Wave 9

Riley mentally groaned this was precisely why she should have done this on her own. She quickly decided she would own up to a limited amount of information just to keep them in the dark about the rest. She sighed and flopped down on the Rock next to Niles.

"When I was little, about ten or eleven I was living on the streets. This guy came up to me one day and offered me a job. I refused of course because I knew what sick old men meant when they offered a little girl a job. Turned out he was some sort of time thief and he needed someone small, like me to retrieve something. I accepted because he offered me money and at the time I was starving so when he threw in food it was a done deal. After the job I stayed with them for a while until they got arrested by the time masters. Puce was the wanker that took me home" said Riley

"So you've got history?" said Rory

Riley nodded yes. Niles was staring at her in shock

"You were a time pirate?" said Niles

Riley nodded yes just as Druce and Rip entered the clearing. Rip motioned for Rory and Riley to come with him.

"I will discuss your offer with my crew and I will call you when we make a decision" said Rip

Druce knelt beside Niles and tried to help the other man to his feet. The kid let out a short gasping scream when Druce pulled him up and onto his shattered limbs. Riley paused and watched them struggle for a few seconds before she turned to Rory.

"Fine but I ain't going anywhere near his ship" said Rory.

Rip sighed and gave her a confused look.

"We can't leave him here, there are wolves out here and Puce can't lift him" said Riley

Rip rubbed his eyes.

"Fine Mr. Rory will you please carry Mr..." said Rip

"Killian" said Riley

"Killian, to our med bay" said Rip

With a sigh Rory leaned down picked up the kid and flung him over a shoulder, like some damsel in distress. Druce started to follow them to the ship until Rip stopped him.

"I'll call you when he's done and you can meet him somewhere" said Rip

Druce frowned but relented. Either the kid had impressed her or she really was learning mercy from them. Rory took the lead and Rip fell into step beside her.

"how do you know Druce?" said Rip

Riley wanted to scream. Damn them why couldn't they just leave it alone.

"I ran with the wrong crowd when I was younger, Druce was the one that arrested us and gave me a ride home" said Riley

Rip frowned at her answer.

"Arrested you for what?" said Rip

Riley looked embarrassed and truthfully she was for some of the stuff they did.

"Stealing shit throughout time and messing with the timeline" said Riley Rip abruptly stopped in shock.

"Time pirates? You ran with time pirates?" said Rip

She nodded yes and turned to gauge his reaction. So far he was buying her explanation.

"Messing with the timeline?" said Rory

He had stopped and turned to listen to them.

"We may have introduced a few words and phrases a bit before their time" said Riley

Rip was giving her an amused look now.

"Like what?" said Niles

Riley turned to the boy because she had quite forgotten his presence. "We may have taught the Vikings the word dude and a few samurai to rock on, among other things" said Riley

Rory started laughing and Rip was grinning.

"Bet they didn't find that amusing in the least" said Niles

Rip shook his head to clear the mental image she created.

"How old were you that they let that go, usually they would have executed you for sure for stuff like that" said Rip

"Eleven" said Riley

Rip stared at her in shock.

"You're kidding" said Niles

Riley shook her head no.

"So, why is he afraid of you?" said Rip

Riley shrugged and started walking again

"Maybe it has to do with me stabbing him, but let's face it the man has no skills when it comes to children" said Riley

"You stabbed master Druce?" said Niles

"Yep, repeatedly, man could never find all the knives I hid on my person and he was bragging about killing my friends; so yeah I stabbed the wanker, right in the jewels" said Riley

They all winced in sympathy.

"Yeah that'll do it" said Rory

They had reached the ship and Rip had Rory stand farther away from the door so Niles couldn't see the door code. The rest of the team met them at the door. Rory carried the boy past them and into the sick bay.

"What happened? Gideon told us Riley was in trouble but refused to open the door" said Jax

"Miss Anderson decided to take a walk, to deal with an emotional upset I may have caused and ran into one of my former mentors and the man's trainee. She promptly disabused the man of the notion of arresting her" said Rip

"That was because captain hunter and Mr. Rory already had the situation well at hand" said Gideon

"Still doesn't mean we can't check on them" said Ray

"Who the heck is he?" said Sara

"A stray time master trainee Miss Anderson took pity on, don't worry he isn't staying" said Rip

"After she did what to him first? or did my partner do it?" said Snart "Broke his legs" said Rip

"Wait you mean to tell us sweet little Riley broke someone's legs? Our researcher?" said Stein

"Yes professor there seems to be a great deal more to Miss Anderson than we have been privy to" said Rip

"Yeah like the fact she can fight" said Sara

Riley had followed Rory into the sick bay and watched as he flopped Niles onto the bed like a rag doll. The boy gasped and arched his back in pain.

"Easy dude, he has broken legs" said Riley

Rory growled in response

"If he ever fucks with my team mates again I'll break more than his legs" said Rory

The kid swallowed and shrunk back into the chair. She eyed the big man for a second absurdly worried he was getting attached as well, before she patted his arm.

"Thanks big guy, I'll take it from here" said Riley

She wanted a few minutes alone with the kid because despite the fact he was on the other side he could still be useful to her plans. Provided of course he was willing to cooperate. Rory crossed his arms and glared at the kid instead and she mentally swore.

"Don't trust him" said Rory

The kid swallowed nervously but somewhere found the courage to reply.

"Why what have I done?" said Niles

Riley frowned because other than show up at the wrong time and try to arrest her he hadn't done anything wrong.

"You tried to arrest a friend of mine and I don't like cops" said Rory

The kid tried to shift and hissed in pain as the bones moved.

"Mr. Killian, please try to remain immobile until the bones in your legs are reset" said Gideon

The man stopped trying to move and simply nodded. Riley frowned and walked over to the screen to see just how much damage she had done.

"They are cleanly broken Miss Anderson and should take a minimal amount of time to heal" said Gideon

Riley almost sighed in relief, yeah she was irritated with the kid but she wasn't trying to cost him the use of his legs.

"I'm not a cop, I'm a time master and so is the man you call captain. I had no intention of harming her, I was simply trying to help her. Besides I can do nothing to her now I can't even walk and I'm unarmed" said Niles

Rory snorted in response.

"You got moxi kid, I can see why she likes you" said Rory

Niles froze in response as if he had no idea how to respond to that. Riley mused that he probably didn't given the no fraternization rule. The kids statement was ended with a hiss of pain because he had shifted again without meaning to.

"Gideon can you give Mr. Killian something for the pain please, Riley a word please" said Rip

He was standing in the doorway and staring at her as if deciding something. Before the kid could protest that he didn't want anything, Gideon injected him with something and the guy drifted off to sleep whether he wanted to or not. Reluctantly, Riley followed Rip out of the room.

"Don't worry hon I'll watch him" said Rory

Riley was going over possible scenarios in her mind about what Rip wanted to talk about and how to respond to each one in a way that wouldn't get her kicked off the ship. She was fairly certain Druce had given Rip something when they were alone, though she was also worried about what he had said as well. She was going to have to do some serious damage control after this incident. He walked into his office and Riley noted as they passed that no one else was on the flight deck. It both worried and relieved her for some reason.

The door slid shut behind her again and Rip flopped down in his chair. He looked less than happy and at the moment anything but friendly. She had no problem seeing why this man had the reputation he had within the time masters. From what she had read of his file; he was like a dog with a bone when it came to pursuing his quarry. Definitely someone you wanted on your side not against you.

He seemed to be weighing his words or at least trying to decide what to ask. Riley was already coming up with plausible explanations for what she thought he was going to ask.

"I'm going to ask you some questions Riley and how you answer them will determine if you stay on with us or I throw you off my ship" said Rip She swallowed nervously because she was fairly certain he meant literally and that would really hurt because she had gotten quite fond of the man. She wasn't really that worried about being stranded in Russia because she could always walk home if she had to. Crossing that much open water would be a pain in the ass though.

"Okay… what did you want to know?" said Riley

She kept her tone neutral and wary, letting some fear creep into her tone because she was indeed worried he would throw her off the ship.

"Master Druce said you were integral to the timeline and implied that your presence here could cause... long term destruction, why would he think that?" said Rip

He pinned her with a glare and she swallowed in response. Great he would ask the one thing she couldn't answer without giving everything away.

"I don't know maybe I'm supposed to do something in the future, that I couldn't do without you guys" said Riley

Rip frowned at her response.

"You expect me to buy that? Riley, or whoever you are, you traveled with time pirates are you seriously trying to tell me you didn't go forward into the future" said Rip

He sounded angry and he was actually scaring her. So of course she responded the way she always did when she got scared.

"No, of course not we went forward, had to fence the stuff somewhere. Maybe it has to do with something we stole? We did spend a lot of time avoiding the time masters, I didn't look anything up because I couldn't, the ship we stole had us locked out of everything except the flight controls. Plus, I truthfully didn't care, I was just happy I found a place I belonged." said Riley

Okay so she went with honesty because it was easier to slip a lie in when you surround it with the truth. Rip hesitated and she could see some of the anger dissipate but it was by no means completely gone.

"How did this make it past Gideon's check?" said Rip

"I do not know captain" said Gideon

He sighed and rested his elbows on the table. He seemed to be considering her words or still plotting to kick her out.

"Perhaps it's because we went back and forth so many times that my timeline isn't really a line anymore, probably more of a Celtic knot slash basket weave" said Riley

He answered her with a glare.

So she decided to undermine his trust in Druce a little.

"He's planning on killing you, you know" said Riley

Rip frowned at her.

"What makes you say that?" said Rip

She gave him a level look.

"Seriously Rip, you just told me they would have executed me for writing graffiti on the colosseum before there was graffiti, what do you honestly think they're going to do to you for deliberately trying to change the timeline?" said Riley

Rip smirked ever so slightly

"You wrote graffiti on the colosseum?" said Rip

Riley nodded

"Yeah apparently bored child and time machine are a bad mix, so I wrote my name and that I was here on a wall while they were building the coliseum and took a selfie" said Riley

He grinned in response and shook his head before he remembered the rest of her words.

"You really think they mean to kill me?" said Rip

She nodded yes, because yes she did believe they would do exactly that.

"Us, it just wouldn't be you they killed but everyone on this ship" said Riley

Rip played with his beard briefly before he realized what he was doing and stopped. Riley assumed it was a nervous habit because she had observed him doing it on more than one stressful occasion. She just wished she knew what Druce had told him that would stress him out so much.

"All the more reason I should take you home" said Rip

Riley frowned at him, if he did that his crusade would fail and she would be on her own.

"Is that what they wanted you to do?" said Riley

He nodded yes and bit his bottom lip as he stared at her. Okay time to redirect again with a little sprinkling of truth thrown in for spice.

"Have you ever thought they were scared, that with me you have a very real possibility of succeeding, and they want to separate us for that reason?" said Riley

It was true without her he would fail, that timeline had already been written, but it was written without her in the equation. He seemed to weighing her words and she hoped she wouldn't have to hurt the man should he decide otherwise. He looked at the desk and sighed.

"You believe we can succeed?" said Rip

He sounded sad and as if he didn't really believe that they could do this. Fortunately, Riley did truly believe, with a faith that bordered on fanatic.

"If you believe you can't lose even mountains will move, we'll save them honey you just have to have faith" said Riley

Rip sighed and his hand brushed the pocket that contained the file.

"He gave you something didn't he?" said Riley

He paused and gave her a wary look. She raised her hand in surrender.

"Observant" said Riley

He smirked some

"Yeah very and yes he did give me something. He said it was the truth about you and that you altered your files somehow" said Rip

He snorted because he knew the only ones who had access to those files were time masters and had yet to make the connection that Riley could very well be one in the future.

Riley snorted as if what he said was absurd. Rip pulled the tiny file chip from his pocket and examined it.

"So what do you think it does contain?" said Riley

Rip frowned at her.

"I have no idea but we can find out" said Rip

He hit a panel and part of the tabletop slid away to reveal what looked like usb ports. He started to reach forward to insert the chip and Riley covered his hand. He looked up at her.

"What if it contains something to disable the ship?" said Riley