The Sleepwalker

Part Three: 18

Agent Infinity


"Man, my neck is killing me today." Infinity said to the executioner. She couldn't see his face under his black mask, but she could have sworn he chuckled.

The funny moment was spoiled slightly by the noose around her neck.

Yes, she was in quite a predicament, but she was closer to her target than she'd ever been. Usually, finding the target is about nine months, but this one was over a year of looking for the Traveller. Then she finds him and scoffs at what she has to do to get close.

As she thought to herself, a man in a blue jacket and white wig stepped up on the rickety wooden stage where Infinity was to be hanged. He unrolled a freaking scroll.

"The Crown sentences this filthy..." He scowled at her, "Pirate to be hanged. For crimes against the Crown, including but not limited to, thievery, murder, arson..."

He went on and on. None of it was true, but nonetheless, she stayed silent and pretended to listen, but was actually scanning the crowd for her knight in shining armor.

Then Infinity saw the knight, in which case it was her sister, standing near the front of the crowd, trying and succeeding in being inconspicuous. Her blonde hair was tucked under an old 'feathered' cap. She also had her hand over the hilt of her sword, which Infinity could just barely see from her 'elevated' position.

At least I have a good view of the sea, it'll be a nice last view if my sister botches this up, Infinity thought, looking out past the crowd and the docks at sunrise. She couldn't see the sun itself though, since two huge boats blocked it.

"... and such is as the Crown decrees. What is your final statement?" The pompous man asked Infinity without looking at her.

"This Era sucks," She said offhandedly.

Mr. Blue Coat waved to the Executioner, whose grip tightened on the wooden lever that would pull the planks out from under Infinity. The Agent couldn't help but consider how bad this idea was.

"Kill her."

Twenty thousand things happened in the next moment. The floor dropped out and Infinity began to hang. It hurt, like, a lot. Imagine getting your windpipe crushed as your head feels like it'd fall off.

Thankfully, her sister burst from the crowd and fired a flintlock pistol at Mr. Blue Coat's leg, while simultaneously slicing Infinity's rope with her sword, causing her to fall down to the cobbled street and land on her knees.

Infinity gasped sweet fresh air. "Ach... you really pushed it there sis."

"You aren't dead yet." Her sister responded, and she cut off the noose around Infinity's neck. "I'd count that as a win."

"Did you say 'yet'?!"

Multiple guards were now drawing their weapons. Infinity was surprised it took them this long, and the crowd was slowly becoming aware of what was happening, which was causing chaos to break out everywhere.

"Got my stuff?" Infinity asked, to which her sister passed her a gadget belt and a 'flintlock'. It looked like a flintlock, shot like a flintlock, but in reality, it was a disguised Erapistol. Erapistols were one of the greatest things the Society ever made. To the random person in the Pirate Era, it looked normal to them. But to the two Agents, it was a gun more powerful than the usual flintlock. For one, reloading was as easy as 'click the hammer', because the ammo was energy based. Again, to everyone else the ammo looked like a lead ball, not that it was even visible as it arced through the air anyway. And the pistol wouldn't function if it were to fall into the hands of some Era common-dweller either.

It was almost as if the gun was somehow from the future.

Infinity looked to her sister and gestured up to the wooden stage. "Give me a little boost,"

"Can't you just take the stairs like a normal person?"

The blonde Agent gave a charming grin. "Where's the fun in that?"

A bit of a struggle later and much to the Executioner's surprise, Infinity hopped up and brandished her gun. It probably made the guy wonder how she was able to hop up five or six feet. He stumbled backward.

"'Ello there. You wouldn't happen to be from the future would you?"

The Executioner made a very comical gulping noise.

Infinity continued. "I hereby arrest you for multiple crimes against the Society. You're coming with me, spud."

The Executioner shook his hooded head shakily. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Infinity tapped her chin. "I too forget when I took an automatic rifle into London, killing and impersonating an Executioner, and letting the pirate known as William Kidd escape by handing him a literal AK-47 when the first noose broke." Infinity put her hands on her hips. "It's all very hard to remember."

The Executioner's hand had slowly drifted to the back of his pants, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by the female Agent because the pistol was raised right to his face once more.

"Dangit, I let myself go slack for a few seconds there didn't I?" She said unworriedly "Five years on the job and I still haven't gotten good at this." She waved the weapon a bit. "Hands in the air."

The man had other ideas. He spun and jumped right off the stage and into the crowd, landing gracefully in a roll as he did so. Infinity sincerely hoped this guy was just really good at parkour, and not part of Deviation. She hated those stupid 'Deviants'. Basically, where the Society had Agents, Deviation had Deviants. So unoriginal.

Infinity cursed and leaped to the ground. She gave a quick wave to her sister nearby and silently winced at the pain in her knees. Falling from the rope to the rough stone unsurprisingly hurt. She'd have a nasty bruise later. But now was clearly not the time to check how bad it was, because the Time Traveler shoved through the crowd, getting further and further away from her. More curses spewed from her mouth as she gave chase, curses that were not from this Era.

Adding to her suspicions that this Traveler was in fact a Deviant, this guy hopped on an unsaddled horse, pulled a blade from the back of his waistband, snipped off the lead that connected the animal to a fence post, and took hold of the reins all in one fluid motion.

He gave a low cackle and slapped the backside of the horse. It charged down the street and right toward Infinity.

She held up her pistol. Killing the Traveler was no good, it makes it harder to unanchor this new timeline (where a pirate has an assault rifle) from the original if he died. So she shot the horse's leg.

Any other Agent would have killed the horse, but Infinity felt bad for this horse. It was much like the crowd behind her; they didn't have a reason to die. They wouldn't even be in danger if it wasn't for the stupid Traveller.

The horse let out a bray before stumbling sideways. The man slid off, hit the cobblestone hard, and gasped for air as the horse fell on top of him.

Infinity walked right over to him and crouched nearby. She stroked the horse's head and eyed the man, who still pushed on the horse thinking he could lift a thousand pounds.

"Say, you wouldn't be part of a group called... Deviation?"

The man grunted and avoided her gaze. "What could you... you possibly mean?"

Infinity's sister laid a hand on her shoulder. "We need to get out of here. The guards are approaching."

Infinity nodded. "We'll question you later. Bub."

Her sister got an odd circle out of her pocket and slapped it right on the Traveler's chest. He looked down at it, but didn't touch it. He somehow knew that if he touched it, he'd get quite a nasty shock.
Green lights began to glow on the disc, and also on the two Agent's metal arms.

"Time to Return." Her sister said. Seconds later, the 1700s scenery dropped away, replaced by a starless black void. Infinity hovered alone for about 9-point-3 seconds, then in a reverse motion, the scenery came back, but looked different. Yellow glass surrounded her, and beyond that, shiny black walls with green neon hues. Bright lights winked on above.

Welcome to the Time Aspect of the Society.

Infinity and her sister stepped out of the travel pods. The travel room was fairly large, lit by green strip lights on the walls and ceiling. More pods lined the walls, and people sat at computers behind glass in the back. The sisters went there.

"Ladies!" The Director welcomed them into the room with a handshake when the door slid open and the white lights came on. "How was the pirate era?"

"I almost got hanged." Infinity said, lightheartedly.

Her sister jumped in as she fixed her hair and put in a long, gold hairpin that their mother once wore. "But we caught the Traveler. He might be a Deviant."

The Director nodded. "We already received him in the Transfer room. He's probably getting interrogated now. You guys can check it out after Plugging in."

Two other Agents in black-green jumpsuits walked over and connected a cord to their metal arm. It would let them see everything the Agents' had by basically farming the memories from their brains. It did not work if the brain was not thinking.

"We're fine, just give us the gist of it when the interrogation is over." Infinity's sister said quickly. "But we would like to know about our applications..."

The Director nodded and gestured to the door. "Let's talk in my office."

Once there, he sat behind his desk and waved to the other two chairs on the opposite side. He spoke before their butts had even touched the seats.

"Guess what?" His voice was brimmed with enthusiasm. Infinity reasoned that if they discussed this out in the open, people might think he was showing partiality. "The Council has gone over your inquiries... You have both been accepted to the Supernatural Aspect!"

The breath Infinity didn't know she had been holding escaped her lips. It was done. They had done it. Her sister looked about ready to jump for joy.

"Now," The Director continued, "Agent Infinity, you applied for a Cell Block security guard, but... I put in a reference, and they decided your skills and expertise would be best in the Dark Chamber! It's everything you wanted. Dangerous, yet slow at times."

Infinity nodded and looked down, trying to hide her smile and look professional. Five years of non-stop action will make an action-lover like Infinity hope for a slight downgrade. Now they were eligible to either reinstate or switch Aspect departments. Or you could retire, she supposed, but there was a better chance of a bear taking ballet than for her to retire.

"Thank you, sir." She finally said. "You don't understand how pleased I am for this pos -"

Her sister cut her off, not out of malice but what seemed to be excitement. "And what position did I receive sir?"

The Director glanced at the papers on the desk. How he knew what to look for in the mess, Infinity couldn't guess.

"Well... I put in a few references for you as well, for your excellent leadership skills and amazing execution of plans, but... Ultimately the Council gave the position of the Warden of the SSS to a more capable Agent."

Her sister's demeanor changed so fast, Infinity blinked and the joyous excitement was replaced by disbelief. And shock. She'd probably look the same way if lightning struck the floor right in front of where she sat.
"More... Capable?"
The Director nodded solemnly. "But it isn't all bad. The job of an Overseer might've just opened..."

"No," said her sister forcefully, holding up a finger. "I request a meeting with the Council."

The Director raised an eyebrow, confused, but also seemingly impressed at Infinity's sister's vigor. "That will be... difficult, you realize."

"Yes."

"All for the job of the Warden?"

"I've been giving this my all, with rigorous training and learning, and I... I deserve this position. This was my life. I deserve it. More than this other Agent."

He pondered it for a while. "I might be able to rearrange a meeting sometime next week. But the chances of them changing their minds is slim to nada."

Infinity's sister held her head a bit higher and nodded. The Director sighed.

"Alright, pack your things. You're both going to the SSS, no matter what. And if you lose the case..." He put both palms up in a half-hearted shrug. "You'll be accepting whatever job they choose for you. You get one shot."

They both received a black and green dossier, and the Director stood before they did.

"So don't freaking miss."