When we landed, Ray stood up with a large grin on his face while Mick leaned over the armrest and threw up on the ground.
"Oh, I should have mentioned it before, nausea is one of the side effects of time travel. Along with," Ray fell flat on his face. "Vertigo."
"I can't see," Stein said removing his glasses.
"And Temporary blindness. It should only last a minute, after all, that was a mere jaunt. The further back in time you go the worse the side effects." I cracked my neck and could practically feel myself healing from whatever happened to me during our "jaunt". Rip waved his hands in front of Stein. "Better?"
"It's all relative."
"Is that supposed to be yes?" I asked quietly.
"Good," Rip said moving away from him as the rest of the team got over whatever was affecting them.
"I can't believe you kidnapped me," Jefferson said angrily to Stein.
"You mean everyone doesn't do that?" I asked sarcastically.
"Have you ever been kidnapped?" Snart asked with his usual tone.
"Once," I answered honestly before smiling fondly. "He was a real dick about it too. Kept calling me a pain in the ass. Suppose he got his revenge when he snapped my neck."
"He did what now?"
"Story for another time," I told him patting his arm.
"Hey," Jefferson caught Rip's attention from whatever he was looking at on the screen in the middle of the... table? I'm gonna call it a table.
"Good news then, 2016 will be around in, uh, 41 years."
"Something tells me you won't stay looking so pretty for so long, kid," I told him.
"Now, you four, feel free to make yourselves comfortable back here on the ship while the rest of you are coming with me to find Professor Boardman."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're benching us?" Mick asked him.
"I thought we were a team," Sara stated standing up finally.
"This mission doesn't require your particular skill set," Rip told her. "Yet."
"Meaning you don't killed, maimed, robbed, or whatever it is Andrea does now and days."
"That about covers it," I nodded.
"Precisely."
"Sure it's a good idea to leave these three unsupervised on a time machine?" Ray asked Rip.
"Ouch."
"Hey, haircut!" Ray looked over at Mick. "Deafness wasn't one of the side effects."
"We'd better hurry up. Professor Boardman will die in less than 24 hours," Rip told us.
"What's the point in cutting it so close?" Ray asked him.
"Because if he's destined to die, then he doesn't have a timeline for us to disrupt, and his impact on the future will be minimal. How brilliant," Stein marveled.
"And depressing," Kendra laughed lightly. "How does he die?"
"Uh, he's found dead in his university from unknown causes. Come on," Rip ordered.
"Are you coming?" Stein asked Jefferson.
"I'll stay put," Jefferson told him as the rest of the "team" left the room.
"You'd rather stay with them?" Stein asked him confused pointing at us.
"They didn't drug me," Jefferson reminded him.
"Point taken," Stein said before turning and leaving.
Once they were gone, Mick figured out where a remote was and turned on the TV to what was current in this time period, but he did have one complaint.
"Why does this stupid station play nothing but reruns?" This wasn't the first time he'd asked us this.
"Don't even bother trying to explain," Jefferson told Sara as she walked back on the bridge.
"My only question is when is he going to stop asking that damn question?" I asked. "My anger has a very short fuse."
"I remember," Snart chimed in and I took a deep breath.
"I beat black and blue several times, so I'd hope so."
"How do you two know each other?" Sara asked us.
" We grew up together," I told her. She just stared at the two of us.
"How does he look his age when you look like... you?" she asked and I smiled at her.
"Part of the gift of what I am," I answered.
"And what is that, exactly?"
"Secret I'm not willing to tell just yet."
"I have ways I could make you tell me," she said. Her words promised either pain or pleasure, but if she's on this team I was better on the latter.
"I just bet you could."
"Am I the only one on this ship who could really use a drink?" she asked looking between all of us. "I say we go get weird in the '70s."
"Excellent idea," Snart said turning to her.
"Sounds like a party."
"I got the perfect outfit," she told us. We all moved from our spots and toward the door.
"Perhaps Captain Hunter was unclear with his instructions to remain onboard," Giddon said.
"Shut it, metal mouth."
"Oh, you're not quite ready to run with this crew," Snart said turning to the youngest person trying to walk out the door with us. "Sorry, kid."
"Wait, you're just gonna leave me here?" Jefferson asked confused as Snart, Mick and I followed Sara.
"I said I'd take care of you."
We made our way to a bar and stood around talking as Mick got us beers.
"Ah. Dollar beers. You gotta love the '70s," he said handing us our beers. "Who wants to listen to some Captain and Tennille? My mother played it. A lot." He grunted before finding the song on the jukebox and playing Love Will Keep Us Together.
"Wow," a girl in what looked like a bra under her jacket admired us in our outfits. "You guys are really far out." I laughed lightly at her before taking a drink.
"You want to dance, Leonard?" Sara asked him.
"You go right ahead," he told her. "I'll watch."
"Andrea?"
"Love to." I handed Snart my beer before taking her offered hand and being pulled to the dance floor where we started to dance. It was maybe .5 seconds before a guy got behind her and moved her hair from her shoulder to reveal the back of her neck.
"Can I help you?" she asked him. He nodded with a smile.
"How about you and your little girlfriend join me in the parking lot?" he offered.
"As tempting as that might be," I said sarcastically. "Something tells me you can't handle the two of us together."
"Besides, you're not our type," Sara told him. "But your lady, on the other hand, well, she looks just my speed."
"Maybe you didn't understand my request, bitch." He grabbed Sara by the wrist and I moved back as she grabbed his wrist with her other hand and broke it. "Aah! Son of a..."
"I got this," Sara told us and I moved to stand next to Snart. The guy broke a bottle on the bar and rushed at Sara. She blocked his oncoming attack and knocked him to the ground before kicking another attacker in the head and turning to a third. She blocked his attack and grabbed his face in her hands and slammed his back on the ground. I whistled as she showed off her moves knocking guys down left and right.
"Would you like some help now?" I asked her as all the guys she knocked down got back up again.
"Now I could stand for a little help." Snart dropped the beers in his hand as he, Mick, and I got our pound of flesh from the bikers attacking us. The big one came at me and I smiled at him as he tried to attack me with his one good hand. I grabbed his fist and squeezed it just enough to break a few bones in his hand before punching him in the face and knocking him back down. Another tried attacking me from behind and I quickly turned to block his fist with my arm and I kicked him in the balls before spinning and kicking him in the head.
"I love the '70s," Mick said before Snart threw someone into the jukebox.
When we were leaving the bar, we hotwired a car and drove back to the ship to see them under attack by a guy in a metal suit.
"Hold on!" Mick warned back quickly turning the car and hitting the guy attacking the team. We all climbed out of the car and turned to where Rip and another older man was.
"We go out for one lousy drink, and you guys manage to pick a fight with Boba Fett."
"Think you need us now, Rip?" I asked him before turning our attacks on Boba Fett. Everyone with firearms held him off while we all got inside the ship safely.
"Professor Boardman has sustained severe internal injuries," Giddean told us.
"Prepare the MedBay to receive Professor Boardman and get us out of here!" Rip ordered.
"Course heading?"
"Anywhere but here!" With that order, Gideon quickly got us out of there.
"Our cloaking shield and aft entrance have been significantly compromised, Captain," Gideon told Rip as we coasted in... where ever we were.
"Yes, I can see that, Gideon," he told her removing the metal strap keeping him secure to his seat and we did the same. "Station us in the temporal zone while I work on repairs."
"Temporal zone?" Ray asked.
"Yeah, it's essentially a time limbo. We can hide out here for a bit. Another temporal jump would risk revealing our position," Rip explained grabbing a bag from his office and walking back out to us.
"A time limbo? Astonishing."
"Oh, there's something you people don't know about time travel?" He asked sarcastically. "That's surprising, isn't it? Considering none of you have ever time traveled before. Bringing a family member from the past onto a timeship? Breading out and carousing around the 1970s?"
"Didn't know we were prisoners," I commented.
"We've barely begun, and already this is the worst, unmitigated disaster of my career." He turned back towards us only to get Kendra's fist in his face. Mick laughed as he fell to the floor.
"I see why you got the hots for that one." Kendra picked Rip back up and held him against the wall of the ship.
"My son is hurt because of you," she said.
"Son?" I asked.
"From one of her past lives," Ray explained and I nodded.
"Who attacked us?"
"Something of a long story," Rip sighed.
"We've got time," I told him.
"Better tell it fast, Rip, 'cause it doesn't look like the lady's in a patient mood," Snart rose from his seat and Carter moved towards the pair.
"Neither am I."
"His name is Chronos," Rip told him. "He works for the Council of Time Masters." Kendra released him. "My former employers."
"I thought you were a Time Master," Sara accused standing from her seat and walking forwards.
"As I've expressed, time's not a linear thing," he told us. "At some point, I was, in fact, a Time Master." As he spoke he walked towards Sara who only punched him once he was close enough for her to reach.
"Will you people please stop hitting me?" he asked us.
"Then keep your distance," I warned.
"Start telling the truth!"
"I relinquished my position as a Time Master when I commandeered the Waverider. Chronos was clearly sent to bring me in," he finally admitted.
"You lied to us," Stein surmised.
"Of course I lied to you I needed your help - you all barely said yes as it was." Sara turned and walked away from him to stand next to Jefferson.
"What about the legends part?" Jefferson asked him.
"I'm guessing that was a lie too," I told him crossing my arms.
"I chose you all because, a hundred years from now, your lives have minimal effect on the recorded timeline." I scoffed and shook my head. "I needed your help without disturbing the history of 2166."
"So, we're like the opposite of legends," Jefferson said.
"Give me one good reason why we shouldn't kill you," Mick told him.
"I have been getting hungry," I said and I felt the veins under my eyes pulse and knew my eyes turned amber and my canines lengthened.
"Ditto the arsonist."
"Because Gideon wouldn't listen to your commands and you'd be stuck here forever," he told us and I calmed myself.
"Great," Ray said and I could finally hear something other than happiness in his voice. "So we're not an elite team of heroes on a sanctioned mission, sent to rid the future of its most horrific bad guy. Just a collection of nobodies who time really doesn't give a damn about."
"I didn't lie about the mission itself," Rip corrected. "Or the brutality and ruthlessness of Savage. Or my need for your help."
"I don't imagine you're the kind of guy who quite his job and takes on this kind of threat for altruistic reasons, so Rip, why don't you tell us: what did Vandal Savage do to you?" Ray asked him. Rip shook his head and sighed.
"The Time Masters discourage marriage. They urge against procreation even more. A Time Master should be free of any personal entanglements that might compromise him. But... I fell in love, and we had a child." As the realization of what he was about to say hit me, my mouth slowly fell open and I thought back to Klaus and Hayley. "A boy. Jonas."
"Savage killed your family," I said quietly, but it seemed so much louder than what it was.
"He slaughtered my family," he corrected angrily. "And thousands of other families. And the body that I swore an oath to serve turned a blind eye. They continue to turn a blind eye. I won't. That last thing that my child saw in this world was that monster's face. You can be damn well sure that when Savage dies, the last face he sees will be mine. I understand, given the circumstances, if you wish to return home. We can make the jump once the repairs are done, if and when Professor Boardman stabilizes." Kendra and Carter rushed from the room to their son's side.
"I think we all need a little time to consider our options," Stein said looking at all of us.
I sat in the cargo hold with Snart, Mick, Sara, and Ray thinking about what we all wanted to do. I was playing with my necklace as I thought. I had my pack to think of back home. They were depending on me to marry Jackson so they wouldn't be slaves to the witches anymore. Klaus was depending on me too so he could raise his daughter in his home. Hayley wanted a life with Hope and Elijah, and for that to happen I had to go home. But Rip's family was torn from them, as mine were torn from me. Suddenly, a blast from a piece of Ray's suit sent out a shot and nearly hit Mick.
"Watch it!"
"Sorry. Sorry," he whispered before sighing. "What's the point of us even giving this a second thought? Rip has already seen the future. He knows exactly what's in store for each of us. Might as well have stayed dead, 'cause the world doesn't need any of us. You're just a lost assassin. You're just three good-for-nothing criminals."
"I can live what that," Mick told him.
"Don't try and imagine what I am," I told him. "You don't know me."
"I can't live like this," he continued. "Can't live with somebody putting a cap on my destiny. Spent my whole life working to be something greater by becoming something smaller. Then some guy comes along and tells me that being the Atom is as insignificant as an actual Atom."
"That's not what he said," Sara told him. "Rip said that in his future we're nobodies, but this mission is about changing the future, I mean, if we have the power to change the world, don't you think we have the power to change our own fate?"
"I don't believe in fate and destiny," I chimed in.
"For better or for worse," Snart said and I turned to see him smirking at me.
"That's a very good point."
"Chronos, even Vandal, won't be the only enemy we face," Rip was saying as we walked onto the bridge. "Very often, it will be time itself."
"Whether it wants to happen or not, we're going to change time, erase Savage's future, and earn our rightful place in history," Ray told him.
"Dr. Ray is correct," Stein agreed. "We may not be legends in your time, Captain, but we're going to decide our own fates."
"I don't give a damn about being a legend," Carter told him. "As long as we end Savage once and for all."
"I can get down with that."
"And our malcontents?" Stein asked looking at the three of us.
"I like killing people," Mick told him.
"We're in," Snart said.
"Until we get bored," I added.
"So how do we find this guy?" Sara asked him.
"Professor Boardman had a theory about that," Rip told us sitting in his chair and strapping in. "I've already had Gideon plot a course. We followed suit and sat down, strapped in, and we were off on our first task: kill Vandal Savage.