SAN DIEGO | 2024
Egor's Antique Shop
"Amy," Egor said as he took a step into the bedroom. He held his hands up, signaling to her he didn't mean any trouble. Now under control of Emma and the ring, Egor stood little chances at getting through to Emma and then to Amy. "If you're in thereâ€""
Julia ran down the hallway and stood in the doorway behind Egor.
"Egor, be careful!" Julia warned as she took a step back in fear of the worst. She did this to her friend. She's the reason behind the commotion to follow.
"Take my hand," Egor said as he held his hand out.
When Emma had gained full control over Amy's physical body, her eyes turned full black, her veins turned black and bulged out of her skin as if her muscles were tense. Her fingers turned black at the tips, much like a mechanic's hands after a long day under the hood.
"How did you get ahold of the ring?" Egor asked Emma, now referring to her by name instead of Amy. Every time he would call her Amy, it wouldn't end well in his case. He was treading on thin ice, and treading carefully he must. One wrong word, or one wrong move could result in the situation going south.
"If I tell you, will you believe me?" Emma asked.
"Believe you?" Egor repeated and shook his head, "doubtful. Test your luck."
As Egor was waiting for her to respond, he heard a faint shuffling of sand moving on the floor. He didn't want to look down because if he'd tried, it would give the element of surprise away; Quicksand was moving into a spot behind Emma.
"I'm not a hard guy to convince, you know," Egor told her, "go on. Try me. I got all day."
"Do you?" Emma asked as she tilted her head slightly. "How about your friend? Does he have all day too?"
As Quicksand formed into his physical self behind Emma, she turned around and grabbed him by the throat. Her grip around his neck was so tight, that he began choking and gasping for air.
"Emma please," Egor shouted as he suddenly put the pieces of the puzzle together. How Amy was able to get ahold of the ring he had in his pocket. The last time he was up here, Julia was watching over her.
"Aha, wow," Egor said as he started laughing sarcastically. He clapped and applauded Julia on her trickery and tactics. "I'm impressed. Honestly, I am."
Julia backed away as Egor walked over to her. His ring was glowing a steady green, which meant he was going to use it to get revenge on her for what she did to Amy.
"You're not as dumbfounded as I thought you were," Julia said, "didn't take you long."
"She's like a daughter to me!" Egor yelled, gritting his teeth.
Emma released Quicksand. He collapsed to the floor and was coughing and rubbing his aching neck.
"Emma! Do something!" Julia shouted.
Egor raised his arm and held it out straight. His ring glowing bright green.
"And what am I to you?" Julia said as she backed into a corner. She crouched down and put her arms up in front of her face to protect it from the impending blast.
Standing over her, she could see the anger and betrayal in his eyes. She was truly a disappointment to him.
"Once you were something," he said as he was now standing over her, with his ring inches from touching her forehead. "But now? Now you'reâ€""
A bright yellow flash blinded Julia, followed by the sounds of bricks crumbling and glass shattering. The next minute she opened her eyes, she bore witness to a massive, gaping hole. She got up off the floor and quickly backed away from the gaping hole.
When the dust and smoke cleared, she saw Egor laying atop a smashed parked car, unconscious. Bystanders were screaming and rushed to aid Egor. If he was badly hurt, he'd need medical attention…or so they thought.
Emma looked over at Julia, holding her hand out. Julia looked down at it, hesitating for a mere second. Ultimately, she took her hand. And with that, the two vanished.
Amelia, the babysitter for Amy and Frank, ran outside from Egor's shop. She had her phone in hand. Taking one look around, she saw the destruction made, and the injuries sustained by those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Uh…hell no. I'm not cleaning this up," Amelia said as she pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the rubble and debris on the ground. "I don't get paid enough."
SAN FRANCISCO | 2024
Downtown
"Spotted heading down Church Street," Susie announced, "coming your way Winston and Devan."
Tremor is trying to flee from the invading Tinkerers. They're getting in the way of his mission. With them in his way, he will fight if he needs to. Anything to please his boss back home in 2775.
"Who are we up against?" Scorch asked.
"Threat with no origin," Susie replied.
Susie walked over to a law enforcement officer. His black SUV was blocking off the east entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. There were several other squad vehicles blocking off other lanes too. No on-coming traffic, and no exiting traffic. The Bridge was vacant.
Over on Church Street, it was quiet and empty. Quicksand had arrived at the party a little late, but had some help from Egor. Egor regained consciousness after the encounter with Emma. But he would not be joining the fight in San Francisco. However, he did open a portal for Quicksand to use to go and assist; which is exactly what he intends to do.
"Quicksand here. Ready to assist," he said as he put his finger over the earpiece in his ear. This was how he would communicate with the others.
"You and Scorch need to distract him," Susie said. "Leave the rest up to me."
"Got it," Quicksand replied.
Tremor was walking down the middle of the street, alone but ready to act. Wearing a brown leather jacket that was part unzipped, blue denim jeans, and brown cowboy boots that matched his coat. Not an outfit that really screamed VILLAIN.
Scorch had leapt off a building, landing on top of a car, smashing and melting it. Glass shattered and spewed outward, but didn't hurt anyone.
"Where've you been?" Scorch asked as the two walked towards the unidentified man posing a threat.
"Riding your mom into the sunset," Quicksand joked.
"Ha, jokes on you. My mom's dead."
"Went back in time," Quicksand added, followed by a scoff and chuckle.
"Will you and I ever see eye to eye?" Scorch asked.
"Nope," Quicksand replied as he raised his hand and began waving at the mystery man.
"Greetings, alien person," Quicksand said in an elevated tone. "You're trespassing. We ask you, humbly, to get the fuck out of this city."
"That's not nice," the man replied.
"We don't want this to escalate into fighting," Winston said as he took a step forward. Devan didn't follow, he was more frightened by the man than he was letting off. Who is he? How powerful is he? What are his powers?
"Whatever you say, tinker bell," Quicksand said as he reached into his ear, grabbing the earpiece out and tossing it onto the ground.
"And here I thought I was the cocky one," Devan said.
"Why have you come here? What's your name? Do you haveâ€""
The man had enough of his talking. Sounded more like stalling, which Winston was clearly doing. He swiped his left hand to the right, which made the front of the brick-built home break off. It flew right into Winston, which burst into sand when the wall hit him.
POOF!
A cloud of sand hovered around in the air. The brick wall slammed into the back of a parked car in the driveway of a home on the west side of the road.
"And that's my queue," Devan said, "I didn't want it to come to this. You're buying me a new jacket."
"Save it!" Tremor shouted as he ran towards Devan.
Devan acted quickly by closing his eyes. His clothes began smoking. His skin started glowing a faint orange, but was getting brighter; eventually turning a bright yellow. When Tremor saw what was happening he stopped in his tracks. He was confused as to what was happening.
The sand was beginning to rotate like a tornado. But Tremor hadn't noticed this and it went unnoticed by him and Scorch.
"There's a reason my name is Scorch," Devan said as his clothes burned off, revealing his power to Tremor. He opened his eyes and smiled deviously. "This is why!"
He then melted down into a lava puddle. The road was cracking and stressing from the extreme temperature from his body. The lava moved rapidly on the pavement, forming a circle of lava around Tremor.
Because Tremor hadn't disclosed his abilities to them, they had no clue what he was fully capable of doing. Trapped inside the ring Devan formed around him, there was only one way out: going up.
"Hey asshole!" Winston yelled angrily.
Tremor turned around to see Winston standing a few feet away from him. His heavy breathing was a giveaway of his mood; which was pissed. As he stood in the center of the vortex, began walking towards Tremor.
Devan morphed back into his human form. But instead of only him, he duplicated himself. Four other exact copies of himself. They sprouted like a growing plant, and transitioned into human form, mirroring every motion and movement.
"Stand down," Devan began saying, "and this'll all end now."
"Threat neutralized. Standing down. On Church street," Winston said as he shared their location with Susie and the others.
"Roger," responded Susie.
Suddenly, with no heads up, Devan and Tremor went flying up. The sudden rush of breezy air, Devan's temperature began dropping. He's cooling down. And that's not something that's supposed to happen.
"DEVAN!" Winston shouted as he watched a chunk of the road flew higher and higher.
"Need backup now!" Winston yelled, "he took Devan with him!"
"Where?" Leonard asked.
"UP!" Winston responded, "THEY WENT UP!"
A green-colored portal opened next to Winston. Egor leapt through and emerged from the other side.
"Where?" Egor asked as he looked over at Winston as he raised his right arm and looked up into the clear blue sky.
"There!" Winston pointed out. "I can't get to him, but you can?"
Up in the sky, Tremor was standing in the center of Devan's ring of lava. He had both arms out to his side, with his hand palms facing up. The wind was so powerful that it was suffocating Devan, who by now was gasping for air as he struggled to transform back into his human form. But with his temperature dropping, his body was starting to turn into hardening rock.
"Enjoying the ride?" Tremor asked as he looked down at Devan. "You know, one weakness with lava is that it cools as the temperature drops…"
"Turningâ€"into stone," Devan struggled to say, followed by another gasp for air.
Back down below on the ground, Egor had lost sight of where Devan and Tremor had gone. He lowered his arm, and his ring powered down; which meant it wasn't glowing like it would when he was using its abilities.
"What are you doing?" Winston asked as he glanced over to his left. Egor frowned and looked over at Winston. He tilts his head slightly.
Egor smiled. He pointed his fist at the ground. A short energy burst came out of the ring. When it made contact with the ground, a portal then opened.
"Saving his ass," Egor told Winston as he walked over to the portal, standing next to it and looking down. Tremor and Devan were quickly ascending towards it, unaware of the portal's existence. Just before Tremor and Devan were due to pass through, Egor took a couple steps back.
"What's the game plan?" Winston asked as he readied himself to assist Egor. Sand began swirling around Winston's feet as he held his arms out to his sides.
"Follow my lead," he replied.
Tremor and Devan both shot out of the portal like an arrow being fired from a bow. In the spur of the moment, Egor blasted Tremor with a powerful and well-timed energy burst. Tremor went flying through the air.
"You make sure he's okay," Egor said as he closed the portal on the ground. The piece Devan was pinned down on crumbled as it went up and then back down, slamming into the ground. "I'll deal with our friend."
Egor opened a portal as he started running, hopping into it. It closed behind him. Winston rushed over to Devan. By now, he was nearly turned solid. But there were still a few cracks with molten lava visible. Devan was still alive, but barely.
"Hang in there, pal," Winston mumbled. "Rosa, bring us home!"
The sounds of broken glass were heard from behind him. Winston looked up and back over his shoulder.
"Show yourself," Winston told Rosa.
"I'm naked," she responded.
"So?"
"Wow," Rosa said.
"Shouldn't have said anything," Winston responded.
"Men and their dirty thoughts," Rosa said under her breath.
Rosa is another member of the Elite group. Recruited by their leader Issac five years, she's proved everyone wrong. A woman can be a hero alongside their male counterpart.
She has some unique abilities. One such one being able to use mirrors as a means of traversing the expansive World. If anything is reflective, she can make use of those reflective surfaces. Mirrors, glass, and metal to name a few examples.
"Dammit!" Egor shouted profusely. "That asshole got away!"
Rosa, Winston, and Devan quickly disappeared, leaving Egor by himself. As for the three of them, they'll return to New York. There, they would be better suited to save Devan's life.
Today could have gone many different ways, but it didn't. For now, at least, the Tinkerers managed to ward off this new threat; albeit temporarily.
Water trickled out from the holes in the drainage underground system. As more water came out, Hydro was quick to return to his default form. Emerging from a portal that opened alongside him, he and Susie approached Egor.
"Egor!" Susie shouted as she glanced around at the aftermath of a destructive confrontation. "Where'd Winston and Devan go?"
"Jumped ship. Devan almost lost his life to that man!"
GASP!
"Is he okay?" Susie asked. Egor shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I pray that's the verdict," he responded. "Where did that guy come from? Who was that guy?"
No answer. No one knew his name, where he came from, or why he's here. There has to be some record of him somewhere, right? But where? If anything pisses Egor off, it's that he wants to know as much as possible about his enemy. Fighting someone like Tremor, he doesn't want to fight blind.
"We're gonna find him," Egor said determinedly, "mark my words!"
EARTH | 2775
Location Unknown
A door was opened. An elderly man walked into the room, using a cane to assist in keeping his balance.
"Sire," the man said as he continued walking over to his master.
"What is it, A-3?" He asked as he glanced over at his servant. "Might I remind you that I do not like being disturbed while I work."
"Forgive me Sire," A-3 responded as he leaned forward and bowed, "but an urgent matter requires your attention. Tremor is back."
He raises an eyebrow, showing off his curiosity. The hologram being projected showed the aftermath of Tremor's embarrassing retreat.
"Already?" He asked A-3. "Has he finished his mission that quickly?"
"He asked to speak with you. It's urgent," A-3 informed his master.
"Urgent, this matter is, yes!"