"I don't see him." Nate looked around the legends all in 1965 where his grandfather was dropped off.
"That is odd." Rip spun around on the steps in search of him. "I dropped him off right here a moment ago. Where could he have gone?" Rip rushed down the steps when he thought he found him. "Henry!" Except he was wrong. "Oh, I'm sorry. My mistake."
"Where is he?" Nate rushed down the steps to stand next to Rip.
"We used to call Henry "the Chameleon. " He speaks seven languages like a local and he's a master in the art of camouflage and concealment." Amaya told the two. "If you told him to disappear, that's exactly what he did."
"Henry's good but he doesn't have powers like we do. Can you catch his scent?" Clarity asked her.
"The people here are close together but I can try." Amaya summoned the Ashe of a bloodhound sniffing the air. "There's too much perfume in the air. How about you? Can you sense him?" Amaya asked her.
"Let me check." Clarity shut her eyes trying to concentrate. She covered her ears even going so far as to hold her breath, breathing out as she realized it was futile. "It's no good it's too loud, I can't....there are too many hums....I can't pick him out. Damnit this is just like that weekend in Italy." Clarity complained.
"Your kidding. That's it? Your not going to glitch around the city fly around to rooftops." Nate looked between the two.
"Nathaniel we could cause an aberration." Amaya scolded.
"Who cares about an aberration when reality is at stake!?" Nate protested.
"Don't worry, if it's hard for us to find your grandfather, it's hard for the Legion." Sara told Nate.
They all filed into an alleyway and Clarity glitched them back to the ship. While the rest of the team went to the bridge her and Rip went straight to the library. Hoping to find a clue to where Henry Heywood was.
"It's not your fault." Clarity told him as they entered.
"Not yours either." Rip replied.
"Then quit blaming yourself." Clarity told him.
"You first," Rip walked over to a book pulling it off the shelf.
"I'm not." Clarity replied brushing a lock of hair out of her face.
"Your hairs frizzing." Rip replied as he opened a book starting to thumb furiously through pages.
"So?"
"So, you touch your hair, your upset with yourself, powers do their thing crackle, zap, pop and then you've got frizzy hair that you try to smooth down every five seconds before anyone notices. You brush it down like that there-" Rip pointed with his finger. "-that. You just did it. It's not rocket science. You don't make lights go all dim anymore but you do get your hair frizzy."
"Yeah well you bury yourself in work and get all rude like your doing now."
"Am I? I don't care and just for the record I didn't make any denials unlike you. Now Henry had free reign in 65. I only told him to protect the spear, no contact with his family in the future, and not to make any waves. Where would he go?"
"God it's like you time scattered them." Clarity complained tapping a few buttons on the screen pulling up news paper clippings searching for any sign of Henry. "At least you gave them more than a five second warning."
"I gave you all as much time as I could." Rip replied.
"Are you kidding me?" Clarity demanded.
"I set you up in Paris France during the golden age of fashion. Crisp 70 degree day. There's really nothing for you to complain about there." Rip denied slamming his book going for a different one.
"Huh, that's funny because if I recall I ended up in the middle of an ocean during a typhoon, and then I finally found dry land, an island what a great thing to be on with my powers." Sarcasm just dripping from her voice as she shuffled through digital papers. "I was so drained that I had to..." Clarity bit her tongue closing her hand to stop the lightning in it. "It was six months of me not knowing if I was going to survive the night. The people worshipped me on the isles of Zorcai, but what use is an ailing Zarysa barely strong to raise two fingers. I got to play warrior queen but at at what cost? You never should have time scattered any of us."
"You weren't suppose to end up there." Rip rubbed at his eye. "You glitched during your scatter didn't you?"
"Of course I glitched you didn't explain." Clarity replied spinning around to face him.
"Well, you screwed it up. Would've been perfect if you just let it happen. I'm not apologizing for saving your life."
"Wait...that's it! I know how to track Henry!" Clarity cheered.
"I think Miss Springs and I may have found a way to track Commander Heywood. Though admittedly she hasn't told me what it is." Rip announced the two walking onto the bridge.
"Don't worry, Mr. Hunter. We've already found him." Stein told him.
"You did?" Rip asked in surprise.
"I told you we were on it." Clarity crossed her arm looking to Sara. "My idea was so good."
"Yeah, well we were on it faster." Sara replied petting a loose strand of her hair. "You still wanna share?"
"No." Clarity pouted climbing into the console. "Where to?"
"We're headed to Houston," Jax poked her in the side, as he said the year. "1970."
Clarity's smiled, perking up immediately, a few sparks spraying from the console. "I love the 70's!"
"Elvis at the Astrodome." Mick toasted frowning as one of claritys sparks drifted into his beer. He peered into the bottle smiling at the tiny flame inside. He blew it out after a few seconds.
"And then we're going to rescue my grandfather." Nate objected.
"Then Elvis." Mick repeated.
"We still need to figure out a way of contacting Commander Heywood without arousing suspicion. To that end, I suggest that we-" Rip began.
"It's simple." Sara smiled stepping up beside him. "We infiltrate NASA."
"And then lava lamp shopping?" Clarity pleaded.
"What's wrong with yours?" Mick demanded.
"Nothing!" Clarity objected. "It's just lonely and it wants a friend. They make the best ones in this era."
"I'll consider it." Sara told her. "But you have to be good. No side missions."
"Yay!" Clarity cheered. "I mean, thank you, Captain." Clarity beamed at her.
"Everybody strap in. Except for you. Clarity you have 5 minutes to pick out an outfit. No more."
"What!?" Clarity shrieked and both Nate and Ray covered their ears. That sound could have shattered glass. "Gideon! Pull out the 70's collection! NASA edition! Stat! Just the highlights and leave out the mock ups!" Clarity leaped out of the console sprinting for the fabricator disappearing down the hall.
"She has a NASA edition?" Rip asked slowly.
"It's Clarity. It's likely she has an addition for every occasion." Stein remarked. "You've been gone a long time, Mr. Hunter."
"Yes, it appears I have." Rip agreed.
The legends all infiltrated NASA at two points. Rip, and Ray as press and the rest of them as a tour.
"We need to figure out a way to get into Mission Control." Sara's voice sounded over the coms.
"I don't think that's included in the tour." Amaya denied. "Clarity can you cut the lights?"
"Yeah, easy as pie." Clarity replied with a nod. "Just say when."
"I don't think she's going to need to." Ray objected over the line.
"What, why not? If we're slipping away we need cover. It's too bright in here." Sara told her.
"Commander Heywood is not at Mission Control." Rip objected him and Ray standing in some news briefing.
"How do you know that?" Nate's voice chimed over the coms.
"Because I'm looking right at him." Rip replied.
"That's the Flight Director of NASA. They're probably debating on how to talk to the press about the oxygen tank explosion on "Apollo 13." Ray whispered.
"Henry. Great to see you." The sound of a punch echoed over the line and Clarity glitched sneakily to the press room to see what was going on. Her eyes widened to see Rip on the floor and Hank straightening his tie.
"You son of a bitch." Henry fumed at Rip as he hauled him to his feet. "Sorry, folks. He doesn't have the right credentials. We take press access very seriously around here."
"On that note!" Clarity raised up her pen holding up a press badge she swiped off Ray coming out from the plant she'd hid behind. "Might I get an exclusive?"
"Am-Clarity?" Henry froze.
"Surprise!" Ray's eyes widened as security hauled Rip out of the room. "We're back."
"About that exclusive?" Clarity waggled a pen.
"Uh, yes of course right this way." Henry nodded leading them to a room down the hall away from the reporters. When they got there Henry gave Clarity a hug which she returned.
"Never thought I'd see you again." Henry pulled back.
"Time travel." Clarity replied. "Never say never."
"Why are you doing this, Henry?" Rip complained as he sat in an interrogation room.
"I'm sure you have a good reason, but does he have to be in there?" Clarity asked her old friend.
"I was never supposed to see him again." Henry fumed.
"So you punched him?" Ray asked.
"And have him locked up? Do you want to talk about it?" Clarity asked.
"That's between him and me." Henry denied.
Clarity felt kind of bad that Rip was cuffed in there as he held up his hands so she did some Morse code with the lights 'hang in there!'
"Very funny, Clarity. I'm not amused." Rip slouched back in his chair.
"What brings you to 1970?" Henry asked hands shoved in his pockets.
"Oh, well, I suppose Nate should probably tell you." Ray replied.
"Nathaniel's here too?" Henry asked in surprise.
"And the rest of our team." Clarity nodded. "Which currently includes Amaya. It's a bit of a long story."
"I always wondered where she disappeared to after Rex..." he trailed off shaking his head. "...you do know..."
"He's dead. We know." Clarity nodded slowly.
"Sir?" An officer interrupted opening the door. "They say they know you."
"You could say that." Henry replied smiling as he saw Amaya taking off his glasses like he thought she wasn't really real.
"Henry." Amaya greeted.
"Amaya. As I live and breathe." Henry smiled.
"It's good to see you again, son." Henry stuck out his hand for Nate to shake.
"Come here, man." Nate laughed pulling his grandfather into a hug. "I thought I'd never see you again. Look at you, you still got it." Nate clapped a hand on his arm as he pulled back.
"Is that Rip?" Sara demanded. "Get him out of there!"
"Henry said no." Clarity winced pointing to the eldest Heywood.
"Henry.." Amaya admonished.
"Look I will, As soon as one of you explains what in tarnation is going on."
"We're here for your fragment of the Spear of Destiny. See, there's a Legion of villains who are hunting anyone who is trying to protect it." Nate explained to his grandfather.
"We have Stargirl's fragment. But Mid-Nite died trying to protect his." Amaya told him the heavy news.
"The legion has Midnite's fragment. Yours is the only one left out of play." Clarity told him. "Please tell me you put it on a space probe and chucked it into a black hole."
"Better." He countered. "I appreciate your concern, but I hid my piece of the Spear somewhere safe."
"Believe me, there's no place on Earth safe from these guys." Sara told him.
"Exactly." Henry agreed.
"You old fox you." Nate realized.
"Oh my god. Henry you did not." Clarity smiled in awe as she came to the same conclusion.
"You want to clue us in?" Sara asked.
"He hid the Spear in the flag Neil Armstrong planted on the moon." Nate replied.
"The flags in two pieces. You unscrew the pole and it's in two like Sara's staff but it's hollowed out so the fragment just sits in there. Like a Russian nesting doll." Clarity grinned.
"Well, that is pretty ingenious." Amaya complimented.
"If you weren't a married man I would kiss you." Clarity grinned.
"Well, you know I'm not married..." Nate tried.
"Never gonna happen." Clarity denied. "Nice try."
"The whole reason I worked my way up through NASA was to make sure my piece of the Spear remains safe." Henry replied. "Speaking of, I really should be getting back to Mission Control."
"Yeah, I guess you gotta figure out how to save the "Apollo 13" astronauts." Ray agreed.
"What are you talking about? The mission is textbook." Henry paused.
"Didn't an oxygen tank explode and the moon landing get aborted?" Nate asked.
"No, everything is going great up there. Unless." Henry looked at the grim looks upon the legends face's.
"Unless history's changed." Sara confirmed.
"But there was no time quake. Gideon didn't detect an aberration." Amaya protested, though Clarity knew exactly who caused this one.
"Eo isn't just good at manipulating people or their lives." Clarity spoke up doing her best to keep her voice steady as she felt her skin starting to crawl. She took off her yellow glasses crushing them in her hands. Why? Why had she worn yellow? She thought it would be fine...but it was like the color summoned him.
"He's a master manipulator of the timeline. He makes discreet alterations to major events until it's a domino effect you can't stop and there's a black hole over everything and your life'll never be the same again...he's so many steps ahead that I can't..." She tore off her yellow belt ripping into pieces like it was nothing but paper. She turned the pieces into ash with her lightning. She looked to Sara eyes begging about to break down then and there. "Sara...ship?" Clarity stammered the two words all she could manage.
"Go.." Sara nodded. "We'll be right there. Stay in the ships system with Gideon and don't come out til I call you."
With that said Clarity glitched herself back to the ship. She went straight to her room hands gliding over her dress touching the fabric. Burning the yellow spots on her dress with her lightning, her heels melting to goop on her floor as she sunk down in her room and cried. Everytime she starts to feel safe, the second she feels a little happy and he shows up. She couldn't do this anymore. It wasn't fair. She felt so scared she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She saw a little red skirt poking out of her closet. That's when she decided it all had to go.
"What the hell?" Nate's mouth dropped as he walked onto the ship the rest of the legends save for Mick Stein and Jax following behind. The sides of the hall were covered with scraps of red and yellow fabric, half of the little pieces were still burning. Trails of ash all swirled around on the floor.
"You shouldn't have sent her back alone." Amaya's eyes widened as all the little scraps of yellow and red fabric littered the walls and floors. It was like someone exploded confetti, blast marks everywhere...
"Clarity, hey are you okay?" Sara hit the wall. No reply, besides stupid question. "Gideon, is she in there with you?"
"She's currently in the parlour. Though I'm not sure I would say she is alright." Gideon replied.
"Rip, you work with Gideon get the Apollo coordinates set up." Sara sighed. "Everyone else clean this mess up and report to the bridge. We're in the air in ten."
Sara stopped at her room to change out of her 70's clothes. Luckily it was only the hall to the incinerator that had been a mess. The rest of the ship was just as Sara'd left it, well apart from the open cabinet where Rip usually kept his cereal. Sara walked over and crouched down in front of it. She tilted her head as she peered inside. Heart clenching at what she saw. There was Clarity rocking herself back and forth, she was on her phone hugging it tightly to her ear.
"No, no you don't have to run out here, Barry. You have enough going on. They're gonna be back here soon." Clarity shook her head voice shaking. "But you'll you'll do that for me? Go in my apartment everything yellow and red you burn it. I don't care how you just...you make it go away. And -and you sweep for camera's. I know we already d-did but you'll sweep again? You promise? Sara's here, Barry. I gotta go to the moon. Yeah, of course I'll send you and Cisco pictures." Clarity laughed with the teensiest of smiles. "I can save me. Don't worry, I'll save me you just, you just focus on saving Iris. Thank you I needed to hear that. Bye Barry."
"Can you scooch over?" Sara asked her once she hung up. Clarity nodded scooching over to the right. Sara crawled in to sit beside her. It was snug, their sides couldn't be more pressed up together so Sara wrapped an arm around Claritys shoulders so she would feel a little less smushed.
"Your in your suit." Sara observed in surprise.
"It um, it makes me feel kind of strong I guess." Clarity replied voice small hands clutching at the skirt. "I mean the gloves make me feel kinda badass like you usually, but it's um, it's not working to well right now. I really put it on cause it's all one piece, and there are shorts sewn in underneath," Clarity lifted a skirt edge to show her. "Harder to get out of...And I don't have to worry about it burning off me when I use my lightning. Seemed like a good idea."
"It's a really good idea." Sara confirmed rubbing her shoulder. "You want to tell me why your in here? I thought you were going to wait with Gideon?"
"I-I was, I tried but...I didn't feel safe in there, and um, honestly I don't feel all that safe in here either, which is why I called Barry, but he-he's busy dealing with another speedster right now, that's gonna kill Iris and he doesn't exactly have time to spare to-I mean it's Iris I can't ask him to drop everything and speed on over to the 70's just cause I'm being a coward."
"Hey," Sara hooked her fingers underneath Claritys chin the assassin's voice a softness just above a whisper. "Your one of the bravest people here. It's okay to be scared...I know I'd be scared if Dr. Ivo suddenly appeared on one of our missions. Even if I am a badass assassin now. With him I know I'd freeze or run and hide and pray he never found me. First thing I'd do is call you so you could light him up"
"I don't have a me to call, Barry was my me, he's the only one Thawne's more obsessed with. And I-I don't know where I can hide that he won't get me. If I stay on earth, Darhk and Merlyn'll pop up to snatch me up so my better chance is here, and I do want to go to space, but I can't think of a single place on the ship he can't get to me. Sara, I have no place to go." Clarity hung her head wiping at her eyes. "There's nowhere for me to go."
"I know a place." Sara replied crawling out of the cabinet. "Safest spot on the waverider, I swear on Laurel's grave." She held out her hand. "All you have to do is trust me. This speedster bastard will never ever get you while your there. Not Ever."
Clarity took Sara's hand, the Glitch letting her pull her out of the dark cabinet and into the light of the parlor.
"Okay, come on," Sara sat down in the pilots chair pulling the roller coaster strap down. Then she tugged lightly on Clarity's hand pulling the glitch to sit in her lap. "There see? Safest place ever, lap of an assassin." Sara tickled Claritys sides but she didn't get any happy giggles like she'd hoped. "And you can just dive right in here whenever you feel comfortable to, or uncomfortable here, or if you get scared." She patted the control panel in front of her. "Easy escape route."
"Okay..." Clarity nodded hands fiddling together.
"And here," Sara reached under the console and pulled out a knife. "This if for you."
"It's blue?" Clarity's face knit together in confusion. All of Sara's knives were silver and black? Why was this one blue?
"It's yours." Sara replied, tilting her head as she studied the controls. "You keep it."
"Sara..." Clarity studied the blue and silver knife. "It's got a birdy on it." Clarity studied it flipping the knife over. On one side it was black, the other it was white. The flying creature raised like Brail.
"Gideon helped me make it for you. It's the same one you gave back to me but I tricked it out for you." Sara slid her hands over Clarity's. "Slide the canary up," Sara moved Clarity's thumb with her own, the knife split into two. Sara tossing the blue one into Claritys other hand. A silver knife with a black canary and a blue knife with a white canary. "And you've got two knives not just one." Sara slid the knives back into one. "Slide the canary down," Clarity watched the blue side spin like it was going around a clock til it stopped and clicked when the tips were facing perfectly opposite. "It becomes double sided." Then Sara slid them back together. "When you press down on the canary's doesn't matter, what side or if it's both, or just one" Sara pressed the canary and held up her wrist to show her. Sara was wearing the bracelet Clarity'd gotten her for her birthday. It was blinking blue in time with the knife. "I get alerted and so does Gideon and everyone'll come running." She pointed to the screen and saw there was an alert flashing on the screen. Sara tapped a few buttons on the console and the alert shut off.
"So you do whatever you want with it stick it in your pocket, hold it in your hand, put it under your pillow but no take backs and you keep it on you at all times."
"You...you made me a panic knife?" Clarity clutched the item in her hand.
"Don't sound too grateful." Sara told her. "I could take it back if you don't like it."
"No! Don't you dare!" Clarity clutched the knife close. "Silvia's mine now."
"You're giving it a name?" Sara smiled, god Clarity was so adorable.
"Names's" Clarity smiled sliding the Canary up on the knive's. They split apart in her hands. "This one's Sil." Clarity held up the silver one. "This one's Via." Clarity waggled the blue one. She slid them back together til she heard the click. "Silvia."
"We are ready for lift off, Captain Lance." Gideon informed her.
"Everybody strap In, we're headed to space." Sara ordered with that said the waverider flew up into the air and left earths atmosphere.
"Would you look at that?" Henry marveled.
"Outer space. Never gets old." Ray grinned in agreement.
"Oh who cares about the moon?" Clarity twisted kneeling on Sara's lap gripping the back of her chair holding her knife out for the rest of the team to see. "Look at Silvia! They're so fancy!" Clarity played with her lightning using it to do the same demonstration Sara had told her mere moments before. Her lightning gliding on the knife, controlling it making it hover, and spin before it glided back into her hands.
"I don't know how comfortable I am with you having a knife." Nate frowned.
"Clarity with a knife what could go wrong?" Rip muttered in agreement as he tapped on the screen.
"Too bad." Sara replied tapping on Claritys thigh. "Sit down Pachirisu I need to see the controls."
"Oop- sorry Sara." Clarity spun around and sat once more hugging her knife close. Clarity glitched through the roller coaster strap as Sara threw it up over her head.
"Martin, how much longer before "Apollo 13" should reestablish radio contact?" Sara asked him.
" 17 minutes." Stein responded over the coms.
"All right, we got 17 minutes to figure out what's going on before the whole world is watching." Sara's chair spun and and the assassin wrapped her arms around Clarity's waist to keep her from falling off her. Clarity lightly gliding her finger on her knife's tip watching the lightning buzz along it. So pretty.
"Yeah, you're not wrong there." Rip agreed as he finished typing. "Gideon, pull up "Apollo 13's" original flight pattern. We need to find it first." With that said he walked over to Henry. "Mm, uh, Henry. Perhaps now would be a good time to have a chat?"
"Actually, Captain Hunter, I don't feel much like talking." Henry got up and walked out. Nate got up to follow after him, and about two seconds later Amaya did too.
"Wow, You really do like it don't you?" Sara smiled resting her chin on Claritys shoulder watching her play around with the weapon.
"Like them? I love them! Silvia's perfect! He doesn't know! How could he know? I didn't know! He knows about team flash's the one we have on all our phones but he doesn't know about this, Sara! This-this is a surprise. It's a surprise that-that I can use and he won't know, and and," Clarity wrapped her arms around Sara. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, Clarity." Sara denied rubbing her back. "I want you safe. It's as simple as that."
After a little while more they were approaching Apollo 13.
"Oh, this isn't right. The spacecraft shouldn't be in this position." Henry shook his head. "Can the astronauts see us?"
"No, no, no. We're cloaked." Rip put his hands on his hips.
"Then why is she hiding?" Henry nodded to Clarity who had situated herself low below the window. Enough that she could peer out but not be seen.
"Claritys just...being precautious." Rip decided. "I've stopped asking things like that ages ago."
"What's our plan?" Amaya asked arms crossed.
"Well, I thought that we-" Rip began but was cut off by Sara walking on the bridge having just given Ray orders to check the ship out.
"All right. I've got Ray suiting up. He's gonna fly over there, shrink down, and let us know what's going on inside."
"What?" Clarity almost dropped her knife. "No, no he can't do that! Sara he's in there! I can sense him!" Clarity tapped her com. "Ray turn back! Come back! Right now!"
"It's a little late for that. I'm entering the Command Module." Ray replied. "I see Lovell and Haise, but they're unconscious."
"What about Jack? Dr. Palmer?" Henry asked.
"Jack was never on the ship." Clarity frowned.
"Clarity's right. Thawne's here." Ray observed. "I'm gonna follow him into the Lunar Module."
"He's going to land on the moon." Rip stated uneasily.
"Well, I'll stop him." Ray replied.
"Ray no! No you won't. Sara sent you on recon well you conned good now get your ass back to ship. You turn back! You come back. He knows you, he's met you! He's worked on your suit with Cisco back at Star labs. Remember the time with the bees? He knows your suits weak points, we are nothing but ghosts who have already died to him. He doesn't care. Damnit Ray, he will kill you. I am begging you. Get out! Your too small and far away for me to glitch you. Please get out!"
"Who's Thawne?" Henry wondered. "Where is Swigert?"
"He...he's a speedster. He killed Rex. Changing his appearance with future tech it's his favorite damned trick. Ray! Get out!" Clarity slammed her hand against the floor making a dent.
"Ray, whatever you do, just don't let Thawne see you." Sara told him.
"Sara! That's not good enough. Make him get out of there! Ray he's gonna kill you, get out!"
"Yeah, about that.." Ray trailed.
"Well, what do we have here? Looks like a stowaway." Eobard observed. Ray grew to full size and punched the speedster in the face.
"What's happening? NASA expects radio contact in three minutes!" Stein hissed into his coms.
"We ran into a problem." Sara replied. "If we come back online, you're gonna have to cut the feed."
"Yeah, I'm on it." Jax confirmed.
"Hey fun fact, he doesn't have superspeed without gravity."
"You don't know that! He could just not be using it because of zombie zoom!"
"Newsflash, Raymond: I don't need superspeed to kick your ass." Thawne pulled out a knife and kicked off the wall floating towards Ray.
"Ray's suits damaged." Clarity's fingers clutched at the floor the metal crunching under her fingers.
"What's the red button?" Ray asked frantically beeping could be heard from the coms.
"It separates the LEM from the Command Module." Henry replied.
"That's not good." Ray breathed.
"Dr. Palmer, you're gonna have to fly the LEM" Henry told him.
"What happened to Thawne?" Claritt asked.
"Knocked him out with a light beam." Ray replied. "Houston, we have a problem."
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know. Jefferson, the entire world is about to listen to Raymond crash on the moon." Stein told his other half.
"Wait. Haircut's on the moon?" Mick asked.
"Guys, I'm gonna need more time." Jax admitted. "I need you to create a distraction."
Without a second to lose Stein stood up and started singing. "Day-o! Day-ay-ay-o! Daylight come and me wan' go home Day, me say day, me say day Me say day, me say day, me say Day-ay-ay-o." Stein sung.
"Beetle juice? Seriously?" Clarity asked all of the legends having looks of pure confusion on their faces.
"Everybody." Stein ordered and Mick joined in. "Daylight come and me wan' go home Work all night for a drink a'rum Daylight come and me wan' go home Stack the banana till the morning come Daylight come an me wan' go home Come, Mr. Tally Mon, tally me banana Daylight come. Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot, bunch!"
"What the hell are you two playing at?" The head NASA man demanded as Stein stopped singing.
"Okay. I got it." Jax confirmed. "I cut the feed."
"Oh, it's a It's a British tradition, sir." Stein replied.
"It most certainly is not." Rip muttered under his breath the legends able to over hear the conversation over the coms.
"Ray. Are you all right?" Sara asked him sitting in the pilots chair. Clarity settling into her lap. The assassin wrapping her free arm and her Clarity clutching her knife so tightly it was leaving an imprint on her hand.
"I'm alive at least. I was able to salvage the descent. But it burned up too much fuel. There is no way the LEM will launch into space."Ray replied regretfully.
"What about your suit?" Sara asked him
"Clarity was right. He knew my suits weak points. My thrusters were damaged in the fight. You guys are gonna have to pick me up."
"Maybe...maybe I can Glitch you." Clarity suggested.
"We both know it's too far for that." Ray replied. "I should've listened. I thought you were just overreacting because he..." Ray trailed. "I'm sorry."
"NASA must be going berserk right now. Fred and Jim." Henry shook her head.
"Don't worry, we're gonna get "Apollo 13" home in one piece. Gideon, plot a course for the Command Module." Sara ordered.
"Right away, Captain." Gideon replied. "Ray, we'll pick you up later."
"Roger that. We landed near the Sea of Tranquility. So I'm gonna head out and retrieve Commander Heywood's piece of the Spear. Which is, needless to say, very exciting."
"Since your uh...already out there..." Clarity began.
"Moon rock? Consider it done." Ray replied.
"Good luck, big guy." Nate told him.
"What about Mr. Thawne?" Rip asked.
"He's a little tied up at the moment." Ray replied.
"Puns," Eobard complained. "The lowest form of humor."
"My favorite kind." Clarity crossed her arms. "See how he likes being tied up."
"Good news, we found the Command Module. Bad news, it's heading straight for a bunch of space rocks." Sara informed the crew.
"The meteoroid belt." Henry supplied.
"Don't we have a tractor beam?" Nate pointed out. "Can we pull the Command Module away from the meteorites?"
"No, no, the velocity of the Command Module would merely bring us closer to the meteorites." Rip denied with a shake of his head.
"Which is why I'm swinging the ship around. I'm gonna try and stop the trajectory of the Command Module." Sara spun the waverider Clarity hugging Sara's neck as the ship tilted sideways. So that's why they had the roller coaster straps.
"Sara, you need to abort." Rip denied after about 2 seconds. "We're going to hit the meteoroids."
"No we aren't. Clarity, do your thing. 1,2,3 Glitch. Let's go." Sara snapped her fingers.
"W-what? I-do you know how big this ship is? And I'd have to reach out and glitch the command module too and the two guys that are-8 people plus two space ships one of which is in no way tiny-"
"I watched you hold up a bomb, Clarity. That was way bigger than the waverider."
"That was different! All I had to do was hold it and channel electricity to my muscles and shoot it up and out. But this I'd have to glitch all of us plus focus on glitching them and glitching without touch and glitching while touching, it's I've never done that simultaneously before. I don't think I can it's so much to concentrate on at once."
"Are saying you can't glitch all of that because you don't have the attention span to multitask?" Nate blinked.
Clarity looked back at him helplessly. She had no reply. It's exactly what she was saying. She didn't think she could. But Sara looked so sure of her...she hated to let her down. Especially when she seemed to be relying on her most in this moment.
"See? Can't do it. Now abort, Sara. Before we get hit." Rip ordered.
"Better us than the Command Module." Sara replied with a shake of her head.
"1.." Clarity breathed softly getting out of Sara'a lap magnetizing her boots to the floor. Eyes transfixed on a giant asteroid headed straight for them. Sara wasn't going to move them, so she had to.
"Can't you at least to try to destroy the meteoroids rather than using my ship as a human shield?" Rip complained.
"It worked before back in 1942. You put the Waverider in front of a nuke and it absorbed the blast." Sara replied.
"2..." Clarity whispered hands shaking watching the meteor fly closer. She sunk down pressing her hands flat against the floor. What could she do? What could she do to protect all of them including the module behind them? Think Clarity think. They were in deep space. They were in a vacuum lightning doesn't exist in a vacuum so she couldn't just hop out the ship and break up the rocks. Space was cold and dark and she would freeze.
"At least I had the decency to time-scatter you all first." Rip replied.
"Decency? Did you ask any of us if we wanted to be time-scattered?" Sara demanded.
"3..." Clarity trembled shutting her eyes she ran her lightning along the ships outer edges. And then started expanding outwards. A forcefield, lightning shot out the forcefields edges hitting each ship. Covering them, coating them with her lightning. If she could just connect everything...
"Sara." Amaya called in fear. Seeing the meteors trajectories on the screens.
"Clarity! Whatever your doing do it faster!" Nate yelled as he saw the forcefield stretch.
"I was trying to save your lives!" Rip replied.
"You put me in a time period where they wanted to hang me for being a witch!" Sara argued.
"You weren't supposed to end up there! Clarity screwed up all of the coordinates! If she hadn't glitched you all would have-"
"Do not pin that on her!" Sara's voice raised even more. "Pachirisu, do not listen to him."
"Gli-"
"Sara!" Amaya's yell cut Claritys whisper off the meteors were on them. Clarity had stretched her lightning too thin. She'd used practically everything she had and it wasn't even close to enough. As soon as the first meteor hit the lightning forcefield it smashed shattering to pieces the cold of deep space having frozen the thin layer of energy.
"Shield integrity at 63%. 34%. Rerouting the reserve power to the shields. I'm afraid the Jumpship has been critically impaired. Oh, dear." Gideon's voice started warping. "Our landing gear has..."
"Sorry gid.." Clarity whispered softly having just curled up next to Sara's chair. She was low on power now, just like the ship. Maybe worse. Already starting to see spots dancing in her vision, felt a hungering for more energy. She'd put too much into that forcefield. Her body was making more, but like always when she got this low it wasn't a fast enough process. Ray didn't have hours for her to build her energy back up. Hell she didn't think she had hours either. With the ship so low on power there was nowhere for her to absorb any energy unless she took it from her friends or Eobard and those options were out of the question.
"We're clear." Sara reached down and squeezed Claritys shoulder a silent message that it was okay. The assassin knew she had tried. Sara hadn't realized the impossibility of what she'd been asking. Seeing Clarity take on an alien and hold up a bomb the assassin forgot about her having limits to things she could do.
"Waverider crew, we are now the proud owners of the last fragment of the Spear of Destiny." Ray told the group. "And the coolest space rocks ever. Got myself one too. Couldn't resist."
"Copy." Sara replied.
"Copy." Ray replied. "That's all I get is a "copy"? Guys, I'm standing on the freakin' moon!"
"Yeah, about that." Sara winced.
"The, uh, the Waverider has sustained major damage, Dr. Palmer." Rip told him the regret clear in his voice.
"Same for the Jumpship." Nate added sounding defeated.
"Wait, the Jumpship but means"Ray frowned.
"Unless you can figure out a way to launch the LEM You're stranded on the moon."
"And now I know how Matt Damon felt." Ray remarked.
"At least he was alone." Clarity banged her head back against Sara's chair. "You've got a shipmate."
"Menial labor without superspeed is really quite tedious. Then again, I've missed working with a fellow scientist. Cisco and Caitlin, Ronnie and I, as you know, worked together for some time and I miss the camaraderie." Eobard twisted his screwdriver. "I'd tried to get Clarity into our little team when she graduated, offered her a position in Star labs IT division but Mercury labs scooped her up. Offered her double the salary and less responsibility. I think I intimidated her with such a bold offer. So shy she didn't want the pressure. When I countered Tina'd already won her over. So many years lost her working for a competitor. We could have such fun times, the bar tabs I used to pick up on the weekends."
"Legion of Doom doesn't have Karaoke Fridays?" Ray asked in reply.
"I know it's easier for you to think of me as a monster. But, um, I've met some of history's monsters, Raymond, and believe me, I'm not one of them." Eobard replied.
"You killed Barry's mother. Twice. Rex Tyler. Brainwashed Rip into killing Dr. Mid-Nite.
Brain washed Clarity into some evil Queen after you raped her-"
"Time travel has a way of revealing the truth to you. And you and I have more in common than you think."
"Pass me the pliers." Ray glared taking them from the speedster. It took everything in him not to stab the speedster with him.
"We're both scientists. We're both obsessed with achieving the impossible. Not to brag but I was also a billionaire, for fifteen years in fact. You dedicated your life to learning how to shrink yourself down to the size of an atom, and I spent mine learning the secrets of the Speed Force."
"I became the Atom to help people." Ray denied.
"You could use the dwarf star in your exo-suit to power an entire city. But instead, you chose to become the Atom because you weren't satisfied with your small, pathetic life. There is no shame in wanting to be great or to reach higher. To walk on the moon."
"Is that why you want the Spear? Reach higher, become greater, run faster?" Ray challenged.
"No. I'm after something much more elemental. I want to live. Live with the woman of my hearts desire, the one in this entire multiverse that I love. You could even say that I love her to the moon and back. Surely, you can sympathize with that."
"What you feel for her isn't love." Ray denied. "It's obsession. You forced yourself on her. She doesn't want you in her life, she never did. I don't know what fantasy you cooked up in your twisted mind but there isn't a single part of her that cares for you. That doesn't want you gone."
"Tell me Raymond, how badly did it tear you apart when the green arrow swooped in and stole Miss Smoak from you? If I recall you were quite the lovely couple. What lengths would you go to if it meant that you could have her back? Get her to love you and not him?"
"Felicity loved him." Ray replied. "End of story. I know what your trying to do. Trying to manipulate me. Like you did to Barry. To Clarity. To all of team flash. Well it won't work. I've come to terms with losing Felicity romantically, and I have no ill will towards Oliver for her choice. For their choice to be together. You should do the same when it comes to Clarity. Because you will never touch her again."
"Why? Because you won't let me? The second that I have spear she's mine forever. Now it's just a matter of biding time." Eobard replied. "She will return my feelings. You'll see."
"One minute to the intercept, Raymond. Are you ready up there?" Stein asked. Ray looked to Eobard who nodded back at him.
"Yeah, we're ready." Ray replied into his com.
""We"?"Sara demanded.
"Long story." Ray replied.
"Short version, Eo doesn't want to die." Clarity leaned her head against Sara's shoulder.
"Let's do this." Ray told them.
"Rip, how's our trajectory looking?"
"Keep her steady." Rip replied.
"Martin, are you sure about these calculations? I'm piloting manually here."
"Yes and I really wish you'd do that without Miss Springs on you." Rip replied.
"She keeps me calm like a weighted blanket." Sara replied repeating her question to Stein. "Martin, are you sure?"
"Did I or did I not win six Carlins?" Stein replied.
"No." Mick grunted.
"Yes, I did." Stein replied. "20 seconds to intercept."
"Jax, be prepared to restore the feed on my signal." Sara ordered.
"Ten seconds." Stein counted down.
"You're just gonna have to trust me." Eobard smiled at Ray.
"In three, two, one." Ray pushed the red button and the LEM launched. "Distance to target, 100 meters."
"And closing fast." Nate peered out the window.
"Intercept successful." Sara sighed.
"You, ma'am, are a steely-eyed missile man!" Henry cheered.
"I take that as a compliment. Ray, I'm gonna dock with the LEM. Be prepared to get your ass back on the ship."
"Copy." Ray replied.
"Guns, now. I don't for one second believe he doesn't have his speed." Clarity looked to Rip.
"Neither do I, Clarity." Rip agreed.
"What do you want to do?" Sara asked her.
Clarity took a deep breath and she decided.
"Welcome aboard." Sara greeted Eobard. Everyone had guns trained on him. Though Clarity was nowhere to be seen.
"Relax. I'm not gonna kill my ride home." Eobard looked around, even up at the ceiling as if he expected Clarity to be clinging there. Still she was nowhere in sight. "I wouldn't risk my love or my life."
"Yeah, we still don't trust you." Nate replied leveling his gun. "Your not going to be seeing Clarity any time soon."
"Ah, so she elected to stay on the ship did she? Personally I was convinced she'd stay down in NASA. Thank you for the confirmation." Eobard smiled. "What was it your name was again? I'll have to tell Clarity who she has to thank."
"I never said she was here."
"Please. If she was back on earth you would have said you can't get to her. Rookie mistake. Oh. Normal brains. So stupid. You remind me so much of Barry when he was first starting out. Cockiness won't get you anywhere."
"Oh do leave him alone Eobard." Rip sighed tiredly. "It's his first stand off."
"Rip Hunter." Eobard greeted turning to the voice. "It's good to see you. I guess these morons figured out a way to restore your original personality. Probably for the best. The things I was going to do to you for losing her."
"Mm. Enjoy the brig, Eobard." Rip replied.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time." Amaya glared walking forwards pushing her gun into him. "Now walk."
"Certainly wasn't going to run." Eobard replied each room they passed Eobard peered in. Still no sign of Clarity. "Where is she? No..no somethings happened something is wrong." Eobard talked aloud wheels turning lightning fast in his mind.
"Yeah, your here." Nate scoffed in reply.
"No, she'd face me. She never wants me to see her scared." Eobard denied. "Or hurt."
Eobard stopped walking. He saw her, for a split second. Unmoving sitting on the ground on the bridge.
"Move." Amaya ordered gun pressed right up against his back.
"She's drained." Eobard concluded.
"Life's about to be drained out of you." Sara put a knife to the back of Eobards neck. Pressing it into his neck drawing blood. He hissed in pain. "If you don't move. Spend less time worrying about Clarity and more time worrying about yourself." Sara kicked him into the brig. Eobard glared at her.
"I can help her."
"I doubt that." Sara replied.
"She needs me."
"To not exist." Sara replied as if she was finishing off a sentence walking out of the room.
"Sara, you have to power down every non-essential piece of hardware on the ship." Stein ordered. "Anything Clarity can spare she has to put into the heat shields."
"Yeah, don't think Clarity's sparing much of anything professor. She tried way too hard to shield us from those meteors." Nate told him, the glitch currently laid in her comfy corner. She looked far too pale, her body was producing more electricity yes, but no where near enough. She tried to prove too much and now she was paying for it.
"Gideon is already shut down. Waverider is using gravitational inertia to float back to Earth." Sara walked down the parlour stairs.
"What? I know science." Sara replied as Nate gave her a look.
"It isn't enough. If you want to activate the heat shields, and survive re-entry, you have to conserve more power now." Stein told her. "If Miss Springs truly has nothing to give you are all in grave danger."
"Stein is right." Rip agreed. "We need to shut down the water filtration and the heating systems.
"Just what I need." Clarity complained softly to herself. Cold, like that's what she needed. Her lightning production would be even slower in a frigid temperature. Not to mention how tired she'd be.
"Right, because clean water and heat, we don't need those to survive." Nate complained.
"You got a better idea?" Amaya asked him.
"At the moment, no." Nate admitted.
"Well, bundle up, 'cause it's about to get chilly." Sara told everyone.
"Actually, if the shields don't work, atmospheric re-entry'll burn us all to a crisp." Henry corrected.
"Science." Nate sighed resting his head on his arms.
"Stein, we're ready for re-entry." Sara told him. Clarity was swaddled up in a blanket and one of Snart's jackets. Teeth having long since stopped chattering. Not because she was warm but because she didn't have enough energy too. The glitch may have given a little something to the ship. Which was immensely stupid but she wanted to make sure her friends made it.
"What's the status of your secondary thrusters?" Stein asked.
"It's sporadic. She's still got a couple pushes left in her. Just need to point her in the right direction." Sara replied.
"There's been a rather interesting development down here on the ground." Stein told her.
"Nate, are you there?" Mick asked him.
"Yeah, Mick, what's up?" Nate asked him.
"There's some kid in Mission Control calling himself Hank Heywood." Mick replied.
"That's your son." Nate looked to his grandfather.
"I fixed an essay writing contest so Hank would win. I should've told you earlier. I had to meet him." Henry replied.
"Well, our guidance system failed to power back up." Rip sighed sitting back down in his chair.
"Can we enter the atmosphere without it?" Amaya asked.
"We need to figure out a re-entry angle." Ray replied.
"If it's too steep, the ship will burn up. If it's too shallow, we'll bounce off the atmosphere and go into orbit around the sun." Henry replied.
"Stein, little help here." Sara requested rubbing Claritys arms. The glitch felt cold, too cold.
"I'm working as fast as I can. But I need a supercomputer, which is not readily available in 1970." Stein replied.
"We have a supercomputer." Ray realized.
"Gideon is off-line." Rip reminded.
"I'm not talking about Gideon." Ray replied sprinting to the brig.
"38 degrees." Eobard replied . "Your lack of concern for her is appalling."
"You don't even know my question." Ray replied with a frown stopping in his tracks.
"At what angle do we need to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere? 38 degrees. I'm from the 22nd century; I've learned astro-navigation in grade school. 38 degrees. Or don't you trust me?"
Ray went to go but paused as Eobard spoke again.
"Oh and Raymond, you people really should be more concerned about my Glitch. Clarity is a being of pure electrical energy and she's drained down to from what I saw almost nothing in a frigid temperature. You don't have to be a genius to realize that is in no way good for her health. You want to be a hero and save her? Tell Clarity to open her senses. She won't want to because I'm here I know, she's doing her best to forget I'm sure, If she doesn't..."
"Clarity isn't dying." Ray protested. "She would say something."
"And have you all waste power on life support?" Eobard challenged. "I know how the woman thinks, Raymond. She's little regard for her own life. Especially when others hang in the balance. Something that's always quite vexed me about her. Oh, or haven't any of you noticed?"
Ray ran back out of the room not bothering with a response. "The re-entry angle needs to be 38 degrees." He went straight over to Clarity bending down in front of her.
"How do you know?" Rip asked him only to answer his own question. "Thawne."
"Clarity's right. He doesn't want to die. He wants to get back to Earth. Same as the rest of us." Ray replied fingers pressed to Claritys neck. She looked the same as when he last left, though that didn't say much.
"So that he can kill us when we land and abscond with Clarity and the spear pieces." Amaya objected.
"I'm with Amaya, grudgingly." Nate added. "I don't trust him."
"Agreed." Henry nodded.
"Professor Stein, does 38 degrees sound right to you?" Sara asked him.
"It it could be, but without more time I I can't be certain." Stein replied.
"Ray, Dude, why are you checking her pulse?" Nate asked in confusion.
"Because Thawne was right." Ray tilted his head as he studied Clarity. "She's dying."
"What!?" Sara exclaimed in seconds everyone was gathering around her.
"The hell are you people talking about? What's going on up there?" Mick demanded.
"Not now, Mick." Nate replied.
"The frigid temperature combined with her low power reserves." Rip kicked himself. "Should've seen it."
"It doesn't matter." Clarity insisted batting Ray's hand away from her neck with her chin. "There's not enough power. There isn't any to spare. Not for anything. There's no use giving me a little power just for us all to burn on reentry. I can cause a lil blackout at NASA when we touch down."
"If you last that long." Sara looked around "There has to be something."
"Us." Nate realized. "The human body it gives off electricity right? Science. She can use us."
"Better yet, if she stole some energy from a speedster..." Rip started.
"I will never do that again." Clarity denied. "What happened on time scatter island stays on time scatter island. His lightning goes nowhere near me. I'd rather die."
"Don't say that when your dying." Sara shook her head.
"Stop doting on me. We're all dead if we don't get the reentry angle." Clarity insisted. "38 degrees. I don't trust thawne, but I trust his math. He's the most intelligent person I've ever met. Which sucks but might save all our lives."
"No. No we cannot trust that man. It doesn't matter how smart he is." Amaya denied.
"We haven't gotten any time. Someone needs to make a decision. Ms. Lance. You're the Captain." Rip looked to her.
"Do you trust Thawne about this, after everything that he's done?" Sara looked to the other moral compass in the room. Who knew if Clarity was delirious from dying.
"I do." Ray nodded.
"Then I trust Ray." Sara nodded her head.
"Let's go. Stein, we're a go for re-entry. Pachirisu you hang on. We'll be home soon."
"Clarity this is important. Thawne he said you need to open your senses on reentry. I know you don't want to, but he was right about the reentry angle. I'm sure he's right about whatever he wants you to do too."
Begrudgingly, Clarity did as Ray asked. Shutting her eyes sensing for electricity she knew wasn't going to be there. Except suddenly it was. She could feel it. The ship was heading towards the magnetosphere. She could recharge. She could recharge everything. She tuned everything out, focusing on doing just that.
"If we don't adjust the angle, we'll burn up." Ray exclaimed as the waverider suddenly did a nose dive.
"The thrusters are toast." Sara replied.
"In a few seconds we're all gonna be toast." Nate denied.
"We need to blow the cargo bay door." Rip realized.
"What?" Sara asked.
"He's right. The depressurization will correct your angle of descent." Stein agreed.
"The air pressure is too great. If anyone opens up the door at mid-descent they'll die." Ray denied.
"Not if they can glitch." Sara nodded to Clarity who was kneeling on the ground in front of the window. Drawing electrical energy into herself. "Look she-she's recharging."
"She's taking energy straight from the magnetosphere." Ray grinned.
"Not fast enough. We don't have time to wait for her to get a decent charge. This has to happen now." Rip denied. "I'll go."
"No. I'm Captain. I'll go." Sara denied getting up.
"Where is Henry?" Amaya looked over to his empty chair.
"I'm in the cargo bay. It's the only way to right the ship. Talk me through this."
That's exactly what Rip did. All while Nate begged his grandfather not to do it. While Hank heywood was down in mission control. Henry Heywood gave his life, just as the angle corrected Clarity got herself all recharged. She panted resting her head against the glass. She'd recharged as fast as she could and yet it wasn't fast enough. That was the thing about Clarity. Superspeed. She didn't have it.
"It's working." Sara confirmed. "30 degrees. 36 38."
"Commander Heywood's done it." Stein said completely stunned.
"We're gonna make it." Ray remarked.
"Yes, we are." Rip confirmed.
The ship tee trees the atmosphere and Clarity stood up. "His speeds back."
"I'm on it. Stay here." Ray grabbed a gun and jogged to the brig. As soon as Eobard opened the door Ray was there waiting gun pointed at him.
"It's a funny thing about Rip Hunter's anti-speedster weapons: I invented them."
"I knew you'd escape. Clarity told all of us. You're on the run. Because you're a time remnant. You should have died when Eddie Thawne killed himself. And now something's chasing you, trying to correct the Aberration."
"One of history's worst monsters." Eobard replied. His watch started beeping. "Speak of the devil."
"Well, I guess you won't have time to search the ship for the Spear or Clarity now, will you?" Ray challenged.
"Till we meet again, Raymond." Thawne replied.
Clarity sighed in relief, Thawne was gone. At least for now.
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That's the end of this chapter!! Keep an eye out for the next one! It's coming soon! Book 2 is almost over you guys!!! I'm so close!!!!! Aaaaahhh!!!!
1. So how was this chapter? Good, bad, what? Tell me what you thought of it! I Wanna know!! (This was my fave episode of season 2)
2. What were your favorite moments this chapter? Why were they your favorite? What makes them your favorite? How where they your favorite? *dalek voice* EXPLAIN!
3. Do you think Eobard actually loves Clarity? Why or why not?
4. Do you think Clarity should be allowed to drop the f bomb? Or do you think she's too precious for swearing? Why or why not?
5. Guess what Claritys going to be doing in book 3. Sara works at sink shower and stuff, Ray works at ups wipes what do you think Clarity's gonna do?
6. Who's fault was the time scatter going bad? Rip or Clarity?
7. If each legend got turned into a flower by the spear of destiny then what flower would they be?
8. Should I keep putting all these questions? Do you guys still like answering them? Do I ask too little or too many? Are you sick of them?
9. Avalance vs Sarity? Which do you think is/would be better? Be honest.
10. Thoughts on Silvia?
11. What's your fave legends quote?
12. If you could kill one book 2 character (of the heroes) who would it be? And why?
13. Anything else you'd like to ask, rant and or tell me?