Clock Breakers

Rule 3: Study Before You Go

"I don't get into cars I don't know."

"Well lucky for you," Nash said, opening the door of the governmentally black car, "these guys work for us."

"How do you pay 'em?" I asked, climbing in.

"That's easy," Cooper said from the seat facing me, "we have a bank that's been building interest for centuries."

"Uh huh," I said, raising an eyebrow at Nash. "So what was that about not touching too much?"

"It's one bank that's been around forever and doesn't have a chain. We slowly replaced all the old workers with people who know about us, went back a few times to loop our own money in, and now we have access whenever we please after 1438."

"1438? Europeans hadn't even hit North America yet, how does that work?"

"Casino rules," Cooper said, smiling.

"So," I said, pulling out my gun and laying it on my lap, "trusted driver."

"Relax, Freeze," Nash said, "this is Clutch. He drives us everywhere, never talks, takes regular pay and shows up without question wherever needed."

"And we aren't just teleporting, why?"

"You want to limit your movement on the fabric," Cooper said. "Too much movement and things get messy."

"Messy how?"

"Essentially if you move too much, too fast or in and out of the same point on the fabric too frequently the universe can get confused and misplace you," Nash said, scribbling in a pocket book.

"Misplace us? Where was this during watch training?"

"Uh, hidden. So you wouldn't panic that your watch is not a car, but rather equivalent to rolling a d20 every turn of the dial and push of its activator."

"Avoid rolling a one and twenty," Cooper said.

"One is misplacement?"

"And twenty is..." He glanced at Nash, who gave him a warning look before returning to his notebook. "Twenty is unknown."

"I currently have a gun on my lap."

"And we have teleporter watches and Blackjack in the front seat."

"I'm assuming he's security."

"You're not a dumbass, just an ass," Nash mumbled into his notes. I waited for Cooper to elaborate, but he never did. I finally sighed, crossing my arms and leaning my head back.

"So where are we going and why?"

"Finding the one woman who doesn't want us all dead," Nash said. "Courtesy of Cooper." Cooper smirked, looking out the window.

"We're finding Cooper's girlfriend?"

"You call her that and I won't be the one to kill you," he said quietly, still smiling.

"You'll see, she's useful on missions," Nash said, closing his book and stuffing it back into his pocket. "Might even take her with us."

"Just try to play nice," Cooper said.

Attached to an old-style tailor's shop in the heart of the city was an antique store. Clutch let us and Blackjack out of the car, who escorted us to the tailor's door. The car was still running, Clutch as neutrally focused as he had been on the drive over. They were both huge men in black tie suits and dark sunglasses, but neither had earpieces. Blackjack opened the door for us before nodding to Clutch and following us in. Our car drove off, our security planting himself just inside the door as we moved to the desk.