Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A headache had crept behind Len’s eyes ten minutes earlier that refused to dissipate. Coincidently, that was how long Rip had been carefully outlining his plan of the day.

They’d come across Time Pirates lingering just on the edges of their sensors. So far neither party had made a move and Len was tempted to saunter back to bed for a few extra hours sleep but Rip had gotten it in his head that the only way to win this battle was to strike first.

He caught Sara’s eye from across the cockpit and she frowned his way, clearly as uncomfortable with the ideas Rip was sprouting as he was.

“So, it’s settled,” Rip stated, bringing his hands together smugly. “Ray, Jax and Dr Stein will destroy the vessel’s engines, effectively cutting off the oxygen. Then Sara, Rory and Snart will board and take care of the remaining pirates.”

“I don’t recall taking a vote. If it’s all the same to you, I’d much rather spend my morning doing something productive, like going back to bed,” Len drawled.

“As I’ve explained, twice now, Mr Snart, it would be unfair to hold a vote without the Hawks and they’re currently completing a mission back in 2016 and are not to be disturbed. Besides, you’ll regret not seeing this as productive when those same pirates raid our ship and kill you in your sleep.”

“If,” Sara interjected, drawing the room’s attention to herself. “They haven’t actually done anything to indicate they’ll attack us if we don’t attack first.”

“Exactly my thoughts. Thank you, Sara. So, the question is, why haven’t you asked Gideon to fly us somewhere well out of their reach? I believe she is fully capable of such, correct?”

Rip’s glare was pitiful despite his best efforts. He stalked across the cockpit towards Len and pointed a finger back towards the projection of the foreign ship. “It is not quite that simple. What’s to stop them from going and stealing some priceless piece of history if we don’t stop them? They’re thieves.”

“As you might recall, so are Mick and I and I don’t see you pointing that kind of firepower at us on the off chance we decide to fuck up the timeline by stealing the wrong artifact.”

By his side, Mick grunted. He’d known the man long enough to recognise it as a threat. If Rip even considered turning on them, they wouldn’t be the ones getting burned. He appreciated the support, not that he’d doubted it for a moment.

“I,” Ray cleared his throat, eyes wide at the sudden attention he drew, “I have to agree with Snart on this one.”

“We, too, would prefer to avoid unnecessary bloodshed,” Stein agreed, next to a nodding Jax.

“Have you all forgotten that despite what some individuals may believe,” Rip sent another glare Len’s way, “there is only one true captain on this ship and it happens to be me. I also am the only person on this ship who has prior experience with Space Pirates so I suggest you listen to me and prepare to attack.”

Stubborn silence settled in the air. Sara met Len’s eye again before she purposefully removed a blade from her waist and tossed it to the floor. It was more symbolic than anything, he knew she had dozens more hidden on her person, but it worked.

If his sister wasn’t happily married, he would have tried to set them up. He made a mental note to ask Lisa and Iris what their opinion of adding a third person to their relationship was.

Rip threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “Fine then. I would have preferred not to drain quite so much of our fuel levels but if you all refuse to get your hands dirty I suppose I don’t have a choice.”

Ray let out a sigh of relief and smiled, all wide and sunny like a golden retriever. “Thank you for listening to–”

Rip ignored him. “Gideon, prepare the missiles. Target: enemy vessel. Shoot when ready.”

Gideon’s voice cut through the cockpit. “Acknowledged, Sir. Missiles firing in five, four–”

Len didn’t have time to think, didn’t have time to do anything. The other Legends screamed obscenities in Rip’s direction and Mick powered up his Heatgun. He didn’t know the other thieves but he lived by a code, goddammit, and killing people who didn’t deserve it hadn’t been a part of that code for years.

“Gideon, stop!”

“Understood, Mr Snart. Missiles unengaged.”

The room silenced at Gideon’s words, five sets of eyes turning to Len.

Ray, Jax and Stein were halfway towards the main console, apparently having decided to try and hack into Gideon’s controls even if they never would have made it to the controls in time, much less had time to do anything. Even if they’d been closer, he knew that Gideon was virtually unhackable.

Sara stood next to Rip, fingers curled around the dagger she’d been pressing to his neck. He could just make out a second, smaller blade aimed at the soft organs of Rip’s lower back.

Rip was fully focused on Len, instead of paying attention to Sara’s threat – either not believing she would follow through, which was foolish even for him, or not having had time to fully process it in the chaos.

Mick was the only one who hadn’t turned to face Len, still entirely focused on Rip. His Heatgun was bright in his hand, aimed directly at their captain without hesitation.

“Gideon,” Rip snapped at the room. “What do you think you’re doing? Engage missiles.”

“Apologies, Captain Hunter. But you are not authorised to override Mr Snart’s command.”

Rip looked as befuddled as Len felt. And then the anger settled in. “Excuse me? I am the captain of this vessel, if I cannot override Mr Snart’s command than, pray tell, who can?”

“Mr Snart is second in authority only to my creator.”

Len leaned back against the wall behind him, thoughts racing. He… hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t expected his desperate command to work at all but this, being second in command behind only Barry? He hadn’t earned that, even if Barry clearly would disagree. When he’d been told that one day Barry would go on to create Gideon he’d never really considered his own role in it. Gideon was a Team Flash tool, and even if their work/home lives hadn’t ever really been separated properly he still hadn’t thought…

Fuck.

He missed his husband. Who apparently trusted him over literally every other person they knew or would know in the future. If he were the one with super speed, he’d already be halfway back to Central to kiss the shit out of him.

Both Jax and Ray looked ready to batter him with questions, eyes alight in a way that would make his own science nerd proud.

“And who the fuck is that?” Rip demanded, cutting off the curious Legends before they had the chance to ask the same thing, though likely in a less furious tone.

“My creator’s identity is confidential.”

Len stepped forward and placed a hand on Mick’s shoulder, squeezing lightly and sending a nod Sara’s way. Mick immediately powered down his gun but kept it in his hands. Sara slid the knife she was holding out of sight. He couldn’t see the second blade but he wasn’t stupid enough to assume that meant she’d put that one away as well.

Rip eyed him warily, seeming to finally realise the state of his Legends. “Is this a mutiny then?”

Len shrugged, his smile casually cruel. “I have no desire to steal your ship, Captain. Doesn’t mean I couldn’t if I so wished.”

“The pirates have left the area,” Ray announced, pulling up a projected map showing clear space all around them in every direction.

Rip pointed a finger directly in Len’s face. “This is my ship. Whoever this ‘confidential’ creator is, they won’t have the upper hand for long. I promise you that, Snart.”

“Better hurry up then.” Len grinned.

Rip left the room with a couple final glares, both towards Len and towards the ceiling that was presumably directed at Gideon. Already his aggravated words towards Gideon could be heard echoing back down the hall but if the AI responded it was out of Len’s earshot.

Mick tucked the Heatgun away and headed in the direction of the kitchen, grabbing Ray’s arm and tugging him along. “I need a beer.”

Ray looked back towards Len, curiosity still bright and eager in his eyes, but ultimately allowed Mick to pull him out of the room.

Len wasn’t sure of all the details behind that, but he was happy that Mick had someone he’d started to trust enough to want by his side when Len was busy. It didn’t seem like Ray was complaining if the blush he often sported around the hothead was any indication.

“Right,” Sara said, drawing Len’s attention back to her. “What the fuck was that?”

Len shrugged with an easy smile. “Don’t tell me you’re disappointed by this little revelation? I’m certainly not.”

“You didn’t know.”

He hummed in agreement before turning to where Stein and Jax were still huddled around the control panel. “Any requests for me to misuse my new found authority?”

Jax perked up, bubbling over with the kind of youth that made Len miss home. “Think you can soundproof my room before that,” he gestured to the door Mick and Ray had left through, “reaches the next stage of whatever it is?”

There would be no next stage in the way that the kid was imagining. Mick had always taken more pleasure in a good fire than the human body but Mick’s sexual preferences were his own to disclose.

“I’m sure if you ask nicely Gideon will do it with or without my assistance.”

Jax nodded almost disregarding the answer in his eagerness to ask his real questions. “Gideon was created?”

Len sighed, trying not to let his lingering frustration towards Rip target Jax instead. He actually liked the kid. “She certainly didn’t create herself.”

“And you know her creator? You’re friends or something?” Jax pressed on.

He gave Jax a blank stare, letting the air grow sticky with silence for a minute as the kid continued to stare back at him expectedly.

After a moment longer than he’d expected, Jax groaned. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he echoed. “I know you know what confidential means.”

Jax turned back to fiddle with the console in a poorly disguised effort to hide his pout.

“Doc, you need anything?” Len asked, turning to the older half of Firestorm.

Stein’s smile held a little too much wisdom and Len remembered that aside from himself, Stein was probably the Legend who had spent the most time with Team Flash. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I think of anything. Thank you, Leonard.”

“Perfect. I’ll just be on my way back to bed.”

He wasn’t surprised to find Sara following along behind him. He let her trail him until they reached the hallway outside his room and then turned to face her, leaning back against his door and raising an eyebrow.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I don’t think anyone else on board understands what it feels like to be the cause of that much unnecessary death and destructive. I’m really glad they didn’t have to find out today.”

“It would have been on Rip, not us.”

“You know it wouldn’t have felt like that.”

“I do, yes. Thank you for backing me up.”

She smiled at him, the familiar grin they’d exchanged in secret for months now. “Us criminals gotta stick together.”

He chuckled, letting the sound linger in the safety of the otherwise deserted hallway. “Remind me to introduce you to my sister and her wife the next time we’re back in Central at the right time. I think you’ll all get along a little too well.”

Her smile turned wicked for a second before returning to the same serious look from in the cockpit. “You really didn’t know that you could stop the missiles today.”

“No, I didn’t. It’s not a surprise exactly, but it wasn’t something I’d considered until that moment.”

“Something is wrong with Rip Hunter and this whole mission. I’ve been worried about his motives for a while now but after today…”

Len nodded in agreement. “Let the others know to keep an eye on him, subtly if possible. He’s not telling us the whole truth.”

Sara sighed, running her hand across her face and through her hair. “I guess we should have known it would be more complicated than we expected. When have we ever gotten to take the easy road, huh?” She narrowed her eyes at him after a moment. “Are you really not going to tell me why Gideon’s mysterious creator gave you more authority than anyone else?”

Len shrugged, a grin spreading across his face. “Spousal privileges.” He slipped into his room, just barely catching the utterly bewildered look on Sara’s face before he closed the door.

.

“Gideon,” Len said, collapsing onto his bed and closing his eyes. “From this point forward all decisions to use weapons when not already under attack will be made by me. If I am unavailable, Mick or Sara are to make the decision. If none of us are here, activate the Barry Knows Best protocol.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And… please let him know I miss him.”

“Of course. I shall also let him know that you preformed heroically today,” she said, a teasing lilt to her voice that reminded him too much of Lisa. Sometimes it was too easy to see the parts of their life that Barry had woven into the AI.

“If I asked you to avoid that part, would you listen to me?” Len asked.

“I’m afraid I’ve been instructed to pass along news of any heroic deeds you perform. Even you aren’t of a high enough authority to stop that.”

Len laughed into his pillow. “I figured as much.”

Chapter Text

The Waverider jolted harshly to one side, the lights cutting in and out as they were hit hard. Len had one hand on Mick’s shoulder, holding them both steady. In his other he held his Coldgun. Not that it was doing any good defending them when they weren’t sure who was attacking in the first place.

They’d known they were being trailed for days but without anyway to detect their enemy they were stuck waiting for whoever it was to make the first move. Sara had tried convincing Rip to land the ship somewhere so they would at least have the advantage of time period and location but the captain had refused, more concerned with damaging the timeline than the risk to his crew.

Which, obviously, was going just wonderfully.

Ray, Jax, Stein and the Hawks were outside trying to defend against an enemy that still hadn’t dropped their invisibility shields, while Rip, Len, Mick and Sara were ready to take out anyone who tried to board without permission.

“Something weird is happening out here, guys,” Ray called through the comms.

“Weird how, exactly?” Len ground out, barely keeping his position as the ship tilted with another hit. Their own shields weren’t likely to hold out much longer at that rate and he wished whoever was outside would just come on in so he could ice them.

Outside, a flash of light caught his eye. Amongst the usual swirling blackness of the time stream, lightning broke through. Bright flashes of purple shot through the space, illuminating the Legends outside. Against the force of the storm, his companions looked miniscule, gnats trapped inside a room of carnivorous plants.

Ray’s voice was strained. “Weird like that.”

“Fuck,” Mick muttered beside him.

Then, another flash of lightning, brighter than before, turned the whole sky purple for a moment and Len saw it. A dark spot nestled amongst the light; the right size for a vessel with enough firepower to spin the Waverider off her axis.

“There,” Len shouted, pointing out the shape. “Did you–”

“I saw it,” Rip confirmed. “Gideon, target acquired.”

“Yes, Sir, target locked. Firing in–” Gideon cut off as the lights flared brightly before dropping the room into complete darkness. “Unidentified presence aboard the Waverider detected. Defensive protocols engaged.”

The faint blue and red of his and Mick’s guns were the only lights in the room but he could make out Sara across from him, weapons ready, and Rip’s figure by the control console typing determinedly.

Seconds later the room filled with the same purple lightning that raged outside. It lit up wherever it touched, bolts reaching out and spreading across the room. Up close it was less chaotic, if he focused it wasn’t difficult to recognise the pattern. The bright purple sparks shot across the room in diligent rounds, disappearing for a split part of a second now and then as if the cause was leaving the room and returning an instant later.

If Len weren’t as intimately familiar with the logistics of the Speedforce, he might have mistaken the energy for pure lightning, however impossible it seemed. As it were, he recognised the perimeter check for what it was and braced himself to face a new speedster.

The lightning stilled and for a moment all that was visible were bright purple eyes, lit up with the same light.

The Waverider’s overhead lights flickered back on, still thrumming with excess energy, a moment before Gideon’s voice cut through the room.

“Defensive protocols disengaged.”

The speedster before them barely reached Len’s shoulders, clothed in a black and white suit that looked leather-like but that he knew must be a stronger material to keep up with that much energy. Unlike the Flash suit, the mask only overed the area around the speedster’s eyes, doing nothing to hide the brown curls framing her face.

Purple sparks of lightning raced across her shoulders and down her arms as she bounced on her feet, barely able to stay still.

“What do you mean disengaged, Gideon?” Rip glared, turning his focus to the new arrival. “Who do you think you are?”

The speedster grinned; a blinding thing even brighter than her lightning. Rather than reply to Rip, she glanced in Len’s direction and winked. “You guys chill here, I’ll be back in a flash.”

She was gone in the same bright shot of lightning she’d entered with.

Mick knocked his shoulder into Len’s. “I like her.”

Pride bloomed in his chest.

The room lit up again and Ray stumbled into Mick’s side as he suddenly appeared. Mick grunted at the unexpected weight, especially with Ray still in the ATOM suit, but was quick to steady his life partner.

Firestorm was quick to join them, looking around the cockpit disorientated, followed by Kendra and then Carter, wings still spread wide in fighting stances.

While the newly returned Legends attempted to gather their bearings, the speedster didn’t waste a moment. As soon as she steadied Carter, she sent the group a smile and was off.

Firestorm separated in a spark of light, both men holding on to the other to steady themselves and blinking in confusion.

Jax frowned. “What just happened?”

Before anyone could answer, the sky outside lit up once more. Len had thought that the lightning was intense earlier, but now it was as if comparing a snowflake to a blizzard. Every inch of visible sky was filled with purple lightning, the speedster a tiny point of light in the middle as she ran circles around the other ship.

The invisibility shields broke down first, shuttering off to expose a well-maintained ship approximately the size of the Waverider. It was unfamiliar to him, but behind Len Rip swore quietly.

“Should we try and help?” Ray wondered.

“Nah,” Mick answered easily. “The kid seems to have it handled.”

Indeed she did. Her lightning storm was swirling around the ship faster and faster, until the ship itself was only visible in glimpses. She was so fast that he quickly lost track of her but knew from experience that she had to be circling the ship to generate the tornado that was beginning to form.

“Wow,” Sara muttered. “She’s…”

“Breathtaking,” Len finished, unable to keep the smug lilt from his voice.

In his periphery, he noticed Sara send a calculated look his way.

The lightning tornado stretched up, higher than the viewing point of the Waverider could see, possibly infinitely high in the non-space of the time stream. The other ship was completely engulfed in the lightning.

And then, like a snowflake melting in one’s palm, the storm dissipated.

Streaks of purple lightning lingered in the usual churning of the time stream but they were calm in comparison to moments prior. Almost gentle.

There was no sign of the other ship. It was as if the lightning storm had simply swallowed it whole.

“Gideon, report,” Rip demanded.

“It appears that the enemy vessel has been removed from our vicinity, Captain.”

“Removed how?”

“I sent it directly to the Time Keepers’ headquarters,” the speedster answered, suddenly leaning against the wall beside Len. A few jolts of her lightning leapt across to his arm, tickling his skin through the thick coat he was wearing. “I figured they could do with the excitement. Paperwork must get boring, even somewhere like that.”

His smile was clearly not as subtle as intended if the glee in her eyes was anything to go off.

He holstered his gun at his side and inched closer to the speedster.

She couldn’t be older than her early twenties, at least a few years younger than Barry had been when they’d met. That close he could see her eyes were more hazel than brown, glints of green standing out vibrantly against the light brown of her skin. It made him distinctly aware of how much he missed his own hazel eyed speedster.

“You sent them to the Time Keepers?” Ray exclaimed, eyes wide with a mix of shock, confusion and excitement. “How is that even possible, did you use something to open a portal?”

“Serves them right.” He wasn’t sure if Sara meant the people on the ship or the smug bastards at the Time Keepers’ HQ. Possibly both.

The speedster grinned wickedly at Sara and it wasn’t Barry he recognised in that smile. To Ray she said, “No portal. You’ll understand in a few years.”

“You’re from the future?” Stein asked, perking up the way he did when faced with a new equation to crack. “Which year, if I may ask?”

“I’d much rather know what you think you’re doing on my ship,” Rip cut in, stepping away from the control panel he had been typing on earlier. “And how you were able to hack into my security system so easily.”

“Saving your asses apparently.”

“Language,” Len scolded, more to get a reaction than anything.

She rolled her eyes and sent a scowl in his direction, her face scrunching up adorably around the mask. The glint in her eyes made it clear what she thought of the reprimand, especially considering who she’d probably learned such language from in the first place.

The rest of the Legends, excluding Mick, were looking at Len like he’d just told them that he was secretly the Flash.

She settled her palms on her hips, turning to face him completely, a few more sparks crossing over to his body. “Fuck,” she enunciated slowly.

Len laughed and she grinned, looking extremely proud of herself.

“Right. Snart, if you’re quite finished with your flirting.” Rip ignored Len’s disgusted scowl and continued. “Gideon, identity report, please.”

A projection of the speedster’s head lit up the centre of the room, wearing the same suit but with the mask removed. Without the mask it was more obvious that her face was framed by delicate cheekbones. Constellations of freckles were brushed across her nose and cheeks. Unmasked, she looked younger than he’d expected.

By his side, she let out a soft, irritated groan and he took the opportunity to gently nudge his shoulder against hers while the rest of the room were focused on the image of her.

“Alias: XS. Species: Metahuman. Notable powers: Superspeed, Accelerated Healing, Invisibility and Electrokinesis. XS is a key member of the Next Generation of Heroes, founded by the Flash in 2034. Name: Nora–”

“That’s enough, Gideon,” the speedster interjected.

Nora.

Her name was Nora.

Of course, it was. There had never been another option.

“Of course, Nora,” Gideon replied smoothly, immediately shutting off the projection.

“Gideon, continue identification,” Rip demanded.

“Apologies, Captain Hunter, but–”

Rip groaned and ran his hands over his face. “Not this again. This is my ship. Gideon, continue identification.”

The longer Gideon remained silent, the smugger Nora’s expression grew. Len would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy watching her gloat.

“Fine,” Rip said, voice strained as he spoke through his teeth. “Since my own ship seems to be against me… Snart, you tell Gideon to identify her.”

Len watched Rip curiously as Nora stiffened by his side. “No, I’m good, thanks.”

“What, even you don’t have enough authority now?” Rip mocked, clearly agitated.

Nora looked at him, eyes wide. Her left leg was bouncing slightly, sending sparks down to the floor. It was such a familiar nervous tic that had his heart not already warmed to her, it would have thawed in that moment.

“I’m sure I do,” Len replied, slowly. “Answers still no, though.”

“Are you really choosing her over your team?”

“It’s the obvious choice, really,” Len drawled. “She just sent a whole ship to a different place and isn’t even winded. Impressive work.”

Nora grinned up at him, the praise practically thrumming through her body alongside her speed. “Thanks, D–Cold. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to mess with the timeline. Really, Mr Hunter, from what I’ve heard I expected you to respect that.”

“It’s a little different when the situation pertains to an unknown metahuman breaking onto my ship,” Rip replied. “And it’s Captain Hunter.”

“Is it, though?” Nora turned her gaze towards the ceiling in clear dismissal. “I’ll have to talk to Dad about adjusting your privacy settings, Gid. I guess that things can get tricky when dealing with past versions of people who know this stuff in my time.”

“Your dad?” Jax asked. “What’s he got to do with Gideon?”

“He created Gideon,” she replied offhandedly.

“Pardon?” Stein said.

At the same time, Ray’s voice cut across the room filled with shock. “He what?”

Nora stiffened and leaned into Len’s side, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Oh no, was that too much of a spoiler?”

He leaned back against her, reaching out to gently tussle her hair. “No, kid. You’re fine.”

“Seriously, Snart.” Carter said, his face scrunching up in disgust. “Could you cut it out with the flirting? You’ve gotta be at least seventy in her time.”

“Sixty-five next month, actually,” Nora answered, not moving from his side.

He really didn’t want to think too hard on that fact. Barry’s youthful energy already made him feel old as it was. He nudged Nora’s side with his elbow. “Don’t tease them.”

“But I’m so good at it.” The look she sent him was all Lisa’s influence, he was sure.

“Contrary to popular belief, I don’t flirt with every person I encounter, Birdman.”

“You work with the Flash?” Kendra asked, cutting off whatever Cater had planned to say next. “I thought he was pretty against speedsters messing with time.”

Nora shrugged. “He knows I’m careful.”

“So, the Flash knows you’re here?” Ray asked, finally pulling the ATOM helmet off fully and allowing Mick to take it from him.

“Not exactly.” Nora’s grin turned sharp. “I’ve been known to go rouge now and then.”

Mick laughed, loud and boisterous in a way that only a few people usually witnessed.

Len groaned and wrapped a hand around Nora’s wrist, tugging her towards the doorway. “Alright, time to run on home before you actually do mess up the timeline.”

She could have easily slipped out of his grip but she allowed him to pull her along for a moment. “Okay, okay. I’m going. One question, though. Please?”

“One question,” he approved, already helpless against her pleading.

Nora glanced around at the room full of Legends before settling back on Len. “What year are you from? It’s gotta be the mid-to-late 2010’s from what I’ve been told.”

Len wasn’t sure whether he should tell her. There had to be a reason she was asking and he knew his own scheming enough to recognise it on her face. “Why?”

“Just turned April 2017 last time we boarded this ship,” Mick called from behind him.

Nora’s face lit up with mischief. “Perfect. See you in about a year and a half.”

Before Len could react to that piece of information, she was gone in a flash of purple lightning. He couldn’t even find it in himself to be annoyed at her for giving away such a big spoiler.

A year and a half.

A year and a half until the birth of his daughter.

He couldn’t wait.

“Would you like to explain what exactly that was, Mr Snart?” Rip asked, annoyance lacing his voice. “Or is that also above my authority?”

Len sent him a calculating look back. “Would you like to explain why that ship was attacking us, Captain?”

Rip glanced between him and where the ship had been before turning around and exiting the cockpit.

Len exchanged a glance with Sara and turned to face the rest of the Legends as she quietly slipped out to follow their captain.

Carter looked likely to begin another argument with the crew but Kendra tugged him out of the room in the opposite direction as Sara, pausing only to briefly glance at the other doorway. He was sure that she’d demand to be filled in of anything she missed from Ray or Jax later.

“Well, I for one am dying to figure out who Gideon’s creator is,” Ray said. “Any ideas?”

Mick snorted and pulled Ray closer to his side. “Gonna need to try a little harder than that,” he advised.

“Do you really think you’ve got more authority than this guy’s own kid, Snart?” Jax asked, disbelief clear in his tone. “That sounds a bit overconfident, even for you.”

Len shrugged nonchalantly. “You’d be surprised how many things I get away with through pure overconfidence.”

Ray’s forehead crinkled in thought. “Clearly, whoever he is, you’re close, though. Do you think you could give Gideon updates? Change her programming?”

“If he couldn’t do it himself, sure. But I prefer to leave the science to him when possible.” He ignored the way both Ray and Jax’s faces lit up with the possibilities. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to do elsewhere.”

“I should get going as well, I was in the process of a rather important experiment before this disturbance,” Stein said, falling into step with him as they made their way out of the cockpit.

Len trusted Mick to steer the conversation away from anything too close to the truth.

Rip was still an unstable variable and he wasn’t close enough to the Hawks to decide whether he could trust them or not. But he wouldn’t have minded if the rest of the Legends learned these particular secrets.

It was, however, much more entertaining to keep them in the dark for now. If nothing else, he knew Barry would get as much of a kick out of being able to do a grand reveal as he would.

Stein smiled, stopping Len with a gentle hand on his arm as they reached the end of the hallway towards the lab. “She seems like a good kid, Lenord. I wish you the best of luck.”

He wasn’t surprised that Stein had figured it out. Anyone who’d spent enough time around both Barry and himself were bound to eventually. “Thanks. If she’s anything like her fathers, I’ll need it.”

They parted ways, Stein heading into the lab and Len continuing forward. Sara slipped up beside him a moment later.

“Anything new?”

Sara shook her head. “He won’t talk to me and whatever he’s hiding, he’s being cautious about it.”

“He’s bound to slip up at some point. We just have to be ready when he does,” Len reassured.

They continued on walking aimlessly for a few minutes before Sara leaned over to nudge him with her elbow. “So, a daughter, huh? Never took you for the family type. How long did it take you to work out who she was?”

Len couldn’t help the smile from showing on his face thinking about Nora. “I knew who she was as soon as she spoke.”

“A year and a half to go. Think I’ll finally meet this mystery husband before then?”

Time operated strangely aboard the Waverider. In their time they had only been gone for a few weeks at most, spread across a year. From the perspectives of the people back at home, every month or so they would leave for anywhere between a few hours to a few days and then come back.

For the time travellers each trip lasted months. It had to have been verging on at least a year’s worth of time away from home, if not longer.

In that time, Sara Lance had proven herself over and over again to be a true friend. One of the few people he trusted unconditionally. Enough that he’d introduced her to Lisa and Iris a few months back.

“You might.” Len grinned.

Chapter Text

“Mr Snart?”

Len didn’t look up from where he had his Coldgun spread across the desk, cleaning out the internal cooling components. “Yes, Gideon?”

“Captain Hunter is attempting to override my confidentiality protocols to gain information outside his level of clearance.”

“Will he succeed?”

“The information will not be released without permission from Mr Allen or yourself,” Gideon assured.

Len sighed, already gathering the parts of his gun and putting them back together. “Where is he?”

“Captain Hunter is currently in the cockpit.”

“Thank you, Gideon.” Len had the Coldgun reassembled in under a minute. He tucked it into the holster at his hip and shrugged on his coat before exiting his room.

The Waverider’s internal clock put them at just past two am. Len didn’t see anyone else awake on his trip across the ship. At least Rip was attempting to be subtle, if nothing else.

Rip was hunched over the cockpit’s main console, fingers racing across the screen as he muttered commands to Gideon that were too quiet to catch.

Len leaned against the doorframe, content to wait.

As the minutes went by, Rip grew more visibly distressed. Len had seen the man calmer while surrounded by enemies and unruly Legends.

“My apologies, Captain Hunter, but that information is–”

“Above my clearance level. Yes, Gideon, I am quite aware.” Rip pressed his forehead against the screen for a moment. “If you tell me that one more time, I swear I’ll shut you off.”

“You are not authorised to access my main power controls in that way.”

Rip snarled out something that might have been an obscenity had he not chosen that moment to turn around towards the main entry. He stiffened when he finally spotted Len waiting against the doorway.

Len nodded charitably, as if they had caught each other in the kitchen for a midnight snack rather than in the process of hacking into the ship’s AI. “Captain.”

“Snart. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Funny, I disagree.” Len hummed, looking around the cockpit leisurely. “In fact, I think it concerns the whole crew. Don’t you agree? Gideon, please tell the Legends they’re required in the cockpit.”

“Gideon, do not alert them,” Rip commanded.

“Of course, Mr Snart.”

Rip glared across the cockpit at him. “I never should have invited you onto my ship.”

“And miss out on all the fun?” Len jeered.

Mick and Ray were the first to arrive. Despite the late hour and the abrupt wake-up call, Mick looked wide awake. The only signs of sleep that lingered on him were the pillow marks across his left cheek and even those were fading fast.

Ray’s right cheek held similar marks. He lifted his arm up to rub at his sleep-crusted eyes with a yawn and the oversized sleeve of the shirt, at least two sizes two big, slipped down his arm.

“What’s happening, Snart?” Mick asked, draping an arm around Ray’s waist and drawing the man closer to his side.

Ray hummed in response, sleep refusing to release him entirely. “Are we under attack?”

“That depends,” Len replied.

“On?” Sara asked, slipping into the room in her White Canary suit.

Jax and Stein followed behind her, both blinking sleep out of their eyes but fully dressed. Kendra and Carter were a few steps behind them.

“On whether or not Captain Hunter is going to tell us why he thought it was appropriate to compromise the integrity of our security systems by attempting to hack into Gideon.”

“I have done no such thing, I assure you.” Rip stepped away from the screen behind him, looking at each of the Legends in turn but avoiding Len’s eyes. “Mr Snart must be mistaken.”

“Right,” Len drawled. “I’m sure Gideon was mistaken as well, since she’s the one who brought it to my attention.”

The other Legends glanced between each other cautiously.

“Gideon,” Rip reprimanded. “Why would you do that?”

“I am required to bring all potential safety hazards to the highest onboard authority.”

Rip’s glare was dark enough to intimidate a weaker man, but Len shrugged it off easily.

“Honestly, Gideon. Is there anyone else who has more authority than I do on my own ship I should know about?” Rip asked, voice mocking.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Excuse me?”

“Mr Rory is currently the second highest authority onboard, after Mr Snart.”

The cockpit was silent for a full minute, each of the Legends turning shocked eyes towards Mick.

Mick met his eyes and grinned, a full smile, all teeth. “Knew I liked the kid for a reason.”

Len grinned back, heart almost bursting with satisfaction.

It was a relief, almost, knowing that Barry saw Mick as not just a key part of Len’s life but also clearly an important part of his own as well. He was almost tempted to travel back to those first few tense weeks after he’d brought Barry into his life, just to show himself the proof of how close the two most important men in his life would one day become.

On the other hand, it wasn’t surprising in the slightest. In the same way that Len had grown to respect and care for Cisco, Caitlin and Iris because of the roles they played in Barry’s life, Barry had accepted Mick and Lisa in return.

Ray shifted, his eyes wide and finally clear of sleep. He glanced up at his partner with uncertainty and what Len assumed was his golden retriever version of jealously.

If Mick noticed, he didn’t make it obvious. Instead, as if it were second nature to him, he pulled Ray more securely into his arms and rested his chin on the other man’s head comfortably.

Ray immediately settled, although curiosity still burned in his eyes as he looked over at Len.

Len had expected Rip to be angry, but instead it was as if the new revelation had been the final shovel on top of an icy grave. “You cannot be serious, Gideon.”

“I would not lie to you, Captain.”

Rather than continue to argue with the AI, Rip sighed into his hands and leaned back against the console heavily.

Sara caught his eye before stepping closer to the captain’s side, a hand close to her staff, but not yet reaching for it. Whatever her thoughts were regarding Mick’s newfound authority, she didn’t let it show on her face. He supposed that knowing what she did about his own relationship with Gideon’s creator, his best friend having a position of power wasn’t such a stretch.

On the flipside, Jax’s thoughts were racing across his face, unfiltered. He glanced between Len and Mick before settling on Len. His expression was wide and open in a way that was only truly available to youth.

“You’re serious? You guys aren’t, like, tricking us somehow? I accepted Cold, it was weird but it wasn’t the strangest thing we’re come across, but both of you having some weird power over Gideon?” Jax’s face screwed up in confusion. “You aren’t secretly her creator after all, are you?”

He was touched that of all the options flying through Jax’s mind, Len somehow blackmailing Gideon’s creator didn’t seem to be one of them. It was one of the reasons he liked the kid, his ability to see Mick and himself as more than just the criminals they were.

“I can assure you we are very much two separate people. Although, the last time I saw him I may have had a suggestion or two for Gideon’s prototype,” Len explained, holding back a smile at the memory of laying beside Barry in their bed, listening as his husband talked science.

“You’re that close?” Kendra asked.

“Let’s just say we were… fast friends.” Len caught Sara’s calculating gaze as he spoke.

“Why hack into Gideon?” Stein asked, drawing the attention of the room back to Rip. “Surely she would tell you what you wanted to know if you only asked.”

Rip looked up, his eyes red-rimmed in a way that implied the close proximity of tears, which didn’t make any sort of sense. “Unless it’s classified.”

Len narrowed his eyes. “Why would you need to know something that’s classified? Nothing hidden from you has anything to do with you or the mission.”

“You don’t know that,” Rip snapped. “You wouldn’t be able to understand what is or isn’t important because you can’t see the bigger picture. There’s a piece of this puzzle missing and since the identity of Gideon’s creator is the only thing I can’t access, that must be what I need to know to fix everything.”

This wasn’t a side of Rip that was familiar. Even the increasing odd behaviours the captain had exhibited over the past year did nothing to measure up to the unhinged quality of his voice in that moment. He sounded like a man who had already lost everything.

“Gideon,” Len asked, “would knowing the identity of your creator change anything for Captain Hunter?”

Gideon was quiet for a beat longer than usual. When she spoke her voice was soft, almost remorseful. “Nothing that I have hidden from you would change the outcome, Captain. I am sorry, but the timeline is fixed.”

Len had spent enough time around broken men to recognise the moment Rip lost whatever hope he’d been clutching onto.

“Rip,” Sara said softly, placing a gentle hand on his arm. “Why are we really here. Tell us what’s going on. Please, let us help you.”

Gone was the hard, professional exterior Rip had maintained from the moment he’d invited them onto his ship. He wiped at his face even as stubborn tears snuck past, but didn’t push away Sara’s hand or leave the room as he had the past few times he’d been confronted by his team.

“It doesn’t matter now, Ms Lance. You heard Gideon, nothing can fix this. Not even you; not even me.” Rip’s voice was wrecked.

“What can’t you fix?” Sara prompted, gently.

“My… Savage killed my family. I’ve exhausted every option, every variable. I thought that maybe there was something I was missing, something that would make a difference but I was wrong. He killed my family and nothing I do will allow me to get them back.”

Len met his eyes and let the captain see exactly the type of man he’d recruited onto his ship. “So, we destroy him. If we can’t get your family back, then we take away everything Savage loves. And then we make sure he isn’t able to hurt anyone else ever again.”

“That’s not very heroic of you, Mr Snart,” Rip pointed out, but it was a half-hearted argument.

“You didn’t ask me to be a hero, you asked me to be a Legend.”

.

Ray caught him in the hallway near his room.

It was far too late, surely approaching close to four am by that point, and he didn’t have anywhere near enough energy to deal with the way Ray was almost bouncing on his feet from nerves.

“Where’s Mick, loverboy?”

“He went back to bed. I told him I’d be there in a minute.” Ray glanced between him and the floor, fiddling with the oversized sleeves of his shirt.

It was such a Barry-like action that it hurt to watch.

It had been a long time since Ray had been anxious around him. If anything, he’d always been too busy being anxious around Mick, not that it had lasted particularly long.

Len suppressed a sigh and made a conscious effort not to scowl. “Just say it.”

Ray startled, eyes wide. “What?”

“Whatever it is you tracked me down to say, just say it. I’m not going to freeze you, Ray. Mick would melt me just for trying.” And then Barry would flash Mick to the middle of the ocean and let him drown. Best to avoid all of it.

“Right, right.” Ray rubbed at his neck, avoiding his eyes again. “I… you said you were friends with Gideon’s creator. So, I… I wanted to ask if maybe I could meet him? I know it’s meant to be some big secret, so I get it if the answer is no. But, but he could wear a mask and disguise his voice maybe? Or he could just call me and we could talk about tech or, uh…”

Right, of course. No wonder Ray was acting like a twelve-year-old trying to ask out their crush for the first time.

He’d seen the way Ray had tensed up at the casual compliment Mick had paid Barry earlier. From a man like Mick, that spoke plenty about how important the speedster was in his personal life.

Len couldn’t fault the man for being a little jealous and trying, though not very subtly, to scope out the competition. He’d certainly have done worse if he thought someone was trying to take Barry from him, not that anyone would ever succeed.

“How about this? Next time we’re back in Central for a while I’ll have you and Mick over to our place for dinner. You can meet Gideon’s creator then, no mask required.”

Ray’s face scrunched up in confusion. “‘Our place’? You live with the man who made Gideon?”

He smirked, leaning back against the hallway wall. “Of course. Never really seen the point of going to all the effort of getting married and then not even living with your husband.”

“H-husband?” Ray glanced down at Len’s hand.

Len wiggled his fingers, a simple silver band glinted softly on his ring finger. He’d found that the people he encountered rarely even considered that he could be married, and therefore either never noticed the ring or brushed it off as decorative.

“Run along now, Raymond. Wouldn’t want to leave Mick waiting too long, he might get cold.”

Whether it was the lack of sleep or the unexpectedness of the revelation, Ray obeyed. He pulled his gaze away from the ring on Len’s finger, blinked at him dazedly, and then stumbled back down the hallway in the direction of his and Mick’s room.

He was sure that once the information had time to properly sink in, Ray would find him with a hundred new questions, but that could at least wait until morning.

Chapter Text

The past hour came back to Sara in flashes of memory.

It felt like her blades and staff were barely making a dent on the swarm of enemies all around them, but it was still better than the months of endless planning that had led up to it. Every time she was able to connect her weapons to flesh and feel the satisfaction of cutting down another target, she couldn’t repress the thrill of adrenaline through her body. She hadn’t been designed to remain inactive for long, and as interesting as being a Legend was, there was still nothing as invigorating as fighting life or death and coming out on the winning side. Through the hordes of people trying to kill her, she could glimpse sight of Firestorm or the Hawks occasionally.

She broke away from the heart of the fight, trying to ignore the almost physical pain of not giving in to the bloodlust in her veins, just in time to watch Leonard knock Mick unconscious and dump him in Ray’s arms. He tied the holster of his Coldgun around Mick’s waist and set both guns safely into their respective holsters. Finally, he reached out and took Mick’s hand for a moment.

Ray cradled his boyfriend’s unconscious body as if it were the most precious cargo, even with the awkward bulk of two hyper-powered guns between them. He looked at Leonard with something between heartbreak and relief in his expression. “Thank you.”

Leonard nodded, his own expression hidden from her as he waved Ray off.

Ray stepped past and froze at the sight of her standing behind them. He clutched Mick to his chest like he feared she’d separate them. For a moment she wondered what he’d do if she tried; she’d never had to see Ray truly angry, but she had the feeling that it wasn’t something she wanted to discover for herself.

“Get him back to the ship,” she instructed. She ignored Ray’s relieved nod and the way he was quick to pull his helmet down and take off in the direction of the ship.

Leonard turned around at the sound of her voice, his face resolute in whatever decision he’d made that resulted in him betraying his best friend. He looked as close to vulnerable as she’d ever seen him, hands free of the Coldgun, Mick nowhere near his side.

“Someone has to stay behind,” he said, voice oddly detached like he was in a stake of shock.

She nodded, knowing where he was going with the statement. “Mick was going to do it.”

“Mick’s done enough for me over the years; it’s about time I do something for him. Ray’s good for him, don’t let him fuck that up.” With every word his voice grew steadier, until any trace of earlier fogginess was easily forgotten.

Despite his reputation and willingness to lie, steal and cause grievous bodily harm to anyone in their way, he’d somehow remained the most relaxed of the Legends. Always the first to make a joke or break the tension with a pun, the first to flirt with a beautiful person – although she knew it was never as serious as he let the other Legends believe, not with the way she’d catch him smiling whenever it was time to pop back home for a bit.

She’d only ever seen him truly serious once before, when he’d returned to the Waverider from a trip to the 70’s unfocused and empty. All she’d managed to get out of him was that he’d tried and failed to talk his dad into avoiding a job.

This wasn’t like that at all.

That had been Leonard giving up on something impossible, if anything his seriousness now was the opposite. His eyes were hard but fully focused. He was ready and willing to fight her the same way he’d fought Mick.

“Okay,” she relented, tucking her staff in place behind her back and holding her hands out to show she was unarmed even if they both knew she could remedy that in seconds.

“Okay?” He watched her uncertainly.

“I won’t fight you on this Leonard. As much as I wish you’d change your mind, I have no doubt that you’re stubborn and smart enough to counter any argument I make.” She smiled wistfully at him. “It’s something we have in common, I guess.”

He eyed her for a moment more before nodding and finally relaxing his stance slightly. “You’ll make a good leader one day, Sara.”

“So would you.”

He shrugged it off easily. “I’ve never wanted the Legends. My Rogues were always enough for me.”

“And what happens to them, after?” It wasn’t a true attempt to talk him out of it and they both knew it. Besides, she really was curious.

“Mick can take over if he wants, or Lisa if he decides to stay with you lot. If not, they know enough to stay out of trouble and if they do get into trouble they can go to–” Leonard cut off suddenly, like the words had gotten stuck in his throat. “They know where to find help.”

She had a decent idea of who that help might be but didn’t push it. “You’re a good person, Leonard. And an even better friend.”

She stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. He stiffened against her for a second before giving in and hugging her back.

Momentarily hidden from the battlefield around them, Leonard Snart whispered his final words for her to carry safely home.

“Tell him… tell him he was right. There was good in me, and every last drop of it, of me, belonged to him. Right until the end.” Leonard took in and then let out a shaky breath against her neck. “Tell him I don’t regret any of it.”

They both knew he wasn’t talking about Mick.

When he pulled away, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and gave him the mercy of not having to say goodbye to her in an official capacity by not saying the words aloud either.

By the time the ship flew away, the flames of the explosion reached up into the sky after them, like fingers stretching out in a final farewell.

The Legends had won.

A part of her wished they hadn’t.

Mick had gently placed the Coldgun on Leonard’s empty chair when they’d settled in the cockpit a few minutes earlier but aside from that, no one had made a move to acknowledge the loss. She was sure Mick had no plan to let the weapon out of his sight long term, but she recognised the gesture as the commemoration it was, however temporary. Already it looked like he was itching to pick it back up and she wondered if having that spot of cold at his side helped balance out his own heat.

He had awoken as they took off, just in time to witness the peak of the explosion and understand what had happened. He’d waved off Ray’s insistence of getting checked out in the Med-bay. Sara didn’t think it was his pyromania that had kept him staring out at the flames until they’d jumped to a safer part of the time stream.

If he was angry at Ray for his role in stopping the self-sacrifice he’d planned, he didn’t show it. Ray hovered around him for a few moments, clearly anxious, until Mick pulled him to his side and continued his silent staring at Leonard’s otherwise empty seat.

None of the other Legends seemed to be faring much better.

Kendra and Carter had snuck away to process the loss privately, which a vindictive part of her relished. Since they’d barely cared enough to get to get to know their teammate when they had the chance, it felt right for them to leave those who had to grieve him properly. It wasn’t really fair, they’d still lost a teammate and had the right to react however worked best for them, but Sara didn’t have the energy to be fair.

Jax was quieter than she’d ever seen him, his eyes flickering back and forth between the abandoned Coldgun and the doorway as if he was expecting Leonard to come walking in to claim it.

Stein’s sadness had drained him. For the first time since they’d met, she could clearly see the years he had on them all. They’d been friends, he and Leonard. It was a strange set up but it clearly worked for them.

Ray was curled into Mick’s side, the only one of them openly crying. He wasn’t being obnoxious about it, still clearly more focused on trying to comfort Mick however possible, but a steady stream of tears created lines across his face and dripped quietly onto the floor. He’d stripped off his ATOM suit as soon they’d gotten aboard, likely so he could hold onto Mick without the cold metal between them. Even if it were obvious which of the two thieves he was closer to, Leonard had been important to Mick so Ray had made it his mission to befriend him.

In fact, despite Leonard’s insistence that he had no room for friends aside from Mick, he’d been a surprisingly easy person to like. Jax, Stein, Ray, herself… they’d all grown closer to the thief than they’d expected to.

He’d been the heart of the Legends, even if it had been a heart of ice.

She would miss him; she already did even when his death had barely even begun to sink in. She’d come onto the ship a year and a half ago thinking he was egotistical and ruthless and likely to cause more trouble than was worth. She’d made up her mind to avoid him, and his pyromaniac partner, whenever possible. Then he’d spoken to her, relaxed and confident and flirtatious and she’d re-evaluated that maybe he’d be good for some fun and a quick fuck if she got too bored.

And then she’d gotten to know him properly and she’d found a man who was fiercely loyal and intelligent and utterly smitten with his husband. She’d found a friend. He’d introduced her to his family, to Lisa and Iris – although he’d never gotten the chance to follow through with his promise to introduce her to his ever-elusive husband – and she’d found a home.

Fuck. Lisa.

She had to tell Lisa.

Even with Mick and Iris and, more recently, Sara, around, Leonard still was the most important person in Lisa’s life. This would completely destroy her in ways that even her father hadn’t succeeded.

She had to tell Leonard’s husband too. She was sure that Mick and Lisa knew who he was. And, even though she’d never met the man, she had a fairly educated guess that he’d be easy enough to track down through his… extracurricular activities.

“Right,” Rip said, finally moving from where he’d been standing in the corner of the room, observing them so silently that she’d almost forgotten he was there. “We can’t focus on the negatives here.”

Across the room, closest to Rip, Mick stiffened, finally tearing his gaze from the empty chair of his dead best friend. Sara wondered why none of them had thought to take the Heatgun from him while he was unconscious. At least for the time being, he was more focused on fiddling with some unseen object in his hands than reaching for his weapon.

Sara drew Rip’s attention to herself instead. “‘The negatives’? We didn’t come second place in a fun run; Leonard is dead.”

“Yes, and that’s quite unfortunate. But he was insignificant enough, historically speaking, that the timeline is still intact and–”

Mick’s snarl was uncontained chaos, like he’d gone from watching flames to being made of them. He pushed Ray behind him and stepped towards Rip, one hand reaching for the Heatgun when Gideon interrupted both him and Rip.

“The No Heroic Bullshit Protocol has been triggered. All necessary alerts have been sent,” Gideon said. And then, amazingly, “Mr Snart has been relocated to the Med-bay for treatment.”

Mick dropped the hand that had been reaching for his gun. A giddy smile, the same one she’d caught him wearing more than once as he burned stuff he shouldn’t have, took over his face. It wasn’t a pleasant expression. “He used your own fucking command against you,” he murmured, looking at the Coldgun and Leonard’s empty chair.

“Mick?” Ray asked, holding onto his boyfriend’s arm as if worried he’d finally cracked.

“Snart’s alive?” Jax exclaimed. “How?”

Sara took a step towards the doorway, determined to find out for herself if and then how it was true. Before she’d even made it more than two steps, she was pushed back by a gust of wind that shouldn’t exist on a timeship sitting idle in the time stream.

Red and yellow filled her vision. She blinked, her mind taking a second to process what she was seeing. The doorway was crowded with bright yellow electricity, lingering even as it spread across the room to follow its creator. A man stood in the middle of the room, wearing a familiar red suit. The same electricity sparked off his body even as he stood still. It reminded her of a lightning strike that had been perfectly captured and brought to life to play out over and over again against his skin.

She’d never met the Flash in person. If he was even half as powerful as his daughter would be, she hoped for everyone’s sakes that Gideon had been telling the truth.

It was Ray who reacted first.

“Barry?” He exclaimed, clearly well enough acquainted with the hero to know the man both with and without the mask. Then, as if remembering that not everyone on their team had started their careers on the same side of the law, Ray turned to look nervously at Mick.

It was easy to forget that Leonard and Mick had been well on their way to supervillian infamy before they’d joined the Legends. She knew for a fact that it wasn’t a hobby they’d left to gather dust, either. Since the Flash was Central City’s resident Superhero, it made sense for him to continue to keep his secret identity from certain Legends.

Mick met the Flash’s gaze easily, despite the slip up from Ray, and said, “Med-bay.”

The Flash looked ready to bolt in that direction when Mick held up a closed fist and caught his attention. The Flash, Barry – and wasn’t that a surprise? She’d met Barry once or twice, as Iris’s best friend and adoptive brother. He was sweet and clumsy and a cop, abet the nerdy, science version – stepped closer and held his palm out when Mick held his fist out, offering something in his hand.

Mick dropped a simple silver ring into Barry’s waiting palm.

Leonard’s ring. The thing that Mick had been fiddling with since he’d woken up. She hadn’t even noticed the exchange back on the battlefield, but Leonard hadn’t become a master thief by being obvious.

Barry’s face crumbled and any lingering doubts Sara had regarding the identity of Leonard’s husband were swept away. Even through the mask, the utter heartbreak was plain to see.

Leonard hadn’t planned on making it back home.

In a flash of lightning, Barry was gone.

“You know Barry?” Jax asked Mick.

“Of course he does, Jefferson,” Stein replied, like it was obvious.

Ray was stuck in place, staring at the space that seconds ago had been occupied by Barry’s hand, and the ring Mick had dropped into it. He’d obviously known that Barry was the Flash, and that Leonard was married, but not made that particular connection until now.

It would have been funny, if she’d had time to appreciate it.

Instead, she sent a warning glance towards Rip and followed after Mick, who picked up the Coldgun, grabbed Ray’s hand and lead the way towards the Med-bay. Stein, Jax and Rip followed after them. The latter two were clearly still not entirely in the loop.

Captain Cold and the Flash.

Ollie would throw a fit if he knew. She’d have to convince Barry to let her tag along if they ever decided to tell him.

Barry’s cowl was pulled back to his neck when she entered the Med-bay and, yeah, that was definitely Iris’ Barry. Which brought up so many more questions than answers.

But it was a bit hard to think of said questions when Leonard Snart was sitting on the edge of one of the cots, very much alive and in one piece despite apparently blowing up less than ten minutes earlier. He was wearing the same clothes as she’d seen him in last, not even a burn mark visible on his favourite coat. The only sign of any injury at all was the bandage carefully wrapped around his right hand.

Barry was perched next to him on the cot, their thighs pressed firmly together. His gloved fingers were intertwined with Leonard’s left hand, where the silver band was already back in its rightful place. As if the first thing Barry had done in the precious minute he’d had alone with Leonard before they’d caught up was make sure the ring was back on his husband’s finger.

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to hug Leonard again for being willing to die for them or suffocate him for leaving Lisa alone, even for a second. Since Barry was mid-sentence, she elected to do neither for the time being.

“–so Goddamn lucky I chose to let my paranoia convince me to key in your DNA and–”

Mick, apparently, had no such hesitations. He stepped forward and punched Leonard in the arm that held his injured hand, either because Barry was wrapped around the other or because he knew it would hurt more.

“Fuck, Mick. Really?” Leonard groaned, releasing Barry’s hand to rub the newly sore shoulder.

With how worried Barry was about Leonard’s nearly – actually? – dying, she expected him to be upset with Mick for purposefully making the pain worse.

“You deserved that,” Barry said.

“You’re lucky I didn’t ice you with your own gun, asshole,” Mick replied, leaving said gun and its holster next to Leonard on the cot when he stepped back beside Ray.

“And here I was thinking you’d be pleased by me escaping death. My mistake, feel free to remedy that.” Leonard drawled. At almost everyone’s pointed looks, he rolled his eyes. “Too soon?”

“I think we’d all appreciate a bit more of an explanation regarding the aforementioned ‘escaping death’,” Rip prompted, standing in the doorway with closed arms.

Rip seemed annoyed at the newest development. She wondered if he’d been counting on Leonard being the one to stay behind from the moment he’d learned about the suicide switch.

“I’m afraid I know even less than you do, Captain. I said my farewells to Mick, Ray and Sara. I activated the switch. I woke up here with Gideon mending my hand and Barry freaking out.” Leonard met her eyes, the serious expression he’d worn on the battlefield lingering. “It worked?”

She nodded. “It worked. The whole place lit up like a bonfire.”

“Beautiful stuff,” Mick confirmed, the light in his eyes only mostly exaggerated.

“And yet,” Rip pressed on, “you seem to be intact. How is that possible? Mr Allen, can I take your unexpected presence aboard my ship to mean you had some hand in this… miracle?”

“I,” Barry blushed, his cheeks almost a match for his suit. Turning to Leonard he said, “No Heroic Bullshit.”

Leonard gaped at his husband, but even through his astonishment the pride was clear in his eyes. “You absolute bastard. I told you I wasn’t a hero.”

Barry shrugged. “You also told me you were a liar.”

“You may have asked me to pass along some pretty heroic last words.” Sara grinned wickedly at the glare Leonard shot her way.

It felt surreal to tease him like it was just another mission. He’d been dead, at least to them, and her mind was still struggling to catch up.

“But how?” Ray gestured vaguely at the whole, very alive Leonard Snart.

“Gideon?” Snart prompted.

“The No Heroic Bullshit Protocol is a safety precaution set up by Mr Snart. It is triggered when the target performs an action that would lead to their immediate demise, despite there being a valid alternative. I am programmed to teleport the target out of danger at the last possible second. This protocol was adjusted shortly after its introduction to target Mr Snart, himself, instead. As such, I was able to wait for the explosion to commence before extraction, with only moderate damage to his person.”

Ray looked hopeful, practically melting into Mick’s side. “So, if Leonard hadn’t stopped him, Mick would have been okay? You would have pulled him out at the last minute too, right?”

“Unfortunately, I am only able to focus on one individual at a time and as my target was set to Mr Snart, had Mr Rory taken his place as he intended, he would have perished in the fire.”

Ray’s face paled before he hid it against Mick’s neck. Despite his stiff posture, his trembling shoulders exposed his sobs. Mick curled an arm around him protectively and sent a challenging glare towards the rest of the room.

Sara decided it was best to focus elsewhere.

“Why not just set that up for everyone?” Jax asked.

“Interfering with the timeline without damaging it requires a great deal of precision. My current model does not have enough power to split focus across multiple targets. As such, Mr Snart is my sole target unless I am redirected elsewhere.”

Jax’s frustration was written across his face. “Why not just tell us that? We all thought you’d died.”

“Because he didn’t know it was targeting him,” Sara cut in. “He chose to set off the switch fully believing it would kill him.”

Leonard avoided her gaze. He was looking down at his ring, awkwardly twisting it around his finger using the thumb of the hand it was on. Barry set his hand down on top of his fidgeting fingers.

“She was supposed to be protecting you,” Leonard whispered, curling his pinky around one of Barry’s gloved fingers.

“I’m glad she wasn’t,” Barry replied, equally soft.

The Leonard she knew wasn’t the same man that was sitting a metre away from her. She was getting a glimpse into Barry’s Leonard and she felt like an intruder for even being in the same room as the two of them.

“A valid alternative,” Stein announced, drawing their attention.

“Pardon,” Leonard asked, looking up from his hand.

“That’s what Gideon said,” he explained. “You would only be rescued if you almost died doing something foolishly heroic and there was a valid alternative that could have been used instead. But Captain Hunter made it perfectly clear that one of us staying behind was the only option.”

Rip shifted on his feet as they turned to him. She’d rarely seen him nervous, despite the year and a half they’d spent together in close quarters. He brushed a lock of hair from his face and shifted his ridiculous coat back into place before speaking. “I assure you, there were no other options.”

“Correction, Captain,” Gideon interjected, causing Rip to close his eyes in defeat. “There were many options. I presented each to you when I first identified the suicide switch as a concern.”

“This was the most likely to–”

“The variable success rate between options was less than 0.00003%.”

The room grew silent for a moment as Gideon’s words sunk in.

Rip had known that Leonard would die as a result of the mission – he hadn’t known about the protocol that saved his life – and had chosen that option over any of the, apparently numerous, others that would have meant a successful mission with no casualties.

She’d seen Rip goading Leonard about living up to the heroic statuses of his fellow Legends but had brushed it off as a twisted form of encouragement.

Rip had mentioned off-hand more than once that he was well acquainted with quite a few master thieves of Leonard’s calibre. Just in case they ever needed extra backup.

He resented the authority Leonard held over Gideon, going so far as to try and fail to hack into her mainframe. Had it really been for information, or to reprogram her?

She’d known Rip had his reasons to dislike Leonard but this?

“Why would you do that?” Ray demanded, his red-rimmed eyes the only trace of his earlier tears. “What could you possibly get out of Leonard dying?”

“Teamwork. I die and the rest of you have something to pull you together and encourage you to work together even after Savage is out of the way. Common grief is a strong motivator.” Leonard didn’t sound annoyed, just matter-of-fact. “Am I incorrect, Captain?”

She waited for Rip to deny it. To defend himself. To say anything at all.

Rip was as still and silent as an ice sculpture.

Ray was gaping at him, but the hand not holding Mick’s was in the pocket of his jacket where she knew he’d placed his ATOM suit, like he was debating the merits of putting it back on.

“What the fuck, man?” Jax looked torn between stepping closer to Rip to intimidate him or away from him in disgust. He settled on looking to Stein for guidance.

“Quite,” the older half of Firestorm agreed. “If you think we’d ever listen to a single word from your mouth after this…”

Mick’s free hand twitched towards his Heatgun before, surprisingly, falling back into place at his side. She’d never seen him pass up the chance to threaten someone with the gun before, especially not when they deserved it as much as Rip did.

He glanced in Leonard’s, no Barry’s, direction for a second. There was intelligence in that look, more than she expected. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit to falling for Mick’s All Brawns, No Brains routine at times.

She wasn’t as close to Mick as some of the other Legends, but she’d grown close enough to Leonard to understand a thing or two about how he operated. Leonard appreciated a good set of muscles, but never for more than a job or two. Mick had been by his side, on and off, for the better part of their lives. It wasn’t a particularly difficult jump to realise that he’d never been there just to help with the heavy lifting.

“You won’t have to,” Barry said, following Stein’s half-formed threat. “Rip Hunter, I’m stripping you of your position as Captain of the Waverider for intentionally endangering your crew.”

Rip snapped out of his silent state with a rage that put even Mick to shame. “Under whose fucking authority, Mr Allen?”

“Under my own fucking authority. Gideon, please remove Mr Hunter’s advanced access.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You have no right to–”

Barry stood from the cot and took a step towards Rip. “I have every right. I created Gideon to save lives and since you seem to be in the business of trading one life for another instead I’ve decided to give her to someone more qualified.”

“You created Gideon?” Rip sneered, clearly assessing Barry and coming up wanting. “Based on the sort of people you choose to associate yourself and Gideon with, you aren’t half the hero the history books implied.”

“You aren’t the first to tell me as much,” Barry shot back. “Nothing about you is special, Rip Hunter.”

“If Rip isn’t our Captain anymore, may I ask who is?” Stein cut in.

The reminder that the rest of the Legends were, in fact, present seemed to snap Rip and Barry out of whatever pissing match they’d stepped into. At least for a moment. Barry glanced towards Leonard, who nodded.

“I’m appointing Sara Lance as Captain.”

“Me?” Sara exclaimed. “Why?”

Barry’s expression softened into a smile. “Len’s kept me in the loop as much as he could. You’re resilient and brave and intelligent. You’re a natural born leader. Plus, anyone who can handle the combined efforts of Iris and Lisa is more than capable of managing the Legends.”

Leonard leaned forward to look at her without Barry’s torso blocking his view. “Congratulations, Captain Lance.”

She remembered his words on the battlefield. This wasn’t some spontaneous decision; he really had talked to Barry about her potential to take over the Legends. Something soft and warm bubbled up inside her.

Being friends with Leonard Snart had a tendency to always feel a little one sided with how close he played emotions to his chest at times. But this, this was actual tangible proof that he cared about her, that he believed in her. He’d been willing to die for her and this was his way of telling her that he would do it again, if she asked.

“If you want it, of course,” Barry added.

“I do,” she replied, surprising herself with her eagerness. She hadn’t considered it before, what was the point when she had no plan to go the extra step and first remove Rip from his position, but she found that she wanted it. She wanted it a lot, more than she’d wanted anything in a good long time.

Anything aside from Lisa and Iris and the space they’d created for her in their lives. She’d have to have a conversation with her partners about the possibility of her being away from them for longer periods of time, but that was the joy of being the captain of a timeship – it didn’t have to feel longer, at least from their perspective.

Ray squeezed her shoulder, beaming at her. “I look forward to working together, Captain Lance.”

By his side, Mick nodded his own silent congratulations. Across from her, Jax and Stein sent smiles her way, one enthusiastic, one more toned down but equally proud.

Her team.

Her Legends.

Unlike Rip, she’d die to protect them.

“You cannot do this; I won’t allow it. This is my ship,” Rip sputtered out, his face twisted in rage.

“You should feel lucky I’m only taking your ship away from you,” Barry said darkly. “If you ever intentionally put my husband in danger again, you’ll lose a lot more.”

“Your husband?” Jax exclaimed. “Dude, you married a supervillain? Isn’t that against the Superhero rules or something?”

Barry grinned and suddenly he was Iris’ sweet best friend again. It was disconcerting how quickly he switched between the different roles he played. “Technically, no. Probably because most Superheros wouldn’t even consider it a possibility. But just between us, I think Batman convinced the Justice League not to include it on purpose. I’ve caught Catwoman in his house at least three times.”

“Wait,” Rip said, interrupting before anyone could respond to the whole Batman/Catwoman reveal Barry had sprung on them. “That’s not right at all. I’ve read your history; Barry Allen doesn’t marry Leonard Snart. In fact, after a handful of interactions early on in your career, the two of you barely interact at all.”

“Because I marry my childhood best friend, Iris West, we pop out a couple of cute speedster kids and then live happily ever after,” Barry replied easily.

“I certainly hope not,” Sara said, sarcasm heavy in her voice. “Her wife and I might have a problem with you if you did.”

Rip blinked, looking between Barry, Leonard and Sara. “I’m missing something.”

“A familiar feeling for you, I presume,” Leonard mocked.

“Gideon is programmed to feed a false narrative to anyone looking too closely at my personal life,” Barry revealed. “It prevents people from the future attempting to change my present or my past to alter their own timeline.”

That sounded like a fairly specific precaution. There was a story there that she would need to squeeze out of Leonard later.

“No,” Rip insisted. “You marry Iris West, who becomes Iris West-Allen. You have children together, there’s lineages on record.”

“I mean, yeah. She offered to be a surrogate for us since she, Lisa and Sara don’t want kids but wouldn’t mind the chance to play the fun Aunts every now and then. We’re only on the first round of trials but it’s looking promising so far.”

“But you can’t be married to Snart. You, you just can’t.”

Barry narrowed his eyes. “Why do you care so much about who I marry?”

“Because the Flash’s spouse is the opposite of insignificant,” Mick explained.

Rip stiffened, his eyes wide. There was fear there. Not the fear of a teenager caught sneaking out of the house past midnight, but the genuine terror of a man at the wrong end of a blade.

“Mick,” Leonard cautioned, voice low.

Mick disregarded the warning. “I know you figured it out too, Len. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together once Rip told us the truth. Part of it, at least. Ray, why’d he say he recruited us, again?”

“Uh, because if anything went wrong the timeline would remain intact.”

“Right, ‘cause we’re historically insignificant. Funny how he never said that about himself. He needed people to steal and fight for him so he went out and found some, but ultimately…”

“We’re replaceable – disposable even,” Sara finished, catching up.

Mick nodded. “We aren’t Legends, we’re cannon fodder.”

The room filled with lightning, so bright that Sara had to close her eyes for a moment. Even then, the light almost burned her closed eyelids. When she opened then, Barry was across the room, pressing Rip against the wall with one hand.

Rip’s feet dangled in the air, just barely brushing the ground as he gasped.

The overhead lights flickered at the overflow of energy radiating from Barry. “You took my husband from me, stole months of my life and over a year of his, and from the very beginning you had no plan to prioritise his safety, any of the Legends’ safety, over your own? Did you even care when you thought he’d died for you?”

“Of course, I cared,” Rip argued, fingers clutching at the hand at his throat.

“But not enough to lose sleep over it. Afterall, he’d fulfilled his purpose, right?”

“He went willingly, you know that.” Rip brushed off the threat in Barry’s voice but the part of Sara’s mind that had been born in the Lazarus pit, the part that craved blood and death like she used to crave sunlight, looked at Barry Allen and recognised a fellow predator.

“You lied to him from the moment you met, hid your true intentions, told him there were no possible alternatives, pushed him constantly to prove his worth and set his best friend up to take the fall if he didn’t.” Lightning sparked off Barry, making Rip shrink even further back against the wall. “He didn’t sacrifice himself because he was willing, he did it because he was manipulated.”

“I didn’t know he was your husband,” Rip insisted. “If I had, I never would have–”

“That makes it worse,” Barry snapped. “You don’t get to decide who is and isn’t significant based on whether or not they change the timeline.”

“Historically speaking, the Legends are insignificant. If you hadn’t gone and married him, Leonard Snart would be too.”

Mick pulled Ray behind him, going as far as to take a step away from Barry.

Leonard sighed and sat up a bit straighter on the cot. “Well, fuck.”

Rip hissed as the sharp smell of singed flesh spread through the room. It took her a moment to realise that the lightning crackling from Barry had burned their former captain. Which was interesting, because she’d definitely seen Nora’s lightning harmlessly racing across Leonard’s arm. Maybe it was a conscious action, keeping the lightning gentle.

Barry chuckled, a dark, unnatural sound coming from the usually bubbly man. “You’re from the future, so I assume you’re familiar with what happens to versions of me that lose the one they love the most.”

“You aren’t Savitar.”

“No,” Barry agreed. “Savitar went mad after he lost Iris. If I lose Len, I will be so much worse.”

Rip, somehow still not comprehending the danger Barry presented, snorted. “Is that a threat? Here I was thinking you were some sort of hero.”

“Like you said yourself, I’m not half the hero the history books made me out to be. If you ever purposefully put Len or any of the Legends in danger again, I’ll make sure you understand just how vague ‘hero’ can be.”

Rip glanced over Barry’s shoulder towards where Leonard was seated. “You don’t let Snart or Rory kill people. You aren’t hypocritical enough not to follow your own rules.”

“I don’t let them kill innocents, you’re right. But I have a special clause for assholes from the future who try to kill my family, directly or otherwise. Besides,” Barry continued, his smile as sharp as a blade, “there’s so much the human body can tolerate without dying.”

Barry’s hand shook, first as if he were having some sort of seizure, and then faster, until it was a blur of motion. And then, before she could consider the implications of the action, Barry put his hand directly into Rip’s chest.

She flinched, expecting gore and pain. But aside from a sharp inhale from Rip, it looked as if Barry’s hand had simply melted into his body like a strange extra limb connecting the two men.

“Did you know,” Barry said conversationally, “that of the hundreds of bones in the human body, many of them can be partially or fully removed without any risk of death to the host. Like, for example, a rib.” Barry grinned as Rip gritted his teeth together. “Oh, you feel that do you? It’s unpleasant, right? Having someone’s fingers on your bones when you’re still using them. I promise that it’ll feel much worse if I decide to take a piece with me. And yes, that is a threat.”

Despite the threat, Barry pulled his hand out of Rip’s chest without any visible damage. As soon as he lowered Rip to the ground and stepped back, the other man was quick to slip out the door, one hand pressed to his chest.

Barry turned to her with a disarmingly sweet smile. “Like I said, Captain Lance, this is your ship now. Ultimately, it’s your decision whether or not you kick Rip out, despite my own personal preferences.”

“Thanks? I’ll, uh, take it into consideration,” she promised.

As if only just noticing the shocked expressions of most of the Legends, Barry blushed and tugged awkwardly at his hair. “Sorry if I scared you. If the Rogues have taught me anything, it’s not to take shit from anyone.”

“And here I thought taking shit was one of our primary goals. I’ll have to adjust our thieves code.”

The look Barry sent Leonard was so fond that it was almost impossible not to brush the encounter with Rip off as being some wild tangent her mind had taken her own.

“That was awful, even for you,” Barry pointed out.

Leonard held up his bandaged hand. “Don’t be so cold, I’m injured. I can’t always be expected to stay up to speed.”

Barry laughed, curling up beside Leonard on the small medical cot. His youthful face was open wide in amusement and relief. He fussed over Leonard’s hand, adjusting the bandages carefully, every inch the caring, worried spouse of a man who’d almost died.

If she hadn’t watched him threaten to remove a man’s rib just moments earlier, she wouldn’t have believed him capable of it. Physically, sure. But emotionally? No chance. Not sweet, baby-faced Barry Allen, who’d been late to coffee all three time’s she’d met him.

But he’d also lied to her face, showing absolutely no sign of recognition when she’d mentioned Leonard’s name in conversation. And not just to her, if his story of being a CSI was legitimate. Not to mention the whole Flash thing.

Barry Allen was an adorable, sweater-wearing anglerfish.

She decided to make a conscious effort to stay on his good side.