"Everything is connected."
That's the last thing Clarity had heard before she couldn't anymore. She couldn't hear. Well, that wasn't exactly true. The Glitch could hear a sharp, unpleasant, high-pitched noise that was killing her ears. Beyond that shrill piercing sound, there was nothing, no other noises, no voices, no movements from anyone such as the shuffle of feet or closing of a door, she couldn't even hear herself breathing. She wouldn't be surprised if her ears were bleeding not that she could really tell if they were or not.
Clarity's eyes were open, she was sure her eyes were open, she couldn't close them she'd tried, but no matter how long she waited for her eyes to start adjusting to whatever this was it didn't happen. She couldn't see anything. Well, that wasn't exactly true, she could see light, but it was alarming that this was all she could see. If she was blind you'd think she'd see nothing, empty echoing darkness, a void of endless black, the absence of it's opposite, but instead all she could see was this intense level of white hot brightness shining for as far as she could see or was it as close? In any case it consumed her entire field vision, and didn't show any signs of dimming down.
Clarity didn't know where she was or what was happening to her. The last thing she remembered was putting her dopple in that cell and then she'd turned around and nothing. It was all blank and fuzzy from there. It was a male voice with a British accent that had awakened her, 'everything is connected' that's what he'd said. What did that mean? Everything is connected? Connected to what? And what was everything? Where was she? What was going on? She wanted to know, but just when she was getting the strength to open her eyes it all went...like this.
She couldn't hear, she couldn't see, all she could taste was static and forget about talking, her tongue held down by something, not that Clarity had any idea what that something was. Her sense of smell was completely gone. As for her sense of touch Claritys entire body was numb, but not in that nice tingly 'oh the doctors going to make it so I can't feel anything' type of way, but the 'oh god my foot fell asleep and now it's doing this excruciating tingle thing please make it stop body how could you betray me like this' type of way.
Whatever flat surface her back was pressed against felt like there was over a thousand razor sharp needles pressing into her skin. Ever since that one battle with General Eiling Clarity hated needles. All Clarity wanted to do was get off it, get away from it, whatever it was, but Clarity couldn't move her body, her limbs were unresponsive, she couldn't even wiggle a pinky or a toe. No matter how hard she tried to move she couldn't. She was stuck. Her powers were of no help at all. Whatever was messing with her senses was messing with her powers too because of course. Her powers were still there, she could feel her lightning coursing through her, not dampened as far as she could tell, but for whatever reason, beyond herself, she couldn't reach them or access them in any way. Her powers just weren't responding. Something was so so wrong.
She didn't understand why this was happening to her or what was happening for that matter. How could all her senses just be taken away like this? Is that what was happening? They were taken? Or was it something worse than that? But what could be worse? Clarity didn't know, she wasn't sure that anything could be worse than this torture she was currently experiencing, but was this torture? Wasn't someone supposed to ask you questions or something during torture sessions, no that was interrogation, right? Were they really so different? Didn't torture and interrogation go hand in hand? Had someone missed a step or was whoever doing this to her going in reverse order? Was this what dying was supposed to be like? Had her dopple actually gotten a kill shot when she turned around? Did she not lock up the cell right? She didn't know, Sara'd died before she would know, Clarity figured. Sara... she'd promised she'd glitch over to Star after she was done clearing things up. Okay, dying... definitely not an option anymore. She wasn't about to break a promise to Sara Lance of all people. Clarity guessed her to do list just got a tad bit longer.
How had whatever is happening happen? Was this the doing of some meta who broke out of the pipeline? Was Cisco still knocked out on the floor in his workshop? Maybe he was already rushing Caitlin down to diagnose her. No, come to think of it she hadn't even seen Caitlin in Star labs which was pretty worrying. Oh! Worry that's it! Maybe if Felicity nagged the assassin enough... no on second thought she wasn't wishing that on anyone. Her bestie could get pretty intense when worried. If Sara would just get tired of waiting for her to show on her own, she'd try to come find her and stumble across her in the pipeline. If she was even still in the pipeline, but she didn't remember going anywhere else, so, she had to be there right? If Sara would just... No, that was too hopeful even for her...or was it? Her mom lived in Central didn't she? Maybe Sara'd go check up on her mom and then want to come see...see... but Clarity couldn't see. She couldn't see, she couldn't talk, she couldn't hear, she could barely feel and what she did feel was painful. Even if the assassin found her would she be able to tell something was wrong? How was she supposed to communicate with anyone? Would her sight ever return? Her hearing? Was she stuck like this forever? If that was the case how could she live like this? Was this living? Who even knows if she was really alone right now, she certainly didn't. Could she trust her powers to sense people if they weren't responding? She had so many questions, no answers, and worst of all no way to get them.
-back on the waverider-
"How did you even know that was down there?" Sara wondered as the two climbed out of the secret space under the floor.
"When Rip first recruited us, back when you asked me to observe Clarity's control over her powers, I took the Glitch on a little scavenger hunt around the ship. I made it our business to case every square inch of this tub in the event there was something worth stealing. There wasn't." Snart explained as he strolled down the steps leading into the parlour. "Let's get out of here."
"Wait, what about the team?" Sara asked having heard all sorts of talk from the snooping soldiers that had left the ship a few minutes ago to understand that most of their team were taken captive. Who knows what could be happening to them all right now. As much as she loved her sister and wanted to take the waverider to save her... Laurel could wait. She wasn't getting any deader, but her team? They all might be and Sara wasn't about to let that happen.
"Sara's right. Hold up man." Jax slid out from his own hiding place getting up. "Captain may be in your name already but that doesn't mean you get to call the shots yourself cause Rip got captured too."
"There's nothing more we can do for them." Snart replied with a shake of his head. "Let's get to the jumpship and go. This bucket of bolts isn't footin it anywhere without Gideon to run it."
Jonas peaked out of his hiding spot at the mention of the Ai's name, and crawled out towards the phone in his fathers office all sneaky like. He took hold of the phone line, the only electrical cords he could really reach without difficulty and started plugging them into the device that held Gideon. The boy knowing the Ai would be able to get back to where she belonged as Jonas saw little blue lights starting to travel up the wire. A huge grin stretching out across the little boys face.
"You're just gonna leave Mick?" Sara asked incredulously. "And Todd? Some partner you are."
"If the Time Masters are half as twisted as Mick said, there's an excellent chance Mick is no longer Mick, and Todd is hell of a lot tougher than you're giving him credit for. Now why aren't we flying yet?" Snart gestured to the hall that would lead to the jumpship. They wouldn't be any good to anyone with a Time ship that was barely functioning and they were only three and a half people. If they took the jumpship they could get help from Team's Flash and Arrow, maybe even Todd and Claritys JSA pals. Snart knew his jailbreaks and this one was too much for them to handle alone without getting captured themselves and then they'd all be completely screwed for sure.
"Because I'm not going anywhere." Sara replied. "Not without the rest of the team." Mostly because Sara didn't trust herself not to make a detour if they left. Her sister needed her and she wasn't there. She had to go back and make things right. She just had to, but first the team needed to be rescued. "We're already inside it'll be harder to infiltrate a second time. And even if we wanted to take the jumpship, we're in a hangar surrounded by an entire armada of timeships."
"Someone's bound to notice us if we take off." Jax agreed with Sara, though he had yet to learn about her internal dilemma. "Even if we're cloaked there are sensors all over and the bay doors are deadlocked."
"It's the Waverider. We've got guns. We can blast our way out." Snart denied as if it was that simple. His plan being the safer play in the long run.
"This isn't "Bonnie and Clyde."" Sara protested. "And I'm not going anywhere without the rest of the team." Sara glared at him, because she knew, she knew if given the chance she'd try to save her sister first, she'd encouraged Laurel to become the Black Canary, inspired her somehow, and in doing so it got her killed.
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear." Snart raised his cold gun at her.
"Snart, what the hell are you doing man?" Jax demanded tense and ready to spring unsure of whether to tackle Snart or Sara to avoid someone getting frozen. Instead opting to stand in front of Jonas who was looking at Snart in terror. The little boy having thought he was an ally. Was he actually a bad man?
"Stay out of this kid." Snart replied. "Your other half's not here to help melt you out."
"Don't do that." Sara told him. "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."
"You were going to what!?" Jax demanded, mouth gaping open. "What the hell Sara!? That would've killed me too!"
"Clarity warned me that would happen." Sara replied not taking her eyes off the ice villain before her. "Just be happy they both convinced me and I didn't go through with it."
"Yeah, because you seem to have a problem with being a killer." Leonard replied, finger hovering over the trigger. "I, however, don't."
"Prove it." Sara challenged staring the ice villain down. "Shoot me."
"Snart don't-" Jax started to object as the ice villains gun whirred a deadly stream of frost about to spit out the nozzle.
"Miss!" Jonas spoke up as a ringing phone cut through the air, the little boy peaking out from behind Jax's leg. "It's for you." Jonas held out the answered phone to Sara. The call cutting through the tension as Snart lowered his gun looking down at the frightened child. Something stirring within him. A ghost of his own past. He was giving Leonard a look he knew all too well. One he'd fixed his father with so many a time. No. He wouldn't be like his father.
"Hello?" Sara asked as she took the phone from the child. Gideon answering her with a polite, "Hello, Ms. Lance."
"Gideon, you're alive." Sara smiled, if Gideon was alright, didn't that mean at least Clarity was okay too?
"If by being "alive" you mean that my operating system is intact, yes, young Jonas was able to transport me here and then upload me into the latency core. To avoid being wiped out when the Time Masters..."
"We can share war stories later. Where's the rest of the team?" Sara asked her, hoping that Gideon would be able to access that information for her.
"My creator is being held in a special chamber separate from everyone else, with the nature of her abilities no normal cell would hold her. The rest of the team is being held in cell block 4587, and they, too, are alive..., for the moment."
"Wait, What do you mean "for the moment"?" Sara asked the Ai.
"Vandal Savage has taken Miss Saunders, Mr. Hall, and Miranda aboard a jumpship, though I am afraid I have no clue as to where they are headed. Mr. Rory is being put through the induction process as we speak and it would seem that if Professor Stein does not merge within the hour he will explode. My systems calculate that the entire cell block will be decimated."
Sara, Snart and Jax all exchanged looks and wasted no time setting to work, Gideon coming up with a plan for them all. After placing small disruptive devices on all the other time ships, Snart and Jax would head to the cells to free the team, Sara would rescue Clarity from that chamber as she was the stealthiest, and Jonas was to stay put on the waverider, no matter how many times the little boy tried to object to staying behind wanting to be a part of the rescue mission. If only the trio knew that they should have listened to the boys pleas, or left an actual physical able bodied person to supervise him because while the adults were away, Jonas caught sight of Vandal Savage leading his mother to his ship. The hawks being carried behind him completely knocked out. Before Gideon could stop him, and she did try to stop him, the bay doors shutting just a second too late Jonas slipping through through the crack. The little boy had run off to go save his mother, a knife hidden under his sweater sleeve, one of his fathers spare lazer guns in his hands. As you can imagine, this attempt did not go over well, and Rip's family was once again in the hands of Vandal Savage along with Kendra and Carter.
As Jax and Snart saved those who were in the cell block, Rip, Ray and Todd rushing out of their cells once opened, firestorm merging without delay, Mick crushing a Time Masters skull under his boot, Sara crept through the vanishing point, climbing through air vents, running down empty corridors, skidding past people too busy having their heads down in their futuristic clipboards to notice her. Gideon having printed out a 3-d map for her to follow. It took a while for Sara to get to where Clarity was being held. The vanishing point wasn't exactly a small place, especially when guards and fancy robed officials had to be avoided. When she finally got there the assassins heart stopped and she completely froze.
Clarity was strapped to a wall, no longer wearing that pocketed dress with the satin trim that Sara thought she'd look so nice in. Nor did she have on the crazy zig zag heels that only Clarity Springs would ever dare to wear. In fact, the Glitch's feet were now completely bare, her sparkly blue nail polish that had covered her nails on her fingers and toes leaving a little pile of shavings on the floor beneath her strung up hands and dangling feet as they peeled off in teensy bits, lightning slowly chipping away at the polish. Metal Wires had been wrapped around her wrists and ankles twisted around every single toe and finger. Her body suspended off the floor as lightning buzzed along the metal cables that restrained her limbs, feeding back into the wall that Clarity was held against. They'd put Clarity into some kind of glowing blue suit with a circuit pattern sewn into the material.
But that wasn't the most heart stopping thing. So much lightning was gathered in Claritys eyes that Sara couldn't even see them underneath the crackling balls of lightning that swirled in her eye sockets. Clarity's mouth was parted open, only slightly, but it was more than enough for Sara to see the lightning that was practically spewing out of it, the bolts stopping just as it was about to leave her lips. Some kind of glowing blue liquid light was pouring in thin lines down Claritys cheeks from her eyes. As if someone had cracked open a glow stick and left it to drip. After a moment, Sara realized what that glowing liquid was. They were tears. Clarity was crying.
That's all it took for Sara to snap out of whatever momentary shock that had caused her to freeze and kick some time master ass. There weren't many in the room 5 in total, three guards and 2 pinned robe wearing douchebags. All of which Sara knocked out in typical badass Sara Lance fashion. She could have killed them. She wanted to kill them, to give in to her bloodlust, let out some of the pain that was coursing through her at her sisters murder, give in to her darkness and yet, she didn't, because they weren't what mattered right now. As much as she was upset about the loss of her sister she wasn't about to dishonor the last wish she ever gave her. Be a hero in the light and heroes in the light they didn't try to kill, they tried to save. Sara would know she'd learned from the brightest one she'd ever met, at least, Sara thought she was the brightest.
"Clarity, hey, it's okay. I know you can't see me," Sara spoke as she walked closer to Clarity a knife twirling in her hand. The assassin having noticed that the tears hadn't stopped even though the time masters were all down for the count. Sara figuring the fighting sounds must have scared her. Whatever that lightning was doing must be screwing with her vision. "but it's me. It's Sara. I'm right here. I'm gonna get you out of here. Just hang on."
Sara went to cut one of the cables, but the moment her knife touched the sensitive wire Clarity started to thrash. Her lightning crackling more dangerously as every muscle in Claritys body tensed up. A silent scream held back by the lightning in Claritys throat. Her lightning lashed out zapping Sara's knife into nothing but ash.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." Sara whispered backing up away from Clarity off to the side stumbling out of the way as her lightning struck where she'd just been, her com that had fallen out of her right ear lay smoking uselessly on the ground. Sara now having no way to get in touch with anyone. It was then that Sara saw the lightning crackling in her ears. Could Clarity not hear her either? Sara's left hand gripped her right, thumb digging into her stinging palm. "...I..." Sara didn't know what to do, eyes wild as she looked at Clarity. She was in over her head. She wasn't a tech genius like Ray or Rip. How could she help her? How could she get her out without hurting her? So far she just made things worse. She didn't have time to go get anyone else. Not only that, she wasn't about to leave Clarity when she was like this. She didn't have a clue on what to do, but she knew how to get that information.
"Sorry Laurel.." Sara whispered pulling out a new knife. Walking towards one of the robe wearing time masters still knocked out on the floor. "The light needs a little darkness right now."
Sara tied him to a desk chair and slapped him awake. The man groaned in pain blinking warily up at Sara. "What did you do to her!?" Sara demanded as she pointed back at Clarity who's whole body was shaking, and her breathing was picking up speed. The man chuckled. "You think thats funny?" Sara pointed her knife at his throat. "There are four other people in here who'll take my question more seriously and trust me you don't want me asking them. It wouldn't mean good things for you and I'm not in the mood. So, I'm going to ask you this one more time. What did you do to her?"
The man cleared his throat silencing his laugh and then in all seriousness he said, "We didn't do anything."
"Say that again and you'll regret it." Sara pressed her knife just a bit closer to his neck.
"We didn't-" The British man tried his best to lean away from the sharpened blade as it threatened to dig into his throat. "Her abilities were at maximum capacity when the jump ship touched down here. Druce ordered us to contain her powers. That's it. That's all we did."
"Contain how?" Sara pressed. "Did you put a dampener on her?"
"No, I mean yes- we-we tried but her lightning it...it was too strong. The dampeners couldn't handle it. There was too much power, they were overloaded and then they melted right off her wrists. The entire metahuman wing of the cell block was destroyed, ripped open, and torn apart. It was nothing like I'd ever seen. Such raw power in one feeble woman."
"Feeble? Okay, I'm losing my patience, which means in a few seconds you'll be losing your head. Might not even be the one your thinking." Sara tilted the knife down toward his crotch then back to his neck. "So, if you want to keep everything attached get to the point. Unless you want to be a cautionary tale for the next guy I tie to this chair."
"Okay, okay take it eas-" the man gulped, sweat dripping down the back of his neck. "We hooked her in to the power grid-like a human battery. Used the cables to create a uh feedback loop if you will. Electricity flows out of her, travels along the cables to the wall and then energy flows back inside her from there. One unbreakable power loop. Everything is connected."
"Tell me how to get her out." Sara glared.
"You can't, the design-"
"I don't care about the design! I don't have a lot of light left in my life," Sara's grip on the knife tightened. "I never had a lot to begin with, but I'm not letting the little bit that's still there slip away from me. Not now, so you tell me how to get her out!"
"Emergency Command code 7777-2-777-444-8-999. That'll shut off the power so you can move the wires to get her down, but if it shuts off so will she. Because of how integrated into the system she is...there's a chance she won't wake up."
Sara punched him knocking him out once again having heard enough. Sara walked over to the opposite wall, looked at Clarity one last time trying to think of a better way, one that wouldn't risk her life, but nothing came to mind, and she was running out of time, so she typed in the code. All the lights shut off and Claritys body went limp. Sara rushed over to her, moving the wires off Clarity's body, cutting through the smaller ones and the two crumpled to the ground as Clarity fell on top of her like a rag doll.
"C'mon...c'mon, Pachirisu." Sara whispered, as she sat up, rolling her onto her lap, and cradled her in her arms. Clarity's eyes were closed, but her body was still warm, so that was something right?
"Don't do this to me. Not today, okay?"
Sara wiped the glowing tear stains off her face brushing a few of Clarity's chestnut brown curls out of her eyes.
"My sister... Laurel, I just found out she's..." Sara closed her eyes, shaking her head as she looked down at the Glitch, clutching Clarity close. "I need you to help me save her. You-you saved Rip's family, you can help me save mine too. I need you, Clarity. I just... I really need you..." Sara trailed off as she waited for some sort of sign. A flutter of eyes, a zap of lightning, literally anything that would indicate Clarity was about to wake up.
Seconds rolled into minutes, and there wasn't any change. Shakily Sara's pointer and index finger slid just under Clarity's jaw to her neck. She had to check to see if she had a pulse, but Sara's fingers hovered over the spot, not yet touching, afraid to find out the answer. The sound of boots rushing alerted Sara to soldiers on their way. They must've found out she shut off the power. Sara's head snapped to the door, they were closing in. Sara felt a hand wrap around hers, soft fingers curling over her own, a light tingle buzzing across her skin. She looked down to see Clarity waking up. Lightning crowding around the edges of her eyes, but no where near how bad they were before. Abnormal blue eyes peaking out from heavy eye lids.
"Sara..? What's hapsening?" Clarity murmured, mispronouncing a word as her speech slurred a bit. Her tongue still numb from all the lightning that had been whizzing inside her. But she could see, she could hear, all of her senses were back again, she was rescued from the light.
"Hey Clarity." Sara greeted, "The time masters captured the team and we're busting out. Can you Glitch us to the waverider? Or is that too much too soon?" Sara didn't want to push her, Clarity'd barely even fully opened her eyes yet, but then again Sara could see flashlights shining through the door and Sara didn't know how many were on their way. The assassin not having much of a choice but to ask. The next thing Sara knew they were on the bridge, directly on top of the console. "Hey Giddy, I misseded you." Clarity greeted as she patted the console with her free hand, she leaned just a bit too far and rolled straight out of of Sara's lap and fell off the console crashing to the floor.
"Hello creator, I missed you as well. Do be careful." Gideon advised.
"Clarity, are you okay?" Sara knelt on the edge looking down at her.
"Mhm," Clarity blinked the sudden fall waking her up fully as she hopped up to a standing position. "I'm better than okay." Sparks flew from her fingertips as she did a twirl stretching her stiff limbs, hopping up to sit next to her on the console crossing her ankles. She didn't think she'd ever be able to see or hear ever again. . "And uh, thanks..." her feet rubbed together toes curling and uncurling, hands clutching onto the console lightning flowing into it, she leaned over and pressed a light kiss to Sara's cheek, a coy smile on her face. "... for saving me."
"Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same for me." Sara replied, shifting to sit down, legs dangling over the console edge. Their pinky fingers almost touching, a tiny lightning bolt sparking from Claritys hand to Sara's connecting them briefly.
The distinct sound of the Cargo bay doors creaking open screeched throughout the ship, the disruptive noise of the rest of the team returning to the ship echoing down the empty halls breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Where's everyone else?" Sara called back over her shoulder as she sat down in the captains chair for the very first time. They had to go and Rip was dragging his feet. No doubt looking for his son who was supposed to be here.
"Uh, locking up the cargo bay doors. They seem to have jammed. This ship is not in good shape." Rip continued to look around as Ray, Jax and Mick walked into the room with it. "Has anyone seen Jonas?"
"Nah man," Jax shook his head. "Not since we left."
"I don't feel him anywhere." Clarity frowned from where she still sat on the console her legs now bent in a mermaid style. "I don't think he's here..."
"First we need to find my son then get the hell out of here... Gideon?" Rip addressed the Ai clapping his hands together. "I'm here Captain and if I could take a moment to add how wonderful it feels to be back together."
"Oh, I have missed you too." Rip told her.
"Now that we've had our reunion, I'm afraid that I must inform you that both Miranda and Jonas are once again in peril. I should also mention we have a slight problem." Gideon informed him.
"Get me out of this stupid robot suit." Mick demanded holding out his arms unable to get it off himself.
"Yeah, I could use some help with that too. I'm not exactly sure how to get out of this thing...does anyone see a zipper anywhere, or like some kind of weirdly placed button?" Clarity tugging fruitlessly at the turtleneck collar sticking to her neck, the skin tight circuitry suit was in no way comfortable physically or emotionally. She didn't even know who had put her into it. Had they touched her when they did? They had to at minimum have seen her naked whoever it had been. The suit was padded in the more intimate places but it didn't feel like she was wearing anything underneath. It was almost like a second skin. Clarity just wanted it off her. She wanted it off now, but she supposed she had to wait til they were out of danger.
"Uh, the Time Masters are locking onto us with a tractor beam." Ray noted as Rip dashed away from the console to another screen.
"Punch it, Gideon." Sara told the Ai before speaking to Rip. "Sorry, your job."
"No, Ms. Lance, stay right where you are. I'm sure you're about to prove yourself quite adept at piloting this ship."
"About the tractor beam..." Mick reminded.
"Dr. Palmer, and Miss Springs, are going to help me remotely disable it." Rip replied.
"I've already established an uplink to the omnimatrix mainframe, Captain." Gideon answered.
"What you mean the Omnitrix? Like Ben 10?" Jax asked completely lost with all the science babble. "Are we going to have to go out and fight aliens now?"
"No, no, Omnimatrix," Clarity corrected, "It's an array of numbers all stored in one place so a program can operate more efficiently. There's a bit more to it than that. But basically Gideon's hacking into the controls for the tractor beam."
"The Time Masters are evil, but they're not dumb. There's no way they're gonna let Gideon override the tractor beam remotely." Ray pointed out.
"Even if I helped her they'd notice." Clarity agreed drumming her fingers on the console.
"Whatever you're gonna do, you better do it now. They've locked on." Sara told them all.
"If only I could trick the system into thinking Gideon was Jerry, but his code was obliterated. There's nothing for me to work off of." Clarity rubbed at her temples.
"Wait. Clarity that's it. What if we convince the system that the override command is coming from somewhere else?" Ray looked between Clarity and Rip.
"Or someone else." Rip pointed to Mick still in his chronos suit.
"Someone they trust." Ray agreed.
"Someone like a Cyberman." Clarity grinned.
"Just need to borrow... Chronos' operating system." Ray pulled the glove off Micks hand setting it down on the console starting to type.
"I'm "hotswapping" Mr. Rory's hard drive as we speak." Gideon informed everyone.
"Whatever you're doing, do it faster." Sara called back. They didn't have much time.
"Ray, please move...thanks." Clarity shooed his fingers away from the keyboard and took over. Fingers flying furiously across the keys, lightning seeping into the console to help Gideon do things faster, lightning even hitting keys so Claritys fingers didn't have to.
"And... done." Ray announced as Clarity finished typing.
"Now, Sara!" Rip yelled and the waverider time jumped away. Not a minute later, Snart, Todd, and Stein came walking into the room. Though the professor did look somewhat scarred.
"Stein, are you okay?" Clarity asked him in concern.
"Professor's seen some things he wished he hadn't. Promises not to freak out too much about it, which I thought was considerate." Snart eyed the old man.
"And we got the doors closed, but it's a bit of a mess back there." Todd added.
"Oh, I bet it is thanks to you two." Jax laughed quite literally feeling second hand embarrassment from his and Steins bond. The Old man having walked in on quite the make out session.
"Yeah, the condition of the cargo bay is the least of our worries, I'm afraid." Rip spoke up.
"Yeah, much to my chagrin, it turns out everything we've done, maybe even our whole lives, has been determined by the Time Masters." Ray informed everyone.
"What?" Sara asked uncrossing her legs, the captains chair now facing the opposite direction.
"How's that even possible?" Clarity's eyes brows furrowed in confusion.
"The Time Masters have this thing called the Oculus, which allows them not only to gaze into the future, but to engineer it."
"A future where I'm dead, apparently." Ray said, still in disbelief about that.
"So the time masters are literally masters of time? Huh, who would have guessed? Oh wait," Clarity tugged fruitlessly where the sleeve to the blue suit ended but it was still sticking to her skin, not budging no matter how hard she pulled. Her fingernail couldn't even get between the material and her skin. "It's literally in the name."
"Wait back up they want Ray dead?" Jax's eyebrows shot up.
"Haven't you been paying attention? They've sent bounty hunters, a time manipulating assassin, and four leviathans after us. As I'm sure Savage did not get those robots on his own. The fact that we didn't realize that they want us all dead, Savage or no Savage, before now is beyond me." Stein spoke up.
"No, you heard him, Rip saw the future. It was pretty clear it was me specifically" Ray replied. "But it was a nice thought Marty."
"And why would they want you dead?" Sara asked him.
"Have you ever listened to what comes out of his mouth?" Mick asked her.
"Maybe they were just jealous of his billion dollar good looks." Todd leaned against a chair. "His eyes match his hair perfectly."
"Now, in my opinion, Dr. Palmer's death is not part of their plan." Rip spoke up.
"No, that's not reassuring." Ray denied only to grab his arm in pain as Mick hit his arm. "Ow!"
"You saying the Time Masters wanted me to do that?" Mick asked as Clarity slid herself closer to Ray and soothingly rubbed the spot that Mick had hit. Ray smiled at her.
"What I'm saying is that they've been engineering our lives to move in very specific directions. And we are playing out that script even now." Rip replied.
"So we can go to 2016 again, but that might be what the Time Masters want." Sara began getting up out of her chair. "Or we can go get Kendra and Carter...
"Which could also be what they want." Snart cut in.
"Then we need to do what they don't want." Ray realized. "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?" Snart asked.
"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." Rip explained further, recalling the information.
"Explains why we were able to escape." Mick leaned on the console.
"And why we might actually have a shot at destroying this thing." Sara nodded walking up next to Ray. "I'm with Ray." Hitting him in his other arm, but since that was more of a hit of affection Clarity made no attempts to soothe that one.
"So am I." Clarity agreed, "I'm so done with manipulative time travelers thinking that they can control our lives if they set events in motion a little sooner, or a little later. Changing lives without any regard for how the person feels about it. Enoughs enough."
"If I'm gonna be someone's puppet, I'm gonna be the one who cuts his own bloody strings." Rip leaned on the console.
"And I like blowing stuff up." Mick agreed.
"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." Ray
"This is madness." Snart commented walking up to the console he smiled at Todd. "I like it."
"Me too," Todd agreed. "But you yahoos are certifiable I'm tellin' you."
"Gideon, plot a course to the Oculus Wellspring. Team... I think it's about time we seized our destinies back."
"Great!" Clarity chirped hopping off the console. "Just enough time to change out of our puppet costumes."
Mick grunted in agreement, following her out to do just that. The rest of the crew following behind to get ready themselves. As it would turn out Todd had to use one of Sara's knives to cut the suit off of Clarity. Using his smoke to both cover her and slice the damned thing up faster. The team all suiting up, gathering their signature weapons and other items they'd need before they all went to the cargo bay as Gideon told them they'd arrived.
"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. Why aren't any of you more excited by this?" Martin wondered.
"We're excited to blow it up." Sara replied.
"Actually since a supernova's already exploding it's more like we're setting the star free. They trapped it in its own light..." Clarity trailed because she knew exactly what that star was feeling, if stars could feel that is.
"Dr. Palmer and Miss Springs, will deactivate the core contained supernova, which should create an anomalistic event. A very big explosion."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Hello again, Rip. Right on schedule." Druce greeted with an insane amount of soldiers all with guns aimed at the ready.
"Uh, I think we've walked into a trap." Ray frowned.
"Maybe only slightly, but accidents happens." Todd replied.
"No, it's destiny. 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."
"Well, decide that for ourselves pal." Jax glared. "Thanks anyways."
"All your posturing. All your claims about doing what's best for the timeline, about protecting history, and it all comes down to cold blooded murder." Rip glared at his once father figure enraged.
"The difference between murder and execution is only a matter of authority. I have it. You don't." Druce replied, "Kill them."
They tried to follow orders however all of their guns blew up at once in a menacing crackle of blue lightning. Smoke slithered upon the ground, each whisp no bigger than a rattle snake, each soldier getting tied up with smoke and frozen in place by Snart's gun. A few others stragglers brought down by knives and fire from both Mick and Firestorm.
"Good work." Rip nodded at Various members of the team. "We need to get to the Oculus before reinforcements arrive."
"Take about two minutes to figure out how to self-destruct this thing." Ray announced jogging up to it. Clarity went to follow but her legs trembled as they gave out underneath her, her lightning threatening to consume her senses once again. Lightning bursting out the edges of her eyes, Clarity could feel it start to gather in her ears, and this time most alarmingly, her throat. She couldn't breathe. She stumbled back her airway clearing just enough to rasp out an "I-I can't get closer."
Clarity trembling as Sara and Todd both helped her back away from it. Clarity gasping for breath, her lightning almost having done her in that time. You'd think her powers being so strong in a situation like this would be a good thing. Only it wasn't, not when her powers threatened to blind, choke and deafen her. Too much energy wasn't a good thing, and the electrical energy around the oculus was too much for Clarity to handle. This was worse than 2166, and 2166 had been quite the struggle.
"We'll buy you some time."
"You lot guard the entrance." Rip told them. "Since Miss Springs is no longer able, Mr. Rory, you're with me."
"Hey," Todd put a hand on Claritys shoulder. "Get back to the ship, we're good out here."
"Are you sure?" Clarity asked body shaking. Now that she felt the oculus up close and personal she could feel her powers pulsing, reacting to it. Wanting out, wanting to charge up, it was overwhelming and she was nowhere near drained. As a result she was more of a liability than a help in her current state.
"Go, it's okay. You need distance." Todd told her nodding his head. Clarity nodded glitching back to the ship. The shielding already helping a little. Clarity waited for the rest of the team to return. Rip wordlessly dashed past her, Jax and Stein did as well unmerged, arguing over something about there not being enough time. Then a few more minutes passed and Sara and Todd were rushing onto the ship carrying an unconscious Mick Rory. Todd punching the cargo bay door button in a rage.
"Wait, what are you doing? Snart's not back yet." Clarity frowned.
"He's...he's not coming back, Flick." Todd replied, a silver ring now clutched in his right hand.
"What?" Clarity asked, looking to Sara, Todd too choked up about it to explain anymore.
"Someone had to stay behind for it to blow. Mick was going to, but Snart took his place." Sara explained. Clarity felt around with her powers. She sensed the oculus's energy was building, and she could still feel Snart's electricity humming strong.
"There's still time." Lightning crackled in Clarity's eyes, electrical energy flowing all over her body. Clarity took a deep breath in, held it, and she glitched.
"No, shut it down." Druce ordered, spit flying from his mouth like a barking dog. "Shut it down!"
"There are no strings on me." Snart replied, icy glare in place, the former villain fully prepared to meet his fate, make the heroic sacrifice play, only for his head to snap behind him as he felt two hands on his shoulders. His eyes widened as he saw Clarity behind him. She smiled lightning crackling in her mouth, lightning swirling in her eyes, and ears. Druce stared on in in a mix of rage and horror. Clarity glitching them both out of harms way just as the occulus went off. It wasn't a pleasant landing in any respect, Clarity having glitched them back so out of control that her and Snart had hurtled into a wall.
"...Got h-him..." Clarity gave a weak thumbs up from where she lied on the floor gasping for breath, her powers calming. It was a miracle she had been able to Glitch back the way she did. Luckily she'd been able to use her powers no problem, sort of.
"Not all of me!" Snart yelled, pain laced in his voice as he clutched his profusely bleeding arm clutching at his wrist the thief quickly losing blood as he was rushed to the medbay by Rip. His hand having incinerated in the explosion or maybe Clarity had missed a piece who knows.
"Oh...so that's what happens when I don't Glitch all of someone.." Clarity smiled, laying on her side on the ships floor right where she'd landed enjoying the smoky smell of the room, the bright blue glow of the console and silver sheen of the chairs, the sound of sparking wires and the whirring engines, the feel of the cold metal against her skin and most importantly the hums of all her friends buzzing strongly.
Haha yes! Another chapter done! One more, yes you read that right!, one more chapter until Glitch is finally completed! I can't believe it! Anyways I won't ramble on for too long this time since I'm a day late on when I wanted to get this chapter out, but I really hope you enjoyed it despite it being out a day later. I'm trying really hard to stay consistent with my new update schedule and I don't think I'm doing too bad all things considered. Okay guys, Tiff out! Peace! Don't forget to vote and comment. I love getting all of your input and opinions so much. You all reading this story just means so much to me. Anyways, here are the questions!
1. What did you think about what happened to Clarity this chapter?
2. Thoughts on me saving Snart?
3. How do you think Clarity has changed since ch 1?
4. Finish this sentence, "Vandal Savage deserves..."
5. Who are you shipping Clarity with? Why? WHY? TELL ME WHY!? *{Ain't nothing but a heartache}* TELL ME WHY!?
6. What do you think is Clarity's favorite type of music to listen to?
7. What are you hoping will happen in this last chapter?
8. What do you think is Claritys worst quality?
9. Are you glad you stuck around for this story thus far?
10. How do you think Clarity'll fit in season 2?
11. What's your favorite number?
12. Think I can finish this story and post the first chapter of the sequel all before the 4th of July!?
13. Anything else you'd like to ask, rant, or tell me!