Wave 12
She froze where she was, damn that man had horrible timing but maybe she could use his sudden appearance to her advantage. She quickly acted flustered and guilty. The blush creeping up her face she didn't have to feign because truthfully she was embarrassed about being caught. She should have been paying better attention to her surroundings and she really needed to start doing so before someone more dangerous than Rip approached her.
Rip entered the office and crossed to her.
"Well? Cat got your tongue Miss Anderson?" said Rip
He rested his hand on top of the laptop and she mentally cursed herself for being so foolish. The man was sure to notice the device was warm. He took a deep breath and held out his hand.
"Give it to me" said Rip
She swallowed, because once again he sounded pissed off.
"I put it back in the drawer" said Riley
He slid open the drawer and retrieved the drive, which Riley was pretty certain was also warm as well. He glared at her and shoved the drive into the inside pocket of his jacket.
"I'm sorry I was just…." said Riley
"Just what, Miss Anderson? Am a thief or a spy?" said Rip
She shook her head no, there was no way she wanted Rip to think she worked for the time masters.
"Curious... I ...I… just wanted to know, what it was that they think I do... I'm sorry. I know… I shouldn't have looked, but I couldn't resist" said Riley
Okay yeah she did look and she really was curious, but she also knew all of that stuff already, because she had snuck a peak when she rode with Druce that first time. Rip sighed and looked at the desk.
"How much of it did you see?" said Rip
Riley decided to be honest with him for some reason.
"All of it" said Riley
Rip groaned and looked briefly like he had been slapped. He closed his eyes as if the knowledge caused him pain.
"All… oh …Miss Anderson no one is meant to know that…oh sweet… even the end?" said Rip
She nodded yes, because yeah she did know how she was meant to meet her end, fortunately it was after a very long time. The only decent part she inherited from the asshole that sired her was his lifespan. The look Rip was giving her was nothing short of horrified.
"Oh sweetheart" said Rip
Ray and Snart chose that moment to return home. They were laughing and ribbing each other just like old chums. Rip sighed and turned to talk to them and Riley quietly withdrew from the room. The last thing she wanted was to discuss her timeline or what a bad thing it was to know too much about her future, besides isn't that what they were doing here, trying to change future events.
Riley wandered down the hall and found Mick playing with matches in the hall or rather watching one after the other burn down.
"What are you doing?" said Riley
"Isn't it beautiful?" said Mick
She had to admit, even if it wasn't her element it was beautiful.
"Yeah, why?" said Riley
Mick looked up at her and smiled.
"Heard what you did, wasn't too smart sweetheart. Rip's not gonna let that pass you know. Curiosity can be a bad thing; like this it can also burn Ya" said Mick
She nodded in understanding it was obvious the big guy was worried about her.
"Yeah, yeah It can, pretty sure that's earned its spot on the list" said Riley
"What list?" said Mick
"The list I'm compiling in my head of the dumbest things I've ever done" said Riley
The big man snorted in response and nodded.
"Good, now get scarce, our good captain is looking for you" said Mick
Riley nodded and quickly made her way down the hall and into a cargo hold. Sara was trying to convince Kendra into training with her but Kendra wasn't having it.
"Alejandro Vasquez" said Riley
"Who?" said both women
"That's the name of that guard you clawed the face off of, the same guy who is more than likely going to lose sight in one of his eyes because your claws hit it" said Riley
Kendra looked down with a guilty look on her face.
Sara gave her a considering look but let Riley take the lead on this one. "I'm not a warrior, I'm a barista" said Kendra
Riley chuckled
"Really? I've never seen you even pour a cup of coffee since I've been on board, you?" said Riley
She looked at Sara, the woman shook her head no. Kendra made this exasperated sound.
"I meant I was a barista, not some avenging winged goddess" said Kendra
"Exactly was a barista, was being the operative word, you're not that person anymore none of us are the people we were before we set foot on this ship" said Sara
Riley nodded, the woman was right something had changed in her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing, because now she actually felt guilty about what she was planning. The last thing she needed was a conscience.
"That doesn't matter before Carter I…I knew what I wanted to do with my life…now" said Kendra
"Now you're adrift because you were using Carter as your anchor, you need to find something within you to anchor on" said Riley
Kendra frowned at her.
"Huh?" said Kendra
"You relied on Carter to keep her in check and never really learned how to do so yourself" said Riley
Sara gave her a considering look.
"What do you know about keeping a monster inside yourself in check?" said Kendra
Riley opened her mouth to reply but Sara beat her to it.
"When the Lazarus pit first brought me back I retreated into myself and let that demon it put inside me take over. It hurt people, people I care about but I couldn't stop it because I was too afraid of it to try" said Sara
Kendra was just staring at Sara but she appeared to be listening.
"She's a part of you now and no matter what you think you are, that is not going to change" said Riley
Sara nodded
"She's right you have to learn to control her or the next time she goes off could be on someone you love, it's okay to be afraid just don't let it rule you" said Sara
"How? How do I do that?" said Kendra
Sara threw the boo she was holding at Kendra
"You train" said Sara
Riley smirked and started to leave the room.
"Oh you're not done yet; I have some questions you're going to answer" said Sara
She had a hold of Riley's arm.
"Actually, I think we all need to hear the answers to those questions" said Ray
The others were behind him and Riley let out a groan. Oh great this was just wonderful. Riley turned to look at Sara.
"So shoot" said Riley
Then she immediately thought better on her choice of words when Sara smirked at her.
"Yeah I think we deserve some answers because I for one don't believe you're from the nineteen seventies" said Jax
"I most heartily concur Mr. Jackson, where did you learn to not only use a laptop but to hack into one before computers were even invented yet?" said Rip
"Hell, I don't even believe you were even a college student" said Ray "What I want to know is how you got me off of that guy in the pentagon, it felt like something hit me in the chest but I didn't see anything" said Kendra
"Yeah some things just aren't adding up sweetness, like how you knew what a selfie was before cell phones were invented" said Rory
"Yes, I did miss that one didn't I?" said Rip
Riley looked around at the assembled group and wondered just how far she could go without admitting to everything.
"Better start talking sweetheart or things are going to get ugly" said Snart
He had his gun raised in her direction. Riley wondered briefly if she still had it in her to hurt them and if she could take them out if she had to. She quickly vetoed that plan because that would defeat the purpose of traveling with these people in the first place. She held up her hands in surrender because the last thing she wanted to do was appear threatening to this group, well until she actually needed to threaten them that was.
"Okay, lot of questions there, where to start" said Riley
Snart flipped off the safety and raised the weapon.
"You all know about the pirate thing so you all don't think it's plausible that I learned something from all those jaunts into the future?" said Riley
She sounded sarcastic but the others grudgingly accepted that explanation for her ability to use future technology. Which left only the question Kendra asked and Ray's question. She decided to go with Ray's.
"I was a college student for a little over a year, had to be in order to be a research assistant" said Riley
"You were waiting for us" said Snart
She nodded yes. Noting that everyone in the room now had weapons either pointed at her, were standing next to their counter parts or were reaching for weapons.
"Yeah but not for the reason you all are thinking" said Riley
"Very well Miss Anderson do enlighten us, why are you really here?" said Rip
She turned to look at the man and froze. He had his gun out and it was pointed in her direction, she absently noted the color was indicating that it was not on stun. That shocked her for a moment and she lost focus for a few seconds.
"To kill Savage the same as you" said Riley
The others gave her indecipherable looks.
"Why, what did he do to you?" said Ray
Riley swallowed back the tears that were starting to rise in her eyes. Damn him why did he have to ask that? She swallowed because she now had a case of dry mouth. Everyone was waiting for her answer and not a single one of them looked the least understanding about it.
"He orphaned me, thrice" said Riley
Several of the others lowered their hands away from the weapons they had been reaching for and a few of the firearms lowered. The majority of them looked stunned by the admission
"Shit!" said Rory
He lowered his weapon completely
"So you wanted revenge is that it?" said Sara
Riley nodded yes because essentially Sara was right.
"I tried on my own and failed, I thought with a group…." said Riley
"That you would succeed" said Rip
"Was it just your parents?" said Jax
Riley shook her head no.
"No he killed everyone, even my babysitter" said Riley
It wasn't a lie; he did kill everyone.
She heard Rip shove his firearm back into the holster with a muttered curse.
"Oh Miss Anderson, I'm so sorry please forgive me err us, for the distrust we've shown you this evening. We simply had our misgivings you can understand can't you?" said Rip
She nodded yes.
"That why you can't sleep most nights?" said Jax
Riley nodded yes.
"Why, what do you see?" said Ray
It was an innocent question and honestly she did expect Ray to say something like that. She did nothing to hide the wince the question invoked however.
"Ghosts and memories that have gone from pleasant, to just another cruel reminder" said Riley
The group was silent for a few minutes as they took in what she said and struggled to find a way to respond to it.
"Why didn't you say anything?" said Kendra
Sara had released her arm and stepped back some. They were all giving her looks that could only be described as pity.
"The look on all your faces right now" said Riley
Then she walked out of the room. She practically ran down the hall until she realized how futile an action that would be, because on a ship this small there was nowhere to go. She didn't dare go outside with Druce running around, which left her trapped on this ship with a bunch of people who were likely to treat her differently now.
She stopped to get her bearings because despite its size you could still get lost on the Wave Rider, mostly because all the hallways looked exactly the same. She groaned when she didn't recognize anything.
"Gideon where am I?" said Riley
"You are near the engine room Miss Anderson if you would like I can guide you back to the others, they are most concerned about your welfare" said Gideon
Riley shook her head no, now that she knew where she was, it was easy to pick the direction she wished to go in. She turned and walked down the right hallway climbed some stairs and stopped in front of some door. She looked through the small window and noted she was outside the jump ship. Perfect no one would think to look for her here. She opened the door and walked inside of the smaller ship.
"Miss Anderson what are you doing?" said Gideon
Riley flopped down in the pilot's seat but made no move to touch any of the controls.
"Hiding, because I wish to be alone for a while Gideon, now kindly leave me be for a while" said Riley
The AI didn't say anything in response so Riley leaned back in her chair. Tears were leaking out of her eyes and she silently cursed her new friends, because she never used to cry this easily, unless she was acting.
She fought them for a little while but the growing ache was just too much and eventually she gave into the tears, pulled her legs up and buried her face in her thighs. She let loose and simply sobbed until she eventually fell asleep in that position.
Rip and the guys retreated to the bridge to discuss Vostok while the girls went back to their training.
"Man, I feel horrible now" said Ray
"You and me both hair" said Snart
"Three times…fuck that's some messed up shit… man I want to kill that fucker, then go back and do it again" said Rory
"I might be inclined to aid you in that endeavor" said Stein
"Man, I thought your family was bad but that's some twisted shit, damn I feel lower than dirt now "said Jax
"As do I Mr. Jackson but for much more than Miss Andersons' tragic past. I regrettably thought ill of the young lady and all but accused her of being a spy, actions I thoroughly despise myself for" said Rip
Kendra hit the ground with a reverberating thud and Sara closed. Kendra rolled out from under her attack just in the nick of time.
"Three times" said Kendra
Sara gave her a sad look.
"I know I just lost Carter, but I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose my family three times" said Kendra
Sara placed the boo in a resting pose, and decided to acknowledge the conversation.
"Me either, I don't know what I would have done if I lost my dad and Laurel at a young age, then to lose a second chance at happiness with whatever foster family she ended up with, only to lose them too and again with the next group. I honestly can't see how she is still standing" said Sara
Kendra nodded in understanding.
"Me either, hey do you think that's what she meant about my anchor being Carter?" said Kendra
Sara nodded
"More than likely and I would be willing to bet killing Savage is hers" said Sara
"Yeah but what is she planning to do afterwards?" said Kendra
Sara shrugged and returned the boo to a fighting stance, Kendra did the same with hers.
"I don't know and that's what's got me worried" said Sara
"Hey do you think if she trained with us it would help her?" said Kendra
Sara glared at the woman because she was having enough issues trying to train one student, she really didn't want to handle two.
"She said she knew how to fight and I for one am curious about what she knows, so yeah we could offer, the worst she can say is no" said Sara
Rip walked onto the bridge first, the others were uncharacteristically quite behind him. He stopped at the table.
"So what did you guys find out from Vostok?" said Jax
"Not much, except she doesn't appear to be into pretty boys and is colder than most Russians, I did however liberate this" said Snart
He held up some sort of keycard.
"Very good Mr. Snart, I will need you, Martin and Mick to go to the lab and find out what Miss Vostok is working on" said Rip
"What will you be doing captain?" said Ray
Rip sighed and looked at the tabletop as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"I… will be attempting to get back in Miss Anderson's good graces, speaking of which, Gideon locate Miss Anderson for me" said Rip
The AI hesitated.
"She is in the jump ship sir and appears to be weeping, shall I inform her that her presence is requested?" said Gideon
"She's crying?" said Jax
Rip reached for a button on the table and Riley's image appeared on the table.
"It appears so Mr. Jackson" said Rip
