There were voices near her, voices she didn't know as she floated through consciousness, awake but unable to move.
"It isn't working," the woman said angrily, "He told me this would work without fail."
"Did he expect her to be pregnant?" a man asked.
There was a pause, "You think that's stopping the upload?"
"It's the only difference to when Marcus did it," the man replied.
There was another pause, longer this time.
"Kill the baby," the woman said indifferently.
"That's not something I can do."
"It's not human, Simpkins," the woman continued, "It doesn't matter."
"Not what I mean," the man replied, "The thing she's carrying has a defence mechanism. If we try to kill it, it will fight back."
"Then we only have one option."
Alex saw Rip standing waiting for them as they returned to the DEO, his face set like stone and she knew that once Gideon was safe, he was going to set fire to something. Possibly literally.
"What the hell was Gideon doing on that mission?" Rip demanded the moment Alex stepped out the car, "What the hell were you doing letting her go?"
Alex winced, "She insisted on coming with us."
"And you couldn't have said no?" sarcasm filled his voice, "Even I can do that, and I can't bloody lie to her at the moment."
"Gideon wanted to be there when we caught Simpkins so that she could make sure that our guests left," Alex told him, glancing over to where the four from the other Earth stepped out of the car, "For you."
Rip let out a long breath before asking, "Are you okay?"
Squeezing his arm, Alex nodded, "I'm fine. We were just knocked out."
"Good," he replied before taking a breath, "I'll be with Winn."
Alex knew that she hadn't completely dodged the bullet just delayed it for a while as he walked away heading to control centre. Rip was almost out the door when he let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees.
"Rip!" Alex cried worriedly, running to help, reaching him at the same time Sara did.
He was gasping, pain and fear covering his face, "They've done something to Gideon."
"What?" Sara asked confused, "How do you know that?"
Alex ignored her, "Rip, take a deep breath. Tell me what you can."
"It's like a cramping in my stomach," Rip told her, realisation hitting him suddenly, "They've induced labour."
"That's not good."
"Alex, I need to see everything we have," Rip told her, forcing himself to his feet with her help.
"Are you sure you're able to do this?" Alex asked.
Rip took a long breath in before nodding, "I have to be. I'm not losing her again, Alex."
She nodded, "Okay, let's go."
Pulling Rip's arm around her, Alex started him moving to the control centre aware that Sara and the others were following on.
x
Rip took a deep breath as he took his seat at Gideon's station, forcing himself to focus despite the fear and pain. Partly his and part Gideon's echoing through him. Winn dropped into the seat at his side and rested his hand on Rip's shoulder briefly before he started to pull up all the information they had found.
Rip scanned through everything, looking for that one detail that would tell him where she was. He was internally berating himself for not helping to begin with. If he had, if he'd been able to put his own issues aside then Gideon would be here, safe with him.
"Wait," Rip called suddenly, "Winn look at this."
The younger man frowned, "It's just blueprints for the warehouse we were in."
"No," Rip enhanced one section of the blueprints they were looking at, "Look at this."
"What is that?" Winn asked thoughtfully as he stared at the screen.
Rip turned to him, "It's Time Master technology. I've seen it before and wished never to again."
"What does it do?" Alex asked from behind them.
Turning Rip looked at the people standing there, the four from his original universe along with Alex, Hannah and J'Onn.
"Once it's activated it will be able to send out an energy pulse into the atmosphere," Rip said, "They can use it to kill Kara and every other alien on the planet."
Horror covered Alex's face, "Why haven't they used it yet?"
"There two good things about this," Rip told her, "Firstly there needs to be a specific atmospheric condition before it can be activated. Secondly. in order to use the device an AI is required to control it. You don't have the technology in this time to programme one sophisticated enough and the one from the Phoenix was destroyed when the ship crossed universes."
"That's why they want Gideon," Alex deduced, "Marcus must have somehow recognised who she was and that's why they had her sedated in the cell when we found her. He was trying to work out how to upload her to the Phoenix, but we rescued her before he could do so. He must have told whoever has her now how to do it."
Rip winced suddenly as another spike of pain went through him, "I have a feeling the baby is stopping the upload."
"Which is why they induced labour," Alex finished for him.
Rip nodded relieved when the pain eased, "If they manage to upload Gideon's consciousness as an AI, the same as Marcus did, then they will be able to order her to do what they want. Unless I can get there to override any orders."
"Do you have any idea how to find her?" J'Onn asked.
Rip shook his head, "Still working on that but now I know what we're looking for I think I know how to ensure if they manage to upload her consciousness, I can provide her with some back-up. Cisco," he said to the meta-human, "I'm going to need your help."
"Whatever I can do," Cisco told him.
"Ava," Rip turned to her, "Where is Eve Baxter these days?"
Surprised he was talking to her directly it took her a second to reply, "She moved to France, I have a possible address."
"Write it down," Rip ordered, "Cisco, I need you to take me to speak to Eve then bring us back here."
Cisco nodded, "Give me a location." Ava handed him the address and Cisco frowned, "We'll have to stop off at Star Labs first for me to find this."
Rip nodded, "Keep working on finding her, Winn. I'll be back soon."
He quickly fixed his courier so he could go through the barrier and nodded to Cisco. The meta-human opened a breach and they stepped through into Star Labs.
x
"Okay," Sara stated the moment Rip and Cisco disappeared, "I think this is a good time for someone to tell us what's going on?"
Alex glanced at J'Onn who nodded in agreement.
"We found Gideon in a lab of a man who tried to kill Kara," she told them, "She had no memory of who she was until the day we stumbled across Rip in another of the labs about three months later. Gideon has the ability to connect with computers, we theorised it's because she was once an AI."
"Makes sense," Sara nodded, "How was she able to shoot flames at us from her hands?"
Alex smiled slightly, "It's a surrogate pregnancy. The child is an alien who has given her the ability to protect herself and the baby," she quickly pre-empted, "The reason Rip is sensing the pain she's in is because they're connected by the child. And that is a story that is too complicated to go into right now."
"I think I have something," Winn called to them before Sara could ask any more questions, "We thought they left the warehouse with Gideon, but they didn't. What Rip found must have been built at the site, there's no reason to have the blueprints for the machine within the building otherwise."
Alex moved to his side, "Where are they because we searched the entire building?"
"Beneath it," Winn told her, "Look, see this? It's a hidden entrance. There's a whole other level we didn't see."
Alex swore, "Get the team geared up ready for when Rip gets back, I want Matthews there too and call Kara. We are finishing this once and for all."
x
Music played softly in the background as the woman sitting on her couch sipped her coffee while reading her book.
"Captain Baxter," Gilbert spoke up turning the music off, "Captain Hunter is at the door."
"What?" Eve demanded in amazement. Dropping her book, she yanked open the door and stared at the man standing there.
Rip gave her a small smile, "Hi, Eve. It's good to see you. I need your help."
Shaking her head, Eve stepped forward and hugged him before punching his arm, "Where the hell have you been?"
"It's a long story," Rip said, looking a little surprised at the hug but not the punch, "I need Gilbert to help me save Gideon."
Eve blinked, "Wait, Gideon is alive? Sharpe and Bennett told me she had been destroyed."
Rip nodded, "It's another long story. Will you let Gilbert help me?"
"It's his choice," Eve said, allowing Rip inside.
"Gilbert," Rip called, "Will you help me?"
"Of course, Captain Hunter," the AI replied instantly.
"You'll need to be transportable," Rip told him.
Eve moved to the main controls and entered her command codes, "Alright, Gilbert download is available." Waiting several moments until the console confirmed the download was complete, she then detached the back-up CPU and attached a transport disc to her wrist, "Gilbert, check please."
"All systems within normal parameters," Gilbert replied.
Rip let out a cry of pain suddenly and Eve caught him when he stumbled, "Are you okay?"
"Part of the long story," Rip replied through gritted teeth, taking several deep breaths, "Are you ready to go?"
Eve nodded.
"Cisco," Rip called.
Eve stared at the man who walked in, one of the members of team Flash, the meta-human hero called Vibe. One of her favourites from this time period.
"Let's go," Rip told the younger man who nodded and opened a breach instantly.
Without hesitation Eve followed her former colleague and, to her surprise, friend through a breach into the control centre of what looked like a government agency.
x
Rip saw the team ready to go when they stepped back into the Control Centre.
"We know where she is," Alex told him coming over to them, "Kara is meeting us there."
Relief filled him and Rip let out a sigh.
Alex looked at Eve, "Hi."
"Apologies," Rip shook himself, "Alex Danvers, meet Eve Baxter. Eve used to be a Time Master as well."
"Welcome to the DEO," Alex told her, "I would love to talk more but we have to get going."
Rip rested his hand on Eve's arm guiding her through the base, he took a gun handing Eve one as well.
"Are you telling me where we're going," Eve demanded climbing into the car he led her to, "Or do I have to guess?"
Taking a quick breath, Rip started to explain briefly what was happening pausing every few minutes to breathe through the continuing pain.
Eve stared at him for a few minutes finally saying, "You do not do things by half, do you?"
Rip frowned at her.
"You need Gilbert to interface with the system and help Gideon remain aware enough if she does connect to the systems," Eve noted, "Gilbert, can you detect any issues with this plan?"
"No, Captain Baxter," Gilbert replied, "If Captain Hunter can provide me an interface then I can help Gideon."
"How much longer," she demanded moving to controls.
Simpkins shrugged, looking at the woman on the bed as she cried out in pain, "Labour apparently takes time."
"Can't you do anything?"
Simpkins rolled his eyes, "You have noticed that she basically bursts into flames whenever one of us goes near her, haven't you? We'll just have to wait until the birth."
The woman he worked for rolled her eyes, "Fine."
"One thing that should please you," Simpkins continued, "Is she appears to be connecting with the computer already. From the readings I'm getting, as soon as the brat is born she'll upload fully."
"Good," she smiled smugly, "Then we can remove the alien scum from our planet, once and for all."