Director Ulrickssen was furious. Unfortunately, this was one of the occasions when glaring across his desk didn't have the usual effect. Ava Sharpe looked back at him with a steady gaze, reinforced by her record of service to A.R.G.U.S.
''I could hardly ignore a request from Oversight'' she said in a level tone.
So, she'd told them that, yes, Sara Lance was here. Now Michaels and Diggle were in the foyer, waiting for an explanation. He didn't have one – at least not one sufficient to keep Lance in custody. He gritted his teeth for a moment. Sometimes, it seemed that A.R.G.U.S. was stuffed with people who had more loyalty to these so-called 'Legends' than they did to him. Somebody had to have let the information about Lance slip out.
''Have them shown in'' he said at last, heavily.
X
He knew that he hadn't been the ex-Director's choice as her replacement. Now she was looking at him with a critical, steely, gaze. Her husband looked even less amiable.
''Why is she here?'' Michaels asked.
He took a deep breath. ''There was an – accident – at the off-world base'' he never used the term Greenworld. ''It was unfortunate, but there are no lasting effects. Unfortunately, the other occupants don't see it that way. You know that they've tried to have the base closed down on more than one occasion. Given her history, her arrival here seemed unlikely to be coincidence – I had her put under surveillance. One of her first contacts was Nathaniel Heywood, the investigative reporter.'' He looked at Diggle for a moment ''I believe you detained him on one occasion?''
Diggle, involuntarily, glanced at Lyla. He had, on her orders. But his wife wasn't going to be side-tracked.
''Is there more?'',
''Another of her old associates – Michel Hunter – now appears to be in Kaznia, staying with three former Americans and former members of these 'Legends' – the Palmers and Jackson''.
''People who know each other'' Michaels commented. ''Do you have more than that?''
He wanted to point out that she had done things, issued orders, based on grains of suspicion no more substantial than his. But her point of view had shifted since she'd been elevated to the Washington elite.
X
They had dropped Sara off outside the train station. Now they watched her walk towards the entrance.
John looked at Lyla, who was frowning. He felt less than easy himself.
''Are you sure?'' he asked. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't sure he would have let Sara go, if he was in his wife's position.
''Somethings going on'' she said slowly. ''We'll let her run for a while and see what happens''. She looked at her spouse. ''Heywood's still ours?''
''As fae as we know''.
Yes, as far as they knew.
X
Joe West managed to get the two new arrivals into his house without any actual violence starting – although things had looked ugly when someone realised that one of was Ray Palmer.
He listened with a touch of scepticism while Palmer told him about his twin brother, Stanley ''Who definitely didn't inherit my brains''.
If 'Stanley' was on the base, the obvious proof would be for people to see them both. That meant taking Palmer along with the delegation, which was going to be a headache.
The other members of the group gradually gathered – Catherine, Iris, Terry, Leonard and Sara – and Nate Heywood, who'd brought an analysis of the red defoliant.
''She'd never seen anything like it'' Nate concluded.
''I have'' Rip Hunter said. ''Or rather I've heard about it''. He was drawing on his Time Master memories. He was feeling a bit sick. ''The chemical part is a defoliant. The virus part binds to be plant's cells and turns them into something else''. He swallowed. ''It's Holaristan''.
That required quite a bit of explanation on Rip's part.
Eventually Joe summed it up. ''So, the Holistaristans are gone and all that - according to you - remains be some historical records in various A.I. -''
''That might not be true'' Rip was dredging through memories of the Time Master version of his past. ''We - the Time Masters - were helped to defeat the Holaristans. I think we might need to go to Mars''.
Joe sighed. This was obviously going to be a long explanation.
Terry set the scene by demanding ''What's Mars?''