HUNTRESS.
010. | ❛ speak of the devil and he shall appear. ❜

"Pieces of the dagger have apparently broken off and are, as we speak, en route to her heart." Rip informed Sara, Leonard, Mick, Jax, and Crystal of Kendra's condition.

"Let Crystal do her witchy healing ritual to save Kendra." Leonard waves his hands in front of Crystal causing her to slap it away.

"Even though the witchy healing ritual is part of being a witch. The ritual is too complex and needs the approval of the Ancestors."

"Ancestors?" Jax asked

"Don't get me started." Crystal held a hand, already pissed that she can't do anything for Kendra.

"I can do a pain reduction spell but even that won't save Kendra completely." Crystal rubbed her temples trying to think of alternatives.

"Can't we just time jump into the future where they got the stuff that can fix her?" Jax asked.

"This ship is from that very same future and has, thus far, been unsuccessful in saving her." Rip dismissed the idea.

"Kendra wouldn't survive he time jump anyway. I pay attention." Leonard surprised Rip with his information.

"To sum up, Carter Hall is dead, he girlfriend's not too far behind, Vandal Savage is sitting pretty in 1975, which we're all stuck in. That how the plan supposed to work, Rip?" Mick emphasizing Rip's name.

"Obviously not, but the mission is simple. We stop Vandal Savage here in the past and we save the future."

"Simple don't mean easy, Captain."

"Oh, I never said it was. The benefit of being a Time Master is that the length and breadth of history gives one... perspective.I've seen darker days. I've seen men of steel die and dark knights fall, and even then I accomplished my mission no matter what."

"Gideon, what is our status?"

"When the Waverider was attacked by Chronos, the Jumpship was damaged. Unless you make repairs, we will be unable to..."

"Jumpship?" Jax cut off Gideon.

"It's a small expeditionary vessel at the belly of the Waverider... you're a mechanic!You have a look at it." Rip found the solution to the problem.

"Uh... auto mechanic. Uh... spaceship." They all looked at Jax before he finally gave in.

"Okay, if you've got a set of wrenches, I'll see what I can do."

"What about the rest of us? Do we just sit?"

"Capital idea, Mr. Rory. You're not nearly as thick as most people say." Rip said somewhat offending Mick.

"Thick... does that mean stupid?" Mick asked which Crystal just slightly nodded.
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Crystal found her way to the Jumpship and found Jax working on it inside.

"Knock, knock" Crystal boarded the jumpship.

"Hey, whatcha doing here?" Jax asked Crystal as she overlooked at what he was doing.

"I'm here to help. I'm a bit of a tomboy myself." Crystal smirked.

"Well, fortunately, there is an instruction manual." Jax informed her which caused her to make a big 'O' shaped with her mouth.

"Well then I'll just keep you company." Crystal smiled back at him.

"I'd rather have you as company than the criminals." Jax commented which made Crystal laugh but it ceased as the two criminals came on board.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Crystal bitterly said.

"I'm sorry, were you referencing yourself?" Leonard replied making Crystal just glare at him.

"Nice ride!" Leonard switched subjects.

"Yeah, it can hit a Mach 3 in a walk. Pretty cool."

"How'd you know so much about it?"

"Little thing called an instruction manual." Jax held up the tablet that had the instructions on fixing it.

"Did you read the part about how to fly this thing?" Leonard casually said

"Maybe... Why?"

"We're gonna take a little sojourn to Central City. There's a priceless jewel that needs to be freed from captivity."

"You want me to help you steal something? Nah, man. I'll pass."

"Not exactly asking, Jax."

"Wow. Carter is dead, Kendra is this close to joining him, and Vandal Savage is still alive and out there doing God knows what, and all you can think about is stealing some diamond?" Crystal asked him, her arms crossed across her chest.

"It's an emerald."

"Like that makes it so much better."

"Crystal's right, is there anything you think about other than yourself?"

"Yes. Money."

"No, we're not helping you guys steal anything." Crystal scoffed.

"You want to shoot me, then shoot me." Mick got up which caused Crystal to stand in front of Jax.

"Can I shoot him?" Mick asked with his gun.

"If you shoot, I'll be forced to return the favor." Crystal demanded.

"You got a pair on you, kid. I respect that."

"So no shooting..." Leonard shook his head at Mick which caused him to sit down.

"Look, you don't actually have to help us steal anything. We just need to get to Central City. We'll be there and back before anyone knows we're even gone." Leonard tried to persuade the two of them.

"Man, even if I wanted to help, and I'm not saying that I do, this thing's got a security lockout. We need an access key." Leonard immediately to show the access key to them.

"You can't tell me you don't wanna see what this baby can do." Jax and Crystal looked at each other before turning back to Leonard with small smile.
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"That's what I call a clean heist." Mick and Leonard came back from stealing their precious emerald.

"And thanks for not setting he museum on fire, partner. You for being our lookout, and you, thanks for being our getaway driver." Leonard thanked them.

"Speaking of, let's get the hell back to the ship."

"Oh, one more stop." Leonard put up one finger.

"What're you talking about, boss?" Mick surprised since he didn't know it was part of the plan.

"1629 Handley Avenue." Leonard gave the directions.

"What's on Handley Avenue?" Jax asked.

"It's where he grew up." Crystal answered getting closer to Leonard,"That's why you wanted o steal the Maximilian Emerald."

"Enough Princess." He yelled

"You wanted to give it to your old man so he wouldn't go to jail trying to steal it for himself." Crystal continued. Ever since she joined the team she's done research on the entire team, trying to figure out if any of them had any angles. She stumbled upon Leonard's back story and how his father went to prison and later so did he.

"Your father was a thief too?" Jax asked.

"And unfortunately, not a very good one."

"Didn't Rip say something about not messing with the timeline?"

"You could accidently blink yourself out of existence. You're screwing with history here"

"Yeah, well, history screwed with me first." He looked Crystal straight in the eyes before they took off.

The trio waited for Leonard to come out of his house. As they leaned against the car that was parked outside, the door opens and Leonard coming down the steps of his house.

"Looks like you didn't write yourself out of the timeline." Mick took note that Leonard was still amongst them.

"Looks like."

"But?" Crystal took a step forward.

"I don't know, I just thought maybe things would feel differently."

"The Englishman says it takes time for time to change."

"What were you trying to change?" Crystal, intrigued asked the criminal.

"My dad was never father of the year, but at least he never raised a hand to any of us."

"Until he went to prison, which now he won't."

"You do realize that if this works out the way you want it to, you won't be well... you. Your dad going to prison and all your life experiences is what made you Captain Cold. If you take that away you won't be the same person."

"Let's get out of here." Leonard dismissed Crystal's comment which made think if he really wanted to change for the better.

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"Let's party started!" Mick shouted as they all burst into the room where Vandal were keeping Sara, Rip, and Carter's body captive.

"Here's our invitation!" Leonard blasted his ice gun blowing away the guards.

Crystal took out her metal chain from the inside of her pocket. She swung it around to get some velocity, before throwing it to the guard closest to her. Her weapon wrapped tightly around his neck, and dragged him down the ground.

Crystal sprung into action, loading an arrow and shooting it towards the guards. She twisted around finding a guard moving toward her, she took him down easily. One of them snook up behind her, trying to get out of his grip, Crystal knocked him out with her elbow, and finishing him off with an arrow.

Two guards rapidly approached her, loading her string with arrows, flipping the bow sideways and lining it up and shooting. Another one came at her, faster than the other ones, but Crystal was much quicker to draw her daggers and with three stabs, the guard fell.

Crystal turned around to see Vandal slamming some blue thing into the ground, which caused everybody in the room to be throw back. Crystal fell on her side but something cushioned the fall, she scrambled to her knees to see that Leonard was beneath her.

"Comfortable, sweetheart." Leonard smirked at her which caused her to blush a little.

"As if," Crystal's blushed disappeared as quick as it came.

"Go! I'll deal with Savage." Rip ordered them.

"Good luck with that" Leonard helped Crystal to her feet and helping to get Carter's body out of there.
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Back on the Waverider, Leonard was standing and looking at a newspaper of the new change of events.

"Maybe you didn't understand me, I asked for the new timeline, Gideon."

"This is the new timeline. Two days from now, your father will be arrested trying to sell he Maximilian Emerald to an undercover police officer."

"Stupid son of a bitch." Leonard whispered under his breath.

Crystal got closer to what Leonard was looking at. It was pictures of his father being arrested but for a selling the emerald rather than stealing it.

"He'll be sentenced to five years in Iron Heights. Despite your intervention, his future remains unchanged."

Crystal placed her hand on his shoulder,"Hey, you tried to save him. That's got to count for something."

"Turns out it doesn't."

"Come on." Sara came into the room breaking up the moment between them.

"Where are we going now?"

"To say good-bye." Sara responded, causing Crystal and Leonard to follow.

Outside, everybody was gathered to say goodbye to their fallen friend. The trees were the beautiful autumn colors with leaves falling down.

"The other day, I tried to find some words of inspiration. Words that would restore hope to us in the wake of our losses, but it is all of you who have inspired me. Beginning with Professor Boardman and then with Carter, their heroism is... an inspiration to us all.And a reminder hat one person acting alone can't save the world."

Everybody bowed their heads and took off towards the ship again. Kendra was holding a bundle of flowers, and Crystal holding two roses.

Kendra set down her flowers, on Carter's gravestone.

"Kendra, I want you to have these," Crystal handed the roses to Kendra who looked at her, confused.

"I don't understand," Kendra looked up to Crystal.

"These roses are protected by magic. I casted a spell on them to never decay, much like your love for Carter."

"This is wonderful, thank you Crystal." Kendra gave her a hug which she reciprocated.

"I'll let you say goodbye." She patted her back as she headed back towards the ship.

"Gideon, ready us for take off." Rip came running into the ship.

"Whoa, are we being chased or something?" Jax asked

"No, but I imagine that right about now, the museum has realized that their prized emerald is missing." Crystal looked at Leonard who was responsible for stealing it.

"You want me to say I'm sorry?"

"Sorry, I don't do sorry." Mick gruff voice came threw.

"Which is fine, Mr. Rory, because you are owed the apology. I should have told you all before that this wasn't my first attempt to vanquish Vandal Savage, but the reason I failed before..."

"Was because you didn't have all of us." Ray cut him off before Stein continued.

"Obviously Dr. Palmer and I had our hands full ending to Ms. Saunders, but now that she's back on her feet... "

"We're back to full strength." Rip took into account.

"Or as strong as we can be without Carter." Kendra's somber tone reminded us.

"Quite true, but there is no point in us continuing any further. Unless we are all... and myself included, committed to working in concert."

"You don't ditch us, we won't ditch you. Deal?" Leonard made the proposal, which Rip simply nodded.

"Sir, I've completed my review of the timeline. I calculate a 98% likelihood that Savage reappears in 1986."

"Chart a course, Gideon."

Everybody say in their seats as Crystal took a seat next to Leonard, she gave him a genuine smile, due to the fact that he was risking so much just to change his father's and his future. He shot her a smile but Crystal couldn't figure out if he was faking it or being genuine.

"Guess we're headed to the '80s. Better break out your parachute pants." Ray joked as he took his seat next to Sara.

"What the hell are parachute pants?" Jax seemed confused at the mention of the popular fad in the 80's

Crystal secured herself in her chair as she answered Jax's question, "Trust me, you don't want to know."