Time Flux: Welcome to the New World

Regret, Resolve and Restructure

On one side of the padded cell sat Rutherford, the other sat Oz. Ernest leant against the wall, looking down at a damaged pair of spectacles, the organizations goons had broken them when they were man handling him and Oz into the vehicle transport. Ernest, even with all his intelligence could not figure why Oz did what he did, and Oz had not said a word since arriving in this cell.

'Explain it to me, please' Pleaded Ernest 'We were so close to all of this ending, why would you stop Clock from putting that monster down?'

Oz did not immediately answer, instead he lifted his head to reveal eyes, red and moist from recent and constant tears. He then rubbed his wrist, it's been a while since the Tech-Man hasn't been on his person, he felt naked, vulnerable. Their captors had taken it from him the moment they got into the transport, he had not seen it since. Oz did not care, not at all.

'Me and Li...' Oz started but could not bring himself to use her name 'We were running drills in the training room, something happened'

'What my boy?'

'The best way to describe it would be a portal, a gateway to another place, maybe another time opened in front of us, and it just came out...'

'Good god...' Ernest exclaimed 'What came out?'

'I still don't know, but for some reason Li... we trusted it' Oz choked back again 'It told us that soon Clock would have an opportunity to kill One, and that could not happen'

'Why!?'

'It just said to save the world, we had to save One from Clock. As soon as I saw Clock stood there with his gun to One's head, I knew that this was the moment this thing foretold'

'My boy, why would you take the word of this entity above that of your comrades? It was probably an organizational trick, child.' Ernest said, with a look of pity upon his aging face.

'I... We... It just felt like I had to trust it. I can't explain it, I still can't explain it' Oz said as his head fell once again to the ground in anguished staring.

Inside of the chamber, Hannah was still at work. Hannah was led on a trolley, underneath the main supporting structures for the Dome. Cables, wires and other machinations trailed the underside of the Dome providing power and other necessary operations. Hannah could easily sabotage the device from here, if it wasn't for the ever-present stare of One from the viewing platform above the Dome. If Hannah was in the chamber, so was One. Even though they had made the deal, neither clearly trusted the other to stick to it.

'It would be helpful if I had an engineer, Oz maybe?' Hannah shouted up to One.

'Your friend is in no state to help himself, let alone you with my device. Any engineering you need will be provided by my team and my team alone. Do you require assistance?' One replied

'Not from anyone connected to you, no. I will do this, but I assure you in the field of mechanical engineering, there is no one better than Oz.'

'You will be sufficient; your friends lives depend on it after all.'

Hannah pulled a small posidrive screwdriver from the small bag next to her and began to unscrew six screws from a panel on the underside of the Dome, she was surprised at what she saw, but she should have been.

'This is...'

'Your craft... Craft' One said, smirking to himself

'You build this Dome around our arrival Sphere, but why?' Hannah asked

'The Sphere had all the necessary materials for the foundation of my device. I just needed you to make a more appropriate version for my needs'

'You are a madman; you know that right?'

'Please, you are making me blush'

Hannah placed her hand inside of the open panel and unclipped a clasp to open yet another panel. Underneath sat a small LED panel screen with a small jack next to it for interfacing with external equipment. She sighed to herself.

'I need Oz, this can only be adjusted with a UltraTech compatible device, given that it's the 1900s, he has the only one'

'Incorrect' One said as a small bag landed next to her with a tinny thud 'I'm sure you will treat it with the same grace as your colleague'

Hannah opened the bag to find Oz' Tech-Man inside. It was fully intact, but Hannah swallowed hard when she saw the dried blood on the underside of the strap.

'What have you done with him!?' Hannah shouted

'Relax, Mr. Lowe is fine, that is not his blood. You do remember he was holding the girl as she fell...' One answered

'Listen to me, One. I don't care what you believe or what you think. I don't care what you are or who you were. I swear to you, you will pay for what you have done.' Hannah said, fiercely staring at One.

'Funny, James said a very similar thing to me once. Yet he sits in my dungeon with the rest of your ill-fated crew. Get on with what you need to do, I am losing patience.'

Hannah strapped the Tech-Man to her right arm and jacked into the interface on the Dome. The screen slowly began to illuminate. Altitude, longitude, polarity, breadth, depth and many more options were available to her, she tapped on polarity and began her work.

Meanwhile, at the top of Singer Tower in New York City he mused, staring out at the city's night lights. He sat at a small table next to the large window, a crystal glass filled with whiskey and ice in his right hand and a small cigar in his left. On the other side of the table sat a slender woman, in a tight fitting short black dress and frighteningly tall high heeled shoes. A dark red lipstick adorned the full lips that complimented her faintly freckled face. Her eyes, lightest blue like a summer's midday looked down at a tall glass of red wine on the table. She moved a strand of her lower back length red hair behind her right ear before delicately lifting the glass to her lips. Taking a small sip, she swilled the luscious liquid around her teeth twice before swallowing. The man watched her every move with a wry smile.

'Is it to your liking?' The man said

'As always, Two. Now, why have you asked me here, other than to look at this marvellous view.' The crimson haired beauty replied.

'One...' Two answered quickly

'Ew...' She moaned 'Why are you always concerned about One?'

'I am convinced he's up to something, and it wouldn't be good for any of us'

'This again? You have been saying this, not quietly by the way, for as long as I can remember, Two.' She said, taking another sip of her wine 'Why this time?'

'The Leaders trust him, too much. They allow him to run around unimpeded and without supervision. I believe with every fiber of my being that he's working on something big. He even turned my own sister from me.'

'Poor Two, do you miss your baby sister?'

'Careful, Seven.' He said sternly 'You should take caution with how you speak to me'

'Apologies... Superior' she said, with slight sarcasm in her voice, Two didn't seem to care

'You are not a member of Trident...' Two said, with a smile '...Yet'

Seven, crossing her left leg over her right, leaned in toward the table and toward Two and gently took the glass of whiskey from his hand and took a big gulp before wiping her bottom lip.

'I'm listening...'