The Disciple

Chapter update is here.

Find a quiet spot, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🌙

✦

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Chronos fired wildly at Sara Lance. Diana stood in front of her, sweeping her arms as the Bracelets of Submission deflected each energy blast and sent them flying away.

"Exciting, is it not?"

Damon smiled at Lilah, who was stunned stiff in his arms.

Lilah's lips parted as she nodded blankly.

Whether it was Damon punching through a wall, the armored, murderous Chronos in front of her, or Diana deflecting beams with heroic ease, all of it had far surpassed anything she understood.

"Who... who are you people?"

Lilah asked without thinking.

"Who are we?"

Damon considered it, then smiled.

"They do not matter. As for me, my name is Damon Keller. I suppose I am your... master?"

"Are you planning to help?" Sara shouted when she saw Damon standing aside flirting with Lilah.

"I am more interested in that."

Damon pointed at a black ship nearby.

It was Chronos's ship.

Since he was a time bounty hunter, his ship could naturally travel through time. It was not as large or luxurious as the Waverider, but it should not have an artificial intelligence like Gideon either.

In other words, this was a time ship Damon could steal and use.

Provided he learned how to fly it.

When Chronos saw Damon carrying Lilah toward his ship, he hurriedly turned his weapon. At that moment, Sara finally stopped hiding behind Diana. Her hand flashed, and a dagger struck Chronos's gun, knocking it to the ground.

In the next instant, she rushed forward with agile speed.

Sara leaped high, locked her legs around Chronos's neck, and threw him to the ground. Chronos grunted and tried to rise, but Sara pinned him with a knee and set her dagger against his throat.

"Talk. What happened to the Waverider?"

On the black ship, Damon led Lilah, whose eyes could not keep up and whose mind had practically shut down, through the interior.

The ship was small, but it had everything it needed. Aside from artificial intelligence, it lacked almost nothing. Its weapons systems were even heavier than the Waverider's.

"From now on, this ship is called the Disciple."

"Watch our ship. I am going outside."

Damon said that to Lilah, then turned and left.

Chronos's helmet had already been removed, revealing Mick Rory's weathered, hard-bitten face. Sara and Diana stood nearby, both shocked. Sara in particular had never imagined that Chronos, the man who had been hunting them from the beginning, would turn out to be Heat Wave, Mick Rory.

Mick Rory was supposed to be with them.

"How is this possible?"

When she saw Damon approaching, Sara hurried to ask.

"He came from another timeline."

Damon answered casually and looked down at Mick Rory.

"Do you have an operating manual?"

"The Time Masters gave me this ship. You..."

Bang.

Before Mick could finish, Damon stepped down and snapped his leg.

The pain made him jerk up and scream.

"Yes, or no?"

"N-no..."

"Oh."

Looking at Mick Rory, who was sweating from the pain, Damon raised one hand. Lightning crackled over it and then struck down.

Boom.

Blue light flashed, and Mick Rory was reduced to charred remains.

"What are you doing?"

Sara had not expected Damon to kill Mick Rory outright.

This was Mick Rory.

Even if he came from another timeline, even if he had become Chronos and hunted them, he was still her teammate.

"Were you planning to let him meet the current Mick Rory and play doppelganger games? Or were you going to let him go so he could keep hunting you?"

Damon curled his lip.

"The Mick Rory you know is not actually dead. If you miss this version, he may still become Chronos in the future and come after you again. Sounds like an endless temporal paradox."

His tone turned dismissive, as if she had already lost her usefulness.

"Tell Rip Hunter I found a new toy. You can keep saving the world."

"Can you fly it?" Sara asked, stunned.

"If I cannot, I can learn."

Damon waved and returned to the ship.

Diana glanced at Sara, then followed him aboard.

On the Disciple, Damon studied the controls with great interest. It was not the same as driving a car, but it did not seem impossibly difficult. While Diana and Lilah explored the ship and grew familiar with each other, Damon managed to get it started.

The Disciple lifted unsteadily into the air, then shot forward like a rocket.

Sara stared after the departing ship with an absurd feeling in her chest.

He had just left?

He had seized the Waverider earlier and even used her as a hostage. Yet now, after finding a new toy, he discarded it without a second thought.

His habit of loving the new and abandoning the old was too much.

Leaving Sara aside as she prepared to return to the Waverider, Damon piloted the Disciple through the sky with reckless enthusiasm. It gave him a little of the feeling he had once had driving the Batmobile.

Most of the functions remained unclear, but at least he could fly it like an aircraft.

After some time, the Disciple slowly landed in a desert.

The hatch opened.

Damon, Lilah, and Diana walked out.

Looking at the endless sand, Diana and Lilah were both visibly amazed. It was the first time either of them had seen a desert.

"Why are we here?" Diana asked.

"To watch the sunset."

Damon sat on the edge of the hatch and smiled toward the distant horizon.

The setting sun turned the golden desert into a rare, beautiful sight.

Lilah and Diana could not help sitting on either side of Damon, quietly watching the sunset.

After a long time, Damon suddenly spread his arms, wrapped them around both women's shoulders, and asked with a smile, "All right. We watched the sun go down. Now it is time to go inside and enjoy the night."

"I did not challenge you today," Diana said immediately, moving away.

"You are still following me and staying on my ship. Should you not pay a little fare?"

Damon sounded perfectly reasonable.

"You stole this ship."

"I stole it with my own ability. That makes it mine. If you have the ability, steal one yourself."

"I am not as shameless as you."

Diana snorted coldly and jumped down from the ship, making it clear she would never accept.

Damon curled his lip, put an arm around Lilah, and walked back inside.

✦
✦
✦

Ready for more?

The next chapters are already waiting on my Patreon, along with early access, previews, and extra story updates 🗝️

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheBacklotFanfiction