Wave 21
Kendra hesitantly drew back.
"He said what?" said Kendra
Riley sighed and looked down.
"That he loved me" said Riley
Kendra eyed her for a moment.
"and that makes you sad?" said Kendra
Riley nodded yes, because yeah it did make her sad; that he was giving up any chance he had of saving his family to be with her, when she had no intention of making it through this.
"Why?" said Kendra
Riley shoved the urge to groan away and replied with the only explanation she could give without giving everything else away.
"Cause, I'm worried he's giving up on his family to pursue me" said Riley
It was partly true; she was worried he was doing that; it just wasn't all of the truth. Kendra frowned and hugged her again.
"Oh sweetheart; so am I, but maybe he needs this. I know this is going to sound bad, but what if he can't save his family? Do you really want him to continue to torture himself trying?" said Kendra
Riley shook her head no. That she definitely did not want either. The man had been through enough already; she didn't want him to add self-torture to the list. She started to say more but then Gideon interrupted them.
"Miss Anderson, your presence is requested on the flight deck" said Gideon Kendra frowned and followed Riley as she left, wondering why she didn't receive a summons too. Riley was thinking as she walked down the halls. She really wasn't ready to face Rip as of yet but their friends needed them to hurry; so she quickly buried her misgivings and entered the room. Kendra followed her in and Jax followed Snart. Rip was leaning over the map looking pensive and nervous for some reason.
They took up positions around the table and Riley did her best to stay near Kendra and away from Rip. She needed to concentrate and the man was playing havoc with her emotions. He saw where she chose to stand and gave her a hurt look.
"According to Yuri this is where his men have access" said Rip
he touched two places on the map. The view expanded to give them a closer view of those sections.
"Yuri said, he has several of the guards on his payroll but they only have access to here" said Rip
He touched an area within the prison itself.
"what is this area?" said Riley
She touched the area directly next to it.
"The part savage controls" said Rip with a sigh
"Which means that is where they have our friends" said Kendra
"yeah more than likely" said Rip
He was frowning at the screen.
"Who does have access, besides savage that is?" said Jax
"Prisoners more than likely; if all of those dead bodies are any indication" said Snart
"So transferring a prisoner would be an everyday occurrence than?" said Riley
A plan was beginning to form in her mind; now if only Rip would let her use it. They could potentially get all of their friends out of there with a minimal amount of causalities.
"Yeah more than likely, why I take it you have a plan?" said Sara
"yeah, I do" said Riley
She glanced in Rip's direction and so did the others; when they realized she was waiting for him to throw a wrench in the works. Rip swallowed nervously, he knew the others were right he had to start trusting her.
"Go ahead" said Rip
The others looked vaguely surprised at his words.
"Okay, whoever is going in needs to obtain some guard uniforms from here…." said Riley
She hesitated on touching the screen because she wasn't sure if Gideon would respond to her or not. Rip realized why she was hesitating and decided to extend his trust just a little bit more. If she was going to trust him, he had to trust her as well.
"Gideon Miss Anderson has access to all of the Wave rider's systems from this point on" said Rip
The group stared at him in opened mouth shock, even Snart looked shocked.
"You do realize she can steal your ship out from under you now?" said Snart
Rip nodded and looked right at Riley.
"She always could before, I am simply trusting her not to" said Rip
She wasn't sure how to react to his sudden show of trust because she wasn't certain she wouldn't betray it if she had to. Jax shook his head in acceptance.
"Too true" said Jax
"Okay…ah…yeah…now where was I?" said Riley
"The plan?" said Kendra
"Oh yeah, once we have the uniforms we will need to provide a distraction to get into where they are being held…" said Riley
"This isn't my first prison break sweetheart" said Snart
Riley smirked.
"Good, because I am sure you would know the best way to distract a bunch of guards" said Riley
"A riot" said Rip
Riley nodded yes because that was precisely what she had been thinking.
"Yeah but how do we cause one from out here?" said Kendra
"Drop it from above?" said Jax
They nodded because that could work.
"Great so how can we help?" said Kendra
"We've got it covered" said Snart
He gave Riley a look and she nodded slightly, she understood exactly what he was trying to say.
"By staying on the ship we don't need any more causalities, besides Mr. Snart, Miss Anderson and Miss Lance have it covered" said Rip
Jax opened his mouth to protest.
"Actually you two can help with the distraction" said Riley
Rip frowned but didn't correct her.
"By what?" said Kendra
Riley grinned because she had thought of the perfect riot inducing distraction.
"You two are going to be making the mother of all fast food purchases" said Riley Everyone gave her strange looks except Snart.
"and how exactly are they going to pay for that?" said Rip
"I have that covered but we're going to have to make a quick stop at my bank" said Riley
"bank?" said Jax
"Yeah I um, deposited some of my… err… gains, back in the old west and I am fairly certain the account is still active because I checked it in the seventies" said Riley
"Wait what? The interest on that…." said Kendra
"would make me hella rich, yeah that was the idea" said Riley
Rip was frowning at her, because she had manipulated the timeline but it was nothing against the time master's laws.
"I take it you have the necessary documentation to prove you're the owner of that account?" said Rip
Snart started laughing and they all turned to look at him in confusion
"She's her own grandma" said Snart, between chuckles.
Riley blushed, because that was precisely the angle she had used to claim the account throughout the years.
"Oh my god, that is what you did isn't it?" said Sara
Riley nodded yes because they were right.
"wait, that means somewhere out there is an entire family line that is made up solely of you?" said Jax
Riley nodded yes again. Rip was staring at her in shock.
"How did? Never mind I don't want to know. What bank is it?" said Rip
"Wells Fargo" said Riley
Rip chuckled, of course she would use a bank that had been founded way back then. In a way he was absurdly proud that she had circumvented the time masters with her little scheme.
"Gideon where is the nearest Wells Fargo and fast food establishment?" said Rip "New York is the closest city that contains both captain" said Gideon
Rip sighed.
"Very well set course for New York, we've got to make this quick. As soon as miss Anderson is back from the bank; I want Mr. Jackson and miss Saunders in line at that fast food establishment" said rip
"Whoa, whoa man why does it feel like we're on the jv team all of a sudden, come on all we get to do is a burger run?" said Jax
Riley wasn't sure how to address that, so she let Rip handle it.
"What you are is one half of everything Savage needs to change the face of the cold war" said Rip
Kendra opened her mouth to protest too
"but you just can't…." said Kendra
"and you are the only person who can kill him, I am not going to gift wrap the two people in the world Savage wants the most" said Rip
"and the lynch pin on which the rest of the plan hangs, speaking of which you might want to take a third person, because I wasn't kidding about the mother of all fast food runs comment" said Riley
"Why how much are you planning to buy?" said Snart
"About fifteen hundred dollars' worth give or take a few hundred" said Riley
"Holy crap, sure hope they have enough burgers" said Snart
"Very well, I shall accompany Mr. Jackson and miss Saunders" said Rip
"we are here, the bank is a block to the north of us and a McDonald's is to the east about half a block away" said Gideon
Riley was surprised, she didn't even feel the ship move
"great Sara…" said Rip
"I'm going with her" said Sara
"So am I, there's no way I'm letting her walk even one block in New York with that kind of cash on her" said Snart
Rip nodded in understanding.
"Fair enough but please…" said Rip
"Don't rob the bank" said Riley
Snart rolled his eyes.
"Chill, not doing that without my partner, ready?" said Snart
Riley nodded and they headed for the door leaving Kendra, Jax and the captain on the ship. Rip watched Riley leave with a worried look on his face.
"I'm proud of you, I know that took an amazing amount of courage to do" said Kendra
Rip sighed and ran his hand down his face.
"I know but I'm still worried it wasn't enough" said Rip
"Hey man give her time, baby steps man just take it slow, she's not used to stuff like this. She just doesn't know how to react just yet" said Jax
"yeah from what she's told us, she has precious little interaction with the opposite sex" said Kendra
Rip nodded he had seen that as well.
"Or any sex for that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if she was a virgin" said Jax They both gave him an appraising look.
"She most likely is given her level of experience, it is no wonder my affections are startling, though it does give me wonder how it is that she has had no one express interest until now" said Rip
"Well she did run with pirates, maybe she saw stuff that grossed her out to the idea" said Jax
The others nodded at the plausibility of that statement, each wearing a grimace of disgust as their imaginations supplied images that would surly gross out a preteen girl.
"Yeah but afterwards when she was a teen? it's not like she is unattractive, someone had to at least take a passing interest" said Rip
Kendra shrugged
"Maybe she was an awkward gangly teen, you never know some people take a while to mature" said Kendra
"Yeah and she could have just been oblivious to any of the guys who were interested" said Jax
Rip sighed because that also sounded plausible as well.
"Either scenarios simply create the desire to take more care with her than before" said Rip
Kendra rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You're on the right track, just keep going okay" said Kendra
"Yeah man at least you care enough not to use her and abuse her, that's more than I can say for most guys" said Jax
He rubbed his head and looked guilty
"Yourself included?" said Rip
Jax nodded
"Yeah, I've made that mistake but I can learn from it and so can you" said Jax
Rip nodded in understanding.
"Thank you, courting Miranda was so much simpler than this; even going in front of the council when we were caught was less nerve wracking than this" said Rip with a short laugh
"She's worth it man, trust me" said Jax
Rip nodded in understanding because he did agree with Jax, yes Riley was worth it in his opinion. Now if only she would see that. Her earlier comment about understanding the danger of the situation wasn't sitting well with him and it wasn't because he was worried about placing her in danger.
Riley's party
They exited the ship only to find that Gideon had parked on the roof of a skyscraper. Fortunately, the lock on the roof access door was easy to remove thanks to Snart's freeze gun. The walk down to ground level on the other hand was annoying and long, fortunately the building only had twenty stories. They exited the building and Riley took a moment to adjust to the sunlight and the feeling of people all around her.
After living for several years in cities that were essentially grave yards; the press of humanity always took her a moment to get used to.
"You okay?" said Sara
"yeah just not used to crowds" said Riley
"better get used to it fast sweetheart, this cities nothing but crowds" said Snart Riley took a deep steadying breath, relishing in the feel of the water both flowing through the city and beyond it in the harbor. She always did love seaside communities.
"Gideon said it was this way" said Sara
They started walking in that direction and quickly spotted the bank. They entered, Riley filled out a withdrawal slip and waited in line just like anyone else. Snart was nervously looking around and noting that they had very little in the way of security. He sighed if only his partner was here, this bank would be an easy job. A teller became available and Riley walked up to the window.
"Hello, how may I help you?" said the teller
Riley noted her name tag read Angie.
"Hello Angie, I need to make a withdrawal from this account" said Riley
She slid the passbook to the woman along with a withdrawal slip she filled out when they got there. Angie typed the account information into her computer and stared at the screen in shock.
"Ah, I think I need to get a supervisor to help you with this" said Angie
She stepped away and talked to a fat balding man that looked like a stereotypical banker. The man came over to the window.
"Hello miss... Anderson?" said the man
"Yes, is there a problem?" said Riley
"Ah, I'm not sure this account seems to have been opened…well close to when this bank was established, do you have proof that it is yours?" said the man
Riley pulled out several more papers and her driver's license that she had from this time period. The man looked over the paperwork and the license.
"Well everything seems to be in order Miss Anderson, I am so sorry it was the fact that you shared the same name as the account opener that gave us pause" said the man
"That's understandable, I'm named after my great, great, great grandmother" said Riley
She firmly resisted the urge to smirk, because she was the opener of the original account and the man would shit bricks if he knew that. The man smiled at her more plausible explanation, than a two-hundred-year old woman who looks twenty, trying to withdraw money from an account established when the bank was established.
"how much would you like to withdraw today?" said the man
Riley shoved the withdrawal slip closer to him the man picked it up and she was pretty certain his eyes bugged out of his head for a second, when he scrolled down the screen to her available balance.
"Well I am pretty sure that will not be an issue, go ahead and complete the transaction Angie" said the man
"I'm going to need a bit more cash" said Angie
He nodded and headed for the back of the bank after he signed the slip. Angie typed a few more things into her computer than proceeded to hand Riley nearly the entire contents of her cashier drawer. Riley shoved it all into her bag along with the paperwork and they stepped away from the window. Angie put up her window closed sign and waited for the man to refill her drawer.
They quickly made their way to the front doors. Snart and Sara kept Riley between them the whole time as they walked down the street.
"Wow I think that's the most I've ever seen shoved into a bag except when we were robbing a place" said Snart
"Yes it is amazing what a few hundred years of interest can do to an account" said Riley
"Did you really open it when the bank was established?" said Sara
"Yep,1852 right at this branch too" said Riley with a laugh.
Snart had gone quiet on them all of a sudden and it was worrying the two girls. "thank you" said Snart
Riley eyed the man for a few seconds; to determine why he had just thanked her.
"You're welcome; I would do it for any one of my friends" said Riley
She conveniently left out that she didn't have very many of those and most of them were either dead or not even born yet. Snart however seemed to get what she meant by that comment. They reached the building with only one group of would be robbers rethinking their plan when Sara showed them one leg covered in knives.
They climbed in the elevator for the ride up and walked up the last two flights of stairs to the roof.
"Are you sure three people is going to be enough to carry all of that?" said Sara, as she walked into the flight deck.
Riley sat her bag on the console and began pulling out a stack of bills.
"I could have sworn I said not to rob the place" said Rip
Riley chuckled at his comment
"Relax we didn't, this is all from my account" said Riley
Rip flipped through the stack and did a quick mental count there was just over three grand sitting on the table.
"That's going to buy an awful lot of burgers" said Jax
"Yeah we're not going to be able to carry that much" said Kendra
"We know that is why we decided to go with you, besides feeling a bit hungry anyways" said Snart
He picked up the second stack of bills.
"Damn babe you must be richer than a Rockefeller, maybe I should have taken up piracy instead of bank robbery" said Snart
Rip pulled the stack from his hands before he could lighten it.
"With that amount of interest I would imagine she is, shall we?" said Rip
He shoved some of the money into his pockets and the others each took a stack.
"Damn I think this is the most money I've ever had in my pockets" said Jax
"Same here" said Kendra
Rip set the ship's cloaking device and they walked down the street to the nearest burger joint.
"So what exactly are we getting?" said Jax
"About four hundred cheeseburgers each should do it, and a big mac and chocolate milkshake" said Riley
They all gave her strange looks.
"What, I'm hungry too?" said Riley
They shook their heads.
"If you want to get something for you, go ahead" said Riley
"That's quite all right; I believe you have been generous enough already miss Anderson" said Rip
She gave him a hurt look and he backtracked.
"but now that you mention it I am feeling a bit peckish" said Rip
"if we're gonna get something for us, we should order that first that way we aren't trying to carry it and all of those bags" said Sara
They nodded in agreement and they approached the counter to make their food purchase and then sat down and ate it before going up to make the major purchases. The girl behind the counter stared at Jax in shock when he requested four hundred cheeseburgers to go.
At first she must have thought he was kidding, until he pulled out the cash to pay for it. The girl rang it up and the manager told them each in turn that it would be a bit of a wait. So they sat in the lobby and watched as smaller orders were filled first, as those in the grill area of the restaurant tried to make that huge amount of food. In the end they left with about fifteen bags each stuffed into empty fry boxes from the back of the store. They looked like they were delivering French fries to a homeless shelter or something when they left with their order.
Again opting to use the elevator this time around because not one of them wanted to do more than two flights of stairs with those boxes in hand. Once they were onboard Riley outlined some more of the plan. Then Jax and Kendra went to work affixing hundreds of small parachutes to each bag of food, while Gideon flew them back to Russia.
It was decided that Snart would go inside the prison and Sara would be his back up. Riley was worried about the plan succeeding and the consequences if it didn't and she could tell Rip was thinking essentially the same thing. So when they left the console to ready themselves for the next stage of the plan Riley gave him a meaning full glance that she hoped he would understand.
"Oh Miss Lance can I borrow you for a second? I have something that may help you with your mission" said Rip
Snart was halfway to the door and hesitated as if he suspected what they were about to ask Sara to do. Riley followed her into the office and closed the door behind her. Sara glanced in Riley's direction then back at Rip.
"so what did you really want to talk to me about?" said Sara