Isaac Woodman
T2 2025 - The inside of the large meeting room was bland, consisting of a singular oval table that seemed to span the entire length of the room. I noticed Jacob and Sebastian speaking with one another, but felt my presence was unwanted so kept to myself. I had to let them sort out the morality of this situation without my guidance, they needed to come to a decision. And I hoped they would come to the right one, otherwise I would have to change my plans up slightly. Even though it had only been over a week since I had last seen Sebastian, he seemed slightly different. As if he had stepped into the shoes of his older self, only by a fraction though. I headed toward a seat, the heat swimming through me like a fish within my veins, uncomfortable and at times painful. How is this supposed to be a present ? I asked myself, finally finding a chair to sit in. I doubled over, placing my head in my hands, feeling sweat begin to form on my forehead.
"Are you ok?" Valerie's voice sounded far, but I knew she was close.
"Depends," I muttered, "just, just give me a few moments."
"You don't need to be here, I under-"
"No, I, I need to witness this." I twisted my head to see her, "I promise I will be fine, if not, well, I will fake it, I'm good at that."
"Isaac, we can fare without-" Valerie placed a familiar hand on my shoulder.
"It's fine," I faked a smile that I knew didn't convince her, "see, I'm, I'm all better now."
"Isaac, I really-"
"Valerie, it's fine. Please, I need to be here, I need to see how things go." She looked confused by my words, but something grabbed her attention as she looked over my shoulder. I followed her gaze seeing the American guests enter the room, nervousness, confidence, self-assuredness, smug, all words I would use to describe the unknown people who meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. All apart from one. She looked beautiful, wearing a flowing red dress that made her stand out amongst the other well dressed persons. I felt my eyes lingering, only remembering the woman I used to know, the change shocked me into ignoring my pain.
"I think we will be starting soon, are you sure you are ok?" Valerie asked and I nodded.
"I will be fine Valerie, thank you for your concern."
"Everyone, take your seats," The large black man ordered, hushing the ambient chatter instantaneously. I vaguely recalled the man, but he didn't strike me as someone still alive nearer the end, or if he was, then he had kept to himself. Valerie sat next to me, I could feel her aggravation bubble to the surface and I assumed it was because she was supposed to be the one to lead, as the man sat in his seat, I saw a look of cockiness displayed on his face.
"Okay now that everyone is seated, let's get started," Valerie stated, taking the control back from the imposing figure who backed down without issue. I looked about the table and saw a few faces that I recognised, but couldn't place. A few more had joined that didn't seem to belong to the Americans or the English, but as no concerns were raised, then I assumed they were here for something else. "For those of you who have not met me before, I am Valerie Carter and I work for the UK government, my friend across the pond is -"
"General Tyson Hastings," The man stood, saluting as he announced himself and once again, that familiar anger rose from my side.
"What did you bring us for?" one of the American guests asked, his feet on the table in a nonchalant manner.
"We have brought everyone together to recount your experiences a few weeks ago." Valerie said, trying to not pay attention to the man's lack of etiquette.
"But why us?" another American asked, before shying away as all eyes looked to her.
"You've come from all ways of life so we want to see how far the similarity of events run between you," Tyson responded, "isn't that right Valerie?"
"Indeed, we wanted you here to recount your time and see if we can figure this out together."
"Didn't you see everything we went through? I mean, I recognise those three there," another voice stated, waggling a finger toward Jacob, Sebastian and I.
"Indeed, but we want to see if there are any differences in your experiences, that way we could potentially find clues on what is going on."
I started to tune out of the conversation when the American guests started recounting their experiences and realised that their experience was identical to my first time in that place, even now, I remembered the horror. During each of the retellings, Valerie or Tyson cut in, asking a question, making a note of the answer, before asking the person to continue. I'm not sure how much time had passed, but no information stuck out as important, which I believe showed on my face as Jacob and Sebastian also looked disinterested, which I did find odd.
"Isaac?" Valerie whispered, "you ok?"
"Yeah," I responded in a daze.
"Anything you two would like to add?" Tyson called out, a smug smile on his face.
"Nothing, I, I'm not feeling well," I half lied. I stood and the searing pain shot through me again causing me to wince, which sold the lie. Sebastian looked at me with concern, how kind. Jacob looked indifferent and I knew that this was going nowhere. "I'm sorry, but I need to go lie down," I said and turned in time to see Ashlea wandering over to me.
"Can I try something?" she asked me and although I knew what her power was, this was something beyond what she could do.
"I don't think your power will help you," I stated, then once again realised that I had made the same mistake as before.
"How?" she looked both scared and confused and a part of me hurt again, different from the pain that swam through me. I looked over to Sebastian, before sighing.
"I know, because that is my power, I can see partly into the future," I could hear Jacob scoff at my lie, but it was technically what my power was. "Sebastian, could you use your power on Ashlea here," I asked, but saw Sebastian nod and stand.
"Wait, wait, what are you doing?" Tyson stood and walked around the table, but was stopped by Valerie.
"Let's just see what happens," her approval made the General shift uncomfortably on his feet, he was most likely also curious, but had no actual grounds to stop something he didn't know was going to happen.
"Can I?" Sebastian asked as he approached Ashlea, his hand outstretched.
"What are you doing?" She asked, obviously uncertain.
"I can increase the power of your ability, I haven't known Isaac long, but I know that he doesn't do things without planning them out thoughtfully first." He glared at me at this point, still angry for what I had done in the maze, something I didn't blame him for. Ashlea nodded in approval and Sebastian placed his hand on her shoulder and from everyone else's point of view, nothing happened. But judging from the surprise laden on Ashlea's face, he had done it. I suppressed a smile.
"What, this feels," she looked down at her hands, turning them over, seeing the invisible nature of her power coursing through her.
"Can someone tell me what he just did?" The general ordered, confusion and fury blending together.
"He simply made her ability more potent," Jacob stated from his place across the table. He absentmindedly conjured a small ball of fire, mulling it over in his hands. "It feels weird at first, but you gain the hang of it." Looks of intrigue and of horror washed over Jacob by those at the table, even the General looked shocked, though he must have been briefed by this.
"Pretty little night light you have there," a voice called from the entryway behind me and as I turned around to see the owner of the voice, I felt my eyes widen in shock. He looked young, but it was undoubtedly the form of Harry Gallagher. Why is he here ? Why now? I thought as I looked his figure up and down. Jet black hair, shorter than his future counterpart, still muscular and that knowing smirk of his only lacked the violent undertones. His clothes, consisting of a white shirt and black trousers were flecked with blood, most noticeably around his wrists and at the bottom of his trousers.
"Who are you?" The general ordered, probably noticing the blood that covered him. "Guards! Guards!" he ordered and Valerie also stood, making a discreet hand gesture as she did so. But as nothing happened and Harry stood smirking, Tyson's furious glare bore down on him with a renewed vengeance. "What have you done?"
"I have simply made it so that we wouldn't be interrupted. That would just be a shame, wouldn't it?" He looked down at his fingers, which produced small wisps of electricity. As the General advanced, Valerie stuck out her arm, stopping the man from making a costly mistake.
"Who are you?" Valerie repeated, more calmly than the general had done.
"Oh my god, where are my manners," he took a low bow, one of his arms stretched out to the side, "Harry Gallagher, at your service." A small laugh sounded from the corridor as a woman entered.
"Come on babe, you don't have to show off-" she looked over at me as she started speaking, her eyes going wide before she let out an ear-piercing scream that echoed over the room. Harry's playful facade dropped then as he turned, rushing over to her.
"Stacy, Stacy, Babe!" he said, raising in panic and volume at each word. The girl, Stacy, placed her hands against her head, muttering something under her breath that caused Harry to look at me. "What have you done?" Anger punctuated the words that he directed at me.
"I, I don't know?" I said, as confused as everyone else in the room. Harry stared at me then, stalking forwards and grabbing my collar.
"What did you do to her?" he demanded and I looked down at him, feeling the pain flowing through me once again.
"I, I don't-"
"Don't give me that, what did you-"
"Harry," Stacy's voice was weak, but was clearly heard by those in the room, "don't." As she finished speaking, Harry dropped to the floor, screaming in agony. He clutched his head, slamming it into the ground. None of us moved. We simply stood as if we were frozen in time, watching the man slam his head into the ground furiously. Blood seeped into the carpet as Harry fell to the ground motionless. Stacy crawled forwards, placing a comforting hand on his back, but yelped as electricity engulfed him in threads of glowing blue that crackled like a thunderstorm. Erratic bolts flew outwards from him, hitting the floor, walls and ceiling. I threw myself to the ground and saw others do the same. I turned to the source of a new scream and saw one of the American guests slumped in their chair, a scorched hole through their chest, their corpse twitching. Jacob stood, cloaking his body in a curtain of fire.
"Isaac," the words made me shudder as I looked to the source of the voice. Harry looked at me with a grin on his face. His hand touched his face, feeling it. "I thought I told you to get on with it."