Broken Pasts [ On Going ]

2. The Mysterious Woman

If you were to ask the Legends to describe their Captain in one word you'll most likely get something along the lines of determined, stubborn, brave, mysterious, English.

And Rip Hunter was all these things, but one word that the Legends would never use was broken.

Yes, Captain Rip Hunter of the Waverider who looked like to most people this brave, determined, fearless man was really broken inside.

Ever since he lost the woman he loves and the child he adores he had been broken. But mixed with that sorrow was anger and deep hatred. Rip Hunter was determined to stop the man who killed his family, Vandal Savage. 

Rip had always had a desire to protect the ones he loves and would do anything to suggest, that's why he gathered the Legends.

So he could save those he loved and others from the wrath of Savage. He had always thought that Miranda and Jonas were gone forever, but little did he know he was going to revisit his past very soon. Although he wouldn't know it till much later.

The Legends spent their days working to slowly take down Vandal Savage and capture him before he rose to power, but it seemed like an impossible task, for they had not yet been able to accomplish the task.

In the seventies they had given away their element of surprise, in the fifties they had gotten distracted by bird monsters, and the eighties hadn't been much better, considering Mick, Stein, and Ray had all managed to get themselves captured.

Honestly, this team didn't do much aside from give Rip a major migraine. He was beginning to regret bringing them all along.

And right now the Legends somehow managed to get him to take him back to 2016 to visit their families, where Sara introduced Rip to her mother, Professor Dinah Lance.

Rip thought the woman looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where they would have met before.

It wouldn't be very likely, anyway. He was probably mistaken. Still, he found himself asking, "Do I know you?"

Dinah smirked, responding with, "Maybe, we have the same doctor."

Rip tilted his head, confused by the comment. But he didn't ask her about it. She probably thought he was someone else.

There was no way they could have possibly known each other, never mind seek the same medical help.

For one thing, he lived in London. For another, he was from the future.

Though perhaps it was possible that he had bumped into one of her ancestors.

Or maybe he just recognized her from the research he did when he was filling himself in on Sara's history.

Or perhaps Professor Lance had met his future self, time travel was like that at times.

She asked him a few more questions before Sara returned from the restroom, and Rip could have sworn she was integrating him.

He made sure to keep his answers vague. There was no need to tip her off about time travel or any of that. People could get rather...complicated once they'd discovered the truth about it.

But as they left, Rip couldn't help thinking there was something off about that woman. The way she spoke, the way she moved ever so carefully. As though, perhaps, she had a secret as well.

Rip decided not to tell Sara about it. At least not just yet. It could very well have simply been his imagination, in which case there was no need to trouble her about it.

But if there was something, then he needed to figure out just what it was before he said anything about it to anyone, especially Sara.

She would want answers, and at the moment he would not be able to get them. But how would he get them?

He needed to keep Dinah Lance close, but there was really no reason to bring her aboard the waverider. So, perhaps he could just watch her via Gideon and the time line.

Yes, that could work. So, when he got back on the ship, Rip made sure he got himself alone before giving the orders to Gideon.

"Gideon," he said, calling out into the empty room of the parlour.

"I'm here, Captain," Gideon said.

He nodded slowly. "You always are," he said quietly. He paused for a moment and then said, "I need you to keep an eye on Ms. Lance's mother for me. Let me know if you see anything suspicious."

"Of course, Captain." There was a pause. "May I ask why?"

Rip wasn't sure when the AI had become so sentient that she could question anything, but he didn't worry about it too much. "I just have this...feeling."

"Feeling, sir?"

"Yes. It's as if I know her. I can't really explain it." Rip shrugged. It sounded pathetic, hearing it said out loud.

"It's as if there's something there, but I can't quite...remember," Rip struggled.

"I see," Gideon said. If she could have sounded worried, Rip imagined she would have just then.

Sometimes he forgot she was just a computer. She was really the only one he was able to call a friend, at least she had been for as long as he could remember.