Crisis

New Meeting, Same Motive

FORTY-ONE HOURS EARLIER...

"So you made a deal with The Monitor and you didn't bother to tell us?" Barry almost sighed in his exasperated voice. He and Oliver were in the middle of the hangar, everyone on all teams surrounding them as Kara and Kate stood off towards them in case someone broke out.

"Look, it was better for you all to not know—"

"Ollie, we could've tried something else to work!"

"There is no other way, Barry, I'm going to die," Oliver stresses. "Eobard said I lived to be eighty-six like, what, three, four years ago? Well, guess what, he's wrong because The Monitor saw my future and he said it was inexorable and unavoidable as he saw me die."

"All that we know is that I vanish in a bright light and there are red skies that eventually disappear and now that we know that you're supposed to die?" Barry scoffs tiredly. "There's gotta be some way we can avoid that."

"Barry, that newspaper is going to be written in less than a day from now we can't change anything."

"How would you know? You don't understand that timelines are malleable!" he shouts.

"Because Clark saw it in the Book of Destiny, Iris West-Allen writes a newspaper article about it in Central City Citizen, and I'm the one that made the deal with The Monitor, who knows what's going to happen!" Oliver yells back. "I made sure that both you and Kara lived because people need you!"

"But we need you, too, Oliver!"

"Kara, you stand for truth, justice, the American way, hope, help, and compassion for all," he says with his eyes closed and hands on his hips as he turns to her direction and sees her worrying her bottom lip. "We need more people like you in this world, and you inspire hope. I don't. You and Barry do."

"So we're just supposed to let you die?" She scoffs, shifting her weight and crossing her arms as her hair swings back from her movement. "I don't think so."

"Well, there's nothing you two can do about it," he says, turning so he can see both of them. "This is one thing you can't change in the malleable timeline. This crisis that we're all here to stop," he says to everyone, raising his voice, "can't be stopped unless we stop it together. And that means making sacrifices that we may know what will already happen and what won't happen. But we do it because we are heroes, even if some of us don't wear a cape, or a mask, or a costume. We are Kryptonians, engineers, archers, Canaries, speedsters, hackers, metahumans, journalists, directors, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, scientists, lawyers, sorcerers, vigilantes, cops, shapeshifters." Oliver's eyes go around the room at everyone's face.

"Did you get everyone?" Kate murmurs.

"No matter who we are," he continued, ignoring her, "we are Legends. A family. And that means we go down in history together, no matter what happens."

The Emerald Archer turns to his longtime speedster friend. "None of you may like it, but some of us may die, making the ultimate sacrifice. But we can't stop it. But what we can do is make sure the threat is stopped together. Understood?"

Murmurs of agreement go around and Barry walks up to him. "You're not leaving me without another hug."

"I despise hugs," he grumbles, yet hugging him first anyway, gripping him tight as he pats his back strongly. "Don't ever stop running."

"Don't miss."

"I never miss," Oliver chuckles, pulling back and patting the back of his head affectionately. He claps his hands together and yells, "Alright! Let's get to work and track down these monsters!"