Again please excuse the unedited garbage I am presenting you

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Leonard slammed his elbow against the paneling he'd destroyed earlier as the cell filled with frozen air. There was a loud, thump! as King Shark fell on his ass, fast asleep.

On the other end of the cell, through the now rising smog Leonard spotted a device sitting on a raised platform. It was tall, four arms sticking straight up, with a glowing red substance at its center. Definitely alien.

Leonard guessed that's what they were after. He turned to the Flash, waving him into the cell. "By all means, you first."

"Thanks," Barry said sarcastically.

Leonard followed him inside, the two only pausing when King Shark let out a loud snarl in his sleep. The two jumped back, thinking he was already waking up. Leonard scowled when he realized they were safe. "Reminds me of Jaws."

They started walking again, Leonard eyeing the floor cautiously. "They didn't show the shark, because they couldn't afford to make it look good."

Barry didn't respond. He didn't have enough time to anyways, because a second later King Shark fin was seen poking up from the smog; Leonard froze for a second, catching Barry do the same.

Fortunately, the shark king went back down a moment later. Barry let out a relieved breath, and Leonard relaxed. They continued, slowly.

"How long do you think he'll stay asleep?" Barry asked nervously.

"I like Shark Week I'm not a marine biologist," Leonard shrugged. 

Alexa continued steadily rising as they approached the tech, and Leonard was beginning to get a little antsy. He couldn't help thinking that this whole process would have been a lot smoother if Barry had been able to retain his speed in the ARGUS building.

Barry carefully removed the piece of tech he needed from the alien object... And that's when Alex came into play.

Immediately, alarms started blaring and lights were flashing. The door to the cells began closing fast; the duo forgot all about stealth, sprinting across the floor.

Barry managed to slide under the door and make it out, but Leonard was just a tad too slow. It closed a second before he could make it out.

Barry turned, suddenly looking a lot more like his goodie-too-shoes self. "Snart!"

"Barry!" Leonard would have been lying if he said he wasn't the least bit concerned about being trapped with a man shark, but somehow he found himself encouraging Barry to leave him.

He got what he needed to save Iris. He could have run off with the tech and saved Iris, yet he was just standing in front of the door looking uncertain.

Hell of a time to start caring again, he was putting the mission in jeopardy, risking getting caught. Like what happened to Leonard was actually important.

"This place is going to be crawling with ARGUS agents in the next two minutes," Leonard said. Barry still looked hesitant. "Look on the bright side, Barry. This is your chance to show how ruthless you really are."

Barry glanced back as Deserey came sprinting to the end of the hall. She looked back at the Flash, looking deathly serious. "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something...and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."

Barry stared at her before exchanging confused looks with Leonard. "Wha?"

"No," Dez shook her head. "Okay, first of all, the line is 'I don't want another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?' Second, I'm trying to say something is coming...and by something I mean ARGUS security."

She finally turned her head to the side and noticed Leonard's little predicament. Her eyes widened. "And third...what the hell did you guys do??"

Leonard flickered his eyes to the side nervously as he heard King Shark stirring. He turned back to Deserey and Barry, ignoring Dez's movie quotes. "Sometimes you gotta make a tough call, Barry."

Deserey blanched. She looked at Barry worriedly. "You're not gonna leave him in there are you?"

Leonard could tell he was thinking hard about it. He was torn, almost visibly, between saving Iris and saving Leonard. It was almost hard to watch. Barry sighed, moving to the end of the hall.

"Barry?" Deserey said, but he didn't respond to her.

Instead, he put his hand on the comlink in his ear. "Cisco, we need your help. I have the energy source, but Snart's still trapped inside the cell with King Shark. You gotta open the door." He paused for a moment, listening to the engineer's response. "Hurry, alright?"

Barry walked back over to Dez and Len. "Cisco's working on it." He suddenly looked very worried, and Deserey let out a soft squeak from where she stood next to him. "Whatever you do, don't look behind you."

Naturally, Leonard had to turn around. King Shark was rising up from the left over smog of the ice bomb. He loomed over Leonard threateningly, snarling his big, sharp teeth down at him.

It was one of those rare moments Leonard deemed appropriate to let his emotions show. (That and pretending the beast didn't scare the living shit out of him had become quite taxing.)

"He said don't look behind you," Deserey said, sounding nervous herself.

Len ignored that comment, scooting against the door as far as he could like that would somehow help anything.

All he could think of was the thing Not-Caitlin said about his death. He really hoped it wasn't death by shark... "If Cisco saves my life, tell him I'll...put in a good word with my sister."

As if the engineer had somehow heard that statement and become inspired by it, the door opened just wide enough for Leonard to slip through.

He wasted no time, ducking under the door frame instantly, Barry urgently waving at him and muttering, "Come on, come on, come on!"

Leonard was about half way through the door, when King Shark grabbed him by the legs and started yanking him back into the cell. "Barry! Dez!"

"We got you!" Barry said. "We got you, hang on!" The two sprang into action, each taking one of his hands, tugging as hard as they could.

With difficulty, they pulled Leonard through the door the rest of the way, allowing him to slip out of King Shark's grasp; all three of them fell to the floor, panting.

"Now, Cisco! Now! Close it!" Barry yelled.

Just as King Shark reached his hand under the doorframe, grasping desperately for one of them, the door close. It slammed over his wrist, severing his hand clean off.

Leonard winced. "Ouch. Been there."

"I said I was sorry!" Deserey huffed.

"Okay," Barry sighed, as they got up and approached the door nervously.

Through the window, they saw King Shark's hand/fin grow back in a matter of seconds. He snarled at them, letting out an angry cry of, "Flash!"

Barry glanced at Dez, still panting a little. "Please don't tell me you think he's cute too," he mumbled.

She was quiet for a moment; Leonard blinked at her, flabbergasted. "Really?" he said. "After he tried to eat me?" Deserey just shrugged in response.

He rolled his eyes, and Barry shook his head. "Let's get out of here," the speedster said. Leonard had absolutely no problems with that idea.

Unfortunately, before they could even turn down the hall, they were stopped again by the sight of a gun being aimed at their chests. The ARGUS agents had arrived, Director Michaels standing at the front.

"Lyla!" Barry said with a guilty chuckle.

"Barry," the woman sighed.

{~}

"I told you I couldn't give this to you." Director Michaels, Lyla, stood in front of the trio, looking absolutely cross. She held the piece of tech Barry had worked so hard for, that Leonard had almost died for.

The ARGUS agents had moved them back upstairs, and now they stood on one of the platforms over looking the lobby where they'd first come in at.

Leonard was leaning against the glass banister, his cool demeanor returning now that the threat of dying was over. Almost like he had never even happened. It sort of baffled Deserey the way he could extinguish all his emotions just like that.

"Yeah," Barry said, shifting awkwardly.

"And you snuck in here anyway?" There was the Parent Tone again. Lyla narrowed her eyes at the Scarlet Speedster, and Deserey shivered a bit. It was like looking into a mirror -- everyone mom wore the same face when they were angry at their children. (Or in this case a red clad super hero.)

"To save Iris' life, Lyla," Barry reminded her. "Yeah, I'll do anything."

Lyla's expression softened a bit at this. She let out a short sigh through her nose. "Not anything." She paused briefly. "I saw the whole thing on the security monitors. You could have left Snart to die, but you risked your freedom and Iris' life to save him."

"So..." Deserey said slowly. "Because of his incredible and honorable heroic ways, you've had a change of heart and you're going to give him the tech thingy and let us leave?"

Lyla remained silent, only emitting another soft sigh in response. She held the piece of tech out for Barry, and the speedster took it apprehensively as if he thought it would be some cruel joke.

"Really?" Deserey grinned lightly. "That's so nice! I didn't think it would actually happen."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. He looked at Lyla as if thinking she was going to snatch it right back. "You're just gonna let me have it?"

Lyla shrugged. "I couldn't let Iris die knowing that that could save her." She nodded curtly at the tech. "And I know you'd do the same thing for me if it were John's life on the line."

"...Thank you," Barry said, still looking stunned.

"Now, go!" She spoke urgently with an undertone of hurry before I change my mind! "Do it." The director glanced at Leonard and Deserey. "And get these two back to wherever they belong."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Leonard said, moving to walk down the stairs. Barry nodded as he and Dez moved to follow.

{~}

The run back to the past was a lot smoother than the one to the future. At least, Deserey didn't fall off.

Barry had changed into the Flash costume, and Deserey had slipped back into her coat. But Leonard remained in his leather jacket.

Deserey couldn't help wondering if that was because he felt control was even more out of his grasp than before, what with the news from killer Frost and the events that had transpired.

"Tell me, Snart," Barry said curiously as they came to a stop in front of the Waverider, "did you think I had it in me? To leave you behind?"

He sounded a little more chipper now, a little more like how Deserey figured he was supposed to sound. But the edge was still there. The worry. The desperation.

She thought he was only asking for some reassurance. He'd scared himself by delving into the deep season of angst, maybe in some ways he was even comparing himself to Savitar, and he wanted to know if he could resurface.

Leonard eyed him for a moment, probably picking up on the same thing Deserey was. "I wasn't sure. I've always known you had the potential to be as ruthless as they come. Your history made sure of that, same as mine."

Deserey was sort of surprised he brought that up. She rarely ever heard him say anything about his 'history.' But he probably figured since both Dez and Barry already knew it wasn't worth beating around the bush anymore.

"Who knows, maybe that's why we get along," Leonard went on. "You see the good in me, I see the bad in you."

"Maybe," Barry agreed.

Leonard glanced at the Waverider, then back at Barry. "Piece of advice: stop trying to best Savitar at his own game. Your goodness is your strength."

Deserey grinned. "Aww," she cooed.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Call me sentimental -- I think the Flash should remain a hero."

Barry nodded, a soft smile of his own forming on his lips. Deserey looked at him, letting out a long, heavy sight. "Dang. Okay. Now, I'm inspired to give a long winded speech. Okay. Well, you know I never say anything optimistic, but here goes..."

Barry turned his attention to her, nodding slowly as she shoved her hands in her pockets, shielding them from the bitter cold winds. After a moment, words came to her.

"The thing about knowing your own future is that once you know about it you can't unknow it. So, you're sitting there, constantly thinking about it, constantly waiting for this one particular day to pass."

She couldn't stop the thing Killer Frost said about Leonard from crossing her mind again.

"And if you don't like it, you feel like you're just prolonging the inevitable, wondering how bad it's gonna hurt when it finally arrives."

Barry looked down at this, shuffling his feet a little, his mind no doubt turning to Iris. Deserey could hear Killer Frost's words ringing in her own ears now, though she wasn't sure why it was effecting her so much. She hadn't realized just how much the Legends had come to mean to her in such a short time. Dez shoved the thoughts aside and kept going.

"And I think that's what makes it so dangerous to look at. But you know the other thing about time travel?"

She waited until Barry looked up again and then went on. Part of her was assuring herself about Leonard's death as well as Barry about Iris'.

"The future isn't always set. Time is always in flux, always changing. It's not set in stone. What you see is only a potential future. Not the future." 

Deserey paused for a moment, a small grin forming as another thought came to her.

"It's sort of like the beach. You're standing in the sand, staring out at the water, watching the waves move around wildly. It looks kind of scary, maybe even a bit dangerous. In fact, you're pretty sure that it's a hurricane. Or a tsunami.

"You're terrified of the water crashing down on you, destroying everything you care about -- your friends, your family, yourself. And maybe it will. Maybe you'll fall in head first and drown trying to fight against it. But the current isn't set in stone either. The water changes. It's not always tsunamis and hurricanes.

"Sometimes they're just waves. Sometimes they're not as big as you think. And if they are... Well, that could always change, right?"  

Barry stared at her for a moment, letting out a short little laugh. "Okay, that was a pretty good motivational speech for a pessimist," he joked.

"I know right?" Deserey laughed. "I can't believe I said all that without messing it up. I totally nailed it!"

"That was a lot of metaphors," Barry said.

"Yeah, Heatwave's been giving me writing lessons," Deserey told him.

Barry nodded. "Oh, okay. That makes se -- wait. Heatwave's been what??"

Leonard glanced at Dez curiously. "How did you know about that?"

She blinked. "I was just joking." Slowly, she broke out into a huge grin as Barry's mouth fell agape. "Does he really?"

Leonard nodded, smirking as the duo in front of him shared a look of pure shock. "Yeah, he's got a type writer in his room on the Waverider and everything." At their baffled looks he went on.

"It started out as a bet when we were both drunk off our asses and watching Pinocchio for some reason. He said he could of written it better, so we made a bet. Guess the hobby stuck."

He let another smirk form over his lips, though this one almost looked like a sincere smile. "Now, he's got this huge manuscript in his room, tucked away in the safe in the back."

Dez grinned widely. One never would have guessed she'd tried offing her self the night before. "Oh, I am so going to read it."

Leonard shrugged. "Watch out for the bear trap." Deserey wasn't sure if he was joking about it or not, though.

Barry chuckled at the pair of them, shaking his head and muttering something inconceivable under his breath. "Take care of yourself, Snart." He turned, giving a curt nod to Deserey. "Dez."

"No strings on me," Leonard responded. Deserey smiled lightly at the reference.

Barry gave one final nod of acknowledgment before taking his leave. With a flicker of yellow lightening, he was gone.

"No strings on me," Len repeated softly once the Flash was gone.

Deserey watched him from the corner of her eye. For a moment, she just stood perfectly still, not even really bothered by the chilly wind that was invading her privacy once again.

She considered that quote. Before she'd never really thought much of it. Just some silly line thrown in about a puppet cutting his strings off. 

But since she was in a literary mind set already, it was starting to make a lot more sense to her. It was much more significant than just the literal interpretation.

The whole story of Pinocchio was about a boy stemming from a different background, a kid who wanted to be real. To be validated. Just like everyone else.

The strings represented everything holding him back -- his naive tendencies, the lying, the baddies trying to lead him astray.

The strings also controlled the puppet, so maybe by cutting them off it represented him gaining freedom. He couldn't be controlled by any means because he'd cut all ties with everything that was holding him back. Then he became a real boy.

Deserey felt a small prickly sensation in her chest as she suddenly became acutely aware of the parallels in her own life.

Ever since they'd started this whole thing with Vandal Savage, the immortal man had been trying to control them in some way or another. He'd attempted to rape Kendra, had done so in past lives. He had kidnapped Carter, and he was trying to torture answers from Martin.

The Time Masters also came to mind. The way Druce had tried to trick Rip and had so obviously been manipulating him all his life. The way the Time Council thought they could just order their team around like any of them even worked for them.

She thought about the night the Particle Accelerator exploded. How she'd thought it had ruined her life, turned her into a freak.

And she remembered those few years she'd spent roaming the streets after her parents had kicked her out. She recalled the desperation, the loneliness she'd felt. All that anguish and fury. Just a sad, pathetic little girl, wondering why she wasn't good enough and expressing it with anger and cringe worthy street art.

It had never really dawned on her before that moment how much she related to Pinocchio's character. Deserey had never realized just how many strings had been tugging at her all this time, how tangled up in them she'd been.

Even her depression was one big, nasty string wrapped around her throat.

She glanced at Leonard, realizing from the solemn look he was wearing that he must've been having similar thoughts -- his dad, his criminal background, his own depression and self-esteem issues, Killer Frost's death prophecy, all of his strings.

And with a start she realized what he was really saying when he said, "No strings on me."

He was cutting them off. He was becoming a real boy.

And in that moment, Deserey decided she wanted to be a real girl too. She nodded slowly in agreement, speaking quietly. "No strings..." It was surprisingly vindicating; she found herself wishing, above all else, that the feeling would last forever.

Boy, oh boy, was this chapter a journey. I have pretty much been looking forward to it since chapter one.

That speech Deserey gives Barry? I've had that sitting, waiting in my drafts ever so patiently for its time to come for, like, half the year of 2019 probably.

But man. I wasn't expecting it to be such a struggle, especially since I've had the whole thing planned out for months.

I had to rewrite it twice because it was just not working in my favor, and I even contemplated having Dez be fake Lyla instead of Barry, and I'm still a bit worried that she was more annoying or something this chapter... But I think we got through the chapter pretty okay. Hopefully it was enjoyable anyways