Quinn Fenton and the Time and Space Protection Agency

by Ethan Bibile

  The pirate’s ship continued flying closer and closer. Voices floated down to reach Quinn’s ears. As the ship got closer to Quinn and the Audion, the hangar door began to open, grinding up as one half of the door was pulled down and the other half pulled up to create an entrance from which light streamed.

  Just before the ship had fully passed him, Quinn sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him to the edge of the indent in the wall. As he made it to the edge he pushed off with his legs, propelling his body through the air. He flew almost majestically, flying towards the pirate’s ship which had thankfully slowed down. He managed to grab onto a rail on the back of the ship with his right hand. He put his gun into his mouth as he hung onto the back of the pirate’s ship now with both hands and feet. The ship continued to move forward into the hangar until the door slammed shut behind it, leaving Quinn trapped. He was in Agross’ base.

  The hangar was huge. Just below the pirate ship was a series of claws that began to grab onto the bottom of the ship and pull it down to the ground. Some of the walls were piled high with crates. Other walls were lined with spaceships that looked like a lowercase letter ‘r’. Quinn’s eyes glanced around at the high roof, and then at the glass window where he saw an assortment of people, watching the parking ship.

  Instantly, Quinn flattened himself against the wood of the pirate’s ship as much as he could, knowing that if he was spotted it would very well mean the end for him.

  Quinn could hear all kinds of voices ringing out through the hangar, yelling instructions at each other. The pirate's ship suddenly jerked violently, causing Quinn’s legs to slip of the thin railing on the back of the ship they had been standing on. His sweaty hands nearly lost grip on the back of the ship, yet luckily, he managed to pull his whole body back up and put his feet back on the railing.

  Quinn looked down for the source of the jerk and found that the pirate's ship had touched down on the hangar floor. Slowly and carefully, Quinn began to climb down the side of the pirate’s ship, desperately squeezing himself against the wood as he descended.

  Quinn jumped delicately onto the floor of the hangar, trying as hard as he could to land quietly.

  “Agross’ been waiting for you lot,” Came a voice, and Quinn retracted himself against the ship, taking a breath in as a human walked around the corner, an electronic clipboard in his hand. Behind him followed a small and sluggish grey alien who looked like he could use some sunlight against his skin.

  “We ran into some problems,” Replied the sluggish grey alien, who seemed to be the Captain of the ship. He wrung his hands nervously as he talked. “The galactic police have been cracking down on pirates since they caught Aboan and his crew,” Quinn couldn’t help but smile to himself.

  “Oh yeah, we all heard about that,” The human said, turning around to face the pirate. Quinn noticed that on his neck was a silver metallic strip with a blue light that continuously blinked. So, this man wasn’t completely human. Or he was, and he was simply being controlled against his will. Quinn’s anger grew at the potential fact that Agross was forcing people to do his bidding.

  “It was some kid who beat him too. Everyone here knows about him,” So they knew who he was. They knew that he was the guy who single handily beat an entire crew of pirates and freed the prisoners. “Agross isn’t happy about the prisoners he freed,” Quinn was filled with some pleasure that he had annoyed Agross.

  “Well none of us would be,” The Captain said, his eyes darting everywhere, so different to how Aboan had been. “The guys just a kid after all.”

  Quinn only just realised that he could understand what they were saying without any difficulty. There must be some sort of language translation field surrounding him like the one the Reslavi had given him.

  The human and the sluggish alien walked off to a set of stairs that Quinn guessed led to the windows above on the wall. Taking his advantage, Quinn snuck off to the side of the ship and slowly poked his head around the corner, trying to put only his eyes around. Only a few pirates were walking around, a few of them beginning to drag prisoners out of the ship.

  “Please!” One of the prisoners begged, trying to drag herself away from the crew members, struggling against the pirate that held her. “I swear, I don’t know anything about T.A.S.P.A!”

  “That’s not my problem,” The crew member growled. “He’ll get the information out of you, one way or another,” He led the prisoners off through the hangar, him and the rest of the crew ignoring her screams.

  It killed Quinn to just leave the prisoners to the mercy of Agross, but he wasn’t going to be able to fight his way through a pirate crew and Agross’ henchmen. Once he had dealt with Agross, he promised to no one that he would come back and free them from this hell.

  Quinn sprinted from the back of the ship to the pile of metal crates on the other side, his gun clenched tightly in his hand. Luckily, he avoided arousing any suspicion and hid between two crates. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest as if it was trying to escape his body. It wouldn’t surprise Quinn if that was what it was trying to do.

  Quinn snuck behind the crates and along the wall as far as he could, peaking through gaps whenever he could to see if any pirates or henchmen were coming his way. He continued to slide in the gap between the wall and the crates until he reached the very edge of the pile of crates. Quinn looked out to a large wall not far from where he stood. At the bottom of it, there were two doors that led to the bowels of the fortress. Lining up against the wall next to the crates were the r shaped ships, which Quinn had no doubt were familiar with the attack that would happen upon Nespritia in two hundred years.

  Quinn ran from ship to ship, sneaking in the shadows to avoid being seen. He kept a keen eye out to make sure that he wasn’t spotted. However, most of the henchmen and crew were at the other end of the hangar, dealing with the prisoners from the pirate’s ship.

  Quinn made it to the last ‘r’ shaped ship, crouching on the ground. He looked behind him. No one was making their way to the door. He looked back at the door, which was free. Quinn stood up and with a pounding heart, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the door. He slowed down quickly once he heard his feet clanging upon the floor, the noise echoing all around the room which was sure to give him away quickly.

  Just as Quinn was about to reach the door they opened, and he flung himself to the side against the wall. Through the door walked a tall human with short hair and very defined features, attached to his neck another metal plate with a blue light. This man was under Agross’ control too.

  Unfortunately, Quinn’s hiding skills weren’t exceptional, and the man only had to turn his head to see Quinn. He saw the shock on his face and saw him reaching to his belt where his gun was. He never touched his weapon as Quinn was quicker. The man ended up on the floor. Quinn’s head whipped around to the hangar where the rest of the crew were, and luckily none of them had heard the commotion. Quinn bolted through the door which was still open, shutting it right behind him.

  Quinn found himself alone out in a long, cold corridor. It was made from the same metal that the hangar had been made from, the corridor long and stretching off around a corner. There were several doors which split off to separate rooms. The corridor wasn’t especially large, just wider than the one aboard the Audion.

  Quinn slowly set off down the corridor, gun clenched in both hands. The time had come, the time that he had been waiting for. For months on end, after days and days of searching, he was here. Agross was so close it was as if Quinn could sense his evil presence. Quinn had expected to feel hate boiling around inside him, but mostly he simply felt empty. His mind strayed back to his friends aboard the Audion. He began to doubt himself. Wonder if he had made the right choice. After all, Laura and Morgan had only ever seemed to care for him and now he had just gone against their advice. Quinn shook his head, dismissing the negative thought.

  His eyes flickered around the corridor, his ears alert and searching for any sound, his en
tire body ready to hide if need be. Quinn continued following the corridor until it eventually branched off into a larger one.

  This corridor was much bigger than the one he had just been walking down, lots of large open doors that were retracted into the ceiling. Quinn looked up and down the corridor, and to his luck, he heard or saw no one. However, as he began to walk down the corridor, his ears picked up the sound of many metallic feet stamping on the ground, hitting it repetitively. Quinn spun his head around until he found a door to his right that was open. He jumped through it into the room, hiding around the wall.

  The footsteps came closer and closer, eventually being right outside the door. Quinn slowly poked his head out from behind the wall and his sucked in a breath.

  His eyes were met with a sight he never hoped he would see ever again. It was the robots. The robots in Agross’ army, the same as the ones he had seen on Nespritia just after his mother and Natalie died. The same looking robots that his father had shot. They walked with their humanoid form, bright red power core in the centre and the crossing over silver metal strips. There were lots of them, possibly one hundred. Quinn stayed hidden as they marched down the corridor, eventually disappearing around the bend.

  Quinn turned around to see what kind of room he had stepped into. He found an array of computers behind him, several screens and abandoned chairs. On one of the screens was a flashing red warning which read ‘INTRUDER ALERT’. Quinn sighed to himself. So, they knew he was here. They had most likely found the man Quinn had shot. Those robots had probably been going to find Quinn, not knowing he was in the room right next to them.

  Quinn continued looking around the room, searching the computer screens until one caught his attention. It had numbers on it. The largest number was ‘nine hundred and fifty-three’. Quinn’s eyes furrowed together, this number making no sense to him at all. Next to the number was another that said, ‘four hundred and six destroyed’. Quinn had no idea what either of these numbers meant, but he knew he needed to make a move if he was being searched for.

  Quinn cautiously stepped out from the room where he was hiding. He looked after the robots, considering his options. He needed to find Agross. These robots were possibly going to their master. If Quinn followed their steps, he just might find the one man he was looking for. He set off at a running pace, the footsteps of the robots now gone. Quinn ran down the corridor, the noise he made bouncing off the walls only to reach his own ears. He made it to an intersection with two paths splitting off in their own directions. Quinn looked down each of them. Both looked the same. He quickly decided which to take, before running off down the left path, determined to go back down the right if the left led him to nothing.

  Quinn’s run eventually turned into a slow jog, which turned into a walk. He held his gun in his left hand, wondering if he would ever find Agross in the sheer size of this place. He then realised that he was going to have to get back home to the Audion and he worried as that was going to be quite the task itself.

  As Quinn continued walking, he saw an exit to the path off in the distance. He squinted his eyes as he tried to look through the exit but couldn’t see past it. He continued walking until he could make out features of the room beyond him. The room was huge, yet not quite as big as the hangar had been. The corridor led out onto a bridge which connected with a large circle in the middle of the room. No walls were attached to it. Instead, there were meters of space between the edge of the circle and the walls themselves. The space between lead to an abyss of nothingness.

  The walls stretched up, balconies lining the black walls. Above Quinn’s head was a giant glass roof, which looked up to the beautiful splendour of the universe.

  And then Quinn saw him. Standing right in the middle of the room, silent and still as if he was waiting for Quinn. He had his back turned to Quinn, apparently not aware of his presence. The man who had ruined Quinn’s life.

  AGROSS

  Quinn froze.

  All this time everything had been building up to this one, single moment and now that it was here Quinn found himself not ready for it at all. All the months of preparation and he realised suddenly that nothing could have prepared him for this confrontation with the man who took his life away from him.

  Somehow, Agross knew he was behind him. Quinn didn’t know how, but he knew. Agross turned around to face Quinn, giving him the first proper view of the madman.

  His black shoulder-length hair was the same as it had been on that one horrible night. He also wore the same black coat that just touched the ground. Now that Quinn was up close, he could see his black clothes underneath the long coat. His face was spotless. Not a flaw on it yet it was terrifying at the same time. His hands were behind his back, and the deadly smile that had riddled his face before was there.

  “And here he is!” Agross gasped out as if Quinn was some long-awaited guest. “You must be the gentleman who owns the ship that everyone saw flying around the base the last couple of days. You know, they’re all looking for you,” Agross made a tutting sound to Quinn, wiggling his finger at him like he was some naughty child.

  “And here he comes, running right into me, of all the people. Me, Agross. The feared, the terrifying, the deadly, the clever, horrifying most evil genius in the universe!” He threw his arms up in the air like he was performing on stage. However, he was simply greeted with silence from Quinn and the rest of the room.

  “Hello?” Agross asked, clapping his hand together. Quinn looked at his face, still frozen, trying to figure out how old he was. His face didn’t show any signs of age. “Does it talk?” Agross asked, taking a few steps towards Quinn.

  Quinn stepped back away from Agross, unfreezing, possibly being melted from the raging fire of hate that now burned up inside his stomach.

  “My name is Quinn Fenton,” Quinn said a raging expression on his face as he stared at Agross, who stopped walking towards him.

  “Oooo, we’ve got a brave one,” Agross said to a non-existent audience. His manner really began to annoy Quinn. He wasn’t taking anything seriously.

  “How can you not take this seriously?” Quinn demanded, shaking his head in disgust. “After all the people you’ve killed. After terrorizing the universe. How could you not take what you’ve done seriously?” Quinn almost spat the sentence out with pure repulsion.

  “You say killing people and terrorizing the universe like it’s a bad thing,” Agross said, the grin disappearing and being replaced with fake confusion.

  “It is!” Quinn shouted out and his hand tightened around his gun, which he was painfully reminded that it had belonged to his father, another victim of Agross’ insanity. “You kill these people but what’s the point? Why do it? Why?!” Quinn screamed out, almost tearing his vocal cords to shreds. Agross’ sick, twisted smile returned.

  “You sound like I killed your family or something,” Agross said, shrugging in Quinn’s direction.

  “You did!” Quinn cried, and he could feel himself shaking, his feet grounded to where he was standing. “In the year two thousand one hundred and ninety-two you murdered my family, you destroyed Nespritia! I watched as buildings fell, my home was destroyed right in front of my eyes!”

  Agross seemed to be staring at Quinn with slight confusion, one raised eyebrow. Quinn very visibly picked up upon this. “You don’t even remember. You don’t even remember what you did that night, do you?” When there was no response from Agross, Quinn repeated the question, yet this time he screamed it out. “Do you?”

  “No, I can’t say I do,” Agross said, not looking at Quinn. “You know, I can’t remember every single planet I’ve destroyed,” Agross said, before turning to look at Quinn and grinning.

  Quinn felt anger surge up through him, flow through his blood to his heart, which distributed it to everything in his entire body. The anger filled every fibre, every bone that he was made of. This man, the sadistic murderer had destroyed an entire planet and he didn’t even remember. He didn’t just kill for universe
domination. He seemingly killed for pleasure too.

  Quinn raised the gun, pointing it at Agross, before firing a blue beam right at his chest. Agross almost looked at Quinn bored and before anything touched him he suddenly vanished from his spot and reappeared right next to where he had stood only a millisecond later. Quinn only suffered from shock for a single second before turning to Agross again and shooting at him, only to miss yet again, Agross disappearing again and reappearing somewhere else. Quinn tried again and again, over and over to shoot Agross, so trapped within his own hate.

  Agross eventually appeared right behind Quinn and pushed him to the ground almost lazily. Agross strolled casually in front of Quinn, watching him almost pathetically as he hopped up.

  “Teleportation,” Agross said, smiling down at Quinn. “Us evildoers all have our little ‘quirk’, but I’m the best of the best, the evilest of evil,” Agross smiled to himself, relishing the words that had just been uttered from his mouth. Quinn, however, wanted to vomit them out.

  “You’re sick,” Quinn spat the words out at Agross, trying to insult the evildoer although it didn’t faze him at all.

  “Why thank you!” Agross touched his heart like he was truly thankful for what Quinn had said. Yet then again, he probably was.

  “Why do you do it?” Quinn asked, genuinely curious as to what could fuel such a sadistic goal. “You hired the pirates to capture the prisoners, you’re supposedly trying to rule over the universe, but why? Why do any of this?” Quinn asked, and was very surprised that he had managed to keep his voice down to an acceptable level.

  “So, you’re the one who took down Aboan,” Agross replied and he seemed genuinely impressed. “Well done, very well done. Aboan was fierce, and his crew was… strange. And to be taken down by a teenager like yourself Quinn, well, congratulations,” Agross began to clap for Quinn, a larger than usual grin set upon his face. Quinn stared right into his eyes, determined not to look away. Agross continued clapping, eventually stopping and his smile vanishing from his face.