"Arriving in Keystone, 1983," Gideon's voice echoed through the ship.
The Legends on the bridge watched from their seats as the swirling mass of the temporal zone suddenly gave way to blue skies and a city below them. "Perfect," said Sara as she flipped a switch to keep the Waverider cloaked. "Got a location for the mall?" A hologram of directions appeared in front of her. "Thanks." She glanced back at her team. "Hang tight, guys. We're almost there."
She flew the ship according to Gideon's directions until they located a large, crowded shopping mall near the center of town. It took a minute to find a location where the Waverider could stay parked without being noticed, but once it landed, the Legends unstrapped themselves from their seats. "Here we come, 80s!" Nate exclaimed, stretching his arms as he stood up. He turned to John and Mona, both still dressed for the 1760s. "You two know how to fly the jump ship, right?"
"Of course, mate," John replied. "I still think your hot-headed friend would be better suited for my job, though." He threw an annoyed look at Mick. "But I don't suppose he's interested in switching places."
Mick shrugged. "That's what you get for always picking rock, Trench Coat. Try scissors next time."
John rolled his eyes. "I don't always pick rock."
"Legends," Sara said, calling everyone's attention to herself as she stood in front of them, "we've got to get to work. Mona and John, the jump ship's yours. The rest of us need to strategize." While Mona and John made their way out of the bridge, the rest of the team gathered around the central console. "Gideon," Sara ordered, "do you have a floorplan for this mall?"
Gideon projected a translucent three-dimensional model in the middle of the console with detailed depictions of every floor in its structure. "Ooh, even better," Charlie remarked.
"Leonard," Sara asked, looking to the thief who was already carefully analyzing the projection, "you know how to case a place like this. What've you got?"
Leonard leaned in closer to the image to take in the details, eager to finally have something to do. "It's got three floors with four main entrances on the ground," he observed aloud, "plus two emergency exits on opposite ends. Looks like each store on the ground floor is at most two minutes from an exit at walking speed, but the ones closest to the doors could take as little as thirty seconds. Travel time increases on the upper levels, so I'd allow seven minutes to an exit from anywhere on floor three, just to be safe. There's one openly visible fire alarm per wall on each floor, not counting the ones inside some of the stores, plus a security station on each end on the ground level. Also, security cameras are throughout the building, but it looks like there are a few blind spots here," he pointed to a spot on the top floor, "here," he pointed to another on the middle floor, "and here," he pointed to a final one on the ground floor.
"Okay," Nate said, "but shouldn't we be figuring out where Nannerl would go? We're trying to find a lost kid, not rob the place."
Leonard glared at him, but Sara spoke before he had the chance to respond. "Everything in this mall would be new to Nannerl," she told him. "That means it's hard to tell where she'd be drawn to."
"Not the movie theater at the far end," Leonard pointed out. "She wouldn't know how to sneak in without a ticket. The rest of the mall looks like fair game, though." He turned to Sara. "You want anything else? I've got more. Air ducts, windows…"
"I think we're good," Sara replied, smiling appreciatively. "It's nice to have your brain around again." Leonard smirked back at her until she looked away. "We've got to hit each floor," Sara explained. "That means splitting up."
"I'm still working on updates," Zari pointed out, "but I think I can spare a few minutes away from the engine room to help you guys look around."
"Okay, great." Sara looked around at the other faces surrounding her. "How about the rest of you? Are you all good to go?"
"Snart isn't," Ray answered.
Leonard groaned. "Didn't you say I was done with your tests, Raymond?"
"You are," Ray clarified, "but because of the radiation Gideon had to use on your brain, you have to stay under observation in a controlled environment for at least one more hour, just as a precaution."
Leonard appealed to Sara. "Captain, allow me to remind you that you need someone who can case a target on your mission."
"And I will remind you that you already told us what we need to know," she replied. "Sorry, Snart, but Ray knows more about this stuff than I do. If he says you have to stay back for an hour, I trust him."
"Maybe we can finally geek out about Star Wars together," Ray suggested with a friendly grin that Leonard did not return. "You know, we actually kind of met George Lucas this one time…"
"Ray," Nora said, tapping on her boyfriend's shoulder to interrupt him, "I think you should go to the mall with the others. I can watch Snart." All eyes turned toward her, most of them accompanied by surprised looks. "What?" she said. "You just need someone to watch him and make sure he doesn't…I don't know, explode or something."
Mick turned to look sharply at Ray. "Explode?" he repeated.
"She's exaggerating," Ray assured him.
"Good," Mick muttered. "He already blew up once. He's not allowed to do that twice." He pointed a finger at Leonard. "You're not allowed to do that twice," he reiterated.
"Wasn't planning on it," Snart said.
Nora continued, still addressing Ray, "They might need your technological expertise out there, Ray. I can handle keeping an eye on Snart for an hour."
"For the record, I still don't think anyone needs to keep an eye on me," Snart pointed out. "I feel perfectly fine, and I've been stuck in here long enough."
Ray ignored Snart's argument and spoke to Nora. "Okay. You can stay back with him. I'll go on the mission. But call me if literally anything happens."
Leonard leaned in toward Sara and began to say, "Sara, I…"
Sara held up her hand and he obediently fell silent. "Nope. You heard Ray. You're staying." She put her hand down and addressed the rest of the team, "Nate and Zari, you two search the bottom floor. Ray and Charlie, you can cover the top. Mick and I will search the middle."
"Sounds like a plan, Captain," Charlie said, forming a casual salute with two fingers.
The Legends gradually filed out, making their way toward the fabrication room. Mick stepped over to Nora's side and leaned in to growl at her, "He'd better not blow up."
"He won't," she assured him.
Mick accepted her statement with a nod and left to join the others. Once the rest of their teammates were gone, Leonard and Nora stared at each other across the central console. "So…" Leonard said after an awkwardly long silence, "…now what?"
Nora smiled and shrugged. "I've got a few ideas."
Ray, Charlie, Mick, Sara, Nate, and Zari entered through the main doors of the Keystone Mall, all of them dressed to blend in with the shoppers of 1983. Once inside, they split up and headed toward their respective floors.
"Let's see," Ray said as he and Charlie stepped off the escalator and onto the top floor. "What around here would be most likely to catch a little girl's attention?" He turned to Charlie. "You were a little girl once, right? Got any ideas?"
"Eh," Charlie said, waving her hand in a fifty-fifty motion. "I wouldn't really put it that way. Immortality is complicated." She sidestepped away from the escalator and led Ray to the directory posted near it. "But this could help. It says there's a music store on this level. Our little prodigy might be drawn to that."
"Oh, perfect," Ray said, finding its location on the directory's map. "Looks like it's nearby. Let's check it out."
Meanwhile, Nate and Zari arrived on the second floor. "Okay," Zari said, looking around. "I see kids running around, but none looking like they belong in the 1700s."
"Hm…yeah," Nate agreed, also examining the area as they walked. "Nothing too out of the ordinary here." He looked over his shoulder, then signaled Zari to stop. "There's a food court on this level," he said, pointing across to the opposite side of the floor. "You think she got hungry?"
Zari shrugged. "It's as good a start as any." The two of them turned around and began walking in the direction of the food court.
Sara and Mick stood in the middle of the ground floor, surrounded by dozens of mostly adult shoppers. "You'd think a kid from the wrong century would stick out," Mick muttered as he scanned the crowds. "See anything, boss?"
"No," Sara replied, also watching the people passing them carefully. "In fact, I don't see anyone who looks younger than sixteen." A group of four short middle schoolers rushed past them. Sara turned to Mick as they narrowly avoided bumping into them. "Never mind."
Mick rolled his eyes, then attempted to glare at the clumsy kids. They were already too far away to notice. "Well, they're in a hurry," he observed. He shrugged, then turned away. "Now, about the girl…"
"Wait," Sara said, grabbing his arm. He turned to face her again. "Look where they're hurrying off to," she said, pointing to the far end of the mall. The group was running toward a room decorated with bright lights and filled with other people around their age. "That's an arcade," Sara explained.
"I can see what it is," Mick grunted.
"And it's full of teens and preteens," she continued. "She'd have no idea what an arcade is, sure, but with the after-school crowd out in full force, she could've easily been swept up in a large group of kids headed there."
"So you think that's where she is?" Mick asked.
"I think it's a good spot to check out, at least. Come on." She led him across the ground floor toward the arcade's entrance.
Leonard watched Nora suspiciously as she moved around the Waverider kitchen. "Not that I mind being in a different part of the ship," he said, "but if you're going to observe me, why did you move me over here?"
"I thought it would be a little less weird than the lab," she answered casually as she pushed a series of buttons on Gideon's machinery. A few seconds later, she was holding two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "Also, this." She set one mug down in front of Snart and kept the other in her hands as she sat down across the table from him.
Leonard glanced down at the drink, then back up at her, a confused look on his face. "Why?"
"Why not? You said you liked hot cocoa. And I did put mini marshmallows in yours."
He looked down at it again. "Yeah, I noticed." He tentatively took a small sip of his drink, then asked, "But why?"
"Well, I thought it might be nice to chill for a minute," Nora answered. "Get a chance to hang out, you know? Just reformed bad guy to reformed bad guy."
Leonard scowled at her menacingly. "Who are you calling reformed?"
"Oh please," Nora replied, not at all intimidated. "You can pretend all you want, but Ray told me about all the heroic stuff you did. Trust me, you're in way too deep with the good guys to back out now. The villain ship has sailed." She took a sip of her hot cocoa and smiled. "Mm…good job, Gideon."
"Look," Leonard said coldly, "I don't care what Raymond told you. I'm not a hero, and I never said I was."
"I know," she said. "I never said you were either. I just said you weren't a villain. At least, not anymore. There are all kinds of shades of gray between hero and villain. No one knows that better than me." She paused in thought, then continued, "I mean, even real villains have their own shades of gray, too. Take my dad."
Leonard raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Damien Darhk?"
"Yeah. Super bad guy. He had this whole thing about destroying the world to rebuild it in his own image. Also, he kind of made me join a cult."
"And he killed Sara's sister," Leonard pointed out.
"Exactly. Like I said, horrible person. But he also sacrificed his life to save me because, deep down, even with all the terrible crap he did, he was still my father and he still cared about me."
"Can't relate," Leonard muttered under his breath.
"The point is," Nora continued, "people are complicated. I don't think I'm a hero just because I'm a Legend now. I have too much darkness in my past to feel like I can honestly say that. But I do think I'm trying to do the right thing now. And so are you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."
Leonard's scowl gradually faded. He studied Nora as he took a sip of his hot cocoa, waited a moment, then said, "Fine. You want to say I'm somewhere in the middle? Go ahead. But that's as far as I'll go. No lumping me in with your Boy Scout boyfriend."
Nora straightened up in her seat and held her mug over the table. "To shades of gray," she said with a slight smile.
Leonard hesitated, then gave in. "To shades of gray," he said, bumping his mug against hers before they both took a sip of their own drinks.
Charlie and Ray approached the music store. They heard the sound of 80s pop music grow louder until they found themselves facing a window full of television screens playing brightly colored music videos. On the other side of the screens was the door leading to the inside of the store.
"Wow," Charlie said, eyes wide as she watched the screen. "Music got a little different after the 70s, didn't it? Not quite my style, but it does have some interesting new tricks. I might even borrow a few and pass them on to my band."
"Careful," Ray warned. "Music is like technology. Different influences build on each other to develop new innovations over time. You can't remove a step from the equation and jump to the future." He gasped as a realization hit him. "Unless…those ideas developed in the first place because you brought them back from the future, which means you would have to take them back with you in order to influence the artists who influenced you. It would create a cycle!"
"Rage, stop trying to make my brain spin," Charlie said. She nodded toward the entrance to the store. "Are we checking it out or not?"
The two of them walked inside. It was one of the larger individual stores in the mall. Most of the space inside was taken up by tables and shelves full of vinyl records on one side and cassettes on the other. There were posters of various rock bands and pop stars hanging all over the walls, a few of them signed. The only wall not decorated in this way was the back wall, which instead displayed several musical instruments at differing heights. This display continued in the space directly in front of the wall, which included a large drum set, a couple different kinds of keyboards, and two guitars resting on stands. The shelf in the corner next to the instruments held books of sheet music and chord charts written for varying levels of musicianship. As Ray and Charlie wandered around the store, something near that corner caught the shapeshifter's eye.
"Ray," she said in a hushed voice, "I think I know where our girl is." She led him to the back of the store, then tiptoed silently around the instrument display. "I saw someone take something out of that shelf," Charlie explained. "I didn't get a good look, but they ran behind…that." She pointed to the drum set, which was big enough to block their view of the opposite corner almost entirely.
They walked over to the drum set. In the middle, hiding from view, was a small girl with her face buried in a book of sheet music based on movie soundtracks. It was hard to see very much of her from her hiding spot, but the small amount of her outfit that they could see was definitely more in line with 1762 than 1983. Ray and Charlie exchanged glances and gestures, trying to decide who should say something first. Finally, Ray spoke up, "Um…hey there. Are you lost?"
The girl looked up quickly and set her book down on the floor. She stared wide-eyed at Ray and Charlie. From the way she shrank back from them, they could tell she was terrified. "It's okay," Ray said gently. "You don't have to be scared. We're your friends."
"That's right," Charlie said, backing him up. "Friends. Do you want to go home, Nannerl?"
The girl continued to stare at them. "How do you know my name?" she asked in a tiny, accented voice.
"Oh, good," Charlie remarked to Ray. "I was a little worried she didn't understand us." She looked back at Nannerl and explained, "You got lost and we came looking for you. Now, do you want to come home?"
Nannerl glanced at the floor, then back up at Charlie. "Is my brother with you?"
"Uh…no?" Charlie replied. She added a little more confidently, "I mean, no, he isn't, but if you let us take you home, then…"
"I'm supposed to look after my brother," Nannerl said. "I don't know where he is."
"Your brother's fine," Ray assured her. "I know this is scary, but I promise, we're just trying to help you."
Nannerl continued to stare at them but didn't seem eager to move.
"Excuse me," a man's voice asked from behind them.
Charlie and Ray turned around to see a store employee standing there. "Oh, hello," Ray said.
"Can I help you find anything?" the employee asked.
"That's very nice of you," Ray replied, "but we're just here to pick up…um…someone…" He looked to Charlie for help.
"His niece," Charlie finished for him. "We're picking up his niece."
"Yeah," Ray quickly agreed. "Because she came here after school. And she really likes…you know…music and…stuff."
If they hadn't been trying to blend in, Charlie would've made some sarcastic comment about Ray's discomfort with lying. However, their main goal was to avoid drawing too much attention to the girl inside the drum set, so she said nothing.
"Oh, okay," the employee said, still not leaving. "Do you see her here?"
"Yeah," Ray answered without thinking, "she's right here behind the drum…set." He had caught himself, but only once it was too late to come up with another end to his sentence. This time, Charlie had to try even harder to hold back her comments. "I mean," Ray quickly explained, "she's just being a little stubborn. But we've got it under control. No need to worry. We'll be out of your hair in a minute."
The employee leaned sideways and glanced past them at the drum set. "Really? I don't see her."
"That's because she's hiding," Ray replied, sidestepping to block the employee's view. "She does that sometimes. What a prankster."
Charlie glanced backward, then tapped on Ray's shoulder. "Um, Ray? She's actually gone."
"What?" Ray asked, spinning around. Sure enough, the only thing left in the center of the drums was the book of sheet music lying on the ground. "Oh no," he breathed. "Did we lose her?" He looked around the store and spotted a glimpse of Nannerl's dress as she ran out the door. "There she goes!" he exclaimed to Charlie. He hurried after her, trying very hard not to knock over any instruments in the process.
Charlie noticed the strange look on the employee's face and explained, "He's a…very protective uncle. Kids, you know?" She then turned around and sprinted after him.
