May 29 2016
Laurel entered the bunker after getting a call from Thea that both her sister and boyfriend were back in Star City and they were at the bunker. Once she got there saw Sara crying. Heart breaking over her sister's sob, She ran towards her sister and hugged Sara tightly. Bucky and stepped away from allowing the sisters to grieve for the loss of their father.
"I'm so sorry, Sara." Laurel whispered, voice cracking in despair.
"For what?" Sara asked why her sister was sorry for.
"I couldn't save him." Laurel murmured.
Sara shook her head no. "Don't. This was not your fault. That was Darhk, not you."
Laurel sniffled, nodding before seeing Bucky. "Bucky." She murmured quietly, hugging him.
"I'm sorry, Doll." Bucky whispered, kissing the top of her head. Laurel sobbed once more into his shoulder.
-
After consoling both Laurel and Sara, Bucky got a call from Ray telling him that he and Stein had figured out a way to contact the Waverider. Once the call had ended after Ray giving him the address of where they were gonna meet up, Bucky went to relay the message to Sara who was more than happy to rejoined. It was good Bucky thought, because the mission was far from being complete.
Once they got there, meeting up with others, both Bucky and Sara had to wait a little as Ray and Stein used a device to contact the Waverider. Sara was a bit impatient. Bucky kept an eye on her the whole time.
It took a while but soon enough they all heard the familiar roar as they saw the timeship landing on the floor. Rip walked out of the ship and went to meet up with them.
"I thought I made my intentions perfectly clear." Rip said making it clear that he was not too pleased.
"And we wish to be clear about ours." Stein piped. Mick pushed Rip slightly.
"Do you mind?" Rip said puzzled.
"Just making sure if you're real this time." Mick justified the reason of what he just did.
"Rip, you may try to ditch us but there's no way in hell we're gonna let you do that." Bucky said. "This mission is not over. I'm pretty sure you hadn't been lucky of finding Savage since you left."
"No. I have not." Rip admitted begrudgingly. "But I haven't gotten into barroom fights in 1975 and the old west, put Star Dwarf technology into the hands of terrorists or got myself turned into a scary bird monster or aiding Savage to conquer the world with an army of super soldiers from ARGUS."
Bucky frowned darkly at the reminder of the other Winter Soldiers. That was low, even for him.
"We get your point." Mick snapped getting to Rip's face. "Now get ours. That ship is not gona taking off without us. You got that?"
-
Waverider
"Well, despite my wishes to pursue Savage alone, it seems that you're all intent on seeing this thing through till the bitter..."
Sara didn't let Rip finish his typical rant as she punched him and pressed him against the wall with a knife pressed to his throat in the main bridge.
Mick whistled at the aggressiveness shown by Sara while Bucky winced. "Speaking of bitter."
"You knew." Sara accused him harshly. "You dropped us off five months later because you knew."
"Sara." Bucky warned her quietly. But Sara ignored him. She couldn't care about controlling herself.
"Knew what?" Jax inquried confused.
"You knew my Father was going to die!" Sara snarled. The team excluding Bucky suddenly understood why she was angry. Very angry. "And now you're going to take me back and I'm going to kill Damien Darhk before that happens!"
Rip tried to make the former League member see reason. "Sara I'm afraid..."
"You should be." Sara cut him off.
"I can't allow you too...."
"I don't care about the damn timeline!" Sara shouted, tears were starting to build in her eyes. "You're taking me back now!"
Ray attempted to diffuse the situation that had escalated rather quickly. "Look, Sara, I'm sure there's a valid reason why Rip didn't..."
"Stay out of this!" Sara bellowed looking at Ray who gulped seeing the terrifying look on her face. It was a look of a pissed off lion. That gave Rip an window of opportunity as he used his device to blind Sara, making her go to sleep. Bucky rushed over and caught her before she could fall.
"James, would you be kind enough to put Sara back in her quarter please?" Rip asked Bucky.
"You better have a damn good explanation for this, Rip." Bucky warned glaring at Rip before carrying Sara's unconscious body back to her room.
-
There were a lot of things he dreaded when he was a Time Master and this was one of them. Yes, he did know about Quentin's death and when she confronted him demanding, her reaction was what he expected. He hoped that she was calm enough so that he could explain why.
"Please try very hard not to kill me." Rip said as he stepped into her quarter, seeing Sara being distraught while Bucky did his best to ease her pain.
"Please I... I need to... save my father." She begged to Captain, choking on her tears.
Rip sighed in dejection. Unfortunately he can not do that. It's beyond his control. "I'm afraid that is not possible, Sara." Rip confessed solemnly.
"Why the hell not?!" Bucky demanded storming towards Hunter in anger. "We spent the last five months, trying to save your wife and son. Why you can't do this one favor she asked of you!"
"James. I genuinely wish that I could help but we can not change something was already set in motion by forces far more powerful than us." Rip admitted. Both Bucky and Sara was confused by that.
"What?"
Rip looked at Sara with intent. "When your sister used the Lazarus Pit to bring you back to life, she was playing Russian Roulette with the balance between life and death. Therefore a price must be paid in order to maintain that very fragile balance: For every life gained, there must lives lost." Rip told Sara who paled at the implication.
"Are you saying that..."
"Your father was that price." Rip said. Sara whimpered in devastation.
"Even if you could save your father, you will still lose someone close to you. I am truly sorry but I can not help you." The former Time Master told her remorsefully before leaving the quarter quietly as Sara unable to accept the reality, sunk to her knees with Bucky holding her in comfort.
"It's not fair! It's not fair!!" Sara sobbed, crying into his chest while beating it weakly. "Daddy's gone!"
"I know." Bucky whispered.
-
Saint-Lô, France. 1944
While Bucky was busy comforting Sara for the death of her father, the team had found Savage at last. Gideon located the dictator in France 1944 which meant that both Kendra and Carter were possibly there too. Sara and Bucky was looking forward to let their anger out upon hearing the discovery.
When they arrived in 1944 near the end of WW2, they saw Savage killing some nazis on a road while trying to get the meteor that Savage obtained his immortality from in Ancient Egypt.
"Keep Savage and Nazi friends occupied." Rip commanded through the communicator. "Gideon has located a temporal signature consistent with the time-ship. If Kendra and Carter are alive, that is where they're gonna be."
"Roger that." Bucky grunted as he blocked a fist from a guard with his metal arm before punching him in the face, grabbing his head as he rammed it into the side of the truck, cracking his skull. He held up his metal hand to shield himself from the bullets fired by a nazi, walking up to the Nazi as the bullets bounced of the metal. He grabbed the back of the head slamming the Nazi soldier to the ground before stomping his head. Sara got the jump on another Nazi by jumping down on, hitting the top of the head with the staffs rendering him out cold before sweeping the feet off another nazi, kicking him in the face brutally.
"Kendra is down." Firestorm informed.
Bucky took a moment to see more of Savage's guard heading in their direction. "Rip, we're kind of outnumbered here." Mick said.
"Fall back." Rip ordered. "Staying here to fight the Nazi is already exacerbating the damage that we already have done to the timeline."
"What about Kendra?" Bucky asked.
"She is still alive, thankfully." Rip reassured the team. "And we will rescue her in time. I hope."
Letting out a sigh of frustration as he punched a Nazi from behind without looking, Bucky grabbed Sara by her wrist and retreated back to the Waverider with Mick.
-
Waverider
Bucky hated leaving Kendra behind, it's one of many things he hated when he was in the service but he had to trust Rip. He hope that Rip knew what he was doing which was a rarility. The one positive that came out of the partially failed rescue mission was that Carter Hall was back.
Bucky stepped into the quarter seeing the aforementioned Sara sitting on the edge of her bed with an faraway look in her eyes.
"You ok, Sara?" Bucky asked, having an idea of what the answer might be.
Sara shook her head from side to side slowly. "Not really."
Bucky figured she wasn't. He can't even begin to phantom what she must be feeling right now. Well actually he does. "Look, Sara. I can relate to what you're going through and if I had the opportunity to stop my dad from going on his last tour, I would. But you can't. You just have to accept and move on."
Sara exhaled a breath slowly. As much as she didn't want to admit, his words were true. "You know what hurts the most? Everything in my body wants to take the jump ship and head back to stop Darhk from killing Dad and yet I might end up losing Laurel in the process. That sucks."
Bucky didn't blame her for thinking that way. He too had the same thought. "I get that."
Sara sighed. "Laurel was wrong to think that we could have the cake and eat it too without there be consequences of our actions."
"Well, some lessons needed to be learned the hard way." Bucky said. "Even if we don't like it."
Sara huffed. All too true, unfortunately.
-
Norway 1975.
One thing was clear to Bucky after what he just heard: Savage was a madman. Bucky got the low down on Savage's intentions from Stein and Rip. He was gonna erase time itself in a ritual that required both Kendra and Carter's blood and three meteors that crashed down in three different time periods. 1958, 1975 and 2021. He was gonna go back to Ancient Egypt where he gained his immortality and rewrite history to his own benefits. Not on his watch. they were gonna trave to three timelines in three teams. that way that they can effectively eliminate Savage once and for all.
Bucky, Sara, Stein and Jax all hid behind some craters watching Savage perform the ritual by opening up a vial containing both Kendra and Carter's blood dropping several pints of bloods across the meteor chanting in ancient Egyptian language absorbing the radiation as it rendered him mortal.
"Now, guys." Bucky said stepping from the crater.
"Ready to show these fools what we're made of?" Jax asked.
Stein nodded happily. "You have no idea." Both Jax and Stein clapped their hands togethers and soon they became Firestorm, taking care of any resistance leaving Savage to the assassins.
"Good thing we're past the point of worrying about the timeline." Sara joked. Bucky chuckled as he ducked any incoming knife thrown at him from Savage who saw them approaching. Bucky caught the last one with great reflex, returning it to its sender. The knife was embedded into his shoulder earning a painful yell from tyrant.
"You're already too late." Savage hissed, ripping out the knife from his shoulder.
"A Time Master is never too late." Sara and Bucky said in unison before taking on Savage. Savage swung his fist but Bucky caught it with ease before swinging a punch of his own with his right fist and kicked him in the chest. Savage felt that, due to not having his powers to recovered quickly. He tried to swing another punch but Bucky caught it once more
It became clear to both of that Savage simply relied on his powers to have a chance. Talk about being too rusty.
As Sara went to swing her staff, Savage was aware enough to block her attack but it gave Bucky a chance to hit the knee with his foot hard, breaking his leg in two places. It forced Savage to one knee. Sara head butted Savage, stunning the tyrant before kicking the other leg out. Bucky stomped before bludgeoning his face with his metal fist to the point Savage's nose started to bleed. Bucky walked away from the mortal Savage who was incapacitated enough for the killing blow.
"You can't kill me! I'm immortal!" Savage exclaimed hoarsely.
"Guess you haven't gotten the news." Bucky said, drawing out his sidearm from his holster and pointed it at Savage.
"You're mortal, bitch." Sara declared. Savage's eyes went wide as Bucky emptied the entire clip of his sidearm into Savage's chest, filling it up with lead. That was most satisfying.
Meteorite started to whirl rapidly indicating it was about explode soon.
"Firestorm. Could use a hand with the meteor." Bucky called out to Firestorm who landed on the ground stomping towards the meteor.
"Listen. If we're gonna do this, we gotta do it together. it's going to take the two of us." Jax said.
"You're right." Stein replied in agreement as Firestorm pressed both of his hands onto the meteorite, using his powers to transmute the meteor into water.
"Aw, man. you got my boots wet." Sara whined jokingly, feeling the water moisten her feet.
Bucky looked at her in bemusement. She spent nearly a year on a secluded island in the north China Sea, she should be used to it by now. "Really?"
-
2021
St.Roch
The group reassembled in St.Roch after killing Savage three times over on a rooftop of a building in the city.
Mick was disappointed of seeing Savage's dead body. "Damnit. I wanted to be the one to kill Savage... Again." Mick exclaimed.
Bucky chuckled. He wasn't the only one.
The last meteor started to glow blue while whirring. "I don't think our problems are over yet." Sara said a bit worryingly
"I'm on it." Firestorm declared pressing his hands to transmute meteor again. Firestorm frowned when he saw the meteor didn't turn into something harmless.
"On what?" Mick said confused.
"It's not working." Firestorm sighed in defeat.
"The radiation buildup is too progressive." Stein informed Jax in his head.
"I got this." Atom stepped in and used one of his blasters to shoot a red beam in attempt to reduce the blast radius but it seemed to have run out of power as he went to check on the energy levels. "I don't understand.I must be all out of power."
"That's convenient." Bucky muttered under his breath. Just their luck. "Rip, what happens if just one meteor explodes?" He asked dreading the answer slightly.
"Uh, time will be intact. The world... Not so much." Rip admitted grimly.
"That's good news." Bucky thought sarcastically.
"Ok, guys. We gotta fly this thing out of here." Firestorm said.
"To where? We would never get it far enough away." Kendra pointed out the flaw in the idea.
"Maybe, the Waverider can." Atom suggested. Before he could ask Rip to use the time ship, he saw that Rip was missing. They all looked up to see the Waverider using the tractor beam to beam up the meteor into the ship and took off heading to space.
"Rip, what the hell are you doing?" Bucky demanded looking up to the sky.
"I'm flying the Waverider to the sun with the meteor on board." Rip replied hurriedly.
"And you on it." Sara pointed out.
Rip didn't need Sara to point out. "I guess this is good-bye." Rip said.
The Team were despondent realizing that it could the last time they'd ever talk to the former time master.
"It's been a pleasure, Captain." Ray saluted him.
"Likewise, Dr. Palmer." Rip replied.
"But you brought us all to this, man." Jax protested.
"Which is why I'm doing this alone, Mr. Jackson. I'll have no one else die for my choices." Rip argued back.
"I guess this is end of the line." Bucky
"I don't wanna lose another friend." Mick admitted causing everyone to look at him in surprise. Rip was surprised by it too.
"Appreciate that, Mr. Rory. " Rory said as the communication was going static. "I must say, it's been an honor to serve you as your..."
The radio died after that.
-
Unbelievable. They had lost another member and it was the captain of everyone.
Before they could mourn the loss of another, they heard a whirling sound. They looked up to see the Waverider descending, much to their shock.
"What the hell?" Bucky murmured. That was the question in everyone's mind. How did he survive?
-
They all got into the time ship looking around the ship who sustained major damage. Wires were loose, light bulbs exploded nearby.
"I apologize if I gave you all a fright." Rip apologized sincerely standing in the middle of the hallway as the group spotted him.
"What the hell happened to the meteor?" Bucky asked.
"I flew it to the heart of the sun." Rip answered leading them into the main deck. "Well, I uh, angled the ship to eject the meteorite before impact and then I time jumped away."
"You could've been killed." Jax said
"Should've been. You're a moron." Mick added.
Rip laughed softly as he pushed both of the doors away from each other with all his strength, allowing the group to enter the main bridge. "Now, who fancies a trip back to 2016?"
"So it's really over, huh?" Bucky said realizing that the mission was complete.
"For some of you, yes." Rip confirmed. "Me however, my journey seems to have just begun."
"How so? Savage is dead, three times over." Mick inquired holding up three fingers to emphasize his point.
"The Time Masters are no longer a growing concern, due to our destruction of the Oculus." Rip reminded the group. "Someone needs to be responsible for protecting the timeline. Who better than a former Time Master and any of you who are willing to join me?"
The group glanced around each other, thinking about the other, whether they should accept it or not.
-
May 29 2016.
Star City
Sara placed of flowers near her father's grave while staring at the tombstone. Her father was dead and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it. She just had to sit there and take it. Laurel and Bucky walked up to her.
"I should've stayed here. Help you with Darhk but I didn't." Sara confessed. "And now Dad's gone. I never got to say goodbye."
Laurel looked away in guilt for a moment. This was her fault. Their father was dead because of her before. She recomposed herself.
"So what you're gonna do?" Laurel wondered thinking about the offer that her boyfriend and her sister told. "From what I've heard from both you and Bucky, it sounded pretty important."
It was. To both her and Bucky. "So is family." Sara said. Family first, hero second. That was her priorities. Laurel let out a shakily breath holding back the tears. "I didn't wanna go with Rip the first time five months ago but you convinced me. And now I'm doing this for Dad."
Laurel nodded, pleased to see her sister's maturity. She had come a long way for sure when they reunited after Sara's six year absence. "I think Dad would've been proud of you."
"Why?" Sara inquired.
"Because I am." Laurel admitted as she went to hug her sister. Sara reciprocated the hug, the Lance sisters shared an emotional moment.
"So, Buck you ready to follow the League of Assassins graduate of '09 to protect history?" Sara asked the ex Army ranger separating herself from her older sister.
Bucky shook his head no. "No. The girl who couldn't keep herself out of trouble: That's who I'm following."
-
Star City Airport.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bucky asked Laurel as they walked to the check in at the airport. She booked a one way ticket to a place that she went two years ago where she trained herself to be vigilante but now after hanging up her boots as the Black Canary, she was going travel back there for a different reason.
She is. Laurel just wanted some time off and she can't do it in this city because she was afraid that she might suffer relapse. "Yes. I need some time away from all this. You know what grief makes me do weird things. I became an alcoholic after Tommy died in the Undertaking. I nearly killed Darhk after he killed Dad. I need to process this without any...." Laurel sighed remorsefully. "Just keep an eye on Sara for me, would you? Please?"
Bucky nodded. "You got it." And with that promise made Bucky left the airport, but not before kissing her on the lips. Laurel looked at him leaving before turning around to face the receptionist.
"Keep it open ended." Laurel told the receptionist her request at the check in.
"What's your destination?" The receptionist asked.
"Anywhere." Laurel replied.
-
As Legends were set to board the Waverider after seeing Kendra and Carter leave the team to start anew after Savage, they heard footsteps behind them. They were surprised to see Sara and Bucky approaching them.
"I wasn't sure you two would come." Rip admitted.
Bucky shrugged. "We gotta move forward."
-
Laurel looked out the window from her seat as the plane she boarded, took off ascending into the sky from the airport. A tear escaped her eye and dropped into the carpet. She didn't wanna do this but she had to do. It was necessary.
-
Las Vegas, Nevada
Felicity was in the backseat of a cab with her mother holding her hand in comfort as they were heading to her mother's house from the airport.
-
City Hall, Star City.
Oliver had a bright smile on his face as he was sworn into the Mayor's office in front of the press. Thea were among the crowd with a smile of her own.
-
Diggle was sitting on a bus heading to the airport in his Military uniform. He looked at the photo of the wedding between Andy and Carly. It felt like a lifetime ago and it was much happier times then.
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