| Code Name: Shadow | (DC's Legends of Tomorrow)

10: The Past

Ray's hopeless face was the equivalent of a lost puppy- with eyes big and glassy. Meg softened her gaze, turning her usual timid, calculative glance into a concerned one.

"Ray?" Meg asked again, her arms falling to her sides. The Atom took off his helmet, and held it securely under his arm. Gulping nervously, he took a shaky breath.

"I... I can't do it." Ray admitted numbly, not daring to let his eyes meet Dr. Stein's or Meg's. Tucking a rusty lock of hair from her face, Meg was raking her mind to try and find the right words to say. They had a small amount of time to save Kendra- and every precious second counted.

"Yes, you can." Meg reassures him, "What makes you think any different from that?" Ray looked down to finally meet Margaret's green-eyed gaze- a painful twinkle of loss glistened in his eyes. He's lost someone... someone close to him.

"I can't save her." He repeated.

"Raymond, what makes you think that?" Martin Stein repeated the red head's question, giving his former student a quizzical glance.

"Y-you've lost someone." Meg said suddenly, mentally kicking herself for talking so abruptly. She cleared her throat, and added in a more gentler tone, "Someone close to you."

"Her name was Anna. Almost... almost two years ago those masked men led by Slade Wilson stormed the city, and Anna and I got caught up with a few of them. I-I tried to protect her... but it wasn't good enough. They broke my leg, and then laughed at me as they forced me to watch them break her neck." Ray looked more defeated in that moment than the first day the team was assembled- when they first found out the truth of this crusade.

"I'm so sorry." Meg said quietly, feeling a painful tug at her chests out of sympathy for Ray. He looked down at his feet, heaving a dejected sigh.

"That's why I can't save her."

"Ray- that's where you are wrong. You need to have faith in yourself. Kendra needs you to save her life right now- and you are able to save her. Right now. You may not have been able to save your fiancé, but this current moment is in your control."

"Meg- I could have saved her. My fiancé Anna... you don't understand, okay? I could have saved her." Ray stressed. Meg glanced down at her booted feet, refraining from snapping or raising her voice.

"Not everyone has control over every moment of their lives like you do, Raymond. Some of us can't control our every action." Meg said dryly, "Right now- the only person who is capable of killing Savage is dying and needs you to save her. I know you weren't able to save your fiancé, but don't make her death in vain if you don't take this opportunity to save Kendra."

Ray and Stein merely blinked at Meg- her dry and salty words had left a heavy feeling in the air, eating away at the silence. The red head, whose head throbbed from her narcolepsy fighting the treatment Gideon was giving her, wished that she had never been diagnosed with narcolepsy almost every day... but she wished the most that one day she'd be able to regain her memory for the countless blackouts. Maybe one day she could find out why her family had disappeared.

A loud beeping came from the screen, immediately drawing Meg's attention. She walked over to the screen, taking off her IV bracelet to stop her headache.

"Gideon, tell me something good please." Meg sighed, running a hand through her messy hair.

"She's going into shock. Kendra doesn't have much time left." Gideon replied. Meg gave a pleading look to Ray, who lifted his helmet up onto his head. As Martin Stein said a few words of encouragement to Ray, Meg concentrated hard on planning the best and quickest route for Ray to travel.