So we got a few more glimpses of Mick's home life in "Welcome to the Jungle" and guess what? None of it necessarily contradicted what I wrote in the last chapter. Yay! That's always a good thing.
And I will say one thing for the massive crossover special: unlike with the Dominators, this one did not maintain the status quo by the end. There were marriages, death, a loss of any superpowers for a surviving character, and another character joining one of the teams.
Anyway, I absolutely love and appreciate all the comments I received with the last chapter. I am so glad to see that it went over so well with all of you. I can't tell you how much hard work I put into getting everything just right.
Leonard held his breath, listening intently even as his arms shook with the effort of keeping himself up. He thought he heard it. Maybe it was a mistake, but he needed it to be real.
The second beep was easier to notice, everyone in the room dead silent and straining to listen for it. And then there was a third. And a fourth. Slow and weak, but it was real.
"Mr. Rory's body temperature has apparently risen enough for the epinephrine to be effective," reported Gideon. "He is no longer in cardiac arrest."
Relief flood through him even as his strength melted away. Leonard completely collapsed, Sara and Amaya catching him before he hit the ground. Gideon wasn't exaggerating when she said it would take time for his endurance to come back. He was weaker than he ever remembered feeling. And he hated being that obviously vulnerable.
"And back in the chair," muttered Sara as she helped him. "We've got you."
Leonard wasn't exactly happy to end up back where he started that morning, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. Honestly, retaining consciousness seemed like an achievement.
At least he wasn't alone in his visible reaction to Mick's change in condition. Half the team had slumped against the closest wall. Stein muttered something quiet enough that Leonard couldn't make out the words, but the tone strongly suggested it to be a prayer of thanks. And Rip looked like he seriously needed a drink.
"I did inform you it would take time for your endurance to recover, Mr. Snart," said Gideon.
"Forget about that," Leonard said. "What just happened? Everyone kept saying he'd be fine and the Mick…"
He trailed off, too tired and unwilling to continue that train of thought. But he needed answers. Knowledge was power. And if he couldn't control what was happening, then he should at least know what they were dealing with.
"We thought he was," said Rip, rubbing his forehead. "He seemed to be recovering at a reasonable rate. But then again, the both of you were exposed to temperatures no humans have ever survived before. No one knows exactly what to expect."
"Speaking of which," Barry said before vanishing in a flash of speed. Then he reappeared with the quilt that was left in the galley earlier. "We can't let you backslide too."
Leonard kept quiet as the blanket was passed over to Sara and she tucked it around his shoulders and arms. He was too chilled to complain about the lack of dignity in everyone trying to bundle him up.
"But seriously, what happened?" asked Jax. "Everything went wrong very fast."
"One of the risks for more severe hypothermia is rewarming shock," Gideon said. "It is a sudden drop in blood pressure in combination with low cardiac output. And though beneficial, the cellular regenerator can put stress on the body in the process of repairing damage. That includes in this instance excessive repairs to the lungs, heart, and vascular system specifically. The combination of that stress, the rewarming shock, and the still-present hypothermia put enough strain on his heart to disrupt the rhythm. It set off a cascading failure, causing his condition to rapidly worsen until he achieved complete cardiac arrest."
That made a surprising amount of sense. Snart did remember feeling very tired after his hand was restored, but he figured that was just the adrenaline wearing off and probably delayed shock from the injury. He'd slept heavily that night. In retrospect, it made sense that regrowing limbs took a lot out of a man. Even if it helped in the long run. And he had no idea how much damage they'd fixed on Mick.
Cisco said, "So a whole lot of bad luck hitting him all at once. Any way to prevent Round Two?"
"The necessary, yet sudden spike in Mr. Rory's core body temperature does raise the possibility of further medical shock even if he is still within the range of hypothermia," Gideon stated. "Further complications might be reduced however. I recommend that, since none of his current injuries are immediately life-threatening, the most effective treatment would be to postpone any further cellular regeneration until Mr. Rory's condition improves."
"Broken ribs are easier to survive than no heartbeat," muttered Jax.
"And Captain Rip?" she continued. "I also recommend the use of an external pacemaker."
"Why?" asked Leonard, some of his concern about the situation flaring back up.
Opening a drawer and pulling out a silver disk a little larger than a quarter, Rip said, "Until we're certain that he's recovered sufficiently, this should keep his heart at a steady rhythm and keep it from slipping back into V-Fib like that again. Only a temporary measure, but one that should prevent a repeat performance." Carefully positioning the device on Mick's chest, he added, "I honestly can't take a repeat performance. Not this early in the morning."
"As if the rest of us can handle it," said Stein, slumping against the wall behind him.
Leonard leaned back tiredly in the chair. He could barely keep his eyes open now that he knew Mick would be all right. In fact…
He glanced down, blinking sluggishly as he tugged his arm back out from under the quilt. The cuff was back on his wrist. When did…? Oh. Sara must have slipped it on when she tucked the blanket back around him. And she and Gideon were apparently in a conspiracy together. That would explain how heavy everything felt. He'd be more upset about her stunt if he wasn't so busy being impressed by the stealthy move.
"Really, Assassin?" he mumbled, managing to raise the offending appendage briefly before dropping his hand back on the armrest. "You and Gideon sedating me?"
"I am only administering a low dose, just enough to calm you," defended Gideon. "It would not be enough to reduce you to unconsciousness if it was not for your current state."
"And it'll give her a chance to double-check on you," Sara said. "Make sure that she didn't miss anything and that all that running around didn't cause any new problems. A little more rest won't hurt you. And one of us will be here when you wake up."
"Cheater," he mumbled.
"Don't complain, Crook. You'd do the exact same thing."
Leonard couldn't exactly argue with Sara on that one. Both because she was right and because exhaustion and the mild sedative finally pulled him back into slumber.
"I'm not exactly sure it's a good thing our assassin captain can stealth sedate us like that," said Jax slowly when it became clear that the thief was out like a light. "But since Snart doesn't look like he's about to collapse anymore, I'm not complaining much."
Not to mention the man looked more relaxed now than before. He actually looked like he was sleeping instead of being half dead, which was how Snart looked when they first dragged him out of the weird portal. Actually sleeping rather than simple unconsciousness was visibly different.
"Mr. Snart will likely awaken in a few hours," reported Gideon. "That should be sufficient time for him to recover from the amount of energy he has recently expended and from the stress from the last few moments. Though I highly recommend that Mr. Snart actually take it easy this time."
Jax couldn't help a minor smirk at Gideon's tone. The A.I. sounded like she wanted to scold the unconscious thief.
"So Rory is stable again and Snart is going to be sleeping a while," Iris said. "Since they both need their rest, we probably shouldn't be crowded in here."
Right. It was pretty much what Sara said the day before. They couldn't just stand over the patients worrying the whole time. That wouldn't help anyone.
"She's right," said Jax. "I was going to keep an eye on things anyway. Go on. I've got this." Sitting down on the crate, Jax picked up both his book and Stein's breakfast. "And I mean you, Grey. Eat your grapefruit and get some sleep."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Stein said, "After that excitement, I am uncertain how easily I'll be able to rest."
Jax knew better. Based off what he felt through their psychic link, he suspected that his partner would be out almost instantly once Stein reached his room. The only question was if there would be any more nightmares.
Well, if there were, Jax could always wake him up.
"If Professor Stein is getting a little shut-eye, maybe Cisco and I can take a look at that equation," Ray suggested. "It's better than doing nothing all day."
The rest of them started shuffling towards the door with varying levels of reluctance. Jax settled himself comfortably on the crate with his book. He waited quietly as Amaya, Nate, and Sara finally left last. Then he waited a couple extra minutes.
Quietly, Jax said, "All right, you guys. I don't know what is going on with Rory and Amaya or Nate and Amaya or whatever. But I'm pretty sure something is going on with Snart and Sara. Especially with how those two used to act. Honestly, between all you guys, all the stuff that happened with Kendra, and whatever in the world is the deal with Gideon and Rip, the Waverider is turning into the love boat."
He shook his head slightly. He was getting off topic.
"But whatever. The point is that you two better not die or almost die again. None of us want to deal with that. You're our teammates, so listen to us. Don't put any of us through that again. No self-sacrifices and no making me do CPR again. All right?"
Unsurprisingly, neither of the unconscious men responded to his words. But Jax felt better saying it aloud anyway. So he pried open his book to the beginning and started reading.
His partner was right. Once Stein managed to get a few hours of sleep without being disturbed by nightmares, he felt much better. It didn't completely ease his weariness, but it helped. So he felt a little more lively as he headed to the galley for lunch.
As Stein sat down with a bowl of tomato soup and a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches, Ray and Cisco ran in. The clear excitement on their faces suggested good things. The team needed good news after their rough morning.
"Professor Stein," called Ray. "We think we have something."
"We were going over that equation that Heat Wave gave you, your notes from last night, and Gideon's information on the timestream," Cisco said quickly. "And we figured it out."
"You mean you know how to fix the timeline?" asked Stein.
Ray shook his head and said, "Oh, not that. We're nowhere close to solving that problem."
"Not even close," Cisco added.
"But we were able to work backwards with that equation to figure out what it actually meant. What the different variables represent and how it applies to reality rather than just being some numbers to plug into a timeship's navigation," continued Ray.
Leaning back, Stein asked, "And what has your studies revealed?"
"The equation is a way to map out the fractures to the timeline," he said.
"Which isn't exactly easy to visualize since it works in four dimensions rather than two or three, affecting both time and space, but we aren't the type to back down from challenges," added Cisco. "Doc Brown would be so proud of us."
Ray continued, "We managed to work out that there's a pattern. It spirals out from the initial point at a predictable rate. Specifically, it matches the Golden Ratio. You know, if the Golden Ratio was four-dimensional rather than two."
"Fascinating," said Stein. "I believe I saw hints of what you're describing, but I just didn't take it far enough."
"Well, to be fair, we had more sleep and Gideon's help when we were working on it," Ray said.
"But here's the important part," said Cisco. "Certain places and times will be hard to travel to or from. Or even impossible. But you can work around it. Arrive earlier or later than you intend to. Or travel to a different geographical location. With this information, you can plan out your time-jumps. Like we know that the closest time to when we left Central City that we can return would be July 7th, 2017. I'm going to send a message to STAR Labs to let them know."
"And hopefully this means our time-jumps won't be as rough if we don't try traveling through one of those fractures," Ray added.
Nodding thoughtfully, Stein added, "And hopefully it will prevent us from being dumped back in that futuristic-dinosaur city amalgamation place."
"Which sounds both amazing and horrifying," said Cisco.
Smiling briefly at the pair and gesturing beside him, Stein said, "Well, after a particularly intense and productive morning, perhaps the two of you would care to join me for lunch?"
"Great," said Cisco with a bright grin. "Quick question. Is the replicated pizza here decent?"
They were doing much better now about actually taking shifts in medbay. Jax watched over the pair for a while before trading off with Nate. And then Iris and Barry took over.
There wasn't much for them to do while the pair sat on the crate, though they both managed to locate a couple books. But Iris didn't mind. She leaned against Barry's shoulder, letting him twist her hair between her fingers in a rather soothing manner. The sensation felt relaxing. And there was something comforting about having him running his fingers through her hair. It reminded her that she had Barry back. Iris suspected it would be a long time before she completely believed it.
She loved him so much and she came close to never seeing him again. Just like how he nearly lost her to Savitar. The world kept trying to tear them apart, but they kept finding their way back.
As Barry leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple, she heard a tired groan and a familiar drawl complain, "That isn't exactly what I want to see first thing when I wake up."
"Too sweet for your so-called cold heart?" asked Iris as they turned their attention back to the awake patient. "Or are you just particularly grumpy when your girlfriend drugs you?"
And no matter how subtle Snart tried to keep it, the man definitely stiffened at her word choice. Iris almost smiled at the idea of the calm and controlled Captain Cold looking flustered, however subtle it might be. But she had enough experience with the difficulties of the heart that she would limit her teasing.
"Rory mentioned that he believed that you had your eye on Sara," explained Barry.
"Never pictured Mick as a gossip," he muttered, sitting up. "Or a matchmaker."
He glanced over at the other chair. Snart didn't say a word, but his shoulders definitely relaxed a little. Thankfully, nothing had happened to Rory since the incident that morning. He seemed to be doing fine again.
"And we never pictured him trying to set fire to the Speed Force," said Barry. "But he did. He helped pull me out of there just to get my help rescuing you."
Staring at the speedster a moment, Snart finally said, "How is it that you and your misadventures are more confusing than the entire time travel mess?"
"Next time you're in Central City, I'll give you copies of my recent articles to help catch you up," Iris said dryly. "But I'll let someone else tell you about the alien invasion."
Leaving Snart with an expression that made it clear he was attempting to figure out if she was serious, Iris gave Barry a quick smile and stepped out of the room. She would let the two of them talk while she tracked down the captain.
Iris found Sara in the study, filled with knickknacks that she doubted belonged to the assassin. Sara sat there with a stack of books in front of her as she twisted a knife between her fingers. She didn't look up, but Iris knew that Sara noticed her arrival immediately. Iris didn't spend as much time around assassins as those who lived in Star City, but she knew that journalists didn't have enough stealth to sneak up on someone like Sara.
"Whatever you did to knock him out has worn off," said Iris. "Snart's awake. He's in there with Barry." Smiling slightly at the woman, Iris added, "But I doubt it'll end in a superhero and supervillain fight, so I think we have time."
Returning a wry smile, Sara said, "That's probably a safe bet. Thanks for telling me."
Sara stood up and slipped her blade out of sight. Iris had no clue where it ended up, but she suspected the knife could reappear just as quickly without warning. Maybe Sara could teach her that trick someday. It might be useful to know how to hide a weapon in case of a kidnapping. That type of thing happened far too regularly.
"Let's go check on them then," Sara continued. "Maybe this time Leonard will actually stay out of medbay for more than ten minutes."
Barry waited a moment before giving his former villain a significant look.
"You know, if Rory is right and you haven't talked to Sara about it," he said slowly, "I really think you should."
"I'm sorry, but do you honestly believe that the best person to give someone relationship advice is the guy who took forever to start dating his adopted sister?" asked Snart dryly.
"Okay, first? I loved her even before I moved in with Iris and Joe. And second, she's my fiancée."
"Mazel Tov."
Barry blinked in surprise as he was hit by the feeling of déjà vu. Something was off about this.
"You already told me that. You said it the first time I told you we were engaged. When I found you in Siberia, 1892," said Barry slowly.
Turning in his chair and staring at the speedster as if he was crazy, Snart said, "I've never been to Siberia, 1892."
"Then how did…," he said before trailing off.
An idea began to tick through Barry's head. If the man hadn't been to that time and place, but Barry definitely found him there, then…
Barry started laughing, shaking his head slightly. He couldn't help it. He couldn't believe it was that simple. Barry ran a hand through his hair. Cisco was going to love this.
"Do you want to share with the rest of the class?" asked Snart, clearly still wondering about the younger man's sanity.
"About a month ago for me, I traveled to Siberia, 1892, to ask for a favor. We have a way to send and receive messages between the Waverider and STAR Labs, so I adjusted it and used that to find you there," Barry said as he gained control of his laughter. "I assumed it was you from before the events of the Oculus."
"But now you're thinking this favor is in your past, but my future," said Snart.
"It's the only thing that makes sense."
Snart chuckled dryly and asked, "When did our lives get so crazy that this is what we consider 'making sense'?"
"For me? Either when Thawne ruined my childhood or the particle accelerator explosion," Barry said. "For you? Probably whenever you semi-adopted a criminal arsonist for a brother."
Snart stared at him strangely in response. Barry just shrugged and leaned back.
"Look, families can be complicated and aren't just the people you're related to," he continued. "Joe has been just as much my dad as my father was. And considering how long the two of you have known each other and what I saw him do and risk to save you, I don't know what else to call Rory other than your family."
"Partner," said Snart, but in a quieter voice than expected.
"No reason that he can't be both."
After a brief moment of silence, Snart asked, "Do you practice inspirational speeches or do they come naturally to you optimistic types? You and Raymond both seem to love this stuff."
Chuckling slightly, Barry said, "Must be part of being a hero. You'll probably start it up soon."
"Not a hero," said Snart. Pushing himself slowly to his feet, he managed to stand up while looking far steadier than last time. "So do I have a clean bill of health, Gideon?"
"Not completely, but you have not suffered any further damage from earlier," the A.I. reported. "Do not overexert yourself again, Mr. Snart. Otherwise you might spend the rest of your recovery under sedation."
"And you know I'll help her with that," said Sara as she and Iris re-entered the room.
"You really think you can pull off the same trick twice on me?" Snart asked with a smirk.
Returning her own version of the smirk, Sara said, "I don't know. Do you really want to test that, Crook?"
Barry and Iris exchanged glances. Rory definitely wasn't exaggerating. The way they kept look at each other made the flirting impossible to ignore or dismiss. Barry suspected that, before the events with the Oculus, there was probably a betting pool in place about the pair.
"Maybe another day," Snart said. He glanced back at Rory again, silently reassuring himself that the man was still stable. He turned back towards Sara and said, "But as fun as that sounds, let's wait until after I get something to eat. A little toast wasn't enough to do much."
"Then you two head to the galley," said Iris as she sat back down next to Barry. "We're not going anywhere."
Hub City: June 25th, 2017
She slipped into the apartment that served as their safehouse in this city, pulling off the blonde wig and shaking out her hair. She wasn't one who tended to plan out bigger heists. She preferred to be more spur of the moment, taking advantage of situations as she spotted them, but she occasionally chose to work on more grand-scale projects. More secure locations, more heavily-guarded targets, and more suspicious men who took time to fall for the honey-trap routine. And if she wanted to go big, that sometimes meant she had to case the situation a bit first. That also meant that she would have to change her appearance a bit in those scenarios.
Men tended to remember her when they saw her.
Her upcoming heist wasn't particularly smart to attempt, but she was bored. She'd been a good girl lately. No messing with the superheroes in the other cities. No massive crime waves. She hadn't even needed to break out her favorite shiny toy. Honestly, for the past few months, she just couldn't seem to work up the motivation to do anything really…
But she was going to pull off this job. She couldn't let all her talents and skills go to waste. She couldn't just give up. So she pulled herself together and started working on something big, ambitious, and definitely a bit more complicated. It was a good plan. Perhaps not as good as what he would have done, but… he wasn't here. Not anymore…
She forced herself to shake off those thoughts and walked further into the apartment. Part of the reason she chose it was because it was the one that held the fewest memories. None of them used it much. There hadn't been many trinkets and valuables that could remind her of things that were better left alone.
But it had a worn-out couch, a television, and a coffee table currently covered in her attempts at writing out the timing of the various guards, an empty paper bag from last night's dinner, and her personalized weapon. And for the moment, the couch was extremely inviting.
The young woman collapsed on the cushions with a sigh of relief as she kicked off her heels. The added height and the blonde hair would be enough to keep most people from recognizing her later. Especially with the blouse she was wearing, which drew most men's attention to the low neckline and generally convinced their eyes never to wander to her face. The things she did to rob people blind.
As she quietly debated whether or not it would be worth the effort to hunt down some more comfortable clothes, she noticed that there was a missed call on her burner phone on the coffee table. Not her normal burner phone, the one that she used and switched out regularly while running jobs. It was the second burner phone, the one that three… two people had the number for emergencies. The memory of slipping a piece of paper with it into Cisco's pocket without him noticing before she climbed on her motorcycle and rode off still made her grin. It would have been nice to see his expression when he found it later.
But the fact that she had a missed call was concerning enough for the young woman to sit back up. No one had used the number in months. The last time was when Cisco called to warn her to stay out of Central City and to keep a low profile because Sam Scudder and Rosa Dillion were on a bit of a hunt for vengeance and might decide that she would be a good enough target. Not that she'd been anywhere near Central City at the time, but she appreciated the sentiment.
And when she picked up the cellphone, she realized that it was more than just a missed call. Someone actually left a message. Without hesitation, she picked up the burner phone and played it.
"…Hello. This is Julian Albert, a crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. Though that probably makes you less likely to trust me if I understood Cisco correctly on who it is I am speaking to… Honestly, I have no idea why he wants someone to contact you. But Cisco insisted that I pass this on to you rather than give this information to the authorities so they can track you down and arrest you. Regardless, here is the message that he literally sent through time. On July 7th, around noon in the parking lot near STAR Labs, a… timeship will be landing there and Cisco believes that you should be there. The rest of the information was a bit of a jumble though. Something about a Mr. Mick Rory, another criminal who should have been arrested, and some time nonsense resulting in a dead—"
The message cut off abruptly, leaving her staring at the burner phone.
She had to be wrong. The rest of the message must have meant something different than what she was thinking. That man, sounding so detached and disapproving the entire time, couldn't be saying what it sounded like at the end.
Her eyes burned as she blinked rapidly. She had to be wrong.
The last thing that she said to Mick was that she hated him and never wanted to see him again, that she blamed him for what happened to…
She tried to find him a few days later, but he'd disappeared. Just like the first time, when they left with a bunch of heroes to "save time" or whatever it was. She drove him off. He left with those time travelers before she could say it wasn't true and she didn't really mean it.
She figured that there would be a chance later. He always came back, no matter how long they all separated to run separate jobs for a while. Mick would come back and then she would tell him that she didn't mean what she said that day. Because he was all that was left.
But if she understood that partial message correctly…
Lisa shoved the papers off the coffee table. She had almost two weeks before she had to be back in Central City. That gave her time to plan. She had a time and location. She knew the area. She could probably come up with a few ideas, maybe work out some escape routes for after.
Or she could go for a more direct method. Show up and work with whatever she found there, adapting to the situation as necessary. That was more Lisa's style anyway.
Regardless, that "no killing" deal with the Flash was now officially null and void. Those time travelers had taken enough from her already.
…So maybe it wasn't the best idea to have Julian deliver any kind of news to anyone. He isn't exactly renown for his people skills. But the only ones back at STAR Labs currently are Harry, Tracy, Wally, and Joe. With Joe as a cop, Wally as the son of a cop, and Harry being even worse at general people skills than Julian, there really weren't a lot of good options to talk to a criminal who doesn't want to be found. And I have a feeling that Tracy would ramble even worse.
Anyway, remember that I adore feedback. It helps motivate me and makes me smile. Thanks.