Chapter 2
Time to Face Savage
Norway, 1975
****Tia's POV****
"And we've arrived." Rip announces as the ship slows down and we lift our harnesses as he adds "Gideon, if you wouldn't mind camouflaging us as an alpine meadow, perhaps?" and Rory looks like he's going to vomit again. "What are you complaining about now? It's not like we time-jumped." Snart says to which Rory says "I hate flying, especially in…whatever this thing is." "Where exactly are we?" Carter asks so Kendra adds "We're still in 1975, right?" "Indeed." Rip says as he lifts his harness, stands up, and starts walking away adding "October 1975 on the fjords of northern Norway." "Sounds like a vacation." Snart states as we all, except Rory, stand up to which Rip quickly says "Which we can take as soon as the threat of Savage has been neutralized, Mr. Snart." Before holding up Aldus's notebook. "That's Aldus's notebook." Carter states so Rip adds "Now he theorized that Savage might be here, and if he's right, and if we can capture Savage, then at least Professor Boardman didn't die in vain." I frown at the jinx as Kendra asks "Can't we just go back and save Aldus?" to which Carter adds "He was our son." "Look, I'm sorry. We can't go back and change events in which we participated. Time would fold in on itself, creating a temporal vortex." Rip says so Ray says "Which sounds way cooler than it is." To which I nod. "Forgetting physics for a second, shouldn't we figure out what Savage is doing in Norway?" Sara asks so Rip says "According to Gideon, there is a large meeting of terrorists and fringe groups looking to buy illegal arms." "Now that sounds like a vacation." Rory states smirking and Snart adds "Arms dealers and terrorists aren't exactly our kind of people, but they're the next best thing." Also smirking. "Well, looks like you and your lapdog get to earn your keep." Carter states rudely causing Rory to counter "I'm no one's lapdog, bird-man." Kendra defuses the situation by asking "So what exactly does one wear to a black market arms bazaar, anyway?" "The Waverider has a fabrication room which can fashion temporally-indigenous, uh, fashion." Rip answers as he walks away causing Jefferson to ask "You've got a room that makes clothing?" which Rip answers with the question "Doesn't everyone?"
****Snart's POV****
"All right, first thing we need to do is work on a plan." The Atom states as we walk to which I say "Got a lot of experience infiltrating criminal gatherings? Didn't think so. I'm calling the shots." "Actually, I'm in charge, in case any of you have forgotten." Rip pipes up to which I say "No I remember. I just don't care." "Do I need to remind any of you that I'm a Time Master? Making discrete alterations to the timeline is what I do, so we're not just gonna charge into the past like a bull into a china shop-" Rip stops and starts to rant but Mick cuts him off by saying "Half of what you've told us about the mission turned out to be lies." "None of you have ever encountered Vandal Savage before. I have and I'm telling you now, you are making a big mistake." Rip says to which Atom scoffs and says "Already did that when we trusted you." With that we leave Rip with a "Back soon, Captain." From Mick.
After making the plan Mick, Sara, Stein, Atom (in Stein's pocket), me, and (reluctantly) T make our way to the bazaar. "Looks like they're checking credentials. And we don't have any." Sara states so Mick says "We got this. Trust us." Before I "run" into someone and take his credentials saying "Excuse you." "IDs." The guy orders when we approach so I hand him the thing I just stole. He reads it then looks at me and says "You don't look like an Amhad Ahmed Izz-Al-Din." So I lie saying "I'm Arab. On my mother's side." "Is there a problem?" Stein asks feigning anger as he walks up before looking at the guy and adding "I don't like delays. Do you know who we are? My associates and I are the operational arm of "Scimitar." The Lombardo Square bombing, 1963. Murder of Henri Tyran, Canada, 1970. Koning Airport Massacre, 1971. Bottom line? You don't want to doubt me." I take the card as the guy looks at the ground and steps aside before we walk in with Mick telling Stein "You're a special kind of crazy. I like it." "We're in." I tell the kid and the two hawk people causing the kid to ask "So why don't I get to play terrorist?" "This is just a kidnapping. No need for your nuclear fireworks. Savage'll be one of the buyers. Once we get eyes on, hang back. We'll boost him once this is all over." I tell him/them, as Stein, Sara, and T separate from us, to which hawk guy asks "Any sign of him?" "No." I sigh out as Mick says "He's not here, boss." "Let's get Ginger, the Professor, and the kid and move out." I tell Mick before a guy on the stage says "If I could have your attention. Thank you all for coming. I promise, it will be well worth your time." As Savage walks onto the stage and we join the others. "Seems we were wrong about Savage. He's not one of the buyers." Stein says stating the obvious but Sara adds "He's the seller."
"This is a variable-yield nuclear warhead, capable of producing a blast equivalent to one megaton of TNT." Savage announces as the warhead is pushed out before the announcer from earlier asking "Shall we begin our bidding at $100 million?" to which a gunshot (a bid) rings out. "$100 million. Do I hear $105 million?" Gunshot, "$110 million?" Gunshot, "$115 million?" The guy pauses and asks Savage something who whispers something and starts looking around so Stein points out "It appears we've drawn some unwanted attention. We need to bid. Fire your gun in the air." So Mick does it and the guy says "That's $125 million." "Um, what's happening?" Sara asks as the guy starts saying "Going once…" "It's what's not happening that is the concern." Stein states so I add "Nobody else is bidding." "Sold." "Congratulations, Professor. You just bought yourself a nuclear weapon." Mick tells Stein before a white haired guy in a grey suit approaches saying "Well, well. We seem to have a new player. But you seem a bit academic. How did you get in here and who are you?" "As of a few seconds ago, I'm a nuclear power." Stein states to which white says "Yet I don't know you or your organization, and I know everyone." "Hey. Back off." Mick says causing white to look at him and warn "Watch your tone." As Savage approaches. "Is there some sort of problem here?" he asks to which Mick says "Yeah, the master race here is starting to bug me." So I quickly say "We're just gonna get our nuclear warhead and be on our way." As I slowly push Mick back. "Not without paying first." Announcer guy states to which Stein stupidly says "Once we've validated that the warhead's operational. Personally, I find it highly unlikely that you were able to accumulate enough fissionable material in this era to fashion a workable nuclear device." T literally face palms as Savage asks "This era?" "Figure of speech." Stein says trying to fix what he did but Savage turns and walks back onto the stage saying "Change of plans. I'll provide a 25% discount to the organization which brings me the heads of these men." As Mick asks "Can I burn some stuff now?" "I wish you would." I tell him and he turns and fires his heat gun causing an explosion and signaling the start of the fight. T goes to follow Sara but she orders "Stay with them." Causing Mick to complain "We're not babysitters." and T to scoff, but listen to her anyway, before stealing the normal gun Mick had and (surprisingly) expertly shooting those with guns themselves and those that got too close. Surprisingly he fit in naturally with Mick and I, like we've been partners since the beginning. A few minutes of fighting later and Sara announces "Um, we got a nuclear bomb here." Before yelling "Ray! What did you do?!" "I didn't do anything it must have a fail-safe." Ray says so Sara yells "Professor, Jax, we need you!" And the two as firestorm take the bomb out of the building. A few seconds later the building and ground shakes enough to knock some people over so we use that as our signal to leave.
****Tia's POV****
Once back on the ship and walking into the main room Ray says "Well, I'm really glad you were the one calling the shots." "I had it under control until the Professor started picking fights with PLO." Snart counters so Carter say to Stein "You let your ego endanger our entire mission." "No, Mr. Rory's temper got completely out of control-"Stein tries to defend so Rory cuts him off by saying "I thought we were friends, Professor." "At least there's one less nuclear bomb on the planet." Kendra says to which Rip starts clapping and says "Here, here. Now you all deserve a hearty congratulations. Not only did you fail to capture Savage, you exposed yourselves and your powers to him, giving away the element of surprise for now and all time. Well done, team." "We don't need the element of surprise. We know he's in Norway, so let's find him-"Carter starts only for Rip to cut him off by saying "Unfortunately, we now have larger problems than Savage. If only you'd have listened to me about the dangers of upsetting the timeline." As he walked to the middle of the room. "What are you talking about?" Kendra asks only for Rip to quickly say "While you were busy saving Norway from nuclear annihilation-""You're welcome, Norway." Rory says but Rip ignores him and continues "Savage sent one of his cronies back to the site of the arms sale. Anyone care to guess what he found?" We look at each other before looking at ourselves for Ray to say "Whoops." As he looks at his right arm. Gideon then pops up and says "I am unversed in modern American colloquialisms. Is "Whoops" slang for "Oh"-"but Rip cuts her off by saying "Yes, Dr. Palmer seems to have thrown a spanner in the works for the entire timeline." "Come again?" Snart asks annoyed so Rip elaborates "Armed with Dr. Palmer's future technology, Savage's engineers develop a weapon far more destructive than anything here in 1975. This is Central City in 2016. At least it was. I'm not sure what the neo-fascists who took control of it are calling it these days." As a holographic image of a burning Central city displays.
There is a moment of silence before Stein offers "There must be a way to correct this somehow." To which Rip says "Fortunately, Gideon is just showing us a forecast of the future you've all created. Time is like cement. It takes time to become permanent. In this case until Savage's team have worked out the mystery of your future technology and molded it to their own ends. And when they do, what you see here is no longer just a forecast. This…" Sighing he continues "This is history." Kendra and Carter then leave before Snart walks to the front of the group saying "So thanks to Raymond leaving a piece of his suit in the past, the rest of us don't have a future to go back to." "Unless we do something to change this course of events, the future will become immutable." Rip says so Ray asks "Exactly how much time do we have?" "Until Savage's weapons team reverse-engineer your tech." Rip answers to which Stein says "We're talking 1970s terrorists with 21st-century weapons. And since we don't know where Savage went-"At this Ray and I jump up from sitting and Ray says "We don't have to find Savage." As I shake my head signing "Just the part of his suit." To which Ray translates and elaborates "We just have to find the other piece of my suit. Which shrinks because it's made of an alloy which mimics intra-molecular compression of dwarf star, thus emitting Alpha Particles." "So we just need to be able to track them. Fortunately, Alpha Particles are highly trackable." Stein says to which Ray says "Yet unheard of in the 1970s. It's like we're trapped in the Stone Age." "I'll have you know that I was researching Alpha Particles when you were eating crayons." Stein says to which Snart says "So to track that piece of Raymond's super-suit, we just need to talk to…" trailing off so Stein says "Me. 25-year-old me, rather." "You two are just in time." Rip says as Kendra and Carter rejoin us to which Carter says "Show them, Kendra." She then hands Rip a newspaper clipping saying "Aldus was carrying this when he was killed. It's a newspaper article about an Egyptian dagger." To which Carter adds "The one Savage used to kill us." "In Central City, we learned that objects associated with the night of our deaths can also be used to kill Savage." Kendra says then Carter adds "According to Aldus's notes, the dagger needs to be wielded in conjunction with an incantation inscribed on it." "What does this incantation say?" Stein asks to which everyone looks at Kendra who says "I don't know. I can't read the language." "It's okay. I'll help you remember." Carter tells her and takes her with him as Rip says "Splendid. Now, as for the dagger…" "You need someone to steal it." Ray concludes to which Snart says "Okay, fine. Whatever. I'll do it." As he takes the clipping from Rip before adding "Article says it was purchased by some rich Russian douche bag named Sasha Mahnovski." "We'll go with you." Ray says looking at me to which Snart says "I already got a partner." As he walks away so Ray quickly says "Who I trust even less than you." "Look, you're more than welcome to go with them. Just don't take along any of your future tech." Rip tells Ray to which he nods and we follow after Snart and Rory.
****Rory's POV****
Unfortunately wanna be Iron Man and (not so unfortunately) the quiet kid tagged along with us. The kid I see myself actually starting to like seeing as he can keep up with Snart and I, Iron Man…not so much. "I'm seeing motion detectors on the ground floor. Hardware on the doors looks standard issue." Snart says as we kneel behind a bush so I add "I can't see any smoke alarms." "Just stay close. I saw at least three armed guards on the perimeter." Snart says, the kid nods as I say "Right, boss." But Stupid starts walking towards the house causing me to ask/yell "What the hell are you-""I recognize the security system. My parents had the exact one." Stupid states so we follow him and watch as he taps into a dummy box saying "I'll have the access code cracked and security disabled before you could say "breaking and entering." There. We're in." The kid sighs heavily as I say "I wouldn't be so sure about that." "Why's that?" Stupid asks confused so Snart explains "Because you just tapped into a dummy box, which means those guards are gonna be here-" "Quicker than you can say "rookie mistake"." I finish for him causing Stupid to lose his cocky grin just as the three guards say "Hands up." Behind us. Snart, the kid, and I slowly put our hands up and turn and quickly disarm and knock out the guards. "Nice." I tell the kid who shrugs as Stupid regains his cocky grin. Walking in and seeing the cases Stupid says "Found it." Before asking "Is there a trick to opening the case?" Snart and I share a look before he breaks the case with the dagger and I break the other cases. "What are you doing? Let's grab the dagger and let's go." Stupid says panicked to which Snart says "Raymond, you don't break into a candy store and steal one gumball." "You guys grab the goodies. I'll find the safe." I say before leaving them only for the kid to show up next to me a few moments later.
****Snart's POV****
T sighs before following Mick as Ray says "What do you think you're doing? This is what we came here for." "No, it's what you came here for." I say touching the helmet but get grabbed by Ray so I state coldly "Take your hand off me." "I'm not gonna let you jeopardize another mission." He states to which I say "I'm done asking politely." Followed by punching him in the face and adding "This is my mission." "And I'm gonna listen to a guy who's spent half of his life in prison?" He asks before returning the punch, which ends up knocking me into the helmet thus knocking it off the stand and causing an alarm to go off and a cage to drop down around us. "Great. Now we're both going to prison." I tell him before Mick and T come down the stairs with Mick asking "What the hell happened?" "It was this idiot's fault." I tell him as Ray says "Your partner's fault." "I told you we shouldn't have brought him." Mick states to which I say "Agreed, but we got bigger problems. I need you two to find the fuse box and-""Trigger a system default." Mick says for me before pointing to Ray and saying "This ain't over." T sighs before placing a hand on Mick's arm and motioning for them to go. 'Interesting.' I think as Mick actually calms down and follows him out before I start knocking on the pedestals looking for the Security Reset. Finding it I open it and get asked by Ray "How did you know how to do that?" "When I was a kid, my dad brought me along on jobs. I had little hands. I could get into tiny spaces, do whatever he needed me to do, like…rewiring a security system." I tell him as I start rewiring it. "In another life, you could've been an electrical engineer." He says sitting next to me so I say "Guess I dodged a bullet. You think I want to be like you?" "You make being a tech billionaire sound like a bad thing." He says so I say "You spend all your time and money inventing a super-suit, and what do you do with it? Fly around like some incredible shrinking schmuck trying to save the world." "Robbing banks for a living-I suppose that's more important?" He asks so I say "It's sure as hell more satisfying." "Thinking like that is what makes you a criminal." He says to which I counter "No, it makes me a survivor. And there's gonna come a day when you wish you were too." "Here." He says holding out a hand so I slowly give him the tool and he says "You flip the solenoid, saves you the trouble of rewiring it." As he does it. "I take it back, Raymond. You're not completely useless after all." I tell him.
****Rory's POV****
'This kid's getting to me.' I think as I follow him as we look for the fuse box. We find one and the kid steps behind me so I can trigger the system default. Before I can there's a struggle behind me so I turn around to see Savage holding the kid hostage with a gun to his head. "Don't or I'll kill him." Savage says as I go to step forward making me stop and look at the kid. He gives me an 'It's okay.' look as he gives the slightest nod signaling for me to attack Savage anyway. I do, Savage shoots, the kid drops, and Savage ends up getting the better of me when I falter at the sight of the kid. "Take care of that." He tells a thug who showed up before he leads me back inside the house saying almost sincerely "It's a shame. He put up a better fight."
"We got a slight problem. The owner just came home. You're not gonna believe who it is." I say struggling to get free as he leads me in front of Snart and Stupid. "We meet again. Oh, I'm grateful for another opportunity to kill you, as well." Savage says before looking at me and adding "Stop struggling. I've had 4000 years of training in every hold and pressure point known. But you already know that, don't you? That I'm immortal." "I'm gonna kill you anyway. That's a promise." Snart says looking pissed off causing Savage to say "Oh, what have I done to deserve such enmity? No, let me rephrase that. What have I done to you? Perhaps it's for that cute little thing I've just killed or you have targeted me for something I've yet to do. You traveled here from some point in the future." "Catches on fast, this guy." Stupid says hiding his anger so Savage grins and says "Visitors from another time." Before knocking me over the head with the butt of his gun. "You won't be so happy when the rest of the team shows up and knocks that smug grin off your face." Ray says angry to which Savage says "Oh, why wait? A communications device of some sort, I imagine. Please contact your friends. I'm looking forward to seeing at least two of them again." As he picks up the comm unit, stands on me, throws it to Ray, and point the gun at the two. "I'll make this short. The owner of the mansion we burgled is Vandal Savage. He's really interested in meeting you guys, especially our feathered friends." Snart says into the comm.
****Tia's POV****
'Note to self: stop getting knocked out. People think you're dead.' I think to myself after knocking out a thug who was about to load me into a car. I take the gun he had and make my way back to the house that was apparently Savage's. Snart is the first to notice me and slightly smirks as Savage getting impatient says "Your friends are cowards." "They'll be here." Ray states glancing at me as I make my way to Rory and Savage. Savage getting impatient grabs Rory and holds the gun to his head saying "They're taking too long. They need another incentive-"but before he could pull the trigger Firestorm shoots fire at him making him step back and I shot his hand making him drop the gun. Savage looks at Firestorm and says "Oh. The burning man." "I don't just burn, pal." Firestorm says before blasting Savage with a large fire ball knocking him back. I go help Rory up then as Firestorm lands next to us and says "I blast things too." Before looking at Rory and asking "Hey, you okay?" "I'm pissed." Rory tells him as he rolls his neck before looking at me and adding "Glad you're not dead kid." As Firestorm tells Snart and Ray to "Stand back." before blasting a hole in the cage. Snart gets the dagger as Ray says "I thought he killed you." I shrug and point to the cut on my head from where the bullet grazed me to which Ray sighs out "How does Oliver stay sane?" as we head out the door to meet up with the others. "It's all good. Savage is down." Firestorm tells them as we meet up to which Carter counters "Savage is not defeated by earthly means." So Firestorm says "Well, I hit him with a nuclear blast, so, you know, not that earthly." Then Snart hands Carter the dagger saying "Go get that son of a bitch." Carter looks at Kendra and asks "Are you ready to end this?" "We've only been waiting 4000 years." She replies and then they both sprout their wings and fly off as Rory says "We've got company." As more thugs start running at us. "Friends of Savage." Rip says before handing Ray the Atom suit saying "You'll be needing this. Don't leave any pieces of it behind this time." With that we go to fight Savage's minions.
****Snart's POV****
I couldn't help but keep checking on T as we fight Savage's minions as it surprisingly hurt me when I thought Savage killed him. I could see Mick doing the same and I wondered what this would mean for us. And for some reason I wondered who the hell this Oliver person was that Ray mentioned. Once we defeat Savage's minions we go to get Kendra and Carter only to discover Carter dead and Savage getting ready to kill Kendra. Ray shoots at Savage knocking him away as Rip checks Carter's pulse saying "Carter. He's lost. Get Kendra before Savage recovers." "Come on, we can still kill this bastard." I say as Ray and T check on Kendra. "Kendra is the only one who can." Rip tells me before Ray says "We gotta go. Kendra needs medical attention." We start to go just as more minions show up and Ray passes Kendra to Mick before flying up to fight the new minions. Once on the ship Rip says "Gideon, get us underway as soon as Firestorm and the Atom are onboard. Get her to the MedBay now." Mick does as he is told and takes Kendra to the MedBay as we keep fighting. Firestorm and the Atom join us a few moments later so Gideon closes the door as Ray and Rip head to the MedBay. I join the others in the main room and sit next to Jax as Mick is getting his head cleaned up by T. "Kendra's stable." Ray says walking in as T finishes with Mick and goes to sit next to Sara.
We sit/stand in silence for a few minutes before Stein and Rip return with Stein asking "How's Kendra?" "The same." Sara answers before Jax asks "So what now?" "Now? Now it's up to you." Rip says so I say "To do what, Rip? Last I checked, every time we try to do anything, it all goes to crap." "Oh, once again I must disagree with you. Thanks to Miss Lance, Dr. Palmer's future technology is no longer in the hands of Vandal Savage's black market weapons designers." Rip says to which Stein says "But it didn't do anything to change the fate of your world." "No. Vandal Savage will still rise to power in the year 2166." Rip states causing Jax to stand and ask "And your family will still die?" Rip nods so I say "So what you're really asking is, do we want to fish or cut bait? Return to 2016 and live out the rest of our lives as insignificant losers or-" "Make another play at becoming legends. Figure out how to end Savage and save the world." Ray says cutting me off to which Stein adds "Preferably, without causing any more nuclear explosions." "Savage has my attention." Mick tells Rip to I add "Look, we didn't know Carter from Adam, but if you take out one of my crew, you better pay the price." As the rest of us stand. "Surely Captain Hunter has a sound plan." Stein says to which Rip nods so Stein looks at Jax and asks "What about you?" "You're asking me?" He asks so Stein asks "I didn't give you much of a choice the first time, did I?" "Well, I say we kick Savage's ass. For Carter." Jax says and we all agree saying "For Carter.", minus T who just nodded. "So, Captain. Where are we going next?" Stein asks Rip who smiles and tells us "Leipzig, Germany." Before going to sit in the pilot seat. The rest of us sit and strap in before the ship starts moving.