A/N: Hello! I'm back! Again, haha. So sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life's been crazy. I know this mission is taking a super long time to finish and it's still not quite done yet, but I promise we're getting close to the end.

"Okay, team," Sara said as she, Leonard, and Nate entered the library. "I hear we've got a musical aberration on our hands."

"That would be right," Nora said.

Ray tapped on Gideon's screen and revealed a long list of movie titles. "I had Gideon scan to see if Star Wars is the only film – well, film series, really – whose score was affected. Turns out…it very much is not."

"And that's without even looking up famous pieces that aren't from movies," Charlie added. "There's probably plenty more there that changed."

Sara nodded her head slowly, taking in the information. "Got it. Has anyone managed to get in contact with John and Mona? They should still be with young Wolfgang."

"Called them," Mick replied. "Didn't pick up."

"Which could be a bad sign," Nora said, sounding a bit worried.

"Let's not jump to conclusions yet," Nate said. "Maybe they're just busy. What we need to focus on is fixing this problem."

"Agreed," said Sara. She turned to look directly at Nate. "Where's Zari? Is the ship ready to time jump that far?"

"She just went to the engine room to make sure," Nate answered.

"Good," she replied. "As soon as it is, we're taking Nannerl home. The rift will still be here when we get back. This is too significant a change to procrastinate on."

"What about the warlock?" Mick asked. "I've been waiting to punch him all day."

"He really has," Nora confirmed.

"It'll have to wait, Mick," Sara told him. "This takes priority." She looked around at the faces in the room for a second, then had a realization. "Wait a minute…if Zari's in the engine room, and you two are here…" She pointed at Ray and Nate. "…then who's watching Nannerl?"

"Oh! Not to worry, Captain," Ray assured her. "She's still watching Star Wars. Totally occupied."

Leonard eyed him skeptically, then spoke for the first time in the conversation. "Is she? And, uh, when exactly was the last time you checked on her?"

"I don't know. Five…maybe ten minutes ago. Couldn't be more than ten."

Leonard peered behind him into the corridor until he caught a glimpse of the open doors of the laboratory. "And did you also leave the doors open?"

"What?" Nate replied as if the question was ridiculous. "Of course not." He suddenly understood. "Wait, why? Are they open right now? Who opened them?"

"Probably the eleven-year-old you left unsupervised," Charlie answered.

Nate and Ray exchanged concerned glances with each other, then the rest of the team. At once, they all ran out of the library and into the laboratory to find, as Leonard had suspected, no sign of Nannerl.

"Where could she have gone?" Nora asked. "Somewhere else on the ship?"

"She's been running around here all day," Charlie replied. "Snart was showing her everything. She probably knows it like the back of her hand by now. Could be hiding anywhere."

Leonard gave her a warning look. "Don't tell me you're blaming me for this. You went right along the whole time."

"I'm not blaming anybody," she said with an innocent shrug. "I'm just pointing it out."

"Way to go, Haircut," Mick said. "You and your buddy lost the kid."

"I'm really sorry, guys," Ray said with a tone of genuine sincerity. "I thought she'd want to stay put. I never would've walked out on Star Wars at her age. Or any age, honestly." His eyes widened as he recalled something she had said earlier. "That's it! That must be where she is!"

"Where?" Sara asked.

"The mall," Ray replied. "She said another kid asked her to see Return of the Jedi with him and his friends."

Leonard stepped toward him. "Yeah. She did mention that." He quickly ran through the numbers in his head. "If you two left her alone for somewhere around ten minutes, she's had more than enough time to get back inside the mall, although it might be another…" He checked his watch briefly. "…let's say sixty to seventy seconds before she reaches the theater, depending on how fast she's moving."

Sara's face grew serious. "She can't be out there. It's too dangerous."

"Especially with Christian still running around," Leonard agreed. He turned toward the exit. "I'm going after her."

Sara caught his arm before he could fully leave the room. "I'm coming with you," she said. "Nannerl will listen to you if you tell her to come back, but if Christian shows up, you'll need backup."

He glanced at her hand on his arm for a second, then her face. "Thank you," he said.

"Not just me," Sara continued. She looked over her shoulder at Nora. "We might need to fight magic with magic. You in?"

Nora snapped her fingers, forming a tiny ball of purple sparks in the air just above her hand. "Absolutely."

"Your boyfriend can come, too," Sara added with a nod toward Ray. "You never know when a shrink ray might come in handy."

"It's still not called that," Ray reminded her. He caught an eye roll from Leonard and added, "Not that that's important right now."

"What about the rest of us?" Nate asked.

"Yeah," Mick added, crossing his arms. "I wanted to punch that guy."

"Stay on comms," Sara ordered. "If we can grab her and go without causing too much of a scene, that's the ideal, and four of us should be enough to handle that. But if we get into a fight and call you in for help, be ready to join us immediately."

"Copy that," Nate said. "Good luck, team."

The four of them hurried out of the lab and through the ship, heading for the cargo door. As they watched them go, Charlie noticed an odd look on Nate's face. "What's wrong, mate? Christian might not even be at the mall. If they get there fast enough, he won't even figure out where she is."

"I know, I know," Nate said, still watching the hallway. "It's just…I've got a bad feeling about this."

Nannerl hurried through the mall, looking for Jake in all directions. She had only vaguely taken in her surroundings the first time she had run through it. The second time, she had mostly only been inside the arcade. She had a feeling she remembered where the theater was, but, given she had only the vaguest idea of what a movie theater looked like, she couldn't be completely certain about it.

As she walked, a poster on the wall a few feet ahead caught her eye. She ran toward it, then stopped to take a look. The people pictured on it were the same as she had seen in the movie on the Waverider, although their clothes were a bit different. She read the big, eye-catching title words slowly, "Return of the Jedi…oh, that's it! He must be around here somewhere." She stood in place and looked around, trying to find Jake.

As her eyes scanned the area, she finally spotted him. He was surrounded by a small group of boys and girls of similar age. They were standing near a counter where a man appeared to be selling tickets. Nannerl sprinted over to them. Jake saw her as she arrived and waved. "Hey! Glad you made it."

"Hello," she said, waving back at him as she stopped running. "Wouldn't miss it. This looks like fun."

"Sure is," one of the girls in the group replied. "The last movie was such a cliffhanger. I literally cannot wait to find out what's next."

"Yeah," one of the boys agreed. "You think Han's okay? I'm really hoping they save him."

"Okay, but what about Darth Vader being Luke's dad?" another girl asked. "Did anyone see that coming? What's he going to do about that?"

"Guys, come on!" another boy in the group groaned. "Are we going to talk about the last movie, or are we going to see the new one? It starts in, like, three minutes!"

"Sure," Jake said. "Just a second." He turned to Nannerl. "Did you get a ticket?"

"Uh…not yet." She walked over to the ticket counter, trying to appear more confident than she felt. Not knowing how much movie tickets cost, she pulled out what was left of the money Snart had given her from her pocket. "One ticket for Star Wars, please," she said, holding it up to the man behind the glass.

"One for Star Wars?" the man repeated. He man took the cash, gave her a small amount of change, and then handed her a ticket. "There you go. Have fun!"

Nannerl rush back to the group. "I'm ready now," she said. "Where do we go?"

Jake pointed inside the theater. "That way."

Nannerl blended in flawlessly with the group as they entered the theater, showed their tickets, and found their way toward their film of choice. As they hurried excitedly to find their seats, a man with long, brown hair entered the theater. He spoke to no one and attempted to move past the concessions and into the hallway that led to the theater's various screens but was stopped by an employee. "Do you have a ticket, sir?" she asked. "You need a ticket to pass this way."

"Oh, of course," Paul Christian said, fumbling in his pockets. "I must have put it in…here!" He suddenly snapped his fingers and a tiny green flame flicked toward her face. She was instantly stunned, frozen in place and unable to say anything else. "Thanks for the reminder," he said nonchalantly as he brushed past her and into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Sara, Leonard, Ray, and Nora reached the ticket counter. "Do you see her anywhere?" Leonard asked, looking around.

"I see a lot of kids," Sara replied, "but not our girl."

"She's probably already inside," Ray surmised. "If I were her, I wouldn't waste time getting a good seat."

Nora spotted a young woman in an employee's uniform standing suspiciously still at the end of the foyer. She nudged Ray to get his attention. "I know the effect of dark magic when I see it," she said, pointing toward her. "Come on." She led the other three Legends over to the employee. "Hey, can you hear me?" When the stunned woman didn't respond, she covered her face with her hands, whispered some magic words, then let go. "Okay, how about now?"

The employee blinked several times, then scratched her head. "Wha…what happened?"

"Nothing that has long term effects," Nora assured her. "Did you see anyone right before you blacked out?"

"Uh…yeah, I think," she replied, trying hard to remember. "There was a guy…he had brown hair, kind of long…and he was wearing a green shirt and brown jacket. At least, I'm pretty sure. He just snapped his fingers and I was out." She looked around the foyer confusedly. "But I don't see him anymore."

The four Legends looked at each other grimly. "Paul Christian," they all said at once.

"Follow up question," Sara asked. "Did you also happen to see a group of kids around middle school age on their way to see the new Star Wars movie? Specifically, one that included a little girl wearing a shirt with bright yellow polka dots?"

The employee shrugged. "We have a showing starting right about now, but I've seen so many kids go in there already…I really can't say."

"Which theater is the showing in?" Leonard asked.

"Theater seven," she replied. "What's going on? Is something wrong? Should I tell my manager?"

"Don't worry about it," Sara said reassuringly. "Just leave it to us. We've got it covered." She nodded to her teammates. "Let's go."

They hurried past the young woman before she could ask any more questions, finding their way down the hallway and around a corner until they found a door with a glowing number seven beside it. Stepping inside, they found the room with the commercials rolling on the screen, the lights dark…and the seating area packed with people.

"How are we going to find her in here?" Nora whispered. "We can't see anything, the seats are almost completely full, and at least half of the audience look like kids around her age."

As soon as she finished speaking, the speaker system boomed, announcing that the film would begin shortly. Sara pulled the group in for a team huddle. "We need to split up and look around. As long as we find her before Christian does, we'll be fine."

"And if we find Christian, we shoot first," Leonard added. He noticed Ray suddenly give him his full attention, a hopeful look in his eyes. "That was not a Star Wars reference, Raymond. We're not 'geeking out' together right now."

"I know, I know," Ray said, sounding a little disappointed. "But…how about later?"

Leonard glared at him. "Just shut up and find the kid."

"Love you, Ray, but he's got a point," Nora said. "I'll head to the top row of seats and see if she's up there. You guys take the lower sections." She hesitated, then looked to Sara for approval. "I mean…if that's cool with you, Captain."

"Shh!" someone said from the row of seats closest to them. "It's starting!"

"Sorry," Sara whispered. She replied to Nora in an even more hushed tone, "Sounds perfect. I'll take the next section down. Leonard and Ray, take the bottom two sections. But be inconspicuous."

The group split up and attempted to sneak as silently as possible through the theater. As they began their search, the movie began. Leonard was caught off guard by the sound of it. The soundtrack was definitely very different. Wow, he thought, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he paused to look at the words scrolling on the screen. That really is weird. After only a moment, however, he refocused on his mission and stood to the side of the seats, scanning the silhouetted heads closest to him for the shape of Nannerl's high ponytail and bow.

Ray bumbled awkwardly through the lower middle section of seats, trying to hide the fact that he was checking every young face he ran into. "Excuse me," he whispered to annoyed audience members. "Sorry, I'm just…going to my…seat…"

"Will you stop moving?" someone hissed at him. "I can't see."

"Sorry!" he whispered back, moving quickly past him. "So, so, sorry! I'm just…almost…a little farther now…excuse me…"

Sara watched Ray's clumsy search tactics from a short distance and rolled her eyes. She then located one of the few empty seats in the theater. She slipped past a couple of teenagers without a word, then sat down in it. Rather than watching the screen, however, she looked all around her, hoping for a sign of the missing Mozart.

Nora kept her back to the far wall, gazing down at her chosen search area from the very top of the theater. If she looked up, she could see the light streaming out of the projection room window above her. That gave her an idea. "Guys," she whispered into her comms as quietly as she could. "I'm going to the projection room. I'll have a bird's eye view from there." She hurried out of the seating area toward the back of the theater, then searched until she found the door leading to the projection room. Whispering a spell, she unlocked the door, slipped inside silently, and closed it behind her.

"Hey!" an employee inside said, seeing her suddenly arrive. "What are you doing? How did you…"

"And…go to sleep," Nora said, reaching forward to touch his forehead gently with her index finger. He instantly fell asleep in his chair. "No hard feelings, buddy," she said sweetly. "I just don't have time for questions right now." She approached the glass window and looked out over the audience. "Okay, Nannerl, where are you?"

While she maintained her bird's eye view of the audience, the door behind her began to slowly, almost silently open. Unfortunately, with her back to the door, she did not realize it until she heard two footsteps. She spun around and found herself face to face with Paul Christian himself. "You," she said, glaring at him.

"Long time no see," he replied with a casual shrug.

Nora slowly took a step back toward the projector, trying not to do anything sudden enough to provoke an attack. Then, in a second, she shouted a fast warning through her comms, "It's Christian! He's in the projection r—ah!" She dodged a sudden green energy ball and ducked to the floor, cutting off her message. She jumped back up and hit him with a magic blast of her own.

In the audience, Ray heard her words. He turned around in the seat he was currently occupying and looked up at the projection room's elevated window, seeing intermittent flashes of green. "Nora!" he exclaimed.

"Shh!" someone next to him shushed. "You're interrupting the movie!"

"My girlfriend's in trouble," he explained quickly, beginning to climb over audience members to make his way to the aisle. "Babe," he said into his comms, keeping his eyes fixed on the projection room window. "Are you okay? What's going on?" When he got no immediate response, he added, "Give me two seconds, I'm coming up there."

Meanwhile, Nora slammed into the wall, knocking over a stack of film reels. She picked one up and threw it at Christian, distracting him long enough to hit him with enough magical force to throw him into the opposite wall. In the brief moment while he recovered, she replied so that all three of her teammates could hear her, "No! I'll keep him busy up here. Don't let him find Nannerl!"

Leonard nodded as he heard the instructions. He still hadn't located her in the crowd, but he was running out of places to look. She had to be somewhere. Finally, a gold, sparkly bow caught his eye. It moved as she reacted to the onscreen heroes' antics. Straining to see in the dark, he finally saw the familiar outline of her face, surrounded by several other similarly aged faces. All of them were only a few rows away, although they were on the end opening onto the opposite side of the room. "I've got eyes on her," he whispered through comms. He glanced down at the row numbers on the ground. "D2, with a bunch of other kids."

Sara silently slid out of her seat and crept toward row D. "Copy that. On my way."

Nora and Christian continued their fight, each one forcing the other back before sending another attack their way. While reeling from one of Christian's blows, Nora accidentally elbowed the projector. It wobbled for a moment, jostling the film's image slightly on the screen.

"Huh?" Jake said, watching confusedly. "That's weird."

"Why?" Nannerl asked, the entire experience still seeming weird to her. "Because it moved?"

"Yeah. Someone in the projection room must be messing around." He shrugged it off and returned to focusing on the movie.

Nannerl, curious, turned her head to look for whatever a projection room was. While looking, she recognized Sara's form against the wall, moving slowly and quietly toward her. Sara made eye contact with her and silently motioned for her to come over. Nannerl hesitated, glancing between Sara, the movie, and the other kids.

In the projection room, Nora managed to pin Christian to the ground. He kicked her off of him and ignited a circle of green flames around her feet. She used her own magic to extinguish the flames, then turned around to see him looking out over the audience through the window, as she had been doing. "Looking for someone?" she asked sarcastically as she waved her arms, spinning him around with her magic to make him face her. "Too bad you're stuck with me."

He smirked. "Oh, am I? I wouldn't be too sure." He kicked the projector stand hard enough to make the projector itself fall over, causing the screen in the theater to go dark. While the audience gasped and shouted in confusion, he picked up the stand – a small, fairly lightweight table – and shoved it toward Nora. She moved out of the way, only for him to reach out and grab her wrists with one hand and throw the stand at the projection window with the other.

"Let go!" Nora said, trying her best to shake his tight grip.

He shouted a magic word as the stand hit the window, forming a spell that added enough force to it to shatter the glass. He then swung Nora around and tossed her toward the resulting opening, disappearing in a puff of green smoke as soon as he let go of her.

Nora tried to grab onto something – anything – but found herself catapulted through the air. "Ah! Ray!"

Ray saw her and pushed his way through the back row of seats until he was right in her path, catching her in his arms before she could hit the ground. "Nora," he said, looking her in the eyes as he continued to hold her as he'd caught her. "Are you hurt?"

"No, but Christian disappeared," she replied. "We have to…" A second puff of green smoke appeared in the farthest aisle. It was in a shadowy enough area not to catch too much attention, but Nora caught a glimpse of it just before it faded. "…and there he is." She let go of Ray. "Quick! Put me down. We've got to stop him."

While the audience reacted in shock at the dark screen, falling woman, green smoke, and other strange events occurring, Sara approached Nannerl. "Hey," she whispered to her, "we need to go. You're not safe here."

"What's going on?" Nannerl asked, eyes wide with both fear and genuine curiosity.

"I believe I can explain," Paul Christian's voice said from behind Sara. He reached out and attempted to grab Sara, but she spun around first and landed a strong punch on his jaw.

As he stumbled back, clearly surprised, Sara smirked proudly. "That's right, big guy. I don't need magic to be a match for you." She took two collapsed batons out of where she had been hiding them in her pockets and expanded them to their full size, then rushed toward Christian.

She chased him down the aisle toward the screen, trying to force him as far from Nannerl as possible. He threw three balls of green fire at her and she dodged them all expertly, returning them with blows from her batons, never quite allowing him to touch her. By now, they had significantly more of the audience's attention.

Jake stood up and turned to Nannerl. "You know her? What's going on?"

"I…I don't know," Nannerl answered honestly.

Sara leaped toward Christian and he stopped her by stretching out his hand and holding her in midair for a second before throwing her against the wall.

An audience member gasped and pointed. "Look! He's using the Force!"

Sara rolled her eyes as she dropped to the ground. "Not quite." She gritted her teeth and lunged at him again, determined to keep him away from Nannerl.

As he dodged her attacks, Christian quipped, "Really? In front of all these people? No wonder the Time Bureau thinks you're reckless."

Sara paused for a second. "What? How do you know about that?"

"Tell you what," he said, not answering the question at all. "How about I do you a favor and get rid of all these witnesses for you?" He waved his arms in a circle and brought green flames to life all along the floor and walls of the theater.

People screamed and gasped as the eerily glowing flames spread in all directions. They began to stampede toward the exits. Nora and Ray, in the midst of attempting to join Sara, were swept up in the crowd, unable to get through.

"No!" Nora exclaimed, stepping in front of Ray to shield him the nearest set of flames with her magic. "Stop!"

Jake turned to his friends. "Let's get out of here!" The group joined the stampede.

Nannerl hesitated just a moment too long. Suddenly, a tall green flame blocked her path. "Jake! Wait!" she shouted. She turned around to see Sara still fighting Christian. "What do I do?"

Sara looked over her shoulder. "Run! Get out of here! We'll meet you at the ship!"

In the brief moment that her answer took, Christian fired at Sara's feet, causing her to trip and stumble. He ran past her and looked at Nannerl, who was frozen in fear and confusion. "I hear you've been having an exciting day," he said calmly. "Only fitting for it conclude like this, isn't it?"

"Leave me alone!" Nannerl exclaimed, backing away from him, nearly tripping over the seats behind her in the process. She turned around and ran down to the opposite end of the seating row but found herself trapped by green flames again. She looked over her shoulder and saw Christian chasing her, spreading green fire with each step he took, hemming her in even closer.

Just before he could reach her, a sudden cold blast shot down the aisle, clearing a path through the otherworldly fire, surprising both Nannerl and Christian. Leonard emerged, cold gun still drawn. He held out his hand to Nannerl. "We've got to go, kid!" he said.

Without hesitation, she took his hand. He shot one more blast behind him to keep Christian from following and pulled her up the aisle and out of the theater. The crowded hallway they arrived in was chaos as fleeing audience members mixed with concerned employees and confused people emerging from watching other films. Leonard tried to push his way through the crowd, but in the rush, Nannerl lost her grip on his hand. He stopped in place – not a simple task against the stream of people running from the theater – and looked all around until he spotted her and grabbed her arm again. "Don't let go of me," he instructed her. "You'll get lost."

"There's too many people!" she argued. "I can't keep up!"

He pulled her slightly to the side as a large man pushed past them, nearly running her over. "You've got a point," Leonard admitted. He moved all the way to the wall to give them at least a little more space and crouched down with his back to her. "Get on."

Meanwhile, inside the theater, Christian swore under his breath. "I almost had her," he grumbled.

A sudden blast of purple light took him by surprise and temporarily blinded him. Nora and Ray finally arrived on the scene. Ray aimed his shrink ray at him. "Don't move," he ordered while Nora began to use her magic to extinguish the flames around them. "Unless you want to have a serious size disadvantage."

Sara came up from behind and hit him in the back of his knees with a baton, forcing him onto the ground. "It's over," she told him. "Nannerl's gone. Just make this easy on yourself and surrender."

Christian appeared the consider her words, then glanced over his shoulder at her and replied, "Oh, I wouldn't say this is quite over yet." With a smirk, he was surrounded by a cloud of green smoke. When it cleared, he was gone.

Ray reacted with frustration. "Oh, come on! How does he keep doing that?"

Nora, making quite a bit of progress with the fire, looked all around the large, empty room. "He teleported. I don't know where, but it's not here. He's probably still trying to find her."

Sara spoke into her comms. "Snart? Are you okay? Do you still have Nannerl?"

Leonard pushed his way through the crowd, nearing the theater's exit. Nannerl clutched him tightly, riding piggyback. "Yeah, I've got her," he said back. "Trying to get out of here."

"Good. Christian disappeared again. Just get her back to the ship. We'll head that way to back you up."

"Copy that," he said as he finally forced his way out of the crowd into the only slightly less crowded open space of the mall. "Hang on, kid," he said, glancing each direction before darting down the nearest escalator.

As the people fleeing the theater expanded into the general mall, the scene became increasingly packed and chaotic. Leonard dodged and shoved his way through the crowds until he spotted the exit facing the direction of the Waverider's parking spot. He ran toward it, his speed a bit hindered by the eleven-year-old on his back. As soon as he reached the automatic door, a wall of green flames shot up, covering it completely. Paul Christian appeared in front of the wall. "Hello again," he said casually. "You're really making this harder than it has to be."

Leonard stopped in his tracks, then backed away from the door and fired his cold gun at Christian. The sorcerer held up his hand and stopped the blast in midair, then redirected it back at Leonard, who jumped out of the way just in time to keep himself or Nannerl from being hit.

"Snart!" Nannerl exclaimed fearfully, clinging onto him even tighter.

"Don't worry, kid, I've got you," Leonard said softly, trying to keep her from becoming any more frightened than she already was. He stepped back from Christian and ran back into the moving crowd, knowing Christian wouldn't be able to target them if they disappeared from his view. "Sara," he said, "the ship's a no go."

"Why? What happened?" Sara's voice asked.

"Christian. He's blocking the exit that goes that way. No way around him." Glancing up, he saw a mostly clear path leading to the opposite exit. "He can't see us right now. I'm going out the opposite way while I can. Can't let him trap us in here."

"Okay." Her voice paused for a second, then added, "There's a school across the street. You can see it if you go out that direction. If you can't make it to the Waverider, go there and we'll meet you. We checked it out earlier, so we'll have the advantage of familiar terrain if Christian follows you."

"You got it, Captain." He threw one last glance over his shoulder to make sure Christian wasn't behind them, then forced his way through the crowd and out through the opposite exit.

"Wolfgang!" Mona called out as she hurried through the palace gardens, following the sound of mismatched melodies. "Wolfgang! Come back!"

As she reached the edge of the maze of rose bushes, John arrived at the same point. "Mona," he said, panting as if he'd been running for some time now, "that boy's got more energy in him than a unicorn in a lightning storm."

Mona thought for a second. "Um…should I assume that's a lot?"

"Yes," he replied, "you should." He glanced behind him and peered into the maze. "Sounds like he went in there."

The two of them entered the maze of bushes and attempted to follow the sound of the instruments. They stumbled through its many twists and turns, hit a dead end, backtracked, went the opposite direction, hit another dead end, found a new path, tripped over a surprisingly short bush, rounded another corner…and ended up in another dead end.

"Bollocks!" John exclaimed in frustration. "Who designed this thing? It's a garden, not a minotaur's prison!"

Mona tried to offer a more positive outlook. "Hey, he can't go on forever. Maybe once he's out of magic dust, he'll come back on his own."

"That's what I'm afraid of, love," John replied. "If he uses up all of that with no control over it, he could cause unbelievable damage, not to mention endangering himself. No, we can't let him use any more than he already has. That's for certain."

A particularly loud horn blast suddenly caught their attention. "That sounded close!" Mona exclaimed, excited to finally make some progress.

The two of them backtracked out of the dead end, rounded the opposite corner from the one that had gotten them there, and…there was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Except this time, he wasn't laughing or running or shouting for his sister. He was curled up into a tiny ball in the corner of the hedges, holding his knees and glaring at the instruments floating a few feet away from him as they continued their mismatched noise. He saw Mona and Constantine approach and turned his face away from them.

"Hey," Mona said gently, stepping closer and trying to ignore the cacophony going on in the air above them. "Wolfgang, are you okay?"

"It didn't work," he said angrily. "The music was supposed to help me find her and it didn't work!" He balled up one of his hands into a fist and punched the dirt beside him in frustration.

As his hand met the dirt, Mona couldn't help but notice the instruments grow louder for a second, then return to their normal volume. She glanced at them over her shoulder. "Huh? Why did they just do that?"

"Just do what, love?" Constantine asked, arriving at her side.

"When Wolfgang acted extra angry, it was like they reacted to it. Like the magic knew."

Constantine looked over at the floating instruments curiously. "Is that so?" He sidestepped around Mona and crouched down next to Wolfgang. "Hey there, lad. You still got that magic pouch of mine?"

Wolfgang nodded silently, still not looking directly at either of the adults.

"Right. Okay. You think you could give it back to me? And then we'll talk about this locating your sister business."

Wolfgang finally turned his face toward him, stared at him for a second, then stood up and stomped away. "No!" he shouted. "I don't want to do anything until I find my sister! It's not fair!" He stomped his feet again to emphasize his point.

Again, Mona noticed the volume of the instruments rise with his short outburst and then quiet down again after it ended. In addition, despite their completely different melodies, they all seemed to sync up their rhythms at the exact moments of his stomps. "Constantine," she said quietly, practically whispering, "this might be a crazy idea, but I don't think the magic is out of control at all. I think it might actually be listening to him."

John pushed himself back onto his feet and looked from the boy to the instruments, then back at Mona. "It shouldn't be possible. He's not a magician. He doesn't know how it works. He didn't even recite a spell." His eyes widened and he looked down at the small child again. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Mona asked, growing excited. "Do you think it can sense who he is? That he's one of the greatest classical musicians of all time and music can't help but bend to his will?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Uh…no. Not that." He gestured toward Wolfgang as he explained. "It's his thoughts and feelings. That's what the magic latched onto. It doesn't often happen, but it can. His emotions about his sister are so strong that the magic recognized it as equal to the force of a genuine spell. Essentially, that is the spell. As long as he keeps throwing fits, those instruments will keep making that mess of a tune." He winced. "And, frankly, it's starting to give me a headache, so the sooner we can calm him down and get him to release control, the better."

"How do we do that?" Mona asked.

"Ah," John said, pointing his index finger in the air. "Now, that's the real question."

Leonard managed to escape the shopping mall unscathed and hurried across the street to the school. All the doors were locked by now, but that was no problem for him, even with Nannerl on his back. He located the school gym and entered it, shutting the door behind them.

"Okay," he said, bending over enough to let her get down. "We should be safe here. Sara said she's coming with the others to back us up."

Nannerl nodded silently, then walked away to sit down on the nearby bleachers.

"Kid?" Leonard said, noticing her strange quietness. He followed her and sat down next to her. "You okay?"

"No," she said, not looking him in the eyes.

He watched her for a second, then said, "I know that was scary back there, but I'm looking out for you. We all are. That guy isn't going to hurt you on my watch."

"I just…I don't understand," she said, still staring straight forward instead of looking at him. "Why was that man coming after me? How did he know I was there? How did he make green fire show up? Why is everything here so strange?" Her posture slumped and she finally turned to look at Leonard. "I just want to go home."

Leonard sighed. "Yeah, I know. And you will."

"When?" she asked pointedly. "You keep saying you'll take me home soon, but I'm still here. And now there's a man I've never met who's coming after me and instead of going home, I'm hiding in this place." She looked around the walls and high ceiling of the gym, then looked back at Leonard again. "How do I even know you'll really take me back home?"

Leonard wanted to give her a good answer, one that would really reassure her, but he couldn't think of anything better than what he had already said. Apparently, that wouldn't be good enough this time. After a few seconds of thought, he dug up a last resort, something he hadn't planned on saying to her in the slightest. Even after deciding to say it, he still had to push past some hesitance to get the words out. "You remember when I said you remind me of someone?" he finally asked.

She nodded but said nothing.

"Well…I said it was nothing, but it wasn't." He found himself speaking more slowly than usual as he carefully chose his words. "The truth is, I've got a little sister. She's a lot older than you now, but when she was your age…let's just say you two are a lot alike. You could've been twins, honestly."

Nannerl seemed intrigued by his story, clearly giving him her full attention. He noticed and kept going. "Now, if my sister ever got in trouble, I'd do anything to get her out of it. And I mean that. Anything. Just like I know you'd do anything for your brother." He waited a second before continuing, "I wouldn't let her get stuck somewhere she shouldn't be. You wouldn't do that to your brother either. And I'm not going to do that to you. I know everything seems insane right now, but I'm planning to protect you just as much as I would protect my own sister. And that means I'm getting you home no matter what. You got that?"

She hesitated, then smiled ever so slightly. "I guess so," she said.

"Good." He looked away and waited for a little while before speaking again. While the girl seemed to understand the sincerity of his words, she still seemed a little uneasy. He couldn't blame her for that. "Tell you what," he said, breaking the silence in the empty, echoey gym again. "We're just waiting around for now. How about we do something to take your mind off it?" He reached into his jacket and pulled out his deck of cards. "Ever play a game called Go Fish?"

Meanwhile, Ray, Nora, and Sara reached the other side of the street, entering the school's parking lot for the second time that day.

"Where do you think they went?" Nora asked. "We can't call them with the rift still nearby."

"Then we'll just have to look around," Sara said, walking quickly across the parking lot. "Split up and search the buildings. If you happen to spot the rift, feel free to take care of it, but it's not our priority right now. We need to focus on finding Nannerl and Snart and protecting them from Christian." She pointed forward toward the far end of the school. "I'll head this way. You two cover the other directions."

Nora turned to Ray as Sara hurried off. "Okay, so we have the entire school grounds to search and no way to communicate. Perfect. Which way are you going?"

"Well, Sara did say to split up," Ray pointed out. "But are you sure you're fine with being separated in case Christian shows up again?"

Nora hesitated for a second before answering, "He's not after me. If he shows up where I am, all I have to do is keep him distracted long enough to let the rest of you find Nannerl and Snart. I can handle that." She nodded toward a building that looked like it was most likely the school's cafeteria. "I'll start over there. Meet you back in the parking lot if we don't find them?"

"Sounds good," Ray said with a nod. Once Nora began walking toward the cafeteria, he looked around and finally settled on the outdoor softball field not too far from the parking lot. It was as good a place to start as any.

There was a fence surrounding the field, but it only took a few minutes for him to find a way inside. It was immediately clear that nobody was on the field itself or in the bleachers. Those were all very obviously empty. But, just to be extra sure, Ray decided to check out the two team dugouts. After all, he reasoned, they're hidden enough that someone could crouch down inside to stay out of sight. Worth taking a look even if it's not the most likely place.

After reaching the first dugout, it only took a few moments to see that no one was there. He shrugged and crossed over to the other side, approaching the second dugout. Once again, there was clearly no one inside. However, there was a strange glow seeming to come from behind the bench. Ray stepped closer to investigate. There were a few containers of extra softballs blocking his view, but once he pushed them aside and bent down low enough to see under the bench, he found himself facing a small, swirling rift on the floor of the dugout.

"Huh," he said to himself. "That one's smaller than I would've expected. Definitely making a note of that." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the miniature temporal energy gun. Clicking a button, he expanded it to full size. It took a little maneuvering, but he found a way to aim it directly at the small target. Then, he fired.

The resulting force knocked him back against the opposite end of the dugout. The nearby softballs went flying into the air. Some landed on the ground. Some flew out into the field. Some flew toward Ray's head, causing him to immediately duck and shield his face with his arms. But after a moment, all was calm, and the rift was gone.

"Whew," he said, relieved. "At least we have our comms back. Speaking of which…" He put his hand to his ear and activated his comms set. "Legends, can you hear me? The rift is gone. I took care of it."

"Great work, babe," he could hear Nora's voice say.

"Snart, can you hear us?" Ray asked. "We're at the school looking for you. If you can hear this, tell us where you are."

Inside the gym, Nannerl looked up from her hand of cards. "Do you have any sevens?" she asked just as Ray's words reached Leonard's ears.

"Go fish," he said before quickly turning his attention to Ray. "We're in the gym. Safe for now. No sign of Christian."

"Copy that," Sara's voice said, responding so that all of them could hear. "I'm close to there, so I'm on my way. Nora and Ray, head over."

Leonard looked to Nannerl and said reassuringly, "See? Backup's on the way right now."

Nannerl smiled. "Really?"

"Really."

"Wonderful!" She glanced down at her cards again, then back at Leonard. "Your turn, Snart."

"Yeah, I know." He sorted through his cards. "Hm…got any kings?"

"No. Go fish."

Suddenly, a loud crashing sound echoed through the gym. The lights, which had been off, flickered for a few seconds before shutting off again. Another crashing sound occurred and the door on the opposite side of the room burst open, revealing Paul Christian, green flames in each of his hands.

"What a fun little game," he said, smirking wickedly as he stepped inside. "I almost hate to break it up."

Nannerl gasped. Leonard stepped in front of her and drew his gun. "Spoke too soon," he muttered just loud enough for his comms to pick it up. "We've got company."