The Gideon Factor
Part Six
Sara approached the Waverider and noted the securely docked ship that was on loan from the Time Bureau. She initiated the sequence that would allow her to return the Jump ship to its own docking station and noted that the Time Bureau vessel seemed to be one of their standard issue aircraft. It was much smaller than the Waverider, but she knew the ship would be more functional than all the Legends trying to squeeze into the Jump ship for any period of time. It had a sleek, rounded form constructed by a combination of an aluminum composite and titanium alloy with the ship's alphanumeric serial number in large, white block font on the side.
She quickly secured the Jump ship, unfastened the restraints, and stood, reaching her arms high above her head, followed by a couple quick hops to get her circulation going to her extremities. Sara could only hope that the pilot seat in the Time Bureau ship was more comfortable than the Jump ship's and made a mental note to upgrade the seat she just left when this fiasco was over. Maybe Ray can fabricate something, she thought as she made her way through the Cargo Bay doors and down the long hallway to find her team.
Nate spotted the Captain as she turned the corner and entered the main bridge. "Hey, Cap'n, we're in here," he called from the library. The five members of the Legends team got up from their sprawled positions throughout the library where they clearly waited for the return of the blonde woman. As Sara trotted up the wide stairs into the room, they all formed up around the large wooden table, scarred with years of mission planning and research. Plus a few nights playing quarters. The circular table was currently covered by a black and white printout of the Time Bureau building blueprints.
Sara took her place at the table and held up the badge and access code sheet, giving her team a proud smile. "When this is over, remind me to get the story on how you taught Gary to do that." Nate beamed in response and nodded toward Mick. "That's all the big guy! He taught Zari and me how to do it too," he said excitedly. "It was awesome!" he turned to the dark-haired woman next to him with his hand up. Zari rolled her eyes in a good-natured manner and gave the historian a high five, unable to resist his childlike enthusiasm.
Sara laughed, shook her head, and set the badge and paper on the table. She leaned on her hands to get a better look at the blueprints. "Okay, what do you guys have so far?" Now that it was time for business, Sara took a moment to appreciate the sense of urgency she felt creeping into her consciousness. Gideon had already been in the hands of Norah Darhk and Talia al Ghul for almost 24 hours and Sara knew the Legends still had some hurdles to clear before they could steal her back. She could also feel the beginning tickle of trepidation at the thought of using the Death totem again. One problem at a time, Killer, she told herself and focused her attention on the blueprints as Mick began to explain the plan.
"Okay, Boss," the large man began as he indicated an area on the map. "So, the East Wing is here, that's where they're holding the lady." Sara took a brief moment to imagine Nyssa's response at being referred to as 'the lady' but nodded to the man to continue. She figured her gruff teammate would meet the dynamic, dark presence of her former lover soon enough. "As you know, most of the big wigs' offices and day-to-day operations are manned from the West Wing over here." Sara immediately picked out Ava's office on the map and was momentarily relieved at the distance between the tall blonde's office and the holding facility. As if betraying her from a distance made it any better.
"We're going to have Zari here on the Mother ship with remote access to the Time Bureau system. She's going to cause a diversion, set off the sprinklers or some shit," he stated vaguely, clearly trusting Zari to come up with that part of the plan. Sara made eye contact with the woman across the table from her, received a nod, and made a mental note to circle back around to that important detail. "Nate and Amaya will run interference with the diversion plan while you, Ray and I use the cargo delivery elevator to enter the building with a fake delivery."
Ray took over the plan for a moment. "Captain, when we get in the cargo and repair storage room, I can shrink down and travel through the air ducts to Ms. al Ghul's holding cell," he offered helpfully. And while the idea was sound for a normal jailbreak, Sara knew from experience that if someone suddenly appeared in the holding cell with Nyssa al Ghul, he wasn't going to last long. Especially if it was someone she didn't know, and that person was a man in a super-suit. Sara could remember the first time she witnessed Nyssa's incredible reflexes first-hand.
She and Nyssa were still traveling back to Nanda Parbat from Lian Yu, and Sara had finally regained enough strength to be somewhat useful to the duo. She had learned that while her strange traveling companion was an outstanding hunter and could cook well enough not to starve, the dark-haired woman clearly didn't seem to care enough to create meals that actually had flavor, or variety for that matter. Sara, on the other hand, although she didn't take a ton of pleasure in the chore, was raised sharing in the cooking tasks with her family members.
So, on this evening, when Nyssa stopped their progress earlier than usual and stated in a tone that discouraged company that she was going to visit some ancient ruin or something that was apparently important to her bloodline, Sara decided to test her newly budding hunting skills. 'I'll make a real meal for us,' she stated to herself. Sara was starting to realize that her brooding companion's approval meant a lot to her and wanted to show that she really did pay attention to the woman's many lessons on survival.
Sara made her way carefully through the woods, away from their campsite, trying desperately not to break all the twigs between her and where she thought she'd spotted a small deer nearby. Once she had recovered from near starvation and her injuries enough to move comfortably, she'd started practicing how to control her body so that she could walk softly and avoid making a 'horrible ruckus' as she had been accused of by the older woman. As she picked her way forward, she noted some berries that she could grab on the return trip. 'Plus, I think I spotted some mint on the other side of the campsite earlier. I'll show her how we do dinner, Lance style," she softly mumbled to herself, moving with a definite purpose now.
She approached the small clearing where she had spotted the deer, reset her grip on the knife that was gifted to her by the taller woman. Sara had been impressed with how carefully wrapped the handle was in a fine, red leather, and she currently ran her thumb along the hilts smooth, comfortable grip. Sara set herself behind a boulder on the edge of the clearing and waited, knowing the young deer would likely return to the small pond set inside the open space. She'd only waited a few minutes before the animal returned and Sara smirked in satisfaction, a facial trait she realized she was adopting from her darker companion. She prepared herself mentally, and slowly crept from her hiding place.
Sara had been so focused on controlling her motions and her breathing that she had traveled almost halfway between the rock and the small body of water before she sensed someone watching her. She glanced over her shoulder and it took her a moment to spot her onlooker, still as the trees around her, standing next to the rock Sara had abandoned only minutes before. Sara took a moment to be impressed with how the black-clad woman was somehow able to blend in to the forest and couldn't help a small grin in response to the watchful smirk on her dark-haired companion's face. Sara turned her attention back to her task and refocused on the young deer that had returned and moved closer to the water.
Suddenly, Sara heard a twig break off to her right and she froze, unsure if her companion had moved toward that direction, but entirely aware that she now felt danger along the tree line. 'No way would Nyssa be that noisy', she thought to herself. She glanced back over her shoulder, where she'd previously spotted the older woman, and met the dark brown eyes that immediately tracked to the location of the noise. In an instant, the tall woman was in motion.
"Sara, get down!" Nyssa screamed and before Sara had time to move, the powerful woman had pulled out her collapsible bo staff, took two fast steps and launched herself off Sara's rock toward the blonde woman. Nyssa stretched her body out in the air, her velocity a testament to the powerful thigh muscles she had spent years developing. Sara was in awe as the dark-haired woman careened in her direction and viciously swung the staff toward the ground before she tucked her knees to her chest and gracefully rolled as she struck the earth just past Sara.
Sara had heard a distinct clang with the swing of the staff and finally threw herself down to the ground. From her prone position, she spotted a throwing knife sticking out of the moist earth, a foot or so beyond where her head now lay. Someone had tried to kill her, and Nyssa saved her life…again. Sara was startled as Nyssa tore after their attacker into the woods. Nyssa was able to capture the attacker and learned that he was sent by a rogue faction in the League to kill the dark-haired woman. The man had planned to kill the Heir to the Demon's traveling companion and kill the Heir herself in her moment of grief.
That moment had quickly changed the course of their training, as Sara insisted that Nyssa begin teaching her the bo staff and the vigorous exercises she'd need to strengthen her body and become a formidable opponent to any future attackers. She refused to be someone's weakness, especially someone as strong as Nyssa Raatko. It was a premonition of what was to come in the young blonde woman's life. Looking back, Sara realized how quickly she'd shifted from just wanting to survive, to taking pride in the cuts and bruises she acquired as she slowly turned her body into a weapon. She put the thoughts aside and refocused on her team.
Now, how to explain the risk to her teammate that didn't make it seem like she didn't trust him to handle the situation. "She'll kill you," Sara stated bluntly, internally peeved at her continued lack of nuance. "How about I go through the vents and you and Mick can clear the escape route with the sleeping darts you worked on. Thank you for that, by the way," she nodded toward the ship's engineer.
"Yeah, haircut," Mick stated, "thanks for making it so the Boss lets me shoot people." It was a sincere statement from the larger man and Ray visibly puffed himself up with the praise from his gruff friend.
Sara turned her attention to the in-house hacker. "Zari, any chance you can do your distraction plan both remotely and without Nate and Amaya? I need them to do a favor for me."
The hacker took a moment to consider the request as she put her loosely curled locks into a quick and messy bun. She laughed quietly to herself causing a quirk to her Captain's eyebrow. "Yeah, I can take care of it." When it came to computer stuff, Sara trusted the woman completely. Despite Zari's unfavorable past with government agencies, the Captain also knew that the brilliant woman supported her growing relationship with the Time Bureau Director and hoped that meant she knew not to go too far. Basically, as long as the dark-haired woman limited any damage to things and avoided the Time Bureau employees, the blonde was willing to give the hacker free reign to do what she needed to do.
"Sara, if you don't need us for the diversion, what's the favor? How can we help?" Amaya asked as she leaned her lithe frame against the planning table.
"See, the thing is," Sara began hesitantly as she stepped away from the round table and began pacing through the Library. "I told Ava that we were going to use the Time Bureau ship to go on a scouting mission of Nanda Parbat. I know for sure that there are tracking devices on the ship, as there should be, and I'd imagine that Ava will have someone keeping tabs on where we take it." She'd made her way over to a vertical stand that contained numerous large, rolled maps. Sara carefully searched through the maps until she found the one she was looking for, slightly older than the surrounding options with round, wooden knobs on each end, and removed it.
Sara carried the map back toward her team as Mick and Nate made a space for the Captain between them. She placed the item on the table and unhooked the carved antler clasp that secured the strip of wide, brown leather around the map. Nate, always the historian, admired the various shades of brown that made up the land forms of the Near East, India, and the surrounding lands on the map. He put his longer arms to good use and reverently helped unroll the map, as Ray did the same from the opposite side.
"Since I couldn't necessarily tell the Director of the Time Bureau that we were going to be breaking in to her facility later today, I need you two to take the Time Bureau ship somewhere in this region," she indicated an area in the Himalayan mountains. "It doesn't really matter where, to be honest, since very few people know where Nanda Parbat is, but I'd like for you guys to end up somewhere close, so it looks believable to whoever is tracking you."
"This is fantastic, Captain!" Nate said excitedly. "There's a sic temple that Wally told me and Amaya about in Nepal. Is that close enough?" Sara figured that would put them in a neighboring country to the hidden city's actual location, but what the hell. It would get the job done.
"As long as it's secluded, it should be fine," she replied. Sara was both happy and slightly jealous to see the look of excitement shared between Nate and Amaya. She knew she was putting a lot of faith in a relatively new relationship to trust that she and Ava would make it through the upcoming fiasco. Well, we've had to pull the relationship from the ashes before, so maybe everything will be okay. Maybe it's like the phoenix of relationships.
Sara took one end of the map and began rolling it up. "Captain, aren't you going to show us where Nanda Parbat actually is?" Ray asked, supported by a round of nods from his teammates. Well, everyone except Mick, who had lost interest the second they'd stopped talking about the plan itself. "I can show you the general area," the blonde woman began, "but without the key, it's still pretty vague." She quickly unrolled the map once more and indicated an area in a northwestern range of the Himalayas. There really weren't many distinguishing factors, and Nate could only narrow it down to possibly lie in an area of what is now northeastern Pakistan.
"Okay, so who has the key?" Ray asked logically.
"Nyssa." Sara said with a slight shrug. "I'm really not just being sentimental when I say we need her help. We genuinely need her to even find the place. It's in a hidden valley at the base of Nanga Parbat peak, but both time and location work differently in Nanda Parbat. It would be impossible to locate it at two consecutive moments in time without the key and this map. So, let's go get her." Sara rolled the map once again and moved to set it on a wooden shelf that took up the majority of a wall in the library.
It was difficult to refocus from the mystery and mystical nature of Nanda Parbat, and Sara recognized the slightly glazed look in her team's eyes. If it had been vampires, she may have lost Mick as well, but the man was reliably unphased by most wonders of the world. As Sara returned to her place at the table, she indicated the blueprints once more and got the attention of the burly man. "Okay, Mick, so Zari causes a distraction, Nate and Amaya take the Time Bureau ship, I can fly the Jump ship manually and we can cloak her near our escape route. What am I missing?" She leaned on her forearms, feeling the welcome stretch through her back as she looked up at the man.
"That's about it, Boss. Haircut found some Time Bureau outfits in the Time Bureau ship." To which Sara immediately groaned. "Mick, really? You're going to make me wear the polyblend outfit of my nightmares? Hell, you're willing to do that?!" She asked, incredulous that the man would be willing to put himself in a navy-blue government suit.
"Oh, hell no, Boss. They're for the guys that work in the ship repair bay." The Captain let out a sigh of relief and motioned for the man to continue. "You, me, and Haircut will use the Cargo delivery elevator here in the northeast corner of the building. It'll bring us in to the Cargo and Repairs Storage facility. There are three guys that work in there, according to the schedule Z stole. We'll dart those dudes. There's an access point to the ventilation system here on the southeast wall of the room. You'll enter through there." In this moment, Sara loved her thieving teammate. Straightforward and efficient.
"Okay, Zari, which holding cell is Nyssa in?" There were four holding cells indicated on the blueprint, all along the eastern-most wall of the building. It looked like the ventilation access point that Mick had indicated passed over each of the cells. It was impossible to tell if there was a duct large enough for her to exit into the cell from the print, but she could only hope that her team had the answer. A security office took up most of the western portion of the East Wing, and Sara recalled seeing large glass windows and well-armed guards within the office on the tour Ava gave her on her first visit. I bet Nyssa was right there and I didn't even know it.
"This is all so much easier with Gideon here," the dark-haired woman grumbled as she retrieved her laptop from a small table next to the overstuffed chair she'd occupied when the Captain returned. She made her way back and placed the open machine in front of the Captain, having to lightly shove Nate's solid form to make a place for her next to the Captain.
"I was able to hack into the security system, though only for a few minutes in case they actually monitor that server more than they do the one all the employee computers use. Nyssa was initially in the second cell from where you'll be entering the vents, but we had Mick here encourage Gary to move her to the next cell down so that you'd have an access point into the actual cell." It took Sara a moment to process what Zari said as she was now faced with her former lover. Zari had pulled up the security feed from this morning to verify that Gary had indeed been able to move the woman to a more accessible location. She was clad in a light gray, nondescript jump suit and was calmly pacing the rectangular cell. Her long, dark hair was slightly unkempt, but Sara thought she looked healthy and alert from what she could tell on the lightly grained feed. She couldn't help the feeling she got in the pit of her stomach upon seeing the woman again. The anticipation. Probably will never go away, she thought to herself.
The vent was approximately halfway down the room and appeared to be about two feet from the back wall of the holding cell. The location was a definite problem because it fell directly in line with where the two security cameras crossed paths and would be visible to the well-armed guards in the security office. It had obviously been a consideration during the design of the holding area and Sara took a moment to mentally curse Rip Hunter for what must be the 1,564,861 time. A number that had increased significantly since she'd learned of her current girlfriend's clone status.
"Okay, how many guards are in the security office? Obviously, I'd like to avoid them, but if it comes down to it, we're getting Nyssa out of there, security guards be damned." Sara made a quick mental note to bring clothes for the tall, pacing woman and hoped Zari or Amaya would have something that would fit. It would be tight since Nyssa had a more muscular frame than the two lean women. Meh, maybe I still have something laying around that will work. "There are two inside the office and one that stands near the half-wall that goes out to the main atrium area. They seem to rotate positions every two hours or so. I'm hoping my diversion will pull the man outside the office to the Ship Docking Bay, but who knows." Sara took in the information and really hoped they'd be able to avoid interacting with the guards face-to-face.
Nate snapped his fingers on both hands and took a quick step away from the table. "Z! I got it! What if you cut into their security feed for as long as you think is safe and record whatever Nyssa is doing at the time. Then, you can take the recording and loop it back into what the guards see in the security office. Like what they did in the movie Speed!" Nate genuinely liked nothing more than getting to reenact famous movie plots during missions, but if it was possible, it would buy Sara and Nyssa time to get back into the ventilation system and hopefully out of the building before the security guards realized she was gone. Plus, she'd only have to worry about the outside guard looking into the small window in the holding cell door at the exact moment she dropped down or the exact moment they climbed up. Surely to goodness… Sara thought and immediately rapped her knuckles on the wooden table.
Zari thought about the cyber security for a moment. It would mean gaining remote access to the secluded security office's server, which she had done successfully for a few moments, but accessing a server for a few moment versus the time it would take to make a recording and set it to re-sector into the security feed was a much more challenging task. She took a mental inventory of the programs she had at her disposal. It was possible that if she tweaked the code on a program she had written to hack an ARGUS security system and tethered it to one she'd created for video editing that it might work. Who knew those long nights of making random dubsmash videos with her teammates would pay off in an actual mission.
Satisfied that her plan may work, she looked up to realize everyone had been waiting on her answer. "Oh, sorry, uhm, yeah, I think I have something that will work. I'll have to make a few adjustments to a couple of things. Give me… 30 minutes." She met Sara's gaze and noted the smirk the Captain often gave when she was proud of her teammates but didn't know quite how to express it. Zari grabbed her laptop from the table and made her way out of the library and down the hall to her living quarters.
Zari's quarters were fairly sparse, with the exception of her workstation and her only framed photograph she'd been able to save of her family that was proudly framed and displayed on a mounted shelf just to the side of her computer. She'd slowly began to acquire items from their travels, but the bare nature of her décor remained an ingrained testament to the nomadic lifestyle she was forced to live while on the run in 2042. Her accommodations included a large, overstuffed loveseat in dark green leather and an extra soft mattress she'd had Gideon construct in rebellion against all the times she'd had to sleep on the floor somewhere. However, she'd tried to sleep with a million pillows after she'd seen the Captain's bed and realized she felt suffocated and kept waking in a panic.
The one space the hacker had taken special care to develop was her workstation that consumed the majority of the wall opposite her bed. With Gideon's help and only the limitations of her imagination, the multi-monitored, over-powered computer system she'd developed was really everything she'd needed to feel settled in the Waverider. She entered her living space, kicked off her shoes, and settled cross-legged in the large, leather office chair also in a dark green that matched the loveseat.
Zari removed the discs she'd need to create the new program, fired up the machine, cranked some Kittie, a group she was exposed to during one of her sparring sessions with Sara, and got to work. Revamping the program really didn't take long as the concept was simple, and she'd done the leg work with the program's initial development. As she started the program that would allow her access into the security feed and executed the coding required to copy the feed in a loop, she really hoped Nyssa was visible in the holding cell. The hacker sensed someone's presence in the room with her and was startled as she glanced up and saw Sara moving across the room. The Captain typically left her to her own devices and trusted her to get the job done, so she checked the progress bar on the program, turned down the music and shifted her attention to the blonde woman.
Sara had changed from her 'visiting the Time Bureau' garb into the clothes she'd be wearing through the vents and subsequently under her ship repair employee jumpsuit. As straight as she was, Zari realized her Captain looked legit in the black tank top and skin tight black pants, her rounded shoulders and well-defined arms clearly displayed. "Hey, what's up? The program is running and I'm about to make the loop footage, as long as Nyssa's actually in frame for me to loop." Zari noticed the blonde woman stifle a quick grin at the mention of the assassin's name.
"Yeah, I thought that might be what you were up to. I just wanted to check in, you know, make sure you still thought it would work. See if I could…help with anything, I guess." Sara replied, though she knew full well the hacker could see right through her excuses.
"Hah. Uhm, yeah, no. I'll know in a minute if the plan will work, but the concept is sound, and it wouldn't be because we lack the ability to do it if it falls apart." Zari kicked her feet out from under her and turned her attention to her clearly anxious Captain and friend. Zari knew she and Sara had finally developed a solid friendship, once they got through the emotional walls both women had developed and decided to trust one another. Zari also knew that gave her the freedom to call Sara on her sometimes poorly hidden baggage in a way that none of the other members dared. "So, what's the deal? I mean, really? You never check up on me and you're clearly anxious about something beyond normal pre-mission jitters." Zari could almost see the decision being made in the clear blue eyes, and she took a moment to key in the next command to give the blonde woman a moment to gather her thoughts as the Captain slid down the wall facing her.
Sara leaned back and kicked her legs out in front of her, slightly wiggling her black sock clad feet. "Nyssa's in that holding facility because of me," she stated bluntly and took in the dark-haired woman's reaction. Zari kept her face neutral, but she could see the intrigue in her eyes as she simply nodded her head and allowed Sara to decide how much she was willing to share.
"Ava said the League stopped covering Nyssa's tracks and that she went more or less crazy in December 2015. I died in November 2015, but Nyssa didn't find out until the next month. She was off the grid on a mission and it's not like my family or Oliver Queen really had the means, method, or desire to find her and tell her. She lost it because of me. She's in a Time Bureau holding facility because of me. I apparently saw her when I was soulless, but I don't have a clear recollection of that time in my life. Then, of course, I saw her after she destroyed the Lazarus Pit and was in a Nanda Parbat prison. I swear, the woman has done everything for me and I just shred her to pieces and apparently get her locked up every damn time. I don't know how she's going to react when she sees me this time. I'm terrified."
It was quite possibly the most intimate information she'd ever heard the Captain share. It was history, emotion, vulnerability, fault, and fear. She could practically see the anxiety bleeding off of her friend. Zari was honestly at a loss as to how to handle the situation since most of their similarities were rooted in the fact that they veered away from the emotional. One thing was for sure, Mick hit the nail on the head when he read more into the blonde woman's relationship with the assassin. Well, there's only one way to deal with that kind of anxiety, and that's to push through it.
"Look," Zari began as she leaned toward Sara and rested her forearms on her knees, "clearly you two have a complicated history." Sara rolled her eyes and stretched forward, hooking her hands over her toes. "But, if she's gone to prison for you twice, she's probably going to be happy to see you. Besides, it sounds like this time she went to save a little girl and not because of you directly." Zari glanced at the central computer monitor and realized the program had finished doing its thing. "You want to see what she's up to?"
At this point, Sara's head rested on her knees. Who is that flexible? she thought. Zari saw the nod through the movement of long blonde hair splayed out over the woman's legs. Sara unfolded herself and hopped up, then moved to stand behind the dark-haired woman. She briefly placed her chin on the seated woman's head. "Thank you for listening. I'm not great at sharing, but I do kind of feel better." Zari nodded as she keyed in a number of final commands and prepped the secondary program to clip the footage from the loop. As Sara straightened and moved over the hacker's shoulder, a black and white image popped up on the screen.
"What in the world is she doing?" Zari asked as she tried to make out the actions of the figure in the middle of the screen. Regardless of the answer, she was glad to see the tall, dark-haired woman and began to record her activity, whatever it was.
Sara, on the other hand, recognized the movements instantly, having watched the graceful woman perform the motions hundreds of times. She remembered being absolutely transfixed the first time she saw the full sequence. "She's doing a Taijutsu warmup routine. It's an unarmed combat form of Ninjutsu. Nyssa studied with Soke Masaaki Hatsumi for years as a teenager and its rumored that Ra's al Ghul captured Dr. Hatsumi and brought him to Nanda Parbat to continue her teachings. She won't talk about it though, so who knows." Both women were mesmerized by the movements, the tall woman clad in a white tank top and the gray, cotton pants of her detention uniform.
Sara managed to whisper, "Hey, you're recording this for the loop thing, right?" Zari managed to nod in return. The hacker had never seen someone so obviously powerful move with such grace. Something about the motions made her think of her brother when he fought. He wasn't nearly as graceful, but the precision of the motions, the burst of speed that remained controlled, and the calm, focused look on the woman's face reminded her so much of Behrad. She immediately liked the woman.
Zari rubbed a hand over her face to break the trance and returned her attention to constructing the footage loop. The footage cut, she made sure she had return access into the security server by inserting a wormhole program and looked up at the focused face of the Captain. Watching the older woman perform the routine must have triggered something in the blonde woman as the anxious set to the woman's body had evaporated. Like a human Zen garden, cool.
"Okay, we're good to go." Zari said and the compact woman next to her straightened, her game face clearly in place now. "Let me change really quick and I'll be ready to roll." Sara smiled, knowing the exact outfit the hacker would be wearing the next time she saw her. "Sounds good," she replied. "We'll sync comms before we take off." The Captain turned and headed out the door and down the steel hallway back to the bridge.
As Sara walked, she felt a calm settle over her. A familiar feeling she always experienced before a mission. She cleared her mind of everything extra. She mentally shut the compartments that held her fear and anxiety, her betrayal of Ava, the stress of Gideon's capture, everything. She keyed her ear piece that fed into the communication system of the Waverider. "Alright, team, Mick and Ray, you're with me on the bridge in five. Nate and Amaya, head out and be safe, I'll hail you when we're heading back. Let's go free us an assassin!"