just a DISCLAIMER: From here on out, there will be a multitude of Doctor Who references. If you are uncomfortable with this I am sorry, I started with one and it snowballed from there.
and now . . . ON WITH THE SHOW
Rip left the group on the roof, saying to meet at a certain address in 36 hours if they wanted to join on his mission. Everyone went off in their own directions, and Eliza was so conflicted about the decision in front of her, she headed to her apartment calling the few people that could help.
"Man, that is so wild." Cisco said, sitting down on Eliza's couch with a box of takeout in his hands. Eliza nodded as she tucked into her own box. A laptop was set up in front of them with Barbara on the screen, yawning as she had been woken up to be a part of the conversation. "So you will literally be becoming a companion and helping save the world while traveling through time and space?"
"I think it's just time." Eliza said, sighing and putting her box on her coffee table. She ran a hand over her face, frustrated and confused. "My god, what the hell do I do?"
"You go!" Cisco yells, making Barbara jump on the screen.
"What?"
"I have to agree with Cisco on this. You'll never get another opportunity like this one in your lifetime." Barbara said as she ran a hand through her hair. "Think about it; traveling through time, working with other heroes as you save the world from a mad man."
"It sounds like I've stepped into a fanfiction." Eliza mumbled.
Cisco, who finally put down his takeout box, moves closer to his friend and puts a arm around her shoulders, trying to give her some comfort. "Hey. You can totally do this."
"But do I want to do this? I'm not Barry, I'm not a hero."
"But you can be. You were given the powers you have from the particle accelerator for a reason-"
"Because Eobard Thawne wanted to make the Flash." Eliza said with a smirk, making Cisco roll his eyes.
"You know what I mean."
"El," Eliza looked over to Barbara on the screen who was smiling. "I think you need to see something." There was noise sounding like typing of the keys and to replace Barbara's face was a video off YouTube. It started to play and a news reporter stood in front of the Central City Museum.
"After all the mayhem and destruction the STAR LABS particle accelerator had caused last night, there is one shining beacon to stand out. Last night, here, at the Central City Museum, a hero rose to help."
She walked over to a couple and Eliza recognized the man as the one she handed the little girl to that night. "Sir, can you tell us what you saw?"
"The honored guest of the night, Eliza Merrisson, protected us from whatever the particle accelerator did. She held the doors together and made sure none of the radiation or whatever got to us. I just hope she's okay."
After nodding to the man, the news reporter moved to bend down and Eliza smiled at the small little girl, now holding onto a raggedy teddy bear.
"Anything you want to say to the lady that saved you?" The news reporter asked.
"Yeah. Miss Merrisson? Thank you for saving me from the bad thing. And I hope you feel better. You're my hero."
"And there you have it. Back to you, Jerry."
The video ended and it dawned on Eliza that her eyesight had gotten fuzzy. Her eyes had started to water while watching the clip. Eliza wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, Cisco watching from his spot next to her.
Once she stopped rubbing her eyes, she turned to Cisco and gave him a smile that told him her answer. After that, Cisco jumped up from his seat and cheered so loud, Eliza had to shush him.
"Dude, you're gonna wake up my neighbors." Eliza said, laughing at Cisco's elated face.
"Don't care, you're going to be time traveling."
"Why are you getting so excited? Barry can time travel, and he has a bunch of times." Eliza asked.
Cisco then crouched close to Eliza's face and used a very low tone. "Yeah but you're gonna do it in a time machine. Oh! I need you to come by STAR LABS before you head out to the address."
"Why?" Eliza asked, eyebrow raised. Cisco smiled and stood up, hands on his hips and an air of confidence surrounding him.
"Let's just say that I knew that this day would come. I also need you do me a favor."
Near the end of the 36 hours, Eliza had taken the train to the meeting spot which ended up being in the middle of nowhere. With a bag filled with clothes, her essentials, and the present that Cisco gave her, the archeologist looked around for a sign of anything. It wasn't until a few minutes later when a shiny silver convertible pulled up near her. Inside was the older gentlemen from the roof and the younger kid who looked to be sleeping.
"Ah, hello. You were on the roof with us the other night, correct?" He asked, getting out of the car and rounding it to reach her side.
"Yes, sorry there wasn't any real time for introductions." Eliza said with a smile and held out her hand. "Dr. Eliza Merrisson."
"Doctor? May I ask what you are a doctor of?"
"Archeology."
The man nodded his head and took her hand for a firm shake. "Well, Doctor Merrisson, I'm Professor Martin Stein. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"The feelings' mutual."
"So, what do you make of this?" Stein asked, gesturing out to the noticeable nothingness in the area.
"Professor!"
Eliza and Stein turned to see the rest of the group walking towards them. The one that had spoken up was the one in the blue winter coat. "This is the place."
"I think we're being punked." Commented a young looking man with black hair. He was the one in the bionic suit the other night. He then turned to the blonde and asked, "Do people still say punked?"
And she responded with a simple, "No."
"I see you're buddy threw himself a going-away party."
"Yes, I believe he drank something that didn't quite agree with him." Stein said, tucking in a piece of paper into his jacket pocket.
"I don't mean to point out the obvious, but it seems to me that the only one who we know nothing about is you." Winter coat said, pointing to Eliza. Everyone's heads turned to look at her, and she watched as a few looked at her with distrust. "So start talking, lady."
"It's not like I'm hiding anything. My name is Eliza, I'm from Gotham City and was affected by the particle accelerator when I came to visit Central." Eliza explained as she glared at Winter Coat.
"Why were you in Central?" The darker skinned woman with brown curls asked.
Eliza sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I was presenting a new exhibit at the Central City Museum. I'm an archeologist and-"
"Wait! Dr. Eliza Merrisson? I read about you in National Geographic!" Bionic man said, a giant smile coming on his face as he walked towards Eliza and shook her hand. "You've made one of the biggest archeology finds of the century with Amenhotep III. I've been wanting to meet you for a while. I'm Dr. Ray Palmer, of Palmer Industries."
"Woah, okay. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
"We might as well get the introductions over with now. I'm Carter Hall, and this is Kendra." A man that Eliza remembered on the roof spoke up. He pointed to the woman besides him, the woman that asked why Eliza was in Central.
"Kendra Saunders." She said, giving a wave. Eliza waved back. The blonde then walked up to Eliza and gave a small smile. Now that she was up close, Eliza got a good look at her and it was as if a memory was tickling at her mind like a feather.
"Sara Lance."
"Hey. Have we met before? You look really familiar." Eliza asked. Sara squinted and got a good look at Eliza before smirking in a way that Eliza didn't know how to feel about.
"Yeah, we have. 2010, at Obhur just outside Jeddah, Saudi Arabia." Sara explained. It took Eliza a few seconds to think before her face got very red and Sara's smirk widened. The group looked rather confused at what was happening, so Ray tried to diffuse the situation.
"Anyway, the one in the car is Jefferson Jackson, or Jax. And those two are Leonard Snart and Mick Rory."
"Don't be giving out our names, Hair Cut." The bigger out of the two grumbled, taking a step towards us.
Winter Coat put his arm out to stop him, his eyes never leaving Eliza. They were cold and blue, giving Eliza goosebumps."Now, now Mick. Play nice." he said.
I guess that would make him Snart. Eliza thought just as another voice made everyone turn.
"Well, I see you've all decided to come." Rip called out, clasping his hands together in front of him. "Well then, we can be on our way."
"I ain't footing it anywhere." Snart said, crossing his arms over his chest. Rip turned to him, and Eliza could tell by the look on his face that he had something in store for them.
"A Time Master's sacred charge is to do no harm to the timeline. Can you imagine what a time ship would look like in, say, Victorian England?"
"Holographic indigenous camouflage projection." Stein said.
"Indeed." And with a click of some remote, the barren city setting was changed to show a large ship. It could only be described as what Eliza would say is futuristic with its hard metal body and what appeared to be some high-tech glowing engine.
The group stood in awe at the machine which got a smile on Rip's face. "It's called the Waverider. It's been my ship for over a decade." He explained. He then turned to the group and asked, "Shall we?"
Walking through the ship was like walking into the future, and considering that the Waverider was a "time ship", they could end up doing that. Everything was metallic or chrome-like, and Eliza was looking around like a child walking through the mall at Christmas time. Once they got to a bigger room with a large table top and 9 chairs (one ahead of the other eight), Eliza put her bag down and pulled something out of it. A red fez was in her hand and she sighed as she pulled it on her head. A chuckle was heard and Eliza turned to see Sara with a hand over her mouth, muffling her laughter.
"What are you doing?" she asked. Eliza sighed again and pulled her phone out from her back pocket.
"Doing a favor for a friend of mine."
That was all Eliza said as she put her phone up and took a selfie of herself with the fez showing the table top and chairs in the background. As soon as the picture was taken, Eliza pulled the fez off and stuffed it back in her bag and through the bag in the library looking room right near her before moving to join back with the group.
How does a vessel of this size function without a crew?" Stein asked Rip. The time master smiled and gestured to the tabletop.
"I don't need one, I have Gideon."
Just then, a holographic face appeared above the table top. It resembled a pretty woman but with no real distinguishing features, almost like a blank slate.
Welcome aboard. I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness programmed to operate this vessel's critical systems and aid Captain Hunter in his mission. She said. Eliza raised an eyebrow and turned to Rip in question.
She wasn't the only one either.
"Captain?" Both Eliza and Snart asked. Once they caught that they both said the same thing, they turned to each other. Snart smirked at her and gave a air of smugness and cockiness.
"Jinx." He said. Eliza rolled her eyes as Rip went to explain.
"Gideon's been working on helping me locate Vandal Savage."
"I thought you said he's pretty active in the 22nd century." Ray said, hands on his hips and a quizzical look on his face.
"Perhaps engaging Savage at the height of his powers isn't the best strategy." Stein said.
"Indeed. Unfortunately, Savage has kept his movements hidden throughout history. Not even Gideon can determine where or when we can find him. But, I have the next best thing: the man who can." Rip walked to the tabletop that now instead of projecting Gideon was showing the group a picture. The picture was that of an older man with dark skin and graying hair. "Professor Aldus Boardman. Professor Boardman is the world's leading, well only, expert on Vandal Savage. We're gonna pay him a little visit."
Course plotted for St. Roch, New Orleans.
"St. Roch?" Carter asked confused.
October 17th, 1975.
"I suggest you all strap yourselves in. Temporal navigation isn't something one wants to be standing up for." Rip said as he hurried to the one chair ahead of the others. Everyone was moving to their seats, and as Eliza went to go sit down, she noticed something that made her call out to Rip.
"Hey, Captain?" Eliza said, raising her hand almost sarcastically. "I hate to say it but you are one chair short."
Rip looked towards Eliza and looked as if he was remembering something. "Oh right, Ms. Merrisson. There should be a panel near your feet? Can you just tap that please?"
Eliza looked down and saw a small panel on the floor that was somewhat raised from the rest of the floor. She stepped on it and that's when she realized it was a button that opened a hatch that brought up another one of the chairs everyone else had. Eliza watched as the chair flopped open and the harness opened to let her sit. She was between Ray and Kendra and slowly pulled down the harness as of she was about to go on an amusement park roller coaster.
"Time travel. Cool." Mick said, pulling his own harness down over him.
"Some of you might experience some slight discomfort. In very rare instances, there will be some, uh, bleeding from the eyeballs." Rip said, his sentence trailing off at the end but not enough for the group to not hear him.
"I'm sorry, what?" Kendra asked.
Rip did not respond to her but pressed a button on the arm of his chair and the ship started to rock with ignition. The floor panels underneath their feet glowed a futuristic blue as nerves of excitement and fear started to pile in Eliza's stomach.
"The human body is used to time unfolding linearly." Rip said. We all looked at each other as the ship started to move and make almost a whirling noise. From the corner of Eliza's eye, she saw that Jax, who has been unconscious this entire time, start to wake up.
"Jackson, I am so glad you are awake. I didn't want you to miss this." Stein said, still looking around amazed. The still foggy Jax looked around confused.
"Miss what?" he asked. Once he finally got his bearings, his eyes got wide and fury came onto his face. "What the-"
"Oh no, I wouldn't unfasten those if I were you." Rip shouted over the ship when Jax went to get out of his chair.
"Get me off of this - whatever this thing is!"
Sara smirked and looked at Stein. "Good luck explaining this."
"I did him a favor." Stein said.
"He doesn't look all that grateful." Snart pointed out sarcastically.
Jax was still looking confused and angry as Rip said, "Just hang on and remain calm."
His chair rotated to face the large viewing window, the ship now moving more sporadically than before. "All your worlds are about to change."
And with a push of the lever on his arm chair, they were off.