(3) A Millenium in the Future...

In the blink of an eye, centuries pass.

Humankind progresses, builds and grows…and continues to fight wars.

The more things change…

However, an even greater threat has risen not only determined to destroy humans, but all of reality itself!
They are enemies from the ancient past…with powers that were locked away, never to be unleashed ever again...

Only one force can stand against them…

But they can only do so much against such overwhelming odds!

“YA-HAAAA! We got you now!”

Michael McMann (Codename: Triple M) was trapped. He didn't think this would ever happen. Despite the numerous battles and experiences he and his friends went through to get here, he never would've expected the threat that was facing him now.

As he gripped his energy sword, he ran over what had just happened. He started this journey to undo a mistake of the past. Along the way, friends, old and new have joined the fight in order to save not just their time line, but to save their very existence from never happening!

In the split-second of peace he had before diving back into the fray, he watched his companions fighting with everything they had.

His girlfriend, Rachel: beautiful, blond warrior, master of the twin swords was thrashing everything, left and right.

His best friend, Duke: sunglasses wearing, smack-talking dude, equipped with only his fists and gloves capable of energy bursts.

His half-sister, Rebecca: quiet, brunette mechanic, ex-novice of the bo staff, whacking and poking any enemy that got in her way.

Rachel's cousin: Natalia: animal-shifting, meta morph, currently in a wolf morph, chewing off the leg of an attacker.

And his rival, Zack: enemy turned ally, responsible for this entire mess, but events went out of his control and was now trying to redeem himself by fighting alongside the side of good.

The split-second it took him to process all that, a metal tentacle burst out of nowhere and coils itself around his throat! Adrenaline rushing through his veins, he desperately tries to slice through it, but he can't get a good angle. His vision blurs as he starts to black out...

“Let him go, you walking trashcans!" A beam of light slices through the air and dismembers Michael's captor. Michael throws off the limp piece of metal with disgust. He looks up at his savior as he equips his Plasma Cannon.

“DK! It’s about time!” Delta Knight (Codename: DK) was a recently acquired ally who had his own agenda but was all eager to destroy anything that would corrupt the world. Along side him was Lara, a young brunette android with a smoking arm cannon equipped.

DK smirks. “It’s always about time!” He stabs an evil entity attempting to sucker punch him from behind. “And time is always running out!”

Michael glances toward the source of all of the rapidly spreading darkness. Not a real good morale builder.

“I don't believe it! It's still gaining ground--?!" he exclaims.

"Ya don't say?!" An enemy rips aparts at the atomic level as Nova Fighter (Codename: Nova) slams into it with a Nucleo-Tackle. Nova wipes powdered enemy particles from his metallic armor, grinning. "But you gotta admit this is kind of fun!"

DK frowns, then blows an enemy to bits with blast of his smoking arm cannon. "You're kidding right?"
Nova shrugs innocently. "Maybe, maybe not."

Lara frowns, then socks another enemy square in the chest, sending it spiraling a couple yards away.

Rachel blows some hair out of her sweat-drenched face. “These guys have us outnumbered at least a hundred-to-one!” With a warrior's cry she slices through ten of her opposition in one fluid movement. At first it looked like it didn't do anything. But after a delayed reaction, they all explode into nothingness. “Not that I mind the odds" she says with a grin.

Rebecca shakes her head. "The city can’t take much more of these attacks! We need help!”

Duke and Lara both attack at once. She fires off one of her attacks, Pulse Vortex. Duke charges up for a split-second, blitzes and smashes his fist into an enemy with a Techno Smash.

Delta Knight and Triple M stand back to back, bracing themselves for other contenders.

“Did you get to the Oracle?!" DK asks. "Does it have any ideas?”"

Michael nods grimly. “Just one—the one we already thought!”

DK sighs. "Great. That’s what I was afraid of."

Michael checks his Weapon NRG. "I only have enough power to take back myself and three other people…" He fires off an energy blast from his Buster. "We both know you're coming DK That leaves two others. Who's coming?" He glances toward Rachel. "Hey, Rachel!"

Rachel sighs. "Why am I always your first choice?"

Zack flips a shotgun wielding attacker into the air and blasts him with Dark Lightning. "Of course, he would choose his girlfriend. He never gives it a second thought." He smirks. "How do you think this happened so easily?"

Michael glares at Zack. "Don't you start." He turns back to Rachel. "So you don't want to?"

Rachel laughs as she whirl-kicks and stabs. "Of course I want to come! It'll take more than these jerks to keep me from the past."

"That leaves one other person."

Nova nods away. "I don't mind letting my atoms get rewound through time, but count me out. I really am enjoying beating these jerks to a bloody pulp. Besides, I'm keeping score." He fires a shot from his buster cannon, obliterating another incoming enemy. "That's dead enemy number one-hundred-one."

Lara gracefully does a backward flip and does a head stomp. "Okay, then. You can count me in!" She shrugs. "Besides I've always wanted to see some history."

Rebecca pole-vaults into another group of enemies. "Don't worry about us, we can hold the fort until then!" she yells.

"Okay! DK, Rachel and Lara! Grab onto me!" He looks at his sister, one last time, knowing it might be the last time he'll ever see her.

“We’ll be back.” Activating his newfound ability, Time Force, he feels his body start to dissipate into the fabric of time.

He has two last thoughts before he leaves his time line:

1. Parallel-time theory: No matter how much time you take in one time line, the flow of time is normal so spending an hour in the past, an hour in the future is taking place as well.

2. He was going to meet Jay, the one who started it all.

And with that, he and his fellow time-travelers are gone. Rebecca looks at the now empty spot of where her brother's form once stood. "Good luck," she whispers before diving back into the fray...

(2) Unveiled...

Rufus Biggs nodded, taking a seat across from Jay.
"My father went missing three days ago, after arriving at the location of his most recent expedition. In this case, a remote location in north-eastern Kazakhstan. He was helping progress an excavation of some rather mysterious ruins found less than a month ago."
Rufus pulled an envelope from his pocket.
"He disappeared the same day this letter arrived at my home."
Pulling a slightly wrinkled piece of paper from the envelope, Rufus unfolded and straightened out the type-written letter for Jay to read.

Rufus, my son,
If you have received this letter, then I am already gone.
My expeditions have led me to a place that I feared I could not escape.
For your safety, I cannot divulge my specific whereabouts.
However, there is someone who can lead you in the right direction.
Although, even he does not know this is the case.
Find this man - then you will know what to do.
Make haste, Rufus. My fate rests upon your actions.
Sincerely,
Mason Biggs.

Rufus pulled another small piece of paper from the envelope. Scrawled in hand writing, Jay's full name and address stood out, along with a brief note to first look for him in this coffee shop.

"This explains how you found me, but..." Jay shook his head, "I don't know why he thought I'd be able to track him down. In fact, I've been trying to do just that for a larger part of the last two days with no luck."
Rufus sighed, "Are you sure you don't know anything? Is there anything from his conversation with you that stood out?"
Jay took a deep breath, then a sip of his coffee as the waitress set it down in front of him.
"It all seemed fairly straight forward. He offered me a job as his assistant during the expeditions he would be taking. He said he needed someone to do the things he didn't want to have to worry about. Finances, booking plane tickets, and an allotment of other minor activities. Nothing considerably unusual. Although, he was very specific about what he would pay me."
Rufus raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"
"Well," Jay took another sip of coffee, "He said if I started right away he'd pay me a lump sum of about 20 thousand dollars for the first trip, and if I proved to be a decent assistant I'd get around 25 grand per trip. Although I don't remember the exact numbers off hand."
"Sounds plausible," Rufus put the notes back into the envelope, "my father believes in the dollar incentive wholeheartedly. Mostly due to the fact that he has no shortage of money. My great-grandparents left him a small fortune after they died in a tragic train crash, so he's been putting those funds to good use by paying for most of the costs associated with his expeditions. He also helped me start the multi-million dollar airplane construction business I'm currently operating. So as I said, he is very generous."
Rufus paused, then asked, "Speaking of which, did he give you anything?"

Jay thought for a moment. "I know he paid for our coffees, if that counts."
A cold draft permeated the coffee shop. Shivering slightly, Jay put his hands in his jacket pockets. Then he felt it. Cold against the palm of his hand, he pulled out a silver-colored business card.

Rufus's eyes opened wide. "Is that what I think it is?"

Jay eyed the card surprisingly. "I didn't even know I had it."

On the front of it, Mason's name, phone number and address were printed neatly, as in a generic business card fashion. Flipping it over, Jay found a set of hand-written latitude and longitude numbers.
Rufus eyed the card excitedly.
"Bingo."