/works/9370193 (Forfeit)
Arrogate - to take or claim (something) without justification
"Captain, there seems to be an anomaly in the time stream," Gideon announced as Sara walked onto the bridge with a look of exhaustion pulling at her features.
"Aim for it, Gideon," Sara replied with a long-suffering sigh. "How long until we arrive at the anomaly?"
"Two hours Captain, it's out in space but is having a ripple effect on the rest of the Timeline," Gideon offered as the ship shuddered into motion.
"Thank you, Gideon," Sara said with a nod as she headed for Rip's office, shoulders slumped a little with the weight of the decisions she had to make. She slumped into a chair as she studied the screen on the wall that showed where they were headed with a hard to read time-stamp in the corner. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Mick walk into the room silently. He moved to stand at parade rest, hands behind him, and feet shoulder-width apart. "Is there something I can do for you?"
Mick shook his head, face blank as his dull blue eyes scanned over the screen on the wall.
"What are you doing in here? Did you need something?" Sara asked.
"Gideon alerted me to an anomaly," Mick replied, tone flat and emotionless as his eyes drifted over Sara for a moment before locking on a spot in the corner. He had the look of someone that might be bored, or planning on how to dispose of a body. It was hard to tell.
"And you're on the bridge...?" Sara led.
"If you have need of me," Mick replied in that same, almost creepy, flat tone.
"You're never this helpful," Sara replied with a slight frown as she let her eyes roam over the arsonist. She remembered the incident with Martin yelling at Mick. The thief had been ... different after they'd got back to the Waverider. But there was something about this new, helpful, Mick that put her teeth on edge. Like an itch she just couldn't scratch.
"I am now."
"Are you okay?" Sara asked, genuine concern in her voice as she took a cautious step closer. She noted the way he was holding himself, slightly stiff with an air of relaxation. But every line of the man's body screamed he was anything but resting.
"I am fine."
"You don't seem fine," Sara pushed as she stopped just more than an arms length away. "You're not normally this ... monosyllabic."
Mick merely stared at the wall, shoulders loose and one hand holding the other behind him.
"Did something happen?" Sara pressed.
"I will report to you if I can not do my job," Mick replied simply, eyes moving to lock on Sara's for a brief moment before they stopped on the screen behind her. "We are approaching the anomaly sooner than expected. It seems to be close to the location the Vanishing Point was, before the explosion." His eyes drifted back to the corner, a slight hesitation in his breathing before he seemed to shut down again.
Sara whipped around to look at the screen as Gideon's voice cut through the quiet. "It would seem we have arrived ahead of schedule, Captain Lance," Gideon announced. "As Mister Rory noted."
"Okay... so, what's the anomaly out here?" Sara asked as she walked onto the bridge to see the rest of the crew walking in from both doors, confusion clearly evident on their faces.
"What seems to be the problem?" Martin asked, voice quiet as he looked out the view-port with the rest of the crew to see nothing but empty space.
"Gideon detected an anomaly, one that seems to have made the journey here in a fraction of the time she'd estimated," Sara replied as she looked with her own eyes. When she couldn't see anything she looked to the display in the middle of the room, noting the way Mick had walked out of the office to stand near the console where he looked to be studying the readouts. Silent as the space outside the ship.
"I don't see anything. If we were summoned all the way out here... you'd think there'd be something..." Ray offered lamely as he looked outside.
Sara looked at the readouts and felt a thrill of disappointment in herself as the numbers and letters meant nothing to her. She looked up at Mick with a raised eyebrow, hoping for a sympathetic nod, but got a slight head-tilt.
"There is a Time Dilation Field out there. Invisible to the naked eye unless we were right on top of it," Mick said, voice quiet. He looked to Sara, eyes sharp as he waited for her next move.
"We should send the shuttle to check it out," Sara said slowly, feeling a sense of dread looking at Mick's stony expression. "Did you want to go on that mission, Mick?"
Mick shrugged and leaned back, back into parade rest. "Assignments are up to you, Captain."
Everyone on the bridge froze at the emotionless tone that came from the Arsonist. Amaya took a hesitant step closer, one hand reaching for Mick, but she stopped when she saw Sara shake her head. Amaya pulled her hand back, fingers drifting over her amulet in a self-soothing motion as he took a half step back. Martin opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Jax taking a step closer to Mick.
"Dude, you okay?" Jax asked, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "You seem...off."
Mick stared at the young man in silence, eyes assessing the other.
"Something's off, that's for sure," Ray offered, a frown on his normally smiling face. He approached Mick, one hand raised to land on the bald man's shoulder as he approached. "You feeling off, buddy?" he asked as he patted Mick's shoulder.
Mick stared at the hand, a very faint frown on his face as he looked up to Ray. In his mind the chain of command ran through his thoughts. He shrugged his way out from under the hand, back towards a wall as he scanned the room and noted the other looks of concern. Chronos didn't worry about the feelings of others, he'd been feared by the other Hunters in the service of the Time Masters. But he was supposed to be fulfilling the role of Mick Rory to a point. Be useful.
"Mick?" Nate asked, eyebrows furrowed with worry. He didn't really like the man, but he didn't hate him.
"Call me Chronos," Mick replied flatly to Nate. "It is more fitting."
Everyone that had fought against Chronos took several steps back from the arsonist. Nate and Amaya looked at the rest of the crew in confusion.
"That doesn't sound good," Nate offered, he shimmered to his Steel form as he looked back at Mick. Chronos.
"Chronos was a bounty hunter sent by the Time Masters to kill us, or take us in. He was Mick... brainwashed," Sara offered, body a line of tension as she tried to determine if Mick... no, Chronos was going to be a threat to the team. She felt the ache of her missing weapons, too comfortable on the Waverider. She'd have to fix that in the future.
"I have no orders," Chronos replied, voice flat and matter of fact. "Captain Sara Lance is in charge. The rest are equal to each other. I am a subordinate."
"Yeah... 'cause that's not freaky at all," Jax drawled, eyes on Chronos who hadn't moved an inch. He merely looked from person to person as they spoke, a look that almost seemed bored.
"Chronos... What's your mission?" Amaya asked, voice soft, like she was speaking to a spooked animal.
"Stay alive. Follow the Legend's orders," Chronos replied as his eyes and head moved to track her. "To keep this body alive."
"Why?" Ray asked, eyebrows nearly touching each other in his confusion.
"Because Leonard Snart died for Mick Rory," Chronos replied with a tone that spoke volumes.
"But why are you Chronos now? And not Mick Rory?" Nate asked, feeling a little more bold as he let the steel sheen fade from his skin. He recoiled a bit as those dead blue eyes locked on him.
"Because Mick Rory has no one that wants or cares for him," Chronos replied simply.
"Oh shit," Ray breathed, a hand over his mouth as he sat heavily in one the chairs.
"What's wrong, Ray?" Sara asked as she moved over to the scientist.
"We did this," Ray replied with unshed tears in his eyes as he looked over at the shell of the man he'd tried to befriend. Until he'd befriended Nate. And left Mick alone ... again. "We drove him to it. We didn't appreciate him. We did this to him."
"And now he's Chronos," Sara finished.
TBC...