"Fall back!" Rip shouted and I nodded, "Get to the jump ship!"

"Don't mind if I do." I said to myself as I ran in the direction of the jump ship. Chronos was shooting at all of us. I turned back on my way, "What'd we ever do to you, guy?" I shouted, not waiting for an answer as I kept running.

101

"You sure it was a good idea leaving Terminator on the bridge?" Snart asked as we all met up in the hall.

"Gideon has lock down protocols which-"

"Have been overridden, Captain." Gideon cut off Rip, who stopped in his tracks, "Chronos is utilizing superior Time Master technology. I cannot countermand his orders."

As if on cue, the Wave Rider began shaking and I lost my balance, falling into Jax, who caught me. I felt my cheeks heat up as I pulled myself back up and grabbed onto the wall, looking at Snart.

"He's time jumping the ship." Rip said and I looked at him with my best bitch face.

"I couldn't tell." I said sarcastically, referring to the shaking.

"The ladies will be left in 1958." Snart said loudly.

"What about Ray?" Jax asked, confused.

"Like I said." Snart sneered and I tried to contain my giggles. He was insulting my friend, I shouldn't laugh. Nevertheless, I let out a snort. Rip began sprinting, zigzagging from side to side in trouble due to the ship moving.

"Let's go! We have to stop him!" he shouted and I nodded as we all followed him. The struggle to get back to the bridge was real. We were all out of breath in less than a minute. We got to a door and Rip groaned, leaning against the wall beside it.

"That was a fun jog." I said, panting as I tried to keep my balance. I failed and this time, fell into Rip.

"You okay?" he asked and I nodded.

"Just trying not to let my eyeballs bleed or anything." I said and pushed myself off of him, landing in Snart's arms. He smirked down at me and I rolled my eyes, steadying myself as best I could.

"Gideon, open the doors on my mark." Rip said, holding up his laser pistol before looking at Jax, Stein, and me, "Get to the Jumpship and escape." he ordered.

"We are not abandoning you." Stein argued.

"No, you are obeying a direct order from your Captain." Rip answered and Jax and Stein looked at each other before running in the direction of the Jumpship. I, on the other hand, stayed put, "What are you doing, C-Fae?" Rip asked grumpily.

"I'm gonna save your asses in there, watch me." I said, looking at him and Snart. I formed my sledgehammer with a smile. He gave up, knowing I was very stubborn and gestured for me to get behind him, which I did.

"Now, Gideon." he said quietly. The doors opened and we all ran in, ready for a fight. Rip let out a yell and immediately shot at the heavily armored man. I ran to the other end of the room, making sure I wasn't caught as I ran up behind Chronos and swung my hammer at his legs. He turned around and shot me back at the last moment, causing me to fly back against the walls, "Save our asses, she says." I heard Rip and rolled my eyes. At least I had bought them some time. I slowly stood back up and ran at him once again, this time, the only difference was that I was angrier. Once again, he turned around, but this time, instead of shooting me, I felt something hard hit the top of my head and everything became a blur before going dark.

101

I woke to an aching head and handcuffed wrists. I let out a groan as I looked at my surroundings. I was handcuffed to a rail that lead to a room that was somewhat similar to the bridge on the Wave Rider. Beside me was Snart, handcuffed to a rail on the opposite side. In front of me was Chronos, working on something.

"Thanks for the killer headache, guy." I said, rubbing my head as best I could with the handcuffs. Snart looked in my direction, hearing my voice. I realized I didn't have my mask and anxiety built up inside me. I looked down at my lap, letting my hair cover my face once again.

"So, uh... What's so special about us?" Snart asked and I looked up slightly to see that Chronos had stopped moving, "I mean aside from my sparkling personality and her gorgeous body." I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks, "Back on the Wave Rider, you could've taken your boy, Rip. But you took us instead. Why?" Chronos stayed still and quiet, "Hey, if you're gonna kill us, you could at least tell us what's going on."

Chronos finally turned around to face us, very slowly, "You should have figured it out by now." he reached up to his mask and removed it, revealing a very familiar face. My eyes widened and I grabbed onto the rail so tight my knuckles were surely turning white. The man beneath all the armor was no other than the arsonist, Mick Rory. He began walking up to us, still speaking mainly to Snart, "After all," he knelt, "I am supposed to be the dumb one." he said slowly. I could feel my body shaking.

I won't lie, I had liked Mick on the Wave Rider. He was never perfect, but he seemed to be a good friend. I felt worse than anyone else on that ship (besides Snart) when he betrayed us. I just didn't know how he was back. Snart had killed him... Hadn't he?

"How?" Snart asked after a moment of silence to begin to comprehend that his ex best friend was kneeling in front of him. Mick stayed silent, "I think I deserve to know what the hell is going on here!" he yelled, struggling against the handcuffs angrily.

"You deserve nothing." Mick retorted.

"Says the man who sold us out to the pirates!" Snart shouted in fury, "When I dropped you off in that forest, I meant to kill you. That was the plan." Snart said and it finally hit me. He had let Mick go. He couldn't bear the thought of killing his friend, and so he spared him.

"You should have stuck with the plan and done me a favor." Mick said and I finally spoke up.

"I may not have trusted you on the ship with the team, but I always, always was coming back for you." Snart said, shouting the end.

"Seems like one of us lost track of time." Mick said.

"Well, how long did you-"

"By the time they found me," Mick shouted, cutting off whatever Snart was going to ask. "I'd nearly lost my mind. I was so weak, I was strangling rats to survive."

"When who found you?" Snart asked. I already knew the answer, it was obvious, I knew he knew too. Mick looked at me before down to the floor.

"The Time Masters." he said and stood up, walking away from us, "They took me to a place called the Vanishing Point. Time doesn't exist there the way it does on Earth. I've spent lifetimes being restored by them, training by them, fighting by them... Being reborn." Mick explained and I looked down. When he betrayed us to the pirates, I thought that was the lowest I'd seen him. I was wrong.

"And, uh, when exactly did your new friends give you the, uh, lobotomy?" Snart asked and Mick quickly made his way back to us.

"You think I was hunting you and your friends because the Time Masters made me? They barely had to ask."

"Mick?" I finally spoke up quietly. He looked at me, the icy cold glare in his eyes faltered for barely a second, and I looked up at him, "I can understand why you took Snart. He was your best friend and a jerk at the same time. But... Why am I here?" I asked slowly and he looked away from my eyes.

"You, Fae, you were always kind to me." he said and walked up to me, kneeling in front of me and looking into my eyes, "You're the one person I don't want to hurt." he said. I smiled sadly as I looked down at him.

"You already have."

He looked taken aback as he stood back up, walking away from me and back to his own computer table.

"Look if you're gonna kill me, just do it already." Snart said and I looked at him, frowning.

"I'm not gonna kill you." Mick replied, his voice more monotonous and dead inside, "I'm gonna take a trip back to Central City and visit your baby sister." a picture of Lisa came up on the screen, "The beautiful thing about time travel is I get to kill her more than once." he turned around, looking Snart in the eyes, "I can kill Lisa in front of you, go back in time, kill her in front of you again and again and again." he said. Snart struggled against the restraints once again.

"Sir, several anomalies in the timeline suggest that the Waverider has touched down in Nanda Parbat." A male version of Gideon spoke.

"Chart a course." Mick ordered, "I used to think that the most beautiful thing on Earth was fire. Now I know it's vengeance."

101

The ship landed in Nanda Parbat (I assume) and Mick walked past us to go kill our friends (I assumed again).

"Would you mind loosening these up a little bit before you leave?" Snart asked as Mick passed.

"Must be into some real kinky crap." I muttered.

"Just out of curiosity, what do you think your new masters are going to do with you once you've delivered the team up to them? I don't expect there's a pension plan for old bounty hunters." Mick walked back into the room, "Once they get what they want from you, they're gonna toss you aside."

"Like you tossed me aside?" Mick asked.

"You and I both made choices that led us to this moment. What matters, Mick, is you're next move. And I'm willing to bet that some little piece of the old you is in that armor somewhere." Snart said as Mick fumbled with his helmet to put it on.

"No. You're wrong." he replied simply and put on the helmet. He began to walk past us again.

"Mick, please." I said quietly and he stopped, looking at me briefly, "They don't care about you. You're just a pawn, a playing piece. Come back with us." I said. He stared at me for a moment before leaving without a word. I let my head drop and let out a sigh.

Not long after he'd left, Snart stood up extremely fast. I watched as he adjusted his hands so that he could easily slide the handcuffs down the rails.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he made his way down. He turned back to me.

"Getting us out of here. I'll be back soon. Stay put." he ordered and I nodded as I watched him break something on the rail before turning a corner and disappearing.

"Love triangle." I heard a masculine voice with an Australian accent and jumped, turning around. There stood a man, he had a scruffy beard and wore an eye patch over one eye. I knew exactly who it was. Slade Wilson, "Been there, haven't we, love?"

So here's the thing. I've explained my hatred towards Slade before, but it wasn't always like that. Back on Lian Yu, Shado, Ollie, Slade and me were friends. Before Shado became a part of our group, me and Slade had a... thing. When Shado got there, I could tell Slade had feelings for her even though her and Oliver had a thing. It was almost like a love... Square? That was, of course, before he took the mirakuru and went on a rampage because of Shado's death.

I started to struggle against my restraints and he let out a sigh, "You and I both know that's not going to work."

"What are you doing here?" I asked with a shaky voice. Slade had done terrible things to Oliver's family, who had easily become my family as well. I hated his guts.

"Well, I'm either here because I'm the one person you don't want to see at all or," he paused and knelt by me. His face was so close to my face, I could feel his breath on my lips, "because I am the one person you secretly want to see most." he whispered.

"You're supposed to be on Lian Yu." I whispered and he chuckled.

"Does it look like I'm on bloody Lian Yu, Cassie?" He asked in a shout, backing up from me. I let out a huff.

"You aren't real." I said and he stopped, looking at me with a wide... eye.

"Oh. I'm not, am I?" he asked, getting back up in my face.

"No. You're a figment of my imagination and I'm just insane." I said, and he smirked. Before I knew what was happening, he pressed his hand to the back of my head and slammed his lips down on mine. I struggled against him but I was handcuffed and he was stronger than me. He finally pulled away, still smirking.

"Did that feel fake, Cass?" he asked. Before I could answer (or spit on him as I had planned to do) I heard a whirring sound coming from down the hall, followed by a scream of pain. I pulled back and turned around, struggling more than I had earlier to get to Snart as I thought of the worst possible things that could be happening.

Soon the screaming stopped and I called out his name.

"I'm fine!" I heard back as a reply and I let out a sigh. I turned back to see that Slade was gone and fell back onto the steps, letting my arms stay in the air. Soon I heard something shatter and another scream and scrambled to my feet. Snart appeared around the corner once again, his cold gun and my mask in hand, but a piece of him was... Gone. Where his right hand used to be was just and icy nub. My eyes widened.

"Are you o-"

"I'm fine." he said and lifted up his cold gun. I prepared for something scary and painful but found that just my handcuffs had been frozen.

"What did you do?" I asked as I broke the cuffs and walked up to him, looking at where his hand should be.

"I got us out of here. Come on." he said, handing me my mask before he started walking down the hall. I followed, putting on the mask. When we exited the ship, we were in a familiar place. I had been here once before, and I knew where to go.

"If our team was kidnapped, which they probably were, they'd be down here." I said, plus the trail of assassin bodies kind of gave it away. We walked into a room where our team was, along with Chronos and Ras al Ghul. I hated him almost as much as Slade, but if the water that brought Sara back to life made her thirst for blood, and he'd been bathing in it for so long when Oliver fought him, then maybe he was just a little less evil now.

Chronos was kneeling on the floor, trying to get back up from a blow and everyone surrounded him, ready to blow his head off or something.

"You son of a bitch." Jax said angrily, getting ready to fireball him into a death of flames.

"Stop!" I shouted.

"Don't do it." Snart said at the same time, "Don't kill him." I walked up to Chronos.

"Snart? Fae?" Jax asked and I nodded as I looked at Mick.

"Sorry, don't kill Chronos?" Rip asked almost angrily.

"He's not Chronos." I said and turned my attention back to Mick, "Show them." I ordered. He didn't move and I looked at Snart, who nodded at me. I whispered and apology and took off the mask, revealing Mick. He looked almost... Scared, but there was a fiery rage in his eyes along with the fear.

"My God." Rip whispered and I backed up from Mick. He looked up at me before to Rip.

"There is no God." he said and began crawling to get his gun, but Sara kicked him in the face, knocking him out. We all stared at him before I looked at the helmet I had in my hands. It disgusted me. I was the first to walk out of the room, leaving the others behind.

101

When the others arrived on the ship, I was on the bridge, slamming my sledgehammer down on Mick's helmet as hard as I could, over and over again. I let out shouts of anger as the helmet broke into a million pieces. And when I was done, I turned back to them. They stared at me as if I was crazy, and I began to think that maybe I was. As I stared at them, hate consuming me, I slowly began to calm down.

"Fae, are you-"

"It's not Fae." I whispered, slumping over as I cut off Rip. The team walked forward and I let out a sigh, "You all deserve to know the real me. You all should know... Everything." I said slowly.

"You don't have to do this." Rip said as I reached for my mask. I just smiled as I pulled it off of my face and put it on the computer table. Sara gasped quietly as she studied my face. I had changed since the last time she really saw me, but I was still me.

"I'm not Fae. My name is Cassiel Carlisle, and I will not be defined by my mask anymore." I said simply. They all stared at me and I smiled, throwing my hands up a little bit, "This is who I am."

Sara slowly stepped out and up to me, inspecting me like she couldn't believe it was me.

"Cassie?" she said quietly and I nodded before she pulled me into a hug. When we pulled away I walked up to Rip and he stared at me in confusion before I pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you." I whispered against his coat and he hesitantly hugged me back.

"What for?" he asked.

"Showing me who I really am." I said and pulled back. He was smiling.

"You didn't need me to do that." he said and I shook my head.

"I really did." I argued with a small smile.

"I'd hate to interrupt this beautiful moment," Stein said and everyone looked at him, "but we should probably check on Mr. Rory." he said and I nodded.

"Absolutely. Come on team." I said and left them in the dust as I made my way to the cell we keep all our hostages in, which was now containing Mick. I got in the room first and he looked up at me from his seat.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked sarcastically as I walked in and leaned against the wall in the front of the cell. Soon the others joined me, "Oh." he stood up, looking at us all, anger and hatred radiated off him, "You think this is all over?" he asked, beginning to walk to the locked doors, "I will kill every single one of you. I will watch you all burn!" he said. He refused to look at me as he spoke. Snart was now leaning against the wall next to me, and Mick glared at him, "You-You should have killed me when you had the cha-" he was cut off when Rip pressed a button, making sure he couldn't hear us and we couldn't hear him.

I knew what was about to happen wouldn't be pretty, I also knew that Snart was still missing a hand and that should've been a higher priority than arguing, but here we were.

"You owe us an explanation." Rip said after turning back to Snart. I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, it's quite remarkable Mr. Rory is working for the Time Masters, considering you killed him." Stein said with a hint of sass.

"If you think back, I never actually said I killed him." Snart said, looking at them.

"No, you just let us think that you did." Jax said and I rolled my eyes before remembering I wasn't behind a mask and they could all see that.

"I didn't have to try too hard, did I?" Snart asked. I looked back at Mick in the cell. He was sitting down again now, looking deep in thought and alone. I hated it. I hated that I had come to like Mick in the time he'd spent on the Waverider and I hated that he'd betrayed us. I hated that Snart had to kill him and I hated that he didn't. I hated that Mick had become a pawn of the Time Masters and I hated that he hated us. That's what feelings and caring gets you, betrayal, heartbreak, and hatred, "Well, maybe I should have." Snart's words brought me out of my thoughts as I looked back to him, "And at least he wouldn't have wound up a chew toy for the Time Masters." Snart said, looking away from the team and at me before to the floor.

"But if you did, we wouldn't have this opportunity." Rip said and everyone looked at him, including me. I was hopeful it was something good.

"An opportunity? To do what?" Ray asked and I bit my lip. Rip sucked in a breath as he turned back to the cell, putting his arm on the wall as he leaned against it.

"To reform Mr. Rory." Rip said. I tried to hide a small smile by biting my lip harder.

"You mean we get Mick back?" I asked, trying not to sound as happy as I was.

"He killed Aldus." Kendra said angrily. I rolled my eyes once again. Oh, get over it, it's not like you remembered him.

"Under the influence of the Time Masters." Rip said.

"Chronos killed Aldus. Mr. Rory was fighting by our side that day." Stein stood up for Mick and I looked down at my feet, my short yet unkept hair covering my face to hide my smile.

"I know what it's like to be trained by an organization for one purpose, to kill, and the kind of loyalty that it can inspire. I need to know that we can reach Rory. For my own sake." Sara said.

"The Time Masters took our team member and our friend and turned him against us, I say we undo their damage and make Mick valuable again." I said, looking up and catching eye contact with Mick.

"Rory saved my life back in the gulag." Ray said, "He's more than just a criminal and an arsonist." he took a few steps closer to the cell.

"He's a member of our team." both me and Jax said in unison.

"I'm sorry, did you want to say that, I just thought it'd be badass if I- I'll just stay quiet." I said and Jax smiled slightly.

"He's a lost cause." Snart said and I turned to him. He sent me an icy look, a look I hadn't seen since I helped Barry put him in prison that one time.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Rip said and turned to Snart, "You will see that miracles abound on this old timeship." he said before turning back to Mick.

"Speaking of miracles," I said and grabbed Snart's arm. He had been hiding his non-hand under his other arm. I pulled his arm up and showed the team, he sighed and looked down, "You got anything to fix this?"

"Yes, actually. Mr. Snart, if you will follow me." Rip said and they both left the room. I walked up to the glass door of the cell containing Mick.

"We're going to fix you." I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me as he stared at me.

"You guys better be sure about this whole reforming thing." Kendra said and I turned to her.

"What do you mean?" I asked and she stared at me.

"I mean if he goes off the rails again, I will have no problem hawking out on him." she said and with that, she left. Ray gave me an apologetic look before following her. Stein and Jax looked at me then at each other and left soon as well. I turned back to Mick and went to press the button so that he could hear me and I could hear him, before hearing a voice.

"Look at him in there." the Australian man spoke and I put my hand to my head.

"Go toy with someone else's mind for a while, Slade." I muttered and turned around to see him standing in front of me.

"You know I'm not fake." he said and nodded.

"What did you mean when you said love triangle earlier?" I asked. He sighed and nodded towards Mick.

"He obviously has a different feeling than hate towards you." he said and I looked at Mick, who was staring at me with a confused expression on his face. I looked back at Slade.

"He said he wanted to kill me." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"Of course he said he wanted to kill you, you helped trap him in there, don't be thick, Cassie." he said, poking my forehead and knocking me back slightly. I regained my footing and looked back up at him, "That doesn't mean he doesn't like you."

I looked back to Mick and finally pressed the button, letting him speak freely.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked immediately.

"Someone was talking over comm.s" I lied and he nodded, clearly not fully believing me.

"Why are you still here?" he asked and I shrugged.

"Don't know." I said and sat down on the floor as he walked to the door. He sat down in front of me and I stared into his dark green eyes, "Do you really want to kill me?" I asked and he looked away.

"Yes." he answered, I knew it was a lie.

"Okay." I said and stood up, he followed my action, "Thanks." I said and began to leave.

"For?" he asked and I turned back to him,

"Being a bad liar." I said and left. I joined the rest of the team on the Bridge and grabbed my mask off of the computer table, about to put it on.

"Thought you weren't wearing that thing anymore?" I heard Snart and turned to find him standing beside me.

"I said I wasn't going to let it define me, not that I wasn't going to wear it. This thing took hard work to make!" I exclaimed and smiled before putting it back on.

"I believe we're ready to leave 1960." I heard Rip and turned to see him walking out of his office.

"And go where? I mean, when?" Sara asked from her spot on the steps that lead to Rip's office.

"2147. Mere decades before Vandal Savage conquered the world." Rip replied and we all gave him confused glances.

"I thought you had no idea where he was." Snart said, walking around the jump seats.

"You said Savage had been lost to history." Stein said in confusion as Snart leaned against one of the seats. I crossed my arms over my chest as I raised an eyebrow at Rip, even though he couldn't see it due to my mask.

"Not world-changing history." Rip retorted, "Records of the period are scarce, but I've always known that Vandal Savage can be located in 2147." Kendra and Ray walked into the room as he spoke, looking almost more confused than the rest of us.

"So why haven't you told us this sooner?" Jax asked and I nodded, pointing at him.

"Because that period of history is fraught with more peril than I was willing to risk." Rip explained, "We have no choice but to stop Vandal Savage in 2147... Or to die trying."

Everything became tense. Ray looked down and I looked at Snart, who looked almost taken aback.

"Well," Kendra started and we turned our attention to her, " I've died before."

"So have I." Sara said, standing up.

"Same here." I said, raising up my hand high. Jax and Stein exchanged glances and Snart looked at me.

"Gideon, plot a course for Kasnia Conglomerate." Rip ordered and we all began to sit down, "The year 2147." he said and pulled down his guard, turning around. I sat next to Snart, Kendra sat next to Ray, Stein next to Jax, and Sara alone. Rip toggled his switch and the Waverider began to shake.

I was ready to end this, but to be fair, I had been ready since the beginning, and something told me this wasn't going to be much more successful than the last few tries.