John Diggle glanced at his wife, hearing her sharp intake of breath. It was, he thought, perfectly understandable, in view of what Nate Heywood had just told them about the situation on Greenworld, concluding the fact that a full Council delegation was heading for the A.R.G.U.S. base, to demand answers.

Ulrickssen, was Lyla's first thought, would have to be reined in, promptly and sharply. Which meant the direct involvement of the Oversight group of which she was a part. On top of that someone – probably several some ones would have to go to Greenworld – to sort out the mess and defuse the situation. She wondered if there was any way of convincing the Greenworlders that – if things hadn't gone so horribly wrong – the A.R.G.U.S. base project might well have given them some protection from what was coming. She doubted it.

And now it seemed, Heywood had more to tell them. It took her a few moments to grasp the fact that he seemed to be talking about getting dolphins to help with the Greenworld situation.

''What – '' she got out.

''Start at the beginning'' John advised him.

Heywood backtracked enough to explain that the dolphin-type species on Greenworld appeared to be as intelligent as their Earth 1 cousins. It was possible that J'onn, the Earth 33 Martian telepath, could persuade them to help identifying and containing the extent of the marine pollution.

''Although they might join with the humans in demanding the end of the A.R.G.U.S. base'' he added.

Lyla compressed her lips for a moment.

''Rip Hunter'' was Heywood's next utterance.

''What about him?'' Lyla knew that the writer was waiting in the foyer but hadn't wanted to ask why.

''He still has his Time Master memories. He knows that this pollution has Holaristan origins. Apparently, a long time ago, the Time Masters – together with the Daxomites and a few other species – fought and defeated the Holaristans. He thinks the colony on Mars might be able to help us''. Heywood thought for a moment. ''Stephanie Karras is on Mars, isn't she?''

''Yes'' Lyla thought. A senior member of the diplomatic team there, as well as a previous associate of the Legends. At the moment, she was willing to take any help she could get.

Unfortunately, she'd have to get her boss's agreement to all this.

X

He listened, looking off to one side, as he usually did. He always wanted a verbatim report, although he had almost certainly been listening in.

''It's useful to hear it from your perspective'' he'd once told her.

He tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment after she fell silent.

''Very well'' he began ''I'll relay the request through the diplomatic channels on Mars. Contact this 'J'onn' and see what he can do. Let me have a full report on the 'dolphin' response''.

When she'd gone, he sat in silence for a while, thinking. They had – how long? – weeks, maybe a couple of months before the storm broke over them.

The incompetence on the Greenworld A.R.G.U.S. base angered him more than he'd been able to let on to Michaels.

He leaned over and typed a code into his computer.

''Get me an update on the progress of Dan Rory's group''.

X

Being a speedster, Barry Allen had reluctantly learnt, didn't protect him from the effects of time.

''Your muscles are better than your joints'' was something that Iris occasionally pointed out to him.

He now spent as much time overseeing Nora and Bart during their training sessions as he did in the field.

S.T.A.R. labs were quite a busy place on the day when Nate, Rip and Ralph arrived with their request. The other Allens - the Earth 266 Barry and Saffron James Allen - were visiting. Cisco and Lisa, who now operated their own tech business in a different part of the building, had nipped down, so that Lisa could spend time with her 'secret' niece.

Everyone listened in while Nate and Rip told them what was going on on Greenworld.

Cisco glanced at Lisa, who was already shaking her head. Much as she would have liked to see her brother, she'd been forced to hide out on the primitive planet once and hadn't found anything to like about the place.

The younger Barry and Saffron exchanged a quiet word and decided the middle of the crisis wasn't the best time for a family visit.

It was a different story with the older Barry's children. Both parents felt uncomfortable at the idea of their impetuous son on a world where he didn't have the knowledge to predict all the dangers. But both Nora and Bart looked as if they were poised to breach through at that very instant.

Iris took Nora aside. ''You're in charge'' she told her daughter. ''Don't let Bart do anything stupid''.

Barry had already decided to have a quiet word with one of the Lance twins or Laura. Bart would have at least one bodyguard the whole time he was there.

''But you're going to wait till I get back with J'onn'' he pointed out. And his visit was going to dredge up a memory the Martian telepath might have preferred to forget.