Legends and Lies

Disclaimer: I hereby relinquish any claim to the physical or verbal representation of characters appearing in this piece of literature. All characters depicted in this story belong to Warner Bros and DC Comics.

Summary: The Legends of Tomorrow know that Rip Hunter is a liar. But what they don't know is that his first lie to them is also the truth.

Sometimes Rip wonders how on Earth he has succeeded in deceiving a group consisting of two of the brightest minds in human history, a formidable assassin, and two master criminals.

Jax, at least, is understandable. He is not stupid, by any measure of the word, but he is not even 21 yet, has not yet experienced all the joy and pain life can offer whereas Rip is more than a decade older than him and far more experienced when it comes to…well, everything. Kendra is also relatively young, not yet having learned to fully tap into the experience that her previous lives grant her.

But the rest of them? Rip is astounded that they have fallen for his lies so completely.

The thing is, if they were truly as insignificant as Rip told them they were, history wouldn't have remembered them at all. None of them has figured this out, or if they have, they assume they are merely footnotes in the tales of Oliver Queen and Barry Allen.

They are most assuredly not.

Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, Captain Cold and Heatwave. Their legend is one of redemption. They are remembered as the men who changed from the criminals who attempted to kill the Flash, to his grudging allies and finally to comrades and friends. Their story has proven and inspired to thousands that they can be something better. It is because of them that many criminals have turned away from their chosen path to become better, to be good, to be heroes.

Sara Lance is remembered as a symbol of the power of will. She will be the first person in history to overcome the bloodlust of the Lazarus Pit. It helps that ignoring the bloodlust does not have the adverse side effects on her that it does on others but rejecting that hunger for killing, the urge to become a monster, that accomplishment is purely Sara's.

Ray Palmer is a genius of the likes humanity has only ever seen a handful of. He will blaze the way for technology and humanity, changing the world. His innovations will change the face of human history. The medical technology the shrinking aspect of his suit will eventually help develop will saves the lives of millions of people suffering from illnesses that were once incurable.

Martin Stein and Jax Jefferson's legacy is that of one of the greatest and most powerful of heroes of their age, rivaling the Flash and Green Arrow. They will save thousands of lives and inspire millions more. They have not yet even begun to grasp their full potential, what the power they wield is truly capable of.

Kendra Saunders is a demigoddess, the winged symbol of reincarnation and victory, having stood among humanity's greatest heroes and helped forge for the way for millions more. Her legacy is that of a seemingly immortal guardian of humanity and one of the founders of the Justice League, the team that has saved Earth more times than anyone can count.

One might wonder why Rip deceived them, told them that they are insignificant. The answer is exceedingly simple: Arrogance and motivation.

If they believe themselves to be legends without actually becoming the people who history remembers them as, they will become arrogant. They will underestimate their opponents and believe that they are already legends. They aren't, not yet. It would take a rare kind of humility to avoid becoming arrogant if one knows they will change the world and be remembered as legends, revered and held up as an example even centuries into the future. None of his team have that humility and arrogance could be a fatal flaw on their mission.

The second reason, as mentioned before, is to motivate them. With the belief that they are insignificant in the current timeline, they will work harder than ever to prove that they are not. This determination will make them even greater than they already were and help defeat Savage.

To be fair, his statement about him taking them because their lack of presence wouldn't affect the timeline isn't entirely incorrect. It's not because of their false insignificance in the grand scheme of things but because they do not have any vital role to play in the battles against Damien Darkh and Zoom. No matter how their journey across time changes them, once they return to their proper time, those changes will not cause Darkh and Zoom to succeed. The others however, Oliver Queen, Barry Allen, Laurel Lance, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, John Diggle…if he had brought even one of them on this mission, the changes they would have undergone on this journey could have changed the ways they would have reacted and behaved, the difference potentially causing Zoom or Darkh to triumph.

A person might ask why he didn't simply pick the primary members of Team Arrow and Team Flash from a point in the timeline where any changes that happen to them on this mission will not adversely affect history. But it was exceedingly difficult to find the time period where his current team was not vital to the timeline as it was. If he had taken any longer, he may not have managed to recruit them and the Time Masters would have caught up to Rip before he had a team backing him up.

Besides, the people he has recruited are every bit as legendary and capable as the likes of the Green Arrow and Flash. Rip does not need anyone else to stop Vandal Savage. He has faith that his current team will not only succeed, but also do so spectacularly.

How does he know this? It's because he's already talked to his counterpart from a timeline where they succeeded in defeating Savage.

After all, the most successful winners are the ones who cheat.

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