The Return of Rip Hunter

It hurt when Sara and Jax entered Rip´s mind. It felt weird and somehow Sara knew that it hurt Rip most of all. She could have sworn that she had heard him screaming in pain when her own eyes fell shut and she found herself on a time ship very similar to the waverider. But it couldn´t be the waverider because it was somehow cold and dark – and spooky. Jax was standing right next to her and when she looked at him she saw the face she expected to see on herself at the same moment – puzzled mixed with a bad feeling about what was coming next.

"That´s the waverider" Jax said quietly looking around him in astonishment.

"Not quite" Sara answered with a deep voice.

"This is Rip´s mind. It is what he thinks the waverider is like" she added sadly.

Jax looked as if he wanted to say something but Sara decided that there was no time to discuss the complexity of the human mind and made her way to the captain´s office. When this is Rip´s mind then he should be there she thought to herself. Jax followed her in confusion but did not ask any further questions. His mind was working too much right now to think straight.

When Sara turned around the next corner she ducked away in the split of a second before one of the uniformed soldiers could recognise her.

"Damn it...This is Rip´s mind, it must be full of threats and enemies" she cursed.

"What...Do you mean this ship his crowded with an army of people who would like to kill us?...oh come on" now Jax was really pissed off. They took another gateway and hid in the engine room when a troop passed them. Sara turned around the next corner but was hit in the face at the same moment and landed hard on the ground. Angrily she stood up to face her opponent when she frown. In front of her was...herself. Sara Lance in a white suite and with an evil grin on her face. When she kicked Jax to the ground in the next moment she spoke in a nearly electronic sounding voice.

"You are not welcome here" she said. Sara fought with her(-self) but she had some supernatural power and after a moment an evil Mick and an evil firestorm did also appeared at the scene. She was able to hold them back and tell Jax to run before the evil Sara hit her against a wall and she fell unconsciousness to the ground.

When Sara woke up her head was spinning and she needed a moment to get her full vision back to see where she was. She was lying on the ground in the prison cell. It was very dark and only some small lights indicated that the door was locked and that she had no way out. They didn´t get Jax, that´s a start. Maybe he finds a way to get to me but right now he is probably hiding somewhere on the ship or running in circles to not get caught.

"Mhh..." Sara turned abruptly when she heard the growl from the darkened corner of the prison cell. When she looked closer she noticed a dark figure cowering on the ground, rolled into a small ball. It was a men and he was wincing. When Sara stepped closer her heart skipped a beat, she saw the brown long coat, the skinny black jeans and the boots of the man they came here for in the first place.

"Rip?!" she asked loud enough for the other person to hear her. The man opened his eyes and lifted his head up to see who was speaking and started to shiver slightly.

"Rip it´s me, Sara" she said stepping closer put she was stopped immediately when Rip started to scream.

"NO! GO AWAY FROM ME!" at first he held his arms in front of him, then he started to hug his arms around his waist and sank even deeper down on the ground.

"Rip look, it´s ok I am going to get you out of here" Sara knelt down to have a better look at her captain. Only now she saw the extent of what had have done to Rip. He had lost a lot of weight and she could see every bone in his face. His eyes were sunken in his head and they looked sad and hurt. He looked as if he was beaten and tortured for months. Maybe he was Sara thought to herself in concern for her friend and in regret. She should have done this sooner. But now was not the time for anything of this.

"Why would you let me out? You brought me in here" Rip said quietly fearing anything that could be done to him next. And now Sara understood. The dark and cold waverider, the troops walking through the gateways and the evil twins of their team. Rip has indeed been tortured. Tortured and captured in his own mind by figures created by no one else than Thowne. The real Rip was not the one acting. The real Rip was in here all the time, tortured by his own friends not knowing why they were doing anything of whatever they did. Sara felt extremely sorry for Rip in this moment.

"Rip listen to me nothing of this is real, nothing of it this really happened." she stood up and closed the distance between Rip and herself. In a sudden panic Rip lifted his arms protectively against Sara and she was sent flying against the wall – the second time this day. He didn´t even touch her to do so and Rip was startled by what just happened. He looked at his hands and then back at Sara who was lying on the ground unconscious – again. She looked different than the one who took him and threw him into this cell. She looked warmer and her voice sounded human. He looked at her for quite some time before she started moving again. When she did he was almost certain that she was no threat to him. Sara opened her eyes and found herself in the same position as before, lying on the cold floor of the prison cell but this time it had been Rip who had put her there.

"How did you do that?" she asked while standing up once again.

"I don´t know, I didn´t know that I could do that" Rip answered and Sara was happy to hear him talk to her in an almost casual way.

"Do you know what that means? You still have control over your mind!" she stated and Rip saw hope in her eyes. Hope that he had lost several weeks ago when he was rotting in this cell and nobody came for him. Not even one of his friends. Wait friends? I had friends? Right yes there was something, something really important. Memories were running through his mind. He remembered another world, another waverider, a glorious one with people he liked and adventures they had gone through together. But was it real? Was this real? Could it really be that this was his mind playing tricks on him?

"You are the Captain of this ship and it is your task to make sure that nobody on it is left behind. Not even yourself. So get up and fight the hell back!" she held out her hand and Rip looked at it for a while before gripping it and lifting himself up the ground. Encouraged by Sara´s words he wanted to find out what was real and what was not and his only way to do so was to follow her.

"I am Rip Hunter" he said to himself and it sounded right, he thought.

"Captain of the waverider" Sara added supportingly and was happy to hear Rip repeat her words like a mantra.

"Captain of the waverider...and I am going to open this door...with my mind" this sounded not really convinced but who could sound convinced by saying something like that? He tried to concentrate and held his head between his hands. It hurt when a wave came out of his mind and flew in the door´s direction but it hurt even more when it came back to him without opening the door even for a tiny bit. He was frustrated and didn´t really want to try again when Jax suddenly entered the room.

"Hey, we don´t have much time so..." he looked at Rip "..is he alright or is he still nuts?" Rip looked at him in pure confusion and then looked at Sara hoping for an answer that would explain Jackson´s reaction (his name was Jackson, right?) on seeing him.

"He is Rip. Our Rip." Sara said. Nope that didn´t really explain it to him. Jax opened the door and looked a little bit unsure when Rip walked past him. They walked outside and attempted to go to the main part of the ship but soon found themselves in front of a troop of evil team members including Sara, Mick, Firestorm and Ray. Evil Mick started to speak in this creepy retro voice.

"You shouldn´t have done that. Now you´re all gonna burn..."

"We can´t stop all of them Rip, you have to decide what is real and what not" Sara said looking at Rip pleading that he would make the right choice. Rip was startled by the situation and obviously had his doubts about what was going on but he seemed too confused to decide on anything.

"I don´t know...I...I don´t know what is real any more" he said stepping away and holding his hands to his head.

"We are" Jax whispered and suddenly Rip´s head was once again flooded by past memories of the good old times on the waverider. How he had laughed together with Sara, how they saved Dr. Stein and how Gideon was helping him in every way possible for a computer hologram. When evil Mick lifted his fire gun, Rip had decided which side he wanted to believe in and jumped in front of Sara and Jax protectively holding his hands in they air.

"NO!" he screamed and a wave wandered through the air hitting Mick from his feet and suddenly Mick vanished. Rip did the same move again and again and again and in the end Sara, Jax and Rip were alone on the ship. The ship started shaking and Sara knew that Rip was ready. His imagination of the waverider broke away and they had no time to loose. She and Jax used their wristbands to turn back to their own minds. Rip had to find the way back on his own. There was no way they coud help him with that but she was sure he could do it.

"See you soon" Sara said before pushing the button and vanished. Rip was now alone on the ship, his ship. It felt creepy to know that all of this never really happened and he was scared about what would happen when he got back to his real life. What would the others think about him? Was the team alright? What had happened during his absence? What had he done while he was captured in his own mind? All these questions ran through his head. But he was ready. He was sick of everything he had seen on this false waverider and had to go back as quickly as possible. Rip closed his eyes.

It felt like falling into a deep dark hole. He must have been falling for several minutes before his surroundings got brighter. When he opened his eyes he saw a white medical room and three faces directly in front of him. Sara, Jax and Dr. Stein were bending over him to see how he was or more specifically to see who he was. His head hurt and suddenly he felt very tired and exhausted. He leaned his head against the cool metal and moaned.

"Astonishing" came the reaction of Dr. Stein but Rip didn´t hear him because he was fast asleep.

To be continued...