Fools of us All - Chapter 9

I sat on the cold examining table, wishing that I had my clothes back. The tests that they had been running on me were extensive and invasive. The past three days had been very painful.

Unable to sit still any longer I rose to my feet. After circling the room a half dozen times I decided to sit down again. Everything here was vaguely unsettling. The table was stainless steel and there wasn't any other furniture in the room. It was a big empty cube with walls and floor and ceiling made of the same stark metal. A single light was inset into the ceiling, casting a harsh pallor across the room.

With a sigh I laid on the table, arching my back slightly at the feel of the cool metal. I closed my eyes, only to snap them open again when the images assaulted my vision once again. Absentmindedly I rubbed my arm where the healing patch was firmly in place. It was quite likely that I was going to have a small scar because the burn was pretty bad, but I would live. Unlike the others.

With a shiver I sat up again, hugging my knees to my chest. I had never felt so alone in my life. It was amazing how much could change in three short days. I had walked into Dun's office ready to accept my bizarre fate. I wasn't sure how I felt about the thought of being flung back in time in order to save all of humanity, or at least some of humanity, but I did know that I wanted to help out any way that I could.

Dun had sat me down and told me that I was going to be sent to an extremely secret base at the docks. There was a research and development facility there that had been working on an extremely important project. A few years back some scientists in Japan had figured out a way to send things back in time. Everyone was excited about the process and then someone had stepped in and killed the entire team that had developed it. Everyone except for one researcher who hadn't come in to work that day. He had managed to avoid death and had ended up with the Organisation, rebuilding his project for us. It was still far from perfect, but it had been developed enough that it was fairly safe to send people back in time. That is what I was going to be doing - heading back to a time over a hundred years into the past. Whether I was to find someone and bring that person back here, or if the problem could be solved in the past was something that Dun didn't know yet, but he assured me that it would all be explained to me at the facility.

I nodded like I had any idea what he was talking about, but I was completely lost. Everything he had said sounded too fantastic to be true. We lapsed into a silence as I tried to come to grips with what he had told me.

"Don't worry Caz," said Dun. "Everything is going to be all right."

I felt a little weirded out when he said that. Did he not believe it either? Before I could press the matter Dun's intercom squawked to life. "Dun, the pick up team is here."

Noticeably paling the large man rose to his feet and headed out to where the computer terminals were set up. I moved to follow him, but was held up by a young man in a scraggly coat. "Got an urgent package for mister Dun," he said, smiling nervously. Shoving the package into my hands he ran back down the hall, quickly disappearing out of sight.

Something didn't feel quite right about this. Very few packages were sent to our office, and they usually went through much more official channels. I started out to the computer lab, but paused. As much to ward off the paranoia that was building in my chest as anything I turned and slid the package across the office where it stopped under his desk. With the door safely behind me I headed to where Dun and Dar were having an intense discussion in hushed tones, a sure-fire bad sign.

Seeing my approach, Dun waved me closer. "Dar is telling me that the transport crew is here, but that makes them four hours early. Plus their security codes are old. I don't like this." A slight sheen of sweat seemed to add gravitas to his words. His eyes flickered towards the entrance and then back to me. Why?

"Speaking of weird," I said, my words coming slowly, "some new kid just handed me a package for you. Any idea what that might be?"

Dar looked up sharply at this. "We've had no packages come in the official channels or any of the unofficial channels in the past forty-eight hours." His fingers flying swiftly across the interface he called up the security protocols. "Something's going on, Dun. We need to shut this down, now." His finger hovered over the command to secure the facility.

Dun shook his head. "No, we can't afford that. We have to get Caz out of here. This is our only opportunity. We just don't have the time."

I was watching the feed from outside the door where three men had been leaning casually, waiting patiently for the door to be opened. They chose this moment to stand up straight and doff their tattered garments, revealing the uniforms of a M.E.R.C. squad. Before I had a chance to call out a warning Dun's office erupted into flame. We were all flung to the floor, the heat washing over us in waves. Emergency klaxons cut in accompanied by red emergency lights. Two more explosions happened in short order, one from the outside as the M.E.R.C. soldiers blasted their way inside and one from further inside the base, cutting all power to the building, instantly plunging the room into utter darkness. A moment later the emergency lights came back on, providing flashing illumination to the room.

I dove behind a desk and watched in horror as Dun rose to his feet, only to be cut down by the troops, a surprised look on his face. Dar pulled out a knife and threw it, catching one of the soldiers in the neck. He went down in a heap, the floor becoming slick with his blood. The other two fired back at Dar, missing with their initial volley. The computer tech dove behind a table. I could see him with his back against his cover, and he noticed me. He smiled a cocky smile and motioned for me to leave. A second later a flash of light dazzled my eyes and when I could see again Dar was sitting in the same position, but his face was burned beyond all recognition. He screamed in pain, a sound that I could still hear three days later while sitting on the examination table.

Somehow I managed to let ignore the shock of what was happening and concentrate on my own survival. One of the M.E.R.C.s looked down at a display of some sort. Given what I had learned in the past day I figured that they were looking for me and that somehow that little gizmo they were holding would lead them straight to me. Thinking quickly I spied a computer monitor sitting on the floor beside me. I grabbed it and waited.

The two guys started moving slowly towards me, their guns drawn. I listened to their footsteps coming closer, waiting for the right moment. Just before they were on top of my I popped up and threw the monitor right in the face of the nearest soldier, immediately following my throw with a dive towards the other man, I drew my knife from my wrist holster and drove it up under his ribs. He died with a shocked look on his face. As he fell to the ground I grabbed his gun and whirled around, firing until the gun was empty. All of the soldiers were on the ground, dead, but so was everyone else.

Or so I thought. A sound drew my attention. Somehow Dar was still alive, and he was weakly pointing at me. I went closer, kneeling in front of him. His face looked even worse close up, and the smell of burnt flesh turned my stomach. "Take this key." His voice was nearly inaudible. A small key was in his hand and he pressed it into mine with a surprising strength. "It opens a locker at the docks. Take the globe inside, it will help you." The strength left his hand and it dropped heavily to the floor. "There will be back up," he wheezed. "Go now!" Hearing his last breath was quite possibly the worst sound I have ever heard.

The rattle of the door opening drew me back to the present. A doctor walked inside carrying a bundle of clothing and closed the door. "Good news," she said cheerfully. "You are fit and able to go. Here are your clothes, I will be waiting outside." With that she exited the room.

As I dressed a shiver ran up my spine. Dar's death hadn't even been the worst part of the whole matter. The package hadn't seemed to concern Dun at all. He shouldn't have ignored it, yet he did. And despite my best efforts, I couldn't shake the thought that he had flinched a second before the bomb exploded. If that were true, it meant that I could no longer trust anyone. I was truly alone in the world. And possibly alone in time as well.

Thunderfunk the Superchicken - Chapter 8

That's Lunch Everyone

Thunderfunk the Superchicken watched as Straw Daq, his faithful servant and lackey settled himself in front of the computer terminal. They were once again in the main war room, as he liked to call it, preparing for their next battle. He pulled up the background information on their newest foe.

Though newest was perhaps the wrong adjective. Most recent would be more apropos, given how the face that stared at him on the massive bank of monitors was intimately familiar to him. First Lieutenant Awesomepants had been a thorn in his side from the very beginning of his diabolical career. The first time they had met, Thunder had beat him soundly, leaving him dead in the street, or so he thought. The next day he had been surprised to find First Lieutenant Awesomepants waiting at his door, ready for another round. The end of that day had seen Thunder in jail for the first, and thus far only, time. Since that day, the irritating super-hero had popped up at the most inconvenient times, getting in the way of his master plans. He was almost as annoying as Cornelius J. Breadbuuter.

It was not fair that he had two nemeses.

"So what is going on, boss?" asked Straw Daq after giving Thunder an appropriate amount of time for reflection.

"It would appear," said Thunder, "that our indomitable foe has taken it upon himself to form a team of heroes designed to destroy the so-called villains of this world."

"Ah." Straw sat quietly for a moment. "So....what. You want to go for some food?"

"Is that all you can think about at a time like this? Food?"

Straw shrugged. "I missed lunch."

"As did I, now that you mention it. Well then, shall we? I’m in the mood for something light, perhaps a good salad." He moved towards the stairs that led to the house proper.

"Ooh, how about the Olive Garden? They just opened up over on Fourth, supposed to have a great lunch deal on right now." Straw’s voice trailed away as he followed his boss.

The massive lights shut off, plunging the room into darkness, leaving it a large black cave.

Somehow, it missed them.

Fools of us All - Chapter 8

I reached the elevator and seriously considered hitting the up button, but instead I hesitated - I'm not sure why. Normally I would hit the button a few times. Not because I thought it would make the elevator arrive any faster, but because I like hitting buttons. It is hard for me to resist. But this time, I just didn't want to hit that button.

Maybe, I figured, I just needed to take the stairs, but then I remembered that his room was on the sixth floor, and it had been a long day, so the stairs were out. I gazed at the elevator again before finally turning away and heading back towards the waiting room. I was in sight of the theoretically comforting colour scheme when something bowled me over from behind. I tumbled, but the two years of martial arts and three years of gymnastics served me well. As quickly as I fell I rolled to my feet, landing lightly in a defensive pose, arms raised to eye level. They quickly dropped when I saw who my attacker was.

The mysterious woman had a bandage wrapped around her head and a few bandages on her legs and arms, but other than that she looked fine. I could scarcely believe that I had hit her with my car only a few hours ago. If she hadn't spoke up right then I may still be standing there, gaping like an idiot.

"Thanks for offering to help me up."

Ah sarcasm. There is very little that inspires me to action like a small slice of stinging sarcasm (it also inspires alliteration). Still not trusting my tongue, I reached down and pulled her up, surprised again at how little she weighed. Considering the force with which she had knocked me on my face I had figured that there was more weight packed on that tiny frame.

Once she was standing we spent a moment looking each other over. Once again I was drawn to her eyes. They were a piercing blue-green mix that seemed to flash in the pale fluorescent lights. I never could figure out how she managed that. Her short brown hair was a bit ragged, almost like she had cut it herself.

I suppose only a few seconds had passed, but when she shook her head and started to walk away I would have sworn that we had spent the better part of a year standing there. Fierce pain and an equally fierce determination to overcome that pain were written in her eyes, and I found it so compelling that I could no longer move. I realise that this is starting to sound rather sappy, and for that I apologise. But the truth was I felt, and this is a cliché alert, like I had just met my soul-mate.

No, that's wrong. It wasn't quite anything that romantic. When we spent that piece of forever face to face, it was as though I was allowed to read her life story, but only in emotions instead of words, and those emotions hooked me like a cheap drug.

Well, now I have compared her to a cheap drug. This is harder to explain than I thought it would be. Just trust me when I say there was a connection there. A connection that we both felt, though I don't think either of us quite realised what it meant right away. Not for at least ten minutes on her part. I was a little slower to catch up, but to be fair she had more information than I did.

She had managed two entire steps before she froze. A second later I realised why. "I can't believe our Jane Doe just skipped out on us like that." This voice was deep and rich, a very soothing voice.

"I just can't believe that she could move at all after being hit by a car, let alone giving us the slip." This voice was much harsher, sounding like it was perpetually irritated at life in general. One quick look at my mysterious companion and I could tell that she had reasons not to be found.

Thinking quickly I grabbed her hand and pushed her through the nearest door, following close behind. I closed the door behind us and clicked off the light. Mercifully the door locked from the inside. I could hear the voices continuing their conversation as they walked down the hall, trying each door as they came to it. The doorknob of our door rattled briefly and they carried on, their voices fading into the distance.

I turned, half-expecting to see an empty room. The window was open, a slight breeze blowing into the room, the smell of rain washing over me. A small sound drew my attention and I realised that the woman was still standing in the room, just to the left of the window. With the barest nod of thanks she turned to leave via the window. She got as far as one leg on the window sill before she hesitated.

We had now spent less than five minutes together while we were both conscious, but I had yet to speak a word to her. I finally found my voice. "Wait," I said, wincing at how small and pathetic I sounded to my own ears.

Reluctantly she turned. "Thank you," she said, "for your help, but I don't have time to wait."

"But I don't even know your name." I wasn't expecting a response to that. I was mostly just looking for an excuse to make her stay even a second longer. What was it about her that caught me so completely?

She surprised me. "My name is Caz."

Pouncing on my opportunity I followed up with a flurry of questions. "Are you okay? How come you can walk after being hit by a car? Where are you from?" A glare from her cut me off.

"I don't expect you to understand." Her words were carefully picked, like someone who didn't grow up speaking the language. "But I have very little time, despite the fact that I should have all the time in the world. Any delay could have dire consequences." I could tell that she had dismissed me completely at that point as she turned and leapt awkwardly onto the window sill. Her injuries were worse than she was letting on.

Desperately I cast around for anything to keep this conversation going. "You dropped this." The words were out before my hand had even closed around the dimly glowing globe. I held it up for her to see.

The sight of the globe brought her up short. Stiffly she dropped back to the floor and walked over to me. "Please return that immediately." Suddenly she looked younger. The bravado had left her face, replaced with a worry and...doubt.

"On one condition." I was feeling brave now. "You have to tell me what you are doing here. Maybe I can help." Kind of foolish I realise, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was pretty obvious that she didn't want to play along, but equally obvious that she didn't have many options at this point. "Besides," I continued. "You're obviously not from around here. You need all the friends you can get."

Bowing her head she sighed. "I am looking for someone who is supposed to be here in this time and place."

"Hey, maybe I can help. I'm good at finding people." I wasn't expecting her reply.
"Very well. The one I am looking for is a brave warrior named Spin."

I was speechless for a moment. This was interesting. I stunned her right back with my reply. "Well lady, you are either very lucky or the biggest hard-luck-Harry I've ever met because you are looking at the man you came to find." Now it was her turn to be shocked.

"Woh," she said.

"I know," I replied.

We stared at each other some more.

We were still standing there a moment later when two very large men burst through the door, holding what looked to be two very large handguns. I was soon going to learn that this wasn't as uncommon a phenomenon as I thought it should be.