"Why are we doing this again?" Flynn grumbled rhetorically as they loaded another crate into the storage hold on the mother ship.
Anthony grunted as he lifted the heavy crate and placed it into the hold, "Because you agreed to it."
"I didn't agree to it. Lucy just left me with no other option."
"Then you agreed by default." Anthony replied as he went for the last crate. They had been loading crates for the last half hour, all of them heavy, all of them necessary for what Lucy had planned. "We need her." You need her, he thought, but didn't voice.
It had been less than 24 hours since coming back from 18th century France. Whether or not Lucy and Flynn had come to an understanding during those two days was irrelevant as far as Anthony was concerned. Although it seemed like they had. Almost.
Flynn was more centered and focused than he had since Lucy Two had been alive. He glanced over at Flynn who was locking down the cargo hatch. Flynn was more in control, and Lucy was using her analytical "abilities" for their side. That was all that mattered to him.
It didn't even bother him that not a week before the unfortunate "incident" of Lucy's kidnapping "The Powers That Be" within their organization had sent Flynn and Anthony a coded message regarding this very out of the way, very unknown, supply depot. The private communication had been odd enough, but the fact that their organization had created this supply depot for them was even odder. They'd never needed nor had one before this. But what was downright eerie was that everything Lucy had on her list of needed supplies for this mission was already here, boxed up and waiting in this tiny little shack in the middle of nowhere. It even had a period costume for Anthony.
The mission was one thing that was bothering Anthony. Lucy had been very tight lipped about what precisely they were going to be doing and exactly how long they were going to be gone. The only thing she had been explicit about was obtaining the supplies she deemed necessary to get the job done. Anthony had gathered from the markings on the crates he had loaded that they'd be gone for some time. He just wasn't sure how long. He shrugged. They had a time machine after all. And at this point he tried to take everything philosophically. His wife, his family, they were safe because of the sacrifices he had made for them. It didn't matter that they believed him dead. They were safe and that was all that mattered.
Lucy came out of the tiny hut. "That was the last of it. I guess we're ready to go." she said.
Flynn shrugged back into his jacket, "Are you going to finally share where we're going?"
Lucy gave both men a guarded look, and without speaking she climbed into the mother-ship. The two men climbed in behind her.
"Well?" Flynn asked again as he came in and secured the door behind him.
Lucy was buckling herself into her seat. She glanced up at Garcia, braced herself for the explosion she was sure would come next, and said, "New York, September 25, 1780."
"Why are we doing this again?" grumbled Flynn softly for what seemed the hundredth time.
"Because your plan sucked, that's why." Lucy whispered back from where she crouched. In the dark of the night sound seemed to travel farther.
The three of them were hiding alongside a barn near the edge of some woods. They had left the mother-ship concealed a half mile into the forest. When Lucy had finally explained the plan it was fortunate that they were actually inside the mother-ship because Flynn had exploded.
"You should have let me do it my way and we wouldn't have to be doing this!" Flynn shouted at her, losing his temper. Lucy had just given them the time, the location, and fleshed out the plan for them. It was absurd yet brilliant. He hated it, but it would work, and he knew it, he just didn't have to like it.
"Your way made you a monster." she had stated quietly, "I don't think either one of us could have lived with the consequences of your plan." Her calm in the face of his lack of control sobered Flynn. "My way is the only way I see that destabilizes Rittenhouse enough for your side to take them down swiftly… completely."
"That you see." he snorted derisively, turning his face away.
"Yes, that I see. That IS what Rittenhouse bred me for after all." Lucy huffed back. "I'm not being modest when I say I think I'm rather good at it too."
Flynn looked back at her, obviously displeased.
"You can let me out now if it's a problem." Lucy said, her hands moving to the buckles on her straps.
When Flynn didn't reply she continued, "Look, I know that spending the next 6 months in the past isn't ideal, but I don't see any other way. Your way makes him a martyr and what cause doesn't just love one of those." she pointed out.
When Flynn was still silent she added, "If we kidnap and spirit him away, he's no longer useful to them. He can't be the next leader… or figurehead… or whatever. It'll take them years to regroup, if they ever do…. Isn't that what we all want?" she asked, her voice pleading.
Flynn was quiet for a moment, considering, "Fine. Yes. Let's just get this over with." he snapped.
Her plan kept them in close quarters for far longer than he was comfortable with.
Her plan, if it worked, would destabilize Rittenhouse and allow them to end this war much sooner.
Her plan, however, would also destabilize the carefully erected wall he had placed around himself when Lorena died. Up to this point it had been distance that had kept those walls up, not his own will power. He had experienced that somewhat when Lucy Two had worked with them. Despite Lucy Two's obvious disinterest in him as anything other than a friend Flynn had felt himself inexorably drawn to her like a moth to the flame. He glanced over to where Lucy sat waiting for the jump, her head back, eyes closed, hands clenched on the webbing that held in her. He sighed, having Lucy around was going to make each day of these upcoming six months seem like both Heaven, and Hell.
Anthony flipped the final switch, the ship shifted, and for a moment in time, he stopped thinking.
"So what are we waiting for?" Anthony whispered.
"For the yelling to start. When we hear yelling, we can run in and grab him before anyone notices." replied Lucy.
"We? No. You'll stay here. Anthony and I will go." Flynn said.
Lucy looked over her shoulder at him. "Of course I'll go."
"He's as big as you are. Anthony would be more help; he's stronger. You'll keep watch."
The moon was hiding behind a cloud. In the dark it was hard to see Lucy's face but after a moment she huffed, "Fine. You're right."
The hint of a smile crept across Flynn's lips at her response. It fled a moment later when they all heard a man yelling.
"Time to go." whispered Flynn as he nudged Anthony.
Lucy watched them creep off into the night.
Not more than 10 minutes had passed when Flynn and Anthony rounded the corner of the barn, Flynn had a body over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, Anthony had Flynn's gun out.
"Is he ok?" Lucy squeaked.
"He's fine, the ether did it's job. I just want to be careful. There are others roving the woods tonight."
He could see Lucy nod in the moonlight. She knew both friends and foes had been thick in the woods the last time they were here.
"We should go, we don't want to run into anyone." Lucy said nervously.
All three of them jumped as a call rang out through the night. "LUCY!"
"Time to go." grunted Flynn as he shifted the body on his shoulder and led them off in the opposite direction, back towards where they left the mother-ship.
Lucy and Anthony followed quickly as another call rang out through the night air, "WYATT!"
They swiftly made their way back to their ship, all the while calls ringing out but growing fainter as they traveled in the opposite direction. At the ship Flynn handed the still inert body up to Anthony. He turned and, like a night not too long ago, took Lucy by the waist and hoisted her up to the mouth of the ship where Anthony helped her the rest of the way in.
As Lucy settled into her chair, Flynn zip-tied the captive's arms to the chair he was propped up in. Anthony was flipping switches and turned to Lucy.
"So where are we heading now?" he asked his eyes on the control panels.
"Back to France. About a month after the last visit." she nodded towards the body in the jump seat across from her, "He and I have an appointment to keep."
Anthony turned around. "So are you finally going to tell me who this is?"
Lucy hesitated, licking her lips. Anthony looked at Flynn.
Saying nothing Flynn sat back into his own chair, a disgusted look on his face.
Lucy cleared her throat, "Anthony, I'd like you to meet John Rittenhouse."
"Why are we doing this?" Flynn asked again rhetorically.
