Chapter Nine: Forge the Future, Part Two

“So then welcome back, I bet you haven’t expected to see the last of me.” A familiar voice cries out for attention, the camera and you the reader returning to a familiar Victorian-era mansion. Bookshelves still lined the walls and a bright fire flickered in a marble fireplace and once again a soft linen couch was the centerpiece of the room.

And then the iPhone to the charger stand, a simple shark was sitting down in his chair and sipping from a fancy cup, tea. After sipping down the contents of the cup, he placed it down on a parallel table. He stood up and turned towards the camera. Walking forward the camera followed him.

“Welcome back views, already nine chapters in and we going back to old jokes.” Alternate Koji said as he walked over trough the room, looking around and adjusting his set pieces and making sure the room was in top condition. “However, unlike my previous temporal brother, we here in Universe C-6868 are for more appropriate and can control our meta humor.”

“Now, let’s say William Shakespeare doesn’t really have the same level of control over the literature as we really assume he does. One day, a time traveler comes back with first edition copies of his transcripts, restored by a machine in the future.” Koji said as he walked around his room and tried to explain his idea.

“Now when you get there you find you’ve travelled a bit future back than you expected, you find yourself two weeks before his first play, Two Gentlemen of Verona; living with it you find the immortal bard has only just arrived in London and has no idea what is going on.” Koji getting close to point signified by picking up a series of books and handing them to himself.

“You give him the first copies of all of his plays, give or take a Love Labors Won. And you tell him to release them slowly at most once or twice a year, travelling back to the future he finds Shakespeare still as famous, still as poetic, as if his influence was a part of the causal loop.” Koji said walking around the room, feeling the chair and having it.

“Now saw he accidentally leaves a pair of glasses and two thousand years later, he finds them and takes them back and leaves them again, making the glasses a formed loop. And yet everything says those glasses cannot exist, as entropy is entered into the glasses multiple times, yet it never decays or yet it might cause the timeline to collapse.” The shark held up a pair of glasses and placed them on his face.

“Where does this information come from, reality altering texts like Shakespeare’s work or the pair of glasses never once is there a beginning or an end to their creation, infinitively they travel time on their journey, never truly beginning and never truly ending.” Benji said as he looked around trying to find a way to end the alternate universe segment.

“However, there are a few beings that are not tied to the causal loop phenomenon. Beings such as Cthulhu, The Devil, and Two sharks happen to be able to create the parallel timelines, and then return to their base time. A strange idea not thought off often. And thus viewers, I do bit you ado.”  

…          

As they stood their looking down at the warehouse, their minds were blown. The RAF responsible for creating Antonio and arguably his death were standing at the bottom, all looking a cylinder with the floating child in it. Rocco stood above wondering how this was possible, his mind explored possibilities and alternate pathways but none came to his mind.

In Zander’s however it could only mean one thing, he collected the information; mainly that the Outsiders were at the end of an era of pseudo-militarism, and on multiple occasions the RAF had taken responsibility for Antonio’s creation. Putting two and two together was an easy as cake, it had to mean that the RAF were originally some sort of splinter cell from the main Outsiders.  

Zander put his hand on the rail and balanced on it, he had no idea why the RAF had never mentioned this to them. That would have been quite useful to know, but somehow Zander had the idea that even the RAF didn’t know their beginnings. And yet here they were in front of the creation of Antonio, there he was right before them.  

That had to mean something, Zander’s heart sunk. By now both of them realized that they were a part of the past in some way, subtly changing it as well as ensuring the future by just traveling back in time and accidentally getting messed up in thins, they had just continued a point of a stable time loop.

Yet when they tried to break away from that path or forces that would have stopped that interfered, the universe combated; turning them invisible or placing solid walls in their way.  And the more Zander thought about it, the more he was disheartened. They had just been guided themselves to this point, that could only mean one thing.

They were needed in the creation of Antonio. Zander’s eyes expanded as he came to that conclusion. If it were true that would have meant that it he were to help with Antonio, use his future knowledge to give the child his powers or do something that was unexplained in the future then he’d be creating a paradox. Where did the idea originate from if he heard of it and then did, it continued the loop but where did the information come from?

He held onto the rail, shaking as he tried to figure out what the timeline wanted them to do. Did they need to kill a president, or where they meeting a celebrity and or trying to impress him or her by traveling back in time? What did they need to know to continue the causal loop?

Questions filled Zander’s head and he stayed upright, swaying back and forth as he took in the information before them. His mind was being overloaded and he didn’t like, his body shivered and shook and then he let go of the rail.

Falling down he caught it but at the same time making a large noise when the metal rail hit off the watch on his wrist. Like with most loud and clinging noises, it spread out at a fast rate and nearly everyone in the room heard it. They looked up and saw Rocco, gasping as they found him and Zander.

The RAF still not getting the meaning of take no prisoners, all ran up to the stairs and realizing they had brute numbers over forces surrounded the two on the upper rail as the idiot ball was thrown into their hands. They surrounded them and stood silent as they waited for one of them to move.

“Well then, ok then we surrender.” Zander said placing his hands up in the air and giving up, making sure that no one was going to drop the idiot ball and suddenly decide to paint the walls red with their opponent and presumably the people behind them blood.     

As obvious as it was they were captured, quickly bound onto structural supports opposite of each other and groaning as they were captured and now had to listen to someone evil’s plan. Zander knew he could easily escape, the RAF was probably made up of three members that had powers and the rest only had been recruited because they wanted some sort of social change.   

“Well then General Jefferson I think our time to appear.” Both of them turned up toward the top of a warehouse and out of the doorway a young woman, she couldn’t be older than a teenager appeared. And yet their she was dressed in full military gear, with a machine gun over her back and a top hat on her head.

“I do agree General Abraham; I believe this is our time for our show.” Another appeared, this time a man and one that neither of them had seen in the future too. He was dressed in the same gear with a white powdered wig on his head and ascot tie. Something told them that both of them had a song in their heart as well.

“Yeah, no. By the way you may now me as General Washington, and I swear this place will change even further when I led.” The general walked in, the two of them never noticing his prop wooden teeth in his mouth. He looked down on the two, a perception filter luckily covering them.

“Well then cover me up with some apples and bake me in the oven, I think we found ourselves a hick group ” Zander said insulting their patriotisms, all they needed is a racecar and a flag cape and they’d be fighting Captain America for the most American award.        

“Laugh while you can you two, soon enough you’ll be you be in front of the shotgun of death.” General Jefferson said getting a loud laugh out of Zander, unfortunately it was not meant to be funny. Zander knew he could escape anytime he wanted, just to break out of the bonds with a quick burn from his energy and break the rope, in fact.

“Yeah, no sorry about that. Will be back in I’d say three minutes.” Zander quickly burned his rope and ran over to Rocco, spinning around him and burning his rope. That was the point where they started to fire at him, Rocco put his hands forward and sprayed oil at them. It was at that point the floor caught on fire.

“I’d hang on Zander.” Rocco, said as he twisted around the beam to avoid the gun fire as well. He grabbed the smaller snow leopard and from his suit his wings unfolded. He flapped up, quickly landing back on the platform they stood on.

“Now then call yourselves the RAF from now on because we do this in the name of the Outsiders!” Zander yelled from the top of the platform. Below them the fire raged and the generals looked at him with death in their eyes. Soldiers ran out of the fire trying to escape the area.

“Prepare for war then, RAF! That’s a good name, RAF! Prepare for war, gather your resources and your guns because we are fully breaking off, we have gone rouge!” General Washington said as he gathered his soldiers and the generals descended back into the darkness.    

“This is bad; I don’t remember any Outsider RAF War.” Rocco said as he looked around getting nervous that they might have broken the timeline and their existences was once again in trouble. He checked his hands and made sure they weren’t see through again.

“Neither will they.” Zander said as he walked over to a table and grabbed a small device on the table. It was like a pen, and as he pulled it down, it flashed. Rocco the victim of the flash wobbled around for the second as the device worked its magic.

“That’s bad, I don’t remember any Outsider RAF War.” Rocco said as he looked around now next to the table, but then he realized that the events didn’t match up suddenly. He looked back at the pen and suddenly Zander pulled it down and it flashed again.

“That’s bad, I don’t remember any Outsider RAF War.” Rocco said again as he looked again and the events didn’t match his perception and memory. He tried to figure out what had just happened again. He shook his head and then deciding to screw with him again Zander flashed it one more time, hoping to make Rocco immune to its effects.

“That’s bad, hey wait a second, don’t do that again.” Rocco said still continuing the events as said, but before realizing what was happening, and deciding to flash him once more Rocco didn’t seemed phased by the memory eraser.

“Ok good, now your immune to the memory flash now to make myself, don’t interrupt, I should be able to loop myself until it works.” Zander said as he pointed it at his face and after cringing at it started to flash at it. Saying nothing, he continued to flash himself, for three more times and then once more.

“Good, we use this on the RAF with a more personalized setting, they forget their Outsiders origins and the Outsiders would have never figured it out. Imaging that two rouge fractions with known grievances would try to destroy each other continuously and the world might end sooner than later.

“So we’re going to let them know they are a militant organization, they have a superhero in training somewhere on the loose. However, they will forget their base location and that they were a part of the Outsiders. Sounds good, most of them were faceless grunts.” Rocco said as he balanced the future in his mind trying of find out how to balance the future.

“Exactly what could possibly go wrong, may the war begin.” Zander said as he suddenly looked down and the Rocco’s face turned to pure sadness as he realized he wasn’t changing the future, he was only keeping it the same. He figured that perhaps the child did have to die.

“Don’t think that, perhaps if we release him early he can get out here and never have to come back. He can get a head start on the RAF and maybe he won’t get captured.” Zander said as he opened the cage and the glowing stopped. The child in the mask and the jacket he would be in for the next thirty years slowly fell to the ground.

Standing up, the child looked at the two people in front of it and suddenly freaked out. He didn’t have the same control of his powers let alone know that it had the powers. Yet as the child tried to run away from them, hiding himself it his own cage, something amazing happened.

The child recognized the power it had, its body started to float. Antonio left the ground like that and was able to beat the constant 9.8 m/s^2 of gravity the Earth constantly impacted on us. Sure it was a trick most superheroes could accomplish, such as trough energy pulses or wings, sometimes fire; however, for a child his age this would have been amazing.

And then he disappeared, recognizing what was supposed to happen he flashed away and disappeared into the void of nothingness. He would probably appear somewhere close, maybe on the roof or in another corridor, but he would go farther in due time.

And yet even as the future seemed secure, suddenly both the bodies of Zander and Rocco faded out for a few seconds, disappearing in front of their faces. They recognized what it meant, something was troubling the future.

“What does this mean?” Rocco asked as he looked at his hand. It couldn’t have been his father in trouble as he was only three at the time and it couldn’t have been his grandfather as he was in Montana at the time. He looked over at Zander who looked nervous, if Zander’s father died in the resulting war…

“If my father died, neither of us would be able to come here. We need to go have saved him before a paradox happens.” And it was with that Zander taking no prisoners and blasted a hole in the ceiling. Rocco still with his wings unfolded grabbed Zander and flapped up through the hole.

As they did, a larger hole than Zander thought needed was formed by Rocco smashing his and Zander’s masses through the tiny hole and onto ceiling.

“Oh god, that smash is really going to ache in ten thousand nine hundred and sixty five mornings.” The snow leopard said as he shook the rubble off his body and made sure that Rocco had pierced anything. “How are we on oil big guy?”

“I’m a little low, however if I reprogramed the braces right they should turn off and let me produce more if I have too.” Rocco said reminding Zander of perhaps one of the best things to come out of the previous incident. Able to reprogram the braces that an older Washington bound them in, he was able to halt his oil producing powers.

Rocco looked cleaner and happier and only needed his suit to store oil, he could go out into the streets and act like a normal person. Not that Rocco exactly wanted to, still fearing the braces would break or someone would target them. Both of them walked to the side of the building, looking down it was the beginning of the battle.

Zander pulled out his memory flasher and made sure that it would only hit Outsider and RAF related memories a half year old. Luckily that should have let the RAF people continue on their war path and go after Antonio, and that would let the Outsiders have the motivation to move on to the peace times.

Looking back in shame for causing this Zander knew that only three Outsiders at most were ever around until he joined and it wasn’t like the hundred people on the ground were all fired, they had to go somewhere and it would be a massacre. Knowing that it was a temporal constant and had to happen, helped him a bit but it still wore on his soul.

“Well then, if lets blow up the RAF wing and get into the cyro bay.” Rocco said his mind remembering the events of the night. Below them the largest battle the Outsiders would take place it, putting most to shame. Power users were pushed to their further and elements flew over the field.

Rocks were tossed, well like rocks. Lighting scorched the trees nearby, some not being healed until thirty years after, and its thunder was the battle’s sound track. Large boom strikes, setting the mood as two sides, two ideals and dreams fought to make theirs a reality.

It was chaos, beautiful chaos. Zander watched the battle, making sure to take notes. It would be the one time he got to see his father fight. It was a fronted battle, people were mixed in with each other and teaming up to take them down. Instead for the first part of the battle it did seem that both sides were using their ranged weapons to lower the numbers on the other side.

Both sides exchanged rocks, lighting, force blasts, bricks, glass shards, bullets and even the Outsiders had use of a tree root. Many a soldier died on the RAF side that day. Nearly feeling sorry for them, it would seem until the close quarters combat began they were overpowered.

The Outsiders were able to form a massive shield to block everything out, they had the advantage together and working together they were able to take out twenty five percent of the combatants as it seemed. And yet Zander and Rocco stood up their knowing what was going to happen to them, seemingly accepting the timeline.

“So this is how it ends for the military ear, I think I’ve seen Rolando die fifty times already.” Rocco said to him and Zander, as he looked down. As it seemed the lizard was bypassing the shield and taking people on himself, stabbing them quickly before he got shot again.

“I wonder if he ever feels afraid for his life? Oh there he goes again” Zander said as he watched Rolando charge into a crowd, like a Leroy Jenkins and quickly stabbing a soldier before getting taken out again, by a soldier with a gun. The once mighty leader of all the Outsiders was getting taken out and being revived.

As they looked down at the massacre about to happen they tried to figure out what to do after this. What they were going to do in the present, or what they would do with the knowledge they gained.  

“I’ve see this, and I saw no more. Good riddance to both of us, playing a dick war over the world and we started this, all because time told us it had to happen. Outsiders and RAF of Washington DC, I ask you to look at yourself and see yourselves as citizens of the world.” Zander said lamenting to himself practicing himself what a real superhero would have said, something he strived to be but he just seemed to run away from fights.

“When we get back, I want to unify the RAF and the Outsiders again, one organization under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” Zander said as he turned his back on the battle and prepared to go back into the cryo pod and view the future as it was. Nothing had changed, they accomplished nothing but securing the timeline.

It wasn’t that it was a bad thing, sometimes people, good people, innocent people do have to die and while he knew that in the future Rocco would feel sore about it, he would one day get over it like everybody does. If they needed to go back in time everything someone died to confirm that time was the block of ice it was then so be it.

Walking back Zander felt weird, his body suddenly faded in and out of existence and so did Rocco’s. Yet that wasn’t the biggest problem, as it seemed as their body faded back and forth, unable to decide the status of their existence, the world started to go white.

Large sections of world almost fell off in hexagonal panels, before crumbling on the ground. The world around them was frozen and it was falling apart. If he was a time travel professional he might have said something complicated but as it seemed they had broken the timeline and caused a paradox.

“Rocco, I think we did something to much!” Zander said as the ground shook, almost like an Earth quake under his body. He tried to stay still but his body feel on the floor and as it did that. The floor collapsed and he feel onto a simple white ground.

Looking around the entire world was white, had it not been for his clothes and bluish fur markings he would appear invisible in the area. Looking around Rocco was with him too and they were all alone, nowhere to go, nowhere to move. They appeared to be singly trapped in this area, this arena.  

Standing up Zander looked around, the area of time they were just in disappeared and instead near them another time appeared near them before it disappeared. More points of time, sometimes featuring random events, events they were in or sometimes people they didn’t know appeared.

“Where are we?” Rocco asked as his voice reflected of the area they were in, Zander didn’t know for a sure point. He didn’t know how large the area they were in was and how far it extended. They could have been trapped in a temporally convex area or perhaps in between dimensions or universes.

“Nowhere, this place is nowhere. Wait what is that?” Zander said as he looked forward, zooming in with his phone he found a large mountain like area with an entrance. Next to it was a sign that read “WELCOME TO HELL.”

“Perhaps we don’t go that way, maybe Heaven is the other way.” Zander said as he turned around, Rocco looked mad and he wasn’t sure what to feel. Whatever they did caused the ending of time and probably space as well. Somebody spilled time all over the spacial carpet and they didn’t have a vacuum to clean it up.

“I say we stay here, wait for time to untangle itself and do what time wanted us to do.” Rocco said as he blocked Zander’s path. Zander tried to go around Rocco, but found the Dragon extending his hands holding him in one spot. Zander attempted a side step but Rocco kept in front.

“Let me through, Rocco you can’t do this to me.” Zander said trying to push the larger dragon out of his way and free up his path. Of course when dealing with an already quarterback sized dragon in a power suit, that was something easier said than done. 

He stomped his feet into the ground and formed a power blast on his hand. He stepped forward, barely pushing the dragon forward a foot. Rocco put his hands forward and grabbed Zander’s hands. Pushing forward, Rocco was able to push Zander forward like a ragdoll.

“This is not fair your bigger than me.” Zander said as he let out a burst of energy from his body and jumped up, firing energy and making sure that he jumped further than Rocco. And yet as if to spite him, the dragon flew up with his wings and matched his height.

“No fair, get out of my way!” Zander yelled as he put his hand forward and almost with no sympathy fired a blast of energy into Rocco’s stomach. The dragon yelled with pain as his suit was knocked downed and he fell to the ground. Crashing Zander landed on the ground and looked at Rocco.

“This is my fault, let me deal with this. If you hadn’t grown a soul we wouldn’t have been inn this stupid mess!” Zander yelled out at Rocco, as he did he felt more sure of himself, more sure about what he was. He was someone who saved people that he knew needed help and in that moment he realized that Rocco and the child needed help.

“I didn’t know you thought that way, maybe we weren’t meant to superheroes. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been given the powers we were, but at least in the end we were doing something useful with them!” Rocco said as he stood up and pushed mentally back at Zander.

“This is useless; this is useless as knowing there are Tachyons in the upper atmosphere. This as useless as a moon base, this is as useless as time travel and a space program.” Zander said giving Rocco his option. Both of them were angry at each other but they were becoming more sure of each other and sometimes perception was what you needed.

“Wait Tachyons in the upper atmosphere, as in that place we passed when in space. I think I have a way to save the child and ensure that we’d still come back. We could keep the causal loop in tack!” Rocco said as his mind exploded with ideas, all he needed was a few items and his plan would work and it would have been glorious.

And like that as they became surer of the perception they gave off and the perception they had of each other, so did the work of the time they were supposed to be in. The hexagonal panels reformed around them while they were fighting and they found themselves in the room of the RAF, floating before them Antonio in his glass cage.

“Make sure the RAF get their memory loss and prepare yourself to blow this baby up, give me a few minutes and I’ll make sure that my plan works out!” Rocco said with a new found excitement in his voice. Zander nodded and blasted up into the roof and smashed through it more comfortably as well.

With his memory flasher, he didn’t waste any time and quickly erased the memory of the Outsiders and the RAF. Looking down as both sides descending into fighting he made sure that everyone was flashed. Looking down on them he promised himself that this fighting would end once and for all.

Looking down he saw his father leading the fighting and knew that even with his upcoming death in twenty five years or so, he had a long life to live and Zander knew in himself he could no longer feel sorry for not having natural powers, for not being able to save his father. 

He sat down and sighed knowing that he wouldn’t get another chance to view his father in his natural state, he never got see his father fight. He just knew that he had powers. And while he knew his father wouldn’t get to see him now and didn’t want him to fight, he still felt his father’s proudness even through the veil of time. He Sat down and sighed knowing that this would be one of his only chanced to view his father.         

“Zander get down here; I think I have it ready!” The snow leopard turned around as he heard Rocco’s shouting and returned to the building. Falling back through the hole, Rocco had in his hand a necklace on the button a sphere shaved device that would presumably function as they needed.

“It’s a tachyon reactor, as it passes through the pod it will create a temporal field. The child will be temporally displaced but he will be alive, either eight to five years in the future or the past, but he will be alive and he will have hope and that is much more than we have right now.” Rocco said as he shook the orb, the tiny tachyons in the air around causing the device to glow.

“It should only react with a full time travel on the day, any other time it will just act as a detector, but when he passes through the atmosphere on that day in early May, boom time travel!” Rocco added, “Well then I guess, we give this to him and we can get on our way.”

Zander walked over to the cylinder and lowered the field. As the glass cage opened and the child feel to the ground, Rocco placed the necklace around Antonio’s neck. It glowed a bit and as the child looked at them, he teleported away.

“I think the future is secure. Now then let’s blow this popsicle stand, figuratively and literally.” Zander said as he was sure that the future was secure. Walking back up to the platform and placing down the memory scanner, he needed to make sure to come back and check that out.

Facing forward towards the glass cylinder, he put his hand forward and charged up his energy. And he fired, a blue beam of energy fired forward and hit the cylinder. It refracted and hit all over the warehouse, setting it aflame and surely setting up an explosion.      

Zander blasted a hole into the closet door and exited from the room. Feeling that everything would turn out fine, he and Rocco silently walked back to the cryo room. Entering the now unlocked door sometime after midnight, a new door was open. Two cryogenic chambers were open and both stepped into the pod.

…

---Seventy Years earlier---

Zander fell out of another portal, this time far less bright and more out in the wilderness. He looked around and knew what he had to do. Rocco had sent him back in time and with a few hundred thousand dollars which was surely worth more in the time he was in currently.

A few hours later he found himself in front of a plaza and a large For Sale sign decorated the premises and a day later he found himself with a building crew, and a day later the foundation of a warehouse was built.

All the while he found the original cryo pod in the basement of a store and took Jackson with him. Placing him and a few more cryo pods in the door, he set the dates he knew and locked the door. He placed a password on the door so presumably someone else could add more dates to it.

With the Outsider’s base opened and the forcefield activated, he transferred ownership to Rolando and the Outsiders and descended into his own cryo bunker, until 2052 again, when he woke up it was time.

Standing at the coast of the Great Salt Lake with Rocco, both of them had a pair of binoculars and Zander looked up floating in the water. With a Hawaiian shirt and a hat covering his face, he laughed a bit as he saw himself go to a boat he conveniently placed with the key in.

Looking up into the upper atmosphere, he saw the first set of debris explode in the sky and zooming in he saw the pod and Rocco re-entering the atmosphere. And then he saw the first sign of damage to the pod, it was at that point that a yellow flash came from the pod. Only a few seconds later it exploded.

Zander high fived Rocco as he viewed then explosion knowing the child was safe somewhere in time. He sighed and exited the salt lake knowing that all they had to do was hide from themselves for a week before they could take their proper places back in their timeline. And then it would have been all over.