Lotus (Legends Of Tomorrow - Sara Lance)

6. Japan

"About that, I'm having a little problem accessing my powers." Nate says.

Twenty-one.

"Sounds like you're having performance issues." Sara replies. Then she turns to Haircut. "And it looks like you and Kate aren't done training him yet. Now the rest of us need to figure out how we can defend a village."

That's thirty-eight.

Chucky doesn't feel like helping. "Not me. Wake me up when the action starts."

Amaya sighs and follows Sara out.

Fourty-three. Fourty-three E's in this conversation. I feel like I've spent my time usefully.

---

Haircut made a scarecrow that's wearing the ATOM suit. Not the real one though. I watch him, while he takes a branch and starts teaching Nate. "The ATOM suit is made of and powered by dwarf star alloy. It's strong enough to withstand bullets, arrows and explosives."

"So it's inpenetrable." I conclude.

"Not quite." Haircut replies. "Underneath the left thruster is the alpha-stabilizer."

"Alpha-stabilizer, got it." Nate says. Does he really?

Haircut continues: "If you destroy it, the photoms that stream from the suit's weapons systems will overheat, theoretically causing somatic overload."

I kinda feel sorry for him. He almost died trying to make that suit and now Nate's gonna destroy it.

Nate doesn't feel sorry for him, or maybe he just doesn't realise this yet. "Theoretically, that's comforting."

Haircut just continues his lesson. "You have to get close to the Shogun, and in order to do that, you have to be able to harden."

"Well, when you're putting it in those terms it isn't helping." Nate says.

I take the branch Haircut is holding and hit Nate with it. "Ow!" He exclaims. "Neither is that."

"It worked the last time." I mumble to myself. I start thinking of a good explanation, while Haircut takes the branch and repeatedly hits Nate. "Come on." He says in frustration. "My serum is flawless. Your lack of focus is the problem."

"You think I'm not focussing?" Nate asks, whike Haircut hits him again.

I don't think that. Maybe it's because he's too exhausted. He did fall out of the temporal zone and crashed on earth. Maybe he just needs food and water?

Haircut just keeps hitting him, until Nate shouts: "Enough! I can't do it."

"Yes, you can." Haircut argues.

"You don't think I wanna save the girl, spare the village end be a hero for once in my damn life?" Nate asks. "I spent have of my childhood in the hospital where it didn't even occur to me to dream about having superpowers. But guess what? I got 'em, I lost 'em, now I really, really need 'em and I can't get 'em back."

I'm about to throw in my more rational idea, but Haircut doesn't give me the chance. "This isn't all about you. I worked for years, spent billions of dollars to develop the ATOM suit. I nearly died learning to shrink, and now I have to teach you to destroy the very thing, the only thing, that makes me a hero."

"Maybe it's for the better. Being a hero sucks." I reply.

Nate is finally catching on. "Wait, 'somatic overload' means destroy the suit?"

Haircut sighs. "Yeah, Nate. We can't beat the Shogun while he's wearing the suit, so we have to blow the suit up. Your powers are within you, just like Kate's. After today, I'll have nothing left."