Shadow of Time

by Jamie Hawke

  “Yeah?”

  “From what I’ve seen, you’re going to do just fine.”

  A look passed between them, a moment where Frank knew he’d be in trouble if he didn’t move on straight away. She saw it too, and to her credit turned away, starting to walk. At first, he thought it was brave of her, caring—to not put him in that situation with Keisha. But then he realized she was walking back in the direction where she’d seen her lover’s killer.

  He caught up to her in two strides, hand on her shoulder. “If you do something drastic—”

  “I’m going to set it right.”

  He turned her to him, and she didn’t fight it. “Temra… You don’t have to do this.”

  “That son of a bitch killed him!” she hissed, motioning with her gloved hand. “Do you have any fucking idea how it feels to know he’s right there, that all I have to do is make the right shot?”

  Frank shook his head. All of his lovers were alive, so how could he know what she was feeling? The thought in itself showed how far away from understanding he really was. All of his lovers. Not just one. Not zero, for sure. After another moment, he lowered his hand.

  “Think we can take him?”

  Her frown turned to hope, and she pulled out her eyepiece after making sure nobody was around to see it. “If we do it right. We’re almost ninjas, after all.”

  “Ha. A couple days on the job, and already we’re planning an assassination.”

  “As I said, you’ve got what it takes. And what better way to learn than by practice?”

  He breathed deep, still not sure about this, but then checked his weapons under his long coat and nodded. “Fine, but then we don’t stop until we find the rest of our group.”

  “Agreed.”

  She snuck forward, taking a good look, then indicated a window above the Vikings in a brownish-colored stone building on the opposite side of the valley.

  “From there.”

  “Can’t we just shoot him?” Frank asked, looking her over for a gun.

  “All out of bullets. You?”

  He frowned. “Same.”

  “There you go. And we’ll need to be closer for anything else to work.”

  Without another word, she doubled back to make her way over to that building, and in no time the two were breaking into the apartment she said her map, via her monocle, showed her was the right one.

  “It tracks stuff like that?” he asked.

  She grinned, tapping the edge of the glass. “If I mark it, yes.”

  With her gloved hand on the door, she turned and managed to break the handle, so that the door swung inward. Some grip there, Frank thought, hoping he never got on her bad side. She darted over to the window, checked, and grinned.

  “Still there.” Kneeling at the edge of the window, she prepared one of the blow darts. Frank stood back, leaning forward just enough to see what happened, and watched as she shot it at the cyborg.

  It hit—and fell to the ground as a blue light flashed. Fucking shields.

  The cyborg looked their way. Both Temra and Frank pulled back, waiting, then jumped at the sound of footsteps from behind. They turned to see a young woman in the doorway, groceries in her hands, staring at them with wide eyes.

  “It’s okay—” Frank started, but her screams cut him off.

  “Fuck, go!” Temra was already up and running as gunshots tore at them through the half-opened window and pelted the walls outside.

  The woman’s screams grew louder. She dropped her bags, something breaking, but by then Frank and Temra were gone, darting along the other passage, down a floor, and then through another apartment at Temra’s lead

  “You’re going back toward them!” Frank pointed out.

  She only continued. “Of course. I’m not letting that fuck get away.”

  The window was open. She leaned out of it while looking to her right, then lowered herself and dropped the rest of the way. Frank was relieved to see it was only one floor up, but still—they were unarmed, charging at a group of Viking mafia armed with guns and axes, along with the cyborg and his shield.

  Even he had to admit their chances didn’t look good.

  “Are you fucking insane?” he hissed, but too late. They came at her, she at them.

  To her credit, she gave them hell. She was slashing with her sword, throwing out bursts of explosive steam-powered grenades to the far side and hitting them with throwing stars. A fucking steampunk ninja, Frank thought to himself with a laugh, catching up and snatching one of the rifles a Viking dropped. He shot one of theirs before the man could get a hit on Temra, then turned his reticle on the cyborg and tried taking him out, too.

  Strong fucking shield. The round caused it to flicker, but it was still active.

  And then the cyborg’s team was charging Temra, the others readying rifles while one called for backup. This wasn’t going to last long. Shots rang out from the other side and the Vikings darted off for cover, all but the cyborg, who stood tall, glaring, as the shots fizzled into that blue shield of his. It must’ve been one damn powerful shield.

  “Over here!” Keisha shouted, and they turned to see the shots were coming from her and Esmerelda.

  Frank grabbed Temra and pulled her back, in spite of her protestations.

  “He’s right there! We can get him!”

  “We will,” Frank replied. “But not today.”

  “Cops,” Frank shouted, noticing two patrol men by a car. He darted over, more than half-way there before he registered Temra shouting for him to stop, that they were owned by Rick Draper.

  Shit.

  He started to backpeddle, to turn and run, but already the cops were telling him to freeze. A moment later the blue light of his shield shimmered around him, then he processed the sound of shots fired. They were shooting at him! The police were supposed to protect, but in this world… not so much.

  He reached the others again just as two Vikings rounded the corner. Frank didn’t even stop, just kept on charging them with the others catching on and running at his side. They took down the Vikings with ease, then were moving on, backtracking toward the farmer’s market area.

  “The cops will be right on our tails,” Temra said. “Drones above. We need a better move, here.”

  Frank scanned the area, eyes landing on a small building that had what looked like an overhang from another building jutting out over it, offering some cover. There might be more there, areas where they could hide while figuring out their next move.

  He led the way, using one of the grappling hooks as his grandpa had shown him, and they climbed up to a short building where the roof allowed for hiding spots away from the view of drones. They checked over the side after pulling up their ropes, unsure whether they were in the clear, and waited.

  “Thought we’d find you eventually,” a deep voice said, causing them to jump.

  They turned to see nothing at first, then movement. Shadow was suddenly there, stepping out from the darkness of the stairs. He turned back the way they’d come. A fire. Sirens. People gathered in the street. “Becoming one with the shadows… might not be your thing.”

  Frank scowled. “That’s not fair.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “You couldn’t have warned us about surveillance being everywhere? About…” He paused, glancing around. “Shit, are there—I mean, are they watching us now?” His hand went to his sword.

  Shadow looked to the sky. “It’s possible. Either way, we need to move.”

  14

  The next day, Frank sat eating a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and staring at the door. He was still going over the day before, how they’d fucked up. His grandpa had been pretty pissed about how it all went down but blamed himself as much as any of them. All he’d wanted to do was let them have a taste of daily life and let Temra live a little, as she’d been confined so much, so hit by grief. And also spend a bit of quality time with his newly-found wife.

  There’d been no after-action discussion. Jus
t return, train, eat, and sleep. Now, he was itching to know what the next move would be.

  “It might be good,” Eric said, entering with Shadow. “Speed things up.”

  “We’re lucky they didn’t capture her,” Shadow said, shaking his head. They sat with Frank, others following. “No, if anything this proves we’re not ready.”

  “How do you know?” Frank asked. “We need to move on this, right?”

  “I have people watching him.” His grandpa glanced over at Temra, who sat nearby.

  She sat up straight and looked away, as if caught at something.

  “You’re watching him?” Frank asked.

  “Oh…” She shook her head. “I haven’t been, but now…”

  “A few others,” his grandpa said. “We managed to set them up as staff at the Space Needle, working the restaurant and other positions, as that’s where Rick often spends his time. Has a section blocked off, where I believe he meets with the alternative versions of himself.” With a nod over to Temra, he added. “Now that we know Prain is there—”

  “Prain?” Frank shook his head.

  “The cyborg.” He leaned forward. “Now that we know he’s there, we’re getting her in place to ID him. When he’s at the tower, then we know it’s time to act.”

  Frank frowned. That would also put her at risk, but he had to realize how much was at stake here.

  Shadow stood. “When you’re done, we have training to do. Outside this time, again.”

  “We’re going out there?” Frank asked. The rain still hadn’t let up, and even down here they could hear the thunder. “In this?”

  Shadow scoffed. “Please tell me my grandson isn’t afraid of some rain. You want an umbrella while you sneak around the shadows?”

  Frank shook his head, glaring.

  “That’s my boy. Now, do as I say.” Shadow gave him a nod, moving off to join Rose while she was getting herself some oatmeal and a cup of coffee.

  Frank glanced around, noting that Keisha and Esmerelda must’ve still been sleeping. He picked up his bowl and moved over to join Temra.

  “This seat taken?” he asked, motioning to a very empty bench.

  She gave him a smile that he figured was welcoming enough.

  He sat, took a bite and glanced around, not sure where to look. Others were meandering about in the early morning, some grabbing breakfast, others eyeing the new wonder boy. He would’ve liked to know what they were all thinking about him—the Shadow’s grandson. A scoff escaped his lips at the thought of his grandpa calling himself the Shadow. The man he knew was not any sort of ninja, so this whole affair felt like a bit of a dream.

  “Something’s funny?” Temra asked. Her bowl was empty, he noted.

  “Oh, just thinking about the man I knew my grandpa to be versus who he is now.”

  “But you never knew him at this age.”

  Frank shook his head. “I don’t care how old he is, the man I knew wasn’t some ninja trainer, or badass time trav…” He didn’t even finish the word, realizing that he was totally wrong. His grandpa had traveled back, along with his grandma. They had gone through pirate adventures of some sort.

  It made him wonder what sort of man the grandpa he had known might have actually been.

  “Him being the same person doesn’t mean he’s actually… the same.” Temra looked right at Frank—case in point. “You look the same, talk the same… who knows what else, but you’re not my Frank.

  She spoke those last words with such sorrow, Frank almost wanted to pull her into a hug, even kiss her. Do whatever it took to try and be her Frank.

  “See, that look right there,” she said, trying not to stare but failing. “That’s the look my Frank would give me. But he wouldn’t have sat there doing nothing about what he wanted.”

  “I can’t,” Frank mumbled.

  One of her eyebrows arched as if to dare him. “Because you’re not my Frank. Just like that man, the Shadow, isn’t exactly your grandpa.”

  “Don’t take that away from me.”

  “I’m only pointing out facts.”

  He shifted in his seat, not sure where this conversation was going, but not liking the direction. Wanting to change it, he asked, “You’re observing Rick Draper? You’re one of those on the inside?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Right.”

  “And you’ve seen these other versions of him?”

  It was only then that he realized she didn’t have on her strange one-eyed goggle device, because she pulled it out of a pouch at her hip, holding it up for him to see. “I’ve managed to sneak these in and have a look around. Traces of travel, and… Different versions.”

  “So, you’ve seen them together?”

  She shook her head. “Never together, but I can tell they’re different versions of the same man. Different readings. Like how I can see your stats, I can see people who have traveled through time and kind of see a pattern to them. Theirs change sometimes, so I know it’s another one.”

  He scratched his head, trying to hide the skepticism. “How do you get around with…” He indicated the contraption on her shoulder.

  “I don’t need it, but am partially crippled without. Just have to do a good job hiding the fact when it’s time.”

  “Anything else you’ve seen there?”

  She shook her head, staring at him. “I’ve been meaning to speak with your ladies soon.”

  He gulped, glancing around the room. Still not here. Leaning forward, he asked, “What exactly do you plan on saying?”

  “It’s private.” Her red eyes sparkled. She looked both exhausted and excited at once.

  “I see.”

  “But I can tell you more about the team here,” she said, perking up, hopeful. When he gave her a noncommittal nod, she started secretly indicating certain men and women, giving him the lowdown on how they’d ended up here. A couple were recruits Shadow had found, others, ones like her who had ended up here from alternate worlds, fighting the good fight there only to find their way here by accident.

  “By accident?” Frank asked.

  She shrugged. “Fighting one of the versions of Rick, the Pirate King. He travels—only doesn’t know he’s brought someone with him, because sometimes you don’t end up in the same location. Trust me, it’s very confusing.”

  “And the fact that it’s happened more than once is… mind-boggling,” Frank said.

  “Certainly.” She nodded at Eric. “He and his boyfriend came through like that, too. I guess their world was fairly normal, if not a bit futuristic—check out his gun, if you get a chance.”

  “Won’t his boyfriend get mad?” Frank asked.

  “I’m not sure if that’s funny or offensive.” Temra grinned. “Just messing with you. But for real, he has this crazy plasma blaster. You need to see it.”

  “Can’t be much more impressive than this steampunk thing you have going on.”

  She blushed. “My world had its ways. That’s all.”

  “Well, I like it.”

  An awkward moment passed between the two, and then Frank stood, noticing that Shadow was there in the doorway, watching. At Frank’s movement, Shadow called out, “Training time!”

  15

  It was the last moment they had together for the next couple of days, as Shadow had them training practically non-stop. Temra went off with others for their recon missions, gathering intel in the way they’d apparently been doing before Frank and the ladies arrived.

  Shadow worked the plan into their training, as well. Ninja gear, including cliff-diving suits which they used in Temra’s latest creation—a simulator room powered by steam. At one point in his life, not long ago, Frank would’ve seen all of this as a thrill worth seeking. A fun time with some college buddies.

  Now, it was terrifying—especially when he started thinking about how they’d soon be putting all of this to the test. It became a little less terrifying, however, each time he found his mind opening up to memories of another version of him learning thi
s, his body going through the motions as if by second nature.

  Or maybe it was terrifying in a new way.

  The fourth day after Temra had returned to her intel missions, Frank was about to perform a kata before the others woke when images of opponents in black all falling before him flashed across his mind, along with level-up and ALT-upgrade notifications for balance, stamina, and strength. He blinked, taken back, but checked the compass. Sure enough, when he looked at the device, he’d leveled up three additional levels! That brought him to level ten. He had to assume the upgrades were his as well, along with a couple of other increases he looked forward to finding out about.

  Drawing his katana, he moved into a sword technique and executed it faster and surer than he’d ever thought possible. He continued in this way, marveling at what was happening, both fascinated by and overwhelmed with his new reality.

  Soon, a still-sleepy Keisha and Esmerelda finally joined him. The day was spent in more practice—working on throws and takedowns, fighting and weapons techniques—and when there was a pause for a bathroom break, Frank thought his muscles were going to explode.

  One of the guys was staring at him. At first it seemed like this was a point where Frank would have to let the guy down easy, to tell him he didn’t swing that way. Frank turned away, but the guy was at his side in a flash.

  “Whoa,” Frank said, eyes narrowing. Maybe this was something else—an attack? Double agent action?

  But the guy only held up a finger, glaring. “You fucking hurt her, you answer to me.”

  “Sorry?”

  “She’s a good lady, okay? Other you treated her right, and so will you.”

  Frank only then caught on but had to blink at the thought of being compared to himself, essentially. “I always treat women with respect.”

  The man scoffed with a glance over at Esmerelda and Keisha. “Yeah, but how many at once?”

  “You don’t know me. You don’t know us.”

  “No.” The man stood his ground, staring him down, and then ran off to join the others who’d moved ahead to get back into the training.