Greetings, Team! Sorry it's been a hot minute. I recently returned home from a contractor stint in Afghanistan and it took me a bit to hit the groove again. Also, have you ever written a chunk of a story and gone back to re-read it only to realize you'd gone completely off the rails of where you planned to take it? Yeah, that happened. So, I saved a long flashback scene that didn't have a place and re-wrote the segment. Maybe I'll post it as a stand-alone short or something. Anyway, it's awesome to be home and back to regular updates! Thanks for your patience.
The Gideon Factor
Part Eight
The trip back to the Waverider was filled with a tense silence, mostly driven by the unwavering sharpness the ship's Captain portrayed as she tried to process the inevitability of the fight she knew would find her sooner rather than later in the form of her beautiful and betrayed partner. Sara also knew she'd have to find a way to get the two women to work together, if only for the duration of the mission. There were so many uncertainties, upcoming risks, and emotional minefields in her near future that the village in Tibet where Rip Hunter found her looked very appealing. Besides, there was that one red-head there that swore she'd wait for me. The blonde shook her head in exasperation at herself, but at least the memories broke her psyche's freefall into despair. Refocused, Sara began to mentally examine the situation from a more useful perspective. First things first, explain the situation to Nyssa and get her on board with taking on the League to save Gideon. Without her and the map, we're nowhere.
From where she sat, Nyssa could see the tension in the compact blonde woman's muscular frame. The dark-haired woman watched as Sara absentmindedly rolled a gold coin across her knuckles, her expression introspective. Nyssa knew the coin had been a good luck token given to her by her father years ago, and it had somehow made it through a ship wreck, League training, the woman's phase as the Black Canary, and apparently time travel. It pleased Nyssa to see that the hint of innocence remained in the now accomplished and confident woman, something Nyssa had always known was there, even if the blonde woman herself thought she'd lost it to the darkness long ago.
Nyssa had noticed that the woman's sense of mortality and self-deprecation were worse when she was lonely. She'd also noticed that the blonde woman's bouts of self-doubt and hesitation to volunteer for routine missions had increased over the last six months or so. At first Nyssa thought it was simply because the increasingly skilled Ta-er al-Sahfer craved a challenge, so she'd only take the most difficult missions. Maybe for a while that was the case. However, the periods of depression that plagued the blonde woman after a successful mission made the assassin's mentor believe that perhaps she took those missions in hopes that she'd have an excuse to fail.
Nyssa also began to notice signs in their personal lives as well. Instead of spending the night together after a mission to… process what happened, Sara began spending that time meditating or, if it was a particularly brutal mission, exercising herself into exhaustion. The couple had always had a difficult time communicating, though Nyssa was far more open with the younger woman than with anyone in her past. But, for some reason, the woman was unable to bridge the gap that had grown between them. Until, one night, the blonde woman was just gone. Hindsight was an amazing thing, and the dark-haired woman regularly wished she had noticed the signs and ran away with the younger woman before she was ghosted.
Now, as she watched the telltale fidgeting that often accompanied the blonde woman's problem-solving process, Nyssa was determined to help the woman through the difficult place she'd apparently found herself in. The assassin always knew that Sara blamed herself for a number of negative things that had taken place in Nyssa's life, but what she seemed to refuse to accept was the fact that Nyssa would have simply imploded long ago without the strength of the blonde woman's character behind her. That Nyssa was raised in a soulless place and had grown with such a skewed understanding of emotion that she never would have allowed herself even a hint of vulnerability with anyone if it hadn't been for Sara's single-minded effort to break down Nyssa's barriers. So, not only did Nyssa not blame Sara for leaving to save her soul, after the initial shock and heartbreak passed, Nyssa was exceedingly proud that she had. The assassin found herself hellbent to support her in whatever capacity she could to ensure that the Captain's quest to live in the light was a success. I owe her that. I owe her everything.
The Captain keyed the comms unit as the Waverider became visible in the swirling green of the Temporal Zone. "Hey, Zari, we're pulling in. Go ahead and drop the Time Bureau ships and tell Nate and Amaya to head back in about an hour. On the off-chance Ava's preoccupied enough to not put it together immediately, I don't want the timing to line up too perfectly." Sometimes it a real pain in the ass to date someone as intelligent as that woman. "Plus, I'll need some time to get Nyssa up to speed and maybe lay out the rough sketch of a plan." With that, she glanced at the assassin, relieved to see the understanding look on the woman's face. Not that I wouldn't have busted her out just because, but better she knows there's something bigger going on.
"Sure thing, Sara. The docking station is ready when you are, and I'll give Nate and Amaya a heads up," the hacker replied, apparently having moved on to Justin Timberlake once her work was done with the Time Bureau.
Sara keyed the landing sequence and seamlessly returned the smaller ship to its place on the side of the Waverider. As the passengers unloaded and moved through the airlock chamber into the Waverider, Nyssa took in her surroundings as she listened to Sara organize her team. The ship was impressive and unlike anything the assassin had experienced before. The dark-haired woman appreciated the clean, smooth lines of the steel alloy as they made their way down the hall, and momentarily paused as the team moved ahead of her into the open bridge. Nyssa smiled at the playful banter between Sara and her crew, and took a second to appreciate the confident bounce to the blonde woman's movement. She has always been a powerhouse.
The Legends moved into the library to find Zari sprawled sideways across one of the overstuffed brown leather chairs with a laptop propped up by her thighs. The woman's smooth, tan skin on display from under her typical black tank top. She looked over her shoulder as she finally heard the group approach and turned down the volume, setting her laptop on a side table by her ankles. The hacker gracefully stood, her hair a messy bun on top of her head and sweatpants low on her hips. She gently smacked Mick on the shoulder as the large man pointed with his thumb in Nyssa's direction as he passed by, eyebrow raised as he said, "She's hot," at a not very subtle volume.
Nyssa's presence had an impact, even in the issued jumpsuit of the Time Bureau. Zari had seen the woman a few times through the security feed, but there was something about the dark eyes and hint of a smirk across the woman's well-formed lips that made Nyssa's obvious strength carry more weight. As the assassin gracefully moved up the steps into the room and walked in Zari's direction, Nyssa touched her right hand to her chest and extended it to the hacker. "As-salamu 'alaykum" she greeted the woman in the standard Arabic manner.
Zari grasped the woman's forearm and replied, "Wa'alaykumu as-salam. It's nice to officially meet you." As the lithe woman met Nyssa's eyes, she thought about how her brother would have been head-over-heels for this woman. Nyssa graciously replied, "The pleasure is mine, I assure you," and subtly dipped her head toward Zari. The lithe woman took a shallow breath and smiled, uncharacteristically rattled, and realized that anyone with a pulse would be. As the hacker stepped away, she cast her eyes back at Mick and mouthed What in the actual fuck? to which the burly man just shrugged.
Sara rolled her eyes at her teammates' responses to her former lover, having watched similar reactions in people around the world. "Okay, now that introductions are out of the way," she looked pointedly at her hacker friend, "Nyssa, come with me and I'll show you where you can change. I think I found some clothes that will work for now and we'll fabricate something for you later. Unfortunately, we're a little short on time, so I'll fill you in on what's going on. I could really use your help." The taller woman nodded in acknowledgement but raised her hand to stop the blonde woman's progress. Sara met the woman's dark eyes with a slightly hiked eyebrow in question.
"Ta-er al-Sahfer, I have been confined for quite some time, how about you provide me with information as we stretch? If you have an extra blade and have maintained your prowess," she paused with a wink, "I would like to remind my body what freedom of movement feels like in a brief sparring session. Do you have a place for that on your ship?" she asked.
Sara routinely put herself through challenging sword drills, but was only able to safely go half-speed with her teammates after the departure of Kendra and Carter. She felt a wave of anticipation and a stirring darkness wash over her at the thought of fighting against her mentor. Sara unconsciously squared her shoulders and lifted her head, her sword hand clenched and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "Oh, absolutely," she said with confidence, "follow me."
As the Captain trotted down the stairs and turned to the hallway that would lead to the Cargo Bay, Zari keyed the comms unit that would connect her to Nate and Amaya. "Hey, guys, they're back, and you're gonna want to get her with a quickness," she said with sense of urgency, timeline be damned. A moment later, Nate replied, "Okay, yeah, we're fired up and about to take off. What's up? Everything okay?"
"Sara and Nyssa al Ghul are about to sword fight. I mean, spar, but with swords. You've gotta get back here! Oh, and we'll probably do some mission planning after." Zari dropped the comms unit and trotted out of the room, followed eagerly by Ray and a rambling Mick. In the background, as they moved down the hallway, they could vaguely hear Nate's reply, "Tell them to wait for us! A, we gotta hurry!"
Sara had taken Nyssa to her weapon collection and watched knowingly as she chose a slightly curved katana with a hand-carved bamboo hilt wrapped with thin red leather strips in a traditional diamond pattern. Sara remembered lifting the blade from Ras' personal collection on her most recent mission to Nanda Parbat and wondered if Nyssa recognized the blade. Sara continued her explanation of the situation as she ran through some warmup movements with her own preferred blade, "So, without getting too lost in the details, by Gideon being in the hands of Norah Darhk, the daughter of the man who killed my sister by the way, and Talia, they have access to all kinds of technology and information."
"Plus, they change the historical timeline enough that this evil creature, Mallus, will probably be released and we're not entirely sure yet what the creature's deal is, but it's going to be bad. He's had some of the worst people and creatures in history doing his bidding to try to break the timeline enough to allow his return. So, we're fairly certain it would be less than ideal if he was released and we couldn't stop him." Sara took a deep breath and waited for Nyssa to process the information as the dark-haired woman shed the V-neck top of her jumpsuit.
Nyssa slowly started her own warmup drills, now barefoot and in the white tank top and gray pants of her detention uniform. "Okay, Beloved. I can locate Nanda Parbat and help rescue your Gideon, but what else do you need me to do?" Sara was a little surprised at the lack of questions, hesitation, or really any signs of concern. She had almost forgotten how quickly Nyssa was able to adapt to new challenges or the threat of seemingly impossible odds. The dark-haired woman's confidence was contagious, and Sara remembered how easy it was to become addicted to the feeling of invincibility that almost bled off the powerful woman like a physical force.
Ray, Mick, and Zari entered the training area of the cargo bay and each found a storage container to sit on. "Start thinking about where they'd keep Gideon and some ideas on how we can sneak in and get her back. We don't have the manpower for a full out war with the League, and I don't want to sacrifice any of my guys. If it comes to that, I'll just trade myself for Gideon. That being said, if you can help us use some of the secret tunnels into the Nanda Parbat stronghold, maybe we can do it without me ending up in the hands of Talia al Ghul and Norah Darkh. Gah, that would be my least favorite threesome." Mick gruffly laughed as he cracked a beer.
As the two women began to circle one another, Nate trotted through the room and Amaya followed more calmly a few moments later. Sara paused, unsurprised at their quick return, and offered brief introductions as the two found a seat, "Nate, Amaya, this is Nyssa Raatko, she'll be helping us out with our little adventure to save Gideon." Nate greeted the woman and lightly hit the large man's shoulder he sat next to as he whispered, "Hey, give me a beer," and mouthed What the fuck as Mick turned to deliver.
Sara preferred a slightly shorter katana blade and stood ready with her sword held in a reverse grip, the blade running down the length of her forearm, on account of the tight quarters and her quicksilver style of fighting. With the majority of opponents she faced, her compact strength, superior speed, and well-honed technique provided a clear advantage. However, as she took in the lean and sinewy musculature of her mentor, driven by the focused gaze, confident smirk, and decades of experience, she felt the thrill of facing off against one of the most flawless assassins in history. Which brought her mind back to how Nyssa became that way.
"Nyssa, why'd you start going by Raatko? Why's Talia involved in all of this?" The two women went into a casual strike, block, parry routine they'd performed together a hundred times to settle into the rhythm of the weapons. "I mean, I know she's never really liked me, but I never thought she hated me either. Is it some revenge thing?" Sara met the woman's blade above her head, absorbing the impact in her strong thighs, and pushed off into a reverse move to have her blade deflected with seemingly little thought on the assassin's part.
"As you know, Talia departed the League when she thought father favored me as the Heir to the Demon, even though she's the eldest." Nyssa tried a leg sweep and presented the hint of a smile as her counterpart deftly jumped onto one of the storage containers and returned with a downstroke. She could feel the competitive nature of the blonde woman begin to stir, her clear blue eyes taking on a grayish hue. Sara casually flipped off the container and squared her stance against the taller woman once more, knowing the pause would allow her to present more information. "While Talia was gone, she formed a secret society. Her lifelong mentor, one of my father's closest advisors, remained loyal to Talia. When I began to show disagreement with my father, Zahid spun it as disloyalty." Sara knew she was the start of the 'disagreement' between Talia and her father, though the conflict between Ras and Nyssa had grown significantly prior to his death.
The story paused as Nyssa saw the blonde woman's shoulder drop slightly, a tell for a complex pass that only her mentor would recognize. The assassin set her back foot and pushed off as she deflected the first strike at her shoulder, letting the blade slide off her own and using the blonde woman's momentum to spin past her. She countered as she moved beyond Sara's position, the compact form instinctively ducking under the stroke and returning with a move that was aimed at the taller woman's knees. The low and complex angle would work on most opponents, but Nyssa stopped the strike with her blade, a move that only years of wrist-strengthening exercises would allow without shattering the bones.
Sara felt the reverberation move up her arms and with both the feeling and sound of the blades impact, she felt the fire awaken inside her. She used her crouched position to her advantage and as the assassin quickly shifted for an offensive attack, the blonde form exploded upward, momentarily landed on a container, and flipped to land behind the taller woman. She felt the advantage and moved to strike the exposed shoulder blades with the flat of her blade only to have it met by a blind block as Nyssa's sword was suddenly over her head and down the length of her back. Sara was glad the taller woman couldn't see her look of surprise at the almost inhuman speed the block required, but knew Nyssa must have known as she kicked behind her in a move the blonde woman should have easily avoided.
Instead, the air dispelled in a whoosh and the dark-haired woman lazily spun her weapon in a figure eight as she turned and allowed Sara a moment to catch her breath and reset. "Zahid began re-aligning my father with Talia, and the two began to communicate secretly. Then, I disobeyed my father's orders," Nyssa watched as the understanding appeared in Sara's eyes and the blonde woman straightened to rest her sword on her shoulder, her other hand on her hip, as her mentor continued.
"It was taken as a sign of weakness by my father when I gathered those loyal to me to assist you and the Green Arrow. The two began to plot ways to take the League on a darker path, an overreaction to learning of those loyal to me and my delicate alliance with Oliver Queen. Then, my father was killed, you came back, and I destroyed the Lazarus Pit. Many in the League did not understand and felt the pit was their right. When I disappeared into the custody of the Time Bureau, Talia returned with her secret society members and seized control of the League." Nyssa mindlessly moved her blade through a series of complex maneuvers as she continued her story.
Now that it was being laid out in front of her, Sara wondered why Ava waited so long to capture Nyssa if she saved the girl not long after learning of Sara's death. She made a note to ask her partner, assuming she had a chance and the woman still spoke to her. Either way, I think it's a key piece to this situation.
"I think, Ta-er al-Sahfer, that Talia saw an opportunity to draw me out. I was involved in a conflict with some of her men the last time the Time Bureau agents re-captured me, but that was over two months ago. Perhaps she knew that you would free me from the Time Bureau prison and require my assistance to locate Nanda Parbat. An opportunity to remove me as a threat and root out those in Nanda Parbat still loyal to me." Sara immediately knew that Nyssa was right. It was revenge on Nyssa that Talia was after. Shit. Shit. Shit. She took a deep breath as she realized just how convoluted this situation was becoming. To keep her brain from melting, she reset her position and waited for Nyssa to do the same.
This time, there was a crackle of energy between the two women. Nyssa felt the shift and saw the still tension across Sara's shoulders, her eyes begging for Nyssa's help to free her mind from the tangle of information so she could gain perspective on the situation. The dark-haired woman recalled that their most vigorous sparring sessions were always immediately after Sara had accepted an almost impossible mission. Now, as she took in the compact form, low to the ground in an unwavering lunge, her off-hand extended forward and her blade back and close to her body, she cleared her own mind and catered to the blonde woman's will.
Sara watched as Nyssa briefly closed her eyes and erased the past from her mind. When they opened, the deep brown eyes were filled with a competitive fire that made Sara's heart pump harder, and a wash of anticipation flooded her skin. If either of the two women had looked around, they would have seen the tension feed into the team that surrounded them. Zari, cross-legged on top of a container, leaned forward, her hands in fists on either knee. Mick quickly killed the beer in his hand and quietly set the empty can behind him so as to not break the trance. Nate tucked his arm into Amaya's and leaned in to her lithe frame. Ray sat with perfect posture, afraid to move, even to scratch the itch he felt developing on his nose.
As if by unspoken consent, the two women burst into action as Sara thrust herself forward, her blade coming across Nyssa's midsection only to be quickly deflected and redirected down. Sara went with the movement and tucked into a roll, spinning to block the downward stroke from the taller woman. She let the blade slide off her own, the rasp of steel loud in the metal-framed room. Sara surged to her feet and caught Nyssa's blade coming across her body. The blonde used the position to slide into the woman's guard and elbowed her across the face.
The adrenaline allowed Nyssa to take the impact, moving in the direction of the blow to reduce the force of the strike, though she felt a trickle of blood escape her split lip. She brought both elbows up to catch Sara's reverse strike on her blade, feeling the tension across her shoulders as she pushed off the woman's attack. Nyssa brought her sword up and around for a cross-body attack she knew her counterpart would easily avoid. Instead of following through, as she saw Sara begin to jump backwards, Nyssa stopped her momentum in a true testament to her core strength and reversed the attack.
Sara only just planted her feet and deflected the strike enough that she felt the air pass across her stomach, but no pain followed. She laughed as she briefly looked down to see that her skin was now visible through the slice in her black tank top. She snapped her head back up and watched as the dark-haired woman used the momentum of her swing to continue around in a leg sweep. Sara flipped over the attempt and kicked backwards as she landed, striking the dark-haired woman in the stomach.
Nyssa knew the movement was coming and tightened her well-formed abs, moving back a small hop with the impact as she smacked the woman's leg toward the ground. As Sara struggled to re-gain her balance, knowing she was caught with her weight forward, Nyssa side-stepped the blonde's position and struck her with the flat of her blade across her shoulder-blades.
Sara felt the sting across her back, but blocked out the pain as she moved with the motion and brought her blade around to the dark-woman's shoulder. Nyssa caught the blonde's blade with her own, her elbows up, her blade down and angled across her body. Sara's reverse-grip brought her body close to Nyssa's with the maneuver, her own blade down the length of her forearm, and she leaned into the position. "You're a dick for that one," she said with the wink of a blue eye turned gray with excitement.
"Oh, Beloved, I know it has been awhile, but I assure you that I remain free of that particular appendage," Nyssa responded with a sultry growl. Sara heard a snap come from Nate's area and rolled her eyes as she lifted her elbow and let her blade slide down Nyssa's own, ducking as the released pressure forced the taller woman's sword over her head. She moved past the woman with sinewy grace and turned, remaining low to the ground.
Sara began her next assault, and a number of things happened at once. As she lunged forward for a cross-body strike, she heard her name bellowed from a distinctly familiar voice somewhere on the ship which distracted her just enough to hesitate as she spun to block the attack she knew was coming across her body. Suddenly, she felt a searing pain from shoulder to bicep on her left arm and dropped to a knee with an enunciated "Fuck!"
Zari and Ray were the first to hop from their containers, though their Captain quickly regained her feet and waved off everyone's attentions. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Shit, that was stupid. Sorry, Nyssa," she apologized to the taller woman who gently removed the blonde woman's hand from the slice across her arm. "Beloved, I apologize. Who is that calling your name?"
Sara looked in Nate's direction, who stood concerned and side-by-side with Amaya. "Hey, Nate, would you please go and get her, and meet us in the med bay? Don't tell her anything yet." The man nodded and moved toward the bridge.
Sara returned her gaze to Nyssa, "Hey, feel like giving me some stitches like old times? Usually our med bay is state-of-the-art and automated, but with Gideon gone, we'll have to go old school. Oh, and that was Time Bureau Director Ava Sharpe." Sara met Nyssa's confused gaze and saw the masked betrayal behind the dark eyes. She turned to her remaining teammates, "Hey, would you guys give us a second? Ray, would you mind getting things out and set in the med bay, please?"
Sara removed her top and wrapped it around the freely bleeding four-inch gash down her arm while the rest of the team headed out. She figured it would be better if her already furious partner didn't also see the slash in the front of the tank top. She moved a step closer to Nyssa and rested her hand on the woman's hip while she put pressure on the cut with her other hand. "Listen, I need you to know that I had no idea you were detained. I learned about it yesterday and broke you out this morning, and that would have happened whether I needed your help or not." Sara knew she owed Nyssa more of an explanation than that, but also realized having her partner burst into the Cargo Bay with her topless and bleeding with her ex-girlfriend wouldn't help the situation any.
Sara held the taller woman's gaze, trying to project as much emotion into her eyes as she could. She focused the pain in her arm and the weight of their history into the look, and knew Nyssa could feel the slight tremor in her fingertips at her hip. After a few seconds, the dark-haired woman nodded. "Okay, Beloved, I will trust you as I always have." Sara patted the woman's hip, let out a held breath, and hoped it would be enough for Nyssa to allow her to explain when the nature of her relationship with Ava was exposed. No time for that now, she thought as Sara led the way with a quick pace a few doors down the hall and into the large medical facility on the ship.
Sara entered the Med Bay and stopped short as she met the eyes of her clearly livid partner. The space was filled with monitors, medical supplies, and two examination tables, and there was Ava Sharpe. The fit blonde woman stood arms crossed at her chest and legs crossed at the ankle as she leaned against the table furthest from the door. "Where the fuck is she, Sara?" the Time Bureau Director questioned in a smooth voice, tension thrumming in every line of her body.
Sara didn't have time to respond as Nyssa entered behind her and hesitated for a split-second, more like a stutter in her step, before she darted around Sara to meet Ava's lunging form. Nyssa quickly broke Ava's grip with a pressure point that allowed her to pull the blonde's right arm behind her, only to be struck by a well-delivered elbow to her head from Ava's free arm. Nyssa increased her pressure on the arm she had trapped and narrowly missed having her nose broken from a head butt. The conflict only lasted a matter of seconds before Sara intervened with a deep-chested shout. "Enough! Tawaquf!" Both women, and Ray who was en route to interfere, froze.
Nyssa immediately responded to the League's 'stop' command and dropped the woman's arm, her breathing calm and unaffected by the conflict, but her eyes moved restlessly between Sara and Ava. "I said I would trust you, Beloved, but I will not return as this woman's captive," Nyssa stated, noting the surprise in the dark blue eyes now a good distance away as the dark-haired woman returned to Sara's side.
Ava responded with an incredulous shake of the head, as if trying to remove the word from her memory. "Beloved?! Whatever." She stood with her hands on her hips and met the crystal-clear blue eyes of the woman she thought was her partner. "Captain Lance, as the Director of the Time Bureau, I insist that you return Nyssa al Ghul to my custody to avoid a catastrophic future in 2213," she said with a pointed look, knowing the significance of the year in question was not lost on the Captain by the brief flinch. "The event is so large that it takes approximately six more months for the timeline to solidify. Until that time, Ms. al Ghul will remain in the Time Bureau's custody as she clearly can not be trusted to refrain from interfering."
Sara compartmentalized the coldness coming off of her partner. No time to deal with the emotional, she thought practically, and found it a bit easier to do so with the woman who taught her that lesson so close. "Listen, if you have six months, then you can afford to let her help us with this mission. I broke her out fair and square, and you can punish me for that however you see fit to save face with the Time Bureau. But, we both know that we don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting Gideon back without her help," Sara paused to read Ava's body language, the quick mind clearly looking for other options.
Sadly, it was almost second nature to accept Sara's betrayal of the Time Bureau at this point. The Waverider's Captain was going to do what she had to do no matter who tried to stop her. Hell, she's gone against a Nazi army. Ava took in the unwavering look in the blue eyes and knew she didn't have much choice. "Look. She needs to guarantee that she will Not save the life of the target while she is free. I'll be watching and if there is even a hint of a side mission to do so, I'll immediately take her into custody. Because we don't know for sure what the loss of Gideon will do to the timeline, but there is absolute proof of what saving the target's life does."
Nyssa held her hand up to stall Sara's response, "This is not a target we speak of, this is a child. You can not ask me to refrain when I can right this one wrong and save her life," she replied forcefully. "Ta-er al-Sahfer, you do not understand," she implored the blonde by her side.
Ava, annoyed by the apparent pet names and gravity of the situation, "No! You don't understand! If you had any idea…!" Sara quickly interrupted the escalating situation as she put her hand on Ava's chest to stop her movement. As Ava pushed Sara's arm down, she noticed the shirt wrapped bicep that failed to stop a trickle of blood from escaping down to the shorter woman's wrist. "Sara, what happened to your arm?"
"It's nothing, just a scratch." She blew off the concern. Sara knew she could convince her ex-lover to hold off just for the duration of the mission if given the chance, and also had very little intention of allowing the girl to remain dead in the long run. But, that's a problem for another day because today is fucking booked. She knew Ava wouldn't let Nyssa out of her sight at this point, and didn't love the message it would send to her partner if she whisked Nyssa away to speak to her in private. Left with one option, she continued the conversation in Arabic, knowing Zari would be the only extra person able to understand, Sara was confident that the hacker wouldn't reveal anything she heard.
"Nyssa, I understand wanting to save the girl, really, I do. But, is she really more important than the apparent catastrophe her life will bring?" Sara asked, her eyes pleading to be convinced that this fight was worth the risk. The Captain heard a mumbled 'Oh, what the hell' from the Time Bureau Director and was a little surprised that the protest stopped there.
The assassin's dark eyes took on a look of brevity as she grasped Sara's forearm. "Ta'er al-Sahfer, in this I ask you to trust me in return. The girl's life is of the utmost importance. The dying words of her grandfather, the man who was my target, informed me that she had been sent to the past by her mother to protect her. He begged of me a blood oath to save her. I granted his final request."
Overwhelmed by the increased complexity, Sara abruptly removed her arm from the assassin's strong hand and turned away, clearly frustrated and confused. The blonde woman knew there was no turning back once her former lover placed a blood oath. The situation was definitely spiraling and Sara suddenly resented both her former and current lovers that she found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place. "Nyssa, what the fuck are you doing giving a blood oath to a man that was a target?! To a man you were sent to kill, and likely for good reason?" Sara threw both hands in the air as she spun back to face the dark-haired woman. With the motion, her poorly covered wound was exposed as the tank top fell to the ground. The separated flesh made Ava gasp and she moved toward her partner.
"Sara! This is not nothing?! Seriously, what in the hell happened?!" Sara glanced at the wound, having almost forgotten how bad it actually was, and turned her attention back to Nyssa, refusing to give her partner any further ammunition against her former lover.
Ava looked around and accepted a large gauze pad being offered by Ray and pressed it against the length of the open cut that now freely bled down the blonde woman's arm. Temporarily distracted by repairing the damage to Sara's flesh, she gently forced the compact frame to the examination table and made her sit. As Ava gathered the medical supplies, she let the foreign words roll over her, knowing her comms device was actively recording the interaction and she could have it translated back at the Bureau.
Nyssa's skin crawled slightly as she watched her captor care for her former lover with such an air of familiarity. "Sara, I have asked that you trust me. The man's request was not invalid and I plan to stand by my blood oath. I will help you with this mission, but upon its completion, if it is within my vast capabilities, I will save that girl." Nyssa took in the pained and frustrated, yet determined look in the tight lips and slightly closed blue eyes across from her. She noted the slight nod as the blonde woman acquiesced. "Beloved, I will have you know that the girl's name is Eleanor." Shock and understanding dawned over Sara as she immediately felt as though she was punched in the stomach. Nyssa turned and left the room and Ava continued to place careful stitches along the length of the cut.