So apparently you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Especially the cliffhanger. After all, can you honestly say that Mick wouldn't eventually fall back on his usual strategy of setting problems on fire? I had a lot of fun with that. And hopefully you'll like this chapter too. I was surprised how quickly I could write it.
Los Angeles: April 4th, 2017
"It actually is quite fascinating to contemplate," remarked Martin. "Simply working out the science responsible for this disrupted temporal anomaly could lead to countless discoveries. Gideon must let me look over the recorded readings when this is over. I can only theorize so much without them."
"Once we track Mick down and see if we can get Snart back, I'm sure she'll share," Ray said, his arm half-buried in the inner workings of the timeship.
Everyone was pitching in on the repair work to try and speed things along. But only Martin, Ray, Jax, and Rip possessed either the relevant knowledge or skills to work on the more complex repairs to the timeship. For the others, it was outside their fields of expertise. So while Rip coordinated the work for Sara, Amaya, and Nate, the other three were in the engine room focusing on the more delicate and precise repairs. With their efforts spread out like that, they hoped to get the Waverider mobile as soon as possible.
One of the side effect of having two geniuses working in close proximity after a stunning revelation, however, was that it inspired them to talk. While Ray mostly discussed how the destruction of the Oculus could produce two distinct forms of energy in the blast based on his observations of it prior to the event, Martin himself theorized on the disrupted temporal anomaly itself. Even before the particle accelerator explosion, he had a fascination with time travel and his enthusiasm only grew once he gained proof it was real. Jax listened distractedly to the conversation as he worked, bemusement coming over their psychic connection quite clearly.
They'd learned how to block the connection partially over time. It took concentration, but they could keep their partner from experiencing their emotions or suffering their injuries to a limited degree. It helped when Martin wanted to keep Jax from being harmed when something like having his past self shot in 1987 happened. But it was too hard to maintain most of the time. So Jax didn't bother hiding his reactions to Martin and Ray "geeking out."
"But can you imagine what it would be like if you could observe time completely halted like that?" asked Martin. "There would be nothing to hear in such a place. Light would be unable to travel, so you wouldn't be able to see. Nothing would move. Why, even the very atoms would cease…"
He trailed off, his mind both grinding to a halt and racing after that thought. When they realized that Rory intended to pull Snart from the strange timeless place, the team decided to follow in case they could help (and so they could express their frustration with him running off without a word). They hadn't considered the hazards that such a venture would offer. Not completely, anyway.
If time was halted to a single instant, there would be absolutely no movement. Not even from subatomic particles. There would be zero entropy, something theorized about and never observed.
The Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics flashed through his mind. He couldn't ignore the implications. And Rory intended to get Snart out of a place like that? Did he know? Did he understand what he was walking into?
They wouldn't be getting a team member back. They would be losing one.
"Grey?" asked Jax uneasily, his partner's dawning horror feeding into the young man's emotional state. "What is it?"
"I'm afraid that Mr. Rory's intended plan might be more dangerous for him that what we initially imagined," he said. "We must finish repairs immediately and reach him before he gets himself trapped or killed."
Central City: June 24th, 2017
He thought the yelps of surprise and fear from Cisco and Barry was unwarranted, but Mick had to admit they probably didn't expect him to try burning the woman. He certainly didn't tell the nerd ahead of time and he'd moved very quickly with his attack. The flames engulfed the figure completely, his Heat Gun at one of the higher settings. If it was human, she would be very dead.
"Ready to go, Red?" he asked.
"Are you insane?" asked Cisco, his free hand pressed to the side of his face. "We're so dead."
"Very few come here who are not speedsters." A new figure formed where the woman had vanished. "You are not one of ours."
Mick glared at the Speed Force's new face. A bald man in gray robes that still guest starred in some of his nightmares. The last time he saw Declan, he crushed the Time Master's skull with his boot. Changing into the person who performed the induction process, the one who tried so hard to burn and pry away his entire identity to transform Mick into Chronos, didn't improve the arsonist's mood.
"I belong to nobody," he growled before turning his weapon on the figure once more.
He let it burn a little longer this time. Call it petty, but it felt good to kill that man for a second time.
"Stop it," shouted Cisco. "We're still partially in STAR Labs. You're going to burn the place down."
"And you can't kill the Speed Force like that. It's all of this," Barry said, gesturing at the swirling storm of bright lightning. "The person is just a way for it to talk to us."
"Don't care," said Mick. "Ready to leave or not?"
"I can't," Barry said. "Someone has to stay in the prison and I won't make anyone else do it."
"You are not one of ours," the Speed Force repeated as a third figure formed. "And you are not one of Barry Allen's, like Cisco Ramon is. But we know who you are, Mick Rory. We know what you intend."
This time, Mick dropped his weapon to his side. He knew it wasn't real. He knew the figure was the Speed Force. But Mick couldn't bring himself to burn this one.
A scrawny fourteen-year-old with a bloody lip, torn-up knuckles, and a cut on his arm from a shiv redirected at the last moment, Mick was staring at an image of Leonard Snart from the first time they met. He remembered how Leonard seemed determined to take whatever the older boys could dish out, something Mick learned later could be contributed to a lifetime with Lewis Snart as a father. He likely would have died without a cry for help because there had never been anyone there for him. He never had anyone to watch his back. And even though Mick didn't know a single thing about the smaller teenager at the time, something compelled him to insert himself between the older teens and Leonard. Something made Mick want to save him.
He gained something that day. He gained a partner. He gained Leonard and even Lisa to an extent. Even when he lost everything else he had to fire and his panic, he managed to keep at least something important.
But then he lost even that much because of the Oculus.
"You don't know anything," Mick growled at the thing wearing the face of a teenage Leonard.
"We know. We know more than you can comprehend. We know that Cisco Ramon's brother would have been lost even without the creation of Flashpoint." The nerd seemed to shrink beside him, though Mick didn't know if it was due to the words or because he was being addressed by the Speed Force. "We know you lost your first family to a fire you did not warn them of, Mick Rory. Your second family was taken from you when the Oculus was destroyed and you could not face his sister any longer out of guilt. And you have repeatedly betrayed your newest family in pursuit of what you desire. The latest of which led to time itself shattering."
"The fire was an accident and I was a dumb kid," he snapped back.
It took him years to stop blaming himself and he still did sometimes, but it wasn't his fault that he'd panicked back them. He'd even flat out told his teenage self that it wasn't his fault. He'd always been attracted to fire and sometimes it went out of his control. Like that night when he was a teenager. Or when he nearly burned himself to death, ending with him escaping an ambulance covered in severe burns and Leonard abandoning him for months because he couldn't handle Mick's self-destructive tendencies anymore. Mick knew he had issues. But those issues weren't something he ended up with on purpose.
The fire was an accident that night. Panicking and running out of that house was just survival instincts kicking in. It wasn't his fault.
"As for the rest of it," he continued, "I'm fixing it. That's why I'm doing this. And who do you think you are, acting so smart and looking like that?"
He didn't argue against the teenage-looking figure using the word "family" to describe them. It would take too long to convince the Speed Force that Snart was his partner and the others were his team. And that was completely different. Family was trying to crush the flame out of him. Family was blaming him for an obsession he could not control. Family was anger, guilt, and regrets. Family was ash and fading smoke.
He didn't argue the word though. He just wanted to get the Flash and leave. The longer he looked at the Speed Force wearing the mask of his partner as a teenager, the more it unnerved him. There was something fundamentally wrong with it. It wasn't just that the Speed Force couldn't perfectly mimic someone that Mick had known most of his life. The eyes, the expression, the way it moved, and every bit of body language felt empty and false. He was looking at something pretending to be human, but was utterly alien and unnatural behind the disguise.
"We are the Speed Force. We have existed since the first subatomic particle sprang forth from the Big Bang to form reality as you know it. And we shall remain until the last proton loses all energy and stops vibrating, plunging the universe into heat death. From the spin of galaxies to the movement of atoms, we are there," said the Speed Force. "And yet you intend to go where we cannot reach. It is intriguing to find someone with such a goal and the willpower not to be swayed. We know that you understand the cost you may pay for that choice and that you enter with full knowledge of what you are doing."
"But the Flash doesn't know, does he?" he said, refusing to acknowledge or consider what it was saying about his plan. "He doesn't know he could've gone home at any time."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Barry.
Mick glanced at the speedster and said, "Maybe you needed to stay a little while, but that Kid Flash person said it was a month ago. You should have been able to leave a while back."
"We explained, Heat Wave," reminded Cisco. "No prisoner in the Speed Force prison means disaster."
"There's no prison anymore."
The nerd and the speedster stared at him as if Mick was crazy. The Speed Force didn't react to his words. The familiar figure simply stood serenely within the unnatural storm.
"Wait, back up," Barry said. "What do you mean?"
"Good future you made the Speed Force prison to hold the evil future you," said Mick.
"Time remnant. Savitar was a time remnant," Cisco added helpfully.
"Anyway, he only existed if your girlfriend died."
"Fiancée," Barry corrected, furrowing his brow in thought.
"Well, she looked alive to me. Which means Savitar never existed, wiping him from the timeline. And no Savitar means the good future Flash never needed to make a prison in the first place," said Mick. "Paradox. Once time caught up, the Speed Force prison would have vanished. It may have taken some time to happen, but it should be gone by now."
Gaping like a fish, Cisco said, "I've watched 'Back to the Future' a million times and I still didn't make the connection. When Marty kept his parents from getting together, he nearly wiped himself from existence and the picture was going blank. And it was going blank because without Marty and his siblings, there would be no reason to have a picture. No Savitar, no prison."
"Is he right?" asked Barry. "I could have gone home to my friends? To my family? To Iris?"
Even as a teenager, Leonard wasn't always the easiest person for most people to read. He preferred to maintain control and that included over his emotions. But the Speed Force managed to take it to a whole new level. Mick couldn't tell if it felt any shame over Barry's confrontation or any annoyance over being exposed. It had the ultimate poker face, only revealing what it chose.
"We know what your future holds, Barry Allen. We know that you must return. You are the Flash and you are not one to stop," said the Speed Force. "Your presence was required here initially and we chose not to tell you when it was no longer necessary. We knew you would return to the rest of reality in time. We merely let you rest while you had the chance."
"But he could have rested at home," Cisco said. "He didn't have to stay here. He could have been with us. Do you know what we've been going through since he left?"
"Don't bother, Cisco. I don't think it actually understands. Not really," said Barry. "I don't think it can. The important thing is I can leave now."
Barry stepped across the swirling vortex, taking Cisco's offered hand. Mick watched the human-shaped Speed Force closely just in case there would be a last attempt to keep the Flash.
"You may return to protect the city and the people that are so important to you. You will return in time. All speedsters eventually return to us in the end," the Speed Force said. "But until then, do what you have always done. Run, Barry, run." Then, looking so much like his partner and yet completely alien, the Speed Force turned slightly and added, "Stay warm, Mick."
He didn't respond to the offered advice, even if he knew exactly what it was talking about. Mick just stared firmly until Cisco pulled them out of the blue swirling chaos.
Barry almost stumbled when the room reappeared around them. Mick remembered them calling it the breach room earlier, though the scorch marks on the opposite wall were new. Apparently he caused some damage while frying the Speed Force. At least no one was dumb or unlucky enough to stand in the line of fire. Not even the ferret-faced CSI, Julian or whatever his name was.
"Barry!"
Moving with enough speed to make Mick wonder if she was yet another speedster, the young woman launched herself at the Flash. He wrapped his arms around her, spinning briefly while holding Iris tight. The pair laughed brightly even as Mick caught sight of tears on their cheeks.
Emotional romantic reunions weren't really his thing. But that didn't mean he didn't understand the reactions. Getting someone back that you thought was lost forever? It was her fiancé rather than a partner, but it was what Mick was trying to achieve.
"I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered.
Kissing her forehead gently as he moved to cup her face, Barry said, "I know. I didn't want to leave you. I'm sorry, Iris."
"I've missed you so much."
The private moment between the two grew to include Joe and Wally hugging their returned speedster. Mick edged back as they spoke rapidly and reassured one another that it was real. A loving family with none of the sharp edges and broken bits that comprised his from childhood or that of the Snarts. This moment wasn't meant for him, a sentiment clearly shared by Cisco, Julian, Tracy, and the guy named Harry since they also kept their distance during the reunion. He could give them time together before he explained what he needed.
Would it be like that if… when he got Snart back? Lisa would call him a jerk and yell at him for disappearing, but there would be no bite to her words. And maybe him and the blonde assassin would finally get their act together. Mick wasn't completely oblivious and he knew Snart better than anyone else except maybe Lisa. Maybe Sara or Snart would actually do something with their second chance. And Ray would definitely try to start a group hug when he saw Snart, the right one, alive and safe. The hug probably wouldn't happen, but Ray would try.
Mick remained in the background while the reunion unfolded. He almost thought they'd forgotten he was even there until the detective broke off. The man approached Mick with purpose in his stride. Joe West met his gaze with a hint of the same suspicion all cops had directed towards him since he became a teenager and lost what little sympathy that a child's cuteness had afforded him. But then he extended a hand towards the arsonist.
"Thank you," Joe said with real honesty, "for bring my son back to us."
While uncomfortable with being thanked like he was some kind of hero, the fact it was a cop who once arrested him made it at least a little amusing. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement and took the offered hand.
"I expect a piece of cake from the wedding reception," said Mick, shaking the hand. "A big one."
"Heat Wave actually did it," Cisco said, pulling off the goggles and running his hand through his hair. He sounded rather giddy, like Ray sometimes did when coming down from the excitement of a particularly intense mission. "It actually worked. He made the Speed Force let Barry go. After trying to burn it repeatedly. How? Time-traveling has turned him into as much of a criminal genius as Captain Cold."
"Not quite," said Mick. "I told you. Time travel is kind of our thing. Paradoxes and changing timelines. I just get them now." Deciding he'd waited long enough, he stepped forward again. "Now, you have your favorite speedster in red back. Think I can borrow a couple of you for a favor?"
"What do you need?" Barry asked without hesitation, pulling away from his fiancée enough to face the man. "And where's the rest of the team?"
"He wouldn't tell any of us much until you got here," said Wally. "He said he didn't want to repeat himself."
Shifting slightly, he said, "Do you hero types feel like another rescue? Because I have one in mind that'll need a speedster and Vibe. Interested?"
"Are Stein and the others in trouble? Is that why you're here alone?" asked Cisco, eyes widening and worry bleeding into his voice.
"They're fine. Left them in Los Angeles," Mick said quickly. "It isn't them that needs rescuing."
"Then who?" asked Cisco.
"Leonard Snart."
There was no hesitation or doubt in Barry's voice. He knew. He'd heard enough and knew his former criminal rogues. He recognized the loyalty between the partners. He knew without any doubts who Mick wanted to save.
There was a reason why Snart always respected the Flash.
"Wasn't he your partner in crime?" asked Julian slowly. "The infamous 'Captain Cold,' to use the ridiculous nickname?"
Pointing a finger sharply at the other man, Cisco stated in a serious tone, "Don't go dissing my naming skills. You won't win that fight."
"But Barry told us that Snart died on one of your missions," Wally said quietly. Pity and sympathy came from the young man in waves. "Isn't it too late to save him?"
Trying to shrug off the looks now being directed towards him, Mick growled, "First, he's only as good as dead. Not actually dead. And second, I have a timeship. It's never too late."
"Changing the past is dangerous," said Barry.
"Try telling that to someone who doesn't spend all his time fixing messes like that, Red. And I'm not changing anything. Snart is stuck. I'm just pulling him out."
Staring at him firmly, Barry said, "Maybe we should start at the beginning. Why aren't the rest of the team here?"
"Well, we accidentally broke time recently," he said with a shrug. "They need to fix that, so I left our nerds to work on that emergency while I came to recruit you and your nerd with the powers. They figured I could handle this on my own. That way we can get both jobs done."
The lie slipped out so easily and completely natural. Let them assume it was a team decision. Let them believe his choice to work alone was so the others could focus on the shattered timestream. It was easier than admitting the truth.
If they didn't know what he was up to until it was over, it would be easier on the team. And for himself. If his plan didn't work, dashing their hopes would be too cruel. And if they knew what he was planning, they would either try to stop him for his own good or try to help. Mick wasn't so selfish as to make them pay the price instead. Not anymore. Not after what he'd already done to them or almost done. If there was going to be a cost for pulling Snart back, Mick would pay it and no one else.
They were partners. And it should have been Mick there when the Oculus exploded. It wouldn't have ended up this way if Snart didn't sucker-punch him. And the Snart who sacrificed himself like that probably wouldn't have touched the Spear of Destiny. He wouldn't have betrayed the team even in an alternate future timeline.
"And what do you mean Snart is stuck? Stuck where?" asked Barry.
"Really? You're not going to ask about the 'time breaking' thing?" Cisco asked.
Taking a moment to look over his audience, Mick said, "That's a bit of a long story. Any of you ever hear about a place called the Vanishing Point?"
While Barry wasn't so naïve as to think Mick told them everything, he told them enough to send the more scientifically-minded members of the team into a mild freakout. Between the concept of a location outside of time, an invention to more thoroughly view and manipulate the timestream, and the accidental creation of a captured moment that was unreachable by normal means, Harry and Cisco were delighted. He wouldn't be surprised if the pair invented the technology for timeships within a few weeks working off that information.
Mick also laid out his plan, which he assured them that a futuristic A.I. had already confirmed them to be theoretically-sound. They would head to the Vanishing Point, where Barry would run fast enough to attempt traveling back in time while Cisco would try to vibe and create a breach. Normally, the Vanishing Point wouldn't allow it to work because there was no past in that place. But apparently with time shattered, combining their two powers together should allow them to create a portal into that frozen instant. And while Barry and Cisco kept it open, Mick would go through and grab Snart.
It was a solid plan. Everything seemed simple and straightforward. There were no obvious threats. No villains or criminals involved except for Snart and Mick.
Of course, they didn't have the best track record when it came to plans. That little fact hung over their heads ominously. But they were all purposefully ignoring it.
"Are you sure they'll be safe?" asked Joe once again, staring down the arsonist as they walked towards the entrance of the building.
Barry didn't blame Joe for worrying. He'd been gone for a month without any sign that Barry would ever return. It couldn't be easy for him to let his adopted son go again so soon.
Iris certainly wasn't happy about him leaving already either. But between the fact that Mick did just help pull him out of the Speed Force and that Leonard's shift towards more heroic actions might be due to Barry's influence on the older man, he couldn't turn his back on this. He had to help.
So he pressed a few more kisses to her lips, something he'd missed even in the tranquil serenity of the Speed Force, and he promised Iris that he would return soon. He reassured her that nothing would separate them permanently. He loved her too much to ever lose her. He would always find his way back home to her. But no matter how much he loved her, he couldn't stop being the Flash. And if he wasn't the man who would always do everything in his power to help, would he be the man she loved?
"Flash and Vibe will be fine. Those two won't be near anything dangerous," said Mick. "There's no one left in the Vanishing Point to hurt them. The biggest threat to them is being late coming back. Navigating the timestream while it's broken is tricky. Might be off by a month or so. But they'll be back in one piece."
"I'm holding you to your word," Joe said firmly.
Chuckling slightly, he said, "A cop trusting my word. What's the world coming to?"
As they stepped out of STAR Labs, Mick did something and a timeship appeared out of thin air. Even with his limited exposure, Barry could tell it wasn't the Waverider. This was different. More… menacing.
"Dude, did you steal another timeship?" asked Cisco, staring up at the technological marvel.
"Didn't have to. The Time Masters handed it over to me," Mick said shortly. "Let's get moving."
Carrying his gloves and goggles in a backpack, Cisco practically sprinted up the ramp. There was no way he would pass up the chance to poke around another timeship. The only question was whether or not he would try to take apart the engine.
Wrapping her arms around him in a brief hug, Iris said, "I just got you back, Barry."
"You're not losing me. I promise."
"Finish up your goodbyes and hurry up," called Mick as he headed towards the timeship.
Barry reluctantly pulled away from the woman he loved. But as he turned to follow the pair, a thought occurred to him. Tapping into his speed, he raced back into the labs to change into his suit. Then he raced towards his and Iris' apartment. Briefly taking note of any changes since he disappeared, Barry grabbed a few items from the kitchen and placed them in a cardboard box. And when it turned out they were missing a key ingredient, he raced towards the grocery store to grab it and left money on the cash register on his way out.
Returning to the STAR Labs parking lot, Barry paused long enough to give Joe a quick nod before finally heading into the timeship. Leaving the box in what appeared to be a cargo bay, he tried to find his way through the slightly-dimmed hallways. He felt the floor shudder underfoot slightly as Mick apparently ran out of patience and took off. Only then did he find the bridge of the timeship.
And someone unexpected waiting there.
"Iris, what are you doing here?" he asked, shoving the mask part of his suit back.
"What do you think? I'm coming with you."
"But—"
"We spent months thinking I was going to die," she interrupted. "And then you were trapped in the Speed Force and we had no clue if any of us would ever see you again. Now you're on a spaceship, headed somewhere that time doesn't exist."
"Timeship," corrected Cisco.
"Do you really think, after all that, I'm going to stay behind?" she continued. "I am not going to let you vanish somewhere beyond our reach. Not again. For better or for worse, we're supposed to be equal partners in this relationship and support each other. Sometimes you'll save me from dangerous criminals and sometimes I'll shoot a speedster in the back to protect you. Wherever you go, I go too. Because I love you, Barry Allen. And even if you tell me that I won't lose you again, I'm going to do everything in my power to make certain of that."
He struggled for a moment to find something he could say in response to that. But he couldn't think of anything. There was nothing he could say to Iris that wouldn't somehow treat her as weak or lesser than him. And even without powers, that wasn't who she was.
"Joe is not going to be happy with either of us," Barry said finally.
"Wally promised to watch over him," said Iris with a triumphant smile. "He also distracted Dad so I could sneak onboard."
"Hey, Lovebirds," Mick called. "You and Vibe might want to hang onto something. The Time Masters were idiots, so the Shadowslicer doesn't have chairs." Steering the timeship high above the city, he said, "Gabriel."
A cheerful voice from the ceiling replied, "Yes, Heat Wave?"
"Set a course for the Vanishing Point."
Timelines for the ages of people in this show can be such a headache sometimes. According to the show, Leonard Snart was born 1972 since that's when they grabbed the baby version of him in the first season (which also happens to line up with the actor's age). He first met Mick in juvie when Snart was fourteen, which would be 1986 or 1987 depending on the time of year. And Mick burned down his family's home in 1990 since that's when the team grabbed the teenage version from. I can almost make it work if we place Leonard Snart as having a birthday late in the year (and we pretend the kid version of Leonard we see in the third episode is actually younger than he looks in 1975).
If Leonard has a birthday in the latter half of the year, that could place him in juvie in early 1987 at age fourteen. If we have Mick as the same age (even if there are two years difference in age between the two actors), that would place Mick at seventeen when his family dies. We'll just have to assume that Mick was already having issues with the law even prior to the deaths of his family.
As a side note, Lisa couldn't be born any sooner than 1981 since she didn't exist prior to 1975 and her father went to jail for five years (and then her mother would have to be pregnant for nine months). The actress was born August 8, 1986. Either way, there is a significant age difference between the two siblings.
This is a lot of fun to write. And I hope that people are enjoying this story. Feel free to let me know what you think so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.