The Gideon Factor
Part Five
Sara was up long before the majority of her team, though the early morning was against the blonde woman's nature. Dressed and prepped for her encounter with the Time Bureau Director, she briefly passed through the galley to snag one of Ray's homemade bran protein bars for breakfast on her way to the Jump ship. While at first, she had made fun of Ray for insisting on continuing to bake the breakfast bars himself, they once did a side-by-side taste test between Ray's creation and Gideon's replication of the recipe, and Ray's were genuinely better. Something about the texture just wasn't quite right from the food fabricator. Since then, she'd become slightly obsessed with the bars.
Amaya was seated at the bar-height table in the galley, also dressed and ready for the day. "Good morning, Sara," she greeted as she ate a bowl of multi-grain cheerios with fresh blueberries.
"Hey, good morning. Where is everyone?" the Captain asked as she grabbed the bar and returned to lean on the table-top across from the trim woman.
"Ray is back in the lab making sleeping darts for the prison break, and I think everyone else is asleep still. I know Nate crawled into bed, drunk, at around three this morning, so I'd say they'll be out for a while,"
she replied, rolling her eyes at her love's sometimes childish behavior. "Oh, and I think they tried to leave you a note, if you can make out what it says," Amaya handed the blonde a torn piece of paper with a sloppy scrawl on it.
"Maybe something about Gary and the office?" Sara guessed. "Who knows. Whatever, I'm sure I'll find out when I get back. I'm heading to the Time Bureau office to talk to Ava and to see about getting us a loaner ship. While I could handle most things manually, I'm guessing we'll have some tricky maneuvers before this thing is over." The Captain grabbed a second breakfast bar, an orange juice from the fridge, and an iced black coffee and headed down the hallway, through the Cargo Bay, and toward the Jump ship.
She paused as she noted the beach chairs, beer bottles, wine glass, and empty Faygo can and wondered what in the hell her team had been up to last night. Especially with such a stressful day ahead of them today. Slightly peeved, she pressed her palm to the vacuum sealed door that led to the Jump ship, waited for the airlock to finish hissing, and passed through to the smaller ship.
The Jump ship was one of Sara's favorite parts of the Waverider. It was a great place to find some much needed privacy, and it was the first ship she was able to fly manually. As someone not very technologically inclined, she finally felt like a Captain for the first time when she realized the only technology that genuinely made sense to her were the controls of the Jump ship and the complex panel that piloted the Waverider. The smaller ship had four seats built into the length of each wall, and a Captain's chair that faced the front of the ship and the control panel. A communications monitor was built in to the ceiling of the ship, to the right of center, in the Captain's area as well.
Sara settled into the seat and pulled the shoulder harness over her head to secure herself in position. She initiated the start sequence and heard the soothing, rhythmic hum as the engines fired. Before taking off, she pressed a series of buttons on a panel below the comms monitor, the screen descended, and she waited. A moment later, Ava appeared in the screen, and Sara could tell the woman was already in the office.
What time their day started was something that took some compromise when the two women started to date more seriously. While Ave tended to wake up before dawn and go to the gym before her work day started, Sara preferred to wake up naturally, usually around 9am. Since the younger woman wasn't responsible for running an office, her morning routine was relaxed and typically involved copious amounts of coffee and chatting with her team. Then, she'd spend an hour or two sparring with whoever happened to be willing to face off against the compact woman. Their hesitation was a testament to the extensive martial arts training she'd received while with the League and strenuously continued after she'd left. Now, when they spent the night together, they'd motivate around 7am and had taken up sparring together before the Director left for work. Sara found her partner to be almost on her level in terms of skill and enjoyed the spirited competition.
Despite the heated separation the previous day, Sara couldn't help but smile when she saw the woman. Although dressed in her typical work suit, Ava's hair was down and over one shoulder with long, loose curls. It was a style Sara particularly liked. "Hey," Sara started off tentatively, fully aware of her dickish behavior. "Look, I'm sorry I snapped yesterday. Do you have a few minutes for me to come by and talk? I'll try to communicate like an adult."
The Director tilted her head and smirked at her partner. She was still a little upset and knew that the blonde wasn't likely to give up on the Time Bureau releasing Nyssa. But, they had been working on direct communication, and she couldn't ignore the gut-deep response she had at the idea of seeing her partner in person. She made the woman wait an extra beat and nodded. "Yeah, come on over. I'm heading to a quick conference call now, but I should be done by the time you get here. I'll meet you at my office."
"Okay, sounds good," Sara replied, and pushed another series of buttons to terminate the session and retract the screen. Then, she curled a leg under her and keyed in the commands to launch the Jump ship and travel to the West Wing docking station in the Time Bureau building located in Star City.
Sara arrived and docked the Jump ship successfully in the large, open bay hangar next to the sleek, black hull of the Jump ship she knew the Time Bureau Director preferred. One thing about working for the Time Bureau, they get seriously legit toys, she thought as she made her way through the station, signed her ship's information in the log, and passed through the airlocked door into the main atrium of the West Wing.
Sara handed off the iced coffee she carried to the guard at the front desk, gave the large, freakishly strong man a fist bump, and signed into the building. "Hey, Jay, good to see you." Sara always brought the man some sort of caffeinated beverage, knowing his position was typically overlooked and underappreciated. Plus, it was always a good idea to maintain a solid relationship with the main guard at an institution where your relationship fluctuated as much as Sara's did with the Time Bureau. One never knew when the sign-in roster may need to be altered. Jay smiled at her, thanked her for the coffee, and she passed through the turnstile to wind her way back to her partner's office.
The Time Bureau was an admittedly high-end operation and it was obvious that Rip Hunter spared no expense in its establishment. The ceilings were high, the workspaces were outfitted with top of the line workstations, and there was natural sunlight throughout the building. However, it still had the cold, impersonal feeling of a government agency that Sara felt crushed both dreams and creativity alike. All the employees were required to follow a very strict dress code, and Sara had spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince Ava to relax the standards once she was appointed as the Director. Honestly, Sara simply hated the outfit on her partner, and Ava was able to make just about anything look good.
Sara approached Ava's office door, which stood slightly open, knocked on it and stuck her head in to make sure she wasn't interrupting. Ava stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up one wall of her Director's office. She looked over her shoulder at the sound of the knock and took in the form of the compact blonde woman. Sara was dressed in fitted maroon pants with gray pinstripes tucked into her standard black, ankle boots, a white button-up shirt, and an open gray leather jacket. Her blonde hair was down and curled, and her overall appearance was downright sleek. Plus, there's just something about the way she carries herself, the Director mused as her partner shut the door and crossed the floor.
Ava turned and leaned back against the window. The sleeves on her white-button up shirt were rolled to the elbow to expose tanned forearms as the Director's poly-blend jacket was ditched at the end of a frustrating conference call. "Hey, you," she greeted the shorter woman.
Sara didn't break her stride as she approached, her light blue eyes locked with the Director's darker blue. She reached up and put her hand through the taller woman's long hair, her other hand in the small of her back and pulled her close. She didn't say a word as she pressed her body into the taller woman's and met her lips full on. It only took the Director a moment to respond and she leaned into the kiss, wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's thighs and lifted. Sara immediately understood the Director's plan and hopped slightly to wrap her legs around her partner's slim but solid waist.
Ava pushed herself further off the glass of the window and carried the compact blonde woman over to her large, walnut desk. She sat Sara on the edge of the desk, legs still wrapped around her. Sara removed her hand from Ava's hair as she continued to explore the taller woman's mouth and struggled to remove her leather jacket. She pulled away slightly, "Get this fucking thing off me," she grumbled, and the Director smoothly slid her hands over her lover's shoulders and allowed Sara to free her well-toned arms and the leather jacket fell to the desk.
"I thought we were going to talk like adults," Ava offered, as her hands eagerly untucked the blonde woman's shirt and lightly ran her nails across Sara's lower back, aware of the scars that passed beneath her fingertips, until her hands gripped her partner's waist. Sara pressed herself up with one hand, Ava able to feel the extension of the woman's defined abs under her hands, and Sara tilted the Director's head to the side with the other. She kissed the taller woman's neck and leaned up to her ear. "We've always been better at non-verbal communication," she said softly in a tone that sent chills down Ava's body, compounded as the blonde woman took her earlobe into her soft mouth. "Besides," she continued, "this feels pretty adult to me."
Ava looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. She could feel herself losing control of the situation quickly. As though I ever had control of this particular situation. Sara's hands moved to the buttons of her shirt and the smaller woman pulled back slightly to look into the Director's eyes. Something about what she saw there made her stop, though she wrapped her legs tightly around the Director's hips and held her firmly between her maroon-clad thighs. Sara dropped her hands to the desk behind her and leaned back, the taller woman's hands moved to her stomach as Ava tucked her fingers under the waistband of Sara's pants in a gripping motion. The blonde woman cocked her head to the side.
"Okay, okay, you're right. We'll talk," Sara said grudgingly. "But these," she grabbed each of the Director's hands in turn and placed them on a maroon-glad thigh, "can't be there. Not if you want me to actually participate in the conversation at least." Ava smirked in return and nodded, lightly making designs with her thumbs on the woman's thighs.
"Listen," Sara started, "what I said yesterday… I was frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. I don't understand your reasoning behind not releasing Nyssa to help, but it's your call. I'm sure your reasons are valid, even if I don't agree with the outcome." Ava was speechless for a moment. It's not that Sara was unable to process emotion; the Director knew her lover felt things very strongly. It's just that she was rarely able to fully articulate the feelings directly, especially when the result was the opposite of what she wanted. The compact blonde was almost always able to transform her desires into reality and would fight tooth and nail until that reality matched her goals. Especially since the death of her sister.
Ava smiled at the blonde woman and leaned over her on the desk, kissing the compact woman's lips to show her appreciation in a manner the blonde would feel. She let the passion build for a moment, and then leaned back again. "Apology accepted," she said as she took a step back, freed from the woman's legs. Sara reached her hands out, and Ava pulled her gently off the desk. They both took a moment to return their clothing to a more respectable state.
"Okay," the Director started, "so what do we do about Gideon? How do we free her from Norah and Talia?" Sara finished tucking in her shirt and paced to the window. She was glad of the warmth the sun provided coming through the large windows as her clear blue eyes took on a steely hue. The blonde woman spent years lying to everyone she loved, not only about existing, but about what she'd experienced and who she'd become after her return to life. She'd even spent anguished nights lying to herself, because while her path into darkness had started as survival, she'd also found a sense of freedom in the deadly skills she'd spent hours upon hours honing during that time. Skills that gave her a sense of confidence, independence, and purpose that she'd never imagined prior to Nanda Parbat. And for a time, her love of the hunt, and her love of Nyssa al Ghul, were all that mattered.
But, the duality of her relationship with the Time Bureau Director forefront on her mind, she was glad she needed distance from the older woman to access that part of her personality. I hate this, she thought to herself, as she knew Mick already had the basis of a plan in mind for the Legends crew to free Nyssa from the Time Bureau holding facility. From there, Sara knew she'd slip back into the darkness to free Gideon. There just isn't any other way. Not with Talia and Nanda Parbat involved. Sara took a deep breath before she faced her partner because she knew everything else out of her mouth to the beautiful woman was going to be a lie.
A false plan in place, Sara and Ava walked side-by-side as they made their way back through the office maze toward the aircraft landing facility. "Okay, so I'll have a Time Bureau ship sent to the Waverider. Just have Nate or someone send the coordinates and setup the docking station," Ava said. Sara nodded in response as they turned the corner to the vast atrium only to have Gary crash headlong into the two women.
"What the hell, Gary?!" Ava said as she quickly reached out to help balance the shorter woman. Sara stumbled back, but quickly set her feet and glared in confusion at the thin man. It probably would have been helpful if that note had been legible.
"S-s-sorry, ladies. I mean, Director Sharpe, Captain Lance. So sorry!" The man raised both hands in front of him and quickly passed between the two women. "Uh, I'd love to stay and chat," he continued awkwardly as he made his way toward his office, "but I have a very important conference call waiting." The man turned away from the women, though not without throwing another glance over his shoulder in their direction as a sigh of relief escaped him. He couldn't wait to tell Mick how well he did.
Ava's hand remained on the blonde woman's lower back as they continued to the Jump ship. "Okay, so let me know when you get back from your scouting mission, and we'll get together and verify the details of what you find. I'll file the paperwork to schedule a meeting with Nyssa, and she can give you any additional information she has to offer." Ava quickly re-capped the basics of the plan the two women had developed. It's not a bad plan, really, Sara thought, though she only wasted a moment doubting her decision. Not only was she determined to avoid seeing a Time Bureau team slaughtered by the League of Assassins, but her desire to free her former love wouldn't be denied. Just not the way it's going to go.
As Sara turned to climb into her ship, she was stopped by a not-so-subtle noise from her partner. Sara set a sheepish look on her face, quickly hopped down and turned to face the taller woman. "Sorry, my mind is somewhere else," she explained. Ava reached toward the compact woman and Sara easily moved into her arms. The shorter woman looked into the dark blue eyes and fought to keep her resolve. I've never had this much trouble keeping a secret, she thought as she stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around her partner's neck. And I'm a woman with plenty of experience living a double-life. Again, she couldn't wait for this portion of the mission to be over.
Of course, Sara knew that the Time Bureau Director would be well aware that one of her prisoner's escaped, Ava was incredibly adept at her job. Sara just hoped she'd be able to convince her partner to go along with the plan once it was already in motion. Her guilt was slightly assuaged by the idea that she was likely saving Ava's life as well. Nanda Parbat wasn't a place you navigated successfully without inside knowledge. In fact, it was designed and defended specifically to keep unwanted visitors out.
Sara kissed the Director until she felt reconnected to the woman. She was determined to make it through the mission without completely shutting down her emotions, though she could already feel the instinctive pull to do so. She leaned into the taller woman's body and let her hands wander down the long, lean muscles of the woman's back. As her breathing became ragged, she reluctantly pulled away and placed a final, chaste kiss on the woman's lips. The Director smiled and released her partner.
"Be careful," Ava said as Sara nodded and turned to climb into the Jump ship. Ava stood for a moment more, watching her partner prep and settle in to the ship. Then she waved a final time as she was forced to step back with the whine of the igniting engines.
As Sara watched Ava's confident stride head back toward the building, she keyed the comms unit to connect to the backup communications device on the Waverider. Ray picked up and Sara quickly briefed him on the requirements to receive the loaner Time Bureau aircraft. In the background, Sara could vaguely hear Nate call out to her, and then the Steel man's voice took over the comms unit.
"Captain! Hey, did you happen to see Gary while you were there?" he asked, slightly breathless.
Sara cocked her head in confusion and replied, "I mean, he bumped into us, but he didn't say anything. What was with that message you tried to leave me last night?" she asked as she realized the two things could be related.
"Are you wearing a jacket? Please tell me you're wearing a jacket. That's what we practiced with," the man continued, causing even more confusion for the blonde.
"Uh, yeah, I'm wearing a jacket. Nate, what the hell is going on?" she asked as she started checking her jacket. Suddenly, in her right jacket pocket, she felt something that she knew she hadn't put there. From the pocket, she removed a badge on a Zelda lanyard with a sticky note affixed to the badge. "Whoa," she exclaimed, a bit shocked she hadn't noticed the man slip the items into her jacket. "Nate, are these what I think they are? How did he do that? How did he know I was going to be there?" she asked, now thoroughly confused.
"Mick! Zari! He did it! He pulled it off!" he yelled at his co-conspirators. "Captain, come back and we'll tell you all about it! But, the short version is that we blackmailed Gary into helping us and you now have an access badge and today's access codes to the East Wing of the Time Bureau where the holding facility is. Oh, and Mick has a breakout plan for Nyssa."
Sara was speechless. She always had faith in her team to get things done eventually, but they rarely found themselves well-prepared and ahead of the curve. Honestly, this almost makes me more nervous. To her crew she simply said, "You guys are fucking awesome. I'm on my way back. Let's get this show on the road." Nate pumped his fist in the air, stoked that one of his independent plans finally worked out.