While there was no question in Lucy's mind that every mission they'd undertaken had been for important life-or-death reasons, situations that could change the course of history, and she had never taken that responsibility lightly- she'd still always had a soft spot for indulging in the vintage fashion of each time period. And so, when Flynn and Wyatt return to the wooded clearing on the outskirts of San Francisco that they've landed in with a pile of velvet fabric bundled in Flynn's arms, she rushes over to him almost instantly to see what sort of gown they managed to track down for her. The style is typical of the 1880s and quite similar in shape to the dress she recalls wearing her first time around, this time in a deep royal blue and accented by gold embroidery. Wyatt and Flynn wait, backs politely turned, as she slips into the dress, which thankfully has a modest sized bustle and no hoop skirt or crinoline to impair her movement. As a finishing touch, she lifts the skirt and fastens on a leg holster over her jeans (courtesy of Wyatt, as she lacked a period-appropriate option for a jacket to cover a shoulder holster), then slides Denise's pistol into it before settling the fabric down over it once more. Fully kitted out, she feels like a true femme fatale, and has to resist the urge to grin as she calls, "I'm ready."
Both Wyatt and Flynn have their eyebrows raised as they turn and see her. "We all know I don't give a damn about clothes, but….damn, Lucy," Wyatt says, giving her an appreciative half-smile that she can't help returning. She glances over to Flynn to see his reaction, but he quickly looks away and her grin falters. Every time she felt like things were getting back to normal between them, he seemed to pull away, and she still hasn't figured out why.
They head down the hill toward the city proper. A light mist is falling, not true rain, but the ground is slick all the same, and Flynn offers Lucy his arm to keep her from slipping in the mud in her impractical 1886 heeled boots, which she takes gratefully. A few minutes later they've reached the city streets, busy despite the waning daylight, and Lucy halts them and beckons both men to the side of the road with her so they won't be run down by a horse and cart while they talk. "In the vision, Rufus was in a bar," she murmurs, glancing around them to ensure no one is getting close enough to overhear. "Obviously we can't check every bar in the city, but since everything else is following along events I've seen before, my guess is that this will be no different. At the very least, it should probably be where we check first. Anyone opposed?"
Flynn shrugs, turning to Wyatt, who also shrugs as he says, "You're our historian slash psychic. Lead the way."
Lucy resists the urge to correct Wyatt's use of 'psychic' (mainly because she still doesn't know what actually caused the visions), and they continue down the street, navigating in the direction of the Bison Horn Saloon. The streets are just familiar enough that she can track down Chinatown without a map to guide her, and within an hour, just as the sun sets, they've reached the bar.
Lucy stops short at the front step, staring at the ground in front of her, halting so abruptly that both Wyatt and Flynn nearly run into her. They wait a moment, and when Lucy doesn't move, Wyatt puts a hand to the gun under his jacket and tells them he'll scout the bar, then disappears through the front door, leaving Lucy and Flynn outside.
"Lucy…?" Flynn says quietly, concerned.
At first she can't hear him. She feels a surge of panic, her heart pounding as she feels her breathing building steadily toward hyperventilating, and she can't seem to tear her eyes away from the ground. She recognizes it, of course - the same feeling she had trapped in her rapidly sinking car, the same feeling she had impersonating a Nazi alongside Ian Fleming, the same feeling she's had in any number of tight spaces or seemingly impossible situations...and the same feeling she had when she went home and left him lying there in the dirt, alone and forgotten.
Blood on the ground, blood everywhere and unbearably hot against her skin, his eyes desperate and pleading as she holds him close, gripping his hand to her face, begging "No no no please god no" -
Flynn repeats her name, this time a bit louder, and gently touches her elbow, which finally snaps her out of it. She starts, head whipping around to face him with eyes that clearly don't recognize him at first, but after a beat she reaches out and grabs his arm tightly to steady herself. Flynn waits, silent and unmoving, as Lucy wills herself to calm, taking deep breaths until she can feel the panic attack subsiding. She glances at him, a brief grateful smile crossing her face as her adrenaline fades, and he gives her a questioning look in return.
"This is where it happened," she whispers, and he doesn't have to ask what she's referring to. His face falls, gaze drifting to the ground, then back to her.
"Things will be different this time."
"How do you know?" She looks at him, eyes pleading, silently begging for reassurance that she knows he can't possibly give. "If time self-corrects, then what's to stop-"
"Lucy, we don't know what will happen; Hell, we don't even know if Rufus is really here, so don't worry until there's something to worry about." It doesn't reassure her particularly much, but she nods all the same, and just as they finally move toward the bar entrance, Wyatt reappears.
"It looks like there was a shootout in there." Before Lucy can panic, he adds, "No sign of Rufus and seemingly no one killed, just a lot of damage. Most people left in there wouldn't talk to me but a couple recognized his photo. He apparently took off toward the bay roughly a half hour ago."
The bay. Fear rises in Lucy's chest. It is, of course, reassuring that her vision seems to be trustworthy thus far, but she's also fully aware that they have a limited window to reach Rufus before-
Screams erupt to their left as a gunshot goes off, the crowd plunging into mayhem as people rush to get away from whoever fired. "We need to move!" Lucy shouts, gripping her skirt in her hands and running down the street in the general direction of the bay. Flynn and Wyatt already have their guns out, but opt to follow Lucy rather than take on the shooter that they still can't see.
"Split up!" Wyatt shouts, pointing off to the right as he dashes down the alley before him, and Lucy veers off down the path he gestured to. Flynn hesitates, then opts to follow after her rather than take a third route. She's grateful, of course, as she knows she has very little hope of holding her own in an all-out firefight, but the situation is all too familiar to her, and she worries that any second she'll glance back and Flynn will be gone. As if sensing this, Flynn grabs her hand with his free one, easily overtaking her and pulling her along with him to the point that she has to flat out run to keep up.
Despite her fears, however, they reach the wharf having seemingly lost whatever tail they may have had. They pause at the end of the alley, Flynn scanning the crowd in both directions before nodding for Lucy to follow him, his gun now holstered again but hand gripping it tightly under his jacket. They blend into the evening crowd, Flynn taking advantage of the cover to scan the distance while Lucy's eyes drift to every face they pass. She realizes a minute later that she's still holding Flynn's hand, and quickly lets go, but Flynn doesn't seem to notice as he focuses on scouting for familiar faces or potential assailants.
Lucy hears her name echo from the distance and they spot Wyatt further ahead, waving an arm at them and gesturing for them to follow. She and Flynn both rush toward him, garnering angry looks as they shove their way through the crowd.
"I found him," Wyatt says as they catch up, and they follow as he leads them through the crowd, finally stopping at an alley so small you could easily miss it unless you were looking for it. There they find Rufus, sitting on a barrel and his face twisted in pain as he grips his arm. There's a large patch of blood soaked through the sleeve of his jacket where he's clearly been shot, but he looks otherwise unscathed, and Lucy hugs him tightly in relief.
"You've looked better," Flynn comments, and Rufus laughs before wincing.
"Good to see you too, buddy. How did you guys know where to find me? Jessica made me disable the tracker right after we landed at their headquarters and I never got a chance to reactivate it once I escaped." He pauses. "Actually, the bigger question is how you followed me at all."
"Long story, but for now we've gotta move." Wyatt and Flynn lean against opposite walls at the alley entrance, scoping out the crowd for threats, and then both nod at each other before leading their group out into the open again, Flynn taking point while Wyatt covers the rear and Lucy helping steer Rufus as the blood loss steadily impairs his motor skills.
They've nearly made it to the edge of the city without incident when two men suddenly appear around the corner seemingly from nowhere, the pistols in their hands clearly modern-day, but before they can fire both Wyatt and Flynn throw punches, Wyatt shouting for Lucy and Rufus to keep moving. "We'll catch up, just get the Lifeboat ready!"
Lucy hesitates, then nods and slips Rufus's arm over her shoulders so they can move quicker. She isn't positive where they are, but the surroundings look familiar enough that she knows they must be on the right track. They round a bend in the dirt road they're on and she spots the hill where they'd left the Lifeboat up ahead, and adjusts her hold on Rufus, who hisses in pain at the jostling movement. They're halfway up the hill before Lucy pauses to catch her breath, helping Rufus to sit on a rock and tearing a strip of fabric from her skirt to tie around his wound. "You okay?" she asks, out of breath from running the whole way. Rufus is sweating bullets, but nods.
"I've had worse. Which, as a present day engineer whose most violent hobby is Street Fighter, I should not be able to say, but apparently people love using the black guy as target practice."
Lucy smiles despite the circumstances. "If you can still make jokes, then you're doing okay. We're nearly back to the Lifeboat. You ready?"
Rufus nods, holding out his good arm for Lucy to help him to his feet, and together they make their way up the hill, their urgency picking up the closer they get to the Lifeboat. Reaching the base of it, Lucy helps Rufus to sit on the ground with his back to the leg strut. "Let me initiate the startup sequence, then I'll help you in." Lucy doesn't wait for a response, crawling up into the Lifeboat and making her way to the command console to power it on.
"Um, Lucy?" Rufus calls. "You may want to get out here."
That doesn't sound good. She quickly darts back to the hatch and hops down to the ground, returning to Rufus's side. "You okay?"
Rufus doesn't respond, nods forward slightly, and she traces his eyeline to a point in the trees where she can see a pair of figures approaching them. She can't make out their features in the near total darkness, can only tell that one of them is clearly taller than the other, and calls out, "Flynn? Wyatt?"
But, as they grow nearer and the light from the Lifeboat cockpit begins to illuminate them, Lucy can see that the smaller figure is a woman. She lifts the edge of her skirt slowly, the movement hidden from their view by Rufus at her side, and carefully pulls the gun from it's holster, keeping it hidden behind her.
Come on guys, hurry.
"Who's there?" she shouts, gripping the gun tightly as she waits for a response.
The taller figure lifts what Lucy can now see is an assault rifle, aiming it in their direction. Finally they both step fully into the light, and Lucy sees it's not Emma as she expected, but Jessica, accompanied by an older man who looks somehow familiar to her, though she can't place why.
"Go ahead and toss that gun you're hiding ahead of you," the man calls, his voice low and dangerous. Lucy glares, but does as instructed. Jessica reaches down to retrieve the pistol and aims it at both of them as she backs up to the man's side once more.
"Can you pilot that with your injury?" Jessica asks Rufus, nodding her head at the Lifeboat. He doesn't reply, and Jessica sighs. "We're not going to hurt you if you cooperate. We have instructions to bring both of you back with us alive."
"You know," Rufus finally says after a pause, "right about now, I'm really wishing you'd stayed dead."
A flash of hurt crosses Jessica's face, but she quickly composes herself. "On your feet. We need to go."
"Just going to leave your husband behind, then?" Lucy asks, her eyes narrowed.
"He'll be fine until I can come back and get him. You're higher priority at the moment."
"Why?"
"Carol's orders." Jessica motions with her gun for them to stand, and Lucy straightens, helping Rufus get to his feet. "No matter what you do, she never stops believing in you. She seems to think it's a matter of time before you join the family business. It would be sweet, if it wasn't frustrating as hell for the rest of us."
"She knows that isn't going to happen."
"Oh trust me, everyone has told her that, multiple times. She's a stubborn woman. Won't even fill Benjamin's seat on the council now that he's in prison; says she wants it ready for when you join."
Lucy grimaces. "It'll be a cold day in hell before that happens."
"That's what I figured, but I go where I'm told. Hands in front of you, please."
Lucy complies, as she doesn't see very many options left while the rifle is aimed her way, and Jessica ties her wrists with a short length of rope. She's about to move on to Rufus as well when suddenly a pistol fires nearby, the bullet narrowly missing Jessica to ping off the side of the Lifeboat instead.
"Guys, get down!"
Wyatt and Flynn. Finally.
Lucy drops to the ground, Rufus falling to his knees beside her. A flurry of gunfire follows, Jessica retreating quickly to the trees to take cover, and her armed guard returns fire while walking back slowly in the same direction as her. He's precise with his shots, methodical, and despite his considerable stature, he somehow manages not to get hit by any of the bullets flying around him.
Flynn appears out of the darkness, crouching as he comes to Lucy's side. She's so relieved she could cry, and quickly holds her wrists up for him to untie. He fumbles with the knots, his eyes on Rufus as he does so. "You doing okay?"
"Oh, never better," Rufus says, looking dangerously pale.
"We need to get him home," Flynn murmurs to Lucy, glancing at the firefight still taking place off to the side as Wyatt keeps Jessica's guard pinned down and thoroughly distracted. "Help me get him in."
Together, Flynn and Lucy boost Rufus up into the Lifeboat, Lucy crawling in after him to help him strap into the pilot's seat. The startup sequence has finished running, and all that remains is for the coordinates to be keyed in for home.
"Someone may want to tell Wyatt to get his ass in here," Rufus says, using his good hand to flick various switches on the console.
Outside the Lifeboat, Flynn is returning fire once more, crouched by the leg strut and trying to spot where Wyatt ended up. He sees him across the clearing, kneeling behind a tree as he loads a fresh clip. Flynn runs toward him, keeping to the treeline for cover as well, and kneels beside Wyatt, setting a hand on his shoulder. "We need to move. Lifeboat is ready."
Wyatt looks at Flynn, and just by the expression on his face, Flynn knows what's coming.
"No, Wyatt. They'll kill you-"
"I have to try."
"She's Rittenhouse!"
"Because they screwed with her past and indoctrinated her; she didn't choose this, not really. I'm not going to abandon my wife and child to them. I just need to talk to her. The Jessica I loved would have hated everything Rittenhouse stands for."
"Wyatt," Flynn says, exasperated, "the team needs you, and if you go after her, you could be walking straight into a deathtrap."
"If it was your wife and kid, what would you do?"
Flynn goes silent, eyes lowered, knowing as well as Wyatt does that he'd do the exact same for Lorena and Iris.
"Just go, Flynn. I'll find a way to contact you guys later, give you the exact location of wherever we end up." Wyatt looks away, and Flynn can see the sadness in his eyes. "And tell Lucy I'm sorry. For everything."
For once there's no animosity between them, just two fellow soldiers pinned down in the foxhole together. Flynn hesitates, conflicted, not wanting to leave the other man behind but knowing he'd made up his mind. For once he can relate to Wyatt - the desire to save your family, no matter the cost, is something he knows only too well, and he respects him for it. He grips Wyatt's shoulder tightly, and Wyatt briefly squeezes Flynn's shoulder in return before handing him his gun.
"Keep them safe until I get back."
"Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. And contact us the instant you get a chance."
Nothing more to say, Flynn makes his way back to the Lifeboat, and only once he's nearly there does he realize the fight has gone silent. He looks across the clearing and sees Wyatt stepping out into the open, hands held up in surrender as he walks slowly in Jessica's direction. She has her pistol trained on him, but the slight shake in her hands is noticeable, and she clearly has no desire to pull the trigger on her husband.
Shortly thereafter Flynn also realizes, as he turns to crawl into the Lifeboat and reaches for Lucy's offered hand, that Jessica's bodyguard has disappeared from her side, and it's at that moment the butt of a rifle slams into his temple from out of nowhere. He hears Lucy shriek his name as he stumbles back and falls to one knee, disoriented and seeing stars, all the sounds around him distant and muddled. He shakes his head to fight off the daze, touching his temple with one hand and feeling the warm blood now dripping there.
The feel of the rifle's barrel pressed to the side of his neck sobers him immediately, and he looks up at the man at the other end of the gun. Flynn's brow furrows as he fights to focus on the face. Something about him is incredibly familiar, though he's certain they've never met.
The man smiles coldly. "Gotcha."
Flynn's blood runs cold as he meets his eyes. He knows those eyes, almost as well as he knows his own.
"...Gabriel?"