Chapter 48: Su Sheng is a Time Deviation
As the members of the Legends team stood warily and cautiously before him, Su Sheng, who had just exited the car, casually glanced at the blown tire before addressing them with a smile.
"Pay it up."
The team members, who were bracing themselves for a potential confrontation, were momentarily stunned. Pay for what? The tire? The absurdity of the situation left them momentarily speechless. Even if they weren't surprised by Su Sheng's calm demeanor in the face of their sudden appearance, the fact that he was casually asking for compensation threw them off completely.
"Is he really the guy we're looking for?" Captain Cold, Leonard Snart, asked skeptically.
"It does seem like we did break his tire... so, do we have to pay?" Ray Palmer, the Atom, murmured uncertainly.
Rip Hunter, the captain of the Legends and former Time Master, frowned as he addressed Su Sheng. "We'll compensate for the damage to your car later. But right now, we have urgent matters regarding the safety of time itself that we need to discuss with you."
Su Sheng looked at each of them, his smile widening. "Alright, I'm curious to know why you're here at this moment."
"Why we're here now? You know who we are and that we'd come?" Sara Lance, the White Canary, asked, her brow furrowing.
Her blonde hair gleamed in the sunlight, and her tight vest-style uniform accentuated her figure. She held her silver short staff in both hands, ready to spring into action at any moment.
"Top assassin of the League of Assassins, the White Canary, who's got a thing for my sister, and a lover who swings both ways—am I right?" Su Sheng chuckled.
Sara Lance smiled coolly. "Takes one to know one."
Su Sheng shrugged off her retort and turned his attention to the rest of the team, delivering a pointed critique of each member.
"Ray Palmer, you could've been Superman, but instead, you became the Atom, and your cool factor dropped significantly."
"Jefferson Jackson, one half of Firestorm—a textbook case of someone who ditched their original partner for a younger model. And Martin Stein, you're a scientist risking your life running around with young people instead of enjoying retirement. You'll end up dead for sure."
"Leonard Snart, Captain Cold, you became a criminal because your father abused you and your sister. By the way, your sister is quite beautiful—I wouldn't mind comforting her after you die. It shouldn't be too long now. At least you die before Martin Stein. And in some universes, you're gay!"
"As for you, Mick Rory, Heat Wave—you might be an arsonist, but you're the most successful one when it comes to redemption. Remember to include me in your stories when you write them."
"Hawkman, Carter Hall, and Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders—I only have one word for both of you: useless!"
Finally, Su Sheng turned to Rip Hunter, who was now looking both shocked and angry. "You're the one I admire the most. You're here to save your family, but you shamelessly roped this bunch of misfits in under the guise of saving time and the world. And somehow, it worked."
With each pointed comment, the expressions of the Legends members grew darker. Some were angered by the insults, while others were disturbed by how much Su Sheng seemed to know about their future.
"Have you seen us in the future?" Rip Hunter asked, his voice tense.
The Legends had come to stop Su Sheng from picking up Laurel, preventing the formation of the Birds of Prey and altering Sara Lance's fate. But now, it seemed that Su Sheng knew far more about them than they had anticipated—information that even they didn't know about their own futures. The only logical explanation was that Su Sheng had encountered the Legends in the future and knew their fates, which made this situation even more complicated.
"It seems we have a lot to discuss," Rip Hunter said gravely.
Su Sheng smiled and replied, "Then let's talk on the Waverider."
The Waverider, a large time-traveling ship powered by ion propulsion, was equipped with stealth capabilities, autopilot, self-diagnostics, a medical bay, escape pods, and artificial intelligence named Gideon. It was the Legends' primary means of correcting time anomalies.
As Su Sheng followed the tense Legends team onto the Waverider, he greeted the AI with a smirk. "Hello, Gideon."
"Hello, Mr. Su Sheng," Gideon replied in a synthesized female voice.
Leaning casually against the console, Su Sheng addressed Rip Hunter and the others. "Why don't you start by telling me about the time deviation you've identified?"
Rip Hunter glanced at Sara Lance, who took the lead in explaining.
"Because you made my sister the Black Canary earlier than she was supposed to be and formed the Birds of Prey with Felicity and Catwoman, you've caused a series of deviations in the timeline. I wasn't killed by Thea Queen, I wasn't resurrected, and my sister wasn't killed by Damien Darhk," Sara explained, her voice steady despite the gravity of the situation.
"Two different sets of memories are coexisting in my mind right now. I can feel the original timeline fading, which means that time is slowly solidifying the reality you've altered."
"For us, you're changing history," she continued. "And we can't let that happen."
Time, as it unfolds, becomes more and more fixed, with new realities gradually replacing past histories. When a time deviation is detected before the timeline is fully altered, it's the Legends' job to correct the course and protect the original timeline. That's why they were here—because Su Sheng was the time deviation causing historical changes.
Su Sheng, it turned out, was the anomaly they needed to address.
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