Time Spent

by J. David Clarke

  "Good boy, Max," Becca said. "Care to explain this?"

  "Merely a tool to ensure that I was able to find you, should the need arise. The Lost care for our own. I recognized your resemblance to us upon our first encounter. I arranged to be able to come to your aid, should you require my assistance."

  "So, this is all for our benefit then," said Brandon.

  "Of course. Why else?"

  Brandon folded his arms on his chest. "Gee, I dunno, what else are chains and collars used for? Let me think."

  "Chains and collars?" Gwendolyn smirked. "That can only be your mind's way of making sense of something beyond its understanding. Should you ever desire to experiment with collars and chains, however," she put a hand on his chin, which Brandon immediately pulled away, "I'm your girl."

  Max barked. The chains flared.

  "Max seems to think the image is pretty accurate," Becca said.

  "He's a clever fellow, your Howling Ghost." She walked back over to Max and knelt before him, her smile vanished. "Clever, clever. Very well, Maximillian. I will break your chains, if you so desire."

  She raised her hands and the collars and chains dissolved away.

  "You see, little Ghost? I want nothing more than to be friends."

  ______________________

  When the doorbell rang, Max lifted his head.

  "Someone at the door, huh Max?" Paul Zebinsky set aside the Braille book he had been reading with his fingertips and stood.

  He knew the layout of his own home perfectly, so he had no need to let Max out his kennel to assist. Max settled his head on his front paws and waited. Paul opened the door.

  "Can I help you?"

  "Mr. Zebinsky?" It was a woman's voice. Max couldn't see her from his position.

  "Yes?"

  A hand reached forward from beyond the door to touch Paul on the chest. Max stood, a bit alarmed.

  "What are you doing?" Paul stepped back, unsure why she had touched him. "Who are you?"

  "Please give Maximillian my regards."

  "What? Max?"

  As she walked away, the sound of her steps drifted through the door.

  "Hello?" Paul waited a moment, then closed the door. "That was...so...."

  He took a few steps, then fell to his knees, clutching his chest.

  Max began to bark.

  Paul fell on his face, just outside Max's cage, a thin fluid draining from between his lips to pool around his jaw.

  Max kept barking, then began to whine, and eventually his keening stretched out into long, mournful howls.

  ______________________

  The other Kevin tumbled through the void, unmoored from reality, unable to stop his fall. He would fall for millions of years, just as she had, Gwendolyn knew. Unlike her, however, his form did not dissolve. Rather, he rejected the energies of the void. Gwendolyn considered. If he was indeed like his twin, he too would gain the power to open and close rifts, to move between realities. Given time, they might both become masters of time and space like the Tyrant himself.

  She had no intention of giving him that time.

  She needed another tool, a way of turning him against her enemy the insect, to destroy him for her and bring her plan to fruition. This Kevin already possessed the powers she needed, the same power as his doppelganger. She merely needed a way to enslave him to her will.

  She peered back through the cracks in time, searching through Kevin's life. Searching...and eventually, gleefully, finding what she needed.

  ______________________

  The other Kevin had fallen through the void for so long he had lost all bearing on how much time he passed. I want to go home, I want to go home.

  A strange sensation passed over him just then. It was as if, at the thought of home, something reached out, pulling him in a certain direction.

  Kevin seized upon it. HOME!

  The void cracked open and Kevin fell through the hole, tumbling to the ground. He felt carpet under his hands. He looked up. He was in his living room! He looked around. Everything looked normal, just as he'd left it, except....

  The photographs. He picked one up, examining it. His parents, Brian and Glenda Lloyd, were in the photo, one arm around each other, and the other around...a girl. In front of them, where Kevin should be, a young girl sat, smiling and happy.

  A voice came from behind him. "So not only did you break into someone else's house..."

  Kevin spun about. A man and woman stood there, where no one had been before. The man had dark brown hair, the woman lustrous red. They both appeared to be dressed for a night out at the club.

  The man continued, "...but you left the door wide open."

  The woman laughed, her breasts bulging from the top of her red leather outfit. "It's an understandable error. This is home, it's just not...your home."

  "Who are you?" Kevin asked.

  "We're the ones who are about to ruin your entire fucking day," the man said.

  The woman kissed his ear. "Go get 'im, boy."

  His body shifted, his flesh melting away to become a swirling cloud. The cloud surged across the room before Kevin could even react, pouring itself into his eyes. Kevin clapped his hands over his face, but it was too late. He could feel it inside him, running up and down his body, his nerves.

  When it was over, Kevin could still think, still see and feel, but it was if his limbs were not his own.

  "This is awesome!" Ryan said through Kevin's mouth.

  Gwendolyn smiled. "I told you, baby." She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him. "It was the fortune teller who figured it out. His power stops anything except that taken in by his senses. We'll have to reward him for that."

  "The fortune teller?"

  "Someone you'll need to retrieve soon. First, we deal with the insect. Then, we collect the savage."

  "I don't know who all these people are."

  She giggled. "Don't worry. I'll show you everything you need to know. Just wait until you get to see all the fun you're going to have."

  "I can hardly wait," he said, kissing her again.

  "You won't have to." She ran a hand over Kevin's smooth head. "The end is closer than you think."

  Clasping her hands to the sides of his head, Gwendolyn poured all the knowledge Ryan would need about Kevin and his friends into his mind.

  ______________________

  Simon stood atop the tallest of the wooden towers, and looked down on his city, his home. He breathed deep, enjoying the scents of the jungle. No exhaust fumes, no factory smells, just pure, rich rainforest air.

  "Smells like monkey shit here."

  Simon looked up to find Kevin beside him. "What are you doing back here?" It wasn't too long ago that Kevin had brought him here, after they had taken the other super-powered kids back to their own reality.

  "I need your help, Simon."

  Simon's shoulders slumped. "Oh, God...what now? I thought we were done with all that."

  "I thought so, too. But it turns out I was wrong. Splitting us all up didn't stop it. We have to get back together again."

  Simon looked out over the jungle. "I'm happy here...really happy. I don't want to leave this place."

  "If we don't get back together, there won't be a place to be happy in. I'm sorry, but we have to stop it."

  Simon sighed, then looked up at him. "Okay, what do I have to do?"

  Ryan placed Kevin's hand on his shoulder. "Just come with me."

  They appeared in an alley, stinking with garbage. Simon covered the hole of his nose. "Ugh. Where are we?"

  "Stay here. Becca's next. She's just around the corner."

  He walked down the street and opened the door to the salon where he knew Becca waited, stopping just inside the door as the little chime sounded. The door swung slowly closed as he stepped forward and looked around.

  "Hello," the salon manager, a slim Asian woman in her mid-forties, greeted him, "can I help you, sir?"

  "No, thanks," Ryan said. "I'm looking for...." He spotted B
ecca at the back of the salon. Oh I am so gonna enjoy destroying this bitch. He pushed past the manager and walked toward her quickly.

  "Shit," Becca said, recognizing Kevin's face. "What the fuck is he doing here?" She paused as if hearing something in her ear. "No, wait!" She jumped to her feet.

  Agents burst in the front and back doors, turned around from where they had been sitting at nail stations, hair stations, stood from the waiting area. All drew their weapons and surrounded Ryan/Kevin.

  Ryan calmly raised Kevin's hands. Play it cool. It's just me, your old pal. "Hello, Becca," he said. "Long time no see."

  She reached across him and yanked the hood back, revealing Kevin's bald head, brown skin, clean-shaven face and penetrating brown eyes.

  "Not long enough," she said.

  Ryan put Kevin's hands down. The agents tensed, but held their fire.

  How the fuck does Slut Barbie rate FBI protection? "These men," Ryan said, "Are you using your powers on them?"

  Becca grinned. "They're with me!" She took out her badge and showed it to him. Ryan nodded.

  One of the agents, who had come in the back door to the salon, approached Becca from her right. "Powers? What's going on, Miller? Who is this and what is he talking about?"

  Ryan was silent, waiting for her to answer.

  "Someone I really hoped I'd never have to look at again," she said, putting her badge away.

  "I didn't think you would," Ryan said. "But it's important. You remember the last time I saw you?"

  Becca rolled her eyes. "You're kidding, right? Um, yeah. You don't forget the end of the world."

  "It's worse. Everything's worse."

  "End of the what?" the agent asked.

  "The world," Ryan said. "And it's closer than you think."

  Becca reached into her purse. "Sorry, I'm gonna need a cig if I have to deal with this."

  "You smoke now?" Ryan asked.

  She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? That's the part of all this that bothers you?"

  Ryan sighed, glancing around at the armed agents who surrounded them. "Do you think you could get them to lower their guns?" he asked.

  "Cigarette first," Becca said, holding it between her lips and raising her lighter to it.

  "There's kind of a time factor here," he said.

  "Isn't there always?" she asked in a nasal voice as she held back, then released a billow of smoke. She nodded to one of the men. They lowered their guns, but stared warily at Kevin.

  "Okay, now why the fuck are you here? After what happened you said it was dangerous for us to be together."

  "It is," he said. "But I didn't have a choice. I need your help."

  Becca rolled her eyes. "What else is new?"

  Now it was time for his little act. Gwendolyn had devised it, and showed him how to play up to their fears. "I can feel you in there, you know," Kevin said, "scrabbling around in my head. You know that doesn't work. Nothing works on me."

  Becca gave him an odd look. "You what? I'm not doing anything."

  Kevin's eyes widened. "Oh no."

  "What oh no? Oh no what?"

  Ryan raised Kevin's hand to his throat, and made a choking sound. He looked around the salon, at Becca, the agents who surrounded them, then behind them through the plate glass window.

  "What the fuck?" Becca asked.

  Ryan turned back to her, a terrified look on his face. "She's here."

  "She?"

  He made Kevin convulse, a terrible dry heave emerging from his mouth. He heaved again, and again, and then collapsed backward.

  "Jesus!" Becca said, her cigarette slipping from her mouth.

  Two of the agents stepped forward, kneeling over Kevin as his body continued to convulse on the floor. Ryan opened Kevin's mouth wide, and activated his power, opening up a portal to the world Gwendolyn had picked out. It was a tiny portal, just inside his mouth. First one, then another tiny form emerged:

  Bees.

  One of the nail technicians screamed.

  More and more poured forth, emerging in a dark funnel. The sound of their buzzing began to fill the salon, and men and women swatted at them, backing away from Kevin. Some ran out the front, some out the back. Some cowered in fear at their hair and nail stations.

  Becca backed up as the bees spread out. Soon they filled the room, they were getting in her nose and ears. She moved back into a small room with chairs whose backs leaned into wall-mounted sinks. There was a door with a glass window separating the two rooms.

  "Miller," the agent who had spoken before, Michaels, called. She looked back to see he was swarmed with bees, they were clogging his mouth and covering his eyes. Becca reached out to grab his hand but he fell to his knees, then flopped onto his face. His back was a writhing, buzzing mountain.

  She slammed the door. The last of the agents ran from the salon, swatting at the massive swarm that clogged the air.

  The front door banged open, and Simon's massive gorilla like body lumbered in. An invisible force parted the bees, and he made his way to Kevin's body.

  "Kevin? Are you all right?" Simon opened Kevin's eyes, but Ryan rolled them up into the back of his head, making it appear Kevin was unconscious. "I heard screams. What happened? Where did these bees come from?" When Kevin didn't respond, Simon released his eyelids.

  Becca appeared from beside him. Simon jumped. For a moment, it appeared there was a German shepherd beside her, but it faded away.

  "Becca?"

  "You too, huh?" She took a puff off her cigarette. "It's like a beautiful dream, except for the part where dear god this sucks out loud."

  "How did you do that?"

  "Oh. You don't know my dog. Max, Simon. You two can compare flea and tick tips."

  Simon felt his body change, as if it were shifting out of synch with everything around it. His color faded away, and he, Becca and Kevin all became like ghosts. Max was now visible to him, a ghostly German shepherd, standing next to Becca.

  Simon looked down at his hands. "This is weird."

  "Said the gorilla to the dog while he psychically held back a swarm of bees." She took another puff. "Huh. At least I can still smoke like this. That's a bonus."

  "We have to find the others," Simon said. "Kevin said we're all in danger."

  "If we have to, I guess. Lucky for us finding people is Max's specialty," Becca said, looking down at the dog fondly. "Isn't it, boy?"

  Max stuck his tongue out and panted.

  "Yes it is. He found me when I needed a friend. Good boy." She looked at Simon. "Tell anyone I said that and I'll make you climb the Empire State Building and have planes shoot you down."

  With Max guiding them, it didn't take long. They found Tyler in a dingy L.A. apartment. Brandon had opened his own comic shop, no surprise there, except for one: he was keeping Heather as a statue there. Simon seemed none too pleased about that. They had to break Mia out of prison. Ryan wished he could have participated in that one, but he had to remain "comatose". Finally, they made their way onto the military base where Zachary waited. All the while, Ryan waited for the right time to make his move. It came when he went to retrieve Carl. He first went to where the others from the second bus waited, and gave them the signal to move in, then he went to the barren world where Carl had been left to die and brought him back to complete the group. As simple as that, the trap was sprung.

  ______________________

  Above them the rift had widened so far that it swallowed the clouds, making the rain stop, the wind die. Red lights had begun to appear, dotting the blackness of the void.

  Gwendolyn looked around at them all.

  "Time's up, children."

  At that moment, Carl fell to his knees, clutching the sides of his head. "Ahhh..."

  Brandon and Becca both rushed to his side.

  "What's wrong with him?" Brandon shouted at Gwendolyn.

  Gwendolyn's lip curled. "I believe our Fortune Teller is trying to glean all he can from my past, and failing quite spectacularly."


  "Ahhh....AHHH..." Veins stood out in Carl's forehead and he forced his eyes to stay open, focused on Gwendolyn.

  Gwendolyn kneeled before Carl. "Is the incalculable eternity of my existence proving too much for your tiny mind? How unfortunate." She stood. "I'm disappointed. I thought you would be the first to choose my brave new world, but instead you waste your life trying to defeat me."

  "AHH!" Carl rolled backward, unable to look any longer. His eyes remained open, staring at but not seeing the widening rift overhead.

  "I offer the rest of you a choice." Gwendolyn looked around at all of them. "The Lost will arrive, the barrier of time will fall. All reality will be undone. This world must necessarily cease to exist. But we can remake it in any image we desire. You may all take your places among the Lost. We will make this world to your desire."

  She paused for a moment to let this sink into their minds.

  "Surely each of you has some mistake you would choose undone, a loss you'd see restored. A woman by your side, a father figure returned, a familial rift repaired. All can be set right in our new world. All can be as you desire. All can be yours. You have but to allow me to finish my work, and this can be done. What say you?"

  ______________________

  "IDIOT SYNCRATIC"

  Blah blah bullshit bullshit super-villain bullshit.

  ______________________

  "I get it." Brandon looked around at others. "She's the tempter villain, or temptress, whatever. She shows up, makes some offer to give the hero his fondest wish if he just joins her. But it's all smoke and mirrors, it's all bullshit. We take your offer and we find ourselves stabbed in the back for our trouble. No thanks, Darth, we won't be ruling the Empire with you today."

  Gwendolyn's eyes flared. "Isn't there someone you'd give anything to see again, Hero? A girl, perhaps?"

  Brandon's brow furrowed, but then he nodded. "You're pretty crafty, I'll give you that. You know about Beth, you know everything about us."