*throws this terribleness at you and runs*
In all seriousness, I know I was trying to save my 100th story for Phineas and Ferb, but I can't seem to find inspiration for it. This, however, I can. So have whatever this nonsense is, and ignore my ignorance on how Cisco's powers work.
Happy 100th story whatnot to me! This takes place just before the beginning of the Season 1 finale of LoT and after Laurel's death and Barry's trip through the speed force.
I don't own The Flash or Legends of Tomorrow.
GENERAL POV
It was a small gesture, really. Something that Mick felt would maybe clear the air between him and the Flash, something that he needed to do before he ventured off again into the time stream.
"You sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Ray asked for the third time, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel. "I don't know, they might react a little better if they saw me with you."
Mick hefted the cold gun into his hands and stared down at it for a moment, his shoulders slumping. "No," he grunted. "This is something I should do by myself."
He paused, glancing behind him at STAR Labs, and then looked back towards Ray. "No one's told them yet?"
Ray shook his head, finally relaxing against his seat and letting his hands slide down to rest on his lap. "No. I'll wait here for you. Hurry up though; we're meeting in like twenty minutes, and Stein and I still have to send the signal to-"
"Yeah, yeah," Mick cut him off, waving a free hand and stepping away from the car. "I'll be out in a flash."
He snorted at his pathetic little joke and strutted towards the door, spinning Ray's key card in his hand as he walked. The building let him in with a cheerful "ding!" and he hesitated in the doorway, trying to remember Ray's instructions before spotting the staircase the nerd said would lead him to the basement of operations for the Flash.
His boots were heavy on the tile flooring, the thumping of his footsteps ringing around him and making the man feel incredibly vulnerable all of a sudden, which was something Mick Rory was not accustomed to feeling.
The stairs led him to a darker hallway that he followed to the left, like Ray had told him to, and he let his free hand drift gently along the wall as he walked towards the growing sound of voices.
Barry Allen.
He heard the Flash's voice and the name rang in his head unbidden, the knowledge obtained from Jax, Stein, and even Ray when they slipped up over the intercom system, forgetting that there were criminals among them on the ship.
Three months ago Mick wouldn't have hesitated to use the knowledge against the speedster; but since he had learned (rather recently) that Leonard had known for almost two years who the Flash really was….
Well, he owed it to his partner to keep that secret. And Barry, if he allowed himself to admit it.
He took a deep breath before rounding the final corner and coming to stand in full view of the Flash team, his hand clenching subconsciously around the cold gun. He had left his heat gun in the car, per Ray's request, and he felt naked without it as three pairs of eyes turned to look at him, all three unmasked.
Barry looked utterly panicked, and Mick forced himself to smile thinly. "I uh…I have something for you. For…for Cisco."
His gaze shot towards the dark haired boy, who looked like someone had just dumped a gallon of ice water over his head, and Mick rolled his eyes. "Chill. I'm not going to hurt you. If I tried anything…speedy over there would kill me."
Barry was on him in seconds, eyes flickering with lightning and rage as he slammed Mick into the wall. "Who the hell-? Snart."
The name came out in a hiss and Barry shoved his arms into Mick's chest once and pulled away. "That asshole swore he wouldn't tell anyone."
"He didn't," Mick growled, trying hard not to strangle the kid for talking about Snart like that, no matter how truthful it was. "Your little buddy the Atom slipped up. So did Jax. And Stein. How the hell do you think I got in here?"
He held up Ray's key card and Barry narrowed his eyes. "What did you do with-?"
"Mick?"
Barry shut up and the two of them turned to look at the girl-Caitlin, Mick recalled-as she stood up, her eyes concerned. "Is that…Snart's cold gun?"
Mick deflated like he had been stuck with a needle and nodded once, lowering his gaze as he held it out towards Cisco. "Yeah. I uh…I came to return it," he murmured gruffly.
Cisco frowned and moved forwards, reaching his hands out and taking the gun in them gently. "Why would you-?"
His gaze went distant and he sucked in a breath, his fingers tightening a little around the weapon. Mick had no clue what was going on, but Barry and Caitlin were instantly focused on Cisco.
When the kid finally fell out of his trance, Mick was startled to see tears in his eyes as he looked up at him. "Snart…sacrificed himself. For your team."
Mick flinched and ran a hand over his head. "Yeah. Died in an explosion. He uh…would have wanted you to have that back. I have no use for it, not where we're going, and Ray and I figured it would be better off with the people who made it."
"You and Ray?" Barry asked in bewilderment. "So you…didn't steal his key card?"
Caitlin answered before he could, turning away from her computer. "He's out front waiting in a car. What do you mean, where you're going?"
"Back to the future," Cisco breathed. When everyone glanced at him he grinned sheepishly. "I mean…like, you were part of the time travel group. Based on what I saw."
He motioned with the gun and though Mick couldn't begin to comprehend what the hell the kid was talking about he nodded. "Yeah. We have to go meet Stein and Jax and Sara. Got some…unfinished business with Vandal Savage. I just…wanted to return that."
He turned on his heel, pausing in the doorway with a hand on the wall as he glanced back over his shoulder. "Snart always kept his word about your identity," he assured Barry. "And I'm…not going to dishonor him by breaking that promise."
Barry nodded, looking rather startled, and before Mick could walk out completely he spoke up again. "You know uh…Snart…Leonard…was a good guy. I'm…not happy he's gone. But it sounds like he went out being the person I told him he could be."
Mick smiled thinly and rapped his knuckles against the door. "Yeah. Yeah, he did. Later, Scarlet."
He walked out of the room silently, mentally preparing himself for god knew how many more time periods they would need to go to in order to stop Vandal Savage.
Cisco stepped silently into the weapons vault, the door closing behind him with a small click and the motion detecting light flickering on. His eyes fell back to the cold gun and then moved to the spot on the shelf where it used to sit.
No matter how terrible Leonard Snart had been, despite the fact that he had kidnapped both Cisco and his brother, the man couldn't bring himself to hate the criminal. In the end, Snart had been exactly what Barry thought he could be; a hero.
And now he was dead and there was almost this…hollow feeling in Cisco's stomach. Like the cold gun didn't belong at STAR Labs anymore, like maybe it had never belonged there in the first place.
He sighed and lifted the gun to settle it on it's mount, double checking that the safety was on. His fingers slid to the mouth of the barrel, where the waves of cold came out, and the hollow feeling in Cisco's stomach spun into the feeling he got going down a steep rollercoaster. He yanked his hands away fast, nearly sending the gun plummeting towards the floor, and fumbled in his back pocket for the vibe glasses, which he had been redesigning since pulling Barry from the speed force.
There was something wrong with the vibe he had gotten earlier; it hadn't felt complete, had felt like something was missing, but he didn't particularly want Mick Rory watching him use his powers, no matter if the man was slowly changing or not.
Now, though, Cisco slid on his glasses and looked up again at the gun, fingers twitching as he reached a hand out and slid his skin along the chilled metal.
His stomach lurched again and for a moment he felt as if the floor had disappeared from underneath him. When he managed to calm his racing heart and focus on the area surrounding him, he realized it was because wherever he was, there wasn't a floor.
Light danced around him, blinding in some places and dull in others, tendrils and waves of it sliding past him and twisting around his body. He reached a curious hand out and watched as a strand of violet and silver light slid through his fingers, the only hint they were there the tiny shiver they sent to his spine.
Focusing, Cisco forced his gaze away from the colors and turned in place, feeling almost like he was swimming.
The space was nearly endless, but it wasn't empty. Aside from the light, there were flashes of images. Cisco recognized some of them; Hitler, giving a speech to an army. Martin Luther King Jr. giving his "I Have a Dream" speech. More recent things, like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. And small things, things he didn't expect to see: his first birthday party, cake smushed in his hair and on his hands. Dante's first piano recital. Barry becoming the Flash for the first time. Meeting the Green Arrow and Black Canary.
His eyes continued along the time stream-because that's what it was, he realized; he was looking at the time stream-until he was drawn to the image of him sitting up late at night in STAR Labs, meticulously crafting Sara's White Canary uniform per Laurel's request.
Some images after that he didn't recognize; Sara and Leonard sitting in what looked like a storage room, Sara wrapped in Leonard's coat. Ray and Mick strapped up by chains and being beaten to death. Jax and Kendra in what seemed to be a hospital, Kendra carving something into Jax's arm with a scalpel. Stein reaching out and grabbing a massive glowing orb. Carter's body, laid out in front of a man Cisco could only assume was Vandal Savage. Leonard knocking Mick out with his cold gun. Sara kissing Snart.
And floating in front of that image, hands tucked into pockets and trademark winter jacket missing from his lithe form, was none other than Leonard Snart.
Cisco blinked, opened his mouth, and blinked again. "What the hell?"
Okay, that was not what he intended to say at all. But it worked; the unexpected words made Leonard whip around in surprise, his eyes wide as they landed on Cisco. His facial features readjusted quickly, but not before Cisco managed to catch the look in his eyes; pure and utter longing.
"Cisco Ramon," Leonard managed to laugh. "You know I've heard stories about…the afterlife. Was kind of hoping it was all a load of shit. Seems I was wrong, though I can't imagine why my subconscious would choose you of all people to lead me off to the great beyond."
His voice was as sarcastic as Cisco remembered, and he couldn't help but smile before realizing what Snart had said. "Wait, what? Dude, you're not…this isn't the afterlife."
Leonard arched an eyebrow and glanced back once at the image of him and Sara before floating forwards, hands still in his pockets. "If that's the case, why am I floating?"
Cisco honestly couldn't answer that one. "Not a clue," he said. "But you're not dead, because I'm vibing right now."
Leonard's face twisted into something akin to a mixture of confusion and disgust and Cisco held up his hands quickly. "I…I was affected by the particle accelerator explosion, like Barry. Only we didn't find out until after you all left for whatever future mission thing you were on. Basically I get visions and stuff, but I also…vibe."
"Which means?" Leonard asked in mild exasperation.
Cisco hesitated. "I…I can reach out to other people. I did it with Zoom, and with Barry when he got stuck in the speed force."
"Barry got stuck in the speed force?"
Ignoring him, Cisco continued. "Based on what I'm seeing, and the fact that I can't vibe dead people, I think we're in the time stream."
"How do you know you can't vibe dead people?" Snart challenged, crossing his arms over each other and glaring at the younger man.
Cisco winced and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, watching a stream of golden light swirl by. "I uh…I tried. On Laurel. Per the Green Arrow's request."
Leonard's arms dropped and he stared at Cisco, jaw slack. "Laurel's dead?"
Cisco looked up, startled by the emotion in his voice until he remembered the scene Snart had been standing in front of. "Uh…yeah. She uh…was killed by Damien Dahrk."
Leonard's jaw locked and he nodded. "Okay," he murmured. "So you're saying…?"
"You're still alive," Cisco said, fighting the smile that was working it's way to his cheeks, "just…the blast that Mick said killed you must have just knocked you into the time stream."
"You talked to Mick?" Snart asked in surprise.
Cisco nodded, jutting a thumb over his shoulder. "Yeah, he uh…he stopped by to drop off your cold gun. Said he wouldn't need it, since they were going back to stop Savage. That's how I'm vibing you right now."
"How long will this last?" Leonard questioned, glancing around apprehensively.
Cisco shrugged, knocking a strand of dark blue light off of his shoulders. "Until you tell me to go, or until someone on the other side pulls me back. Which could be any second, so unless you want to be stuck here I suggest you come with me."
Leonard hesitated. "You're…positive I'm not dead?"
Cisco smiled thinly. "I can pretty much guarantee it."
He held out a hand, raising an eyebrow at the villain, and Snart swallowed before reaching out and taking it, glancing back once more at the image of him and Sara. "All right then, Cisco," he murmured. "Let's see what you got."
Cisco grinned and tightened his grip on Snart's hand, shutting his eyes and focusing on the real world, on how the floor felt under his feet, on the feeling of Leonard's hand firmly in his, how Mick and Sara and Barry and Lisa would react when he showed up with the supposedly dead Captain Cold.
His stomach lurched again, this time settling back down from it's rollercoaster ride, and the feeling of the floor slowly returned to Cisco's senses. One hand still held tightly to Leonard, and the other one could once again feel the cold gun under his fingertips.
Cisco gasped a little when he opened his eyes, head rushing, and Snart didn't look much better. His face was paler than normal and had a slight green tint, but all in all he looked fine. Cisco pulled his hand away from the cold gun and fumbled for the door behind him, stepping out of the weapons storage room and gently tugging the criminal out with him.
"Leonard?" he tried softly, hoping the use of Snart's first name would snap him out of whatever trance he was in. "You with me?"
He blinked and lifted his free hand to his head, his frown sliding into a thin smile as he glanced over at Cisco. "Yes. I am."
Cisco grinned brightly and pulled him towards the main room, frowning as Leonard's shirt sleeve got tugged up and revealed burns along his skin. "Let's get you to the med bay, and Caitlin can take a look at those burns. They look new."
Leonard glanced down at them and cursed softly. "The explosion must have caused them. I'll be fine."
Cisco shook his head. "No way man, you need her to look at those or something. She's great, she won't hurt you or anything."
"I said I'll be fine," Leonard snapped, giving Cisco a withering glare and snatching his hand away.
The younger of the two sank a little under his look and Snart sighed, looking away. "She can look at the ones on my arms," he allowed softly. "Give some kind of cream or something. I'll take care of the rest."
Cisco studied him for a moment, recalling some of his past conversations with Lisa about Lewis Snart, and nodded. "All right. Come on. We'll get you patched up, then send you home to Lisa. I'm sure Mick told her already."
"Or he probably avoided her so she wouldn't get upset," Snart mused. "Mick doesn't know how to handle crying women."
"Him and me both," Cisco laughed, leading Snart down the hallway towards the main room.
"And I assume you will give me the cold gun back."
It wasn't a question, but Cisco gave an answer anyway. "Man, I thought you were done with all the criminal stuff? Besides, I made it."
"Yes," Leonard drawled, a smile playing on his lips when Cisco looked back at him. "but I do believe you called it my cold gun back in the time stream. Besides; heroes need weapons as well, do they not? Look at Sara, or Laurel…Diggle, Oliver Queen…"
He enjoyed the look of surprised panic that crossed Cisco's features and shook his head. "You worry too much kid. As much as I hate to admit it, Barry was right."
Cisco started grinning again. "About you being a hero?"
Leonard shot him a glare. "I wouldn't go that far, kid. I'm no hero."
"But you just compared yourself to-"
"I'm no hero."
Snart gave him a death glare and strode off towards the main room, leaving Cisco in the hallway with a protesting finger lifted in the air. Despite everything, he felt a grin slide across his face and he shook his head before dropping his hand and trotting after Snart.
"Yet," Cisco amended softly, his eyes tracking Cold down the hall. "You're not a hero yet."