"Good news, captain. Despite our rough landing, the ship is still fully operational."
"Welcome to the U.S.S.R. gentleman." I told them.
"If it were up to me, they'd revoke your pilot's license." Stein said entering the bridge with the file on Savage.
"They are more than welcome to considering that neither me or Rip have one."
"Did you get anything on Savage from the Pentagon file?" Rip asked the professor.
"It appears our friend has been quite busy since we last saw him."
"Svarog?"
"God of fire in Slavic mythology." I said underneath my breath.
"A secret project the Soviets are working on." Stein added. "Considering Savage's involvement, most likely some sort of weapon."
"Valentina Vostok." Ray said, taking the file. "Graduated top of her physics program and then just dropped out of academia."
"To help develop Savage's weapon, no doubt."
"The Cold War's up for grabs, and Miss Vostok is the linchpin."
"I say we put two in the back of her head and call it a day." Snart's voice came from away from the rest of us.
"We have no idea who this woman is or what her effect may be on history." Ray pointed out.
"She may be the next Marie Curie for all we know." I added.
"She's working for Savage. That's all we need to know."
"She probably has no idea who's backing her research." Ray went back at Snart. "Just let me approach her as a scientist, and we'll see what she knows about Savage's weapon program."
"It's 1986, you're American, and you don't speak Russian. She'll have you pegged as a spy in a second."
"Perhaps I could help with that." I pulled out a case from the parlour. "Ingestible translators." I opened the box and showed them all a dozen green pills. "They attach to your larynx via a neural interface. Swallow them, you can speak and understand any language spoken to you." Both men swallowed the pills.
"How-how do you turn it on?" Stein asked.
"Gideon, switch them into Russian." I turned to the men. "Go on, say something." He went to say something and it came out in Russian. He looked confused and the professor looked shocked. All of a sudden, Ray shared a similar expression of shock.
"Gideon, switch them back into English." Rip told the AI.
"Now, according to Vostok's file," I said while looking at the file. "She's a big fan of the ballet. She has box seats at the Bolshoi and attends every performance."
"It seems that the final performance 'Le Roi Candaule' is today."
"Dr. Palmer, you will engage Vostok," I handed him the file, "At the ballet, whilst you, Mr. Snart, you're going to be his wingman."
"Oy."
"Better go bone up on Vostok's CV." Ray said before walking away.
"I guess I'll bone up on the ballet. Gideon, bone me."
XXX
"We have a problem." Sara told me as I walked down a hallway of the waverider.
"Right, you're going to have to be a little more specific because we have a lot of problems."
"Now's not the time, Jes."
"You know I'm not going to stop trying until I get what I want."
"It's Kendra." She said, ignoring my comment. "She's completely unstable. You saw her at the Pentagon. Psycho Priestess Chayara took over and clawed a guard's eyes out."
"Perhaps Kendra just needs a bit of time. Remember, it was her first time out in the field since Carter's death."
"Well, Carter's not going to be the only dead body on our hands if someone doesn't get her under control." I turned to face her.
"You know, perhaps you're right, and it just so happens I have a perfect candidate for the job."
"No. Look, if this is some kind of revenge for me rejecting you-"
"Like you said, I face rejection very well. No matter how I feel about you, E non importa quanto sia forte la sensazione, I won't let emotions get in the way of my job."
"I was not talking about me."
"And yet, I can think of no one better suited for the task."
"I'm not a fan of feelings."
"That's not how it was when we were together." I smirked at her.
"If Kendra needs someone to talk through her grief with-"
"Kendra needs someone to help her get her warrior side under control. I imagine you, above anyone else, know how to do that." I walked away, disregarding her words behind me.
"This is a bad idea."
XXX
I had let Rip take care of the mission at Bolshoi theater, and went to check up on Sara and Kendra. When I got there, Sara was on top of Kendra choking her.
"Sara!" I yelled while pulling her off of Kendra. I held her with one arm up against the wall and turned to Kendra. "Are you okay?" She held her hand to her neck and nodded. "What about you?" I asked Sara.
"I knew it was a mistake." She pushed my arm off of her and walked away.
"What the hell was that?" Kendra asked me.
"That's Sara' bloodlust taking over."
"And you sent her to train me with it?"
"I thought she was getting better." I told her before walking off to find Sara.
XXX
I eventually found her in the kitchen, drinking her sorrows away with a glass of whiskey.
"I thought you said you were getting better." I said taking a seat across from her.
"I didn't need you worrying about me."
"But, we made a promise. Remember?"
Nanda Parbat, 2012
"You okay?" I asked Sara as I sat down across from her.
"You don't have to worry about me. It's just training."
"I always worry about you Ta er al Sahfar." I smiled at her.
"I always worry about you Al as'ad."
"And I promise that no matter what I will never stop worrying about you."
"Promise?" She put out her pinky.
"I promise my canary." I interlocked my pinky with hers.
"I'll be right back." She got up and went into the bathroom.
"Jessica." A voice called from outside my window. I immediately picked up a knife and threw it at the intruder, but he dodged it, gaining my attention.
"Rip? I told you I wasn't leaving."
"I know, and I'm sorry." He took out the flashgun and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was at the time masters headquarters. I was gone from Sara's life.
"Did you worry about me? After you left."
"Of course I did. You were the first thing I thought of when I woke up."
"I can't hurt you."
"Sara, you won't hurt me."
"I never thought I'd hurt Kendra. But there I was, strangling her to death."
"That was out of your control Sara."
"Was it? What if I had gotten it under control?"
"I don't think it's ever been done before."
"But, if I could do it, then I could save myself." She said before walking away.
XXX
"How did it go?" I asked Ray and Snart who were just returning from the mission at the Bolshoi.
"We made contact with Vostok and swiped his badge." Ray said excitedly.
"Something tells me that you did all the work." I said to Snart.
"I did. Pretty boy just froze his ass off." Ray was going to say something, but Rip entered before he could.
"Oh, gentleman, I trust everything went according to plan at the Bolshoi."
"Piece of cake. Made contact with Vostok and swiped her badge."
"Actually-" I started before Snart cut me off.
"Thanks to me. Pretty boy just froze his ass off." Mick came in carrying an injured Jax with Stein coming in behind them.
"What happened to him?" Ray asked.
"Chronos." Rip said before putting his head down.
"Jax here was-" Mick was cut off by Stein.
"Almost got himself killed."
"And we need to get you to the medbay." I took Jax's body from Mick.
"Ah, the medbay where a morphine drip awaits me."
"Now let's just take it slowly." I told him.
"Don't bother telling him what to do. He'll just do the opposite."
"Okay, look, I don't know what quarrel you have going on right now, but Jax needs medical attention and to be far away from you." I yelled at the professor.
XXX
"Mr. Jackson has multiple internal injuries. It will take me a while to heal him." I pulled up a chair and sat next to him.
"You don't have to stay." He told me.
"You're part of our team. We look out for our team."
"So, talk to me."
"What about?"
"How about you and Sara?"
I chuckled. "What do you want to know?"
"What's going on between you two?"
"When we first got on the ship, she wanted me back, but I wanted to make sure my family was safe."
"That sounds smart." He winced as Gideon started to heal the wound.
"But then I realized, there is no hundred percent chance that we'll save my family let alone survive. If I'm going down, I want to go down knowing that I loved Sara as much as I could."
"So, why don't you?" He winced again.
"Now she's convinced that I should save my family. And I'm really trying to win her back, but Sara is probably the most stubborn person I've ever met. But, I won't stop fighting. You don't stop fighting for someone you love. And she's worth fighting for." He winced again. "Okay, this is too painful to watch. Gideon, administer a sedative." I instructed AI shortly before Jax drifted off to sleep.
A/N
Hello, today is basically a clean up day where I make up for parts I missed. There will be all three parts of my Mia Smoak fanfic out today along with one more part of this and also my Nate Heywood fanfic. Hope you have a great day!