I took a swig from Mick's beer as he iced one of the beers across the room with Len's cold gun. "Easy, point and shoot. You're up," he said as he handed Ray the gun and took his beer from me

Ray psyched himself up, "All right, point and shoot," he said before he fired the gun blowing up all the beer bottles.

"You killed my beers," Mick said cooly as he drank from the one in his hand.

"Come on, the trigger's really sensitive, and these goggles make everything look blue." Ray whipped Len's goggles off his head frustrated with the failure. "You know, it'd be really easy for me to improve this whole setup by just iterating the power source."

I laughed as Mick interrupted his science babble, "There's nothing wrong with the gun. You've just gotta be cool. Like Snart," I frowned at that.

I spoke hesitantly, "I don't think trying to be like Len is going to make this work for Ray."

"Yeah, I can be cool," Ray said as he went to lean awkwardly against the wall.

Mick looked at him funny, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to be cool."

I laughed as Mick said, "Maybe this was a bad idea."

I snagged the beer from his lips, "oh, it definitely was," I said pointing to him with the bottle before I walked out.

"Where's it coming from," Sara asked Nate after he explained how he found the latest aberration.

"Washington D.C., December 7, 1987. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," he quickly produced the information.

Mick grunted, "So?"

"Dude, that's the White House," Jax looked at him incredulously.

Mick still didn't care, "So what?"

Stein ignored Mick and spoke up, "December 7th was the day before Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, reducing both countries' nuclear arsenals and paving the way for the end of the Cold War."

Ray asked, "How do you know all that?"

Stein looked aghast as he answered haughtily, "Because I was in the capital for that very summit. The Reagan Administration would call upon the top nuclear physicists to act as technical advisors."

Ray asked worriedly, "You think someone might have traveled back in time to stop the treaty from being signed?"

Nate quickly pointed out how bad this aberration could get, "That, or worse." He looked right at Amaya as he went on, "Think about it, Reagan and Gorbachev under the same roof at one of the most volatile moments in history?"

Amaya calmly provided a relevant source of intel, "The JSA has a training academy in D.C. I could reach out to the current membership, see if they have any intel or resources we could use," she finished looking at Sara.

Sara approved Amaya's plan, "Good idea, but you shouldn't go alone. 1987 is a long way from 1942, and it's dangerous to know too much about the future."

"I can handle myself," Amaya said, offronted.

I peered between Nate and Amaya, sniffing lightly as Nate quickly volunteered, "I'll go with her," Amaya's annoyance was palpable as she met Nate's gaze.

Sara jumped on it and quickly defined mission parameters for the rest of us, "Great, you two reach out to the JSA while the rest of us break into the most secure residence in the country."

"Oh, that should be fun," I said, excited by the challenge.

"And how exactly do we do that," Jax asked seriously.

We walked through the White House as part of a tour group, "Welcome to the White House. This is Cross Hall, a magnificent space that connects the State Dining Room with the East Room."

Sara called, "All right, fan out, stay on the coms, and report if anything seems out of place."

Mick and Ray, then, Jax and Stein split off from the group. "Hey keep your head up," I told Sara before I slipped away from the tour group. I ducked into a bathroom as a security patrol passed.

I paused by the sink as Ray called over the comms, "I think we found our aberration. Damien Darhk is here." Shit, I thought, Sara's gonna flip.

"Sara, don't do anything rash. Sara? Sara, are you lis…" Stein was shouting over the comms until the comm line was cut.

I groaned, knowing everything was going to hell before I left the bathroom. I was barely in the hall when I turned running right into some Alpha. I winced and closed my eyes as I felt myself start to fall back before the Alpha's arms came up around me stopping me from falling. "I'm so sorry," I gasped, opening my eyes as I flushed putting on a helpless Omega act. My eyes widened as I met the Alpha's and I recognized him as the one who had confronted me back at the arms deal Savage had hosted in 1975.

A hungry smile crossed his face as he set me on my feet, "that's quite alright my dear," he said to me before he turned to the tense security people around him. "Not to worry gentlemen, this is my personal assistant, she has nothing to do with the commotion going on," he told them. The security guards calmed as I smiled demurely hiding my surprise at his words.

I cursed as the rest of the team blew their cover. I took the arm he held out to me as the security team moved on. "Why would you cover for someone you don't even know," I asked as we started walking down the hall.

He smirked over at me, "oh but I do know you, or at least I know the important bits." He stopped and pulled me into an empty room. I quickly reached up to pull my comm out, shoving it into my pocket as he shut the door before backing me against the wall. "When I first met you, eleven years ago in Norway, you were powerful and beautiful. You were hiding from your darkness," I closed my eyes as his pheromones flooded the room, attempting to overwhelm my senses, "You still struggle with them don't you, those dark impulses that are deep inside you, they war with your instincts. I can help you to master them," he said. He placed his hand against my neck pushing hard enough to make sure I couldn't forget it was there but not hard enough to hurt me.

I struggled to think around his pheromones which begged me to submit to him, I latched onto the first clear thought I had, "What would be in it for you?"

I felt him move his face into my neck so he could breath in my scent, "well, I believe I did mention something about building an empire together."

"We don't even know each other's names," I sighed into his ear.

He hummed, "Damien Darkh," he said before he flicked his tongue across my scent gland. My eyes flew open and I gasped as my whole body shuddered.

Fuck, I thought, Sara is going to kill me for this. I met his eyes as he moved away from my neck making a decision that I knew I would never hear the end of, "Chloe Kane," I offered.

"Well, Miss Kane," he chuckled as he stepped back. "I look forward to getting to know you better," he said, leading me out of the room. Darkh and I chatted idly as negotiations were closed for the day because of the ruckus the team made. Eventually we made our way out of the White House after a couple of blocks I realized we had a little tail, a nervous blonde guy that I vaguely recognized was part of the negotiation team.

I hummed as I considered bringing up our tail, I said instead, "what exactly are your interests in nuclear disarmament especially considering how we first met?"

"I'm less so interested in the treaty than I am in acquiring something from the Soviet delegation," he answered.

"And that something would be…" I said trailing off to allow him to fill in the blank.

He chuckled, "curious aren't you." I hummed in response still waiting for him to answer my inquiry, "well the second half of an artefact that is currently in my possession. Ah, well I believe this is where we part ways for the day," he said, stopping us just outside of Georgetown Park. He looked at me contemplatively, "there's a State Dinner tomorrow evening, join me and perhaps afterwards we could talk more about empire building."

"I'll consider it," I said. I went to turn away, noticing the blonde guy was still following us I stopped, "you may want to try and be a little more observant of the people around you," I said before I walked away.

"Gideon, where's the rest of the team," I asked as I walked back onto the Waverider after I left Darkh at the park.

Mr. Rory and Dr. Palmer are currently staking out Georgetown Park to observe Damian Darkh's meeting. The rest of the team is observing the proceedings from the bridge. Everyone is quite worried about where you have been.

"Thanks Gids, I'll fill everyone in asap," I said making my way towards the bridge.

When I walked onto the bridge, I saw Amaya, Jax, Nate, and Martin standing behind Sara at one of the consoles, "Is there any sign of who Darhk's meeting with?"

"Not yet," I heard Mick yelling over the comm line.

Martin started speaking excitedly, "Clandestine meeting in a D.C. park. It feels like the beginning of a John le Carré spy novel."

I leaned against the entry to the study not letting them know I was here yet as Nate spoke when Martin looked at him, "I'm more of an Ian Fleming guy."

I chuckled lightly as Jax added, "Mm, more explosions, less clothing."

"What if Darhk is meeting with Rex's killer," Amaya asked seriously. We really have our work cut out for us if we're going to get her to loosen up I idly thought.

Sara looked straight at Amaya when she walked up to her, "Then we don't let either of them leave."

I groaned as I stepped forwards, "He's not meeting with Rex's killer. It's a little more complicated than that," I said as everyone snapped around to look at me.

"The hell did you come from," Jax shouted.

"That's part of the complicated bit," I said looking straight at Sara.

Ray's voice over the comms distracted everyone, "We've got movement. A man just entered the park."

Sara looked away from me after a moment, "Ray, we need audio."

"Yep, way ahead of you, Cap," Ray said before we started hearing audio from the meet.

"Dobriy Vecher, Mr. Darhk," an unfamiliar accented voice said.

Everybody looked around, "Sounds like he's meeting with a member of the Soviet delegation, not Rex's killer," Nate said looking at Amaya.

The accented voice said, "The package is procured."

Darhk's increasingly familiar voice spoke, "Excellent news, Boris. That is your name, isn't it? Boris? Or is it Igor? I find it's always one or the other with you KGB agents. Anywho, once the treaty is signed, during the State Dinner, you'll deliver the package."

"And you will uphold your half of the bargain," the accented voice confirmed.

"As agreed. But first, a toast. To peace between our two nations."

As the conversation between Darhk and the Soviet guy ended, Ray spoke, "Darhk was never interested in the nuclear treaty."

"He's working a side deal with the KGB," Mick added

"Yeah I can fill in some of those details," I said before I went silent as Ray frantically called over the comm line.

"Uh-oh. Mayday," Ray said, "Marty, younger you just entered the park."

Martin protested the notion, "What? But that... that's impossible. Today is December 7th, Clarissa's birthday. I distinctly remember we had a dinner reservation for this evening which took me months to procure," Jax looked exasperated as he finished.

"Well, you must have blown her off," Ray said.

I groaned as Mick spoke amused, "This ought to be good."

"Should we stop him," Ray whispered.

Martin started gesturing frantically, "Stop what? What am I doing?"

Before Ray could answer we heard, "Mr. Darhk, uh, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Martin Stein. You may have heard of me. I'm on the negotiating team and was recently nominated for my sixth Carlin Award in physics."

Darhk spoke dryly, "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

He asked darkly, "Did you follow me here?"

We heard younger Martin chuckle as he said, "I did," before he went into a science filled spiel. Things went downhill fast when young Martin deduced the fact that Darhk was meeting with a member of the Soviet delegation.

Sara quickly ordered over comms, "Ray, Mick, get in there, now."

"Gray!" "Martin!" Jax and Sara shouted as Stein suddenly collapsed.

Sara shouted into the comm, "Ray, what happened?"

Ray answered, "Darhk just stabbed Marty's younger self."

"Where's Darhk?"

"We lost him," Ray said as we circled around Stein's form.

I retreated to my room when Martin was carted off to the med bay, I knew Sara would find me soon enough. I didn't have to wait long. I stood as Sara stormed into my room, "start talking," she ordered. I whimpered lowly as her out of control pheromones screamed for me to submit. I swallowed before I started telling her about the time I had spent with Darhk today and what I had been able to find out because of it. She took a deep breath and reigned in her pheromones "We will be having a conversation about you going off book, after we deal with Darhk." I winced as she pierced me with her eyes, "you're going to have the easiest time getting close to Darhk. We're going to use that to our advantage. You're going to make a great distraction."

I deliberately looked around the room as I entered the State Dinner, I snagged a champagne glass off a passing tray as I glanced around. I walked around the room lightly trailing pheromones as I went knowing that they would ensure Darhk would find me if I didn't find him first. I stopped to get a new drink from the bar when I felt Darhk come up behind me, "Miss Kane, I'm pleasantly surprised that you decided to join me for the evening."

I turned to him, "Well, I am very curious about how one builds an empire, Mr. Darhk."

I saw a twinkle in his eye as he said, "would you do me the honor of dancing with me, Miss Kane."

"I would be happy to," I said, putting down my glass, I rested my hand in his.

He deftly led me into a waltz, "the thing about empires, Miss Kane, is that they take time to build. Of course for those with our resources time is not something we lack."

"You mean your use of the lazarus pit," I said lightly. He looked at me amused, "I do my research when I meet potential friends."

"Come my associates have arrived," he said to me as he led me away from the dance floor. "Now that our governments are waging peace upstairs, what do you say we get down to the real business," Darhk said to the Soviet group we were meeting in the White House basement.

The soviet was happy to get right down to business, "You have brought us the codes?"

Darhk pulled a disk out of his pocket, he held it up for the Soviets to see, "It's called a CD-ROM, the latest in Defense Department technology. As for my half of the exchange?" His words prompted the Soviet to hold up a black box. They quickly swapped items each clutching his own prize. I peeked into the box as Darhk opened it revealing a gold disk almost a smaller version of the Askaran Amulet. Idly I wondered how they were related.

The team came around the corner into the space we were in, "Hand over the box," Sara shouted.

"And the kick-ass CD-ROM," Nate added from her side.

The Soviet guy looked at Darhk asking, "What is this," he quickly switched into Russian.

"No one has to get hurt," Amaya said loudly so everyone could hear.

I briefly closed my eyes as Darhk responded, "That's not really my style. Now, we can waste time chit-chatting, or you can deal with the explosive my people have secreted inside the State Dining Room. See, in about six minutes, Reagan, Gorbachev, and every hope of peace goes kaboom." Darhk pulled out and pointed his weapon at the lead soviet before he fired it into the Soviet leader, "I am sorry... inconvenient, I know, but try being me." He grabbed my arm leading me away from the fight, he looked into my eyes as he told me, "this hasn't really gone to plan, but we will have our conversation, another time, though." I quickly slipped the box he had just gotten out of his suit pocket into my clutch when he looked away from me. He gestured to one of his men, "escort her off the grounds, see to it she isn't bothered." I nodded at him as I allowed myself to be guided off in a different direction.

Once the guard turned me down a deserted hallway I turned around and blasted him into a wall, for good measure I threw a sleep spell over him and modified his memories. I quickly made my way back towards the dying fight, I felt a rush of air pass me as I got to where Sara, Amaya, and Obsidian were. I walked up to Sara as Nate rounded the corner calling, "What happened? Where's Darhk?"

"He took him." Sara spoke shocked, "The time traveler working against us... He's a speedster."

"Like the Flash," Nate asked confused.

"Faster," Sara said.

Nate went on, "So the speedster and Darhk, they have whatever the KGB gave Darhk?"

"I don't know, I tried to swipe it from him but it wasn't there," Sara said.

I smiled, "That's because I had already slipped it off him," I said, pulling the box from my clutch.

"Shut up." Nate laughed, "Can I hug you guys? Do we hug?"

Sara and I looked at each other amused before she said, "Okay, just this once."

"There's gonna be more." Nate said as he pulled us in he cheered, "Yeah!"