by Wesley Brown
“Who’s there?” Booth asked, pulling his pistol. Blink stood up quickly with both hands raised. “What did you hear?”
“Don’t worry, I’m on your side.” Blink said.
“Prove it,” Booth demanded.
“You don’t want to shoot me; everyone will hear it. You’ll lose the element of surprise.”
“I can take my chances.”
“Surratt wanted me to follow you,” Blink said.
“She has so little faith?” Booth asked.
“Was she wrong?” Blink asked. “Weren’t you just talking about being too afraid to do this? I mean, really, you can’t do this one thing. One thing just for the South.”
“I’m going to do it,” Booth said. “I’m simply wondering if this is the right time and place.”
“Of course this is the right time and place. There will never be a better time than tonight,” Blink said. He looked up and saw himself with Reaper at the end of the alley. “I need to go.”
“So do I.” Booth waited down the hall from the president’s balcony. He paced and rubbed his hands together. “I can’t do this.” Booth turned to leave and bumped into Reaper. “Who are you?” Reaper tossed his top hat off.
“Don’t take this personally,” Reaper said, and broke Booth’s neck. Blink appeared behind Booth and caught his body. “Take care of it.”
“You killed him—why?” Blink asked.
“He wouldn’t do it, and this is the mission,” Reaper said. He moved past Blink. As he passed one light, he changed into the form of John Wilkes Booth. He walked down the hall. He turned left and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head. He leaped from the balcony and exclaimed victory for the South. He fled and found Blink holding the reins for a horse.
“You know the house?” Blink asked. Reaper climbed onto the horse.
“I do,” Reaper said, and kicked the horse’s flank. Reaper later met up with David Herold, an associate.
“I’ll meet you f!” Blink called. He then teleported to the future on the date April 26, 1865 at the Garrett Farm in Virginia. “Hey, Reaper, take this.” He tossed Booth’s body on the ground. David, rightfully so, began to panic.
“What’s that? Who are you? What’s going on?” David exclaimed as soldiers closed in.
“Reaper, get outta here—I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” Blink said and disappeared. He reappeared in the hotel room back in D.C. “Hey, Reaper.” Reaper was lying on the bed, his scythe leaning on the dresser.
“Hey, Blink.”
“You okay, man?” Blink asked.
“Grand.”
“That was pretty wild, right?” Blink asked awkwardly.
“I just killed the president,” Reaper said. “Booth was going to let him live, but now history will remember that John Wilkes Booth shot and killed the president of the United States of America.”
“So you’re not doing that good,” Blink said.
“No, I suppose not,” Reaper said. “What’s next?”
“Rest up, man.”
“That was all you needed me to do to fix the future?” Reaper asked.
“I think that’s all we really needed.” Blink sat in a chair. “It’s over.” He took a deep breath.
“I suppose you’ll be going to see if your dog is alive,” Reaper said.
“Right. I’ll be right back.”
Blink teleported back to his own time. Back in the stream, he saw that the crack was still there. He frowned as he thought. He moved to the crack and found the source. From there, he saw a timeline where Specter and Jack the Ripper were fighting Reaper in an alley. In this fight, Death overturned Reaper’s mind and took control of the body. Death then killed Jack the Ripper and allied with Specter. Over a hundred years later, the two of them turned on each other. Specter killed Death and gave the scythe to an ambitious superhuman just south of thirty named Glass—a man with a transparent blue body. This new Reaper absorbed Specter and Inferno, adding their abilities to his own. In this line, Blink’s bloodline existed, but it ended with his and his mother’s deaths. On the two hundred and fifty-first day of her pregnancy, she fell. Blink dropped to his knees and cried as he saw his mother die. He returned to the hotel room only seconds after he left.
“Reaper, it didn’t work,” Blink said. “We need to try again.”
“Where do we go?” Reaper asked, still lying on the bed, watching the ceiling with intensity.
“White Chapel district, east London,” Blink said. Reaper looked up at Blink.
“We’re going back to London?”
“We need to; Specter is gonna be there. Maybe we can finish all of this.” Blink paused. “Though, it’ll be some time.”
“How long?” Reaper asked.
“August 1888?” Blink said.
“What, are you asking me?”
“No. Well, kinda,” Blink said. “It’s difficult to say.”
“Why?” Reaper asked.
“If it’s hard to say, don’t you think it would be hard to say why it’s hard to say?”
Reaper frowned with disapproval.
“Why, then? Is it possible that we could fix the incident by stopping it from ever having happened?”
“I can tell you where he’ll be. I won’t know exactly before then.”
“Can you not follow him?” Reaper asked.
“Through time?” Blink asked. “Yeah, you know what, I bet I can.” He thought for a moment. “Yeah, tell you what—go to London. I’ll meet you in Whitechapel in 1888 with a plan.”
“Why not tell me the plan now, and—” Blink disappeared.
Blink appeared in November of the year 1888. At this point, Jack the Ripper had murdered and mutilated many women. This was not the first stop Blink had made. He checked out the crime scenes and sought out the man behind the murders. Dr. Vasili Stephan—that was Jack’s true name. Four and a half months earlier, Specter had found the Russian doctor. Specter had made Vasili’s telekinesis more powerful. His goal was to prepare him to be the new Reaper. In his travels, Blink had learned that Jack the Ripper was Reaper’s neighbor. As Blink had given Reaper no instructions, Reaper had become a police officer. The two of them were living in the same apartment building. Reaper had caught wind of the murders sweeping Whitechapel, and believed that he could stop these and save countless women. When Blink had everything he needed and was certain, he found Reaper.
Officer Louis Smith was the name that Reaper was going by at this time. It was a Saturday when Blink knocked on Reaper’s door. Reaper sat in a wood chair, watching out a window like a silent guardian. The knock fell on Reaper’s door, and he moved to the door. He barely had the door open a crack before Blink pushed his way in.
“Blink?” Reaper asked, surprised.
“Yeah, dude, who else would it be?” Blink asked sarcastically.
“Where have you been?” Reaper asked as he shut the door. “You gave me a whole year. I started to wonder if you would even show yourself.”
“I found him,” Blink said.
“You do understand that you never told me who you were looking for,” Reaper said.
“Jack the Ripper,” Blink said. “I’ve been looking for him. I tracked him through time, and now I know where he is.”
“He’s the man you were seeking?” Reaper asked.
“Yeah, as far as I know, he’s the last big piece to resetting the timeline,” Blink said.
“I’ve been searching for him,” Reaper said. “Everyone has—people are living in fear out there. Tell me who he is, and I’ll arrest him.”
“He’s in this building, but I won’t let you arrest him,” Blink said. “I wanna put him in the ground.”
“For the sake of your precious mission,” Reaper said.
“For the sake of my own pleasure.”
Reaper frowned and took a step back. “You want a man dead because it will make you feel better?”
“I want him to pay,” Blink said. “The price is blood.”
“I cannot let
you take a man’s life, especially not after hearing that. Let me arrest him,” Reaper said. “I promise, he will rot in a cell.”
“No prison of this day can hold someone like him.”
“I don’t understand,” Reaper said.
“He’s like us,” Blink said. “He’s got powers.”
“Fine, I’ll kill him,” Reaper said with a sudden shift in tone.
“You don’t want to.”
“Have you seen what he has done? The world would be better without him,” Reaper said. “For the mission.”
“For the mission,” Blink said softly.
“Where is he? Who is he?” Reaper asked.
“His name is Dr. Vasili Stephan. He lives—” Blink said, but Reaper had walked away into his bedroom. “Officer Reaper?” Reaper then stepped back out a minute later with his cane, black coat, and a black top hat on. “Reaper, where are you going?”
“I know that man,” Reaper said, and left the flat. Blink teleported to the hall and walked behind Reaper. “He lives one floor down.” Reaper pushed open the door to the stairs and quickly descended.
“Reaper, maybe we should talk about this man,” Blink said. “I didn’t tell you what he can do.”
“I’m about to find out,” Reaper said. Reaper stopped at room three hundred and thirty-four.
“Reaper, look out!” he shouted just as the wall exploded. Blink slowed time to grab Reaper out of the blast. The two of them coughed as the dust settled. Reaper stood to his feet and formed the cane back into its original scythe form.
“Blink, leave, you aren’t a fighter yet,” Reaper said.
“Reaper, is that you?” Specter’s voice called from the flat.
“Leave now, he’s mine,” Reaper said and ran into the room. He dashed in straight for Specter. Before he could even touch Specter, he was pulled to his left.
“This must be the man you told me about,” Ripper said to Specter.
“Yes, this is the Reaper,” Specter said.
“I’m not impressed,” Ripper said.
“Of course not—I can fight you. You would rather have defenseless women to prey on,” Reaper said.
“Don’t be foolish; you are no match for me.”
“Maybe not on his own!” Blink called from the gaping hole in the wall.
Strapped to his back was the same sword that the elder version had at the start of this tale. He wore his orange eyepiece and a black jacket over a gray turtleneck. In his right hand he had a grenade launcher, and on his belt he had eight extra grenades. He shot off his first grenade at Ripper. The Ripper dropped Reaper and blocked the grenade, but the force threw him out the window. Ripper caught himself and landed gently on a nearby rooftop.
“Go, Reaper, I can handle myself,” Blink said. Reaper ran and leaped over to the rooftop where Ripper was standing.
“I’m far more powerful than you are, boy,” Specter said.
“That’s Blink,” Blink said, and fired a second grenade. Specter caught the blast in an orange cloud and threw the blast at Blink, who teleported behind Specter. He grabbed Specter and teleported them high above the buildings. Blink kicked Specter down and fired another grenade, sending Specter flying down toward the streets.
Reaper swung the scythe up from the right at the Ripper. Ripper blocked the strike, the tip of the scythe freezing about an inch from Ripper’s left hand. With his right hand, Ripper thrust Reaper down on his face. He tossed the scythe across the roof. Reaper stood and began throwing punches at Ripper. Each punch was deflected. Reaper’s hands shattered against a telekinetic wall. Over and over he punched, leaving disgusting bloodied nubs.
The thundering sound of a grenade went off in the sky. Blink watched Specter plummet from the roof of the apartment building. Blink had a satisfied smile, thinking about the pain Specter would be in. But Specter was far more durable than Blink had thought. Specter slammed into the side of the building that Reaper was on. He slid along the wall, his claws ripping the wall apart. His eyes beamed with hate as he launched himself up toward Blink. Just then Reaper breathed fire at Ripper, who formed a shield around himself. This gave Reaper a chance to break off and attack his true prize, Specter.
Reaper tackled Specter into the opposite buildings. The two of them crashed through a woman’s flat and into the hallway. Reaper took Specter and began bashing him against the walls. Ripper levitated himself across the way into the flat. He stopped at the woman screaming. He lifted her onto the table. She struggled to get free, but there was no slack. Ripper’s lust for his craft called him. Blink teleported down into the flat behind Ripper. He then put the psychopath in a chokehold, but Ripper pushed off, beating Blink against the far wall. Blink dropped his grip and Ripper threw him from the nearest window. Blink teleported back inside and kicked Ripper over. The woman was free and ran into her bedroom, crying out hysterically. Ripper lifted his hands, as if to praise, and created a field around Blink. The field began to shrink, Blink could feel the pressure building up. He tried to teleport away, but his focus was nonexistent.
“He’s just using you,” Blink said. “Specter will betray you.”
“Specter increased my powers, and he promises more power when I kill Reaper,” Ripper said.
“It’s all lies. Reaper broke free of those lies,” Blink said. Ripper squeezed harder. “Help us stop Specter, and I’ll instruct Reaper not to kill you.”
“I’ve already fought Reaper; he can’t touch me,” Ripper said.
“Fine, I’m wrong, then kill me.”
“What?” Ripper was confused.
“If I’m wrong, then kill me. I have nothing to offer you,” Blink said. “You’ve killed before; it’ll be easy.” Ripper set Blink down and left into the hall. There, Specter had Reaper’s fists crushed in his massive palms. Reaper was down on his knees with Specter towering over him.
“This is your chance, doctor,” Specter said. “We kill him, and you become the next in line.” Ripper pointed at Reaper, and a hole shot straight through his chest. Reaper gasped as blood ran from the holes.
“You’re so weak,” Specter said to Reaper. “It’s that child—he holds you back from your true power. Show me Death.”
“Specter!” Blink shouted. Specter looked over his shoulder to see Blink firing off another grenade. It struck Specter and sent him spiraling down the hall, but he was still holding Reaper. Specter dropped Reaper just before he collided with the wall at the end of the hallway. Ripper reached for Blink, who disappeared too quickly. Blink appeared outside the broken window Specter was standing at. Blink reached in and pulled Specter out.
“Blink, wait!” Reaper called. Ripper stopper Reaper, then propelled himself at Reaper. The two of them shot like a bullet from a gun downward. They crashed out one building and into the other. Inside the second building, Reaper kicked Ripper off with both feet. Ripper steadied himself in the air until Reaper jumped from the building onto him.
Below, Specter was becoming ever more frustrated with Blink. Specter swung at Blink, who teleported here and there so quickly that Specter became confused, even dizzy. The floating ash that made up Specter’s head flickered with embers. A steady stream of fire blasted out from under Specter’s hood. Blink teleported away and took a deep breath. This was more than he had planned for. He went to reload his grenade launcher, but could not find it. He had dropped it, and Specter melted it. Specter laughed and called out for Blink. Down in the alley, Blink reappeared behind Specter with a wooden chair. Blink allowed himself one good swing at Specter’s head. The chair practically exploded. Specter turned and picked Blink up by his throat.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side for long enough,” Specter stated.
“I’ve seen your future, Specter,” Blink said.
“What’s your game?” Specter asked. “You wish to sway me?”
“Right now, my gain is yours,” Blink said. “If Death were to take over Reaper today, it would end badly for you, just like the rest of us.” Specter threw Blink deeper
into the alley. Blink drew his sword.
“That blade—I know it,” Specter said.
“Yeah? Well you’re about to know it a lot better.” Blink rushed at Specter.
Blink swung at Specter, who barely tried to dodge. Specter was struggling to take Blink seriously at this point. The Fates were with Blink, though. He landed a blow, slicing across Specter’s gut. Specter was stunned.
“How?” Specter asked.
“Magic sword,” Blink said with a smile. He lifted the sword up to Specter’s face.
“What are you doing?” Specter scoffed and took the blade. He pulled the sword from Blink and turned it to ash.
“You’ve proven your worth to me,” Specter said. “I will not aid you in killing the doctor, but I will not stop you either.”
Blink disappeared to the rooftop, where Reaper was fighting Ripper—a fight that was ultimately going nowhere. Blink appeared, and Ripper found himself fighting on two fronts. It was becoming more taxing on his mind. At best, he could keep them at bay. His focus was fading, doubt filling his mind. Suddenly, he was afraid he might lose to them. Then he became angry. Blink had not given up. He was not accepting of his fate, as he’d appeared to be earlier. Blink teleported over to the scythe and ran back to the fight.
“Reaper!” Blink called and threw him the scythe. Reaper caught the scythe and continued to attack. Blink resumed his position. Ripper struck Reaper in the diaphragm, and Reaper stepped back. He gasped and coughed. Blink teleported to Reaper and saw the silver eyes. Blink took the scythe and ripped it away from Reaper. He closed his eyes tight, and when he opened them, everything was still. Reaper’s hand was reaching out for Blink, but not in a way that made it look like he wanted the scythe back. Reaper looked like he was trying to stop Blink.
Without a second or even a first thought, Blink let the blade of the scythe sink deep into Ripper’s back.
Time resumed, and Ripper fell to his knees. Reaper retrieved his breath and stood. Blink pulled the scythe from Ripper’s corpse and held it out toward Reaper.