The ship shook violently; the only thing Deserey could see through the window at the front of the ship was a sea of green waves. The waves swirled around the Waverider for a second before a tunnel opened up and the ship flew through it.
Once again, Deserey could see the cloudy sky surrounding the ship, but this time it seemed slightly different. Down below, instead of concrete and city buildings, she saw bright green grass, thick crimson trees surrounding the meadow. They were no longer in Star City, and it was no longer fall. They were in St. Roch, and it was, she guessed, summer or spring. Time travel. It really was cool.
As the Waverider touched the ground, the ship's vibrating slowly decreased, and the lights faded back to normal. Fortunately, no one was bleeding from the eyes. Unfortunately, Deserey's ears were ringing like a bitch. Whenever she opened her mouth to speak, the ringing only increased, forcing her to sit back and press her hand to her temple. She groaned. It was like a tiny television set was in her head, and it had really crappy connection.
Mick leaned forward, gagging like he was about to throw up. Sara made a face. Deserey cringed, but she wasn't nearly as grossed out as some of the others appeared to be. As a mother, a gal tended to clean up a lot of gross things, which made her fairly immune to almost all the puke, poo, and bloody situations. Still, the noise was killer on her head. The louder something was, the more the buzzing increased.
"Oh," Rip muttered, as the team started to stand. "I should have mentioned before, nausea is one of the side effects of time travel."
Ray stumbled, as he attempted to walk to the center of the room. He tripped over his feet, falling flat on his face with a loud thud and causing the buzzing in Deserey's head to increase yet again. She flinched at the noise.
"Along with vertigo," Rip added. He stood up and walked around Ray, but he didn't bother to help the poor guy up. Deserey thought that was kind of rude.
"I can't see!" Stein announced, sounding quite alarmed.
"And temporary blindness," Rip said. "It should only last a minute. After all, that was a mere jaunt." He walked calmly over to the professor, waving his hand in front of his face. After a minute had passed, Rip stood up right and asked, "Better?"
Stein shrugged, "It's all relative."
"The further back in time you go, the worse the side effects," Rip told everyone, walking to the center of the room.
Deserey grunted. "Now you tell us." She clutched her head, groaning, as the ringing continued. Why wasn't her side effects wearing off? Everyone else seemed perfectly fine by now.
Jax glared at Stein, as he stood from his chair. "I can't believe you kidnapped me." Stein had enough brains not to respond for the time being. So, Jax instead turned his attention to Rip, who had placed himself at the head of the center console. "Hey! I want to go home."
"Good news then," Rip said, "2016 will be around in, uh, forty-one years." The tone in his voice made it very clear that they were not turning around for anything.
They had already come all the way here, and they would only go back when they had finished what they had come to do. No amount of whining could possibly change the captain's mind.
He'd said it with such a familiar finality, too, and it didn't take Deserey long to recognize it. She'd often used that tone of voice herself, before her depression had really taken a tole on her. It was, as her kids liked to call it, the Parent Tone. Every parent had one.
Deserey wasn't sure if the buzzing in her head made her delirious or if she was just excited about the prospect of another parent on board, but she found herself asking, "You have kids, too?"
Rip visibly stiffened. Deserey frowned. She had struck a nerve somehow, by asking the question. Slowly, he turned to face her, still a little tense in the shoulders. "Uh, no," he muttered. "I...don't have any kids."
"Oh," she said softly. "Sorry. You just sounded like --"
Rip cut her off, swiftly turning to Sara, Mick, and Leonard. "You three. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable back here on the ship." He turned to the others. "The rest of you are coming with me to find Professor Boardman."
Deserey frowned, a little hurt that he had interrupted her. She shook her head, sure that she was just being too sensitive. He was just worried about the future. There wasn't time for random small talk that was brought up unprovoked. (Besides, the more she thought about it, the more her head pounded like a drum set.)
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mick said, and his voice did little to stop the pounding in Deserey's head. "You're benching us?"
"I thought we were a team," Sara pouted.
Rip shrugged. "This mission doesn't require your particular skill set...yet," he added with haste.
Leonard nodded, and he ever so helpfully put it in a more blunt fashion, "Meaning you don't need anyone killed, maimed, or robbed."
"Precisely," Rip said. He turned, heading for one of the bulk head doors, before Ray stopped him again.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave these two unsupervised on a time machine?" The Atom nodded at Heat Wave and Cold.
Mick growled. "Hey, Haircut, deafness wasn't one of the side effects."
Deserey leaned her head back against the head rest of the seat, as the buzzing intensified. "It's okay. I've got a killer headache. I'll stay back and baby sit."
Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. "You think we'll listen to you?"
"Everyone listens to Mother," she told him, "especially Mamma's boys. Which I can tell all of you are." She gestured around the room at all the boys.
Ray frowned, looking curious. "How can you tell? You just met everyone last night."
Deserey sat up in spite of her head screaming at her to go find a nice fluffy pillow and sleep on it forever. "If I tell you, you're all going to be very insulted, and you're masculinity will suffer a great deal."
Sara grinned and leaned closer to her. "Now I want to know."
Deserey shrugged. "Let's just call it mother's intuition."
"Well you're wrong," Mick grunted. "I killed my mother."
Deserey blanched. She wasn't sure what she was expecting him to say, but that was definitely not it.
"With fire," he added.
Rip shifted, looking rather impatient with everyone now. "We should hurry. Professor Boardman will die in less than twenty-four hours."
Ray gave him a look. "What's the point in cutting it so close?"
"If he's to die, then he doesn't have a time line for us to disrupt, and his impact on the future will be minimal," Stein pointed out. "How brilliant!"
"And depressing," Kendra muttered. "How does he die?"
Rip sighed, annoyed. He glanced at the door as if wondering what the hell it would take to get them all to go through it. "He's found dead in his university from unknown causes." With a swift turn on his heels, the captain said, "Come on!"
Rip left the room, the others following close behind him. However, Jax and Stein stayed back a moment. The younger man was glaring at the wall, arms folded over his chest; to Deserey he looked exactly like her son when she and Darryl were forcing him to go somewhere he didn't want to go. (School, for instance.)
"Are you coming?" Stein asked.
"I'll stay put," Jax huffed.
Stein frowned. "You'd rather stay with them?" He nodded at the two crooks, who were still slouching in their chairs.
"They didn't kidnap me!"
Stein paused a moment as he realized just how fed up the young man was with him. A look of guilt washed over his face, and he raised his hand, opening his mouth to say something. Deserey thought it would be another lame attempt to defend his actions, but instead he said, "Point taken."
"Don't worry Professor," Leonard smirked. "We'll take care of him."
{~}
A half hour later, the remaining group was lounging around, bored out of their minds. No one said anything. They just sat around, staring at the walls or fiddling with their shirt sleeves. The only noise was Jax's pacing and the television Mick had turned on. (It was blaring some old show Deserey couldn't remember the name of.)
The only up side to sitting around was the fact that Deserey's headache had finally subsided and the buzzing had stopped completely. She leaned back in her chair, glancing at the TV. (At least, she was trying to, but Mick was standing directly in front of it, making it a little difficult to see.)
"Why does this stupid station play nothing but re-runs?" the arsonist grumbled.
"Yeah. Hey, can we play something better?" Deserey asked, directing the question at the ceiling. She remembered Rip mentioning something earlier about how Gideon could play any form of entertainment from any time period, including movies, YouTube videos, and television shows.
"What would you like to watch, Miss Dunet?" Gideon asked.
"You got a file or something on all of us don't you? I think you know what I want..." Deserey muttered.
She smirked to herself, as the theme song to Family Guy started blasting through the ship's speakers. Sure, the show was extremely crude and vulgar, but she enjoyed it anyway. (Who didn't like a bit of dark humor every now and again?)
Leonard raised an eyebrow at her, looking curious. "You didn't strike me as the type to watch adult cartoons."
Deserey shrugged. "Well, now you know."
Sara leaned against the wall, an arm on her hip. "Hey, I thought you said you were married. Why did the AI call you miss?"
Deserey grinned sheepishly. "I may have been misleading. I'm divorced."
Sara blinked. "Wow."
Desserey gave her a look, a little self conscious, but the assassin just shook her head, quickly saying, "I mean, you don't look old enough to have two kids, get married, and divorced."
"Oh," Deserey laughed. "No. I'm thirty-four."
Sara laughed as well. "I thought you were in your twenties."
"Nope," Deserey shook her head. "Thirty-four." But she felt a little happy knowing that she still looked fairly young, even if she didn't exactly feel it.
Sara shrugged, walking over to where Leonard was sitting on the small stair case. "Anyway, am I the only one who could use a drink?" She rubbed her hands together, looking thoroughly excited by the idea. "I say we go get weird in the seventies."
Leonard spun around, a mischievous look in his eye. "Excellent idea!" He stood up and started out the door. She grinned.
"I got the perfect outfit." The assassin followed the crook. Mick and Jax weren't far behind them, either.
Gideon's voice rang throughout the room, trying her best to keep them from leaving. "Perhaps Captain Hunter was unclear with his instructions to remain on board?"
Mick rolled his eyes. "Shut it, Metal Mouth!"
"Oh." Leonard turned to Jax, looking serious. "You're not quite ready to run with this crew," he told him. "Sorry kid."
Jax scoffed. "Wait, you're just gonna leave me here?"
"I said I'd take care of you," Leonard called over his shoulder, as he followed Sara out of the room. Mick smirked, stalking after them.
Deserey chuckled lightly, as Jax huffed and went to sit back down. A few minutes had passed, and Sara came back into the room. She looked at Deserey.
"Hey, are you coming?" she asked.
"Nah," Desserey shook her head. "I'm a light weight. Won't be much fun with me around. I'll just stay here with Jax."
Sara shrugged. "Suit yourself." She skipped out of the room, ready to go drink herself silly.
{~}
Another half hour later, and Jax was starting to get a little antsy. Deserey just let him pace around the ship, as she binged Family Guy.
"Gideon," he said, as Deserey was ending the third episode of first season. "That is your name right?"
"How may I help you?" the AI asked.
"I assume this ship has a, uh, autopilot or something?" Jax said, glancing up at the ceiling.
"You assume correctly," Gideon said.
"Great," Jax nodded. "In that case, I'm gonna need you to take me back to 2016. See, me being here is all a big mistake."
"Captain Hunter told me you'd try to do this," Gideon said. "And he also told me not to listen to anything you say."
"Well, you are a computer you have to listen to me!" Jax yelled at the AI.
Deserey chuckled at how childish the two sounded. They reminded her of her kids, Anita and Daren, arguing back and forth, trying to be the one in charge. The resemblance was actually quite uncanny, and for a moment she imagined Jax was a slightly older version of her son.
The image made her heart ache. She really missed them, her family. She wished she could fix things between them, but she was worried that they might as well be broken forever. She sighed, playing another episode of Family Guy, as the arguing continued.
"You seem overwhelmed, Mr. Jackson," Gideon said. "If you'd like to go to the med-bay, I'd be happy to prescribe you a sedative."
Jax growled in annoyance. "I do not need another roofie!"
Something exploded at the front of the room, blasting Jax off his feet. Sparks erupted from the window, shattering the glass. Deserey jumped up, dropping the futuristic iPad she'd been using to watch Family Guy.
"What was that?!" Jax yelled, sitting up.
"A thermite grenade," Gideon answered calmly, as if getting attacked by deadly weapons was completely normal.
Deserey blinked, running over to help Jax stand up. "Grenade?" she asked.
"It seems someone is trying to breach the hull," Gideon informed.
"No shit!" Deserey said, worried. "Who?"
"His name is name is Chronos. He's a temporal bounty hunter," the AI said.
The ship continued shaking, sparks flying in the air, as the attacks hit them from outside. Jax and Deserey stumbled, running to the console at the center of the room.
"The ship is taking heavy fire," Gideon told them.
"We noticed!" Jax huffed. "Aren't we supposed to be invisible or something?"
Another explosion erupted, making the two jump. "You need to get us out of here, now!" Jax yelled.
But Gideon didn't move the ship an inch. Apparently, they weren't allowed to fly anywhere without Captain Hunter. Lovely.
Deserey grabbed Jax's hand, and the two bolted into the hallway, searching for a better cover. "Why is Chronos attacking us?" Jax asked, as they ran.
"Perhaps Captain Hunter is best suited to answer that query," Gideon said.
"Fire photon torpedoes or something!" Jax told her.
"Only Captain Hunter is authorized to --"
"Where is Captain Hunter?" Jax huffed.
"Seriously!" Deserey yelled. "We're dying here!"
They reached the cargo bay door in spite of the explosions and sparks rocking the ship back and forth. Deserey wasn't sure how leaving the ship would do them any good, but death by gun shot wound sounded a lot better than death by a piece of the ship crushing her skull.
Fortunately, however, when they opened the doors, they could see the team was waiting for them outside. Unfortunately, so was their attacker. The team was crouched down behind a large rock.
They'd brought an extra man back with them. (Deserey guessed he was Professor Boardman, but she wasn't sure why they'd brought him along.) He was an old man with salt and pepper hair and a matching beard. Over his eyes he wore a pair of thin wired glasses. He wore a tweed jacket over his shoulders and a bow tie around his neck. Just like a stereotypical professor.
Deserey wasn't really paying much attention to him though. Her focus was on the guy shooting at everyone. Chronos, apparently.
He was a huge man, and his stature was only made even bigger with the armor that he wore. Thick, black plates covered him from head to toe. His boots were steel toed, combat. Large gloves covered his hands, and a heavy helmet made sure that the team could not get even a glimpse of his face.
For a weapon, he held a huge gun, the same size of a rocket launcher. That would have been scary enough, but he grew even more intimidating, when Deserey realized that, despite all the weight he was carrying with his get up, he seemed to move fairly easily.
Chronos fired his gun into the cargo bay, nearly hitting Jax. Luckily, the young man was agile and was able to jump out of the line of fire just in time.
Deserey ducked behind one of the boxes, yelping, as the green energy from Chronos's gun hit the wall behind her. She peaked outside, watching as Kendra grew wings from her back, soaring into the air.
Hawkgirl swooped down, attacking Chronos. But he turned quickly, shooting another green bullet at her head. He missed by an inch, and she smacked him, knocking him off his feet. Quickly, the temporal hunter got to his feet, as Kendra's feet touched the ground again. She turned swiftly, charging at him with a high kick.
He flew back again, and the two fought, grabbling for his gun. Chronos quickly got the upper hand, pinning Kendra to the ground, but Carter flew over to save her, smacking the hunter in the head and sending him toppling over.
The two hawk warriors retreated, sprouting their wings from their backs and floating into the air, like a pair of angels.
Rip withdrew a gun from his pocket, as soon as the two were out of range. He fired blue lasers at Chronos, but he failed to actually hit him.
Deserey's heart pounded in her chest, as she watched the events unfold before her. She glanced at Jax, but he seemed much calmer than her. And she was reminded that even the youngest of the team had more hero experience than her. She clenched her jaw tightly. Now, was a really bad time to be having second thoughts...
Outside, Rip managed to hit Chronos in the shoulder, making him momentarily fall to his knees. Chronos hid behind a boulder of his own for cover, as he and Rip exchanged fires. Deserey was reminded of Star Wars, as she watched the green and blue lasers fly back and forth. Her palms were sweating, as she clenched them into fists, worried that the others weren't going to make it out alive.
The team ducked, as Chronos exploded the ground near their hiding place, blocking their faces from the sparks with their hands. They each simultaneously fell to the ground face first.
Stein got up, racing for the Waverider. He ran across the field, explosions erupting around him, as Rip and Chronos continued firing at one another.
"Oh," Jax muttered next to Deserey, "you crazy old man." He stood up and ran to the door way. Deserey was about to stop him, when she noticed Ray was running behind the professor too. Her eyes widened.
"Has everyone gone crazy?" she shouted.
Chronos fired his weapon, nearly knocking Kendra out of the sky, and Stein fell due to the after math of the explosion from his gun. Ray ducked down to help him up, and the two ran the rest of the way to the ship. Deserey could hear them arguing.
"Thank you, Mr. Palmer!" Stein said.
"Seriously?" Ray complained. "It's Dr. Palmer!"
Deserey rolled her eyes, as she stood up, ushering them inside the ship. Ray ran off, coming back a second later, wearing the Atom suit. He flew back outside, firing blue energy at Chronos.
Meanwhile, Jax and Stein met in the doorway. Stein leant on the doorframe, speaking urgently, "We need to merge!"
They clasped their hands together. Immediately, fire surrounded them, swirling like a tornado. After a moment, it disappeared...and so did the professor. Jax now stood alone, wearing a red and yellow suit with a strange piece of technology on his chest. His eyes were white like marbles; his hands were ablaze as well as his head.
Deserey choked on the air. "So, that's what you two do."
Jax nodded. "Yeah. Kind of a long story." Then, he flew outside to join the fight as well, leaving Deserey standing alone in the cargo bay.
The team ducked, as Chronos tossed a small grenade at them, exploding their surroundings. Deserey cringed, trying to work up the nerve to do something helpful.
Chronos was about detonate another explosive, when a red car sped in from out of no where. The driver swerved around, smacking Chronos across the field. Sara, Leonard, and Mick popped out of the car like real bad asses.
"We go out for one lousy drink, and you guys somehow manage to pick a fight with Boba Fett!" Leonard shouted so that everyone could hear him.
Deserey groaned. "Okay," she muttered, clutching the bag of sand hanging on her belt. "Okay. Guess we're doing this."
She gritted her teeth and ran out to join her team. Ray and Jax had taken to the sky with the hawks, blasting nuclear and atomic energy at Chronos. Chronos fired into the air rapidly, as the flying heroes swarmed him.
Rip and Boardman bolted, while he was distracted. However, they must have been too slow, because Chronos still managed to hit Boardman in the torso. The professor went flying, landing roughly on the ground. Kendra and Carter went to help him immediately.
Deserey reached her hand into her bag, shaking terribly. Oh, hell why did she think she could do this? She was going to die out here!
She took a handful of sand and tossed it into the air, not really sure if anything would come of it. She'd only really tried her powers in small scales before. Nothing like this.
Mick and Leonard took turns firing ice and fire at Chronos, and Sara beat him with her batons. Deserey moved her hands in the direction she wanted the sand to go. Thankfully, it worked.
The sand surrounded Chronos, swirling around him, sticking to his helmet, blinding him. He stumbled around, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
While he was caught off guard, the others ran for the ship. Deserey followed, doing her best to keep the little sandstorm going. Ray and Jax flew back onto the time ship, Sara and the two crooks not far behind. Rip hung back by the door, helping Kendra and Carter get Boardman on the ship.
Deserey backed up slowly, stepping onto the Waverider. She didn't let her hands drop, until the draw bridge started closing. When she did, she spotted the sand drop to the ground. Chronos wiped the dirt from his helmet, but it was too late. The Legends were already gone.