3rd Person POV

"Brooke." Jax whispers, shaking her awake

Brooklyn turns over in Jax's bed

"What?" She asks

"Sara wants us." Jax says

Brooklyn nods, getting up

***

Now changed into leggings and her jacket, and having just put her journal in her hiding spot in her room, Brooklyn and Jax make their way to the parlor

Mick joins the group

"Hey. What's going on?" Jax asks as they walk into the parlor

"We intercepted a distress call from one of Rip's Time Bureau agents." Sara says

"Why?" Mick asks. "Actually, forget it. I don't care."

"It's the dweeby one, Gary." Sara says

"Still don't care." Mick says

"Yeah, I gotta go with Mick on this one." Jax says. "Why would we help those ass clowns? I mean, that's not our job."

"Hopefully that little time dweeb learns his lesson." Mick says

"Agreed, but last time I checked, we help people who are in trouble." Sara says

"I don't." Mick says

***

Sara, Ray, Mick, Brooklyn, and Jax creep around the corner

They're out on the streets of 2042

"Something feels off about this place." Jax says

"Yeah." Ray says. "Like, where is everybody?"

"Martial law. It's a police state." Mick says

"How do you know?" Jax asks

"I can smell pigs." Mick says

"He's right." Sara says. "All the cars on the street are military."

A car starts coming

"More pigs! Get down! Get down!" Mick says

They hide

Brooklyn pulls her hood up

"That's A.R.G.U.S. covert paramilitary organization." Ray says

"Yeah, but it seems they've forgotten how to be covert." Jax says

"The signal we intercepted came from over there." Ray says, following the device. "Should be here somewhere. Gary! Gary!"

Gary pops up from his hiding spot

"Gary!" Ray says

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no." Gary says, walking out of his spot. "She's gonna kill me."

"The chick from your distress call?" Jax asks

"Agent Sharpe." Gary says. "She hates you guys."

"Well, feeling's mutual." Sara says

"Look, you said there was a female meta killing everyone." Ray says. "What's going on?"

"No, this is classified Time Bureau business." Gary says

"Open your mouth and say some words." Mick growls, walking up to Gary

"Guess you're gonna have to decide who you're more afraid of, Agent Sharpe or Mick here." Sara says

"Uh... the Bureau got a ping on some unregulated time travel." Gary says. "But when I got here, the person I was supposed to arrest..."

"Was a meta-human who had no problem murdering people?" Sara says

"Her powers let her control water." Gary says

"A human squirt gun." Mick says. "Big deal."

"No, you guys really have no idea how dangerous this woman is." Gary says

***

They're watching the surveillance video from the car

The metahuman kills the two drivers

"Dweeb's right." Mick says. "That chick's dangerous. She just blew through those pigs like it was nothing."

"Actually, I fought someone with water powers like this a few years ago." Ray says. "It was not very pleasant."

"Well, why would a time-traveling meta-human come to 2042 to kill a bunch of A.R.G.U.S. agents?" Jax asks

"She didn't." Sara says, pulling up the part of the video where the meta is looking in the back of the truck. "She came here to kill their prisoner."

"Well, it looks like she struck out." Jax says

"Something tells me our assassin doesn't give up so easily." Sara says

"You got a plan, Captain?" Ray asks

"Why?" Mick asks. "We saved Four-eyes. Mission accomplished."

"And Four-Eyes' mission was to prevent the anachronism." Gary says

"You mean stop the water witch before she kills whoever was in the back of that truck?" Jax says

"Gideon, scan A.R.G.US.' logs." Sara says. "See if you can ID the prisoner."

"I can do better than that, Captain. I can project the prisoner's most likely destination." Gideon announces

"Even better." Sara says

***

Nate, Sara, Mick, Ray, and Brooklyn walk into a warehouse

"Zari Tomaz?" Sara asks

"Come with us if you want to live." Nate says

"Yeah, I used that one once." Ray says

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Yeah, I don't know who you are or what you're doing, but you're gonna lead A.R.G.U.S. right here." Zari says

"No, don't worry. We can protect you." Ray says

"Who's gonna protect you?" Zari asks

"This is A.R.G.U.S." A drone says. "Sara Lance, Nathaniel Heywood, Raymond Palmer, and Mick Rory, you are listed in the Meta-human Registry as missing. You are hereby under arrest for violating the Anti-Meta-human Act."

"Anti-Meta-human?" Nate asks

"Yeah, meta-humans have been illegal since 2021." Zari says. "Didn't you guys get the memo?" Brooklyn watches as Zari types a few things on her device. "Well, nice to meet you. I'm out."

Zari pushes past the group
"Wait, your life is still in danger!" Ray says

He tries to step forward but a laser shoots at his feet

"Remain where you are." The drone says

"Ditto. Bye." Zari says, leaving

"Sara." Brooklyn whispers

"Go." Sara whispers

Brooklyn takes a step forward

The drone does nothing

She turns around to her crew

Sara nods

Brooklyn takes off, following after Zari

Brooklyn followed Zari all the way to a bar

"Of course." Brooklyn mutters, pressing her back up against the wall of another building, watching Zari walk into the bar. "It just had to be a bar."

"Sara?" Brooklyn asks

No answer

"Sara?" Brooklyn asks again, putting a hand up to her comms

Static

"Damn it." Brooklyn mutters

She stands outside the bar, thinking of a plan

***

"Hey, how you feeling?" Sara asks Amaya, catching up to her in the hallway

"Like I just understood what you meant by the term mansplaining." Amaya says. "I take it from Nathaniel's premature return, you didn't have much luck with Ms. Tomaz."

They arrive on the bridge

"Well, that was interesting." Ray says, walking in with Jax. "Turns out Zari's a bit of a... not very nice person."

"Apparently it's illegal to be a meta-human in 2042." Sara says

"You know what I don't get?" Ray asks. "A.R.G.U.S. In 2016, they weren't--"

"Idiots." Mick says, walking in

"Well, I was gonna say they weren't trying to control the city with killer drones, but..." Ray says

"Any authoritarian organization always goes bad. Always." Sara says

"Which means it's only a matter of time before Rip and his Time Bureau turn into the Time Gestapo." Jax says, looking at Gary

"In case you've forgotten, the Time Bureau only exists to clean up your time mess." Gary says. "Which now includes an at-large time assassin and a fugitive hacker!"

"Is that your way of thanking us for rescuing you?" Sara asks. "Gideon, do we have a location on Zari yet?"

"Negative, Captain." Gideon says. "I'm afraid Ms. Tomaz has stepped up her efforts to remain undetected."

"Damn, I can see why. Look at this rap sheet." Jax says, looking at the file. "Burglary, larceny, grand larceny, identity theft, trespassing, digital trespassing, meta-human smuggling, conspiracy-"

"Impressive." Mick says

"Multiple religious infractions." Jax reads

"What do you mean?" Amaya asks

"Zari's Muslim." Jax says. "And apparently religion is illegal in 2042."

"We have to find her." Sara says. "Gideon, has Brooklyn checked in yet?"

"Negative, Captain." Gideon says

"Where's Brooke?" Jax asks

"She went after Zari." Sara says

"I thought you guys were stuck there." Jax says

"We were because a drone identified us." Sara explains. "Brooke's not a citizen, in any time, she's a ghost. She has no records to be identified through."

"Gideon, where is she?" Nate asks

"I'm afraid I do not know." Gideon says

"She's following Zari." Sara says. "We find Zari, we find Brooke. Rory, if you had this much heat on you, where would you go?"

***

Sara, Mick, and Jax walk towards the bar

"Finally." Brooklyn says, coming out of her hiding spot

"Brooke." Jax says, relieved

They hug

"What happened?" Sara asks

"I don't know." Brooklyn says. "My comms weren't working. Zari went in the bar, I stayed out here."

They walk in

"My bar." Mick growls, looking around. "What have they done to my bar?"

Ray walks over with an eye patch, backwards hat, and a fake beard

"Too much, Ray, too much." Sara says

"What?" Ray says. "I look like I just robbed a bank."

"Or a costume store." Jax says

They look around the place

"There she is." Mick points to Zari at the bar

Mick walks over and sits next to her

"You run, scream, or sic one of those drones on us, I'll light you up." Mick tells her. "You got that, missy?"

"Are you guys stalking me?" Zari asks

"Not me, but for some reason, my boss has a bee in her bonnet about protecting you from that, uh, water bitch." Mick says. "Not you, sweetheart." He tells the bartender who gives him a beer

"Yeah, I can take care of myself." Zari says

"Is that right?" Mick asks. "That why you're in this bar? Looking to hire muscle?"

"Look, you can trust us, okay?" Ray says. "We're the good guys. Oh, don't be fooled by our disguises. Good guy!"

Zari looks past the group

"It's her." Zari breathes

"Let's get out of here." Mick says. "Come on."

Zari gets up, grabbing her bag and the group starts walking

The meta materializes in front of the group through water

"Oh, a pool party." Mick says

"Cute tricks." Sara says from behind the meta. She breaks a pole in half and starts fighting the meta. "Get her to the ship!"

"You guys have a ship?" Zari asks. "Is it a big ship?"

Jax and Ray leave with Zari

Sara continues to fight the meta

Brooklyn joins in

Brooklyn gets kicked to the ground

Sara is thrown back and is tossed over the bar

"How about a diversion, Rory?" Sara asks, getting up

Mick breaks a bottle over someone's hand

"Who wants to fight?" Mick yells

The bar erupts with chaos

"Go!" Sara yells, pulling Brooklyn off the ground and pushing Mick out of the area

***

"Okay, this is... almost amazing." Zari says, looking around the bridge

"What do you mean, almost?" Jax asks

"Don't worry. You'll be safe here." Ray says

"Who's the woman that's after you?" Sara asks

"No idea." Zari says

"Any idea of why someone would want to kill you?" Sara asks

"Yeah, I can think of quite a few, actually." Zari says

"Look, if we're gonna help you, you need to start being more straightforward." Jax says

"What is she doing here?" Gary asks, running in

"Uh, water woman was trying to kill her, so we're, um, protecting her." Ray says

Gary runs to block Zari's view

"No, this is technology you are not allowed to see." Gary says. "Civilians are not allowed to know about time travel."

"Wait, you guys are time travelers?" Zari asks

"Nice one, Gary." Sara says

"Okay, that's on me." Gary says. "Uh, b-but still, our job is to prevent the anachronism, which means capturing the assassin, not the target."

"I can't believe...You guys are time-traveling superheroes?" Zari asks

"Yeah, we've actually saved the world twice." Ray says. "Not that we're counting."

"Really?" Zari asks. "You saved the world."

"Twice!" Ray says

"Then why does it still suck?" Zari asks

"Uh, just for the record, dealing with that messed-up police state of yours, that's on our to-do list, so..." Jax says

"But after we capture the person trying to kill you." Ray says

"And we need your help to do it." Sara says

"Oh, I get it. Since you have no way of tracking this water psycho, you plan to use me as bait, right?" Zari says

"Right." Mick says

"Okay, I'll help you, on one condition." Zari says. "You help me break my brother out of the A.R.G.U.S. facility where they're holding him."

"Prison break. I'm in." Mick says

"No, no. No, no, no, no, no, they're not helping you, because they're still helping me." Gary says. "Guys, this mission has gone way off the rails as it is. Zari's brother is not the priority."

"If you really want my help, then that's my price." Zari says

"Guess we're breaking into an A.R.G.U.S. prison." Sara says

***

Sara, Jax, Brooklyn, Zari, Mick, and Ray creep through the halls in uniforms

Two guards pass by

Mick points his fire gun

"Rory, don't." Sara says

"Just a little." Mick growls

"Maybe later." Sara says. She turns to Zari. "Which way?"

"My brother's in the east wing annex." Zari says

"The blueprints Gideon downloaded said the control panel's this way." Ray says

"You guys open the cell." Sara says to Jax, Brooklyn, and Ray. "Let's go talk to your brother."

The group splits up

The three walk into the room and Brooklyn immediately punches out the guard

"You guys got a location on the other security console?" Sara asks

"Yep, all clear." Jax says

"All right, which cell do we need to open?" Ray asks

"It's room 4587." Sara says

Brooklyn and Ray start typing on the computers

Jax looks at the screen

"Wait a minute." Jax whispers. "You mean everybody locked up in here is a meta?"

Brooklyn and Ray turn around

"Yeah. Looks like A.R.G.U.S. is conducting experiments on them." Ray says

"Guys, open the cell now." Sara says

"I can do a lot better than that." Jax says

He starts typing

"What are you doing?" Ray asks

"What does it look like?" Jax says

Jax opens all the cells

An alarm blares as the three watch people run out of their cells

"Come on." Jax says

They run out to meet up with the group

"I thought you were just gonna open her brother's cell." Sara says

"You didn't see what we saw on the monitors." Jax says. "A.RG.U.S. is experimenting on these prisoners."

"Hey, where's Zari?" Ray asks

Sara looks around

Zari is nowhere

They run through the halls and find Zari

She no longer has her uniform on and her bag is over her shoulder

A red necklace is around her neck

"What the hell is going on?" Sara asks

"I thought this was just about grabbing your brother." Ray says

"Yeah, about that...sorry." Zari says

"Sorry for what?" Ray asks

"There is no brother." Brooklyn says

"There is no prison break." Mick says. "It's a heist."

"You used us." Sara says. "We bent over backwards to help you!"

"As lies go, this was a pretty white one." Zari says. "This used to be my brother's. Now it's mine."

Zari touches her necklace and it glows brightly

Zari runs

A bunch of prisoners start running through the halls

The group makes their way through the halls

"Where's Zari?" Sara asks

They come face to face with guards

"Oh, man!" Ray says

"Knock yourself out." Sara tells Mick

"Bout time." Mick says, shooting fire at the guards

"Uh, Nate, buddy? We need you to bring the Waverider to us now." Ray says through the comms

"Yeah, I can, um... I can do that." Nate says through the comms.

They run out of the building

"That's enough, Zari!" Sara yells

Zari stops

"You're not going anywhere without us." Sara says

"Is that right?" Zari asks

A wind vortex pulls her into the sky

"That's a cool getaway." Mick says

"Don't worry. I'll follow her." Ray says

Ray flies up

"Where's Pretty?" Mick asks

"Nate, how are we doing with that rescue?" Sara asks

"I'm givin' her all she's got, Cap'n! The ship can't take much more of this!" Nate yells

"Actually, Dr. Heywood, the engines are still idling." Gideon says

"Then why does it feel like my face is peeling off?" Nate asks

"Yo, are you high or something, man?" Jax asks

"You have no idea." Nate says

"Gideon, take command of the ship." Jax orders. "I'll arrange a rendezvous point."

Prisoners start running out of the building

"Let's get out of here." Mick says

***

"Where's Stein anyway?" Jax asks as they board the ship

"I believe he's checking on Ms. Giwe." Gideon says. "She seems to be experiencing a, well, unusual side effect. And as for Mr. Heywood, he's in--"

"We got bigger fish to fry." Sara says. "Ray, you have eyes on Zari?"

"Yep, I'm on her tail...not literally." Ray says. "I'm following her posterior from a respectable distance."

"I can't believe she played us like that." Jax says. "The whole sob story about her brother, just an excuse to get her hands on some magical necklace."

"When we find that chick, I am gonna kill her." Sara says

"I like her." Mick says

"Uh, when you say kill her, what you really mean is--" Gary says

"Kill her." Sara says. "And slowly."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, we have to restore the timeline, which means getting Ms. Tomaz back to the A.RG.U.S. black site where she belongs and tracking down your time assassin." Gary says. "Oh, and cleaning up the prison debacle!"

"Don't worry, Gary. We got this." Sara says

"Jeez Louise, this disaster keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger." Gary says

***

"What are you doing?" Jax asks as him and Brooklyn walk into the parlor and see Sara staring at the screen

"Well, I hate to say it, but Gary's right." Sara says. "We gotta put Zari back in the bottle."

"Look, she's not exactly my favorite person either right now." Jax says. "But you didn't see how it was back there. The way A.R.G.U.S. was treating those people?"

"She played us, Jax." Sara says. "We're lucky that it's not us in that prison instead."

"She had a water witch travel through time to hunt her down." Jax says. "I mean, did Zari really act any differently than you would've in that situation? I'm just saying, do we really want to be the people who put her back in a meta prison? Is that who we are?"

Nate walks in, his hand over his eyes

"I can see through my hand." Nate says

"Ha." Brooklyn laughs, crossing her arms -- this should be fun

"Are you on drugs?" Sara asks

"Your face. I want your face." Nate says in a weird voice, trying to touch Sara

"Okay, buddy. Not a good idea." Jax says, pulling him away

"Gideon!" Sara calls

"As I was trying to tell you, Mr. Heywood is under the influence of a hallucinogenic compound." Gideon says 

Sara gives Nate a look

"To help Amaya with her totem problem. Okay?" Nate says. "It's totally safe. People in her village do it all the ti--" He gasps, grabbing his chest and turning around quickly. "It's safe, I think."

"As for Ms. Giwe, Professor Stein helped her to the medical bay." Gideon says

"Get him to his quarters now!" Sara orders. "Give him some water and maybe his fidget spinner."

Nate touches Sara's shoulder and she slaps him

"Told you, bro." Jax says. "Let's go. Come on