The streets were damp with rain, and crumbled leaves drifted across the sidewalk in a gust of wind. Between the road and the walk the grass was moist with dew; there were a few seemingly abandoned buildings in the background and a couple of random trees in the foreground. Up in the sky, clouds littered the air, forming giant, white sheep. Deserey thought the place was a little too open for a secret meeting. (Then again so was a rooftop.)
Sitting on the sidewalk, she spotted Blondie and Atom. He had changed into street clothes -- a dark red shirt, black jacket, and matching pants. He lost the helmet, along with the bulky suit. Now, he was showing off his dark, close-cropped hair and dazzling brown eyes. The man reminded Deserey of a small child, the way he grinned so brightly, and she vaguely wondered what in the world there was to be so happy about.
Blondie was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, green cargo pants, and a belt. Her honey-colored hair still hung loosely over her shoulders, though, making Deserey just a little jealous. She could never really pull that look off. Her hair was much too wild and frizzy, which was precisely why she had it pulled back into a tight ponytail. She had changed clothes as well, thinking anything would look better than ugly sweatpants, but now she felt quite overdressed in all her accessories, leather, and wool.
"Hey," Blondie waved. "So, you decided to come."
Deserey nodded. "I wasn't gonna, but my husband talked me into it." She cringed when she realized she had forgotten to add the word ex. The divorce was still much too new to her; she wasn't use to calling him her ex out loud. But she didn't bother to correct herself, not wanting to look stupid.
Blondie didn't seem to notice anything unusual about her speech, though. Instead, she went on, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her. (Deserey envied her for that.) "Same with my sister and me. I'm Sara, by the way. I think you're one of the few people I haven't met before this." She stuck her hand out, and Deserey shook it.
"Deserey," Deserey responded. She glanced over at Atom, raising an eyebrow. "And do you have an actual name, or did your parents just hate you?"
Sara smirked, as he stuttered, a little caught off guard. But his smile soon returned. (Actually, he seemed incapable of frowning for more than two seconds.) "Ray," he said. "My name is Ray."
"Well nice to meet you both," she said quietly. She figured if they were going to be on a team together, she'd better start making nice before they realized how much of a screw up she was.
Kendra and Carter appeared next, along with the two criminals. The crooks didn't appear to have changed their outfits since the night before, but Kendra and Carter had traded their hawk costumes in for normal people clothes.
She wore a black leather jacket over a white shirt and green pants. He was wearing a dark green shirt under a black jacket and matching pants, sunglasses placed over his eyes.
Sara looked at the criminals skeptically. "I thought being heroes weren't on your resumes?"
"It's not," Leonard told her. "We're just here to rob history blind."
"Of course you are." She rolled her eyes. "Crook."
She turned, strutting towards the center of their meeting place, as a silver car pulled up. The others followed her. Stein got out of the car, looking around in confusion. He looked a little flustered and annoyed, but Deserey couldn't blame him. Sure, they had only just arrived a few moments ago, but so far there was no sign of Rip at all. You'd think if you were enlisting the help of superheroes, you'd be on time!
"Professor!" Leonard called, noting the old man's confusion. "This is the place."
Ray looked around, curiously. "I think we're being punked." He frowned for a moment, before adding, quickly, "Do people still say punked?"
"No," Sara told him with a heavy sigh. Deserey got the feeling she found the guy a tad annoying. (Not that she blamed her. She couldn't really stand to be around giddy people for very long either.)
Mick nodded at Stein's car, where they could all see a sleeping Jefferson. (Or Jax, as Deserey would later learn he preferred.) "Looks like your buddy threw himself a going away party," the arsonist noted.
Stein shifted awkwardly, muttering as he responded. "Yes...I, uh, believe he drank something that...didn't quite agree with him."
Mick laughed at that as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Deserey was a little unnerved, though. The professor had, evidently, drugged and kidnapped someone. Was no one else concerned about that?
Deserey looked around to see the other's reactions, but no one really seemed to care about it. Leonard simply ignored the professor and Jax. Instead, he turned to Kendra, a bored expression on his face. "You don't look happy to be here."
"Perceptive," Kendra muttered back with a huff.
"Well, I see you've all decided to come." Rip appeared out of nowhere, still wearing that trench coat over that leather jacket like he had the night before. (Seriously, how cold was it in the future that he felt it necessary to wear two jackets?) "Shall we be on our way?"
"I ain't footin' anywhere," Leonard said, stubbornly crossing his arms.
"Lazy," Deserey muttered. He shot her a glare, but she pretended not to care.
Rip took a remote from his pocket. (How many did he have?) As he fiddled with it, he began rambling on, "Now, 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?"
Stein's eyes widened in realization, and he muttered, "Holographic indigenous camouflage projection."
"Indeed," Rip grinned.
Deserey frowned. "Not to be that one douche, but can you repeat that in English please?"
In response, Rip pressed the button on his remote. The air fizzled for a second, like a heat wave on asphalt. After a moment, a ship appeared, almost as if by magic. It was something plucked straight from a SciFi movie -- big bulkhead doors, giant masts, tiny windows, guns placed on the underbelly along with a glowing, orange substance. On one side in big, white lettering WR - 2055 was painted.
The group stared at the ship in awe. Carter removed his sunglasses as if he were checking to see that they weren't playing tricks on his eyes. Sara's mouth hung open, stunned. The two crooks shared a look, visibly impressed. Ray and Stein looked as though they might die of a fangirl attack. (It was every nerds' dream to go time traveling wasn't it?)
Deserey would have been lying if she said she wasn't the least bit impressed by the ship as well. She couldn't believe her eyes. Not even the most amazing metahuman abilities in the world could compare to how magnificent, though old, the vessel looked. The thing sort of reminded her of one of those ships from her son's favorite Star Wars movies -- the Millennium Falcon.
"It's called the Waverider," Rip informed them, looking upon the ship with pride in his eyes. "It's been my ship for over a decade." He turned back to the team, looking rather eager. "Shall we?" he asked again.
This time, the team followed him without question, marching on to the ship at once. (Well except for Mick, who was stuck lugging Jax on board.)
The inside was just as stunning as the outside. Metal floors lead through narrow hallways; the walls were lined with thick pipes and red lines. Their feet clanked against the floor as the walked. Deserey looked around in amazement as she followed behind Stein and Ray. They were arguing about something scientific, but she wasn't really paying attention. Instead, she laughed to herself, thinking just how jealous her son would be.
Then, she felt a jabbing sensation in her chest, as she remembered she hadn't really spent much time with him lately. A sense of longing slowed her down, causing Mick to bump into her and almost drop Jax. He made an annoyed sound, which resulted in her picking up her pace.
Up a head, Deserey could hear Sara scolding Leonard. She rushed forward to see what the drama was about.
"...Just trying to make conversation," Leonard was saying in a lame attempt to defend himself.
"Yeah," Sara snorted. "I could tell by the way you were staring at my ass!"
Deserey snickered at the comment, as the assassin left the dumbstruck thief behind her. They rounded the corner, entering a large, twelve-foot by twelve-foot room with polished marble floors and a ten-foot high ceiling. At the front of the room, there was a massive window, through which she could see the grass and concrete of the outside. In the back, there was a small office, connected to the room through an open doorway; and at the center, a console was placed along with just enough chairs for everyone to have a seat. (Convenient.) The chairs were metal structures with leather padding; they had safety harnesses connected to the headrests, similar to the way roller coasters were designed.
Jax was already slumped over in one of the chairs, still unconscious, the harness looped over his shoulders to keep him from falling out. Mick was standing next to him, but when he spotted the professor he grinned brightly and marched over to him. "Whatever you roofied him with, I'd like some!"
"I did not roofie him!" Stein protested.
"Oh, I ain't judging," Mick promised.
"But I am," Deserey said. "I am actually judging you very harshly."
Stein pouted, before walking to the front of the room with the others. Kendra glanced around, as she and Carter entered. She wore a smile, causing her features to glow brightly.
"I've never seen anything like this before," she muttered.
"Neither have I," Carter said, glancing around, an amused look on his face. "And considering we have four thousand years of memory, that's saying something."
Stein turned to Rip when the Hawks had joined the rest of the team at the front of the ship. "How does a vessel of this size function without a crew?"
"I don't need a crew," Rip insisted. He nodded his head at the console in the center of the room, which the chairs surrounded. There, a holographic image appeared, and Deserey nearly choked on the air in surprise. Ray patted her back helpfully.
The image was a blue head. It looked pretty feminine -- long eyelashes, defined cheekbones, thin lips -- and the voice sounded distinctly female as well; but according to Deserey's kids one should never judge one's gender on such things. (It was a matter of the heart, they'd informed her, not a matter of looks or genitals.)
"Greetings," the head said. "I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness programmed to operate this vessel's critical systems and aid Captain Hunter in his mission."
"Captain?" Leonard questioned. Deserey wasn't sure why that, of all things, would be the one thing that stuck out to him, but she didn't ask about it. She figured she had already pushed the criminals' buttons enough with her sarcasm, and she really did not fancy getting iced (or torched) to death. (If it was going to happen, it was going to happen on her terms. No one else's.)
"Gideon's been working on helping me locate Vandal Savage," Rip said.
Ray frowned. "I thought you said he's pretty active in the twenty-second century?"
"Perhaps engaging Savage at the height of his powers isn't the best strategy," Stein pointed out.
Rip nodded, walking to the center of the room so that everyone could see him. "Indeed," he agreed. "Unfortunately, Savage has kept his movements hidden throughout history."
Deserey made a face. "So, you're saying he can time travel?"
Rip shook his head, turning to face her with a huge frown. "Now, that would be a truly frightening sight, wouldn't it? Fortunately, Savage has no idea time travel is possible."
"I'm confused. You just said --"
"Yes, but what I meant by that was that he's had over four thousand years to plan his world domination," Rip explained. "And to do so, he's worked his way up, always whispering in the ears of those in power...but never quite taking it for himself."
Deserey rolled her eyes. "Well, that's kind of stupid."
Everyone looked at her, stunned, and she felt her cheeks heating up. She looked down at her feet, thinking she must have said something dumb. No one said anything harsh about it though, which Deserey was thankful for.
Instead, Ray shrugged. He tilted his head to the side, visibly considering what Deserey had said. "Well, it kind of makes sense. No one would ever suspect the guy next to the one in charge. I guess, he figured he'd take all of them down first, before stepping up to take charge for himself?"
"Does it matter?" Kendra asked. "He's a psychopath. I doubt he has a reason behind doing anything."
Sara shook her head. "That's not true," she said. "Have you ever been to Gotham City? They're full of insane fucks, but all of them can still make pretty elaborate plans. All of them have something to motivate them."
Stein nodded in agreement with the assassin. "Like the Joker, for example. He is, for some unfathomable reason, obsessed with the vigilante called Batman."
Mick nodded at Carter and Kendra. "Same way Savage is obsessed with the chicken people?"
The room went silent for a moment. Carter glared at the arsonist, and Kendra folded her arms over her chest, staring at the ground awkwardly. Deserey scratched the back of her head, as Ray coughed into his fist.
"Damn," Deserey muttered. "Brutal."
Rip quickly ran to the front of the room, where a single chair stood in front of all the others. (Deserey guessed that one must have been his.) "Anyway!" he said. "Since Savage has kept his power hidden throughout history, not even Gideon can find him...But I have the next best thing. The man who can."
"Who's that?" Sara asked.
"Professor Aldus Boardman," Rip told her, as he took his seat. "One of the -- well, actually, the only -- leading expert on Vandal Savage, and we're going to pay him a little visit."
Gideon's holographic head disappeared from the center console, but her voice still rang out across the room. "Course heading: St. Roch, New Orleans."
Carter frowned. "St. Roch?" he repeated softly. He knit his eyes together the way one might do if they were trying to remember a distant memory, and Deserey felt a pang of sympathy. For him and Kendra, everything must have seemed like a distant memory. She wondered if the two had had a life in St. Roch at some point.
"October 17, 1975," Gideon continued.
"I suggest you all strap yourselves in," Rip called over his shoulder. "Temporal navigation isn't something one wants to be standing up for..."
"Speaking from experience are you?" Deserey asked. But she moved, along with the others, to take a seat. Simultaneously, the team pulled their harnesses over their heads, preparing for lift off. Mick smirked, "Time travel. Cool."
Rip turned his chair around to face them, looking serious as he spoke; and Deserey was reminded of the way a pilot on a commercial airplane might instruct the passengers to fasten their seat belts during take off. "Some of you may experience some slight discomfort," he warned. "In very rare instances there will be some, uh..." He looked down, fiddling with the controls on his armrest, as he muttered, "bleeding from the eyeballs..."
Kendra's eyes widened. She held on to her harness, panicking a little. "I'm sorry. What?"
Deserey shifted uncomfortably. "That was a joke. Right?"
Rip didn't answer, though, which made her a little uneasy. Instead, he pressed a button, and the lights overhead began flashing blue. The Waverider started vibrating lightly, and Deserey felt her body shaking slightly with it. It made her head buzz, and her teeth clattered together; it sort of felt as though she were sitting in one of those massage chairs, kicked into overdrive.
"The human body is use to time unfolding linearly," Rip went on, explaining why they'd have side effects. The ship slowly rose into the air. As the nose of the Waverider pointed upward, Deserey got that tingling sensation she always got, when she was on a rollercoaster moving uphill. She clenched her jaw together, as her ears popped wildly. Now, she wished she had brought some gum. She didn't really like the stuff very much, but she knew that chewing gum helped this sort of thing when flying a plane. (She wondered if time traveling was any different.)
The ship continued vibrating as it leveled out. Below, the ground was nothing more than a speck of brown and green. She could no longer see Stein's car or the buildings of the surrounding area. Clouds could be seen just outside the window, as they whooshed past them.
All the rumbling and ear popping must have woken Jax, because a moment after they'd taken off he began stirring. He glanced around, blinking.
"Jefferson!" Stein grinned. "I'm so glad you're awake. I didn't want you to miss this!"
"Miss what?" Jax asked. He glanced around again, before realizing he wasn't...where ever he had been expecting to be. The young man jumped, grabbing the harness around him. "What the --"
"Language!" Deserey scolded, simply out of habit.
Rip turned to Jax, urgently, ignoring Deserey. "I wouldn't unfasten those if I were you!"
Jax glared at him. "Get me off this...Whatever this thing is!"
"Good luck explaining this one," Sara sighed at the professor.
"I did him a favor!" Stein insisted.
Leonard snorted. "He doesn't look all that grateful."
Ray frowned, glancing at Deserey. "Is anyone going to comment on the fact that Dez just said: language?"
Deserey groaned. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"
"Just hang on," Rip told everyone, turning his chair back around. "And remain calm. All your worlds are about to change."
He pushed the lever on his chair forward, and the Waverider accelerated even more. An orange gas substance formed around the ship for a second, spreading like fire. But once Deserey blinked, it was gone again, and all she saw was green.