Thea watched him, speechless. Honestly, his goofy personality was kind of charming—tall, bright, handsome, funny, eloquent. The perfect friend and mentor type. But as a boyfriend? A total disaster waiting to happen. With Ray Palmer, "chaotic good" wasn't an alignment, it was a lifestyle.
They walked into the Waverider's repair bay, where Firestorm's two halves were already tinkering away. The younger half—the mechanic—was hunched over a workbench, while the older half, Professor Martin Stein, looked every bit the part of a pompous academic, lecturing as he gestured with his tools.
"This is Professor Martin Stein," Ray introduced cheerfully. "World-renowned authority in nuclear physics. And this is his partner, Jefferson Jackson—our ship's mechanic, and a hell of a technician."
Thea immediately turned on her best charm, all polite smiles and effusive praise. "Professor Stein! The brilliant mind behind modern fusion theory! And Mr. Jackson—your engineering precision is second to none. Truly, humanity's finest defenders of science and justice!"
The compliment barrage worked like magic.
Heroes of the "Justice" variety always had thin skin. Stein had heard a lifetime of accolades and could take it, but Jax? The young man nearly melted on the spot, flashing a grin bright enough to power a city block.
While buttering them up, Thea quietly studied their handiwork. She had her doubts—Jax had been a car mechanic half a year ago before Rip Hunter decided he'd look good fixing a time ship—but credit where it was due, the kid was talented. His technique wasn't at Batman's level (no one's was), but the potential was obvious.
"Your board was running on magnetic propulsion, right?" Ray explained, crouching beside it. "We didn't touch the drive core—just added a few adjustable speed modes. You can now switch to 'combat sync' for higher precision mid-fight, or a top-speed mode for travel. Better synchronization between you and the board, less lag."
He pointed to the modified underside. "Oh, and I upgraded your OS. Replaced Felicity's 2007 source code with her 2016 revision—the one she wrote for my Atom suit. Much more stable."
He went on listing specs like a proud engineer, and Thea couldn't deny the result was impressive. In just half a day, with minimal redesign, he'd improved the hoverboard's performance by nearly thirty percent.
If the old version had been a beta 0.7, this was a full release. Braking, maneuverability, response time—all dramatically better. Testing it briefly in the hangar, Thea found it more responsive than ever, almost telepathic in how it moved with her.
She thanked them profusely—but inside, her ambition was already humming. These guys are sitting on an arsenal of future tech, she thought. If I can't crack Gideon, maybe I can squeeze a little something out of these three.
She clasped her hands pitifully. "Thank you so much, Dr. Palmer, Professor Stein, Mr. Jackson… without your help, I—I'd never make it home. My poor mom's all alone…"
It was an Oscar-worthy performance. She'd learned a thing or two watching Moira Queen cry her heart out at charity galas. Against hardened Gotham criminals, it wouldn't work—but against a ship full of self-righteous heroes? Easy prey.
Predictably, the first to fold was Jax—the eternally single, eternally eager mechanic. The Waverider was a total sausage fest, and between Sara and Kendra, his romantic odds were zero.
Sara was basically dating a criminal mastermind, and Kendra had come prepackaged with two centuries of marital baggage—then immediately fell for Ray. Jax had been friend-zoned across time and space.
So now, when a pretty girl batted her eyes at him? His hero instincts kicked in full force.
"I can install a deep-link network upgrade!" he blurted. "You'll be able to remote-control your board from, like, three miles away! Cool, right?"
"Mr. Jackson," Gideon's smooth digital voice cut in, utterly flat, "deep-link tech is from thirty-five years in the future. Sharing it violates Council Regulation 19-112."
Jax pretended not to hear a word. Grinning, he bolted the module onto the hoverboard and gave Thea an OK sign.
Bingo, Thea thought gleefully. That's remote-control armor tech—basically Stark-level stuff. Totally worth the act.
With Jax tapped dry, she turned her attention to the two geniuses.
Stein, old enough to be her grandfather, had zero romantic susceptibility—but her dramatics still tugged at his sense of moral duty. He rummaged through a case and handed her two small metallic cells.
"These are micro-fusion batteries I've been developing," he said kindly. "Not future tech, mind you—my own design. Keep them as a backup power source in case your magnetic field fails."
Thea nodded politely, though inwardly she almost laughed. If the Earth's magnetic field collapses, humanity's toast anyway—but sure, professor. Still, I can probably rewire these into miniature nukes.
Generous, brilliant, utterly unsuspecting—Stein really did have that "sage of science" aura.
Ray, on the other hand, stood his ground the longest. The handsome genius wasn't immune to charm, but he had a higher resistance level. Finally, after both of his colleagues looked expectantly at him, he sighed.
"I'll take it back to my lab for optimization. Give me one day—I'll finish micro-atomizing the internal components."
Now that was a pleasant surprise. She'd expected software tweaks, not a full miniaturization upgrade. If it was Ray's proprietary tech, she wasn't about to complain.
After thanking the trio for their "heroic assistance," Thea headed back to rest, smug and satisfied.
⸻
The next morning, the newly enhanced Hoverboard v1.1 was ready. It could now fold down to the size of a cigarette case—pocketable, lightweight, and sleeker than ever. Sure, reverse-engineering it would be hell, but the upgrade was worth it.
"Miss Queen, I hear your hoverboard's finally fixed?" Rip Hunter greeted her with a diplomatic smile. Translation: You're out of excuses. Time to go home, lady.
Thea was about to agree—she'd gotten every bit of value she could from this time-ship—when Gideon's calm voice interrupted:
"Captain, Miss Queen is preparing to accompany us on the mission to eliminate Vandal Savage."
Thea froze mid-step.
Rip groaned.
And just like that… so much for going home.