Mastermind laughed, crossing his arms. Clearly this boy was up to something. Chuck would’ve never sent his nephew in alone or unprotected. “Oh Chuck? Chucky-boy, old pal? Where are you, old man?”
Uncle Charlie was still back at their original hiding spot, with the other Luke and Simeon, watching everything carefully.
“Why are you mutating people?” Luke asked.
Mastermind raised an eyebrow. “Where’s your uncle, kid?”
“If you know I can time travel, you know I have the power to go back in time and stop you – before you even know what’s happening. I can stop you from mutating anyone. I can stop you from killing my parents.” He stood bravely. “I can even prevent you from being born.”
Mastermind laughed. “Then why haven’t you?”
“Because I’m one of the good guys,” said Luke. “And we don’t use our powers for evil. I’m giving you a chance. Give up. Surrender. Let’s end this peacefully, now.”
“Oh, there will be peace, my friend,” he said.
“You’re surrendering?”
Mastermind laughed out loud. “Surrender? No, my boy. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even after the final star burns out and the entire universe goes dark. I am Mastermind. Lord of all creation. Master of all living things. God above gods. And before this day is over, I’ll have recreated the entire world as I see fit!”
Oh. So they were on a deadline. Good to know. “You’re no god,” said Luke.
“Oh, but I am.”
Luke glanced up at the sky.
“There’s only one God I know of – and you’re not him.”
Mastermind noticed Luke’s brief glance skyward. What was he up to? Mastermind quickly turned around and looked up.
A giant eagle – no, more like a fearsome gryphon – swooped down upon him. The gryphon’s wings flapped and swatted, overwhelming Mastermind, knocking him backwards onto the ground. “What the hell? Stupid bird! Get the hell off me!” he shouted.
The giant gryphon stood on top of him, talons extended, gripping and holding down each arm. The feathery beast let out a victorious ear-piercing screech.
Rhino-Man, standing nearby, didn’t know what to do. His master was in trouble. Only one thing a rhinoceros-man could do – charge!
His horn pounded the gryphon’s side with punishing impact, sending the giant mythical eagle-like creature tumbling away. The gryphon quickly flapped its wings, regained control, and flew back towards them.
“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 gryphon’s feathers.
Mastermind chuckled. The beastly bird crashed into the ground, unable to fly another inch farther. “How’s it feel to—” He stopped himself abruptly. Something pink was floating right in front of his face. “What the?”
His Astaria crystal had somehow levitated right out of his pocket and up into the air. He reached for it, but the crystal moved away, rising even higher. Mastermind jumped to grab it a second time – he missed, and his floating crystal dodged up higher and escaped farther away into the sky!
Mastermind looked around. “Who’s doing that?” Who had a levitation power? It must be that black kid again. He had some kind of telekinetic ability. “Show yourself!”
He didn’t have to. The crystal revealed Ray’s whereabouts. Mastermind watched it float towards one of the trees. That’s where he spotted Ray. The kid sat on a branch, hand extended, drawing the crystal ever closer to him.
“That’s mine!” Mastermind declared.
The gryphon shape-shifted back into Dawn’s natural form – minus her clothes, unfortunately. She really wished she could transform her clothes along with her body. But it didn’t matter. She immediately shook off as much of the goo as she could, and began assuming her next form.
“Oh no you don’t!” Slimer exclaimed. She doused Dawn with more sticky slime and goo.
But Dawn was one step ahead of her. Being covered in slime wasn’t a problem – if she was made of slime too! Dawn shape-shifted her molecules to be very similar to Slimer’s body. Now there stood two slime girls – and Slimer could cover Dawn with as much slime and goo as she wanted. It wouldn’t slow Dawn down now.
“Hey, no fair! That’s my power!” exclaimed Slimer.
Ray reached out and snatched Mastermind’s crystal out of the air. Got it. Perfect. This plan was going flawlessly. “I got it!” he shouted to Dawn.
What he didn’t see was Arachnus, the spider mutant, leaping from treetop to treetop, quickly coming down upon him, until suddenly – pounce – he ensnared Ray with all of his spider-like legs and the two tumbled down and rolled out of the tree.
Ray accidentally dropped the crystal. Arachnus exposed his giant spider fangs and went down to bite Ray. But reflexively – maybe from seeing those fangs, maybe just because a giant spider was on top of him – Ray used his power to throw Arachnus off him and several feet away. The flying spider caught a nearby tree branch, swung around, and jumped back into the action.
Rhino-Man swung his massive gray fist at Dawn, who skillfully swerved out of the way. This slime-based body was extremely agile and flexible. She could bend in all sorts of ways now. Rhino-Man threw another punch. She dodged. He charged forward, rhino horn first, but she gracefully slid out of the way and flicked a little goo on him just for fun.
Luke saw Mastermind’s crystal on the ground. Ray and Arachnus fought constantly – Ray pushed the spider mutant away, he leaped back; Ray levitated himself up into the air to get away, the spider mutant shot him with a web and lassoed him back down. “I’m really beginning to hate spiders!” Ray exclaimed. Arachnus tackled him. Ray levitated a nearby rock and flung it at the mutant’s head.
Luke ran towards the crystal.
So did Mastermind.
Suddenly Luke crashed into something and fell onto his butt – but nothing was there. Did he just collide into solid air?
A cat-like humanoid form emerged in front of him. Shadow smiled, twirling her tail, becoming completely visible. “You didn’t forget about me, did you?”
Luke scurried backwards. She could turn invisible? Great. It was only safe to assume all the mutants had powers now.
Rhino-Man swung at Dawn again. She dodged again, laughing at him. “I can do this all day!” she said.
He huffed and he puffed. “Stop that! Play fair!” he demanded. He snorted through his large rhino nostrils. He swung again – and missed! Dawn giggled with delight.
Rhino-Man growled loudly and then stomped his foot hard into the ground. It created a small earthquake. The vibrations sent shockwaves through the ground. And Dawn’s semi-liquid state reverberated with it, and she temporarily dissolved into a gooey puddle – as did Slimer, unfortunately.
Rhino-Man stomped the ground again. Another earthquake. Dawn couldn’t rematerialize. Her goo-like body just rippled and vibrated uncontrollably in the powerful tremors. She couldn’t stabilize herself into a solid form. Rhino-Man stomped again. Another earthquake. Slimer didn’t appreciate this at all either, but at least they had disabled Dawn.
Dawn had no choice but to return to human form. She began shape-shifting back. And just as her human flesh returned to normal, Rhino-Man grabbed both her arms and held her in an inescapable grip. He lifted her up off the ground. Her feet dangled, kicking and squirming. Now Rhino-Man was the one laughing.
Shadow slashed at Luke with her cat claws. He jumped back to avoid the first lash. The crystal was just over there. So close. He glanced at Shadow. She made another swing. He ducked, rolled, and dashed over toward the crystal.
Did he actually just do that awesome move? Watching all those action movies finally paid off! He ran so hard and fast towards the crystal he nearly tripped over himself.
Maybe he was just lucky. Didn’t want to feel those claws slice into his skin.
He stumbled forward. So close. He reached out for
the crystal. Just inches away.
Mastermind stepped back.
Luke grabbed the crystal.
“I got it!” he exclaimed.
And Venom sprung out from behind the plants, fangs exposed, and struck – deep and hard.
“OWWW!!!” Her teeth sank into Luke’s back, through his clothes, releasing her black poison deep into his body.
The intense pain shot like lightning throughout his entire body. His muscles tightened and convulsed. He lost all feeling in his legs. He fell down. Luke gasped for air. He couldn’t breathe. His grip weakened. The crystal fell out of his hand.
It rolled away from him.
The last thing Luke saw was Mastermind’s foot stopping the crystal. The madman leaned down to pick it up, giving Luke a sinister smile.
Everything went black.
Luke lost his final breath.
“Good work, Venom.”
A safe distance away, Charlie saw the whole thing. “LUKE!!!” the old man screamed. Tears swelled in his eyes. He couldn’t breathe. “Luke…” he whispered.
“What?” asked the other Luke, still standing nearby.
Charlie was speechless. Tears streamed down his face. He shook his head.
“What happened?” demanded the other Luke.
Charlie turned to him. “You… You’re… dead.”
“I’m what?!”
“That snake lady, she just – oh my God, he’s dead.”
Luke’s face went numb. “I…” He had no idea what to think. He, of course, believed he was the original Luke. But so did the other one. Was he really the original Luke? What if he was the paradox duplicate?
Such a weird metaphysical experience.
Luke was dead – but this other Luke, from a slightly different timeline, was still alive. He swallowed hard. What if the paradox-preventing laws of time travel worked so that if one of them died, all the others would too?
Uncle Charlie immediately hugged the Luke next to him.
Luke’s heart raced. Was he feeling okay? He felt a little dizzy. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. He was about to die too. He could feel it. Some timeline-fixing law of the universe. He felt tingly. He felt sick.
…
Eh, well, then again, maybe not. He was still alive. Still breathing. No part of his body was starting to fade away or anything. Actually, he felt fine. Aside from freaking himself out.
“I’m so sorry, Luke. This is all my fault,” said Charlie. “I’m so sorry…”
Luke’s heart started to calm down. He was still breathing. Still fine. Apparently he was safe. The timelines weren’t connected. One version of him was dead – but, it seemed, this version of him was safe. At least for now. “Uncle…” he said.
“What have I done?” Charlie muttered.
“I don’t want to die,” said Luke.
“I know,” Charlie sniffled. “No one does.”
“I – the other me – is he really... gone?”
Charlie nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Luke didn’t know what to think.
“But I’m still here,” he finally said.
“I know,” smiled Charlie, holding Luke closer. “I know…”
Did his power recharge enough yet to go back in time and save… himself?
Dawn started shape-shifting again to escape Rhino-Man’s death grip. If she could turn into an amorphous slime-based person, maybe she could turn completely into organic, living water. Sure, it sounded good. It was worth a try.
It worked. She ran through his fingers like… well… water. She splashed onto the ground, reformed herself into a human-like shape, and started running – more like sliding – away. The grass left a wet trail in her wake. Slimer flung some goo at her, but it splashed right through her, and Dawn continued to flee towards Ray.
Mastermind held the crystal in his hand. “Venom, Shadow, take care of the other two.”
The two female mutants headed to the nearest one: Ray. He and Arachnus seemed to be locked in an equally-matched struggle. Neither could get away, or get the upper hand, for long.
Rhino-Man and Slimer chased after the water-based Dawn. She glided so freely across the ground. Moving swiftly, flowing effortlessly, she was like one with the… one with the… uh oh.
Something didn’t feel right.
Dawn’s body randomly started shape-shifting. One foot turned into a talon; the other into a goat’s leg and hoof. Her left arm had lots of fur; her right arm was long and loose like a string of spaghetti. Her insides felt like they were turning inside out. She felt really sick all of the sudden.
She felt dizzy, in pain – and collapsed forward onto the ground.
Rhino-Man grabbed her hoof-foot and picked her up, upside down. She hung in the air, still shape-shifting uncontrollably. Horns grew out of her head, then disappeared; wings appeared on her back, then a tail appeared, then her entire body became like melting silly putty. She stretched and oozed toward the ground, slipping right out of his grip.
Dawn, a deformed mess of random mutations on the ground, could not regain control herself.
Slimer laughed. “Not so hot now, are ya?”
“P-Please… help…” Dawn cried.
Ray heard her voice. He turned to look. Just then Arachnus had the upper hand he’d been waiting for. He bit Ray. “Ahhhh!!!!” Ray exclaimed. Right in the shoulder. Son of a bitch!
He felt suddenly dizzy, and weak.
“We need to go now,” said Charlie, urgently.
“What? What’s going on? Now what? Did they get the crystal?” Luke asked.
Charlie grabbed Luke’s shirt and pulled him closer. “Simeon, teleport us close to Dawn and Ray, now!”
“But you’ll be—”
“I KNOW!” exclaimed Charlie. “DO IT!”
Simeon nodded. Charlie and Luke vanished in the blink of an eye.
Charlie held onto Luke. He reached over to grab Ray. “Luke, get your crystal ready!” he said urgently.
Venom and Shadow stopped dead in their tracks. Another Luke? Arachnus exposed his fangs again, simultaneously extending all his spider-like arms and legs, preparing to attack.
Luke reached into his pocket as quickly as he could and pulled out his crystal.
“And run!” Charlie exclaimed.
“Where?” Luke shouted, already running.
Arachnus launched forward, trying to bite Charlie. But the old man ducked and narrowly dodged out of the way. Venom hissed, exposing her lethal fangs. No time to stick around. Charlie grabbed Ray’s body, threw the boy over his shoulder, and started running as fast as he could. “To Dawn!” he shouted.
Ray moaned, struggling to hold onto consciousness.
“Hang on,” the old man said. “Don’t die on me!”
They bolted toward the chaotic mutating mess of Dawn’s uncontrolled shape-shifting. Slimer was still laughing. Rhino-Man looked up to see the others approaching.
Rhino-Man got a secure footing, lifted one foot up, and moved to stomp hard.
“Everybody hold on!” Charlie shouted.
Rhino-Man’s foot crashed into the ground, sending a powerful earthquake out in all directions. Luke and Charlie fell to the ground. Ray tumbled over. They quickly got back up, Charlie grabbed Ray again, and they ran up to Dawn.
“Dawn?” Ray struggled to speak.
Rhino-Man stomped the ground again. Another tremor. Everyone fell down again. But they were close enough to Dawn. Charlie looked over to Luke. “Now! Get us out of here!”
Luke nodded. He quickly traced a large circle on the ground with his crystal. The trail of sparkling pink light marked his path.
Ray looked up, through blurry vision, and saw Rhino-Man and the others getting close. With one hand on his spider bite wound, he held out his other hand, and used whatever strength he had left to blast them away.
The circle was complete. “Where should we go?” panicked Luke.
Charlie quickly looked at Dawn and Ray – a jumbled mess of random mutations and a m
an growing weaker by the second. He knew just the place. “Here, gimme,” he said, holding out his hand.
Luke tossed him the crystal.
Ray used his power to weakly push back the mutants again. He wasn’t able to push them back as far this time.
Charlie quickly drew a new symbol – something Luke actually recognized from somewhere else. It was the same symbol used in astrology for the constellation Virgo. Was this the sixth symbol he mentioned? Would this portal take them to a planet somewhere in Virgo?
The portal opened.
Total blackness inside.
“Come on,” said Charlie.
“Don’t let them get away!” ordered Mastermind.
Ray saw them getting closer. Vision getting blurrier. He felt so weak. So tired. He just wanted to give up and fall asleep. He was in so much pain. Everything was slowly going dark.
But he flicked his wrist one more time. Rhino-Man went flying backwards, crashing into Mastermind in the process. That took all his effort. Just the one mutant. Slimer got too close. Did he have the strength to do it again? He tried. God, he tried. He pulled all his strength, focused his power, and knocked her backwards several feet.
Everything got darker. He felt a hundred times weaker.
Charlie pushed Luke down into the portal. The old man looked behind. He grabbed a solid-looking part of Dawn and tossed her down too. Venom appeared out of nowhere. Ray pushed her back a few feet. That was the last of his strength. He collapsed. Charlie grabbed him, dragged him into the portal, and jumped in after.
Slimer stood over the open portal. She peered over to look inside. Total darkness. Where’d they go? The other mutants came up right behind her.
Charlie’s glowing crystal emerged from the darkness on the other side, quickly moving across both directions, X-ing it out. The portal closed instantly. The mutants saw only the grass-covered ground now.
Mastermind stood up, dusting himself off. “Dammit! Did anyone see what symbol he used?”
All the mutants all shrugged.
He sighed. Wait. He counted them. Shadow, Venom, Arachnus, Rhino-Man, Slimer… “Someone’s missing. Where’s Kraken?”
They looked at each other. The squid guy – where was he the whole time? Mastermind suddenly remembered. He went over to the small pond, where Kraken had submerged himself earlier.
Breaking Time Page 16