Chapter 1
STAR LABS
Mulder stirred slowly. "Where…where am I?"
"Back in Star Labs," Sara said.
"I just had a horrible dream," Mulder said slowly. "And that I had a really nice dream."
"Why do I have a feeling you've used that line on me before?" Scully asked.
"I have. Only it wasn't you I was saying it too," Mulder was getting to a sitting position.
"Was that any more confusing than the way our lives are now?" Jefferson asked.
"That's a pretty high bar," Cisco Ramone said.
"Hey, the last thing I remember is passing out in an honest-to-god TARDIS. Give me some credit for being able to banter at all."
Inwardly everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Given that Mulder and Scully had been out for more than four hours some of them had begun to wonder if they had broken the FBI agents or whether they'd wake up with traumatic amnesia. That they were acknowledging reality was a good sign.
"Why didn't you try to wake us before?" Scully has asked when she'd gotten up about ten minutes earlier.
"Honestly, we thought you could use the rest," Caitlin had told them sincerely.
"Not like either of you have exactly slept much the last few weeks," Cisco had said.
"Is there some kind of schedules for how superheroes and vigilantes rest?" Scully had asked with some scientific curiosity.
"Last I checked, you're flesh and blood. Worry about yourselves."
"And you know, the fate of the planet" Scully said with a small smile.
"Which last I checked you live on," Cisco had said before they let the matter drop.
Mulder slowly got to his feet. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted."
"You mean, collapsed like a Victorian heroine with the vapors." Everyone looked at Stein. "What? How often do I get use a reference on people who are old enough to get it without explaining?"
"Fair point, Grey," Jefferson acknowledged.
"As I was saying," Mulder repeated. "Not that Scully and I aren't grateful that you entrusted us with your secret but since it seems that using time travel to change the future is against the rules," he paused. "You know the joke about the dog who finally catches the bus?"
"Now what do I do?" Snart said.
"I think you summed it up perfectly," Scully told them. "I don't know if you know that I wrote my graduate thesis on something very close to time travel."
Now Stein was curious. "Actually I don't think that came up your resume."
Scully actually looked a little embarrassed. Which considering that she was in the presence of one of the most preeminent theoretical physicists on the planet was understandable. "It was the usual thing you write, the kind of thing someone who goes to their PhD on."
"Don't be so embarrassed, Scully. I may have joked about it on our first meeting, but it was pretty bold writing," Mulder was actually being sincere for once.
"What was the nature of it?"
"Usual stuff, debunking Einstein, that sort of thing," Scully said, barely looking at Stein.
"I tried Kepler for mine," Stein admitted.
"'Though common sense might rule out the possibilities of time travel, the laws of quantum physics do not', " Mulder quoted. "I admit I kind of threw that at you when it seemed like it was a practical application but let's not kid ourselves, we're looking at living proof."
Scully seemed a little more solid now and looked at the group. "I assume you've been brought up to speed on everything that happened when we first came to Star Labs."
Ray nodded. "Including everything that happened with this Lisa Ianelli. Who happens to have a starring role in an investigation roughly nineteen years ago."
Snart nodded. "We heard that story but it wasn't in any of the files you gave us. Did it have to do with one of the monsters you tracked down?"
"That's a funny word for it," Mulder told them. "We'll show you the file when there's a free moment and I have to tell you this file has even more missing pieces then most of the other ones over the years. I don't even know why Jason Nichols was so desperate to stop this from happening. But I myself actually thought what he was trying to prevent was futile." He looked at his partner. "And when she was twenty-three Scully did too."
Scully nodded. "Although multi-dimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can only produce one outcome." She looked at them.
"Clyde Bruckman told me something similar when we met him." Mulder said. "And it's pretty clear it messed him up for life."
"But it can be," Caitlin point out. "That newspaper did change. Everyone in Star Labs saw it and can bear witness to that fact."
"That's a positive sign and we do need one," Mulder said. "But since going back in time and changing the future doesn't seem possible, then I ask again: how do we utilize…" He trailed off.
"The Wave Rider," Ray reminded them.
Mulder considered this. "I'm guessing you didn't come up with the name."
"I wanted to call it the Island Princess, but I was outvoted," Mick said.
"Mainly as a sign of trust," Sara said. "You were willing to give us a lot of leeway the last week and considering everything else you've helped our friends with the last few months, we figured you deserved honesty."
"You may be the first cops I've met in twenty years as a thief who actually had a worse experience with the law then me and Mick ever did," Snart said. "You two know better than anyone how utterly screwed up it is."
"I hate to say it, but being on the right side of it seems to have hurt the two of you worse than most people who fight it," Mick actually seemed to have a touch of sorrow in his bluntness.
"You're making the mistake of talking about the laws of man," Mulder said sadly. "I don't think the laws of nature apply to the people Scully and I spent our lives fighting against. Maybe I was hoping the laws of space and time could be used to fight these people but I don't see how."
Scully thought for a second. "Maybe we can't use it that way," she said slowly. "But maybe there's a way to work around them."
Stein looked at Scully. "What are you thinking?"
"The Wave-Rider. You can use it to go back to any point in time and space." Scully said slowly. "You can't change anything but I assume observing isn't out of the question."
"It's pretty much ninety percent of what we do anyway," Jefferson said. "The other ten percent is waiting for something to go wrong."
"How much of that do you cause yourselves?" Scully asked, only half in jest.
"I refuse to answer on the grounds of self-incrimination," Mick said.
Mulder wasn't entirely listening. "I think I know what you're talking about, Scully," he told them.
"Would you mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Sara asked.
"We might not be able to go back in time to change the future," Mulder said. "But at the very least we can go back to see where things went wrong in the first place."
STAR CITY
"I have to admit Mrs. Grant, I wasn't expecting to hear back from you so soon," Quentin Lance told.
"First I'd appreciate a little information update," Cat Grant said. "Has there been any sign from our mutual friends in the capes and masks as to things being worse in your neck of the world the last few days?"
"There've been some burglaries and random violence but nothing that remarkable yet," Quentin said. "I have no doubt it will follow the pattern of slowly building and accelerating and possibly getting unbearable in four to five months, but for now it's relatively calm."
"Funny that's how things tend to play out in National City the last year or so," Cat Grant said.
"Maybe we're just old enough that we recognize familiar patterns in life," Quentin said.
"Yeah. That must be it," Cat Grant shook it off. "Anyway as you no doubt have figured out that's not the real reason I called."
"I may still remember VHS tapes but I can use the internet as well as you can," Quentin agreed. "The footage with your girl has been going viral."
"I'm not proprietary enough to consider Supergirl mine," Cat paused. "But yes, the shit has officially hit the fan, and the Syndicate of Extraordinary Ungentlewomen chose the right source to use to leak it."
"I've heard his commentary. I have to say given the way O'Malley usually talks, he actually seems to have toned his rhetoric down for this," Quentin told her.
"You listen to his stuff? I thought better of you, Quentin."
"Not voluntarily. Star City's been the topic of more than a few of his rages over the last couple of years. I know I shouldn't bother listening to that crap, but…"
"You have to know what you're up against. I get it," Cat Grant said sympathetically. "That's the reason I called. We need to get on top of this somehow, which means learning how they play this game. That means finding out how O'Malley got this."
Quentin considered this. "You know this guy? I mean in a professional capacity?"
"He was a cautionary tale. He was cutting his teeth in the reporting circuit not long after I was starting to become a force in the industry. Guy had a wide-eyed sense of innocence about him once. But after all that shit went down in Waco and Oklahoma City, the guy starting going down some dark rabbit holes."
"A lot of people did after that," Quentin said.
"Yeah, but he never truly came out," Cat said regretfully. "He's not as bad as a long of the talk radio journalists out there. I know that's a pretty low bar but his politics have always been pretty centrist. Most of his conspiracy theories are almost tame compared to the shit out there – nothing about birth certificates, he doesn't think mass shootings are false flags, he doesn't think 9-11 was an inside job. The conspiracies he's preached are not dangerous because they're fake, it's because there's more than a grain of truth in them."
"In other words, he would have been Mulder's type of follower under other circumstances," Quentin surmised.
"The guy's a religious user of the Freedom of Information Act since the day he started his radio show," Cat agreed. "Every time a new batch of Nixon's tapes get revealed to the public or the CIA declassifies documents on Cold War operations, the guy's first in line."
"It's kind of genius. What better way to prove the government's been lying to us then by using the government's own lies against them?" Quentin said. "Which is why I didn't get why he started moving towards vigilantes the last couple of years. Doesn't fit the narrative of what you're telling me he uses."
Cat sighed. "There's a very good chance he's not doing it because of vigilantes or even costumes. He has a different agenda in mind. One that fits in with one he's been preaching just as loudly."
"Is he going after you personally?" Quentin guessed. "He one of those incel types who has an issue with powerful women?"
"You're half right," Cat acknowledged. "As I said, the guy doesn't follow the typical media tropes. Doesn't use racial, gender, homophobic or religious scapegoats. Honestly he'd probably has a larger following because he doesn't."
"That goes against everything I know about talk radio, but keep going," Quentin said.
"Where he does correlate is the idea of the powerful controlling the media. Even here he walks a different line. He doesn't say the media has a liberal bias; he says it has a capitalistic bias which sad to say, it does." Cat paused. "You know hold my life in your hands in a way that not even your friends in masks do because I said that."
"It stays between us. You still haven't explained what this has to do with vigilantes."
"That's right, I keep forgetting Star City never had a pro-Arrow journalist market," Cat realized. "The first exclusive with Superman five years ago? You remember how big a deal it was when The Daily Planet broke it?"
The picture began to grow details. "And the way that Vicki Vale had access to Batman in Gotham City."
"In hindsight it might not have been the best idea for Barry to let the Flash give his first exclusive to the girl he was crushing on his whole life," Cat finished the picture.
"O'Malley thinks that everything involving superheroes and vigilantes is an agenda of the mainstream media?" It sounded absolutely ridiculous when it was said out loud – but given that Quentin knew firsthand how Cat Grant had chosen to make the Supergirl story the center of her media company, it was also very close to the truth.
"Hence the reason I think I have to do some digging into how O'Malley got this story in the first place," Now Cat did sound apologetic.
"It's not entirely your mess but I get why you feel you have to try and clean it up," Quentin agreed. "That said, why did you call me in the first place rather than your own people?"
"James and Winn did both offer but I needed them to do some work on a different front. I'm willing to tell you but not over the phone," Cat Grant said.
"The CEO of CatCo doesn't think she can get a secure line?" Quentin Lance wasn't joking at all when she said this.
"Need I remind you of the last name of one of the people behind this little coffee klatsch of villains? By the way, Lillian if you are listening to this, your hairdo has always looked like a poodle fucked a cocker spaniel," Cat Grant said solemnly.
"And I thought my daughter's had potty mouths," Quentin said.
"I'm calling you from a burner phone which I intend to dispose of when I'm done," Cat Grant continued. "Since I'm pretty sure Lillian Luthor did invent the Internet, you can understand my doubts. What I am willing to tell you over the phone is that the reason I want your help is for a very specific reason that maybe only you and your people can answer."
"Are you comfortable telling me that much?"
"I think I have too because that's the heart of the reason I have my concerns about how this happened." Cat Grant said. "I have no idea how Cadmus found Tad O'Malley in the first place."
"Why not?" Quentin asked.
"Tad O'Malley may be fairly tame when it comes to some of the rhetoric he spouts compared to many of the radio and podcasters out there but when it comes to their paranoia, he's at a different level," Cat said. "His show is essentially mobile. He has a series of studios across the country where he records them but he never stays at them for more than a week and the moment he leaves he hires a cleaning crew to sanitize it. The numbers he uses for his call-ins are only revealed during the broadcast of every show and the moment the show ended he orders them disconnected. He has a small crew of people who work for him and when he uses outside help, he always pays in cash and uses go-betweens."
"The guy does videocasts three times a week and he makes appearance at conventions. It's not like he's off the grid."
"The broadcasts are done through anonymous servers. When he makes public appearance they have to be on twelve hours' notice and he is free to cancel at any time. And in all of those cases, he makes first contact, not the purveyors of events." Cat Grant paused. "This may sound impossible to believe, but one of the most prominent figures in public media is impossible to be reached by the public unless it's on his own terms. Which really makes me wonder just how Cadmus managed to send him this footage in the first place."
"You know a lot about this guy for a guy who doesn't let a lot of people know him."
"As you might expect even the true believers can't keep up with this kind of demand even for the money he pays them," Cat Grant said. "A couple of them have talked over the years. But there's limits to what you get secondhand. That's why I need your help. We need to find O'Malley and learn how he got this information."
"We do have more than our share of people could have expertise in that fashion," Quentin agreed. "But if this were just a smash and grab hack you would have called Felicity directly."
"I want to try this in the open, so to speak. And as charming as I find Felicity's babble and am in awe of her intellect, I need to this to be done a certain way." Cat Grant said. "Brief her on O'Malley and find out what she knows. My guess is, given her own history she might know more about him than even a media mogul. Tell her if she thinks is possible to track down where O'Malley will be or find some kind of digital footprint."
"And when those ten minutes are up?" Quentin said dryly.
"Then tell her I'd like to videoconference. My guess it'll take more than ten minutes for her to come down from cloud nine." Cat said. "After that, it's going to involve my particular set of skills more than hers."
WAVE-RIDER
"All right, now I remember the other question I wanted to ask before I had a slight case of low blood sugar," Mulder said.
"You passed out like a little girl," Mick said.
"I realize dignity is a foreign concept…I'm sorry, I'm still not handling this well. Back to the original point," Mulder looked at the group. "How exactly do you manage to carry out your duties?"
There was a long pause. "Are you questioning our work ethic?" Ray asked.
"I think Mulder was trying to argue just how a group so racially and sexually diverse manage to travel through back to, say, 1875 and not get pointed out," Scully said.
"There's a reason Back to The Future had Michael J. Fox as its lead and not Eddie Murphy," Mulder pointed out. "Even in 1955 California, bad behavior from a black man could get you lynched. I don't want to think what it would be like for most of you had you made it to Part III."
There was a long pause. "Did I cross a line?" Mulder asked Jefferson.
"Actually I'm grateful you talked about the elephant in the room," Jefferson acknowledged. "I sure as hell didn't think about it when I went on this adventure with Grey and I'm actually shocked it didn't occur to him."
"Most of the problems that would occur to you wouldn't to me, and that is my fault," Stein acknowledged. "In hindsight Mr. Hunter managed to gloss over that part when he hired most of us and even considering the major stuff he left out, this was one of his most obvious ones."
"A great irony for my friend and myself has been learning how much we can get away with in the past for a reason neither of us would have expected before," Snart acknowledged.
"To answer your question we've been having to play with a certain amount of delicacy over the last year," Sara held up a hand. "Could you save your jokes about it for later?"
"All right, but I'm keeping careful notes from now on," Scully said.
"There's a fair amount of appropriate wardrobe and makeup that the Wave Rider has available for the time," Sara said. "That covers sins for most of us, though to be honest it hasn't exactly been a picnic for me going further back than the Second World War."
"That's America. How's it like other parts of the world in the past?" Mulder asked with some curiosity.
"Slightly better," Jefferson acknowledged. "And it was weird being talked to with dignity in the French Revolution more than I ever was growing up here."
"Well the good news we're not going that much further out of your comfort zones according to the dates and times I have," Mulder told them. "Of course, considering what you very likely will be facing in these times and places you may all wish for something as bland as white supremacy and misogyny being your biggest threats."
"This is normally the part where I make a joke about this being a 'white person problem'", Jefferson said. "Except we've already gotten a pretty good idea what you're up against."
The plan that Mulder and Scully had come up with – compared to the kinds of missions the Legends had gone through in the past several months – was relatively simple. Going through their archives they had come up with five fixed dates and places that had been vital to the Syndicate - and in some cases, themselves. Working backwards from the most recent one they would travel and observe exactly what happened in every one of those events.
The purpose: reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. By learning exactly what the Syndicate had done during these critical periods they would gain information as to how the conspiracy had formed, exactly what nature it had been and hopefully by learning what they had done, to learn how to counter the moves going forward.
This was going to be tricky even in theory. In practice the Legends knew they would likely start going balls-up the first moment any of them said a word or even interacted with anyone from the Syndicate. Mulder and Scully knew that as well. Both were hoping their knowledge – at least for the first few events – would give them an edge that the Legends had already.
They had been hoping for more. Unfortunately they were not entirely shocked to find out what happened when the Legends had gone through Gideon's database for information on many of the dates and places in question.
The Legends weren't surprised either – but they didn't take it as well as Mulder and Scully did.
"Gideon, I'm seriously considering finding where your socket is, pulling out the plug and plugging you back in thirty seconds later," Ray told them.
"I am not an electronic device…"
"Seriously. six months with Snart and Rory; you still haven't cracked the sarcasm algorithm yet?" Sara said, rolling her eyes.
"I don't know why you're stunned by this." Mulder told them. "Smokey told me how he and his colleagues went out of their way to make sure none of this ended up on a government archive or a press record. And it's not like the Consortium had a Christmas card list with a mailing sheet."
"I remember what one of them told me they did. 'They predict the future. And the best way to do this is to invent it.'" Scully said. "They made history. You don't think they made sure their names were omitted from the record?"
"That is the way these nameless puppet-masters tend to work," Snart agreed.
"But it does mean we're operating without a net," Sara said.
Scully cocked an eyebrow. "When did that ever bother you?"
"Before we had an idea what we were getting into. That way we knew what to avoid." Stein told them. "That didn't mean we weren't capable of making messes but at least they were usually only our own."
"We've made more than our share of messes over the years," Mulder said.
"Speak for yourself, Mulder."
"The point is, having made those mistakes we can at least tell you what to avoid," Mulder said. "That means at least for the first group we should be able to walk you through it."
It was agreed that given Mulder and Scully's close connection to most of the events they'd be observing neither agent could be sent out into the field. Instead the Legends would go out and Mulder and Scully would be the voices in their ears. That still meant a certain amount of picking and choosing.
"All right for this one, we're going to have split our efforts," Mulder said. "That means two teams of two. And considering how this plays out, we're going to need you to be decked out in suits for it so you'll avoid suspicion."
"Different then our usual type of wardrobe but I think we can work with that, " Sara said.
"Good. Ray, you and Snart take one team. Sara, I think you and Mick have to take the other."
"Is there a reason Jefferson and I are benched for the first mission?" Stein asked curiously.
"Because Scully and I know how this one ends," Mulder said grimly. "And the last thing we need now are people who have anything to do with fire."
STAR CITY
Felicity Smoak was more than willing to acknowledge her tendency to babble. It had been part of her makeup since she was a child, it had not gotten notably better even in her four years as Overwatch and she didn't expect it to improve now that Supergirl called her a friend.
Still when Quentin had told her that Cat Grant needed her help on a very important mission, she thought she had managed to handle it better than, say, most of the initial interactions she'd had with Oliver during their first series of meetings as well as everything she'd had to deal with the last three years. Everyone knew by now that her babbling was a defense mechanism that would leave most of the average people catatonic.
It had actually taken her a little longer to realize what exactly the head of CatCo wanted her to do and everyone who knew her would have stunned by her alacrity in her initial response.
"Absolutely not," she'd told Quentin.
Quentin wasn't sure what surprised him more: her refusal or being shut down that fast. "You do understand why we need to do this?"
"I understand it perfectly. My answer hasn't changed."
There was actually a brusqueness that Quentin had no memory from Felicity at this point: it bordered on coldness. "If this is a privacy issue, now's hardly the time to get principles," Quentin said.
"Actually I've had principles for a while. You have no idea how hard it's been for me to violate them on a nearly hourly basis." Felicity said. "I know, I'm the one you come to when you need certain protocols violated. I'm the first person on the list. But in this particular case, this is a hard pass."
Quentin was actually non-plussed: of all the reactions he'd expected from Felicity a blanket refusal wasn't even on the list.
"And in all candor, I'm kind of shocked Cat Grant of all people would want me to violate this particular principle," Felicity said. She then started typing on her keyboard very quickly.
"What are you doing?"
"I know the next step in this dance; I'm saving you the trouble. And her. You might want to get her on the phone right now."
Quentin had a pretty good idea what she was about to do and he had a feeling he had to let this play out.
"Is she ready to listen?" Cat Grant asked.
"I'd say that's a big no," Quentin said carefully. "Apparently she has a code of ethics that I wasn't aware of."
"You could at least have the courtesy to move slightly further away," Felicity didn't look up. "And not to offer style tips but its common courtesy when you're talking to someone to look at them,"
Quentin turned around – and then realized she wasn't talking to him.
He figured that the head of one of the largest media conglomerates in the world had one of the most elaborate security systems possible. By his count it had taken Felicity Smoak exactly two minutes to hack the camera on Cat Grant's personal computer.
"Um, Catherine," Quentin said quietly. "I think I'm going to put you on speaker and then I'm going to leave the room. I think you need to work this out between the two of you."
Catherine Grant had not been one of the best journalists in the world because she couldn't pick up on nuance. She nodded and then turned around.
"I clearly need to fire the people who do my security protocols," Cat Grant said cautiously.
"I'd be willing to redesign a new set for you down the road. Assuming what I'm about to tell you doesn't cause you to use your empire to attempt to bring me down," Felicity said calmly.
"I think we both know we have bigger problems than that," Catherine said. "By the way, does this shade of eyeshadow work for me?"
"You're pulling it off," Felicity said just as calmly. "The lipstick doesn't suit you, at least not with that pantsuit."
"It matches the pendant."
"Indeed it does." Felicity said. "I think this proves that I can do exactly what you want to me to do. However, it does violate at least some of my principles to do them and I'm actually astonished you came up with the idea."
Cat Grant nodded. "Oliver informed me of your past life. I wish I could say I was surprised."
"Don't tell me you're judging me."
"You're talking to the person who prior to this called Edward Snowden the standard for all future whistleblowers and has gone before Congress twice demanded the charges against him be dropped."
"I remember. Which is why I find what you're asking of me particularly hypocritical."
"You don't even know what I want you to do."
"You want me to locate Tad O'Malley a man who has done in everything in his power to keep his location clandestine in order to maintain his ability to carry out his job. Now I realize that by the standards of CatCo, the Daily Planet or even some of the media here in Star City he may not have the levels we expect of them, but he nevertheless remains a journalist, protected by the First Amendment and the Press Shield law both of which protect him from having to reveal where he obtains his information. Such as the viral media stream that he aired in his latest broadcast." Felicity said. "For the record Kara's biggest complaint is that the camera did what it always did and added ten pounds."
"I'd say seven at most," Cat Grant was keeping a neutral tone.
"You may want to engage him by purpose of subterfuge or legitimate means. In either case, you're asking him to violate the principle that you not only agreed with Judith Miller for upholding, you set up a defense fund for her," Felicity continued. "And perhaps to keep your hands clean, you are asking me to do the dirty work for you. Did I leave anything out?"
There was a long pause. "Now I know how Eliot Spitzer felt," Cat said, shaking her head.
"Once you spend four years as The Hood's right-hand woman you pick up certain things," Felicity said. "And you also learn how important it is to be true to yourself."
"You know the stakes involved as well as I do, if not better," Cat Grant admitted. "And if what I've heard from Quentin and Oliver is only half true, you've done far more extreme things to far worse people."
"I've lived in a darker world than you have the last four years," Felicity said. "And I'll admit Oliver has asked me to do some things that have been morally ambiguous for the greater good. But the difference is Tad O'Malley is not a threat the way that Damien Dahrk and Slade Wilson were. He might be inadvertently doing the bidding of bad people, but you should know better than most that doesn't make him a bad person. And even knowing what I do, I can still understand the merits of what O'Malley did. He doesn't know the whole story to be sure, but that doesn't mean he did it for a bad reason."
"We're more in agreement then you'd think, Miss Smoak. Most of my colleagues are inclined to paint O'Malley as a villain. They lump him in with the worst parts of the fringe media, and we both know that's not the kind of broadcaster he is."
Felicity's tone softened just a bit. "You've taken a hard line on him in some of your broadcasts."
"You also know that compared to the Planet, I'm practically a fangirl," Cat reminded her. "He's not that far removed from the Lincoln Steffens's and Ida Tarbell's of the world before muckraking was given a bad name. He may not be at subtle at times but in this world, you sometimes have to hit the people in the head with a hammer and he does that. The world will need people like Tad O'Malley going forward. That's why I wanted you to help me find him in the first place."
Now Felicity looked puzzled. "Quentin told me you wanted to find out how Cadmus reached him."
"In a perfect world I think we'd all like to know that. And perhaps he can be persuaded to tell us in due course. But I know him a little. We could use the carrot or the stick, he'd ignore both." Cat Grant said. "And I think we both know that short and long-term, that wouldn't help us."
Felicity was starting to get it. "You want try to and persuade him over to our side."
"Contrary to his tone, the man does have better angels of his nature. Under normal circumstances he'd be on our side. We just have to convince him of that."
"You didn't exactly express this very well to Quentin," Felicity told her.
Cat had the good grace to look embarrassed. "The man strikes me as the type who doesn't easily let people risk their well-being if they don't have to. It's understandable given that his previous career was in law enforcement but he has a bit of your boyfriend's savior complex to him."
"It has been as much an Achilles heel for him as many of my friends in costumes," Felicity paused. "Still, this compared to the kind of things we had to do on an average Wednesday, this would hardly muss what's left of his hair."
"He also doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'd easily accept that there are certain jobs that are women's work."
Felicity suspected there was more to Cat's attitude than this. She might not have been able to easily pick up on signals then some of her friends but she had more experience than she ever wanted when knowing if a woman of a certain age was interested in Quentin Lance. Now, however, was not the time to discuss matchmaking.
"I can track down Tad O'Malley. What do you want me to do next?"
"You've just proven you can do the other part." Cat Grant said easily. "I need you to send Tad O'Malley a message but make it look that it came from a CatCo server."
"And what do you want the message to say?"
"To set up a meeting of the minds."
NEW YORK CITY
FEBRUARY 8th 1999
5:30 PM
"You're sure that this is the address?" Sara Lance asked.
"Considering that we own the building now, absolutely," Mulder said in her ear.
"What do you want us to do now?" Mick asked.
"I have a feeling just wait," Sara said, looking down.
A group of expensive town cars were pulling up to the building in question.
"The old men are starting to gather," Sara told them. "They don't know yet this is the end."
"The beginning of the end," Mulder said. "Which is why we have to start here."
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Couple of X-Files references when they wake up; the first is an Easter Egg from the fifth season episode Kill Switch, the other from Scully's graduate thesis which gets quoted in regard to time travel in Synchrony. Considering this episode will deal extensively with time travel, I wanted to set up two contrasts the first with the idea of predestination, the second free will. The two themes came up a lot on The X-Files and we'll be referring to most of the major ones here.
In the revival Tad O'Malley was shown very close to being the alien equivalent of a far right podcaster, closer to Alex Jones. I wanted to put up a different kind of counterargument for his politics in this story, that he was more about revealing the government's actual conspiracies rather than creating ones out of whole cloth. Considering that quite a few of the best storylines on The X-Files suggested that the alien abductions were cover for something more banal and frightening, I actually thought this was a more realistic approach.
The argument that superheroes are a creation of the liberal media is actually less paranoid than most of the theories in the Arrow-verse, particularly because there's an argument for its plausibility given the relationship between superheroes and journalists throughout DC (and Marvel, for that matter). I thought it might be both tongue and cheek and interesting to have O'Malley arguing this because he's actually right: what's going on in some cases is the dictionary definition of a conspiracy between the superheroes and the media.
Characters on The X-Files are often paranoid because they fear the government's intervention and they are right to think so. Tad O'Malley's behavior is in keeping with that and I wanted Cat Grant to know this so she could try and find him. I also wanted to have a meeting between Felicity and Cat Grant because of the contradictions for Felicity: she does believe in the greater good, but she also has a background as a hacktivist. She was always the moral compass of Arrow and I wanted her to show that she would speak truth to power, literally. And I also figured it would be interesting to frame Cat Grant as a defender of the first Amendment and as a whistleblower; it's a moral conflict that I thought she want to tap.
It's not just Felicity. I'm thinking about Quentin and Cat Grant: they have a lot in common besides the obvious.
As for what the Legends will be doing in this fanfic, if you're a fan of The X-Files the date everyone's traveled to is the airdate for Two Fathers in Season 6. If you're not, the next chapter will make it very clear what's going to happen in this fanfic. Hang on tight.
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