Work Text:
I was finishing up a regular day at work when I got the call. It had been peaceful, but also just on the suspicious side of too peaceful, and I had had a nagging suspicion all throughout my shift that something important was going to happen by the end. The problem was, I wasn't sure what.
My suspicions of disaster were confirmed when I got a call from the Waverider on my personal phone. The fact that it was on my personal phone alone worried me. Sara's name would have come up if it were her calling, and the rest of the Legends knew that they were only to use it in the most pressing of situations.
"What happened?" I asked immediately. "Is Sara okay?"
"Sort of," the voice on the other side answered. It was Zari.
"What do you mean, "Sort of?'" I demanded.
"What I mean..." she trailed off. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain. Sara got a call from someone in Star City a few minutes ago. Whatever the person on the other side said really scared her, and she left immediately, without telling us anything.
"Naturally, we were all concerned, so we looked up important happenings in Star City around today's date and... well... It's a little hard to explain. Just... look up the news reports in Star City for tomorrow morning and you'll see what I mean. And..." She added as an afterthought. “Ava… there’s something really bad down the road that, if we let this happen now, we won’t be able to stop, no matter how hard we try.”
After that, she hung up without giving me a chance to reply.
I rushed over to my desk and pulled my laptop out of the bag sitting on the floor, waiting to be taken home.
A quick search using the Bureau modified search engines easily pulled up the results I was looking for, and I felt the color drain from my face as I read, horrified.
Mayor Quentin Lance Shot in Vigilante Fight… Dies Hours Later At Star City General
Former Mayor Oliver Queen Admits to Being the Vigilante Known as The Green Arrow… Is Arrested and Placed in Slabside Maximum Security Prison For His Crimes
I knew that deaths were fixed points in time, and nothing could be done to prevent them. There’s no way that that could have been what Zari was talking about. So if that was the case, then the only logical reason for whatever she had been referencing was that Oliver was the key to stopping this horrifying evil, whatever it was. And whatever he did wasn’t something that could be done while locked inside a maximum security prison.
Realizing that there was only one logical thing left to do, I confirmed that my badge was securely inside my blazer pocket and entered some simple commands into the courier at my wrist.
I arrived at Star City General moments before Quentin’s time of death was called. Yes; that’s a little morbid, I know, but if I wanted my plan to go completely to plan, the window for error was exceedingly small.
I ducked behind a corner just in time to watch Samanda Watson and some of her FBI agents make their way to apprehend Oliver, and Sara and Laurel follow them not long after.
I crept closer, being careful to not reveal myself to those in the hallway.
I pulled a compact makeup mirror out of my pocket and angled it so that I would be able to see around the corner and watch what was happening.
I watched as Dr. Schwartz appeared and told them of Quentin’s passing.
I watched as Sara looked at her with shocked disbelief in her eyes, and wished I could be there to comfort her. Unfortunately, that would have to come after.
As the group was processing what they had just heard, I snapped my mirror shut and rounded the corner.
I could tell that Sara had noticed me as soon as I came into view, so I immediately made a sort of “be quiet” motion in her direction. They others, thankfully, either had seen me enter but didn’t realize what my presence meant, or simply hadn’t noticed me at all. I didn’t really care, because neither of the responses interfered with my plan.
“Unfortunately, this doesn’t change our arrangement,” Agent Watson told Oliver softly.
He turned to the clearly distraught Sara and apologized for what had happened to her father, an action that I could not help but be thankful for.
“All of you please take care of each other,” he requested, before allowing himself to be led away by the agents.
They weren’t able to get very far, however, seeing as I had planted myself resolutely at the end of the hall.
“Move,” Agent Watson commanded as soon as I had silently made it clear that I had no intention whatsoever of getting out of her way.
“No,” I answered simply.
“You are obstructing the proceedings of a federal case, Ma’am,” she stated bluntly. “Move, or I will move you. If you continue to be uncooperative, I will have you arrested.”
“I’m afraid you will find that you do not have the power to do that,” I replied.
“And what makes you so sure of that?” Agent Watson asked, clearly surprised at my continued challenge of her authority.
“Director Ava Sharpe, International Time Bureau,” I informed her, pulling out my badge and presenting it to my audience.
“And what is this “Time Bureau” that you claim to be Director of?” she questioned further. “I am an extremely high ranking FBI Agent, and I have never, in all my years of service, heard of such an agency.”
“The Time Bureau was formed in 2012 by Rip Hunter,” I explained. “We are a highly covert government agency that deals in fixing anachronisms throughout time, and I have a feeling that the reason you have never heard of us is that since we deal heavily in time travel, it is imperative that the public never discover us. In fact, in order to maintain that level of secrecy, there is a very good chance that some or all of the memories you and your agents have of this exchange will be wiped once I have gotten what I want.”
“I’m going to ask you one more time,” Agent Watson said steadily, although I detected a hint of either fear or disbelief in her voice, as if she wasn’t quite sure if she believed me or not. “What makes you think that you have the right to give me orders? Or to wipe my mind, supposing that that’s even possible?! For the record, I don’t believe a word you’re saying, much less all these ramblings about time travel.”
“Well, seeing as I work directly with the President of the United States himself and could easily have your job terminated at any given moment, I’d hope that you’d start believing me soon,” I stated, calmly stepping towards her and drawing myself up to my full height. “Now, I do have a reason for being here, and I’d hope that I’m correct in assuming that you’d like to know what that reason is, is that true?”
“Assuming that I actually believe you, then yes, I’d like to know why you’ve seen it fit to interrupt a very important arrest.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that,” I smiled coldly. “Because I’m here to oversee the immediate release of one Oliver Queen, and to make sure that his and all of his friends’ connections to their vigilante activities and aliases remain unknown to the public in the process.”
The agent visibly blanched when she heard this, and fought to collect herself as she simultaneously hurried to compose an argument against my statement.
“But… You are aware that this man has murdered more people than can be counted in cold blood, and is in direct violation of his own Anti-Vigilante act, correct?”
“Yes, I am fully aware of all that,” I informed her. “However, I happen to know that sometime in the near future, there will be some sort of trouble that will, without a doubt, pose a very real threat to the world as we know it, and the man you are about to arrest is instrumental in its demise. I have run millions of simulations, and the only ones in which the outcome is in our favor are the ones in which Oliver Queen is present.
“So now, I demand that you release this man. I will not ask you again.”
“Huh,” Agent Watson said, and nodded for her men to uncuff Oliver. “You make an interesting argument. I suppose you can have him. For now. But you can rest assured that I will be back, not only for Oliver, but for you as well, “Director Sharpe”.”
She spat out my name, as if it left some disgusting taste in her mouth. I couldn’t seem to bring myself to care, though, as I watched her round the corner. I had won, and had secured the future in the process, at least for the time being.
As soon as the agent was out of sight, I dropped the “All-Powerful Director” guise I had put up and turned to those that remained.
“I’m sorry about all that,” I apologized, reaching my arms out to Sara, who instantly untangled herself from Felicity and melted into them. I threaded my fingers through her hair as I continued. “I know what I interrupted. Unfortunately, doing so was the only way to make sure that Oliver would be able to prevent whatever it is that’s coming.”
“So, that’s all well and good and all,” Rene started. “But if you really are some sort of high-ranking official in an organization that’s built on time travel, why would you take the time to just keep Oliver from going to jail when you could have kept Lance from dying too?”
I was about to answer when I felt Sara release the death grip she had been holding me in. I reluctantly pulled my fingers from her hair as she slowly turned around to level an icy stare at Rene.
“If you think that I would not be going back to save my Father right now if I could, then you would be sorely mistaken,” she announced. “I was devastated when I found out that Rip returned us to 2016 after defeating Vandal Savage two years ago, he had taken us five months after we had left. In that time, Damien Darhk had murdered my sister. It took all of his power, along with the help of some of the other Legends, to keep me from going back to save her.”
“The only reason I didn’t save Laurel, in the end, and will not be saving my own father now is that doing so could quite literally rip a hole in the fabric of time itself.”
“Sorry I asked,” he muttered softly, stepping back and slowly putting his hands up in defeat.
A palpable silence reigned in the aftermath of the grave revelation, until it was finally broken by Oliver.
“I’m not sure about the rest of you,” He said. “But think I’d prefer being any other place to here right now.”
“Agreed,” said Felicity. “I’d offer our place, but it’s practically on the other side of town and I have no idea how we’d all get there.”
“I might have something for that,” I told her, pulling up my sleeve in order to reach my Time Courier. “What’s the address?”
She told me what it was, the expression on her face growing increasingly confused as I entered it in, as well as a few other details.
Dumbfounded expressions replaced those of confusion when I opened a portal that led directly to the Queen’s living room.
“Oh, thank Beebo,” Sara muttered, shuffling through and throwing herself down on one of the couches, before promptly curling herself into a miserable little ball of sadness and closing her eyes in an effort to keep more tears from flowing freely.
“Uhm... how did you do that?” Curtis asked, his interest piqued.
“Time Courier,” I explained, holding up my wrist. “They’re standard issue to all agents at the Bureau. And no, you may not have one. The same goes for you too, Felicity.” I had been able to anticipate their questions solely based on their facial expressions, and wanted to shut them down before they decided to start begging. “Now come on, I don’t want anyone to see this who isn’t supposed to.”