Brave New World: Legends

Chapter 16

Ray was very relieved that Sara had given the Legends some time off after they arrived in the present, mainly because it meant that he had the ship to himself, since everyone else had left to do their own things. Sara and Ava were having a dinner in Star City with Sara's father and sister, something Sara had actually been visibly excited about in terms of Ava finally meeting her big sister, Nate and Zari were in DC, since Nate wanted to properly introduce Zari to his parents as his girlfriend, mainly because he knew that she'd likely never get the chance to do that for him, since Zari's parents thought she was a criminal who likely kidnapped her brother, who was actually in Central City visiting Jax and the Professor, Wally was visiting his mom and likely establishing a cover story for his absence in Keystone, Rip had returned to the Vanishing Point to spend some time with his family while also assisting in the transition for the Time Masters, Ray wasn't sure where John was, all he knew was that he was likely being Constantine, so that meant the less they knew the better and while Rya didn't know where exactly Snart and Rory were, he knew that they were checking in on Snart's sister Lisa. And with all the Legends occupied, that meant that he was free to do what he felt was needed without interference.

"Gideon, are you sure this is the place?" Ray asked.

"One of the advantages of Oculus being intact, but not controlling time is that it still provides timeline data and I can confirm that this is the position of the target. However, I still feel compelled to argue that this is a bad idea. You should wait for Captain Lance to return and provide you with backup." Gideon said.

"There's no time and there's no way Sara would approve of what I'm planning on doing." Ray said.

"You'd be surprised." a new voice said and Ray quickly shut off what he was looking at before turning to see Sara and Ava standing there, both of them looking very nice after their dinner.

"Hey guys, how was dinner? Did you make a good impression with Sara's family Ava?" Ray asked, desperately trying to draw attention away from him, causing both Sara and Ava to roll their eyes.

"Nice try Ray. You're really trying to hunt down Damien Darhk on your own? I thought you were supposed to be a genius, though it doesn't take one to know that if you go after the present version of Darhk, the one who's fully evil and powered up by magic, you won't come back. Especially since even without magic, Darhk is dangerous, since he's former LOA. He's out of your league to fight, even with your suit." Sara said.

"Sara, I would've clued you in, but I know how you feel about Darhk, even though he's proven that there is good inside him. Deep, deep down." Ray said.

"I will never forgive Darhk for what he did. However, I do agree that we shouldn't condemn Nora to the same childhood she suffered before. That's why we're going to find Darhk and, I can't believe I'm about to say this, we're going to restore his memories, so that he can remember exactly what his plans will cost him, since unlike most of the lunatic's we've fought, he does genuinely care about his family. I even talked this out with Oliver and while he was just as opposed to it as I am, he does agree that deep down, Darhk is a family man at heart. Everything he did was in some way his way of giving his family a better world to grow up in. Not that it excuses everything he's done or will do." Sara said.

"I'm surprised that Oliver isn't tagging along." Ray said.

"His exact words were that he already killed Darhk. It's my turn to get that joy if it backfires, though if it doesn't, he did request that we bring him there, since, I think he wants to see Darhk's change with his own eyes, not that I can blame him." Sara said.

"So, you're really willing to give Darhk a chance?" Ray asked.

"Willing to is a stretch. More like going along with it to make sure that you don't get yourself killed trying do something stupid like this." Sara said and Ray couldn't deny that.

"Fair enough." Ray said, since he couldn't disagree that what he'd been planning on wasn't his smartest idea.

"So, where are we going?" Sara asked, sure she was going to regret this, but knowing that Ray was so stubborn that he'd follow his heart and strange ability to see good and redemption in even the worst of people that he'd do this regardless of what she thought, so she was going to make sure that he didn't get himself killed. And since he'd already sold his soul to a demon once before, she had no desire to let him die again, especially since while Ava had helped her come to terms with losing everyone when the Anti Monitor had wiped out the old reality, that didn't make it any easier for her to accept and that was why she'd promised herself that she'd look out for her teammates, though she'd try her best to make sure she didn't get killed, if only because she knew that if she died before her wedding, Ava would kill her.

"Kasnia." Ray said.

"Do we have an exact location?" Ava asked, though like her fiance, she still loved the fact that she could call Sara her fiance, she also thought that this was a very bad idea.

"Gideon is working on that right now." Ray said.

"Okay, but Ray, before we do this, I want you to promise me something." Sara said.

"Yeah, anything." Ray agreed.

"I want you to promise me that if it looks like the mission is a lost cause, you'll back off and let me do what needs to be done. It's only because I know that you're going to do this regardless of what I think that I'm allowing it at all, but if it looks like saving Darhk is not possible, you have to promise that you'll let it go." Sara said.

"Sara, we can't just give up on him. Nora needs her parents." Ray said.

"And either way she'll have her mom. But Ray, that wasn't the answer I wanted. I'm willing to put my feelings about this aside to do the job. I'm not letting you leave this ship until you're willing to do the same. You're an optimist who's in love, which I get, but you can't let that blind you to the possible risks of this mission and the outcome of it, even if it's not one you like. Darhk is not worth your life or any of ours." Sara said and Ray could see that she was not budging and he also knew that she was right as he sighed.

"Okay. I promise." Ray said.

"Good. Now, let's get to work." Sara said as she walked away to change out of her dress, with Ava close on her heels.

"You really believe him?" Ava asked her.

"Not a bit. Which is why as soon as we're geared up, we're going in without Ray, since while I am willing to put my feelings aside to focus on the bigger picture, I don't trust Ray to be able to put his desire to have his girlfriend's father like him aside and be able to see that Darhk might not be able to saved." Sara said.

"I'm surprised you're even willing to consider a plan with Darhk that doesn't end in his death." Ava said.

"Nora is my friend and I do want a better life for her. Besides, Darhk having some actual humanity is useful in more ways than one." Sara said.

"What do you mean?" Ava asked.

"Darhk built Hive. If we remind him of where that gets him, he might decide to undo his work and take it down and spare Oliver and Argus the trouble." Sara said.

"We should still have an insurance policy." Ava said.

"Constantine and Oliver already taught me how to resist Darhk's magic, so if it doesn't go as planned, I'll kill him, though I do have another plan, though it's not one you'll like." Sara said.

"What is it?" Ava asked.

"Ollie told me that Darhk kidnapped his son to get him to drop out of the mayoral race, which gave me an idea." Sara said.

"You want to take Nora's younger self hostage." Ava said.

"No. Unlike Darhk, I'm not going to bring a kid into this. His wife Ruve however, she's a different story." Sara said.

"You're right, I don't like this plan, but it is a good idea, and it's not like we've ever shied away from doing morally wrong things like this before." Ava said.

"It's just in case." Sara assured her.

"Okay then, let's get ready." Ava said as they reached their room to change for the mission.