Shadow of Time

by Jamie Hawke

  Keisha fell back and said, “What was that about?”

  “I think he has a thing for Temra?” Frank still wasn’t sure what to make of the man and was about to consider whether he should step aside, put in a good word for the guy, when Temra doubled back to join them too.

  “So, I hear you met Cody.”

  “Cody?” Frank asked.

  She grinned. “Yeah, that’d be Eric’s boyfriend I mentioned earlier. We’ve kinda become like brother and sister here… Hope he didn’t try to scare you off.”

  Keisha chuckled. “Ah, so that’s what the conversation was really about? Trying to see if he could steal you away?”

  “Not exactly.” Frank actually felt relieved. Just a friend who was looking out for Temra. He could respect that.

  More moving through the shadows, and soon they came to a stop on a rooftop overlooking the city. The rain misted Frank’s cheeks, but had mostly died down. Orange and red filled the sky as the sun descended, casting the city in a warm glow.

  Shadow crouched next to Frank, looking out over the city. “We believe tonight is the best time to make our move.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Temra’s special equipment,” he pointed at his left eye, where she usually wore her odd colored glass, “shows multiple Ricks being there.”

  “She told me about that,” Frank admitted. “But tonight?”

  Shadow nodded. “Word on the streets. And by that, I mean we’ve overheard conversations that lead us to believe they’ll have at least one more of him gathered tonight. He knows you’re out here and wants to make a move on you. He’s trying to figure out the best way.”

  “And for us, multiple Ricks,” Rose said, catching on, “means multiple stones.”

  “And if there are multiple stones,” Frank asked, eyes narrowed as he focused on keeping his head from exploding, “how do we end this? Multiple stones, multiple compasses, but the rest only work for travel. Right?”

  “They can still find the weapons, even make the blueprints.”

  “And the winning part?”

  “It’s not a game,” Rose said, shaking her head. “From what I’ve been hearing, there isn’t really a win scenario. There’s a ‘stop the bad guy and get the best we can get’ scenario.”

  “Truth be told, it’s all hypothetical for now,” added Shadow. “Until we know who set up the weapons stashes and made all of this possible, we don’t have any answers.”

  “The weapons stashes…” Frank rubbed his head, really trying to understand that one. “But you think it might be the boy, no? I say it’s an alien group of fuckheads trying to mess with us.”

  “Watch your language,” Shadow said, earning a snicker from Rose. “What?”

  “Sorry,” she said, “but after being with the pirates as long as I have, little things like ‘fuck’ don’t mean as much.”

  That earned her a concerned look from her husband, but Frank interrupted the moment.

  “You all aren’t giving me answers, and I need answers.”

  “We don’t have them.” Shadow took Rose’s hand. “We have a group of people who, how do you say it?... Got your back. We have technique, enough of the steps to get you to the place where you can get the answers, but the rest is up to you.”

  “Great.” Frank leaned back with a grin. “And when I find those answers, I promise to send you a postcard.”

  Shadow let out a loud laugh. “Better find us and… Oh.” He frowned. “I suppose in your time, I’ll still be dead.”

  “But you will have had me,” Rose said, pulling him in close.

  “Will he?” Frank’s expression contorted. “I don’t mean to say he won’t or be a downer, but… will he? Someone said before about the times not overriding each other, exactly. So…?”

  “Boy, who the fuck knows?” Shadow said, winking at his use of the curse word he’d recently chided Frank for using. “Just let us have our hope, huh?” He laughed as he stood, then shouted, “Who here wants to go fight some pirate scum?”

  The little group cheered, excitement in their eyes.

  This was their last hope. At least, last hope as far as Frank was alive. If they lost him, Rick might have a shot at converting the compass to level himself up, and that was the last thing anyone there wanted.

  16

  It was time for the assault on the Space Needle. There was so much wrong with the concept that Frank didn’t even want to think about it. As a child, he’d seen the towering symbol of Seattle and imagined it was really a rocket ship, a needle that could depart Earth and take him to the farthest galaxies. He’d lean back and imagine worlds of superheroes, where he’d become one of them and join the fight for justice and good.

  Now, he had to live with the adult knowledge that the Space Needle was nothing more than a vantage point and spinning restaurant. Or was it? If it was some sort of transport point or whatever Rick was using it for, maybe his childhood fantasies weren’t so farfetched.

  Half of their force would already be up there, such as staff at the restaurant. Temra had headed over early for that purpose. A couple of others had gone up and found spots to hide, but Shadow, Rose, Frank, Esmerelda, and Keisha had been taken to the top of a nearby building by Eric and Cody.

  “This is the advantage of buildings popping up all over downtown,” Eric said with an excited grin as he took out several suits and gear from a pack he’d had stored on the rooftop. “While the Space Needle tends to be lost in the crowd, we also have jumping off points from which to reach the Needle.”

  “Which is, I’m sure, why they built the buildings so high,” Cody said with a laugh. “For this one moment when we would need to glide to it.”

  “Wait, so that’s the plan?” Frank looked at the suit they’d just handed him—sure enough, it had the crazy flaps at the arms that connected to the hips from the cliff-diving simulations. “Why couldn’t we just walk up the stairs?”

  “There’s almost a thousand of them,” Cody replied. “And this is way more fun.”

  “Shit.”

  “Here goes!” Eric ran forward and leaped, Cody right behind him.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Frank glanced over at his team—still suiting up, putting the outfits on over their other clothes. While Keisha looked as worried as he felt, Esmerelda was grinning from ear to ear, apparently totally ready to jump. He figured that made sense, considering she was the one who enjoyed getting fingered at the top of the crow’s nest.

  “You’ll be fine,” Rose said, clapping him on the shoulder. “We know our son wouldn’t raise a wuss.”

  “Funny,” Frank replied, zipping up the suit and moving to the edge of the roof to look down. Lights peppered the buildings nearby, cars zooming about on the street below. That same street he’d fall down to, and pop like a water balloon on, if this didn’t work.

  “Together,” Keisha said, taking his hand. He wasn’t sure if she said it more for herself or him, but either way, appreciated the idea.

  “All you have to do is stay focused and aim for the ledge,” Shadow said with a wink, then pulled down his hood and mask. He turned, ran, and jumped, Rose right behind.

  “What’s the worst that can happen?” Esmerelda said, and she motioned Frank to go on. “I’ll be right behind you two.”

  “Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any safer,” Keisha admitted in a whisper.

  It made Frank smile, and that gave him just enough courage to squeeze her and say, “Together,” before taking that first step. She reciprocated, and together they leaped.

  The sky took him as they released their grip on each other’s hands to better get the motion needed. Spreading out his arms, Frank felt the night air against his face and catching under his wings—as he started to think of the material between his arms and body.

  Night air heavy with the scent of a possible incoming rain caught him with a chill, as he soared through the sky. He moved his body to compensate for a wind, but too much and it threatened to throw him off balanc
e. Esmerelda was there, flying past him and laughing. Apparently, she was enjoying this way more than he was.

  The Space Needle was coming in hot, his mind reeling with the thought of slamming up against it, his blood splattering across the glass. Of course, realistically he would crash right through, maybe. Shit. Shit, shit. He blinked, then saw his reticle—that beautiful, green, reticle. A green line showed him exactly where he was aiming, although with his body instead of a bullet this time.

  He pulled up, Esmerelda’s laugh giving him courage. She was there, landing on the ledge along with the others, and so he aimed, going for it. At the last second, Shadow and a few others were at the ledge, throwing out latches that hooked Keisha and a couple of the others, bringing them in. Thanks to Frank’s reticle, though, he didn’t need it.

  The landing was hard, so the helpful hand to keep him from falling was welcome.

  “Holy shit, what a ride,” he said, seeing Keisha with eyes wider than he’d ever seen on her.

  “I’m never doing that again,” Keisha growled.

  Frank gave her a kiss with a hand on her back, then chuckled as Esmerelda winked his way. She’d do this every day if she could. Everyone moved fast, Shadow guiding them to keep a low profile, everyone communicating with hand signals, and Frank doing his best to keep up.

  Ninjas crept over the outer wall… waiting for the signal to attack. They’d ditched the flying suits and attachments. To look around at this group in black, only eyes showing in the night, Frank could barely believe he was one of them. He’d grown up watching Ninja Turtles and, while this was obviously quite different, he could already taste the pizza he could imagine them having after this mission was successful. He smiled at the thought, wondering if he was really more of the April character, his pirate ladies being the turtles.

  Dammit, laughing didn’t help his ninja ability of being one with the shadows, so he refocused his attention on the topic at hand. They reached a point where they could look through the glass and see the people within. It was dimly lit, with men and women in their Viking mafia getups. Fucking whack jobs.

  A waiter walked by and dropped her tray, glancing up as she did so before ducking down to take care of the mess. In that brief instant, Frank realized it was Temra. His suspicion that this was the sign was confirmed by Cody making a cut in the glass, Shadow nearby whispering for everyone to keep out of sight.

  They moved in through a side route that was out of the main area, Shadow dropping in to take out an axe man. Another guard came to see what the fuss was about, this one wearing a horned helmet that looked badass. He got a dart to the neck and fell, Eric there to catch him and pull him out of sight.

  Frank crept forward to the point where he could look into the other room and see Rick. He had to clear the fuzziness from his eyes when he saw a second Rick. He’d expected it, but seeing two versions of someone didn’t sit right with the brain.

  As his vision cleared, he focused on a spectacular sight to behold—Temra. He hadn’t noticed when he’d first seen her because he was distracted by all that was going on but, now he saw that she was wearing tight-fitting leather pants with a white top and that vest-like corset thing that pushed up one’s breasts. The one aspect of her uniform that set her apart from most was a bulky coat that hung open to give a view of cleavage, but in her case covered the shoulder where she wore her sort of steampunk cyborg upgrade. That’s how he liked to think about it, anyway.

  All the waitresses wore the main outfit, and he noticed one more wearing the coat—so figured it must’ve been part of the theme, with different roles denoted by what they wore. Overall, they were sexist as hell for Frank’s time, but he wasn’t complaining if Temra wasn’t. And anyway, they hoped to eventually merge the times or whatever fixing all this would do.

  She moved over to where they waited, pausing at the exact spot where he had a clean view of her massively exposed cleavage. He had to wonder if she’d done that on purpose.

  Dropping down beside her, he and the others snuck about, taking position.

  Frank had a spot where he could see the main room, see the back of one of the Ricks, and be ready to launch himself forward if there was trouble. Temra had moved with him, pretending to be going about her job in case she needed to be a distraction. She suddenly stiffened, and Frank saw why.

  Moving through the main room and with his face half-turned their way was the man they’d failed to assassinate the day before. Mr. Cyborg himself, out there for all in the room to see. Her hand went to her back, reaching for a concealed pistol, Frank realized. If she made a move now, she’d ruin everything they had worked for.

  He cursed and then bolted up, grabbed her, and pulled her back.

  “He was there!” She hissed, pushing Frank off. “The fucker who killed you. He was there and I could’ve had him!”

  “And jeopardized the mission,” Esmerelda pointed out, crouching nearby and watching with realization flooding her face. “Don’t do it.”

  “You’ll have your chance,” Frank said, hands on her shoulders, gripping her firmly with his face only a foot from hers. “I promise you that.”

  He had to ignore the look of annoyance Keisha was giving him.

  “He’s… right… there.” Temra’s eyes watered, but she closed them, nodded, and then pushed off, standing back where she was. She wasn’t about to be happy about it, but she wouldn’t make her move on the guy yet.

  “Give the girl what she wants,” Shadow said, stepping up behind Frank.

  “It’s time?”

  “Temra?” Shadow asked.

  She seemed taken aback, but then pulled out her monocle and checked, looking up at the ceiling. Frank wasn’t sure what was going on, so blinked on his awareness skill and got it—there were half a dozen people moving about what had to be the top of the Space Needle. If this was really the so-called hot spot, they seemed to be preparing something.

  “I’m seeing action,” Temra said, removing the monocle. “And one Rick from another world.”

  Frank waited for the brief nod, then turned back to Temra. “Do it.”

  Her eyes moved from him to his grandpa and back, then narrowed as she prepared herself. It struck Frank as incredibly odd, the idea of someone going after revenge in regard to the death of an alternate version of himself.

  She had turned, taking up her best waitress stance, and moved back into the room.

  “When she makes her move, so do we,” Shadow said.

  Esmerelda and Keisha looked giddy, eager to show these Vikings what they were capable of. Cody and Eric had moved off to some other hallway or shadow to be ready, while several more had taken out the weapons they’d brought, giving Frank and Shadow sideways glances.

  Halfway across the room, Temra turned, making her way to the outside of the room and toward the cyborg. She was less than three paces away when she lunged, revealing her metal-gloved hand and a turning mechanism within that sent a blade out, slicing through the air. The attack hit metal as the cyborg turned, arm up and blocking, two others at the table pouncing.

  They’d seen her coming, apparently, and were ready. Which meant they might have seen more coming than just her.

  So much for going undetected, Frank thought, drawing his katana and slicing across the neck of the next Viking who charged in. He kind of enjoyed this sword, although he was glad he’d brought a cutlass as well, since he’d have to switch over if the fighting got out of control.

  On that note, Esmerelda already had her cutlass out, and charged out into the other room with a roar.

  Count on the pirates to throw all ninja training out the window. Apparently, it wasn’t a huge deal, as the planted ones on Frank’s side were already slipping poison and shooting darts. Viking mafia fell left and right, while some noticed what was happening and moved in for the attack.

  Rick was there at a head table, standing and shouting out orders. His eyes moved to Frank and narrowed, then he pulled out a pistol. A shot rang out.

  It wasn’t
a normal pistol. The bullet that came from that gun exploded with blue energy and, when it hit the wall right where his head had been before ducking, created a burst of blackness that left a section of the wall behind him missing. He wasn’t just trying to kill Frank, but erase his existence, it seemed. Whatever the hell that gun did, Frank planned on staying clear.

  The cyborg was up too, joining in the attack with what Frank assumed was a plasma blast, followed by a rail gun that sparked to life at his side. Shit, Temra hadn’t been kidding about the elites of her world outgunning the others. It wasn’t just a wealth disparity there, but a technological one of major extremes.

  Shadow was ready though, coming in with several of those exploding balls of smoke that he used to disorient the cyborg. A series of flashbangs followed, and then the rest of the ninjas were following that up with a line of darts before charging in, swords flashing.

  Rick’s eyes met Frank’s and he cursed as he stood.

  Frank gripped his blade, ready for a battle to the death, but Rick took off, making for the doors behind him. Three of his guards were with him in an instant, plowing through any ninjas who got in their way.

  That left Frank confused until he saw an alternate Rick’s pistol rise, even processed the click, but then the sound of the shot and his shield flickering out told him he’d been hit, although it hadn’t been strong enough to destroy the shield and hit him. Another shot almost got him but hit the wall behind him as Keisha chopped into the shooter’s arm. Esmerelda ended the man, flowing with the attack and going straight for the next.

  Fighting continued in a whirlwind of chaos around Frank while he had his swords clashing, but his focus was on the doors. When the cyborg vanished through them, with Temra close behind, he shouted for the others and fell back as ninjas moved to intercept would-be attackers. Temra cursed, moving back to him as well.

  “They’re going for the portal,” Frank said, using his awareness to see the red spots that represented their enemies moving up.

  “And it’s closing!” Temra noted, monocle in place.