She stepped out into the fresh air, unused to the pollen in the air after months aboard a ship that perfectly filtered their air.

It clogged up her nose, itching her throat. He had dropped them back off in 2016.

He was leaving them behind.

"What are we doing here?" She choked out, ignoring the numbness in her chest, staring at Rip's figure.

Their Captain sighed, regret flashing over his face, "Savage has a timeship, courtesy of the Time Masters. The timeline is unclear, due to our destruction of the Oculus, meaning Savage is lost to history," he paused, inhaling deeply before finishing his thought, "Which is why I brought you all home."

"Mission's not over, man," Jax stopped Rip, but Alex knew there was no convincing him. They had lost someone on the mission.

That was enough to call it off.

"Jax is right," Ray agreed, looking toward Alex for support. She couldn't give it to him, "We've lost Savage before. We'll find him again."

"That's not the issue is it?" Alex piped up, she caught the slight nod of agreement and bit her lip, nodding mirthlessly.
"I will not lose more you to this mission," Rip choked out, swallowing his grief, "Carter, Kendra, Leonard...I made a mistake in thinking you were unimportant to the timeline," Rip scanned his team, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Now that I know how...precious your lives are, I can't afford any more loss."

Ray scoffed, shaking his head, "So that's it? We're... we're just giving up?"

Rip nodded turning back to the Waverider, "I'm on my way to the refuge to retrieve our younger selves and return them to the timeline. It will be as if you never left."

Sara was the next person to protest, anger blazing across her face, "What, you think that we can just return to our old lives, and then pretend like none of this ever happened?"

Rip scrunched his face up at her words, "Mm, that might be a tad difficult."

The team looked at each other, unsure of what was going to happen next, "See I had to bring you back to May 2016, not January 2016."

Alex finally understood. The pollen, the thick air. It had been a completely different season than they had left in.

Her fingers grazed against the extrapolator in her pocket. She could go home. There was nothing keeping her here.

She could finally go back and see her family.

Everything she had ever wanted at her fingertips, and Rip was just giving it to her.

"Okay, wait," Sara interjected, clearly unhappy with this alteration, "Why? Why the change of plans, Rip?"

Alex wrapped her hands around the extrapolator and moved away from the group, ignoring the arguments breaking out between Rip and the team. She watched the Waverider take off from her spot on the sidewalk, everything that she had been working toward disappearing in the clouds.

The mission had made her better.

It had reminded her of who she was.

But she couldn't go back. No matter how much her moral compass was screaming at her. She was halfway down the sidewalk when she heard someone call her name.

"Alex wait!" She whipped around, catching sight of Ray jogging down the path. Alex shook her head. She couldn't deal with this now.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair that she didn't get to keep both of them.

"Where are you going?" Ray's smile was growing wider, oblivious to her cold demeanor. Alex shrugged, not wanting to talk about it.

"Back to my apartment to pack, and then home,"

Ray's eyes drifted downward toward her pocket, narrowing at the movement he sensed.

"You're heading back?" His voice almost broke, and his breathing started to shake, "I uh, what about the mission?"

"The mission's dead Ray," Alex snapped, voice thick and catching in her throat, "Rip made that clear,"

"It doesn't have to be," He continued, always the optimist, "You were prepared to die for us yesterday, what happened?"

She bit her lip, brushing a curl away from her face as she crossed her arms, "Leonard died." Alex tried to swallow the lump growing in her throat, it refused to move, "And I was the reason for it,"

Ray's determined look faded into a regretful one, staring down at his feet. "You're not the only one," He appealed to her, "If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have been there in the first place,"

She scrunched her face, trying to keep the pressure from bursting, trying to keep the dam closed off. "I miss him," She choked out, voice breaking as she pressed her head into Ray's chest, his embrace slowing her breathing, letting the tension melt from her shoulders. A single tear carved a trail down the right side of her cheek, and she wiped it away before the two of them pulled apart.

"You know he was the only one who knew all of my secrets," Alex laughed to herself, picking at her fingers, "Really puts a new meaning to the phrase 'take it to the grave,"

Ray's fingers entwined in hers, "He would want you to do this," He urged her, brown hues peeking through long lashes in a puppy-dog stare, "What do you say Girl Scout?"

The nickname hurt, pinching her chest.

Her other hand played with the extrapolator before zipping up her pocket, "Let me get some stuff and I'll meet you back here,"

Ray's frown twisted into a wide smile, squeezing her hand one more time before bounding away. "Don't seem too eager Boy Scout!" she called after him, her hand shooting up to her necklace.

Despite everything they've been through, Kendra was her friend, and she wouldn't lose any more.

This was for Leonard.

He would want her to do this.

He would want her to be a hero.

She leaped over the city, feet denting the street just outside of her apartment. She unlocked the door, Fitz's mop of hair hanging between his arms, a groan of frustration leaving his lips as he brought his gaze upward, "Look I'm sorry about-Alex," He coughed out, mouth hanging open like he couldn't believe she was there.

"You, uh," His adam's apple bobbed up and down, "You're uh, You're back,"

"Don't worry," She smirked, dropping her bag down and moving into her room, "I just gotta grab some extra stuff and then I'll be..."

She froze. Her room was bare. Everything that had been hers was gone, replaced with empty space and fresh sheets.

There was no sign she had ever existed.

"You were gone five months," Fitz excused, causing Alex to scoff at his words, "I thought you'd gone home, or worse,"

"So you replaced me," She bit her lip, turning around, meeting his sheepish gaze. Her closest friend believed she had abandoned him.

What was it about her? Why did people seem to think she would leave them in the dust? Ray, Kendra, Mandy, and now Fitz.

She supposed it was built into her DNA. Her mother was a goddess, her sisters always had each other. They never needed anyone else. They would always come back to Themyscira. Her mother did.

She was a wanderer. Never really meant to settle down anywhere. Her mother never did. Themyscira was her home. It was written in her blood to never get too attached. She supposed that meant she would leave them eventually. But she always came back. Even when nobody wanted her to.

"I didn't replace you, Alex," Fitz stammered out, "I just...moved on."

She nodded slowly, shouldering the bag on her shoulder. "Whatever," She brushed it off, told herself that it didn't matter. But it did. Her chest pinched and she tossed her keys to him, "Have fun asshole," her vocal cords pressed together, tightening her throat as she stumbled down the stairs of her apartment. There was nothing left for her here. Not anymore.

Jax sighed, following Stein out of the car, "Ship's not going to be here, Gray. We saw it take off, remember?"

Stein's lips twitched upward slightly, a twinkle in his eyes, "Yes, and in doing so, it would have left-"

"Quantum signature." Ray's voice drew their attention forward, gesturing to the criminal beside him, "That's what I've been trying to tell Mick." he shook something in his hand, "Radio beacon."

His eyes scanned the horizon, looking for the very first person he had talked to, and hoping she would show up.

Stein lifted his own device up, "Quantum entangler."

"Boys and their toys," A familiar voice sent Ray's stomach fluttering, and Alex strutted forward, her lips pressed together in a hard line, "The real question is how do we get in contact with Rip?"

Ray turned to her, his teeth peeking through his smile, "Glad to see you made it,"

Her frown disappeared for a moment, replaced by a tight smile as Stein's response was cut off by another figure emerging from the shadows.

"Ms. Lance, are you all right?"

Sara said nothing, her face the same expression as Alex's, only her eyes stared at the cement in front of her, jaw clenched, "How do we get the Waverider back here?"

Alex turned to the two scientists and Ray and Stein began to formulate a plan.

Ten minutes later they were still stuck in Star City. Alex was pacing, Sara and her crossing paths occasionally. She recognized the look in Sara's eyes. It was the look of absolute vengeance. She wanted revenge for something that had happened in the last five months, and frankly, Alex couldn't blame her. She was going to have some choice words for Rip when they reached the Waverider.

Ray and Stein were busy bickering about each other's intelligence, and she could tell the rest of the team was getting restless.

"Hey, geniuses!" Alex ceased her pacing, eager to figure out what the hell was going on, "Can you reach the Waverider or not?"

Ray and Stein shared a look before answering at the same time, "We're working on it."

"Well, work harder," Alex spoke slowly, like she was dealing with children. Patience had never been her strong suit. That was where her mother excelled. She continued to pace.

Her footsteps froze when Jax pointed toward the sky, "Actually, guys, I think it just worked."

Alex's gaze fixated on the giant ship, the wind from the landing blowing her hair back as Rip descended the ramp to join them in the clearing.

His hands were placed on his hips, clearly disapproving of their attempt to contact him. She had to resist laughing. He looked like a disappointed dad, not a captain trying to sway his team to stay.

"I thought I made my intentions perfectly clear." Rip snapped and Alex crossed her arms.

"And we wish to be equally clear about ours," Stein spoke up for the group, the team collectively glaring at their former Captain.

Mick slapped him across the shoulder, and Rip whirled around to face the criminal, "Do you mind?"

"Just checking to see if you're real this time."

Alex and Sara stood side by side, not wishing to contribute anything to the conversation. Apparently their glares were enough to stop Rip from making eye contact with them, since he kept his focus on Jax and the Professor.

"You're not ditching us again," Jax stated, like Rip had no choice in the matter, "When the mission's over, then we can all go our separate ways."

Stein supported his student with a similar remark, "And this mission is not over."

"Yeah, just curious how much headway you've had tracking Savage without all of us." Ray gestured to the entire team, a smug look on his face. Alex had never seen it before. She kinda liked it.

Rip scoffed, "None. But neither have I got myself into bar fights in 1975," He looked at Sara and Alex, "and the Old West, put dwarf star technology into the hands of terrorists," His gaze moved to Ray, "or got myself turned into a scary bird monster." He finished with a pointed gesture at Jax, and Alex rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Alex finally spoke up, "We screwed up, big deal. That ship is not leaving without us, and neither are you, you got that?"

Rip sighed and nodded, gesturing for them to follow. Alex's lips twitched upward for the first time since returning home and she pressed forward, moving into the ship that had slowly become her home.

They made their way onto the bridge without incident, but Sara's patience could only extend so far.

"Despite my wishes to pursue Savage alone, it seems that you're all intent on seeing this thing through till the bitter-" Rip was cut off with a fist to the jaw, Sara pushing him against the wall and holding a knife to his throat.

"You knew." She choked out, voice thick with anger, "You dropped us off five months later because you knew."

Rip's eyes never left Sara's and Alex was keeping a sharp eye on the knife, ready to disarm Sara at any point.

"Sara, hold on," Alex began, slowly approaching the assassin, "What did Rip know?"

Sara didn't even spare a glance in her direction, "You knew that Laurel was going to die," She dug the knife in deeper into Rip's skin, drawing blood from his throat, "and now you're going to take me back, and I'm going to save my sister."

Holy shit. Alex finally understood why Sara had been so angry before. Rip had robbed her of the same thing he had been robbed of. A chance to save her family.

She would be pissed too.

"I'm afraid that that-"

Rip's stammers were cut off with another outburst from Sara, "You should be afraid."

A moment of silence stood between the two, and Sara's hand began to shake.

"I can't allow you-"

"I don't care about the timeline!" Sara burst again, her voice almost shaking the ship, "You're taking me back now."

Alex sent a silent look toward the other members of the team, asking for their help. Ray was the only one to respond to her plea.

"Look, Sara," He began, "I'm sure there's a valid reason why Rip didn't-"

Sara whipped around, snarling at her friend, "Stay out of this!"

Rip's mind thingy blasted her and she collapsed in his arms, Mick carrying her over his shoulder.

Alex could only look on in shock. Apparently she wasn't the only one.

"What the hell, Rip?"

Rip ignored Jax's protests and turned toward Mick, waving a dismissive hand, "Mr. Rory, take Ms. Lance to sleep it off."

Her fist collided with his jaw and he went reeling again, "What did I do this time?!"

Alex glared at the brit, making it clear that she was not letting him off the hook, "You're a jerk, and you took five months of my life."

Shaking out her hand, she waltzed into the office, staring at the table in the center.

Ray walked in, arms held up in a position of surrender as he began to change the subject, "Not to dismiss what just happened, but we do have to find Savage," He got straight to the point, and Alex shifted her gaze so she was meeting Ray's, "assuming that Kendra and Carter are still on his timeship. He could-"

"Be anywhere in time and space." Rip spoke, defeat lacing his tone, his hand hanging limply by his side. Guilt stirred in the bottom of her stomach, crawling up the lining of the organ until it stuck in her throat.

The punch wasn't part of her plan. But she had to do something to support Sara. No one knew loss better than they did. That didn't mean she didn't feel bad about it.

Jax flapped his arms in frustration, "Oh, well that narrows it down a lot." when he brought them down, a helmet crashed to the ground, drawing everyone's attention to the military helm.

Jax grimaced, "Sorry." He picked up the helmet, staring at it as if seeing it for the first time, "Was this always over here?"

Rip narrowed his eyes, sending a look over his shoulder, "No, it lives over-" He paused, cutting himself off before turning back to Jax, "Did you put it there?"

Jax shook his head and Alex rolled her eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh, "What the hell does it matter? It was over there yesterday and it's here now, not that big of a deal,"

Rip paused, dusting the helmet off, "Chronometric repositioning."

Jax and Alex shared the same look, "What?" they spoke at the same time.

Rip paced the front of the office, explaining the phenomenon to them, "Temporal changes can, on occasion, reverberate through the timeline, physically moving an object from one place to another," He pulled a slip of paper out of the lining of the helmet, his smile growing wider as he read the scrawl, "Gideon?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Plot a course for Saint-Lô, France, 1944."

Alex groaned internally, she hated going back to the 40s. "Why?" She asked aloud, trying to keep her distaste private.

Rip held out the piece of paper, Alex barely able to decipher the messy scrawl, but she recognized the name hastily written at the bottom of the page, "Because that's where Kendra is."

Alex straightened up, her interest finally piqued. Stein asked the question they were all thinking, "How is that possible?"

Ray chuckled to himself, and a familiar look crossed his eyes, "She sent us a message through time," He turned toward the professor, a smirk on his face, "Go ahead, say it."

Stein laughed aloud, "Astonishing."

She crashed to the ground, sword in hand as she began to take out Nazis one by one. She had done it a thousand times before. And she would fight against them every time. Her sword cut through one, fist knocking out another. The truck was full, but she was prepared. She had her friends.

She ricocheted the bullet back to them, the ammo striking them in the shoulder, or the leg, or in someplace much less comfortable.

She leaped upward, bringing her sword down on the men in the truck. She had to hold back some of her strength. She was a distraction.

They were the distraction while Jax picked up Kendra.

Unfortunately, things didn't always go to plan.

"Fall back!" Rip shouted in her comm, and she started the retreat. She grabbed her lasso instead, tripping the men, wrapping it around their guns to disarm them.

The sound of a gun went off, bullet whizzing past her hair, but a laser charge was heard from behind her and she whirled around to see Ray standing there, urging her to follow him.

"What about Kendra?" She asked, hoping that was the reason they were retreating. Ray shook his head.

"Savage still has her, but we got Carter,"

She dodged another bullet, using her shield to protect herself from the onslaught. This wasn't good at all.

Alex shook her head, not even trying to understand the complicated numbers Stein had been writing on the window. She was too busy wrapping her head around the idea he had just proposed.

"You're saying Savage wants to destroy the world three times?"
"In three different times," Jax added on. He was just as confused as she was. "How is that possible?"

Rip shook his head, staring at the math on the window, "It's not, it would create a temporal paradox."

"Which would result in a timequake that would return the Earth to the point of the first chronothermic reaction," Stein spoke excitedly, forgetting that there were people who didn't understand him, "Ancient Egypt."

Alex nodded like she understood (even though she didn't) trying to put all the pieces together. She leaned against the table, the wood digging into her tailbone. "So you're saying he wants to go back to where it all began?"

Stein nodded.

Jax shook his head, "Okay, it's official. This is the craziest bad guy plan in the history of bad guy plans."

Rip chuckled to himself, eyes never leaving the equations Stein had written, "I don't think that sanity is a yardstick by which Vandal Savage can be measured."

"Okay, so which time periods are we talking here?" Jax pressed forward, the three of them blocking any view Alex had of the board and she rolled her eyes, still mulling Savage's plan over in her head.

"You said Savage was in possession of one of these meteorites in 1958," Stein brainstormed, "That was a year of a rare alignment, with the Earth and Thanagar."

Rip nodded, gesturing to the bridge in frustration, "Evidently he got hold of a second meteorite in 1944."

"Which would be useless to him in a year where Earth and Thanagar weren't in alignment," Stein continued to ramble, his hand shaking in excitement as he overlooked his equations, "Now, if my math is correct, and trust me, it is, the next two years that Earth and Thanagar are in sync are 1975 and 2021."

Jax shook his head, eyebrows creased together in confusion, "But Savage still has to do this in three different time periods."

Alex stood up from her position against the table, finally understanding what was happening, "One of the perks of immortality," She realized, an unfamiliar feeling punching her in the gut, "He can."

The three of them trudged through the Oregon forest, Alex rolling her eyes at the scenery. She hated this place.

"I can't believe I'm here again,"

Mick was more preoccupied with his own revenge, "When can I kill him?"

"We have to wait for the meteor to go critical," Ray spoke up, finally reaching the familiar street.

"When's that?"

Ray and Alex turned to look at each other and she drew her sword, twisting her wrist to loosen it, "When he starts the ritual in all three time periods."

They crouched behind the trees, waiting for Kendra's blood to land on the glowing rock.

A sizzling could be heard, followed by a chanting in a language Alex didn't understand, the three of them hopping out from their hiding place to take down Savage.

A screeching brought their attention to the other side of the road, locking eyes with the winged monsters they had dealt with the last time they were here.

"Really?" Ray whined, prepping his gear, "These guys again?" He stared behind him, gesturing for Mick and Alex to attack, "I got this, you two go after Savage,"

Alex nodded and landed a kick to Savage's chest. Mick dodged his punches and landed some hits of his own, distracting the tyrant while Alex landed hits from the back.

She sliced his arm, and then kicked his knee out of alignment, Mick stepping back to let her get in a few punches of her own. Her elbow collided with his nose, drawing blood from the nostrils with a distinct crack. He tried to dodge her blade but only ended wounding his wrists, his screams filling the night sky. He reached forward, a hidden blade coming her way. Thinking quickly, she used her shield as a way to protect her hips from the cement, sliding through his legs, pushing herself up, and plunged the blade into his back, penetrating the organ and sliding through his heart, the tip of her sword bloodied as it slid back out.

She took one look at Mick and nodded.

"You can't kill me." The blood in Savage's mouth slurred his words, "I'm immortal."

Mick held the flame gun toward the tyrant, "Guess you haven't heard the news."

Fire expelled out of the gun, engulfing Savage in red and white, the colors mixing together like a symphony, and for the first time, Alex understood. She understood why Mick thought fire was the most beautiful thing in the world.

It still didn't make her feel better.

A soft whirring began to emanate from the meteorite, and Alex whipped her head around, joining Mick and Ray in staring in awe at the rock.

"Do something, RoboCop," Mick ordered, with the same tone he always used when bossing others around.

Ray pressed a few buttons on his suit, a tiny smirk poking out from behind the glass, "I'm on it. Got a little trick I've been working on."

A red beam shot out from his arm, engulfing the meteorite and shrinking it down to a tiny size, where it poofed, looking like a kid's science project instead of the terror they had killed Savage to stop.

"Come on," she smirked affectionately, "Let's head back to the Waverider,"

Alex slammed to the ground, FIRESTORM and Ray flying behind her. Her knees cracked the cement and she caught the sight of Savage's dead body.

She had no sympathy left for him. He deserved it.

"Damn it!" Mick yelled, appearing from behind the generator, "I wanted to be the one to kill him," Alex raised her eyebrows, sending him a look, Mick turned away from her, "Again, I mean."

She rolled her eyes, moving forward to try and incapacitate the last meteorite. Unfortunately, she didn't get it in time.

A familiar whirring was heard and the rock started to glow blue, radiation already infecting the air around them.

Sara approached the meteorite next, "Um...I don't think our problems are over yet."

The rock began to smoke, heat waves rising up from the blue meteorite.

Jax pressed forward, "I'm on it."

He announced, placing his flaming hands on the rock. The team waited. And waited.

But nothing happened.

Jax let out another sigh of frustration, tearing his hands from the rock, "It's not working."

Ray moved from his spot next to Alex, prepping his gear as people moved out of the way, "I got this," He spoke with sure confidence, the laser charging before releasing the red light onto the rock, but after a few seconds the beam puttered out, and Ray went back to fiddling with his suit.

"I don't understand," Ray shook his arm mechanism, knitting his brows in frustration, "I must be all out of power."

"Let me do it," Alex volunteered, refusing to look at any of her teammates. She felt Sara and Ray's eyes on her, "I'm practically invulnerable, I can handle the blast,"

"The keyword in that sentence is practically," Ray began to ramble, "Just because you survived this long doesn't mean you'll live forever, I mean, Savage didn't-"

"I have to do this," Alex cut him off, "This is what I was meant to do okay? This is why Rip recruited me, recruited us, I'm the only one who could handle that blast,"

"You don't know that!" Ray argued, his overprotective nature really starting to piss her off, "You're not your mother Alex-"

"Believe me I know"

"So why do you insist-?"
"Enough!" Sara broke their argument apart, "We are running out of time, so what do you suggest we do?"

Alex opened her mouth, fully ready to sacrifice herself the way her father did. The way Leonard did.

"Don't even think about it," Sara cut her off before she could volunteer again, "We're gonna figure this out without losing anyone on our team,"

Alex shut her mouth, trying to come up with a new way to stop the meteorite from exploding.

"What happens if only one of these goes off?" Sara asked Rip, and he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh... time will remain intact." The Captain announced before gesturing to the area around them, "The world? Not so much."

"So let's fly this thing out of here." Jax offered and Kendra was quick to refute that.

"To where? We would never get it far enough away."

Ray's eyes lit up, "Maybe the Waverider can. Rip, we need-" Ray's words stopped in his mouth, eyes searching for their captain. "Rip?"

He was nowhere to be found.

But the engine of the Waverider and the tractor beam engulfing the meteorite told them everything they needed to know.

"Rip! What are you doing?" Sara yelled into the comms, and Rip's voice sounded hurried, rushed, like he wanted this over as soon as possible.

"I'm flying the Waverider into the sun, with the meteor on board."

"And you on it." Sara protested.

Alex shook her head and spoke next, "I'm sorry, did you say into the sun?"

There was a pause, and she wondered if Rip would even say goodbye.

A shaky breath and her question was answered, "I guess this is good-bye."

Alex shut her eyes, letting out a soft exhale as she dropped her hand to her side.

"It's been a pleasure, Captain," Ray spoke aloud.

"Likewise, Dr. Palmer."

Jax wasn't willing to give up so easily, "But you brought us all into this, man."

"Which is why I'm doing this alone, Mr. Jackson," Rip spoke up, hesitation in his voice, "I'll have no one else die for my choices."

Sara brought out the big guns, "This isn't going to bring Snart back."

"And I don't want to lose another friend," Mick added on.

Rip paused, his voice crackling over the comm again, "I appreciate that, Mr. Rory."

"Rip-" Alex's voice caught in her throat, "Thank you, for everything,"

He paused again, and responded in the kindest tone she'd ever heard him use, "Thank you, Miss Prince, I only wish I could've eased your pain," He hesitated again, "I must say, it's been an honor to serve as your cap…"

His comm cut out and all they could do was wait.

20 minutes ago...

Alex shut her mouth, trying to come up with a new way to stop the meteorite from exploding.

"What happens if only one of these goes off?" Sara asked Rip, and he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh... time will remain intact." The Captain announced before gesturing to the area around them, "The world? Not so much."

"So let's fly this thing out of here." Jax offered and Kendra was quick to refute that.

"To where? We would never get it far enough away."

Ray's eyes lit up, "Maybe the Waverider can. Rip, we need-" Ray's words stopped in his mouth, eyes searching for their captain. "Rip?"

He was nowhere to be found.

And neither was the meteorite.

"Where'd it go?" Alex asked, sharing a worried look with Sara. As soon as the words left her mouth, the ground rumbled beneath her, the silver and orange ship appearing in the same spot it had been in minutes before.

Her mouth dropped open and she shared a look with Ray.

"Will somebody please tell me what just happened?"

The Waverider was in tatters. Half the ship had been burned beyond recognition, and exposed livewires decorated the floors, ready to electrocute any team member at any second.

Alex gingerly moved around the loose wiring, finally seeing Rip's haphazard appearance.

"Rip?" She asked, lifting her eyebrows at the sight of his singed coat and soot-covered face.

"Sorry if I gave you all a fright." Rip began, shuffling around the debris.

"What happened to the meteor?" Sara asked next.

Rip placed his hands on his hips again, what was left of his duster swirling around his legs, "Uh, I flew it into the heart of the sun," He said nonchalantly, Alex's eyebrows jumping up at the statement, "Well, I angled the ship to eject the meteorite before impact, and then, uh... time jumped away."

"I'm sorry, did you say-"
"Yes Miss Prince," Rip cut her off, a smirk on his face, "I did say the sun."

"You could have been killed." Jax protested, and Mick agreed.

"Should have been. You're a moron."

Rip simply laughed it off, rubbing his hands together as he strode down the hall, "Now, who fancies a return trip to 2016?"

Alex just shook her head, "I hate time travel,"

The bridge seemed to be the only untouched part of the ship. Alex wandered around, dragging her finger across the control panel. She ended up in between Ray and Sara, arms crossed as she stared at their new Captain.

"I can't believe it's over." Kendra mused.

Rip bobbed his head, "Well, for some of you, yes," He announced, a renewed sense about him, "My journey, it seems, is only just beginning."

"How does that work?" Mick complained, flopping into the seat, "Savage is three times dead."

"The Time Masters are no longer of growing concern," Rip continued, his gaze washing over all of them, "due to our destruction of the Oculus. Someone needs to be responsible for protecting the timeline. Who better than a former Time Master?" He paused once again, gesturing to the rest of the team, "And any of you who'd like to join me."

Alex scanned the rest of the team, their expressions neutral and unreadable. Except for Ray. The two of them locked eyes, the exact same glint in both of their expressions. She knew her choice.

Ray found her on the same rooftop they had been recruited, overlooking the city with a soft smile on her face.

"Hey," He spoke up, pulling her out of her thoughts, Alex's face widened into a smile, arms crossed.

"Hey," She sounded cheerier, more than she had the entire day, "What's going on?"
"I just finished checking in with Mick," Ray announced, picking at his fingernails. It had always been a tick of his. Something his mother had tried to get him to stop doing. He didn't know why that urge got stronger when he was around Alex, "Now I'm checking in with you,"

She let out a light chuckle, pressing forward, uncrossing her hands and unraveling her fists to reveal the extrapolator in her hands.

Ray's heart sank to his stomach. She wasn't coming with them. She was going home.

Alex had been planning on leaving without saying goodbye.

This was goodbye.

"It's not what you think," She refuted, twirling the device in her hand, "I've been holding onto this ever since Star City," she began, shaking her head, "I thought it was the most important thing on this trip. That this was a one-time thing and then I'd be home," Alex bit her lip, the way she always did when she was mulling things over. Ray braced himself for the other shoe to drop.

It always did.

With Anna, with Felicity, with Kendra. He didn't know if he could take any more goodbyes. Especially from Alex.

He watched her throat bob up and down, never taking her eyes off the device. A crack was heard, her strength breaking the extrapolator into two neat halves.

"Alex, what are you-"

"It's not the most important thing anymore," Alex smiled, eyes glassy, "I have a home with you guys, on the Waverider, and I'm not ready to give that up,"

Ray cupped his hand around hers, thumb scraping the back of her hand, his back shivering at the touch. He dismissed the static between them as an aftereffect of breaking the extrapolator.

He didn't want to think about that.

Especially when she hasn't shown any signs-

"Ray..." Her voice was soft, barely a whisper, doe-eyes peeking out from behind dark lashes. They seemed to be moving closer, the inches between them disappearing, "Whatever this is," She spoke instead, her throat bobbing up and down again, "I like it, a lot."

Ray resisted the urge to bring his hand up to her cheek, instead stretching it beside him, eyes never leaving hers, "I like it too,"

A shuddered breath left her mouth and Alex seemed much lighter, the two bursting into withheld laughter, unable to do anything else.

He stared at the broken device in her hand, trying to change the subject, "You know, as much as I appreciate the symbolism, this could've been something amazing to study,"

There it was again. That bright laugh that lit up the entire room. It felt like sunshine.

"Do you want half of it to study?" Alex offered to him, "Keep it, I'm sure you could find a use for it,"

Ray nodded and gently took the other half, relishing in the soft touch between them. They met each other's gaze again and burst into laughter.

It felt nice.

It felt good.

Ray and Alex showed up, unable to keep themselves from looking at each other. She felt her face get red and played with her half of the extrapolator in her pocket. It soothed her, knowing that Ray held the other half.

She didn't know why.

"A full compliment!" Rip slapped his hands together, chuckling at the sight of all nine of them back together again, "To be honest, I had my doubts that all of you would be willing to throw in with me for a second go."

"Well, actually-" Carter's voice dragged their attention to the couple. Kendra's emotions were written all over her face.

"We're not coming with you." She announced. Alex was surprised by how upset she felt. Despite everything that happened, she did like Kendra.

They had been friends at one point.

"With Savage gone," Carter continued, never taking his eyes off of Kendra, "we want to start fresh, see what happens."

"I give it three months, tops." Mick offered, waiting to see if anybody would take him up on his bet. Alex shook her head.

Kendra stepped forward, clearly trying to figure out what to say, "Look, I just…I want to say thank you," She turned toward Ray and Alex, "To all of you. Ray, Alex, I-"

Alex held up her hand, "All's forgiven," She threw their past away, embracing the young woman, "Stay safe, please."

"You too" Kendra whispered back, turning toward Ray, who was nothing but smiles.

"This is... it's meant to be," Ray assured her, Kendra's tension disappearing from her body, "I wish both of you nothing but the best."

Kendra sent a look at Alex and Sara again, "Be safe."

The two women nodded, and Alex hoped that she wasn't a major factor in their decision to leave.

Carter simply waved, the two of them sprouting their wings as they flew away.

Rip turned back to the team, his excitement undeterred, "So, shall we?"

The team pressed forward, their steps halted as a booming sound was heard in the sky. An unmistakable sound that both Alex and her mother knew.

It was the sound of an aircraft crashing.

"Get down," She ordered, and the team turned to look at her.

Sara creased her forehead, "Why?"

"That thing is crashing," Alex warned them, "And it's not slowing down,"

The team followed her lead, plummeting to the ground as the aircraft burned through the atmosphere, collapsing onto the gravel, a familiar shape appearing through the smoke.

"Is that-"

"The Waverider." Rip cut Sara off, helping the Canary up. Ray did the same thing for Alex.

"Another Waverider?" Stein questioned, staring at Rip.

The ramp descended, a hooded figure walking down to join them in the clearing.

"What the hell's going on?" Jax asked next, and Alex pressed forward, moving away from the rest of the team.

"Who the hell are you?" She yelled out, the hooded figure approaching them, a determined look on his face.

"Is this 2016? Is this May, 2016?" The figure asked, urgency in his voice.

Alex nodded, "What about it?"

The figure chuckled, a smile growing on his face, "You're exactly where you said you'd be." He pointed to their Waverider, "Do not get on that ship. If you do, you're all dead."

"Says who?" Sara spoke up from beside Alex, crossing her arms.

"Says you, Miss Lance, Miss Prince. You two sent me."

The two women shared a look with each other, both equally confused at his statements.

"So let me ask again," Alex threatened, trying to make herself more intimidating, "Who the hell are you?"

The figure laughed, removing his hood to reveal a cropped haircut and deep blue eyes, he looked like a leader, "My name is Rex Tyler. I'm a member of the Justice Society of America."