Unlike years prior, this time, Daisy had not left her mind. At first, it was just stupid naive hope that maybe, just maybe, she was trying to find her. Maybe she remembered that night as well as Sara did. But as time went on, hope fertilized the soul and doubt bloomed in the rich space left behind. Maybe Daisy was just smarter than their other big bads. She could hack. Could erase any trace of what damage she had done.
Sara just wanted her out. She and Ava had gotten over their little spat and were back, strong as ever. And she loved Ava. Honest to God loved her. She agreed to buy a bed for her in whatever purgatory Ikea they were trapped in last week. She couldn't be thinking about Daisy anymore.
So she did what she did best, threw herself head first into other people's problems. The problem of the week? Zari and Nate's horrendous flirting and unresolved romantic tension. It called for a bonding trip. So she sent them to the thirties on a run-of-the-mill Nazi punching mission.
"See? They took care of things on their own, " Sara said, gesturing at the Nazis on the floor, Nate and Zari's weird comm clearly not as important as they made it out to be. The time courier portal closed behind Ava and her as they stepped into the speakeasy. She did a double take as Nate and Zari, standing just a little too close to one another, came into view. "And they were clearly about to hook up."
Ava scoffed. "No, they weren't."
Sara's lips split into a cheshire grin. "You owe me twenty bucks."
"Uh-uh." Ava wagged her finger, cutting Sara off and turning to the couple in question. "Were you guys about to hook up?"
At once, Zari and Nate spoke, their voices overlapping as Nate's "it was definitely on the table," undercut Zari's "nope, no, no."
"See?" Sara said, only to find her own voice doubled by Ava's.
Ava's familiar exasperation only made her cuter. "Come on," she grumbled.
"I told you-"
Waving her hands around, Ava dismissed it all and got back to business. "Doesn't matter." Scanning the room, her eyes lit on the body at her feet. She stepped over it with a casual ease that sent Sara's heart thudding. It was a testament to just how far their relationship had come.
She definitely did not wonder if Daisy would do the same.
"Now that you know that it is a real mission," Ava said. "Where's the egg?"
A sudden thought struck her. "Where's Ray?" Sara followed Ava across the body to stand at her side. "I thought he was supposed to be quarterbacking?"
"Hm, they always said you would come back."
The group jumped at the very distinct German voice from the floor. Ava aimed a kick at the man's head.
He grinned with all his teeth. "I didn't believe them… but I suppose it is my lucky day."
Sara placed a hand on Ava's arm to stall her. "What do you mean?"
"Time travelers," he breathed.
Blood pounded in her ears. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ava trying to gauge her reaction. She locked her gaze on the Nazi instead, letting go of Ava's arm.
Ava kicked him in the guts instead of the head, sending him doubling in on himself in pain. It gave Sara much-needed time to think.
The Legends had interacted with Nazis before, but that was later in history, closer to WWII. 1923 Chicago didn't go off without a hitch, it was possible they left loose ends there that could've found their way to the Nazis. But even then, they had covered their tracks. No one suspected them of time traveling. Unless the Legion of Doom said anything… but she doubted that too. They would murder indiscriminately before they said a word.
"Pffft, time travel." Nate waves a flippant hand. "That's ridiculous. Who would believe that crap?"
The Nazi groaned, his hands still clutching his ribs. "Your clothing in telephone in your ear, it proves it," he wheezed.
Ava glanced down at her trousers and wool coat with a wince. They were normally more careful than this but memory flashers just made things so easy that it became less of a priority when jumping in to save their team.
Shaking herself out of he thoughts, Sara squatted down beside the sleazeball. "What did they look like?"
"I never saw them. Only heard rumors and had orders to tell the boss if I'd seen any."
"The boss. What's his name?" Ava demanded.
He scrambled to pull himself somewhat upright, eyeing Ava's boots warily. "Malick. Freddy Malick."
"Looks like you're taking me to Freddy, then." Reaching one hand out to grasp the stiff, starched collar of the Nazis suit, she hauled him up onto his feet, ignoring his yelp of protest. Ava must have broken a rib.
"You?" Ava shook her head. "Absolutely not. I'm coming with you."
Zari met Sara's side-eye, jumping into action as she recognized the implied order. "I'll go with her."
Ava opened her mouth to argue and now it was Zari's turn to shoot a meaningful look.
"Okay," Nate said loudly, oblivious to the three-way conversation happening through mere looks, "time to go egg hunting." He made his way toward the exit before realizing no one was following him. "You coming?"
Tearing her gaze from Sara, Ava gave a grumbled, "Yeah, yeah." Nate disappeared through the door, and Ava froze in it. "Be safe," she said softly.
Channeling a confidence she didn't quite feel, Sara raised two fingers in a mocking salute. It seemed convincing enough. Ava left without any more trouble.
"You think it's Daisy?" Zari asked once they had gotten settled in the car Sara… borrowed. She sat in the back with a revolver jammed into the Nazi's side while Sara drove.
Sara nodded.
"You never told Ava."
"No." She could feel Zari's judgment from the back seat and worked hard to avoid the piercing disappointment in her eyes, daring Sara to meet them in the rearview mirror. "I just… There was never a good time, okay? We just fixed our relationship and then things kept happening…"
"We're Legends, Sara. There's never a good time," she said with a huff. Then, leaned forward, voice gentle now, face free of the judgment that plagued it only moments before. "The Bureau needs to know if there are other time travelers out there."
Calloused hands flew up off the wheel in exasperation. "Well, they know now! Thanks to blabber mouth back there."
The blabbermouth in question practically preened. "It is not every day one gets to-"
"Shut up," the girls groaned in unison.
His jaw snapped shut with a soft click.
"Sara," Zari started.
"I know." She sighed, fingers flexing and retracting around the wheel a few times. "I know." She frowned out at the road to New York stretching out in front of them. "But if I tell Ava, The Bureau will treat her like a rogue time traveler. It's the same reason I didn't tell Rip."
"Uh, messing with time, not a Legend or a Bureau agent, or… what were the OG guys called?"
"Time Masters."
"Yeah, those idiots, She's not any of those, which is kinda what a rogue time traveler is."
Sara shook her head. "I've seen the kind of time travelers who are in it for themselves, who go rogue to fix their own problems. They don't change time like this. Daisy covers her tracks. Hell, we can't even find exactly what she's changed, which means she went out of her way to not break time."
"And she helped you guys in '73. I know. But I also know Ava. If you vouch for this chick, Ava will listen. You have to-"
"Left here," the Nazi interrupted.
Sara yanked on the wheel, sending the car careening on two wheels onto a narrow strip of pavement just off the main road.
Zari hadn't brought it up again for the rest of the drive, but Sara could feel her still thinking about it as they stepped up to the door of a speakeasy. She knocked thrice, the password given to her by the Nazi falling from her lips upon request. The Nazi himself was currently stumbling around in an alley somewhere, freshly memory flashed.
The girls stepped inside once the door opened. It was pleasantly busy. Most of the tables were occupied by groups of men, but a few couples hung around here and there. It wasn't nearly as nice as the Explorer's Club they had come from, but it wasn't a dive by any means.
Roaming eyes caught on them, some judging, some questioning, some objectifying. A close-knit group of patrons, if it was this easy to pick out newcomers. They made their way to the bar quickly. A quick look around and Zari spotted the boy they were looking for standing near the end of the bar pretending to wash glasses while very obviously listening in on a conversation at the bar.
"You Freddy?" Sara asked, taking the lead while Zari kept an eye on the rest of the room.
The kid didn't freeze, she'd give him that, meandering over to them slowly, but when he spoke it was with equal parts ice and fear. "Who's askin'?"
"Someone not looking for you." From the pocket of her now era-appropriate traveling coat, she withdrew a copy of the still taken of Daisy. She slid it across the bar. "You know who this is?"
One foot angled to the backroom. His fingers tightened around the glass in his hand. Sara inclined her head slightly, sensing Zari move behind her, following the unspoken command.
The kid attacked the moment Zari stepped away, his arm winding back to bring a pint smashing down in the space Sara's head occupied just moments before. He didn't linger following his miss, letting the bottle crash to the floor as he bolted to the storeroom. Sara straightened from her crouch and sent an awkward salute to the now silent and staring bar.
"Sorry. Just uh… dropped my drink." She made a show of nudging the pearly shards of glass on the floor with her toe. A smattering of laughs sent conversation flowing again, leaving Sara to slip into the storeroom unnoticed, just in time to see Freddy fly back and hit the back wall of the room with a solid thud.
She eased the door shut behind her.
"Little aggressive there, Z."
Zari shrugged, lowering her outstretched arm along with the dimming of the totem around her neck. "He wouldn't chill out."
"You," Freddy spat at Zari. He clambered to his feet, breath coming in gasps, his hand holding his back. "You're like her."
Zari's head tilted. "Like her?"
"The broad you," he gestured at Sara, "showed me."
They shared a look.
"How was she like Zari?" Sara pressed.
"Magic." His lips curled into a sneer. "Or powers or voodoo or some shit. Hell if I know. But I saw her stick an arm out and send people flying."
She filed that away for later as a possible way to track her. "What did she want with you?"
He groaned, leaning back against the wall for support, resigning himself to the situation. "She and her whole crew of mounties, or whatever they actually were, didn't like my smuggling business."
Familiar weight lept into Sara's fingertips, her favorite of the blades Gideon could fabricate. She let it fly. It glinted through the air. The kid flinched. The blade buried itself hilt first into the wall beside his ear.
Freddy gulped.
"That was a warning. Now talk."
"Desperation took root in an instant. A boy prepared to play along to save his skin morphed into one terrified to reveal the truth. The hand he had bracing his back slid down to the revolver Sara knew was tucked into the waistband of his pants.
Everything followed in the span of a blink. Freddy drew his piece and took aim at Sara. Zari blasted it from his grip with a single gust. Metal clanged against stone as it skidded along the floor. Sara stepped forward, grasped Freddy's wrist, spun it around behind his back, and propelled him into the wall, careful to angle his head just right, lining up his eyes with the blade still embedded in the wall.
"Talk," she demanded again.
And talk he did.
