The Oculus, Vanishing Point

"Get him out of here!"

"No!"

"Just do it."

Leonard stood still, his hand on the fail-safe and his eyes fixed on Sara. This was the last time he was ever going to see her. He didn't dare look away, he didn't even blink. He knew he was giving up his chance for the future he wanted the second he took Mick's place, but he wasn't about to waste the last few seconds he had left to look at that beautiful, freckled face. Which was why he noticed that she wasn't running away. She was coming toward him. What is she doing? Leonard's thoughts raced as he mentally panicked. She has to go. She has to take Mick to the ship. He has to survive. She has to survive. They can't die here. Not like this. Why isn't she leaving?

Her eyes met his and the look she gave him answered all his questions. She grabbed his arm and kissed him. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, touching his forehead to hers. He felt something warm and beautiful filling his heart. It only took an instant for him to identify what it was. Love. Not that he'd ever doubted what his feelings for Sara were. He'd known for a while. But now, with her lips pressed against his, it felt so much more real. He wanted so badly to take his hand off the fail-safe and wrap his arms around her, pulling her into him and holding her close for as long as he could.

If he just let go, he could run out of here and stay with her. He could fight by her side while the Legends went after Savage. He could go back home to 2016 with her. He could share his future with her the way he'd imagined. Maybe Raymond was wrong. Maybe the fail-safe would hold on its own, somehow. But deep down, he knew he couldn't let go. If he didn't hold onto the fail-safe, none of this would matter. The Legends would be puppets for the Time Masters and Savage would win. He had to hold on. For Mick. For the team. For Sara.

She finally pulled away from the kiss. He kept his eyes closed just a second longer, lingering in the magic of that bittersweet moment. If that was the only taste of a future with her that he was going to get, he was going to enjoy it for as long as possible. When he finally opened them, the look of admiration on her face was enough to make all of this feel worth it. He'd never wanted to be hero. He'd always denied it whenever anyone suggested he could be one. But looking into her eyes now, he knew that a hero was exactly what she thought he was. And he wanted nothing more than to prove her right.

The whole scene lasted for barely any time at all. Or, lack of time, since they were in the Vanishing Point. Sara ran behind him, scooped up Mick, and hurried away toward the Waverider. Leonard was relieved. She was going to make it. So was Mick. That meant everything was going to be okay.

Leonard soon found himself surrounded by guards, led by Time Master Druce. He gripped the fail-safe a little bit harder, just for good measure.

"Shut it down!" Time Master Druce ordered.

Leonard gritted his teeth. He could feel the heat of the upcoming explosion intensifying around his arm. He only had a few seconds left and he wasn't about to go without getting the last word. He remembered something he'd said during his last encounter with Barry Allen that felt appropriate to the situation. I finally decide to play the hero, and of course it all comes back to Barry, he mused. He had to appreciate the irony, even if he was slightly reluctant to.

"Shut it down!" Druce shouted again, more emphatically.

"There are no strings on me!"

The blue flames of the bomb expanded outward, filling the whole room. Leonard shut his eyes and tried not to scream. It felt like every cell in his body was being pulled apart and set on fire at once. Pain was everywhere. He just wanted it to be over. Why couldn't it just be over?

So, this is what dying feels like, he thought as the heat of the temporal energy surged through his body. Not quite the way Sara described it, but I guess it's close enough.

Sara. His thoughts lingered on her. Sara. Somehow, it hurt just a little bit less when he thought about her. When he concentrated, he could still feel her hand on his arm, her lips against his. Maybe he was dying alone, but at least she was still with him in his mind. He replayed his last memory of her over and over again, shutting out his overloaded senses until all he could feel was her. Sara.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Or, at least, it felt like it did. He tried to open his eyes, but honestly couldn't tell if they were open or closed. There was just…nothing. Nothing except a strange force that seemed to be pulling him in every direction at once. It wasn't moving him. If anything, it was keeping him from moving. This is strange, he thought. Not exactly the way I pictured being dead.

He couldn't tell whether he'd been there for an eternity or a few minutes. It felt like a massive amount of energy of some kind was rushing through him and around him, but at the same time, he was completely still. He tried to move, but it felt like something was weighing him down and holding him in place. It seemed like his thoughts were being weighed down, too. They were slowing down, almost to a standstill. No! he thought, forcing himself back to alertness. They can kill me if they want, but they're not taking my mind. Think, Leonard, think!

He tried to think of something, anything, to keep his brain working. His thoughts settled on his sister. Lisa. I should have told her goodbye. Somebody'd better tell her what happened to me. She has to take care of herself now. She's a tough kid. She'll be okay…hopefully…

He felt his thoughts slowing down again and forced himself to think of something else. Nothing like dying to remind you of all the ways you screwed up, he thought. I should've been a better friend to Mick. I should've done a better job of protecting Lisa. I should've told Sara how I felt sooner, and never should've pointed that gun at her like an idiot. At least then we might've had a little more time…

Time. Something about that word stuck in his mind. He didn't know why, but the idea of it seemed to surround him. Time. Was that the thing holding him here? He didn't think Rip had ever said anything about time being able to do that. Then again, he had never been Rip's best listener.

Leonard felt a strange tingling sensation. It was the first thing he'd really felt, physically at least, since ending up wherever he was. It was like hundreds of tiny little sparks hitting him from all directions. Then, he saw something. A little yellow streak. It was gone in an instant. Then it was back. It disappeared again, then returned alongside a second one. He recognized it this time. Lightning. A speedster's lightning.

What the…Barry? How?

Little by little, the lightning streaks closed in on him, circling around him tightly. The tingling sensation grew stronger, almost like electric shocks. They didn't hurt the way the Oculus explosion had, but every time they hit, he felt a rush of energy course through him. Slowly, he started to feel a little bit less stuck in place. Then, all at once, he was in motion, catapulted through the endless nothing surrounding him. It felt as if he was being pulled downstream in a raging river, except the river consisted of a combination of dark emptiness and bright bolts of lightning.

The yellow lightning bolts grew into thicker streaks of white light. As they flashed, Leonard saw glimpses of his memories. They only lasted for a brief moment before disappearing, but he recognized them. All of them had something to do with Mick or Sara. There was the day Mick saved his life in juvie. The time Sara asked him to dance, then dazzled him with her fighting ability. The first job he and Mick pulled together when he had to bolt with only a small ring as his prize. The night he talked Sara out of killing Professor Stein. The time when he and Sara nearly froze to death together. The day he couldn't bring himself to kill Mick, marooning him instead. The time when Chronos attacked and Sara got left behind with Raymond and Kendra. The night when Chronos threatened Lisa. The day when Savage had a knife to Sara's throat and Leonard felt so helpless. The time when he finally told her the truth about how he felt about her, wondering what the future might hold for me…and you…and me and you.

Me and you. Something about that memory clicked in his brain. He felt another presence with him, like someone else was sharing that memory with him, repeating those three words. Me and you. Me and you.

He started to see shapes of people. Four people. The shapes flickered in and out and he couldn't make out any details, only basic outlines. Two of them, he definitely couldn't recognize. The others looked so familiar, but he just wasn't sure…

Mick! he realized. Sara!

He tried to call out to them, but something was pulling him back, stopping him. He reached out and tried to grab onto something, anything, but couldn't. No, he thought fearfully, feeling himself slipping out of their reach. He felt the darkness pulling him down once more, away from his friends. No, no, no, no, no!

Then, something strange happened. He heard another voice. It was her. Sara. He still couldn't really see her, but he could hear her as clearly as if she was standing beside him. "Don't let go. Hold on. Just hold on. You're the strongest and bravest of us all, Leonard. You can do this. Come back to me."

He felt a surge of strength within himself. Sara believed in him. He had to come back to her. He reached out one more time, throwing himself out of the darkness and into a blinding white light. For an instant, he could see her, all of her, right in front of him. He also saw Mick, standing across from her. The two other people were standing between them too, but he still had no clue who the strange man and woman were. There was a blast of wind, followed by another double flash of lightning. He felt like he was being thrown through the air. Something hit his head. Then everything went dark.


Central City, 2019

"What do you mean, 'coming back to bite us'?" Joe asked Constantine as the ground shook beneath him again. "We already got Snart out. It worked."

"Delayed reaction, love," Constantine explained, pushing himself to his feet. "That there was a time quake." He ran out of the parlor and took a closer look at the windows. "Oh, we're in for it now."

Ray thought quickly. "If Snart wasn't as completely detached from the timeline's energy as we'd planned," he suggested, "pulling him out so suddenly may have destabilized its structure."

"And I'm going to assume that's bad," Iris concluded.

"Aye, love," John confirmed, turning away from the window. "Looks like we're in the center of a temporal vortex."

Barry let go of Iris and walked toward John. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Are we in danger?"

Zari answered before John could get a chance. "It means that we just poked a hole in time," she said. "Or, more accurately, stretched it enough to create one. That hole is currently centered above us and is surrounding the ship and S.T.A.R. Labs with a time storm, and with it, time quakes."

"Are we just saying random words with 'time' in front of them?" Joe asked Cisco quietly.

"Yeah," Cisco nodded. "Could be a little more creative."

Iris left the parlor and walked to her husband's side. "Then what do we do?" she asked. "Can we close it?"

"Want me to throw lightning at it?" Wally offered. "Maybe that'll shock it closed."

"As much as I'd love to see a speedster throw lightning into a vortex of doom," Charlie replied, "I don't think that'll do the trick."

"Charlie's right," Nora agreed. "We need something else. Something that can actually patch a hole in time."

A lightbulb went off in Zari's brain. "If I can get to the time drive," she said, "I can reconfigure it so we can blast its temporal energy at the vortex. That should be a strong enough force to close it."

"Okay, great!" Nate said. "Let's do that."

The ship shook again, knocking Team Flash and the Legends off their feet.

"Not a bad plan," Constantine said as he slid into the wall, "but there's one area I think you're forgetting. Gideon!" he called out. "Got any eyes on the cargo door?"

The screens in the bridge projected an image of the cargo bay. It seemed empty, but they could hear angry, shouting voices. Then, there was a bright green blast and the lock burst open, revealing a crowd of strange men carrying a variety of futuristic weapons.

"Just as I suspected," John said, still leaning against the wall. "We've got company!"

"Are those…time pirates?" Nate asked. "I thought Rip took care of the last of them when he started the Time Bureau."

"We really are just adding 'time' in front of everything now," Joe remarked.

"He must have missed a crew," Ray said, pushing himself to his feet. He rushed to Nora's side to help her up.

"No, mate," John corrected him. "Your old captain did his job. When you rip a hole in time, anything from time can fall through it. These time pirates have been blown in from whatever period they were last in. My guess is just before old Rip locked them away."

"I'm sorry," Cisco interjected, "are you telling me that there are pirates, from the future I'm assuming, who attack and steal time ships? Like 'Pirates of the Caribbean', but they also time travel?"

"Yep," said Zari.

"Cool! I mean…awful," he quickly corrected himself, noticing the eyes of the Legends on him.

They heard blasters firing from the cargo bay. They sounded like they were coming closer, heading toward the bridge.

"Battle stations, Legends!" Ray shouted, pulling his suit out of his pocket.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Since when do we have battle stations?"

Zari rolled her eyes. "You know what he means, Charlie." She ran over to Cisco and grabbed his arm. "We need to get to the time drive," she told him. "You're a tech person, right? The two of us can rewire it while the others fight so we can shut this thing down." Cisco nodded, agreeing to her plan. She turned to the rest of the crew. "Guys, whatever you do, don't let the pirates near the engine room!"

She and Cisco ran out of the room while the others prepared for battle. Barry put a hand to the comm link on his suit, testing it, then turned to Iris. "Go to the med bay," he said. "The storm is interfering with the comms. You have to tell them what's going on and make sure they're not in danger."

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. It's just pirates. Not even metas. Go!"

Iris took off running. Eight time pirates reached the bridge shortly after and found eight heroes waiting for them.

"Hey, guys," Wally said. "Just so you know, this time ship has two speedsters and a crew that just brought a dude back to life today, so attacking us would really be pushing your luck."

The leader of the pirates pointed his weapon at him with a wry look. "Good thing I don't believe in luck. Get them!"

He fired, but Wally sped out of the way. The other pirates rushed into the fight, launching the bridge into chaos.

One man ran at Nate. His steel fists punched him in the stomach. He reeled away and fired at Nora. Nora caught his blast with her magic and redirected it at the leader, who dodged it just in time.

Another pirate chased after Charlie. She sprinted into the parlor, grabbed an old "souvenir" sword from one of the top shelves, and swiped at him. "Now this is how you fight a pirate!" she exclaimed, forcing him back with two more swipes.

Ray shrank down and flew through the air, trying to find a weak spot in the pirates' futuristic armor and weaponry. One of them spotted him and fired his blaster at him. Ray flew out of the way, narrowly dodging it. He fired again and Ray did the same, even more narrowly. "Hey, maybe we can talk this out…" he suggested. The pirate fired one more time. Ray flew around until he was behind him, expanded to his regular side, and punched him with his armored fist, knocking him to the ground. "Or not."

Constantine began reciting a barrier spell around the pirate closest to him, forcing him to stop in his tracks. While he was still focused on it, another pirate hit him from behind, knocking him to the floor and setting the trapped pirate free. One of them aimed his blaster at John's head while the other pinned him down. Barry sped in and grabbed the blaster out of the pirate's hands, then sped him into the Waverider's brig. He returned as Wally pulled the other pirate off of John and shoved him into the nearest wall, then ran back to help the magician back to his feet.

"That all you got?" Wally asked mockingly.

The pirate against the wall smirked. "You wish, kid." He shot his blaster at the ground by Wally's feet, forcing him to jump out of the way, then took the opportunity to run.

"Wait a minute…" Joe said, his detective instincts picking up on what he heard. He looked frantically toward Barry. "S.T.A.R. Labs!" he said. "They've got more down there storming it while it's empty. That's why there's only a few up here."

Barry turned to Wally. "I'm taking Joe down to protect S.T.A.R. Labs. Can you handle things here?"

Wally gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, I got it. Whoa! Not today!" He speedily dodged a green blast, then darted across the room to attack its source.

"I'm coming too," Nora announced, stepping toward Barry. "If it's anywhere close to this many, you two will need some magic backup."

"Sounds like a plan. Charlie!" Barry exclaimed, grabbing the shapeshifter's attention. He tossed her the blaster he'd taken from the pirate. "Try this one out!" He then grabbed Nora with one arm and Joe with the other and said, "You two, hold on." He zoomed them both out of the ship and into S.T.A.R. Labs below.

Charlie grinned at her new weapon and fired it at the pirate nearest to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two of the pirates sneaking out of the bridge and into the corridor leading toward the engine room. She only stood still for a moment, but it was enough for the pirate she'd shot at to pin her against the nearest wall. She kicked him away and found herself in close hand-to-hand combat, ducking to avoid two punches. The fight was cut short by Wally, who ran in circles around the pirate, disarming him, then dragged him through the ship and into the brig in a matter of seconds. He zoomed back to the bridge and Charlie pulled him aside.

"The engine room," she said. "Two went down that way."

"Zari and Cisco," Wally gasped.

"Yeah." She cocked her blaster so that it was ready to fire. "We can stop them. Come on!"

The two of them hurried out of the bridge, leaving John, Nate, and Ray to fend off the four remaining invaders.


"What was that?" Caitlin asked, grabbing onto a shelf of medical supplies as the ground under her feet shook.

Sara jumped up. "A time quake," she said. "Something must have gone wrong with the timeline." She looked down at Leonard, still peacefully sedated, then tried to use her comms. "Something's interfering with the signal. We have to get the others. They might know what happened."

Mona ran to the door. "Stay here, Captain Lance! I'll check."

Before she could leave, Iris hopped into the room and shut the door behind her. "Time pirates," she said, panting to catch her breath. "There was a time quake and a time storm and now we've got time pirates. I don't know exactly what that means, but they do not seem like nice guys."

Caitlin stared at her confusedly. "Time pirates? Like…pirates who time travel?" Iris nodded. "Huh. Well, there's a first."

"Not even close," Sara said, shaking her head.

Mick stood up and put his hand on his weapon, ready to fight. "I thought you said the first Englishman took care of them," he said.

"That's what he said," Sara replied. "But sometimes, time has a mind of its own."

Iris explained, "Zari said something about stretching time too far, creating a tear or a hole of some kind. Seems like that was the ten percent Gideon couldn't predict."

Sara groaned. "Ugh, Gideon, seriously?"

"I apologize, Captain," Gideon's disembodied voice said, "but I did warn you."

The four of them fell silent as they heard loud voices shouting on the other side of the door. The voices went away, but they could still hear blast sounds coming from somewhere nearby.

"They're trying to take the ship," Mona realized. "We have to help!"

Mick drew his heat gun. "They're not coming near my partner. Not if they want to see tomorrow."

Caitlin looked down at Snart worriedly. "We can't move him now. Gideon's made a lot of progress, but it would still be risky."

"Then they're not getting in here," Mick said. He hurried to the door and placed his back against it in a guarding position, ready to fire at the first person who attempted to open it.

Iris turned to Sara. "Zari said a blast of energy from the ship's time drive might shut the vortex. She and Cisco are working on it now."

Sara ran to Mick's side and placed her ear against the door, listening carefully. She backed away and told the others, "The pirates are heading down the hall to the right. That's where the engine room is."

"So," Caitlin said, "if Zari and Cisco are there…"

"They'll need backup if they want to rewire the drive in time," Sara finished for her. "Let's go." She started to move toward the door.

Mona stepped in her way. "No," she said. "You can't go, Captain."

Sara crossed her arms. "Excuse me, Mona?"

"You and Mr. Rory need to stay here. For Mr. Snart."

Sara rolled her eyes. "This isn't one of your books, Mona! This ship, my ship, is under attack. I'm not letting my crew risk their lives while I'm hiding in the med bay."

Caitlin heard a sly, echoing voice inside her head. "Ugh, screw this arguing," Killer Frost's voice said. "It's my turn to have some action."

The rest of the heroes in the room fell silent as they saw Caitlin Snow's hair change from auburn to white, and her eyes to icy blue. "You guys do whatever," Killer Frost said as she took off Caitlin Snow's lab coat and tossed it carelessly to the ground. "I'm going out there. I want to freeze some pirates." She glanced to the side and noticed Mona staring at her. "Oh, hey," she said. "You're new."

"Um…hi?" Mona squeaked. A realization dawned on her as she connected the dots from a conversation the day before. This must be what Wally meant when he said I was like Caitlin, she thought. She's got a Wolfie too.

Killer Frost walked to the door, placing her ear against it to listen. "I can hear them. They're getting close." She looked back at Mona. "You got powers or something?"

"Sort of…"

"Okay, good. You're covered, then." Killer Frost walked past her and dug into Caitlin's supplies. "Where did she put it?" she muttered. She paused, hearing Caitlin's voice answer her question, and opened the nearest drawer. She pulled out Snart's cold gun. "I missed this one," she said. "Not enough chilly villains these days."

Mick turned to face her, his back still against the door. "Where did you get that?"

"Cool down, Heatwave," she answered. "Caitlin thought there was a risk of Snart losing his memory or something equally as cheesy and brought it in here in case he needed a reminder. Lucky she did, right?" She handed it to Iris. "Now you're the icy one in the room. Have fun."

Iris took the gun hesitantly. Killer Frost walked past her, preparing to leave. "Wait! Killer Frost!" Iris called to her. "You can't just go out there alone! What about the pirates?"

"That's why I'm going out. Duh. You've got an assassin, a guy with a heat gun, and whatever she is," she waved her pale hand at Mona, "so that should be enough to protect Sleeping Beauty over here."

The ship shook with another time quake. Killer Frost stumbled, crashing into the closed door beside Mick. Sara grabbed onto the nearest shelf to steady herself. Iris and Mona, both in the middle of the room with little to grab onto, slid to the floor. Iris managed to stop herself from sliding too far. Mona crashed into the cabinet on the other side of the room, causing several medical instruments that had been used by Caitlin to fall on her.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, brushing them away. When the ground stopped shaking, she noticed a cut on her hand where the sharpest of the instruments had fallen. It wasn't bleeding too much, but it was pretty large. "Uh-oh," she breathed, starting to panic.

Sara ran to her side and knelt down to her level. "It's okay, Mona," she said, trying to keep her calm. "We've got bandages right here. Just breathe. You don't have to wolf out."

Iris hurried over and grabbed the relevant supplies from a nearby shelf. "Wolf out?" she asked as she worked on bandaging Mona's hand. "What's that?"

"Mona's Killer Frost," Sara explained, "but more werewolf-y."

"Oh, you have a me," Killer Frost commented, still bracing herself against the door. "That's cute." She felt something hitting the door on the other side and looked at Mick, who shared her concerned expression. "But that's not."

A green light flashed as one of the pirates blasted the door open, throwing Killer Frost and Mick aside. "Hand over your captain," he barked, "and I'll let the rest of you live!"

"Not a chance," Iris said. She stood up and tried to fire the cold gun at him, but narrowly missed. "How do you even aim this thing?" she asked, trying a second time and missing again.

The pirate moved closer, preparing to shoot Iris. Sara jumped to her feet and grabbed the gun out of Iris's hands, immediately positioning it just as Snart always did. "Like this!"

She fired a perfect shot, hitting him straight in the chest. The blast was intense enough to knock him out, yet light enough not to kill him. Sara kept the gun in her hand as she ran over to him, making sure he was no longer a threat.

Mick picked himself up from the floor, staring at her. "When did you learn how to do that?" he asked.

"It's a very intuitive weapon," she replied, not looking up at him. She removed the blaster from the unconscious pirate's hands and handed it to Iris. "Try this one instead. It might be easier to aim."

"No," Mick pressed further, "Leo's gun is the easy one. Snart's gun has a lot more moving pieces to mess with." He crouched down beside her. "When did he teach you that?"

Sara couldn't help smiling a little as she explained, "He told me if I won three games in row, he'd show me how to use it. How it fires, how to take it apart, the different power levels, the upgrades he made, everything."

"And you won three games?"

Sara finally looked up at him with a playful smirk. "No. I won five." She hopped up to her feet and noted the open door, its edges charred from the pirate's blast. "Well, I guess no one's hiding in the med bay now," she observed.

Killer Frost stood up and ran her cold fingers over the damage. "I'll say," she agreed. She looked down disgustedly at the pirate lying on the ground. "Got anywhere we can stash this guy before he wakes up and starts another fight?"

"We have a brig," Sara answered. "It's down the hall and to the left. Throw him in there and he won't get out."

Before Killer Frost had a chance to try moving the pirate, Nate stuck his steel head in through the destroyed doorway. "Oh, you guys are safe!" he exclaimed, visibly relieved. "One got away and we thought he was heading over here." He looked down. "Oh…I guess he did head over here."

"He's alive," Sara quickly assured him, still holding the cold gun. "Just knocked out. Someone can get him to the brig before he warms up enough to be a problem again. How's the situation out there?"

"We're handling it," Nate replied. "John's got one guy hypnotized and he's sending him to the brig as we speak. Ray and I took down the leader a minute ago. The other two took off running in opposite directions. Ray went after one and I went after the other…who is now here." He leaned over to peer down the hallway, then turned back to Sara. "I think there are two others that took off this direction. Charlie and Wally went after them, but I don't know how far they got."

"What about Barry?" Iris asked. "You didn't mention him. Is he okay?"

"Barry, Nora, and Joe went down to S.T.A.R. Labs," Nate explained. "Seems like the rest of the pirates decided to hit it while the rest of us were up here."

"Crap," Iris said, "They've got to be outnumbered. I'm going down there."

"Me too," Killer Frost said. "Can't let these losers mess with Caitlin's stuff."

"We can handle the med bay," Sara said. "You guys go help Barry." Iris ran out, clutching the blaster in her hands. Killer Frost followed her. Sara turned to the steel man in the doorway. "Nate, the other two pirates you saw were heading for the engine room. Zari and Cisco are still in there. Make sure they don't find them."

"Aye aye, Captain," he said, making a quick salute with his metal hand before taking off in the engine room's direction.

Sara turned to Mona. "Someone needs to get this guy to the brig. If you wolf out, you'll be strong enough to carry him."

Mona shook her head. "But what about Mr. Snart? We can't leave him alone."

"We won't," Mick grunted. He stepped back, turning so his back faced his still unconscious partner. He lifted his heat gun and pointed it at the doorway. "No one's getting near Snart while I'm here. Listen to your captain, kid."

"Rory's right," Sara agreed. "We've got it covered here. Go!"

Mona hesitated for a second, then took a deep breath, and transformed into Wolfie. She growled as she picked up the unconscious pirate, dragging him out of the med bay and toward the brig.

Sara noticed a funny look on Mick's face. "What?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're enjoying being attacked."

"I'm not," he said, "it's just…look at us." He pointed at Sara, then Snart, then himself, though his eyes stayed fixed on the open doorway. "Killer, klepto, and pyro. Wasn't expecting that to happen again."

Sara glanced back at Leonard, then returned her focus to the door, holding the cold gun ready. "Yeah," she said teasingly, "except normally, you'd be the unconscious one. And he'd be the one who knocked you out."

Mick narrowed his eyes. "Most of the hits he got, I let him have."

"Sure," said Sara.

The two of them heard yelling and more blasts down the hall. They both took one step closer to the door, prepared to fight the next pirate to come close.


Zari unscrewed the metal sheet protecting the time drive, then reached in and searched for the right wires. She noticed Cisco's eyes focusing on the golden glowing sphere that contained all of the ship's power. "Be careful," she warned. "If you touch that, you'll either get sent back to a random time period, start rapidly aging, or straight up die."

Cisco quickly looked away from the enticing object. "Yikes. Okay. Hands off."

"The control panel for the ship's blasters are to your left," Zari explained. "Get in there and…"

"Get ready to divert the time drive's power to the blasters," Cisco finished her sentence. "You got it." He moved over to his left and took out the panel, analyzing its components. "I can't believe I'm actually rewiring a time machine," he marveled. "This is so freaking awesome!"

The two of them worked carefully for several minutes, unscrewing pieces, connecting wires, and passing each other tools. Suddenly, they heard a blast from behind them. They both spun around and saw that two pirates had blown open a hole in the engine room door, which they were now using to force it open.

"Uh-oh," Cisco breathed as they finally shoved it open enough to get through. "That's not good."

Zari looked at the door worriedly, then passed the wire in her hand to Cisco. "I've still got my powers," she said. "I'll hold them off. You finish the rest."

Before he could argue, she jumped to her feet and ran a few paces so that she was just out of Cisco's reach. The pirates stormed in. Zari crossed her arm over her chest and made a fist. A gust of wind blew the pirates back, then swirled around in a circular formation, creating a wall of air between Zari and the invaders. They tried to run closer, but were blown back once they got within a few feet of her.

"How's it coming, Cisco?" Zari called back to her friend.

"Almost there!" Cisco shouted back. "Just buy me a little more time."

"We can help with that!" Wally exclaimed as he and Charlie arrived at the scene, standing in the doorway behind them.

Charlie pointed her blaster at the nearest of the two pirates. "You want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Instead of answering, he fired his weapon at her. She stepped behind the charred remains of the door to dodge it, then jumped out and fired at him. Wally prepared to run at the second pirate, but before he could, the ground beneath them shook with another time quake.

The sudden motion caused Zari to lose her balance. Her wind shield vanished as she stumbled to the nearest wall to brace herself against. That brief moment was enough for one pirate to fire his blaster at her, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her to the ground. The two pirates charged past her toward the far end of the room, where Cisco was frantically working.

Wally zoomed between the pirates and Cisco. They shot at him, but he ran around them faster than they could aim, leaving a trail of lightning encircling them. Charlie ran to Zari's side.

"Z!" she exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Ugh, no," Zari groaned, rubbing her shoulder. "I just got shot. Why would I be all right?" She looked behind her at Cisco, Wally, and the pirates. "Go help Cisco," she told her. "He needs it."

Charlie nodded and ran to Cisco. "Truth be told," she said as she arrived beside him, "I don't know much about all this engineering business, but if you tell me what to put where…"

"Take this," Cisco said, handing her a red wire, "and clip it to that," he pointed to a small metal box further inside the engine.

"That I can do," she said, leaning in and stretching her arm through many tangled cables to reach it.

Wally finally broke his circle around the pirates and landed a solid punch on each of them. The momentum from all his running was enough to knock them to the ground on impact. He put his foot on one man's chest, stopping him from getting up. The other tried to lunge at him but was stopped by a sudden gust of wind from Zari. She was still sitting on the ground across the room, but the totem on her wrist was activated, pinning him against the wall.

Nate arrived in the engine room then, surveying the situation. "Zari!" he called out.

Zari deactivated her totem. It took only a moment for Nate to pounce on the pirate she had been holding in place, pinning him to the ground with his steel arms. He nodded to Wally. "Can you get these guys to the brig?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got you, man." Wally grabbed the pirate he was standing over and zoomed out of the room. He returned a few seconds later and did the same with the one Nate was holding down, then came back to join Charlie, Cisco, Nate, and Zari again.

Nate ran to Zari. "What happened?" he asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"Shot in the shoulder," she muttered, "but I'll live."

"And…we're done!" Cisco announced, raising his fist victoriously. "Everything's set. Let's shut this thing down!"

Zari looked up. "Gideon!" she called out. "Aim the exterior weapons system straight up into the center of the vortex!"

The Waverider's external blasters opened and swiveled upward toward the source of the dark time storm surrounding it.

"Weapons ready, Miss Tomaz," Gideon said.

"Fire!" Zari ordered.

The Waverider shot a bright beam of golden temporal energy up into the air, hitting the center of the vortex above it. The blast glowed as it absorbed the energy and the storm clouds around them stopped swirling and stilled. The impact of the vortex shutting sent a ripple of force through the air until it hit the Waverider, rocking it harder than any of the previous time quakes had. It lasted several minutes while the Legends in the engine room struggled to brace themselves against something that wasn't moving.


Wolfie threw her prisoner in the brig, snarled, and shrank back down into Mona Wu's smaller form. She put her hands on her knees and leaned down, panting. "Whew," she said. "Thanks, Wolfie." She glanced to the side and noticed John Constantine leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. "Hey, Mr. Constantine," she said. "Do you need anything?"

He straightened up and walked toward her. "No, Mona. I just dropped my prisoner off. He's that one." He gestured toward a pirate who was sound asleep on the ground in the back of the brig. "Nothing like some good, old fashioned hypnotism," John said proudly.

"When we get out of here," the pirate leader threatened, stomping over until he was nearly pressing his face against the glass, "you'll get what's coming to you, time travelers!"

"Yeah, yeah, heard you the first time, sweetheart," John dismissed.

Mona looked at the time pirate quizzically. "Aren't you a time traveler too?" she asked. "I mean, technically, you do travel through time. You just do it on stolen ships. So then, why are you using 'time traveler' as an insult? It makes no sense."

The pirate simply glared menacingly at her through the glass.

"Geez, okay," she said, taking a step back. "Just asking."

"Ignore them, love," John said, stepping forward until he was right in front of the brig's sealed door. "I'll have them all under a spell in no time. They'll be harmless as a fly." He breathed in, then, as he exhaled, lifted his hands and recited a spell.

One of the pirates lunged toward him, shouting futuristic curses, but was stopped by the glass between them, which he then banged against with his fist. Mona hurried to John's side. "Be careful!" she warned.

"Hush, Mona," he said, closing his eyes. "I need to concentrate." He took a step closer toward the door and repeated his incantation again.

As he spoke, the Waverider fired its golden shot into the vortex. The resulting wave of force hit the ship and rocked it back and forth. Mona and John crashed into each other, then against the outer wall of the brig. John grabbed onto the edge of the door to steady himself, thinking the motion would be over. When it continued violently, he felt his hand slip as he slid down to the floor.

His hand slid right over the key pad, which recognized his identity, let out a beeping sound, turned green, and unlocked the brig's door. The ground continued to shake for several minutes. The pirates pushed their way through the exit. John stretched his arm out, trying to block them from getting to Mona. He started reciting another containment spell, but before he could get the words out, the pirate crew grabbed him and threw him into the brig, along with Mona. Once the shaking slowed down, the pirates stormed out of the room, leaving the two Legends locked inside. Other than the one pirate who was still hypnotized asleep, they were alone.

"Oh," Mona began.

"Bollocks," John finished.


In the med bay, Sara and Mick stood side by side, watching the open doorway for any sign of movement. They heard a massive blasting sound coming from above.

"The ship's guns," Sara realized. "Zari and Cisco must've figured out how to shut down the vortex."

"Good," Mick said. He relaxed slightly but kept his heat gun pointed at the med bay's entrance. "Think the others finished off the rest of the pirates?"

Sara paused, listening. "I don't hear anything. Maybe they're all…ah!"

The ship shook violently as the force from the vortex's destruction landed on it. Caitlin's supplies went flying and scattered all over the ground. The ship rocked back and forth for several minutes. Sara and Mick tried to grab onto something, but nothing in the room would stay still. Finally, they crashed to the floor.

If they hadn't been preoccupied with struggling to stay on their feet, they may have noticed a particularly strong wave of motion shaking the operating chair behind them, knocking the sedative cord off Leonard Snart's wrist.

Now that they were on the floor, something else caught their attention. The shaking slowed down gradually, but they could hear boots pounding in the hallway, coming closer. Mick and Sara looked up to see seven time pirates grinning down at them, weapons drawn. The leader stepped toward Sara. "I hear you're the captain," he said. "I'll make it easy on you. Surrender now and your crew walks."

"Not likely," Sara retorted. She jumped to her feet and landed a kick to his stomach, then several punches. He swung a punch at her, missed, and then tried to grab her. She leaped out of the way, then hit him in the head with the back of the cold gun.

The rest of the pirates joined in on the action. Mick fired his heat gun in front of him, swinging it side to side. The pirates jumped back to avoid its flames. One of them ducked down, shooting his blaster at Mick's feet. Mick stopped shooting to stumble backward as the blast hit his boots. Three pirates joined their captain to fight Sara. The remaining three rushed at Mick. Two tried to grab his arms with the other pulled the heat gun away from him. He punched his way out and tried to take the gun back. The resulting struggle instead sent it flying through the air, landing by the charred doorway. Mick dove for it and grabbed it. He turned around, planning to fire it at the remaining pirates. But he soon realized how close they were standing to his partner, and instead stepped farther back into the hallway. He had a different idea.

"Hey, losers!" he taunted, capturing their attention. "You want to take this ship? Fat chance!"

Sara swung her legs around and kicked the four men away from her just long enough to make eye contact with Mick. "What are you doing, Rory?" she asked.

"Getting rid of these pests," he answered, lifting his weapon up threateningly, "Trust me." He looked back at Leonard, then added, "Don't let them hurt my partner. Promise me!"

"Promise," she nodded. Protecting Leonard was important to her too, of course, but she knew how much trust Mick was placing in her with that promise. She ducked under a punch and countered with one of her own, then jumped up onto one of the pirates' shoulders and swung her legs around, tackling him to the ground.

Mick took off running.

"He's going for the bridge!" the leader called out. "He's trying to time jump! You," he pointed to the time pirates who had been going after Mick minutes earlier, "stop him!" They obediently hurried out in Mick's direction.

Leonard's eyelids fluttered. His surroundings seemed oddly fuzzy. He felt strange, like he was half in a dream, half awake. His senses were coming back to him, but very gradually. He blinked a few times and the room came more into focus. It seemed so familiar. His brain struggled to piece together the situation. He was lying back in a chair, apparently. The lights above him were uncomfortably bright. I could've sworn I've seen this before, he thought, continuing to lie still.

Sara fired the cold gun at the floor beneath the pirates' feet, sending them sliding backward toward the corridor. She landed a flying kick on the leader, pushing him farther away until he was fully out of the med bay. The other three reached out to grab her and nearly succeeded, but a well-timed elbow and knee motion from Sara sent them stumbling out of the room. She dove and slid down the icy floor until she was right in front of the leader. She flipped to her feet, then punched him in the jaw, immediately following with a kick to his legs. He retaliated by firing his blaster at her several times. She jumped out of the way of every blast.

Leonard squinted at the shelves of medical supplies around him, still not daring to move. He slowly began to recognize it. It was an infirmary of some kind. A very technologically advanced one, at that. Like something he would've seen in a science fiction movie…

The med bay, he realized. This is the Waverider. He felt relieved to know where he was, but his mind was suddenly full of questions. How am I on the Waverider? It flew away. Is this real? Am I dreaming? This has to be a dream. He forced himself to sit up and looked down at his body. His clothes were the same as when he'd set off the Oculus explosion, though they were now in much worse shape. He ran his hand down his opposite arm, then down the side of the chair. He felt real. It felt real. But…how? he wondered.

Sara managed to force the four pirates fully out of the med bay. She stood just outside the remains of the door, staring them down. One made a move toward her. She fired the cold gun at him, throwing him back with an icy blast.

Leonard heard a familiar sound and looked around. The cold gun. That's what it was. It had to be somewhere nearby. As his eyes scanned the room, he noticed that it was laid out differently than he remembered. Had that chair always been there? He could've sworn the shelves above it weren't. But it was still definitely the Waverider. This doesn't make any sense, he thought.

Finally, he turned his head toward the door, or what was left of it, and all the questions in his head went silent. There, in the opening left from he had to assume had been an attack of some kind, was a blonde woman holding his cold gun in her hands, fighting like he'd only ever seen her fight. It was her. Sara.

"Sara," he whispered. Chills went down his spine. He thought he'd never see her again. But there she was, right in front of him, shooting his signature weapon exactly how he'd taught her to. Part of him wanted to run to her, hold her, kiss her, tell her how happy he was to see her. But the other part of him recognized what was happening. There was a fight going on, and Sara was in the middle of it. He didn't know who she was fighting, how dangerous they were, or where the other Legends were. He slid off the chair and walked toward the doorway cautiously, taking care to keep himself out of view until he knew what was going on.

Sara fired one more shot at the pirates, preventing them from coming any closer. Trying to stay out of the cold gun's reach, all four of them began shooting at her simultaneously from a distance. Rather than try to dodge so many blasts at once, she ducked behind the remains of the door…bumping right into Leonard.

"Ah!" she let out a short cry of surprise. She glanced back at the empty chair, then stared wide-eyed at Leonard. "Oh…my…"

"Sara," he said. He wanted to say so much more than just her name. But he found that wanting to do something and actually bringing himself to do it while he was face to face with Sara Lance were very different things. He could barely do anything but stare, practically speechless.

Sara smiled, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Leonard," she said. She hesitated, not knowing what to do, but being certain that she had to do something to show how she felt in that moment. She waited another moment, then threw her arms around him, embracing him as she let the cold gun fall to the floor. "I missed you," she whispered, burying her face in his chest.

Leonard's heartbeat quickened as he felt her body against his. He froze at first, almost afraid. Afraid of doing something wrong and ruining the moment. Afraid of waking up and realizing it was all a dream after all. Afraid that as soon as he touched her, she'd disappear, and he'd lose her again. Finally, he gave in, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as tightly as she was holding him. He leaned his head down to be a little closer to her height and whispered back, "I missed you, too."

The sound of weapons firing and green blasts of light flashing behind the doorway brought them back to the moment. Sara pulled away from Leonard, picked up the cold gun, and backed herself up against the door, looking over her shoulder into the corridor. Leonard followed her lead, placing his back against the wall next to her.

"I'm sorry you had to wake up now," Sara said, still looking over her shoulder, prepared to pounce if she saw a pirate. "It's not exactly the best time."

Leonard replied with a sarcastic drawl, "Well, I hate to be an inconvenience."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know." Leonard took another look around the med bay, then added, "Place looks different. Did you do some remodeling?"

Sara turned her head to look back at him, her finger still on the trigger of the cold fun. "A bit. Some things just moved around with time."

Leonard frowned. Time. She hadn't brought up the Oculus yet, so he could assume that had happened a significant while ago. He said nothing for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "How long?"

"Three years," she answered.

He raised his eyebrows. "Three years?"

"Yep."

He leaned his head back against the wall, taking it in. "Three whole years. Wow."

"Yeah. We all thought you were dead."

"I thought so too for a minute there." He turned his head to look at her. "We've really got to stop doing this whole getting-lost-for-multiple-years-at-a-time thing." He smirked, then added, "Nice to know you still missed me, though."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling a little. "Shut up, Leonard."

"Hey, is that any way to talk to an old friend back from the dead?"

Several more blasts flashed by the doorway. Sara and Leonard could hear raised voices nearby. Leonard leaned in closer to Sara. "What's going on?" he asked, his tone more serious than before. "Please don't tell me this is still Savage."

"What? Oh, no! Not at all," Sara assured him. "Savage is gone. Long gone."

"Good," he said, relieved. That brought up several questions about why the Legends were still on the Waverider, since their mission to kill Savage was no longer in effect, but Leonard thought it best to save those questions for later. "So, what is this, then?"

Rather than explain the insanity of the past twenty-four hours, Sara gave him a short answer that she knew would make more sense. "Alexa."

Leonard nodded understandingly. They'd done something, and some part of it had gone unexpectedly wrong, just as all the best laid plans do. He stepped out from his hiding spot and took a quick look around the edge of the door, then stood back in his place beside Sara. "I take it Alexa came in the form of time pirates," he observed.

"Exactly."

Sara's comms buzzed. A voice came through. It was John Constantine's.

"Looks like the storm's done blocking our signal," he said. "Sara, we've got a situation. They're loose."

"Already figured that out, John," she replied.

"Yeah, well," he continued, "they also locked me and Mona into the brig during the last quake."

Sara groaned. "Are you serious?"

"I am, love. And it seems Raymond made it magic-proof after your various altercations with Damien Darhk. Brilliant decision, but not so brilliant right now."

"And you want me to let you out?" Sara guessed.

"That we would," John replied. "I heard some chatter on the comms and it sounds like Mick's planning a little ambush for our intruders on the bridge. Figure he could use a master of the dark arts on his side." He paused. "And, uh, Mona wants to help, too."

At first, Sara was surprised that Mick had seemingly alerted the rest of the team of the plan and not her. Then, she wasn't. Mick wanted her to protect Leonard, even if that meant his ambush was short a person. It was sweet, if a little insubordinate. She could deal with him later. "On my way," she said into her comms. She turned to Leonard. "I have to go. John and Mona…they're new teammates. Well, new-ish. They need help. Stay here."

Leonard shook his head. His brow furrowed. "No," he said, "I'm going with you."

Sara disagreed. "No, no you are not. You are staying here in the med bay where you can rest. You've been through a lot today. I can handle it on my own."

"I feel fine," he insisted. "If you're going to run out into a ship full of time pirates, you'll need someone to watch your back. And, if I remember correctly, the Legends are a team. Teammates look out for each other."

"Leonard…"

"Look, I know I've been gone for a while, but I'm still your teammate. Teammates don't let each other run out into the middle of a fight alone if they can help it." When she didn't respond, he added, "I won't get in your way. Do your thing and I'll follow your lead. Just let me be your teammate again, Sara. That's all I'm asking."

Sara looked back over her shoulder, then returned her gaze to him. "Fine," she said, "but be careful. If anything happens to you, Mick will kill me."

Leonard smiled at the mention of his best friend. "I'm sure he'd kill me first," he joked.

Sara turned around, ready to run. "On my signal," she said.

Leonard stood close behind her. Before she could give a signal, he added, "Oh, and one more thing."

"What?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

He gestured to the cold gun in her hands. "Mind if I…?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course." She handed it off to him. "I'm better with these anyway." She pulled two contracted batons out of her pockets, expanded them, then connected them together into one long staff.

Leonard took a moment to feel the weight of the cold gun in his hands. He wasn't sure if it really felt like three years had passed, but it definitely felt like it had been too long. His dark goggles apparently hadn't survived the explosion, judging by the fact that they were not hanging around his neck in their usual place, but he could live with the glare for now.

Sara returned to her position. "Okay. Ready now?"

"Yeah."

"Go!"

She darted out from their hiding place. Two of the pirates fired at her. She dodged them and was immediately followed by Leonard, who blasted the cold gun at them, keeping them at a distance while Sara ran around the corner toward the brig. Once she was safely out of range, he turned and ran after her, firing behind him every few paces just to make sure they weren't followed. He looked down at his cold gun after firing it and grinned. He loved this. The adrenaline. The thrill of the chase. It is so good to be back, he thought as he turned the corner, chasing after Sara.


A/N: I know that was a really long chapter (and I almost made it longer), but Snart's back now, so I hope it was worth the wait!

*edit* I changed a couple of Snart's lines in the last section since originally posting. I'm going to try not to do that again, but what I wrote felt a little off and it was bothering me while I was trying to write the next part, so I edited it to stop it from distracting me. It doesn't change anything in the plot or events of the chapter. I just thought it sounded better and more in character for Leonard. Now, I'll get back to writing what happens when Leonard and Sara find Constantine and Mona...