Earth 1, Kaznia

Saffron and the older Barry had headed back to their own time, leaving the Project Kaznia Legends mulling over what they should do about the problem they'd just been landed with.

'''In Saffron's future, they became allies of Savage - or rather he became an ally of them. That's what we need to prevent.'' Sara looked at the rest of the group for a moment, wondering how they were going to react to her next statement. ''Some of us should go and talk to them.''

There was silence for a long moment.

''In the Acheron, you mean?'' Joanne asked. She sounded approving.

''It's feasible'' Martin was thinking aloud ''and we know enough about the ship to get there. The question is, which of us goes?''

''Karras?'' Mick asked Joanne ''What's she doing these days?''

''A good point'' Ray said. ''She's done very good work on other Earths. And I -''

''No'' Nora told him I have a feeling - trust me on this.''

He looked at her, in dismay, not wanting to pass up the chance to meet the would-be Martians. And to visit the red planet itself of course.

''Don't worry'' she told him ''If this work's you'll get your chance.'

'''And if it doesn't, that might be the case as well.'' Sara commented darkly.

''I'll go'' Martin said ''Jax?''

His young counterpart stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. 'I'd better come along in case you need to get fiery.''

''You, me and Stephanie. Is that enough?''

''They should go too'' Nora indicated Joanne and a rather startled Mick. Her general sense about the future was kicking in. ''The rest of us should stay here. To keep an eye on and to try and cool things down from this end.''

'''I agree with Martin'' Sara chipped in. ''What about Rip and co?''

She wasn't addressing Leonard directly, but he had keeping tabs on the other team. ''As far as Rip feels, they're OK for now.''

X

Although Sara didn't know it, he'd been awake most of the night, churning through everything that Saffron had let him know about the future - mostly in a long series of grim images.

She'd thought about this Mallam character - the General who became a King. Apparently, he was a first-rate strategist, formidable, intelligent and utterly ruthless. The fate of humanity wouldn't count for very much at all when he came to weigh up his options. Nor would Vandal Savage and his cohorts for that matter.

Cautiously, he'd slipped away from the bed at that point and went to take another look at what his daughter had given him. A small vial of a pale liquid - nothing remarkable about its appearance.

At some point in the future she'd come from, she'd told him what it was, offering it to him. Only he could do this apparently - her abilities weren't sufficient. He'd thought about it and said no.

Then she'd done a bit of time-travelling and 'stolen' it from her earlier self. She'd already changed the future.

She'd shown him the outcome of his future decision - asked him to change his mind, given him the means to do so.

In her own way, she was every bit as ruthless as Mallam.

In the depths of that night, he'd breached to Central City, having roused a grumbling Barry, Cisco and HR from their beds. He glanced at the small, surgical cut on his wrist - the only sign that anything had happened.

''The implant's in place'' Hr had assured him. ''You only need to nip back here when you're ready for us to turn it on''.

As the old Rip had said, more than once, time wants to happen. This new timeline had its own version of the Occulus wellspring. This is it.

Slowly, he emptied the contents of the vial into a hypo. Pressed it to his arm.

This is for you, Saffron, Sara, Legends.

I'm not a hero, he'd told his daughter. He was right.

If he was lucky, history would call him anti-hero.

Villain was the more likely verdict.