Greenworld
Two worried men were being marched through the forest of Greenworld.
Joe West was worried about his five children - two biological, three adopted. Iris, the oldest, was sensible but the rebellious Barry was only a year younger than her and had a lot of influence over Caitlin and Cisco, the youngest two. If he didn't come back, what would happen to them? Would the two oldest be able to put their differences aside and look after the younger ones?
Professor Martin Stein was worried about his four companions, who were effectively hostages guaranteeing Joe West's safe return. He was particularly worried about Jefferson, his F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. counterpart, who would die if circumstances prevented them from merging every so often. He would die too, of course. It was true that his companions could combine their skills and escape- but that would probably ruin their chance of making the people of this Earth trust them.
Joe was also annoyed - with both Stein and himself. Stein shouldn't have gotten him into this situation. He shouldn't have agreed to come with Stein. He should have realised that something that sounded as good as the offer of life on Greenworld was probably nothing of the sort.
Their captors refused to answer their questions - apparently this Commander of theirs would tell the prisoners anything they needed to know. None of the men herding them said very much at all. Just kept on the move for about half an hour, until they suddenly emerged into open ground and had their first sight of the base they were being taken to.
Things had definitely changed since the time of the Legends/A.R.G.U.S. raid on the camp. Snart had described a simple, animal-repelling fence, but the camp was now surrounded by more secure defences, complete with barbed wire, watchtowers, floodlights and a well-guarded gate. There was a security check at the gate and the leader of the incoming group had to give a brief explanation for the presence of two prisoners.
''He can't be a Nazi'' one guard declared, nodding towards Joe West.
''And I am Jewish'' Stein pointed out.
''So what are you?''
''Men on their way to see the Commander'' the group leader took hold of Stein's arm. ''Is she in the mother ship?'' The leader of the guards nodded.
Things had changed within the camp too. The tents and scattered workshops had been replaced by evenly spaced buildings that were obviously bunkhouses, arranged in rows along either side of the central walkway. There was a larger building that might be the canteen. A smaller one that could be an office or a medical unit. One thing hadn't changed - the Time Master mother ship, looking very battered following the A.R.G.U.S. team's assault on the base - they had blown up the engines, so Snart had said.
Martin Stein was thinking, not too happily, about the fact that the Commander had been referred to as 'she'. As far as he was aware, there were three highly placed women in Savage's forces. The most unpleasant of them - Earth X's Laurel Lance was a General, so it was unlikely to be her in charge, fortunately. One of the other two women was a technical specialist. So they were probably been taken to Savage's daughter. In the original timeline, Leonard Snart had once persuaded her to change sides, by showing her the truth about her father, but neither he nor Joe was likely to have that option.
They were ushered up the ramp into the mothership. The group leader paused for a moment, then turned right, leading them along the corridor towards the sound of voices. After about a hundred feet, he turned left into a room that appeared to contain the ship's life support equipment - at least it matched what Martin had seen on the Waverider and the Acheron. About a dozen people were standing in a circle, looking at and discussing a piece of equipment that was in their midst. There were two women in the group - Martin thought that the one with her back towards them looked familiar - tall and slim with long, light-coloured hair.
''Commander?''
The woman turned round and Martin realised that he'd been totally wrong about what was going on here. The Commander was Ava Sharpe. The camp was now in the hands of A.R.G.U.S.
X
Five minutes later they were sitting in Ava Sharpe's office, facing her across the width of her desk. Their hands were now free, but there were two guards between them and the dor.
''Who are you?'' Sharpe asked Joe West, having recognised Professor Stein.
''Joe West. I'm from a different Earth.''
''Why are you both here?''
Martin told her.
She stared at these two unwelcome arrivals, trying to work out what Director Michaels would think about this. Her orders were twofold - prevent Savage from regaining access to what remained of the mothership, study the Time Master technology with a view to using it for Earth 1's defence/future benefit. But, in the longer term, the Director wanted to establish a permanent A.R.G.U.S. base here, principally for research and development, away from the greedy eyes of the more gung-ho military. She doubted that a civilian colony elsewhere on the planet would go down very well with the Director.
On the other hand, Sara Lance had chosen to stand with this bunch. It was well known that the Director hoped she would decide to return to the fold, especially since she'd lost another valuable Black-ops agent at Dead End. For the life of her, Ava couldn't understand why Lawton had chosen to go charging into battle alongside a motley gang of Survivalists.
''You're thinking of bringing families here? Children?'' she asked Joe. Perhaps she could talk him out of this idea of Stein's.
''Yes?''
'''Hasn't the Professor told you about the local predators? Some of your people could be killed.''
''True, that might happen. But I know that if my people stay where they are they face hard difficult lives, eventually ending in humanity's extinction.''
She folded her hands in front of her. ''I'm sorry for your family. For all your people. But as the senior A.R.G.U.S. representative here I can't allow you to do this.''