# Chapter 73: Do You Actually Believe Lies Meant to Trick Children?
European Non-Combat Zone — October 1917
In the hotel room, Jack Kadere leisurely dressed and sat on the edge of the bed, watching Sara Lance enter alongside Diana and Donna Troy.
"Let me get this straight." He ticked off points on his fingers. "First time we met, you dragged me to Themyscira and rewrote a chunk of history—exhibit A, Wonder Girl over here, who shouldn't exist in this timeline. Second time, you'd already lost Hawkman, I hijacked your ship, took the Aerie, and let you go. Third time—right now—you're telling me the Atom, Heat Wave, and half of Firestorm got themselves captured by the Soviets during the 1986 Cold War."
He fixed Sara with a look of genuine bewilderment. "Seriously. Are you the Legends or a traveling circus?"
"You can gather everyone and mock us to your heart's content," Sara said, voice tight. "After you help us get them back."
"Why would I?"
"Because if we don't rescue Martin Stein, the Soviets get the Firestorm matrix, win the Cold War, and the future collapses." She held his gaze. "That's why."
If she'd had any other option, she wouldn't be here. Her teammates were locked in the Gulag—a prison built in the eighteenth century that no one had ever escaped. Not once.
The mess traced back to the Legends' very first mission. They'd gone to 1975 to stop Vandal Savage from selling a nuclear warhead, and instead let him witness Firestorm in action. That single glimpse had become an obsession. Savage had spent decades trying to recreate what he'd seen.
After parting ways with Jack in Salvation, the team had considered fixing Themyscira's timeline deviation, but reality had already calcified around the changes. Another attempt would trigger temporal backlash—more problems, not fewer.
So they'd pushed forward. Vandal Savage remained the primary target. Intelligence led them to 1986, where Savage was secretly funding a Soviet scientist named Valentina Vostok to conduct something called Operation Svarog—named for the Slavic fire god. He was building a Soviet Firestorm.
The Legends' brilliant plan? Waltz up to Valentina and explain that her generous benefactor was actually an immortal supervillain. The result was predictable in hindsight: three team members in Soviet custody. Not only had they failed to stop the operation, but Martin Stein's capture would likely accelerate it.
Sara had taken stock of what remained. Rip Hunter was the captain, but his combat contribution consisted entirely of pointing a small gun and going pew pew pew. Kendra had developed a psychological block after watching Hawkman die—she could barely fight anymore. Firestorm was their heavy hitter, but with Stein captured, Jefferson couldn't merge, couldn't transform. That left Leonard Snart and herself. A thief and an assassin. Neither skillset was designed for storming a maximum-security Soviet prison.
Desperation had brought her here. Jack Kadere had caused them nothing but trouble, had literally hijacked their ship—but they'd interacted, he was approachable in his own way, and he had the raw power to pull this off. That was enough.
"Honestly?" Jack smiled. "I'd kind of like to see the future you're describing. Firestorms everywhere. Sounds dramatic."
He shrugged. "Wouldn't affect me either way."
"With great power comes great responsibility," Sara pressed. "You have the ability to save the world. To save Star City from getting leveled by Soviet Firestorms. Why won't you help? Maybe you're strong enough that none of this touches you—but what about my sister? What about Felicity?"
Jack's smile turned cold. "Do you actually believe that line? It's propaganda for children."
"You know what happened to the kid who believed it?" He leaned back. "His father figure died. His girlfriend nearly ran off with someone else. He worked himself into the ground every single day, and in the end? He actually died. Whether he gets resurrected is anyone's guess."
He spread his hands. "I have the ability to save the world, so I'm obligated to do it? I also have the ability to destroy the world. Should I do that too?"
Sara switched tactics. "If Soviet Firestorm is born and the timeline shifts the way I'm describing—a lot of people you find interesting are going to die because of it."
Jack's expression flickered with something like amusement.
"That's why I said I'd like to see it. I didn't say I wouldn't help."
Sara exhaled, the tension draining from her shoulders. Her heart had taken enough of a beating for one conversation. "Then let's move. Right now."
"Time and location."
She gave him the coordinates, confirmed the rendezvous, and left to return to the Waverider.
Jack turned to Diana and Donna Troy. "Either of you coming?"
Diana was silent for a long moment, then shook her head. "I received a message from Athena. It wasn't Ares who destroyed the gods. It was the Firstborn."
"The Firstborn." Jack's tone turned thoughtful. "Zeus and Hera's first child. Born under a prophecy that he'd climb over the corpses of the gods to take his father's throne. Zeus threw him into the wilderness to die, but the kid survived, fought his way back to Olympus, and Zeus had to knock him into the Earth's core to stop him." He waved a hand. "That one?"
Diana stared. "You remember all that?"
"Not important." He glanced at Lilah. "What matters is you'll be seeing the other gods soon enough. I've got business elsewhere, so I won't be bringing you along."
He took Lilah's hand and vanished from the hotel room.
Diana opened her mouth, then closed it.
"He'll come back for you," Donna Troy said.
Diana turned, confused.
Donna's smile was small and knowing. "Maybe after he falls in love with you. Maybe after he stops."
In love, he won't be able to stay away.
Out of love, he'll come anyway—for amusement.
Either way. Sooner or later.
Diana didn't understand why Donna would say such a thing, but she had no time to consider it now.