02:
Cat Vs Time Travel
The man had allowed them the maximum of thirty six hours to come to a conclusion. Join him on a highly idiotic and ridiculous journey, only to inflate their egos and maybe pretend that they're helping the world during this.
Or to stay in 2016, which in one hundred and fifty years the world would be nothing but fire, chaos anarchy and death.
Lovely.
To be honest, Clarissa did not overly care about the wellbeing of the planet in a hundred and fifty years, she'd be long dead within half of that time and to her it was those who lived in the future's issue not hers.
Why should she be the one to help them?
However, it would get her off the streets and into a home of security and belonging.
A place where she was needed, a place where she was not so different from everyone else to the point of seclusion. No more stealing for survival, oh no, she would be fed thoroughly and she'd have somewhere warm to sleep other than a creaky mattress she had bought with stolen money.
Clarissa would no longer be lonely as she would have people she could truly converse with, have in depth conversations about the other person and their lives. Instead of talking to herself, a few steps away from fully being submerged beneath her insanity.
But it would mean being in a confined area with the man of cold himself, Leonard Snart.
Was that really worth it?
Back in the day, hearing his name would have brought a genuine smile upon her face and pep to her step, bounce to her walk. But now? Well she could not get further away from him if she tried. A broken heart does that to you, it changes your opinion of people and the world. It changes your personality and how you present yourself, you no longer allow your guard to be down so you build meter thick walls around your mind and heart to prevent others from getting in.
It worked to some extent.
"But Clarissa, imagine all the things you could steal?! Go back in time and snatch the Mona Lisa, or the crown from Queen Elizabeth The First. Anything my heart wanted could be mine. Just grab and go." She squealed in delight, prancing around her little abandoned factory based home.
"Yet Leonard will be there" Clarissa grunted in dismay. The once happy attitude fleeing her body within a small moment.
"No! Screw Leonard! He does not have control over my actions nor is he apart of my life anymore. I can tolerate the asshat, I am stronger than this, a man will not dictate what I do with my life."
Before leaving the band of merry men she had learnt of those who had too been taken. Finding it interesting why the man would take such an array of people. She soon came to realise that they were like a jigsaw, a team that perfectly fit together through their abilities and personalities.
Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall were the first two she had taken notice of, then again... Dressed in golden leather and large hawk like wings sprouting out their backs was rather hard not to notice. The two had a rocky relationship, mainly due to their constant cycle of death and reoccurring amnesia, plus the fact the female denied the feelings so she obviously had towards the male.
Next was Ray Palmer, a puppy like metal millionaire who was actually soaked in arrogance. The male simply wanted his name out into the world, he wanted to be famous for something, he hoped his ATOM suit would have been that reason.
Thirdly was Sara Lance, an ex assassin who in all honesty was Clarissa's favourite. The female was realistic and even though she had seen so much evil in her life time she did not let it shape her, she did not let anger drive her much unlike Clarissa. The two had somewhat formed a friendship as they discussed their lives and why they were there...
Then, old man Stein and his younger friend Jefferson. The two seemingly did not get on, as they could not come up with a singular decision, by what Clarissa could figure out was that Jefferson/Jax was the muscle and the elder man was the brains.
They merged to become firestorm.
However, Stein was ignorant and self-absorbed completely ignoring the opinion of his young friend.
Lastly, there was Mick Rory and Leonard Snart.
It was evident that Mick had truly missed her, as within seconds the large ogre like man had pulled her into a tight embrace. Nothing had been said, then again nothing had to be said between the two, there was no need to speak of feelings as it was not their type of thing. Emotions and feelings were never something either of them found easy to express.
"If I stay I will miss out on the thrill of a life time... If I go then I'm subjected to Leonard's lies and Mick's constant questioning of why I left." She sighed.
"Screw this." She snapped at herself as she snatched her coat and stormed out the building. "Let's get this over with."
The ginger pulled up to the destination which happened to be a gravelled, empty lot, on a jet black stolen motorcycle, making a grand entrance as walking had never truly been her favourite thing to do when she had a bike at disposal.
Grinding to a sudden halt, she pulled off the helmet and shook her head so her auburn curls sprung to life and separated from their messy knots, before they cascaded downwards in luscious waves.
As she placed the helmet onto the back of the bike, she soon noticed a figure walking towards her. A man with a smirk and a buzz cut, the man of cold himself. Leonard Snart.
"Can't you go for one minute without that stupid look upon your face?" The cat snarled as she leant against her bike, her arms crossed and her hazel eyes glaring directly into his icy blue orbs.
"I'm surprised you actually decided to show up, Clary." He grinned.
But before she could even begin to shout at him for using the nickname, a new familiar blonde friend of hers jumped at her defence.
"Why wouldn't she be here?" Sara inquired, her eyebrow raised in a challenging look and her hand on her jutted out hip. The woman looked intimidatingly annoyed.
"Doesn't matter..." Leonard dragged out his words with that ever so personal accent of his as he walked away, removing himself from the conversation as he joined the ever growing group of people.
Before the ginger could call him out, once again she was interrupted. However, this time it only happened to be a silver sleek convertible that had pulled up to the meeting up point, driven by a worried Stein and a drooling incapacitated Jax in the passenger seat. Obviously drugged so he would attend the important pick up.
The elderly man exited his car with a piece of paper in his grasp that had the destination ruggedly written on, before placing the paper back into his pocket.
"Professor" Snart yelled at the elder to gain his attention as the gaggle of people moved towards him, Clarissa however kept her distance as she sat on her bike.
"This is the place." He dramatically continued. Earning an eye roll from the ginger, always with the theatricals.
Ray who seemed over zealous looked around confused at the lack of Rip Hunter.
"I think we are being punked"
"Oh my god," Clarissa mumbled beneath her breath. "Is this kid serious?"
"Do people still say punked?" Ray continued less enthusiastically.
"No." Sara dead-panned.
As the group neared the convertible, they began to notice the "sleeping beauty" known as Jack in the passenger seat, whose body had slumped to one side against the door and his mouth agape.
"I see your friend threw himself a leaving party." The arsonists joked earning a chuckle from his feline friend who was across the clearing, her heightened sense of hearing benefiting her at that point in time.
Clarissa began to ignore them, letting them talk amongst themselves as she looked down at her human formed nails. They looked disgusting in her opinion, they were badly chipped and unpainted but she had learnt the hard way to just leave them alone. Every time she had painted them, once her cat like claws had done their task and had no more use, her human nails had returned shortly after the nail varnish was just destroyed. Wasted time, and a waste of nail varnish.
"A girls nightmare." The female joked to herself as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to stop feeling so anxious. Clarissa could not remember the last time she felt so nervous, normally she was simply driven on impulse, anger or just need to feel the rush of adrenaline. Now all she could feel was this unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was going to go wrong.
"Well, I see you all decided to come." Rips voice pulled her out of her own thoughts, he looked exactly the same as he did all those hours ago. The slicked hair, bushy ginger beard and leather pirate get up.
The man was surprisingly cheerful and his voice broke the tension that had someone developed between the group. In his hands were her prized possessions, her guns and knives plus a prized part of her utility belt he had nicked. With little to no patience, the ginger stalked forwards, her lips turned downwards in a grimace as like a cat sneaking up on a mouse, she made her way towards the time traveller.
"Ah, Clarissa." Rip smiled, as he nodded towards the approaching figure.
"I believe I owe you a few items." He continued as one by one her weapons were returned. Thankfully not tampered with. However Rip was not surprised when the female pulled the gun upwards towards him... Like over forty hours beforehand.
"Clary," Snart warned her, knowing full well she would pull the trigger just for fun.
"Shut it, Snart." Her voice was cold and distant as if it was detached from her body.
"Now, Sugar. Why shouldn't I pull?" Clarissa teased whilst those behind her stood on edge awaiting the outcome.
"Now, I know that we have our issues. But I have brought you a peace offering that I am positive you will not turn away." And with that Rip unraveled his right closed hand to show the singular band of black metal that formed a ring. It was pretty and caught her eye but jewellery was not a way to get to her heart.
Her obviously confused face notified the time traveller to explain.
"It has camouflage technology, but in a different way than most would think. It has the ability to hide your cat ears and tail. Your claws will stay perfectly intact as those are something you can retract at your own free will, and your cat abilities will obviously still be there. But, you will not feel or see the aspects that you hated." Rip explained and watched the gleam of hope that twinkled in Clarissa's eyes.
Clarissa backed up, her hand shaking at the ring before her. The female quickly de-weaponised by shoving the metal gun into its holster. The black band could mean normality for her, it could mean going out in the day just like anyone else. Pulling off her glove, the female shoved the ring onto her right hands middle finger, the ring produced a sense of tingling throughout her entire body.
Then, she pulled down her hood and went to feel her cat ears which were not there, she then proceeded to fish around for her tail which also was not there. A sound of glee and happiness fell past her lips as she looked at the man in awe.
"T-Thank you." Clarissa stuttered out.
"No need Ms.Falls." Rip nodded before turning towards the others, who were seemingly clueless to the ordeal.
With that Rip clapped his hands before he turned to face the empty air. "Let us be on our way."
Clarissa stood behind him, still in shock at the generosity of Mr. Hunter. In truth, she completely understood it was only so she would not kill him on their journey, but the technology solved so much of her own self-hatred.
"Hey, I ain't footing it anywhere." Snart snapped, his arms crossed and his eyes forming a glare.
'Lazy' Clarissa thought as she rolled her eyes, something she was doing more often.
Most definitely because of his presence.
"As a time master, we must not do anything to harm the timeline." The male quickly explained before he continued "-Can you imagine what a time machine would look like, in say... Victorian England?" A small chuckle fell from his mouth and into the air.
Stein who seemed in awe and highly fascinated by the situation began to stumble forward, his mouth agape.
"Holographic indigenous camouflage projection." The scientist nearly dribbled. "Like Ms Falls ring." He concluded.
Rip turned, a look of pride written all off his face. "Indeed" he exclaimed before pressing down onto a small trinket like device, which let out a hiss. In seconds, a large, metal spaceship unveiled itself before them. The team, all in a surprised silence, stared at the WR-2055 in pure and utter shock.
The time master himself was seemingly unfazed and continued to explain.
"It is called the Wave Rider. It has been my ship for over a decade." He grinned.
"Not to nitpick or tell you what to do with your life. But maybe you should get out more." Clarissa sassed, unable to contain a comment, with that she made a beeline for sara, who rolled her eyes playfully at the comment.
Ignoring her statement, the time master turned towards the group with a smile on his face.
"Shall we?"