#ms word ai wants it to just say “thank”? that makes it... clearer somehow?

[tunemyart]

Literally: what.

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT/CC fic: Somewhere on Your Road Tonight (ch. 13)

Sara and Leonard made a life for themselves, together in 1958, after the Waverider left them, Ray and Kendra behind. But now they're back on the ship, Mick has been twisted into Chronos, Kendra is pregnant, and Savage is still out there. They'll deal--together. (Sequel to "Chances Are.")

And now we start the "Destiny" chapters! There will be four of them. I've been planning these a long time, and there are many changes coming to fruition. Thanks to LarielRomeniel for the beta!

Can also be read here at AO3 or here at FF.net.

The space beneath the Waverider’s floor is deep but narrow. Sara, her face buried in Leonard’s collarbone, tightens her arms around him as they lean into each other, trying to keep each other upright despite the strain on legs and backs. Leonard’s forced to stoop just a little, and Sara’s willing to bet it must be hell on his back, but his breathing is nearly silent as he holds her there and the Time Masters’ lackeys stomp back and forth above.

It’s a good thing, she thinks again, that they’re together and used to being in each other’s space at this point. If they were still just friends, revolving around each other and keeping their distance with flirting and innuendo, this could be pretty damned awkward.

It’s an interminable amount of time later, but eventually the sound of footsteps fades. They wait longer. Finally, Sara feels Leonard lift his head, listening. Then she feels him sigh and pull away.

She lets him go with faint reluctance, watching as he climbs up onto the slightly raised platform where they’d entered this hidden area. He pushes up the floor panel, glancing around, and then clambers out. Sara moves toward him, accepting his hand to climb out, letting out a long breath as she glances around the silent bridge.

“How did you even know that was down there?” she asks Leonard, who’s looking around restlessly.

“When Rip first recruited us, I made it my business to case every square inch of this tub in the event there was something worth stealing,” he tells her, looking around, then glance back. “There wasn't.”

He pauses, and Sara lets a smile tug at her lips, at odds with the position in which they find themselves. “I hope,” she says delicately, “that there were other worthwhile things.”

The corner of his mouth ticks upward too, but only momentarily. Leonard’s expression goes serious, deadly serious, and there’s something in his eyes Sara doesn’t think she’s ever seen before. Not when they were first stuck in Harmony Falls. Not even when they found out about Mick as Chronos.

“Should we get out of here?” he asks quietly, his tone a bit…

Yes. That’s it. He sounds…broken.

Sara stares back at him. “Wait,” she says cautiously, “what about the team?”

Leonard’s eyes, she thinks, are tormented. And he’s acting far more hesitant than she’d expected. “I…” He pauses. “I…after what Mick said. About the Time Masters. Do you think…is there even anything we can do for them?”

Sara, taken aback, shakes her head in disbelief. “Leonard,” she says carefully, “I…would you just leave Mick? The others?”

Her lover glances away, mouth tight. “If the Time Masters are half as twisted as Mick said, there's an excellent chance Mick is no longer Mick.” He lets out a long breath and appears about to say more, then stops, watching her.

Sara’s struck by the thought that he wants her to convince him otherwise, the better angels of his nature warring against a lifetime of being a survivor. The Leonard she’d met in the beginning, icy and cynical, might have run with barely a backward glance.

This is not that Leonard.

But he’s terrified, she can see it in the tightness around his eyes, the stiffness of his movements as he looks around the bridge. Sara frowns, stepping closer. He’s one of the bravest men she knows, and this is uncharacteristic, now, in more ways than one.

What’s going on?

It feels like a panic attack again. And while that’s probably even pretty justified, given their circumstances, Leonard’s having a particularly hard time getting a grip—and it’s not like he can go somewhere quiet now for a bit, to try to get his breathing and his racing heart under control.

And Sara’s staring at him with an odd mix of understanding and dismay at his words, clearly wondering what’s going on.

“I'm not going anywhere,” she says firmly, then waves a hand. “And even if we wanted to, we're in a hangar surrounded by an entire armada of timeships.”

Getouttahere-getouttahere-getherouttahere...

Leonard tries to take a deep breath. He’s not entirely successful. “It's the Waverider,” he points out, hearing the ragged sound of his own voice. “We've got guns. We could blast our way out.”

Sara’s chin goes up. “This isn't 'Bonnie and Clyde,'” she informs him, disappointment thick in her voice. “And I'm not going anywhere without the rest of the team.” A pause. “What about Kendra and Ray? Their son...”

He can’t let that kid grow up without his parents. He can’t. But...

“Sara...” he says, hearing his own voice as if it’s miles away.

And right over the top of it, a snarl, also in his own voice, if a vastly different tone. Maybe I didn't make myself clear.

The fingers of his right hand twitch, as they’ve been doing since it was rebuilt. Toward his cold gun, still holstered at his side.

You idiot! A voice, suddenly clear as day in his head, hisses. It’s also his voice. But also…different.

Sara’s eyes widen, but Leonard only sees that for a second before he folds into one of the jump seats, eyes squeezed shut, shaking his head. He puts his hands on his knees, fingers contracted and nails digging into his jeans, and takes a deep breath.

“What. The. Fuck,” he mutters.

He hears Sara step closer. “Are you OK?” she asks quietly.

“Don’t know.” Leonard waits another moment, then opens his eyes. "I think so.”

Somehow, things seem clearer now, without the sort of weird echoes he was getting before. After a moment, he gets back to his feet, shaking his new hand roughly, cursing its recalcitrant nature.

Then he looks at Sara, whose expression is very carefully blank.

Would he, in different circumstances, have pulled his gun on her, to try to force her to get them both out of here safely? He’s not pleased to admit that he probably would have. Between the things Mick has told him about the Time Masters and his strong conviction that this whole thing is going bad, Alexa bad, fast, all the traits that make him a survivor might have led him to do something he’d later regret, just because at least he'd be alive to regret it.

He’s a survivor.

Just like Vandal Savage said.

But he’s also a survivor who loves Sara Lance, and he’s trying to be a better man.

“Sorry,” he says quietly. And Sara nods.

Then the old-fashioned phone in Rip’s office rings.

Sara’s so grateful to hear Gideon’s voice that she feels tears prickle at her eyes. So, she closes them, taking a deep breath, listening to the AI’s calm voice as Gideon explains their plight and that of the others in more detail.

She can also hear Leonard’s still slightly uneven breathing, the panic he’s still fighting to control. Sara hadn’t missed how his hand had twitched toward his gun, a survivor’s reflex she’s sure wasn’t fully within his control.

She’s positive, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Leonard wouldn’t hurt her. But she also remembers the terror in his eyes, the tightly pent-in fear and the lifetime of doing what it takes to survive. And there’s more going on, too. His conviction that their strings are being pulled. His odd reactions to various occurrences. His surety that something, someone, else is messing with him.

By the time Gideon’s speaking over the ship’s comms again, he looks a little better, moving closer to Sara, who’s glad for his presence despite the lingering tension. She leans into his shoulder a little as he stops by her side, hearing and feeling his faint sigh as he relaxes a fraction himself.

“Ms. Lance is correct,” the AI is telling them. “We’re surrounded by timeships. However…” She pauses. “I…and Captain Hunter, of course…may have come up with measures that could eliminate them, if needed. For a time.”

“Why, Gideon,” Leonard drawls, sounding far more like himself. “Are you suggesting…sabotage?”

The pause is just lengthy enough that it’s clear that’s precisely what the AI is suggesting. And she never does answer that question in so many words. “There are enough devices in the armory, in the container labeled ‘experimental overrides,’ to adequately derail every timeship in the armada for a time,” she announces. “Captain Hunter thought they might be useful one day. You will simply have to retrieve and set them before placing them on the ships.”

“The ships,” Sara repeats. “The ones all around us.”

“The ones that could blow us up if we twitch,” Leonard adds sardonically. “Oh. Easy.”

“You will simply have to be your sneaky self and watch Ms. Lance’s back, Mr. Snart.” Sara hides a smile as Leonard blinks at Gideon’s comeback, which is a bit more openly snide than the AI usually gets. “No one is on these ships, however, and no one is looking for you here. As no one could find you on this ship, they will have presumed you have already fled and are at large, probably looking for your teammates. And they presume that I, as you said, am no longer…‘alive.’”

There’s no self-pity in the AI’s voice, but in a way, that just makes her matter-of-fact statement even more poignant. Sara glances at Leonard, seeing the same mix of sympathy and concentration, but he doesn’t speak. Not yet.

So Sara does.

“But, Gideon,” she says slowly, “we don’t want to leave the team, even if we can get that breathing room. You can’t want us to abandon Captain Hunter. We…”

“I don’t want you to abandon anyone, Ms. Lance,” Gideon says crisply, cutting in. “But once you get enough breathing room, for lack of a better term, to make a time jump, you can, as they say…fake them out.”

Sara considers that as Leonard hums thoughtfully.

“Not quite following,” she admits. “Help me here, Gideon. It’s been a rough day.”

“You don’t have to jump forward,” the AI tells her. “Nor backward. You…”

It clicks. “…can just go somewhere else in the same time.” Sara grins, getting it. “Like out of this hangar, elsewhere in the Vanishing Point, before they notice.”

“Indeed.”

“Gideon,” Leonard cuts in now. “Where are these devices?”

The AI tells him succinctly, and Leonard departs, as Sara studies the diagram of the Vanishing Point that Gideon has pulled up for them, pinpointing the location of the cellblock where the others are being held. By the time Leonard has returned, hefting the crate and placing it carefully on the holotable, they have at least a working plan.

They open the crate, and Sara pulls out one of the disks within, considering it. “We just need to stick one of these to each ship?” she asks Gideon. “Really?”

“Yes, Ms. Lance. They use adapted sound waves,” Gideon tells them, then pauses. “You can, should you wish, pick a song. That might be even more distracting that simply random noise.”

Sara looks at the disk, then lifts an eyebrow, looking at Leonard. He smirks a little, regarding her in return.

“I could we could pick something with adequate profanity,” he drawls, shrugging, “or…”

“Or,” Sara tells him in return, grinning. “I think I have the perfect idea.”

Gideon is right. No one seems to notice as Sara and Leonard—Sara placing the disks, Leonard watching her back—skulk across the floor of the hangar, carefully making sure that every ship has one of the overrides.

“This is a bad plan,” Leonard mutters uneasily, turning from side to side, pointing his cold gun everywhere, watching everything.

“It's Gideon's,” Sara shoots back, slapping another disk down against the side of a ship. She makes sure it’s set, then moves on, carefully, Leonard keeping pace.

“You're not helping your argument,” he mutters. But he doesn’t fool Sara, who smiles to herself as she glances around, setting her course.

“We need to finish putting these on the ships and get back to the Waverider,” she says quietly.

“Well,” Leonard motions with his gun, a Snart smirk hovering at his lips despite everything. “Carry on.”

And she does.

Leonard, despite his earlier conviction (unreasonable, he’d admit) that they’d be able to “Bonnie-and-Clyde” their way out of the Vanishing Point, is skeptical as they return to the Waverider. However, his pessimism is conflicting with Sara’s confidence, and gradually, she starts to infect him with it, too.

Is it really possible they might pull this off? Sprawled on the floor and watching her with hooded eyes, Leonard actually feels a faint stir of hope. If they can just get the team back…if Mick is still Mick…if…if…if…

He doesn’t realize he’s been tapping his ring restlessly against a metal beam until Sara sighs, drawing his attention to where she sits across from him.

“Can you stop doing that?” she asks wearily, then gets up and heading onto the bridge proper as he pulls his hand away from the beam. “Why did you start wearing that thing, anyways?”

She knows the ring’s story already—she’d been there when, while moving his things into her room, he’d found the small piece of silver in a pocket. He’d told her about the warehouse in Freeport, the first job he’d ever planned with Mick, both of them still in their teens. Leonard had only recently dropped out of school, giving up on reintegrating back into so-called normal society after his stints in juvie, and Mick was already unapologetically a criminal; still, Len’s experience had been limited to jobs with Lewis and Mick’s to basic smash-and-grabs.

Leonard had known that he was a better planner than Lewis, even at that age. This had been his first chance to prove to himself that he could strike out on his own and do better than his father ever had.

Except that, for all his planning, everything had gone sideways.

He holds up his hand, studying the ring, thinking about how they’d just gotten into the warehouse between the shift changes, through a rarely used door. It wasn’t so long after a big delivery from a jewelry wholesaler—nothing that would make them rich, but Mick knew someone who’d buy even good costume jewelry at decent prices.

Leonard had just cracked one crate, though, double-checking its contents, when Mick had tripped the shiny new security system that hadn’t there even a day or two before. Len had grabbed a box and bolted, and while at least the two of them had made it out safely, all they’d come away with were a few necklaces (which Leonard had let Mick take to his fence) and the silver ring.

At the time, Leonard was still so slight and scrawny that the ring had been big on even his ring finger. He’d wound some string around the back of it and worn it anyway, as a…

“It's a reminder,” he says, hoisting himself off the floor and ambling toward her, turning his hand and watching the light catch the silver surface. “That even the best laid plans can go sideways.”

Sara made a thoughtful noise and reaches out, gently taking his hand. It’s the sort of casual touch he’s still really not used to, but it’s OK with her. Nice, even. Her hands are small, strong, and calloused, familiar in so many different ways at this point, and the touch is steadying.

“You thinking this is going to go sideways?” she asks, glancing up at him.

Leonard lets his fingers fold around hers. “Don’t know. The best chance we got, but…I still have a weird feeling there’s more going than we know. And I don’t like it.” He gives her a wry smile. “Not real keen on the idea of trading my life for nothing.”

At least Sara’s going to be the one who stays on the ship in this plan, he thinks, though he doesn’t say it aloud. If the worst happens, she could get out of here.

He doesn’t say it, but he’s pretty sure she hears it anyway. Sara gives him a faint smile in return, leaning closer.

“Well,” she says firmly, ��you better not. You’ve got better things to do with that life.”

“With you?”

It’s meant as a quip, but the question comes out quieter and more solemn than he plans. Sara’s eyes go more serious too, and she studies him a moment. They’ve avoided talking about the future, not until Savage is defeated, but that doesn’t mean neither of them have thought of it, and…

“The Time Drive is back online,” Gideon cuts in neatly. And it’s probably just as well; this isn’t the time or the place, but Leonard sighs as he straightens from his lean. Sara squeezes his hand before they move apart, her to the captain’s chair and him to a jump seat.

The Waverider lifts smoothly into the air and rockets out of the hangar. Leonard watches Sara take a deep breath, nod to herself, and then lift her voice and order, “Gideon….now!”

And the ship jumps--to the other side of the Vanishing Point, close to the cell block where the others are being held. Sara brings it down fast and quiet, and Leonard’s already out of his seat, checking his gun and throwing one more look her way.

“I’ve activated the overrides,” Gideon announces. “And they are working quite well, if I do say so myself.” She pauses. “Would you like to hear?”

Leonard pauses as Sara glances at him. “Sure.”

“…singing a song. Don't mess around, you just got to be strong Just stop…”

Sara laughs, but Leonard can’t resist, despite the time constraints. He takes a few steps to the captain’s chair and leans over, kissing her firmly as the Captain and Tennille sing. Sara laughs again, against his lips, and curves a hand around the back of his head to hold him there.

“ ‘Cause I really love you. Stop! I'll be thinking of you.”

“Be careful,” she tells him breathlessly as they break the kiss, and Leonard turns for the hatch.

“You know it.”

“Look in my heart…And let love…keep us together…”

As soon as Leonard’s off the ship, the Waverider rises again, looping around and rising into the air. He’s not watching, though, immediately heading for the door Gideon’s schematics had told them would be nearby.

It’s locked, but application of a cold gun blast and then a firm boot to the center send the door crashing inward. The guard inside only gets off one shot, which Leonard dodges, before a punch lays him out on the floor. Then Leonard bolts up the stairs, gun primed and ready, taking out a few more startled guards before he reaches the level he’s looking for.

As he turns into the hallway that should lead him to the cell block, he hears voices ahead.

“…we've calculated when the Waverider is headed.”

“Past or future?”

“The present.”

Leonard smirks as he hears the Waverider’s guns fire outside, shaking the building as Sara gives him a particularly violent distraction. Striding forward, he fires his cold gun at the soldier who turns toward him, then slams the weapon into the head of the robed older man, stepping aside as he falls to the floor.

“Somebody order up a rescue?” he drawls, glancing around at his teammates in their cells, frowning as he realizes that someone…two someones are missing.

Stein sighs, relief and pain in the sound. “Mr. Snart, your timing is impeccable.”

Leonard, though, sees Raymond’s eyes widen as the scientist looks past him. “Or not!”

He spins, aiming the cold gun, just as Chronos…no, it’s Mick, it’s always Mick, even in that armor…pauses in the doorway. Then the armored figure starts forward, slowly, gun aimed at Leonard, inexorably.

“Put the gun down, Mick,” he says. An order and a plea, both. Can his friend hear it?

But Mick doesn’t listen, moving until his gun is nearly right in Leonard’s face, and another man in robes moves quickly into the room behind him, circling to the right, barely tossing Leonard a quick glance before focusing on Mick.

“Chronos,” he orders. “Fire!”

A pause. And then: “Sure thing,” Chronos rumbles in a tone that’s all Mick, whipping his gun around and firing at the Time Master, who’s so startled that he doesn’t even try to get out of the way. The energy bolt crashes into him, and he topples to the floor as Mick pulls off his helmet, advancing toward him.

“If I recall, I made you a certain promise,” he informs the fallen man.

“No, I beg of you. No!”

Leonard makes himself watch, but then turns away before Mick can see the look on his face. He hits the panel at the side of Rip’s cell before spinning toward Raymond’s. “Where’s Kendra?” he asks as he opens the door, heart sinking at the look on the scientist’s face.

“They took her. They gave her to Savage!” Raymond’s voice is both furious and heartbroken as he stumbles out the door. “She fought, but there were too many. I…”

“We’ll get her back,” Leonard tells him, watching Mick open Stein’s door and help the man inside out. “And where is our least-favorite psychopath?”

“On his way to kill my family,” Rip says dully, approaching them. “You were right, Mr. Snart. The Time Masters are the ones who put Savage in power. And everything we’ve done has been helping them.” He shakes his head. “They’ve been doing more than pulling our strings. They’ve been setting our course. All along. Perhaps our entire lives.”

Leonard freezes, staring at him. For all his cynicism and suspicion of the Time Masters, there’s still a part of him that’s stunned to hear all those suspicions confirmed. “What?”

Another volley of fire from the Waverider shakes the walls, then, and Rip shakes his head roughly.

“Back to the ship, first,” he says. “We have a lot to talk about…but first we need to get out of here.”