I never thought I would see the day when my detective skills would land me in a courtroom, accused of treason. But here I stood, alongside Zahra and Francis, in the heart of Zyra's justice system.
The Zyran Police took us into custody the moment we stepped off the Sector A's space shuttle. In court, We accused of collaborating with the Atlanteans in infiltrating and shutting down Area 51. The charge was serious—treason. We were being accused of betraying our country, our allegiance, and everything we stood for as TTA detectives.
As the trial began, I could feel the weight of uncertainty pressing against me. The evidence presented against us seemed overwhelming, leaving little room for doubt. But deep down, I couldn't accept that we were being framed. There had to be something more to this twisted plot.
Just as we were losing hope, a glimmer of opportunity emerged. Zyra, in a surprising turn of events, offered us a chance to clear our names. She gave us permission to find the truth, to uncover evidence that could prove our innocence. The court was adjourned and we were given a 1 week to prove that we weren't traitors and that these charges were false.
Feeling a surge of determination, we started our investigation. But things took a peculiar turn when Val appeared out of nowhere. She claimed to have vital information that could lead us to the real culprit—Ivon. As happy as I was to see her, I knew her presence meant something ominous was on the horizon. This time, I knew that Ivon planned to have us eliminated just to cover his hide. Val told me that the Ivon were looking for is hiding in her dimension.
Which begs the question. Is she a native to Chris' dimension? If so, what really happened and why was she really exiled? I had my own answer but Val played it off, making me think I was wrong. What we soon realized was that what I believed wasn't far off from what really happened.
When we entered Chris' timeline, we found ourselves in a run down hospital in Sector D. The sick and disabled surrounded us. The plight of those continuously oppressed by the Queen was a sight that sickened me. The once great General Mellis and his dream was dashed to pieces by a traitor in his midst. Our General knew the risks and Sigma was the one who tried to do something about it with the invention of time travel.
"I should've never created it." we heard a remorseful voice in one of the rooms. When we looked, we saw a tattered woman in a straight jacket.
Val told us that the war made Sigma go crazy. Losing the General and most of her family broke her. Only Sigma and Zyra were the last remaining family members of the Mellis family left alive. Sigma, in her minds eye believed she was alone even though Zyra was still. Zyra was grieving in her own way. She kept busy with helping the survivors in Sector D continue fighting while her cousin was just only a fragment of herself.
Val tried using her powers to heal Sigma's pain but she failed, seeing that her pain wasn't mental, but emotional if not something deeper. Val admitted she couldn't heal trauma of the soul. The latter is what Sigma felt, believing this broken reality was her fault. The famous Time Guru now brought to madness by the fruits of her own invention. Zahra was saddened; doubting at first that such a dark timeline even existed. Yet Val believed we weren't without hope.
Despite how bleak this timeline was, those who still believed in the General's dream looked up to Val, like she was some kind of savior. The orphans, many who became such from losing their parents to all the fighting, saw Val as their mother. To her, Val felt caring for them gave her purpose in life ever since she left TTA. UMOTE knows they can't beat her one on one but believes destroying her world proved more effective—that being those whom she swore to protect.
With determination, Val envisioned a day were the Hill-Adegas, along with UMOTE, ceased to exist in her reality and the people would take back their world from the evils within it. This was the hope Val lived by and by that same hope, she believed would break Sigma from her deep despair. She was the last of the Mellis Family and Val was going to make sure UMOTE could never reach her. The four of us prepared to march on Holy Manor but this time, things were far different.
When we reached the place, it was far more heavily guarded with AI, instead of cult followers. Yet these AI were built to be stealthy, perhaps made for assassination and not frontline assault. Val noted this as we fought our way to the heart of Holy Manor.
As we entered the inner courtyards of the heavily fortified Holy Manor, my heart raced with anticipation. That's when 2ndMillenium, Othniel Chris Goodman, confronted us. With him were a half dozen Ninjabots. As I approached him, I couldn't help but notice the anger etched on his face.
"I kinda figured one of my goody-two-shoes doppelgangers was helping this TTA reject!" He yelled in contempt.
He was not pleased about our unexpected arrival, to say the least. But resolving conflicts was what I did best, and I was determined to get to the bottom of this chaos.
"What made you turn?" I asked him.
"UMOTE," His voice broke into a tone of extreme sadness as he explained his Zahra's fate, "brutally murdered her."
That's when I shortly reflected on my relationship with my Zahra. Would I have quickly turned my back on a country I swore to protect? It was a thought worth considering but I believed the answer was an emphatic hecky no!
Loosing a loved one is no excuse to turning evil. Francis, and his love for pop culture had to bring up a certain Jedi turned Sith Lord to correlate the deplorable transformation Chris underwent. It was inexcusable. I had no sympathy for him. Neither did the rest of my team. My Zahra though, stood quiet for a while until Chris stopped drowning in his own misery. Yet he wouldn't until she cursed at him, telling him to shut up.
"She wouldn't have wanted this!" Zahra reasoned.
"How would you know?" He retorted. "You're nothing like my Zahra!"
The manner of disrespect was enough. I started to feel a burning sensation, one echoing Val's sentiments against the evil within this twisted timeline. The cycle had to end. TTA in this world was far more sinister. Silas and his team knew not of the evil crap of a world they first entered. If they believed aiding Chris and his TTA back then did anything towards tipping the scales in favor of true justice, it was in vain. My TTA weren't going to make the same mistake.
In this twisted timeline, Chris explained how he took on a sinister role after his Zahra's death, betraying the Mellis' trust by eliminating the entire family with his UMOTE resources. Val was his subordinate yet she went rogue after learning of what he was doing and ran. Lord Emmanuel had her branded as public enemy number one and UMOTE hunted her in every timeline. They knew how to find her signature throughout the multiverse because she used TTA tech to traverse it. She was being tracked. Val, however, because of her powers, knew when they arrived and ran to another reality when she sensed their presence.
As I pieced together the puzzle, a sense of determination washed over me. I knew that I had to bring justice to this world's Zahra's memory and stop Lord Emmanuel's plans from unfolding. The weight of the world rested on our shoulders, but I was willing to bear the burden alone. Chris and his TTA couldn't continue operating as they were.
As I stood face to face with Chris, the tension crackled in the air like electricity. The rogue TTA agents fought tooth and nail against Zahra, Francis, and Val, but Chris had something else up his sleeve. Waves of nimble ninjabots surged forward, their metallic frames glinting in the dimly lit room. Just as Chris seemed to gain an upper hand, reinforcements arrived. However, these were no ordinary soldiers. They were heavier armored AI, designed to strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest warriors.
But I knew that Val possessed an incredible power, an awesome display of electrokinetic supremacy that could obliterate anything in her path. With a swift motion of her hand, Val unleashed a surge of thunderous energy, obliterating the AI and reducing the mobile suits, once powered by humans, to mere scraps of bloody infused metal. The room echoed with the sound of destruction as the battle raged on.
Some specialized bots had forcefields but these protective shields buckled under the sheer power of the attacker. The end result was a much messier ending for the AI and human pilots alike.
It became clear that Chris had a plan as he disappeared into the chaotic battlefield. I ran after him but unaware of the deadly trap I would walk into. He lured me into a trap, hoping to catch me off-guard. But what he didn't know was that my quantum chain held a secret power, an innate ability to help me dodge near-fatal attacks. Time seemed to slow down, giving me the split-second advantage I needed to evade any attack that could end my life.
I could see the frustration building on Chris' face as his attacks missed their mark, time and time again. It was then that I noticed something peculiar. His quantum chain, the very source of his power, was defective. It flickered and sputtered, causing his movements to be erratic and unpredictable. The more he used its nanotech powers to defend himself against my attacks, the more he was punished for using them. Ever shock he felt from the chain around his neck knocked him off balance. As the battle raged on, it became a game of cat and mouse. Chris, desperate to overcome his malfunctioning chain, launched attack after attack, but each time I effortlessly dodged his blows—he was becoming more and more sloppy in his form.
We circled each other, locked in a deadly dance, as the room around us crumbled under the weight of our power. With every dodge, Chris grew more frustrated, his attacks becoming wild and reckless. I could see the doubt creeping into his eyes, his confidence waning with each passing moment. And then, in a moment of vulnerability, I seized my opportunity. I struck with precision and force, my quantum chain guiding me with unparalleled accuracy.
Chris stumbled backward, unable to defend himself against my onslaught. His weakened quantum chain could no longer protect him from my calculated strikes. As our battle came to an end, Chris lay defeated at my feet. The room fell silent, save for our heavy breaths and the distant echoes of our clash.
The rest of my team met up with me. All of them looked down on Chris' battered and bloody body. I glanced back at my team, believing I had won the battle after seeing Chris was unable to continue the fight.
"Good, you can all die together!" Chris cackled evilly.
I quickly looked at him and saw his body beginning to slowly pulse a white color.
"Oh no you don't!" Val warned.
Suddenly, a blue forcefield enveloped Chris and he was lifted in the air.
"How much pressure can your little forcefield take?' He mocked Val. "I doubt it can contain this blast. Nor are you fast enough to send me out the nearest airlock. You weren't fast enough to save your parents or the Mellis family and you won't be fast enough to save those around you."
"Enough!" Val screamed at him. In a flash of red light, the sphere containing Chris faded from existence.
"Where did you send them?" Zahra asked.
Suddenly, the sound of screams coming from inside Holy Manor erupted. Val formed a wall of energy before us, protecting all those outside the compound from what was to come—a gigantic explosion. Those human guards who ran for their lives after seeing Chris appear before them were beating on the energy wall, trying to breakthrough. They begged Val to let them out. Their last moments were in extreme horror as they looked into the eyes of their apathetic killer. The force of the blast destroyed everything not protected by Val's field. When the dust settled, Holy Manor was no more. What was in its place was tons of molten metal.
Those Raylorians who witness this awe-inspiring turn of events rejoiced. To us, it was yet another reality free of the tyrannical Hill-Adega regime. Val believed the war wasn't over yet because her parent's murderer was still out there. Chris wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. We surmised that she was talking about Ivon. But which one?
Then Lord Emmanuel appeared in the midst of the rubble of Holy Manor. He seemingly taunted Val, beckoning to follow him. We chased after Val as she went after him and through a portal.