"You sure about this?" asked Biter.
"You doubting me?" retorted the dragon. "Just do as I say and there won't be any.... problems. Got it?"
"I just... don't know if I'm qualified for this. I mean, I am exceptionally good at killing people, but--"
"Just shut up already! Alright?" the dragon replied. He muttered something extremely offensive about dinosaurs not having the guts to do what they need to, and flew off.
Biter didn't mind the view, though he wasn't happy about his job. Guarding the castle. Feh. Sounded like work for a knight, not for a genetically enhanced lizard whose specialty was killing everything and anything. Actually, it seemed more like a job for a dragon... the coward.
But he couldn't help but relax as he watched the sun set over the horizon from the balcony of the terrace. He always loved being up high. He had a strange half-fear of heights that always confused him; if he was standing on a ladder, or something at a similar height, he was always terrified of falling. He knew it was dangerous, and it scared him to think of the consequences if he acted poorly on that account.
But if he was, say, up as high as he was -- which he estimated to be at least 300 feet up -- he felt invincible. He could see everything, like he was a god, almost. And it felt thrilling. The biting wind just added to his bliss. He never really minded the cold, which was odd for a lizard, being coldblooded and all. Plus, you know -- the wind was biting. It was his name, of course he liked things that bit.
"So, what's the deal?" asked an annoyingly familiar voice. Biter turned from his kingdom to see who it was, and to his surprise, he was staring at the star guy... what was his name? South? North? Didn't matter anyway, it wasn't like he remembered anyone else's names.
"Ugh," said Biter, sounding disgusted, or at least as much as he could manage. He was more surprised than anything else. "I thought you were dead."
"Thanks for the vote of luck," said North, grudgingly.
"Uh, it's, 'thanks for the vote of confidence,'" corrected Biter. "And anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the doghouse. Myself, on the other hand, hit it off with the old bag of scales. I'm pretty sure. Hard to tell with him swearing like a sailor."
"Ah," said North. "That is one thing I would know about."
Suddenly a new voice rang out, echoing through the cylindrical terrace, becoming clearer as it got closer. "What is going on here? I hate to barge in -- oh, wait, no I don't. Who are you imbi-- ah. Should've known." By now the owner of the voice had made it to the top of the balcony, becoming clearly visible in the red, fading light.
It was The Super. Well, not actually. He looked almost exactly like him, though. Biter remembered having lunch with him a few times, but he never really said anything. Ever.
The biggest difference between this guy and the real Super was the color of his skin. Rather than having the blue-green tint of The Super's skin, this guy's complexion was more of a yellowish-orange. The cape he wore was a deep blue, instead of red, and his cap (to be honest, it looked like it was fitted with an old-fashioned TV antenna -- what was with that, anyway?) was red, in contrast to the famous hero's purple one. Plus, this dude had the wickedest evil grin Biter had ever seen before.
"Uh," said Biter. "Hi, again. Never caught your name before."
"That is simply because I never gave it to you."
There was a pause.
"Usually," cut in North, "this is where you tell us your name."
"I have no use of such things," sniffed the guy. "But, if you simply cannot continue without such a piece of information, call me simply: The Villain."
"Wow, so much useless information to get two stinking words," griped Biter. "And I thought you were the quiet one..." He scratched his head as he turned back to face the wind.
"Where is the blue one? He is not around.... is he?" The Villain asked tentatively.
"No," said Biter. "He appears to have disappeared. Two more things," he added, turning around to face the others again. "One: His name is The Blue Octo. Two: Are you... scared of him, or something?"
"No," answered The Villain, a little too quickly.
North burst out laughing. "Are you jesting? That lump of tentacles couldn't hurt a bee!"
"It's 'fly,' and: no one calls him a lump of tentacles but me. Also, ew. I'd say he's more of a mop, anyway." said Biter. "But seriously. What's your glitch with T-Bo?"
"Ah... T-Bone? Excuse me?" asked The Villain.
"HA!" shouted North. "I'm not the only one!"
"What?"
"Look, okay," said Biter. "Why're you such a scaredy-cat about The Blue Octo? What makes you so nervous about him? He's like, the most intellectual one of any of us, for crying out loud."
"It's... a long story."
Biter gestured at the empty castle, the barren plains around them. "We have plenty of time."
"What is our assignment here, anyway?" asked The Villain.
"What kind of name is 'The Villain,' anyway?" retorted Biter.
"No, seriously," said The Villain, the words slow in his mouth. He obviously just borrowed them from earlier in the conversation.
"No, seriously," repeated Biter, much more naturally.
"...It was a name I gave myself. The Super had earned his name; I felt I should have a fitting title such as that as well."
"Hm..." said Biter, over-exaggerating thinking about this information. "Doesn't fit nearly well as 'The Super.' Or 'Biter.' Or, heck, even 'North,' for crying out loud."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well," said Biter, "as you said, The Super earned his title. North was given his name, too, by the people of this planet. And I, I was given the name Biter in my earlier stages of development because of certain... tendencies... before reaching adulthood. All of us had our names layered carefully on top of our current titles and accomplishments. But you just sort of shoved yours in there, moving over what already existed. You might have tried to hide it, but the edges still stick out a bit. Make sense?"
"...In a way, I suppose," said The Villain. But now that I have answered your question, you must answer mine."
"Oh, must I?" sassed Biter, but North elbowed him.
"Okay, fine," said Biter, giving in. "I actually don't know much. The plan is to really just hang out in this castle, until the 'good guys', including The Super-- come close enough. Then we just, I dunno, battle. If we start losing we can retreat to the next castle and hang out there, doubling the forces for the next round of fighting."
"Sounds like a pretty skimpy plan to me," grumbled North.
"What makes you say that?" asked Biter.
"I mean, we'd need at least four guys to battle them."
"And what makes you say that? There are only four of them, surely we could--"
"Five." The Villain stared off into the distance, and it wasn't clear if he knew he'd said it out loud or not.
"Uh," stammered North, "what?"
"There are five of them. The Super, the older girl, the younger one, the boy, and then... a fifth party. I can't quite tell... Blast. Lost them. The Super must be keeping them as far away from my sight as possible, the nerve..." The Villain trailed off as he searched the empty air with his eyes, looking for something that as far as Biter could tell never existed in the first place.
"What are you talking about? It's not like you can see them from this far away. Right?" Biter wasn't so sure what was going on.
"That is exactly what is going on," said The Villain, lost in thought. Suddenly he perked up, as if a cloud had gone from his head and he could finally see again. "When did you say the blue tentacled creature disappeared?"
"Last night," said Biter. "This relevant, in any way, whatsoever?"
"Were any objects of yours missing?"
"Nothing, except for..." Biter suddenly froze with fear. A fifth party... Oh, T-Bo...
"Except for what?"
"The map I'd found yesterday morning. I assumed I had just misplaced it. But now..."
"My friends," said The Villain, "and I use that term lightly, by the way; it appears that your good friend The Blue Octo has gone rogue."
Hey, guys. I've got a slight fever. I can't sleep; I keep getting too hot or too cold. I can never find a comfortable position, either. It's just really frustrating. So I wrote something to help my nerves. (Sorry, Mom.) And nothing is more fun than writing about Biter.
So, yeah. Expect more writing to be happenin' next week, and the week after that. Because I don't have school then -- Yay, Christmas! -- so I'll have a lot more free time on my hands.
And sorry about the last post being so long... I just couldn't end the thing. It was kind of annoying, actually. Maybe that's why it never got more than three views. And I think two of those are mine.
I hope you're reading this one, though. It's significantly shorter, and more fun to read, I like to think.
So, enjoy. And have fun, and stuff.
~PolarFarina.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Chapter Eighteen: Caught
Rose swept her long hair out of her eyes. She wondered where was really was, and who that short-haired girl had been. She had looked so familiar...
Rose looked around the room, dumping the heavy backpack on the floor. She has here now; and at any rate, the time traveling device was fried. It only lasted for one jump, as planned.
The room was very purple. So purple, in fact, she wondered what this room was even for. So much purple could serve no practical purpose as far as she knew. There was a door, also purple, on the far end of the room, carved into the wall. It seemed that this room didn't have a door to begin with... and someone had added it in later. There was a crisp white sheet of paper taped to the door, which stood out. It was the only thing besides her in the room that wasn't purple.
She walked over to it, and read what had been handwritten in purple ink on the white sheet of paper:
"Hi, it's me. That girl you just ran into. I just disappeared, most likely. For you, it'll just have happened. But for me, it hasn't happened yet.
There's some stuff you need to know before you move on. There's going to be a lot of things going on at the same time, so I took the liberty of writing this note to prepare you for what's next.
Okay. So here's the deal:
I'm actually you.
No, really. It might sound weird, but it's true. How many things do we have in common?
Too many for it to be coincidence.
Besides, I know I'm you. Because I've already done everything that you're about to.
Confusing? Yes. But also the truth.
It'll turn out okay. Some stuff might go wrong, but as long as you keep your eyes on the prize, it'll work out fine.
Here's what you need to do:
Go through this door. Talk to the general. I've put in a good word or two for you, so all you need to do is say, 'Hi, I'm Rose,' and she'll take everything from there. Do as she says. You'll need to. Even though she's evil.
Well, not really evil evil. She's just on the wrong side. But you still need to do as she says, up to a point. Which point is that, you ask? I don't know! I can't remember that part. But you'll know when to defy her.
Take the time travel machine she'll offer you. Trust me, it works hella better than the one you built, and it won't make you sick. Double-bonus, there.
This is the most important thing you'll need to do: become a soldier. Join their forces. Because even if they don't realize it yet, they're going to need you. They'd lose without you. And they're so stupid for not seeing it yet.
Don't get too worried, though. I'll be there here and there, when you really need me. Trust me, I know how it works. For now, just follow these orders like a good soldier, and it'll work out okay. Ish.
I've got to end it here. You're about to arrive, and you can't see me writing this note. It'd make it all screwy.
Good luck.
–Future Rose :)"
* * * * * * *
Rose sat back down on the orange, rocky, ground. She ran her hand through her short, sweaty hair. It was really, really, hot here. The Super was still arguing with The Blue Octo. It seemed they didn't notice her absence.
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a yellowed, crumpled piece of paper. It had been ripped many times, and patched back up with tape, so much it was difficult to make out what it said. But Rose didn't need to make out what it said. She knew those words by heart.
"Hi, it's me. That girl you just ran into..."
And so on.
Rose turned the paper over, where on the back, many notes were scribbled. These were much more recent, and slightly easier to read than the front side. Some in pencil, others in varying colors of pen, one or two in charcoal. These were obviously all written at different times, some in those of desperate peril, others on nights when the atmosphere was too dark to bear. Others were in times of emotional crisis. Basically, they were notes to a certain person when they were needed most.
The first one read, "This should work, I think. Probably. So I need your help, Rose. You know why. They're coming for me. And... I don't know what to do. Please come help me."
There was a set of coordinates at the end of this, which no one else needs no know. Rose doesn't need anyone else screwing with her timeline. She's got that part handled herself.
Rose sighed. She held up her left arm as if looking at a watch, and pulled her sleeve back. She lifted the screen protector off of the time hacker, and, slowly, carefully, punched in the coordinates.
And like that, she was gone with a zap.
* * * * * * * * * *
Rose woke to the familiar sound of faces being pounded. She opened her eyes wide, looking around the dark bunker. On the top bunk, she examined the other two bunks to the left. The others remained asleep. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Rose had always woken at the drop of a pin. At home, if the house creaked, she'd be awake in seconds, thinking there was a burglar in the house. Of course, there never was. When she had been really small, she used to walk into her parent's room, and crawl in bed with her mom.
Mom...
She shook herself. Definitely not the time to be wondering how her family was doing without her. She listened. Maybe she had imagined hearing such violent noises...
Nope. They were just coming from outside. Accompanied by some muffled shouts.
Immediately, she knew they were here for her. If there was anything she'd learned in the past six months, it was that she was illegal. Just existing in this universe, in this time, as she did, was against the laws of time. Yet she stayed. Where else was she supposed to go? Besides, she had her orders from her future self. She wasn't just about to disobey them.
But she also knew she couldn't take these adversaries on by herself. They had to be pretty tough to be messing up those guards outside. There was only one thing to do...
She silently crawled out of her bed, slipping across the room to her bag. Rummaging through it, she searched for the piece of paper she swore she would not lose. Her fingers closed around it; and it crinkled horribly loud. "Shhhh!" she whispered to it.
She scrambled for a pen, and hurried over to the only desk in the room. She turned it over to the blank side, and scrawled:
"This should work, I think. Probably. So I need your help, Rose. You know why. They're coming for me. And... I don't know what to do. Please come help me."
She did some calculations, wrote down what she hoped were the correct space-time coordinates. She folded the paper and put in her back pocket. She then took shelter underneath the desk -- slightly cowardly, but then again, it would be silly to wait for the Time Police to find her standing dumbly in the middle of the room. Of course, they weren't actually called the "Time Police," that would be silly, really. But she never stuck around long enough to learn their organization's name. Why the heck would she? They'd never even seen her face. And they weren't going to.
Rose waited nervously. Where was she? Rose couldn't delay very much longer before they showed up. She heard their footsteps in the hallway, getting closer, opening every single door they came across. Come on....
There was a flash of light, multicolored beams swarming together, glowing white. Rose had to shield her eyes, it was so bright. When it had faded, she opened her eyes again. She frantically examined her bunkmates, making sure they were still asleep. They were.
She turned her attention to where the flash of light had come from. Standing in front of her was the teenage girl she had met six months ago... Same short hair, same smug smile, even the same exact outfit that she had been wearing before.
There were some shouts coming from outside the door, and they both froze. They has seen the flash through the tiny crack beneath the door.
"No time," Rose whispered.
"I'll keep you safe," assured Future Rose. "Just... whatever you do, don't touch me."
"Why...? Do I get germophobic all of a sudden?" asked Regular Rose.
"No, it's just... See, we're both the same person, right? There's this law you'd have learned about in Chemistry if you stayed in school, I forget what it's called. Basically, it says that no two things with the exact atom makeup can exist in the same place at the same time. And we're both made up of the same atoms. If we don't touch, we're safe. But if you do touch me, kablooey! We both cease to exist. So you have to be really careful, okay? And I'll try not to kill any officers here. They made me who I am; if they die because of me, that's a paradox. And we can't have paradoxes. Deal?" Future Rose stuck out her hand, giving her a thumbs-up. Then the door blasted open.
"DUCK AND COVER!!" both Roses shouted at the same time. By now, everyone in the room was awake . Their sleepy brains lapped up the orders like a cat would milk; and they all hid under the bunks. They were safe, for now. As long as they didn't forget about them later.
"Well, well, well," said a deep voice. A silhouette came through the doorway, shrouded in a hat and trench coat. A typical comic book villain, ugh: Rose hated these guys already.
"What do you want?" she asked. She already knew the answer to that question; but sometimes it paid to stall.
"Ha ah ah ah!" laughed the man. "You know what I want. I want the illegal contraband. I want you. And both of you in the same place! How convenient!"
"Can I at least know who you are, first?" asked Regular Rose. Future Rose hung back, but never took her eyes off of this shady character.
"Very well," he said. He flipped the light switch, making everyone cringe at the sudden presence of so much light. He took off his hat, and then his coat, revealing his trim suit and carefully styled blond hair. He handed off his things to one of the men behind him. You'd think he'd be some kind of businessman; he looked to be about thirty. If you just looked at him, he seemed harmless.
But his eyes said something else. His eyes glinted harshly, without mercy. He was already guarding himself against them, even when he didn't know who they were yet. Or, worried Rose, maybe he did know who they were... That idea scared her even more, though she tried to not show it.
"Look," he said. "I don't want it to come down to me having to do anything drastic. So far, you've been doing okay. Let's be cooperative, shall we? Come with me, and everything will become clear."
"No way," said Regular Rose. She stared at the man. He seemed a little familiar, like she'd seen him somewhere, maybe in ads... But she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Whatever," said the man. "Like we weren't going to do this anyway. At least I can say I tried." He snapped his fingers, turned, and walked out of the room, leaving behind his goons. They proceeded to grab the Roses by the arms, and dragged them out of the room as well.
Regular Rose watched her bunkmates as she was forced down the corridor. She saw their confused and worried eyes peeking out from their hiding places... She hoped they wouldn't be punished for what she had done.
The door was pulled shut, closing her off from her only friends in this world. She was going to miss them...
"Wait!" shouted Future Rose. Caught off guard, the goons paused. Just long enough for Regular Rose to jump into action. She started by knocking them off their feet, and then proceeded to--
"STOP!" bellowed Future Rose. "Doesn't anybody here understand English? Do you not comprehend what the word 'wait' means?"
"But I thought you were--" started Regular Rose.
"No," interrupted Future Rose. "We can get out of this clean, with no other laws broken. So shut up for a second. Please."
Regular Rose shut up.
Future Rose looked at the weird businessman, whose expression only conveyed pleasant amusement. He smirked and said, "Nothing you say will get you freedom. But by all means, go ahead. I just love wasting time."
"There's another one of me," said Future Rose. "One that, I have to say, is unique all on her own. She is from a different universe, but she's not in the right place or time, either."
"Why would that make a difference?" asked the man, though obviously interested.
"Because she," said Future Rose, "has superpowers. Also, her being where she is in... about four years... will be illegal. And there's no way on Earth anyone's stopping her from getting where she'll be. Thought you might want to know. "
"What are you talking about? Do you think I'm stupid? Why would I believe you?"
"You heard of The Super?" asked Future Rose.
"N-no," replied the man, looking uncomfortable, as if being interrogated. Which, Regular Rose guessed, kind of was the case.
"Don't worry," said Future Rose. "You will." She turned to Regular Rose. "You, don't worry either. It probably looks like I got you into more trouble than you otherwise would have... But the truth is, it'll be okay. You'll get out of this mess. Trust me. I gotta split. See you on the flip side."
She turned back to the weird businessman. "As for you," she said, pointing menacingly at him, "I want you to think seriously about what I talked to you about today. Plus, you're not even that intimidating. A real officer of the space-time law would have already carted us off to headquarters. But not before removing a certain piece of equipment..." She held up her arm, revealing the space hacker.
"You idiots!" shouted the man at his henchmen. "Why didn't you confiscate her illegal time-travel device?! Oh, you are so fired!"
"Sorry, man," said one of them. "But we were just doing what you told us to do. If you're gonna fire us, we quit. It's been on our minds for a while, actually. You treat us like..." he looked at the younger Rose, who with her long hair and goofy glasses probably looked to be twelve. "Really badly," he finished. Regular Rose grew very irritated with the goon. She didn't need his pity-censoring.
"Yeah, what he said," the other one spoke up. "We're gonna leave now." They both took off their jackets and hats, dropped the items on the floor, and headed off in the direction they'd come from. "Bye."
"But... You CAN'T quit!!"
"Doesn't matter," said one of them, "you fired us anyway."
"Very professional." Future Rose made an okay sign with her fingers. "You're obviously in the top of your class. Well, as my favorite fictional character likes to say, allons-y!" She typed some numbers into her space hacker, and in a burst of white light, was gone.
Regular Rose brushed her hair out of her eyes. What now?
"Uh... Well then," said the evil businessman police officer guy. "You're coming with me."
Rose rubbed her nose. It always got itchy when she was in a super-intense situation. She hoped future her knew what she was talking about... otherwise, she was dead meat. The evil businessman grabbed her arm and dragged her down the corridor.
"You... are not... getting away... not this time!" he growled as she tried to get free. Eventually she gave up and just walked alongside him.
"Hey, I do have one question," she said.
"Ugh... what?"
"Why do you have to be so cliche? I mean, come on, you're seriously predictable."
"Well, if I'm so predictable, then how come you haven't escaped yet?" he said.
"Oh, no! It's not like I could've attached a mini holographic projector to your suit while I was struggling, and slipped away into a passing room! That's impossible!" Suddenly, the image began to flicker and fade. "Oh, wait... No, it isn't." And then the hologram shut down completely.
It revealed her, still trapped in his strong grip, as tight and constricting as ever. She sighed. She had hoped that would've tricked him. Well, then.
"What kind of idiotic stunt was that?" asked the man.
"I was hoping the mind-ception would work," replied Rose. "I really did attach a holographic projector to you. But there was no way of escaping. So, you know, I figured, confusion would be the best bet."
"Huh," said the man. He kept walking, forcing Rose to do the same. She sighed... Guess all she could do was use brute force. Wasn't her favorite, but... She stopped walking, stood her ground, and in one move flipped the man over her head and face-first into the ground.
"HA!" she gloated, and then ran. Oh, man, did she love the running part.
Yup. Just another day in the life of a time-traveling rebel doppelganger teenager out to find a superhero.
Holy cow, that was long. This took multiple days to write. Sorry about the delay. My little sister has pneumonia. Sue me.
I've been working on some sketches of characters. I'll finalize them and probably have them up sometime during Christmas Break. It'll be cool.
I'm excited to be writing again. It feels like months. But it's really only been a week and a couple days.
Thanks so much for reading! See you in the next chapter...
~PolarFarina
FYI: I updated some stuff on this post. Because I'm an idiot, and I realized that I had some major errors with consistency. So I fixed those issues for you guys. Also added some stuff to make it more sensible, and just little extra bits in general. This post was so outrageously comical I just had to fix some things. You're welcome.
Rose looked around the room, dumping the heavy backpack on the floor. She has here now; and at any rate, the time traveling device was fried. It only lasted for one jump, as planned.
The room was very purple. So purple, in fact, she wondered what this room was even for. So much purple could serve no practical purpose as far as she knew. There was a door, also purple, on the far end of the room, carved into the wall. It seemed that this room didn't have a door to begin with... and someone had added it in later. There was a crisp white sheet of paper taped to the door, which stood out. It was the only thing besides her in the room that wasn't purple.
She walked over to it, and read what had been handwritten in purple ink on the white sheet of paper:
"Hi, it's me. That girl you just ran into. I just disappeared, most likely. For you, it'll just have happened. But for me, it hasn't happened yet.
There's some stuff you need to know before you move on. There's going to be a lot of things going on at the same time, so I took the liberty of writing this note to prepare you for what's next.
Okay. So here's the deal:
I'm actually you.
No, really. It might sound weird, but it's true. How many things do we have in common?
Too many for it to be coincidence.
Besides, I know I'm you. Because I've already done everything that you're about to.
Confusing? Yes. But also the truth.
It'll turn out okay. Some stuff might go wrong, but as long as you keep your eyes on the prize, it'll work out fine.
Here's what you need to do:
Go through this door. Talk to the general. I've put in a good word or two for you, so all you need to do is say, 'Hi, I'm Rose,' and she'll take everything from there. Do as she says. You'll need to. Even though she's evil.
Well, not really evil evil. She's just on the wrong side. But you still need to do as she says, up to a point. Which point is that, you ask? I don't know! I can't remember that part. But you'll know when to defy her.
Take the time travel machine she'll offer you. Trust me, it works hella better than the one you built, and it won't make you sick. Double-bonus, there.
This is the most important thing you'll need to do: become a soldier. Join their forces. Because even if they don't realize it yet, they're going to need you. They'd lose without you. And they're so stupid for not seeing it yet.
Don't get too worried, though. I'll be there here and there, when you really need me. Trust me, I know how it works. For now, just follow these orders like a good soldier, and it'll work out okay. Ish.
I've got to end it here. You're about to arrive, and you can't see me writing this note. It'd make it all screwy.
Good luck.
–Future Rose :)"
* * * * * * *
Rose sat back down on the orange, rocky, ground. She ran her hand through her short, sweaty hair. It was really, really, hot here. The Super was still arguing with The Blue Octo. It seemed they didn't notice her absence.
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a yellowed, crumpled piece of paper. It had been ripped many times, and patched back up with tape, so much it was difficult to make out what it said. But Rose didn't need to make out what it said. She knew those words by heart.
"Hi, it's me. That girl you just ran into..."
And so on.
Rose turned the paper over, where on the back, many notes were scribbled. These were much more recent, and slightly easier to read than the front side. Some in pencil, others in varying colors of pen, one or two in charcoal. These were obviously all written at different times, some in those of desperate peril, others on nights when the atmosphere was too dark to bear. Others were in times of emotional crisis. Basically, they were notes to a certain person when they were needed most.
The first one read, "This should work, I think. Probably. So I need your help, Rose. You know why. They're coming for me. And... I don't know what to do. Please come help me."
There was a set of coordinates at the end of this, which no one else needs no know. Rose doesn't need anyone else screwing with her timeline. She's got that part handled herself.
Rose sighed. She held up her left arm as if looking at a watch, and pulled her sleeve back. She lifted the screen protector off of the time hacker, and, slowly, carefully, punched in the coordinates.
And like that, she was gone with a zap.
* * * * * * * * * *
Rose woke to the familiar sound of faces being pounded. She opened her eyes wide, looking around the dark bunker. On the top bunk, she examined the other two bunks to the left. The others remained asleep. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Rose had always woken at the drop of a pin. At home, if the house creaked, she'd be awake in seconds, thinking there was a burglar in the house. Of course, there never was. When she had been really small, she used to walk into her parent's room, and crawl in bed with her mom.
Mom...
She shook herself. Definitely not the time to be wondering how her family was doing without her. She listened. Maybe she had imagined hearing such violent noises...
Nope. They were just coming from outside. Accompanied by some muffled shouts.
Immediately, she knew they were here for her. If there was anything she'd learned in the past six months, it was that she was illegal. Just existing in this universe, in this time, as she did, was against the laws of time. Yet she stayed. Where else was she supposed to go? Besides, she had her orders from her future self. She wasn't just about to disobey them.
But she also knew she couldn't take these adversaries on by herself. They had to be pretty tough to be messing up those guards outside. There was only one thing to do...
She silently crawled out of her bed, slipping across the room to her bag. Rummaging through it, she searched for the piece of paper she swore she would not lose. Her fingers closed around it; and it crinkled horribly loud. "Shhhh!" she whispered to it.
She scrambled for a pen, and hurried over to the only desk in the room. She turned it over to the blank side, and scrawled:
"This should work, I think. Probably. So I need your help, Rose. You know why. They're coming for me. And... I don't know what to do. Please come help me."
She did some calculations, wrote down what she hoped were the correct space-time coordinates. She folded the paper and put in her back pocket. She then took shelter underneath the desk -- slightly cowardly, but then again, it would be silly to wait for the Time Police to find her standing dumbly in the middle of the room. Of course, they weren't actually called the "Time Police," that would be silly, really. But she never stuck around long enough to learn their organization's name. Why the heck would she? They'd never even seen her face. And they weren't going to.
Rose waited nervously. Where was she? Rose couldn't delay very much longer before they showed up. She heard their footsteps in the hallway, getting closer, opening every single door they came across. Come on....
There was a flash of light, multicolored beams swarming together, glowing white. Rose had to shield her eyes, it was so bright. When it had faded, she opened her eyes again. She frantically examined her bunkmates, making sure they were still asleep. They were.
She turned her attention to where the flash of light had come from. Standing in front of her was the teenage girl she had met six months ago... Same short hair, same smug smile, even the same exact outfit that she had been wearing before.
There were some shouts coming from outside the door, and they both froze. They has seen the flash through the tiny crack beneath the door.
"No time," Rose whispered.
"I'll keep you safe," assured Future Rose. "Just... whatever you do, don't touch me."
"Why...? Do I get germophobic all of a sudden?" asked Regular Rose.
"No, it's just... See, we're both the same person, right? There's this law you'd have learned about in Chemistry if you stayed in school, I forget what it's called. Basically, it says that no two things with the exact atom makeup can exist in the same place at the same time. And we're both made up of the same atoms. If we don't touch, we're safe. But if you do touch me, kablooey! We both cease to exist. So you have to be really careful, okay? And I'll try not to kill any officers here. They made me who I am; if they die because of me, that's a paradox. And we can't have paradoxes. Deal?" Future Rose stuck out her hand, giving her a thumbs-up. Then the door blasted open.
"DUCK AND COVER!!" both Roses shouted at the same time. By now, everyone in the room was awake . Their sleepy brains lapped up the orders like a cat would milk; and they all hid under the bunks. They were safe, for now. As long as they didn't forget about them later.
"Well, well, well," said a deep voice. A silhouette came through the doorway, shrouded in a hat and trench coat. A typical comic book villain, ugh: Rose hated these guys already.
"What do you want?" she asked. She already knew the answer to that question; but sometimes it paid to stall.
"Ha ah ah ah!" laughed the man. "You know what I want. I want the illegal contraband. I want you. And both of you in the same place! How convenient!"
"Can I at least know who you are, first?" asked Regular Rose. Future Rose hung back, but never took her eyes off of this shady character.
"Very well," he said. He flipped the light switch, making everyone cringe at the sudden presence of so much light. He took off his hat, and then his coat, revealing his trim suit and carefully styled blond hair. He handed off his things to one of the men behind him. You'd think he'd be some kind of businessman; he looked to be about thirty. If you just looked at him, he seemed harmless.
But his eyes said something else. His eyes glinted harshly, without mercy. He was already guarding himself against them, even when he didn't know who they were yet. Or, worried Rose, maybe he did know who they were... That idea scared her even more, though she tried to not show it.
"Look," he said. "I don't want it to come down to me having to do anything drastic. So far, you've been doing okay. Let's be cooperative, shall we? Come with me, and everything will become clear."
"No way," said Regular Rose. She stared at the man. He seemed a little familiar, like she'd seen him somewhere, maybe in ads... But she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Whatever," said the man. "Like we weren't going to do this anyway. At least I can say I tried." He snapped his fingers, turned, and walked out of the room, leaving behind his goons. They proceeded to grab the Roses by the arms, and dragged them out of the room as well.
Regular Rose watched her bunkmates as she was forced down the corridor. She saw their confused and worried eyes peeking out from their hiding places... She hoped they wouldn't be punished for what she had done.
The door was pulled shut, closing her off from her only friends in this world. She was going to miss them...
"Wait!" shouted Future Rose. Caught off guard, the goons paused. Just long enough for Regular Rose to jump into action. She started by knocking them off their feet, and then proceeded to--
"STOP!" bellowed Future Rose. "Doesn't anybody here understand English? Do you not comprehend what the word 'wait' means?"
"But I thought you were--" started Regular Rose.
"No," interrupted Future Rose. "We can get out of this clean, with no other laws broken. So shut up for a second. Please."
Regular Rose shut up.
Future Rose looked at the weird businessman, whose expression only conveyed pleasant amusement. He smirked and said, "Nothing you say will get you freedom. But by all means, go ahead. I just love wasting time."
"There's another one of me," said Future Rose. "One that, I have to say, is unique all on her own. She is from a different universe, but she's not in the right place or time, either."
"Why would that make a difference?" asked the man, though obviously interested.
"Because she," said Future Rose, "has superpowers. Also, her being where she is in... about four years... will be illegal. And there's no way on Earth anyone's stopping her from getting where she'll be. Thought you might want to know. "
"What are you talking about? Do you think I'm stupid? Why would I believe you?"
"You heard of The Super?" asked Future Rose.
"N-no," replied the man, looking uncomfortable, as if being interrogated. Which, Regular Rose guessed, kind of was the case.
"Don't worry," said Future Rose. "You will." She turned to Regular Rose. "You, don't worry either. It probably looks like I got you into more trouble than you otherwise would have... But the truth is, it'll be okay. You'll get out of this mess. Trust me. I gotta split. See you on the flip side."
She turned back to the weird businessman. "As for you," she said, pointing menacingly at him, "I want you to think seriously about what I talked to you about today. Plus, you're not even that intimidating. A real officer of the space-time law would have already carted us off to headquarters. But not before removing a certain piece of equipment..." She held up her arm, revealing the space hacker.
"You idiots!" shouted the man at his henchmen. "Why didn't you confiscate her illegal time-travel device?! Oh, you are so fired!"
"Sorry, man," said one of them. "But we were just doing what you told us to do. If you're gonna fire us, we quit. It's been on our minds for a while, actually. You treat us like..." he looked at the younger Rose, who with her long hair and goofy glasses probably looked to be twelve. "Really badly," he finished. Regular Rose grew very irritated with the goon. She didn't need his pity-censoring.
"Yeah, what he said," the other one spoke up. "We're gonna leave now." They both took off their jackets and hats, dropped the items on the floor, and headed off in the direction they'd come from. "Bye."
"But... You CAN'T quit!!"
"Doesn't matter," said one of them, "you fired us anyway."
"Very professional." Future Rose made an okay sign with her fingers. "You're obviously in the top of your class. Well, as my favorite fictional character likes to say, allons-y!" She typed some numbers into her space hacker, and in a burst of white light, was gone.
Regular Rose brushed her hair out of her eyes. What now?
"Uh... Well then," said the evil businessman police officer guy. "You're coming with me."
Rose rubbed her nose. It always got itchy when she was in a super-intense situation. She hoped future her knew what she was talking about... otherwise, she was dead meat. The evil businessman grabbed her arm and dragged her down the corridor.
"You... are not... getting away... not this time!" he growled as she tried to get free. Eventually she gave up and just walked alongside him.
"Hey, I do have one question," she said.
"Ugh... what?"
"Why do you have to be so cliche? I mean, come on, you're seriously predictable."
"Well, if I'm so predictable, then how come you haven't escaped yet?" he said.
"Oh, no! It's not like I could've attached a mini holographic projector to your suit while I was struggling, and slipped away into a passing room! That's impossible!" Suddenly, the image began to flicker and fade. "Oh, wait... No, it isn't." And then the hologram shut down completely.
It revealed her, still trapped in his strong grip, as tight and constricting as ever. She sighed. She had hoped that would've tricked him. Well, then.
"What kind of idiotic stunt was that?" asked the man.
"I was hoping the mind-ception would work," replied Rose. "I really did attach a holographic projector to you. But there was no way of escaping. So, you know, I figured, confusion would be the best bet."
"Huh," said the man. He kept walking, forcing Rose to do the same. She sighed... Guess all she could do was use brute force. Wasn't her favorite, but... She stopped walking, stood her ground, and in one move flipped the man over her head and face-first into the ground.
"HA!" she gloated, and then ran. Oh, man, did she love the running part.
Yup. Just another day in the life of a time-traveling rebel doppelganger teenager out to find a superhero.
Holy cow, that was long. This took multiple days to write. Sorry about the delay. My little sister has pneumonia. Sue me.
I've been working on some sketches of characters. I'll finalize them and probably have them up sometime during Christmas Break. It'll be cool.
I'm excited to be writing again. It feels like months. But it's really only been a week and a couple days.
Thanks so much for reading! See you in the next chapter...
~PolarFarina
FYI: I updated some stuff on this post. Because I'm an idiot, and I realized that I had some major errors with consistency. So I fixed those issues for you guys. Also added some stuff to make it more sensible, and just little extra bits in general. This post was so outrageously comical I just had to fix some things. You're welcome.
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