hackedhistory | hactivists } { you're wondering who i am

[The thing about being the tech expert on the team is that sometimes, when working a more modern mission, she runs into other hackers of her caliber. Occasionally they're better.

Not often, but occasionally. Occasionally enough that when it happens, Nate feels the need to comment on it and she nearly blows him into the wall

And then, she goes to investigate.

The job had involved erasing any evidence of a piece of future tech that had fallen through as an anachronism and landed in the hands of Edge Industries. Since Morgan Edge cannot be trusted with that kind of tech, the Legends took it back, but Zari was tasked with covering up that it ever existed. She just hadn't expected another hacker to be in there, looking for information on it as well.

The style isn't one she's familiar with, but there were a lot of less flashy hackers in the past who's style didn't become quite as common. She keeps trying to trace things back but whoever they are, they deftly dodge out of her way time and again.

So, instead of working against each other, she tries the more direct approach. She pulls up a chat window and sends a quick message:]

Can we talk about this?

[Dodging the other hacker and continuing to work hadn't even really been that much of a bother to Josh. It's literally what he does, after all, and he's multi-tasking while he does it, working on a couple of other projects. When the chat box opens, she can't see him blink at his screen - but his work does pause for a split-second as she catches him off guard.]

What are we talking about?

The tech blueprints you're trying to take from Edge Industries.

[She manages to throw another wall into his attempt, another diversion, but she knows it won't hold him for long.]

I can't let you have them, and I'm hoping that you'll understand why.

[It will, in fact, not stop Josh long, and he slips around it easily enough, attention drawn away from their chat and back to his goal - especially now that she's telling him he can't have it.]

Why?

Because that tech isn't supposed to exist for another fifty years. And before you accuse me of stifling innovation, I mean that literally.

Edge didn't build it. He found it and is trying to exploit it but it doesn't belong to him. Right now, it can't belong to anyone.

[That was, in fact, Josh's first instinct - that someone was trying to keep quiet some proprietary information, and that was going to do nothing to stop him. The clarification does slow him a little, because he wasn't expecting that.]

[He's still not necessarily buying it, though, because people lie to him all the time.]

Time travel isn't real.

[He knows they all wish it was, because that would be amazing, but.]

Are you sure about that?

[Because you can't ever be sure, really. But that's also not necessarily the point.]

And technically the plans didn't time travel. They more ... fell through a hole.

[That brings him up short, because he is very much of the school of only believing what he has proof of, but, well. Science also evolves all the time - and faster than most people can keep up with.]

Can you prove it?

[He doesn't have high hopes she can, but, well. She's going to have to at least try if she wants him to back off entirely.]

[She weighs her pros and cons. Considers whether or not this is the right choice.

Then again, if it's not, she can always reset his memory once she has the plans. That's a totally good and ethical choice she's okay with making.

And with that, sends over a packet of news articles from moments in the past she fixed: Helen of Troy in old Hollywood, a psychic gorilla in the middle of the Vietnam War that almost turned the tide for the Vietcong, college age Barrack Obama almost being killed by the same psychic gorilla ....

... The Legends get into some shit.]

If that's not enough, we'll have to meet in person.

[She can't see the face Josh makes at his screen, because he doesn't do in person meetings. There's a pause as he looks through the packet of articles.]

This is still a lot of sci-fi stuff.

Messing with me isn't going to work.

[He absolutely finds it easier to think that she's messing with him instead of thinking all this is actually real. Not that he doesn't want to think it's real, because it would be awesome and like being in one of those cheesy action movies Wrench and Marcus like so much, but, well.]

[She can probably logic him into believing her, though, since she seems to be putting in a lot of effort just to mess with him.]

What would it take for my supposed science fiction to become science fact?

[Because she could keep guessing, or she could just get to the heart of the matter.]

Do you have a time machine?

[It's an abrupt question but he's kind of an abrupt guy like that. He mostly wants to know how she's here if she's from ~the future~.]

Time ship, actually.

[Because the Waverider is a little more than just a machine.]

Want to see it?

[As much as Josh doesn't like in-person conversation, if that's what it takes for him to see a literal time machine, then he'll do it, and his answer is immediate.]

Yes.

Where do you want to meet?

[He wants a time machine, a time machine he shall have.]

How much space does your ship need?

Can I bring someone with me?

You can bring someone with you.

And space doesn't matter. I can open a door wherever I need to, I just need to know where.

Okay.

[That makes him feel better, anyway. Or at least like he's less likely to get taken off to that commune on the coast or something.]

I'll send you coordinates.

[And he sends over some about a mile from the game store. It might not be far enough away, but he's also not going to give her his exact location.]

[That's fine. She's not trying to pry. But she will take a selfie and send it over so that he knows who he's looking for and doesn't get bamboozled by some random time traveler.

It could happen.

But he'll get this smiling face.]

See you soon.

[Josh doesn't send a picture back - he doesn't take selfies unless he gets dragged into one - but he does study it for a moment before he replies.]

Bye.

[And then he disconnects.]

[It doesn't take him long to get to the coordinates he gave her. By all appearances, he is by himself - though that's mostly because his back-up is across the street watching through nearby cameras.]

[Since he sent no image, Zari is leaning against one of the nearby buildings. It goes against all of her instincts, making herself seen, but if necessary, she'll just pop back onto the Waverider and it'll be like she was never there.

But she is scanning the street, looking for a sign of her new friend.]

[Josh spots her from a couple dozen feet away and starts tentatively in her direction, clearly needing to talk himself into actually approaching. He may or may not be what she was expecting, but it's also clear somehow that he's not just some rando about to catcall her or something.]

[When he finally gets close, he stops a few feet away, giving himself space. His voice is a little doubtful when he speaks.]

Hi.

Hi.

[She watches him carefully, trying to ascertain if he's her guy or not.]

Come to see a girl about a time machine?

[Josh pauses for a moment before he nods.]

You really aren't messing with me?

[He's really used to people messing with him, considering he sometimes can't tell when people are.]

I'm really not.

[And she means that seriously. She straightens as she makes her way closer.]

Thought you were bringing a friend.

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