Journey's End

by Luke Derricks

  “How do I look?” he said through the helmet. His voice came out of a small external speaker, where his mouth would be.

  “Like someone from one of your sci-fi movies,” said Uncle Charlie. “So what’s the plan?”

  “First, I need to save Ray, Dawn, and the other me. Then we’ll regroup, prepare for Mastermind’s arrival, save Ethos, and with the help of this suit, defeat Mastermind and his mutants. If that fails, I’ll time travel again… and destroy the pyramid.”

  “WHAT?!” exclaimed Simeon. “No, no, no. You can’t do that! Millions of people throughout the galaxy have visited our temple. You’d cut off every one of their powers! And who do you think they’ll blame for that? It’ll violate Eden’s peace treaty. You can’t!”

  “There’s more than that at stake here, Simeon. You think Mastermind will be satisfied with just Earth? How long before he attacks Eden next? Or some other world? He’s got a working crystal. And an army of super powered mutants. We can’t let that happen.”

  “I won’t allow it,” said Simeon, crossing his arms.

  “Hopefully we won’t need to.”

  “Alright,” said Uncle Charlie. “But first thing’s first. Go save your friends – and your, you know, other self.”

  “Right,” said Luke. He took a step back. It felt so easy and free moving in this suit. He felt lightweight. Fluid, easy motions. It must’ve used some kind of hydraulics or motorized assistance. This suit probably multiplied his strength ten-fold! Sweet.

  He closed his eyes. It had been a while since he last tried to time travel. Surely his energy source was fully recharged by now. He focused. He needed to go back to before Mastermind arrived on Eden. Before any of his mutants showed up. He would save his timeline duplicate copy from dying. He would save Ray from dying. He would save Dawn from dying.

  And together, they would stop Mastermind, once and for all!

  Chapter Three

  The Beginning of the End

  Time travel was awesome. Luke couldn’t believe he was so lucky. He always dreamed of having a power like this. Finally, his life was starting to make sense.

  Too bad every time he used it, it took a massive energy drain on the pyramid. He had to go back in time to save his friends. He wished he had enough power left to go further into the future – decades, maybe centuries – and bring back some really cool high-tech, yet-to-be-invented weapons or something. That would surely give them the competitive edge they needed against Mastermind and the mutants.

  But it’d be a miracle if he had enough power just to go back and save his friends. Hopefully enough time had passed. He tried.

  He closed his eyes and he tried.

  Everything around him shifted into a red light, blurring all around him, and then suddenly and instantly returning to normal – sometime in the past. But how far back did he go?

  He looked behind him. The suit – the same one he was wearing – still hung on display. Okay. He was definitely in the past. Before they came to get the suit. He needed to get to the garden, to the portal entrance site. He needed to see if he went back far enough – before Mastermind showed up.

  Instantly, a white light flashed and he suddenly found himself back at that garden.

  He was a little disoriented and confused at first.

  Did he just teleport – on his own?

  Wait. Simeon said the suit could respond to thoughts. Oh my God. How awesome! This suit could teleport too!

  His excitement was short lived. A large shadow passed over him. Luke looked up. It was a gryphon. Dawn. He watched her fly towards Mastermind in the distance.

  Damn. He didn’t go back far enough. He started running on foot after her.

  She swooped down upon Mastermind, flapping her giant wings, knocking him backwards onto the ground.

  “What the hell? Stupid bird! Get the hell off me!” Mastermind shouted.

  Luke – in the space suit – quickly scanned the area. The heads-up display overlapped his view through his helmet. Data was constantly updated. Temperature, wind speed and direction, power levels within his suit. It tracked Dawn, Mastermind, and the others nearby, reading off vital statistics about each of them.

  He saw his other self, still alive. Dawn and Ray too. He felt so glad to see them all alive.

  Dawn, in gryphon form, stood on top of Mastermind, talons extended, holding him down. She let out a triumphant and ear-piercing screech. But then Rhino-Man started to charge at her.

  His horn pounded into her side with ferocious impact, sending her flying back. But she flapped her wings and quickly regained control, charging back towards him.

  Luke – in his space suit, from the near future – watched history repeat itself.

  “Slimer, cover the wings!” Mastermind ordered.

  Slimer slid across the ground, racing closer, hands extended. Her slimy, sticky goo shot out, splashing through the air, colliding with the Dawn’s feathers.

  Okay. This was it. Time to do something, Luke. Time to change history. “Hey Mastermind!” he shouted from behind.

  Everyone stopped to turn and see him. Where did he come from? Who the heck was he? All they saw was the armored suit – not the man inside.

  “This ends now!” Luke said.

  Mastermind chuckled. “Have we met?”

  Suddenly Mastermind’s Astaria crystal slipped out of his pocket and started drifting upward into the air.

  “What the hell?” He reached for it, but the crystal dodged away, floating even higher. Mastermind jumped to grab it a second time – and missed. His crystal moved even higher up into the sky. He looked around. “Who’s doing that? Show yourself!”

  The crystal drifted towards one of the trees, revealing Ray’s hiding spot. “Give that back!” Mastermind commanded.

  Dawn shape-shifted back into her human form, shaking off as much of Slimer’s goo as possible. She started shape-shifting again, into something new.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Slimer exclaimed. She doused Dawn with more of her slimy, sticky goo.

  So Dawn transformed into a humanoid slime-person too.

  “Hey, no fair! That’s my power!” exclaimed Slimer.

  Luke’s HUD had been tracking all persons the entire time. When Dawn shape-shifted both times – from gryphon to human, and from human to slime girl – red warnings appeared over his view screen. Luke quickly read the warning message. Dawn’s DNA was breaking down. Her shape-shifting was stressing her cells to dangerous limits.

  Ray grabbed Mastermind’s crystal. “I got it!”

  Arachnus leapt from treetop to treetop, quickly coming down on Ray. Luke saw it coming. His heads-up display tracked all that too.

  Luke held his arm out, towards the approaching spider mutant. He sure hoped this worked. The HUD locked in on his target. Luke clenched his fist. The cutting laser fired.

  The spider got shot right out of the sky.

  Ray turned to see Arachnus, dangerously close, receive a powerful blast from a red laser beam. The wounded mutant fell to the ground and scurried away.

  “Um, hey, thanks!” Ray said, waving at the mysterious man in the space suit.

  Rhino-Man swung his fist at Dawn, but she skillfully dodged out of the way. Movement in her slime-based body was very fluid and agile. Rhino-Man attacked again. She swerved. He charged horn-first at her, but she gracefully slid out of the way and flicked a little bit of slime on him just for fun.

  Luke’s HUD alerted him with another warning. Venom snaked her way through the bushes, about to pounce on and attack the other, unprotected Luke.

  “Oh no you don’t!”

  Suddenly something unseen slashed at his armor. And again. And again. Rapidly. Constant scratching and clawing at his battle suit.

  “What the—?”

  “Why won’t you die?” Shadow screamed. Invisible claws struck at him again. “What’s this thing made of anyway?”

  Oh yeah. Right. The disappearing cat girl. Luke only had to think – and his HUD immediately began sca
nning other ranges of the light spectrum. Finally, he spotted her. Her body gave off heat. He could see her form. She slashed at him again.

  He threw a single punch.

  Knocked her out cold.

  Wow. This suit must really multiple his strength after all.

  The invisible cat girl laid unconscious on the ground.

  Luke looked for Venom. Where did she go?

  “Stop that!” yelled Rhino-Man. “Play fair!” He snorted through his large nostrils. He swung at Dawn again – and missed! She giggled playfully.

  “Luke, look out!” battle-suit Luke shouted at his other self. Venom was right behind him, just waiting for the right second to sink her fangs into his flesh.

  White light flashed, and battle-suit Luke teleported closer to his timeline duplicate self. He put his arms around his younger self and immediately activated the force field.

  Venom pounced – and crashed into an invisible wall like a bird flying into a window. She even chipped one of her fangs.

  “Owww!” she hissed.

  Rhino-Man stomped his foot and created another earthquake. Dawn started shape-shifting again.

  Warning messages flashed on Luke’s HUD.

  “No, Dawn, wait, stop!”

  She returned to human form. “What?”

  “Your cells are breaking down! You can’t keep shape-shifting!”

  “What?!” she exclaimed. She looked down at herself. She felt fine. Sorta. Oh crap. She was totally naked. Damn shape-shifting. Why couldn’t her clothes transform with her body? And now apparently this special ability was killing her too! Sheesh.

  She looked around. There was a large bush nearby she could hide behind. She ran there. Now where did she leave her clothes again?

  Just then Rhino-Man pounded his horn into Luke’s force field. The mutant knocked himself backwards against the invisible wall.

  Another warning message flashed. The suit’s power reserves were dangerously low. It never occurred to him that it might’ve been low to begin with, considering it was sitting on display in that museum for who knew how long.

  Damn. Okay. Everything would be fine. He changed history. He saved their lives. What they needed to do now was make a quick retreat, regroup with Uncle Charlie, and fully recharge this suit’s batteries.

  “We gotta get out of here,” Luke said.

  Rhino-Man charged into the force field again, knocking himself backwards a second time.

  Crap. Luke’s crystal was in his pocket, inside the suit. No way to get it out without taking off this whole damn thing! How were they going to escape? Maybe the same way they did last time.

  Because there was yet another Luke – the original one, the earlier version of himself – hiding in the distance with his uncle and Simeon. Gosh, time travel was confusing sometimes. Anyway, they had a crystal.

  What happened before? The timeline duplicate got killed by Venom. Ray got bit by Arachnus. Dawn started losing control of her shape-shifting. So Uncle Charlie and the first Luke made a hasty retreat.

  Rhino-Man crashed into Luke’s force field a third time. Geez, this guy didn’t give up!

  Okay. Luke had an idea. Teleport them all to Charlie’s hiding spot, and then they could all escape through a portal.

  Just one question… could his new suit do all that?

  Rhino-Man pounced his force field again.

  Warning messages flashed brighter. Power levels were dropping.

  Dammit!

  Did he still have enough power to teleport everyone to safety?

  Nearby, Dawn finished putting the last of her clothes back on. But as she did, momentarily distracted, Arachnus snuck up behind her and grabbed her with his eight legs. She screamed.

  “Dawn!” Ray shouted.

  Luke raised his hand again, preparing to fire. The HUD locked onto Arachnus. The cutting laser fired – but instantly diffused the instant it collided with the inside of his own force field. Double-dammit! With a single thought, his force field lowered. He fired again, and with computer-aided precision, he struck Arachnus a second time. It was enough pain to send that spider running away.

  Rhino-Man crashed into Luke’s back. The suit protected him from the bulk of the impact, but it was still strong enough to throw him off balance. He tripped forward.

  The other Luke looked at Dawn and Ray. His facial expression said it all: did either of them have any idea who this armored suit guy was? Dawn and Ray shook their heads, but apparently he was on their side.

  Uncle Charlie and the “original” Luke came running from the distance.

  As they did, they passed by a small little pond. And Kraken, the sea monster, leapt out of the water, tentacles extended, and grabbed that Luke.

  “Whoa—hellllp!” was all anyone heard, before the splash, as Kraken took that Luke under water.

  Charlie stopped. “Luke?” Where did he go? “LUKE!”

  The timeline duplicate Luke looked in Charlie’s direction. What was going on? Too much was happening. Everything was too confusing.

  Rhino-Man slammed his fist onto battle-suit Luke’s chest. The suit protected him, but suffered some minor damage from the internal earthquake tremors.

  Ray stood next to Dawn. He used his power to push away Slimer – not realizing, she was just a distraction.

  Venom – again, on this timeline too – sank her fangs into Luke’s neck. “OWWW!!!” he exclaimed. Her black poison spread into and throughout his exposed body.

  Battle-suit Luke was on the ground, thanks to Rhino-Man’s relentless pounding. Warning messages kept flashing on his heads-up display. Systems were receiving too much damage. But then he heard his other self scream. He looked over. And saw his timeline duplicate fall to the ground.

  “NOOOO!!!!!” battle-suit Luke exclaimed.

  “LUKE!!!!” Charlie called. The old man ran up to the water’s edge. He couldn’t see them. Where were they?

  Bubbles escaped to the surface.

  Charlie wanted to jump into the water to save his nephew – but feared the sea monster mutant would just as easily kill him too. He’d be no good if they were both dead – but he had to do something!

  Just then, that Luke’s body floated up, lifeless.

  Charlie’s face filled with agonizing pain.

  Rhino-Man pounded on battle-suit Luke again and again. More and more damage. Systems failing. Warning messages practically blinding him from seeing anything.

  Charlie fell to his knees.

  Somehow, through all the warning messages, the only remaining living Luke – the one still barely protected by the suit – saw Kraken tracking on his HUD. The sea monster’s tentacles reached up out of the water, about to snatch Charlie down into a watery grave.

  “Nooo!!!” Luke shouted. He had to save his uncle. Instantly he teleported in a flash of white light. He appeared next to the old man. Kraken’s tentacle collided into the armor. Thud. Luke threw his arms around his uncle. Together they teleported again.

  They instantly reappeared next to Ray and Dawn who, thank goodness, at least they were both still alive.

  Ray pushed everyone else away with his power. Luke instantly activated a force field large enough to protect them all.

  “Hurry Uncle,” Luke said. “Get us out of here!”

  “Uncle?” Ray remarked, confused.

  Uncle Charlie was in tears. “I don’t…”

  Warning messages flashed in front of Luke’s eyes. Power failure was imminent. He couldn’t hold these shields up for much longer. Especially with another impact from Rhino-Man.

  “He…” said Charlie.

  “Take us to Virgo. Or back to Earth. I don’t care, just get us out of here!” Luke demanded.

  Charlie looked over to the small lake in the distance. Where his nephew floated lifelessly. “He has it…”

  “The crystal?”

  Charlie nodded.

  “We have Mastermind’s crystal!” Ray said, holding it up.

  Charlie reached for it.

 
; Suddenly, it disappeared. Right of out Ray’s fingers. Poof. Vanished. Gone.

  “What the—?”

  A feline feminine voice giggled.

  Shadow appeared in front of them, holding the crystal.

  “You!” Dawn shouted.

  Ray held his hand out, using his gravity power to pull the crystal out of Shadow’s paws. It started to slip out.

  “Oh no you don’t!” the cat girl screamed.

  Why didn’t Luke see her? She must’ve been invisible the whole time, hiding inside their force field, waiting for the right moment to steal back that crystal!

  Did he constantly have to be scanning for invisible things to see them on his HUD? Speaking of, a new warning message flashed in front of Luke’s eyes.

  “Uh oh…” said Luke. “Guys, the shield’s about to…”

  The other mutants were all gathered around. Able to see and hear everything. Slimer continually threw little balls of slime at them, testing to see if the force field was still there. Venom hissed, waiting to strike the second they were vulnerable.

  Rhino-Man snorted and slammed his fist into the invisible shield again. It was the final blow. The shield failed.

  Slimer threw another test slime ball. It splashed on the ground next to Dawn’s foot.

  The mutants charged in.

  “Shit!” Ray exclaimed. Shadow barely held onto her crystal with both hands. Ray almost had it. But the other mutants surrounded them, coming down on them. He had to let it go. He immediately spun around, sent one anti-gravity shockwave after another, one by one, quickly blasting away the other mutants. But by the time he turned around back to Shadow, she was gone. Invisible again, and running away with the now-invisible crystal as well. “Dammit!”

  Rhino-Man regained his footing and started charging forward again. Ray pushed him back with another blast of anti-gravity.

  Dawn wanted to shape-shift. Maybe turn into a powerful dragon or something. But what if what the mysterious armored man said was true? If she kept shape-shifting, would she die?

  Luke held out his hand, ready to fire another laser shot. But the power failed. Nothing happened. Dammit! His suit was too badly damaged and too drained on power. He was suddenly useless. Powerless. They were defenseless.