Chapter Text
Zari picked an item off of the floor and slammed it on a table. “Just fix the ship. Yes, Captain. Of course, Captain. Can I kiss your ass, captain?” She spoke sarcastically as she walked over to a panel of wires and began checking their connections. Zari’s gaze shifted to a light green fluorescent tube at the top, which she unplugged. Suspecting a blockage, she peered inside. A moment later, fluorescent green liquid shot out, hitting her in the teeth, and then on her flannel shirt as she quickly aimed the liquid away from her face. “Damnit!” Zari shouted in frustration as she spat the liquid out of her mouth. It had the consistency of milk but it tasted foul, almost like rotting eggs. She used her right hand to wipe the splatter from her face. “God of course, of course!” she hissed out of frustration as she moved to reconnect the tube. She reconnected one of the glowing orange wires as well before asking out loud, “Alright, Gideon, are you back online?” She paused, waiting for a verbal response. “Gideon?” She asked again. She saw light coming towards her and felt the floor quavering beneath her. It was shaking and she backed away from the panel on instinct. She placed a hand on the wall, not trusting herself not to fall. The light was fiery, bright, and blinding now as it moved towards her. She felt her legs bend against her wishes. Her body began to tilt back and she crumpled to she floor
~
Sara watched as the lights in the conference room flickered back on. A pang of guilt ebbed at her. Had she really encouraged Zari to leave? Had she really declared that she wanted to kill her? That wasn’t who Sara wanted to be. She had to apologise. Sara stood up and made her way out of the room.
“Zari?” Sara called out, pushing open the door and glancing into the engine room. Sara crossed her arms, going over what she wanted to say to the new teammate. At first she didn’t see anyone and resolved to go ask Ray where she was. Then she looked again and noticed that she was there. She just wasn’t standing. “Zari?” She repeated, more quietly this time. She entered the room and walked to where Zari was collapsed on the ground. The girl was sprawled on her back with her knees pointing to her right side. Sara could see the liquid on her face and the dark spots where it had seeped into her clothing. “Shit!’ Sara cursed. She knelt beside Zari and checked her pulse. It was weak but still there. Sara thought about picking her up, but martial arts didn’t translate to being skilled at carrying people while they were unconscious. She quickly made her way out of the room and knocked at Mick’s door, opening it before he could answer. “Mick, I need your help,” Mick grunted in response and Sara showed him back to the engine room where she instructed him to carry Z to the medbay. Mick balanced her over his shoulder and made his way.
In the medbay, he set her - relatively carefully - in the chair and turned to Sara. “What’s up with her?” he asked. Ray, who had joined them in the halls, scanned a small red light over her.
“I think she got hit with some of the ship’s bosonic hyper-fluid.” Ray stated, recognizing the what remained of the fluid on her face. He grabbed a cloth and began wiping it off. He turned to Sara, “Can you grab another shirt of hers? This one needs to come off in order to limit exposure.” Sara swiftly made her way to Zari’s room and grabbed a black tee from her closet. She watched as Ray awkwardly unbuttoned and removed the contaminated flannel, apologizing repeatedly under his breath. Once he had gotten the shirt off, she tossed him the tee which he then put on her. “Did she manage to get Gideon back up?” Ray asked.
“I think-” Sara started
“She did, Dr. Palmer” Gideon answered, cutting her off.
“Good. Gideon, do your thing,” Ray instructed. Gideon scanned Zari, assessing for how the hyperfluid was affecting her body’s organs in order to try to fix the damage.
“The hyperfluid appears to have been absorbed through the epithelium on her skin and in her mouth. It also appears to have neurotoxic capabilities which have cut off her peripheral from her central nervous system. Luckily, I will be able to reverse the effects within the next few hours.”
“Good, thank you Gideon” Sara responded.
“There is one more thing, Captain” Gideon spoke.
“What is it?”
“Ms. Tomaz’s program worked. Through it I have analyzed several timeline possibilities and drawn two conclusions,”
“What are they?”
“The first is that there is a 94.7% chance Ms. Tomaz will choose to leave the team within the next week. The second is that if she does, we will fail to defeat Mallus,”
“Well how do we make sure she stays?” Sara asked.
“The primary factor that differentiates the timelines where she does and doesn’t leave is whether or not she develops emotional bonds with the other team members”
“Huh…” Guilt ebbed at Sara as she remembered Zari’s comment about not having had intentions of sticking around. That and Gideon’s statement each implied she didn’t have any yet. Zari had been with the team for eight weeks. Had she spent those feeling alone? Had Sara not noticed.
“Captain, may I make a suggestion?”
“What is it?”
“I would like to place Ms. Tomaz’s mind into a simulation while she heals. In it, I will use the knowledge I have of this team to produce a situation where she has to grow closer to the team in order to succeed.”
“Do you think that will work?” Sara asked. A screen adjusted as Gideon ran through Zari’s algorithm.
“I have calculated a 76% chance that if we take this measure, it will succeed and she will remain with the team.”
“Then do it.”
~
“Hey, rise and shine,” Sara said. Z’s eyes slowly flickered open. “How are you feeling?”
“Oh, like my head is made of cement.” She responded. “It reminds me of” she paused before stating “Nevermind,”
“You were exposed to the ship’s bosonic hyperfluid. It knocked you out for hours,” Ray explained as he removed a metal monitoring-band from her wrist. Z sat up so she was no longer leaning back in the chair. There was a pause.
“Gideon’s back up, so I assume there’s nothing more I need to do to fix the ship. I’m going to head back to my room, is that ok?” Z asked. Her speech was relatively monotonous, though it was a bit quicker than usual as well as more precise. She met their eyes as she spoke but it looked as though she were staring through them, a million miles away. Her face was blank.
“Yeah, sure, go ahead” Sara answered. Zari hopped up and left the medbay. Ray watched her, somewhat confused as she left. “Gideon, how did the simulation go?” Sara asked.
“Quite well. I had her spend time learning more about each member of the team. By the time she completed it, she seemed to have grown to care about each of you.” Gideon explained. “In the end, I also revealed that it was a simulation and explained how vital she will be to defeating Mallus.”
“Alright, good” Sara responded.
~
Zari stood in her room and slowly spun in a circle, eying every crevice in the wall and along the ceiling. Gideon had been watching them far more than she had expected. Watching. Listening. In order to have enough information about them to set that simulation up… In order to have enough information to be accurate even to the words on Rory’s pages…
Just how many cameras would there have to have been? Was she being watched now? And who had access to the information gained from said cameras? It would be bad enough if it were only Gideon, but was Sara spying on them?
It was just like ARGUS.
Zari felt a tear welling up in her eyes and she clenched her jaw. She tried to blink it away as she her mind raced, wondering which direction she would have to face so Gideon wouldn’t see. She chose her closet. Odds were, there weren’t cameras hidden in her clothes.
She couldn’t stay here.
Zari watched the clock for hours as she sat and thought and planned. At 7:40, she came out to eat dinner just as the others were finishing up. She gave a few smiles and nods in greeting as she prepared her meal: a simple turkey sandwich on wholewheat bread. After all, if she was truly going to leave, she ought to get used to boring, rashioned food again. When she finished, she washed and put her dishes away before heading back to her room. Amaya met her on her way and asked if she wanted to join her, Nate, and Ray in playing a boardgame. Zari shook her head and made a comment about still having a bit of a headache. Amaya nodded and continued on her way. Zari did the same.
~
Zari headed off to bed early, setting an alarm to wake up at 3:30 am, when she could count on everyone else being asleep. When it woke her, she quickly packed a backpack: a few changes of clothes, toiletries, a few containers of non-perishable food, her equipment, and money from 2042. It was 3:54 by the time she finished and made her way onto the Jumpship to take her to Central City in March, 2041. When she arrived, she programed it to wait for a ten minute timer to go off before autopiloting itself back to the Waverider. Zari disembarked.
All she needed was to fix her time period. All she needed to do that was herself and her family.
Legends be damned.