Part 1: Quarantine
Part 2: Odd Jobs
Part 3: Shuck
Part 3: Shuck
The bartender leaned in close, uttering each sentence with the clear understanding that a piece of gold would be the compensation. “Now… Dirty Dave. He’s a downright filthy rascal that everyone with a lick of sense wants taken care of…”
Shuck rolled his eyes. “We got that from the name. Let’s start with the most important part. What’s the reward?”
“Last I checked? A hundred.”
Victor sighed. “That’s no where near enough for our trouble.”
Shuck tossed another gold coin to the bartender as he corrected Victor. “No, no… he said a hundred, but it’s clear what he means. The reward is a hundred thousand.”
Victor was taken aback. “Are you serious?!”
The bartender laughed grimly. “You two are idiots if you think no one else has tried what you are talking about. Dirty Dave is one of those… what was it? Class Sevens? He ain’t no pushover, but it goes beyond strength to include his infamous cruelty. If he had been here when you showed up, he would have no qualms about burning this whole building to the ground just to spite ya.”
Shuck fiddled with another coin as he considered his next question. “So, then… where and when was he last seen?”
“Last week. He killed a dozen men, and enslaved a dozen more. Nothin’ dirtier than a slaver working outside the law… don’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, he’ll put a collar on your neck as if you were the scummiest criminal around. Which makes him worse than the scum that are supposed to be slaves.”
Shuck tossed the gold coin, and thought for a moment. “So, Vic… you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Victor was growing less sure by the second. “I don’t know, Shuck… this guy sounds like trouble. Also, don’t call me Vic. It’s Victor.”
“Relax, Victor. It’s as simple as this. You jump back a week and find out where he’s heading, using any means necessary. You could even get caught, it doesn’t matter when you can just jump forward again.”
Victor was about to protest, when he realized it wasn’t actually a bad idea. “That… could work. But what is your part in all of this?”
Shuck smiled as he held up another gold coin. “Ain’t it obvious? I got this information, and once we have both a location and a time, we can track Dirty Dave down with a small army of mercenaries – hired using the gold we already have – to catch him entirely by surprise. See, I knew this time period was rich with these high paying opportunities. Fold it, I even got this bag of gold we are using for expenses right now. If anything, I think it’s time you pulled your own weight.”
Victor grumbled. “I was the one who made it possible to come here, and I fought off the thugs. I think you are overestimating your contributions.”
Shuck sat back in his chair, tipping his hat over his eyes. “Sure, sure. Wake me up when you get back. Or better yet, time travel forward until you find a time when I’m awake. Once you have his location, we can plan from there…”
Victor jumped into the past. Same bar, though apparently a different bartender. One who had a very ridiculous looking parted beard that split off into multiple directions. “Oh, hello there, sonny. Didn’t see ya there, hope you haven’t been waiting long. What can I get ya?”
Victor checked his pocket watch. He had gone a week into the past, almost exactly. “Sorry, something has come up. I must be off.”
Ignoring further questions, Victor ran out into the street. Though there were different faces, things mostly looked the same. That is, until an entire building exploded into a fiery inferno. A man, covered in chains with ragged clothes and walking in front of several humanoid, yet lizard-like Draaconians indigenous to the area and time period, walked directly toward him. It was almost certainly the target, but Victor knew he had to be sure before finding out where he would be heading.
“Uh, excuse me sir… are you Dirty-”
Victor found himself grabbed by two Draaconians and dragged right up to the man’s feet, who he realized was also a Draaconian as he was forced down to his knees as his captors held his arms. The leader certainly didn’t look clean, but that meant little in such a overwhelmingly dusty climate. He had black scales running along his massive arms exposed by the shredded sleeves, and his eyes were those of a predator surrounded by more midnight black scales. The man looked down on Victor, anger burning in his eyes as he spoke. “Don’t insult me with your pathetic pejorative. You fools gave me the ridiculous nickname Dirty Dave, but my true name is Duralmin, alpha of the Draaconians. I urge you to remember that fact for the rest of your miserable existence, human. And… you are a Meta, are you not?”
Victor felt a chill run down his spine. “I’m sorry… have we met?”
Dirty Dave grabbed Victor by the neck, holding him up to his eye level. “I don’t know… I suppose not. I met some of your family, though. They thought themselves the arbiters of justice, and tossed me through time itself in an attempt to control me. You can see for yourself how well that is working out…”
Victor struggled to free himself. “I was not involved in any of that! Why are you assuming that-”
“That all Metas are guilty? Because they are. Don’t lie to me. You all work together, you all talk, you all share information… an action by one is an action by all.”
“That’s incorrect! Metas don’t work as a monolith, we uphold certain rules but otherwise act independently!”
Dirty Dave took out an iron shackle and attached it to Victor’s arm. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you. But a time traveler, even a dishonest one like you, is certainly valuable. Maybe after torturing you for a while, I’ll put you up for ransom to some other foolish Meta. If I’m feeling especially benevolent after getting the money, maybe I’ll even release you alive. Or I’ll kidnap the other Meta, and begin a proper slave market of Metas… who knows?”
Victor tried to jump forward through time, but realized in horror he couldn’t. Dirty Dave smiled. “I see you have now realized the reality of your situation. While you are my prisoner, there will be no jumping through time lines. My brand new Legion artifact makes sure of that.”
A chill ran down Victor’s spine. The Legion. Knowing he was in deep trouble, he went with the only emergency maneuver he had left.
Though he couldn’t jump through time with the shackle attached, he could still manipulate the effects of time on his own body. The time around him sped by as his own perception slowed. He saw the Draaconians dragging him slowly through the desert, though he experienced it as if he was being pulled through the air at breakneck speeds with constantly buffeting winds. He found himself in a cell, and after a moment saw Shuck placed in the same cell. It seemed that at least a week had passed already.
He slowed the time field just enough to be sure Dirty Dave and his cronies weren’t around, and proceeded to drop out of his time acceleration entirely. He gasped as he collapsed from his original kneeling position onto the ground, winded from the exertion.
Shuck was despondent as he noticed Victor now actually conscious in the present. “Oh, I see you are done with your little trick… they wanted to torture you, but apparently couldn’t while you were doing… whatever it was you were doing. The only reason they didn’t torture me is cause I gave them whatever they wanted. They know everything about our plans now. It seems… I may have miscalculated, Vic. We are in deep.”
Victor was looking around, far more energetically than the defeated Shuck. “You aren’t entirely wrong, but I’m certainly not going to be dying here if I can help it. Let’s see… we are in some kind of cave system… and I guess this cage will also prevent time travel outside of it, correct?”
“I assume so, otherwise we both would be out of here already.”
Victor held up his arm. “Actually, this shackle is what currently prevents me from jumping through time. I can still perform some local time manipulations, but they are pretty limited with this thing attached… think you can get this off?”
Shuck jumped to his feet and walked over, inspecting the shackle before scoffing. “Who made this piece of garbage? A single tumbler, are you serious? I’m offended you didn’t just pick your way out by yourself.”
“I don’t know how to lockpick, not even simple locks… but can you get me out?”
Shuck arched small bolts of electricity as Victor jumped slightly. “Hold still, Vic! Lockpicks are old school, I use some well placed electro-magnetism fields for greater control… still, a gravity caster like yourself really should be able to just bump the tumblers into position… aaand… there!”
The shackle clicked and fell to the ground with a clunk. Victor massaged his wrist, then snapped his fingers as a dome of stillness surrounded them. While the time bubble allowed everything inside to still move, namely Victor and Shuck, everything outside was now completely frozen in time relative to them. “Luckily, I can still stop time within the cage even if I can’t travel through time overall. Are you ready to break out?”
Shuck looked around, apparently not surprised by the time bubble. “Neat trick, but the door is still locked. I’ve checked it already too, I don’t have enough time between patrols to open it, as it isn’t as simple as your shackle was. I’ve tried breaking it down, too, and it’s just too sturdy. Your time manipulation can’t reach the door lock, so… we’re stuck.”
Victor chuckled. “Stuck? Hardly. You clearly don’t know what a Meta can do given the opportunity to plan things out like this.”
Victor pulled out his pocketwatch. “Ok, here we go… Shuck, this is what we Metas call… Multipliers.”
Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying the story, you might also enjoy some of my other published work on Amazon! It’s set in the same fictional universe, but follows different characters.
Gatekeepers, Book One: Unquestionable Truth
Gatekeepers, Book Two: Order of Gravitas
Same post on Minds