“Uncle,” said Luke. “Help me get this off.” Luke pulled off his helmet. For the first time, everyone saw who he really was.
“LUKE!!!” they all shouted.
Venom leaped forward, claws extended, fangs exposed. Ray barely blasted her away in the nick of time.
“Um, yeah, hi. From the future. My crystal’s in my pocket, but I can’t reach it with the suit on.”
Ray pushed back Slimer and Kraken. “Um, hurry up guys – I can’t keep this up forever!”
Dawn helped Charlie get Luke’s suit off.
Luke stepped out of the suit as fast as possible. As soon as he could reach into his pocket, he grabbed his crystal, quickly drew a large circle on the ground, and marked it with the Virgo symbol. The portal instantly opened.
“How did you—?” asked Charlie.
Arachnus attacked Ray from behind. Dawn sucker punched the spider in its ugly face. “Get off my boyfriend!”
“Thanks Dawn,” said Ray, blasting back Rhino-Man.
Charlie jumped through the portal, into the darkness.
“Go!” Ray told Dawn.
She jumped in.
“You next,” said Ray.
Luke threw the pieces of his battle suit into the hole and leapt in after.
Ray gave one final gravity blast, pushing the oncoming mutants back. He jumped backwards into the portal. “Geronimo!”
Luke started to X-out the portal. Venom and Arachnus almost made it through the opening. Arachnus reached through with one of his extra arms. The portal closed. It cut the spider’s arm off with a clean and instant slice. The black, hairy arm fell to the floor with a soft thud.
Dawn gasped.
Ray held her close.
Luke sighed with relief.
They were safe.
“Everyone okay?” asked Charlie.
“I think so. Where are we?” asked Ray.
“Give it a second,” said Luke.
Dim lights began to illuminate along the floor and walls. It was familiar. Just like the pyramid on the desert world.
Dawn looked around. “Are we where I think we are?”
“Not exactly,” said Luke.
Uncle Charlie pulled himself together. He caught his breath. “Okay, start talking. Where’d you get that armored suit? And where’d you come from, anyway?”
“I’m from another timeline,” Luke said. “A few hours into the future.” He sighed. “Ray and Dawn died. I had to save them.”
“We what?” remarked Ray.
“That spider mutant poisoned you. We brought you here, tried to save you. But we were too late.”
“Where is here anyway?” Dawn asked.
“Another pyramid. Floating through space.”
Ray shook his head. “This is too much for me.”
“Dawn, your shape-shifting… we’ve got to find a way to stabilize your cells. The more you use your power, the faster they break down. I’m sorry. You can’t shape-shift until we figure something out.”
She nodded. “Okay.” She took him seriously.
“What about your other self,” asked Charlie, “from your earlier timelines?”
“I know,” said Luke. “On my timeline, the other me died the same way, from Venom. I tried to save him.” He lowered his head. He failed.
No one wanted to mention the other-other Luke who died a moment ago, either. Two Lukes died back on Eden. Only the one remained. The one from the future. With his high-tech armored suit.
But Luke was all too aware of his other selves’ untimely deaths. And it worried him a bit. His younger self died. Shouldn’t he be fading out of existence now or something? Like Marty McFly in Back to the Future, when he accidentally prevented his parents from getting married? Luke created his own paradox. He shouldn’t be around anymore. Why was he still here?
Time travel was giving him a headache. It was terrible to think this, but maybe there was some universal principle or something, some special time travel law, that prevented timeline duplicates from surviving for too long. Maybe there was only supposed to be one Luke at any one time. At least this one survived. This one was still alive. The others weren’t really dead. A part of them lived on in him.
Poor consolation. But it was the only way they could cope with it. The only way they could make some kind of peace with it.
“Can you go back in time again, and try to save everyone this time?” asked Dawn.
Luke shook his head. “I didn’t make it far back enough the first time.” He sighed. “My power takes forever to recharge.”
“Hey,” said Charlie, trying to keep them positive, “look at the bright side. We’re all safe and alive now, thanks to you.”
“Yeah,” said Ray, “I for one am glad to be alive.”
“Me too,” soberly said Dawn.
“Time travel sucks,” said Luke. “I can’t go very far, and when I do, I end up creating timeline copies of myself – who only end up dying. It’s not fair, it’s not right. I can’t keep doing this.”
“Luke, don’t be so hard on yourself, man,” said Ray.
“Yeah,” said Dawn. “Your power may be limited, but you’re still doing good with it.”
“I take it I showed you the Virgo symbol on your alternate timeline,” said Uncle Charlie. “But where’d you get your little suit of armor?”
“Back on Eden, actually, at the history museum. Simeon said I could keep it if it’ll help us defeat Mastermind.”
“Speaking of,” said Ray, “we got our asses kicked back there. And we had a time traveler from the future with a high-tech battle suit to help us. Sounds like things went even worse the first time around.”
“Yeah,” said Dawn. “We’re not exactly fighters.”
“I know,” sighed Luke. “I know…”
“Well,” said Charlie, smiling a little. “Maybe it’s time you started playing your strong suit.”
Luke looked up at him.
“Stop trying to be something you’re not,” the old man said. “Start being what you are.”
“Which is?” Luke asked.
“Smart,” said the old man. “Be smart.”
Chapter Four
Time for Plan B
That was, after all, how Mastermind had been playing all along.
“Fascinating,” was all the villain said, coming out from behind a large tree. No one even noticed he disappeared during that fight.
Arachnus cried, holding his severed arm. Not to mention several bad wounds from getting hit by the cutting laser. He was in a lot of pain.
“Relax, you’ll live,” said Mastermind.
The others gathered around. Kraken, Slimer, Rhino-Man, and Venom. Shadow handed the crystal back to Mastermind.
“Good girl.”
He focused on the glowing pink crystal. “Amazing piece of technology, don’t you think?” He looked back at the ground, where the others had just escaped. “Did anyone see what symbol they used?”
All the mutants shook their heads.
He sighed. “It appears they’re going to be more of a nuisance after all. But,” he said, “we’re out of time. Destiny awaits.”
He drew a large circle on the ground. Then he marked the “M1” symbol, the first portal destination he had programmed into the crystal.
The portal opened to reveal the Taj Mahal on the other side. “You,” he said to Venom, “Go through, start killing random people. Make sure you’re seen doing it. Wake everyone up. Get their attention. Be as public as you can. Your job is to spread fear and chaos. Got it?”
Venom nodded.
“Now go!” Mastermind commanded.
Venom jumped into the portal.
Mastermind repeated history again, exactly as before, with each one of them. He sent Shadow to Japan. Arachnus to Russia. Rhino-Man to Los Angeles. Kraken to Greece. And last but not least, Slimer to the Middle East.
“The desert?” Slimer complained. “I hate the desert.”
“Take it out on them, honey.” Mastermin
d looked into her eyes, giving her an order. “Now go. And do your worst.”
She sighed and jumped into the portal.
After closing the last portal, Mastermind looked around at Eden one last time. Beautiful place. He’d definitely come to conquer this world next. After all, he was God. And all people, throughout the galaxy, would come to worship and obey him.
But Chuck, his nephew Luke, and the others were proving to be a recurring nuisance. Mastermind would not take any chances with them. He couldn’t ignore them any longer. He needed to be prepared. Extra insurance. Some kind of guarantee. And he knew just where to get it.
He opened a portal, with the triangle symbol, back to Planet Sekhmet. Across the blazing sand dunes and endless desert awaited the great pyramid, the Temple of the Gods. Where, throughout history, ordinary mortals were given the power to become gods themselves. Mastermind would soon be God among gods.
And his rule over Earth would be eternal and absolute.
“I’m telling you, this won’t work,” said Luke.
“We have to try,” said Dawn, sitting up onto the table inside the medical lab.
“He’s right,” said Ray. “I’m sure this healing chamber is no different from the one on Eden. If they couldn’t help you there, it’s not going to work here.”
“Geez,” said Dawn. “I feel like I’m surrounded by pessimists. It’ll work. It has to.”
Charlie shrugged. “It’s worth a try. Lay down.”
Dawn laid across the medical table.
Just like before, lights from above started scanning her. And just like before, it was unable to identify her genome. The computer couldn’t recognize her; it didn’t know how to repair her deteriorating cells.
After several repeated failing attempts, Dawn finally gave up. “Fine,” she said, sitting back up. “But I love shape-shifting. I don’t want to give that up. I just got started!”
“I know,” said Luke, sighing. Something heavy was weighing on his mind. “Ray, there’s something I gotta ask you. You too, Uncle.”
“What?” asked Ray.
Luke took a slow breath. “There is a way we can defeat Mastermind and his mutants pretty easily. A smart way. But,” he finally said, “it means we’d have to lose our powers too.”
“What are you talking about?” Charlie asked.
“On the other timeline,” he said, “I learned something. If we can somehow destroy the pyramid, it’ll disable everyone’s powers.”
“Say what?” Ray remarked.
“Apparently, if I understood it right, the pyramids draw power from the planet, and somehow use that to fuel everyone’s abilities, everyone’s super powers. If we destroy the pyramid, it’ll cut off their energy source, and they won’t be able to use their powers anymore.”
“But neither will we,” said Ray, getting it.
“Right,” said Luke.
“You guys can’t do that,” said Dawn. “We need our powers to defeat them. Okay, so Mastermind’s got mind control, and it seems he gave all his mutant lackeys some powers too. But what’s to stop Mastermind from finding another pyramid like this one and giving himself the same power all over again? And even if we shut down all the mutants’ powers, they’re still mutants, and still plenty dangerous without any powers.”
“True,” said Luke.
“You’d have to destroy two different pyramids too,” said Uncle Charlie. “Mastermind got his power from the same temple I did, on Eden. But we saw him with his mutants on Sekhmet, where they likely got all their powers.”
“Simeon also mentioned that ‘millions’ of other people had gotten powers from the pyramid on Eden. I’d be cutting them off too,” said Luke. “But I don’t have any better ideas.”
“Look,” said Ray, “whatever we’re going to do, we better do it fast. Having powers is cool, but I’d give it up in a heartbeat if it meant saving the world.”
Luke slowly nodded. It wasn’t as easy for him to say that, but Ray was right. It had been Luke’s dream his entire life to have super powers, to be able to time travel, to be a real world super hero. But… not at this cost.
But wait a minute. They were in another pyramid. What if they went into this pyramid’s inner chamber, touched the floating sphere again, and got a new power? They could destroy the other pyramids, cut off Mastermind and his mutants’ powers, but still leave them – Luke, Ray, Dawn, and Uncle Charlie – fully powered.
No, wait. That wouldn’t work. The pyramids drew power from the core of a planet. And they were nowhere near a planet.
Of course… maybe they could find one.
“Uncle,” said Luke, curiously. “We’re inside a pyramid, right?”
His uncle nodded.
“Flying through space.”
“I believe so,” said the old man.
“That means these aren’t buildings or temples. They’re space ships. And space ships can travel to other planets.”
“Where are you going with this?” asked Uncle Charlie.
“Exactly!” said Luke, excitedly. “We just need to find the nearest planet, land, power up the pyramid, get ourselves new powers, and then –”
Dawn’s eyes lit up. “And then we can disable Mastermind and all his mutants!”
“But we’d still have powers,” said Ray. “Because we’ll leave this pyramid in one piece.”
Charlie shrugged. “That might actually work,” he said. “I don’t believe Mastermind knows this symbol. He’s probably never been here.”
“Then it’s a plan,” said Luke. “All we gotta do is find a planet, and hope it doesn’t take too long to get there. I’m assuming these things have warp drives or something, right?”
Charlie laughed. “Beats me!”
Meanwhile back on Earth, history played out the same as it had originally. Luke’s little bit of time traveling changed nothing there.
Rhino-Man terrorized Los Angeles. Shadow drew attention in Tokyo. Venom made people run for their lives in India. Arachnus became everyone’s worst nightmare in Russia. Kraken made ancient sea monsters from Greek mythology look like amateurs. And Slimer, well, she wasn’t so successful. The Middle East had enough conflict and fighting already. Some people actually shot at her, believe it or not, but the bullets just passed right through her gooey body.
The world slipped into chaos and fear.
Doctor Troyd met with the president. Gave him the formula for the “cure.” More and more people saw Mastermind’s video on television and the Internet. More and more people became enslaved to his mind control. And already facilities received instructions on how to mass produce BioGen X.
“My fellow Americans,” appeared the president on national television, “a terrorist calling himself ‘Mastermind’ has infected the world with a plague turning ordinary humans into hideous monsters. He claims to be a god. America is a united nation under one God. We will not obey any false gods. I’m pleased to inform you that our top scientists in this great nation have already discovered a cure.”
He was, of course, referring to the very thing that would turn people into mutants. But the people trusted their government. They didn’t know the president was already under Mastermind’s mind control.
“I’m urging all Americans – and all citizens of Planet Earth – to go immediately to your nearest hospital or pharmacy, where vaccines are currently being mass produced and distributed to the public free of charge. If you cannot make it to a distribution center within 24 hours, call the toll-free number at the bottom of your screen, and a representative of the CDC will bring the vaccine to you.”
He appeared live on every channel. Interrupting every show. Taking priority over all others. His broadcast was bounced off satellites and sent into homes and businesses around the world. Translated in dozens of languages.
“Please, my fellow Americans and fellow citizens of the world, we cannot allow this plague to spread any farther. Get vaccinated immediately. Have your friends and family members vaccinated. Your co-workers, you
r neighbors, everyone you know. This is a mandatory worldwide vaccination. If just one person fails to receive the cure, the plague may spread out of control. Act now, and save us all. The mutation plague is highly contagious and extremely dangerous. Don’t wait. Get yourself and your loved ones vaccinated immediately.”
Phase 5, complete: Get everyone not already affected by Mastermind’s mind control to voluntarily inject and mutate themselves.
The president continued his speech, mentioning how other world leaders from other nations have been given the formula and financial resources to distribute the so-called “cure” to all their people too.
Sure, not every human on Planet Earth would get it. It’d take some time to get it into third world countries. Or people living far away in isolation, out in the wilderness or in remote corners of the globe. But based on how fast information traveled – and fear and panic – Doctor Troyd estimated that 90% of the world’s population will be infected with BioGen X by the end of the week. Possibly 40% or more within 48 hours.
It only took a few seconds to inject a needle into someone. A few seconds. That would forever change their lives.
Forever recreate the world… according to Mastermind’s vision and design.
After leaving the United Nations building, Doctor Troyd sat in the back of another taxi with Luke. Troyd still had the vial of BioGen X. He still had his instructions to mutate Luke into something. Mastermind left the “into what” part up to the good doctor. Hmm. What should Luke become?
They already had a cat, spider, rhinoceros, snake, sea monster, and slimy-slug thing. Should Luke become a dog? A bird of some kind? No, maybe a turtle. That might be cool.
The taxi dropped them off at their destination.
The Queens Zoo in New York.
The streets were eerily empty. Everyone must’ve been on the highway, headed for the nearest hospital. Or hiding out at home. Or something. Doctor Troyd wasn’t a New York native or anything, but he imagined the streets would be busier than this. Rush hour was pretty much over. But still. It was practically a ghost town.
But then again, he knew what was going on. Everyone was glued to a television somewhere. Watching the news as Mastermind’s grand plan unfolded. The mutant attacks around the world. His “obey me” video playing over and over again on all the major networks. Probably viral on the Internet by now too.
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