it," Rip said, "I'll feel better with it on my hip, even if it is useless against these creatures." He patted his side, hands on his belt. His long brown duster draped down around him.
"That coat," the Doctor said, abruptly changing the subject, "Why do you wear it?"
"I dunno, it's a coat, why would anyone wear a coat?" Rip questioned.
"What about the coat Doctor?" Amy asked.
"Nothing. Never mind," the Doctor said, brushing it off, "Oh look, here come the horses!"
Nate and Amaya were walking briskly toward them, leading two mares and a stallion between the two of them.
Amaya handed the mare to the Doctor. "She's asked for you," she said, "Watch out, she's a frisky one."
The Doctor grinned. "Aren't they all?" he said. "What's your name then gorgeous?"
The horse whinnied.
"Oh, Toni, brilliant. I knew a Susan once. Lovely stallion, you'd have liked him," the Doctor replied, making small talk with the horse as he hoisted himself into the saddle.
"He cannot be serious," Rip muttered.
Amy grabbed the stallion from Amaya and swung up into the saddle.
Sara arrived then with Rip's pistol. She handed it to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll watch the angels until you're a safe distance away," she said to Rip. She turned to the Doctor. "You're sure they'll follow?" she asked.
"They've been waiting a long time for this," was the Doctor's reply, "I imagine even infinite life-forms get impatient."
"Tell me you have a plan," Sara said.
"I have a plan," the Doctor replied, his voice the perfect imitation of a five year old promising he had already done his homework.
Sara rolled her eyes and turned back to Rip. "We'll be in range if you need backup," she said, "Good luck."
Snart grabbed the last horse from Nate.
"I'm coming too," he said, mounting the horse. The Doctor caught his eye but said nothing.
"Don't you dare die again, moron," Mick said to his friend before backing away.
"In your dreams," Snart replied.
"Come on then," Amy said, walking her horse up to Rip and holding out a hand, "No time to waste."
Rip swung into the saddle behind her.
"I should—" he started, making a grab for the reigns.
Amy jerked them away and cut him off. "Save it," she snapped, urging the horse into motion.
Author's Notes:
16.1: I missed Snart… so I was glad to be able to throw more of him in this one. And I loved writing the 'Reveal!' of his meta powers. :3
16.2: The Doctor's comments about the horse named Susan were some of my favorites to write in this chapter.
16.3: The comment about Rip's jacket is really just an allusion to the 10th Doctor's jacket, nothing more…a bit of a 4th dimensional breach since the creators of Legends have admitted to being DW fans.