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"Next stop, 1935," Rip announced, strapping himself into the Captain's chair as he sequenced the Waverider's timejump into the controls. "Gideon, take us in."
"Yes, Captain Hunter," the AI acknowledged. The occupants of the Waverider braced themselves for the jump, as the eddies of the vortex began to swirl orange and green around the ship.
Suddenly, the vortex vanished. The Waverider gave a jolt, shuddering through a patch of turbulence, and an alarm beeped on the console.
"Gideon, what's happening?" Rip shouted.
"Apologies, Captain," Gideon replied, without inflection. "Our course has been altered by an outside source."
"We were hacked?" Ray spoke up, sharing an astonished look with Martin. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know," Rip growled, "it shouldn't be possible at all. Not in this timeframe."
"Could it be those time masters again?" Jax suggested, clinging to the straps that held him firmly in his seat. In the seat next to him, Mick was looking decidedly queasy at the shaking of the ship. "Hey man, if you're gonna blow chunks please do it away from me."
"Mick," Leonard said and, when the man looked up, tossed the arsonist a stick of gum. Mick snatched it out of the air and stuffed it in his mouth, breathing a sigh of relief as the mint did its work. His partner smirked, and then clutched at his chair as the ship bounced again, the smirk replaced by a scowl. "Can we please do something about that instead of debating the how and who?"
"Gideon!"
"Adjusting for turbulence," the AI announced, and the ship stopped shaking.
"Thank god," was the muttered sentiment among several of the crew, in various forms. Rip unbuckled and bounded forward to the center table, tapping rapidly through the controls.
"Gideon, source of the alteration?"
"Central City, February 2016." Oblivious to the startled glances between the crew, she continued, "I have an incoming communication, Captain, from STAR Labs."
Flustered, Rip stared at the holographic display of Gideon's profile in disbelief, and stated flatly, "What."
"Incredible," Martin breathed. Ray was leaning forward with interest.
"Play it, Gideon," Leonard commanded, before the science twins could start geeking out. As Rip shot him an irritated look, Gideon's image vanished.
A familiar face took her place.
"Cisco!"
The hologram spun at Kendra's exclamation, gaped about at the ship and its occupants, and then threw his hands up to clutch his head. "Kendra! It worked! Oh Dios mio, this is so cool. I wasn't even sure we could get a link up and - Ray! Professor Stein, Jax!" He beamed as he caught sight of each old friend. "And Sara Lance, the White Canary herself! Tis an honor, m'lady." He made a dramatic bow. Sara caught herself in a small smile. Cisco then turned around to face Leonard and Mick, and pursed his lips. "Captain Cold, Heatwave."
"Cisco, always a pleasure," Leonard sneered. Mick grunted.
"I'm sorry, what?" Rip demanded louder, looking at each of his crew with incredulity. "Do you all know this person?"
"Apparently," Leonard observed sarcastically, while Ray bounced in his chair like an excitable puppy.
"How are you doing this, Cisco? We're not even in the same timeline, this is amazing!"
"I know, right?" Cisco grinned. "We heard about you guys from our mutual friend in green, and Flash had this idea to use Gideon - you know, the one Evil Wells left us to play with," this was said with a nod towards the two halves of Firestorm, "to get in touch with the ship." Stein nodded in understanding. Jax just looked confused.
"What?"
"I'll explain later, Jefferson," Martin promised.
"So we thought, if our Gideon could scan newspapers from an alternate timeline, she could locate a ship bouncing about the continuum. And what luck, you've got Gideon aboard here too! So, a little jiggery-pokery and a few vibes to guide us, Et voila!" The scientist clapped his hands. "First teleconference across time and space. This must be what it's like for the Doctor," he finished in an awed mutter.
"You're from 2016, you shouldn't have the capabilities to locate this ship," Rip insisted, "Let alone change our course mid-flight. Release control of our ship this instant!"
Cisco turned to face the captain of the timeship. "Hey, calm down. I'm just here to pass on a message or two. Gideon's the one who pulled the parking brake."
Rip spluttered, as interested eyebrows went up all around the room. Finally, he exploded. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"
Cisco frowned at him, squared his shoulders, and replied, "I, the hell, am Vibe."
They all stared in fascination as the captain's face paled to the colour of sour milk and he sank back into his chair.
"Star Trek: The Voyage Home," Ray identified with an nod, looking puzzled. "But, 'Vibe'?"
Cisco snapped his fingers with an approving grin in Ray's direction for getting the reference, and shrugged. "Well, I figure I got the powers, I need a name too. It's tradition at this point."
Of all of them, only Kendra and Martin looked unsurprised by the sudden revelation that the diminutive engineer was a meta. Rip, on his part, looked equal parts annoyed and terrified.
"When did you get metahuman powers?" Leonard wanted to know.
Cisco shot the two criminals a dirty look. "Same time as everyone else, Snart. Didn't realize it though until after the singularity. You can thank Dr. Wells for that. If I'd been aware of them before you'd've been sorry you ever kidnapped my brother."
"Fun times," the thief drawled.
Cisco sneered. "Yeah, a real barrel of laughs."
"I'm glad to see you accepted your gifts, Cisco," Martin said, easing the tension. "I take it you told Flash and Dr. Snow as well?"
"Eh, not voluntarily, unfortunately, but they were real cool with it." Cisco smiled fondly. "Thanks for the advice, Professor."
"You said you had messages for us?" Jax interrupted.
"Right, yeah!" Cisco pressed his fingers to his temple, closing his eyes as he concentrated. "Sorry, we could only get this transmission to work by relaying it through the dream-zone, so sorry, no personal appearances. I feel like an answering machine. Okay, uh - Professor Stein. Clarissa says hello, and hopes you and Jax are staying safe-"
Martin and Jax shared a slightly guilty look.
"-and Jax, don't worry about your mom, we explained everything to her. She says you're grounded till you're forty, but she's also very proud of you."
The younger half of Firestorm groaned. "Man, it wasn't even my idea to come on this trip."
"Sorry, man," Cisco said with a sympathetic grin. "Kendra," he turned to his ex-girlfriend, and joviality faded into empathy. "I'm sorry about Carter. I saw..." he made a wiggly motion with his hand near his temple, as if that meant anything to anyone, but Kendra seemed to understand, for she gave him a sad smile. "I know you cared about him, being soulmates and all. If you need anything, let me know, I'll find a way to get it to you."
She nodded, bowing her head. "Thanks, Cisco."
"Ray, Felicity had some ideas for you to consider regarding your ATOM suit, and I added a few of my own notes. I'll data-burst them through Gideon before I go. And I'm quoting her here, 'don't get yourself killed. Again. not that you were dead before, but we thought you were dead, and I don't like my friends to be dead - presumed or otherwise - so rule number 1: don't die.'"
It was delivered with such Felicity-like accuracy of babble that Ray couldn't help but laugh. "Tell her thanks from me, Cisco." Cisco nodded and closed his eyes again, briefly, before turning to Sara.
"Laurel hopes you're staying out of trouble," smirks from Sara, Leonard and Mick suggested otherwise, "and says that you're an inspiration for the entire Star City flock. How is the new uniform working out, by the way?"
The former assassin smiled slightly, eyes suspiciously misty. "It's working out great."
"You sure? Cause I can always make improvements," Cisco offered. Sara shook her head. When Cisco turned away, she wiped at the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand as surreptitiously as she could.
That left only Snart and Rory. Cisco turned to face Captain Cold. "Snart."
Leonard sighed. "Let me guess. Scarlet wants to tell me he was right and I was wrong, again."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Tell him to make like a Popsicle and stick it," the thief retorted, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm in this for the money. Nothing else."
Cisco cocked his head briefly, his eyes going distant, as if listening to something no one else could hear, and then he smirked. "We'll see."
Before Leonard could contemplate that, the engineer added, "Oh and by the way, your sister is pissed. Did you really not tell her you were leaving for time travel shenanigans? Man, that's cold."
Leonard winced. Mick guffawed, clapped his partner on the shoulder. "I told you that cryptic crap wouldn't work on Lisa."
"She got really inventive with these insults," Cisco continued with fascination. "I don't even think I can relay them with the proper respect they deserve."
"Now you got me interested," Sara drawled. "Is she pretty, your sister?"
Leonard shot a glare at the former assassin.
"The Golden Glider is gorgeous, and as evil as she is beautiful," Cisco confirmed, earning the thief's next glare. "Okay, to sum up, you're a jerk and an ass and your balls are destined to be gilded and displayed on her mantle like a trophy. Ew, didn't need that mental image." He shuddered. "Other than that, if you die, she will hunt down the Flash and make him track you down in time so that she can kill you herself."
"Duly noted," Leonard grumbled.
"She also says Mick needs to watch your back or else he's added to the list for emasculation." Cisco shuddered. "Have I mentioned she is both beautiful and scary?"
Mick nodded, expecting such an order and seeming wholly unconcerned.
"I think I like this girl," Sara joked.
"All right, I think that's everything," Cisco mused, ticking off an invisible list on his fingers, and then snapped them, turning around to Rip. Rip, who was still looking a bit pale and had been silent this whole while, jerked slightly as the meta pointed a finger at him. Even though he was a hologram, and there was no way the man could do anything to the captain.
"You. Captain Harkness."
"Hunter," Rip griped, but was either unheard or ignored.
"Bring them by for shore leave soon or else I'll hijack Gideon again bring you here. These guys may not be heroes in your time," this was said with a derisive tone, a knowing gleam in Cisco's eyes that made the Captain gulp. "Yeah, I saw that bit too. You and me, we're gonna have words one day. I don't care if your history says these guys were Legends or Heroes or Footnotes. They've got people that love them in this timeline, and believe you me, we will bring a special kind of pain if they don't come home safe. You got me?"
"Crystal clear, Vibe," Rip acknowledged tensely, gripping the armrests of his chair.
"Great." And like that, Cisco was back to his usual brightness. "Try and schedule it for some time at the start of summer. We'll do a big welcome-home party, maybe karaoke." He paused, eyes squinting, once again listening to something on his end of the connection. "I've gotta cut the connection; Gideon says we're in danger of blowing out the power grid. Safe travels, guys."
"Bye Cisco!" Kendra said, echoed by a few of her fellow teammates. With a grin and a blink, Cisco's hologram winked out, and Gideon's profile reappeared.
The Waverider's systems flickered, briefly, and then hummed back to full operation.
"Well, wasn't that interesting," Leonard said slowly, turning to stare at the Captain like a cat with a mouse. "You're looking a bit shaken there, Captain."
Rip exhaled forcefully. "Yes, well. Let's just say, the name Vibe is rather well-known by history."
"As a hero or a villain?" Mick remarked. "You look like you saw a ghost or something. Not really the reaction a hero receives."
"No, Mr. Rory," Rip said, setting their coordinates again and strapping into the captain's chair. "In my time, Vibe is remembered as a god."
"Commencing time jump," Gideon warned, as the crew of the Waverider stared amongst themselves in shock.
With a pulse of its chronon engines, the Waverider vanished into the Vortex.