Future Legends (Closed for Sinister Spiders)

[Dreamwalker85]

“Legends don't die, they live on forever. The people behind them, not so much. Unfortunately, people pass on too soon, others need to or want to walk away. Times forces things to change and evolve. That's what this is. That is why Mr. Jackson, and myself, have asked all of you to join our little...”

“Team, Rip? You meant team right?” someone in the group of four people spoke up.

“Not exactly,” Jackson spoke up. The fifty-something year old man looked over the group. His skin was the color of dark chocolate and he had working man's hands with bits of callouses, a couple of small scars from cuts and the like. It was clear he worked with his hands. By now he had a well-kept beard, his hair was kept short, tight. Sprinkles of white lingered in both set of hair. “It's...a litlte more complicated than that.”

Rip looked over the recruits. He looked twenty to forty years younger than Jackson. Yet, how he spoke and Jackson listened it was clear who the leader was. However, they had a rapport that told they were equals.

However, as the group stood there one person stood out. Well, they stood out to Mr. Jackson.

“Professor Stein, it's you!” Jackson moved in close.

Professor Stein moved back and just wondered how he got caught up in this mess.

36 Hours ago.

“Thank you, Professor,” athe student said cheerily as they left Professor Stein alone since he helped her with the ailing problem.

Shortly there after, one last visitor was there. A man in a long brown coat. Dirty blonde hair topped his head neatly with a nice bob to the left. A thing beard was on his face and he spoke with a British accent.

“Professor Stein. I don't know if you know me, but my name is Rip Hunter. I'm here with a proposal,” and from there Rip brought up the task at hand.

Present.

The night sky was over Star City. Professor Stein stood in the night air atop of one of the many buildings to the city. He looked mortified that Jackson was approaching. A one sided hug happened and suddenly there was a flash of light. A single entity stood where two once did.

“What's happening?!” the merged white-skinned entity called out. His body was clad in red and yellow suit with a metal harness stuck to the chest with four red lights. The voice sounded like two merged together.

Another flash of light and the two individuals were no longer one. Professor Stein and Jackson just stared at each other in disbelief.

Rip had stopped talking and merely waited for a time to explain, “Jackson. That's not a young Professor Martin Stein. That's Professor Alan Stein, Martin's grandson.”

Alan stood there in disbelief. They were speaking of his Grandfather that passed long long long ago. Alan's Mother, Lily, had nothing, but good things to say about Grandpa. Alan was always ready to listen. Sometimes the stories became a little repetitious. Somehow, these two men knew his grandfather well.

“Mr. Jackson. Times have changed. Firestorm has too. I know it will take some getting used to,” Rip patted Jackson's shoulder.

All Jackson could do was try to process what happened. Rip had found a suitable Firestorm candidate meaning that the containment unit didn't need to be worn all the time. It was Professor's Stein's Grandson, Professor Alan Stein. Also, when being Firestorm, Jackson was always the driver. The personality and individual who was pushed forward in the merger. Now, he was the one riding passenger.

“Well, you've all met Mr. Stein,” Rip stated firmly.

“Professor. I ummm. I'm a Professor,” Alan added. Sure, the college treated him like a part-time teacher, or Junior professor, but he still had a Master's and was a Doctoral candidate at age twenty-three.

“Right,” Rip agreed. “Professor Stein.” He paused just to allow people a moment. “What I'm asking you isn't easy. I will return you, when you feel you're done, right back to where and when I took you from. You would be a guardian of time to ensure everything you've ever known will continue to exist exactly as you remember it. For years the Legends have been the unknown Guardians. Sometimes members have been heroes, other times what society called a criminal, and other times just some folk that thought they were regular.”

Rip went after person after person waiting for their responses. Either they agreed, or they did not. If they did, then they were going to see something and go on some adventures. If not, they'd be returned back home.

((Alan: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/16/29/3b/16293b686d0fb71c540c590fdd5409ea.jpg ))

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Skylar 'Sky' Saunders fumbled through her bag for her keys. She tucked a stray lock of wavy brown hair behind her ears and shrugged her handbag up a bit higher on her shoulder.

"Aha!" She exclaimed, victorious, as she finally closed her probing fingers around the key ring. She opened the front door and slipped in, listening for voices in hopes of knowing whether she had to apologise for missing dinner or if she had just made it in time.

Instead of the inane chatter of dinner-time conversations, Skye heard her parents talking in the tone that they reserved from arguing. She froze, sneaking towards the dining room and trying to hear what they were saying a bit better.

"She's twenty-one!" Her mother's voice floated to her from the dining room.

"So? She's gone twenty one years without knowing. I think that just goes to show that she never needs to-"

"She has a right to know who her parents are!" Her mother interrupted, not even giving her father a chance to finish what he was going to say.

Sky almost turned away. She had heard this argument on and off for over a decade. It was her parent's go-to topic when they thought she wasn't listening. Her parents, Kendra and Scythian, had tried to make her upbringing normal. They had tried to make things- their lives- as normal as possible. Hell, it would have worked if they hadn't argued about it so much.

But Sky knew her parent's secret, she had seen the evidence of it herself when she had hacked into their computer. When she had rifled through the trunk they kept in the back of their wardrobe.

Her parents, the ordinary-seeming nurse and security officer, were actually heroes. Hawkman and Hawkgirl, they had once been known as. And, from what Sky could gather, they were kindred souls that had be reincarnated time and time again, from ancient days, until they were able to vanquish the cretin who had sought to tear them apart. Now, finally, at peace, they wanted to live 'ordinary' lives. At first, Sky hadn't believed it, but she had found bits and pieces of evidence, of their time on a ship called the Waverider... And, well, she'd also seen their covers slip. like the time that they were walking through the city and a car skidded off the road and right at Sky. There was a flash of brilliant pearly light and a pair of feathered wings sprung from her mother's back as she leaped in front of her, pushing Sky clear of the path of the careening car. The wings had gone as quickly as they appeared, but she had seen them, no matter how many times her mother told her it was a hallucination due to shock.

Sky carefully put her keys back in her bag, not wanting to make a sound that would alert her parents to her presence. Best to let them finish their argument-

"But it isn't right! She needs to know-"

"Why?" Her father asked, the sound of something slamming on their stone bench echoed through the hall.

"Scythian," Her mother's voice softer now, "She loves you. She sees you as her father. She always will."

Sky froze, her entire body suddenly leeched of colour.

That was new.

"I can't-" Scythian stopped, his voice breaking. "I don't want to lose her, not to him. Not like I lost you."

"You never lost me!" Her mother said, "And you won't lose Skylar either. You are her father, genetics be damned."

Skylar felt faint. She reached out for the nearest things, her hand closing on the edge of the hall table, but knocking off a vase in the process. It clattered to the ground, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. She gasped, looking up as her parents ran into the hall.

"Sky?" Her mother asked, looking just as shocked as Sky felt. She reached out, but Sky backed away. Her father look extremely concerned.

"How much did you hear?" He asked, cutting straight to the heart of the issue as always.

No, no, no! Sky couldn't believe it. Surely it wasn't real. But the way her parents were looking at her now- the terror in her father's eyes. In Scythian's eyes....

"Wh.... Who is it? Who is my father?" Skylar demanded assertively, despite the way her voice trembled.

"Ra-"

"Kendra!"

Kendra and Scythian looked at each other, fire in bot pairs of eyes.

"She has to know!" Kendra said, voice halfway between a plea and a command.

"Please," Scythian return, the burn in his eyes softening, turning into something more desperate now.

"This has gone on too long!" Kendra argued, clearly fed up. "Not only does Skylar deserve to know, but so does Ray!"

Sky gasped, shocked at the way that the revelation had come about. Her mind whirred, trying to recall any Ray that her parents had mentioned. There was only one. Only one Ray who her mother had mentioned. Come to think of it, her mother had only mentioned him when her father was not around.

Skylar shoved her hand in her bag, fumbling for her keys once more as she started to back away.

"Sky? Honey, please-" Kendra said, reaching one pleading hand out for her.

Skylar didn't give her parents another chance to stop her. She turned and ran. She needed to move, she needed to get some air, she needed to go somewhere that wasn't here.

"SKYLAR!" Her father called out after her. Or... was he?

The events of night crashed down upon her, they raced through Sky's mind and clouded her vision until she couldn't see straight. She couldn't think straight. She ran straight onto the road, trying to cross it to get her car as soon as possible.

She didn't see the other vehicle until it was too late.

"SKYLAR!" Her mother's voice echoed, joining the sound of screeching tires and a screaming horn.

There was a brilliant flash of pearly light as Sky turned, trying to jump off the road. A pair of large, graceful feathered wings sprouted and a moment later she was in the air above the car. Floating. Hovering.

Flying.

Skylar's heart was still racing in her chest as she gasped and turned, looking over her shoulder to see that the wings were her own. There was a slamming door, as the panic-stricken driver got out of the car, gawking up at her as she hovered above his vehicle.


"Skylar! Come back!" Her mother called across the darkness.

Instead Skylar gave an instinctive flap of her new wings, the movement sending her higher. Her mother looked as though she would run to her, but her father- Scythian, put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at Sky.

Without further confirmation, Skye took to the night.

~*~

Straight after her first terrible landing, they found her.

Rip Hunter.

The Rip Hunter from her parent's computer files. Complete with his British accent and brown leather coat. He made Sky the same offer he had made her mother, even though she had no idea what her new 'powers' were, nor how she could control them. If she could control them. And, being in such a fragile emotional state, of course she had made the stupid decision to go with him.

That was how, several hours later, Skylar was standing aboard the Waverider, as Rip Hunter and an aged version of the Jackson from her parent's past, standing before her. They were talking to her, to the other members of their newly formed 'team'. Hell, after the day she'd had, Sky didn't even flinch when Jackson and a young Professor Stein merged into Firestorm. And Firestorm was more impressive than she had ever imagined.

"So, what do you say?" Rip asked, clapping his hands together and moving from Stein to Skylar. "Ready for an adventure?"

Sky looked over, her eyes darting to the handsome young man on the other side of the group. Professor Stein. Sky's eyebrows furrowed. He couldn't be more than twenty five! Sky shook her head, it wasn't relevant. What was relevant was the fact that Rip Hunter was asking her to join his team. To be a Legend.

Even though Skylar didn't feel like a hero. Even though she had no idea if her wings would ever come out again.

"Sign me up," Skylar said, the words tumbling from her lips before she could stop them. She stood a little straighter, squaring her shoulders and making her long navy dress flutter with the movement.

 

[Dreamwalker85]

Alan didn't say anything before boarding the Waverider. Apparently, actions spoke louder than words from this one. In reality, he already gave his answer hours ago. He was just being a man of his word.

37 Hours Ago.

“You're saying if I join your crew, Mister Hunter, that I will heal your sick crew member? I don't know if I can. I'm not even an official, nor sanctioned, Doctor. What I would be doing would be unethical,” Alan protested a bit without raising his voice much.

Rip paused for a moment, “Alan-,” he started to say.

“Professor Stein,” Alan corrected.

“Professor Stein,” Rip corrected while breathing out and trying to control himself. “I can't say what I know, but trust me when I say you're the only suitable Doctor for the job.”

Alan gave rip a skeptical look, “How do you know? There must be thousands upon thousands of more qualifying men and women. More deserving ones, too, I might add.”

Rip breathed out, “Just trust me, Professor Stein. I've scoured every alleyway I could. It's you or watching my friend die.”

Something about how Rip spoke. The gravity of those words that made Alan believe what he was hearing. “I'll do it.”

Present.

Alan was one of the first ahead, but he did look back to the others. He noticed the woman in the blue dress. A small nod with a slight smile, albeit an awkward smile, came as a greeting instead of a wave.

Rip and Jackson followed behind the crew to make sure all were present. Rooms were pointed out, first it was the medical bay, which Alan made his way inside.

“I'll be here,” he said curtly and looked at the others. Everyone could see inside, see the readouts that gave a full body scan that included bones, muscle, nerve, tissue and all other things that needed to be tracked in case an injury, infection or sickness came. With Alan standing in the doorway, it was hard to see the rest of the room.

Jackson spoke up, “We gotta show you crew quart-,” and he was cut off.

The medwing door closed. All Jackson could do was stare. He looked back at Rip.

“We'll just assign him a room,” Rip said and continued on the tour as if nothing happened. The rest of the crew were shown all of the rooms that included the Fabrication Room, the bridge, the Captain's Quarters (Which could have been confused for a library), the Engine room, the galley, and finally their quarters. While each person picked one, there was an empty room next to Skye's.

“Familiarize yourself with the rooms, we jump in five,” Rip started to walk with Jackson toward the bridge and engine room respectively.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Sky's eyebrow quirked up slightly when Alan shut himself in the med bay. There was tension in Rip and Jackson's shoulders, but they quickly moved on as if nothing had happened. Sky pushed it out of her mind and tried to pay attention as she was shown around the ship.

In all the overheard conversations, Sky had never imagined the Waverider quite like this. Parts of it were definitely science-fiction-like, the bridge and the fabrication room in particular, but the Captain's Quarters and the crew rooms were much less clinical, some of them could even be called homey with a bit of work. Sky didn't know how she could pick a good room without getting a better idea of the ship in transit and such, but when she opened the door to one of the rooms, there was something about it that called to her. Rip and Jackson just smirked as she walked in.

Whoever had this room last had left a few belongings here, a couple of hefty looking engineering books, and a cute little porcelain knick knack. Sky reached out, picking up the little ornamental basket that held two kittens and smiled, it looked like something from those old 1950's movies. She turned it about in her palm and put it back on the shelf before pulling down one of the books. She had no interest in formal engineering, but as she flipped through the pages of the text she realised that the previous occupant certainly did. There were notes penned all over the pages, some pages had no space left on them at all. She flipped to the inside of the front cover and gasped when she saw the name there.

Ray Palmer

Well, at least Sky now knew why Jackson and Rip were smirking. But now the real question was; did they know who her real father was? Or were they merely amused because they knew of the relationship between her mother and Ray Palmer?

Sky didn't really have time to think on it. Rip Hunter's voice floated into her room, requesting that all crew members make their way to the bridge and strap in for their first jump. Sky put the book back in place and took a final look around her 'room' before heading back to the bridge. She took a wrong turn on the way there, but managed to correct herself. When she got to the bridge the other new team members, Aidyn and Leah, were already strapped into their seat, leaving two spare spots on the end of the semi-circle. Sky gave the others a polite smile as she settled in the one next to Leah, and looked at the last spot beside her, wondering whether Alan- Professor Stein- would be joining them.

 

[Dreamwalker85]

Now. The Waverider.

Everyone was called to the bridge. Even Alan heeded the call and strapped himself in a chair on the far left side. A nod of greeting went to those looking at him. If Sky looked, he'd give a soft smile that appeared and disappeared in a quick moment that was barely noticeable unless someone was looking directly.

Jumping through time pushed everyone forward. Each person was pressed to their chair, like any aircraft or fast ride. When it stopped people felt a variety of temporary side-effects. Blindness, nausea and disorientation were among the most common.

Alan cried out, “I CAN'T SEE!” apparently someone got comfortable with the blindness reaction.

In a calm voice Rip spoke, “You will all feel side-effects. Blindness, dicomfort, dizziness are all common. They'll pass in a few minutes.” He and Jackson waited for the newcomers to orient themselves just right.

Once people seemed to be well-enough, Rip moved down the ship. “All will take part in this mission. Jackson will lead Alan and Sky. I will be with the rest. My team will be feeding the recon team intelligence from the outside.:

Before stepping out of the Wave Rider, Rip looked at the group assembled. “I want three sets of eyes on the inside. Something valuable goes missing from this point in time. Who takes it, we don't know. All we know is that it comes from Palmer Technologies. There are events that get set into motion from this moment. Avoid looking into your own futures, one shouldn't know. That's one thing the movies got right,” he explained. “Before we go, you need to look the part.”

Rip dressed in what he usually wore for this period. Others had to pick their own attire that matched the timeframe. All anyone could glean from the looks that it was either in the not-too-distant future, or they were going to be in some pious setting.

When everyone was ready the gangplank opened to their first stop.


2148. Kasnia Conglomerate.

The world didn't change. People were still wearing wool suits that lacked a means to show off a tie. Compared to the world that was, and the world that is, not much had changed to those that had been here one year before. Everything was a world of white, the kind of world that people would have considered to be a future utopia with bright business buildings. They could see simple signs were now replaced with three-dimension signs that moved with limited video. All of it was a pretty nice sight.

Someone tried taking a purse. A moment later they were flanked by two people flying in the air. Both were wearing what looked like modified suits of The Atom. Some aspects had change, but enough remained to show their roots. One shot at the purse thief and they stumbled after getting hit. The pair of armored men landed on both sides of the guy. Leaning down, one officer lightly smacked the man. The other began to speak of Miranda rights as soon as the purse thief became somewhat lucid.

From there the thief was cuffed, and the purse returned to the victim by one of the arresting officers. During the Miranda Rights reading they declared themselves to be officers of the Kasnia Conglomerate's police force or something close to it.

The thief was taken away without much fanfare. Apparently, flying men and women in robotic exosuits was a norm in this country and time. People were coming and going to work. Outside of the one outburst everything was relatively tame.

Moving down the streets the group of three would come upon a building named, “Palmer Technologies Historical Museum and Offices.” Palmer Tech had a public side that was there for all to see. A Dr. Price waited to greet people. She was a woman that had reddish blonde hair, her attire was a combination of whites and light greys.

“Welcome to Palmer Technologies, I'm Dr. Price,” she greeted everyone with a smile. To those waiting on the tour, Rip would chime in their ears, via the communicator, “Go on the tour. It keeps you close to the scene.” He knew Jackson, Dr. Stein and would be there.

Dr. Price started the tour, “Here today we'll look upon the work of my Great Great Great Great Uncle, Dr. Raymond Palmer. How his company didn't begin to truly take off until 2031 after a joint venture with then disgraced engineer, Dr. Felicity Smoak.” Guiding the group down they could see monitors that showed footage of a Dr. Ray Palmer in his fifties. His thick brown hair had salt along the sides. Felicity looked tired, like she didn't want to be in the light of the press. Still, she waved alongside him.

The beginning leg of the tour those on it could see some officers slip into the offices. Each member had to go through a security checkpoint. Four flew in and landed to walk toward the checkpoint. One was looking at the plating on his hand, “Something's wrong with the suit. I need to go to engineering,” the scanners concluded something was wrong, and flagged him down with a green light as if it granted him permission to go.

All was going normal.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Sky had wanted to time travel in the Waverider ever since she heard her parent's whispered conversations as a child. Though it was safe to say that the fantasy was much, much, better than reality.

As soon as Rip hit the throttle Sky was hit with an overwhelming sense of nausea. Judging by the way someone screamed "I CAN'T SEE!" she guessed that she wasn't the only one having trouble with the time jump.

Rip's calm voice did little to allay the feeling of dizziness that swirled Sky's vision when she opened her eyes, but she clutched at the arms of her seat and waited a minute for it to pass. She made an effort to avoid eye contact with the others, not wanting them to see just how green she had turned.

Sky was suprised to learn that she, Alan and Jackson would be the ones going out on the mission. They were suited up in what was, apparently, the fashion of the day and given some communication devices before being sent out.

"I... I don't know how to control my powers. If I have powers. That could've been a fluke-" Sky rambled quietly to Jackson as he checked that her comms device was switched on. He gave her a friendly smile and an unconcerned shrug.

"Your mother didn't either when she first came to us. Give yourself time, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Besides, if you're anything like your father you wont need powers to be a Legend."

Jackson walked down the gangplank before Sky could ask him for more information about that.

The future, as it would so happen, was every bit like the movies Sky had watched. There were officers in what looked like Atom suits zooming about, and everything was white, glass and wonderfully crisp. The three-dimensional signs caught Sky's interest, and there were a couple of times where she almost ran into people because she was unable to tear her eyes away from the advertisements.

Then, Sky realised where they were going. Palmer Technologies. It was a soaring office building with a museum attached, and probably some laboratories as well. The Palmer Tech tour guide was friendly, and when they slipped onto the end of the tour queue the woman announced that Ray Palmer was her Great great something great uncle. Sky almost stopped in her tracks; shit- that meant she was related tot his woman! Then the fact that they were in the future caught up with here- somewhere, there would be something about her. Maybe a geneology chart, perhaps historical records, because she would certainly be dead by now. Maybe even some of her descendants. Sky leant casually against a pillar as Dr. Price explained about some security feature or something, needing the support when the ramifications of 'when' they were caught up with her. She marvelled at the fact that her parents had managed it all.

After a few moments the tour was off again and Sky had enough wherewithal to take a deep breath and move on, pushing down her curiosity and focusing on the task ahead. Though, her eyes dragged over the picture of Felicity Smoak.... Was that the woman that Ray Palmer- her father- was with now? What had happened between him and her mother? Was it just a fling? Or was there more to it....

After the officer with the broken suit was waved through the checkpoint the tour group was too. Sky found that it was all as simple as walking through some scanners (not unlike the ones at the airport in her own time), without further need for frisks or other invasive searches. She walked over to Alan and waited as Jackson came through the check.

"How amazing is this?" She whispered to Alan, her brown eyes connecting with his. She hadn't noticed it before, but they were a lovely colour.