Time Spent (33 page)

"Cigarette first," Becca said, holding it
between her lips and raising her lighter to it.

"There's kind of a time factor here," he
said.

"Isn't there always?" she asked in a nasal
voice as she held back, then released a billow of smoke. She nodded
to one of the men. They lowered their guns, but stared warily at
Kevin.

"Okay, now why the fuck are you here? After
what happened you said it was dangerous for us to be together."

"It is," he said. "But I didn't have a
choice. I need your help."

Becca rolled her eyes. "What else is
new?"

Now it was time for his little act.
Gwendolyn had devised it, and showed him how to play up to their
fears. "I can feel you in there, you know," Kevin said, "scrabbling
around in my head. You know that doesn't work. Nothing works on
me."

Becca gave him an odd look. "You what? I'm
not doing anything."

Kevin's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"What oh no? Oh no what?"

Ryan raised Kevin's hand to his throat, and
made a choking sound. He looked around the salon, at Becca, the
agents who surrounded them, then behind them through the plate
glass window.

"What the fuck?" Becca asked.

Ryan turned back to her, a terrified look on
his face. "She's here."

"She?"

He made Kevin convulse, a terrible dry heave
emerging from his mouth. He heaved again, and again, and then
collapsed backward.

"Jesus!" Becca said, her cigarette slipping
from her mouth.

Two of the agents stepped forward, kneeling
over Kevin as his body continued to convulse on the floor. Ryan
opened Kevin's mouth wide, and activated his power, opening up a
portal to the world Gwendolyn had picked out. It was a tiny portal,
just inside his mouth. First one, then another tiny form
emerged:

Bees.

One of the nail technicians screamed.

More and more poured forth, emerging in a
dark funnel. The sound of their buzzing began to fill the salon,
and men and women swatted at them, backing away from Kevin. Some
ran out the front, some out the back. Some cowered in fear at their
hair and nail stations.

Becca backed up as the bees spread out. Soon
they filled the room, they were getting in her nose and ears. She
moved back into a small room with chairs whose backs leaned into
wall-mounted sinks. There was a door with a glass window separating
the two rooms.

"Miller," the agent who had spoken before,
Michaels, called. She looked back to see he was swarmed with bees,
they were clogging his mouth and covering his eyes. Becca reached
out to grab his hand but he fell to his knees, then flopped onto
his face. His back was a writhing, buzzing mountain.

She slammed the door. The last of the agents
ran from the salon, swatting at the massive swarm that clogged the
air.

The front door banged open, and Simon's
massive gorilla like body lumbered in. An invisible force parted
the bees, and he made his way to Kevin's body.

"Kevin? Are you all right?" Simon opened
Kevin's eyes, but Ryan rolled them up into the back of his head,
making it appear Kevin was unconscious. "I heard screams. What
happened? Where did these bees come from?" When Kevin didn't
respond, Simon released his eyelids.

Becca appeared from beside him. Simon
jumped. For a moment, it appeared there was a German shepherd
beside her, but it faded away.

"Becca?"

"You too, huh?" She took a puff off her
cigarette. "It's like a beautiful dream, except for the part where
dear god this sucks out loud."

"How did you do that?"

"Oh. You don't know my dog. Max, Simon. You
two can compare flea and tick tips."

Simon felt his body change, as if it were
shifting out of synch with everything around it. His color faded
away, and he, Becca and Kevin all became like ghosts. Max was now
visible to him, a ghostly German shepherd, standing next to
Becca.

Simon looked down at his hands. "This is
weird."

"Said the gorilla to the dog while he
psychically held back a swarm of bees." She took another puff.
"Huh. At least I can still smoke like this. That's a bonus."

"We have to find the others," Simon said.
"Kevin said we're all in danger."

"If we have to, I guess. Lucky for us
finding people is Max's specialty," Becca said, looking down at the
dog fondly. "Isn't it, boy?"

Max stuck his tongue out and panted.

"Yes it is. He found me when I needed a
friend. Good boy." She looked at Simon. "Tell anyone I said that
and I'll make you climb the Empire State Building and have planes
shoot you down."

With Max guiding them, it didn't take long.
They found Tyler in a dingy L.A. apartment. Brandon had opened his
own comic shop, no surprise there, except for one: he was keeping
Heather as a statue there. Simon seemed none too pleased about
that. They had to break Mia out of prison. Ryan wished he could
have participated in that one, but he had to remain "comatose".
Finally, they made their way onto the military base where Zachary
waited. All the while, Ryan waited for the right time to make his
move. It came when he went to retrieve Carl. He first went to where
the others from the second bus waited, and gave them the signal to
move in, then he went to the barren world where Carl had been left
to die and brought him back to complete the group. As simple as
that, the trap was sprung.

______________________

Above them the rift had widened so far that
it swallowed the clouds, making the rain stop, the wind die. Red
lights had begun to appear, dotting the blackness of the void.

Gwendolyn looked around at them all.

"Time's up, children."

At that moment, Carl fell to his knees,
clutching the sides of his head. "Ahhh..."

Brandon and Becca both rushed to his
side.

"What's wrong with him?" Brandon shouted at
Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn's lip curled. "I believe our
Fortune Teller is trying to glean all he can from my past, and
failing quite spectacularly."

"Ahhh....AHHH..." Veins stood out in Carl's
forehead and he forced his eyes to stay open, focused on
Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn kneeled before Carl. "Is the
incalculable eternity of my existence proving too much for your
tiny mind? How unfortunate." She stood. "I'm disappointed. I
thought you would be the first to choose my brave new world, but
instead you waste your life trying to defeat me."

"AHH!" Carl rolled backward, unable to look
any longer. His eyes remained open, staring at but not seeing the
widening rift overhead.

"I offer the rest of you a choice."
Gwendolyn looked around at all of them. "The Lost will arrive, the
barrier of time will fall. All reality will be undone. This world
must necessarily cease to exist. But we can remake it in any image
we desire. You may all take your places among the Lost. We will
make this world to your desire."

She paused for a moment to let this sink
into their minds.

"Surely each of you has some mistake you
would choose undone, a loss you'd see restored. A woman by your
side, a father figure returned, a familial rift repaired. All can
be set right in our new world. All can be as you desire. All can be
yours. You have but to allow me to finish my work, and this can be
done. What say you?"

______________________

"IDIOT SYNCRATIC"

Blah blah bullshit bullshit super-villain
bullshit.

______________________

"I get it." Brandon looked around at others.
"She's the tempter villain, or temptress, whatever. She shows up,
makes some offer to give the hero his fondest wish if he just joins
her. But it's all smoke and mirrors, it's all bullshit. We take
your offer and we find ourselves stabbed in the back for our
trouble. No thanks, Darth, we won't be ruling the Empire with you
today."

Gwendolyn's eyes flared. "Isn't there
someone you'd give anything to see again, Hero? A girl,
perhaps?"

Brandon's brow furrowed, but then he nodded.
"You're pretty crafty, I'll give you that. You know about Beth, you
know everything about us."

"I do indeed."

"But you don't know what really matters. If
you did, you'd know Beth would tell me to kick your evil bitch
ass."

Reality distorted around Gwendolyn as she
allowed her true aspect to show. "THEN SHE WAS AN EVEN GREATER FOOL
THAN YOU."

He launched himself at her, rocketing at
full speed. Gwendolyn flicked out a hand, and it was as if every
one of Brandon's limbs flew in a different direction. There was a
horrible CRACKKKK, and Brandon howled in pain. He tumbled out of
the air and sailed past her, landing several meters beyond.

"Come on, get her!" Mia ran forward, her
fists and eyes glowing.

Gwendolyn held out one hand, and Mia stopped
cold. The yellow energy funneled out of her collecting in the air
above Gwendolyn's hand.

"LET ME SHOW YOU A REAL DESTRUCTIVE FORCE,
IMBECILE CHILD."

When the last of the energy leaked from
Mia's eyes, Gwendolyn raised both hands and brought them down. The
collected energy smashed down on her with a thunderous impact,
shaking the ground. Gwendolyn raised one hand and the yellow energy
followed. She swirled it around the group, knocking them all off
their feet.

Tyler stood and focused on her, his eyes
dialing open. Gwendolyn spun around, and splayed a hand open in his
direction.

"AGGGHHHH!" He clapped both hands over his
face and white viscous liquid boiled out where his eyes had been,
dripping down through the cracks between his fingers.

"Tyler!" Becca ran to him, holding him as he
fell to his knees.

"MY EYES...."

Max charged at Gwendolyn, shifting her out
of sync with others, making her a ghost like him. He growled,
moving to sink his teeth into her leg. Gwendolyn raised both hands,
spreading them apart. Max stopped, seized by an invisible
force.

Gwendolyn reappeared. The others heard a
terrible howl, echoing into the distance, as if Max were torn apart
and cast away.

"No more, Momma." Zachary said. "No more, I
have to stop you."

"NO, MESSENGER," Gwendolyn said, "YOU WILL
KNEEL BEFORE ME IN TIME. BUT UNTIL THEN, I HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE FOR
YOU."

Kevin appeared behind Zachary, wrapping his
arms around him. A portal cracked open, and they vanished through
it.

______________________

Ryan carried Zachary through the portal and
into the void. Once there, he released him.

You're gonna love this, Tardy Boy!

Red energy coalesced in Zachary's hand. He
put it against Kevin's face, and an explosion threw them apart.
Without Kevin holding him, however, Zachary couldn't control
himself. He tumbled end over end through the void.

Nice moves, moron, not that it'll do you any
good. You're in the Goddess's penalty box now. She showed me how to
do it, go back to when the void was first sealed off. There's only
her friends here, for like billions of years. And no way back to
your time, without me anyway.

Lights appeared in the darkness, moving
closer.

They're gonna love playing with you. Have
fun, jerkoff.

As the lights grew closer, they began to
take on form and substance, the images of strange races lost before
the universe ever began.

Zachary felt a cold dread in the pit of his
stomach.
Demons. They're demons, and this is Hell.

That's my girl all right,
Ryan sent.
Bad as hell
.

He used Kevin's power and vanished.

Zachary tumbled through the void, unable to
right himself or stop his fall. The lights were all around him now.
He was alone among The Lost.

______________________

A sudden wind swirled around the circle.

"AH, THE MIRROR TAKES ON THE NATURE OF THE
WIND. SUCH POWER."

The wind buffeted at her, but couldn't reach
her. Finally, it swirled and the form of Heather appeared from it.
She stepped next to Gwendolyn, reaching out to touch her-

-and something pulled her away.

"I'm sorry, Heather," Simon said, using the
invisible hands to hold her back. "Really sorry. But you have to
stop."

"Simon? What are you doing?"

"This isn't my home anymore. I was happy on
the jungle world. Finally happy."

"Simon, she's a liar!" Tears fell down
Heather's face. "She's-" She stopped speaking and was silent.

"You can let go, Simon, I have her." Becca
lay Tyler gently on the ground and stepped forward. "I have her.
She can't stop you. Just do what you have to do."

"Becca, no," Tyler groaned, still clutching
the hollow place where his eyes had been. "No!"

Gwendolyn smiled. "MY PRINCESS CHOOSES
WISELY. YOU WILL BE A QUEEN AFTER ALL."

"Just do it," Becca said, looking down.

"Becca, Simon, don't do this, please!"
Brandon had managed to prop himself up on his broken legs. "We have
to stop her, she's-"

Gwendolyn became a blur as she streaked to
him, clutching his neck in her hand and lifting him from the
ground. "ENOUGH, BROKEN HERO."

She launched into the air, rising at
supersonic speed, reaching the upper atmosphere in moments. There
the blackness of the void as seen through the rift blotted out the
sun. Gwendolyn turned, wound back her arm and threw Brandon with
impossible force, sending him hurtling back to Earth. He struck the
ground with a massive impact, raising a dust cloud that choked the
air for miles.

______________________

"IDIOT SYNCRATIC"

I'd love to tell you that I rallied the
troops, the heroes saved the day, we all went for shawarma
afterwards, the whole nine yards...but that's not what happened. I
fell, the team got smashed, some of us sided with the big bad
herself. Basically? Hell came to Earth.