The Time Stone (33 page)

“
I can see you, beast
sepia vision…” he replied snarling and drooling at her. They rolled
around on the ground as she desperately tried to resist his might
but his superior strength prevailed and crushed her armor like
tissue paper causing the light bubble to disintegrate and reveal
her frail form on the floor. Satyr flung himself back a few meters
partially blinded by the light. Mercedes got up tired and caught
her breath then saw Satyr coming back and flying towards her with
his clawed hands outstretched before him. She reached for her
weapon lying only a few feet from her but she was grabbed by the
clawed furry hand of her attacker and struck in the face seeing
nothing but unconscious blackness.

Tina and James walked up the flight of
stairs onto the landing for the twentieth floor as instructed by
Drax. They were tired and catching their breaths realizing they
were desperately out of shape. They held their hand pistols and
wore their body armors as instructed.

“
How did we end up here,
Tina?” Asked James.

“
Who said we ended up
anywhere?” Tina replied.

“
I know, just thinking of
how funny life is sometimes” said James.

Tina smirked. “Here we go buddy” said
Tina, “all our hopes now.”

James nodded in response nervously and
Tina flicked the switches on the holographic switch panel causing
the doors to open. They ran in screaming at the top of their lungs
and waiving their pistols around as a group of uniformed officers
approached then with their weapons.

“
It’s do or die time” said
Tina firing her pistol in various directions not being able to
control it and small red laser projectiles emanated from the weapon
barely striking its intended targets. James tried aiming before he
fired but barely was successful in his attempts. The remaining
officers approached and one tackled James to the ground and subdued
him with restraints on his hands and feet. James tried to use his
powers on their weapons and clothing but he was restrained behind
his back by the guards before he had the chance. Another grabbed
Tina and soon both were on the ground with men piled on top of them
restraining them. A large African American man with a tall furry
hat and a uniform with numerous adornments and metals, Chief of
Police and Temporo Inc.’s security Brent Hightower, approached and
gave a stern look to the captured duo, “what brings this
treachery?” He asked rhetorically then radioed on his GREETS RD to
Broad. “Sir, we have the fugitives.”

“
Bring them here!” Said
Broad on the other end in a darker voice than Brent had heard him
speak before, “hmm”.

Jeremy and Jonathan stood outside of
the gates and heard the firing of weapons and commotion coming from
within the citadel on apparently various floors and turned to one
another.

“
Let’s go” said Jonathan
leading the duo into the door after activating a holographic switch
panel on the left side of the door causing it to open. The armed
duo raced inside ready for what awaited them.

Drax walked up the
stairwell stealthily to the thirty-third floor wearing his body
armor and held his rifle with one hand as he used his handheld
scanner with the other smiling at the glowing green and red light
readings on the screen indicating to him the presence of multiple
individuals on the other end. He triggered the holographic
switchboard and opened the door. Then took out a small box from his
belt holster and pressed a latent button on the panel before
tossing it through the open door. Within seconds, there was a loud
eruption and smoke spewed everywhere. He pressed another button on
his armor that triggered a mechanical extension of the armor to his
face with a nasal breathing apparatus for artificial oxygen and lit
up eyes glowing bright green allowing him to gain instant night
vision. He put away his scanner, cocked his weapon, and he ran into
the dark room and fired seven key shots in one motion and rapid
succession from his rifle-like weapon at the officers within
knocking them all down on target. He smirked at the mess on the
floor and walked over to a computer panel connected to a giant wall
monitor near a series of small ones noticeably spread throughout
the entire room as the smoke began to clear. The monitors had
images of pathways and screen shots of rooms throughout the entire
central complex. He pressed a few buttons on the touch screen
console and up came a holographic projection of a series of maps
and diagrams, lit up in green and red lights as if poised in the
midst dark air above the console. He pressed the button on his
armor and the face mask came down. His eyes widened at the display
before him as he saw a symbol in the corner, five orbs in circular
formation, and the same symbol on those troops that were chasing
them and the same one on the Time Stone itself. He quickly took out
his scanner and held it over the console accessing the information
as he noticed the bar on his scanner move up in downloading mode
and when it finished he looked up and heard a loud noise from
upstairs. There was a spiral stairwell in the far end of the room
and he heard thunder and loud rain and there was a loud voice dark
and crinkled Gregorian chanting verses. He put his scanner away and
ran towards the stairwell and ascended them to the metal door at
the landing on top, the five orbed circular symbol incrusted on the
door. He tried to access the holographic switchboard to open the
door but could not. “
Weird.
” He thought as he took out
what he referred to as “Plan B”, a small cylinder device from his
belt holsters that extended two small sharp projectiles one on
either end when pressed. He attached it to the door and it made a
metallic sticking noise and remained there. He backed away and
within seconds it exploded forcing the door open slightly. He
pushed his way through to the other side, outside of the central
complex citadel near a large balcony.

“
Hurry up Janus” said
Broad looking behind him as the door exploded and began to shake to
the entrance of the citadel and suddenly was pushed open. “We have
the object in place.” Broad smirked looking at the Time Stone
resting in his hand glowing brightly in the darkness. “I knew it
would be delivered.” Broad smiled looking at the three captives
tied up in the corner, James, Tina, and Mercedes.

“
There is one power of
truth!” Replied Janus. “Open the door into time and space, the
grandest endeavor of all of fate.”

Then the door behind them busted open
and flew off the balcony knocking both men back.

“
What the hell?” Screamed
Broad. The bulbs in the small enclosure erupted and left them in
only natural lighting from the moonlit sky. They looked up and saw
Drax exit the door and onto the balcony. Drax looked around quickly
and saw the two men he recognized as Broad and Janus El Trufio, the
cloaked one, they were surrounded by computer consoles and a large
ancient-looking alter with symbols on it all on the balcony and a
large metallic awning above them as the rain poured a few feet away
off the balcony, lightning visages flashing in the background to
the sound of rambunctious thunder, even though the blackness of
smoke filling the air and a whirl of yellow light suddenly erupt
into the night sky rivaling the moonlight in intensity. He saw his
new trio of allies, James, Tina, and Mercedes, gagged and
restrained on the floor in the corner, their weapons
confiscated.

“
You are too late Milton”
said Broad snarling. “I have what I needed” he held out his hand
and pointed revealing the green emerald device with the glowing
five orbs in the center more brighter than he ever saw them. They
intensified in the darkness spiking into absolute pure energy while
their medium rested in his hand.

“
The Time Stone!” Said
Drax. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“
We know exactly what
we’re doing. We are fulfilling our destiny, what we were created to
do. The vortex is operational. Soon we will use it to control the
fates of all humanity and rule the world.” He raised his hands up
into the air and handed the device to Janus who placed it on the
alter. “It is an actual interspatial-temporal flexure, a space-time
rift, wormhole, and gate to voyages across space and time, bridge
of the Gods, a bunch of names concocted over the eons but all in
all it is the truest power in the universe and it is ours.” Said
Broad. The glowing vortex above them roared in the rain dropping
before it. Drax tried to rush towards his former boss but Brent
Hightower emerged from the door onto the balcony surrounded by
Jonathan and Jeremy holding their weapons at Drax’s
head.

“
Does not move, Sir or you
will be shot. Now lower your weapon.” Said Brent Hightower and Drax
looked behind him and complied with the command.

“
Yeah, that’s the way we
do it old school boy.” Said Jeremy.

“
Hands behind your head
and get down on your knees” said Brent. Hightower

Drax complied.

Broad shook his head. “How the mighty
have fallen?”

“
This isn’t over Broad.”
Said Drax.

“
No, old friend. The end
is only the beginning. You know which is the better time? The next
one.” He snarled looking up at the vortex.

“
It’s time, Master.” Said
Janus.

“
Yes” said Broad as he
issued a few key strokes to the computer console before him and
looked up with his compatriot as a large mechanical mechanism
riveted and making a large screeching noise causing the entire
balcony to extend upward toward the vortex. Drax knelt mesmerized
by its shimmering aura growing closer as did his new team nearby.
Brent and his team stood in shock as well. The lightning struck
brightly in midair illuminating further the glowing walls of the
citadel. The balcony kept extending upward until it was meters away
from the event horizon of the vortex and kept going. Then Broad
stepped forward and spoke “we will fulfill our destiny” he yelled
over the roaring thunder and rain pouring on his face drenching his
three piece Armani suit and expensive hairdo as he passed the
awning. The rain falling on him and all of them continued. “Time
waits for no man”, he said as he was two feet away from the vortex
and smiled into its glistening vibrations with a single word,
“Time” and he vanished as he transformed into a ball of yellow
energy vibrating intensity at its core hovering for a brief time of
nanoseconds where his face was directly before the flashing
vibrations of yellow swirling light roaring in the rain and wind
and he closed his eyes and became enthralled in it before being
sucked into the vortex. Jeremy and Jonathan’s eyes widened as they
saw the improbable, a complete matter-energy configuration right
before his very eyes, and a theoretically impossible concept by
modern scientific standards being transcended from an ancient
artifact. Janus followed and was similarly consumed. Drax saw Brent
and his compatriots were dumbfounded by the vortex so he rose up
and jumped back and disarmed Brent by pushing up his gun hand and
punching him in the face then head-butting Jeremy and performing a
roundhouse kick to Jonathan in one swift motion and all three men
dropped to the ground. Satyr and Elizabeth ran through the door and
up the extended stairwell created by the levitating balcony. They
saw the melee and prepared to fight as they approached Drax. Drax
grabbed his weapon and turned to his trio of friends and threw
himself on them holding them all in a big group hug as the balcony
rose up and they were all within two feet of the vortex and
vanished transforming into balls of light vibrating at their core
and within nanoseconds were sucked in instantaneously into the
vortex. The balcony stopped extending at that point and the vortex
vanished. The rain fell onto the empty balcony. The Time Stone
remained embedded in the large alter. The central five orbed
circular symbol within the time stone glistened brightly in the
moonlight.

CHAPTER 68

Time Period: 2,620 BC,
Egypt, 3
^rd
Dynasty, Old Kingdom

The blue skies over the vast desert
terrain in the land of Egypt were intensified by the piercing hot
sun over the small encampment covered with camel skin and rawhide.
The Pharaohs' court was almost empty on the eve of the sacred
holiday of the sun god. In preparation, Silas Sanction was waiting
for the deliveries of the sacred fruit to come. He sat in the
Queen’s chamber while his apprentice entered the chamber and sat
beside him resting a platter of decorations.

"Well I sure am tired after the hike
from the west side of the kingdom. The fruit will be here
soon."

"It better be because it will not be
tolerated if late but to be honest that is the least of the
worries. Have you heard of the bloodless ones, they are without
mercy slaughtered?"

"There have been rude awakenings
indeed in the farthest reaches of the kingdom. Some say the end of
time is afoot, innocents killed without purpose and those that saw
the victims were as pale as ashen soot and lifeless without hope.
It is said that there is hand in the demons or under earth
themselves." He nodded in acquiescent horror. "Come now we must
prepare for the festivities." He rose to his feet helped by his
staunch comrade as they made their way to the court as the sun
began to set. The festivities that night were everything he could
have hoped for he thought that night seated outside of his bed
chamber in the side district looking up at the stars. He wondered
often of other places beyond that which he called home, more
specifically a vision of the perfect place and time beyond all
truth.