Time Master's Council
The Time Masters sentence Kaylex Druzan to death via Omega Protocol. Zaman informs Drazan that the Piligrm has made contact with Drazan's younger self. Drazan gasps and disappears, and the Pilgrim enters the chamber. She is informed that her next assignment is to dispose of Rip's team, and she is to hunt down their younger selves and eliminate them.
Central City: 1990
Len, Mick, and Rip are posing as firefighters at a young Mick's home as it burns. Rip tells them to keep an eye out for the Pilgrim. Sara and Jax run out of the house and tells the others that Young Mick isn't inside, but his parents are dead.
Nearby, Young Mick watches the house burn. The Pilgrim is behind him and prepares to kill him. Atom arrives and blasts her unconscious, and tells Young Mick to come with him if he wants to live.
Later as Waverider timejumps, Jax and Mick watch Young Mick. Jax explains that he told Young Mick that they are secret agents for ARGUS. Disgusted, Mick walks off.
Kendra and Sandra are sparring and discussing the situation. Sara figures that Kendra is ignoring Kate's advice to break up with ray, and Kendra wants to spring it on Ray when the time is right.
When Mick arrives on the bridge, Martin suggests that Young Mick might need a shoulder to cry on after losing his family. Mick says that he doesn't cry and thanks Ray for saving him, and Rip explains that the Omega Protocol calls for precision. Multiple attempts by the Pilgrim at one target could do irreparable temporal damage, so she only has one chance to kill each of them. Gideon informs them that the Pilgrim timeship is heading to Starling City in 2007. They figure that the killer is going after Sara next.
Starling City: 2007
At the station, Quentin has arrested Young Sara and handcuffed her to a des. The Pilgrim fights her way in, taking out any cops in her way, and Quentin frees Young Sara and tells her to get out. As she runs, the Pilgrim leaps through the window and shoves Quentin across the room. The killer prepares to shoot Young Sara, and White Canary shows up and attacks her. Heatwave comes in behind White Canary and watches as the Pilgrim takes on out White Canary. Young Sara realizes who her adult self is, and Heat Wave finally kills the Pilgrim with a heat blast.
Back on Waverider, Sara locks up Young Sara in the cargo bay with Young Mick. Meanwhile, Gideon is unable to track the Pilgrim. Rip warns that without a way to track her, she could target any of them at any point in time. He explains that the Time Masters are helping her conceal her track, and the important thing is not to panic. Rip points out that she can't remove him or Kendra from the timeline. Len points out that Rip has never told them anything about his past, and Rip insists that they're not as valuable if they know nothing about his past.
Sara notices their younger selves on the security cameras, fighting. She goes to the cargo bay and Young Sara complains that Young Mick said that she smelled nice. Sara tells Young Mick that he's not the other prisoner's type, and says that they're safer where they are. Younger Sara demands answers, and Sara tells her that they look alike because they're like family. She assures her younger self that Quentin will never lose her and leaves.
In his quarters, Ray is eating some of Rip's secret stash of cereal when Kendra comes in. He admits that he's on edge because of the threat to him in the past. When things get crazy, Ray thinks of the two years the two of them were together in Hub City. He tells Kendra that he was about to propose to her, when he suddenly collapses in pain. Kendra calls Gideon for help, and they get Ray to the medbay. The AI confirms that Ray is suffering from severe internal injuries, and finds a temporal anomaly in Ray's timeline in December 19, 2014, near Palmer Technologies. Ray sets course for 2014.
Star City: 2014
The Pilgrim slams Ray across a room and then prepares to kill him. Firestorm arrives and fires a nuclear blast, and the Pilgrim turns it back on him. Rip grabs Young Ray and they try to escape, and the Pilgrim blasts them down.
Kendra stays with ray and tells him that however long they have, she wants to spend it with him.
Rip grabs a hard-light projector from the Atom suit and blasts the Pilgrim through the window.
On Waverider, Ray's vitals stabilize. Kendra tells him that she meant what he said, and he figures that she found the engagement ring. It's lying on the floor, and Ray tells Kendra to take it.
When the others return to Waverider, Rip explains that the Pilgrim can manipulate time in her immediate vicinity. Len points out that the Pilgrim won't be going after Rip, and Rip ignores him and has Gideon plot set a course for the birth points of the teammates the Pilgrim hasn't targeted yet. Mick warns that if they take too long getting their captives home then they will all disappear from the timeline.
Sara checks on Kendra, who explains that their ray is healing quickly now that his past self is in the hospital. Kendra shows her friend the engagement ring, and explains that Ray proposed to her. She admits that she's never thought about marriage and doesn't know what to do. Sara asks Kendra if she likes babies, and says that she needs her help. Then she'll help Kendra figure out what she should say to Ray. They leave, unaware that Ray overheard them.
Central City: 1972
Posing as nurses, Sara and Kendra go to the hospital maternity ward and find a baby Len. The women coo over the baby and then leave with it.
In the cargo bay, Young Mick tries to jimmy the door open. When Young Sara touches the lock, Gideon reads her as her older self. Mick arrives with Kendra, Sara, and Baby Snart, and they put their younger selves in charge of the baby. The team then prepares to abduct the baby Martin and Jax. Rip says that none of them should participate in abducting their younger selves for fear of a paradox. Martin is intrigued by the concept of holding his younger self, and Jax says that his father James shipped out before his mother went into labor, and died two weeks later in Somalia.
Ivy Town: 1950
Rip and Mick arrive as Mrs. Stein gives birth to her son with her husband's self. They claim that they were heading for the nearby hospital and saw the car. The two men take the baby and tells the Steins to meet them at the hospital.
Central City: 1993
Ray and Martin go to the hospital where Jax is being born. They see James and Martin says that he needs to find Jax to give him a moment with his soon-to-be-dead father. They bring Jax in and he recognizes James, and Martin tells him to speak from his heart. Jax says that he thought James was supposed to be shipping out, and James explains that his flight out was delayed. He says that he was able to see his son before he shipped out, and says that he hopes Jax will get to raise a child one day. James says to leave, and asks Jax to have a nurse tells his wife that he'll be home as soon as he can. As James goes, Jax says that there's something he has to tell him. However, he reconsiders and simply offers his congratulations.
The Pilgrim enters the maternity ward a few minutes later and discovers that the baby is gone.
Waverider arrives at a building in an indeterminate time. Rip leads the others outside and explains that they need a safe harbor to keep their younger selves. A woman, Mary Xavier, comes out and Rip calls Mary "Mother." Inside, Mary serves tea and explains that she's Rip's adopted mother. She addresses Rip by his birth name as Michael, and explains that the Time Masters adopt new identities. Mary assures them that her loyalty is to her children, not the Time Masters. Rip tells the others that the Time Masters recruit orphans from throughout history and bring them to the Refuge.
Mick talks to his younger self, who is playing with a match. The older man knows that his younger self set the house on fire, and Young Mick insists that he didn't want to kill his family. Mick says that his younger self fell in love with the flames but realized that he couldn't control them, and ran. He tells Young Mick that he'll kill him if there are any more "accidents," and Young Mick says that he sounds just like his dad.
Rip is watching the children when Mary gives him some mince pies for his friends. He admits that he put the others at risk to save his family, and Mary assures him that he hasn't been selfish. She always knew that he was intended for great things, and tells him to stop wallowing and get the job done. Mary assures Michael that she can deal with the Time Maters and tells him to go on.
Later on Waverider, Martin approaches Jax and says that he knows how he's feeling through their psychic connection. Jax says that he should have saved James, and explains that he spent his whole life imagining what his father would think of what he was done.
Ray approaches Kendra and says that he overheard Kendra and Sara talking earlier. He says that he understands if she wants to let him down, and Kendra says that she wants to be with him. However, she says that her previous self said that they can't last. Ray tells Kendra that she can choose her own happiness, or believe her past self, and asks Kendra to tell him when she decides.
Rip calls everyone to the bridge and says that Gideon has intercepted a trans-chronal beacon. It's the Pilgrim, who says that if she can't find him then she'll go after the families of the team members. She has James, and promises that all of them will suffer and die unless they surrender their younger selves to her. Rip has Gideon hail the Pilgrim and he offers himself if she spares the lives of his crew and their loved ones. The Pilgrim refuses, saying that her orders are to eliminate the entire team. Rip counters by saying that he's offering his own younger self: Rip Hunter before he became a Time Master. If she eliminates him then the team will never have existed.
Waverider goes to an abandoned Time Masters outpost. Rip goes in with Martin, Jax, and Mick. Mary arrives with Rip's younger self, one of the children from the Refuge. The woman warns that she doesn't approve of Rip's plan, but figures he will ignore her. The Pilgrim arrives and says that all of her prisoners are onboard her ship. She insists that the Time Masters sanctioned her actions, and wonders where the others are. Rip says that they're around and the Pilgrim agrees to a prisoner exchange. She teleports James in and agrees to release the others once she has Young Rip.
Rip tells his younger self that he'll be fine and sends him forward. A miniaturized atom moves forward with him and lands on the boy's shoulder. He then fires a hard-light beam at the Pilgrim, who reverses time on him. Captain Cold and White Canary charge forward, and HeatWave combines fire with his partner. The Pilgrim sends their energies back at each other and then at firestorm when he attacks her. Kendra flies in and the Pilgrim tries to reverse time on all of them. However, Young Rip stabs her in the leg and she loses concentration. The combined energies hit her, reducing her to ash. Jax asks James if he's okay, and he offers to explain. Mary takes Young Rip away, and Rip explains that his younger self was a cutpurse, and he knew what his younger self would do if threatened.
Later back at the Refuge, Young Rip joins the other children. Mary assures Rip that she'll look after his friends, and Rip says that the first day that he was there, he knew he was home. She says that's why she knows he'll be back and Rip leaves.
Mick finds his younger self holding a lit match to his hand, and says that he's him. He tells Young Mick that it wasn't his fault, and Younger Mick admits that he ran out without warning away because he was a kid. Mick says that he spent his whole life blaming his younger self for something he didn't mean to do, He tells Young Mick to be better than him and leaves.
On Waverider, Sara tells Quentin that he'll have to take an amnesia pill to erase his short-term memory. As he takes the pill, Quentin says that he always knew that she would protect people and he's proud of her.
Rip approaches Martin, who says that his wife Clarissa doesn't seem to remember him. The Time Master explains until they return the younger selves to the timeline, none of them will have ever existed. Martin thought he would return to the moment he left and Clarissa would never know he was gone, so he didn't say goodbye. Rip insists that he won't risk Martin's marriage to save his wife.
James takes in everything that he saw Jax do, and says that now he knows that if Jax became the man he saw, he must have done something right. He says that he wants to be there to see it happen, and Jax tells him to keep an eye out for an IED. James realizes that Jax knows his future, and the two men hug.
Ray leaves his wife Anna in his quarters, and finds Kendra in the hallway. She says that she was afraid of losing Ray, and realized that there is never going to be a right time to get married. Kendra takes out the ring and puts it on, and says that she wants to marry him.
The team gets back together and Jax tells Rip what he did. Rip suggests that time wants things to happen, and perhaps it wants Jax and his father to be together. Mick says that he just got through giving his younger self advice. Rip warns that time is beginning to set with the new timeline where they didn't exist, and they need to quickly locate Vandal. The only way to find him in time is the one place they know where he'll be: when he conquers Earth in 2166. Rip figures that they have no choice because they have literally run out of time.
Written by Gadfly on Apr 23, 2016