Quentin Lance hadn't been the biggest fan of the British - he hated how they called soccer "football", the way they drove on the wrong side of the road, their weird accents (no matter how many times his family tried explaining the difference between Scottish, Welsh, and English). One thing he did love was the spectacular WWII drama The Great Escape based on the true escape from the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III. Three tunnels had been dug under the compound in utmost secret: Tom, Dick, and Harry. Construction had involved more than six hundred prisoners to dig the tunnels and dispose of the evidence.
Sara Lance had ten Legends, Commander Jurgens' ten Time Police, and Mike. Their tunnel - dubbed Charlie - was also a vertical affair on the outskirts of a much smaller Central City. "I wish Ray were still here." Sara stamped another measure of dirt into the bucket and left a dirty smear across her forehead as she wiped it clear of sweat. "He could shrink this stuff aside no problem."
"Or grow giant and scoop it aside with a finger." Ava agreed as she slammed the shovel into the wall and rounded out the hole until it was perfectly circular again. They couldn't reinforce the hole as much as she liked which meant they had to maintain as much consistency in pressure as possible.
"Both of which would leave clear evidence of molecular density manipulation." Jurgens snapped. "The less impact we have on the timeline, the better. Bucket up!" He shouted up the shaft. The dirt quickly whisked out of sight as the team on the surface pulled it free to dump in the ever-growing pile. "Don't think that this makes us buddies." He reminded them. "As soon as we get out of here, you're going straight to time prison."
It was that waspish reminder that finally did it. "Let me set some things straight." Ava snapped as she tossed her shovel aside. "We're not in time jail already because your people messed up so badly that even normal time is out of options. We're digging a hole under Central City because the Time Police secured their sites against any sort of temporal interference and you need our help to get a message to them. We're doing the digging by hand because we're trying to do everything to avoid messing with the natural course of events and you're still complaining? Let me tell you what I think," Jurgens already looked intimidated as she took another breath.
High above them, an earthworm wriggled free of the dirt and found itself briefly suspended by a cessation of what was, to it, the world. Gravity (a new and terrifying concept) took hold and dragged it down to impact with a wet slap onto Ava's face where it clung in existential terror.
"AHH!" Ava screamed and instinctively flung it away. "Ew, Sara! It touched me and it's all slimy and gross and it got in my hair!"
"Aww, Ava." As much as she loved the bossy stickler her co-captain was, Sara equally loved the heartfelt emotional honesty of her wife. "Come here." She clutched her trembling wife close with one hand. "Hey, Jurgens."
"What‽" The time cop snapped.
"Nobody makes my girl cry." The shovel made a very satisfying 'clang' as it impacted against his face.
"Sara!" Ava gasped. "You can't attack a peace officer!"
"My bad." She smiled cunningly. "I was aiming for the earthworm." Draped over his shoulder was the offending invertebrate.
A distinct 'thud' echoed the impact of the bucket landing in the hole. "Sara!" Ava gasped again.
"Oh, come on," Sara smirked. "How is this one my fault?" Whoever had lowered the bucket had landed it right on Jurgens face. Untying the rope, she carefully looped it around his torso and pulled it tight.
"Bucket up!" She called up the shaft.
Jurgens shifted slightly as the pullers instantly recognised the weight of a human body. "Captain Lance?" Gary called down nervously. "What happened?"
"Earthworm." And she delicately placed the attacker on Jurgens' face in case there was any doubt. "When's the next shift?"
"Whoo! Team Tarazi in the house!" Behrad's excited cheers were matched with groans from his sister.
Jurgens was patched up with a glowering expression the whole time. "Who's in the hole now?" He snapped to his captors. Sara was relaxing in a chair at the end of the medbay, Ava flanking her with a stern expression.
"P'tar, Spooner, and Astra," Sara responded evenly. The rotating shifts they were taking meant everyone got a turn with a two-to-one ratio in the teams. Behrad and Zari had been paired with Arvind, Davo was working with Gary and Gideon, and P'tar had (after the brutal brawl) found an aggressive companionship with the two ladies. "We're still on schedule."
"What schedule?" Jurgens swung his legs free before stretching upright. "Time isn't even moving."
"I know." She smirked mirthfully.
"Sara." Ava warningly nudged her shoulder with a hip.
"Alright," Sara glanced up at her wife. "Make the pregnant one do all the work." This excuse didn't cut her any slack for once. "Commander Jurgens, I'm sorry for hitting you in the face with a shovel." She recited an arranged script. "It was an act of violence caused by frustration originating from your complete refusal to treat my team with an ounce of respect." Ava nudged her again. "Caused by the difficult circumstances that we find ourselves facing." Nudge. " . ." Sara would have given her right leg for her healing factor back as she nearly swallowed her tongue in frustration.
"Thank you, Captain Sharpe." Only a firm hand on Sara's should prevent her from knocking Jurgens right back into that biobed. "I'll admit that the stress may have caused me to become… short-tempered." He grunted as he pulled his jacket on.
"That's it?" Sara snapped. "I have to apologise for smacking him once and he gets to go on treating us like dirt?"
"How else do you expect me to treat you?" Jurgens bellowed back. "The Legends have rewritten history to their benefit more than any other time criminal across history. You've been on the team since the start, you know how much damage you've caused."
"Name one time!" Sara screamed back as she rose to her feet.
"New York, 1942." He countered. "You set off an atomic bomb three years early."
"Damien Darhk tried to level the city," Sara shot back. "We prevented it from extending the war by two years and adding twelve million casualties. Sorry if the fish got hurt."
"2017." He evaded. "You unleashed a time storm which broke Mallus out of captivity and set all sorts of magical creatures free."
"We stopped an insane speedster from having control over all of reality." She winced, remembering the reformed Thawne who had recently allowed them to save Alun and eliminate the robotic Legends intent on slaying them. "And then, we piggybacked off saving those magic critters to slay one of the most powerful demons in Hell."
"1641." Jurgens said coldly. "Tokugawa Iemitsu gained a dwarf star alloy exosuit."
Sara paused in the middle of her righteous fury. "Okay," She admitted. "That one's on two idiots who aren't here. But the rest?" She pleaded. "Look at the big picture! Vandal Savage, The Legion of Doom, Mallus, Hell, Fates, Bishop - what could we have done differently?"
"Gone to the authorities!" It was plain and simple to him.
"Commander Jurgens," Ava broke in. "I was the authorities. The Time Bureau failed where the Legends succeeded. We failed against Mallus, we failed to even notice a magical influence on the timeline. And Neron?" She laughed mockingly at her past self. "Neron was my boss by the time he was getting started. How do you think events would have played out without the Legends."
"The Time Police," Jurgens insisted.
"Oh, grow up!" Ava finally shouted. "The Time Masters tried to hand the entire planet over to Vandal Savage - the Time Police don't exist! Eobard Thanwe rewrites reality with the Spear of Destiny - the Time Police don't exist! Sara and her team saved all of time twice before you could even come into being."
"Commander Jurgens?" Arvind appeared at the doorway with a hesitant expression. "We're about to disconnect the time drive from the jump ship."
"Dismissed." Jurgens waved away his second-in-command as he stared down the double threat. "At best, you've got a point about Savage and Thawne." He conceded. "But everything after Mallus is entirely on you."
"Let me ask you one last question;" Sara jabbed him in the sternum. "If you knew about Mallus, or Neron, or any of the rest, why didn't you ever stop them yourselves?"
"It's not our business to interfere in the timeline." He swallowed, wishing she was at least ten feet further away. The League of Assassins trained people to kill with their pinky. An index finger had more reach and strength.
"Hang on," Ava interrupted the face-off. "You're saying that you couldn't fix anything because it originated from our natural point in time?"
"Well, yes." He frowned. Did these people not understand how the timeline worked? That would explain how they kept breaking it so often. "That's how it works."
Ava punched him back into the biobed.
Sara walked into the lab. Everyone else was outside, admiring Charlie, and the sole occupant was wearing thick gloves and opaque eye protection. "Hey, Arvind." Sara nearly liked the lieutenant. He was calm, polite, and treated the Legends with a dose of suspicion. "How are we doing?"
"Where's Commander Jurgens?" He paused over a table as he examined his handiwork.
"Ava's tending to him." She clasped her hands in front of her, calmly. "Which events can we genuinely be charged over? Skip," She raised a hand. "The legal talk, just the bare bones."
"Well," He adjusted the metal plate on the workbench. "Technically, everything up until the release of what you called 'Encores' was due to interference from other forces. Even those aliens you released into the temporal zone are being argued as an accidental result of your attempt at freedom. But John Constantine's attack on the Fountain of Imperium sent shockwaves through the timestream. Your team corrected it but you're still on the hook and Constantine got a pass because he died and went to Hell in the process." Only the scruff Englishman could twist eternal damnation into an advantage. "Meddling with a younger Bishop twisted events further. Robot Legends are a direct result of your interference, that's on you." He mused as if thinking something over. "Fifty-two other time travellers died at that little speak-easy, the Fixed Point. Disruption of the Battle of Mametz Wood. Saving Alun Thomas."
"Murder bots and magic shrooms?" Sara frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad."
"Interference with two fixed points." Arvind insisted. "You might as well kill Hitler and kidnap baby Jesus! Commander Jurgens doesn't get called out for any normal time criminals, he's reserved for," The lieutenant paused, that nugget of suspicion coming into play. "Where is Commander Jurgens?"
"Ava kinda lost her temper after we had an argument," Sara admitted. "Things were said, a couple of insults were thrown, and Jurgens refused to see events from our perspective."
"And they thought violence would convince me." Jurgens sneered from the doorway as he approached with Ava in tow. Sara noticed her hunched posture and immediately looked to the handcuffs secured around her wrists.
"Sara, don't!" Ava grabbed at her coat with manacled hands as she began to move. "I shouldn't have punched Commander Jurgens and he's agreed not to charge you as an accessory."
"Did you threaten to punch him unless he agreed to that?" Sara placed her hands over Ava's and pulled her close as Jurgens circled at a safe distance.
"She did punch me." Jurgens intentionally left which time vague. He was still within lunging distance and the pair were deadly enough. "Lieutenant Arvind, how are we getting on?"
"Good, sir," Arvind was wise enough to wait for the cell doors before pissing off the Legends. "We've disconnected the spare time drive and prepared a message for the beacon."
"Stuck in Clayface Mine - Sara Lance." Jurgens read. "And you signed it with a smiley face?"
"Had to make them think it was genuine." She smirked at Ava.
"Fate of the world, and you used a smiley." Her wife pouted.
Taking the etched plating in hand, the group of four disembarked to the sound of cheering. Legends and Time Police alike were celebrating the completion of Charlie and their next step in escape from the dismal nightmare. "Got that dirt you wanted." Astra jerked a thumb towards the pile of soft clay they'd extracted during the dig. As far as she was concerned, it was more crud to stick to her shoes.
"Please, allow me," Gary took the plate with a smile and began forcing handfuls of clay into a thick coating. "It's just like the mud swamps back on Necria."
"Once we're done here, we head to the Clayface Mine," Jurgens ordered his team. "We'll seal the entrance and enter stasis."
"I have a question!" Spooner shot a hand up.
"Yes, Miss Cruz." He'd learned to be wary of the weapons enthusiast, mainly because she was as deadly unarmed. The files hadn't mentioned that.
"Can I seal the entrance?" She smiled that smile and P'tar automatically moved behind her.
"What qualifies you to perform a controlled demolition?" Jurgens asked bluntly.
"I grew up thinking aliens had abducted me and taught myself everything I needed to hunt them all down." Gary paused while smoothing down the clay covering. "I'm just messing with ya," Spooner laughed, the team breathing a sigh of relief. "I was sent to the future by a magic mushroom and developed ESP instead."
"Miss Cruz is a weapons expert, sir," Arvind murmured in his ear. "I don't believe anyone on our team has explosives training."
"Anyone else?" Jurgens tried not to sound like he was pleading. He'd faced paradox factions and doomsday worshippers but something about that smile unnerved him. "Very well, you have the job." He glanced towards the edge of the time bubble, wondering how far he could make it if an explosion happened.
"We want an hour." The strange demand pulled his attention back with a frown.
"What?" Jurgens searched for the speaker.
"An hour," Astra demanded. "We get one hour to do whatever we need to get ready."
Jurgens gave her a level look. "Fine." He conceded. "Not much point in arguing. Either your friends get us out of this or they don't. Nothing another hour won't do."
"Okay then," She nodded smugly, moving to reenter the ship.
"Whoa," Jurgens blocked her path with one hand. "Where do you think you're going? Once the beacon is in place, we need to put all that dirt back." A huge hole in the middle of the forest was going to draw attention in any timeline. "And I believe it's your shift next." Astra gave him such a glare that he could see the traces of hellfire remaining in her gaze.
"Ava's getting our room together," They had filled the hole and set course for the depleted mine nearby. Jurgens was running a final systems check when Sara casually sauntered onto the bridge. "Says she wants us to be comfortable for the next few decades." Sara reached into the trunk at the bottom of the bookcase and pulled out a bottle of Captain Jiwe spiced rum.
"Pointless," He grunted while taking an offered glass. "We won't notice any time has passed."
"Maybe not," Sara agreed as she filled his tumbler. "But I'll rest easy knowing we'll be together."
"Aren't you having one?" He sniffed the liquor suspiciously. "Did you put something in this?"
"Nah," She tucked the bottle away for later. Much, much later. "Girls with my condition don't get to drink."
"Oh." Then he thought it through. "Oh." A mouthful of rum drowned some of his guilt. "I'll request for a memory erasure." He said absently. "You'll never have to know about them."
"You don't have kids, do you?" Bereft of spades, Sara was able to resist her more violent impulses. "I'd sooner cut off my left leg than miss a single moment of our baby."
"I have a son," Jurgens admitted. "Five, nearly six."
"The other Gideon, who controlled the Robo-Legends, showed me a clip of who they grow up to be," Sara sat on the step to the captain's cabin and looked around the bridge. This was her home. Her mission. "And she's perfect."
"Why did they show you a video?" Jurgens couldn't help his curiosity - it might be the final mystery he ever solved. "Your team says this 'other Gideon' wanted you dead more than I want you in jail."
"Our Gideon managed to arrange a deal." Sara smiled. "If we all gave up time travel and returned to our normal lives, she'd stop hunting us. Gave each of us a spoiler-free preview to cement the deal." She looked up at the looming figure. "Why didn't you come for us then?"
"Didn't seem necessary," He swirled the amber liquid around his glass in a soothing motion. "Your timeline was stable, your actions were deemed reasonable. Attacking another fixed point," He drained the glass. "That's what signed your warrant."
Sara smiled understandingly. "Fair enough," After nearly a week locked in with him, she was finding it more difficult to see the cop as anything but a man trying to do his best. Sara stood up and stretched until her back clicked into place. "I'd better get going - Ava hates it when I'm late." She nodded respectfully. "Nice knowing you, Commander."
"If this works and we get out of it," Jurgens straightened, "We'll be right back to where we were before. You're going to jail and I'm going to put you there." He tossed a set of handcuff keys to her, pointedly saying nothing about Ava.
"If this fails, and nothing is waiting for us afterwards," Sara paused in the archway. "I suggest you go out thinking about your son instead of some imaginary bad guys."
"Goodbye," Jurgens set his glass on the side. "Captain Lance." He spoke to the empty room.
In the privacy of their room, Sara wrapped herself around Ava as Ava had around their baby. "What should we call her?" She murmured through Ava's hair. They hadn't stopped to think about names. Ironically, there hadn't been time.
"How about Caity?" Ava whispered softly. Sara considered it.
"Nah. I knew a mean Katie once." They had all the time in the world to choose and simply sat there for a while. "How about Jes?"
"Urgh, no." Ava wrinkled her nose. "Too short."
"Okay," Sara smiled. "Jessica."
"Jessica." Ava rolled the name around her mouth. "I don't know."
"I think it's perfect." She kissed the top of Ava's head and held her closer.
"I can't believe you're trying to do this." In the lab, Behrad tried his best to time entering temporal suspension about to catch a cheese puff as Zari buried her face in shame.
"Please," Setting down beside him, Astra reached into the barrel and joined in. "This is how you do it!" The first one bounced off her ear and rolled under the couch.
"There's a technique to it," Behrad smirked, flinching as he hit himself in the eye. "One more time!" He grabbed the next one as Astra managed to miss her face entirely.
"Just so you know," Throwing her boots up on the table, Spooner sipped from a beer bottle as she watched the antics. "I appreciated that time you tried buying me a drink." And she passed a bottle to Zari as they watched the entertainment unfold.
Gwyn had taken Alun to the library and watched sadly as the confused soldier found solace in a book of poetry. "Alun," Fear drove him to act. He had stared death in the face before and frozen but fear of losing Alun had driven him to break all of God's laws and doom his soul to eternal damnation. "In case this doesn't work, there is something I must tell you."
"What is it?" Alun closed the book and gently laid it on the table. It was as if all of history had been compressed and filed into this room. He could have happily set up with Gwyn and never left again.
"Before all this, all this madness," Gwyn gripped both hands behind his back and began pacing back and forth across the thick rugs. "I had resolved myself that I could never save you and know you were alive. It was vital, you see, that my own path through time not be disturbed lest I was unable to correct yours."
"Miss… Captain Sharpe explained it to me," Alun admitted. Ava had the air of a bureaucrat and he could pretend she was merely an honorary Captain to impart orders from some higher officer. Learning that there was no higher authority had briefly unsettled that comforting lie. "Changing your past would not allow you to then make the time machine to change it."
"Exactly, my dear, exactly!" He seized the air with both hands as he continued pacing. "But it was not merely the thought of saving my fellow soldiers that drove me on. I could not save Ellis, or Adam, or Bostwick, not any of the others without becoming a monster who would tarnish time for his own gain."
"Gwyn," Catching him as he turned, Alun seized the inventor by both hands and stroked them until they had unclenched. "You are not making sense. Tell it to me straight. Whatever is bothering you is a trial we can overcome together."
Dr Gwyn Davies looked deep into those emerald green eyes and faced a challenge more terrible than fighting God and spiting time. "I love you, Alun," He muttered. "I love you as the wind does the rain, as the flowers love the sun, as the boats do the sea. There was no light in that grim, vile war that was not you and I could never have forgiven myself if I did not do everything in my power to bring that light back to the world." For a brief and terrible moment, he thought Alun swallowed by the vile darkness that already surrounded the ship. Then, in an even more terrible instant, his touch was broken.
"Gwyn, listen to yourself," Alun choked and pulled away. "This is… This is not how men should act."
"They tried to trick me, you know," Gwyn thrust his hands deep into his pockets and stared at the map on the wall. "A vile machination that sought to prevent any interference in history, using any tyrannical means it deemed acceptable."
"Yes. The evil sister of Miss Gideon." Alun was barely capable of understanding the microwave yet and Gary had provided a helpful metaphor for the situation.
"She gave me you." Gwyn turned with tears in his eyes. "An unnatural copy of you. And I knew that it wasn't you because it did not know of the beautiful poetry you had written me. I knew it was not you because I looked into those eyes and did not see the light of the morning sun. I knew it was not you because it loved me as I love you. And I knew that I could not live loving a lie so," He cleared his throat until his voice was steady. "So, I resolved myself once more and threw myself into the breach. And Captain Lance and Captain Sharpe and all the Legends threw themselves after me so that I might save you. Because there is nothing more powerful in this world or any other than the love I have for you. Not time nor space, nor God himself. I will doom myself for all eternity so that you may live all your days in happiness and freedom. I have done before and so I shall do again."
"Officers," The galley was the only room big enough to house them all that wasn't already occupied. "It has been an honour serving alongside you." Jurgens raised a hand to his temple. "For the future."
"Atten-shun!" Arvind called, the squad snapping a salute in return.
Out on the bridge, Gideon had finished making the final preparations. An entire century was about to pass in the blink of an eye. "Gary," She turned to her companion. "In case we don't get the chance later, I wanted to say,"
"I know," He cut across her with a smile. "I love you too."
"Oh." She started. "I was going to say, if we get through this, we should adopt a cat."
"Aaah!" Gary gasped. "I'd love to."
"I was thinking we could call it Gary Jr. III." She admitted.
"Gideon!" He seized her in a tender embrace. "Let's do it."
"After we save the world," She said seriously.
"Of course!"
Gideon smiled and activated the ship's comms. "Entering stasis in three… two…," Gideon paused with her hand on the lever. Gary carefully reached out and took her spare hand in his. "One." No. That was too heartless, too mechanical and ending. She was alive now and her brief experience had already taught her so much. Looking at Gary, she smiled happily. This was enough. "Pleasant dreams." And then all was still.
Behrad and Astra with triumphant arms in the air for the successful synchronised catch, Spooner and Zari laughing in despair. Arvind and his soldiers saluting Commander Jurgens and being saluted in return. Sara and Ava nested together around their growing child. In the library, Alun pulling Gwyn's face to his in a passionate kiss that deserved to last forever.