[Chapter 14]

We arrived at the spa that the Russian man, Yuri, was at today. Rip and Leonard went into the spa, wearing only bathrobes and I waited in the shadows. I saw him walking towards thedoor.

"Ok, here he comes," I said through the comms link.

"Your tattoo. It stands for 'Menia Ispravit Rasstrel' if I'm not mistaken," Rip said earning Yuri's attention.

"In English, it translates to, 'Execution Will Reform Me'" Rip added.

"What brings you to the banya, little man?" Yuri asked.

"The name's Rip. I understand that you're familiar with the Koshmar Gulag," Rip explained.

"We need to break into that prison. And can you make it fast? I despise the heat," Leonard added and I laugh lightly in my hands.

"A man by the name of Vandal Savage runs a secret operation out of it... a prison within a prison, if you will," Rip explained.

"I've heard of this Savage. He has no respect for my country's rich criminal traditions," Yuri explained annoyed.

"So you'll help us?" Leonard asked.

"You men have no tattoos. And a man who has no life story cannot be trusted. Igor! Andrei!" Yuri called out and two of the bodyguards outside the spa started moving towards the door. Ijumped down in front of them and knocked them out quickly. The rest of the men stood up and turned towards me.

"Well don't all attack me at once," I commented sarcastically.

"Igor and Andrei seem to be a bit preoccupied. Now, about that gulag..." Rip stated as I continued to fight with the men outside.

"No matter. In this life, a man fights for himself," Yuri said cracking his neck.

"Perhaps you'd like this one?" Rip asked pointedly to Leonard.

'He's all yours," Leonard replied casually. I continue to fight the men outside the spa door until they were all knocked unconscious.

"So, you like having Vandal Savage run his evil empire from your country?" Rip asked as they fought and Leonard sat back and watched casually.

"As much as a pig enjoys being Christmas dinner," Yuri replied.

"Help us, and we will destroy his entire operation," Rip said simply and I knocked on the door that Leonard was guarding. He let me in and I looked around.

"I just took out 6 men. You guys couldn't handle one?" I asked amused.

"You killed my men?" Yuri asked.

"They're not dead, yet. And neither are you, assuming you help us," I added.

"My organization runs black market goods into Koshmar," Yuri explained.

"3 of our, uh, well, comrades are being held there by Savage," Rip explained.

"Koshmar is not a hotel for petty criminals. If your friends are there, they must be insane, ruthless animals," Yuri stated.

Once we got back to the ship Leonard, Rip and I pulled up the schematics of Koshmar.

"Now, according to Yuri, this is where his men have access. Got it?," Rip asked as Sara, Kendra, and Jax walked into the room.

"This isn't our first prison break," Leonard stated.

'We got it covered," I added.

"So how can we help?" Kendra asked.

"By staying on the ship. We don't need any more casualties. Besides, Mr. Snart, Ms. Lance and Ms. Light have got it covered," Rip added.

"Whoa, man. Why does it feel like we're on the JV team all of a sudden?" Jax asked.

"What you are is one half of everything Savage needs to change the face of the Cold War. And you are the only person who can kill him," Rip explained.

"Yeah, so you can't just..." Kendra argued but Rip interrupted her.

"I am not going to gift wrap the two people in the world that Savage wants the most!" Rip shouted.

"We should get going," Leonard said to me and Sara.

"Oh, Isabelle, Sara, could I borrow you for a moment? I have something that might help you out with the mission," Rip said. Leonard and I shared a quick glance before he walked off and Sara and I followed Rip to his office.

"So what did you really want to talk to us about?' I asked walking over to the table.

"Gideon, will you please show Ms. Light and Ms. Lance the projection of 2016 should our rescue mission fail?" Rip asked.

"I'd be happy to, Captain," Gideon said and showed a hologram of a city being destroyed by firestorms.

"So this is what will happen to Russia if we don't get Stein back?" Sara asked, folding her arms.

"Not Russia. This is Central City. The rest of the world doesn't look much better," Rip explained.

"That's impossible," I said, breathless.

"Not if Stein creates a stable Firestorm for the Soviets. Here in 1986, they're already perilously close to creating a prototype. Listen to me, girls. Everything we've tried to achieve sofar could be lost. And not only will my family die 150 years from now," Rip said but I interrupt.

"I made it perfectly clear when I joined that I don't care about the world, Rip," I claim but my heart urges my head to believe that it's not true.

"I don't believe that's necessarily true. You do care about someone or something on Earth. What happens to them if we fail here?" Rip argued and I cracked my neck.

"That's why we're going to get Stein back before Vostok can break him," I stated firmly.

"Well, I hope so, but we need a contingency plan," Rip said.

"You want us to kill Stein?" Sara stated and he nodded firmly.I leave the office and head to my room to grab some weapons.

***

"I always am impressed with how many weapons you can fit in that outfit..." Leonard said smirking and walking up behind me. I tossed Leonard a tiny briefcase, he opened to revealRay's Atom suit. "And how much stupidity Raymond can squeeze into this one," Leonard added and I let out a laugh.

"The plan is to save him too, not just Stein and Mick," I said, not looking at Leonard.

"Oh, I'm going to save Raymond, all right, so I can beat some sense into him. And what about you?" Leonard asked.

"What about me?" I asked.

"Clearly I'm not the only one with a side mission. What did Rip keep you and Sara after class to talk about?" Leonard asked, obviously knowing what's going on.

"He just wanted to go over a few details of the plan," I explained as Leonard spun me around and forced me to look at him. My heart races and my breath slightly quickens. What is going on with me?

"He wants you to take out the old man, doesn't he?" Leonard whispered, pulling me into his chest.

"It's the obvious play. It's also heartless," Leonard said.

"Which is he told me to do it," I mutter emotionlessly. Leonard uses a finger to lift my chin up and forces me to lock eyes with him.

"You, my dear, are not heartless," Leonard whispered and we stared into each other's eyes for a moment before I sighed and stepped away.

"You don't know what I've done," I whisper and a tear slips down my face.

Leonard opens his mouth to say something but I interrupt him.

"The plan is to save Stein. And if for whatever reason, we can't, Rip showed me what will happen to Lisa if Stein breaks. He showed us what would happen to the world if Stein breaks," I explain.

"I've been on a lot of heists, and even when things got rough, I never took out one of my own," Leonard continued.

"Which is why he told me to do it. I'm the ruthless, non-human, murderer. I kill for fun and take innocent lives for no reason. I heard Sara on the roof, that night Rip recruited all of us. She was right," I saidI stated firmly and Leonard grabbed my hand.

"Isabelle, that's in the past now. Whatever happened to you screwed you up pretty bad and you had no one else to help you out of your grief. But you have me now," Leonard said softly to me. "First, he leaves Mick twisting in the wind and now he's going to have you ice old silver-top. We're all just pawns, Isa. Come on, I'm the crook, you're the killer..." Leonard explained. My heart flutters at how he just calls me Isa but I push my feelings back down to the pits of my stomach.

"I know, but he's just not just asking me to kill. He's asking me to save the future... to save our future...so if that means, for whatever reason, we can't save Stein, then I'mgoing to do what needs to be done," I said to Leonard firmly.

"Then I guess I'm gonna have to do everything in my power to make sure you don't make the biggest mistake of your life," Leonard said.

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