The Time Stone (32 page)

“
We have to trust him”
said James.

“
Look” yelled Tina
pointing at the skyline and seeing the group of men in dark suits
returning in a group of all-terrain vehicles running at
them.

“
Let’s move” yelled Drax
and the quartet ran into his waiting van a few meters away and
haled inside. Drax and James crawled into the front driver and
passenger seats respectively and Tina and Mercedes opened up the
rear sliding door and jumped in as the van pulled away.

“
We need to get out of
here” yelled Tina.

“
I know exactly where were
going.” Said Drax. He drove the van up the knolls and brick quarry
leading up to the complex they saw before.

“
What is that?” Asked
Mercedes.

“
The Tower Magnitude
fortress. The secret lair headquarters of the Machination and the
most heavily-guarded place on the planet!” It was a series of
stonework that lit up bright in colors of the rainbow spectrum as a
tall series of unitary buildings spiking up at the top individually
and all coalescing towards a central structure that was large and
spiraling upward into the heavens disappearing into the clouds
above the pale blue skies. Above the pathway was disappearing into
the air and the surrounding stonework as it was within the lights
shining brightly up and into the atmosphere. All structures
appeared to be interconnected by an intricacy of semi-miniature
stonework pathways. The quartet in their van rode up the brick rode
to the tall stone quarry at the center of the structure, the
central complex.

The men in dark suits in their
all-terrain vehicles approached with a strange symbol that was on
their vehicle hoods and on their jackets emblazed as before, a
circular pattern double loop formation that embroidered itself on
them as if representing them in every way. The symbol had multiple
spokes extending outward with five orbs at the center.

“
We are heading deep
inside the central complex. We should be prepared for the
unexpected. We may have to do battle.” Said Drax.

“
You could’ve explained
that. Why couldn’t you do battle?” Asked James.

“
I didn’t have an army
before. Four heads are better than one.” Said Drax as he piloted
ahead of the pack of ATVs on their tail up the stone quarry and
into the heart of the central complex.

“
We’re just regular folks,
not soldiers” said Tina.

“
You could have fooled me
the way you handled those beasts. I know trained operatives who
would have failed at those tasks. Trust in your instincts. There is
something special about you. All of you. You accomplished a lot and
now I am asking you to accomplish a whole deal more that can
restore your lives and save countless others.” Drax
said.

“
Well…” remarked Tina. All
three looked at him with sincerity in their eyes and a sense of a
renewed pride.

“
Let’s go!” Said
James.

CHAPTER 67

The darkness of the main chamber
within the central complex was illuminated with the colorful lights
of the rainbow spectrum emanating from above an around in
synchronism lines as the center of the room appeared to spin in the
middle of the vibrating and whirling lights, as the individual
solely in the center of the room, Broad Staffnight in his three
piece suit staring into the flame of a lit candlestick, his dark
beady eyes fixated at its core. The sound of Richard Wagner’s Ride
of the Valkyries playing loudly in the background as Broad stood
before his desk and stood in the immense boardroom office and after
several fixated moments, he bore a still gaze as his thoughts raced
about in his mind about the various projects his company was
involved in and he was focused on, but now the biggest project of
all he sensed was coming, his thoughts manifested in a curious bold
smile. “Beep” the sound of the alarm on his desk went
off.

“
Here” Broad
responded.

“
There is some disturbance
on the perimeter.” Said Brent Hightower, Police Chief and Security
Advisor to Temporo, Inc.

Broad smirked wider anticipating an
impending arrival. “Prepare the defenses.” Said Broad.

“
Yes Sir, out.” Replied
Hightower as he released the communication.

Broad stood nodding into the flaming
abyss. “It is time!”

In the open atrium of the central
complex, a large red carpet surrounded by marble pillars and gilded
seating and architecture, statues, and objects decorating the area
like an expensive hotel lobby, a large-scale painting of the
Sistine chapel ceiling replica raised above the heads of the many
people standing in the center. Elizabeth Peters stood in the center
looking up and around, surrounded by several dozen agents in
uniform jackets and hats with various initials representing a half
dozen federal agencies walking around with their equipment
preparing for a major bust. Joseph Willibiggons approached wearing
a long white shirt buttoned up to the top with no tie. He snorted
as he touched his small glasses

“
Ms. Peters.” He spoke in
his usual meager boyish vernacular.

“
What are we doing here,
Joe? This was supposed to be over. This much heat.” She spoke
anxiously.

“
We are almost there. It
won’t be much longer now.” He grimaced at her as she squinted back
curiously holding her gun up and cocking it.

“
We’ll be hopeful.” She
replied. “You ready to do your transformation act when the time
comes, Mark?” She said to the short man standing beside her
complimented by his decorative jewel adorned wine glass.

“
Always,” he smirked
revealing part of his face as his brow grew larger and dark brown
with bumps and hair, then quickly reverted to normal. “Always
prepared!”

Outside of the central complex, the
large wooden and metal-laden doors were bolted shut and remained
guarded by Jeremy Esteban, a muscular man with a black T-shirt and
long dreadlocks buried underneath a tightknit cap. He gritted his
teeth as he cursed the air around him exhibiting a foul mouth to
his comrade, a petite blonde haired local police officer named
Jonathan Wilson who was young enough to be his son who was standing
beside him in uniform holding a rifle.

“
What the… man Jonathan,
are we waiting for trouble or what?” Said the taller man. “I got an
itching for a butt kicking.” He clamped his fist into his waiting
empty hand.

“
I suggest we wait
further. Our orders were to look out for any resistors. Our whole
regimen depends on it.”

“
I see some serious stuff
in my day, a long stretch in Viet Nam, gangbanging in Compton,
stretch in San Quentin, and even worked security for Mariah Carey
but nothing prepared me for the stuff they say is supposed to go
down. How they get this smarts anyway?”

“
I was told it is a secret
source. Rumor has it there is psychic power involved. Your long
list of credentials sounds impressive but if there is something
otherworldly, then it will take more than brute force to prevail in
the end, Mr. Esteban.”

“
Whatever it may be, I am
ready for it. My daddy always said it was a fool’s choice when you
went into battle empty handed and I got some knuckle sandwiches
right here for them psychic bitches.” Jeremy waived his fists in
the air.

“
I hope you’re right.”
Jonathan added.

The tower structure of the central
complex loomed down as the main citadel glistened in the dusking
skies, and the pale moon shown bright blue overhead.

“
The hour is almost at
hand. The last time.” Said Broad Staffnight on the balcony
overlooking the entire complex.

“
We do not have a lot of
time left, Sir” said Janus standing beside Broad. Janus had pale
hands and a pale nose like a corpse and spoke with a dark and
slurred mannerism. “The moon is full and he period of night balance
approaches. We must start the ceremony or forever lose our
chance.”

“
Then let it begin” said
Broad and the cloaked man began to chant like a Gregorian Monk
repeatedly as he walked over to the bannister and lifted his arms
up to the moonlit sky, the darkness began to grow and permeate
their immediate surroundings as he waived his hands in circle
causing blackness of smoke to build before them. “By the rod of
Cronos… come forth.”

“
We will find the ‘Eye’
soon. It is being ‘delivered’ as we speak” Broad smiled.

Having abandoned their van, the
quartet led by Milton Drax walked up the stairwell after having
entered into the side rear wall of one of the dozen tall front
towers of the central complex.

“
How did you know that
door was open? It was just a brick wall.” Asked James.

“
I told you…” started
Drax.

“
I know… I know you were
one of them.” James interrupted. “Let’s just hope they didn’t
change the locks.”

They climbed the stairwell up to a
black door with strange symbols on it resembling four lines
crossing one another and curving in a circular pattern.

“
What’s this?” Asked
Tina.

“
Hold on.” Said Drax who
tapped the left side of the door and it revealed a panel that had a
series of switches as the cover vanished. “It’s a holographic
projection only” said Drax looking at the dumbfounded faces of his
new colleagues. Drax flipped two switches and the door opened.
“Hurry, we don’t have much time.” Drax ordered as they entered a
rooming closet filled with large weaponry and militaristic
gear.

“
We should split up to
cover more ground” thought Mercedes out loud.

“
No were stronger as a
group” said James.

“
Normally, I would agree
James,” said Drax “but these are not normal times.” He stood up and
cocked a large rifle-like weapon with a glowing orb at the end that
hummed when cocked under the groin and grit of his determined
stare.

“
Cool” said Tina reaching
for a similar weapon.

“
Don’t touch that…” yelled
Drax reaching out.

“
What?” Said Tina as she
touched the weapon and it began to blink rapidly and make a loud
beeping noise.

Drax reached down and tapped it on a
different spot and it stopped. “Phew, you almost blew us up.” He
smirked.

“
Oh my” she
gasped.

“
Here,” he grabbed a small
pistol with a bulging tip and handed it to her. “Always point it
away from the good guys. Drax smiled speaking slowly.

“
Mercedes grab this one,”
he tossed her a body armor and pistol.

Then he tossed another one to James.
“These weapons are limited editions sort of speaking. Listen
carefully then let’s go!” He explained on how to operate them and
where to go and they all split up into their respective assigned
directions.

Mercedes kept up the
stairwell on her own thinking what she has done to wind up in this
situation. She has come a long way from her initial predicament but
feels still young and hidden from truths that are apparently beyond
her comprehension. “
I guess that is what
growing up is for?!?
” She thought as she
clutched the long rifle-like weapon in both her hands with a
glowing orb on the end that illuminated the darkened stairwell
before her and large black body armor on her torso and extending
down to her groin area and up her neck and head. She felt like a
football linebacker but also as a thief trying to take what wasn’t
hers and insurrect an organization that she did not even know
existed until recently. She was new to this life of crime and felt
apprehensive as she approached the door to the long-awaited
seventieth floor where Drax told her to go. He said it was likely
every floor had high security and they had to be prepared so each
of them was given a brief tutorial on using the advanced
technological weaponry. “
Click, Turn, and
Spivot…
” she remembered his words as the
lesson included some basic self-defense. She never imagined being a
soldier but was ready for anything and she gritted her teeth as she
ascended the stairs. She reached the door on the left side and
touched it revealing a panel of control switches that appeared as a
holographic visage vanishing before her just as Drax said would
happen. “Whoa” she reached out and switched the two switches up
just like Drax told her to causing the door to open and a room of
bright light to emerge with people standing in the distance on an
array of red carpentry and gilded furniture design. She took a deep
breath and stepped into the room.

As she entered, the group in the
distance ran towards her. She noticed a group of men in blue
jackets with hats and they drew their weapons.

“
Hey freeze” one
yelled.

“
Oh crap” she yelled. As
they got closer, she aimed her rifle-like weapon and pulled the
trigger. The lit orb at the end released a loud humming sound and
projectile of light energy separating itself and blasting forth in
all directions creating a loud explosion sounding in conjecture
with a blinding flash of light. Mercedes turned her face away and
when the light faded she saw the men lying on the floor unconscious
but with no visible signs of damage to their bodies. A sole woman,
Elizabeth Peters, was in the distance, having long blonde hair,
wearing a business suit, and holding a large pistol. Mercedes
approached and Elizabeth pointed her weapon at her. Mercedes
pressed a button on her armor and a flash of light enveloped her
and made her appear to disappear. Elizabeth cursed under her breath
as she knew it was a cloak of invisibility. “Damn” she uttered.
Mercedes ran towards her hidden in realms of light and darkness,
and knocked her down disarming her then punching her in the face
rendering her unconscious. “Yeah!” She screamed. Then she felt
something stealthily approach and before she could turn it pounced
on top of her causing her to drop her weapon on the floor a few
feet away that revealed itself visibly once out of her possession.
She turned and found herself struggling with a mythic creature, the
Satyr. He lunged at her with his sharp fangs and long snout and
brow as they grasped one another’s hands. “He can see
me”.