Time Travel: Rise of the Time Keepers (IC)

[StandardFiend]

Sparks flew as the two blades met violently once again. Aiden Langley successfully parried another vicious blow from the armored, masked assailant. By now, Aiden knew the garb in which his opponent was attired: this man worked for the Time Keepers.

The young man was on his way to the meeting place designated by Lucas. He was nearly there when from literally out of nowhere the Time Keeper appeared, a blade already singing through the air. Were it not for Aiden's quick reflexes, he'd have been split in twain right there. But he was quicker than the attacker, and now the two of them dueled along a narrow and treacherous cliff path.

The way was no more than three feet wide, a sheer face dropping down on one side and extending up on the other. In no more dangerous a place had Aiden ever fought. Adrenaline pumped through him in constant ridiculous amounts, as he knew that a single misstep would mean his end. But he took solace knowing that his opponent was in the very same situation. On the other hand, this pawn of the Time Keepers would know of his expendability and hold little back, his own demise meaning little in the grand scheme of things. Aiden took this into account as he fought, realizing that he needed to be prepared for whatever rash action his opponent took.

He lifted his feet into the air as the ornate blade belonging to the other man bit into the hard-packed dirt below him, threatening to have severed his ankles were he a moment too slow. Aiden countered with a heavy overhead swing, but this Time Keeper was lithe and extended his body out over the face of the cliff to avoid the blow. The Keeper swung inward towards the wall, and Aiden bent over backward. The blade dug into the cliff as Aiden's back hit the ground, and he extended a foot into the Keeper's scrawny gut. The other man flew back and into the dirt, sliding and coming to rest at a bend in the path, inches from the treacherous edge.

With some distance between them, the Keeper pulled out a handgun and fired a round. Aiden moved his head to the side, but felt the bullet graze his cheek. An intense burning consumed his face, and he felt warm liquid trickle down his neck to his collar. The Keeper obviously wasn't as good with a gun as he was with a blade, as the next bullet missed completely. Aiden plunged his free hand into his coat and grasped the Temporal Aperture. Pulling it out and squeezing it tightly, he activated its power, slowing time down around him. He ran recklessly down the narrow path towards the Keeper. He saw the third bullet leave the barrel of the gun, saw it screaming through the air towards him, but not fast enough that he couldn't dodge it this time.

He closed the distance and kicked the pistol from the Keeper's hand and held his sword inches from the man's neck. Time resumed its normal flow, and the handgun disappeared over the edge of the cliff. The Keeper, startled by Aiden's sudden burst of speed, breathed heavily, gripping his blade tightly, but not daring to make a move with it.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Aiden, the Time Keeper was streaming data through the timeline directly back to headquarters, and to one man in particular.

* * *

Nestor sat in his Spartan office with his elbows resting on his desk and his fingers laced. The desk was a deep mahogany, polished to perfection and with little strewn across its surface. An antique feather quill rested upright in its holster beside an inkwell not far out of Nestor's immediate reach, and a small stack of parchment lay opposite. The walls were dark. A small collection of paintings adorned the macabre wallpaper. Nestor was not so full of himself as to line his office with portraits of himself; instead, these paintings were of an abstract nature, depicting nothing in particular. Nestor liked them, because to him, the represented time as he knew it: nothing was absolute.

This office was utterly unlike the Time Keeper headquarters. Nestor disliked the stark whiteness of everything else around him. He appreciated darkness, but also needed color. Chrominance in addition to luminance. He knew that a lifetime in a white office would drive him mad. Well, more mad than he was already, if that was possible.

In stark contrast with his antique surroundings, a nearly paper-thin LED screen floated a few inches above his desk, projecting an image to Nestor. He watched with a subtle grin on his face, understanding completely what he saw. He needed no communication from his agent. From Nestor's point of view, he stared up the length of Aiden Langley's blade and into the man's piercing eyes.

"Peek-a-boo. I see you," whispered Nestor. A low chuckle followed.

* * *

Neither Aiden nor the Keeper moved a muscle, but Aiden knew he had the upper hand now. The Time Keeper was at his mercy.

"I can safely assume you're not going to tell me anything, so the question is, what do I do with you?"

"I guess you kill me," said the Keeper. The voice was utterly distorted through the bluish metal mask. But it still carried some semblance of humanity, proving this Keeper wasn't just some artificial drone.

"You gotta do what you gotta do," Aiden replied with a shrug. He thrust his blade forward.

But the Keeper was faster even than that. He tipped his head back and thrust his legs up into the air. As the tip of the blade slid between the armored mask and the face beneath it, the Keeper's feet struck the hand gripping the weapon. The mask was pried off the Keeper's face, and the sword flipped end-over-end, down the cliff, and into oblivion, as the Keeper rolled backward and back onto his feet.

Aiden stumbled back, tripping and landing on his behind, utterly startled by the chaotic mess that had just happened, unsure of the proceedings himself. He looked up into the revealed face of his attacker, confusion suddenly taking him.

Long, silky, raven-black hair fluttered in the light, dusty breeze. A narrow, pale face held deep, turquoise eyes that pierced through Aiden as they stared. Luscious, crimson lips were parted just a sliver to allow the Keeper more heavy breath. A few drops of blood stained the otherwise perfect face. They dripped from a tiny cut below the Keeper's right eye, where Aiden's blade had nicked her.

"A.... woman?" The positioning of the Keeper's armor had prevented previous identification, but the body and the lithe movements might have given her away sooner, if Aiden had been paying attention.

Her fists were clenched tightly, one around her sword, and she stood tall over the downed warrior. With her armored wrist she wiped her cheek, streaking the blood but clearing most of it away.

She raised her chin to Aiden and smiled evilly. "Does that change your decision to kill me, pretty-boy?" Her voice was almost... angelic in its perfection.

Aiden crawled backward a few inches and shook his head. "No, but the sudden lack of a weapon might."

With her helmet gone, the Keeper knew that her master, Nestor, would no longer be able to see what she saw. So her next move would go unnoticed by him. Besides, he probably assumed her to be dead now. She sheathed her ornate sword on her back, magnetically locking it into place. She then knelt and retrieved two daggers, one from each boot. She straightened motioned with one for Aiden to get up. He obeyed, dusting himself off.

"Farbeit from me to stoop to your level, though," she said. She tossed one of the daggers to Aiden.

He snatched it out of the air. Why was she playing fair? She had no reason to give him anything, let alone a fighting chance. He raised the knife into a classic defensive stance, spreading his feet and turning up a small cloud of dirty dust. "Why?" was all he said.

The woman shrugged and assumed a stance of her own. "More fun this way."

She began inching along the narrow path towards Aiden, and he towards her. "You're a hard man to find, Aiden Langley," she mused. "You don't leave much of a mark on the timeline."

Aiden cocked his head. "Is that an insult or a compliment?"

She shrugged again. "Depends on how badly you want to die." She stopped moving for a moment. "You know, I'm pretty sure this is a waste of time, but there's another way. I don't have to kill you. Just give me the device, and we'll leave you alone."

Aiden shook his head. "Yup. A waste of time. You're not getting it."

The woman put on a pouty face. "That's where you're wrong, Aiden. I am getting it, one way or another. I was just trying to give you a choice of how dead you'll be when I do."

With that, she launched herself at Aiden with a flurry of vicious strikes. Aiden found it quite difficult to fend them all off, and there were zero openings for an attack of his own. He wasn't shite with the dagger, but it was far from his area of expertise. He wasn't going to get that sword off the woman's back, either; it was locked firmly in place.

He ducked under a heavy swing and found an opportunity to counter. He thrust his knee up into the woman's chin. The hefty blow staggered her, disoriented her, and she stumbled back a few steps. Aiden followed up with a lightning-fast roundhouse that sent the Time Keeper over the edge of the cliff.

She held on with one hand, the other refusing to let go of her weapon. The tips of her fingers strained to hold up the weight of her body and her armor and weapons. Aiden stepped closer and knelt. He pondered for a few moments, then reached down and grasped the woman's wrist.

"What are you doing?" she spat.

Aiden began to pull her up, not answering.

She narrowed her eyes at him, her expression deforming into maliciousness. "I'm not going to owe you one," she whispered venomously. She reached up with her dangling hand and plunged her second dagger into Aiden's wrist.

Aiden cried out in pain, reflexively letting the woman go. He looked out over the edge, clutching his bleeding arm, and watched her fall. She tumbled down the face of the cliff, but before she disappeared through the canopy of trees below, her body disappeared in a flash of bright, blue light.

Aiden leaned back against the cliff wall. He gritted his teeth as he inspected his wound. The blade was in deep, but it didn't feel as though it had pierced any bones. If he was lucky, it had slid right between them. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he yanked the dagger out of his arm. Blood began to pour out, but Aiden quickly put pressure on it. He removed his jacket and his shirt, then tied the latter as tightly around the wound as he could with just one arm and his teeth to work with, then replaced his coat. He gathered the two daggers left by the woman and shoved them into his belt.

"Shit," was all he had to say about the whole ordeal. He resumed his hike up the side of the cliff.

A few minutes later, he saw Lucas standing at the edge of an outcropping. Aiden came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Looks like I'm the first to arrive. Funny, considering I'm like the only one who can't teleport around like I belong on the Enterprise."

* * *

A knock came at Nestor's door. "Enter," he said simply.

The old wooden door creaked open, and in walked the raven-haired Keeper.

"General Lokalus," said Nestor, surprise evident in his voice. He stood upon her entry. "I must confess, I did not expect you back...... so soon."

The woman grimaced. "My sincerest apologies, Lord Nestor," she replied icily.

Nestor's expression saddened. "You didn't retrieve the device.... did you?"

She shook her head. "He bested me. He's more skillful than we anticipated. And he knows how to use the device."

The Time Keeper lord shook his head. "I imagined he would have learned its secrets by now. After all, why else would he continue to carry it? It's as invaluable to him as it is to us, I think. But no matter. You will try again."

General Lokalus nodded and turned on her heel to leave. As she reached to close the door, Nestor stopped her. "And Rayna, my dear, please don't fail me again. I grow tired of this...inquisition."

With a hesitant nod and a trace of fear, the general took her leave.

[Orrin55]

Mike backed away from the employee slowly "Sir." She called "What made you think there were castles here?", The time traveller slowed slightly I can still lie my way out of this He thought and made up a quick story "I'm sorry, Miss." He replied "I'm just a tourist and my brother told me about how there were castles everywhere in ireland, the lying fool." She gave a quick smile "Well alot of people claim that there's castles everywhere but in truth we only have maybe one or two and those are in the north." She stopped for a moment to respond to a computer beep. in a matter of seconds her face went from cheerful to serious. Mike felt chilled as he watched her pick up a phone "Manager..." She called "He's right here."

Mike spun as she pulled a handgun from below and fired narrowly catching him with the first shot. He ran, alarms ringing throughout the town, and skidded into a small alleyway barely avoiding a gang of timekeepers "One question and the whole town wants you dead!" Mike muttered bouncing off the walls and onto the roof. He slipped of his guitar case and retrived his weapons, making sure his revolver was loaded before slipping it back on again. It was going to be a long trip if he every wanted to escape.

[Aryx Noi]

((SF, with your post about Aiden catching the time keeper, I'm confused about your latest post. So, I'm going to act like that post didn't happen, okay?))
Damien got up and walked into the ruined cemetery, standing amongst the burning shrapnel. He looked around, then saw a flash of light appear before him, then a man fall from it, in a cloak covered with skulls. Damien was shocked at the sight - he was more afraid of the fact the man was covered with blood. Damien slowly backed away, wanting to not get involved.

"I've been in enough trouble this time," Damien said, walking back to Ryan, who was still unconscious. Damien felt him for a pulse, but found none. He let out a sigh and picked Ryan up, taking him into a spot in the cemetery. It didn't make that much of a difference, but it was better than leaving him out in the open. Damien walked away, putting his hands in his pocket. He took out The Machine and fiddled with it, transporting him to the mountain. He fell on his back, making a loud "thud" sound.

"Damn it, that always happens," he mumbled as he got up, "so, what's going on now?"

[chexmix5]

Lucas felt the hand on his shoulder, and for a split-second, his heart skipped a beat. Being so focused on other things had caused him to leave his guard down, and that was something he could ill afford. Thankfully it was only Aiden, the second one to arrive, including himself.

"Yes, I haven't seen any of the others yet. I was beginning to think I would have to do this on my own." He turned and gave a rare smile. "You not being able to bounce like some of us could actually benefit you. It should reduce the likeliness of being found by the Time Keepers." Just as he finished the statement, he looked down to see a wrist wrapped with a bloody shirt. "Or not."

Before he got the chance to actually ask what happened, a small thud was heard to his right. It was Damien, the next time traveller to arrive. Most of the group who had been at the hotel was there now, save for Mike and Ryan... and Ryan wouldn't be joining them. Lucas remembered back to the small skirmish at the graveyard, one that Ryan would not make it out of. Such a short time after they had begun, they had already suffered a loss at the hands of the Time Keepers, as if they hadn't lost enough because of them already.

"We were waiting for you, slowpoke. Now we're waiting for Mike... Unless you both think he won't be coming."

[StandardFiend]

Rayna Lokalus stood stoically beneath the constant stream of warm water. A heavy mist consumed the restroom of her small, quaint quarters in lair of the Time Keepers. As the water fell down her body and circled the drain in the shallow, porcelain tub, she thought. Many things swam through her mind, and Nestor's current mood was far from the least of her concerns.

She was a general of the Time Keepers' army for a reason; this was her first unsuccessful mission. Nestor was not known for his patience or forgiveness, so the fact that Rayna still retained her rank--and her life--was something to be thankful for. And thus, further failure was not an option. Nestor would not stand for it.

In addition to that, Rayna played out her battle with Aiden Langley over and over, going through each movement, remembering her thoughts during each. It was a poor fight on her part, and a rather good one on Aiden's. She did not consider it a mistake to have armed the man after his weapon was lost, although she knew Nestor would have deeply disapproved. In fact, he would have attributed her failure to that act alone, and probably dubbed her a traitor for it. If her helmet had not been flung off, thereby rendering the fight invisible to Nestor, Rayna surely would not have risked such a thing.

Aside from that, there were many things Rayna could have done better, any number of which would have ensured her victory and spared her this discomfort. Now she would tread on eggshells around Nestor until she had redeemed herself by acquiring the Temporal Aperture. However, that wasn't the only reason she was careful around her Time Keeper lord...

A harsh trio of metallic knocks on the door to her quarters brought Rayna out of her thoughts and back to the present. She quickly shut off the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She approached her door as three more knocks rang through the Spartan room.

"I'm coming!" she grumbled. Whoever disturbed her now had better have either a damned good reason, or a significantly higher rank.

Still dripping wet, Rayna pressed a switch, and the door slid into the wall with a faint hiss. Two lowly soldiers, fully armed and armored, stood beyond the threshold. Rayna regarded them with slight hostility, crossing her arms and glaring at them coolly. "Yes?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

The soldier on the right spoke. "Lord Nestor requests your company immediately."

"What for?"

The armored man shrugged. "He is about to sit down for supper, and he asks that you join him."

"If you couldn't tell, I'm a little busy."

Another shrug. "Ma'am, we both know he isn't really asking. You have two minutes to dress. We'll escort you when your ready."

[StandardFiend]

With a direct order from Nestor, Rayna had no choice but to obey. The door slid shut and she turned away. Quickly, she dried her body and hair as best she could, then slid into her uniform. Nestor never was much for formalities, and she knew he hardly expected her to come in formal attire. Her hair was quite damp and stuck to her forehead and neck, but her two minutes were up. She walked out of her quarters and strode down the hall, flanked by the two soldiers.

She knew the way to Nestor's dining hall; they did not need to lead her. They arrived at a large, brass-colored, engraved door, one that utterly stood apart from the rest of the Time Keeper headquarters. Obviously this was Nestor's doing, whose abhorrence for all things bland and uniform was unrivaled in this dimension. The door opened, and the trio stepped inside.

The room was long and narrow, with an oaken table running its length. Two places were set, one at each end of the table. The walls were a deep, forest green and lined with ornately framed paintings and tapestries. An elaborate light fixture hung from the high ceiling, casting the room in a dull, yellow glow. It was a room straight out of an antique manor.

Nestor sat at the far end of the table, and he stood upon Rayna's entry. "Ah, General Lokalus. I might have guessed you'd appear in uniform as such. I'd expect no less, no more. Please, sit down," he said, his expression blank and emotionless. He gestured with his hand to the throne-like chair close to the door.

Warily, Rayna did as she was told. Her two escorts folded their hands across their fronts and stood on either side of the door as it closed. They remained silent.

"Lord Nestor--" Rayna began, but Nestor held up a hand to stop her.

"Is it so strange that I would request the pleasure of your company, dear general? You are my best warrior, my top strategist, and on top of it all, a beautiful woman." Again, the Keeper remained expressionless.

His words seemed sincere, but Rayna saw through the guise. Something was going on in that overcrowded brain of Nestor's. Something sinister. Realization dawned on Rayna, but it was too late to do anything now.

"Rayna, my dear, it has come to my attention that perhaps you do not share in my vision. What I do, I do for the betterment of our civilization; nay, all civilization. Sometimes, the smallest deeds would seem to have nothing to do with that vision, would seem unnecessary. Perhaps cruel."

Rayna was frozen in her chair as she stared down the table at Nestor.

"But I assure you that nothing I do is without purpose, cruel as it may seem at the time. At any rate, as a general of this army you should know that in my vision there is no room for mercy, and certainly not for... insubordination."

The general swallowed hard as the word poured slowly from Nestor's lips.

The Keeper continued after a brief pause. "I trust I need not elaborate on the matter of which I speak. You know what you've done. Just as I know what you've done. And I'm afraid I simply cannot tolerate disobedience of this magnitude."

Nestor looked past Rayna to the two soldiers standing behind her. "Arrest the general, please."

[StandardFiend]

Rayna's eyes widened, and she stood from her chair, its wooden legs scraping noisily across the tiled floor. She swiveled her head back and forth between the two soldiers as they bound her hands with their electromagnetic cuffs. Each placed a firm grip around one of her arms. She struggled against them, but futilely.

"You can't!" she screamed, both terror and anger welling up inside her.

Nestor stood as well, still calm and collected. "I can. As a lord of this order, one of my duties is to weed out and punish traitors. A traitor is exactly what you are." He looked to the soldier on Rayna's left. "I've arranged an appointment for the general with Doctor Cayl. See that she does not miss it."

"No!" screamed Rayna, and she fought back harder, but with her hands bound it was easy for the two men to hold her at bay.

Doctor Cayl was the most infamous persona in the Time Keepers' ranks. The man's title was "interrogator" and his purpose was to extract information, but in situations where information could not be obtained--or was no longer necessary--he functioned as an executioner. It was Cayl who had invented and constructed the Interdimensional Fissural Shift Generator, more commonly known to the rest of the order as "The Apparatus."

To be executed was one thing. To be fed through The Apparatus was an abomination of a punishment. Rayna's physical being would literally be shredded, painfully rendered into thousands upon thousands of insignificant fragments, each of which would be sent to a different timeline. It was an utterly irreversible process. Rayna would not die. She would cease to exist entirely. Doctor Cayl had is own little term for the process: frazzled.

How ironic that Rayna would suffer this fate. But Nestor, of course, would never allow nothing less after what she had done.

The two soldiers hauled her from the room. A few feet from the door. Rayna struggled violently again. "Let me go!" she demanded. "I'll walk." If she was going to be executed, at least she would retain her dignity throughout the long path to Cayl's laboratory.

The soldiers exchanged a glance, then removed their hands from Rayna's arms. "Walk, then."

Rayna walked with her head held high, offering nary a glance at onlookers as she strode through the metallic, white halls of headquarters, flanked by the two armed guards. It seemed an eternity before they reached the lift that would take them down into the heart of the white castle.

Cayl's laboratory was large and filled with all manner of strange devices. It came as no surprise to Rayna that most of them were designed to inflict pain and induce torturous deaths. That was Cayl's specialty, after all. And there is no man so stupendous at torture as one who enjoys it deeply. Cayl was infamous for a reason.

The Apparatus was housed in its own room. It was an enormous structure, the construction of which was almost too complicated to comprehend: a testament to Cayl's genius. There were wrist- and ankle-holds into which Rayna would be strapped, suspended in a relief in the machine's construction. The machine would then close around her, and she would be utterly destroyed in a brief moment of unimaginable pain.

As they stepped into the room, Doctor Cayl himself was waiting with his hands clasped behind his back, a smug grin on his face. He locked sights on Rayna. "You must have known this was coming, girl. You did not believe you would get away scot-free, did you? Tsk, tsk."

Rayna stood still and watched Cayl approach her. "What a shame, to destroy such a pretty young lass. I offered Nestor a variety of punishments that would simply destroy your mind and leave us your rather... delectable body, but he insisted that you be frazzled. Oh, well."

No... no... I can't let it end like this... this isn't right...

"Well," continued Doctor Cayl, "let's get you out of that uniform. Resources are tight these days; can't be wasting perfectly good outfits for the troops. Besides... not like you'll need where you're going, eh?" The doctor's cheerful disposition was disgusting to Rayna, to say nothing of his absolute perversion. "Disable the cuffs, gentlemen," he instructed the two guards.

[StandardFiend]

Rayna had one chance to escape. Just one. And right now it was do or die. As she felt the electromagnetic bindings leave her wrists, she dug her fingers hard into her right palm as she swiveled around. She aimed a punch with her right fist at one of the guards, but just before her knuckles connected with his face, the hidden blade Rayna had installed in her bracer, triggered by a pressure pad in the palm of her glove, sprung forth, plunging through his left eye and into the depths of his skull. Rayna withdrew the blade and wheeled around again, swinging her right arm in a wide arc. The tip of the blade sliced through the second guard's throat with ease. As he fell, Rayna reached out and pulled his pistol from its holster.

The two guards collapsed to the floor at about the same time, neither having had time to react to Rayna's lightning-fast movements. Rayna did not hesitate before pointing the pistol at Cayl's head.

"G-General Lokalus!" Cayl pleaded. "W...what.... are you going to shoot me?"

Rayna pulled the trigger. A loud blast rang out, and Cayl hit the floor with a thud, a gaping hole between his eyes. Rayna stashed the pistol in her own empty holster, reset her hidden blade, and retrieved each of the two guards' swords and the second pistol. She was stocking up on as much equipment as she could carry.

The room turned red. The alarm had been triggered. Rayna figured she had maybe three minutes before a cadre of security personnel arrived to take her into custody. It was lucky for her that Cayl disliked the presence of soldiers and kept them out of his territory.

Rayna tapped a small switch on her left bracer, and a panel popped open, revealing a keypad below. A rectangular holographic display appeared a moment later, and Rayna punched in the first time and place that came to her mind. If they wanted her, they were going to have to catch her.

* * *

Aiden turned around as Damien arrived rather ungracefully. "Good to see you," he said with a nod of acknowledgment. He turned to Lucas.

"As for Mike... I don't think we can wait for him. If he is coming, he's going to have to find us somewhere else." Aiden raised his bandaged appendage. "I fought a Keeper just a few minutes ago, less than a mile from here. They know where I am. Where we are. We have to--"

A blinding flash of blue light from behind Damien interrupted Aiden, and when it cleared, a familiar person stood in its wake. Aiden recognized the long, raven-black hair, the lithe figure, and the piercing eyes instantly.

"Shit... it's her!" Aiden took a defensive stance, even though he carried no weapons in his hands, then advanced towards Rayna, stepping out just past Damien's location. "There's three of us. You don't stand a chance!" he warned.

But the girl's expression confused Aiden. Where it had been cruel and confrontational before, now it was one of plea. "I don't want to fight!" said Rayna softly, lifting a hand slightly. "I'm... not here to fight you."

Rayna dropped her gaze from Aiden to stare at the stony ground before him. "I don't know why I came here... but... I'm not your enemy. Not anymore. I'm... I want to join you."

[Orrin55]

"Your a mess" Felix stared coldy at the hunched, bloodied figure of Mike, His Falcion dyed crimson from it's clash with Mike's Scimitar. Around them in the small room laid dozens of time keeper bodies, Greyn was back near the doorway that led outside, partly to keep allies, away and to keep Mike inside. "Shut up." words rasped painfully as the time traveller lifted his head painfully, revealing the bloodshot eyes and small bloodvessels that had popped after continuous Blinks. "Are you going to surrender now?" Felix asked "I dearly hate to kill you with out first explaining why i take a special interest towards you." Mike chuckled "Because you liked guys?" He replied "Sorry, i'm not that way." Pain lanced through him as Felix drove his blade into Mike's shoulder "Not very original, but given the circumstances i'll take it as a joke." The timekeeper answered. "Thats better then what these guys did." Mike replied "No appreciation for my humor, bunch of bloody killjoys." Felix smiled underneath his mask "That's why their grunts, isn't that right Sir?" He turned to face Greyn.

With a slow, deliberate rise Greyn hoisted his gun to his shoulder and strode over where the two of them conversed "I expected more from you Mr.Samuels." He said. Mike had to roll his eyes at the combat "I don't think there's anyone here would could fend of an entire town and fight evenly against the two of you." He replied "However i do remember I still have one more thing up my sleeve." Felix raised an eyebrow at him "Oh?" he responded and Mike vanished. It took a second for Felix to realize what happened, he stared curiously at his broken blade for a second, then howled in fury. "I thought we had the whole place locked down from time-travel!" The General turned furiously towards Greyn and viciously threw his falcion at him. A raised hand caught the blade easily, Greyn spinning the thing as he thought for a second "We did." He replied "But seeing how he had a raw Temporal crystal it's safe to assume the frequency was out of our broadcast range." He looked curiously at where Mike had been before "Normally handling raw temporal would have you randomly jumping from place to place, or worse spliting you across several periouds of time. He's got something elese hidden from us."

In a flash of White, Mike appeared blinded for a second, then as his vision settled in he cracked a smile at the backs of his fellow allies "Sorry i'm a mess." He said "But i've had a few bad encounters with the timekeepers." With those words, he noticed the woman, and felt the tension in the air. He sighed mentally realizing how helpless he was now.

[Stargrunt]

In the vacuum of space, no one could hear the explosive forces of an expanding singularity. The invisible and insanely powerful forces sprang to life, tearing a hole in the deep, dark sanctum.

In a blinding rush of light, what seemed to be a shooting star flew from the invisible rift. The blinding light traveled for a short while, and then came to a sudden stop.

"Were out of the event horizon, but our right engine is gone, and we are hurdling toward a planet." came a female voice out of the speakers on the bridge of Robert's ship. Robert smiled, thinking about how Cassandra had programmed the ship with her voice for this trip. He had left his team on the tropic planet of Tyyrias for some much needed R&R, while he went on a solo reconnaissance mission. The inter-dimensional scanners had picked up a huge time displacement of a sort that suggested advanced technology Robert had never encountered. But now, after ramming into a small asteroid on the other side of the rift, it seemed he didn't have much of a choice in the matter and was going to be getting his hands dirty.

"Sir, orders?" the computer said, waiting for a command.

"Extend all fins and drag wings. Prepare for atmospheric entry, and prep the jump bay, I'll be ditching. Try to steer us away from any populated areas and yourself in one piece. I do hope to get you back together and get out of here as soon as possible.

"Yes sir. Your suit and equipment are waiting for you. Good luck sir."

Robert grabbed his rifle and made his way to the hump bay. To airlock had his suit and equipment laid out ready for him. He suited up calmly, covering all his bases.

"Four minutes to atmospheric entry." The computer updated. Robert stood, ready, in front of the unopened Jump bay doors. He flipped on his com to communicate one last time with the computer.

"Where will we be landing"

"Unknown, a non populated area, though very close to a city. I took the liberty of applying the cloaking device before we were in modern scanning range of the planet, so we should be off any radar, however I expect there will be witnesses. How would you like me to proceed?"

"Once you hit the ground, I want you to lock up everything. I want you sealed up, make sure no one gets in. Also, stop all non essential function, we want to keep people in the dark about you being aware of them when they come. And if anyone gets in, supply a standard verbal warning, translated into all known languages, then set all internal and external weapons to kill. If your compromised, self destruct."

"understood sir. We have reached an optimal jump height of 80 kilometers. Good luck again sir."

"You too." Robert had a solemn look on his face. Without this ship, he would be unable to reach his team. He shuddered at the thought of being stranded here.

The jump bay doors opened. The ship was already falling like a brick, so Robert powered up his LAMP and jumped. He left the ship behind him quickly. It seemed to float away and down, as Robert fell streight down. Below him was a bright city, and he used the distance amplification on his HUD to pick out what, at this height, seemed to be a park, and made a beeline for it.

As he approached the ground the jets on his back sprang to life, doubling his downward speed. As the small wings on his back extended, he pulled back and his speed reduced to a crawl downwards. His feet brushed the ground. The jets snapped off and Robert pulled out his rifle and scanned the park in front of him, which was empty. Robert was struck with a sudden terror. He knew nothing of the world in which he landed, nothing of what kind of creatures roamed this world. He had to find help here, he had to re-build his ship, and he had to get back to his team.

With a deep breath, Robert snapped his visor up, and again scanned the park. It was a typical sandbox, jungle gym and all. Hopefully this was an underdeveloped earth, and Robert could hide among the people here. But there were no guarantees. Robert Decided he had to move, and proceeded to move down the street, sticking to the shadows and keeping his gun level, ready for anything.

[Aryx Noi]

Damien watched as Aiden walked past him and towards the girl, who seemed rather saddened. But, he still got ready to fight - you could never tell if a person is faking their expressions or not.

"I want to join you," the woman said, to the surprise of all four people. Damien raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" he mumbled. "You think we are THAT gullible? Do you think that we are going to let you help us? You'll probably plant a bomb on us or something..."

Damien knew this woman from somewhere, but the thought wasn't coming to mind.

"You and your time keepers..." Damien said, walking up to the girl, then pulling the gun out of her holster, "this gun is property of the Time Keepers, eh?"

Damien then pulled out her sword, "And this is their sword. You've came heavily armed, I see."

He twirled the sword around, then stuck it in the ground.

"So, do you really come in peace?"

((if this post seemed a little bit too much god-mode, I'll fix it quickly))

[StandardFiend]

((Not at all. She had two of each weapon, though.))

Rayna eyed Damien cautiously as he approached, but made no movements as he pulled away some of her weapons. She was indeed a sight to behold, appearing from nowhere armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry but pleading for haven, whereas she had come just minutes before to kill whomever necessary to retrieve her prize.

She spoke softly, addressing Aiden in particular but directing her statements to all present. "I realize how this seems. I don't expect you to buy it." She chuckled awkwardly. "I don't even know why I came here, of all the places I could have run to. If it makes you feel more secure..."

She slowly and unthreateningly unholstered her second pistol and tossed it on the ground, and took her other sword and plunged it into the ground next to the first. She raised her arms out to her sides and spun. "Unarmed." She faced the group once more and placed a hand on her hip. "I guess I shouldn't expect you to trust me. But I swear I'm no longer your enemy. The Order's out for my blood too, now. I fucked up big time, and they mean to kill me for it. My own life is more important than any allegiance I might have held towards them, so I figured... maybe you could use me." Rayna stared expectantly at them. "I can tell you the story if you want, but it's a long one."

[Stargrunt]

Robert had made good headway, in the darkness he had remained unseen by anyone, though the few people he had seen seemed like normal average everyday people. He figured if everyone was so normal, he might be able to steal some cloths in a backyard and make off like any other person. his rifle and jet pack would make him a little out of place, but... A backpack and a guitar case could solve all of that. Then he hear the beeping.

beep. beep. beep. beep.

Steady, rhythmic, at first he didn't know what it was. At first, he didn't remember the basic LAMP safety brief. At first. Then it all came back to him. Cassandras voice echoing in his mind. "Now, if you ever hear this, it means your charge pack is ruptured. Basically, you have thirty seconds before this pack blows sky high. And I'm talking building leveling here." Robert, for a split second, froze. Then, in a flurry of action, he sprung from his hiding place, at the moment a small ally, and ran to the center of the street. Counting the beeps, Robert guessed he had maybe three more seconds. He reached the center of the road, and the manhole that covered the entrance to the sewer, he guessed anyway. Robert reached down, jammed his fingers into the holes of the manhole and lifted with all his strength. two seconds. The manhole came free, and Robert hurled it aside. Ripping the LAMP off his back. two seconds. The pack made its way down the dark tunnel, Robert turned to dart away from the soon to be hole in the ground. One second. He made it eight steps. The blast cracked the street, then launched everything, including Robert, into the air. Roberts consciousness left him for a short time. When he came to, he was staring at a crater, a giant hole with a broken water lines spraying water into the sky. The surrounding buildings were in bad shape, but most damage was cosmetic, except of course the one Robert now lay in front of. Somehow, the blast and engulfed this building, what seemed to be a record store, in flames. From inside, Robert heard screaming.

Robert rolled and started to lift himself up. He made it all the way to the doorway of the broken door to the building before he realized his leg, at least inside his unmarked suit, had either been broken or some other form of disabled. Robert was helping no one like this. he could only hope help would arrive shorty. For him and the poor woman inside the store.

[chexmix5]

Lucas turned and observed the woman. Prying her mind would leave his open to anyone with a strong enough will. The average Time Keeper? No problem. But a General? A high ranking official of the infamous Time Keepers? Most likely this woman had the will power to fight him back, that is, if she wanted to.

Damien examined her closely, pointing out that she came fully loaded. From the way she looked... Lucas almost wanted to help her. He felt compassion towards her, for one reason or another. But he could not show it yet.

"You are assigned to kill Aiden. You fail to kill him, and then you are marked as a failure by your leaders. They only want the best of the best, the ones who can get the job done... And so to them you are useless. With nowhere else to turn you've come to us, the people you wanted dead. In a way, we are responsible for the Time Keepers wanting you dead, but you still came to us. It takes a lot of humility for something like that. You could have easily tried to kill us in hopes of regaining trust from you former bosses."

After the small speech he walked to where she was standing and picked up one of her guns, then held it out for her to take. "We've all messed up before, but not all of us are given a second chance. You have my trust."

"We've all messed up before." The words echoed in his mind like a broken record. His own mistakes had led him to where he was now. He was a lucky one. He was given a second chance. To not give her one would have been a crime.

He walked to Mike and crouched by him, and observed the wound on his shoulder. "Bloody fool, trying to take on the entire regime without us, huh?" Lucas smiled a bit, though he did not want to joke around too much knowing the severity of the situation. He ripped a peice of Mike's shirt and wrapped it around the wound, much like Aiden had done.

[StandardFiend]

Rayna scoffed at Lucas' sentiment. "Tch. Do you really think my superiors would want me dead over a matter as trivial as a failed assassination? You boys have a lot to learn, then."

She took her weapon from Lucas' hand, silently grateful for his acceptance and forgiveness. She was not playing them by any measure; every word she had said before was true. But she was finished with the helpless disposition now. She gathered up her equipment, confident none present would try to stop her.

"No, my crime was something much more severe. Failing to get Aiden's device was barely a blip on the Time Keepers' radar in comparison." Rayna stood still and traced her eyes over the group. "You may have known this already: a while ago we captured one of yours. Morotov." She paused for a moment. "They were going to kill him, but... I let him go. Treason was my crime."

Aiden cocked his head slightly. "Morotov." He looked over at Lucas. "Hey, isn't that the guy... he used to own this, didn't he?" he said, reaching into his coat and pulling out the Aperture. Aiden returned his eyes to Rayna. "Why?" he asked with a casual shrug. "Why would you betray your own people like that? You must have known they'd find out and come after you."

Rayna's gaze hit the ground again. "It's really hard to explain." She began a slow, methodical pace around the area. "When we first captured him, and I saw him, there was something... really familiar about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, so I started doing some research while the higher-ups weren't looking. I found out... Morotov... is my father. Well, the Morotov you know isn't, but... another version of him. In a different time line. To be honest, I got scared of what would happen when they killed him, so I sent him somewhere safe. I don't know where--or when--he is, but as far as I know he's safe. I thought I had my ass covered, but I guess Nestor was smarter than I gave him credit for." She said the last sentence mostly to herself.

Aiden was dumbstruck. It was such a strange tale to take in. Such a strange turn of events. He looked to Lucas, to Damien, and to Mike, trying to gauge their reactions to Rayna's story.

Aside from all that, though, Aiden still wasn't sure he trusted Rayna, and he had a perfectly good reason for that pumping blood into a bandage right now. It was only an hour ago, perhaps less, that she had savagely attacked him, offering to trade him his life for the device in his hand. If the rest of them were willing to give Rayna the benefit of the doubt, Aiden was not going to disagree or provide any resistance, but it would take some time before he'd so willingly accept her. And he would be sure to keep a close eye on the Aperture as long as she was around. Instinctively, his grip around it tightened.

[Orrin55]

"Fool i'll be, but i am reporting that for the moment Ireland is under heavy guard. I'm just lucky i had one charge left on my crystal to escape." Mike replied with a tired grin. "I'll be fine after a brief rest." Reaching into his guitar case, the time traveler pulled out some tinted aviator sunglasses and slipped them on before turning to listen to Rayna's story.

Eyebrows raised in surprise at her story "I've got quite the imagination but i never thought they could travel across multiple planes of time." Mike said "They really are taking huge risks with their plans."

[Aryx Noi]

Michael walked down the bright white, nearly blinding, plastered halls leading to Doctor Cayl's room. The red alarms were flashing repeatedly, while emitting a loud ringing. He reached the door to Doctor Cayl's room, opened the door and walked in, seeing the Doctor himself had a rather large gunshot in his forehead.

"Poor, poor doctor," Michael said. He took out his two way radio and spoke into it. His voice echoed out throughout the building from the intercom.

"Rayna Lokalus has escaped, and has killed Doctor Cayl," he said, "launch red code seven."

Red code seven was a battle plan to find traitors, which had never been used before this day. Michael walked out of the room, then noticed the two soldiers on the ground on the other side of the room. He took out the radio again and spoke into it.

"Launch the Missionaries," Michael spoke again, "and kill everyone on the wanted list."

The Missionaries were a type of beta prototype war machine, modeled to walk and move as if a human would, except for the rather large missile launchers on it's arms and legs. Michael walked out of the room to Nestor's dining hall, which was close to Doctor Cayl's room. As he walked into the room, the door automatically closed behind him. The room was dark, as usual. Nestor kept silent, waiting for Michael to speak.

"Sir," Michael said.

"I'm very well aware of the whole situation, Mr. Radge," Nestor said, "and I'm sending out grunts now. You go with them, go pilot one of your Missionaries."

Michael Radge was the engineer for the Time Keepers, who designed pretty much all of their machinery. He nodded and exited the room, going down the hall to the hangar. From there, he got ready to send out a wave of squadrons.

[chexmix5]

Lucas was humbled by her statement. His assumptions were correct and false at the same time. The real reason for them to turn on her caught his attention much more than anything she said.

"Morotov?" He gave her a questioning glance. "I- I thought Morotov was gone. For good." He wanted to know where- or when- he was. If the Time Keepers found Morotov they would most likely kill him, and without the aperture it would be easier. "So then. Kane, Nile, and Morotov have all survived. I have you to thank for saving my friend, and your father."

Lucas didn't really see Morotov as the father type. There was no telling how it happened, how Rayna grew up, how she found out Morotov was her father, who her mother was even. Too many questions and not enough answers.

He looked back at Mike. "Yes, well, it seems there is a lot to learn about The Time Keepers. Get your rest quickly, it won't be long before the Time Keepers are after us again."

[Aryx Noi]

Damien's phone rang as Lucas spoke to Mike. He picked it up, waiting for Marcus to speak.

"Damien, I've found something odd going on..." Marcus said.

"Like what?"

"All this time travel is affecting everything, I'm looking at a seismic reading of the hill outside my house, and it seems like it's...moving..."

"Well, that's not something to worry about, right? I mean, everything moves."

"It's not good though. Sure, the hill can move by plate tectonics, but what is weird is that it moves, then it repeats that same movement, exactly like the first time. It's almost like it's...duplicating."

"Marcus, I'm sure it will be fine, there's nothing to worry about."

When Damien said that, he quickly heard a beep on the other line.

"Marcus? You there?" he said, but no answer came back. He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket.

"My friend is thinking that things are starting to duplicate because of time travel, that idiot..." he mumbled, "and he hung up on me, too. He gets really hyped up sometimes."

But what Damien didn't know was that Marcus had to hung up.

"...duplicating," Marcus said. As those words escaped his mouth, a gun was held to the back of his head.

"Hang up now," a voice behind him said. Marcus did as he was told.

"Who are you?" Marcus asked.

"You'll find out eventually. Where is that bloke located, Kane Axum?" the voice asked.

"I don't know a Kane," Marcus said uneasily.

"But your friend Damien does. Where is Damien?"

"I don't know where he is, he could be anywhere."

"Wrong answer."

Marcus could hear the gun being cocked.

"You know the right answer, Marcus," the voice said.

"I truly don't know!" Marcus said.

"Say it."

"I don't know!"

"Say it, I know you know!"

"I don't know, honestly!" Marcus said finally, carefully and quickly grabbing his pocket knife from his desk. He was lucky that his room was really dark, otherwise he would've been killed for taking a knife.

"You do know, now say it."

Marcus spun around and slit the man's sleeve. From the light on his computer screen, he saw his attacker's face. It was a mask, a white mask, underneath a top hat.

"Oh my god," Marcus said.

"You've heard of me, I assume."

"You were in the newspaper, I saw the story about you. I don't believe it, you were supposed to be dead!"

"Then start believing."

The masked man aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, causing the bullet to go through Marcus and into the computer behind him. Marcus fell from the shot, his body bent over the desk.

"Say it: 'I believe'," the man said, crouching to Marcus's level.

"I...I believe."

"Good man."

The man took a pen from his pocket and etched something into Marcus's shirt and exited. Marcus was now laying there, with a large gunshot wound though his chest, and the word "Maestro" carved into his shirt. He reached for his phone, using the last of his strength, and dialed Damien. Damien picked up, and Marcus quickly said two words before he ran out of energy.

"He's back."

[StandardFiend]

Everyone on the plateau was silent, standing stock-still and staring at Damien expectantly. He wore a baffled expression, as though the words being spoken through the line were of a strange, foreign language, and everyone around him was confused as well, unsure of what to make of his inability to respond.

Aiden was the first to pipe up. "What is it?"

For the moment, Rayna's fascinating tale was forgotten in lieu of Damien's reaction to the phone call--even Rayna herself waited with bated breath for his reply.

---

- 1925 -

It was deep into a Saturday night in early January, and a heavy snowfall descended upon the dark streets of Geneva, New York. The air was a frigid nineteen degrees, and for it the sidewalk was nearly devoid of pedestrians.

Even so, nobody looked twice at the large man trudging along the snowy path. His body was tightly wrapped in a heavy grey trench coat, and his face was hidden by the brim of a fedora of matching color. His hands were stuffed deep into his coat pockets, meaning his booted feet were the only limbs that moved as he strode onward. He moved rather quickly, as though on some kind of mission, but the reality was that he merely wanted to get out of the cold night air.

On this street, there was only one place open at 12:11 AM on a Saturday night, and that was Mel's Cafe. When the man reached the front entrance, he pulled open the glass door, causing the tiny bell up top to jingle, breaking the pseudo-silence he had endured in the street outside, where the only sounds were the biting breeze and the occasional rumble of a car engine passing by. He quickly stepped into the small restaurant and allowed the interior's warmth to embrace him. He let out a sigh of relief to finally be out of the bitter cold.

The inside of Mel's Cafe was fairly dark. The lighting was alright, but nearly everything was of a deep mahogany shade. Color came in the form of the crimson leather coverings for the benches and chairs, as well as the dull yellow shades adorning most of the lamps, which gave off a hazy white hue, accentuating the clouds of dust wafting through the air. The place wasn't much, but it had a very cozy feel to it, one that the large man greatly appreciated.

At the sound of the bell, a pair of customers near the back of the shop turned their heads to look at the newcomer, but quickly returned to their own interactions when they realized it was nobody important. The man removed his hat and looked toward the counter that ran the length of the cafe's left wall.

Standing behind it, counting a few paper notes next to the till, was the establishment's proprietor, Mel Briggs. He was a fairly stalwart man; not as large as the one who had just walked through the door, but stout enough to hold his own with nearly any other gentleman. His hair was dark, but showed signs of grey. His clean-shaven face displayed the lines and wrinkles that came with both age and a lifetime of hard work. It was a hard face, but a friendly one nonetheless.

As the bell rang, Mel Briggs looked up from his task and fixated on the man standing in the entranceway. "Jacob?"

Jacob Lumiere ran the palm of his hand over his bald scalp and smiled weakly. "How's it goin', Mel?"

Mel shrugged. "Can't complain. Haven't seen you here in a couple weeks."

It was Jacob's turn to shrug. "Been a little busy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know how it is." Mel motioned with his forehead to one of the high chairs stationed at the counter. "Pull up a seat. Let me get you something."

The larger man nodded and crossed the room to one of the leather-covered swiveling chairs and sat down. He wiggled back and forth a couple times to get comfortable, then placed his elbows on the counter and leaned forward, staring at nothing in particular. "I think a coffee'll do me fine."

"Sure. It'll take a couple to brew a fresh pot." Mel continued speaking as he went to work preparing the beverage. "How you holdin' up?"

"Can't complain," Jacob echoed.

"It's been, what, about a year since you moved here, ain't it?"

Jacob grinned. "Good memory. A year last Tuesday."

"How you likin' Geneva?"

"It's alright. Nothing like where I came from, but it's alright."

Mel passed by his guest to grab a pair of coffee mugs. He threw a quizzical glance at Jacob on his way. "You never did tell be about where you used to live."

Jacob suddenly entered a state of deep thought, as though the notion truly strained his mind to comprehend. "It's... far away. You wouldn't have heard of it."

Mel was smart enough to tell when his question was being brushed off, so he let it go. "Why Geneva? I mean, there must have been all sorts of places you could'a' gone."

Jacob smiled. "Not really. I didn't really have a choice."

Mel nodded knowingly. "Work stuff, eh?"

"Well, erm... yeah."

Both of them turned to the front door when the bell jingled again. Two men young men, neither who could have been more than twenty five years old, each wearing a black sports jacket and a large pair of sunglasses, slowly stepped into the cafe. They looked around nervously, as though unsure this was where they were supposed to be.

They moved forward a few steps under the watchful gaze of all four pairs of eyes in the restaurant. Then suddenly, each pulled a revolver from the back of his jeans and they rushed forward. One of them trained his weapon on Mel while the other shifted the aim of the barrel between Jacob and the pair in the back of the cafe.

That second one shouted, "Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt, alright?"

The first spoke to the proprietor. "Give us everything in the register, Pops."

"Come on, guys," Mel tried.

"Don't start nothin', Pops, just do it."

Jacob raised his hands and pushed from the seat and slowly moved away from the gunmen. The man who pointed a weapon at him grinned. "That's it. No funny business."

Jacob shook his head. "You two should leave. Right now. Before you do something you'll regret."

"You stay quiet!" hissed the lead robber. He turned back to Mel. "Hurry up! Give me the money!"

Jacob spoke again, this time louder. "Leave him alone, or this won't end well for you."

"Oh yeah?" taunted the secondary thief. "What are you gonna do about if you're dead?" With that, he squeezed off two shots.

Jacob took the impact full force and went down in a spiral, landing on his stomach. An eerie silence followed the gunshots as everyone present took in what had just happened. Even the lead gunman seemed dumbstruck by his partner's actions.

But solemnity quickly turned to disbelief and then terror on the robbers' faces when they both watched Jacob push to his feet a few moments later. He stood easily, with no strain, and when he turned back around to face them, they could see nary a wound on his body.

Instead, the two revolver slugs floated just in front of his body, suspended in midair by an invisible force. Jacob's eyes were narrow, and though his expression was nearly placed, as it always was, it exuded anger and hate. Suddenly, his eyes flared with a radiant blue energy, and the two slugs began revolving around him rapidly.

"I warned you," he said, his calm voice belying his inner feelings. "You didn't listen. Now you pay."

In quick succession the two bullets rocketed from their orbits around Jacob's body. The slugs landed in the robbers' foreheads and embedded somewhere in their brains. They hit the floor, dead, at about the same time.

"Jacob?" said Mel in disbelief.

Jacob did not look back at the older man. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely as he moved toward the exit. "I have to go, now. You won't see me again."

"But..." Mel could muster no reply.

Jacob replaced his hat and left through the cafe's front door. And as he crossed that threshold, he shed the remnants of the identity that had kept him secret and safe for the last year. It was not Jacob Lumiere who stepped out into that bitter cold, snowy air and quickly powered down the dark sidewalk under the dim glow of the street lamps.

It was Morotov.