Disclaimer: I own nothing. All belongs to Timeless and ABC.

Three Important Men and A Beer

Lucy-

As they ate breakfast in silence Lucy was deep in thought. Last night Flynn had mentioned the meeting between Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan. She was mentally running through the most notable accomplishments of each man after 1893 and which would never come to fruition if they died today. The list was numerous.

Edison's motion picture camera or "Kinetograph" would never be patented and possibly not circulated world-wide. This would mean the approximate 1,200 films made by his film studio would never be produced. The Motion Picture Patents Company would never be started in 1908. Also, his nickel-iron-battery with lye as the electrolyte, the accumulator, which was the first recharable battery, would not come about in 1910.

The astronomical benefits for the United States from the chemical phenol would never have happened either as those events had not taken place until after World War I had began, over twenty years later. Phenol was imported from Britain and used to make phonograph records. After war broke out, the British Parliament blocked exports because it could be converted to ammonium picrate, a shock resistant high explosive suitable for use in artillery shells. Supplies from Germany were also, for obvious reasons, blockaded.

Edison needed this chemical so he decided to take matters into his own hands and undertook production of phenol at his Silver Lake facility. The chemical wasn't just needed for his phonographs because one of the derivatives was needed for Bakelite, the original thermoset plastic. It was used for a variety of things, such as insulating foams, mattresses, shoe soles, car parts, etc. The other benefit was Aspirin. The Bayer plant was a US manufacturer of the 'block buster drug' and struggled to find a continuous supply of the phenol derivative needed during the war. Edison was able to oblige, therefore keeping the country well stocked in the miracle cure pill.

Henry Ford would never complete his self-propelled vehicle, named the Ford Quadricycle, in 1896. His second automobile wouldn't have been completed in 1898 either, leading to the financial backing of William H. Murphy and the founding of the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. Though that company was dissolved in 1901, Ford would eventually form the Ford Motor Company and introduce the Model T automobile in 1908. Less than a decade later half of the cars in America were Model Ts. Ford was a huge influence in the car industry for decades, not to mention the benefit to the economy. Ford dealerships are still everywhere in America!

J.P. Morgan was also extremely important to history. His financial companies dominated corporate finance on Wall Street. He played a major role in the formation of the companies, companies still known and in business today, General Electric, the United States Steel Corporation, International Harverster and ATT. All of which were/are very important companies to the success of the United States. He directed the banking coalition that stopped the Panic of 1907, a financial crisis which could have kickstarted the Great Depression by over two decades. His dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform American business. Morgan even had a, mostly monetary, hand in the building of the Titanic. If not for a last minute decision he would've most likely perished in the disaster. He was also heavily involved in the railroads of America and so many other things they were too many to name.

If these men were to die today, despite being Rittenhouse, none of these things would take place. Lucy inwardly shuddered at how any one of those events not taking place would impact history and the lasting effects, or what would happen to the economy with the absence of these men after 1893. Rittenhouse or not, Edison, Ford, and Morgan all had to live. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have to stop him, whatever the price. She just hoped she was prepared to pay it.

By the time she was done thinking over what would never take place if the three men died today, Lucy and Flynn were seated at a small table in the downstairs restaurant area of the hotel. The atmosphere was once again filled with the familiar tension of being at odds. They had just been served a Pabst beer, now commonly known as PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon), named thus after winning the blue ribbon at the fair. Flynn thanked the waitress and began speaking as soon as she'd walked away.

"So, Professor, as you well know, Edison was a paranoid son of a bitch. Didn't ever trust anyone near his prototypes except Henry Ford, who was?" Flynn asked, no doubt testing her knowledge.

Lucy wouldn't disappoint. "Edison's employee. His chief engineer at the time."

Flynn continued. "This afternoon, Edison and Ford are going to meet with their financier, J.P. Morgan. They'll be in a heavily guarded room very difficult to get into, even for me, even in 1893. But still, before they show up, I'm gonna plant a bomb there—"

Lucy cut him off. "I'm not going to help you. You'll have to kill me." She decided it was time to see if he was bluffing or not on his threat.

"You don't think I will?"

There was the Flynn Lucy was accustomed to. "I read your classified file—"

"Don't believe everything you read," Flynn cut in.

Lucy persevered, wanting to make her point. "You saved people in Kosovo. You helped a family in Iraq. You used to care about people. You used to be good. That Rittenhouse killed your family, I believe you. But now you're putting all of us in danger." And life as we know it, she thought.

Flynn opened his mouth but no words came out. The look on his face was one Lucy couldn't decipher. She would never know what he was going to say to her statement of him being good, however, because the door had opened and Carl came up to their table.

"Well, they were easy to find. They went right for Roosevelt, just like you said they would," Carl said, speaking directly to Flynn, ignoring Lucy. The absence of his threatening manner towards her almost escaped her notice as she processed what he'd said.

Lucy had a sinking suspicion of who the 'they' Carl was talking about. She wanted clarification though. "What is he talking about?"

Flynn's tone was the normal flippant as he said, "Maybe you don't care about yourself, but you do care about Wyatt and Rufus, don't you? I've sent your friends to the, ah, World's Fair Hotel."

Horror suffused Lucy's entire being, her eyes becoming teary at the mention of her friends and where they were. "You son of a bitch."

She couldn't stop the words as they came out. How could he be so cruel, Lucy thought, outraged. Flynn was insane if he thought last night would change how she felt about him sending them there!

"But the hotel came to be known by another name. What was that again?" Flynn asked with an air of smug indifference.

"The Murder Castle," Lucy said, defeat almost coloring her tone. How can I help them and stop Flynn, she asked herself.

"You know, the phrase "serial killer" was not even coined yet when H.H. Holmes, the owner of the Murder Castle, was caught?" Flynn spoke like he was stating an inane fact equivalent to J.P. Morgan being called "the greatest banker" in American history.

"Is that right?" Carl asked, as casual as if asking a normal question in a normal conversation.

Flynn continued, "The press called him a, uh, "multi-murderer". And the hotel he built was an elaborate death trap. Trapdoors, acid vats, torture racks...he'd even dissect them sometimes. But you know all this, Lucy, don't you?"

Lucy wanted to smack the smug smirks from both Flynn's and Carl's faces. She was determined, now more than ever, to stop him and save Wyatt and Rufus, not to mention herself. I will do this, she vowed. She just wasn't sure how she was going to attain her goal. She only knew she couldn't fail. Too many lives were at stake now.