NEW YORK CITY | 1937
Central Park
The night is nearing midnight. Central Park was a place Egor and Susie frequented all too often. Evening strolls, morning walks after breakfast, and picnic's near the waterfall. It's also a place, unbeknownst to Susie yet, where Egor is planning to propose.
Tensions between nazi Germany and England are continuing to escalate. Rumor is that another great World War is imminent between the two countries.
As the days pass, new headlines are making front page news in the papers. President Roosevelt remains steadfast on keeping America neutral and reassures Americans that if war does break out, America will play no part in such conflicts.
Little did the world know back in 1936, that when Germany was hosting the Olympic Summer Games, Jews were still being transported to work camps. Right under everyone's noses, Hitler was committing a crime against humanity. Such hatred, ruthless, and merciless the Chancellor he still is.
As Egor and Susie were on a late night stroll through the park, Susie was wearing Egor's brown leather jacket. The night was quiet but brisk. Being the caring, warm-hearted man he is, he threw his coat around her to warm her up, albeit slightly. Wearing her night attire, a long white nightgown, she wasn't expecting to be outside at such a late hour of the night.
"Darling?" Susie said as she glanced to her left at him.
She had her arm wrapped under and around his arm. As the wind blew east, she would shiver and her teeth would chatter.
"Yes, my dear?" Egor asked as he glanced over at her.
"You're acting strange. What's gotten into you?"
"What do you mean?"
She looked down and straight ahead to avoid direct eye contact with him. She was hesitant at first, but worked up the courage to ask and exhaled.
"There's something I've been wanting to show you. It's just up here," he answered as he pointed in the direction they were walking in.
"You dragged me out of my apartment to bring me here…and for what?"
"Someone's obviously tired," Egor chuckled.
The closer they got to the crashed meteor, it began glowing bright. That's when Susie's attitude gradually shifted from put off to curious.
"Remember that time at Goldie's when I showed you my idea for the ring?"
She was confused at first because she didn't remember that time. It's been four years since then, and Goldie's Diner closed after she moved to Tampa.
"The ring part I remember now," Susie told him as she looked up at him.
"Well that's why we're here. That's why I brought you here. I've finally found a source."
"A source of what?" Susie asked.
"The source of the ring's power," Egor responded.
The meteor continued glowing. When they walked up to it, Egor set his hand down on it.
"I've already taken what I need to finish the prototype. This is what the world needs. Moreover, it's going to change the world."
"It's strange, and mysteriously beautiful," Susie said as she hesitantly set her hand down on it.
For the most part, the meteor consisted of crystallized emerald and melted rock. Near the bottom, it was yellow like amber. Only the green parts were glowing. The yellow parts never glowed or lit up.
"Where did this come from? It's otherworldly mysterious," asked Susie.
"Now you see why I brought you out here. I wanted you to see it for yourself. By this time tomorrow, this will all be swarming with people, officers, and curious bystanders."
"It's all making since now. You wanted a second pair of eyes and you didn't want me to not believe you if I hadn't come."
"Exactly. This is something very powerful and could even be dangerous if put in the wrong hands."
"Like Julia?" Susie asked.
Egor viciously turned his head, squinting his eyes at her.
"We don't speak of her anymore. What she did was unforgivable. That's something I will never forget."
From a distance, standing behind a tree, Julia was following them. She was wearing clothes that wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb and attract their attention. She had to remain stealthy and quiet. All she could do for now was observe from a distance.
The yellow parts of the meteor were glowing, but only for her. Egor and Susie couldn't see the yellow parts glowing.
"AYE! YOU TWO!" An officer shouted as Egor and Susie turned around to look back in the direction they had come from.
There was a lone officer who happened to be in Central Park at the very time Egor and Susie were. Egor had forgotten about the Park Security being on high alert after the meteor impact yesterday.
"We should go," Egor said.
"Good idea," Susie responded as they both took off, with the security officer chasing after them. Julia, being hidden amongst the cover of night, waited until they were gone to approach the mysterious meteor.
When she got closer to it, the yellow parts started glowing brighter and brighter. She got down onto the ground on her knees. She had with her a hammer. Using it to break a potion of the yellow rock off to take for herself.
"If Egor won't let me be a part of the Tinkerers, I'll just make my own team and ring. That'll show him."
Very carefully, she began hitting the stone with the hammer. With every hit it took, a crack grew until one hit managed to dislodge a significantly big piece off.
"Aha, finally," Julia said as she threw the hammer onto the ground and picked up the piece of yellow rock. When she got back on her feet, she gasped and inhaled sharply.
"One step closer to having a ring of my own," she muttered to herself as she looked around to make sure no one was watching her. Luckily, she was alone. Even then, however, that was false too.
"Hello Julia," a mysterious woman's voice said.
Spooked, she looked around at her surroundings again.
"Who's there?" She asked. "Show yourself!"
"Can't show what's not physically present," the voice responded.
"Who are you? What are you?" Julia asked.
"Emma," the voice responded as Julia looked down at the piece of rock she was holding. It continued glowing, but whenever the voice talked, it flickered like a dying light bulb.
"Why are you in my head?"
"The world is our playground. When everyone turned their backs on you, I came to you when no one else would," Emma explained. "I'll make sure you're not hurt…ever…again!"
"You'd do that for me?" Julia said.
"Together, we will make things right," Emma promised.
SAN DIEGO | 2024
Egor's Antique Shop
"How's she doing?" Egor asked as he walked into the bedroom where Amy was resting. Julia was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner reading a book. She had her reading glasses on. When he came into the room, she looked up and over at him.
Closing her book, she took her glasses off and set them down on the nightstand next to the bed. A bowl of water, with a rag in it, was resting on the nightstand too.
"She's still asleep," Julia said as she put her hands in her front jeans pockets. She was wearing a white tank top with a red and white checkered button-up shirt. It wasn't buttoned.
"Where'd Susie go?" Egor asked.
"Something in San Francisco came up," Julia said, "said she'd be back soon. Hydro went with her."
"Did she say why?" Egor asked, now shifting focus from Amy to Susie and Hydro. "Why didn't you phone me when I was downstairs?"
"I didn't feel it was necessary to," Julia told him, "you're busy and I didn't want to be a bother."
Egor nodded and sighed. He was frustrated, yes, but he resorted to being more concerned with Amy. She really did take a hit to her head.
"If she wakes…"
Julia smiled and nodded. "You will be the first to know."
"Promise?" Egor asked.
"Cross my heart, yes," Julia smiled as she hit Egor's shoulder lightly with the back of her hand. "Now go back downstairs. I'll be down soon to help, okay?"
"You'll help run the shop?" Egor scoffed and chuckled. "That's new. Am I still talking to Julia? Or is Emma back?"
GASP!
"We agreed we'd never say that name again!" Julia reminded him, "you know that part of me is dead. I don't want to go back down that road again."
"You're right. Bad joke on my part. I apologize," Egor said as he placed his hand on his chest. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Too caught up in the moment, I assume. Alright get back down to the shop," Julia said as she put something in her back pocket without Egor noticing. He smiled at her, then proceeded to walk out of the bedroom and head back downstairs.
Julia waited until she heard the door close before reaching into her back pocket. She walked back over to the nightstand, setting what she had put in her pocket down next to the water bowl.
"She's all yours, Emma," Julia said as she placed the very ring Egor confiscated from Amy down on the nightstand.
Julia then walked back over to the rocking chair, picking up the book she was reading, turning around and sitting down. Putting her reading glasses back on, she picked up on where she left off. But she would only do so until Amy would show signs of reacting to the ring's manipulative tactics.
GROAN.
Julia perked up and glanced over at the ring. It was now glowing impulsively. Julia watched as Amy began tossing and turning in her sleep. But not as much as she should've. There's a reason for that: she's wearing the Tinkerer ring. It was counteracting against the yellow ring, keeping her safe from being manipulated and tricked into putting it on.
A figure appeared in the corner of the bedroom, shrouded in darkness, keeping her identity concealed. Julia looked over and sat the outline of the person standing in the dark. The only giveaway was the person's glowing eyes, which were glowing a bright white.
"She's resisting my temptations, Jules."
"The Tinkerer ring won't protect her forever. The more power you use, the faster its energy will be weakened. Thus, allowing you—"
"To take complete control of her mind and body."
"Precisely," Julia replied.
"Tell me, do you still have a dark side?"
"This isn't Star Wars, Emma," Julia said as she looked over into the dark corner. "But if I didn't, we wouldn't be talking now. You need me as much as I need you. Your plan won't succeed without me."
"Is that so?" Emma asked.
"No doubt," Julia answered.
Outside in the hallway, sand was sloshing around. Rising up through the small cracks in between the wood flooring. It was spinning on the floor in a circular form. The faster it spun around, legs and feet began to form on the inside of the sand vortex. The upper legs, arms, chest, neck and head all formed out of sand. Once the full body of Quicksand was formed, the sand stopped flowing and fell back onto the floor.
"I'll make sure she puts the ring on," Julia told Emma.
Quicksand walked over to the door as quietly as he could, putting his back up against the wall. He's listening to the conversation Julia is having with a familiar enemy to the Tinkerers; Emma.
"You'd still be in Egor's pocket if I hadn't pick-pocketed him," Julia reminded Emma.
"A valuable skill that will be useful in the future, I'm certain," Emma replied.
GASP!
He stepped closer to the doorway, to only unintentionally give away his presence. A floorboard had creaked, which alerted Julia. She closed her book and got up out of the rocking chair. As she walked over to the doorway, Quicksand had to think and act fast. What to do?
"Egor?" Julia asked as she stepped out into the hallway, looking both ways once. She heard a faint sound of sand moving on the floor. When she looked down she saw the last bit of sand disappearing into the crevice of the floorboards.
"Quicksand!" Julia mumbled. "He knows!"
"What was it like grandma?" Amy asked in her sleep. Julia turned around and walked back over to the bed. Luckily, the ring was still on the nightstand. She watched as Amy began tossing and turning abruptly while still asleep.
"It's working," Emma said from behind in the dark corner, "it's weakening the Tinkerer ring. In time, she'll put it on. Don't touch or move the ring, understand?"
"Yeah," Julia said as she started second guessing her actions. She sat on the bed next to Amy, feeling helpless and guilty of what she was doing to her best friend. Moreover, her only friend.
Amy, in a dream, was sitting in a familiar place. A memorial of W.W.II veterans names who were lost in the fight to save the world.
"The war?" Susie questioned.
Amy nodded her head. Before Susie answered that question, she sighed heavily. Just recollecting the memories of what she went through back then, was overwhelming. The painful memories of witnessing her friends being killed, made her realize just how bloody the war actually was.
To Amy, this was a dream of a memory she had made with her grandmother when she was only eleven. But with the Jumpers' ring slowly depowering her tinkerer ring, the memory transitioned from a happy memory to a nightmare fast.
"It was less bloodier than your textbooks make you think it was," Susie answered. But this was the first sign of the ring's manipulation of Amy's memory. "The war changed my life forever. Not only did I kill people I loved, but I slaughtered countless others too," Susie explained to a young Amy.
Amy pulled her hand away from Susie. She was a bit spooked by what her grandma had just told her.
"I murdered the man I once loved; your grandfather. His name was Egor," Susie said.
To Amy, this was not the way she remembered this memory. Something was wrong, but she couldn't understand why or how.
"Amy, dear," Susie said as she patted the bench they were sitting on, gesturing to Amy to come sit back down next to her. "Come sit back down. I haven't finished the story yet."
The blue skies turned a dark yellow, much like the skies on Venus. Fog quickly enveloped everything around her. The World War II memorial was quickly engulfed by the yellow fog.
"Amy!" A familiar voice called out. "This is just a dream. You have to wake up."
"Amy, honey?" Susie called out from somewhere nearby in the fog, "come sit back down and let's finish the story."
"Whatever you do, don't listen to her," the familiar voice warned Amy, "that lady is not your grandmother. I'll explain everything, I promise. But you must come with me."
A hand poked out from the fog, causing Amy to jump from being scared. She took her first step towards the hand. When she reached out to take it, she was taller and older. No longer was she a young girl like she was a moment earlier.
When she grabbed the hand, she was pulled into the fog. Closing her eyes, she was teleported to a different location. She wasn't in Washington D.C anymore, but her hometown of San Diego. The skies remained the same color. The fog dissipated, but still loomed nearby.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing in Egor's shop. The time turned to night. Frank was outside, and when he saw her, he walked into the store.
CHIME.
The bell above the door chimed and Frank walked into the store.
"Well…hello there good, Sir," Egor said from behind the glass display counter.
Frank walked right past her, almost as if he didn't even acknowledge she was there. She wasn't. This had to be another memory, but she never recalled a time in which Frank visited the shop by himself.
"Where am I?" Amy asked as she looked all around the shop for the mysterious person behind the voice that pulled her out of the memory-turned-nightmare.
"You're in a place where you don't exist, a world without Amy," the voice said.
"Feel free to look around. There's always something for everybody here," Egor told Frank.
Playing through the speakers around the store, slow jazz music played. Egor was seen humming to the tunes of the music as he walked around his store.
"Excuse me," Frank said, "I'm looking for a certain item. An item of old, but something of permanent value?"
"A man who speaks in riddles?" Egor asked as he walked out from behind the counter.
"Something my wife and I did," Frank said with a subtle laugh.
As Egor walked over to him, Amy watched in silence. They have no idea she's watching them.
"Hey Siri?" Amy asked the voice who was helping her understand what's happening. "Still there?"
"Never left," the voice responded.
"Where am I exactly?" Amy asked.
"Earth. 2017. San Diego. A week before Christmas," the voice answered. "Egor's Antique Shop."
"And where am I? Frank speaks of having a wife—"
"Not you. You're in a different universe, different dimension. This isn't your home world, but a different one. One of many in the Multiverse."
"Multiverse?" Amy asked.
"Think of it as your world in a mirror of infinite worlds just like yours. Never ending, always expanding. Always changing. That's the Multiverse."
"Okay. Thank you Siri. That's enough."
"That's what she said," the voice responded.
"HEY!" Amy shouted as she looked up towards the ceiling, as if she were speaking to a celestial being; which she was.
"If you'll follow me Sir," Egor said as he turned and started walking back over towards the display counter, "I may have something of interest to you."
"Lead the way my good man," Frank said as he followed Egor over to the counter.
Egor, as he turned to face the front of the store, glanced over at Amy almost as if he could see her. Frank was leaning over the counter, looking down into the display case at the many vintage cameras.
"Do you think I could take—" Frank was saying before everything went still and frozen in time. Egor pointed directly at Amy, unintentionally showing the ring he was wearing on his finger.
"I sensed your presence," Egor said as he started walking out from behind the counter. "I just had to be sure before I acted."
"You can see me?" Amy asked as she looked down at his hand, the one with the ring.
"I've been able to see you since you appeared out of thin air, my dear," Egor said as he held out his hand. When he did, she was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the ring. It wasn't green, but yellow like the Jumpers' ring. "You're not from this world are you?"
"I—uh am—not no," Amy said as she took a step back from him. He frowned and tilted his head slightly. "Take my hand. I want to know everything about you…and where you came from."
"Don't do it," the voice warned Amy.
"Not now Siri," Amy replied, "just get me out of here!"
"You have to wake up!" The voice told Amy. "Just wake up!"
"Don't listen to that voice," Egor said as he took a step towards her, still holding his hand out in front of him. "Take my hand. Just take it."
"What will you do?" Amy asked, although she shouldn't have asked.
Egor smiled and chuckled. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand, while he put his other hand in his pocket.
"Why kill you of course," Egor said as he turned around to look back over at Frank, who was still frozen in time. "Do just that to you, and then to my new friend right over there," he continued as he turned around and pointed over at Frank.
"You're a monster in this time and world, aren't you?" Amy asked as she continued slowly backing away. She put her hands behind her to feel around for the doorknob.
"A monster? No. A cold-blooded killer? Yes," Egor said, "who would've thought I'd get the chance to kill two souls today? Luck must be on my side."
"AMY!" The voice shouted, "WAKE UP!"
"When you do, don't forget to put the ring on," Egor reminded Amy as she forcefully closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was laying down in a bed in a bedroom. She sat up and looked down at her hands. She was still wearing the Tinkerer ring, but the Jumpers' ring was on the nightstand.
"Just put it on," Emma whispered from the dark corner, "just put it on and all your problems will go away, I promise."
Downstairs in his shop, Egor and Julia were stacking boxes in the back room when Egor had a strange, unnerving feeling.
"What is it, Egor?" Julia asked.
Egor shushed her as he closed his eyes. What he saw in his vision was Amy sitting up in the bed leaning over to grab the yellow ring off of the nightstand.
"Dammit," Egor said as he dropped the box and ran out of the back room. Julia was left confused, but that's what she wanted him to think. She knew what was happening.
"What is it?" Julia shouted as she ran out of the back room and followed Egor down the hallway and up the stairs into his apartment.
"It's Amy!" Egor shouted, "she's awake."
As Egor barged into his apartment, he ran through the living room and past the kitchen to the spare bedroom where Amy was. When he looked into the bedroom, it was already too late. Amy turned around facing Egor.
"You're too late," Emma, now possessing and in control of Amy's body, said as she raised her left arm. "She's one of us now."
Egor looked over at the bed and saw the tinkerer ring resting on the blanket. It wasn't glowing, which meant it had no more power. The ring, simply put, was dead. Powerless after struggling to keep Amy safe from the Jumpers' ring.
"Egor," Amy, as herself, called out. She momentarily regained control of her body. "Help me…please."