Thank you @marywisdom for pulling me into this glorious rabbit hole.
When it actually happened, Jax never saw it coming.
Sure, he knew that Grey wouldn’t be with him one day. Everyone bit it sooner or later in life. There had been some discussions before on the Waverider that implied Firestorm’s older half would no longer be with them at some point. It wasn’t something that he liked to think about, so Jax usually pushed it to the back of his mind.
The mission was looking bad enough even before the Time Bureau retreated with their tails between their legs. Only the Legends were left against Grodd and his league of supervillains. He and Stein had separated to take out the weapons systems there. One minute they were working back to back and the next Jax felt like he couldn’t breathe. He turned around in time to see Kuasa drowning Grey where he stood.
The look of shock on the physicist’s face before he died made Jax scream.
Kuasa was ready to go after him next with the same fate when Zari showed up and took him out. She helped Jax get the body back to the Waverider and straight to the med bay. There was nothing that even Gideon could do for him though. Martin Stein was gone.
The rest of the team soon showed up as the Waverider took off into the temporal zone. Jax knew he was crying, but he didn’t really care. As soon as she saw everything, Sara hurried over and pulled him into a hug. Amaya leaned against the wall, hand over her mouth. Ray looked like he was ready to cry. Mick bowed his head in respect as he suggested they return to their present day Central City.
“I’ll get on that,” Sara released him. “I’m sorry, Jax.”
He didn’t know how to respond.
“Just get us back to Central,” Ray spoke up. “We need to bury him as soon as we can. I’ll stay with the body until we get back.”
“Thanks, Ray,” Sara murmured before leaving the room.
Amaya draped a blanket over Grey’s body as Nate finally spoke up from the corner. “What are we going to tell his family?”
Jax swallowed. Clarissa and Lily were going to be devastated by this. Everyone had always expected Grey to just retire. Never had the thought of breaking this kind of news to his family occurred to them before, not even after losing Snart. Now, they’d have to tell the Stein women and Team Flash about this.
“We tell them what happened,” Jax said quietly.
Lily Stein broke down in tears when Jax and Ray went to break the news to her about her father. She didn’t want to believe it after she heard the word ‘dead’. Her father, the man she’d spent her whole life looking up to, was gone. When he’d gotten back on the Waverider, she’d been certain that he would come back home alive. The last thing she’d wanted was to be standing beside her mother with a black ribbon pinned to her chest and dropping a handful of dirt onto the pine box in the ground.
The rest of the attendees beside her and her mother were the Legends and the members of Team Flash. They’ve given their condolences before the service. Caitlin had come up and hugged her, familiar with the grief that came with losing a father. Ray had talked with her for a while before Mick Rory nudged him to move along. When she’d started to lose a grip on her emotions during the funeral, Jax had reached over to give her hand a squeeze of comfort. It was a small gesture, but one that helped a little.
Afterwards, Lily stood by the grave of her father as everyone filed out of the cemetery. She was still upset and grieving, but now she felt angry. Why did this have to happen to him? Yes, what he had been doing was dangerous and risky, but it didn’t feel fair. Her father was gone forever, and she’d never been able to say one last goodbye to him. It had been ‘see you later’ when he got back on the Waverider, not ‘goodbye’. If she’d known he wouldn’t have been coming back, she might have said some more things to him.
“I’m really, really sorry.”
Lily turned around to see Jax coming up to stand beside her.
“It’s my fault he’s gone,” he continued. “I should have had his back, and I didn’t that time. If I’d been paying attention to what was around me, he’d still be alive. This happened because I messed up.”
“No,” she shook her head. “Don’t blame yourself, Jax. He wouldn’t have wanted that. How could you have known that this…water witch was going to kill him?”
Jax didn’t say anything, but lowered his eyes to the ground.
“So what are you going to do now?” Lily asked softly, changing the subject.
Jax sighed slowly. “Firestorm needs two halves. I’m planning to go talk to STAR Labs later in the week, see if there’s something they can do that’ll let me still flame on. If not, then I’m gonna have to see if I’m staying on the Waverider or not.”
“You’ll find a way,” Lily nodded. “I’m sure you will.”
“We’ll see,” Jax shrugged and shuffled his feet before walking away.
Lily turned around before he got too far away. “Jax.”
When he stopped, Lily glanced back at her father’s grave before looking back to Firestorm’s last half.
“Thanks for bringing him home,” she said.
“We couldn’t leave him behind. At least this time, we remembered to give a Legend a funeral.”
It was two days before Jax finally made it to STAR Labs. The people there were happy to see him again and asked how he was doing. He went along with it all, happy to have a distraction before taking on the more serious business. When he finally brought it up, they didn’t look remotely alarmed.
“I’m guessing you guys already have a solution?” he asked once he finished giving them the rundown.
Cisco nodded his head from side to side. “We might.”
That was enough for Jax. “Great. So how do I become Firestorm on my own?”
“We don’t know if you can,” Caitlin said hesitantly. “Right now, all we know is that you need another half to become Firestorm.”
“But Ronnie and Grey are dead,” Jax reminded them. “And there’s no way I’m going to try and do anything with Tokamak.”
“Hewitt is completely out of the question,” Barry said. “But you and him weren’t the only candidates we’d found. There was a third one who Stein refused to approach about this.”
“It’d have been too weird then,” Cisco chimed in as he leaned back in his chair.
“And he didn’t want to put her in danger,” Caitlin finished. “It was understandable why he said no.”
“She’s my last shot now if she wants in,” Jax said, crossing his arms. “Tell me who she is, then we can find her and make the pitch to her.”
Cisco frowned. “Wait, you don’t know who she is? Stein never told you?”
“There’ve been more important things that he’s had to deal with in the past two years,” Caitlin butted in as she pulled up an image on the screen before them. “But this is the last potential candidate to be part of Firestorm.”
Jax’s eyes widened as he stared at the screen. “For real?”
He was going to have to talk to the team about this.
“So you’re saying that Stein’s daughter is possibly a half of Firestorm and you never knew?”
“He never told me if he remembered!” Jax snapped back a little harsher than he’d intended to. “She never came up in when the conversation turned to what I’d do after he was gone.”
Sara took a long sip from her coffee and set her mug down. “Are you going to tell her?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking I will,” Jax nodded. He’d made the decision last night after pondering it for a few hours. But he knew that he couldn’t just show up on the Waverider with her and not tell the team. Besides, he had no idea if she would even say yes or not. “I’m going over to her place after this to explain everything to her.”
“Cool,” Ray grinned happily. “It’ll be fun to have Lily on board again.”
“Aw,” Mick chuckled beside him. “Haircut has a crush.”
Ray suddenly was very interested in his coffee. Amaya raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.
“That’s all well and good,” Zari said, steering the conversation back to its original course. “But what if she says no?”
“Yeah,” Nate nodded. “Time travel got her dad killed. How eager is she going to be to come on the Waverider, especially after what happened the last time she came on? And are you certain that the two of you can become Firestorm?”
Jax had thought about that. “I don’t know if we can become Firestorm. But it’s all up to her whether she wants to try to be a part of this or not. I don’t want to force Lily to do anything she doesn’t want to do. If things don’t work out, maybe I should stay in Central City.”
“No,” Sara shook her head. “You are still a member of the team, Jax. Martin’s death doesn’t change anything. Whether you have superpowers or not, you’d still be a Legend if you wanted to be one.”
“Thanks, Sara,” he nodded. “I’m really hoping for the best here. Next time we meet up, I’ll tell you what happened.”
“Well, we’re going to stick around for two more days before going back into the temporal zone,” Sara reminded him. “I’m hoping that I can bring around a new member for the team then.”
“Hold on,” Lily held up her hands. “I’m not sure I’m hearing this right. I’m potentially a half of Firestorm?”
Jax had come knocking on her door hours after she finished cleaning her apartment up after shiva. Lily had let him inside and they’d caught up with each other. After a few minutes, he got serious with her about what he’d been doing since the funeral. Another candidate for Firestorm had been located in Central City. Said candidate was apparently herself.
“STAR Labs found you the first time they searched for someone to take Ronnie’s place,” Jax explained. “Caitlin told me that you dad didn’t want to put you in danger, so he kept you out of it. Plus, it’d have been weird for Grey to fuse with his own daughter. Now, you’re the last possible person to be a half of Firestorm.”
“Then I did hear you right,” Lily exhaled slowly and rose from the couch. “Okay. Wow.”
“Yeah,” Jax snorted a little. “I get it. It’s a lot to take in. The first time I found out, I thought the people at STAR Labs were messing around. Then I realized they weren’t.”
Lily gave a little amused huff. “So you and I could become Firestorm? Just like you and my dad were?”
“Yep,” Jax confirmed. “Firestorm 2.0. Or 3.0 now technically.”
“Huh,” Lily crossed her arms as she started to pace back and forth. “What if I say no?”
Jax deflated visibly at that, so she quickly backtracked. “I’m not saying no. I just want to know what happens if I do.”
“Based on what they said happened your dad after Ronnie died, my molecules wouldn’t have anything to fuse with to stabilize. I don’t know if that would happen to me, but it could. Maybe Cisco and Caitlin could find a way to stabilize me somehow?”
“And if they can’t?” Lily barely heard her own voice as the question slipped out.
“I’ll probably die,” Jax said. “But it’ll be months before that happens.”
Lily stopped her pacing. If she didn’t do this, it’d be her fault if Jax died.
“Look, Lily,” Jax stood up. “I’m not saying you have to do this. The nerds at STAR Labs know more now than they did when they lost Ronnie. They could find a way to stabilize me. If not, at least I have a few months left to live. But if you and I can be Firestorm, it’d be awesome. There’s so much cool stuff we can do together. You’d be able to come on the Waverider and travel through time. I know you’ve been on it before, but this time you’d be an official Legend.”
What he was saying tempted her. Time travel sounded amazing and so did being a hero. But she was also afraid she wouldn’t be as good as her father had been as Firestorm. Staying here in Central City guaranteed she’d be safe. Doing that would ultimately result in Jax’s death though. She could never forgive herself for being responsible for that.
“Can I have some time to think about it?” she asked. “It’s a big decision.”
“Sure,” Jax nodded. “I’m going to be at STAR Labs tomorrow if you make up your mind by then.”
He left her apartment not long after that. Once he was gone, Lily made her way over to her window to stare down at the street below. After a minute, a streak of red sped along the street. How had the Flash felt when he found out he’d had powers? Had he been as nervous as she felt right now?
With a sigh, Lily made her way back to her couch and flopped on it.
“Do you think she’ll show up?”
Jax shrugged at Wally’s question. “I’m not sure. It’s a big decision.”
“Well, do you hope she will?” Wally pressed, throwing one of Cisco’s gummy bears high into the air and catching it in his mouth.
“Yeah, it’d be great if she did,” Jax admitted. “I wouldn’t die then.”
“We don’t know if you’d die,” Caitlin said as she walked into the room. “This is only the second time this has happened, so we have no clue if the same things would happen or not.”
She did have a good point, but it didn’t ease his nerves. “I still want to be a hero though, even if she does want to stay in Central City.”
“You guys would be totally welcome to join us here,” Wally told him as he caught another gummy bear in his mouth.
“Thanks, man,” Jax nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind if she decides to show up.”
“You could not have had better timing to say that.”
Jax whirled around to see Cisco entering the room. Trailing behind him was Lily Stein. Caitlin started to smile happily as soon as she saw her. Wally punched him lightly in the shoulder with a grin. Jax shook his head and turned to face Lily. The scientist started to smile.
“I made my decision,” she announced.
He let out a sigh of relief as soon as she said those words. “Really?”
“Yes,” Lily confirmed with a nod. “I can’t walk away from this knowing you could die if I do. If there’s something I can do, then I’ll do it.”
Wally smiled triumphantly.
“Sooo,” she shrugged. “What do I have to do?”
“It’s easy, at least from the outsider’s perspective,” Cisco explained. “Jax, can you grab the splicer?”
Jax walked into the other room to grab the splicer from the desk. After Grey had died, he’d brought it back to STAR Labs and Cisco had asked if he could check it over and give it a tweak or two. He placed it on his chest, watching it attach to himself. Lily took a place across from him in front of Barry’s suit. She glanced over at the other people in the room before looking back to him.
“All you two need to do is touch,” Cisco said. “Then we have Firestorm.”
“Don’t try to resist it,” Caitlin added. “Just go with the merge.”
“Okay then,” Lily exhaled slowly. “Ready?”
Jax held out his hand. “Whenever you are?”
She gave a nod and brought her own hand up. Their palms collided with a small clap. Flames began to lick around Lily’s frame. The familiar feeling of the merge came over Jax as he watched Lily vanish in a surge of flames.
As soon as her hand touched Jax’s, Lily felt something stir up inside of her. A warmth filled her entire body from head to toe. She didn’t panic when she saw the flames start to come from her body. Lily could feel herself being pulled towards Jax and remembered how Caitlin had told her not to fight it. Closing her eyes, she relaxed and allowed it to happen.
A moment later, Lily reopened her eyes. Caitlin, Wally, and Cisco were all staring at her. Lily still felt like she was in her body, but someone else was in there too. It had be Jax. She could feel her limbs, although Jax had the overwhelming control over them. She couldn’t look around like she wanted too. This was something she was going to have to get used to.
Cisco gave them a thumbs up. “Looking good.”
“Is Lily in there?” Caitlin asked, taking a step forward.
“Hey, Caitlin,” Lily said, although the words didn’t come out of her mouth. “Um, can I look around?”
Jax’s chuckle came out from their mouth. “Yeah, she’s in there. She wants to get a good look around.”
The overwhelming control on their limbs relaxed. Lily took control hesitantly, starting with moving their head from side to side. She held up her hands (or Jax’s hands) to gaze at the fire that burned from them. Turning their body around, Lily examined their reflection in the glass for a few moments. She and Jax were incredible.
“Wow,” the scientist murmured in appreciation as she relaxed her control. “This is…”
“Astonishing?” Jax finished.
The utterance of her father’s favorite word reminded her that he was gone. Their flames flickered a little.
“Can you guys practice separating?” Caitlin inquired. “Once you two do that, we can run some more tests with you two fused together in the Speed Lab.”
“Just don’t mess up the track when you do,” Wally warned.
“Your track’s gonna be fine,” Jax told him.
“How do we separate?” Lily asked.
“Think of it as taking a step away from me. Got it?”
“Loud and clear,” she confirmed.
Lily concentrated on distancing herself from Jax. She imagined herself taking a step back from him. Their flames rose up a little higher. Suddenly, she was no longer sharing control of her limbs, but had total control over them. She stumbled forward a little bit, now back in her own body.
Caitlin caught her before she stumbled anymore and Lily gave her a grateful smile. Straightening up, she saw Cisco with a proud look on his face. Across from her, Jax grinned widely. “Pretty good for a first time.”
Lily nodded happily. “I guess you don’t have to worry about trying to find a way to stabilize on your own now.”
“That makes me feel a whole lot better,” Cisco muttered as he noticed the empty package of gummy bears. “Wally?”
Wally made an innocent face. “What? I was hungry.”
Cisco shook his head. “Come on, you couldn’t have stolen from Barry’s stash?”
“We just need to check a few more things out with you two,” Caitlin interrupted her friends. “Then you two are ready for anything.”
“Speaking of that,” Caitlin looked over at Jax again. “Is that offer to time travel still on the table?”
Once STAR Labs cleared them, Jax and Lily had gone to break the news to Clarissa. Understandably, she was worried for her daughter, especially after losing her husband. However, Clarissa knew this was Lily’s decision that she’d made to take her father’s place. She did make the two promise to come home safe and alive or she would come aboard the Waverider herself to bring her back. Jax wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but he didn’t want to risk finding out.
There were a few affairs Lily wanted to get in order quickly before leaving, so she promised to meet up with Jax at the Waverider the next day. He’d gotten to spend some nice quality time with his family then since his cousins were in town. His new psychic link with Lily was practically buzzing the whole night. She was anxious and excited for the new adventure, but there was also lingering grief. Jax didn’t fault her since he was feeling it as well. It’d be a while before the pain from Grey’s death would start to ebb away.
The next morning, he arrived before Lily at the Waverider. Most of the team arrived around the same time he did, but they went inside the ship. Lily was the last to arrive a few minutes later, a small duffel bag in hand. She gave a little wave as she approached Jax.
“Nervous?” he asked as she approached at the twenty-second century ship with a tiny smile.
“It’s not my first time on board,” she reminded him. “But things are different now. I’m not here temporarily.”
Jax raised an eyebrow. “Having second thoughts?”
“No,” Lily shook her head stubbornly. “I’m ready. “
Jax followed after her into the cargo bay. When they entered, everyone was waiting for them. Sara stood at the front of the group with the others flanking her. They were all looking at Lily, who was looking at him. For a long time, no one said a word.
Finally, Jax broke the silence. “Guys, meet the new half of Firestorm. You all remember Lily?”
Lily lifted her hand in a small wave.
Sara was the first to step forward, holding her hand out. “Welcome to the team.”
“It’s really great that you’re back,” Ray added from behind the captain.
Mick started to smirk. Amaya rolled her eyes as she elbowed him.
“Thanks,” Lily shook Sara’s hand. “It’s good to see you guys again. Jax said you’ve been facing some kind of secret society of supervillains before my dad died?”
“Yes,” Amaya nodded, although Jax noticed that she seemed a bit nervous now. Then he remembered it had been Amaya’s granddaughter who killed Grey. “Sara was just telling us about where we’re going to next when you two arrived.”
“Great,” Jax turned to Sara. “Where to?”
“1618,” Nate supplied as they all started to walk towards the bridge. “Right around the Second Defenestration of Prague. There’s something there that isn’t supposed to be there.”
“Okay then,” Lily nodded from where she’d fallen into pace with Amaya. “Do we know what it is?”
“Nope,” Mick said shortly.
“It could be anything,” Ray added once they entered the bridge. “Sometimes it’s fun to see what the anachronism is. We had to pick up Pierre Curie from the twenty-third century last week.”
“But he had to go and die twelve hours later back in his own time,” Jax reminded him. It had been kind of sad to do that to the guy. Grey had been geeking out like crazy over him.
Jax looked over at the empty seat where Lily’s father had once sat with a sigh. Even though he knew he had to move on, he wouldn’t forget that Grey had been a part of the Legends. Meanwhile, Lily had gone to sit behind him. She lowered the harness down over her head. He could tell that everything was all hitting her more now.
“You’re not going to change your mind on me, are you?” he asked, looking around back at her.
Lily shook her head. “Nope.”
“Just a heads up for your first major jump, Lily,” Sara said from the captain’s chair as she started up the Waverider and got them airborne. “Time travel sometimes has side effects, but you get used to them the more you do it.”
“Wait what?” Lily squeaked.
“It means you’re probably gonna barf, Junior,” Mick stated bluntly.
