Breaking Time

by Luke Derricks

  Instead, he saw himself disappear the instant he arrived. Talk about a weird experience.

  “Not good,” he told the others.

  “What happened?” asked Dawn. “You were the third Luke we saw just a couple minutes ago, weren’t you?”

  He nodded. He still only saw one other of him. “Looks like I didn’t create any paradox duplicates, though. That’s a relief.”

  “Yeah,” said the first Luke. “We figured something was going on, but didn’t know what. So we decided to act like we never saw you – let the timeline play out normally, best as possible. Guess it worked.”

  “Might’ve thrown events off by a few seconds, though. I shouldn’t have seen myself leaving. I got back a second too early.”

  “But when we saw you… that wasn’t five minutes ago. That was like, what, a minute, maybe two?” said Dawn.

  Luke – the one who just time traveled – shook his head. “My range is decreasing.”

  “Hey, I can’t even time travel at all anymore!” exclaimed the first Luke.

  “You time traveled more recently than I did,” said the other. “Right? Maybe it’s not a range limit thing – maybe it’s an energy limit thing.”

  “Come again?” said Ray.

  The first Luke lit up. “Yeah. Like maybe we just need to recharge first. Maybe we can only do so much time traveling before the power gets all used up.”

  They both looked to Simeon for an answer.

  “Just a minute,” he said. He stared blankly ahead again.

  “Why does he keep doing that?” Dawn asked.

  Simeon returned. “There was one other case of someone who received a temporal manipulation power from the Altar of Destiny. After extensive tests, we discovered that use of her power diminished over time, but yes, after a period of rest, she could use her power fully again.”

  “Ah-hah!” said one Luke.

  “So that’s it!” said the other.

  “Yes, well, that’s all good,” said Charlie. “But that doesn’t help us against Mastermind right now.”

  Ray and Dawn turned to each other. “Looks like it’s up to us,” Ray said. “What are we going to do?”

  “Fight him?” said Dawn.

  “I really wish we didn’t have to. Sure we can’t try to negotiate with him or something?” Ray asked.

  “Be my guest,” she said.

  “I know,” he sighed. “I’m just not exactly trained for this sort of thing, ya know?”

  “Me neither,” said Dawn.

  If anyone in that room believed this could be resolved peacefully – they would have done it by now.

  Mastermind was on a mission. And nothing would stop him – except, just maybe, a couple of young adults with new super powers.

  “You ready?” asked Ray.

  Dawn shook her head. “No. But let’s do this.”

  Chapter Ten

  The Secret of Eden

  Mastermind waited impatiently with his arms crossed, foot tapping the ground. It had been several minutes. Where were they? These people had teleportation technology. It shouldn’t take them this long. Geez, even in the future things took forever to happen.

  Assuming this even was the future. Chuck seemed to believe it was. Mastermind wasn’t so sure. Mainly because there was no evidence of his eventual and inevitable rise to power and rule over Planet Earth. And to his knowledge, all other portal destinations were other planets, not other time periods.

  Ethos, the Visitor Liaison, laid dead on the ground. His veins turned black and swollen around the bite wound. Venom wiped her mouth clean. She actually enjoyed that.

  Rhino-Man looked around. What were they waiting on? Who were they waiting for? He was ready and willing to obey his master – whatever that might mean – but he hoped it wouldn’t come to a fight. Yeah, sure, he was big and strong and tough – and had a huge rhinoceros horn on his face – but beneath that tough exterior was, believe it or not, a decent guy.

  At least he used to be. Before Mastermind gave him this new body and life. He liked serving Mastermind. Or maybe feared disobeying him. He wasn’t sure. And now that he was a mutant, where else could he go? What else would he do?

  Hard to imagine that just earlier that day, he was robbing a local bank. Yeah, it wasn’t the smartest thing he ever did. He had robbed a couple convenience stores, gas stations, and places like that before. No one ever got hurt. They lost some money. Big deal. They had plenty of it. He, on the other hand, was struggling to get by. Times were tough. He didn’t choose to be a criminal. He just got desperate and sort of fell into it.

  Maybe he got a little too ambitious hitting that bank. That’s how he ended up in jail with the others – and then Mastermind. And in a dizzying blur of confusion and chaos, he suddenly found himself with a new body and a new purpose. A rhinoceros-man, serving his master, working towards some greater purpose. What, exactly, that purpose was, he still didn’t know. None of his fellow mutants knew.

  He was along for the ride. He belonged to Mastermind now. But he was no killer. After watching the snake-lady Venom strike and kill that innocent guy in the blink of an eye – it unnerved him a little.

  Would Mastermind turn them all into killers?

  Charlie and the others hid safely behind some trees and large rocks elsewhere in the garden. They were a fair distance away, safe from being spotted or heard by Mastermind, but still close enough to attack as soon as they figured out their strategy.

  “Okay,” said Charlie, using his super vision to get a close look on their opponents. “It looks like it’s just Mastermind and his five mutants. Luke, I don’t see another one of you there, so either there’s no other copy or he escaped.”

  “That’s good,” both Lukes sighed with relief.

  “What about that mad scientist?” asked Dawn.

  “Don’t see him either.”

  “Does he have any glowing green chemicals with him?” Ray asked.

  “Not that I can see,” said Charlie.

  “I hope our power doesn’t take too long to recharge,” said one Luke.

  “Yeah,” said the other. “What good is time travel if you can’t use it?”

  “Mastermind’s saying something,” interrupted Charlie.

  “What’s he saying?” asked Dawn.

  “I don’t know,” Charlie said to her. “I have super vision, not super hearing.”

  “We need a plan,” said Ray.

  “Looks like he’s ordering his mutants to spread out,” Charlie said.

  “Ray,” one Luke said, “can you levitate Mastermind up into the air, keep him suspended and facing away, so he can’t make eye contact with anyone?”

  “That’s a good idea,” he said.

  “Maybe we can dump him in a portal,” said Dawn. “Drop him off on some uninhabited world and leave him stranded there.”

  “We’ll have to steal his crystal first,” said the other Luke.

  “I see it,” said Charlie. “Astaria crystals give off a unique energy. It’s in his right pocket.”

  “Alright, I’ve got it,” said Dawn. “Ray, you hold him up in the air. I’ll shape-shift to stretch my arms up, reach into his pocket, and pull it out. Luke, you open a portal somewhere where he can’t harm anybody – ever.”

  “Sounds great,” said Luke. “But what about the mutants?”

  “Leave that to me,” said the other Luke. “I’ll create a diversion. Distract them. Make them chase after me.”

  “That’s suicide!” said Charlie.

  “Maybe my power will be recharged enough for me to make a quick escape in time. I hope.”

  “No,” Charlie shook his head. “Too risky.”

  “Maybe we can push them into the same portal with Mastermind,” reasoned Dawn.

  “Simeon,” Luke said, turning to him, “don’t you guys have some technology we can use? Can’t you just teleport them all away, lock them in a stasis field, or something?”

  Simeon shook his head. “We can’t get involved.�
�

  “What do you mean?” Ray asked.

  “It’s against our laws.”

  “Well your laws are stupid,” said Dawn. “He just killed one of your people! How come no one’s trying to arrest him? Is he that dangerous, even to you, with all your super technology?”

  “It’s not that,” said Simeon.

  “He can’t get involved,” said Charlie. “Not without risking much worse.”

  “What do you mean?” asked one of the Lukes.

  “I don’t understand,” said Dawn.

  Simeon sighed. “Believe me, I wish we could. But that would break the peace treaty.”

  “Peace treaty?” asked Ray.

  Charlie kept an eye on all the mutants. So far, they were all still just waiting around.

  Simeon nodded. “Eden hasn’t always enjoyed the peace and prosperity you see today. Centuries ago, our people used the Altar of Destiny quite extensively. Nearly every man, woman, and child on this planet had at least one super power. Which, as you can imagine, led to a lot of conflicts and civil wars. A lot of chaos, destruction on all sides, and constant civil unrest. Our economy nearly collapsed. Our world, a once great and mighty civilization, was in ruins. But it got worse than that.”

  “Damn,” said Ray. “How do you get much worse than that?”

  “We were the only planet with a temple,” Simeon explained. “We soon became a planet of gods – and some of the more ambitious gods wanted to expand our empire, or extract resources for their wars, from other worlds. The people we attacked didn’t stand a chance. We decimated other worlds for our own gain and selfish reasons, and made many enemies in the process.”

  “Um,” Ray said, wanting to clarify, “when you say ‘people’, you mean other alien races, right?”

  Simeon nodded. “That’s correct.”

  “Got it,” said Ray. “Just double checking.”

  “Over a matter of several decades, we became the galaxy’s greatest threat. Every other race wanted us destroyed. They collectively banded together and sent wave after wave of attacks against us for several decades. We had powers and the temple – but their sheer numbers and powerful weapons eventually destroyed us. Eden was nearly wiped out. And finally, the remaining survivors surrendered, and a peace treaty was formed.”

  “Oh my God,” said a Luke.

  Charlie still watched Mastermind and the mutants. The ugly squid monster guy wandered into a small pond. The snake lady hid behind a few trees. But Charlie’s super vision made it super easy to track them all.

  Simeon continued explaining, “The only peaceful solution was to forbid all future generations from using the Altar of Destiny. No one from Eden was allowed to have powers ever again. And all other races – all visitors, regardless of race or planet of origin – would be allowed to use the temple at will, no exceptions.

  “We feared this would make Eden even more vulnerable to attack, so it was also written into the treaty that Eden would become a political neutral zone, a planet of perpetual peace, protected by all the other races. This ensured that the temple would remain neutral and available to all.

  “Since then, there have been a few attacks or attempts to take exclusive control over the temple – but all the other races quickly came to our defense and protection, secured the pyramid, and pushed back the intruders.

  “That’s why the people of Eden are caretakers of the temple – but cannot engage in any conflicts or give ourselves any powers. In the event any trouble comes to us, as it has again today, we are to wait for our extraterrestrial protectors to come and save us.”

  “That’s terrible,” said the other Luke.

  “You guys are defenseless victims,” said Ray.

  Simeon shook his head. “We are extremely well protected.”

  “Yeah,” said Ray, “by some Big Brother in the sky!”

  “We deserve it,” said Simeon. “Our people proved to the galaxy that we cannot be trusted with such power. That peace treaty was the best thing that ever happened to Eden. Since then, our economy has stabilized, we’ve rebuilt our civilization, and have enjoyed centuries of peace and prosperity. We rarely suffer any threats for long. The others keep us safe. We are a peaceful, open, neutral place for all races. Including yours.”

  “Then why haven’t we seen any of these other races yet?” asked Ray. “Where are they? If this really was some interplanetary utopian society, where are all the other aliens?”

  “An amendment to the peace treaty,” Simeon added. “Any race may visit and use our temple – but only Edenites may live here. It was a way to keep this planet as our own.”

  Charlie kept an eye on Mastermind. The villain still stood waiting by the portal entrance, in the garden. None of the mutants wandered too far either. And their attempts to hide where no match for Charlie’s heat vision.

  “So what about Mastermind now?” asked Dawn.

  “You are aliens,” said Simeon. “You may take care of him. If you don’t, or if you fail, others will come and protect Eden.”

  “Yeah, but,” said Ray, “what if Mastermind kills a bunch of more people, or mutates everybody, while you’re waiting?”

  Simeon shook his head. “That is the price we pay for the terror we once spread across the galaxy centuries ago.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Dawn. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

  “Yeah,” said one Luke.

  “We’re super heroes,” said the other.

  “Think you can time travel again yet?” Ray asked them both. “Which one volunteered to be the diversion again?”

  “I did,” one Luke raised his hand.

  The other Luke put his hand on the first Luke’s shoulder. “Good luck, man.”

  “Thanks man.”

  Dawn mentioned, “We do have the element of surprise. I say we send that mind-controlling monster somewhere he can’t hurt anyone ever again! Okay, so we all know what we’re doing? Everybody ready?”

  Ray nodded. “Good luck to us all.”

  Mastermind checked his watch. Come on, what was taking so long? They just killed an innocent guy for Pete’s sake! Where were the law authorities? Where was Chuck and those annoying kids?

  Arachnus had climbed up into a tree and hid there. Venom lurked behind some trees with large leaves – her scaly green skin blended in nicely. Rhino-Man stood guard, in place, with his arms crossed. Slimer also waited out in the open. She was no fighter – but perhaps if she saw someone coming, she could slow them down and bury them under a pile of her sticky bodily goo.

  The garden and surrounding landscape was beautiful. A nature paradise. But no one was coming. Surely these people had scanners and detectors everywhere. They had some kind of artificial telepathic communication too. Did no one notice or care that – what was his name again, Ethos? – was gone?

  Maybe he was wrong. Maybe Chuck and the others didn’t come here after all.

  But then… just as he reached for the crystal in his pocket to go home, he spotted Luke approaching in the distance. “Ahh, at last,” said Mastermind. “Please tell me they sent more than just you.”

  Luke knees were trembling. He was so nervous. He tightened his fists. He must not be afraid. He could do this. This was what being a hero was all about. Facing one’s fears, doing what’s right, risking your own well-being for the safety of others. Being a hero wasn’t about cool powers and flashy costumes. No. It was about standing up to powerful demons – even if that demon was a mind-controlling madman who killed your own parents.

  Mastermind must die.

  The plan was just to banish Mastermind and his mutants to some isolated planet where they couldn’t harm anyone ever again. But maybe, a sizeable part of Luke hoped, something would happen that would “accidentally” kill this man.

  Luke walked closer.

  At least, that was how it always happened in the comic books. Heroes weren’t supposed to kill. But they didn’t have to save the villain either. Maybe one of his mutants will accidentally ki
ll him somehow. That’d be poetic justice.

  “I know about your little ‘power’,” Mastermind said.

  That stopped Luke dead in his tracks. “You do?”

  Only way he could know that was if another Luke did appear out of the sphere earlier. Made sense. There was always a copy whenever he changed his own timeline. Hmm. Hopefully that Luke escaped, though. Maybe he’s back on Earth already.

  Wait. If that Luke did escape – and of course he did – to Mastermind’s perspective, it would’ve just looked like Luke simply disappeared. Did that mean Mastermind assumed Luke had the power to teleport or turn invisible – but had no idea he could actually time travel?

  “Your parents would’ve been proud,” the madman mocked.

  Luke tightened his fists.

  Mastermind smirked. “But if you were going to change history, you would have by now. The mere fact that you stand before me now says either you can’t – or you’ve already failed.”

  Damn. He knew everything.

  Alright. It’s okay. Just keep him talking. Keep him distracted. Luke still kept a safe distance away, but felt a little too close for comfort. He tried to keep an eye on the nearby mutants. The rhino guy and slime girl were there. Uncle Charlie said the spider one was up in a tree a little ways over to the side. The snake lady hid on the opposite side behind some trees.

  Knowing their location – thanks to Uncle Charlie’s super sight – allowed Luke to watch his step, keeping himself relatively safe. Relatively. He still sensed the very real danger. If he were Spider-Man, his spider senses would’ve been tingling like crazy right now. But what was he worried about? He was better than Spider-Man! He could time travel. Hopefully, if his power had recharged enough by now.

  Then again, maybe the ability to sling a web and escape quickly would’ve been better after all…

  As for Ray and Dawn – their plan required a little more precision and planning – and a lot more risk.

  “Maybe I just wanted to talk to you first,” Luke said to Mastermind. “Try to reason with you. Surely we can come to some sort of peaceful arrangement.”