Chapter Text
It looked like Mom had remembered my Big Belly order from two years ago. I started tearing up at the thought, but I pushed it down again. I just needed to eat this food as fast as possible, and then...well I knew what I needed to do after I ate.
“So, this thing that happens in the future, this Event or whatever, you’re here to stop it?”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re here to purposefully change the timeline?”
I sighed. “Yes, that’s the plan.”
“Why? I mean, last time you were here, you were doing everything possible not to change the timeline, but here you are, admitting that you’re going to change it.” Why indeed.
“Last time I Traveled, I wasn’t sure of what the implications of anything I would do would be. Luckily, there weren’t too many ramifications. This time, though, I came prepared.”
“Even a well thought-out time travel mission can have unintended consequences.” She knew that from experience, as well.
“I know.” But anything is better than the future I’m from . “But that’s a risk we were willing to take. All of us.”
“And me? Did I have any say in all of this?” We chose for you.
“Everyone had a say. This was the decision.” Mom must’ve heard the finality in my voice, because she let it go. We were able to finish the rest of the food in silence, which was preferable to me.
Once I had finished, I excused myself to the bathroom. I grabbed another device out of my bag on the way. I closed the door behind me, leaning up against it, and felt my legs unable to support my weight as I slumped down. I couldn’t help the silent tears from flowing. I had known this was going to happen. But there was knowing something in theory, and then there was experiencing it in practice. And that hurt a lot more. Seeing her walking was the easy part; I had dealt with that back in 2015. But seeing her like this? It hurt so badly. What I wouldn’t give to just reach out and hug her once last time, to tell her I loved her. You signed up for this mission , I reminded myself.
Speaking of, I needed to check my vitals. I pricked myself with the testing needle, and waited for the meter to read the results of the blood test. 99.87%. Good enough for now. I tucked the meter back in my pocket, wiped the tears off my face, and checked myself in the mirror. When did I get to look so old? I didn’t remember looking like this even a year ago. After deciding that my face had sufficiently decreased in redness, I went back out to the main section of the Bunker. Dad was there, talking with Felicity and probably waiting for me.
Dad gave me a questioning look, and I decided to speak before he could ask me what was wrong. “Don’s probably ready by now. Let’s suit up and get back to Central City.”
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Don sped us to a run-down apartment building. We appeared to be on the East Side, which was to Central what the Glades were to Star City.
“Overwatch, can you get as a more exact location on the cellular signal?”
“Sorry, Anna, this is the best I can do. We really need to get you a code name.”
“Anna’s fine.” I pulled out my tablet, and checked to see if I could get the signal myself. “Overwatch, I’m not detecting any cellular signals originating from this location.”
“Trust me, it’s in there.” Of course I trusted Mom. Even with tech twenty years older than mine, she could find the source better than I could.
I turned to Don. “Stay outside and keep watch. Stay on comms.” He nodded.
“Green Arrow, let’s search floor by floor. You take the odd floors, I’ll take the even floors. Call in if you see anything remotely suspicious.” Dad ran up the stairs to the first floor, and I continued past him to find the interior steps and the second floor. A lot of the doors were open, so it was easy for me walk in and take a look around. Most of them were small one-bedroom apartments, so it took only a moment to do a sweep. Occasionally, the doors were closed. I knocked before kicking them down. The place was basically abandoned, so I wasn’t too concerned about the breach in privacy. Besides, the ends justified the means.
“Cleared the first floor. Headed to the third.” Dad reported in.
“I’m almost done with the second,” I replied. I finished the second floor and continued onto the fourth. Dad and I continued our searches but I found absolutely nothing but abandoned apartments. Something was up here. I finally met up with Dad on the seventh floor.
He looked annoyed. “We’ve searched this whole place and found nothing.”
“We haven’t checked the basement,” I offered. He swept his bow aside in a motion offering I take the lead and I started down the stairs. The basement door was locked, and Dad knocked an explosive arrow. “No need. I’ll just pick it.”
“Right. You can do that.” I took out my device, and made quick work of the lock. I pushed the door open and found that the basement wasn’t lit at all. I took out my tablet and turned on its flashlight. Shining it around, I saw a typical boiler room. There was, however, an unmarked door near the back. I pointed to it, and Dad followed me. It looked like it might have been locked once upon a time, but now was completely rusted through. This could be it . Something about this door felt ominous, meaning we were heading in the correct direction. I signaled to Dad to back up. I steeled myself and kicked the door open. A flash of light and-
Boom.