Central City: Six Months Ago
Amaya is making dinner when Nate comes in her. She explains that she's making chocolate doughnuts for him from scratch, and he assures her that they're not for nothing. They clear off the counter and knock the dough on the floor. Nate picks it up and tells Amaya that he's going to the corner store to get doughnuts. On the news, channel 52 runs rare footage of Vixen. Vixen is waging a one-person war against drug dealers.
When Nate returns, he discovers that Amaya has packed and left.
Present Day
Nate, Ray, and Jax are working on sensors to locate time anachronisms. Ray has built a hyper-molecular compressor to shrink anachronisms rather than try and put them in the brig. The team checks out the new anachronism map, with each dot showing them an anachronism when they broke time. They discuss where to start, and Sara wants to find something easy. Jax locates a level 1 anachronism in Wisconsin, 1870. It's at P.T. Barnum's Roving Museum of Freaks and Hypnotic Hippodrome.
The team arrives at the circus and Nate suggests that they check out the freaks. Martin dismisses it as humbug, but Ray says that people want to be amazed. Barnum begins the show and introduces an extinct animal. Nate, Jax, and Ray go looking for it. Ray finds feline feces and realizes that it's never been seen on earth before. He realizes what it is, and Sara tells him over the earbud to contain it. Ray finds the creature: a saber-tooth tiger in a cage. He's brought his "shrink ray", and Nate opens the cage door. The tiger wakes up and Ray ends up enlarging it instead of shrinking it. It smashes out of the cage and runs off,
Back on Waverider, the trio tells the others what happened. Gideon reports that the anachronism has elevated to level 4, and Sara warns that none of them have experience with animals. She gets an idea and tells them to stay on the ship, and takes a shuttle to Zambesi 1942 to ask Amaya to join them on one last mission.
Amaya leads Sara into a hut and says that she can't go with her. Sara figures that Amaya's powers are the quickest way to handle it. Amaya says that her life is complicated, just as a young Feyinsola come in with a Belgian soldier's helmet. She says that she found it in a tree, and Amaya sends Feyinsola to bed. Sara tells Amaya that she seems at peace there and says goodbye, and Amaya asks if Nate knows that she'd be returning. Sara lies and says that he's thrilled.
On Waverider, the team is playing poker when Amaya and Sara come in. The others greet her, and Nate claims that everything is running smoothly without her. Sara asks for the shrink ray and says that she and Amaya will handle it, and leads Amaya out. Amaya realizes that Sara didn't tell Nate.
Later, Nate goes to the local town with Jax to drink. He complains about Amaya leaving him on his birthday, and figures that Amaya doesn't want to talk about it even if he sought her out.
Sara and Amaya track the tiger and spot it.
At the saloon, Barnum tells his freaks that he sunk all of his money into buying the tiger, and figures that they need a show-stopper. Meanwhile, Nate is using Ray's app to pick up girls, and Ray tells Nate to talk to Amaya. When a local bumps into the bearded lady, Hildy, Nate tells the local to apologize. The man takes an offense and Nate turns into solid steel. The local just hurts himself, and Barnum orders a round of drinks and says that Nate was marvelous. Ray tries to get Nate away, but Nate insists that freaks like them have to stick together. Half-drunk, he explains about Ray and Jax's powers, and says that his ex-girlfriend can summon the power of any animal. Barnum suggests that they go back to the circus for a private show with female acrobats. Jax and Ray quickly agree.
Amaya tells Sara that she'll distract the tiger. It leaps at Amaya, and Sara shrinks it down to housecat size.
Nate goes to talk to Amaya, and Barnum has his strongman knock out Ray and Jax.
The next morning, Sara, Amaya, and Mick find Nate passed out in the cargo bay. They wake him up and ask where Jax and Ray are, and he throws up. Nate remembers that they went to the circus for a private show, and when Amaya complains that he abandoned his team, Nate points out that she's one to talk.
Barnum locks up Ray and Jax, and says that now he has the God of Fire and the Incredible Shrinking Man. Jax claims that Nate was drunk, but Barnum doesn't believe them and figures that Nate was telling the truth. He tells them to get on with it, and Jax and Ray explain that they can't do anything without their partner and their exo-suit, respectively. Barnum figures that he'll make marvels out of them yet.
The rest of the team comes to the circus to find their friends, and Sara says that they're being watched. She goes after the man, who ducks into the nearby woods and knocks him down. It's Agent Gary from the Time Bureau. Meanwhile, Amaya complains about Nate's behavior. He points out that she's no longer a member of the team, and Amaya agrees that Sara should have told Nate that she was coming back. Nate insists that his getting drunk was just him and the others hanging out... and sees their faces on a freak show poster., listed as the twins Yin and Yang.
On Waverider, mick is making a sandwich and teases the caged tiger with some meat. It gets out and runs off.
Sara locks Gary up in the brig and brings in Martin, and she figures that Ava had him spy on them. When he says that the anachronism is now level 6, Sara insists that they have it under control.
Amaya and Nate go in and discover that Jax and Ray are dressed as conjoining twins. Nate can't transform, and figures that he's dehydrated. Amaya starts to use the Tantu Totem, but two of the circus workers shoot them with tranq darts and knock them out, and Barnum comes in to say that they have new circus employees.
Later, Nate and Amaya wake up in a cage, manacled. Nate is still dehydrated to steel up, and she tells him that he doesn't want her using the Totem. Amaya refuses to explain and apologizes, and says that she went to Detroit to see her granddaughter, Mari, the present-day Vixen. Mari saved five people in one night and didn't know that Amaya was there, and Amaya says that her decision to leave had nothing to do with Nate. Nate asks why she had to go back to 1942, and Amaya explains that Rip told her that if she stayed in 2017 then Mari would disappear. She didn't say anything to Nate because she needed him to hate her and move on.
Gary calls Sharpe, who says that the level 1 has escalated to a level 8. She realizes that he's on Waverider, and Sara aims a gun off-screen at Gary. Gary says that it's his fault the anachronism escalated, and assures Sharpe that the Legends have things under control. Once he hangs up, Sara punches him unconscious and tells Martin that they just have to rescue the team. Sharpe teleports in and Sara tells Martin and Mick to save the others while she holds Sharpe off. She then goes to confront Sharpe, who tells her that she's under arrest. Sara says that she'll break her arm if she tries to take her in, but Sharpe isn't impressed. The two women fight.
Martin and Mick go to the freak show and Mick glares at the clowns. Barnum comes out and presents Jax and Ray. He has them juggle and they have no choice but to do so... badly. Mick sees more clowns, tells Martin that he's on his own, and runs off.
As the audience boos, Barnum goes back into the tent, picks up a gun, and asks Nate if he's ready for his debut. He warns that the audience will burn the show down if they don't give them their money's worth, and tells Nate to transform or die. Nate refuses, and Barnum asks if he would steel up for Amaya. After a moment, Nate agrees.
Sara and Sharpe continue fighting and finally knock each other down. They agree to take a break and get some water. The tiger comes in and grows to normal size. Sharpe panics and runs off, and the tiger goes after her. It corners her and leaps... and Sara uses a Time Courier to open a set of panels, saving her and taking her to Gary. Sara figures that Sharpe is mad because she saved her life again, and Gideon warns that the anachronism is level 9. Sharpe almost says that Rip believes that the Legends can deal with Mallus, and then tells her that Rip will take Waverider away from them again.
A clown comes out to make balloon animals.
Nate steels up and Barnum confirms that he's bulletproof. An exhausted Nate reverts to human form, and Amaya uses the Totem to break free of her manacles and the cage. She easily takes out Barnum's assistant.
The real clown comes out without his costume and yells at the man impersonating him: Martin. As the clowns close in, Mick screams at them to die and tackles them. As he fights them, Martin steps on a seesaw and yells at Mick to hit it. Mick does so, launching Martin into the ring. He touches Jax's hand and they become Firestorm. As the crowd cheers, a berserk Amaya chases Barnum out of the tent. She slams Firestorm back when he flies at her, and Nate leaps in and tells her to fight whatever has possessed her and come back to him. After a moment, Amaya gains control of herself and he hugs her. Barnum announces the finale and says that they had it all.
That night, Waverider departs as the locals look on. Jax and Ray tell Sharpe that the anachronism has been dealt with. Gideon has always communicated to the Time Bureau that they've resolved the matter. Sara talks to Sharpe privately and Sharpe reluctantly congratulates her but will be watching her. She denies saying anything earlier about a greater threat, and then says that the information is need to know. When Sharpe prepares to go, Sara reminds her about Gary.
Nate approaches Amaya about what happened, and says that her telling him the truth made him feel a little better. They call the team together and Amaya explains that whenever she tapped into her powers she could feel herself losing control. One day she killed Belgian soldiers that threatened Zambesi, and she hunted them down when they tried to run. Sara figures that Amaya came back to have a place to think, and Amaya says that something is wrong with the Totem. She figures that she's too dangerous to be around, but Sara says that she's their teammate. Sara then tells the others that there's a greater evil coming that even the Time Bureau is afraid of. After a moment, they all burst out laughing and wonder what could be more dangerous than Vandal and Reverse Flash.
A woman kneels before a river and chants. The nearby water rises up in the form of an elemental, which walks ashore and forms into Kuasa. The woman says that she's a follower of Mallus and they have work to do.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 18, 2017