- Elvis Presley: Hey, what's going on out there?
- Sheriff: The whole town's been overrun by ghosts!
- Elvis Presley: Well, let us out!
- Sheriff: Let me in!
- Sara Lance: All right, let's go check this out. We need to find Elvis before panic sets in.
- Gideon: Elvis Presley's uncle preached at the Church of Zion every Sunday. The boy never missed a service.
- Sara Lance: You heard the lady.
- [nobody moves]
- Sara Lance: What? Why are you staring at me?
- Nate Heywood: I dunno, waiting for you to do the thing you do.
- Sara Lance: What thing?
- Ray Palmer: You know, you usually send us into the field with a little more pizzazz.
- Sara Lance: [rolling her eyes; in a commanding voice] All right, Legends, put on your Sunday best, because we are going to church.
- Nate Heywood: That was pretty good.
- Amaya Jiwe: What totem would choose a guitar-toting choir boy as its bearer?
- Nate Heywood: Isn't it obvious? It's Elvis we're talking about. It's gotta be...
- Mick Rory: A sandwich totem.
- Nate Heywood: I was gonna say "music".
- Ray Palmer: Just imagine what the music totem would do for my upper register. I could finally give local theater a shot.
- [pause]
- Ray Palmer: That is after we use it to destroy Mallus.
- Zari Tomaz: [sarcastic] So we're gonna vanquish a time demon with our killer harmonies. It's gonna go great.
- Gideon: A scan of the timeline reveals a change in Memphis, Tennessee, 1954.
- Ray Palmer: Oh, says here Memphis became a ghost town after a mysterious bout of mass hysteria in July 1954.
- Nate Heywood: That's what caused the changes. Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll. If rock never makes it out of Memphis, then none of these things exist. Your... your rat's namesake, electric guitar.
- Wally West: Your hair gel.
- Nate Heywood: It's not hair gel, Wally. It's Royal Crown pomade. It's the same product used by...
- Sara Lance: Elvis Presley.
- Nate Heywood: See? She knows what I'm talking about.
- Sara Lance: No, dodo, look. "While the population fled in hysterics, one person was left standing in the aftermath, a local teen named Elvis Presley."
- Elvis Presley: Hello, sir. Um, I've been saving up for a while now, and I... I think it's time. I'm here to buy a guitar. Now, I... I know it ain't much. But what do you think I can get for what I got?
- Shopkeeper: Well, I'm sure we could find you something. You know, a boy picking his first guitar is a sacred moment. In fact, some say the instrument chooses you.
- Elvis Presley: I'll take that one.
- Shopkeeper: Oh. You don't want that guitar.
- Elvis Presley: What happened to the intsrument choosing me, sir?
- Shopkeeper: I-I was just, uh, building a moment. Besides, you can't afford it.
- Elvis Presley: Well, I'll get the money. I'll come back.
- Shopkeeper: Before that guitar found its way here, it belonged to a one Robert Johnson.
- Elvis Presley: *The* Robert Johnson?
- Shopkeeper: Uh-huh.
- Elvis Presley: Legend said he sold his soul to the devil to play as good as he did.
- Shopkeeper: Legend also says that guitar is cursed because of it.
- Elvis Presley: I ain't afraid of no guitar, sir. You gotta let me try it, at least.
- Elvis Presley: An instrument as good as this, I promise, one day you'll hear my name on that radio.
- Shopkeeper: Hey, what is your name, son?
- Elvis Presley: Presley, sir. Elvis Presley.
- Zari Tomaz: [giving Wally a tour of the Waverider] Which brings us to the kitchen. We divvy up cleaning duties by Ray's chore wheel, which uses a complex system I pretend to not understand until he eventually does my chores for me.
- Wally West: [looking at the wheel] "Wipe down the food fabricator."
- Zari Tomaz: Bet you thought time travel would be seeing Woodstock, saving Shakespeare, and having ethical debates while standing over baby Hitler. Trust me, it takes time to get used to life...
- Wally West: [with his powers, he speeds around the room, doing all the chores] Cool, so what's next?
- Zari Tomaz: It's gonna take time for me to get used to life with a speedster.
- Nate Heywood: I can't wait for you to see Elvis live. It's going to change your life.
- Amaya Jiwe: You really believe that my life can be changed by one song?
- Nate Heywood: Of course. Music is so much more than just songs. Music is about identity. It-it-it's hearing a track for the first time and you think to yourself "Wow, this is who I am." I don't care how long it takes. We're gonna find your music, whether it be rock and roll or, God forbid, ska.
- Ray Palmer: Whoever you are, just put the guitar down.
- Sara Lance: Doesn't look like he's taking requests.
- Ray Palmer: Maybe the preacher was right about rock and roll. You know what never hurt anyone? A nice show tune.
- Nate Heywood: [listening to Elvis in the studio] Now, that's rock and roll. What do you think?
- Amaya Jiwe: It's okay. I just don't see how it's worth risking the most volatile of totems for.
- Nate Heywood: Wow. I thought that was gonna be our music moment.
- Amaya Jiwe: Our music moment?
- Nate Heywood: One of those times where the right song comes on and ties everything together so perfectly that it becomes... it becomes a story.
- Amaya Jiwe: We already have plenty of stories. We saved the world together.
- Nate Heywood: Yeah.
- Amaya Jiwe: We saw dinosaurs.
- Nate Heywood: Mm.
- Amaya Jiwe: There was that time that I discovered Netflix and we watched every episode of "Friends" in one week.
- Nate Heywood: All stunning accomplishments, yes. But a music moment's different. You'll see.
- Nate Heywood: You rang, Captain?
- Sara Lance: Hello, gorgeous.
- Nate Heywood: Mm-hmm.
- Sara Lance: [reaching out to touch his hair] Look at that volume.
- Nate Heywood: Don't touch it.
- Sara Lance: How do you...
- Nate Heywood: [dodging out of her reach] I'm serious, don't touch it.
- Amaya Jiwe: This is the music of Zambesi. Gideon helped me locate some supposedly lost tracks.
- [putting a set of headphones on him]
- Amaya Jiwe: You like it?
- Nate Heywood: [nodding in time] Yeah... oh, it's... I like... I love it! So good.
- Amaya Jiwe: [quietly] Now you know how I feel about rock and roll.
- Nate Heywood: What's that?
- Amaya Jiwe: [more loudly] I said you're almost at the good part.
- Nate Heywood: You mean this isn't the good part?
- Amaya Jiwe: [quietly again] I love you, Nathaniel.
- Nate Heywood: What?
- Amaya Jiwe: I said there's a lot more where that came from. It's a good thing we got time.
- Zari Tomaz: This is my room. Guess you and me are bunkmates while we help you move into Stein's quarters.
- [in the blink of an eye, he speeds out and returns]
- Zari Tomaz: You just moved yourself in, didn't you?
- Wally West: I figured why bother anyone else?
- Zari Tomaz: [picking up a video game controller] You know, I was gonna invite you to be my player two, but you're officially not my problem anymore.
- Zari Tomaz: Wait, who beat all my high scores?
- Wally West: Well, you see, the thing with "Ms. Pac-Man" is you gotta just ignore the fruit. All the points come from taking down the ghosts.
- Zari Tomaz: Yeah, I know that, but nobody could beat these scores without...
- [realizing]
- Zari Tomaz: Without lightning-fast fingers. You better not have messed with "Guitar Hero".
- [picking up the game's jewel case]
- Zari Tomaz: What's "Trombone Hero"?
- Mick Rory: Hold on, Axl. Sammy's coming. Just gotta find the damn mayo.
- Ray Palmer: [entering] Come on, Mick. What did I say about having him in the kitchen?
- Mick Rory: Not to.
- Ray Palmer: [trying to fix the Fire totem] You know, Nora thought using cold fusion to reboot it was a crazy idea, but...
- Mick Rory: Don't care. Where's the mayo?
- [a thought strikes him]
- Mick Rory: The new kid. The new kid!
- Ray Palmer: I saw him speed-moving into Marty's old quarters.
- Mick Rory: Too much change on this damn ship. That's what I love about old Axl. Doesn't change.
- [seeing the name "Josh Groban" on Axl's food dish]
- Mick Rory: Josh Groban? Who the hell's Josh Groban? And who the hell changed the name of my rat?
- Sara Lance: All right, kids, it's anachronism o'clock. What you got?
- Amaya Jiwe: How about this one? It's a category two during the Belle Epoque in Paris. Sounds romantic.
- Nate Heywood: Hmm. Or, uh, this category three, which is the launch of the Spirit of St. Louis. I always wanted to join the mile-high club. It's when two people on a plane...
- Sara Lance: Hey, really cute that you guys are crazy in love, but date night is going to have to wait. If these anachronisms are loosening Mallus' cage, we need to double down.
- Sara Lance: What happened to your hair?
- Nate Heywood: What are you talking about?
- [seeing Amaya's look]
- Nate Heywood: What? What is it?
- Sara Lance: I...
- Nate Heywood: [looking at his reflection] What happened to my trademark volume and sheen?
- Mick Rory: [entering with Ray] Who changed my rat's name?
- Zari Tomaz: [entering with Wally] Yo, who switched my game?
- Sara Lance, Nate Heywood, Mick Rory, Zari Tomaz, Ray Palmer, Amaya Jiwe, Wally West: Gideon?
- Nate Heywood: Don't tell me they messed with the King.
- Ray Palmer: Whatever he saw drove him crazy. He was taken to the Bolivar State Hospital. Treated for insanity.
- Nate Heywood: If Memphis is abandoned in '54, then rock doesn't hit the mainstream, which means there's no Howlin' Ray, no Little Richard...
- Mick Rory: The Elvis sandwhich; peanut butter and banana fried in greasy bacon fat. The man was a visionary.
- Zari Tomaz: But if it didn't show up on the anachronism map, then...
- Nate Heywood: Darhks. The only people evil enough to wanna kill rock and roll. Oh, and I bet you that sick bastard likes ska.
- Zari Tomaz: Well, this is uncomfortable, and I'm not just talking about my dress.
- Wally West: Yeah, I guess these people didn't get the whole "love thy neighbor" talk.
- Old Lady: Shh!
- Sara Lance: Shush yourself, lady. Have you heard your singing voice?
- Ray Palmer: Just keep Mick away from the collection tray. And the communion wafers.
- Mick Rory: [spitting wafers out] That's not bread.
- Uncle Lucious: There's a sickness coming over this town. I see it in the school yard as I pass in the morning. And to my horror, I see it in this very church on Sundays. It infects the mind. It drives people crazy.
- Sara Lance: Maybe the righteous reverend is on to something.
- Uncle Lucious: They call it rock and roll. I call it the devil's music.
- Nate Heywood: Never mind. He has no idea what he's talking about.
- Nate Heywood: Can you believe this? The first show we see together is Elvis live.
- Amaya Jiwe: You're not the only one who's excited.
- [teens in the front pew titter as Elvis steps on stage]
- Elvis Presley: This one's called "Onward, Christian Soldiers".
- Nate Heywood: [quietly] Okay.
- Amaya Jiwe: [as he starts to play] So this is rock and roll? I mean, it's no Benny Goodman, but...
- Nate Heywood: No, we did not come all this way to listen to Elvis play grandma songs.
- Sara Lance: I guess Elvis is the King of rock and roll. One hip shake, and Z loses it.
- Nate Heywood: Yeah, tell me about it, sister.
- Zari Tomaz: I didn't lose control because of Elvis' hips.
- Nate Heywood: [sarcastic] Yeah, me, either.
- Zari Tomaz: My totem was glowing, and so was Elvis' guitar.
- Amaya Jiwe: But that means that Elvis is...
- Zari Tomaz: Yep. Elvis is a totem bearer.
- Amaya Jiwe: Every totem is growing stronger in response to Mallus' threat. What if the preacher was right and Elvis' music literally drives Memphis insane?
- Sara Lance: Then we have to get it before that happens.
- Wally West: [speeding out and returning] I got it. Elvis' guitar totem.
- Zari Tomaz: So, I'm not the only one who finds that annoying, right?
- Wally West: Okay, come on. We're good to go, right?
- Nate Heywood: Are we? 'Cause Elvis hasn't recorded his first single yet. And without that guitar, he may never record it. Which means rock and roll history is...
- Mick Rory: Josh Groban.
- Sara Lance: What if we have Gideon fabricate a ringer guitar and drop it off to the future King?
- Nate Heywood: Great idea. I call "A" mission. Amaya, come with me. I will teach you what rock and roll is all about. 'Till then, everyone shake, rattle, and roll!
- Nate Heywood: Beale Street was the heart of the music scene in Memphis in the 1950s. Brothels, churches, juke joints, all next to each other, all black-owned. This... this was the spirit of rock and roll.
- Nate Heywood: Hey, kid. I don't think you wanna keep this lying around. Something tells me it's special.
- Elvis Presley: You have no idea. There's no way I'd ever be able to thank you for this.
- Nate Heywood: [handing him a slip of paper] Well, if you wanna write a song about me, here are several words that rhyme with "Nate".
- Elvis Presley: Y'all gonna think I'm crazy, but my guitar, it's more than just a guitar. Now it ain't working right, I just...
- Amaya Jiwe: You don't feel like yourself anymore.
- Elvis Presley: Yes, ma'am. And I'll tell you why. Usually, when I play... I got my twin brother, Jesse, up there to back me up.
- Amaya Jiwe: You have a twin brother?
- Elvis Presley: Well, he ain't with us no more. Passed when he was a baby. But this guitar of mine used to connect me to him. I told y'all would think I'm crazy.
- Amaya Jiwe: No, not at all. I've always believed that objects can connect us to our ancestors.
- Elvis Presley: Yeah, I guess we call it a spirit, like. On stage... on stage just now for the first time, Jesse wasn't with me. I mean, he's gone. All of a sudden, I just don't know where he is.
- Ray Palmer: [trying to remove the totem from Elvis' guitar, it suddenly shines brightly] Whoa, that was weird.
- Sara Lance: [the ship's lights flicker] Yeah. You feel that?
- Ray Palmer: Yeah, it's freezing.
- Gideon: I am detecting an EMF reading of six miligaus that is disturbing the ship's electrical servers.
- Sara Lance: EM-what?
- Ray Palmer: Electromagnetic field. It's a scientific term that's been wrapped up in a bunch of paranormal nonsense.
- Sara Lance: [seeing a handprint appear in ice Ray's board] Paranormal, as in...
- Ray Palmer: [Elvis' guitar rises into the air by itself; a spirit resembling Elvis then appears] Ghosts.
- Zari Tomaz: What the hell is going on?
- Mick Rory: [holding his head] Guitar hit me in the head.
- Zari Tomaz: [seeing the guitar floating in the air by itself] Oh, that explains nothing.
- Elvis Presley: That's what's so strange about my brother. I ain't never met Jesse, but somehow I-I missed him all my life.
- Nate Heywood: Until you bought your first guitar.
- Elvis Presley: Yeah, the store said it was cursed. He was only half right. It was also a blessing, too. Well, my brother's out there somewhere without me. I can't imagine he's too happy.
- Nate Heywood: Guys, Elvis' guitar is haunted.
- Sara Lance, Ray Palmer: We know!
- Nate Heywood: Yeah, and I'm guessing it's gonna do whatever it takes to get back to Elvis.
- Sara Lance: Good guess!
- Elvis Presley: Now, I-I-I know this all sounds like hogwash. Magical guitars, the ghosts of gone family members. But I can't play without him. I got a session to record at Sun Studios tomorrow. I saved up to buy it.
- Nate Heywood: It's your first recording session. You're gonna keep that appointment. And we're gonna get you Jesse back.
- Elvis Presley: You will?
- Amaya Jiwe: We will?
- Sara Lance: All right, so I talked to Constantine about our totem. He compared it with his notes, and this is what he found.
- Zari Tomaz: Death totem? Pass.
- Sara Lance: Yeah. Whoever wields it has domain over the dead. Which is why we need to keep this totem with us and safe at all times.
- Nate Heywood: [entering] Elvis needs his totem back.
- Amaya Jiwe: The Death totem? The most volatile of all the totems lost for eons along with the sixth tribe of Zambesi. Maybe they suffered the same fate that's about to befall Memphis.
- Nate Heywood: You don't understand.
- Sara Lance: No, you don't understand. We are talking about a Death totem, and it could turn this whole place into a ghost town.
- Nate Heywood: Elvis has a session at Sun Studios. That's where he cuts his first demo. That's how he gets discovered, okay? We do not have the time for Elvis to get his groove back. Jesse has to be there.
- Amaya Jiwe: Nathaniel, I understand how important this is to you. But we can't give Elvis a totem just to save his music.
- Nate Heywood: It's not about the music, okay? Rock has inspired many historic milestones. Protests, revolutions, me losing my virginity.
- [awkward silence]
- Nate Heywood: Elvis doesn't need a totem forever. Just one song that changes the world. Please.
- Elvis Presley: Uncle Lucious, what are you doing here?
- Uncle Lucious: Well, well, well. You missed choir practice. Then I hear 'cause you're down at Sun Studios. Well, no kin of mine is gonna record the devil's music. Not after what we saw in church.
- Elvis Presley: Look, I-I got talent. My manager says so.
- Uncle Lucious: You got my nephew into this?
- Nate Heywood: Yeah.
- Uncle Lucious: Your mama's been too easy on you, boy. Look at the sort you got mixed up with. These are the types that go on down to Beale Street and dance the hoochie-koo like heathens!
- Elvis Presley: You keep on preaching hate. I'm only trying to bring folks together.
- Uncle Lucious: As the Lord destroyed the wicked, I must do the same with this record. I'll make an example of you at the Heavenly Nights of Hymms. That ought to teach them young folks a lesson.
- Nate Heywood: Reverend, you don't know what you're messing with. The music your nephew makes...
- Uncle Lucious: Has turned Memphis into Sodom and Gomorrah. I will not allow it to be the ruination of that boy's soul, too.
- Nate Heywood: Guys, we have a bit of a setback.
- Wally West: We're listening. What's up?
- Nate Heywood: Um, long story, funny ending. Amaya, Elvis, and I were thrown in the slammer.
- Wally West: So just steel up and break out.
- Nate Heywood: Yeah, I know, I can, but I'm afraid my work here isn't done.
- Zari Tomaz: What do you need?
- Nate Heywood: I need you to go back to the church, get the record from the reverend, and bring it to WHBQ and make sure it debuts tonight.
- Wally West: Despite everything you've seen, I really think my powers could come in handy right now because I could just go grab that record, and then I...
- Zari Tomaz: Okay, if this were a Central City bank robbery, sure. You could just speed in, save the day, the mayor would give you a key to the city.
- Wally West: That actually happened, you know. See, Barry and I, we saw this...
- Zari Tomaz: History is different. You can't be a chainsaw. You need to be a scalpel. You... you need to get in there, talk to people, find out what they really need. Now, let's go talk to the preacher like human beings.
- Ray Palmer: Mick, don't panic. You just forgot to chew again.
- Mick Rory: Axl. Is this one of your stupid science experiments?
- Ray Palmer: Looks like Josh Groban...
- Mick Rory: Axl!
- Ray Palmer: Found something even more lethal than your Elvis sandwich. I'm sorry, buddy. Look, the life expectancy of a rat is 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years. So, you know, the little guy really beat the odds. And you know what? We can pick you up another one in the next time period we stop in.
- Mick Rory: Because what's one more change on this ship?
- Nate Heywood: There's no easy way to say this, but when we get out of here, you're gonna have to give us that guitar. It has power, and it can be dangerous.
- Elvis Presley: No. I mean, I can't play without Jesse. I mean, before he came along, sure, there was songs, but there wasn't ever any music.
- Nate Heywood: Look, even after he's gone, you're gonna have the music. I mean, that's why you play, right? The real reason music matters is because it keeps things alive long after they're gone.
- Mick Rory: Whatever this is, I don't like it.
- Sara Lance: Wait, what is that?
- Ray Palmer: We're gathered here in remembrance of our dear friend Axl.
- Mick Rory: Right. I'm outta here.
- Sara Lance: I'm with him.
- Ray Palmer: [they both turn to leave] Wait, you need this. We... we all need this.
- Sara Lance: Fine. But when I mourn, I drink.
- Ray Palmer: Charles Dickens once wrote "Life is made of ever so many partings, welded together." Axl is one such parting. And while we may lose some, they are never really gone. And they certainly can't be replaced. They'll live on in the memories we shared with them and the lessons they taught us. And it is because of that that we can embrace the change. I still remember the first time I met Axl. It was in the vents. I was tiny Atom. He was a big rat. And he tried to eat me. I knew we'd laugh about it one day together. Sara, I believe it's customary for the Captain to share a few words.
- Sara Lance: Oh, no, you... you're doing a great job.
- Ray Palmer: Thank you. Well, then, please join me in a chorus of "Sweet Child of Mine".
- Sara Lance: [cutting him off] All right, I'll say something.
- Zari Tomaz: Can we have a word? And not the good word. We just wanna talk.
- Uncle Lucious: What could you possibly wanna talk about?
- Zari Tomaz: We need to talk about your nephew and his record. You can't destroy it. People need to hear it. That includes you.
- Uncle Lucious: How would y'all know what I need to hear?
- Wally West: I might actually know what you're going through. You see, my dad, he came into my life pretty late. We couldn't always figure each other out. We didn't always know how to fit into each other's lives until I knew that I just had to go and set out on my own.
- Uncle Lucious: Truly sorry to hear that, son.
- Wally West: I think you might be afraid that you're losing your nephew. But if you both could just try to understand each other, you might actually find something new between you two. You might... you might even find something really special. Now, I know someone that would love to play that record, if you're ready to give it a chance. And a lot of young souls would be moved by your nephew's voice.
- Uncle Lucious: Hmm.
- [he retrieves the record, then hands it over]
- Uncle Lucious: Mysterious ways, indeed.