"Why did you take me away from the League? How did you do this?" Merlyn asked angrily as he, Mick, and Sara arrived on a neighborhood street. "Where are we and who are you?"
"Calm down, Dimple," Mick said. "This is my childhood home. Me and my pal Snart found a time sphere from the future and we can time-travel."
Merlyn scoffed. "Even if time-travel is real, which the existence of meta-humans seems to point towards, why bring me to your childhood home?"
"Because I burned this place down in 1990, this year, and I wanna watch it happen again," Mick laughed maniacally.
"I will not believe some Central City thug. And…" Merlyn's train of thought was interrupted by the sight of Sara's body. "What on Earth do you want with Sara Lance?"
"I want to revive her, but as a new partner for me. And let my pal Snart stay Ra's al Ghul. Deserves some fun."
"You're a madman and a maniac! Give me that time sphere!"
Young Mick quickly ran out of his house with a set of matches. Mick fired the cold gun at him.
"Hey, what's the big deal?" Young Mick asked.
"Don't play with matches, kid," Mick said. "Use this instead!" He tossed Young Mick the cold gun.
"What are you doing? We'll have to go see Ra's al Ghul this year…" Merlyn said.
"I'm bringing him along to resurrect Sara Lance here. Nobody knows this kid better than I do." Mick replied.
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"Nyssa, what happened to Sara?" Rip demanded, as he landed the Waverider back in December 2015.
"Sara died in 2014, she remains dead," Nyssa sighed.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to recruit John Diggle, Laurel Lance, Felicity Smoak, Thea Queen, Oliver Queen, and Roy Harper after all," Rip realized.
"I'm sorry, but that is not possible. Thea and Laurel weren't themselves when they popped out of the Lazarus Pit. Snart had to slay them both with the Sword of my father after they attacked Mick Rory, a Star City police officer. Following that, I revealed myself after having been both resurrected and taking the Lotus Elixir. I joined Team Arrow," Nyssa explained.
"Mick Rory, a police officer?" Rip asked, surprised. "I didn't envision this. The timeline has been dreadfully altered."
"Look, Captain Cold and Heatwave are gone, so let's just get back to S.T.A.R. Labs and regroup the team," Nyssa said.
"If you insist, I suppose I should get to know the individuals I am recruiting," Rip said. "At least, let's work on fixing the timeline later."
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As the surviving members of Team Arrow and Team Flash gathered at S.T.A.R. Labs once again, Rip went to the board. "Alright, so this line is time. Time-travel is real…"
"Well, I've done it before, so I can confirm it," Barry replied. "But who are you?"
"My name is Rip Hunter. I was sent here to recruit eight legendary individuals. Remembering what Sara had told him, he said, "Leonard Snart, Mick Rory, Laurel Lance, Thea Queen, Roy Harper, Oliver Queen, John Diggle, and Felicity Smoak." Rip explained.
"You're a little late," John pointed out. "Thea and Laurel died last month. Roy was kidnapped by Damien Dahrk."
"This is why time-travel is such a dangerous thing. Tell me, what did you use, Hunter?" Harry wondered.
"My time ship, the Waverider. I can teleport you all there, if you like." Rip said.
"That is so cool!" Ray shouted a bit too loudly.
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As the group finally landed on the ship, Rip was hit by a plethora of questions.
"Do you have a science lab here?" Stein asked.
"Do you sleep on this thing?" Kendra asked.
"All your questions will be answered. This is Gideon."
A disembodied hologram head began speaking. "Hello, I am Gideon, the artificial intelligence of the Waverider. Welcome aboard."
"This is a technological marvel," Ray said, looking around at the spacious rooms.
"So, are you just a one-man team?" Cisco asked.
"Gideon is the one who finds people. Gideon, please find Mick Rory, original timeline." Rip said.
"How can both be in existence?" John asked. "Wouldn't that be a paradox?"
"Not necessarily. When coming from an erased timeline, you tend to have a while before it catches up to you depending how long you avoid the present." Stein explained.
"Mr. Rory has been located in the year 1990, along with Sara Lance and Malcolm Merlyn," Gideon replied.
"Rory has Sara?" Oliver asked. "We need to save her!"
"Gideon, set the course for 1990!" Rip said. "Who's ready for time-travel?"
"Not me, there's been a meta-attack!" Barry exclaimed. "How to get back to Centium City?"
"We cannot yet. We must fix this timeline mistake. Or aberration, if you will!" Rip protested.
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"While I go resurrect Ms. Lance here, why don't you give your younger self the Cold Gun?" Mick asked.
Grabbing Sara's head, Merlyn snapped. "I do not trust you with Sara!"
"Then I don't trust you with living!" Mick growled, shooting Merlyn.
"No, stop!" Merlyn yelled.
Mick looked over at his younger self. "You ready to find Ra's al Ghul, kid?"
"Yes sir," Young Mick said.
Mick laughed as Merlyn screamed in pain, and stole a car.
"Hop in, kid. We're gonna complete our Golden Trio by waking this lady up here. Take a plane ride to India." Mick said.
"No," Young Mick said. "I saw you kill that man. You have no morality. You're just a criminal. I hate criminals. They should all be brought to justice. So what if my family sucks? At least I am not, and never will be a pyromaniac like you are."
Mick suddenly felt a strange feeling overwhelming him, so he quickly yelled, "Get out of here! I'd rather recruit the younger version of that former Ra's Eagle!"
Young Mick ran quickly off, and Mick hopped in the car. "Was I always that stupid?" Mick asked, as he drove himself to the airport, making sure Sara was obscured from view..
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Mick wasn't sure what to do with Sara's body as he entered the airport. Packing her into his suitcase, he quickly shot down a woman who was looking at him suspiciously. The woman fell over, collapsing. To Mick's surprise, the woman's husband-or at least he assumed such, was a younger Merlyn. "Did you just kill my wife?" Merlyn asked, visibly devastated.
"She was annoying me. Trying to get my dead, uh, girlfriend, to India to bury her, it was her last request." Mick said.
"India? My friends have a private jet, I'm sure they won't mind borrowing it. What's your name?" Merlyn asked.
"Rory. Rory...Michaels." Mick said.
"Nice to meet you, Rory. The name's Merlyn. Malcolm Merlyn." Merlyn reached out his hand for Mick to shake, but Mick gave him the cold gun and cold goggles.
"Take these and I'll get your wife back," Mick said.
"Deal," Merlyn agreed. "I'll gladly accept these if you promise to come on my friends' jet,"
"I don't see why not," Mick grinned wickedly.
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"So, this is the year 1990," Oliver said. "I know Barry's claimed to do it, but this just outright confirms it. Central City didn't look like this last time I checked," Oliver then threw up.
"Oh, sorry," Rip said. "Time drift. We'll save Thea and Laurel soon enough, I promise."
"Maybe we should test your memories?" Nyssa asked Oliver.
"My best friend, Tommy, died in 2010," Oliver said.
"2010?" Rip asked. "Thomas Merlyn should have died in 2013. You returned from the island after 5 years away."
"Well, we went there when I was 19, in 2004. Laurel and I had just begun dating, it was rough," Oliver replied.
"So you have no recollection of cheating with Sara?" Rip asked.
"No, that never happened. The timeline must be fairly different from the original." Oliver said.
"And who is Captain Cold?" Rip asked.
"Malcolm Merlyn, of course," Barry replied.
"And Heatwave?" Rip asked.
"Quentin Lance," Felicity said. "We were all kind of shocked when we found out.
"Quentin Lance burned his wife Dinah to death in 1990. Became permanently estranged from his daughters, Sara and Laurel, and quit his job. Claims it wasn't him, but eventually teamed up with Captain Cold," Cisco said, reading from a news article online.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Rip replied. "Mick Rory is Heatwave. Leonard Snart is Captain Cold. It seems they have swapped it around. I think this means we know where we're going. Time to suit up. Oliver, Felicity, me, and John will go to the Lances' house. Carter, Ray, Kendra, Stein, and Jax will go to Nanda Parbat. Team Flash will protect the Waverider and work on a way to save Thea and Laurel."
"Got it," Caitlin replied.