[Themyscira — Date Unknown — Aboard the Waverider]
Times were hard, and few could claim worse luck than the Legends.
Fresh off their debut, White Canary Sara Lance had nearly abandoned the team over her sister's new boyfriend. She'd managed to ship the culprit off to Themyscira—ruled by the future Wonder Woman, Diana, and countless Amazon warriors—thinking that would correct the time variance.
The result?
Sara stayed. The Birds of Prey still formed. The only difference was that without Jack Kadere stirring things up, they operated more quietly. No one knew she was alive. She still betrayed the League of Assassins to protect her family, still died, still got resurrected, still joined the Legends.
Everything except her personal history remained completely uncorrected.
Fine. At least the team stayed intact. The plan had been simple: kill Vandal Savage, retrieve Jack Kadere, go home. But the Legends hadn't earned their reputation as a walking disaster for nothing. Savage remained alive and thriving. Hawkman was dead. They'd barely escaped that mess before Chronos—a time bounty hunter dispatched by Rip Hunter's former employers, the Time Masters—started hunting them like dogs.
The solution? Send Jack Kadere back first.
Which proved the old saying: if you're determined enough, you can ruin absolutely anything.
Themyscira—home to the future Wonder Woman and countless fierce Amazons—had been enslaved by Jack Kadere. And these warriors showed no intention of resisting.
It was as absurd as Vandal Savage, whom they'd tried everything to kill, suddenly choking to death on water.
The world simply moved too fast to comprehend.
Rip Hunter watched Amazon warriors escort them aboard his own ship while Jack Kadere led his entourage inside. His stomach churned with regret so bitter he could taste it.
---
Inside the Waverider, Artemis, Diana, and Hippolyta examined the vessel with open curiosity. Chrome surfaces reflected harsh lighting. Holographic displays flickered with data streams. The air carried the sterile tang of recycled atmosphere and warm electronics.
"Can this ship truly travel through time?" Diana ran her fingers along a console, her dark brows drawn together.
Jack Kadere waved dismissively and didn't answer. His attention had already shifted to the intel feeds—tracking the Birds of Prey, tracking Helena.
After his disappearance, Felicity had approached Laurel and Catwoman to form a search party. One wanted her boyfriend back. One wanted the truth about her sister's killer. One wanted software to wipe her criminal record. While hunting for Jack Kadere, they'd taken down a few criminals along the way. The Birds of Prey had coalesced almost by accident.
Helena hadn't been idle either. Her evidence had vanished. Jack Kadere had vanished. She'd gone straight to the Birds of Prey with two demands: hand over Jack Kadere, or hand over the deleted files.
They couldn't produce either.
The standoff had escalated from there. Rebuilding her case proved too difficult, so Helena had taken matters into her own hands as the Huntress. Catwoman stayed neutral. Laurel—aspiring lawyer, believer in due process—and Felicity—bleeding heart idealist—refused to let her execute Frank Bertinelli.
The grudge deepened. Not quite life-or-death, but close. The Birds of Prey had stopped Huntress from killing Frank multiple times. Huntress had sabotaged their operations in return. Working alone put her at a disadvantage, but the record remained roughly even.
Not exactly what Jack had envisioned. But they were too busy tearing into each other to dwell on the matter of being cuckolded.
Goal achieved.
"They came to take you back." Diana moved to his side, arms crossed beneath her chest. Light from the corridor caught the sheen of her dark hair. "Will you go with them?"
Artemis and Hippolyta turned to watch.
"Reluctant to see me leave?" Jack smiled and draped an arm around Diana's shoulder.
She snorted and shoved his hand away. "Wherever you are, I will defeat you. You will pay for what you've done."
"Then you'll probably never forget me."
Jack chuckled and gestured toward the corridor. "Artemis. Bring them in."
"Yes, Master."
Artemis descended the ramp. Minutes later, Amazon guards escorted the Legends into the cargo bay—faces ashen, postures defeated, the smell of sweat and fear rolling off them.
Jack sized them up with a lazy grin.
"Tall trees catch the wind. You waved around plenty, didn't you? Regretting it now?" He clicked his tongue. "All that fierce action, and for what? You destroyed Themyscira. Made its people my slaves. Forced Wonder Woman herself." He spread his hands. "How much damage do you think this time variance will cause? What if she starts hating men? Refuses to join the Justice League? Spends her immortal life hunting down every male on Earth?" He tilted his head. "You accomplish nothing. You spoil everything. Completely useless."
The Legends stared at him with hollow eyes.
"But don't despair." Jack's smile widened. "At least your judgment was right about one thing."
Silence.
"We will send you back." Rip Hunter turned to address Hippolyta and the others, his voice tight with forced composure. "Then we'll reverse this entire variance. I promise—everything he did will be undone. It will never have happened."
Jack started laughing.
Low at first. Then louder. His finger swept across the Legends one by one before landing on Hippolyta, Artemis, and Diana. The mockery in his expression sharpened into something cruel.
"You want to know what's interesting? Even if you had the chance—even if I didn't lift a finger to stop you—they would never agree."
"Are you insane?" Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders stepped forward, fists clenched.
"He was a lunatic from the start," Sara Lance muttered. "Talking nonsense is his baseline."
"Sometimes you have to try before you understand what despair really tastes like."
Jack turned to Hippolyta. "You went from Amazon Queen to my slave. Tell them—do you want them to undo everything that happened?"
Undo it? Then who would have stopped Eris, the Goddess of Discord?
"I am unwilling." Hippolyta's voice carried the weight of stone.
"How is that possible?" Kendra's voice cracked.
"Artemis." Jack's gaze shifted. "You sacrificed yourself for your people. Do you want them to change what happened?"
"Whoever tries to undo this is my enemy." Artemis fixed the Legends with a predator's stare, her new divinity thrumming beneath her skin. She was the Goddess of Discord now. She would not surrender that.
The cargo bay fell silent.
The Legends couldn't comprehend it.
Jack turned toward Diana.
Hope flickered in the Legends' eyes—desperate, involuntary. Diana had been forced. Violated. Surely she would want none of this to have happened.
She must want it undone, Rip thought, watching the Amazon princess. She has to.
Diana met Jack's gaze, her jaw tight, her hands pressed flat against her thighs to keep them from trembling.