Ramona followed Kendra and Carter—the hawks—through the timeship, her jaw dropped and eyes wide. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Well, more like where she was. The hallways of the ship weren't that special, but knowing she was on a timeship? That was wild in and of itself.

A door hissed open in front of them, leading to an open space where most of the team had already gathered. The space was ringed with futuristic chairs a few feet in—they had restraints like an amusement park ride, which seemed weird—all facing a simple console in the middle of the room. A slightly raised platform contained a solo chair, which faced the rest, and wide windows looking out at the city before them. Ramona spun around, taking in the space, including a wood-filled room a few steps higher than the rest of the room at the back, holding a few tables and chairs as well as various...trinkets. It looked so out of place with the rest of the ship, and Ramona loved it.

"I have never seen anything like this before," Kendra said.

"Neither have I," Carter agreed, "and considering I have four thousand years' worth of memories, that's saying something."

Ramona huffed, turning to face him as she walked towards Rip, who stood at the front of the room. "Carter, those memories were in the past. This is from the future. Of course you haven't." The hawk blinked at her like he hadn't thought of that, and she shook her head. Sometimes people didn't see past what was right in front of them. She was certainly guilty of it.

"How does a vessel of this size function without a crew?" Stein asked Rip.

Rip smiled, "I don't need one. I have Gideon."

At this, a feminine voice said, "Welcome aboard." Above the console in the middle of the room, there hovered a blue, slightly robotic, larger-than-life image of a woman's rather featureless head. The image continued, "I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness programmed to operate this vessel's critical systems and aid Captain Hunter in his mission."

Ramona felt a grin spreading across her face. "Cool," she said quietly, taking a step towards the projection. The head blinked away a moment later.

"Captain?" her father asked.

"Gideon's been working on helping me locate Vandal Savage," Rip said. Not answering the question, Ramona noticed.

She turned to face him. "We have to find him?"

"Yeah, I thought you said he was pretty active in the twenty-second century?" Ray asked.

Next to him, Stein shook his head. "Perhaps," he said, "engaging Savage at the height of his powers isn't the best strategy?" Well, Ramona would never claim to be a strategist. She just shot the bad guys. She shrugged.

"Indeed," Rip said, pointing at Stein. He stepped out of the loose line they'd created, circling the console to stand facing them. "Unfortunately, Savage has kept his movements hidden throughout history. Not even Gideon can determine where or when we can find him. But I have the next best thing: the man who can. Professor Aldus Boardman. Professor Boardman is the world's leading-" he paused for a moment, "-well, only expert on Vandal Savage. We're gonna pay him a little visit."

The voice of the AI echoed through the room again. "Course plotted for St. Roch, New Orleans. October 17, 1975."

Rip ran around the console again, to stand in front of what Ramona assumed was the captain's chair. "I suggest you all strap yourselves in. Temporal navigation isn't something one wants to be standing up for."

No one argued—Ramona supposed no one wanted to hurt themselves or like, die. She sure didn't. She found a seat next to Ray, grinning at the scientist as she sat and pulled the restraint down over head until it clicked into place over her chest. "Is time travel rough?" she asked Rip.

"You could say that," the Brit said. He settled in his own chair. "Some of you may experience some slight discomfort. In very rare instances, there will be some, uh, bleeding from the eyeballs."

Ramona's mouth dropped open. "I'm sorry, what?" Kendra sputtered, looking at Rip like he was insane. Which, Ramona thought, he might be after all.

"The human body is used to time unfolding linearly," Rip explained, raising his voice to be heard over the sound of the ship powering up. Not much of an explanation, if you asked Ramona, but she was the Time Master here.

Across the circle of chairs, Jax began to stir. He'd been out the whole time—whatever Stein gave him must have been powerful. As he began to shift, blinking his eyes open, the professor in question said, "Oh, Jefferson, I'm so glad you're awake. I didn't want you to miss this."

"Miss what?" Jax mumbled, squinting in the bright light of the ship. It took about three seconds for him to figure out what Stein had done. Ramona counted. "What the-?" He reached for the restraints resting on his shoulders, but Rip held out a hand to stop him.

"Oh, I wouldn't unfasten those if I were you," the captain said.

"Get me off this- whatever this thing is!" Jax demanded, jerking at the restraints.

"It's a timeship!" Ramona called over to him, grinning. This was the best day ever, even if her dad was there.

On Ray's other side, Sara snorted. "Good luck explaining this," she said to Stein.

"I did him a favor," the professor insisted. Jax glared at him.

"He doesn't look all that grateful," Leonard pointed out—an understatement, really. Jax looked somewhere between wanting to throw up and wanting to kill Stein and probably Rip too.

"Just hang on and remain calm," Rip said. His chair slowly rotated to face the windows as he spoke. "All your worlds are about to change."

—

[st. roch, new orleans, 1975]

If you asked Ramona, she would say time travel was the coolest thing ever. What wasn't so cool, though, was how she couldn't hear anything once they landed again.

At the end of the row of chairs, Mick leaned over and puked on the floor—which was absolutely disgusting—and Rip said something, but Ramona couldn't hear it. Ray fell to the floor mere moments after standing, and when Ramona laughed, it was completely inaudible. She pushed up the restraints, which moved easily now that the ship wasn't in motion, and shook her head. Then poked at one ear with her finger. Still nothing.

Rip hovered in front of Stein, waving his hand in front of the professor's face. Ramona wasn't the best at lipreading, but she was pretty sure Stein said something about not being able to see. Great.

"Hey," she said, trying to pitch her voice loudly so Rip could hear her—she had no idea how loud the others were being, after all. "Wanna help me figure out why I can't hear?"

Rip rusher over to her, saying something that looked like, "It's temporary, you'll be all right." He didn't look too worried, at least.

Ramona shook her head again, closing her eyes for a moment. As she did, sound slowly began to come back: Rip saying, "-art? Can you hear me now?"

She opened her eyes again and nodded, moving to push herself up from the chair. "Yeah, I'm good. What was that?"

"Temporary deafness," Rip explained. "Another side effect of time travel."

"Weird," Ramona said. "You couldn't have mentioned that before?" Rip just shrugged, moving away. Nothing in any time-travel book or movie had ever prepared Ramona for the idea of time travel having side effects. Honestly, whatever future Rip was from could invent time travel and interactive AIs, but not keep people from going deaf or throwing up when they travelled through time? Ramona decided she didn't like the Time Masters much, whoever they were.

On the other side of the circle, Jax stood up, looking very pissed off. "Man, I can't believe you kidnapped me!" he said to Stein. "I wanna go home."

"Good news, then," said Rip, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "2016 will be around in, oh, forty-one years." He turned, moving towards the door behind Kendra and Carter, and pointed at Sara, Mick, and Ramona's dad. "Now, you three, feel free to make yourselves comfortable back here on the ship," he spun to face the others, "while the rest of you are coming with me to find Professor Boardman."

Mick frowned. "Woah woah woah," he said, "you're benching us?"

Sara crossed her arms. "I thought we were a team."

"This mission doesn't require your..." Rip shoved his hands into his coat pockets, looking at the three of them. Ramona had to hold back her laugh. Knowing Mick, he'd set poor Professor Boardman on fire to get the information out of him. "...particular skill set," Rip finished. "Yet."

"Meaning you don't need anyone killed, maimed, or robbed," Leonard put in, rolling his eyes.

Ramona snorted, crossing her arms. "That is what you're best at, Dad," she said, smirking.

"Precisely," Rip said, giving Ramona a slightly exasperated look. She just smiled at him.

Ray leaned towards Rip, keeping his eyes on the pair of thieves. "Sure it's a good idea to leave these two unsupervised on a timeship?"

Rip didn't get a chance to answer that, because Mick called out, "Hey, Haircut! I'm not the one who was deaf." Ramona glared at him, but Mick didn't seem to notice—or care.

Rip sighed. "We better hurry up. Professor Boardman will die in less than twenty-four hours."

"What's the point in cutting it so close?" Ray asked, frowning.

Rip opened his mouth to answer, but Stein got there first. "Because if he's destined to die, then he doesn't have a timeline for us to disrupt, and his impact on the future will be minimal. How brilliant!"

"...And depressing," Kendra said, staring at Stein like he was insane. She turned to Rip. "How does he die?"

"Uh, he's found dead in his university from unknown causes," Rip said, sounding rushed. He headed for the door, allowing the others to follow him. "Come on."

Ramona started to follow, but stopped. Jax wasn't coming. He stood at the front of the room, staring out the window, arms crossed. "Hey, you coming?" she asked.

Jax shook his head. "I'll stay put," he said firmly, casting barely a glance at her.

"You'd rather stay with them?" Stein asked, gesturing towards Sara and the thieves.

Jax half turned. "They didn't drug me."

"He's got you there," Ramona agreed, and Stein shrugged, seeming to agree.

Ramona turned, heading for the door. At the door, she turned back, finding her father's gaze. "Have fun," she said, smirking, then disappeared through the door. She liked the idea of having fun in the 70's—with her dad stuck on the ship.

—

1820 words.
And they've finally time traveled! I'll get through the pilot eventually, I promise lol. What do you think of Ramona's insights and interactions so far? There's some things I have planned, but is there anything y'all want to see for her? Let me know!
💛Ema