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April 3rd, 2012- The Explorers Compound- Arlington Virginia. - 9:30 AM
Thirty seconds after the giant robot burst through the wall of the compound it was all over. The air was filled with fire and brimstone like a preacher's words on Sunday morning. A short sermon filled with the scent of charred plastic with just a hint of blood. A sermon that, like all the others Primeaux had been to, seemed to go on far longer than it actually did. Shockjock and Elementalist were down, knocked completely unconscious by hurled debris. Agent Force was trying to get the civilians- particularly the children- to relative safety. La Ponderosa was struggling to get to her feet. Only Major Patriot stood ready to attack.
"What the hell is that thing?" she muttered.
She snapped a quick glance at the robot. It appeared to be cobbled together from an antitank gun, a grenade launcher, a jeep, a crane and an old John Deere tractor. On one side of the olive green monstrosity was emblazoned with a blue and yellow B. Breslin Technologies- a competitor yes- but a friendly one. Since Andy had left to find himself, they had been a subcontractor on some of Weinstein Technologies stealth aircraft. A serial number was visible in big white letters- RDM-CRP-45. The pilot's name plate read: Bredfeldt.
"Yee-Haw! Let's test this baby out on these Spandex jockeys . . . " shouted the pilot as he pushed a few buttons at random.
"Target locked. Preparing for termination," the robot said.
"Uh, I didn't mean to do that . . . " he said.
The Major raced over the options in her mind. There were too many unknowns and not enough manpower. She fired her plasma weapon- the one rated to melt through solid titanium. She let loose a grunt. She crossed her fingers on one hand and fired. Then to her amazement- she swore. The giant mechanized battle suit appeared to take no damage at all. Whatever this thing was made of, it wasn't the junk heap it appeared to be.
"Patriot to infirmary. What's the status of reserves?" she asked.
"Not good. Most of the new recruits aren't cleared for combat yet." said Callidy. "and our disabled list is pretty extensive."
The robot fired a rocket propelled grenade. Primeaux dodged. It was sheer luck that it had fired a stun grenade. Half blind- she ducked under some rubble. She grabbed a small chunk of metal that had at one point been a chair.
"How soon can the west coast team be here?" she asked.
"Five hours," Callidy replied, "assuming of course they survive . . . "
She gulped down some air.
"Looks like we're all in the same boat," she thought.
She picked up some rubble and threw it wildly at the robot. It didn't seem to do anything aside from make her angry. She knew from experience that was never a plus in a combat situation. First of all, it wasted energy. She was going to need every ounce of power she had to get out of this alive. Secondly, the metal might have served her as a shield. Considering what the suit had done to it so far, probably not a good one but in times like this it was any port in a storm.
"Where the hell is Curry? I know he's not active duty but . . . "
"He and Ellie took Erin on a trip . . . I think he's doing something for PBS."
"Damn it! I have no choice. Send up the recruits. Have everyone but Streichman and Rattinger assisting with the evac. I need all the help I can get up here," she said.
"Rattinger went back on assignment for The Company," said Callidy.
The robot fired another grenade. This one went wild and blew out a portion of the back wall. Primeaux dodged more of the collapsing building by leaping through a hole where there had once been a light fixture. A piece of loose wiring scraped her arm. It wasn't that bad. She quickly tore a piece off her sleeve and made a make shift bandage, quickly tying a knot. Hopefully there would be time to disinfect it and give it proper care later. A small voice in her head doubted it.
"What does Freckles want with a guy like him?" she asked.
"No- no- not the company . . . ya know . . . THE COMPANY."
"Screw Langley," she sighed. "Where the hell are Angelica, Josh, and Juanita?"
April 3rd, 2012- A Bed and Breakfast- Rutland Vermont - 9:40 AM
Juanita's head ached. Not always a good sign. As she came to her senses, she felt two other people on the bed. Not unusual. It had happened a few times before. She opened her eyes and noticed two women's outfits- only one of them her own- scattered around the room. That was unusual though it had happened twice before when she was in college.
"Whoa . . . ." she said.
She looked around. Josh and Angelica were both dozing gently next to her. Their arms and legs were lying crisscrossed around her. Bits and pieces began flooding back. She turned from Josh to Angelica and then smiled.
"We best not wake him," Angelica said blushing. "The poor guy is exhausted. Or at least he should be . . . "
"Unless I'm mistaken, you should be too. . I didn't know you were so . . . " Juanita said.
"Bicurious? Only till my sixth PhD," she said.
"You're okay with this? I mean-I'm sorry if I talked you into it. The three of us used to be so close. With your taking over the company, you and Josh breaking up- AGAIN- then what happened with me and Ezquiel . . . dating a married guy mucho grande mistake! and-and then the team splitting into five units, including Josh's sort of super hero peace corp thing . . . " Juanita stammered. "I see no problem with what happened. Josh and I- We needed it. It probably would have happened if you had joined us or not. I'm glad you did but you've always seemed a lot more . . . "
"What? Prudish?" Angelica asked.
The bed jostled as Josh struggled to get up. His arms, still around Juanita, squirmed. They were warm and kind of tickled. She turned to face him and moved his hands, directing them toward the open night stand.
"Umm . . . am I dreaming?" he asked.
Both women glared at each other then at the clock. Brunch wasn't for another forty five minutes. Angelica nodded. Josh started to sit up. Before he could release his yep . . . Juanita pounced him with Angelica close behind.
Somewhere outside of Kansas City- 8:50 AM- Local time
Ezequiel climbed out of the wreckage of the airplane and stood facing the giant wolf creature. He had battled it many times under its Native Americans face- The Coyote. The Norse called it Fenris. To the Greeks it was known as Cerberus. He didn't care what it was called. He was going to kill it. While some would at least consider the possibility that The Great Coyote would kill him, the thought didn't enter his mind. He knew victory would be his.
"You destroy our plane- endanger my team- though we may be distant kin, I must destroy you," he said.
Doctor Magi teleported to Ezequiel's side. She stared at the wolf in terror. She began to chant. She knew it was the only shot they had to get this taken care of quickly. Summoning up Raven seemed a bit anti-climatic but if what she heard on the radio as the plane was crashing to the ground were true, they didn't have much of a choice. The East Coast team had gotten themselves in a bind as well, only they weren't quite the powerhouse team as their group.
The massive bird arrived. It stared at her, it's eyes appearing as giant globes of flame and its cry sounded like an eighty seven year old woman grinding her teeth on a blackboard. Its wings flapped smoothly- barely making a sound. It's mouth opened and a thousand birds emerged from it. At first, Elizabeth believed they were charging The Coyote. Instead they turned and attacked her and Ezequiel.
"I think we are in big trouble," Elizabeth Magi muttered to no one in particular.
It was only then that Ezequiel began to doubt his chance of victory.
April 3rd- 4346- The T.I.M.E. Clubhouse - 10 AM- EST
Big Jerk stared at a pile of unsigned data slips on his screen. Damn stupid elections. Every year it was the same. The team got together, decided who pissed them off the most in the last three or four months and punished them by electing them leader. Why they couldn't do it the intelligent way and find someone who was good at it and made them stick to the job was beyond him. It was all his fault, really. He wasted his vote because he falsely believed Guy in the Lobby Who Smells Like Pee was a member of the team rather than just a random homeless person that Craft Faerie let in the building on cold nights.
Behind him, Gecko Lad and Triskaidekafiliac 13 were taking down Parrot Lady's pictures of a space barbarian by some twentieth and twenty first century artist named Giffen and putting up real masterpieces of a cheese dip eating barbarian by one of the twentieth and twenty first's true artistic masters- an extremely prolific artist named Aragones.
"Why are we doing this again?" asked Gecko Lad. "Shouldn't we be involved in those massive time anomalies in the year 2012?"
"We are," replied Triskaidekafiliac 13. "Not in the way most of us would like to be."
"Are you questioning my leadership?" asked Big Jerk.
"Well, you know Breslin Technologies shouldn't have had the technology to build that super mech. I don't think Parrot Lady would have allowed that . . . " Trisky said.
"And they sure didn't have the magical know how to summon up Coyote and take over Raven either," said Gecko Lad.
"Abilities they have because some of our operatives gave it to them . . . " Big Jerk said.
Triskaidekafiliac 13 and Gecko Lad were dumbfounded.
"What?" they chorused.
"Look- we all know what history says was supposed to happen back in that era. Only as an after effect of the whole Histhologist thing a lot of those things aren't happening as they should. The sad fact is- we're supposed to make sure history follows the proper course. We don't have to like it," Big Jerk said.
"Yeah, but back when Parrot Lady was leader, who tricked Leon Czolgosz into saying his name backwards thus sending him into another reality before his meeting with McKinley?" replied Trisky.
"Or wrote three fake Shakespeare plays including The Comedy of Rhonn and Steempy and Wagon Train to the Stars II: The Vengeance of Kohnn - and buried them in The Globe theater?" asked Gecko Lad.
"If you wanted Parrot Lady to lead, you should have voted for Parrot Lady . . . from now on history goes the way history goes . . . " Big Jerk grumped. "Besides, you forgot The Tempest. That was another one of mine."
April 3rd, 2012- The Explorers Compound- Arlington Virginia. - 10:05 AM
Primeaux had made her way to the electrical room. The indicator on her watch said that Callidy had cleared the building save for her and a few cadets. Streichman- a man who was a human self-repairing Sherman tank- joined her.
"Reporting as ordered ma'am," he said.
"At ease, Marine," she said.
On the one hand, Streichman was military like her. He usually followed orders and had proven good on the battlefield. There were differences. He had a few citations on his record after he used his powers on a group of Navy Seals after a dust up over something called Project: Prometheus. She never found out the rest of the story, aside from the fact that JAG agreed that he was in the clear. All orders involving Prometheus were to be considered illegal and/or immoral. Officially- Streichman's position was as her counterpart for the USMC. Unofficially she was never quite sure if the new Administration didn't want some squeaky clean super type there to keep tabs on her. That part, she didn't like.
"So what's the plan?" he asked.
"You distract it. I'm adjusting the equipment until we have something we can use to blow this thing to hell," she responded.
"Yes, ma'am!" Streichman replied.
That was when the third wall came down.
April 3rd, 2012- A Bed and Breakfast- Rutland Vermont - 10:15 AM
Angelica finished putting on a robe. She began walking toward the closet. On the other side of the closet was a door that connected it to the room next door. It was one of the weird yet fortunate quirks left over from the building's many remodels.
"Where are you going?" Josh asked. "We still got a few minutes."
"Officially, I'm checked in the other room. I've got to go make the bed look slept in. I . . . I don't what the staff to get suspicious." Angelica said. "And I left my change of clothes in there."
Juanita coughed, "Yeah, everything all right?"
"Yeah, fine. I . . . I" she said, "I'll see you in a few minutes at brunch."
As Angelica walked out the door, Juanita got up and began dressing. In a last bout of protest Josh wiped his eyes, shoved all his dirty clothes into a plastic bag and pulled out some Ninja Turtles boxer shorts, a pair of jeans and a Billy Badass T-Shirt.
"She's . . . she's okay, right?" Josh asked, pensively.
"I honestly don't know," Juanita sighed.
"Look, I just want to say thank you for . . . " he said.
"I know. I've been thanked for that before," Juanita said.
"No, for convincing me that she's still her in there," Josh said.
"You still love her, don't you?"
"I wouldn't sleep with someone if I didn't," Josh replied.
Juanita fell into silence.
"Look, I understand what this was for you. Totally meaningless- but enjoyable. So- no biggie . . . " he said.
Juanita smiled.
"Good. Because I totally wouldn't want this happening again," she said.
"You do know Rafe and Simon are flying, right?" Josh said.
"This is going to be a long flight . . . " she said.
"Look, I'll see you on the plane," he said.
Josh walked out the room and then zipped up his pants. Juanita was half surprised he didn't trip over his own feet on the way out. In all the years she'd known she'd seem him do clumsier things. She'd even seen him fall up stairs.
"Yeah," she muttered, "Totally meaningless."
Dreamtime - Place and Time Unknown
The sky blinked in a rapid, almost seizure inducing array of colors. The red and yellow flashes for an instant appeared orange even though the moment where the two colors occurred simultaneously was a mere illusion. The hull of the ship began to fill with water. In seconds the sinking ship descended into the whirlpool that had, just moments before, absorbed its captain. The sky and the sea, whirlpool and all, began to blur. There was now no distinguishing the water from the sky and the ship began to sink upward into the air itself. In spite of the fact the molecules of his body had long since lost their Higgs Boson particles and then were completely torn apart leaving only an echo mass of tachyons, Malcolm still found a way to vomit.
"What's going on here, man?" Tuffy asked.
"We were following an albatross. Only this giant bird showed up- some sort of big raven- came and ate it. Then we heard a big Coyote howl. Then a big rock in a whirlpool hit us. Chloe fell overboard and got sucked in . . . I dove in, but she was gone . . . not even a trace . . . "
"How did you get out?" Tuffy asked.
"I used my speed to create a counter vortex. Then I continued to look for her," he said.
"Are you sure she didn't just wake up? She does do that from time to time," Tuffy responded.
"No, I'm not, but I don't think so. This feels . . . " Malcolm responded.
"Different somehow," Tuffy completed. "I leave you two alone for five minutes and the whole dreamscape goes to Hell."
"So what's it mean, Tuff?" Malcolm asked.
"Hrrmm . . . coyotes . . . ravens . . . albatrosses . . . whirlpools . . . all very primitive and primal imagery. It could mean anything but none of them good, I'm afraid . . . " Tuffy responded.
"Umm . . . just out curiosity, what do think would happen if I followed her down that whirlpool?" Malcolm asked.
"Try to imagine all life as we know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light," Tuffy replied.
"Right- that's bad. Important safety tip. Thanks Tuffy," Malcolm replied.
Lucas put down his violin. It was hard to imagine. The two story apartment building out front said "123." He must have seen it on TV more than a thousand times. Next to him was a trash can with a big green monster sitting in it playing the tuba. Any minute now a red puff ball with a high pitched shriek of a voice would come down the stairs playing the drums. He hoped they could get this wrapped up quickly. Erin was waiting for a chance to meet her dear television friends.
"All right. Let's do one more test before the director shows up," he said, "You were a little off key. What have you been doing with it? Stuffing it with grapefruit rinds?"
"What's it to ya?" the green monster growled.
"I get stuck with you for a co-star?" Lucas responded.
"You asked for me as a co-star," the green monster observed.
"I'm just saying . . . you wouldn't perform like this for Yo Yo Ma," Lucas said.
"No, I'd tell him to scram," the green monster said.
Lucas picked up with violin again and began to play. Though he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He tried to put it out of his mind. He was here- performing the concert of a lifetime with an audience of one. Nothing else in life could possible go wrong.
Next: When It Rains
Characters created by Jesse N. Wiley and various authors
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