3rd Person POV
= Alien Planet, Space =
Brooklyn is a logical thinker. She always has been. Every move she makes and every word she utters has all been calculated and spun through a web of probability and possibility. Everything that she has ever done has been calculated and thought through extensively, it is one of the reasons why she prides herself on her intellect. Long story short: Brooklyn's a genius
But right now, stumbling through this forest, Brooklyn cannot for the life of her come up with a good enough reason as to why she and Sara broke their sacred promise of never splitting up. Sure, Sara was infected and slowing them down, but Brooklyn would have never left an injured friend. Sure, there are people after her and she can't be caught...but Sara can't be caught either. So, why did Brooklyn so easily agree to leave Sara?
Another thing Brooklyn prided herself on? Her memory. Everyone on the Legends team at one point or another has made a comment about Brooklyn's impressive memory. Felicity was the one to figure it out, figure out and secretly test how good Brooklyn's memory was. Hell, over half of her training with Oliver was based on memory and memory combat. So, what was going on with her memory right now? Why was everything so foggy in her mind? And why can't she remember what number step she was taking?
Yet another thing that Brooklyn was good with: numbers. She used numbers in everything that she did. Figuring out how to escape from the boat that night was completely based on numbers and counting. The moment that Brooklyn split up from Sara, she began counting her steps, hoping that she would be able to retrace her steps once she found help or bring the team back all those steps with her. But right now, Brooklyn's mind was so foggy and she couldn't figure out what number step she was on, what direction she was running, or where she was heading
Brooklyn stumbles through the weird forest on the alien planet. She's not sure how long she's been running, but she knows it's been a while since she and Sara split up
The broken promise is all that Brooklyn has been running through her foggy mind, her thoughts almost slurred. Did she make the right choice? What if Sara dies where she left her? What if Brooklyn dies running across this alien planet? Was there even a way off this planet? Where was their team? Where is she?
And one question that rings louder than all: Is Maddie okay? But Brooklyn doesn't have long to ponder the question because she hears weapons going off in the distance. And with her mind distracted, Brooklyn stumbles to the ground...
***
= Waverider, Earth =
"Anything?" Behrad asks, walking into the parlor with Zari where Ava, Nate, and Jax are searching. Jax is watching the video over and over again, trying to find any clue as to where the girls were taken. But the video is way too quick. It's a split-second video where Brooklyn and Sara are taken into an alien spaceship. And then the video is over
"There's nothing." Jax grumbles
"There's nothing yet." Ava corrects, looking up from the screen she was working on to search satellites
"No, there's nothing." Jax says, looking at Ava. "I don't know what we're doing right now. We should be getting in front of this." He tells her. "We should take the offense and get in front of this."
"What do you think you're gonna do, huh?" Ava questions Jax. "Just fly into outer space and check every alien planet possible until you find Brooke? It's not plausible. We have to wait and come up with a plan."
"I can't wait!" Jax exclaims, standing up. "The love of my life is missing!"
"The love of my life is missing too!" Ava exclaims back
Jax plops to his chair and buries his face in his hands and tears prick Ava's eyes. Nate looks to the others who are in the parlor. "Guys." He whispers, nodding his head for the group to leave and give the two some space. Nate is the last to leave the room after the others have piled out
It's silent for a moment until Jax unburies his face. "I'm sorry." He says, his eyes finding Ava's. Both had tears in their eyes and a look of hopelessness on their faces. "You're right. Brooke isn't the only one missing...Sara is missing too. We should pour all of our resources into looking for both of them."
"Thank you." Ava whispers, sinking down to sit next to Jax. She puts a hand on his shoulder. "We're gonna find our girls." She tells him, her eyes trying to spark with hope but the tears rolling down her cheeks get in the way. "We will do everything we can to find them. But something we can't do is turn on each other." She tells him softly and he nods, closing his eyes and letting the words sink in. "They've got each other up there. As far as I'm concerned, when they are together, they are unstoppable." She says with a smile that Jax reciprocates. "Come on, let's get back to work." She says, standing up and putting her hand out
Jax nods. "Let's get back to work." He says, grabbing her hand and standing up
***
= Alien Planet, Space =
Brooklyn crunches into the fetal position, her entire body hurting and her skin feeling as if it was on fire. She groans quietly as she holds her body tightly together. She's still being hunted but still under the guise of the night and the forest on the alien planet
When her foggy mind clears in the slightest, she yanks her jacket off of her body. She didn't want to not have her jacket on but she also didn't her skin to melt off her bones with how hot she was getting. Was it summertime on this planet? Did this planet even have a summer? And if it did, shouldn't it be cooler in the forest and at night? Things weren't making sense
And then, with the jacket off of her body, things began to click into place. Purple veins were making their way up Brooklyn's arm, starting at the angry-looking injection point on the inside of her wrist and making their way up to her collarbone and over the other side of her body
"Shit." Brooklyn breathes. This is bad. This is bad. Brooklyn is infected, just like Sara. And Brooklyn saw how rapidly Sara had declined so it was only a matter of time before Brooklyn was going to decline
If she wasn't declining already. Her mind is foggy. Her body is burning up with heat that feels like she's bathing in fire. She's exhausted, not wanting to get off of the ground and move. Her mind is spinning (and not the way it normally spins when she has many thoughts she's working through). It's spinning in an I-can't-focus-on-anything way. She was declining. She is declining
But something she knows from being a slave on that boat is that she needed to beat the infection. She could start by draining it. She'd done it countless times for herself and the other girls on the boat. They were all practically their own doctors by the age of 14. She just needed something sharp...
Brooklyn looks around the area she is in, sitting up with a groan. Her eyes try their best to adjust to the darkness around her but her brain was just so foggy with the infection that she couldn't focus. But she needed to. She was smarter than this. Stronger than this. She had been sick countless times on the boat. Of course, never with an alien infection, but definitely some nasty illnesses. She needs to clear her mind
Brooklyn closes her eyes and breathes. Through the fog in her mind, she lands on the one thing that could always calm her down: family. And not the family that she was connected to by blood but the family that she created with love in America
She thinks about her time with Oliver and Felicity when they first took her in. She thinks about training with Oliver and with Sara, sparring with the two of them. She thinks about her time on the waverider, the countless nights she would spend restless in the gym instead of sleeping, Sara joining her because the two were night owls. She thinks about Rip and Snart and Mick, the three men on the ship that took her under their wing and acted as father figures. She thinks about Nate and Behrad, the two idiot boys that act as her brothers, and then Zari who acts as her sister. Then there's Constantine who has always had a special place in her heart and has been amazing with her baby. Her mind thinks about Ava, the woman whom Sara loves and the woman whom Brooklyn has come to love as well. And then there's Jax and Maddie. Probably the two most important people in her life right now. The two most important people that take up her heart. Jax, the love of her life, and Maddie, the daughter the two made from their love
With her mind focusing on love, Brooklyn opens her eyes. Without getting up she is able to spot a branch that had fallen from one of the forest trees. She pulls the branch close to her and finds a sharp edge. She grabs her jacket and places it in her mouth -- she was still being hunted by who knows what on this planet -- preparing herself for the pain
With her mind focusing on love, Brooklyn takes another deep breath and places her arm over the sharp edge of the branch. She needed to cut into her arm deep enough to drain the infection. If this infection even drained. Regardless, this would give her a head start, hopefully halting the injection from spreading any further
With her mind focusing on love, Brooklyn bites down and slices through the injection site on her arm...
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NEXT CHAPTER UP TOMORROW
-MC