The Gideon Factor
Part One
"Gideon, let's roll."
The six Legends returned to the quiet, cool steel of the bridge having completed another shockingly successful mission. Some would argue, shocking in that it was successful, but the Legends were now confident in their ability to pull through, even when the road less travelled was pretty much the only path they ever chose.
The bridge of the Waverider was a vast, open room with a prominent central computer system and a sleek, futuristic feel. Seven passenger seats formed a semi-circle behind a Captain's chair and elaborate control console. Perhaps the most notable thing about the bridge of the Waverider, at least in the Captain's mind, was the view. Whether approaching a new location, a new time, or traversing space, the huge panes that formed the front of the ship provided a spectacular view, currently the luminescent, swirling green of the temporal zone.
"Where to next, Captain?" Ray addressed the compact, muscular form of the Waverider's leader, Sara Lance. Sara was a bit like the girl-next-door in that she had the blond hair and blue eyes that made grandpas want to lend her a hand at Home Depot, but being a recovering assassin put enough edge on her that it only took a moment to realize she wasn't to be underestimated. Not an ounce of learned helplessness remained in the woman's compact, muscular frame.
"Nate, hit up the library and cross-check that dweeb with the hair and the historical record – a third rate reality TV show host being president has to be an anachronism. Let's see where time broke for that one and get it back on track." Nate, the group's historical detective, that could also quite helpfully transform into a man of steel, headed off to the adjacent library that was stocked with a plethora of reference material, a state of the art computer system, and was a regular gathering place for mission planning.
Sara, Ray, Zari, Mick, and Amaya circled around the central computer on the bridge of the Waverider. "Gideon, do you have any information on why our totems were acting up on that last mission? The animal forces seemed much weaker when I called on the Anansi totem, and I know I saw Mick barely let off a spark with the fire totem. Or were you just drunk on a mission again, Mick?" Amaya addressed the gruff form of Mick Rory.
Attractive in a non-traditional sense with a Viking heritage and the feeling of someone that maybe fought a little too much and enjoyed it, Mick had recently come into possession of a totem that allowed him to control his favorite element, fire. He had a solid face, a nose that had been broken a couple times, and an aloofness that attracted a certain kind of female who wanted to take a crack at fixing him. "Not drunk," he gruffly replied. "This thing's just broken. I knew I should have brought the heat gun."
Nate yelled from the library, "Hey, have you guys been able to get a response from Gideon? I could really use her help sorting the anachronism map for anything that would point to Trump's presidential election."
"Gideon?" Sara, getting slightly annoyed, turned to Zari with an accusing look. "Have you been messing with the computers again? You know Gideon hates it when you try to 'update' her system." Gideon, the Waverider's AI system, had a propensity for feistiness when the hacker turned Air totem bearer crossed the line with her computer expertise. Gideon also served as a voice-activated control system for the entire ship, to include piloting, food fabrication, and research analysis, which was the current root of Nate's frustration.
"Psh. Not since the last time when you freaked out about it. Besides, Gideon and I really bonded when we were stuck in that Groundhog Day situation. You know, I still haven't seen that movie." Nate, who had wandered back from the library, rolled his eyes.
"Zari, head back to the engine room and see what's up," Sara directed.
"Sure, no problem. Maybe the ol' girl needs a reboot," Zari headed down the steel paneled hallway to a door accessed by a six-digit keypad code built into the frame of the sliding door. Zari punched in the code and the vacuum sealed door slid open. The engine room was a long, spacious chamber that housed the guts of the Waverider, along with the two large time drive orbs that allowed the ship to transport the Legends through time and space. It was also where the computer server stacks were located.
Always a little chilled in the engine room, strictly temperature controlled to maintain the environment for the time drive and the servers, Zari briskly rubbed her arms as she traveled down the length of the room. Zari had long, brown hair, a slightly cynical attitude, and a confident way of moving that attested to the difficult time the Legends found her in. Beyond the currently still and silent orbs, Zari arrived at a second keypad that would allow her access to the server stack. She took a moment to think of Jax, as she always did when she utilized the relatively new security measure surrounding the servers, and the time he changed Gideon's settings.
Thinking it hilarious at the end of a long night 'hanging with the boys', the former Legend had adjusted Gideon's characteristics until she had the voice and mannerisms of Christopher Walken. How quickly it went from hilarious to annoying when it doubled the amount of time it took for Gideon to relay information. After the first attack with Christopher Walken's voice narrating the events, Sara and the team were over the drunken prank. Even the youthful Jax could admit that it was good for a quick laugh but didn't vibe with the group long-term. Gideon's voice was returned to its sultry female tenor, complete with a British accent and pleasantly sarcastic attitude. Sara also insisted that a metal casing and keypad security be placed around the computer's central system and the home of Gideon's AI core.
Zari keyed in the code and the instant the metal door retracted, she knew something was wrong. First, it was damp. Never good in relation to computers. "Sara, you're going to want to come down here. Like, now. And bring Ray." Second, the interior compartment that stored Gideon's AI core wasn't sealed. The indicator light next to the compartment was red, which was an irreversible warning that the keypad had been bypassed. She held her breath and gently opened the compartment. "Oh, shit." Her stomach dropped as she realized the softball-sized orb of energy that was Gideon was missing. In its place, a doughnut-shaped metal frisbee with what appeared to be razor-sharp edges. "What in the hell?" she whispered to herself.
Sara and Ray made their way down the corridor in the engine room. "What gives? What's up with Gideon?" Sara asked, as she let her fingers trail along the cool wall as she walked. Her instincts flared with each step. She found the tactile input calmed her a bit, and she had learned over the years that every bit helped. Never fully comfortable around computers after having spent some key years of technological development training with the League of Assassins on Nanda Parbat, Sara already knew there was a serious issue by Zari's furrowed brow and the tense setting to the hacker's usually relaxed vibe. Also, how she bypassed the Captain's gaze and went directly to Ray's brown eyes, set into a classically handsome face with thick, dark hair and a square jaw.
"Hey," Zari addressed Ray, "any chance you recognize this? Or have ever seen the Gideon core… you know, not in the usual place?" Ray was perhaps the only other Legend that Zari trusted with tech and the code to the secondary keypad.
Ray and Sara made it to Zari's crouched location next to the server stack and Ray's mouth dropped as he shook his head, "Uh, no. No, I sure haven't. In fact, it would require one of the totem's to safely transport Gideon. Which could explain the water and the fried security system." The orb of energy that formed Gideon's AI core was stored within a series of six spherical bands that interlocked around the orb. Each band had a keyhole style imprint that would align with one of the six totems. It was a security measure installed by Rip Hunter prior to his departure as Captain of the Waverider. The Legends currently possessed five of the six totems.
Both Ray and Zari turned to Sara, who stood with a clouded rage that hadn't been seen in quite some time. The Captain's distress was obvious in the darkened hue of her eyes and the bunched muscles of her arms that stood in stark relief from under the fitted black T-shirt the Captain favored. "I have. I've killed with that, and there's only one place to find them." Ray and Zari, having not seen this side of their Captain in a bit, held their collective breath. The blonde woman reached forward and removed the sharp, circular object.
"Get everyone to the bridge, now," this thrown over Sara's shoulder as she stalked down the long corridor and passed through the air-locked door, not waiting for a response.
Mick arrived with a beer, in his worn jeans and standard olive utility jacket, to join Nate and Amaya, who debated the hierarchy of the Harry Potter characters, having just finished binge-watching the series. Nate's never-ending quest to get his beautiful lady partner from 1942 up-to-date on the numerous cult classics she had yet to experience was moving along nicely. Partially so she'd catch on to the historian's sometimes obscure references, but also to try and engage her in the culture of 2017. Anything to make returning to her time, and Zambezi, less appealing. And let's face it, a world with Harry Potter was better than a world without.
Nate and Amaya's banter stopped as they saw the tense movements and anxious glances shared between Ray and Zari as they approached the group at the central computer. Somehow, the computer seemed dim and extra quiet to Ray, now that he knew Gideon was missing. Or, by the Captain's reaction and the strange object that replaced Gideon's core, was more likely stolen.
"Uhm, hey guys, where's the Captain?" Ray asked with the obvious hesitation of someone not used to playing it cool. Honest to a fault, Ray tended to speak first in less than ideal situations, and this was most certainly that.
"Haircut, did you fix the computer lady? We're almost out of beer," asked Mick in his typical abrupt manor. Mick had flirted with functional alcoholism since the death of his partner, Leonard Snart, who sacrificed himself on a mission to save the rest of the Legends team about six months ago.
"Uhm, no, see, about that…" Ray began, and was graciously interrupted by a whirring sound, followed by a metallic thump, and a razor-sharp disc sticking out of the steel edge of the central computer station.
"No, because Gideon is gone. I'm pretty sure she was stolen." Always one to cut to the chase, Sara approached her team with a second disc in hand. She held the item up as she stalked forward, brusquely removing the flying disc from the computer station with a familiarity that got Amaya's spidey senses tingling. "This was in her place." Sara gave the nod to Zari and she quickly took over filling in the team on her findings in the engine room.
"So, what does that death disc mean? Where's Gideon? What is that thing?" Nate posed the logical questions to the Captain, who seemed to know a great deal more than she had shared so far.
"That thing is a saghir chakram. It's something I was taught to use when I was with the League, and the children of the League all learn to use at a young age. In fact, when I was last in Nanda Parbat, I taught Talia al Ghul how to use it. It's basically the League's spin on a throwing weapon from India." This was perhaps the most the Legends had ever heard their Captain talk about her dark time with the League, although they all witnessed the struggle Sara experienced to overcome the urge to instinctively kill as a first resort when the Legends were formed.
"So, what does that mean, Captain?" Ray asked, honest, and shockingly brave.
"It means that Talia stole Gideon's core." Surprised and hesitant looks all around. Nate stepped up to the plate this time, "How do you know it was her? How would she even know about the Waverider, or how to find Gideon's core, or about any of this?"
"She had to have had help," Sara replied. Holding up the two discs in her hands, she displayed each of them in turn. Now, getting to inspect them more closely, Zari noticed that they each had finely carved characters engraved in the flat surface of the metal. "What do those symbols mean?" she asked.
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, the Captain began to explain. "The League never hesitated to dispatch their own style of justice. One way they dissuaded future infractions was to display the crime the individual committed that had marked them for death by the League. So, they would engrave the saghir chakram with the crime, repeated around the flat of the chakram so it would be visible, no matter which portion was embedded in the target." She opened her eyes, darkened with the memory of her training, and met Zari's eyes. "To answer your question, the symbols on the chakram found in Gideon's place mean 'Betrayal' and 'Desertion'. That's how I know Talia stole Gideon. She took her father's place as the Head of the Demon. There's more to it, but trust me, it was her." Nods all around.
"So, with that answered, the real questions become, who helped her, why, and how?" Nate asked.
"How do we get the British lady back?" Mick chimed in, wiping his scruffy face after a long pull on the beer. "And opening that computer thing is easy, I broke into it the first night after Jax put it up, no sweat."
Sara stared into the thief's eyes for a moment, decided the behavior was to be expected, shrugged, and moved on. "Really, there's only one person who knows enough about us, has been on the Waverider, has a totem to safely transport Gideon, and benefits from us being sidelined." Sara stopped there, hoping that her teammates agreed with her analysis of the situation and reached the same conclusion. The Captain was wary of her tendency to personalize issues, and since it seemed as though a dark segment of her past was about to collide with a dark segment of her present, she wanted to be sure.
Nate snapped his fingers, "Norah Darhk!" Sara nodded. Nate continued, "By sidelining us, she only has to worry about the Time Bureau fixing the anachronisms that she needs to bring Mallus into, you know, form," this with a vague gesture of his arms.
With Norah Darhk in mind, the rest of the team easily put the pieces together. "Plus," Zari added, "if she's able to find someone to access the information in Gideon, she would know everything we know. She would know everything anyone knows. Mallus would know everything. Plus, doesn't that bitch have the Water totem now? That would explain the moisture in the compartment."
Amaya, still processing the death of her grand-daughter, Kuasa, who formerly possessed the Water totem, simply nodded.
"Not to mention the whopping anachronism that is sure to be caused by Gideon being stolen, schlepped off to Nanda Parbat, and in the hands of the League of Assassins." Ray, fully realizing the true threat of the situation, cast his gaze toward Sara. "Captain, what do we do? Can we get to Nanda Parbat and steal her back? Why the League of Assassins in the first place?"
"Stealing the British lady from assassins… I'm in." Mick, always ready to sign up for a new heist scenario.
Sara turned and leaned against the computer console, buying her some space to think. As she considered her past with the League, her history with the Darhk family, and the growing strength of Mallus, she began to pace. "Why the League? I mean, Nanda Parbat makes sense because it's remote and would buy them plenty of time to try to hack into Gideon. Not to mention that it's defended by the most elite group of ancient assassins history has ever known. But a good location can't be the only reason, and why tell us who helped her and where they are?"
"You know, Captain," Ray started, "it seems kind of personal. Besides your encounters with Talia as a child, do you two have some kind of sordid past? Something that would make her more than willing to lend a hand?"
Sara halted. "Shit. You're right. They're after me. In the laws of the League, I betrayed the Head of the Demon and abandoned the League. I mean, sure, Ras al Ghul's daughter freed me from my contract, but Talia didn't have any part in that. If she's the new Head of the Demon, she could be trying to avenge her father's name." Something still didn't feel quite right about the reasoning, a simple revenge plot was too basic for someone she remembered being incredibly intelligent, but it was a start. She was the target, at least for Talia al Ghul.
"Okay, we'll figure out the rest of the why as we go along. First, we need a way to get Gideon back. Without Gideon, we need a temporary ship and someone who can help us with the League," Sara said.
"I don't know anything about the League of Assassins, or this Talia chick, or where in the hell Nanda Parbat is, but isn't volunteering your location and your cohort something out of 'Trap-setting 101'?" Zari wasn't even close to convinced that charging in to retrieve Gideon was the best plan, or even a good plan.
"Oh, it's definitely a setup," Mick chimed in.
Sara, startled by the sudden appearance of a portal door on the bridge, quickly turned, chakram raised. She was just able to stop herself from releasing the weapon, the reflex too close to the surface. A side-effect of reconnecting with notions of the League, maybe. A deep breath, she lowered the weapon and rubbed her thumb along the flat of the chakram, tracing the intricate design on the underside of the chakram to calm herself. How quickly the old habits returned, she mused.
A raised eyebrow on the strong, yet feminine face of the newcomer. "What seems to be the problem, Captain Lance?" Sara smirked at the lithe form of the Time Bureau Director, and briefly recalled a time when the formal title was used recreationally. The woman remained serious. Not entirely uncharacteristic for Ava Sharpe, but rather more stern than she'd been the last few visits. "I received a notice that the Waverider was associated with a Level 10 anachronism. I tried to reach your team through comms, but there wasn't a response. Of any kind. What kind of ridiculous shit have you gotten yourselves involved in? Where's Gideon? Why didn't she respond?"
Ava, clad in an obviously government-issued navy-blue pant suit, moved confidently toward the group. Letting her gaze travel across the Legends team, she landed on their leader. As always, she had to make a conscious effort to push back what could only be described as the visceral response she had to the Captain. Based on the tense posture she saw in the teammates surrounding Sara, it was slightly disconcerting to see the now relaxed stance of her lover, who was caressing one of the weapons she bared with an obvious affection, the other lightly tapping against a thigh well-defined by tight denim. Ava met the Captain's gaze.
"Seriously, what in the hell is going on?" she posed the question again.
"Against my better judgment, I'm going to be upfront with you on this one. Only because we all know the strength of Mallus is growing and we're going to need some of your resources to get us running again." Ava took a deep breath and consciously kept her mouth shut, knowing it was a rare occurrence when the Legend's Captain willingly coordinated with the Time Bureau. Ava nodded and tried to look reassuring.
"Gideon was stolen by Talia al Ghul with the help of Norah Darhk and is likely on Nanda Parbat." Sara refused to break eye contact with the Time Bureau Director, as though by the force of will alone, she would be able to keep the tightly wound Director from exploding.
"You're fucking kidding me." Well, Sara thought, that response could have been much worse. "How in the world could you let that happen?! I mean, of all the irresponsible, dumbass things!" Ah, there we go, she thought, as she felt her own temper ignite to her team's defense.
Sara immediately lost her relaxed stance. She knew she would lose control in defense of her team, "Maybe I could speak to you privately for a moment, Director Sharpe?" she ground out between clinched teeth. Not waiting for a response, the Captain set the weapons on the computer console, turned on a dime, and stalked down the hallway. She headed directly for the storage room, entered, and remained facing away from the door, sleek muscles bunched across her shoulders.
As she heard Ava enter behind her, Sara took an even breath, consciously relaxed her stance, and turned to face the slightly taller woman as the door slid shut. "Before you get rolling," Sara started smoothly, "we didn't do anything wrong. We were out on a mission, we got back, she was gone." Sara met Ava's deep blue eyes confidently. She continued, "We both know Norah Darhk's capabilities, and with Mallus' power growing, they're only getting more honed in. So, don't barge onto this ship, my ship, and yell at us like we've fucked up. You know that drives me crazy and it makes the team think you're an ass." With the defense of her crew finished, Sara took a couple steps back and hopped up to sit on the metal storage containers. "Plus, I'm going to need your help," this with the hint of a smirk.
Ava, a little surprised at how easy the request for help came from the blonde woman, nodded. "Okay, but first I have a couple of questions," she paused and received a nod to continue. "Why didn't you contact me? I know you have a cloned Time Bureau comms device. How do you plan on getting Gideon back? Why shouldn't I take over this entire situation and just send a Time Bureau crew straight to Nanda Parbat to get it back?"
"Her." Sara stated. "Gideon is a her, not an it." Ava rolled her eyes and moved to stand between her lover's strong calves that hung off the containers. "As for your other questions, the team and I just hashed out the situation before you barged in," she pulled Ava closer and hooked her ankles behind her to take the sting out of the words. "I have an old contact from the League. I can get in touch with her and I think she'd be willing to help us navigate Nanda Parbat and deal with Talia al Ghul. The League of Assassins would demolish any Time Bureau team that you sent. We need stealth on this one, and while I know that's not a typical Legends trait, my contact is an expert." Ava quirked an eyebrow at the Captain's tone and made a note to get more information on this 'contact' later. "Plus, Norah bringing in Talia, the message with the chakram, Nanda Parbat – it's all directed at me, and I have no intention of your agents getting hurt for some vengeance trap those bitches set for me."
"Okay, I'm willing to go along for now. On one condition." A victory without argument was rare for the Waverider's Captain, so she nodded and hoped the request was something she was willing to adhere to. "I'm working with you. If your plan fails and Talia and Norah Darhk access Gideon's intel or develop tech based off her code, we're all absolutely screwed. Mallus would be released for sure and we're not ready for that yet."
Sara looked down and unhooked her ankles. The Time Bureau Director took a step back, slightly hurt as she felt it was a reasonable request. Besides, she thought they'd worked well together lately. Sara slid down and took a few steps before answering. "You're absolutely right. Of course, you can work with us. In fact, I need you." Sara made eye contact with Ava, realized how her hesitation was received, and quickly stepped over and took the Director's hands. "Listen, it's just that I'll be visiting a really dark time in my past. And someone from my past. It's just hard to let you see that again."
"Okay," Ava, knowing there was more to it, decided it was a discussion for another time. Knowing every moment Gideon was in Norah Darhk's possession was a risk, she quickly kissed the blonde's hands and released them. "So, where do we start?"
"It'll be better if I only have to run through this once. Let's get back to the crew and I'll explain what I've come up with so far." With Ava's nod, Sara turned and started back toward her team. "Oh," she started nonchalantly as they walked, "and we're going to need to borrow a ship." A faltered step quickly recovered by the Time Bureau Director. As much as she cared for the Waverider's Captain, she was borderline insane with her handling of spacecraft. A brief flashback of the Captain careening full speed in the Waverider toward the much larger Time Bureau craft caused the Time Bureau Director to shake her head and sigh.
"Of course you are," she replied. Maybe she'd falsify the Time Bureau paperwork.