The Chief folded his arms and gave a sideways look to Darknight."So what's this amazing plan you have Darknight?"
"Well Chief, a few years ago I ran into a time traveller called Abdel Al Gosaibi, who was going to kidnap Elvis Presley when he came to London."
"You never told me you met a time traveller." Firefly said.
"I never told you I once bought a drink for Marilyn Monroe, kid." I told him with a smirk, "but it's all beside the point."
I put a friendly hand on the Chief's shoulder. "Here's the plan Chief. The time traveller I caught had all sorts of complex stuff. In exchange for him to leave so he could go back to the future he gave me a zero point hand grenade. So, the first part of the plan is I need us all to meet at Gunnersbury Park in 1 hour from there I'll tell you the rest of my plan."
Me and the kid raced back to my house as fast as we could to get the grenade.
"Do you think we can win? The fight I mean." Firefly asked. For the first time I could see he looked nervous. "They seem so different. So strong."
"Do you know what the secret is to life is kid?" I said as I overtook a police car.
"No." He whispered shyly. "I'm only 14."
"Neither do I. That's the secret kid, fact is no one knows. Which means, they don't really know that they're going to win, like we don't know that we're going to win. But...."
I quickly zigged zagged between a horse and a milk van. "It's all just a matter of will. And if we have the greater will then we will win. That's it. That's all it comes down to, have we got the will to win."
He gave a nod of understanding.
"No kid, I said have we got the will to win?"
"Yes." He said.
"Louder." I said.
"Yes." He shouted.
"Louder." I now shouted.
"Yes!" He screamed.
"Now you know the secret to life kid."
We pulled up to the house, the warehouse next door looked more like Dr Frankenstein's lab. We entered in quickly. The kid looked like he was ready to fight the world.
"So, what is it? This grenade from the future." Said the kid as he watched me look through endless boxes. "A bloody lost one if I'm not careful. I hope that time traveller didn't sneak back and nick it from me."
Right at the back of some shelves I saw a box marked: ?. I looked inside and sure enough it was there.
"Ok. When it explodes, all time within that blast gets thrown around like a roulette ball. So, one moment it's in say 1983 then it gets tossed back to the year 1230 then up to 1891." I took the grenade out it was the size of a melon and coloured silver with a small button on top. "So, you really don't want to be in that blast when it happens."
I put the grenade carefully into a shoulder bag. "Come on, if we are to die tonight kid let's do it at least on a full stomach." I cooked him his favourite meal. Bacon sandwiches and sweet tea.
We arrived at the park with 10 minutes to spare.
The general came marching up to me and the kid. "I have 500 men hidden around Darknight. What's the plan full assault or rear guard action?"
"Sorry General, should have said more to you. But I'm afraid you're going to have to pull your men out of here. I need you to set up a perimeter zone around the park. I want the Unknowns to feel safe when they come for me."
The general looked aghast then slowly he got out his radio and told his troops to fall back.
From behind we heard a car come screeching to a halt. It was the Chief.
"Right Chief I want you to have all radio stations to broadcast that the Darknight is ready to launch his new secret weapon to defeat the Unknowns right here at Gunnersbury Park."
"What? That's insane you'll be..."
"That's right Chief, I'll be alone here." I looked at the kid. "Go to perimeter kid."
The kid looked angry. Like I had strung him along. But I didn't know what else to do. There was no way he was going to come with me.
At the time I thought I would never be coming back. That I would forever be lost in time.
"Kid, you got your whole life in front of you. Will you at least do me the honour of giving you the chance to live that life?"
The Chief led him away. He looked over his shoulder once at me. I waved but he didn't wave back.
I figured by the time the Chief put the call out till the Unknowns got here I had about 15 minutes. I also figured the nearby graveyard would help. I'd read the catacombs had been used for smuggling 200 years before.
In some way I felt like this was my last mission.
At least I would go out with a bang I thought.