chapter 10
"Hey. I'm gonna kill you."
Dark Arrow simply laughed, not even looking over his shoulder as he walked away from the man and the team that he was leaving behind.
"Nah, you won't. You're weak. And besides, all of you choose the high road. You're heroes."
//.//
"So this crap-hole's Earth-X."
"Wells was right," Oliver barked, looking around as he tried to rub his wrists. The sharp edges of the shackles that they had placed around their hands was cutting into the flesh and making a thick red line appear from the skin being rubbed raw.
"He usually is," Barry informed them all, the damp despair evident in his voice. There was so much going on around them that it was hard to fully concentrate on just one thing. The yells in the distance, soft crying, men yelling orders at others and the shocking crispness of snarls and barks from dogs were only some of the things they could begin to comprehend at that point.
"It's hard to believe a place like this actually exists on any Earth," Alex murmured softly, her eyes wide with fear as she realised exactly what sort of place they were in.
"I wish I shared your sentiment, but in all my travels to distant times, one thing which sadly remains constant is men's ability to feel hatred for other men." Stein informed them all, his mind instantly flashing to another time in history when this had happened.
"Stars and triangles..." Jax looked around, his eyes matching Stein's as he waited on the man to explain to him why the symbols were being worn by different people.
"Badges used to identify purported crimes these people have "committed" to land in here."
Looking to his left, Jax noticed that the man standing near him was sporting a pink triangle. He noticed that he also seemed to be the only one with the bright symbol on his striped clothes. "What's the pink triangle for? What did you do?"
"I loved the wrong person."
A chill truly flooded Sara's spine. The place had already been snatching at her heartstrings, making her feel a way that she never had felt before. But hearing those words? She knew that this was a lot more than just basic history that she had learned about in school. Things like this had actually happened on her earth, and she understood instantly that it didn't matter if you were a good person - you could be killed for anything that the Nazi's didn't deem as perfection. Her eyes latched on to Alex and she knew that the red-head was thinking the same thoughts.
"We got to get out of these things. Transmute us out."
"With pleasure." Stein told Sara, slapping his hand against Jax's. When nothing happened, everyone felt a deeper root of panic flood their veins. Barry nodded, looking around as he held up his chained hands slightly.
"I can't vibrate through them either."
Alex closed her eyes, her tone dropping to nothing short of a whimper. "They're gonna kill my sister."
"Look, we're not gonna let that happen, Alex, I promise you." Sara informed her, looking to Barry and Oliver to help reassure the rest of their teammates. They were the leaders and they needed to stay strong for the others.
"We're gonna get back to our Earth before then." Barry nodded, backing Sara up. Oliver seemed to stalk around a little bit in the background as he took a few deep breaths to compose himself.
"How? We don't even know how we got here."
"No, we don't. We're gonna figure it out. Then we're gonna find a way to get out of this place, and we're gonna get back to the people we love." Oliver finally spoke, making sure that everyone knew that they weren't going to die here. Not on his watch.
"I hope everyone else is okay."
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Her head felt foggy as she began to regain her thoughts. She knew she was in some sort of contraption and the pain that was pumping through her body was nothing like she had ever known before. It was like the Earth-X villains were trying to electrocute her memories from her, but something about it just wasn't how she thought it should be.
When the fog cleared, she found herself almost paralysed, in her own body as she looked at Sara. She remembered this event clear as day but hearing her own voice fall from her lips without her mentally there was something that she was unfamiliar to.
"I've got something to show you," Callie muttered, knowing now was as good a time as any to tell Sara one of the sacrifices she had made in her life for the blonde.
Sara stepped forward, watching as Callie pulled off her top. It wasn't sexual, especially as Sara was realising what Callie was about to show her. The raven haired girl flung the article to the floor, standing in front of Sara in her jeans and bra.
The scars scattered across her body. Sara could match a few on hers, but she had never really realised how much pain Callie must have gone through since she stopped being the Camilla Merlyn that everyone once knew.
There was gunshot wounds, knife wounds, sword wounds, and even a few burns that looked like they had scarred during the healing process. There was one that stood out more than all of these, and Sara recognised the type of mark immediately. It was an arrow wound.
She ran her hand along the mark on the bottom of Callie's ribcage, ignoring the short intake of breath the girl took from the sudden exposure.
"When they brought you back to life," Callie started, knowing that Sara would need to understand why she was so hesitant to let the woman do things without her. "You weren't really you."
Sara nodded, she didn't remember everything about her resurrection but she knew all about the time when she was rabid and uncontrollable.
"In Nanda Parbat, you escaped from your chains. One of the other members of the league decided it was best to put you down: like a rabid dog," Callie muttered, trying to ignore how closely they were both standing to each other. "I was too late to stop him from firing the arrow, but I wasn't too late to push you out of the way."
There was a moment of silence before Sara placed her hand against the scar that rested on the bottom of Callie's ribcage. Callie closed her eyes at the coldness of Sara's hand before opening them again and looking straight into her electric eyes.
"You took an arrow for me," Sara quirked, causing a smile to appear on both of their faces. "I guess I owe you one." She mused, causing Callie to scoff as they both knew if the roles had been reversed the same would have been done.
The fog reappeared, closing over her eyes as she felt the physical connection to her body fade. Faint mumbles of voices had begin to speak over the scene that she had been watching and she gradually felt herself become more and more aware of her current state.
"Fuhrer, she is ready."
And then the pain stopped. Callie opened her eyes suddenly, sitting up fast as she realised that she was back with the people who had been making her life hell for the past three years of her life.
Looking around, her eyes took a minute to focus before they latched on to the familiar bodies and faces of Thawne, Dark Arrow and Overgirl. They were smirking at her, looking at a reading off a tablet that Thawne was clutching in his hand.
"Hello Millie," Oliver told her, moving forward to place his palm against her cheek. "It's been a while."
__
"So these are the heroes."
All of the team turned around as a figure approached them through the shining light on the camp. Sara and Oliver would recognise that voice anywhere, and she knew instantly that this experience was about to get even rougher for herself.
Walking through the front gates of the camp was one of the Nazi Generals. But this one just so happened to be her father's double. A lump formed in her throat as they made eye contact and he instantly moved towards her with confusion in his eyes. He reached a hand up, running it across her face as he studied her.
"Blonde hair blue eyes? This is Nordic perfection. Why would you align yourself with the unpure?"
Sara wasn't sure why she suddenly had the confidence, but she knew that she would rather die being true to who she was than to die a liar. Straightening her back, she looked him directly in the eyes as she answered.
"Because I like men," Sara told him, pausing slightly as she let the rest of her sentence out, "and I like women."
He snatched his hand away from her face instantly as if she had burned him by her touch. Snarling slightly, he wiped his hand on the edge of his thick jacket before glaring across the grass at her from a slightly bigger distance.
"You know, I had a daughter who looked just like you, with similar compulsions. And I watched the Falke expunge that filth from my family line forever," he snarled. The rest of the team all exchanged looks as they realised that Callie had certainly been through a lot more than she had told them in her short period of time back with them. "Bring them all. And him! Move! Now!"
All of the heroes grunted as they were shoved forward, heading just out of the camp and towards a large patch of grass that rested a little bit away from where they stood. Sara fell into line beside Oliver, both of them counting the guards behind them as they tried to figure out an escape plan.
"Not to be an alarmist, but if we don't have an escape plan, I suggest we get one immediately!" Stein yelled, not noticing that Oliver and Sara had already worked on one. Spinning around, they all lunged for the nearest solider to attack.
It didn't work. Evil Quentin simply raised his hand on a trigger and electric currents from their collars shot straight into their bodies and slammed them to the ground.
"Up! Go. Turn around."
All of the heroes stood up before turning back around to face the man, still in their line that they had formed. Sara shared a look with Oliver, seeing the many guns that were being aimed at them.
"Sturmbannfuehrer!" The evil reincarnation of Quentin Lance turned quickly, his head snapping to the side as he snarled at the Nazi soldier that had interrupted his display. The bucket-helmeted man bowed slightly as he motioned to a black figure that was storming across the malnourished grass beneath them. "The Fuhrer ordered that the young General be present for this."
Lance nodded, his eyes casting over to the armed girl that stormed towards him. He was well informed of the previous moments before the Fuhrer had left Earth-X again, and he knew that the girl breezing across the ground was someone that he had never truly met before.
As the girl's boots crunched for the final time on the ground, she reached up and allowed the black leather hood to fall from her face. Nodding to the man identical to one that she had once considered a second father, the raven-haired girl slowly turned to face the group of heroes with no recognition in her eyes.
"Callie?"
The girl tilted her head as her hands clasped snuggly behind her back. She stood tall, shoulder to shoulder with the double of Sara's father and with just as much conviction etched on to her face. Her hair was plaited into two tight dutch braids that ended just above her chest, causing her to look even more menacing than ever.
"You shall address me as Falke."
Sara felt a deep helpless fall over her. Here she was in a Nazi concentration camp, millions and millions of miles away from her real father and the rest of her friends, and not only was she about to face execution - it seemed that it was going to be her brainwashed fiancé that would be the one to kill her. They had found themselves in this position too many times for it to be real, and Sara knew at that moment that the universe was truly against them.
"Callie, Millie, look! Whoever you are, deep down you know that our friend is in there," Oliver grunted, his facade falling ever so slightly as a crack shuddered though his voice on the word friend. His eyes were gleaming in the dim light and Callie could see the obvious tears that he was currently holding back.
The girl ignored him as she walked along the line of heroes, pausing as she reached Sara. Running a finger along the side of her face as she noticed a tear fall from the blonde's face, she knew that this was going to not go down well. Moving back to where the evil Earth-X Quentin stood, she straightened her back as she watched the bag place a sack over Oliver's head.
"I know you are not him, but I cannot stomach the sight regardless," he snarled, moving back to stand beside an unfaltering Callie. Her hand lifted, resting on the holder of the weapon that was sheathed on her back. Sara took the time to notice the red lines across her uniform, exactly how Nazi Callie had looked when they had re-met.
"Don't even think about running," Callie told them all, a coldness in her voice as she looked along the lines. Her eyes patched on to Sara's and she held the contact as she continued. "Because I will ALWAYS come back to you. Even if it just is to shoot an arrow straight into those who don't understand the right way to live despite having their hands in chains."
Reaching behind her, Callie's fingers grasped on to the crossbow that she had always been so fond of using. Lifting it to line it up with Sara's face, she could see instantly the change of impression on the girl as she understood what was about to happen. Sara's eyes turned cold as the rest of the team squared their shoulders for what they thought was going to be their final moments. She knew what Callie was about to do next.
As Quentin gave the shout to begin firing, Callie released her arrow at the exact same time as Sara raised her hands. She heard the snap of the metal that was around the girl's wrist as her arrow sliced cleanly through the chains, but a sudden stream of cold air sent her flying sideways across the ground.
Groaning, she sat up to notice that a shocking familiar - and also previously dead - anti-hero had been the one to send her flying backwards.
"I hate fire."
"Snart?" Callie murmured, hearing the same word fall from her friends lips as they all looked at the man. Taking the distraction for his advantage, Oliver tugged the sack from his head to look at the man that had somehow stopped them from being shot.
"About time!" The pink triangle man yelled, causing everyone to look at him in confusion. Obviously this was not their Snart, but it still didn't make the experience any less confusing.
Just before anyone could say anything else, Quentin rose as he let out a battle cry. "Kill them all!"
The man took off, knowing that the chance of him being struck by a stray bullet was high - and he knew that his soldiers were able to handle this himself. Looking down at the Falke on the ground he passed by her, unaware of her traitorous move that she had just performed, but presuming that she was going to kill them for him.
Gunfire sounded again as the soldiers tried to hit Snart, his ice blasts blowing up the watch towers in the distance while also holding the soldiers back. Using this as a distraction, Callie launched to her feet and stabbed one of the soldiers that was advancing on Barry with her knives.
Noticing the increase in bullets, Callie threw herself down to the ground and watched as the rest of her team darted into cover. Lying still, she could faintly hear the conversation from inside the small moat bunker that they were crouching inside.
"Hey, you're cutting it close."
"I thought that was great timing. I really enjoyed the pun." Snart replied to the unknown man.
"So you're Leonard Snart's doppelganger."
"No, I'm Leonard Snart, but you can call me Leo. That is a fantastic outfit. Did you make that?" Snart replied, completely unlike the Snart they all knew. Callie scrunched her face up slightly as she tried to figure out who the hell he was.
"Time to make you shine, buddy."
Callie wasn't sure what happened, but a bright light seemed to flash behind her closed eyelids and suddenly all of the fighting stopped for the time being. Looking up once her eyelids dimmed, she found her teammates rising from their crouches in the bunker.
She rose to her feet slowly, the crossbow in her hands being slung back into the sheath on her back as she turned to find the one person she needed to see. Her face was coated in a little blood from the soldier that she had killed to help Snart, but she didn't care.
Sara didn't care either. The second her eyes met Callie's, it was like nothing mattered. She launched herself out of the trench - ignoring the shouts from the rest of the team - and straight into Callie's arms. Sharing a passionate kiss, Sara sighed deeply as she ran her hand over Callie's face looking for injuries.
"Wait what?" Jax interuppted, confusion on his face as he watched their reunion. "She just tried to shoot us!"
Sara shook her head as she turned back to face the team, a smile on her face as she tugged Callie towards them. Recalling what had just happened, she explained it to the rest of them.
"I thought she was brainwashed too, but then Callie said that she would always come back for us - more specifically me - and I knew it was a trick. She knew I would catch on to her wording of breaking my shackles," Sara said, lighting her hands to show that her hands had been freed by the arrow.
"Hate to break up this fabulous reunion," Leo interrupted, his hand motioning in the opposite direction. "But we should probably go."
"Where are we going?"
"To our base."
"Your base? Who are you?" Callie asked, although she was pretty sure she knew her answer from her years of working against them.
"I was thinking exactly the same thing about you all." They could hear more gunshots and yells approaching them. "You might have to tell us on the way."
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