Shout out to Hab for joining. I appreciate it.
******
"Are you done?" After listening quietly to Sara Lance, Jack Kadere leaned casually against the Waverider's control panel and raised a finger with a faint smile. "I've got two questions."
"Go ahead," Sara said, her tone cautious.
"First question—why didn't you travel back to the exact moment I took Laurel?" Jack asked. "If you can detect temporal anomalies, wouldn't it make more sense to fix the problem at the source?"
If the Legends had intercepted him back then, Laurel wouldn't have been trained early to become the Black Canary, and the entire altered chain of events might never have happened.
"It was too late," Rip Hunter said with a shake of his head. "By the time we realized something had gone wrong, that point in the timeline had already solidified. The change was locked in."
"Alright. Second question." Jack's smile widened. "Who exactly gave you the authority to stop me?"
That question made the entire team tense. Experience told them missions were never straightforward, and this one wasn't going to be either.
Sara Lance's grip on her twin batons tightened. Captain Cold and Heat Wave each raised their weapons—Snart's Cold Gun gleamed in the light, and Rory's flamethrower hummed ominously.
"Because," Heat Wave growled, "I can turn you into ash."
Jack met his glare with complete calm. "Trust me—you can't."
"Wanna bet?" Rory stepped forward, ready to make good on his threat.
Before things boiled over, Rip Hunter stepped between them. "I don't think collecting a team of ex-girlfriends is a smart life choice," Rip said dryly. "All you have to do is keep them apart, and the timeline won't collapse."
Jack gave a small chuckle. "One—only Felicity counts as an ex, and we haven't exactly broken up yet. Two—when I asked 'by what right,' I wasn't talking about muscle."
He raised two fingers and locked eyes with Rip. "You formed the Legends to save your family from Vandal Savage, then used the excuse of 'saving the world' to recruit this crew. But let's be real—you've traveled through time and altered history. 'Correcting temporal anomalies' is just your own version of meddling. So tell me… what moral high ground do you think you're standing on to stop me?"
Rip Hunter's jaw tightened, and for a moment the entire room fell silent.
"We're saving the world," Ray Palmer offered hesitantly, his voice lacking conviction.
The comment fell flat, and nobody backed him up.
Finally, Rip spoke. "I'll admit—we have no ultimate authority over you. But if we don't stop you, Sara Lance won't just suffer fractured memories. She'll vanish from our team entirely." His voice hardened. "So we will stop you."
"Gideon," Rip barked suddenly, "initiate a random time jump, now!"
"Understood, Captain Hunter," came Gideon's calm reply.
The Waverider surged upward with a roar, ion thrusters blazing. The air filled with a sharp, pressurized hum as the vessel tore through the timestream. Wind screamed through the corridors, the inertial dampeners struggling to keep up.
Jack felt the floor lurch violently. The deck pitched, sending everyone sprawling, and the dizzying, gut-wrenching pull of time travel pressed on their chests as if trying to rip them inside out. Seconds stretched like hours until, finally, the shaking subsided.
The Waverider touched down with a soft thud.
"Stealth mode. Report time and location," Rip ordered, still catching his breath.
"Stealth mode activated," Gideon confirmed. "Time: 1917. Location: waters off the coast of Themyscira."
The others groaned as they pushed themselves upright. Martin Stein retrieved his glasses from the floor and perched them on his nose. "1917… the year before the Great War ended? And—Themyscira?"
Heat Wave let out a low curse, rubbing his temple. "I hate time travel. I'd rather torch the guy and be done with it."
Straightening his coat, Rip Hunter explained, "Themyscira, also known as Paradise Island, is home to the Amazons—an entirely female warrior society."
"And that's supposed to be a bad thing?" Sara Lance said with a faint smirk, though her eyes never left Jack Kadere, sprawled motionless on the floor. She was ready for him to spring up at any second.
Rip's plan had been simple: remove Jack from the timeline temporarily, keep him away from Laurel, and prevent the events that would put the Birds of Prey in direct contact. Once the timeline stabilized, they could wipe his memory and return him to his proper place.
But Themyscira… was risky.
"They don't take kindly to outsiders," Rip admitted. "Especially men."
"Dangerous?" Stein asked.
"As long as he avoids being seen, no. We'll retrieve him the moment the anomaly is corrected," Rip replied after a moment's thought.
Captain Cold narrowed his eyes. "And dropping him here won't cause another time ripple?"
"Highly unlikely. The Amazons are formidable, but isolated," Rip assured him.
Sara stepped closer to Jack, crouching so they were eye level. She studied him in silence before speaking in a low, hard tone. "For you, none of this has happened yet. But in my timeline, Laurel loved you. You got bored, dumped her, and broke her heart. Part of me hopes you don't survive Paradise Island. But… you did save her life, even if it was because of a time anomaly. So find somewhere to hide. We'll be back for you."
Jack's mouth curved into a wry grin. "Sounds like me. So… I still beat Oliver Queen to her?"
Sara's expression turned dark. "She was with you first," she hissed. "And why do you think I ended up with Oliver? I wanted to outdo her—in bed—you arrogant jerk."