Forgotten (2018 Open Novella Contest/LoT Fanfic)

Chapter 8: Western Adventures

"This is a terrible idea," Jasmine muttered, standing next to Sara in the Cortex. Each member of the team all wore stereotypical western clothes—cowboy hats, long jackets, cowboy boots with an excessive amount of fringe on them, bandanas, and of course, a holster with a gun in it. Jasmine argued that she didn't need the gun in order to defend herself, but Rip had insisted that she take it just in case.

"What, the Chosen One too good for this? Or is she scared?" Leonard taunted, but she just ignored him. She had reached her maximum tolerance with Leonard for the day and she knew that if she were to engage with him, it wouldn't go well for either of them.

The problem in the West this time wasn't one involving the stereotypical outlaws, or even deadly diseases, but was a bunch of rogue time travelers. According to Gideon, these rogues were going throughout history and murdering key historical figures. In a few days time, they would murder Wild Bill Hickok. While his death didn't seem like it would have a huge impact, the team was assured that it would.

The plan, as always, was simple. There really was no way that it could go wrong, but Jasmine knew better than to assume that the Legends wouldn't find a way to screw it up. After all, they always did.

Amaya, Sara, and Jasmine were going to go distract the gang of time travelers and Ray was going to shrink down in his suit and find Wild Bill. Nate would help Ray get Bill out of there, and Mick, Leonard, and the rest of the team would take care of the travelers.

"Wait a second, hold up," Jasmine said, her eyes narrowing. "So we're going to save one man's life and then kill the people who tried to kill him? Doesn't that seem a little reckless and wrong?"

"Reckless is my middle name, Chosen One," Mick retorted with a smirk.

"Yeah, I know. You wouldn't have burned your entire house down with your family in it if you weren't," she sassed, her annoyance quickly turning into anger which could end up with her trying to hurt him in her animal form. He was annoying and frustrating, but she didn't want to kill him.

"You don't know a single thing about me, sweetheart," Mick growled, his eyes hardening and his tone dead serious. Before the two could go at it; however, Rip had interrupted.

"We are not killing anyone!" he exclaimed, glaring at the two. "Gideon is able to formulate a solution that will make them forget about all of this. Now go before I regret sending you all here to deal with this," he said, and the team left the Waverider and headed into town.

A couple minutes later the ladies were walking into a saloon, Ray in Jasmine's pocket. Mick and Leonard accompanied them, most likely because they wanted to start another bar fight, but Jasmine was hoping that it wouldn't come down to that. Pretending to be drunk, Amaya, Jasmine, and Sara stumbled over to where the gang of rogues were and 'accidentally' bumped into them.

"Oh we're so sorry," Jasmine said with a giggle, 'attempting' to stand up straight but fell down again. "We must not have been looking where we were going."

"Sounds like it," a man said, his hand already on the hilt of his gun. Jasmine's immediate instinct was to panic, but she knew better. The three acted like it wasn't there.

"If you would excuse us, my friends and I are just trying to find the lady's room," Amaya slurred, swaying slightly. The guy who appeared to be the leader stood up and reprimanded the man who was ready to draw his gun.

"Is that how we treat our guests?" he said, snapping the man's wrist. Jasmine winced as she heard the numerous pops and cracks. "I'm sorry about that, ladies," he said with a sickly sweet voice, his angry expression disappearing from his face. "It looks like my friend doesn't know his manners. Sit down, please."

"My friends and I really should be going soon....", Sara responded with a giggle. "But I'm sure we could stay for a little longer," she added, looking at her friends. 

"There we go," the man responded with a grin, and led them to his table.

***

Ray had successfully snuck into the basement of the bar, which was the hideout of the time travelers. God, why did they have to be so cliche? It was so disgraceful. He was disrupted from his thoughts when he heard the sound of a man screaming. Forgetting all logic and reasoning he burst into that room, realizing too late that it was a trap. He was stupid to thing that they were just going to leave Wild Bill by himself, and now he was going to have to pay for it.

Wild Bill was tied down to a chair and gagged with a gun pointed to his head, and the rest had their guns pointed at Ray. Before Ray could even move a muscle, they had knocked him out. "Now we got them," a girl said triumphantly, knowing exactly who the Legends were. She had been waiting for several months to finally meet them face to face, but she was especially interested in one member in particular. Jasmine.

***
"Bar's closed! Everyone out!" the gang yelled moments later. While the rest of the town was terrified of the gang and ran out without a second thought, the five Legends stayed.

"You three are pretty, I'll give you that," the gang leader said to Sara, Amaya, and Jasmine, the sickly sweetness vanishing. "But I will not hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes if you don't get the hell out of here," he added, his gun cocked and loaded. Sara shared a knowing look with the other girls and they nodded back, ready for what was about to happen.

"Oh, of course," she said innocently, turning around as if to leave but secretly pulling a knife out of her boot and throwing it at them.

"You bitch!" the leader screamed, the knife embedded in his shoulder. "Get them!" he exclaimed, eyeing the 5 people who were still left. "And Jack, go downstairs and deal with our situation," he said between gritted teeth. Jack did as he was told and immediately ran downstairs.

The men started firing ray guns, a clear indicator that they weren't from around there,  but they were met by an assassin, two criminals, and two women with totems glowing brightly. Jasmine was getting ready to transform when she was interrupted by a message from Rip through her com. He told her to go downstairs and help Ray, and Nate, Amaya and Firestorm would be there soon. She made eye contact with her teammates who had also heard the message before racing toward the downstairs entrance, but was stopped by another gang member.

"Where do you think you're going?" he said threateningly, his eyes narrow and his gun pointed at her. She rolled her eyes and effortlessly transformed into a silver wolf, her canine teeth sinking into his thighs and her claws digging into his back. He let out a couple of screams but was soon silenced by the man with the cold gun. Leonard sent Jasmine a small nod and a smirk before turning back around to fight the rest of the men.

As soon as she stepped foot in that basement Jasmine knew something was wrong. She could feel it in her chest, a nagging feeling that spread throughout her body like wildfire, but she tried to convince herself that it was all in her head—and that was her first mistake.