Washington DC, 1986
"That wasn't so bad now, was it?"
"Walk in the park." Leonard shot the captain, whose back was facing the group, a sarcastic smile.
"So, where are we now?" Emma less than happily muttered, gripping her head tightly as she rested her elbow on one of knees.
"Washington DC, the year is 1986."
Martin stood up delicately. "We've landed at the height of the Cold War in a world poised for nuclear annihilation."
Unprompted, Gideon's hologram appeared in the center of the bridge. "We've traveled here because I have a new lead on Vandal Savage's location."
"Yes, Gideon managed to intercept this telefax concerning Savage's last known whereabouts." Rip better explained, displaying the document across the devices.
"Tele-what?" Jax questioned, taking a step closer to the screen.
"It's like an email...on paper." Ray answered, peeling his eyes off of the screen to do so.
"Wow, that's totally useless." Mick observed the mostly black riddled paper.
"Dude, the whole thing's crossed out." Both Jax and Mick were correct, as the majority of the confidential paper had been covered in black ink.
"Yeah, redacted by the US government, which is why we are here to steal the original file on Savage back from those who are tracking him." Rip explained quickly, moving towards the large window on the bridge, and quite literally scaring the shit out of everyone else as they realized exactly where they were.
"Uh, that's the..." Ray lacked the words to finish his sentence.
"Now, now, don't worry, we are cloaked." Rip assured the team, all in their own version of shock, stared at The Pentagon.
"You want us to break into The Pentagon?" Mick asked rhetorically, knowing the answer to the question before he even spoke. "Sounds awesome."
"It sounds crazy." Kendra responded.
One by one, everyone refocused their attention on Rip. "What's the plan?"
"Oh, the fabricator will fashion you the necessary Pentagon credentials."
"Ooh, and don't forget our G-man disguises." Ray smiled contentedly. "I always wanted to be a spy." Ray's awkward comment was the silent command for the team to leave. One by one, leaving using all three exits, the team had departed. That was apart from Emma.
"Is there a problem, Miss Palmer?"
"Just do me a solid, don't put me with Sara on missions anymore."
"Miss Palmer, I don't know what quarrel has arisen between you and Miss Lance, and I don't necessarily care, but this is becoming a bothersome issue for the team. If this doesn't go our way, I lose everything. And I don't plan to let that happen because you and Miss Lance refuse to play nice with each other. So, whatever the problem is, solve it."
"A strong dislike of one another?" Emma rebutled.
"Just go!" He raised his voice slightly, gesturing to an exit.
"Sir yes sir." Emma snobbily saluted her captain, leisurely strolling out of the bridge.
XXX
Rip had ignored Emma, and due to her tone as she spoke to him, he had decided to put Emma and Sara together for the foreseeable future. Almost like a parent grounding their teenager for breaking curfew. Except, Emma wasn't a teenager, and Rip certainly wasn't in charge of her. Still, Emma played nice, walking stiffly through the Pentagon, Kendra and Sara on either side of her. Snart, dressed as a janitor beside Ray, extended his arm out slightly, just enough for Sara to take the key card out of his hand. They walked by as though nothing had happened, making their way to the security clearance room they needed to get to. Sara swiped the card calmly, finally granting them access.
"Hurry." Sara instructed, walking through the files room quickly.
"Now I'll be sure to go extra slow." Emma muttered as she combed through the files, quickly finding the one they were looking for. "Got it."
XXX
As they approached their exit, the three women tucked their caps under their right arm, as was protocol. Emma held hers closer to her side, protecting the file as well.
"This is a restricted exit." They were told sternly as they tried to walk by.
"Sorry, we must've gotten lost." Kendra excused them, stopped by reinforcements once she'd taken a step closer.
"I'm going to need to see your key card, ma'am." The three all glanced at each other with knowing looks-if they were going to get out of here, they needed to fight their way out.
XXX
Rip stood on one end of the computer in the center of the bridge, blankly staring at his group of 'legends,' all situated across from him. His ideal idea for the mission had gone out the window, or the roof, quite literally.
"Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, let's focus on the positive." Ray suggested, his hands nervously fidgeting.
"There is no positive, Ray." Emma deadpanned, lightly but repeatedly banging her head on the back of her seat.
"What are you talking about? It was awesome." Mick retorted, already reminiscing the sweet satisfaction he felt when he was able to light a room on fire.
"In the same way that tsunamis, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are 'awesome.'" Martin shot back, agitated in more ways than one.
"We got the file on Savage." Kendra recalled, trying to calm the room.
"Despite the hiccup with the alarm?" Stein glanced back at his nuclear partner, clearly annoyed.
"Oh, so it's my fault now? You know, maybe if you weren't always yammering away in my head, I could actually focus."
Rip shook his head as the two continued to bicker. "You have access to 60 years of knowledge and experience. Why not just take advantage of that?"
"Because it's my body on the line out there, not yours."
"Hey, it's not your fault. Everything would've been fine if Big Bird over here hadn't freaked out." Sara assured Jax, annoyedly glancing at Kendra from the corner of her eye.
"Excuse me?"
"Enough!" Rip finally interjected. "There is plenty of blame to go around. Now, fortunately, Gideon was able to generate a low-end EMP, which erased all the Pentagon's magnetic media."
"Like security footage?"
"Look, you're just lucky that the department of defense likes to keep incidents like this under wraps. Gideon, any luck with our purloined secret file? Please say yes."
"Yes, Captain. According to the Pentagon, Savage has defected to the Soviet Union."
"So the most powerful evil the world has ever known has just gone red at the height of the Cold War." Martin summed up.
"And now he's gonna help them cook up something that kills the future."
"Gideon, set a course..." Rip instructed eerily. "For the Soviet Union."
XXX
The waverider was unusually quiet post crash landing in Soviet Russia, so when someone knocked on the door to Emma's room, she'd naturally assumed it was Rip, giving her a mission of sorts.
"Come in." Sara entered the room, begrudgingly, not taking more than a step into the room to talk to Emma.
"Jesus, this place is a pigsty." She commented, looking at the state of Emma's room. She wasn't necessarily wrong. Clothes-clean and dirty, were scattered across the floor, wrappers, bowls, and glasses were messily tipped over on Emma's desk, and the bed Emma was laying on was a complete disaster.
The brunette rolled her eyes, continuing to toss the ball over her head and up at the ceiling above her. "Shut the fuck up." The two stayed silent for a minute, and Emma could tell Sara was trying to muster up the courage to speak again. "What do you want, Lance? Or did you just come into my room to insult it and then watch me play with a ball?"
"I-I need your help." She muttered lowly, barely audible to Emma.
"Ooh..." Emma couldn't keep herself from laughing. "The great Sara Lance needs my help. I'm honored."
Sara almost left considering the woman's sarcasm, but what little moral compassion she had stopped her. "It's about Kendra."
XXX
"We have a problem." Sara and Emma joined Rip's side as he walked through the halls of the waverider.
"Right, you're going to have to be a little more specific."
"It's Kendra."
Rip looked over at Emma for further explanation. "Don't look at me. That's all I got out of her before she dragged me out here to you."
Sara tsked at them both before starting her explanation. "She's completely unstable; you saw her at the Pentagon. Psycho Priestess Chay-Ara 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 gonna be the only dead body in our hands if someone doesn't get her under control."
"You know, perhaps you're right..." Rip turned around so he was facing the 'dynamic duo.' He saw the perfect opportunity to extract more revenge on Emma while also solving the problem. "And it just so happens I have to perfect candidates for the job."
"W- me? No." Emma rapidly shook her head, denying the proposal.
"What she said." Sara agreed. "I was suggesting Emma, not me."
"W-" Emma turned to Sara. "You tried to set me up."
"Totally."
"Well, I think it would be more fun if the two of you worked on it together."
"I swear to god I rather have Mick be captain sometimes."
XXX
"Just because we're doing this together doesn't mean we have to get along." Emma muttered as she and Sara walked to the cargo bay to start Kendra's involuntary training.
"Agreed. Heads up." Kendra turned around just in time to catch the bo staff Sara had tossed at her.
"What the hell is this?"
"Warriors train every day." Emma stated, taking out her own bo staff.
She declined, setting the weapon down on the crate next to her. "Sorry, but I'm not in the mood."
"Sorry is not gonna help that guard you defaced at the Pentagon."
Kendra stood up to face the two women. "Two months ago, I was a barista. I had no idea had some psycho hawk goddess-"
"God, Kendra, you can't use that excuse forever. Boo hoo. You left your 'comfy' barista life to be a superhero. So what? Two months ago I was the size of a penny, living in a cage with my brother." Kendra's entitled look diminished as Emma continued to speak. "We still train because we are superheroes. Are you gonna stop being a baby and train with us or are you gonna get your ass kicked next time we leave the ship?" Kendra turned back around, her right hand hovering over the weapon. As Kendra debated, realization hit Sara like a mack truck- she had fucked with the wrong Palmer. Without warning, Kendra swung back around, the bo staff nearly hitting both her and Emma as they prepared to fight.
XXX
It was a 2 on 1 fight for everyone, getting hits in when they could and fighting to stay alive in the 'heated battle.' Sara kept egging Kendra on, her intention to unleash the same power that had clouded Kendra's judgment back at the Pentagon, and defeat her once and for all. It had come to a point where Emma had to step in to defend Sara, something she'd immediately regret when Sara slammed her against the wall and began to choke Kendra.
"Sara-Sara-" Kendra breathed out, trying to get the blonde off of her. Emma jumped in once more, pouncing on Sara. She pinned Sara to the floor, looking back at Kendra, who was struggling to regain her breath.
"Are you okay?" Kendra nodded, allowing Emma to go back to dealing with Sara. "What about you?" She nodded, the hatred and anger dimming from her eyes. As Sara looked up at Emma, she remembered why she'd pushed her away in the first place. Emma stood up, helping the blonde up as well before the latter rushed away.
"What the hell was that?" Kendra muttered, coughing as she spoke.
"Pretty sure that's what bloodlust looks like."
XXX
"Why didn't you tell me about Sara's bloodlust?" Emma angrily asked the captain as she followed him intently through the dimly lit halls of the waverider.
"Well, I figured you knew and could act accordingly, Miss Palmer."
"She almost killed Kendra." Emma shot back, more serious now.
Rip bit his bottom lip, realizing his dire mistake. "I'll deal with this, you go with Mr. Snart, Mr. Palmer, Doctor Stein, and Mr. Rory."
"And why should I listen to you?" She crossed her arms over her chest, holding her ground as she faced Rip.
"You have no reason to." He admitted. "But I know you will because you want Savage dead just a little bit less than I do."
XXX
The details from that night remained fuzzy through Emma's drug ridden brain, but the overarching idea remained the same- Stein was being used as a scientific guinea pig, and Emma, Mick, and her brother were headed to the heart of communist Russia- a seemingly impenetrable Siberian gulag.