Deserey had, of course, only met the Flash one other time, but it had been made very clear during their first, brief meeting that Barry was a very relaxed and caring man, if not just a bit goofy. Her first impression of the guy: Ray Palmer with a much lankier body.
So, it was a little disconcerting to see the guy appear so stressed out, now. Waves of anxiousness rolled off of him like a waterfall tumbling down the mountain side. His eyes didn't quite hold the same light they'd had when Deserey had first met him at Star Labs when they'd gone to get her codename from Cisco.
Barry shifted, something like guilt forming on his face, mixed with something that looked alarmingly like desperation. Deserey could see slight bags forming under his eyelids, like he hadn't slept in a while; his feet were dragging the slightest bit.
His hair looked a bit different as well, not just because it was kind of messy either. It was a little shorter, as if he'd gotten himself a haircut at somepoint. (Though, Deserey could have just been remembering his last appearance incorrectly...)
Barry sighed, giving Leonard a small wave in spite of the Cold Gun aimed directly at his chest. He didn't seem to find it even remotely threatening. "I need your help."
Leonard quirked an eye brow at him. but apparently he was interested in what Barry had to say, because he slowly placed his gun back in its holster. "Barry Allen, hero of Central City," he mused, gesturing around them. "This is Siberia in the year 1986. We're a little out of your jurisdiction."
Barry held a desperate hand out to stop him, taking a few steps closer. "Yeah, hear me out. I want to recruit you...for a mission."
Leonard rolled his eyes. He turned slightly, jerking his head towards the time ship that sat clear as day behind them. "I'm already helping a bunch of idiot do-gooders." He shrugged carelessly. "Sorry, I'm up to my fuzzy hood in teamwork."
Deserey shifted awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. She couldn't help but wonder if she was supposed to be included in 'idiot do-gooders.' She didn't bother asking though.
Leonard turned his back on the Flash, heading for the ship even though Rip hadn't opened the door for them yet. Deserey glanced at Barry, shrugging apologetically.
Apparently, Barry wasn't going to take no for an answer though. He held his arms out, staring with pleading eyes at Leonard's back. "Would it help if I said please?"
"No." Leonard turned back around to face him. He sent a glare his way, but it didn't look nearly as harsh as the ones he'd been giving Rip. "You already have a bunch of superhero types in your life. Why ask me?"
Barry let out a heavy sigh, shrugging slightly. "Well you have a..." He hesitated, "particular set of skills."
"You need to steal something," Deserey guessed.
Barry nodded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah," he admitted quietly.
"Also," Dez added, "Taken."
"Great movie," Leonard commented, smirking slightly. He turned serious again a moment later though, going back to shooting the Flash down. "Last time we tried to be buddy-buddy, it didn't work out so well..." With another smirk, he added, "for you."
Deserey tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Last time?"
"He asked me for help transporting some dirt bags across the city," Leonard explained.
"Yeah, and he sabotaged the truck we were moving them in." Barry grimaced at the memory.
Deserey gave a Len a look. "That's sort of mean."
Leonard shrugged, unapologetically. He didn't respond to the comment though, instead narrowing his eyes at Barry again. "Why trust me now?" He had a point. It was a bit reckless and dumb to trust someone after they'd betrayed you.
Barry didn't immediately answer. He blinked a couple of times, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he stared at the ground.
Deserey looked at him worriedly. Maybe she didn't really have a right to care, considering she didn't really know him all that well; but he looked so completely lost and helpless. She thought he might of been trying not to break down.
Leonard, evidently, did not share her sympathy for the Flash. He sighed, pointing at the Waverider with an impatient finger. "Spit it out, or I'm gonna step onto that ship and pretend like this conversation never happened."
"It's probably locked," Dez reminded him.
He shrugged. "I'll break in."
She nodded. "Okay, fair enough."
Len turned back to Barry. "Well?"
Barry hesitated for another moment. When his eyes finally met the thief's they looked even more desperate than before. "Iris."
It took Deserey a moment to recall who he was talking about. The two had hardly spoken any words to each other when the Legends had been at Star Labs; and even after she'd put a name to her face, Dez couldn't remember the woman's relation to Barry, until Leonard scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oy. The girlfriend."
"Fiancée," Barry corrected half heartedly.
"Mazel tov," Leonard said, though his tone was laced with a bit of sarcasm. "What about her?"
Deserey watched as Barry shifted uncomfortably again. She knit her brows together, partly in thought and partly because the wind was picking back up. "Is she in danger?" It was kind of a shot in the dark, but she'd just assumed the fact that Barry needed to steal something and the fact that he'd said her name were connected somehow.
Barry nodded slowly. He looked at Len again, and Deserey could easily imagine him getting down on his knees and begging Leonard for help. "If you don't help me, she's gonna die."
Somehow, Leonard still seemed very unmoved by the Flash's proposal. "True love. That's your pitch."
Barry shrugged helplessly again. "That's all I've got."
Leonard placed his hand over the Cold Gun, inching towards Barry, his eyes down cast. Deserey couldn't tell what he was thinking, and she was sort of worried that he was about to shoot Barry. She bit her lip nervously, watching the exchange. Len glanced up at Barry again. "And I assume saving your girlfriend requires us doing something less than lawful, like Dez said?"
Barry stared back at the thief, nodding again slowly. He didn't appear to be as worried about being shot as Dez was. "We need to break into ARGUS and steal an alien power source."
Dez made a face. She held up a hand, pushing her way between the two men so she could be part of the conversation too. "Okay, what's an ARGUS? Because I'm guessing you don't mean that guy with one hundred eyes." She folded her arms. "Also, alien power source?"
She remembered Gideon saying something about aliens existing back in the fifties, but the Legends had yet to see one face to face.
"Oh, right," Barry muttered to himself. "Almost forgot you guys are from 2016 so you haven't done the whole Dominator thing yet..."
Leonard and Dez exchanged looks with each other. "What?" Len asked.
Barry waved it off. "It's a really long story..." For some reason he wasn't looking at Leonard when he said that.
"Okay?" Dez said slowly. "Um, when are you from, if not from 2016?"
"...2017," Barry said. Dez wasn't sure why he sounded so nervous about that. Maybe he was just worried about messing up the past.
She nodded curtly. "Okay," she said. "A year in the future. Cool, I guess. Didn't know speedsters could also time travel. But...cool." She rolled her hand for him to continue explaining. "So, um, ARGUS?"
"Uh..." Barry struggled to find the right words to explain it to her. "The easiest way to describe it is: a secret government organization."
"Ah. Gotcha." Dez glanced at Len, grinning slightly, in spite of her face feeling more than a little numb from the weather. "C'mon. Don't you wanna rob another government building?"
Leonard shrugged. "Guess so." He mused over the thought for a moment, smirking with the slightest bit of amusement. "Flash, a thief," he snickered. Dez could practically see gears shifting in his head as he considered it. Finally, he said, "That's my kind of mission... One condition: my rules."
"Your rules." Barry gave yet another curt nod, apparently willing to agree with anything at this point. Whatever Iris had gotten mixed in to it had to be pretty bad...
Barry scrunched his face in confusion, suddenly realizing what Dez had said. He turned to her. "Wait. What did you mean another government building?"
Dez laughed a little at his reaction before recounting the Pentagon heist to him. He listened with a vague interest, probably more worried about saving his fiancee than actually hearing about it; and he grimaced a bit when she'd told him about the arguments that had followed the heist. (She wasn't sure why she'd told him about those. It was just that sometimes she couldn't stop herself from talking.)
"Anyway, we should get going if you're in that much of a hurry," Leonard said when the story was finished.
"I'm coming too," Deserey said before either of them could move. "It's cold out here, and I don't care if you're just gone three seconds, I'm not waiting for you out here. Also, running with a speedster is on my bucket list."
Barry blinked, taken aback by that last comment. "Oh. Okay, then."
Dez jumped on his back like a child, causing him to stumble a bit. "Giddy up, Flash!" She caught Leonard snickering at this, but Barry didn't seem to think it was all that funny.
He didn't protest the position, though. Instead, he sped off, grabbing Leonard in the process.
Time travel via speedster was a lot different than traveling in the Waverider.
For one thing, going the speedster route didn't have those beautiful green waves Deserey had grown so fond of over the last few weeks or so. Instead, the trio was surrounded by a montage of history. Dez watched with wide eyes as the Cold War zipped past her in a blurry image, like a video on a turbo charged fast forward.
She saw key moments in her life too. Her parents kicking her out. The day she'd married Darryl and the day they divorced. She saw the day her kids were born and even the day Rip picked her and the other Legends up.
Dez wondered if the other two could see it as well. Or, perhaps it was something that was personal to the individual? Maybe they all seen something completely different?
She leaned forward to ask Barry, but in doing so she must've caused him to lose his hold on her because she found herself slipping off his back.
Deserey flinched, her body going weightless for a moment before slamming onto the hard ground. She groaned, rubbing her head where she'd landed on it; but she didn't open her eyes until she heard a sharp gasp.
The room was spacious, the walls aligned with a dark blue glow. The floors were a dark black, though they were shinny enough for Deserey to see her reflection. At the back of the room sat a long, oval table under a large TV screen.
Sitting at the table was a woman dressed in a grey windbreaker over a white tank top. Her blonde hair came to a stop at her shoulders, hazel eyes widening with shock. The woman stood abruptly, her hand moving to her mouth to cover the gasp she'd just let out.
Dez stared back at her, her own mouth hanging wide open, words refusing to form. What was she supposed to say anyways?
Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything. With a gust of wind, Barry returned, grabbing Dez and rescuing her from the terribly awkward situation.
In the blink of an eye, Deserey was standing in the center of a long, rounding hallway with white walls and flooring, which she vaguely recognized from the last time she was in Star Labs. Leonard and Barry were standing next to her.
"Sorry," Barry winced guiltily, holding his arms out to steady her as she stumbled a little. "Sometimes it's kinda hard to hold on to two people. You okay?"
Dez nodded, rubbing her head, a familiar buzz forming behind her eyes. She wasn't sure if that was because of the time traveling or the fact that she'd hit her head. "I'm gonna have a bump on my head, but I'll live." She resisted the urge to add, unfortunately. Instead, she asked, "Who was that lady?"
Barry looked confused. "Huh? What lady?"
"The blonde," Dez said. "You didn't see her?"
He shrugged and shook his head. "There wasn't any lady."
Deserey put her hands on her hips, the buzzing in her head intensifying as she did so, making her grimace. "There was. She stared right at me."
From the look on his face, the speedster clearly didn't believe her. That would have been bad enough, except that he added, "Look, the speed force is pretty trippy. Maybe it made you see something that wasn't there or --"
"Or," Dez said, the buzz ringing in her ears with each word she said, "the more likely thing, you just aren't observant."
Barry's eyes widened for a second. Apparently, Deserey wasn't the first person to call him out on his observation skills, or lack there of, because he said, "Okay, Oliver."
Dez grunted, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes for a second. "You can't compare to someone I haven't met. That's just rude." She grimaced as the buzzing continued when she spoke. Though, it seemed to be dying down a bit, so that was good. At least, it wasn't nearly as annoying as the first go around.
"Well, actually you have met him in this time period but..." Barry trailer off. He sounded a little worried. "Are you sure you're okay? Both of you actually..."
Deserey glanced at Leonard. He was leaning against the wall, blinking a little and holding his own head. She guessed he must've gotten vertigo. After a moment, he stood up and seemed to be perfectly fine.
"Yeah," Dez said, turning back to Barry. The ringing was but a small inconvenience now. "Just the side effects of time travel."
Leonard huffed and glared at Barry, looking a bit teed off. "Which you seem to have a distinct lack of."
Barry gave them another look of confusion. "Huh? I've never gotten any side effects from time traveling before."
"What?" Dez shouted, probably much louder than necessary. "That's not fair! Why not?"
Barry shrugged. "I don't know. Speedsters heal faster. So, maybe we just don't get them."
Dez squinted at him, now sharing Leonard's disposition. "Oh, you dick!"
Barry let out a small chuckle at that. He gestured for the two Legends to follow him down the hall, leading them into the Cortex, where the rest of Team Flash was waiting.
Harrison Wells stood at the center of the group, waving around a pair of drum sticks, a goofy hat perched on top his head. "I know we don't have a plane. We steal a plane, okay? We'll put it back. Alright?"
He seemed much sillier than he'd been the last time Deserey had been at Star Labs. So, either he'd gotten an attitude adjustment or he was a completely different person.
Dez remembered Martin saying something about the Wells they'd met being from 'Earth Two.' If that were the case than this goofy Wells could have been from another earth also, which begged the question: how many versions of Harrison Wells did this team need?
The goofy Wells went on, happily explaining his over eccentric plan, oblivious to the three new comers. "And we parachute out of the plane, and we land on the roof -- gotta land on the roof, alright? And then..." He pointed the drum sticks downwards, intimating the air whooshing. "Right down the air ducts. Mission: Improbable Style." He spread his arms out like a bird, grinning broadly. "Easy!"
"Easy," Cisco nodded, standing right in front of him. He didn't seem to think the plan was as enticing as Goofy Wells did.
"Yes!" Goofy Well grinned.
Cisco folded his arms, absolutely unimpressed. "What about the counterterrorism missiles?"
"What?" Goofy Wells made a face. But before he could say anything else, Leonard spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to them.
He waltzed to the center of the room, coming to a stop next to Cisco and Joe West, talking like they were all good friends and not worst enemies. "Hello, Joe, Cisco!" He turned to Iris, smirking slightly. "Iris! Love the ice. Sparkly."
Deserey herself caught sight of another familiar face, one that had definitely not been there before.
They had a bob of jet black hair, dark, amber eyes. Their frame was slim, because the body rarely got enough to eat being anorexic. Freckles bridged across their nose.
Deserey recognized the body as Lucy Danifer, but it was hard telling if that's who was fronting at the moment. She wasn't sure how Lucy's DID had effected her after they'd stopped talking. Maybe she'd completely healed and moved on from it; though that wasn't likely, as Dissociative Identity Disorder wasn't really something that just magically disappeared one day.
Dez hadn't seen her, and by extension any of her alters, in years. So, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell the way she'd use to be able to, assuming they'd even let her see any changes, sometimes it was impossible to spot a switch, DID being a self defense mechanism and all. (Dez had only been able to tell because Lucy and her two alters Chloe and Dan had trusted her.)
In addition, Deserey didn't know if Lucy was even still the host -- the alter that fronts the most often. Never mind the fact that, if any new alters had made an appearance they would have no idea who Deserey was, and they'd probably be weary of her if she approached them.
So, she kept her distance for the moment. She didn't want to startle whoever this person might have been. If they recognized her, then they'd be the one to address her first.
And they stayed put at the back of the room, so it was probably a safe bet that this was someone new.
They sat prim and proper, shoulders high, hands folded on their lap. Their toes were pointed ever so slightly, as they eyed Deserey and Leonard. Another tell tale sign that this wasn't Lucy, Chloe, or Dan? They were wearing glasses. As far as Dez knew, neither of those three needed to wear glasses.
Goofy Wells aimed one drum stick at Deserey and Leonard each. "Captain Cold. And Sandstorm." Iris rolled her head around, a look of exasperation forming on her face.
Cisco and Joe were wearing identical looks of horror on their faces. Their mouths were agape, eyes widened. "Snart, what the hell are you doing here?"
Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, his team eyeing him with expressions of suspicion that didn't quite make sense. "Snart's gonna help me break into ARGUS -- get the power source. And, um, Dez came to help too." He added the last part sheepishly, and Dez tried not to feel too offended about being an after thought.
Goofy Wells spluttered. He shook his head. "Huh??"
The person at the back of the room nodded their agreement. They fiddled with their glasses as they spoke, their accent an Australian one, thick and sweet like honey. "I second that. It seems odd that he specifically could be here, considering you told us the Legends said --"
Barry stumbled into the desk at the center of the Cortex, knocking some junk onto the floor. "Oh, no. Clumsy me." From the way he said it, it sounded as if he'd made a mess on purpose in order to cut the person off.
Dez shared a look with Len, as Joe kept giving Barry that look all parents wore when their kids were about to be in big trouble. "Awkward," Leonard muttered.
"Yeah," Dez whispered back. "I'm getting the sense they didn't know we were coming."
Leonard nodded. He turned, addressing Team Flash. "I can see you all have a lot to talk about. We'll be done in your lab."
That last part was directed at Cisco, as he walked towards the door, excusing himself and Deserey so they could reprimand Barry for whatever stupid thing they thought he'd done in private. Dez followed him without a second thought.
{~}
Leonard and Deserey only had to wait around in Cisco's lab for a few minutes during Barry's scolding. It mustn't have been too bad though, because everyone seemed to be on good terms, if not the slightest bit unnerved.
The team pulled out a blue map of the ARGUS building, explaining their situation when Dez wouldn't stop pestering them with questions. (If they were going to help, then they had a right to know what was going on!)
Deserey stared at them when they'd finished. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on as she summed it all up. "So, Barry did some speedy weedy mombo jumbo mixed with some timey wimey stuff and now there's an evil version of him running around trying to kill Iris because...reasons?"
Iris nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Pretty much." She seemed oddly calm for someone who was about to die in a number of hours...
"Jeesh," Dez mumbled. "And I thought the weirdest story was gonna be Carter and Kendra's..."
Leonard pointed to a spot on the map. Deserey got the feeling he wasn't paying attention to anything they'd been saying. "It'll be here."
"Why there?" Barry asked.
"Because," Leonard explained, "it's the deepest part of the facility." Deserey had seen him serious before, but now that he was taking charge of a heist his stature was twice as intense as it usually was, a bit like he'd been when he planned for their infiltration at the weapons bazaar in the seventies.
Leonard eyed the team with narrowed eyes. "And if it's as valuable as you say it is, then the deepest recesses of any facility are usually the most secure."
"Hm," Cisco hummed. "Smart, Snart." He started chuckling, but no one else joined in so he awkwardly scratched at his head.
Dez grinned lightly, coming to his aid, as she realized what he'd found so humorous about his statement. "Oh, I get it. Cause it rhymes." She gave a small laugh.
Cisco pointed at her. "See she gets me!" But when the others still didn't join in on the pitiful joke, he said, "I'm gonna keep hackin' away and find out for sure."
"I'll go with you," the alter, who's name Dez had found out was Linda, said. She and Cisco left the room, the latter walking a bit stiff.
Dez cringed. The tension among Team Flash was unbearably high. She hoped it wasn't always like this between the team.
Barry exhaled once Cisco and Linda had left the room. He looked at Len, almost as serious as the thief himself. "Do you have any idea what else might be down there?"
Len shrugged carelessly. "Doesn't matter. There are only four rules you need to remember." He tacked them off on his finger as he listed them. "Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go of the rails..." He paused between the third rule and the fourth, probably for dramatic effect, Deserey guessed. "Throw away the plan."
Dez raised an eyebrow. "Did you just pull that out of your ass right now?"
"No I pulled it out of my ass when I was fourteen," Len told her. He glanced at Barry, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit. "Follow my lead and you'll be fine." He glanced back at Dez with the same look, which was kind of spooky. "You too."
Dez gave a little salute, her voice taking on a slightly sarcastic tone as she covered up her discomfort. "Aye, aye, Captain."
"I'm trusting you," Barry said. There was an unspoken undertone of please, don't screw me over again!
Iris looked at Leonard, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her black coat. Her expression was soft, pleading. "We all are."
"Just don't sit me at the single's table at the wedding reception," Leonard told them. The comment had Iris and Barry shifted uncomfortably for some reason.
Dez tilted her head at him. "What makes you think you'll be invited to their wedding?"
Leonard gave her a pointed look in return. "I'm helping them save the bride. I'm invited to that wedding. Probably even the best man."
Deserey's eyes lit up at that. She grinned at Barry and Iris. "If he's the best man, can I be the maid of honor?"
Iris and Barry exchanged hesitant looks with one another; Deserey gave them a pouty look, folding her hands in front of her. "I...think we'll wait to make any concrete plans until I'm not on the brink of death," Iris said. "But um...we'll talk."
"Yes. Yes, we will," Deserey agreed.
Joe spoke up next, bringing everyone back to the task at hand. He looked at Leonard, a bit suspicious. "Just out of curiosity, you have a plan for getting in there?"
"I've got that covered," Barry insisted.
Goofy Wells walked in the room with a blonde woman, carrying coffee. HR quickly covered the woman's eyes. "Hey, Flash. Superhero. Cowl on, please? We've got civilians in the house."
"It's okay, H.R., we're trusting Tracy with our lives. We can trust her with this," Barry said walking over to them.
Tracy. Dez recalled hearing her name in Team Flash's story about Evil!Barry. She was helping them build a weapon to stop the evil speedster, they'd said.
"Good point," Goofy Wells, H.R., said. "Yeah. Okay, I'll put my hands down now." Slowly, he lowered his hands from Tracy's face.
Tracy's eyes lit up and she grinned at Barry, laughing slightly. "Oh, I totally should have figured that out!"
Barry grinned back at her, evidently finding amusement from her reaction. H.R. gestured at the map of the ARGUS building. "Well, carry on then." The duo left again.
"Alright," Barry nodded. He turned and walked back to the others. Deserey glanced at Leonard, thinking the random interaction was a bit odd, but Len shrugged apparently not caring about it.
Barry glanced at Joe, looking dead serious. "Alright, Joe, I need you to take Iris some place far from here. Far away from me."
Iris frowned. "Barry --"
"I can't know where," Barry insisted. "If I know where, then Savitar knows."
Joe nodded in agreement. "I'll get Wally." He started out of the room, patting Barry on the shoulder as he went. "We'll keep her safe, don't worry."
Barry and Iris glanced at Len and Dez, and Deserey got the feeling they wanted to have a private moment. She nudged Len towards the door gently. He got the hint, and they headed for the door as well.
So here's another update at the ungodly hour of 12:17 AM 'cause I have no life so I can stay up as late as I want and have absolutely no consequences except for the state of my mental health but that's dwindling anyways so who cares 🤣🤣🤣
Alright. Well it took two minutes to write that nonsense so now it's 12:19 AM.
Anyway, you'll have to excuse the random characters who showed up this chapter. I would be remise if I didn't take this opportunity to vaguely introduce some other ocs of mine who have/will have their own story! Shameless promotions and what not. Hopefully they seem interesting... Probably not. oh well.
Anyway, this chapter has been sitting here finished and unpublished for god only knows why for long enough so I'm gonna go ahead and shut up and push that publish button now. Feel free to ignore this useless now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
PS. The final time of posting is 12:24 AM
Edit: actually 12:43 because apparently it didn't publish a few minutes ago 🤷🏻